A/N: Don't blow up at me for portraying Ivan this way. (No one has yet but I'm stating this now.) I love Ivan and I have my reasons for writing him this way. You'll see, all in good time, my friends.

Gilbert released a long breath of air as he entered his apartment. Kicking the door shut with his heel, he tossed the folder carelessly onto the coffee table and dropped himself face-first onto the couch. For a few seconds he remained like that until he turned his head to breath, sighing again. Lazily, he kicked his shoes off. The clock in the kitchen chimed twelve times just then. It was half past noon. Lunchtime. Not hungry, he thought glumly.

He'd skipped breakfast because Ivan had called him in early and of course he was hungry before the meeting with Ivan but all the talk about death and killing made him lose his appetite. In fact, he felt as if he would vomit whatever remnants he had left from the night before. "Shit," he mumbled against the thick, cheap leather.

His eyes slowly meandered over to the coffee table, where the folder lay. He glared at it but couldn't hold it. What good would it do to be angry now? He'd already accepted the mission. Oh, Gilbert. Silly, stupid, naïve Gilbert.

"Just what did ya get yourself into?" The question, like always, went unanswered; it was impossible to answer, anyway. He didn't know how he'd get out of it. "Joinin' that idiot Ivan for Liz's protection! Oh, Gilbert. Liz was right. You are an idiot. Stupid, illiteral idiot, Gilbert! You can't even spell three-syllable words, ya dunce!" No, insulting himself never helped but yelling did and was enough to blow off some steam. "Always at the bottom of the charts! No wonder Liz doesn't love you! You can't even learn Hungarian for 'er!"

This was getting frustrating. Gilbert pulled himself up, muttering another curse and went to his room. "No reason to mope…Let's pack, eh, Gilbird?" A small peep was heard and he grinned as he quickly made his way to a bird cage poised on the nightstand next to his bed. Inside was a small, yellow bird. He opened the cage and held his finger out for the chick to perch on. "Sorry for leaving the blanket off, man. I was in a hurry." The bird gave another peep and he laughed as it fluttered from his finger to his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek affectionately.

"You get it, don'tcha, Gilbird?" Another tiny peep came from the bird. "Yeah. Looks like you're the only one who does." He let the bird hop onto his shoulder.

He grabbed his backpack from atop a big pile of dirty clothes and went over his dresser to pack some clothes. There wasn't that many clean and hole-free shirts and underwear in the drawers so he packed half of them—about three each then. Then he strolled over to his open closet and glanced at all the jackets that were hung up. Through the thick section of leather jackets and hoodies, a single pair of pants hung low. Gilbert pushed back the coats and took the one pair of pants in the closet, smiling. "Two pairs'll do, then, I guess. Now for weapons."

Gilbert was at dresser smaller than the one that held his clothes and pulled the top drawer open gently. Inside were pencils and crayons and liquid paper, which rolled around as he opened it. A case of bullets fell over. "Ah, my Tommy gun bullets. Oh, and my pistol too! I've been wondering where it went."

Once the bullets and small gun were packed in his bag he opened another drawer, which was filled with gun parts They were put into two separate piles at each side of the drawer.. "And my Tommy gun. Should really keep this thing in a bag. I don't wanna mix any of the pieces with my rifle parts Should I bring the stun gun? Mm…nah." He unzipped a second, special compartment in his backpack and dropped every little piece into it, meanwhile taking inventory of what parts were there. There were all there and he grinned, zipping it up. "So that's it for weapons. Now for—"

He stopped as he had closed the second drawer. He looked down at the third and winced. "—the real mission."

Gilbert gently and slowly opened the third drawer to reveal an old newspaper concealed within a plastic cover. He could see it clearly, though a few things were scratched out from the years of being hidden and handled. The entire body of text was in German so he could read it all. The title of the printing company was spelled out in bold, and the text scrawled out in proper serif text. It said:

"FIVE VILLAGE CHILDREN MISSING FROM THEIR HOMES - October 25, 19-

A small village on the Viennese countryside is shaken when five children, four boys and a girl, go missing. It is suggested that they were either kidnapped or lost in the forest. Their parents are devastated and suffering, hoping that on-ay they will be able to find their children once again- Four of the children are around the age of five and the other one is only three years old-We have been informed that two of these children are orphans, one who lives in an orpha-ge and the other seems to hide in the forest alone. It is told from local sources that their names are -respectively. The other two five-year-olds have been confirmed to be Gilbert Beilschmidt and Elizabeta Hedervary, as told by the parents-The youngest child is Beilschmidt's younger brother and his name is-tudy the picture provided by the parents as closely as possible and please inform the parents of these children if you spot them anywhere."

Above the article and below the title was a picture that made Gilbert frown sadly. It was monochromatic—no color—and in it were the five children that went missing. There, in the middle, was Gilbert, so small and so carefree and happy. Back when happiness came so easily. Nowadays he'd have to make it himself. His smile was so brilliant and looking at it now, Gilbert wondered if he could still give a smile that big. A young Elizabeta was next to him, an arm slung over his shoulders, with a big grin on her dirty face.

He remembered the day well. It was a good sunny day, fit for roughhousing. Oh, how awesome it had been! Everything was perfect; there was a school holiday and the children were free to do whatever and he and Elizabeta had had the mutual idea of running off into the forest to play. They had scurried off so fast that their parents could hardly see them leave.

Yes, it was a perfect day. Especially when the other two came along.

Gilbert's breath hitched slightly as he thought of them. Those two.

They were next in the picture. A dark-haired boy stood by Elizabeta smiling shyly to the camera. He was cleaner than Elizabeta, in appearance at least—Gilbert couldn't remember his habits concerning his hygiene. His hand was in hers, which was most likely the reason for his red cheeks. On the other side of Gilbert was a blonde boy, no taller than the rest of them, who wasn't smiling at the camera. His eyes were doing the smiling and Gilbert knew that he was always happy when they were all together.

And finally, his eyes found the fifth child, and on came his heartache. The blond boy looked on at the camera without emotion, held tight in Gilbert's affectionate arms. Uttering a tiny grunt of anguish, the albino began to tear up but wiped his eyes as he breathed in shuddery gasps and held the newspaper to his chest, slowly and gingerly, with his tears falling onto the floor in tiny drops.

"Brother. Marcus. Alexander…" Gilbert sighed, trying to gain composure. "I promise. I'll find you guys. And then I'll apologize. Just…J-Just please don't be dead."

Roderich couldn't help but feel a little shaky now that Elizabeta was here. Once it had slipped from his lips, he instantly regretted the suggestion to bring her along. Who knew what would happen to her now? It was in Yao's hands now, and that's what scared him most—that he didn't know what would happen, that things were no longer in his hands.

Why, why, why.

His eyes shifted from Yao to Elizabeta slowly. He could tell that she was nervous and uneasy as well. Yao, on the other hand, was calmer than he'd expected. Arms crossed, he sighed, leaning back in his big leather chair.

Dominik breathed softly as he shifted slightly in Roderich's arms. He hummed quietly in his sleep, his cheek now resting on the elder's shoulder, tiny puffs of thin breath hitting his neck. Roderich smiled inwardly, patting his back gently. The others didn't seem to care what he decided to do with her. Only Laura seemed at least a little interested. Holland, Feliks, and Toris were playing cards loudly; Romano was toying with his phone; Ludwig and Feliciano was silently flirting with on another; and Vash seemed a bit squirelly. Strange.

Finally Yao cleared his throat. "It seems to me that you're very skilled, Miss…I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name."

"E-Elizabeta," she said quickly, immediately wincing at her idiocy.

Roderich could see Vash tense out of the corner of his eye. What was he hiding?

"Right, thank you. Miss Elizabeta, you have a good arm, proven by the way you punched Carlos in the face! You knocked him out, I couldn't believe it!" He grinned ecstatically. "And when those guards tried to hold you back, you didn't even falter! You just stood your ground!" A few of the others looked up. Yao was beyond impressed with her fighting skills, much to her surprise. "You are one dynamite chick!"

"I…am?" Elizabeta asked, extremely hesitant.

"Of course! You've got potential!"

Before Elizabeta could ask "I do?" Roderich cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. "Perhaps instead of praising her on how she knocked one of our best guards unconscious, it would be a good idea to decide what to do with her. Not that I'm rushing. But it seems a few of us are bored and at least one of us has fallen asleep." He smiled reassuringly at Elizabeta when she glanced over to him.

Yao's eyes lit up. "Ah, yes! I forgot. Thank you, Roderich." He looked to Elizabeta. "Now, concerning my decision, and based on what I'd gathered from the prior events, I've decided to keep you."

"Keep…?" she squeaked almost inaudibly.

"Precisely. We need someone like you in our…what was it? Organization? Team. Yeah, team. I want you join my team, Miss Elizabeta."

"I—No. No! I can't!" Elizabeta held her hands up. "Do you know what'd happen to—I mean, I don't even what I'm supposed to do here!" She was trying to make it seem like she had no idea what their group was for. Yao seemed to buy that, proven by the tiny widening of his smile.

"Well, it's simple. You see, we—"

The door opened, interrupting Yao in mid-sentence and Mika walked in stretching her arms with Yong Soo following after her. She sighed after straining to hold her breath for so long while stretching. "Ugh. Jesus! What a drag!" Roderich shot her a look, a finger pressed against his lips for silence. However, the gesture was ignored. "Woke me up from my nap." She stretched again and yawned.

Yao smiled. "Ah, Mai! Great timing. I have a new recruit." He gestured toward Elizabeta who only shook her head frantically. "Could you interview her please?"

The girl looked at Elizabeta with a brow raised. She seemed to be slightly confused. "Her? The one who broke through security? Why do you want her?"

"Because. Because…Well, you saw what she did!" Yao exclaimed. "She downed Carlos right there, so easily! None of us can do that, not even Heracles or Kiku!" He was on the brink of just recruiting Elizabeta himself but Mika did it best, with the way with words of hers.

Elizabeta gave a pleading look to Mika who eased her expression of confusion to one of slight sympathy. "She doesn't really seem like she wants to join." Then came a look that meant 'I don't!'. Mika smiled. "Tell you what: I'm going to the park with the gang in a few. When I get back, I'll ask a few questions. You guys just carry on with your grown-up training while we do our kid training. Okay?"

Yao squinted. "What are you going to the park for? You're supposed to be training with us as well."

"Cardio," Yong Soo said, smiling.

"I didn't approve of this."

"Linh did," the younger male informed with a small sinister cackle. "You know that if she approved, you have to, as well."

A grumble. "Fine," was the grudging conclusion, sealed with a bitter cross of toned arms.

"Don't say 'fine,'" Mika said with her own carefree grin. "We'd go anyway because Linh said we could."

Before Yao could snap a reply back, Roderich spoke up. "Ah, if you're going to the park, could you bring Dominik with you? I can't hold him all day."

"Oh. Sure." Gingerly, she took the boy out of the older man's arms and shifted him awkwardly with his head on her shoulder.

"He's six, not an infant."

"Shut up, I don't want to drop him. Yong Soo, you hold him." Yong Soo nodded and gingerly took the sleeping boy, holding him in a more comfortable position.

With a short exchange of goodbyes, the two exited the meeting room with Dominik, leaving the young adults to themselves. Mika sighed, scratching her side as they entered the elevator. "What's with him? Always looking for ways to get more people. And Roderich! Bringing that girl here!"

"You know technically, she followed him here," Yong Soo said, pushing the button for the lobby.

"I know that. But you would've figured that he had known that someone was following him!"

"Hm." The boy remained quiet for a moment, lips pursing as he briefly thought Roderich's situation over. "Maybe he did."

"Did what?"

"Maybe Roderich-hyung did now that she was following him, but didn't do anything."

"Eh—" She'd opened her mouth for a quick remark, with a finger pointed upward to wave at him chidingly for his ignorance, but she closed it and brought the hand up to massage her chin. She nodded a bit, tapping the side of the finger on his broad shoulder. "Mmm-maybe. Maybe. You're onto something but there're some holes in there."

"Holes?"

"Yeah—" A loud ding from walls of the elevator cut her speech short and the doors slid open. "I'll tell you later," Mika said as they walked into the lobby. Waiting at the front desk were Lily and Mei who were conversing quietly to each other. Mei had lowered her voice greatly and cupped her hand next to Lily's ear, whispering something with a naughty quirk of her thin brows. Lily replied with a soft gasp, the fair skin of her cheeks reddening quickly, and she shook her head.

"You're in denial!" Mei laughed, patting the older girl on the shoulder.

"Denial of what?" asked Yong Soo, as they approached.

"Nothing!" cried Lily, covering her red face.

They left with a short exchange of dismissing shrugs and went up the street through now thick crowds of people, occasionally linking hands to stay together when they get only get through one at a time. Once they'd had just about enough of the rude adults shuffling by (and when those adults were far beyond tired of them), they side-tracked to a small residential area with short fences and nearly barren years that were cluttered with trash. They jumped fence over fence in what they commonly considered the shortcut and once the final fence was jumped that were back on a sidewalk, one that right across the street from the public park, infested with laughing children and their parents.

Dominik had awoken by the time they'd arrived and was rubbing his eyes with his tiny fists, yawning in slight complaint. "Where're we?"

"The park," Lily said, smiling as she gently took his hand.

His eyes lit up immediately and they all crossed the street together.

Gilbert loaded his large duffel bag into the sidecar of his motorcycle, and dropped the bag of dollar-store snacks and drinks into it also, with less care. He took another long inhale of smoke from his cigarette and sighed through his nose which became two small geysers for the translucent gas.

"Have everything, mon ami?" said Francis as he leaned against the vehicle, his own cigarette in his mouth.

"Yeah."

"You sure you can't tell me about your mission?"

"Nah. Confidential, remember?"

"I know, but Ivan doesn't monitor anyone anyway."

Gilbert laughed dryly. "Heh. No way I'm takin' any chances."

Every thought of his mission, the girl and Ivan was pushed to the back of his mind since that morning and, as Gilbert said his falsely cheery goodbyes to Antonio and Francis, his mood did manage a pleasurable lift. Gilbert was glad; those two always pulled through for him. They'd stayed to have a few drinks for him—unplanned, of course—and ended up laughing and enjoying themselves for a few hours longer than Gilbert had expected it would to say goodbye.

But they always drank and laughed for any one of them went off on a mission, in case they didn't come back.

Unfortunately, those hours they spent together were at the wrong times and Antonio had to leave to go to work, and in a rush too. With a hasty Spanish goodbye, he left, coat barely pulled over his shoulders.

"Ready." Gilbert dropped the cigarette, crushed it flat, and sat himself on the fine leather seat. "…Man, have I missed riding on this bike!"

"Oui," Francis agreed with a few nods. "She is a beauty."

"Yeah. Like Liz."

"Like Elizabeta."

Gilbert smiled as she came to his mind and gripped the handles tightly. "Well, I'm off! Tell Antonio I said bye!"

"Will do. Good luck, Gilbert." Francis patted his albino friend's back, grinning. Gilbert revved the engine a few times and pushed off the curb, gradually picking speed, beginning to putt-putt away. Before he could get past the tree in front of his apartment building, Francis called out to him.

"Don't die! Make sure you come back, alright?"

Without missing a beat as his bike came to a full stop, Gilbert grinned widely and gave a thumbs-up. "Of course I'm coming back! You guys are lost without me!"