tooktheblack | the trench is dug within our hearts (military au)

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the trench is dug within our hearts (military au)

One of these days, Jon was going to end up paired with someone who wasn't Ygritte but apparently this mission wasn't it. They were getting shipped out north of the Wall in the middle of bloody winter because, really, when better to go shoot in the dark at caves and hope you might hit something? Up in the mountains, it was cold, and there was usually a layer of frost on the ground even when there wasn't snow.

Oh, and there was snow. Tons of snow. Jon preferred the cold over the heat in Dorne, true, but after shutting down the last Wildling incursion at the Wall, he really wanted to go somewhere nice for a change. He'd wanted to switch to an air unit, fancied himself on the back of a dragon for a while, but after trying to test in, he decided it wasn't for him. He liked being a ranger even though Ygritte drove him insane.

The problem wasn't her ability. She was a damn fine shot and she could take care of herself. The problem was that she was so godsdamned distracting. Her hair, her scent, the way she took the piss out of him no matter what he said or did, her loyalty, her freckles - everything added up to something he couldn't resist and it drove him insane because he absolutely under no circumstances could sleep with her. No way. No how.

And now they were getting sent North again and he was going to have to deal with all of that in close quarters for who knew how many moons. Again. He took his orders, saluted his CO and went to find her.

"You got the orders off Mormont? We're going North again."

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Ygritte would argue who it was that drove who insane in their specific unit. Sure, it was just another recon where they had to go beyond the Wall and make sure everything was going well. If it wasn't, deal with the situation and go home. Just like that. She didn't complain, and had no problem getting on the ones who did. She was a hardened soldier just like the men.

And she proved herself time and time again.

"I did." Ygritte said, only taking her eyes off the bag she was cinching and tying shut to give him a quick look. "Before you did."

Was that a snide little smile she was giving him. Absolutely!

"You have your stuff ready? They're waiting to see us out."

"Think they could have managed to send us south for once? Not Dorne but...I don't know. Pentos or something."

Not a lot of fighting in Pentos, though, so that would probably be why they were going north again. "They've got us trying to rout Bolton out of Winterfell, too, if we feel up to it. They realize there's just two of us, right? That we can't storm a fortress by ourselves?"

Pulling her bag up and hiking it over her shoulder, she turned and moved closer to him, standing only on the very edges of his personal space.

Ygritte shook her head. "I'm fine with beyond the Wall really. Anywhere else and we'll die of heat exhaustion what they make us wear." she said, continuing to grin as her eyes sparkled with an amusing mischief. Oh, she'd seen the way he looked at her before, on other missions. Maybe he wanted to see her in a bathing suit.

She lingered only a moment before stepping around him and moved for the door. He'd follow, she was sure. "We're only meant to find and update Mormont on what he's up to. Any more than that then we're on a suicide mission."

"Yeah but he could have sent anyone. Instead, he sends me, knowing who I'm related to," Jon said, narrowing his eyes a bit. It was calculated and precise because if nothing else, Commander Mormont was a precise man. It was one of the things he admired about him, certainly, but it was also something that put them at odds when it came to sending him north to spy on Bolton.

"We're not supposed to get involved, I know, but he has to know that I'm going to be tempted."

It was hearing his voice that stopped and made her turn around and when she saw the way he looked she let out a breath almost silently. No, she didn't know how it felt given she never really had a home for someone to take away from her. But her kind were fierce when it came to what was there's and so, in some small way, Ygritte could somewhat relate.

"Must be why he's sending someone to go with you. Make sure you don't do anything stupid." she quipped, hoping he'd look at her and see she was making light of the situation. "Anyway, if we find him all alone, taking a piss out in the woods. I'll turn me back and.."

He'd get what she was saying. Hopefully.

"Come on, Crow. We're supposed to be on foot already."

"I told you not to call me that," Jon shot back. He wanted a drink and a cigarette and a...well, none of that. He wasn't going down that road with Ygritte. While she tempted him on an almost daily basis, fucking Ygritte was only going to end in a mess.

(A beautiful, wonderful mess while he was in the middle of it, though, but Jon didn't want to think about that aspect.)

"And yeah. Let's get north. Storm's supposed to be coming in while we're there but I'd like to beat it, if we can."

Ygritte's face evened, and for a brief second she felt almost guilty calling him the name. Almost. Still, her face shifted to indifference. She would leave it there. He was obviously in a raw state over the orders they were given and took it to heart a little more than he usually did when she called him it.

But that's what younger people did when they liked someone, right? They teased and made sure they were noticed. Usually it was a case of boys doing it to girls though. Still, she often found herself thinking about Jon, and they were definitely thoughts meant only for herself. He didn't seem to like her much..

Ygritte gave a nod in agreement as she moved down the hall to the door that would put them outside. An icy wind whipped against her face. It wasn't nearly as cold as she'd experienced in past seasons, but she could tell it would hit harder in a couple of hours. Just long enough to see them to their first point.

The North was bitterly cold, as was expected. The wind had already shifted by the time they arrived at their rendezvous point and Jon scowled; the storm was coming faster than the reports had indicated and clearly the maesters had been all wrong about this one. It was coming in fast, with a howling wind and a blind of snow, and they were going to be trapped in a matter of hours.

"We need to find shelter. No sense in trying to scout Bolton when this storm's coming in and we'll be snowblind before dark. We need a cave or something. Help me scout?"

If he had a task to focus on, the scent of her hair and the swing of her body wouldn't distract him nearly as much as it normally did.

By the time Jon suggested they find shelter, Ygritte was beyond freezing. Her hands were ice, as were her feet despite the military issued gear that was suited to those kinds of temperatures. This storm was different, however, and given it was much harsher than expected, they were forced to underestimate it when their orders were given.

Ygritte nodded and trembled as she fished out her map where dots were placed to show where safe areas were designated in emergency situations.

"Closest one is here." she half yelled over the gusts that almost took the breath deep down in her lungs away. A finger pointed it out, but she had no idea what type of shelter it was, or if they could even make it given the distance was a couple miles out.

No, they needed something closer.

"We'll never make it," Jon said, giving her a quick once over. She looked frozen to the core and he had to be in a similar state, though he was trying to ignore it in favor of pushing forward. There had to be some sort of unmarked cave, some place not on the maps.

"I grew up here," he said, racking his brain. "There's a closer cave, just big enough for two people. It's connected to the springs of Winterfell, so we might not even need a fire. It might be warm enough without it. Come on, we'll look for the snowmelt. Snow doesn't stay over it, too warm. We'll have to skirt close to Bolton's perimeter guards, though."

He did look to be in the same state as her, if the frost and ice stuck to his face was any indication. But like him, she pushed on and looked at him with wider eyes as she tried desperately not to shake in front of him.

"Let's move then. If we stand idle for too long we both know what will happen." Ygritte answered. And really, just the description of the cave and what it was connected to had her motivated enough. For how long, she wasn't sure so she motioned for him to go.

They would freeze to death if they stood here thinking about it instead of taking action so Jon took her words as an invitation to get a damn move on. The cave itself was a bit closer to the Winterfell perimeter than he remembered, though, and when he felt a bullet graze against his thigh, he pushed on in spite of the pain so they could get cover.

"Ygritte! Inside," he ordered, diving into the cave so that he could be protected by the storm raging outside. They would have hit him if the visibility hadn't been less than zero and it was only the swirling snows that would keep them safe for now.

"I've been hit."

The sound of the shot fired had her glance towards the direction it came for only a brief second before she turned back to Jon just in time to see him duck inside. She tailed after, breathless and looking towards the entrance as they moved further into it.

Ygritte kept a watchful eye before spinning around and looking at Jon. Her eyes dropped to the hole in his pants.

"How bad?" she moved closer, dropping her bag on the ground to crouch lower and get a better look. "Drop your pants."

Jon shot her a dark look but did as she asked, sliding down his pants to let her look. He thought it was a shallow wound, just a graze, but it was low enough that he couldn't get a good look at it himself. Ygritte would have to do the honors.

"You'll have to see if the bullet's in there. If it isn't, we're fine, but if it is, we're going to have to get it out somehow." And, of course, quietly.

Seeing his look, she offered him one back that basically said she wasn't going to put up with his modesty. Jon needed the wound tended to and he was going to let her do it.

Judging by the amount of blood that pooled and surrounded it was more than just a flesh wound. Her hands came to rest, one on the inside of his thigh and one on the outside and she took a closer look.

"Good news is there's no bullet. But it did go through, so ya have two wounds instead of one." she looked up at him. "Hold still an' I'll pack and wrap it."

She lingered there for a moment, eyes dropping back to where her hands were before concealing a grin and reaching for her bag.

Jon wanted to roll his eyes but at the moment, he decided he'd just lay there and let her do what she would with it. He needed it tended and it was going to be easier if he let Ygritte do it, all japes aside. Besides, he'd do the same for her.

He would always, always do the same for her and that was the problem. If it came down to him or her, he would give his life for hers every time. That wasn't the way they were meant to be together, not the way Mormont intended them to be, but that was how it was. She meant everything to him even if he hated to admit it.

"Does it look bad aside from that?"

And he was her partner. The one she consistently went out on patrol with; the one she would walk by and with into battle. When she fired her weapon, it wasn't to protect herself. It was to protect him. She had his back. Ygritte was there for him. She would do everything she could, including give her life, for him.

But it was in that dedication that she saw more of him, too. A man whom she cared about more than she did any other brother in their military unit. Those feelings she felt weren't allowed, and so Ygritte never allowed them to be seen.

"Besides you bleedin' like a stuck pig?" she countered, reaching for an alcohol swab from her medic kit to clean as much of the blood as she could around it. She even took care when she had to blot the wound itself. "You might have a hard time walking on the leg for a few days. But you'll live."

The way Ygritte said it was sincere, not mocking.

"Probably going to scar," Jon said, relaxing a little when she told him it wasn't bad. Ygritte wouldn't joke about something like that, not when it was serious, and he trusted her. He trusted Ygritte more than anyone.

"Cold in here, though," he said, shivering a little. That would probably be because of his bare arse right out in the open, true, but he could cover back up soon enough. They couldn't really have a fire in the cave but the break from the wind should keep them a little warmer.

After the wound was bandaged, she could feel his body temperature dip and knew it was from the blood loss. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to throw things off in a physiological sense. And well, his bare ass was in the open air, too. But she was betting on the former being the reason.

It didn't matter the reason, only that he needed to be warmed up and she glanced deeper, a few more feet in and saw some steam coming up off the walls. There was warmer air there.

"Come on." she urged, moving to her feet. Ygritte offered her arm and once they got over Ygritte looked him dead on. "Take your clothes off."

She didn't even wait for him to roll his eyes at her before the woman was talking again.

"It's the only way I'm going to be able to get you warm."

Having been in the military as long as he had, Jon had little regard for nudity. It was a fact of life when fighting and dying alongside other men and women and if it had been anyone other than Ygritte, he wouldn't have batted an eye. Yet, because it was Ygritte, he was a little more hesitant to just strip down.

"Are you certain, Ygritte? I don't want to just...there's a boundary getting crossed."

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the trench is dug within our hearts (military au)

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