"Hey, tell me a story."

"Aw, just like your mom, huh? What story do you want?"

"Anything."

"Hm." Lloyd sat on the bed, a pomegranate in his hand. "Once upon time, there was a young woman named Persephone. One day, when she was picking flowers in the spring, the god Hades came and dragged her to the underworld with him."

"Why would he do that?"

He cringed slightly, remembering his uncle. "To make her love him. She was very upset, but she gradually grew to love him, and she ate the pomegranate he gave her, meaning she had to stay with him forever."

The taller, half-asleep thought of another idea. As Lloyd was talking, he pretended to fall asleep. He heard the other leaving afterward. He got up and reached for his notebook. He had to write this down.

--------

It was November. François thought he was doing very well in this battle. There were no cuts and only three kills to clean. He was feeling fine.

Then he looked down on his arm, a gaping bullet wound on his left shoulder. He didn't even feel the pain until now. He groaned and grabbed his arm, dropping his booklet full of now dead names.

"Hey!" He spun around to see Kim on his horse. "Are you hurt?"

"Yeah! Can you get me out of here?"

Kim got him on his horse and took him to get medical care. It wasn't a bad wound, just needed cleaning and bandages. He made sure he was okay before leaving. It only took a few seconds later for Lloyd to come flying in, covered in blood and out of breath.

"Hey, man!" Lloyd sat next to him in a chair close to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Could be better." He grinned at him. "How about you? Your clothes must be ruined."

"As long as it's not mine, I don't care." He took out his book. "You want me to read to you?"

"Is that stupid book again?"

"It's not stupid! It's the book you got me for my birthday!"

"Yeah, it's stupid. You've read it like three times."

He pointed at the blue cover, smiling. "So? It's a good book."

François sighed and gave in as Lloyd began to read. He secretly adored how his voice sounded. It was a French accent that dragged words and controlled his heart. He drifted off to sleep as Lloyd continued.

"One day, he had a better idea. To everyone he knew, he wrote that he was going on a very dangerous mission. 'They asked for volunteers. It's very dangerous, but someone has to do it. I'll write you the instant I get back.' And he had not written anyone since."

------------

As François recovered, he noticed how Kim was acting towards Lloyd. He followed him around like a puppy dog.

White noticed something else. Something worse.

"Sauveterre, look at that!" He dragged him into the forest. Dead squirrels and birds were scattered all over the place. "Kim did this!"

The other scoffed. "Stop it. It was probably a dog or something."

The taller held up a bloody pistol. As much as Lloyd didn't want to believe it, he knew what his best friend's pistol looked like.

"...I don't want to see this anymore."

He began to walk away, but White pulled him back. He clung to his arms. "This guy is crazy! I can't believe I just noticed it now. He's insane!"

He pushed him off. He looked away, feeling his face become hot. "Stop!"

"I'm warning you! This guy is gonna kill one of us!"

Unable to face the possible loss of another friend, he raced to the medical office where François was for his last night. He wiped any tears that were in his eyes. He had to share the good news.

"Hi, Mr. General." François noticed the overly sweet smile on his face. There was also a deep sadness in his eyes. "You good?"

"Me and Mulligan are getting married!" His blue eyes shot out of his head. "I brought him a wedding ring and I'm going to ask him to marry me my next phone call!"

With his heart crumbling, he only smiled and hugged him so tight his shoulder hurt again. Lloyd was so excited as he ran off to tell the others, leaving the other alone with his book.

"Fuck." The tears came down his chin onto the blanket. "Shit. Fuck."

Lloyd loved that boy. Lloyd loves real boys. Lloyd would never love such a disgusting girly thing. He's gay after all.

Suddenly, Kim came in. He flopped down on the chair, weeping as much as the other.

"Fucking hell." Kim sobbed in broken French. "He shouldn't."

"I know." He hugged him and cried on his shoulder. "Poor thing."

They both cried that night, leaning on each other. They both didn't know, however, that the other loved Lloyd. François opened the book that was there and read to Kim in Korean.

"The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on."

---------------

The evening before that big mission everyone in their mother was going on and on about, the highest ranking general, General Cortéz, called the chipper soldier for a "special surprise." Before he left, he gave François a hug.

"You're the best. I'm glad you're better." He whispered in his ear.

"You too. You're my best friend." He tried to control the quivering in his voice.

Just as he was leaving, the phone rang for him. Lloyd was about to run over, but François promised him he would answer.

"Hello?"

"Hello, I'm calling for Sauveterre." That deep voice on the other end gave him a chill.

"Who are you?"

"Mulligan Monsel." François' body froze. "General Sauveterre wrote to me saying he had a surprise for me?"

"Alright, don't tell Lloyd I told you!" He heard a giggle on the other end. He wanted to punch him through the phone.

Then he paused. He wanted Lloyd for himself. This was his chance.

"He-"

Cheated on you! Left you! Got tired of you and wants to marry me!

Then he stopped himself. He would break those happy hearts, and he couldn't bring himself to do it. He loves Lloyd. He would never hurt him.

"-brought you a new necklace!" His accent thickened to hide the shaking.

"That was the big surpise? He acted like he wanted to marry me!" They both laughed.

"Bye for now, I'll tell him you called."

"Thank you, goodbye."

He put the phone down, went outside to where nobody could hear him, and screamed.

-------

François came back from outside, his throat sore and his eyes bloodshot. He walked into his cold room to throw himself on his cot and cry into his pillow.

Mulligan's deep voice rang in his ears. Even the sound of his voice was more manly and better than his high-pitched and girly one. Lloyd deserved him. He would be happy with him, he'll be with a beautiful man. A real man. He saw a note on the nightstand in the middle of his and Kim's bed. He sniffled as he picked it up out of curiosity. It was in Korean cursive and smelled like Lloyd's favorite colone.

"You will be Juilet and I Romeo.
We will run away to Korea together,
Us loving and picking the may flowers for centuries.
We will see the skies in Sokcho and rest in my home in Bukchon Hanok.
We will be wed in the night under the moon.
We will die together, hand and hand.
I love your eyes of stars and your hair of chocolate.
I love your golden heart and your pearly smile.
I love your skinny frame and light voice."

François felt a pit in his stomach as he sat up with the note in his hand. In his heart, though he didn't want to admit, he knew who it was.

"Alas, I'm aware of the beast you are trapped with.
He must not love you more than I.
If you are too blinded in your terrible situation,
May you be Persephone and I Hades.
I will drag you to my underworld,
Where you would be protected and praised,
Rather you want it or not.
You will learn to love me,
Just as she did.
I will feed you a pomegranate,
And we will plant the seeds.
A tree will go as tall as our house,
Where we will hold each other forever."

François felt sick to his stomach, then he saw the name and a drawing of the familiar face. The face with uniquely shaped eyes and wavy hair. The name that began with L. Rage consumed his trembling body.

"Hey-" Kim stood frozen in the doorway as Dauphiné slowly turned his head to him.

"What is this?" His voice was tanted with disgust and disappointment.

He stumped to him as the other stood up. He ripped the paper away from him. "You had no reason to read that."

He shouted in French, "Your underworld?! Learn to love you?! You're sick!"

Kim didn't stop speaking in Korean. "You're no better! I read your diary!" François froze this time. 'I shouldn't love him! He's my world!' If I'm sick, then I must be contagious!"

"At least I know that I can't have him! He's engaged, for fucks sake!" He felt tears of rage. He blinked them away.

"He wouldn't want you, anyways! You're short, you're redheaded, and you look like a girl!" That stung deeper than any bullet wound. Kim didn't even know his secret. "He would want a man like me. I'm tall, I'm muscular, I have a house and a job back in Korea!"

"Motherfucker, you're thirty-five and I'm nineteen, fuck do you expect!? He's only seventeen!" Tears were falling as his voice cracked. "You're a pedophile! You're evil! He would never want to be with either of us because he loves that boy at home!"

The realization kicked in. Lloyd was fourteen when he joined, Kim was thirty-two. He thought of the times he would look at the shorter like the forbidden fruit. It had to be going on longer than he's been here, White said he always acted weird around him. As Kim was yelling about something, François kicked his balls. The grown man growned and went down, grabbing his dick.

"I hate you! You fooled me! You fooled Lloyd! You fooled everyone! You're a sick disgusting bitch!!" He felt himself getting angrier the more he spoke. "You're a beast!"

Kim roared as he slapped François' banaged arm. The redhead cried out as he clung to his shoulder. He never expected any of this from him. He was a weirdo, sure, but he never thought he was a monster.

"You're not holier-than-thou, you freak!" That broke what was left of any respect he had for him. "You lied to him too! You allowed him to think we didn't know about his attempt! He did it to get away from you!"

He screamed as he lunged at his face, but the taller pushed him to the ground with one arm. He fell on his good shoulder as Kim stormed off. François rolled up to cry into his hands. He thought he was his friend. But as he thought of the times when he would look at him with dismay when he spoke with Lloyd without him, his heart soured. How could he be so gullible?

He got up and stumbled out of the room, his shoulder aching. He needed to find him before he found Lloyd, who knows what that bastard would do. He heard a person yelling to someone that a heart was broken just minutes ago. That makes two, he's supposed.

-------
???-???