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(Y/N) Pov:

You have never thought you would have a sudden feeling of being old, when you haven't even reached age 30 yet. Wow, only this sentence made you feel ten times older than you already were.

Anyway, here you were, thinking to yourself and questioning your whole life yet again while looking at an interaction between Johann and a girl you've met only once (and years ago) but that you still felt like an overprotective dad over
her while watching their affectionate greetings. Or maybe it was just your single ass whose heart was crying. We'll never know.

Therefore, Hannah (her name that you just found out today) is Christoph's only daughter and aged pretty well since last time you saw her (where she was just uhm...six or seven years old? Ugh, you suck at guessing ages.) She was now about 20, a pretty and joyful girl, but still serious and mature.

A contrast to Johann, that you noticed, was like a kid who just ate too much candies and caffeine combined. He was clinging to Hannah like if his life would end immediately if he let go, tears dramatically flowing out his eyes like a funny scene out of an anime.

'Such a wonderful sight...' You thought and sighed internally. The young couple was glimmering while the parents were happily chatting together. The place was green, flowers colourful with low walls in stone fencing in it all. They all wore pretty clothes, a happy and comfortable atmosphere was going on.

... And here you were. You looked like you just came from living hell (which wasn't completely wrong), your face was pale, your hair messy and you swear there was still some straw in your hair. Your clothes were torn up, with bits of bandages and bloody band-aids everywhere on your skin. In this situation, you were the definition of 'contrast'.

-"Wow. Right now, (Y/N), you look more traumatized than me out of the Great War. And it was quite a thing back then." The voice of Berthold made you tilt your head towards him, he had approached you, leaving Caroline and Flora (Hannah's mom) talking together.

"I guess so... Sorry to break the mood." You sighed, frowning slightly. You tried to pick a sprig of straw from your hair but he was faster and tucked it out himself, his touch was comforting. A reminder that he was still there, from the beginning, even if everyone else was gone.

-"Don't worry about it, you don't break anything. The only thing that bothers me is that you're looking so tired and sad. I know you've been through a lot since last time we saw each other, but I'm completely unaware of what exactly." Berthold told you, furrowing his eyebrows a little while he takes out the rest of the straw. You pursued your lips, looking down. You didn't know what to say.

-"I've met more countryhumans. And it just resulted in more hell and suffering." You said, and he winced slightly.

-"Ugh, those things aren't fun to be with. And I'm lucky to have seen only one." Berthold told you and rolled his eyes, shivering like if he got reminded of the most disgusting thing ever. What he said made you look at him in confusion.

-"You've met one? Who?" You wondered in confusion. Berthold glanced at the others from the corner of his eye, seeing they were still in their happy chatting, he looked back at you.

-"Who is ruling our country right now?" He asked, without actually expecting an answer. You you widened your eyes, you didn't expect Berthold to have met him nor talked to him.

-"You met Third Reich?! When, why?!" You exclaimed, a creeping feeling in your chest. You feared the answer. Berthold wasn't high in society, it was clear he hated the Third Reich and wanted to do nothing with it, so why would he 'meet' Third Reich? Berthold just shrugged.

-"Soon after he started to lead the country, actually. It was early in the day, I didn't live here with Caroline yet. I heard a knock on my door and to my utter shock, it was Third Reich. There wasn't any guard, anyone with him, only him. He was quite on edge, and asked me plenty of questions. This day made me realise how much I despised Third Reich and at the same time how much he scared me."

Berthold explained, tapping on the low wall he was leaning on, looking at the street. You blinked. Once, twice. You observed Berthold. He was avoiding your gaze, acting like it wasn't important. You then looked at the other four next to you, you were taking everything you had in to not jump at Berthold and shook out the answers from him.

-"Berthold. What. Questions. Did he ask?" You spoke in a sharp tone, a fake but tensed smile on your lips. The literal Third Reich, who acted as a complete yandere and psychopath for you when he was still just a kid, asking one of your closest friends questions once he ruled the country? Hm... No need for a genius to know what the general topic of the questions were. And it certainly wasn't about Berthold's love life.

-"Listen (Y/N), it was years ago, and he asked me about hundreds of them, I can't recall each one of them." Berthold said, looking back at you. 'Well excuse me if I'm worried for my life'. You bit your lip and sighed out. You know what? You're too tired for this. You'll just go with the fact he knows everything about you, it'll be simpler.

-Agh....I hate my life... The more I live the more I realise I become emo." You mumbled, and slapped your cheek slightly, Which made Berthold look at you in surprise, before he realised it was you who did it to yourself, to which he just responded by a confused gaze, that you just ignored as you walked back towards Caroline and the others.

You noticed the four were talking together, and when you stepped closer, you realised they were kind of debating something.

-"What's happening?" You asked while you entered their circle, you winced as you heard how monotonous and tired your voice sounded. Hannah turned towards you, slightly surprised.

-"Oh, miss/mister (Y/N)! We were just thinking about some-" The young girl cut herself, frowning slightly as she realised her own words. You just got more confused at the situation. Soon Caroline explained it to you, she seemed slightly embarrassed.

-"a-ah, (Y/N), we were talking about you! We wondered well...uhm..." She bit her lip, looking away, looking embarrassed and nervous from asking. You noticed Berthold walked back towards you all, looking as confused as you.

-"Well, (Y/N), it's kinda embarrassing since we've known eachother for so long and yet..." Caroline mumbled, scratching her neck and looking away before she asked you.

-"But uhm...what.. what gender are you?" She suddenly asked, making you blink in surprise, not expecting this question, but at the same time you were a bit bothered. 'Can you stop bringing me more topics for my existential crisis?!' You thought, frowning internally. Berthold looked also surprised at this question but soon became a little annoyed.

-"What do you mean, what gender (Y/N) is!? It's clear (Y/N) is a gorgeous-" He paused, blinking and glancing at you who just had a boring look on your face. Berthold looked like he just got hit on the head by an entire car, he looked at you like if you were an alien.

-"(Y/N) is a..." He stopped again, the poor guy just realised he didn't know your gender, despite being friends with you for years.

-"But... Why would I not know right now, when any other time I know perfectly you're a...man? Or woman?" Berthold mumbled, cursing slightly at himself while staring intensely at you. Actually, everyone here was staring at you the same way. You, on the other hand, just looked blank. You knew the answer to this, it's not like anything could surprise you anymore. But it was surely bothering them.

Since, it's not like your looks may be confusing on guessing what gender you were. No, you respected quite the 'norms' of your gender, it's just you were well... Supposed to be both. Since you're just words, it's weird to interpret, sure, it's hard to imagine it or replicating it in the head. To give a little help, if you want to have a clear visual of the situation, as an omniscient r£@∆£r, you can try to picture it like if you ((Y/N)) were constantly glitching from 'male' (Y/N) and the 'female' counterpart. Of course, the characters in the story only see one of the two (Y/N)'s, depending on your personal preference... Usually. Now that the five are thinking about the matter, their sight gets quite blurry around you... They're now confused on what you really are.

-"My gender? Oh, well... I don't know." You said, Shrugging, they blinked. It didn't help them.

-"You don't know? You don't know what's inside your pants?" Berthold asked before being bonked by his wife.

-"Mind your manners, we're still in the presence of guests!" Caroline grounded, frowning while he just rubbed the hit part, whispering 'ouch'. Johann seemed embarrassed and looked away from Hannah, feeling embarrassed by his parents' behaviour, but she just giggled at it. You almost slipped a smile. Almost.

-"Uhm...even though it has been said in a rather... inappropriate way... We're still a bit confused too by your comment. How do you not know?" Flora took over, still in a quiet voice, she looked at you with a small smile, confused but also didn't want to upset you by asking too much. You looked at her and your face softened a bit, gosh, she just was a reminder of Christoph to you.

-"I just don't know. Pick whatever gender you prefer, it won't change my life too much... normally." You said, putting your hands in your pockets, shrugging. There was silence for a moment, as everyone's minds just thought about what you just said. They didn't really understand, but decided to let go of the matter.

-"uhm... alright..." Caroline mumbled, looking away. For some reason, the grass just looked extremely interesting. After his moment of silence and consideration, Berthold just grinned and leaned his arm on Caroline's shoulder.

-"Anyway! In any gender, (Y/N), you're still hot!" He exclaimed, grinning, before almost falling when Caroline suddenly walked away, his support now gone. The wife glared at the stumbling husband for a moment, not really liking him say something like that to someone else. She looked at you for a moment, before she sighed and looked away, whispering to herself with an embarrassed face that he wasn't completely wrong.

-"Uhm... And If we switched topic?" Hannah suggested, with a small nervous smile. Everyone silently agreed, and Caroline was the one to break the silence.

-"Oh! I realised that I just had a dessert for all of you! Excuse me for a second, I'll go bring some plates and cut it in pieces." She told us, and with a smile she turned around and walked towards the house. Soon, Hannah and Flora left too to help her. Now, there was only you, Berthold, and Johann in the garden. There was an awkward silence.

-"Well... That's awkward." You repeated out loud, pursuing your lips. You noticed none of them were looking at you in the eyes (after all who does this randomly?), and were just staring at the ground or over the fence.

-"So! Does anyone have a topic to talk about ?" Berthold asked, but received no reply. He then smirked and nudged Johann, who almost jumped three feet aside in surprise.

-"What?" Johann asked in a small voice, to which his father just laughed and tapped his shoulder.

-"Let's talk about you, lover boy! Have you set your mind yet?" Berthold asked, smirking, to which you then glanced at Johann, analysing him to guess what they were talking about, because you were too lazy to ask.

-"So, you've decided to finally ask Hannah in marriage huh?" The words escaped your mouth before you could think, you realised you were starting to have an actual skill in analysing people. Maybe it was because you were used to people judging and analysing you. What surprised you too was how much of a frown you had while telling this. You looked at Johann like if you were threatening to cut him open and then strangle him with his intestines...Don't ask me why you first thought of that.

-"Oh! Uh, well uhm..." Johann stuttered, blushing slightly in nervousness. He was at the same time embarrassed and frightened by you.

-"Yes? I mean! Yes, I do!" He started again, voice firm and clear with a determined face. He didn't want you to think he was uncertain about his decision. He loved Hannah and wanted the best for her. You just looked at him intensely with a frown and let out a 'uh-huh'. You didn't know why you acted this way. Why were you so protective over that girl?

Maybe it was Christoph's spirit that was possessing you to show how overprotective he would have been if he had been alive. Surely you acted this way because you were certain he would act like it. Maybe you wanted to honour him again or something... You don't know, you're too tired to think. The little stare contest happening between you and Johann ended when Berthold suddenly wrapped an arm around his neck.

-"Ahah! It just shows how in love my youthful son is! Surely soon Caroline and I will have-" A loud and sudden horn in the street interrupted him in his sentence. After the horn, the next thing you three heard was a powerful engine. You looked over the fence and soon you saw a big car show up and stop in front of the entrance. You and Berthold shared a look before you looked at the car more in detail (without approaching it). It looked familiar to you, like if you saw it already in a picture back in your world. 'so long ago...' You quickly shoved away the thought. There were multiple people in the vehicle, and you easily recognised their uniforms and flag.

'oh hell no...' You had to take upon yourself to not roll your eyes. You started walking in front of Berthold and Johann, who hesitantly followed you
You walked to the edge of the fence, looking at the car and its occupants in silence. You just hoped he wouldn't be among them.

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✧⁠◝⁠(Author's note)⁠◜⁠✧

Here we go again! I'm back with another chapter !(even if it's shorter than expected) Sorry for the wait, had a writers block + evolved into a worm during the holidays. 😅

BIG NEWS! We reached the 100 subscribers!! Thank you so much guys, love you!! ❤️❤️

To be honest, I missed the characters so I'm glad I wrote this chapter. I eventually thought back about (Y/N)'s character at this point of the story, so sorry if you thought there had a sudden massive change of personality (don't worry, (Y/N) will not become emo, I'll make sure of it, even if it's kinda close 🤣)

I think that was all, I hope I'll have the motivation to soon write another chapter (I doubt of it) , so see you soon! (I hope) 😁