A/N: Hi again! I'm cutting it close, but this is my submission for Round 1, Part 1 of the Multigenre Mashup SmackDown contest. We had to write a story in the genre of military fiction, with a little bit of romance, too. Additionally, our story had to include three images (which I will include at the bottom of the page) in some form. This was my attempt - I hope you enjoy!

Word count: 1499

The silence is alarming.

Crouched against the wall, Nadya at my other side, our heaving breaths are all I can hear. No bird calls. No insect noises. Worst of all, no gunshots.

Despite the fact that I'm stationary, my heart races, the frantic beat reminiscent of a galloping horse. Th-thud, th-thud, th-thud.

Nadya begins to speak. "Any-"

The loud crack of a gun interrupts her words. A bullet embeds itself in the wall between us.

Only a few centimeters from Nadya's skull.

I whip my head in the direction where the bullet came from, scanning for the shooter. Terror trickles down my spine.

They're coming from behind us. We're completely surrounded.

There's another loud noise, and I instinctively move, shifting so the corner of the opposite wall conceals me from sight. Nadya moves in sync with me, doing the same.

"We need to move!"

"We're splitting up." Nadya barks, expression focused and eyes hard. In an instant, she goes from my best friend, the fearless, caring woman, to the Master Sergeant. "You go left, get to the trees as fast as possible and take cover, they'll definitely have some people outside. I'll go right, get these guys to follow me and try to shake them. We meet at the large tree one kilometer into the forest, got it?"

The fear spreads, infecting my stomach and making my legs weak. My mind locks onto the implication of her words, one thought on loop: I could lose Nadya too. "No, Nadya, wait-"

"That is an order, Zaila!" Nadya's eyes blaze. "Do you understand me?"

I lower my gaze, unable to meet her eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

Nadya doesn't often pull rank on me - she hardly ever has a reason to. But when she does, I have no choice but to comply.

"Hey," Her hand moves, coming to rest on top of mine where it sits on the ground. Reluctantly, I pull my gaze upwards, meeting her eyes. They've softened a little - for a few moments, she is just my best friend again. "We'll be fine. Both of us." Her lips twist upwards in a smile. "We're going to kick these bastards' asses, get back to base by tomorrow, go home and devour Reuben's welcome home cake. Alright?"

I nod, forcing a small smile onto my face for her benefit. "Alright."

"Good." Nadya winks at me, adjusting her grip on her gun. "See you soon."

And, with that, she takes off running.

I want to watch her go, make sure she's safe until I can't see her anymore, but I force myself to turn and start sprinting too.

Nadya's more than capable of taking care of herself. But even that thought doesn't erase the dread building in my stomach.

The gunshots begin sounding barely a second after I emerge outside, and the sound of bullets impacting with dirt - the dirt near my feet, no doubt - spurs me on.

I'm only a few meters from the tree line when I see it.

At first, it's just a flash of red, but the closer I get, the more familiar the plant looks. Red lilies.

I smile a little at the memory of tanned, clumsy hands, vibrant red flowers, and a bright yellow ribbon, but force myself to shove the memory aside. I can't be distracted. Not now.

And then, my luck runs out.

There's no pain, at first - just the sensation of something hitting my left shoulder, making me stumble forward. Instinctively, I glance at the impact point.

The metallic gray of a bullet shines under the rising sun.

And then, the pain hits me all at once. And I fall.

Compared to the inferno that consumes my shoulder, making me whimper pitifully, hitting the ground is nothing. I land on my side, crushing one of the red lilies under my weight. The other one, in front of my chest, sags a little, but doesn't fall.

Black spots appear in my vision, and, somewhere in the back of my brain, I register that that's really alarming, but I can't seem to bring myself to care.

Blood drips from my wounded shoulder, landing next to the stem of the red lily. Red on red. It's poetic, in a way.

Red on red. It's the last thing I see.

* * * * *

I let myself into the apartment quietly.

It's dark, really dark - not that I expected much different. It's two AM, after all.

Tiptoeing across the floor, I pull my bag off my right shoulder, wincing as I jostle the sling on my other shoulder a bit too much. As much as I hate to admit it, maybe my commander was right, keeping me in a hospital until my shoulder was at least partially healed. I might have collapsed, had I dragged myself here as soon as I was able to.

I wouldn't have regretted it.

Stepping into the living room, I prepare to set my bag down on the center table. But the sight in front of me stops me in my tracks.

My boyfriend's sleeping form lies on the sofa. He's curled up into a ball, knees tucked into his chest. The blanket on the other end of the couch lays untouched, almost like he didn't mean to fall asleep at all.

I swallow as I watch him. Like this, he looks younger than he really is, although the worried lines in his face, present even in sleep, dull the effect a little.

I sit down next to him, letting my hand hover over his cheek. I'm barely holding myself back from touching him, wanting to let him sleep, but, of course, he wakes up instantly anyways.

"Hey, honey."

He blinks up at me, clearly dazed. But then, after a few more blinks, his eyes light up. "Zaila!"

Reuben shoots up quickly, and before I can move a muscle, he's crushing me in an embrace.

"Oh my god," He chokes out. "Oh my god, you're here. You're here."

I can't help but let out a small whimper of pain as he squeezes my injured shoulder a bit too tightly. Immediately, he loosens his grip, pulling back and scanning me from head to toe. His eyes linger on my sling.

"You were late," Reuben murmurs, and the haunted look in his eyes sends daggers flying into my heart. "You didn't come back in time, and- oh my god, I thought you were dead."

He pulls me back into his chest, more gently, this time, and I let him, pressing my nose into his shoulder and breathing him in.

He smells like home.

Abruptly, everything in me seems to crumble. "I'm sorry!" I gasp, tears brimming in my eyes. "I'm so sorry, I-" I cut myself off, unsure of what to say. I didn't mean to hurt him. I know that. He knows that. But I did hurt him. And I do it again, and again, and again, every time I'm sent back out on duty.

"I know. It's okay, it wasn't your fault." He soothes me. "Just- please, try not to do that again. Please. I- I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

I close my eyes, not bothering to stop my tears from falling anymore. Reuben sounds so... broken. Lost. And those are two words that I don't ever want to describe him by ever again. Especially not because of me.

"You won't." I promise him. For the first time in years, it's a promise I know I will be able to keep. "You won't lose me. Because I'm not leaving again. Ever."

A flurry of emotions crosses his face - confusion, happiness, sorrow, disbelief, hope. "You can't just leave, though."

"I can." I shoot him a small, comforting smile. "They offered me a medical discharge, and I took it."

"B-But..." He stammers, at a loss for words. "You love your job."

"I do." I gulp, trying to figure out how to sum up everything that factored into this decision into just a few words. "But I love you more."

Reuben stares at me, several emotions warring for control on his face. He seems unable to speak, so I begin to ramble, trying to fill the silence.

"My last mission- it was a disaster. We got ambushed. Most of my squad was killed. Nadya's in a coma." I can feel Reuben's body tense at the horrifying news. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the memories. "I nearly got killed, too. When I woke up in the hospital, they told me I was lucky to be alive. That's when I realized that I'd always relied on a tomorrow. I always thought we'd get married, see Nadya get married, have kids, after I was done serving. But then, lying in that hospital bed, I realized that I almost lost that tomorrow."

I take a deep breath, trying to gather my scrambled emotions so I can finish my thoughts. "I survived, and I'm not going to make the same mistake again." I look up at him, resolute. "No more waiting. No more tomorrows."

A/N: So, how was it?

Honestly, I didn't like this one all too much. I got the idea for this concept from another military fiction story I read recently - the emotional impact on those closest to a member of the armed forces was a topic that really intrigued me. But I definitely couldn't elaborate as much as I wanted to, with a word limit of 1500 words, which meant that parts of this just felt... shallow, or unfinished, to me. 

But maybe it's fine, I don't know. I will always be my harshest critic, so my judgement might be a bit skewed. Let me know what you think!

Well, see you next time!