War's Antidote | Chapter 3 [Ivan x Reader]

Seven days. Seven, short days. Ivan couldn't believe it. When he heard the news, he grew very, very pale. His mouth ran dry and his heart pounded. Seven days. Seven. The number kept replaying in his mind over and over again. He was ... paralyzed. 

    "But... why?" [Name] murmured to Luddy.

    "In Germany we... we do not... think of Soviets as humans." The German replied.

    "But I am right in front of you... and I am a human. We," she gestured to Ivan, who was still frozen in his thoughts, "are humans. I fail to understand."

    "The Fuhrer... he has strange ways of thinking. But we do not question him." 

    "You poisoned a human being because you failed to question your commander in chief. She now has seven days to live. You think... you think this is ACCEPTABLE?!" Ivan roared.

Luddy tensed up at the man's raised voice and looked to him like a lesser wolf looking at the Omega.

    "I was just... following orders, sir." Luddy murmured.

Interestingly enough-- or perhaps not so interestingly, 'I was just following orders' seemed to get to Ivan. His gaze softened as he remembered a life time of himself following orders. His anger seemed to subside for now as he looked at Luddy; he saw a young, aspiring soldier in him, though it soon reflected a mirror of the General's younger self. He almost wanted to start crying. That young boy-- the same one he saw inside of himself-- knew nothing of the hardships promotions would bring him, nothing of the gruesome scenes to come; if he survived, that was. War changed you. War changed everyone involved. War is not some game. War is very, very real. War affected more than just the armies. The battling nations. It affected the world. As these thoughts passed through his mind, he was unaware he'd been staring at Luddy for a good minute before the young man moved uneasily under the hardened General's gaze.

    "...Right..." Ivan nodded, "Well, we need to get going as quickly as possible. We have seven days to fetch this antidote. We'd best get moving along."

    "But, Ivan," [Name] interjected, "what about the supply truck?"

    "Damn... you are right. They will not arrive for some time yet. I am estimating a few hours at least."

And yet, as if a miracle from God, the truck seemed to pull in the driveway at that very moment. Ivan perked to the sound of snow crunching forcefully between tire tracks - it was a very distinct sound. He grabbed his rifle, slung it over his shoulder, swept up [Name] and ran out of the house in haste. The wood stove was still burning and Luddy was still in the house. Not to mention he failed to grab any belongings; as far as he was concerned, he had the belonging. 

    "I-Ivan what are you doing?" [Name] stammered. She hadn't even gotten her total winter gear on yet.

    "Oh right!" Ivan exclaimed. He set her down briefly, yanking his coat off and putting it around her in a hasty fashion before picking her up again and hoisting her up to the men in the truck. They took her with confusion as their Commander said no words.

Ivan raced back to the house to fetch Luddy, who had already put the fire out in the wood stove. Ivan grabbed [Name's] rifle and the book he'd read about a thousand times before leaving the house after Luddy. He went to let the door close behind him when his eyes grew wide in panic. He turned around, barely catching the door in time. He raced back inside toward the bedroom they shared, grabbing one thing from the 'dresser'. It was a small cat collar; while [Name] had other mementos in her original army dorm back in Moscow, she'd brought this cat collar with her for good luck. It was from her cat who, to her knowledge, was being well taken care of back at her apartment. [Name] loved her cat so much, she'd even named it "Ivan", after her best friend; the General himself. He grabbed it and raced back outside, leaping into the front of the truck. The soldiers were still confused - they had just come up here to deliver supplies after all. 

    "Commander, what are you doing?" One asked.

    "Listen, Leopolt, there is a change in plans. You are going to stay here with your team until a team comes to relieve you. I will be taking the truck. There is a radio inside the house."

    "Ah.. Well... Alright." Leopolt nodded.

    "I promise I will explain anything later, Comrade." 

With that, the soldiers who'd come to deliver supplies got out the truck; the team of medics stayed in the back with [Name]. They didn't have any stool hardener, but she didn't appear to need any at the moment. The truck began to move, and the medics in back made light conversation with [Name] as they went down the road. Luddy meanwhile sat upfront with Ivan. He appeared nervous as he sat in utter silence.

    "...Why, pray tell, do you look so nervous?" Ivan's purposefully monotone voice made him cringe.

    "I am just... sorry I suppose. For not outright telling the truth."

    "Yeah, well, you should be." Ivan hissed.

    "H-hey look... I told you though... even though I didn't really WANT to tell you, I did. Can I get some credit?"

    "..."

    "Come on... Commander..." Luddy uttered, frowning, "Do you ever smile?"

    "...I smile when [Name] is safe." He sighed.

    "Are... are you like... together or something?" 

    "In my dreams." The General whispered.

The intently listening cadet next to him heard the comment. In fact, it made him a smile a little. Though now he realized the grave danger he'd been in from the start, he now knew it was going to be amplified by a million if he failed to save her life.

    "... Maybe you can tell me about [Name]. What is she like? What does she like? What are her hobbies?" Luddy figured if he could get Ivan to talk about something he liked, maybe they could get on good terms.

    "[Name]... Well, [Name] is very gentle around those she trusts. And she is very sweet. But she is a bit devilish and mischievous. I cannot recall how many times I have bailed her out of trouble!" Ivan started to chuckle.

    "[Name] does things with the intention of caring for whomever she is doing it for. She is a bit... too quick to trust in my opinion, but I have found that most of the people she has come to trust were good people. Earlier when she defended you it threw me off guard. Because... why would she defend an enemy who has done this... horrible thing to her? But that is how she is. She is a protector. In her eyes, everyone deserves a second chance. Hell, even third. But when she gets hurt, she falls bad. When she is stabbed in the back, the knife goes all the way through. It really, really hurts her. I have seen her cry because of it on multiple occasions..." 

    "[Name] sounds like a truly wonderful girl." Luddy commented.

    "She is... as far as her hobbies, she likes to read and interpret maps. She also enjoys writing, but hasn't been able to do much of it. When we get closer to a town, I want to go into a store and buy her some pencils and paper. I think she would really enjoy that for a present. What else? Oh, she really loves cats. She has one back in Moscow but she wants another when the war is over. Another thing about her is that..."

As Ivan kept rambling on about [Name] and getting noticeably happier, one of the medics from the back looked up to the front seat.

    "Ah, Comrade Ivan," one of them trailed off, "I think there is a visitor behind us..."

Ivan looked in the rear view mirror and sure enough, there was a German truck behind them. It was a cargo truck just like Ivan's, so there was no doubt it had a patrol of soldiers in it. Ivan grit his teeth; could nothing be easy? He pulled a lever in the front which allowed him control of the speed of the vessel and then, as much as he could safely, hit the gas. His vehicle was better prepared for the winter than the Nazi's, right? He looked to Luddy with a scowl.

    "Are these some of your friends?!"

    "What? N-no! I promise!"

    "Good. Reach in the back and grab [Name]'s rifle."

    "Hey! No!"

    "B-but, [Name]--"

    "I can shoot these bastards! Just let me fight!"

Ivan, ever so reluctantly, agreed to her and within seconds he heard [Name]'s weapon making sounds. 

    "Alright, Nazi bastards, let us see if you can weather the storm!"

BANG! ... BANG! ... BANG!

The transport that followed them didn't seem to be affected by [Name]'s shots. In fact, they replied with a bit of their own surprise; a firing crew. [Name] gasped and grit her teeth at the sight.

    "Ivan! They've a three man firing crew!"

    "Are you kidding me? Luddy! Get back there and--"

    "I've got this!" [Name] yelled.

    "Wha-- [Name]! What are you doing?!"

    "We've got some of them fancy new F1 Grenades!"

    "[Name] you're kidding! A grenade?!" Luddy yelped.

    "Oh, I'm sorry-- I forgot you wanted to be BLASTED OFF OF THE ROAD!" [Name] screeched, yanking the pin out of the truck and dropping it out of the back. The Nazis behind them slowed down, just barely missing the grenade's wraith. Ivan sped away from them now on the road, desperate to get away from them before one of [Name's] symptoms kicked in.

    "Looks like we escaped them..." Luddy uttered, staring back in disbelief. 

    "Yeah, but we did not kill them. This is very bad... they could go up and down that entire front, knocking on the doors of those houses... if they discover they are all Russian soldiers, we will lose a great amount of our already dwindling army." 

    "Maybe we can fake them out." Luddy suggested. Ivan looked at him with an eyebrow raised; as far as he was concerned he could trust a German-- a Nazi-- about as far as he could throw one.

    "Who would be so quick to betray his nation like this?" He questioned.

    "Listen... just hear me out. See, the Nazis have spread checkpoints all over these roads. Before we get to one, we should stop and swap out driving positions. I will make it look like I have captured you two and I am taking you back to the mainland."

    "Oh, Hell no." Ivan growled, "You are not getting your wet dream of having us trust YOU, of all people, and then BAM!! There we are in some death camp. Ha! Not happening. I sure as hell was not born yesterday."

    "C'mon... Sir..." Luddy groaned, "It is not going to look good when you go through one of their checkpoints and you are.... a Soviet." He tried to reason with the distrusting General. 

    "Maybe you can just tell them you're making the 'servant' drive you." Ivan suggested. He was slightly warming up to the idea Luddy presented him with.

    "Oooh, maybe. They will think I'm being high and mighty by making you, the lower life form, drive in these harsh conditions!"

    Luddy let out a sudden exclamation as he felt a small, round, cold object on his head.

    "Call me a lower life form one more time and I won't fucking need your help." Ivan growled, holding his service pistol to the man's head.

    "Wait, Ivan..." 

    "Oh, no." Ivan whispered. It was [Name] coming up for air again.

    "Luddy, this medicine... where is it?"

    "..."

    "Luddy." Ivan growled.

    "B-Berlin... It is in a vault there, in an armory. My commander really wasn't supposed to take the poi--" 

His voice was drown out by a loud shrill from Ivan at this news. He was outraged. 

    "BERLIN?!"

    "G-gah! D-don't hurt me!" Luddy exclaimed.

    "I thought so. In order to get back to Germany within seven days, we'll have to get a plane. Stalin isn't exactly gonna just... donate a plane to the Braginsky fund. We need to get there. The only way to do it is with Luddy's first suggestion. He can claim we're Russian spies, and that we have information to get to the Fuhrer. Then... we're in! We wait for Luddy to get the medicine, we break out of jail--"

    "How are we going to get back to Moscow?" Ivan interjected, "We have a reason to fly there but what's our reason to fly back?"

    "... I guess we'll just have to hijack a plane."

    "I-I-- I'll get killed if I hijack a plane!" 

    "Luddy... you might get killed either way. If [Name] dies, you'll join her. If Hitler catches you hijacking a plane and aiding Soviets, you'll most certainly be obliterated. You have to pick the lesser of two evils."

    "I die in both scenarios!" 

    "...Happens." Ivan replied.