Dear West

Chapter 2:

June, 1970

He wrung his hands anxiously as he sat there.

After further correspondence with Francis, they had worked everything down to the second and every last documentation had been made; passports, birth certificates, pictures of extended family members, everything. He glanced at the watch on his wrist again; it was quarter to four, time to start. Heading for the door, he called out to his brother, "Lui, keep an eye on the kiddies, alright? I'll be back later! Petey, let's get going."

The boy quickly got up and put his hat on, "Alright, alright, I'm coming, stupid Gilbo!"

Gilbert raised a brow, "are you learning new words from Lovi? Well whatever," he leaned down and helped straighten the hat on the boy's head, "alright, let's scoot."

He'd only told Ludwig and Peter about the plan, not wanting to risk the information leaking. He figured it'd be safer to tell the boys when it was their turn to go though he wouldn't be surprised if Peter had already told the others about it. He'd shown the boy a picture of his future parents and had gone over the game plan over and over again to make sure nothing would go amiss. Peter grinned and waved to the rest of the boys who were standing by the door, watching, "I'll see you jerks later!"

Leading the boy down the hall, he scratched his head, "seriously, did you pick up Lovi's habits? Hn, I wonder where he picked it up from...anyways, you remember how to play this game, right, Petey?"

A game, that's what he called the whole thing. He'd explained the objectives and the rules to the boy like a game. And knowing that Peter's competitiveness, he figured that the boy would go through with the plan flawlessly.

"Of course I know, stupid Gilbo," the other boy stuck his tongue out and ran ahead, "you've gone over the rules way too many times for me to not remember! Like I'd lose to you at some stupid game!"

"Alright, off you go then," taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his pounding heart as he watched the boy run down the street.

It was four thirty-two.

Red eyes watched from afar as the boy played at the park.

The plan was simple, traveling from west to east was the easy part, none of the guards took their job too seriously when it came to searching cars and whatnot, especially when diplomats were involved. So all they had to do was make a decoy child, put him in the back, get into the east, swap the decoy with the kid, send the kid off with his new parents and all the documents needed to get back to the west, and voila, if all went well, the kid would be on the other side within an hour or two. It was a simple yet safe plan, just the way he wanted it.

Glancing at his watch again, he pursed his lips. The Swede should've arrived already. Patrol was probably on its way and close calls weren't part of the plan. Suddenly, two men showed up, a large one with a blue trench coat and a shorter one with a white beret, just as they'd planned. The taller man looked around to make sure there weren't any guards around before holding his hand out and calling to the boy, "Pet'r let's go."

The blond perked up and excitedly ran over to the Swedish man, "papa," he then looked at the other man and grinned happily, "mama!"

His lips twitched as he forced his urge to laugh down.

The Finnish man's eyes widened as he stuttered, "M-mama?"

"You're m'wife," the taller man told him, completely serious.

Gilbert felt a little bad for Tino, he couldn't tell if he actually liked Berwald or if everything was just self-proclaimed by the Swedish man. Either way, he watched as Peter walked off with the two, each holding one of the boy's hands. After they disappeared, he got up and took a detour around an alleyway to grab the decoy they'd used; the one Berwald had 'sweded'. He'd have to burn it all later, plastic bag and all. On the way back to the apartment, he sat against a tree, out of view, and watched 'Checkpoint Charlie' while eating the sandwich Ludwig had packed for him. If any of the soldiers were to see him, he'd definitely get hustled back home or arrested for suspicious behaviour.

He watched as the Swede's car pulled up and the guards checked their documents. It was four forty-eight which was when the more approachable guards were on duty. Rhey were on four times a week and eight hour shifts at a time with a short break every two hours. The only guards he really had to look out for were Ivan's lackeys, Edvuard and Ratvis; they were more afraid of the Russian man than anyone else and were more likely to report anything suspicious back to his archenemy than anyone else.

Ivan was the large Russian man in charge of all the guards, the same man who'd threatened him five years ago. The two knew each others' names and how much they hated one another. Though he'd never been caught doing anything, he knew Ivan suspected something and was out to get him. It sent chills down his spine whenever he thought of the man who never stopped smiling, even when he talked about his family.

"Oh, you have siblings?"

"Da, two sisters, an older and a younger."

He raised a brow, suddenly the man seemed a little more human, "who would've thought. So are they in the USSR right now?"

"Da, they'll be there forever."

"What do you mean?"

"They died near the end of the war." He was still smiling, "it's strange to think about it now. We were so young and my sister tried so hard to keep us alive but in the end, they both died." Still smiling he turned to ask him, "so Gilbert, do you have any siblings?"

Releasing the breath he'd been holding, he watched as the car drove through and disappeared for the west.

One down, five to go.

Returning to the apartment, in the back, he stuffed everything into a garbage bin, doused it with gasoline and lit it. The fire would probably attract street roamers, making its original purpose less obvious. Running through the back door and into the building before people noticed, he made his way up to the apartment where the remaining kiddies were waiting for him.

He was greeted at the door by Ludwig who shot him a questioning look. He merely grinned and gave the blond a happy thumbs up, "job well done."

The younger boy let out a sigh of relief. "Alfred and Feliciano got hungry so I started on dinner. It's almost ready," he told him as he went back towards the kitchen.

"Sounds awesome, thanks Lui," he called out as he returned to his room to write a letter of confirmation to Francis along with their next plan of action. Looking at the schedule, he only had three weeks to prepare for the next one. Running back out into the living room, he sat down in front of Alfred and Matthew with a grin, "hey kiddies, so how's your English coming along?"

Alfred watched him seriously before yelling in the said language, "awesome! Hey, I'm hungry, Gilbo! Right, Mattie?"

"Y-yea."

Letting out a laugh, he tousled the boy's hair, "I see it's coming along just fine. Dinner's almost ready."

August ,1970,

The two of them were sitting in the car after sneaking the child in. It'd all worked out smoothly thus far, the car slowly drove by an alleyway and the boy hopped on and was swapped for the decoy without anyone even blinking an eye at them. Whipping out a handkerchief, he couldn't help but wipe his forehead in relief. Suddenly, the boy turned to him with a wide grin on his lips, "hey Artie! Awesome t'meet ya!"

Unfortunately, due to excessive time spent with Gilbert, Alfred had come to understand that any synonym of 'good' meant that it was 'awesome' and so, used 'awesome' instead.

The Englishman blinked and raised a brow at the blond, "shouldn't it be 'daddy' or 'papa', lad?"

It was Alfred's turn to raise a brow, but he shrugged it off and bounced around energetically on his seat, "hey Artie, I'm hungry!"

Arthur nodded, "that's fine, lad, let's go home for supper then."

"That sounds awesome! What's for dinner?"

"How about scones? How does that sound?"

The boy nodded in approval, "that sounds yummy!"

Green eyes widened, "r-really?"

"Yea!"

The man shot the boy a happy look, "right, let's go then, Alfred!"

"Yea!"

He rolled up his newspaper and got up; first part complete. Silently, he praised himself for setting up the kids up with such excellent matches. Had it been any of the other boys, they probably wouldn't have gone off with a stranger offering them scones. Though Alfred had been unwilling to part with Matthew at first, after many promises of future reunions, the boy finally agreed to go along with the plan.

Gilbert got ready to head towards the back alley to get and dispose of the decoy when an overly friendly voice called out to him, "well if it isn't Gilbert. What might you be doing out here on such a fine day?"

Turning around, he forced a smile onto his lips, "Guten Tag, Ivan, why wouldn't I be out here on, as you said, such a fine day?"

"Well I certainly hope you're not out here to cause any trouble," the Russian man said with a singsong tone and a cheery smile on his face, "we certainly wouldn't want any trouble happening, now would we?"

He let out a mock gasp and shook his head, "Oh no, Ivan, we most certainly wouldn't want that. As you can see, I merely decided to read my newspaper at that nice little café over there. Is that such a crime?"

"No, I wouldn't think so."

Nodding, he turned away with a bow, "good, since I'm not being charged with anything, I'll just be on my way home now, thanks."

"Alright, goodbye Gilbert. Have a nice day."

With cold calculating eyes watching him, he couldn't risk taking the detour home. He continued walking towards his building until he was sure that he was out of sight, only then did he turn around to see if anyone had followed him. Turning into an alley, he made his way back to pick up the bag.

Then, going through the same routine again, he was finally able to head back up to his apartment which had grown a little quieter now that it was missing two of the loudest boys. Greeted by his brother, he gave a loud sigh and dragged his feet inside.

After closing the door behind him, Ludwig tapped him on the back and gestured to Matthew who was sitting by himself, looking a little down. At that moment, he felt absolutely horrible for splitting the boys up, but there was no other way around it. The small blond looked over at him as he approached, "Is Alf coming back? He said he wasn't going to..."

Running a hand through his hair, he sat down cross-legged beside the boy, "sorry Mattie, he's not coming back-but it'll be alright since you'll get to see him again! I promise! Al won't be coming back here but you'll get to go see him elsewhere, so cheer up, okay?"

A sad nod, "Okay..."

The boy looked unconvinced so he tilted the boy's chin up and grinned, "D'accord?"

Matthew nodded again, giggling shyly this time, "d'accord."

"That`s the awesome Mattie I know," ruffling the boy's hair, he got up and returned to his room to collect himself after that little encounter.

Only four left, he told himself though it didn't help calm his pounding heart in the least. Only four left...

January, 1971

After Antonio carried Lovino off and skipped through the border with a happy 'fusososososo' months earlier, soldiers began patrolling the area more often. It'd gone well with Lovino too busy munching on a tomato to make any remarks about the Spaniard's story, they'd managed to get through the border without any major issues. And in addition, as a sign of gratitude, Antonio had left him a huge bag full of large, red tomatoes in the alley that lasted them over a month.

But because of the tighter control the soldiers were exerting, they had to change the next rendezvous point to the back room of the place he worked at. And although Lars was on and wouldn't tell a soul, it became even more difficult since the soldiers began keeping better track of the foreign diplomats and where they went to minimize the chances of their involvement with citizens and their plotting. But luckily, the next person on the list was Francis who was a self-proclaimed master of disguise, and though he personally couldn't imagine the Frenchman in anything but the newest clothes and the most charmingly French personality, he also knew that the man, despite their occasional disagreements, knew how to prioritize and getting a child, his future child to add to it, to safety was definitely above looking good for half a day.

Beside him, Matthew was clinging onto his jacket, a little from the cold and a little from anxiety. Violet eyes looked at him nervously, his already quiet voice further hushed, "I-is papa going to come?"

Gilbert nodded and whispered back "of course he is, the only question is will we be able to recognize him."

"Of course you won't, I hardly recognized myself in the mirror just now," a voice came from beside them.

Giving a start, the two turned to see a brunet standing there, wearing a worn out suit and a lazy grin on his face. "Whoa, when did you get in? How'd you get past Lars," but upon closer inspection, he could see mischievous blue eyes twinkling back, "Fran...?" He asked warily.

"Bonjour, mon ami, it's been awhile," the man winked. Then he looked down at the boy and his smile widened, "and you must be Mathieu, bonjour."

Wide eyed, the boy stared at the stranger, "b-bonjour..." he shot Gilbert a questioning look.

He shrugged, then, feeling a hand on his behind, he swatted the Frenchman's hand away and sighed in exasperation, "There's no doubt about it, this is your papa, Mattie."

Francis studied the boy for a moment before pulling out a gift he'd brought over, "you're more adorable than I'd imagined! I spent all of last week looking for something nice for you, just wait till we get back home. I bought you new clothes and you'll have your own room and everything. And while I was leaving the toy store yesterday, I came across this," he whipped out a large white teddy bear, "here you are, mon cher, my first gift to you."

The blond gave an excited smile and hugged the bear tightly, rubbing his cheek against its soft fur, "m-merci beaucoup, papa!"

"Oh dieu Gilbert, he's absolutely adorable, I don't think I've ever fallen in love with anyone this quickly before," he spoke elatedly and gave the boy a quick kiss on the head, "come along now, Mathieu, I've got a change of clothes for you back in my car, you must be freezing with such a thin jacket." Glancing at his watch, he whispered, "I've only got twenty minutes left of my break so I really have to get going. Being a diplomat such a tiring job. Oh yes, and Gilbert, outside, there's a box full of surprises waiting for you. And in regards to the last discussion we had, I propose we only have on Pierre going in case anything was to happen, you know? We should avoid risking anything or anyone at all costs, oui?"

He nodded seriously, "got it. You know you'll have to go through the lackeys with the time you have set up to cross the border, right? Make sure you don't screw up."

The Frenchman raised a brow at him, "of course I won't, I'd sooner die!"

Gilbert didn't question that statement, "Well, I guess I'll see you later, Mattie. Be good and listen to what Fran says…I guess. You'll get to see Al again in a little bit, okay?"

The boy stared at him with incredulous violet eyes, "R-really? Alf?"

Francis smiled and soothed the child`s hair, "that's right, I've already set up a play date with your brother and…Arthur," he shot a half hearted glare at the German who shrugged in return, "you'll get to see your Alf very soon. But for now, say bye bye to Gilbert."

Matthew gave a small nod and kissed him on the cheek one last time, "bye bye, Gilbert."

"See you later, kid."

The men exchanged understanding looks and shook hands, "good luck, I'll be waiting to hear from you."

"You take care of that kid, alright? I'll see you later."

Waving goodbye to both his friend and the boy, he watched as the Frenchman led the boy out the door. Sitting there for a moment longer, he sighed and got up when the door opened. The blond looked around and raised a brow, "you alright?"

He shrugged, "yea. Aren't you on right now?"

Lars returned the shrug, "Five minute break, it's not that busy anyways. So you alright?"

"Yea, I'm fine, more than fine, I'm awesome," he grinned weakly, "just hope it all works out-hope it all worked out. I haven't heard from the other kiddies yet and Fran didn't mention them so yea, it's nothing, I watched them all get through so I know they're fine and Fran will take care of Mattie. Those monster guards won't know what hit them."

"Well, at least you're almost done now. How many are there left? Two? Three?"

"Yea, the last two are from the west, it took them awhile to get visas to get here but they'll be here in a few months. So in a couple months or so, they'll all have gone over to the west," he couldn't hold back a sigh.

The taller man raised a brow and studied him for a moment, "what's with you? …oh I get it...hey Gil."

"What?"

"You're doing the right thing."

He pursed his lips, "Yea, I know I am, I'm awesome like that."

"You know, in some ways, I'm in the same boat as you but whatever. You're a good guy," Lars had never been one for comforting and cheering up. Sheepishly, he shrugged again, "oh well, I guess this means I don't have to give you extra leftovers anymore. Anyways, my break's up, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yea, I'll see you later..." walking out the back door, he picked up the bag and weaved his way around the alleys back to the apartment.

Standing in his living room with a large box in hand, he looked around at the emptiness of the place. It felt surreal, knowing that at one point, Matthew was trying to hold Alfred back after Peter accidentally knocked over the boy's juice. Ludwig and Feliciano watched him silently from the doorway as he set down the bag and took the box out and opened it.

Inside were bills from Francis to help him out financially. Stuffing the bills into his pocket, he looked at what laid under. There were other pieces of paper, all folded up. Taking them out one by one, he opened them up only to see large, colourful, childish writing scribbled all over them, and though they all used the codenames he and Francis had thought up, it didn't dampen how precious they were in the least.

"Stupid East,

Papa is awesome! He Swedes things for me! He sweded me a danbolis the other day! And mama's awesome as well! Our dog's awesome too! And our neighbours are awesome too! One guy has a really big axe! Papa says he's not allowed in the house with it! And the other sees fairies! And the other one doesn't understand anything! Aren't they awesome?

Sealand"

"East,

Scones are yummy! Guess what? I got America because I'm an awesome hero who's super powerful and stuff! Oh, and England says I'm not allowed to use 'awesome' to describe things anymore. And I'm not allowed to use 'gonna' or 'wanna' anymore either. But the scones England makes are yummy! When's my awesome brother coming? He needs me to protect him! I'm his hero you know! And it's 'cause I'm awesome!

America"

"You bastard,

Stupid jerk Spain's making me write you this stupid thank you note.
Tomatoes are good. Pasta is good.
I like tomatoes, damn it.

Romano"

"Dear East,

Romano's so cute! He's so, so, so, so, so very cute! You should see him when he eats tomatoes! It's so adorable! He's not good for cleaning or chores or anything like that but he's co cute at times! I feel like such a proud boss sometimes!

Spain"

Grinning to himself, he brought everything into his room and began pinning them on his wall one by one. Once he finished that, he went back outside and pulled the remaining two into a loose hug, "alright, now that it's just the three of us, let's have an extra big dinner tonight to celebrate our success!"

"Ve, can we have pasta," Feliciano asked with an eager smile.

Gilbert nodded, "of course, we'll have pasta, potatoes and wurst tonight! Let's head to the kitchen and get started! And then afterwards, I'll tell you guys a story, okay? This time, it'll be about uh...a magical land with talking trees and rabbits in suits!"

The boys let out cheers and ran into the kitchen.

Slowly, he followed.

Only two left...

Nya~

Finally home! It's been such a long time since I've had ready access to the internet! As always, love you readers and reviewers! Thanks and enjoy!