Work Text:
I opened my eyes, completely unaware of what to do next. I stumbled back away from the door while my eyes remained widened in shock. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was my dearest friend. My dearest friend lying dead on the floor. A wave of horror and nausea washed over me. I wanted to stop looking, but my eyes wouldn’t move from where they stared. This felt like a nightmare. My body began to tremble with unease. How could this have happened? His mind raced with possibilities, but none of them made sense or eased his fears. He managed to walk forward before kneeling over the other boy. The gunshot wounds were scattered all over his chest and darkened the fabric of his uniform. It didn’t make sense to him. How could he have gotten attacked while at camp? They hadn’t gone out yet. Someone must’ve done it during their lunch period. He hadn’t seen his friend when he was out there. But he wasn’t too familiar with the rest yet, and he wouldn’t have been able to remember who else was not at lunch. Surprisingly, his helmet didn’t seem to have taken any relative damage though. This was intentional. Whoever has done this must be punished. But he had no way of explaining to his sergeant what had happened. He didn’t want to risk looking suspicious, even when he knew the body would be found one way or another. He couldn’t help but feel angry, wanting to get justice for him even if it was risky. He held onto the corpse, his friend cold and limp in his arms. He didn’t even mind the fact that the man's blood was soaking through his own uniform now. The trauma fogged his brain, and he worried even more about how well he’d serve once they did get sent out. Part of him feigns hope that maybe it could make him stronger and more prepared. But this was all he cared about. Now it was just him. Just him and all the rest of them. He knew it was silly to get attached to someone so dear to him, just to get sent to war together and expect something like this not to happen. But he couldn’t have predicted it being like this. He looked down at his lifeless form, seeing the dead look in his eyes that used to light up whenever they spoke with each other. The coldness of his body that was once so warm when he received and gave hugs to the other. All just memories now lost in time. His breath hitched and another shaky sob escaped him, arms tightening unconsciously where he held him.