Ludwig wasn't happy with the situation he found himself in. He'd been separated from the group he'd been assigned to early on, and since then, he hadn't seen Leon, Antonio, Vash or Gupta. Having said that, it wasn't as though he was all that bothered about them at the present. He was more than positive that they could all look after themselves. Since then, he had found Feliciano and Gilbert, who had been grouped together, trying to teach each other sign language. Shortly after that, they'd been jumped at by Kiku who seemed to be freaking out at the whole situation. The four of them had started walking together, looking for anyone else, looking for anything in general. Everyone seemed to have come in, and scattered. They hadn't seen anyone else since.

Until Lutz and Klaus appeared.

Now, both groups of people were staring each other down. Not a word had been spoken since they'd met, just cold, bitter, poisonous glares that were thrown back and forth like balls in a tennis game.

The two counterparts didn't seem to have changed at all, both were still exactly the same in height and looks, which came as a shock to Ludwig, though he didn't quite know why, especially seeing as he hadn't expected a change of any sort. No one else said any of the others had changed, so why should Lutz and Klaus be any different?

Ludwig felt a pull on his sleeve.

What should we do?

He glanced at Feliciano and shrugged at the question. Kiku watched him intently, waiting too for an answer himself. He didn't answer either of them, and the silence continued. Gilbert frowned and rolled his eyes.

"Are we just going to stand here glaring at each other all day?" he asked, striding out into the 'No-Man's-Land' in between the two groups. He turned to Klaus and gave him a particularly disgusted look. "So, you're alive I see?"

"As are you" Klaus took a couple of steps forwards so that both of them were standing in between, but still with distance between them.

"You didn't even kill me" Gilbert pulled a face. "You have no claim to that."

Klaus shrugged.

"Don't give me that crap" Gilbert snapped, stepping up to stand face to face with him. Klaus reached for the sword that hung at his belt, but didn't draw it. Gilbert mimicked the action.

Hey

Feliciano ran up to them and started scribbling on his board before holding it up.

Can't we avoid fighting? People die then. You don't really want to kill each other right? Why don't we all just make up and then go for a drink together.

Gilbert laughed. "Sorry Feliciano. That doesn't always work you know."

Klaus grunted in agreement and drew his sword, aiming it through Gilbert's stomach, but the blow was blocked.

"Hah!" Gilbert cried triumphantly. "I knew you'd pull that card."

Klaus spat at him in disapproval. Feliciano sighed and ran back to Ludwig, pulling on his sleeve. Ludwig ignored him and drew his gun, pointing it straight forwards at Klaus. Kiku unsheathed his katana. Lutz stepped forwards, clenching his fists around his dagger knuckles and glaring at them. For a moment, none of them moved, simply stood, weapons out, staring at the others. Then, Ludwig fired at shot, Klaus leapt forwards and Lutz lunged. Kiku barely had time to look shocked before both Gilbert and Ludwig were locked in combat. He stood on the side, ready to attack anything that came his way, but nothing did.

He felt fairly useless and so simply relaxed his stance and watched them. Feliciano was faffing about with his jacket, searching all of the pockets inside and out, then patting his belt before reaching for his whiteboard and scribbling.

I think I left my knife somewhere

Kiku gave him an exasperated look, chewing the inside of his lip, trying to think of what to do. It wasn't that hard of a situation. There were, apparently, only Klaus and Lutz who were a threat at the moment, and although Ludwig had been beaten by Lutz last time, Kiku was sure that he could take him down this time. Klaus hadn't been that much of a problem for Gilbert, or so he'd claimed, so Kiku wasn't worried about either of the two taking down either of them and then coming for him and Feliciano.

But if it wasn't just them.

If they had another couple of counterparts hiding around the corner, or something like that, it could be a problem. And later on, they were sure to come across more counterparts, so what then? Kiku could hold anyone off now, but later? He could get from Feliciano, and then he'd have to fend for himself without a weapon.

Unless he found one, or someone else at the time.

It wasn't that he thought Feliciano needed protecting, or anything like that - Feliciano was just as strong as him, if not stronger. He just didn't like fighting, so liked to avoid it, which made him withdraw from injuring anyone at any given stage, even if they were trying to kill him. It was this peaceful attitude that lead people to believe that he was a weak nation.

Kiku knew he wasn't.

He was drawn back to the fight by a shout and a spray of blood across his face as Lutz scraped through Ludwig's shoulder. Ludwig cursed, turned and ran down the corridor a little before turning, aiming his gun and firing. Lutz ducked and stepped to the side at the same time, clearly assuming it was coming for head or stomach, or something of that sort. The bullet buried itself in his leg, and before he could even shout, Ludwig had planted another between his eyes. 

For a moment, Klaus didn't seem to notice as his brother slumped to the floor, leaving a thin, red smear down the wall. Then, he glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Both eyes widened considerably and he kicked Gilbert back into Kiku, both toppling over. He stood for a second, staring around him; at the walls, at the floor, the corridor in front and behind him, Lutz, before turning tail and streaking down the hall away from them. As Feliciano helped up Kiku and Gilbert, Ludwig ran after him, gun pointed forwards, shouting in angry sounding German.

He reached the end of the corridor and went to follow where Klaus had ran to. Instead, he was met with an empty corridor. Ludwig turned around multiple times, facing both ways, both ways showing him the same empty, bunker like hall.

"Scheisse" Ludwig hissed, turning around to face the others, who had come up after him. "We've lost him."