Chaotic Century Zoids fic. This is about the Shubaltz brothers when their kids and their relationship to each other. Being the series doesn't go into detail things in this story may be OOC. My theory of the Shubaltz brothers life as kids.
Disclaimer: Check Bio in author section.
A/N: A lot of this story is flashbacks so you will see normal text a lot if I'm writing in present tense, the writing will be in italics. SAP WARNING FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER!!!! 2nd Chapter begins their childhood life. But to get there I need 10 reviews to continue so please Review! ^_~ I made the Division # up for Thomas I don't know if it exists in the show. Also this story happens during the War after Karl met Van. Enjoy reading!! ^_^
Karl's POV:
I was in my temporary room at the base my men and I had stopped at. I was sitting at the desk that was part of the room. I had just received word that Panzer's 6th Land Division was going to be at this base in a short time. The last I had known my brother Thomas was part of the division. I was worried, 6th Division had recently been in a major battle against the Republic and had suffered heavy casualties and deaths. Hell, I wasn't worried, I was scared shitless! If my brother had died in the battle, I knew, I would have to leave the military or risk the lives of my men in battle.
It wasn't until my brother and I went our separate ways after high school that I realized how much he meant to me, or how close we had gotten when we were kids. If my brother was one of the dead I had a feeling I would just have a nervous breakdown. It was like time had slowed almost to a screeching halt, giving me plenty of time to ponder what ifs. I was having a hard time staying still. It was bad enough it was one in the morning if I didn't get any sleep I was going to be a wreck tomorrow. I couldn't sleep though, my brother normally would write to me every chance he got, but I hadn't heard from him in three weeks, and for fighting in the military, during a war, that was a long time. 6th would be here in only five hours.
I put my head in my hands, closing my eyes. I was having a hard time visualizing Thomas's face. Had it really been that long since I had seen my brother. I opened my eyes looking at the clock on the wall. It had only been five minutes. A flash off of something in my belongings caught my eye. I went over to my stuff and picked the possession up. I knew it wasn't a very masculine item, but I didn't care for it had been given to me on my tenth birthday and was a family heirloom. It was my gold necklace with a claw shaped locket hanging from it. Sitting on the bed, I opened the locket, my brothers face jumped out at me. The picture on the other side of my brother was of my parents with me and Thomas in front of them. The picture had been taken on the day Thomas and I had gotten our first Zoids. The two of us were grinning like crazy and our eyes shone with an uneatheral light.
The picture brought tears to my eyes. Instead of brushing them off like I normally would, I let them fall. Around my men I was always careful to keep my cool, so I would rarely show strong emotions. It had been a long time since I let all my emotions out in a good cry. I tucked my knees under my chin and wrapped my arms around my legs. Putting my head on my knees, I just let all my emotions go. I remembered that the last time I had done this, Thomas had been there to hold me and tell me everything would be all right. Eventually, I was dry heaving cause I had no tears left to cry. I looked a mess but I didn't care. Around two o'clock, I finally fell asleep too exhausted to keep my eyes open anymore.
I woke up to a knock on my rooms entrance. I stretched and went to answer the door calling to the person to give me a moment. I looked at the time it was oh five hundred hours, there was no way that that could be my brother, like I had hoped, he wouldn't be here for another hour. Eventually, I was able to stumble over to the door. I fumbled with the lock for a moment and turned the knob. Standing outside, was one of my lieutenants who was also a good friend of mine. He spoke up as I was registering who it was, " Karl, you look like shit! Did you get any sleep last night?" He had to ask I thought, being I was off duty I let military etiquette slip past me in the area of addressing a superior.
" To answer your question Andrew, no, I didn't really get any sleep last night." He looked at me, his eyes glancing up and down. I could tell he was wondering if I was in the mood to socialize. I answered the unasked question that I could see in his eyes. " C'mon in." I said.
" So you did get some sleep last night." Andrew stated. " How much?"
" Let me see, being you woke me up at five, I would say a grand total of three hours." I replied my voice starting to drip sarcasm.
" With 6th Division coming in at six, I thought you might want to grab a shower before we had to greet them. Why couldn't you sleep? Was it because you were working on military reports again?"
" No, I wasn't working on reports…"
" Then why couldn't you sleep?"
" What is this twenty questions?!" I exclaimed getting exasperated, " Actually, the last I knew, my brother Thomas was in 6th Division. With all the losses they had in their last couple of battles I'm worried he was one of them. Is that such a crime?!?! To be worried for my brother?!?!"
" No. It is not a crime to worry for your brother. By the way you may be able to hide your anxiety from the other men but remember I'm one of your best friends, I can tell you're not just worried."
" That was what my mind was screaming at me around one in the morning." While I had been talking to Andrew, I had gotten dressed. I looked at myself in the mirror and surprised to find that, except for my hair, everything looked as if I hadn't stayed up all night crying and thinking. I turned around to look at Andrew and asked " How do I look?"
" Well, excluding the hair, nothing is out of the ordinary. The men will never know you had a rough night." The two of us kept talking for a little longer until I glanced up at the clock. It was five forty-five. 6th Panzer Division would be here in fifteen minutes.
" We better get to the gates. 6th will be here shortly." I stated while looking over at Andrew. We walked out of the room and went towards the gates. It took ten minutes for us to get there. Andrew looked over at me to see me fidgeting to some extent, it was not noticeable enough unless you were standing close to me. Those five minutes seem to take eternity to pass. I could now see 6th Division coming towards the base. HQ wasn't kidding when they said 6th had suffered heavy losses.
A Saber Fang was in the lead. Out of all the Zoids it was in the best shape and looked like it had barely been touched in the battles. As soon as they were here my men started to help the injured soldiers and getting the damaged Zoids to the repair docks to have the mechanics see to them. The canopy of the lead Saber Fang opened up and a teenager around nineteen jumped out of the cockpit. My mouth almost dropped to the ground out of shock. It was my brother, 6th Division had to have suffered major losses for my sibling to be the commander of the Division. He had only been a 2nd Lieutenant when he had last written to me. When he had jumped out of the cockpit he saluted with a cocky grin announcing simply, " Major Karl Shubaltz." I gave him a look that could kill.
" At ease. Lieutenant Shubaltz, follow me, you can debrief me on what has happened as soon as we are inside." I saw my brother relax a little and reply with a 'yes sir'. I relaxed a little knowing he was safe. All the worry I had felt last night had disappeared. I could sense my brother's confusion as to where we were going. " Here we are." I said as we stepped into the mess hall. He raised an eyebrow inquiring why we were here. " Before you ask it is very simple really. I haven't eaten and I'm sure you haven't either due to you were on the march all last night. Also anybody that has to be up right now is working on helping your division out and have already eaten. The others are still in bed and won't be in here for another two hours, so currently it is one of the most private places to talk. Thomas, being we're alone you don't have to stick with the formalities, even though to my knowledge you weren't."
" Whatever, Karl. Let me just get the details out of the way, so we can catch up on what has happened to each other." I nodded telling him without words to go on. He sighed. While we were eating, Thomas started talking about everything that had happened since his last letter to me. " Well it's pretty simple. You heard about the attack on Isis Fortress, right?" I nodded my head yes, " That was a pretty tough battle for my division. We lost over half of our force there as it was. It was a major tactical error on the Colonel's part. He thought we would use a sneak attack against the fortress. The only problem was the Republic had hidden Zoids in the sand. When it appeared we were going to take the base, they unearthed the Zoids that were all around us. Their surprise attack is what killed most of the division. When we were finally able to retreat safely, we had lost a third of our force. Our highest ranking official at that point was a Lieutenant Major. When we reported on the mission to HQ, they said we were to come to this base for repairs and reinforcements. On the way here, we had to go through a canyon area where we were ambushed by Republic Zoids. The Lieutenant Major was killed in action. We had lost all the 1st Lieutenants during the battle at Isis Fortress leaving me, being the only 2nd Lieutenant, in charge. It's amazing, I had barely received any damage in any of the battles. I knew we couldn't afford another fight because my Zoid was the only one capable of fighting. Therefore I had us take a route that would ensure no more ambushes. We had no incidences after that and arrived here with over three fourths of 6th division dead, injured, or without a Zoid." Thomas finished his report right as we were done eating. I got up and stretched. I looked over at Thomas, examining him from head to foot. He must have noticed what I was looking at for he spoke up.
" I'm okay Karl. Just tired from loss of sleep and a few cuts and bruises from the battles." I could see in his eyes he hadn't had a lot of sleep in the last three days, if any. I was worried, Thomas looked like he would pass out from exhaustion if he didn't get some sleep and soon.
I made up my mind quickly and headed for my room, Thomas following me wondering where I was going now. The two of us reached the door to my room. I entered the room and motioned my brother inside. Thomas quirked an eyebrow, " Why are we here? I'm assuming this is your room?" Thomas asked while sitting down on the bed.
" Yes, it is my room. I figured we would be more comfortable talking here. I am off duty all day so it's not like it's a problem. It's hard to believe we haven't seen each other since I left for boot camp. Did you miss me as much as I have missed you?" As I was saying this I walked up behind him and put my arms around him giving him a warm embrace. At first he relaxed into the embrace but with my last sentence he tensed up and turned in my arms with a confused and hurt look in his eyes. " Thomas, what's wrong?"
" If you missed me so much, then why didn't you ever write me back? I thought you didn't care anymore." It was then I saw it, the full extent of the pain in those stunning green eyes that the two of us shared. It hit me like a hammer, by not writing back to my brother, he had thought I didn't care at all. That I probably hated him. It hurt knowing that I had caused all that pain in his eyes. Thomas must have been so nervous when he heard he had to come here where my division was being stationed at. I never removed my arms from the embrace I was giving Thomas, instead I held him a little tighter. My conflicting emotions must have been obvious to him. We had always been able to tell what the other was feeling.
" Karl?" I was jarred back to the present to see Thomas was about to cry. I was amazed, he had managed to keep his voice soft and even.
" First off let me say, I'm sorry Thomas. I'm sorry that I never wrote you back. It's just, I had nothing good to say and didn't want to burden you with my problems when you had your own. I'm so sorry for making you worry. Don't ever think again that I didn't care. I don't look like it but I was up all last night thinking about you. I was scared that you were one of the dead. It wasn't until after I left home that I realized how close I must have gotten to you." By now I had tears rolling down my cheeks and Thomas was openly sobbing into my shoulder. His chest was up against mine and I could feel his chest heaving from his sobbing.
" You actually cared about me? I thought by now with all your achievements that you had forgotten about me. That I didn't exist anymore." He looked up at me barely able to speak. His eyes never left mine as he choked on the words. With those words my heart shattered. I realized that I had taken my brothers heart and had shredded it to pieces. The realization that if someone else had hurt my brother like this frightened me for I would have hunted them down and torn them limb from limb. But what could I do when it had been me that had caused him all this pain.
" Of course I care! How many brothers do you think I have?!" I choked out exasperated. I kept hugging him, letting him cry into my shoulder. I rocked him back and forth in my arms trying to calm him down. As it was I was trying to calm down but seeing Thomas like this kept bringing fresh tears to my eyes.
Eventually, Thomas had stopped shaking, he had fallen asleep. I laid him down on the bed and pulled the covers up over him. Subconsciously, he curled up into a ball and pulled the covers tighter around him. I had a hard time refraining from laughing for I didn't want to wake him up. He just looked so cute and childish, just like when we were kids. He never did want to get up back then. I literally would have to drag him out of bed every morning. I wouldn't wake him up now though, he needed the rest. Besides I had found out later when we were freshman in high school that he had found ways to punish anyone who dared wake him up when he didn't want to be. I laid down next to him careful not to disturb him. I watched him sleep. His face was that of peaceful slumber with that and the gentle rise and fall of his chest, I was slowly lulled to sleep.
Thomas's POV:
I was in the cockpit of my Zoid, the Saber Fang. My division and I were headed to a base not far from our current position. Originally, it had been far away but the division and I had been on the march for several days now. When we had been ordered to go to this base for repairs after our battle at Isis Fortress, the Lieutenant Major and I had been told that Panzer's 4th Land Division was stationed there at the current time and were to help us. At that news my knees almost gave way out from under me. My brother, Karl, was part of that division. If it wasn't for that he was up in high places where his whereabouts were well known, I would have thought him to be dead. I would always write to him when I had the chance, but I never was written back. He must hate me. I had to be nonexistent to him.
On the march to the base, we had been ambushed losing more people and Zoids then we could afford. I was in command now. I refused to let anyone get hurt so we avoided any possible ambush areas. I looked at my watch, it was oh five hundred. We would arrive in an hour. My insides were all twisted, I knew I would have to face my brother sooner or later. But the thought of seeing disgust and hate in my siblings eyes was killing me.
A beeping sound caught my attention. I checked out the instrument panel from which the noise was coming from. When I was done attending to the noise, a photo wedged into the upper right hand corner of the instrument panel caught my eye. It was a picture of Karl and me in front of a Gun Sniper and a Redler. It was the day we had received our first Zoids. Karl had gotten the Gun Sniper while I had gotten the Redler. Tears started to well up in my eyes. But I refused to let them fall. I had to be strong in front of 6th Division or they wouldn't trust me if we ended up in a combat situation.
It hurt knowing that I really cared for my brother and he didn't even acknowledge my existence anymore. Scenarios on how to address him when I saw him kept running through my head. I couldn't decide on what to say though. Knowing me though, I wouldn't say it anyway, but just say whatever came to my mind at the time. That was me in a nutshell, rarely thinking before I spoke. Back when Karl and I lived at home, I thought we were pretty close almost like twins. What a lie.
I looked at my watch to see it was ten minutes ETA to the base. I told the division the good news giving them some encouragement to continue for a little while longer. 6th Division after the ambush in the canyons wasn't allowed to make camp at all for fear of attack. We were all extremely tired and exhausted.
Those last ten minutes seemed to fly. Finally, I saw the base off in the distance. I knew we had to look a site. My Zoid was in the lead. When we reached the gates I let the others go first before going into the base's compound myself. As my hand went to the switch that popped the canopy, I tensed up. When the canopy had been opened, I jumped out of the Saber Fang. On the ground, I saw my twenty year old ( I know in the show they are a little farther apart like three to four years, but let me fantasize ) brother in all his military finery standing there with a slightly shocked look in his eyes. That look gave me a boost of confidence to salute putting a cocky grin on my face and say the first thing that came to my mind. " Major Karl Shubaltz." He gave me a look that could kill with those vibrant green eyes that we both had been born with. Some of the confidence I had gained by seeing the shocked look had faded but I kept on grinning.
It was then that he said I could stop saluting and follow him. " Yes, sir." I replied, starting to relax a little. Knowing that he was going to at least treat me like any military officer made me feel a little better. At least it wasn't hate in his eyes when he was speaking with me, but it hurt that he was being so official with me. I had noticed that his men were helping out the injured and the damaged Zoids, but instead of sticking around to help out like I should, he had me walking down a deserted hallway that led to who knows were. I think it is needless to say I was confused. He must have sensed my confusion because when we stepped into a huge room he said, " Here we are?"
I raised an eyebrow wondering why we were at the mess hall of the base. Before I could get the question out he gave me one of the simplest explanations ever, " Before you ask, it is very simple really. I haven't eaten yet and I'm sure you haven't either due to you were on the march all last night. Also anybody that has to be up right now is working on helping your division out and have already eaten. The others are still in bed and won't be in here for another two hours, so currently it is one of the most private places to talk. Thomas, being we're alone you don't have to stick with the formalities, even though to my knowledge you weren't."
I just sat down at a table with him and began eating telling him that it didn't matter to me about the formalities with a 'whatever'. I proceeded to tell him to let me just get the details out so we could talk about what had happened to each other since we left home. He just nodded telling me to go on without saying a word. I slipped into military habits by just doing a typical military report to a superior. It was hard though not to illustrate with my food like a little kid. I couldn't help but add in my report about my amazement of being pretty much untouched in the battles and receiving barely any damage. Right as I finished my report, Karl got up and stretched. I did the same, it was then that I noticed he was examining me from head to foot. I decided to speak up. " I'm okay Karl. Just tired from loss of sleep and a few cuts and bruises from the battles."
Suddenly, if only for a brief moment, I saw a worried and calculating look in his eyes. My heart did a flip-flop maybe Karl really did care. Like as if he had just made his mind up about something he left the mess hall at a fast walk. I followed out of curiosity as to where he was going now, or should I say we were going. Finally, we stopped in front of a door. He fiddled with the lock for a minute and motioned me inside. I raised an eyebrow saying simultaneously, " Why are we here? I'm assuming this is your room?" I saw that there was only one chair in the room and a bed. I sat down on the bed. If I accidentally fell asleep, I wouldn't have a major cramp when I woke up. I looked at him waiting for his answer to my question.
He confirmed that it was indeed his room and that he figured we would be more comfortable here. He was off duty so it wasn't a problem. He came up behind me and gave me a hug saying, " It's hard to believe we haven't seen each other since I left for boot camp. Did you miss me as much as I have missed you?" I relaxed into the hug, enjoying it thinking it would probably never happen again, when his last sentence finally sunk in. ' Did you miss me as much as I have missed you?' I tensed and turned in his arms. I looked at his face he had a surprised look on his face. My face showed the hurt and confusion that was inside of me. With that look Karl said " Thomas, what's wrong?" I couldn't lie to him so I said what was on my heart and mind.
" If you missed me so much, then why didn't you ever write me back? I thought you didn't care anymore." It didn't take having to see my self to know that all the pain I felt was showing in my bright green eyes. I could see that he was thinking for his eyes all of a sudden got spacey. He never stopped hugging me instead I felt his arms tighten around me. His face showed a tumultuous volume of different emotions. It was then I felt the tears form at the back of my eyes. I couldn't stand it any more I had to know. Had to know what he thought of me. Whether he wanted to see me again or totally forget I existed.
I couldn't hold the suspense in. I prepared myself for the worse, trying to compose myself. " Karl?" Surprisingly, to myself I had managed to keep my voice soft and even. My eyes on the other hand showed all the emotions bottled up within me.
With that simplest utterance of his name Karl snapped out of his reverie. I saw a look of sorrow in his eyes. It was then that he opened his heart up to me and told me how sorry he was to have never written back for he had nothing good to say. Sorry for worrying me. But most of all sorry for putting me through all this pain. By now I was crying fairly hard. Then he told me something I would not forget for a long time to come and it was this, Don't ever think again that I didn't care. I don't look like it but I was up all last night thinking about you. I was scared that you were one of the dead. It wasn't until after I left home that I realized how close I must have gotten to you." I was openly sobbing into his shoulder by the time he had finished. My chest was so close to Karl's that I'm sure he felt me heaving. Then I felt something wet drop into my hair, it took me a while to sort out that Karl had to be crying. I looked up at him. Sure enough he was crying. I refused to lose eye contact as I poured my heart out to him.
" You actually cared about me? I thought by now with all your achievements that you had forgotten about me. That I didn't exist anymore." I was barely able to choke the words out. As I did though I watched his eyes the entire time never losing eye contact. It was then that I saw all his emotions that he was feeling come out extremely fast on his face. This time he uttered a sentence that I would never forget for as long as I lived.
" Of course I care! How many brothers do you think I have?!" Karl kept hugging me and letting me cry into his shoulder. He began to gently rock us back and forth making quiet hushing noises trying to get me to calm down. Occasionally, I would feel tears fall into my hair as he tried calming down himself.
Finally, I started dosing off. My last conscious thought before I totally fell asleep from exhaustion was Karl pulling the covers down on the bed and pulling them over me after he laid me down so I could sleep. Right before I fell into blissful slumber I curled up into a ball and pulled the sheets tighter around me. At last, exhaustion caught up with me from lack of sleep in the past couple of days due to being on the march and from all the crying I had done. I then let my mind take me off to peaceful slumber.
A/N: I need to know what you think before I continue with this story. I need at least 10 reviews. So if you want to see what the two were like in the past please review. FLAMES ARE ACCEPTED!! BUT PLEASE GIVE ME THE REASONING BEHIND THE FLAMES!!!!! Sorry for all the sap but this is what my mind kinda does to me at midnight. OH Well! Next chapter will start up about their childhood. Till next time… Ja'ne and Sayonara ^_~