Last chapter! :O I hope you guys all like it! Disclaimer: I don't own hetalia, no matter how much I want to...
Chapter 12 Innocence
Ludwig opened his sky blue eyes on a bright and sunny Saturday morning.
Today is the day, Ludwig thought. He rolled over only to find Feliciana snoring softly next to him.
I never understand how she pops up out of nowhere sometimes, Ludwig thought as he sat up.
"Feli," Ludwig said shaking the Italian slightly.
"Mmm Luddy…" Feli mumbled as she rolled over. Ludwig suspected she was half awake and was just too lazy to get up.
"Feli, it's time to wake up," Ludwig continued shaking his girlfriend a bit faster.
"Mehh," Feli mumbled, shifting a bit. Ludwig sighed softly. He reached his hand over to Feli's curl and stroked it fondly.
"What!" Feli yelled bolting up "Oh hi Luddy." She smiled at him as he brushed her copper hair out of her face.
"Today is the day of the walk Feli," Ludwig said getting out of the bed.
"Really?" Feli asked rubbing her honey-brown eyes.
"Ja so we better gather up everyone." Ludwig and Feli both got up and walked into the kitchen only to see it half cleaned with a sleeping Francis way too close to a sleeping Arthur. Ludwig sighed and shook his head.
"If you want something done right you have to do it yourself," Ludwig said. Then he walked over to the sleeping blondes and gave them both a kick in the ribs. Both Arthur and Francis cried out in pain.
"Bloody hell!" Arthur yelled sitting up.
"This is how you clean a kitchen?" Ludwig asked raising an eyebrow. Francis and Arthur looked at each other before looking back at Ludwig.
"I'll clean it myself later, but you two need to learn how to get along," Ludwig said grabbing a box of cereal from a cabinet. Feli grabbed four bowls from another cabinet.
"Better eat a good breakfast," Feli said sitting down at the table "We're going on the Gil walk today, ve~."
"Today?" Francis yawned, also sitting down.
"Ja, today."
"Good thing, too. Gilbert needs his surgery by tomorrow," Arthur said.
"Really?" Feli asked pouring milk over her bowl of cheerios.
"Ja, I think Arthur's right," Ludwig said.
"Well we better get walking A.S.A.P." Francis said chewing on a mouthful of cheerios.
The four talked and finished their breakfast before setting out to start the walk.
"Alright everyone!" Alfred called through a megaphone.
"We're totally going to help Gilbo by walking at least 7 miles! And thanks to all you people who decided to come and help, we've been able to raise 25,476 dollars and 43 cents!" Hundreds of people who were standing around waiting for the walk to start began cheering. Ludwig was shocked. He had no idea they had raised THAT much money. That was more than enough to help Gil, as well as have some money left over.
"Alright guys! Let's get going!" Alfred yelled as he led the walk. Hundreds of people followed behind.
Gilbert heard a lot of noise coming from outside. Just then, Andy walked in, smiling from ear to ear.
"I think you'll want to see what's going on outside, Gil," she said.
"Why? What's going on?" Gilbert said as Andy helped him stand up.
"You'll see," she said as they walked over to the window. Outside Gilbert saw hundreds of people walking. All of them wearing white t-shirts. He saw people he knew. A lot of people he knew. Ludwig, Amelia, Alfred, Kiku, Arthur, Feli, Lovi, Antonio, Francis, Mattie, Anica, Lizzie, Roddy, Toris, Eduard, Raivis, Kat, Feliks, even Natalya and Ivan.
"What's going on?" Gilbert asked Andy.
"They're walking for you," Andy answered.
"For…me?"
"Yeah to raise money so you can get surgery," Andy explained.
"R-really?" Gilbert felt tears prickling in the corners of his crimson eyes.
"Yeah. And according to your friend, Alfred, they raised more than enough money." Gilbert just stood at the window crying. Everyone did care about him…
"Hi Gilbert!" a girl from the crowd waved. It was Cathy. The girl from the bank. She remembered him too. Gil waved back and smiled. Tears flowed freely from his eyes and he didn't care. He was going to live through this. Ludwig won't have to live by himself. Amelia won't be alone. Alfred and Kiku won't be missing a video game partner. Francis and Antonio won't become the 'Bad Touch Duo'. Gilbert was going to live and he knew it. People waved at him as they passed by. Gil gave each of them a genuine watery smile and a small wave back. He felt as if he just won a million dollars. Nothing could ever deplete his spirits now.
The next day, Gilbert went into surgery. Ludwig, Feliciana, Antonio, Lovina, Francis, Arthur, Alfred, Amelia, Kiku and Mattie all sat in the waiting room awaiting news on Gilbert's condition. The minutes ticked by one by one.
"How long has it been?" Mattie asked picking his head up.
"Four hours," Arthur answered checking his watch.
"When is he getting out of surgery?" Lovi asked.
"That's the question, Lovi," Antonio sighed.
Just then, a doctor walked in. He was wearing scrubs, but they were a bit bloodied. He had light brown hair and dark brown eyes.
"Hello, my name is Dr. Greene, I was one of the doctors operating on Gilbert."
"Is he gonna be okay?" Amelia asked.
"We did everything we could," the doctor said.
"What about Gilbert though?" Antonio asked.
"We were able to fix his lungs, but he went unresponsive twice during surgery."
"Is h-he…" Ludwig started before trailing off.
"He's alive. He's asleep now. We'd like to keep an eye on him for a few more days, but we're pretty sure he'll make a full recovery." Everyone in the room seemed to let out a long sigh. As if they had been holding their breath for the past two weeks.
"Oh thank God," Francis said.
"Could we see him?" Kiku asked.
"Of course. Just try not to surprise him. He's got a lot of IVs in him so we don't want him to move around too much," the doctor said smiling.
"Sure," Francis said as the ten of them crowded into Gil's room. There was Gilbert, lying down in a hospital bed. His chest rose and fell silently without interruptions. A few IVs stuck out of his arms as well as a tube in his mouth and his nose. A nurse with short blonde hair and green eyes was fixing medical tape around the IVs in Gilbert's arms. Gilbert cracked open his eyes upon his friends entering.
"Gilbert, your friends are here to see you," the nurse said. "Don't talk because you have a tube in your lungs helping you breath, okay?" Gilbert nodded before watching the nurse leave.
"Hey Gil Gil, how're ya feeling?" Amelia asked. Gil just blinked slowly. His expression didn't change.
"Gilbert?" Ludwig said. Gil moved his hand in circles as if he was drawing with an imaginary pen. Kiku seemed to be the only one who understood. He quickly pulled a pen from his pocket and an old receipt. Gilbert wrote something very shakily on the back of the paper.
'Did you guys make the walk thing?'
"Of course Gil," Ludwig said reading the paper.
"We raised a lot of money so you could get surgery and get better," Amelia said.
'How many?' Gil wrote.
"How many people?" Kiku asked. Gil nodded.
"Like 238 people, I think," Alfred said.
"There was a lot of people who came," Francis remembered.
"We're just glad they came," Ludwig said smiling.
A single tear rolled down Gilbert's face. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. And life was good.
One Month Later _
Gilbert sat in Vash's weapons shop behind the counter reading a random magazine he picked up. It showed different types of knives and guns but it was his only entertainment.
"Hey Gil," Vash said walking in from the back room.
"Hmm?" Gil said looking up "Oh hey Vash."
"Feeling better?" Vash asked as he put some more bullets on display.
"Ja I feel awesome!" Gil answered.
"Hey, why don't you take the rest of the day off? It's slow today anyway," Vash offered.
"Uhh, sure. Thanks bro," Gil said putting the magazine down.
"Anytime," Vash said continuing his work.
"I'll see you later, then," Gil said as he walked out.
As Gil was walking home, because it was a nice day, he noticed how truly awesome he felt. When he got home he put his keys on the key rack and kicked off both his shoes.
"Luddy! I'm back early!" Gil called as he flopped himself down on the couch. Ludwig emerged from the kitchen and starred at Gil.
"You're back early," he said.
"Ja, Vash said I could come home for a bit. You wanna go do something?"
"Actually something came in the mail for you," Ludwig said handing the albino a crisp white envelope.
"What's this?" Gil asked looking at his little brother.
"I don't know. Open it," Ludwig said sitting down on the armrest of the couch.
"Alright," Gilbert agreed tearing through the paper. He pulled out a clean white piece of paper. His crimson eyes scanned the paper before his mouth turned into a wide smirk.
"What? What is it?" Ludwig asked.
"College! A full scholarship to the University here!" Gil yelled pulling his brother into a sudden hug.
"That's great, Gilbo," Ludwig said returning his brother's hug.
"I get to go back to school, Luddy! And I get to go for free! This is so totally AWESOME!" Gil held the paper in front of his face as if it was a check for half a billion dollars "And since it's in town, I can live here with you!"
"That's fantastic, Gil," Luddy said smiling at his brother. He hasn't seen Gilbert this happy in months.
"Ja! This is gonna be awesome! I can finally stop working for Ivan, too! I love this!" Ludwig couldn't help but laugh a little at his brother's happiness. Gilbert continued on about college and being a doctor in the ER. Finally the sadness was gone and Gilbert was back to being Gilbert again. And things couldn't be better.
Yay this is the end! Happy ending and no death here ;) Make sure you check out my other stories! I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing. So, pożegnanie, my readers! Until next time...