One More Day

Chapter 20

Before I got to the base, I stopped and dragged Ionius out of the truck. I limped towards an oasis that had a small little pond to it. I held him by the head and moved it to where his nose was almost touching the water.

"Tell me you surrender or I will drown you."

"Don't you dare tell me what to do!"

"Tell me you surrender or I will drown you!" I yelled.

"Fine! I, Ionius IX, hereby surrender."

I dragged him back to the truck and threw him back in. I got back into the driver's side and drove the rest of the way to the base. Once I got there, I got out, dragged Ionius out of the passenger seat, and dragged him towards the mess hall.

I sat there impatiently as I was waiting for Byleth to come and talk to us. We were going to discuss our new plan of attack and how we were going to execute it. It seemed they thought our forces in Adrestian were not enough to calm down the fighting. All that really mattered to me was how Dimitri was doing and if he was able to leave the hospital. I hope nothing happened to him while he was there. He really had no one to comfort him and being there for three days and alone, I knew it wasn't the best for him. I knew what war did to people. It messed with their minds and played tricks on them. I sighed, hoping Dimitri would be ok.

As I was lost in thought, the mess hall doors burst open. Everyone looked up to see who was there. I turned around and saw Dimitri was standing there. He was carrying something or someone behind him. He limped his way through the crowd in the mess hall, dragging the person into view. I looked down at his leg and saw it was bleeding very badly. He needed to get it taken care of before it got infected. 

"Is that Dimitri?" someone asked.

"His troop was ambushed and left for dead. We all thought he was dead. No one heard from his troop for two days."

"He could of gotten captured," one suggested.

"My gosh, look at that eye."

I watched his every move and every reaction. From how he limped to the determined satisfied look on his face. I could even tell when his face twitched from the pain he was in.

"Dimitri, what are you doing here? Your troop was recorded to have all died. We thought you died with them," Byleth said.

"As you can see, I am not dead. However, some of our men took Y/N out of the hospital before I was released. You're supposed to be there when a comrade is in need. In either times of death or in healing, they need to be there in case they need to honor their fallen comrade. That pissed me off more than anything was to see her being taken away without her consent! So, what that anger and rage, I found and captured him."

He threw the person he was dragging and he landed at Byleth's feet. Byleth was surprised to see the person sitting at his feet.

"Is that really him?" the soldiers asked craning their heads to see who it was.

"Tell them what you said to me," Dimitri got closer to the person.

The person frantically looked around at their surroundings. He looked like he was searching for a way out of this situation.

"Tell them what you said to me!" Dimitri yelled, looming over the person now. He looked like he was about to take the man by his neck.

The person took in a deep breath and looked directly into Byleth's eyes.

"I, Ionius IX, hereby surrenders."

"The father of Edelgard surrenders to us?" the soldiers asked.

"Seems so," Byleth said. "With a formal surrender and with all of us to hear it, the war is finally over. Thank you, Dimitri for putting an end to this war."

Dimitri had a small smile on his face, "You're welcome, sir."

"Let's hear it for Dimitri!" the soldiers yelled.

Everyone in the mess hall started cheering. Dimitri turned and looked towards me. I had tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. He returned the same smile, but everything else played in slow motion. It seemed Ionius wasn't ready to surrender that quickly. He had drawn out a knife and stabbed Dimitri in his side. Byleth grabbed Ionius and knocked him out. Dimitri looked at the knife that was in his side. A dark red blob appeared. He looked over at me and fell towards the ground. I rushed over to Dimitri's side, just like how I did when he was in the desert. I knelt beside him and helped him up. The soldiers around me lifted him up and carried him towards the healers. I walked beside him, holding Dimitri's hand in mine. 

I sat by him as he rested. His eye was closed and he looked peaceful. I held onto his hand as tightly as I could, not wanting to let him go in fear I would lose him. He has been out for at least a day. The nurses told me it was due to the blood he lost from the gash in his leg and he was exhausted from fighting. I pulled the covers down to take a look at the gauze. Ionius had got him cleanly in the side. But it missed vital organs. I was just happy that he was alive. I moved a strand of his blond hair from his face. I sadly smiled down at him.

"I think you'd be happy to know that I no longer have those visions. I think they were a sign of the future. I hope I don't have anymore visions. I can now rest easier, but I know you're not going to rest easy since you've been fighting a lot. I just wish I could see that dazzling blue eye of yours once more."

He slowly wrapped his fingers around my hand. He slowly opened his one eye and turned towards me.

"You can," he whispered.

Tears streamed down my face as I lightly hugged him, being careful to not hit his side. He wrapped his arms around me. I pulled away and placed my lips against his. He happily kissed back. He pulled away and pressed his forehead against mine.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," I said.