Chasing Liberty // Countryhumans North Korea fanfiction

Cut My Sleeve

   By the time they reached Pyongyang, North could barely keep his eye open. He almost staggered when he jumped down from the truck, only just being surreptitiously steadied by Chagang.

   He shrugged him off, turning to help Hae down. She yawned widely, then guiltily slapped her hands over her mouth, hunching her shoulders.

    The sight of her gap-tooth had filled North with fresh anger, reinvigorating him enough to help pull the bodies from the truck once the others had gotten out. Soldiers came running out, assisting them, waving their returned comrades on to the hospital while the vehicle rumbled away to hide for the day.

    North was barely aware of making the trip to the hospital himself, sitting still while Kangwon looked him over, asking about his aches and pains before informing him that the incubation period for dysentery was usually two to four weeks.

   'Bastard.' He had known that North wouldn't display symptoms so quickly. He had only said that to lure him back to the city.

   But he was already here, and for once too tired to argue. He ignored Kangwon's insistence that he head back to the bunker with the others, instead visiting SH and Hwang while he waited for him to examine the other patients.

   North Hwanghae was sleeping soundly, his face gaunt and reddened, with dark shadows under his eyes. He tossed a little in his sleep, a whistling snore coming from him.

   North exhaled in relief, glad that his province had survived his trek to the northeast looking relatively unscathed. He had known he could. Hwang was incredibly resourceful. He quietly left, making a note to get him new glasses to replace the cracked ones on the side table.

    SH's room was already occupied. North Hamgyong got to his feet as he walked in, bristling before he realized it was just North.

   "You're back," he grunted, clearly trying to pretend he wasn't where he was. "Did you get them?"

    North nodded, examining him. Bandages around his head and palm; his shoulder thick under his tattered uniform jacket, probably wrapped in more of them; purple bruises blending in with his green skin; favouring an ankle. But he was standing straight, so nothing too serious.

   His eye strayed to SH.

     She lay on the bed, the blankets that had covered her having grown in number. Thin sheets, patchwork quilts, a fur that looked like it came from a bear topping it all off. Her face was sickly pale where it wasn't burnt, still with high patches of fever bleeding off of her crimson mountain magnolia. Her eyes rolled under purple lids as she twitched.

    North 'tch'ed. She should be in a coma, not just sleeping.

    'Stubborn woman.' He couldn't deny that the thought was tinged with pride.

    "Happy?" North Hamgyong asked, crossing his arms. "She got beat the fuck up. Or worse."

   "She got in a fight and she won," North growled at him. "The cold did the most damage. Nothing else happened."

    He doubted she would have been up on that stage crying like a goshawk if it had. Or that any enemy in Gyeongmudae would still be living.

   "No thanks to you."

   'I'm not the one that shot her.' North stifled the words. They weren't constructive. Any real criticism could wait for the session.

   "She did her duty and brought important intelligence for freeing the other prisoners," he said instead. "When she wakes up, she will say she doesn't regret it."