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Tom and Franz ran for their bedroom as they were chased by a monster. It popped out of the brush and chased them all the way home and around the house. ____________ was startled and went to see what was going on and saw something towering over her two babies as they screamed and hugged each other. She tackled the creature and proceeded to beat the living shit out of it. She seen discovered that the “creature” was her idiot brother-in-law scaring her sons. Germania cuddled the boys closed as ____________ chased him around the house. Gilbert ran through the house laughing hard as she whacked him a few times with the broom. He used the couch to keep her at bay for awhile.

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO LET THEM WATCH THAT MOVIE! AND NOW THEY’RE SCARRED FOR LIFE!” Germania looked up.

“Movie?”

“Yes! The idiot took the boys to see Creature from the Black Lagoon a few months ago and they JUST gotten over their fears, until now! Where did you get that costume?!”

“Made it, Sis,” he said smirking. She scolded him again as Franz leered at him.

“NOT AWESOME! You scared Tom to death!”

“You’re the one who peed on yourself,” said Tom looking at his brother’s pants.

“Irrelevant!”

“GILBERT!” he laughed some more and decided to go on his way leaving the poor boys in their care of their mother and Opa. Usually Lutz didn’t mind his brother’s stupid antics of scaring the heebee jeebees out of the boys but when they wanted to sleep with parents all night, that when it was a problem. Tom took the safe route and usually slept with Germania some nights but Franz perched and clung to his mother all night, literately cock blocking him to snuggle and mess with his wife. Germania however, wasn’t quite used to America customs and wondered what was the fuss about.

“It’s Halloween,” said ____________.

“What is that?”

“It’s a day of the dead festival, like one night the spirits can come out from their spirit world and mingle with the living before going back again,”

“Interesting…”

“And the kids wear costumes to disguise themselves so the ghosts won’t get them and they go from door to door asking for treats,”

“Begging?”

“Well more like just asking. They say trick or treat and then the person gives them candy,”

“Trick or treat?”

“Yes, they give treats or they’ll get a trick,” Germania cocked his head a bit.

“That sounds like extortion,” ____________ laughed.

“It does but it’s all in good fun unless someone like Gilbert scares the living crap out of them. It’s a fun time of year to scare people but harmless fun,”

“Didn’t look harmless to me,” he said and then smirked.

“I think my son deserves a taste of his own medicine, if my dear Tochter would like to help,” __________ smirked.

“Of course Vater,”

“Gut, Gilbert will wish he was never born after I’m through with him,”

“Whatcha going to do?” the adult turned to see Tom and Franz looking at them.

“And we want in too!” said Franz smiling. Germania smirked. Franz was too much like his Vati only difference was the eyes.

“We can help! We’ll even be bait!” said Tom excitedly!

“Ooh look at you being brave!” said Lutz proudly ruffling Tom’s hat, “I want in too. Revenge for all the shit he put me through when we were Kinder,”

“Are you going to make him cry Opa?” said Franz, “I wanna see that!”

“I wanna see his pee his pants!” said Tom. Germania knelt down in front of them.

“Don’t worry boys. I’ll help you get back at your Uncle so bad he’ll pee UND cry at the same time!”

“YAY!”

***
Gilbert couldn’t help but be a bit mischievous this month. It was Halloween after all! He chuckled as he walked towards his brother’s home with a big bag of groceries. He had since taken up residence in the big house. Mainly because he spent most of his time there and having a big house to himself wasn’t always fun. He had to think of something better to get his nephews again. That was when he noticed something at the corner of his eyes. A huge black feathery figure was staring at him with a beak. It had black soulless eyes and stood there motionless but looking at him with evil intent. He quickly ran home and slammed the door.

“It came back!” he managed to utter.

“What did?” said Germania looking at the paper.

“The Nachtkrapp!” he snorts.

“You’re still on about that now?” then moments later, the boys came running into house and ran to _______________.

“Mutti! We saw a monster!” said Tom running her apron

“Gilbert!”

“It wasn’t me!”

“This thing was HUGE” said Franz, “It looked like a bird because it had a beak and feathers and the way it moved was through gliding and it had these deep black eyes!” Germania looked alarmed.

“What else did you notice about it?”

“It had a white face and spoke in a deep voice and in German,”

“What did it say?”

“Ich bin Nachkrapp,”

“So it finally came back,” said Germania pensive.

“I TOLD YOU!” said Gilbert, “Why didn’t you believe me?!”

“I barely pay attention to your shenanigans,”

“What came back?” said Franz.

“Das Nachtkrapp,”

“What’s a Nachtkrapp?” said Tom

“It’s a huge raven that comes out at night. It’s as tall as me and it takes naughty children away and eats them,” the boys looked alarm. Germania ruffled their heads, “Don’t worry Lieblings, it’s not after you, it’s after Uncle Gilbert,”

“Why is it after him?” said ______________.

“Hmmm to be honest I don’t remember,” just then, Lutz came in followed by Edgar.

“We heard the sound of a woman screaming, Gilbert are you okay?”

“F—Fick you!”

“Fick you too!” as the men bickered and swore, earning a smack from Germania for swearing in front of the boys, Tom’s tugs Edgar’s shirt and asked him why.

“Oh…it’s back…ja it’s all his fault,”

“What did I do?!”

“Exist,” said Lutz. Edgar rolled his eyes.

"Back in Germany, me, your Vati, and your Uncle Gilbert were exploring the woods. It was a cold winter and everything was covered in ice and snow. It was quiet kind of eerie. Well as we walked, we found a crow that was lying in the snow. Of course be being the logical one decided to take it back to Vati to see if we could save it. Lutz agreed but someone wanted to put it out of his misery,”

“It was humane!” said Gilbert

“He was still breathing idiot,”

“It had blue feet! What kind of crow has blue feet?!”

“It was a genetic thing, anyway, we nursed the poor thing back to health and them set it free. A few days later that was when we saw the Nachtkrapp in the middle of the woods,”

“Your Opa said that that was the Nachtkrapp and that as long as we don’t harm the ravens or crows in the woods, it would spare our lives,” said Lutz, “However, since one idiot was mean to its kin, the Nachtkrapp is going to go after them instead,” Tom and Franz looked at the adults.

"So it's not after us?" said Tom. Edgar ruffled his hair.

"Nein Liebling, he's just after your idiot uncle,"

"Oh! Okay!"

"No skin off our nose," said Franz grinning.

"HEY!" said Gilbert, "It matters to me!"

"That mean we can eat more Berliner before he gobbles them up," said Tom

"And more of Franzbrötchen!" said Franz, "Especially when Uncle Edgar makes it!"

"And _________________'s brownies," said Lutz.

"My life is worth more than pastries?!" said Gilbert.

"Pretty much," said Germania getting up, "Come on Lieblings, I'll make some Streusel with tea. It'll be your uncle's last meal,"

"YAY!" said the boys and scampered to their Opa and went into the kitchen. ____________ giggled. At this rate the boys will have to be rolled out of the house soon. Gilbert waited until his father and brothers were gone before throwing himself at _______________'s feet.

"Please don't let it get me!"

"Jeez Gilbert, I thought you weren't afraid of anything,"

"I-I'm not! Okay maybe that but please you gotta help me!"

"After scaring the crap out of my sons? Why should I?"

"Because you're sweet and loving and wouldn't let me die! Lutz would, Edgar would and have a hand in it somehow and we both know that Vati would do it out of boredom! Please!! You're mein last hope,"

"You really are scared, of that thing aren't you?"

"Ja!"

"Okay, how is it supposed to be stopped? What are its weaknesses?"

"I-I have no clue! All I know is that it wants me dead!"

"Relax, there has to be a way for you to be protected from all of this," __________________ went to the bookshelf and took out a book that Germania brought back with him. Gilbert sat close to her as she flipped through it.

"Let's see....Krampus…Nachzehrer…Ah! Nachtkrapp! Okay, according to this, it devours and eats children but it left Tom and Franz alone....and only seems to have beef with you. Oh, here's something,"

"What?!"

"It says that the Nachtkrapp is very protective and very dangerous monster. It does devour children, usually to bring to its nest for other ravens. But when I child mistreats any raven in any way, it reports the offense to the Nachtkrapp. The Nachtkrapp will hunt down the offender until he or she dies. Once they are found, it will devour it's flesh and tear it's soul asunder as an example to all to respect all life, even the life of a raven," Gilbert became paler.

"W-What do I have to do to make amends?!"

"It doesn't say....unless you find the crow that mistreated you and ask for its forgiveness, then the Nachtkrapp is going to devour your soul,"

"THAT WAS YEARS AGO! IT COULD BE DEAD NOW!" ______________ shook her head.

"It was nice knowing you. Try not to get killed in plain sight. I don't want the boys to see their uncle's dead carcass before they eat,"

"Mean! Are you sure it doesn't say anything else?!"

"Well it does say that you have three days from when the Nachtkrapp saw you. So you have to survive for three days. If you can do that, then you're free to go,"

"Three days? Pfft easy. If I can survive Russia for months, I can survive this!"

"Mind you you're not fighting Russian soldiers, you're fighting a supernatural raven who is hellbent on killing you and have little spies all over the world that can hunt you down,"

"S-Spies?" she gestured to the crows on the trees outside. Gilbert immediately ran to his little backhouse and closed the door. ____________ giggled and looked outside. She had to admit though, having all those crows outside was a bit unsettling. they were harmless in the sense that they didn't want to hurt anyone but still. She then sees Franz going outside with what looked like the rotten wurst that Lutz had in the fridge. Edgar watched from a distance as Franz went back to him.

"Hey! Crows! This is for you!" he puts it down and within moments, the crows came down and started eating.

"That's so awesome! An animal that eats rotting flesh!"

"What else do they eat?" said Tom.

"Grains and nuts and things like that," said Edgar smiling.

"They need to eat more of that! You guys need a balanced diet!" Tom said happily. _____________ smiled and decided to start on dinner.

***
Gilbert, on the other hand, couldn't sleep a wink. Every time he dozed off, he heard pecking at his windows, he heard cawing in the middle of the night, and he heard "Dummkopf! Dummkopf! Dummkopf! Gilbert Dummkopf! Die! Die! Die!" he freaked him out so much that he broke into the house and cuddled next to Edgar, who in complete reflex clocked him in his sleep. He refused to sleep in the backhouse.

"You're a grown man who's terrified of imaginary voices," said Germania

"Pretty sad idiot and you fought in wars in Gott's sake," said Lutz, "Now you're scared of a story,"

"It's not a story!"

"Well I bet next time you'll think twice to mess with something smarter than you," said Edgar.

"This from the man terrified of women!"

"I'm not terrified; I'm just a bit....uncomfortable around them…"

"It took you a month to finally talk to _______________," said Lutz laughing.

"And you still refuse to be in the same room with her alone," said Germania. This went on for a few more nights until the day before Halloween, the third and last night. Gilbert tried to relax as Lutz came down with the boys.

"See you later,"

"Where are you going?"

"Going to the store and get the boys something to wear for Halloween," said Lutz, "Probably some face paint,"

“W-Where’s ____________?”

“At her father’s for a visit,” Gilbert gulped. Who knows when she’ll be back!

"Have fun Uncle Gil," said Franz grinning evilly.

"Ja," said Tom smiling sweetly, "Don't let the Nachtkrapp rip out your liver and eat it in front of you," Lutz ruffled his hair.

"You've been around your Uncle Edgar too much. But he's right Gilbert, try to survive," with that they left. Then Germania came downstairs with Edgar.

"Where are you two going?!"

"I'm going to my weekly sewing club," said Germania holding his bag, "I'm teaching those women how to embroider," Because Germania became easily bored, in decided to join the neighborhood sewing club. The women were happy to have him and they often made quilts and things like that for either charity or someone’s birthday, “I’ll be back soon,”

“A-And you?!” he looked at Edgar.

“I’m going to get some apples. I’m hungry and I ate the last few,”

“Let me go with you,”

“Nein, I can handle it,” with that, they left. He looked at the clock. Everyone was gone and he was left all alone. Gilbert was trying to relax as he sat in the house all alone. He in reality, he was on edge. He was shaking and too scared to even use the bathroom.

“Okay get a hold of yourself Gil…you fought in a WAR for crying out loud! You SURVIVED that war, surely you can survive this! Damn right! And now you’re going to march into that kitchen and get yourself a beer!” Gilbert got up and headed for the kitchen….only to be greeted to five crows glaring at him from the table. They started cawing in unison. Gilbert abandoned his beer and ran upstairs. He opened the door to his bedroom only to see a crow in the window.

“DIE DIE DIE!!!! Gilbert DIE! DUMMKOPF!”

“Scheiße!” he ran downstairs screaming and opened the door to reveal the Nachtkrapp standing in front of him. He screamed and ran to the kitchen to where the crows all promptly cawed and crowed at him. He didn’t care as he reached the backdoor. He was once again met with the Nachtkrapp, who this time grabbed him and pulled him outside into the darkness. Gilbert tried to fight to fight back to no avail as he flailed, begged, and pleated. He looked around and saw nothing but crows all around him and from all sides many creatures like the Nachtkrapp in different shapes and sizes.

“You have been a very bad man, Gilbert Beilschimdt,” said the creature in German, “It’s time for you to pay…with your life!” the Nachtkrapp spread its wings. He went to run but realized he was indeed surrounded. He closed his eyes and waited for death…only to be greeted with laughter. He looked up to see Lutz and Edgar taking off their masks.

“HA! He pissed himself!” said Lutz laughing.

“I guess we have to go back to potty training him,” said Edgar chuckling. The boys ran out of the backhouse to see Gilbert sobbing and glaring at them.

“Did we get him?!” said Franz

“Ja we got him,” Germania took off his disguise and looked at his son, “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,”

***
“THAT WAS A DIRTY TRICK!” he said glaring at them. After cleaning himself up, Germania brewed tea and passed out the Streusel.

“Serves you right for scaring the boys like you did,” said ___________

“You were in on this too?!”

“Yeah, I got you riled up enough so when the finale came, you’d wet yourself,”

“That was dirty,”

“You deserved it,” said Lutz.

“Where did the costumes come from?”

“The ladies and I worked on them. When I told them what you did, they were too happy to make three Nachtkrapp costumes,” said Germania, “And two smaller ones for the boys,”

“Who did I mean those days ago?”

“Me,” said Edgar, “I waited on Mr. O’Neil’s lawn. He was okay with it and even offered to make another mask,”

“Everyone’s against me,” pouted Gilbert, “So…who trained the crows?”

“The crows?” said Lutz

“JA! The crows that were in the kitchen and kept me up all night!”

“I thought you were kidding!”

“Nein!” just then, the crow from a few nights ago flew into the kitchen and landed on the table. It leered at Gilbert.

“DUMMKOPF! DIE! DIE! DUMMKOPF!”

“WHAT THE HELL?!” The crow then became big and started pecking and cawing at Gilbert who ran and tried to defend himself. Germania gently caught the bird, who glared intently at Gilbert from the corner.

“Wow…that crow hates you,” said Lutz. Edgar however stared at it and looked at it’s feet.

“Mein Gott, look,” he pointed to the blue talons. Lutz and Gilbert stared.

“Didn’t the crow in your story have blue feet?” said ______________

“JA! But it can’t be the same one! That was years ago,”

“True but I think this one is a descendant from the one that Gilbert attacked,” said Germania, “He’s probably been waiting for the right moment to strike but when Gilbert left, he followed from Germany and settled in that tree and he probably had a family there and taught his chicks to identify Gilbert,”

“Are you making this up?!” said Gilbert.

“Nein, crows are very intelligent and very vindictive birds. He’s probably heard us calling Gilbert Dummkopf a lot and when Franz play outside with hi toy soldiers, he picked up a few words and the rest is history,”

“Why now?! Of all the nights?!” the crow glared at him but then went to Tom and who dug into his pocket and gave him the oatmeal he had.

“I see,” said Edgar, “Since the boys feed him and we don’t bother him, that day you scared them triggered a reaction that you had to be stop in the crow’s mind,”

“So Mr. Crow was protecting us!” said Tom.

"Can we keep him Vati?!" said Franz petting the crow.

"Ja please?!"

"It calls Gilbert an idiot, attacks him, and loves wurst, sounds like the perfect drinking buddy,"

"Crows are free animals," said Edgar, "Sounds like he wants to be a part of things since he remembered our faces and names,"

"Especially since his father followed his sworn enemy from Germany and made a life here and then having his chicks grew up hating the dummkopf too. The crow earned my respect," said Germania

"Wow..." _______________ pets the crow fondly, "Poor thing," the crow fluttered to Tom's head and sat.

“He can stay as long as he wants,”

“YAY!” said Tom. Gilbert glared.

“NEIN! I need my sleep!”

“And you need to remember your actions always have consequences,” said Germania.

“What do we name it?” said Franz, “Wanna name him Opa?”

“Hmmm well, how about Krähe, since it’s a crow and all,”

“Okay! Krähe it is!”

“Do I get a say in this?!” said Gilbert.

“Nope, from now on Krähe outranks you,” said Lutz smirking, “Sweet dreams Bruder,”

“Gut Nacht Dummkopf,” said Edgar smirking as everyone headed off to bed.

“Sleep tight,” said Tom going upstairs.

“Don’t let Krähe bite,” said Franz following. Soon Gilbert was left alone in the kitchen. He yawned and was about to go outside when he saw the tree filled with crows. He closed the doors and decided to take his chances on the couch until morning.