The next chunk of this story is really long so I'm splitting it into parts and fam we updating every Wednesday in September I'm 2 for 2 so far! Shout outs to Nameless, RunawayGirl8125, epiccupcake28, Virtue01, and mnbvcxz-xx for reviewing BUT TELL ME YOUR FAVORITE SELECTED SO I KNOW WHO TO WRITE MORE IN UPCOMING CHAPTERS!

…

(PART ONE)

…

Wesley's first official date with one of the Elite was one already scheduled. He had invited Vera to the military gala tonight and he was actually looking forward to it. He barely knew her but despite that, he found he liked her. He liked that she never wore her high heels but always carried them around. He liked that she didn't quite fit into the palace with all its finery and always looked a little messy. He liked the sass that rolled off her tongue when she wasn't hiding behind the tough soldier exterior. He especially liked how she smiled when she was trying not to show it, which was something she did a lot. It was a tiny sort of smile and she kept her lips pressed together, which brought out dimples in her cheeks and wrinkled the creases around her right eye only. Wesley thought about that smile a lot even though he had only seen her do it a few times.

Elvira was doing that thing where she insisted on coming along and crashing his dates into the city whenever she had a couple of hours to spare (also she was going to the gala to make a speech, so it was only natural). They may be out of the military, but she still insisted on acting like his superior officer in all thing's safety related and it was a role she took very seriously.

He was catching up with Elvira and teasing her about her escapades on Tinder out front of the palace as they waited for Vera to meet them at the car. She was already ten minutes late, but Wesley didn't mind. He knew from the first time he met her that no one could make Vera Montgomery fit into the palace lifestyle if she didn't want to. The date was going to be in full style, with a car and press coverage when they arrived downtown at the hotel where the gala was being held.

Vera was actually wearing her heels when she came outside, talking casually to Nick, the bodyguard who had been assigned to her for tonight. Elvira insisted on being Wesley's, but she assured him that Nick was the second-best option for Vera. The heels were on, but she still was holding up the skirt of her gown in the same bunched up way she always did, concentrating hard on taking the steps down.

"Do you need help?" Wesley heard Nick ask her, but Vera just laughed at him, not taking her eyes off her precarious perch. Nick looked at Elvira and shrugged and Elvira nudged Wesley none too gently and jerked her head in Vera's direction.

Wesley took a second to comprehend but jogged up the steps to Vera.

"Hi!" he greeted. Vera looked up for just a fraction of a second and smiled briefly before getting to task at hand…or foot? Wesley held out his arm. "You know you don't have to wear those."

"I can do it on my own," Vera said, switching her clutch to the other hand. "And I wanted to. I'm getting better, I promise. It's just stairs that get me."

Her dress had a slit down the front at her knees that looked a bit easier to walk in than some of the others that the girls wore. It was shiny and it was kind of a bronze color depending on the light. It might have been olive green; it might have been gold. It was definitely something he never thought Vera would wear, but it looked fantastic. Her blonde hair was slicked back away from her face and fell in curls around her shoulders. She kept starting to brush it out of her eyes but would stop before she touched it. Her heels were strapped up her ankle and she wore an assortment of thin silver rings on her both hands. She had black nail polish on and lots of dark makeup around her eyes, and with that and the metallic dress, Wesley thought she looked a little somehow like a soldier. A soldier in a ball gown.

She made it into the car without falling and Elvira got in the front with the driver, with Nick going in the other car that would escort them with the other guards. Vera stayed focused on the window as they rolled away from the palace, her fingers fiddling with her rings. Wesley stole a glance at her, he couldn't help it. She had way more in the way of muscles than the other girls, even Veyra or Eleanor from ballet, and they looked a little out of place in her gown. Her dress only had thin straps over her shoulders and Wesley could see one of the knotted scars near her shoulder blade that he had caught glimpses of before.

Vera turned her head and caught him looking at her. "What?"

Wesley looked down. "Nothing. Sorry." He laughed, embarrassed that she had caught him.

"It's the dress isn't it? I knew it was way too much."

"No, it looks good," Wesley reassured her. "You look great."

Vera let out a long breath and leaned back in her seat.

"You good?" Wesley asked.

Vera nodded. "Yeah. Just nerves."

"It's no big deal," Wesley said. "You just smile at the cameras, and pretend you know what you're doing."

Vera bit her bottom lip, her eyes wide. She might have looked scared if it wasn't for all her eye makeup. "You didn't tell me there was going to be cameras," she shook her head as she spoke. "I thought it was just going to be people."

"That too," Wesley said. He leaned back too. "And they're all going to want to know what we went through," he said quietly. If he was honest, he wasn't looking forward to it at all the closer they got. It was easy to think of it as just a fun date until they got there. The gala was supposed to honor the soldiers from Angeles and the families of those who hadn't made it back. He had been wrangled into going by his mom, but he had drawn the line at making a speech. Let the people who actually saved people and did things make those.

"And everyone who didn't fight won't shut up about how thankful they are for our service," Vera predicted, sighing. "I hate that the most."

"Most people just thank me for being born," Wesley said, and Vera did her little half-smile.

They had left behind the winding roads that lead away from the palace and down into the city now, and because it was evening, traffic was stopped, even for them. They could have traveled with a police escort or in one of the limos that his mom preferred but Wesley usually found that that attracted way too much attention. It was better to be incognito until they got there.

They were in the heart of downtown when Elvira pushed back the divider between them.

"Your Highness," she said, like he hadn't served under her for four years, "the guards who already at the venue have received reports of a bomb threat at the gala tonight, and it's in talks about being canceled. We're trying to get in contact with the king to hear his decision about your presence."

The shoulder comm she wore on her shoulder garbled unintelligently and Elvira turned back to speak quietly into it.

"Well that sucks," Wesley said, slumping back. "Sorry Vera. We might have to figure out something else to do."

Vera looked at him, more scared than nervous now even though with her Viking eyeliner she would always look like a badass. "Are we safe? You told me we would be safe."

"I'm sure its fine," Wesley got out a water bottle from the convenient mini fridge, trying to ignore his rising anxiety. "We can go back now, or we can wait to see what Andrew says. It'll be fine."

Elvira was on the phone now and directing the driver to merge into the next lane. "We're about two blocks away, so make your decision," she said to them.

Vera crossed her arms. "I guess we'll wait and see. But I have a bad feeling about this."

The car behind them laid on its horn, joining in the other honking cars. Traffic was pretty much stopped, even though the stoplight up ahead was green. The intersection was blocked by cars going the other way, stopped at a red light. He could see people outside on the sidewalks, some were in a hurry and some were just strolling. There was a café up ahead on the corner with people sitting outside eating ice cream and drinking coffee. A lot looked like they were on dates a lot less awkward than his and Vera's. Another horn honked, this time ahead of them.

Wesley rolled down his window, wishing he could smoke. He hated traffic. He hated sitting and waiting for news. This was too familiar, waiting for Elvira to tell him what they were doing. Last time this had happened he had been waiting in a hanger with Drake in the middle of snow-covered nowhere and Drake had been dead not twenty-four hours later. Wesley stuck his hand out the window. Clouds and haze had covered the sun all day and the heat wave had finally dissipated, and the first cool temperatures of Angeles fall were here today. Another car honked behind as the car squeezed its way into the next lane behind the guard's car ahead of them.

Wesley unscrewed the cap on the water bottle and took a drink, but the water was sloshed all over him as the car slammed on its breaks. His seatbelt cut into his chest and he bumped his nose on the seat in front of him. Vera toppled against him and her knocked into his ear which hurt even more.

He cursed, sitting up and pulling on the seatbelt to give it some slack. "Did someone hit us?"

No one answered him. Elvira was yelling at the driver and into her comm unit at the same time, Vera was yelling at her as she pulled herself upright.

The front windshield was shattered, the glass still holding in the frame, but so broken Wesley couldn't see through it.

There were people running on the sidewalks Cars were honking like crazy—or was it car alarms? Wait. They weren't supposed to be running. They were supposed to be enjoying a Saturday night downtown. The people in the cars around them weren't supposed to be getting out of their cars and running either.

Shit.

The bomb threats. Two blocks away. The traffic stopped. The boom that sent his water all over him. The bomb threats. Vera yelling at Elvira for a weapon. Elvira yelling at the driver to get them out of there. The cars honking. The bomb threats. Nick getting out of the guard's car in front of them and running back to the car.

"Shit." Wesley mumbled. Vera was kind of shrieking in his ear and he clapped his hands over his ears, but that was worse because he couldn't hear what was going on. "Shit shit shit shit we're gonna die."

Nick and two other guards were opening the passenger doors, and Elvira was turning around in her seat and she was getting her handgun out of the holster she was wearing under her blazer.

"Wesley, you have to get yourself together right now. We can't drive anywhere in this."

She kept talking but Wesley didn't hear her. He was checking his pocket for his lighter and trying to get his seatbelt undone and he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't. Elvira and the driver were getting out of the car and Vera was still yelling at Elvira to get her a weapon and he couldn't get his seatbelt open and Nick was dragging Vera out the other door and something hot and wet hit his cheek and his ears were ringing and the driver fell back into his seat and there was blood all over the steering wheel and Elvira was running around to his side of the car and firing her gun shit and people were running on the sidewalks and getting out of their own cars and running in the other directions and he couldn't get his seatbelt open.

In a brief second, everything seemed to stop. A shaft of golden sunlight broke through the clouds and haze and slanted horizontally through the city. All Wesley could think about was how Lissa looked the other night on the balcony with the same sunset in her eyes and the wind in her hair, telling him that maybe they could have made it if things had been different and he didn't want the last memory he ever had of her to be her telling him to leave her alone.

Elvira was wrenching open his door, shouting at him. She leaned over him and unbuckled his seatbelt.
"Lieutenant Shreave," she barked. "You have to come with me. That's an order."

And then he was out of the car and Elvira, Nick, and two other guards all had their guns out, and Vera wouldn't shut up about getting one too. Wesley and Vera must look pretty ridiculous all dressed up, him in his tux and her in her evening gown. Everyone else was gone by then, but he could hear sirens faintly, as well as people screaming and car horns going off. There was dark smoke in the patches between the buildings and the air was acrid and little bits of ash rained down. Great tongues of fire leapt up from where he assumed the hotel had been, now just several hulking steel beams that were creaking violently.

"What's going on?" Wesley asked as they ducked behind the car. His voice sounded like all the air was being squeezed out of his windpipe. His heart was there too, racing in his throat and his ears were ringing and there was blood all over his face from the driver's head and his hands just wouldn't stop shaking. You weren't in the hotel, he told himself. You're still alive.

"That bomb threat wasn't a joke at all," Elvira said. "It went off right up there, close to the hotel. There are people shooting, I'm assuming you are the target. Traffic's stopped; we have to get you to cover." She pointed to another building, the one with the café at the bottom. "We're meeting another car over there. We have to move."

"Captain, I'm a soldier," Vera said. "I need a weapon. Please. I don't want to die here."

"Just do absolutely what I say when I say it and we'll be fine, okay?" Elvira said something into her comms unit, and then stood. "Let's go." Wesley stood up right behind her.

A loud gunshot echoed off the buildings around them and Vera screamed. Elvira dropped her gun and it clattered loudly to the concrete. She didn't make any noise, just a sharp intake of breath so quiet Wesley barely heard it and he was right behind her. She slumped back into Wesley, her hand going to her side.

"Oh my god," Wesley said, catching her before she fell to the concrete, "shit shit shit shit shit."

He locked eyes with Nick, trying to tell him what just happened when he hardly knew it himself. "Help her," he said desperately. "Please."

"No," Elvira groaned. "I'm okay."

There was blood all over her blazer and Wesley could feel it hot and wet on his stomach, but he knew it was hers. She was limp like a deadweight in his arms.

"Nick, you have the command," she said. Then her eyes rolled back into her head and her head lolled against Wesley's shoulder and Nick jumped into to help hold her up.

"Is she dead?" Wesley asked. She couldn't die here. She had survived almost everything he had. She couldn't be dead.

"Hey!" Vera cried, pointing. Wesley could see two black-clad figures holding massive guns down the street. They were running, the same direction everyone had been earlier. Except they weren't running away. They were coming right for them.

He was going to die. For a second he was in the snow, so cold he couldn't feel his fingers or toes or his face and there was blood in the snow and it wasn't Elvira's it was Drakes and the plane was on fire and he didn't know where he was and the rebels were coming out of the smoke—

And then Vera half-leapt, half tripped over her heels and grabbed Elvira's fallen gun and in one movement straightened up and cocked it to put a round in the chamber and fired it twice and the two men fell down. The street was silent again.

Wesley couldn't hear anything except the retorts of the gunshots still screaming in his ears. Vera stood up, one of her heels completely broken off from the shoe and the slit in her dress ripped from her knees to almost the waist. Of course, she wore athletic shorts underneath. He wouldn't have expected anything else. He watched her curse loudly at her heels and yank the buckles open and kick them off her feet as hard as she could.

The blood was rushing in his ears, and it was getting louder. His vision started to swim in front of him. He swayed a little, nearly losing his balance because he was still holding Elvira. Shit. Shit, dude, that really just happened, and he was still alive-

"Wesley!" Vera barked, her hand on his shoulder, holding him up. He blinked. "Are you okay?"

He could hear again. "Yeah," He nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay."

"Get back in the car," Nick said. "You first, Your Highness." He turned to the other two guards; their guns still trained on where the two men were. "Get the reinforcements from the palace, we're going to need their help. Come back here with reinforcements. Keep communication, tell them Captain Entrinken is down. I'm the commanding officer."

"Is she dead?"

"She's breathing," Nick said. "Change of plans. We're staying here."

Wesley climbed in backwards, still holding Elvira under the arms. The other two guards ran off and with Nick and Vera's help, he dragged Elvira on to the seat. Her usually pale skin was almost white and already her eyes seemed sunken into her face. Good thing she was wearing her usual black, it made all the blood not so obvious. He could see it all over his own white shirt when he looked down and pulling the tuxedo jacket closer didn't help. There was so much blood. How could she still be alive? He picked up her hand, her hand was cold.

She couldn't die. She just couldn't. Somewhere in between another sister or an aunt or a good friend, she was also his captain. He had served under her for five years and she always always always looked out for him. She could be a major hardass, but he knew it had been for his own good. They had nearly died together so many times, but she had made it through. She couldn't have done all that just to die on the leather seat of his own car because of his stupid date. Wesley thought of all the times he had spent with her and Drake, where the lines between them blurred and they were no longer captain, prince, and soldier but just his very best friends. Drake was dead. Elvira couldn't be next. She just couldn't.

"You're gonna be fine," he whispered, squeezing her limp hand and putting it down carefully on the seat. If she wasn't fine, he wouldn't be either. "I promise."

He left out the other door and dashed around the car. He just hoped he could keep that promise.

"What do we do now?"

"Are you stupid? You're going to get shot!" Vera yelled, pulling him down by the sleeve to hunker next to the car.

"Get down," Nick said, crouching over Elvira. Wesley had some light medical training, but he was pretty sure that he would be useless in Elvira's case. Nick gingerly pried Elvira's blazer off the side where she had been shot. Her black blouse was already ripped from the bullet, and there was so much blood Wesley had to look away. Nick cursed and wadded up her blazer. "We'll have to keep pressure on it. That's all we can really do here. She needs a hospital."

"Is she going to die?" Wesley's voice sounded very small.

Nick motioned to Vera and they switched places, so Vera was pressing the blazer on Elvira's still form.

"I don't know." Nick said, moving towards the bloody and dead form of the driver. He reached up and unbuckled the driver's gun on his leg and hit the lock button before closing the door then crawled back to where Vera and Wesley were, behind the open passenger door next to the curb. He gave it to Wesley.

"You know how to use this?"

Wesley nodded. He did, when his brain actually worked.

"You two need to get in the car and stay down," Nick said. "Behind the front seats. You'll be safer there. Keep pressure on her wound. I don't know what else to tell you."

"What about you?" Vera asked as they climbed into the car. She had given up trying not to touch her hair and it was a mess around her face, sticking to her forehead and the side of her face where she had a smear of blood from who knew what.

"I sent the other two guards off to meet the car coming from the palace. Elvira called them when the bomb went off, they should be here soon, but we were supposed to meet them there," Nick said. "I've got to go after them. If they don't make it, you're stuck here."

"This does not sound like a good idea at all. Why can't we go with you?" Wesley said.

"You're both soldiers. I'm supposed to keep you safe and you'll be safer here than going with me." He made eye contact with Vera. "Lady Vera, keep the prince safe." He looked to Wesley. "Your Highness, you have the command," he said with a nod. Then he closed the door, and the locks engaged.

"Wait!" Wesley called, but Nick was already running away. The street was silent.

All there was left to do was wait.