"Atteeeeeen-shun! Fooor'd march!"

The pain was intense. It was maddening. What had Petia called him? 'Sweet prince'... he was no prince. He had never been a prince. There had been days where he had felt important, worth something, but he was almost glad that they had never been atop a throne, never been held above the everyman. He enjoyed his place; amongst his brothers, being one of many, a part of a team. He did his best work where there were others counting on him.

"Are you a little b***h, private!?"
"Sir, no, Sir!"
"Drop and give me forty!"
"Sir, yes, Sir!"

The only difference was, this time his team was in real danger. The explosives were real, the blood spilling came in torrents. They had all done what they could, and this was where it had brought them. It wasn't that there was much to regret here, there had been good times. ...there had been great times, actually. He had made good friends here like his brothers in the military. There had been a real sense of pride working with the Hunters, working together for common goals, respecting them and being respected.

Fido wouldn't go down. Adam gave an angry roar as he rolled out of the way of another hard strike. Why did it always seem like fact-finding missions with Isaac ended up being monster-finding missions? The men had stumbled across a feeding werewolf and immediately become the next thing on the menu. Adam was bleeding profusely from a handful of wounds across his face, one blinding him with a torrent of red. His leg was hurt as well, he wasn't sure how much longer he could fight without needing to retreat.

He looked up then at Isaac, and they locked eyes. There was strength to be found there, reassurance. The beast began another approach, but it was too late. The men had spoken without words. Adam leaped to his feet and began to strafe while moving backward. They could do this.

When he was close enough, he felt the cold fingers of Kyanos rip down his back.

"Three more steps and I'll be right behind you," came a whisper from behind him, "Charge on the count of three..."

"One..."
"Two..."
"Three!"

Although he could feel the blood pooling beneath his cheek, Adam's spirits lifted at the memory. He had done good work, and made good friends. Hell, he'd made some excellent friends, older and younger, of different factions and pasts as varied as the world could create.

Adam lunged up and onto Cliff's back, pulling off the Death Hunter's hat and holding it far above him. He couldn't help but laugh.

"Yee-haw!" He slid off as Cliff stumbled and reeled against the wall, and he could see the older man fighting a grin. It was only reassurance.

"Oh it is on," Cliff said, grabbing Adam by the coat and tugging him down into a headlock, "Nobody steals my hat!"

"AGHK!" A hand flew up to hold the hat atop Adam's head as he struggled in Cliff's grasp. "No!"

"YOU no!" Cliff responded, trying to both grab the hat and maintain the headlock. He only succeeded in flipping them both to the floor, Cliff atop Adam's back, and the laughing wrestling match began.

Adam's lips curled up slightly. There had been some exceptionally good times on the Island, even amidst constant wartime. Even as soldiers, there were soft, sweet moments. Cliff and Isaac... they had shared one just before things had gone wrong. Himself, though, he had never--

No, that wasn't true. They had seemed different at the time, but looking back, there had been times that were soft and romantic. He should have enjoyed them more, but it was too late now. All he could do was... remember.

"The stars are beautiful tonight," he grinned, tugging Zoey's arm to lead her out into the chill Island air, "Come on, I want to show you..." The spot he had picked was still on the grounds, out of the way of most danger and before the trees, just a little clearing perfect for stargazing. He had a bag wrapped in a colorful, worn blanket beneath his arm and inhaled the sweet evening air.

Zoey seemed less excited. She tugged her coat closer around her and followed almost reluctantly. He had rarely seen her outside, and with good reason. So many bad things emerged from the darkness.

"Show me what?" she asked, squinting at what he held beneath his arm. He tried to further conceal it. "We could see the stars out the window, y'know . . ." She didn't look him in the eye as she spoke... was she embarrassed? Shy?

"Come on now, it's not the same," Adam insisted, "Look... how can they ever be that clear through a window?" He turned his face up to the sky, briefly giving Zoey's hand a squeeze. He had always had a fascination with the night sky, the little points of light that may have died a million years ago, but had only barely reached Earth. There was a mysterious beauty about it. It... reminded him of Zoey.

"I-I don't know, if there weren't any clouds?" the young woman stammered. Her companion was beginning to worry if he might be frightening her, or at the very least making her uncomfortable. "Adam, I didn't eat dinner . . . Could it wait 'til after?"

He took that as a cue, releasing her hand and dropping to a knee.

"Oh, we've got that covered," he said, unrolling the paper bag and fluffing out the blanket. Their dinner would be sandwiches and fruit from the cafeteria, wrapped up nicely and taken outside for a pleasant picnic. He threw the blanket out then, fluffing it in the air and spreading it out flat. An odd urge struck, and he went with it.

"I can show you the woooooorld, shining, shimmering, spleeeendiiiid~ Tell me, Princess, now when did you last... llleeemehneh mehheh--! A whole neeeew wooooorld!" Alright, so he hadn't heard the song in a while. He could only grin when Zoey's look of shock dissolved into hysterical laughter. Had he really been that funny? A warmth flooded him and his stomach did a flop.

The sound rang in Adam's ears, and a red grin split his face in two. There had been hard work, amazing people, and good friends. He would see them soon, he was certain. After what they had seen and slain, there was no doubt in his mind that something existed beyond the human plane of understanding. Zoey's musical laughter continued as Adam's body relaxed. Like that, he was gone, perhaps the only smiling corpse on the battlefield.

[[ characters used with permission/input from creators ]]