Most of the rest of Jack's first week in the valley was spent meeting his new neighbors and learning from Takakura how to run a farm. Mostly the latter. They'd covered pretty much everything about crops and Jack was even putting what he learned to the test with a small crop of tomatos and watermelons. They did have a single cow, which Jack had named Mira, after a character in a book he read a long time ago. Jack's lessons on caring for the animals had also started, and that's when Jack's first "Incident" happened.

"Where are we going, Takakura?" Jack asked. The duo were passing by Vesta's farm, on the trail out of the village. It was still early in the morning, the sun was barely up, and Vesta's farmhands were all still asleep, leaving the job of tending the crops to the owner, who always got up freakishly early for some reason.

"Just outside the valley is a place called Mineral town." The older farmer explained. "They have a shipping company there that deals with the local farmers. They ship our produce to the cities and sell it there. That's how your father and I kept this place running since there isn't much demand for our products around here."

"That still doesn't explain where we're going."

"I want you to learn how to make deals with this company, since our income relies on making the right deals. I have an appointment with them today about my last harvest, I want you to watch and take notes."

"Can't you just handle that stuff?"

"Your father died last year, he was just a few years older than me. If that happens to me before you learn how to do this, how are you going to make any money?"

"I'll still be able to put food on the table."

"Yes, but what about things like electricity, heating, and water? How are you going to pay for that? With Tomatos?"

"Point taken."

The two continued down the path until they were at the base of the hilly trail that led out of the valley. Unlike the day that Jack arrived, it was a windy day. The wind was howling like a banshee, and it became louder the closer they got to it.

Takakura started the treck up the trail, not noticing that the young man standing next to him slowed and started trembling as they approached. To Jack, the howling wind sounded like something that plagued his nightmares for almost a year: a woman screaming.

He felt his breath become shallow and ragged, his heart was racing, his eyes widened in shock.

"Not now." He desperately pleaded. His voice was as quiet as a whisper. "Not here."

"Jack? You say something?" Asked Takakura. He turned around, and only now realized Jack's condition.

"Dammit! Dammit!" The younger farmer kept muttering over and over. "The Docs said this wouldn't happen while I was taking their meds!" His eyes went wide, his entire body was shaking, his blood had gone cold, adrenaline pumping throughout his entire body. It all ended with a scream of terror, his terror. Jack lost all strength in his legs. He fell to the ground and started rolling down the hill. A terrified and shouting Takakura ran down the hill after him. It was too late. Even before he had hit the ground, Jack was no longer in Forget-Me-Not valley, and no longer in Japan. He was back to the day that sealed the fates of him and eleven other soldiers he once called friends.

A loud bang sounded from the barrels of multiple rifles raised in salute of a fallen warrior. Jack was holding one, so were Daniel, Redneck, and Nate. John had died in the explosion of their vehicle almost a week ago. Miraculously though, nobody else was hurt. His former squad was at their leader's funeral. Jack saw John's wife and children for the first in the crowd of mourners. The mother was sobbing when she was handed the American flag. The symbol of the country her husband, and father of her children died to protect. He couldn't take it, he looked away. The woman fell to her knees, wailing with grief. Her scared children at her sides.

"The boys really do look a lot like him." Nate noticed. "How old did he say they were?"

"Two and four." Daniel answered. "The oldest is starting school next year."

"That's sad." Redneck said. "I wonder if they'll even remember him when they get older?" Jack closed his eyes, fighting back tears for the man that had been his father figure since he joined the military.

"I didn't sign up for this." He muttered.

"None of us did." Nate told him. "This isn't the first time I lost a friend, it won't be the last. Next time, it might be me in that coffin, or it might be you. Don't like it one bit, but it comes with the job. We gotta suck it up and move on."

"Jackie and Dan don't." Redneck piped in. "They're going to be taking over that farm in Japan."

"Yeah…" Jack said halfheartedly. If he was completely honest, he didn't want to leave his friends, not like this. He didn't want his last memories of Nate or Redneck to be the ones he made here. Not when they had gone through such a tragedy. He took one last look at the crying widow, lowered his hat to cover his eyes and prayed nobody saw him cry. He didn't know that the rest of his squad had done the same.

After the funeral, the boys went down to a local bar.

"To Jonny!" Redneck declared, raising his already half-empty glass.

"To John!" The three other survivors agreed. The four squadmates downed their drinks simultaneously, and began reminiscing about their fallen commander.

There was that time when he found Redneck's secret stash of fireworks, when Redneck glued all of Nate's books together, when Redneck's Heavy metal music woke an old General and John had to knock some sense into the demolitions expert… literally.

But not all the stories involved Redneck getting into trouble, in fact, Jack's favorite memory of the man was when he and Dan showed up at camp for the first time. The man did everything Jack could have asked for to make sure the new guys were comfortable and at home in the base that would be their home for the next six months. None of them could have guessed that John would be killed just mere hours before they would all have been going home. It just wasn't fair. John had a family waiting for him, Jack didn't, why couldn't it have been him instead?

"Gentlemen?" A man in military dress uniform interrupted Dan's story about a puppy he'd found with their commander. The four men sitting at the table glared at him like he'd just kicked said puppy. Just looking at him, they knew he was one of the higher ups. Maybe an Intelligence officer, whose lack of information on the road they had been driving down had cost them a friend.

"What do you want?" Redneck sneered into his beer. "We're off duty, can't this wait?"

"No." The officer answered. "Come with me." He turned and walked to the door. Redneck and Nate rolled their eyes and went back to their booze. "NOW!" The other patrons of the bar flinched at the sudden barked command and looked on, trying to figure out what the trouble was. Nate glared at him, Redneck ignored him. Dan and Jack on the other hand were starting to wonder what it was that the officer wanted.

His face twisted with anger, the man marched back to the table and wrenched Redneck's face out of his mug.

"Get out of here, brass boy." The southern man spat in the officer's face. "Nobody wants you here."

"I'm not here because I want to be either!" He said. "I'm here because my superiors thought you might want…" He suddenly realized that the entire bar was now looking at them. He dug a piece of paper out of his pocket and slammed it onto the table. "Read this. I'm sure you'll come find me once you see what our superiors are up to." With that he stormed out. Dan snatched up the paper and looked at it curiously, the rest of his team watching for his reaction. After a few seconds, Dan passed the paper to Nate, stood up and ran after the officer without saying a word. Nate and Redneck also went after him after reading the note, and Jack finally got to see what was written on the thing for himself.

"Johnathan was killed by a militia group known as "Destiny's warriors", we in the intelligence department have been trying to request your squad to eliminate them for nearly a month. Our request was finally approved the day of the seargent's death. If you agree to go on this mission, you will be sent to Afganistan for another tour of duty, but you will also have the chance to avenge him. After reading this, destroy it."

Jack shoved the paper into his pocket. He'd burn it later, but his friends were already out of sight. If he wanted to catch up to them, he had to move fast.

Jack opened his eyes to find himself back in his own bed in Forget-Me-Not valley. Judging by the bright orange sky he could see out his window, it was getting late.

"Oh, you're up!" Said a feminine voice coming from the direction of his desk.

Moving his head made him feel like his cow had kicked it, but he still did it. Sitting at his desk was Celia.

"I hope you don't mind me sitting here." She said. "There's just no other chairs in this place."

"Yeah, I know." He said, trying to sit up. Every muscle in his body ached, but he ignored it. "So, what happened? I remember that I was walking up the trail with Takakura and then…"

"Yeah, I was wondering that myself. I saw you roll down the hill as I was working on the farm. You were screaming and Takakura was chasing after you. It was actually pretty frightening."

"I can imagine." He chuckled. Imagining what she was describing. To him, it actually looked pretty funny, but then again, he wasn't there when it happened. He wasn't suddenly torn away from the usual day-to-day by a grown man's scream. "Where is the old guy anyway?"

"He said he had some business to take care of in town and asked me to look after you until he came back."

"Thanks, sorry to trouble you."

"No, not at all, is there anything else I can do for you?" Jack rolled out of bed and stretched his aching muscles. He'd been sore ever since Takakura had put him to work in the fields, but it was nothing compared to boot camp.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm good." He said to her. "I think this is the first time we actually talked isn't it?"

"Yeah, I think it is." She said. "I remember you came down to the farm once to talk to Vesta, but we really haven't seen much of one another have we?"

"We should probably fix that since we're practically neighbors now. Let's meet up at the blue bar sometime." Celia nodded in agreement.

"I'd like that." Jack smiled to himself.

"So, since I'm up, you probably have to get back to work. Want me to walk you back?"

"No thanks, I can make it by myself, and I think you should rest after what happened." He shrugged.

"If you say so. I've been wanting to check up on my tomatos anyway." The girl giggled.

"They're not going to grow overnight you know."

"Yeah, I know, but it's just so exciting. It feels like I'm watching my new life grow out of that dirt in the form of red fruit."

"I know what you mean, that's how I felt when I saw my first crop grow." She shook her head. "Anyway, I gotta go before I get sucked into another conversation." She turned away and made for the door. She had her hand on the knob when she looked back at him. "If you don't mind me asking. What happened?" With those two words, Jack's mood took a nosedive. He hung his head low, and the atmosphere in the room just made everything look dimmer.

"An unwanted souvenir from my days in the military." He stated. Celia's eyes widened as she realized the proverbial land mine she had just stepped on.

"I'm so sorry I-" She began, but the vet interrupted her.

"It's okay, you didn't know." He assured her. Even now, old memories were floating to the surface. Bad memories. "Please, just leave me alone for a while." His voice was shaking, he couldn't tell if he sounded like he was going to cry or yell at her, but she was a smart girl, she was gone before he finished his sentence. She left the door open, so he calmly walked over and closed it. Then the tears began to well up in his eyes. His thoughts turning back to his memories, back to his own private hell.

A/N: So there we go! Chapter 2! I figured two months was long enough to put off… I mean work on this thing. I personally feel like it's not nearly as good as my first one, but oh well. It's mostly so I can get the plot rolling. Anyway, I would like to thank the people who reviewed, as you are the first two to review ANYTHING I have written on this site.

Anyway, Praise be to the holy log! (Don't ask, I lost a bet.)