Prologue

I’m a soldier. My name, is Mya Heart. My commander is my best friend. We’ve known each other since we were five. His name is Edward Sky. I call him Commander Sky. I’m the captain so everyone calls me captain Heart. Edward and my soldiers take pity on me when they know I’m not feeling good. Like at the times when when my Depression and my Anxiety are acting up at the same time. I’ve had those since I was 10. 
I’m 29 now, and Edward is the same age as me. We have the same birthdays. Which is coming up soon. We live in the United States. Or, what use to be the United States anyway. The year is 3017. The whole right side of our country is now underwater and has been since 2081, according to our History teachers. Our enemy is Africa. The whole left side of their country is also underwater. 
No one knows what happened. All we know is that we’ve been at war with Africa ever since they killed our 500th president. Sense Washington D.C. is now underwater, our white house is in Los Angeles. Which is where I live. Commander Sky and I have the highest ranking soldiers and are closest to our 514th president. We will finish our war against Africa. I know it.
Chapter 1

Commander Sky and I are leading our soldiers onto the battlefield. Commander Sky at my side and our soldiers following behind. This war...is against Africa. Our President is safely in Alaska. Usually he’d go to South America but they’re also under attack. Africa’s jets have just been taken down and their soldiers are on break. All of their soldiers are in our country.  If we win this war we will control Africa. Their president is their highest ranking commander. He’s dead along with his soldiers. We already took them down. We are sneaking up on their last two remaining squads with our other group of soldiers. 
“One of their squads is already down. Commander Cray just called me. They’re leaving this squad for us to finish. Will you lead?”, says Edward as he clicks of his earpiece. 
“Yes sir”, I immediately respond as I solute to him. 
“Wait for my signal”, I tell Christina.
She’s my best soldier.
“Yes ma’am”, she responds. 
I’m sprinting towards the squad now. I set one of my arrows on my bow. My long white-blonde hair flows behind me as I’m sprinting. I have hazel eyes and pale skin with a tall height. I sneak up on one of the soldiers and aim my arrow directly at him. He’s guarding their base while his team is….I have no clue where they are. 
“Go ahead shoot me. There’s no president to protect me. But Africa has an ally”,he says.
“Who?”,I ask him immediately, not taking my eyes off him.
“I can't say”,he responds. 
I shot him. As his team comes back, Commander Sky and the rest of my soldiers take them down. 
“We won”, says Christina, as she claps me on the back. 
“No”, I say.
“What? We took them down there’s no one left!”, shouts Edward.
“They had an ally!”, I scream.
My team is staring at me. Edward’s staring me down now with his dark brown eyes. He’s a foot taller than me with light brown hair and olive skin.
“I don’t know who, that’s all he told me before I shot him”, I say.
Then I look down. I’m really dizzy. I can barely hold my eyes open. I guess Christina and Edward notices me because they try to hold me up as I close my eyes. Christina is shorter than me. She has short, dark brown hair, light brown eyes and tan skin. You could mistake her for a guy. I’m falling now, I’m ...blacking out.  

Chapter 2

“Is she ok?”, I heard Edward ask.
Who is he talking to?
“She’ll be fine”, I hear another voice. 
I open my eyes and look around. White room? White gown? Why am I lying on a white table? There’s Edward and a doctor standing by the door, I begin to sit up, but then lay back down, moaning from the pounding headache. Edward and the doctor see me now. Edward’s walking over towards me.
“Easy”, he says putting a hand on my arm.
“why am I here?”, I ask.
“You have a brain tumor”, replies the doctor walking over. 
“So? I should be out there giving orders”
“You should be here, resting”, says Edward.
“How long will I be here?”, I ask.
“Until you’re stronger...so maybe, a few days”, the doctor replied.
“Edward...please go”, I say quietly closing my eyes. 
Edward nods his head and leaves the room.
“Tell me...how long do I have? How long have I had this? I know I won’t last long in this condition. My whole family has died from this”, I say.
“You’ve had it for what looks like a few years so you have...a few months. You’re dying. We will give you medication to prepare you for surgery so we can remove it”, says the doctor. 
“And until then?”
“Until then, take it easy and hang in there. I’ll be your regular doctor from now on. Dr.Bluemarion”, the doctor said. 
I sigh. “Thank you Dr.Bluemarion”
“You’re welcome. Is there anything I can get for you?”, asked Bluemarion.
“Commander Sky please”, I say.
He solutes and walks out of the room. A couple of minutes later Edward walks in with his full uniform. 
“How long have I been out?”
“A couple hours”, said Edward.
“How’s the team?”, I ask.
“More importantly how are you?”, Edward asks.
“I have a pounding headache every time I move. How do you think, I am?”
“I’m sorry Captain Heart”
“Why are you sorry? You’re not the one that has to go through this after your whole family’s 
died from it” 
“That’s why I’m sorry”
“Oh”, I say.
“Ok Captain Heart, I should go and help do training-”
“Let me come with you”, I say.
“No. You need to rest”, Edward orders.
“But Commander-”
“I said no Mya. I will not let you die. You and your family mean more to me than you think”, said Edward.
“Right thanks for reminding me”, I say, having flashbacks of all the times he’s spent with my family with my family and I.
“Get some rest Mya”, says Edward quietly as he leaves the room.

Chapter 3
A few days later…

It’s cold morning that I’m waking up to. I need to escape and help my soldiers. I slowly and quietly get out of my hospital bed and pull on my uniform that was on the table next to my bed. I put my hair up then tucked it into my hat so no one would recognize me. Then I slowly walk out the door and march to the front door quickly with no expression. Once I got out the door, I sprinted as fast as I could ignoring the pounding headache. I’m running towards my headquarters where training will be held. I won’t be surprised if Edward put Christina in place. 
When I get inside, I see Christina, Jay, and Edward at the front desk. I look down at my feet until Edward walks away. I look back up to see Jay and Christina walking towards me. Jay slowly takes off my hat and looks me in the eye with small look of concern. He has icy blue eyes and olive skin with strawberry blonde hair, a few freckles, and a big height. My hair fell past my shoulders and the color drained from my face. 
“What are you doing here?”, Jay said.
“Don’t tell Edward”, I whispered.
Jay put my hat back on and Christina hugged me.
“Christina you’re too nice”, I say.
Christina let go.
“You’re supposed to be in the hospital. I know you don’t like it but why’d you escape?”, said Christina, changing the subject.
“I can’t just lay there feeling helpless and knowing that Ed-I mean Commander Sky and soldiers need me”, I reply.
“He’s gonna find out sooner or later. And you can’t just ignore your condition”, Jay says. 
“First off, I know. And second, I will ignore it for as long as I can”, I say.
Chapter 4

It’s lunch time now. Once lunch is over, everyone is free for the rest of the night because training is done for the day. Jay is on my right and Christina on his. Someone sits down on my left and from the corner of my eye I can tell it’s Edward and the fact that he’s not happy. He puts a spoonful of soup in his mouth then looks in my direction once he’s done chewing. 
“Good afternoon Commander”, I say as I’m still staring at my bowl of soup with the color drained from my face.
“Mya, look at me”, Edward says.
But I don’t do as he says, instead I get up and walk out of the room. I left my plate there and sat down in the hallway. Edward followed me and sat down next to me.
“Edward I-”
“You’re supposed to be in the hospital”, he says. 
“I can’t just lay there feeling helpless and knowing that you and my soldiers need me”, I say.
“You can’t just escape and ignore your condition though”
“I can and I will!”, raise my voice looking him in the eye. 
   I can see an expression on his face that I haven’t seen for a long time. His eyes are full of sadness and concern. All I can do is reflect it on my own face.
“I know you don’t like it. I can understand that. But I can’t lose you”, he finally says.
I put my hand in his. “Just because I’m dying doesn't mean you’ll lose me forever”, I say.
“I know”, he looks down. 
He holds my hand a little tighter. His hands are so warm. He finally feets up and leaves. I guess he couldn’t take it any longer. Jay and Christina finally walk out of the room and sit down next to me. Christina on my left and Jay on my right.  I don’t know why but I have tears rolling down my face now. Jay embraces me and Christina does the same. Once I stop Christina walks to her quarters and Jay walks me to mine. 
“He told me that he loves you. And that’s why he’s acting this way”, Jay says.
“When?”, I ask.
“Today. He also said he’s confused because he also likes Christina”
“I already knew that”
“Do you like him?”
I thought for a moment. “Yes”, I say.
“I’ll tell him...he’ll be delighted to hear that”, Jay says. 
Chapter 5

The next morning…

It’s another cold morning. The sun is up and the breakfast bell just rang. I get out of bed and walk to the closet where all of my uniforms are hanging up. I pull out the one that’s long sleeved and light brown with freshly cleaned gold epaulets and all of my medals. I pull on my uniform, and pull out clean white socks, and lace up my tall brown boots.Then I walk over to the full mirror next to the mirror and french braid my hair, so it rests on my right shoulder. I made sure that all of my bangs were tightly braided with the rest of my hair. My straight white-blonde hair is down to my hips when it isn’t up. So it’s a good thing I put it up. I pull off my light brown military cap off the shelf and walk to the cafeteria where everyone else is.
By the time I sit down next to Christina and Jay, Edward already reserved a seat between him and Jay for me. I sit between them with no expression. I can’t even spit out a word. I don’t know what to say. So all I do is eat.
“Good morning Captain Heart “, Jay finally says, breaking the silence.
“Good morning soldiers. Good morning commander Sky.”, I spit out, after chewing, and sitting up straight.
Edward sighs. “Morning”
I’ve never heard him sigh in front of anyone but me. I look over at him. He has the same expression he had at lunch yesterday.
“What’s wrong”, I ask.
He looks at me with tears in his eyes. “I don’t want anything to happen to you”, he whispers.
I put my hand on his shoulder and look deep into his eyes. There’s so many mixed emotions, that I can’t even name one. I’ve never seen him like this. I wipe away the tears that begin to creep out of his eyes.
“I’ve never seen you like this”, I say quietly.
He nods and looks down.
“Edward… I’m here now. Let’s make the most of it”, I whisper.
He nods again,looking up at me. Then he take my hand and leads me out of the room.
“Where are we going?”, I ask.
“I want to show you something”, Edward replies.
He leads me to his room. He opens the door and pulls me inside. Edward closes the door behind us. Inside, are so many pictures of my family and I, and Edward...together. There’s even old drawings and paintings of me that Edward did. There’s pictures of me, him, and my older brother Tommy, who died when I was 10, because of starvation. I wanna cry right now.
“I don’t know what to say”, I say quietly, trying not to cry.
“Like I said, you and your family mean more to me than you think”, Edward says.
“I can see that”, I say quietly. “When did you do all these and painting of me?”
“I make a new one every few months”, Edward replies. 
I look back at Edward. He shoved his hands in his pockets. He has tears rolling down his face. All the color is drained from his face. He has that same expression he did yesterday, and it kills me. I walk up to him and hug him loosely. He embraces me in his warm arms and medium muscles. He’s so warm and he’s breathing quickly. Even though he’s crying, you can’t hear him.
“I love you”, he says as he wraps the end of my braid around his finger...just like Tommy use too.
“I know”, I say. “I love you too”
Chapter 6

30 minutes later…

We’re in the training room now. Edward and I are leading the training. We’re working on Archery sense most of our soldiers have bad aim. It’s the beginning of today’s training. After Archery we’ll work on sword fighting. Then soldier evaluations. After all that, we’ll have lunch and free time.
“Ok soldiers, it’s time for Archery because most of you have, horrible aim”, Edward orders.
“Get your assigned bows from the shelves then line back up”, I order.
“Go”, orders Edward.
Everyone, including Edward and I, has their bows. All of our soldiers have lined back up, shoulder to shoulder to shoulder, in order of rankings.
“Ok, first, we’ll see how you aim the bow without the arrows. Captain Heart and I will demonstrate first, and then you will each go, two at a time”, says Edward.
Edward stands facing the front end of the line, while I stand facing the back end of the line. We hold up our bows at a time. Pulling the bow strings back as far as they can go. Our elbows up, bowstring and hand, writs, against fae, about half an inch from the eye. standing up straight. Then we put our bows down at the same time, relaxing our bodies. Edward’s bow is silver with his name “Commander Edward Sky” , engraved in it, with a single bow string. My bow is jet black with my name “Captain Mya Heart”, engraved in it, also, with a single bow string. We walk back to our original places in front of the line. Standing as straight as possible with no expression.
“Go”, Edward orders.
Then each of our soldiers, two at a time, follow our footsteps and go back to their places.
“Grab your assigned arrows and quivers”, I order, once we’ve gone through the whole line.
Then everyone, including Edward and I, do as I said. Everyone got their assigned arrows and quivers. All of our soldiers came back to their placements in the line.
“Now, we will do the some shooting with the arrows. The targets are already set up. First, Captain Heart and I will demonstrate, then, you will do the same shooting for 10 minutes. After that we will move on”, Edward ordered.
First, Edward demonstrated with his silver bow and arrows. He sheathed an arrow then aimed and released. He got the dead center of the Bull’s eye. Then I followed his footsteps with my jet black bow and arrows and split his arrow. After our demonstrations, I ordered them to start, and everyone chose a target, while Edward and I got set up for the next object. 10 minutes pass by. 
“Put away your bows and quivers of arrows, and pull out your assigned swords, then come back to your line”, Edward says.
Everyone did as he said, including us. I met up with Edward at our placements with my black Katana blade, that has a gold and black ribbon on the handle. Edward’s sword is diamond with a white and golden ribbon on the handle. All we did with the swords was go over the different positions and techniques and did a few duels, then call it good.
“Now, put away your swords and prepare yourselves for today’s evaluation for what we’ve worked on in training today. Meet back here in ten minutes”, I say.

10 minutes later...

“Soldiers! Line up in order of  your rankings! I will be evaluating you today”, Edward orders.
All of our soldiers are in combat uniforms and are cleaned up nicely. They have all of their equipment lay in front of them, cleaned and ready to go. Our uniforms are simple black military boots that are polished and a full camo suit. Our hair has to be pulled back, off our shoulders. So I just unbraided my hair and pulled it up into a high ponytail.
One by one, Edward evaluates our soldiers down the line starting with lowest ranker. He’s evaluating on how they dressed, how they work with the bow and arrows. Everything he’s evaluating on is based on today’s training. We’re down to the last three soldiers. That’s me, Jay and Christina. Cristina get’s a high score and so does Jay. Now it’s my turn. 
“Nicely dressed Captain Heart”, Edward says, writing down on a clipboard.
Just him saying that, makes me stand straighter.
“Archery first”, he says.
I walk to a target and show him everything we’ve done today. I sheath a single arrow and set my bow. Pull back the bowstring as far as it can go, elbow up, bow string is close to my eye with my hand. Then release and let the arrow fly. It hit the dead center of the bull’s eye. Then I lower my bow and relax a bit, while walking back to my placement in the line. I put my bow and quiver of arrows on the ground.
“Next, the sword”, Edward orders, writing something down on his clipboard.
Now I bend down and pick up my sword. I walk out to the open and unsheath my blade. I show him all the techniques we’ve been working on, with quick, swift movements. Once I’m done, I sheath my sword and walk back to my placement in the line, setting down my blade on the floors, and standing up straight again.
“Nicely done Captain”, he finally looks up at me and smirks a little. Then he backs up from me and stands in the open, in front of us, losing his smirk. “All of you should be looking up to Captain Heart”, Edward says, raising his voice a little.
Then everyone applauded. I can’t help but smile.
Part Two: Christina

Chapter 7

I’m glad that Mya is starting to let Edward love her, instead of both of us. What Edward doesn’t know, is that, when we get our two months to be at home with family, I’ll be getting married to Commander Zander Morgenstern. I met Zander when I first joined the army, I was 18. He was 20, and he was already a captain. He had joined two years earlier. We’ve been in love ever since. He became one of the commanders when he was 27. He’s 30 now. I just turned 28. Mya became a Captain  a month after she joined the army. Edward became a Captain then too. We’ve always been on the same squad, then our commander retired and had Edward take his place. Jay, Mya, Edward, and I, practically grew up together. Our parents all knew each other. We always went to the same schools, all were neighbors, and when we were in high school, we all had decided to join the army together.
Jay and I were in love once, all through middle school. All three years that we were there. Edward has always loved Mya. Everyone can tell, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. He gave up hiding it when we joined the army. Just a few months ago was when he told Jay and I how he felt about Mya and I. I wasn’t at all surprised. At yesterday’s lunch, when they went out into the hall, I knew he had finally chose her. It was about time. Jay hadn’t realized it until today’s evaluations. Which is when he decided to tell Edward about me and Zander. He can be so slow sometimes. That’s one of the reasons why I broke up with him.
I’m worried about Mya. She should be in the hospital. She may be brave, and strong, but in times like this, she can fall apart. She..can’t handle it that well. It’s like, the same episode when Tommy died. She loved Tommy. And she misses him. He was the one who took care of her. When he died, she moved in with me. Her father died from cancer, and her mother died from a brain tumor. Tommy died from a brain tumor too, she was there with him, when he died. Tommy was old enough to take care of himself and Mya. He was 15. He died at the age of 17. Brain tumors run in their family, it’s really serious. That’s why everyone’s so worried about her. But she hates being left out, and not being able to do anything. When she had the flu, she came to school, because she didn’t want to sit at home. It’s how she is. The teacher sent her home immediately, and Tommy stayed with her. Just the two of them, because they didn’t have their parents any longer.
I feel so bad for Mya. But I don’t know how to help her. No one does. Edward is the only one that can take care of her. He’s the only one that’s close enough to her, and her family, that won’t let anything happen to her. I mean, any of us can try to take care of her, or help her...but Edward  is the only one that can do it right. He knows what she wants. That’s the only reason why he hasn’t taken her back to the hospital. The doctors don’t try to track her down and bring her back, because it’ll be just like when she broke her arm. No one could get her to stay put. Everyone gave up on that. Even Edward. Poor Mya.