ADRIEN

"You allowed them to place a bomb on the ceiling?!" I shout in anger.

General Hugo slams his fists on the desk and it sends some documents flying into the air.

"Lieutenant listen!" He shouts.

"No! You listen! Is this also related to what happened days ago? When the infirmary suffered a power surge?!"

He stays quiet but keeps his posture filled with authority. "I had to do what was best."

'What was BEST?'

"Sir," I sigh before my pinching the bridge of my nose out of stress, "I understand that we are running out of time and we don't have enough members for the mutiny, but you just can't scare the government by hurting your allies in the process. You are losing the trust between two parties-"

"You have no authority to talk to me in that manner, Agreste" He jabs my chest as he spoke, his words said with such fury.

"Hugo-" I start.

"That's 'General' to you!"

"Well I don't care!" I spit out, "I won't care about your title just as much as you don't care for those soldiers and nurses you injured!" I breathe heavily as I finish. He looks at me with hate then turns away. I walk to the door, ready to exit his office.

"Recruit my niece in four days." He utters with still the existence of the threatening tension.

My left hand hovers over the doorknob as he spoke. My right hand clenches into a fist but I do not dare to turn my back. "You said you will give me 3 months-"

"Well I don't give a crap! Recruit her in four days! That's my order!!"

"I can recruit her in less than four days." I say bluntly, now daring to look at him. "And I will show her that I'm the boss. Not you."

I slam the door behind me and march in anger to the open field.

He thinks that we can gain the trust of the others with his tactics?

I will show him who's wrong.

"Private!" I shout upon seeing Marinette sitting on the field, waiting for me. She scrambles to stand on her feet and salutes at me. "50 push-ups now!"

"Fi-fifty?"

"Now!!"

She lands on the ground and starts counting as she executes my order. But after her seventh push-up, she starts to pant and go slower than before.

"Faster!" I shout. I am becoming impatient. How can she be ready in less than four days if this is her pacing?

"I-I am giving my very b-best!"

"Then give it your all! How can you win in a war if you act so slow?! In less than a minute, you will die in a battlefield! Your best is not enough! It's not-" I fall on my knees and bury my head in my hands as I feel all the stress coming in me, forcing me to breakdown in front of her. "Enough..." I exasperatedly whisper the last word.

How can we win against the government? How can the mutiny work? We have a reckless leader and a hopeless lieutenant...

"S-sir?"

I hear a soft voice calling me and as I raise my head, Marinette is on her knees in front of me. Her hand hovering over my shoulder, debating if she should hold it or not.

"Are you okay?" She decides to place her hand on my shoulder but I shift my body away from her.

"I...I'm good."

"No, you're not-"

"I feel good, okay?! You can't just go against what your superior said. You can't just negate his answer." I utter in annoyance. Marinette recoils her hand and nervously rubs it.

"Sir yes I understand, sir..." She says, sounding degraded. She pushes herself from the ground to stand up. "Sir, I shall go back to doing the push-"

"No." I grab her hand and she gasps as I pull her back on her knees. She looks at me with wide eyes out of surprise. I too am surprised at myself.

The only option I have in order for her to join the mutiny is to talk to her- convince her.

"Have lunch with me."

"S-sir-"

"But in the field or maybe some place else," I interrupt, "just not the canteen."

She looks at my hand on her arm before answering, "Sir okay, sir."

"Good." I let go of my hold on her and stand up. "We stop your training here. Then train me after our lunch together, okay?"

"Sir y-yes, sir." She utters, bashful as her cheeks are now in a shade of pink.

"Stop stuttering," I pat her cheek in a teasing manner, "it makes you unattractive."

-----------------

I decided to eat at the field since Marinette didn't even voice out her suggestions or concerns.

I have been biting and chewing my ham sandwich for a while now but Marinette hasn't even eaten a thing beside me. She didn't even bring food.

"Hey. Where's your food?" I ask and she looks down.

"I don't eat lunch..." She quietly says.

"Why?"

"When I was still a nurse, my shift would start in the early morning up until sunset. I am only used to eating breakfast and dinner-"

I grab one-half of my sandwich and hand it to her. "Since you are a soldier already, you have to stay healthy all the time. First, you have to eat three meals a day."

She hesitates before grabbing the bread and brings it to her mouth. "Thank you." She mumbles as she takes another bite.

I smile before turning away and taking a bite from my sandwich, "I'm fine now...if ever you were wondering."

"That's good." She says softly.

"There are times when stress just attacks you...that happened to me this morning. I promise that it will never happen again, Private"

She just sullenly nods, making the whole atmosphere awkward. We don't talk for awhile until she decides to break the tension.

"What do you think of the rebels?" She suddenly asks leaving me off-guard.

"W-what? What's with the sudden question?"

Realizing how blunt her question was, her face turns red and looks down in shame. "Well, we are going against them...b-but maybe you have something to say about them?"

"The rebels? You want me to say something about the rebels?"

She nods and I scoot closer to her, wanting to make sure that my answer will only be heard by her. My knee touches hers and I know that I am close enough.

"I have nothing against them." I reply. She looks up at me in surprise.

"Why?" She immediately asks, "Aren't we training to fight against them? Not for them?"

"I want to live in an equal world. No social classes, no biases..." I say instead of answering her questions.

"You mean a utopian world?"

"A what?" I ask, clearly not understanding the meaning of utopia.

"Utopia." She utters, "A perfect world- everyone is happy, no wars and misunderstandings. Racism and sexism doesn't exist. It's simply paradise. It's very different from our world right now..."

"And what's our world like? I doubt that it is a utopian world."

"A dystopian world is considered to be imaginary. But I doubt that because I see it in our world right now. People are unhappy, we are prisoners of society-"

"And that is the stand that the rebels are fighting for!" I cut her off.

I like how this is heading into. Finally, I can convince her to join the mutiny.

"The rebels are fighting for equality! Something that we all need!" I continue and she looks at me, baffled.

"Isn't that the government's stand-"

"The government is too corrupt to even care." I announce, expressing my hate. Marinette, on the other hand, looks hurt. "Marinette, I hope you understand what I am saying-"

"You are forming a mutiny then, aren't you?" Now it is her turn to interrupt me. "Are you doing this behind my uncle's back?"

"He's part of it." I answer and she gasps in shock. "And he wants you to join us." I continue, trying to keep the momentum. I grab her hand, "Join us and fight for equality, Marinette."

"Is this why you decided to train me? I'm the next person to join?"

"Marine-"

She pulls her hand away and stands up. "I need the time to think about it." She says, "I...I can't give you my answer right now. I'll see you in the infirmary in an hour, sir." She shows me a hand salute and walks toward the infirmary.

My head hangs low, thinking that I did not convince her enough. I even see a half-eaten sandwich beside me. She didn't even finish her sandwich.

"I have to find another way to make her say 'yes'. I'd even kiss her if I have to." I look at her as enters the infirmary and I can't help to grin at just the sight of her. "Not that I mind though."

--------------------

I arrive at the infirmary in exactly an hour. Marinette is wearing a lab apron over her military uniform and I approach her while she is putting on surgical gloves.

"Oh, good you arrived on time." She says upon noticing my presence.

"Of course, I have to be on time for training madame."

She giggles as she places a roll of bandage on the table. "You don't have to call me that, Adrien."

Did she just call me by my first name?

"I have the right to call you by your first name and you should call me 'nurse'. This is my turf now so I'm your superior here."

Feisty. Very attractive.

She throws me a pair of gloves and I catch it in ease. I slip them on as she starts speaking.

"I will be teaching you the basics."

"I hope that you won't be making me memorize the names of a hundred different tools." I whine.

"No complaining." She says sternly, "And no, you won't be doing that today. I'm not that heartless."

Although she whispered her last statement, I clearly heard it. But I decided to not ask her about it.

"So, Nurse Marinette, what will we be doing?"

"I will teach you how to clean a wound." She says, smiling at me. "Remember the ointment you gave me for my wound? I did not directly apply it on my wound. What I first did was that I let water run on it first."

She takes off her gloves and grabs a scalpel nearby. She brings it close to my face.

"W-what are you doing?" I ask as I start to seem suspicious with her actions.

"How can we learn without working on a real wound?" She says before using the scalpel to cut my arm in a long line.

"Ow!" I stagger back in surprise and pain, "Why would you do that?!" Blood starts to drip from my arm.

She ignores me and turns the knob of the faucet. Water starts to run down to the drain. "Wash your wound." She instructs.

I place my arm under the running water and I start to touch the wound since it wouldn't stop bleeding.

"Adrien, apply direct pressure on it to stop bleeding or swelling." She continues and gently grabs my arm. She turns off the faucet and cover my wound with a damp cloth. She presses on it and I wince in pain.

"Oh no." She stops, "Am I hurting you?" She asks in concern.

"No. You're just hurting my pride." I smirk at her, masking the pain that I am truly feeling. "I'll tell you if it really hurts."

"Okay. Sorry if I inflicted pain on you...I was trained that way too. I was still 18 then." She apologizes.

"18? So what is your age now?"

"I'm 23." She answers, "A year younger than you, Adrien." She raises the damp cloth and finds my wound not bleeding anymore.

"Do we cover it now? Or-"

"We wash it again. There might be some instances wherein you have to wash the wound for five times or more. But for now, this will be the last time you will wash it." She brings my arm under the running water after turning on the faucet again. Softly, her fingers touch my wound taking away the excess blood and some dirt. Time seemed to slow down as I intently watch her take care of my wound.

"Does it hurt?" She quietly asks.

"No. Just continue." I whisper still in a daze.

"When you're done, gently wipe it with a clean cloth and then wrap it using a sterile bandage." She instructs. She wipes my arm with a white cloth and she starts to wrap my arm with the bandage.

I just pause to stare as her soft hands gently wraps the bandage around my arm.

For the first time, I seem to notice that Marinette is beautiful...

She has the gentle touch of a woman and the etiquette of a la-

"Ow!" I cry, waking up from my daydream.

She cringes as she apologizes, "Sorry! I had to wrap it tight around this area because it started to somewhat bleed again. But I'm done cleaning and wrapping your wound."

I inspect my arm wrapped neatly in a sterile bandage. "I don't feel any pain anymore. But this wound is missing something..."

"What is missing, Adrien? I did and taught you all the procedures correct-"

"A kiss from the one who treated it." I interrupt her and she starts to blush. I too feel a blush creeping up my cheeks.

Since when did I want her to kiss it?

"Maybe I-I will kiss a wound of yours some other time, Adrien..." She utters, shy with her bold choice of words.

"I'll be waiting." I wink at her and she smiles back. "And speaking of waiting...you haven't given me your answer yet."

"Oh yeah...Honestly, I too feel that I am on the wrong side. And when you told me about your dream of a utopia, I had this drive to help you achieve it."

"So...what are you trying to imply?"

She exhales heavily, "I will join and I will fight for equality with you."

Goodness, this is great!

"But on one condition." She continues, "You won't leave me with other people. I know that we will be training for this rebellion and I want you to be with me all the time."

"I see no problem in that. Nothing will be suspicious about us, okay?" I assure her and she sighs in relief.

"Good. That...that's good."

She looks around infirmary, making sure that no one heard our conversation. "Oh before I forget, Adrien. Do you need more people for the mutiny?" She whispers.

I just nod my head. She comes closer to me, bringing her mouth to my ear.

"Because I know some people who will be perfect for the job..."

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