After what could only have been a few seconds, Ludwig hesitantly began to open his eyes. He then opened them fully, staring at his new surroundings in awe.

"H-how is this…?" He couldn't finish his sentence. Words had abandoned him. All Ludwig knew was that he definitely wasn't in his office anymore.

Sunlight beamed down, past the tree leaves, scattering spots of light on the lush forest ground. The air was cool and pleasant, and the leaves rustled with the occasional gentle breeze. Ludwig was sure he had never been to this forest before, but it seemed oddly familiar…

"Awesome, right?" Ludwig turned to see Gilbert grinning at him.

"Brother… What is this? What's going on?"

"I told you!" Gilbert said. "I'm your personal ghost of Valentine's Day past, present and future. Welcome to your Valentine's Day of eleven years ago!" He gestured to the forest around, spinning around dramatically as he did so.

Ludwig stared at him. "Eleven ye- Brother, that's impossible!"

"Huh?" Gilbert blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Are you seriously suggesting that we've gone back in time?!"

"I'm not suggesting it, Luddy, we have… sort of. What I am showing you are only echoes of the past, or however the hell they described it in the original. 'Cause these things have already happened, we can only watch. It'll be like watching a movie! No matter how much we scream and shout at the characters to stop doing something obviously stupid, they won't hear us and nothing will change. It will only continue the way it's supposed to. Speaking of movies, you want some popcorn?"

"No thanks…"

"Meh, suit yourself." A bag of popcorn suddenly materialised in Gilbert's hands and he began eating loudly.

Ludwig would have stopped his brother and probably asked where the super powers came from, but he heard movement behind him and he quickly turned around. A small boy, with blond hair and familiar blue eyes, was standing in the forest, looking around curiously. He was holding something red and sparkly. It seemed like he couldn't see the two Germans.

He knew this boy, Ludwig realised. Was he…?

"That's right," Gilbert said in-between mouthfuls of popcorn, as if he could read the other's thoughts. "That's little nine year old you, Luddy!"

The younger Ludwig was standing still, occasionally glancing around the forest as if waiting for something. He almost looked anxious.

How is this possible? Ludwig thought, eyes wide. How? I don't understand…

The sound of hurried footsteps snapped Ludwig out of his stunned trance, and after some rustling from the bushes a young girl emerged. She seemed around the same age as the child Ludwig, and was wearing a white, dress-like outfit with a bag on her shoulder. For some reason Ludwig couldn't place, this girl's face seemed very familiar. Her hair was a reddish brown colour, and she even had a hair curl…

"I'm sorry I'm late!" the girl said as she ran the rest of the way to the other child. "I got a little lost…"

"I-it's fine," nine-year old Ludwig said, his cheeks turning a little pink. "Um… H-here." He held out the sparkly thing, which Ludwig could now identify as a card. "It's Valentine's Day today, so I made you this…"

The girl took the card, examining it carefully before give the younger Ludwig a big smile. "Wow, thank you!" she said happily. "No one's ever given me a Valentine's Day card before!"

"R-really?" The other child's face was now very red. "I thought you would have gotten lots…"

Ludwig watched as the two children talked to each other happily, feeling an odd sense of wistfulness build up inside. "Brother," he said, "who is that girl?"

"Her?" Gilbert shrugged. "She was some girl or something you had a super huge crush on, and you always acted really awkward when you were with her. And since you were almost always together, that was a lot."

"But… But why can't I remember this? This is completely new to me."

"Ah, well… We all told you about that accident, right? You know, when we moved back to Germany?" He waited for Ludwig to nod before continuing. "It was very serious. I mean, you were obviously sad when we had to move because of her, but after the accident you just stopped talking about her completely. You still remembered lots of important things, like family members and stuff, but the doctor said that you might have forgotten a few more recent things… So, I guess you forgot her?"

After hearing this, Ludwig turned back to the two children, a little sadly. The girl was obviously important to him here, but he had no idea who she was. His first crush, and he couldn't even remember her. He had always thought that the first time he fell in love had been with Feliciano, but…

Wait a minute…

"I thought you said you were trying to fix my relationship with Feliciano," Ludwig said pointedly. "What does this have to do with him?"

Gilbert paused. "Oh… Um… You know…" He laughed awkwardly. "…It's classified information?" Ludwig's eyes narrowed, and the albino immediately said, "Um, l-let's go on to the next memory thingy."

The German merely rolled his eyes. He was expecting the bright light this time and did not fight against it. When it faded, however, Ludwig's expression quickly turned surprised, and then confused.

"This…" Ludwig said, staring at his new surroundings. "This is my old high school…"

Leaving it in an awkward place ^^' I'm sorry it's rather short, I had limited time today, I'll try to make the next one longer :)

I bet you all know who that 'girl' is, huh? Even if you don't support the HRE=Germany theory XD Gilbert was very vague while describing 'her', and there is a reason for this, but this might not become apparent until later ^^' Well, please review and tell me what you think ^_^