Unsung Melodies: A collection of CountryHumans Oneshots And Drafts

It Did Not Happen

Content Warnings: Graphic description of violence, self-harm, depictions of anxiety, and Genocide

(Around 1943; retconned ALOI future chapter)

Reich sharply gasped for breath, his lungs stinging from the cold winter air. He didn't know where he was, lost in an endless whiteness. Trekking through a very bad blizzard with barely any winter wear on was an insane idea, if Reich was a normal human he would have frozen to death by now.

The cold seeped through his skin and chilled him until the marrows of his bones yet he still pressed forward, gasping heavily. The air felt like small icicles pricking at his throat and lungs. Yet all of the cold pales in comparison from the seething pain of his guts, of the suffocating poison air that still lingered in his lungs, of the searing pain that threatened to split his head into half. He could barely see any further than a few feet ahead of him and the drilling on his head was only making things double in front of him.

Yet in his delirium he could only move forward. No. Not forward. Just... Away. Away from all the pain and the misery of those poor souls whose silent cries of fear and defeat dragged him down as they bow their heads waiting for the end to finally come. They had no room for struggle, not after days of endless work with barely any rest, no comfort to return to, with their hopes and dreams slowly being crushed out of them until all that was left was an exhausted shell of a human haphazardly dressed in dirty striped pajamas, herded into a room like lambs for slaughter. They weren't even lambs; lambs were sacred. They were just scum in the eyes of the Nazis, in the eyes of his.

Reich doubled over and vomited into the snow, regurgitating digestive fluids that quickly froze up in the coldness of the winter. He shuddered. He was just so exhausted, he wanted it all to end.

The world gave way beneath his feet and in a moment of suspended anticipation, he closed his eyes, before letting him fall into the still whiteness of the snow.

_______

Soviet was in Moskau when he felt the sudden breach in his territory. At first he thought it was a mistake, perhaps paranoia. It didn't make any sense. The intruder was way up northwest of his territory, far away from any battles that were happening. But the intrusion persisted and it slowly made its way even up north.

Soviet frowned, unsure if this was meant to be a distraction of some sorts from Reich. If it was, it was very effective; the feeling was quite distracting, alright. Soviet could not help but check in on the lone German marching towards the Arctic.

He told his commanders to keep a close eye in case there was another surprise attack from the germans before promptly leaving the room.

Soviet closed his eye, taking a deep breath in. He concentrated on the place the German stood and willed himself to manifest near him.

It was a bit jarring to suddenly appear in the middle of a blizzard when a second ago he was just in a fairly warm room. Just a few feet from him was Reich, his body recoiling as he threw up in the snow.

"You're not supposed to be here." Soviet announced. Reich and his army, in general, should not be in his lands at all, but he meant the sentence in a more specific sense of the country being stranded in Russian territory without proper clothes or even a battalion to support him.

Either Reich didn't seem to hear him or he just chose to ignore Soviet, he tried resuming his escapades northward. Soviet furrowed his brow.

"Reich, if this is another one of your tricks I—"

Without warning the country staggered backwards before falling onto the snow. He lay there, unmoving and barely breathing. Soviet made his way to him cautiously, ready to pull his pistol in case Reich tried to pounce on him. But as he drew closer he realized the German had really fainted. As tempting as it was to leave Reich freezing in the cold, there was a nagging feeling deep inside him that he should not. While they could never see each other eye to eye since they were at war with each other, Reich and Soviet retained some sort of respect regardless of the state of things. Simply that vague and distant civility they retained from when his brother was still alive.