Chapter II

CASTing the Die

All the World's a Stage, and All the Men and Women merely Players upon it.

Before any good story can be told, its players, must be introduced.

'Another day as usual…'

The man stood at full attention, the unmistakeable red brick guardhouse obscuring his vision of the blood-red horizon and the train tracks leading from it.

Like the entrance to hell.

His cold, hard impassable eyes obscured by the spectacles he wore. His black helmet was pulled over his brown-haired head to hide his equally-brown eyes from the piercing sun even as his body sweated within his black uniform, the unmistakeable red armband fastened firmly around his right bicep.

There, he heard the train approaching, its unmistakeable chugging clearly heard within the silent gathering as hundreds of men dressed in black waited at the station for the next delivery.

'Right on time, as usual.' He thought, his head turning very quickly to the large clock fastened on the station house. 'I wonder how many will survive the selections today…'

Very quickly the train came into view, the giant lumbering hulk of metal chugging through the gatehouse, down the tracks and skidding to a halt at the station. Immediately as it stopped, the iron doors of the cargo carriages opened as iron ramps were dropped onto the floor.

On cue, waiting guards dressed in complete black marched up into the dark carriages, their boots thumping dully as they brought out hundreds of civilians from the carriages.

The civilians began lining up in columns, ushered and ordered by the guards, the man himself having a column in front of him.

"Right." He said curtly to the one in front of him, a young man still in his prime. By his word, a guard took a hold of him and led him towards a slowly-growing group of civilians.

"Left." He said immediately as the next came into view, a young woman with a baby, no more than a year old, still hanging in her arms. At his word, another guard ushered her over towards another group, its population growing at least twice as fast as the other. His eyes were stone cold on each and every one in front of him, his directions given within a split second of each coming into view.

'The ones to the right will be admitted into the camp.' He thought to himself as he saw the column in front of him diminish. 'The ones to the left…' He called out for a doctor as the next subject came before him, wheezing and coughing as she did so.

"Do you have to call me for this lost case?" The man said as he approached him, a black suitcase in his hand. "It's obvious about what happens to sickly ones like these." He pointed his suitcase at her, before turning around and continuing down the line.

The man signed as he watched him go. "Left." He shouted, not bothering to turn back again until the woman had been taken away. "Left." He said again as a young girl, who couldn't have been older than ten came before him.

"Sir, sir…" The man behind her asked, a hand firmly grasping her shoulders. "Where are we going now actually? She…Is my daughter, and I want her to stay close to me…"

"We're sending some of you for showers and de-lousing first." The black-clad man said, smiling sadly at him. "The rest of you we're sending to the barracks to set up your bunks for now. For you, to the barracks; we will reunite you later. Right."

"I see…" He said, before speaking a few words to the child as the two were separated, their hands waving goodbye to each other.

'I hope you do treasure those last few words…' He thought grimly to himself as he continued his evaluation.

Very quickly the lines diminished as those sent to the 'Right' walked across the rail tracks and into the main compound, surrounded by high, solid, and dominating white walls. The man then quickly joined a group of other men, gathering by the 'Left' group.

"This is everyone?" He asked one of the guards next to the group.

"Yeah, looks like this is everyone from this shipment." He replied, holding his rifle firmly in hand.

"Alright then, let's go." He said, before turning around and motioning to the guards surrounding the cluster, who then forced the group into a column, following the man and the guards at the front. Their boots and shoes made an ominous march through this silent half of the station.

Very quickly the large group reached a low, red brick building with a number of people, dressed in striped prison fatigues, stood to attention alongside a few more guards.

"Alright everyone!" The man shouted out as the group reached the gates, the civilians forming a long line stretching out in front of him. "You lot are to have a shower, and undergo de-lousing before being admitted into the camp." A few murmurs came from the group about louses and their lack thereof, but the guards quickly silenced them.

"Please go into the building and undress in the front room." He continued after silence was regained. "Leave all your personal effects and clothes there. When you are done, step into the shower chamber next door." He clapped his hands as he finished, the guards ushering the civilians into the building as they stood outside, waiting for them to finish.

Very quickly the men, women and children finished undressing, before walking into shower chamber. As they all began filing in, the man noticed the young girl he had separated from her father walking in. He gritted his teeth as he watched her disappear, cursing himself as he steeled his will, rooting his feet in place as his breathing deepened.

As soon as they were all filed in, a number of the guards stepped through and closed the solid iron doors leading into the dark chambers, locking them with an ominous clang.

At that moment he signalled to the men in prison fatigues, who grimly disappeared around the side of the building with several other men clad in black, picking up small metal canisters along the way.

"Those sent to the right are admitted into the camp, where they will live out the rest of their short lives with hard labour." He spoke softly after a brief moment so nobody could hear him. "Those sent to the left…"

"Are to be gassed to death."

As if by cue, a hundred screams of pain erupted from the building, chaos gripping all those inside as a silent, deadly killer weaved its way within their lungs. The pounding of their fists could be heard on the walls and even on the metal door, the man's heart taking an equally hard beating within.

"I hope you do treasure those last few words…Because they will be the last you will have between the two of you." He continued.

It wasn't even ten minutes before the screams began to abate, an ominous silence as the feel of death slowly descended around those standing in front of the building.

"Kiyoteru!" A voice shouted from behind him as the man turned around, recognising the voice.

"Commandant, Sir!" He shouted in reply, saluting.

"At ease." The blond man said as he walked up to him, the man's black felt cap covering his bespectacled eyes as he walked up to the waiting man. His black clothes were unmistakeably that of an officer, his rank emblazoned on his right shoulder above the red armband.

"How may I be of service, sir?" Kiyoteru replied, his hand falling back to his side.

"I need you to escort our shipment on the train to our subcamp." He said curtly, smiling tiredly at the man. "I…need to return back to Berlin very quickly. My daughter..."

"I will take care of it, sir." He nodded his reply in understanding, before saluting again.

"I am sure you will. Thank you." His superior saluted in return, before turning around again with his escort, disappearing among the rows of buildings.

'Another day as usual at Auschwitz Birkenau.' Kiyoteru thought to himself, before turning around and moving off in another direction to carry out his orders.

'Oh, what a wretched man I am…'

"Alright then…" The young man said as he looked briefly around the trunk of a tree. "The guards are changing out in a few more minutes…Everyone ready?" He turned around to look at the group of 20 or so youngsters like himself as they nodded their agreement.

They were a rough bunch, a group of young men and women who had decided to do something to help out their oppressed homeland, Poland, rather than sit back and watch having it whipped to its demise like a slave.

'And I'm the unlikely leader of them all eh…' The young blond said as he smiled grimly. 'Today we're gonna take out this fuel depot; it's a major stopping point for tanks and convoys so there'll be plenty to bomb.'

The man was dressed in tight-fitting, irregularly coloured dark trousers and another tattered, sleeveless dark green shirt. His sturdy combat boots crunched the cobblestone ground as he held a bolt-action rifle in his hands with two stick grenades by his waist alongside a smoke grenade. His group, all hidden within the shadows were dressed in similar clothes as his own.

"Alright then, let's go over the plan one more time." He nodded his acknowledgement, before speaking again. "You eleven, you're with me." He gestured at a group in the shadows. "We'll create as much of a distraction as we can among the guards. Miku, Kaito." He pointed to the two as he continued.

"Find both the telephone and power wires and cut them so they won't be getting any reinforcements anytime soon; out here they shouldn't have a wireless so we're OK. We're giving you three minutes to find them and cut them." He saw the teal-haired woman and blue-haired man nod their agreement within the shadows, before he continued issuing orders.

"The rest of you, find and plant as many explosives on the fuel tanks and vehicles as you can. Remember everyone; we only have 15 minutes before those bombs go, and the entire district will be on us. We have to get in, plant, then get out. We can't stay to help anyone who gets left behind, remember that."

"Yes, sir." The group said in unison.

"Ok…" He turned around the oak tree again. "They're changing…Miku, Kaito, Go!" He whispered his command, his eyes seeing two figures disappear from the corner of his eyes. "Three minutes…" He began counting in his head as he watched around the oak tree.

"177…178…179…Alright everyone, let's go!" He shouted, before tossing his smoke grenade into the middle of the depot.

The metal canister collided with the floor in a few dull clangs, before rolling in front of a guard and spewing its white contents everywhere with a hiss.

A large number of angry shouts could be heard within the smoke as the guards rushed around trying to find their way, calling out to each other in preparation for an attack. A number raced to the main building in an attempt to call up support as chaos ensued.

Within the smoke, the rebels rushed around, quickly identifying the guards with their black uniforms within the white mist. Quickly and as silently as possible they put down their targets with a point-blank shot in the head, the muffled bangs obscured slightly by the chaos.

The smoke, and the guard's initial disorientation didn't last for very long however, and very soon the rebels found themselves in a dangerous gunfight within the depot's iron tanks and stone buildings.

"Shit, they're on to us!" One of the rebels muttered, even as he pulled the trigger and sent a man toppling back with a shot to the head.

"We supposed to keep them distracted anyway!" Another said, pulling the bolt back on her rifle behind a building.

"Len, we got the wires!" Kaito shouted as he and Miku appeared around a fuel tank.

"Good work; we don't need to worry too much about reinforcements then." The blond shouted back as he turned to them.

'Good, they're safe at least.' Len smiled at the two as they approached, rifle in hand.

"Sir, we're out of explosives!" Another group of two came around a building on the opposite side.

"Alright, we're almost done here!" Len shouted jubilantly.

'This is going pretty well…' He thought to himself as he counted how many of his group he still had left with him. 'My group lost one in the smoke; there's still ten here. Two of the saboteurs came back, and Miku and Kaito are safe for now…Still another five more of the bombers to come back then…' His mind was brought back to the present by a sudden rumbling sound coming from within the camp.

"Oh shit…" He cursed as his ears recognised the sounds. "It's a Tank!"

"They have a Tank!" Kaito shouted in surprise.

"We're fucked if they have a Tank!" One of his group shouted.

"We don't have any Anti-Tank weapons with us!" Another shouted.

"We're all gonna be killed!" Miku shouted. "Len, do something!"

"Alright!" He shouted, plans forming within his brain as he looked around the corner, seeing the rumbling hulk turning out from a number of stone buildings towards them. "You six, form into groups of two each and find the rest of the saboteurs, tell them to hurry up and get out of here! You four, you're with me. Kaito, Miku, you too!"

"What're we gonna do?" Miku asked, standing closer to the blond.

"We're gonna take out that tank…" Len muttered as he saw his group disperse. "It'll provide enough of a distraction, but we're gonna have to move out and away from these fuel tanks! Follow me!"

'Shit, this isn't going to go good…'

The hospital was crowded today.

The waiting room was full to the rafters, the seats all taken up already by men and women alike waiting to be seen by a doctor, the administrative staff behind the counter in complete chaos as they tried to sort out the incoming reports and requests.

'Hmm, this isn't good…' A young woman said as she opened the backdoor to the room, holding a clipboard to her chest, her white nurse outfit descending below her knees alongside her long blonde hair tied into a single ponytail. 'I'd better get the doctor's letters and get back upstairs as soon as possible.'

Very quickly she weaved her way through the crowded place, dodging men and women carrying stacks of paper and trays of coffee. Soon she reached a wall with dozens of pigeon holes through it.

"Alright, now, where's the doctor's…" She whispered to herself as she dodged another woman rushing by with more letters. "Ah, here we are!" She said to herself as her hand lashed forwards, grabbing a stack of papers within one of the boxes. "Alright, time to get out of here." Quickly, she followed her own advice, and made her way back to the room's exit.

"Hmm…The report came in today huh…" She said as she looked through the letters. "I'd better pass this to the doctor first."

'But I wonder why it is so crowded today…' She thought to herself as she walked along the quieter corridors of the hospital's interior. 'Sure, we are at war, but there shouldn't be so many patients here at the Capital…What's happening…'

Very quickly she reached her destination, and knocked on the door three times, before a voice behind it admitted her.

"Doctor, here's the latest reports we've received." The young woman said as she walked in, passing the stack in her hands to the elderly man at his desk.

"Ah, thank you very much." The man replied, looking up at her from his work, reaching out and taking the stack, his white coat brushing lightly over his documents. "How is she now, anyway?"

"Her body has always been very weak, doctor." The woman replied, sadly as she held a clipboard to her chest. "Right now she seems to be doing alright."

"Hmm…" The man nodded his head, before tearing open the top letter with his finger and reading the words within.

"Interesting…" He muttered after a long while as he read it. "This really is something new…" He licked his lips as he thought.

"What is it, doctor?" She asked, slightly impatient now.

"The symptoms she has are similar to Multiple Sclerosis, but…" He replied, giving her the letter to read. "They are progressing too quickly for that to be correct. It seems to be something else rarer, without a cure as well."

"Dear…" She whispered as she read the report, biting her lower lip as she read it.

"It appears that this disease only strikes those who are normally very weak…" The man said as he continued reading. "So I guess, with her…"

"It isn't much of a surprise then." The blonde woman said, finishing his sentence as she held the paper, reading.

"Yes indeed." He opened another file, before standing up and walking to the window to read it more carefully. "As I said, the symptoms are similar, but at a far faster pace. Multiple Sclerosis patients can live out most of their lives normally. But in this case…"

"Patients don't live for much more than 1 year." The woman said, looking up from the letter aghast.

"Progressive parallel disability from the legs upwards will paralyse her first." He said, nodding sadly as he placed the documents on the table, looking out the window. "Afterwards it will make it difficult for swallowing food, then breathing. Then inevitably her body will cease to respond properly at all. But, there is apparently hope…"

He began to walk around his table, looking at a map pinned on the wall. "There have been reports of weak patients making an almost complete recovery if they regain their strength against diseases. So with that, it is possible for her too to make a full recovery…"

"Provided she can gain strength when she originally had none." The woman said frankly.

"After living in such a crowded city such as this…" The man said, gesturing to his window, the myriad of cars and smog clouding everything, "She is like a flower without any sunshine." He then moved towards his desk as he shuffled through the stack, reading each very quickly.

The woman blinked several times at this, understanding what he was referring to.

"Her father is on the way as we speak." The doctor continued regardless. "Please pass on the information to him when he arrives; I'm due to go into the operation room soon and I won't be free for the rest of the day."

He turned around to her as he handed a few pages from the stack. "Explain the situation to them, and see what he says. Please give him my blessings as well. Thanks, Neru." He nodded once at her.

The woman nodded once in reply, before turning around and walking out of the room with the notes in hand.

'I wonder how they are going to take this…'

The hospital room was quiet.

There in the single bed within the empty room, sat a young blonde woman as she looked out of the window.

She was dressed in a simple long, light blue shirt that covered her from her shoulder down to her knees. Her eyes, although tired, still had a small spark of life within her as she watched the birds outside play in the wind.

'It must be nice, being able to play so energetically…' She thought to herself. 'Here I am…Sometimes I can't even feel my feet anymore…Sometimes…How much longer, I wonder…'

She heard a soft click from the door on the opposite side of the room. Turning her head around, she smiled at the incoming guest.

"Neru." She said clearly as the blonde came towards her.

"Here's your lunch." Neru said as she placed a metal tray down onto the woman's lap. "We don't want you starving in your condition now, do we?" She smiled at her as she dragged a chair over to the bedside, sitting down to accompany her.

"You're always so good to me." The woman smiled gently as she picked up the knife and fork, and began to eat. "Thanks for always coming."

"Oh, don't worry, it's my job after all." Neru smiled back, watching her friend dig into the meal. Her smile soon faded though, as she thought about what the doctor said.

"What did the doctor say?" The woman asked, smiling again as she left her food for a brief while.

"Ah, how did you know?" Neru asked, taken by surprise.

"Haha, you always talk to the doctor before you come to see me, you know." She laughed gently. "So come on, what did he say?"

"Mmm…" She fidgeted a bit, before giving her the report she held in her hand.

"He says that what you have is very rare; and only occurs with people that are normally very weak."

"I'm not very surprised." She replied sadly as she read it.

'Ah, so it was true…'

"The few patients we know of usually don't live for much longer than a year." Neru continued. "It's similar to another disease that usually takes many years to set in, but you have something that is acting far faster than that."

"A year, huh…" The woman said, resigned to it.

'My weak body really is destined to die so quickly…'

"Well, the doctor says that there is hope…" Neru continued, brightening. "Some patients who have had this before, have made a full recovery if they can regain their strength."

"I think that it isn't really that much of an option for me though." She smiled tiredly. "I've always been very weak; it's not like I can make such a recovery when I never had any strength."

"You may as well try!" Neru said fiercely, standing up as her friend was taken aback.

"Neru…" She mumbled.

"What do you have to lose if you just try?" She continued furiously. "The doctor said that even a change of scenery is enough to improve any person's strength, so if even something as simple and easy as that can work, then what do you have to lose if you try? You'd certainly have your entire life to lose if you don't!"

"Neru…" The woman repeated again.

"And…And…" She began to stumble now, running out of things to say. "I…Ah!" She exclaimed as she felt the young woman grab her hand suddenly.

"Thank you, Neru." The blonde smiled at her as she held her hand. "Thank you for worrying about me. Maybe a trip to the countryside wouldn't be too bad, after all…'

"Rin…" Neru murmured, holding onto her friend's hand as she slowly sat back down on the chair.

A moment of silence permeated the air as the two sat, watching each other and enjoying the company, before suddenly the door behind them opened up.

"Rin!" A voice almost shouted.

Neru quickly stood up and turned around, meeting face to face with a man clad in black, a felt hat held firmly in his white gloved hand, a red armband fastened around its bicep as his blue eyes stared intently from behind his spectacles, strands of blond hair covering them partially.

"Father…" Rin replied, looking at him.

"Sir." Neru said, blinking several times before she turned to the woman in bed, who nodded at her, passing the document she still held in her hands. "I'll brief you very quickly on the situation." She quickly walked towards to the man, and lead him out of the room.

Rin sat there in bed, watching the two disappear around the door as it closed shut. She closed her eyes and sighed briefly, before turning back to the food on her lap.

'I wonder how the countryside is like…'

A small group of people could be seen resting within the forest's thicket, even as an almighty explosion could be heard from the distance.

"Shit, that Panzer Tank almost killed all of us!" A man cursed.

"Yeah, but at least we got the depot." Another shouted in reply.

"They won't be able to stage too many operations in this area anymore, that's for sure…" Len replied, even as he cursed himself for not planning further.

'Shit, that killed almost half of us…' The blond thought to himself, as images of his troop being gunned down effortlessly played back in his mind. 'I should have known that they'd have a functioning tank; it is a depot after all…'

"Kaito…" Miku moaned. "Kaito…"

"What is it, Miku?" The blue-haired man asked, his head hanging limply as he panted.

"This is getting too risky…" She muttered quietly. "We almost died this time…Why can't we just live like normal people? Instead of fighting every day and risking our lives for something like this? In the end when the war ends either way…who'll credit us for little things like this?"

"I know what you mean, Miku…" He said, letting an arm snake across her shoulders. "I'm getting tired of it too…"

The two rested there, sitting side-by-side as they panted, worry about their future, and their life, running through their minds.

"What do you say…" The teal-haired woman began, whispering into her partner's ear. "We dump these guys to the Germans…And live a normal life? Together?"

First things first, 2 weeks without an update...Hmm, I'll be seeing how often I can update this one, 2 weeks seems to be a relatively good number though, so maybe expect the next one out by then (unless the reviews end up changing my mind). I intend to keep this one relatively short in terms of chapters, but longer than the average one-shot I find floating about the place.

The plot thickens eh? I'm expecting Miku & Kaito fans to blam me for this, but then if you are one of them, then I should ask why are you reading a fanfic focusing on the TWINS? Regardless, I have some 'special' plans for the two later which will come around in due time.

I hope the 'cast' of the show is to people's liking; I thought that just having a story including just the twins will be very short, very typical, and very boring so I decided to spice things up a bit. Who knows where this'll go though, so please keep reading the next chapters!

How's it going so far anyway? Comments? Reviews? Blams? Flames? I'd like anything you want to throw at this. I'm not sure whether I should be a prick and impose a '5 review then I update' kinda thing, but something tells me I probably shouldn't do that...

10/01/2011