Title: Seven Farewell's
A/N: You're going to love me for this. (Please don't hurt me.)
I. 1918
In the first scenario, Ludwig doesn't even meet Feliciano. He goes down with a flurry of bullets whistling past his ears on a battlefield as his brother screams out his name.
His head cracks as it slams into the mud beneath him, and Ludwig hadn't ever thought that his skull could crack, but it does, and the agony is to much to bear.
He wants to scream, but the German soldier can't. The bullet that tore through his skin, marred his neck, ripping through it so that the only sound he can make is a faint gurgle. Ludwig's white neck is tarnished with the red of his blood and it takes a moment for him to realise that he's dying.
Actually dying.
Blurred sight wavering, the last thing that Ludwig sees is the figure of a soldier racing towards him, a bullet bursting through his chest.
(And this is terrible because the red of the man's blood is the same colour as the man's eyes.)
II. 1919
The second time, Ludwig only meets Feliciano for a few seconds. Ludwig is far to inspired by the words of Rosa Luxemburg to really pay attention to Feliciano and so all they really say to each other is 'good luck' as they part ways at the end of the street.
Ludwig is ready for a change - ready for the German revolution. He wants change so badly that without any regard to the risks, he gladly takes part in the attempted revolt.
The Spartacist's capture the headquarters of the government's newspaper and the telegraph bureau before they are crushed by the Freikorps that advance on them.
Rifles appear from nowhere and Ludwig finds himself fleeing - he doesn't want to die. Not yet - he is only young. Only Sixteen.
The butt of a rifle smacks him over the back of the head and Ludwig staggers to a halt. His knees give out and he topples on to the ground from the impact.
Blood trickles down his neck and Ludwig wonders why he has a feeling of de-ja-vu.
"You think you could take Berlin, huh?" The voice is so familiar that Ludwig has to turn to make sure that his ears aren't deceiving him. Red eyes stare down at him from the end of a rifle.
"Gil-"
His own brother raises the rifle into an aim at Ludwig's head. The Great War has destroyed all loyalty between them both. Ludwig closes his eyes, hoping with that the man he wish luck before is still alive - somewhere across Berlin, the Italian is hoping the same thing, coughing up blood from a bullet wound in his lungs.
(This death is no better than the first.)
III. 1934
The third time Ludwig dies, he leaves Feliciano with a brisk 'I'll see you later' and a quick kiss to each cheek. In his SA uniform, the German, among many others, makes his way to Bavaria for a meeting.
Their location is Weisse, in the Hotel Hanselbauer.
Hitler is not expected to attend the meeting until the day after they arrive, and so no one is expecting the man and his troops to arrive in the middle of the night, claiming that they are all under arrest. All of those at the Hotel Hanselbauer are claimed enemies of the state.
Thrown into a prison cell and awaiting his execution, Ludwig makes sure to write a letter of goodbye to Feliciano, apologising for his death. He asks one of the guards to deliver it for him. (None of the guards deliver it, but somehow the letter finds its way to Feliciano's doorstep.)
Ludwig's death sentence is by shooting squad. He, along with several other SA leaders get brought out into a line by a brick wall. Ludwig finds himself, once again, with a gun aimed at him.
There is no de-ja-vu this time. No blurred vision as the bullets start to fly. Ludwig's thoughts are based primarily on Feliciano and how both of them are only thirty and don't deserve anything that's happening. The bullet to his head kills him before Ludwig can focus on his final thought.
(In this scenario, Feliciano hangs himself after reading Ludwig's farewell.)
IV. 1939
In the fourth round, Ludwig makes it to World War Two. He writes to Feliciano until December, when Feliciano can no longer write.
(The fourth death is exactly like the first.)
V. 1941
The fifth scenario is created from prejudice and hate. Both Ludwig and Feliciano are both prisoners at a labour camp that is all about 'concentration'.
Ludwig feels as if he's being filtered out of the general population. Forced to work for their lives, people who are too weak to work, disappear. The German has to do double the work to make sure that he can keep Feliciano safe for as long as possible.
They both collapse at the same time. Both of them dehydrated - both starved. The couple sit next to each other, their hands entwined as they try to overcome their aches and weaknesses.
A guard notices their hands, and scribbles the numbers on their wrist's onto a clipboard. They among many others, are those who are going to be hung the next day. They are the next to disappear.
With a noose over his neck - a neck that remain clean from blood this time - Ludwig reaches awkwardly for Feliciano's tied hands with his own. They both turn their heads to stare at each other, each whispering 'I Love You' - Te Amo - Ich Leibe Dich.
And then, with fearful eyes, Ludwig realises that both he and Feliciano are going to die. So he whispers, 'I'm sorry' to the Italian as well.
The German doesn't know whether he's saying sorry for something small like when he'd get obsessive at home over cleaning, or whether he's sorry on a much larger scale. Like that he's sorry that his country is the one responsible for their murder, or that he's sorry that their love is the reason they're both never going to reach middle aged.
The Italian looks back at Ludwig with equally frightened eyes. "I'm not sorry."
Ludwig realises then just how much he loves Feliciano, and spares him a final smile. Feliciano doesn't smile back because he is pushed off of the platform.
(Ludwig's neck isn't the only thing that breaks.)
Vi. 1944
The sixth time Ludwig is faced with his death, it is brought by the Gestapo.
This death proves that Ludwig is far more loyal to his family than to his government. He is part of the left-wing communists, trying to put an end to the dreadful war.
He had already smuggled Jewish civilian's and anti-Nazi's out of the country. They cross through France and into the safe haven of Spain.
Ludwig forces Feliciano to go with them as well, saying that he wants the Italian safe. The brunette argues back at first that it's highly unfair Ludwig had to stay in danger, but he goes anyway.
The Gestapo torture Ludwig for names of fellow communists, but the blonde won't give them any. Months of torture leaves him only half alive, and Ludwig is glad that Feliciano isn't around to be put through the same torture. A Gestapo officer shoots Ludwig in the chest when he realises that no information will be extracted from their prisoner.
(This is by far the most heroic of all Ludwig's deaths.)
VII. 1945
Ludwig's last death is caused by grief and regret.
He hasn't seen Feliciano since 1944 and it's all because the Italian was shot down by a Russian sniper on the Russian front. Ludwig believes that Feliciano should have gone home to Italy, rather than join the German Army with Ludwig. (Feliciano had boasted from that time, saying he was allowed because he'd lived in Germany since 1919.)
The war is over - the nation of Germany surrendered to the Allied nations. Ludwig's soul - life - being is as broken as his country. Everything was for nothing. The war won his country nothing.
Feliciano's death was for nothing.
Ludwig's struggles were for a life without the Italian - a life of no worth.
Suicide suddenly becomes a tempting offer for the man with nothing.
(It's a deal that Ludwig doesn't even need to shake on.)
Finale
In the eighth cycle, Ludwig Beilschmidt does not exist. Neither does Feliciano.
Instead, in their place are the personified countries of Germany and Italy. These two won't die in this cycle - because no bullets, no noose, no amount of torture will kill a country.
Germany could be shot multiple times until he is dead, but he can not die.
He will always come back to life. Whether he wishes to or not.
Sometimes however, Germany wishes that he didn't have to come back to life - the guilt of two World Wars weighs a lot on a person's soul.
(Germany doesn't know how much Ludwig would give to switch places.)
END.
Additional Notes:
This was supposed to be romantic but I got side tracked and wrote angst instead. I like writing angst. Anyway, this is written for 'Smalltownpunk' who guessed a promo of mine correct and requested a GerIta. I bet this wasn't what you had in mind for this was it?
I am a mean author - no regrets though.
Anyway... Below this is some history information for bits that might not make sense history-wise. If the one-shot doesn't make sense... then my bad. I like to confuse people - it makes sense to me though...
Ciao, Mint~
Historical Stuff:
-World War One (1914-1918)
-Spartacist's. (The Spartacist's were a group of left-wing revolutionaries who really wanted to have a revolutions in 1919 like the Russians had during World War One. They were very disorganised when they actually tried to take Berlin on 5th January (Spartacist's rising) , and their attempt at a full scale revolution was crushed quickly.)
- Rosa Luxemburg (Rosa Luxemburg was the leader of the Spartacist's. Sadly she was murdered as result to the Spartacist's rising.)
-Freikorps (After the First World War, Germany was limited to only 100,000 men allowed in the army. The Freikorps were made up of mainly ex-soldiers, and they were very right-wing. By right wing, I mean they wanted Germany to go back to normal, rather than have a revolution. They had possession of guns and rifles, and their number's were more than the army. They eventually became the SA, Hitler's own personal army.)
- The Hotel Hanselbauer Weisse, Bavaria. (This is referring to 'The Night of the Long Knives'. The SA (see: Freikorps) were getting out of control and were ruining Hitler's chance of staying in power. To avoid the chance of losing his status as a dictator, Hitler acted on the 29th June 1934, saying that the leaders of the SA were planning to kill him. He took 150-200 SA leaders into custody and had them killed.)
- World War Two (1939-1945)
- Concentration camps (Despite the belief's of some people, the Jewish community weren't the only people to get killed in the Holocaust. Many other groups of people were killed, and homosexuals were one of those other groups.)
- Gestapo (The Gestapo were originally the Prussian secret police. By 1936 onwards until the end of World War Two, the Gestapo became the state secret police.)