Chapter 41

Gil breathed deeply, peacefully. He frowned suddenly, the beeping of hospital machines boring into his mind. He opened his eyes, looking around the room. He had an IV in his arm. He sat up, coughing hard, pulling the tube from his throat, gasping. He looked around the room again, almost frantically. He looked down at his bruised and track marked arms, suddenly realizing he was wearing a hospital gown instead of the blood-soaked button-down from the night before. He turned to his side, looking almost behind him. Cort sat on a chair, staring at him with a blank expression.

"W-where am I?" Gil asked, still confused.

"In a hospital."

"Which. Hospital?"

"I don't know, a normal, regular old hospital!"

"Nyet…" Gil shook his head, pressing his hands into his forehead, looking back at Cort, "You brought me to a human hospital!?"

"Where else was I going to take you?" Cort sat up more, irritated. He wouldn't admit that he was scared.

"What did they do to me?"

"They took you into surgery for the bullets… I… I didn't tell them…"

"I don't care about that. I went into surgery? How long ago?" He felt at the bandaged bullet wounds in his chest and leg. They were less painful, healing quickly.

"You've been here two days."

"Two days!? Russia's going to kill me!"

Cort looked down, wrapping his arms around himself, worried.

"You brought me here yourself?"

Cort nodded, glancing up at Gil's arms, then looking away again.

"Cort…?" Gil sighed, looking at his own arms, crossing them, trying to hide the bruises.

Cort opened his jacket, revealing the small leather packet Russia had given Gil for the drugs, "I found these. I gave you some, based on the note inside… I've been giving you some every day while you've been here too. The doctors haven't been saying much to be about anything… I'm sure they've noticed your arms but…" He set the small case on the side table in the room.

"I'm sure they have much more to discuss about me than just the drugs," Gil rolled his eyes, "There's a reason countries don't go to human hospitals! Too many annoying questions to answer…" Gil shook his head, then looked back at Cort, "Are you all right?"

"Am I all right!? That's what you have to ask me!?" Cort stood, clenching his hands into fists. "I shot you, Gil… four times… and… and… and I still hate you. I do. I still hate you."

"I'm not arguing with you or blaming you. I deserve it. Hate me."

Cort stared at him for a moment, hands clenched into fists. He punched Gil's face, hard enough to split the skin on his knuckles.

Gil brought his hand to his cheek. The skin was in tact, but he would bruise. He looked back at Cort, noticing his bleeding hand.

"Someone should teach you how to punch so that doesn't happen." Gil sighed.

"I don't have anyone! You took away everyone I cared about, everyone I loved-"

"Cort, I'm over 600 years old, I know what it's like to lose people. Eventually, most countries just get smart and stop meeting humans, we stop interacting with humans, we stop letting humans hurt us when they die. Every human I have ever cared about has died. And every. single. death. you have to deal with in your family is because of me. I helped my brother drag our people into a war. A war where we did unimaginable things. Your father died in that war. My fault. Your sister, Bern, killed by Russian soldiers who were only in Berlin because. of. me. Your sister, Adelaide, is dead because I-"

"Stop it!"

"Because I killed her to save you! Then I shot myself with a prayer that you wouldn't have to live with trying to get revenge because to you I was already dead!"

Cort looked away, shaking, "W-what? Y-you what?"

"I said I shot myself so you would think I was dead. So the little brown eyed boy I'd grown to love like my own little brother, wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life trying to find me and kill me… so that you could… so that you could actually let go of everything that happened… no loose ends… not me… I didn't want to be your loose end." Gil looked into Cort's face, not letting himself cry. He wouldn't let himself cry.

Cort stared back, keeping his eyes fixed on Gil's. Their bright red shade used to scare him a little, but the pain behind them was almost more than he could handle. He closed his eyes, letting tears slip down his cheeks. "I-"

"I'm sorry, Cort. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for destroying everything you loved. I'm sorry. I'm just so so sorry…" Gil looked away, he couldn't watch Cort cry.

There was a long silence that neither of them wanted to break. Cort stood beside the hospital bed, arms crossed over his chest, looking down, trying to hold the tears back. Gil sat in the hospital bed with his hands pressed into his forehead.

Finally, Cort spoke, "I was ten years old Gil!"

Gil sighed, "I know…"

"I was ten years old when I watched you put a bullet in my sister's face… and then I watched you kill yourself. You were just lying there on the ground, and there was so much blood everywhere and…" Cort stopped, his breath catching in his throat. He brushed away the tears on the back of his wrist quickly, "I'll never be able to get her face, or yours, out of my head. Never…"

"Cort…" Gil whispered without turning.

"You were family, Gil! You were my big brother and I loved you! I cared about you and you-"

"Why did you bring me here?" Gil cut him off, quietly.

"What?"

"You could have left me bleeding out in my room. You could have finished me off and left me to die. You could have walked away and let the withdrawal nearly kill me… why did you bring me here?"

Cort didn't answer. "I couldn't watch you die again… When you passed out I held my gun over your face for so long… but I couldn't do it. Because I'm not like you…"

Gil sighed, shaking his head, "No. No, you're nothing like me. You're a much better man than I am…"

Cort looked at him, trying to keep the tears back, "I want to be nothing like you…"

"Good. Don't be. Don't be a d*** thing like me…" Gil glanced down at his arms before looking up at Cort, "You're a good kid. I always thought you were a good kid…"

Cort wrapped his arms around himself, looking away, "Everyone I loved, Gil… I'm alone… I… I don't…"

"Cort-"

Gil's words were cut off as the hospital door opened and a giant of a man walked in, his long tan coat just barely making it through the door before it slammed closed. Russia held a gun in his hand.

"Russia, what are you-"

Russia shot Cort through the knee, sending the young man to the floor with a shriek of pain as he clutched his bleeding leg. Russia walked up to him, grabbing his hair, pulling his head up and shoving his gun under his chin.

"Don't you dare steal my property!" Russia seethed, his eyes flashing.

Cort looked up at him, defiant, but terrified. He didn't struggle.

"Russia, don't! Please don't hurt him!" Gil shook his head, trying to sit up in the hospital bed, but he was still too weak. "Russia please…"

Russia didn't acknowledge Gil, glaring down at Cort.

"You're going to pay for this." Russia snarled. He knelt behind Cort, putting his hand over the boy's mouth, forcing his head back against his shoulder. He looked up at Gil, smiling. He emptied his gun into Cort's right leg, tearing it to shreds.

Gil shook his head, covering his face, trying to ignore Cort's muffled screams of pain.

Russia smiled, keeping his hand over Cort's mouth, "Now, you're going to leave."

Cort nodded, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"And if I ever see you on in Easter Berlin again, I'll toss your body over the wall myself, is that clear?"

Cort nodded again, struggling a little.

"Good, now get out of here," Russia stood, grabbing his hair again, forcing him to stand on his unbroken leg, his other dragging behind him.

Cort looked back at Gil, his face scared and angry. He forced himself out of the room, shuddering at the trail of blood that followed him.

Russia grabbed Gil's face immediately, "You're sloppy!"

"I didn't know he was here!"

"That's no excuse. You should have killed him the moment you saw him."

"Sure, make him a kid-martyr, that's a great idea," Gil rolled his eyes.

Russia struck him, hard, with the back of his hand, "Don't you ever talk to me like that again, is that understood?"

Gil nodded, keeping his head down.

"And you," Russia grabbed his face, turning it towards his own, "You let a 17-year-old take you down, and you've failed at everything else I asked you to do here? What do you think I should do about that?"

Gil didn't answer, looking down, trembling a little. He hid his hands under the sheets, not wanting to give Russia the satisfaction of seeing them shaking.

"I have something special to teach you about obeying me, how does that sound Ptitska?"

GDR nodded, shaking still.

…

"Russia please…" Gil begged as Russia tied his hands behind his back to a pillar. He'd been stripped to his shorts. He was freezing. The snow on the ground bit at his ankles. The sun beat down on his bare skin, bouncing off the snow, attacking his eyes.

"6 hours. After that, you can come inside, Ptitska, like nothing, ever happened."

Gil struggled, "Please, I'm sorry… I'll do anything you ask…"

"This is what I'm asking for! Don't worry, GDR, it's cold, but it won't kill you."

Gil looked down, shaking already, the icy wind nipping his skin as he trembled.

Russia smiled, patting Gil on the shoulder before walking inside, ignoring Gil's cries for mercy.

Gil shook more, looking around, squinting. The snow was bright against the midday sun. They were back at Russia's house, in front of his mansion. If it wasn't so deadly, it would have been beautiful. He struggled a little at the handcuffs around his wrists. They were only single locked, he could struggle without hurting himself more. They were still painful. He shivered, feeling his back growing hot as the sun assaulted his white skin. He closed his eyes, the light from the sun's bounce against the snow almost blinding him. His legs shook. He didn't think he could keep standing, but kneeling involved the snow gaining more contact with his skin. He figured it was worth it. He knelt. He was wrong. It was worse: colder. He shivered again. His eyes refused to stay open against the bright white light. He closed them, letting his head fall to his chest as he passed out.

…

Gil winced in pain, opening his eyes to see Lithuania rubbing a tan-colored cream into his arms and chest. He looked down at his body. He was burned, badly, his skin raised and red, blistered in many places. He shivered again, still cold. He moved his fingers and arms, they were ok. He was ok…

"How long was I…?"

"You barely lasted an hour out of 6 before passing out. I'm pretty impressed, to be honest," Lithuania said flatly.

Gil nodded, looking up at him.

Lithuania sighed, "he's becoming more and more of an expert in torturing people without leaving a mark. Though in this case I certainly hope you tan.

"I don't. I just turn from a lobster into… something that peels…? Anyway, that's what I am: pale."

Lithuania sighed, "Your back is worse."

Gil shook his head, sighing back, "I'm sure it is…" He looked up at Lithuania, "Thank you… for all your help."

"Gil…"

"What?"

"Gil, I'm sorry. I'm sorry and I forgive you. That's all," he said, almost awkwardly, and practically ran out of the room.

Gil watched him close the door behind him, and turned back to his shoulders. They hurt.

"Stupid sunburns…"

A/N: Wait, the author lives!? Yes! Yes, she does! Sorry guys, it's been PREEEETY crazy on set the past week and a half (we shot with over 30 extras for all of last week, and every day this week has 8+ people every day as well, more work for meeeee!) Cort and Gil are beginning to just barely start healing from the trauma they've both been through, which is great! But then... Russia... (obviously) And another very, VERY real torture used on Russian prisoners. Outside, standing in the sun for hours upon hours. This of course being especially cruel to Gil. Since his skin is so white, he's going to burn very easily. VERY easily. I'm quite sleep deprived at this point, so here's hopeing this chapter is loved by you all!

As always, reviews are so lovely and appreciated! They keep me excited to keep writing! Cookies and hugs and lemonaide for all of you! As well as some of our on-set snacks. I'll sneak some for you guys. ;)