𝚆𝙰𝙸𝙳𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙽𝚂 𝙷𝙴𝙸𝙻 ,, magnus nielsen

chapter two| sweet blasphemy

Chapter Two

sweet blasphemy

Magnus and I have been inseparable for years. When we turned thirteen, like any responsible mother, Katharina tried to stop us from going up to his room together with the door closed or sharing the same bed. We were resourceful kids and always found a way around the rules. Falling asleep next to each other provided a sense of comfort. I can't remember when it happened, but suddenly I wished I wasn't just sharing a bed with Magnus. I wanted his arms wrapped around me and my head in the crook of his neck while he whispered sweet nothings in my ear while I fell asleep. Suddenly I didn't just want to sleep next to him, I wanted to sleep with him. I wanted to hold his had as we walked places. I wanted to be able to kiss him.

And then he met Franziska Doppler. And let's be clear: I was friends with Franziska far before she ever even knew who Magnus was. To her, he was just the principal's son.

I'll never forget the time we skipped town for three days to see Poison in Berlin. My mother was furious. After Uncle Z went missing, both my parents were on edge about letting me go places, especially out of town. I figured a concert in Berlin was pretty low on the list of places I was allowed to go. Magnus and I had planed it all out. Planning took six months. The trip in total cost all the money we had: a whopping $250, but it was way worth it. We biked to the caves under the pretense of going to school and ditched our bikes there. We had hidden our bags inside the cave a few nights before. After we got everything we needed, we caught a train to Berlin. When I got a call from my dad saying that Katharina was wondering where we were, he was furious. Neither of us cared. We had front row Poison tickets, for God's sake- this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The hotel room only had one bed. Neither of us could sleep. I don't know if it was because I was suddenly nervous about lying next to him, or if we were excited for the concert or what, but there was so much tension that I ended up bailing and wandering around the city for the night. Magnus had the same idea, because when I got back, the room was empty. I ended up falling asleep on the double bed and he slept in the bathtub. He claimed it was because he didn't want to wake me, but I always wondered if there was more to it than that.

I was standing in the middle of my room, having just come back from teaching one of the younger kids basic scales on the electric guitar. My guitar was in my hands, fingers flying over the frets as I played Sweet Blasphemy by Black Veil Brides. My laptop was open on my desk, Heidi Vogel playing drums on the other side.

Heidi was one of the few people who ever moved to Winden. Her mother had lived in the town growing up before she took a gap year in Italy. When she came back, she got an apartment in Frankfurt and went to university for biomedical engineering. Now she works at the power plant. Heidi was coincidentally also dating Bartosz Tidemann. Not going to lie, it was a little gross that anybody could see him like that, but again, I've spent most of my life around the kids here.

The song finished and Heidi slammed one of her drumsticks onto the pad so hard that it flew out of her grasp and hit her in the eye. She cursed so loudly I'm sure they could have heard it in the Ukraine.

"Holy crap, H! Are you okay?" I laughed, leading into the camera to try and get abetter look of my friend on the other side of the screen

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine. Nothing I haven't dealt with before." The blonde chuckled. "Hey, I'm sorry I can't go to the vigil tonight. I can't cancel on my grandparents."

"Heidi don't worry. Ulrich and Magnus will be there, and I've survived every year so far."

"Magnus will be there?" She raised her eyebrows, not oblivious to my little crush

"H, it's a vigil, not a fricking kegger at the lake." The last kegger at the lake had ended in hooking up with Killian Obendorf, just for him to never talk to me again.

"You should tell him how you feel before he gets with Franziska. Once he does that, it's game over."

"What if he doesn't even feel the same?"

"Annaliese! It's time to go to the caves!" My mom shouted up the stairs.

"Coming, mom!" I shouted back, before quickly saying goodbye to Heidi.

"Just remember what I said about Magnus."

"Goodbye, Heidi."

                                                                                                        ___

I have a love/hate relationship with the Winden caves. On one hand, I have a lot of good memories from summers spent climbing trees in the woods and hiding in the caves to get high with Magnus. On the other hand, the caves took away Uncle Zacharias. Every year on the day he went missing we went down to the caves and lit candles. Then we just stood there in silence. I hated it.

I lit a candle that smelt like pine needles. The same way the inside of his 1960s pickup truck usually smelt. Everything I knew about photography I learned from Uncle Z. I remember being seven years old and standing in this very spot, a camera that probably cost way more than the braces I needed in seventh grade to ninth in my hands, Zacharias kneeling beside me and explaining what each of the buttons did.

I stepped back to stand next to my mom, wiping the tears forming under the cold metal of my glasses frames, then burying my hands deep inside the pockets of my green leather jacket.

Zacharias took me tomy first concert. Van Halen. I was eleven. My dad was there as well, as was Magnus.It was a weekend trip. Our seats weren't the greatest, but the band was back

together with David Lee Roth to celebrate the anniversary of 1984, so it's not like I cared. I still have that shirt.

"I know you guys miss him." Mom said. She was never close with Zacharias, but Dad had a great relationship with his brother.

My dad was struggling to keep it together. This was difficult or him, I know.

"Dad, come here." I said softly, wrapping my arms around him.

"Did someone call the cavalry?" A voice called form behind us

I turned around slowly. Ulrich Nielsen was behind us, candles and flowers in his hands. I laughed slowly to myself before rushing forward and wrapping Magnus in a suffocating hug.

"Thanks for being here." I whispered

"Don't mention it. You're my best friend, Anna. Whenever you need me, I'll be there." He said, resting his chin on top of my head

There was that word again. Friend. Was that all I'd ever be?

"Thanks for coming, Ulrich." My Dad said, shaking hands with the older man. They were the same age, but Ulrich hadn't aged as well as my father.

"Don't worry about it, Beck. Zacharias was important to us too."

That was another thing about Uncle Z. He never went by Zach. It was always Zacharias.

"You doing okay?" Magnus asked quietly, standing beside me with his hand in the small of my back. Stop sending me mixed signals, buddy.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Want to eat cookie dough and watch Criminal Minds until we fall asleep?"

"Have I ever said no before?"

"Fair point." I rested my head on Magnus' shoulder, staring at the spread of candles in front of us, one question still unanswered.

Where was Zacharias Kruspe?

A/N- Okay i know these chapters have been short but it will get better, I swear