The Price you Pay: All that you Carry

[Der_Fuhrer_Dyszel]

Kill them with Kindness

Lazily the high afternoon sun hung in the midsummer sky casting its blistering rays down with a languid ennui. Gunther sat contently beneath the unforgiving rays basking in the sultry warmth it provided his frail aging body while he watched the pigeons drudge up and down the cracked pavement looking for remnants of food left behind by yesterday’s grandiloquent festivities celebrating the well received and eagerly anticipated merger their nation could only dream about for the past several years. It had happened so swiftly, so precariously, with the sudden and abrupt force in which a nation unites behind a tragedy. Turning his eyes to his swarthy shoes Gunther was reminded of his life. For the past five years, he had sat in this precise spot watching these very paltry pigeons peck and coo for a single crumb of bread and for five years he never questioned the meaning in their behaviors, why he was doing what he was doing, or anything for that matter. He had simply grown too old to consider these trivial ponderings. But now it seemed different, so very different, as if the world he was living was no longer the same. He could not remember when it had happened or if it had happened, but it just seemed that everything was no longer the same. He looked up somberly to watch the birds. No longer could he recall why he did this, why he sat on this very bench daily and watched those ravenous birds with their sleek and slender black bodies caw loudly at one another as they all descended upon a single fry like a wave of black death.

They cawed so loudly, a sound that jarred him from his displaced thoughts to notice for the first time a young gentlemen in a black uniform sitting aside of him. How long had he been there? The man seemed despondent, sitting there watching the crows as if his life was a purposeless void, a nothingness he was immured within for all eternity. Becoming aware that he was being watched, the young man turned towards him, watching him closely as if the man’s next words were the most crucial moment of his existence.

“Who are you?” Gunther asked, concerned for this young man’s wellbeing, afraid the man may be on the brink of suicide.

In response, the young man’s face fell further almost hurt by the words as a look of abject pity spread across his face, “Come on grandfather, let’s go home.”

[Der_Fuhrer_Dyszel]

“Where is he?”

“Sir, I have no idea. He has never been late for anything. I am concerned.”

“Did you check the park?”

“Of course sir. He was not there.”

“And his home?”

“Yes sir. He was no where to be found. Do you think perhaps-”

“Good afternoon gentlemen.” Conversation ceased immediately as the black uniformed man strode into the room. He smiled weakly as he extended his black gloved hand slowly.

The Carbonite! He was early, much too early.

“Good afternoon Mister Novosti! We were not expecting you for another thirty minutes. I trust your sleep was well last night?”

“Unfortunately it was not. I have terrible news for you,” Ilya responded as he slid despondently into the chair in front of the desk. “I sincerely regret to inform you that Gunther had a stroke. I was with him at the time. We were discussing our nations’ merger. He was enthusiastic and hopeful about the possibilities of our nations working together when it happened. It seemed as if his face just slid off him and his words slurred into one garbled blur. I activated emergency services and he is being cared for at this moment but he seems no longer to recognize who he is or where he even is. I regret to say that I am afraid that I will have to take his position in completing this merger. He would want us to continue,” Ilya seemed to sink further as if he every word he spoke was crushing him, stealing the remnants of happiness tucked within him.

“You cannot be serious! But he was fine yesterday!”

“He was fine yesterday to my understanding but these things happen without apparent warning some days. He is an old man. That does not help his position,” Ilya frowned, burying his face in his hands.

“I am so sorry you had to witness this Mister Novosti. Is there anything we can do? What about taking the day off?”

“I would hate to disrespect Gunther’s wishes. The man became a great friend to me over these past few months of collaboration. It would devastate him if he learned we put on hold months of preparation all on his behalf. I believe I can speak well enough about his wishes at this moment. I just would like to keep the crowds at bay if you do not mind. I would rather not have to explain to the masses what happened. If we can keep the signing of the paperwork to ourselves, I think it would be much easier than involving your entire nation begging for answers as to why I am here and not Gunther.”

“Understandable. You have a valid point Mister Novosti, I am sure we can arrange that. I just cannot believe this happened to poor Gunther. Are you certain he will be fine?”

Frowning deeper, Ilya’s brow furrowed, “Define ‘fine’. He survived but with his memory gone, I believe that takes half the man away.”

Walking over, the assistant placed her hand on Ilya’s shoulder in a comforting reassurance. “Let me go get the papers to sign and bring back our General. General Lidzt would need to formally agree to any military transactions and cooperation.”

“Thank you my dear,” he spoke as again hung his head in obvious dejection.

[Der_Fuhrer_Dyszel]

Dmitriov, Capital City, current East Pacific time

General Lidzt waddled superciliously into the room, his blue and white uniform framing his short stout body awkwardly, the sumptuous gold buttons threatening to escape with the velocity and deadliness of a fired bullet. His portentous attitude preceded him as he capriciously looked down at Ilya, who was sitting somberly while staring at the floor seemingly absent-mindedly.

“Mister Novosti!” Lidzt boisterously bellowed, slapping the man hard on his back as while his eyes contemptuously glared him down.

The force of the slap pushed Ilya forward and moving with the momentum, he stood to greet the pompous man with a forced smile that quickly fell from his face in disappointment. Over indulgent bastard, he silently scorned, seeing the garish man as an insult to military professionals across the world.

The look of disappointment did not elude Lidzt, but rather he shamelessly pulled from it an opportunity to take the Carbonite down. Any opportunity to take this obviously more desired man down another notch was a step up the ladder he could make to better his own image and oh how he reveled in seeing the man suffer.

“Novosti! It is a wonderful pleasure to have you here! I hear that you served our nation admirably today! You saved our President! I believe our gratitude is in order! What would we ever do without you!?” his laugher permeated throughout the room as he again slapped Ilya hard on the back.

And once again Ilya stumbled forward, catching himself before hitting the desk before him. With a harrowed expression, Ilya dropped his glance to floor. “I do not consider myself worthy of gratitude. It was not my pleasure to see Gunther die before my eyes,” Ilya frowned more as his voice fell off in silence.

Victory! Lidzt odiously grinned at Ilya. How could they love such a pathetic man more than me? Feeling the rush of personal triumph take the best of him, he broke out into laughter, “You are too humble Novosti! You should give yourself credit! Our nation is indebted to you! Is that not what you what?”

Anger flared in Ilya’s seething eyes as he loathed the man. It was as if everything in Ilya’s appearance at that moment seemed abhor the light mood Lidzt was making of their President’s declining health. And when Ilya fell silent and strode out of the room, the others realized that Lidzt had gone too far. It was evident that Ilya was mourning the loss of a dear friend. Paralyzed by the suddenness which Novosti departed, no one bothered to stop him as they stared in disbelief at their own general, truly appalled that he could possibly offend the Carbonite.

“How can you!?” Julia cried as she stood up after several moments of Lidzt’s mocking laughter. “Gunther was his friend General! Those two worked very closely over the past few years. This is our president you are laughing about!”

Turning his shrewd stare onto Julia, Lidzt stopped laughing and scornfully glared at her. How could she care more about that foreigner? What did Ilya have that he did not?

“General. I am disappointed with your behavior,” a sullen voice spoke from behind the polished desk. “We spent months preparing for this merger and while we may have celebrated the official merger this week, there was several papers that needed our consent. I am afraid your poor performance may have upset the Carbonite. He may back out of the whole ordeal after this meeting. How are you going to explain that our nation when we tell them the reason why we lost The Elite Empire’s military backing was because you pretentiously offended the man who just lost a dear friend?”

Outraged, Lidzt’s glare turned from Julia to their acting president. Rage boiled behind his eyes. How could they all love Ilya more!? “I-”

“You will not speak General. I am reassigning you to active duty in Kadeausz. The fate of our nation is too important to jeopardize over your jealous tendencies.”

Three hours later

“Sir, I cannot find him!” Julia reported, holding the phone closely to her ear as she exited the quarters they established for Ilya. “No, he is not here. I did not find him at the building either. Do you think he may have left? … So he did not take a flight back…that is good news indeed. But where do you believe he can be? No one has seen him wandering the streets and those Carbonites are not hard to miss sir. … The hospital? No, I did not check the hospital. I will report back to you.”

Hailing the nearest taxi, Julia stepped inside making her way to the hospital. The facility itself was rather impressive, a large courtyard framing the sterile building. Dozens of people mulled about the ornate fountains and gardens, patients and their families appreciating the break from the sterile atmosphere. As she stepped into the cool air of the hospital, it dawned on her how foolish it was that she did not consider checking here first. Ilya was visibly tormented by Gunther’s condition; it only seemed to make the most sense he would find himself beside his friend’s side.

Working her way to the room, she found Ilya asleep at Gunther’s bedside, his head resting soundly on the bed beside Gunther. Their aging president never before looked as miserable as he did at that moment, his sallow skin paling even as she stood there. “Mister Novosti,” she spoke quietly, resting her hand on his shoulder to awake him.

To her surprise, the man startled and jumped awake so fiercely and quickly that he knocked over the chair in the process, his entire body prepared to fight for its life. He seemed only to relax when he realized who had awoken him and where he was.

“I’m sorry Mister Novosti, I did not mean to alarm you,” Julia’s soft voice tried to mollify the previous concern.

“Ms Holt, it is I who should apologize. I spent years in military service. I have a tendency to overreact to sudden awakenings. Please, sit,” he offered as he bent down to pick up the fallen seat. After escorting Julia into the chair, Ilya stood with his back pressed against the wall, leaning against it for support. Even while he made eye contact with Julia, it fell quickly to the floor and he remained just as somberly as he had all day. She had never seen the man this distressed.

“Mister Novosti…Ilya, look, what Lidzt did there, it’s wrong. We cannot support his views and his actions. It’s clear that you are troubled by everything. Please don’t give up on us though because of him.”

Ilya looked up to meet Julia’s eyes. Wordlessly he nodded slowly but his eyes nevertheless fell onto Gunther. “He may never remember us.”

“What do you mean?” Julia spoke, following Ilya’s attention towards Gunther to see their president staring at them with a confused look in eyes, terrified of their presence.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“President, it is me, Julia. And Mister Novosti. Don’t you remember?” Julia asked, surprised to hear the weakness in the aging man’s voice.

“Young man! WHO ARE YOU!? WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME!?” he cried out seeing the despondent look again in the young man’s eyes. He feared the worse, this man would surely kill himself.

Ilya only frowned, drawing his eyes away from Gunther to again look at his feet. “I am sorry,” he spoke to himself, his heavy hearted words silencing the room.

“Grandson? You are my grandson?” Gunther asked Ilya, “Why are you so sad? What happened?”

“I must go,” he spoke quickly as he turned from the room and departed soundly, his entire demeanor crushed.

“Mister President,” Julia spoke as she rubbed his hand, “please get some rest. We will back later.”

Seizing her hand quickly, Gunther turned his desperate eyes toward her, “watch him. I am afraid he might hurt himself.”

“Yes, sir,” Julia responded as she slid her hand away and departed, following Novosti out of the hospital. Finally catching up with him, she again placed her hand on his back.

“This must be hard on you, but I wanted to give you these. Kyle reassigned Lidzt and gave me these to give to you. I hope it is not too late to make this work for our nations,” she spoke, handing Ilya the signed documents.

“Thank you. It is what he would want,” Ilya tried to smile but found it too difficult and soon dropped the false happiness. “I will inform Carbonis tonight. General Terebyeva will be able to organize a defense system shortly. He is an efficient man.”

“What about you Ilya? Will you be alright?” Julia’s concerned eyes met his.

“What can I do? You saw it for yourself. He does not remember who we are. What more can I do? I want to believe it will resolve itself, but these things…” Ilya trailed off, unwilling to put himself through more agony.

“Here,” she offered, stuffing a piece of paper into his pocket, “call me if you need someone to talk to. I know you military buffs do not like to talk much, but if helps to have someone to listen to your concerns or even someone to take your mind off of all of this, call me. Okay?”

Ilya nodded, it was all he could do, and even as they both stepped into the taxi, he remained silently sullen, staring out of the window seeing nothing.

[Der_Fuhrer_Dyszel]

“Status?”

“Mission complete. Kadeusz on board.”

“Thank you.”

The conversation had been short, simple, but those few words over their secure line confirmed that all was in motion. The past ten years of careful planning were beginning to slide into place, the final pieces of that puzzle connecting with an ease and grace now that the foundation was set. As Novosti closed his phone and moved before the lines of soldiers stretching across the parade grounds, he seemed to examine each line carefully, looking for something specific.

Holt could not help but notice that the man seemed fixed on finding some sort of an imperfection or perhaps perfection he kept to himself as he searched. Standing before the officers, her former business suit now replaced with the thick fabric of the frame hugging military jacket, she began to feel what it must be like to be him. She wore this uniform proudly…the efforts they put into safeguarding this alliance and earning this uniform was a matter of national pride and she hoped Ilya could see that as he examined the soldiers before them.

Novosti, distracted with his thoughts by his upcoming speech, stood before the rows and rows of men and women. Only a few years before he received this same parade of white and royal blues and now as he stood before the solid black unity, he began to feel at home here among these strangers. They seemed to eagerly await his scrutiny as if proud of their own individual moment to prove they too could be worthy of being a Mahanionian.

When the examination was complete, Novosti was guided to a stage to address his new military and as he stood before the thousands of men aligned just to hear his speech, he watched them salute him, accepting him as their commanding officer without a doubt, without so much as a single question among them. He smiled to himself, he could see in each soldier the eagerness he fondly remembered having at one time as he too stood in his first line wearing that black uniform with a sense of earned dignity.

“Respected allies of Dmitriov,” his voice boomed over the speakers as an entire nation leaned closer to listen, “For as long as I can remember, our nations remained as individual entities, independently existing as neighbors and living our lives as if the other had not existed. Our nations faced struggles we had to climb out of without the support and aid from another. Our past behaviors caused us to needlessly suffer. We plundered along with the false belief that we could do this on our own. We spent our lives fighting to become an independent nation and now as we gather on this day, we stand recognizing the errors of our ways. Today we stand as one unified front, standing together for the first time in our history. We come together to stand as we make a stride into the future as brothers and sisters. Today I stand before you gratefully welcoming you to our unified nations. Today,” he paused as the audience awaited with anticipation the final words, “you become part of The Elite Empire. Today you have left your mark on the pages of history. Today you become part of a greater cause. Today, we unite under one flag in the name of a better tomorrow Today, we stand as one.”

The official salute could not have gone more perfectly, the nation moving as a single unit and Ilya remarked at just how well they had so quickly accustomed themselves to this lifestyle. He nodded to Holt who took the stage and watched as Ilya returned to the line of commanding officers.

“Thank you General,” Julia spoke as she nodded to Ilya, “I would offer more on the topic but what needs to be said cannot be found in words. What monumental occasion this is exists only in the scene before our eyes, as I look at each of you and see neither rank nor superiority, but the same singular identity. Our beloved president would have been proud to stand before you supporting this action, shaking the hand of General Novosti, but alas may we honor his memory by fighting proudly for what he so very much believed in…a better tomorrow for our nation. Let us stand with our new allies and show them that we are capable of standing in their ranks and wearing his uniform. Let us show The Elite Empire we are proud to be among the rest of them and worthy of the trust they have given us.”

As the nation again saluted, Ilya watched as the parade continued. He rejoined Julia’s side, his eyes looking over the ripple of black uniformed men, “I remember standing in that line once. Proudest moment of my life. You would think the loss of identity would deter people but when you see Mahanoy for the first time and see what a single unit like that can accomplish together, you begin to stop placing so much importance on individuality. I wear this uniform now because I no longer want to be remembered as the man I was. I want to be remembered as a member of The Elite Empire. Watching those men and women today, I could see that many experienced the same reaction. It makes me believe in the power of what we can accomplish together…you bring us all together, imagine what we can do? World peace…always sounded like such a bizarre idea, but sometimes…I don’t know, when I stand before the line, I fancy the idea we can make it possible.”

Julia smiled as she leaned in to Ilya, “you may be some General, some great military leader, but you have the heart gold. Please never lose that.”

“I won’t,” he responded, looking out to the military that was dispersing. “This means too much to me…meant too much to him.”

She needed not know what he was talking about…she had seen how Gunther’s deterioration of health upset him greatly and while he seemed to talk around it, she knew he was concerned by the man’s dying wish…to protect their nation. He was a man who would do whatever it took to ensure Gunther’s wishes were met and even as he stood there, his face fixed, she knew in her heart part of him was happy to see their greatest dreams playing out before them if not sad that Gunther could not be there to appreciate it.