Ulrich looked at me from the corner of his eye with a smile.

"You can turn it on if you want to."

I looked at him with a light blush.

"Oh, but..."

"You are going through a hard time. Little moments like these keep our sanity."

"...Thank you, Ulrich."

So I turned on the car's music player and the song I had been wanting to listen for quite some time started playing.

Du, du hast / Du hast mich

It makes me a little embarrassed to admit I am quite fond of this group and the genre in general. I have heard some say it doesn't 'fit' me. And those who say my language is perfect for it. I hadn't been myself in such a long time...Since that revolutions started I was meeting by meeting, worry by worry. There were days when I just wanted to stay in bed for days, and I couldn't even afford a simple six or seven hour sleep. There were only worrying news, wherever I looked. First little Liechtenstein's kidnapping, then the horrible murder of Sealand's people, which resulted in the death of the nation, revolts which spread in all countries, in all continents, Austria and Switzerland having been caught violating the rights of the only person arrested for Liechtenstein's kidnapping, and to make things words there was a rumor about a mobilization of China's, Russia's and America's armies which they had accorded secretly.

Those were not days for self-care. It had been such a long time since I didn't speak to someone about something that was not violence and destruction...

Du hast mich gefragt / Und ich hab nichts gesagt

"I used to go to these guys' concerts when I was young" Ulrich smiled.

"Maybe I can get you an autograph" I told him.

"You are too nice, Mr. Germany."

I smiled.

Unfortunately, the smile lasted barely a few seconds before the impact wiped it out of our faces.

I can't say much about those moments because everything became confusing, so I will go to the moment when I realized the car we were travelling in was wrecked and Ulrich and I were bleeding.

"Ulrich!" I called him.

He didn't move. With difficulty, I got to get rid of the safety belt and tried to see if he was still alive. He had pieces of glass stuck in his face. I noted they were stabbing me, but I would survive.

"I'm alright, Mr. Germany..." he panted. "Cal-"

He couldn't continue because an arm went through the broken window, wrapped itself around his neck and squeezed it. I also felt someone pulling me violently.

They dragged me out of the car, bleeding and with an ear ringing. But I could see perfectly. That way I could see it was a group of five people of different complexions. I can't say anything else because most of them were covered with hoods, balaclavas and masks. Only a few brave of them acted unmasked. One of them was a woman around forty with short hair who approached so much that I could smell she had been drinking something strong shortly before.

"Jewish people don't forget and don't forgive, dog!"

She spit in my eye.

"Ulrich!"

They laughed, taking it as a sign of weakness, when I actually wanted to know if he was alright. He didn't respond. To neutralize him, they had used the rear naked choke technique. But the brute who performed it went too far and ended up depriving him from oxygen for too long. Ulrich died right there, in the jumble of the car. He was a good man, young, with all his life ahead of him. He didn't deserve dying that way.

"Hey, hey, look" one of the hooded people, who was wearing a Donald Duck mask, approached to touch my face. "Fuck, look at this, his wound is closing..."

The woman looked at me.

"Does it hurt when I do this?" she asked.

And her finger pressed the enormous piece of glass embedded into my neck.

I let out a grunt of pain. She smirked.

"You filthy piece of shit, I hope it does."

"Well, maybe they can't die, but if they feel pain, that's fine for me" another man said, who had his head covered with a hood and a militar-style cloth.

"Guys, guys, what did we agree? We wouldn't get in the dangerous ground of personal issues" a fourth person intervened.

The thing is, I knew that voice...

"It's easy for you not to get personal, this son of a bitch didn't get any relative of yours killed" the woman said to him.

"Yeah, he's no angel, that's for sure. But remember it's not my idea, it's orders from above."

"Well. Somebody hold him. I'm not even touching him."

The Donald Duck mask guy volunteered. I heard his excited breathing under the mask and how he touched me.

"Damn, I had never touched a nation before...He smells like..." that dirty man practically pressed his nose on my skin and inhaled strongly. "He smells like chestnuts."

"Dude, you're really sick" somebody told him.

"Take this chance, soon this one will disappear like a fart in the wind."

There was something in that voice that...

It was then when its owner approached me and looked at me with a smile from ear to ear.

"I hope you had no plans for the night, blondie."

I knew that smile, those red eyes and that white hair.

In front of me was my brother Prussia.