A/N: Actually a lot more traumatic than I'd originally intended - an expansion on an incident vaguely mentioned in Chapter 9: Who He Called. Gilbert didn't initially like his brother, Ludwig. In fact, he hated him because of their mother's death due to complications.

Hey, I'm going to be changing my username to "Flashback 1701", so keep an eye out! :D

Bonus Story 2

That stupid, ugly little brother was ruining Gilbert's life. In fact, he already had ruined his life just by being born. Some days, only their father's constant watch kept the dissatisfied albino boy from snatching up the infant and shaking him while screaming, "Give me back my mom!" Mostly, Gilbert just wanted his brother to disappear.

At nine years old, the boy was already bitter with hatred and angry at the world. His mother should have never died.

"I don't know what to do with him anymore," he'd over heard his distant, workaholic father sighing to the neighbors. "He won't come out of his room, or when he does, he just terrorizes Ludwig."

Ludwig. It was always about Ludwig.

Of all the things he despised about his unwanted sibling, the baby's physical appearance was the worst. Though he'd learned that his hair and eye color would darkened with time, Gilbert couldn't help but notice the similarities between Ludwig and their mother. He had the same wide, blue eyes, and the same soft locks that were steadily approaching the pale gold shade that had once graced their mother's head. The fact that this child looked so much like the woman who had died bringing him into the world was both a slap in the face and a stab in the chest. Gilbert's albinism separated him from the other members of his immediate family. Even then, his features were largely his father's, a sharp-nosed, narrow-eyed man of brown eyes and similarly colored hair.

The crawling infant was venturing towards the unguarded staircase as his father busily conversed over the phone with one business partner or another. Malice in his heart, Gilbert turned to leave the room without a word… and received a brisk slap across the face for his troubles.

"Gilbert Maria Beilschmidt, I raised you better than this!" Luise was dressed, as all ghosts seemed to be, in the last clothes she'd worn. Face pale and shadowed with the effort of having given birth, hair unbrushed and unwashed, she still managed to appear beautiful in her young son's eyes.

"Mom!" When he sprang forward to hug her, she stopped him with a stern hand on his shoulder.

Kneeling to meet his eyes with a deadly serious look, she whispered, "Why aren't you taking care of your brother, Gilbert?"

"Because he killed you."

"Ludwig didn't kill me, Gilbert."

"He did, too!"

"He did not." Squeezing his arm gently to emphasize her point, his mother drew in a long breath. "Don't be mad at your brother because of what happened to me; I love him so much that I didn't mind dying knowing that he would be alright."

"S-so you love him more th-than you love me?" The boy's voice cracked painfully as he struggled to hold back the tears he hadn't shed since the funeral. His grief from that point on had become rage which had been so much easier to shoulder. Stubbornly, stubbornly, he brought up a fist to force them back into his eyes. "I m-m-miss you so much, Mom… Why d-did you have t-to go like this?"

"Because everything happens for a purpose, Bertie," she assured him, slipping in the special name only she had ever used. Had her son's eyes not been blurred with grief, he might have noticed the moist trails lining her cheeks. Holding her voice steady because one of them needed to be strong, Luise pulled him into a tight embrace that almost hurt for the intensity. "And I loved you long before I loved your brother… You'll always be my little Bertie no matter what happens."

"M-Mom, please don't go…"

"Gilbert, I don't belong here."

"B-but you're our mom! Th-this is our house!"

She shook her head sorrowfully, kissing him on the cheek and temple as she pulled away. "Only the people who aren't happy can stay behind, but I am happy."

"Then why are you h-here right now?"

"Because you don't love your brother." Luise pinned him down with her firm sapphire eyes. "I'm not going to be here to love Ludwig like I was here to love you, so I need you to do me a favor."

"But-"

Taking up his small hands in hers, she pressed them together before bringing them to her lips and kissing them gently. His mother closed her eyes, tears falling freely past pale lashes, and whispered, "I need you to take care of your brother for me. I know you're a strong, tough, smart boy, Bertie, and I'm so, so proud of you… Please, watch over Ludwig for me."

"But-"

"I want you to love him like you loved me, okay?" Finally, with one last kiss, she released her hold on him and rose slowly to her feet. "Please, Bertie?"

His love for his mother battled with his loathing of his brother until finally, the former beat out the latter and he nodded sullenly. "I will."

"That's my boy." Her cool fingers toyed playfully through his unruly locks, and she managed a smile. "I love you, Bertie."

"I-I love you, too, Mom…"

And she was gone.

Slumping to the floor in utter defeat, Gilbert whimpered into his knuckles where they were shoved into his mouth to muffle his sobs. It was too much – too much – for any child to be mocked with a fleeting image of his deceased mother, but yet here he was. In that moment, he would have given anything to have her back for even just a moment longer.

An inquisitive coo interrupted his mourning, and he raised his head to find that his brother had steered away from the hazardous staircase in favor of following him around the corner into this short, dark hallway. Ludwig grinned happily at him, flexing an empty, chubby hand in a manner of greeting.

"Mah mah."

For the first time since his sibling's birth, Gilbert found that he couldn't muster up the will to despise him. Instead, he grudgingly gathered the baby up into his arms and carried him to the safety of the other room.

"Mah mah."

"I'm not your mom, okay?" he corrected, setting Ludwig down and eyeing him sharply. "I'm your big brother, Gilbert, and I'm gonna teach you everything there is to know about growing up, okay?"

"Mah…"

Deciding to take this as a yes, the albino knelt down and cautiously rubbed his hand over the sparse curls of hair that covered the child's soft, warm head. "Mom loved you a lot, okay, Ludwig? So… so don't feel bad that she's gone now. She left me here to make sure you can grow up to be as awesome as I did… okay?"

At this, his brother let out a gurgling laugh.

"I'm proud of you, Bertie."

Gilbert's hairs stood up on end, but he when he whirled to locate the source of the gentle murmur, he found the room to be empty but for Ludwig and himself. Sniffling, he turned back and tried to smile.

"Mah mah?" the youngest seemed asked, fat fingers indicating some uncertain area.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Mom."