Operation: Pointed Spear

Moving

Alik's pov
     I lifted my arm trying to block some of the snow as I struggled against the wind until the line went taught causing me to look back and see Anna on the ground. I quickly slipped out of my loop in the rope and rushed back before I radioed and yelled "Go! I'll make sure she gets to the house!" I heard IQ "You both better be there!" I tore off my jacket and fed her arms through the sleeves before I hooked my arms under Anna's leg and back as I lifted her up, I felt the  pins pricking at my exposed flesh while I struggled to see. I heard Anna groan as I yelled to her "Stay strong for me!" She groaned as I pushed my legs to move us quicker. I had to get Anna to safety before I could worry about myself, I started to stumble as my feet started to go numb. I gritted my teeth as I felt my left eye freeze shut before I started to walk in the general direction of the house stumbling around for a couple minutes since i could barely see 3 feet infront of me until I saw the faint light in the distance. My legs pushed with renewed vigor trying to get Anna and I out of this storm as fast as possible.
I saw the door was open as I came within range and then I noticed IQ sitting next to the door as I started up the stairs before my numb feet caught the lip of the next step causing me to drop to my knees and called "Monika, come get Anna!" IQ stood and rushed out grabbing her mother as I slowly dragged myself into the building before rolling over as pulse slammed the door shut and locked it before looking at me "fuck dude, you look blue" my teeth were chattering as I replied "I'm fuckin freezing" he grabbed under my arms and dragged me through the house to just infront of the fireplace as Finka pulled off my boots and socks and looked at my feet "you've got the pre stages of frostbite, you're lucky you got here when you did" I asked still shivering "is Anna ok?" Finka nodded and spoke "thanks to your jacket she'll be up and moving after some more food" I smiled as I shivered until IQ crouched next to me pulling down my frost covered half mask, I heard it crack as it moved and the ice crystals broke, looking at my frozen eye before she kissed my cheek "danke for saving my mother"
I answered "a Gardner...." she finished "always keeps his word, I know, still thank you" I nodded before speaking "get some rest I'll take first watch" she sat next to me "nein, you're resting. You literally almost froze to death" I did lazy punches to the air "I'm still dangerous" she gently pushed my arms down "I know, be careful you might hurt someone" I slumped as the cold started to sink into my bones causing me to shiver more violently "fuck, I'm cold" IQ pulled me into a hug as Thatcher tossed another couple logs onto the fire "Get closer lad, it'll warm you right up" I nodded groggily as he sighed and crouched infront of me "What you did, was stupid and dangerous and could've cost both of your lives." I slumped further into IQ's grip as he continued "but you save a woman's life, well done lad." I looked at him and asked tiredly "you're not mad?" Before yawning as he shook his head no "you swore to protect the innocent, Anna is innocent and you honored your oath. I can't be mad at that" I nodded before burrowing into IQ's grip not caring about the fact we hadn't made up yet.
     She hummed a tune as she twisted a piece of my hair around her finger as I started to doze off, I fought the progression as she continued humming, the deep bass of the vibrations slowly pulling me deeper into the realm of sleep as I fought harder. I reached the point where reality felt like a dream as I mumbled "I can't sleep.... I have to protect Monika" her humming faltered for a second before it resumed and I finally lost my battle with sleep and I heard faintly "Gute Nacht mein Schatz"
Monika's POV
       I looked to my right as Pulse spoke "you know he loves you right?" I nodded combing his hair before replying "I just hope he can forgive me.... I was too selfish" thatcher sighed angrily "oh bollocks, of course he's going to forgive you. For Christ's sake the lad is literally curled up in a ball on your lap, you think he's still mad?" I looked down at him before replying "nein, I think he's going to wait to teach me a lesson before he forgives me" thatcher just rolled his eyes.
      I heard my mother next to me "Oh dear just give him a couple hours, men are like that. Give them a couple hours and they'll let it go, how long has it been since he first got mad?" I answered "6, maybe 7 hours?" She spoke "give him until after his nap and just watch, he'll have let it go" I asked "and if he hasn't?" She replied simply "then you're going to have to work for it, at that point you really hurt him" I heard Finka "Jace and I have arguments all the time because he's an idiot that goes through a problem instead of thinking about an easier solution. Give him some food, 2 hours and a nap. Good to go" I asked "is it really that easy?" Thatcher nodded and spoke "we don't need much to be happy, eventually he'll calm down and then you can fix things without worrying about stepping on his toes so much" pulse spoke "give him a drink and let him relax, brand new" I looked at his sleeping form and leaned back against the wall wondering if they were right. I closed my eyes and wondered how Reinhard and Papa were doing.
     I woke up when I felt Alik move I wiped the small line of drool that had made its way from the corner of my mouth as he sat up and looked around "where the fook?" I smiled under my balaclava at his accent, he was right it was hard to understand him. He noticed me and then he looked like he remembered everything "oi, I'm not dead. Fook ye" I chuckled at the reaction as he asked "oi lass, what was the last thing I said?" I thought about it before the sentence resurfaced as I answered "you said I can't sleep.... I have to protect Monika" his eyes widened as he sighed "fook" before looking around at the scattered corpses of the other operators "fook happened to them?" I replied "the blizzards gotten worse, we were pretty confident the masks wouldn't make a move in this weather. Christ Bigfoot wouldn't make a move in this weather" he nodded before slowly standing moving his way to the fireplace and adding another log blowing the coals back into flames before he sat next to me and I risked it asking "are you still mad at me?"
      He looked over before wrapping his arm around me pulling me into his side "no, I was just hurt. You were the last person I expected to do that to me" I replied "you were the last person I expected to tell me to shoot them" he sighed and spoke "then we're even, no hard feelings" I laughed as he asked "what?" To which I spoke "Mama told me to give you an hour or two and a nap, she said you'd be fine" he laughed before groaning as I asked "what's wrong?" He gripped his side and lifted his shirt showing a large gash with dark blue flesh around it. My eyes widened before I bolted to my feet shaking Finka awake as she bolted upright "what? What? I'm up" I motioned to the wound and heard her "я вижу как это(I see how it is)" as she scooted out of her chair and grabbed some medical supplies and started treating the dead flesh. I saw the anesthetic get injected around the wound before she pulled out shears and started cutting off the dead flesh, I moved around to the opposite side and grabbed his hand "focus on me"
       He looked over and stared at me as I asked "what?" He replied breathily "just admiring" as his eyes snapped to Finka "ow, fuck, Jesus Christ" she responded "stop being baby, I'm almost done. It wouldn't be this bad if you told me before hand" before she pulled out a needle and thread stitching the wound closed covering it in a gauze patch. "Good as new" I looked down at him and repeated in a bad Russian accent "good as new" he replied grimacing "I don't feel new" I patted his chest before replying "you'll be okay" as Finka retook her position in her chair before I looked out the window seeing the storm had picked up in intensity again "whoa, that's a crazy storm" I heard Achilles next to me "it looked huge when we came in" I nodded and spoke "definitely the biggest snowstorm I've seen" before I laid down the one extra pillow "I'm going to sleep, you joining me?" He looked at me weirdly before I replied "we'd stay warm, we'll be closer to the fire and I always sleep better when you're there" he nodded as I laid down and he laid down with his back facing me, I could sense the nervousness as I replied "relax, I'm not going to hurt you"
     He shifted closer to me before the serenity set in and I fell asleep soon after, my aug next to me just in case. I noticed everyone had their gear next to them before my vision was replaced by a dream where I saw Alik off in the distance, I started walking towards him not feeling like I was making any progress until Feral stepped out of nowhere and lifted a desert eagle and shot Alik through the back of the head. I heard feral's voice as he spoke "I'll kill your entire family, starting with Alik" only for feral to switch positions with Alik as he looked at me holding the desert eagle while feral laid dead on the ground. The positions shifted once more as Feral leveled the desert eagle at me only for him to be replaced by Alik still pointing it at me before he fired and a thundering crack echoed through the house causing everyone to bolt upright as we rushed to different positions around the house. Pulse asked "anyone see what made the noise?" We stayed quiet until Thatcher spoke "a tree came down, I'm staring at it"
     We all relaxed before moving back to our various sleeping spots for the 3rd time as I heard Alik grumble "can't just fookin' sleep in peace gotta have fookin trees fall and bullshite" I chuckled before the I remembered the dream and heard myself ask "hey Alik, would you kill me to save someone?" He rolled over and asked incredulously "what? The fook are you on about? No, i wouldn't kill you to save anyone. What made you think that?" I explained "I had a dream where you kept switching places with Feral and the last thing before I woke up was you holding a desert eagle at me" he gripped my face and spoke slowly "I promise you, I will never harm you on purpose." I nodded slowly before speaking "danke, I don't know why but I needed the reassurance" he replied with a small hand wave "don't worry about it, I'm happy to give it. Wait, where's your mom?" I replied "the bedroom, Thatcher is guarding outside the door and we barricaded the windows." He nodded slowly and replied "well I'm going back to sleep so, goodnight" I laughed at his delivery before replying "goodnight Alik, I'll see you in the morning"