Chapter 10: Feigned Submission
Whenever I have a difficult decision to make, I come here.
This place brings a clarity to any decision.
Abraham's words snaked through Wolfgang's brain, clear and cyclical. His footsteps echoed beneath him, loud in the hush of the surrounding stone memorial. Wolfgang looked to his left - he had felt a presence beside him- but saw no one.
Your nerves are getting the better of you, Wolfgang thought to himself. Think.
He paced, and then turned around. The sun was in his path now, bright. His dark sweater felt hot against his skin, irritating. Sweat pooled in the dip of his collarbone. His neck cracked as he slowly looked over his shoulder, senses skittering an alert up his heated spine.
He wasn't alone with his thoughts. That, Wolfgang knew. It wasn't that these added consciousnesses flitting around him were unfriendly, but he disliked the feeling immensely. He was part of something, something he didn't choose to become a part of.
Focus, Wolfgang thought.
Abraham's words echoed around him once more. Clarity.
He continued to pace, the silence of the memorial wrapping its silver strands around the cacophony of his shared brain.
Wolfgang attempted to ignore the nudging of pressures around him. He soldiered on, concentrated, but it was impossible to miss the glint of white-blond hair behind him, or the whiff of heady aftershave that breezed past a nearby column.
Decide, Wolfgang told himself. Focus. He still had the money from the diamonds, it was just sitting, waiting to be used…and what about the rest of the diamonds themselves? The voice in Wolfgang's head was relentless, niggling at him to choose a path.
No answers surfaced in the pool of his thoughts. Wolfgang rubbed at the back of his neck. A presence strode in front of him, garish blue flashing in the corner of his eye. Judging. Observing.
Wolfgang was not reassured.
He kept pacing.
He felt claustrophobic, caged.
Then, for a second Wolfgang saw her, a flash of sunlight, fluttering yellow and blue. Her curls brushed over his senses, tantalizing, teasing - almost touching. The phantom touch of her lips briefly emerged in the painted swirls of his brain, an idea, a comfort.
Gone.
He walked on.
Ist der Holocaust
ein Irrweg
oder eine Spiegelung
unseres selbst?
Wolfgang pauses before the memorial's words, something heavy forming in his throat. He swallowed thickly. The words mocked him, dared him. Are you a monster?
"Is the Holocaust an aberration, or a reflection of who we really are?" One of the people shadowing Wolfgang finally spoke, a voice too wondrous to be somber. Wolfgang assessed the tall man in front of him. He was dark haired, attractive, with freckles speckling his pale skin. His eyes met Wolfgang's, and Wolfgang felt his brow scrunch up, his eyebrows furrow in agitated ridges. The memorial's walls around them bounced with sudden noise. Echoes. Too much noise.
"Why is it so loud where you are?"
"It's Independence Day."
Wolfgang huffed, chuckling darkly. "What is best in life, huh?"
"I don't understand." The man's eyes were innocent, hurt.
"No, you wouldn't." Wolfgang turned, shoulders squared, tense. He ignored the footsteps behind him, vanishing around a corner, willing the other presences out of his mind.
He had decided.
"What's up, Wolfman?" The door of the hospital room burst open, a familiar piercing voice jolting Wolfgang out of his fugue. His eyes snapped up automatically, and he jerked to his feet, hands fisting at his sides.
"The fuck are you doing here?" Steiner stood in the doorway, his bait and bodyguard close behind, hands held up in a falsely placating manner.
"Ooh," Steiner cautioned. "Down, boy. Down." Another bodyguard flooded the room, eyeing Wolfgang warily. Wolfgang's eyes darted over the man's bulk, appraising. Steiner tsked. "I heard dad came to see you. He said you had yourselves a real nice man-to-man, but, knowing you, cousin, like I do, I figured you needed a little motivational…" Steiner's hand gestured over Felix's prone body, sharp and cutting. "...TED-type talk?" His hand fell, and Wolfgang followed it, only to tense even more as Steiner lowered himself down onto the bed next to a defenseless Felix, an ominous stain over the white hospital sheets.
"First of all…" Steiner trailed off, his eyes trailing up Felix's still face, palm exploring the surface of the bed. "I love Felix," Steiner continued, gold rings flashing on his left hand. "It was really hard to watch what happened to him." Wolfgang forced himself to stay still, emotionless. "Even though I know that he would agree when I say - " Steiner moved, snapping in towards Felix's face. His gold chain dangled above Felix's features, cross glinting in the light. " - that he did bring it upon himself." Stay calm, Wolfgang thought. You've already made your decision. Wolfgang didn't trust himself to respond.
Steiner straightened as though Wolfgang had spoken, though, hands skyward as though conceding. "But, I am pulling for his total recovery. In fact," Steiner paced, closer to the woman in the leopard dress, to his bodyguard, to the people who hurt Felix , "I have some close friends who work here, and I asked them to keep an eye on him for me." Steiner paused, gripping the end of the bed, wholly reminiscent of his father. He laughed carelessly. "They did scare me a little, with all the talk about the things that can go wrong when someone like Felix is trying to recover - " Steiner rounded the bed and moved closer to Felix, closer to Wolfgang, too close, and Wolfgang looked up, ready.
But Steiner turned instead, addressing his bodyguards. "Like, they had once case recently - " Steiner shifted back, his manic eyes finding Wolfgang's own, " - where someone got the wrong medicine, and boom!" Steiner snapped in Wolfgang's face, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Dead. " Steiner shifted, his eyes never leaving Wolfgang's. "Would be some kinda… bad luck for old Felixer, after surviving all of this."
"Can we just fast forward to the end of this shit?" Wolfgang couldn't hold back any longer. "You get the diamonds - "
" - my diamonds!" Steiner's manic energy was back, fanatic.
" - and you give Felix and me a pass."
"Well." Steiner, breathing hard, leveled an accusatory finger towards Wolfgang's chest. "I'm a forward-looking person, Wolfie. You gotta believe that. I don't dwell on the past. I get my rocks back, and we all," Steiner gestured to the surrounding hospital room, "Live happily ever after."
Steiner's words slithered through the silence, a deal and a threat, all in one. No one moved. Wolfgang, after a considerable pause, inclined his head just a little, a baring of the throat. Steiner's eyes flitted over Wolfgang once more and swept from the room, his entourage quick to follow.
Wolfgang could tell the gesture pleased Steiner, but his cousin was forgetting one crucial fact, an oversight Wolfgang was counting on to work in his favor: when back into the corner, a lone wolf is the most dangerous of all.
A/N: I apologize for any bad formatting. All stories are exported from Ao3 and they don't seem to transfer well. If anyone is willing to give me tips, feel free to shoot me a message on tumblr under the same username. Until next update!