Days Union Oneshot Book [DISCONTINUED]

the sailors!

A/N: A bit more simple of a oneshot here. They were just on my mind <3

* * *

"Good mornin', Pip!" Svantovit chirped as he passed Pasquino a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Despite the sunshine's visit through their cottage's windows and the salty smell of the bay's warm air, the lighthouse keeper did not expect this ideal moment to last for long.

He snorted, "I wouldn't call it a 'good morning' now that I was woken up by the sound of bombs." Nevertheless, he graciously accepted the cup and reclined on the counter beside Svantovit so that they could soak in the rest of the calm morning together before their inevitable journey to the lighthouse. "Say, Svant, how do you sleep through the sound of war so well?" he teased, bumping his head against Svantovit's upper arm.

Svant chuckled and returned the affection with an arm wrapped around Pip's shoulder. "Ye always knew I was a heavy sleeper!"

"Yeah. I remember that one time I thought you died because I couldn't wake you up when you fell asleep in the sand!" Pip broke into a snicker, and the two synced the fade in their laughter into a reminiscent sigh before they leaned on each other's tilted heads to rest their heads still heavy with remains of sleepiness. The calls of seagulls and the rustle of palm trees outside soothed whatever worries Pip had about the day's course; no matter how loud the gunshots and bombs exploded and cracked through the air, none of it would ever reach him and his partner—

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The banging on the door startled Pip's coffee out of his cup and Svant's arm away from Pip's shoulder. It was a violent knock on the door, not done by the polite knuckles of UMC soldiers, but by balled fists of war-fueled cadets who did not care that the door's hinges suffered under their force. It was the knock of cadets who thirsted for the blood of their kills on their hands, as if the sticky blue liquid was a sick trophy or brand of honor.

Daybreak cadets.

Svant was the braver of the two and opened the door to greet the two Daybreak lieutenants standing outside the door with long guns in their hands. Both sailors flinched for a moment and feared the worst, but the lieutenants merely gave a curt nod to Svant before one began to speak.

"We understand that you both are Union civilians, correct?" she said, her voice hollow through her mask. Pip placed his mug down on the counter and peered over Svant's shoulder to examine the Daybreakians, his reddish-brown eyes narrowed with judgment.

Svant stammered, "S-Sure are! I do suppose that means we're spared from any conflict in the current war here?" The eyes of the Daybreakians bore into both of them, and a pang of fear seized their heart to a faster pace and their hands to a trembling grip interlocked within one another. At the lieutenant's response, they could either find the rest of their morning as peaceful as before or the barrels of their guns raised at their heads.

"Affirmative," the lieutenant replied, and both sailors sighed with relief. However, they celebrated too soon, for the other lieutenant stated, "However, we have arrived here to declare that this coastline is now under our control, including the Agrimony and Wolfsbane Lighthouse. While we will not bother your daily routine, we shall survey your actions and will restrict your contact with the Days Union officials. Beginning today, you are only to report to the Galewind Bay communication center and no one else. Understood?"

Svant could only stutter a few incoherent noises in his state of shock, but Pip rescued him in his state of shock by answering for the both of them, "Understood! Thank you so much!" He quickly ducked underneath Svant's arm and shut the door before the lieutenants' pride seeped into their mouths and dripped out some more haughty orders and declarations. Pip pressed his back to the door and heaved, "Shit."

"What the hell? They must be joking, right!?" Svant snapped, the latter sentence plagued by an appalled chuckle.

Pip sighed, noticing Svant's anger instantly at the first word he said, "They don't seem to be, Svant. You could try sending letters to the mailing port; I don't think the Daybreak Coalition has control over that yet."

"But how am I goin' to receive my assignments if those darned Daybreakians won't let me do my job!? They think they can take whatever they want when all they want t' do to the planet that gave them life is DESTROY it!?"

Svant ripped his naval hat from his head and chucked it at the ground, its crumpled fabric unraveling as soon as it settled on the wooden floor. He fumed for a few seconds in silence as Pip pushed off of the door and enveloped Svant in a hug. Eventually, Svant's heaves of angry inhales became quieter breaths, the return of his peace nudging his arms to wrap around Pip.

"Really is a bummer, eh?" he bitterly grinned to himself, but the rustle of Pip's head in the crook of his neck turned that grin more sincere.

"Yeah. But we'll get through it together. We always have."

"And we always will."