Tord's pov

Another loss... What are we gonna do...? Countless men lost, and as far as I know, everyone else ran to get out of a life that'll just end in death, all except Paul, Pat, and (Y/N).
Why are we failing so much? We used to go without a single loss, every win a long shot, never even a doubt in my mind! But now, the once proud army of millions is now defeated and nothing more than a small practically nonexistent group... What can I do? Rebuild it? Give up and try to make a living with the people I have left? Or... Go back to the others and hope that I don't just get a harpoon stabbed through my chest... I sighed in defeat and slumped back into my chair, helplessly staring at the files of my men that were lost. I can just blame this all on Tom, he was our very first loss in years after all. Or... I can just accept all this and continue on left with next to nothing.

"Red Leader?" a familiar voice called from the hall, a faint knock on my office door followed close behind the meek call. "You may enter." I called back, the usual, I slipped all the pages into my desk drawer and looked up only to see (Y/N) there. She/he wasn't in uniform, in fact, he/she was in nothing more than casual clothes as if she/he was not a soldier at all! What the hell does he/she think she's/he's doing?! "Red Leader, I came to tell you... Pat found us a home in the country, a few ways from here, but still close to our ho-- base." (Y/N) began, correcting him/herself before she called this ghost town a home,"And... The three of us decided, we can't fight any longer, and it's best to just go and start a new life, just the four of us." she/he explained, I sighed and rose to my feet, calmly going over to him/her, with my thumb and pointer finger I had the 'lil shorty look up at me. "Just because we're going through rough times doesn't mean you three can just start making your own choices, I am still your leader, and you three obey me. And I say we're staying here and fighting, (L/N)." I roughly shoved (Y/N) back, I watched his/her small form stumble back before turning my back to the smaller person and walking back to my desk.

"Fighting for what?! I'm sorry for speaking out of turn, Red Leader, but there's nothing left to fight for! Let alone fight with! What do you expect of us? To be able and carry on like this? That's like having a bee poke a bear with a stick and expect to win back all the honey its devoured!" (Y/N) called to me, I just smirked a bit,"That's unlogical. Plus, a bee can't hold a stick, and--", "You know what I meant!" (Y/N) whined, I quietly chuckled. Wrong time or not, it was always very amusing to annoy her/him with smartass remarks like that. But the fun was instantly over when he/she continued speaking of our troubles,"Red Leader, this place is no longer our home, our weaponry is powerless, our food and water supply is running low, there's no more medical supply, and this place is in no condition to support any living human! Your office is nice, yes, but have you seen what the rest of this place turned into?! We can't keep fighting, and we can't keep living as your servants. So, you do have a choice, join us and get a new life, or stay here and rot! Your choice, Tord." And with that he/she stormed out of the room, the door slamming before I can even open my mouth to respond to that.

"Join them or rot here..." I repeated to myself, as those words slipped past my lips my eyes fell onto a fallen over framed image on my desk. A picture of the day when (Y/N) officially joined us, and soon enough became one of three of my top-ranked soldiers, practically the deputy of all tasks... God, why can't things go back to the way things were, why can't I go back to that day...? "Join them or rot here..."

(Y/N)'s pov

A day passed since I informed Tord about our decision, and he hasn't given us the slightest sign of wanting to join us or even if he was thinking about it at all. But if he doesn't he'll truly just rot here, all alone... Perhaps I was too harsh on him about it, maybe I should go apologize to him or something...? No, no! Of course, I wasn't too harsh, I was simply showing I truly meant what I was saying! And if he did take time to think about it, then I guess it's just clear he made his choice! "Hey! Earth to (Y/N)! You done daydreaming? You're kind of crushing that box that can be useful and all..." Pat called to me, I snapped back to reality only to realize that my grip was tightening so much on the thing in my hand and I guess I kinda ruined it, now the side of the box that contained some of my items I'm packing up to transport to our new home is slightly ruined. Great, just great! "Yeah, sorry Pat, I just..." I trailed off,"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Pat piped up as if reading my mind, I looked up at him, our eyes met almost instantly,"What? No! Of course-- yes..." I tried to lie and completely failed to in a matter of seconds, I can never lie to Pat, plus he just knows me too well! I swear he's like a mother or something at this point... "That's understandable. But you must understand he can think for himself, and he does make rather good decisions." Pat comforted me, with one odd look in his direction he quickly corrected himself,"You know what I mean! I know, hard to do in times like this, but we just have to trust him. After all... He is still family." and with that, he gave me a small hug and left me to finish packing my things.

With a small defeated sigh, I sealed off the slightly damaged box in front of me. . .

* * *

By daybreak the next morning there was still no sign of Tord, and we were done packing things up and about to leave to our new home. "Tord..." I quietly muttered to myself,"(Y/N), come on, I don't wanna wait here all day!" Paul called from the truck he had already running and was oh-so-patient to drive to our new home. "Coming, coming!" I called back, with just one last look back at the base, our old home, and I was off to join the two in the truck to go to our new home that I never even seen a simple picture of. Some doubt started to cloud my mind, making me slow to a stop just in front of the truck door, my hand on the handle but no grip and not any strength to open the door. Paul and Pat looked at me in confusion through the slightly tinted window. I... Can't do this... Not without Tord... I just...

Can't leave him behind.

"I'll be right back, I won't be but a minute." I spoke without realizing and took off back towards the base without hesitation, I heard the door open behind me and Pat call for me, but I didn't stop nor look back. I need to get Tord to join us.

I body-checked the door open, letting my arm sting from the impact as I ran down the deserted halls,"Tord!" I cried,"Tord, please! Where are you?!" I called out, but with nothing but the echo responding to my cries it was like only I remained here, it was awful. Is this how Tord wanted to live? Oh god, I was gonna let him be here like this! "Tord!" I cried again, I ran around searching and calling out to him till my lungs burned and my throat was dry, and voice was too raspy to even raise my voice anymore. Tord... Tears clouded my vision. No. Nononono!

There's just one last room I have left to check. But why on earth would he be there? With my mind clouded with worry, I ignored the doubt and used the last of my strength to run to the very last place to check in the whole base, the furthest room in the base from where I am... I... I don't think I can make it.

I passed intersecting hallways and rooms one after another, them nothing more than blurs in my tear-filled stinging eyes. My whole body hurts! Just as I thought I was gonna collapse under my own weight I ran into something that suddenly appeared in my way, within a blink of an eye I was on the ground, my whole body somehow hurting more than it did, my vision dark and couldn't make out a single thing.

"(Y/N)!" a familiar voice called. Tord? My vision finally cleared and I can actually see again, I looked up and all I can see was Tord, peering down at me like I was an enemy he was about to smite. But... He wasn't in uniform, just casual clothes, a grey t-shirt, and jeans. "Tord!" I cried out, almost instantly jumping up and hugging him, tears clouding my vision once again, but this time out of joy from finally finding him, I felt him stiffen in my arms in surprise,"(Y/N), what are you doing here? You should be in the truck with us." Tord asked, his body slowly relaxing and his arms wrapped around me,"I came to find you! Please, I--!", I froze in noticing something and I looked at him, our eyes met but not breaking the hug,"Wait, 'us', what do you mean?" I asked in confusion, every worry, and doubt vanishing and almost instantly replaced with questions I held back from asking him all at once. Tord quietly chuckled and looked away from me slightly,"I... Made a decision, to join you guys. I was already out there but Paul and Pat were screaming at you to come back and I saw you come back in this place. They sent me after ya. And... Well, hope you found what you forgot." Tord joked with a smile. I said nothing, I couldn't help but glare at nothing in particular as I buried my face into the taller boy's chest,"You're such a jerk!" I whined. He just laughed and held me close,"Sorry, (Y/N). Now come on, no man left behind." Tord remarked, finally breaking the hug and we walked back to the truck together.

Paul and Pat ran over to us as soon as they saw us coming,"(Y/N), what were you thinking?!" they yelled at me in sync,"You could've gotten hurt in there! What if you never came back out?!" Paul started to lecture me with questions after questions, making my head hang low, guilt creep into my mind, and my heart sank in my chest. It was very foolish of me... I felt something tighten around my hand and I looked in the corner of my eye. Tord was holding my hand and had a rather strong grip. Since when were we holding hands? Did... we walk out like that? Pat noticed and crossed his arms with a small huff, clear as day his parent-like instincts were kicking in,"Got a little comfortable with that alone time, didn't you?" Pat asked with a cold tone, I even felt Tord shiver!

Tord just chuckled,"Maybe.~" he purred in delight,"Wha--?" Pat stared at him in confusion, in a matter of seconds he was hitting Tord and getting him away from me. "I get that we're starting over and getting a new life, but that doesn't mean you can just try things with (Y/N)! If you hurt him/her, I swear, I'll--!" Pat screeched at the once mighty ruler, I grabbed his arms and cut him off,"Pat, enough! He didn't try anything, we weren't doing anything, and he won't hurt me!" I corrected him in such an uncanny calming voice I surprised myself with my tone. Pat calmed down and seemed as if he was silently defeated by my words, backing off a bit. "So... What? You and Tord..." Paul trailed off, his eyes darting side to side on the ground as if he was searching for what to say within the grass,"A thing now?" he finally asked and looked at us, Pat sharply inhaled and held his breath. Tord and I can just helplessly look at each other in silence. Are we...? "Well..." Tord finally piped up.

"I'm not gonna try anything. But hey, can't predict the future, can we? We'll just have to wait and see if I'm worthy to be (Y/N)'s ruler with our own troops one day.~" Tord coed at the end. I blushed and looked away,"Tord!" Pat yelled at me, Tord and Paul just laughed at us...

2/23/18
wordcount: 2255