Divided We Fall

United We Stand

by raihaikyo

PART VII – Never Back Down

27 October 20:02

Berlin Crisis Part III

The GDR avoided looking across the border at all costs. At least that is what he tried telling himself and failed. He glanced over just in time to see his brother nod towards him and a small grin appeared on his face. Gilbert frowned lightly, wondering why he was nodding. Yet, what slightly worried him was the grin. It was not malicious in any way, which put him a bit at ease, but not entirely. Being close to his brother for more than 200 years gave him the experience of knowing what all of his expressions usualy meant. They shared a similar mindset when it came to planning and exactly that made him worry. The grin meant Ludwig had an idea and was going to set it in motion. (1)

Gilbert positioned himself next to the control post and faced the Russian tank where he could still see his brother out of the corner of his eye. The other general major remained inside the post.

Hours passed and the tank formation as the soldiers all remained in their places. It was a relief nothing happened, but Gilbert was getting worried. Russia had not contacted him for nearly 8 hours now. He could see the soldiers, who were on night duty also wondered how long this would continue. It was nearly 03:00 in the morning and Gilbert had split his time between sitting in the post to warm up and walking along the tanks to talk to the soldiers. They all seemed to know exactly who he really was and probably had been briefed before being deployed for this mission. Ludwig had left his post by the bakery at around midnight. There was no guarantee that he was not somewhere in the vicinity though. The fair-haired man just returned from his round when he spotted Schulenberg waiving at him from inside the small building. He hurried to him without trying to run. It would not bode well to do that in a situation like this one.

"What is it?" He asked entering the small building.

"Phone. General Braginski for you." The man announced.

"Thanks," Gilbert took the phone from him and waited until the man left.

"Beilschmidt."

"I've finally reached you..." Ivan sounded relieved, but his voice was even more strained since the last call.

"I was on patrol, sorry."

"No matter. I have nothing to report except for that the negotiation require more time. I know, it has been 8 hours already. Let's put it this way, there are still too many disagreements." The Russian sighed over the phone and Gilbert could practically see him close his eyes in frustration and exhaustion. "Anything to report on your side?"

"The border is secure, but the soldiers are getting restless. But they will follow orders no matter what." The German avoided mentioning the exchange with his brother. Once everything was over, he would tell him in person, but not now. Ivan needed to concentrate on the negotiations. The main goal on Gilbert's part was reached for now: the border was secure. Even if Gilbert would avoid saying anything, there were enough witnesses and overseers,who would report to their leader anyway. He just hoped beating them to it would be possible. Ivan should hear it from him, not a random stranger. They did not know the backstory behind it.

"This will be resolved as soon as possible. Stay close. I'll call you."

"Understood. Ivan…" Gilbert called his name, but then stopped. Taking a deep breath he forced himself to smirk, despite physically feeling like utter crap. The other man would hear the tone even over the phone. "Make him pay." There was no need to say the name. They both knew who he was referring to. Former Prussia, now the GDR wanted to see the American, who called himself a hero suffer in any way possible. Even if it was just a bit. That guy had signed his death sentence with a smile.

"It would be my pleasure." The other replied snickering lightly.

Hearing Ivan being more laid-back just for a second made him feel surprisingly pleased. Gilbert knew Ivan would make life difficult for Alfred even without being told to by someone. The American leaders were rude egomaniacs of which Alfred F. Jones was the physical manifestation. They needed a power as a counter balance and the whole of USSR had become one. Some nations had been more willing than others, but in the end they all were in this together. Being able to tell Ivan to get some payback and have him actually joke back was for some reason special. Gilbert could not even explain why he felt that way.

"Tell the soldiers I appreciate their effort and it will be resolved. I won't go anywhere until I have results we are satisfied with."

"I will," he promised while glancing at the tank formations.

Ivan ended the call afterwards and Gilbert closed his eyes with a sigh. He grabbed the table with both hands to steady himself. Being on his feet without break for more than 20 hours and a painful wound was taking its toll even on him. In all honesty, he wanted to curl up right on this very floor in this little post and sleep for all eternity.

The soldiers were serving in shifts. Sleeping with their weapons in hand in nearby buildings and inside the tanks. He did not have any shut eye even once.

Just a bit longer, he told himself and pushed his body away from the table. The wound started to ache again with the sudden movement. Gilbert hissed lightly and bit his lower lip to silence any other noises that might come out of his mouth. He had survived two world wars and he would survive this too.

It probably was even worse for Russia. Gilbert could effort to show he was tired now and then. The national spirit of the whole USSR was not allowed to show any weakness at all during negotiations. Not even a bit for Alfred and his bosses would notice and use it against him.

"Resolve this, Ivan," he said softly curling his hands into fists. It was only a matter of time before malcontent would follow among the military. Soldiers were human too and could take only so much.

Oh yes, this chapter is short compared to the other ones and it was done on purpose. The next part is after all called 'Standoff'.

See You in Part VIII – Standoff – Berlin Crisis Part IV

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Additonal Info:

Here I'm introducing the next stage of this fanfic which will involve the term 'Ostpolitik', the Stasi and double agents on both West and East Germany. As always I will use some historical facts as the basic outline of the story, but everything else will be just my own imagination. I think the tune to describe the future parts is done best by Two Steps From Hell - ASAP.

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Reviews:

Wolfgang: I'm glad to know you found the exchange between the brothers was tense and conflicted. I was somewhat worried I wouldn't make it intense enough. But it's good to know you noticed it. And yes, since I follow history Germany has to be unified. However, I don't plan to make the 'unification' as it is usually portrayed in fanfiction. This is just my personal opinion, but I find the usual endings too idealistic and not realistic at all. As a reviewer so wonderfully put it: this is not a Disney , in this story there will be quite a few unexpected things. As for Russia and Prussia…well, I don't want to reveal too much here. ^^ Thank you for reading! I will continue to do my best and update regularly.

JJ: Thank you very much for checking out the story! I have half of the story planned out and some parts written up already. I definitely want to finish it.

Guest: It may sound silly now to hear about secret codes and secure lines. But it really seems this was only the top of the ice berg in real life during the Cold War. More seemingly silly things are about to follow in future chapters! Thank you very much for reading!