Back to Childhood Chapter 8

Vash was sitting next to a hospital bed.
He didn't say anything as he stared at the calm face of the man in the bed.
Roderich's eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly.
Arthur stood in the corner, watching him quietly.
There was no sound in the room expect for the dull droning of the several machines tethering him to life.
The door opened, but only Arthur turned to look.
Ludwig stepped into the room.
Arthur shook his head to tell him to leave, but he didn't.
He walked up to Vash and put a hand on his shoulder.
Vash stiffened but refused to turn.
"Schweiz?"
"What?" he asked coldly. "I don't know if you can tell, but I don't want to talk to you right now."
"I came to say zhat I vas sorry. If I had known vhat Vest vas doing, I vould have stopped it."
"Yeah. Sure. How am I supposed to believe that when it was happening in YOUR house?!"
Ludwig looked at the ground.
"You forget zhat Österreich is mein bruder." Vash didn't say anything. "Ve both love him in different ways. I love him like family, but you love him like you're supposed to as his husband. I've never agreed vith anyzhing zhat Vest has planned and I had been vondering vhat he vas doing."
Vash flew around.
"If you felt something was wrong, why didn't you do anything about it?!" he demanded.
Ludwig shrugged.
"I usually feel like zhat around him."
Arthur walked up to the pair.
"Maybe you should go," he suggested.
Ludwig nodded.
"I've said vhat I came to say. I hope Österreich vakes up soon."
He left.
Arthur sat down next to Vash.
"Don't worry," he said quietly. "He will wake up. He's been through worse. He was just scared about you."
Vash looked at the ground.
"I promised that nothing would ever hurt him again," he whispered. "I promised. After all he's been through I didn't want him hurt anymore."
"I know. Everyone promises that but things happen. Francis promised me that but he still couldn't protect me."
Vash looked up at him.
"Are you talking about when Russia was attacking us?"
Arthur nodded.
"He couldn't stop himself from being taken or our son. Just like you couldn't stop Russia from taking your sister or Roderich, and even though you had been beaten bloody, you still protected him."
Vash took Roderich's hand.
The door opened again and Lili walked in.
"Big bruder?"
Vash turned around to see his sister.
"Oh…hello."
Lili walked up to him.
"Are you okay? I haven't seen you in a long time."
"Sorry. I've been…busy."
The little girl sat down next to him.
"I'm glad you're back to normal."
He looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"I knew about how you vere turned into a child. I vatched you a few times vhile Österreich vent to zhe store and zhings like zhat. It vas amazing how gentle and careful he vas vith you. He doted on you and always made sure you vere taken care of. It vas very cute to vatch."
Vash blushed.
"Roderich worries too much," he muttered.
"You vere so depenedent on him. Vith ze way you vere acting, he couldn't help but be zhat way."
Vash hid his face.
"Please tell me I didn't actually act like that."
"You did," Arthur said. "And you carried around a toy gun."
He could see Vash's ears burning a deep red and decided to drop it.
"I wish you could remember but I'm going to leave you alone now." He walked over to Lili and put a hand on her arm. "Come on love. Let's go."
Lili stood up.
"I hope Österreich wakes up soon, but I zhink zhat only you should be here vhen he does. I'm going to go back to Deutschland until you are ready for me to come home."
Vash nodded slowly.
"Tell him that I say he'd better take good care of you. If he doesn't, Italy won't be the only one who's seen my gun."
"Okay big bruder. Auf Wiedersehen."
She crossed to Arthur and let him lead her to the door.
"Good bye Switzerland."
Vash didn't answer but reached forward and took Roderich's hand again.
The two smiled sadly and left.
Vash closed his eyes.
The room was quiet again for a long time.
While he was waiting, he tried to remember what had happened while he was a child.
As hard as he tried, he couldn't remember anything.
He sighed and opened his eyes.
Roderich was looking at him.
He jumped.
"Sorry," Roderich said quietly. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"No, it's okay. I just didn't expect to see you awake."
Roderich smiled wearily.
"I didn't vant to disturb you. You looked like you vere concentrating."
Vash looked down.
"I was trying to remember the last couple days."
Roderich looked sad.
"It was a few weeks. Not a few days."
"Oh…"
They didn't say anything.
"Can you tell me?" Vash asked in a small voice.
Roderich smiled and squeezed Vash's hand.
"Of course. Do you remember when we asked Arthur to make us a potion?" Vash nodded. "Ve picked it up and you drank it before ve tried to make it vork." Vash blushed at the memory. "Vell I had to buy groceries so I left. Vhen I came home, I found you passed out on zhe floor. I put you on zhe bed and let you sleep. I came to check on you and vas shocked to find a baby zhat looked like you."
Vash listened raptly to everything that had happened.
As Roderich talked, Vash could see it all playing out in his head like a movie.
He couldn't believe what had happened, but even worse was the way he had acted.
"So I managed to get you back to zhe vay you're supposed to be and zhen I passed out," Roderich finished.
"That's a lot…I can't believe that all that happened…"
Roderich nodded.
"Me either, but I'm glad you're back."
Vash blushed slightly and nodded also.