A drabble that's sort of meh, but whatever

~~~

The second Dhamir made eye contact with the General from the other side of the battlefield, he knew he was a goner again.

For what seemed like forever, they stared at each other as the bloody fight raged on around them, her people slaughtering his with a murderous passion that Dhamir had been forced to witness for years. Despite it all, his body was frozen at the sight of General Ildiko, who seemed to be as shocked as he was.

But then her eyes narrowed, repulsion and loathing replacing disbelief. She sneered at him as she drew her sword. And she took off running towards him.

Within the time Dhamir watched General Ildiko storm through the battlefield, all he could do was stand his ground like an idiot as memories from the past washed over him. He remembered when her official title was Princess Ildiko instead of General. He remembered when she confessed to him while they sat in the floor of the castle kitchen as children that she didn't like her sister's aggressive style of ruling. He remembered when his people has called her their "Chosen One", how she would end the deadly tensions between their kingdom and her empire with her kind nature and peaceful soul.

Oh, how times have changed.

The second Dhamir realized how close General Ildiko was, he scrambled to draw his own weapon, but before he could pull it out of its scabbard, he was roughly shoved to the ground.

General Ildiko pinned him down with one hand, the other holding her sword to his throat. "Traitor," she hissed.

"It's nice to see you again too, Ildiko," Dhamir said, dazed from the harsh impact, but not enough to make polite chitchat. "So how's your sister?"

The General's nostrils flared, and she slowly pressed her sword into Dhamir's throat a bit more. "The Regina Shayal of Morento and her glorious empire has been flourishing, especially with the decline of your kind lurking in her streets."

"Oh, that's nice," Dhamir shifted under the imposing woman, hand twitching towards a fallen warrior's shield laying on the ground nearby. "It's been what, ten years since I've seen her last?"

"Fourteen," General Ildiko replied with a scornful tone. "It's been fourteen years."

Dhamir blinked. "Wow. Are you really that old now?"

Before she could react, he grabbed the escutcheon and shoved General Ildiko's sword away with it, both the weapon and shield leaving their bearers' grasp and crashing into the ground several feet away. In the instant where she watched her bloodstained sword fall away, Dhamir looped his legs around the woman's torso and twisted her over so where their positions were switched with him above her body on the ground.

General Ildiko's nose wrinkled, unimpressed. Without warning, she lunged upwards that pushed Dhamir off, her sheer strength overcoming his advantage and leverage. Suddenly, the two went tumbling down the hill, still shoving and yanking each other, rolling over fallen soldiers, rocks, and abandoned weapons. Before they reached the bottom, General Ildiko let go and allowed herself to stumble off in a different direction.

Dhamir came to an abrupt stop, his head ramming into something hard. He laid there for a minute or so, eyes closed as he rubbed his head, before someone kicked him.

"Get up."

He opened his eyes. General Ildiko stood over him, her helmet gone, tangled hair down, and sword pointed at him. "I said, get up," she growled, kicking him again like a dog.

Slowly, Dhamir stood up, raising his hands up defensively.

"I hate you," General Ildiko hissed, her dark eyes burning with ancient resentment and fresh betrayal. "I thought you were my friend. I trusted you. You made me think that I had a choice. You made me think that I could change the course of history."

"Ildiko-"

"BUT IT WAS ALL A LIE!" Dhamir flinched at the warrior woman's sudden raise in volume. Taking a deep breath, the General took back control over herself, and when she spoke again, her voice was low and hollow. "It was just all a lie. In the end, all you and your people wanted me for was to use me. Our friendship was nothing."

Dhamir felt his heart break a little bit as he saw another crack in the General's armor, a broken piece of Ildiko, poor little abused Princess Ildiko. His childhood ally. His partner in crime. His best friend, now twisted into the image that her sister wanted her to become all along.

Taking a deep breath, Dhamir attempted to reason with his long-gone friend. "It wasn't nothing. Our friendship meant everything to me. I-"

General Ildiko chuckled darkly. "You always were a good little liar, weren't you?" Without a moment's hesitation, she kicked him to the ground again and pressed the tip of her sword not to his throat, but this time just above his heart. "Let's just stop these small white lies from leaving your mouth ever again."

Within the time that she raised her sword for the fatal blow, Dhamir saw blue. As the sword fell, he closed his eyes, waiting for the pain of death to come.

But it didn't.

After a tense, silent moment, Dhamir opened his eyes, only to find no one there. Hesitantly, he sat up and looked around. The battle between his people and the Morentians was still going on strong all around him, but the Morentian General was missing in action. Gone.

Ildiko was gone. Again. And somehow, losing her again like that hurt more than he ever thought it could.