((Alternative title: The Ridiculously Long Chapter In Which We Discover That Stella Knows Nothing About Medical Science. Seriously, those doctors are just like "Well, you've got cracked ribs, internal bleeding and a giant cut, but we'll give you a bandaid and some ibuprofen, so get some sleep and you'll be fine!" *Facepalm* The interactions with the hospital staff were drawn from my own experiences in hospitals, by the way. I really appreciate everything they do, but some people… ._.' Also, the fear of the number four thing is totally real. And I'm sorry I named the doctor Dr. Knox… It was the first thing that popped into my head while writing, even if he's nothing like him. Quantity over quality, right? xD Oh, and sorry about Gilbert's potty mouth. orz
Oh, and the words in the shiritori game are, in order: Taiko drum, convenience store, Japan, rainbow, bicycle, rental house, mansion, Friday, pretty boy, video, dango, garbage, everyone, tears, dashi soup stock, attack, feelings, cheese, and picture dictionary.))

Arthur, Francis, Feliciano, Kiku, Alfred, and Matthew sat in the waiting room, waiting nervously for the doctor to tell them the news. They had been at the hospital for about an hour, and sitting in a waiting room for an hour was horrid enough even without knowing that your friend was badly injured and there was nothing you could do about it. Ludwig had passed out shortly before they got to the hospital, and everyone was extremely worried about him. And also bored out of their minds.

"I spy something... Black," Alfred decided.

Matthew sighed. "Is it that wheel chair?"

"Yes!" Alfred announced.

"This is the third time you have picked that," Kiku pointed out.

"Well there's not exactly a ton of interesting stuff in the hospital waiting room," Alfred mumbled.

"Why don't we play a different game?" Matthew suggested.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe Twenty Questions or something," Matthew replied, shrugging.

"But that's boring!" Alfred whined.

"Sorry, I don't really have any other ideas," Matthew explained, smiling apologetically.

"We could play Shiritori," Kiku suggested.

"That sounds fun," Matthew agreed.

"Meh, I guess it's better than nothing," Alfred admitted reluctantly.

"I will start," Kiku announced. "Taiko."

"Konbini," Matthew replied.

"Nihon," Alfred added.

"You're not supposed to say things that end with n," Matthew pointed out.

"Why not?! N is a letter!" Alfred argued.

"There are no Japanese words that start with n," Kiku explained.

"Sure there are! What about nani? Or neko?" Alfred insisted.

"Nani starts with na and neko starts with ne," Kiku replied.

"That's stupid," Alfred decided, crossing his arms.

"I am sorry, but those are the rules of the game," Kiku insisted. "You are now out of the game."

"Whatever," Alfred mumbled, pouting.

"Whose turn is it now?" Matthew asked.

"Feliciano-kun's, I think," Kiku replied.

"Oh, um... No thanks," Feliciano said quietly, smiling nervously.

"Are you sure you don't want to play?" Matthew asked, concerned. "It might help you take your mind off things."

"No... But you guys have fun, 'kay?" Feliciano replied, trying his best to be cheerful. Kiku and Matthew shared a worried glance, but didn't bother him further.

"Can I play?" Francis asked. Arthur rolled his eyes, mumbling something as he pretended to read a magazine.

"Of course," Kiku replied politely.

"Alright then, what was the last word?" Francis asked, leaning against the arm of the chair.

"Konbini," Kiku explained.

"Hmm... Niji," Francis decided.

"Jitensha," Kiku replied.

"Shakuya," Matthew added.

"Yashiki."

"Kinyoubi."

"Bishounen."

"You lose," Francis announced.

"Maple," Matthew mumbled, sighing.

"Anyway, bideo," Francis continued, smirking.

"Odango," Kiku replied.

"Gomi."

"Minna."

"Namida."

"Dashi."

"Shingeki."

"Kimochi."

"Chiizu."

"Zukan."

"You lose! I win!" Francis announced, laughing triumphantly.

"Good game," Kiku replied politely, sighing.

"Be quiet, would you? We're in the middle of the waiting room," Arthur interrupted. Just as he was about to go back to reading the magazine (Not that he really cared about anything in it), a nurse came into the room.

"Excuse me, um, are any of you..." she glanced at the clipboard, "...Ludwig Beilschmidt's parents?"

"No, but we brought him here," Arthur replied, putting the magazine down. "I'm the counselor at his school."

"I suppose that will have to do," the nurse said reluctantly, sighing. "Come with me."

"Um, can I come too?" Feliciano asked hesitantly.

"If you must," the nurse replied. And so she led Arthur and Feliciano down annoyingly white hospital corridors with linoleum floors and plastic walls, until they made it to a room labeled Room 203. The nurse knocked on the door gently.

"Come in," replied an unfamiliar voice. The nurse opened the door quietly and led them in.

"You must be this boy's family, I assume? I'm Dr. Knox," the doctor said, offering his hand and smiling kindly.

"No, I'm his school counselor, and this is his friend," Arthur explained, shaking the doctor's hand. "Arthur Kirkland. Nice to meet you."

"So is Ludwig ok? He's not gonna die or anything, right?" Feliciano asked nervously, watching his sleeping friend carefully.

"No, he's not in any danger of dying," Dr. Knox replied, laughing slightly. "What's your name?"

"Um, Feliciano Vargas," Feliciano replied shyly.

"Well, Feliciano, your friend here is going to be just fine," Dr. Knox explained reassuringly. "He has some cracked ribs, a little bit of internal bleeding and a deep cut on his right arm, but give it some time and he'll be just fine."

"That's good news," Arthur agreed. "Well, relatively, anyway."

"It was so scary," Feliciano whimpered, starting to cry. "H-he was bleeding a lot a-and he wouldn't tell me what happened and then he p-passed out and I THOUGHT HE WAS GONNA DIE AND THEN HE'D BE GONE F-FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER AND-"

"Calm down," Arthur ordered the panicked boy. "Ludwig is going to be just fine, alright? Stop freaking out."

"I-I'm sorry," Feliciano said, sniffling. "I was just so worried... I want Ludwig to wake up soon..."

"For now it's best to let him rest," Dr. Knox interrupted. "He was hurt pretty badly, and he needs to sleep in order to heal."

"But he'll wake up soon, right? Right?!" Feliciano demanded, panicking slightly.

"Yes, he'll be fine," Dr. Knox replied. "Until then, though, you need to let him rest."

"O-ok," Feliciano replied quietly, sniffling. He wiped his eyes and sat down in the chair.

"Now then, Mr. Kirkland... Are you able to contact his parents?" Dr. Knox asked, turning towards Arthur.

Arthur shook his head. "He doesn't have any."

"That's a shame. What about a legal guardian?" Dr. Knox inquired.

"Yes, I'll go call him," Arthur replied, stepping out of the room.

"Good," Dr. Knox agreed, sitting on the stool and looking at some graphs on a computer.

"Um... C-can I stay here until Ludwig wakes up?" Feliciano asked hesitantly, doing his best to stop crying.

"As long as you're quiet, then yes," Dr. Knox replied, smiling in a comforting way.

"Thank you," Feliciano mumbled. He pulled his chair closer to the bed and watched Ludwig worriedly.

Soon Arthur returned, putting his phone in his pocket.

"Well?" Dr. Knox asked.

"He's on his way," Arthur replied. "I should probably go tell the others the news."

"Alright," Dr. Knox agreed. "I have some other patients to attend to, but there will be nurses checking in periodically, and you can call me if you need me."

"Thanks for everything, doctor," Arthur said politely, before leaving to inform the others of Ludwig's situation. Dr. Knox followed him out, heading to another room to check on someone else.

Feliciano sighed, watching Ludwig sadly. Though he was sleeping peacefully, he looked to be in pain.

"I'm sorry, Ludwig," Feliciano said quietly. "I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry you got hurt..." He carefully held Ludwig's hand, glancing nervously at the tangle of IVs and such in his wrist. Though he knew they were necessary, they still made him nervous. He wondered if they would make Ludwig nervous too.

He sat like that for several minutes, just quietly waiting for Ludwig to wake up and hoping he would be ok. After a while, a nurse came in.

"Oh, hello there," the nurse said, smiling at him in the same way one would smile at a four-year-old.

"Hello," Feliciano replied confusedly.

"Don't mind me, I'm just checking in," the nurse explained. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Um... Feliciano. Feliciano Vargas." Feliciano glanced at the nurse suspiciously, confused as to why she was talking to him as if he was stupid.

"You're a very polite boy, Feliciano. How old are you?" the nurse asked.

"Sixteen," Feliciano replied, starting to get slightly annoyed.

"Wow, so grown up," the nurse exclaimed in fake surprised, checking some readings on a monitor and making sure the IV drip was working. After she was satisfied that everything was normal, she wrote something down on a clipboard near the door.

"Your brother is going to be just fine, so you just keep being patient, ok honey? See you later," the nurse said, smiling at Feliciano and leaving the room.

Feliciano sighed. "Why does she think we're brothers? We don't even look alike," he wondered out loud, frowning slightly. "And she talked to me like I was a little kid..."

After a few more minutes of silence, Feliciano began to hear loud talking coming from the hallway. Curious, he put his ear to the door, only to have the door suddenly opened and slammed into his face.

"Owowow! My nose! Oh no! I think my nose is broken!" Feliciano exclaimed, crying again.

"I'm sorry," Arthur said hastily, preoccupied with trying to restrain the very angry red-eyed German teen who apparently had no regard for proper door-opening etiquette.

"West!" Gilbert exclaimed, running to the bed. "What the hell happened?!"

"Would you do us all a favor and shut the hell up? He's sleeping, you know," Arthur snapped.

"What happened?!" Gilbert demanded, giving Arthur a look that burned like fire.

"It's not something that can be explained easily," Arthur replied, glaring back.

"To hell with that! My little brother is in the fucking hospital and you're telling me you won't even explain why?!"

"Yes, I am," Arthur replied stubbornly, "Now get over it."

"You bastard!" Gilbert shouted, going to punch Arthur.

"Stop it!" Feliciano interrupted. "The doctor said we have to be quiet!"

"Fuck the doctor! I need answers!" Gilbert argued.

"Stop yelling," Ludwig mumbled, apparently awake.

"Ludwig! You're awake!" Feliciano exclaimed. "Are you ok?!"

"West! What happened?!" Gilbert also shouted. Ludwig winced, his only reply being something along the lines of "Mmmph."

"Both of you back off, you're overwhelming him," Arthur ordered. Gilbert shot him a dark look.

"Don't tell me what to do, you bastard. He's my brother, I'll talk to him if I want to."

"I was so scared, I thought you were gonna die!" Feliciano told Ludwig, totally ignoring Arthur and Gilbert.

"All of you shut up," Ludwig shouted, glaring. Surprised, they complied.

"I have no idea what the hell is going on," Ludwig explained annoyedly, "And you three are NOT helping."

"Sorry," Feliciano said quietly.

"Now all of you get out," Ludwig ordered.

"What about me?!" Gilbert argued, feeling slightly insulted. Ludwig rolled his eyes.

"Fine, you can stay. But the rest of you leave."

"That's fine with me," Arthur replied, giving Gilbert an I-told-you-so look and dragging Feliciano out of the room.

"What happened?" Gilbert asked quietly, taking a seat in the chair formerly occupied by Feliciano.

"...Nothing," Ludwig lied, avoiding looking at his brother.

"Don't give me that crap. There's no way this is just nothing. Come on, was it something at school? What happened?" Gilbert replied, giving him a look.

"I don't want to talk about it," Ludwig insisted.

"West. Tell me what happened," Gilbert asked again, stern yet worried about his little brother.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I did," Ludwig said quietly, a sort of restrained sadness in his sky blue eyes (However the hell that works, fiction sure does love to dramatize people's eyes).

"Try me."

"No. I know you won't believe me. I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't been there," Ludwig admitted.

"If you believe it, then so will I," Gilbert announced. "Now tell me what happened."

Ludwig waited for a moment, not sure if he believed him. Yet his brother's words were sincere, so after a moment's pause, he told him.

"...Ghosts," Ludwig admitted reluctantly, blushing in embarrassment.

Gilbert blinked in confusion. "What?"

"See? I told you," Ludwig mumbled bitterly, sighing.

"No, it's not that I don't believe you," Gilbert said quickly, "I'm just confused. I mean... Ghosts? Like 'Ooh, spooky, we're going to haunt you' things that you see on Halloween kind of ghosts?"

"Not exactly," Ludwig explained. "This one was big. And dark. And very angry... It threw cars as easily as if they were baseballs," he continued, shuddering at the memories.

"Is that what happened to you?" Gilbert asked, frowning in concern.

"No... It hit me with a piece of scrap metal." Ludwig sighed, trying his best to stay calm. Gilbert, noticing Ludwig's nervousness, petted his head affectionately.

"Well at least you're ok now, right?" he pointed out, grinning in an attempt to cheer his brother up.

"I guess," Ludwig mumbled, not quite as enthusiastic about is as Gilbert was. "I feel horrible, though... I was too scared but stand there. My friends were in danger, and I couldn't help them... God, I'm so pathetic," Ludwig said quietly.

"Don't say that," Gilbert argued. "Everyone has those odd things they're afraid of. It's not your fault."

"I know, but it's never like this. I shouldn't be afraid of everything. And now everyone knows..." Ludwig bit his lip, afraid of what his friends might think.

"Look, it doesn't matter, ok? I doubt they'll care. And if they do, they'll have the Awesome Me to deal with," Gilbert announced.

"I just hope you're right..." Ludwig sighed, hoping desperately that his friends wouldn't mind.

It had been two days since the incident. Ludwig was, of course, still in the hospital, and bored out of his mind. Though he did have his phone, it was low on battery, and since he couldn't use his right arm much it was difficult to play any games. All he could do really was watch TV, which pretty much only had weird Japanese dramas and kids' anime. Since there was nothing else, Ludwig had reluctantly settled on some old reruns of Hikaru no Go. It wasn't the most interesting show, and he had seen it all already, but it was better than nothing at least. At about 1:00, someone knocked on the door. Ludwig sighed.

"Come in," he said reluctantly, expecting it to be another nurse or doctor come to check on him. To his surprise, it was Kiku.

"Hello Ludwig-san," Kiku greeted, bowing politely. "I apologize if I am bothering you."

"No, not at all," Ludwig replied quickly, actually quite happy to see his friend.

"I brought you some things," Kiku said, placing a box on the bedside table.

"Oh, thanks," Ludwig said sincerely, quite relieved to have something to do. In the box was a ninja movie, Ludwig's phone charger, a box of Pocky, some recent manga anthologies, a book about the periodic table of elements, and a get-well card from the rest of their class.

"How have you been?" Kiku asked.

"In all honesty? Terrible," Ludwig replied. "I mean aside from the whole horrible injuries thing, I'm bored out of my mind, I'm not supposed to move my right arm at all, it's cold and the food is terrible, and I got hardly any sleep because every time I start to fall asleep some nurse comes in and asks me ridiculous and incredibly patronizing questions like 'How are you feeling, sweetie?' or 'Does anything hurt' or 'Don't forget to get your rest, ok?'" Ludwig blurted out, annoyed.

Kiku blinked in surprise, not having expected an honest answer, much less a whole rant.

"I... see," he said slowly, slightly unsure what to do. "Well, ah, I hope you feel better."

"Sorry," Ludwig apologized awkwardly. "I didn't mean to blow up at you like that. It's just been frustrating."

"Do not worry about it," Kiku replied. "Oh, by the way, Johnson-sensei said you do not have to do any homework until you recover. I suspect it may have to do with the fact that you are one of very few students to actually turn in assignments on time on a regular basis..." Kiku admitted awkwardly.

"You're probably right," Ludwig agreed, rolling his eyes at the thought of his irresponsible friends. "What about you? Have you had any time to work on that paper?"

"A little bit, yes," Kiku replied, nodding. "Although Feliciano-kun and Alfred-san are not doing as well."

"Of course not," Ludwig mumbled, facepalming. "It would be a miracle if those two were ever on time for anything."

"Well, they are if there is food involved," Kiku pointed out, laughing a little.

"Yes, I suppose that's true," Ludwig agreed. He couldn't help but smile at that.

"Well, I had best be going," Kiku said reluctantly.

"Alright then," Ludwig replied, disappointed yet understanding. "See you later, then."

Kiku nodded politely. "Goodbye, Ludwig-san. Good luck with your recovery." With that, Kiku turned to leave. Suddenly he stopped in the doorway, remembering something.

"Ano... Ludwig-san?" Kiku began hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"Forgive me if this is a rude question, but... ah... Why did you not move when that... Thing attacked you?"

Ludwig froze, not having anticipating this question. Kiku looked at him expectantly, patiently awaiting his answer, unaware of how upsetting it was. Wait, what am I talking about? Kiku is an expert at reading the mood. He should notice. Anyway, back to the scene.

"...I... It doesn't matter," Ludwig replied hastily.

"If it was enough to get you hospitalized, it must be important," Kiku pointed out.

"I don't want to talk about it," Ludwig mumbled. "It's stupid."

"I hate to be rude and pushy, but I do believe it is important that you tell me," Kiku insisted. "Please," he added.

"No."

"I will not tell anyone," Kiku decided, giving Ludwig a sincere look.

"...Promise?"

"You have my word," Kiku replied, nodding seriously.

Ludwig sighed, trying to work up the courage to tell his friend his embarrasing secret. After a few moments, he reluctantly told him.

"...I... I'm afraid of ghosts," he admitted quietly, avoiding looking at Kiku in shame.

"Really?" Kiku asked, surprised. Ludwig nodded slightly, still not looking at him.

"I see," Kiku announced, sighing and smiling in relief. "Well I am glad that is all. There is nothing wrong with being afraid of ghosts, you know."

"Yes there is," Ludwig mumbled quietly. "It's ridiculous... I'm not supposed to be afraid of anything, much less something so unscientific."

"That is very unrealistic," Kiku argued. "Nobody is without fear. Everyone is afraid of something. Fear of ghosts is very common here in Japan. Ghosts are a part of our folklore, after all."

"Still, it's not right... I shouldn't be afraid of them," Ludwig repeated.

Kiku paused. "Do you know what one of the most common phobias in Japan is?"

"I don't know, fear of heights?" Ludwig guessed, shrugging.

Kiku shook his head. "Tetraphobia."

"What's that?" Ludwig asked, confused.

"It is the fear of the number four," Kiku replied, smiling slightly.

Ludwig frowned in confusion. "Why four?"

"Because," Kiku explained, "In Japanese, as I am sure you know, the kanji for four is usually read as 'yon', but can also be written as 'Shi'."

"Oh, like death?" Ludwig suggested. Kiku nodded.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Ludwig pointed out. "It's just a kanji. I'm sure there are plenty of things that can be written as 'shi', that's no reason to be afraid of them."

"Exactly," Kiku replied. "It is irrational, yes, but still a very common fear. So you see, there is nothing to be ashamed of."

"...I suppose you're right," Ludwig admitted, pondering this idea. "You still won't tell anyone, right?"

"Of course not," Kiku replied sincerely.

"Thank you," Ludwig said quietly.

Kiku smiled. "You are welcome."