After a long, Awkward silence between thew men as Tino and Berwald thought about what they had just heard, Herc smiled, and lead them outside. he pointed out the main house, where the boss, Arthur, and his Lovely and lonely wife sleep. of course, the rest of the crew slept together in the massive bunkhouse. he pointed out the big tractor for harvesting wheat and another big truck for putting the bales onto. he said they would start work after mid-Afternoon meal, which apparently was very, very soon. the 'mess hall' area, which really was a big wooden shack with a nice fireplace and tables, was suddenly filled with hungry, riled up men as Tino and Berwald were shown in. Herc used two fingers of his one good hand and whistled awfully loud. the room fell silent and the groups of men looked at Berwald and Tino like fresh meat. actually, just Tino. they looked at Berwald like he was a killer; And it was true. non of the men knew it, no, but he was. he had killed before... and the thought of that made Berwald want to puke. he didn't like violence... he just didn't know his own strength...

"these are the new men Al' hired to pick up slack since Roderich was caught..." the bigger mans voice trailed off. "Any-hoo, i just gave them a good tour, try and show them the ropes around here after meal time, they need to know how the harvest works around here." And with that. Herc grabbed a plate, put some beans and potato on it, and sat down with the rest of the savage looking men.

The huddled masses of cold men seemed to instantaneously continue eating as soon as Herc stopped talking. Tino and Berwald didn't want to stand out, so quickly grabbed a plate and scarcely took food. they were hungry, but it looked like some of the other men were even hungrier.

The sat down in the only open space left, and watched as a dirt old cat came wandering into the mess hall. some of the men next to Tino and Berwald were playing a game of cards, betting tiny amounts of money that was nothing compared to Berwalds old salary, but somehow he got the feeling it was a lot to these men.

A cranky looking man dramatically sniffed the air. "I wonder what that Shit is i smell" he said sarcastically. "I told you a million times, and i'll tell you again Herc, That damn cats run outta time. it'd be best to put it down. best for everyone. i can't even eat without it making me lose my appetite." the angry man hissed, sanding up relatively close to Tino, but staring the cat down.

"Oh i could never... not my ol' scrappy. she's seen it all. i've had her since she was just a kitten, fact i was there when she was born." he said, smiling as the cat purred loudly. he softly pet her old spine, feeling the lumps of old age on her bones and clumps of uncleaned fur as he pet her.

"Just put her outta her misery! shes blind and can't weigh more than five pounds. fact, i'll do it for ya." the man took step after step closer until he pulled out his gun and put the barrel behind the cats head. "boom. painless, quick, she wouldn't know it was coming." he said, trying to convince the Greek man to kill his beloved pet.

"No, No, Ivan. thats final. i held her in my arms as a baby, i feed her from a bottle when her mother got ran over by that damn ice truck. i've had her since i started working here, and i'll have her till i die or she does. but not like this. she'll go when its her time."

"it might be her time, Herc" another man that was still sitting with his cards in hand said. "she's awfully old. she's suffering. she cant clean herself, digest food as well... she can barely even jump, Herc..." the large blond man said, standing to join the Frightening, silver haired giant. This man was big, muscled, but not as scary as Ivan. Tino wondered about these men's stories; he wondered how they ended up here.

Hercules looked down to his cat in panic, then back up to the two pressuring men. "I- No... no..." he muttered and the blond gently took the old cat from Hercules' lap. it cooed and purred in The Germans arms.

"I'm sorry, its time." the blond murmured.

"Ludwig..." Hercules whimpered, tears brimming over his eyelid.

"thank god. i want to have one night of not smelling this shit." The Russian mumbled, his gun out as he followed the tall blond man outside. Hercules' chin shook and tears fell out of his eyes. the entire mess hall did not resume talking as they had before. in fact- no one made a sound. soft 'meows' could be heard from the outside of the shack.

then the booming sound of a gunshot that made Everyone turn their heads to Herc. he jumped at the sound. staring blankly forward. tears washed over his dirty face, if only he had two hands to wipe away the tears...

Tino felt like sobbing. how could something like this happen! in the city they don't just shoot animals dead, they take them to vets and give them shots and make them drift to sleep! he squeezed Berwalds hand tightly under the table, squeezing his eyes shut as the two men waltzed back in.

The german took a seat next to Hercules. "She didn't suffer. it was so quick, she didn't feel a thing."

A smaller man stood. he was bigger than Arthur, but not as big or muscled as Berwald or Ludwig. he was tall and thin, with long blond hair flowing down to just above mid-back. "My bitch just had puppies... you can have one if you want. a dogs better for this farm life anyways, Herc-"

"Everyone... just shut the fuck up." The Grecian man said, shaky breath as tears still fell down his face. he stood, charging past Ivan and hitting him with his shoulder as he passed. from the looks of it, he would be gone for a while. in all truth, he wanted to be isolated. that animal had been with his though all of his hardships. now, he was a broken man.

"You hear that Su-san? puppies... just like we were going to get before kids, remember? we wanted to see if we could take care of a dog before we had children..." Tino whispered to Berwald.

"i d'nt think w'll b' h'ving kids 'nymore Tino..." he wiped his face with his hands "i Fucked 'p ev'rything." he murmured.

"once we get more money and the situation in the cities settle more... me and you can head east and start a new like, okay? like our own witness protection!"

"i didn't j'st witness, Tino, i w's the cause."

"shush up now. you only did what you had to"

"y'u d'nt 'nderst'nd. it w's like i couldnt control myself. i didn't even feel like i hit that hard... th'ts wh'at scares me the most..." he confessed in a whisper to Tino, the little Finnish man looking up to him. he didn't know Berwald felt this way...

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted with a loud alarm. "Work time Booooyyyyysss!" An Albino bimbo shouted as he bounced out of his seat and for the door. it was time to see what farm life would really be like.