Dear West

Chapter 7:

January, 1975

Something was wrong.

Poking his head around the doorframe, he watched as the man stare out the window from his chair. He wasn't sure whether the other was waiting for the appearance of a bird or their driver. Softly, he asked, "Papa?"

The blond turned around, "Oui, mon cher?"

"It's time to go…"

Reluctantly, he got up, "alright," taking the boy's hand, the two walked out the door, "let's go…I suppose we should call a cab…"

He couldn't hide his disappointment when Francis arrived late and empty-handed. From behind him, Elizabeta was quick to reassure him, "I-I'm sure he's just busy with his work, that's all! You know what an idiot Gil can be sometimes! Really, that man, the next time I see him, I'll definitely beat an apology out of him!" He missed the look the Frenchman shot her.

"I guess…" he muttered, "I'm going to go outside for a bit…" and made his way out the door with Feliciano and Matthew following close behind, both exchanging worried looks with one another before following the blond boy. And back in the room, Francis motioned for the adults to congregate in the dining room.

"Francis, please tell me this isn't true," Elizabeta pleaded, slumping down in her chair, "please tell me you have a letter from Gilbert and you're just hiding it. He said…"

"I know what he said." The blond shook his head, "And I wish I could tell you I was pulling a horrible prank. But come now, we don't have to assume the worst right away, perhaps he really is swamped with work, you know how busy he gets with all this, he could've accepted a last minute job," he suggested unconvincingly.

The brunette protested, "But he loves Ludwig more than anything in the world, there's no way he'd forget to at least send a letter on his birthday. He could never do that to Ludwig…"

Roderich stared at his feet, "that idiot…he better be alright…"

"Maybe he's just late," he reassured the pair, "if Pierre does come in at any time, I have someone who'll deliver the message to me here right away and I've directed my chauffeur to come here the seconds he gets back."

There was no sign of Gilbert from the platform either.

After nearly an hour, he finally gave up and retreated back home where everyone else was waiting. Once he was through the doors, he looked at Elizabeta and Roderich who were watching him expectantly and shook his head sadly. The pair exchanged worried glances momentarily before redirecting everyone's attention to more festive activities.

Somehow, he found it hard to enjoy himself that day, and after everyone had left, he confronted the two. "Why hasn't Bruder sent anything yet?"

"I'm sure he's just being overloaded with work, Ludwig, be a little patient with him. I'm sure he's celebrating on the other side like he always does. Maybe he's writing the card now, he's just late, that's all. Just be a little patient."

But he couldn't. As a child, all he understood was his disappointment which soon turned into anger. Anger from being placed second after work, anger from having another promise broken, anger from missing his only brother in the world; tears stung at his eyes, "but he promised he'd send me one every year onmy birthday! I bet Bruder forgot about it! He broke another promise! I don't want a Bruder who breaks his promises! I hate him," he yelled and ran up to his room.

No one tried to stop him.

That was the first and last tantrum he ever threw.

He apologized for yelling the next day but not for the words he yelled.

Later that night, Feliciano poked his head through the door, "Ludwig?"

"What," he turned onto his side and muttered.

"Can I come in?"

"I guess…"

Crawling under the covers, the brunet gave him a hug, "happy birthday."

It wasn't a happy birthday.

"Danke…"

"I'm sorry about Gilbert…"

"Don't be," he huffed and turned around, "he broke his promise again. I hope I never hear from him again."

He never expected his wish to come true.

March, 1975

Matthew watched as the blond man stared out the window, "Papa?"

Francis turned, "oui, mon cher?"

Making his way over, he hugged the man loosely, "has Pierre come home yet?"

Picking the boy up, the pair looked out the window, "I'm afraid not, Mathieu, I'm afraid not."

"…papa?"

"Oui?"

"What's happened to Gilbert?"

"I'm afraid I don't know that either…"

May, 1975

He watched from the stairway as Elizabeta and Roderich opened the door for the Frenchman. The man was here alone today. They exchanged a few words before the blond shook his head with a frown on his face before turning around and heading back up the stairs.

It was strange.

As the days turned into months, he found himself adapting to the absence of letters. He'd come to stop expecting them, come to stop expecting frequent visits from Francis and Matthew. At times, it felt as though everything had been dreamt up, but then he'd open his drawer to find all the old letters he'd received, and he'd remember the letter he never received, then the ire would resurface and he'd slam the drawer shut and leave the room.

She frowned, "there's still no word from him?"

Francis shook his head mutely.

"Can't you send another bird to him or something?"

"We agreed to only send one. It's too risky, sending more birds."

Frowning, she protested, "but what if your bird got lost or hurt or something?"

The man's brows furled at the question, "my Pierre would never get lost and even if he was hurt and unable to fly, I'm sure Gilbert would've found a way to contact me by now."

There was a pause.

"So you mean to say that Gil's…no, I refuse to believe that! I-I mean what about Ludwig? What are we supposed to tell him? He still thinks Gilbert forgot about him for work. He's still upset at him. No, there's no way Gil could be…we were supposed to catch up and talk about the old days. I was going to make him give me a late speech as my maid of honour. Best friends don't just suddenly disappear into thin air like that, they can't," she broke off into incoherent mumbles as she covered her mouth and shook her head in disbelief before being drawn into the Austrian's arms in tears.

Roderich frowned as he tried his best to sooth her crying, "It's alright…we don't know anything for certain yet. That idiot…" Then he turned to the blond, "what do we do now, Francis?"

The Frenchman shook his head, "I don't know…I've been called to a conference in Canada, so Mathieu and I will be gone for a few weeks. But if there's anything, anything at all from Gilbert, I will inform you immediately. And as for Ludwig…I'm afraid I'll have to suggest that you let him get used to life without his brother…"

November, 1990

After that, Elizabeta and Roderich never mentioned Gilbert to him again. And he never brought it up either. As the years went by, every day, he merely went about dealing with his daily business, it was school when he was younger and his job now. It'd been so long that he simply let the memories and feelings fade away over time. It didn't take very long for everything to turn into a dream, a story he'd made up when he was little. Although he still kept in touch with everyone, it seemed like everything had always been the way they were now.

For example, Alfred and Matthew had always been self-proclaimed brothers. Alfred had always spoken English fluently, and he'd always lived with Arthur up until the point where they had that fight which led to the boy moving to America though he was currently in Berlin again for work. Matthew had always spoken English and French, he'd always had that stuffed bear whose name he couldn't remember and had always been doted on by Francis while mistaken for Alfred by Arthur.

Those were the truths he'd come to accept; how things always were and always will be.

Just like how he'd always lived with Feliciano, Roderich and Elizabeta.

Just like how he'd always lived in West Berlin, on the other side of the wall.

Everything else felt too surreal to have been reality, like those dreams of the childhood he believed he never had, the ones with that grinning man and the small plates of leftovers split between seven people, they were simply things he made up in his mind. They weren't real. Like those talks the two of them had shared, they weren't real.

"Lui, here's a lesson for you. When you make a plan, there will be flaws. There's no such thing as a flawless plan, that's a just a bluff. Plans will always have flaws. It's all a matter of minimizing the amount there are and how big there are. That's what an awesome plan is, one with a few small flaws and nothing more. But no matter how well planned something is, there will be flaws and sometimes, when you take the risk of going through with your plan, these flaws will pop up and everything will just blow up in your face. It happens. And all you can do when it happens is go along with it, live through it, and come up with a new plan. Got it?"

Like those dreams where that man gave him a kiss on the head and got out of the car, they weren't real.

"Remember what we were talking about? This is just one of those flaws that happens, so don't worry, you know exactly what I'll do, right? Be good, Lui…"

Sometimes he wondered if he was the only one who had those strange dreams, if he was the only one making up a past he didn't believe in. But no one ever spoke about it, so his questions, like his memories, faded away in the blinding silence that no one wanted to break.

But the silence and all the truths he'd come to believe came tumbling down along with the Berlin wall. During the past year and a bit, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, people came pouring out of the east; no one he knew though. And once the wall was down, he was able to walk down the street and see the monochrome world that'd once been merely a cement wall away.

Staring, he could remember looking at that exact scene when he stood on the platform. He could remember the yells and cries from all the people around him. He could remember the anxiety he felt back then. Would he show? Would he not show? Would he be able to see him? What if he'd missed him already?

He could remember the disappointment and anger, and he tried his best not to remember who those feelings were for.

But when he was attempting to tidy up the den, he came across old notes from the one person he was trying to forget and just like the wall, the reality he'd come to full heartedly believe came tumbling down.

"Austria-Hungary,

Witty isn't it? Just like in the history books, those countries were technically married and became a single empire, no? Anyways, as you can guess, I am awesome and being alone is super, super fun. You haven't let anything leak, right? With the surprise and all that, especially since we won't know what'll actually happen until it happens-despite how amazingly awesome my plan is. The plan isn't flawless, just so you know. And in the case that this surprise doesn't go through as planned, I must request that you continue to love and care for West as your own child. Please teach him all sorts of interesting things, tell him stories about how awesome we were and all the pranks we played on the other kids. And please, make sure he grows up to be a proper man in place of me.

Of course this is only in case of emergencies, so you can probably just disregard this message since I'm beyond awesome.

Thanks.

See you soon,
East"

It was signed January 9th.

Then minutes later, the call came.

"Hello? Hey, Ludwig? It's Alfred. I think there's something you need to see and something we need your help with. Would you mind coming with us tomorrow? Who's 'us'? What do you mean 'who's us'? It's just us, you know, the usual group. Where? To the east…alright, we're meeting at ten tomorrow at Artie's place. Awesome, I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye."

Nya~

Ludwig's birthday is January 18th, in case you're wondering. It's the date of the unification of Germany: January 18th, 1871. And no, I can't help but squeeze in as much of Mattie and Francis in here as possible. The official date of the fall of the Berlin Wall was November 9th, 1989 but Germany's reunification date was October 3rd, 1990. Please tell me if I got any of the facts wrong! Anyways thank you readers and thank you lots reviewers! Enjoy!