"I'm Preussen and this is my beat."

That was how I came across the bane of my existence. The ice to my fire, the rain to my sun, the snow in my July; he became my poison. The only thing that my dear fiancé was unable to stop me from removing from my life: Gilbert Beilschmidt.

"I was wrong to let you go~."

~.~

It was a day like any other. The sun was shining over the horizon, the birds were singing in perfect synchronicity. There was nothing particularly special to life today. Tell that to Elijah.

"He came by again, Viveka?" The Hungarian paced back and forth across the bright veranda, his ire overflowing from his person in waves that made the pulsating heat seem like child's' play.

"Ja, he was visiting with his brother."

"Why was his brother visiting?" The man really seemed quite cross about the whole mess. He ran his hands through his hair and continued his useless pacing, no doubt leaving marks on the nice wood for her to have to clean up.

"He was bringing my car home, you remember. You broke the stick shift?"

"…I told you that I would-"

"I have no time for you to come over and attempt to fix my car. Besides, Ludwig is a professional mechanic." I set down my teacup and looked at Elijah stoically, "It's best to leave these kinds of things to professionals."

The man sighed and looked over to nod, "fine, but still… I don't like that… that bastard coming over to mess with you."

"I dated him then and I'm engaged to you now; what can he do?"

"My dear little Austrian, I don't know what they teach you in schools here, but in Budapest we learned all about Gilbert's personality type. They are leeches, they always try to suck everything that they can get."

I narrowed my gaze at yet another of his low blows to my good heritage and to my taste in men, "Elijah-"

"They have no jobs! They run around and get laid with the loosest of women!"

"Elijah-"

"And then when you try to pull away, they drag you back with whatever promises they can make. Gilbert's a monster!"

I stood up and walked over, wrapping my arms around the over-imaginative man, kissing him chastely. "Gilbert is done. He had his chance and now you have yours."

Emerald eyes gazed softly down at me as I felt those arms wrap around me. Although he wasn't very good at holding himself together and he tended to have a thing for a certain Polish gentleman, Elijah was at least proper enough to know exactly when he could and could not do things. Holding me for a second was no problem…

Holding me for a long while, "Elijah, that's enough…"

"Sorry…" His hold disappeared and I held back the urge to call off our engagement again. I couldn't handle him. There was nothing that held the relationship together. He had no musical interest, there was no passion in his arms, and I felt cold with him. I found myself frowning when he was around. Life seemed bland with him. Deep down, it's most likely my fault as well as his, but…

A woman has to have boundaries.

"I'm… going to go play some piano in the music room if you would like to-"

Elijah jumped and pulled out his phone, "Hello? Ah! Yes! I will be right over. I'm with my beautiful fiancée. Yeah… Alright." He hung up and grinned, "I would stay longer but my boss wants me."

Liar, you don't want to hear my music. "That's fine…"

"I love you, my little Viveka." Before I could realize what was happening, I found myself in the middle of an overly warm, overly sloppy kiss. Ugh, nein. That did not belong in my mouth, danke.

He pulled back when I started to consider beating his head in with my teacup, smiling brightly.

"I'll be back in a week."

Mein Gott. "Fine. Gute bye."

He practically skipped down the halls and out the front door.

I would never be happy with him, I know that, but I wasn't going to be alone. This house was too lonely and there was no one else offering...

~.~

A letter appeared in my mailbox this morning. The nondescript handwriting had me curious as I entered the foyer and dropped my bills on the small table by the closet. With a letter opener, I quickly opened the envelope and reached into its depths to pull out the contents. Photographs were inside; all of them bearing the image of two figures.

Waves wracked through my person as I backed against the wall and stared in shock at the time dates and the persons in the pictures.

Elijah and that Pole were closer than I had expected. They were seeing each other behind my back. The pictures were awful. The duo was in a variety of compromising positions, always bearing those bright, shining smiles. These weren't fakes. Elijah hadn't smiled like that for a long time, since maybe the day he had asked me out to dinner.

Everything was falling apart. I wasn't giving up on us, but he apparently had. Pulling the phone to the edge of the small entryway table, I dialed his number and waited.

"Hello," a breathless voice met my ear and I couldn't stop myself.

"Hello there Hedevary sir, may I speak to Felix?"

"Uh…yeah, hold on." His voice spoke in the background. "Fe, you shouldn't tell people that you come to my office! What if my fiancée calls?"

Another voice responded in the back, husky and low, "I like, totally didn't tell a soul! You know I wouldn't want to ruin this fabulous time with phone calls. My secretary takes them all-"

"Then who the hell is calling?"

"I don't know! Like, ask them or something."

Elijah returned to the phone as I held a hand over my lips, feeling my chest being pierced. It was true. It was over. "Hello? Are you still there?"

"…Yes, I'm still here, Elijah."

"VIVEKA? Oh, love! Why didn't you tell me you were calling-"

"What's going on?" Please don't lie to me, I thought.

"Nothing! I was just having a meeting with Felix and we were discussing some important communication ideas."

Define communication. "Is that so?"

"Yeah! I'm sorry I will miss your birthday tonight, Viveka. I swear that when I return, I will take you out to that restaurant that you love. The Turkish one."

That's your favorite. "Alright."

"Goodbye, love. I have to take care of this meeting." A squelching sound was in the background as moaning kicked in and I held back sickness until I hung up the phone. The bathroom seemed light-years away. How could he? What was wrong with him?

Chopin resounded through the house for hours as I tried to find some semblance of normalcy in life, something that would bring back some radiance that was missing. That missing puzzle piece of happiness had gone missing and without it, nothing else mattered.

It was eternity before night fell over the land.

~.~

"Hello?" I held the phone and spoke with a voice that wavered.

"Hello, is this Ms. Viveka Edelstein?"

"Yes this is. Who is this?"

"This would be Francis Bonnefoy. I am calling for to tell you that you have received an important invite to the club, Iron Cross, this evening. We are informed that you are to have a private table for two this evening at eight and would like to ensure that you-"

"I apologize, but I think there has been some kind of mistake-"

"Non, mademoiselle. I assure you that I have the gentleman who set the whole thing up in front of me and he assures me that this is correct."

Elijah? What in the world? "I see… Very well, the Iron Cross at twenty hours?"

"Oui."

"Danke, I will make sure to be in attendance."

What a mistake it was for me to assume it was my fiancé.

~.~

That is how I ended up in this kaleidoscope world. The flashing lights streaming across the shaddowed room, the people dancing in masses around the room, the pulsing beat of the dj's hypnotic music. I glanced at the clock that was illuminated upon the mass of darkness that was the wall.

Heads banged as the clock hit eight on the dot. Still, the seat across from me remained empty. If no one was coming, then why was I sitting here? How foolish it had been to think that something romantic would occur on my birthday. There was no such thing as love. Why did my heart still yearn for such things?

This was not a dream. There was no knight in shining armor. There was only the cold truth, the hard facts, and people that fell far from the mark of perfection. Two people could not be made for each other.

I stood up and held back these sweeping emotions that coursed through me. How pitiful, I would probably be playing piano until my hands hurt again.

"Mademoiselle! Non!" The blonde gentleman from earlier who had shown me to this table rushed to stop me. "S'il vous plait, he will be up on stage in just a minute. Please~ just stay a little longer and I assure you, you will not be disappointed."

"…fine…" I returned to my seat and the man took my empty glass, bowing as he turned and headed to replace my drink.

What was going on? Violet eyes scanning the room and the stage, I looked for some kind of reason for my stay.

"I'm Preussen and this is my beat."

I froze as I heard that voice. A mass of snowy white hair met my gaze and the beat throbbed in the entire room. I stared at the smirking albino as he threw the room into a new realm of electronic music. His gaze wandered up to find a pair of shocked, wide open violets staring at him.

His gaze seemed almost like it was watching me as he continued his song.

"I've been to all the familiar places.

I've been running like a sentence, never begun

I've been looking for a way to let you know…

The beat pulsed as he sang.

"I've got nothing left to fill the spaces.

I've got nothing but a centre coming undone.

I've been doing circles and it shows.

I've been to all

I've been to all

I've been to all the familiar places.

I've been running like a sentence, never begun

I've been looking for a way to let you know…

I've got nothing left to fill the spaces.

I've got nothing but a centre coming undone.

I've been doing circles and it shows.

"Every cloud in the sky

Every place that I hide

Tell me that I

I was wrong to let you go.

"Every sound that I hear

Every thought that I fear

Tell that I

I was wrong

I was wrong to let you go."

He nodded his head as everyone spun and formed a mash pit in front of him. The room swelled with the music and his face spoke volumes. This was his domain. There was no escape.

"It's the little things that drive you crazy.

Like the thought of someone touching your skin

I can see you everywhere I go.

You could be in a sea of faces

It could be a rumor of your grin

Swimming in a river as it flows.

"Every cloud in the sky

Every place that I hide

Tell me that I

I was wrong to let you go

"Every sound that I hear

Every thought that I fear

Tell that I

I was wrong

I was wrong to let you go

"WOO~!"

The room screamed with him at that and I found a small smile forming at the energetic nature of his performance. It was rather different to see someone else performing. Gilbert climbed onto his dj equipment and held his mic with both hands, allowing the music to play out.

"I was wrong to let you go.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOO~!"

His voice reverberated around the room as he shouted again. His crowd eating from the palm of his hand. There was something about seeing one such as him in his own element. I looked at myself and sighed. I didn't belong here. I was not one for nightclubs of any sort. I was meant for nights in five star restaurants, meetings with different businesses, and theater performances.

Gilbert was meant for nights out in the city, running around at midnight, screaming and leading the younger generations into his whims and wants. He was about chaos.

My world was all about control and discipline.

I stood up again and turned, ashamed that I had bothered to show. This wasn't fair to us both. I couldn't be with him. I wasn't going to have another Elijah fiasco. I couldn't handle it. I wasn't even handling my own fiancé being this way.

My run was pathetic. I nearly cursed as I ran into the very antithesis of myself. His body as warm and welcoming as ever, Gilbert saved me from falling onto the floor and stared at me as if his whole world had been as shaken up as mine.

"…I didn't expect you to actually show."

"I was invited over the phone-"

"I know. I made Francis make the call, but I didn't expect you to show."

Nein, I had to leave. Forcing that thought to revolve through me and strengthen my resolve; I smiled faintly at the man. "I came, now then-"

Those crimson eyes shone with vitality and a small smirk grew into a beaming smile. His stance grew arrogant as he moved closer and pulled me along with him to my table. "Oi! Francis! A bottle of the finest stuff in the place!"

The Frenchman waved and shouted agreement before turning away and rushing off to get the bottle for him.

"Listen, Gilbert-"

"How did you like it?"

I blinked in surprise and took a second to try to collect myself. "I had no idea that you were a disk jockey, now then I really must be-"

"I was trying to find a job that I liked when we were dating and nothing seemed to fit until you and I went over to Tokyo to go to that meeting of yours, remember? We ended up in that club in Ikebukuro?"

I smiled a bit at the memory, "you ended up having to work for a disk jockey because you got into a drinking contest with the man and he fell unconscious."

"Yeah, that was awesome. You were worried the whole time because we both couldn't speak Japanese and they kept shouting things over the mic at us."

"It was concerning how they kept shouting the same thing!"

"Kesesese~ Yeah, well after that I found that that had been one of the best nights of my life. I loved it, so I went to school and learned the advanced and technical parts of the job."

"Congratulations."

Gilbert nodded and kept his gaze unwaveringly on me, "that whole night was exactly how I want to spend the rest of my life."

"Then I'm glad you managed to find your calling."

"That whole night." He emphasized the word whole as he leaned in a bit.

"Ja, you said that…" My mind's eye rushed back and stopped me from finishing my sentence…

"Gilbert Beilschmidt! That was the most RIDICULOUS THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE!" I screamed at him and began to smack his arm for good measure.

"Vive, you have to admit that was awesome!"

"They looked like they wanted to kill us!"

"What's life without risk?"

"ARE YOU NOT LISTENING!"

The albino stopped my endless hitting and pinned me to the side of a building, pressing himself in close. "Were you worried about me?"

"What- nein! I was just…" I paused as I realized I had no reason to have complained.

He leaned in and hovered just beyond my lips' reach. It was agonizingly awful. The temptation of it all… "Meine prinzessin, you were worried about us, weren't you?"

"Not… particularly…" Why did those lips have to be so far away? I felt blush rush to my face as I processed these thoughts.

"Vive…Prinzessin…" He lifted my chin as if it were porcelain and closed that atrocious gap that separated us. The gesture sent all sanity sweeping from below us. Time stopped as I found my arms grasping at him, trying to pull him closer, unwilling to hear anything but the pulse of our racing hearts and the sounds of his encouragement.

"Ich liebe dich, Gilbert…"

"I have loved you forever, Vive. Always will."

I stared at Gilbert and blushed deeper as I realized what he meant.

"Prin- Viveka, look. I'm sorry about keeping quiet about the money problems and then getting upset." He stared at his hands in anger, "I just… I couldn't depend on you for income. It was killing me. I always had to take from you and I couldn't ever just take you out to dinner. Those small jobs were horrible and whenever I asked my bruder for anything, I felt pathetic. Then you found Elijah…" He shook as the name forced him to shut his eyes to the pain.

"Gilb-"

"Hold on, I'm not done. I promise, tell me to go and I'll leave. I won't bother you, I won't call, and I'll make sure that bruder knows not to bother you about me. Say the word. I just hope to Gott that your fiancé knows how fucking lucky he is."

We sat there for another song and both of us couldn't find anything to say. Both of us were too weak to find the words to walk away.

"…Elijah has been cheating on me…"

Those red eyes flew up to gaze at me in shock. "What?"

"I found out this morning. I called him at work and they were doing it in the background. He's been hiding it behind my back."

"Vive-"

"Maybe I try to hard. Maybe I just don't deserve to find someone who'll make-"

Those arms shot out and pried me from my seat, winding around my waist and that low voice that resonated my every seductive thought came whispering through my ear. "Ich liebe dich, mein liebling… I don't want to let you go."

That warmth encompassed me, fitting me into his arms as if we were two halves of the same whole. It was wrong for me to try again. My mind told me and had always been saying that we would never last. Yet, this embrace, that voice, those caring eyes, and those passionate lips; I could never let go of him.

"…I…"

Feather-light kisses trailed up my neck and those hands descended from my shoulders, rubbing encouraging circles upon my skin; searing into me. It burned at the nerves and the anxiety that was trying to stop me. "Tell me that I… I was wrong to let you go."

"Gilbert…" I tried to communicate the trepidation to him, tried to let him know what was trying to eat at me deep down. He leaned his head upon my shoulder and simply breathed calmly, helping to slow my racing heart.

"I'm not giving up on us."

"…"

"I'm not giving up on love."

And so, I let the licking flames of desire consume me.

~.~

I should have probably just stayed home.

"FUCK YOU!"

"You're fiancé already has, jackass! She's mine!"

"NO! YOU LEFT HER!"

"AND I CAME BACK! DON'T TOUCH MEINE PRINZESSIN!"

"DON'T TOUCH MY SOON TO BE WIFE!"

Leaning back and feeling quite a bit of anger coursing through me, I looked at them both and stood up. "SHUT UP! MEIN GOTT!"

"Viveka…"

"Vive…"

They both paused and met my gaze, emerald eyes outraged and hard while crimson eyes warmed with flooding emotions. I looked over at Elijah and sighed, "I know about Felix."

"Viveka, I can explain!"

"Nein. I'm done. Go home."

He shook his head and balled up his fists. "Viveka, you're making a mistake-"

"Why don't you shut up, she already decided." Gilbert crossed his arms over his white buttoned shirt and smirked, his eyes taunting the Hungarian.

"This…this asshole can't even bring in a paycheck, let alone anything that would make you happy. Why, Viveka? Why choose him?"

"He brings me something that you can't…"

"What? Money? Status?" The man took a step forward and Gilbert moved to stand in front of his path. The tension thickening, "Tell me, Viveka? Are you actually serious about this? I can't wait forever for you?"

…

"Then don't…"

"Viveka-"

"Don't wait for me, Elijah. Go home. Call Felix. Be happy." Turning, I breathed slow breaths as I heard him cursing and finally walking out of the house. Before I knew it, Gilbert was wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight against him, kissing up my neck.

"Ich liebe dich, meine prinzessin."

"I love you too…"

"You remember that hotel in Paris?" His words softly were whispered as he lifted me up into his arms.

"I remember a hotel in Paris and a certain someone who helped me when my car broke down," I replied.

"I have to go perform in the French capital next weekend and I booked our room. Can your highness find the time to elope with a commoner?"

"Dummkopf."

"Love ya too Specs."