Hey guys! This is my first fan fiction of Yuri! on Ice. Set in an AU where Viktor and Yuuri are fighting in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, I might warn that the story might be tragic af (as seen in the exposition). The exposition might be not that much, but hey, this is about my OC which will set my POV for the rest of the story. The fanfic is open for feedback :)

- The Forgotten Veteran

"Private Vasilyev, please shoot."

He hesitated for a moment. He, about to kill his friend? No way.

"Private Vasilyev, shoot now or you will be killed."

But what about his family at Rostov-na-Donu?

The sergeant was about to point his pistol to the soldier.

Before Dmitry knew it, he heard a sounding gunshot as he pulled the trigger. He felt a dark wave of shock, before receiving a hard blow against his head, as he fell unconscious.

Dmitry wakes up on his dingy, one-room apartment at Rostov-na-Donu. His apartment is just one of the small apartments granted by the Communist Party to ensure "equality" (as they like to call it). But Dmitry pays no heed to this, and quickly opens the lampshade to get his glasses. As he walks to the mirror, he sees a face full of wrinkles and scars, yet he still has a good constitution in his 90′s. He is lucky, as other men his age are often left to starve in their frailness. He then opens the television. The ensemble is playing Katyusha again, with slides of Soviet propaganda. In the height of an insurging war, the government still has the guts to show such disgracefulness, Dmitry thought. He then closed the black-and-white tube, which he hated as the Americans could see televised programs in color, according to gossip. There was nothing to eat in the cupboard. So he dons on his grey trench coat to get his rations. He walks on the winding road, drenched in April spring rain. As he sees the long queue, he slightly protests to go back home instead but his famished body says no.

After one and a half hour of waiting, alas, he has acquired his provisions and went back home. He goes back only to smell the putrid odor of the broken sewers. Dmitry hurriedly runs back to escape the miasma. He then bolts the door to eat his luncheon.

As he was eating, the old man ponders about the dream he had earlier, or a recurring nightmare as he likes to call it. The dream of a harsh voice still resonating through his ears until this day, a sense of blood thirst being emitted.

It is still a clarion call for the former soldier what happened in Port Arthur when he was 22 years of age. How he befriended a mysteriously beautiful man, contrasting his more mediocre facade. How fervid his friend was when he fell in love with somebody. How revealing it is to know that his colleague's lover is an enemy soldier, located in the opposite side of the mountainous terrain. And how a secret was revealed by the eyes of the higher-ups, and how they were enraged in the news (in fear of leaking intelligence).

And for him, it still haunts his memory how painful it is to shoot his comrade.

Though ordered by the higher-ups, is it justifiable to kill someone who innocently fell in Love's cradle?

No, answered Dmitry.

Is it justifiable for him to obey their orders, the orders of someone who never knew love?

As this question followed, Dmitry's mind was in a state of a superposition. He is currently between yes and no.

Yes, because he still wanted to see his hometown, his family.

But isn't it egoistical to think that only him yearns for home, and not Vitya?

He could have killed the sergeant instead, Dmitry said. And he regretted that he has thought of it.

Because he could not turn back time, obviously.

Ah, enough of the past.

Now, with regret in his heart, Dmitry retires early (as he reserves the food for tomorrow, he won't eat any supper) to expect another nightmare.

Unfortunately, this nightmare might last a little bit longer than he expects it to be.

A/N: Katyusha- a Russian war song about a maiden named Katyusha, and her lover battling somewhere.