Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you enjoy it. This will be the last one in Jon's point of view and for the final five we will go back to Liesl and Brigitta.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

Please Read and Review.

And Trigger Warnings for the following, outdated language, mentions of the Holocaust and language. Also suicide by solider. Please, Please keep that in mind while reading.

A Sister's Love

Chapter 25-Know Thy Enemy

The Van Braun family have a final reckoning which ends in blood, death and tragedy and some inevitable closure. Word reaches the allies of the German Surrender. TRIGGER WARNINGS for some outdated language.

For a moment Jon stared at her.

"Look can someone tell me who the fuck this Herr Zeller is? That is my father, Hans Van Braun"

"NO I AM NOT!" His father shouted. He was beginning to sound and look quite demented. "DO NOT USE THAT FITHY JEW'S NAME IN MY PRESENCE"

"Wait grandfather was Jewish?"

"How could he not be…that…whore—"

"Your mother—"

"DO NOT INTERUPT ME BOY!"

"DON'T CALL ME BOY YOU FACIST PIECE OF SHIT!"

"This is like the movies" one American Private said to another in a hushed whisper. The Captain whipped around with a glare so ferocious that he immediate fell silent and adopted the expression that wouldn't be out of place at the bedside of a very dear and very ill friend.

"Your grandmother married a Jewish man" Hans Zeller said speaking again to his son. "After my father disappeared. She made him raise me and then I met your mother and it was only when I was introduced to the party that I realised how blind I had been. There was no such thing as good and evil, there was power and there was only power within the Reich. God knows we were all German before the first war—"

Louisa snorted but mercifully kept her mouth shut.

"And I wanted to rise up within the ranks—a new world—a new world order. And I was good at it. Until that…family slipped through my grasp" here he pointed his gun at Louisa which was enough for every American solider who had let his gun drop to listen in to raise it again.

"What family?"

"The Von Trapps"

"Wait…what?" at this he looked at Louisa. "Hang on Liesl and Brigitta said that they were chased from Austria by a crazed…oh…"

"You didn't know your father and Herr Zeller were one in the same?" Louisa said shaking her head.

"I was in Australia since I was thirteen, I never came home for the holidays especially when my mother died and when he was in Australia he was also known as Mr Van Braun. I knew Zeller was his father's name and his father had walked out on him but I didn't know any other grandfather than Grandfather Van Braun. The last time we saw each other was just after the Invasion when I fought my way out of Germany. He was…he was there…" he trailed off turning back to his father. There were gaps in the story but the old man was so crazed or just perhaps so desperate to talk that he was more than happy to fill them in.

"Yes…I was sent back to answer for letting one of the top navel commanders in Austria, a nun and seven brats pull one over me. I was severely punished by the Fuhrer. Of course I had to shoot that bloody bastard Max—"

The rest of his sentence was drowned out by the groan from Louisa.

"—And that stupid boy Rolfe but the nuns swore you had escaped through the mountains and my officers would not shoot a nun. And that was the end of it. I thought when I saw you standing there that this was it. But fortunately your sister stayed strong, I could breathe again. Of course you escaped but I figured you would go back to that liberal bitch of a mother in law I had and you'd get blown to smitheries on a battlefield somewhere. I was took out of Austria after 43, but I came here and my daughter and I were the guests of the Fuhrer himself."

"And now he's dead" Jon said flatly. He didn't know what to make of what was being thrown at him but he knew that much. Half of this he didn't understand but he knew from the look on Louisa's face she would understand it. Christ he missed Liesl…she would know what to do in this situation, she would know what to say…she would give him the strength to do what had to be done next. For Jon knew things and he didn't know many other things but he knew enough to know that his father had no intention of walking out of this alive. Going to a prison cell and fading from the history books was not what Herr Zeller had in mind and he was certainly not going to let the American's hang him after exposing his crimes for the whole world to see. No if he was going out he was going out here and now with his son in attendance and in the place where he could not hide his true allegiance.

"He's dead father…Hitler blew his brains out rather than face what the Russians were going to do. They walked into Berlin weeks ago. They put their flag on the top of the Government building and they ripped through the city like it was made of kindling. The troops are surrendering on masse, the camps have been liberated, their Eastern defence is crumbling, Jesus Christ! They have horses! What the fuck were you thinking?"

He stopped sharply aware of the emotion in his voice but he couldn't help himself. Helena was watching him and he stared at her cataloguing the changes in her appearance but she was watching him with hostile eyes and he felt like laughing and crying all at once.

"Did you…did you even love me? Or Helena? Or did you…did you not feel a thing when you were ripping those families apart and sending men to the front and children to the gas chambers?"

His father watched him with those cold blue eyes.

"I have never loved you" he said quietly. "You have been a constant source of disappointment to me and I have never loved you. I have loved your sister for she knows her place in the Third Reich but you…you are more like your Jewish grandfather…your liberal grandmother…your bitch of a mother. So many mistakes I have made but I made the right choices now. And as for the men…look at the men behind you. Look at the men behind you Jon…do you think any of them had to be sent? This is war. We all know what we are going into. Only cowards like her father runaway"

Louisa made an abortive gesture with her gun only for Nicholas Heath to grab her arm. He was watching Jon knew looking between all three of them as his men stood transfixed. Jon was sure that this was going to be stuff of Army legends for years to come.

"And as for those camps…well…we were only exterminating them. I never punished them. My goal was to help eliminate the Jewish problem not to torment them"

"Oh well I'm sure that was a great comfort" Jon snarled. "Jesus Christ what the…did you get dropped on your head somewhere between being born and sucking Hitler's cock?—"

"Must you create such an image?" the Captain muttered. Jon ignored him. He felt fury in his veins and he wanted to start shooting the place up with bullets just to get rid of this anger and hatred that was choking him from the inside out.

"You tore apart my family" Louisa said quietly. "You did it for fun—"

"I did it because your father was told what he had to do! He disobeyed his orders—"

"He didn't want to serve in the Nazi's regime! So you hunted him down like a dog and you know what? You failed. Because he got out, his wife got out, his children got out and your son—" she jerked her head at Jon. "Married his eldest fucking daughter you—" and then she launched into a tirade of swearing both in England, German and Austrian the likes of which Jon had never heard before. Several of the American soldiers were looking at her with glee. Jon had never heard such language in his life and thought that for Louisa's own reputation it was probably for the best that he didn't repeat what she said—especially the bit about his mother and the horse.

Finally Louisa took a breath and Jon took the opportunity to speak not to his father but to his sister.

"Helena"

Blue eyes found his.

"It's over…it's…it's over now. And there's still time for you to come home. You can escape this and it can all be a memory"

She looked at him with those guarded eyes and then she shook her head her blonde hair shifting over her face.

"I don't want it to be a memory" she said softly. "Jon…this is my cause…I've believed it since I was a child and I am prepared to die for it"

"Helena it's madness…and it's failed! Everything Hitler worked for is over. It's over and it's fading from memory. This is just a thing we'll teach our children in the history books and the Nazi's will be the thing that we do our best to never become again. We'll fight against them and any sick twisted ideology like them. What is it worth you going to prison or dying for such a sick, twisted, Charlie Chaplin look alike who didn't even have the guts to stand with his men at the end and face the consequences?"

But she looked at him and he knew the truth. Deep down his sister was gone. Deep down his little sister, his funny, sweet little sister was gone and something bitter and twisted was in her place and he couldn't…he couldn't save her.

He couldn't save her.

He had known it, now he had seen it and now he found he could breathe. He couldn't escape the crushing grief that he had been too late or that he wouldn't be able to reunite her with her grandmother but he couldn't make excuses for her. When he thought of Brigitta who was the same age as this girl in front of him he knew he couldn't make excuses for her. Brigitta had known who she was since 1939 the same way his sister had. She might have been brainwashed in the beginning but she was her own person now. She was sixteen nearly seventeen if memory served correct and he was offering her a lifeline and this was war and the men behind him weren't going to care. She was the enemy. Right now she was the enemy.

"I can't save you"

"I never asked you too. But I want you to let me do this"

And then before he could stop her she had taken her own gun pointed it at their father and with a crack his head went flying backwards and he hit the floor. And Herr Zeller, Hans Van Braun, the monster who had ripped Austria apart and had hunted Georg Von Trapp down and out of his country like a dog was dead.

Before he could comprehend the death of his father his sister was pointing the gun at him.

"Hel—"

"Sorry brother—but you were right—you cannot save me—and I know that his is how it ends for me. And I am prepared for it. So let me go"

And with that she shifted her gun right as if to swing for Louisa but Louisa got there first. Helena was down with two neat bullets in her chest and was dead before she hit the floor.

Jon breathed in and she breathed out at the same time. Her hand was perfectly steady and Jon looked down at his father and his sister and was almost ashamed that he could feel the tears prick at his eyes. He moved on instinct to take the gun out of his sister's hand and he looked at her.

"I'm sorry" Louisa said quietly.

"I'm sorry too" he said just as quiet. "I knew the story I just…I didn't put the pieces together"

"I know" Louisa said. "Your eyes are the easiest part of you to read. And besides…I don't see my sister marrying you unless she trusted you. Even if she had to"

"Yeah" Jon said finally running a hand across his face. "Yeah and I do…I do love her you know?"

"Yes well…that was easy to read too" she said smugly. "I do, do this for a living you know"

He stared down at his sister and suddenly he knew he was going to cry.

"Captain do you need Seargent Van Braun right now?"

"No. Take a minute Seargent and get back to work when your ready. The rest of you get your shit together fan out and find out if there are more of them. Get me a ledger and a secure the perimeter. This was a mistake that should not have happened. Montague, Mortimer when the Seargent is ready to leave this room dispose of the bodies"

They left as one the Captain patted him on the arm as he left. Louisa looked like she wanted to say something more but she left anyway and Jon sat on the carpet away from his sister and his father's blood and found himself sobbing like a child for a long time.

Three days later they were on the move again this time to get to Hitler's nest which was the private guest house. The Airborne broke through first and promptly looted all the booze and the jewels they could find. Jon took a bottle of champagne and went through the library and found himself amused for the first time in weeks to see that the books Hitler had banned were in pride of place in his bookshelf. Louisa went through his mistress wardrobe with a fine tooth comb and the silver and china was gone by the end of the day.

He was sunning himself on the veranda watching the spectacular view when Louisa came to sit down next to him. She had changed into a pair of shorts and an old Army short sleeved top and he knew it was Nicholas's. With access to a bath her hair was almost as golden as the sun.

"They are pulling you back to London" she said finally. "Most of the Germans here are compliant…and were heading into Austria. Back to where it all began…you are to go and get ready for the invasion of Japan"

"Is there to be an invasion of Japan?" Jon said opening one eye.

"Well there isn't going to be much to do here. I wanted to be the first to tell you. German Army's officially surrendered"

Jon looked at her with both eyes and then looked at the mountains from his sun lounger and then suddenly he was crying. He didn't have to tell her that it was all for nothing. He didn't have to tell her that for the second time a war had ripped through the world ruining places, killing people, tearing families apart, destroying a way of life and that for the second time the people who had started it had come away empty handed and it had all been for nothing.

He didn't have to tell her all of that. He didn't have to tell her that his sister was dead for nothing. That his father was dead for nothing, that her family had been separated for years for nothing.

War…it was the most pointless thing in the world.

It was…what was the point of it? It was just so pointless.

Louisa put her hand on his knee and let him cry it out. Eventually when he was done she handed him the bottle of champagne.

"Japan won't last long" he said wiping his face and she took the change of conversation easily.

"I don't have much information on that." She said finally. "But no I don't think they will. They've been exhausted for a long time. Whole world is running on empty. But you know…sometimes…I think It's been alright. I don't know what I'll do when it's over. The world will expect me to go back in this little box and I don't want to do that. I don't want to be the woman who cooks breakfast for her children and sings in the hills and feeds the goats and—"

"What kind of childhood did you have?"

"I hear you. But I don't want that. I don't want…I want to keep working. I might want kids but I've never been like Liesl who always knew she wanted them. I just…it's over…it's all over and I don't know…I don't know what to do with myself."

"Your father will want Liesl and Brigitta to live with him" Jon said flatly.

"You could come too" she said softly not looking at him. "I don't think father will mind…not when he finds out the story. He's…he's a much better man that I ever gave him credit for. I understand that now. I understand that war and trauma and loss…I get what it can do to a man and I…I have a lot of apologising to do"

"Good Dad's understand" he said softly. "And you've got a good Dad…you met mine…trust me there isn't a worse one than that"

She smiled but said nothing.

"I don't know what happens next" he said softly thinking of Australia, Liesl, Brigitta, the fog of grief that surrounded him. And he knew that he would have to tell her the truth of Herr Zeller as well. The monster that became the man.

"What the fuck are we supposed to do now?"

"Well" she said and her smile was so like her sister's that for the first time he felt a little lighter. She gripped the champagne bottle and drank it and then passed it to him.

"You can celebrate your first official act of peacetime"

He took the bottle and drank.

Peace.

They were at peace.

Long may it last.

And there you go, I will see you next time for another chapter.

Next Chapter-Liesl and Brigitta have a much needed conversation as the war comes to a close. A bomb is dropped on Japan. A there are two surprises waiting for the sisters.