Flowers for Balaton: An Axis Powers: Hetalia/RNDA-verse Fanfiction
(Chapter 13: Same Same, But Different)
Neu Wein, Royal Dominion of New Austria. April, 2023.
"...At least this city is peaceful… Compared to the rest of this sodding planet, Amerika included..." Marcus sighed as he started to sip on a cup of tea. Roza was sitting in front of the Agent, lazily reading over the menu of the cafe that the pair were eating at.
"I guess you could say that..." the Magyar muttered, flashing her companion a smile. "Nukes or no nukes, the Americans here are certainly more annoying than those glowing bastards back home..." Marcus couldn't help but laugh quietly at her comment as a young waitress brought over their food.
Marcus started to eat his meal in silence as he noticed a familiar face in the crowd, the Prussian quickly put his reading glasses on, hoping that they would be enough to conceal his identity. Marcus' RDNA counterpart approached the pair upon recognising the young man, but was surprised when he noticed Roza…
"Bonjour, Monsuier Mueller!" the Canadien smiled as he grabbed a chair and sat next to Roza, who started to feel more than a little bit uncomfortable by his presence. The Magyar held the menu closer to her face, in an attempt to ignore him.
"Gut Morgen, Herr Wright." Marcus smiled back as he shook his hand. His counterpart glanced over to Roza, who was shuddering slightly.
"Are you ok, Mademoiselle?" the young man asked as Roza pressed her face into the menu. "Bit of a quiet one, is she?" the Canadian quipped as Marcus nodded with a somewhat forced smile as he sipped his tea.
"She's a friend of mine, I met her in Freetown a few years back. We've been close ever since..." Marcus smiled as his counterpart sipped from his own cup of coffee. He tried to move the menu away from her, only for Roza to move it closer to her face.
"Try not to provoke her, she can be a little grumpy when she hasn't had any coffee..." Marcus warned his counterpart as the Quebecois continued to sip his coffee. Roza slowly sipped from her own cup of coffee, trying to not say or do anything stupid…
"I understand. She reminds me of a friend of mine though… It's almost uncanny" Marcus noted as Roza moved the menu to the side slightly, showing her face for a few seconds. "Mon dieu… She's just like you… and Mademoiselle Hedervary." He said under his breath as Roza's counterpart appeared beside the young man.
"I can see that..." the once-Magyar chimed in, adjusting her old Hussar outfit. "It's probably just a coincidence, nothing more"
"If you say so." Marcus sighed as his Doomsday counterpart finished his drink. He looked over to Roza, who was still internally screaming. Her resemblance to his own version of Roza was uncanny, although seemingly different at the same time.
"So, Herr Wright..." Marcus sighed to himself as he thought about what he was going to say to his counterpart. "I saw that photo, of ou-, I mean, your cousin… What happened to her?" Marcus's counterpart nearly spat out his drink in surprise.
"Oh… Yeah, Mademoiselle de Klerk… She's dea- Non… She's missing. Oui, missing..." the Canadian stuttered, but his counterpart could easily detect some nervous, seemingly unhinged laughter. He stared at a small knife that was sitting across from him, wondering if he could use it. "Non… I'm better than this..."
"My cousin's family had living in Southern Africa for generations, before those Kibaszott Reds had taken over the place. We sent letters to each other, even while the Collectivists were raping and pilliaging the nation..."
Marcus was taken by surprise when he heard the sudden addition of Hungarian to the young man's melancholic, detached tone in his voice. He felt more than a little unnerved when he watched his hands edge closer to the knife that was sitting next him.
"She's still alive… I know she is!" Marcus gave him a creepy smile as he grabbed the knife and made sure that his counterpart was pinned against his chair before moving the knife a few inches above his throat in a seemingly threatening gesture.
"I will find her! I will murder every, single Red bastard that gets in my way!" Marcus snapped, kicking his Prussian counterpart out of the chair before holding him to the ground. "I'll make sure of it! THEY WILL ALL DIE, THEN FRANKIE WILL BE WITH ME, FOREVER!" the young man held the knife above his head, grinning manically. "I might as well start with you, Red scum!"
"Keep it together, Herr Wright… Bitte! For both our sakes!" Marcus panicked as his counterpart tried to stab one of his arms, but moved it at the last moment. "You're not fucking helping, Roza!" the Cursed One hissed as he managed to kick himself free of his counterpart's grip.
"It's not me who's controlling him… It's just himself, fuelled by grief. It's as if you never got out of that depression..." Roza chimed in as she disappeared from the seat she was sitting in. Marcus shakily rose to his feet as his grief fuelled counterpart nearly landed a punch to his face.
Something then gripped his arm as Marcus felt his body flying through the air and straight into a brick wall. His counterpart walked over to the young man, laughing under his breath as he did so. "I don't know where she is… But I will find her… She's mine… Oui… MINE!"
"Get a hold of yourself, man!" Marcus adjusted his glasses, which had a small crack on them after being flung into the brick wall. "There's no need to lash out like this, I'm not your enemy! She is alive, trust me!"
"LIAR!" the Canadian yelled, trying to land another punch onto his opponent, but missed again. Marcus sighed as he continued to dodge his counterpart's strikes, knowing what it was like to fight under an emotional load, also while heavily intoxicated.
"You don't know how to fight, do you?" Marcus flashed his opponent a grin as he dodged yet another poorly thrown punch. "Try to keep up, will you?" Marcus continued to avoid his punches, most of them at the last minute as he'd seemingly found an opponent that was at his level.
Just before Marcus was about to get a punch to the face, something flashed in front of his vision with almost inhuman speed and slammed his counterpart against the brick wall. "What the…?" the Prussian raised an eyebrow as a young woman, who had a clear resemblance to Roza – albeit with an old Hussar's uniform – was standing over his counterpart, while berating the young man.
"How stupid was that!? You tried to fight this guy… He's stronger than he looks, Marcus!" the former New Austrian facepalmed as the man took his punishment, sporting a few bruises from his counterpart's assault. Roza turned around and faced Marcus with an apologetic, and certainly less insane look on her face. "I'm really sorry about this, Mister Mueller… I should try to keep him under control more often"
"No problem, Fraulein… Just tell him that his cousin is alive, not matter how many times he tries to deny it… Frankie is still out there, trust me..." Marcus sighed as he put a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "You and Frau Worth are the only ones who can keep him together in this messed up world, and I hope you do a good job of it..."
Roza nodded slightly as she turned around, but not before giving him a wink. "I know who you are, Marcus, and igen, I will keep him from knowing… Until it's the right time to tell him."
"Just don't make him kill anyone..." Marcus sighed as he walked off, with his version of Roza following him. "I assume that chat went well? He asked, shifting his glance behind him to notice his counterpart getting his ear talked off by his own version of Roza.
"Igen, it did. It's probably what would've become of us if our personalities were swapped."
Marcus smiled as he put an arm around Roza's neck, pulling her close to him. "I guess we have a long way to go. But at least this is a start…"
"Ja, mein Herr~" the Magyar smiled, messing up his hair as the pair walked back to the safe house. "Let's hope that this version of you gets his happy ending..."
Southern African ColMem, Collectivist Internationale…
"Bloedige hel… Why did I get into this ungood nonsense in the first place?" a young woman sighed as she made her way past a group of intoxicated guards. She watched a few of them stroll past her, weapons tucked neatly into their holsters. Once the men were gone, the Afrikaner crept past them, trying to resist the temptation to slip into ColStandard once again.
"You're going to get what's coming to you, soon enough..." Francine de Klerk muttered as she felt for the rifle that was slung over her shoulder. After making a mental note that she still had her weapon on her, she sneaked past a small building that was full of Reds. "Damn traitors, the lot of 'em…"
After lurking around the compound for a few minutes and watching a myriad of trucks drive past the place, some carrying weapons. While others carrying people, both dead and alive stopped to drop off their sickening cargo.
A sudden noise made her turn around and pull out her rifle, which had probably belonged to an unfortunate Collectivist. "Don't do that!" she hissed as her companion approached her slowly with his hands up.
"Sorry about that, Miss..." a young man of Zulu descent muttered under his breath as he walked over to the young woman. "Our superiors have told me to come and retrieve you. It's too dangerous out here, one wrong move and we could be sent to Room 101 or-"
The young man was suddenly cut off as a gunshot confirmed the young man's demise. Blood and viscera splattered against a concrete wall were the only reminders of his once untainted face. "Always sticking you neck out for others David… I knew that would get you in the end..." Frankie laughed to herself after making such a morbid comment.
"HALT! UNPERSON!" a young, vaguely Afrikaner accent voice boomed as a spotlight shone over the young woman and the headless corpse of her fellow partisan. "Report to the barracks and you shall be cleansed of your heretical oldthink ideas! Do otherwise and we shall end your pathetic existence, just as the Will intended!"
"You won't get me this time… Not again!" Frankie shot the man a grin as she bolted before the spotlight could catch up to her. The bolt into the night was a success, she spotted a familiar light in the distance, the lights of what was originally her hometown. Now a Red stronghold, but she knew that she would return there, eventually.
"Let's hope that those Otherworlder rumours are true..." she continued to be on the lookout for any more Reds, knowing that a sniper could be following her at any moment.
"I will find you, Marcus… Just hold on, my geliefde neef..."