Okay, here I am, here you are, you are here to read and if you are I trust I haven't jumped a shark yet and this pleases me. I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter, so read on and I hope you like ;)

%!%!%!%

De Facto

"So, you're an angel…" Ludwig began awkwardly, tapping his fingers on his knees nervously. Considering the fact that there was such a thing sitting before him, this opened up his mind to a whole world of questions he had never had cause to think about before. Did he believe there was a God was the biggest in said world of questions. Another biggie was the potential for there to be a hell… And of course was a sin a sin or could one reason their way out of it. If there was a hell and the answer to the last question was no, regardless of the answer to the first, he knew exactly where his ass was going when he bit the dust (at least, according to all those people gathered at the church down the street). Which, in retrospect, really wasn't fair. Oh, who the hell was he kidding, what was fair about anything in his life? Never knew his mother, his whole immediate family was dead, and his only living family never cared for him unless they wanted something; the only man he had a decent relationship with was a total lay about and he sadly lost contact with him through his own selfishness, now he only had five days to live… Just great.

"Yep, sure am." Alfred replied with a smile, wearing another set of clothes that looked exactly like the other set he was wearing earlier. Which, by the way, was a light-brown, three-piece suit with a dark-brown tie (which he had forgone in this case along with the actual coat) and white button-up shirt. All in all, it looked quite similar to Ludwig's own work dress but his suits were only two pieces commonly. He had since changed out of his ridiculous orange jogging clothes and now sported a pair of sweat-pants and a wife-beater. Vaguely, Ludwig wondered at the clothes and why he had two of the same suit, must've been an angel thing. "Is there a problem in that?"

"Aren't you supposed to… Aren't you supposed to protect humans, rather than come down here to-"

"We are the messengers of heaven. I bore you a message you were going to die. But that is not my primary purpose here." Alfred admitted, his eyes fixing on the hostile dogs.

"What is then?"

"Protect you until you die." It seemed quite unnecessary to Ludwig to need this protection if he was going to die anyway.

"What are you here to protect me from? I'm going to die, what if you accidentally protect me from what is supposed to kill me?" At this, Alfred sucked on his tongue, not sure if he should explain the whole thing yet. He would have screwed it up anyway, best to leave that to Cerviel. Which…

"How did your brother die?" he asked, Ludwig looking quite confused by the sudden change of topic.

"Is it any of your business?"

"Oddly enough, yes."

"He was… He was out with his friends, you know, your cousins," As Ludwig spoke he suddenly realized why Matthew had been so angry at him for asking if he enjoyed Alfred's visiting. Alfred was dead, an angel, now he felt like a douche bag and reminded himself to apologize to Matthew tomorrow at work. Wait, he had five days left to live, five, why was he going to waste it on work?

"Ludwig? Hello?" Alfred waved his hands over the German's eyes, he had zoned off in his thoughts and Alfred was kind of worried.

"Huh? Oh, what?"

"Your brother was with my cousins?" Alfred quirked his brow at him.

"Well… I assumed that Arthur and Francis are your cousins too since Matthew is." Ludwig could feel his ears begin to heat up at the prospect of being wrong.

"Matthew was actually my brother." The shorter blonde corrected, lifting his leg and resting his ankle on his knee. Now Ludwig felt like a really big douche bag. A sudden look came over Alfred, like he had just remembered something he forgotten, "I think my two year anniversary was yesterday now that I think of it." There weren't words to describe how shitty Ludwig felt now, it did explain why Matthew hadn't been at work, he had taken time off to mourn his dead brother. "What's that face?"

"Nothing… Just thinking of people I need to apologize to in the next few days."

"That's what you want to spend your last days on Earth doing? Thinking of all the minor misdemeanors you committed?"

"I figure I might as well considering I won't get a chance to do it later. Maybe it will make up for some of my past sins." The German sighed dismally, going over possible courses of action in his head.

"You have no sins upon you." Alfred quickly examined Ludwig, his brow quirking, "Well, none that really matter anyway." Ludwig lifted his head curiously.

"What?"

"Nothing!" He said cheerily, "You never finished your story."

"Oh, right… Uhm, my brother was out with Arthur, Francis and Antonio from work, they were just, you know, clubbing, being rowdy twenty-somethings. Originally he wanted me to come with him, but I had work early the next morning and I've never been one for such forms of entertainment." Ludwig shrugged, "We don't know what really happened because it was probably when Gilbert went out to take a smoke." At the mention of Gilbert's name Alfred nodded, noting it in his head unbeknownst to Ludwig. "They were clubbing and he just never came back. They found his body in the alley outside the club, a stab wound to his heart." Apparently Ludwig had long become hardened to telling the story as he told it without a single bat of his eyelashes, "His wallet was gone and clothes rummaged through, so the police figured he was just unlucky enough to be near someone that was hard-up for money."

"Did you ever catch his killer?"

"No." He said solemnly, taking a breath a few moments later and turning his gaze back to Alfred, "Why was it important?"

"Oh, no reason." Ludwig's brows knitted together in anger.

"For no reason? Then tell me your story. You're an angel but you said you were a lawyer."

"Well I…" Alfred sighed, sifting through his more human memories which didn't seem like his own anymore. He had eons of inherited memories and the last two years up in heaven had been a very shaking experience, it sometimes was hard for him to call up true, finite memories of his years alive. "I went to law school while I was alive." He shrugged, "Out of state of course…" Continuing his thinking, Ludwig began to notice how hard it seemed to be to recall these things.

"Would how you died be easier to ask information on?" Alfred tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling a smirk on his lips. Was he really so transparent?

"It's a bit easier, I suppose. I was here visiting Matthew and the rest of the family for Christmas." Ludwig winced, he couldn't imagine how painful it must've been for Matthew and his relatives to lose Alfred during the holidays. "And you know, there's always a spike in drunks and the like on and around the holidays." Alfred was smiling now for a reason Ludwig couldn't comprehend, "There was a man driving, had too much to drink and… My best friend," Alfred paused, his face going blank as he remembered his "best friend", amid all the chaos of his mind he had forgotten Kiku… They were on the verge of being more than friends when he had died… He sighed and continued, not wanting to dwell on it, "he was crossing the road downtown, I was out with my cousins and Matthew and, the driver was heading right for him so I, being the hero that I always thought I was, shoved him out of the way." His fingers had laced together in his lap at some point during his relatively short story and his eyes drifted down to stare at them, "It never really occurred to me that I could get hurt, I was the hero of my own story. Chosen for something larger, I was sure… I thought as I lay on the ground and bled out that 'this cannot possibly be it'… Dying where all of my family could see. Well, I died before the ambulance even got there and was dragged off to heaven for training."

"You don't sound like you were very surprised…" Ludwig narrowed his eyes curiously at Alfred, he now seeming to be very stressed as if he had said something he wasn't supposed to. There was silence between the two, causing Ludwig to draw his own conclusions, "You weren't surprised… You knew… How?" For a minute, it seemed like there was sweat beading on Alfred's down-turned brow. In the end he looked up to Ludwig and laughed.

"All in good time!" That sounded like something cool to say. Cool to say, but it further vexed the German sitting on the couch. "But! We can move on to talking about better things!" Alfred received a deadpan stare from Ludwig, making his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed nervously. "Uhm… Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Best friend?"

"No."

"'Special friend'?"

"No." Alfred was definitely beginning to see a pattern here.

"Boyfriend?" Ludwig choked a bit at this one but in the end stumbled through with the usual answer of a very irritated "No." When Alfred smiled Ludwig immediately turned red and looked away.

"That's what you count as a sin, eh?" The thing about angels, a sin turned up as a black mark on a soul, a subjective sin looked different from a true sin. A subjective sin was like the little kid stealing a crayon in second grade and being caught. A true sin, usually it was only covered by cold-blooded murder.

"Isn't it?" Ludwig dared to ask, averting his eyes to examine the couch. Alfred laughed heartily, his eyes positively sparkling with merriment.

"Nope! Well, not to people who don't believe it is!"

"What?" The taller blonde looked deeply confused and Alfred scratched the back of his head and neck in thought.

"That's the thing about sins. Many are subjective." At the blank stare he received, Alfred realized it probably never even occurred to Ludwig what he thought about his "condition" before today. "To you, well, your assumptions of it being a sin are unsure at best, am I right?" A jerky nod and Alfred continued, "To a person that sincerely believes what does it for them is wrong, yes, it can be called a sin upon their soul. Believe me, there are people that think sexual desire period is a sin. But for people who know there isn't anything wrong with it, sometimes you think of these people as the attendees of pride parades, it's just a facet of their personality. Nothing more. There's nothing wrong with it."

"Using that logic though… Are you saying that murderers and rapists…" If that was heaven why the hell would he want to go there?

"Oh hell no." Alfred referred back through his memories for how to answer this one, "Well… I told you your soul is really old. Ancient, even by my superior's standards. Soldiers… They are a very gray area. They most of the time make up for their sins in lifetimes."

"Reincarnation…" Ludwig assumed and Alfred nodded his head.

"But, the people you mentioned. The ones that take pleasure in harming others… They do end up down below." Alfred shook his head, plagued by drudged up memories of damned souls, "If when their final judgment comes, they aren't sorry for what they have done and don't want to make up for it… They are sent to be tortured. Of course that's not the only way you end up in Hell, just one of them." His head tipped back then, he examining the ceiling, "A long time ago, there used to be a way out too… A way out with your soul intact, without having to become a demon." Sifting through the ancient memories embedded within him he remembered an angel so terrifying to behold it made him shrink away.

"How was that?" Ludwig asked out of sheer curiosity, examining the thoughtful face of his counterpart. Truth be told, he was very relieved to hear what Alfred had said, it still didn't assuage his fears completely, however.

"A frightening angel, his visage able to send even high-level demons cowering." Alfred chuckled at the look Ludwig made, obviously finding this information very unpleasant. "He was one of the kindest though. One of the few angels able to move freely in Hell. He redeemed the flayed souls of those who paid for their sins."

"Is he no longer doing his job?" Now the German looked disapproving, someone so important abandoning their post?

"An explanation for another time!" The dead American clapped his hands together and stood. "You're probably tired."

"One more question."

"'Kay!"

"What kind of angelic name is Alfred?" Ludwig crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back all the way into the couch. "If I also remember correctly, no man can become an angel." An eyebrow climbed up his forehead and Alfred seemed to be groping for an answer.

"Well… Uhm… My human name is Alfred… My angelic name is Amnediel."

"What about my other question, Amnediel?" The eyebrow quirked slightly higher and with it Alfred's nervousness.

"Once again, answered in time!" He laughed and tugged at the back of his head, Ludwig's expression decidedly less than amused. "Hey, I'm the powerful one here, I only answer your questions because I'm feeling generous." Alfred's half-assed attempt at being intimidating fell flat on the bulky German.

Or maybe you're just a bumbling fool? Ludwig supposed in his head, couldn't he have been given well, a better guardian angel? Or even better, a guardian angel that was trying to protect him from his impending death? Apparently that was too much to ask for in this situation.

During this time of introspection, Ludwig had been giving Alfred his icy-blue stare and it was beginning to make him squirm. Two millennia of memories he might have had, but humanity was indeed still fresh within him.

"Explain it another time. When you explain everything else you're avoiding." Ludwig stood up from the couch and stalked out of the room. Alfred did well to notice the tension held in his shoulders and muscles. Most of his fear of Alfred and death had drained from him and was replaced by anger and maybe plots at how to get out of his fate. Internally he sniggered at Ludwig's ability to go through two stages of grief in the same hour. If all went well, he would be at acceptance by tomorrow morning!

Taking a deep breath, he stretched out onto Ludwig's couch and stared at the ceiling, his mind flittering away to how much he missed dreaming.

%!%

Out in the snowy city, the behemoth enemy to Cerviel and Amnediel walked the streets, going through the smartphone he had for information.

Target: Ludwig G. Beilschmidt, a picture was provided next to his name along with his height, weight, occupation and personality description. The latter was most certainly not needed as the Prince knew what he was to Heaven. His address was there but the man was smart enough not to go directly there, his work would be easier. The angels on his shoulder would be less likely to put up a fight where the public eye was.

A particularly piercing cold wind got to him and he shivered violently. Screw Earth's weather, it sucked! His shivering continued after he pocketed his phone and was made worse when a man poked out of the shop he was standing near and chucked a bucket of dirty mop water on him. The noise he released would have been quite terrifying to most everyone and only served to surprise the Chinese man in the doorway.

"Oh my god! I am so sorry, aru!" He grabbed the disgruntled demon and hauled him into the building without a second thought. As Yao did so, the platinum blonde stared at him, incredulous that a human would dare touch him! Much less throw water on him and invite him into his home. "Here, let me take your coat, aru." Yao held out his hands for the stranger's beige coat and the taller stared at him suspiciously. "Uhm…"

"Ivan Braginski, da." He told Yao, taking off his coat and handing it to him. Perhaps he would guilt the human into letting him spend some time here. He wasn't going to be very long anyway and he didn't want to stay out in the cold despite the fact it couldn't really affect him. Quickly looking for something on the man's soul that he could use, he then began to rifle through other things about him and found exactly what he was looking for.

"Wang Yao." Yao smiled at him and took his coat, "Again, sorry for the bucket of water, aru." The look the Chinese man received threw him off a little bit, it was a kind smile, but there was definitively an underlying malice to it.

"I am only in town for a few days. I have nowhere to stay, da." Ivan informed him, Yao's expression quickly going to offended. He opened his mouth to speak, but found the big man invading his space before he could protest, "I could… Make it worth your while, da?" The shorter man's heart raced when he locked with the violet orbs so far above him. Demons, especially ones of his standing were strangely persuasive.

"I-I…" A hand rubbed over his groin and he gasped, trying to convince himself to lean away from the pleasure.

"You want to, da." A rougher rub and Yao moaned, shivering and leaning against the hand.

"O-Okay… Just stop with the teasing, aru!" He hauled himself away, face beet-red, "I-I'll give you a tour, just let me get you a towel. Wait there." At the Russian's nod, Yao slunk off into the back rooms of his littlest brother's dessert shop.

Okay, yeah, he had just taken in someone who was most likely a prostitute, but hey, he wasn't really paying him money. Just giving him a place to stay. And he was attractive, and Yao hadn't actually had real sex in over a year. Oh the sad life of a man whose wife left him after figuring out which team he truly batted for. Even sadder was even though he had his job with the company, he was forced to live with his seriously irritating (and stalkerish) cousin Yong-Soo and his youngest brother Kiku. Speaking of which… He was going to have to come up with a legitimate reason to give the both of them why Mr. Braginski was staying with them… He wasn't going to lie to them and say he was his boyfriend, come on, Yong-Soo might've been stupid, but Kiku was far from such an adjective. Too was gone the possibility of saying he was a tenant for the empty room they had upstairs (previously occupied by Yao and Kiku's little sister Meimei), as he was only staying for a few days and would probably refuse to pay rent. Then again… The paying rent thing wasn't an all together outrageous thing to ask for. Braginski could stay here and perform his end of the bargain… Or not, he would probably refuse to do that if Yao asked him to pay…

"Ai-ya!" He loudly yelled to himself, yanking at his hair with the massive coat thrown over one arm. It was settled, in the event Braginski had money he was going to ask for payment of that kind because it was the right thing to do. Not necessarily the thing he wanted though.

"Yao-kun, is something wrong?" Kiku asked, on the stairs that lead up to their home. The Asian man jumped and looked over his shoulder at his little brother.

"Kiku, uhm, we're going to have a friend stay a few nights here, aru." Yao explained, putting the massive coat on a hanger and arranging it so it was in front of the air-conditioner. With this news upon him, Kiku took upon a stern expression. This was his home after all. Yao and Yong-Soo were living there out of the goodness of his heart (and the willingness to forfeit storage space for extra money). "Dui bu qi didi." His older brother apologized in the tongue of their mother. Kiku sighed and put his hands on his hips.

"Where is he?" They walked out into the main shop area to behold Ivan looking hungrily at some of the sweets. In fact, he was eyeing them so intensely, it was as it was the first time he'd even laid eyes on food in years.

Which, really, it was. Food was most decidedly a perk of Earth for sure.

"Ivan." Yao gathered the large Russian's attention easily. When the blonde head lifted and laid eyes on Kiku, the smaller man shook like an earthquake had racked his body. There was something conclusively dangerous and just wrong about him. Whether it was his unnatural eye color or the way air seemed to swirl around him, Kiku really couldn't say. "This is my little brother Kiku, he owns the shop." Yao returned his attention to Kiku who was doing his very best to hide his discomfort and the fact that his legs felt frozen in place, "Kiku, this is my friend Ivan, he's only going to be in town a few days, so he just needs a place to crash."

Kiku was about to disapprove and kindly request that Ivan find a different place to stay, but the Russian spoke first. Spoke in a very persuasive, sweet tone at that, "Hello Kiku. I thank you for your hospitality, da." A cute smile and Kiku couldn't help what he said next, "It's good, a friend of my brothers is a friend of mine." Why did he just say that?

"Great, aru!" Yao exclaimed clapping his brother on the shoulder and Ivan removed his eyes back to the Chinese man, freeing Kiku from his demonic gaze, "Follow me Ivan! I'll get you situated, aru!" And upstairs Yao went, followed by the menacingly slow giant who cast a smirk down at the diminutive Japanese boy.

Kiku sighed and rushed for the phone in his dessert shop, dialing the number of his past best-friend's boyfriend and near-boyfriend's brother.

"Kiku… What time is it?" Matthew groaned from the other end of the phone.

"Matthew there is a very… Suspicious fellow rooming here." The Japanese man worried at the phone's cord as he informed his friend.

"It's your apartment, get rid of him." The tired blonde advised in a matter-of-fact tone.

"He's a friend of my brother. Do you know anything about him?" There was silence as Kiku imagined that to be a rather dumb question since he hadn't even given Matthew his name.

"Name please?"

"Ivan Braginski?"

"It sounds familiar… I don't know where from though." Matthew hummed curiously, "I can ask Fidel to run it through his files." A Cuban immigrant serving as a detective always seemed to make Alfred laugh in life so the thought still made Kiku smile.

"Thank you Matthew-kun."

"It's no problem." An awkward silence settled over them, they had refused to talk about Alfred the last time they spoke (the day before his death anniversary). "I guess I'll let you go then…"

"Sorry for waking you, goodbye." Kiku hung up the phone and took a deep breath. He was going to have to find some way to get some peace of mind while that monster was around… It occurred to him that he would probably be driven to his brother's level of superstition (or Arthur's even) if he couldn't by conventional means. Steeling his nerves, he walked out from behind the counter and went up the stairs to see what Yao was doing.

"Oh, and this is my room, aru." Yao explained motioning to the fairly simple room with a ton of superstitious charms hanging from various parts of the room and around the doorway. While the charms would do little to actually stop Ivan, he knew they would cause a fuss if he walked in.

"Considering, Yao, we are not going to be… Having fun while I am here, can I take that empty room, da?" He indicated the slightly ajar door at the end of the hallway.

"Well… It's kind of for my little sister Mei if she ever wants to come back, aru." Yao explained, getting an odd look from Ivan. "Mine and Kiku's little sister. She moved out because of… Mei and I have never really gotten along." The Russian nodded, thinking humans petty, but understanding as when he was human… He quickly blocked out the memory, he didn't have a desire to remember his human life. A prince of Hell was what he was now and nothing else beyond that mattered. Yep, forget how much he loved his big sister and how much his younger one scared him. Damn it! "Hello, aru." Yao waved his hand back and forth in front of Ivan's eyes, he had zoned out.

"My head will hit all of the things dangling from your ceiling, though, da." The demon attempted to reason, "And I am not staying here long." After a few moments of thinking Yao nodded.

"You have a point. I will find the air mattress and set you up, aru."

Down the hall in Kiku's room, the Japanese man noted that Ivan didn't even try to look into Yao's room. He had even complained about the charms hanging from his ceiling, maybe it would keep him from coming into his room if he made a few of his own and hung them from the ceiling. Sure, it was barely even an annoyance, but at the possibility of keeping him out, he was willing to do it.

%!%

"You told him?" Gilbert yelled, taking a swing at Alfred and missing, "Vhy!" another swing and Alfred flapped his wings to vertically avoid the punch. Gilbert did much the same and flew up with him, chasing Alfred as he fled the confrontation.

"It's your fault!" Alfred yelled over the wind, doubling his wing-beats to fly out of the reach of Gilbert's hand. "He heard you say we were going to kill him in five days!" The blonde spun around in midair to talk to the still angry albino. He closed his wings allowing himself to fall, Gilbert giving chase downward.

"Dat's vhere you say he vas hearing dings!"

"He held me at gunpoint! What was I supposed to do?" Alfred snapped his wings open, crashing into Gilbert and throwing him off, towards the ground before ascending into the very windy air above the city.

"Ahs if id coult acdually hurd you!"

"If I didn't die or even bleed properly though, wouldn't that have been a big indicator I'm not normal?" The American continued to justify himself, teeth beginning to chatter in the intense cold. The tone in Alfred's voice gave something away and Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"You dit zomeding dat voult hef killt you, ditn'd you?"

"The ledge was icy!"

"Idiot!" Figuring that the hostility was largely over now, Alfred slowed his flying pace, letting Gilbert catch up. Not completely correct in assuming this, however, Gilbert smacked him upside the head and he whined minutely. "I take it he's asking a lot of troublesome questions now."

"Yeah… Can you answer those?"

"No. I am his brother, he shouldn't see me unless it's absolutely necessary."

"But…" The two fell into a comfortable flying position, similar to how geese fly together, Gilbert's wings riding the wake of Alfred's.

"But what?" The albino groused.

"I'll screw it up! I know I will!"

"I'm not here to hold your hand, Amnediel. You need to firmly step into the shoes left behind for you." Gilbert explained, attempting to calm the angel who was clearly unsure about how to do his job.

"Should I even answer his questions?"

"What are they?" Knowing his brother, Gilbert was banking on them being some pretty important ones.

"Why am I here protecting him, but not protecting him from his death? Why doesn't he have a choice in the matter where others do? He knows that humans can't become angels…" Like everyone, there were some things you didn't want to be right about. This was one of them.

"Don't explain any of those unless he truly needs to know."

"How will I know? I already want to tell him everything. I feel like it's all important for him to know."

"And you were supposed to be a lawyer?" Gilbert sniggered.

"Cerviel, I'm serious."

"That's a first." When the American pouted he sighed and went easier on him, motioning at the same time for Alfred to bank and turn them around back towards the city. "You will know if the prince ever comes face to face with him. If that happens he will have to see that I exist anyway. I might explain it if you fuck up doing so." A few flaps and Gilbert added, "But if I have anything to say about the well-being of my brother is that that demon is coming nowhere near him." Alfred nodded and the two flew in relative silence, each trying to remotely catch hold of the evil aura belonging to their enemy. But each time they barely felt it it disappeared again, not like it wasn't expected though, this person was a prince of Hell of all things.

So, as the two did their rounds it was stupid to think that talk would not occur…

"Gilbert… Can I call you that?" Alfred inquired, looking curiously back at his mentor.

"No."

"Okay, Cerviel then… Who was it that came to you?"

"You mean to tell me?"

"Yeah." At the confirmation, Gilbert sighed, "Melahel. Really disconcerting Swede. Somewhat wish he was sent to care for Ludwig. Might get him over that whole 'being gay is awkward' thing." Gilbert rolled his eyes at himself, wishing he hadn't been so prideful in life never to have told him he was the same.

"Hey! I'm doing fine!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that. Who was yours anyway?"

"Haniel." Alfred said with a smile and Gilbert's brows went up curiously, "What?"

"Everyone in Heaven made a big stink about finding him." Gilbert shrugged, pointing off in the direction they needed to go next, "I've never met him though, he appeared just as I finished my orientation."

"Oh! You've had charges too?"

"No shit."

"Well you don't have to be rude, about it."

"How else will I get you to shut up?" And it did work… For about two minutes.

"So, why didn't we ever meet while alive?" No answer from Gilbert and Alfred pressed, "I mean… If I remember correctly, Kiku had a best friend named Gilbert who died four years ago." More quiet and Alfred noticed a wrinkle in Gilbert's brow. "And Matthew was torn up about-" Gilbert grabbed the younger angel's ankle and spun him around, throwing him into the top of a concrete building.

"Shut the fuck up!" He flew down to stand over the dazed and confused boy, "Look at me!" Shakily, the blonde did as he was ordered, "Your human life doesn't matter anymore. It just tells you who you have to avoid while on Earth. Strive to be like the one that came before you and forget everything else!"

"Why?"

"Do not ask 'why', it isn't our place." Cerviel had been described to Alfred as being militant by Michael, (too emotional by Gabriel) what a perfect match they had found in Gilbert "Why we didn't meet? It doesn't matter. Life works like that and now we don't have to deal with it anymore."

"You say to forget it, but you clearly still care about Ludwig… So why are you being harsh on me?" The principality grumbled to himself and didn't answer, taking to the air again to continue his rounds. Alfred just figured it best to leave him alone, not wanting to get punched out or be thrown into a building again.

%!%

The next morning with Ludwig was a darker morning than the German had ever had. He had tossed and turned all night, trying to think of things to beg the angel for a second chance. In the end, when I got up to go talk to Alfred at around three, the blonde was nowhere in sight. Now he had moved onto stage four… Depression.

He didn't shower that morning, half-assed brushing his teeth and didn't tie his tie straight. When he walked out of his room, he saw Alfred in the kitchen cooking food.

"Morning Ludwig!" The German just observed him, thinking about how weird it was for an angel to be in his kitchen, cooking him breakfast… "You okay? You look horrible." Ludwig didn't say anything and just ushered him away from the stove. Heavenly being or not, no guest was allowed to cook in this kitchen. Mostly just because the last person he let cook in a kitchen that belonged to him got flour and oil everywhere. But partially because it was rude to make guests cook their own food. "Uhm… Okay."

"I am going to work today." He announced, pushing the bacon and sausage around in the pan for a little bit longer.

"Why? It's so boring!"

"Because I have to set things right."

"With who?"

"Matthew and Arthur." Alfred tipped his head to the side.

"Why those two?"

"I upset Matthew yesterday mentioning you. Arthur… I told you we used to be best friends in high school. He was my only friend."

"Feel sorry for you!" The angel threw his head back and laughed, gaining a very irritated look from his human charge. "But uhm… Go on." He thought he had just lost hope at ever learning more about Ludwig, but miraculously, he did continue.

"We had a falling out when I went to college, but after a few years we were cool with each other again. Then I got work and just stopped caring about my social life." Ludwig lifted the pan and dumped all the bacon and sausage onto a paper towel-covered plate.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Alfred didn't think getting a job was he equivalent of saying goodbye to all his friends. Then again, he never really had the chance to enter the workforce as a lawyer.

"I didn't mean for it to happen. It just did. I forgot to talk to or see Feliciano, if I forgot about him, it went without saying I would forget to call Kiku-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"What?" As he asked, Ludwig picked up a piece of soggy bacon and chewed it.

"Kiku was my friend while alive. Well… More of an almost boyfriend, but, when did you two meet?" This dumbfounded Ludwig to hear, his whole life he had spent less than an arms length away from Alfred. Or maybe slightly more considering that period of a few years where he didn't talk to anyone.

"He was a friend in college, he and Feliciano. Kiku was in the dorm across the hall from us. Its been five years since I made any effort to talk to them."

"Didn't you ever get bored?" Alfred was greatly surprised when Ludwig shook his head.

"No. I had too much work and I was trying too hard to climb the ladder to where I am today. It's all pointless now…" Ludwig swallowed two sausages and a piece of bacon, offering the rest to Alfred.

"I don't eat." He smiled and an eyebrow quirked on the German's face.

"Don't or can't?"

"Don't have to." Ludwig thrust the plate into his hands and left him to his own devices. "I just told you I-"

"Don't waste food!" He called down the hallway, letting his dogs out of the room, "I'll be back in a few minutes." The dogs were all leashed up, and heading for the door.

"Oh, I'll go with you."

"Do you have to?"

"I'm supposed to protect you!" Alfred ate a couple sausages and chewed loudly, "Something bad could happen out there!" Chunks of chewed food flew through the air, causing a look of quiet horror to adorn Ludwig's face. There was a reason he was going to make sure Alfred never ate in his apartment again.

"Stop talking with your mouth full." Ludwig could feel his body shake with fury, he was scrubbing this whole kitchen when he got home from work. To prevent himself from doing so now and further delaying his morning, he turned on his heel and marched out the door. His guest was only too happy to follow him out and into the elevator, still chowing down on the extra breakfast meats.

Heaven forbid if anyone in this building had to meet Alfred (or see that he had dogs on the top floor), Ludwig pressed the close-door button and the ground-floor button and held them. It was nifty knowing the police override for elevators, it skipped all the other floors in between, regardless of if someone had pressed the call button and went straight to the floor he had pressed.

They all left out the door and walked to a nearby tree the dogs using it, Alfred still loudly stuffing his face. Ludwig was suddenly having flashbacks of high school, Arthur complaining about his cousin being the loudest eater in the world. It occurred to Ludwig that this was the very man his friend had spoken of.

With the uptight business man finally finishing up his final task of the morning, he grabbed his keys up in his flat along with his laptop and left. As they walked to the subway station, Ludwig noticed that yet again, Alfred was wearing the same suit. Truly bugging him and he being at his wit's end already, asked "Why do you have a single, repeating suit?"

"It's the suit I was buried in." The pep in his voice surprised the German, but he supposed he should have stopped being surprised about anything by now. "I can't help but wonder who it was that picked it out for me." The two walked in silence after that, Ludwig refusing to think about who was probably going to be picking out his suit when he died. Maybe he would write it into his will what suit to wear. Oh god, he had to write one didn't he? Well who was he going to leave everything to, his dogs? All his money could go to charity for all he cared but some of his possessions he would have rather gone to his friends… A light bulb switched on in his head and realized that problem was solved.

However, at the problem of sixty percent of Alfred's living family he had contact with working in the exact same place as Ludwig was a different kettle of fish.

Stepping out of the elevator, Ludwig looked back to give Alfred a word of advice only to find he was completely missing. His ability to suddenly disappear seemed to be normal to him and so Ludwig wouldn't even bother with asking whenever he chose to reappear. Couldn't help but wonder just why Alfred had chosen then to go "poof".

Matthew then rounded the corner and it made sense, might as well get this over with now, "Matthew." Ludwig caught the young man's attention and he curiously looked up. Distain flashed over Matthew's face for a second and was quickly covered up.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about yesterday."

"Oh… Well…" From the looks of things, Matthew hadn't been expecting anything from Ludwig, much less an apology.

"I didn't know." Matthew still at a loss for words, Ludwig continued, "There was this guy that looked a lot like you and he said he was your brother Alfred." Since he was actually close enough and staring Matthew straight on, Ludwig noticed just how similar the two were. Sure, Matthew was smaller, still the same height though and the hair color was a little bit different, but the two could have passed as twins any day. They must've been really close…

"Who was he?" Matthew chose to ask instead of saying "it's okay" because, to him, it really wasn't.

"I don't know. He was really excitable and said he was visiting family in town." When it came to spinning lies, Ludwig was proficient at it. Not as so as Matthew, but passable in the eyes of a man who knew what to look for. Which probably shouldn't have been so because a tick appeared between Matthew's eyebrows. It was ever so slight and probably wouldn't have been picked up if he were talking to anyone else.

"I'm not enjoying this joke, Ludwig." The tone in Matthew's fairly meek voice suggested that he was going to get (passive) aggressive soon.

"It's not a joke. I'm being serious. And I am sorry." Ludwig tried again, realizing he had stepped into a place he didn't want to be.

"Would you tell me it's okay if I said I saw an albino on the street with a funny laugh who tried to get into a fist fight for looking at him weird?" A cold throb started in Ludwig's chest, "Yes, I know Gilbert was your brother. He talked about you constantly."

Away in a corner, Gilbert stood, reading a news paper and leaning against the wall, looking over at it as Ludwig and Matthew slowly got more and more irritated with each other. He wanted to step in, tell the both of them they were being childish and to just get over it. But he was dead and an angel now, he couldn't no matter how much he wanted to. The conversation was terminated when Matthew turned and walked away from Ludwig, preferring to take the long route back to his desk. Only problem with this was that he was coming straight for Gilbert.

Shit. His mind cursed, he groaning and forcefully walking down the hallway. Matthew seemed to notice…

"The news that angering?" Usually, if Matthew didn't want to think of something unpleasant, he tried to change the subject his mind was mulling over.

"Uhh…" Gilbert also knew for a fact that Matthew would take it harshly if someone didn't recognize they asked him a question. He nodded quickly and grunted in affirmative. When Matthew laughed behind him Gilbert felt his slowly beating heart speed up. Even after death he still had the same effect on him.

"I guess I kind of agree. You know, the city's death-rate spiking in the last couple and all. Makes you worry doesn't it?"

"Mm-hmm!" Another rapid nod from Gilbert and Matthew caught up to him a little, his main focus still on his papers. This thankfully meant he didn't catch the silver hair of the man in front of him. "Hey uhm, you go ahead of me." Gilbert said deep in his throat, making his voice deeper and grainer than it usually was.

"Oh, thanks!" Matthew hurried ahead and turned around to walk backwards and keep talking with him, "What do you think of all that anyway? I mean, I've checked the neighboring cities, none of them have such heightened death rates." Figures that Matthew would notice that… Gilbert felt a swelling of pride in his chest.

"Ahem," Gilbert cleared his voice first to make sure he had the correct deepness to it, "I do think it's strange. But who knows, maybe it's all for a reason?"

"What reason is there to kill people? Are you saying that all of these unnatural deaths have been orchestrated by someone?" Pretty evident that Matthew had been spending more time with Fidel over the passing months, that swell of pride turned into a burn of jealousy.

"You sound like you have thought a lot about this." Matthew went pensive and turned around so he was facing forward again, letting Gilbert drop the paper slightly to look over it at him.

"Yeah, I guess I have… My brother and… Best friend both became statistics in it… I have a friend who's a detective and he's working up this theory…"

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"That's what everyone says." Just barely, Matthew's head shifted, his purple eyes able to see over his shoulder into the red ones behind him. They went wide and Gilbert pulled the newspaper back up as he turned around again.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

"Who are you…?" Both frozen in the hallway, standing to face each other, Gilbert ran over a dozen possible ways to get out of this in his mind. The best one?

Shoving the paper into Matthew's face, he bolted down the hallway, the Canadian giving chase.

"Wait! Stop!" He caught sight of a black boot and a blue military pantleg going around the corner and he quickened his pace. "Please come back!" Matthew skidded and nearly contacted the wall as he rounded the corner and once again just lost sight of his target, causing a jolt of adrenaline to redouble his efforts.

Ahead and just around another corner (and heading for Ludwig's office) with Gilbert, the albino angel crashed into what felt like a tower. They both toppled to the ground, the sound gaining the attention of a lot of individuals (Matthew's yelling didn't help any).

"Idiot! Watch where you're…" Gilbert was struck speechless at the demon laying on the ground before him. Sweet smile intact and violet eyes glowing with malice, "Ivan?" He yelped in what a human would justify as horror and what Gilbert would call "morbid surprise".

"Hello, Cerviel, da." The swift footfalls coming from the behind reminded Gilbert that he was fleeing from a bad situation. Torn between confronting Ivan (apparently a prince of Hell) and explaining to Matthew (equally unpleasant) he chose to hightail it out of there. He jumped to his feet, Ivan following him with a smirk on his lips.

"I'm coming back for you!" Gilbert hissed through his ferociously angry, clenched teeth. A quick flap of the wings and he was gone. Matthew darted around the corner, laboriously panting as his eyes sought out the form of the one he was pursing. They stopped on Ivan.

"Excuse me, have you seen a man with white hair go by here?"

"No, I am sorry, da." The demon lied smoothly, Ludwig joining them a moment later, heading for somewhere in the hallway the two were standing in front of.

"Ludwig! I'm sorry about earlier and I'm not trying to pull your leg here, but have you seen an albino here anywhere?" The German shot him an angry stare and ignored the question, shouldering past Ivan. Figuring his hopes dashed Matthew sighed and covered his face, pulling at his hair dismally. He sniffled and then remembered he was in the presence of someone else, looking up to apologize, he realized he was alone.

%!%

"Amnediel!" Gilbert called, appearing into the room at a run and nearly stumbling over and eating the floor. Alfred spun around in Ludwig's desk chair to look over at him, immediately jumping to his feet in alarm.

"What is it?" Rather than answering right off the bat, Gilbert's head snapped around, looking for any trace of his living little brother.

"Where is Ludwig…?" A cold feeling clenched in his chest and he forgot to breathe.

"He went to the bathroom… Why?"

"The prince is here…" Gilbert said in a voice so airy and quiet it was nearly a whisper. Alfred, however, sprung into action, leaping over Ludwig's desk and nearly tripping as he dashed out of the office and into the hallway.

"Ludwig!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, Gilbert echoing this and hot on Alfred's heels. Instantly, everyone on the floor was poking their heads out of their offices. Even Arthur, seeing Alfred's receding form (Gilbert's too) and hearing his calls for Ludwig gave him more than enough reason to follow after them.

The two angels reached the hallway junction, Matthew just then turning to leave as he had noticed Ivan was gone. His heart stopped as he heard Alfred's voice yell for Ludwig, paired with Gilberts and then both of the men he so dearly missed turned into the hallway with the bathroom in it. They both were so caught up in what they were doing that they hadn't even noticed him… When Arthur came after them, the Brit noticed his little cousin and they shared a look of petrified knowing before following the two.

Down the hall they dashed, Francis and Antonio poking their heads out right as Gilbert passed by, sharing a look similar to what Matthew and Arthur did, they fled their offices as well. But instead of getting very far, the two crashed into Arthur and Matthew, all landing in a tangled pile of chaos and frantic yells.

The reason a physical angel's heart beats only half as fast as a humans and their blood naturally carries half as much oxygen per RBC is because when adrenaline floods their system, there is plenty of leeway. Their endurance skyrockets to more than superhuman heights, their blood cells fully expand with oxygen and their heart speeds up to accommodate this. If the need exceeds what the physical body can do though, it all stops. The heart stops beating, the lungs cease the intake of air and the angel is in a more free state. Their energies begin to leak out of the container it has been stuffed into on the mortal plain. In short, they effectively become one bad-ass mother-fucker!

"Let go of me!" Ludwig yelled at the top of his lungs to the Russian lifting him from the ground. Alfred and Gilbert both came into sight then, their wings only visible as blinding balls of light on their glowing bodies. Amnediel's eyes were as yellow as sunflowers when Ivan looked over and found the angel laying into him. The junior angel thrashed against some hidden barrier as a deep, ivy green bled through the purple into Ivan's eyes.

However, he hadn't remembered that Cerviel was with the younger angel and quickly found his shield shattered by a red-hot sword burying itself in his right shoulder. The demon threw Ludwig away, grinding his teeth as he glared holes into Cerviel's glowing pink eyes.

"Amnediel! Get Ludwig and go! I'll take care of Beliel!" Cerviel ordered and Amnediel broke away from the fighting to grab the stunned human who could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Just before Amnediel tenderly put his arms under Ludwig's and gripped him tight, he made eye contact with Beliel. In his mind rang endless sorrow and fear for Ludwig, he heard the words echoed in his head.

"Don't believe anything they say! They're demons Ludwig, trying to trick you!" Ludwig felt himself dragged away by the strong arms of the one who said he was sent to protect him. Such an uncomfortable experience that once he had assessed that Amnediel had brought him back to his apartment, he bolted to the sink in his kitchen and vomited into it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the yellow gradually drain away in Alfred's eyes to his usual blue, concern very alive in them. Ludwig just squeezed his eyes shut as his stomach continued to rebel.

%!%

Meanwhile, back at the office, the four humans from earlier were leaning around a corner and baring witness to a nearly blinding fight between two seriously powerful combatants. Everyone else had fled, these people the only left on the floor as the big Russian man had the albino on the defensive. Harsh punches were being laid into the flat of the cherry-red blade with little ill effects upon the assailant it appeared. Violent waves of force made the blade vibrate with startling, ear-piercing volume.

A loud grunt and a defiant yell was the preamble to the light upon the swordsman's back to unfurl out into their true shape. The beauty of the wings was dumbfounding and the light they put off painful to behold, still the humans looked on in awe. A single flap and a lunge of the blade and the taller of the two was put on the retreat.

"Die!" The shorter screamed, raising the sword high-above his head, the Russian on his back and reaching into his coat. A very loud clang of steel nearly deafened the four man audience as they saw the sword had been stopped by a mere lead pipe. Even with something to defend himself with, he still couldn't get to his feet, the sheer force of the other pressing him into the ground. "You vordless piece of schid!"

"Whose fauld is zet?" The Russian countered and managed to knock the distracted man back far enough to get to his feet. Slowly, panting he backed away from his attacker, most likely seeing that he wasn't quite ready to take on this man. "I'm nod finished here…" His innocent, baby face brightened, "See you later, da?" A black, smoke-like ball seemed to start from behind his shoulders and engulfed him, he disappearing thereafter. Finally alone, the albino released a breath he apparently had been holding and stood up straight. The sword in his hand shrank down to what appeared to be the form of a wooden letter opener… The very end of it decorated with a little, yellow chick. He opened his deep blue jacket and inserted it into a hidden pocket before buttoning the jacket back up that had come undone during the fight.

Himself slowly calming down, the light drained away from him, leaving his silver wings on display for all to see. Seemingly remembering they were there after forgetting, he folded them to his back where they just ceased to exist. He mumbled something inaudible to himself and turned to head back down the hall, catching the eyes belonging to four of the five people he was supposed to avoid most.

"Uh…" The pinkness of his eyes disappeared, returning to their regular, dark burgundy.

"Gilbert?" Matthew quietly squeaked, gathering his attention.

Shit.

%!%!%

Notes:

De Facto-In this case meaning "In Reality"

Afterlife-This is NOT quite my view of how it works. It is just being used this way for the story.

MeiMei-This is a common fan-rendered name for Taiwan, it is Chinese for little sister in this form, her real first name is Mei. For the Chinese (and I'm not sure about the Japanese) it is common for one's nickname to be a repeated syllable of your name.

Dui bu qi didi-I am sorry little brother. (I have chosen to give the pinyin forms of the words in case people find using the actual symbols confusing and disruptive.)

Beliel-A fallen angel that became a prince of Hell, name translates roughly to "Worthless".

Eye color change-Many angels have corresponding colors, when using vast amounts of power it changes the color of the angel's eyes (it was not intended that Gilbert be an angel whose color was pink XD)

A LOT of plot-important things were asked or happened in this chapter, I hope you guys remember this for later chapters ;) Also, if you have any questions I didn't answer in the notes, feel free to ask. If you guys who want a sequel to Throwback are reading this I have already announced I will not post the first chapter of the sequel until this is finished and if you want the next chapter of this to be up and eventually finished, PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you!