German Bros Week 2024 - Day 2
Prompt: Mentor and pupil | "I think you're finally ready to use what you've learned"
Relationship: German Bros
“So…you’re giving up just like that?” Ludwig choked out.
Gilbert remained silent, back turned, completing the oh-so-important task of folding his clothes into his suitcase.
“Are we not even going to talk about it?” Ludwig snapped.
“I thought I taught you the rules of war,” Gilbert finally said. Voice calm, soft. So unlike his brash, commanding self. “There are winners and losers. As the losers, we must face the consequences.”
“And you taught me never to give up without a fight!”
Gilbert quieted once more. Ludwig was about to lose it in all this quiet.
“It’s been coming for a while…” Gilbert sighed. “You and I both knew it after the last time.”
Ludwig swore he literally felt something in his chest snap. He grabbed Gilbert by the collar, forcing him to finally look at him.
Gilbert’s face looked so thin. He always had been on the thinner, sharper side. But now he just looked gray and hollow.
Tears burned in the corner of Ludwig’s eyes.
“You can’t leave me,” Ludwig pleaded, tears even infused in his voice.
“I’m not ready! How can you leave me after everything that has happened? How can I…”
Ludwig tried to carry himself with confidence and capability. Always proving himself. You had to when you were less than a century old and were trying to get your much older peers to take you seriously. A century or less was considered a baby in their kind. Ludwig was a rare case in which he was fully grown before he was even a hundred years old. He may have looked and held himself like an adult, but in certain, quiet moments, when it was just him and Gilbert, he let himself curl in on himself, let his naivety, his youth show.
“It’s…It’s not going to be easy Ludwig,” Gilbert admitted, smiling tightly. “But, you’ll finally be free Lud.” Gently he cradled Ludwig’s face in his hands, thumbing the tears that were forming in the corner of Ludwig’s eyes. “I think you’re finally ready to use what you’ve learned.”
Ludwig’s grip on Gilbert finally loosened.
“Gilbert…I…I can’t–”
“Not with that attitude. But Ludwig. Listen. You don’t need me anymore. You haven’t for a while. You’re the most capable of all of us. Even when you were going through all that shit in the 20s and 30s.”
“If I was so capable, none of this…”
Gilbert shook his head, squeezing Ludwig’s cheeks like he did when he was a kid, trying to make him smile. “Sh. Shh. Shh. Shhhhh. I know you’re going to fix this. And you’re going to have help.”
“But I want YOU to be the one to help me.”
Gilbert sighed again and shook his head. “I can’t Küken. You need to stand on your own now. And it’s not like I will hear nothing about you. You’re going to do great things, I know it. And I’ll be watching, even if it is from a distance. Okay?”
Ludwig was silent for a moment, words simmering in.
“Fine,” Ludwig finally muttered.
Ludwig pulled away, storming out of the room. He wished the words were comforting, but they didn’t do anything to calm his racing heart or ill stomach. But there was nothing left to say.
