"Tell me Thomas, was it really necessary to take the damn bus?"
He brought his hand to his chin whilst his other hand held onto the grab handles of the bus.
"Not necessarily Nicholas. But it is a great change of pace to be present with the common people you wish to understand and work for, don't you think?"
"That maybe true Mr. Trivola but...do you realize just how many people are staring at us!"
That was a given, really. If you saw three men, all dressed in their stupendously expensive leather trench coats of different colors, with golden badges and military caps and a girl holding onto the hand of the largest looking man there, you would surely gawk like a child.
What was worse for Johann were the frequent gasps by the people who walked by, some would steal glances at them and go away, which was fine, what was worse was when literal groups of people would approach them and shake their hands individually. To which Thomas would gleefully address all of them, asking for each of their names and how they liked to live in Old Magshire.
Such an air was almost suffocating for Johann, Nicholas was mostly lucky that no one was approaching him, but supposedly Nicholas wasn't grateful for that as he looked at Thomas's growing popularity and clicked his tongue.
Soon enough, to his surprise, someone did approach him.
It was a woman of average height, with blonde hair and kind eyes that came to Nicholas and asked someone, "Hello there, are you alright?"
"Hmm? Hey miss! I'm feeling amazing right now! Wanna know why?"
"Is that so? Well that's good? haha..." She finally turned her gaze up and saw an irritated Nicholas and said in haste, "Well, I suppose I'll meet you later than." And the woman ran off.
"Who the hell do these people think they are eh? Never understood em', judgmental bastards."
Johann himself has been approached. Not by a single man, but a group of girls that looked to be around twenty. They asked him to recite some kind of line from a novel, and when he did, utterly confused, all of them became jubilant like little elementary school girls and ran off.
Welp, that was weird. Maybe he'd ask Anastasia about it.
But he shot down the thought as soon as it arose in his mind.
Getting through to the current Anastasia, let alone talking about this to her, would be akin to being comfortable around Thomas. It was impossible unless he removed a functioning part of his brain.
Setting aside his dismays, he wondered about how he could make up for his mistakes with Anastasia.
The real problem, as he found out, lay in the fact that she had to remain oblivious to whatever was being told here in order to be the safest she could.
Johann would never take such a risky step as to go out of his way to tell her information that had been bugging him, which he had been instructed—threatened even—by Thomas himself.
However, he also knew that he would not be hiding it for long.
He had already looked into his options to get the hell out of this country and to the best place he could find, which would probably be where Reina was—somewhere in Kriheira.
And no, this desire wasn't just shaped by his intense paranoia of making sure whether his daughter was truly alright or not, it was also molded by the fact that the airlines were inaccessible.
When he had been out yesterday, before he saw Thomas outside of his home, he had on the search for Campbell, which had bore no fruit.
Then he had headed to an agency he had personal connections which, and they had told him that their services were closing down indefinitely until further notice. He saw the faces of the employees, which was somehow not in despair, because they had been promised jobs elsewhere in the time the airlines were shut.
This meant he couldn't fly to a different safer continent much much farther away, and his only choice was the country off shore to Marlen, yet the closest to it, connected through one of the only overseas railroad system.
He had considered ships and cruises, but the amount of ships being booked at such a rapid rate for transportation of cargo, even if they were meant for vacational rides was both suspicious and utterly unbelievable.
His luck was running out and he needed to make quick use of all that he had left.
As the group moved through the railway station and past the ticket counter without buying any, Johann held a new conviction,
He would buy Anastasia as many Iris, as many cornflowers, blue lilies and gentians he could possibly find and tie them up in the most beautiful blue bouquet a man could buy. He would apologize to Ethan for lashing out at him and get him some kind of gift as well. Then he would sit them down and tell them everything he could tell them, and get out of this place as fast as he could.
His reverie though was broken very abruptly as Thomas looked around him and then approached one of the counters and whispered something to them.
The woman in charge, was intrigued, he took her radio transmitter and said something. Soon after he heard marches.
Every man, woman, child, everyone except the four of them stepped back from the train station.
And marched with a thousand steps, men clad in dark red uniforms with one single badge on their chests and they stopped before Thomas and saluted with all their energy.
Then there was the slow approach of a train. One none of them had ever seen in their lives. All the men that had marched, one by one boarded it and when there was not a single person left except a shocked Johann and awe struck Nicholas and Molly, he gestured for them to follow him.
And it came just as quickly as Thomas's words, "Welcome to Mass operation Exodus."
that it would be hell trying to escape from his grasp.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
The golden sunlight shone intermittently on their impatient faces, some wincing from the mystery of what was to come, while the other two were anticipating something grand.
They sat in one of the train's only private roomette, with its creme colored seats and the dark blue curtains to hide from the light coming through the square windows on their left—Johann and Molly's left and Nicholas and Thomas's right—staring at one another, not saying a word.
Until,
"So, ya ass is planning to find every single damn Aaergalian ya could, all the way from the border at Gostul to Rakensas in the north and Fur Cosh in the south? Even if I don' snap ya fuckin head off by how outrageous this is, how are ya even plannin to do this?"
"Oh Nicholas! Do not be so alarmed! I am aware of what I plan to do, and you are foolish to think that this would be the only train that has been set on this goal."
"What?" came out the question from Johann's lips.
"Yes Mr. Everett. The soldiers will only be scarcely occupying the seats! They are in reality meant for all the poor. The poor, poor people of Aaergale that ended up in our country! God knows which of them are here to kill us and which are here to be start a new life, just like someone else we know very well." He didn't even bother to look at Johann when saying this.
"Hey, hey hey! What the hell!? Do ya think that everyone? All of those fuckin people are terrorist!? Are ya fuckin stupid?"
"Nico...why are you yelling?" She frowned.
"No! I-I'm fine Molly! Seriously I'm fine just, big brother over here has to have some dang interestin' talks with someone whose been doin' some bad bad stuff behind our backs."
"Behind your backs? You surely assume the worst Nicholas. If anything I have been as prepared as a man can be. I have the perms of all the department heads to carry out this operation."
"And that too under what circumstances?" Johann voiced up, "You think all of them will have those burnmarks? That all of them are here to kill us?"
He found the idea of talking about these things to him very threatening, yet he had to, he couldn't show Thomas that he felt fearful of him, because that is exactly what Thomas wants.
"No. And that is the problem Mr. Everett. The burn marks being related to them being terrorists is a very obvious set up that people still believe to this day. If you were to have terrorists infiltrate another country, why shall you make it obvious that they are hostile by having burn marks on their skin? I questioned this when I neutralized Leofric as well."
Ahh. That name struck a cord. How brutally Thomas had gunned him down, the almost euphoric look on his face. Now using such soft words like, 'neutralized' instead of 'murder'. The agony Johann felt, he thought, wasn't justified. After all Leofric himself has been a spy.
"Those 'burnmarks' which we call so brazenly, weren't a sign of their loyalty to Aaergale. It was a symbol of their scorn to it."
What?
"They make a small group of people, a closed communities of what they label as the lower caste. They are continuously exploited and their women are raped on a frequent basis only to produce children to strap bombs to. It is utterly disgusting." Thomas narrowed his eyes and sheer was burning through him.
"I have on hell of a hard time believin' that comin from the most notorious Aaergalian hater in the history of mankind."
"In history?" He voiced up, "You clearly have not been paying focus in your history lessons Nicholas, for in, 'history' there are many examples of people far more radical and braver than I am. Have you heard the legend of Rosafiere? A lone woman who waged war against the Aaergalians and started this entire conflict because they sought to seize our land and put our people to slavery. This occurred a hundred years ago in 1876."
Nicholas pretended to nod then gave a stifling yawn.
Yawning really is contagious, Johann thought as Molly followed behind Nicholas and gave a more exasperated yawn.
Soon enough the environment between the two seated men returned to its natural course of indefinite quarrels. Thomas reasoning with Nicholas and giving him not so subtle scorn all the while Nicholas was proudly theorizing with certainty how his mother was a faggot.
It was in a way comforting yet also disturbing to think that these two people were some of the most powerful in the entire country. While the man on the right was a malfunction of God's workplace and surely a concoction of the devil, it was kind of reassuring that even people so engrossed in their work are able to be relatable like Nicholas was to a certain degree. Only slight though. Only slightly...
Molly's legs was swinging from the seat and Johann sat with his arms crossed, unable to focus on the redundant proceedings before him, then Molly tugged at his shoulder and offered him gum.
He smiled and took a piece and shot into his mouth, only for her to say, "It's good right? right? I found it under the seat!"
He spat out the gum with explosive intensity and earned a, "Watch it!" from Nicholas who instantly turned back to argue about racial science with Thomas.
"Hehe! Got you! Was just joking, I bought it here with me. Want more?" She was smirking at him.
He choked, "Yeah no. I'm fine you can eat as much as you'd like."
After she had gulped down a piece of gum and Johann had rushed to stop her and failed, had she calmed down and sat looking outside the window completely awestruck.
"Mister."
"Hm?"
"Are you scared?"
She wasn't looking at him yet. Her words were full of wonder and curiosity that no person could resist answering.
"I..am. But I can't show that can I?" He gave a pained laugh.
"I'm scared too you know? So let's give it our best yeah?" She held out her fist and Johann agreed, bumping his fist against.
"Why do you this though, mister?"
"Why? That's a good question."
"Yeah Yeah! I heard that this question made many politicians stutter and then get rushed out of the country!"
He winced slightly at the revelation.
If there was a true reason for doing what he was doing, then he wouldn't say it and he would instead tell that the country in which they spend their lives is being defended by their forces. He could boast about how much he cared for his country like Thomas did, however he would even more of a phony than he already is if he ever did such a thing.
Whenever he stepped foot into the office he had never thought of saving another family. Never thought of the millions whose livelihood depends on the decisions he made.
The only thing that came into his mind was that same house under the azure sky with his sulking wife in a summer dress and his two children fulfilled and happy in their lives.
So he knew that there was only one way to reply to the girl's question that came from the heart.
"I want to give my family everything." He said and she smiled heartily.
"Really, really? How much is everything?"
"Everything means everything."
She tilted her head then her eyes lit up as if she just realized the secrets of the cosmos.
"Hehe! You really love your family mister."
To that he relaxed and let the smile he'd been holding back slowly form on his face, "Is that so?"
She was back to swinging her legs like an innocent child, which at such glance you could never tell the difference. She was short, with black hair and wonderous eyes. She appeared to be a girl of many dreams and lives, one that wanted to have everything in their hands.
Alas, God had left with nothing.
"Do you love your family, Molly?"
"Hmm. Don'know."
"Why is that?"
"Nico says that they killed themselves."
He visibly recoiled. Not just at her words but how she had said it like it was an everyday inconvenience.
Johann saw.
She didn't understand the magnitude of her own words.
"I-"
No.
He can't.
"I'm sorry." His head fell and his chin collided with his upper chest.
"Sorry? Hey! Why? Why? Everytime I say this, everyone always says, 'sorry' looking like that! Is it that bad? Nico tells me it's not a big deal."
"If that is so then you have to trust him right? Nico's your...What is Nicholas to you?"
She thought for a while again then replied confidently, "Nico is Nico!"
"Yeah." He nodded intensely trying to match her energy and he succeeded. She laughed and gave him a comically exaggerated thumbs up.
Johann saw her face finally settle down as she shifted to the window.
Wonder and awe in her eyes, innocence in her mind.
....And an emotionless Thomas who's eyes stared down at her.
"I suppose it is officially time to, 'begin'." He was the first to step out and he was being followed closely behind by Molly.
Nicholas found this distasteful. He closed the distance and said something to Molly, and his hand slid in hers and handed her something Johann couldn't make out.
The green grasslands stretched before them in patches alongside rice fields that were in their final stages of ripening with their brown husks swinging freely in the cold August wind.
There was a single house atop a low hill to which they ventured without stopping and when they arrived Thomas was the one giddy and excited who knocked on the dark brown door of the place.
It was not much larger than a shed. It was patchwork of as many wooden planks as the constructor, if there even was one, could buy. The walls were mostly damp and soft enough to dig through with a finger if your finger could sustain the splinters of a lifetime.
A sheep of a man opened the door, below average height and his brown eyes fell upon the three men and dropped to notice Molly. He was flabbergasted and couldn't move for seconds until Nicholas stepped forward, sneering, and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Alrigh' here's the thin'. This lunatic is gonna go through ya house and then say some wild shit to you." He pointed towards Thomas, "And you're gonna let him then deny all of this damned questions, that's all."
The man was staring at Nicholas utterly confused and bewildered. He hadn't even shook his head.
Nicholas repeated his words more slowly but there was no effect.
"Let me, Nicholas."
Thomas approached him and coughed lightly into his fist and adjusted his neck before speaking in near perfect Aaergalian Dialect.
Johann's eyes widened. His teeth clenched and his eyes twitched. He had never felt more appalled in his life. To think that the only saving grace of the Aaergalian people—their own language— had also been snatched from them, he wondered gravely about how brutally Thomas would torture this man.
The man started to nod. His face lit up on hearing Thomas's cajoling. He let them inside the house.
It was unbearable. A small kitchen outside the main house with wood sprawled on the ground. A singular table inside the house amidst the rotting mess of damp wood and hanging lines of cloth.
Johann buried his nose in his sleeve
Thomas had looked around and smiled innocently, Nicholas on the other hand was rueful.
Not disgusted or pitying the man but he looked in anguish. He felt something. Something that he never wanted to feel, again, possibly.
His fingers curled to a fist and he smashed it on his temple and turned back to face the two of them.
"My dialect's gotten rough. So I swear Thomas if ya try anythin I'll bash ya head to a wall."
"Oh Nicholas. Did it bring up some bad memories? If you're paranoid then you are fully free to reach out for the only other Aarengale speaker in this room except for us two."
Nicholas's head snapped to Johann.
"Yeah I can speak it, but if Mr. Trivola is....No. You're right. I'll help you."
In the end it was better to confirm every word the man spoke himself.
All three of them were equipped with guns which always had Johann on the edge. His mind always encroached on him by digging up the same memory of Leofric's corpse, that the oblivious man who was rushing from the kitchen then back to the table in an instant would meet the same fate.
And Johann would have to watch again.
He wondered a way to shield the man, if Johann decided it best that he was better not suited for this world then it was decided.
His will was above all else here.
The only one that maybe able to stop him was Nicholas but even he, Johann thought, would not be enough.
Thomas seated himself on the square wooden table and avoid the white embroidered table cloth that been sewed back together at least 3 times.
He did not sit idly, he was squirmish even, Johann had never seen him be like this.
He was avoiding sitting too comfortably, touching the table or even putting his feet completely on the ground.
The environment was suffocating him.
Should he feel a tinge of happiness over how uneasy he felt, or horrified that he considered the people of Johann's blood the very bane of this world. Insects to be avoided and swatted away.
Just kill him quickly at least.
He slapped himself on the temple after thinking that.
"Oye! We don' need you zonin out! C'mon help us here."
Molly sat on a different side of the table, gleefully like the oblivious child she was.
"Ahh! Well, I may not be able to say your name so must I call you 'Galloway' instead?" The man agreed, "Wonderful! Galloway it is. Do not fret anymore I simply wish to ask of you, do you have a family?"
"Yessir."
"Most of us do as well." He said playfully and both of them smiled.
"My wife and daughters are out in the forest getting some wood for the outhouse. The storms are about to come and they are really powerful. One of my daughters almost got pulled away one time."
"Although I am unaware whether that story is a tale that has now become dinnertime comedy or a grim reminder to never underestimate nature's forces, I ask of you to tell it to me another time. For now, do you.....have.." He raised in index finger in front of his face and his brows furrowed, "...Any documentation that tells us that you are a citizen of this country? Perhaps any documents of your parents or grandparents even?"
"Oh..um." The visible shift in his demeanor was painful knowing what was to come.
Nicholas readied himself and stood behind Thomas. He closed his eyes slowly nodded to the man reassuring him in his own way, though it was unclear whether it worked or he just looked like one of Thomas's goons ready to beat him to a pulp and take his family away.
"We won't do anything to do." Johann said.
"No.." He said, guilty of something.
"I see. Well, there is no need for you to be so distressed we are simply here to help you be an authentic family of our country and accept you."
"Mister over here was also from your same country!"
"Molly ya know what they are sayin'?"
"Hmm? Yeah!"
Johann looked at Molly questioningly. All the while Thomas applauded her,
"I'm thirsty! Do you have anything? Please! Just one glass! Or even a cup will do!"
The man blinked at her repeatedly then turned to Thomas as if asking for permission, then he did get it, he got up and made his way to the kitchen, filled two cup of water from the earthen pot and lay it before them.
He gave one to Molly who accepted it instantly and slid one of the cups towards Thomas who stared at it then pushed it away to the centre of the table.
"This man over here only drinks milk ya know. Grown ass fuckin child."
"Fuckin! Fuckin!"
"Shit."
"Ha! You really have a keen eye Nicholas! And while yes I do enjoy myself with a glass or two occasionally, it is simply too, 'distasteful' to intrude on someone during such an important meeting. Wouldn't you agree?"
Johann was still wondering how he would approach Thomas after he pulled out his gun and aimed it to his head. Nicholas being directly behind him was somewhat relieving he thought.
"Now. What I mean to do is. For your entire family to be authorized and acknowledged by our country."
"What would that do for us?" He asked with his arms flat on the table.
"Well, you see how your outhouse has caused you great trouble and your entire house is falling apart? We could aide you. We could provide you with a small passive income on the monthly as well and get you food and water. Isn't that just amazing?"
"Why...."
"Go on. I am here to address your worries am I not?"
"Why would you help us....why should we...believe you." It was fragile defensiveness. He almost looked on the verge of tears.
Thomas's voice lowered, his posture relaxed and he nudged closer to the table.
"We will. You see the entire community here? We are going to each house and helping them." He took his hand and clutched it into a fist, "You are the first, you can come with us each time and see as we talk to all of your neighbors and get them on their feet. If you are not sure." He dug into his breast pocket and retrieved a piece of paper, "Here is a cheque, the money will sustain you for a week. Take it as a symbol of trust. If you do not believe us, then we shall simply wait and come again next week to see if you've changed your mind. If not, then we must take our leaves."
He signed the check with swift precision and handed it to him, "Or do you not wish to delay it any further?"
"No...Not now...my family is out, I need to talk to them."
"Very well. Then we must come again next week, one last thing."
The man raised his eyes to meet Thomas's searching for any hint of deception.
"Would you raise the sleeve of your arm?"
The man appeared confused then there was instant flush of soemthing in his eyes.
Was it confusion?
No.
He was too scared for that.
Was it fear?
No. It couldn't be just that.
It was dread.
Pure dread.
Thomas came forward and raised the man's sleeve and in the next instant, even Johann couldn't register what happened when Nicholas suddenly reached for something and Molly rushed at him with immense speed and went for his holster, snatching the gun and pointing it towards Thomas's skull.