Prologue...
"… What have I done?"
The soldier loomed over the limp and inert corpse at his feet, his cold and clammy hands shaking and trembling beyond his control. Rivers of tears flooded his eyes and leaked down his pale face, falling straight to the soggy mud drenched in the rain. The flintlock musket in his hands dropped to the floor with a dull thud as his legs gave way and he fell so weakly. He clenched at the soaked red coat around him, as if hoping doing so would ease the agony of the hole in his left leg, or the excruciating pain in his chest. His emerald eyes were glued to the bloody heap that lay before him.
"… My Lord… What have I done…?" he panted, his teeth chattering and his tongue flinching at the metallic taste of his own blood. He bit on his lip harder and ran his dirty fingers in his straw yellow hair matted over his face, "I… I killed him…"
The corpse of the man he had shot stared ever so lifelessly at him, his once bright, lively, and beautiful sapphire eyes merely a dull and lackluster pair of orbs with no light or shine. His pale skin was dyed red in his own spilling blood, the gorgeous royal blue of his coat soaking in the red vital liquid like a sponge. His hand, immobile and stone cold, lay steadily on his musket, as if preparing to fire.
The man who shot him was waiting for that bullet to pierce through his skull at any moment.
But it never came.
"I killed him," he gasped, his chest throbbing painfully and his sobs becoming harder and harder to control. "My Lord… This young man… I took his life away…" He clenched at his red uniform and let the salty tears mix with the blood he currently tasted in his otherwise dry mouth.
The corpse did not respond. His only action was lying limp on the muddy, and quite bloody, ground.
"You…" the man hiccupped, clenching his teeth together. "… Please forgive your foolish and incompetent big brother for taking your life away." He reached down and took his beloved sibling's hand in his own, gasping at how heavy and stony it was. "Please… You don't need to worry anymore… Big brother will always be with you… No matter what happens, I shall join you in the other world, and we'll be happy together, forever…"
He gazed up to meet the thousands and thousands of pairs of vehement eyes glaring at him, and realized who they were. "… The army… The ones you ate with, slept with, and fought alongside with…" He laughed ever so excruciatingly and bit his already wounded and swollen lip. "… They did it… You did it… Are you happy? Does that make you smile in the next world?"
The body remained inert. He still looked at the man before him ever so dully.
The British soldier tossed his musket about 3 feet away from him and yanked the inert corpse into a hug. He buried his head in his shoulder, hoping to wipe the tears away. What was left of the scent of the befallen warrior was overwhelmed by the scent of blood. It made the Brit sick to his already upset stomach, but he remained by his side regardless of his ill condition.
"Please give my regards to my mother and father up in Heaven," he pleaded quietly. "I'm sure your true parents are there to welcome you as well… and congratulate you on a job well done."
He pulled away long enough to honorably close the parted eyelids of the American soldier, smiling contently as if he had helped him to rest in peace.
"Good night, brother…"