A.U: Yeah I was too lazy to properly space this out. I also forgot to post this chapter so oof. I need to get back into writing...

Sorry for boring you. Here's chapter 4

The voice recorder hung from his chest, unused. Above, the dark, swollen clouds and the occasional gust of wind. Below, the mud of the trench, trampled from feet. The trench itself was held up by planks of wood, keeping the dirt from flooding the long tunnels. He clutched his rifle, leaning against the trench walls. Ratatatatatatatat. The sudden burst of machine gun fire crackled through the air. That was his signal. Uili jumped up, positioning himself with a clear shot to the opposing side. He hesitated for a brief second, then pulled the trigger. One shot. Two. Three. Four. Five. The sixth one was almost surreal. His claw pushed the trigger back, even as he aimed down the sights. The rifle shot it's deadly projectile, followed by it ejecting it's smoking shell. The recoil shook through his body like a lightning bolt, every sense surprisingly clear. And then through the circle of his iron-sight, he saw the head and chest of a Sandwing, strikingly clear. The Sandwing suddenly jerked back, and fell into a trench. A single hole, the size of a pinprick from this distance, was drilled into the head of the Sandwing, and then the dragon disappeared from sight. Uili slid down into the trench, breathing heavily. He spent two days in the front line, little over three weeks in the war, and 17 years of his life being alive. And he would remember this moment for the rest of his life. The first time he took a life. The Mudwing's grip on his weapon tightened. His head was a torment of emotions, and he couldn't think straight. What have I become? How can other's do this? He could have had a family. Hopes, dreams, all vanishing within that instant. People do this all the time. As he was thinking about what had happened, dust flew from the top of the other side of the trench as a hail of bullets bore into the wall. A few seconds later it dissipated. Uili dry-swallowed, thinking about how he could have died, if only he was on the other side of the trench. He couldn't take it. He grabbed his canteen and downed the water quickly. Water was everywhere, especially in the trenches, but almost none of it was consumable. He stumbled from his position to Zueq, almost crawling to stay out of sight of the enemy. Zueq was sitting down, reading a letter. Uili shuffled next to him. He looked at himself and a grim smile emerged. It's a good thing I like mud. Uili shook his head. "Zueq!" He greeted. "How's life in this dank hole in the marsh?"

The Mudwing smiled, looking up from the piece of parchment. "Awful. They haven't even cleaned my bed. I rate it a three out of ten."

Uili chuckled lightly, trying to forget what happened moments before, but still feeling the pressing weight on his chest. "'Three out of ten, too many explosions.' So what are you reading?"

"This? Oh, it's just a letter from my wife. Asking about how I was, and informing how it was back at home."

A pang of homesickness hit Uili. "I haven't got a letter yet… I wonder how my dragonets are…"

Zueq smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure they're fine. You need to worry about yourself. You know how to make sure they're alright?"

"How?"

"By staying alive."

"Hahaha. Fuck you."

"I'm serious. If you want them to stay happy, you can start by keeping yourself from getting killed. Isn't that what you want? Them to be happy?" Uili had no response to this. There was a long silence, and then Zueq spoke. "So, what have you done this morning?"

Uili considered the wisdom of telling him, and then gave in. But it came out a bit darker than expected. "I took someone's hopes, dreams, and accomplishments and then crushed them within a second."

Zueq looked at him, confused. "Translate please?"

He took a deep breath. "I killed someone for the first time." Instead of stopping there, he continued speaking. "I know what your going to say; we're at war, what do you expect? But you need to realize that I care. That Sandwing was as scared as we are. He could have had a family. He wanted to be alive as much as me and you. I had to, because if I didn't, he would have killed me. Does that make it ok? Why are we even doing this? Just because someone important died?! One person dies, so thousands other have to follow?!" He was shouting by now. "How can this even be justified?! I know I'm supposed to be tough, I know I'm supposed to be brave and fearless, but how can I? If I stood two feet further away, I would have died! If we were any closer, we would have all died from the shell! This is bullshit! Fuck this war and everything it stands for!" At this point he was practically crying, his gun shaking as he did. "Why do we do this? Becoming forever tainted in the blood of those we kill?" He shook his head. "I can't… I can't…"

Zueq was shocked at the sudden outburst. It took him a few seconds to comprehend. To understand what happened. Uili always struck him as a strong character. He wasn't fearless, but he always knew what he was fighting for, and wouldn't stop till they were done. "I…" He couldn't think of anything to say, and instead wrapped his wing around the Mudwing. Instead of affection, this one portrayed sympathy and comfort. Uili sobbed quietly, allowing the touch. Zueq took a breath. "Look, I know this is hard for you, but you need to be strong. Your right, this war is almost pointless, but we need to carry on, or else we can't call ourselves Mudwings of the Mud Kingdom. We're fighting for our kingdom, and to keep our families safe."

Uili nodded, the tears abating. "I know… just… I'm sorry…" He said, embarrassed.

"Don't be. I understand how you feel, it's nothing to be ashamed of." Zueq told him encouragingly. Sensing that the moment was over, he took his wing off Uili. "I know this is hard, but that's why you need to be strong. Now come on, let's go check on Amber. Oh yeah, that reminded me of something. Atal is going to be well enough to be back by next week. Happy?"

Uili smiled lightly. "I would have hoped he got sent home, but honestly, I'm glad he's back here with us." He stood up, carefull to keep everything out of sight from the opposing side, and beckoned Zueq to follow. They walked down the trench to where Amber was situated. The Rainwing himself was sitting there, with a scoped rifle in one hand, and a cup of field coffee in the other. As he drank the liquid, Uili could see he was holding back a grimace from the bitterness. "Hey Amber, how are you doing?"

He set down the coffee. "I'm taking a break for a bit. Croder over here is taking my watch for a bit." He nodded to a Mudwing who had the muzzle of his rifle stuck through a intentional break in the sandbags. He was looking down the zoomed image shown in his scope, scouting for targets. "I told him he could have some of my kipletecs." Even as full grown dragons, they all loved those kinds of food every now and then, and fresh fruit was rare to come by those days. Amber was a sniper, as evident by his loadout. His ability to keep a steady hand and stay calm helped him greatly with his job. Zueq had amazing reactions, and was able to recover from any ambushes, shown in his excellent score at the Infiltrate and Assault portion of his training. Atal was tactically brilliant. Being able to plan and quickly compromise for any errors helped him as the "leader" of the group. Uili on the other hand, lacked in all of those, but had near perfect accuracy. If placed in a simple firefight between two people, he would easily emerge the victor. At the end of his training, he had a ninety-five percent accuracy rating. Even though they all had their weaknesses, they covered each other together.

Zueq pushed Amber playfully. "You gave up your fruit just to drink a cup of coffee for a few minutes?"

"Hey! Can I not do anything without someone criticizing me? Besides, not anymore, 'cause you spilt what was left. Bitch." The Rainwing grumpily looked at the coffee on the ground.

Uili smiled. "I still don't understand how you can even drink that vile stuff. It literally tastes like water and mud."

Zueq nodded in agreement. "It probably is." He sat down next to Amber, who was more of a dull green at this point. "Atal will be back with us in a couple days. Apparently the wound wasn't that bad, it just looked worse than it was. He'll live."

Uili already knew about this information, but for Amber, it was completely new. "Really? That's amazing. What would we do without him?"

"Did I just sense a hint of sarcasm?"

"Maybe." He smiled. "All joking aside, I am glad he's coming back." Amber put down his empty mug, and stood up. "Ok Croder, I can take watch again. The kipletecs are in my bag. Enjoy." Croder grunted, and walked off to where the general storage was. The not-so-colorful Rainwing grabbed his rifle and repositioned it in the sniper slot. "Well, I need to get back to work. But uh… do me a favor and ask when we'll finally be leaving this hellhole. And maybe some more coffee?"

Uili nodded as he walked off, carefully keeping his own rifle away from anyone. Zueq was close behind him, smiling. "Should we actually get him the coffee?"

"Nah." Zueq said. "He really should stop drinking that wretched stuff anyways." Uili nodded. "We should still go ask the gen though." Zueq added as an afterthought. The new general of the squadron was located in a bunker moulded into the side of the trench. He wasn't all that strict, but he expected orders to be followed, as far as they figured out. Uili and Zueq weren't that terribly worried about being yelled at. After navigating the maze of earthly corridors, they finally arrived at the general's "office." Zueq stepped forward and knocked on the metal door. A gruff voice gave them permission to enter, and the group unbolted the door with some difficulty. Zueq walked in first, followed by Uili. Remembering their training, both of them stood at attention. In front of them was a Seawing, laying down with a desk in front of him. No chair could be seen. "Sorry for interrupting, sir. We just wanted to ask a question, sir." Zueq said, still standing there.

The general stood up and looked at them. "Who do you think you are, to walk into my office and dare question me? Where does it say anywhere on that slip you signed that you can act like so?" Just as they expected. As they turned around though, the general burst out laughing. "Come back over here, I'm just messing with yah. And you discard all of that "sir" business. Call me Mahar. What do you need?"

This, on the other hand, was not expected whatsoever. They stopped, and turned back towards him. Zueq was the first to respond, once again. "Oh, uh, si- I mean…" He cleared his throat. "Sorry for intruding on any plans or whatnot, but me and my friend have heard a lot of rumors that there will be an invasion or something similar. No one has been able to confirm this, and, excuse our curiosity, we had to know for certain what was going on." Uili looked at Zueq enviously. He was always the charismatic kind, and Uili secretly wished he was as good with words. The statement was simple, yet effectively explained what they wanted to know. The general smiled, but was a little bit too light for Uili's liking. "I'll answer that with a command. Tell Captain Ramder that it's time for Action 209. I trust you to bring it with haste. Now go!" The general shooed, settling back down. Uili noticed how cluttered his desk was, and realized how much planning went into war. Uili grabbed his rifle, and ran out with Zueq. Three things were going through his mind:

Where are we pushing to?

Where is Captain Ramder?

What's going to happen to us.

He was answered soon enough.