Chapter Text
It is said that in times of war nothing is stronger, for me, it was love. A small drop of love is the strongest thing in war.
There was a girl in 1915, she lived in China in a town where the news did not reach, her last name, "Zhan", or War, her parents, unaware of the war, went to the German capital, Berlin, it was somewhat difficult to get used to the At first, but after 2 years, she got used to it and married at the age of 19, in 1921. No matter how difficult the economic situation was at that time, she had her first daughter, Cassidy Becker Zhan, a girl with beautiful black eyes. , straight blonde hair, but as pale as her father. She grew up involved in politics, she didn't want to, but it was the only thing that, at family dinners and dinners between them, they talked about that.
At 16 she graduated from school, but. . . Her last 4 years were the worst, when the famous "Third Reich" was incorporated and her education was something she did not like. When she finished school, she started working with her mother in her grandparents' small bakery. There was a boy, Jakob, who went to get bread for her father every day.
“Miss Becker, as pretty as ever.”
“Thank you very much, dear Jakob. .. are you coming for bread for your father?”
“yes, and for a kiss from you”
"haha. ..not today Jak, I have work to do”
“Come on Cass. .. just a kiss”
“And what will I gain in return?”
"my love"
“ha! Go dream somewhere else Jak. .. okay, here is the bread, send greetings to your father and grandmother”
“I will, goodbye darling”
Cassidy wasn't in love with him, but she only tolerate him because he was never racist with her and even less with her mother, Jakob's family wasn't like that either, they had no reason to be.
For 1 year they worked without problems, but, in the middle of 1939, someone knocked on the door.
"Hello good. .. after. ..noon. ..”
“Little girl, is your father home?”
“Who is looking for him?”
“Is he here or not?”
“. .. father!"
3 hours passed, Cassidy was already in her pajamas until she heard the door close and came down immediately.
“Father, what did they tell you?”
"call your mother"
Minutes passed, the three of them were at the table, Mrs. Zhan was crying non-stop, and Cassidy was just there, staring at nothing, until she reacted.
"so. .. will you go to military service?”
“no option”
"What will we do? “How will we be able to maintain everything with just the 2 of us?”
“Mother, that's not the problem. ..”
“Don't worry about anything, you have my parents, and your parents too, Fen.”
"you can. .. I don't know, do something to stay here?”
“I would love to, but I can't, I'm so sorry Fen, forgive me Cassidy”
Cassidy, with an expressionless face got up and went to her room, she didn't cry, but she stayed there, sitting, angry, she would do something, it didn't matter what she, but she would do something.
Her accumulated hatred did not let her think well.
“Good afternoon, beautiful. ..Cassidy? ..Cass?”
“huh? Ah hello. .. Jakob. ..”
"are you ok? "I see you very distracted"
“Yes, don't worry, I'm fine.”
She was complicated with her work. when the war and the overcrowding of the concentration camps began. In 1940 the government came to her house again.
"Good afternoon"
“Here you are again, is your mother?”
“Now will you take my mother? Do yo want to kill her in your damn camps? Just because she is Chinese, right?”
“girl, calm down. .. you have hatred stored up, an aggressive attitude, so a man will never love you. “We wanted to hire your mother for a job, but you are more perfect for that job, you have the necessary attitude and the right thinking.”
Cassidy thought for 5 seconds
"Tell me what it is about?"
“You will work in a concentration camp, you can treat those people however you want, vent to them if you want, what do you think?”
She thought about it, and. ..
“You want the Jews out but you don't catch that one?”
she targeted a Jewish man who was trying to blend in.
“Hired, we will send you the uniform next week and you start in 1 month”
He left and she closed the door, she started laughing, a part of her knew that what she was doing was wrong, VERY wrong, but, her hatred didn't make her think straight, she hated the Germans, but she wanted to stay with her family. and not be deported or worse, end up in a concentration camp. She was not going to let anything or ANYONE take her out of there, not from her country, from her house, and even less from her ideas.
“I will murder them all. ..”
“Mother, do you have a minute?”
“Yes Cassidy, what do you need?”
“A few hours ago there was a knock on the door and now, I'm going to. .. work with the German army. .. I know you don't want to, but I have no other option, they may deport us, or worse, end up in a concentration camp, and I don't want that, especially for you. .. I don't want to disappoint you, but you have worked so hard to get to where we are, I don't want that childhood dream that you have to end, I do this for you, for dad, for my grandparents even, don't worry about me, I will be good"
Her mother began to cry inconsolably, Cassidy just looked at her, without changing her expression of indifference.
"Don't cry, nothing will happen, I will take care of myself, I promise for dad and my grandparents."
When the uniform arrived, Cassidy tried it on. It was a little big in length, but fit well in the chest, waist and hips. Her mother saw her and approached her.
“you look pretty, happy”
"thank you"
“Will you ever come home?”
“2 days on, 2 days off”
“I just want you to take care of yourself, I will talk to your grandparents to help me work at the bakery, I can't support all this alone.”
“I know, but I'm going to take care of you when I'm here, I won't let anyone touch you or hurt you, I promise.”
While a mother and daughter were spending a nice time together in Berlin, 1,200 kilometers away, in Liverpool, a 20-year-old boy was also preparing for the army; He had brown hair with some black strands, his blue eyes as bright as the sea, a mixed-race face, Asian and European. 1.81cm tall
“You look great in that suit, but, I insist, it would look better on your brother.”
“Mom, Michael doesn't want the suit, he goes on his time, I go on mine.”
“Evan, don't be like that. ..ah. ..anyway, you're pretty good, here”
She gave him a necklace with a photo of his entire family.
“Mom, this necklace is yours. .. no, I do not want to"
“Evan, take it, it's for you.”
The young man looked for a while and just hugged her and started crying.
“I'm going to miss you a lot, mom.”
“I know my little bear, I know”
“I will try to write to you every week, I swear”
“Don't worry about that, I will read your letters, I won't answer them because it will be dangerous, but I will read them”
A week after that beautiful conversation between a mother and her son, he went to war with his brother, but they would be in different troops.
“War is not something that excited me, I don't know why you are so excited.”
“It doesn't excite me either, but I feel that I will achieve something good”
"only you? me too?"
“Michael, don't be like that, come on, do this for your wife and your future child.”
“You should also get married and have a child like me, you are already old.”
"ha ha. .. at least my back doesn't hurt like it does you.”
"hey!"
Michael was going to hit Evan until someone interrupted them.
“Okay okay, stop for a bit, don't bother the others”
The general in command of the ship had interrupted them and then left, the brothers began to laugh at that
Evan's childhood had been normal, but he never had the love of his father, William Afton. He lived his entire life with his mother, Malai Sangakaeo, a Thai woman, who like Fen Zhan, she moved to Europe when she was young, but she was only 7 years old and not 15 like Fen, it was much more difficult for her adapt, the people in the area where she lived were more cruel and racist towards her and her family, but William was not, he was just curious, but he was not mean to her, unlike the others who even hit her and almost abuse her.
Evan thought all the way on the ship about how he ended up there, he hummed a song the whole time, a lullaby that his father had taught him.
When they reached land, he separated from his brother with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Just don't die, or not before me, okay Evan?”
“Don't say that Michael, I will take care of myself, for mom and our grandparents who have fought to get to where they are, I will take care of myself.”
They hugged each other again and said goodbye, both with tears in their eyes.
Evan went with his troop, not knowing the hell that awaited them at the end of the road.
“Well, well, yall know this is serious, I going to call you by your last name, you will raise your hand and say "here", let's start. “Afton Sangkaeo”
"here!"
. . .
“Mother, I'm a little nervous about this job.”
“You wanted to work there so they wouldn't kick me out of the house.”
“ah. .. anyway, I hope everything goes well there”
“You will be fine daughter, you promised me and I believe you”
Cassidy smiled, stood up and kissed her on the cheek.
“goodbye mother, I will be back in 2 days, tell Jakob that I am studying”
“Cassidy. ..Jakob doesn't know?”
“and I won't let him find out, it's the best for us. ..”
“And what happens if Jakob finds out?”
“Do you want to bet your life? You know Jakob is loyal, but he will tell her grandmother and then she will tell everyone that "perfect Cassidy" now work mistreating people. ..no one will know that it is to protect my family. ..”
"Don't blame yourself, daughter, it's okay, I won't say anything, I'll just say that you're studying and that's it... take your hat, you'll need it."
She gave the hat to her daughter, she gave her a kiss on the cheek and left hidden at 4:50 AM, walking and singing. ..
"Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein und das heißt: Erika. Heiß von hunderttausend kleinen Bienelein wird umschwärmt Erika denn ihr Herz ist voller Süßigkeit, zarter Duft entströmt dem Blütenkleid. Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein und das heißt: Erika."
Upon arriving at her destination, they psychologically evaluated her, but she lied in the test, making them believe that she was on the German side.
However, they did not interview Evan, they were already close to the German border, they had entered through Belgium bound for Berlin.
Cassidy's commanding officer acted with the same mentality as her, if they get in your way, kill them, and if they're not doing something, they're a worse threat.
Every morning her troop march, at 5 AM around the prisoners, if any of them moved, laughed or even sneezed, they would be killed in front of everyone without any mercy, it didn't matter if it was very cold, they would be killed. On the other hand, the soldiers were sheltered, their only rule was not to laugh, at least not at them; Cassidy was acting pretty bad there, but her mental health was fine.
When she had been there for a month she already got along quite well with some soldiers, but she also had her favorite prisoners, her favorite was Maya, a 17-year-old girl who came there because her parents were Jewish, she was bad, and Cassidy too, she loved treating Maya badly.
“Please miss! Let me out!”
“Look, little girl, I would like to, but you decided to be born, and with that, I can't do anything.”
“Please miss!”
Cassidy kicked her stomach, kicked her head and left laughing at her.
On the other hand, the British troops bothered Evan a lot, even though he was tall and looked strong, he was quite shy, and his own companions took away his weapons with the excuse of
“Evan, you're too much of a faggot to wear this.”
or
“You are so useless that you need toy weapons.”
Evan always prayed at night, to take care of himself, his brother, his family and lastly, his troops.
“Evan, come on, go to sleep.”
“I'm sorry my general. . . do you. ..do you miss anyone?”
“My daughter, I miss her a lot, she is like my sun. When she was born, my life and that of my wife lit up, now, I don't know if I will return home. .. but, as soon as I do, I will go hug her and tell her that I have missed her day and night and I have not been able to stop thinking about her every second that passes. ..”
"that is so cute"
"Yeah. ..is there anyone you miss?”
“To my mother, she raised me, I have always lived with my father and my 2 siblings, but I spent my entire life with her, my father only cared about Michael and Elizabeth”
“But does he love you?”
“Yes, he does it, but he doesn't know how to. . . how to show it.”
“That's good, that your parents love you”
"I know. ..general. . . in one case. ..hypothetical, you die. .. Would you like me to send a message to her daughter?
“You have a very kind heart Evan. .. do you have a girlfriend?"
“uh. ..no sir, no”
“ha. .. it surprises me, they are all here to impress their girlfriends”
“Do you want me to text your daughter or not?”
“I saw that you write every night, could you lend me a pencil and paper?”
“Sure, here you go”
“Thank you, Evan.”
He smiled rather softly and got up, went to get some fresh air. Making the slightest noise, he climbed the tree next to the tents of the commander and his companions, and without him wanting to, he fell asleep on the branch.
“Evan! Are you going down?”
“I told you he was a faggot, that's why he hid up there.”
said one of his companion and 5 others started laughing.
"Hey! I will give yall a lesson in manners if yall continue saying those things about your companion, we are part of those who must win, and I don't want to see yall with this stupidity!
"Well, but when we win, Evan will get the credit, and he's just done faggot things."
“shut up, now”
Evan came down from the tree angry and slapped his partner
“stop now”
He saw that he was with his gun, one stained with pencil marks.
"give me this"
and while the British soldiers were fighting, Cassidy was being trained with weapons.
“Come on, the gun is heavy, but your life is more important than the weight of a gun!”
"Sir, shut up, I'll shoot when I know it's necessary"
"That's no use, the enemy must be killed without thinking"
“And make your entire troop know about it? I will never allow it. .. but always the general first, he is the only one who gives the orders, if you kill the general, the others will not know what to do because they are idiots and need orders to do things, and there you go one by one carefully”
“You have a good reasoning, but I need you to demonstrate how you would do it.”
"Alright"
She closed her eyes and covered them with her left hand. She shot at all the posters, first at the general and then at the others who seemed to have more power than the others, and she shot the weakest one in the heart.. .
her general applauded her
“Well Cassidy, you win, your reasoning is good. Keep training and we will send you in a week or two.”
"Where?"
“to the forest, where the British approach”
“How many will go with me?”
“6 soldiers”
"okay, thank you very much sir"
The General went to his office and Cassidy went to Maya
“Come on girl, you and I know that Maya is not your real name.”
"I'm not going to tell you. . . I don't have to do it."
“girl, I'm the one with the gun, I can kill you right now, but I won't because anyway, you're fun to talk to, even though you're such an idiot sometimes. . .”
There was silence for a few seconds until
“Susie, my name is Susie.”
“Susie. . . Okay, Susie, now that this is between the two of us. . .”
Cassidy pointed to Susie's forehead.
“If you say a damn word that my mother is the Chinese woman, I going to kill you before they kill me, understand?”
Susie just nodded, she's not a masochist, but she knows Cassidy won't kill her until she gets the order. Cassidy kicked her in the head and was laughing
As the week passed, Cassidy pushed herself to the limit practicing.
“Okay, so do we have to kill 7 troops?”
“Yes, and you will have to bring me everyone's hats. Take these guns.”
“Sir, how many should we each kill?”
“Well Cassidy, you have to kill 23, the others, 25.”
“And why 23? I was the one who performed the best in the tests!”
“The other troops are easy, yours is not. .. you will see"
They left and walked for an hour towards the forest. and there, they were left to chance, each one went their own way. Cassidy had an idea, climb a tree, and saw them, but. .. there were 22, not 23
“was zum Teufel?” . .”
“Surely the little boy is gone and that's why we haven't seen him!”
“Where is Evan?”
“I know we always make fun of him, but this is worrying”
“Evan. . . Ich werde diese 22 töten. . .”
and. .. she shot one, everyone remained silent and alert
“EVAN! WHERE ARE-"
she shot another. They all took their weapons. but Cassidy killed them right away. leaving only one of the 22. she came down from the tree
“Sag mir, wo Evan ist!”
"I. .. I dont know how to speak german! Please have mercy on me!”
He fell to the ground to cry. she shot the head of one of those who were already dead
“Tell me where Evan is!”
“I don't know, he disappeared this morning. . .”
she pointed it at the man's head
“idiot, just like them”
and she shot. There was silence for almost a minute, until the dry leaves on the grassy ground began to sound on the right side. Evan arrived, a horrible sight. the bodies, the blood. and he saw her, a small, young, blonde girl. Cassidy looked at him and quickly pointed it in the direction of Evan's forehead. Now Evan saw her better, black eyes that shone from the sun, but she looked sad, she was dirty, her eyes were tired.
“Give me your name soldier!”
“You killed them. ..”
she prepares the gun
"give me your name"
“Evan. .. Afton Sangk-”
“Okay Evan, tell me your last words.”
she smiled softly
"I. . .”
He didn't know what to say. Cassidy pulled the trigger, but something went wrong
"shit!"
She tried 2 times but nothing worked. She got scared when she saw Evan approaching her, she quickly checked the gun, there were no bullets.
“23 bullets to. . . STAY AWAY!"
She pulled out a knife that she came prepared with, but she wouldn't do any harm, but she pointed it at him.
“I won't hurt you, miss.”
"stay away"
She continued to back away, but she tripped over one of the bodies, she screamed desperately, her eyes filled with tears. Evan took his gun and threw it somewhere else.
“I swear I won't do anything to you”
Cassidy was so scared, she didn't know what to do, she started crying.
"don't kill me please. . .”
Evan looked at her, offered his hand.
“I won't do anything, miss, I've said it 3 times, and I swear to God.”
She just looked into Evan's eyes, they stayed like that for almost 2 minutes, neither of them made a move, until she put the knife away and took Evan's hand, he helped her get up. She immediately took a step back.
Her expression was serious, but her eyes were filled with tears. she just looked into Evan's eyes. and his gaze examined Cassidy's face.
"you look. .. you look very tired, miss. Did you sleep well?"
She remained silent until
"you know you can kill me right now... why don't you do it?"
"do I have to?"
"they're going to kill you... then they'll kill me"
"I know, miss"
"you keep calling me like that... you seem like a womanizer!"
"is that how you'll pay someone to let you live?"
She got angry at that, her eyes darkened and she pointed the knife at his chest
"listen to me Mr. Evan... I hope it's clear to you that I'm the one in charge here... not a man from another country"
"you said it, I'm a man"
Evan got angry and slapped her
"never forget that"
"they're going to kill you... if it's not me it'll be someone else... but I swear you're going to learn... damn it!"
"shut up damn woman!"
"I'd rather be a woman than a womanizer!"
"I'm not a womanizer!"
And they fought for 15 minutes, hurting each other mentally, physically, hurting each other so much. Cassidy buried the knife in Evan's leg. He fell to the ground on his knees in front of her
"Did a woman hurt you? What a shame.."
"Damn bitch..."
She kicked Evan in the face
"Don't forget that a woman just beat you in hand to hand combat"
She grabbed Evan by the hair making him look at her
"You'll be very useful to me..."
She threw Evan down and started to heal his leg.
"What are you going to do to me?"
"You'll be my prisoner from now on.. You won't be able to escape because they'll kill you right away"
"What did I do to earn that?"
"You challenged a German woman.. Never forget that, Evan Afton S."