Back, as promised, on a Monday. Y'all better enjoy this, I've put off my homework for it. -_- No, but seriously, thank you for your comments. I adore all of you.

BlackWitchesCat- Thank you for the advice, I took it to heart and decided that you have a good point. So, I've kept to Elizaveta and Gilbert for the meantime. :3 If I do switch point of views, it will be only to get more insight to a particular circumstance. Thank you for the help, darling, and I appreciate your comments. :D

Guest 'New to this'- I understand where you're coming from. Omegaverse is a... well, interesting/slightly revolting AU for lack of a better term. It focuses more on the animalistic sides of human beings, gives them classes, and instincts, and desires to perform completely feral actions. It's a tetchy subject for a lot of people, and I absolutely hated it the first time I read it. Too animalistic. But I think there's also a lot of directions that one can take with Omegaverse. For example, with mine, I'm trying to put civil rights movements in there, and reference to the even now continuing issue of Women's Rights in modern-day United States of America. But I also understand that with Omegaverse, comes beastie things that seem totally out of touch with our world, and totally inhuman. It's a taste preference, I guess. But I do appreciate your comment.

Shoutouts to the following people for commenting-vellymymare, sovaleika, GEMFairie, and meep.Your comments and reviews make my day, and they always leave me with a smile on my face. So thank you. :3

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hetalia franchise, characters, all that good, fabulous stuff. Sadly.

Righteous Indignation

"Know thyself and all will be revealed."

―Pamela Theresa Loertscher

By the time Gilbert and Eliza arrived at the scene, the cops had long since made their own appearances. Their shiny black boots and hats reflected the flickering yellow lights of the subway station, their eyes cool and removed. They were, perhaps ironically, fit for cops, their uniforms tailored to a tee.

Gilbert automatically pulled Eliza closer to him as he saw the swords and daggers adorning the policemen's belts. It was an instinct to protect her that furthered his movements.

Eliza tensed at the action, but didn't remove herself from his grip. Whether or not this was instincts of her own, or a genuine interest in letting Gilbert's Alpha side be soothed was up for debate.

It was fairly obvious where Ludwig had been lying, the stone was still stained a dull shade of red.

Gilbert's own red eyes, which were a good deal more vibrant than the concrete, were flicking hysterically about, aching to find his brother; his precious living sibling. He loved Ludwig, as much as the painful honesty of the boy drove him insane, and he was desperate to find him, the feral nature of protection reeking from him in waves. His brother wasn't there. His brother wasn't there.

Glaring at a passing officer, he made to lunge forward but was held back by Eliza's surprisingly strong grip. She gave him a warning glare before allowing him to move forward at a significantly calmer pace.

"Sir, where is my brother, Ludwig Beilschmidt?" asked the German, fisting his hands open and closed in trying to burn off the energy and terror that was making his chest heave.

"Oh, the injured one? He's been put in intensive care at Lincoln Hospital," he watched, partly intrigued, as the strange German boy cursed, gave a hasty thank you, and wheeled out of there. His mate was still glued to his side. Shaking his head, the Beta man resumed his work of tacking down notes of the crime scene. It was late, the mated pair were being idiotic being so near Yankee Stadium so late at night, and when they'd found them, both were dressed in fairly expensive clothing. The Alpha's was difficult to discern, due in large part to the blood, but the Omega was untouched, and impeccable in a beautiful black Armani suit.

Eliza had to lead Gilbert into the hospital, as the boy was on the verge of passing out from fear for his younger sibling. Nothing of such extremes had happened before, and he knew that his parents had already lost one child. Could they handle the loss of a second? And what if he had to leave his family for Eliza? Would they live through a third son leaving?

The blast of air conditioning that smacked into them as they entered made Gil and Eliza shiver. It was unnatural to have the air conditioning on so far into fall, but that was hardly Gilbert's forefront concern. The sickening sterile smell of the hospital had Elizaveta's stomach churning, and she was wrinkling her nose at the scent, aching to leave the too-clean place. She'd been in hospitals one too many times with her mother, and all of them had been very un-enjoyable experiences.

Gilbert could sense his to-be's discomfort, and he brushed his fingers along her neck after he led her to a chair, comforting her slightly with a small addition of his scent around her neck. Most Omegas calmed at the touch of their Alphas, and they cooled even further when it was the scent that stayed with them. There was no better place to make sure that the smell of Alpha would stay than to have the Alpha in question touch the Omega's neck.

Once he'd found Eliza a spot, and ensured that she was comfortable, though it was fairly obvious that she was getting annoyed with his almost nervous attention, he moved to the counter.

"What room is Ludwig Beilschmidt in?" he asked, hoping to God that somehow the younger boy would have been let out of the intensive care at that point.

"He's still in surgery, honey, I'm sorry," murmured the Beta woman apologetically, her eyes a tableau of remorse. "Please take a seat, and I will be sure to let you know when they release him."

Gil's knees almost buckled from under him and he managed a wan smile before stumbling to the chair next to Eliza and crashing into it, sliding his back against its rough fabric. He leaned forward, his elbows landing on his knees and pushing angrily through his hair, pulling at the strands as if the feeling of pain would somehow snap him out of this horrific nightmare. He was pale, bewildered, panicked, confused, and completely out of his depth.

He needed his father.

And with that, his hand snuck into the same pocket of his costume and slid his phone out. He held it over to where Eliza was sitting.

His Omega understood without words. She reached over, took it carefully from his shaking fingers, and quickly unlocked it before selecting 'Vader' and calling.

The phone rang for a couple of minutes before a sleepy voice picked it up, rough and garbled and cloudy with lethargy.

"Hallo?"

Elizaveta took a deep breath. "Mr. Beilschmidt, this is Elizaveta Hédérvary. Your son, Ludwig, is in the hospital."

She heard the sharp inhalation of breath and the frantic rustling of comforter against sheets immediately after her news, as well as the mumbled confusion of Amelina.

"What about Gilbert? Is Gilbert okay?" asked Alfher, his mind immediately jumping from one son to the other. Eliza's lips tugged into a smile, fond of the way the father automatically looked after both of his children.

"Gilbert is fine, sir, but you need to get down here now. We're at Lincoln Hospital, near Yankee Stadium," she murmured before hanging the phone up.

Gilbert didn't peer over, didn't even show any sign of acknowledgement for what she just did.

But he was probably going into a sort of shock, so Eliza didn't comment. She just leaned over and rested her head on his shoulders, nuzzling her nose into his shoulder-blade and closing her eyes, just breathing in her Alpha.

She could feel Gilbert take a shuddering breath, apparently snapping out of whatever daze he'd fallen into, his elbows still on his knees.

"What did he say?"

"He'll be here as soon as he can. It'll all be alright, everything will be okay. Can I call my parents?" she asked him, waiting for his nod of ascent before moving to do so. Normally she wouldn't have asked, but she could tell that Gilbert was balancing on a knife's edge, on one side this carefully managed composure and on the other a lupine rage for whomever had done this to his brother.

She dialed quickly, smashing the phone to her ear, desperate to hear her father's reassuring tone, or her mother's breathy voice.

Her father picked up first, her voice awake and showing that she was waiting up for Eliza to come home. "Where are you, édesem?" she asked.

"I'm at the hospital," responded Eliza, quickly beginning to rush the rest of her sentence at her father's, and distantly her mother's, words of concern, "and I'm fine, Gilbert's fine, but his brother isn't. We don't' know what happened, but we're waiting to find out. All we know is that Ludwig's in intensive care. Do you think…" she trailed off, vulnerability warbling at her throat. "Do you think you and mom can come down here? Please?"

Technically, it wasn't her that was being affected by this. She'd barely known Ludwig, after all, but she wanted familiarity around her. Having something so tragic, so terrifying, happen so close to her heat was making her want to surround herself with the warm comfort of things that she knew.

Her mother presumably took the phone from her father, as it was her mother's voice that she was hearing flow soothingly over the line.

"We'll be right there, édesem, where are you?"

"Lincoln Hospital, over near Yankee Stadium. Please get here quickly." She knew that her mother would understand where she was coming from with this uncharacteristic helplessness. Unfortunately, though Eliza hated it, she knew that this was just what Omegas did around their heats. They grew physically and mentally weaker, desperate for protection and the lovely surety of their Alphas.

Once done with the call, Liz slid the cellphone back into Gilbert's pocket and moved herself into his lap, gently taking his hands and winding her own through his to lift his elbows from his knees. She registered his surprised jolt but didn't care. She wanted to surround herself with him, and she'd be damned if she didn't get what she wished for.

He complied eagerly, surprised at the fact that it was Eliza who initiated the affection this time. His fingers abandoned hers to slide his arms around her, feeling her lithe strength trembling beneath his arms in the muscles of her lower back. His face pressed into her shoulder once more, her fingers wound about his shoulders as she buried her nose into the hair on the side of his head, nuzzling him.

"Ludwig will be fine, Gil," she murmured, her lips brushing against the cartilage of his ear with every word. She knew that she was lying, it was highly likely that Ludwig was far from fine, but she didn't like seeing Gilbert in so much pain. He was supposed to be her strong, annoying, and completely arrogant Alpha, not this terrified, desperate creature that she was clinging to.

…..

When Gilbert's parents found them, they were still in the same place. They'd arrived earlier than expected, though Gilbert supposed it wasn't entirely surprising. His father was highly unlikely to pay attention to the speed limits with a child in the hospital.

The elder Beilschmidt's face darkened at the rather inappropriate position that Gilbert and Elizaveta were in. Gil glared defiantly back at that disapproving gaze, refusing to be cowed.

Sensing tension building in the room, the white-haired Prussian's mother reached to soothe her tense mate, though it didn't seem to have much effect, at least not to the extent that Eliza could manage to calm down Gilbert.

"Gilbert," Gilbert winced at the sound of his name coming from his father's throat. It always sounded uglier when he was displeased, held down by guttural tones of disappointment and disapproval. "I hardly think that the moment after your brother is nearly killed is the time to be pursuing any form of romantic interaction."

Gilbert felt Eliza shift in his arms, those muscles tensing before relaxing. He knew that she would want to speak out, the thought badgered him, but he also knew that he really didn't want her to. Omegas shouldn't speak out against older Alphas. Maybe younger ones, if they really felt the need to, but certainly not the seniors.

His grip tightened warningly about her waist and he carefully met his father's eyes. "I do believe that she will be my mate. I am the one who gets to decide when to show her affection, and she's rather comforting right now." He hated how cold his voice sounded, and the way he spoke about Eliza as if she were a shock blanket, an object for him to use at will.

He could tell that she didn't like it either, as she pulled herself away from him and resumed her previously vacated chair. "My apologies, Mr. Beilschmidt, I was just doing what your son demand of me," she said, head bowed. She knew those words would get Gilbert in trouble, but she didn't care. To hell with him, if he was unwilling to speak up for her when his father chose to put her or their relationship down.

Alfher raised an eyebrow at his son. "Is that so? Gilbert, I am very disappointed in you, and you can be sure that we'll resume this conversation at a later time." He didn't bother to apologize for his son's supposed behavior, it was Eliza's place to be at the service of her future Alpha, after all. And besides, why would he apologize to an Omega of all creatures?

The two Beilschmidt's took seats on the opposite side of where Eliza and Gilbert were seated. Gilbert could feel the discontent radiating from the Hungarian girl next to him in waves, making him want to both lash out and cringe back at the same time. He hated that she was mad, and he hated that she was mad for a reason that existed in their society.

Elizaveta, however, could feel the righteous indignation and poorly concealed guilt shedding off of Gilbert. But she didn't say or do anything to soothe him. She was done playing mate to the boy. He was going to have to apologize first. Regardless of the fact that she was a day or so from her heat, she was not going to touch him until he acknowledged his mistake.

The Hédérvary's strode into this murky atmosphere not long after the Beilschmidt's. Etel frowned, quickly taking count of her daughter's facial expression and understanding that a feud had happened. Aranka rushed to her little girl and began to pet at her hair, not listening to Eliza's meek protests. The whole family knew that Liz liked the attention from her mother, that she enjoyed being treated like she was younger every once in a while. And with her being this vulnerable, she was probably more susceptible to that desire than she would have been a week ago.

Etel's almond eyes flowed from Eliza's stoney expression to Gilbert's equally flinty intensity. And she resolved to just not get involved. It wasn't her problem, and if the two couldn't figure it out on their own, than they would just have to move on from one another. She then looked with distaste at Gilbert's father. She knew that he was probably a perfectly fine parent in his own right, but she didn't like what he'd raised Gilbert to be.

So she made it a point to sit next to the moody teens, allowing her mate to sit next to Elizaveta. A magazine was picked up from the table in front of her and she began to read, eyes skipping over words with very little interest.

She didn't know why Eliza was insisting on staying, especially considering the Beilschmidt's didn't really like her, but she wasn't going to question her Omega daughter outright. Surely Liz had her reasons.

After thirty minutes of forced conversation, so painfully awkward it was much like plucking notes from a guitar's unwilling strings, the secretary motioned to the group.

"You can go see him now. He's in room 312, in the back of the hospital and down the first hall on your right."

Gilbert was first down the hall, his training having kept him in superb shape. His father wasn't far behind, and then there was Elizaveta before a harried looking Amelina. Aranka and Etel took their time.

…..

What greeted Gilbert upon skidding into the hospital room was a truly catastrophic sight.

There was Ludwig, supported by an intimidating mountain of fluffy white pillows. The purple, swelling roundness of a black eye was one of the many bruises dotting his face, though it appeared to be the most severe. His normally very carefully maintained hair was down, the gel that he slathered into it having disappeared in the fight. He had a swollen lip, a chin that looked like it had been cut off a slab of concrete, and a darker brown, bordering on red bruise on his left cheek.

Looking at his knuckles, they were dark, and barely scabbing over. Bruises dotted them like little galaxies, swirling from a pus yellow on the edges of their rings to a rotten plum purple in the center.

Gilbert had no wish to find out what else could have been done to his little brother that was currently being hidden from him, and he quickly slid to his knees by his sibling's bed, dying to reach out and take Ludwig's hand but too scared to do so, for fear that he'd hurt him further.

Feliciano was on the other side of Ludwig's bed, rings of red around his eyes as a sign that he'd been crying. His nose was still snuffling, and there was a certain joie de vivre that was lacking from his appearance. He looked relieved to see the Beilschmidt family spill into the room, but he didn't say anything much, which was disastrously unnatural for an Omega as peppy and open as Feliciano was.

"Feli-" spoke up Gilbert, his voice cracking sharply before he cleared it and started again. "Feliciano, what happened. Could you tell us?" No one had seen a doctor in the room when they'd all tumbled in, and no one would likely no what had happened better than the Italian Omega anyway.

There was at first just a sniffle, and then the boy began to speak. "Ludwig didn't want to go to the dance. He wanted to show me how lovely, and hollow, and empty Yankee Stadium was late at night. And it was, oh, it was very pretty. On the way back, we ran into Mathias and Lukas, you know, the Danish and Norwegian pair. They were kissing a lot, until Ludwig spoke up. He wasn't happy that they were so open in public, and then he insulted Lukas." Feliciano's head bowed in shame, a sort of second-hand embarrassment for his mate. "Mathias didn't like that, so he attacked. Ludwig forgot that Mathias is a Senior, and this is what we get," Feli gestured helplessly at his motionless German Alpha, bottom lip trembling a moment before he dropped his face into the starched white sheets of the hospital bed.

Alfher's face was thunderous. "How dare Mathias attack Ludwig! My son was just reminding them of the rules."

Gilbert's shoulders rolled, partly out of indignation for his brother, and partly out of frustration towards his father. Mathias had every right to attack Ludwig. Being so illicit so late at night was completely forgivable. Ludwig shouldn't have said anything; Ludwig was being foolhardy and overbearing when he'd stepped between the two.

"It was Ludwig's fault, Vader," said Gilbert resignedly, hearing his father's sharp inhalation of air. "I know what you're thinking, how could our precious Ludwig ever do anything wrong?" Bitterness rang out in a trembling chord with his voice. Ludwig had always been a tad more favored than Gilbert. "You don't insult another Alpha's Omega. You just don't. Mathias was well within his rights to attack Ludwig, and I doubt that you'd win with your case in court," he cast a sidelong gaze at his father's tumultuous expression. "Just drop it and accept that your son isn't your perfect little carbon copy." He spat finally.

Alfher stepped forward, a threatening motion, as if to hurt Gilbert for his insolence, but he was stopped by the sudden gasp of breath that emanated from his younger son on the hospital bed.

Gilbert was immediately forgotten as his parents crowded around the injured Ludwig, who had been too long under his father's overbearing influence. If his younger brother continued along his route, than he would be in for a hell of a lot more punishment than getting beaten up by an Alpha who was a Senior at their school.

He pulled Feliciano aside, feeling bad for taking the Omega from his mate, but desperately wanting to know what exactly Ludwig had said to Mathias.

"He said," started Feli, "'your Omega looks rather experienced for one who has not been mated yet.'"

Gilbert winced. Ludwig had implied that Lukas was a whore who had sold himself to Alphas other than Mathias. "Why would he say something so dumm?" muttered Gilbert sharply under his breath. Thanking Feliciano hastily, he allowed the Omega to return to Ludwig's bedside. He was too furious with his brother's actions to want to join his family, a stark contrast to how he'd been not minutes earlier.

His next job of the night was to deal with Elizaveta. He knew he'd hurt her feelings earlier, and from what he'd seen of the path that Ludwig was following, he needed to acknowledge Omegas in relationships as equals more often than he was comfortable with.

"Eliza," he murmured, trying for a wan smile as she looked at him suspiciously, "come into the hallway with me, ja?" he asked her, pleased when she sighed and followed him out of the dreary and very crowded room.

"My parents are not happy, Gilbert," she murmured, shuffling her feet along the linoleum tile of the hospital. "Your family is so… conservative. I don't know what they're going to do, but our pairing may be in jeopardy…" she trailed off, running a hand along the walls now, feeling their grainy texture beneath the pads of her fingers.

Gilbert was alarmed. "Nein! They can't do that." He could feel the desperation and panic sliding from him, but he didn't care. "I love you too much, Eliza. I can't…" he trailed off, seeing the confusion and concern for him in her eyes. Shaking himself, he quickly took composure.

"I ought to defend you more often, Eliza, and I apologize for what I said earlier. My father is myopic at best, and I have no need to be ashamed of you. You are…" he drew a deep breath, closing his eyes and grinding his jaws together a moment. "You are so beautiful, and strong, and smart, and you deserve so much more than me. But I know that I'm always going to be too selfish to give you up. I'm sorry for any future blunders, Liz, or any past that I have forgotten. I can't… I can't accept this new order so easily, you've seen how Ludwig acts. You've seen how his mind works. In many was, that's how my mind works. I need time to-to comprehend this new relationship of ours, and the only thing I can ask is that you will be happy to stick around with me." Once done with his heartfelt, but rather corny speech, he waited with bated breath to see what Eliza's response would be.

Her lips wriggled for a moment from the straight face she was trying to maintain, before eventually breaking free into a full-blown smile. "Of course I will, Gilbert. And I'm sorry for what I said too."

The conflict was quickly resolved and Gilbert leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to Eliza's lips. "Can I ask you something?" he murmured.

Eliza nodded her head in assent.

"Would you let me spend your heat with you?"

Eliza's mouth fell open and she seemed conflicted. "Haven't we always just assumed that you would?" she asked, bewilderment lacing her voice.

Gilbert flushed. "Well, ja, but I wanted to ask to make sure that you were okay with it."

Elizaveta laughed, a delighted, pleased, amused laugh that echoed down the empty, spacious halls. "Of course, Gil, I would love to have you with me during my heat." And with that, she pulled him into another kiss, though this one was a good bit less maidenly than their earlier one.

It was this outright snogging in the hallway that Gilbert's father walked into. Ludwig had just slipped back under the fogginess of the pain medication, and so the man was heading back home to get necessities so that he could spend the night with his son.

Gilbert was snapped back so hard by the back of his costume, that his back smacked into the opposite wall. "I have had it with you," snarled Alfher, thoroughly disgusted with his son's mannerisms. "You have no respect for your brother, and you were just doing the one thing, the one thing that got him landed in that verdammten hospital bed." The older German was steaming under the harsh white lights of the hospital hallway.

Etel rushed out of the door and gathered Elizaveta behind her, not wanting her daughter to be injured in the proceedings. And knowing her daughter, Eliza would probably attempt to throw herself in the way of any blows that would fall Gilbert's direction.

Gilbert knew that his father was lashing out against the situation that he couldn't control, hating this helpless sensation, and he knew that he was a channel through which Alfher could release a fair amount of that pent-up energy.

"I've had it. You are not going to mate with that slut of an Omega who has had such an obviously poor affect on your levelheadedness. She spends time with that Beta, what's to say that she hasn't let him spend one of her heats with her? Disgusting, and I refuse to have such filth in our family line."

Alfher had made the same mistake his son had, though this one to a greater extent, and with two people who could probably do him a great amount of harm in the vicinity.

And all because he was lost, out of his depth, and angry at the world for what was happening to his family.

Gilbert refused to put up with it, and he and Etel simultaneously lunged forward.

Alrighty. So that's Chapter Eleven! Yay.

Next chapter will be up next Monday, hopefully.

Comment, Review, Favorite, Follow, Hate, unFavorite, I don't know. Be yourself. Be Eliza.

Have a lovely day.

Oh, and how are your schools going? (If you're still in school. If not, than you are one lucky fucker.)