Hello, I'm totally back cuz I got a few reviews from some readers, encouraged me to go on. Although I can't really get past the idea that this fanfic I'm writing is terrible. .' Ah well, please read and see what mistakes I make, I could use some help with my writing. Danke!
"Me? What did I do? How could I h—have turned you into th—this?" Ludwig's grip on the gun loosened, it dropped to the hardwood floor with a loud clatter that range unbroken into the night as the two brothers stared at each other. Gilbert's ruby eyes burned deep into Ludwig's, who swallowed hard and moved away from him, clutching desperately at the blankets as if searching for something, anything to hold onto. He had to hold on, he needed something to make sense—his thoughts were all blurry and distorted, his emotions garble. "No… no… you can't be Gilbert…"
It was the only thing that would've made sense had he been thinking about it the day before, or any other time. But as much as he tried to believe that this man was not his brother, the more he came to realize that this had to be. This had to be Gilbert, in this situation this was the only piece of the puzzle that actually fit.
"Yes! Verdammt, West, it's me! I've come back to the human world, why is it to difficult for you to accept?"
"I… I don't e—even know if this is at all even possible. You being here, you're supposed to be… dead," said Ludwig flatly.
"I know that, bruder. Who says I'm not dead?" Gilbert sighed heavily and moved stiffly, trying to feel his legs, they had gotten numb after being motionless for so long. He leaned against the wall behind the bed, rubbing his pale forehead where the gun had left a large, red mark.
"B—But what I mean is that… if you're dead, you shouldn't be here in the first place!"
Ludwig inhaled deeply, turning his head to stare out the window at the glowing moon, his heart pounding from fright. Or was he actually afraid? This was his brother after all. So many emotions swirled inside his head, mixing together confusingly. Was he scared? Or awed? He didn't know anymore, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He almost wished he couldn't feel, he didn't want all these emotions to overwhelm him.
"And, well… anyways, I promised to hear you out if you answered my question. S—so explain yourself. Le—let me guess. You said I turned you into this monster. So you probably came here to make me turn you back to human, right? To undo the curse?"
Gilbert gazed unhappily at his little brother, at his emotionless face that was ghostily illuminated by the white moonlight. Did West even care that he was here just for a chance, once a month, to see the one he loved? And did he even care that he was the one Gilbert cared for? The only reason he continued to live, or even want to live, in the world of humans every month? Every time the light of the moon brought him back to life, the pain that seized his body, that racked him, was unbearable, but if Ludwig had ceased to love him after all those years, the hurt in his heart would overpower any other pain, or feeling, he'd ever felt. All that mattered now was his little brother. But the question was, did he still matter anything to Ludwig?
"I need you to see me, bruder, for what I truly am, before we can continue. Before the curse can become undone."
"I've already seen you. What do you think I've been looking at the whole time, the wall?"
"No," uttered Gilbert, biting his lower lip getnly to keep it from quivering, but the tears were forming in his eyes. Ludwig's tone seemed so harsh, he couldn't help it; on any normal day, if he were alive, he would've brushed it right off, but at times like these they seemed so uncaring, so hateful. "I need you to truly see me. My whole form."
His brother was silent and for a moment Gilbert was afraid he'd said something wrong. But abruptly, Ludwig rose from the bed and made his way out of the room and down the dark, cold hall in a direction Gilbert immediately recognized.
"Wait!" He leapt up from the bed to follow the German. "What the hell are you going to your office for at this time of the night? Don't tell me you're going to file paperwork while I'm here! For the last time what do you think you are doing?"
"I'm going to call England," mumbled Ludwig, quickening his pace as he pushed the office door open. "He'll know what to do with you; he's the sorcerer around here. I bet Arthur would be glad to take you, because I don't have time to deal with someone like you. If you need some kind of help with coming back to this world, don't ask me."
Gilbert froze in the doorway, feeling suddenly as if Ludwig himself had taken the knife and stabbed him in the heart. His little brother didn't want to deal with "someone like him"? This did truly hurt more than anything else he had encountered in his inhumane prison, to know that someone he loved hated him.
"Bruder… is that all you think I want you for? Do you even give a damn about what happens to me?"
"Of course I do!" snapped Ludwig, lifting the phone from its hold. "It's just I can't tell if you care about me! Did you actually ever even care for me? Or was it all you, all about the awesome you? Sometimes I don't even know if you ever thought about me at all, you could just be using me to get back to being human and then you would just abandon me! And you know what, I don't even care anymore!"
Ludwig actually flinched at his own words as he held the phone to his ear, staring down at the numbers as he dialed Arthur's cell. He hadn't exactly meant to sound so harsh, he'd just wanted a way to get Gilbert away from him so he could think and be free of all those feelings. He knew now that he must appear emotionless to his older brother, but deep inside he felt as if his soul had died, as if the entire world has lost his meaning and become dull and drab if Gilbert had not been there. Yes, it was true that Gilbert was somewhat vain, and possibly self-consumed, but there had been times where Ludwig had been sure that his big bruder loved him. When Gilbert died, he had been alone, with no friends, his whole world torn apart. But as much as he wanted Gilbert's love for him to be real, he was no longer sure he could believe in what he once thought to be the truth.
"I'm sorry, Ludwig!" Ludwig refused to look up at him, but Gilbert pleaded, "I'm sorry, I know in the past I've created cause for you to dislike me, perhaps even hate me, but I'm not the man I was, bruder, please! Please! All I want is for us to be together again!"
"How can I trust you anymore?" snarled Ludwig, stiffening once more as the phone began to ring. "What have you given me to convince me that I can trust you? Nothing! That's it! Nothing! So why, Gilbert? Tell me why!"
"Because I'm different now, Ludwig," begged Ludwig. "Death can change a person. Ludwig… please… I beg of you…"
Ludwig's eyes trailed from the floor and up to Gilbert's. "Oh Gilbert, I just don't know anymore…"
"Then please," His brother whispered hoarsely, "Look at me now, and start to believe. I don't have time, Ludwig, I'll be gone soon! I have only a few minutes, I can feel it! Look at me now!" Gilbert strode into the room and clamped his hands down on his brother's shoulders tightly. "Ludwig… you know I love you, but things can only work out if you choose to love me too." He took a shaky breath. "You won't like what you see, but you have to do it. You have to accept what I am now or you'll never accept me later when or if I return. And if you can't love me, than no one else can. This is the first step. Now please, bruder—put the damn phone down and look at me. At what I am."
Gilbert stared at his brother hopelessly and stepped back, a tear slideing down his cheek. Ludwig hesitated for one moment, then he placed the phone carefully back where it belonged. And then he reluctantly raised his head to gape at his brother.
"Oh—Oh mein Gott!" He screamed and backed into his desk with such force that it knocked over his ink bottles and lamp, and his phone set fell to the floor with a deafening crash as Ludwig trembled in terror at the sight of his big brother. "What happened to you, Gilbert?"
This was the first time he's ever seen Gilbert dressed in completely black—the man's dark garbs were made of shockingly thin and coarse material that had been torned and ragged from years of torture, exposing parts of his bare and pale chest, arms, thights, and knees, where Ludwig could clearly see terrible, dark burns on his arms and legs. His wrists and ankles were bound by iron chains and clamps, heavy and large and weighing him down considerably. On his chest were sets of deep, bloody gashes and tears that could've been left by the claws of wild animals, and the black, rumpled cloth around the wounds were soaked with dark blood. Out of his back sprouted two giant, ethereal wings of black, nearly as tall as Gilbert himself and nearly six feet in width each when the man spread them out. The wings were made of beautiful, sleek feathers, so light and perfect in design, but made from pure black shadow. They curved out gracefully around Gilbert, like the handle of an elegant teacup on each side of the slim figure, and ended in sharp points at the bottom, the wings themselves were surrounded by a mystical, red, glowing mist. The sight filled Ludwig with dread and painful memories as he force himself to look into Gilbert's face one last time. Gilbert's once gray hair now shone the color of moonlight, his ruby eyes glowed rediscently, tears of blood streaked his face.
"This, Ludwig, is what you turned me into." Gilbert suddenly gave a racking sob and collapsed onto the floor on his knees, the tears of blood continuing to flow without pause. "I'm so sorry you had to see all this, bruder," he gasped, "and now I must leave you. I cannot stay for long… my time is gone."
"No! You can't leave, Gilbert!" cried Luwig, crashing onto his knees to face his brother. He now finally knew how much Gilbert had sacrificed for him, how much suffering he'd experienced. "I need you!"
"No… I can't stay anymore… The next time I am allowed to visit what I once had… is next month..."
"On the night of the full moon," finished Ludwig, a tear running down his own cheek. Gilbert stared up helplessly into the icy blue eyes of the brother he once had, the tears of blood streaming relentlessly. "I will await you, bruder," whispered Ludwig, putting a hand on Gilbert's shoulder.
"A—as… I will await you, Ludwig… I will—I will never stop loving you. No matter what, bruder, I will never cease to love you the way I once did." Gilbert let out a pained groan and cried, "I must leave you now! G—Goodbye, my brother."
"N—no, wait, bruder!" I—I need answers! What happened to you, why are you like this? Why do you suffer?"
Gilbert clutched his chest as the cuts on his chest began to bleed freely and the burns on his arms and legs reopened, fresh once more. "I—I can give you no more information, bruder… but remember—ah!"
The crack of an invisible whip snapped the room out of its silent nightime slumber as the first rays of sunlight hit Gilbert's dark wings. Gilbert screamed, burying his face in his hands, a new bloody gash appearing on his back above the spot where the wings sprang from his pallid skin. "Remember—aah!—the night of... of 1947! No, no, no, please don't hurt me anymore! Please—noooo!"
And instantly Gilbert vanished into the night as he let out one last scream of pain—and then Gilbert Beilschmidt was no more.
I hope you don't all hate me now… Please review anyhow. *derp face* I'm new, again, so please refrain from killing me. Review, review, review, or PM me if you already reviewed, about how I can improve! Again, sorry if the chapter was long-ish, boring or unsatisfactory. Any suggestions or tips would be awesome, I have some of the next chapter planned out already! So if you are an ENGLAND fan, come forth! Iggy-appearance in the next chapter! Oh, and I'll warn you I'm planning to turn this into a GermanyXPrussia thing. I have a thing for all the Hetalia pairs in existence. XXD