"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs

Bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, —

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est,

Pro patria mori." - Wilfred Owen, 1917

As the silence grows

Steadily replacing

The resonance of thunder

Deep in the soul

Conscience still remains

Horror - amongst the flames

Ashes keep on falling

I close my eyes

And even now

The distant memory remains

Of the last laments

To be played

When cannons fade...

Summer, 1918.

Mud.

The mud was everywhere, always. It covered everything, sticking to boots and gloves and shovels, barbed wire and old faded trench-coats. It somehow made everything worse, as if it was a constant reminder of the living hell they were stuck in. Stuck in hell, stuck in mud. And it was cold too, a constant biting cold that made every activity miserable.

Sergeant Ruby Rose of the U.S. Army sighed, wondering not for the first time just why in the hell she had signed up with the Army. She stood on the lip of the trench, adjusted her iconic Brodie helmet, and peered out into the no-mans land between. An endless sea of mud and exploded tree stumps. The sky was overcast and dark gray; she hadn't seen the sun in days.

Only a few hundred metres separated the trench she was in from the one opposite it, manned by soldiers of the German Empire. She had been in that same trench just a few days ago. The Allies were constantly losing ground, being forced to retreat from trench to trench by the massed German infantry rushes, preluded by devastating gas attacks and earth-shattering artillery bombardments.

To her back was the town of Amiens, a vital railway junction that routed supplies to front lines all over the Western Front. If Amiens fell, it would be another nail in the coffin of France. Paris was only 140 kilometers away, and rumors had been going around the trenches that the Germans had developed so called "railway guns," massive train-car mounted pieces of artillery that would apparently be able to shell Paris if they closed to within 100 kilometers. Reports varied of course, some saying they had a range of up to 500km while some going so far as to completely deny their existence, denouncing it as "fear-mongering propaganda."

Whatever the case, Ruby knew they couldn't lose Amiens. If they lost Amiens, they might lose France, and if they lost France, they might lose the war. And then all these American lives lost would mean nothing at all. Direct intervention in the Great War was already extremely unpopular, but President Wilson had ordered troops over anyway, after the infamous Zimmerman telegraph.

Ruby had a simple farm-girl then, eking out an existence with her sister, Yang Xiao Long, on a small plot of land in Iowa. Their mother, Summer Rose, had died of typhoid fever a few years before the war had even started, and their father, a Chinese immigrant named Yue Xiao Long had died even before that. Summer had never told her the whole story, but Ruby suspected he hadn't been killed in a simple automobile accident. Not with all the hateful stares she attracted while in town. Ruby understood that immigrants, and especially the Chinese ones, weren't exactly well-liked, but killing someone simply because their skin was a different color? She would never understand that. She did, however, understand killing for a cause.

When the Zimmerman telegraph had been released to the public, Yang had been furious. "How dare they!" she had shouted. "Why I'll, I'll tear them apart with my own two hands!" When President Wilson and Congress had declared war on Germany and it's allies, known as the Axis Powers, Yang had been one of the first to sign up with the Army. She had said it was because of how angry she was, and that the people that were dying over in Europe needed their help. She didn't say that it was because the farm was failing, and that they needed the money the Army would give them.

So she had left on a train bound for Europe, leaving a confused 18-year old girl standing at the train station. Ruby's neighbors had promised to take care of her, but she didn't want that. She didn't want to be alone again, left in the dust while her sister went off to war. Yang had always cared for Ruby, but she had a bad habit of losing her temper. Ruby remembered coming home from school countless times, crying or with a bruise, only to have Yang find out who the offending party had been and enact her own brand of vengeance. The blonde girls knuckles were almost always bloody when she finally came home.

This time, Ruby swore, she wouldn't be left in the dust. She would fight too. And so she had signed up and left for the Western Front; the Army was taking anyone and everyone.

That had been almost a year ago, and the 18 year-old farm girl from Iowa had grown up fast. She had quickly earned a reputation as an impeccable marksman; she could shoot the Stalhelm off of a German at 1000 yards. Ruby had risen rapidly through the ranks, as men and women had fallen around her. She was a survivor. She remembered carrying her previous squad leader out of no-mans land, the crimson pouring from his wounds staining her hair and uniform. He hadn't lived, and the tips of her short hair were still stained blood-red. No one could explain the phenomenon. Ruby carried it as a badge of honor however, and she had assumed his role as squad leader and taken command of the small 10-man squad. Seven men, three women. That had been three days ago. Three days since the last German assault. Now she was down to four men and two women.

Jaune Arc, a French immigrant boy from Minnesota. He was a coward, and she often found him crying at night. Lie Ren, another Chinese immigrant like herself. He was always silent, and almost never spoke. Cardin Winchester, a former football player from Boston. He was a stereotypical high-school bully, who made life hard for all those around him. Sun Wukong, a strange blonde-haired boy with a penchant for stealing from the dead. Ruby saw that as morally wrong, and reprimanded him for it constantly.

The two women left were Nora Valkyrie and Phyrra Nikos. Nora was almost definitely clinically insane, she would often be seen giggling and laughing while she bayoneted her enemies over and over, long after they were dead. The medics didn't care, anyone who could use a rifle would serve. Phyrra was the one Ruby liked most out of the squad, she was a competent and caring red-head who tried to look out for Jaune as much as she could.

"Phyrra Nikos... the only one in my entire squad who isn't fucked up. How she manages to stay sane, I have no idea," Ruby thought. The brunette had her own way of staying sane, but no one knew about it. "How do you do it Phyrra? How can you be so calm and happy, when everyone else around you has fallen apart?"

At that moment, the girl in question clambered up next to her, gazing out over no-mans land with her.

"Afternoon Sergeant Rose."

"Afternoon Nikos. How's the squad?" Ruby frequently used Phyrra to gauge the state of her squad; she still wasn't exactly a people person, and Phyrra possessed an innate understanding of what others were feeling.

"They're fine. A little on edge though, it's been three days since the last attack. It's been dead quiet since then, and it's getting to them."

Ruby adjusted her helmet, staring at Phyrra in disbelief. "They're afraid because we're not under attack for once? The artillery has even been silent, and I'll count every hour it's not firing as a blessing."

"True. But even so the quiet is... unnerving. Fritz has to be planning something."

"Definitely. But until the storm breaks, I'll enjoy the quiet. Say, have you heard anything from the Somme?"

"No, I don't believe so. I imagine the fighting is still heavy though. Your sister is there, isn't she?"

"Mmhm." Ruby nodded. "Serving under a First Sergeant Belladonna, from what I hear. I hope she's okay, but I probably won't know anything until this war is over."

"You mean if it ever ends in the first place."

"Yeah..." Ruby sighed. "Here's hoping. The Brits still holding our left flank?"

"As far as I know. Nothing to do now but wait."

A comfortable silence fell between the two as they gazed out over the forsaken wasteland in between the trenches, nothing but tree stumps and mud. But if one looked closely, limbs and bodies could be made out among the brownish-grey muck. She wondered if she knew any of them.

"Incoming!"

She was snapped out of her reverie by massed whistling; the unmistakable sound of hundreds of inbound artillery rounds. She found herself flying backwards, Phyrra had grabbed her and flung both of them down into the trench. Men and women all around them huddled against the walls, pressing themselves flat and praying for the rounds to strike anywhere but here. The impact of the shells shook the earth. Nearby impacts flung mud and debris everywhere. Ruby felt her bones vibrate with each impact, and she ground her teeth together painfully. She didn't pray for herself. She only prayed for one person.

"Please," she thought,"let her be okay."

In the back of her mind, she realized that this wasn't just your average everyday artillery bombardment, as strange as that may sound. No, this was extremely heavy co-ordinated fire, the kind that preluded an infantry assault.

The sound of the explosions changed, becoming less ground-shattering roars and more soft crumps. She quickly realized what that meant.

"GAS GAS GAS!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, while fumbling for her mask. Men and women around her stumbled and floundered in the mud, some thrown off of their feet by the strength of the bombardment. They scrambled with frantic hands, desperately trying to affix their masks in time as a pale yellow mist began to seep into the trench and pool at the bottom. Ruby thanked her lucky stars that she had gotten hers on in time, but as she looked at the world through green-tinted goggles, she saw that many others had not been so lucky. A man next to her cried out in agony as his skin blistered and he began to vomit. It was a horrific sight, and Ruby simply took it in with dead eyes. She had seen a lot throughout the past year; a man dying from mustard poisoning was nothing new.

With the mixture of spraying mud from the artillery, smog from the gas, the disorienting effect of the gas mask lenses, and the fact that everyone looked the same while wearing one, Ruby had no way to tell who was who in the trench. Everyone was simply a body, a number, a statistic. The man floundering and gasping for air next to her could be Cardin Winchester, or she could have never met the man before.

As some soldiers with their masks affixed began hauling off the writhing bodies of their afflicted comrades, Ruby recognized the need for action. After all, this type of bombardment was a sure sign that an attack was coming. She grabbed her M1903 Springfield sniper rifle, which had the words "Crescent Rose" carved into the butt-stock, and scrambled up onto the step of the trench, slipping in the mud as she did so. Squinting through the yellow fog, she could see a mass of dark shapes growing steadily larger. In the distance, she could hear a German officer frantically blowing his whistle, and the distinctive sound of hundreds of throats crying out in anger, all at once. There was no surer sign of an infantry rush.

"Infantry charge!" she shouted, her voice coming out muted and strange through her gas mask. "Get up on the fucking trench, they're coming!"

Other soldiers scrambled up to the lip of the trench next to her, readying their rifles, as she heard the warning being repeated down the lines. Machine-guns were brought up and deployed, gunners fingering belts of rounds as they prepared to feed them into their Browning M1917's. Ruby brought the scope of her rifle to bear as best she was able, which was noticeably more difficult while wearing a gas mask. Normally while manning a trench, you would wait until you had a clear view of the men going "over the top" before you started shooting, so as to conserve ammunition.

However, somewhere along the lines, someone started firing, and no one wanted to be outdone. Up and down the trench, machine guns and rifles opened up, spent shell casings flying through the air and landing in the muck, becoming buried by scrambling boots. Everyone was grim and silent, lost in the necessity of killing their fellow man. The only words spoken were warnings, and requests for more ammunition. As the gunfire began to clear up some of the yellow smog, no-mans land became more visible. Ruby almost gasped; hundreds of Germans were streaming across the barren wasteland, escorted by prototype tanks, little more than giant boxes of metal with tracks and a few fixed machine-guns.

The sight of their amassed enemies created a sense of urgency, and fire rates picked up, men aimed and shot faster, reloaded faster, changed Browning barrels faster. Even as Ruby watched stalhelm after stalhelm drop into the mud only to be trampled by their oncoming comrades, she knew that it wouldn't be enough.

There were simply too many of them.

They would reach the trench.

Ruby sighted in again, spotting the distinctive cap of a German officer.

"What the hell, even the officers are fighting with the grunts? Just what kind of assault is this?!"

She fired, watching in grim satisfaction as blood sprayed from the man's chest wound, and he toppled backwards into the muck. She winced as tank treads ground his body into the mud.

She sighting in again, firing, chambering, firing, chambering, firing, chambering, firing, reloading, chambering, firing, chambering. An endless cycle of death.

It still wasn't enough. The Germans were close enough to fire back, and the man, or woman, next to her pitched backwards, a bullet shattering the eye-glass of their gas mask.

"Fix bayonets! Fix fucking bayonets!" someone screamed, and Ruby dug into her waist pouch, smoothly producing her bayonet and affixing it to the top of her rifle. She looked back up, just in time to see a grey figure charging her, a German soldier. He was wearing a gas-mask as well, and his distinctive pointed helmet marked him out as an enemy.

Enemy.

That was one thing Ruby knew well, one problem that she knew exactly how to deal with. Other problems, not so much, but this was the exception. There was only one way to deal with an enemy. She stood and shouldered her rifle, firing a round point blank into the mans throat. He dropped his rifle and clutched at the wound, his momentum carrying his body past her and sending him tumbling into the bottom of the trench where he lay still. All around her, the sounds of yelling and screaming intensified as hand-to-hand combat began. Ruby blocked another soldiers bayonet thrust with her own, spinning around to his side and slashing him across the jugular.

Unfortunately the bayonet got caught in his uniform, and he pulled her down with him as he cried out in agony and pitched over. Pulling herself to her feet, Ruby watched as three more men came at her, all at once. She managed to draw her pistol, and firing from the hip she managed to kill one with a lucky head-shot, and wing another in the leg. The last man was right upon her though, and he screamed in rage as he ran his bayonet through her shoulder. She cried out in agony as he pinned her against the trench, and punched her in the gut with his other hand. She scrabbled frantically with her free hand, latching her fingers onto his gas mask and ripping it off. The look in his eyes was one of pure terror. She kicked out, pushing him down onto the ground as he began to screech like a demon, clawing at his face and writhing about on the ground.

She looked up, just in time to see another German with his rifle aimed right at her. There was a rifle shot from somewhere behind her, and the man toppled forward. Ruby glanced backwards, yelling her thanks to her unknown savior, who was busy reloading. Clutching her shoulder wound and trying not to cry out in pain, she picked Crescent Rose up from the ground where it had fallen and retreated down the trench. She saw a soldier with Phyrra's distinctive red hair waving her over, and she scrambled her way over to the rest of her squad. Too late, she looked up to see a German with a bulky flamethrower step up on top of the trench, preparing to send a stream of liquid death down the entire line.

Someone, somewhere was looking out for her, she concluded. The German slipped in the mud as he prepared to fire, sliding down into the trench, where a soldier jumped on him and caved his head in with a rusty shovel. The man was quite clearly dead, his brain matter and blood splattered over the wooden floor. But the soldier didn't stop, slamming the blade of the shovel into the mans head over and over. Peeking out from behind his gas-mask, Ruby could see wild blonde hair. Jaune. Phyrra rushed over to him and pulled him off of the dead German, cradling him in her arms as he struggled to break free of her embrace.

Ruby gathered her bearings and stood up, making sure Crescent Rose was still loaded. The sounds around her were deafening, massed gunfire and screaming blocking out all other noise. The lingering yellow smog gave the light a strange quality, and flickering fires lit up the trench. A squad of Germans rushed around the corner of the trench a few yards from her, and she ducked back and began firing frantically, soldiers around her doing the same. One of the Germans drew back his hand to toss a grenade, and time seemed to slow. Acting without thinking, Ruby shouldered Crescent Rose and shot the man in the arm, and he dropped the grenade with a howl of pain. The men around him scrambled to get away, but they weren't fast enough. It exploded, sending bodies and limbs tumbling around the trench.

"Get back up on the firing line!" Ruby shouted. "We've got to push them back! Hold the line!" She scrambled up the lip of the trench, shooting another German in the gut as he tried to jump in. The man fell in trench anyway, and Ruby stared down in horror as she saw what he was clutching in his hand. Moving without thought, she dove down into the trench in an attempt to throw it out before it could explode.

"Grena-!"

Her world exploded in a flash of white.

Pain.

Pain was good, pain meant feeling and feeling meant life.

She hurt everywhere, her body was a mass of aching pain. Sergeant Rose slowly opened her eyes, a dead man with a knife lodged in his chest greeting her through the lenses of her gas mask. She was at the bottom of the trench, and she realized the blast had probably thrown her up against the wall. She hesitantly tried to move her arms, relief filling her as they responded normally. She inspected her body, and with a grunt of pain realized that she had probably cracked a few ribs, in addition to the bayonet wound to her shoulder.

Ruby realized that the fighting had apparently stopped, although intermittent artillery rounds were still being fired. All she could hear around her was the groaning of the wounded and the dying, and the flickering crack of dying flames. She pulled herself to her feet, realizing that wind from the north had blown the gas away. She remembered that mustard gas remained active in the soil for weeks though, and she was careful to keep her hands covered as she stood up.

Pulling the gas-mask from her face, she turned it around, and saw that there was a large sliver of shrapnel right in the center of her left eye lens.

"Wow, if that had gone just a little further or penetrated the seal..." She didn't want to continue on that particular train of thought.

Glancing around in the mud, she found Crescent Rose and shouldered it, checking to make sure her pistol was still in its holster. She reached up and touched the top of her head, looking around in confusion as she searched for her missing helmet.

"Ah, there it is."

It was several feet away, next to the body of a German soldier, who was leaning up against the trench wall. She reached it and knelt down, picking it up, then jumping in surprise when the body emitted a small cough.

"Bitte tőte mich... tőte mich..." he wheezed.

Ruby didn't speak any German, but she could figure out his intentions well enough. The man had a gaping hole where his stomach used to be, and his waist was hanging on to the rest of his body by a few small scraps of flesh.

Ruby drew her pistol smoothly, and pointed it at the dying man.

"Danke... danke..."

She shot the man in the head, the crack of the round sounding impossibly loud amongst the silence of the trench. Ruby lowered the pistol slowly, staring at the lifeless corpse with empty eyes. She wasn't gazing at him, but at something unseen and unknowable beyond him. She stayed this way for a few minutes, wondering why this man and countless others had died, and yet she was still alive.

"Sergeant Rose! Sergeant!"

A voice snapped her out of her dark thoughts, and she whipped her head around to see Phyrra striding towards her, rifle slung over her shoulder.

"Yeah Nikos?"

"You okay Sergeant? I saw you get thrown by that grenade, and I thought you were dead."

"Well apparently I'm not. Someone has seen fit to bless me with a few more days of life in this shit-hole," Ruby said with a laugh.

Phyrra laughed as well; humor was a tool that soldiers used to keep themselves from focusing on all the death around them.

"Well as you can see," Phyrra said, "we pushed them back. Captured a few of their tanks too."

"That's good. Anyone else from the squad make it?"

Phyrra hung her head, ever the sentimental one of the group.

"Ren and Valkyrie bought the farm, and I still can't find Winchester. Ark is fine though, and so is Wukong."

"...So we're down to four now, maybe five."

"Seems that way Sarge."

Ruby sighed and laid a hand on Phyrra's shoulder, comforting her as best as she could. Phyrra still took every loss of life like it was her first. Ruby on the other hand, had grown comparatively numb. It was war. People died. Her mind and body were there, in the trenches, but her heart wasn't. No, that was with someone else.

"Also Sergeant, Major Schnee sent out the call to gather all the NCO's. Seems command is planning something, and from what I hear, it's big."

Ruby nodded, already on her way to the command bunker. She hadn't really heard what Phyrra had said after the words "Major Schnee."

"Phyrra, you have command of the squad for tonight. Major Schnee informed me earlier that she will need me for logistics duty, and it might take a while. I should be back by the morning, however."

"Roger that Sergeant," Phyrra said as Ruby strode away, as fast as she could without appearing suspicious. It was time to meet with Major Schnee.

"Thank god."

"Officer approaching!"

Sergeant Rose and several other NCO's and junior officers stood at attention as the Ice Queen herself, Major Weiss Schnee strode into the briefing room. They were gathered around a large table, overlaid with maps and unit markers. The room was lit by a few glowing gas lamps hung from the ceiling.

"Stand at ease ladies and gentlemen," Weiss said. She spoke with cold authority, hard and uncompromising, contrary to her short stature. She spoke the same way she led men, she expected the best and she carried herself accordingly. She was wearing the traditional officers uniform, a peaked cap sitting atop a bun of snow-white hair. As far as anyone knew, the color was natural, and that as well as her icy demeanor had been the cause of the enlisted men and women referring to her as the "Ice Queen." Rumor had it she was only twenty-one, but she didn't act it. She was wise beyond her years, and the men said she had been attending Harvard before she had signed up for the Army. Ruby didn't doubt it either; the white-haired woman was incredibly intelligent. Still, her seeming lack of care for the men and women under her command had led to her... less than favorable opinion in the eyes of the enlisted troops.

Weiss glanced around the room, meeting the gaze of every single person there, ice-blue eyes lingering on Ruby's steel-grey ones for a second longer than was necessary. No one seemed to notice however, and if they did they thought nothing of it.

"As you all know, we have just successfully held off another offensive. The transmissions we've intercepted are calling it Operation Michael. Apparently, this was a desperate play by the Germans to try and bring the war to a swift end. But our intelligence reports that the failure of this assault and several others along the Front, have resulted in the almost total exhaustion of their supplies and manpower. They're the weakest they've ever been in four years, and General Foch wants to take advantage of that."

Silence greeted her, no one in the room willing to say what was on everyone's minds.

Finally, a senior Sergeant by the name of Goodwitch spoke up. "Ma'am, does this mean... we're going on the offensive?"

"Yes it does Sergeant. For the first time in a long time. I know all the other offensives before this one have failed, but this one will be different. They're at their most vulnerable point ever, and we have to press this advantage. They were trying to end the war before their resources ran out, but they failed. And now it's our turn. They're starting to withdraw from the Marne salient as we speak, but we're not going to let them. Field Marshall Haig has already drawn up the plans for the counter-attack, and now I will relay them to you. They're pushing up the date of the assault from August 10th to the 8th, that's tomorrow. We need to be ready."

She looked around one more time, to ensure everyone was paying attention. "Now, the British III Corps will attack here, to the north of the Somme, and then-"

" -and once the Australian Corps has penetrated the rear of the German lines, we'll move up on their right flank and hold off any potential counter-attack. Challenge and pass is as follows."

The gathered senior staff wrote in their notebooks, taking special care to copy down the challenge and pass words. Using the wrong word could result in friendly fire incidents; they were used to differentiate from friend and foe during times of low-light and poor visibility.

"Challenge is Paris, pass is Belgium. Everybody got that?"

A chorus of nodding heads reassured her.

"Good. Now remember, the assault begins precisely at 4:00am. At first light, ladies and gentlemen. Make sure your men get proper sleep rotations beforehand; they're going to need it. If all goes well, this should be the turning point of the war. The first successful offensive."

A few wicked smiles appeared on the faces of the gathered officers and NCOs', the prospect of victory having been out of reach for far too long.

"You are dismissed, all of you."

The gathered soldiers snapped to attention, saluting with their right hands.

Major Schnee saluted back. "Carry on then."

They dropped their salutes, and began to file out of the dark room. Ruby made sure she was the last in line, slipping behind the door as the last man exited.

"Close the door behind you Lieutenant Taurus," Weiss said as she glared at Ruby in exasperation.

The man nodded, glancing around. He could have sworn there was someone else behind him... strange. He closed the door, and strode away.

"Smooth."

"Oh please," Ruby said." Like you could have done that any better."

"Well I could have demanded that you stay behind, but that would have attracted attention. It's better this way."

"Right. Anyway Ma'am, was there something you'd like to talk to me about?"

"Drop the act Ruby."

"Gladly," Ruby breathed. She rushed towards Weiss and wrapped her arms around her, capturing her lips with her own in a passionate kiss. Their bodies pressed up against each-other, both finally feeling complete. This was what they needed, what they survived for, what they kept fighting for. Everyone had a reason to go on, whether it was a desire for vengeance or a longing for family back home. This was their reason.

The white-haired woman moaned into the kiss, letting herself melt into the younger girl's strong arms.

"Ooh, ouch Weiss don't squeeze so hard, I've got a broken rib," Ruby muttered in between kisses. Weiss relaxed her grip slightly in response.

After a few breathless minutes, they broke apart slowly. Ruby sat down in the rooms only chair, pulling Weiss into her lap.

"I missed you," Ruby whispered, undoing the Major's bun and stroking her fingers through the other woman's long, silky hair. Her soft words sent shivers down Weiss' spine.

"I missed you too, more than words can say. I wasn't sure if you had made it through this attack. I worry so much over you, and if I could find a way to be with you more..."

"I know. But this is enough, for now. I swear Weiss, when this is over, I'm never going to leave your side again."

"You've told me that before you klutz," Weiss said as she nuzzled into the crook of Ruby's neck. "We're gonna go back to your little farmhouse and live happily ever after. Fuck what my father thinks, or what he wants. And fuck Harvard too, I'm going to use the rest of my scholarship money to go to a college near you, and we'll be able to live comfortably off of my officer's pay. If all works out, father will assume I died in the war."

"Geez, and I thought I had issues with my parents."

"Shush you dunce, we've only got this one last night before the offensive, and I don't want to spend it teasing eachother. You did let your squad know that you wouldn't be coming back until the morning, right?"

"Yeap, I left Phyrra in charge."

"Ah, I've met her. Good girl."

"That she is. Bit too much of a bleeding heart though, I don't see how she stays sane through all of this."

"Well, how do you stay sane? I'm not on the front lines often, so I don't have the same... issues as you would."

"The simple answer? You."

Weiss blushed, kissing Ruby's neck softly.

"Whenever things get rough, or I miss home, or I see someone die next to me, I just think of you. You're all I need Weiss."

"You... You're all I need too Ruby, and all I've ever wanted... thank you for helping me that night, and every day since."

Ruby remembered that night fondly. She had been wandering the trenches almost a year ago, and had come upon a white-haired Lieutenant named Schnee, alone and crying in a forgotten dugout. Ruby hadn't said anything, but simply stood there and waited, a soft expression on her weathered face. She knew what Weiss was feeling. Eventually, the white-haired woman had asked her who she was and what she wanted, and Ruby had simply replied that she "wanted to help, in any way she could." That marked the first time anyone had shown Weiss unconditional kindness, and it struck a cord within her heart. After that night, and the long conversation they had had about who they were and where they came from, she had made it a point to visit the young Corporal Rose whenever she could.

They had grown close over the long months, and eventually hints of romance had bloomed. Weiss was the first one to realize she had actual feelings for the other girl, and one night after a particularly bloody raid she had confessed them to Ruby, knowing any day could be their last. To her sincere surprise, Ruby had reciprocated her sentiments, and had swept her up in a joyous embrace. Since then they had met as much as possible, whispering sweetly to eachother in the night and holding eachother close whenever possible. They became eachother's safe place. Those opportunities had become less and less frequent as of late, their respective duties as a squad leader and platoon commander drawing their attention away far more than they would have liked. They made do, however.

Ruby snuggled into Weiss, uncertainty roiling around in her mind. She had something she had wanted to say for a long time now, but she wasn't sure if the other girl would be okay with it. She didn't know if the other girl was ready for that type of thing, that type of commitment. But then memories of the battle she had just survived flowed through her mind, and she realized she didn't have the time to wait or take things slow. She had to ask this now, before it was too late.

"Hey Weiss?"

"Yes Ruby?"

"Would it be... strange if I said I loved you?"

A fire shot up Weiss' spine, and she felt it constrict around her heart and linger there, making it beat faster and faster. She knew this should be wrong but... Ruby was so close, and it felt so right.

"...N-No it wouldn't. You see... I-I love you too."

Ruby smiled, warm and sincere. She had always known that, but it felt different to say it. "Good, I wanted to get that out of the way before tomorrow morning."

"Don't say things like that, you'll be just fine. You're a survivor Rose. You always have been."

"I know but... I'm a little worried. I have this feeling about tomorrow. I don't know if its good or bad, but its just... uncertain, and I don't like it. So I have to ask this now. Before it's too late."

"Ask what? You know you can ask me anything..."

Ruby carefully shifted Weiss off of her lap and knelt down on one knee, looking up at the other woman with a mixture of uncertainty and hope.

Weiss covered her mouth with her hands; she froze up, her body wouldn't respond. Was Ruby really about to do what she thought she was going to do?

"Weiss Schnee... will you marry me?"

The white-haired girl held back a choked sob and just stood there, shaking slightly. Never once had she imagined that Ruby cared about her that deeply, so much that she wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. She had hoped, but... She felt a giant lump in her throat, and her heart felt like it was going to burst.

Ruby's face was a mask of confusion, was she really so opposed to the idea of two women being married that it was making her cry? Did Weiss not love her in that way? She felt her heart break, and she stood up slowly, somehow managing to keep a false smile on her face.

"It's... it's alright if you don't want to. Crap I'm sorry, this was a horrible idea. We've only known each-other for a year and I was foolish to think... I'm sorry."

Suddenly, Weiss rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Ruby, tackling her to the ground and sobbing into the brunette's uniform.

"S-shut up you dolt, shut up shut up shut up!"

"Wha..." Ruby looked down at the other girl in confusion.

"Yes! Yes of course I'll marry you, you colossal dunce! Oh my god I just didn't t-think I meant that much to you... that I could ever mean that much to anyone..."

"W-well you mean that much to me Weiss... and I want to spend every day with you, you're just so smart and beautiful and I can't breathe when I'm around you and when you're in the room I just want you to only look at me and not at anyone else and I... I'm sorry I'm rambling again. I'll stop.

Weiss laughed softly, drying her tears with her thumb. "No it's... cute. I just... I know how everyone talks about me, I know a lot of the men hate me. They think I'm cold and uncaring. I'm just not used to... this."

"You mean... love?"

"I think that's what this is, yes. It's new and strange but, b-but I like it. I finally feel like I belong somewhere. I feel like I belong with you."

"I feel the same... and don't worry about everyone else, they don't know you like I do. You've got a lot of love Weiss, you just don't know how to show it. Well to anyone but me really."

"... Is it wrong if you're the only one I want to show my love to?"

"Not at all Weiss. Hell I'd get jealous if you started talking to other people..."

Weiss giggled softly, pressing her forehead up against Ruby's.

"I think we should get up now Weiss. This floor is sorta dirty."

"O-oh, yes of course. How unbecoming of an officer."

"You're not an officer to me Weiss. On the battlefield sure, but now you're my fiancee."

The words sounded strange coming out of Ruby's mouth, but they felt like the truest things she had ever spoken.

"R-right, and you're my... fiancee too. I'll have to get used to that..."

"Oh, I think it'll be fine," Ruby said as she sat back down in the chair and pulled Weiss into her lap.

They sat there in a comfortable silence, Weiss running her fingers through Ruby's hair, Ruby rubbing slow circles into Weiss' small back.

"Do you really think it's going to work? This offensive?" Ruby finally asked.

"Honestly, I do. I wasn't lying when I said the Germans were exhausted, both in men and material. Tomorrow will be the turning point of the war, mark my words."

"And then we can finally be together."

"Yes, then we can. But for tonight, hold me close and whisper softly in my ear. I want to cherish these moments forever."

"As do I. I love you Weiss."

"I love you too, dolt."

Ruby pulled Weiss tighter to her chest, the smaller woman smiling and resting her head on Ruby's collar, enjoying the warmth the brunette gave off.

It didn't matter what tomorrow brought at first light. Because right now, they were together.

4:17 AM the next day.

Ruby clutched her rifle tightly, crouching on the lip of the trench and waiting for the whistle. She glanced backwards, checking on her squad one last time, as if they might disappear if she looked away for too long.

Phyrra was there, and gave her a nod of affirmation as she rested her hand on Jaune's shoulder. The boy looked absolutely terrified. But he was still up there with the rest of them, ready to do his duty for his country. Sun Wukong was there as well, with a wicked grin on his face. Something was wrong with that man...

The tension in the air was like a physical thing, heavy and oppressing. There was dead silence in the trench, no one moved, no one breathed louder than they had to.

The officer next to Ruby pulled out his pocket-watch, checking the time. Sweat was pouring down his forehead as he unholstered and drew his revolver. He turned around and held a single finger up.

"One minute."

Several soldiers bowed their heads, a few made the sign of the Holy Trinity, but most simply clutched their rifles and stared at nothing. This was the worst part, the waiting. Once the battle started, you didn't think about it. You simply did, relying on your training and the men to your left and right to see you through. But the waiting, oh the waiting. It terrorized the mind, tortured the heart and made grown men quake in their boots.

The officer glanced at his pocket-watch again and took a deep breath. Placing the watch back into his pocket, he shakily raised a brass whistle to his lips. Ruby braced herself against the ladder leading up over the trench, knowing where it would take her.

Over the top.

The officer blew, and a shrill whistle pierced the air, stirring everyone into action. A collective cry of rage issued forth from every throat present, and men and women scrambled up ladders and rushed out over no-man's land, stumbling and slipping in the mud and darkness. Artillery began to fire, the bombardment perfectly timed to strike the German trenches just before the infantry arrived. Looking to her left and right while she jumped over craters and around tree stumps, she could see dozens, no, hundreds of tanks joining the massed charge. This was it, the offensive to end it all. They would look back on this day as the turning point of the war. The sun had just started to peek over the horizon.

"Once more into the fray, at first light..." she thought. "Please, if there's a god out there, help me survive. Let me be with Weiss again..."

Men and women screamed and shouted, artillery rounds and bullets flew through the air, and bodies on both sides dropped into the mud. The Hundred Days Offensive had begun.

3 Years Later

Ruby awoke slowly, gently opening her eyes to see the warm Iowan sun peeking in through her sheer curtains. She shifted in the bed, sitting up and yawning. Glancing around, she looked at the other side of the bed.

Empty.

She got up, dressed herself and headed downstairs to make breakfast. After she had finished eating, she went outside and fed the animals. She took a stroll down the fields, checking the crops to see if they were ready for harvest yet. A few more days left it would seem. The hired help tending to the fields waved to her as she passed by, and she smiled and waved in return.

She filled the rest of the day with busywork, cleaning the house, reading the papers, sitting on the porch and enjoying the warmth of the sun; something she had missed sorely back in the Great War. When she grew bored of that, she took Crescent Rose down from its plaque on the mantle of the fireplace and took it apart. She inspected it, cleaned it, inspected it again, cleaned it again, and put it back together. Some nights, she liked to take it outside and practice her marksmanship on painted wooden targets. Her impeccable aim hadn't degraded in the slightest over the past few years.

After placing Crescent Rose back above the fireplace, she checked her mail, happily surprised to find another letter from Yang. Her older sister had decided to stay in the Army, and she was a Color Sergeant now. She was living comfortably, and she was apparently dating her old First Sergeant, a woman by the name of Blake Belladona. Blake had chosen to get out of the Army however, and now worked as a writer to supplement Yang's already considerable income. They lived quite comfortably, traveling wherever Yang was stationed. Ruby was happy for her, glad things had worked out for her irascible older sister.

As the sun began to set, she went outside to the porch. She reclined in a comfortable wooden chair and watched it go down, a slight smile on her face. This was her favorite part of the day.

In the distance, the glint of sunlight reflecting off of metal drew her eye, and she watched as an automobile chugged down the road towards the house, leaving a trail of dust behind it.

She got up, standing at the entrance of the porch and leaning on one of its pillars as the automobile pulled into the gravel driveway. Ruby smiled warmly, as a girl with long white hair stepped out, taking off her driving gloves and tossing them into the car.

Weiss walked towards the house, and Ruby met her halfway, the smaller girl squealing as the brunette picked her up and spun her around.

"R-Ruby, put me down!"

"But Weiiisss, I missed you so much!" Ruby said as she let the older girl down, pressing a strong kiss to the other woman's lips.

"Mmph... I was only gone for four days you dolt..."

"And that's four days too many. It was hard waking up to an empty bed."

Weiss knew what Ruby really meant; that it was hard to sleep by herself. The younger girl still suffered nightmares from the war, and occasionally woke up screaming. Weiss hated those moments, but she always did everything she could to hold Ruby close and whisper to her about how much she loved her, that she was safe, that everything was okay.

"...I'm sorry for that. But remember, this was only a small convention for my college. This won't be a regular thing. Because even if they try to make it a regular thing, I'll just stop going. I won't let anything keep us apart, and I mean that."

Ruby smiled, touched by how much Weiss did for her at the expense of her education. She took Weiss by the hand and led her into the house, shutting the door behind them as the sun disappeared below the horizon.

The rest of the night was filled with playful banter, heartfelt kisses, and tender touches.

And when they finally retired to their bed, Weiss kissed Ruby gently on the lips, sighing softly and snuggling just a little tighter into the taller girl's strong body. They fit together like a puzzle piece.

"I love you Ruby. And don't worry, I'll be right here when you wake up."

"I love you too Weiss. Sweet dreams."

Ruby held the white-haired woman close as she fell asleep, thinking about how lucky they had been to end up with each-other, and marveling at what could happen on the battlefield...

...when cannons fade.

Obviously, this takes place in an alternate version of WW1, where women were allowed to serve alongside men. But even so, I tried to make this as historically accurate as possible, without actually watching hour long documentaries and such. Amiens is a real place; the battle of Amiens actually was the turning point of World War 1. The Somme is real, the Hundred Days Offensive actually happened, even that rumor about Paris and the German "railway guns" is true. I had a blast writing this, it only took me two nights. Two nights distracted of course by games of League of Legends and tumblr browsing and general internet tomfoolery. The poem at the beginning was written by Wilfred Owen, who served on the Western Front. The song lyrics immediately following it are taken from "When Cannons Fade" by Bolt Thrower. If you like death-metal, I highly suggest you check them out. Yes, I made the members of Team JNPR fucked in the head. Yes, Cardin Winchester actually died. And yes, the White Rose can bloom even on the battlefield. This should clear that question up forever.

Please review, whether you liked it or not. (I love reading reviews)

-Talos out.