Hey guys, good news and bad news, good news is i have a new chapter out, bad is that the last two chapters where crap, they added little to the story minus fleshing out Kurtis's back story and Sayna and Eila both have nothing to do the rest of the chapter so it was a waste, let's just pretend like it didn't happen and move on.
99th JFWs base, Normandy Gallia, late July 1944.
As she watched the three tarp covered trucks come down the road, Churchill knew commands "expert" had arrived, after almost two weeks the two soldiers, the "American and the German" would both hopefuly get back to their world.
Leaning on a post, Hanna, Jenna and Stark watched soldiers unload all sorts of things, long metal poles and crates of machines none knew what would do. The saw a small girl, a witch given her lack of pants waling among the men, a white lab coat and green jacket hung on her along with a pair of glasses and a blonde hair cut.
"Sooo...what's all this stuff"? Hanna asked her, she looked up from her clip board as if surprised anyone was there.
"Oh, well after going over the landscape of the area you found the men in via maps, and from the report both the Captain and Engineer gave us, I found that the area lies on what most in the scientific community refer to as a "Witches ruin".
Hanna tilted her head at this and the Blonde, seeing her added "Witches dating back to the middle ages used the ruins for cermonies and such, the area's have a stong magic output an would explain how your friends got here, they must also effect the same area's on their world as well"
"How do you expect to get them home" Stark added catching the Karlslander off guard. She turned around and pointed at a series of metal rods soldiers where enbedding into the soil in a nearby clearing, each topped with a glass box that seemed to glow.
The rods act as a ruin, magic energy flowing through it and locking on to your friends, it should transport them back to their home by acting as a magic ruin point"
"And this will work"? Stark question.
"Yes...or they may just explode" she said with a smile.
"I realy do hope that's a joke" she said uneasy as the blonde returned to her work. Elsewhere Kurtis was sitting on his bunk, looking over his things, his MG42 was cleaned and oiled, his uniform pressed as if for a parade march and he had managed to grab a few rations to take with him. He packed his things in a duffle bag and zipped it up.
"I have some good memories here...but now it's time to return to Germany and my own world's war" He thought to himself. But now it was back to the killing, back to his world, returning to fight the Americans and Russians.
Hefting the bag to his shoulder he stood up and looked back at his cot one last time as he walked out of the tent.
WWW
Placing his M2 helmet on his head, Stan didn't know how he would explain his absence to his superoirs , he was AWOL after all. He didn't think telling his CO that he was off fighting spacemen along side magic girls would get him anywhere else then a two by four cell in the looney bin.
Still he would get to see the the fall of those bastards, they killed his father for sure and he would savior the moment they sent them to hell.
But the Kraut wasn't so bad, he could hold his own in a fight and didn't seem like a bad guy, still a Nazi was a Nazi to him.
He heard the girls calling and picking up his weapon, he walked out to meet they device that would bring them home.
WWW
The poles had all been planted into the ground and where lighting up and blinking, each had a cord that ran to a console Ursula had set up and was behind the controls.
Commander Churchill was looking over everything "So this will get them home then"? she asked. Rather then answer the witch, Ursula flipped a switch and the wind picked up as a blinding light appeared.
As everyone's eyes adjusted they found themselves gazing upon a...portal of sorts, the surface almost like water as it shimered (Think Star Gate,also the song Infinity by LEMMiNO's should be listened to with this).
"So that's how your sending us back?" Sta asked scaring everyone as the American had not been their moments before.
"Yes" Ursula replied matter of fact to him, the glow of the portal shining off her glasses.
Standing before the glow, looking at his way home, he turned as the witches of the 99th.
"Thanks for everything, you gals will win this war at the rate your going, your good people and you've been good to me, thank you all of you" he said stepping closer to the portal. Kurtis as well was soon their. "So we're finnaly going back"
"Seems so, more blood and guts for us both" the man joked
"Well then thank you, all of you, you may think i'm a hero for saving your friend, but you all are true heroes, this world will always be safe under your hands" the Sapper stated bringing a tear to each witches eye.
"OK Dorthy, time to cut this short, say good bye to the tin man, lion and scare crow because where both heading back to Kansas" Baker added as the German stood their looking over the witches.
Stan gave them a salute and with a "Goodbye" stepped into the shimering prtal.
"We're under orders to only give arm salutes but screw the party" Kurtis laughed giving them the same salute as the American. Looking back one last time, he smiled and with a wave, stepped though, back to his world.
Flipping a switch, Ursula shut the device down and the portal was gone.
"Can't believe their both realy gone" Hanna sighed. Stark just shock her head and Jenna seemed to keep her comment to her self.
"Well hopefully they both will be safe, good news too, we have two new witches ariving today" Jamie said loudly.
"Who are they"? Stark asked as a new but oddly familar voice popped up and she turned to see two girls behind her.
The first was dressed in Karlsland woodland camo minus the pants and had the tail of a fox sticking out from between her slender legs,a cap sat upon her head with long hair pulled back into a pony tail.
"Kristina Yeager, 1st Karlsland Sapper, Witch Company maim" she said saluting and leaving them all shocked, the second one witch with brown hair hanging down her shoulders, wore a Liberion army jacket and an M2 helmet with dog tags hung around her neck and a tommy gun at her side.
Selina Baker, 4th Infantry, 3rd Witch detachment at your service" she said smiling. They noticed all of the girls seemed shocked and were not speaking.
"This is going to be one of Those unit's isn't it"? the girl asked annoyed as the Sapper just waved a hand in front of the frozen witches faces.
WWW
Stepping through Stan found himself back in the clearing, the bodies gone and it as once again quiet. The stars are out now, blinking in the night sky, the air is cool.
Behind him he hears the German come through as the portal closes.
"We're back?" he said ending it almost like a question as it slipped from his lips. Looking about neither could tell
"Guess so" Stan answered turning and raising his weapon at the sapper, who in turn had his pistol leveled at the man's temple.
"We could finish what we started before " he said with no emotion, the German didn't blink and cocked his gun.
After a rather tense silence both lowered their weapons, they turned, Kurtis heading back towards the German lines, baker to the allied lines. As they began walking away, Kurtis turned and thew a pair of tags to the American.
"The trooper i found these on was killed, make sure his family knows he died brave"
Stan slide his hands around his neck and took out a small frame and tossed it to the German. It showed a man in his late forties with brown hair and a mostach.
"That's my dad, Jacob, do me a favor Kraut, if you see him, reframe from shooting or gassing him, OK"?
Kurtis nodded and they both parted back to their lines and to re join their respected armies and war...
Mid April 1945 miles outside Belin.
The Reich was dead, we all new this as we watched Berlin burn at the hands of the soviet hordes, many men in the 9th and 12th Armies grew up here, some brought to tears at the idea of these Beasts taking their home was horrid. Standing near General Walter Wenck's tent, the commander of the 12th army and what remained of the 9th army, on the outskirts of Berlin order from the Fuhrer himself had ordered us to move into Berlin and to save him and the city.
It was an unwinable fight and we knew it, we waited to see what he would do, so as he left his tent, the crowed outside became silent.
Standing up on a crate he cleared his throat "Comrades,you've got to go in once's not about Berlin anymore,it's not about the Reich anymore. I have all ready asked you all to give me more then i could ever repay as soldiers, but we have the Russian's charging towards our homelands, their are hundreds of people, inocents still trapped in Berlin, i ask you all as Germans, as soldiers, to follow me one last time into the breach to the gates of hell to save those people, we will send them off to the west and then we too will retreat and join them"
Everyone one quiet.
"I cannot order you to follow me, but i ask any man who will please step fowards" he said as every man stepped ahead. Looking around he smiled and returned to his tent sending a message over the radio to all people and soldiers in Berlin to withdraw into our coridor, the 12 miles of road we held tight to the allied lines.
As we maned our post, a sandbag bunker near a bridge, one that would soon be streaming with refugee's of the now burning Berlin,over the radio we could hear Wenck's mesage "...Hurry up, we're waiting for you".
Throughout this war we have felt like we where fighting for the wrong reasons.
Not today, today we were heroes.
"Incoming" someone cried as an aircraft flow low over head, an Me-109.
"Perhaps the Lufftwaffe is still in the war" i yelled only to see it being chased by 3 Air Cobra's bearing soviet markings, the aircraft toar off chasing their prey, banking low it was it into my all three fighters and it's burt shell crashed into the ground, the pilot going down with his aircraft.
And at that moment, the river was alive as tracers sweeped over everything...
(Gunfireand screaming)
"Hold fast" i cried out, firing an MG42, propped up on it's bipod, smoke curling from it's muzzel in the cool morning air, the Russians seemed to never end, bullets flying from everywhere, and in the distance, a sound lie thunder is growing louder, we watch as what seems like a Platoon of enemy infantry opened fire, Fritz had is head up and we watched a bullet send him down to the floor of the bunker.
We stayed down as they moved towards our bunker, slipping my Walter P-38 out and cooking it i looked at the other men and nodded.
We knew how this would end...
September 3rd,1945
Moving forwards we could only gaze upon the sights of the battles the Russians had left in their wake,burnt out tanks, bodies everywhere.
"Hey Cap, remind me why these guys are on our side"? a private asked me. I payed him no mind but i wondered that too. They had left no building untouched.
They had made a fuss over giving us this area, some rat faced bastard spoke shit English yelling "Ours" as we drove by. They were nice guys but didn't like giving up land.
Walking through i can see why these men fought so hard, to keep their homes safe.
Were here to secure this area, but were here to snag a few take me backs to bring home to the states. Maybe that's why i got on my knee's and Crawled into a half blow to shit bunker. Maybe it was fate or gods verstion of a sick fucking joke.
Smelled like hell times five inside, the stench of burnt skin was everywhere, but what caught my eye was the P-38 in a deadman's hands, the guys cap pulled over his face, he lay propped into a banker wall, stab wounds covering his uniform front, blood soaking down his chest,as i tried to pry the weapon from his grasp , empty from use and i heard a sharp gasp and jumped back as the man moved.
"Jesus, who the hell are you not dead" i yelled out as rolled over on his side letting off a string of curses in his native speak.
"Every the asshole Baker" i heard him cough and finnaly understood that was him, the same Kraut from...you know, the other world.
"What the fuck happened to you" i whispered covering my mouth" no one could be alive with five holes in his chest.
He didn't speak, hell didn't seem suprised and never told me how this happened, he just laughed coughing up a bit of blood, "Your welcome" he nodded at me.
He wasn't going to live, didn't need a medic to see that. He most have known this, and i wondered what he thought, doomed to death, didn't seem sad.
"Tell my family i tried to do right, i'm no hero...and your welcome you sonofabitch".
"What" i asked as he lowered his head down, looking out the gun slits, outside in the distance lay the Ruins of Berlin.
"We never asked for any of this you know, we just wanted to be proud again, to show the world Germany wouldn't go off after the first war...and now we lie again in ruins all because of the wish...the will of one man...his dream of a 1000 year...Reich..." he trailed of, still coughing blood up now and again.
I don't know why, but at that moment, i no longer saw a "Nazi" someone who had killed my father, i saw...a man like myself who had made a few mistakes and payed for them. I sat their for eight minutes with his, watching the light in his eyes grow dimmer and his voice grow frailer and softer.
"I'm sorry...i never meant to do this..." he waved a hand at the city, ruin =ed in the distance.
"All i wanted was my nation to be proud of me..."
"You did good, took us 6 years, 3 nations vs the entire world" i added, might as well let him die with a positive note.
"Maybe...maybe..."
We sat their in silence, two enemies speaking, and i felt him take one last breath, deep and clear before he spoke.
"Tell your father he raised a fine son..." he said closing his eyes and going limp, i shook him, wanting to know why he would say that, he was gone, i felt something inside.
Loss, but not loss for family or for a friend, but that of losing someone like me, a soldier.
Walking back outside i looked back at him, he lie peacefully, and checked to see if anyone was looking, i gave him a salute.
"Goodbye" i Whispered walking away...
As the war ended and the Horrors of Hitler's rule became known, one story came to light that left many touched, in early April 1945, a Jewish prisoner was taken from a death camp by a German soldier stating it was ordered from Himmler himself, taking said man to what seemed like certain doom, the trooper stopped the jeep at a crossroads and got out.
"Oh no, we may have a flat, i'll the leave the keys in the jeep and change it, better hurry too, allied lines are only 12 miles to the north" he said.
Taking said hint, the prisoner escaped to allied lines and to freedom.
"I never did learn why that kind soul saved my life" he prisoner, Jacob Baker stated after the war "But it did give my wife and son a shock, they had thought me dead for years, my boy Stanley even joined the army to "Avenge me" as he put it.
Today this story serves to show us kindness takes no from, and today it is still a story in the Baker family, along with an odder one from their son, now the writer of his award winning Novel The Last Defender a fiction story he wrote based on his times in the war, with a Proud US trooper and a German both finding themselves in a world not their own, and in the end, finding they too, were not so diferent...