For King And Country Oneshots

What If Proof Of Your Love was real....

                Joel sat on the couch, head in his hands, praying. He was praying for his 20 year old daughter, Elizabeth, her husband Ben, and their unborn daughter, Hannah Mackenzie. This new.....dictator the U.S. had....He was brutal. He locked up anyone and everyone who defied him, which meant all Christians were locked up. He believed in a world where some things people said should be illegal. His wife, Moriah, came in, sitting down beside him.

      "John and Korey said they'd be here soon." He nodded slowly, a tear trickling down his cheek.
       "And the soldiers are also going to be here soon, aren't they?" She nodded sadly, gently squeezing his hand.
       "It's going to be okay. We'll make it through." Then, there was a quiet knock on the back door, and John and Korey Cooper entered. They were part of the band Skillet, which was one of the few bands still allowed, but they were on thin ice.

       "Hey. Are they ready?" John asked, and Moriah nodded, just as the young couple came in the room. Elizabeth was six and a half months pregnant, but had kept up with the rest of her family just fine. She turned to her dad, eyes somewhat red.
      
       "I'm going to miss you." She whispered, throwing her arms around his neck. He smiled sadly, kissing the top of her head.

        "I know. Ben....Take care of her. You might not be able to keep running forever, but take care of her while you can." He nodded, hugging his wife's parents. Then, the four left. Luke and Courtney came in the room, the dark circles under her eyes even more evident.

         "Are Ben and Elizabeth gone?" Joel nodded, and they heard tires squealing outside. Luke sighed, sitting down.
       "And that would be our unwanted ride." Joel peeked out the window, and nodded slowly.
        "Yeah. They're here." He turned to them, taking a deep breath.
        "There's nothing else we can do now, except pray. We have to pray, especially for Ben and Elizabeth, that they can stay safe. And we have to pray for strength." They all sat down, closing their eyes and praying silently. They tried to ignore the pounding on the door, the yelling outside, and the crashing as they broke down the door. Luke squeezed his eyes shut, blinking back tears as he was dragged off, hearing his wife's cry of pain as she was also dragged out. Joel and Courtney were shoved into one van, and Moriah and Luke in another. After what felt like forever, they arrived at some kind of complex, and were nearly shoved in. They were given uniforms, and then sent into the main room of the complex.

      "Joel!" He turned, hearing Moriah's cry, and he tried to get to her, but was pulled back.
      "Keep moving!" He felt some kind of needle stabbed into his arm, and a fuzzy feeling enveloped him. He felt something put over his ears, and struggled to get away and to Moriah. He was gagged, and they kept trying to drag him along. But then......He watched, nearly screaming, as she was hit over the head and on the back of the neck, and then collapsed, lifeless. The grief that enveloped him completely took over, and then everything went black.

      "No!" Courtney nearly shrieked, sobbing as Moriah dropped. The same needle was stabbed into her neck, as well as Luke's, and they were both gagged. Luke watched, horrified, as Joel gave in to whatever that stuff was, and his eyes turned black as coal. Courtney also gave in, and the same thing happened. But Luke....he wouldn't. He wouldn't give in. The darkness closed in, but kept fighting, and it eventually went away. They were shoved into the lines of people, all gagged and with headphones over their ears. No one spoke, not even the overseers who stood all over the place. Luke saw an intercom system, but it wasn't ever used. Day after day, the same exact thing happened, until he lost track of time. Occasionally, more people were brought in, and at one point, he found one of John and Korey's bandmates, Jen Ledger, her eyes also black. He and Courtney were in the same line, and Joel was in the other one. In one split second, he made a decision that might mean he was killed, but he had to do it. He reached up, pulling the gag down, and started singing.

     "If I sing, but don't have love, I waste my breath. With every song I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise." He felt someone grab him, and was dragged away, but he wouldn't stop.

     "If I speak with a silver tongue, convince a crowd, but don't have love, I leave a bitter taste with every word I say." In the line Joel was in, he saw a young boy collapse, and knelt down beside the child. He thought he heard something in the distance, but wasn't sure. It sounded like...singing. As he knelt, the boy looked at him, and said one thing. As he heard that, the fog in his mind disappeared, and he heard clearly, Luke singing, so he joined in as he stood.

      "So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love. Let my love look like you and what you're made of. How you lived, how you died, love is sacrifice. So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love!" Joel was also dragged off, and Luke was shoved in a cell. Despite no one being able to hear him, he kept singing.

       "If I give to a needy soul, but don't have love, then who is poor? It seems all the poverty is found in me." Joel was taken to a small room by one guard, where he was shoved into a chair. The guard took his helmet off, and pulled the mask down, revealing his coal black eyes and a long, jagged scar down one side of his face. Joel looked up, and he kept singing. As he did, the guard staggered back, the darkness in his eyes fading.

       "So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love. Let my love look like you, and what you're made of. How you lived, how you died, love is sacrifice. So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love." Joel and the guard switched uniforms, heading to the small room where the intercom was operated from. Luke looked up at the ceiling, praying that somehow, he was still being heard.

      "When it's all said and done....When we sing our final song....Only love remains....Only love remains!" Joel turned on the microphone, and he took a deep breath, speaking into it and hearing his voice echoing through the whole complex.

       "If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy, but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's word with power, revealing all of his mystery and making everything as plain as day. And if I have faith to say to a man 'Jump', and he jumps, but don't love, I'm nothing. If I give all I own to the poor, or even go the the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gone nowhere. So......no matter what I say....No matter what I believe....No matter what I do....I'm bankrupt without love." As he spoke, the black faded from person after person's eyes, and Luke was let out of his cell. He hurried back, trying to find Courtney. As Joel finished speaking, there as pounding on the door, and he and the guard switched places. He ran back down, looking over everyone there, and then felt someone shove him. He was falling, the concrete floor coming closer, and whispered one thing.

      "Let my life be the proof...." He hit the ground, and a searing pain shot through his head. His eyes closed, and things got brighter. Then, suddenly, he heard Luke's voice, and the pain disappeared.

      "The proof of your love!" His eyes hit open, and Luke pulled him up, the two standing back to back, people circling around them.

      "Let my love look like you, and what you're made of! How you lived, how you died, love is sacrifice! So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love!" One girl found tiny bit of light, and soon everyone found the gate leading back outside. It was torn down, and after everyone was out, Luke, Courtney, Joel, and Jen all stood off to the side in a group, talking quietly.

      "Any idea if Moriah's still alive or not?" Joel asked quietly, but no one answered. Then, someone came up behind them, and a weak, but familiar voice was heard.

      "She's still alive." Joel spun around, nearly scooping his wife up, refusing to let go of her. Courtney smiled, and Jen grinned.

      "So....I recognize that van over there. Shall we see if my hunch about that being John and Korey is correct?" The decision was a unanimous yes, and it was. Soon, they were back at a hidden shelter, where Elizabeth nearly screamed when she saw her aunt, uncle, and parents coming in. Ben came in the room, startled, and he holding Hannah, who was five months old. They'd been in that complex for nine months. That evening, they all sat at the table, eating.

      "We don't know what going to happen now, do we?" Elizabeth asked, her hand still in Ben's. Joel shook his head.

       "No. But whatever happens....We're going to be alright." Everyone agreed fully with that statement. No matter what happened....they were still in God's hands. And he would never let them go.