6. The Retreating Chapter
...in which the war starts taking casualties
The grenade exploded in front of him. He had seen it coming a bit too late, only able to stagger backwards and cover his eyes automatically before the explosion threw him backwards like a ragdoll, and the sharp shrapnel from the explosion tore his skin. For a split second he screamed, then the shockwave bashed him against a tree. His cry was cut short as he slumped down, unconscious, behind their trench.
Austria heard the cry as well, and it made his heart skip a few beats. When the explosion stopped tossing soil over him he raised his head, eyes darting around in search of his comrade. It took him merely two seconds to find him as the dust slowly settled down. Austria sprang up and pulled the man back to the trench, while Belarus covered him.
"Iceland!" Austria called, but received no answer. The Nordic was covered in blood all over his body and he was completely slack in his arms. Austria's eyes and hands explored the injuries, trying to determine if Iceland's life was in immediate danger. Lithuania appeared beside him as Belarus continued to cover them, doing the share of work for all three.
"Go send Germany a message," Austria ordered and the Baltic retreated to obey. Austria gathered Iceland into his arms. "Belarus!"
"Take him away!" the woman shouted back, hissing and they both stood up. Austria held the wounded Nordic as he climbed through a narrow passage that led him behind the protection mounds they had been building out of the soil. Belarus covered him until he was out of the line of fire.
"Hungary!" Austria called and set the Nordic on the ground, grabbing his gun once more and shooting over the protection mounds.
The medics were already coming, having heard the scream before. Hungary bent over Iceland as Netherlands and Cuba prepared to carry him away. When the men were ready, she turned to Austria, making him stop shooting for while as she pulled him safely behind the mounds. "Go back, we'll take him now," the woman told him and briefly touched the man's hair before retreating to do her own job. "Let's go, boys," she said, grabbing her gun. At the same time that Austria slipped back towards the trenches, Hungary and the rest of the back-up group started retreating back to their position.
When they got back to their hide-out, Cuba and Netherlands carefully placed the stretcher on the ground and started to explore the injuries. Australia came to them with towels and other clothes to stop the bleeding. Sealand stared at Iceland, not knowing what should he think or do. Italy turned away, sickened.
"Sealand," Hungary got the youngster's attention. "You run to headquarters and tell Finland what's coming to him. Tell him Iceland needs immediate medical attention. Australia and Netherlands will bring him, but be sure they meet us before the headquarters; we need them back here as soon as possible."
"Yes, ma'am," Sealand saluted, still staring at the wounded nation.
"We'll have to patch him up here before we can move him, so you crawl to Germany and ask him if there is anything else the headquarters needs to be reported of," Hungary continued and pushed the boy to make him leave. "Remember that this is not a practice anymore, you have to get it right."
"Got it, ma'am!" Sealand checked his gun and started quickly crouch and crawl towards the frontline. Italy looked after him and wished luck, before Hungary ordered him to help them.
.*** *** ***
Germany listened silently to the message Lithuania came to deliver. Iceland had been hit by a grenade and was removed from the line. Denmark and Sweden listened to the information in shock, but both said nothing. Instead, they both started shooting their enemies considerably more eagerly than before. Germany nodded at the information and sent Lithuania back to his position.
A moment later, Poland passed Sweden a message from the left end of the line; from China. The field they had set traps on was about to be breached. Ukraine and Egypt couldn't keep their enemies from approaching them from that side, as the most of the traps had already gone off. China had moved there to help them, but it was a problem that the enemy might get past their lines.
Then, Sealand decided to appear at the trench to ask him if there was anything that the commander wished to be said to headquarters, as the runner would be sent now. Germany closed his eyes for a few seconds, thinking. England, who stood beside him, continued shooting, but quickly glanced at Germany a couple of times. Germany thought about their options. He opened his eyes and waved England and Denmark down to also listen.
"We'll retreat to the next line and spread the left wing," Germany explained them and quickly showed them his map, moving his finger between their current line and the second one. "We are better off preventing the encircling that way, and the eleventh line is easier to protect than this one," he pointed to the changes in the ground's height. "We'll be able to fight downhill and shoot into a more open ground. We'll wait fifteen minutes, so the medics can move Iceland out of the way first and the message reaches everyone for sure. That is all."
England and Denmark nodded and crawled away to pass the order to retreat through the lines. Germany turned to Sealand.
"Tell the back-up group about the new turn," the commander ordered and shooed the boy off. "And pass the full situation to Finland, when you meet him."
The micro-nation saluted and raced back behind the lines the way he had so many times rehearsed during the two days they'd had.
The message of the decision ran through the lines, finally reaching the right end, Belgium, and the left end, Ukraine. The line of nations started to back up; one-by-one, they rose from the trench and crawled behind the protection mounds. Metre-by-metre, always shooting, they backed up to reach their next trench, the eleventh line. At the same time, the left wing started to spread out as the nations slowly moved to their firing positions while retreating, immediately stopping when the fatal, trapped field was behind them.
When the last straw of hay swayed as he passed by and slipped into a cover of a thick rooted tree, Egypt sighed in relief. The field had been a pain in the neck. To Turkey's credit, it must be said that the traps had held the enemy back quite a while. Egypt made a mental note to give the Turk some gratitude when he would see him.
Said nation was currently sprinting away from rapid fire, and he dove behind a big rock, rolling the last few meters until he had his back against the cool boulder. Turkey took a deep breath and listened to some bullets striking the stone behind him. He glanced to his right and grinned widely before turning to lay on his stomach on the moss. He returned the fire, keeping the rock as his protection. At the same time, Greece did the same thing on the other side of the rock.
Sealand ran. He jumped over the rocks and roots, flying towards their headquarters with his short feet. Behind him, somewhere far away already, followed the medics that were carrying Iceland.
Switzerland jumped down from the tree immediately when Lithuania sent him the signal. He had to get to the eleventh line well before the others, because although his firing spots were relatively covered, getting up to them was not. If the enemy saw him climbing up...
As soon as Russia disappeared behind the mounds, Germany rose up to follow, being the last one to exit the twelfth line. He shot a couple of people before disappearing behind the mounds. A few bullets struck said mounds not a moment afterwards.
France crawled for the last metre and disappeared to the bushes, out of his enemies' sight. He exhaled, trying to remain calm. His fingers ran through his dusty hair and he sighed heavily. "I'm not made for this..."
Hungary retreated slowly, letting the frontline slightly catch up with her.
Poland squeaked as a rain of bullets hit a tree above him and decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to retreat a bit further before shooting back.
Their enemy had noticed what they were doing. "Retreating?" the captain demanded from the messenger. "Cowards..." he huffed. "But clever ones. And fucking skilled..."
"Ukraine!" Denmark shrieked and glanced over his shoulder while they fired their weapons. The woman looked up at him. Denmark frowned and shouted to make sure she heard him. "You're going too fast!"
Ukraine laughed nervously and slowed down so she wouldn't leave a gap in the line. She had quite a distance to move as the orders had taken the right wing member to the left end of the centre.
England cursed three times in succession.
If anyone in the backup group needed to be replaced right now, Romano was willing to change. That was the only thing the older Italian had in his head, while he tried to make one of the attackers stop shooting in his direction all the time.
The eleventh line was close already. Now they had to cross the open ground that they were planning on using to their advantage later. Sealand had crossed it, the medics had crossed it, Switzerland had crossed it; now it was their turn. Canada forgot about shooting back for a while and concentrated on getting across as quickly as he could. Taiwan covered him.
A pained scream told them someone had been hit again. This time the cry wasn't short, but continued on, when the victim's consciousness didn't fail.
Germany's head jerked up and he glanced to his left, clenching his teeth. "Who was it?" he shouted the question to Russia, as England was currently a little further behind them.
Russia shook his head and sniped one more persistent soldier.
Japan swung the gun onto his back and crouched down to grab the howling Asian by the armpits, dragging him to cover. Hong Kong bit his teeth and breathed heavily into the other's shoulder. The bullet had shattered his kneecap.
"Hang in there," Japan held him encouragingly as Spain, who had just got to them, took a piece of bandage from the small supplies they all carried with them and tied it over the knee.
Hong Kong croaked and moaned, shaking and clenching his fists. "Where," he started, making Japan turn his attention away from Hong Kong's bloody leg. "Is my gun?" Japan stared at him, unsure of what to say, but Hong Kong didn't notice. He just glared at the mound that was protecting them, like he could see through it. "I want to shoot someone."
.*** *** ***
"Ice?" Finland asked worriedly and Sealand nodded, still breathing heavily.
"They're bringing him back now," the child messenger explained to the medic. "Hungary said you need to come to get them, so the boys can come back soon. And Germany wanted to tell you that they're retreating to the next line now, because the enemy was going to come from the field and go around them and–"
"It's called encircling, Sealand," Finland explained as the messenger eagerly took the water Seychelles offered him. Then the Nordic turned. "Liechtenstein, I want you to come with me to meet them. Latvia, Seychelles, you two stay here and make sure everything's ready for us."
"Yes, sir," Seychelles promised and Latvia nodded, standing in the doorway of America's side room.
"Liechtenstein, Sealand, let's go," Finland ordered and, after grabbing some treating supplies with them, they started out to meet with Netherlands and Australia.
.*** *** ***
The first day of fighting was hell to them. From the early morning hours 'til late into the night, they fought against superior forces and ended up retreating six lines in total, using half of their available trenches. The breaks they had were minimal; the food they ate was only consumed due to absolute necessity. And the casualties were over what Germany had calculated.
Now, when the enemy had ceased its attack for the night, Germany had time to take a deep breath and rethink their positions. They had retreated too much for one day. It couldn't continue like this, or else they would end up protecting the hut for two days. They would have to hold their current grounds longer or even try to win back some of the lost lines if they wanted to fulfill their purpose.
The good thing was that their enemy was now being cautious. It had lost a huge amount of soldiers in one day, while none of the nations had actually died. The enemy had seen the gap between the experience and physical tolerance of nations and normal humans. Germany could only thank everyone for fighting so bravely. No one had died, which made a huge success out of one of their main targets. It was lucky that the nations were sturdy and bull-headed.
The number of the ones who were unable to battle, however, was higher.
Iceland was still unconscious. Finland had been able to save the island nation from death, but now Iceland was lying on the bed beside America's, not moving an inch. To their malice, Spain was in the same state, after falling from a cliff when a bomb had hit near him and he had lost his balance. Luckily, the cliff hadn't been high, but Spain's landing had been bad enough and the Spaniard was now lying on the third bed in the small room, bandages around his head and neck, unconscious.
Hong Kong was unable to walk. When Sealand - with Netherlands and Australia - had been returning to the frontlines after handing Iceland over to Finland, they had ran straight into Cuba, who had been carrying the Asian to the headquarters. When they had finally returned to their positions, Australia was immediately replaced by Ukraine, and Netherlands had turned back to help the injured Belgium retreat from the frontline. At some point of the day, Germany had been covering Poland and England, who had been dragging the injured Lithuania between them.
Belgium was relatively okay. She had a seemingly nasty but not very deep wound in her shoulder and chest, caused by the shard of a bomb. In comparison to her, Lithuania could hardly move his upper body because his right side, including two of his ribs, had been shattered by a bullet.
Including the ones already mentioned, the nations Finland had treated today were Canada, who had had a bullet in his upper arm; Netherlands, who had a bullet strike his buttock in the third retreating phase; Romano, in which case no one knew what actually had happened, but there he was, hand tightly bandaged; and Korea, who had had a bullet catch the side of his head. The young Asian had caused China to have a heart attack when he had slumped into the seventh trench, a great amount of blood running out from under his left ear. The elder had thought the time for someone of them to die had finally come and had all but calmly handled the situation. The only good thing about China's shock had been the rage unleashed afterwards. He had been killing the nearby enemies until Turkey had noted Korea wasn't actually dead.
Germany sighed slowly, striking the map with his pen. England looked up at him, while holding the lamp that was illuminating the paper. A little bit beside them, Denmark was bandaging his scratched arm, using his teeth to tighten the cloth. Switzerland stepped in from the door.
The sixth line didn't have a trench in the centre and the right wing was almost missing, because of a curve in the ground that made it a long, deep slope. Japan was in charge of anyone trying to get up that way, and so the right wing would be spread to curve with the edge of the slope if necessary. The reason why the centre didn't have trenches was because of three huts with a high stone foundation that they were using instead. Although protecting a building could prove fatal, their limited time hadn't given them chance to dig as many trenches as they would have liked, so the decision to use the huts had given them more time for planning the other lines.
"Germany," Switzerland stepped in front of their commander. "Where will I stay in this line? I'd rather be near the centre." Switzerland didn't have a sniping position in this line because of the lack of appropriate trees.
"You'll stay in this hut with me, England and Sweden," Germany answered after thinking a while.
Denmark made a vocal objection. "Then what about me? You're scorning me, aren't you?"
Germany sighed. "You go to the left hut. And no, I'm not scorning you, I'm just trying to make things work. I'll leave you in charge of the left centre."
Denmark looked dejected for having to give his position to Switzerland, but grabbed his axe and exited the hut from the little hole in the side wall, wishing everyone a good night. Sweden, who was sitting beside the hole that was made to ease their moving within the line, quickly squeezed Denmark's hand when the fellow Nordic passed by, wishing him luck.
Making himself comfortable on the solid ground after sitting in trees for the whole day, Switzerland sat down in the corner, his gun in his hands as he closed his eyes. England shifted and for a while, the light left the map in the dark. Slowly, when England felt as relaxed as he could possibly be, the light wavered back to the paper and ink.
No one said anything. Sweden looked like he was about to follow Switzerland's example and close his eyes. England kept his eyes in the map again, eyes tired but remaining steadfastly open.
Germany had to think. They had to do something more effective to avoid defeat. The time to think up their plan was now. The guards were set. The scouts were on the grounds. Their fighters were taking a well-earned rest. But the commander couldn't afford to rest. He turned back to his map.
Russia was in charge of the right hut, Denmark would take care of the left one. China had the left wing in his command: it curved deeply towards the enemy grounds on a top of a small hill. Japan was on guard in case the right wing had to be spread. Germany trusted everyone in their lines to do their best.
Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough.
Norway would still take three more days to complete the spell. Germany only hoped their enemy didn't know about their intentions of fleeing back to their own world. If they found out, Norway would be in danger, and a bunch of hurt countries and a couple of medics in the headquarters wouldn't probably make the best defence to the magician. Estonia and Finland were the strongest, healthiest nations present, and an attack would also cause major harm to the injured.
The commander shook his head away from the worst-case scenario. It was troubling his thoughts and he couldn't concentrate. They had to take back a couple of lines if they wanted to hold long enough.
Germany firmly gazed at the map in silence. When he closed his eyes in thought, he had memorized the details in it and could bring the lines, the marks and the colours back in front of his shut eyes. His brains worked out all the lines, thought about everyone's abilities and strength. Deep within his thoughts, Germany was making up a new plan to help them win. Tonight would turn the battle better for them, or make the situation worse. Because after day one, they were losing this war.
The silence continued. Sweden had fallen asleep. A soft rain quietly washed the roof outside.
Finally, Germany opened his eyes and England looked up at him, waiting. He, too, had been thinking about their options. Though, there probably wasn't anyone who wasn't concerned and hadn't been thinking about it. Many nations had come earlier to voice their opinions.
Germany nodded and broke the hour long silence by simply saying, "Okay."
England raised his eyebrows.
Germany set his pen on the map. "It's time to think this over. I want China, Japan, Denmark, Russia and Hungary here. Oh, and Turkey too. It's time we reverse this hell."
England studied him closely for a while, before smiling slightly. "Aye, aye. Commander."
New A/N: I apologize for sending an unbeta'd chapter by accident, it's good we noticed it later, though. We both send you our apologize *bow* Hope it didn't disturb you. This is a correct version of chapter 6.
And here is the original A/N: Thank you for all the reviews again.
Ophelion: Thank you so much, you are doing wonders my self-confidence.
Molly: I'm aware of that mistake. Technically, there are cases where leaving the bullet be is dangerous as well, but yes, normally trying to remove it is more dangerous. But to more pleasant things: thank you for the compliment. That's a very nice thing to say.
Howl's Owls: I'm flattered. *bow* It's wonderful to know if someone likes my stories so much. I'll keep on writing as long as I have new ideas, confidence to write and enough time in my hands. And I can't leave a cliffhanger like that? I already did.
Scott: You're doing wonderful job, dear. Please take this story with me to its end.