"Keith, I have something for you to do. Come here," Lady Fidelma said as she sat down. He quickly walked over to her and bowed. 

"Yes, mi Lady?" He asked as he began to stand up straight once more. 

"I want you to lead squadron L and conquer the Kingdom west of ours," she told him. Dermott handed him some papers and a couple of letters and read through them. "It's been a while since I sent you out." He nodded in agreement. 

"Mi Lady, when do you want to leave?" He asked. She pondered the question before telling him tomorrow. Keith left the room and gathered the troops up to tell them. They were all inspected and given instructions before Keith returned to his room in the base. He made sure that all of his belongings were prepared before reading over the documents. Afterwards he went to sleep.

When he woke, he cleaned himself up and put on his armor. It started with all black clothing underneath the actual armor. Keith added the padding needed to protect his head from any blunt forces. After that he added a set of shoulder pads and knee pads making sure they were secure. He put on the rest of his armor only not wearing his helmet. Keith then picked up the shield in its case and attached it to his back along with two swords. After that he placed his cape over his shoulders, which was the standard military style uniform. Lastly, he strapped a quiver full of arrows to his waist. Finally, Keith mounted his horse and followed orders. 

When he arrived outside the castle walls, he turned his horse around in front of a crowd. Keith had no idea how many people he could actually count as his army. When the soldiers saw who it was, they immediately lowered their heads and began to bow. Keith kept his sword at the ready. After everyone had stopped bowing Keith gave the command. All of the soldiers lifted their heads back up and yelled: 

"Halt!" Keith slowly moved his right hand slightly to show they should stop moving forward while keeping his left hand tightly holding onto his sword. Once he stopped everyone immediately stopped. Keith looked out at his army who was waiting patiently for him to tell them what to do next. He looked ahead of his army and found that it extended for miles beyond the horizon. He looked behind him and spotted hundreds if not thousands of others all trying to see what he was seeing. Keith took a deep breath before speaking again. 

"Listen up! You are going to be led to the south where the battle is taking place,” Keith pointed to the north, “From there you are going to march to the west until we reach a point where we turn southwest to go directly to our final destination.” Once Keith explained their task to his men, he motioned for them to head on towards the west. As the first group began to move Keith turned around to face his own troops once more. The troops called out the old song they had learned for marching to battle back in their training camp with Keith leading it. The men cheered for their commander as the group began to move away. As Keith watched the soldiers disappear into the distance, Keith felt a sense of dread rise in his stomach. This whole plan feels wrong...but at least it isn't the first one that I've ever executed. 

He could have done this mission by himself, and he knew it too. But the queen demanded that Keith lead her armies, so it seemed that he was stuck with doing things that way. Still, it still felt wrong. Soon enough it got dark so Keith decided it would be best for them to rest now. He stopped his horses and commanded his men to stop once more. Livington grabbed his tarp out of his backpack along with some steel poles he'd tied down. The last thing he grabbed out of his supplies was his light cotton blanket. He instructed the men to prepare food for the night. High in protein and carbs for fuel for the next day. Most if not all of the soldiers in his newfound squad respected him for being the "Angel of Death" and so they made sure he got his first though he did try to refuse they were insistent about it. 

Livington pulled out his knife and cut some of the wood from the woodpile he was currently using as firewood. Walking to the side of the camp he cut off small pieces and threw them in his fire pit. Once everything was lit and he blew on it, he turned around to see what the other soldier's thoughts were. All he saw was half eaten meat scraps and a few pieces of fruit. He chuckled lightly at them. He looked around at them to see what they had to say and when he looked back, he saw one of the men staring at him. The men in his squad looked at each other before turning back to Livington and looking at him with awe. Livington laughed and shook his head. He turned around so his face could be seen from his soldiers. He waited for them to finish looking at him before speaking. 

"Alright boys that’s enough for tonight. Time for you guys to settle down," He stated. "We'll get going again tomorrow. Get enough rest to carry on tomorrow." Once they all went to their respective places around the campsite, Livington got undressed for bed.

After crawling into his sleeping bag, he closed his eyes to sleep. When he did, he heard a sound. A noise coming from the trees. Then he heard something else. Something that sounded like a whimper of pain coming from the forest. Looking around to make sure nobody was nearby, Livington walked quietly towards it. As he got closer to the sounds, Livington came across someone collapsed in the middle of a clearing. Livington couldn't believe his eyes. It was a boy about his age lying on the ground. The boy had long, brown hair that covered his eyes. It wasn't the first time that Livington had seen a kid unconscious, so it didn't really surprise him but something about this boy struck different than any normal kid he'd seen. Something about this boy reminded him of the boy on the beach when he lost the girl in red. The boy shifted around causing Livington to take a step back. 

"Hey buddy, are you okay? Can you hear me?" Livington asked softly. The boy suddenly jerked upright and stared at the man in front of him. His blue eyes stared straight at the man in front of him while his brown eyes were wide open. He gasped loudly and pushed Livington backwards. Livington just stood there in shock at the weak shove he received.  

"My name is Lance... Lance McClain. Where are the others? Did the Queen come here?" He continued to speak. Suddenly a smile grew on his face. The boy seemed confused as to where he was but was willing enough to cooperate. Lance's eyes adjusted and he began studying Keith's face before he smirked. "Is your name perhaps Keith Livington?" The boy asked with the same smirk on his face.  

"Yes, why does that mat-" Before he finished his question, he realized the plan that was about to unfold here. 

It was an ambush. He had to admit it almost worked. Keith barely caught the boy's arm going up in a signal. Quickly he grabbed him and stopped it. 

"You've got some nerve coming here all by yourself," Keith had the boy pinned down. Lance's arms now ached from the other's knees on them along with his sides which had the same knees digging into him. His head throbbed where he hit the hard branch below him. McClain let out a low grunt in pain. 

"I don't think your sister would appreciate you killing me," he said to Keith. That just made Livington angrier with the whole situation. 

"How do you know my sister?" He spat at Lance with a certain sourness that he swallowed before even trying to speak. McClain put the smirk back on his face. 

"I didn't think you cared about your little sister anymore after all you put her through. You've been such a jerk this whole time to her. It must be a busy job having to be the queen's guard dog. I bet you didn't even know she was a part of the Resistance you fight against all the time," he said, hoping that it would get some pressure off of him. It worked and for a split-second Keith loosened up his grip on him and that was all it took for Lance to switch the position they were in. He used every once in his being to free his arms and push Keith down. He was now straddling Keith's waist and sitting on his hands. Lance's hands were now on either side of Keith's head. 

"Damn it," Livington whispered under his breath. 

At that Lance began to chuckle. 

"I knew you cared about her, but I never thought it would make you that riled up," he said as he leaned in closer to him. Without missing a beat Keith head butted him in an attempt to disorient him. 

"You little, ugh, that hurt you know." There was a little blood running down both of their foreheads. McClain got closer to him anyway to the point where he could probably hear Keith's heartbeat. He could definitely feel it though. Even if it wasn't exactly appropriate the two of them both had to admit they thought each other was attractive. 

"Are there others here to ambush the rest of my crew?" Keith asked calmly despite whatever was happening. Lance rolled his eyes, 

"I wish. It's kind of nerve racking being sent up against the so called "Angel of Death" all by yourself." Lance thought about voicing his opinions regarding Keith's appearance but decided against it and would bring it up at a later time. 

That didn't stop him from thinking of another way for Keith to remember him though. He'd noticed that his shoulder was slightly sticking out from his shirt. 

"Close your eyes," he told him while making eye contact with him. He gave him a look of distrust. "Do you really think I could kill you even if I wanted to? Be honest with yourself here." With that Keith closed his eyes but they quickly opened in shock and his shoulders came off the ground when he felt Lance biting into his shoulder and sucking on that same spot. Keith was about to say something but was quieted by the man on top of him with a hand over his mouth. Instead, all that came out was a muffled protest which turned into a low groan when he was bit again in the same spot. It went on for what seemed to be hours even though it only lasted about a minute. Lance could feel Keith's heavy breathing against his hand. Once he finally finished his way of forcing Livington to remember him he sat up and removed his hand. 

"Now you remember me," he said with a smug grin on his face.  

Keith sat up right then and there, completely stunned, before shaking his head to try and clear the shock. 

"What were you playing at?" Keith spat harshly. "Don't play coy with me! What was the point?" 

Lance rolled his eyes, "Do you simply not listen. I did it for you to remember me by." Keith shoved him off of him roughly. 

"Ugh, where do you think you're going?" Livington said as he watched McClain stand up and began walking away back into the woods where he came from. 

"I'm just going to tell your sister that you're still properly functioning. I'll tell her you still care immensely for her I suppose. I hope to see you again soon "Angel of Death".

For a long moment Keith just sat in the dirt contemplating what just happened. After a couple minutes he decided to evaluate his shoulder where he was bitten. There was definitely a hickey there now. A few teeth marks as well were left alongside the purple mark. "Oh my god that is a large mark," Keith said before returning to his previous activities before this thing began. In the comfort of his own tent, he laid there staring at the blackness before allowing peaceful sleep to begin.