Unlikely Heroes

Chapter 15

When morning came everyone was woken up to go to their stations. Rufioh was on his way out, but someone stopped him. "Okay, considering this is a very weird...um...lets just predicament. You need to make sure that kid stays safe, so you're staying here."

"Uh, okay. Sure." Rufioh shrugged, walking back over to Karkat who was shivering. "...I need to find you a jacket..." He mumbled to himself as he removed his own jacket and placed it on Karkat. He was a small kid, so the soldier's jacket was gigantic on him. Rufioh chucked. "Warmer?"

"Warm..." Karkat repeated, he was pretty good at understanding what was being said.

"Let's go find you some food." Rufioh took the covered hand of Karkat and lead him to another small tent. Rufioh got them some food and smiled at the child as he ate.

Weeks passed and the days got colder. Rufioh luckily found a small enough jacket to fit Karkat. He eventually had to go into town and get Karkat clothes. He got a package one day, from his family of course. All the soldiers were given mail, but this was the first time Rufioh had gotten anything. He opened the package and there was a note, half in Spanish and half in English. The other soldiers looked over at Rufioh.

"Whatcha got there Nitram?" Jones walked over, looking at the note. "Are you Mexican or something?"

"No!" Rufioh elbowed jones. "My dad is from Spain! He moved here and taught me Spanish as a first language."

"Ooooh!! Say something really fast in Spanish!!" Jones teased Rufioh, who glared in return. "Pleeeeaaaase!" He begged.

"te odio" Rufioh said and jones was disappointed. "Hey, I said something."

"Which would be?"

"I hate you." Rufioh translated and then laughed. Jones nudged him.

"Anyway, what did they send you?" Jones looked at Rufioh's small box.

"Um..." Rufioh pulled out another captain America comic book, pencils, another journal, and a chocolate bar.

Karkat was sitting across from Rufioh and jones. He looked over and saw the chocolate. He hadn't had any candy since before the war, when he was four. He hopped up, looking up at Rufioh. He had no idea how to ask, so he just stared at him.

"Uh...you're going to have to do something else. I don't know what you-..." Rufioh stopped and smiled. "Chocolate."

"Schokolade!!" Karkat pointed to the chocolate bar. "Bitte!!" He begged.

"Okay, okay." Rufioh chuckled, opening the chocolate. He broke off a small section and gave it to Karkat.

"I don't think Germany has had chocolate since...around...1938 or so? Well, probably a little after that." Jones pointed out.

"He's only eight. He's probably only had it once!" Rufioh smiled at the child who was happily eating the chocolate.

"Ya know, Nitram. He's kinda cute..." Jones said, now also smiling at Karkat. Karkat didn't seem to care about anything besides what he was eating.

Around a month later, a terrible storm came through that part of France. Everyone was told to stay inside if they didn't need to do anything. Everyone was sitting inside the large tent full of cots and talking. Karkat, on the other hand, was hiding under a blanket.

"Karkat?" Rufioh lifted the blanket and looked at the small child. "What are you doing?"

"der Sturm..." Karkat said quietly, pulling the blanket back over his head. "...no..."

"The storm outside?" Rufioh tried to coax Karkat out of the blanket. "It's okay... Don't worry... It can't hurt you as long as you're in here." He picked Karkat in the blanket up and set him in his lap. "Nothing can hurt you..."

Karkat clung to Rufioh's chest, trembling. He didn't want to come out of the blanket or even hear the storm.  When the thunder clapped loudly he covered his head with the blanket and shook.

"Hey, hey, shhh..." Rufioh hugged Karkat close. "It's okay...shhh..." He kept the child close, trying to comfort him.

"Hey, is the kid okay?" Jones walked over, putting a hand on Karkat's head. "It's just a storm..." Karkat shook his head.

"He's really scared is all... Just because of the storm..." Rufioh looked down at Karkat, trying to make him feel better.

"You're like a parent." Jones laugh, nudging Rufioh.

"Well, I have two younger siblings. One is paralyzed and the other will constantly jump on me! My parents are usually away at work and my dad fought in the First World War. He actually told me to sign up." Rufioh explained, still comforting the small child.

"Your sibling is paralyzed? Damn, that's gotta be tough..." Jones said, sighing. "I have a younger sibling, but only by three years."

"My brother is eight and my sister is nine. I have an older sister who's seventeen." Rufioh shrugged, his family was rather large.

"Seventeen? Aren't you...that age?" Jones thought Rufioh had turned seventeen and turned eighteen a month ago.

"Oh, well...uh... I kind of lied about that. I'm sixteen...my birthday is in, uh, may..." Rufioh rubbed the back of his neck.

"Eh, well I won't tell anyone." Jones smiled.

The thunder clapped loudly again, Karkat jumped and hid his face. He started crying and clinging to Rufioh. "Ich will Kankri zurück! Er machte es immer besser ..."

Jones, thinking this would be fun, decided to try and repeat Karkat. "Ick will Kankri zer-ook er match es im mer besser." Was his pronunciation, causing Karkat to look up.

Karkat's face was perplexed. "Wh??"

"I can speak German! Wir Sind die best-en duchland ge-wint!" Jones pronounced all of the words terribly, causing Karkat to crack a smile.

"What on earth did you say??" Rufioh shook his head. "That sounded awful!"

"Dein Deutsch ist schrecklich! Du klingst so dumm, als on du nicht sprechen könntest! (Your German is terrible! You sound so stupid, like you can't speak)" Karkat actually laughed.  His laugh was so innocent and pure. He smiled widely, sounding like nothing was wrong.

Rufioh and jones smiled to one another. They loved hearing Karkat laugh. He acted his age when he did, rocking back and forth and smiling. Rufioh hadn't seen that on him, ever. It was happy.