The Siegval Line was everything Nico expected it to be: a foreboding series of entrenched defenses in the middle of what already looked like a wasteland. It was a dusty, barren place with moss and a few stands of long grass being the only plant life. Nico was very grateful for the latter already.

She pushed herself up from a prone position, took aim at an Imperial soldier some ways away, squeezed off three shots, and dropped back onto her stomach. It was quick and smooth, something she had done dozens if not hundreds of times in training. The only real difference was the gurgling sound the man made as his throat was pulverized and the fact Nico had put herself in danger by getting as high as kneeling.

Nico dragged herself through the tall grass. She could tell, roughly, where Raz was in the grass ahead of her. Godwin and Rosetta should be somewhere behind. Squad E's main goal right now was to take control of a nearby hill – they had called it a "hill" in the briefing, though seeing it in person it seemed more like a "mound" – and that was not what the four of them were trying to do. What they were trying to do was take over another, nearby hill – or maybe she should be calling it a smaller mound? - that was currently held by a team of Imperial Grenadiers.

There was an APC full of Snipers and Grenadiers ready to charge up that other hill, and a team of Shocktroopers ready to cover it. Nico's team had to eliminate the Grenadiers, or else the push for the other hill would be delayed.

Or annihilated, but she was trying to avoid thinking about that possibility.

Raz signaled for a halt. Nico stopped, and she could hear the others do the same. There was a gap between rocks ahead and to their left, large enough for a person to fit through. An Imperial soldier had just come through. He didn't know the four of them in the grass, but he seemed suspicious. He was creeping towards the patch of grass, slowly.

Raz sprung up and unleashed a hail of bullets into the soldier. He was dead before he hit the ground.

"I'll hold the gap. You guys take 'em out."

Nico wasn't sure if that was actually a good idea, but he was an officer. Nico, Rosetta, and Godwin stood and made a quick dash from one patch of grass to another. They'd barely hidden themselves when they heard Raz cut down another Imperial soldier. The three of them pressed on.

Nico's heart skipped a beat when they reached the end of the grass. The good news was that there weren't any Imperials standing between them and their target. The bad news was that there was a long stretch with no grass and nothing to hide behind.

Rosetta crawled up to Nico's side. "I'm afraid there might only be one way through this." Rosetta whispered.

"Are you kidding me?" whispered Godwin, who had just dragged himself to Nico's other side. "Don't tell me you're seriously suggesting we just run through there? We're going to get blown to bits!"

"I don't think I can hit them from this angle" Nico said. "We'll need to get on top of the hill."

There was one single trail up, wrapping around the hill.

"On three," Rosetta said. "One,"

"You're insane."

"Two,"

"Watch over us."

"Three!"

The three of them burst from hiding and charged.

It wasn't the coordinated effort it should've been. They made at least some effort to spread out, but Nico seemed to be much quicker than the other two. Rosetta managed to stumble and fall. Nico thought she heard shouting from the Grenadiers. There was no way they hadn't been spotted, but she couldn't hesitate. The only thing to do was to keep going.

Nico had heard no end of artillery that day, flying from both sides. She was getting close to the hill. Godwin was drawing closer to her. She didn't realize that one particular mortar shell sounded different until it came down right next to her.

She was thrown off her feet and hurled into a rock. Her head kept spinning for a moment after her body came to a halt. Her ears only had a dull ringing. She tried pushing herself up. She barely managed to stand, her left leg hurting horribly.

She tried to get her bearings. The shell had come from the hilltop, crossed over her, and exploded at her back, throwing her to the foot of the hill. She couldn't see the top from her current position. She hopefully couldn't be seen by them, either.

She looked back the way she had come, and her heart stopped. Godwin was lying in the middle of the no man's land, not far from where the shell had gone off. He was bleeding badly, and she couldn't see any signs of movement. The Grenadiers seemed to have turned their attention towards Rosetta, who was scrambling back towards the grass.

She could go try to help Godwin, try to get him to safety or get him some Ragnaid.

She wasn't going to do that.

Godwin was most likely already dead. Rosetta was still alive, but in danger. And so was the rest of Squad E. There was only one course of action that would help anybody.

She tried to get moving as quickly as she could, but what she could manage on a hurt leg wasn't quite a run. She fought back the urge to scream. Was she really this mad over the death of a man like Godwin?

She rounded the summit, coming up behind the four Grenadiers. They hadn't noticed her yet.

She squeezed off two bullets into the torso of one of them. The other three startled and looked over to their companion.

She put two bullets into the torso of another as he was starting to turn towards her.

The third Grenadier try to yell that she was there, but he was cut off by a bullet going through his head.

Nico's clip was empty. The fourth Grenadier groped for the sidearm at his waist. Nico went for the grenade at her own hip.

The Grenadier tried to take aim at her, but he was distracted by the grenade that bounced off of his helmet. He never got the chance to recover.

"Twenty-one" Nico said. She tried to walk away, only to find herself stumbling and falling. It was at that time she actually examined her leg and found that it was drenched in blood. She had a wound in her thigh, and a big one at that.

This was bad, Nico thought to herself. She then thought that she was not as worried about having bled half to death as she should have been. This was something she might be able to fix.

She grabbed her wireless transmitter. "Sir, this is Nico. We've achieved our objective."

Claude's voice crackled back at her. "Good work. Are there any casualties?"

"...I'm injured. Godwin's… down… I don't know about Rosetta or Raz."

"Copy that. We'll send aid as soon as we can. Hang in there. Over and out."

Nico fumbled to pull the glove off of her right hand with her left. She gave up after that and yanked it off with her teeth. She dragged herself onto her side, and reached to the small of her back where she kept her stone knife.

As soon as she wrapped her hand around the handle of the knife, a certain warmth spread through her body. It was as pleasant as the sun on a warm day, even though she could tell just how intense the energy truly was. She pushed it away after a minute. She felt at her leg; the wound was closed, and the weakness in her limbs was gone. She tried to stand up again-

-only to stumble and fall, as some kind of terrible pain went through her leg. She looked back at where the injury had been. If she had a laceration like that, it may have been the result of shrapnel. And since there was no exit wound, if shrapnel had made that wound, then it would have to still be in her leg.

She looked at the knife and gritted her teeth. The blade was far sharper than it seemed like old stone could be. It had shown it could pierce her flesh before.

She made her incision, and tried to suppress a scream.

She didn't succeed.

Nico was laying in a medical tent. The battle raged on, and from what she heard the Federation was making progress. There was a good chance they would be through the Siegval line within the week. She should be happy they were making progress, but there was something putting a damper on her mood.

Said something was the man in a nearby cot, who had turned himself onto his side just so he could glare at her.

"Do you want to say something?" Nico asked.

"Bitch." was Godwin's reply.

"I think your anger is misplaced." Rosetta said from across the room. "It was the Imperial Grenadiers who nearly killed you."

"That sanctimonious asshole left me for dead." Godwin said. "Why the hell shouldn't I be angry at her?"

"Did you seriously expect her to run back out into the enemy's line of fire?" Rosetta asked.

"I didn't enjoy it, Godwin." Nico said. "but more people might have died if I didn't do anything."

"It's not like he would have shown you any gratitude if you did help." Rosetta said. "I was the first one to get to him with Ragnaid, and he hasn't given me so much as a 'thanks'."

"Hey-hey! There's our star!" Raz said as he let himself into the tent. "You took out four of them after taking a hit! That's pretty impressive!"

"T-thank you, sir." Nico said.

Godwin glared at Raz. "She left me to die."

"Suck it up." Raz snapped back. "You ain't dead."

Godwin kept glaring at him.

"We're in the army, jackass." Raz said. "Sometimes you gotta make tough choices."

"...I am sorry I couldn't help you, Godwin." Nico said.

Rosetta and Raz looked at her, confused. Godwin turned over and tried to sleep.

At least he wasn't glaring at her any more.