A/N: Max is Luxembourg. Just sayin'. Also, please review if you enjoy!
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Mid-April, 1943, Small Swiss Border Village
Lilli jumped off of the cart as her home came into view, much to Ivan's dismay. She was tired of just sitting for days on end and was so excited to be home that she just couldn't help herself. Everything was just the same as they had left it back home. Her legs carried her up to the front door of her house, where she was greeted by a smiling Vash.
"There you are!" he said, beaming. "How was the wedding? Did you have fun?" Vash pulled Lilli into a warm embrace, having not seen his little sister for two months. He had missed her and even Raivis, having grown used to the young man's company. "Was the adventure everything you thought it would be?"
His younger sister grinned up at him. "Oh, it was the best time I've had in years!" she enthused. "Raivis was so wonderful to me, and the wedding was absolutely lovely!" Her smile could barely fit on her face. "I am so glad that I went!" Lilli hugged Vash tightly. "But I missed you so much! It's good to be back home!"
"I missed you too," Vash assured as his eyes landed on Raivis, who was helping Ivan unload the cart of their belongings. "And I am glad that Raivis was wonderful to you. He really does seem to be a good man for you, doesn't he?"
Lilli's eyes widened. "He is only the best!" she quickly told her older brother.
He chuckled to himself. "You say that now," was all he said before going to join Raivis and Ivan in unloading the cart.
The young girl stood there, confused. She didn't know what her older brother meant by what he had said. Had he met a new suitor for her? Oh, how she hoped that he didn't! That wouldn't be fair! For a moment, Lilli stood there and held her breath without realizing it. Only once Raivis walked by her and told her to breathe did she realize that she hadn't been.
Feeling silly and light-headed, Lilli followed after him into the house, asking if she could carry something for him, only to be denied. She went to the living room and sat on a couch, waiting for them to be finished unloading the cart, hoping that it wouldn't take too long. All she wanted was to talk with Vash and find out what he had meant by the bizarre thing he had said. Her hands clenched the fabric of her dress in worry, hoping that he hadn't found her a suitor while she was gone. If he had, she didn't know what she would do.
Raivis walked into the living room and sat next to her a short while later. "There you are," he said. "What's going on? Your knuckles are white. Maybe you should let go of your dress."
She looked at him as if she had never seen him before and quickly let go of her dress, embarrassed that he had seen her do that. "Sorry," she softly said. "I just don't know what to do. My brother said something odd to me when I got here, and I don't know what to make of it. I'm just hoping he didn't find me a suitor is all."
"What if he did?" Raivis asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Then I will simply act as undesirable as possible to make him no longer want me," she answered stiffly. "I will not act like a lady around that man." Lilli stuck her nose in the air. "I do not wish to marry any man but you, Raivis Galante."
He blushed. "Thank you, Lilli, but I feel you should talk to Vash about this as well, and not just me."
"Oh, I will," she assured. "Vash will hear it from me. Where is he anyway?"
"Oh, he's talking to Ivan in the ammunition room," Raivis answered. "They went in there as soon as we were done unloading the cart. I guess Vash had something important to discuss with him or something." He shrugged. "I don't really know."
Lilli stood up. "I am going to go in there and speak with my brother," she stated. "You stay right here, and I will be back." She marched down the hallway to the ammunition room and threw open the door. "Vash, I need to talk to you about…" Her voice trailed off at the sight she saw.
Vash was backed into a corner of shelves, his arms circling around Ivan's shoulders as Ivan's arms circled his waist. Their faces were mere inches apart and red, as if they were talking about embarrassing things that no one else should ever hear, and only moving closer and closer. Ivan was holding Vash's body close, like the way someone would hold their lover close.
Spotting his sister in the doorway, Vash immediately shoved Ivan away, his face growing even more red, yet Lilli couldn't tell if it was with anger or embarrassment. "What do you want, Lilli?" he asked her. "Don't you know to always knock before entering a room?"
She was unable to speak for a moment, still taken aback by the scene she had walked in on. Lilli had never known that two men could love each other in the same way she and Raivis loved each other, other than stories Raivis had told her. She never thought she would ever see it for herself, especially regarding her own brother! "I'm sorry," she softly said, looking down at her shoes. "I'll just go."
"Well since you're already here, you might as well just tell me what you want," her brother impatiently replied. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood in front of her.
"It's really nothing. It can wait." Lilli couldn't bring herself to look up at him, still seeing in her mind's eye the way he was looking at Ivan. He looked as if the sun wouldn't rise without him. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, Vash."
"One thing before you go, Lilli," Vash said, voice stern. "Don't you dare tell a single soul what you saw when you first opened the door. I mean it."
She nodded. "Yes, Big Brother," she softly said, nodding to herself. "I won't tell anyone." Still averting her eyes from the two men, she quickly closed the door and hurried back to the living room, where she sat on the couch and twiddled her thumbs in her lap, ignoring the fact that Raivis was sitting right next to her.
"Lilli, is everything okay?" Raivis asked her. "You're acting strangely."
"Strangely?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "Strangely as in how?" Her eyes wouldn't lock with Raivis's. Though he wasn't involved with what had happened, she couldn't even look him in the eye. "I'm perfectly fine, Raivis."
"You really don't seem like it, Lil," he answered. "What happened when you went in there? Was it something bad?" Raivis extended a concerned hand toward her and placed it on her shoulder. He almost gasped aloud when she shrugged it off. "What happened?"
Lilli shook her head. "I'm not allowed to talk about it. Please don't ask." Her eyes were dull and lifeless, as if the energy had been sucked out of her from what she had seen. "Vash told me I can't talk about it."
"Is it a suitor?" Raivis asked, panicked.
"No," she softly answered. "It's nothing like that, I promise. There are just some things that I wish I didn't have to know about my brother is all."
Moments later, Vash walked into the room. "Lilli, Raivis, there are some things I wish to discuss with the two of you," he stated. "I think it would be best if we all discussed it together."
"Why together?" Lilli asked. "Is it something bad?"
Vash sucked in his breath and contemplated his answer before stating it. "It depends on your definition of bad." He shrugged. "I don't know what either of you would consider bad, so I can't tell you if it is good or bad by your tastes. I only know mine."
"What does it have to do with?" his sister asked him. Her heart was beating quickly in her chest. She feared the worst, that Vash had found a suitor for her while she was gone. If he had promised her to a man other than Raivis, she swore she would never forgive him. There was no way she could ever forgive him for that. It would ruin the future she had planned for herself and him, and that just wouldn't be fair to anyone. Why couldn't her brother just leave well enough alone?
"It has to do with your futures," he answered. "I have decided on something." Vash's bright green gaze fell on Raivis. "You have three months to prove to me that you can take care of Lilli and provide for her. If you can't do that, then I will marry her off to another. Do we have a deal?"
Raivis was in shock. "What's this all of a sudden?"
"Ivan told me that you took care of Lilli the entire time you were on your trip," Vash answered. "I want to see it for myself. If you can show me that you can do it, then I will let you have my sister. But if you cannot do it, she will marry the man I met while you two were gone. Are we understood?"
The young Latvian man nodded. "I understand perfectly. In what ways would you like me to prove this to you?"
"I expect you to have your own home by the end of the three months, Raivis," Vash told him. "And I want you to be working with a steady income to provide for her. I suggest that you get busy with it as soon as you can. Your three months starts tomorrow."
Raivis gulped. That was a lot to ask, but he knew he had to do it. After all, Lilli was counting on him. "I accept your terms, " he told the blond. "I will do anything if it means getting Lilli's hand in marriage."
The older brother smirked. "Good. You're off to a nice start, Latvian." He put a hand on Lilli's shoulder, not noticing the way his sister paled at his touch. "I hope you can show me how great of a husband you will make for Lilli."
Lilli stiffly nodded. "I know that Raivis can do it," she softly said. "I believe in him, and I think you should as well, Vash." More than anything, she wanted her brother to remove his hand from her shoulder, but she knew she couldn't ask that without him realizing that his actions made her uncomfortable. But why did they make her uncomfortable anyway?
Ivan then walked into the room. "Did Vash reveal his challenge to Raivis already?" he asked, looking at the Latvian.
The girl blinked at him from the couch. "Yes," she softly said.
The Russian turned to his Swiss friend. "I thought you were going to wait for me to come in here before telling him," he said.
"You were taking forever," Vash groaned. "Forgive me," he bitterly added.
Ivan chuckled. "I put in that good word for you, Raivis," he told the Latvian male. "Everything is going to go well. I know you can do this." He gave Raivis a thumbs-up and smiled at him. "I believe in you."
"Thanks," Raivis said. He blushed, embarrassed for some reason that he didn't understand. Something about the way Ivan and Vash interacted seemed familiar to him. "I will do my best. Vash, I really do love your sister, and I will do anything to prove that to you."
"I hope to see that in your actions as well," Vash said with a nod, crossing his arms over his chest. Though he tried to look intimidating, he was much shorter than Ivan, so the intimidation factor didn't do much.
"Three months," Raivis softly said to himself. "I can do that." He looked over at Lilli as she looked back at him. He could definitely do this. As long as it was for her, he could do anything.
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Spring, 1938, Small Swiss Border Village
Lilli laid back in the grass in a field outside of her house and soaked in the rays of sunlight. It was so nice outside that she couldn't help but be out there, hoping that her brother wouldn't catch her doing something so unladylike. She closed her eyes and began to softly hum to herself, happy that everything just seemed so perfect to her at the time.
"What are you doing, Lilli?" a male's voice asked her after a few moments.
Her eyes quickly snapped open to rest on a boy with wavy, blond hair and hazel eyes. His smile was contagious as she looked up at him, causing her to smile as well. He was tall, but he was kneeling next to her on the grass.
"It's such a nice day, isn't it, Max?" she asked him. Slowly sitting up, she stretched her arms up above her head. "Come join me. It's fun."
Max chuckled. "Why should I do that?" he asked. "It's a silly thing to do, lying in a field and wasting the day away when I could be doing something better."
"Something better?" Lilli asked. "Like what?" She blinked at him curiously. "What could be better than relaxing on a beautiful spring day like today?"
"Many things," he answered, looking up at the clouds.
"I can't think of a single one," she sighed, laying back down in the grass. She reached up and pulled on his arm. "Join me, Max!" she giggled. "You won't regret it!"
"Fine," he sighed, lying next to her. He made sure to keep a safe amount of space between them in case if Vash were to find them. "What is so fun about this anyway?"
"Enjoy life," Lilli scolded. "You're always so serious, Max. Just relax and look up at the clouds. Tell me the shapes you see. Or tell me what shade of blue you think the sky is. Something like that."
"That sounds so stupid," he told her. "Why would I want to do that?" He glanced over at her and saw that she was staring deeply into the sky. "You're a strange girl, Lilli Zwingli. That's all I can really say to you."
"I'm going to take that as a compliment," she softly said. A broad smile played on her lips as she reached a hand up toward the sky. "I wish I could be a bird, so I can fly anywhere that I want to go." Lilli turned her head to look over at Max. "If you could be any animal, what would you be?"
"Why are you asking such a childish question?" he asked, staring up into the sky.
"Why not?" she countered. "Max, humor me. Just answer the question."
Max was quiet as he thought for a moment. Why was he even considering this question anyway? Was it just because she asked him to? "A crouching tiger, waiting for a chance to pounce," he answered. "There are many reasons as to why, but I want to pounce at the next opportunity for greatness."
"But you're already great," Lilli softly told him. "Why would you need to be better?"
He sat up and looked down at her. "Just because," he answered. "I can't keep passing things up, Lilli. It will end badly for me if I do."
"What kinds of opportunities are you talking about passing up?" Lilli asked.
Max looked up at the sky. "I want to join the military, Lil." He sighed. "I want to do something helpful to my country instead of sitting on my ass and waiting for someone to do it for me."
"Join the military?!" she gasped, sitting up as well. "Why would you do something like that? Don't you know that you could die?!"
"Dying is the least of my worries," he answered with a shrug. "If I die, I die. But what if there is a chance that I could be a hero to someone?" Max got a lost look in his eyes as he thought about it. "I would love to be a hero, Lilli. It's been my dream for years. You know this."
You've always been my hero, she thought, yet she would never dare to say those words aloud. Instead she bit her lip for a moment. "If being a hero is what you want to do, then by all means, do it." It broke her heart to say those words, but she knew that she needed to encourage his dreams since he always encouraged hers. She knew that if he was focused on something, she couldn't stop him anyway.
"Thank you for your support," Max told her, a small smile playing on his lips. "One day, I'm going to be a great hero. You're going to be so proud of me, you'll see."
"I will?" Lilli asked him. She smirked at him and reached up to move a stray lock of his hair out of his eyes.
He playfully slapped her hand away, holding onto it. "And then when I'm a hero, I'll be your hero specifically." His smile didn't fade from his face as he leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I will return to you, and I will marry you, Lilli. Just you wait for me."
"Wait for you?" Lilli asked.
"Yes," he answered. "And I'll make you my bride when we're old enough. I just need you to wait for me until I'm a hero. Can you wait that long?"
"I'll wait for you," she agreed. "Just don't make me an old maid, Max."
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I'll try not to."
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Mid-April, 1943, Small Swiss Border Village
Raivis woke early the morning after Vash made the deal with him, eager to get started on his end of it. First, he needed to go and find a job and also start looking around for places to live. There was so much he needed to do with so little time. As he thought more about it, he wondered if three months was really a fair amount of time.
"Raivis, you're up early," Lilli commented as he walked into the kitchen that morning. She was putting jam on some bread as she smiled up at him. "Are you getting an early start on your mission for my brother?"
"You bet I am," he answered with a smile before pecking her lips quickly. "You know I'm going to be able to conquer this and marry you, right? We're going to be so happy, Lilli. Just you wait and see. Everything will go as planned."
"I know it will." She smiled at him and cupped his face in her hands. "You would do anything for me, and I know that."
"You will be Lilli Galante, I promise," he told her.
"And I'm going to hold you to that."