Hey guys. This is just a short piece born from my sentimentality after watching War Horse again, and my love for Tom Hiddleston. From the perspective of Cpt. James Nicholls.

-O-

The world is silent. Mute. I can feel the earth vibrating beneath my body. But no sound reaches my ears.

Am I dead?

All around me, the world races on. Like moving photographs, the horses flee. Their powerful hooves seem to make nary a thud as they strike the virgin dew. Watching from the corner of my eyes, to my blurred vision, they appear more like shades than solid creatures.

I am so very cold.

I can still remember what it feels like to have the summer sunlight, shining down upon my bare skin. The memory makes me smile, a bittersweet smile. The memory makes me yearn for those days, long since passed. The memory makes me sad.

Perhaps one day, the sun will smile at me again.

So cold, I feel as though every drop of blood within me has frozen. A single trail, red and rosy, dribbles down my cheek. I can feel it, like a brush against my pale face. Tentatively, I lift my arm. My hand hovers before my eyes. Where once my fingers stretched, slender and proud, I see only blood. Blood and brokenness.

The dew is not all that the horses now trample.

I shut my eyes, pushing the image of my broken body from my mind. I feel my arm sink, as it returns to its resting place upon the grass. I long to turn my head, to watch the world around me. To distract myself from the horror and fear coursing through my being. But I find that I can no longer move. So ever so slowly, I turn my face to the heavens.

Blue. Oh so very blue.

My heart aches. It is all the pain I can muster; the only pain strong enough and deep enough to touch my soul. The sky, so perfect, so utterly perfect, gazes down at me, with eyes so deep and searching, I feel almost flooded by its light. Oblivious to the terror that is playing out below, it continues to stretch, as far as my dimming eyes can see. No clouds brush its face; no shadows dim its brilliant smile.

A blast sounds throughout the air. Although I can no longer hear, the utter power shocks me. The explosion shudders through my being.

Do not look away.

I don't want to take my eyes from the sky, so wide and so blue. I know now, that I may not survive to turn my eyes back once more. I go to draw a breath, only to find that the effort no longer reaches my lungs. Silently, I let my body sink into the ground. But I do not close my eyes.

"The... e-expanse...," I whisper, "sheweth the work... of His hands..."

I lay still, gazing up at the sky so blue.

I hope you guys enjoyed it. Reviews make me smile :)