Time and Again
by Mrs Chang

Disclaimer: No money, no rights, no life. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor any of the characters or plot elements. This is a work of fiction, and I am making no money off of it whatsoever.
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This story is the first part of the first in a series of fics. It is AU, and is set in 1944, in Poland, during the German occupation in WWII. Noin is an Italian who was discovered hiding Jews in her basement. Zechs is a German SS officer stationed at Aushwitz, one of the death camps.

Warnings: Angst (later on), Profanity (later on), and some violence.

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[Noin]

"Where are we going?" asks one of the others.

"I do not know," I say quietly. "Why are you here?"

"I am a Jew," answers the young girl to which I am speaking.

I nod. "I see."

"Why did they arrest you? You do not look like one of us. You are not wearing our star."

"I am not Jewish," I say. "I am Italian. I hid two Jews in my cellar."

The girl smiles. "I see you are not a facist. I am glad to see this."

I am quiet. I know where we are going. We are going to one of those cursed camps my cousin wrote to me about. I am very afraid. They say the Nazis are monsters. That they kill anyone who is not an Aryan like them. I do not look Aryan, or even Italian, with my dark hair and eyes. I am very afraid.

"Hurry! Go! Get on the train!" order the guards in German. I do as I am told. I do not want to find out what happens if we disobey.

We are loaded into the train. They is nowhere to sit, and there must be at least a hundred of us in this cramped, hot cattle car. That is all we are to them. Cattle. Not just the Jews, but even those of us who merely oppose what the Nazis are doing; man's inhumanity to man.

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We arrive at the camp 5 days later. We are all so tired. We have not had anything to eat or drink since we got on the train. We are herded through a large gate, above of which is a large sign which says /Arbeit Macht Frei/. Work Brings Freedom. Freedom from what, people around me ask. I am too confused, hungry, and tired to say.

We are divided. As we walk past a guard, he points left and right, again and again. I am sent to the right. My mother and sister are sent to the left. I am sad to see them go. But I dare not cry out.

We are shamed. Our clothing is taken, and we are given plain, striped clothing. Next, they cut our hair short. We all look the same now. We all blend in, for everything is grey. Our clothes, the ground, and the faces of those women already in our barracks when we arrive; they are all grey.

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We are called for counting later. We get the chance to ask the others where our families are; if those who were sent to the left are still in the camp. They point at the smoke billowing out of chimneys elsewhere in the camp. "That is them," they say, no emotion evident. "They kill us, then burn our bodies. No... they will not be coming back..."

I am confused. "Why are they killing us?" I ask.

The others shrug, for they know as little as I do.

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The next day, we are put to work. We clean for the Germans who live near the camp. We are now nothing more than slaves. I am angry. I wish to run. But one of the other women, one the of the Jews, told me that they shoot you if you try to run.

As we work, I accidentally trip over a bucket of dirty water, spilling it. I am fearful as a woman SS walks toward me, I am afraid I will be punished. And I am. Or I almost am.
A man, a tall, blonde, hansome SS, steps between the two of us. He speaks in soft, Austrian-tinted German, telling the woman that I am not at fault. He apparently out ranks her, for she walks away. I am shocked as he helps me up off the floor.

The Germans, especially the SS, do not touch the prisoners, accept for the poor girls who are pretty enough to catch the men's eye. Then they are taken away, and I do not wish to even think of what is done to them. So, by reflex, I recoil from the man's touch. He smiles, and speaks softly.

"Do not fear me," he says, his long blonde hair tossed casually over his shoulder. "I will not harm you. Go. You will not be punished for an accident."

I thank him in mumbled Italian, my native language. He smiles again. "Arevederci," he says.

I turn from the man to leave, for the women who supervise us are calling; we must go back to camp. That means another meal of unidentifiable, arguably inedible food. I do not eat, I am not hungry, for I am too absorbed in my thoughts. I thought all the SS were evil. So why was that one man so nice? He seemed sincere when he said he would not hurt me. Why am I so eager to trust him?

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[Zechs]

I sit in the barracks, thinking of the day's events. That girl, the dark haired one, keeps coming to mind. I cannot explain why I prevented her punishment. She was pretty, but there must have been more to it, or I would have allowed the beating she no doubt would have recieved, I know I would have. But why? She was a Jewish sympathizer. She had aided Jews, no doubt. And the Jews are evil, aren't they? They are destroying the fatherland, are they not? She will --and should-- be treated as all the enemies of the Reich, should she not?

Then why can't I get that girl out of my mind?


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I hope you liked it so far. Write a review of email me about it!

-Mrs Chang