A Partisan's Fight - COMPLETED!

Chapter Fifty-Six

Content Warning: Language and Uncomfortable Injuries.

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"Sitting up is an improvement." Aldrik leaned against the storage room's doorframe. He hadn't seen Markus doing much more than blinking over the last week and a half. Sure, he'd been a little too busy to come and check on him, but Mina filled him in on how he was doing.

Markus paused mid-slurp of the soup balancing on a tray. The bruises on his face were beginning to fade away, but the stormy coloration from where the bruises were still popped out. A slow smile tilted up his lips. The cut on his bottom lip had almost completely healed. "It is about all I can do at this point. I can barely hold this spoon."

"Well, you do have a hole in your thumb." Aldrik shrugged, finding his way to a barrel and sitting down by the bed. "Here, I will help you."

"You want to feed me?" Markus's brows bounced up in dry surprise.

Aldrik couldn't believe his ears. He was offering to be nice to this punk and he had the audacity to question him. Reaching for the bowl, he gently snatched it from him. "Do not question me when I am trying to be nice. You know it does not happen very often with you."

Shrugging, Markus sipped the soup off of the spoon in Aldrik's hand. "This is not very masculine."

Snorting, Aldrik gave him another bite. He remained silent, not really having much to say. He wasn't really sure why he was there in the first place. It just kind of happened.

"How is Hans? He better not have grown a bunch in my absence." The words were a bit distorted through slurps of the broth.

"He is doing fine." Truth be told he hadn't really seen him since the argument with Mina. Leaning against the wall, he set the nearly empty bowl down. "I messed up."

"You? Messing up?" Markus's tone was joking, but he sobered up quickly. "You always know the right things to say and the right things to do. I doubt you messed up that bad."

"She has not spoken to me in almost a week." He thought about the nights after work. He'd get home moments after Mina and she'd already have gone through the kitchen and hid away in her room with Hans. It gave him time to spend with Lotte, but even she seemed more distant through this spat.

"Who? Lotte?" It didn't surprise Aldrik that that was Markus's first guess. It was the logical one, after all.

"Mina." Her name left regret in his mind. Regret that he hadn't fixed things sooner. Regret that he'd let this much time go between the two of them. She'd seemed more busy than usual, stashing rolled up papers that she'd bring home. Not bothering to show him or even consult him anymore.

"What the hell did you possibly do to get her not to talk to you in a week? I mean, me... it would not be that hard to get her to stop talking to me, but you? You, she would never ignore. Even when she is angry with you she finds a reason to yell at you." Markus rubbed his ribs as soon as the words left his mouth. Aldrik couldn't imagine the pain still echoing through the poor man's body.

"I went too far." He rubbed his hands over his face, allowing a deep breath to whoosh out of him.

"What did you do?" He now had Markus's undivided attention. He should have been pleased with that, but he wasn't. He wasn't proud of what he did. Just confused.

"Has she told you anything about after we found you?" He watched Markus shake his head in response. Of course she hadn't told him anything. What they did was necessary, but more rough and slow than it needed to be. Perhaps she wanted it kept a secret. What she wanted wasn't of importance right now though. "We went on a manhunt as soon as we got you help. We hunted down Braun, Lehmann, and Meier. After what they did to you, we could not risk them leaking out information to anyone. We could not let them get away with what they did to you. We were in agreement to avenge you."