I am very sorry about this chapter. It was the reason this story got put on hold in the first place. But please accept it as it is, since it holds practily no plot devices, just background information.

Enjoy, I guess.

Gilbert was in his quarters again this time remaining in the sitting room area, separated from the sumptuous bed, and the cozy den he'd managed to create around it, by light-weight curtains that divided the suite. The albino was again reading but was this time sprawled across the comfortable sofa as he waited for his relatives.

A soft timd knock came from the door and a western accent filtered through, "M'Lord? Gilbert? If I may have a word before your family comes by? If you are not too tired that is, I know you had an exhausting day." Kei shuffled on his side of the door, only he had cracked it ever so slightly so his words came through clear.

Gilbert was leaning up on one arm when the door cracked open. "Of course, Kei, come in! I am tired but feeling much relieved - better perhaps than I have felt in some time." The new-yet-familiar face was welcome indeed, and the albino realized with some remorse that he'd not talked to his newest friend yet. "I am sorry that we have not spoken; it was not my intention for you to move to a new country and then be left to fend for yourself."

Kei stepped in gratefully, closingthe door behind him, "Please do not trouble yourself, Gilbert! I have had great company here, and never once bored. I got to read many great books, that I never would have at home. I got to talk with the Great Knight's grandsons. I get to wander your beautiful gardens and stables whenever I wish. Oh yes, My Dear King, I am very happy to be here, even more so now that you and the young Prince are yourselves again." He smiled, nodding his head and taking a seat in a chair close to the king.

"I am relieved to hear that you have been enjoying yourself. Just give it a few months and you will be as bored as I am, though. You will be begging me to send you off somewhere just to keep from dying of boredom!" Winking playfully, the King stretched dramatically, one arm hanging over the edge of the cushion to trail the ground. "And books, too? Whoever did you convince to give you a tour?"

Kei rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Oh, I believe his name was Eduard? One of the Prince's servants. He works with the Prince's studies so he gave me a tour, we seem to have a lot in common, Eduard and I." He said, barely even relising the smile on his face, or the way is hands twisted together in his lap.

The King hummed in amusement, watching the noble. "Yes, Eduard...he is the middle child of the three of them. Surprisingly well-developed, too, for someone his age." It was following this comment that the thought occurred to him that he didn't know his friend's age despite the things they'd talked about. He mentally shrugged it off and went back to his teasing. "Very intelligent . . . the only thing that he sincerely complimented when we brought him and his siblings here was the size of the library."

Kei laughed lightly, smiling and tilting his head, "I am sure thats not all he has said well about here. I know very well that he has, on multiple occasions, expressed to me how grateful and thankful he is that you personally saved him from a noble in the North." The revelation had the albino practically crowing and preening his feathers. "Kesesese! Really, now? Ooh, Kei my academic friend, you have just supplied me with the most interesting bit of gossip that I have heard in months!" The blonde didn't dislike him all that much then! 'Good. Now if I can just make him smile, I will have conquered another impassable obstacle!'

Kei stood, patting his king on the knee, "I should be off, your family should be here soon, and we may talk tomorrow, when we are both well rested." The King chuckled to himself as he gave his farewells to the former Western native, sprawling back into the soft cushions when he was again alone.

Ludwig was walking his Southern friend to his room, a relaxed smile on his face, the first in a while. "Feli . . . Thank you for coming tonight. You might not have saw it, but you helped me alot."

The brunette was smiling as well, glad that Ludwig seemed so improved after only a few short hours. "I did? Ah, thank you, even if I did not really do much..." Feliciano turned to face the blonde directly once they had reached his door and his arms snaked forward for a hug. "Older brothers are more important to us than they realize, I think. But it's events like what transpired tonight that make us younger siblings see that we make the same mistake with them, too."

Releasing the Prince and taking a small step backwards, the Southerner was unusually serious-looking. "I learned that lesson when Lovino saved me, and I saw his overreactions over my safety for what they truly were. I believe...I believe that you have learned the lesson now, too. Maybe now you understand the answer that I gave you, that day we met and sat in the gardens." Feliciano was so happy that his friend already seemed to be improving, but even more than that he was optimistic that the King and Prince would both be alright. "Never forget that. Okay?"

Ludwig nodded, feeling his throat tighten, cursing emotions in his head repeatedly, "Never, ever will, Dear Friend. I can never thank you enough for not only showing me this truth, but reminding me of it as well. I hope that the 'morrow will be good for the both of us, and that I finally get to meet that brother of yours." He smiled lightly, winking, before leaning down and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "May you have good Dreams, Feli."

The brunette smiled brightly and pecked both of his friend's cheeks in return. Lovino would lecture him to no end if he knew that the younger noble was showing such blatant disrespect for a Prince, and it just made it seem all the more right. He'd need to talk to the knight twins if he wanted to get Lovi to stay where he belonged - with his brother in this place. "Good dreams to you as well, Prince Ludwig. Ve~ dream of the pastry recipes that I will be testing for tomorrow's breakfast!" Giggling the noble waved before bouncing into his room.

Ludwig smiled and fought off the blush as he watched the happy noble prance away. He shook his head and chuckled, heading back to Gilbert. "Oh I do hope I am not late!"

This is going to be easier now that they have begun to reconcile, but still...Gilbert and I must be careful of which words we choose.' Alaric was lost in thought as he made his way toward his grandson's personal rooms, expression contemplative and his attention diverted to anticipating the conversation that loomed ahead.

Ludwig skidded around a corner almost running into his Grandfather, thankfully halting before he did, "Grandfather! You haven't been sent to get me have you? I was only showing Feli to bed . . ."

The older blonde was startled from his thoughts by the rushing Prince and instinctively held out a supporting arm as he scrambled to stop. Finally he noticed how close to Gilbert's rooms he had gotten while his attention was elsewhere. "No, I was just going there myself. My thoughts are distracting me. The younger Lord Vargas is in bed already? Usually he scurries around a bit longer...ah well, I will count it as a blessing." The aged royal smiled and tilted his head slightly. "Are you ready?"

Ludwig nodded and smiled, "I will be honest and say that I do not think Feli is acually sleeping, and that I am still confused as to what this 'meeting' is about, Grandfather. Didn't we discuss as the military needs we had?" Before the elder blonder could answere, Roderich came around the corner as well, having just put Hans to sleep, "Yes we have delt with that, but this is a much more serious matter."

"Let us go to the King's rooms first, shall we? This is not a topic to be discussed where curious ears could be listening." With that the advisor ushered the two younger men into the monarch's private suite. Smiling happily at the sight of his grandson lazily arranged on the sofa, Alaric sat in one of the two chairs placed across from the albino.

Gilbert slipped the book's pagemarker to the chapter he had just finished and tossed it onto the table nearby when his family finally showed up. "Time for a heart-to-heart chat, Grandfather?" The albino still didn't move to sit up, though - if anything he twisted into a more unusual position than before.

Ludwig nodded and followed the others in, sitting down at Gilbert's feet on the floor, letting Roderich take the other chair. "Heart-to-heart? Was this because of our fight? Oh, Grandfather, I am ok with it now. Honest, I have relised that family doesn't have to be blood."

Roderich nodded, running a hand through his hair, "That might be true Ludwig, but we still need to talk. No more secrets, no more fights, no more tension. I think that we should just come clean with . . . well everything. We can't let anything get between us, right? Grandfather?"

"Correct. Gilbert, I think it would be best if you told the story of how Ludwig came to us." The advisor stated, turning his attention to the Young King. Gilbert had sat up, feeling the seriousness of the situtation, "Alright."

(There is a missing scene here. Maddock never sent it to me, unfortunatly, but she did express to me a spazztic summary of what it was. Basicly Gilbert decieded to tell exactly what happened on the day his parents died, and they found Ludwig. I do not know how this happened. She only told me the bare basics, which were:

The king, Queen, and there two most trusted servents went on a small trip to visit someone. While there the Lady Serveant (Cail) had a child. Also during this time the Queen was about to have a child of her own.

On the way home there was a landslide that caught the carrige. Everyone but the Queen and the baby died in the impact. The Queen was quickly dying though and took the babe from his mothers dead arms and crawled away from the wreckage incase of another landslide. They were found by a local Merchant, who take the baby back to the castle as the Queens last request.

Gilbert was the one who met the merchant at the gate, and upon hearing what happened dashed away the the wreckage sight, as ironicly, it was very close. Alaric wasn't able to stop him in time before he saw all the wreckage and from that has swor that Gilbert was never quite the same. Thanks to the Baby looking strickingly similar to the royal family, Alaric decied to play him off as the Queen's child instead, naming him Ludwig and thats is how it all happened, Basicly anyway.

~Azzy)