We Were Born To Lose

I walked into my tent lazily. I was exhausted but sleeping seemed impossible. I gave one of those laughs that aren’t really happy laughs, more like laughs of pain when I realized that the last time I was in here, I told Jack I hated him. And now I was doing everything in my power to get him back. I groaned and fell onto my bed but I felt something small and hard on the pillow. I lifted my head and turned to see what it was. It was a small bit of silver. I took it in my hand and rested my head back down again, looking at it. I was confused for a second but then I realized it was a ring…Jack’s ring. I swear some ghost punched me in the gut because it would’ve been impossible to feel that much physical pain without anything touching me. He must’ve put it here after I told him I hate him.

No Jack please I don’t hate you, I love you more than anything.

My eyes filled quickly and a tear escaped the corner of my eye and since I was laying down, it went sideways in the direction of my ear. And little sob escaped my lips so I clamped them shut, biting the inside of them to insure that no sound would escape. I put the ring in my pocket. I couldn’t bear to hold it since it was a reminder of how much I hurt Jack, and how much he is hurting right now. I rolled onto my side so that I wouldn’t feel it in the hopes that this wasn’t real and that he hadn’t left it. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. I knew where Jack was and I knew what was happening to him but I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

Just hold on, Jack.

And I stayed like that all night, not sleeping a bit with my eyes fixated on one point on the side of my tent. Once I heard people moving outside, I decided that I might as well get up. I stepped out into the crisp morning air and headed to the fire to warm up a bit. I hadn’t noticed it until then, but I was really fucking cold. I sat on a log close to my knights.
“You all look horrible.” I mumbled to my knights.
“You aren’t exactly a sight for sore eyes either. Did you get any sleep?” Sir Merrick asked. I sighed and shook my head. “Yeah us neither.” He mumbled. We received our breakfast of porridge, I had to force myself to eat it because I had absolutely no appetite, and as soon as we finished, I had a servant request and audience wit the King for me. Once it was approved, I stepped into his tent.
“Good morning Prince Alexander.” He greeted, not looking up from his book.
“Good morning your majesty.” I replied, my voice horse. He looked up and when his eyes met me, they widened.
“Did you get any sleep last night?” He asked.
“No Sire.”
“What was troubling you?” He asked, setting the book down and standing.

Alright Alex don’t screw this up like you do everything else.

“With the help of your knights, we found one of Cenrid’s outposts. Not only that, but I also believe that’s where my servant is.”
“Why didn’t you alert me sooner.” He asked, irritated.
“We found it last night and by the time we got back, it was three in the morning.” I replied. He seemed to cool off when I told him that.
“Alright, round up our men. We are going to strike the outpost.” He said, putting the book down and getting up, pulling his armor out of a trunk.
“Yes Sire.” I said before exiting. I had Sir Merrick round everyone up while I got my armor on. Before I knew it, we were on horses galloping to the post. It didn’t take us as long to travel this time since we knew where we were going and we made it by midday. Against my will, we took a break to eat and get water.

How can they eat at a time like this? The outpost is literally in sight! We can eat after!

I was seriously contemplating charging by myself when the two long whistles sounded.
“Finally.” I whispered. People started jumping onto their horses. I did the same and I was itching to fight. He was right there and all I had to do was-
“CHARGE!” Someone yelled. I eagerly urged my horse into a gallop and unsheathed my sword. Very soon after we started riding, someone in the outpost rang the warning bell and archers swam to the tops of the outpost. We dodged arrows as we rode harder.
“Come on.” I murmured to my horse, urging him faster. Once we reached the gates, I jumped off and swung my sword down on top of a man, breaking his neck. I spun around and my sword collided with another man’s. I don’t think I’ve ever fought as hard as I did then. I was completely surrounded by enemies and yet none of them could get close to me. Almost every time I swung my sword, I killed someone, and if not, it was to parry their blow to leave them exposed and then kill them. Within three minutes, I was surrounded by fallen soldiers. I happened to look up to see Sir Merrick giving me a look of surprise. I shrugged at him and ran to help the men get the gates open. After a few minutes of pushing, we realized that brute strength wasn’t going to get this door open so we got some of the strongest men to carry a log and use that to ram it open. It took a while but when the sound of splitting wood filled my ears, I knew we were in.

I’m coming, Jack. Just hold on.

Notes

Title Cred: The Call by Regina Spektor

literally ever single comment on this story is talking about how they're crying.

Sorry.

BUT SEE ALEX IS ALMOST THERE YAY