Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ To Those About To Die ❯ Author's Note and Prologue ( Prologue )

Author's Note:

The idea for this story came from other fanfictions dealing with Rosenkreuz, and the confusing mess that was "Gluhen". (Apologies to any "Gluhen" fans, but you gotta admit, it was pretty confusing! I hear that the drama CDs aren't much better. My world spans the time between the original television series and Gluhen without their help.)

If you ever wondered about the shadowy institution whence came Schwarz, I strongly recommend you read "Rosenkreuz, Sweet Rosenkreuz" and "Once Upon a Nightmare", IMHO two of the BEST fics ever written. These fine stories describe a world of darkness never really explained in the show, and I think their parallel descriptions of Rosenkreuz are quickly becoming accepted as fanon. (I don't think they're from canon; if I'm wrong, apologies!) I owe my world to those fics, with my humble thanks.

"Weiss Kreuz: Gluhen"... Ah, me. Plotholes, my friends. Plotholes. And cheese. Lots of cheese. The story could have made more sense, and if someone out there has taken on the task of a rewrite I'd love to see it.

But for myself, I was drawn to the characters who only showed up to get whupped on. The three "Rosenkreuz goons" that turn up for the final showdown are an enigma. They are badly written and, for the most part, badly drawn as well. They are treated like old-fashioned comic-book villains for their short term in the show, even more so than Schwarz ever was: did you get a load of those matching outfits?? o_O

So, if you will indulge me, I would like to present...their story.

It's not what you'd expect.

Disclaimer: I don't own "Weiss Kreuz" or "Gluhen", or any characters therein. Though, I would fight the owner two falls out of three for Berger and Geisel, who really got it bad. (They can keep Layla, though.)

Claimer: I DO own Karl, Toni, and Roderik.

Lots of reinterpretation, from the costuming to the dialogue, as well as a bit of creative name changing -- not like the names were well-translated in the dubbed version anyway! Shounen-ai, with a hint of lemon.

To Those About to Die...

Said the sphinx to the Angel: For what will a man knowingly surrender his life?

And the Angel replied: The selfish man will run when there is no gain to be had. The brutish man will turn if there is no favor to be won. The hungry man will flee if there is no possibility of food. But the man driven by love will not yield so long as there is hope.

Cruxshadows -- Ethernaut

Prologue

Rosenkreuz. My life began there, in a way. I was nobody until the man came to claim me, and thereafter I belonged to him. And to Rosenkreuz.

I don't remember my parents. The whispered gossip among the women at the orphanage held that I was an accident, that I had no real father, and that my mother had left me lying in the snow for them to bury. The powerful gift stirring in my head brought me different, unspoken versions: a woman raped and disgraced, arranging to leave the infant in the care of the church; a train wreck from which I miraculously escaped; a virgin birth. The bored and the sheltered will always have more interesting views of reality than the schooled and the socialized. This knowledge gave me power at an early age.

When the man came, I knew my life was about to change. I was six years old.

He gave me a name, but only one name: Berger.

Herr Sunder made me his son, and his protege. He told me about the school where he worked as a teacher, a strange and fine school dedicated to bringing children and knowledge together as no other school in the world could do.

I was terrified.

The Rose Cross, the Bloody Cross: a school for murder. I picked up its true nature at once. Lies and half-truths had always been as transparent as glass to me, and even a seasoned telepath could not keep me from knowing his hidden meaning and agenda.

I was powerful. He wanted the prestige that would come from owning me. It was that simple.

Still, I had nowhere else to be, so I went.

To Rosenkreuz.