This story is a songfic, based on the song "Bohemian Rapsody" by Queen. No ownership of any of the characters is implied, as usual. The poem at the end however, is mine.

Thanks to everybody for reviewing my other stories and have fun reading this one ;-)

Hogan spun around as he heard the sound of someone approaching. There had been patrols all over the woods this evening and it had taken him ages to get near the camp. He observed his surroundings.

About one mile to the camp. You´d better hurry, Rob. You were due back half an hour ago.

Again he heard the sound that had made him stop in the first place.

Whistling

Who would walk around in the woods this late and whistle?

He hid in the bushes and waited. Soon, his question was answered, as a man stepped from behind a tree and walked past him.

SS, quiet now, Rob or this has been your last mission.

Holding his breath, he waited for what seemed hours, before the soldier finally turned and began to walk in the other direction.

Hogan sighed, relieved. That was a close call.

Then, not seeing anyone else, he got up and wanted to resume his journey to the camp. However, as he began to walk, he felt a rifle prodding between his shoulders and someone whispered: "Nicht bewegen. Hände hoch!".

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality

Hogan closed his eyes for a brief moment. Oh no.

Then, feeling the rifle again, he obeyed to the order and raised his hands.

The soldier behind him reached out for Hogans neck and pulled his dogtags out of his shirt. As Hogan felt the tags slide away, he silently cursed himself.

Rob, why didn´t you take them off? You spent hours lecturing your men about this and now you´ve forgotten it yourself.

His thoughts were interrupted by the soldier, who prodded him with the rifle again and said, now in heavily accented English: "Hello, Colonel. Interesting things you can find in the woods nowadays. Aha, what have we got here?".

While speaking these last words, he reached for the brown envelope, which was sticking out of Hogans jacket.

Hogans mind was racing. The maps from the Underground. He can´t have them, I have to...

But it was already to late. The captain had pulled the envelope out of his pocket and was now studying the contents. He smiled madly.

"A spy, my dear colonel, you are a spy. Now, get over to that tree and get down on your knees, FAST!".

Hogan looked up to the sky. He knew what this meant.

Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.

I need to do something, fast.

While he walked towards the tree, he eyed the captain closely. The captain motioned him to get down an he pretended to follow this order.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still, then Hogan spun around and kicked the captain against his elbow. The gun flew through the air and landed three meters away. Hogan grabbed his own gun, aimed at the captain and pulled the trigger.

As the sound of the gunshot echoed through the woods, Hogan put his hands against his temples and tried to ignore the pounding headache that had come up during the last two minutes.

You killed him. You shot a young captain.

He wanted to shoot me, I had no choice, no choice at all.

He looked down at the still body.

They say you look as if you´re asleep, when you´re dead, but he doesn´t.

Walking away, he turned around once more and looked back. Turning towards the dead body, he saluted.

Mama just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead.

He turned around and looked right into the barrel of a gun. His eyes travelled upwards and met the cold. brown eyes of Major Hochstetter.

"Hogan, this time you´ve gone too far. The captain you just killed was my son.".

His eyes sparkling with rage, he motioned Hogan to turn around.

Mama, life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away.

Hogan obeyed without a word, only to be rewarded by a kick against his spine. Panting, he lay on the floor, gasping for breath.

Hochstetter gazed down at him, a look of disgust in his flashing eyes.

"You thought you could stand up against the Third Reich, bah!".

He pulled out his gun and aimed at the American. Hogan looked at the gun, but it seemed like someone else was lying here on the ground. He felt strangely detached from himself. As he heard the clicking of the gun, his thoughts wandered off to his home, his mother, his father who´d died so long ago.

I´m so sorry mum, I tried so hard...

Mama, ooh, Didn't mean to make you cry,
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters.

The gun went off and a sharp pain in his chest made him gasp and almost left him unconscious. With a disgusted look, Hochstetter walked away, leaving Hogan behind.

Pain, so much pain.

Hogans world faded to black, then red and black again. Out of this black shade came his friends, his mind filled with people he knew, people he loved, people who lived...

He saw them crying, begging him to stay, but he felt so tired, so very, very tired. He wanted to walk towards them, but could not move, helpless.

Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time.
Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go,
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth.

Opening his eyes, he looked at the sky. Black and blue, deep blue and beautiful, so beautiful.

Mama, ooh, I don't want to die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all.

The blue sky turned darker and darker, until no light was left and the world faded...

Next morning, the men of Barracks Two watched a Gestapo car driving through the gate, as they were driven back into the Barracks.

Worried, they all sat down at the table.

"He was due back four hours ago!", Carter said nervously.

"Oui, and what is ´ochstetter doing ´ere?"

"Maybe, the guv´nor was captured?".

Their discussion was disturbed by Schultz, hushing into the Barracks. Looking sadly at the four men, he said: "Sergeant Kinchloe? Klink wants to see you.".

Wondering, Kinch headed out, towards Klinks office. In there, he met a sad Klink.

"Sergeant? I´ve got something for you.".

With these words, he took a little piece of metal from his desk and handed it to Kinch.

Kinch could not believe it. It was a dogtag.

Robert Edward Hogan, Colonel, US Army AirCorps, 0876707.

He read the words without comprehending. "Colonel, where?".

Klink exchanged a sad look with him. "Yesterday night, Hochstetter caught him in the woods and..."

He did not need to say more, Kinchloe had run away from the office.

Blindly, he rushed into Barracks Two and threw the tag onto the table. Their faces would stay in his memory forever. Their operation would never be the same.

Kinch sighed as they all sat around the table that evening. Continuing with their operation seemed so senseless, everything seemed so senseless.

Nothing really matters, Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters,
Nothing really matters to me.

That night, Kinch wrote the hardest letter he had ever written. With his CO gone, there was only him left to attend the task of notifying the families.

Dear misses Hogan,

I regret to inform you, that your son Rob-

Angrily, he snatched the paper and threw it away. Those were not the right words, not the right words to tell anyone what had happened.

He glanced at his watch. Past midnight. Then he glanced at the pile of papers in the corner.

And another attempt.

He shook his head and walked into the colonels office. There, with the dogtag beside him, he found the words, he had been seeking for so long.

He closed the envelope as the first birds began to sing and the sun reflected its light in the barbed wire.

A tear worked its way down Kinchloes cheek. We need to go on.

Any way the wind blows.

As he walked outside, he saw a small piece of paper, sticking out from beneath his pillow.

Curiously, he opened it and saw Hogans handwriting.

Kinch, if you read this, you will be in command of our underground unit. I told Schultz to give you this letter, when I had died. I always wanted to tell you and the others how much I respected what you have done and are still doing. But it was much more than this, Kinch, it was the friendship I admired.

Kinch turned his attention towards the small writing at the bottom of the paper. A poem.

There goes the sun in barbed wire,
and there he walks, the downed flier
Don´t you see the clouds he rides
Can´t you see the fear he hides?

There is a time for everyone
to dream the dreams, he never dared
to speak aloud, to no one
because, he was, too scared

Every dream comes to an end
it only takes his time, to fly away
and meet a friend
today

There sinks the sun in barbed wire,
away he walks the ended flier
he turns around and see, he smiles
flying dreamy out of sight
he´s found peace, and there is
nothing more to hide
from a friend

With glassy eyes, Kinch looked out of the window.

Yes, Colonel Any way the wind blows.