Title: Comrade!
Summary: Franz awakes to find that some of his birds have broken the Siegfried Oath. Franz will now have to find new birds to re-educate in order to replace his comrades and rebuild his flock.
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Anyone walking past the old pollution grimed brownstone building in New York City that day would have heard an explosive cry of dismay, seemingly coming from the rooftop and ringing out to the heavens. There was no way anyone would not have noticed the hurt and sorrow in the person's voice. Just from hearing this single shout of pain, the listener would know that this person had been betrayed somehow. Horribly... horribly betrayed.
"Mein leiblings! How could zey do this to me! Zose traitors! Zose verdammen traitors! Zey have broken ze Siegfried Oakth! Zey must die!" moaned Franz brokenheartedly.
With another shout of pain Franz suddenly dropped to his knees, sobbing into his hands. For he knew there was no way he could possibly kill those he had loved so dearly for so long, no matter how much they deserved it. Though they'd brutally torn out a chunk of his heart, and pecked at it cruelly, leaving it broken and bloody, he knew he still loved them. Deep in his Nazi heart he held them close. They were his lieblings!
So, that morning, when he had flung open the door and walked out onto the rooftop terrace simply bursting with positive energy, he found himself momentarily paralyzed with horror upon seeing some of the cages open, and tiny little swastika armbands laid out on the ground, forgotten... Only Adolf, the white feathered leader of the group had stayed. Loyal Adolf. The bird's eyes seemed to mirror Franz's own feelings. The hurt. The betrayal. "Our comrades have abandoned us, dear Franz! Why has this horrible thing happened to us?!" those little beady bird eyes seemed to be saying to him.
However, Franz could not answer this question. He could only stare back at Adolf, baffled, now mute as he felt himself being overwhelmed with hurt, anger, and confusion. "Oh, zee pain!" He did not know how his beloved feathered comrades could have possibly betrayed him so horribly! They had been through so much together! (Kind of!) They were supposed to be comrades for life! Such a betrayal, breaking the Siegfried Oath... It simply was not done!
With these thoughts in mind, Franz turned to look at Adolf again, realizing he was the only witness to the crime. How to get Adolf to tell him what had happened? There must be a way.
"Adolf, you know, don't you? You know who did this. And you, zee closest friend and comrade of my heart, you have zee clues to help me take revenge. So, mein liebling, tell me. Tell me. Oh God…please find a way to tell me what you know!"
Adolf stared at him curiously, and after a few painful, painful seconds for Franz, he simply shook his head.
"Vhat?! Vhat does that mean?! Ohhh, you cannot help me," Franz sighed dejectedly. "If only you were a parrot! Then maybe…" Suddenly, realizing his folly, Franz attempted damage-control. "Vait! W-wait! That ist not what I meant!"
However, it was too late, the damage had been done. Adolf's eyes said everything. Adolf would not be forgiving him. Oh, mein Gott, what had he done? One slip of the tongue and he had lost his best and most faithful friend. Throwing himself to his knees dramatically, he looked up to Adolf and pleaded, "Adolf, mein comrade! You know I did not mean it! You are far FAR much better zen any.… any parrot. I hate parrots! I loathe them! Almost as much as that schwein Winston Churchill! Please mein freund!"
Franz stared into Adolf's little eyes, with bated breath, awaiting his comrade's answer. seemed to sigh, as if the whole situation was extremely tiring and childish. Then, as best he could, he motioned to the miniature swastika's there were sprawled carelessly onto the ground.
Luckily, Franz caught on quickly, and nodded frantically. "Of course! New comrades… We may have been horribly betrayed, but a true soldier always learnzz to get back up! Ja! New comrades! …Better comrades!"
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And so, there they were. Franz, Adolf, and an odd assortment of pigeons. An awkward silence had befallen them, and they all shifted their eyes onto the other, obvious distrust shown clearly in their eyes.
Franz looked to Adolf, observing his reaction to his future comrades. However, it needn't take him long to figure out how Adolf felt about the whole matter.
Adolf was not impressed.
"Um, vell…" Franz spoke slowly, his discomfort obvious, "this.. this ist not so bad! Really!" Sneaking a glance at the unresponsive visage of Adolf, Franz suddenly became frantic with a need to DO something with this new flock, to show Adolf he could still depend on him, and ja, even to admire him once again. Ah, ja, but of course, he would start by naming them! Filled with determination and a sudden, and very welcome, sense of optimism, he turned to the meanest-looking pigeon. "Hey you, come here, will you?" The bird glared at him, but complied.
Franz narrowed his eyes in concentration, taking a good look at this particular feathered Nazi candidate, and wondered, who is he? His feathers were of the palest blue with small accents of pale pink. His eyes were a most startling shade of blue.
"Aha! Your name is Heydrich. Who else could you be with eyes like that?" said Franz as Adolf batted his wings in agreement. "Of course, you must realize, my little comrade, that I am giving you a name that you must live up to. Not many could! Are you up to it? Vill you do vat is necessary to become worthy of such a name?"
The little bird just looked at Franz, giving no clue as to what he was thinking. Franz felt a gusty sigh rising up as if from the very depths of his soul as he realized all the hard work that was ahead if he were to turn these newcomers into proper Nazis. Suddenly there was a series of coos and cackles from Adolf, and right in front of Franz's eyes he saw the demeanor of his new little Heydrich change. Suddenly he was standing tall, and those piercing beady blue eyes took on a whole new look. Franz stepped back, rather alarmed, and fought a reaction to salute; after all, he was the leader, not this little bird! Vat vas going on here? Then he glanced at Adolf and understood. Adolf was back in the game, acting as his loyal assistant. With Adolf's help this would work after all.
Suddenly excited, Franz walked along the pigeon coop pointing at one bird after another, with the proper names rolling off his tongue: "You are Himmler, you are Speer, you are Goering, you are Hess. Ah, and you, you nasty looking specimen, are Churchill." Laughing and dancing around on the rooftop chanting Churchill over and over, Franz felt himself dissolving into a strange twilight zone of happiness. Suddenly, Adolf raised his right wing and squawked, bringing Franz back to attention. Franz returned the salute. "Enough fun, my fine feathered comrades, now vee vill vork…vork I tell you, vork!" Adolf nodded in agreement as Franz felt better than he'd felt since seeing those tiny swastika armbands lying there in the empty cages.
"Mein Fuhrer, you can count on me." he swore silently to himself as he looked at his new flock one by one, being sure to make eye contact. "So, now vee begin, mein comrades. Listen very carefully as I tell you the Siegfried Oakth, because from this day forward it vill be the words by which you vill live."
As they nodded their feathered heads at him in agreement, Franz began dancing and singing his favorite song: The Guten Tag Hop Clop. Ah, ja, it was a wonderful day.