Star Darlings; The Soldier

The Siege of Fort Windsor

Dream grabbed his rifle off the shelf. It was the day. The day they're sneaking into Fort Windsor.

Colin had disappeared for a while, but he came back this morning, so they decided to go tonight.

Valour grabbed her own guns. The plan was for some to sneak in, disable the turrets and bomb the armoury. Then the rest of the army will move in. They'd most likely have to kill Team Nightstalker along the way.

"Are you ok? You had another blackout yesterday." Valour said. "You sure you're not-"

"I'm ok- there's no need to worry about me." Dream said. "I'm alright."

"Fine," Valour said. "Virtue! Get me the grenades!"

"Here!" Virtue's voice called from across the room, a dozen grenades came flying across the room.

"Careful! Those can kill us all!" Dream yelled.

"Yeah yeah Dreamie."

"Don't call me that!"

Colin entered the room, grabbing another whetstone. He sharpened his blade-like he always did. His usual dead expression was now more stoic, sad, and determined. He'd been avoiding everyone for the past few days now.

"Colin." Dream said. He tossed him one of the plasma blades he'd taken. He caught it, examining the blade before looking at Dream, confused.

"Just in case; you never know if you're good with that or not." Dream explained. "Besides; It's not like I can use 2 of them."

Colin ignited the blade. He looked back at Dream. "Thanks." He said simply before putting it in his pocket. Colin stood up, nodding at them. "See you."

"Bye." Dream said.

"That guy is so strange sometimes..." Fortitude stated.

"Not strange; broken." Virtue corrected. "I can see a person that's dead from the inside; he fits all the terms and more. I don't even know how he isn't a goner yet."

"Like Angel," Valour said, glancing at Dream, who didn't say anything.

A guard dropped as Colin drove his blade through the man's head, pulling him down.

They were on the walls, where they're currently sticking C10 to the turrets. Next will be the armoury, which will take a while.

"It's good!" Beckett said, giving him a thumbs-up before going invisible again. This was why he was the best stealth expert; he can literally go invisible without any downsides like exhaustion. Maybe it's because he was trained, or maybe because he's had lots of practice standing in the corner at school- I mean... yeah practice.

Dream's armour flickered as it too entered stealth mode. All they could see of him was a ripple in the wind.

Colin looked at Fort Windsor again. This was one of the first places to be attacked; the dorms, the school itself, and the vibrant land around it was now a wasteland of holes, dead grass, and now looked like something from war movies. The dorms were now used as barracks, and the armoury is now the old SD cave.

"This was home," Piper said behind him. "This was what they did." her voice was filled with rage, something others don't see too much from her.

They were hiding below one of the sabotaged turrets, waiting for a chance to go in. Peter, Andrew, Virtue, Piper, Valor, and Fortitude were also here.

Colin was about to go forward when Dream reappeared. "No. Team Nightstalker to the left. Wait."

A tall shadow appeared around the corner. Another appeared.

"The Rebellion and Team Mercy are near, Nightingale." A male voice said. "Are you sure we should be here?"

"I'm sure, Pride," Nightingale said. "It's not like they can get anywhere close to Fort Windsor."

"But what if the SD comes?" A third said.

"Wrath, do you really think they will fight when we have him in our team?" Nightingale asked. "They'll stop and try to convince him to turn, giving us time to kill." she laughed. "And don't think we don't know you're there, guys."

The wall suddenly collapsed, revealing 4 of Team Nightstalker, all armed to the teeth.

"Don't think that we don't know you're here." Nightingale, the front figure, said. "We've been expecting you, Team Mercy!"

"Shut up." Virtue said.

"Oh, Virtue!" Nightingale said as troops appeared out of the base. "We've been looking for you! How's Team Mercy been treating you? Oh wait; one of you is dead. How sad."

Dream snarled, lunging forward, plasma blade flashing. Nightingale's own blade ignited, blocking the sparkling blue blade. She made a pushing motion with her hand, and Dream went flying backwards, crashing into a tree. It groaned as it fell on him.

"Dream!" Valour said when the tree moved. Dream lifted his head. His visor was now cracked, and a piece of it had chipped off, revealing the familiar blue eyes, now tainted with rage and fury.

He rushed forward, faster than the eye could see, and clashed blade on blade with Nightingale as the others fought off the troops and the other Myrmidons. The turret turned towards them.

"Beckett!" Colin said, pointing at the turrets. A large boom came from the 12 turrets, and they collapsed. Nightingale snarled, seeing their most useful line of defence crumble. She kicked Dream back, only to have another blade, this one from Valor, bearing down on them.

Colin rushed past the troops, dropping something on the ground as he passed. They exploded, killing dozens.

"He's heading for the armoury!" Wrath yelled, ducking behind an armoured car. "Pride, Envy, with me!" He called, following Colin.

The dream went sailing yet again. "I'M STARTING TO HATE YOU; STOP THROWING PEOPLE AROUND YOU BITCH!!!" He yelled as he clambered to his feet.

"Andrew!" Piper yelled. "Get the reinforcements!"

Andrew took out the flare gun he'd taken, firing it to the sky. It exploded.

A war-bot missile came sailing out of nowhere, hitting one of the armoured cars, leaving it in pieces.

Soldiers swarmed out of the trees, 2 warbots following. The rest of the fort came out as well, facing the army as they clashed for dominance. Astra appeared, her flaming red hair tied in a ponytail. The others appeared behind her.

"Come on!" she said. "I'm getting you to the front lines!"

"No! The armoury is still intact!" Piper said. "Colin doesn't have enough explosives for it!"

"Then the armoury it is then!" Astra said, taking everyone's hands.

They found themselves in the armoury; weapons, explosives, and more were stacked on top of each other, forming something resembling a Walmart, because who wouldn't want to get reminded of that store as they head off to death?

A body hit the shelf closest to them; Colin. The shelf collapsed on top of him. When the things stopped falling, they can see Colin more hurt than ever; black eye, multiple wounds by either plasma round or blade.

And standing before him was...

"Oh, my stars..." Piper whispered lightly.

It was Nicholas.