Countryhumans Philippines

The Whereabouts of Marshal: 2

1942, January

With the things going on now, it was safer to be with Switzerland. The second world war has begun three years ago, 1939, and is going on until now. Switzerland stayed neutral for a number of reasons, despite the underlying help to Nazi Germany. Like Switzerland, Marshal didn't want to take sides yet, as he was in the middle of brewing up a plan to get on with it properly with Spain, but as the world war raged on, he couldn't do that. The war had immobilized him. He could not roam anywhere freely and without consequence.

Marshal's mind was in a haze of questions and possibilities that never dissipated ever since that day. He had started life here, a life he used to cover up his schemes, and a life to fill his extra time, for now. He stared out the window, the radio playing in the distance and the snow piling up on the outside ledge. His hand fiddled unconsciously with the wooden bracelet tied to his wrist. His eyes were distant.  He remembered his mother that day, with a bulging stomach, crying. She didn't say a word in protest. She just hugged him and kissed him goodbye.

Maybe she knew, Marshal thought, of her imminent demise. 

"....I see you've been up in the clouds again." Switzerland said as he brought in some warm cocoa for his long stayed visitor. He was almost like a brother to him now. 

".......Providing Coal for Nazi Germany, huh? How did that go for you...?" Marshal managed and only looked at him when Switzerland placed the hot mug down.

"...its the only way to avoid this whole war on a large scale of danger." Switzerland managed and looked at Marshal the same way he looked at him the first time he met him: puzzled, confused. Marshal had a distinctive color, but he never really knew where he was from. 

"....hm, knowing you are surrounded by the Axis, that's fun."  Marshal managed, looking at him, He has grown more gentle, than before but maybe it was because he was calm. he was in a safe place, or as much of a safe place Switzerland could provide. " So Spain is also neutral, huh?" He almost snorted. He almost cackled.

"You ask about Spain a lot." Switzerland locked eyes at him, as he sipped from his own mug of cocoa. 

"...What can I say, I'm a curious little arse." Marshal snickered. 

Switzerland rolled his eyes. he paused for a moment, thinking, about Marshal and his first appearance here. He looked tired and burdened. Marshal's eyes looked like he has seen all the terrors of the world. He was such a mystery to Switzerland. 

"I'm looking for a place to settle down..."  Marshal said that night, as Switzerland offered him a bowl of soup and bread for dinner. 

"It is not much," Switzerland managed, "But it is all we have for now." 

"..It will do..." Marshal said, "It's better than rotten eggs on a ship." he was referring to the olden days where he used to sail the seas with pig smelling drunkards and a sorry excuse of a captain. Then again he served a few captains before being one himself so he was not really sure if he was a good one or a bad one, by pirate standards.

"What do your colors stand for?" His gracious host sat before him, also with his own ration.  Every color of anyone stands for something. 

 "..." Marshal looked up at him, staring for a good while. It didn't mean anything except for true, unmotivated blankness. The only thing he could think of right now was how every passing second took the welcoming warmth of the soup that reminded him of home, away.  He processed the question. What did his colors mean? He knows his father told him, long long ago... He can't remember. He can't... He doesn't know what his own colors mean... He doesn't know what the red means...what the blue means... He does not know what the stars and sun signify. 

Marshal shook his head, slowly, gently, as if his head was swaying only by the wind and not by his will. "I don't know." He said. 

Switzerland was unsettled. there was something in Marshal's voice that he couldn't quite place. Something he has never heard before from anyone he had come in contact before. 

"Do you hear that?" Marshal turned his head to the radio, as if it would start to visually portray what it has been speaking. 

"What-?" 

"SHHHHHHH. Listen, Swiss. Listen." He held up a finger as if silencing him for a moment, as the radio spoke. 

"As of the second of January, today, the Philippines has been subdued by Japan," The reporter said, "The American was forced to give in by hunger and by lack of rations.....the Nazis....."  the radio trailed off in the distance as Switzerland's attention had left the news, and instead looked at Marshal.

Switzerland swore that he saw something come alive in Marshal's eyes, something he never saw since that dinner. Switzerland realized what was missing in Marshal's countenance. He realized what he didn't have that night when he asked what his colors were. 

Marshal, in Switzerland's observation, lacked purpose and meaning. He was a person of no faith, no background, as clean as a slate. He didn't have any place to call his own. He was a stray, and he will be if he continued in his path. Whatever that path may be, Switzerland feared that it will bring his untimely end.