The crew of the HMS Dreadnought remained docked at Belfast for months, helping the rag-tag group of Irish fighters defend themselves from Germany's bombs as well as gradually make allies with them.

Matt had finally woken up in February, the only trace of his injury being the scar on his chest and in his mind.

Sean grew closer friends with Mark, Bob, Wade, and the others over time, his energetic personality and positive mental attitude contagious among those he spent time with.

Currently Mark, Bob, Wade, and Sean were walking around Belfast, enjoying the warm April weather while talking about anything that came to mind.

Everyone else that they knew was back at camp or on the Dreadnought enjoying the weather in their own ways.

"So Wade, how are you and Molly doing?" Sean prompted curiously.

"It's been nice actually, we've been talking a lot more and going out for drinks." Wade replied happily.

"What about you and Mandy?" Wade asked Bob.

"Yeah, um, we've been talking a lot too, and she's really cool." Bob stammered, caught off guard by the question.

"You guys sound like middle school boys talking about your crushes." Mark remarked teasingly.

"You jealous since you don't have a girlfriend?" Bob countered.

"No!" Mark protested, folding his arms across his chest moodily.

"Besides, Sean doesn't have one either!" Mark added in a slightly accusatory tone.

Sean felt his face flush a bright red as all eyes turned on him, making him feel uncomfortable by the sudden attention.

"Um, about that-"

"You have a girlfriend too?! No fair!" Mark blurted, cutting Sean off.

"Who is she?"

"What's she like?"

"Where's she from?"

"Everyone shut the fuck up  for like two minutes!" Sean snapped in mild irritation.

Instantly the trio fell silent to listen to Sean's answers.

"Alright, I met a Danish woman named Signe Hansen last year before the war started when she traveled to Athlone to find inspiration for her latest masterpiece. She's an amazing artist that can paint anything. She stayed in Athlone for a week before she left, giving me this and her promise that she'd return to visit me." Sean explained as he dug through his pants pocket to retrieve a neatly folded up piece of paper.

Mark hastily took it and unfolded it, seeing Sean's crystal blue eyes stare back at him on the page.

The painting was extremely realistic, the corner of his pale pink lips turned up in his usual mischievous smirk and his eyes glimmering with excitement that Mark could feel through the page.

His scruffy brown hair looked real enough to feel, as well as the light blue shirt that matched his eyes he was wearing in the painting.

"That's so cool!" Mark gushed in awe as he carefully handed the art off to Wade before he in turned passed it to Bob to admire.

"But yeah, I've been waiting for her to come back for awhile. I keep telling myself that once this damn war is over that maybe she'll come back." Sean sighed wistfully.

"With each month that passes, we get closer and closer to the end." Bob promised him as he handed the art back to him.

Sean nodded in appreciation as he folded the paper back up and wordlessly stuck it in his pocket.

"Some days I kinda wonder why I joined in the first place, and I look at where we are and where we started. I mean, the fact that we're alive is a miracle." Mark mused thoughtfully.

"Hey, just stay alive, that will be enough." Wade interjected.

"Yeah, cause it's so easy to stay alive in a hell war like this." Mark scoffed.

"Just saying." Wade shrugged.

"Shut up Wade." Sean chimed in jokingly, earning a chorus of laughter from the group.

The four froze when they heard the bomb alarms start to blare, alerting them of incoming danger.

"Guys, the Germans are bombing Belfast!" Nate exclaimed frantically as he ran up to the four, his eyes wide in panic as he skidded to a stop in front of them.

"What do we do then?" Sean prompted instantly.

As Nate opened his mouth to reply, a large bomb crashed down behind him a few feet away that sent him flying, as well as the others.

Mark's ears rang painfully as he slowly sat up, his head throbbing in pain as he looked around.

Bombs were raining from the sky without mercy, destroying everything they touched with reckless abandon.

"Everyone okay?" Mark yelled groggily as he cautiously checked himself over for any obvious injuries before standing up.

"Booper-Dooper!" Sean replied.

"I'm fine!" Bob chimed in.

"Same here!" Wade added.

"What about Nate?" Mark spoke up worriedly, seeing no signs of the dark-haired man.

"I found him." Sean announced grimly from where he was standing, his expression unreadable.

Everyone got up and looked to see Nate's body lying on the ground burnt to the point where he was almost unrecognizable, his chocolate brown eyes staring up lifelessly at the sky with a shocked expression imprinted on his face.

Sean looked away and vomited on the ground while Mark's face paled.

"We have to keep moving to find others, he can't be helped." Bob sighed remorsefully.

Mark nodded numbly as he managed to tear his eyes away from his friend's corpse and follow Bob and Wade off to their makeshift camp by the docks.

Sean shakily wiped the back of his mouth off before jogging after his friends to catch up.

The camp was absolutely decimated, the tents and supplies reduced to nothing but piles of debris.

"Mark thank god, I thought you were dead!" Amy exclaimed as she ran up to Mark and hugged him tight.

"What's happening?" Sean cut in impatiently.

"The damn Germans are bombing Belfast, and we didn't have enough time to prepare. They seemed to have stopped quickly, but a lot of the city had been reduced to rubble thanks to them." Amy scowled bitterly.

"Everyone that's survived the bombing is on the Dreadnought since it's been untouched so far and is the safest place right now." Amy continued.

"Is Malcolm..." Sean trailed off, swallowing hard.

"He's inside, as well as Thomas." Amy nodded, causing Mark to relax slightly.

"Sean, there's someone you need to see." Mandy spoke up as she jogged out of the Dreadnought to meet them.

Together the four followed her to the hospital level of the ship, each bed filled and the floor covered in bodies waiting to be buried.

Mark recognized a few of them as he walked by.

Nate.

Cristina.

Gunner.

Tanner.

Gone.

All gone.

Their names chimed in his head over and over again like a broken record as he continued following Mandy until they abruptly stopped in front of a woman with short, shoulder length dark brown hair that was unfamiliar to Mark.

Yet somehow Sean knew her.

"Signe?" Sean whispered in shock.

"From what we gathered, she came here to surprise you with a visit, as well as this drawing." Mandy solemnly handed Sean a picture.

He took a deep breath before daring to glance at it, his eyes instantly welling up with tears.

She had drawn a picture of them together, smiles lighting up their faces that seemed to upset him even more.

"I'll never see that smile again." Sean mumbled, heart broken.

"Sean-"

"Don't...I just-I need time." Sean sighed, interrupting Bob as he knelt down by Signe's side, a single tear trailing down his cheek.

Mark decided to give him time alone and walked up to the upper deck with Bob and Wade.

He climbed into his hammock and stared up at the ceiling, knowing his dreams would be haunted a he closed his eyes.

At least if he could sleep.