Wings - A Hamilton Fanfic - Lams, Mullette, and Jeffmads

Chapter Sixteen

Hercules's P.O.V.

In the midst of battle, I was just 'putting to rest' this bald, tattooed Human when I see Thomas, with a couple of arrows stuck in him, about to crash. I finish off the Human before running to get him. Those arrows...wait. I look up into the sky. No rain of arrows are falling. Thomas must've taken out most of the archers. I beam, before hearing a huge bang. I look to my right to see that Thomas has crashed into the dirt. His head looks up before he slumps down, clearly knocked out. Ouch. That must've hurt. I check to see that there are no Humans running to kill me...no one. That's good. I stride on over and pick him up, grunting as I do so. I gaze across the field as Base 1776's soldiers fight against the Human warriors. This early morning Lafayette had called me into his office and told me that he can't lead our army alone, and that I need to take charge of half the army. Amazed, I accepted, I said 'HELL YEAH!', and so here we are. I clear my throat.

"My side! Fall back for a few minutes while I take Thomas here to the medic!" I shout, my voice gravelly, yet it echoes clearly through the field. I see a few people start to fall back, while some acknowledged me yet keep fighting. Laf's soldiers. I grin and take off, satisfied that they'll be fine. I make my way to the Schuyler sister's medic tent, which is located in the middle of the camp. I think so far we're winning the battle, as I haven't seen that many Winged casualties. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but, I'm pretty sure I'm in the right here. I start to fly downwards as the tent gets closer, and suddenly, Peggy flies out and up towards me.

"Pegster! What's up?" I ask, grunting a bit. Thomas is actually heavier than I thought he would be. Peggy and I aren't even that close, but basically, anyone who has visited the medic's tent at least once has started calling her that.

"Can't talk now Herc gotta go save some people from the battlefield quick go take Thomas to my sisters okay bye!" Peggy says quickly, her sentence blurring together into a few keywords. Can't talk...save some people... take Thomas...my sisters. She flies right past me towards the battlefield. I shrug and head down again.

I enter the medic tent to see Angelica and Eliza rushing around, tending to injured soldiers. My heart skips a beat when I see Paul with an arrow embedded in his left wing. His wing is already naturally coloured red, but the dark blood contrasts against it very prominently. I stand there, unable to comprehend that one of my friends are hurt. This is what war is really like. I look down at the unconscious Thomas that I'm holding and I realise that I should probably give him to the sisters.

"Angelica? Eliza? Thomas here has been hit by some-"

"Arrows. Got it," Angelica cuts me off and gestures that I set him down on a mattress to my left. I set him down and turn to leave.

"COMING THROUGH!" Peggy bursts in with some soldier who has white wings. I vaguely remember him to belong to my side of the army. "Lizzy, I don't know if this dude can make it, be quick!" She quickly lays him down on the mattress next to Thomas's, and all three sisters avert their attention to him. I decide that this may be the right moment to leave. I don't want to get in the way of the professionals. I leave the tent and spread my wings, ready to enter battle again. I land in the middle of the field and with a heavy heart, I realise we're losing. How? We outnumber them! ...don't we?

"My side, attack!" I holler, taking my daggers out of their scabbards. I lift them up in what I think is a rallying pose. My side lets out a war cry and rushes back in, determined to turn this fight around. I grin and holler while running with them. We can still win this! If we just believe!

Time skip

"Herc, we can't win this," I turn to Lafayette with an incredulous expression on my face.

"WHAT? Of course we can! We just have to keep fighting! We've already gotten so many of them!" I say, hitting a Human with the butt of my dagger.

"And they've injured so many of us!" Lafayette points out, stabbing the Human. My eyebrows furrow as I growl angrily.

"Agh, that what do you expect us to do, fly away!?"

"Oui!"

"But this is our home, Laf! We can't just leave!" We're shouting at each other. In the middle of a battle. He doesn't get it though, this is where WE started, this is where we've stayed, this is our home with all of our friends, all of our allies.

"Hercules, if we get captured, the town near us, Wolfpine, which we're protecting and where almost all of our soldiers come from, will be defenseless. We must retreat to them until we can launch a counter attack," Lafayette says sternly. I scowl. He's right. Of course he's right.

"Okay, you're right, you're right. What's the plan, Mister Laffy Taffy?" I grin, trying to put my disappointment away. Lafayette beams and he lifts his wings and flies up, while I follow him.

"Gather some of your soldiers and head to the medics tent, the Schuyler sisters will need some help carrying the injured to Wolfpine," Lafayette instructs. "I'll lead the others through the forest, going in a roundabout way so the Humans won't be able to pinpoint where we're going."

"Or, you could go up into the clouds. It's a particularly cloudy day today," I suggest. Lafayette dark brown eyes gleam. We talk through the plan a little more before we agree on the final thing.

"Perfect plan, Herc! Merci!" And with that, Lafayette swoops down to tell the others. As they all stop fighting to follow Lafayette, I stop by to get some friends.

"Hey! I need some people to follow me!" I wave my arms and some soldiers come towards me. Suddenly, down below a person catches my eye. James! Of course, he can't fly. Carl, who had come to Herc's aid, is conveniently next to me. "Carl, go grab James, and follow Laf," I order, and he lets out a grief-filled sigh before going down to get him. He must be worried about Paul. "Okay everyone, follow me!" I lead them to the medics tent, where the sisters are just as busy as they were when I last was here. "Take one injured person then go up into the clouds! Lafayette will be waiting up there," I order.

"Yes, sir!" Echoes of that come from them all as they rush around to their friends to take them to safety. I smile contentedly until I see John. My eyes widen and the smile is wiped off my face. He's been knocked out, with a myriad of cuts and bruises scattered around his body. A soldier with black wings walks up to take him but I beat him to it.

"I'll take John. What's your name?" I ask him while picking up John.

"Acer," Acer says with a scowl. He has slick black hair and blue eyes. I see him look at an injured soldier, the one I saw earlier who had white wings. He's already been picked up by another guy who's looking terribly sad.

"Your friend?" I gesture as best I can.

"Best friend. I let his brother take him, though," Acer says, shifting his stance. "So, who can I take instead?" I look around the room to see Thomas still there.

"You can take Thomas. Thanks, Acer!" I reply cheerfully, trying to make him just a little bit happier. However, the scowl on his face deepens as he trudges over to get Thomas. The soldiers have started to leave the tent to go and meet Laf. The Schuyler sisters are gathering herbs and medicines to bring along so I wait for them patiently.

They grab everything -having three medics does have it's advantages- and we leave. Laffy Taffy is still waiting above the clouds with the rest of our soldiers, and he perks up when he sees me.

"Wonderful! Let's go then, Base 1776, to Wolfpine. Once we get there, we're going to have to make a new medic tent, so if you have someone with you please help out with that. If you don't then go home to rest. I'll give further instructions when we get there. Now, let's go!" And with that final order, we fly away from the battle, away from our home. I hear Humans cheering, knowing that they have won. Gosh, I still think we could've won. We killed more of them then they did of us. Maybe they did outnumber us.

(1515 words)