Discount Word Emporium

Soldierverse, post-series - a certain scene that is strongly hinted at in the last chapter. ^^ Because I felt like it. PG-13, 389 words.

He woke up coughing and cold, disoriented-- and confused, because the last thing he remembered was fighting, and though he didn't remember going down he'd known at the start that waking up after the fact wasn't really part of the plan. He'd decided he'd had enough of Archades' shit and was going to go out swinging, but they overwhelmed him, and--

And there were arms tight around his shoulders, pulling him upright, moving him around. He bucked away from them instinctively, even though they were blessedly warm-- or tried to, anyway. He couldn't quite make his limbs obey him.

"Shh, it's okay," said a familiar voice, and once his muddied mind figured out why it was familiar, he froze. The arms around him shifted, pulling him closer still until his head was resting against someone's shoulder.

Asch opened his eyes wide, blinking through the blurriness left from whatever that stinging shit had been, and saw a smear of red. "Luke?" he rasped. The arms tightened.

"Just take it easy for a bit, all right? It'll wear off."

He grunted a reply, still blinking. After a second, he shrugged pointedly. "Get off me," he muttered.

Luke didn't move, not that Asch really minded all that much-- there was a blanket around him, he realized, but it was Luke's body beside his that was doing the most to chase away the shivering in his bones.

Someone snorted, nearby. "Some things never change," Guy said, coming into view. He was blurry too, but with that voice and in this company there really was no one else it could be.

Asch's vision was starting to clear at last, and he wasn't shivering quite so much anymore-- Luke's enforced hug was good for that much. So Asch twisted his head until he could take a good look at both of them, coming to grips with the realization that they really were there. "I thought you--" he started, then coughed. "I mean, they told me--" But no, they certainly looked alive, he couldn't imagine the afterlife coming with patched shirtsleeves and battered backpacks. Asch looked around, seeking clues, and didn't really understand anything that he saw. "What the fuck is going on?" he finished at last.

Asch felt Luke's arms shake as he laughed. "That," his brother said, "is a very long story."