"It doesn't matter!" Mathias was shouting into the phone.
Lukas rolled his eyes as he finished making breakfast, and then wiped off his hands, calling for Tino to finish setting it out, and walked across the kitchen, taking the phone from the tall Dane and shooing him away.
"—Besides, before I left you said—"
"Emil, it's me." Lukas sighed as behind him Mathias went and sat next to Tino to eat.
"Oh. Halló Lukas." he said, his voice returning to its normal, singular tone.
"I know we told you we wouldn't call, and we haven't talked to Ber yet, but, I wanted to let you know before." Lukas told him.
The Icelander sighed thickly, but he could almost see him nod. "Alright, alright. Fine. I'll wait for you to call."
"Thanks, Emil."
There was an unintelligible grumble and then the line went dead. Lukas set the phone down and turned around to make a face at Mathias for getting their only contact outside of Sweden all riled up, but there was a short knock at the door, and they both froze.
The Dane and the Fin beside him looked to the door with wide eyes, and then Lukas took a deep breath in through his nose. He walked towards the door, praying or maybe cursing. Just not here. Not at Berwald's house.
Through the small window to the side of the door, he spotted a flash of impossibly white hair, and after a moment of willing himself up and preparing for the worst, he unlocked the door and opened it.
Lukas almost couldn't believe what he saw.
Another goddamned German soldier stood in front of him. Mathias and Tino were at his back almost instantly.
"Can…" Lukas' voice cracked and died, so he cleared his throat and started again. "Can I help you?"
The uniform in itself was always startling, but he himself was utterly stunning. He had white hair and skin, and red eyes. Lukas had heard of albinos, but this looked like a snow demon from ancient tales.
"I'm here for Ludwig Beilschmidt." he said in Swedish, speaking formally but then he crossed his arms at their all-too-obvious alarm. "The German Army doesn't know he's here. I'm his brother."
They all just stared in disbelief as Lukas tried to get his mind to work properly, only to have his thought processes ruined by fear, and by the German's red eyes flicking to each of them sharply. Thankfully, Lukas heard heavy steps down the hallway, and everyone turned to see Berwald's towering figure step into sight, Ludwig in tow. They both stopped immediately when they spotted the albino in the door. Silence descended upon them heavily until the German beside Berwald began to walk forward, still gimping slightly from the gunshot wound.
"Gilbert?" he choked out as Lukas and the others at the door began to step aside.
The albino who claimed to be his brother stepped boldly over the threshold and walked until they were both standing only a few inches apart. Not known what else to do, Lukas shut the door. When he looked up, the two Germans were still simply staring at each other, and Berwald looked pale. When the Swede looked at him, he was only able to shrug helplessly.
"How did you-?" Ludwig asked in disbelief.
"You're my brother, Lud. I always know where you are." he said in coarse German, and laughed in a strange, almost dark manner. "You look like shit, though. What did those Scandinavians do to you?"
He looked down at his leg, and then the floor. "A shot in the dark, more or less,"
"But it's not worse than what your battalion did, though, is it?" Gilbert, his arms still folded.
The blond looked up quickly. "You…you know?"
He shrugged a little, forsaking his formal posture to shift his weight to his left foot. "They called me the day they realized you were gone."
Ludwig glared at something unseen, but then his eyes widened and he looked back at the albino. "Brother, you're not…you have permission to be here, don't you?"
"More or less," he laughed again, echoing his words. "But there was no way I wasn't going to come make sure my little brother was safe,"
Ludwig looked annoyed, but then looked over his shoulder at Berwald, whose face was unreadable. "I'm safe, Brother."
"Mhmm." he didn't seem convinced and then those blood red eyes were suddenly on Lukas. "That's not what I've gathered."
Lukas' heart might have stopped before it began beating loudly enough for him to wonder if the others could hear it.
"A little bird tells me, there's been some trouble stirring," Gilbert began walking towards Lukas before Mathias strongly put his foot forward, bringing himself slightly between them.
He would never admit how many times the Dane had actually protected him, but it was times like this that he was thankful for his protective, if not reckless, nature.
Ludwig looked at Mathias and Lukas before looking back to Berwald; he didn't understand. Berwald slowly walked forward into the room, stopping just behind Ludwig's left shoulder and muttered something. Ludwig's eyes widened with rather obvious fear, and he looked back at his brother.
"What do you know?" he demanded.
Everyone was waiting to hear the German speak, and he knew it. He seemed to enjoy it even, and a small smirk played freely around his lips.
"You're not as discreet as you believe," he said in a low tone as his eyes locked with Mathias, and then faced Ludwig again. "These fine gentlemen have illegal dealings with those loyal to the Allies. Weapon suppliers for anti-German forces."
Lukas folded his arms, not wanting him to continue. Not wanting him to reveal what they had done.
"After that last little show they put on, I'm surprised their own country hasn't gunned 'em down for shame." Gilbert snarled and his lips curled over his lips in a way that Lukas could only describe as wolfish.
Tino's head dipped like scolded pup and Mathias boldly folded his arms, although the hesitation in his eyes was obvious. Lukas tried to hold his own, but his shoulders felt heavier when Berwald's eyes widened and fell on him. Berwald trusted him to lead Mathias and Tino in whatever they did. Although the Dane had declared himself the leader after Berwald left, Lukas watched over the operation that he led. He made sure they were covered, set up, and would be clean afterwards. Hell, he'd even been the one to carry the dynamite anytime it had been necessary. But he had fucked up this time. He hadn't prepared enough before they acted.
"The point is," Gilbert continued, his eyes sweeping the room again before returning to his brother. "We need to get you out of here. All of you."
No one moved.
He looked annoyed.
Ludwig looked at him looking annoyed, and then turned to Berwald.
"Do…do we really have to go?" his voice was soft but firm.
The tall Swede looked up at Lukas. His heart wrenched a little. He would do whatever Lukas said was right. And he would do it all the way. He had never asked for so much faith from anyone.
With a bitter sigh he nodded once.
Berwald nodded back. "Did ya call Ice?"
"Ice?" Gilbert sneered.
"Emil said he would wait for our call." Lukas said, pointedly ignoring Gilbert.
He nodded. "Get him on the phone."
Lukas moved around the Germans in the center of the room as calmly as he could, getting to the phone that was mostly in the kitchen. He dialed the memorized number and it rang twice before the phone was snatched and the Icelander's presence was in the room once again.
"Fuck, Lukas. All of you, then?" he demanded before he could say anything.
The Norwegian looked up to Berwald, seeing him and Mathias exchanging a hard look while Tino cringed a bit.
"Is the albino coming?" Lukas asked, trying to sound indifferent to the man in uniform.
"Albino? What the fuck?"
"Wish I could," he laughed again. "But, you know, there's a war that's missin' me."
The Scandinavians squirmed and he seemed to appreciate it.
"Forget it." Lukas said at last into the mouth of the phone. "There's going to be five of us."
"Five?" he asked.
"I'll explain later." Lukas mumbled. "Can you get things set?"
"You know I can. Be out of town by tomorrow." he ordered bossily which made Lukas roll his eyes almost without noticing.
"And Lukas?" Emil's voice was oddly soft suddenly.
He paused before setting the phone down. "Yeah?"
"…Be careful."
The line severed loudly and he smiled a bit as he hung it up.
As he looked up, however, there was a sick tension that had settled over the room. They needed a plan, but it felt as if it depended entirely on Gilbert. He obviously didn't want his brother hurt, so they didn't have a strong reason to suspect he would turn them in to the German authority, but they had no reason to trust him. He was the enemy.
Luckily, he didn't keep them in suspense long.
"If you give me a map, I'll show you where you should go." he said, a hand on his hip.
Berwald grunted before cautiously stepping away and heading down the hall. Berwald's house was safe, but safe as in defensible. He had enough weapons to arm the town below to the teeth. He also had all kinds of tools and things that would have been enough evidence to convict him of illegal arms dealing ten-fold. That's why Lukas was always so afraid when things led to Berwald's house. Everyone else felt safe, and it was almost hard not to, but Lukas knew what could happen.
He did had a map, however, which he brought to the kitchen and set on the table.
The two Germans walked over with Mathias and Tino behind them and everyone bent over the table. Lukas felt a familiar feeling in his stomach that he imagined was a cold stone sinking. It was the feeling before something big happened.
Damnit all.