Chapter 1: This Is War

The grass was thick around him and sweat beaded under his helmet, but he didn't dare wipe it away. He didn't dare move. Another explosion, some screams, the rat-tat-tat of machinegun fire. Reflexively he gripped the barrel of his Ariska bolt action rifle, listening for any movement nearby. He was well behind enemy lines now, he just knew it. The tunnel had been dug long before the American's had landed. Americans. Sollux licked his cracked, dried lips as his pulse raged on. Something moved nearby. A leaf? It was hard to tell, everything made him jumpy, his pulse pounding in his ears. It was too damn hot, too damn sticky, too damn crazy to be out here fighting. Their Allies had abandoned them or had already fallen to the enemy, yet the Emperor called for them to fight on, for the glory of the Rising Sun. Sollux took a deep breath and chanced a glance upwards. It would be evening soon.

Slowly, Sollux moved forward. He couldn't tell how much time passed, it could have been seconds, it could have been hours, but the sounds of explosions had drifted further away from his position, only the occasional sound of machinegun fire causing him to freeze in his advance. After a few cautious moments, he would start advancing again. When he reached the boarder of the foliage, it was well into dusk, a deep purple painting the sky as the suns last blazing yellow strip dipped below the cerulean ocean. Sollux crouched and waited and watched. His mission had been clear; Kill the commanding officer at all costs. Reconnaissance had discovered that a Captain was leading this patrol, an upstart not too well liked by his subordinates. Sollux himself had intercepted the radio communications and cracked the code to discover the location of the base of operations. When the rank of the officer had been divulged, Sollux and a handful of others had been sent to take him out. The Captain was deemed important enough to be assassinated but not high ranking enough for them to send in the experts for the job.

The mission had gone badly from the start. The tunnels had mostly collapsed from the heavy artillery bombardment or were overrun by the Americans. Sollux's team got their information mixed up and ran headlong into a battalion outnumbering them two to one and all hell broke loose. His team scattered, most being mowed down by machinegun fire, and Sollux likely would have joined them as corpses littering the ground had not the earth given way under his feet and he was sent tumbling into a partially collapsed tunnel. Thanking the ancestors for the fortune, he proceeded through the blessedly abandoned passage till it emptied him out near the beach where the commander's tent was erected. After pinpointing his location and receiving a brief communication to continue his mission at all costs, Sollux had swallowed his fear and took slow, steady steps towards the beach and his target.

Now it was dark, and the guards were almost non-existent, the main force pushing on through the island at their Captain's orders. A lone soldier passed close by, but his weapon was hefted onto his shoulder, his eyes fixed ahead of him, not bothering to search the surrounding foliage. As the soldier marched on, Sollux wet his cracked lips. There were some crates that stood just against the side of the tent. If he could make it to them, he might be able to locate his target inside and take him out. Leaving was another matter. He had been prepared that this would be a suicide mission and that he likely wouldn't be returning but praised as a hero posthumously. Sollux swallowed before making a strikingly crazy decision. With one last look at the soldier who was sauntering away, Sollux hefted his weapon on his shoulder and adopted the casual stroll of the man who had just passed him, nonchalantly making his way across the beach. Either by instinct or intuition, the ploy may have saved him his mission, for as he strode onto the beach, he saw that the Captain wasn't as ill-guarded as it appeared to be. There were three machine gun pits dug into the sand pointing towards the foliage he had just come out of. The now dark, cloud covered night hid all finite details and made his skin resemble that of any soot covered American, it would be hard to distinguish him as friend or foe. One gun turned towards him but upon seeing him, the young man inside just nodded and continued on his guard of the foliage line. Sollux took it as a sign of good fortune and continued on past the line of defenses.

The inside of the tent was lit and Sollux could see a few shadows moving around inside, but there seemed to be no one guarding the entrance flaps. Making sure he was clear, Sollux ducked behind the supply crates and listened intently to the conversation going on inside the tent.

"So wwhat your sayin' is that I should wwait?" Even with his broken understanding of the language, Sollux could still hear that the voice was haughty and perturbed.

"Just till reinforcement arrive, old chap," Came the smart reply.

"No," The other man snapped, "I don't care about wwhat protocol you wwere used to in the British army, Lieutenant English, but wwe Americans don't wwait for someone to hold our hands."

"And I suppose this had nothing to do with your father being a senator or the need to prove yourself?" The softer voice sighed.

"Howw dare you be so impertinent!" A bang and the rattle of metal told Sollux a table or some other such surface had just had a fist slammed into it.

"Captain, may I speak freely?"

Sollux's ears perked up. So the Captain was in this tent. Now how to get to him…

"Like ya havven't been already?" The snootier man sighed, before continuing, "Permission granted, Lieutenant."

"You've been on edge all day, sir. What's wrong?"

The question never got an answer, because at that moment, there was an explosion further down the beach, lighting up the night sky with a fiery red ball that rolled towards the monstrously black, star and cloud dappled heavens. There was yelling and gunfire and Sollux cursed whichever of his idiotic company members had decided to attack the obviously wrong position. The two men emerged from the tent in a hurry. One was a lean young man with thick, coal black hair and glasses. The other was a little taller, his shoulders broad and his jaw set firm, his hair also a rich ebony color that shone almost purple in the glow of the dying explosion.

"Go find out wwhat the fuck that wwas," The taller man barked.

"Sir, yes sir!" The Lieutenant snapped in response and joined the few soldier who were scurrying along the beach to join the investigation.

Sollux moved so quickly, he nearly frightened himself as he drew his knife and found himself with his chest pressed to the Captain's back, the sharp metal black pressed firmly into the man's neck. Sollux forced his voice to life, but kept it to a forced whisper, his halting English crude and effective through his gritted teeth.

"You quiet," Why he didn't slit the man's throat on the spot he couldn't figure out other than it just felt like the wrong thing to do, orders or not.

Instead of going rigid like any normal person would with a razor sharp implement pressed to their flesh, the Captain turned his head ever so slightly, the blade cutting into his flesh and trailing a bead of blood that glowed like an amethyst in the firelight. He looked out of the corner of his eye and Sollux nearly gasped, never had he seen eyes so purple. Then the man spoke.

"Hey Sol," an almost delighted smirk pressed itself into the man's lips, "Wwondered wwhen I wwould be seein you today."

Sollux didn't move, he was too dumbfounded. The man spoke again, turning further and gently pushing the knife away from his neck.

"Oh come on Sollux, you don't think you could fool me, did ya?"

And just like that, Sollux was running. His feet kicked up sand behind him as he pounded his way back towards the undergrowth. The man shouted behind him to wait and come back as machine gun bullets whizzed past Sollux's head, the Captain calling for an immediate cease fire. Sollux dove into the jungle fauna, the purple eyed captain and two soldiers hot on his heels. Ducking through trees and bushes, Sollux finally found himself back at the tunnel entrance that had brought him here, but found it blocked by another collapse. Turing his back on the rubble, Sollux had no time to swing his weapon down from his shoulder before the Captain was on top of him, knocking the piece aside and sweeping Sollux's legs out from under him.

"That's enough of that, Sol," The man almost laughed happily.

Sollux growled and began to curse, "Eridan I…"

The Captain's eyes grew wide and moistened, "Sol! You remember! You…"

Just then, one of the soldiers who had been trailing the officer burst from the trees and laid the butt of his gun firmly against the side of Sollux's head and sent him spinning into oblivion.

Sollux sat up with a start. His head was pounding and he turned his bleary eyes to the bright green digits of his bedside clock. 4:13a.m. It had all been a dream. A very vivid one too, and Sollux swore under his breath at the throbbing in his head. A soft sound and a rustle of sheets caused Sollux's brow to wrinkle as he tried to piece together exactly where he was. It was when she spoke that he became fully aware of his surroundings.

"Sollux?" Aradia's voice was groggy as she rolled over and pressed her warm, naked flesh into Sollux's.

"Jutht a bad dream, AA," the brunette let his head hit the pillow again an pulled the woman into him as memories of strained sounds and pleasure danced in his memory, the fading smell of sex still noticeable in the room, "Jutht a bad dream."

"Mm," she hummed, already falling back asleep, her warmth pressed into the man's side.

It took Sollux considerably more time to fall asleep again.