A ROSE FOR THE LOST
The makeshift bench he had put together with a few cinder-blocks and a plank of wood was cold as he sat there, a carnation hanging limply from within his fingertips. It was beginning to whither, having been uprooted that morning and in his grasp the entirety of the day. There was no way he could lay it down, however. It didn't make up for anything that had happened. One, simple carnation couldn't put back together all the lives that had been destroyed by his nutso boss' actions. It just couldn't be done. And yet here he was sitting outside of the gate of an old concentration camp, holding a wilting carnation. He was afraid to lay it down; as if thinking that offering it to those that had died here would make things a little better for his own guilt, even if no one else saw that he recognized the wrong of it all.
Azure eyes lifted and he read the Polish-made sign with its cracked, German lettering peeling off with the paint. The name was one that would, no doubt, haunt many people for years and years to come, though the war had been over and the camp liberated for quite some time.
"Auschwitz." he read it aloud and listened to his own voice tremble as he did so. This place was a horrible place; he could acknowledge that fact. He knew his being there wasn't right, especially in the Germany Army uniform he casually wore. It attracted the wrong kinds of stares, and God-forbid he be hauled off like some kind of war-criminal. But he also knew that, whatever that crazy Fuhrer had done, it was over now and if there was ever right to be made, he needed to be the first one to step in the direction.
"Ludwig?" a familiar voice turned his blonde head and he blinked in surprise to find a familiar brunette with a curled hair strand standing behind him. He had a bouquet of roses in paper in his hands and wore the official army uniform of North Italy. He would have looked very regal indeed if he didn't have such a childish face, Ludwig thought.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, turning back around to scowl down at the carnation in his hands. He didn't really want Veneziano to be there, but at the same time he had no heart to tell him to leave. The brunette didn't seem to mind; coming around the side of the bench and sitting beside the German when he scooted aside to make the room.
"I wanted to bring flowers… I got the most expensive ones I could afford, but it really doesn't seem like it should be enough, does it?" the question from Veneziano stilled something in Ludwig as he turned his head to glance at the other one more time. His fingers constricted tighter around the carnation in his hands and he watched the brunette as he stared straight ahead. His eyes were serious and a sad smile lit his mouth as he too clutched at his purchase in a nervous way before continuing. "So many of my friends were labeled traitors and sent here and all I could do was watch… Even if I apologize, it really shouldn't be enough just knowing how much they suffered when I couldn't do anything to stop it…"
"Shut up." Ludwig didn't even realize he had spoken until Veneziano's dark eyes found his own blues. Pinching his lips shut, he glared back down at the pathetic excuse of a flower in his hands. Veneziano did not get angry at him, though. Instead a smile came onto his face and he laid a hand on the two so tightly enclosed around that single, wilting flower.
"Still… It must be even harder standing here for you. Whether it was what you wanted or not, you were made to make people suffer and for that isn't something you can make better easily-" he was cut off once more.
"SHUT UP, I SAID!" getting to his feet, it was all Ludwig could do to keep from smacking the poor, stupid Italian. His hands balled into fists at his sides and he he found himself yelling at the other before he could do much to stop himself. "What do you know about the situation I'm in! Don't you understand? I condemned your people! I dragged their bodies out to mass graves! I gassed them, starved them, and treated them like dirt because they did not see things the way Herr Fuhrer did! I killed your people! You don't have a sliver of knowledge of what something like that feels like!" Azure eyes stung with tears and he threw the carnation into the dirt, waiting for Veneziano to start crying as he turned his back.
"You're right," he said in a small voice, "I don't know what that feels like." Ludwig harrumphed at a small feeling of triumph that flashed through him. He had expected Veneziano to walk away, but he didn't. A scuff of his shoes turned Ludwigs head and he watched him kneel to pick up the carnation where it had landed. With the bouquet of roses under his arm, he dusted the brown from those soft, white petals. Then, very carefully, he tucked it into the ribbon around his own bouquet, laying it very neatly before the front gate. Heaving himself back onto his feet, he brushed the dirt from the knees of his uniform and folded his hands behind his back. Ludwig just stared angrily at the bouquet with that ugly, limp carnation assuming it had some rightful place with the roses.
"Glad you see it my way." he said in a sour tone and just as he was turning to go, the Italian said something that stopped the German in his tracks.
"I forgive you, Ludwig." he said gently. The blondes heart gave a painful throb and he turned his head down to fight off the tears that had begun down his face once more. He was wiping at them furiously when Veneziano came around his front and pulled his arms down to offer up a carefree smile to the larger male. "Let's go get something to eat~" he laughed and Ludwig couldn't help but smile as he shook his head.
"We're having bratwurst and beer." he said and North Italy's tongue hung out of his mouth in a displeasured way.
"Spaghetti! Spaghetti!" he cried childishly as the two of them walked away together, the bouquet of roses shining in the evening light; their colour set off by one, humble carnation.