Chapter 5

Mid November 1946, Budapest, Hungary.

"Ludwig!" Elizabeta gasped, cradling the injured man. Her eyes darted over his figure, trying to figure out what was an open wound and what was just dirt. Her heart was racing, pumping from all of the emotions flowing through her veins. It was mostly adrenaline but there was a mix of happiness, fear, and confusion. She cursed, unsure of what to do. "Ludwig? Stay awake, honey." Elizabeta lightly tapped his cheek, noticing his eyes were beginning to roll to the back of his head. She glanced around the kitchen, trying to figure out if anything would be of use for her. She cursed once again. She had no other choice but to pick him up. "Ludwig, I'm going to help you up and we'll go into the living room and put you on the couch, okay?" Elizabeta told him in which he gave a slight nod. She slowly helped him sit up before she snaked her arm around his waist and pulled his arm around her neck. She began to pick him up from the floor. He let out a string of soft whimpers. "You're doing great, come on." She started to walk from the kitchen to her living room. Ludwig stumbled along with Elizabeta's hurried walking pace, but they had made it to the living room and finally the couch. Elizabeta gingerly helped the younger male onto the couch before she kneeled beside him. She examined him more closely, noticing there were a few spots that were soaking up some fresh blood. "Fuck… Okay. I'm going to get help. I'll be right back." She jumped up and bolted out of her house.

The cold air struck her face, but she was more focused on running and getting help then the cool air. Various thoughts ran through her mind. She was glad Ludwig was still alive, but she was also very scared. Scared that he was close to death. He looked like absolute hell. His once pristine uniform was now covered in dirt and blood. His bright blond hair was now shaggy and dirty. His once healthy face was now thin and dull. She felt her cheeks become wet. All of her emotions began pouring out of her eyes before she fell over some stray rubble. She slowly picked herself up, her body feeling weak. She was scared. Her body tensed when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Elizabeta? Are you okay?" Elizabeta felt her breath get caught in her throat. She looked up and made eye contact with Ivan. The last person she wanted to run into. "You left your coat at my house." He lifted up her coat that was in his hand. "You're covered in blood; do you need help?"

"I- I'm sorry. I'm in a rush. I have to go." She managed to say before beginning her sprint again. She ignored Ivan's shouts and continued towards Roderich's house. Once she arrived, she busted through his front door. "Roderich!" She cried out, jogging through the rooms in the home. "Roderich?! Where are you!?" Elizabeta opened the door to his office. "Roderic-!"

"Elizabeta, what is it?" Roderich jumped up from his desk. "Oh my god, are you okay? You've got blood all ov—"

"Roderich, its Ludwig!"

"…What?" Roderich froze.

"We need to go, he's in my house on the brink of death. We need to go!" Elizabeta began to pull at Roderich's cuffs, urgency in her voice. He quickly gathered some of his belongings and hurriedly ran with Elizabeta out of his house.

"Are you sure it's him?" Roderich panted out, almost dropping his stuff. She didn't answer him. She was sure it was Ludwig. He had said her name to stop her from shooting him. They entered Elizabeta's house. She pointed towards the direction of her living room.

"He's on the couch in the living room." She panted out, wiping the sweat away from her forehead. Roderich nodded before quickly walking to the room. After catching her breath, Elizabeta scurried around her house trying to gather as many medical supplies she could. She heard Roderich sobbing when she stepped into the room.

"It really is him…" Roderich whispered. He was tightly clutching Ludwig's hand as if Ludwig would disappear if he let go. She placed some supplies on the nearby coffee table. Elizabeta let Roderich hold onto Ludwig for a few moments longer. They had a special connection that she couldn't understand.

"We should really patch him up… and get him out of that ratty uniform." Elizabeta placed a gentle hand on Roderich's shoulder, urgency in her voice. Roderich nodded in response, slowly standing up, his gaze never leaving Ludwig's face.

"I'll get the supplies ready. You remove his clothing." The Austrian cleared his throat, regaining his cool and stoic façade, he moved to the table where Elizabeta placed the medical equipment and began preparing them. Elizabeta knelt next to the couch and stared down at Ludwig's sleeping face. She furrowed her brows in pity. His face was contorted in a mixture of exhaustion, pain, and fear. She couldn't even begin to imagine what hell he had been through to get to here. She gingerly placed her fingers onto the first set of buttons on his dirtied uniform, slowly unbuttoning it. She was bracing herself for the infected injuries he most likely will have. She helped him sit up as she slipped the uniform top off before studying his chest. There was one prominent blood patch on his white singlet as well as large patches of sweat marks. Elizabeta's eyes darted back and forth trying to figure out a way to get the sleeves singlet off of Ludwig's without the use of moving his arms before concluding having to cut the piece of clothing off.

"Roderich? Could you pass me the scissors… please?" Roderich complied and shortly handed her the scissors as per her request. She took a deep breath as she readied herself to cut off the singlet. Slowly she began to cut up the middle of the clothing, making sure to avoid any hidden injuries. She stripped the clothing off of the younger male and gently laid him back down on the couch. Her hands began to tremble, and she felt her heartbeat in her throat. Dried blood seemed to cover almost all of Ludwig's chest, it was hard to depict what was the actual injury that caused this mess.

"Here." Roderich spoke up, passing her a wet cloth. She muttered thanks in return, taking the cloth. She began to softly dab the cloth, wiping away the blood. Once Ludwig's chest was mostly clean from the blood, she could tell where his injuries were. One gunshot to his lower left breast and a large gash on his left arm. Both showing signs of infection. His ribs were also protruding, he had lost a lot of weight. She didn't know how he managed to make it all the way here with all these injuries. The bullet still seemed to be lodged in his breast, which meant it was going to be painful to get it out. Elizabeta looked back up at Ludwig, she brushed his long hair out of his face before stroking his head. She looked down at his legs, noticing two bloody patches on his upper thighs. They looked like stab wounds. That answered why he was crawling on her kitchen floor; he couldn't walk properly.

"Is he all cleaned up?" Roderich asked, indicating he was finished preparing the medical supplies. She stood up.

"Yes," Elizabeta responded. "He has a large gash on his upper left arm. A single gunshot to his lower left breast; the bullet is still lodged in there. Both injuries are infected." She informed him. "He also seems to have two stab wounds on his upper thighs. I haven't examined them properly yet. I figured we would work on his chest first and then his legs. Trying not to cause him too much pain. But we also shouldn't wait too long." She added. Roderich was a doctor long before the war began so Elizabeta needed to be precise when explaining Ludwig's injuries and the current condition of them so Roderich had an idea on where to start. He nodded along to every word she was saying as he put on gloves.

It had been a gruelling four hours of Roderich patching all of Ludwig's wounds up. They were now in the process of trying to get him upstairs and into Elizabeta's bed. It was easier than expected, especially now since Ludwig wasn't the same burly man he was before. Elizabeta quickly opened her bedroom door and helped Roderich carry Ludwig in before lowering him down onto the bed. Elizabeta pulled the blanket over him and caressed his cheek. Hoping his wounds wouldn't get the better of him and that he'll heal quickly. She looked over at Roderich who was dabbing away the sweat from his face, leaning on the nearby vanity. He removed his glasses and placed it on the said desk.

"You did amazing, Herr Doktor." She gave a soft smile towards her long-time friend. "He's going to be fine. I'm sure of it." Elizabeta assured Roderich, noticing the anxieties present on his face. The Austrian sat down on the bed, next to Elizabeta. He grabbed ahold of Ludwig's hand. He sighed.

"That's not what I'm fretting about." He admitted, with a shaky voice. "What's going to happen now? It's going to be hard to smuggle him out of Hungary and into Italy. The allies are everywhere." Roderich stroked Ludwig's hand, obviously giving him some sort of comfort. "They're going to figure out we're hiding a former Nazi soldier. Then they're going to find out that I was one."

"But… Didn't you erase all of the evidence linking you to being a Nazi?" Elizabeta asked, anxiety bubbling in her stomach. She didn't even think of the punishments they would receive if anyone found out they were housing a Nazi soldier.

"Majority of it… But not all. I still have documents at home that I've been trying to edit and erase. I mustn't let anyone enter my office." He muttered the last part to himself.

"Shit…" The Hungarian cursed softly. "We should be fine anyway, right? It would be hard to suspect someone of hiding a Nazi soldier without proper evidence. Besides, Ludwig isn't part of the regime anymore so I don't understand why they would kill all of us."

"He knew of important documents and information, Elizabeta." Roderich's voice becoming serious and ire. "And it doesn't matter if he denounces himself as a Nazi, they will still jail him if not kill him." He pinched the bridge of his nose, annoyed. He couldn't expect Elizabeta to understand how the whole 'punishment if you were a Nazi' would work, she didn't join the regime on her own free will. The corporal stayed quiet, trying to understand.

"I see…" She muttered. "Well… the best choice would be to lie low for a while. Until Ludwig gets better. Then we'll rethink our plan again?" Elizabeta sounded unsure as she tried to read Roderich's face to see if she was saying the right thing. He clenched his jaw.

"Keeping a low profile… That sounds like the best possible option so far." Roderich directed his attention back to Ludwig's sleeping face.

Roderich exited Elizabeta's house. He was on his way to his own home, wanting to pick up some clean clothes for Ludwig, more medical supplies and some documents for him to retrieve so he could work whilst he looked after Ludwig. They both agreed on taking turns in caring for Ludwig when they had free time. Roderich had the most shifts since his job was more home-based. Roderich's eyes flickered forward as he heard footsteps approach him. It was Ivan, his superior. He saluted towards him out of respect. Ivan saluted back.

"At ease, Sergeant," Ivan responded, clutching onto some papers he had. Roderich eyed the documents, suspiciously. "No need to look so tense, Sergeant. These are just some documents Elizabeta and I worked on together last night." The Russian noticed Roderich's bitter stares right away. "Speaking of Elizabeta. I ran into her earlier today, she seemed to be in a hurry. She had blood all over her. What happened?" He asked. Roderich was almost taken aback, was that concern in his voice?

"She was tending to a wounded civilian that she had found nearby. She was rushing to get me."

"Oh? And why would she do that?" The way Ivan had said that… struck a nerve within Roderich.

"I was a doctor before the war had started." Annoyance present in his voice.

"I see. Well, I hope you fixed that civilian up. I'm sure they will be grateful to both of you for saving their life. Good day, Herr Edelstein..." Ivan gave an eerie smile before continuing his path, whistling.

Shivers went up and down Roderich's spine.

A/N: Didn't expect this chapter to be long but here it is! The drama and tension begin to rise... Reviews/feedback would be greatly appreciated!