AN: Deanon from kink meme. The request was "nations finding war romantic", so here is that. Warning for violent imagery and trivialised thoughts of death.
szerelem
Near Budapest, 1003
To him, she is a work of art.
The sunlight weaving into her hair suits her; the gleam of death in her eyes greets the dawn. Strands of her hair are sticky with congealed blood, pressed to her left cheek and the slope of her neck – it hides the bruises.
"What do you think?" Hungary says with a grin. Her breaths are steady, heaving; she's been exerting herself again, and it's left her needy for air and approval. "Looks good, doesn't it?"
"It does," Bulgaria concedes. He's kneeling in the centre of the bloodied grounds, so he has a good view of the Danube plains. Right now they're breathtaking, truly; the sight that meets his eyes has stolen his ability to formulate meaningful sentences, so he tells her such, earnest. "I... I don't know what to say."
Hungary's grin becomes a beam. "You like it, then? Is it good enough?"
Bulgaria thinks for a moment before responding. He's known for a while that Hungary has a crush on him, but he didn't know she would go to these lengths just to prove it. She has the dramatic flair of some of her neighbours, but she's more subtle about it. Her decision to fight him was completely unexpected, wholesomely welcomed.
He likes being wooed.
"Of course it's good," Bulgaria replies eventually, gently easing himself to his feet. He keeps his answer cryptic, calculated; he wouldn't want to get the poor girl's hopes up when he isn't entirely sure how he feels about her yet. "It's one of the prettiest things I've ever seen."
"This will be even prettier," she says, gesturing to the hillside, "when they're all dead."
His gaze follows her gesture. Aside from the corpses, there's no sign that there was ever a battle here, and if he couldn't hear the drum of footsteps in the distance, he would almost describe the scene as peaceful. More soldiers are on their way, be it by foot or by horse, and very soon the battle will have to recommence.
For now, Bulgaria enjoys her handiwork.
She's worked wonders with his people, their limbs spread ragdoll-limp over blushed grass. They died in such interesting ways; though they met their ends at her sword, and the swords of her army, they didn't just die from the regular slashes and hacks. Patterns have been carved, marks have been made.
The nicest part, however, is how she's arranged her own deceased. Some, she's left to float in the Danube itself, dyeing the waters crimson, shades matching the sunset atop the horizon. Others, she's draped with flowers – bouquets, all for him, rigor-mortis hands clutching stems of just-blooming tulips.
"I'm not going to be dishonest with you," Hungary says. "You're probably going to lose this war. But it's worth it, isn't it? We can burn settlements, if you like."
That sounds like fun, Bulgaria has to admit. To stand side by side, hand in hand, with a gorgeous woman, as the screams trill higher over rising flames. The taste of smoke – the mere scent of it – is something truly intoxicating, when mixed with battlefield highs.
"Do you think we've got a chance now?" Hungary asks, almost hesitantly. "You don't have to say yes just yet. I know I need to make it better, I can give you more. But just... nod if you think maybe. Nod for maybe, because it doesn't mean yes with you anyway."
Before he can react to her plea in any way, the air is broken by the shrieks of Magyar voices, approaching from the west. Bulgaria closes his eyes, just for a second, and he can hear the heartbeats of Hungary's military, their heads swimming with nationalistic thoughts and somewhat misplaced patriotism. Their bodies rattle with armour and weaponry; they smell of bloodlust and hatred for the enemy, for Bulgaria's own soldiers.
The heartbeats are deafening now as they get closer, rhythmic bangs, obnoxiously noisy. Bulgaria thinks of Hungary's hands – thin, feminine wrists and long, war-calloused fingers – ripping out those hearts.
Her eyes are on him, more fixed than before.
He nods, determinedly.
Notes
The War of 1003 started off as a conflict between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire – the two states had been at war for quite some time due to territory disagreements. Hungary was, during this conflict, in control of Transylvania, which had been previously under Bulgarian rule. Wanting to keep their territory safe, Hungary entered the Bulgarian-Byzantine War, even though Bulgaria had just experienced a period of relative peace with Hungary. The War of 1003 ended with Hungarian victory, removing most of Bulgaria's influence from the Danube River, consequently keeping them out of Budapest, which the Danube runs through. Bulgaria then proceeded to become part of the Byzantine Empire.