West Berlin, East Germany
October 3 1950
7:23 PM
The night was a beautiful blanket of a swirling violet-blue with small specks of white scattered across the sky. Clouds streaks flowed lazily through the night, allowing the moon's glistening light to peek at them. The two walked down the quiet road, passing street lights after street lights. The streets and roads were empty and quiet, all they could hear was the clack of their shoes and the crickets in the background. Alfred looked at the other, studying his facial expression.
"Man, I'm starving. Got any place in mind where we could grab something to eat?" Alfred whined, throwing his arms back around his neck. He peeked nervously at Ludwig, watching for his reaction.
He wasn't lying, he actually was really hungry. But things got a bit awkward back there when he was talking to the soviet boy. Ludwig had become a bit more tense and strangely much more quieter than he was before if that was possible. It's just that Ludwig didn't answer any of his remarks with a full sentence after the ordeal, which was different than this afternoon.
Alfred clenched his jaw tightly as they walked on, seemingly to wherever the road led them. Maybe he took it a bit far? He probably shouldn't have raised the gun at the kid again after he started crying. He didn't want to hurt the child, he wasn't going to! He's not that bad of a person!
Alfred gulped, trying to reason it with himself. The thing was, he felt kind of mad seeing the kid. He made such a big fuss over them, and now that they turned out to be some dumb, young, crying ball of tears, Ivan got to have his little laugh on the joke and he got embarrassed because of it!
"Ja, we're heading there right now." Ludwig said, not in any special way. What did Alfred expect?
He sighed, looking back up at the night sky again. And yet, even if he tried to let his mind wander, it would always end up in the same location he had been trying to escape. He gritted his teeth and finally acknowledged it. 'Ivan, that son of a bitch.'
To Ivan, this was all just a game to him. Toying with him, toying with his country, that sicko felt pleasure from doing that didn't he? And yet despite his resentment, there was nothing he could do about it. If he were to actually start to complain about it, he'd probably just look like some oversensitive brat. And Arthur always loves to remind him that he's now a global Superpower, someone that takes charge. 'Even more of a reason people can't know.' What would happen if they knew that someone out there had the ability to make his heart drop? That they hold a sense of power over him and there's nothing he can do about it. All he is allowed to do is shake it off, and continue to stride on.
'But for how long must you do this?' A voice whispered in his head. He has asked himself this question almost too frequently, too much for him to count. The icky feeling of despair started to drip into his mind. He has only been in this for five years. Five god damn years. Five years of torment, five years of pain, five years of this never-ending sinking depression, and he still hasn't reached the bottom of his tortures. There was still so much he has yet to go through, he knows this fact well. But exactly how much more? Even now, as he walked beside his friend, he could feel the burdens of paranoia dragging at his feet, choking him from saying anything. Ivan was always there, watching him, interfering with his life.
And even with that still happening, he's supposed to be strong. He has to fight back with a brave smile on his face. But the thing was, he couldn't. His endurance was weak. It was only five years, and he's already this tired? What a terrible excuse for a Global Superpower. If anyone else knew, they would laugh at him. How was he going to go into a full on fight against the Soviet Union if he can't even take the weaker punches? What a failure he had turned out to be.
He blinked tiredly at the sky. Thoughts move less faster in his mind than usual. Fatigue slowed them down, allowing him to hear those thoughts much clearer through his mind. Was this how he was going to live out the rest of his life? Who was he kidding, of course he was. He couldn't complain, couldn't fight back, this was the only way he could get stronger. But still despite that thought, the icky feeling of despair still lingered. Pep-talks couldn't help him in this type of situation, of course they couldn't. He was in too deep to be able to crawl back out anymore. False hope was overshadowed by the hole he had fallen into, and by every passing day, the hole only grew more and more impossible to crawl out of. He couldn't think of any way to get out.
"Alfred."
"Huh?" He muttered, snapping out of his immersive thoughts. He looked to the left of them, spotting Ludwig standing a bit behind him in front of a large bustling building fit snugly between two other large buildings. It was bright, light shining from the large window panes that were mantled on to the building. Inside, there were round tables covered in snow-white cloth while servers ran around the room with plates being held in one hand and the other being tucked away neatly behind their back. Alfred squinted at the building, shielding his eyes a bit with his hand. The lighting was just so intense, it felt like his eyes were burning just by looking at it.
"We've arrived." Ludwig said monotonously. "Hurry up, you said you were hungry right?" He turned around before motioning Alfred to follow along with him. He didn't hesitate to listen.
They entered the building, immediately being greeted by wait staff and a smiling lady standing at reception. She beckoned them to come closer as she picked up a clipboard and started to flip through the pages.
"Hello! How may we help you today?" She asked cheerfully. Although it was already nightfall, she seemed to have a lot of energy after a long day of greeting customers.
"Ah yes, do you have the private room open tonight?" Ludwig asked her. Alfred looked at him strangely, although the look was ignored.
"Yes we do, would you please tell me the size of your party and when they will arrive?"
"It'll only be us tonight." Ludwig said, absentmindedly.
The lady paused for a moment, and looked back up at him and then to Alfred. He shook his head in confusion and just shrugged at her. It's not like he knows what Ludwig was planning either.
"I'm sorry sir, but the minimum number of guests is at least 6 people. We can seat you farther away from the guests if that makes you more comfortable."
Ludwig rumbled out a deep sigh, causing the reception lady to flinch a bit. "I rather not have any distractions in our business meeting. I'd very much appreciate it if you could please just give us an exception tonight."
She nodded slowly, and began to write on her clipboard. "O-Of course sir, but you'll have to wait around 5 minutes for us to get everything prepared, will that be alright?"
"Yes, thank you." He gruffed, loosening his tie slightly tiredly.
Alfred softly tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't want to ask questions and just make the German more annoyed than he needed to be, but he really couldn't help but listen in on the conversation though he could only understand snippets of their german dialect while he was looking at the plants.
"Hey Ludwig, dude?" He said, tapping him on the shoulder.
Ludwig turned around to face him as waiters started to roll out a long dining table from a room with large golden doors behind him. He ignored the workers in the background, unlike Alfred who was staring at them. "Hm?"
"Uh why are we getting a meeting room here? We can always just sit away from the crowd like the lady said?" He inquired, pointing at the grand large stairs leading to the second floor.
Ludwig looked at where Alfred was pointing and furrowed his brows. He turned back and said, "You'll see." before turning around again, leaving the american there still standing with questions.
He opened his mouth to ask him again, but just shut it and face away from him. He thought about what Ludwig had offered, comparing the pros and the cons. True, it's nice to have the idea of just eating in a private room where no one was there, watching him but for some reason, the thought of loneliness was also haunting to him. He couldn't tell if that made him more paranoid of his surroundings then it did when he was in a crowd.
Suddenly, he gulped, feeling something barricading his throat. It was some invisible force, pushing down his ability to talk. It only daunted on him a couple seconds later that it was fear. Fear that no matter where he went, he was always under surveillance. Whether he was alone or in a crowd of his own people, someone was there watching him. His enemies, family, colleagues, all of them are watching every single move he made. There always was someone, always a man hiding in the shadows waiting to pounce on him if he messed up.
'No..' A voice whispered in his subconscious mind.
'Not now. You can't mess up right now. Just go eat some food, and we can sleep on it till tomorrow.'
He didn't need any of his annoying, intrusive thoughts interrupting his meals. That just made him hungry and depressed. For some reason, he brushed that feeling off a bit, dropping the whole panicking thing. It probably wasn't good for him not to acknowledge his problems, but after doing that for 5 years, he turned out fine.
The reception lady at the large private room looked over at them and waved them over.
Ludwig glanced at his watch before turning back to the american who was dozing off on the spot. "Come, they're finished."
"Huh? Oh yeah alright."
They made their way to the room, the reception lady nodding at them as they entered. Alfred looked around the room, the feeling of discomfort wavering around in his mind. The room was so large, not to mention, it had large windows that basically made it look like a showcase. Admittedly, the view was beautiful but that was beyond the point. In front of them was a small table with two plates and utensils and a champagne bottle in a bucket of ice, exactly centered in the room. As they continued to walk to the table, Alfred started to notice how much farther they were getting to the wall. He looked at the back of Ludwig's head, maybe sending him a telepathic message of confusion. This was way too much space for a private dinner, and he didn't even know they were going to talk business?
He groaned inwardly at the thought of hours upon hours of just business conversation. They actually went to a decent restaurant, and he got excited for nothing. He sighed, taking a seat across from Ludwig. Of course, this can't all just be about business right?
The smile on his face fell for a moment, trying to calculate what was going to happen in the next thirty minutes. He stared intensely at Ludwig, who in turn was browsing the menu. It was a bad thing to underestimate Ludwig, which was a good thing that he didn't. He was a thinker, someone who controlled the path the river flowed. Of course they all were like that, how else would they be able to survive if not? But Ludwig truly had an upper hand in this type of skill. He wasn't a careless planner, he was a schemer. And to have thought of a new plan like this in such a short amount of time. Alfred gazed at him, with a smile sprawled once more on his lips. 'How tactful he really is amazes me.'
He would like to skip the chatter and get to the really interesting point, but just because Ludwig was having fun, changing the stream to his own whim, that doesn't mean he couldn't just play along. He didn't have much to lose anyways.
"So Ludwig," He started out, a confused expression still on his face. He knew what Ludwig was doing, the question was why the room had to be so god damn huge. "What's with you bringing me here? I get it if you want your privacy, but man this is overkill!"
"I have a couple of questions for you. I'd be grateful if you'd cooperate with me." He said, folding his menu and placing it down gently. He glared back up at Alfred, covering his mouth with his hands folded down on each other, his left eye glowing a scary dark cyan.
The American didn't phase whatsoever. If Ludwig was going to get serious for this, who was he to back down? Though he had to admit, his heart dropped when he saw that eye of his. That eyepatch only made him look 10x cooler and scarier.
"Yeah sure, what do you gotta ask?"
"It's about what happened in the alley."
"Go on?"
"How did you know the child was a Soviet spy?"
Alfred thought for a moment, staring at the large sparkling chandelier. He scoffed softly and just placed his hands in his pocket. "Easy dude. I could tell by the model of his gun was one created for-"
"That gun was a russian gun, yes, but it was definitely not KGB level. It's model was poorly made and you couldn't have been able to tell since I was the one that faced him while he was holding the gun. It was knocked out of his hands, to a place where you most definitely wouldn't be able to see it from your position." He interrupted.
Alfred looked at him, eyes widened, a part of him amazed. 'He was in this very room with someone so fast and bold, actually having this type of conversation. This was just too much fun.'
"Well I mean I could've been just bluffing back there. Maybe I was pressuring them to admit they were KGB." He inquired, letting his sly smile show a bit.
Ludwig leaned back into his chair, thinking. He narrowed his eyes, holding a fierce expression. Alfred gulped, feeling chills run down his spine. He felt lucky for trying to befriend him, instead of pushing him around. With those arms of his, he looked like a bodybuilder, not hesitating to snap him in half if he felt like it.
"I'd like to believe that of all people, you would go easiest on a child despite them trying to kill us. You interrogated it to the point of tears, even I would've shown a bit more mercy."
Alfred scoffed lightly, turning his cheek. Of course Ludwig assumed he'd be nicer, they all do. It was merciful of him for not shooting the kid so he couldn't return what futile information he had on him to Ivan. Was that not enough?
"You also said something like, this was going to happen sooner or later, correct? What exactly did you mean by that?"
Time seemed to slow down after he said that. Alfred knew what trap he had fallen into, he didn't mind. This large room covered in windows, was supposed to give him the false sense of freedom, but it was all just to keep him at bay wasn't it. There was no escaping this without getting past Ludwig, one way or another he had to confront him. He smiled wickedly at the thought. "You really are a curious one aren't you?" He muttered quietly, loud enough for the other to hear. Ludwig cleared his throat steering away from what Alfred had just said. For such a young nation, he was actually smart for his age.
"Do you have an answer for my question?" Ludwig said, placing one of his arms on the table.
"Yeah yeah," Alfred sighed, waving his hand around. There was no use in beating around the bush anymore, then it'll get boring. 'But..' he thought mischievously, grinning back at Ludwig. 'I want to see how far he's willing to go.'
"You got me 'Schmidt. I was just going based on the info that some spies were going to be sent out on me and I gave the kid a bit of a hard time because I knew Ivan was behind sending him. But let me ask you this," He said, giving him a soft smile.
"What exactly are you going to do, now that I told you this?" His eyes glowed a bright mysterious blue as he said this. Like a dog guarding his territory, he held the same energy.
"Hm?"
"You obviously wanted more information, but all that has to do with my private relationship with Ivan and I've already told you a very well-kept government secret. I think what I said is enough for today." He said off-handedly, rolling his neck around. He glanced at Ludwig, watching for his response. 'How far are you going to go?' From the pits of his bright cyan eye, there was something truly burning behind his eye as Alfred observed.
"I disagree." He seethed, glaring directly at Alfred, a dark scary aura emitting from him. "Today a gunman was set on the loose in my city, not including you. If this was your country, I wouldn't object. But this is my home. My citizens could've been injured or killed if we hadn't diffused the situation as quickly as we did."
Although the situation was scary, Alfred could admit that part, it was also so strangely entertaining. He couldn't help but smile, at what raw perseveration he was witnessing at the moment.
"It is not my business in what is going on with you and Ivan, but it is when it's potentially harming my citizens." Ludwig concluded, watching the American fold his arms in thought. After a while, he threw his hands behind his shoulders, once again giving off his carefree attitude.
"You make a good point, I'll give you that." He sighed loudly. He didn't want to fight against Ludwig, that'd just make him look even more paranoid. "I guess I'll tell you why it happened, but on one condition." He said, giving he German a toothy grin. "I want some meat and a lot of beer. I'm not going to say anything if I'm this sober."
Ludwig nodded with a small satisfied smile on his face and left the room to make the order, leaving Alfred alone. After a couple of seconds of the sound of background chatter quietly buzzing in his ear, he rested his head back onto the chair. Thoughts passed by him, warning him of what he just agreed to do, but he just ignored them. He felt like he was already in a hopeless position, what else could he do to make his life even more miserable? However, there was something that did worry him a bit.
He raised his hand up to the ceiling staring at its shape, lost in the drowning thoughts filling his mind. What he was about to say were things nobody else knew, not even his family. Telling someone he had never been close to definitely wasn't the right idea either. But it felt so much easier to tell someone he doesn't know either. The judgement wouldn't be so heavy. He frowned at that, twisting his hand in the air. It only took him a moment to come in term with realization. He shot forward in his seat, spotting the loophole in his little crisis.
'Even if Ludwig told my family or my friends, who the hell would believe him over me?' He scoffed in amusement. What he stated was true. No one would dare believe whatever Ludwig had to gossip over him. 'And Ludwig isn't much of a gossiping type.'
Ludwig came through the door, surprising Alfred mid-thought, holding a small cart filled with food and beer. He rolled it towards their table, softly setting them down gently. And finally in the middle of the entire table, a bucket full of dripping wet beer and ice.
Alfred stared at it hungrily. Not waiting for Ludwig to hand him a bottle popper, he quickly grabbed one of his own and chugged it as soon as he got the cap off. Ludwig looked at him incredulously, but nevertheless, popped one open for himself as well. Alfred grinned at him cautiously taking a small sip of the drink and laughed out, "C'mon, drink a bit more dude! We won't get wasted, but we can definitely get a bit tipsy!"
Ludwig grunted in response. "No thank you. I'll need to get us a cab tonight." Alfred grumbled loudly and continued to drink the bottle, not taking time to savor the taste. His plan was to get drunk as quickly as possible so he wouldn't have any problem telling his story.
"Y'know Ludwig?" Alfred asked, staring off through the window. "I don't usually share stuff like this, so you better be using this information for good or something.." He mumbled off.
"Yes, yes, I assure you I won't be using them against you."
"Hahahah! That's good to hear!" He yelled, finishing the last drops of the bottle. He stared disappointedly at it, not feeling the drowsiness set in yet. Though that disappointment didn't last for very long. He grabbed another bottle from the bucket while Ludwig patiently waited for him to finish. But with the way things were looking, and Alfred's consistent drinking, he was slightly worried that he'd be too drunk to even talk. But one should never underestimate one's alcohol tolerance after years of tireless nights, drinking till the sun arose.
After taking a long drink from his second bottle, Alfred slammed it down and let out an exhale of relief. Ludwig stared at him watching for him to finally raise his head. When he didn't, he sighed quietly and began to talk.
"So Alfred, how about we start with why the assassin was sent for us?"
Alfred threw his head back in exhaustion, and groaned. "Why do you have to start with the hard questions man?" After a very long and dramatic sigh, he pushed himself back up and propped his arms on his legs, holding himself up. "Things just haven't been rolling smoothly with me and Ivan, that's it. Though what did you expect, it was bound to happen anyways.." He muttered.
"But is it enough to send someone to kill you?"
"Relax man, you know that no one can kill me or you. And besides, it was just a kid with a gun and a desire to meet his creator." He said absent mindedly.
"When I said I wanted a full explanation, I meant it Alfred." Ludwig growled, causing the American to pause in drinking down his third bottle. It was just a hunch, but he guessed that when Ludwig drank alcohol, he could get a bit ballsy. Or maybe because Ludwig thought semi-drunk Alfred was just a pushover.
"Maybe if you waited a bit, you'd be able to hear it Ludwig." He said, mocking his tone. Ludwig glared at him, before huffing and leaning back into his chair with his arms cross.
"My apologies, continue."
Alfred made a small tch sound at Ludwig before turning back and finishing off his bottle. He looked back down, a tired look on his face and sighed again.
"No, no, I'm sorry. You have a right to be upset, I just get a bit defensive about this topic."
Ludwig stared at him, taking in the atmosphere of the room. "It's alright, take your time then."
"Well yeah.." He grumbled, staring off into the window. "Things were never all smiles and rainbows when we tried to act like it, admittedly we did a good job at doing it. But it all went south around a year ago."
The thing with Alfred's statement was that they weren't really the full truth. He was honest when he said that it wasn't all that simple as a friendly relationship that excluded politics, but all that was a one-sided problem. Ivan never felt like that, it was all Alfred's perspective.
Ludwig seemed to notice that glossy eye appearance in Alfred's face as he stared off into the city. He thought for a moment, pinpointing what Alfred was talking about before realizing it. He gasped slightly and looked at Alfred in horror.
"Wait. You mean-"
"Yep." Alfred chuckled softly, giving him a kind smile. Though it was apparent in his expression that he was doing it for show. The haunting memory played like a roll of film in his mind, plaguing him with negative thoughts. There was so much he regretted that day.
"A year ago, I attacked Ivan in the middle of the G8 meeting room due to some incident that occurred before the fight." He sighed, rubbing his thumb on the beer label. It was such a pain to talk about it, especially when he wasn't drunk enough to laugh it off. "It was all my fault, really. I started the fight and it was dumb of me to do that in a professional building. I know I made a public apology and everything to Ivan, but I don't think he forgives me for leaving things the way they were." He was starting to sound like Arthur, oh jeez.
He took another bottle off the cart and popped it open. He didn't even think of looking at what Ludwig looked like right now. He just wanted to drink a bit more, enough to forget what had happened tonight and enough to forget what happened a year ago. It was so hard to make everything as subtle as he did. There was still a lot more behind that story, and the fact that his and Ivan's relationship wasn't platonic or at all professional.
"Alfred?" Ludwig asked, with an uncertain look on his face. Alfred turned his head around drowsily and nodded at him. "Is it okay if I asked what the incident was?"
He smiled at him half-heartedly and glanced off to the side. "Yeah, I don't think I could continue right now." Ludwig nodded understandingly and took a drink of his beer. He already pushed him to share enough, he shouldn't make him feel uncomfortable. "Cheers?" Alfred asked, tipping his bottle to the German. He hesitated before finally giving in and clanked his bottle with Alfred's.
"Cheers."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'
Hello, this was a pretty long one huh? (that's what she said) but yeah, the oh so mysterious fight was brought up, don't forget its existence. I'll be back next next week and get ready for chapter 12, I think that's going to be the interesting chapter. Stay classy and much love.