Flowers for Balaton, an Axis Powers: Hetalia/RDNA-verse Fanfiction
(Chapter 9: Road to Redemption)
"You're just a whore! You're an unholy monster that must be killed!" "Your precious Hungary has been humiliated by Comrade Braginsky, now you will be too…"
Marcus looked around; the all-too-familiar Void that was his subconsciousness had taken the form of what was now a very familiar place. The sounds of gunshots and crying prisoners were two of the most constant reminders that he was in a prison.
"Why are you showing me this…?" the Prussian thought to himself as he continued to walk through the halls of the prison, seemingly invisible to the guards and prisoners. He soon came across a cell that contained the anorexic, dishevelled body of a young Hungarian woman, who'd been just previously violated by an insane guard.
"Mein Gott…" Marcus felt the urge to vomit as he stared right into the young woman's eyes, which were begging for death. It seemed that the young woman, who was once known as Roza, was finally broken, physically and mentally…
"I wanted you to see this…" Roza sighed as she stood beside Marcus, looking at her own dying body, still trapped in the cell.
"This is how I died, Marcus…" the Magyar clenched her fists in anger; she wanted to rip off the cell doors and tell herself that she didn't have to die this way, but alas, it was too late for that…
"I don't want you to go this way, not like I, Maximillian or Darcy did…" Roza held Marcus's hand as he continued to look at her body in horror. "Ich verstehen…" Marcus nodded slowly, thinking about the trauma that the three had been put through.
One was a traitor; the other was a freedom fighter, while the other one was just trying to do what they thought was best for their country. Although, at most times, Marcus couldn't tell who was who…
"I'm sorry that you had to see it, but you had to know what killed me eventually…" Roza sighed as she squeezed his hand as two guards advanced towards the cell door, making Marcus cringe.
"It's ok… I understand, Roza…" Marcus grimaced as he made an attempt to turn his head away, knowing that something possibly even more gruesome than what was in front of him would take place. But as much as he tried to turn his head away, he couldn't.
Three gunshots quickly rung out as Marcus made one last attempt to shift his gaze as one of the guards put one last bullet in Roza's head, finally put the vengeful woman to rest.
"Tell Ivan that that cursed whore is dead… It took a lot, but she's finally dead…" one of the guards sneered at the bullet riddled corpse as his less-than-sane associate nodded and walked out of the room as everything faded to black…
Neu Wein, Royal Dominion of New Austria, April, 2023…
"Wake up… Marcus… Wake up!" Claude shook his subordinate as the young man continued to sleep soundly after downing what seemed like to be a lethal amount of whiskey.
The young Prussian had been drinking for most of the night after spending a few hours talking about Roza's stomach churning experiences during the Hungarian Revolution. During that time he'd managed to go through five bottles of whiskey, along with his hip-flask. "No wonder they wanted him to lay off the alcohol…" Claude sighed to himself as Marcus woke up, albeit a bit slowly…
"Mornin' Claude…" Marcus yawned as he got off the couch, which had become is default place to sleep for the past few nights. "Gut morgen, Marcus." Claude said with a smile as Marcus grabbed his Walkman off of the nearby table.
"How'd you sleep?" the Liechtensteiner said as Marcus sipped from a cup of coffee sitting on the nearby dinner table. "I slept well…" Marcus replied as he quickly finished the cup.
"I'm sorry for going a bit overboard last night…" the diplomat muttered. "I don't blame you for doing that, Marcus. I can imagine living a life such as yours; constantly fighting to keep your sanity in a world that hates you…"
Marcus nodded to Claude in response, after his two hour long alcohol and regret fuelled rant, he felt very sorry for himself. The memories of that incident in Port Elizabeth had flooded back that night, making him into an emotional wreck.
"Just try to keep calm, Marcus, you have me, you have the Agency, you have Lina and your family members to rely on…" Claude sighed as he put a hand on the young man's shoulder, hoping that he wouldn't snap at him.
"Ja… I try to, I really do…" Marcus stuttered as Claude suddenly hugged him, taking the young man by surprise. The young Prussian accepted the hug as he started to cry, gripping on Claude's uniform as he let out what seemed like centuries of repressed grief.
"Why did I have to be cursed with this insanity?" Marcus sobbed into Claude's shoulder as the latter continued to hold him. "You'll be fine, Marcus. Trust me…" Claude sighed as Marcus stopped crying.
"Y-you think so…?" Marcus stuttered as he let go of Claude and sat on the couch, trying to calm down as he noticed Roza standing behind him, giving him a reassuring smile, although with a stoic, but still somewhat shattered façade.
"Ja…" Claude nodded in response as Marcus wiped the tears from his face before quickly standing up. "I'm going to have a shower, and then I'll guess I'll have a proper breakfast…"
Claude nodded once again as Marcus walked to the safehouse's bathroom. The Liechtensteiner sighed for a moment, hoping that Marcus would survive the period of madness he was going through.
Either he would come out as a vengeful ghost inhabiting someone's head, or as a man who still had a long way to go on the road to redeeming all of his past sins…
-0-
Somewhere near Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, November, 1956…
"Comrade Braginsky!" a Red Army guard barked, alerting the grinning Nation to his presence. "Da~? What is it, comrade?" Russia turned around, staring straight into the young man's eyes.
"The Cursed One has been… dealt with." The guard said with an almost unflinching disregard for the former prisoner's life.
Russia gave the man a cold, unfeeling smile, possibly even a quiet laugh, but he couldn't tell… "You've just earned yourself a promotion; they're a threat to our existence as Nations, no matter what the rest of the world says about them, we will wipe out these abominations, wherever they are!"
The guard grinned enthusiastically as he saluted the Nation before walking out of the room, thinking about the privileges that his new rank would bring…
Russia turned around to his captive, who was too busy crying on the concrete floor. Hungary knew that her friend, who was almost a sister in her eyes, was brutally murdered by the puppets of an insane regime that had violated her body and mind, driving the latter insane, while Hungary herself was being 'interrogated' by Ivan.
"You fought well, Miss Hedervary, but not well enough…" Ivan sneered as he kicked the Nation in the ribs, sending her careening into the wall, her muffled crying being the only reminder that she was in pain.
"Hopefully this has taught you to never, ever cross me again…" the Russian glared at the rebellious Magyar as she nodded out of fear, possibly breaking her defiant warrior spirit. But she knew that deep down; it would take more than a bone breaking torture to do that…
"I'm so sorry… Roderich… Roza… I am truly, sorry…"