Wow, guys! Here it finally is! My inspiration finally took over and I am already writing on the next chapter! I really hope you will enjoy!

Please leave a comment/review or a PM to me! It'll mean the world!

Btw, did you all read the AN I posted a couple of days ago? That'll explain why I haven't updated in a long, shamefull time...

-xo Charlie


Sergeant Charles Bass' POV

"Nathaniel, what on earth are you rambling about?" I say, my mouth agape. I'd had a feeling that something was off with Nate for a longer period of time, but I pushed it aside and prayed to God that it was the war getting to me. I am not soft, nor have I ever been, and I have no intention of playing heart to heart, even if it is with my best pal.

"I am in love with Vanessa. Vanessa Abrams." He says, boldly, as if it is obvious. I looked at him in complete horror. Who? I do not know anyone with that name.

"Am I supposed to know who this woman is?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"She's Charles' caretaker. I've kissed her once but she pushed me away, rambling on and on about how unfair it was of me to kiss her when she knew we could never be. She's the one, Chuck." I look at him, still with horror and scepticism in my eyes, and dare him to continue. "Look, I know this seems rushed, but have you never lain eyes on a girl and thought 'wow, she's the one'.. Wait, no, you have not. You're Chuck Bass." He laughs half heartily.

My eyes pops again, but this time it is for a complete different reason. I know that feeling. Obviously, I can not tell Nate about me being soft but I can not blame him. I have never known love before I lay my eyes on her and unfortunately my luck have not been present lately. The thought seems to burn my chest. There is no need for me to wish the same destiny for my best and only friend.

"If that's what you want I do not see any point in you being with Jennifer. Honestly, I've never really been fond of your wife, Nathaniel. There is something about her which just seems... Off."

He smirks at me, something he rarely do. He has always said that smirking is my thing, event though I mostly do it with the ladies or if I know I've done something bad. I have seen him smirking a couple of times at Burns, though. Ugh, even the thought of Burns makes my blood boil. There is no soldier inside of that kid. I still do not know that the heck it is Nathaniel sees in him.

"Wow, thank you Chuck. I guess... Am I right when I say you will support and help me when my family disown me and my name will be all over the papers?" I do nothing but nod at him.

I sit down on the floor and send a dirty look across the train wagon upon Burns. He is sitting in the corner, quietly reading some stupid book with his lips pressed hardly together. I can not help but think that something seems familiar about him, like I have seen him before or know some of his relatives but I pushed the thought away. No, I will not acknowledge any kind of familiarity to that piece of scum. He is nothing but a boy with a sad future but unfortunately Nathaniel refused to leave him behind, saying something about feeling brotherly protection for him.

I snort to myself.

Looking around the wagon I see most of the men sitting down with drool down their chins. I count to ten, only to prevent having a fit. "Okay, men", I yell out loudly. "Everybody wake up! And please, clean your mouths before looking me in the eye!" I can practically feel Nathaniel's displeased look burning into my side but I do not really care. It has already been too long of this.

After a way too long journey we have finally arrived and are all walking on a small path through a huge forest. It is raining and we are all drenched. I can hear all of them groaning and once again, it annoys me to no end. If only they had proper training before coming with us...

An idea hits me.

"All right, men! Everybody gather around me. I will not see anyone with their attention any place else, definitely not on their hurting knees. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, Sir!" they call back in union.

I take my time to look at them all. Nathaniel is coughing lightly besides me, to get my attention, but I will not discuss this with him first. Firstly because we were both told that should anything happen, I was the leader of the troupe. For the second, if I had told him my planned he would have thrown a fit.

"Now, I will out you in three different groups. One with four, one with three and one with two. All three groups are to go into the forest and make their way to our next shelter." I look at all of them with a bored look. They are not going to like this but I have a quite brilliant idea to get back at my best pal.

"The groups of four will be with Flick, Law, Baizen and Dalgaard. The one with three will be with Allen, Felton and myself. The last group will maintain Sergeant Archibald and Burns. Get to it, soldiers!"

I look at Nate and he sends me a dirty look. I smirk back at him. We were sent on the same task when we were at military training and I know that he knows what I am up to. This is not for any man; many hours in the woods with little to no food, drenched clothes and only a map to guide you in the dark. I've chosen the strongest men and besides, I passed the test with utter grace. One thing my father was finally a little proud of.

"Okay, men," Nate says. "We'll all meet at the other side. Remember, this is not easy. It might seem but I warn you - there is a lot of things in that forest and one of them might be germans. This is getting real, gentlemen! We are in a war; this is no fun game. Let's get going!"


Blair Waldorf "William Burns" POV

"Burns, tell me something about yourself" Nate says to me.

We have been walking through the woods for a couple of hours now, not really speaking a lot since we were both cold and drenched to the bones.

Somehow, his question scared me. I had not really thought of 'Burns' life but I knew I had to tell him something. My brain was working on a low level because of my aching body.

"Well, I... I grew up in Gateshead. My family moved to Leeds when I was about 12. I like classical music. I really do not know what else to say, Sir."

"Burns, when we are alone, please call me Nate. I feel so stupid and ignorant when I am called 'Sir'. And Leeds, you say. Are you of a family of range?" I shook my head. There was no need to feed on a lie which would only be dragging me further and further down into the mud.

We walked on for what seems like forever, Nate telling me about how he had wanted to be a doctor but his father wanted him to be in the military. He also told me a little bit about his wife Jennifer, or Jenny as she was called by friends, and his son Charles.

"Charles is a wonderful boy, even though I am sure he feels lonely. I know I did when the only one I had around was my personal maid. She is amazing, though, his maid. I mean ... She is amazing with Charles." He faked a cough and I got the feeling that maybe he thought that there was something else about Vanessa, as I remembered her name was, besides being great with his only child. "He looks up to Chuck a lot, Sergeant Bass. He is not really his uncle but we pretend. He pretty much grew up in my house anyways, so it is like he is my brother."

I felt a lot more curious, all of a sudden. I found myself wanting to know everything about Charles Bass and right in front of me stood the man who could give me every answer I wanted. All I had to do was being careful.

"Does Sergeant Bass have children of his own?" I ask nonchalantly. Nate began to chuckle and I did not know why.

"Oh no, he sure does not. Nor do I think he wants any, at least not with his fiancé."

His what? Aw! I felt like someone had kicked me hard in my chest. It hurt and burned all the way through my body and for the second time in my life I felt paralysed. "He.. He has a f-fiancé?" Nate, please tell me you were joking. Please make the burning go away.

"Yes, her name is Eva. Eva Corpeau. She is a very beautiful french woman. I do not doubt that she loves him but I do not think he loves her. He has this thing about love. He claims he does not believe in it but I might think he simply has not met the one yet." He looked sad. It was obvious he cared a lot about Sergeant Bass. As he had said earlier, there was no doubt they were brothers, only except their bloodline.

We started walking in silence again. It took everything I had to keep on walking. I was grateful it was raining so that Nate could not see the tears escaping me from time to time. Moans of pain and sobs were pressing hard on my throat but I kept beating them down.

It started to become dark. Very, very dark. I could literally not see Nate anymore, I could only hear his footsteps beside me. He lit up an oil lamp and held it out in front of us. We began to slow our pace, the stones and branches on the ground making it difficult to walk straight.

Something sounded odd on my left side. Nate, who was on my right, suddenly began yelling but I could not hear a word he was saying. The only thing my mind could focus on was the knife which was bored into my side. I could hear two or three people yelling back and forth in a foreign language but the sounds were stopped by three loud shots.

Warm hands came up to my side, making the cut hurt even more. Nate's voice sounded in my ears, but they were all ready pounding so loudly I could not hear anything he was saying. I felt him pulling at the fabric of my clothes and my last thought, before going into complete blankness, was that he definitely should not be doing that ...


TBC