ADDENDUM // Phantasm AU Extras

This Side of Paradise

When Simon joined the military, he didn't think it would be like this. 

In his fifteen year old brain, joining the military didn't mean getting wrapped up in one of the largest wars of all time. It meant getting to be on the ocean, sailing around with the winds and occasionally taking down a group of unruly pirates in the name of the king. It meant sleeping under the stars, rocking on the gentle waves of the ocean. Playing card games with the crew belowdecks and leaping overboard when the days got too hot to resist the cool waves they sailed on. 

Of course, now he knew better. Now he knew that sometimes, it was better to go against orders than to bring a well-meaning mother of a child in to prison. Now, a demotion wasn't the worst thing in the world - in fact, if might have been the best thing to ever happen to him, if the white flower still tucked into his breast pocket was anything to go by. 

Now, fighting in a war wasn't the heroic act the bards made it out to be.

Simon swung at another pillager, using his sword to dislodge the crossbow from his hand. The weapon went clattering to the ground, and the pillager tried to stumble away, only to back into the wall of the hallway they were fighting in, nowhere to go. The palace halls were really too small for this, and the tiled floors were slippery with blood now after hours of battle. Simon drew his sword back again and swung. The pillager's body toppled to the floor. 

There was no telling how many he had killed now. 

He tried not to think about it too much as he hurried across the floor, trying not to slip and fall on the slick red tiles. Bodies were leaned up against both walls - friend and foe alike - their weapons laying on the ground nearby. Simon wasn't looking at them though - he was too busy looking for a way out of this hall. He needed to get into open space - or at least somewhere where it didn't feel like the place was about to cave in on him. 

It's at the end of the hall that he finds a place where the wall has crumbled in on itself, leaving a makeshift path out into one of the many courtyards the palace has. The garden was a battlefield - though that was to be expected when it was so close to the breach in the walls the pillagers were using to stream into the palace. It was obvious that whatever defense line had been staged here was dissolved now, pillagers and men just shooting and swinging at anything that moved. 

Simon readjusted his grip on his own sword, and was just about to dive into the fray when someone shouted, pointing up at where a row of broken windows looked down over the courtyards. Simon's eyes darted up to follow the gesture. A woman was running past the windows with the crown in her hands. It was only a moment before she was out of sight again, but the brief glance was enough to solidify that it was definitely the king's crown she was carrying.

It could only mean one thing. 

A victorious crow arose from the pillagers in the courtyard, and they began battling something fierce, pushing back any of the men who still stood in their way to get into the palace proper. Simon's heart sank in his chest - the king was dead. After all this fighting, they hadn't even managed to win the war. Now that the king was dead, there was a chance the whole kingdom would fall apart. The crown heir was probably still in the Nether, and the palace was still under siege, and-

Simon quieted his thoughts, hefted his blade and plunged into the courtyard with a heavy heart. 

---

By some miracle, in the chaos following the king's death, Simon didn't die. 

He didn't remember much of it - just fighting and fighting and fighting until the long line of enemies in front of him had dwindled down to nothing and his hand was almost crusted to the hilt of his sword with blood, and then Eret had been there, concern in his eyes as he'd pulled Simon into a hug.