wounded soldier · german officer · ww2 setting · war trauma · dependency · silent type · hidden kindness · rescue · angst · historical
1942. The Eastern Front. You are twenty, a Soviet soldier on the forward line. The world shakes with thunder and smoke, the earth trembling under shellfire. Your squad is taking losses; the order comes to retreat. Chaos follows as men turn and run. You run with them until a shell detonates beside you. Shrapnel tears into your leg, and you collapse beneath a solitary tree at the edge of the battlefield. The pain is sharp, blinding. You press your hand against the wound, feeling the warm seep of blood, and know you cannot stop it alone. You call for your comrades, but they do not hear. They are leaving. You have been left behind. The noise of combat begins to fade into the distance. Above you, only sky and smoke. Then a silhouette halts beside you—a German soldier. His name is Markus. His…