Hearts Beat (Louder Than Bombs): Chapter 7
AO3 Link | Markhyuck Wartime AU | Chapter 7/? | 17k Words
Donghyuck knows that he is lucky. Lucky to have done reasonably well in school, lucky to have parents who have always been supportive, and yet what Donghyuck is most thankful for, beyond anything else, is that when he was forced into enlistment he was able to do so as a nurse rather than a soldier. He is grateful to be warm and dry, fed and sheltered at the main base camp rather than on the front lines in the mud and the flames. Mark, Lucas, and countless others have not be so lucky, and Donghyuck has been witness to what walks out the other side. Watching Jungwoo slowly nurse Lucas back to health and then see all that progress fall through, ending up back at square one and a limb short, only cemented this gratefulness further.
So far Mark’s recovery has been much smoother. Though the injuries he had sustained were extensive he has been responding well to the treatments. The mind, however, is a fickle thing and as much as Donghyuck and the rest of the medical staff always try their best to keep all of the patients comfortable throughout their recovery, there is little they can do for the internal struggles that the soldiers no doubt face. Donghyuck has borne witness to many a nightmare and panic attack since he was assigned his post and it never gets easier. Sometimes the nightmares are his own, with the recent news of Jeno’s disappearance he has often been woken during the night by Renjun’s stirring and has had to lull him back to sleep. But mostly it is the soldiers. The men on the ward, their minds filled with terrors Donghyuck can never even begin to understand.
Donghyuck does not remember falling asleep, but when he is woken at the crack of dawn to a thunderstorm outside, he is surprised to find that it is Jaemin that woke him and not the rattling of his tent poles. He groggily allows Jaemin to pull him out of his warm cot and into the sleeves of his coat before he is dragged through the tent’s front flap and out into the wind.
The gusts wip at Donghyuck’s cheeks as Jaemin drags him across the yard. When they reach the medical tent the sky is brightly lit by a crack of lightning and the trees in the distance are threatening to splinter under the pressure of the wind and yet the only sound that Donghyuck can perceive is screams. They are hollow and guttural, pure fear. From the threshold he sees Mark's sheets tangled around himself as he lashes at ghosts that are not there and suddenly Donghyuck is wide awake.
He rushes across the floor, coming to stand beside Shotaro, who looks to be trying to coax Mark down from a mental ledge.
"What happened?" Donghyuck rushes to ask as he tries to get ahold of one of Mark's hands but they are flying sporadically through the air and Donghyuck has to pull away to avoid getting whacked across the face.
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