Disclaimer: Anything you recognise belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I, unfortunately, am not her.

A/N: This is set before Jasper meets Alice, during WW1. That's why they're in the trenches and killing Germans. No offense intended to anybody, I promise.

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Pte. James Green's POV

I chewed my bottom lip as the shelling restarted, ducking into the side of the trench and gripping my rifle, then jumping back out and watching, enthralled, but disgusted. It was only eleven o'clock in the morning, but they were thundering down upon us so it felt as thought it was eleven in the evening.

I looked over the parapet at the barbed wire and wondered where she was. Her hair would have grown noticeable by now, wouldn't it? Still, I supposed the bloke she was with, her brother, would be with her, he would help to hide her. He would cut her hair for her in the dead of night, I supposed, while they were looking for Jerrys to drink blood from.

I didn't ask about that - I'd seen people doing strange things around here to attempt to satisfy their hunger, people shooting rats and mice, pigeons, eating them as well. I wasn't going to worry about it, either, I mean, they hadn't decided to eat me, had they? I was safe. It wasn't my problem.

But. I had been lying in a rotten hospital bed, my arm starting to stink something nasty and my leg looking rotten for the past two weeks. This was my first day back at the front, I was reeking of disinfectant, barely able to move my arm, but I was back, fighting. I couldn't get her out of my head.

"S'cuse me, Private-" I looked up and naturally offered a cigarette into the waiting hands of my neighbour. He nodded at me and lit it up, never thinking to duck behind the parapet to smoke.

I counted to five, knowing it wouldn't even take that long, getting some sick pleasure from watching as his head jerked back and he tumbled to the floor. Twisted, but it was more than enough to make my day. I took my cigarette from his hands and sucked on it again, sitting down on the rotting wood and sighing.

I'd hated him for months - Joseph Walker made me want to shoot my own side. He had been arrogant, rude, loud and irritating. And now, he was dead. I drew on my cigarette again as I thought about it, making my way towards the next dugout to find someone to give me a hand chucking Walker into the mud up top, and as I brushed through the mud to see the youngest member of our battalion, Sammy Weaver, legs crossed, looking through an old couple of letters, I grinned to myself.

"Oi, Sammy. Walker's gone." He looked up at me.

"You're joking?!"

"Idiot forgot to duck down behind the parapet when he had the bloody thing in his hands." Sammy laughed and I looked at him, a grin lighting his face. "You really hated him?"

"More than this war." A small pause, "You sent him over for target practise yet?"

"Not yet, son. Need a hand getting him over." I directed his eyes towards my shoulder. "Stiff as a bloody board." He uncrossed his legs and stood up, shaking them out, regaining feeling. He had a little scratch at his lice as he stepped toward me. I shuddered. We all had lice now. They were unavoidable, in our clothes, in our hair - but nobody knew where they'd come from. I scratched at my neck as I thought about it, watching Sammy watching me. I stamped my fag out and jerked my head at him, he followed me and we put him on top of the trench for the while. We'd let the sergeant know later on.

~*~

It was later at night this time - I'd gone over the top for a bit to fix the barbed wire fencing we'd put up there.

I worked alone for an hour, shifting up the fencing slowly, speeding along for half a mile, maybe, then stopped suddenly as I heard a soft voice from behind me.

"Oi!" I turned and in less than half a second I was on the floor, looking back at where the sound had come from. "Get down here." I felt an arm lock around mine and I was sliding through the mud.

"Ruth?" A light flashed into my eyes and I was blinded for a second. "What're yo-"

"It's midnight." She hissed. "You know they put the flares up at midnight." As if on cue, the whole area was lit as though it was midday again. I groaned. "See?" She sounded a little smug but I ignored it.

"How did you find me?" I hissed back at her. "There's miles of trench going east and west-"

"Who says I was looking for you?" She looked at me. "I've lost Jasper." She frowned, "I haven't seen him all day. We ate together, couple of Jerrys-" She gestured vaguely and nodded over the trench, "But he disappeared about six, seven o'clock." A pause, silence filling the awkwardness. "You've not-"

"I've not seen him, but…" Another pause, "We'd know if he was hurt. They bring them all through our way. All the-" She nodded quickly.

"I just wondered." She frowned, "I'm a little bit worried about him. I don't want him going on a spree along the British Lines. I like most of us." She looked at me, smiling lightly. "do you want to help me look for him?"

"I've not finished fixing the wires-" She looked at me, took the cutters from my hands and disappeared for all of half a minute. She returned with a smug grin on her face and handed it all back to me.

"Done."

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A/N – You know only 17 people have read the first chapter? This saddens me greatly, y'know. Please, review if you were one of the 17, and you haven't yet!!!

It's a lovely thought. I'm actually kind of interested in this idea… so I want opinions and I want reviews. Please!! Help me out!!!

Love ya'll …

Please review/let me know your thoughts.

xxx