Mix and match: John Laurens X!Mermaid! Reader

~~Chapter 17: Things to do, places to be, people to see~~

The smoke seemed to get thicker every few seconds and I was still roaming around the huge forest, trying to find a way out. The fire was shining an orange light in the distance which I wanted to get as far away from as possible. There was smoke everywhere, it didn't matter how far I got. If I could see the fire, I would inhale smoke with it. I know Maria and Alexander had warned me about smoke and I had prior knowledge of it. But I didn't know it would be so bad. 

Eventually, I inhaled one too many breathes of it and fainted on the wet grass, face first. 

It hurts more than you would think. 

After what seemed to be hours, I felt a wet handkerchief being placed on my mouth. I tried to open my eyes but it stung, so I preferred to keep them closed. "Come on," I heard a muted voice tell me as my arm was tossed over a shoulder and I felt an upwards drag. I pushed myself up as quick as I could. When I was on my feet, while leaning on the person, my head began to spin. That didn't stop the person from going out of the smoke as fast as humanly possible. The wet handkerchief I kept on my mouth prevented the smoke from being so bad.

I was brought outside of the forest where the air was cleaner and where the smoke was almost gone. We kept walking. 

I slowly opened my eyes to look at the person who had my arms over their shoulder. His cheek was scratched open as was his chemise. "John?" I asked as he looked at me. His right eye was shut and blue with a scar in the eyebrow. His lips were also cut. I sighed and turned my head around. We continued to walk towards a new location in complete silence. 

I kept my eyes closed as they stung like a fish. 

That was not a good idea since I was abruptly dropped against a tree when we arrived. "Auw," I stated making John scoff. He sat down beside me and hugged his knees. I looked at him as he buried his head in his knees. I looked around to see soldiers run around, aid each other or lay dead on the ground from exhaustion. "...What happened?" I asked as John raised his soldiers. "Surprise attack," He told me, still not facing me. 

"...Where's-"

"Lafayette and Hercules are fine," He answered for me. I felt a stick poke through my throat. "A-And Alexander?" I stuttered with concern in my voice. He remained silent for a while. "They're not allowing me to see him," He choked out. 

"What?" I asked with a frown. "He got shot in his leg, he's getting treated but no one is allowed to be in the medic tent aside from medics," He told me with a shaky voice as he looked up to show his tears running down his cheeks.

I wanted to say something but felt like I shouldn't. So I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him. He froze immediately. But then broke down and cried on my shoulder as he tightly held me. "He's gonna be fine," I reassured him. "He's strong, he wouldn't give up that easily," I continued making him calm down about 0,0000000001%.

Not much.

"Erm...There, there?" I tried as I pat his head. "How do people deal with this? Peggy stopped crying after I comforted her," I pondered out loud. "You're like a baby, you don't stop crying," I told him. "Maybe you've just got too much water in your system," I gasped. "Cry it all out, mate! Flush that none-existent-1700-Toilet down!" I stated.

I heard a chuckle.

John let his tight grip go and looked at me. "You stupid b*tch," He chuckled as he rubbed his face. I smiled. "Any time!" I smiled at him as he side-eyed me but smiled. "Yeah," He answered.

"John," I heard behind me, I looked up and saw Lafayette. "We can go and see Alexander," He told us as John shot up and ran towards the presumably medic tent. Lafayette helped me up and we slowly made our way to the tent. "What happened?" I asked Lafayette to get a better explanation than John.

He looked at me and sighed. "We were leaving when we saw a British soldier," He began with a sigh. "Ce sera miserable. He led us into the forest and then a whole battalion attacked us," He explained. "Turns out, that was an occupation so the British army could attack and destroy the Schuyler's mansion," He sighed in aggravation. "Nous sommes idiots," He muttered. 

"How did we not see that coming?!" He asked himself as we reached the medic tent. I pushed my lips together and entered the tent. There, on a plank supported by a few old grain sacks, laid Alexander. His leg was bleeding more than I would've expected. John was at his side, slowly and softly whispering words to him trying to hold a conversation. Alexander said a word once in a while.

"Alexander?" I asked as he slowly turned his head towards me. The color on his face was drained like a damp towel. "The bullet was removed, right?" Lafayette asked as he had his attention. "Yeah," He sighed as he looked at his leg. 

"That attack was planned well," Alexander confessed as he looked back at us. "But with what motivation?" He asked as he cocked his eyebrow. I gulped.

"We didn't do anything that could've angered them," He pondered out loud. "Maybe it was just to catch you off guard?" I tried as I felt the color drain off my face. "They wouldn't just...Do that. All elite soldiers went to that party, all the best soldiers went to that party. It would be a dumb move to attack us if they could've just as easily attacked the camp. But our old camp is left undamaged," Alexander sharply argued back. 

"They evacuated to our current location for safety measures, though," He added as he looked back up at the ceiling. "How do you know all of this? You were injured 5 seconds ago," John asked, cocking his eyebrow. "Washington came in and informed me because he knows I'm a control freak," Alexander huffed at John. Everyone, except for Alexander, cracked a smile.

"Where's Hercules?" I asked as I looked at Lafayette. "He's gone for safety measures," Lafayette told me. "For what?" I asked with a confused frown. "To Britain for his spy mission," Lafayette told me. "He was gonna leave in a few weeks right?" I asked as he nodded. "Safety measures told him to go while the British army is regrouping," He explained as I nodded. 

I looked at Alexander and John. They had gone back to talking. John was on his knees, staring at Alexander who was talking and ranting. He nodded every few seconds to make it apparent that he was still listening. I sighed and grabbed Lafayette's arm. "Let's go," I told him as he looked at me. He side-eyed the two for a second before nodding.

As we left I coughed slightly. My throat seemed stuck. It felt like rose pedals stopped my breathing. I coughed once more, ignoring the feeling and moving forward with Lafayette to aid some people.

That's until I coughed once more and an actual purple pedal came out of my mouth. I stared at it for a second before scrunching it in my hands and tossing it away.