Star Darlings; The Soldier

Dream's a Master Strategist Apparently

"Fort Marathon." Dream said. "Originally, this facility was used to create Myrmidons, but now decommissioned as a normal military base. It's one of the least protected bases, yet it has held for so long because of one only reason."

"Why?" Colin asked.

"It's now a creation centre for puppet monsters." Dream said. "The monstrosities from when Rancora's army was still here; Skylars found a way to... recreate them from already dead bodies."

Colin's face paled, and for the first time in a long time, he looked... scared.

"They were responsible for the first attack at the Assassin HQ, the thing that started the war. But they never attacked until 2 years later." Valour said. "The most terrifying and most dangerous troops of the army now; they nearly replaced Myrmidons before the Chancellor realized they're unstable."

Colin's hand instinctively went to his abdomen, as if something there hurt. He took a shaky breath.

"So we'll have to deploy the War-bots," Andrew said. "They're so far the only thing useful against them."

"Vega, Hector, go get them ready." He continued. "They'll march alongside the forces; but if the puppets show up, they'd be the ones fighting them."

Dream's gaze landed on Colin, who looked like he was almost having a panic attack. Dream can see the sheer fear behind the dark eyes. His hand was on his abdomen, and he shivered even in the warm air.

He has bad memories of those things... I can understand. Dream thought. They're the worst nightmares you can imagine.

He sighed. But if he'd remembered the data banks correctly... they were the ones that... oh. No wonder.

Dream coughed. "They'd expect us from the forest though; which is why we're attacking from the forest."

"That seems counterintuitive," Vega said. "If they expect us from there, then shouldn't we attack from somewhere else?"

"Yes but actually no." Dream said. "They'll also expect us to expect them to expect us attacking from the forest (try saying it; it's a freaking mouthful). They'll think that we'll attack from somewhere else, and they'll have their defences thinned around the base. However, once they've confirmed where we'll be attacking, all the troops around the base will come rushing to the place where we decided to attack. Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west. That's the basic plan; we lure them, and then we hit them where they don't expect us to."

"Master Strategist here," Fortitude said.

"Shut up Fortitude." Dream said. "The puppets, although tough, don't like fire. We can torch them by installing some flamethrowers on the War-bots, and we'll leave them in a world of pain."

"Me, Virtue, Fortitude, and Valor will be part of the party that'll 'make a sound in the east' if you get what I mean." Dream said. "The rest of you do your own thing."

Colin sat down, his resolve as thin as a taut bowstring. Images flashed behind his eyes; the fearful night 5 years ago, when-

No Colin, don't go there. He thought.

The large, ropey scar on his abdomen suddenly burned like molten iron; instantly reminding him of the giant thing, its claws jabbed through his midsection.

It's always been like this; the scar isn't fully healed, it hurts at random times. The worst time for that to happen is when he's announcing something or doing something in front of others. He'd always kept a persona around everyone, and they didn't need to see him like this anyways. Often, he'll accidentally let something touch it, and he'll be unconscious from the pain alone.

He sighed as the pain stopped. It's been 5 years since he'd received it. He sometimes wondered if it could even heal. Sometimes something is... past the point of no return.

He collapsed on his bed, his hand covering the scar. He felt another searing pain pass through him. He felt dizzy; the world was spinning around him as he desperately tried to stop the pain.

This scar is going to be the death of me. He thought before the world went dark.