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Reich sighed.
The first issue he had to deal with was Austria. The führer would take care of the rest. Reich just had to represent and go through the motions.
He remained between humans for now, knowing very well that he wasn't ready just yet.
He needed to gather strength.
He needed to get more territory.
And that meant slow travel, unfortunately. But, oh well.
Just a mere day later, Reich stood in front of Austria's home.
He knocked.
It took just a moment for the heavy door to swing open. Austria looked tired, and yet his eyes widened upon seeing Reich for the very first time. Reich grinned, tilting his head. "May I come in?" He asked, feeling rather satisfied when he realised that he stood taller than Austria. Still, the elder country made room for Reich, letting him enter. The German looked around the spacious home. It was showing signs of wear, Austria was struggling, that was obvious. "Who are you? Why are you here?" Austria asked, looking at Reich with guarded eyes. He couldn't help but smile at the wariness.
"My name is Third Reich. I'm here to fix what the Allies have broken." He said, looking back at Austria over his shoulder. The elder sighed and sunk into the armchair of his living room.
Reich remained standing. He liked the power imbalance such an action brought. "And I have a proposition for you, dear Österreich." Reich continued, voice sickly sweet. He hated doing this, but the führer said that he had to, and as such, Reich did so.
Austria only raised a brow at his words, remaining silent.
"Join me, and we shall take back all that had been stolen from us," Reich said, offering Austria a hand. That finally seemed to have shocked something awake within the weary Austrian. He jerked back a little as if finally growing aware of his position, and the fact that it allowed Reich to loom over him.
He studied Reich for a time, and Reich allowed it. He had to make some concessions when making allies.
"What will you do?" Austria eventually asked, perhaps growing aware that the Anschluss was inevitable.
"You will become a part of this empire. I shall clear all that scum from your system, and then, we will prosper again. We shall reunite all our people under one Reich." He explained, as patient as he was ever going to get. Austria looked almost unnerved by all this, but Reich could see the flame of hatred gently burning in his eye.
The same flame that Reich nurtured.
And Austria took his hand.
Reich grinned widely.
Czechoslovakia was a thorn in Reich's side ever since he took control.
It took a while to find a suitable angle. But demanding the Sudetenland worked just fine. Enough ethnic Germans to make his intentions seem pure, enough unrest to make Czechoslovakia look bad for suppressing them.
It was flawless. All it took was just some threats and the house of cards started to fall apart. Britain was weak, France was weak. Everyone was so terrified that they were ready to dance to Reich's tune, just so he would be satisfied. Weimar was too cowardly to realise this core weakness. Too cowardly to exploit it.
Reich hadn't asked why he needed Czechoslovakia; he just did what he was told to do. It was easier that way. And if breaking that union apart was what it took, then so be it.
It didn't take long for Britain and France to accept his invitation, and Fascist Italy had accepted as soon as he got Reich's letter.
The Czechoslovak? He wasn't invited. This was between the adults.
...
In the end, it was so very easy to break both of them.
It was almost laughable, Reich struggled to believe that these countries managed to break Vater's spirit.
Britain and France gladly signed the Czech over, betraying him just so they could save their own skins. It was disgusting. It worked in his favour. They were so convinced that Reich would eventually have enough, that he would eventually be satisfied.
They were wrong, but nobody knew that just yet.
Czechoslovakia was on edge, that much was obvious.
His wings kept twitching at the slightest disturbance, and he kept glancing at Reich, correctly identifying the largest threat in the room.
Reich slid the document over the desk toward the country. As Czechoslovakia read, brow rising higher and higher to join his hairline, the energy of the room became more and more tense. Eventually, Czechoslovakia leapt to his feet, feathers puffed up as he stared at Britain and France in disbelief. "What is the meaning of this?!" He burst out, his French clipped with the emotion. Privately, Reich wanted to grin. He knew very well just how badly Slavs took betrayal. Turning that loyalty against Czechoslovakia would do wonders to break that fragile little alliance. France seemed uncomfortable, and oh, she had grown so much weaker over the years! She liked to tower over Weimar and act important, and yet, in reality, she was weak.
Weak and cowardly, hiding behind that guard dog of Britain.
Same as now, as Britain was the one to speak. "You know as well as I do that we cannot afford another war," Britain stated as if it were a fact. Reich could see that those words did nothing besides fan the flame of rising rage within the small country, and he was getting ready for the show.
"Our whole alliance was because of that!" The Czechoslovak pointed out incredulously, hand fisted in his own uniform, just to keep himself somewhat under control.
Britain sighed as if he were talking to a particularly annoying toddler. He looked just a bit uncomfortable. "I do not have an alliance with you. USSR? He will only come if France decides to help you. And, well, if you choose to fight on your own, you won't survive the first month." Truly, his fate looked to be sealed. Britain's words were grave and entirely accurate. Reich feasted upon the growing betrayal within the Slav's eye. He sat back down, seemingly numb and stared at the paper once more. Something within him seemed to harden. He looked ready for a fight. "I could win." He mused, and something within Reich began to tense. Because the Czech was right. With the defences he'd built in preparation, keenly aware of Reich's growing interest and Reich's lack of power, he had a good shot at winning.
Of course, he did not know such realities. Reich made sure of that.
"Don't make me laugh!" Britain snapped. That pulled the Czechoslovak from his thoughts. He flinched a little. The Brit straightened his tie in discomfort. "I will simply not be risking my people for some small, Eastern-European country nobody knows about, and that is final!"
Fuck... Britain was digging his own grave. It was a joy to watch as he threw allies to the wolves just to buy himself some time, hoping, praying that Reich would eventually have enough.
That time would never come.
Czechoslovakia's breathing grew shakier. He stared down at the paper, the damming piece of evidence of their betrayal. Then, for the first time since his outburst, he looked up at Reich, studying him.
Reich allowed it.
He spread his arms out in a gesture of invitation, smiling coldly. "What will you do, then?" Czechoslovakia asked, and wasn't that the question of the day? Unsubtly, both Westerners tried to listen up. Reich ignored them, focused entirely on the Czechoslovak. "After I get what belongs to me? I will move on. My country needs attention, so I shall probably attend to that. You will be free of me." He said, looking into Czechoslovakia's eye. There, plain in sight, he saw disbelief. The Slav chuckled humourlessly and picked up a pen to sign his death. Had any of the room's occupants known Czech, they would have understood when Czechoslovakia muttered an "I won't." Under his breath.
As it stood, however, Czechoslovakia wearily signed, doubling over shortly thereafter to clutch at his head.
It only took a moment and was, frankly enough, rather painless.
There was no fighting, after all.
Reich walked over and pat the Czech on his shoulder. "Don't worry, it'll get better soon."
Third Reich did not have enough, however, and he knew very well how to get more.
Because the München treaty forbid him from taking any steps against Czechoslovakia, with no talks of his components.
He grinned.
A nasty oversight.
Because he just found a huge weakness the joint country had.
Mainly, Slovakia. Dissatisfied and easy to manipulate. Unlike any other sane nation would have, he was allowed to remain almost equal. It was ridiculous, and Reich planned to show everyone exactly how fragile that union was. With the help of his humans, anyway. Because Slovakia was afraid. Afraid of returning to Hungary, and that, that was a huge weak point. It made him easy to manipulate. It made his people easy to manipulate, too.
Reich just had to wait for the humans to do their job, and tear them apart afterwards.
After just 169 days of existence after the Betrayal, Czechoslovakia shattered anew.
It happened abruptly, during one of the miscellaneous meetings. Czechoslovakia hadn't been looking well, well.
Crack.
The entire room went silent at once, focusing on the Slav, who was holding a shaking hand to his forehead.
When he pulled it away, it was stained with blood. Another sound and the crack in his forehead grew larger. Paling, Czechoslovakia started to shake as he hugged himself, almost as if attempting to keep himself together. Reich knew that to be useless. Curling up even more, Czechoslovakia let out a wounded noise at the back of his throat, at once seemingly melting apart, his form getting more and more vague as one became two once more.
Czech Republic and Slovak State.
A fitting end to this pathetic union.
Reich grinned and walked over, aware of the eyes following him as he offered Slovakia a hand, which the Slav accepted. Then, he looked back down at what remained of Czechoslovakia and allowed a languid, satisfied smile to spread over his face.
He could see both the Czech's eyes now, staring at him in abject horror amidst a new flag.
After that, well, it had been even easier. Britain was not willing to help, and nobody else was, either.
As such, Czechoslovakia was now firmly under Reich's control. But he was not a cruel man, the Czech could remain where he was, and once it happened, he wouldn't even see the front. That's how nice Reich could be, after all. That was why he now sat in formerly Czechoslovakia's office in the human world, waiting for the remains of that country to arrive.
Slovakia, he had long since sent to get his own nation in order. After all, there was still that mess with Hungary which needed sorting... Wouldn't do to have Slovakia grow too sure of himself... Just as Reich was getting back to planning, the Czech entered. His shoulders were tense as if a big weight had been added to them and Reich rejoiced at the opportunity to see a nation completely destroyed. "What do you want now." The Czech intoned dully as he dropped into the seat in front of what had before been his own desk.
Reich let a frown overtake his features. "See, that just won't do." He muttered in German. Judging from how tense the Czech got, he recognised the significance too. "You will not speak French to me. I know that you are capable of speaking German." Reich's eyes narrowed. "No more French shall pass your lips, now. Are we clear?" Rising a little from his seat, the height difference seemed to do wonders at coving the already broken Czech.
"Yes." Was all he said, gaze drifting to the floor.
Reich sighed and sat back down.
"Don’t be afraid of me." He began, aiming for cordial. The Czech let out a disbelieving snort which Reich chose to ignore. "You should be afraid of my human, much more. The Führer has some... Plans for you, shall you seem... Uncooperative."
The Czech raised a brow, looking back up at Reich.
"And what exactly... Does that mean." His tone was clipped, but his words were obediently spoken in German.
Reich smiled. "I'm glad you asked!" He answered, satisfied with himself.
"Just follow some rules, and you will be fine." Reich's eyes sharpened as he brought up a finger. "Rule number one: the Führer is in charge; you listen to him." Reich said, not getting a response beyond a numb nod. "Rule number two: you work. If you do a good enough job, your people will be allowed to stay." Reich said, laying down the ground rules as the Czech huffed. "That feels like an ultimatum." And Reich grinned. "Oh, it is." He said with an incline of his head, letting his grin grow softer.
"...right, before I forget..." Reich stood up. It took just a second to locate the item. "You are no longer allowed to leave this place. You'll stay, in here, and you'll work. Make yourself useful. You won't see the front. Be glad for that." Reich said, stepping behind the Czech, which he could tell made him uncomfortable. But he did not stand up like a good little protectorate.
Reich finally revealed the answer. A crimson blindfold to complete the tricolour of the Czech's new flag.
Tying it tight, hiding his eyes from view, making him vulnerable.
"Your new name is Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Welcome to the family."