Chapter 1

It was like a futuristic world. Everything was dark and overcast. Smoke from the still burning buildings blackened the crying sky. Rubble from the fallen ones lay everywhere the eye could see. Any animal around was either injured or suffering on their backs, begging for life to be taken from them.
Two people drove down the dead street. Silence overtook them as the horrible site took affect. There was no such thing as life anymore...just pain, and war. The once beautiful, green and yellow earth was gone... The days of darkness overtook any light left.

"I can't believe it happened. Look at this town...no sign of life anywhere. Everything's...everyone's..."

Crack!

The car stopped and the two in it jumped out. The one speaking before spoke again, "What hit our windshield?" The person looked at the windshield, cringing. "It left its head..."
Obviously not the head itself, but a bloody outline of it. They walked around in back of the vehicle, and saw it was a lame animal; a raccoon, or a cat. The body of it was mangled beyond perception, and it was sadly still alive.
The speaker looked up and saw the gray branches to a dying tree. "It must have fallen onto our car."

"Pick it up, and bring it with us. They'll fix it up there, Lynn," said the rough, but understanding, male voice of Cole. Lynn nodded her head, and grabbed a towel from inside the car wrapping the small animal in it.

As they drove, they saw only three people out of the usual bustling roads, trying to make a home from all that was lost. Lynn wanted to help, but knew she couldn't. She looked at Cole. His hard and tense features were emotionless, yet his eyes betrayed him. All you had to do was look deeply and you could see his crying heart of stone. He was built to perfection, and his muscles showed slightly through the black jacket he wore. His eyes were a beautiful pursian blue and they accented his hershey chocolate hair. The green top under the jacket was his trademark color. Yet it didnt quite go with the black he was wearing.

A lone tear escaped Lynn's eye and slid down her cheek; she turned her head so Cole wouldn't notice. The tear fell onto her lap, leaving only an unnoticeable streak down her cheek. She shouldn't feel like this. She was a soldier, but it was her heart that made her feel like she did. It was her heart that kept her feeling whatever Cole did. It was that, that kept them both alive. They had a silent understanding. Words weren't ever needed. She looked into his eyes as if they were talking to her. And she understood, as did he.

They pulled into a concrete driveway that led into a garage. Security was tight at this place... The preventers place...

A woman with indigo hair walked towards Lynn and Cole with a forced smile. Reaching to shake Cole's hand, she noticed Lynn carried something in her arms.
"I'm glad you're here, Cole. You as well, Lynn. What is it you carry in your arms? Blood stained, and limp..."

"It's a raccoon or cat. It fell from a tree, and hit our windshield. I'm glad we're here as well, Lady Amara," she said, handing over the injured animal. "I couldn't bear to leave it on that road. I didn't want to add to it."

"It's fine. The important thing is you two got here safely." Walking to the medical wing, Amara continued, "We have been keeping tabs on the battle. The reports have been the same. I suspect someone is lying behind friendly lines. I need you there to investigate. I trust you'll report what's really happening. Will you accept this mission? You'll most likely have to fight, and keep your code names. I trust you were consistent with using them until you were here?"

"Yes, Lady," Lynn spoke up.

Finishing the poor animal's bandages, Amara said, "This is a cat. Knocked out, but it'll be ok eventually." Pausing, while putting the animal on a cushion, she looked up. "Do you accept this mission?"

"Affirmative," said Cole, his monotone voice announced.

Lynn and Cole walked out. Lynn tried to speak her thoughts, but just continued to walk in the uneasy silence. It was time to fight, and though it didn't feel right, they both new it was time for everlasting peace.

Chapter 2

Back in their car, Lynn and Cole thought about what they had to do.

"It's not going to be easy. Two random, new ranking officers joining on the side of the mischief. I don't know. This mission seems like a mistake. Our world may have nothing left but us who are fighting for it. But those who are out there now are saying, 'What's left to fight for when what you were fighting for is gone?' Clearly our world is gone to them. They lack the energy, and enthusiasm to keep going. We need to bring in..."

"Be quiet for a few minutes. I'm contacting Amin Lee, and his girlfriend for an officer." Lynn stared at him shocked with his sexistness. A few moments later, she listened into what he was saying.
"...we'll be going there. We'll need back up, and with the enemy, I have my suspicions... Affirmative, that's what Lady Amara has reported...Yes, she is still with me...No, she will " Cole put down the communicator, and kept driving. Lynn gave him a few minutes to explain, and when he said nothing, she took a shallow breath and questioned him.
"Just what am I not going to do? Are they coming?" She looked at him inquizitively.

"They're coming," was all Cole said.

"I have a right to know, if it concerns me. As your queen I order you. What am I not going to do?" She rose a level, using her true identity against him.

"Hn. You shouldn't say that, we could be followed. All in all, you will not be fighting in this with the soldiers. You will take the other women and injured people, and get out. There is no room for argument here." Turning away, he continued to drive.

"Do NOT presume to tell me what I will and will not do, Cole. There is room for argument, and I will fight you all if it takes my last breath away! How can I do my job if you keep pushing me away from it?" she fumed at him.

"HOW CAN I PROTECT YOU IF YOU DONT LET ME? YOU ARE TOO IMPORTANT TO GET KILLED IN THE BATTLEFIELD!" Cole yelled, forgetting his temper. This, however, left Lynn shocked.

"I'm not a mission, Cole. It's my job to be where I am. I am doing what I have to. If I die, it's no loss. I'm just another soldier on the battlefield, just like you. I will not back out of it, and I will not be shunned from it another minute. I've been hiding my entire life, and now that I have the chance to see, and possibly change things, you want to steer me away. Forget it. There is nothing you can do to change my mind. Please don't try to," she resolved calmly.

"You're a silly girl with the understanding of a 10-year-old. You'd rather get shot and killed, not making any difference, when you could do much more staying behind with the injured, staying alive. This world needs you alive. You've been keeping it running, so don't run from it. Over my dead body will you go."

They pulled up to a small open area in a vast forest of trees. The dirt wound up, and swirled around the car as it pulled in. There were barbed wire fences lining the trees next to the small medic unit. The tent was gray, and dirtied from its old age.
"It's not a question of whether I'm making a difference or not, Cole. I have to go, and you know it. More importantly you know why." She got out of the car, and walked towards the head officer there.

Coming up behind Cole, unnoticed, a voice smoothly said, "She's a stubborn one, isn't she, Cole?"

"Hn... Don't lecture me about it, just tell me the updates." Cole turned to see the now smiling face of his friend, Amin Lee.

"Heya, buddy! Nice to see you, too! Why must we fight with code names? I'd like it if I could die usin' my own name," Amin said jokingly, but half serious.

"Shut up with your mindless babble. Report what you know before she comes back," Cole snapped.

"We know who the faulty liar is. No big shock there. Who it is, is the shocker." At that moment there was a loud explosion. It was so powerful it knocked them all over. Cole managed to look up once before another explosion hit, and saw that Lynn had been huddling over a few of the injured soldiers. With the second explosion, the base began to collapse with everyone, including Lynn, still inside it. He began to stand up, and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. He couldn't hear. His ears were popping, or trying to, but to no avail. Cole staggered around, looking for Lynn. Then he saw her body go lax just as one of the wooden pilars fell over on top of her, and the soldiers she was protecting.

Chapter 3

On the Battlefield
There were bullets zooming by a young, blonde-haired boy as he dived to safety behind a strong oak. Making his way to his fellow injured comrades, he paused briefly jumping from behind the tree, only to dodge more bullets. Seeing one, he fell to a brisk crawl as his comrade yelled to him.
"Leave me! I'm useless now. Save yourself! GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled when the blonde didn't stop.

"We leave none behind, no matter the condition," said the blonde, lifting the wounded to his shoulder.

"You're going to kill yourself, kid! Put me down!" yelled the man on the blonde's shoulder.

"I may be a kid, but I wouldn't be here if I thought I'd live forever, would I? dodging We all fight for the same reason, young or old." Falling to the ground, and pushing the man behind a tree along with himself the blonde spoke again. "By the way, my name's Landon, but I'm called The Diablo. With that, his eyes flashed, and he left. The man stared after him, not realizing that he was back by the safe base.

"Thanks, kid..." The man paused. "...I'm in your debt." He pulled out his gun, hitched to his side, and waited for whatever was to come.

Not too far away, at the safe base
"Lynn!" Cole finally managed, pulling himself together. His friend, Amin Lee, had just pulled himself up off the ground, and was checking around for others who might have been hurt. Calling to his friends retreating back, he attempted to yell.

"Cole... cough ...you have to see if cough if Aerise made it..." Amin staggered around a little more, getting his bearings while remembering that his girlfriend had made a presence at this base not too long ago.

Cole nodded, and started to slow, as he was running before, and began to speak a plea he thought would never escape his parched and split lips. "Lynn...you have to still be here..." He coughed a few times, and his eyes teared. The dust that had flown up from the fallen pillar was still hanging in the humid air. He could now see clearly again, and found the fallen pillar. He began to push it off Lynn, or what looked like Lynn, and the soldiers underneath her.

Amin had made his way over, carrying only one person. "He was the only one out there, said he didn't know of an explosion. He said a kid, Diablo, had brought him to where I found him. He's wounded, but we can't do anything about it until we can clear this area. Should I call for more help?"

"No. Just help me lift this pillar..." And that was all Cole said. Amin laid down the man he was carrying, and went to the pillar. He on one side, Cole on the other, they counted to three, and lifted the large block of wood. "Let's go left, and drop it," Amin suggested.

Cole nodded his head, grunting a little because of the weight. They threw it left, and it rolled into a tree, stopping. Cole jumped back to Lynn and the soldiers, and carefully turned over the one on top. "It's...it's Lynn..." He checked for her pulse, and found a faint one. "She's alive," he said, carefully lifting her limp, broken body off the few soldiers she was protecting.

"If she's alive, then the rest of them must be," Amin added in. The two worked together to load the few men they found, along with Lynn, in the cars they both came in. They, unfortunately, had to separate the ones they found alive from the ones they found dead. "There are two more. The building didn't collapse on the part where they are at, so hopefully they'll be alive," Amin said, jogging back to the wrecked safe base once more.

Inside, he saw one man, and a limb sticking out from under what looked like a mattress. He lifted the man, being closest, and made his way over to the last person. "Cole...I need your help. It looks as if we've got a small problem." Cole jogged up, and saw what Amin had been talking about. "It can't be, can it?"

Back on the Battlefield
Landon, the Diablo, had just returned to his base. He was getting ready to leave again, when a stoic character appeared in the doorway.
"You saved one of them. It shows in your worried expression." The stoic person spoke evenly.

"I had to. No one gets left behind. He was on our side; he'll recover and return to the battlefield. It's in our blood to do so." Landon turned, staring into the emerald eyes of the stoic man.

"You are a ranking officer. Just remember that."

"If you were out there, you would have done the same. You know that, and it bothers you because you aren't as emotionally blocked as you think you are."

"It bothers me that a ranking, known as the Diablo, has such a soft heart! If on the battlefield the enemy asks for forgiveness, and help...says that he'll change, or just wants to go home, you'll help him, and the second your back is turned is the last second you'll breathe your last breath." The man's voice slightly raised.

"No one gets left behind. Not even you, Neptune." Diablo called him by his nickname, walking out for battle once more.

Chapter 4

Safe Base
"Is it really her?! Noi... I mean, Lady Amara, said that the Colonel was on business... Not medics!" Panicked Amin.
"Relax your took of a mind, and help me carry her out." Cole said evenly.
'I'll be having a talk with you soon, Lady Amara.' Thought Cole.

Battle Field
VVVVVVVVVVVvuuuuuummmmmmmmmme BXXXXXXX! (Sound effects. )

"Neptune! We need your help! Missles, and bombs have been showering us none stop! in the background: VVVVVVVVVVVVuuuuuuuuuummmmm BXXXX We need assistance. Send down our second unit. Hell of a war youre missing. Get your ass out here pronto! These men need to see how it's done. Out."
"Aye, Colonel." Neptune replied to the open static. "BLUE UNIT! GEAR UP, AND FOLLOW ME!" he barked.
"Yes sir!" was the response followed by a salute. The men scrambled around, gathering their guns and belongings only fit for battle. "Sir?" A sargent querried of Neptune.
"Yes, sargent?" came the cold reply.
"Sir, permission to speak, sir?"
"Granted."
"Major, there's been talk of our Queen joining the battle... Is it true, sir?"
"And where has a soldier acquainted such information?"
"Well sir, it's not my place to say... But all the men agreed that if it were true, they'd quit fighting, surrender, or let themselves be killed."
"Why would the men do this?"
"They say why try to fight and die to save someone when she walks straight into fire?"
"That's enough sargent. We're leaving."
"Yes, sir. salute" The sargent departed with the lowering of the Major's salute, and the Major retreated back to his station where he could have a better word with headquarters.

"Corporall! I demand the information you have been holding from this unit! If it was deliberate, I will have you courtmarshelled! It is very important that I speak with Lady Amara, or General Wind! You will grant me this favor or suffer what you fear! Patch me through to one of them!" Neptune shouted into the vidphone.
"She can't, sir! Ive told you! She left with the last load of Medics to join battle...General Wind has joined combat as of this morning..."Cowered the Corporal.
"Damnit! Yet another mistake has been made... So this will help, will it?" The vid phone crackled as the man on the other end faded. "No more shall our kingdom be..."