Author's Note:
Hello all this is my first ever Fanfic that I am writing. I am not the best with grammar and spelling, I do have a beta to read over this before testing but they may miss some things. I apologize in advance if this messes anyone up or upset anyone. If you ever have any comments or concerns please leave a review or message me.
This story takes place in the Gears of War world, it will consist of information from games 1 to 3 and the books written by Karen Traviss. I will try to keep the characters as close to their personalities as I can but I will be changing them to fit the need of this story as I feel is needed. I am going to attempt to make this two stories in one if I am able to with one chapter being focused on Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud with the next chapter being focused on Damon Baird and Samantha Byrne. These chapters will intertwine at times due to them all being apart of Delta Squad, but their respective chapters will be from those characters POV as much as possible.
General Disclaimer Note: I do not own any of the characters, places, references, game material, or book information that is used in this story. All that information belongs to Epic Games, The Coalition, Cliff Bleszinki, Karen Traviss, and anyone else that has had their hands in the Gear of War franchise.
Chapter 1: M/A: The war is finally over….
"Dom!... DOM!...DOM! What the fuck are you doing?! Jump!" screamed Sergeant Marcus Fenix while having a nightmare. This startled the person sleeping next to the sergeant. "Marcus it's okay, you are just having a nightmare. You need to wake up. Marcus! Wake up!" spoke Lieutenant Anya Stroud while she was shaking him to try and wake him. He finally woke up and was covered in sweat from thrashing around for an unknown amount of time this night. "Sorry...I didn't mean to wake you...I was just having a nightmare…" said Marcus. "I know, I know, it's okay. We all are missing Dom, you are not the only one Marcus. You need to talk about it, you two have been brothers since you were kids" said Anya. I should have expected these nightmares to start sooner or later. It has only been two weeks since Dom's passing. He never got over Carlos' death, how could I expect him to get over Dom's so soon. "Later." was all that Marcus said. He rolled back over and went back to sleep, more peacefully this time but Anya suspected he was just doing his avoidance mechanism to feint sleep until their alarm went off. Speaking of our alarm, what time is it. Anya rolled over to look at the clock, it read 5:55. Damn it's going to go off in 5 minutes...might as well get up and ready for the day.
The battle of Azura had ended only two weeks ago. The remaining Coalition of Ordered Governments citizens and soldiers along with the Gorasni were stick on Azura. They were stuck because what ended the war, Doctor Adam Fenix's lambent destruction tower, killed the lambent parasite. This lambent parasite was in everything that powered modern day Sera, imulsion. The lambent parasite lived in the imulsion, so firing this tower fried all the fuel sources. So the COG and Gorasni were working together to fix up Azura to make it liveable and defensible for the foreseeable future. The locust war was finally over, 17 years after it had begun, thanks to the sacrifice of Adam Fenix. To test his imulsion theory he injected himself with lambency and tested his cure - it worked to destroy it but because he injected himself when the cure was released it killed him along with anyone and anything infected. This was yet another death for Marcus Fenix within a week, first it was Dom sacrificing himself in Mercy to let Marcus, Anya, and Samantha Byrne escape and then his father. The war was over so they had a tomorrow, which is why at 6:30 am sharp everyday everyone woke up and was given a job by the only remaining officials in the world, Colonel Victor Hoffman and Commander Miran Trescu, to help get Azura back up and running and made safe as it can be.
Their alarm went off at 6:00 and Marcus reached across Anya to smash the stop button. He got up out of their bed silently, dressed in his usual cut off shirt, cargo pants, his body armor and his ever famous black bandana with the 26 RTI Death's Head emblem on silently. After finishing putting his armor on, he went into their suites kitchen and put on the coffee. Yes actual coffee, not the fake stuff they have been living off of for the past 15 years. Anya watched him as he did this thinking to herself " I can't recall the last time I ever saw him without his armor on…..no wait it must have been the get together Professor Fenix threw after Aspho Fields…". Anya realized that she had drifted off in her thoughts and was startled when Marcus came wandering into their room holding two cups of coffee and handing her one. "Coffee's ready. Hurry up and get ready, we need to meet up with the Colonel before the daily task assignments are given out". With that Marcus turned and left to meet up with the Colonel before Anya could even say "Thanks for the coffee". Anya was used to the cold shoulder from Marcus whenever it came to anything personal or close and this morning was definitely both, but it still hurt her. "I should be used to this by now and I have to remember it's only been two weeks, he will talk to me about things when he is ready" she said aloud to no one. Anya soon got into motion and began her morning routine to get ready. She set down the coffee to put on her tank top and cargo shorts, rounded up and put her armor on, put her earpiece in, loaded up her pouches with ammo, and was soon heading out the door herself. On her way out the door, she quickly caught a glimpse of herself these days, it stopped her in her tracks for one simple reason, it was her mother…..Damn I really do look like a mini version of Mom these days like Bernie always says thought Anya. "I miss you mom, I really do…".
Marcus was waiting for her down in the lobby of the hotel they were stationed in. Everyone was being housed in one of the many large hotels that Azura boasted, no one seemed to mind that they were living in the luxury hotels of the dead scientists that were supposed to save the world from the locust invasion. When Anya reached Marcus he began to start walking and matched her pace. "Ok let's go over what we are meeting with Hoffman again for before the assignment tasks are given out today ma'am" said Marcus slipping back into their professional setting of Lt. Stroud and Sergeant Fenix. "Leadership. We need an established leadership form that everyone knows about and can rely on. Yes I know the Colonel and Commander were working as a triumvirate with the late Captain, but we need to establish a solid leadership now." Anya said. "I can tell you this, Hoffman will not accept a leadership position, we both know he hates leadership, he has one focus: keeping the world from collapsing one day at a time" Marcus said. Anya just nodded to that one. " I know he doesn't like it but the citizens need a leadership, we will just have to convince him to take a leadership role.." she said. Marcus just did his normal blank stare and deep sigh before answering. "When you say "we" who are you referring to?" "Delta, and if need be the Commander." she said. They walked in perfect silence until they reached the meeting spot where the rest of Delta squad was at. Private Augustus "Cole Train" Cole was laughing loudly at the expense of Corporal Damon Baird who was being yelled at by a angry Private Samantha "Sam " Byrne. Joining in on the laughing was Private Clayton "Clay" Carmine in his ever recognizable armor with Grub Killer etched into the breast plate. Marcus strode ahead of Anya and reached the squad first and had silenced everyone with his mad dog blue eyed stare. "GOOD MORNING MA'AM!" hollered the Cole Train who was as happy as ever. "Morning everyone, do you guys remember the point of this little meeting we are having with the Colonel?" said Anya. A resounding "Yes ma'am" was heard by Anya, who just smiled and began walking to the Colonel's office. If you could call it an office, it's more like a small apartment thought Anya. While continuing the walk to the office, Baird and Sam continued their normal bickering but it just seemed like they were doing it to pass the time but no one knew for sure, so everyone just ignored them and focused on the task they were all heading to do. When they are reached the doors to Hoffman's office they stopped and looked at Anya for a sign of being ready to go in there. But before Anya could say anything or give any sign of being ready to go they all heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot going off.
Author's note: SO this concludes chapter 1 of my first ever FanFic. The next chapter will be focused on Sam and Baird. The chapters will be alternating between Marcus/Anya and Sam/Baird. If something about this changes, I will be sure to let you guys know. I will not spoil if these chapters overlap or pick right up where one left off, so you will just need to stay tuned for the next chapter to find out. Please feel free to review and let me know what you think of the story. I will read every review you guys give! Thanks and I hope you guys enjoy!