hunnyfresh - Letters from War

"My, my, making friends already," Regina quipped.

"You know me, the orphaned soldier with a sunny disposition."

"Especially if you're able to get through to the hard-ass Mayor."

"There's an 'awesome' in there somewhere."

Regina laughed, a sound that Emma was going to imprint to the deepest corners of her mind when missions looked to be bleak.

"You can stay," Regina offered quietly. "I wouldn't want you getting lost in my town."

Emma found that she couldn't express her gratitude to Regina's generosity, something that had been shown to her time and time again, other than by nodding her head and removing her jacket, following the brunette back into her study.

Chapter 4

Chapter Notes

Disclaimer in Chapter One.

AN: Trigger warning for violence and warfare. In celebration of the 3B premiere tonight, a new update! I haven't gotten the chance to reply back to everyone's review from the previous chapter, but I am slowly but surely working on it. I hope you guys enjoy! HAPPY ONCE DAY!

Emma kept her eyes peeled as she sat in the passenger seat of the camouflaged jeep, a vehicle of similar design driving along ahead of them as the teams made their patrol around the surrounding land. Dust picked up under their tires as the sun blazed down on the open road, the sparse dried out shrubbery their only companions on the lonely road.

The radio crackled to life, and Emma picked it up in time to hear August's voice through the line. "It's quiet. Go another quarter mile then we'll head out. Over."

"Roger that, over." Emma replaced the device and glanced at Neal who looked like he wanted to snort in derision.

"It's always quiet," Emma filled in the man's thoughts.

"Are you gonna radio in and tell him to turn around now?"

Emma shook her head. "Let him have his fun, then you can go stare at your picture of Tamara."

Neal rolled his eyes but didn't deny her claim as he continued to follow the dirt road path.

Emma had become accustomed to a quiet patrol. Occasionally they would see civilians on the side of the road, some cursing their presence there with obscene gestures, but that had been the extent of their altercations. Her days were long, but when she was on patrol, she got back to camp not as drained as she usually would be and got to spend more time reading Regina's letters or writing her own. Regina had just come back from New York and had sent Emma a keychain with an engraved swan on it. The gesture made the blonde grin as she fingered her dog tag necklace where she had strung the keychain through. I saw it and thought of you , Regina had written. The blonde had a hard time suppressing her grin after that line.

"All right, guys," August's voice crackled through the speaker, "let's head-"

The line went dead as August's jeep careened off the road, glass and metal bits flying off as some faraway rocket hit the land just ten feet shy of the side of the jeep. The jeep rolled over once, twice, glass shattering with each roll before it settled down as a firing heap on its side.

"Shit!" Neal yelled, pulling their jeep into reverse and flooring it just as another rocket exploded where their car had once been.

Emma's face heated immediately from the heat and fire it created. She shielded her eyes and braced herself for another attack, staring wide eyed at the two craters in the earth that would have been their graves. After fifteen seconds of calm, Neal put the shift back into drive to race to the damaged jeep. Its left side doors were nearly blown off its hinges as they hung limply in the air. Emma could see the driver as he slumped over the steering wheel and leaning toward to the passenger seat, knocked unconscious. The only thing keeping him upright was his seatbelt, but the attack had made his side vulnerable. They had to get to them quickly.

Then the bullets sounded. Emma didn't have time to process before instinct took over. She turned swiftly in her seat, locking eyes with the men behind her. "Cover us."

They nodded, and as one, they slipped out of their jeep, raising their rifles and shooting in the direction of the hailing bullets. Emma caught enough in her periphery to see that the shrubbery opposite them was moving, no doubt camouflaging their attackers, and judging by the distance of the rockets, a few others were hidden in the mountains.

Metal clinking metal as bullets attempted to tear through the armour of the jeeps. The heat from the fire of the car in front of them. The groans of the wounded and the yells of the attackers. All of that faded when Emma spotted August, collapsed under the weight of the jeep's side.

"Man, down!" Emma yelled, barely processing the fact that she was narrowly avoiding a hail of bullets as she ran to August who had yet to move. It was only thanks to his position behind the burning vehicle that he was protected against the rain of bullets, but that did nothing but keep him paralyzed for his leg was trapped between the car's roof and the dusty dessert floor.

Staying low to the ground, she quickly checked his vitals and breathed out heavily when the pulse underneath her finger was faint. The gashes on his face were embedded with glass, and the angle of his body told Emma he must have been thrown from the car on impact. Jesus Christ there was so much blood . The man's eyes fluttered open just a fraction of an inch as he coughed, a red stream escaping his lips. It was then Emma truly took inventory of him and found that not only was his leg pinned under the roof, turned at an odd angle from the impact, but there was a dark red patch under his left rib that was growing by the minute. She felt around the wound gently and cursed under her breath when she felt the sharp point of a large shrapnel.

"Come on, August," Emma grunted and gave her superior a hard tug to free his leg.

His scream reverberated in her head.

"Emma, fall back!" She heard Neal call to her, but her only thought was to get August out of there. His leg was almost out, and she knew it would hurt like a bitch to get him out, but she didn't have a choice. She had to save him. She wouldn't leave him there.

Looping her hands under his arms, Emma stood and pulled, drowning out every noise except for the anguished cry of her friend, her brother , as she pulled him free. The released pressure made her fall back when August escaped the weight of the jeep, collapsing back into the open fire where the vehicle was protecting him no more.

One second Emma had looked up to reach him, to grab his hand, his shoulder, anything, to pull him back with her The next second there was a bullet in his head.

Her ears rang, and time slowed. Her mouth opened, but the scream that wanted to escape was muted as she watched August lay there, lifeless.

" No! " She shook away from the person holding her back. " No! "

" Emma . Emma, wake up."

Emma sat up abruptly, rolled out the opposite side of her bed and pressed near the window, her hands up defensively. Her mind was whirling. August's screams were still ringing in her head. His dead body was seared permanently in her mind's eye.

"Emma." The voice that had roused her was soothing, and it took Emma half a second to realize it was Regina, eyes wide with worry as she stood on the opposite side of the room beside the bed, her own hands up with caution. "Are you okay?"

Emma nodded before taking in deep gulps of air, eyes scanning the room to confirm that she wasn't fighting anymore. She was home. She was in Regina's house. In her guest room. August was alive and safe. She took another breath then nodded more intently. "Yeah."