The Sacrifice That Wasn't Asked.

Germany, 1945, Wewelsburg Castle.

"Who is this for?" Marcus coldly asked one of the soldiers of the Wewelsburg castle, who was hurrying down the corridor towards the prison cells.

With each passing day, the situation became increasingly chaotic and unpredictable, and Sigmund Taubert was losing his temper and exploding with fury more and more often. Only by coincidence, Marcus still did not fall under his hot hand, his father was busy with something and for several hours a day disappeared in the western wing of the castle, the access to which was strictly limited and even his son did not have the right to go there.

"Um, Herr Taubert ordered a good portion of food for your brother. He said that your brother needs to gain strength since he had been eating not so much in recent days," the soldier replied.

"Give it here, I will do it myself," Marcus took the tray from the man's hands, "The key," he said in an orderly tone.

"But your father ordered me to personally take the dinner to your brother," the soldier tried to resist Marcus's decision, but he lacked self-control. Despite his young age, Marcus Taubert at his age of twenty made no less frightening impression than the chief commandant of the castle. Therefore, few wanted to fall into his disgrace, and the soldier, without hesitation, held out the camera key to the young man, bowed, and hurried away.

When the man's silhouette disappeared around the corner, Marcus turned around and walked toward Armand's cell, the guy had a bunch of thoughts in his head. 'It seems like father is up to something, it's time to act before it's too late,' he thought to himself.

After the failure of the "Eden" experiment, or rather, after the death of its main participants three years ago, Armand was kept in a cell under strict control, as the perpetrator of the escape of important prisoners.

The admiration with which his father treated him as a child gave way to coldness and hostility, and it seemed suspicious to Marcus that Sigmund Taubert had suddenly taken care of the health of his disobedient son and ordered his people to bring him food.

Marcus, like no one else, knew that the nobility and concern for loved ones were not characteristic of their father, nor when they were ten years old, and even less when they were already twenty.

And this sumptuous dinner, which by its look was like the dinner for some high ranked officers, was too inconsistent with the ordinary diet of the prisoners.

Something was wrong.

"Your order, sir. Enjoy your meal," he declared in a triumphant tone after he opened the door of Armand's cell. Neither enthusiasm nor goodwill reflected on the latter's face when he saw his older twin brother.

"I'm not hungry," the young man answered, not taking his eyes off the ceiling.

Marcus was not particularly concerned about his brother's behavior, their relationship had long been not characterized as kindred, but there was no deep hostility between them either.

"This is from father," he answered, put the tray on the table, and sat on the opposite chair.

"Ha, why is this?" Armand asked with undisguised surprise, which caused a grin on Marcus's face. Despite their different nature and goals, in one thing they were still quite similar- they knew for sure, their father never did something for nothing.

"So I wonder as well what he did that for," he replied in a drawn voice, examining Armand's gray cell. There were no special frills in the room, except for a bed, a table, a chair, and a tiny bathroom, but in general, the room was not so unpleasant.

Armand got up from the bed and sat on the edge, his gaze focused on the tray waiting for him on the table. Fragrances from the young man's favorite dishes filled the room when Marcus just entered. Armand extended his hand and took a piece of bread.

Of course, he was hungry, but not so nonchalant as to throw himself on dishes, as on a treasured piece of cheese attached to a mousetrap.

Marcus leaned forward, took a tomato from his brother's plate and put it in his mouth, "I'm sure you don't mind," he said. This gesture reminded Armand how, as a child, his brother used to help him out by eating tomatoes that Armand did not like.

Armand took a free dish from a cup of tea and put on it a baked piece of chicken, the remaining tomatoes and two Bavarian sausages and put a plate on the table in front of his brother, "I won't eat so much so you can't be shy and just help yourself," he answered and began his dinner.

Marcus silently took the plate in his hands and began to eat, these sausages have been his weakness since childhood, Armand also loved them, but, despite this, he gave the elder brother the whole portion.

So they sat in silence for several minutes until Marcus uttered the news, which shocked Armand.

"Hitler shot himself."

"Khe-khe, w-what?" Armand asked, choking on food. "Shot himself?!"

"Yes, this afternoon, I overheard the father's conversation with one of the generals," Marcus replied, his gaze directed to the narrow window facing the north side of the castle. The sun has already set below the horizon and the first stars have appeared in the sky.

"When midnight comes, pack your things, take the girl and leave the castle through the eastern dungeon. At the exit, I will leave a bag with money and necessary things, for the first time this should be enough for you. The coalition troops have not yet reached our places, but they may be here tomorrow or even earlier," Marcus put an empty plate on the table, got up and headed for the exit.

"And you? What are you going to do?" Armand got out of bed and went to his brother, they began to talk a little before the war began, but after his father became commandant of the castle, they practically stopped communicating with each other.

"Who? Me? Hmm, would you like to suggest that I run away with you? Are you sure your little butterfly will be glad of my presence?" Marcus quipped, it was not a secret for both of them that Polina didn't like being with him in common company and was even afraid of him, "Or are you ready to share her young body with me? Although I prefer more experienced girls, if you know what I mean, but.... Well, ok, I can train her."

BANG!

"Can you at least not behave like the last bastard in this situation?!" Armand shouted at his brother after his fist greeted Marcus's chin, which made him fly off the door.

BANG!

Marcus's leg hit Armand's stomach in response, "Ha, well, I'm sorry, I don't have such luxury as you, you, our righteous one," Marcus barked at his brother.

"Righteous? What the hell are you talking about? I was always proud of you when in childhood you stood your ground, even after our father punished you, and now... Look at what you have become! You run after him like an obedient puppy, follow his disgusting order ..., "Armand's eyes were filled with rage and resentment, and he continued,

"You think I don't know that you were in collusion with Steiner and set up Daniel and Lena to be used as experimental rats? I've prepared everything for their escape, that no one would have noticed, and if you hadn't intervened, then they would not have to go through all this and they would be alive now!"

"Shut up!" Marcus exploded. "You know nothing! And if I say that your father was going to use your beloved blondie, who can't even speak plainly, then what? Will you also say that I'm a bastard? Yes, I threw that kid a curve and so what? They're nobody to me, okay?! But your precious Polina would have long rotted in the ground in a common heap with other corpses. And now at least, you still have a chance to enjoy her innocent body, if you, of course, have not fucked her already."

BANG!

Another blow hit Marcus in the head, but the young man stood on his feet and hit his brother in response. Armand crashed into the table, and all the dishes rumbled to the floor. The two brothers grabbed each other and eagerly began to weigh the blows one to another.

This was their first fight in their life. The emotions that have accumulated inside everyone over many years have burst out in the form of anger, resentment, disappointment.

"Don't you dare to talk about her in such a context, you got me?! She loved and protected you when you were overwhelmed by the death of our mother, she was afraid to declare her feelings to you, so as not to incur the wrath of our father on you. Do you even know that he beat her for bringing you food without asking? She still has the scars from the whip on her back! Well, how could you know when you were so keen on fawning before him!"

From the words he heard, Marcus was at a loss for a moment and missed another blow on his head, the room floated before his eyes, and one after the other, strange images from childhood resembled fragments of memory. Father's office, an unknown man, a little girl, and he himself with a whip in his hands.

Marcus gathered all his strength and threw off his brother, "I do not care what happened then, okay? And you can think of me what you want, I don't care about that either! Do you think it gives me the joy to obey this moron who calls himself our father? But only among the two of us, only I am capable of such, is it clear to you? These idiots unleashed war and purged it, and now the damned tribunal could be laid against us!"

Marcus got to his feet, wiped the blood from his lips and headed for the door, "I didn't get my hands dirty for you to be shot along with everyone."

"I never asked you about that," Armand said in an even tone. He did not ask his brother for such sacrifice, although he, too, did everything possible so that his father would be disappointed in him and not humiliate Marcus, comparing them with each other.

They both wanted to protect each other, but the methods they chose for this only separated them even further.

Marcus opened the cell door and, without turning around, said it again before leaving, "When midnight comes, I want you two to be out of here," he slammed the door, and on the floor in the cell were the keys to two rooms - Armand's and Polina's.