His Soldier {Boy x Boy}

Chapter XXVIII

[Ethan}

That night I dreamt of a dark land. I didn't know where I was, nothing was familiar. Everything around me had turned to ash, the sky blackened with smoke. The only light came from small embers scattered around the place.

"In....die?" A charred body reached out to me and I flinched backwards as its burnt fingertips scraped my ankles. On its head was a small tuft of red hair.

"Denton?" I swallowed hard, hoping it wasn't who I thought it was.

"Why?" His burning hand grabbed a hold on my foot, and soon after, multiple hands and vaguely human shaped figures rose from the sea of ash.

"Why'd ya leave?"

"Was it worth it?"

"Must be nice, you suffered nothing."

The voices bounced in my head and left no room for my own thoughts. My heart felt heavy with guilt and the voices hissed at me once again.

"Ethan,"

The voices cleared, my tears leaving clean streaks of scarred skin on my ash covered body.

"Come here, love,"

I was blinded, the hands slipping away from  my body like dead weights. And just as the last hand fell away from my arm, man reached up and took hold of my hands and feet.

"Come here, Ethan,"

The voice drifted away and I sunk down into the ground, desperately trying to dig and force my way upwards. "NO, PLEASE, GAUGE-!"

And once more, the Earth swallowed me whole.

"Ethan," voices whispered around me, my entire body going numb as I tried to open my eye. A light shone bright and blinded me, a sigh of relief escaped someone's lips.

"Jeez, can we have a day or two where you don't try to die on us?" Sage asked as he wheeled closer. Ace was the once directly next to me, and in-between the mess of my squad and some witches, I could see Denton sitting up and looking at me worriedly.

"I'm fine," I mumbled quietly, thought it was obvious that was a lie. My hands rubbed along my arms as to reassure myself I was safe, and the movement didn't go unnoticed by my squad. However, they didn't get the chance to say anything about it as Grand Witch Yashka pushed her way through the crowd to reach me.

"Then you are ready for today's list of things to do?" She leaned forward, a look that knew it all was plastered on her face. Of course I didn't admit weakness, that went against everything I had learned in the army.

~*~

Every minute I regretted my decision to go on with the plans, yet what was left of my pride and determination had me going through one more minute at a time.

A loud bang sounded off for the uncountable time in the last five hours, and once more, Terrace had a PTSD attack. He was shouting and taking cover from nothing behind a flipped wooden table. Hotch was comforting him and it seemed he was getting over his PTSD. With every bang, the mages put more and more distance between him and Hotch. In the beginning, Ace had to be sedated since he kept shifting to his Demon Dog.

From my understanding, a potion from the witches was given to him to be in a hyperrealistic simulation of everyday situations. The fact that weres have a survive and adapt ability eased a bit of my worries. I was proud of his progress, turning my gaze elsewhere.

Jess was having a hard time breathing, tears streaming down her face as a bright light coming out of her chest. She was put to running around the field. Witches and wizards were surrounding her, keeping the oxygen tank close by as they pushed her and forcefully mended her lungs and throat.