The chilling breeze flowed across your face as you felt something hitting your boot. You slowly sat up as a few pine needles danced off your face hitting the ground. Gilbert was stood with his arms crossed kicking your boot lightly. Is it morning already? You thought to yourself looking up at the cloudy sky. There wasn't a ray of sunshine peering through the covered sky. The dark sky seemed completely still even though a constant light breeze flowed through your hair. Although the jacket Ludwig gave you kept you warm, you could still feel the chilling air on your nose and face.

"Ahhh- Guten Morgen. Look who decided to vake up," Gilbert said with a slightly angered face, "If I didn't come back on time last night both of you could have been caught or killed. Luckily zhere veren't any Russians nearby, I think my awesomeness scared zhem away, but I can't believe you vould not only allow my bruder to fall asleep but also allow yourself to sleep too.."

Your head was still a little fuzzing and your back ached from sleeping on the forest floor. You couldn't tell if Gilbert was scolding you or boasting about himself. You apologized and brushed off the rest of the pine needles from your jacket.

Ludwig was already up, gathering belongings for the trip back to your base. You were surprised that he was up before you since he seemed completely exhausted the previous night. He offered you a hand and pulled you up.

"Ve need to start heading east again. Hopefully ve can make it back before midday and figure out zhe Russians' next plan of attack," Ludwig said sternly, already starting to march off. He was back to his stern self, completely opposite of last night. You couldn't blame him though. He seemed to be a naturally stead fast person who took his job of commanding an army very seriously.

"Yes we probably should," you replied following him out of the forest, "Oh but wait, here's your jacket from last night. Thank you for letting me borrow it." You said taking it off and handing it over to Ludwig. The frigid air immediately chilled your skin as your hair stood up from the rushing wind. You noticed the wind was growing strong as the storm clouds rolled over the distant hills.

"Nein, you can keep it for now," Ludwig said facing away. You couldn't tell if he was trying to hide his slightly pinkish cheeks or if he was simply focusing on keeping his head focused on the route.

The wind was starting to pick up as you all exited the forest into a long meadow. In the distant mountains the storm clouds rolled down the frozen peaks. Ludwig seemed to be quickening his pace as the winds grew stronger. As you got closer to the frontlines more and more refugees spotted you. Some of them immediately looked away after glancing at you while others warned us of the nearing war front. Each time a new group of refugees passed by you all checked to see if Ludwig's cousin, Roderich, was fleeing with the group; however, neither you, Ludwig, or Gilbert were able to find the Austrian.

Even though you'd only been walking for an hour, you could feel the tension of the air surrounding the two brothers. They were both eager to reunite with their soldiers and assure their victory in pushing out the Russians, but you could also feel their concern for their cousin's safety. Ludwig always looked very seriously but you could also tell that he was genuinely concerned in saving the lives of the people of his country, the refugees, and his cousin.

"So... what kind of person if your cousin exactly?" You ask Ludwig with a slight smile. At first he continues to look forward but he eventually relaxes and looks back to you.

"Roderich... hmmm," he responded struggling to find the correct wording, "Vell I guess you could say he's very creative... but he can also have a very bad temper," Ludwig scowls. You could tell Ludwig wasn't in the mood for small talk. He was too focused on the storm slowly approaching and the waves of refugees flooding from the rumbling sounds of the war from the east.

After a couple of hours walking through the open fields, heavy raindrops started to fall from the sky. You all could see the line where the the dark grey shadow of the downpour met with the rustling grass. The sound of artillery and bombs also grew louder as you were almost at the frontlines. You could see the military cars just off in the distance. Ludwig and Gilbert saw them as well and started to run towards the trucks ignoring the cold rain hitting their face. You started to run too, holding Ludwig's jacket above your head.

As you reached the grey mud wasteland, you saw your volunteer group just ahead. Elena was standing their listening to your commander bark orders about staying together until the storm passed. The raindrops were pounding your head and the tips of your ears started to freeze from the frigid water. You were about to leap out toward the group when Ludwig grabbed your arm and pulled you behind one of trucks.

"Hey! What's up? That's them over there," you said to Ludwig as you hid behind the truck's bed.

"Somezhing isn't right," he said with a slight tremor in his voice, "Don't you hear it?"

"Hear what?" You asked confused about where this was going.

"Exactly. No bombs. No gunshots. No men shouting... nozhing," Ludwig said crawling under the bed of the truck.

He was right. Although the rain was drowning out a lot of the sounds, you still could hear the explosions and gunshots from the frontline. Just a few minutes ago you could also see flashes of yellow and red behind the heavy rain, but now there was nothing. No bombs. No gunshots. No men shouting out in pain.

You followed him under the truck's bed and laid against the soaking mud. Ludwig was completely silent but kept his eyes focused on your volunteer group only 100 meters in front. The silence was suffocating you. You knew something was wrong but couldn't figure out exactly what.

"Why are we hiding? What's going on?" You silently whispered to Ludwig.

He stayed silent fixed on the group and the pouring rain. It was getting harder and harder to see them as the rain continued to pour down violently. You looked to your side to see Gilbert under the truck to your right. Although his blue uniform was tainted with mud, his piercing red were easy to see through the rain. He looked over to you annoyed by the escalating situation. The mud was eating your body alive sinking you down into the ash and ruin.

Suddenly, you spotted a large shadow emerging from the blurry horizon. It slowly moved into focused, rushing its way towards your volunteer group. You noticed the Russian flag with the giant letters "EEF" plastered over a dark green surface. These were Russian tanks.

The tanks rolled over rotting trees, animals, and corpses making their way to the small group. They were almost completely surrounded by the tanks. Ludwig noticed this too and quickly shot out a small drown from the jacket you were holding. You didn't notice it before but the left sleeve had a small rubber covering where the drone perfectly fit in. Ludwig looked over your shoulder and motioned to his brother to do the same. Gilbert rolled his eyes but shot out his own drone from his right sleeve. The two drones made their way near the group undetected by the Russians or your volunteer group.

"Germany is still a vorld leader in military technology," Ludwig said handing you a earpiece. For a situation as dangerous as this he looked completely calm and collected.

You took the earpiece hesitantly and smiled back at Germany's response. You knew you couldn't just barge into this fight even with the help of Ludwig and Gilbert, so you decided to stay hidden. However, guilt and stress started to rise within you as you listened into the conversation between your squad mates and the Russians. All you could do was sit and listen as the soft sound of rain continued to drain away your optimism.