CHAPTER SEVEN

Iron Cross

Team two, also known as the Spaniard, the annoying Italian, and that French guy, were heading down the street to their destination. They weren't visiting all of the houses, it seemed as if most were home so early in the day, and they could only get to a couple. And by this they meant they could only go to their one-p's more no less. A lot of people thought that was a stupid idea but they wouldn't question it.

They didn't want to get into another fight. Obviously this meant that a large majority of the houses wouldn't even be touched. This also bothered a couple of people, but even fewer than the first.

Sebastian led the group down the sidewalk. He was taking directions from Leonardo, a decision he slightly regretted. Not wanting to read the map and look around repeatedly to find the streets they had to go to in order to find their way around, he handed the responsibility of directions to his friend. And all it really ended up doing was giving him a reason to speak to Sebastian. Jean was following further behind, smoking as usual and looking around without a single fuck to give. A couple of parents gave him dirty looks, considering that he wasn't exactly 'well groomed'. He ignored them; he was used to it anyway. The two in front of him weren't getting much done either. Bickering like always.

Leonardo would tease him, Sebastian would insult him, Leonardo would laugh, and Sebastian would curse. So on and so forth. It was just as productive as every world meeting he'd ever gone to. And now, here he was. Being led by these two buffoons. They were Axis, he was an Ally. Putting the two together was never a good idea. The only reason they hadn't tried to cut each other's throats out was probably because of the mission they had ahead of them. If they weren't to accomplish it, then they would be unable to continue with their game.

He had to admit, it was fairly enjoyable. Tormenting people was his specialty. He loved doing it, but his near expressionless face didn't really hint to it. Finally they managed to arrive at the first house in one piece. All of the houses happened to be conveniently placed on a single block. He wouldn't be surprised if they ran into the other group, since the Albino's place was on this lane too. First was the Italian's. After beating Feliciano senseless they checked his pockets and whatnot for anything that they hadn't found in the car. The only thing they got was his house keys and some coins. Even though they would much prefer to break the door down, the keys would be less suspicious. Leonardo who, for some dumb reason, was left in charge of keeping the keys fumbled to open the door. Once inside they started destroying the place.

Thankfully the brother of their victim wasn't home, so they didn't have much to worry about. If anything a couple of neighbors would hear them but nothing too dangerous. And even if they came a bit too close then they wouldn't live to see the light of day again. They didn't find much in the house, not a big surprise to Jean. He can't say the same for his companions though. They seemed a bit... too shocked. In fact they actually ransacked the house a second time. Tables that were already flipped over were smashed, bookshelves were thrown over, and books were burned. The place was totaled, just as they had planned. They even broke a couple of faucets... just for good measures.

The next two houses were just the same. No big surprise, just a huge ass mess. I guess you could say they were leaving a bit of a present for their one-Ps. Sebastian sighed, obviously annoyed.

"That was a waste of time." He rubbed his head and walked out the door. The other two followed behind him, also annoyed.

"We could have been back at the base tormenting little Feliciano." Leonardo said with a smile. Jean nodded and they kept walking, bored as ever. But they didn't get far before seeing a couple of familiar faces.

"Hm? Is that Luciano?" Sebastian asked, pointing out into the distance. The three looked off at the horizon. It was still early and cold, the sun rising slowly. The trio who had fled the fight scene were now running blindly ahead. They had been followed by a couple of one-Ps. Normally they would of turned around and fought but if others decided to join they were bound to be out numbered. And to add to that, Kuro was slightly wounded. Not to mention the fact that when they jumped out the window they landed in glass shards.

A couple managed to launch themselves into Kuro's feet, having the thinnest shoes out of the three. The others either avoided the shards completely or had nearly impenetrable boots. Kuro was basically running on his toes, just trying to avoid hurting himself any more than he needed to. Not that he cared much; he actually enjoyed inflicting pain on himself in general. It made him feel stronger and like he could endure going through immense amounts of torment without being phased.

But being stabbed in the foot by tens of hundreds of shards of glass while you're trying to run away from your enemies isn't the best idea. Leonardo started waving his arms around like the lunatic he was, drawing the other's attention as well as a few unwanted stares from strangers. Luciano face palmed at his brother's stupidity. Despite this his brother continued to flail his arms and yell

"Fratello, fratello!" over and over again. When they were close enough Luciano finally snapped at him.

"Shut up idiota, I'm standing right here!" He yelled at his brother who only smiled and hugged him. Kuro sat down and started picking glass out of his feet. Jean walked over to Andrew and threw his cigarette to the side.

"Did you guys have any luck?" He asked. Andrew smiled.

"Definitely. We wrecked the place. Anything that they had in there is long gone. I even smashed their laptop personally. Kuro got to fight his 'old man' too." Jean smiled. Fights between a one-p and a two-p always sounded interesting. He never got to see one though; this was the first time they'd be in this dimension anyway.

"How 'bout you guys?" Jean shook his head.

"C'était une perte de temps." He spat. Andrew nodded and looked back over to see if Kuro was handling himself well. He managed to pull the shards out and ripped the ends of his cape to wrap his feet.

"Jigoku o kuso..." he mumbled before replacing his shoes and walking back over to the group. Luciano finished yelling at his brother and walked back over to the others, Leonardo following close behind. Sebastian sighed.

"So, what now? Do we just return to base and pretend like nothing happened?" The others shrugged. No one really cared what they did next; no one knew what the plan was. So Luciano jumped in to 'save the day'.

"Let's go and look for the other group. If we can join up with them and get a report on how things are going, we can head back to our casa sicura."

Not too far down the block, Lanzo was wandering about. Having grown tired of hearing both Jian and Viktor rant about a certain Japanese man; he silently said a quick goodbye then rushed off towards another direction. He didn't like being out in public. It gave everyone a chance to see the scars that ran across his face.

Oh how he hated having to look into a broken mirror every morning and see the four cuts that brought back dreadful memories; each one resembling something of minor importance to others, but lots of importance to himself. All of them had their own story. To hide the shame and suffering from the outside world, he found himself hiding within his bedroom in the safety of the shadows. Otherwise he would wear a hood of some sort to cover his face. Hide his face in the shadows that no one could peer through no matter how much they tried.

This was just one of those times. But it being so early in the morning, he doubted anyone would really notice. So he walked down the sidewalk, a few people passing him by but having no interest in him. He was somewhat thankful for it, being nervous enough as is with this whole plan anyway. He just hoped and prayed he wouldn't run into himself. Then he would have to explain just about everything.

He wasn't sure what to expect from his counterpart. How he'd look or act. He hadn't even seen Feliciano before, so he didn't really grasp the whole concept of one-P and two-P. Of course he had heard the occasional stories that were shared amongst the Axis whenever they had nothing better to do. Really they were just myths if anything, tall tales, trying to figure out what their counterparts would be like.

This of course was when they first entered their dimension, and Kuro said he spotted someone that looked familiar to him. Luciano was almost immediately interested and, as a result, he went hunting for this person. Instead he ended up finding his one-P and, as a result, decided to hatch a plan on the spot to capture this person, which ended up creating this whole mess. And was also the reason why he was walking to the German's house to find anything that could be of use. Which would likely end in disaster, as always.

Lanzo sighed. He was rambling to himself again, even if it was only in his head. Nonetheless he had no time to, as he was now two houses down from his destination. He slowed his pace as he grew closer and closer. He gulped when he went up the two steps placed before the doorway. He was tempted to knock, just for the heck of it of course. But instead he grabbed the doorknob and turned it. He raised a question when it actually turned and the door slowly slid open.

The inside was quiet as far as he could tell. He crept inside at a snail's pace, slowly and silently closing the door behind him without making a single peep. He tiptoed further into the house, finding himself in the kitchen. The light above the stove was on, but it was fairly dim and didn't help him see any better. Still moving, he could hear something going on in the other room; sounded like a TV. Looking through the small window that divided the kitchen itself from the breakfast bar, Lanzo was able to just barely see the screen of the television that had been left on; Soccer.

The announcers were speaking in loud, booming voices and people were cheering, just as energetic about the game as the players appeared to be. He began to lean forward, trying to peer farther into the room to see if anyone was home. But that room was darker than the kitchen, so it was nearly impossible. Not thinking things through and leaning ahead even more, his elbow knocked into a salt shaker which fell onto its side with a loud "thunk" against the granite countertop. He jumped back and hit his head on a cabinet as well. Biting his tongue to stop a scream from escaping, he gripped the back of his head and leaned against the counter.

"Eh? West, you back already?" Lanzo's eyes widened and he started to panic. Forgetting to be stealthy and whatnot, he rushed over towards the door. Just before he managed to get there, the kitchen light flicked on and nearly blinded him. It was probably the brightest light he'd ever seen. Stunned for a moment, Gilbert saw the shadowy figure and immediately saw him as a threat.

"Huh? Ein Räuber!" He blurted out, ignoring the fact that he had almost immediately switched from English to German. Springing to attack, Gilbert grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up; throwing him back into the hard fridge that was mainly used for the storage of alcoholic beverages and wurst. Lanzo was shaking from nervousness. He hadn't fought anyone since his dissolution, which was a very long time ago.

"Who are you?!" His voice was obviously full of anger. Lanzo wasn't sure what to say. Tell the truth or come up with some lie, it seemed that either way he was screwed. With one hand around his neck and another placed on the granite countertop, Gilbert pulled Lanzo around so his back was against the breakfast bar. Leaning back farther and farther, if he were to keep this act up the other would surely fall unconscious. The hood that Lanzo had entrusted to prevent his identity from being known fell back and revealed his face.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow and loosened his surprisingly tight grip. Being The Awesome Prussia he sure as hell knew how he looked. And this guy really looked like him. Lanzo fell to the ground at Gilbert's feet, gasping for air and trying to retain his composure.

"I'll ask it again," Gilbert continued, causing Lanzo to look up the Albino once again, but then looked away. "Who are you?" There was a moment of pause between the two. Lanzo had obviously lost this war, and needed to spill his guts or else his counterpart was bound to.

"L-Lanzo." He locked eyes with Gilbert. "Lanzo Beilschmidt." Another awkward pause noted as the two stared each other down. Gilbert finally let out a sigh and stepped back to allow his counterpart the much needed room to stand up. Lanzo obliged hesitantly, rising to his feet slowly and regaining his balance at the same rate. Gilbert motioned for the other to follow him into the dining room. Lanzo followed, looking over his shoulder at the door before continuing.

Once he got there, Gilbert spun around a chair and sat down in it, the part of which he was supposed to use to support his back was now being used to rest his chin. Lanzo sat just across from him in a similar looking chair. Once again the two locked eyes, but for not as long since Lanzo found himself looking at the floor. Gilbert decided to break the silence.

"So, does this mean you're my two-p?" Lanzo looked up, a bit shocked at the straight-to-the-point kind of question.

"I-I guess." He stuttered over words. Gilbert smiled.

"West sent me a text." He said waving his phone around that had miraculously found itself in his hand. "Something about our 'opposites'. I don't listen much during world meetings anymore. I'm not a country anyway; I only go there because I don't have much left to do with my life."

Lanzo nodded, somewhat understanding his decision but not fully. He slumped down in his chair, as he would do in just about every world meeting he had gone to, and diverted his gaze elsewhere. Gilbert couldn't help but notice the Teutonic Knight emblem on the side of his jacket's sleeve. It made him smile, remembering the old days when he roamed around as a country.

"So, you seem to be a fan huh?" Lanzo looked up and then followed his eyes to the symbol on his arm.

"Yeah... I miss the old days." He moved his arm into the light for a better view. "It was much better back then." He said with a sigh.

"Back then I had power, I had control. When people saw me they would run away in fear for their lives. When I fought people I could learn their techniques and skills. Their movements and abilities. Then use it against them until I managed to make the final blow. Those days were the best. But now..." He looked down again, all the pride that had sparked in his eyes seconds beforehand disappeared. His frown returning.

"Now I'm a nobody. A loser. I'm not awesome. I'm not brave. Heck, I'm not even a country anymore!" He seemed as if he would cry. Gilbert started to laugh. Lanzo looked up, confused and angry. Why was he laughing? Gilbert stood up, throwing his chair to the side.

"What are you talking about? Yeah, maybe we're not a country anymore. But that doesn't change the facts. We are Prussian! Brave men that reigned supreme on the battlefield and fought off unwanted 'guests'. Yeah, maybe we got our asses handed to us in the War of Austrian Succession by that jerk Hungary, and maybe we got murdered in World War II and had to sleep under Russia's rooftops for a crap ton of time. But still, we were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!" He made sure to emphasize on the entire word to get his point across.

"C'mon! Show your Preopen pride!" Gilbert laughed his signature laugh and stood tall and proud. As much as Lanzo would've loved to stand up as well and laugh like he used to, he found it awkward that a moment ago he had been trying to break into his counterpart's house, and now they were in a somewhat friendly conversation. While Gilbert bathed in his previous glory, Lanzo took a chance to fully examine his appearance.

It was fairly obvious that he hadn't been planning for any visitors; he was wearing a black shirt with blue shorts and a pair of white socks. Just like himself, he had white hair and red eyes, minus the four scars. Then his eyes caught a gleaming piece of jewelry that he was fairly curious about.

"You still... wear yours?" He asked. Gilbert stopped laughing and gave him a confused look. Lanzo tapped his chest and Gilbert looked downwards. His eyes caught his iron cross and he smiled again.

"This old thing? Course I do! I've had this since... forever maybe!" He laughed again. Lanzo was starting to like this guy. "Uhm, don't you wear yours?" Gilbert asked, a curious look formed on his face. Lanzo shook his head sadly.

"No, not since the dissolution. Mine seemed to have... broken after I dissolved." Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

"Strange. Mine was perfectly fine afterwards." He played with the cross in his fingers.

"I still carry mine about though." He reached into his pants pocket and rummaged through them before yanking his hand out and placing it down on the table. His fist opened up and two objects clanked against the top. He moved his hand away and the remains of his cross were revealed. Half of it was apart from the rest, jagged bits and piece along the edge, showing that it had been broken with a large amount of physical power.

Gilbert scooped the two pieces up and looked at them. His finger traced one of the two broken halves and ran them over the many shards. Suddenly the clock rang, signaling that an hour had passed. Lanzo jumped up. I need to go, or the others will surely grow suspicious of me.

"I'm sorry Gilbert but I must leave. I hope to see you again in the future. Lebewohl." He waved before running out of the house, forgetting his Iron Cross that was still placed in a certain pair of hands.

C'était une perte de temps = It was a waste of time (French)

Jigoku o kuso = Fucking hell (Japanese)

Casa sicura = Safe house (Italian)

Ein Räuber = A Robber (German)

Preußen = Prussia/Prussian (German)

Lebewohl = Goodbye (German)