AN: So this is it guys, thank you all for reading, Epilogue has it's own page now! 12/24/10

And now, please, enjoy the conclusion of Märchen: Midwest Arc.

Märchen Chapter 13 – Der Erlkönig Part 2

"Ulla, it's… time for dinner."

Franz stated in a plain-as-day voice upon opening the door to his girlfriend's room. However immediately upon looking inside he noticed that Ulla had retrieved his dad's old turn table from the basement. Alongside the pops and crackles created by the stationary needle positioned delicately on top of the seemingly ancient album came the start of a timeless and widely recognizable song

Sag mir wo die Blumen sind…

"Save me a plate Franz," his girlfriend sounded out from the other side of her non-lit room. She was sitting down on a stately cushioned chair with her back to the door while staring out of her window into the mountain range in the distance. After a couple seconds of silent contemplation, she responded again, "I'm not coming down just yet."

"Oh." Franz replied, shifting uncomfortably before peering back up with as much optimism as he could muster, "Well, you should come downstairs and get something to eat. Mom made Schnitzel with Spätzle…" he suggested with a cheerful tone, hoping that Ulla would respond with equal enthusiasm as she normally does. However his cheerful disposition faded when he realized that Ulla wasn't budging; so looking back towards the ground he sounded off disappointingly, "Take your mind off of it for a while."

"I expected you to say something like that." She unexpectedly growled back in irritation.

Whipping his head back up in surprise, Franz scowled with a hurt expression as he unwillingly argued, "Ulla, for Christ's sake I don't want to get into an argument with you, but all you've done since you've gotten home is just sit by your window while listening to Marlene Dietrich on repeat! At least try to enjoy your time before the attack." He pleaded, desperate to get his normal cheerful girlfriend back before it was too late.

Sag mir wo die Mädchen sind

"Franz…" Ulla called up calmly from the back-facing chair, no hint of emotion in her voice as she asked stoically, "Are you even prepared for what you're going to have to do?" she cocked her head to the side slightly, not quite looking at Franz but indicating that she was quite interested in his reply.

"I…" Franz began to speak, not sure of how he could honestly respond without disappointing Ulla too much, "Don't want to think about that right now." He diverted.

"Exactly." Ulla stated punctually, slowly turning her head back around to look out her window into the dusk sky, "You're not prepared Franz, and you will never be."

Knowing she was right, Franz shamefully hung his head in silence.

"It's not your fault, it's just the truth." Ulla explained to her sulking boyfriend; understanding the factors contributing to Franz' inability to kill, "You were never exposed to anything that warranted the ability to kill; you might be able to fire a gun, but not if it's going to kill someone." She informed, signaling to Franz that she wasn't too disappointed with him, yet with a dismissive sigh she concluded, "Must be nice." And then gave a sad smile to the closed window as she called back, "I'll see you in the morning Franz, Good Night."

"…Ulla" Franz called back in desperation as he took a step forward into the darkening room.

"Good Night. Franz." Ulla boldly punctuated.

Mournfully hanging his head back down, Franz took back his steps he reached out to close the door, "Ich liebe dich." He muttered quietly, hoping she would reciprocate before he would close the door all the way.

Keeping her sad smile, Ulla painfully closed her eyes to faintly respond, "Ebenso," just before Franz closed the door all the way; sensing her boyfriend pausing slightly in relief before the click sounded from the lock.

Sag mir wo die Männer sind…

Ulla opened her eyes again to look back to the window; watching the trees sway in the wind as a large winter storm approached the small town. Bringing her arms to her chest, Ulla thought about Franz not being able to carry out his assigned task. He would honestly only get in the way and they needed to be as precise as possible, but unfortunately his absence would mean that she would be the only one there if something unexpected were to happen- and remembering what happened at Homecoming, she knew that the fuckers weren't patient and something unexpected was bound to happen.

This nerved her greatly; she wasn't even able to stop them from burning the tent down. Ulla begrudgingly knew that she ultimately let her guard down and allowed for Christophe to get the best of them instead.

Yet as she numbingly sunk into her chair, a consistent scraping from outside her window caught her attention. Tuning into the alien sound, Ulla screwed her eyebrows in confusion as she kept listening to the sound; suddenly realizing that it sounded like someone trying to climb up the side of the house.

Throwing herself off the chair in a heap of worry, Ulla readied herself for a fight as she flicked out her coil. Slowly walking back over to her window, Ulla moved at an angle so that whoever was climbing up the house wouldn't expect her ambush.

But as Ulla watched a familiar tattered hand grab at her windowsill, her heart sunk into her stomach when she realized who exactly was paying her a visit.

Sag wo die Soldaten sind

Christophe.

Revealing herself to her struggling guest, Ulla pulled open her window in a hurry as she exclaimed, "You Stupid Bastard! You have a lot of nerve showing up here after the shit you've been pulling!" she reached out to grab her estranged rival to throw him into her room; the ragged boy fell in a heap on the floor as she aggravatingly stepped away from him.

However as she scowled down at his coughing and wheezing body, Ulla realized that Christophe didn't look so good, he was scuffed up and exhausted as hell for some reason.

Changing her irate attitude, Ulla lightened up significantly as she carefully ducked down to gently touch the exasperated boy's shoulder, "Hey…" she called out meekly, "What's wrong?" she asked nervously, fearing the answer as her heart beat in heavy and burdened pulses.

Giving off another heavy cough, Christophe weakly swatted away Ulla's hand as he kept up his ragged breath, "We do not 'ave much time." He warned, reluctantly turning his head to gaze at his former friend leaning over him, silently indicating his immense concern.

Once Ulla caught sight of his bewildered eyes, she quickly brought up her hands to cover her frightful gasp as she took in the silent message that Christophe was trying to convey. Opening her own eyes all the way, she stared back into Christophe's scared expression- recalling the similar way he looked when she met him for the first time so many years ago.

Weakly hanging his head back down, Christophe let go of a couple more jagged coughs as he desperately tried to get more oxygen back into his body, " I…I tried tzu blow ze tire…calibration off…" he tried to explain in broken sentences, clenching his fist as he cursed, "mozer fucking…"

"What tire?" Ulla jumped on Christophe to help him up off the floor, but as she desperately wrapped her arms around his heaving chest he ended up collapsing onto her lap. Cradling him into her inviting arms, Ulla's whole body started to shake as she called down to the fallen boy, "Please don't tell me-"

Painfully letting out a held back sob, Christophe allowed himself to break in front of his former friend as he choked, "Ze got him."

Feeling her heart stop completely, Ulla knew she wasn't ready to hear this, but knowing that there was no point in denying what had already happened, she clenched onto Christophe even harder as she reluctantly asked, "Got who?"

"Kyle." He mournfully replied, reeling his head back as he brought up his hands to hide his tears, "Eric's Uncle, apparently could not wait till ze end of ze week… so he kidnapped Kyle in broad daylight." Clenching his teeth, Christophe hurriedly took one of his hands down from his face to pull something out of his pocket as he growled, "Drugged him, zrew him in ze back of a van and left zis at Eric's door." he took the note all the way out and forcefully shoved it into Ulla's own heaving chest.

Hesitantly grabbing the note that was shoved into her bosom, Ulla crushed it into her palm as she stared aimlessly at the floor, "No… no Christophe you saw wrong." Shaking her head in immense doubt she cried, "Kyle wouldn't-"

"Open ze note Ulla." Christophe painfully exclaimed from below.

Unraveling her fingers in slow increments, Ulla felt the piece of paper uncrumple in her hand as she continued to breathe in deep nauseating breaths. Knowing the importance of what could be written in the letter, Ulla hesitantly took her other hand to hold the other side of the paper as she stared at its crinkled and folded state. Not wanting to believe that she was actually holding onto Kyle's ransom note, Ulla too released a sudden sob as she agonizingly opened one fold of the paper. Knowing that the text wouldn't appear until she opened it all the way, she forced herself to peel away the last seam-

-but as she saw the red curl she stopped completely as she flung the whole note away from her while shrieking, "OH GOTT! DAS KANN NICHT GESCHEHEN!!"

Still reeling from underneath the sobbing girl above, Christophe scoffed through her powerful cries "Figures," he shoved his hand back into his pocket to get out his pack of cigarettes, "I decide tzu leave him in Eric's hands for a day and zis 'appens."

Ulla forcefully pushed the crazed boy off of her lap as she quickly got to her feet.

Rushing to collect some of her things from around her room, Ulla exasperatingly called back down to the heaving boy on her floor, "Don't you ever criticize their love." She started, grabbing at her coat as she angrily continued, "You say you love Kyle, but I know that now to be a lie." Flinging on her coat, she raised her voice even louder as she argued, "You don't know love! You don't even know how to love!" Pacing around her room to see if she forgot anything, she continued to rant, "You stalk Kyle day and night, ensuring that his life goes a certain way, manipulating his fate to your benefit."

Yet as she was about to finish her monologue, she suddenly saw the note on the floor. Biting her lip, Ulla reluctantly stomped over to it to snatch it up from the ground as she concluded, "Kyle told you to back off so back off! Leave! If you truly love him let him go." Walking over to her door, she stopped in front of its threshold to painfully lean against it as she felt herself grow weaker. Trying to compose herself, Ulla couldn't hold back her cry as she wheezed, "At least… give him that dying wish."

Sag mir wo die Gräber sind

"Ulla-"Christophe combated her claim.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore." She purposely cut off his retort, gripping onto the door handle as she finished, "You infuriate me."

Looking up at her ceiling as she attempted to dry off her tears, Ulla mournfully called out to no one in particular, "I need to leave, I need to leave right now. I have to tell Eric what happened…

But I really don't know how."

She opened the door and quickly exited her room, closing it behind her in a loud but quick THUD.

Sag mir wo die Blumen sind

Still lying on the floor, Christophe let his mind go blank as he eased his rapid breathing; attempting to calm himself down as he steadied his heaves down to an even pace.

He knew Ulla was right; that he should finally let fate take its course and finally let Kyle have the independence that he so desperately craved- even if it would cost the Jew his own life. Though it pained him on so many different levels, he understood that he could not intervene this time; he had already done too much as it was. It was finally time to let go- Christophe needed to retire from his Guardian Angel duty.

Bringing his hand down once more to retrieve the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, Christophe confusedly felt around the baggy compartment before realizing that he had reached into the wrong one; because instead of his cigarettes, he felt a cold metal object scrape across his fingertips.

Screwing his face in even more confusion, Christophe grabbed a hold of it so that he could identify what it was. But as soon he brought it out into the light, he suddenly remembered the little prize he found while scouring around the Cartman residence.

Taking it into his hands, the Mole gently cupped the golden rose locket as he delicately fingered the old mechanism to open back up the aged keepsake; revealing the familiar picture of the two foreign looking women standing close together in front of what appeared to be an old cottage.

Smiling slightly at how odd the little thing was, Christophe appreciated the distraction as he mindlessly peered down at the younger of the two women; trying to place her age as he narrowed in on her face.

But as he took a closer look at the young girl, something suddenly disturbed him as he brought the locket closer to his face to inspect it further.

Her eyes. The way she was looking at him. She was pleading with him, at whoever who would look at the picture; those ghostly eyes, staring into him as though they would devour his soul in one mighty tug.

Christophe had seen those eyes before, right before he died that fateful night eight years ago.

Wann wird man je verstehn?

Quickly closing the locket back up, Christophe kept his eyes wide open as he slowly brought the locket closer into his chest; clenching his keepsake closer to his heart as he furrowed his eyes in confusion. He didn't want to admit to himself about what he just experienced; he knew all too well what it was, but he had never gotten used to it. A normal person may only experience this once in his or her life if that, but Christophe wasn't a normal person; he faced and dealt with death on a daily basis.

Holding the locket back out in front of him, he gazed at the golden rose carved on the front as he delicately ran his thumb over the raised petals.

Wann wird man je verstehn?

"errrrrrm…." Eric growled as he reluctantly brought up one of his hands to lazily rub one of his eyes back to life; grinding the back of his head against his pillow in an attempt to bring himself out of the intensive power nap that he had just awoken from.

With his eyes still closed Eric suddenly puffed in amusement as he unknowingly called out to the empty room, "So how was that Liebchen? I know you had to take over at one point but once I got the hang of it did I do it for you?" he cracked one of his eyes open to snarkily glare down at the space next to him.

Only to discover that it was empty.

"Kyle?" He called out in confusion, hastily glancing around his room to see if his Jew possibly moved somewhere else. But when he came to the startling realization that he was in fact alone in his room, his nerves started to catch up with him as he anxiously hopped out of bed.

Reaching down to carefully zip back up his fly, Eric eyed his surroundings once more to see if there were any clues leading to where Kyle whisked off to. Quizzically peering down at his desk, Eric breathed a sigh of relief once he found a note penned by the sneaky Jew himself.

Eagerly picking it up off of the desk, Eric carefully read through the extensive note that his beloved had left him, laughing at some of the more ridiculous parts of it. But by the end of the letter, Eric felt his heart start to palpitate in strong healthy beats once more. Smiling a bright smile, he folded it up as he walked over to his bedside table to store it alongside his other treasured keepsakes. Pulling out the drawer, Eric scoped out an appropriate place to put it – finally deciding to delicately place it in between his patched up Clyde doll and Mr. Kitty's collar.

But as soon as he closed the drawer back up, he suddenly heard the front door knocking from downstairs.

"Mom could you get that?" Eric called out, standing back up as he looked around his room for his shirt.

Only hearing the banging intensify, Eric scoffed angrily as he grabbed his discarded shirt from off the ground, "Mom! I'm indecent! Please get the door!" he yelled as he threw on his shirt before grabbing his belt off the bed.

But still only the banging could be heard from downstairs.

Rolling his eyes in frustration, Eric looped his belt around his pants before grumbling to himself, "Fucking Hell, do I have to do everything myself?" he latched his belt buckle and proceeded to storm out of his room.

Upon hearing the frantic pounding on the door, Eric hurried down the stairs as he called out, "Yeah yeah Kyle it's cold, but it's your fault for deciding to leave me here while you go talk to that poor ass-"

But upon opening the door, Eric unexpectedly came face to face with a hysterical looking Ulla.

In the time it took her to sprint down the road from her own house, Ulla somehow managed to collect herself so that she could give it to Eric straight once she got here; but once she caught site of her beloved friend, staring at her with such concern, Ulla couldn't hold back her tears any longer as she suddenly leaped forward and sobbed, "Oh God Eric what are we going to do?"

Nearly falling back out of sheer shock, Eric latched onto Ulla's trembling body as he delicately took her into his strong arms, "What? What's wrong? Don't tell me you're already freaking out over the mission! It'll all work out, it has to!" he consoled, stroking her hair with one hand as he reached out to nervously shut the door behind them.

"No Eric! The mission doesn't even matter anymore!" She jumped right to it, standing back up on her two feet as the brunette looked down at her with an incredible amount of worry.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter anymore?" Eric further questioned, his mind not allowing him to jump to any sudden conclusions.

Ulla reached into her pocket and subsequently felt the note brush across her hand, gripping onto it reluctantly; not wanting to bring it out as she cried, "Oh God Eric I don't even want to say it!" Bringing her free hand up to cup her face, she used the other to flip out the note; shakingly inching it towards Eric although the piece of paper was causing her physical pain just by touching it.

Hesitantly eying the crinkled piece of paper that Ulla was pushing towards him, Eric slowly took one of his hands off of the blonde's trembling body to grasp at what appeared to be a letter. Just as he removed his other hand to open the note, Ulla suddenly collapsed to the floor in a shivering wreck as she cried out even louder "Don't open it up… oh god don't open it up!"

Now knowing that something terribly wrong was taking place, Eric frightenedly looked down at the folded piece of loose-leaf in his hand; he knew he personally needed to open it, or else Ulla wouldn't have come here in the first place –but thinking of the possible reasons why she was such an emotional wreck over this note was disturbing him on a level that he didn't have the strength to comprehend at that time.

Inhaling a deep preemptive breath, Eric narrowed his eyes on the stately piece of paper as he moved to flip over the first fold.

Nothing yet; but as Eric took a closer look at the seam, he could tell that something was inside it, and that once he undid the final fold that "something" would reveal itself. Glancing down at Ulla once more, Eric knew that whatever this hidden object was, it was surely what was causing her current turmoil.

Gritting his teeth to prevent them from chattering out of fear, Eric reluctantly looked back to the note; debating whether it was really worth turning over or not. Regardless of his fear however, he knew that whatever this thing was, it obviously had to do something with their current situation, therefore he didn't have the choice of ignoring it. However if he was going to turn this page over, he did need to prepare himself for it first; especially since now he was getting the horrible feeling that whatever this thing was, it involved a certain someone suspiciously absent at this time.

"Ulla," Eric gently called out to his dear friend trembling below, biting his lip briefly as he intensified his grip on the note, "When I open this letter… will something of Kyle's fall out?" he croaked on his lover's name.

Biting her bottom lip, Ulla attempted to pull herself together by looking straight up at Eric, her fierce violet eyes indicating her rage as she clenched her teeth; slowly nodding her head to confirm the horrible truth.

So that's his move.

Eric's eyes grew darker as he felt his whole body tense in unbridled rage, almost tearing the note as he continued to think, he just couldn't wait the whole god damned week now could he?

Now prepared to face whatever was inside the note, Eric eagerly gripped onto one of the flaps to tear open the cursed piece of paper in a great white flash. Feeling a crippling sense of dread overtake his entire body, Eric watched as Kyle's red curl, the only splash of color present in the whole note, slowly crawl down the center seam in his direction.

Forcing the overwhelming sense of anxiety currently flooding his body back into a far corner of his mind, Eric numbingly proceeded to read the note that his uncle had wrote him

This shouldn't come as a shock for you; you know I'm an impatient man. Nothing personal against your 'little buddy' here or nothing but, I honestly couldn't stand the wait any longer so I decided to speed up the process. This shouldn't be a problem for you if you really don't care about the fucker, but as I said, I won't be the one offing him. That's your job. Listed below is your flight information- your plane here leaves early tomorrow morning; the limo will pick you up as per usual and escort you over to the facility in due time.

Wear the uniform, and make sure none of your other 'friends' show up or you and the kike both die.

As I said, I don't want it to end like this. I'm willing to give you a chance.

I love both you and your mother very much. Don't disappoint me.

Howard

"Does he really expect you to just show up and follow through like this? Is he that insane?" Ulla questioned from below, trying to make sense of this situation as she catatonically rested her head back down on the carpet, "This… can't be happening."

Closing the note back up as delicately as he could, Eric closed his eyes in a preemptive manner as he carefully placed the note in his black coat pocket; silently turning around to walk towards the usually unoccupied corner of his living room-

-where his Grand Piano was located.

Taking calm and calculated steps over towards his dusted bench, Eric carefully leaned over to brush off the seat in one swipe; flinging the end of his coat over the end as he cautiously sat down in front of his neglected and closed keyboard; eying the massive piece of art with his cold and unmoving stare.

Emptily peering out in front of him, Eric eyed the wilted sheet music which laid before him; a couple of practice books and a random assortment of pieces that Anke had given him to sight read; most he had never even opened. Narrowing his eyes on the dusted collection, Eric slowly brought one of his hands over to grasp at the one in particular that stuck out to him the most; a piece that he had actually played through before.

"Die Sonate vom Guten Menschen"

Carefully opening the booklet to the first page, Eric delicately placed it on the ledge above the playing area to quickly glance through the first couple of bars; recollecting the melody as he gradually brought down his hands to open back up the keyboard- the old joints giving off a loud CREAK which almost masked the sound of Ulla's sobs coming from across the room.

Focusing in on the music before him, Eric carried both of his hands up to the set starting position; feeling a wave of grief overtake him as he gently keyed the first chord.

"Why are you keeping him locked in your office? The louse doesn't deserve the warmth; he should sleep outside like the dog he is."

"Because I don't want any of you goons to do anything to him; which I know you all thought you'd be able to do. He's not yours to torment, I want him to look exactly like Eric left him."

Eric closed his eyes when he punched in the more dissonant chords, letting some of his tears fall as he gently pushed in the resolving Bb.

"Damn you Howard. I don't know what you're trying to pull here but this isn't the time for games! At least let Mel have a go at him; his daughter's been in the hospital for weeks!"

"Which is unfortunate; I've paid her several visits and it seems as though all she really wants is for her Eric to come back to her- which will happen soon enough."

As he started with the more uplifting set of notes, Eric swallowed more of his grief as he cathartically pounded away at the dissonant set that followed.

"If her father'll allow it; your nephew obviously has some screws loose Howard. Not to be disrespectful but how could you forgive the fucker after he went and did something like this?"

"I haven't forgiven him yet; but I will once he finishes the job."

Carrying his hand to the lower octave of the keyboard, Eric felt his body fill with rage as he heavily punched in the response; clenching his teeth as he felt his eyes fill up with even more hot tears.

"Hey… wake up.

You might have fucked up everything for me kid, but not many kids would stop to help an old man off of the street; but thankfully you're one of those kids- or else my plan wouldn't have worked out as well. That's why I'm not handing you over to the contributors- but you listen here kike, this is going to go exactly the way I want it or else I will hand your ass over to them.

Take off your clothes and change into these.

…what's that on your neck?"

Finishing the response, Eric paused briefly to collect himself as he began the unsettling conclusion- the song becoming more and more disturbing as he increased the tempo unknowingly.

"Don't make me fucking drug you again. You better change into those before I get back, and let's take that bag of yours while we're at it- don't want you calling anyone while you're here… ah so you brought your little tools and combat clothes with you. Nice looking hat you…got… there…"

Finally slowing down, Eric heavily pounded the last few dark chords into the piano; holding the pedal down on the last one to allow the chord to fade away on its own. But once Ulla's soft cries became the only source of sound in the room, Eric finally let the pedal go-

Only to crash down on his keyboard with a resounding KRRRRRRRRING as he too began to wail out his own anguish.

Eric didn't sleep that night; playing his piano for that brief period of time may have helped him cope with some of his initial crippling fears, yet by the time midnight rolled around, his abundance of dread eventually caught up with him- disabling him into nothing more than a heap of shivering flesh on his unkempt bed. All he could do was think, and not about the ambiguous state of his beloved Jew, his heart couldn't handle that- but he definitely thought about what needed to happen once he got to that god awful place.

He thought about the ways he and Kyle could escape once they had the opportunity, or maybe the excuses he could use if Howard was willing to listen to him. Perhaps he could lie his way out of this to gain some of the contributors back- but if that didn't work, he also thought about the methods of execution he would have to employ to make sure he and Kyle wouldn't be the ones getting off'd.

But with a monumental heavy heart, Eric also thought about what his last words to Kyle would be if something went terribly wrong.

"I Love You" wouldn't suffice, those words couldn't carry the weight that Eric wanted to convey to his beloved in their time of dying. Then again, even in a normal situation those words alone couldn't convey the love he felt for Kyle, so there really wasn't even a point in thinking about it.

Yet understandably so, the more his mind reluctantly traveled back to the possibility of that situation taking place, the more absolutely distraught he felt. So in an effort to combat those negative thoughts, Eric dead-settingly forced himself to stay positive. Not realistic, but actually positive. Realistically, it would be him against a team of armed adults who were more than just a little enraged at him; he was pretty sure Missy's dad already had plans of torturing him to death in the worst ways possible. Therefore, Eric understood that arriving there with a negative mindset would probably end up with him breaking down like he did in front of Howard that night. So to insure he and Kyle would surely make it out alive, Eric realized that he simply needed to be just as domineering and unmovable as he usually was when he paid those fuckers a visit.

Eric knew that he couldn't convince them with tears, but he knew that he could disarm them with a smile.

After painfully staying awake past the AM hours of the morning, Eric finally finished his mindlessly pacing before anxiously watching the rising sun start to crack through his window blinds, knowing now that the wait was finally over.

Determinedly bringing his head around to face the foreboding closet, Eric glared at the door with premise before taking his first uncomfortable step; keeping his line of sight fixated on where he knew the bag to be as he walked over to the entrance to fling open the door-

-and gaze into the darkness of the enclosed space at the one relic that he just couldn't part from; the one artifact that bonded him to his estranged fascination with the era which needs no mention. Bringing the thing out into his now immaculate room seemed like a desecration of some sort; causing him immense discomfort as he once again cradled the black garment bag into his chest to bring it over to his bed…the same bed where he made love to his Jew not 12 hours ago.

Forcing himself to yet again stay focused on the task at hand, Eric leaned down over the side of his bed to lay down the bag onto his messed up sheets; slowly straightening himself back up as he eyed the length of it. He hadn't brought it out since Yom Kippur; Lord knows the condition it's in right now.

Knowing that he didn't have time to ponder over the damned thing, Eric hastily reached down to grasp at the zipper; firmly holding the flimsy piece of metal in between his thumb and forefinger as he yanked the bag open with one fierce tug. After hearing the loud pitched ZIP that followed the uniform's unveiling, Eric instantly felt his nostrils fill with the distinct odor of blood and smoke as he brought up one of his hands to shield his nose and mouth.

Gazing at the decrepit state that the hellish garb was in, Eric horrifically reminded himself that he actually had to put this fucking thing back on. However as he took in that abhorrent fact, he suddenly experienced an epiphany as he slowly lowered his hand off of his face. Widening his eyes in bewilderment, he realized that it needed to look like this; it needed to smell like this, and most of all-

Eric hesitantly moved back down to grasp at the treasure-turned-burden lying within that tomb of a garment bag, excruciatingly watching as Kyle's dried blood delicately flaked down off from the jacket onto his bed.

-It needed to hurt like this.

Putting on his undershirt, slipping into those pants, sliding into his boots – those were the easy parts; but as Eric finished adjusting his silk black tie around his neck, the same tie that Kyle has previously used to tie him to that bed so long ago, he knew that there were only two more pieces left to go.

The Jacket… and the Armband.

Knowing that the jacket would come first, Eric broodingly turned away from his mirror to return to the bed; glancing at the jacket which he had carefully placed over top the garment bag to prevent further blood chips from getting the bed.

Taking it all into his arms at once, Eric held the jacket out over the floor as he watched more and more of Kyle's blood flake off from the various medals and trinkets that lined the entirety of it. Wincing as he moved his left arm into the corresponding armhole, Eric felt a small amount of bile rise in his throat as he felt the whole thing crinkle as it grafted onto his body. Quickly moving his other arm into the jacket, Eric prevented himself from thinking about why it was crinkling altogether as he hastily moved to redo all the buttons and tighten the belt.

Finishing that abhorrent task, Eric weakly looked over to his bed at the gaping garment back which continued to spew out the horrible stench that was now infiltrating his entire room. Knowing what needed to come next, the dazed brunette turned back towards the side of his bed to yet again take a blind grasp inside the bag, fishing around until he finally felt the dreadful cloth scrape across his hand.

Eric didn't want to bring it out. Glancing towards his bed, Eric recalled all those dreams he had about wearing this god damned thing while doing horrible things to his Jew in some random Polish town. He remembered how much he used to get off of on those fantasies; it made him come harder than any other fantasy he could ever muster up. But looking at himself now, wearing an actual Nazi uniform caked in that very Jew's blood, Eric gripped onto the armband even tighter as he assured himself that those days were surely over and this would be the last time he would ever don this hellish garb.

Biting his lip in immense guilt, Eric finally pulled his clenched fist out of the garment back; reluctantly revealing the crinkled armband that once brought him so much satisfaction and pride. Exhaling a long and exasperate breath, Eric hurriedly carried over the armband to his left arm to once again latch it onto his meaty bicep. Narrowing his sight on the wretched thing, Eric felt a cold chill run up his spine when he noticed that it was the only thing on his entire uniform that was not coated in either blood or soot.

After the slow process of getting dressed, Eric lastly threw the case containing the cap into his backpack stuffed with living essentials and some maps that he printed in case they would actually have to walk back home. Peering back over to his bed, Eric eyed the space underneath as he begrudgingly realized that he couldn't bring his gun or any other weapons on the plane.

After zipping up his bag and throwing on his larger black coat to cover the uniform, Eric finished up by broodingly glancing over to his bedside table. Taking one small step closer to the drawer, he lovingly reached out his hand to gently touch the surface; silently communicating his goodbyes as he slowly took his arm back to walk out of his bedroom door.

Rushing down the stairs, Eric continued to keep his mind focused on the task at hand as he approached his front door; not faltering at the least as he kept his mind blank and his heart stone. Yet as he quickly flung the door open in a maddening flash, his previously gathered strength quickly dissipated as he took in the sight of Ulla standing on his front yard- staring at him with such determined eyes while donned in her combat clothes.

Not moving from his stoop, Eric left the front door open as he narrowed his eyes in contempt; cruelly glaring at the blonde standing before him as he called out with his deep and graveled voice, "And just what do you think you're doing."

Not letting Eric's sinister dissipation catch her off guard, Ulla kept her determined expression as she called out confidently, "Going with you, what's it look like?" she teased, smirking toyingly to brighten the mood as she normally does.

But Eric was past the point where her little quirks could "brighten" him up; Eric had his own brand of optimism that wouldn't be released until he was standing across from the bastards who he now understood to be his beloved's captors. Therefore, keeping his line of sight fixated on his slowly approaching comrade, Eric clenched his gloved fists as he gave it to her straight "There was only one ticket Ulla, and you read the note." Tilting his head down slightly, Eric gave Ulla an inexorable frown as he concluded, "I'm going alone." Rolling off that last syllable in a low growl, the first snowflake of the storm suddenly fell onto his chestnut brown hair.

"Bullshit!" Ulla yelled directly into Eric's chiseled face as she stood her ground directly on the step below him, "I started this with you and I fully intend on finishing this with you!" she darted her hand up to poke at Eric's chest adamantly, "You can't do this alone! You'd be setting yourself up for a suicide mission!"

Giving off a cold and incredulous smirk, Eric amusingly closed his eyes as he sardonically shook his head, "Ulla, go back inside." He instructed quite bluntly, slowly opening his eyes again as he spoke through bemused half slits, "You've already done enough. My mom will make you breakfast." he moved aside to allow Ulla passage; more snow flurries latching onto his jacket as he stepped away from the open door.

But Ulla didn't move an inch; she whole heartedly expected to be a part of this mission even if the plan was all for hell now. Ulla knew that she was different from the rest of the New White Rose Group anyway, she had personal matters in this, and nothing was going to stop her from attending to said matters. That's why after she heard Eric's incomprehensible command, Ulla slammed her arm back to her side in aggravation as she yelled in bewilderment, "You can't honestly tell me to do that!" How can you afford to tell me that when- HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" she cried out in shock as she suddenly felt herself get scooped up by her larger friend.

Chuckling to himself in amusement, Eric whisked his flailing friend through the threshold of his house as he boldly teased, "If you're not going to stay put then I'll make you stay put."

"Put me down." Ulla stately instructed, initially not showing any signs of aggravation in an attempt to show how serious she was. But as Eric continued to carry her over to his couch she started to paw at his chest in an attempt to free herself, "Eric put me down this instant!" she snapped as she grew angrier, but by the time Eric lowered her down onto the couch Ulla fucking lost it, "I Have To Help You! I NEED TO-"she immediately shut up once she felt Eric's warm lips brush up against her own.

Only lingering on his dear friend's shivering lips for a second more, Eric carefully carried his head away from Ulla as he unexpectedly spoke down to her in a soft voice, "Now that you've calmed down, Ulla… I want to thank you." He suddenly diverted; a different form of his mahogany wisps returned to him as he locked eyes with his bewildered friend.

Taking her perplexity as a chance to proceed, Eric slowly brought one of his hands up to cup her cheek as he continued, "Thank you for all that you've done. You've helped Kyle and I in more ways than I can count," but before he got to the point, Eric smiled a sad smile as he lightly shook his head, "But you have to understand that now's the time for you to let me finish what I've started."

Pulling his hand away from Ulla's tearing face, Eric steadily got to his feet as he felt the girl's bewildered stare start to break, "This is my mission." He boldly concluded, his coat swaying in the breeze as he made his way over to the open door, "It can only be my mission. You or no one else can be involved." Yet before Eric finally ventured out of the house, he softly tilted his head back to glance over at the blonde quivering on the couch, "I love you, but you need to let go… for your own sake."

"Eric…" Ulla weakly called out from the couch; her eyes filling with more tears as she gripped onto the blanket lining the cushions.

"I'll never forget you Ulla." Eric attempted to give his friend a comforting smile, "If all goes well, Kyle and I will be back to greet you in the morning..."

Ulla continued to sob as she turned her head away from Eric, not bearing to watch him part as she brought her hands up to hold her shaking body.

Lowering his head to gaze at the floor, Eric's faint smile gradually dissipated into a worried frown as he suddenly recalled his previous fears "If not…" the hollow brunette contemplated his last words to Ulla, but then instantly felt a warm rush overtake his body as he remembered his commitment of thinking positively.

Confidently staring back at his dear friend, Eric smiled a real, heartfelt smile as he prided, "Then remember us."

Ulla immediately locked her eyes back on Eric as she felt her heart stop.

"Remember our story." He added, still keeping his eyes fixating on the hysterical blonde as he lowered his eyelids in a satisfyingly conclusive manner. Feeling his heart start to beat in warm lively thumps once more, Eric gripped onto the door handle before muttering, "Unser 'Märchen'."

"No…"Ulla started to shake her head; her movements becoming more violent as she watched Eric move to close the door, "ERIC."

Steadily closing the door behind him, Eric felt his eyes return to their aggravated state as a cold wave of snow hit him at full force. Giving the blonde one final passing glance, Eric smirked a malicious grin as he called out in his signature deep and guttered voice, "Auf Wieder Sehen, Ulla."

Briskly walking away from his house, Eric could hear Ulla give out a blood curdling scream from the other side of the door.

Eric arrived in Nebraska just before the bulk of the storm hit, and this time not only was everything just gray, but it was also coated in a thin layer of snow making everything seem monochrome. Once inside the limo, the gravity of Eric's immediate reality created this illusion that everything around him was moving in slow motion; the distancing city, the endless fields of wheat, the decrepit houses which would fly past his window every once in a while- they all seemed to move in frames which made him feel like the only object moving in real time.

Eventually arriving at the facility, and then gradually taking his first step out of the limo, Eric maliciously turned his head to the entrance of his personal hell as he sensed the limo take off from behind him.

The snow getting heavier as it blanketed more and more of his surroundings in a white haze.

No sounds were present as the car disappeared from the lot.

Eric was in a silent movie.

Knowing that his beloved was somewhere in this cursed wasteland, Eric wasted no time as he rushed to the front doors; his jacket flapping in the wind as the falling snow swirled around him like a winter phantasm.

Tracking heavy bootprints into the sleet-covered front steps up to the main hall, Eric preemptively swung his backpack over his shoulder as he took one of his gloved hands to hastily push open one of the wooden doors; resulting in a loud CREEK to echo off into the barren lobby as he rushed down the main corridor to enter the second building.

Pacing down the all too familiar hallway, the gray washed walls greeted him once more as the dull light from the fogged up windows illuminated his dark and ominous figure. Keeping his hollowed eyes focused on the door at the end of the path, Eric held his breath as he felt his heart clench; preparing himself for whatever may come once he entered the second building - then into the corridor where his uncle's office was located.

Slowing his heavy tromps down to a steady walk, Eric tried to silence his movements altogether as he carefully approached his uncle's closed office door. Furrowing his eyes confusion, he noticed that the lights were off inside the door- causing Eric much concern as he apprehensively reached down to grasp at the door handle. Grinding his teeth together in an attempt to temper his rage, Eric clutched then turned the unlocked doorknob to swing the door open as he peered into the foreboding and dank office space.

But as Eric horrifically focused in on his uncle's empty chair and subsequent empty room, the unsettling reality that Kyle could be anywhere in this god awful place suddenly dawned upon him.

Feeling his muscles clench in an uncomfortable bought of anxiety, Eric briskly walked straight ahead to examine the contents of his uncle's desk, hastily browsing for any sort of clue as to where the bastard took his beloved Jew; however it didn't take long for Eric to spot out the large unfolded map that his uncle purposely splayed out across the desk's surface. Narrowing in on the massive diagram, Eric quickly walked around to the other side to study the map from the right side up.

There were only two X's written on the map – one X where Howard's office was presumably located, and then one massive red X on a random field northwest from where the facility was drawn.

Underneath the red X was this note-

"We're all waiting for you. Bring nothing but yourself- if we see you carrying anything suspicious we will take necessary action – this means no bags, no weapons, and no communicative devices. We're all armed. Don't mess this up kid, you mean the world to me. –Howard."

Furiously taking the note into his hand, Eric crumpled it under his mighty palm before throwing it towards the corner of the unlit room- but as he watched the paper ball delicately land on a pile of familiar looking clothes, that sudden burst of rage immediately sunk deep into the depths of Eric's stomach as he felt his whole body quake with an inexorable amount of fear.

Hesitantly walking out from behind Howard's desk, Eric mournfully narrowed in on the heap of clothes strewn across the floor in random bunches. Kneeling down next to a wrinkled T shirt lying directly in front of the desk, Eric immediately recognized it as the shirt that he tore off of Kyle's bare chest yesterday right before they consummated their love.

Gripping it tightly against his heart, Eric closed his eyes as he forced himself with all his might not to think of the reasons why Kyle's clothes were splayed out on his uncle's floor like this. Holding back a powerful sob, Eric weakly opened his dark eyes again to examine more of Kyle's discarded belongings; his jeans, his socks, his scarf,

And his bag.

Focusing in on the disheveled messenger bag, Eric hastily leaned over to grasp at its strap so that he could drag it over to where he was currently hunched over, but as he moved it away from its slumped over position, Kyle's combat clothes suddenly fumbled out onto the floor-

-the hat rolling over to Eric's boot as it bumped into his sole, causing it to fall over onto its top.

Feeling his eyes widen with shock, Eric anxiously held his breath as he nervously reached down to grip onto the bill, bringing it up to eye level as he fearfully glanced at the peak-

-only to discover that the medal was in fact gone.

Immediately following that dreadful discovery, Eric desperately sprinted down the gray corridor to the main hall in an effort to get to the designated field as fast as he could. Bolting across the lobby to throw open the front door, Eric then careless flew down the slippery snow coated steps in a mad dash before haphazardly dropping his bag to the ground.

But as he took his first step onto the frozen dirt path leading out of the facility, he suddenly heard a familiar frenzied voice call out dangerously close from behind, "So you came…"

Stopping dead in his tracks, Eric angrily whipped his head around to confront the person who he had hoped wouldn't be here to make matters worse.

But as he coldly stared back towards the entrance of the god forsaken building, the ghostly figure of Missy frightfully materialized in front of the staircase, looking like a zombie with her massive amounts of bandages and patches laced across her arms and neck; several blotches of blood seeping through the white cotton fabric as she lifelessly stood before him.

Slowly tilting her head up to meet with Eric's dark and uninviting stare, her face bore no expression as she mumbled in a pitiful droll, "But did you come to save me?" she gave a slight smile as she puffed out a hopeful laugh. Yet as Eric continued to eye her down with his stone cold expression, Missy's optimism faded as her eyes suddenly started to flare into their heightened state, "Or did you come to save IT."

Eric didn't even see the hysterical girl move as she suddenly made a mad dash towards him, but he certainly felt her hands grip onto his jacket as she screamed into his face, "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE ME ERIC!" She cried, her red eyes pouring out a seemingly endless amount tears as she crashed into his cold and stiff uniform, "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO COME HERE AND SAVE ME!" she wailed again, her bandages falling from her arms like the branches of a weeping willow as she clung onto Eric for dear life.

The Nazi uniform clad youth stood there rigidly; sucking up Missy's plight as he watched on with stoic eyes as the girl continued to sob into his stale jacket, "But look at me!" she suddenly lowered her voice, her cries quieting down as she pushed herself back off of him to bewilderedly gaze upon her fraying bandages, "Look at what he's done to me!" she unexpectedly confessed, shaking her head in disbelief as she winced from the ungodly amount of emotional turmoil flooding her body, "He calls me tainted now!" she cried, clenching her fists as more blood seeped through her wilted bandages, "He calls me unclean!"

Continuing to stare at the beaten girl with his unmoving eyes, Eric felt Missy latch back onto him as she pathetically buried her face into his chest, "you were supposed to rescue me from him Eric…" she sniffed back some of her tears, suddenly bringing up her fist to pound against Eric's seemingly non-existent heart as she yelled, "but you only made him angrier with me!"

Feeling more snowflakes fall onto his tussled hair, Eric passively moved his eyes back towards his bag as he unwilling listened to more of Missy's cries, "I just wanted him to be proud of me… I just wanted him to care." She moved her eyes up to glance at Eric's misdirected stare, "Is that so hard?" she called up to him, wanting to believe that he was still listening. Shaking his jacket in an attempt to get back his attention she continued to wail, "I followed all his rules and I really put my heart into the goals of this organization, but that still wasn't enough for him!" she tugged at her estranged hero one last time.

Eric closed his eyes as he tried to collect himself, feeling colder by the second as more snow started to collect on his dampening jacket; but despite ignoring her incessant pleas, Missy just wouldn't let up, "What can I do Eric?" she desperately continued to prod, "He won't be happy until it's dead!" She cried out louder, pleading with him as she squinted her frozen eyelids to allow more tears to fall down her face, "You will kill him right?"

Following that question, Eric finally looked down to the girl latched onto his jacket.

"You'll kill him and come back to me?" she felt her body fill with warmth as she saw his dark eyes stare into her; the dark voids that she fell in love with so long ago. Shaking her head in immense grief, she finally concluded her plea with a sad cry, "It's the only way he'll stop hating me…" she then gently cradled her head into Eric's chest as she wheezed, "and start loving me again."

Unfortunately for Missy, Eric could only feel one emotion in this state- and that one emotion was rage. Therefore, Missy's pathetic cries were only making him angrier due to the fact that she was altogether preventing him from proceeding with his most impertinent rescue mission. Eric held no pity, and certainly held no sympathy, for the girl presently clinging onto him.

Therefore, as he cracked a dreadfully malicious smile, Eric unexpectedly called down to her in a sickening sweet voice as he carefully brought up her head, "Missy… Missy… look at me." He paused briefly once the girl locked eyes with him, keeping up his dangerous smile as he proceeded to mockingly soothe; "You won't have to worry or suffer any more." he spoke with a ridged and underlying sinister tone.

But Missy didn't know the difference; this Eric was all she knew- it was the Eric that she considered her own. Therefore, as she lovingly gazed back into Eric's dark and hollow pools, her body filled with life once more as she smiled a bright smile. "Really?" she cried out weakly as happy tears fell from her icy eyes.

"Of course!" Eric praised, locking in his deadly glare with Missy's cheerful expression as he lowered his eye lids in false adoration, "I'm here now, and I'm going to make everything right." He curled the end of his sentence in a drippingly evil snarl as he suddenly brought the girl in closer to him, toyingly rubbing his face against the shaven portion of her head as he closed his eyes, "You won't have to worry about the organization; you won't have to worry about your dad…" he flashed them opened again as he quickly brought Missy back out in front of him, keeping one of his hands on her shoulder and one on the side of her head.

Missy's smile never faltered as she started to take in healthy and steady breaths, her sobs completely disappearing as she brought up one of her hands to reverently touch Eric's face.

Lowering his eyelids once more, Eric felt his heart turn to solid ice as he cruelly added, "And you won't have to worry about some dumb redheaded Kike getting in your way." He intensified his grip onto Missy's shoulder as he slowly positioned his hand onto the crook of her neck.

After feeling her heart start to suddenly beat in excited and lively thumps again after it had been dead for so many long weeks, Missy laughed an ecstatic cheer as she cried out, "I knew you'd come through for me Eric!" she smoothed her hand down Eric's stern jaw as she repeated, "I just knew you would…"

Finally setting his hand in place, Eric's black eyes suddenly flashed a glint of white as he calmly concluded, "It's all going to be over for you soon, I promise."

Feeling one last tear fall down her face, Missy lowered her eyes contently as she spoke up to her savior, "Eric, I lo-"

Eric instantaneously latched onto Missy's shoulder while forcefully twisting her head back with his set hand; dislocating her spinal cord in a muffled CRICK as he felt the girl suddenly go limp in his arms. Carelessly dropping her to the snow covered ground, Eric stepped over the girl's dead body as he made his way over to his bag.

Gradually crouching down to unzip the larger compartment, Eric blindly reached inside to undo a latch from within the dark space. Feeling his hand suddenly brush against what he was looking for, Eric slowly brought out his black SS Totenkopf cap into the crisp winter air; gently carrying it up to his head to properly adjust it onto his frozen brown tufts.

Turning around to make his way towards the first field of wheat, Eric bleakly recalled Kyle's last words in the letter he left him right before he was taken away.

"God you're predictable."

"I mean I wasn't going to talk my head off or ramble on about how we're gonna get married and have kids one day…"

Walking away from the facility, Eric steadily brisked pass Missy's freezing corpse as it started to collect snow.

"but I at least wanted to hear something back from you after I told you that I loved you."

Knowing that there were no cars to worry about, Eric didn't bother to look both ways as he crossed the main dirt road into the first billowing wheat field.

"But hey, you didn't need to say it. You looked so precious."

Getting into the thick of the vast and seemingly endless crop, Eric shockingly came across a heard of vultures tearing into something which he couldn't identify right away. Feeling his heart drop into the pit of his stomach, he rushed up the group of birds to shoo them away- only to discover the sad decaying remains of an orange tabby cat.

"You still do- curled up on the bed, smiling like you just downed a whole half gallon of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream."

Eventually reaching the end of the first field, Eric took a mental note of his current location by internally pointing out the rusted farm equipment sitting by the edge of the divide.

"I never thought in a million years that I would say this but, I definitely want to do this more often."

Feeling the snow suddenly intensify, Eric brought in his coat closer into him as he took his first step into the second field of wheat; smelling more of the smoke and blood imbrued in his uniform as he buried his head into the crook of his jacket.

"I really enjoyed it, and not because I honestly thought it was the sexiest thing ever, but-"

Then suddenly, in the near distance, Eric finally saw what appeared to be several men patiently standing on top of a small hill directly in the middle of the crop he was currently trotting through.

"It made me realize how far we've gotten and how much I really do love you."

The men were lined up in semi circle, glaring down at him as he made his way straight up the slight incline. Daring to look up once more at the array of men giving him such judgmental stares, Eric suddenly felt sweat starting to bead down his neck as he spotted his uncle standing at the very top of the peak.

"It's overwhelming really, that we've made it this far- and we're happy as hell for some reason! Despite all this crap!"

Glancing around at all the men present, Eric felt a disturbing chill run up his spine when he noticed that for some reason Kyle was nowhere to be found.

"I'm convinced that any other couple on Earth would have fallen apart if they had to deal with this."

But then as Eric grew closer, the men started to slowly move in different directions; seemingly creating a path for him to walk up as he stepped in front of the first glaring contributor.

"But not us, no. Never. This has only brought us closer."

Then, much to his horror, Eric suddenly saw a mound of dirt appear behind the array of contributors lining the hill.

"I'm going to try to find Kenny so that I can thank him. Not like how I thanked you but, I might buy him a coffee or something."

Keeping his hollow black pools narrowed in on his uncle, Eric watched as Howard slowly moved out of the way as well- leaving an empty space on the top of the hill where he presumed the men wanted him to stand.

"I'll only be out for a while, when I get back who knows- maybe I'll be ready for round two."

But then as Eric approached the peak, a dark and brutal wave of cold hard reality hit him at full force as he stared upon what seemed to be a makeshift pit.

"But if you're going to be as tired as you are now, well, I guess I know who'll be topping."

Taking one last step towards the edge of the foreboding pit, Eric suddenly felt his foot stumble forward on an unstable rock; quickly ducking back in terror as he watched the stone fall next to the bound and subdued body of his beloved Jew.

"Regardless, I'm confident that we'll have plenty of nights filled with 'copious amounts of passion and indecent fun' in the near future."

Frightfully not knowing what to expect, Eric expected the worse as he frantically gazed down at the unmoving frame of his precious redhead. However as the rock rolled up against Kyle's curled leg, Eric suddenly felt a warm rush of relief flood his body once he saw his lover open his eyes to gaze up towards where he was standing.

"Love you forever - Kyle"

Despite the brooding situation that they were both currently facing, Eric amazingly watched as Kyle's cold eyes suddenly became ablaze with their signature furious malachite flames, passionately igniting his own black pools with warmth and comfort as he unbelievably watched his beloved give him a calm and confident grin. Not faltering at the slightest, Eric smiled his own radiant smile as he reveled in the fact that they were both in fact alive and extenuating circumstances aside, finally together.

"I thought those would be more appropriate, don't you agree Eric?"

Upon hearing his uncle unexpectedly call up from behind, the larger boy incrementally turned his head back around to glare towards his estranged uncle; unveiling his dark, unmoving, and deadly black pools in a manner that signaled that he was only seconds away from completely snapping.

Watching as his uncle joined him next to the makeshift pit, Eric kept his dark focus on the withered old man as he heard him continue, "Couldn't have it think that it actually stood a chance out here."

Grinding his teeth together in a bout of unquenchable rage, Eric reluctantly looked back down into the pit to see what the hell his uncle was talking about.

Eric didn't notice before, but looking at his beloved once more, he finally realized that the bastard made Kyle put on a fucking prisoner's uniform- complete with the stripes, patches…

And even the fucking star.

"You know I'm all about authenticity," Eric heard his uncle speak up again; clenching his gloved fists as he kept his eyes focused in on his determined looking Jew beneath him, "and speaking of which-" Howard called out again, "Take off that coat of yours and remind everyone of who you really are."

At this point Eric and Kyle both grinned at each other, knowing full well the falsity behind that statement. So keeping his eyes focused in on his lover below, the larger boy passively obliged by wringing out of his coat sleeves; revealing the stark black uniform complete with the blood red streak around his arm as the rest of the contributors stared on with uncertainty. However as Eric calmly dropped the coat to the ground, he stared back at Kyle to make sure he wasn't too dismayed by it, but for some reason Kyle looked the opposite – amused even as he cracked an incredulous smirk while knowingly shaking his head.

Eric felt much more relaxed as he took in Kyle's positive attitude, feeling much more confident to remain positive himself as he glanced back to the silent contributors.

Howard seemed to be the only one allowed to speak; therefore Eric then focused his attention back towards the old withered man as he watched him slowly reach into his pocket, "Yes Eric, you know all too well why your grandfather gave you that uniform at such an early age." The brunette reluctantly listened on as his uncle started to spiel off some prepared speech; watching as the bastard looked down into the pit at his furious redhead as he proceeded to rant, "But you also know that the uniform was missing a very important piece-"

Narrowing his eyes in an enraged glare, Eric watched on furiously as Howard suddenly brought out the missing medal from within his pocket, "And this kike here was apparently using it as a trophy!" his uncle yelled up as he clenched onto the hunk of metal with all of his might.

Still staring daggers at his hunched over uncle, Eric unexpectedly heard a faintly amused puff escape from his lover from within the pit. "I was able to get it back." Eric heard Howard continue, feeling the old man's eyes upon him once more as he continued to watch Kyle smile deviously from the depths of the pit.

Confusedly directing his line of sight back towards his uncle in an attempt to find out what was so funny, Eric unknowingly watched as Howard delicately brought up the piece of platinum up to his lips –kissing the face of the medal reverently before whispering, "It's finally back home."

"haha hahaha HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

Eric along with everyone else present on the hill quickly turned their bewildered attention to Kyle's sudden bought of maniacal laughter sounding out from the bottom of the pit.

Growling a guttural grunt, Howard irritatingly kicked a patch of dirt onto the hysterical writhing Jew below as he yelled, "Shut the fuck up you crazy ass kike!" but Kyle still wouldn't let up. Growing incredibly impatient, Howard hastily reached into his other pocket as he spoke above the redhead's incessant laughing, "I think it's about time we get to the main event."

Upon hearing that bold exclamation, Eric immediately directed his bewildered gaze away from his lover back onto his fumbling uncle as he swallowed a heavy lump of nerves; remembering his promise to stay positive no matter what the situation he may be find himself to be in- even though he knew very well what object his uncle was probably reaching for.

Confirming what he already knew in his heart, Eric watched on as Howard fished out a small revolver from his coat pocket.

"Now," Eric heard Howard speak as the old man preemptively hobbled towards him, "You know why you're here, and you know what it's going to take for us to start trusting you again." His uncle informed as he rushed out to grab Eric's hanging arm; tugging on it as the brooding youth slowly brought up his gloved hand to allow for the revolver to be placed into his inviting palm, "I know you won't disappoint me." Howard concluded as she slowly backed away from his unmoving nephew.

Eric immediately felt his adrenalin kick into overdrive as he moved his eyes down towards the gun, hurriedly flicking open the wheel to see how many bullets he had to work with.

Not surprisingly, and much to his terrifyingly shrill disappointment, there was only one.

Taking in a sharp and painfully conclusive breath, Eric knew that he and Kyle wouldn't be leaving this hill unless he used this bullet to kill someone here- and to Eric there were only three options: one optimistic option, one negative option, and one realistic option.

The optimistic option was to kill his Uncle; Howard claimed that he and the six contributors present were all armed. This meant that the bastard had to have a gun on him somewhere and if Eric unexpectedly killed Howard in front of the bewildered contributors, he may have enough time to reach into his uncle's other coat pocket to find the hopefully fully loaded gun and shoot down the other six bastards. But this meant that Eric had to beat out the six other guys who would be reaching to do the same. That option was six against one, but it was the only option that gave Eric the small and hopeful possibility of that he and Kyle would both get out of this alive.

Because the negative option would be killing himself- this option was negative because it truthfully only yielded selfish and unwelcomed results. Killing himself would remove himself from this dreadful situation, but it would also leave Kyle alone with Howard and the contributors. Yet as Eric recalled Kyle's former allusion to this scenario, this option would allow for Kyle to fight his own battle without any assistance. If Eric killed himself, it would ultimately grant Kyle his independence- but Eric knew that his Jew wouldn't last very long if left with seven armed men while trapped in the bottom of a pit.

Therefore, Eric agonizingly considered the realistic option – killing Kyle.

The whole reason that Eric agreed to lead the hate group in the first place was so that he could prevent anyone from laying a hand on his beloved. Unfortunately however he obviously failed that vow- seeing that he not only allowed for Kyle to get kidnapped, but also drugged, disrobed, humiliated, and then thrown into what he knew now as a makeshift burial pit.

Yet despite all of this, Kyle had not been killed and thinking back to Kyle's allusion again, Eric mournfully remembered his own take on it –that the father would have much rather killed his own son than to let some Erlkönig get to him first.

Peering back into the pit, Eric's heart began to beat in regretful thumps as he gazed upon Kyle's enamored stare; reassuring him that regardless of whatever choice Eric would make, that he would love him till death do them part. Feeling his dark pools fill with warmth and life, Eric understood that there was no point in returning to his altered state; holding onto his lover's fixed and devoted stare, Eric made up his mind once and for all about how he was going to enact his final solution.

Closing back up the wheel, Eric made sure that the chamber with the bullet was set into place before turning around to confidently glance back to the quizzical men surrounding him. But instead of his black hollowed eyes, Eric in fact gazed upon them with his warm mahogany wisps.

Cracking a devious smile, Eric narrowed his eyes with premise as he spoke out into the open, "What more could I say to you."

All of the men paid close attention, focusing in on the centered boy as he peered around to each and every one of them "We've been through so much together these past couple of months and… well, like you I can't believe we've gotten this far." But Eric wasn't looking at them; he was looking through them.

Listening closely to his lover speak out from above, Kyle felt himself steadily relax into the cold ground as he realized that Eric was in fact directing this speech to him.

"But now it's come to this." Eric changed his voice to a much more severe tone. Turning his head towards the ground, Eric suddenly caught sight of the blood red arm band as he directed his attention towards the piece of cloth gripped onto his bicep, "I never wanted this to happen," he furrowed his face in anger as he shook his head in disappointment, "I fought so hard to prevent this from happening." Closing his eyes in grief, Eric forced himself to open them back up with a wicked smile as he crazily peered back at the contributors glaring at him, "But it looks like I failed you altogether."

Turning around, Eric slowly walked back towards the pit as he continued in a distant voice, "But don't you worry, because in my failure came a startling realization." His voice turned positive as he eyed his smiling Jew once more-ignoring the striped garments and the gaping pit separating them as he called down with as much love and comfort as he could muster given their current plight, "That I've never been as content and as confident with myself and with my life thus far as I am right now."

Hearing Kyle's heartfelt response in his soul, Eric understood that his Jew felt the same as he locked eyes with his shivering lover as they continued to initiate their signature transaction.

But then remembering that he was supposed to be talking to men glaring at him from behind, Eric quickly stepped towards the contributors as he resumed, "And it's all because of you!" he attempted to reassure the men that he was in fact directing this speech to them. "I'm…" Eric couldn't bear to look at them for longer than a second, so he instead looked up towards the gray sky, inviting a barrage of snowflakes to fall on onto his hysterical face as he muttered, "Eternally grateful."

Looking back down, Eric exhaled a long exhaustive breath as he collected his nerves, turning back around once more to join his uncle who was anxiously standing next to the ominous pit. Inhaling a sharp breath, Eric glanced back into the abyss as he locked eyes with his prepared looking lover. Giving one more uncertain smile, Eric tried to reassure Kyle as best as he could as he calmly finished his speech, "And whatever happens to us," he paused, abhorrently feeling hysterical tears start to well in eyes as he forced himself to keep taking with his confident voice, "Wherever we end up after what I'm about to do…"

Yet as he positioned his finger on the trigger, Eric couldn't help but let his emotions get to the best of him as he hung his head in defeat; cringing his teeth as he felt hot tears sear the sides of his face, "I know in my heart that we will have our happily ever after."

Standing up straight, Eric instantly lined the barrel of his gun in one smooth motion up to his uncle's face as he stoically pulled the trigger.

Feeling the gun recoil in his hand as Howard's face simultaneously blew apart in an explosion of large red chucks, Eric instantly barreled into his uncle's falling body as he ferociously shoved his free hand into the other coat pocket- only to experience his whole world crashing down all around him as he felt absolutely nothing inside.

Hearing Kyle scream as he frightfully turned to see the shocked contributors immediately reach for their own guns, Eric tearfully closed his eyes in agony as he felt himself fall down next to his uncle's unmoving body – his entire life flashing before his eyes as he heard the deafening sound of bullets being fired from all around him.

His mom's home cooked meals.

Kyle calling him fat for the first time in his life.

Crying himself to sleep when he realized that he didn't have a dad for the first time.

The American Canadian War.

Wendy giving him his first kiss.

Following Kyle all the way to Washington DC just to get him to commit to their 'contract'.

Losing his virginity to Wendy.

The first time he gazed into Kyle's loving emerald eyes.

Hearing Kyle call him by his first name.

Hearing Kyle laugh at him after he had confessed his love to him.

Finally making love to Kyle.

Feeling his mind drift off into a faraway place, Eric reflected on the fact that the most recent memories that held any importance to him all had to do with his precious Jew; still hearing him scream from the pit as snow continued to fall onto his shivering body.

Wait. Eric felt his eyebrows furrow in confusion; he was pretty certain that people weren't able to feel or hear anything when they were dead.

Flashing his eyes back open in shock, Eric came to the startling reality that he was in fact unharmed. Therefore, unless this was hell or purgatory or some other place in the after life – it seemed as though he miraculously survived. Confirming for himself that he was in the same place, Eric glanced over towards Howard's bleeding body as he continued to hear his beloved's wails sound out from the pit.

Not understanding how such a feat could have occurred, Eric stumbled to his feet in amazement as he glanced over to where the contributors once stood-

-feeling his breath hitch in astonishment as he gazed upon their gunned down bodies.

"ERIC!" he suddenly heard Kyle's voice call out from behind, "ERIC IS THAT YOU! OH GOD PLEASE TELL ME THAT'S YOU!"

"Yeah…" Eric responded in bewilderment, taking a nervous step back towards the pit as he continued to gaze upon the six dead bodies in their crumpled and bleeding states, "It's me."

"Oh my god!" Kyle cried out again in jubilation, leaning up against the side of the pit as he begged, "Get me out of here!" he hiccupped a sob as he nuzzled his face against the cold Earth, "I just want feel you again… I just want to know we're alive."

Rushing to the gaping pit, Eric anxiously dropped down to his hands and knees as his eyes lit up in sheer elation, "We are alive!" he cheered, taking in his lover's ecstatic expression as he reached down to grab beneath his beloved's bounded arms to hurriedly lift him up out of ground, "We fucking made it!"

Just as Kyle's beaming face hit eye level, Eric impatiently brought his head over to reassuringly lock lips with his shivering Jew as he proceeded to roll onto his back, finally pulling Kyle out of the hole to rest him on top of his rapidly beating chest. Reveling in the fact that they both survived, both boys started to laugh in triumph as they enthusiastically kissed and touched each other all while ecstatic, happy tears ran down their faces in relieving streaks.

After frantically nuzzling into the other for much needed comfort, they both halted their actions to stare into each other's eyes once more; reflecting on the fact that for some reason or another- they alone were spared. Feeling the gravity of that truth fall upon them with such a resounding amount of benevolence, Eric finally decided to gently reach up to delicately take Kyle's warming lips into his own.

Feeling Kyle begin to reciprocate, Eric enthusiastically delved deeper into Kyle's mouth as he completely lost himself in their current euphoria; making every single movement count as he longingly felt his lover's tongue move across his own lips. Intensifying the kiss, Eric needily brought his arms up to bring Kyle closer into his chest; smiling into their kiss as he felt his Jew reciprocate by carrying his bounded wrists around his neck in a tight embrace.

After the extended kiss signaled to both of them that they were in fact safe and reunited, Eric felt Kyle hesitantly detach from his mouth as he puffed out a dismissive laugh, "Let's go back." He suggested intently, weakly falling against Eric's heaving chest as he exhaled, "You have that jacket; I've been out here for god knows how long in nothing but these rags."

"You can use my coat," Eric weaved one of his hands through Kyle's dampened red locks as he closed his eyes in exhaustion, "It's over there by my uncle's dead corpse."

Hesitantly glancing over to Howard's body, Kyle pursed his lips together before he finally asked, "Eric… if you killed your uncle… who killed all the-"

PANG!

"AH!" Kyle shrieked as he clutched onto Eric for dear life, feeling his lover defensively shield his head into his chest as they ducked away from the snowy burst that occurred right next to their outstretched bodies.

Huddling closer together, Eric and Kyle gripped onto each other with all of their might before realizing that once again they avoided arm. Slowly releasing the other, both boys whipped their heads around to glance over to where the burst sounded out from.

But to both of their surprise, the sound was apparently not caused by an explosion, but by something that had landed there.

An arrow, with a rose attached.

"Stay here!" Eric rolled out from underneath Kyle as he fumbled over to inspect it; the redhead knowingly bringing his bundled hands up to his mouth to hide his shock.

Dropping down next to the protruding arrow, Eric cautiously took the red rose in his hand as he suddenly noticed a note firmly wrapped around the length of the stick. Quickly untying the twine that held it together, Eric fumbled to get the letter open as finally held out the piece of paper in front of his gaze.

My, what a powerful transformation you have undergone during these past few months Eric; maybe even more powerful than your dear Jew's transformation. I must say however, that I obviously had my doubts- but watching your performance out here today, I will admit that I was truly wrong about you. Had I seen you point your gun anywhere near Kyle's direction I would have taken you out with the rest of them, but to my surprise I saw you take a chance and really try to save not only yourself, but Kyle as well.

Good responses get good rewards, and thusly I have awarded you your 'Happy Ending'. But I understand that this isn't all my doing, you're bravery was duly noted and I feel confident enough to leave you with Kyle for good. If you both desire it- you will never have to concern yourselves with my presence ever again.

However for my contribution to your safety, I do ask that you take that shovel lying directly above the pit and go back to bury the one body that deserves to be properly buried. In your frenzy to rescue your Jew Eric, you irrationally murdered an innocent. She's the only real victim in this – confined to a life of hate where the only love she received was solely given to her only after she committed more hate. But for some reason she managed to truly love you; despite all that she'd been put through, she really did love you –till the very end.

I will not judge you, for I have killed countless innocents in my haze to accomplish my given tasks – however I do make it a priority to see to it that their bodies alone are properly buried with an appropriate marker. I insist that you do the same.

In one hour from now sharp, a helicopter will land in this field to take both you and Kyle to a secure location where an escort will drive you both back to South Park; this allows just enough time for Kyle to change back into his clothes and to collect his things while you to tend to the girl's body.

Maybe we will cross paths again one day Eric, but know that it will not be my choosing. However for your efforts in keeping Kyle safe I will grant you one wish – a gift I only grant to those who have done an irreplicable act of kindness towards me. Anything you want in the world, but use it wisely.

Call me when you want to cash it in.

-Christophe

"Where is he?" Eric heard Kyle anxiously call out from behind, "Did he really save us?" his lover inquired again as he felt a hand delicately touch his shoulder.

Crumpling the note in his hand, Eric pursed his lips together as he aimlessly looked to the distant surrounding forest, "Yes." He confirmed, getting to his feet as he hurriedly paced over to begrudgingly retrieve the shovel, "A helicopter will pick us up here in an hour; let's go get your things so you can change out of those horrible rags."

"He did?" Kyle called out again, finally undoing his restraints as he walked over to pick up Eric's coat off of the ground, "Did he say why?" he further questioned as he shrugged into the heavy warm wool, quickly pacing down the hill to join his determined looking lover.

"I'm not sure; but something tells me that he doesn't think I'm some backwards Fascist anymore." Eric smirked as he knowingly glanced back over to the swaying trees in the distance.

"No." Kyle soothed from below, latching his arm around Eric's bicep as he lovingly burrowed his head into the stiff coat, "You're not." He assured as he shivered against his lovers receptive body.

"You still cold?" Eric cautiously peered down at his trembling Jew, horrifically realizing that the bastards took Kyle's shoes away too.

Kyle didn't want to be a burden so he shook his head fervently; "No I'm fine-" he started to reassure his seemingly anxious lover, but then suddenly felt the larger boy stop walking altogether.

Watching Eric slowly crouch to the ground, Kyle furrowed his eyes in confusion as he heard the brunette call out toyingly, "Come on you stubborn Jew- you're not fucking walking there in bare feet. Climb on."

Cracking a disbelieving smile, Kyle slowly approached Eric from behind as he teased, "Pfff you don't even have the energy to last through one round of sex let alone carry me across several acres of frozen wasteland."

"Ever the kidder Kyle," Eric puffed in amusement, happy as hell that they were back to normal as he prodded, "Do you want me to help you? Or would you rather get frostbite and have me saw off your blackened feet with a saw iron?"

Rolling his eyes, Kyle scoffed a fake puff of annoyance as he happily mounted his lover's awaiting back, "Giddy up fatass…" he sassily brought his hand down to smack Eric's ass.

Laughing out loud, Eric securely shifted Kyle onto his back as he steadily made his way back to the facility, "Don't make me drop you." He jokingly warned; feeling Kyle suddenly nuzzle into his neck as they entered the first field of wheat.

Closing his eyes in sheer bliss, Eric lovingly nuzzled back as more snow continued to fall onto their warming faces.

Exiting the second building after he changed out of those decrepit rags, Kyle stepped out into the surrounding winter wonderland as he shrugged his messenger back onto his shoulder. Adjusting his white cap onto his halo of furious red curls, Kyle felt a barrage of snowflakes hit his bloodstained combat clothes as he made his way over towards the front of the main building where Eric said he'd be waiting.

Taking his first step onto the snow covered dirt path leading up to the main entrance, Kyle watched on curiously as he spotted Eric hunched over what appeared to be another mound of dirt. Quirking his brow in interest, Kyle hurried over to the edge of the forest where his lover was currently situated.

Slowly trenching over to the brooding brunette, Kyle quizzically gazed down upon the mysterious human-length mound of earth. Hesitantly joining his lover at his side, the redhead calmly touched Eric's shoulder as he delicately asked, "What hap-"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Eric coldly snapped back, causing Kyle to quickly remove his hand in shock.

Trailing off a long exasperated sigh, Eric shamefully turned his head to gaze down at his disturbed lover; suddenly smiling when he noticed that Kyle had changed into his combat clothes.

Nervously smiling back, Kyle morbidly gazed back down at the mound in confusion as he saw Eric fish for something in his pocket out of the corner of his eye. Glancing back at the brunette, Kyle watched as Eric delicately carried out the desecrated medal; glaring at it intently before giving a callous smirk, "It really does belong on your hat." His lover glanced back up to meet with his inquisitive gaze.

Giving off his own cynical smirk, Kyle broke away from his lovers stare to reach into his bag, "Not anymore." He reasoned, "I don't need it anymore-"he pulled out the rose that Christophe had left them; keeping up his devious grin as he carelessly dropped the flower onto the shallow grave, "and neither do you."

Watching the rose gently land on the center of Missy's grave, Eric puffed an awkward laugh to himself, "Yeah…" but then he narrowed his eyes as a brilliant idea came to mind, "But now that I think about it, I don't think I'm quite done with it." he discretely placed it in one of his pockets.

Holding in a laugh, Kyle turned around to walk away from the facility, "Boy do I have something to tell you once we get inside the helicopter."

Glancing down one more time at the rose delicately resting on the frozen mound of earth, Eric staked the shovel into the cold hard ground and replied, "You're not afraid of heights are you?" He teased, anxiously stepping away from the grave as he made his way to follow Kyle up the dirt path.

"What, do you think I'm going to fall off or something?" the redhead looked back, smiling brightly as the heavy snowfall cascaded around them in heavenly gusts of white billows.

Catching up to his precious Jew, Eric suddenly heard the distinct sound of a helicopter's propeller in the distance as he anxiously reached out to bring in Kyle for one last embrace.

Swirling his redhead around to tightly hold him against his own healthily beating chest, Eric quickly lowered his head down to Kyle's blushing face as he longingly spoke into his beloved's receptive mouth,

"Ich falle nicht, wenn du nicht fallst, Rosenrot."

The German –Corrected by TerryxRage!

Sag mir wo die Blumen sind – Where have all the Flowers gone?

Sag mir wo die Mädchen sind - Where have all the Women gone?

Sag mir wo die Männer sind - Where have all the Men gone?

Ebenso - Likewise

Sag wo die Soldaten sind - Where have all the Soldiers gone?

Sag mir wo die Gräber sind - Where have all the Graves gone?

"Sag mir wo die Blumen sind" by Marlene Dietrich – Marlene Dietrich was a very popular German artist from before the second world war and even afterwords. She was a huge anti-fascist and migrated to America where she helped sell War Bonds for the United States Army during World War two. She was very beautiful and was basically German Marilyn Monroe but a million times sexier IMO. "Sag Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind" is a very popular anti-war song that as written before Dietrich's time, but her rendition is most popular.

DAS KANN NICHT GESCHEHEN! – OH GOD! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!

Wann wird man je verstehn – When will we understand?

Die Sonate vom Guten Menschen – The Sonata for Good Men

Unser 'Märchen' – Our 'Story'

Ich falle nicht, wenn du nicht fallst, Rosenrot – I won't fall if you don't fall, Rosenrot

-See you in the Epilogue! Thank you for all the helpful reviews!