APH Mutation ch 1

It was his brother screaming that jolted him awake.

Acting on instinct alone Ludwig jumped out of bed, grabbed the baseball bat leaning innocently on the wall, and ran to his brother's room.

He banged on the door. "Brother! Are you alright?"

Silent moments passed before Gilbert let out a shaky "Yeah."

When Ludwig tried the doorknob he found it to be locked. He knocked softly on the door. "Brother let me in."

"No."

Ludwig blinked in surprise. His brother had never kept him out before.

"Are you sure that you're alright?" he asked.

Judging from his shaky voice Gilbert was trying to hide the fact that he was crying. "I'm fine Ludwig. Please…just…leave me alone."

Fighting the urge to break down the door to get to his brother Ludwig placed the bat against the wall beside the door.

"Alright then." he said hesitantly. "I'm going to start breakfast now. Do you want something?"

"No."

Another thing to worry about. Gilbert had a bottomless stomach and never turned away food.

The fourteen year old walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. A note on the table caught his eye.

'Ludwig Vash and I have gone to his mother's for a few days since she has fallen ill. Make sure to take care of yourselves and make sure that Gilbert does not miss anymore school unless he is actually sick. Roderich.'

Ludwig read the note and crumpled it before throwing it into the garbage.

Ever since the death of their mother Maria gilbert and Ludwig had been sent to live with their uncle Roderich and his husband Vash for the last two years.

Even though Ludwig was a boy of order and rules he found himself longing for his mother's change of mind that could happen at a moment's notice. The way she didn't think things through and did whatever it was she had wanted at the moment.

When he felt his eyes prickle at the familiar sense of loss Ludwig quickly busied himself with preparing breakfast. Eggs were fast along with bacon and toast.

He made two plates even though his brother said he wasn't hungry. Once they were finished he picked up both plates and walked up the stairs once more.

"Brother are you sure you aren't hungry? I made some breakfast for you." Ludwig said through the door.

"I'm not hungry Ludwig." came his brother's voice. At least it sounded like he stopped crying.

Choosing not to answer Ludwig sat down next to the door and placed Gilbert's plate next to him before he started to eat his own.

Once he finished he asked once more if his brother was still not hungry.

When there was no answer Ludwig picked up both plates and headed once more to the kitchen.
Monday came and with that time for school.

Ludwig knocked on the still closed door of his brother's bedroom.

"Brother. It's time for school."

"Can't go…I'm…I'm sick." came his brothers voice.

Ludwig placed his hands on the door gently. "Brother please. If your sick let me in and we'll go to the doctor."

He could almost feel his brother shaking his head. "No. I'll be fine. Just go to school. Get me the notes I'll miss."

Throwing one more concerned look towards his brother's room Ludwig left for school.

The walk to school was a quiet one. Without his brother by his side with his endless chatter Ludwig found himself able to think clearly and clear his mind. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves about his brother.

"I hope that boy is okay. He seems a bit too pale."

The voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked around to a mother who was walking her young child to school.

"Excuse me?" Ludwig asked her.

She looked at him surprised. "I didn't say anything."

"Is he alright or is he hearing things?"

This time he knew the voice came from her. Just one thing caused the blood to leave his body.

The woman's mouth didn't move.

After excusing himself Ludwig ran the rest of the way to school.

"That boy…alright? Test on Monday…I'm…she is…he is…vsfwgvonosivnsodk."

Ludwig covered his ears as he ran into the building and into his classroom. This was all his imagination. It had to be, there was no other explanation.

He shakily sat at his desk and clasped his hands on top of the fake wood. When he brought them apart he realized that they were shaking.

The teacher came in and started to take attendance.

"David?"

"Here."

"Angela?"

"Here."

"Gilbert?"

Ludwig stood and said "My brother was not feeling well all weekend and still isn't feeling well."

The teacher looked unconvinced but didn't press his reasoning's and continued with the attendance.

Ludwig started to sit down until another voice caught his attention. This was the voice of his teacher.

"Sick my ass. That boy takes any excuse he can to miss school. Every kid that cuts also cuts my paycheck. We should just kick those kids out."

A book smashed against the wall. The class fell into silence.

The teacher snapped his folder on the desk.

"Who threw that?" he demanded.

A girl hesitantly raised her hand. "No one sir. The book flew by itself."

The teacher snorted. "Books do not fly by themselves. Someone threw it."

"If Gilbert was here I could pin it on him and no one would say anything. They would all know that he would do something like that."

This time when Ludwig's hand curled into a fist he could feel his temper rise and spread throughout the room. A girl's water bottle that was sitting on top of her desk flew straight towards the teacher who ducked in time.

"It flew by itself." the girl it belonged to cried out.

The teacher slammed his hand against his desk. "That is enough! Things do not fly by itself. Michelle you will stay after class to discuss your behavior."

The first bell rang out over Michelle's protests. The rest of the class filed out of the room. Ludwig was the first one out and instead of heading towards his math class went to the bathroom.

He cupped his hands under the faucet and gathered the cool water to splash on his face.

He glanced up at his reflection. The bags under his eyes and the stress lines caused by worrying about his brother. He rubbed his eyes before turning the water off. Giving in to temptation he took out his cell phone and called his brother on his cell phone.

"Hello?" his brother's voice came on the other side.

"Gilbert it's me." Ludwig said.

"…something must be wrong. You're calling me during school."

Ludwig shook his head. "I…I just wanted to see how you are."

"I'm fine liar."

"What?"

"I said I'm fine liar." Gilbert said. "You're a horrible liar and I can always tell."

Ludwig ran his fingers through his hair. "Just…a couple of weird things are happening."

"Describe weird."

"I don't even know where to begin to describe it." Ludwig said. "And I can't quite believe the words coming out of my mouth but I need your advice. How do I cut and go home?"

Gilbert was silent on the other line.

"Gilbert? Did you hear me?"

"I heard you brother." Gilbert finally said. "I just can't believe the words that are coming out of your mouth."

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "Yeah well this is how weird the situations are becoming."

He could hear Gilbert shift on his bed. "Well since you are my little brother it is my duty as the older and more rebellious brother to explain this to you. Here's what you have to do."
A half hour later Ludwig slid into his house through the back door breathing heavily.

He had cut school. For the first time in his life he had cut school.

He had played the boy-who-had-slept-in-late-and-was-now-running-to-school act perfectly just as Gilbert had told him.

And unfortunately running didn't exactly help him. Not when he heard the people voices clearly as he ran past them.

And none of them had moved their lips.

"Where on earth is that boy running to?" "Boy seems to be in a hurry." "That's what you get for spending all your time on the computer boy." "Boy needs to get laid badly."

He threw his backpack to the side and ran up the stairs to his brother's room where he immediately started pounding on the door.

"Gilbert please open." he said.

The door opened to reveal his brother. Completely covered head to foot in clothing. From the scarves on top of his head and covering his face along with the sunglasses to the socks he was wearing in a seventy-five degree house.

Ludwig paused in the doorway. "Are…aren't you hot in that?"

"Little." Gilbert said as he bounced back onto his bed. "Now talk. What has gotten you so spooked that you had to cut school when you were already there my little stick-up-the-ass brother."

Ludwig took a deep breath as he sat on the edge of Gilbert's bed. "I think…I'm going insane."

"About time."

Ludwig started as he twirled towards his brother. "Excuse me?"

He couldn't really tell his emotions from the cover of his scarves and glasses. "I didn't say anything."

"That's exactly what has been happening all day." Ludwig said. "I…hear things."

"So he is going insane. First sign, you start to hear voices."

"And by voices I mean that I heard that." Ludwig said.

"…alright then Lud. I am going to try a test." Gilbert said trying to keep his voice on level. "You try to fail."

"I'll try."

"Alright then finish this memory with what happened next. When we were six years old mother took us on a vacation to Germany, our fatherland. While we were there you and I wandered away from mother and we ended up somewhere else. After searching for us and nearly having a heart attack mother found us at…"

"…where the Berlin Wall once stood." Ludwig finished hoarsely.

The two brothers simply looked at each other in silence.

"Lud…I think…" Gilbert started to say.

"Don't…don't finish that. Out loud or in your head." Ludwig ordered.

Almost as if before he could decide not to do so Gilbert ripped the gloves covering his left hand off.

Blue skin and scales were on his brother's hand. At a loss of words Ludwig slowly picked it up.

"What?"

Gilbert pulled off the rest of his clothes. The socks, the scarves, and the glasses leaving him only in his shorts and t-shirt.

Where once red eyes had been yellow eyes met his blue ones. Where white hair had been orange hair was. Where the pale and smooth skin once was now there was blue skin with scales.

"Me too Lud." Gilbert said. "Me too."