A Hero By Any Other Name
My first go at any type of FanFiction. Please review!
Chapter 1: Benedikt
A man in a tired and worn German uniform ran like hell through a dense forest under a starless, black night. His black curls were held to his forehead by sweat, despite the biting cold of the winter. He hadn't stopped running in quite some time. Close to an hour, at the very kindest, and he was forgetting how to breathe, though he knew that if he stopped running, that would be taken care of for him, and quite quickly. He was Benedikt Zimmermann, a young man of around or more than thirty years, already with a story that would shock generations to come. And the scrolls were still being written.
Benedikt was born to Werner and Else Zimmermann, near Heidelberg, Germany, in August of 1913. He was the only child and adored by his mother, but in her good nature, she had inadvertently given him very little freedom. Benedikt was as sheltered as they came, but with good reason. When little Benedikt was three years old, his father Werner bled to death at the Somme. Benedikt grew up in the shadow of the memory of a true war hero, in his adoring eyes. And he grew up loving his Germany, and would fight to the death for his fatherland. So at the breakout of World War Two, he enlisted in the infantry immediately. Private Benedikt Zimmermann of the German Army firmly believed that the war was about nothing less than the future of his country. He enlisted full of zeal and patriotism, ready to fight and defend, whatever the cost.
He did this with full knowledge of the tension in his country. For all of his life, Benedikt and his mother lived next door to Hans and Gretel Becker, an older couple married forty five years. Benedikt always admired the Becker's; he hoped to one day follow in their footsteps of faithfulness and devotion. When Benedikt was a young child, he would always wander into the Becker's small office, right below their apartment. Hans Becker was a skilled tailor, a profession which interested Benedikt greatly. Benedikt would chat with Becker, sometimes for hours, about the trade, about the business, and about anything that came to mind. Hans was something of a Grandfather to Benedikt. Maybe even a father, seeing as how Benedikt grew up without one. Around four o'clock on most afternoons, Gretel Becker would find her husband and the schoolboy talking about anything and everything. "Hans!" She would always exclaim, in a loving, joking way. "You've bored young Benedikt enough with these stories of your childhood!" Benedikt would always laugh and say, "But I'm not bored, Frau Becker!" Then Gretel would usher Benedikt upstairs to their apartment and feed him freshly baked cookies and pretzels. The fact that the Becker's were Jewish didn't deter him. He was the child they never had, and he was their joy.
Else couldn't have been happier that Benedikt had bonded with the Becker's. She lived in constant stress, working long hours in the towns ammunitions factory throughout the twenties, to get Benedikt through school. Maybe even send him off to college. Benedikt was bright, and showed more potential than most young boys. Through the lens of a mother, at least. She worked tirelessly, day after day, and eventually did send Benedikt to the University in Heidelberg, where he excelled, but was unsure of his future. When he finished at the University, he found himself back home. Not long after, Hans Becker offered Benedikt a job as his personal assistant, which he heartily accepted. As the thirties progressed, however, anti Semitic thoughts became more and more popular. Benedikt had never really understood the government's ideas about the Jews as a people, and their actions against them, but was certain all of that would calm down as soon as Germany won the inevitable war.
When Benedikt was in his teens, he took to attending the Lutheran Church near his home just outside Heidelberg. While his mother was rather indifferent to the church, she allowed Benedikt to do as he pleased when it came to religion. "You will choose your own paths in life," she would say. "Who am I to stop you?" And she didn't. In the late thirties, Else became very interested and supported of the new Nazi regime. "They'll make Germany great again, Benedikt. You'll see." At the time, Benedikt had no reason to doubt it. And so when Benedikt enlisted in early 1940, she was overjoyed.
As Benedikt ran with all his might, he thought of himself just a few short years ago, working hard at the fine stitches in new, clean suits with Hans Becker. It all seemed so distant. How could so much change so fast? How could the whole world fall into hell in just a few years? He didn't know, but it had happened. And there was no changing it. So there was nothing more he could do. He jumped over train tracks, almost having tripped over them, and heard the faint whistle of a train in the distance. He kept running.
