So these two got second place in the poll. Thanks again to the people who voted!

I had to rush a bit because I started writing it this afternoon and I wanted to get their story up today (can anybody guess why?)

I think you could understand this even if you didn't read In the Streets of Seattle yet, but it would help a bit if you did.

Blah blah blah, disclaimer disclaimer, Hetalia's not mine, okay?

"What's that?" I heard Antonio ask from behind me. I got my gym shirt out of my locker and pulled it over my head. Even though we weren't in the same grade (I just had to fail those classes last year, didn't I?) I was lucky enough to have my friend in the same gym period as me.

"What's what?" I asked him.

"That mark on your back," he said. I froze for a second. He had never noticed that before, so I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain it. But then I turned to him and laughed.

"Oh, it's nothing," I told him, but he wasn't fooled. Damn, why'd he have to pick now to be able to figure out what was going on?

"Listen, my house is always open when they do that," Antonio said. "Promise that you'll come next time, okay?"

"Don't worry, Tonio. I'll be fine," I lied again. It was awesome that he cared and all, but I didn't need his help. Not for this.

I met Ludwig after school before I started my walk home. After fifteen minutes we walked through the door and were greeted by the smell of alcohol. Uh oh.

"Ludwig!" Mutti yelled as soon as she saw him. "What is the meaning of this?" Ludwig took a deep breath and faced her.

"What do you mean?" he asked calmly. She shoved a piece of paper in his face: his report card.

"You have a D in math," she said. "You know how much I hate it when my sons get bad grades, don't you?" I didn't like where this was going. Ludwig just nodded. Jeez, that kid could be brave. "Now, you bring that grade up, okay? Unless you want to get the same punishment as your brother." As she said this, I could swear I felt new pain from the old scar on my back.

A week later, Antonio didn't show up for school. This kind of worried me. After all, he never missed school. Sometimes he'd be late if he slept in, but he'd always show up.

As the next week went by, Ludwig was doing everything he could to bring up his math grade. Even if he didn't show it much, he really was scared of what Mutti would do. There was also no sign of Antonio. Rumors started to spread about what may have happened, but nobody really believed them.

A few more months passed, and report cards were mailed out. On the way home that day, Ludwig was silent. No matter how hard he tried, he still wasn't doing very good in math. But we wouldn't know what his exact grade was until we got home, and we could only hope it was better.

"Ludwig!" Nope, it wasn't better. In fact, judging by Mutti's yelling (which I could only understand a few words of) he had actually gotten worse. He had an F now. "You know what this means?" she asked him in a slightly quieter tone. He gulped and nodded slowly.

She grabbed his arm, and he was twisted around and shoved against the wall. "No!" I yelled.

"Go to your room, Gilbert," she said firmly as she pulled off Ludwig's shirt. She reached to the table behind her and grabbed a long, sharp knife. Not good, not good, not good.

"But my grades are bad, too," I said. "Much worse than his, I'm sure. Shouldn't you be mad at me?" I was risking a lot by saying this. There was a chance she'd only get madder, but I couldn't just let her do this.

"Your worst grade is a C," Mutti said. "You're not as much of a problem as you were last year. But Ludwig needs to be taught that I won't put up with this." She raised the knife up. I started to reach over to stop her, but I saw Ludwig shake his head at me.

"Lud..." I whispered. In the next moment, the knife came down on his bare back. He didn't scream. He didn't cry. He just put up with it quietly. Mutti let go of his arm and he fell to his knees, and she walked away to clean her knife.

I picked him up off the floor and helped him to his room. I grabbed the disinfectant and bandages from his shelf and started to treat his steadily bleeding wound. All was quiet for a long time, but then he broke the silence.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"You tried to make her mad at you so you'd get the punishment. Why?" I smiled at him as I tied off the end of the bandage.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked him. "I did it 'cause I'm your awesome big brother! Of course I'd try to protect you." He smiled a little.

"I think I'm going to bed early," he said. I nodded and went back to my own room to do the same.

It had been two years since that incident. After that the beatings got more and more frequent. She didn't use the knife any more, but she would still hit us. And Vati didn't care enough to try to stop her. One day, she was mad at me for having the little yellow bird I found the month before with me.

"Again with that dumb animal?" Mutti yelled. She slammed her beer bottle on the table and went to grab him off my head.

"No!" I cried as I jumped back. "Don't take Gilbird!" She growled.

"A stupid bird with a stupid name," she said.

"Mutti," Ludwig said. "I don't think the bird's that big of a deal. It doesn't make a mess and-" he was cut off as she turned to him and started to yell again.

"I'll decide what's a 'big deal' in this house, Ludwig Beillschmidt!" she raised her hand to slap him, and I acted without thinking. Without realizing it, I had grabbed onto her arm. She immediately spun around and slapped me instead, knocking me to the ground.

I noticed the open door behind me, so I grabbed Ludwig's arm and ran outside. Luckily, she didn't follow us.

"So we're leaving?" Ludwig asked me. I nodded. We had been planning this for a while, so we had some clothes and money in a bag hidden in a nearby tree. Today was finally the day we would leave this place. "But where?" he wondered aloud.

I remembered the offer Antonio had given me a few years ago, and I know he would still let me stay with him. That is, if he was there. From that first day he missed school two and a half years ago, there was no sign of him.

"The old park," I suggested. "There's a covered picnic area that would keep the rain out, and nobody goes there anymore." Ludwig agreed, and we left our home far behind.

Poor Lud and Gil... I feel bad about writing this stuff, but I couldn't exactly make it all happy now, could I?

It's really hard to keep them in character when serious stuff happens... well, I did my best.

Review, please? It fuels my ideas.