Okay guys so I know it's been FOREVER since I've updated and I'm extremely sorry about that, I've had the worst case of writers block any writer ever had and it's just been kicking the fuck out of me on like literally every single story. I've been really busy on top of it all with work and saving for a car and getting my license and school and all that other real life shit we gotta deal with. I've been considering going back to the first book in this series and doing some editing and making the story flow a bit better, also at the request of a name many of you have probably seen (Curlscat) I will be changing the name of this series, it's unnecessarily long, so now that I'm finally sit down and write, maybe we can finally get this finished. So without further ado, God bless and let's get into it. Also I updated my pen name to Just Somedude 1

Chapter 7: Nightfall

Liam

Dusty was in bad shape when they got to him, Harris was doing everything he could, but it wasn't enough. He had removed Dusty's flak jacket and shirt, exposing the four massive bullet holes through his torso. Liam immediately went to work helping to stop the bleeding, but there wasn't much to be done.

"Fuck," One of the medics working on him yelled in frustration "We're losing him!"

"Dusty." Puck said, dropping next to him "Come on, hang in there."

"Puck," Dusty coughed "I'm hit man, they got me."

"I know," Puck said "We got ya, buddy. We'll patch you up."

"Ain't nothing to be done," Dusty said, grimacing "I'm hit bad, I know that, I ain't stupid."

"Don't talk like that," Jax said, helping to cover his wounds "Come on, you'll be alright, just hang in there you crazy bastard."

Dusty was losing blood too fast, there wasn't anything they could do for him anymore, trying to save him was just a waste of energy, but Liam refused to give up. If they had so much as a snowball's chance in Hell of saving him, he would take it.

"We need more morphine!" The other medic yelled "Shit, we can't stop the bleeding."

Conners and Sabrina were trying to compress the two holes in his stomach, but to no avail. Blood simply poured from his body and through their fingers, pooling on the grass around him. All around them, wounded and dead Guardians were being tended to, and the screams of some of the more severely wounded echoed through the once beautiful meadow, now scarred with holes, burning farm houses, and dead bodies.

"Jim," Dusty said weakly, reaching out "Jim."

At first, Liam wasn't sure who he was talking to until Conners reached out and took his hand, he had only heard his first name a few times in his service with the Guardians. He pushed the thought aside, telling himself that taking care of Dusty was more important.

"Hey," Dusty half coughed half laughed "You remember when we were guarding King John, and Nottingham caught us drinking on duty?"

"Yeah," Conners laughed, still pressing on the wounds with his free hand "He had the both of us thrown in jail for endangerment of the king, we broke out a few days later."

"I wish I could go back to those times," He said, his voice growing softer and softer with each word "I don't want to fight this damn war anymore, I just wanna go home, I'm ready to g..."

It was a moment before Liam realized that Dusty's chest had stopped moving, then he slammed the bandages down in frustration. The other medics had gotten up and moved on, knowing that Dusty was dead and they could do nothing else for him, but the rest of the squad simply stood there, staring down at his body. Liam hated losing men, especially men he had personally worked on. It always seemed like no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't ever seem to save them.

"You did what you could," Sabrina said gently to him "That's all that matters."

"All that matters?" Liam exploded "Tell that to him! Tell that to his family!"

Sabrina quieted and Liam stood, walking away. He pulled a cigarette from the pack in his pocket and lit it, sitting down on a pile of rocks a little ways away from the rest of his squad. There were still wounded men being loaded onto makeshift stretchers and set off to the side of the road while the medics went down the line, doing what they could for the more seriously wounded. Some men were simply hit it the leg or a few times in the stomach, others had broken bones, missing limbs, huge gaping holes in their bodies.

"Corporal!" A soldier yelled, running towards him "We need you going down this line with us, we're a bit shorthanded."

Liam rose to his feet and followed her over to one of the wounded men, leaning down to check on him. He had a huge gash going down the side of his face, two bullet wounds in his leg, and some shrapnel in his right shoulder. Liam hoped he'd make it, he'd seen enough death for one day.

Sabrina

After they had gotten back to camp and settled in for the night, Sabrina sat in the tent with the rest of the squad. She, Black, and Harris were playing cards while Conners cleaned his weapon, the rest of the men having a beer in honor of Dusty.

"I'm just saying that's how it works," Miller was saying "Grunts do all the work, and then the Officers take the credit."

"Well, shit man, it was their calls and planning," Liam told him "We can't take shit without somebody directing us."

"Sure we can," Puck shrugged "I don't need nobody to tell me where to go, I just head towards the gunfire."

Sabrina's mind was still on Dusty, his final words. She knew that O'Riley, Dusty, Jefferys, and millions of other Guardians were dead because of the Grimm family. She could tell herself all she wanted that they knew what they had signed up for, they had a mission and they were completing it, but it didn't convince her anymore. Staying in the house and telling herself that was one thing, but to be out in the field with them and try and convince herself of it was a totally different thing.

"Something on your mind?" Black asked, laying down his cards

"No," Sabrina said "Just a little shaken."

"Bullshit," Black said, lowering his voice so the others couldn't hear "Sabrina, I've been doing this a long time, I understand people are usually quiet after their first battle, but you're thinking about something. Now, what's on your mind?"

Sabrina, for the first time in her life, had nothing to say. Black had seen countless men die for her family, he'd even put his own life on the line for them, and here he was wanting to know what was bothering her. She struggled, trying to figure out how to put it into words.

"This entire war is because of my family," She finally said "For so long, people have given up their lives protecting the Grimms, but we never knew about you guys. If I had known how many people were really dying because of us, I might've just let Mirror kill me."

"I don't think you understand what your family means to us," Black said "You're a symbol, the one family who's name every single Everafter knows. Many consider you friends, many consider you enemies, we were tasked with protecting the Grimm family, that's what all these men are fighting and dying for. You have no clue how much it boosts the men's morale to have you out here with us, to have a Grimm standing and fighting with us, it gives them hope."

"Hope?" Sabrina asked

"I haven't seen my wife for over ninety years," Black said "I lost both of my sons to this war. When I asked them why they wanted to fight so badly, they both told me because the Grimms have helped us all, and it wasn't right to stand by and allow people to try and hurt them. And now, finally, after so long I feel like I can see an end to this God forsaken war."

She let his words sink in. He had lost his sons to a war that her family was at fault for, and yet here he was trying to make her feel better. Granted, ninety years to a mortal was something like four or five to a Forgotten and even less to an Everafter, but it still hit her hard. She knew Black's intention was to make her feel better, but he had only made her feel worse. She felt like finding Atticus and ripping his throat out, maybe then the war would end, when their leader was dead.

Puck

Sabrina and Puck were put on guard duty together later that night, something Puck was unhappy with. He wished Sabrina would've told him, he might've been able to convince her it wasn't a good idea. He'd seen battle firsthand, Puck didn't want Sabrina to have to carry the same emotional scars that he did, but she wouldn't have listened to him.

"So," She said, a slight edge to her voice "Something on your mind?"

"What's it matter?" Puck shrugged "You're here, talking won't change it."

"So that's it," Sabrina replied "You don't want me here?"

"Of course I don't want you here," Puck said, rolling his eyes "It's a warzone, Sabrina. I wouldn't want anybody to have to be here, but especially not you."

"Puck, you know I'm not the stay at home and cook while you go off to fight the war type of girl," She told him "I can't sit around while all these people die for my family."

"They're dying for you," Puck said, exasperated "Each man that falls out here is giving his life for the Grimms."

"Then maybe it's time one of us made the same sacrifice," Sabrina said to him "I know you don't like it, but I'm here."

Puck was silent, still seething in anger. Sabrina infuriated him like no other, she always had, and it made him wonder how he'd ever fallen for her in the first place.

As he had the thought, he answered his own question. It was because of things like this, because of how stand up and head strong she was, because of how little she valued her own life over even the lowest of people, even if those people valued her life far above their own.

In a way, Sabrina was probably the only person Puck truly wanted watching his back.

Just not in this scenario.

Of course, if not Sabrina, it probably would've been Daphne, who was beginning to become much more like her older sister than ever, and if not her, maybe Red. Puck knew, as he always had, the Grimms weren't the type of family to sit back and let others do their dirty work, and he supposed that he should've just been grateful Sabrina stayed out of the war as long as she had.

But getting taken right off her back porch had been the final straw, she'd tried the damsel role, and it got her kidnapped, she was done with it, and he knew it.

Considering the amount of times she'd saved his life, he guessed that he didn't exactly have the right to ask her to play that role anymore.

"I know you aren't happy about this," Sabrina tried again "Neither is my father, or my mother, or my sister, Granny is absolutely furious."

"I'd imagine so," Puck nodded "Hell, you remember her reaction when I told her I was going to join up?"

"She told you she'd flay you to within an inch of your life if you didn't come home to us," Sabrina smiled "Yeah, I remember."

"Puck," Liam's voice came over the radio before he could respond "Hey, man, you guys there?"

"Yeah, we're here," Sabrina said before catching herself "I mean, Delta three copying, over."

"Ahhh, cut the formalities, Sabrina," Liam laughed "Out here, you save that for officers, anyways, Mathews thought he spotted movement near your hole, just checking in."

"Yeah, we're all good," Puck responded "I'll check it out, tell Mathews to cover my six."

"Copy that." Liam responded

"I'm going with." Sabrina said, grabbing her weapon as Puck rose

"No," Puck told her "Stay in the hole."

"Puck, we aren't having this argument-" She began

"This isn't about keeping you out of harms way, Sabrina," Puck hissed at her "I can't do that anymore, seeing as your on the front lines. This is actually how it goes, I'm going out to take a look, you stay in the hole and man the gun just in case there's something out there."

For a moment, Sabrina looked as if she were going to argue, but she finally sighed and took her position on the machine gun pointed out to the fields. Puck pulled himself out of the hole and headed out, keeping his rifle leveled just in case.

He braced himself to hear gunfire any moment, as movement near someone's hole was never a good sign. Every time he drew breath, he prayed it wasn't his last. He made it out ten feet, and nothing happened. No gunshots cut through the air, no grenades went off, he didn't step on the dead body of a fellow solider, nothing.

Eventually, he made it to another hole, one that was occupied by Black, Harris, and Miller. They didn't look up at first, not hearing him approach until he cleared his throat, crouching above their hole.

"You guys doing alright?" He asked

"Never better," Miller responded "You?"

"We're good," He nodded "Mathews thought he spotted something, I was just getting out to take a look."

"Mathews is jumpy these days," Black sighed "War's taking it's toll on all of us."

"Put him in for leave," Puck said "It'd be good for him to get back and see Gretchen."

"I did, it got denied," Black told him "He ain't heard from her in weeks, man."

"Shit," Puck breathed "You think it's only a matter of time before he gets a Dear John?"

"I hope not," Miller said "Might push the kid over the edge if that happens."

As Puck opened his mouth to suggest that maybe they should go above their CO's head and talk to Charming, he heard the sound of machine gun fire cut through the night. Harris and Black grabbed their weapons and lowered their heads while Puck hit the dirt, his head whipping back and forth to find the source.

He spotted tracer rounds coming from the hole he and Sabrina were placed in, and he silently cursed, jumping to his feet and rushing off back to the hole.

"Go!" Black was yelling "We've got this!"

Puck risked a glance back and spotted Harris jumping out of his hole, rushing after Puck. They fired towards the direction Sabrina was firing, and, pretty soon, every gun on the perimeter was opening up into the field across from them.

When Puck finally reached the hole, Sabrina had stopped firing, looking up at him.

"I thought you were out there," She said in a panic "I saw the grass start moving, and I thought I heard voices, I just-"

"Stay," Puck told her "Get ready to start shooting again."

He motioned for Harris to follow him and headed to where Sabrina had been shooting at. He heard somebody screaming for everyone to cease fire, and, slowly, the gunfire stopped. When the reached the edge of the field, they saw no bodies, no footprints, no sign of anybody at all.

"What do you got?" Puck her Connors call, rushing up behind them

"Not a damn thing," He said "Sabrina said she saw the grass move, started shooting."

Connors raised his eyebrows, staring for a moment, before he suddenly burst into laughter. Puck and Harris couldn't help it, and they started to laugh too. It was always funny watching new recruits adjust to a combat zone, and Sabrina was no exception.

Even knowing how scared she must've been, Puck couldn't stop himself.

So, I am really sorry to all of you guys for the insanely long hiatus I took. I was in the middle of rewriting one of my other series that I'm working on so I put everything else on hold. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a way to begin balancing everything again. I really bit off more than I could chew, starting a whole bunch of stuff at once, so I'm going to work on this and my Son of the Huntress books until they are finished before I continue the work on anything else.