Work Text:
It was cold. Bone cold. Jem and Lisa were crouched behind a tree, on watch. It was almost midnight, Christmas Eve, 2011.
“I hate this,” Lisa said. “We should be home, with our families. I should be snuggled up with my mum by the fire right now.”
“I don’t have much of a family anymore,” Jem said, looking through her gun sight. “Not since Kier died.”
“Still,” Lisa said, “it would be better than this.”
A shot rang out in the distance. A single shot. It must have been a good one.
Lisa fiddled with her phone. A brand new iPhone. Her parents had given it to her early, just in case they didn’t make it to
Christmas.
“Put that down,” Jem said. “It’s a distraction.”
“I just want to go home.”
“You volunteered.”
“Only to be with you. Why are we out here in the middle of the night? We’re sixteen.”
“We’re soldiers.”
“I’m not a soldier.”
Jem looked at her. “We have to protect the village. Bill will be here in an hour, and you can go home. In the meantime —”
They heard a rustling in the woods. A ragged figure dragged itself out from behind another tree. Jem lifted her gun and aimed.
She hesitated.
Lisa didn’t. There was a loud crack from her gun, and the figure fell.
“Good shot,” Jem said with a smile.
Lisa shook out her hand. It still hurt, every time.
“That was for you,” she said. “Merry Christmas.”