I'm so sorry for the long delay… thank you to Naviar, yellow blaze, YourDarkMistress, YaoiFangirl12 (whose name is now XxLudwig BeilschmidtxX) and for reviewing. I owe it to you guys who never stop loyally reviewing, so after a long period of writer's block, I've returned. Enjoy, please, and for God's sake, review!

"… Bruder… b-bruder…!" Ruby red eyes suddenly widened in horror and shock as Gilbert came to realize that his brother, Ludwig, of all people, was right beside him—right there in front of his eyes. He struggled instantly in Ludwig's arms, squirming and managing somehow to get out of the blonde's hold and to scramble away against the hard, cold, black rock that held his chains to the ground. "N-no… nein, you can't stay here! Get out of here, now! The curse, there is a side effect… if you stay here too long…"

"No, Gilbert!" protested Ludwig, wiping the sweat off his forehead to instead replace it with a thick streak of the crimson fluid that had come from his brother's body. "I-I can't let you stay here any longer! Gilbert, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault, everything, I ought to be the one paying for that night…" Tears rolled down the other man's cheeks as he crashed to the grasses on his knees, sorrow engulfing him wholely. "I'm sorry… bruder, I can't let you do this, taking all this pain just for me…"

The Prussian gulped, his breath coming out shakily from being so close to tears, spurred on by his younger sibling's actions. Gilbert might have been an ass, he may have been lazy and egotistical in his past, but no longer. That he promised, not only for the sake of himself but also for Ludwig, who had dealed with his selfishness for so long—and nothing had come out of it for the boy, only stress and anger. And then how had Prussia repaid Ludwig for his work, for protecting and caring for him?

He had gone about his ways for much too long, and now he had paid the ultimate price—death, and not only death, but eternal torture. But as much as these demons could whip and beat him, nothing hurt more than knowing that Ludwig was in pain and was, in fact, the one suffering the most from the loss of Gilbert's life. Gilbert wanted desperately to thank him and to somehow pay his little bruder back for everything, but it wasn't the time. Now there was something else much more important to focus on.

"Nein, West, you don't understand… the curse… if you stay beside me so long like this, in this place, you will also be cursed as I am… but much worse… please, please leave me…"

There was a tone of desperacy in his older brother's voice, one that bothered the other German greatly.

"Bruder… I swear," spoke Ludwig slowly, considering his words carefully. He wanted this to be a moment that would remain in his heart forever, as hurting and damaging to his feelings as it was. This was Gilbert. Nothing mattered more than the remembrance of Gilbert, that he was sure of. "…I swear that I will free you from this prison. Nothing," he promised, leaning in to kiss his brother on the cheek gently, not wanting to harm the smaller man's body any more than what hell had brought upon that frail figure, "will stop me from doing that. Nothing. I'll save you, bruder. And someday we'll be together again."

Gilbert's skin was ice cold, and Ludwig felt as if the flesh on his lips were being frozen over with pure ice, but nevertheless he did not move himself. It was the least he could do for one that he loved so dearly.

"Ja… someday…" Gilbert was brought a small ray of hope by Ludwig's words, and a small hint of a smile lit up his face for one moment, just one moment—and then it vanished just as quickly as it had come, lost in the trauma as a single shard of glass is buried by an avalanche of snow. Precious, but gone. "But now, please, I beg of you… leave me. That day will come, soon, but not today."

Ludwig's lips left his pale skin as he spoke those words, and the country missed the coolness of those tender lips, but now was not the time to dwell on the loss of such minorities.

Although it might have seemed to others a minority, Gilbert, bowing his head to stare at the ground as he listened to his brother's shuffling as the other stood and began to retreat back the way he had come, knew that it was not so trifle. It was love. His brother seemed to hold so much caring and love for him that it seemed even the man named Roderich that had once been a part of his life could not have loved him more.

Yes, he had had a lover. A true love, one that held the albino in his arms and whispered in his ears with adoration as he cradled the man he loved. Yes, Gilbert had once loved. But no longer, for just as he had thrown all his other allies and friends away, he had thrown Roderich away so easily, inflicting the brunnette's heart with a shattering impact that could have killed him had he not been a nation. It had seemed too easy, so simple to toss away the love of another, and now he understood how much it had meant to him at the time. But now was too late to take back everything. Only Ludwig could be there for him now.

And Ludwig, watching Gilbert turn his head to the ground and away from him, had felt a sharp pierce in his heart, an anguish that came not from an arrow or sword or gun, but from devotion. Devotion to the man that he called bruder, devotion to the one who had raised him, the one he loved.

And now he knew, without a doubt, even though he had sworn just the night before that it was not so, that Gilbert loved him as well. And that was the only thing that gave Ludwig courage to turn and sprint back to the pathway he had descended upon, to return to the world from whence he came. And as he ran he uttered an oath of loyalty, to the brother that he had once had, to save him.

"Gilbert…" Tears sprang to the soldier's blue orbs, "Ich liebe dich… I love you." He said it aloud and quietly, as if the other had been right beside him and able to hear his voice.

And Gilbert glanced up at Ludwig's receding form. He had heard that deep, grave voice in his head, and, having lived with Ludwig for so many years, he knew precisely who it belonged to, and he smiled fondly and whispered back, "I love you too, Ludwig. I love nothing more than you."

Ludwig heard. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had heard, and as he dived back to the area in which he had first glimpsed hell, he cried, "Goodbye… bruder."

And then he vanished. Seeing this, Gilbert hung his head as his chest heaved up and down with the tears that he brought forward. Tears of pain, tears of sorrow, of grief, of death, of sadness.

Tears of love.

No one knew, but deep in the shadows of his home, Austria cried somberly as he slammed his fingers on the piano in the position of the notes of Chopin's No. 11: Étude in A minor, Winter Wind,sobbing for the death of the one he loved. Every night. Every night he cried for Prussia since the day of the funeral.

So much sorrow. So much anguish. And yet so much love in the world.

That was a short and wordy chapter, so sorry for the rough composition that it is, but it was all that I had. Please review, was this or was this not terrible? Thank you.