Never Alone
"You've got red on you."
"……"
Somewhere off to the far West, the sun was shining
The East skyline however, was blanketed with a amber and crimson hue as the residing light began to wane.
"…"
"There's no use you know, that curtain ain't coming down anytime soon."
"It has too."
"Well, throwing cocktails at Ivan won't bring it down any faster."
Two figures sat side-by-side on the steps of the Brandenburg Gate, both clad in Soviet military attire.
A wall of concrete serving as there scenic attraction.
"……"
"Hell, Tino came up with that idea and look what happened to him."
"…"
"Another client state in Ivan's sick, globalist, collectivist agenda."
"You think I don't know that already?"
"Then why?"
The brunette only stared at the ground in what the young, albino-haired man believed was contemplation, but the answer came out premeditated.
"Independence; we were free once, Gilbert. Independent, self-sufficient and content."
"Throwing a tantrum won't bring it back ya know, you of all people would know that."
"Better to have done something, then to have submitted without a sign of resistance."
More uncomfortable silence trailed those last words.
"……"
"Do you really miss him that much?"
"…"
The brunette's head perked up slightly.
Roderich Edelstein; a name that had once brought comfort and warmth to the young lady's heart, gone.
On the other side of the seemingly endless and impassable curtain of concrete and steel.
While the able-bodied but frail young woman sat in misery, under the backdrop of cold Socialist expansion.
Ironically alone in a so-called, "Collective of liberated nations".
How did it happen?
The First World War saw an end to their unity and the Second, a reunion.
However; the end of the second, horrendous World War saw a division in the nations of Europe. A rift and divergence of former friends and neighbors with the encroachment of two counteracting ideologies.
She just happened to be on the wrong end.
But then again, he was too.
The young man sitting next to her, in minor thought.
Torn from his younger brother.
The once proud, indomitable nation of Prussia, reduced to a puppet-state.
You'd kind of expect a person like Gilbert to draw the first stone in the same situation, but the case was not so.
He seemed to accept it, defeat and humility without protest. Something uncharacteristic of the once proud Prussian. Yet it was necessary for peace.
Elizabeta had never fully grasped or understood the mental psyche of her childhood friend.
She remembered him as a proud, arrogant and narcissist in his younger days.
Yet… he was loyal, brave and enduring throughout the passage of time.
"Maybe, maybe not."
The young man was somewhat surprised by the vague answer.
"Perhaps it has something to do with honor."
"……"
"Please remember our pride and honor has lead us here."
The words were of themselves of an oxymoronic statement.
If anyone prided personal and national honor above all else, it was him.
But… he was still right in every regard.
"The loss of honor, but a loss of many things I'd assume."
Lives, pride, independence, love.
"…"
The man raised his head and looked off into the West with a façade of endurance and nobility, hoping to reassure his companion.
"At least you still have me.", low but auditory words accompanied the gesture.
"…………"
Deep thought accompanied by silence once more.
A single tear trailed down.
Such seemingly unrefined words spoken by her comrade, sparked a hope in the darkness that was doubt in her mind. She was never alone.
The seasons may change, ideas and even hearts may move, but the reality was that he'd always be there.
As a crying shoulder, a companion, an ally, a true friend.
Their companionship throughout the Dark Ages, Teutonic Order, two World Wars. Even their squabbles with each other in the latter end of the seventeenth-century.
He was still by her side even to this day.
She scolded herself mentally for forgetting about the times once shared with the man next to her.
"Yes and in the end, that's all I'll ever needed."
Without warning, the brunette leaned in and rested her head on the man's shoulder.
A rather large if not apparent blush began to make it's way to the Prussian's face, with a genuine smile from the Hungarian who caused it.
"Likewise.", the Prussian managed to choke out, extending a arm around his… love.
------------------------
The day ended with the pair staring tiredly, but not longingly at the wall that divided them from neighbors.
Sometimes, it's nice to know that people never change.
Author's Notes:
What was originally meant to be my first fan fiction, became my second. With so much revision and restructuring for such a short work and it still didn't come out as planned. Originally suppose to be a self-induced Gilbert monologue with no real "Happy Ending", became a more open-ended but short dialogue and mind sequence between the two, but mostly Elizabeta. Somewhat rushed too. Yeah, some possible gaps in transition and or grammatical mistakes. Still kind of new to this I guess.
Gilbert/Elizabeta: It's so hard not to want a happy ending for the two. Your quintessential perfect couple really, both alike in many fields and un-alike in others. Foils for each other in a sense. I decided to go with a more sympathetic and understanding Gilbert though, he maybe selfish but he still longs for his companion.
Historical Footnotes:
The dialogue between Gilbert and Elizabeta about throwing cocktails at Ivan is referencing the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 over Soviet occupation in which they were used. The Molotov Cocktail was originally designed as an improvised, anti-tank weapon against Soviet tanks during the Finnish Winter War, which ended in a costly Soviet pyrrhic victory and Finland becoming a sort of Soviet client state.
The Brandenburg Gate is a famous Berlin landmark on the Eastern section of the city.
Any references to a curtain, wall, slabs of concrete and or reinforced by steel/iron, is clearly referencing the Berlin Wall.