Troy squinted in the blistering Australian sun as he and Dietrich left the airport, having landed in the beautiful surfer city of Gold Coast. They weren't there to surf—though Troy had to suppress a laugh at the thought of Dietrich surfing. Instead, they were there to meet an old friend and mentor of Troy's, and so Dietrich could finally see where Troy, an American, received an Australian slouch hat.
"Are you certain this Lieutenant Ponson fellow will remember you?" Dietrich asked. "Oh, what am I saying… of course he will. No one can forget you after encountering you once."
"Is that a compliment or an insult, Dietrich?" Troy asked.
"I will let you decide." Dietrich adjusted his grip on his duffel bag before wiping sweat from his forehead. "It is technically winter here and yet it is absurdly hot."
"Welcome to Australia," Troy said.
"Indeed."
The two acquired a rental car, then began the process of trying to find Ponson's home, which was just a few miles away from downtown Gold Coast. Dietrich looked a bit scared at the fact that Troy was driving.
"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Dietrich asked.
"Positive," Troy said. "I have the address."
"Have you ever been here before?"
"No. Have you?"
"No. Maybe we should have arranged for your friend to pick us up."
"But then it wouldn't be a surprise."
"I am sure finding out the strength of my sanity will be a surprise after this."
Troy sighed, but Dietrich's usual remarks were something to be expected, having just suffered through a very long flight. Then again, he did agree to come and meet the man who trained Troy.
"Do we have a map?" Dietrich asked as they left the lot.
"Uh… there should be one in my bag," Troy said.
"Pull over so I can get it."
Troy pulled over, leaving the car running while Dietrich unbuckled his seatbelt, got on his knees, and squeezed into the back of the car to rummage around Troy's duffel bag.
"Your packing skills are absolutely abysmal," Dietrich grumbled.
"So are your work boots here," Troy said, looking down at Dietrich's boots resting on the center console. They were scuffed, cracked, discolored with age, and the laces were fraying. "When was the last time you got new ones?"
"I got these after I moved into my house. They have held up well, and I will not get rid of them until they fall apart."
"They look like they could fall apart any second, buddy."
Dietrich crawled back into the passenger seat, holding a folded map. "Until they fall apart, my boots are not going anywhere." He got comfortable, put his seatbelt back on, and started tearing open a chocolate bar.
"Did you take that from my bag?" Troy asked.
"I did. I am shocked it has not melted yet."
"That is mine, you know. You could've asked."
"This is revenge for when you took half the Christmas cookies in the fridge last year, and I am starving."
"We could've stopped somewhere—never mind." Troy watched Dietrich take a bite out of the chocolate bar. "I'm still glad you came, even if you're stealing my candy."
"My pleasure. I look forward to meeting this Lieutenant Ponson."
They managed to find the address without too much of an issue. Troy just hoped Ponson still lived there. After parking in the long driveway leading up to a house with a stunning view of Australian beach and the Pacific Ocean itself, Troy and Dietrich got out of the car and started approaching the house.
"What will we do if he no longer lives here?" Dietrich asked.
"Ask if the current owner knows where he does live," Troy said.
"And if he does not?"
"We'll figure that out when we get there."
"Comforting."
Troy gave Dietrich a reassuring grin before coming to the front porch and knocking on the door. About a minute passed before the door opened, and a man slightly older and taller than Troy, with short reddish-gold hair tinged with silver, was standing and staring at both of them.
"I'll be damned…" the man said. "You're not—"
"Sergeant Troy? Yes, I am, Lieutenant."
Ponson laughed before throwing his arms around Troy. "I can't believe it, mate! After all these years, you finally show up. How are you?"
"Doing great. How about you?"
"Same. Happily married, one kid who's in school right now. The missus is visiting her mother at the moment. You can come on in—" Ponson paused when he saw Dietrich. "Who's this, Troy?"
"Oh. This is Hans Dietrich, Lieutenant Colonel in the Bundeswehr—"
"And former DAK captain. I remember dealing with your recon unit a few times. Wily critter, you were, until the Rat Patrol came about."
"That is in the past now," Dietrich said.
"Yeah, things have changed in the last sixteen years, since the war ended," Troy added. "Dietrich and I have been friends for a while now."
Ponson smirked. "So I teach you to clobber the Germans and then you go making friends with them?"
"It's a long story."
"And I want to hear it." Ponson gestured for the two to come in, and closed the door behind them. "Want anything to drink?"
"No, thanks. I'm driving."
"You can drink, Troy, I will drive us to the hotel later," Dietrich said.
"Alright. Thanks, Dietrich."
The two sat on a couch in the living room, which offered another view of the beach. Troy was given a beer bottle, and Ponson smiled upon seeing Troy's wedding band. "I see you've tied the knot with someone. Didn't think you ever would."
"I did," Troy said. "Her name is Shauna. She's the prettiest, most resourceful, and intelligent woman I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Funny story, I hired her as a ranch hand a few years before we started dating." He skipped the part about Anah playing matchmaker. "We realized we have a lot in common, and decided to see how a relationship would work. A year later, we were saying our vows."
"Lovely. Any kids?"
Troy's heart sank. "No. We… can't conceive."
"Just kept trying and nothing happened?" A sullen look came over Ponson's face.
"Pretty much."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's alright. I get to see the kids from the other guys in my unit pretty often, and I love them like they're my own."
"Better than nothing," Ponson said with a shrug. "So, what brings you all the way out here to beautiful Australia?"
"Wanted to see you, of course. I realized it's been a long time and thought it would be nice to catch up and see how life's been treating you."
"Life's been good to me. I missed having you around after you were given your own unit, but damn was I proud of you." Ponson motioned to Troy's hat. "And I see you've kept that in good shape."
"He never takes it off," Dietrich said. "I once joked to my wife that he probably remembers that hat before he remembers to put on trousers in the morning."
Troy rubbed his face, sighing. "Anyway, yes, I've kept this hat in good shape. Nearly lost it a few times to—" he nearly said, "Anah," but decided to keep that quiet for now, "some unfortunate incidents with fire, but it's somehow stayed in one piece."
"I made the right decision giving that to you, then. You earned it."
"Thanks. I know I gave my commanding officers a bit of a hard time over it, but after wearing them down and them seeing my performance in combat, they let it go."
"And what a performance you gave them!" Ponson clapped Dietrich's shoulder. "Running rings around this guy, giving Rommel a bloody headache wherever possible—you took what you learned from me and put your own wacky spin on it. The student became the master real fast."
"I wouldn't say I became a master," Troy said, taking a drink from his beer. "Dietrich still gave us a hard time."
"Oh, give yourself some credit, Troy. You were blowing up his convoys left and right. I'm shocked the Germans still had men to send"
Dietrich was starting to look uncomfortable.
"He was still a good commander, and Rommel trusted him to find a way to defeat us," Troy said.
"You would think a few dozen raids with several hundred casualties would've made them think twice," Ponson replied. "I take it that it's true you made a number of truces with Dietrich here for one reason or another?"
"I did. They didn't always work out, and… my behavior during some of them wasn't always admirable."
"You still got things done and went on to fight another day, just like I taught you."
"Some stuff could've gone differently. Besides, it's over now. We can move on." Troy was getting the sense that Ponson was becoming caught up in old times and rivalries, and he sensed Dietrich's growing discomfort. Glancing at Dietrich, Troy thought, Easy, buddy, Ponson doesn't know what happened.
"Doesn't mean we can't talk about some of the wild stories that made the rounds," Ponson said. "You definitely kept us entertained each time we got wind of your unit's activities. Definitely felt good to hear after we had no luck dealing with Dietrich. Gave him a swift kick in the rear hard enough to knock his teeth out and make him far less of a threat."
Troy felt Dietrich's discomfort come to a head. "Okay, Ponson, that's enough."
"What's the matter, mate?"
"Just… stop. It's over. It's in the past."
Ponson looked at Dietrich, noticing he had gone quiet and looked miserable. "Can't handle a little ribbing, can you? Still sore about losing, eh?"
"That's enough, Ponson!" Troy raised his voice.
Dietrich was still quiet as he stood to leave the house.
Troy kept glaring at Ponson, who still seemed confused over the whole incident. "You don't know the half of what he's been through," Troy hissed, his blood starting to boil. "He lost a lot of men. He was targeted by the SS because he didn't follow certain orders. He was kicked out of his own family because he didn't support the Nazis. He suffered more than anything else! And you know what happened after the war? He tried to kill himself. He was convinced that he was a failure in life and that the world would be better off without him, so he broke a wine bottle and slashed his wrists open. He's only alive today because a friend of ours found him bleeding out in his apartment, and because I donated my own blood to him." Troy lowered his voice, struggling to calm down. "And there's something else you should know, something I probably shouldn't be telling you, but I'll tell you anyway because I trust you—we are all alive today because of Dietrich. Last year, he convinced his commanding officer not to attack East Germany when they were getting too close to the border with West Germany. I don't think I need to go into detail, but I don't think the Soviets with their nuclear arsenal would've been too happy if that happened."
Ponson was silent, looking somewhat ashamed. He let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Troy. To be honest, I thought you may've lost your marbles, coming here with your former enemy in tow, because the last time I saw you, you were determined to win the war for the Allies, not make friends with Germans. Things were different then, and things are different now. I should've just listened to you when you said to move on."
For a moment, Troy wasn't sure whether or not to accept. He knew it was the right thing to do, and didn't want to lose his friendship with Ponson. "Apology accepted. I shouldn't have yelled at you, but… there's no easy way to explain Dietrich's situation." Troy looked out the window, seeing Dietrich sitting on the grassy hill overlooking the beach. "You should apologize to Dietrich, too, but I should go talk to him before the demons in his head do."
Ponson followed, but stood in the doorway as Troy headed over to Dietrich. Without hesitating, Troy sat next to the skinny German, and put his arm around his shoulders. He noticed a blank look in Dietrich's eyes. "Hey, you okay?" Troy asked, gently shaking him.
"We should go home," Dietrich said.
"I talked to Ponson. He apologized. He didn't know what happened."
"I was 'entertainment' to him. My failures gave him joy." Dietrich clenched his fists. "That was all I was. A court jester for you."
"That's not true."
"You enjoyed watching me fall, too!"
"Dietrich, relax. Everything's okay. We're not there anymore."
Dietrich put his head in his hands. When he saw the scars, he began to sob.
Troy gently squeezed him, then took Dietrich's hands, turning them so the scars weren't visible anymore. He held Dietrich's left hand, and gestured to his wedding band. "You have this now, buddy. Think about your wife and how much you love her. You have all of us now. Things are different now, and better now. They won't go backwards, I promise. I won't let it happen."
In his head, Troy visualized the bridge over the abyss, and guiding Dietrich over it. He tightly gripped Dietrich's hand, saying quietly, "I won't let things go back to the way they were before."
Dietrich's breathing eventually slowed and became more even. He squeezed Troy's hand in return, then let go. As he let out his breath, Dietrich rubbed his face. His eyes were red, and tears continued to roll down his face. "My apologies, Troy. I should not have—"
"Don't apologize," Troy said firmly. "Ponson shouldn't have said the things he did, but he didn't know about what you went through. I didn't tell him about the prophecy, but I did tell him that you saved a lot of lives last year. He's willing to apologize to you."
Dietrich became quiet again. "Why do you want to reconnect with this man? He taught you everything you needed to know in order to… beat me."
"It wasn't just you. There were other DAK commanders causing problems for the Allies out there. You were just unfortunate enough to be in our area."
"Unfortunate, or… meant to be there because of the damned prophecy?"
"Regardless of which, that's how it happened. Ponson's not a bad guy. I still consider him a friend, but you're also my friend, and I'm not letting anyone pick on you. Now that everything—well, almost everything is out in the open, we can start fixing things."
More silence. Dietrich looked down at his boots before switching his gaze back toward the beach. "What if you were forced to choose?"
"Between you and Ponson? Geez, I don't know. You both mean a lot to me, and you both shaped my life in ways I never thought possible. I can't answer that."
Dietrich finally grinned a little. "Well, if I was in a situation where I had to choose between saving your life or Moffitt's, I would choose you, because I know you would fight to save Moffitt afterward, even at the risk of your own life."
"Let's pray we never get put in that situation. Besides, Moffitt would fight to save me, too."
"Indeed."
Troy patted Dietrich's back. "You feel better?"
"A bit rattled, but I will be alright. Why?"
Troy looked over his shoulder, seeing Ponson approaching them. He stood, then held out his hand to help Dietrich up. For a moment, Dietrich looked unsure. He stayed standing, though, and looked Ponson in the eye.
Ponson glanced at the ground, then back at Dietrich. "I'm sorry for what I said, and… for what you went through." He held out his hand.
Dietrich didn't respond for a heartbeat, then took Ponson's hand. "Apology accepted."
Troy breathed a sigh of relief, though he knew it was going to take more than just an apology for Dietrich and Ponson to really get along. As much as he didn't like this idea, he knew it would get Dietrich to laugh. "Ponson, I know you've got stories to tell about me when I just started training. I'm sure Dietrich would enjoy that."
"I've got enough stories to fill a book," Ponson said. "Oh, do you want me to skip the one with the nurses accidentally seeing you without your trousers?"
"Skip it. Please." Troy noticed Dietrich starting to smile again in the corner of his eye. "You know what? Tell him. It'll make him laugh." Troy's conversation with Dietrich shortly after the prophecy's fulfillment suddenly came to mind. "You don't really laugh audibly… but that laugh is the best one, because no one gets to see it very often."
