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d understood "Cloud" perfectly that ti her away froe And away fro dread that bore down on me

MAX

The barracks were never fully silent, even in the dead of night Around hi, the bark of an unrelenting cough, and the hushed voices of a faraway conversation

He lay in his bunk, as still as he could, pretending to be asleep despite the fact that he was nowhere near it He didn’t try to keep the girl frohts with the others Better to feign sleep Better to avoid questions from those around him, those who kept him under constant watch

It would be easier if he were alone If he were ever truly alone

But this was the life he’d chosen, and alone was no longer an option, so he’d have to settle for stolen ht

Clear blue eyes stared back from inside his own memories, eyes he wished he’d never seen in the first place Yet eyes he hoped to gliain Soon

She would be trouble, this one; the fact that he was lying awake noas proof of that Just a feords exchanged, a sether at the club, and already he was tortured and restless

He replayed those last moments, after he’d followed her in the club, whe Bowednd manemories, en he’d watched as she’d listened to her friend’s flirtatious banter He recognized the moment immediately, it would have been i wide, her voice tre as she wanted to be

He worried for her, even though she was safe for now--probably at home, probably with her family, asleep in her own bed

Unaware of the torment she’d already unleashed in him

IV