urm is it okay if i request sledgefu for âPass me the sledgehammer."? if not then any hbo war pairing of your choice is okay too :) - webgottrash
yess good choice!! iâm sorry it took so long haha, I tried my best! hope you like it (iâm putting it under a read more because it turned out to be quite long) :)
âPass me the sledgehammer.â Snafu looked at Sledge, his squinting eyes filled with hesitation. âYouâre not actually going to do it, are you?â He sighed, letting out a mist of smoke from between his dry, chapped lips. The cigarette was glowing in the dim afternoon, the grey smoke slowly soaring towards the sky.
They were still at Peleliu, that godforsaken piece of land, and it didnât feel like they were leaving any time soon. Today had been a bad day; they had lost Ack Ack, and every ounce of hope had left them. They were completely and utterly left to themselves.
âI tell you, destroying stuff wonât be of any good.â Sledge shook his head, trying to free himself from his thoughts. He was incapable of forgetting; the images wouldnât leave him alone. It wasnât just Ack Ack that haunted him anymore; it was all of them. Every single slaughtered soul, every pair of empty eyes, every stiff, broken body.
âI know,â he muttered under his breath, âI⌠know.â But he didnât care. Snafu put the cigarette in the corner of his mouth, as he reached for the sledgehammer Eugene had asked for. He took it with weary fingers, still shaking from the sound of the bombs. It was a nice tool, dirty with mud yet glimmering in the setting afternoon sun.
âYeah Iâm not giving it to you.â He raised his eyebrows, looking for any sort of emotion in his friendâs tired eyes. Any reaction, whether it be anger, annoyance or resentment - just anything other than that goddamn grief.
But there was none. Eugene Sledge looked at him with empty eyes, and for a moment there was nothing but silence between them. Then he shrugged.
âWhatever. Keep the goddamn thing if you want it that bad.â He shook his head and began walking away from him, leaving Snafu alone. The dark-haired marine looked at him disappearing further and further away, debating with himself whether he should follow him or not. Eventually, his ever-changing humanity won him over. Snafu swallowed, getting annoyed both at himself and Sledge.
âHey, come on!â It didnât take long before he caught up with his jaded friend. He stepped out in front of him, forcing him to stop. âDonât be like this, alright?â But Sledge just pushed him aside, not saying a word.
âI know I- Iâm not the one youâd want to talk to⌠About feelings and all that. But-â Sledge interrupted him, and it didnât matter that much to Snafu, because at least he wasnât quiet. He hated it when people just stopped talking to him, when there clearly was much left unsaid.
âYou wouldnât understand.â Snafu looked at him questionly.
Sledge took a deep breath, relaxed his shoulders and turned down his gaze. âIâm just so tired,â he mumbled, âso⌠tired.â
âWell, name one who isnât.â Sledge knew that Snafu was right, but that wasnât what he meant.
âItâs not like that,â he tried. It was hard to explain something when he himself didnât really know what it was.
âYouâre scared,â said Snafu suddenly, and Sledge turned up his head.
âNo.â He wasnât; not anymore. That kind of fear had left him, together with the screams of the men he had watched die; it had been ripped from him, just as their tormented souls had been ripped from their bodies.
âThen tell me.â Sledge thought for a second whether he should tell him or not. The cons clearly outweighed the pros, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like he didnât care. Nothing mattered anymore.
âIâm not scared of dying, I try- I try not to think about it that much, not afterâŚâ His voice trailed off. Not after Ack Ack died. He could only hope that Snafu understood what he meant, because he couldnât talk about it anymore. He was sick of feeling the grief devour him from the inside - he was sick of drowning in the sadness over and over again, when there clearly was no way out of it. Then he kicked on the ground, and all the pent up anger inside him started welling up. He hated feeling so weak.
âThen what are you afraid of?â If there was one thing Sledge knew about his friend, it was that Snafu wasnât keen on giving up. So he spat out the words, quickly, before his voice started to tremble and the sentences got stuck in his throat.
âI canât lose anyone else.â The words soared to the sky, danced with the wind among the clouds. At first Snafu didnât say anything. Then he said everything all at once.
âWell, thereâs not much we can do about that.â His words didnât hurt, but they were cold and merciless. It was the truth, though, and Sledge knew that. He wiped his hand over his forehead and realized how tired he was. Completely exhausted.
âI know Iâm going home in a coffin.â He sighed, his eyes trailing off, scanning the calm, blue sky above them. âBut I just donât think I can handle seeing one more of you go.â Then Snafu took a few steps closer to him, and for once, the look in his eyes was warm.
âIâm sorry,â was all he managed to say, but it was enough. In the midst of a raging, burning war, it was enough.
Later, when the sky had begun to adopt into darker hues and the sun lay dying against the horizon, Snafu began to talk again. âI know itâs not much of a consolation, but I ainât gonna leave you.â Sledge didnât have to look at him to know that his words were true. âI know,â he answered. âI know you wonât.â
