So I was reading Milkweed late night and stayed up all night writing it. This is probably my longest one-shot as well as sad!stuck. Wow. My friend started crying while reading it, so that's the main reason why it's here.
WARNING: This takes place in Nazi Germany. There will be references to concentration camps.
Disclaimer: I don't own Homestuck or Milkweed.
Aradia=Ariana
Karkat=Karter
Nepeta=Neta
Kanaya=Kanya
Terezi=Teresa
Equius=Edward
Feferi=Farrah
1939
You never really noticed him until he started wearing that band. You've seen him before, with his snow white hair, amd you realized he was handsome, but you only started memorizing his features only when he started wearing the band.
You didn't wear a band like that- only the Jews did. Which meant your snowy-haired boy was scum, not a pure German like you. But you still felt your heart thump whenever you saw him.
Whenever it was your turn to get groceries with the little money you and your family had, you went to all the stores he went to. You wanted to met this boy, to see his red eyes light up when you spoke. You wanted your name- Neta Leijon- to stay in his mind for the rest of the day.
Sadly, you didn't know his name. However, you came up with numerous names for the albino that captured your heart as you laid in bed at night. Klaus Hermann, Japer Peterson, Adolf Schriner; the list went on and on. Secretly, you hoped his name was the same as Germany's leader- Adolf Hitler. No one could ever hate a Jew with the same name as your leader!
You told your half-sister, Kanya, about the boy. Once you finished recounting your tale of tragic love, Kanya only shook her head at you.
"Jews aren't like us, Neta. That boy will break your heart into pieces and he won't even care. They are monsters and inhuman." You laughed off Kanya's warning. They was no way Adolf Schriner, or whatever his name may be, could hurt you! You loved him too much for the thought to even cross your mind.
After the conversation with Kanya, you decided to go see Ariana, one of your very close friends. She lived near the Jews' ghetto, but her door wasn't marked with a yellow star. Ariana was a purebred German. She was safe to be around.
On the way to her house, you passed many Jews. They walked with their heads down, trying to blend in the rest of you. Their yellow and white armbands called them out in the crowd, making their efforts futile.
"Hey, Karkles!" a girl called once you neared Ariana's house. You were really close to the ghetto, and Jewish children ran around in the streets. The girl's eyes were closed and she held a cane in one of her hands.
A snowy head popped out from an alleyway. Your breath hitched. It was him! Your beautiful Adolf Schriner!
"What do you want, Teresa?" he growled at the blind girl. You felt your eyes widen slightly. His voice was much more gravelly than you thought it would be.
"Can you walk me home? I've been wandering around the square in circles for awhile now," the girl- Teresa- asked. For a moment, you wish you were Teresa so your lovely albino could hold your hand as he walked you home.
"Can't you find your own way home?" the albino asked. He was completely out of the alleyway, showing off his tattered clothes. The only piece of his outfit that wasn't trashed completely was that band. He held a small piece of bread in his hand. Your Adolf Schriner was scrounging for food! You couldn't believe your eyes!
"I wouldn't ask for your help if I didn't need it. You know that, Karter," Teresa said, trying to reason with him.
In your chest, your heart did a little jig. You knew his name! It wasn't Adolf, but Karter seemed to fit him better. Karter and Neta. Neta and Karter.
Karter grunted. "Fine." He walked over and took hold of Teresa's hand. You sas his eyes pass over you, then lock on.
"What are you looking at?" His words came out as a snarl. You forgot all about visiting Ariana as you turned and fled.
In no time, you were back home. you sat on the steps leading to your house and breathed heavily from your run. Your true love had a name, and it was a wonderful name indeed.
"Karter," you whispered as your breath turned to fog in the cold air. You couldn't help but smile.
"Why are they still here?" snarled your older cousin, Edward. Edward was almost like a big brother to you. He watched over you, and he was your bestest friend in the whole world. He supported Nazism, so you did too. He liked Hitler, so you liked Hitler. Edward was usually right about everything, as well as really smart and strong. You wanted to be like him someday.
"Who's still here?" you asked. You followed him through the throng of people on the streets.
"The filth. Those Jews are still here! Why haven't they been sent away like the others?" Many people, German and Jude alike, turned to take a look at Edward. He glared at the Jews, who then put their heads down and carried on.
"Life would be so much better with them gone," Edward said inside the grocer's. he reached up and grabbed some bread. You nodded your hear stiffly, but you couldn't disagree more. Without the Jews, there wouldn't be any Karter. Karter was just as great as Edward.
Maybe he was even greater.
1941
The war was still going strong. Almost every week, there was an air raid drill. Almost every week, Jews were paraded through the streets. Almost every week, you were disappointed.
You haven't seen Karter in two years. You knew he was taken away, just like the rest of the Jews, as well as the gypsies and the cripples. You didn't know where he was, but you wanted to see his face again. You were fifteen now, and something told you that Karter wasn't coming back. You knew he was. You hoped he would.
You bounded down the steps as you left the house to go see Farrah, one of your new friends. She was rich, and she always had a full stomach. Unlike you.
You passed many houses and streets, for Farrah lives quite a distance from your house, but you still heard the jeers. You stop dead in your tracks. There was a Jew parade.
You turn around and your eyes met a pair of rubies. The rubies belonged to a short boy who looked to be around your age, with tufts of snow for hair. You make a strangled sound.
Karter.
Your albino looks around the square defeatedly, as if there was nothing familiar about it. I'm still here, you want to say. I'm still familiar.
Unfortunately, Karter couldn't hear the words you spoke with your mind. He lets out a cry and the Nazis are upon him in seconds. They rip his shirt off as their commander brandishes his whip.
Your eyes widen. No.
Candy red blood runs down Karter's back with every slap of the whip. The sounds he's making are animalistic. It breaks your heart your hear him cry out in pain.
No.
He lays there, unmoving. The Nazis kicked his body.
No.
Blood pools around Karter, glinting in the sunlight. It looks like his eyes.
No.
His hair is now red, stained by his wounds. His skin deathly pale.
No.
This has to be a dream. You have to wake up. Nothing happens. You feel the tears run down your cheeks. You run home, just like when Karter yelled at you. Only now, your heart isn't pumping wildly.
In fact, it feels like it's slowing down. Just like Karter's had moments before.
"Oh, Karter," you whisper once you're safely in your house. Your sobs echo throughout the house as you mourn him.
Farewell, my true love.
1942
You are dead. You don't know how you died exactly, but you knew you just didn't wake up that day. You also knew it was around the anniversary of Karter's death.
You watched from above as Edward and Kanya cried on their knees in front of your tombstone. It wasn't grand, that tombstone. It only bore your name, your birthday, and your date of death. Your tombstone was also alone. How you wished there was another one beside it, bearing Karter's name. You would've died happy, then.
You look up at the sky and decide it was time to go. You kissed both Edward and Kanya on the forehead before you began your ascent.
You look at your back to see if you had wings, like an angel. You didn't. You shrugged off your slight disappointment.
As you start to touch the clouds, you smile. Maybe you could see Karter in heaven. Your smile grew wider at the thought of his ruby eyes.
You hope he isn't wearing that stupid armband.
Okay. I just want to say that I based Neta/Nepeta's feelings off of those seen in Milkweed by the narrator. I honestly do not feel this way at all. I am sorry if I offended anyone through this work, but this is what happened in Nazi Germany.
I want to thank cobaltMnemosyne for being such an awesome editor, like always.
I got a request a while ago for some Nepkat, and I really, really wanted to write some sad!stuck. There's today's backstory.
Until Next Time,
Gravity