"Scheiße!" I heard the rider wail, and my head snapped to the side, expecting to see nothing but a pair of hooves smash down onto my face, but instead its hind legs stumbled a couple of steps backwards with the front ones flailing in mid air from a rough yank on its reigns. A body thumped onto the forest floor, and the horse landed on all fours, snorting and trotting in circles away from us.

I gawked at the man sprawled on the ground, me being a tad delirious from still being alive. He cussed again, in German, and I took this opportunity of him moaning and groaning from being flung to shamble through the leaves, tenting myself in front of Feliciano, who sat up and cried my name, throwing his arms around my shoulders. I scowled at the man shift in the leaves, and he stiffly sat up. The hat on his head slipped from his head, tumbling to the floor, exposing a mop of white hair.

The man stared back, rosy eyes widening. "No way! Ludwig?!"

"Gilbert?!" I cried out. Feliciano made noises of confusion as I shot away from him, scrambling to my brother. He held his arms out just in enough time for me to slam into him. The air escaped him in a great huff as I knocked him to the forest floor, and he breathlessly laughed, drumming his hands against my back.

"Yeah, what the hell, Lud?! I thought you got eaten by a bear!"

I quickly sat up, letting him do the same. "Do they even have bears in Italy?"

"Do they?" Gilbert wheezed with laughter. I missed the sound. "Damn, I almost forgot how beefy you are! I think you jarred my lungs out of place!"

I chuckled, roughly patting his shoulder affectionately. Much gentler hands clutched onto my jacket, and I looked to the side. Feliciano wound his arm across my chest, as if pulling me away from Gilbert. My brother's mouth formed an O as his eyebrows raised. "Hey, Lud, I think you have a shadow!"

"Ludwig, who is this? He looks weird!"

"Feli!" I tried to say in a scolding manner, but my words were to full of laugher. "This is my brother! Gilbert." I said in German, "This is Feliciano. He's part of an Italian regiment he took me to after we...erm, ran into each other in the woods."

Gilbert tipped his head and smiled. "I guess that's a story for another time." He grunted as he pulled himself to his feet. "The regiment right here, you are talking about?"

"Yes, are they okay? They are a lost troop from the First Phase, and they are harmless. Please do not frighten them. They might scatter...again."

"Well, let's see to it," my brother gestured to the trees, glancing at Feliciano with a grin, who whimpered and hid behind me. We quickly followed, and I saw the Italians huddled together by the pit, wide eyed and shaking visibly. I caught the very pissed eyes of Lovino, glaring as if to say, This is all your fault!

I did not worry about that at this moment, taking in the sight of my regiment surrounding the campers, murmuring to themselves. Some turned and recognized me with their shocked expressions. "Commander!" One called out. "These men just surrendered and clumped together in the middle of the camp when we surrounded them! What are your orders?"

"You are not going to hurt them, right, Gilbert? They are not enemies, after all," I set an arm out across Feliciano, who called to his brother.

Lovino curled his nose. "Stupid German! What do you think you are doing, bringing all your friends here? Who gave you an invitation?" He turned to the closest soldier and spat at him, "Stupid!"

The man did a double-take and frowned. I continued, "They were unable to return back to their homeland because of a raid in which their maps were destroyed. I was thinking that since we were headed that way..."

Gilbert rubbed his jaw in a thoughtful manner. He raised a hand to capture attention. "All right, listen up! We are still sticking to our original plan of regrouping the Southern garrison, but there is going to be some tweaking! This regiment is one of our old allies, so we are going to treat them like pals, okay? They want to go home, like anyone around here, so we are traveling together!"

My regiment glanced amongst one another and some even shrugged. The Italians, however, stared with wide eyes, not understanding. Gilbert called out, "Who here speaks French?"

"Italian, Gilbert."

"Yeah, that's what I said. Come on, these men look as if they are about to soil themselves, and I do not want to be smelling that on the journey!" Gilbert beckoned the regiment to collect itself, and the men relaxed their grips on their weapons, effectively easing the other troops.

Feliciano dug his nails into my jacket. "Ludwig, what is happening?! They hurt us?"

"Do not worry, you are safe," I turned to face him. "You are going home!"

"What?" He gasped.

"My brother agreed. Our regiments are going to be traveling together for a while!" A stupid smile plastered itself on my face, only to falter when I heard a snappy voice behind me.

"I have to smell Germans all the way home?" Lovino pinched his nose. Feliciano gasped and said something to his brother, who huffed, "No, I will not be nice!" He crossed his arms, looking away. "But that does not mean I will not be...civil. After all these months of wiping my ass with leaves...we are going home...Thanks, potato bastard, I guess. Your regiment better not lead us into France or whatever! Eugh!" He threw his hands in the air, turning away. "I don't know who's worse! Well, hurry up, Feli, we have things to pack up. Err..." he realized he was not speaking Italian, and prompted his brother in their language before joining his group.

I noticed Feliciano no longer smiling. "Is something wrong?"

Feliciano took a step away from me. "We go...not together..."

"What do you mean? This is what everyone wanted! You are going home!"

"I go home...you leave..."

"You...you do not want me here?" My voice broke, and I cleared my throat. "Feli..."

Feliciano shook his head. "No! I...I want...you..."

I felt my ears burn. "Err, what?"

"I want you to...not leave, yes. Not leave...when we go home."

"O-oh, of course..." I sighed, drawing a hand nonchalantly over my cheek. "Wait, you want me to stay in Italy?"

Feliciano eagerly nodded, cracking a smile that squeezed my lungs. "Yes! It is warm, and there is pasta!"

As if that could win even the weakest man! Yet I must have been him, since I softly smiled and nodded without thinking of doing so. "We are stationed in Italy for at least a few more weeks while negotiations are tried again, Feli, and we have to get there, first...together."

"Together," he echoed, "After talks."

"Huh?" I grunted.

Feliciano giggled. "We talk after the peace talks, too."

Did he just bat his eyes at me? "Err, yes, of course. We are friends, after all. Friends keep in touch."

Not that kind of touching! I grunted when he leaped forward to deliver an overbearing hug, his hair tickling my cheek.

"Ve, I am happy!" Feliciano chirped against me.

"I can tell," I noted, uncertainly patting between his shoulder blades, feeling more awkward than ever before in my life. Yet it was a warm kind of awkward, and I decided to return the embrace before we set off to pack up the camp. My head was craned downward, and Feliciano seized the opportunity to attack my cheek again, capturing the side of my mouth this time.

He squealed with delight and ducked out of my embrace as I slapped a hand to my face. Feliciano skittered away, joining his regiment, our regiments, in preparing for the journey ahead of us. I ducked my head, as if it could hide the smokeless fire wafting from my face, not saying anything else as I busied myself, just in case I said something I should not say.

A.N.- Done! Writing first person point of view of an awkward babe was much more amusing than I thought...

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