Chapter Text
Ogata’s consciousness came back to him slowly. Like it usually did these days. Their mornings had become quite slow lately when there was no reason to jump out of bed the moment you woke up. Vasily would sometimes even put his arm on Ogata when he tried to get out of bed too fast for his liking. Ogata would shove the appendage away and get on with making them breakfast. Especially on the days when the Russian was supposed to work. Other times he’d gladly stay in bed for a bit longer. The cold winter mornings were made for snuggling and staying warm in bed. The cat screaming at them would usually finally get them out of bed if they hadn’t risen otherwise. The cat’s breakfast was most important. Forget about sleeping in.
When Ogata registered his surroundings and bed moving, there was a second of panic before he remembered what happened yesterday. This wasn’t their bed. They weren’t home. He couldn’t hear the cat screaming either. They were on a train. The weird scent and scratchiness was the pile of hay they had decided to sleep on. It wasn’t a new or unusual smell. His mind was just on edge. He could feel the dry hay poking his palm as he blindly felt around. He stopped when the hand met the warm body next to him. Good, Vasily was there. He let out a small relieved sigh. A part of him did also feel conflicted that the Russian was there. That meant that both of them were in trouble.
Just when his body had stopped the fight or flight response, the pain came. It honestly felt like the horse had run him over. It had mostly been his shoulder yesterday, now it was his whole upper body and head. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or not that he couldn’t feel his legs. Guess it did come in handy sometimes. The secret police had either been aware of it or noted it after seeing him move and had mostly ignored the useless limbs in favor of focusing on areas the captured man could feel. Well, torture would be pretty fruitless otherwise. Not that Ogata gave them any information either way. He knew it had irritated the men to no end and took that as a win. If he would be punished either way, he might as well make someone else miserable. Even if he had told them something, it wouldn’t have changed their current situation. There really was no winning this one.
Vasily could tell the raven head next to him was trying to go back to sleep. He watched the man scrunch his face and try to find a more comfortable position. Ogata apparently gave up on that and instead opened his eyes to look at the Russian. He squinted in the dim light of the morning sun in the carriage. It wasn’t much, but they had adjusted to the lack of light already.
“Everything okay?”
Ogata just mumbled something and rubbed his face on the fabric of Vasily's shirt.
“Are we at least on the same planet this morning?” the taller man smiled and brushed Ogata’s hair from his face.
“Hurts”, Ogata stated, his voice hoarse from sleep.
Satisfied with the answer, he brushed the rest of the hair to its usual style. While Vasily did enjoy small moments like these when Ogata was acting unlike himself, it also always worried him. Ogata usually didn’t show when he was hurt, so you knew it was bad if the mask slipped. It reminded him of a cat every time. The way he hid the pain.
“The shoulder?” he carefully made sure he wouldn’t make it worse with how he was positioned next to the man.
“Everything.”
Vasily did feel sore, but clearly not as bad as Ogata did. The Russian didn’t know if the fall could cause that or if it was the interrogation. The thought of the latter got his blood boiling. But more than that, he was worried about the injuries and noted that he would have a look at them later to see if any previously unseen injuries had become visible during the night. They couldn't afford to let anything become infected. They didn’t have anything for that right now.
The movement of the train did nothing to soothe neither man’s pain. Vasily had been surprised that Ogata had been able to fall asleep so easily in the new and unknown environment. He had been kept awake by the shaking and noises of the train. A screech from a wheel or hiss from the engine would jolt him awake every time. Finally, the exhaustion from the day had caught up to him and he simply shut down until morning when his stomach rumbling woke him up. As two former soldiers and sharp shooters, the two usually had a hard time sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings. It did help when you knew that someone else had your back. Especially now that they actually had a reason to be worried. Vasily imagined that Ogata hadn’t had the energy to worry about such things. His body needed the sleep.
Vasily took a sip from his water, “Ogata, here.”
The man made sure that Ogata drank, watching him carefully take two large gulps.
“Are you hungry at all? I’m going to eat something. Do you want anything?” Vasily carefully closed everything so nothing would spill.
Ogata just shook his head, still on Vasily’s chest.
“Well, I’ll have to move to go get that. Could you sit up for a bit? I’d like to check you over.”
The Japanese complied, although clearly uncomfortable lifting his body or staying upright. He massaged his head and watched Vasily dig through the food until he settled on something he felt like he would be able to chew through. Ogata said something about the bread getting too hard if they didn’t eat it soon. It could get moldy too. Getting sick would be a terrible move right now. The dehydration would kill them.
“Guess I was the only one who slept”, Ogata stated before hissing when Vasily lifted his arm and thus jostled his injured shoulder, “You look like shit.”
“Guess it’s pretty bad then. Considering that it’s coming from you”, Vasily retorted with a smirk, “Yeah, that is one nasty bruise. Nothing feels broken still?”
Ogata glanced at the uncovered shoulder and winced at the array of purples there, “No.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to eat anything?”
“I think I’d just like to lie down and stay still for now. Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. You know your body the best”, Vasily smiled reassuringly, “I didn’t spot any new injuries from yesterday. There are a couple spots I want to keep an eye on besides the shoulder, but for now they look fine. Let me know right away if anything begins to feel worse than before.”
Vasily trusted him when Ogata said that he was fine. When he had said that he wasn’t hungry, Vasily had at first thought of a possible injury to the stomach that would make it hard to eat, but Ogata had eaten yesterday and had kept that down. Vasily also believed that he had lived with the Japanese man long enough to be able to tell if he was in such pain that he couldn’t eat. Ogata was good, but not that good.
It was also obvious, but Ogata hated it when others told him how he was feeling. Vasily knew that because he was the same. He knew that the time when Ogata had been treated in the hospital all those years ago, he had been hating every moment of it. Whenever he had been lucid enough to form thoughts that is. He had been on an alternating dose of drugs the whole time. For obvious reasons. There was also the language barrier. Back then he hadn’t really been able to tell the nurses and doctors where and how much he was hurting and the people around him had almost decided that for him. The professionals knew better than what Vasily could’ve guessed, but he imagined that it still irritated Ogata. If not at the moment, then afterwards.
“You will be eating later.”
Ogata put his shirt back on with help from the other before settling back down. It was getting warmer but Vasily still made sure to cover his legs and body the best he could. The raven head winced in pain again when the train shook. Vasily could only give him an apologetic look.
“Any idea on where we are going? I know we said we knew, but it would be nice to actually know”, Ogata spoke up after an hour or two. The pain was keeping him awake.
Vasily had been trying to peek outside through the cracks and looking around the carriage for anything usable. His eyesight was good, but now good enough to see the surroundings passing by through a small hole in the wall. It was actually making him kind of nauseous. There was nothing useful in the boxes either. Besides, he couldn’t open them without any gear.
“The sun rises from east or northeast during this time of the year. I’m trying to see where the sun is and checking it with respect to where we are moving”, he said with his face against the wall, “It’s proving to be a bit more difficult than I thought. Especially when you have eyes on only one side of the carriage. The sun could be on the other side.”
“I can imagine.”
“Guess we’ll have to keep checking on it”, the Russian stretched his arms over his head before joining Ogata, “There’s literally nothing to do. You didn’t happen to stash any paper in that bag of yours?”
“I concluded that that would be seen as something the guard wouldn’t approve of. Didn’t want to get you into any more trouble.”
‘So you did pack some?’
“Could be used for writing notes or some crap like that”, Ogata tried to shrug, but it went even worse than it did the previous day, “I would’ve argued that the risk was better than letting you go without, but I don’t think they would’ve sympathized.”
“I’ll be climbing the walls come fourth day”, Vasily agreed with a small laugh.
“I was going to guess second”, the raven head let the other snake his arm under his head and pull him closer to his side, “Aren’t you a sniper? How did you spend all that idle time back then?”
Neither commented on the possibility of them staying there for more than the mentioned four days and how their food and water would last. They could worry about that later. Neither was feeling good enough physically to think about that right now. It might also be better for their mental wellbeing not to think about that too much.
The Russian had to think for a bit, “When I was waiting? Stalking the target? That was work. You know you have to be focused.”
“Guess so. I just can’t imagine you sitting still for hours without anything to do”, Ogata admitted.
‘Did you forget how we first met? We sat in that forest for hours’, Vasily thought to himself, ‘But then again, that was a lot more exciting than the usual cases. Easier to ignore your feet and hands freezing.’
“My skills are getting rusty then”, the Russian kissed the man’s cheek, “Must be the good company.”
The raven head just rolled his eye at him. Ogata had no trouble keeping himself busy for hours. He had experience. There had been a time when he had barely been able to move on his own and had just laid in bed all day while Vasily fussed over him. Thinking about that brought his mind back to their home and the animals. Especially the cat. He had already reassured himself that the feline would be fine and would find food without them. Sasha was sure to check on them when he didn’t see them after returning. That man was quick to get lonely. He needed someone to talk to.
Speaking of Sasha, the man better be taking care of their fields too. Vasily had just finished them for the summer and now it might all go to waste because of this. It would make him feel just a tiny bit better if Sasha got something out of that. Surely better than letting it go bad or wild animals eating them. Ogata had worked hard on growing the seedlings too. He had helped plant them on the field too, his knees and hands crusted thick with mud afterwards.
When Vasily didn’t find any paper in his pockets either, he absentmindedly drew shapes on Ogata’s stomach and chest instead. The shorter man was annoyed at first, but let it happen. He had to admit that it did have a calming effect. It did help him focus on something else than the constant ache of his body or the noises of the train that were worsening his headache.
Ogata didn’t eat until the next day. And even when he did, it was very little. It would be a lie to say that Vasily wasn’t worried.
They still hadn’t managed to figure out where they were going. It didn’t help ease Vasily’s worry. Ogata seemed more focused on doing the absolute minimum. He was definitely still in pain, but there were signs of healing on the edges of the bruises already. Ogata joked that he’d look piebald if he didn’t already. The shoulder wasn’t giving him as much trouble as it had previously either. Keeping it still had definitely helped.
Vasily also noted that Ogata was cuddlier than usual. He was probably trying to keep warm, but that couldn’t be the only reason. The Russian didn’t mind. He didn’t have anywhere to go nor anything to do. It helped him take his mind off of things.
When Ogata still wasn’t eating properly by the third day, Vasily had enough and confronted him about it.
“Explain. Why are you not eating? And don’t give me the ‘we need to save our food’ crap”, he asked and pushed a piece of bread into Ogata’s hands, fully intent on watching the man finish the whole thing while he watched, “Why are you so intent on starving yourself to death?”
Ogata sighed loudly as he laid back down on their makeshift bed, “What’s the point? You’re wasting resources on me.”
Vasily pinched the bridge of his nose, “And what do you mean by that?”
He did have a creeping suspicion on exactly what that meant, but he wasn’t going to be the one saying it aloud.
“We’re either going to a forced labor camp or getting exiled to Siberia like the other nonconformists. In any case, realistically, what chances do you think someone like me has?”
“Like you?”
Ogata gestured towards his legs and gave the man a pointed look, “They’ll question and torture me some more and just execute me in the end. Without getting anything out of me. Let me add. They might want to use me as leverage against you or to get you to talk. Thus wanting me to stay alive for a little longer.”
Vasily didn’t have a good comeback. To be honest, he hadn’t thought about that too much. His mind had probably decided to ignore the topic since the answers were clear and not good. It felt like there was a rock in his stomach. Why had he not thought about it before? Why had he ignored it? He should’ve been there to reassure Ogata. Reassure him of what? Vasily couldn’t bring himself to lie and say that they’d be fine like they always were. That they’d get through this. The situation had changed. They had no idea where they were. They had none of their equipment with them. Even if they managed to escape, they’d be wandering aimlessly until the elements or hunger got them. In the end, Vasily kept his mouth shut.
“I honestly expected not to even leave. I don’t know what they want to achieve with this. Get you to talk? Me? In any case, it’s useless.”
It was hard hearing such words coming from Ogata. He had just given up. The Ogata who had cheated death by surviving being poisoned with an arrow and falling from a train, lost the use of his legs and yet still he had made it work. He had even learned a new language. Sure there had been bad times. Quite a lot of them in the beginning actually. Yet here he was. He was alive. Vasily thought that they were past this.
“This is not like you”, Vasily finally said.
“What? I don’t get to just give up?”
“No.”
“I appreciate your positivity, but it isn’t helping. To be completely honest, it’s getting annoying”, Ogata tried to ignore the other in favor of going to sleep again, “I know you’re not stupid enough to think that we’ll come out of this like nothing happened. Look at us.”
Vasily put his arms around Ogata and squeezed tight. He was still here. They were still here. And Vasily wasn’t going anywhere without Ogata.
Ogata couldn’t sleep. He could feel the worry radiating off the taller man. He would’ve preferred to keep his thoughts to himself for as long as possible, but he couldn’t lie to Vasily. He slowly pet the arms around his chest, hoping it would comfort the Russian a bit. He felt like he was being crushed. Both by Vasily’s arms and his overwhelming worry.
It only managed to remind him of home again. Of how he used to pet the cat, sitting by the fire with a book or some project while waiting for Vasily to return. At first he had hated the time he had to spend alone with his thoughts, trapped in the small house. With time, he came to appreciate the calm and quiet. It gave him time to think as well as begin to learn how to make himself useful. He had had the time to learn quite a few new things, the Russian language being only one of them.
He turned around and buried his face onto Vasily’s chest to stop his mind from spiraling. It did tend to do a lot of that too. Grounding himself always worked though.
“Are you going to die?” Vasily asked in the darkness, his voice barely above a whisper. He might’ve thought that Ogata was asleep.
“You should focus on your own survival.”
“And what if I don’t want to?”
‘There’s no point in me surviving if you’re not there.’
“Well, I guess you’ve always been stubborn”, Ogata huffed a short laugh.
“At least you’re aware of it.”
“I think I’ve known you long enough to know that much.”
Vasily kissed the top of the raven locks, “So none of that ‘not eating’ stuff, okay? We’re in this together. If you try that again I’ll make you eat this hay.”
To get the message across, the Russian grabbed a fistful of hay next to them.
“We’re already eating weed. What difference would hay make?”
Vasily looked at the dry plant matter in his hand and smelled it.
“Don’t even think about it. You’ll destroy your stomach.”
“It does look a bit too dry for me”, the taller man put the hay back.
Ogata stayed quiet for a long time, thinking of what to say next, “I know you said that I’m not allowed to die. But if the situation gets bad… Could you…”
Vasily had an idea of what Ogata was getting at. He wanted to go on his own terms. He wasn’t going to let this situation or anyone else kill him. Ogata’s pride wouldn’t allow it.
“If that is what you want, but I’ll be right behind you.”
“Thank you.”
They stayed there for a couple hours. Ogata had begun to nod off at some point until Vasily fixing his position woke him up. He sleepily glared at the man before Vasily explained that his back hurt and his behind was falling asleep in this position. He forgave such rudeness and just put his head back once Vasily was settled.
Instead of going back to sleep, he focused his attention on the ceiling above them. He’d surely remember every detail of that by the end of their journey. There wasn’t much to do and even less to look at in the carriage. He’d try to count something or try to find forms in the ceiling the next time there was more light.
“So… You’ll be eating with me tomorrow?” Vasily asked, wanting to hear verbal confirmation, “Don’t try anything funny.”
Ogata mumbled something, more keen on sleeping.
“What was that?”
“Sure, whatever.”
Vasily imagined that that was the best he was going to get. He pat Ogata’s head a couple times before settling down for the night himself. The shaking and screeching of the train didn’t make it easy.
“I thought you would’ve come up with a healthier coping mechanism in these past ten years”, he mumbled, “You thought about kicking me just now didn’t you?”
Ogata just turned his side.
The train stopped at a station the next day. They had stopped a couple times earlier, but it hadn’t looked like a station back then. Both men did their best to listen to any possible clues on their current location or future destination. Vasily kept his face glued to the crack on the wall.
Then there was rattling from the door. The two tried their best to scramble to a more casual position before the door slid open. Vasily managed somewhat and got on his knees on the floor to not look too intimidating. Meanwhile Ogata slipped deeper into the hay pile, sneezing when the straw itched his nose.
It was a man in a uniform. Neither Ogata or Vasily knew much about uniforms besides the army issued ones. He did look important. It did look somewhat similar to the men that the soldiers had talked to before the train left. Train staff maybe?
“I’d rather not carry corpses on my train”, was all the man said as he put down a milk churn and a paper bag.
He didn’t take the time to explain or answer anything and just closed and locked the door. Definitely staff. Maybe even the boss around here. The way he carried himself did speak of authority.
Vasily sprang to action right away and checked what they had received, “It’s water.”
Ogata clapped his hands a couple times. He felt that it was appropriate for the gifts they had been blessed with. It did end up looking more sarcastic than what it was supposed to. Guess they wouldn’t be dying of thirst after all. There had been hushed talk of what they should do once their small stock ran out. Until now they hadn’t been able to come up with a good solution.
“And?”
Vasily sighed and closed the bag, “Hardtack. And a couple dried fish.”
The Russian pulled out one of the small fish. A herring or something of the sort.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
Vasily just slouched his shoulders, “Sure.”
Guess Ogata wouldn’t remember. Vasily in turn couldn’t forget. The texture and the absolute lack of taste were clear in his mind once he caught sight of the crackers. If they hadn’t received water with them, Vasily would’ve been sure that they were being tortured.
“Guess there is still some humanity left around here”, Ogata pointed out, “They’ll get used to the bodies soon enough.”
Vasily had to agree. If the situation in the country continued like this there was sure to be many other people getting sent away like they had. They had been lucky to get their own carriage for just the two of them. It would surely get more cramped. They had arrived just in time before the train left, so they didn’t get to see if there were others like them in the same shipment.
“I think I’ll check what else we have left first”, the Russian finally said and turned to rummage through the bag once more.
“Agreed.”
Ogata did keep his promise and ate the food he had been handed without complaining. He must’ve been hungry after all. It would also do good for his body to get some nutrients in. His injuries would heal faster too. It’s not like they had been eating like kings previously, but their options had been cut down considerably. They would have to try and save the other things so they wouldn’t end up only eating hardtack for days. The lack of taste and monotonous texture would get to them for sure.
Vasily imagined that Ogata’s healing bruises itched. His did. At least nothing looked or felt infected still. They were in one piece and now they even had food. They were good. They’d be just fine. Ogata had been worried for nothing. Vasily would make sure of that.
If their calculations were correct, they had travelled a little less than a week when the train came to a stop and the door was opened. The sun stung both their eyes after being so used to the darkness of the train carriage. They could barely see the blurry form of a man in the doorway. It was a rather short man in a uniform. They couldn’t see well enough to know if he was a part of the train staff or the army.
“Get up and move”, it was a soldier. They could tell from the way he spoke. Not a familiar face. Guess they had been handed over to yet another group. How much did they know?
The hardtack and other food items hadn’t been enough to keep their energy up. They were both quite lethargic actually. Ogata looked like he was about to turn his body away and continue with the nap the soldier had so rudely disrupted. Vasily scooped him up after he had slung the bag over his shoulder. He had gotten Ogata to eat. They had gone through almost all of their food and water.
The soldier gave them a look, but didn’t comment on it. He guessed there was a reason for the unusual behavior. He had just been told to get the two. He didn’t care if they crawled or walked. He wasn’t getting paid enough to care. They didn’t look too intimidating. Even if the man standing up was a head taller than him. The raven head just looked comfortable in the other’s arms. If he had to guess, the two looked more bored than anything else. That was a new one.
Vasily might’ve preferred for Ogata not to look and act like a body, but he played along. He had played this game before.
As the trio made their way off the station, Vasily and Ogata took the chance to look at their new surroundings. The name didn’t ring any bells, but then again the two had never been too interested in traveling. The air was colder and the trees didn’t look as green as they had back home. From that the two deduced that they had indeed traveled north. Siberia was still their best guess. Or anywhere else north. The time traveled did cut down the possibilities slightly, but they lacked the information to make any more intricate guesses.
Now that they were out of there, it became clear just how bad the air in the carriage had been. Spending a week locked in there would obviously cause a smell. The two had just gotten used to it with time. The soldier made sure to keep a couple steps away from them, so they imagined that they didn’t smell too pleasant either.
They were escorted to a horse-drawn carriage. Both men tried their best to hold their reactions. More shaky transport. Perfect. Vasily was still trying to get feeling back in his behind. He could guess Ogata had the same problem by the way his face looked like he was cursing the world and everything in it at the moment.
Their guard joined them and took out two pairs of handcuffs. The two hadn’t been tied while they walked, but now they were connected to a metal ring on the wall from one arm. Like they would be going anywhere in this state. The guard did have enough heart not to cuff Ogata by the injured side. The bruises were healing, but hoisting the arm and shoulder was still rather painful.
They were both hungry and thirsty. Their last proper full meal had been a week ago and it was showing. The constant nagging from their stomachs was hard to ignore, but they learned. The lack of energy and nausea were harder to deal with.
Ogata yawned. The soldier looked up from his papers. Probably information on the two in front of him as he did eye the two from time to time. Vasily simply raised his eyebrow at him when his gaze lingered on his scars for too long.
It must’ve been another hour until they were at their destination. The sky had turned overcast and it began to rain soon after. It wasn’t just a tiny drizzle either. All three were thankful for the cover of the carriage.
Ogata got another piggyback ride. Vasily thought that it would look more natural to their captors compared to the previous princess carry. The man waiting for them, seemingly an officer, did give them yet another weird look. They had gotten a lot of those lately. Nothing they weren’t used to.
He looked over the papers he had been handed before waving the trio to follow him into the building behind him. It didn’t look too official. Just a regular single storey wooden house. It was bigger than theirs, but that didn’t take much.
They were connected to yet another metal ring on the wall and told to sit on a bench. Guess there was more waiting in store. At least they had been considerate enough to give them water. Probably to get them to speak. Vasily doubted he could get a word out of his dry mouth without it. Neither gave a verbal thank you. Rebellion was in the small acts you could get away with.
“I can’t feel my ass”, Vasily whispered.
“Welcome to the club.”
At least the bench stayed still this time. That was a very welcome change.
Soon enough they were escorted to another room where the man from before waited for them. Ogata had to bite his lip so as not to sigh when they were informed that the scar-faced officer from the secret police would be there later, arriving on another train. To be perfectly honest, he could’ve managed with his life if he didn’t see him again. He did have a feeling that they sadly would. Just when the old injuries were healing. Meeting the haughty power hungry man was definitely in the top three of things he didn’t want to do right now.
Ogata had to confirm the fact that yes, his legs didn’t work and he only had one eye. The man, who he guessed was an officer, even pinched his leg to see if he would react to the pain. Seemingly satisfied that Ogata really couldn’t feel anything or move the limbs, he returned to sit behind his desk. Ogata and Vasily were given chairs and their hands handcuffed onto those this time. It was very much excessive in a closed room with soldiers on the other side of the door. The window even had metal bars.
They were made to answer a handful of questions. Nothing they hadn’t answered before. Maybe they thought that a week in a train carriage would get them to change their answers. No such luck. Vasily still wasn’t a spy and Ogata didn’t admit to anything. Both played it safe and didn’t try anything too foolhardy even if they were getting bored doing the same thing over and over. Vasily just knew that Ogata had been itching to say something more.
Ogata and Vasily were soon separated again. Although he couldn’t do anything to prevent it, Vasily did give the soldier escorting, carrying, Ogata away a death glare he was sure to remember. Ogata was just pleased that he wasn’t being dragged and that the man was being careful with his injuries. A rare treat around here.
While Ogata was put in a holding cell, like he’d go anywhere if they left him on the floor somewhere, Vasily was left in the room with the officer. There wasn’t anything in the bare room, so Ogata decided to get familiar with the new ceiling. He lay on his back on the floor. That position helped ease the strain on his shoulder. The soldier that closed the door behind him after a full body check did give him yet another weird look, which he promptly ignored in favor of staring at the ceiling.
“So…What are we to do with you two?” the officer leaned on the desk in front of him and sighed, “Guess there’s always penal labor. We’re always in need of new blood.”
‘Because you overworked the last ones and they died’, Vasily thought to himself.
He had been expecting manual labor. His body could take it, but not for long if the food stayed as scarce as it had been. Prisoners weren’t known to receive the best of care in any circumstances. But from what he had heard, the penal labor camps were in a league of their own. Ogata hadn’t been worried for nothing.
Now he just had to make a good enough case for why Ogata would be an important asset to keep alive. And maybe also why they should be given food today. He could feel his blood sugar dropping more and more by the hour. Ogata surely wasn’t fairing any better.
“We’ve done nothing. The papers should prove that.”
“That is not something you get to decide.”
Vasily couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that, even if he tried to be as agreeable as possible to not get in more trouble. He focused on finding a more comfortable position on the chair. His shoulders were beginning to ache. They had looped the handcuffs on the chair’s backrest. That meant that he would technically be able to get free if he broke the chair. He’d still have his hands tied behind his back though so it wouldn’t help much. He would’ve loved to stand up and stretch his legs.
“Two sharpshooters? That’s unusual”, the man pointed out as he flipped through the documents.
“How come?” Vasily didn’t have anything better to do, so he’d entertain the man’s curiosity.
“From my experience, sharpshooters are usually pretty solitary.”
‘Could you not talk about us like we’re some sort of animal?’
“Guess that makes sense.”
“Oh, but I don’t think one of you can do much with one eye and paralyzed legs.”
Vasily’s eye twitched at that. Ogata could put a bullet through the man’s skull with one eye missing or not. The Russian would love to see the officer try to do the things Ogata was capable of even in his condition. He knew he was getting a bit too emotional about it, but he couldn’t just let people talk badly about Ogata like that. Especially when the man himself wasn’t there.
“So, what else can he do? I honestly don’t care what he has been accused of. I just want to know whether he’d be useful or not. The others will decide if he needs to be punished”, the officer threw the papers on the desk, clearly done with them.
“Can I have a pen and some paper? I wouldn’t want to miss anything.”
Ogata was slowly beginning to think that he wasn’t as good at waiting as he had thought. He was good at waiting for Vasily to come back home since there was always something to do around the house. Right now he had no idea what was about to happen or when someone would come to get him.
He glared at the ceiling. At least it was a new one and not the same one he had been staring at for the past week. The wooden floor wasn’t too comfortable, but he hadn’t been expecting to be offered any luxuries.
Running his hand over the rough unfinished surface of the floorboards, his mind began to wander. Since there wasn’t anything else he could do but wait and try to preoccupy his mind with something. He wondered what wood they had used. His best guess was pine. It was a durable choice. The long branchless trunk was easier to cut into shape. The resin in the wood did give it a distinctive scent but it also protected it from moisture.
Vasily had cut down almost every birch in their neighborhood to use as firewood. There was too much of that in places and they grew back quickly. Thus their firewood gathering didn’t cause too much damage. He’d go for birch over pine or spruce anyday. He hated the sticky resin. It got everywhere while he worked and then Ogata would complain about having to try to get it off his clothes.
Pine for building and birch for firewood. For weaving you’d use willow. They had actually built a small fence from that around the field to keep the chickens away. Ogata had decided to try carving something one day when he had finished everything else for the day. He still had a scar from that on his left index finger. The finger had been fine in the end. The cut had been on the deeper side and had bled quite a bit. Vasily had acted like Ogata had cut his whole hand off once he returned inside and noticed the bloodied cloth the raven head was holding around the injured finger.
Ogata smiled to himself and ran a finger over the light scar. Maybe he really was losing his mind staying here. He was seriously thinking about what wood they had used on the floor. Ten years ago he wouldn’t even have cared to know the difference between a pine and a spruce tree. Guess he had changed.
Ogata didn’t even know how long he had been doing that. Minutes? Hours? From what he could see, the sun was already setting outside. The small window didn’t offer much. It was too far up for Ogata to look through it anyways. The sun had been up when they had been at the station. But since they probably were up north, the sun would set at a different time. Vasily explained the nightless nights up north to him one Midsummer. Those happened during the summer. All that meant that Ogata couldn’t really rely on his previous knowledge of the sun’s movements to tell the time.
And he had gotten lost in thought again. How long would he be kept here? Would they feed him or had they forgotten about him already? He was worthless as a worker, but there were still things he could do. They had probably already noted that the two were strong when it came to physical torture. They wouldn’t be getting much out of them like that. Maybe they had realised that and decided to use something else. If pain didn’t work, you could use someone close against them. Ogata had to think of the possibility that he was being kept alive to get Vasily to talk. Vasily would quit cooperating the moment something happened to Ogata.
Ogata glanced towards the door when he heard it open. The soldier that had carried him there and that was probably stationed behind the door put down a piece of bread and a cup of water. Now that he brought his attention back to his body, he was hungry and thirsty. The raven head nodded his acknowledgements and thanks before the man left. There were no words exchanged. The man might’ve been told to keep quiet. To keep Ogata out of the loop as much as possible. Knowledge was power. Not knowing the situation was stressing Ogata.
He decided that keeping his energy up was more important at the moment. He crawled to the cup and loaf, sitting down by the wall. The bread wasn’t fresh. Far from it. Ogata ripped the hard crust off to see what the inside looked like. Vasily would have a hard time eating something like this. He could only hope that the other had gotten something to eat as well. Even if it was hard bread.
Ogata stopped to savor the taste. Or wonder about the absolute lack of it. At least the water was refreshingly cool. He wouldn’t have gotten the bread down otherwise. He let out a loud, frustrated sigh. A piece of cheese or some dried meat would’ve made the meal a hundred times better. It wasn’t close to being the worst Ogata had ever had, but his frustration made it feel worse than it was. He was just so done with the whole situation.
To forget about the taste, Ogata let his mind wander again. He briefly imagined what kind of flour they had used for the bread. The quality wasn’t good. Some sort of substitute was definitely used too. He could tell from the texture and the slight aftertaste. He hoped that it was the commonly used pine phloem and not something like sawdust or worse.
Ogata checked his injuries while there was still light left. Most of the bruises were now a mix of green and yellow. The itching while they healed had been very annoying. The shoulder was almost healed by now. Ogata did still try to not use it, hoping not to somehow injure it further. He could feel it when he had dragged himself across the floor. He scratched at a scab and watched as it bled after.
The door opening woke him up. Ogata hadn’t noticed when he had fallen asleep. He didn’t feel well rested at all. The floors were cold. He could feel a draft. There must be a thermal bridge somewhere. Their home had a spot too. He had been planning on getting a carpet there for the longest time. Guess that would have to be put on hold too now.
“Rise and shine!”
Ogata shot a glare towards the owner of the familiar voice. He didn’t even try to get up from the floor. The floor now felt like the warmer option too. The temperature of the room had dropped with the change in atmosphere.
“To what do I owe this honor?”
“Come on now. You make it sound like you didn’t want to see me again”, scarface smiled and crouched down next to Ogata.
“You’d be correct.”
“Did I do something to make you hate me this much?”
“Did you talk to Pavlichenko?”
The man just smiled, “I just had to see you first. I’m surprised. You look quite well.”
‘So you intended for us to starve then?’ Ogata sighed.
“I guess most people wouldn’t want corpses on their trains.”
Scarface shrugged his shoulders, “Too bad. So, do you have anything you want to tell me?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Nothing I haven’t already told you.”
Now it was scarface’s turn to sigh. He shook his head as he stood up.
“I hoped that we would’ve grown to understand each other more with time.”
‘I really hope that you don’t have any friends or family.’
Scarface suddenly kicked Ogata’s side with some force. Nothing cracked, but the air was knocked out of Ogata’s lungs and the man was left coughing on the floor. The army boots were well made.
“T-The hell was that for?!” Ogata got out between coughs. He tried his best not to retch and bring up the food he had just eaten.
“I felt like we needed an element of surprise since we weren’t getting anywhere earlier. I’ll go have a little chat with the others. While I’m there, you can think about changing that attitude of yours.”
Ogata carefully felt his ribs where he had been kicked. As he had thought, nothing felt broken. There could always be a hairline fracture, which would suck. That would for sure be another nasty bruise though. Just when the older ones had stopped annoying him. Just his luck.
“And if I don’t?”
Scarface narrowed his eyes at that, “We’ll have to wait and see. Maybe I’ll have a long nice chat with that Pavlichenko of yours and see if he’s any wiser than you.”
That earned a glare from the raven head.
“Behave and I might even bring you food”, scarface waved before slamming the door shut behind him.
‘What is this, the carrot-and-stick approach?’ Ogata gritted his teeth and sat up.
He wanted to be up when the man returned. That way he might be able to block some of the attacks and defend himself. That surely wouldn’t elicit a good reaction, but it was better than getting injured more.
Ogata decided not to look at the newest injury. He already had a good idea of what he would see. Twisting to look at it would just hurt more.
While food and drink did sound good, Ogata wouldn’t be fooled. The man would just dangle those in front of him in order to get the answer he wanted out of him. He could torture him or try to bribe him, but he wouldn’t talk either way. His mouth was sealed.
He was a bit more worried about Vasily and how he would react if a threat of him getting injured if the man didn’t speak came up. Vasily could take pain himself, but wasn’t going to sit and watch as Ogata got tortured.
But he couldn’t prove something that didn’t exist, as Vasily had never been a spy or betrayed the empire. Sure, he wasn’t loyal nor did he like the people in charge, but he wasn’t stupid enough to go against them. Vasily could only prove what he had done. Not what he hadn’t done. There was no proof for or against him, as all he had done was make reports. Did this mean that they would just have to sit and take the torture?
Scarface seemed to already have his own opinions when it came to Ogata and what he was. Ogata had no idea what had happened to the man in the past to make him like this, but he could leave him out of it. You shouldn’t bring personal grudges to work. A past lover maybe? Probably not. Not with that personality.
Ogata made it seem like it was all Vasily who would panic when torturing the other was mentioned, but Ogata knew the atmosphere would change as soon as scarface would put Vasily on the other side of the scale. Ogata had promised to keep himself alive, but he’d still put emphasis on Vasily’s wellbeing. Vasily hadn’t really specified what condition Ogata would have to be, as long as he was alive. At least that was how Ogata had understood it.
Ogata leaned against the wall. Guess he could only wait now. There wasn’t anything he could do at the moment that would change things. The guard outside the door hadn’t even reacted to the obvious sounds of violence coming from the room.
The Japanese man was getting tired of all this waiting. That was all he and Vasily had been doing lately. The things could always be worse, so guess he could wait for now.
That small meal hadn’t done much and Ogata could feel his stomach complain again. His mouth was dry again too. And because of the previous coughing fit, hoarse as well. They really were trying all kinds of ways to torture them. Or they were just trying to make them feel as miserable as possible. That might get some people to talk too, if that meant getting out of the situation. It just didn’t mean much when you knew that the situation after the integrations were done would be just as bad if not even worse. There really wasn’t winning with this one.
Guess all he could do was take the things as they came. Ogata yawned and closed his eyes. He wasn’t looking forward to any of that. His side ached now with every breath.
Ogata would’ve much preferred to be back home doing whatever. He had a book he had been looking forward to re-reading. He should’ve brushed the cat to help with the shedding of winter fur. This year’s spring cleaning had to be postponed before because of bad weather and other things. He would’ve even preferred to be cleaning the floors instead of this. And that was big coming from him. He had done enough of crawling for a lifetime so Vasily was usually the one on all fours scrubbing the floors. The Russian understood where Ogata was coming from and didn’t fight it.
Ogata had to wonder what Vasily was doing now. Had scarface really gone to talk to him? Making Ogata worry like this was probably all a part of his plan anyways. He really didn’t like to admit it, but there wasn’t anything he could do but wait. So that is exactly what he did.