Chapter Text
About two months ago it had started; the big war between Corona and Ingvarr. It started when the biggest crime lord of Ingvarr, Donella Schaeffer, was banned from the kingdom of Corona for selling illegal weapons and inventions. She had retreated back to Ingvarr, her home, and started planning and assembling her army. The following week she had invaded Corona, breaking down the walls and attacking innocent people.
That happened two months ago, and the war was still going on. Both sides were trying to claim as much land and people as they could to try and win this war. Ingvarr had the upper hand so far, because of their advanced weaponry and big army. On the other hand Corona refused to give up, keeping the small part of their kingdom they had left and protecting it with all they’ve got.
As of now there was another shootout happening. An Ingvarr soldier had accidentally stepped foot on Coronian ground and they had opened fire, which had led to the other side shooting back. Bullets were flying back and forth, hitting soldiers, walls and shields and causing significant damage to everything.
Hugo Rottewange was a soldier from Ingvarr, caught in the middle of this shootout. He had been posted in these trenches to keep an eye on the people from Corona and make sure they wouldn’t cross over into Ingvarr ground. It was usually boring work because nothing happened, so this sudden rain of bullets was less than expected.
The sound had started Hugo to the point he almost threw his cochlear implants across the trench. He had managed to stop himself from doing that, but it had been close. He had put the devices in his pocket instead and grabbed his gun to shoot back.
A near miss had forced him to duck back down. Their heart was racing as they hugged their gun tight and tried to catch their breath. Another bullet scraped the top of their helmet and Hugo ducked down more for just a few seconds. They had to calm down and stop freaking out. It’s death or glory, and glory we will get. No one gets to be a coward and run away.
With that thought in mind the blonde sat up and started shooting again. He didn’t aim at anything in particular, mainly shooting to scare the enemy away. Then something caught his attention. A scent, barely noticeable over the strong smell of gunpowder and fire, yet strong enough to be picked up by Hugo’s sharp nose.
Sleeping gas.
Soldiers were dropping like flies and Hugo themself felt a bit lightheaded. Whoever was doing this was probably an advanced alchemist, or had close ties to one. Hugo quickly took a deep breath and pretended to fall asleep as well. Fortunately he could hold his breath for quite a while. Now he just had to wait and look through a crack of his eyelids to figure out who the intruder was and take them out.
It was only a few seconds later when a short man with a gas mask on hopped down into the trench and started dragging soldiers away. Hugo patiently waited, holding their breath to the best of their abilities. Once the intruder walked past he grabbed the man’s ankle and pulled, making him lose his balance and slam into the ground with a yelp.
Hugo wasted no time. He grabbed the gas mask off the intruder and put it on, finally able to breathe again. Obviously the other man tried his best to grab it back, but Hugo was too quick for him. The sleeping gas soon took him out and he fell into a deep sleep.
With a satisfied hum Hugo dragged the intruder away. They could either take the man to Donella or lock him up in their shed and mess around a little. That second option sounds like the most fun, so the decision was easy. It was a bit of a struggle to carry the man all the way out to the shed, tie him to a chair and make sure he wouldn’t fall over, but eventually Hugo succeeded. He then took off the gas mask and sat down at his desk with a book.
Now he just had to wait.
—
A few hours passed by in silence. Just when Hugo put on his hearing devices to force his prisoner to wake up, the man stirred and slowly opened his eyes with a groan. Hugo looked over when they heard the noise and got up. They cleared their throat to get the soldier’s attention as they moved over, ready to start asking questions.
“You son of a- Where am I? Who are you?” The captive asked, tugging at the rope that tied him to the chair. He realised it was to no use and turned his head up to glare at his captivator. Even though his eyes were hidden behind his goggles, he knew the Ingvarrian soldier could read his expression. Unfortunately they didn’t seem impressed in the slightest.
Hugo grabbed a chair and turned it around before sitting down and leaning his head on his arms. “Good morning, sleepyhead. I’m pretty sure you’re the prisoner here and I’m the one asking the questions, not the other way ‘round.” He said, trying to speak slowly and clearly. Because the blonde was born deaf it had always been a struggle for him to speak clearly. Speech therapy had helped, but he still couldn’t pronounce certain words and sounds.
In the past they had been bullied for it, but currently it was just seen as a weakness by others. Hugo didn’t view it that way. A weakness would make him vulnerable, and not pronouncing some words correctly doesn’t make one vulnerable or weak.
“So, what’s your name, Goggles?” They asked, pushing the goggles up the intruder’s head so they could see his eyes. “A handsome soldier like you must have a pretty name, right? So what is it?”
The Coronian soldier glared at his captivator, staying silent. He was soon grabbed by the chin and forced to look at the blonde. “Not very talkative, eh? Would you rather have me hand you over to Donella and let you get tortured to death?”
The captive groaned and gritted his teeth. “Varian Ruddiger, royal alchemist.”
Hugo laughed and looked at the man. “You’re the royal alchemist or Corona? A kid, really?”
“I’m eighteen, you dunce. Now tell me your name.” Varian said, keeping an attitude towards the other soldier. He may have been captured, but he’ll never be tamed.
“Damn dude, you sure have an attitude. It’s Hugo.” The blonde answered, spelling their name out in ASL out of habit. “My turn, why were you kidnapping our soldiers? What was your plan and why use sleeping gas? You could’ve just dropped a bomb.”
“I’m no killer.”
“I’ve heard differently. Aren’t you labelled as unstable and dangerous because you attacked and kidnapped the royal family and brought your whole kingdom in danger? Or was that a different Varian?”
The alchemist just glared, giving the dirtiest look he could muster up. He didn’t say another word after that, despite Hugo’s attempts to make him talk by coaxing him and threatening. He never used violence, wanting to earn this guy’s trust. He could be useful.
Hours upon hours passed by and Hugo was starting to become frustrated with this man. Why wouldn’t he speak? What else could they say or do? Maybe the promise of something Varian wanted would work. But what would that be?
“How about this…” Hugo started, still trying to think of something. Finally they got an idea. “I will get you something to eat if you cooperate. Answer my questions with honesty and I’ll see if I can get you a meal. I know you must be starving with the recent food scarcity throughout both our kingdoms.”
This seemed to catch Varian’s attention. The promise of food made his stomach rumble loudly in anticipation. Out of embarrassment his face grew red and he averted his eyes. “Depends on what you want to know. I’m not giving inside information. I won’t be of much value to you.”
With a hum Hugo sat back down in his chair. “I will ask whatever I deem necessary to ask. If you refuse to answer, I won’t get you any food. It’s as easy as that.” They pushed up their glasses and looked at the handsome man in front of them. “Alright, first question. Why were you kidnapping our soldiers?”
Varian pressed his lips together in a thin stripe, hesitating to answer. After a few seconds of doubt the persistent hunger won and he gave in. “I was going to clear out your post so we could claim back more ground. Your little friends and you should have ended up in the dungeons if everything had gone the way it should have. We are sick of your people’s tyranny!”
“Oh, trust me, I am too. I never wanted to be a soldier in the first place, but family ties and honour and all that forced me into this. It’s such bullshit. Why do you think I brought you here and not to Donella herself? She’s kind of a bitch to be honest.” Hugo shrugged casually.
“Alright, my turn to ask a question.” Varian insisted. He didn’t give Hugo time to respond before continuing. “I’m just curious. What are those things on your ears and why do you speak so weirdly?”
Hugo took one of his cochlear implants in his hand and showed it to the alchemist. “This? It’s a cochlear implant. It sends sound signals directly to the auditory nerve, which in its turn goes through to my brain to process. It basically simulates what a working ear would do, except it apparently sounds different from what hearing people hear.” They explained. “I don’t know that, though. I’ve been deaf since I was born. That’s also why I struggle to say some words. I can’t hear those frequencies well, so it’s hard to mimic.”
Varian nodded slowly, looking at the small device. “That’s such advanced technology. Who made it? They must be a very talented engineer. This is fascinating…” He watched how the man put the little device behind his ear again and clicked another part onto his head.
Before Varian could ask another question, Hugo already answered. “Magnet. There’s a magnet that connects to the implant in my head that receives sound. If the device isn’t connected to it by the magnet, it doesn’t work and I won’t be able to hear.” They yawned and looked outside to check the time. It was getting late, the sun setting and casting long shadows over the city. Soon it would be dark.
“My turn to ask a question again. Why are you the one doing the dirty work? If you’re the royal alchemist you should be sitting in the castle being an annoying selfish prick instead of out here fighting the war.” Hugo asked bluntly. “I mean that’s what all royalty uppity bitches usually do.”
Once again the alchemist glared at his captivator. “You have a very flawed view of royalty. The prince and princess are out there fighting to protect our kingdom from you scum. Everyone is fighting this war with everything they have, royalty or not.”
“How noble.” Hugo rolled his eyes and got up. “I’ll see if I can get you some food. I’ll be back.”
They quickly left the shed to scout around for some food. Hopefully they’d be able to steal something this time. Food was scarce due to the other kingdoms stopping their transport of food and other wares to both Ingvarr and Corona. There was no more food going in or out of the kingdoms at war, so as time passed food became harder to find.
Hugo himself hadn’t had a meal in two days, unable to get his hands on anything edible at all. There was hunger everywhere and the first people had already fallen to starvation. It was a true nightmare. Sadly food scarcity had always been a thing in Ingvarr for as long as Hugo could remember. They always had to fight for a meal, lucky if they even got three entire meals in one day. There had been many days where he wasn’t able to secure a meal, sometimes even several days in a row.
It had made the thief pretty much desensitised to the sensation of hunger. They never even felt hungry anymore until it would get really painful. When his stomach was cramping and forcing stomach acid up his oesophagus, like right now. He needed something to eat.
After a while of searching around he found a man who was carrying a box with, presumably, food. Hugo followed the man, keeping in the shadows so they wouldn’t be caught. Once the man stopped walking and put down the box, Hugo took his chance.
He sneaked up to the poor unsuspecting guy and hit him over the head with the back of his gun. The man collapsed, losing consciousness and going completely limp. Hugo was quick to open the box and look into it to find a few freshly baked buns. They took them all, leaving just one for the man as a gesture of gratitude before running back to the shed. On their way back they hungrily ate a bun or two, happy with their findings. This would be enough food for at least three days.
Hugo soon returned to the shed. He made sure to lock the door and put the buns in a bag to prevent them from going stale. Before Varian could complain, they pushed a bun into his mouth. “Got you food. Now shut up and eat.”
Varian grumbled and swallowed the bite. “Can you at least untie me so I can properly eat?”
“Hmmm…” The blonde pretended to think deeply for a few seconds. “No. I don’t trust you. We’re enemies.”
“Take all my weapons and lock the door so I can’t escape or hurt you.”
Hugo thought about that for a moment. It would help him earn this guy’s trust a bit better, he would just have to be careful and keep an eye out tonight. “Fine. Let me pat you down so I can be absolutely sure you have nothing on you.” They started undoing the knots in the ropes. “If you even attempt to leave once I will hand you over to Donella. She won’t have mercy on you.”
“You’ve said that like fifty times already.” Varian rubbed his painful wrists as soon as he was freed from the ropes. He then got up and took off all his weapons. His sword, knife, gun, alchemy balls and second knife. Without hesitation he dropped all of it on the floor and allowed Hugo to pat him down and search him completely.
It was uncomfortable for the both of them, but necessary to build trust on either side. When Hugo was absolutely sure their prisoner didn’t have any more weapons, they took the weapons from the floor and put them in a lockable drawer. He made sure to lock said drawer before sitting down on the floor, exhausted and ready for a nap.
“Make yourself at home, I guess. Don’t wake me until the sun is up, and if Donella decides to come in then hide under the desk and pray she doesn’t see you. Good night.” Hugo said, taking off his cochlear implants and putting them on the floor along with his glasses. They shut their eyes, holding their gun close for protection, and fell asleep within minutes.
Varian spent the night exploring the small space. It appeared that Hugo basically lived here, or it was a second, temporary hiding spot instead of a home. There wasn’t a lot to look at; a desk with some drawings, two chairs, a chest full of ammunition and a few tools laying around on the floor. The ground was dirty and the shed itself seemed a little unstable and old. Definitely not a place you would want to call home.
After several hours he became bored of looking around and decided to just get some sleep. He’d seen all the drawings and rearranged all the tools, cleaned up and looked through the drawings of inanimate objects and humans again and again. There was nothing left to do now but sleep. To make sure he was hidden just in case, he crawled under the desk and curled up. It took a while, but finally his eyelids became heavy and he drifted off to sleep.
—
The following morning a grim woman entered the shed. She kicked Hugo to wake him up, unaware of the boy under the desk who was barely waking up because of the noise. Hugo shot up with a yelp and looked at their mentor before quickly putting on their glasses and getting up. *What?* They signed, slightly annoyed.
Donella sent him a stern glare. *Get back to your post. Tomorrow I will have a different job for you.* She signed quickly, pushing her pupils' hearing devices in his hands. *put them on. You know I prefer speaking.*
*Don’t care what you prefer. I have a headache, I’m not putting them on.* Hugo put the cochlear implants in their pocket and crossed their arms stubbornly. That earned him a clean right hook to the face, as he expected. He barely even flinched, only closing his eyes in pain and annoyance when blood started gushing out of his nose.
Donella grabbed her pupil’s chin and forced them to look at her. “You’d do right to know where you stand, rat. Now get to your post.” She spoke before pushing Hugo away with enough force to make them stumble.
With a groan the blonde found their balance and wiped their nose on their sleeve. He wanted to make a joke about not hearing his mentor, but she knew he could read lips so it wouldn’t work. Without saying a word Hugo picked up his gun and followed Donella out of the shed. He locked the door and ran off to his post. Hopefully the task they would get tomorrow would be less boring. This war was lasting way too long.
As Hugo sat in the trenches, waiting for anything to happen, he couldn’t stop thinking of Varian. That handsome face with those wonderful and determined eyes. Those cute freckles and those soft lips. They wondered how it would feel to-
Nope. Get that out of your head, Hugo. Don’t fall in love with the enemy.
With a tired sigh he rested his head back against the soil. Hopefully this war will be over soon. Until then they would just have to keep pushing through whatever came their way.