Shinigami-cat: Well I hope you are all well! I've developed a cold… I know… fun huh? Anyway… I OWN NOTHING!

Bruises and Scars

Gilbert's legs felt heavy and his body felt sluggish. Where he was was dark and unnatural. He felt like he was in purgatory. He couldn't open his eyes, but he could hear everything around him like static in the radio.

"Is he awake yet?" asked a heavily accented French voice.

"Get the bloody hell out of surgery, frog!" hissed a British voice, "He fractured his skull and I'm just finishing up the stitches."

'What the hell is that?' Gilbert thought. 'What happened? Where am I?'

"But… Why does he look like him?"

"Like I know everything! Piss off, frog! Go on! Get out!"

'Shut up, Arthur…' Thought Gilbert. 'Leave Francis alone… Wait a second… Arthur and Francis? WHAT?'

"Fine, I'll go…" muttered the French voice, "Just give him something to help him sleep, okay?"

"Fine. Just get the fuck out, you wanker." growled the British voice. Gilbert could feel something like an oxygen mask press against his face, a rush of air and then everything felt numb.

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Gilbert groaned and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a cream coloured ceiling dotted with grime. 'What the hell happened?' He slowly sat up, leaning on his elbows. The sudden elevation caused his vision to blur and his head to start swimming. 'Fuck…'

He sighed and laid down again. He quickly glanced around the room, seeing a few makeshift hospital-like beds lined up against the walls, bed side tables with bottles of pills, and even the straps used to restrain the more psychotic patients were attached to the sides of some of the beds. He concluded that he was in some kind of hospital. With a heavy sigh, Gilbert decided to try and get back to sleep to try and eliminate his headache. He was almost asleep when someone started shouting.

"Bloody hell! That stupid wanker ran off again!" Growled a familiar British accent. Gilbert opened his eyes and almost screamed. Standing in front of him was Arthur-but-not-Arthur. He looked just like Arthur down to the giant eyebrows, but he was older. The Arthur look-alike saw that Gilbert was awake and sighed, "Okay, I'll keep this simple. I'm England and you're obviously not Prussia. You don't have that stupid eagle tattoo on your neck. I know, I've checked. So, who are you and have you seen an idiot walk by?"

Gilbert's eyes went wide. So this was Canada's dad, an alternate version of Arthur Kirkland. That explained the whole Kirkland Manor thing. "Um… I'm Gilbert. I'm from a parallel universe. Where the fuck am I."

Before England could answer, the sound of something shattering from another room made them both jump, "Found that idiot." hissed England. He walked out of the room and quickly came back with a man with blond hair and a bandage wrapped around his eyes. He looked just like Alfred. "Bloody idiot! Stay in bed until your bloody eyes grow back!"

"Come on, England!" whined the American, "The hero needs to get out there to save the day!" He pulled himself out of England's grip and walked into a wall.

England face palmed and grabbed the American by the ear, "You'll fall off your bloody eagle again, America!" snapped England, "And when that happens, I'm not going to drag your mutilated carcass back here!"

"Ouch! Stop it!" yelped America, "That hurts!"

"Then you'll think twice before trying to engage Hunter in a dog fight!"

America pouted, "But the hero needs to get revenge for what Hunter did to Freedom!"

"You're talking in third person again, you twat." hissed England. He led America over to an empty bed and pushed him onto it before proceeding to tie him to it with leather straps. The whole thing was highly amusing to Gilbert, "Now you're not leaving this bloody bed again until you can either use sonar to move around or your eyes grow back!"

"But I'll get bored." whined America, "The hero needs company!"

"Talk to Gilbert!" Snapped England before storming out of the room.

When he was gone Gilbert took a moment to assess the situation; he was in a room with America, this universe's version of Alfred. The last time he had seen Alfred, he had outed him as a cutter in front of the whole school. Naturally, he didn't want to be anywhere near him. But he was happy that America was alive. Now Canada wouldn't be so upset.

A horrible wave of fear washed over him. 'Shit! I still don't know where Canada is!' His heart started to beat painfully in his chest and his head started to throb painfully. 'Fuck…'

America seemed to grow tired of the silence, "Hello? Gilbert? Are you really there or are you one of England's fairy friends?"

"Call me a fairy again and I'll rip out your eyes out! Oh, wait, someone beat me to it." snapped Gilbert as he clutched his aching head. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

America grinned, "Cool. Are you German? I can kind of hear it in your accent. Do you think you could undo these straps? England means well, but he's a total idiot. I can move around just fine."

Gilbert frowned and shook his head, not realizing that America couldn't see him. "Okay, firstly, I'm Prussian. Secondly, you walked into a fucking wall! Thirdly, how the hell can your eyes grow back?"

America shrugged, "I'm a country. I don't get hurt the same way humans do. Speaking of which, why are you here?"

Gilbert frowned and looked down at his hands. "Well… I um… I was fighting when Hunter tried to kill me, but Canada… He distracted him and I…" A wave of sorrow and regret washed over him, forcing him to breathe sharply, "I tried to find him… But I lost him…"

America nodded slowly,"So you're saying Hunter almost killed you? Dude, I can't believe you're still alive."

"… You missed the part about Canada." deadpanned Gilbert.

"Canada…?" muttered America. Suddenly he gasped, "Canada! He's back? Shit, man! I thought he was never coming back! What the hell happened? You said Hunter and him were fighting again? Fuck! Where is Canada? Is he alive?"

"I don't know!" snapped Gilbert in frustration, "I knocked myself out before I could find him!" He hated himself. What if something had happened to Canada and he was lying dead in some ditch? The thought terrified him. If Canada was gone… It was just like Matthew all over again.

"Shut the bloody hell up!" snapped England as he walked back into the room.

"But Canada might be dead!" cried America.

England rolled his eyes and smacked America in the head, "Shut up, twat. I have no time for your stupidity! Seventy or so people are dead, twice as many are seriously injured and don't get me started on how low our resources are!"

"But Canada!" cried America once more.

"Canada is with the frog!" screamed England, his face now red with anger, "So stop bitching and stay still!" He turned to Gilbert who was now freaking out slightly at the raging Brit.

"You," He growled, "follow me."

Gilbert gulped and quickly got up, but as soon as he did, his head started pounding and his vision went blurry again, "Fuck." He hissed, "What happened to me?"

"You fractured your skull." Said England simply, "Nothing a few stitches and some powerful antibiotics can't fix. Now move it." Gilbert nodded and slowly followed England out of the room, stumbling slightly as he struggled to keep his balance.

Once they were out in the hall, England sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Gilbert nervously played with the hem of his shirt, "Um… So what's up?"

England frowned and crossed his arms, "How did you get here?"

"Um… magic." muttered Gilbert, "It was an accident, really. Some stuff happened and then I ended up here… Canada's been helping me out… Making sure I don't die and stuff… What happened to him?"

England sighed and started to walk down the hall, "He's fine. He's still alive. Let me guess… You think that I'll just magically click my fingers and you'll go back to your own universe? Was that the plan?"

Gilbert nodded, "Something like that, I guess…"

England's eye twitched ever so slightly, "Well… That's just… Bullocks. Like I don't have enough to deal with at the moment!"

"It's not like I wanted all this to happen either!" growled Gilbert. He leaned against the wall and sighed, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Fine." sighed England, "What do you want to know?"

"Um, earlier… I'm guessing you were stitching my head up or something…" Gilbert muttered, "Anyway, I heard a familiar voice…"

"The frog." said England. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Okay, then… As you've realized by now -or at least I've hoped you've realized- there are copies, so to speak, of people you know. If the frog you know is a blond, flirtatious, French wanker, then it's probably someone you knew."

Gilbert nodded slowly, "So does that mean that I might meet a version of my bruder here?" He asked hopefully.

England shrugged, "Perhaps… Is your brother blond, blue-eyed, strict, and German?"

Gilbert's eyes widened and he nodded, "Ja! That sound like him."

"You should stay away from him for a while." suggested England, "Germany has enough to deal with without finding out that there's someone that looks and acts like his brother around here."

'Oh…' Thought Gilbert sadly. 'I guess that's a good idea… I mean he isn't technically my brother, right? He's Prussia's brother… But it would be awesome to see what Ludwig would look like when he's older.'

England looked at Gilbert's sad expression and felt his heart melt slightly for the boy, "So, um… How did you get here?"

"An accident." said Gilbert again, "It was all my fault, too… Where's Canada? You said with the 'frog', who I assume is Francis in my world, but is France in your world… Damn that's so confusing. It sounded so much better in my head… Anyway, Canada is with France right?"

England shrugged, "Well, France said that Canada wanted to see that bloody polar bear of his… So he's probably at the stables. Follow me."

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England led Gilbert through several winding passageways and through multiple rooms. As they walked, Gilbert noticed different people, many he didn't recognize and some he did, but they were all bandaged up and covered in wounds. He tried his best not to notice the looks that some people were giving him.

He kept his head down and followed England as closely as he could. 'Shit… Do I look that much like Prussia? Who the fuck am I kidding? I look just like him.'

After a while, they came to a large wooden door. England quickly turned around to face Gilbert and frowned deeply. "Okay, I'm not going to lie to you. Canada is in pretty bad shape. His rib cage was shattered and he got stabbed in the throat so he won't be able to speak that well."

"What?" cried Gilbert in shock, "How the hell-?"

"Hunter." interrupted England darkly. He pushed open the door, "I have to go back and check on America. God knows if he's managed to break out of those bloody restraints and walked out a window… again. You'll be fine on your own, right?"

Gilbert nodded, "Sure." He walked into the stables and closed the door behind him.

The stables seemed like a regular horse stable, but for giant horses. There were huge piles of hay, large oversized shovels and other barn equipment. This made Gilbert slightly uneasy. Who knew what kinds of animals were living in here? He cautiously walked over to a stable and looked inside where a giant eagle was snoozing in an oversized nest.

'Must be Freedom.' thought Gilbert.

He looked into the other ones and was surprised, but not shocked, at the exotic array of animals; dragons, griffons, giant birds, a three headed dog, an oversized bull, horses with six legs, a couple of bears, and finally a polar bear.

Kumajirou was curled up on a bed of hay in his giant form while Canada was lying against him. He had thick bandages around his chest, dotted with blood. A bandage was taped to his throat and his skin was extremely pale. He even had dark circles under his eyes.

Gilbert cautiously walked over to Canada, his heart heavy with guilt, "Canada?"

Canada looked up at Gilbert and smiled, "Hey." He muttered. His voice came out as scratchy, rough and growly, "I'm glad Hunter didn't kill you."

Gilbert smiled half-heartedly and sat down in next to Canada, patting Kuma as he did so, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." He apologized, "If I did, Hunter wouldn't have gotten you… I'm so sorry."

"That's fine." rasped Canada, "Hunter's starting to become soft. This is nothing compared to what he used to do." He started to cough violently. When he was done, he wiped droplets of blood onto the bandages on his chest. "He stopped after he bit out my throat and turned my rib cage into a swinging door."

Gilbert's jaw dropped in shock, "He did what? How can you be so casual about this? What if he had killed you? How the hell did you even survive that?" He sighed and shook his head, "You should have just let him kill me. If he did, then you wouldn't be like this…"

"Don't." growled Canada as he slowly sat up, wincing in pain as he did so. Once he was sitting upright, he grabbed Gilbert's arm and looked into the albino's eyes with his intense violet ones, "Don't ever say that. I promised you that I would protect you." Another violent coughing fit wracked through his body.

Gilbert sighed and gently patted Canada's back. "I know… But sometimes you need to let others protect you, too."

"I guess…" rasped Canada, "So, have you met anyone yet? Besides Hungary and Austria, that is."

"I met Italy." said Gilbert, "Then I met England and America… But I think I heard France… Does he look like Francis? You know that guy you saw me with at that coffee shop once?"

Canada smiled and nodded, "Yeah. France looks like Francis. He told me that America was still alive. Pretty awesome, huh?"

Gilbert nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and I heard that Germany looks like Ludwig. I wouldn't mind meeting him some time."

"If you've met Italy, then Germany probably knows about you." said Canada. He closed his eyes and leaned against Kuma, "Let's deal with this tomorrow, okay? I'm too tired right now."

"Yeah." said Gilbert, "You've probably lost a hell of a lot of blood." He leaned against Kuma and sighed. Even though he was wide awake and not remotely tired, he just couldn't bring himself to pull himself away from Canada.

Canada smiled, "Yeah, probably." After a while, Canada was sound asleep against the warmth that Kuma was generating.

Gilbert smiled and gently brushed some hair out of Canada's face. He couldn't understand how anyone, demon or not, could do something so horrific to Canada. It was at that moment that he made a decision. 'I don't care if England finds a way to send me back home. I'm not leaving until I have Hunter's cold, lifeless heart on a platter. I won't let Hunter hurt him again.'

TBC

Shinigami-cat: Yay! America's alive! Gilbert's okay! Canada's… not dead… Please review.