Chapter Text
The boy in the bed lay so still that anyone would like he was dead. However, you knew he wasn’t dead. He was the only one who was still alive. You strode through the church-turned- emergency -hospital, towards his bed where he was tucked away in one of the lesser-used cloisters. On the table next to his bed were various glass bottles of medication. The boy wore a heavy linin bandage over his eyes. It was the same colour as the shirt he wore. You reached out to wake your patient, but Mathew always seemed to be awake before you got there. Without asking he opened his mouth for you. He always seemed to know what you wanted without ever asking.
You peered into his mouth and visibly cringed, it took all of your effort to not recoil and cringe away at the sight of the white hardened blisters that lined his cheeks, tongue, roof of his mouth and how the disappeared down the back of his throat and most likely into his lungs. You had treated other soldiers in this ward with the same painful blistering, all of which had perished. Luckily you had ripped off his gas-soaked heavy brown woolen uniform when he arrived at the hospital before blisters could appear on the rest of his body. Unfortunately holding the garments caused white blisters to bloom all over your palms, which you had gotten bandaged up.
“I don’t know how you haven’t died yet” You muttered.
“I wish I could die” he murmured very softly.
You must have misheard him.
“Can I feel your face?” he asked very softly. You stumbled for half a heartbeat before saying
“I need to change your bandage” You noted in that moment how long his dirty blonde hair had gotten in the past few weeks he had been here.
You reached out your hands, touching the fabric that was soaked in sodium hypochlorite the same stuff your own bandages were soaked in.
His cold fingers brushed against your wrists. “Please?” this time you paused for more than half a heartbeat before wordlessly guiding his hands up to your face. Allowing him to brush his fingertips over your cheekbones, then your lips. You struggled to keep breathing even as you closed your eyes so he could run his thumbs lightly over your eyelids, before reaching higher to touch your hairline. He moved a hand down to cup your cheek-
“Hi, I’m looking for-OH MY GOD MATHEW”
You jumped up and spun around. You instinctively hid your patient behind you as you saw a boy in a foreign uniform you had never seen before approach, heavy combat boots echoing in the stone hall. “Oh my god! His eyes! MATHEW ARE YOU OK?! WHAT HAPPENED?!” you winced at his incessant yelling.
“it was a gas attack-“you tried to explain.
“A WHAT?!” You swallowed thickly, wondering if a rogue solider delirious with shellshock and somehow managed to wonder in, uninvited. You licked your lips nervously.
“Sir... you-you need to calm down or leave-“You started.
“It’s ok (Y/N) this is my brother. Alfred Jones” Mathew said gently.
You peered suspiciously up at the boy and did see a resemblance in the ash blonde hair and facial structure. You wondered if Mathew’s eyes were also sky blue.
“Alfred, this is my nurse (Y/N) (L/N). She’s been such an angle to me”
You felt your cheeks flush, turning away quickly so Alfred wouldn’t see it. “What gas attack.” Alfred asked again in a much calmer tone. “The one last month… the Germans... we think it was chlorine- “
“GERMANY DID THIS?!”
“Alfred please” Mathew said feebly. “(Y/N), please may I speak to my brother alone?”
You glanced uncertainly at your patient. “Are you sure you should be talking so much? Your mouth blisters- “
“MOUTH BLSITERS?!”
“If you shriek one more time, I will throw you out” you snapped japing a finger into his chest. You saw his lips twitch into a small smirk before he raised his hands in mock surrender. You rolled your eyes before sweeping out of the cloister, closing the door behind you. Yet you couldn’t help but press your ear against it.
“I don’t want to do this anymore, America.” You heard Mathew say sounding older and more tired than ever. “All of these politics... all this horrendous death and destruction in the name of power….. I’m done with it… I want to be normal. I want to settle down with a nice girl like (Y/N), live on a farm. Have my own sons and daughters”
There was a brief moment of silence before Alfred’s harsh laughter echoed through the arched cloister roofs
“What? You’ve never wanted that?” Mathew demanded defensively.
“More than anything, Canada. But you know we can’t. We aren’t mortal. I’m not even sure if we can have children. Though I’d love to pull up (Y/N)’s skirt and-”. You stopped listening when you noticed a letter on the floor, no address, no stamps, just your name written on the front. You hesitantly picked it up, breaking the plain seal and your eyes widened as you read the content.
That’s when you heard a loud crack and the shattering of glass from inside the ward.