There had been colder days in Annika Haupt's life, but somehow, they seemed to fade in her memory in comparison to this one. And it certainly wasn't the rain, she didn't mind that so much.
Maybe it was the solitude of the planet. Or the fact that the sky just was always the same dark green color, the central stars of the system obscured by the nebula surrounding the world.
Or maybe it was the fact that this was the first time in years she saw Her again.
Her eyes inspected the woman, zoomed in just enough to see her as if she were standing right in front of her. She seemed older, a little more weathered. The long ponytail was new, but it was entirely possible that that was just for functionalities' sake.
Seeing the woman that used to be her mentor, or at least one of them, did bring back memories, and not all of them good ones. Come to think of it, hardly anything she associated with Her was positive. She clenched her fist in vain, leaning back against the wall of the burst pipe she was using as a vantage point.
Her message had come as a surprise to Annika. She'd spent the better part of the last six months preparing her current activities, and every cog so far had been working exactly as she had expected it to. The reluctance of the White Rose to accept her return, the Unioners jump at a possibility to destabilize the Bundschuh... Sure, there'd been setbacks, but they had been minor. Few surprises, and even fewer significant problems. Heck, the lethargy of the federal government in acknowledging her return was playing into her cards even more than she had planned to in the first place. So in total, everything was going well, relatively speaking.
Until this particular ghost of her past reared her (definitely not ugly) head.
She frankly had no idea what the woman wanted to accomplish. No, seriously. Annika Haupt, the person that took pride in being keenly aware of everything necessary to accomplish her goals, had been surprised by one of the people she thought not only to know best, but also thought to be out of the game for good. And here she was, leaning against a wall trying to shelter herself from the pouring rain. Freya Eistochter, former Chairwoman of the Bundschuh party. The Witch.
Thoughts passed through her head, memories just as much as impromptu plans for the conversation that would inevitably follow. Memories of shady operations, executions in dim light. Of a metal spire, filled to the brim with people rich and poor, burning, smoking, in a black night, pointing into the sky like an accusing finger. Pointing at her. Annika shuddered, glad that she had chosen to wait out in her hiding spot for a bit. She had to fight herself right now, dread and regret from a life she had thought lost and dealt with rising. For a few moments, she felt like throwing up. Seeing this woman was poison. She was the one who had introduced her to this, who made her the monster she had become.
It took her almost a minute to regain composure, calming herself by exposing her face directly to the downpour. The cold water washed over her head, ran down her cheeks and lips. She tasted salt. She'd have to deal with this later. But now, there was a task. Yet another one.
Silently, she jumped down the piping, landing behind the older woman. The loud rain made her landing almost inaudible, but she wasn't here to silently stare at Her. She raised her right hand and hit it against the pipe she'd just jumped off of.
Clang. Clang. Metal on metal, breaking the loud silence. "You know, some people better stay forgotten. We're both women of that kind, wouldn't you agree?"
Freya Eistochter
The first steps after exiting the ship were a little uneasy for Freya. She had travelled far and wide, visited other houses and explored regions of the Sirius sector that many would not even know existed. That was back then, before she had to leave all she had built. Now, she had been living on the moon Akabat since 822 and had only left it to visit a space station on some rare occasions. Setting foot on a world like Kurile, so different from her recent home, felt odd. The gravity was a little different, the air was a little different, and all around her was just water; not just the endless ocean surrounding the deserted fishing platform, but the constant pouring rain as well.
She opened a transparent umbrella and followed the path leading away from the landing pad. She presses her hand against her coat, feeling the shape of her sidearm underneath it. It was a habit to carry it with her at all times and it made her feel just a little more secure leaving Akabat, but she held no illusions regarding the usefulness of it for the coming meeting. Freya’s skill in close combat was rather basic, in contrast with the woman she would be about to meet. Nonetheless, she strongly believed a revolutionary should always be armed, just in case.
Clang. Clang.
And there she is already. Hearing that voice so near to her, made her pause a moment before turning around. They were here at Freya’s own initiative, yet she now suddenly felt very anxious. After all this time; after all that happened. Even Freya could not fully suppress this many emotions, but she sure as hell tries. She takes a breath and turns around and despite what was going on in her head, speaks with the cynical, almost bored, tone as she always does.
“I’m sorry, is this a theatre? If so, you’re quite good at these.. dramatics… I suppose. As enjoyable as it might be though, I think we should cast aside the one-liners for the moment.”
She looked up and down Nika. The younger woman looked different, more rugged and mature, but still very much recognisable to the woman who had once been her mentor.
“It is.. good... to see you Nika. We have much to discuss, although I would consider it more comfortable to do so inside somewhere where the heavens are not attempting to drown me.”
Annika would have smiled, had it not been so cold. Freya's wit was no less sharp than it used to be, apparently. And she wasn't wrong. After all, theatralics were not only a useful tool. She did also quite enjoy them, read the reactions on people's faces, their surprise, and at times even their awe. She supposed that that was one of the reasons she'd ended up where she did - after all, what was a politician other than an actor on the theater of reality. But that didn't change the fact that a part of her felt like she was a kid, scolded by her favourite teacher for botching an essay. Somehow, that part of her, the one that had tried to impress her teacher had apparently not completely vanished.
She nodded understandingly. It wasn't like she enjoyed the rain much more than Freya did, plus it did make communication that wasn't overly loud quite hard. Her steps carried her to the hall that the piping from earlier were protruding from, closing the hatch behind the two. The temperature didn't rise much, but the rain changed from a torrential stream of water almost drowning every other sound to a still loud, but tolerable constant dribbling sound from the roof and the walls. She walked quickly, dodging metal outcrops, burst pipes and the like easily despite the darkness, before she halted in front of a smaller shed within the hall, offering Freya a place on one of the long abandoned benches. Then she grabbed a bag from behind the one she was sitting on and threw it between them, the impact causing the can in it to start the chemical reaction it was supposed to do, suddenly radiating warmth just enough to make it bearable.
Annika looked up, into the eyes of the older woman. She wasn't quite sure what to say, she had to admit, so she just went with the first thing that came to her mind. "Sorry about that. Wasn't sure you'd actually come, you know. Had to wait outside."A short pause, before she continued, both to break the ice and calm herself a little."It's... good to see you too. As weird as that might sound."
Freya Eistochter
Freya felt relieved. At the very least Annika did not kill her right away and that certainly was a possibility that Freya had taken into consideration. All of this was objectively very risky. She rested her collapsed umbrella against the side of the bench she sat down on and looked Nika in the eye, then turned her gaze away.
“I will be honest with you, Nika. I need you.. and I think you need me too. I’m tired of waiting around in regions of space where it is us humans that are the aliens. I am tired of endlessly manoeuvring and scheming just to get some sympathisers here and there to get a slightly less irrelevant position.” Freya’s face shows just how annoyed she is by her situation. “I am a revolutionary and my place is in the revolution, not on a barren rock in the Omicrons.”
She stared Nika in the eye again. “And no offense, but your whole party leadership thing didn’t turn out very well either did it? It seems you could be in a much better situation just as well.”
Annika let the words fall into silence for a while, the only sound being the rain seemingly trying to bring their shelter down. The warmth seemed to vanish again.
She hated to be reminded of this. To be reminded that she had failed, despite all her efforts. The feeling of scolding stayed, but right now pain and frustration were added to it. For the first time in months, her facade showed cracks.
Admittedly though, the way Freya was talking wasn't entirely without interesting remarks - or tones, even. She'd never heard her former mentor so... Frustrated, almost pleading. And for that matter, it was just as rare to hear her being... nice. She'd expected a lot of screaming, accusations and the like, but none of that was there. Just two women seemingly regretting the way fate had treated them. When she broke the silence, she extended a hand containing a canteen filled with something that smelled suspiciously like whisky. "You know as well as I do how they are. Out of sight, out of mind. Treason, and after a few months you're forgotten and just a specter of the past that most people try to forget." She paused again, taking a swig for herself. Sure, she was a little gloomy, but who could blame her? Neither the location nor the topic were particularly fun. She looked up again, smiling a humorless smile - and ended up genuinely smiling for the first time in a while. Somehow it helped to know that she wasn't alone with the situation she was in, even if she had been instrumental in bringing Freya into this predicament in the first place. Maybe Freya was right, maybe she did need her, if only for not going insane from isolation. Not that she'd admit that to herself right now, though. Her smile flickered for a few moments before she continued. "So... What's your plan? Do you just want to come back and try picking up where you left? Because there's not much left of what both of us built. Doubt that we'd even reach Bruchsal without getting shot at at least three times." When she finished that last sentence she was a little frustrated at herself. Even she could hear how tired she sounded, reaffirming Freya without the actual need for words. She hated being betrayed by her composure.
Freya Eistochter
Freya gave a disapproving look when Annika revealed the canteen. The former party leader considered alcoholic beverages as a distraction. Perhaps even as a poison, for one who was involved in a perpetual war should always be in good health and always be ready. She had learned it had its uses though. Activists who were living their lives inside an asteroid needed something to get their minds off their hardships. Drinking at a moment like this reminded her more of a certain former Oberst than the activists, though. It worried her. Her former right-hand might act tough, might actually be tough, but it was just one more sign of the struggle taking its toll. Just like it took its toll on that other Oberst. Tiredness, drinking, gloomy phrases, if it was just one of these things, one could shrug it off, but all together, the sight was eerily familiar.
“We are not forgotten, Nika. At least I know I am not, I made sure of that. You think that with the constant chaos, an activist keeps his mind occupied with the turmoil of yesterday? He has the turmoil of today on his mind and if they have been around for a some years they will reminisce about the days when the party was united. They will even long even for the internal struggles that at least everyone could understand. When it was,” she raises her left hand, “the party leader or,” she raises her right hand, “the Oberst.” She alternately moves the hands up and down, as if comparing weight. “Just a simple question of what direction the movement was to go. It is Aachen they have forgotten, it is Noth they have forgotten. The complexities.”
She puts down her hands. “Nothing is lost yet. However, you are right that we cannot return to Bruchsal. I mean, we could, absolutely, such things can always be arranged. It is more a matter of safely remaining there that would be impossible. Besides, we are not ready to win. Not now. We need to reorganise, gather our strength.”
She leans back. “That is of course, if you are prepared to trust me again...”
Annika's response, yet again, took a few moments. Partly though, this was due to the nebulous nature of Freya's offer. 'Trust her again'. A part of her almost screamed with joy. Here Freya was, the person that put her through so much hardship, was responsible for nearly everything that had gone wrong in the past few years, offering what was essentially an apology. By Freya's standards, at least. It felt incredibly satisfying to that part of her... But the past few years had also taught her something else.
People were not to be trusted. They always followed their own agenda, their own goals and their own logic. Freya didn't offer to bury the hatchet without an ulterior motive. That much was certain. It pained her to bury the childish, giddy part of her once more, but it was a required deed to regain her composure again. Weakness was not tolerated.
Slowly but steadily, she recovered a little bit of composure. It wasn't quite there yet, but at least she was able to look up again without howling in angry frustration. Why did she have to come back now? Why didn't she help her when she had asked for the hatchet buried so many months ago? What was her goal? She fixated her eyes on Freya's, a little of the steely glare that frightened her subordinates so effectively returning, but a betrayed anger flaring up just as much - like a teenager that just found out her best friend had been cheating on her. "Trust you again? Why, do you want to take over the helm and try to steer a crashing ship back on course?"The dripping sarcasm cut deep, but not only Freya's flesh. It was both a jab at her former mentor and herself, admitting that none of them had been able to succeed. The fact that Eistochter had returned during what amounted to her darkest hour didn't help, either. For a moment she regretted her defensive attitude towards the older woman, who appeared to be honest in her attempt to make amends. But if she truly wanted to do so, she wouldn't stop just because she saw how broken Annika was, partly due to Freya's actions too.
Still. Olive branch. She calmed her voice and relaxed her muscles again. "... Sorry."
Freya EistochterSorry. Freya had not expected that word. It was a good sign, not because of what she apologised for, but because Annika was willing to apologise at all. Apparently, she did not want to upset Freya. “Do not say sorry, you have some reason to be suspicious. After all, I had rejected you when it was you who reached out to me. You had wounded me as much as I may have wounded you, and I was angry at you as much as you may still be at me. I…” She paused thinking carefully about her choice of words. “I…”
Much to her own frustration she could not find the words she wanted. An unusual situation for someone known for her sharp tongue. She sighed deeply. “The thing is, Nika, I did not want to follow you. As quickly as I once climbed, as quickly did I fell, and regardless of how you may feel about those events, you gave the final push.” She tilted back her head and stared at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with Annika. “Blindly doing your bidding would be foolish. I did not trust you and..” She suddenly chuckles a bit. “And yet now trust is what I ask of you. That is foolish of me too I suppose.”
She tilts her head forward again, but looks slightly to the left to avoid Annika’s eyes. “I do not intend take the helm from you. I would not follow you blindly and I cannot ask the same from you. I offer to work together, because it benefits us both, and more importantly it will benefit the Second Popular Revolution. You have your group of followers and they follow you, not me; I’ve still got some people as well, I don’t think that will be any surprise to you.”
She snorted. Not loudly, but loud enough to be heard. The closest thing to actual laughter she'd heard from herself in over a year, but the fact that she was hearing the Witch of Frankfurt of all people admitting that she could have made mistakes, in a calm tone no less, was amusing to her. The snippy remark at the end almost fell under, but she was determined to keep the conversation going now. Both out of curiosity and out of necessity. "Work together, huh. You do know that... What I'm doing now is a little different then what I was doing back on Bruchsal, right?" There was neither pride nor shame in this statement, it was just that. A statement. A shiver went through her body, as she realized how cold it actually was, and she went a little closer to the heat source between them. This time however it didn't take her as long to find the correct words. Maybe she was getting used to the chaos that meeting Freya was causing in her mind? "Speaking of... What would you actually want to do? Go to Eltmann -"she gave a humourless smirk"- and don't tell me it isn't Eltmann, regroup with Heissler and then form your own sect? Try to revive what's left of the Widerstand?" There was no sarcasm here. She seemed legitimately curious, again because of a mixture of curiosity and necessity. If one could pay close attention, one would have been able to even notice a slight hint of warmth in her words. She deliberately omitted Freya's remarks about trust. After the turmoil that meeting the woman had caused for her, she didn't think she was ready for actual talk that went into evaluating the past - and present - feelings associated with her former mentor. Not yet, anyway.
Freya Eistochter
It was kind of scary how familiar Annika still was. In spite of all that had happened, such familiarity always seems to linger. Of course it was Eltmann, Annika knew these things, but so too should she know that if Eltmann is the only place under your influence, things are not looking good. “I have no doubt things are different. But you haven’t given up yet, so apparently some things haven’t changed.” She faintly smiled. “My aim is not to further my own position, my aim is not be the great leader.” She shakes her head while chuckling. “Not even the victory of the Bundschuh is my aim. Many years ago I left New Berlin to change the world, hopelessly naïve as I was.” She seems to be quite amused by her own motivations. “Yet, in the end it is still true. If it wasn’t I might as well just quit all of it. A man once said: ‘The end may justify the means as long as there is something to justify the end.’”
She was not just rambling or attempting a motivational speech. She had a reputation for being cold, relentless even, but certainly not for being an opportunist. The Bundschuh were a terrible choice for opportunists anyway. “I will not go to Eltmann. Not yet. There is no point in becoming just another sect vying for power, nor in reviving the Widerstand. The Widerstand is of no use when it is just another sect, the point was to unite the movement. My intention is to organise the my sympathisers and have them aid you. I have more than just Rote Adler at my disposal, I have remained in touch with my most loyal men and women. I want to transform Rheinland and to do so there needs to be a Bundschuh that is united and that is revolutionary.” She paused for a moment.