This is a plot line that myself and WriteLikeAnAmerican have talked about before. Little RedHotRidingHood has a story running in a similar verse, build off that plot line, but I asked if she would mind if I gave it a little shot as well. She didn't so here is the result

Chapter Management

Chapter 1: The Frozen Trenches

Chapter Text

Yondu is an old soldier. He's been through the Khalkhyn Gol, he warred in Spain. And now the uniform was calling him once more, even though it never once let him go. Not since the dirty, scrappy 18 year old walked into the Army Recruitment Center and announced that he wanted to be a Soldier. Soldier with a capital S. Because there was such a profession as protecting your birthplace.

Yondu didn't really remember his own real birthplace, having been an orphan fro most of his life, but he could still recall colorful clothes, loud songs, and a sense of belonging. With the exception of colorful clothes, the Army really wasn't that different.

When the evenings got dark and only a light of a candle was enough to illuminate the chilly dug-out, Captain Udonta leaned back onto his tattered bag, pulled off a thinned boot and whistled along with the songs of the soldiers as he mended the leather. Always was the best whistler in the Unit, too. They even had him perform in the small shows that happened whenever a half-starved artist or singer managed to make their way into their lice-ridden neck of the woods of Belarus.

This evening was no different. Only there was no rain, and the fine settlement of snow had finally covered their positions enough to provide a good scope for the local sniper, Czar. A huge man, who hailed from the depth of Syberia, and had the typical build of a native all too used to hauling a boar or a deer over his back on his way to the home village deep in the forests. How and why he was assigned to the Black Coats Unit was unknown to everyone but Captain Udonta, who, due to his rank as the commander of these man was privy to such information.

So, Czar, their sniper and a guy who could drink under the table even the most bottomless of his contingent, was perched in a hideout a few meters away from the main trenches, cleverly hidden in a cloak painted in splotchy grays, blacks, and browns, now with sporadically added white of the fluffy snow. It was him who first noticed the small figure stumbling over towards their location from the nearby forest, usually filled with partisans, but suspiciously empty in the last week or so.

Humming to himself, but still not moving a muscle, the soldier trailed hie sharp eye over the huddled form. Looked like a kid, dressed up in a thin ratty coat and with a head full of dark matted hair. And headed straight for their mine field.

Cursing, Czar spit on the notion of a cover, especially considering that it was twilight hours and most of the things had long shadows that were able to hide him rather well. The sniper carefully propped up his rifle and scooted back into the trench, grimacing at the black trail he left in his wake.

Thumping his booted feet into the soggy and freezing ground, the soldier took a second to allow himself a quick stretch and galloped over to the wooden dugout shed at the end of the trench, where Captain Udonta was whistling another pearl of a song for the men.

"Captain! Saw a kid heading our way from the forests. Straight for the mines. Can we get the boyo? He'd get attention to our position is he blows, and he looked mighty small…"pleaded/suggested the sniper as he looked at his serious faced leader.

It didn't take Yondu long to curse up a storm in his usual manner, really unbecoming of a communist if you think about it, and sent out Sargent Obfonteri as a scope while he hopped over the trench line and crouch over in a fast huddle. He quickly spotted the child in question and bit back a particularly dirty expression picked up from the rowdier crowds back in the orphanage. Kid looked half dead and out of it, and heading right for the mine sight. Thank the damned he was doing it with a speed of a lame snail, but still…

"Boy!" hushdly whispered the Captain as he reached the kid and snugged him up into a hold. The kid in question didn't even reach beyond a tired sigh and a lean against the other's chest as he went limp.

"What are you doing here? It's no man's land, we got mines all over, and the Fritzs are sharp eyed!" he spoke with fervor, clutching the tiny body to his chest and making his way back, not really expecting an answer to be honest.

Just as the two were about to reach the trenches, Yondu felt the nonexistent hair on his head stand up, and ducked, instincts honed by years of war. A beam of light went by just a meter short of his position and he cursed under his breath, covering the kid, the war, the Fritzs, Stalin, Lenin, and everybody's mother for making his dumb enough to crawl out after a dump child walking into the mine fields in the middle of the night.

Thankfully, the Captain stayed still enough, and the boy was completely out of it, so the two rolled over the ledge of the frozen trench and landed on the ground.

"Huff! Here, receive the package"grumbled Udonta as he deposited the bundle of skin and bones into the arms of his Sargent, with orders to rub him down, warm him up, give the kid 100 grams, and force some food down his gullet.

"Why do I get the feelin' that we'll not be rid of that lil idiot for a while?" muttered the Captain to himself as he watched Obfonteri coo at the boy, and the rest of their unit crowd over the two, some already looking through their packs for some sugar and gallets.