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The smoke billowed from the village like a ghostly tower of thick fog, a village that had been so peaceful and whole only hours ago; and heavy, hazel eyes surveyed the entrance to the town, crumbling and dangerous. She was almost certainly expecting an ambush... they were there, waiting, and Anya knew it.
She led her team, one faithful footstep in front of the other with guns raised and resolute, leaving behind their jeep to keep a lookout as the soldiers investigated what seemed to be a recently ruined sector, ash raining from the heavens as white and as soft as snowflakes. Snowflakes that were accompanied by the stench of death.
The dirty blonde made the signal to pursue in silence; if the attackers were still around; it would be to their advantage to have the element of surprise up their army sleeves. Then out of nowhere, the radio static crackled atop the deafening silence from the equipment attached to her vest. The noise was an imitation of boots on gravel, and Captain Kane’s distorted voice sounded from the two-way radio.
“Unit K2 LHV, Do you copy? Over.” the voice disappeared back into the radio and Anya’s nimble fingers, the ones that weren’t consistent hooked on the itching trigger of her gun, fumbled with the receiver .
“We copy, Captain, over.” she hushed softly over the walkie, her alert gaze trying to make any signs of movement through the ash cloud .
They had received the task only twenty minutes prior when the station called through to their jeep when they were all on their way to the next field; as the reports came flooding through of armed Azgeda soldiers attacking their nearby village, and unsuspectingly, Unit K2 LVH had a new destination.
Anya knew war all too well; she’d served in the war between Polis and Azgeda since the fight had been declared just over three years ago; and before then, she’d been Major in the war between them and Arkadia . That war ended peacefully with an agreement of cohabitation between the countries; but Anya was fairly sure that wasn’t an option in this case. Azgeda were ruthless.
Yes, she knew war, and couldn’t try to sugar-coat the knowledge that despite the fact that her Unit had talent, and were honourable soldiers, they were slightly, if not entirely expendable.
“You have the all-clear to move in, Colonel Oak. Azgeda may have taken hostages and if so, we want no casualties to the innocent, over.” Marcus’ voice sounded over the radio once more.
The Colonel responded immediately, “Reading you loud and clear, Captain. Over and Out.” with that, the radio static fell quiet, and she was left in an abysmal winter silence once more. Anya glanced to her team, who were all ready and waiting for her command.
She’d grown rather close to her group, who had decreased in numbers, almost by half since the war had begun, losing soldiers in one battle of another, but those who remained, remained together. Including her, Unit K2 LHV had five soldiers.
Indra not only had a deadly aim and incredible shot, but the Major was Anya’s most trusted advisor, her council always helping her to see clearly in the more difficult choices that the Colonel had to make. Lincoln had a way with a gun, and was faster than the rest of them put together; and he had a surprisingly hidden knack for cartography, he always pointed them in the right direction so coincidentally, he drove the jeep for the most parts.
Nyko could shoot, it wasn’t always straight on target, but a bullet was a bullet and he could cause as much damage as he healed. He was their assigned doctor, the only one left of their Unit after Joanad was gassed on the night patrol, leaving them one healer short. He had patched up Anya’s wounds more than once and it was usually Nyko or herself who would make sure they were all fed on a late evening.
And then there was Tris, the tiny blonde girl who had joined the army the very moment that she had come of age as a young sixteen-year-old. She was barely eighteen now and Anya couldn’t help but still see her as an innocent child; a girl who should still be in school, playing with puppies and doing homework, not fighting for her life and the lives of her people.
Their bond was unexplainably precious, for Anya was the one to comfort her when she felt homesick. She tutored Tris like a second, and the Colonel was the person that the teenager came to with problems, secrets or for no reason at all other than to be around her. She doubled up as their mechanic and Anya appreciated her contribution to the team.
Anya Oak gave a brief nod to her team, who had all overheard the radio message, and each of them ventured into the fog, one by one turning into featureless phantoms as the smoke swallowed them. “Don’t shoot on sight; it may be a civilian, a hostage, or even one of our own; if you find an Azgadian... mow that fucker down,” the dirty blonde spoke, and stepped further into the street.
Paving stones were overturned, and doors hung off their respectable hinges, an ashy frost glazing over everything in reach. Anya’s boots left small prints behind her. It was far too quiet, and suddenly the words ‘dead zone’ hit her on an all new level. She heard Indra kicking down a door somewhere to her left; but it hardly helped that the fog was so thick that after three feet you could barely see the outlines of the houses.
The Colonel wandered until she came to a small, quaint chapel, with bell laying dented in the road rather than at the top of its spire, and cautiously, she made her way inside after being sure that nobody was hiding just on the other side of those doors.
It was light and dusty, and it didn’t take long to realise from all the rubble and overturned benches, that a bomb had been planted within these four walls. The roof had caved in, leaving the majority of bricks on the floor, and ash swirling thickly in the air.
“All these poor people,” Tris whispered softly from beside Anya, who hadn’t even heard the girl sneak up to her as they slowly made their way down what was left of the aisle, avoiding collapsed beams and pillars. “They had no idea what was coming,” the blonde swallowed a lump in her throat, directing her gun at every window and door, just in case the war terrorist still resided in the scene of the crime.
“They rarely ever do, that’s the price of war,” Anya mumbled, her dim eyes narrowing as they neared the steps. Hunched by the broken table, the curled-up figure of a young man began to shake, his hands reaching feebly for the pair of soldiers.
His lips quavered as blue eyes pleaded far before his voice did, “Help me,” he croaked, swallowing dryly, “Please... help me,”. Nyko, they needed Nyko , and Anya dashed from the church wordless until she found the medic stumbling his way past rubble.
“We found a survivor, in the church, he needs help,” the colonel spoke breathless when she reached him, and Indra too who was only several feet away.
“Anya! Help!”. Her blood ran cold listening to the terrified screams that belonged to one girl. She sprinted faster towards the building; shoving through the doors at the same time as Indra. Tris was caught in the mans arms, petrified and close to tears, instantly, the Colonel raised her gun. “No!” Tris cried again, “It’s a bomb, he’s wearing a bomb,” sobs wrenched from the young girls throat.
Of course, Anya was always right with her gut instincts... it was an ambush.
“Colonel, we can’t risk it, we have to go,” Indra whispered; glancing between the bomber and the dirty blonde. “He might not kill her; if we leave, at least she’ll be alive,” the sorter woman spoke, louder this time, but Anya refused to budge, her eyes burning as she watched Tris try to escape the mans clutches tears cascading down her cheeks. “Anya! We have to go!” at this point, the major tried pulling on her arm, only for Oak to snap back.
She couldn’t leave her there in the arms of a terrorist.
She didn’t think as she ran forward, and suddenly all there was, was noise.
Indra was shouting; telling her to come back; and Tris was screaming, and it was all too late to tell why. All of a sudden, the cloud of ash erupts into gunshots from either side of the church. The world was punctuated by fire and Anya’s gun weighs heavy in her hand. She knew better than to shoot blindly into the fog; sure, her enemies were out there, but so were her friends.
Anya had nearly reached the steps once more, and as she drew nearer, the man in the vest reached for a button; and she saw Tris’ eyes widen with fear and then the world exploded before her, sending the Colonel flying backwards through the air as the force of the bomb knocked her meters away.
Her ears were ringing, like a high-pitched whistle was calling to her and her only.
Indra was pulling her to her feet, shouting once more, but Anya could barely make out the words that were flooding past the Major’s lips.
Her eyes clouded with tears as she glanced to the debris crater in the platform where the two had been the moment of the explosion. They were gone, of course they were.
Anya snapped back into reality when more gunshots fired, bursting the pillar by her side, and the team ran; faster than light back to their jeep, with bullets chasing them with every step.
“Where’s Tris?” Lincoln shouted over the ricochet of firearms as the jeep roared to life, and Nyko said something that Anya didn’t catch; and they sped out of the village, but not before the bullets had pierced the vehicle, hitting god-knows what.
The Jeep rumbled, spurring and spitting as they escaped; until fifty minutes down the line; it came to a stop in the middle of the desert, nothing but sand on every side; and the unit exited the vehicle to assess the damage.
One of the bullets seemed to have hit the oil tank; evident by the leaking fluid that had stained the metal.
“I’m going to radio this in while Tris fixes the-” Anya cut herself short, the pain suddenly lodged in her stomach and her throat was almost unbearable; right... she was gone, and it was her fault. She shoul never have left her alone in that chapel. Colonel Oak pulled her self physically together, as she shook her head, “We set up camp here, if they do decide to follow us, it’d take them several hours on foot,”.
Anya alerted Kane on the recent events, trying not to let her voice break when she confirmed the casualties, he told her that considering the fact that their coordinates matched them closer to Arkadia bases than Polis’ he’d send for Sinclair to ride out instantly and fix their jeep.
The dirty blonde returned to the now set-up campsite, where the others were talking in hushed voices; and as she sat, she could tell that Indra wanted to reprimand her over her brash actions, but the older woman stayed silent, knowing that Anya had suffered a greater loss than any of them. Nyko examined her carefully, Indra had told him how close the colonel had been to the bomb blast, and her ears still rang with high-pitched stinging, which concerned the doctor.
“Why would Azgeda set up a trap like that? Slaughtering the village is one thing, but then drawing us in to it? That’s not like them,” Lincoln spoke as he started a fire whilst the sun still shone, orange and red kissing the horizon.
“They weren’t Azgeda ,” Anya said dully, barely able to feel the chill in her hands, “They were reapers, Azgeda may be violent but they’re not that unorthadox,”.
“Reapers?” Indra echoed with an arched brow, “Why would the reapers come so far east, this is way past their territory line,” they continued discussing the reapers and the village for a while, until the sun was starting to sink further down the sky, casting a red canvas behind them, and Anya could spot an army dirt-bike crossing the dunes. About time.
She excused herself from the camp, and walked to greet Sinclair.
“Your haste is appreciated, Sinclair, we’ve had quite the run in-” Anya began when the bike treaded to a stop and the mechanic dismounted, removing the helmet to reveal a young woman, instead of the ageing man that she’d met only once at the Unity Day festival four years back. “You’re not Sinclair,” The dirty blonde announced as the woman unfastened a toolbox from the back of the quad.
She was small in stature, but she walked with a confidence that told people not to undermine her. Her caramel skin bathed almost golden like honey under the setting sun.
“Impressive Observation,” the brunette smiled almost smugly, reporting for duty with tools in hand, “I’m Raven,” she extended a hand out to the Colonel who only arched a brow. Kane had promised her Sinclair, not a knock off.
“He sent me a messenger bird?” Anya shook her head in disbelief, her arms still crossed over her chest, prompting Raven to abandon the attempt of a handshake, “Sinclair is the engineer.”
Reyes let a loose laugh slip past her lips, “I know, he trained me, I’m the mechanic. So, can you tell me what I’m dealing with here, sweet cheeks?” Raven walked past the taller woman to observe the damaged vehicle, her face contorting into dramatic horror. “ Oh you poor baby, what did they do to you?”.
Colonel Oak rolled her eyes, sighing as she stood behind the mechanic, “We were ambushed by a bunch of Reapers, they shot a hole right into our oil tank, we drove as far as we could get.”.
Raven glanced over her shoulder, a soft frown pulling at her lips, “Reapers, this far east?” the thought sent a small shudder down the brunettes spine, but relaxed again almost instantly, maybe it had something to do with the impressive blonde keeping guard behind her. It was hard not to feel safe under her watchful gaze.
“Can you fix it?” the soldier asked and Raven had to hold back a laugh.
“I’m Raven fucking Reyes, I can fix anything,”. She hummed and knelt into the sand, examining the seriousness of the problem. Colonel Oak silently crouched behind her, also examining the damage to the jeep.
“So,” Anya punctured the silence with a single harsh syllable, making Raven jump slightly, “How long is this going to take?” she asked, a smirk tugging in the corners of her lips at the way her voice had startled the smaller woman.
Reyes cleared her throat, “Well... If it’s a clean hole, I’ll be able to make a good cover for it, that should hold out until you reach the next station, I’ve brought enough fuel to get you there, but I’ll need to start patching up before I do that transfer.” Raven stated, assessing the bullet hole again, she’d have to remove the whole panel to reach the tank “Maybe three hours?”.
“Maybe you should put your money where your mouth is and start patching, Birdie.” Anya smirked, her intense gaze flicking to the horizon, almost as if she expected the Reapers to have caught up with them already. She sighed and moved to return to her camp.
“Hey, I never caught your name,” Raven threw the words recklessly past her lips, and the Colonel paused in her tracks, glancing back over her shoulder, her neutral expression now hinting a tiny glimmer of amusement.
“I never threw it.”
Anya sat in silence as her team exchanged theories of why the reapers were suddenly a part of this war; up until now, they had remained neutral, fighting only for themselves; but the popular belief among her crew was that somehow, Azgeda had recruited them and made them do their dirty work.
The fire had died out, and nobody wanted to use any of their extra kindling, besides, now that darkness surrounded their every side, having a blazing light signalling their location wasn’t exactly smart, but now a chill swept the camp, and Anya was the only one not wearing their night coat.
Oak rounded the back of the jeep, finding only two bags in the back that weren’t being occupied, one of which was her own, the other had belonged to Tris. She pulled out Tris’ backpack, trying not to choke on the lump in her throat.
“Hey,” Raven coughed subtly, almost startling the dirty blonde who had entirely forgotten the mechanics existence, “Excuse me? Hola? Bonjour? Hey! Colonel Cheekbones!” Raven called out and Anya rolled her eyes, slinging the bag over her shoulder.
“What?” This was a war, not a sorority, and Anya wasn’t about to exchange late night confessions with this smarty-pants engineer.
A soft grin worked on Raven lips, glancing up at the soldier from her position kneeling in the sand, “I can’t hold this panel and screw in these bolts and shine the light to see what I’m doing,” the brunette said, nodding down at the torch that shone a silver beam from its place laying on the ground.
“I thought you were a mechanic?” Oak challenged, a finely-shaped brow arching skywards once more, making no effort to actually move.
Raven let a small, irritated groan slip from her throat, “Yeah, I’m a mechanic, not an octopus, now hold the damn flashlight!” the smaller woman demanded, and Anya’s lips parted involuntarily. Nobody gave her orders, and she was too stunned to argue, picking up the torch and directing it to the tank.
“How long have you been serving?” Raven inquired curiously, breaking the silence after about five minutes. Anya wasn’t all too talkative with the exception of her crew, but she decided nonetheless to take a bite out of the bait dangling before her.
“In total, ten years,” she answered in a low monotone, hopefully discouraging the brunette from asking more questions.
Raven let out a fascinated huff, “Woah... it’s impressive that you’re still alive,” she chuckled quietly, screwing another bolt into the temporary fix in the tank.
“No. It’s impressive that you’re still alive and I’ve not taken you out yet for being too damn loud,” the Colonel spoke in a harsh whisper, who knew what could be hiding behind those dunes, and Raven’s constant blabbering was hardly keeping them a secret.
The brunette glanced back at the soldier, a teasing grin upon her countenance, “Aww, I’d love for you to take me out, but we’re kinda in the middle of a war right night, Colonel cheekbones,” she played, throwing a reckless wink at the dirty-blonde, focusing back on the task at hand before Anya had the chance to scold her.
They worked in silence for another ten minutes. Well, Raven worked and Anya held the flashlight, but before long, the taller woman noticed the small shiver that ran through the engineers' body every so often, fingers trembling with her spanner, and her shoulders shaking like a gentle breeze.
Anya moved the torch only slightly, as she pulled Tris’ night coat out of the bag on her shoulder. They were both a similar build, and these jackets were purposefully meant to block out the harsh cold nights.
“Here, wear this, it will keep you warm,” the woman whispered before Raven could make an argument out of not shining the light where she needed it.
Dark brown eyes glanced upwards with an unspoken gratitude as she slipped into the coat. “Th-thanks, it’s getting real cold,” Reyes was too grateful that she passed up on the opportunity to tease the blonde.
After more work, Raven finally leant back, examining her handiwork. It was a rough fix, but it would hold out for a while, long enough for the jeep to take them to the nearest station. “I think that’s done, just try not to run into any more trou - Oh shit! Oh fuck!” Raven cussed, grabbing the flashlight from Anya’s hands, leaning closer into the mechanics.
“What? What happened?” Colonel Oak crouched beside the brunette, close enough for their bodies to press together, she couldn’t understand the problem just by looking at the jeeps interior, metal tanks, pipes and car parts all looked the same to her.
“Your oil leak has completely soaked your engine, it’s a wonder that you made it this far without dying,” the brunette murmured, shining the light to a part of the jeep that was red with fuel stains. Anya could only blink, Ravens explanation didn’t really explain anything.
“What?”
“Look, your oil tank is fixed and ready to go, but if that engine heats up too much while you’re driving, this whole jeep goes kaboom. I’m gonna have to replace it.” Raven glanced across to the dirty-blonde, just realising how close they had gotten, noses almost touching. She cleared her throat and stood up.
“You brought a replacement engine?” Oak asked incredulously. How much could she fit on one quad?
Reyes shook her head, her ponytail swishing behind her,” Nope, but I can rewire the engine and replace it with the one on the bike, just mean you guys will need to give me a lift back to Arkadia ,” she shrugged, trudging back to her bike in the thick coat that had belonged to Tris.
“How long with that put us behind?” Anya asked, long strides keeping in time with Raven.
“Maybe four hours. You’ll be ready to go by the morning.” The brunette assured, stopping by the bike and glancing up at the soldier with a fascination glazing her dark brown eyes, “ So. .. you gonna give me your name at some point, or are you just going to be Colonel cheekbones from here on out?” Raven smiled, drumming her fingertips on the handle of the quad.
“It’s Anya, Anya Oak.” she answered, and Raven didn’t know if it was just a trick of the moonlight shining down on them, but for a second, she could swear that Anya smiled, a proper smile, and not that gorgeous smirk that twisted her stomach.
They talked a little more as Raven worked on dismantling her bike, and Oak found herself opening up to the brunette, and it felt easy, just like how she had been able to talk to Tris when it had just been the two of them, when neither of them could sleep, laying beside the dying embers of a camp fire.
“Do you miss your family?” Reyes asked pausing in the middle of the engine transfer. Anya was sat in the sand beside her, and they were sharing water from the dirty -blondes decanter.
She shrugged, taking another gulp of water, holding the metal can in her hands for a while before handing it back to the smaller woman. “That depends,” Colonel Oak was prepared to leave the conversation there, but Raven had other ideas.
“You can’t say something so controversial like that and not continue, excuse me,” she interjected, causing a hollow chuckle to resonate from the soldier.
The taller woman shrugged, shaking her head slightly. “My parents wanted me to do something a lot better than this, private school, scholarships, they say I threw it away when I signed up for the army,” a bittersweet smile landed on her lips that Raven wanted to kiss away. She loved Anya’s smile, but this one was sad. Too sad.
“But on nights when I lose everything, I remember exactly what I left behind, and then I miss them,” she thought of Tris yet again, the girl had become her family. Reyes let a comforting hand fall on the older womans wrist, a comforting smile making Anya feel warmer inside.
Anya had missed this feeling, a sense of belonging, and she didn’t want to think of why she was finding it in the middle of the goddamn desert, with Raven Reyes of all people.
Colonel Oak stood watch again as Raven continued working, a soft smirk pulling at her lips as she watched the engineer frantically searching her toolbox, digging in clumps of sand for the tool that Oak had jokingly stowed away in her pocket.
“Where’s my wrench?!” the brunette hissed, before glancing up at the dirty-blonde, her mouth falling open at that hint of a cheeky grin upon the Colonels lips, “Anya! Give it back!”.
“Come and get it, short stuff,” the soldier teased, slipping the wrench from her pocket and holding it above her head, a challenging smirk resting on her countenance.
Challenge accepted. Raven scrambled to her feet, she wasn’t going to give the dirty blonde the satisfaction of watching her struggle to reach it. Her height wasn’t her most redeeming quality, but Reyes was surprisingly strong. “You’re too freakishly tall, either give it back or I’ll knock you right in the shin,” the brunette threatened.
Anya only laughed, clearly with no intention of submitting that easily, and without so much as a seconds warning, Reyes knocked the Colonel off balance, and a moment later her back was in the sand and Raven was atop of her, successfully grabbing the tool and stuffing it into her belt for safe keeping.
“That’ll teach you to fuck with my tools,” Raven grinned triumphantly, not all too sure why she hadn’t yet moved from her position of straddling the dirty-blonde.
“You kiss your wrench with that mouth?” Oak teased, the breath escaping her lungs as she glanced up at the mechanic with the starry sky glittering behind her. It was quite a sight, not that the soldier was going to admit that, she’ll take it to her grave, and in this warzone, that could be any time.
Reyes shook her head with a playful grin, “Nope, just pretty girls with heads too big for their army caps,”.
The short and surprised gasp that pushed past Anya’s lips was shortly swallowed by Ravens own. Reyes’ cherry flavoured lips were delicate yet unyielding pressed against her own, smooth as marble but warm and inviting. Colonel Oak curled her agile digits around the back of the mechanics neck, holding her close, sinking her lips more firmly against those of the brunettes.
They parted with the need for air taking over the sudden spell of passion that had overcome them, and a blush raced to Raven’s cheeks, until now, she hadn’t even realised what she’d done. Anya on the other hand, didn’t seem to be embarrassed at all as Reyes clambered off of her.
Eventually, hours into their conversations, teasing remarks, and playful arguments, Anya couldn’t suppress a yawn, and Reyes laughed at her, and told her to get some sleep, and that the Jeep would be ready to go when she awoke in the morning. Raven took the torch from Oaks grasp again.
“You sure you can manage without me?” The older woman inquired, and Ravens gaze flickered down to the flashlight with a teasing smirk.
“Yeah, I should be alright, it’s not very heavy. Now go to bed... or mat,”.
Again, this little mechanic had given her orders, and again she had obeyed them, returning to her crew, that all slept on the desert ground, their mats and blankets rolled on the sand.
Anya hadn’t slept a peaceful night in over ten years; her dreams always the same combination of ricochet bullet fire, blood and death, it was as if the grim reaper himself gave the Colonel her dreams, weaving them together out of his personal favourite collections. But for the first time in ten years, Tris was dead. Her dreams brought fought the image of her petrified face, wet with streaming tears, her screams still echoing in Oaks ringing ears. And then the explosion.
Her body tensed upon the sleeping mat, breath labouring softly, that was until the weight of the blanket settled over her shoulders and another presence comforted the dirty blonde. “Thanks, Nyko,” she murmured with her fatigue-drugged voice, slightly hoarse and warm.
“Nyko? I think I preferred you calling me Sinclair,” Ravens sweet amusement was clearly presented in her tone, and Anya felt the small woman’s body settle beside her. The colonel rolled over to face the mechanic, forcing her heavy lids to open. Her ears were still ringing obnoxiously at it was causing her head to hurt.
Tiredly, Oak pushed herself into a sitting position, Reyes was right by her side, and her head leant against the smaller woman’s shoulder accidentally, neither of them seemed to mind. “Jeeps done,” Raven added with a reassuring whisper, wrapping an arm around the Colonel.
“I knew you could do it,” Anya spoke quietly, rubbing her eyes as she glanced across the far sky that was just beginning to lighten, chasing the dark night across to the other side of the world. Sunrise was almost upon them.
“Really?” Raven teased, cuddling closer into the woman for warmth, “ Cause you underestimated my ability to hold a torch a few hours ago,” They sat together in silence for a moment, it was comfortable, neither in a rush to break it. “ Who’s Tris?” the mechanic finally asked, the question had been playing on her mind for the past few hours. “Her name’s stitched into the tag on the coat you gave me, who is she?”
When Anya didn’t reply at first, Raven was sure that she’d spoken out of turn, and was about to apologise when the Colonel answered her. “She... she died today. She was my friend,” a pained emotion crept into her tone, and the dirty-blonde only registered the tear slipping down her cheek when Raven moved to brush it away.
“I’m sorry Anya,” she whispered, the hand not busy wiping at her tears landed on the soldiers, entwining their fingers together. “She must’ve been really special to you,”.
The older woman nodded gently, burying her head into the crook of the engineer's neck. She smelt of sandalwood and berries. Tris had been special. Anya cleared her throat softly, careful as to not wake up the others. “So,” Oak began in her fashion for startling single syllables. “What happens when you return to your station?”.
Raven let a smug grin dawdle onto her lips, “Awe, ya gonna miss me, Colonel Cheekbones?”. Anya delivered a soft but determined jab to the small brunettes ribs with her elbow, and both women had to stifle their short bursts of laughter. “Actually, when I get back, I’m being sent to Polis for a couple of years with Abby, Sinclair and an engineering team to upgrade your tech stations, hospitals, radio towers, things like that. Your shit is so outdated,”. Reyes teased.
It was no lie that Arkadia was more technologically advanced than her hometown, and Anya wasn ’t surprised the time had finally come for them to take a step in the more modernised direction.
“Good, Polis needs a good mechanic,” the dirty blonde smiled slightly, her hazel eyes fixating on the dawning sun. “Maybe I’ll see you again when all this is over, if you’re in the city for a few years.”
Raven felt her heart skip slightly. Getting to see Anya again after the war seemed surreal, this war felt never-ending. But still, there was no denying the thrill that wracked her body at the idea of seeing the soldier not as a colonel, but as a Polis citizen. “I’d like that.”
Anya shifted slightly, sitting upright without leaning on Raven for support. Her long, lithe digits brushed against her dog tag , before pulling the chain over her head, and dropping the metal plate in the brunettes hand. “Here, I want you to have this. Just in case I don’t make it home,”. This was a dangerous battlefield. She’d lost so many of her team that there was no guarantee to make it out alive.
Raven tightened her grasp around the necklace, holding too tight until the metal started to hurt. “You’re going to come home, Anya. You’re Colonel fucking Oak and you’re coming home,” the small woman demanded, with a deploring bite to her voice that made the dirty blonde grin, “Promise me, Okay?”.
“I promise to come home...” the Colonel answered in a soft tone, much gentler now than it had been the first time they had exchanged greeting, “If you’ll wait for me there,”.
A splitting smile stretched Ravens lips all the way to her cheeks. Anya made her feel something that she hadn’t felt in far too long, and the brunette nodded in agreement, “I promise,”. Reyes leant closer, curling into the soldiers’ side peacefully. It didn’t matter how long this god-awful war was going to last, she was waiting for Anya.
Dawn came quickly, and as the sun rose, so did the rest of the campers that were all as equally impressed at how the jeep had been fixed overnight. Indra was eager to get out of the desert, reminding the soldiers that had they been followed, the reapers could be just behind those dunes by now.
Lincoln was all too happy to test out Ravens handiwork, and drive them all to Arkadia where they could continue their journey in a vehicle that wasn’t practically held together with duct tape and superglue.
Nyko took the Colonels usual spot as shotgun, and Anya spent the whole ride to the city with Ravens head in her lap, stroking the young mechanic’s dark hair while both women fell in and out of consciousness.
Indra had shot her a knowing smirk when Raven woke up and a soft blush swept across Oaks cheeks, the colour of cherry blossom. But they remained silent. Anya just knew that in a couple of years, she finally had something worth coming home to.
Raven.