An Adventure of a Lifetime (Nonbinary Version)

The Battle of Monmouth

A child who has just been rewarded a toy.

"How do you feel about this?" I asked Alex.

Irritation spread across his face, "Yeah, he's not the choice I would've gone with."

"I guess we'll have to see how it goes when he leads in the Battle of Monmouth," I sighed.

"I guess so," he met my expression. "Come on, let's go find John and write more."

Okay, but he writes non-stop.

~~~

"Everyone attack!" Washington sent us back to the battlefield.

"Retreat!" Lee sent us back to the safety of our camp.

"Attack!"

"Retreat!"

It's been days, and we're not making any progress!

"What are you doing, Lee? Get back on your feet!" I screamed at him as he was about to order us to retreat for the God-who-knows-what time.

"But there's so many of them!" he shrieked.

"I'm sorry, is this not your speed?!" I retorted.

"I'm in command of this troop, so you better follow my orders if you don't want to be left behind!" he sneered.

I stayed silent, as my mind went to work.

"Alex," I caught up to where he was walking. "Talk to the general as soon as we get back. It's about time something changed."

He nodded in agreement.

~~~

When we made it back, Alexander went straight into Washington's tent. The rest of our soldiers were reloading on supplies, ready to head straight back to the field.

"Y/N!" Alexander came running over to me. "Washington is going to put you in command."

"Me?" My eyes widened.

"Yeah. He says he knows you'll get things done. Come on, time to go."

I found Lafayette and John distributing ammunition to others.

"Are y'all almost done?" I asked.

"Yeah," John nodded quickly. "I heard about your new position—word's been circling around fast. Congrats, but can you handle it?" he looked me in the eye.

"Well, it's not like I can just hand it over to someone else," I rolled my eyes. "I'll try my best."

"I believe in you," Laf said. "We all do."

"Those nasty glares others are giving me say that not everyone agrees," I frowned.

"Their opinions don't matter," John said flatly. "They don't overlook your appearance. You may not have got the brawn but you certainly have the brains. Even the general whom you've barely interacted with can see how smart and talented you are. He'll make sure they follow your command."

Laf - and Alex, who just came over - nodded in agreement.

"Ok, that's everyone," Laf said while John handed me back my bayonet after he had reloaded it for me.

"Ok," I took a long, deep breath, "time to leave again."

***

Hours of shots whizzing past our faces passed, and we were currently taking life-saving shelter in a trench. I took a moment to ease my labored breathing as I pressed my back against the sun-baked dirt. Seconds later, I poked my head out and pointed my gun, targeting the figures a few-hundred yards away.

"How many more do you think?" I wheezed out as I slid back down.

"Couple hundred," Alex huffed out.

"Oh, God, I need water!" I cried. My entire body felt on the verge of death. The back of my throat stung every time I spoke, and my head wouldn't stop spinning. "Where's Molly?"

"Haven't seen her in a while. Maybe she'll be back soon. Maybe something happened to her."

"So help me if someone shot her!" I gritted my teeth. Then with passion, I stood back up and continued firing.

"Hey!" I shouted at everyone. "Don't waste any more time. Let's get this over with!"

After another hour or so, we finally snatched the stalemate. We took in our surroundings after the redcoats left.

We won.

"How many?" I turned to John.

"Around 1000 just from the heat. Not much more after that," he reported.

I nodded silently. I stood still, staring off into the distance when I caught a much-unwanted glimpse of the infamous Charles Lee.

Suddenly a strong wave of courage and nerve washed over me. I walked up to him and slapped him in the face. He was about to say something - or probably scream at me - but I spoke before he could.

"Look what you did! We lost so many lives that could've been prevented if we had finished this battle a week ago when it was overcast!" I wanted to kill him right then and there.

His face contorted, and I skillfully stepped back as I watched his fist fly through the air in front of me.

I smirked, "Wouldn't be so smart of you to assault your superior, much less one endorsed by Washington."

I waved my hand as I turned around and stalked away, tuning out whatever he had to say back.

"Let's go," I led the soldiers on the long trek back.

At least I have one good thing to report to Washington.

I stuffed my filth-covered hands into the worn-out pockets of my beige uniform pants and began onwards.

***

A/N: Hey, guys! Thanksgiving is coming up soon (for those of you in the US)! I hope everyone has a wonderful break!