Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

40 Years after the Great War

Londinium

As the Capital of the Republic fell, you could be forgiven for thinking that it would be the end of Republican resistance and possibly an end to the war. The Empire certainly felt this way and called an armistice to end hostility and begin negotiations with the allied nations.

They did not count on the grit and determination of the Republican people however, and they embarked on a daring escape to continue their valiant resistance. Under the heroic leadership of General Pierre-Michel de Lugo, and with the assistance of Albion's superior navy, the remaining Republican forces evacuated to the Southern colonies. This daring action was known as Operation Ark. – Andrew WTN Special Correspondent.

June 20th Unified Year 1925

General Staff Offices, Berlun

"Damnit! We were so close" Tanya said to herself as she exited the General staff offices. She was infuriated with command's decision to block her attack on the Republican forces at the Brest military port. Couldn't they see they were letting their victory slip through their fingers? Couldn't they see the danger?

She'd already tried to argue her case to western command, but General von Falken had refused to listen to reason. In the end, she'd ignored him and invoked the autonomy provided to her by the General staff. She and the 203rd had been geared up and ready to go when they'd heard the news. The General staff had announced the armistice, they were no longer allowed to launch any more combat missions and the attack had to be called off. The Empire was letting the Republicans escape without a fight and they would continue the war from the southern continent, she was sure of it.

She desperately wanted to do everything she could to prevent it, but she knew if she went against their orders, she'd end up in front of a firing squad, her hands were tied. Her only choice was to try to make them change their minds.

She'd rushed back to Berlun as quickly as possible after the abandoned mission, in the hopes of appealing to Generals Zettour and Rudersdorf, but she'd been horrified to find that all of the senior strategic officers were out celebrating at a beer hall. They were so convinced that the war was over they had left the offices before the Republic had officially surrendered. How could they be so careless?

The only member of the General staff that she had managed to get a meeting with was Lieutenant colonel Rerugen, who had left by the generals to man the fort while the department heads celebrated. It seemed even he had been swept away by the moment, although in a more subdued way than most of the other officers. He had invited her into the General staff offices and offered her some Dallmayr coffee. Usually, the exotic beverage was reserved for members of the Imperial Royal family, but it seemed the misplaced triumphal mood had spread to every corner of the command structure and the usual restrictions had been relaxed for the time being.

He had been good enough to listen to her concerns, even going so far as to ask for her unfiltered opinion on the matter. She was thankful that he was willing to hear her out, even if she suspected that it was because of the goodwill he had towards her rather than any genuine concerns about their supposed victory. In hindsight though, she shouldn't have allowed her frustration to get the better of her, he may have asked for an unfiltered opinion, but he obviously was not been prepared for what she had to say.

She'd admitted happily that they'd won a great victory and that for this brief moment the world had to acknowledge the Empire's rise to power. It was unsurprising that everyone felt so sure of their final victory. Then she'd asked if that feeling of surety was why Strategic command was wasting their victory and she continued to criticise them, stating that "they had no idea what to do with a victory once they'd achieved it." She told the colonel that the Generals should not be naively celebrating in this situation, that they were being derelict in their duty and it was an unforgivable act of negligence.

In retrospect, she may have gone too far with that statement, but she felt it was warranted given the gravity of the situation. Lieutenant colonel Rurugen had understandably taken offence and defended their superiors as a good subordinate should in such a situation. But good officers aren't just yes men, they also have to speak out when they have concerns. She was sure colonel Rerugen knew that.

She had pushed on, reminding him that he had been the one to ask her opinion and she'd gone on to try to explain that the war would continue if they didn't act quickly. He countered that the Republican capital had fallen, and further resistance was pointless, even harmful, he said that nobody in their right mind would continue fighting.

The worst part he was right, and she agreed with him entirely it was entirely illogical for the enemy to continue. The rational and pragmatic thing for them to do was surrender but rationalism and pragmatism aren't the only things that drive humanity. She'd tried to persuade him that this was the case, history was replete with stories of futile defiance, everyone had experienced it in some way.

He had not been entirely convinced, however. He had changed the subject and warned her that some thought she had gone too far by invoking the authority given to her by the General staff. There were concerns that she had generated friction on the front lines and some were even considering punishment. She was quietly thankful for his consideration and was grateful that he had decided to warn her but she had been aware of the risks when she'd ordered the strike. It would have been worth it if they had succeeded, but now she would have to deal with the fallout of her actions.

In the end, she'd been unable to sway Colonel Rerugen and had left strategic command feeling deflated and angry. She knew they would see the truth eventually but by then it would be too late. The war would drag on, and the longer it did, the worse it would get for the Empire. And for her. She just wished she had seen the danger earlier so she could have done something about it. She felt so helpless.

She should have realised, she'd seen the horrifying irrationality that parts of humanity possessed. She'd fallen victim to their kind, she had even died because of it. All those years ago on the platform, she'd seen the dark side of humanity. When you strip humans down, most were nothing but animals that obeyed their base instincts, they ignored what was best for them in favour of satisfying their petty desires and fears.

The General staff was blind to that. The Empire was a bastion of logic and reason, its people were pragmatic and practical. When surrounded by those ideals, how could they imagine the boundless stupidity that humanity was capable of? She had been taken in by it too, the logical Empire was a place where Tanya had been able to thrive because she possessed the traits the Empire exemplified. It was the ideal environment for her to showcase her talents and she had begun building a place for herself within the well-ordered nation. She had become comfortable and complacent, so she had forgotten what the irrational elements of humanity were capable of.

She did her best to hide her anger from the guards as she started down the long stone staircase. She clenched her fists so hard with frustration that she thought her fingernails might draw blood from her palms. She knew she was gritting her teeth in an effort not to yell out with a mixture of irritation, anger and disappointment, and she could feel herself shaking slightly, despite the warmth of the early summer night. It felt as though the conflicting emotions were struggling to release themselves from her small body and were only kept at bay by the force of her willpower.

We were so close!

She felt her grip relax as a wave of resentful hopelessness washed over her. What could she do? She could hardly roam around the beer halls of Berlun to hunt down the general staff. In this child's body, they wouldn't even let her in! Even if they did, she couldn't be sure she could convince them to strike at the remaining republican forces. She hadn't been able to sway Lieutenant colonel Rerugen, and if the Generals were so certain of their victory that they were out drinking they might not even be willing to listen to her. Even logical people like them would be more irrational when drunk.

There must be something I can do, she thought to herself desperately as she descended the steps of the general staff offices. There must be someone with some influence over the General staff or high command I can talk to.

She almost stopped in her tracks when she realised that there was one person she knew with that sort of influence, and he was in Berlun. She didn't like the idea of asking him for help but what other option did she have? Wilhelm might still be in trouble with the high command but even now he maintained some clout with many important figures within the government and the military, getting himself involved in Revolving Door was proof of that. He had a way of making people listen to him, he might be able to get someone to listen to her. But would he help?

He'd been acting strange recently, more so than usual and he had been avoiding her wherever possible. Until recently she had suspected that he would do something to prolong the war, but he hadn't done anything provocative. She still wasn't entirely sure if he was up to something but according to Ugar, he had actually been pushing for peace rather than stirring up trouble. If it were true that he wanted to see the war ended, she should be able to reason with him. She didn't expect it would be difficult to convince him of the danger, one thing that could be said for the little colonel was his devious mind was quick on the uptake. But could she really trust him? Do I have a choice? She asked herself glumly, there isn't anyone else that I can turn to.

"Good evening Major von Degurechaff" a polite and familiar voice called as she reached the bottom of the steps, and once again she wondered if the faux prince could somehow read her mind. She looked up and saw Sophia Zerbist, Wilhelm's governess and principal attendant, waiting patiently in front of a luxury car. As usual, the maid was impeccably neat and polite, and she wore a neutral expression that betrayed nothing of her thoughts.

"We had heard that you were visiting the capital, Prince Wilhelm asked me to extend you an invitation to visit him at the embassy" She explained opening the door to the limousine to beckon Tanya inside. "It's late so we have arranged a room for you there, it will no doubt be more comfortable than your lodgings in the officers' quarters."

Tanya felt a twinge of uncertainty, clearly, the little colonel had expected her to come to Berlun. Either that or had been using his own methods to keep an eye on her as she had been doing with him. She wasn't sure what that might mean and the feeling of suspicion she had about him began to grow once more. Unbidden the memory of something the boy had said entered her mind.

You can see things more clearly from up there, I wonder if they realise that.

The statement had seemed a little strange and out of place to her at the time, but she had put that down to his unusually gloomy mood. But Wilhelm was often cryptic with his words and he had never explained who or what he was referring to when he had said it. Now that he had sought her out so soon after returning to Berlun, she began to wonder, especially after he had gone to so much trouble to avoid her these past few weeks. Did he suspect something? Had he come to the same realisation as her?

I'm jumping to conclusions She thought chastising herself. This was Wilhelm she was dealing with, he didn't always do things that made sense unless you knew what he was really after, and he was used to doing whatever he pleased. It was just as likely that he would keep an eye on her and invite her around on a whim or part of some stupid game. She couldn't keep making assumptions on his motives without evidence, it was a sure-fire way to cause another misunderstanding like the one in Letzenbourg. He didn't act like most people so she couldn't use his actions to figure him out in the same way she did everyone else. That didn't mean she would let her guard down around him though.

"Thank you, Miss Zerbist," She said climbing into the car. She decided it was better to treat this as an opportunity, if the little colonel had decided to stop avoiding her then she would at least stand a better chance of making him listen. Then maybe he could put his near-supernatural gift of persuasion to some good use for once.

The servant closed the door behind her and hurried to the driver's seat while Tanya made herself comfortable in the back of the luxurious automobile. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised that the boy had access to such opulent transportation, he was royalty after all, or at least everyone thought he was. It made a refreshing change from having to travel in a car from the General staff motor pool or the bicycle she used to ride to the war college. There was even a selection of sweets and refreshments in the passenger compartment, although no coffee she noted with disappointment.

"It's good to see that you're well Major," said the maid as the car pulled away. She didn't sound quite as stern and confident as usual, as though she was uncertain of something. "His highness mentioned you were injured on the Rhine. He seemed rather concerned, I'm glad to see you have recovered."

He was concerned about me? I doubt he was that worried She thought, wondering why the woman would bring it up. If he'd been that concerned about her why had he gone to such lengths to avoid her? Still, it seemed strange that the usually composed maid would mention it, the woman had hardly ever spoken to her aside from in her official capacity as the prince's Adjutant-cum-caretaker, why the sudden change?

"I feel I must apologise to you Major, I think I've misjudged you," She said eventually, sounding slightly uncomfortable while Tanya stared at the woman in the driver's seat with confusion.

Despite the woman's misplaced loyalty to the little colonel, she had always respected the taciturn servant. She was clearly very capable and trustworthy and by all accounts, she seemed like an ideal employee, Wilhelm was lucky to have her. Tanya had always assumed this respect was mutual, but her statement made it sound like she had somehow done something to upset the woman. Had she found out about the injuries she had inflicted on Wilhelm? She was very protective over the boy, after all, she probably wouldn't be pleased about what she'd done to him on the Letzenbourg rooftops.

"I need to thank you for rescuing his highness in Letzenbourg, he said he wouldn't have gotten out alive if not for you. I understand now why he and Matheus place so much trust in you," the woman continued.

Tanya almost wanted to laugh but kept her expression neutral as she accepted the woman's thanks. Wilhelm's trust? It was obvious the little colonel didn't place any of it in her, the constant exclusion from his schemes was proof enough of that. And what did Wiess have to do with it? Come to think of it, hadn't Wilhelm mentioned that Wiess and the maid were exchanging letters? Well, she already knew her deputy trusted her, but it was still nice to have confirmation of the fact.

Regardless, it appeared Wilhelm hadn't revealed that she had been behind some of the injuries he had received, even to those he was close to. The little colonel's version of the events seemed to have painted her as his rescuer rather than blame her for any of his wounds. It seemed to have actually endeared the maid to her. She wondered if that was his plan or if his lack of trust extended to the sisters. Then again, maybe he was just embarrassed about the incident and had tried to gloss over it. Either way, it was a good thing for her, the sisters had proven to be quite resourceful, she didn't want to be on the wrong side of them if she didn't need to be.

She mumbled a polite thanks to the woman and they continued their journey in silence. She soon found herself stifling a yawn as the car drove along the road and the dimly lit cityscape passed by the windows. It had been a long and tiring few days trying to persuade the brass and it was only now she had a chance to rest that the fatigue began to catch up with her. She shook her head in an effort to wake herself up, she still had a job to do if she wanted to get Wilhelm on her side.

Eventually, the car pulled into a courtyard in front of a large brick building that displayed both the Letzenbourg Lion and the Stripped flag of the Little Duchy. Much of the Building seemed quiet and shrouded in darkness. Until recently it would have been a hive of activity as it was the headquarters of Letzenbourg's exiled government, as well as Wilhelm's temporary residence. However, now that much of the government had returned to its homeland the building looked almost as though it had been hastily abandoned and looked dark and empty.

Tanya took a deep breath as she exited the car and began mentally preparing herself for the coming meeting. Dealing with Wilhelm could be a chore at the best of times, and he would no doubt try to guide the conversation to whatever asinine reason he had summoned her here for, so it was better to be prepared for him. She couldn't allow him to change the subject or play any mind games, there was too much at stake.

They entered the embassy and made their way through the lavishly decorated building towards the room that the little colonel had evidently secluded himself in. The hallways were void of activity and the building seemed quiet and serene. There weren't even any servants cleaning the gaudy paintings and antiques that decorated the walls, Tanya found herself wondering if the little colonel expected Christina to look after the whole place by herself. She wouldn't have pegged him as the sort to overwork his staff, but he had always been paranoid, perhaps he didn't like having too many people around.

Eventually, they reached a large pair of double doors, Tanya fancied she could hear muffled voices from the other side, but she couldn't make out any of the conversation. Christina paused by the portal and gave the wood a gentle tap. Obviously, they were expected as she did not wait for any confirmation that they were allowed to enter and she immediately swung the doors open and gestured for her to follow.

The inside of the chamber was dark except for a lamp in one corner and the moonlight pouring through the large window that dominated the far side of the room. The small familiar silhouette of her target stood in front of it and he was staring out into the night sky. As always, he had his sword affixed to his belt, where the handle shone slightly as it reflected the moonlight. Meanwhile, a middle-aged man in a cheap-looking brown suit was pleading with the boy. Neither reacted to her entrance but she doubted that Wilhelm had failed to notice.

"But your highness, it would be such a waste! You could make so much more from the American market." The man said desperately as Christina cleared her throat to announce their presence.

"Major von Degurechaff is here as you requested," the maid said as she curtsied. The pleading man turned towards her and immediately broke into a slimy-looking smile. He looked like a stereotypical conman and Tanya felt an instant dislike of him.

"Miss Degurechaff!" He said excitedly as he rushed over and began shaking her hand and rambling at her. "I've heard so much about you! Take my card, I'm Patryk Kulig financial advisor. I understand you have qui…"

"Patryk" The familiar voice of the other Zerbist sister chimed in sweetly as she appeared from a dark corner of the room and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "Please don't bother the prince's guests, I think it's time you left. The prince has given you a lot to do."

The man went silent and pale as soon as he heard the Letzenbourg captain. Tanya was not an expert on reading other people's feelings, but even to her, it was clear he was quietly terrified of the woman. If it were anyone else, she might assume he was the sort that got nervous around attractive women. Sophia Zerbist was certainly pretty enough that she could easily get that kind of reaction, but Tanya suspected there was more to it than that. She knew that the woman could be dangerous, and it seemed Mr Kulig did too.

He mumbled a nervous goodbye as the Letzenbourg captain ushered him from the room but not before making sure she had his business card. She pocketed it without thinking, feeling herself grimace with annoyance at the lack of ceremony. Giving out a business card had been considered an important and professional affair in the Salaryman's old life in Japan. Although she had lived several years without most of the traditions of her old life, sometimes certain things still irked her. A sloppy and unprofessional greeting like Mr Kulig's was one of them.

Still, it didn't matter, she would probably throw the card away later, she didn't have much need for a financial adviser. She had no debts for him to help her with and she wasn't wealthy enough that she had much to invest. The army wasn't exactly the highest paying organisation in existence, besides she was sure that with her experience in the Chicago school of economics made her better qualified than him to deal with any sort of investment she might wish to make.

Christina followed the pair out, bowing and asking them to ring if they needed anything before turning to depart. She closed the doors behind her, leaving the pair alone in the gloomy and quiet chamber. Tanya looked over to where the boy still stood by the windowsill, he hadn't moved or made a sound since she had entered. She felt an unusual sense of tension in the air as the silence seemed to swallow the room, only broken by a faint ticking of a clock somewhere in the chamber. It was difficult to tell what the boy's mood might be, she had hoped she could figure out how best to talk him around from what state of mind he was in. He had been unusually quiet, however, so she hadn't been able to glean any information from him.

"There are some refreshments on the table," he said softly, still not moving from his spot as he continued to stare out the window. She glanced over and saw a pot of tea, along with the now-familiar scent of Dallmayr coffee and some empty cups beside a large wad of handwritten papers. She was about to refuse but was not given the time as the boy continued, "The trains have stopped running for the night, I'll have Christina take you to the station in the morning. You've heard about the armistice I assume?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about" She answered, taking the opportunity to seize control of the conversation before the little colonel could say something to derail her. She wasn't surprised the boy already knew about the truce. All members of the military would know by now and with his political connections, he was likely one of the first to find out about it, even if the story wouldn't hit the newspapers until the next morning. What did surprise her was that he had been the one to bring the subject up, he either knew why she was here, or he wanted to lead the conversation towards the matter.

Her statement seemed to break the boy from his thoughts however, as he finally turned away from the moonlight view, raising a questioning eyebrow at her as his lips curled into a smug but humourless smile.

"Oh really?" He said with a tone that left Tanya with no doubt that he at least suspected something was amiss about the armistice. The question was, how much did he know?

"It's a mistake, the Republicans will continue to resist from their southern colonies" She explained bluntly looking for some reaction from the little colonel. He seemed to consider this for a moment as he stared back at her still smirking slightly. He didn't seem surprised about this news, but a strange look of ambivalence crossed his face for a moment before he hid it behind his mirthless smile once more.

"And that's why you tried to assault the Brest military port?" He snorted as he turned back to the window, "And you called me an aggressive attacker."

She did her best to ignore the sarcastic taunt, it was obviously one of his attempts to provoke her. He seemed to enjoy doing that. She had often chastised the boy for the recklessness of his own assaults, he must have been enjoying finding some reason to do the same to her. The difference, of course, was that she had a good reason for her attack, he was just bloodthirsty.

What did worry her, however, was that he had heard about her attempted raid on the military port. Technically only her subordinates, some rocket engineers and a few of the senior officers should currently know about the aborted mission. His knowledge of the incident meant that either he was still keeping tabs on her for some reason or the news had begun to spread along less official channels. She grimaced before pushing the concern from her mind, it didn't matter right now. Even if rumours of her conduct might affect her career, it meant nothing if the Empire collapsed around her and it was almost impossible to figure out what Wilhelm would be watching her for.

"The longer this war drags on, the more world powers will stand against us!" She pressed, "The Allied Kingdom has already joined, how long until someone else does?"

"They may have declared war, but the diplomats say that they'll back out soon enough. They say their Prime minister is being forced to stand down over this, and their colonies don't support the conflict" He replied sounding completely unconvinced by the words as he spoke them. "Even if they don't, the General Staff thinks they'll hide behind their Navy, they can't win that way."

"You don't sound very sure of that and you know that the other powers are watching us," she retorted, and the boy fell silent once more. Wilhelm was supposed to be an expert in geopolitics, he should have known that the other world powers were reluctant to allow the fledgeling Empire to take a place on the podium. She was certain the boy understood, his actions so far proved he could sense something was wrong.

"We need to put a stop to them now! If we put an end to the Republic's resistance, we can finish this war before they can act!" She continued as she took a breath and swallowed her pride for what she knew had to come next, "And I need your help to do it."

There I said it She thought to herself feeling slightly dirty, is that what you wanted to hear? Wilhelm was childish and liked to play mind games. He'd no doubt be ecstatic that she had needed to ask him for assistance, but she wouldn't regret it if she got through to him. She would do what she needed to in order to end this war. The Empire and by extension her very life depended on it.

The boy turned again and looked at her with undisguised surprise as the beginning of the first genuine smile she'd seen from him all evening touched his lips. His emerald eyes seemed to glow gleefully for a brief second before they flickered as though an unpleasant thought crossed his mind, and he regained his composure once again. The ghost of a smile still graced his features however, it was softened but he was clearly pleased that she'd been forced to come to him.

"I'm flattered Major, but I really don't know what you expect me to do," he replied sweetly as Tanya found herself grating her teeth again. You Bastard! You're enjoying this, aren't you? She thought to herself as she struggled to control her anger. Fortunately, she'd been around the brat enough that she'd had plenty of practice.

She quietly took a breath to calm herself. Wilhelm and his connections are tools to be used, nothing more she told herself. In this case, this particular tool needed to be handled in the right way to get it to work correctly. It's a shame I can't beat him until he behaves again, she thought but she knew that it would be counterproductive.

At least he seemed to believe her, he didn't appear to accept the counterarguments of the diplomats and general staff that he had parroted, in fact, he almost seemed to scoff as he repeated them. And he hadn't said that he wouldn't help. In Wilhelm terms, he was essentially accepting that she was right but since hell hadn't frozen over yet, she doubted he would admit it freely. This was just him being a brat, it was no doubt some petty form of revenge.

"I know you still have some pull with the general staff and the High command" she began keeping her voice level, "I need you to get me a meeting with someone. Anyone who will listen to me. Please, Wilhelm."

She swore to herself she'd find a way to get back at him for this, but it seemed to have worked. He flinched slightly as she uttered the last two words and she felt a slight twinge of triumph amongst the feeling of shame at needing to be so deferential towards the boy. That feeling wavered however as the smirk disappeared from the little colonel's face only to be replaced by a sad and wistful look.

"Did you know I was there when you first displayed your Battalion to the General Staff?" he asked as he wandered towards the table and helped himself to some tea. "We were in Herelmannstadt, near the Dacian border."

She hadn't known, there had been a lot of people around that day and she hadn't interacted much with the observers, still, she didn't care that he was there, it wasn't important right now. Tanya growled with annoyance, wondering where this little story was going, was he trying to change the subject? The boy was still acting strangely, like he had when he had been with Ugar. She felt like she was missing something about all this but they didn't have time for his little farce, they had to hurry if they wanted to catch the Republicans. She began to interject but the boy ignored her and continued his tale.

"I'd already heard a lot about you in the War college, I was impressed! You achieved so much so quickly, you must have put a lot of effort to get there" He smiled as Tanya shuffled uncomfortably at the unexpected praise from the boy. Unbelievably he sounded sincere, and as always Wilhelm being honest felt wrong somehow. "So, when I got the chance, I tagged along to see white silver in action."

"Eight thousand feet with ease, even while forcing your troops to go higher! You put everyone else to shame" he chuckled with awe before turning to her with a grin. "I would have liked to have met you back then, but you got called off because of that stupid thing with Dacia."

He frowned slightly for a moment as he mentioned the ex-duchy. Tanya could understand why the whole Dacian conflict had been incredibly stupid on their part. It had made for an excellent place to blood her new unit however, so she couldn't really complain but even now she looked back on the whole thing as a massive waste of both time and human resources. For the Dacians, it really was a case of lions led by donkeys and unfortunately for them, they had to pay for their commanders' mistakes.

"I have to thank you! You made my Battalion possible, you even helped me improve the merciful Saint," He giggled. "Your performance when you warned the Dacians was superb. Although as royalty, I'm expected to be a little more eloquent than you were," he finished before doing a slightly insulting if not surprisingly accurate rendition of her childish ultimatum to the Dacian capital. Again, Tanya found herself feeling slightly uncomfortable at the boy's praise and wondered what the point of all this was.

"I had to work very hard to catch up, you know, it wouldn't do for a prince to be outshone by an orphan girl. Even one as brilliant as you." He finished with a grin and Tanya felt unable to reply to the unusual adoration that the little colonel was spouting.

"I remember thinking that you were like the Empire itself, infallible and unbeatable," he continued dreamily before the smile dropped from his face and he met her gaze with a slightly pained look. "But you aren't unbeatable, are you? That fight with the Legadonian proved that, and neither is the Empire."

Tanya blinked with confusion, when had she said she was unbeatable? She certainly didn't feel that way. What was he trying to say? Was he saying he'd figured out that the Empire might lose because she had been injured? That made no sense, what was the boy really trying to tell her? She shook the thoughts from her mind, it didn't matter right now. The important thing was that Wilhelm clearly believed her, he saw that the Empire's victory was in danger. But why was he so melancholy? Why did he seem so defeated?

"That's why I need your help, we can make sure we don't get beaten!" She answered desperately as she felt a growing sense of anxiety about the situation.

Wilhelm stared at her for a moment before leaning down and picking up the manuscript on the table. He studied it for a moment before pressing it into her hands and returning to the spot at the moonlit window. She stared at the document with bewilderment, it was titled "National mindsets and their effect on geopolitics, by Prince Wilhelm Viktor von Hozollern'' and had the publish date of 1920 printed on the front. It was his political thesis she realised, but why had he given it to her?

"Give it a quick skim but Page 64 is the important part," the boy said softly as he stared out the window once again. Tanya was about to ignore him and press on with her argument, but the boy drew his sword and began staring at the blade thoughtfully. As usual, she felt a familiar twinge of anxiety as the boy unsheathed his weapon, she had never liked him waving the thing around, so she decided it wise to humour the boy for the moment.

As she skimmed through, she found it went into great detail describing what Wilhelm called a national mindset. It claimed that the national mindset was made up of the desires and fears of its citizens. It drew parallels to the actions of a person and the state, like a mirror of their people. These desires even infiltrated the minds of their leaders who would act on them, especially their fears. He claimed that some countries would act irrationally and against their own interests for this very reason.

Tanya didn't believe a word of it but as she read on, he used this twisted reasoning to explain the rise of nationalism in Legadonia and it started making a strange kind of sense. He explained that the fear they had of the Empire would allow more extreme elements to take control of the government and eventually they would start an incident that would lead to war. She found herself double-checking the date in the front, somehow Wilhelm had described the crazy thinking of the Legadonians that led to the Norden incident three years before it happened! Although she didn't agree with how he had come to all these conclusions, somehow he had used them to predict the start of the war.

She flicked through a few more pages and found that he'd made similar predictions about other countries. Not everything was precise, especially for some of the nations in the south-east but for many of the forecasts seemed eerily precise. It described the Republican's eagerness to rid themselves of their old enemy if the opportunity arose, all due to the desire to remove the fear of a strong neighbour. Elsewhere it described the Allied Kingdom's standoffish approach, claiming that although they felt safe behind their wall of steel ships and channel of water, the thought of a hegemonic power on the continent scared them more than the other powers and that they would try to intervene to make sure neither side gained complete dominance. He even described how Albion might start secretly providing equipment and observers as they had in the north.

She flicked through a few more pages that advocated keeping friendly relations with the Unified States. He claimed that in any war it would be greed that bought the industrial powerhouse into the conflict and fear of not being paid that would make them join a side. A few pages further he'd written about the Russy Union, stating that in no circumstances were the Empire to engage them if it were already at war with another power. He even recommended ceding land to them if necessary, it seemed Wilhelm was scared of the communists. Not that it mattered, the Empire had a non-aggression pact with them, and the Empire wasn't going to break it like a certain moustached dictator had in the other world. Tanya didn't expect a bunch of starving conscripts could be much of a threat anyway, at least not until they ceased their paranoid purges and adopted free-market principles.

Finally, she turned back to the page Wilhelm had said was important, eager to see what the point of all this was. It seemed at the end of his summary of each nation he had written a small piece on how they might act in victory and defeat. For the Republic, it talked about their inflated sense of national pride and how that if they lost honourably, they would come to the negotiating table. But it warned that if they were humiliated, the damaged pride may lead to foolish resistance from both the remaining armed forces and the conquered citizens.

Tanya found herself rereading the page, again and again, it was impossible, he couldn't possibly have known in advance. True, her own past life experiences had given her enough insight to suspect and prepare for the coming war, but she didn't have any context for any detail. Wilhelm claimed to barely remember any of his past life, how had he predicted things with such detail? True he'd made arguments for why the nations should act certain ways, but they were based on illogical assumptions of how he thought they should react with his ridiculous national psyche idea. But somehow, he knew, he knew the Republic wouldn't just roll over.

"How? She murmured through the shock as she felt her anger rise. "How did you know?"

Wilhelm carefully placed his sword on the windowsill and turned and looked at her once more.

"I don't know, they were ideas that I struggled to make sense of. As you can see, I didn't get everything right" he sighed as he began his explanation, heading back towards the table that Tanya was now stood by. "I wasn't sure about the Republic until I came upon a soldier during Revolving door. I could see in his eyes that he wasn't broken, so I knew the Republic wasn't done either," He finished as he stared into her eyes as if to make his point.

Tanya felt her shock turn to rage at the boy's admission, he'd known! He'd known for three weeks and he'd done nothing! But why? He wanted the war to end too, didn't he? Suddenly a terrible suspicion began to raise itself in her mind, one that could explain at least some of the boy's behaviour.

"You knew" she growled, "Why didn't you do something to prevent this sooner?"

"Why would I do that? You know what I need to do to please the Devil" the boy said with a dark and humourless grin.

Tanya's eyes widened as the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place. His eagerness to return to the capital, his inaction despite his apparent foreknowledge, his reason for avoiding her and his strange behaviour. Suddenly it all made sense he hadn't paid his debt to Being X, he wasn't trying to end the war, he was trying to prolong it!

She would later reflect with disgust that even she was capable of falling on her baser instincts when pushed so far, as all her bottled-up rage, frustration and hatred were unleashed against Wilhelm at that moment. The red mist descended over her and she rushed at the boy, grabbing him by his collar as she slammed him against the wall. It was almost a parody of the incident on the Letzenbourg rooftops although this time Tanya was feeling far less merciful.

"You Bastard! You did this didn't you? You made sure that they'd feel confident that they'd won! Somehow you convinced them to hold off on the finishing blow, didn't you? That's why you were so keen to come back to Berlun! It was why you were keeping me out of the way! How long have you been doing this Wilhelm?"

As her rational mind began to reassert itself over her anger, she began to notice that the boy was not panicked and fearful as he had been in Letzenbourg. Instead, he was calm, collected, and gave her a cold and unflinching glare. Tanya found herself frozen in his gaze as his hands reached up and grasped her wrists before he applied pressure on specific points. Pain shot through her arms as he squeezed nerve clusters forcing her to relax her grip on his collar.

Later she would reflect that this was an impressive display of self-control, especially for Wilhelm, but in that moment she had nothing but contempt for the boy. She started to fight back but he crushed the pressure points once more while keeping his eyes fixed to hers. After what felt like an eternity, he pushed her onto a nearby chair and returned to the sword on the windowsill.

"No one else would even dare to do that you know," He said on his journey back to the window and Tanya glared at him hatefully. This brat had quite possibly ruined her chances in this life, there was no forgiving him for that.

"No one else knows your secret" She retorted spitefully, taking a perverse glee in the obvious twinge of fear that passed through him as he stopped in his tracks. She saw his shoulders tense before he whirled around and yelled at her once more.

"You act like I'm somehow responsible for all of this! Like I'm some sort of puppet master that orchestrated this entire war!" He exploded at her. "Let me remind you that I'm a slave to fate too, it's God who did this, not me! I'm just trying to survive, I'm trying not to lose anything else!"

The boy slumped back as he breathed heavily, and his hand fell on the blade by the window. Usually, Tanya would have been quite content to blame Being X for her troubles, but usually, that would be true. This situation was clearly Wilhelm's doing and although Being X might have been the one to bring him here, the brat was responsible for his own actions and she swore she would see him punished for them somehow.

She stood and turned to leave, it was clear that she wouldn't gain anything more from Wilhelm. Even if she blackmailed him it was doubtful he would cooperate. He'd been willing to take responsibility for burning Arene to pay this so-called debt to Being X and although nobody would ever seriously blame him for the massacre, it showed how far he would go. Equally, there was no point trying to enforce a punishment for him now, something like that would need time to prepare.

"It's already too late, we received word that the Republic fleet has left the port before you arrived here," He said causing Tanya to pause and clench her fists in frustration once again. Perhaps the boy thought the knowledge that she couldn't do anything might pacify her and somehow absolve him of blame. If he did, he was mistaken, in this moment she felt nothing but a cold hatred for him

"You're right, I was trying to get them to hold off, how else can I do enough to satisfy that monster?" He asked sadly from his moonlit perch. Tanya began to reply, ready to tell him exactly how little she cared about his supposed bargain with Being X but what the boy said next made her pause. "But I didn't need to, they were already going to do it."

Tanya stopped and glared at the boy with suspicion, what did he mean he hadn't needed to? It didn't make sense, his actions didn't line up with that. Why would he try to rush back if they were already going to do what he wanted? And why would he have acted so sullen about it all these past few weeks if that were the case? It was obviously a trick; don't think you can fool me so easily you little shit.

"After we parted by the coast, I sent letters to the General staff and High Command asking for clemency for the Republic" He began mournfully. "The Chief of the General Staff himself replied a day later informing me that an Armistice was already being planned."

"You must have been pleased with yourself," She growled wondering why she was still listening to him.

"I should have been," he replied ignoring her scorn. He went on to explain bitterly that he also received letters from almost every senior General and politician within the Empire to thank him for his part in Revolving Door and to assure him that an Armistice and peace talks were being rushed through diplomatic channels. He'd expected to have to fight tooth and nail to get them to slow the assault on the Republic and start negotiating an armistice. But he had received no argument for continuing to push the Republic from any of the figures that he had contacted, and he claimed that every letter caused his worries to grow.

"They even had me march into Parisii to humiliate them! Even I didn't want to provoke them that much!" He finished sounding exasperated and confused, "nobody could see the danger, I just had to let things happen."

Now your complaining things were too convenient for you? She sneered internally, have you not heard the phrase don't look a gift horse in the mouth? She still didn't believe him, none of this explained away his actions.

"Then why were you so desperate to get back to Berlun?" She snapped back at him, "You already had what you wanted."

"I had to be sure" he mumbled, ignoring her barb, "It couldn't be true that none of them noticed, I warned them all years ago! Did nobody read it!"

She saw the boy gaze over at the discarded manuscript with a mixture of worry and confusion. She supposed it was true, Wilhelm had supposedly been praised for that thesis even though much of it had been dismissed at the time. Even five years ago nobody had believed a large European conflict could erupt the way it did.

As for his paper, it had never been widely published, it was likely just a keepsake to remind the Imperial royal family of their so-called genius relative. No one would take the words of a six-year-old seriously, not one who's only qualification was that his family was rich and powerful anyway. Her own papers had only been noted because of her front-line experience and even then, it was only because she had been scoring highly at the war college at the time. But Wilhelm seemed genuinely shocked that no one had paid any attention to his essay.

"They shouldn't all have made such a simple error," he said as his voice shook slightly, and Tanya saw genuine fear on the boy's face. "If they can, we might not win this war. I could lose everything! I could be tried for war crimes!"

Tanya stared at the boy aghast for a moment, she didn't believe what she was hearing. Wilhelm had predicted the war, had the boy really never considered the Empire could lose it? True the Empire was a military juggernaut, but they were surrounded by enemies, he knew that how could he have been so confident in such a situation? It was no wonder the brat treated the battlefield like his own personal playground, he didn't see the war as that much of a risk. It seemed that now he'd seen the error in that assumption.

Still, it was strange that he seemed so worried, of everyone in the Empire he probably had the least to lose. With his wealth and fraudulent reputation, he would not only live comfortably but would likely escape justice with his fake status mostly intact. Despite the numerous atrocities he had performed, he'd left witnesses either dead or believing he had done everything in his power to prevent losses. She'd even heard François POW's speak highly of him after he'd sliced open their comrades in the trench next door but apparently the boy was unaware of this.

The fear was definitely genuine, this combined with his explosive reaction when she'd blamed him, made her inclined to believe him. Part of her could almost feel sorry for him, he hadn't actually acted to prolong the war. He even believed he'd warned everyone far in advance, he couldn't fathom that his warning had gone unheeded and now he was experiencing the same sense of uncertainty as the rest of the world.

Tanya had never shared the boy's confidence in the Empire's chances. Her memories of her past life had made her expect a long and difficult conflict, it was why she had joined the army voluntarily. She knew it was only a matter of time until she'd be conscripted so she had decided to secure a safer position as soon as possible. Her success in this endeavour had been mixed but she had at least ensured she had a cadre of crack soldiers between her and the rest of the world.

Wilhelm should also have had some knowledge that would have forewarned him about how dangerous this war might become. He had obviously known something, possibly more than her in certain areas. How else could he have predicted certain events so clearly? So why had he not realised the Empire's precarious position? Was it his apparent memory loss? Come to think of it, why didn't mention the mindset of the Empire in his thesis? It was entirely absent.

Tanya felt oddly conflicted as she stared at the worried-looking boy. On the one hand, she understood how he felt, she too had been horrified that no one in the General staff had realised the danger of the war escalating further. However, she could also understand their reasoning for coming to this conclusion. Wilhelm had never needed to push them, they were willing to walk off the cliff all by themselves. Even so, the boy had just admitted he would have acted if the brass hadn't already been drunk on victory. He may have seen the potential for the Empire's destruction now, but he had also proven that he would destroy everything if he thought it would get him what he wanted.

She looked back over at the boy and saw him looking at her hopefully, was he really expecting her to give him any kind of reassurance after all this? He must have read something from her expression however, as a glimmer of hope entered his eyes.

"You healed," He said slowly as though it was the first time he had noticed, and she almost thought she could see the cogs turning in the boy's brain. "So the Empire can too, as long as we're careful we can still win. Yes!"

He picked up his sword again and twirled it with a flourish as his confidence began to return. He paused as the blade crossed his eye line and gave the weapon a contemptuous grin before placing it back in its scabbard. Clearly whatever the brat had read from her face had not been a reflection of what she had actually been feeling, but whatever he had seen it had somehow invigorated him. He turned back to face her and his smile faded slightly and his expression hardened again.

"I know you won't believe me, but I promise I won't do anything else to drag this war out" He began as he nervously chewed his lip. "I might not survive it if I do."

Tanya couldn't decide if she believed him or not, she was stressed, tired and overworked. With the knowledge that her efforts to stop the Republic were in vain and the bombshells that Wilhelm had been delivering, she just wanted to collapse into a warm bed and sleep. She considered going back to the officers' quarters but after everything he'd put her through today, Wilhelm at least owed her somewhere to sleep for the night. She was about to ask the boy to summon Christina to show her to her room when she realised there was still one thing the boy hadn't explained.

"Why have you been avoiding me Wilhelm?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

The colour drained from the boy's face and his frown deepened at the question before he hastily managed to recover his composure. It seemed he was losing his touch when it came to hiding his expressions, at least around Tanya.

"You asked me to stay out of your way. I'm just doing as you asked" He replied quickly and Tanya's expression soured once more. It was obvious he was lying, he wasn't hiding it as well as he usually did, although at least he wasn't stupid enough to deny it completely.

"Don't lie to me!" She growled feeling her anger rise again. "Is it any wonder I don't believe a word that comes out of your mouth?"

The boy sagged slightly looking like a kicked puppy while wearing a sad look on his face. He sighed seemed to consider her words for a moment before he straightened up and his expression hardened once more.

"I've already told you it's better that you're not around me right now," he said echoing the words he had said back in the Elenium arms factory. "In this case, it means you'd be safer outside of the capital for the moment. I'll make sure Christina gets you back first thing tomorrow."

Tanya's eyes narrowed with a mixture of suspicion and confusion. What did he mean she'd be safer? There was nothing to fear here in the capital unless he wanted to set his goons on her but then why would he be so keen to get her out of town for that? What had he been up to?

She didn't get the opportunity to probe any further as there was an urgent knocking from Christina at the door. The little colonel called for her to enter and as the doors swung open, they saw the worried-looking maid was flanked by two armed Imperial gendarmeries. Wilhelm stepped in front of her Tanya and began to make a protest when a familiar balding man stepped in front of the soldiers with a half-smile.

"Good evening Your Highness, Major Degurechaff" Vice Admiral Canaris began with a slight bow. "We have some questions to ask the Major."

Authors Notes

Hi all and as always thank you for reading.

It's late, it's very late I know and I'm sorry. I've really struggled to concentrate recently so it's been almost impossible to keep up, so I'm way past my two-week deadline. But it's here now and I think it's the longest single POV I've done so far.

I hope it isn't too long though, there was a lot I wanted to pack into this scene because it's one that I've been planning for a while. Originally it was going to be Wilhelm had actually persuaded the High command and General staff to hold off on finishing the Republic, but I thought that took too much from the original plot. So, I decided it might spice things up for Wilhelm to start to realise how much of a tightrope he has to walk.

I also had to be careful that Wilhelm hadn't gone so far that Tanya can't forgive him, I'm not entirely sure I've managed. He technically didn't do anything wrong, but he was going to and he potentially could have done something to prevent it too, so Tanya isn't going to be happy. Of course, he's worried about his debt rather than Tanya's desire to get away from the front lines, so he's bound to do things to upset her.

I also tried to expand a bit more on why Will likes Tanya. Because He didn't start getting POV's until relatively late, I never wrote a proper reaction to Tanya from his point of view and there's never been a good place to crowbar it in. I'm going to try and sprinkle more of that in where I can.

Hopefully, you all enjoyed this chapter. If you have any thoughts, questions or criticisms please leave a review (if you do check your private message folder as I will usually reply to them).

Thank you again for reading

Xanen