The next day when Harry goes in to speak with his corporal about Niall's treatment, the door guards tell him he's not in his quarters. Sometimes Harry would see the corporal walking around during the eating periods, but never during training sessions or drill training. When he asks where the man went to, he was told it was classified and he wasn't allowed to know.
Harry decides to return to his drill training. Normally they have up to two drills per day between periods, and training every other day, but thankfully Harry's been excused the last few days due to Niall and the map. Lunch period isn't for another hour, he thinks, so he has time to catch up.
After a while of relearning steps and tactics, and though he mostly spends the hour correcting his partner's moves, whom he assumes is a new recruit since he hasn't seen him before, eventually the training period comes to an end and the entire group rushes off to collect their food for the day. Harry finds himself in the midst of the group, standing in line for his own share of food and to collect Niall's.
"Didja hear 'bout the prisoner?" A man two people behind Harry nudges the man in front of him, not at all trying to keep his voice low.
"Oh, yeah. Corporal's pissed. Honestly, why's the shit even still alive?" The other one responds, and Harry can see in his peripherals that he's shaking his head.
"No idea. We roughened him up enough, I thought he'd die of his injuries down there."
"Nah, this one's taking care of him," One of them slaps Harry on the back, stepping up next to him. The other man joins a second later, throwing an arm across Harry's shoulder.
"What'd ya do to him, Styles?" The first man responds, and Harry turns around and recognizes him as one of the men he was trapped with. He can't recall his name, but he knows for a fact he wasn't one of Niall's biggest fans.
"What do you mean, mate?" Harry decides to ask.
The other man scoffs, and he was one that wasn't held captive like Harry and the other one. "Too nice, ya are. I'd gut that fucker first chance I got."
"You don't know how many times I wish I could while we were held in that damned barn. I tried makin' a shiv out of the hay, I was that desperate."
Harry tries not to let the disgust leak onto his face. He can't believe how brutal his so-called comrades are toward someone they barely know, one of them has probably never even met him. He knows they're in a war and Niall used to be an enemy, but that doesn't inherently make him an awful person.
"But what really happened?" Harry questions instead, wanting to know what happened with Niall and the corporal. That might've been where Corporal Maddox was earlier. He needs to know just in case he needs to go check on Niall.
"'Parently the prisoner's been trying to escape. Stole a map or somethin', I dunno."
Just then, Harry's hands immediately fly to his rucksack. He must have forgotten to grab the two maps yesterday after Niall kicked the dirt over them.
He immediately begins to search around inside for the parchment while the other two continue to converse. Now, he's not even scared of what these men say they would do to Niall, instead he's afraid of what the corporal could be doing to Niall right now.
"Shit," Harry whispers as he steps out of line, briskly walking toward the cellar. When he gets a certain distance away, he can see one of the doors is wide open and the lock is nowhere to be found.
Instead of taking precaution, or worrying even for a second that his comrades might be in there, his mind is immediately taken over by the determination to get to Niall, no matter the state he's in. He picks up his speed on his way to the bunker, and can see the head of a soldier once he reaches the first step, but doesn't slow down. He barrels into the small, lit room, and he has no eyes for the two guards and the corporal standing in front of the crumpled figure that is Harry's friend. No, his eyes are glued to Niall, curled into the fetal position as he holds his stomach and lifts and arm in front of his face to protect himself.
"Styles, stay back." Corporal Maddox demands, but Harry doesn't hear him. He focuses on Niall quickened, gasping breath and immediately reaches down to tend to him. One of the guards pulls him back. "He's dangerous."
"He's not!" Harry yells, struggling out of the arms that held him back, going for Niall again. Niall's eyes are open, wide and frantic, looking up at Harry with what he interprets as a pleading look. He's not sure what he's pleading for, possibly for help, but knowing Niall, it's more likely for Harry to leave him, to not get himself into trouble for him.
"He tried making a map of his own, Styles! To escape!" Corporal Maddox holds up the map that he gave him, and Harry wants to let out a sign of relief that it's not the map Niall gave to him when he was escaping.
"No, sir! He didn't! That's my map, not his! I left it here last night by accident." Harry pleads, and Niall makes a move to get up, to stop Harry from sacrificing himself, but he falls back to the ground when the corporal sends a swift kick into Niall's now unguarded stomach.
"That was foolish, Styles! He could've used this to get out!"
Harry shakes his head, cringing at Niall's groan of pain. "No, sir, he wouldn't have tried to escape."
"How dare you make such a preposterous assumption? You don't know what this man is capable of!"
"I do know, and he would never fight against us. Not anymore." Harry makes sure Niall meets his eyes. "He's no longer the enemy. He wants to be on our side. He wants to be a new recruit, fighting for our cause. He doesn't believe in their cause anymore."
Corporal Maddox kicks at Niall again, forcing Niall to roll onto his back. When he does one of the guards steps forward and forces his foot down onto Niall's chest, keeping him in place. Niall wheezes and tries to cough, but that just causes the guard to push down harder.
"How can you say for certain, Styles? He could be trying to compel you into believing him so you'll set him free." The corporal grills further.
"Sir, that is a risk I'm willing to take. I trust him." Harry wasn't planning on getting Niall out of the cellar this soon; he was hoping to slowly convince his comrades of the role Niall could play in their ranks, to slowly implement him into the company as a new recruit, and hopefully one day he'd be treated as a regular ally, and not just the enemy held prisoner at their camp. Sadly, he knows if he doesn't plead Niall's case now, the corporal will kill him. "Please, let him prove himself. He can be a regular soldier, just like me."
"Enough. We've given this kid enough chances." The guard holding Niall down says as he pulls out his saber, holding it directly above Niall's heart. "On your word, captain."
"No, please. He didn't kill us when we were held captive, and there were plenty more of us. The least we owe him is the same treatment." Harry tries again, meeting Niall's eyes again. He's looking right back, not even glancing at the weapon threatening to plunge right into his heart at any second, killing him instantly.
Corporal Maddox falls silent. He looks down at Niall, still curled up on the ground, and then back at Harry. He seems to contemplate.
"Look at it this way. If he was planning to escape, with or without the map, he would've done it already. He could've tried tunneling, but I've seen no evidence of that. He could've tried making weapons out of the rocks and twigs, but all have been left untouched. He could've bombarded me the first time I came in here and ran out, but he didn't. He's strong, and resilient, I know he is, I've seen it, but he never once greeted me harshly, or tried to escape in any way the entire time he's been here." Harry takes a breath, knowing this is his last chance. "Please, sir. He doesn't want to be treated like a prisoner, but a soldier, like the rest of us. He is a soldier, he was just caught wearing the wrong uniform."
Harry falls silent, along with the guards, and all that can be heard is their breathing, with Niall's still slightly faster than the rest of them.
Finally, after a few moments of the corporal looking back and forth between Harry and Niall, he finally motions for the guard to put his saber away. "All right, Styles. We will grant your wish of him no longer being kept as a prisoner down here." Harry wants to cheer and scream and cry and fall to his knees all at once, however, he keeps himself composed as the corporal continues. "But, he will not be a soldier. No matter what you say, he fought for the enemy at one point, and the blood of those that died in captivity is on his hands. He must repay for those sins."
"What will he be then, sir?" Harry asks, watching Niall's every move as he rolls back onto his side.
"It's up to these men to decide." Corporal Maddox looks down at the man lying on the ground. "From the moment he steps outside this cellar, his treatment is up to his comrades. He must earn their trust and respect."
Harry shakes his head, "I don't believe that is fair, sir. They all view him as the enemy, they always will."
The corporal gives a sinister smile as he takes a few heavy steps past Harry, his boots stomping on the wooden stairs leading up, "Well, you better get onto changing that, eh, soldier?"
Before Harry can respond, Corporal Maddox and his guards exit the cellar, leaving Harry alone with a newly freed, yet injured Niall. Harry isn't sure how Niall's implementation into the company will go down with his comrades, and is worried about the outcome.