If you’re still into the soldier!markus au, then boy do I have I scene for you. I’ve seen your posts about the injuries markus obtains in the war. Now just imagine when Carl gets a call about his son being in critical condition, and despite being paralyzed, NOTHING stops this man from booking a ticket to fly out to the hospital where Markus is transferred to. He refuses help from anyone who tries to push his wheel chair to get him where he needs to go. But oh boy. When he finally sees Markus, someone he loves and cares about, laying on the hospital bed, missing his legs, his eye, and hooked up to so many machines keeping him alive and monitoring his health, he breaks. His poor boy had gone through so much pain. He cries. He prays. He talks to Markus. He tells him to keep fighting despite all he’s been through, and later This prompts Markus to wake up, overwhelmed with silent joy to see his father right by his side; his father who had no plans to leave him anytime soon.
BOY OH BOY IVE PUT THIS ASK OFF BECAUSE IT. CHANGED. EVERYTHING. Everything I thought I wanted from Markus' story in the AU, everything I thought I had planned for Markus' future/arrangements. It made me question everything and I couldn't be more thankful.
As I was reading this I thought, first of all oh my god the absolute reverse uno card. And second, the amount of comfort it would instill in Markus to know that Carl, no matter how much he himself had suffered, nothing had stopped him from coming to play his role as a father. The guilt it would cause, the worry; it would be the first thing on Markus' mind after the joy of course. The fact that they were hundreds of miles from home, from Carl's easily accessible life and yet Markus couldn't help but rely on him.
When he first comes to after being in a coma, medically induced or not, Carl is there. It's joy, because Markus didn't think he was alive anymore. He thought the void he'd been put into was forever and the last moments of his consciousness replayed ten thousand times over. Then he heard Carl's voice, something familiar that in it's own way, helped him through the fog.
But he really, really needed his Dad when he finds out he's missing both of his legs. When he becomes aware of having to tilt his head, why the pain inside wont go away and has a possibility of never entirely leaving. It breaks him in a way no parent should have to see but in this case, Carl knew it was only right, only fair.
After everything Markus had done to take care of him through his accident, even after they'd been distant through his youth... He owed it to Markus to stand with the same strength and unwavering love that his son once did. When he'd been taken to his lowest, thought there was no point to being anymore, Markus was there.
And it kills him. To have to see the same kind of suffering, to have to hold his hand through such similar pain. But he knows what kind of man Markus is and he knows how much of a fighter he is to have made it this far. His body tried to fail him but the spirit inside was so strong, he knew these disabilities would never destroy the kind soul Markus has.
The soul of a soldier. A soldier that marches on.
And sure enough, he does just that. The tears slowly dry, the fear is pulled in by it's bootstraps. Carl encourages him every step that he can't let these things rule his life and ruin him. That he's no less of a man because of a few missing limbs and he'll never be any less of a beloved son. He tells him just how much he had appreciated him through the years and how 'it had to be hard to deal with a grumpy old man.' But that he never would have made it without Markus coming to live with him and being willing to put up with his faults.
Markus always feared through the years of his absence at home that Carl would grow distant from him. That he'd resent him for leaving in the first place. But to hear him encourage him and uplift him in his darkest time. To travel half way across the continent, raise hell and high water along the way and meet him when he needed his father the most...
Carl had a lot of time to think about Markus not making it, that he wasn't going to risk never telling him the things he needed deserved to hear. Time and life in that moment was made very real to them, bringing back the mortality of Carl's accident and near death and now Markus'. He had no doubts in his mind though, that Carl loved him. And that somehow he'd make it through the wreckage he'd faced, especially seeing as Carl did. They could do anything together and if his father could, he could too.
Seriously though??? This changed a lot of the ideas that I was working with and had partially written for the BoxBoy!Connor and Soldier!Markus AU. I had written a lot based off the idea that Carl had already passed and had done so while Markus was deployed, just before his accident. So not only did he get injured but he came home to an empty house and Carl having been dead for a while.
I don't know why I had started it off that way but after reading this ask when you first sent it, I went into a spiral of change. It honestly revolutionized a big part of the story going on and while it's made it a pinch harder (due to re-writing the first chapter 3 times already), I think it will be a lot better in the long run. I can't thank you enough for the imagine because I imagined and I fell in love with the idea of Carl still being alive through his adaptation back into life post injury.
The prompts you come up with are gold and are so very helpful. Extremely sorry it took so long for me to get a response out but I wanted it to be a good and enthusiastic one. And just know I saw it and it has inspired me x100.