This is a snippet of my Gears of War story I'm writing, so I figured I'd just post it on here. Hope you enjoy!!!

A Death in the Dark.

And it was when she was laid bleeding, dying, in my arms that she begged me not to let her die. At the moment the words left her lips, the memories of all the times she tried to take her own life flooded my mind. All those times she had said the exact opposite. She had yelled at me just to let her be and to let her die. And I refused. I stopped her all those times, even when she cried that it hurt her so much inside. I stopped her because I wanted, needed, her around. Life without her… No, there wasn't such a thing. Life without her is not life at all. She was like Family... I loved her. When she wanted to leave me for good. It felt like a part of me was being ripped out. Thinking about it hurt like hell too. But yet, here it was, happening in front of me. She was bleeding, almost torn in half from the machine gun shots she took in the back. If it was this painful to look at, I couldn't even begin to imagine how painful it actually was. I glanced away from her for a quick second to see how my teammates were handling this. Some of them were so calm and uncaring it made me sick. It was like they didn't even notice the blood girl I was literally holding together. Everyone else who WAS looking turned away every now and then. They were friends of hers as well. I knew why they turned away. I knew what everyone of them was thinking. "She’s not the first to go. We've lost billions."

I knew that. I knew it was true. I watched thousands die on the battlefield from the onslaught of Locust. Most of them were my friends. But, she was special. Seeing them go didn't hurt nearly as much as watching her go. Sure, you expected someone to die out there. I knew it could happen. But I never actually thought it would happen. We had been out on the battlefields many times before. She had made it out all those times with a few large gashes and bruises, maybe some bullet holes. But all of us did. She was normally the one with the least amount of wounds even though she was the one getting attacked the most. We would always joke around and tell her she had all the luck and that she didn't need us as back up. She would laugh. We also joked that one day her luck would run out and she WOULD actually need us. We had made that joke again, right before we went out to this field. None of us knew it would actually go from joke to fact. "P..pl...ea..se.." she gurgled, making me look down at her again. Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw her struggle to smile at me. Even though she was in so much pain, she was still trying to smile at me. "D..on't..let...me..die." There it was again. Her plea.

Dear God, how I wanted to keep her alive. I wanted to yell "I won't!" but the words wouldn't come out. It was like I had lost my voice. Why? Why Now? She needed to hear those words, and I wanted to say them so badly. But I couldn't. Because… deep down I realized I probably couldn't keep to those words. She was already almost gone. I was holding her together still, her blood seeping through the pants and onto my legs now. I held her tighter, some of my tears falling down onto her. I shouldn't be the one crying. She was dying. I didn't have the right to cry. I wasn't dying! …At least, not on the outside. Inside, my heart felt like it caved in. I was finally beginning to realize I could do nothing for her. All I could do was hold her close until the last drops of blood leaked and she took her final breath. I couldn't even say anything. More tears came. I turned away. I didn't want anymore to drip on her again. Those memories came back again. The ones where I stopped her from taking her own life. And I remembered how one time I told her I was sorry for stopping her. I said that I was sorry for being selfish and keeping her here to suffer. Sorry. Sorry, it took me up until now to realize. How I wasn't sorry. I wasn't sorry at all. Having her around all this time made things so much better. If I would have lost her sooner, I probably wouldn't have been here right now. A sudden wheeze snapped me out of my thoughts. The wheeze was followed by a gurgling noise. It took me a few seconds to realize what it was. But it was too late. I said I could do nothing for her in the end. But right when I looked down, she was smiling and holding my hand as best she could. In the very end, I realized what I thought was doing nothing was all she really wanted. She wanted to be with me to the very end. And she was. Though her end came too soon. I am glad I was able to make it a happy one for her. To others, she may have been completely gone. But to me, she can never really be gone. I always have memories. And I do believe she will watch me from where ever she is now. As the last of my tears fell, I smiled slightly. I smiled because I knew she'd somehow always be with me, even if she wasn't alive. I bit my lower lip and let go of her body, placing it on the body bag. I slowly pulled my hand out of hers and backed up, watching as others began to put it in the bag. "Good bye.” I managed to get out.

Those were my last words to her. I smiled slightly as I turned and walked over to take a seat next to Rojas. I started to think. Think about all the happy things we could've done when we got home. I was going to make her mine; we were going to do so many things together. But… those things will just have to wait until we meet again. I smirked, cracking my knuckles a bit as I slipped into another thought. His face. I remembered it so well it’s as if God decided to burn the image of that grub ripping her to pieces. I can see it now. And I remember that monster’s face. I remembered each and every little scale on that Locust's face. The one that took her life. He may have thought he won by taking her out. But the match had only just begun. This war is about to be over. I will win it for her. I will destroy all those monsters, and I will make sure the one who killed her suffers the most. When this war is all said and done, we'll meet again, and we can be together. Just like you wanted, and just like I wanted. I love you, and I'm sorry it took me this long to figure out how much I actually love you. I may have been late on telling you in this life, but… I will make you mine when we meet again. I just have some business to attend to first. So please, please if you can hear me, please wait for me. Because when this is done, we can be together forever and after.