Dead in the Night

The battlefield was filled with the dust of a fallen building. Grenades and heavy artillery guns added their smoke to the mix. The thick haze hung low and filthy, hardly hiding the blurred and darkened shapes of bodies as they darted here and there, in and out of view, like a dark curtain shadows danced upon

What the smoke didn't hide, however, were the shouting, and the screaming, and the gunfire, and the sobbing. The heavy dust didn't hide the smell of hot blood and sweat, the smell of metal and oil, of fire and of death, gunfire and murder.

And Tori was in the thick of it all.

"Medic! Medic!" Paulina was shouting off to her right. There was a flash of her blue and red uniform, Pat close beside her, both of them on either side of one of the blonde sergeants, supporting him, a bloody wound in his chest. Tori caught the flash of his name tag - "Sgt. Casey" - before the three of them all disappeared once again into the dust and smoke.

A bullet seemed to fly in slow motion towards her, off from her right, and she gazed at it quizzically. How strange it was that something so simple, something so small, could cause the death of a man in an instant. How strange it was that it had been a simple british priest in a simple, benign, and innocent experiment that had created a weapon of such destruction. And then, how strange it was to think that death could be thrust upon a man at any instant, steal his breath away without any chance to save himself, and silence any chance of a future.

The bullet seemed to speed up, its course headed straight for Tori's chest. It was a small bullet. It would have little chance at penetrating the bulletproof vest she wore under her own blue uniform, under the rounds of munitions, under the loathing, under the air of command that led her corner of the Red Army.

But still, that was no guarantee.

She cocked her head to the side and stepped away. The bullet really was so slow. How was there any way she could have avoided it, and so easily? How could she have dodged a bullet, so to speak, with such little effort?

As she turned, another shape made its appearance out of the smoke, standing just behind her and in the bullet's path, tall and pale faced. As she watched, the bullet speed up, until it reached its true speed and buried itself in the chest of the tall shadow.

The haze cleared. A strangled cry tore from her throat, quieter by far than the gunfire, and she scrambled over the rubble, skidding and tumbling to a single, dying, ginger haired figure.

Matt's face was suddenly pale as he sank to his knees. There was something red soaking through the purple hoodie. She pressed the palm of her hand to the wound, but too late, Matt gasped, gave her a faint smile, and slowly, so slowly, screwed his eyes shut. She was fruitlessly stemming the blood of a dying shell. There was a clattering by her feet, followed by a deafening explosion as a grenade detonated at her side.

"No!"

Tori yelped and shot bolt upright. The bedclothes slipped off her shoulders, and the thunder shook the windows. Rain pelted the glass and sides of the house. Her entire body shook violently. She couldn't move for several long seconds that felt like ages, paralyzed with fear.

It was so real! It felt so real. It was so, so real... She choked back a sob, wrapping her arms around her chest, grey eyes wide and seeing only bloodshed. The picture faded, and she looked towards the door. Panic gripped her chest as she gazed into the shadowy dark corner. She had to know.

Without thought, save for the inexplicable panic, she crossed the floor, through the door, and into the hall. Her room was at the end of the little corridor, and she passed the quiet, closed doors of her friends before turning the corner into the kitchen.

For some months now, the mirror had hung on a wall near the electric kettle and the refrigerator. It was normal now to pass through the sickly warm and slimy barrier and into another world. She stood shivering and wide-eyed. She had to know. She had to be sure.

She knew which room she needed to get to, quit well in fact. In a furious panic, she disregarded the sign on the door - although she couldn't read it in the rainy darkness - and turned the handle.

Yes. He was lying there. She could see the sheets rise and fall noiselessly in a steady rhythm.

Or… Were they?

Were those just the shadows of the trees thrashing in the wind and rain, basking in the light of the flashes of lightning? She gave a small cry of fear and stumbled forward.

The mass of blankets stirred as she kneeled at the bedside. Matt opened bleary eyes, and jumped the moment he saw her less than a foot away from his face. "Holy-" he yelped, yanking the sheets up to his formidable chin. Surprise turned to indignation in an instant as he hissed, "Tori! What on Earth? It's one in the morning! What are you doing here? Why are you… Tori?"

His voice trailed off, concern written in every line of his face as he propped himself up on his elbows, lifting her chin to look into her suddenly darkened eyes. "Tori?" he asked again. "Tori, what's wrong?" The sob that escaped her couldn't be held back any longer.

She didn't usually cry.

She wasn't the type.

Such were the ways of war. Crying on the battlefield made you weak. Weakness got you killed. That was one of the reasons why Red General had been such a point of fascination and respect for her; almost an idol. He was so stone hard, so in control of himself. And then, he taught her to kill her emotions, to hide all feelings. All that mattered was the next mission.

And for a long time, that worked.

It worked for a long time, up until murdering her old friends was part of the mission. That was the catalyst; the lighting of a fuse that led to a bomb that almost exploded in her face. And now those demons were coming back to haunt her. Not only had Matt died in that horrible nightmare, it had brought back the nightmares that were real life. All the innocent lives, just like him, that she had killed trying to save her own skin, by stepping aside and letting someone else take the bullet in her pursuit for power.

So no. She didn't cry. Not until now. Because right now, she was crumpling, receding, scared. Her shoulders curled as the tears came thick and fast, pouring like the rain outside, gasping and spluttering and choking on her own breath.

A warm hand touched her shoulder, making its way to the back of her neck. She looked up at Matt, not even attempting at hiding her face as he sat up completely to look at her. He motioned to the spot on the bed next to him, taking her hand and leading her up to him.

It was quiet for a long time afterwards, save for the roar and flash of thunder and lightning, and her own sobbing, which she realized a little later to be very gross.

There was a funny thing, she realized only later, that love did. Matt absolutely hated ugly things. He was, and always had been, obsessed with his own looks, and tended to judge by appearance. And yet, he didn't cringe when he looked at her face, twisted into an ugly grimace and stained with tears. He didn't push her and her blubbering, gross crying away with a noise of disgust. On the contrary, he pulled her closer to him until she sat in his lap, her legs wrapped around his waist, sobbing with her head on his shoulder and fingers clawing at his bare back.

And for a long while, they just sat like that, close together in a tangle of limbs, Tori crying almost silently into the curve of his neck, Matt running his fingers up and down her spine in a gentle attempt to calm her, until slowly - so slowly, she stopped trembling. Her breath leveled until it returned to normal. Her eyes dried.

And then they continued to sit in that droning silence of the wind and rain, breathing in tandem and holding the other tightly. Matt asked no questions. Tori gave no answers. Both had met in the middle of an unspoken agreement. There really was no need to know why. That was a not so distant past that didn't matter just now.

The rain persisted into the day.

"What do you think happened?"

"Got scared, maybe? The thunder was pretty loud here, so it must have been over there too."

"I am not afraid of thunder you idiot, why would she?"

"Well then, what's your idea, commie?"

Tom, Edd and Tord watched over the pile of bodies as they slept, curled together on the tiny bed. Edd smiled, ignoring Tom and Tord's hushed arguing. It was a sweet scene, albeit a little awkward. Tori's head lay on Matt's right arm, her face pressed against his chest. A few strands of her long, blonde hair were in his mouth, his left arm holding her close to him. The bedclothes were partially kicked off, revealing a tangle of legs. It wasn't a very pretty sight.

A shadow seemed to pass over Tord's face as he gazed at the two. "I think… Nightmares make some people do strange things," he said slowly, his eyes clouded and narrowed. Tom and Edd didn't question this statement. They figured Tord probably knew what he was talking about.

Their attention returned to Matt as he stirred. He let out a long, low sigh and blinked up at them. His voice was croaky when he spoke softly, brushing the hair out of his mouth. "Look here mates, I know you're all jealous of me and my looks, but seriously, go get your own girlfriend."

The three of them laughed and turned away to leave the bedroom, making Tori stir from sleep.

Morning was a good time to be alive.

A/N Hello everyone. Sorry for the gap in updates. I wasn't in a writing mood for a while, and then I started writing again XD I was drawing a lot, and spending a lot of time at my COunty Fair. I got to see itsAlexClark perform! It was pretty funny XD

Anyway, nothing much to say here. Just another sappy love story kinda thing. Just lemme clear up some personality things; Matt (the character, not the real Matt!) is still super conceited. But when he and Tori finally got together, she was so dominant, she left him pretty speechless. So yeah. She's the strong, dominant, smol.

This was a request from a Guest. Thank uuuuuuu XD Send me more requests my dudes, I enjoy them, otherwise they're going to be boring and/or sappy.

Enjoy, I guess

*edit* I LIED I DO HAVE STUFF TO SAY! Sgt. Casey is my Red Army persona (I have art), but you need to figure out whether they're really male or female XD and SOME OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE OTHER UNIVERSE ARE THE SAME GENDER. There is a reason for this. Most of the main characters have changed gender, but a few of them are the same in both worlds. See who I've said is the same in both already :D

Okay bye my dudes, enjoy for real