Well in this chapter we find out how Luc is doing on the front line near Moscow. Warning: This chapter contains war violence and anxiety attacks. Hope yall enjoy it and I tried to maintain a respect for history by being as accurate as possible! I would like to give a shout out to Desteny Star and Dragunov888 for helping me with this chapter!

Death.

That was the only word Luc could use to describe the last two weeks. Death on an industrial scale.

Diseases were widespread in the camps. Typhus and Dysentery spread through the army group like a consuming plague. Snipers targeted officers everyday and the frigid weather was making the soldiers desperate for any warmth. He had heard stories and knew it would be beyond his worst nightmare, but nothing could've prepared him for the things he was seeing.

He and Karl were digging through the rubble of a collapsed house as bullets whistled all around them. The line was under heavy attack and an artillery shell hit a house with some of their men in it. They kept digging until Luc finally found a live soldier buried in the debris. Soldier? Even behind the blood and dirt on his face, he could see the face of a boy no older than 18. They loaded him onto the stretcher and began carrying him to the field hospital.

This had been their job since they got here. It gave them ample chances to see the horror of the front line and the result of it at the hospital. Adler had been assigned to the engineers somewhere nearby. Luc wasn't sure if their job was any better than his. All day he and Karl would carry the critically wounded back from the gunfire and explosions. Sometimes they would survive long enough to make it, sometimes they wouldn't. Luc hated doing this but he figured there were much worse things they could be doing in this war.

"Luc, stop." He turned and Karl was checking for a pulse. Karl shook his head. He was gone.

"Let's keep going. You don't know for sure."

Karl looked up. "Set him down."

They lowered him to the ground and after saying a quick prayer that they said more often than they wanted to, they unloaded him from the stretcher. Then they started making their way back to the line to try to give someone else a chance to survive.

After carrying three more men to the field hospital, the fighting had settled down for the evening but it would pick up again in the morning. Two men had died on their stretcher today. Luc made sure to gather their bodies from where they were forced to leave them and after digging them out of the snow, he took them to the grave site for a proper burial.

Finally, he and Karl made their way to the trenches to rejoin their unit. A large fire would've been most welcome but it would make them a target for artillery. They sat near a small flame while the rest of the squad sat neaby with their own. Since they hadn't been with the unit in the beginning of the invasion, they were treated very harshly.

As they sat in the snow, Luc could feel another episode coming on. His chest felt tight and his heart began racing. He started to breathe as fast as he could but he still felt like he was suffocating. He couldn't get enough air to satisfy his lungs. Karl had watched him going through this before and knew there wasn't much he could do. He put his arm on Luc's back. "Just breathe. It's going to be alright." After a couple of minutes, his heart finally settled and he calmed down. These episodes happened almost every night over the last week.

One of the men noticed him struggling. "Shut up kid. You don't hear any of us crying."

"Don't listen to him." Luc looked up to see Peter climbing into the trench and moving to sit next to him.

Peter was one of the very few that welcomed them into the unit.

"You alright?"

Luc nodded.

"I'm going to the quartermaster for rations. Care to join me?"

Anything to keep him occupied. "Sure."

They both stood and made their way away from the trench as low as possible and avoiding any light. Enemy snipers were always on the hunt. After they were a safe distance from the trench, they started making small talk.

The frigid cold bit at Luc like needles through his uniform.

"You don't have a coat?"

"I did. It was stolen while I was sleeping a couple nights ago."

"We'll find you another."

Peter wasn't cruel or bitter like the others but yet he was accepted by the rest of the unit like he'd known them for a while.

"How long have you been here?"

Peter thought for a moment. "August, when the weather was fair and we ate regularly."

Luc was shocked. He stopped walking. "That's four months. How have you been able to handle this?"

Peter paused for a moment. "It's different for everyone. I hold on to the hope that it won't last forever. One day it'll be over and if we're still here, we can go home. But right now that's just a fantasy. I just keep my head down and watch my step."

"You make it sound easy."

"Do you have family?"

"...Not really. We never agreed on much."

"A girl?"

A blue eyed blonde appeared in his mind and Luc couldn't help the distant look on his face.

Peter smirked. "Hold on to that. Let her be the thought that makes you run faster, push harder, and survive longer."

He put a hand on Luc's shoulder. "And don't listen to the others. They're like that because they just don't want to get close to anyone they might have to watch die. It's hard, especially if you aren't used to it but don't let yourself get used to any of this. These guys that get used to it will never be the same as they were before. If they survive this war, their own families won't recognize them when they go home. But when you go home, you'll be the same man your girl remembers you to be."

They started walking again in silence. Luc was pondering on what he said the rest of the way and they finally found the quartermaster. He was honestly surprised the Major in charge gave them anything. He gave them some food and gave Luc a new coat. Luc was overjoyed at the thought of not having to wake up to a wet freezing uniform in the morning.

As they walked back, Luc was curious. "You were speaking from experience earlier?"

Peter nodded. "My father. He was at Verdun and the Somme... I was young when he left but mother always told me about what a great man he was. But as long as I could remember, he was just... empty. It nearly killed my mother when I told them I had been conscripted."

Luc thought for a moment to his own mother's words.

"Son, it will be good for you." his mother spoke as she followed him through the house.

"No, it will be good for you and father."

She narrowed her eyes. "Explain yourself!"

"You and father are ashamed that your only son isn't a Nazi so you think my conscription will somehow redeem your pride."

"Well Luc, we have tried to teach you but you insist on going your own way."

Luc felt his anger rising up. Too often his parent's words were dripping with disrespect. He was certain in his heart that what he believed was right, and it certainly didn't agree with the Nazi agenda. "I'm not going my own way."

"Well that Bible you read so much says to 'honor your father and mother'!"

"And I have! It also says to love your neighbor as yourself but I certainly don't see that from you and father! And it also says to not provoke your child to anger, but you both make a hobby of it!"

His mother gasped at his raised voice and slapped him. "How dare you speak to me like that!"

Luc couldn't take it anymore. His parent's manipulation had finally pushed him over the edge. He quickly grabbed his duffle bag and stormed out without saying goodbye to his mother and he didn't even want to wait around to speak to his father when he got home.

That was the last time he saw either of his parents and he didn't plan on returning home any time soon. His parents fooled themselves into thinking they were teaching him what was right but they were just trying to mold him to be just like them. He knew in his heart that they were wrong. He had spoke to Mr Larson often when he would start doubting himself and he would reassure him that he was on the right path.

"Luc? You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I was distracted. You never said how you managed to get us the food and coat."

Peter grinned. "The Quartermaster is a close relative of my fiance."

Luc laughed probably for the first time since he got to the war. "So you're engaged? You never mentioned that before."

"Yeah, we're getting married the moment I get home."

"Where's home?"

"Oldenburg."

Luc stopped for a moment. That was where Elsa and Anna's father had been sent.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I know someone there."

"Oh, a friend?"

"Yes, but I doubt you know him. He hasn't been there very long"

They continued their walk to the trench. When they finally got back to Karl, he was struggling to stay awake but he noticed Luc's coat.

"Glad you were able to find a replacement."

They ate their food in silence. After some time, Peter must've been trying to make small talk. "So Luc, are you and your lady engaged?"

This got Karl's attention. "Oh I completely forgot! You never told me her name before we left. Who is she?"

Luc paused for a moment. They were thousands of miles from Arendelle and he trusted Karl enough. "Elsa, Mr. Agdar's daughter."

Karl looked at him with surprise and shock. After a moment he spoke. "Well... that explains a lot."

Peter was curious. "Care to explain?"

Karl looked at Luc wordlessly asking permission to tell him. Luc nodded.

"We were stationed in Arendelle before we were sent here. One night this man that went to our church was arrested for smuggling. His name was Agdar and he had two daughters, Elsa and Anna. A couple of days later, they were caught trying to break him out. The girls escaped and Luc was supposed to be patroling and somehow, they got by him. It's what got him a ticket to this paradise."

Now Peter was shocked. "Wow..."

Karl looked to Luc. "So she was the girl you went to see the day after they escaped?"

Luc nodded, not sure what he would say next.

"Luc... If the Colonel found out, he would have had you shot as a traitor."

Luc stared at the fire. "I know."

They stayed silent for a while. Finally Peter reached for his rifle. "Well gentlemen, I'll be in the OP tonight. See you both in the morning."

He crawled out of the trench and out to the observation post about thirty meters out from the line.

Once they were alone, Karl looked at Luc. "How long has this been going on between you and her?"

"Well... There's not really anything going on."

Karl scratched his head. "Luc... Have you considered the possibility that maybe she just wanted you to help her?"

"No I haven't. She cares about me."

"How do you know for sure? Her father had been taken and she may have jus-"

The look Luc gave him silenced him.

Karl took a deep breathe. "I just don't want you to get hurt or to get your hopes up and find out she was just using you."

Luc didn't know how to respond to this. "I know, but she's not like that. Thanks for your concern."

Karl grabbed his blanket. "Well... Goodnight Luc."

"Goodnight."

Once Karl had wrapped up in his blanket and turned his back to the fire, Luc reached into his pocket. He retrieved the blue cloth that Elsa had given him. He often thought about their conversation and he was especially thinking about it now. The way she spoke to him and her trusting him with something her mother had given her convinced him even more that Karl was wrong. Yes, there was a possibility Karl was right but he refused to believe Elsa would do that to him. He held the cloth tightly in his hands as he drifted to sleep in the freezing snow.

The sound of several explosions woke Luc. His eyes shot open and he immediately saw the men standing at the wall of the trench getting ready for whatever the enemy was throwing at them today. He could hear screams through all the gunshots. He looked over the top and was shocked to see Peter slowly crawling back to them. The OP had been hit by a shell and somehow Peter had survived. Luc was torn between what he should do. Then he saw blood explode from Peter's leg as a bullet tore through it and he quickly pulled himself out of the trench without taking enough time to talk himself out of it.

"Soldier! Get back here!"

He ignored the voices and ran as fast as he could.

He made it to Peter within seconds but was horrified by what he found. Peter had been shot through the leg but that was his only remaining leg. His other leg was missing below his knee. The back of his uniform was bloody and torn from the shrapnel that had ripped through it and pierced his body.

Luc didn't know what to do except grab him by the arms and start pulling. He could hear bullets barely passing his ears but with his mind fueled with adrenaline, he ignored everything and pulled Peter as fast as he could. The trench was getting closer and closer and Luc was starting to give in to the hope that maybe they would make it.

His hope vanished immediately when he saw a crimson mist spray from his shoulder, then he felt it. He fell to the ground from the force of the bullet and the overwhelming pain. He was just a few meters from the trench. Still holding onto Peter's arm, he started crawling. The searing pain in his shoulder drew a scream from him but he kept moving.

He felt himself getting weaker by the second and could feel the front his uniform getting soaked with his own blood. He finally buried his face in the snow, unable to hold his head up anymore. But he was still able to slowly crawl.

Then it was as if ten thousand voices shouted together in unison from across the battlefield. "URRAH!" Even in his weakened state, the battle cry sent a chill down Luc's spine.

The sounds of gunfire intensified and Luc was starting to feel his body going numb. He stopped crawling. He couldn't go any further. He accepted that he was probably going to die here in the snow. Then he felt a hand grab his arm. He picked his head up to see that he had reached the trench and the men were trying to pull him in. He pulled Peter with every bit of strength he could summon so they could reach him as well.

The men pulled both of them into the trench. He could feel himself being lowered to the ground. Then with his vision completely black and his body almost completely numb, he slipped into unconciousness.

Hope yall enjoyed it! I'll update soon!