Happy Day of German Unity! This is the official holiday celebrated for the fall of the Berlin Wall. :D We celebrated a bit in German Class so I decided to write a one-shot since I did one for Mattie's B-day as well.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia blah, blah, blah...
"Memory takes a lot of poetic licence. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart." - Tennessee Williams - The Glass Menagerie
Ludwig stood in front of the graffiti riddled wall, wrapped up in his jacket against the oncoming chill of October. Tears found themselves running down his face as memories flooded back to him. So much love, so much hate, so much pain. There was no one to blame but himself. There were others, simply standing by the wall, but he took no notice of them. One gentleman pulled out a candle and lit it with a match before setting it down in front of the wall and beginning to pray. A woman came up and joined him. Ludwig did not, he was far too lost in his own unreality to even think of it.
"Bruder!" A young blonde boy in shorts and a crisp white shirt was running towards an older man with short white hair in lavish robes and a sword on his hip. The man turned to the boy, revealing startlingly red eyes which were surprised at the sight of the boy. The man gave a crooked grin.
"Ja, Lüddechen?" The man had a grating voice that teased the smaller boy. The boy blushed at the nickname before puffing his cheeks and crossing his arms in anger.
"Das ist nicht mein Name!"
"Ja, ja," the man waved off the boy's protests, grinning all the while. His smile faltered just the slightest as the sound of shouting was heard from the confines of the church the boy was kept in. "Was willst du?" The shouting continued and was punctuated by screaming now. Someone was banging on the doors to the church. The boy looked down and scuffed his shoe against the dusty stone floor, his shadow being thrown out by the numerous candles lit on the altar behind his back.
"B-Bruder..."
"Ja?" The man was growing impatient. He needed to leave soon.
"Bitte... Du muss sicher bleiben," the boy whispered as his gaze was fixed on the dust on the floor. The older man's expression softened before he swooped down and pressed the boy into a hug. The boy did not protest, little arms wrapping around and tiny hands clutching at the fabric on the man's back. The man gazed up at the religious symbols on the altar and prayed that perhaps this God would keep this brother safe.
"Für immer und ewig," whispered the man as he pulled the boy closer before standing again in one fluid motion. There was a hard glint in his eyes as the screaming increased and the sound of clashing swords and gunfire was heard beyond the constant banging on the heavy wooden doors.
"Bleib in die Kirche," the man ordered with steely eyes, pointing to the back where a slightly hidden door lay and made sure the child knew not to disobey.
The boy nodded before noticing the distracted look in the other man's eyes. The boy winced and grabbed at the front of his shirt as a particularly loud scream resounded in the echoing church.
"Geh," he whispered, wanting the man back and safe as soon as possible.
"Ja klar, kleinen Bruder." The man opened the doors to chaos before shutting them close behind him. A single candle was blown out by breeze produced from the force of the swing. The boy simply stared at the doors as he listened to the shouts of pain and screams of agony, hoping that none of them became his brother.
"He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion." - The Glass Menagerie
Ludwig did not even attempt to stem the flow of tears, he barely acknowledged them in his state of emotional distress. He stared hard at the wall before him. The wall stared steadily back. He let the memories fall into place with each tear that streaked down his chin and dripped onto the dirty sidewalk below him. There were far to many to keep count and each just as precious as the last. A small smile made it's way to his face as the next memory resurfaced.
"Bruder! Bruder! Bruder!" An albino young man, carelessly dressed in a rumpled military uniform was yelling obnoxiously into another, blonde and neatly dressed, young man's ears.
"WAS?!" The blonde shouted as the other stepped on his last nerves, which were very short in the first place. The other man pouted before rocking back away from the other with a grin on his face.
"Ich muss dir etwas zeigen..." The man grinned and gave a mysterious wink before pulling at the other's hand, dragging him out of the barracks and into the crisp night air. The blonde gave him an incredulous look and opened his old pocket watch to check the time, his jaw dropped at the late hour.
"Was? Es ist Mitternacht!"
"Ja," was the simple reply thrown back to the younger man as he was lead out of the small camp that was perched upon one of the many surrounding grassy hills. The further they walked, the calmer each man became, the stress of war momentarily being lifted from their shoulders. They were at the height of power and both knew what was likely to come next. As is the usual way of war and empires, those on top can very quickly fall back to the bottom.
The stars were shining with brilliance in the dusky sky, the moon was shrouding herself in shadow for the night, refusing to come out and play. Neither man minded. The albino man plopped down in the grass on top of a different hill that was just out of sight of the camp.
"Das ist es," the man mumbled, gesturing all around them. The blonde sighed with an irritated look before deciding to just join the other and sit down on the soft grass as well. There was no harm in taking a break. The war would not end without his presence. Would it?
The two fell into a comfortable silence. The albino man was idly picking at the grass upon the hill and contemplating how many other ways he could either annoy the blonde or score some beer. The silence was broken when the blonde began to chant out a poem since forgotten in the gore of war-time.
"Es war, als hatt' der Himmel, Die Erde still geküst, Dass sie im Blütenschimmer, Von ihm nur träumen müsst..."
The albino looked over at the other as he began reciting the poem. He smirked and continued the next stanza, wondering why his brother picked this poem for a moonless night.
"Die Luft ging durch die Felder, Die Ähren wogten sacht, Es rauschten leis die Wälder, So sternklar war die Nacht."
The blonde made no reaction as the albino raucously sing-songed the poem into the darkness. When the man paused, the blonde took up the poem again, seriousness settling over as he whispered the next lines.
"Und meine Seele spannte, Weit ihre Flügel aus, Flog durch die stillen Lande, Als flöge sie nach Haus."
The moment was still as the soft words floated about, their meaning escaping even the wisest of men as the stars shined on, indifferent to the sufferings of those on earth.
"Warum?"
The man shrugged. The albino turned back to the sky before shrugging as well. The moon still refused to show herself.
"The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic." - The Glass Menagerie
The smile was bitter on his lips. Even his happy memories turned sad and his sad memories sadder. Ludwig pulled in a shaky breath as yet more people pooled around the looming wall before him. The day was turning gray and old, clouds blocking the faint rays of the sun and sending Berlin into a sad and dusky existence. Ludwig, again, paid it no mind.
"NEIN! NEIN! DU KANNST NICHT! DU KANNST NICHT!"
Tears flowed easily and angrily as a tall man in a jacket as black as midnight and smile as sickeningly sweet as the devil's gripped a struggling albino man, wrapped from head to toe in bandages, in his arms. The man's voice was hoarse and gruff as he screamed and screamed.
"BRUDER! NEIN! MEIN BRUDER! BITTE! BITTE!"
Another man was held back, also mummified by bloody bandages. His captors were another blonde man with a sad but stern expression and a pair of glasses perched on his nose, a smaller blonde man with a disgusted sneer and crutches to support his severely burned legs, and a third man who stood to the side with a pained expression and long wavy hair as he nursed his wounded arms and scratched up face. The taller man with the struggling albino chuckled as he slowly began dragging the other away.
"You are deserving punishment, da?" The man spoke with a thick accent and a sadistic smile.
"NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!"
"Just take him away, you fucking communist," the man directly behind the flailing blonde commanded stiffly.
The larger man said nothing but directed a heated glare at the other before smiling again and pulling the albino out of the room. The blonde man started sobbing as he watched his brother slowly disappear behind the wall. It wouldn't be until decades later that the wall came crumbling down and he was able to see his brother once more...
"I... followed... attempting to find in motion what was lost in space- I would have stopped, but I was pursued by something." - The Glass Menagerie
"Blow out your candles, -and so, good-bye." - The Glass Menagerie
Ludwig's memory was interrupted as a pleasant old woman handed him a tissue for his tears. He was about to decline before noticing the tears the woman also already sported. He didn't have the heart to say no.
"Danke..."
The woman nodded before ambling off to others in need of small comfort. There weren't as many as the year before, or the years previous. But the people still gathered. Remembering.
Ludwig felt an ice cold shock on the back of his neck and the irritating chuckles of "kesesesese~" right in his ear.
"Bruder," he acknowledged without much other reaction before snatching the beer previously chilling his neck, out of his brother's hand.
"Guten Tag, Bruder~!" Gilbert sang before cracking open his beer and chugging it down. Ludwig did not fail to notice the tear tracks also staining his brother's cheeks. Ludwig cracked his own beer and chugged it as well before gazing back at what was left of the wall and mumbling,
"Guten Tag, Gilbert. Guten Tag."
SO MUCH GERMAN. ERMERGERD. Whew! This was a challenge to write for my poor little german skills. D:
Translations:
Bruder - Brother
Ja - Yes
Luddechen (too lazy to add umlauts) - Dimminuative of Ludwig/Luddy. (My name in German class is Adelinda, and I get called Adelchen all the time. It's a nickname for little kids I guess. Eh.)
Das ist nicht mein Name! - That is not my name!
Was willst du? - What do you want?
Bitte - Please
Du muss sicher bleiben - You must stay safe
Fur immer und ewig - For always and forever (Awwww)
Bleib in die Kirche - Stay in the church
Geh - Go
Ja klar, kleined Bruder - Of course, little brother
WAS?! - WHAT?! (ANGERANGER! xD)
Ich muss dir etwas zeigen - I must show you something
Es ist Mitternacht! - It is midnight!
Das ist es - This is it
Warum? - Why?
Nein - No
Du kannst nicht! - You can not!
Danke - Thank you.
Guten Tag - Hello (Word for word is Good day. Make more sense?)
About the poem:
Mondnacht by Joseph Von Eichendorf
It's a really pretty poem~ You should look it up if you want to know what it means~!
Okay, I used lots of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Just cause I can, mkay?
Historical notes:
3 October 1990 - Day of German Unity
The Berlin Wall originally came down in November, BUT the day was the same as Kristallnacht, which was a horrible day for those not of the Aryan race during the Nazi reign. They decided not to have ANY knid of celebration on such a day. They decided on Oct. 3 instead.
First Memory: Umm... Teutonic Prussia? There isn't much historical basis for this one. Eh.
Second Memory: WWII era, during Hitler's reign. That's about it, really.
Third Memory: Whew! The end of WWII with the fall of the Third Reich. This is sometime during the time when it was decided that East Germany (Prussia) would be given to the Soviets and West Germany would be split in control among the other Allies, the only exception being the capital of Berlin. Berlin was literally split in half. For the residents of the city it was almost an overnight change. It started as barbwire until it slowly progressed into the monster of a wall it became. People's houses were bricked up and one street was actaully split. It was pretty intense.
Third Memory cnt: Russia was Soviet Union during this time and was the one holding Prussia back. Although East was taken behind the Iron Curtain, West was split in control by the three other nations (China was never really included in this). America, England, and France, (who are keeping Germany back) were the ones to take control. America, ever strong, only recieved one attack that was on his own soil (Pearl Harbor) and thus isn't as banged up as everyone else. England, however, recieved LOTS of damage when he was bombarded by the Blitz. France was also at a loss when he was invaded, basically. My knowledge gets a little fuzzy at this point.
Und thus concludes this one-shot. Any questions, simply give me a review or just pm me.
Night, night!
Gilly B.