Faith, Trust, and Confidence (solo) (finished)

Jannik Leiftur's cell was sparse, but comfortable enough as he lay on his bed thumbing through his book.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

"I thought you would want to talk" Brigadier Kaleb Stahl remarked, sitting down on a chair just outside the cell that the guards had left for him.

"I don't talk to traitors" Leiftur growled as he remained focused on his book.

Stahl shrugged, not letting Leiftur's remark get to him.
"You've been sentenced to death Jannik. You don't want to talk about it?"

"Now Kaleb" Leiftur remarked, setting his book down, "are you trying to get me to confess that I'm scared? Or remorseful?"

Kaleb sighed, slightly frustrated.
"You don't have much time left in this world, Jannik. I thought maybe...you'd want to talk about...something. I'm not looking for a confession of anything. I just thought you'd someone to talk to."

Jannik grunted.
"What were you expected, Kaleb? That we'd have a long talk about life and past regrets? One last moment to bond?"

Stahl just shrugged.
"It might be good for you. To let go of the hate."

"Hate keeps me going Kaleb" Jannik shot back.
"Hatred for my bosses in the pits. Hatred for the police who broke up our rallies, back before you were even a sperm in your father's balls. I hated the King, I hated the Thanes, I hated the Church. And it drove me. It brought me to..."

"Death row?" Kaleb asked.

"I was the architect of a better society. I don't expect a traitor like you to understand the sacrifices that had to be made, but I regret nothing."

"And here you are" Stahl replied.
"Everything you did landed you here. Blood of millions on your hands and you're about to be executed. Good job, that."

"I'll die with conviction at least. What will you die with?"

"Hopefully? After living a full, happy life with my husband" Stahl said with a shrug.
"What I did for you, what I tried to do, I'll live with it for the rest of my life. At least I'm not defiantly defending it. You'll go down an angry martyr to a shrinking crowd of fanatics, Jannik. Is that all your anger and ambition got you?"

"I'll enter oblivion knowing I was right, that's what it got me."

Kaleb nodded.
"Good talk Jannik" he said as he got up from the chair.
"I just didn't expect someone with this much conviction to beg the King of all people to commute the sentence from death to life in prison."

"I'm merely curious as to what he'll say" Jannik replied, returning to his book.

"I'm sure you are" Kaleb replied.
"The afterlife, oblivion, whatever. I hope you find peace wherever you go."

"Piss off Kaleb" Jannik said, not even looking up from his book now.

Stahl nodded, leaving. Unsure if it was even worth it to come.

IC:

"I wonder when it will come" Jannik thought as he lay in his cell's bed. It was dark and grey outside, and even in his cell? He could hear the faint patter of raindrops.

"The King's rejection. Will it come soon? Will it come closer to the date of execution? Will he think he's making me sweat?" he chuckled at the notion that the little shit William Aubyn thrust onto the throne of Prydania actually thought he expected his mercy.

Still...he considered the possibility of a last second reprieve. Perhaps by the pretender King making a show of mercy. He chuckled again, but this time...there was the brightest bit of hope that this would happen. That if this happened...he wouldn't die. He shook it off. No. He was committed to his fate. The likeliest thing was that his appeal was denied. He was just curious as to how it would be worded? Formal? Stern? Angry? Aloof? It was a case of academic curiosity, he insisted to himself.

He lay there, eyes closed. He wasn't tired, nor in danger of drifting off. Still, it was relaxing to hear the faint fall of the rain.

"You have a guest" a guard replied, snapping him out of his relaxation. Jannik looked up from his bed.
"Who?" he asked. He was genuinely curious. Kaleb again? As much as seeing him irritated him it was the only rational answer. No way would they let a sympathizer see him. And the journalists? He'd given enough journalists from across Craviter headaches. He doubted anymore wanted to see him.
"Well? Who is it?" The guard just glared at him before walking away. Jannik, for his part, just sat up in his bed. Wondering who would emerge before his cell. He was could hardly believe it when he saw who it was, but it caused him to crack up.

"Oh Your Majesty" he said mockingly.
"How good it is to see you. They let you out of Absalonhöll without William or Magnus to chaperone, did they?"

Tobias, dressed in a formal blue officer's uniform, said nothing. Not reacting to a thing. Jannik, however, stood.
"I admit, I thought any dramatic action on your part would come closer to the date of my scheduled execution" he chuckled as he stood before the King, separated only by the cell bars. Tobias remained silent.

"So why have you come? To tell me to rot in hell?" Jannik asked.
"I don't think I'm wrong to guess you're not going to spare my life. So tell me" he sneered.
"Why are you here? To rain down insults? To gloat? To get some sort of closure for the 'crimes' you lay at my feet? Come on" he said with a grin, wanting to take the wind out of the King's sails. That he came here personally meant he must want to unload on him. He'd dare him to. See how brave this young King was after he was called out on his childishness.

"Come on, let me hear it. You won't grant mercy to a man who signed the death warrants of your family? Is that it? If only you knew the crimes they were guilty of, and the corruption your line represents. So tell me I'm wicked for trying to snuff that out! Tell me! I could use a good joke before your jackboots shoot me."

Tobias still didn't reply, his eyes looked on Jannik's, but otherwise not moving or saying a thing.

"You're going to try to go on about the churches or the farms?" he asked with mocked concern.
"Or the Shaddaists? Please tell me it's the Shaddaists. Yes, please. Make my day by showing me a Loðbrók concerned with religious freedom. It would make you as much a hypocrite as you'd be by sentencing me to die, you know. I kill, you kill...you just prove all I did was necessary."

Tobias still said nothing, only tilting his head as he watched Jannik go on.

"You came all this way, Tobias" Jannik added, not even feigning sincerity with royal styles.
"Nothing you say can hurt me. Or make me fear my death. I die a martyr to the oppression inherent your existence. So fucking tell me all about your rage" he said self-assured.
"So I can have one more laugh before I die."

Tobias sighed a bit.
"You appealed to me, seeking to commute your sentence from death to life in prison. As King, I deny your appeal." He took a small white envelope containing the official refusal and slipped it between the bars. It fell by Jannik's feet.

"And?" Jannik asked.
Tobias just turned, leaving. Not saying another word.

"Is that it?" Jannik called out after him, laughing. He pressed his face against the bars, but his view of the hallway was limited and soon the King was out of his line of sight.

"IS THAT IT?" he called out again, turning around in his cell.
That's all. No bluster, no anger, no tantrum, no moralizing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing! NOTHING!

"IS THAT IT?" he called again...no answer.
"IS THAT IT?" he added, this time in frustrated anger, picking up one of the few books he was allowed, tossing it at the bars in anger. The old book exploded, pages flying everywhere. His face red, his nerves on edge, his heart racing.

He screamed again, as a million other things he could have said to Tobias ran through his head. He'd likely never see him again. Not directly like this...and he'd...he'd wasted his chance to make his point.

---

Sound of Silence by J2, 4:59

The sky was grey, and it was barely raining. More like a soft mist. Jannik Leiftur, wearing nothing but a grey prison uniform and cuffs holding his wrists together behind his back. A guard lead him from the prison building to a large stone wall in the courtyard Briarviður Prison.

The guard placed him in front of the wall, the rain coming down. Leiftur looked up at the guard towers. Between the guards in the guard towers and the soldiers lined up before him? He couldn't run. He looked up towards the far wall. He couldn't hear much beyond the sound of distant thunder. He felt something of a pit in his stomach opening up. If there were pro-Syndicalist protesters he couldn't hear it.

---

The front gate of Briarviður was watched over by prison guards and police. No one knew what to expect for Leiftur's execution regarding Syndicalist protesters, and as such the police presence had been beefed up. As it turned out? There were about double the number of prison guards and police officers compared to protesters. An older woman held up a sign that said "NO VICTOR'S JUSTICE" with a few people standing next to her in the rain. Two guys had flags, one of the Syndicalist Party, one of the Syndicalist Republic.

"We letting those two go on the flags?" an officer asked his sergeant. Display of Syndicalist Party apparel or Syndicalist Republic banners was illegal. Had been since the party and regime were declared criminal enterprises.

"More or less. We book 'em. Fine 'em, let 'em walk after confiscating the flags. Orders say nothing more than that. Take Bak and Knud, get 'em in the the cruisers. Head back to process them once that son of a bitch is dead."

---

"Would you like a blindfold?" the guard asked Leiftur as he stood him in place.

"I've not been blind for a long time. I won't die blind."

The guard nodded, offering him a cigarette. Leiftur chuckled. It was hard to turn down, but he contemplated saying no. One more act of defiance. And yet...he sighed and nodded. What was one last pleasure.
The guard returned the nod and placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it for him, the flame having no trouble keeping its form in the light spray that was passing as rain. He left Jannik's side, leaving him to his thoughts.

"Where did it all go wrong?" he thought as he stared down the line of armed soldiers. Was it their decision to not pound the FNU too hard? It wasn't that much of a threat...until it was. So many things that could have been done differently in hindsight.

"Any last words?" the guard yelled.

"For an equal Prydania!" he yelled defiantly, even as he began to panic inside.

"AIM!" the guard who'd given him the cigarette yelled.

What if he hadn't gotten involved in politics? He could have worked his life in the mines. Payed his union dues. Maybe have a quiet family life in Rakjandi. Of course this wouldn't have stopped the fascists in the 80s...

"READY!"

Oh that cigarette was good...but maybe the fascists wouldn't have gotten power? Who knew if the SoComm comeback in the 80s would have been possible without a radical Syndicalist Party pushing supporters into their arms....
He'd done what he did though. For the right reasons, he told himself. May that be enough, wherever he ended up....

"FIRE!"

The sound of guns going off echoed through the courtyard as Jannik Leiftur's dead body dropped to the ground.

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Ríkisútvarpið @RÚV • 2y


We can confirm that Jannik Leiftur is dead, having been executed via firing squad.

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107 Retwitches • 1.4k Likes

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