A/N: Yes, I really have NOTHING better to do than write and update way too damn soon. Maybe I'll write a lot of chapters but instead of posting immediately, make a schedule... Maybe... I dunno.

Blue Moon: D'aww, I don't think my way with words is very good but I'm glad you like it! Yea, it is hard to find commonly-updated really good PruCan fics... I'm glad you think this is one of those! And I'm glad you think so, it's been stuck in my head for nearly a year...

Can't say I really like how this chapter turned out, but yea. I promise things will start getting interesting, I promise!

SS Out~

Gilbert stared out the window as the sun set. The light on the water was bright orange and hurt his eyes, but he couldn't draw his eyes away. Instead he watched the sun slowly settle over the watery horizon, reflecting orange in the water and turning the sky a mix of oranges and pinks and violets. The island the blonde duo had gone to earlier that afternoon seemed to glow in the middle of the light.

The window faced west, obviously. The albino hadn't realized the Island was longer east to west than it was north to south until he'd glanced up and out the window and saw the water turning gold.

It was a beautiful sight if he'd ever seen one. There was no sight that rivaled that on the Mainland.

Well, except maybe an explosion... or if you lived near a beach... but that was beside the point.

The point was, Gilbert hadn't know something so beautiful could occur on the Islands.

From his bed, he could see the people on the Island going about their evenings, probably preparing dinner for late arrivals or helping older and younger people. Very few stopped to enjoy the sunset.

They were used to the golden reflections. They'd grown up with them; they could stop and watch it any day they pleased. There was no reason to waste the remaining sunlight when there was still work to do.

Gilbert couldn't understand that.

Of course he'd never admit it to Ludwig, who too stared out the window towards the sun-golden sea. Große Bruder had a reputation to keep up!

...

Yet still, right before the sun finally fell, and the sea turned from gold to black, Gilbert couldn't help but admit it to himself.

The next morning, Gilbert woke up to find his brother was already gone. Deciding he wasn't yet hungry, the albino chose to instead walk outside in the fresh morning air.

Gilbert found himself standing on the small cliff, looking over at the larger cliffside with the two houses on it. He was blocked from the sight of the hotel by the little orchard they had. It was a peaceful morning, not very bright at all, but it wasn't dim either.

I wish I had some phone service, ugh... I want to call Toni or Francey-Pants... he thought to himself. He was incredibly bored. From where he was, he couldn't see the Islanders, but he knew they were either working or running around handing out foodstuff. Still not hungry, Gilbert just sat there for a while... until he heard a familiar voice carry on the wind from the other side of the Island.

"Matthew! You forgot your hat!" It was the Briton-sounding Islander he had met yesterday, calling out to the violet-eyed one. He couldn't hear Matthew's response, it faded long before it reached him, but the Briton-Islander- Arthur? Gilbert didn't really care to actually remember- responded to it with, "Well that's your own fault for staying up late!"

This piqued the albino Mainlander's curiosity. He wanted to know what the hell was going on.

It wasn't even ten in the morning when Gilbert found himself crossing that unnervingly-thin bridge.

When he reached the village-town thing, Matthew was already gone and Arthur was outside someone else's house, apparently helping with... weeding? Gilbert didn't know anything about that whole "gardening" thing. He hadn't even realized Islanders had time to garden.

To be honest it was a rather pathetic garden, but Gilbert chose not to say anything. Instead he stared at Arthur until the Bri-sorry, Islander looked up from what he was doing.

"Oh, you again. Whot do you want?" he demanded, wiping his dirty hands off on a rag he had around his neck. The young woman next to Arthur, who looked oddly Mainland-Asian, glanced worriedly at her friend, but continued her work.

"I just heard you und zat Matzew Junge talking all ze vay from ze ozer side of ze Island, I just vanted to know vhat it vas about, Briton," Gilbert smirked, crossing his arms. Arthur raised one monstrous eyebrow at him.

"Be careful there, Mainlander, some people might start thinking you actually care about us lowly Islanders," he said sarcastically with a roll of his grassy orbs. "Matthew works with the Vargas brothers on the farm Island. You almost followed us there yesterday but chickened out, remember?"

Gilbert's smirk fell into a scowl. "Hey! I did not "chicken out" as you say I did! I just had better zings to do zan follow some Islanders to somevhere I did not even know! You don't know me like zat!"

"Will you stop yelling like that," Arthur hissed, glancing over towards the station. Gilbert glanced over as well and saw one of the soldiers from yesterday looking over at them. "Fine, fine, you didn't chicken out, just stop yelling. Matthew just slept in this morning and Lovino's going to be mad as hell because he missed some early-morning chores," Arthur finally explained.

"Arthur," the dark-haired companion started, "Can we just finish weeding this garden so we can get to more important stuff-aru?" It wasn't until then Gilbert realized this long-haired person was a boy.

"Yes, Yao, we really should. Your sister would be mad if we spent all our time doing this..." Arthur sighed. He glared towards Gilbert. "Now if you will excuse us, we have work to do. Your hotel has a nice swimming pool for you to swim in, spend your whole time in there if it pleases you." He began yanking up a deeply-rooted spindly brown weed. "Or go write a letter to your Mainland friends. You do know you can send letters along the train, right?"

"Vhat?!" Gilbert immeditaly perked up at that. The Mainland-German had been busy watching the weed the Islander was yanking at not budge, but that had been getting boring. He strode forward and pushed Arthur's hand aside, and in one tug had the root out of the ground. "You mean zere is actually contact vith ze Mainland?!"

Arthur and Yao both stared at the rooted monstrosity in Gilbert's hand, something they themselves would have had to eventually grab a shovel for. They were both shocked that a Mainlander could possess enough strength for that.

"W-well of course," Arthur answered upon recovering. "Whot did you expect? How else would the mining overseers contact Mainland officials like your father?" Gilbert dropped the weed on their little pile of twisting and even flowering weeds, a grin on his face. "Just write a letter, put it in an addressed envelope, and drop it in the box labeled "Mainland Mail". You can get paper and stuff from your "Hotel Mainland" lobby-desk."

Gilbert was about to run off immediately to send a letter, but stopped suddenly. "Vait!" He whirled around to look at Arthur. "Vhy do you know so much about zat? Ze vay you make it sound, only Mainlanders can use it."

"It's none of your business!" Arthur snapped, quickly averting his eyes to the roots.

"I have a few theories myself-aru~!" Yao chimed in cheerfully, looking at Arthur with a very odd smirk. It looked almost... lewd. Almost.

"Shut up, Yao."

Gilbert watched the two argue... well, Arthur argue and Yao laugh. He imagined Matthew there, smiling calmly and watching his friends, just happy they were happy.

Then he saw himself, Antonio, and Francis. Himself arguing with Francis, who was laughing and giving lewd gestures, and Antonio just sitting there, smiling... just happy his friends were happy...

"Whot are you staring at?" Arthur demanded, having noticed Gilbert's stare. Gilbert blinked.

"Just zinking," he trailed. "You... act a lot like Mainlanders," he added, though without his usual tone of annoying-intent. He started walking away, listening to both of them angrily shout that they were one-hundred percent Islander, thank you very much! He chuckled. "Islanders who act like Mainlanders..." he added under his breath, crossing back over the bridge.

Wasn't really anything interesting to do until Matthew and Arthur were done working, he decided. Might as well go write that letter!

-Meanwhile-

Matthew glanced up from where he was tending to Lovino's cherished tomato plants. Lovino, who stood just a few feet away from him, was still mad; first he was late to their little celebration, and then he was late for work the next day. Matthew didn't even have the Mainland-bastard excuse that morning. Lovino had accepted that excuse without hesitance, but sleeping in? It was so unlike Matthew that Lovino had a hard time accepting it.

Feliciano, on the other hand, was happy he made it at all. He was humming happily while taking care of some corn they were growing. The stalks were tall and the ears large, and Matthew hoped the Mainland didn't take all of it.

If he had to guess, Matthew would say it was just before ten in the morning. The sun wasn't harsh quite yet, but his sensitive skin on his neck felt like it was burning. Even when Arthur had called he forgot his hat, he didn't go back for it. He didn't want to be any later than he already was.

He took a big enough risk running all the way along the tracks as it was. One trip and he could have been sent into the ocean!

Not that that was really a problem, but he didn't know if there was a current out there or not...

"-thew!" Matthew's head jerked up and he was looking into Lovino's sharp golden eyes.

"A-ah, sorry, what was that?" he asked sheepishly.

"I said we can take a break. You were spacing out and I don't want my fucking tomatoes ruined by your spacey-clumsiness," he clarified, glancing aside with a light flush on his face. Matthew might have been one of Lovino's best friends, but like hell he would admit he was actually concerned for the blonde's safety.

Matthew smiled, knowing how to read past his friend's harshness. "Sorry for making you worry... about the tomatoes, of course," he added, chuckling. He stood up straight and stretched.

"Ve~ Why aren't you wearing your hat?" Feliciano questioned, wandering over to them.

"Ah, in my haste to get here before I was any more late, I forgot it," he explained with a sheepish smile. "I didn't go back for it, and I probably would have lost it. I ran all the way here."

Lovino gave him an uncharacteristically-worried glare. "You ran on the bridge? You could have tripped and fallen into the water! Idiota!"

"I know, I know... but I didn't," Matthew smiled. Lovino scowled.

"But you could have. N-not that I'm worried for your well-being, if you had died no one else would help us-"

"I understand," Matthew interrupted with a laugh. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

Dear Francey-Pants and Toni,

Ja! I'm writing two of this kick-ass letter so I don't have to think of different things to say! Ha, we're all friends, who cares!

So this Island is boring until sometime in the evening. Everyone here just works works works! I did meet three strange Islanders, they all three sound like Mainlanders but they are definitely unawesome Islanders! They even have Mainland-sounding names, can you believe that? Matthew, Arthur, and Yao. Matthew sounds American or whatever that section nearby it is called- Candia? Canadia? whatever! His accent is actually very weak so I don't think he's heard it too much, maybe early childhood, who knows. Arthur sounds like a Briton, though when I call him that he yells at me. It's totally fun to get on his nerves! and Yao sounds like he's from the Asian division, no clue which section of Asia, something! China or Japan, but he doesn't sound like Kiku, so I don't think he's Japanese.

But yea, so these unawesome Islanders do work all day, many until the sun sets. The sunset here is awesome! Even the awesome me has to say it was amazing. The entire ocean on the west was painted gold! The farm Island, that's where they apparently grow plants and raise meat for eating and stuff, looked like it was glowing in the middle of it all... and the sky was different shades of oranges, golds, pinks, purples, everything like that! I've never seen a sunset like that! And most of the Islanders worked right through it! Can you believe that?

Okay so that paragraph sounded totally unawesome. But that's not the point! The point is the Islanders are boring and do nothing but work. Of course those soldiers might have something to do with it... oh right! The soldiers! Completely slipped my mind! Every time I talk to those Islanders I told you about earlier- purely for the entertainment of pissing them off- they get jumpy and start looking at these soldiers. They're Mainland soldiers! With guns! And every time I mess with Arthur, they watch us. First day when I literally ran into little blondie Matthew boy the Briton-Islander-guy totally started yelling at me and looked like he was about to fight me and the soldiers looked like they were about to take aim! Can you believe that?

But ja, that's all that's happened so far in my two days worth really talking about... well, day and a half.. wait, I got here yesterday evening... so it hasn't even been a day. Huh. Feels like it's been forever! I really want to call or text you guys, my hand is really hurting writing so much. Ugh, if our literature teacher could see this she'd die just so she could roll over in her grave!

So what's up with you two? What awesome things have happened back home? I can't wait to go home!

Your totally awesome and impossible to forget friend, Gil!

-To Be Continued-

Große Bruder: Big Brother

Junge: Boy