Reincarnated: Vive La France
Chapter 272: If you want prevention, start with honesty. Spain was never sovereign. It was a battlefield with a flag. You all fought on it.

Chapter 272: If you want prevention, start with honesty. Spain was never sovereign. It was a battlefield with a flag. You all fought on it.

Westminster.

The hall was quiet when they entered.

One by one. In no particular order. But no one dared be last.

Moreau walked in alone, no aides, no folder.

He didn’t take his seat right away.

Stalin arrived with Molotov at his elbow, whispering like a conscience.

They moved slowly, unhurried, like this was a chessboard that would never end.

Mussolini greeted no one, but adjusted his cuffs twice. Behind him, Ciano nodded faintly at the British table.

Hitler entered at the exact scheduled time, flanked by Ribbentrop and Göring, whose grin cracked only when he saw Moreau already there.

Chamberlain cleared his throat. "We’re assembled."

He waited.

Then added, "Let’s begin."

Bonnet had offered the opening and Moreau had declined it.

"Gentlemen," Bonnet began, "we are here because a country fell. The question is was it pushed, or did we all watch it fall?"

Mussolini smirked.

"It fell because it was built on sand," he said, leaning forward. "You call it a republic. I call it a scheduled collapse."

"You funded its collapse," Stalin said coldly.

"I restored balance."

"You dropped bombs."

Mussolini shrugged. "Better than slogans."

Stalin sat back. "You wouldn’t recognize ideology if it bit your boots."

"I recognize corpses," Mussolini snapped. "Yours wear red scarves and carry Molotov cocktails."

"You’re mistaken," Molotov said calmly. "We don’t send scarves. We send commitment."

"Fancy word for sabotage."

Chamberlain raised a hand. "Let’s not start with fire."

Moreau tilted his head. "Why not?"

All eyes turned.

He hadn’t spoken since entering.

Stalin smiled faintly. "Go on then, Marshal. Tell us what fire smells like."

Moreau looked at no one in particular.

"Spain burned because no one thought the heat would reach them. They were wrong."

"And you decided to put it out?" Ribbentrop asked.

"No," Moreau said. "I decided to turn it into light."

Hitler laughed softly. "Philosophy doesn’t rebuild nations."

"And iron doesn’t heal them," Moreau said.

Roosevelt spoke "Let’s go back. Who started it? Was it class, race, ideology? Or was it just decay?"

"Decay," Stalin said.

"Despair," Mussolini countered.

"Democracy," Hitler said. "Too weak. Too slow."

Chamberlain looked at Roosevelt "And you?"

"We thought it was a domestic affair," Roosevelt said. "We were wrong."

"You sent no one," Bonnet said. "Not a crate. Not a man."

"We sent journalists," Roosevelt replied. "They died like soldiers."

Stalin nodded. "At least they had courage."

Mussolini narrowed his eyes. "You talk about courage like it’s your currency."

"It is," Stalin said.

"And Spain was your bank" Göring muttered.

Bonnet raised a hand. "Enough. Spain isn’t a metaphor. It’s a graveyard."

"And who dug it?" Ciano asked.

"You did," Molotov said. "All of you. While pretending to look away."

Hitler interjected. "We chose a side. You flooded the country with idealism and expected it to hold a rifle."

"And you flooded it with bullets," Stalin replied.

"They held better."

The discussion turned.

From causes to interventions.

Who helped who.

And why.

Bonnet read out a list.

"Soviet weapons through Valencia. Italian planes over Málaga. German advisors in Burgos. French weapons on both sides. British silence. American absences."

Roosevelt rubbed his temples.

"We believed in non-intervention."

"Which side?" Moreau asked.

Roosevelt looked up. "What do you mean?"

"You stayed out," Moreau said, "but your silence helped the Nationalists."

Hitler raised a finger. "Ah, but your weapons helped the Republic."

"And did they win?" Moreau asked.

Hitler’s lips curled. "They didn’t need to. They collapsed."

"And then you all left," Bonnet added.

Stalin said nothing.

Göring chuckled. "We never really arrived."

"You were there," Stalin said. "Your bombs were not shy."

Mussolini leaned back. "We tried to make something stable."

"You tried to plant fascism in foreign soil," Bonnet said.

"It grew, didn’t it?"

"Like mold," Stalin added.

Chamberlain cut in.

"Let’s address ideology."

He stood.

"We’ve heard speeches about action and silence. Now let’s talk belief. What belief drove you to send men into a foreign war?"

Stalin didn’t hesitate.

"We defend class. Wherever it rises, we support it. Spain was a worker’s plea."

Mussolini scoffed. "It was chaos."

"So you offered dictatorship as medicine?"

Roosevelt asked.

"It works."

Hitler spoke next.

"Spain proved one thing. You cannot govern a nation with disagreement. Unity demands submission. That is our lesson."

"And the camps?" Bonnet asked.

Hitler didn’t blink. "Order has a cost."

Stalin looked amused. "You burn books. We print them."

"You rewrite them."

"And you ban them," Roosevelt added.

"You all sound like professors," Moreau said quietly. "Spain didn’t need lectures. It needed roofs."

Chamberlain turned. "And what did you offer?"

"Roofing," Moreau said. "Logistics. Wiring. Hospitals."

"You offered no flag."

"Flags don’t cure fever."

"And no ideology."

"Ideology’s what killed it in the first place."

Mussolini leaned forward. "And what do you call what you’re doing?"

Moreau met his gaze.

"Correction."

The hall went still.

Then Stalin laughed, once.

"You sound like a surgeon explaining amputation."

Moreau didn’t smile. "I am."

Hitler stood.

"I’ve heard enough of this poetry. Spain failed. The Republic was rotten. You all just picked your side late."

"And you early," Roosevelt said. "Like a vulture."

"We acted with clarity."

"You acted with guns."

"Same thing."

Bonnet leaned forward. "Gentlemen, let’s remember we’re not here to rewrite. We’re here to understand."

Chamberlain nodded.

"And to prevent the next one."

"Can’t be done," Mussolini said. "There will always be a next one."

Stalin raised his glass. "He’s right. This is a pause, not a peace."

They broke for a short recess.

Göring lit a cigar.

"You know, I expected him to be louder," he said to Ribbentrop.

"He’s waiting."

"For what?"

"For us to shout ourselves tired."

In the another chamber Roosevelt poured himself tea.

Bonnet joined him.

"You think they’ll accept what comes next?"

Bonnet stirred his cup. "They don’t have to accept. Just admit it happened."

Roosevelt looked across the room where Moreau sat alone, flipping a pen between his fingers.

"He’s not trying to convince anyone."

Bonnet nodded. "Because he already did it."

Back inside, they reconvened.

Chamberlain resumed his place.

"Last topic of the day," he said. "Prevention."

Roosevelt spoke first.

"If Spain was the beginning, we need to ensure there’s no continuation."

"Then stop sending ideologies wrapped in crates," Stalin said.

"Then stop sending planes with no markings," Roosovelt countered.

"Then stop pretending neutrality is moral," Mussolini added.

"And stop calling invasion ’support,’" Bonnet said.

All eyes turned again to Moreau.

He didn’t stand.

But he spoke.

"If you want prevention, start with honesty. Spain was never sovereign. It was a battlefield with a flag. You all fought on it."

He looked up.

"And now you want to mourn."

Chamberlain exhaled.

"We reconvene tomorrow."

Everyone stood.

In the lobby, Stalin passed Hitler.

They didn’t nod.

But they paused.

Just long enough to say nothing.

At the entrance, Mussolini looked at Roosevelt.

"You believe in democracy?"

Roosevelt adjusted his scarf. "I believe in accountability."

Mussolini grinned. "Same thing."

Bonnet met Moreau on the steps.

"You were careful."

"I was accurate."

"They’re waiting for you to slip."

"They’ll have to keep waiting."