The sounds of gunfire never seemed as loud as the labored, heaving breaths she took. The clouds of dirt and debris from the battle alone had her eyes watering, and the rubble in the streets only seemed to hinder rather than to hide her. The battle was falling to shit, and quickly. They'd made a small camp within the abandoned city for the week, their numbers down to nothing after their previous fight. They couldn't stay here much longer, but without support to they were doomed.
As a nation it was so easy to forget how quickly mortal soldiers die. Her whole squadron was down; some forever, most only wounded. War was chaos, and the back up they'd been pleading for was no where to be seen. Even with news of troops coming to aid it meant little until it happened. The men around her were always too young, too arrogant, eager to fight for their cause. Their lives were on her shoulders as a leader, able to take the brunt of the fighting unlike her subordinates.
A country couldn't truly die, but she'd be rendered useless for sometime if she was careless enough to get hurt. She was fighting for her life regardless. She couldn't afford to be invaded or conquered, and couldn't stand to watch her brethren countries share the same fate either. Her mind raced. There was so much more to say- but in the middle of a battle, in the midst of being followed by a particularly ruthless soldier- all Hungary could manage was just trying not to get shot.
" Damn it!" Hungary cursed, violently throwing her Frommer Stop to the floor. Without ammunition it was useless. She cursed again as a bullet pierced the wall right were her head had been mere instants before she jerked back. In a second's decision she vaulted over a car, using it shield from the spray of gunfire. The shots were too quick and wild to be someone experienced. It had to be new soldiers; arrogant, probably, if the laughter she heard was anything to go by. Laughter in war was only for the cruel or naive, rarely something to hear out of a true soldier amidst the front lines.
Glancing around was no help; a quick frantic scan showed no weapons in reach on the few bodies scattered in front of her. She'd have to resort to close combat. The was no way around this without getting dangerously close, there was just too much territory at stake. All the casualties on her side would have been in waste, there was nothing Hungary hated more than to see lives wasted in war.
In one controlled slow breath she drew her combat knife from it's sheath. Then she was up, weaving through the rubble and racing towards her opponents. She wouldn't kill if she could manage, but she was ruthless. The first man was down in seconds, without even a weapon to salvage. It was harder on the next- she still managed a blow to the head and a swift cut before they could make a sound. With their gun in hand the rest of them were easy enough to hold off, but she'd been wrong on just how many there were. From the few she could see more were undoubtedly on their way- how long could she last on her own? She'd run no fools errand- she needed back up-
"Just die already, boy!" Shouted an enraged voice. It was the only warning she had to move; barely giving her a chance to dodge a mortar. The blast threw her back, rolling into the side of the card hard enough for her to cry out. She gasped in the smoke, nearly chocking on the heat alone only to see another gun pointing at her just feet away. Her gun was no where in sight now-
"Fuck-"
The sound of a bullet had her scrunching her eyes- bracing herself for the pain, they always went for the heart. It ached for months. ….
She opened her eyes only to see a dirtied hand thrust in her face. Even through the sun and shade of his hat, Prussia's unusual eyes managed to radiate a gleaming smugness.
"You? " Hungary gaped, unable to keep the mild wonder out of her voice. When she'd asked for more troops she'd expected her own to volunteer...but Prussia?She peered around him, seeing the man from before lying motionless. There were no other opposing militia in sight. It was over.
"You saved me?" She said again, face scrunching up in disbelief.
" Yeah. You're welcome." Prussia snorted, taking offense to the shock just as he took his hand back seeing as Hungary wasn't going to take it anytime soon. The sound of foot steps jarred her, but Prussia smiled, greeting his men then barking orders at them to secure the area.
His hand fell with a snort, rolling his eyes and just grabbing her by the arms to stand her up. " Get up already would'ya? Warriors like us don't crawl around on the floor like dogs." He snarked, smirk replaced with annoyance. But even his crass didn't seem to ground her. The sound of gunfire was gone, and she found herself in disbelief at how easily Prussia's troops had swept- and could only think of how having them even just a day late would've saved so many lives, let alone the four days they'd been waiting on top of that.
"You're late, asshole! Do you have any idea how many men I've lost?"
"Casualties of war, Hungary." Prussia replied, just as testily, "Literally."
"You know what I mean!" She said, even farther from thankful now, shoving his hands off of her. Half of her screamed out outright strangle the look of humor off his face.
"Alright already!" He said, looking just as pissed now, if not embarrassed "There was an ambush on our way to you, okay? It was bad, would've been worse if they'd gotten here first. Even fully supplied we had trouble. I mean it. They would've wiped your fleet out completely."
His voice had turned severe, the only way she could ever tell when he cared about something other than his ego. She sighed, giving a tight nod- if nothing else, they shared a bond through their ways in war. Getting the jump on Prussia was nearly unheard of; even more so for him to admit it.
"Alright." Hungary relented.
"Now relax for a moment will ya? I don' think you've noticed but you've gotta a pretty messed up wound on your head."
"Shit-" She swore, hand going up to find the wound only for Prussia to smack her hands away-
"Well don't just jab your dirty fingers into it idiot- we've got medics for a reason. God, you're grosser than I am sometimes, ugh- C'mon." he said impatiently, tugging at her arm to walk. Impudently she wormed her arm away, walking on her own with her head held high- she'd ask for a bandage at best, there was no need to treat her like a doll when she was anything but.
It felt like déjà vu for her, just to walk beside him like this again. She hadn't even expected to see this far in the fight, even if she knew they were allied. They stopped as Prussia paused in front of the man who'd nearly shot her. He looked to be a corporal, face still twisted in anger. With a bit of a more force than needed, Prussia toed the mans body to face away from sight.
"That guy a pretty big idiot to be so distinguished." he huffed.
"What? He would've easily killed a soldier in my position if you hadn't shown up." She said, facing at him with confusion. Thoughts started to peak into her head, making her nearly gape again. Was he trying to make her feel better at getting bested by a human? Did he actually care about her beyond just saving an ally out of obligation?
"I mean he thought you were a dude." Prussia interrupted her thoughts, looking aghast.
"Oh- mygod." She threw arms out, resiting the urge to smack herself.
"What? He called you a boy, didn't you hear him? I mean-" He gestured to his chest in exaggeration. Hungary pinched the bridge of her nose, resisting the urge to smack him now.
" Jesus...I should've just let him shoot me."
""What!? Why? Wait- where are you going? Wait up!"