DISCLAIMER: This is an actual event in history. All of what transpires in the following chapter is historically accurate, and therefore I am warning the reader that this chapter is graphic and disturbing. But once again, the events in this chapter are very real and actually happened on June 10, 1944. Please take this into consideration as you continue to read, but most importantly of all, let us not forget, so that this may never happen again. Also, I do not own Hetalia or the characters.
Breathing.
Haggard.
Strangled.
Guilty.
With every breath that Ludwig sucked desperately into his lungs, he wished that he could give it back. Every scream that pierced his ears reminded him of how shameful it was now to call oneself a Nazi and still be able to fill one's own lungs.
This is what his so-called "brothers" did.
The flippant murder of innocents.
Ludwig was ashamed to be called a Nazi.
He was ashamed to be called German.
He was ashamed to be alive.
-x-x-x-
"What do we do?"
The church was surrounded by men, grins plastered on their faces. The moans and weeping of women and children could be heard clearly from inside the walls of the church. Ludwig and Gilbert were crouched down behind a wall only fifty feet or so away from the entrance of the church. From where they sat, they could both hear and see everything.
"Bruder," Gilbert whispered through clenched teeth. His voice shook with rage. His fingers were wrapped around his rifle, knuckles white. He stared forward, at nothing. "What do we do?"
Ludwig leaned his head back against the stone wall. He sighed. "I don't know."
Gilbert's words tumbled out of his mouth. They tripped over each other on the way out. "We have to do something, the question is what."
Ludwig closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. "I don't know."
Gilbert finally turned to Ludwig. "Can you say anything other than 'I don't know'?"
Ludwig whipped around to face Gilbert. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, the words caught fast in his throat. Gilbert raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to say something useful or are you just going to stare at me like an idiot?" Ludwig groaned and put his face in his hands. "Mein Gott, please tell me I'm dreaming and none of this is happening."
Gilbert rested an arm on Ludwig's shoulder. "I wish I could, bruder. I wish I could." He leaned forward and rested his forehead against the barrel of his rifle. "This wasn't what I signed up for when I signed my name on that danged paper to join the SS."
Ludwig laughed. It was a sickening thing to hear, especially now. "You could say that again." He ran his dirty fingers through his hair. "I signed up to defend Germany when she needed me most." He sighed heavily, as if the weight of the dead in the air pulled his very breath down to the dirt. "I never wanted this," he added as a nearly imperceivable whisper.
"Neither did I." Gilbert sat up straight against the stone wall at his back. "Which begs the question: What are we going to do about it?"
Ludwig shook his head. "What can the two of us do against all of them? We'd die before we would be able to do anything! It would be a waste. Useless!"
Gilbert grabbed Ludwig's arm. "Listen to me. Look at me." He waited until he had Ludwig's sad blue eyes locked on his own pink ones, which might as well have been charged with electricity.
"If one single man can drive the entire world to war, then think about what two men are capable of."
Gilbert let his words sink in, and when they did, Ludwig couldn't help but smile.
-x-x-x-
The plan was pretty well thought out, considering the two brothers came up with it off of the tops of their heads and in the space of two and a half minutes. Both Ludwig and Gilbert took turns writing with either their fingers or a stick in the sand at their feet.
Since Ludwig outranked Gilbert, the plan was to have Ludwig fake a call from either Deikmann or Schieck, calling the men off and away from the church. Worst case scenario would be if someone called either Deikmann or Schieck to collaborate the faulty claims, then they could count on a bullet in the skull for each of them as payment for their efforts. If it didn't work as well as hoped, then the least it would do would be to buy some time to either come up with a Plan B or get out while they still had the chance.
Gilbert was ironing out a possible fallback plan when Ludwig happened to glance up at a building about thirty feet away to his left. He froze. "Gil…"
"What?" Gilbert turned to find out what it was that his brother was looking at.
Two young girls were walking across the street. The taller one looked to be about seven or eight, the other maybe five or six. The taller one held the younger girl's hand, and the younger girl held onto a filthy rag doll, whose stuffing was spilling out from a rip between the arm and torso. Tear stains covered the dusty cheeks of both girls, and their dark hair was mussed and tangled. The younger of the two's hair was in two messy braids, her hair parted down the middle.
It was obvious that they were Jews.
They were walking toward the doors of the closest building that hadn't been burned. The older looking girl looked to be in a sort of daze.
They had no idea that two Nazis, one of which was armed with a machine gun, were walking toward another entrance to the same building. Neither party had noticed the presence of the other, but it was only a matter of seconds before that fact was to be changed.
Gilbert's eyes widened, and his lips parted in disbelief. "Oh, schei-!" His words were stolen from his mouth almost as soon as they came out, so only half of his thought made it out into the burning and bloody air.
Ludwig was already on his feet. "Distract them!" He sprinted to the side of the building where the girls were, his boot falls silent but quick.
Gilbert had a split second to think, but that was all he needed.
It was now or never.
-x-x-x-
Ludwig managed to sprint up behind the two girls without them noticing him. How, he wasn't entirely sure, but he wasn't about to argue. Without thinking, he reached up and wrapped his fingers around the two girls' mouths, effectively concealing their screams of terror. In one motion, he scooped them up in his arms, pushed open the door to the building, slid into the darkness, closed the door with his foot behind him, and fell back into the darkest corner. Hot tears streamed over his fingers, and they both tried to fight him off, but he only held them tighter. The older one tried to bite him and scratch him, anything to be released from his grip, but to no avail. "Shhh, shhh, se il vous plaît, je essaie d'aider!" Ludwig whispered this over and over to the girls. "Please, I'm trying to help!" The younger girl calmed down faster than the older one, and a few seconds later the older girl followed suit. The older girl was still crying, while the younger one had stopped. They both stared at his uniform, dumbfounded. Ludwig dared to take his hands off of their mouths, and he held up a finger to his lips. The younger girl mirrored Ludwig, putting her own finger against her chapped and cracked lips, while the older girl frowned, still confused. A sharp creak made Ludwig pull the girls' bodies against his chest, and they didn't fight him this time. Their small hands clung to him in fear, and the younger of the two buried her face in his shoulder. The older one pressed her wet cheek against Ludwig's neck. Her shaky breaths filled his ear.
Every inhale, every exhale, sounded as loud as a shout. Ludwig was sure that the pounding of his own heart would give them away.
Seconds passed.
They could hear voices on the other side of the wall.
German voices.
Both girls shook with fear, and Ludwig held them even tighter.
-x-x-x-
As soon as he saw Ludwig disappear into the building with the girls, Gilbert jogged calmly over to the two Nazis, his rifle slung loosely over his right shoulder. He held up one hand and called out to get the attention of the men. "There you are! I've been looking for you two!" The two men turned toward Gilbert, both slightly confused. One of them had his hand on the door, which was cracked open a little, ready to push it in all the way and expose the girls and Ludwig. "Hauptsturmführer Beilschmidt?" One of them said, "Can we do something for you?" The Nazi lifted his hand from the door. It creaked closed slowly.
"Yes, actually." Gilbert racked his brain for something, anything. "Would you… Would you take a message to Deikmann and tell him that 'all perceived threats have been eliminated'?"
"Of course." The young Nazis saluted and went on their way, taking Gilbert's words with them.
Gilbert very nearly sighed in relief, but he held it back until the men were out of sight. When they were gone, he spun on his heel and knocked on the door.
"Ludwig," he whispered, "They're gone."
Ludwig sighed, then said to the girls in French, "It's alright now, they're gone." He then pointed toward the door. "That's my brother, he just saved you." The older girl pulled away from Ludwig some and glanced toward the door. The younger girl still clung to Ludwig for dear life.
"Gilbert, come on in."
Gilbert eased open the door, then closed it quickly behind him. The darkness pressed in from all around. It was nearly silent. Gilbert was breathing heavily.
"They're gone."
Ludwig nodded and gestured for Gilbert to come closer. As he stepped forward, the older girl scrutinized him but said nothing. Her little sister still had not lifted up her head.
"This is my brother Gilbert."
Gilbert waved timidly and attempted a smile. The girl was not amused. She did, however, manage one sentence.
"Merci beaucoup. Pour nous sauver."
Gilbert looked to Ludwig to translate.
"She says 'Thank you for saving us'."
Gilbert smiled. "Tell her she is very welcome."
Ludwig did, but the girl still didn't smile. She just stared at him, a mixed look of disgust and fear on her face.
The younger girl finally looked up from where her face was buried in Ludwig's shoulder. Ludwig smiled, and the girl smiled back, revealing an empty, gummy space where her two front teeth should have been.
A few seconds passed before Gilbert crossed his arms and asked the all-important question of the moment.
"What are we supposed to do now?"
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