A/N: This chapter is dedicated to WritingWolf14, who did the most amazing job of creating the Princess' dog, thank you so much :)
Five years. Five long years of having to spend every night, and often days, killing the undead, again. Last night was the worst however. Not only did they lose half of their men, they also lost Lieutenant Simmons. The poor man was killed in the last minutes of the battle. The men were even more quiet the next day. No one got sleep, they were all busy healing wounds and digging graves. Even Alice got injured, having push a soldier out of the way of being shot. The bullet however, embedded itself in the right side of her waist. To say it hurt was an understatement. It felt like it was on fire when Ben cleaned it. She hissed in pain, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Oh stop being a baby," Ben joked, prodding her wound with the damp cloth.
"You get shot and tell me not to be a bloody baby," Alice shot back. "Jammy still complains, and he's been injured 724 times."
"Wouldn't expect it from you though love," he winked.
"Oh shut up Ben," she grumbled. He chuckled, bending down bit to look more closely at her wound. Luckily it wasn't too deep. He grabbed a pair of tweezers.
"Alright love, you ready?" he asked her. Alice nodded, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. Ben made quick work of her wound, pulling the bullet out quickly without any hassle. Alice immediately felt better. The feeling left as soon as she spotted Ben getting needle and string. Her eyes widened.
"I-is the stitched really necessary?" Alice asked nervously.
Ben let out a small chuckle. "Yes it is."
He placed the tip of the needle in front of her skin, his free hand gentle holding her waist. He looked back up at her, seeing her unease.
"Hey, it's alright. It'll be over before you know it," he said softly. She nodded, looking away, even though she had closed her eyes. She felt a slight prick, but forced her mind to think about something else…anything! After a few more pricks, Ben was finished, telling Alice she could open her eyes. Alice looked down at the stitches, quite impressed of how neat it was. Ben gently cleaned up the remaining blood on her skin.
"There we go, finished," Ben said, standing up straight and cleaning up.
"Thank you Ben," Alice said, standing up from the wooden table that she was perched on.
"How about you thank me with, I don't know…a kiss?"
"How about, no?"
He winked at her, "All in due time eh?"
"Open the gates, tell Major Swift; Walter is here!" both persons heard one of the guards yell. Alice and Ben exchanged a quick glance before making their way over to Major Swift, who was waiting in front of the gates. The gates creaked open, revealing not only Walter, but…
"Jade!" Alice exclaimed, as the 20 year old ran straight into her arms.
"Alice!" Jade said excitedly, hugging the immortal woman tightly.
Alice heard Walter give a hearty chuckle, before greeting Major Swift.
Alice chuckled, letting go of Jade, only to have a Boarder Collie jump on her.
"And who is this?" Alice asked, rubbing the red merle, rough coated border collie.
Jade chuckled, "This is Sadie."
"Aw, she's gorgeous."
"Now, we have a proposition," Alice heard Walter say, as Sadie sat in front of her.
"You came all this way to 'proposition' us, and I thought you were here to save us from the legions of the damned," Ben retorted.
"Ben Finn," Walter began. "It's good to see you. I take it the legends of this place are true then."
"I'll say," Swifty grumbled. "You've never seen so many hollow men in one place, we've been stationed here for too long, trying to eradicate them. Mainly it's us getting eradicated. We lost some good men last night, including Lieutenant Simmons here. And the buggers will be back tonight."
"Logan just loves to send you on the best assignments doesn't he? That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Is this..?" Swift motioned to Jade.
"The Princess, yes. I'll explain. Just treat her like any other pair of hands for now."
"Fair enough. Captain Finn will show you to the mortar. We could use a body up there."
"Meet me on the wall when you're ready," Ben said. "I'll introduce you to private Jammy. So called because he's the luckiest sod on the fort."
Ben walked off, heading over to the wall where the mortar was.
"You'll probably be stuck by that mortar all night, take a look around first. Talk to the men, it never hurts to know who's got you're back," Walter said, before turning back to Swift.
Alice nodded at Jade before walking over to the injured soldiers to fix them up before night came.
It didn't take long till nightfall. Alice had luckily finished stitching up wounds whilst Jade was firing the mortar at the oncoming Hollow Men attack.
"They're at the rear gates!" Swift yelled. "Positions!"
"All guns at the gate, we can't let them through!" Ben yelled. Alice grabbed her flintlock pistol, aiming it steadily at the rear gate as she stood sideways, pulling the hammer back.
Ben stood beside her, aiming his rifle at the rear gate, sending her a wink before looking back at it. Alice shook her head, but ginned none the less. The Hollow Men banged against the gate trying to get through, and it didn't take much. They broke through and everyone opened fire. The princess conjured balls of flames, throwing them at groups of Hollow men, and turning them into nothing but ash. Soon enough, the wave of Hollow Men were gone, but not for long. A stray wisp landed on Simmons grave, and within seconds, the dead Lieutenant was brought back to life. A loud roar erupted from him, sending everyone excluding the Princess into a deep sleep.
The forest. She'd been brought back once more. She sighed, the air around her frosting from her warm breath as she waited for Theresa…only this time…it wasn't her...
A/N: Another cliffhanger! Who do you guys think it is? Any ideas on what the 'forest' is exactly?