War carries a price that we must all pay, no

War's Price

~Day 1~
It was midday and it was already starting to get colder. A small battalion of 10 or so soldiers were gathered around a small campfire and spread out across the sparse terrain. The soldiers were tired and split off from the rest of their army, they where lost in unmaned territory. "Anything in the distance?" The squad leader called down the radio.
"Nothin' yet, sir" came the response from the sniper at the other end somewhere in a shell of a building.
"Good, dont want to be followed home"
The year was 2056 and the world had recently entered a third world war in a desperate attemp to gain dominance over the depleating oil reserves. This squad was part of the dex allied forces and were deep in unmaned territory in a desperate attempt to gain ground, but they were cut off from their army back in allied territories. A singular loud crack rang out across the area. "What was that?!" The squad captain yelled down his mic at the sniper. No answer. "Fuck, where are they."
Another crack and he fell down dead. More cracks ring out now and their locations seem to be numerous, and the sodiers bodies keep dropping. One made a break for a car and manages to escape the clearing. A thunderous metalic crack rings out, much louder than the others.
"Escapee neutrallized." came down the radio of the attacking squads.
"Good" came the reply. "They were too close to our territory" to the others "We're moving on to a suitable place to make camp, clean up and get out."
The sniper stood, dismantled his weapon and stroed it away in the boxes beside him and handed two of them to his two spotters.
"Quick and clean. Just like always." the first one chimed.
"its nothing to be proud of" the sniper retorted.
"It was them or us, Di" the second spotter said as he took the case "If they saw us they wold have reported it to their higherups at first opportunity or simply gunned us down from afar. Let's head back, its getting late and ther's alot of walking to do."
-10 hours later-
The night grew colder and darker and the weary soldiers of the Nil allieance, spread out to either huddle around the bonfire in the centre or retire to their tents for the night. Three of these soldiers that sat around the fire are the ones our story is about. They are:
Diamond Shard, a 5'11'' white and blue tiger with natural light blue stripes running down his slender body and blue pads. He has a striped tail right where it should be with a blue tip. On his right ear is a small metal plate wraped around the edge of his ear depicting two hearts joined at the bottom. he has to dee blue eyes like saphires sitting in his head. His left ear is completely white whilst his right ear is light blue. his long hair is well kept and the same colour as his stripes.
Cinder Dust, a 6'7'' tall wolf with midnight black fur all over his body, he has a somewhat muscular build. He has a soft fluffy tail, and no peircings. he has deep green eyes. he has a well maintained head of hair the same colour as his fur.
Citra, a 6'7'' tall orange shark lynx cross, with blue stripes running dor her back from the fin on her back along her tail. the tips of her fins have a white stripe with a blue tip. her pad are blue and her eyes pink. she has long purple hair falling past her shoulders, and two metal stud peircings in her left ear next to one another.
They are all part of the same squad, Diamond is a sniper whilst Cinder and citra are his spotters. as they sit trying to get warm Cinder speaks up and states that hes headed to bed first, Diamond pirks up and says he is too, and walks after cinder.
I geuss should explain the sleeping arrangements, each squad is assigned a tent to sleep in, and as such, cinder diamon and citra all share a tent together.
when Cinder and Diamond got to their tent, Diamond walked over to his bed and started to strip his his clothes off and slip into something more comfortable, as he was doing this Cinder closed the door flap to give them privacy and proceded to do the smae as Diamond. once they were both comfortably dressed cinder walked over to diamond and sat on his bed with him. "I'm so glad were finally alone" Diamond said as he rested his head on cinders shoulder "I love Citra, but she just cant take the hint sometimes"
"I know what you mean" cinder rumbled as he layed down on Diamonds bed pulling him close into a cuddle.
"I miss doing this with you" Diamond said, face nuzzled into Cinders chest "the war makes it so hard for us sometimes"
"we've just got to put up with it for now"
"I know but, cant we just elope or something?"
"Di you know I love you, but we cant just do that, we have a duty to our country"
"but out here we cant expresse our love openly, all these muscle head grunts are so close minded"'
"they cant help it Di, they were raised to be that way, we can only hope that they learn to be more accepting"
"how long will that take?"
"I dont know"
*sigh* "I geuss ill just have to make do with this then"
"make do?" cinder asks with a raised eyebrow
"thats not what I mean, and you know it" I just... I just wish we had more time alone together to... you know." diamond mubles the end face flushed
"I know, and I miss doing that too, but to be honest im just happy to beable to hold you in my arms like this" Cinder kisses diamond on his head to emphasise his point
"I love you" diamond says as he lifts his head up to plant a passionate kiss on cinders lips
-citra, back at the bonfire- *sigh* "geuss I should head back too then" citra mumbled to herself, then jups up and walks to the tent in the back. "huh, thats weird, why would they close the flaps"
just as she was about to pull the flaps open she hears diamons voice from inside
"ive missed doing this with you"
"missed what" citra quietly thought to herself as she pulled the flaps open slightly so that she could see whilst rested against the dorpost,. she inhales sharply as she sees her two squadmates cuddled up on the bed. "what are they doing" she thinks as they continue to convers, apparently oblivious to her presesnce at the door. " I geuss it woulddnt hurt if I just listened in to see what theyre up to"
-Cinder and Diamond- "God that was a great kiss" cinder said as he recovered from the surprise kiss. "i'd almost forgotten how you kisses tasted"
"mmm" diamond hummed, seemingly satisfied.
A loud crash at the door snapped them both back to reality as their eyes darted to a perculier image of citra sitting on the ground at the door rubbing her face.
"just how much did you hear, citra" cinder asked, voice full of concern.
"I heard and saw everything from when shard said 'I've missed doing this with you'"
"oh god" diamond exclaimed, begining to panic at the thought of his bestfriend now hating him
"listen guys, I dont care that you're gay, or that you're together" citra said in an attempt to calm the now hysterical tiger sat on the bed infront of her
"Really?" diamond said between tears
"yes really, now will you stop crying, the worlds not gonna end just cause I saw you snog your boyfriend."
"geuss not," Cinder chuckled awkwardly. "I hope you understand why we're keeping this a secret"
"of course, those musclheads have no compassion"
"You're the best friend I have citra, and I wanted to tell you, but I just couldn't stand the thought of you hating me" Diamond said
"Itll take alot more than seeing you kiss you boyfriend to make me hate you"
"I geuss we should be getting to bed now" cinder said as he starts to get up
"do you have to sleep in a seperrate bed, I hate leeping alone" diamond says after him
"citra might not be comfortable with that" cinder explains
"I dont mind" citra slips in. "infact I encourage it. I've seen the way he looks at you, Cinder, you make him happy, he's my friendand his happines is important to me."
Diamond looks eagerly at cinder as he makes his way back to his feline lovers bed to sleep for the night. citra bids the happy couple goodnight as she clambers into her own bed, and they all switch off the lights as they go to sleep in preparation for another day on the battlefield.