The Raiders and The Princess

by FIRE FLASH 3

Chapter X: Say Cheese !

Chapter X

There were some days that no one really wanted to wake up to. In my case, it was every day. But today was different. I awoke with a feeling of numbness that ran throughout my body. It felt a bit like when you sleep on your arm or hand and when you get up, there's this strange feeling running through it.

This was exactly the same thing except there was another feeling. It was near my chest cavity. When I finally found the strength to lift my head, all I could see was lump of dark blue hair and a pink and violet stripe running the length of it.

Twilight.

I placed my hand on her head. And the second my hand touched it, her head shot up and my hand went limp again and fell back onto my stomach. She shook her head in a cute manner to get some hair out of her face until she finally noticed me.

A huge smile appeared on her face and she leapt onto me and hugged me to the point that I started hugging her back. When she finally got off of me, I could see that tears were falling from her face. I lifted my hand again and began wiping them off. She sniffed before speaking.

“I'm sorry... I was so worried about you. I started to think that my spell hadn't worked.” She said, sniffing a bit more. I just smiled back at her. But on her face, I could see the expression of pain.

“Did you dream of him again?” I asked, making her reel back in shock. She didn't answer at first, but she finally decided to open up to me.

“Y-Yes” she sighed, a few tears appearing in her eyes. “How did you know?” She asked innocently.

“You're showing pain, that's how. And I doubt that seeing me like this can make someone tear up over me.” I said, earning a punch on the shoulder and a slap on the back of the head. The stern look she gave me plainly said: 'Cherche pas! Cherche pas frèro!'

“The others came by this morning, they told me to tell you that your colonel would come around ten ô clock.” She said and just as she finished, Mark and Colonel Sanders came through the OP tent. As soon as they saw me and Twilight sat together, Mark leaned over to Sanders and said something causing the Colonel to chuckle. As they approached, I grew increasingly uneasy over the fact that all eyes were on me.

They both stopped at the end of ly bed and Doctor McCarter slowly came by from the left. After a few moments, Colonel Sanders gave me a warm smile and decided to start the conversation.

“How are you feeling Sargent?” He asked, unlike most times his voice sounded sincere.

“Fine sir, just... a bit confused as to what happened.” I stated, causing him to shake his head and smile. He then turned towards McCarter and gestured for him to say something.

“Yes well... hhmmph... we don't know exactly how you survived. According to Jack, it was Miss... Miss...” He trailed off looking at Twilight with an expectant look. She smiled and complied.

“Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle.” She said, a sing song sensation in her voice.

“She's still going with that?” Sanders whispered loudly to Mark. But McCarter decided to continue, no matter how much he disbelieved her name.

“Anyway, it would appear that Miss Sparkle here...” He gestured to Twilight who was sat next to me. “... saved your life some how. Your friends brought you here just in time, otherwise, time would not have been on our side.” He finished, before a medic walked up to him with piece of paper. They spoke for a few moments before the man headed off towards the Pre OP.

During the entire conversation, the Colonel eyed Twilight curiously causing her to grow increasingly uneasy at my side. After doctor McCarter was done explaining a few things, he finally decided to speak.

“Why is she wearing a raincoat indoors?” He asked me, though he never looked at me.

“Oh you know... women...” I trailed off, allowing the Colonel to laugh. Shaking his head, he turned to McCarter.

“When will he be ready to leave, Lieutenant?” He asked. McCarter took a look at me first, then turned his gaze towards Colonel Sanders.

“Right now I guess. Though normally I would want to keep you here a bit longer, I see no reason to withhold you.” He stated, getting a nod of approval from Sanders. “Either way, what you need a shower and I'm sure that if you need any help 'Sparky' here would be there to help you.” He said mockingly. I looked at Mark and raised my right brow.

“Sparky?”

“We decided that she needed a nickname. Don't you think it's good?” He asked, sounding a bit offended by my question.

“No, nothings wrong.” I said, trying to get though my body still felt weird. The tingling sensation was still there but it was to be expected when someone uses magic on you. Well at least if you know something about magic.

This whole thing was freaking me out. What if she'd done something to me that could have repercussions over time. What if I suddenly grew wings and a tail! What if I suddenly found myself as a pony? Oh... I think I'm starting to get a headache.

XXXXXXXXX

Once I was up, a uniform was handed over to me. Probably my old one. I slipped on the clothes as quickly as I could. Though I was told not to anything while I was healing, that didn't mean that I was going to skip the clean up. It was now 12h32, and I knew that most of the work would already be done.

What interested me the most was the sentence “Either way, what you need is a shower”. Just that one sentence could have an untold impact on my mentality. I hadn't had a shower in... well, since I landed probably. As I walked out of the Post OP, a large figure stood behind me. A strange sound accompanied the shadow that seemed to... flap?. I spun around, expecting Mark or Jack. But nothing could prepare me for what I was about to see.

There, behind me, was Twilight without her rain coat and she was flying. She was roughly 50cm from the ground. A rather large smirk on her face as she hovered in the air. My immediate reaction was to grab her with both hands and pull her down. I turned my head in every direction to make sure no one had seen any of what happened. After a few moments of looking around, I turned my attention to Twilight. A near furious look on my face.

“What... Do you... Think you're doing?!” I asked, the last part almost turning into a scream. Even with my angered look, Twilight continued to smirk at me. “What?” I asked, my emotions returning to their somewhat, normal state.

“Your not angry at me are you?” She asked, with a slight giggle.

“Yesss!” I said, waving my arms in the air. “I already told you not to walk around without your raincoat... or fly?” And that's when it hit me, she was flying! “Since when have you been able to fly?”

“Well... ever since I got them.” She stated, after seeing my confused look, a smile began to appear on her face. She suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me behind the MASH tents. Once we were there she then spun around exposing the back of her shirt to me. I could see the point where the wings melded into the skin of her back. I'd never actualy got the chance to notice how well the two mixed together. The way the purple faded into her pale skin.

Even though I was intrigued by her wings, I still wanted to know why she had brought me here. Twilight grabbed one of her wings and plucked out a feather. I thought she would find it painful but her smile remained.

She then spun around towards me with the feather in hand. Slowly she approached me with it, holding its plumes towards me. I slowly began to step back out of confusion. But her now 'devilish' smile betrayed her. I finally understood why she was pointing a feather at me.

And if these are to be my final comprehensible words of the moment, I just want to say this...

I'm really ticklish.

I know that some people would probably run away (as I did). But when you're faced with a woman who can control the elements of this planet, running isn't going to do me any good.

We were both rolling on the dry dirt ground, me howling with laughter. Though I should have probably expected it. Twilight had sometimes told me that she was scared of me. And that, she often thought that I was a grump.

This was her pay back.

Twilight was on all fours on top of while I was rolling on to both my sides while holding my chest. I hadn't laughed like this since deployment. Since the Makin incident. And that was the moment my life changed.

Standing on that submarine, my friends beside me as the smokey island dissapeared into the horizon.

I cried...

Twilight slowly got onto her knees as she placed the feather into one of her pockets. I sat slowly sat up, and found myself floating in a pinkish aura until I was back on my feet. I looked at Twilight and took her arm and pulled her out to where she had left the rain coat. We made a mad dash back to the shelter to avoid anyone seeing Twilights wings. As we ran, Twilight kept on giggling as she looked up at me.

“I can't believe how funny that was.” She said, looking at me while still giggling.

“We will never speak of this... incident again.” I said, while keeping a strait face as we continued to make our way towards our home.

“Oh come on. You must admit that that was kinda hilarious. I knew that was all you needed.” She replied, her smile still present. “Aaaaannnnnddd...” She trailed on. “I now know your wealk spot.” She said, Even though she couldn't see it, I rolled my eyes in amusment, a small smile adorning my lips.

She continued to tease me all the way to the shelter. Once we reached the place, we noticed that the clean up was almost done. The ground was still crimson red, but the bodies had been cleared away. Near the tree line, more men were placing another strip of barbed wire along the outer perimeter.

The shelter was empty, except for our equipment. I placed my stuff down before sitting down myself. My mind drifted on what had just happened. The tickling and all that, before my mind wandered on to a subject that repeated in my head. McCarter had spoken of a shower? Unless it was a way for a doctor to mentally relieve their patients.

The thought of a shower played over and over again in my mind. As I closed my eyes, I could almost feel the water splashing across my skin. Ohh... what a wonderful feeling it would be. When I opened my eyes, I noticed that Twilight was putting her raincoat back on. As I watched her put it back on, my vision became blurred by the beautiful sight.

Her arms raised in the air as she slid the rain coat over her head. Her luxurious long dark blue hair with its pink and indigo stripes running the length of it. The coat slid down to her chest area. The shirt hugging loosly her C cups. It continued to cover her body slowly arriving at her hourglass waist before slowly coming to a halt around her rear and thighs.

Her rear was rather cute and added to her curves.

And it was then that I thought back to my conversation with Mark from last night. 'Il avait raison ce con' I thought to myself. 'Suis-je vraiment amoureux d'elle?' I had often taken the habit of staring absent mindedly at her curvaceous form. Had I been at school when I met her, I would never have had the courage to ask her out. And even now, there was no way for me to fall in love with this angel from Heaven.

I was not afraid of asking her so to speak, I had gone far beyond the fear of dating. Rather, I was afraid of starting something to good for me to back out. And what would happen if I actually enjoyed it?

My train of thought was suddenly broken as someone jumped into our festung. I forcefully averted my eyes to see who was now amongst us. Mark, Jack and Tomy were all standing, talking to each other. Though I had trouble believing that they were done with the clean up, I also couldn't believe how clean they looked.

Sure, their clothes were covered with blood from having to drag the bodies away. Their visible skin was clean. Well... as clean as you could get it around here. After a few more minutes, Jack finally realised my confused expression.

“What's up Lou?” He asked, causing the others to turn their attention towards me. I sucked on the side of my cheek for a moment before I opened my mouth.

“How are you guys so clean?” I asked, plainly. They all stared at me with confusion as I continued to stare at them. Finally, Mark realised what I was talking about.

“Oh... Didn't I tell you?” He asked, sounding rather precarious about what he was asking. I only shook my head as a reply. “Surely this morning, I told you that some guy from the Division worked as a reporter and had a camera with him.” He stopped, awaiting my initial reaction. “That's why me and Mc told you to have a shower.” He finished. At this last sentence, I sat up, scrunching my nose up.

“I got the shower bit, this morning, but I have no recall of you talking about a photographer.” I replied, causing Jack and Tomy to slap Mark on the back of the head. In the corner of the bunker, Twilight giggled, even under Marks glare.

“What he should have told you is that, this guy wants to make a catalogue of the entire Division with whatever film he has left.” Jack explained, I could only stand up and look at them in disbelief. “And we sorta signed ourselves up.” He added, “All of us.” He squeaked.

This was the moment that I reached breaking point. They had not only agreed without my consent, to a photo shoot, but they also agreed for everyone, including Twilight.

“You what?” I asked, feeling the fumes rising. None of them dared to answer, so I continued. “And why would anyone want to do a photo shoot right after this!” I yelled, waving my arms in all directions to emphasise my bewilderment.

“According to the guy, the shoot has been planned for a week or so.” Mark said, causing the others to shuffle on their feet. “The guy er... George Burk, only came up to me today to tell me that he wanted to include as many people as he could of each squad. He told me that the Raiders weren't going to be in the photos because Carlson said 'no'!”

“So the shoot is by squad?” I asked, getting nods from all of them. “And no one else will be present apart from the next group?” Again, another set of nods. I thought about it for a moment, the idea was still kinda crazy, after what happened last night. But in the end, I could only agree with their decisions as I would do exactly the same thing if I had been in their place. Even if that meant Twilight was going to be in the picture, I couldn't care less. Being wounded was of no importance for me.

“And this might be the last chance we get to have a photo with all of us together.” Tomy stated.

just that thought that it might be the last time we could all be together made me agree. Though I was disobeying the orders that had, apparently, been given out, I still remember how sad I felt when I left France without any school photographs.

Though one thing did catch my immediate attention. No reflective clothing. That meant that, Twilight wouldn't be able to wear the raincoat. The moment I heard that, I began to reconsider.

But finally, Twilight and the others (though mostly Twilight) managed to convince me to let it pass. I tried to tell them that if anyone saw the wings, or the tail for that matter, we would certainly be caught and Twilight would be taken away. I was not prepared to let that happen.

Mark kept on telling me that what I kept saying was a load of old rubbish. But I stood my ground, it was only when Tomy intervened with an idea so simple, that I finally let them have their way (They forced me). Tomys idea was as follows: to pretend that Twilight was wearing a prop. A 'home' made pair of wings that we made. Twilight agreed to have her wings out in the open, the prop thing would probably work after all.

After my 'sighed' agreement, I told the guys to look after Twilight while I went for a shower. Just as I was expecting, in the centre of the compound, a long bivouac stood. Roughly twenty meters in length, and six meters in width. I watched as men were coming out and others were going in. MPs were standing at the entrance, and through every hole there was in the tent, steam rose up into the sky.

Rather dangerous if you ask me.

As I walked up, a guy from the second platoon of Fox company through his wet towel at me. I caught it and went in. There were two aisles, 5 showers ran down the length of it on the left, and there were four aisles of showers in total. That meant a total of 20 showers.

I absent mindedly went down the left aisle. When I reached the last shower unit right at the back of the tent, I was relieved to see that it was empty. A somewhat curtain was draped over a rail, allowing some form of privacy. All around me, I could hear men chatting, talking about family life and what they were going to do when they got home.

There was so much noise that I decided to close my eyes. Pull on the release chain and let half a letter fall onto my blistered and sore body. A bar of soap was thrown over the top of the curtain, dividing the shower units from each other. The soap hit me right on the head causing me to fall over onto my ass onto the wet muddy ground.

The ground wasn't covered in tarpaulin. It was nothing more than the dirty ground of the outside compound. Only now, it had become a muddy swamp.

And as I let the water wash away my worries for the time being, it wasn't nearly soothing enough for what happened next.

XXXXXXXXX

I peered through a small hole in the tent of the showers. I watched as Lou walked in, naked. He did have a towel around his waist. I watched carefully as he began to pour water all over his body, not using much water, just enough to clean the top of his body and not get his towel wet.

I was so glad that Lou had chosen this last spot. The place was ideal. The shower he was using was situated at the back of the tent, where no guards were situated. A perfect spot for a teleportation spell.

The tracking spell I had placed on Lou had worked a charm, now... I just had to get into the shower with him. There are so many humans in there, I hope that Lou won't mind me popping out of nowhere. But... its not like I have a choice, if I wait until Lou's finished then someone else would take his place. And the queue on the other side is way to long for even me to bare. But I don't want to miss the photo, I'm rather looking forward to it so that I may take home a souvenir.

I took one last look at my surroundings, making sure no one was watching. Closing my eyes, I raised my right foreho-- er arm... at the structure, before casting the spell. 'Oh Celestia please don't let Lou freak out...

...Please'

XXXXXXXXX

The amount of dirt and grit that was pouring off of me wasn't that surprising. Me and my squad had been subject to the filth of this place. As the last of the grit slipped down my body to the ground, I stopped pulling on the chain that releases the water. Reaching my hand out to grab the towel that I left on the ground, there was a flash of light.

I turned my head slightly, but as soon as I saw Twilight I yelped and pulled the towel around my waist. As soon as she took note of her surroundings and me, she immediately panicked, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

“What are you doing in here?” I hissed, hoping that no one would come in and find us both in here.

“What am I doing here?” She squeaked, in a way that told me that she wasn't surprised by what was
going on. “I was hoping...?” She trailed off.

“You hoped...?” I asked, my question gestured for her to continue

“I was hoping to share a shower with you” She continued, keeping her arms over her rather large breasts, blushing like mad as she turned away from me.

“Can't you see I'm in here?” I asked, causing her face to go bright red. We both continued to stand there, my hands over my groin while she had one arm over her breasts and her right hand over her... 'Oh god... she's not hiding it.

My head shot up as I drove my sexual interest to look up at the ceiling. “Twilight, I though I told you that you're... sexual organs are just as provoking in more ways than you're Breasts.” I said, my left eye opening, wanting to take another look at her--- 'Shut it!'

“I'm sorry, its just... I was hoping that you could show me how to shower in this body. I haven't exactly had the opportunity in this world, as you may have guessed.” She said, before making her way back towards the outer wall. Though, if she wanted a shower, there was no reason for me to let her leave and wait five hours for the guys outside to be done. And I couldn't take the chance of letting her shower alone.

Most of the guys on this island haven't seen a woman since... for goodness knows how long. Rape isn't a thing that people back home would like to hear, but it doesn't mean that these men, who had fought for Heaven and Hell, wouldn't want a small moment of relief and pleasure.

“Just give me a sec... I'm almost dry, all I need to do is get some clothes on then you can have your shower.” I told her, before grabbing my clothes that were hung up on the rail. Twilight gave me a thankful smile and stood in the corner. I turned around with my clothes in my arms and we both starred at each other for a minute, thinking of a way to say what I was about to say in a nice clean manner. “Erm... Twilight, do you think you could avert your eyes while I get my clothes on?” I asked in an ordering kind of manner.

She immediately understood, another red blush appearing on her face. She turned her face away but when she saw that I wasn't moving, she blushed harder, spinning around to face the wall. When I was sure she wasn't looking, I began getting myself dressed.

XXXXXXXXX

I don't know what had come over me to feel so flustered, the fact that Lou is willing to let me stay or the fact that I saw his... 'gulp'? The whole 'human anatomy' thing still is strange for me.

Though I didn't get a good look. It was significantly smaller than any stallion... At least I think it is, though I can't remember that book very well. Though his... (damn it Twilight) may have gotten my attention, there was also the fact that his body was nowhere near as muscular as I thought it would be. I mean, he was rather muscular for someone who hadn't eaten in three days.

If somepony asked me to compare Lous body to that of a stallion, I would say that Lous muscles are a lot more visible than those of a stallion. (Probably through the lack of fur)

As Lou got dressed, I felt compelled to turn my head and look. So, carefully and out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Lou got his clothes on. It was amazing to think that Humans can't hide their genitals without the use of clothing.

I didn't take that long for Lou to get his clothes on. Once I saw him put on his shirt, not closing it because of the large bandage around last nights wound, I decided to turn around. Walking up to the shower, I dropped the towel. Lou quickly averted his eyes. 'Wow, he wasn't joking when he said that he didn't like seeing nudity.' I thought to myself, I mean, we are friends after all. And I can't see anything wrong with that.

Maybe it's a cultural thing? Or maybe he has respect for me?

Lou spun around and kept his back towards me. I giggled slightly, noticing the blush he had on his face. As the water hit my body, I shrieked.

That water was freezing!!

My body required a nice warm, relaxing shower. But this illusion was now shattered. Lou had rushed round, wondering what had happened.

“What happened?” He asked, his eyes clenched shut.

“Nothing, the waters cold, that's all.” I explained, hoping not to cause a fuss. After a few seconds, I got back underneath the cold cascade of water. Lou turned away again and as I continued to wash my mane. With the bar of soap that I saw lying on the floor.

As the water continued to fall onto my body, and I continued scrubbing off all the dirt that had accumulated over the past week and 1 day. But a thought came into my mind. My wings.

How was I suppose to clean them.

Maybe...

XXXXXXXXX

“Looouuuu...” Twilights voice called from behind me. Slowly and carefully, I turned around and cracked my eyes open.

“Yes” I asked the girl who had her butt facing me. Her tail was covering anything rude. She looked at me from the side and had a small blush on her face.

“I... I would appreciate some help with cleaning my wings.” She said, her blush growing. I on the other hand, felt relieved, thinking that she could have asked for help cleaning in places I wouldn't want to talk about. Walking over, I began cleaning behind her wings, rubbing my index finger down the section where her wing met her back.

The second my finger ran the length of her wing attachment, she let out a loud sigh and fell back into my arms as I reacted to catch her before she could fall any further. She lifted her head until she was looking up at me upside down. We stared at each other for a minute before she tore her gaze away from me.

I spent a few minutes preening her wings, putting her feathers straight. Once I was done, I handed her the towel and she proceeded to dry herself off until she was as dry as she could ever be. I was rather amazed at how clean and silky her hair looked, actually, come to think of it, her hair never seemed to get greassy. It always looked as clean as from the moment we found her.

I turned my back as Twilight slipped her clothes on. The second she was ready, I ran her out of the shower tent, leading her out since I had my hand over her eyes since most Marines on this island had taken the habit of taking a moment to clean but not bothering with the privacy thing. In a way, I didn't care any more since I would do exactly the same thing.

Though the guys outside who were waiting for the next shower hung in a row, me and Twilight dashed away before anyone could ask any questions. I swore that I would never speak of this incident ever again.

Ever...

The others hadn't moved since I'd left, they were all sat in their usual spots. Mark took a moment to study us as we ran in. Looking back down at the magazine of ammo, he decided to say something.

“Have a nice shower?” He asked, causing me and Twilight to go red in the face, but he never tore his attention from his bullet counting.

“Yeah, we were able to get presentable for your idea.” I said, as I looked for a place for me to sit. My leg was still throbbing from the last night's wounds, though my shoulder wound was a lot more painful. “What time is this photo thing any ways?” I asked. Mark took the opportunity to get up and start rummaging around in the pile of gear that we had stocked up in the far left corner. Tomy decided to answer my question.

“In and hour roughly, at 1630hrs.” He said, and raised his hand as I was about to ask another question. “And yes... We have already come up with Twilight's props.” He answered my unasked question.

“And?” I gestured for him to continue.

“When we get there, we say that the wings are made of wood, the frame will be anyway. The feathers is nothing more than a load of torn up ass wipe and th---” That was when I cut him off.

“Asswipe? I don't know if you haven't taken a look around but there isn't even enough toilet paper for us to clean our own asses!” I pointed out, causing Jack to smile.

“Then we'll say that we kept some hidden” He said, causing Tomy, Twilight and Mark to burst out laughing. Even if Mark was facing the wall.

“It was either that, or we say that we used real feathers an that we used some red paint and after a while it turned a purplish colour. Either way, we were going to use the red paint bit since we all know that there's red paint down in the stash.” Tomy concluded. And I was seriously trying not to face-palm.

Sighing, I looked at each and every one of them.

“And her tail?” I asked.

“Were were just planning on her doing what she's done all this time, that is: stuffing her tail down her pants.” Tomy said. I sighed once more, they had planned it out a bit, well more than most. Either way, if this didn't work, we would just have to leave Twilight out of the photo.

...But we're family, and this should be a family photo.

“Ah here it is.” came a cry. Mark had finally come away from the corner, holding my LMG in his hands. I tried my best fixing it, but in the end, I thought it had had it.” He said, bringing it over to me.

“Is it busted?” I said, a rather significant feeling of pain as I took my baby into my arms.

“No” He said, shaking his head. “Fixed, you should thank Twilight for that” He said, as I turned my attention over to the girl in question. “Used her magic on it, she did. It works better than ever, except for one slight default.” He said, wincing at the end.

“What default?” I asked.

“Well, when we tested it... it had a tendency to fire, violet tracers.” He said, taking a step back as I looked at him dead in the eyes. After a while, he began to panic. “Its true! We only fired a few shots but it appears that her Magic has affected the firing mechanism.” He explained. After another minute of silence, I turned my attention towards Twilight. She suddenly began to worry her eyes tried averting from my glare.

“I only tried to help.” She said. I on the other hand approached the young Princess and got down to her hight.

“Thank you.” I said, as I wrapped my arms around her. She was surprised by the hug for the most part, but after a few moments, she began to hug back.

Helping Twilight to her feet, I looked around at the others. Shouldering my gun as did the others, after all, if there were still some japs from last nights attack, we should take every necessary precaution.

“Let's get going. Who knows, the sooner we get there, the faster we can get this thing over with.” I told them, a slight tone of irritation in my voice as my mind wandered on the possible outcomes with this photo thing. Either way, I just hope we don't run into the Colonel.

XXXXXXXXX

Arriving early wasn't nearly as rewording as I had thought. We were standing outside for a long time! Probably forty minutes or so. Not too long, but enough for us to stand around with a group of guys who had taken the habit of smoking all over us.

Twilight had taken the opportunity to ask me why anyone would want to smoke anything as disgusting as a cigarette. At first, she had thought that they were on fire and began panicking, thinking that she had to try and find water. I'm just glad that they don't have cigarettes in her world.

After the so for mentioned forty minutes, a guy wearing spectacles came out of the tent and held it open to let a group of Marines out. Some of them were wearing fancy clothes, one guy was wearing a top hat. Uncle Sam's top hat.

I felt relieved that we weren't the only ones that were going to say that we brought costumes, well... one prop. The guy took a look around, scanning the crowd for the next contestants. Me and the others stood near the door just like all of the other Marines. HE continued to search around for a moment until his eyes landed on Twilight wearing her raincoat.

A smile grew on his face.

“Are you guys with her?” He asked no one in particular. Everyone looked at Twilight before a loud assortments of nods and yes's echoed around the area. Me and the others only groaned. I took a step forward and looked at the guy closer up. He appeared to be in his late twenties, light blond hair, green eyes, and a light blond beard.

“Sorry, she's with us.” I said, causing the men behind us to start groaning. The photographer looked at me before looking at Twilight.

“Is this man really with you ma'am” He asked.

“Yes, and them too.” She answered, pointing at the rest of the squad. The guy nodded and gesture for us to go in.

The inside of the tent was just as plain and green as any other tent. The only difference was the fact that there was a large hole in the roof, obviously caused by a shell of some calibre. Nevertheless, the hole alowed light to flow in, even though the sun had already set behind the trees.

On the oposite side of the tent, face to the door. A clear space was there. But along the length of the walls was an assortment of stuff. In the centre of the room, a camera was placed, it looked something like a tourist camera. It was rather small, it appeared to be a German made camera. The Germans were always very good at making cameras. The camera was sat on a tripod. I took a closer look and saw that there was the words: Made in Germany, inscribed on the side.

The man walked in, closing the tent as he did. He immediately walked over to me, seeing that I was the Sargent here.

“My name is Jonathan Reminger...” He said. “So... you guys got any costumes or anything... something to lighten the mood?” He asked, his accent indicating that he came from the western coast.

“Yeah... its her costume, do you think you can give us a minute to get it on?” I asked, hoping that he would just leave the tent for a minute.

“Sure.” He said, pointing at the other wall that was now clearly another exit. “She can do it out there, there's nothing behind there except the jungle.” He continued as he walked over to his camera and began adjusting it.

“You two, stay here. I'll take Twilight outside and 'help her out'” I said, stretching out the last part of my sentence. They nodded and walked over to the area for the photo. Meanwhile, me and Twilight walked outside and I helped her get her raincoat over her head. She smiled as I took it from her. I then leaned in close and whispered into her ear. “Alright, remember your wings aren't supposed to be real, so you mustn't move them at all, is that clear?” I explained to her. She nodded in understanding before flexing her violet wings in a few directions.

“Are you sure this is gonna work?” She asked, making me nervous a bit.

“I hope so...” I replied, picking up my gun and helping her back in.

Jonathan stood there in shock when he saw Twilight walk in with the pair of purple wings. He closed his mouth as Twilight sat down with the others. He then turned his attention to me. I was about to answer his unasked question but he decided to cut me off first.

“I won't ask.” He said casually. “I've seen stranger things.” He stated, shaking his head casually. I smiled and joined the others.

It was decided that me and Twilight would kneel on one knee while the other stood behind us. But the pain caused by my leg was enough to start making me sweat. Either way, I endured the pain in my leg and my shoulder (since my Johnson was shouldered on my shoulder wound. Jonathan took a few looks through the lens of his camera took make sure that we were all in the frame.

After five or ten minutes of moving to the left and the right, we were finally ready to take the picture.

“Alright, I think I've got it.” He said to himself as he checked that it was the case. After a moment, he moved his head away from the camera and took a good look at us.

“Say Cheese!”

“Cheese!!” We yelled in unison as we all put on our best smiles.

A 'click' and that was it, we all got up and Jonathan walked up to me.

“Well... that's a keeper.” He said as he stood back up to face me. “You'll have to come and get it... erm...” He trailed off as he waited for me to say my name.

“Lou. Lou Conlin.” I said. Causing him to nod and shake my hand.

“Well, if you or that girl ever want another shot, I'll be glad to do so.” He said, still shaking my hand.

“Maybe when the war's over, we're not supposed to be here you see.” I said to him, causing him to smile.

“Oh... Well don't worry, I won't say word.”He said. Letting go of my hand, he accompanied me to the door, the others had already left, and I had seen Twilight slip her raincoat on.

“Thanks Mister Reminger.” I said to him as he opened the tent for me. Allowing me to exit.

“Please, call me Jonathan.” He said, as he saw me out.

I began to walk away, my eyes looking at the ground when I saw a rather large pair of boots in front of me. My head slowly rose to meet the man's level. The Colonel's level.

He glared at me for the briefest of moments as he stared at me with his dark blue eyes. I cowared under his glare like a child being told off for stealing apples from someone's orchard.

“Mind giving me an explanation for this, First Sargent?” He asked, I don't know where the others had gotten to, but I hoped that they were okay.

XXXXXXXXX

“What the hell were you thinking!” Sanders yelled. We were now back at the CP, and I was now alone with the devil himself (if you get on his bad side).

“Sorry sir. I thought it would be a nice thing to do.” I replied, Sanders continued to circle me.

“A 'nice thing to do'?” He asked. “What do you think this? A tourist camp!” He yelled, making me flinch.

“No sir. Just to try and get moral up, sir!” I replied.

“Did you even remember of our little talk from when you first found that girl out there?” He asked, his tone smoothing a bit. “ Well in case you don't remember, I told you that no one must know about her in the outside world. A photo, Lou, can play a great part in sending out such information.” He said, I could only look down in regret. I had, in effect disobeyed my orders.

“I'm sorry, sir” This caused him to sigh.

“I won't make too much of a big deal out of this, I can understand that all you wanted to do was have a bit of fun.” He said, his voice turning back into a calm state. “I'll have those photographs destroyed and that will be that.” As he said that, I felt my heart sink. 'Merde'.

“I understand sir.” I said.

“Lou...”

“Yes sir?”

“I have something to say, this is official.” He started. “I've been looking for you while you were having you picture taken. I've got orders from above.” He said, his head lowering to the ground. “Since last night's attack, my superiors want to send everyone we can spare to the front. They don't want to hear of such an incident ever again.”

“Sir?” I asked, wondering what he was getting at, hoping that he wasn't planning on sending us to the front.

“I'm sending Able company to the western perimeter. Though I know that you are attached to that company, the orders read that all Raider battalions are to help resupply our lines.” He said, confirming part of my fears.

“So you want me and the guys to resupply our lines at night fall?” I asked. This caused the Colonel to grow anxious.

“And the girl.” He said, shocking me. I was about to answer him, tell him that it is insane for us to take Twilight out there! “Look, I know what you're going to say, but we need every hand we can get. I'm not asking you to take her onto the line, but just to the point where you can take the stuff she's carrying to the guys on the line.” He said, trying his best not to make me explode with fury

Though I may have been standing on the edge of a knife, I found myself unable to stop glaring at him. He could only look away to not meet my glare.

“Look Lou, I have no say in this. I would tell you to leave her here, but she’s part of your squad and you’re not as combat effective just the four of you when you can have five.” He said, defending himself. My glare eased, I knew that there was nothing that could be said. He was right after all, the line would depend on us to bring enough ammunition to last the night.

“I understand, sir.” I said, no anger in my voice. He nodded before back round to his desk. “I’ll go and update my squad on the situation.” I continued, turning to leave through the door.

“Your rally point is at the depot, half a mile from the perimeter.” He said, I only turned my head, saluted in response. He saluted back, and I made my way back to the others. I knew that we would have to leave soon so that we could get there before dark. The sun had long since disappeared from behind the trees, and it would be to dangerous to walk along the road at night.

And so, I began to make my way back, Marines running past me, carrying munitions and bandages, all of them moving out. Officers and squad leaders were yelling, rushing the men away from the camp. By the time I reached my home, the camp was half deserted. New defences were being put in place, sandbags were being set up. By now the camp was nearly empty. All remaining troops were on the outskirts of the camp, ready and waiting.

Comments

[Silentwoodfire]

Awww, Twilight really wants a photo though!

[FIRE FLASH 3]

8274438
Well... anything can happen.

[Silentwoodfire]

8274493

Think shed fix up a few more weapons?

[p61blkwidow]

man this chapter was so good! it was so funny,but the ending hitting like a block buster! poor louhe just cant catch a break! well done sir well done!

[FIRE FLASH 3]

8274495
Ah... I don't know really.

[FIRE FLASH 3]

8274791
Thank you, it's nice to know that you like it.