Harry

David sighs deeply as he takes in my angry expression, pursing his lips. "Alright, what's wrong now?" He reaches for the cigar tucked behind his ear, placing the tip in his mouth.

"Sir, the twins from Vortex," I start. "They need to leave now. They've been exposed and you know what that means."

"Yes, I do," he says and I smirk. "It means you'll do everything they stay protected and to maintain peace."

My smirk falters, my eyebrows pulling together. "Oh, I get it. You're shitting me, aren't you? Yeah, that's it," I say, pointing a finger at him. "Good one. Hilarious."

His face remains neutral while he lights the cigar. "I'm dead serious."

I inhale deeply, drawing my palm over my face in exasperation. "Sir, I don't even know--"

"Don't."

"Dad!" I shout, surprising both him and myself. "Why are they here? You know how I feel about Vortex, yet you seem like you don't care. Ruthless killers, all of them." I gulp, trying to steady my breathing, not wanting to trigger any flashbacks.

"Listen to me, Harry," he says and I visibly cringe at his usage of my name. "I know it's hard for you, I know what are you going through every day, but you'll have to trust me. Of course I care about you, but it's been two years and I thought you'd be over it by now. Those kids won't harm anyone, I'm sure of it."

"You don't know what I'm going through, nobody does!" I snap, shutting my eyes for a few moments to gain composure. My chest tightens at the thought of my past. "How can you trust them?"

"I trusted their father," he replies, running his hand through his dirty blonde hair. "They are staying, Har-- son, as long as they want. I have a debt to pay, besides, we always need soldiers. You know we have a lack of men."

"Father? What-- you know what, I don't care." I huff, lifting my hands. "If anything happens to this base because of them, it will be your fault and I won't hesitate to make sure you pay for your mistake," I say harshly, looking him in the eyes. "That's a promise, dad."

"As you should, son," he tells me, puffing out a smoke. I'd say he even looks proud. "I always taught you to be righteous for a reason." He circles around his desk and walks toward me, placing his hand on my shoulder. "You know, whenever you're ready, I'll--"

"No," I interject, knowing what he was about to offer. "I'll never be ready." I step back, his hand falling off my shoulder. "I'll go back to my duties now, sir."

I catch a tiny glimmer of sadness in his eyes before he nods. "You may go, soldier."

I exit the office with a slam of the door, my boots stomping on the floor with each step that I take, my fists knotted at my sides. I have an urge to punch the shit out of the bag in my training room to let off some steam. When I reach the place where I have left Elena and Alex, I see them laughing with the soldiers that were supposed to watch over them. Then the twins fist bump each other, wiggling their fingers as they pull their hands away. I sigh heavily, rolling my eyes.

"So, when are we leaving?" Elena asks me as she crosses her arms and leans against the wall, failing at hiding her smile. She knows. Great.

"You two," I address the two soldiers, "leave." They nod immediately and do as I instructed, my gaze shifting on the twins that are impossible to get rid of. "You. Go to your room and stay there for a few hours. Don't worry about anyone attacking you, Louis and Niall will take care of it," I tell Alex, noticing his surprised expression as he glances at his sister. "And you," I look at Elena, slightly narrowing my eyes at her, "follow me."

"Remember, be nice, Lenny," Alex mumbles teasingly and points a finger at Elena to which she rolls her eyes. He then reluctantly leaves, glancing back at us a few times.

"Let's go, spunky," I order, beginning to walk away.

"Where are we going?" She asks me, walking beside me. I'm starting to think she's incapable of following orders.

"You're supposed to follow me which means walking behind me," I reprimand. "The view's much nicer," I add, a small smirk curving my lips.

"I've seen better," she mutters, continuing to walk beside me. "And I'm not your pet, regardless if you're my superior or not."

"Ah, so you've checked me out already," I note, ignoring the other part of her statement.

"I would never, sir," she replies, the corners of her lips twitching.

Involuntarily, my lips pull in a smile as I silently lead her toward the doctor's office, knocking on the door a few times. I sigh when there's no reply, meaning Ethan's not here. It's typical for him, he's constantly busy considering he's the only doctor in the base so his assistance is always needed somewhere, mostly on the field. A few other doctors are in the medical centre a few kilometres in the North. I enter the office, motioning to Elena to take a seat on the table.

"I don't need to be here," Elena says. "I'm fine."

"Your face looks like a rainbow and your wounds are bleeding," I tell her, unable to hide the sarcasm in my voice. I walk toward the cabinets, opening the one with antiseptics, cotton balls, and bandages, already knowing where everything is considering I clean my wounds every day.

When I take what I need, I turn around and walk toward her, placing the supplies beside her on the table where she's sitting. She looks at me in surprise. "Listen, I don't like you, I don't like your attitude, and I don't like the fact you're staying here," I say, watching as she looks down, her eyebrows pulling in a frown. "But," I add, her eyes snapping up, "you are a part of this base now and we take care of each other here."

I begin soaking the cotton balls with the antiseptic when she holds her hand out, my eyes looking at her questioningly as she motions toward the supplies. "Fine then, do it yourself."

I watch silently as she cleans her bloody face, my arms crossed over my chest. "You missed a spot," I note after a few moments and step closer to her, taking one of the cotton balls and carefully dabbing it over the wound then cleaning the blood around it. She barely winces, keeping her face stoic and her eyes trained on me.

As silence surrounds us, I clear my throat to break the tension that settled between us. Our eyes accidentally meet and I frown, my gaze quickly dropping to her wound. "I'm sorry this happened. I'm against any form of violence, I'll make sure the soldier who did this gets punished."

"No need to apologise for something that wasn't your fault," she says. "As to that punishment, I agree. I reckon it's better that you do it rather than me."

"I'm sure it would be well deserved, but I like when things are settled without violence."

"Sometimes, violence is needed. For an instance, if I challenged him to a combat, we'd have to fight," she smiles. "All according to the rules, of course."

"You think you're so smart, huh?" I mumble, biting back a smile.

"I'd say I'm resourceful," she replies, clenching her jaw to hide her obvious amusement.

"I'd say you're difficult to handle, a challenge."

"I'd say you're probably right," she smiles and then winces because of the wound.

Neither of us says anything after that as I finish my task in silence, taking a step back when I'm done. For some reason, a small smile is present on my face.

"Thank you," she mumbles, quickly standing up and putting some space between us. "I'll get back to my duties now."

"Go," I say, watching as she turns and leaves.

. . . .

One week has passed since Elena and Alex have been discovered. There'd been an obvious tension and some minor verbal fights between them and other soldiers, but luckily no major incidents. I hate to admit it, but they've both proved to have some impressive skills we could use to our advantage. I still don't trust them and I'm keeping a close eye on them, but I believe they're ready to get some proper tasks and help with running this base and keeping it safe.

"Alex," I call him when I spot him walking down the hallway with Louis and Liam, the three of them turning to face me. "You two. Leave."

"Damn, the day has only begun and you're already in a pissy mood," Liam comments. I notice he's completely prepared for a battle, with a rifle hanging from his left shoulder, the uniform with a bulletproof vest, and a belt with weapons tucked in the pockets in it. "Thank God it's Sunday tomorrow, you seriously need to get laid."

Louis and Alex snort, but when I glare at them, their faces quickly turn serious.

"I'm sure you'll do it for me, for the whole base, and this whole fucked up country," I reply flatly. "Not to mention your arm muscles will look nicer when you're done."

"Oooh," Louis and Alex say at the same time, bursting into laughter.

Liam gives in and laughs as well, shaking his head. "Let's go, Lou. Wish me luck, H, I'll go scouting now."

"Good luck, puppy eyes," I say, giving him a half-smile.

Louis pats Alex's back and they high five each other before he saunters away with Liam. Alex looks at me questioningly, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. The poor kid's afraid of me, I'm sure of it.

"Starting Monday, you'll be assigned to your first real task. You'll be on guarding duty along with Louis and me, so make sure you learn all the rules," I instruct. "I rarely tolerate mistakes."

"Yes, sir," he says and does a curtsy, making me sigh. "What about my sister? I recommend cleaning the toilets, she'll love it."

"Wait, that's actually not a bad-- no, wait. No," I roll my eyes. "That's none of your concern. You can go and do whatever you were about to do."

He nods and smiles widely, beginning to run away in the other direction, somehow managing to trip in the process, using the wall for support. I shake my head and smile as I watch him, realising he reminds me of someone, of the person I used to know. Of the person I was.

No matter how harsh the war was, how much death was surrounding me, I would always find time for fun and laughter, for my friends. Now, I avoid all that, or I'm simply incapable of being like that. Moments like those are rare, my guilt is never allowing me to be the person I used to be. To be Harry.

After patrolling around the base to make sure everyone is doing their assignments, I make my way toward the gym, adamant to find Elena to give her the news of her new task. I hope I'll find her here, otherwise, I'll have to break the rules and go on the east side to look for her. Since I'm the leader's son, I'm entitled to break them here and there. I spot her in less than two minutes, lying on the mat in the corner of the room, conversing with Tori, Jess, and Niall.

I quickly walk toward them, clearing my throat to gain their attention. They all look at me and Niall pats me on the back. "I need to talk to you."

Elena clumsily stands to her feet, grabbing Niall's shoulder to support herself. I'm starting to see the similarities between her brother and her. "Okay. I mean, yes, sir."

"I knew you want to feel me up," Niall comments, smirking at her as he sneaks his arm around her waist, pretending to help her steady herself. Wanker.

"I'll let you flatter yourself since no one else does it," she says as she steps away from his grasp.

Niall grins, clearly amused. "I know you want me."

"Alright, that's enough," I interject. "You'll have enough time for this tomorrow." I flick my wrist, gesturing for Niall, Tori, and Jess to leave.

"Follow me," is all I tell Elena before turning around, walking back toward the exit.

She catches up to me, walking beside me. "Is it just me or every time we meet I have to follow you somewhere? Mind as well find me a collar and a leash."

"I had this cat named Cat when I was five and he ran away the first chance he got," I say. "I doubt you'd want to be my pet."

She starts laughing and it's one of those boisterous laughters funnier than the actual joke. "Are you always this sarcastic?"

"No," I reply sarcastically.

"So Charming, what's my task?"

"Charming? Maybe you should leave nicknaming to me," I say, unable to stop a smile from forming on my lips.

"It fits, you're a real charmer with your death glare, evil frown and sarcastic comments," she retorts, my smile faltering. I'd argue, but she's right; I am charming.

"Your task is cleaning the toilets, I've heard you love it," I say with a straight face, watching as her eyes widen. I almost laugh.

"I'll shove my foot right up his ass," she mutters, obviously talking about Alex.

"Relax, ninja, I was joking," I say, humour coating my voice. "By the way, he should learn to be more careful. I talked to Lia and she said someone saw Alex's tattoo and that's how she found out about you two."

Her eyebrows pull in a frown. "Oh, I know, I had a small talk with her a few days ago. Alex swears he was careful, I don't know what to believe in, besides that bit--"

"H!" Louis' frantic face comes into my view as he runs toward me. "Mate, I, uh. . ." he gulps, breathing heavily. "I have bad news."

I frown, tensing immediately. "What is it?"

"The groups sent to scout and collect the deliveries have been attacked," he tells me quickly. "David has already left to see the damage, but he told me to let you know."

"Vortex?" I ask, clenching my fists.

"No. It was Rogue."

"What?" My face contorts in confusion, my heart starting to race. "How many victims?"

"Dozens for now," he says. "We have connections to most of the scouting groups except one. We're trying to locate Liam and his group, but to no avail. This is bullshit, H, he literally left twenty minutes ago."

"Wait, Rogue?" Elena cuts in. "I thought there's a truce between you?"

"Apparently not," I snap, my fingers running through my hair. "Fuck. Come on, I want to try to contact them myself." My stomach ties itself into knots at the thought of Liam being injured or worse. It's like history is repeating itself in a way and even though it's not my fault this time, I can't help but feel guilty.

My feet carry me out of the gym, with Louis and Elena following closely behind. We have enough problems with Vortex and the lack of men, the last thing we need is another enemy; it would certainly be our downfall. War has never been easy and fair and its consequences have always been terrible with hundreds of people dead or injured, leaving all the survivors broken.

But I'll make sure that doesn't happen to us. If there's a way to prevent another pointless war, I'll find it, no matter the odds or circumstances.