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[w0lverine123]

Country: Britain
Area/Setting: A train transporting soldiers from London to a nearby port so they can be deployed.
Current Time: 11:47 (almost midday)
Weather Conditions: Heavy rain, pattering down loudly on the roof, creating a sound like massive drums.

Massive storm clouds were gathered overhead, stretching in all directions in a vast fluffy, gray landscape that could very well cover most, if not all, of the great land of Britain. The humongous clouds shed rain like a British plane could drop bombs, and belched thunder every few seconds, as if to announce that it's monstrous tendrils of light and pain were coming down to Earth. Indeed, the sound created was like a giant pounding his fists against the train and missing every so often. One bolt of lightning had almost hit the train. That wouldn't be good, not at all, because the train contained Britain's troops that were to be deployed from their destination, a port far to the south of London, the great city from which they'd boarded the train. Most of these soldiers were new recruits, bound to go on their first operation, most likely in France. The other handful were seasoned veterans, escorting the new recruits in the process of being deployed. Civilians were also on the train, but not many were willing to set foot on a train, or any place for that matter, with a group of drunken soldiers.

One of the few men who were sober was Staff Sergeant Zack de Caldicot, trying to relax in a room full of drunk new recruits and another seasoned veteran, whom Zack couldn't determine the soberness of just yet. But it didn't matter, because all attention was on Zack anyways. He sat next to Private Luis Burton, who was particularly drunk. Although the private stayed calm and didn't slur his speech, you could tell he was drunk by what he did and said. Such as peeing himself and then announcing it to the whole group.

“You know,” Luis was just saying, “When me and Zack my boy... Right... There,” he pointed at Zack. 'My boy'? Zack was more than ten years his elder. Luis continued. “We was at base... When some Nazis showed up. He was prepared... Ready to win... Got our guns... Went to the trench and... And...” the private cracked up laughing. “He pees himself! Ahahaha!”

Zack sighed, shook his head, and whacked the man in the stomach with his rifle. The room fell quiet as Zack relaxed back into his seat, lighting a cigarette and setting his rifle next to him and the now sleeping Luis Burton.

“Now, you bunch best stay quiet, or you'll get a whack to the face,” Zack ordered.

There was a round of muttered, “Yes sir!” and whispered, “He's insane!” as Zack just sat calmly in his seat, looking as if nothing had happened. Which, if the new recruits knew what was good for them, was the truth.

Zack looked out the window casually. There went a farm, and a church, and there was a town, up ahead, but no Nazi swastika, no crazy Germans destroying everything. Zack took out a cloth and started polishing his rifle. Up, down. Up, down. It was calming, but brought Zack to thinking about the movements of troops that he'd laughed about as a child. It was no use. After fifteen long minutes, and having tried whistling (that drew more than it's share of glances), picking his nose (and finding several things he didn't think should be there), and casting long hard glances around the room to prove his authority (which, if you asked most of the nearby soldiers, he ad none of) Zack just gave up. It was noisy. As soon as his mind drifted, he noticed the noise.

New recruits were talking, drunk guys were stumbling around and laughing, the rain was pattering, thunder was booming, and Zack would have none of it.

“Shut up, all of you!” he shouted, hoisting his rifle in one hand, cocking it as if to say, 'Hey, I do this every day,' and aiming it at a nearby recruit. “If you loud mouthed imbeciles don't quiet down, I will literally blow your brains out. Got it?”

[Stephen Colly]

The train swayed in the rain as it made its way out of London and towards the nearby port in the South. Stephen sat, staring out of the window at the pouring rain and the distant claps of thunder that could be heard faintly over the noise of the train’s tracks as it moved slowly on with a puff of smoke.

Four other people were in the compartment with Stephen - an elderly man, his daughter by the looks of things and her two small children, both boys, both watching Stephen closely with their innocent, large, brown eyes. For the last half an hour since they had left the station a word hadn’t been uttered. Stephen was beginning to doze; his head against the window frame, the noise of the rain against the glass was rather soothing. That didn’t go to plan as the old man spoke up suddenly.

”We are all proud of what you chaps do out in France.” his voice was shaky, it held years in it. Stephen forced his head off the window and turned to look at the man fully, the man had been watching Stephen to see if he would put in a word or two but as the Devonshire boy didn’t, he continued. ”I was out there in the Great War, served in the front line. Saw a lot of young boys like you…if you don’t mind me saying – like you die in front of my eyes.” tears had sprung to the old man’s cheeks as he remembered the horrific sights he had obviously seen in those trenches.

His daughter, a pretty young girl of about twenty – four, put an arm around his shoulder and patted her father, ”That is one of the only times I’ve heard him speak of the war.” she commented to Stephen as her father’s eyes began to close and he drifted off to sleep very quickly and suddenly.

Stephen smiled softly at her and then glanced at the two boys, ”What are your – “ he was cut off by a loud shouting coming from the compartment next to his. He had heard the sound of drunken soldiers coming from there when he had got on at Victoria station and had not accidently chosen this compartment to sit in. But the noise was now doing his head in, he could hear it over the rain it was so loud.

”Excuse me one moment.” Stephen said as he left his gun and pack and suitcase in the compartment and headed out into the corridor, grabbing hold of the side as he moved along to the door of the compartment where the noise was coming from.

He peered in through the window and saw a few new recruits who were obviously very drunk all staring at a gun that had been pointed at one of their company by another man who looked sober, this man, and the one to his left, both looked like they had seen action. Their faces were weather-beaten and their eyes, even in this fury of annoyance, did seem lifeless like Stephen’s sometimes did.

Stephen opened the door and stood in the door way, ”Sorry to disturb, its just…well, I can hear you from the compartment next door and it would be best if you would keep your voices down.” he was staring at the new recruits who had now turned their drunken, bewildered eyes to him. ”Sorry to disturb you, sir.” he noticed the British Staff Sergeant’s uniform, realizing he may have been rather rude, ”I didn’t realize you were in here as well, sorry.”

[w0lverine123]

It was dark. There was no light, but time seemed to pass slowly. No, wait. There was no time. There was just, well, darkness. Was this what death feels like? No, he couldn't be dead. There was a light, right there, up ahead. And pain. Oh, the pain. It tore at his intestine like an angry snake. He tried to run for the light. That must be life, right? But no. He couldn't run. Much as his legs pumped, not an inch would go by. He could feel himself moving, but the light never wavered, came closer, or fled farther. It was all just dark and dingy. Well, not dingy, really. Here was no air, was there? It didn't feel wet, or dry, or anything else. Then, the light approached. About time, too. It felt like hours had gone by, but some tiny part of his brain said it was only about twenty minutes. So, this was what it felt like to be revived. But revived from what, into what? Time to find out.

Luis was regaining consciousness quickly now. He pain was subsiding. The light burst into a full bloomed scene.”Am I... Dead?” he wondered aloud, to nobody in particular. All the other men in the room seemed focused on something next to him. Luis looked that way slowly, and saw a familiar face holding a gun towards the men.

“Ah, so you're awake. No, you aren't dead. At least, not yet,” the familiar man chuckled. That face. Something clicked in Luis's head.

Those men were new recruits, all privates except for one, a corporal who was dozing off in a drunken slumber, slumped in his seat as Luis had been. The rest were also drunk, but all awake, sitting up, sensing working to a degree as they stared intently at the standard issue Lee-Enfield MK4 rifle that was aimed and cocked to blow their brains out. The man holding the gun was Staff Sergeant Zack de Caldicot, friend, comrade, and superior to Luis Burton himself. They were on a fast moving train, in the middle of a thunderstorm, speeding towards the nearest port city to be deployed. And... There was a young man, obviously British, standing in the doorway. Wait, that hadn't been there before. Luis rubbed his eyes, but no, he wasn't hallucinating.

A few drunkards acknowledged the newcomer with a sullen nod, accompanied by a few slurred words and a vague hand motion. Finally, the man spoke.

“Sorry to disturb, it's just... Well, I can hear you from the compartment next door and it would be best if you kept your voices down,” saying this, he stopped examining Luis and Zack, instead focusing on the drunk group of new recruits. One of the privates raised bottle of beer to his lips and chugged it down before sadly looking down into his empty bottle. Suddenly, the drunkard seemed to get an idea, looking hopefully up at the new arrival.

“You got some beer for me, kiddo?” the man slurred, his unshaven lips curling into a small smile.

“Shut up and stop being rude to our guest, you drunken idiots. Make some room for him to sit down. That's right, remember who's got the gun in this room,” Zack commanded, watching the privates grumble and scoot out of the way to clear a space next to Zack, on the opposite side as Luis. “Sit down and relax, corporal.”

“Sorry to disturb you sir,” the man said, looking at Zack. “I didn't realize you were in here as well, sorry.”

“Nonsense, sit down, corporal!” Zack chuckled. “That's an order!” He moved his gun to make space.

“How do you know he's a corporal?” Luis whispered.

“He's got a corporal's uniform,” Zack muttered back, before looking up to the newly arrived corporal. “So, what's your name?”

[Stephen Colly]

One of the drunken men spoke up to Stephen, holding out an empty bottle and asking if he had any beer. ”N-No, I don’t.” the boy shook his head quickly and looked over at the man who was obviously the one in charge in the carriage and had the gun that was now resting away from the men’s chests.

Stephen gladly took the offer to sit down, he made his way towards the space in between the two men and sat down gingerly, his hands clasped together as he glanced around at the other soldiers who all seriously would have headaches in the morning by the looks of things.

The man next to him who had offered him a seat to sit down, asked him his name. Stephen smiled. ”Corporal Stephen Colly, sir.” he stuck a hand out towards the man, and then glanced at the other sober one. ”And yours?” he asked them both, not really wanting to engage the others in conversation as all he would get was a drunken slur of nonsense.

He glanced back down at his hands and then at the floor, he didn’t really know where else to look, he didn’t want to meet anyone’s eye in case he got shouted at for staring. He didn’t mean to look at someone, it was just how he acted, it was how he was like…he had stared at Edward a lot more than anyone else for instance, he wouldn’t stare at anyone else in that way…

He smiled softly and looked back at Zack, awaiting an answer.

[w0lverine123]

“Corporal Stephen Colly, sir. And yours?” came the reply from the boy. Zack studied him as the corporal's gaze wandered, obviously in a short daydream. The corporal had slightly large ears and eyes that had obviously seen battle many times. However, they somehow retained a childish glint, similar to the one hat came into Zack's eyes every so often. Then, Stephen looked up at Zack, smiling for no reason in particular that the staff sergeant could see. Well, the boy was expecting an answer. No avoiding that. It was better than the drunkards.

Luckily, Luis was there to save his superior, speaking up first. “I'm Private Luis Burton, at your service, sir! Me and Zack here, we served for a year straight – well, I was only there for about eleven months – but anyways, we were in complete isolation on the front lines in France!”

“Enough, Luis. I'm Staff Sergeant Zack de Caldicot, like he said. Call me Zack. Everybody does,” Luis's superior said, silencing Luis.

But oh no, Luis was not about to be stopped. Zack sighed. Once that private got his mouth into action, there was no stopping the chatter. So he sat back and listened to an old favorite of Luis's about their time in the war. “Well, I was just there for a week, when five Germans attacked! We had to muster up a small defensive force, so I grabbed the nearest rifle, which turned out to be my very own, and started firing. Took down three of them on my own, I did!” Luis exclaimed, grinning broadly.

“Three? On your own?” Zack laughed. “As I recall, you took down one and hit another in the ankle.”

“No!” Luis protested. “I took down that guy! After I shot him in the foot, he bled to death! I killed him, oh yes I did! And I hit that fat Nazi in the heart, too! He was dead in an instant! I tell you, killed three, no denying it! You want to-!”

“Alright, go on,” Zack soothed, rolling his eyes at Stephen.

“Fine. But your accusations really hurt me inside. Anyways, we were in the trench, and the guys charge us, the idiots! We fired at 'em and killed four, but then, the fifth one somehow avoided my shots! My super awesome accurate shots!” well, Luis was obviously still slightly drunk, but at least he wasn't slurring. “And that one, he jumps in the trench, and then... He was a she! Oh yes, he was a girl! Anyways, Zack killed her, but I still remember that historic battle!”

“Historic my ass,” Zack commented, lighting a cigarette and putting it in his mouth. “You want one?” he offered a second one to Stephen.

[Stephen Colly]

The other man on the other side of Stephen perked up and introduced the two men on either side, Luis and Zack. ”Nice to meet you.” he smiled at them both. ”And who are all these lot?” Stephen asked, his voice lower than it just had been as he gestured towards the other people in the compartment, the drunkards.

Luis had started off on a quick story of one time in France when Germans attacked and he had shot them all dead, or nearly all of them, Stephen wasn’t really listening. Zack was laughing alongside Luis about the funny incident…it really sounded funny…

”No go on, it’s interesting to some extent.” Stephen said, now trying to turn his attention to the rest of Luis’s story.

Zack had rolled his eyes at Stephen and the boy smiled back slightly, but then turned back to Luis as he started on his story.

”A girl? No way….that’s just odd...do the Jerries not have any men left that they have to use women?” Stephen laughed in slight disabelief. ”You sure it was a girl? I mean…isn’t that a little extreme?” he was actually quiet interested in what Luis was saying now, it was better than sitting in silence.

Stephen laughed lightly as Zack commented on the battle being historic. He then offered the boy a cigarette and Stephen gladly took it. ”Thank you very much.” he lit it and blew a puff of smoke out into the air, watching it drift into the air.

[w0lverine123]

Zack watched gratefully as Stephen accepted he cigarette. It lightened the mood at least slightly, and it was making the staff sergeant's attention span last longer. At least the boy was less nervous and more open to humor at this point. However, Luis wasn't willing to let a subject like that little fight slip. Although neither Luis nor Zack had much experience with full automatic weaponry, Luis was just raring to describe another battle involving machine guns, a tank, and some questionable intelligence that involved Hitler's love life. But Zack wanted to answer the corporal's questions (and stop Luis's stories), and took over talking for a moment.

“Nah, he isn't joking. It was definitely a girl. At first I thought it might be a man, but on closer inspection...” Zack shifted nervously. “Well... We just kind of... Ahem. Well, you get the point.”

“Haha! I'll tell him!” Luis declared, launching forward. “We checked under her pants and she was missing a-!”

“Ahem! Luis, shut up. Anyways, these drunkards,” Zack continued as if Luis hadn't said anything. “They're the newest recruits in this great country of Britain's military. Disgraces, the lot of 'em. And as for the Germans having no men left, well, they seemed to have plenty available when they attacked us. A year in isolation with Nazis firing from all sides? No, they had plenty of men left.”

“Suit yourself, Zack. Anyways, I have a theory on that; Hitler must have had an affair with that women, and sent her into war to get rid of her!” Luis exclaimed.

“Don't be an idiot,” Zack scolded. “You sound like Hitler is personally targeting you for attacks.”

[Stephen Colly]

Smoking did seem to always lighten the mood if the place was rather awkward. Stephen had got a passion for smoking over the few months, it had become a sort of addiction ever since Edward had left and now he couldn’t really stop it. He didn’t really feel able to do much without smoking, it calmed his nerves. The two sober people in the carriage where becoming easier to talk to.

”I get it.” Stephen said quickly before Luis could say any more, he didn’t really want to hear what they had been up to looking up a woman’s pants in the middle of a warzone.

Stephen looked over at the drunkards; a few had just fallen asleep in a drunken doze and the other who had spoken to Stephen when he had first entered the carriage, was staring at him dumbly with his blue, watery eyes. Stephen stared back in disgust at the man. ”Hmmm.” Stephen only said as he turned to stare out the window at the battering rain that hit the window like stones hitting something hard. He turned away suddenly, feeling rather sick and looked down at his hands.

The two men had been talking to themselves for a bit and now stopped, Stephen glanced at the one named Zack, watching him. ”Why did you join up into this war?” he asked him, making conversation.

[w0lverine123]

The boy had started looking around. A good sign. He was inspecting his surroundings. A good tactic, in Zack's opinion. And the lad was pretty smart, too; he'd stopped Luis from describing more wartime experiences. Embarrassing wartime experiences. But then Corporal Colly had taken to staring out the window as Zack and Luis chatted a bit. Zack couldn't blame him. The conversation was heating up, and much as Zack tried, Luis seemed intent on acting like a bloody pervert for their guest. Luckily, just when Zack was about to burst, Stephen saved (and doomed) him with a simple question. “Why did you join up into this war?” he asked.

Zack smiled kindly, but deep down, he really didn't want to answer that.. “Well, that's kind of complicated. My father was a Nazi, but my mother was English. Nazis are just, well... I feel that Germany stole my childhood. My girlfriend moved there. That was ten years ago. I just... just want to destroy them all. So I joined this war to send all those damn Jerries to hell!”

As Zack turned his gaze on Luis, the private burst into a short sentence. “I came into the war because my pop forced me to!”

Zack fiddled with his rifle nervously. “And you? Why are you in this war?”

[Stephen Colly]

Zack was smiling at Stephen; Stephen awaited an answer and in the end got one. A very in interesting and unusual story came from the Staff Sergeant’s lips. So, his father was a Nazi, his mother was a Brit…what would that make him? A German-English person?

The reason that Zack had for joining was a good one, a sensible one, a view that most people had of the Germans, they wanted to kill all of them, and they wanted to send them all to hell. In Stephen’s eyes, he didn’t want to go around killing people, people like him especially people who Edward respected but he knew that he was in the army now, he was a soldier and he must fight…in a way, to be quiet honest, Stephen was angry at the Germans for taking his best friend and father-figure and even his crush away from him, how dare they…

Luis had said something about his pop forcing him, again that was another common reason for joining up, that the parents of men had fought in the Great War or who had been alive around the time and wanted their son’s to fight also, to crush the Germans like they had done.

Zack then turned to Stephen and asked him why he had joined up. Stephen turned to Zack, a small smile on his face; he didn’t really know how to phrase it. ”You are going to think it is really, really odd but my father sold my horse that I had raised from a foal, off to the army and I wanted him back, my father had no right to sell the horse without my permission, he did it because he wanted the £100 or so that they gave to people who allowed their horses to go into the army. So I joined up and followed on to find him.” Stephen stopped and felt his cheeks burn red, ”I’ve found him, but I can’t get out of this war like I thought I could, so I’m stuck here, but I have a friend who is missing in action and I want to find him so that is also at the back of my mind.” he finished and looked down at his hands.

[w0lverine123]

Zack listened intently as Stephen tried to explain his reasoning for joining the army. “You are going to think this is really, really odd but my father sold my horse that I had raised from a foal, off to the army and I wanted him back,” came the reply. Zack did find that rather odd, but it made good sense. “My father had no right to sell the horse without my permission, he did it because he wanted the £100 or so they gave to people who allowed their horses to go to the army. So I joined up and followed on to find him.” Well, it was quite a strange story, but Zack found it quite sensible. The boy started blushing, and Zack knew it wasn't over yet. “I've found him, but I can't get out of this war like I thought I could, so I'm stuck here, but I've also got a friend who is missing in action and I want to find him so that is also at the back of my mind.”

Zack nodded. It was, in fact, a very good couple of reasons to be in the war. But he felt that the boy had somehow developed a hate for the Nazis, however small. So Zack smiled. “Well, that is a bit strange, but I understand your motives. Once, when I was a kid, I had a puppy that this other kid threw in the bay near my home, and I jumped in to save him. I couldn't swim and I couldn't find a way out of the water, but I was reunited with my puppy. A priest rescued me, but that's not a big deal right now. The point is, you did the sensible thing, no matter what my superiors say.” Then thinking about some people he knew, Zack added in a quieter voice, “Or what my underlings say.”

Then Luis piped up and joined in. “Ya, and rescuing a lost friend is good to try. Zack's grandfather was lost in a dogfight over Germany, but he still thinks he's alive.”

“First off, Luis, my grandfather IS alive and I WILL find him,” Zack said, elbowing Luis in the ribs so hard that the private yelped in pain. “And it's not a bad thing to want to save a friend, corporal. If it feels right, you do it. Don't be embarrassed in the least.”

“Ya, but look what doing what feels right did to you, Zack. Lift up your shirt for the boy,” Luis said, laughing.

Zack held up his shirt slightly, revealing a series of scars and burns along his left side. The staff sergeant's expression was losing it's happiness quickly, becoming a scowl as he recalled the incident. “It was the dead of night, and three Nazi machine gunners were firing on us. So I took my rifle and sniped two of 'em, but the third managed to give me a little parting gift before his turn, as you can see,” Zack explained. “But they died and I lived, so that's what counts.”

“Now, my turn to ask a question!” Luis said happily. Zack glared at him for acting so childish, but Luis took no notice. “When this war is over, what do you plan to do?”

[Stephen Colly]

Zack seemed to understand, he was nodding and smiling. Yes, indeed it was slightly strange to non-horsey people…but he understood Stephen’s motives, oh that was nice…

He then talked about a puppy that he had been reunited with after loosing it. Stephen was watching him; Zack’s voice became quieter as he said something about underlings…underlings? What did he mean about that? Of course, Stephen did not say anything or ask what he meant as it might hurt the man’s feelings so he kept quiet and just looked down at his hands as to not embarrass Zack.

Luis again piped up, joining in the conversation. Zack and he talked about Zack’s grandfather who had gone missing. ”I’m sorry to hear that.” Stephen said reassuringly.

Zack, after elbowing Luis in the ribs and saying that his grandfather was alive and that the man would find him, he then reassured Stephen that it was the right thing to do to try and find a friend. ”I can’t do much, but at least I can make other people help.” he said to Zack.

Luis then made Zack pull up his shirt to reveal horrible scars all over his chest and burns. He then explained to Stephen what those scars had come from and Stephen bit his lip and a quick intake of breath as he thought of the pain that Zack must have done through to get those.

After a few minutes of silence, Luis then piped up, wanting to ask a question to Stephen who glanced to the other side of him to the private.

”After the war? No idea…really, seriously I don’t know, go back to my old life I guess…” Stephen hadn’t thought about what he would do after the war….that is if he lived through it to tell the tale. Would he go back to his farm where his parents were? He would be old enough to start his own farm by the time the war ended…would he keep in touch with his war-time friends? Niamh…Nathan…Daniel…Edward…if Edward was alive…if they were all alive…or he may drop them completely and just try to forget about the war altogether after all the horror and suffering he had witnessed….

[w0lverine123]

Stephen paused the slightest moment before answering Luis’s question. “After the war? No idea... Really, seriously I don’t know, go back to my old life I guess...” the boy said. He starting drifting off as he seemed to be thinking either back to his ‘old life’ or forward to after the war. Luis didn’t really care which one, so long as the young corporal was thinking and Zack wasn’t being rude as he did with his superiors. Zack, on the other hand, was crossing his fingers behind his back and hoping Luis wouldn’t disrespect Corporal Colly. He was the superior figure, anyways.

“When this damn war’s over, I’ll go back home to England and see my old puppy. He’s an old dog now, bigger than ever. My family’s gone, but he’s still waiting for me... Waiting for his friend to live... But I might be wrong...” a tear sprung up in Zack’s eye, which he quickly wiped away. “He should be over twenty years old now... He might be dead... And I abandoned him...” This time, it was Luis’s turn to elbow Zack and reprimand him with a quiet but sharp whisper. Zack got the message and sat up, trying to act normally. “But it’s alright. When I see people like you, I know that my loss is small. Like all the Nazis we’ve killed. Sure, I hate them... I despise them, really I do! The thing is, what about their families? What if they have dogs back home? Or horses? Or even wives, children, parents, grandparents...” Zack pulled himself together quickly. “So I know that my loss is small compared to those I’ve affected.”

Luis stayed quiet for a few seconds. After a while, he broke the silence. “Well, I’m just gonna go home and go to sleep. Get a job, get a wife, get kids, and die. It’s the circle of life. Nothing special. Just... Living it simple, for me.”

“Anyways,” Zack said, “Do you have anybody you love who betrayed you? I did. My old girlfriend. Oh, I loved her, but she’s with the Germans now.”

[Stephen Colly]

The conversation wore on, Zack told the company what he would do after the war, ”Puppy, how sweet.” Stephen wasn’t being sarcastic, he meant it, and he found young dogs really lovely, all their fur and their clumsiness.

A small commotion happened between the two as Zack looked like he would start to cry and his friend, Luis, quickly elbowed him in the ribs to stop him from loosing his pride and making a fool of himself. It seemed to work as what Zack said next appeared to Stephen that he was brightening up.

Stephen agreed with what Zack said, ”Yes, yes the civilians of this war have suffered just as much as the soldiers, just look at London.” London was ruined, its buildings blown to pieces, the heart of Britain dying, ”I’m not saying that we will lose, its just….well, to be honest it doesn’t look very hopeful. What with the Nazis having better weapons then us.” Stephen quoted Edward slightly as he thought about the meeting…but he pushed Ed’s face out of his mind and listened to Luis who now broke the silence with a comic type of sentence.

Stephen laughed slightly, a smile for once spreading across his face. ”Wish I could have such a clear mind as you.” he nodded and turned to Zack who had asked an unusual question.

Yes, Stephen did have someone who he loved who had betrayed him but he still loved the person who had done that. Or he thought so.

”Yes, yes I did…” he nodded, biting his lip, ”A friend of mine…he, well…he just betrayed me, he made the wrong choice.” Stephen said firmly, shaking his head and running a hand through his brown/blonde hair.