Broken from the war, the German sleeps as comfortably as he can in his chains and shackles.

Or perhaps he was simply unconscious?

Tortured, raped, beaten, and damned to hell, but he hadn't given in yet.

His friend, the Italian, had been released long ago. Free to wander his almost completely destroyed country. Free to help his people rebuild what was once a glorious, beautiful, place.

But the other man, the Japanese man, had stayed by his side through the rapes and tortures.

Ludwig woke up and looked at the man beside him. He was several feet away so that they couldn't touch each other, and he didn't even look alive.

"Kiku? Kiku, are you alright?" Ludwig whispered loudly. The guards outside right now were an American and a British man, the ones known as Alfred and Arthur. They were arguing, as usual, and Ludwig didn't want them to hear him. If they heard him, then they would know that he was awake, and everything would start all over again.

He whispered the name loudly again and the Asian lifted his head slowly, the only response he could give. He was gagged still from the night of brutal rape. Kiku's body looked so fragile, Ludwig was sure that if he reached out and touched him, Kiku would break.

"Kiku..." Ludwig didn't really have anything else to say other than that, he had simply wanted to make sure that the other man wasn't dead yet. He could see the tears slowly fall from the Japanese man's innocent face, "I'm sorry. Kiku, you look so pale." Ludwig's voice was coarse, but he hadn't meant for it to be. His throat was still sore.

Kiku looked down, ashamed of his appearance, of his tears, of himself. He had been the reason that America joined World War II. A stupid error on his part had led Alfred to end the war with another Allied win. If only Kiku hadn't been so stupid... hadn't ruined everything that Ludwig had tried so hard for... if only he had been more patient...

Ludwig whispered his name again and again until he looked back up.

"Kiku, it was a mistake. Don't blame yourself forever." Ludwig's voice was even more hoarse now than it had been before. His throat was so sore and it was getting harder to talk, to breathe, but he needed to say this to the Japanese man. He needed to tell him that he wasn't angry or upset with him, "Everybody makes mistakes. You just thought that you could handle Alfred. Don't be sorry."

With each word, Kiku's tears only fell faster and he hung his head in painful shame.

"Kiku... I'm not mad at you. I don't hate you. Kiku, I..." The French man and the Russian man burst through the door of their cell and came directly for them. Kiku pressed his body closer to the wall and his eyes showed pure terror. Ivan was walking towards the Asian and his evil smirk only made it harder for Kiku to choke back tears.

Ludwig stared at Francis as the space between them was closed. Francis took the riding crop that they had taken from Ludwig and smacked the German man hard across the face, enough to make him bleed not only where he had been hit, but from his mouth as well. He could stand the pain that Francis would serve him. It didn't matter. He was prepared.

He looked over at Kiku, the Asian wasn't crying anymore, he didn't look scared. He looked determined. It was obvious that he wouldn't back down or give in. He was over his small fit of terror.

He wouldn't cry for the likes of these people.

Every time that Ludwig saw the small man like this, he respected him more.

They didn't bother unchaining them from the walls before beating them nearly senseless. Kiku was bleeding, his body was bruised everywhere and he was coughing up blood, but his expression never changed. Even when the Russian man had stripped him down to nothing, pressing against his entrance with the pipe that he carried everywhere. Even then, Kiku's expression never changed.

Ludwig was bashed in the side of the head with something and he fell against the wall, unable to fall down properly with the chains holding him up. He couldn't see for a moment, but just as his eyesight came back, Francis delivered another blow to the side of his head with the unknown, blunt, object. He fell unconscious after the 5th blow, and was awoken again by Kiku's quiet screams and Ivan's loud grunts. Francis had lost most interest in Ludwig after he became unconscious, so he was helping the Russian rape Kiku.

Ludwig watched for a moment. Although Kiku was screaming, it wasn't loud. He still kept a similar expression to that one of determination, even through the pain that made him wince, the pain that made him scream almost silently. Ivan was ramming into him, hard, clearly hitting his prostate every time he thrusted again, blood starting to drip gently from his small entrance. Francis was biting Kiku's chest, his member, his stomach, his neck. He wasn't biting it shyly and lovingly, no, he was biting him hard, making him bleed from even more places. He took Kiku into his mouth and sucked a little at first, then scraped his teeth down Kiku's shaft roughly, leaving marks that released a little more of that red, sticky, liquid that was covering most of his body already.

It was almost unbearable seeing that crimson running down the boy's porcelain, white, skin.

Ludwig couldn't watch anymore. The poor Asian was taking more than Ludwig ever thought somebody as small as him could handle. It was painful just to watch it.

But this had become a daily thing for them both.

Then, when they had finished with Kiku, leaving him writhing in pain and gasping for air, they moved on to Ludwig.

It was almost the same thing. They scratched him, hit him, bit him, and pushed themselves inside of him hard. Ludwig looked back over at Kiku, the man was unconscious, bleeding from the mouth and just about everywhere else. Ludwig took the pain as well as he could. He screamed quietly and grunted painfully. It was terrible. His face was bruised, one eye swollen almost shut, he had blood dripping from almost everywhere. He screamed out louder this time as he was bashed across the face again and he fell unconscious.

This is what happened every time they were awake. Every single time.