"Ja, Herr Germany. The allies have beaten us at Normandy."
The simple message that the radio operator gave caused my spirits to sink. Despondence gripping my chest, the cold icy feeling washed my body in a freezing shower of hopelessness. I had known that when the United States had entered the war, we would have a hard upward climb for Germany, but we had persevered through so much. It seemed that we would win, but even with every victory, it had only led up towards a downward slide. Almost like the vast range of the Alps when a climber reached the top and had to fall all the way down.
This is the end of the German Empire, I thought, running my hand through my blonde hair. I had not agreed with my boss, der Führer, or with his policies, but this was my nation. Germany was me, and it was everything to me.
I turned toward my elder brother, Prussia, wondering what his reaction to this news would be. Surprisingly, a smile graced his features. He carelessly smoothed the silver hair from his scarlet eyes and turned away.
Brows furrowing, I wondered what he was thinking about. I wanted to scrutinize him, to pick apart his brain and find out the reasoning of this madness, this lunatic smile of his that only appeared when he was about to partake in certain types of extreme insanity. How could he smile at such a time like this?
The sheer annoyance at his attitude made me want to hit him, but no. Prussia was my brother. My earliest memories had been of Prussia taking care of me, playing with me. Raising me as a proper nation, but here I was. What am I? A dying nation? All of his rearing had only resulted in this.
I couldn't hit him, especially not now. What I didn't know was that I'll regret this choice now. I should've let him know that I cared for him. I needed him in these troubled waters. I needed him to be the lifesaver in the tossing waves of uncertainty that had born the German Empire upon its crests and troughs.
What shocked me out of my own thoughts were the beginning bars of his national anthem. The melodious deep tones of his humming rumbled from his throat as he turned around. "Ich bin ein Preuße, kennt ihr mein Farben? Die Fahne schwebt mir schwarz und weiß voran..." his rough voice sang.
It trailed away with the slaps of his boot heels against the ground, so loud in the silence of our sudden defeat.
"Auf wiedersehen, mein bruder," he said and dropped the phone. The dead tone glared at me and I slowly dropped the phone back onto its stand, staring dejectedly at the wall hanging of Germany's possessions while pondering out Prussia's message. My eyes wandered, assessing each piece of land we held as I though. Already, France was freed. Our control was breaking in Poland…
I bolted straight up as the meaning of his message. Surely, no. Surely he wasn't thinking of that?
My feet carried me through the hallways toward his office. Already, I feared it was too late; each second seemed like hours that dragged me back.
The knob turned easily enough in my hand, and I wondered if my assumptions were wrong. Hopefully, dear Gott, I was wrong.
No, I was not wrong. Prussia stood there, his implacable red eyes on my face, not surprised at all to see me there. There was a half-smile on his face as he contemplated the Luger in his hand pensively.
"Ah, mein bruder. I was hoping you didn't come. I did say good bye, you know," Prussia laughed, sitting back against his chair, quite easily.
For a reason, he looked rather ordinary even at this point in time. Creaseless and immaculately neat, his uniform was its usual dark blue color, Prussian blue, as I recalled. Hair combed back, I would had thought he was going out to some dress party if not for the dire circumstances we were in. The only stark contrast to the orderliness was the half-unwrapped bandage that wound about his head, slightly stained from a wound he had gained on the battlefields some time past.
"No, don't do this, Preußen," I begged, pleading with him to abandon his foolish venture.
He turned toward me, a hardening in his red eyes. "I've made up my mind. Rather than let myself get taken by that damned Russia…"
The sweep of his arm towards his head alerted me to what he planned to do next, yet I could not move my legs. Prussia's gaze left me immobile, as if his was a basilisk glare that had turned me to stone. Already, the cold metal barrel pressed against his temples.
"Again, auf wiedersehens, Deutschland."
I dropped forward fast enough to catch his falling body after the gunshot rang out across the halls. He collapsed into my arms, looking smaller and deflated than the great nation he had once been.
Time had stopped still for me, and I could almost imagine the anthem playing again in the stillness of the air. A figment of my imagination, most definitely, triggered from the fact that my only remaining brother had committed suicide. Already, I felt his warm blood soak into my shirt, its cloying stickiness spreading through the fabric, a testament to the reality of what had happened.
"Ich bin ein Preuße, kennt ihr mein Farben? " the phantom voice of his sung, the question hanging plaintively in the air, waiting for an answer. Its familiar cadences were dear enough to me that it caused tears to film my eyes.
I managed to raise my head and the first thing that met my eyes was the Prussian flag. Black bars lined the top and bottom while the eagle spread its wings, resplendent even on cotton. Its eyes were sightless, and although I knew that its expression meant nothing, the mocking gape of its mouth seemed to laugh at me, laugh at me for the futility of my attempt to save him from the fate. The Prussian Motto was set in calligraphy on a mantelpiece holding the flag up on the wall.
"Gott mit uns," I read as I spotted the crimson blood stains that looked out of place. His blood on his black and white flag of Prussia. The question posed by the song he had sung came into my mind.
"Ich kenne deine Farben, Preußen. Schwarz, weiß, und rot."
Author's note:The end of Prussia could take two turns: Prussia suicides which makes for a more dramatic story in my opinion, or the two brothers separate into East and West Germany, which makes more sense to me. I advocate the latter, but I found muse to make a story about the first idea.
The song that Prussia sings is called the Preußenlied, which is Prussia's national anthem, I believe. The lyrics say, "I am a Prussian, do you know my colors? The flag floats black and white before me." Auf wiedersehen means upon reunion, which means good-bye. The last line said by Germany means, "I know your colors, Prussia. Black, white, and red" referring to the many wars he has fought.
Thanks for reading! This has really strained my limited German. Critiques are welcomed, and I especially need constructive criticism.