"So, hows the volunteering going?" Gilbert asked, smirking at Mathias from behind his drum set.

Mathias finished tuning his bass and looked over at his albino friend, a smile lighting up his face. "Its not so bad, actually!" He told him cheerfully, standing up and slinging the strap of his bass over his shoulder. "I made a friend, I think!"

"You think?" Arthur snorted as he straightened up from plugging his guitar into one of the amplifiers. "Is friendship really that hard to be certain of?"

Mathias pursed his lips and shrugged his shoulders, plucking a few idle notes from his instrument to test the sound one more time. "I've only been going there for a little more than a week." He pointed out. "I really like the guy, but I think Lukas just needs some time to warm up to me."

"Who needs time to warm up to you?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow, sitting back in his seat. "You're like, the most easy-going person ever. And really damn cheerful." He pointed out, waving a drumstick in the air as if to emphasize his point.

"Yeah, but that could also be his downfall." Arthur interjected. "If someone isn't used to overly-excitable people, Mathias's personality could be a little overwhelming. Hell, its even too much for me sometimes."

Gilbert snickered in agreement and Mathias's shoulders drooped. "You guys can be really mean." He complained, contorting his features into a well-practiced pout. "And besides, Artie, you can't really complain about my personality when you're dating Alfred, the singlemost cheerful and loud person on the face of the earth." He pointed out.

Arthur opened his mouth to retort, then stopped, closing it slowly. "I wasn't complaining." He said finally. "I was only making a point. So what's this 'friend' like, anyhow? Is he volunteer, or was he forced into it like you?"

Mathias could practically feel the color draining from his face and he plucked a few idle notes on his bass, chewing anxiously on his lower lip. "Well... neither." He admitted, anxiously watching his friend's expressions furrow with concern. "He's a patient."

"A patient?" Gilbert repeated incredulously. "Dude, you know that like everyone in that place is dying, right? Why even bother trying to be friends with a guy who could kick the bucket any day now?"

Mathias felt a knot start to form in his stomach. Geez, leave it to Gilbert to put it as un-delicately as possible. That didn't mean he wasn't making some valid points, though. Mathias didn't know Lukas well yet- Hell, he had only had one proper conversation with the guy -but so far it had been on his mind more than he liked. Yeah Lukas had a terminal illness, but there was something about him that had drawn Mathias in instantly. Lukas was fragile and pure and he was lonely, he knew that just from looking at him. And Mathias couldn't just let Lukas be all mopey and alone when there was something he could do about it!

"Well.. that seems like a pretty selfish reason to not be friends with someone." Mathias pointed out. "Besides, Lukie has gotta be lonely- there's only like two other people he talks too! I can't just ignore him."

Arthur let out a sigh and walked over to Mathias, laying a hand on his shoulder and giving him a sad sort of smile. "Sometimes I think your heart is too big for your own good." He told him and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Be careful, okay? I hope you know what you're getting into."

Mathias didn't even have time to think about what his friend had said before Gilbert hit one of the symbols on his drum set loudly to get their attention. "Mein Gott, lets cut it with all the sad talk and get to playing before you two bum me out!"

"Yeah!" The Dane agreed, eager to change the subject. He grabbed the microphone stand, positioning it so that it was level with his mouth. He listened to the countdown made by Gilbert striking his drumsticks together, then opened his mouth to sing.

.

"He's not coming in today." Tino said, raising his eyebrows when Lukas nearly leapt out of his skin.

"W-what are you talking about?" The later stammered, hastily tearing his eyes away from the clock. "Whose not coming in today?"

Tino giggled and reached over, patting his friend's thigh. "Mathias. Today is Saturday, and he only has to work weekdays after he gets off school, so he won't be in today. That's why you keep looking at the clock, right?"

Lukas blew air into his cheeks and gave his friend a cold look. "I was only dreading the time when he'd show his obnoxious face. Stop grinning at me like that, Tino, its not at all what you think."

The Fin rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Lukas, there's nothing wrong with looking forward to a visit from someone. Its good for you to socialize with people other than me and Berwald and your brother."

"But I like you and Berwald and Emil." Lukas grumbled. "That Dane's just annoying."

Tino shrugged his shoulders. "He's not all that bad. I think he's just trying to get you to cheer up a little. You should humor him and smile every so often, then maybe he won't have to over-compensate for your gloominess with being so cheerful." He teased.

Lukas huffed and rolled over onto his side, pulling the colorless hospital blankets over his head. "Since when did my gloominess become any of his business? He can find himself another charity case."

"Oh come on, Lukas, I'm sure he doesn't see it that way." He heard Tino say, then the chair next to his bed squeaked as he stood up. "I've gotta go give Ber his medicine. Want me to come by later?"

Lukas made an unintelligible noise that translated to 'do whatever you want', and didn't resurface from underneath his blankets until he heard the door click, signaling that Tino was gone. He took a deep breath of air and let it out in a loud, drawn out sigh. Was he disappointed that Mathias wouldn't be stopping by today? Maybe a little, but no one ever had to know that.

Lukas already learned a lot about the guy from their 'conversation' the previous night; Lukas hadn't said much himself, but Mathias had been more than content to talk his ear off about anything and everything. He learned that the Dane's favorite food was porridge, his favorite fairy tale was the little mermaid, and that his favorite color was red, among a million other pointless, trivial facts. Mathias also seemed pretty convinced that he had been a notorious viking in a past life, and that maybe Lukas had been an elf or a faerie, and that maybe they had met and become friends on one of Mathias's adventures and that's why they were 'getting along so well in this life'. Listening to him ramble had only convinced Lukas of the fact that the Dane was absolutely out of his mind, but at least he had gotten a small laugh out of watching the nurses practically drag him from the room once visiting hours were over. And Lukas hadn't felt lonely when he was gone, not at all.

"You're full of shit." He told himself, dragging a hand through his hair, pushing back the bangs that were always getting in his eyes. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't enjoying the attention at least a little bit. Sure he had his friends and his brother, but he always felt like a third wheel with Berwald and Tino around, and Emil wasn't much for conversation. Yes Mathias was loud and cheerful to a fault, but having someone like that around wasn't such a bad thing in a place like this.

I guess I could indulge his company a little. Lukas relented, reaching onto the table next to his hospital bed and picking up the book Emil had brought for him the other day. He wasn't nearly as far into the novel as he had anticipated being by now- for the first time in his life the Norwegian had a difficult time keeping his focus on the words in front of him. He knew the majority of these Norse legends by heart now, and every few paragraphs or so his mind would start to wander, and eventually his thoughts would all move in the same direction. He would think of wild, golden hair and turquoise eyes and the biggest, brightest smile he had ever seen and suddenly his stomach would be in knots.

"What are you doing?" He whispered, and made a side note that maybe he really was lonely if he had begun to resort to talking to himself out loud. "You barely know this guy, there's no reason you should be thinking about him this much. Its pathetic to get this excited over someone actually wanting to socialize with you for a change."

Eventually he's going to realize how boring you are and stop coming to see you, so don't get too attached. A negative voice in the back of his mind added, but Lukas shoved the thought away hastily. With all of this talking to himself and voices in his head, socializing with real people was starting to sound a lot more appealing. "My physical health is already down the toilet, the last thing I need is insanity on my hands." He mumbled, and tossed the book to the end of his bed, swiping his 3DS off of the table next to him instead. Maybe completely destroying some people in competitive battles would cheer him up. There really wasn't any problem Pokémon couldn't fix.

.

Mathias had never been one of those people who loathed school and grumbled about every coming Monday. He was actually a pretty decent student- he had a good work ethic and he was surprisingly intelligent, most people were surprised when they heard his grades because to most people he came off as sort of an airhead. He was an early-riser so it didn't bother him when he had to get up early for school, and it at least kept him away from his mother and Tom for a few hours every day. On the weekends he had band practice with Gilbert and Arthur, and he also did a few odd jobs for people to earn some money.

That being said, it was safe to assume Mathias enjoyed school more than the average student (as long as he wasn't getting in trouble for starting mischief with Alfred and Gilbert). But for the first time in his life come Monday afternoon, the Dane found himself anxiously watching the clock, chewing on the end of a pencil and shaking it leg, waiting for the bell to ring. After a weekend away from the hospital, he was looking forward to getting back and spending more time with Lukas.

He was the first one out of the classroom when the bell finally rang, signaling the end of final period. Shoving books he didn't need back into his locker and the ones he did into his backpack, Mathias was ready to go before the hallways became too crowded with eager-to-go-home students for him to maneuver through. The hospital wasn't far from their school, so once he was out the front door it only took the Dane fifteen minutes to walk there.

"God eftermiddag*!" Mathias greeted the woman at the reception desk cheerfully as soon as he entered through the doors of the ironically cheerfully decorated hospital. He fished his volunteer's badge out of his pocket and dropped his backpack off in the employee lounge before heading down to the kitchen. Since Mathias didn't have any medical training, mostly all he did was deliver dinners to some of the patients and help out with a few simple tasks when the other nurses were too busy.

There was a cart piled with covered trays waiting for him by the time he got there, each one labeled with a room number so that they wouldn't be delivered to the wrong place. A few of the trays had cups of medicine containing pills inside them for the patients like Lukas who didn't need to get their medicine through an IV. One of Mathias's jobs was to make sure the younger kids took their medicine because it is a truth universally acknowledged that children do not like to take their medicine. Mathias was up for the task, of course; he was great with kids!

Mathias delivered all of the dinner's on Lukas's floor, the Norwegian's room happening to be the last stop. His excitement grew the closer to got to his ultimate destination; by the time he was halfway through his deliveries, Mathias was practically shaking with excitement. I hope he's just as excited to see me! The Dane thought wistfully, stopping in front of the next room and picking up the tray.

'Marcus, Room 225.' The sticker on the tray read.

Mathias raised his fist and knocked on the door. "Dinner delivery for Marcus!" He called brightly to announce himself. There was no answer so he figured the kid must be sleeping. Mathias had done enough of these deliveries that he was starting to remember names and faces even though there was a lot of kids in this hospital. Marcus was a sweet, soft-spoken kid with short dark hair and a spatter of freckles on his face, and he was one of the kids that got his pills in a little cup. That meant that even if he was sleeping, Mathias was supposed to wake him up long enough to have him at least take his medicine.

He opened the door and peeked inside. "Hey, Marcus, you sleepin'?" He whisper-called into the room, tip-toeing a few steps inside, which was pointless since he would ultimately be waking the little boy up anyhow.

At first it didn't seem like there was anything out of the ordinary with the child curled up on the bed, until a sickening smell offended his nostrils. Mathias gagged and almost dropped the tray, quickly covering his nose and mouth with his free hand. He set the tray down on a table and rushed over to the hospital bed in the corner, hastily yanking back the covers that covered the tiny body on the bed.

Marcus had had an accident on the bed and Mathias couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep, his entire body shaking like a leaf and his breathing ragged. The entire room reeked, but Mathias's concern for the little boy overpowered his aversion to the smell. "Marcus, hey Marcus," He whispered urgently, taking a hold of the small, fragile shoulders and shaking them gently. "Wake up, buddy."

Marcus's eyelids fluttered, and Mathias sighed in relief when big, glassy brown eyes looked up at him. "I.. I had an accident." He whispered, his voice trembling and so quiet that the Dane could hardly tell what he was saying.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Mathias told him gently. He could understand how Marcus would be embarrassed- he didn't know his exact age, and he was obvious pretty young, but he was at least old enough that it wasn't normal for him to be having accidents. "Things like this happen sometime, even to adults when they're sick. If you can't get to the toilet by yourself, just call a nurse in to help you."

"I.. c-couldn't.. get the nurse..." Marcus whispered like he was out of breath. "I can't move.."

Mathias tensed with worry. The button to call for a nurse was built into the bed rail- if Marcus couldn't move even that much, than that was a serious problem. Not to mention that the last time the boy would have been checked on would have been around lunch time, which meant that he must have been in this state for at least a few hours now.

Without giving it any more thought, Mathias reached over and pressed the button, then slid his hand over-top of the boy's, squeezing it gently. "Alright, lille*, a nurse is coming and we'll get you cleaned up, okay? Then we'll have you take some medicine and you'll feel all better."

Marcus closed his eyes and shuddered out a sigh. He was silent for a few seconds, looking like his was working himself up to say something, then whispered. "I'm scared."

An icy chill ran down the Dane's spine, turning to fire in his stomach and making him feel nauseous in a way that had nothing to do with the smell of the room. "There's nothing to be scared of," He promised in a whisper, and tightened his hand around the boy's.

Marcus opened his eyes and fixed him with a look that Mathias would never be able to forget, no matter how hard he tried. It was something akin to a cornered, injured animal, the fragility and fear and the realization of its inevitable fate all there in those glassy, feverish brown eyes. "Do you believe in Heaven?"

No. "Yes."

"I hope I'm going there." Marcus whispered, not picking up on the swiftness of the Dane's reply and realizing the obvious lie. Or maybe he was ignoring it. "All of my friends are in this hospital.. so when they die too I want us to all go to a place where we can be together. Maybe me and John and Aaron and everyone else can play and be healthy like other kids there..." A tear rolled down his cheek and Mathias watched it roll all the way down his cheek and soak into the pillow. "I really don't want to go alone."

Mathias's throat felt like it was closing in on itself, it took him a few moments to learn how to speak again. "H-hey.. you're not alone." He whispered, kneeling next to the bed and using his other hand to gently wipe the moisture off of his freckled cheek. His skin was clammy, and Mathias's own hand was shaking like it had been set to vibrate. The room felt like it was spinning, and in a way he didn't understand the situation was both entirely too real and unreal at the same time. All Mathias could do was pray that this was just an all-too vivid dream, or that he and Marcus were just getting ahead of themselves and the boy's health wasn't in as dire of a state as they were fearing.

"I'm going to stay right here with you, okay?" The Dane whispered, gently stroking back the boy's short, sweaty hair. "Do you like music?" He asked gently. "I could sing you a Danish lullaby."

Marcus gave the smallest of nods and Mathias took a deep breath, hoping his voice wouldn't shake too much. He knew just the one.

"Solen er så rød, mor

og skoven bli'r så sort.

Nu er solen død, mor

og dagen gået bort.

Ræven går derude, mor

vi låser vores gang.

Kom, sæt dig ved min side, mor

og syng en lille sang."

Marcus's expression relaxed a little as Mathias sand to him in a soft, almost-whisper, his hand still gently combing through his hair.

"Himlen er så stor, mor

med klare stjerner på

Hvem monstro der bor, mor

på stjernen i det blå?

Tror du det er drenge, mor

der kigger ned på mig?

Og tror du de har senge, mor

og sover li'som mig?"

Marcus's breathing was less ragged now. Instead it was so quiet Mathias couldn't hear it over the sound of his own voice. He didn't stop singing, though. He didn't want to reach the end of the song and be greeted by silence.

"Hvorfor bli'r det nat, mor

med kold og bitter vind?

Hør den lille kat, mor

den mjaver og vil ind!

Mågerne og ternerne

har ingen sted at bo.

Hør, nu synger stjernerne,

de synger mig til ro."*

Marcus was gone before Mathias finished singing the last note. He just stared at the wall, the following silence heavy and thick and crushing. The room was swimming and Mathias couldn't feel his own body.

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice in his ear, and suddenly he realized that there was a nurse in the room now, and she was touching his arm, gently trying to coax him away from the boy's body.

She looked at his name written on the volunteer's pass around his neck. "Mathias? Mathias, its okay, honey." She whispered, and it wasn't until she said the words that he felt the tears on his face and the trembling of his entire body. "Its okay, there was nothing you could have done. You were there for him, that's the most anyone could have done for him."

Mathias didn't want to look at the body. He turned his face away and tried to breathe, but it felt like his throat was closing up again. "C-can I... can I go?" He whispered. He didn't have to look at her to know that she was nodding, and he wrenched his hands away and stumbled out of the room in a hurry.

He didn't even have to think about where he was going, he just ended up there. He didn't even remember the journey down the corridor, and suddenly he was standing in the middle of Lukas's room.

"Hey, haven't you ever heard of kno-" An annoyed voice greeted him and stopped before it finished his sentence.

Lukas looked Mathias's tear-stained face and his concerned expression relaxed into one of soft understanding. There was only one thing that could make a person as cheerful as Mathias look like that in this kind of place.

"Come here." He said gently, sitting up and extending a hand to him. It was taken immediately and suddenly it didn't matter that they hardly knew each other, or that Mathias was too loud and Lukas was too reserved. Lukas wrapped his arms around the Dane's shoulders without hesitation, sliding his hands into his mane of wine golden spikes and gently lowering his head onto his shoulder, stroking his other hand up and down his back.

Mathias grabbed onto the back on his shirt, shaking and cry silently. He never said a word, which is when Lukas realized how much he liked the loud, happy Mathias.

.

Translations:

God eftermiddag- (Danish) Good afternoon

Lille- (Danish) Little one

Lullaby:

"Solen er så rød, mor /The Sun is So Red, Mother"

The sun is so red, mother

And the forest is becoming so dark

Now, the sun is dead, mother

And the day is over.

The fox goes out there, mother

We lock our gate

Come, sit by my side, mother

And sing a little song.

The sky is so large, mother

With clear stars

What monsters live there, mother

On the star in the blue?

Do you think, they are boys, mother

Who look down on me?

And do you think they have beds, mother,

And sleep like me?

Why does it become night mother?

With cold and bitter wind?

Listen to the little cat, mother

It miaws and likes to come in!

Seagulls and (bird)

Have no places to live

Listen, the stars are singing

They sing to calm me.

Explanation of lullaby

(provided by kindersite)

The boy talks with his mother and asks a lot of questions as children usually do.
The idea is that when evening falls, it is associated with things that a child (or an adult) can be afraid of: darkness, death, evening sounds. In contrast to the "scary things" we have the mother singing to the child and the bright stars, where – in the boy's imagination – other boys like him are living. (That is: the light and the life in the sky in contrast to the darkness and death in the night.)

A/N:

Omg. Finally another chapter. I miss writing so much, and I'm constantly thinking about this fic so I just had to come back to it. This chapter was an awkward transitioning-in-actually-plot-because-things-are-gonna-start-happening kind of chapter. The entire fic has been officially planned out, and I'm going to try to update as often at least once every two weeks. Please keep in mind that I do have a job now, not to mention I'm busy preparing for Otakon and Bronycon. I'm also going to try to go back and touch up the earlier chapters and make them a little more detailed and flow them together more, and I'd like to take some of my other fics off of hiatus as well.

Please review this story, it makes me so happy when I read your comments! I feel so guilty for making you guys wait so long for an update! I hope this chapter will make up for it, even if it was pretty sad.

(My sincerest apologies to any Attack on Titan fans who picked up on what I did in this chapter.)