Chapter 6

Mid November 1946, Budapest, Hungary.

Elizabeta watched as the soup bubbled and brewed. All the vegetables she put in bobbed in the red broth. The smell of spices filled her nostrils, lingering. Her thumb stroked the wooden spoon in her right hand. It had been a week since Ludwig had shown up at her house and had been patched up by Roderich. The entire week Ludwig hadn't woken up. It was terrifying. Would he ever wake up? Or would he just sleep forever? Would he pass in his sleep? Why? Why won't he wake up? Elizabeta gripped onto the wooden spoon she held, her knuckles turning white. She was sick of making soup. She was sick of eating said soup. But she had to put up with it, it was the only way of feeding Ludwig. She inhaled a deep breath and exhaled.

She put the spoon into the soup and slowly stirred it. Making sure everything got thoroughly cooked. Her train of thought went off track once again. She looked out her window, the sky was painted with a mix of oranges and reds. It was a calming sight. Her eyes wandered over to her small garden. Another thing she missed doing. She always remembered helping her mother plant all kinds of fruits, vegetables and flowers in that small garden. She missed her parents, deeply. It had been three years since she last seen them alive. Elizabeta stumbled backwards, she placed a hand to her temple and leaned onto the small dining table. Her vision was spinning, and her head was pounding. She felt dizzy and lightheaded. Her eyes squeezed shut, trying to stop the spinning of the room and stop her head from throbbing from whatever caused it. This had been happening a lot recently. It had been hard balancing sleep with work, cooking and looking after Ludwig. She guesstimated of having 3 hours of sleep this week and she hadn't been eating properly either, she just wasn't hungry.

"Elizabeta!" Came Roderich's voice from upstairs. He probably wanted to know how much longer the soup would be or for her to bring up some medical supplies. She rubbed her eyes before hurriedly walking up to her room where Roderich and Ludwig were.

"How are you feeling?" She heard Roderich's soft whispers. Those were rare, he usually spoke with a cocky tone of voice never gentle whispers. The Hungarian walked into her room. Roderich was on his knees close to the edge of the bed both hands holding onto Ludwig's left hand. She looked over at Ludwig. His eyes were open. His baby blue eyes were looking around the room in confusion.

"Oh my god, Ludwig!" Elizabeta gasped, rushing over to the bed.

"Eliza…" The German croaked out, a small smile forming on his face. She sat on side of the bed that was empty and threw herself on top of the younger man.

"Careful, Eliza." Roderich warned, reminding her of Ludwig's life-threatening injuries. She held herself up a little, making sure she wasn't putting all of her weight onto the man underneath her. She felt a large hand slide up her back.

"I'm so glad you're alive, Ludwig." Elizabeta sobbed, burying her head into the crook of Ludwig's neck. Inhaling his smell. A wave of nostalgia hit her; heavy tears flowed down her cheeks. The hand that was on her back slowly moved up and stroked her hair.

"Me too…" Came his soft voice. His soft voice made her sob harder; she had never heard his voice be so quiet and enervated. He sounded so exhausted, even after from waking up from a week's worth of sleep. The amount of hell he would have had to go through just to get here was unimaginable. She lifted her head up and looked down at Ludwig, her hands coming up and cupping his cheeks.

"Ich liebe dich so sehr, mein kleiner bruder…" Elizabeta placed a chaste kiss onto Ludwig's forehead. Her and Ludwig were nowhere near related, but she felt like he was like a little brother to her. She felt inclined now to look after him like he was her own blood especially now since… He was gone. The Hungarian sat up and wiped her tears away before placing her hand over Ludwig's free hand.

"Do you remember how you got here? You were in such a poor condition; we were surprised you managed to get here alive." Elizabeta asked, her thoughts now being clouded with a very injured Ludwig nearly on the brink of death.

"Eliza…" Roderich growled, he glared up at her.

"Oh… You don't have to answer that… I just—" She began, not clicking that this was going to be a sensitive story for both Ludwig and Roderich. It was going to be an emotional topic for her as well, but she knew the story was going to end with a happy ending, since Ludwig was alive and in a stable condition.

"No, no… It's alright. I don't mind sharing." He frowned at Roderich. "Well… I guess it all went to shit when the allies had begun liberating Germany. They rounded all of us up and tried getting information out of us. It was terrible. They were… torturing us." Ludwig's voice quietened by the end.

"That's why you had stab wounds on your thighs…" Roderich mumbled, his head drooped. He was unable to look at Ludwig's face.

"Yes…" He woefully nodded. "But one night, a miracle happened. I don't know what exactly happened, but I called it a miracle. Something got the attention of the allies and most of us escaped because of the distraction. It was a quick miracle. They figured out what was going on and they caught up. They started shooting at us whilst we ran into the woods. I somehow managed to dodge majority of their bullets, although some did get me." Ludwig motioned to his shoulder and chest. "I… I don't even remember the journey here. It seemed to be a hallucination. I just remembered everything ached. And when I arrived in Hungary, my legs gave way and I had to crawl my way here… To your house." He looked at Elizabeta. "When I saw you point that gun at me, I thought that was the end." A rueful chuckle exited his mouth.

"Ludwig… I'm sorry about that. I've had looters in my house before and I thought you were one of them." Elizabeta apologised. If she knew it was Ludwig that ended up in her house, she wouldn't have even pulled out her gun.

"It's fine Eliza… You were just protecting yourself." He looked at her sympathetically. The room went quiet. "Is my brother still here? In Hungary?" Ludwig spoke up. Elizabeta and Roderich both looked at each other. Her stomach twisted and turn, she felt sick. She and Roderich had agreed to not speak about him as it only brought pain and sadness to them but here was Ludwig asking about his brother's whereabouts so innocently. Not knowing what atrocities Roderich and Elizabeta had witnessed in regard to him. They continued to stare at each other asking who was going to speak up about it, before concluding that Elizabeta was going to speak about it.

"Ludwig…" Her voice not any louder than a whisper. This was going to be horrible news to break to him. She stroked his hand as she looked at his face. It contorted with confusion and fear. "He… Gilbert… was…" It felt as if her vocal cords were being stretched and tightened; it was hard to speak. Especially as tears pricked at the edges of her eyes. She diverted her eyes away.

"He was executed by the Soviets." Roderich finished her sentence. His head was still drooped, he couldn't bare to look at Ludwig. Silence took over the room, the low hum of a car occasionally filled the quietness. Elizabeta looked back at Ludwig. She couldn't describe the emotion that was on his face. His eyes were dark, almost like his eye sockets were hollowed out.

"I… see…" Ludwig finally spoke, his voice cracking. Elizabeta's heart ached, it felt awful to break such news to Ludwig. Tears trickled down her cheek.

"I'm sorry Ludwig… I'm so sorry." She whispered, dabbing at her cheeks to wipe away the salty tears. They all hugged each other for a long while.

The days were getting colder now. Winter was in full swing. It had snowed again last night, and it was quite thick. Elizabeta held herself, trying to trap her body heat. She just wanted to crawl into bed and comfort Ludwig. But today wasn't the day where she would be looking after him, it was Roderich's turn. She yawned as she walked to the destination where she would be meeting Ivan. She was extra tired this morning, after crying a lot last night and having little sleep it was to be expected.

"Good Morning." Came the major's deep voice.

"Mornin'…" Elizabeta lazily responded, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Tired?" He questioned, she nodded. "Seems like you've been extremely exhausted lately. What's keeping you up?"

"Paperwork." She lied, turning her head away from him as they walked side by side.

"We haven't gotten that much lately."

"Other… paperwork," She was getting annoyed at Ivan's persistent questioning. "Old paperwork I've been meaning to catch up on."

"Right…" The major said, catching onto her ire tone of voice. They walked in silence for a bit "Would you like some help with that?"

"I'm fine." She growled, glaring up at him. "I don't need help. It's under control." This time Ivan didn't respond. Quietness taking over once again. Elizabeta looked forward, the world was covered in white and it hurt her eyes. She blinked, trying to get rid of the aching. She looked forward again and black dots filled her vision. The Hungarian collapsed to the ground.

"Elizabeta?!"

She felt warm. It was nice. She snuggled closer to the blanket, feeling content and relaxed. Elizabeta slowly opened her eyes, looking up at the white ceiling. The room she was in was loud. She looked over to her right and saw another person. They were covered in bandages. She sluggishly sat up, her brain slowly waking up. She looked out the window, it was dark.

She was in the hospital. How? When did she get here? She clutched her head, it suddenly ached and throbbed.

"You're awake." Ivan said. Elizabeta looked to her left and there sat her superior on a chair. "Lay back down, you should be resting."

"Why am I in the hospital?" She asked, very confused.

"You don't remember? You fainted when we began patrolling." He answered. "The doctor said you're suffering from fatigue." She rolled her eyes. She didn't have time to be in the hospital. It was late, she needed to go home and cook dinner for Roderich and Ludwig.

"I can't stay here." Elizabeta began to get out of bed.

"You have to stay overnight, doctor's orders." Ivan stood up, folding his arms and furrowing his thick brows.

"Can't I rest at home? There's a doctor already there." She frowned.

"They have to monitor you." He sighed, realising she was just going to answer back to everything he was going to say. "Roderich? Why is he at your house?" Elizabeta gulped. Shit. She didn't even notice she had accidentally mentioned that Roderich was staying with her.

"He… His house is… infested with rats," She managed to think of an excuse. A very bad one at that. "He's deathly scared of rats, so… he's staying with me." He was not going to believe that. Anxiety bubbled in her stomach, waiting for Ivan's reply to see whether he believed her lie or not.

"You still have to stay overnight." He said, acknowledging or ignoring Elizabeta's excuse to why Roderich was at her home.

"I'm not staying! I have things to do, Ivan!" She raised her voice.

"Like what?" Ivan countered, he looked down at her. His violet eyes felt like they were piercing her soul. Why did she keep digging herself into these holes? She had to quickly think of another excuse, without mentioning that fact she was housing a Nazi soldier.

"I…" She began. "I have to make dinner." She felt defeated as soon as she said that. Ivan pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh or smile.

"I'm sure Roderich can make something, he's a grown man." Ivan sat down on the seat; he had won this battle. "Get back into the bed, Corporal." She huffed. She hoped Roderich would be fine with having leftover soup from last night and that he would be able to feed Ludwig by himself, without any assistance. She got back into the hospital cot.

"You don't have to stay..." Elizabeta muttered.

"I'm not." He replied. "I'm just finishing this last report and I'll be retiring for the night."

He seriously pissed her off.

A/N: I rushed the last part of this chapter because I wanted it to be done- I'll probably come back and fix it up.

Reviews/feedback are greatly appreciated!