Alice

When I woke one morning, I was greeting with the sweet sound of silence. It seemed like for the past several months, all I had heard was gun and canon fire. Now, there was nothing. I threw the covers off of me and slid out of the ratty bed that I had been sleeping in, and walked over towards the window.

Outside, it appeared that some of the soldiers that left for Grant's camp were returning to the Union occupied town. There were fewer than last time, but that was to be expected; they did go into battle. The smiles they wore on their faces told me that all had gone well during their stand against the Confederacy.

Since the fighting was now over for the time being, I kind of wanted to return to the Union camp in order to thank Grant for helping me out in my time of need. I was sure that the General wouldn't mind if I stopped by for a moment and exchanged a few words of thanks.

I at least wanted to do that before I left this Union occupied town and continued on my journey up North. I should have been gone a while ago, but with all of the battles taking place within the confines of this territory, I was too afraid to try and slip across the state-line due to risk of running into a battlefield.

But now, the fighting was no more, leaving an open gateway to the North. Deciding that the sooner I went to speak with Grant, the sooner I would get moving, I left my ramshackle temporary home and stepped outside. It was bitter cold for a Southern winter, but the weather was always surprising at times in the South.

I wrapped my shawl tightly around my upper body as a means to retain some warmth, and walked over to where I had tied the reigns of my horse to a post. I mounted the horse and popped the reigns, commanding the animal to move. Steering the horse towards the camp, I kept a tight grip on my shawl.

At that moment, I wished that I had more clothing to keep me warm, but I had only the clothes that I left with on my back. Because I left so suddenly from my home, and in a fit of rage, I had not grabbed a single one of my belongings.

For some reason, I had this strange feeling that anything that may have been mine, was now gone, thrown out by my distraught parents that were most likely tired of my rebellious actions. They might not even claim to know me now. But even with that possibility, I was going to hold my head up high.

That was my old life, one that I refused to go back to. Without realizing, I rode into the Union camp. A soldier that was standing guard approached me and asked kindly, "Do you need something, ma'am?" I halted the horse and responded with, "I was just wondering if I could speak to General Grant? He helped me out a while back, and I just wanted to express my thanks and gratitude to him."

The soldier nodded and pointed out into the camp. "He's in the large tent in the center of the camp. If he's not there, then he may be out patrolling the camp and seeing how things are going." I nodded and thanked the soldier for his help. Popping the reigns, I navigated my way through a maze of tents until I found the one that the soldier spoke of.

It was a massive tent, one that could have only been fit for the commander of the Union army. I dismounted the horse and found a place to tie the reigns off, then approached the tent. Cautiously, I peered inside of the tent, and sure enough, I found who I was looking for.

Grant was sitting at a field desk, examining letters and battle plans, from what I could gather. I cleared my throat, and the man turned around. He looked at me for a moment, then recognized who I was. "Oh, it's you, ma'am. I thought you would have left the area sometime ago. Why are you here, might I ask? Are you in some kind of trouble again?"

I found it strange how everyone assumed that the men of the South were gentlemen, when most of the Northerners I had met were much more chivalrous than anything the South had produced. I smiled and shook my head.

"No, I'm in no kind of trouble. I just wanted to stop by before I left and thank you for helping me a while back. It meant a lot to me." Grant smiled and told me, "It was not a problem." I would be thankful to this man for a very long time, for if it had not been for him, then I could have died out there in that field, or stumbled upon a battle and be killed.

Many things could have happened to me, but they were prevented because of this man from the Union. Grant stood up and said to me, "Here, let me give you directions to the nearest Union town across the state-line." I thanked Grant once more.

He sat down at his field desk and pointed to the chair across from him, which was where I took my seat. Grant sat there with a map of the United States on his desk, and he pointed out the quickest and safest route for me. The route he told me about, led me right into Kentucky.

He then told me, "Where you go from there, is completely up to you. It's all Union there, so you should have no worries of being captured for treason." I nodded and looked back down to the map, memorizing my future path of travel. I stayed in the tent with Grant for a little while longer, making small-talk and hearing his wartime stories. In return, I actually shared some of mine.

I told him about the hardships that I had to deal with in the South, and how it was because of me that my ex-fiancé had joined the war in an attempt to get revenge on the certain Union soldier that he had seen me with that night. I even told Grant how my emotions had got the best of me and caused me to enter into a battle, which was actually under his command.

The General was surprised to know that a woman was in attendance at the Battle Of Shiloh. At first, I believe he thought me to be making that up, but as I gave him details that only a person in attendance of the battle would know, he saw I was telling him the truth.

Grant said to me, "You must have really cared about that soldier if you followed him into battle." I felt a slight blush cross my face. "Yeah, I guess you could say that, sir. I don't know where he's at now, or even if he's still alive. So many battles have taken place since that last time I saw him."

Grant grinned slightly and told me, "War is a very temperamental thing. It seems that people never know what's happened until it's all over with. They don't realize what's still there and what's been taken away." I related Grant's words to some of the things that had happened to me in my life.

As the General had just said, some people don't realize what's happened until it's all over with. Such a thing happened to me when Klaus caught me with Shun that night. I didn't realize the full repercussions of my actions until Klaus confronted me and made them known.

I found myself glancing out of the tent flaps and saw that it was starting to grow dark. "I really should start going. It's a long journey ahead of me," I told the General. He nodded to me in understanding and wished me safe travels.

I thanked him once more for all of the help he had offered to me, a complete stranger from the Confederacy that was on the run for treason. I stepped out from the tent and returned to where I had left my horse. I was just about to mount the steed when something caught my eye. Across from me and standing by a tent, was Shun.

Shun

It felt strange with Joe gone. In a way, the feeling that he had died lingered in the air, but I knew better. Joe was fine. He had recovered to the fullest extent and was sent back home up North. Dan and I even received a letter from Joe a few days ago.

Enclosed was a picture of him and Chan on their wedding day. Joe was still on crutches, and would most likely be on them for the rest of his life. But even with that little fact, Joe's smile had been true in that picture. He was happy to be back with the person that he loved.

There had also been a letter on the back of the picture that was written from Chan. In the letter, she was thanking Dan and I for keeping an eye out for Joe and making sure that he returned to her safely. Her words were filled with a gratitude that was endless.

Knowing that Dan and I had done a good thing for looking out for this soldier, that at the beginning of the war was a trembling mess, filled us both with pride. It was the best deed that we could have ever possibly done, and it proved that there could be happy endings, even during a war. At the moment, Dan and I were standing outside of a tent, braving the nipping cold air of winter.

He then sat down on the ground and said, "I still haven't gotten used to the fact that Joe really isn't here at the camp anymore." I leaned against a tree that was a few feet away from the tent and told him, "Yeah. It's going to take some getting used to."

Words stopped being exchanged between us as we sat there and let the wintry silence fill the air once more. My eyes then caught sight of a flash of bright orange. A wave of surprise hit me when I saw that it was Alice. She was walking out of Grant's tent and towards a horse.

She was just about to climb onto the animal, when her eyes locked onto me from across the commons area. I blinked a couple of times, wondering if I really was seeing her or if my mind was playing tricks on me. But the idea that I may have been going crazy was put to a rest when Dan said, "Hey, isn't that your girl?"

So, she is here, I thought to myself. Alice stepped away from the horse a bit and said, "Shun?" Before her words could really sink in, she ran up to me and wrapped her arms tightly around me in a hug. It all finally occurred to me what was happening, and I returned the embrace. Dan jumped up and stood beside us.

"Hey, what about me? I don't get a hug?" he asked in an appalled tone. Alice and I broke our embrace, and she looked over to Dan, then giggled. "I'm sorry, Dan," she told him with a smile then gave him a friendly hug. The brunette smiled and said, "There. That's more like it."

I rolled my eyes then turned my attention back to Alice. "What are you doing here?" I asked. Normally, I would have been telling Alice that this place wasn't safe and that she had to leave, but I was so happy to see her after such a long time, that the thought of danger was nowhere in my thoughts.

With my question asked, Alice's smile vanished somewhat. She told me, "I….I ran from home…You see, I was feed up with it all and ended up saying that…..My allegiance was with the Union and not the South. So, I ran because I was afraid that I would be arrested for treason. That's why I'm here."

She paused for a moment then continued. "I was trying to get to the Union, but ended up getting kind of lost and stumbled into this camp a couple of months go. I was tired, hungry, and weak, but Grant helped me out. He got me some medical attention and everything. But it was later on that night when I woke up and there was a nighttime assault on the camp. Grant ran to me and told me that I had to get away from this place, and he told me of a Union occupied town a few miles up. That's where I've been up till now."

I couldn't believe that fate had found a way to bring Alice and I together once again. If only they were under different circumstances, I thought to myself. She was on the run, a criminal in the South's eyes. I asked her, "Where are you going now?" She adjusted the shawl that was wrapped around her.

"I'm going to follow the directions Grant gave me and flee to Kentucky to get out of the South for good." I didn't like seeing Alice given so few options, but perhaps that it was for the best that she stuck with the only choice she had; it was much better than being arrested for treason.

I took her petite hand in mine and said to her, "I'm sorry for all the bad luck that has befallen you." She smiled and told me, "It's alright. All of it will come to an end eventually." Dan, who I forgot was standing next to us, spoke and reminded us of his presence.

"Well, I think I'm going to let you two catch up. See ya around." He then walked off somewhere else in the camp. I turned back to face Alice and said to her, "How about we go back to that town you were staying at? That way we can catch up and spend some time together before you leave for Kentucky. How about it?"

I couldn't tell if there was a slight blush on her face, or if the cold air was starting to get to her. "Alright," she replied. I told her to wait for me at the edge of the camp while I went to borrow one of the Calvary horses. She nodded and mounted her own horse and rode off through the tents.

It didn't take me more than a few minutes to catch up with her, and the two of us rode to the Union occupied town side by side. As we went along our way, I asked her, "What other things have happened?" She pondered my question for a moment and said, "Well, since I last saw you at Shiloh, a lot of things. My Grandfather met an untimely end."

I could see the hurt in her eyes, and I offered her my most sincerest condolences. She smiled at me and said, "Thank you. Let's see what else has happened. I ended up getting arrested for trespassing, but thankfully nobody found out what I was really doing."

I asked her what had been her real motives when she was arrested. She told me, "I was helping a friend free slaves from his parent's plantation. I know, it was a foolish move, but I needed to get my mind off of my Grandfather's death. A bit after that, my friend was actually arrested as well and was about to be hung, but I freed him from jail before his execution. He ended up running away, and I don't know where he is now."

I was surprised how upside down everything had gotten for Alice. When we first met, I thought the extent of her problems was dealing with a man she didn't want to marry, and being caught with me by him. But I was wrong about that.

Things had only continued to get worse for her since the war and meeting me. I wondered if any of those things would have happened to her if she had never met me. Suddenly, I felt like I was the cause of all of her misfortune, that I was some kind of plague that was causing her life to crumble.

If she had never met me and gone to that party, then Klaus would have never seen us together and gone off the deep end, she would have never run off all those times, and she wouldn't have followed me to Shiloh and gotten herself into a battle.

Alice must have picked up on my distress, for she asked me, "Is something wrong?" I sighed and looked up at the darkening sky. "I was just thinking that perhaps your life would have been better off if you had never met me, that maybe all of those bad things wouldn't have happened," I told her honestly.

Alice looked at me with sad and surprised eyes, but they suddenly lit up, and a smile graced her features. "Shun, I don't blame you for anything that's happened to me. If anything, I should thank you." I was caught off guard by her last statement. "Thank me? But I basically uprooted your life," I told her.

She giggled and told me, "Shun, if it hadn't been for you, then I would have probably married Klaus and been miserable. I would have never done all of the reckless things I have, but I also wouldn't have had any fun. Things would be bored and awful if I hadn't met you."

My doubts that I had, were suddenly obliterated by her words. I found myself smiling. "Thank you," she said. I realized that we had finally arrived at the Union occupied town. She told me, "I can show you the place where I was staying. It's been abandoned for sometime, so nobody cared if I was there."

I followed her until we reached an old slave home. There were several like it in a large cluster, making it look like its own small town. Alice then dismounted the horse and tied its reigns to a post. She told me, "I guess one more night here won't kill me. Besides, it's way too late to go and do any traveling now."

I climbed off of my own horse and tied its reigns next to Alice's horse. She leaned against the decaying wood wall of the shack and looked up at the sky that was starting to come alive with stars. I joined her side and looked up with her. It was so nice to see her again, to be with her again.

It provided me a release from the stress of the war and all of the death and pain. It reminded me that there still was happiness in a world of war. I asked her, "So, do you know where exactly you're going to go once you reach Kentucky?"

Alice shook her head and told me, "No. I might stay there for a bit, but it's still a slave state, so I don't want that much to do with it. I might continue to go up North, or wander around for a bit." We both stood there in silence for a moment, the only sounds coming from soldiers talking nearby or the nocturnal insects of the South.

I then told her, "I don't know if we'll see each other again for a while, but I promise you this. Once this war is over, I'll find you. That way, we don't have to keep meeting under these circumstances. We could finally be together."

She smiled up at the stars, then turned her smile to me. Pushing her back off against the wall of the shack, she intertwined her fingers with me and said, "I believe you, Shun. But since our next meeting's time is unknown, I ask of one thing."

I looked at her and said, "Yes?" She laid her head on my chest and told me, "One night. That's all I ask. I want to be reminded that everything will be, or is, alright in the world. That good things can still come out of the bad." I smiled a bit and wrapped my arms around her. "Of course," I told her, bringing face up to meet mine so I could place a kiss on her lips.

i leave that on a little moment. i think it was a good thing that i paused this story to write my zombie fic, cause it gave me plenty of time to take a break and get some new ideas flowing. check out my poll if you have not. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~