Reckless - A Germany x Reader (Discontinued)

Chapter 6 - Student to Teacher

Your eyes widened as your vision came into focus.

"Oh god.." You muttered, the sight of your injured arm making you feel nauseous.

The bullet had torn through the soft tissue of your bicep. The shiny, bronze coloured tip stuck out, coated in bright red blood. You saw a blue, vein-like thing had been ripped in two by the bullet.

"No wonder I can't feel my arm," you murmured, turning towards Ludwig's concerned face. "The bullet tore through the nerves in my upper arm." The German's eyes widened as the realisation hit him. He feel to his knees, head in his hands, murmuring to himself in German. It seemed like he was blaming himself for what had happened.

"Hey," you said firmly as you grabbed his arm with your good one causing him to look at you. Your drowsiness wearing off, you began to feel sharp throbs of pain emitting from your bullet wound. Your shoulder and back began to feel hot, wet and sticky as the pool of blood grew. "I need you to do a few things before you can break down, okay?" You asked through gritted teeth. You saw determination begin to seep back into his eyes as he nodded. Taking a deep breath you listed off what you needed done. "In my bag there should be a first aid kit, inside is some disinfectant, tweezers and a few rolls of bandages." The blonde nodded as you spoke, "First, clean the wound and surrounding area with the disinfectant. Secondly, make a tourniquet with some cloth or a spare bandage, this will restrict the blood flow in my arm and lessening the amount of blood I'll lose. Then you need to pull the bullet out with the tweezers. When the bullet comes out, the bleeding will worsen; even with the tourniquet, so make sure you can immediately begin to wrap the bandages around my arm beforehand."

Nodding, the German went to grab your first aid kit. You now noticed that your bag was leaned against a nearby tree. A few seconds later he was back and kneeling next to your injured arm. He found the disinfectant and come cotton pads and began to gently clean the wound and its surrounding area. Ripping a strip of cloth of his gray overcoat, Ludwig tightly wrapped it above the wound and made a tourniquet. He then grabbed a roll of bandages and placed it on his lap, ready to wrap around your arm. When you saw him grab the tweezers, you looked away, focusing on keeping what muscles you still had control of relaxed so it would be less difficult for Ludwig to pull the bullet out.

With one hand on your shoulder, Ludwig began to pull the bullet out. You ground your teeth together and, with your good arm, clamped a hand over your mouth in an effort to keep your screams of pain as quiet as possible. Your eyes closed tightly and your back arched, as if trying to get away. Your feet kicking up a cloud of dry dirt. You barely registered Copper's whimper of concern.

"Got it!" You heard Ludwig exclaim before you felt him move your arm to a better position to wrap the bandages around your arm. The pain had toned down to a dull throb once he had finished. You turned your head and saw a neatly bandaged arm.

"You could've been a doctor," you murmured, your speech slurred by drowsiness as your body began to relax and recover. Showing no signs that he heard you, Ludwig folded up his overcoat for you to use as a pillow, placing it under your head and placed your now bandaged arm on your chest so it would be a bit more comfortable.

He then wiped away tears you hadn't noticed running down the sides of your face. "Thank you," you murmured before passing out.

~~~

'You could've been a doctor'

Those words circled endlessly through Ludwig's mind as he watched over you while you rested. He looked at his rifle, leaning against a tree next to him. He then looked at his pistol, hidden inside his jacket. How many people had he killed with those weapons?

'Too many to count' he thought bitterly.

Ludwig was no longer wearing his uniform of dark grays and black. Instead he wore khaki coloured pants, hard leather boots, a light, dark-lime green jacket and a white shirt. His overcoat was being used as a pillow by you.

Ludwig looked over at you. You were sleeping soundly, your chest rising and falling evenly with each breath. Copper had snuggled into your side, the golden dog's head on your stomach.

Ludwig's eyes drifted to your bandaged arm, his eyes darkened. He knew exactly which soldier had fired that bullet...

~~~

When you awoke, the only light came from the crescent-shaped moon, hanging low to the west, and the stars shining right above you.

You felt a movement next to you, turning your head you saw Copper twitching in his sleep as he chased something in his dreams.

Looking to the other side you saw Ludwig, his head down as if asleep. His rifle laying across his lap as he sat on a nearby log. At your movement, the German looked up slightly before noticing you were awake.

"(y/n)," He whispered as he knelt down next to you, "How are jou feeling?"

"Better," you replied, checking your arm. Blood had begun to seep through the bandages, in a few hours it would be time to clean and redress the wound. You looked back at Ludwig, "We should probably get moving... Is there someplace we could go where we'd be safe..well, safer?"

Ludwig thought for a moment, "My older bruder's place. It should be vizhin valking distance from here, zhough I'm not sure how villing he'll be to help..." He trails off. He shakes his head after a moment, "Nien.. he vill help us. Let's go." He puts you bag on his back, the strap of his rifle over his shoulder and then helps you stand up, carefully avoiding your wound.

Limping along slowly, you, Copper and Ludwig walked quietly through the forest, stopping every now and then for you to rest.