A/N: OK, so maybe I did lie in say that this wouldn't be up till tomorrow, but if am able to type this all out before midnight...
Sarah: Soap! *puts arms around shoulders and whispers in his ear* Get some sleep, please?
Soap: Lemme type up this chapter and then sure.
Sarah: Soap!~
Soap: *sigh* I miss the old days.
Chapter 1: In the end,
By the time that you find this, we will already be long gone.
We promised that we would follow you till the end of time and, in a way, we did. I know that you wish it was you instead of us, but what's done is done; we wouldn't have it any other way. Please do not blame yourself for our own actions; we knew it was a suicide mission to begin with, but to be honest, me and my team didn't plan on coming back. We gave it our all; I know that's all you have ever asked of us.
Since the beginning - you and Sarah and Sam and Drake and Bucky - all of you, taught us that everybody deserves a second chance, no matter how badly they had messed up. Although you may have told us this with words; you showed us how with your actions. Even after some of us thought that we had sealed our fates, you gave us a second chance. By doing so, you taught us what it truly meant to start over.
I know that Sam, Drake, and all the others that fought and bled with us, would agree when we say: had you never found us, we would not have lived our lives the way we did.
We have all sworn to protect those who cannot do so themselves; regardless of whether or not they deserve it. We know that you will continue to watch over them after we are gone until your own time is called.
You and your team may have started out as my teams' personal instructors; but in the end, you were all the best of friends to us. No. You were more than that. Much, much more. You were family. All of you were. Like any family, we didn't always get along nor did we always like each other. In fact, when we first met you, some of us even hated you. Hated you to the point that we wished you dead, but as you began to teach us skills that we never thought were possible; we grew closer. We all did. We became a family; albeit a strange one, but a family nonetheless.
You sacrificed so much for us, but now it's our turn to repay you for all that you have done for us in the only way that we truly can in this crazy and fucked up war.
We have all fought long and hard, and now that we have played our parts, my sister and I will finally be able to see our mothers' again. For that I am happy.
Just as my team and I considered the you family; I know that you considered us the same.
As family, and as friends, we ask of you one thing.
We ask that you keep the memories that we made - the good and the bad - from fading into oblivion.
While I am sure that our mission did what we set out to do; I cannot but fear that our sacrifices were made in vain; please, make certain that they weren't.
Oh and Soap. I know that you promised my mother that you would protect me from the darkness - and by the time that you have found this, you will no doubt thought of yourself having failed that - but when I see my mom shortly, not too long from now; I'll be sure to tell her that you have made good on your promise.
One last thing Soap:
Please. Even in our deaths, be happy.
For if not for me, then for Sarah.
And thank you; For everything.
One day, some day, I will welcome you to your place among the stars where we shall shine down among the scorched earth and provide hope for the many generations to come; I promise.
Until we meet again; in the next life.
I'll be waiting.
-R
I reread the message that I had found on her scroll after it ended.
It had taken nearly everything from us, the war. After it all was said and done, it left us only with stories, and memories, of the people that we had called our friends. No, they were more than people that we just called our friends; they were our family, a family that I loved so very, very much.
The war had left most of the planet we call home, Remnant, in ruins; three out of the four kingdoms were still in flames. One of them, Vale, still burned behind me. If I turned around, I would probably be able to see the flames, that were licking the sky, being pushed by the wind; that same wind carried the smell of smoke, smoke not my own, across the wind-scarred land around me. Put simply, most of my world was on fire, and it would probably burn for years after I left the living.
I could still remember, what was almost, mankind's' last stand. The war had proved to be too much for the majority of the trained Huntsman and Huntresses' of the world. Instead, it was up to myself; a bounty hunter; my, who was at the time, girlfriend/fiancée; an ex-mercenary; and the family that we had created, to make the final push to win the war; but at the cost of all of their lives, save for three.
Memories of my friends brought me to my knees. 'They gave up their lives for us.' I thought to myself silently. 'Our friends, our family - every last one of them - so willingly gave their lives for us. It's something that still astonishes me to this day.'
In front and off to the left of me was a piece of armored hull of, what once was, my over sized Bullhead. The giant piece of Dust-infused steel was propped up against a boulder with it's belly facing towards me. Inscribed, in elegant calligraphy, on the underside of the green/gray-ish colored metal was the names of each platoon that had been felled to the war. Underneath each platoon name was the Squad and Team names that made them up. Underneath that, each Squad was broken down further into the individual soldiers that made them the remarkable squads that they were. Inscribed vertically, downwards, underneath each letter that made up the Team names, was the name that that particular letter belonged to.
Next to the giant piece of metal, were rows upon rows of tombstones; each bearing the name of the individual that lay beneath. I knew each one of them as a friend; as a piece of our family. I quietly began to recall the faces that belonged to each of the names that I had engraved into each headstone. Among them were people that I had known for years before the war, and others that I had only known for a few months; yet each of them I loved. Drake, Sam, Bucky, Morgoth, Freezie, Jack; All of them were people that I considered my family, and each of them thought of me as a father. They were people that, without me, would have been dead long before the war even started.
While I silently recalled the qualities of those that had gone before me, I heard the quiet, yet familiar, footfall of someone approaching me from behind. When her footsteps came to a distance of 2 feet away, they stopped.
Without turning around; I spoke, breaking the silence around me with my deep, resonating voice. "Took you long enough."
Still not facing her, I heard her shift positions to one of, what I could only guess to be, disbelief. After a second of waiting, she spoke, "I still don't know how you manage hear me, you not being a faunas." The voice was one that I had become very well acquainted with over the years. She was my partner, and my wife, after all.
After what felt to me to be a suitable length of time, I finally turned around to face the voice. When I did, I was face to face with the person that I vowed to love and trust 'till death do us part'. What I saw wasn't the young teenage girl that I fell for all those many years ago. The face I was currently staring eye to eye with no longer held the youth I once saw; it no longer had the lightly tanned complexion that it once had, nor was it still wrinkle-free, but then again, neither was mine. In the time since I had met her, the one well defined scar that had stretched from above her left check to just below her jawline had all but been replaced with the multitude of other scars that now covered her face. Covered with scars, her face, to me, still held an unnatural beauty about it.
Just then a thought occurred to me. "Why are we still standing in front of our friends graves?" I silently thought to myself.
A voice inside my head reminded me that one of the people that I shared some of my thoughts with, was standing right in front of me.
"Because you miss them," the feminine voice said inside my head, "and believe me. I miss Drake, Sam, and the rest of them just as much as you do."
"That's the thing though; it's not just that I miss them, and believe me I do, but it's the fact that they died when we might have found another way and avoided their deaths." I quietly responded back.
"I know, but stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault. It was their decision to go, and nothing that you could have said would have change their minds." Her voice said in my head, as she pulled down her hood.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as a tumbleweed rolled past, making a light scraping sound as it did. The sound was so faint that I could barely hear it myself with my human ears, but I knew that the faunas in front of me could.
I watched the top of my wife's head as the noise disappeared completely for me, for I knew very well that she could still hear it. I watched as the feline set of her ears twitched, continuing to track the weed as it gained distance from us until it was too far for even her to hear it.
As I watched her, I thought back to the time when I had first seen those beautiful cat ears.
As I did, I could feel myself begin to be pulled into another flashback, the scenery around me growing dim in my mind; but was stopped by a voice and a hand that grabbed my shoulder.
"Save the remembering for later tonight; you're putting John to bed and he's going to want to hear a story." The ex-mercenary in front of me said as she turned around and began walking in the direction she had approached me from. After a few steps, she stopped in her tracks and turned back around to face me, "Oh, by the way, he found the scroll with the pictures of our friends on it. With him being the curious 9 year old that he is, he's going to ask about them. Honestly though, I say that it's about time that he knows our story; the full story."
I knew that I had no choice but to say yes and started to open my mouth to speak, but I stopped halfway; instead, I walked over to her and kissed her passionately.
When we pulled away from the kiss, I answered simply, "I know."
I grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug and another kiss. This time, we only stopped when we had to breath. "I love you Sarah." I said, looking into her eyes.
"I love you too Soap." Sarah responded, pulling me into another hug. A few minutes passed before we broke our embrace.
"You ready to go? It's getting dark and we're going to have to put John to bed soon." I asked her.
Sarah said nothing, giving me a quick nod instead.
When I saw this, I activated my semblance and teleported ourselves home.
Within a second, we were back in the sanctuary of the old church that we called our home.
The sanctuary of the old church held many memories; memories that were both happy and sad. Of the happy variety, were memories of a lost art coming to light and the joy that it had brought to me, Sarah, and our friends. Like a distant and faint whisper, I could still hear the joyous voices that had once belonged to our friends and the songs that they sang. The phantom sound echoed in my mind and effectively brought a faint smile to my lips and a tear to my eyes.
Of the bad, I could clearly remember the call that had brought us, my friends and I, into the war. I recall hearing the distinct sound of fear and desperation in the Generals' voices that had contacted me. Having put up what fight they could, the Generals of Remnant's four kingdoms had exhausted the last of their viable options and called upon the help of myself and my friends.
I remember the White Fang declaring peace with their sworn enemies to push back the darkness and aid in whatever way they could to try and help win the war.
I remember how the leaders of five very different armies from five very different origin, each gave me control of their armies; each one of them hopping that I would be able to do what they could not and bring a swift and painless close to the war.
All of the memories that the room contained were ones that neither me, Sarah, nor anyone else that survived, wanted to relive anytime soon, so we quickly exited and made our way to John's room.
John was something of a miracle. Being of both human and faunas origin, many didn't think that he would survive beyond 6 months. Yet, he was with us today at a ripe young age of 9 years old. Anybody that looked at him would plainly be able to see that he was our child. A hostile world John had the misfortune of being brought up in, you know, with a war going on and all; and yet, Sarah, myself, and anyone else that had a chance to meet him, including her, managed to kept the fact that there was a war at all from him.
Something that we were very grateful for.
It wasn't until two years after that suicide mission, led by her team, did we even think of telling John small details about the war; even then, we still with held information from him.
At least till today.
Hand in hand, Sarah and I rounded the corner and caught a glimpse of John's black tail disappearing through the door to his room. I knew better than to be concerned though.
Upon entering, I headed to the corner of the room and grabbed two chairs and dragged them over to the side of John's bed. I took my place in one and Sarah took her place right beside me.
It wasn't until after I sat down did I see the scroll that John had in his hands. "What you got there John?" I asked, knowing fully well the answer.
"I don't know. I found on the counter upstairs in the sound booth when I was trying to hook mine up to the sound system." He replied in his comparatively high, 9 year old voice.
I motioned for him to let me see it. He did. Immediately after handing me the scroll, he asked, "Where's Auntie?"
While I observed the scroll, Sarah answered for me, "Your Auntie is out getting some things for us and she won't be back until later."
After observing the scroll and the picture that it displayed, I quietly pushed away the memories and put the scroll on the nightstand next to John's bed. With a heavy sigh, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a length of chain. A necklace. One that would forever comfort, and haunt, me. On it was a collection of crosses, and engraved elegantly in the center of each cross was the symbol of the individual who had previously worn it. Individuals that Sarah and I regarded as extraordinary, individuals that we were proud to have called family.
John didn't have to say a word; one look at his face as he eyed the necklaces told me the whole story. So, I asked him a single question; one that I already knew the answer to, but asked anyways. "John, do you know who those people are and who these necklaces used to belong to?"
Without so much as a word, John shook his head no in response.
"To put it simply, they are people that have long since passed to the great beyond. But they were so much more than that. They were our friends. No, they were family. Family that gave up their lives so that we would be able to continue our own." I paused and sighed, "But I'm getting ahead of myself. In order to tell any story right; you have to start from the beginning."
Before I continued, I quickly looked at Sarah who was looking at me. Both of us realized that telling our story would be more than just reiterating events that had happened in our lives; It would mean reliving the best and worst moments of our lives. But John had a right to know the stories of the people that allowed us to be alive today. People that would have done anything for us; people no, family, that promised to follow me and Sarah to the ends of Remnant and back. And in a ironic kind of way, they did.
As I was about to start, I heard the words that Sam had said, in toast, the night before their war began, echo in my mind:
'Soap, Thank you. Thank you for everything that have done for us. I am certain now, that if it wasn't for you rescuing me off the streets all those many years ago, I would be dead right now. I sure that is also true for many others here with us tonight.
I know I speak for all when I say we will follow you to the end, no matter the consequences. It was because of you that many of us still live and fight today. It's because of you that we believe that everybody deserves a second chance, because you gave us all a second chance.
The darkness is coming and with it, war. So, in the dark we shall live and fight to ensure that those in the light don't have to. We fight so that true peace may one day be obtainable. A peace whose definition you taught us, for it is a peace that becomes obtainable with the unity of a people. People who accept those around them for who they are; regardless of their race or what they have done in their past. A peace that I would like to think might one day be a reality.
Tomorrow we fight, and for some, it will be their last time doing so. But tonight, we drink; We drink to celebrate and to thank the man that gave us the true meaning of peace that we fight for.
We drink to Soap.'
I sighed as I silently pushed away the memory. I decided to start our story with something that I had once said to a friend:
"There are parts of our memory that we love to remember; then there are the parts that we can't stand to re-live. The pieces of our past that we forbid ourselves to remember are things that do not define who or what we are; and yet they are what define how we go about the rest of our lives. If we are able to live through them and tell the tale - from the pain to the joy and everything in between - they only prove to make us stronger and able to last longer."
With these words I began our story.
With those words began a war.
A/N: I had a lot of fun writing the visuals for that chapter, not to mention, 3 mins till midnight! I told you I could do it.
Sarah: Yeah you did, but now you have to write the actual story.
Soap: *groans* Time to go type some more.
Just a heads up, the actual story will start on what will be titled as "Ch 5: whom we love". So if you don't want to read back story, just skip to that chapter.
Edit: 10-16-2014; Pre-Ch. 10: I went back and re-wrote the beginning to match the rest of the story thus far; also fixed a few spelling mistakes, grammar errors, and added a few extra details that will be relevant later in the story.
11-3-2014; Pre-Ch. 13: I fixed a few grammatical errors in scenes 2 and 3. Added some details in scene 3 about something that will be important later on in the story. Added a few more lines of speech in scene 4 and removed a few others to allow for a little bit more freedom later on regarding the plot. Also fixed grammar errors and added missing words in scene 1.
Edit: 3-2-2015; Changed the last word in scene two paragraph two. For references, the word that I changed was "two" and I changed it to "three".
Edit: 3-16-2015; Did a major re-work of the chapter, changing from third person to first person, and adding quite a few more details in the process. Expect the next (story) chapter to be getting the same treatment within the week.