Detective Wang looked exhausted when he arrived, late, to the station. He was holding a Styrofoam cup of coffee in one hand, a slightly shaking hand, and held files and papers in the other. There were more files under his arm, and he had to make two trips to retrieve a briefcase with even more papers and files. After issuing a friendly greeting to Roderich and being led to a conference room furnished with a white board, he began pinning photos and reports up, drawing lines between connections in the case and labeling each of the photos carefully.
"Detective." Gilbert said in way of greeting, receiving a distracted nod as he stood and watched the man work.
"Sorry for being late-there was more traffic than usual on the way to my son's school." The Detective said, drawing a careful line towards a collection of photos picturing the inside of a house, "I made sure to get as much information from the Micnats while I was interviewing them at the hospital while I was in there, I doubt we'd need to bother them any further." He referenced his head towards a pad sitting on the conference table behind him, carefully writing the address of the house under the photos.
Gilbert skimmed through the pages of messy yet organized writing, "There are four more kids?" Gilbert frowned, "I thought there was only one other boy."
Detective Wang shook his head, "Peter Micnat identified three more, and one of them is nearly an adult from what he could tell me."
"Could he not be an accomplice?"
"Peter says he's they were able to escape." Detective Wang said, capping his marker and finally turning to properly look in the direction of his conversation partner. "If he is an accomplice why would he do that?"
"Cold feet?"
Detective Wang frowned, but nodded slowly as he eased his notepad from Gilbert's hand and set it on the table, "Officer Beilschmidt… have you lived here long?"
Surprised at the turn in conversation, Gilbert took a moment to answer, "Around the area, yeah."
Detective Wang nodded slowly, but before he could continue Roderich and Vash entered the room, Roderich closing the door before turning and smiling amiably.
"Good morning Detective," He said, striding further into the room, "Are you finished setting up?"
Detective Wang turned to extracting a file out of his briefcase, "Nearly. Anything I don't pin up will stay in this room during the investigation I presume?"
"Of course, of course," Roderich said, distracted with reading what was already on the board.
When Gilbert caught Detective Wang eyeing him warily again he knew something was up. No specifics of the case had been discussed over the phone, besides a warrant being issued to the entire state of the one suspect they'd been able to identify. The Detective claimed he preferred to air everything out in person, but now he seemed hesitant to do so when Roderich invited him to begin as he sat down.
"Before we get started I feel there's something I should tell you." The Detective said, after an awkward moment of silence, his eyes locking on Gilbert, or more specifically, on his name tag.
"And that is?" Roderich frowned, watching from the office chair they'd dragged in.
"The victim list doesn't stop at the Micnat siblings and Mr. Bonnefoy." Detective Wang said, his voice even, "Peter and Wendy Micnat were able to identify three more victims while in the custody of their captors-"
"That's hardly new information," Gilbert snapped, self-consciously fiddling with his nametag, "You just mentioned that, and the fact some guy phoned in a tip that's looking more and more accurate over the phone."
"Yes, but I didn't mention names." Detective Wang was quick to say, turning and opening the file in his hand. He began pinning pictures to the room's whiteboard tensely, "We're also looking for Ivan Braginsky," A pale boy with violet eyes that held a cold yet childish expression, "Lovino Vargas," A computer modified picture of what an olive-skinned boy smiling at the camera would look like at eighteen, "And Ludwig… Beilschmidt."
Gilbert felt the room somehow begin to spin even though nothing was moving. The air had been sucked from the conference room and he felt lightheaded. He was afraid to move, afraid his knees might give out, so he locked them and stood rigidly still.
"Ludwig… Beilschmidt?" His voice cracked in different places, a hoarse whisper as his brain tried to process what he was seeing.
"Yes," Detective Wang nodded, "I… the surname isn't exactly common and when I saw your tag… I remembered looking over his file when this case first started-"
"You're telling me my baby brother is in a sex slave ring?" Gilbert asked, voice rigid and brittle.
Detective Wang was silent for a moment or two, but then he gave a solemn nod.
Gilbert wasn't aware he'd grabbed the pencil cup sitting on the conference table but he was aware of it leaving his hands as it sailed through the air, just passing Detective Wang's left ear and crashing into the office window. The sound caused several people on the other side of the glass to look up, a few craning their necks to try and get a look at what was going on.
"Gilbert!" Roderich cried, shooting to his feet and grabbing at his cousin's arm. Gilbert said nothing in his defense, merely yanked his arm free as his hands began to shake with rage. Red painted his vision and Roderich and Vash barely had enough time to lock their cousin in Roderich's office before Gilbert was kicking and screaming at everything in sight. Vash was trying to talk to him, Roderich having slipped back out as the lock clicked, but Gilbert couldn't hear any of it. He couldn't stop himself from throwing the knick knacks on the desk at the wall, smashing the cheap vase to the carpet, allowing water and dying plants to spatter all over. There was a ragged, rotting hole in chest, pulsating as it demanded blood but only received distruction. Gilbert tried his best to satiate it by throwing law books at the door, Vash barely having time to jump out of the way.
Nine years. Nine years Gilbert had been tearing the world apart looking for a brother he was terrified he may no longer be able to bring home. Nine years getting wasted at bars when the idea he was truly alone in the world became overwhelming, the memory of a smiling five year old more heart wrenching than heartwarming.
Nine years his brother had been manhandled by depraved men with sick, sick interests. Nine years Ludwig had spent locked in a world that didn't care if he lived or died, just that he was able to provide some bastard with a good time. Nine years and he was still in the same area this whole time! Nine years of torture and Gilbert could have saved him!
"Beilschmidt!" Vash was shouting, and it was now Gilbert was aware he was pinned to the floor by his partner, his own palm bleeding where it must have smacked down on a broken vase shard during their struggle.
Gilbert's lack of fight must have signaled to Vash he'd finally gotten his attention, because his partner fixed Gilbert with a determinedly cold, yet still broken look and eased back a bit to let Gilbert slide out from under him and back towards the office wall.
"Are you back?" Vash asked after a moment of silence between them.
"Yeah…" Gilbert whispered a moment or two later, his voice ragged. He was panting as the anger died in his veins and a heavy emptiness settled in its place.
"We're all upset, okay?" Vash said, "Don't you think I want to be smashing things up and screaming my head off? And what about Roddy? I've never seen him look so lost before Gil-"
"He's not your guy's baby brother!" Gilbert shouted.
"But he's still family!" Vash snapped nearly as loudly, "Gahl, why can't you ever understand that Gilbert? Ever! Don't you think Erika and I would have done something if you'd only thought to tell us how bad home was? Roderich would have been happy to let you and Luddy stay in his bedroom! You just had to reach out to us! That's what families are for!"
"I was doing fine on my own!"
"No you weren't!" Vash shouted, rising to his feet so he could tower over Gilbert, "You were doing horrible Gilbert and we could all see it! We just didn't know how bad it really was or we could have done something!"
Vash turned and in a moment of uncharacteristic rage, kicked Roderich's desk, the loud bang reverberating off the walls, "You never seem to understand! We're a family dammit! We were supposed to look out for you! We still are! You just have to let us in!"
He turned back to Gilbert, the fire leaving his face for a moment and a more sorrowful expression taking over, "We've only ever wanted to help you Gil," Vash said gently, "From day one you've always been a top priority between Roderich and I-and that was before we lost Luddy."
The words were nothing Gilbert hadn't heard in some version or another before, yet this time it seemed to be the key to releasing tears. His rage melted to anguish and he found himself curling in on himself sobbing like a small child. He jumped when Vash wrapped his arms around him, but accepted the familial contact as he fell apart harder than he had in a long time. All the while Vash whispered empty promises of things working out and reminders they would always be there for each other. Every word was probably heartfelt, but none of it magically brought his brother back to him so it did little to provide comfort.
Eventually when Gilbert managed to calm down, Vash sat back to assess his emotional state. They could both see Roderich watching from the door window, a tight and blank expression on his face.
Vash held his hand out to Gilbert, "Let's go find Ludwig."
"I will kill them." Gilbert snarled shakily as an answer, taking his cousin's hand, "I will kill them all."
When Ludwig had gone missing Gilbert had been too focused on finding his brother to truly breakdown. Then he'd been too busy trying to survive the hell that was his life to find a quiet corner and release that emotion.
Then he'd let it stew for years as he lived his life, going from punk to policeman and an overworked man teetering on the edge.
Roderich had watched it all, watched his cousin go from tired caretaker to distraught yet determined rebel without a cause. He'd long figured his cousin was headed for some sort of early grave or famous career in crime before he'd done a one-eighty out of the blue to become a cop. Then he was like something out of a crime noir novel, a tired and near-broken cop just one tragedy away from some sort of breakdown.
Finding out what had been happening to his little brother for nine years seemed to have been that trigger.
Honestly, Roderich could care less about his office (for the most part, someone would have to clean that up). He'd had the same inclination to cause as much destruction, but watching Gilbert snap like he had managed to leave Roderich simply feeling exhausted-and he'd only watched.
Vash was much braver than he, the blond man had stayed in the office with Gilbert, riding the tides of his rage and slowly inching closer to the man until he was able to restrain their cousin. Gilbert still managed to cut his palm on a broken piece of vase, but otherwise he came out of the tantrum unscathed. Roderich felt his throat constricting as the two embraced, and for a moment he felt true fear when Vash exhibited his own rage. But it was gone as soon as it had come, and the two were consoling one another.
Out of the corner of his eye, Roderich watched Detective Wang carefully walk from the conference room to stand beside him.
"I think, no matter where your investigation takes you, my cousin won't let this case rest until you find his brother." Roderich said as Detective Wang leaned against the wall at his side.
"Ludwig is your cousin?" the Detective frowned.
"Losing that kid inspired a drive for authority in all of us." Roderich shrugged, "Except for Vash, the blond one in there, I think he was always destined to be something that carries a gun and yells at people."
"Were you close?" Detective Wang asked, "To Ludwig, I mean."
"Somewhat," Roderich answered uneasily, "Not close enough to know everything that was going on, but we knew it was just the two of them against the world for the most part. I tried my best to look out for him after… after that."
Detective Wang nodded, watching the rest of the bullpen try not to notice something was obviously going on in the Lieutenant's office with the Lieutenant standing out there among them.
"I didn't realize Ludwig's family was here," He said, "I didn't even see his nametag until I started talking to him and by then we were already discussing details of the case."
"I've spent my life keeping that idiot in line," Roderich said, "You won't have to worry about him getting out of line, he's one of the most dedicated cops I've ever seen. And if he does start to stray, I'd be happy to kick him back into focus."
Detective Wang smirked, "That's good to know."
By this time Vash and Gilbert had stood up and were slowly putting what they could of the office back together. There was nothing to be done for the smashed vase so it and the flowers it had held ended up in the trash bin. The knick knacks had mostly been clutter Roderich hadn't known what to do with anyway, and to watch the damaged beyond repair ornaments and statuettes disappear the same way as the vase brought a bit of relief to Roderich. The books, the unbroken ornaments, and anything else that only needed straightening was soon done to the best of his cousin's ability (he could fix everything later), and they emerged spent but somewhat relaxed.
Detective Wang offered the both of them a patient smile and turned to head back to the conference room, Vash quick to follow.
Gilbert had been about to follow suit when he'd been stopped by Roderich grabbing his wrist. Confused, the cop turned to see his cousin looking a bit embarrassed but then rushing to embrace him as tightly as he could. The rest of the bullpen stared openly, and Gilbert stood rigid with surprise. Roderich tried to convey all his hurt and sympathy into the embrace, pressing their chests closer to somehow broadcast his own inner turmoil to the other. Slowly, he felt Gilbert's hands drag up his back to return the hug and the two spent a few quiet seconds only knowing each other before they released and turned to go. Gilbert, cheeky even when at rock bottom, turned and bowed to his comrades before disappearing through the door and Roderich could only muster an amused eye roll at his antics.
I honestly have no excuse to not be updating, anyway if anyone is still interested in this I am determined to finish it!
Also: for some reason the internet app on my phone wigs out when I try to get on this site, so updates and replies are from computer only-so it'll be slower than if you were reading on AO3 (I love that site omgosh...)