P.O Box 112112

Red Cross of Vimy, France

September- November, 1916

Jack,

God, I've missed you terribly. I haven't seen you for so long, a year in fact, and it has been killing me. How's father? I know he's too proud to admit that our conditions are worse over here, but I still miss him. What about Emelia? You love her dearly, and I am pretty sure that you haven't left her side since the war was declared. Do you know the others are mocking me for writing this to you? I can't help it. As soon as I got your letter, I just had to let you know that I was okay.

I wish that I could say that I want to fight, but the truth is that I really do not. Some say that this is a huge honor, and some of my comrades are volunteers from our lovely nation, Britain. I just smile at them sadly and ask them if this was what they wanted; all the dead bodies and the rats and the bombs. They brush me off and shake their heads, saying that I should go back home if I didn't want to be here. I would gladly go back to you, you have to know that.

I really do not understand why we have to fight in the first place. Yes, I know the situation with Germany passing through Belgium and all, but do we have to fight them because of it? Do we have to kill these innocent people? I don't know.

Here at the Western Front, it is brutal, but I know that there are worse places. Jack, did you hear about the Battle of Somme? It barely just happened! I was fighting in it, but then again, who wasn't? It seemed pointless, to me at least. We wanted to kill as many Germans as possible, and we end up killing ourselves more than them! Sometimes, we even run out into no-man's-land. We try and get over to the Germans, try to take them over, but it's mighty dangerous. I don't go. Commander told me to stay back and shoot anyone who turned around. I didn't shoot anyone, you know that I wouldn't. I let them run, and I hope they got far enough away. After all this fighting, this war is still at a stalemate, can you believe that?

Oh Jack! You are so lucky! You will simply not understand! Parliament has no documentation on you or Emelia because of your mother, and that is why you could not be drafted! Yes, your life has been cruel because of it, but I'm glad you found father and me before this war started. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if you were here with me! It is dirty and smelly, and oh Jack! The bodies! They are simply everywhere and the rats eat them! We never get any sleep on the front lines, and yet they expect us to fight?

Jack, remember Terrance? He lived down the road… oh, Jack! Terrance died! He was here with me! We were partners! He got shot, right in the heart! It was absolutely awful, Jack! You should have seen his face, I have nightmares! I held him for a while, just crying. I couldn't let him go. He was the only thing I had left of home, left of you… they had to drag me away from him.

Jack, when I get back, I think I might be an inventor. There are lots of new technologies being used out here, you know? But they aren't that trustworthy. You must have heard about the mustard gas those Germans have been using against us. We have gas masks, but they do not work as well. I have made improvements on mine, but there simply isn't enough supplies to go around and improve everyone's masks. And then, there is the flamethrowers. Ingenious, really, but the design needs work. I have seen too many people burst into flame because of a torn fuel tube. I am drawing out designs in my free time, outside this letter. It gives me something to do in the reserves.

The food here is awful and I'm glad you're home. Everything is rotten, from the cheese to the bread, even the water! Some of the French told us to eat the rats. It wasn't any better, but we do what we must to survive. I hope father is treating both of you well. I hope to be back soon.

Some of the people here have gone crazy. They cry all the time, clutching their ears and wailing. Some say it is shell-shock. Most people fake it, just to go back home. I pull it together, because it wouldn't help me much if I broke down crying in front of a commander.

The lice here are bad. They come from the rats, and they're everywhere. They cut our hair really short, trying to get the lice to leave. They burn them off our clothes. As if that would help, they'll always come back. Some are getting trench foot, too. I'm glad I haven't gotten it yet, but I can't say anything. I've only been two months in these trenches, and who knows how much longer?

There's been talk of an armistice, Jack. I heard it. This war might finally be over!

Hi, this is Jeremy, Henry's partner.

He… he got shot, in the war. I ran over to him, but I was too late. I'm sorry.

He handed me this letter, and told me to write you. He… wanted me to tell you that he was okay, and that it would be alright. And… he told me to tell you that he loved you. He wanted you to know that so much.

Henry was a good friend, and you meant a lot to him. He's in a better place now.

I'm sorry for your loss.

-Jeremy Blake

*Terrance is Toothless and Jeremy Blake is Snotlout