Gilbert kept an arm around the Austrian's slender waist. He could feel the other shaking. Gilbert understood the stress and the feeling well. The anxiety of having to face your attacker… So he kept the Austrian at his side. The other didn't protest at all. Not about the arm around him. Not about being terribly close to the Prussian. Not a word.
Ludwig walked just behind them, and they were all silent as they walked into the hotel. Ludwig went to the front desk to get their room keys. Ludwig and Italy in one room, him and Austria in another. Hopefully close… just in case. Prussia was insanely paranoid about all of this. The nightmares hadn't even faded for the Austrian yet… They weren't as intense as they had been… but still… It was still raw for the other… not enough time had passed for the pain and shock to dull some.
It had been years and years before he saw Russia again… it was to soon for Austria… but there was nothing for it.
"Austria!"
Prussia tensed glancing around for the voice and holding Austria tighter. But before he knew it the Austrian was ripped away from him. "Hey!" he snarled venomously. Quickly turning to take the other back.
"Oh Austria… I've been so worried about you…"
Scarlet eyes narrowed angrily. "Hungary."
Her emerald eyes glared at him, as she hugged the other tightly. She pulled back taking Roderich's hands in hers. "Oh… I've been terribly worried about you. To the point of sickness. How are you?"
Roderich stared blankly at her for a few moments. "Ah… yes… I'm well…"
She gave him a slight smile. "Oh? I figured since you were still staying with Germany th-"
"You never came."
"What?" she blinked at him, dropping his hands.
"You never came…"
Her eyes narrowed and she threw a glare at the Prussian, he didn't retaliate with one of his own. He was looking at the other with concerned eyes.
"I… what has Prussia been telling you?" she demanded, her voice still sounding sweet as it always did when she spoke to the Austrian, but strained.
"Nothing… Gilbert hasn't said anything about you…" Roderich lowered his gaze and wrapped his arms around himself. "Ludwig told me… as soon as Gilbert heard what was going on, he left to come find me…"
Hungary's hands curled into fists, her emerald eyes fiery and angry at such words. The unsaid accusation. "That's because he's not a nation anymore. The rest of us are busy! We-" She closed her mouth at once. Her words weren't helping. Only condemning herself more. She took a deep breath. "Roderich… all my life I have been at your side, defending you when you needed it most. Defending you from him." she gestured at the Prussian. "One time… one time I wasn't there. I understand you were hurt… but… come on Roderich. You've been through worse, I'm sure. I-"
"Enough." All three looked up to see Ludwig come forward. The key cards in his hand. "Hungary… please don't speak about what you don't understand. Bruder…" the blonde held out the two keys towards the albino, who was beaming at his younger brother.
"Thanks West…"
"We're on the same floor so follow me."
Prussia nodded wrapping his arm around the Austrian's waist once more to lead him away. Roderich didn't move he glanced up at her and then finally spoke. "Nein Hungary… you haven't always been my hero. Despite what you have done, you will always be the bully, I grew up fearing."
The words shocked her. And she stared wide eyed at her former husband as he was lead away. "I… I have been quite burdensome… in my long years… haven't I?"
"Don't think like that. You're not. You were a great Empire at one time. One that even Fritz wanted in on." He said softly, still mulling over the words that Roderich had just spoken to Elizabeta. He hadn't been any kinder to Austria in their years growing up…
"Only because I had a Queen on the throne…"
"Well… yeah… but…" he shrugged slightly. "It's because you were powerful too. If you were some weak nation that had a Queen we wouldn't have cared so much…"
Roderich hummed slightly. "Perhaps…"
Prussia gently pushed the other into the elevator. "The past hasn't been kind on any of us. Everyone has lost a lot, and suffered a great amount. We all need the help of each other these days. That doesn't make you weak…" The Prussian moved his free hand to run through the soft dark hair. He gently and casually brushed his lips against the Austrian's temple. Taking in the scent of lavender. Ignoring the fact that his brother was right next to them, looking at the elevator's buttons as if they were the most fascinating things in the world.
Roderich glanced up at the Prussian his violet eyes still lacking the light and spark Gilbert was missing quite terribly. How had Hungary missed the emptiness they held? How could she say nothing serious happened? It was so clear… so obvious to Gilbert.
The elevator dinged and the doors slowly opened. Ludwig was more than happy to leave the elevator. Austria tugged on the Prussian's sleeve. "Wait…" he said quickly. "I want to talk to you Gilbert…"
Ludwig, glanced at them both and nodded slightly. "Your room is room 607... The meeting starts at ten am sharp…"
"Got it…" The Prussia nodded hitting the close door button. "What's on your mind Roddy?" Gilbert's eyes looked over the Austrian. His thin frame was all the more noticeable he realized. His clothes not really hanging off him but they didn't fit his frame as nicely as they used to.
Roderich wrapped his arms around himself once more slowly letting his eyes meet the other. "I… I really do appreciate you… coming to me. Ludwig said the moment you heard about my country's predicament… you came right over… I am very thankful. I didn't think my greatest rivals in history… would come to my aid like that."
"History is history. We're not rivals anymore."
"I am very undeserving of such kindness…"
"Not at all. You're my… friend… I'll be there whenever you're in trouble…" The Prussian shifted uneasily at the word friend. That… didn't seem the right word to use. "I'm quite… terrified of going back to my house…" Roderich admitted softly. His gaze at his feet. No one could blame him for feeling that way.
"I'll be there…"
"You can't stay with me forever…"
"Says who?" Prussia scoffed.
Roderich kept his gaze lowered. "It's asking to much. You've done more then enough. It'd be far to selfish to ask for anything more."
"Roderich." Prussia said sternly, placing his fingers under the Austrian's chin and tilting his head back up to look at him. "I was very sick when I came back from Russia… and you were by my side. And-"
"I missed you so much when you were in Russia." the Austrian cut him off.
It in all honesty took the Prussian by surprise. He blinked and just stared at the other. Watching the sadness form on Roderich's face as he slowly remembered the day he had to go.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry that you had to stay with him and go… go through all of that. A week… a week nearly destroyed me. But you were there for forty some years… Gilbert… you have and always will be the strongest person I know…"
The Prussian could only stare watching those violet eyes fill with tears. For… him. Even after all this time. "Rod…" He pulled the Austrian to his chest and held him tightly.
"You must have had such a horrible time… I… I can't even imagine. I tried… when you came back… I was so terrified what could have happened that broke someone I believed to be unbreakable… and when he came after me… I…" Roderich shook his head, his fingers tightening their grip in Gilbert's shirt. "I'm not as strong as you… I knew I was going to die…"
Prussia closed his eyes, listening to the other's words. He was truly touched. He'd never been sure of how the other felt about him. He assumed an annoyance then he tolerated for one reason or another.
But… it seemed Roderich's defenses were down. The walls he built around himself had crumbled around him. And he could finally speak freely about these things. And Prussia, even though the circumstances were bad, was grateful to hear them.
"Roderich… I-"
The elevator's ding cut him off, and the doors slid open. An horridly familiar chill filled the small elevator. Prussia recognized it all to well. As did the nation in his arms. The Austrian was violently shaking in his arms now. Terrified. And Gilbert couldn't blame him. He could feel that icy hand of fear claim him as well… but he had to be strong for Roderich.
Blood red eyes met those horribly milky violet ones. He pushed the Austrian behind him and scowled at the Russian. "Get out."
Ivan beamed at him, stepping further in and hitting the button of the floor that he desired to go to. "I think not. Two cute little rabbits are in here. Oh.. My mistake. Not two cute ones. I didn't see that one behind you clearly enough. I meant one cute rabbit… and one little trashy one. I'll let you decide which is which."
"Fuck off, Ivan." Gilbert snapped, stepping back, pushing Austria into the corner of the elevator so he could block the other from the Russian's sight. And vice versa. He could feel the back of his shirt being tugged on. And the other pressing into him. Scared…
"Aha~ So defensive over some broken toy. When you're bored of him… I told him he could come back to me~ I love broken things… I'll take good care of him. He just needs a few minor adjustments… those eyes… and… if his hands have healed up… well-"
"Shut up!" Gilbert snapped. Roderich didn't need to hear any of this. Not right now. "You wanna play with something, play with me." He grinned. "You're not as tough as you think you are. That forty years was a breeze."
"Oh?" Ivan's expression darkened. "Then come with me for another forty years of fun, da?"
"Tsk. I plan on being somewhere a lot more enjoyable with my next forty years, so you can take that offer and shove it."
"Do tell me, little rabbit. Where will you be in the next forty years?" Russia cocked his head to the side. "Running amuck with no place in the world? As the nations grow and de-"
"I'll be with Austria."
The silence in the elevator lasted a surprising length of time.
"Aha~ What? Austria?"
"Ja…" Prussia gave the Russian a feral grin. "I've always wanted to be there. Even Fritz knew that. It's where I belong."
The Elevator dinged once more, and without a moment's hesitation Prussia grabbed the Austrian's arm and darted out. It didn't matter what floor, they'd take the stairs, but just out of that elevator and far away from the other.
"I'm sorry…" Prussia murmured. "We shouldn't have talked in the elevator. That was dumb…" Scarlet eyes scanned the rooms they were by. Eights… so they had to go down two floors…
"W-wait…"
Gilbert did as he was told, stopping and turning to look at the other. The Austrian was pale… shaking… and… so sad.
"Wh-what were you saying? You… Was it just to make him be quiet…?"
Prussia stood still. Mulling it all over… what to say? He had already signed up to be with Austria through all of this. He was willing to love the other no matter what. Knowing the feelings might never be returned.
And it was to early to say what he was feeling was actually love. Because it wasn't. But he cared. He did. He cared a lot. He… always had through the battles and wars. The fragile alliances… he always had cared.
He remembered walking beside Fritz and seeing the Austrian in the garden, playing his violin. Remembering his thoughts about the matter… it'd be nice to marry that… laying in the garden, drinking beer and listening to the other play.
So stubborn… the Austrian was. Declining the offer. It lead to fighting… and wars. But eventually they stopped fighting… and joined forces. Stopping Denmark. The first World War. And then friends through the aftermath of it… Austria losing Hungary. His empire crumbling around him. He remembered the lost empty look in his eyes. The loss of all he had and worked so hard to obtain. Prussia knew that feeling all to well… his people suffered after that war too… He stayed with the other through the split for the first few weeks of separation… Even though Germany needed him. Austria was not in a good state of mind. A slipping sanity that happens to nations in civil wars. Roderich doesn't remember it well… only Prussia has any memory of it. And he never told a soul… and never would.
After the first world war came the Nazi party… where Gilbert had to protect the Austrian from his brother's wrath. His brother's slipping sanity… trying to experiment on the Austrian's eyes when Roderich had smacked his brother for all the camps on his lands…
A scary time indeed…
And then the wall… when even more was lost. This time. A great deal more. For the Prussian at least…
From his days of bullying the Austrian with Hungary, to hiding the other in his room from West. To right this moment… there was never a day he didn't care. Because… through it all. Austria had always been there some way. Even if it was on the opposite side of the battle field, or the other side of the wall…
"I'm saying it… because it's true. I wish you hadn't been such a jack ass and let Fritz marry your Queen…"
Roderich's eyes widened slightly. "I… beg your pardon?"
"I…" he growled and lowered his gaze. Feeling very un-awesome right now. "Roddy…"
"I couldn't take that chance… I… was afraid you'd do something… like… what you did to Him when you unified Germany…"
Prussia paled at that. That… was not one of his finest moments… but it's what he had to do for his little brother…
"When that happened… I knew I had made the right choice in not accepting that request. Because you were that kind of nation… You'd have killed me…"
"Nein! I would never have done that to you."
"How do you know?"
"I just know! I would never have snatched you away from the world or taken your life. You're to important-"
Roderich shook his head. "Don't say that. You can't say this now. How you feel now is different."
"It's not!" And Roderich flinched at his shout. He hadn't meant to scare him. But he needed the other to understand. "It's not… I would not have done that to you… because…"
"Because why… why are you doing any of this…?" "Because…" He shuffled his feet. He didn't have an answer. Not one that could truly express his feelings on this matter without sounding like some kind of loser. Because he cared… he did. Truly cared. He was always watching out for the other. Especially in these modern times. And it wasn't just because he was bored… and had nothing better to do. Because he worried… Austria was a scatter brained idiot sometimes. He got lost going outside. Or god forbid in his own home. He forgot to lock the doors. Or even shut them sometimes when his arms were full of groceries. He left his bedroom window open in the middle of winter.
And Prussia would be there, to guide him back home. Lock and shut those doors. Close those windows.
He hung around the Austrian to keep the other company… the music sounded better when someone else was in the house, then when the Austrian thought he was alone.
So… he wasn't exactly sure what these feelings were, that'd he'd had for years and years… or what they may someday turn into… but…
He stepped forward, only knowing one way he could express it to the other. And… in all honesty, it wasn't the brightest thing to do. After all Roderich had been through, but it was all he could think of. And he had to do something. The look on the other's face was really heartbreaking.
So he pulled Austria close, and the other looked up at him with confused violet eyes. And he leaned down pressing his lips against the other's.
"Si! Roderich is a good lay… I remember our wedding night like it was yesterday~"
"Hon hon hon~ I would love to sample such a delicacy~"
"Heh~ Roderich doesn't seem like he'd be that good. Lacking in the experience department, ya know?"
Spain laughed softly. "I taught him everything he needed to know in the time we were together."
"Heh. Yeah right. That was a long time ago. That absent minded fool probably forgot about it all. I'm awesome enough that our sex would be amazing no matter how terrible he is!"
Spain gave the Prussian an amused smile, France matching that with a lecherous grin.
"Details, Gilbert~"
"Heh. I'd grab him by that frilly thing around his neck. And then push him into whatever I feel like. A wall. The bed. His piano. Kesesesese~ And the glorious and awesome me will give him a night he'd never forget!"
And as he pressed his lips against Roderich's he wondered why he ever thought such a brutal approach would work? Hadn't Fritz told him something of the sort…?
"He's a gentleman by the looks of things."
"Eh… he's a priss… always has been…"
Fritz smiled warmly at his nation. "Be nice. You two will be stuck together if this works out…"
"Yeah… I know…" Scarlet eyes drifted out to the garden.
With that knowing smile the young king always carried he turned continuing on his way. "Do try and be a gentleman yourself. And do the right thing, and court the nation."
"Eh? Why would I do that? We'll be married. He has no choice but to sleep with me."
"Then enjoy your unhappy marriage. I don't want to hear about how miserable you are." Fritz sighed.
Gilbert pouted, and tore his gaze from the window. "It's only if she says yes…"
"If she says yes…" he agreed softly.
"We'll be awesome with or without them, though. Prussia will never fall!"
"No… I don't think it ever will. You'll take good care of it all." The young man stopped, glancing back at the nation in the garden. The melody he was playing reaching them here. "But… however long the Kingdom of Prussia lives on… it's not really worth it, unless you find happiness of your own, Gilbert."
The Prussian tilted his head to the side. "I'm happy…"
The man chucked softly. "I know you are. Always be happy, Gilbert. Won't you try?"
"Of course!"
Happiness… when was the last time he had been truly happy? He still smiled and had fun… but that wasn't the same. It wasn't what Fritz had wanted for him… he didn't have that. He didn't have the happiness that Fritz had wanted… not in Germany. He'd never have that kind of happiness in Germany again.
He opened his eyes slowly, and pulled his head back from the Austrian. Who was looking at him with terrified violet eyes. He cupped the other's pale cheek gently. "You… make me happy. Even when you're mad at me and yelling. You make me happy…"
Roderich blinked. Confusion swirling in those violet pools.
"I do this… I am helping you… because…"
The chains were heavy against his wrist. A reminder of his prisoner status here. It… was finally spring… his twenty fifth spring here… Gilbert held his ragged uniform tighter around his slender form as he sat by a window of this prison Ivan called a home. He glanced up at the crystal blue sky. His thoughts drifted to his friends. His brother… he wondered how everyone was doing…
He blinked suddenly, seeing a yellow fluff fly though the air. His heart soared. He knew that yellow fluff. He'd know it anywhere!
He glanced around making sure no one was around and beamed as the bird flew down to him landing on the windowsill .
"Hey buddy…" he said softly. Using German. It had been to long since he had spoken German.
The bird chirped. Then again. And once more. And then burst into a beautiful melody. Gilbert stared wide eyed at his little yellow bird as it sang such a sweet song. He had heard it before… but his dulled tired mind could not for the life of him remember where. But it was beautiful. The bird even hopped from foot to foot as it sang… it was quite adorable to see, in all honesty. It warmed the Prussian's heart. And brought tears to his eyes.
When the little bird finished, it fluffed itself up, and pecked the ground, as if taking a bow. Gilbert chuckled, the tears falling from his eyes. "D-danke…"
It was many many years later that he had heard the song again… he had woken up in the music room, as he was one to do in these recent years after the fall of the wall.
He could hear a soft voice whispering something. He shook his head trying to focus and listen in.
"I don't want to play that song… not wi-"
Soft chirps were heard next and the sound of piano keys being randomly hit.
"S-stop that. Get your dirty feet off the keys! Very well. Just this once. It's time for you to learn a new song…"
Prussia closed his eyes again, listening to his bird start singing. A familiar melody. One he hummed to himself every day after he had heard his bird sing it while he was behind the wall.
And then he heard the piano. Matching Gilbird's singing…
"I.. don't have an answer… not one that can be spoken just using words. I don't have any answers in any language. Not the German we speak, not English, or French or Spanish… Just… Hell… I don't even know… I just know I always want to be beside you to protect you. Like I wanted to, when Frit's offered his marriage proposal to your Queen… protect you from my brother… from Russia. I just want to be able to do that… I'm not a country… but being by you makes me feel like I have a purpose again… that you need me…"
Roderich closed his eyes, leaning into the Prussian. The words that were coming out of the other's mouth… somehow made everything seem all right. He never minded the other by his side. As much as he complained about him… he was grateful every time the Prussian came through his music room window. It brought a smile on his face when he woke up and saw the other curled up on a couch. Or when he was walking down the street terribly lost… and suddenly Prussia was there leading him home. He liked having the other sit beside him and listen to him play. And he truly didn't mind when Gilbert ate all the cake in his home… because at least he had someone to share it with.
"I… do need you." Now more then ever. "Please… as selfish as this sounds… please stay… with me."
Gilbert smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. "Ja." He didn't wish to be anywhere else.