Sophie giggled slightly as her elder sister, Emma, was informing her on every detail that would take place before her within a few minutes. Her older brother, Abel, watched as the two of them took on their conversation. It wasn’t long before they were climbing up the stairs into the building. Only when Sophie looked up did she start getting nervous.
"D-do you think they’ll like me," she asked quietly, looking at her elder siblings. Emma gave her a calm, reassuring smile as she placed a hand onto her shoulder.
"Sophie, they’ll love you," Emma said, trying hard to give the smallest one some self-confidence, "Just be yourself and you’ll be just fine." With that, the trio walked past the higher archway and into the building.
To be told, it was quitter than Sophie had expected. From her siblings stories it was always just a bunch of representatives arguing over everything. She started wandering a bit from her siblings, everything looking amazingly new.
"Sophie, don’t stray," Abel called, knowing this type of thing would happen. Sophie came back to their sides once again, only to fall behind when something caught her eye. It was a peculiar piece of artwork, one in which she hadn’t seen before. She started leaning closer to it, examining the details closely, when someone ran into her.
She landed upon her back, eyes shut tight. She braced herself for somebody else’s weight, but was met with nothing. Instead of that, she felt a presence hovering over her, whatever it was being held up by the presences on either side of her face. When she didn’t feel either presence moved, she forced her eyes open.
To be met with a pair of bright, brilliant blue eyes.
Her shoulders compressed as she examined the being behind these eyes. He was quite taller than her. His blonde hair was slicked back. One could easily guess that he was fit, he was holding his own weight for a while without growing weak. The more she looked, the more interested she became.
"I-I’m sorry," the man called, a German accent thick upon each word. He got up quickly before offering her a hand. She grabbed it hesitantly, not sure what he was going to do. He smiled slightly as he pulled her up onto her feet before he went down, picking up the few contents that she had forgotten she had.
He stood up straight and their eyes met once more. Sophie felt a smile upon her lips as the man did the same. He opened his mouth, as if to ask or tell her something, but Abel came between them before a sound could be made. Abel took the items from the shorter (than him), blonde haired man and gave them to Sophie.
"Come on," he said quietly, turning her around and leading her towards Emma, "You don’t want to know him." She nodded slightly, understanding what he said. Despite her brother’s words, however, she felt herself looking back, causing blue to meet blue once more.
~Hour Time skip~
She was eternally grateful when the whole room decided to go to recess for a while. She had a feeling that ever since she walked in that room, it wasn’t going to be good. One, she was afraid to speak up. There were so many different representations, their histories so much different from each other. It also didn’t help that as soon as it was the designated time, the whole place exploded into unnecessary arguments. She was starting to get a migraine towards the end of it.
Two, she had an odd feeling that, throughout the whole meeting, someone was watching her. No, not Francis, he was arguing with Arthur the whole time. It was weird, almost as if the person who was watching her wasn’t within any of the arguments.
She sighed as she sat underneath the tree, its shadow encasing her in a dark, cooling blanket. She smiled softly as her gaze went up to the sky, the bright blue being decorated with a different array of
clouds. Using her fingers, she started outlining anything she’d see.
She saw a dragon fighting a knight in one, a smiling man trying to comfort a sad man, and finally…that….man.
She sat up quickly, closing her eyes to see if she was getting the image right. When she saw it again, she shook her head, trying hard to get that face to delete from her memory. She was having quite the challenge before she felt something lick her cheek.
She opened her eyes quickly to be met with a grown German shepherd. She let out a slight gasp before the dog let out a happy sounding bark. A small smile appeared on her face before she reached out a gently pet the animals fur. It was extremely soft to the touch.
"Where’s your owner," she asked slightly, as if the dog could talk. She continued petting it until she realized the collar around the dog’s neck. She grabbed ahold of it and moved it so she could see it. "Charlie…Ludwig…Your owner’s name is Ludwig?" Since her hand had stopped, Charlie crouched down and shook.
"Charlie," a familiar voice called, "Charlie where are you?" The animal let lose a loud bark, making Sophie jump slightly. Her gaze darted around until they landed on the only other being she could see. They were moving towards her. She gasped when he grew closer, her eyes being able to see the blonde hair.
"Charlie, what have I told you about running away," the man asked, attaching a leash to the dog’s collar before looking up at her, "I’m sorry if he’s caused you any trouble." Sophie shook her head slowly, biting her lip nervously.
"Hey, haven’t I met you before," he asked, trying to get a closer look. Sophie shrugged, her hair covering a portion of her face. She really hoped that he wouldn’t notice. "You’re the woman I ran into earlier," he said, realizing where he’d seen her, "I…I meant to say sorry when I was handing you your things but, Abel bet me to that."
"Y-yeah, h-he’s my brother," she informed quietly, before he sat down next to her, "A-are you L-Ludwig?"
"What was that frau," he asked, his ears not catching her question.
"A-are you Ludw-wig," she asked a bit louder. He let out a chuckle.
"Ja, that’s me. It’s nice to meet you…miss?" he said uncertainly as he held out a hand. Sophie let a small giggle slip through her lips before she grabbed his hand.
"S-Sophie," she replied. For the rest of the recess, the two of them talked about themselves and their families, joked about a few incidences they’ve been through, and laughed like none other.
Little did they know, someone was watching them and they didn’t like what they saw.
~Hour Time skip~
Sophie let lose a giggle, twirling a piece of her light red hair as she waited for her brother and sister by the door of the house. It was weird, even though she had to face that dreaded meeting room again, it never fazed her good mood. Ludwig had offered to drive her home and she quickly accepted. Granted, it wasn’t what her brother wanted, but it felt amazing!
Her phone vibrated, snapping her from her slight day dream. She pulled it from her pocket and checked the number…Emma. She giggled before snapping it open.
"Hello," she answered in a sigh.
"Sophie?! Where are you?!" Emma asked, voice filled with worry.
"I’m at home already," Sophie replied, twirling around slightly, "A certain someone dropped me off."
"Ooo, really? What’s his name and what’s he look like?" her sister asked, going from worried big sister to gossiping best friend.
"Ludwig,." Sophie replied, "He has blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes, strong, a sweet personality, a love for dogs, just-" She let lose a sigh as she recalled everything good about him. She heard Emma giggle.
"Sounds like you’re head over heels in LOVE!" Emma cooed into the phone. Both of them let lose a giggle right before her siblings came into view. Emma immediately ran up to her and hugged her close, the two of them jumped slightly as they let out squeals.
Everything was going so great. So great, until Abel came up to the two of them, causing Emma to break from Sophie.
"How are you home?" he asked, voice in protective brother mode.
"Ludwig offered me a ride home," Sophie said with a smile, "I just thought-"
"Just thought?!" Abel retorted, "Just thought?!? Sophie, actions like that get you kidnaped!!"
"Abel, I think you’re over reacting," Emma spoke up.
"You’d rather have her country disappear?" Emma said nothing when Abel made the question. He turned to Sophie. "You are not allowed to see him again, ever!!" As soon as the sentence was said, Sophie could feel her heart shatter.
"W-what?!" Sophie cried, tears starting to accumulate upon her eyes "That’s not fair!! You don’t even know him!"
"I know he’s a danger to you!" Abel snapped back, "If I catch you with him again, I’ll put you on lock down!" Sophie sniffed slightly as she wiped her eyes. Her face was stern, making her look quite a bit like the elder she was arguing with.
"Fine," she spat, turning around, "you know, sometimes I wish you weren’t my older brother." She disappeared into the building, leaving the elder siblings to recall what had just happened. Emma took a few seconds before she followed Sophie, calling her, wanting to help. When she left, Abel’s gaze fell as he felt his heart drop.
‘What have I just done?’
~3 weeks’ time skip~
Sophie sat upon her bed, her arms clutching her pillow as tears streamed down her cheeks. Three weeks after the fight and she’s still crying. Half of the time was because she wasn’t allowed to see Ludwig. Even now she was still picking up pieces of her broken heart. They found a way around that though, he’d visit her once a week by coming to her window. The rest of the time it was because of what she said to Abel.
When the events of that day replayed in her head, she couldn’t believe that statement slipped past her lips. Granted, she’s been mad with his tactics before, but she would always forgive him. It was no wonder that he hadn’t tried to talk to her during these three weeks, she probably broke her brother’s heart.
A sudden knock made her jump. She wiped her eyes free of tears and sniffed slightly.
"Who is it?" she called figuring it was the door. No one replied.
The knocking repeated itself but, it wasn’t from the door. Sophie turned her head to the right and almost fell off of her bed at what she saw. Ludwig was there, his hair looked a mess, as if he had been chased or something.
"L-Ludwig," Sophie called half happily half worriedly as she scrambled off of her bed to the window. Her hands moved quickly to unlock the window and open it. She helped the poor German in through the small window.
"W-what are you d-doing here?" she asked as he stood up and dusted himself, "If Abel catches you here, I won’t be able to see you again."
"I don’t care," Ludwig said grabbing ahold of her hands, "I need to see you more than once a week. Plus I thought you were in danger." Sophie sent him a look of confusion.
"W-what do you m-mean danger? I-I haven’t been out of my r-" she jumped slightly as the door opened. She watched as Abel walked in. He looked over at Ludwig and smiled. Wait, he smiled at him? Sophie had to shake her head to make sure she saw that.
"I see you got my message," Abel said, his voice a different tone than Sophie could ever remember.
"Yes, but I didn’t expect it was you who set it up," Ludwig replied, releasing one hand, "It makes sense though. You were testing me to see if I would do anything for her." Abel nodded.
"And you would, in fact, you almost got seriously injured." Sophie’s jaw dropped at what her brother just said.
"ABEL!" she screamed.
"I said almost, plus he’s one of the more well-known countries," Abel fixed his scarf slightly, "I highly doubt his would disappear. The only bad thing is it took me two weeks to set up that test and another week to find out how I could contact you and you beat it within an hour." Ludwig chuckled softly while Sophie rolled her eyes.
"If this means anything," Abel said sadness filling his tone as he looked down to the ground like a timid child, "I…it turns out my little sister was right…I needed to get to know the guy before I judge him…He’s a good one." Sophie felt her heart sink once again as she watched her older brother turn to leave. She released her grip on Ludwig’s hand and ran over to Abel, her arms wrapping around him in a hug.
"I’m so sorry about what I’ve said," she cried, tears quickly filling and spilling over her eye lids, "I’d rather have an over protective brother like you than someone who doesn’t care if I go and kill myself." Abel smiled slightly as his heart floated back up. He turned around and (with a little encouragement from Emma) hugged the smaller light red haired woman he called his sister.
"It’s alright," he assured her, before breaking the hug. He looked over at Ludwig, Sophie’s gaze following in suite. Abel nodded to Ludwig. Ludwig smiled slightly before nodding back. "I now know there’s nothing to worry about."
