Alice

Everything around me was blurred, but I could just make out the images of people running around me, along with the ear-splitting shots of gunfire. My eyes scanned my foggy surroundings, and I soon realized that I was back on a battlefield. Except, I knew this was a dream because bullets shot straight through me, as if I was nothing but air.

All I was, was only an observer to the carnage of the battle. This wasn't me reliving the Battle Of Shiloh, which I had done several times before in my dreams. No, this was a different battle entirely. Perhaps one that hadn't even taken place yet.

I watched as the bodies of soldiers were flung back, spurts of blood shooting out of their backs and other extremities. It was just as bloody as I remembered my battle to be, but somehow it felt worse. Maybe I still wasn't used to watching these kind of atrocities and horrors.

But what other choice did I have? It wasn't like I was able to wake myself up from this nightmare and recompose myself till I was sure that it was all created by my mind. I would have to grin and bare it until my mind woke me up. I walked around the battlefield, still flinching whenever a sword or bullet came towards me, despite the fact that nothing could hurt me.

But just because I was a ghost in this world, didn't mean that my body wasn't going to react as it should when danger came my way. As I looked around at the corpses of dead soldiers, I felt tears swell up in my eyes. None of these people deserved to die in this way.

It just wasn't right. None of it was. My gaze was then taken from the bodies, to two familiar figures fighting in front of me. It was Shun and Klaus, locked in combat like that had been back at Shiloh. But this time, there was nothing I could do to intervene in their fight.

All I could do, was sit by and watch, and hope that I witnessed nothing back happened between the two. Neither one of them seemed to have a gun or pistol on their person, which led me to believe that they had disarmed each other.

I didn't realize that my heart was racing from watching the action unfold before my eyes, and I began to wonder if my sleeping self was reacting the same way that I was in this dream. Shun landed a punch on Klaus' stomach, making the blue-haired man bend over as he tried to regain his breath.

I was hoping for Shun to win, but I didn't want to watch Klaus be killed either. I had witnessed enough death already, and I didn't want to see it happen to anyone else. Although, it was kind of ironic because soldiers all around me were dropping dead.

But all I could focus on, was who the winner of this fight would be. Klaus ran off, and Shun began to pursue him. For a moment, I lost sight of them among the crowded battlefield. But just like curtains in a theater pulling back to reveal that next act in a show, I spotted them once more and ran towards the new location of the action.

Apparently in that moment of temporary blindness, Klaus had gotten his hands on a Calvary sword. He was swinging the blade at Shun, keeping the raven-haired individual at bay. Keep your distance, Shun, I thought to myself as Shun kept trying to get within striking distance of Klaus.

Each time the blade was swung, and it just barely missed Shun's person, I found myself holding my breath. Watching this was getting intense, and I didn't think I could keep on looking. But I did. I couldn't bring myself to tear my eyes from the events taking place in front of me due to fear that I would miss something and see one of the two guys laying on the ground dead.

Shun dodged another swing, but stumbled back and fell onto the ground. He didn't get the chance to return back to his feet before Klaus had the tip of the saber pointed at his throat. Shun's eyes widened with fear as the end of the blade got closer to his skin.

Unable to stand-by and watch this any longer, I found myself running towards the two of them, knowing good and well that there was nothing I could do. But I wanted to at least try. I stepped in between Klaus and Shun the moment that my enraged ex-fiance pulled the saber back to slice it into Shun's throat.

When he forced the sword forward, it went through my body with ease, not hurting me in the slightest bit, but the blade kept going and pierced Shun in the chest. I glanced back and gasped at the sight. Shun was staring right through me and straight at Klaus.

His jaw was tightened into a grimace of pain as the cold metal remained jammed in his chest. Klaus only wore an evil grin and stared down at Shun in triumphant victory. My eyes were still glued on Shun. Klaus pulled the sword out, and it passed through my ghost-like body, where he then wiped the blood off with a hankerchief.

Blood oozed out of the wound in Shun's chest, and I watched as the color began to rapidly drain from his face. My legs wobbled beneath me, but I didn't allow myself to drop down to my knees. Klaus was walking away from the scene to rejoin the rest of the battle.

Normally, I would have chased after him and tried to do something to get back at him for what he had done to Shun. But this was a dream, and there was nothing I could do but stand there and watch. Shun's eyes were starting to close, and I heard the last of his breath leave his lungs.

My body then lurched forward in my bed, sobs and screams escaped my mouth at the same time and creating a gasping sound. I brought my knees up to my chest and cried into them. My grandfather must have heard my cries, because he came running into my room, looking panicked and worried.

"Alice?! What's wrong?" he asked quickly and ran over to my bedside. I forced my sobs to cease, and wiped tears out of my eyes. "I'm fine, Grandfather. Just a bad dream," I told him honestly. A really bad dream. He wrapped his arms around me in a comforting hug and told me that it would be fine.

I believed him, but it all looked so real. Almost like it had happened and I was doing nothing more than reliving it. But at that moment, I was more thankful that my parents were out of town that night. I didn't want them trying to comfort me, which was something they weren't good at.

My grandfather asked if I was about to go back to sleep. I nodded my head and told him I was, and apologized for waking him at such a late hour. "It's nothing, Alice. Now, go back to sleep," he said gently. He patted my shoulder and walked out of my room, closing the door behind him and leaving me in the dark once more.

Slowly, I laid back down and took in deep breaths in order to slow down my still-speeding heart rate. My eyes closed as I felt sleep trying to take me under its hold once more. I wanted to numbing feeling of unconsciousness, but I feared that the dream would return to me the moment I slipped into a slumber.

But eventually, the need to sleep won against my fear, and I was out cold in a matter of moments. And once I was in my state of unconsciousness, my dreams resumed right where I left off; me staring at Shun's dead body.

Shun

Something caused me to jolt awake. I sat up in my cot, and looked around, thinking that it may have been somebody making noise in the tent that had made me wake up. But all of my bunk mates were sound asleep, and the only noise they were making was the occasionaly snore.

Wide awake now, I threw the covers off of my body and stepped out of the tent. The ground, cooled down by the night, felt good on my bare feet as I made the transition from the worn down dirt to the cool grass that rested nearby.

I wondered why I had suddenly woke from my sleep, and couldn't think of any reasons other than my mind didn't want me to rest. A full moon sat in the sky, lighting up the camp below. Staring up at the moon, I couldn't help but be curious as to whether or not I was the only one looking up at the moon.

In other words, I wanted to know if Alice was staring at it as well. The perfectly round, silver sphere in the sky was the most beautiful moon I had seen in my lifetime, and I didn't want to be the only one experiencing it. But I was sure that I was. Everyone else on this side of the world, was sound asleep; except for late night drunks and such, but they would be too wasted to marvel such a lovely site.

"What are you doing out of your tent," a voice asked me from my right. I turned and saw Jones standing there. He was swaying a little bit on his feet, and I couldn't tell if he was drunk, or just tired and not fully awake yet. Perhaps a mixture of the two.

"Does it matter why I'm out here?" I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral as to not send Jones into a rant and cause a commotion. There had already been two confrontations between Jones and I, and I doubted a third would go over well with General Grant.

Jones lumbered up to me and said, "Other than the fact that you shouldn't be out of your tent." Yeah, he was drunk. It was as clear on his breath as black was on white. "You're out of your tent too. What makes you so special that you get to leave it?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from getting an annoyed tone behind it.

Jones then lifted his hand and lightly shoved my shoulder. There wasn't even enough force to cause me to stumble back. "Listen," I stated. "I don't want any trouble, and in the condition you're in now, I doubt you even know what's going on. So, I'm just going to go back to my tent and leave you to do whatever it is you do."

I was about to turn around, when I felt a hand slap me across my face. The force of the slap had turned my head to the side, and I felt the little stings of where Jones' hand made contact with my cheek. Slowly, I turned my head back around and faced him, and used every fiber of strength I had to remain calm.

"That was very mature," I said as calmly as I could. Jones then narrowed his eyes at me and spit on my shirt, then gave a drunken grin. It was taking everything I had to keep from exploding, and I thought for a moment that I was about to fail at holding myself back.

And at the rate that this drunken idiot was pushing me, I was bound to snap soon. I didn't even say anything, and began to walk away. But the moment I turned my back, I heard Jones mutter under his breath, "Pathetic. Won't even fight a drunken man."

My jaw clenched and a growl escaped from my throat. He was pushing it. "Doesn't hardly seem fair if I fought you while you're drunk, now does it?" I asked without turning around. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jones shrug.

He then said, "Oh well. Hey, if you see your little girl again, ask her if she ever wants to be around a real man. If she does, then just tell her to give me a call." I didn't have to see his face to know that her wore a smug grin on it. His comment about Alice was what sent me over the edge. In one fluent motion, I turned around and landed a punch on his face.

Dan

The loud sound of pots and pans being knocked over woke up the soldiers that I bunked with. We all were sitting up, looking at one another in confusion. Odds were, a raccoon or some other small, nocturnal animal had snuck into the camp and knocked over the cookwear that was set up at a nearby tent.

But only when I heard the shouting of two people, did I realize it wasn't an animal causing a commotion. Curious as to see what was going on, my bunk mates and I ran out of the tent and looked around. Several other soldiers had come out of their tents, looking just as confused as we were.

Something further down the row of tents caught my eye, and I saw that a fight had broken out. When I narrowed my eyes in order to see who it was, I saw the distinct outline of Shun, and the person who he was fighting could have only been Jones.

Soldiers were already gathering around the fight and trying to egg it on. Quickly, I began to force my way to the front of the crowd, mainly in hopes that I could break it up before those two got in trouble with Grant. Shun was about to charge at Jones again, but I grabbed onto his arm and held him back.

Shun shot a glare at me that would have normally scared me into letting him go, but I wasn't going to allow him to strike fear into me this time. Jones' group then appeared and held back their friend as well. Now that I was closer, I could see the bloodied and beaten face of Jones.

And if his nose wasn't broken or fractured, then I needed to get my eyes checked. Shun's lip was busted open, and a fine line of blood trickled down from it and onto his chin. The two had glares locked on each other, and I knew if either side let them go, then the fight would just resume.

I whispered to Shun, "Calm down and walk away. He isn't worth it." Shun seemed to relax a bit, but Jones began to provoke him again. "What's the matter? Running off?" the brute said, knowing good and well what he was doing. Shun growled, and I had to tighten my grip on his arm to keep him away from Jones.

Will you shut up, Jones! Joe then made his way through the gathering crowd and helped me hold Shun back. During that time, Jones' group was pulling their drunk, beaten friend back. Joe and I were doing the same thing, and we ended up escorting the two of them to opposite ends of the camp.

The crowd of watching soldiers dispersed when they saw the fight was over. I narrowed my eyes at Shun and asked sharply, "What do you think you're doing?" Joe had handed over a hankerchief for Shun to use on his lip to stop the bleeding.

The white cloth was now splotched with red. "He deserved what he got," Shun said flatly. I shook my head and told him, "As true as that might be, if Grant caught you two in another fight, then he might have thrown both of you out of the army."

It wasn't a very honorable thing to be kicked out of the army. It could mean cold and disproving looks from people back home. Shun continued to hold the hankerchief to his lip when he said, "And I care because? If you remember, I didn't exactly join this for honor or whatever.

In fact, I didn't join at all." I ran a hand through my hair and blurted out, "You are unbelievable at times, you know that, Shun?" My friend only nodded, acting almost proud of this little bit of truth. I rolled my eyes and told him, "Alright. Do whatever you want to. Next time you and Jones get into a fight, don't expect Joe or I to break it up. I'm just going to let it keep going."

Shun had his eyes closed when he said, "Fine by me. That idiot deserves a lot more than what he got tonight." I shook my head and walked away, tired and not wanting to deal with anymore drama that night.

sorry for being tardy to the party. o.o'' i got sidetracked and started late on this chapter, then my aunt and grandma showed up, then it was time to eat. but i think i ended this up in decent time. so now, virtual birthday cake for all of my loyal readers! i would especially like to thank Jazzmonkey for the awesome story she wrote using the characters from The Fallen Love Trilogy. It was an AWESOME birthday present XD thanks ever so much! read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~