Divided We Fall

United We Stand

by raihaikyo

Thank you all for reading and commenting!

Comments, question and suggestions (and I'll try working them into the story) are always welcome and appreciated.

-.-.-.-

PART XXV - Oath

-.-.-.-

Berlin, Soviet Union Embassy, November 20th, 1961

She had grudgingly agreed to watch over East Germany and really thought it was rather unnecessary. Nothing would happen to him at the embassy. Nevertheless it was a request from her brother and he had been really humble about it. This was more than enough motivation for her to do such a simple thing.

Belarus sat on the bed next to the patient and watched with a slight frown as Dr. Stefan Walzig did a checkup. "Why is he not waking up? We brought him here three days ago." When they had found him, the German had been frozen to the bone with horrible dark circles under his eyes and a lot thinner than she remembered. At that point, even she had felt bad for him. "Is he that badly injured?"

He looked a lot better now. Gone was the ghastly colour on his face. He still looked pale but that was his natural complexion. The dark circles were almost gone and his face was a bit fuller. What remained unchanged were the two sets of bandages around his chest and left shoulder.

"Yes and no." The medic replied looking up at her. "His body is healing incredibly fast compared to a human, but too slow by your standards. I think, it has more to do with the state of the country. The GDR was established only a short while ago. Beilschmidt does not have a solid foundation and it's affecting him."

Natalya nodded and reached out ruffling his white hair lightly. "He'll have one soon." She said with a smirk. "I might not be able to keep you away from my brother, but…I'll make sure you'll be useful."

True to her word she staid by Gilbert's side until her brother came back. "How are things?" he asked entering the patient's room on a late evening.

Natalya immediately put the book down that she had been reading and hugged him tightly. "Could be worse."

Ivan did not have time to put two bags down he had been carrying and just hugged her back as best as he could. "Are you alright?" he asked with a frown, then glanced over to the bed.

"I'm fine, but Beilschmidt isn't waking up." Letting go she looked up at him with a serious expression. "We might have a problem…"

He nodded disposing one bag on the floor. "I see…" he sighed giving her the other with a small smile. "This is for you."

His sister took it, her expression softening. "…pasiba*." While Ivan went to the bed she looked inside the bag. It was filled with sweets that you could only buy in Moscow. Smiling even more she went over to him wrapping an arm around his shoulder and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Vanya, what do we do now? He's better, but not enough to wake up and…the Assembly is in less than four days."

"I'll need to talk with Walzig." He replied to her question, but his mind was more focused on Gilbert. Reaching out he gently brushed the white hair from his forehead. This really was a problem. On the one hand Ivan wanted Gilbert to stay here and wake up on his own. On the other, he had no choice, but to comply with the orders of the First Secretary to gather all the nation spirits associated with the USSR.

"You think, he can do something?"

"He'll have to…

Berlin, November 21st, 1961

The voice of the man was incredibly hesitant when he finally said. "I'd rather not do this."

"And you think I want to? I would have waited!" The other replied raising his voice lightly in frustration. " I don't …" He sighed brushing a hand through his hair. "But I just don't have a choice. It is impossible to postpone and we have only two days...you have to do it, Walzig."

The medic, whose field were physical embodiments of countries, let out an exasperated sigh glancing towards a hospital bed behind them. As a healer he felt like he was failing. Instead of helping a patient, he was about to put him under a lot of strain just to keep up appearance for political games.

"Walzig."

"I know, damnit!" he growled going over to the bed. "This is the only time I'm doing this. Don't ever ask me for something like that again…USSR..." The older man stood in front of his patient and pulled a black thin box out of his white medical coat. "I save lives, not endanger them." He was well aware, the Russian cared for the embodiment of the GDR and was not to blame for this situation, but Walzig needed to vent his frustration somewhere. Ivan Braginski was the unlucky victim.

Ivan's posture tensed when the man called him USSR and not his personal name. This just showed Stefan Walzig was angry and did not agree with his request as a doctor. Ivan knew the man was going against his principles. As a doctor you swore'to do no harm'. "I'm sor-"

"Just… come here," Walzig interrupted while taking out one out of three syringes before putting the box back in his coat's pocket. "You'll need to hold him down. Understood?" Placing the syringe between his teeth to have both hands free the medic unbuttoned the patient's shirt revealing a bandage around his upper chest and left shoulder. "This is a temporary solution. If he were human his heart would give out in no time, but as a nation spirit...the side effects will be less severe." The medic explained while feeling with his fingers for a good place to inject. "You'll need to watch and let him rest if possible or his body will break down again."

Ivan approached the bed as well. "What exactly is it?"

"An experimental high performance drug." (1) His trained fingers found a good place, but he looked up at the other man before doing anything. "Now hold him down…"

The Russian did as he was told. The doctor pierced fair skin and then quickly stepped away.

Ivan looked at the medic with a frown when nothing happened. "Why do I have to hol-"

Gilbert's eyes snapped open and half of his body lifted itself off the bed with a shuddering gasp.

"Hold him! Hold him down!" The medic shouted grabbing both of his legs pushing them down on the mattress.

"Da, da, I'm trying. I can't do more than this or I'll hurt him." Ivan growled pushing Gilbert's upper body back down.

The patient struggled at first trying to kick the medic away and again lifted his body half-way off the bed. Ivan had to use his full force to push back. "Gilbert! Calm down!"

"He can't help it. It's the drug. Just keep him down." Walzig growled letting him go and grabbed his hand to check for his pulse.

The injured could not keep struggling for long and his resistance subsided slowly, until he completely lay still. Gilbert's eyes were half- open, chest heaving quickly as he was gasping for air from the sudden exertion.

Ivan immediately let go of him and leaned down with a worried expression. "Gil?"

"Give him some space to breathe…" Walzig pushed the Russian a bit back and quickly checked the man's eyes. "He'll come around in a minute. Don't forget we forced him to wake up. His reactions will be slow at first."

He nodded watching his friend's every breath and tiny move. "I'm really sorry…" Curling his hands into fists Ivan bit his lower lip. Here he was using Gilbert's weakness to pump him full of drugs to keep up appearances. It was his own stupidity and not enough foresight that had landed Gilbert Beilschmidt in this state. He should have known the GDR leaders would be shrewd enough to hurt their own nation spirit for their own benefit. They had done something similar to Prussia and his younger brother during the war. The tiger could change its stripes, afterall.

"You do realise the state he's in now is not your doing." The medic commented while checking his patient's pulse again. Gilbert was breathing rather fast and had curled both hands into fists.

"I should have…" Ivan growled.

Walzig saw him glare at the wall, but his eyes had a faraway look. The embodiment was seeing something that he could not.

"All present politicians are remnants of the previous regime. They will never…"

That particular tone of voice and it was probably just his imagination, but the room suddenly seemed to get 10 degrees colder. It made a shiver run down his spine. Walzig had heard stories about General Winter, but had found it difficult to believe and attributed it to the wild imagination of desperate soldiers. (2) Once he noticed small puffs of his own breath slowly rise up and disappear did his brain start to slowly consider other possibilities. The same happened to the patient. Gilbert's breath was visible too and his eyes were slowly looking towards the Russian.

It looked like Ivan himself did not notice what he was doing and only tightened his fists. "…I won't make that mistake again."

The bottle with water as well and the glass next to it started developing frosty spots indicating the temperature had fallen below zero. "Braginski…what are you doing?" Walzig asked with chattering teeth. Was it really possible he could influence the weather?

"I…van…s-stop…" Gilbert croaked moving his hands and slowly started to lift himself up.

Ivan barely heard the medic, too caught up in his thoughts. As soon as Prussia called his name he lost focus and moved to the bed helping him to sit up instead. The cold air gradually started to disappear. Walzig looked around, a bit lost at how exactly the nation spirit of Russia had almost frozen the whole room.

"Don't…freeze us…" The patient commented between coughs and grabbed Ivan's arm for support.

"Freeze?" Ivan asked with a frown and looked around. His eyes fell on the bottle on the nightstand next to the bed. Instead of liquid water, there was just an ice block. Another look at Walzig and the slight blueish tinge on his lips told him he had momentarily lost control. "Oh…"

"You…got angry." Squeezing the Russian's arm lightly Gilbert leaned over pushing his forehead against Ivan's chest. "Eyes hurt and…my head is killing me…what happened?"

"Sorry," Ivan mumbled giving their medic an apologetic look. When the other spirit mentioned he was in pain and inquired for the possible reason, Ivan glanced back at Gilbert. What was he supposed to say?

"I had to wake you. It's been more than four days since you were freed from Hohenschönhausen." Walzig explained omitting the fact for now that Gilbert had become a guinea pig for experimental drugs. "Letting you sleep longer than that is not possible."

Gilbert's grip tightened at the mention of the prison and he sighed. "Why not?" Sleeping to get rid of this headache from hell sounded like a good idea right now.

Walzig did not answer this question preferring to close the curtains in the room instead.

"The UN General Assembly…is in two days," Ivan answered instead. "Khrushchev insisted that the whole USSR is present. I'd rather you sta-"

"I'll attend!" Gilbert cut in. "I want to see you wipe…that burger eating bastard's smile off his face and make him uncomfortable." For one, he hated the nation spirit of the US and wanted to see him suffer in any way possible. The second reason for wanting to attend the Assembly was the opportunity to see his brother again. Even if they did not have the chance to talk, just seeing him would already mean a lot.

Ivan smiled hearing him talk about America. "I'll do my best then."

"The curtains are closed. It should be better now for your eyes." Walzig said eyeing the frozen bottle and tapped it lightly. The liquid had indeed frozen completely "I thought it was just superstition about you and General Winter."

"It's true." The Russian grinned still holding onto Gilbert, although the room was dark enough for him not to hide his eyes anymore. "I don't advertise it, though." The stories of General Winter were more wide spread in Western Europe than in Russia itself. The few encounters that did exist were treated more like folklore among the population. Ivan considered that a good thing, than the alternative. Nobody needed to know that all of it was in fact very real. Those who really wanted to know how General Winter was like had to read the famous poem by Nikolay Nekrasov, Moroz Krasnyi Nos. (3)

Gilbert tried to listen to what they were saying, but the buzzing sound in his head made it difficult to hear. "Walzig…painkillers," he mumbled into Ivan's chest pushing his forehead closer, creating more pressure between them. "…now."

"Can he take any?" Ivan asked tangling one hand in the white hair. His fingers started gently massaging the top of Gilbert's head down to his neck before starting again. It often helped to ease many headaches and maybe for this one too.

"Should be fine." Walzig nodded heading for the door. "Give me a minute."

"You should lie down," The Russian suggested as the medic was leaving.

"It's fine, just…don't stop." Came the muffled reply and the grip on Ivan's arm tightened.

"Alright." The grip actually started to hurt, but he did not say anything. "I asked Khrushchev to leave you out of the meeting, but he insisted on the whole of USSR and its associates have to attend."

"What did you tell him?"

"The atomic tests had been conducted by Russia on Russian soil. It did not involve any other Soviet States. This meeting concerns more the US and Russia, not really others. But this will be held within the UN… so, Khrushchev needs to show the USSR is a unity. We all must go."

"Ja…I'm awake now so…might as well go." He sighed trying to relax as Ivan's fingers were threading through his hair at a steady pace. The gentle movements against his scalp helped relieve the pain a bit and it just felt good to have the person he trusted close to him. "They all…will accept the existence of the GDR. Attending the assembly is the way to do it."

You sound just like him, he thought. As Gilbert rested against him, Ivan's hand went still and he closed his eyes. The German assumed he had woken up on his own. He owned him the truth. "Gilbert…" he began, wondering how the man was going to take the news. "You didn't wake up on your own. Walzig had to use medication."

Gilbert immediately lifted his head at that narrowing his eyes. "What kind?" Drugs that were meant to enhance certain abilities were nothing new to him. The wartime period had made sure of that.

"I only know it is some kind of high performance drug. It woke you up and will let you function normally for several days," Ivan told him everything that he knew. "This is on me. I told him to do it, despite his disagreement. I want you to rest, I really do, but…I have no say in this matter. You have to attend the Assembly and there are only two days and we need to fly to New York tomorrow and meet up with the rest of the Sov-" The Russian wanted to say more, but Gilbert had let go of his arm and covered his mouth instead. (4)

"Stop." he said calmly still keeping his hand where it was and looked at his eyes. "You're rambling, you know."

Ivan stopped talking and just nodded.

"You did what you had to, Ivan."

Letting out a heavy sigh, he took Gilbert's hand and lowered it, but did not let go. "If I had known earlier about Ulbricht's plans…all this would not have happened." He avoided mentioning the prison's name on purpose not wanting to remind him of it.

"You can't possibly know everything. Forcing a country to sign in such a way had never been done before. No one could have foreseen something like that." The German returned. "Besides, the GDR is my job, not yours. It was right to go to the meeting…it ended not in the way I wanted it, but…now I know, the bastards are willing to do anything to get more power. I won't forget that when dealing with them in the future."

"Still…I want to apologize for using experimental drugs on you. I know…it happened before." Ivan was not planning to let this conversation go just like that. Gilbert was the last person he would have used it on and felt guilty for doing so.

"Then your apology is accepted." He saw the determined look in Ivan's eyes and knew if they continued this conversation it might end in an argument. It was not worth it. Although, he was not feeling tired at all, probably because of the drugs, his head just hurt so much. Concentrating was not that easy and he did not want to argue. "Stop blaming yourself." Gilbert hid his face against Ivan's chest again. "…and continue."

Ivan could not help himself showing a slightly surprised expression at the sudden order from the German. "Your head?"

He curled his hand around the fabric of Ivan's sweater. "Da…" he said softly. "Your hand...helps a bit."

He wrapped one arm around him while he other resumed massaging his head carefully.

Gilbert immediately leaned his head into the touch.

"Gil?" He inquired, a bit surprised by the unusual behaviour. His moves had something desperate. "A penny for your thoughts?"

"Just…stay like that…" Was the only reply he got as Gilbert closed his eyes with a sigh.

His behaviour was odd and Gilbert avoided talking by giving short answers. Ivan glanced down trying to see his friend's face. The silver hair and his own chest were obscuring everything. "Alright," he just agreed. It was probably not the right time yet to talk.

Being held captive an entire week with barely any normal human contact reminded Gilbert how important physical contact really was. He appreciated even a simple handshake, but having a person who would hold you just because you wanted to be was even more meaningful. "Spasiba…"

A small smile appeared on Ivan's face. "Anytime…" Holding him closer he kissed the top of his head lightly. Maybe words were not even needed right now.

"…never go…Rossiya*…," the German mumbled as his grip on Ivan's shirt tightened.

Ivan closed his eyes and continued to brush through the soft white hair. "I'll do my best, Prussiya*."

"These drugs…whatever they are…suck…" Gilbert commented after a moment of silence. "...head is killing me."

"You just woke up more or less from a coma, Beilschmidt. Having a headache is really only a minor issue." The medic said coming back in with a package in his hand. "These should relieve the pain a bit." Taking one pill from the package he put the rest on the table next to the bed. "I'll have to get another bottle." The one on the table remained frozen.

"Sorry about that." The Russian said with a sheepish grin.

The doctor said something under his breath in German that sounded similar to 'strange embodiments' and left the room again.

"So…remind me where this Assembly is again and what exactly are we going to do there?" Gilbert asked making himself more comfortable against the other man.

"Let's talk about this later." Ivan replied with a sigh. "You can barely concentrate with that headache as it is. I'll tell you all, but not now."

Ivan had a point. His head was too much of a mess to hold any decent conversations. "Alright, but…will you stay..." He really did not want to be alone right now, but was not going to admit it out loud.

"Da…I wasn't planning on going anywhere."

"Good…" The head massage really started to help and the muscles in his whole body relaxed a bit. It made him also sleepy.

"Gilbert? Did you hear what I said?"

"…what?" He blinked and looked up a bit with a frown. "You didn't say anything…"

The other man grinned. "Actually, I did. You dozed off, it seems, but never mind." Ivan started to disentangle himself and gently pushed him down. "You really should sleep."

"You need to rest if there is time."Walzig approached them with a new bottle in his hand. "Do try not to freeze it again, Braginski."

"Will do my best not to." The Russian took it and filled the glass before giving it to Gilbert with the pill.

Gilbert took it mumbling a 'thanks' and just closed his eyes with a sigh after draining a full glass of water.

"You should be feeling better in an hour or so." The medic informed him that his suffering would not be for long.

He just nodded his head acknowledging the information, but other than that looked listless and lay back down throwing a hand over his eyes. The curtains were drawn, but he could feel blood pumping to his eyes and it hurt when he moved his head. Waiting for an hour was going to be torture.

"If anything happens, call me." The medic said before leaving the room to attend his other duties.

"Ivan…do you think, will we… ever have a break?" Gilbert asked with a heavy sigh feeling old and so very worn out.

"What do you mean?" The Russian sat closer to the fair-haired man pushing the arm away from his face.

Painful red eyes looked up at him from under the arm. "A time when we don't have to fight for our existence and can just relax. I've been…fighting for almost 100 years. I…need a break."

Ivan closed his eyes having no answer to that. Russia had been fighting for his right to exist ever since opening his eyes to the world and become aware of what he was. There had been occasional moments of peace, but ended with another attempt to invade him. "Prussia," he called him by his old name and took the injured hand in his. "You don't have to fight all alone anymore." He changed the meaning of Gilbert's sentence into something positive.

A smile slowly appeared lightening up his eyes and whole face. Ivan did no say it explicitly, but the meaning was clear. The larges nation in the world would have his back. Gilbert used Ivan's hold and pulled Ivan down to him. "Thanks…USS-."

"No, I mean this both as Ivan and Russia." He corrected him. "I'll be there, if you will have me."

He felt the heat creep up to his cheeks and nodded before looking away. "…thanks." He could not possibly say: 'I want you'.

Ivan smiled back seeing the blushing cheeks. "Sleep. I'll wake you if there is something important."

"Lie with me." Gilbert closed his eyes for a second, then moved to the side making space. He really did not want to be alone right now.

Ivan pulled his shoes off and lay down next to him. The bed had been designed solely for one person and they had to lie close against each other. He had to laugh a bit at that.

"Hmm?" Gilbert opened his eyes looking right into Ivan's.

"Maloyaroslavets." He really needed to say only one word and the Prussian grinned laying his head close to Ivan's neck.

"I think…I was dreaming about it…I mean, the war."

"You were and about Tilsit. You said a couple of things in your sleep." Ivan informed him raking his fingers through white hair. "The word 'Froschfresser' is still very vivid in my mind and 'Fritz hätte dich schon längst erschossen' too." The Russian tried to say the German words as best as he could.

That earned him a snicker from the other man, but then his fingers tighten around the fabric of the Russian's shirt.

"Gil?" He looked down seeing a fist clutching and the mop of white hair was obscuring Gilbert's face.

"I haven't visited him for years…I want to go." Once a year. Every year, without fail on January 24th he would lay down flowers on the grave of his king. The last time was in 1945 in the middle of the war. After that, he had not been able to go until now. He had felt guilty about it, because that was breaking the promise he had made to his king on his deathbed.

Ivan did not need an explanation about who it was. He knew all too well. "Then we'll go if you want to."

Gilbert looked up. "You…want to join me?"

"If I may…" He mumbled against his ear.

"I'd like that." Closing his eyes again, he sighed resting his head on Ivan's upper arm. "Danke…"

The Russian did not reply and just held him closer while watching the other man drift off again. It was done violently, but Ivan was relieved the other man was finally awake. "Spokoinie nochi...dorogoi.*" He whispered kissing his forehead almost out of reflex.

-.-.-.-.-

See You In Part 26!

Additional Information:

(1) High performance drugs are certainly not a recent development. During WWII, amphetamine and methamphetamine was extensively used by both Allied and Axis forces for their stimulant and high performance effects.

Amphetamine was first synthesized by 1885 in Germany. At around the same time a Japanese organic chemist isolated ephedrine (also a stimulant). A couple of years later methamphetamine (central nervous system drug) was synthesized from ephedrine. I am of the opinion that both Gilbert and Ludwig were definitely fighting in the war, but with different motivations and beliefs (what their motivations were will be mentioned in future chapters and I plan on writing one-shot stories about them). During WWII, Germany was fighting on several front lines at the same time. So, it would make sense that both brothers had to use stimulants at some point to get through it all.

I just use this information as inspiration for this story and have no idea how these kind of drugs really work.

(2) General Winter: Just as mentioned in this chapter, is a reference to the winter climate in Russia, which was the contributing factor to many military failures of invading Russia.

(3) Nikolay Nekrasov wrote a poem called 'Ded moroz krasnii nos'. It is a realistic and cruel poem that describes the winter season in Russia and how it freezes people to death. It would fit General Winter well. In the anime, little Ivan calls upon him when he really needs help. Other than that he looks like a strict, scary and very powerful ally that he has who will always protect Russia.

(4) 16th UN General Assembly (1961 – 1962) was held in New York. The very first session took place in London. The next were each time in a different city. From 1952 it got a permanent residence in New York.

Translation:

(Russian)

* 'pasiba: short form of 'spasiba' (спасибо) which means 'thanks'

* Da (да): yes

* Spasibo (спасибо): thanks

* Rossiya (Россия): Russian way of pronouncing 'Russia'.

* Prussiya (Пруссия): Russian way of pronouncing 'Prussia'.

* Spokoinie nochi, dorogoi (Спокойные ночи, дорогой): good night, 'dear' / beloved.

(German)

* 'Froschfresser': Frogeater

* 'Fritz hätte dich schon längst erschossen': Fritz would have shot you a long time ago

* Danke: thanks

Reviews:

Amber: Thank you so much! I really try to do Belarus justice in this story. As a character, she does have a lot of depth and not this crazy brother obsessed freak. Well, she can be crazy of course, but in certain circumstances. I really am glad to hear to like her! ^^

Belarus' relation to Ludwig / Gilbert really is an interesting angle. I want to give Belarus more depth in this story, so taking this aspect will definitely add to that. Although this is a RusPru centric story, I still want to include her in here too. As you noticed in this chapter even with Gilbert waking up or rather the way he woke up shows it won't get any easier for him. I hope, I can write a chapter soon when he just gets to relax, poor thing. XD

Like many, I only know the famous scene of Khrushchev banging his shoe, but I had no idea he visited before and did really simple and even funny things like visiting Disneyland. I will definitely and absolutely watch Khrushchev Does America'. I love to see different sides and perspectives of people, who had great importance in history. Thank you for telling me about it. And yes, one of my mother tongues is Russian, you're right (probably that's why my big interest in Russia's history).

I'm actually so happy and relieved it is cooler now and there was even rain! I started reading up on the UN Assembly of 1961 and writing more again for this story.

Soranomori: The GDR did have its own socialist culture, which was based off the USSR, but still with a lot of its own local characteristics like in all countries that were part of the Soviet Union. Belarus understands wants to make sure that her brother will be fine and gives him advise more or less how to tie the GDR to the USSR. In a way, she thinks tactics. ^^

As for Gilbert waking up, this chapter is the answer and I'm already working on the Assembly Part.

Thank you for stopping by again!