The Art of Love (WW2 GerIta)

His Broken General

   

    "Love!"

    Ludwig jumped at the word and moved his hand, looking up at him as Feliciano panted.

   "Wha-"

   "Love! Love was the last word in the book!" Feliciano almost shouted in conclusion. "It was used to describe Alexander and Hephaestion's relationship. They weren't just...friends."

    Ludwig sighed, turning his head away from him. "Why did I ever give that book to you?"

    Feliciano was confused. He sat down next to the lantern and looked down at Ludwig. "What do you mean?"

   "Love." He repeated the word. "Feliciano, please go home. I'm so sorry. I should have never gave you that book and fill your head with stupid things. Gilbert was right; I should have burned that book a while ago."

    "No!" He immediately rejected. "It won't be burned!"

    Ludwig sat up, "Really? What the hell are you going to do about it? That book talks about homosexuals! It's just a book of poems about homosexuals!"

   "Ludwig! Stop! No it's not!"

   "Why are you defending it so much? Are you gay?"

   Feliciano sat up and yelled back at him, "Just shut up! You have asked me that before and that didn't end well, did it?" Tears of frustration rolls in his eyes. "It doesn't matter who anyone loves. If I started loving a man, would if effect a family living in Berlin peacefully? Would it affect counties? Would it affect the world? No! It wouldn't! So..." He took a moment as he settled down, lowering his head as hot tears fell down his face.

    "Yes. Yes, I am homosexual." He stopped Ludwig before he could speak. His voice was cracking as he sobbed softy. "There, I answered your question. Now, how are you going to kill me so I know how to not make it difficult? Shoot me? Hang me? Burn me? Torture me? Send me to a camp?"

    Ludwig watched Feliciano break into tears as he sobbed and cried. "Whatever you're going to do just do it! Please! Lovino would love for me to be gone but tell him I have always loved him and I'll get to see him in heaven! Please tell Antonio that I just wanted to hear him play one last song on his guitar for me before I die but I'll listen to him from heaven! Tell Grandpa that even though I'm a homosexual, I'll still be in heaven! I'll be in heaven and I'll see Mama and we'll live peacefully like Grandpa had promised."

    More tears fell down his face. "Please tell everyone in your home that I'm sorry. They let a disgrace live in their home. Though, Elise was always so nice and kind. Elizabeta is so beautiful and smart and strong. Vash is too strong and he needs to learn to make friends. Roderich is no soldier but his hands that shoot guns can create beautiful things. Gilbert is no soldier, either. He is someone who has dreams and will live up to them if he tries." His voice cracked, "A-and you... Ludwig, I'm a terrible person. You are so strong and perfect. That book...taught me that I can love whoever I want. A-and..."

    He looked up at Ludwig, smiling with tears running down his face. "I choose to love you."

   Ludwig's face was hurt. His lips were slightly parted and his face looked like he had just kicked a puppy. Hard. Mercilessly. Ludwig's ocean eyes were turning into a river. Tears fell from his face as he sobbed to Feliciano's surprise. He pulled Feliciano into a tight embrace and cried and cried.

    "Please don't ever say that!" Feliciano had done something to him.

    "Please! You're not going to die! I won't ever kill you!" Feliciano had made him cry.

    "You're not a disgrace! You're not terrible! You're not going to hell!" Feliciano had made him plead.

    "Lovino loves you! You'll hear Antonio play that song! Everyone cares for you Feliciano! No matter what!" Feliciano broke him.

   "No one cares if your homosexual! We all love you the same! You're a piece of art! You're the only light in this terrible world!" Feliciano shattered him.

    "Please... you're everything to everyone. You're everything to the world..." Feliciano killed the soldier and was creating a new man from the start. "You're everything to me..."

   Feliciano froze as he held him back softly.

   "You're my Alexander..."

   Feliciano jumped and calmed. No. No he wasn't. "I'm not... I'm not great. I'm not brave. I'm not strong. I'm not Alexander. I'm Hephaestion. I have always told myself I was him! Because I am!"

   Ludwig stopped for a moment. "When I said that 'they remind me of us' it really stuck with you?"

   Feliciano nodded. Ludwig sat in front of him, letting him go. "Feliciano, you have always been Alexander. You're brave. It takes a lot of courage to take a gun and point it at another man just to save me. You're strong. You have the strength to say to me directly that you love me. You didn't know what I would do. I could have shot you, I could have hit you. But I didn't. You took a risk and I'm proud of you. You're Alexander the Great. You've conquered Italy and now you've conquered Germany. Every part of land you touch, you own. And when time comes, you'll own the Heavens."

    Feliciano was wiping his tears and was smiling but only more tears fell.

   Ludwig smiled and held Feliciano's cheeks, wiping the tears from them. "Feliciano Vargas. You are Alexander the Great. Handsome, smart, strong, brave. And if you let me, I will be more than honored to be your Hephaestion."

    Feliciano sat there for a moment before lifting his eyes and looking back at Ludwig's eyes. "If you are going to be my Hephaestion, you must keep my secrets. Never repeat the words I speak to you. Never leave me for someone who will treat you terribly. Never leave me at all."

    "I will never. Alexander and Hephaestion are great friends, until death."

       "May we be lovers?" He asked with the lantern illuminating them. Ludwig placed their lips together softly.

    "Yes, we may. Until death do us part."
 
    Feliciano smiled and took a breath. He put their foreheads together as he softly spoke the last sentence of his book, "'And until the death of Hephaestion, Alexander's a year later, their relationship remained with them that bloomed into their art of love.'"

     The end.