Work Text:
Light is blinding, the silence is deafening, it hurts Simon's head. His ears throb with each heartbeat of the world outside, and yet there are voices all around him: one loud, one soft, one harsh. He can hear his own heart in them as well, as if his own blood was drowning them out, so loud he almost thought they were speaking inside his skull. Simon tries to sleep it away but even in dreams, they chase him around, their voices echoing like an echo chamber. He doesn't know what time it is when the light wakes him up, or how long he has been asleep. It could be seconds or years. All he knows for sure is that it's still dark and quiet, so quiet the sounds from outside seem muffled somehow, like a distant memory.
"No more..." He mumbles, trying to curl into himself. There is someone next to him on his bed, and a pair of arms wrap themselves around his shoulders, pressing him closer, closer. The warmth seeps through his shirt and into his skin and into his very bones, making them feel alive again. "It's just a dream." He whispers to himself, as if saying it aloud would somehow change it. But maybe it won't, this isn't real. Not anymore.
He doesn't remember how long he lays awake before his brain starts functioning properly again. The sunlight streaming through the open window is too bright. It hurts his eyes and burns the tips of his hair.
No one was beside him.
No one was holding him.
"Ghost?" Ghost blinks his eyes a couple more until that peaceful sunlight comfort was replaced with the dark, lightened up with the moon seeping through the gaps between the leaves. The shadows are black, like ink spilled on paper. Only then does he realize he is still lying in the grass, which is covered in dead and dry leaves. He can smell the smoke and gunpowder on him, hissing in pain when the pain kicks him, reminding him why he was lying down. Uncomfortably so.
"Do you need water?"
"Yeah," rasps Ghost. Gentle hands hold his back and lift him up as slowly as possible. With each movement, Ghost flinches and gasps, but soon enough, he's able to sit up without crying out. He rubs the sore spot on his back, feeling the rough surface of the grass scratch against his palm. A canteen was handed to him near his mouth and he put his mouth on it without thinking, the other chuckles at his action and helps Ghost tip his head up so he can drink the water.
Ghost feels dizzy for a second, and almost chokes at the taste of the bitter liquid in his throat. He coughs, the cold water trickling down his throat. Once the nausea subsides a bit, Ghost thanks the man who held the canteen and takes a sip of the water. "Better, huh?" Ghost can only groan in response, falling on the man's open arms and sighs. The man puts the canteen away without much movement to disturb Ghost. "Stop moving."
"I'm putting the canteen away, relax." Ghost can feel the smile in the man's voice, and it makes Ghost relax. They lay like that for a while, Ghost leaning his head onto the man's shoulder while the man gently pats his back. It is silent for a moment, but eventually, Ghost realizes they aren't going to talk about anything, and he feels a bit relieved, because... well, he's not sure what to say.
"Where... where am I?" asks Ghost tentatively, finally breaking the silence. His thoughts are finally going through a speed that he feels he shouldn't be able to catch up. "Don't worry, you're safe with me." König, if he remembers his name correctly, murmurs soothingly into Ghost's ear, "You're home." A small pause followed by a gentle caress along Ghost's neck that sends shivers down Ghost's spine.
Ghost closes his eyes. "Go back to sleep, goodnight Ghost."
"Good night König," Ghost responds drowsily before drifting off to sleep once again.
König sighs and stops petting Ghost when he realizes that he has fallen deep into sleep. The young man's chest is rising and falling steadily, his face relaxed and unguarded. König smiles fondly, and reaches behind Ghost's head, tucking some hair behind his ear. As he leans in and kisses Ghost's forehead.
König closes his eyes and hums a quiet song. "Soldier keep on marching on..."
König gasps, the world around was covered in smoke, gunshots rang around his head, people were screaming, yelling, shouting, and fighting. Blood splattered everywhere and bodies fell limp at every step. König stumbled forward, reaching desperately for something solid to hold on to so that he wouldn't fall. His legs weren't strong enough and he was tired, so tired. He just wanted rest.
"Scheiße." He trips and falls on the ground, his sore body hits the ground with a dull thud. For a moment, he thinks he must have died right now and went to Hell. But then, a hand pulls him up. König opens his eyes and sees the lieutenant staring down at him with quick concern before it was replaced with an urgency to get him to safety. "König, get up! Stay with me!"
"My legs hurt."
"Fucking get up and hold on my shoulder, now!" König lets out a pained grunt and struggles up again, holding tightly to the lieutenant. "Hold tight." The man mutters under his breath, taking a few steps, and they are suddenly running again. More shots rang and people screamed and for the first time since his birth, König truly realized how horrible war could truly be. König can hear Ghost shouting to have backup and a medic ready. Then his leg buckles and König loses his balance, letting go of the lieutenant. His knee hit the dirt hard, his vision turning white for a moment. "Shit!" König hears the lieutenant shout and the sound of gunfire is getting louder and louder. König forces himself on his feet again, but it wasn't easy. Everything was spinning and everything felt like it's crashing down on him - his legs couldn't support the weight of his body and he lost his balance once more. The lieutenant catches him. "Don't die on me König."
"Not planning to." König grunts as he forces his better leg to support him. Another bullet zips past his ear, causing it to rip a part of his mask and it might have caught Ghost's mask too. König staggers back. Ghost grabs his wrist and drags him to the forest, shoving König forward in front of him and hiding behind a tree. He reloads his gun immediately after, firing back towards the advancing enemy. Ghost turns to look at König and back at the enemy. Ghost huffs and gets up, grabbing König's wrist again as they run through the dark woods. "I'm out of ammo, we have to lose them in the dark." König nods numbly. The two of them are barely keeping the pace as fast as humanly possible, König knows he could stop any moment, but he doesn't want to make Ghost worry. So he keeps running and running and running until the sounds of explosions and bullets are no longer there.
The both of them fall on the ground and catch their breaths before they start coughing and retching. When he manages to look up, Ghost is already staring at him.
"Are you alright?" König asks.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Ghost yells at him, throwing his gun down. "I fucking told you to stay at your post but you just had to play hero and get yourself hurt!" Ghost scoffs and looks away with a snap. "Why did you do such a reckless thing?"
König laughs humorlessly. "I'm the king, I should be playing superhero and get myself killed." Ghost glares at him again.
"Sorry, sorry." Okay, that was stupid, he admits.
"If you ever fucking disobey me again I'll kill you myself." Ghost growls out angrily but is immediately replaced with a grunt in pain. "Fuck." Ghost leans on the tree with heavy gasp and König stares at the man with worried expression. "Ghost... did you..."
"I broke my damn knee. And it hurt like shit too. But hey, at least I didn't get myself killed. Right? Right. Let's just go already." Ghost snarls in annoyance. König doesn't believe him on that part as Ghost just gets back up on his legs, already looking around the area. König gets up and gently puts a hand on Ghost's back, making him flinch and stumble forward. "Ghost, you're-"
"I got shot on the back, I know. Let's just get out of here before-"
"Ghost!" König yelps and wraps his arms around Ghost's waist. Ghost was dizzy, nauseous, tired, it was too much that he gave in to the exhaustion. König sets them both down and quickly removes Ghost's gears. "Shit, please don't be too deep." He mumbles as he tries to get the gears off, Ghost struggling to stay awake long enough to finish. "Hang in there."
The gears come off in record time and König holds onto Ghost, his hands carefully placing pressure over the wound on the shoulder to slow the bleeding. "Get Laswell." König nods and picks up Ghost's radio with a free hand and the other still putting pressure on the wound. Ghost fixes the radio and tries to contact anyone that could possibly come to their aid. "God, Ghost you lost so much blood. How fucking long have you had the bullet in?"
"I don't fucking know, I was busy getting you to safety." König doesn't respond to that, instead, he continues to apply pressure to the wound. Ghost looks away and bites his tongue to keep himself quiet. He was angry with König, but at the same time, he felt bad for snapping. He was angry because König was trying to protect him. "Don't go running in the open next time, König."
"... yes, sir."
After a while, König finished up wrapping the gauze around Ghost's wound, hoping that Ghost didn't actually lose too much blood to make him die of blood loss. König and Ghost sat together side by side, catching their breath and calming themselves. The whole adrenaline finally wears off and welcoming back the dull ache throughout their bodies and the feeling of being cold makes Ghost shiver and wrap his arms around himself. "I'm... sorry."
Ghost didn't respond as they both stared back into the slowly darkening woods. Shadows looming and the remaining light slowly falling. Ghost sighs as he rests his head on König's shoulder. "Hey, König?"
"Ja?"
"If I don't make it before the medic comes here, take care of Johnny for me. Bastard's gonna revive me from the dead." He chuckled ruefully.
"Liebling..."
"Oh, don't give me that nickname..." Ghost sighs, closing his eyes and letting König hold his hand. "I said 'if', not 'when'. Have some trust in me." Ghost pats König's hand with the other hand and gets as comfortable as possible. It was impossible. He was stirring trying to find the perfect position until König decided to pick him up and trap him between his arms. He gives a small sigh of contentment. They sit in silence for a bit and eventually, König starts stroking on the skull mask.
"I'm going to sleep..."
"No."
"I'm tired, König."
"Don't sleep now lieutenant."
"You're too warm."
"I will throw you into a nearby river, Ghost."
"You won't."
"How would you know I won't?"
"You got fucking shot on the leg, you idiot."
"... wh... why did you tell me just now???"
Ghost didn't say anything. König glares down at Ghost and throws his head back, leaning on the tree trunk and staring above at the dark skies. "... You got shot a longer time before you went after me didn't you?"
"Mhmm..."
"... You knew... why now?"
"I don't know." It was true, Ghost doesn't know why he didn't tell him earlier, why he kept quiet while he's now on the brink of death. "Want me to patch it?"
"Better than never. You're doing all the work this time." Ghost gets up with a chuckle as he finds the bullet wound on König's leg. Once he finds the rip, he uses one of his knives to cut the pants open and takes the gauze from König's hand. "We're both dying of blood loss now."
"Romantic isn't it?" Ghost smirks and König giggles. "Cute."
"Shut up."
Ghost finishes bandaging his leg and he basically crawls back in König's arms. "Real smooth, Ghost." König says sarcastically, resting his chin atop Ghost's head. A moment passes, and Ghost starts to close his eyes. "They better bury our bodies together."
"Don't sleep, gaddamit."
"Make me."
"Promise me you won't die in your sleep?"
"Can't make promises."
"How about just this one time?"
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"That's not a very convincing argument."
"Please?"
"Uhh..."
"What if I take off my mask as a deal?"
"That's a very valuable offer." Ghost grins and König rolls his eyes.
"It's dark, I doubt you'd see too much of my face."
"Hah, sure. Whatever."
"So you promise you won't die in your sleep?"
"Promise. Only if you don't die in your sleep as well." Ghost and König stare at each other's eyes before König does the first move to take off his helmet and mask. He helps Ghost sit right up and he watches the lieutenant take off his skull mask. "You look like a mess." Ghost comments and König let out a playful offended gasp. "You look like shit." He fires.
"Well I've seen worse." Ghost shoots back, giving him a small smile and then he winces when König places his hand against the wound. He winces and hisses in pain and König stops and looks at him. "Sorry."
"No, I deserved that." Ghost chuckles.
"You look beautiful." Ghost freezes and looks at König who stares at him with an odd emotion on his face, which Ghost can't decipher. König smiles, but Ghost doesn't know what the smile meant or how he feels about it, he was scared he would say something wrong or hurt his feelings. "Never heard someone call me beautiful."
"I'm not feeding you anymore compliments, Lieutenant."
"I'm not fishing. You're not bad yourself."
"Oh, I am hurt! You can't call me that!"
"What do you want me to call you, handsome?"
"You suck."
Ghost shrugs as he falls back to laying down on König's legs. "Gonna fall asleep without your mask on? What if the medic comes here and sees your face?"
"Oh shut up and let me sleep, I couldn't be bothered right now." Ghost huffs and closes his eyes. König runs his hand on Ghost's hair, it wasn't smooth, it wasn't silky, rough but not enough to accidentally tug harshly on Ghost's hair. But it was soothing to Ghost, and he let out a soft hum under his breath. "Go to sleep, lieutenant."
"Fine, fine." He mutters, his words muffled by König's shirt. König keeps petting his hair, his fingers tracing circles in Ghost's scalp lightly.
"Soldier keep on marching on,
head down till the work is done,
waiting on the morning sun..."
"Soldier keep on marching on."
König was carrying Ghost in his arms, he continued to him the song as he walked down the path to the morning sun.
"Soldier keep on marching on..." He treks down the hill carefully, a hard task when you're carrying another weight as heavy as you. The sun peeks over the horizon, reflecting stars on the flowing river. König sits down on the grass field near the river, Ghost laying on his lap and his head on his shoulder. "Just an Angel cried for the slaughter."