Prologue V
"To be able to look back on one's past life with satisfaction is to live twice,"
-Lord Acton
The wind blew against him with such intensity. He could barely muster the courage to keep a courageous façade. But he had to. He had to keep a brave face.
He had to for his men.
The screams and echoes of battle rang through the trenches. A layer of water rested at the bottom. It was black in color, and smelled of shít. He scowled, adjusting his gun. Life in the trenches was it's own kind of special hell. It was horrible.
"Hey now, Hell is probably worse than this." Him again. He man scowled, side-eyeing his men. They seemed preoccupied. They wouldn't hear him talk now.
"What do you want?" He hissed, attempting to keep his voice down.
"Now now, is that anyway to treat your best friend?" The voice hummed.
"You and I are not friends, wolf. If anything, you're just an annoyance."
"You wound me, Captain."
"How I wish I could."
He could feel the being roll its eyes within his head. Whatever it was, it was annoying. "You are probably the worst vessel I've had. In all my years of living, I've never experienced a worse man than you, Albert."
Albert rolled his eyes, adjusting his gun yet again. He didn't respond to the voice. He knew his comrades were inching closer to him. Couldn't risk them hearing him mutter to himself now, could he?
"Captain, we are awaiting your explicit orders. On your call we will jump into No Man's Land and attack the Austrians." One of them said. A young man, barely twenty. Albert frowned at his age. Why was a man as young as him in battle?
Of course, he himself was barely twenty-five, so there wasn't much of a difference between them. "Thank you, Judge. Now, on my count, we will attack."
The troops nodded, readying their guns. Albert nodded, and then sent the signal. The group immediately pulled themselves out of the trenches and into No Man's Land. The sound of water splashing and gunshots echoed over their screams as they went off to fight.
Albert tightened his grip on his gun, and then threw himself over the wall of the trench.
As he ran forward through No Man's Land, a sudden chill ran through his whole body. It was strange. He felt as if something was pulling him towards something. Albert glanced towards where it was, only to see more troops fighting. His eyes were immediately drawn to one wearing the British armies uniform. He swung haplessly with his bayonet. Albert watched as one of his comrades shot the enemy he was attempting to fight. His comrade shouted at him before they continued on.
"How intriguing." The voice in his head hummed. Albert shook his head, focusing forward.
He was about to continue on when the sound of a un shot rang out. Pain immediately flared up in his side. Albert groaned, clutching his side.
He should be dead. He was going to die. Albert groaned, wrapping his arms around himself. He was barely able to see through the pain. He saw the outline of the soldier who shot him, raising his gun to shoot again. Suddenly, the man was shot. As soon as another figure came into his view, Albert passed out.
"Don't worry, I'll work on healing you."
****
Albert opened his eyes, blinking in the dim lighting. He groaned, pain flaring up in his side as he tried to sit up. Suddenly, he was pushed back down. "Just stay laying down, sir. It'd be best that you don't move as much." Was that...a woman?
He looked to his right, seeing a young woman standing there. She wore nurses garb, so he assumed her to be one. She had blood stained on her white dress. Was it his, or someone else's?
"Where...am I?" He asked, barely managing to speak.
The woman pressed a cup of water to his lips. "Drink." Albert obeyed. "You're in the hospital here in Paris. You were rushed over here when the field doctors barely managed to fix you up. You got shot in the abdomen in No Man's Land."
"How'd I get out, then?" He asked after swallowing the water.
"A nice British soldier, apparently. He's also injured. He was apparently shot in the shoulder trying to haul you out of there. He's in another room, though."
"What nice people." The voice hummed. He chuckled slightly at the end. Was he hiding something?
Albert sighed. "Thank you, ma'am."
"It's of no problem. My name is Lizette, what's yours?"
"Albert."
"You're American, right?"
"That would be the case, Lizette. Are you a Parisian native?"
"Yes, Sir." She answered, checking his bandage. "Born and raised."
Albert smiled. "You got a family?"
Lizette shook her head. "I do not. I'm only twenty-two. I'm sure most women would be married by now, but with the war..."
"I understand. I've not had the chance to marry either."
He watched as the nurses face flushed. "Oh, I see..."
"She's into you. I wonder what he has to say about that..." The voice muttered.
Albert was tempted to ask what he meant by that second part. The first part he was okay with. She was a fairly attractive woman. Albert smiled at her. He was about to say something when the door suddenly opened. Albert looked towards it, only to see that weak soldier from the battlefield.
He had his arm in a sling. The same strange tugging began. Albert realized that he was also feeling that same tug towards Lizette. He frowned. The soldier panted. Was he seriously out of breath? Lizette frowned. "What are you doing here, sir?"
"I came to check on him. Is he alright?" His accent shown through. There was no doubt he was British.
Lizette nodded. "Mister Albert is perfectly alright, sir."
The soldier sighed, clearly relieved. Albert sat up, the pain in his side seemingly vanishing. "I want to thank you for saving me. You didn't have to."
"Oh, no, it's alright. I-" he hesitated. Albert frowned. "Uh- well, I just felt like this little voice inside of me was telling me to help you. It's all good."
"'Little voice', huh? He won't like that." The voice muttered. Albert frowned, pressing a hand against his temple.
What the hell was wrong with it?
"What's your name, by the way?" Lizette asked, her French accent making her words sound slightly muddled.
"Newt. It's nice to meet you." He said, rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm Lizette, and this here is Albert." Lizette said. She gestured at Albert as she said his name.
Albert nodded. "I want to thank you for saving me, again."
"As I said before, it's alright. No need to thank me more than one, Albert."
Lizette smiled. Albert was about to say something when a cold wind suddenly blew by him. He frowned, looking around. What was that?
"Oh- oh Odin. Oh no. Oh oh oh no." The voice...was it okay?
Albert frowned. What was wrong?
Lizette and Newt also look confused. Albert rubbed his forehead. He was about to ask the others if they felt weird too, when suddenly, the room exploded.