Heydrich sat inside his Mercedes, his fingers idly brushing against one another as he stared at them in absent thought.

"Say that again."

The Gestapo officer beside him swallowed hard before carefully opening his mouth.

"The Führer has vanished."

Heydrich tilted his head ever so slightly, his gaze still fixed on his hands, as though adjusting his perspective.

"Go on."

The man hesitated.

"The Ghosts are searching frantically. They believe he may still be somewhere in Cologne."

Finally, Heydrich raised his head.

His eyes moved between the man seated beside him and the driver in the front.

"Then why..."

Suddenly, his voice exploded through the car.

"ARE WE DRIVING THIS SLOW?!"

The driver’s eyes widened in the rearview mirror as he quickly pressed down on the accelerator.

"If Lehmann is supposed to be here in Cologne... and the Führer as well..." Heydrich muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

Slowly, he nodded.

"Then they have to be at the same place."

His trembling hand drifted toward the grip of his pistol, tightening around it.

That helped.

Slowly, he turned his attention toward the tinted window beside him.

And there it stood.

Towering above everything else.

Cologne Cathedral.

A few kilometers away – Inner City of Cologne

"How are you here, Paul?" Werner asked, voicing the question that had been burning in his mind. There was simply no possible explanation.

"Would you believe me if I said fate?" Paul asked, a faint smile forming on his lips, though no happiness lay behind it.

"If I said I wanted to visit the house of an old friend one more time?"

"Fate?" Werner shook his head slowly. "I don’t believe in fate. Not anymore."

His voice grew quieter.

"Tell me, Paul... was it fate that brought us here? Was it fate that made us kill, destroy, rule?" He paused. "Was it fate that James had to died?"

Werner slowly began to smile, as if some unbearable weight had finally begun slipping from his shoulders. With a broken, almost whispering voice, he said:

"No."

"It was you."

Paul did not answer.

He simply stood there as the night wind grew stronger around them.

"There is no true fate," Werner continued quietly. "Because we manipulated it. You, James, and me. The three of us. The ones who never belonged here."

"Yes," Paul answered, his gaze drifting toward the dark waters of the Rhine.

"But tell me... if there is no fate..." He slowly raised a hand, pointing toward the flagpole beside them.

"Why did I hoist that very flag three years ago?"

He looked back at Werner.

"Why have we returned to this place?"

Werner lowered his eyes for a moment, watching his own reflection ripple in the puddle slowly forming beneath him.

Paul, too, fell silent for a moment.

"You did well in America," he finally said quietly. "Everything... you did well."

Werner slowly raised his head.

His eyes trembled.

"Yes," he said, a bitter smile creeping onto his face. "I did, didn’t I?"

His voice carried a sharp undertone of sarcasm.

"I did everything you ever asked of me. Always."

Werner took a step forward.

"From the very beginning, I slipped into a fucking SS uniform for you." His voice rose. "I killed and killed and killed. I plotted, manipulated, and killed once more."

He laughed quietly, though there was nothing amused about it.

"And let’s not forget betrayal." His eyes locked onto Paul. "I betrayed everyone who ever trusted me."

His jaw tightened.

"The last victim of your orders being James."

Paul tilted his head slightly as Werner continued.

"He trusted me, you know?" Werner said, his voice trembling between anger and bitterness. "Your plan, this entire grand scheme... it was yours."

He let out a quiet, humorless laugh.

"And it was so damn good that even James trusted me."

Werner’s expression darkened.

"In the end, he too fell victim to a monster."

For the first time in a while, Paul met Werner’s eyes again.

"Don’t." His voice turned sharper. "Don’t sympathize with him."

Paul raised his hand.

"He would have done anything for his goals, just like me." His jaw tightened. "If you hate me that much, then don’t pretend you can like him."

Werner nodded slowly.

"Then you did not see the James I saw."

He looked away for a moment, his voice quieter now, though no less bitter.

"Yes, he was a monster when you saw him the last time." He paused. "But when I saw him... he was far from one."

Werner exhaled slowly.

"He was just another pawn."

His eyes drifted back toward Paul.

"And in the end, he fell like one."

Silence lingered between them.

"If he truly was the monster you describe..." His voice almost cracked. "Then he wouldn’t have died."

Paul did not open his mouth, he was in deep thought.

"What you don’t have an answer? Huh?"Werner asked, almost playfully.

Then, slowly, Paul’s expression darkened.

"Then why did you kill him?"

Werner instinctively stepped back.

While Paul stepped forward once more.

"I... I..." Werner stammered.

Then his expression suddenly changed.

Something shifted.

It was a moment of absolute self-realization.

A moment that finally made Werner understand something about himself.

"For the very same reason I did all the things before..." His voice trembled.

He looked down.

"Because..."

A shimmer of water gathered in Werner’s eyes, slowly filling them.

His lips trembled.

"I am a coward."

Paul stopped.

Werner’s voice trembled, yet for the first time, there was clarity in it.

"Because I was never strong enough to resist you." His jaw tightened. "Because I kept hoping everything would somehow work out."

He let out a quiet, bitter laugh.

"But you know what, Paul?"

Werner’s eyes shimmered.

"The moment I pulled the trigger on James..." His voice cracked. "Deep down, I already understood."

He shook his head slowly.

"It won’t work out."

His stare hardened.

"It isn’t right."

A pause.

"And I won’t do it again."

Paul pressed his lips together.

Slowly, he raised his head toward the star-filled sky.

"How unfortunate."

Silence.

Werner simply stared at him.

And so, two of the three travelers stood there, staring at one another like strangers.

Yet they had known each other across two lifetimes.

Few people in history had ever understood one another as deeply as they had.

And yet, somehow, they had never felt further apart...

Somewhere above the Atlantic, at the same time.

A massive dark silhouette roared through the night sky, far above the endless black waves below.

Around it, a dozen fighter jets moved like silent guardians through the darkness.

No one saw it coming.

No one knew what it was.

And no one knew what would happen if it reached its target...

A target waiting at the very end of it all.

The end of the world?

Or merely...

The end of this story?

-------------------------------------

Tomorrow one of the best Chapters I have ever written...

Thank you all for the support! I appreciate every Power Stone, comment, and review.