[APH] All I Ever Learned From Love
Chapter One: A Soldier's Heart
[Year: 1927]
It was a brilliant summer afternoon, not like the others. It was a day in the past, when a boy who has lost his childish innocence all too quickly, tends to always commemorate in adulthood, as if it were the only happy memory of his childhood, of his past self that he could remember.
The sky seemed like the perfect blue, the amber wheat in the overgrown, spacious field danced and bowed when a soft wind picked up. A single tall oak tree in the middle of the endless fields of green and amber was the only thing that had a small inkling of importance and history. Gossamer-like clouds adorned the great blue sky and their colours seemed to intermix with each other, creating spots of beryl, pearl, and baby blue. It seems strange how one could remember every detail about a scenic place after so many years, but if it means so much to a person's life, it's too hard to forget.
A small blonde toddler giggled as he was lifted onto his older brother's strong pale shoulders. The younger boy squealed with joy, "Big Bruder, I'm so tall now! Run with me, please?" he begged as he wrapped his small thin arms around the older boy's neck, ready to hold on for dear life if his brother planned to dash off. The older boy chuckled slightly, grinning up at the toddler. "Ja! The awesome me will run you around this entire field just for you, Ludwig!" Without a moment of hesitation, he dashed around the field, zigzagging and running in circles, earning loud giggles and childish exclamations from the blond tot. The older boy ran in all sorts of directions, keeping his small brother happy. He started to sweat from running and having the rather heavy precious cargo on his back. He decided to end his running, by letting the blond down under the shady, ample oak tree. "That's enough for a while." The older boy said breathlessly, a bead of sweat running down his pale face. "You're getting so big, it's getting hard to carry you! It's hurting my awesome back!" He chuckled. "Sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, Gilly!" The fair-haired little boy cried nervously, afraid he hurt his older brother. The younger brother's pale blue eyes watering at the mere thought. His tiny blond eyebrows upturned in sadness. "It's fine, Bruder! You're just getting bigger. That's a good thing, if you want my opinion." The older brother replied, shrugging his shoulders casually. The smaller boy let out a relieved sigh and smiled brightly, "It is? Yay! I'm so happy I'm finally growing! Maybe I'll be as big as you one day!" he giggled again, toddling over to hug the taller boy's legs tightly. "Maybe someday!" the older lad chuckled, and patted his younger sibling's head lovingly. After the loving embrace, the two broke away. "I think I'm going to lie down. I'm a bit tired." The older brother concluded. The two lay down on their backs next to each other on the soft emerald grass under the shade and protection of the large oak tree that towered above them. The older boy with his hands behind his head, and the other with his small arms spread out. "Gilbert?" The smaller brother asked softly. "Hm?" The older boy replied, quite shocked that his younger brother used his real name. "What do you want to be? You know, when you're all big and grown up? What do you want to do with your life?" The toddler asked curiously. "Well, I would like to become a soldier." the older boy revealed with much enthusiasm. "Wow! Really?" he asked, stunned and amazed at what his older brother's goals were. His blue eyes widening at the thought of his brother being a big, strong war hero. "Yes, that's right! I want to come back home one day being a hero of war!" he told his brother with a wide grin across his pale face and his dark vermillion eyes glowing with childhood innocence and wide-eyed dreams. "Wow, I want to be a strong soldier, too!" the blond exclaimed. The elder brother chuckled at his younger brother's desire to follow in his older brother's footsteps. "Well, it'll take a lot of training, but we'll both get there someday." He smiled as his eyes panned upwards at the now goldenrod-coloured sky. The bright setting sun was hidden behind the clouds and its light painted the sky a brilliant golden. The older boy sighed, finally starting to relax and take in the beauty of the setting sun. "I never want this moment to end…" he thought to himself.
Sadly, that was all in the past.
[Fifteen Years Later, 1942]
The older boy grew up to be a strong man. He went through several harsh, grueling years of military training and attended numerous military academies. He then decided to partake fearlessly in minor missions to heighten his ranks. Years later, he became a Sergeant Major of the Prussian Army. The War, one of the biggest challenges that he was ever going to face, was right on the verge of breaking out between the Kingdom of Prussia and Russia. Sergeant Major Gilbert Beilschmidt was a vital power in this war and he wasn't about to give up the fight to anyone.
The potent smell of gunpowder and blood resided in the air. It hasn't been a mere year of war and already, so many soldiers from both the Prussian side and Russian side have fallen, and some who were merely wounded were taken to battlefield hospitals, run by young nurses. The young Sergeant dashed toward the Russian enemy lines, ammunition and weapons in hand. With every step the fair-skinned man took on the bloodstained grass was another step closer to a risk of death. He came to a group of about 5 Russians and shot at them from a rather close distance, sending the majority of them down in defeat. One of the Russians who survived the continuous shots aimed rather high at the Prussian man and pulled the trigger sending numerous bullets in the direction of their target. The young solider felt an excruciating burning pain in his left eye and shoulder, sending him downward as well. To prevent any future injuries, he closed his only sufficient eye and let his body go limp, feeling himself go in and out of consciousness slowly. Blinding light, then fading darkness. "Lassen Preussen haben irhen Sieg…" he whispered to himself as he lost all consciousness.
The empty darkness that once surrounded the young man turned to a light grey, and the light started to return. Sounds where still very hazy to him, he could only hear a few muffled things that were around him, nurses talking, distant gunshots. Along with his vision and hearing returning, the pain overthrew him once again and he winced, hissing at the blasting pain in his left eye and his left shoulder. His hand shot up to touch his eye but something was obscuring it. Something paper-like and soft that wrapped around his head, messing up his silver-coloured hair. His opposite eye was scanning around the room, trying to see where he was. He was in a tan-coloured canvas tent with many nurses working on wounded soldiers. Some patients on the cold ground, some in beds like the one Gilbert was in. Although, it was hard to tell which hospital it was. Soldiers from both sides were being taken care of, even though the countries had their own designated hospital.
The young man tried to attempt to sit up but failed when the pain in his right shoulder shot through his body like a shockwave, he gasped and flopped back onto the bed. This action caught the attention of a rather beautiful nurse. She was very small, but she looked strong at the same time. She wore a Navy Blue nurse uniform with three white stripes around the edge of the sleeves, and neckline. She had large emerald coloured eyes, with chocolate chest-length hair. She was just so beautiful that the young man couldn't help but stare as she made her way over to him excitedly with a cheerful smile, yet at the same time, with a look of serious concern. "Jo! Felebredt! Uram? Hogy erzed magad?" The young woman spoke in her native tongue. A language that Gilbert has never heard before. He shook his head and asked, "Deutsch?" The nurse shook her head and asked, "English? Do you speak English?" Her accent still apparent through the words she spoke. The young man's face lit up with a kind smile. Ah, yes! At last, a language they both could fully understand. Gilbert nodded. "Yes. I speak English!" he replied, his own accent shining through as well. "How do feel? You have been unconscious for two days exactly! You're very much lucky that you survived!" she told him. "I.. I have?" he asked hoarsely. "Yes. When I found you, I thought for sure you were gone, but I had some hope that you were still alive! So I brought you here, cleaned and wrapped your wounds and waited." She exclaimed with so much emotion, he could have sworn she was telling a story to a small child. "Well…Danke so much…" he said, a German word slipping from his lips. "Danke? What does 'Danke' mean?" she asked, her head tilted curiously to the side like a small child's. "It means 'Thank you' in German." He explained to her, his voice still raspy. "Ah! I see! Well, Danke, too!" she said with a small giggle. "For what?" he turned his head slightly to the side in confusion. "For just being…alive!" she said with a beautiful smile. "And for fighting…" she said, her voice suddenly getting a sullen tone. Her smile disappearing. "I would have fought in the army myself, but women are only good for nursing. That's the closest I could get to being on the battlefield." She told him, her eyebrows knitted together in seriousness. The Prussian man let out a scoff and shook his head. "I'm sure you wouldn't want to. It's really harsh and traumatizing for someone like you. Sometimes, even I wonder why I still keep fighting. " The young woman looked curiously into Gilbert's crimson eyes, as if she wanted to know all of Gilbert's innermost thoughts in a single gaze. "Well why? Why do you keep fighting?" she asked. The young man half-smiled and averted his eyes to the oppisite direction, "Soldier's heart, I assume." "And what would you say that is?" she questioned, moving closer to him, interested in what he really had to say. "It means for me that in your heart, you are a soldier. Constantly you have to keep fighting…even with yourself…" he said, his tone growing grim. "But, that might be different than to what you think a real Soldier's heart is." He said, sadly smiling, looking back into her emerald eyes. "I see…" she nodded slowly. "I think that sounds about right!" she giggled. "What's your name, Soldier?" she asked. "My name is Sargeant Major Gilbert Beilschmidt." He told her with as much pride as he could muster, even in a broken state such as this. "What is your name, my dear?" he returned the question. "My name is Elizabeta Hedervary. You must be a high ranking power, Mister Beildschmidt!" she told him with slight florid tint on her cheeks. "Not at in the slightest. And Please, just call me Gilbert." He told her, faking annoyance. "Okay…Gilbert...But why don't you think you're a high power? A Sargent Major is pretty high in military ranking, isn't it?" she asked quizzically. "Because…if a high powered man like me, who always told everyone he was better than the rest, would get hurt so early into battle, I'm not as powerful as I seem, right?" he asked, his tone again darkening with grim thoughts, his eyes once more averting to another point in the room. "Not at all. Just be happy that you're alright. Be thankful that you're still alive, still breathing. Some of your men got killed out there, yet here you are, recovering from your wounds that won't keep you from your country's fight. Isn't that powerful enough?" she asked, adding emphasis to her words so that the Prussian could truly understand the point she was getting at. Gilbert half smiled once again and looked into Elizebeta's eyes. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that." He chuckled slightly. "Of course! Now lie back down and get some rest! You're going to need it if you have any intention of feeling better!" Elizabeta instructed as she pulled a homemade blanket over him. "Sweet Dreams!" she told him as she walked away. He smiled to himself as the young nurse walked on, tending to other patients. "As if she wasn't a dream herself…" he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
[A/N- Phew~! First Chapter Done, Done, and DONE! I hope you all enjoyed it! But this is only the beginning! I hope you all liked the very first chapter and continue reading! Don't fret, because I'll be writing the second chapter and it will be up before you know it! Thank you so much everyone for reading the first chapter of "All I Ever Learned From Love" And be on the lookout for Chapter Two! ]
Translations:
Bruder [German]- "Brother".
Lassen Preussen haben ihren Sieg [German]- "Let Prussia have its victory."
Jo! Felebredt! Uram? Hogy erzed magad? [Hungarian] "Good! He woke up! Sir? How do you feel?"
Danke [German]- "Thank you."