A few hours had passed since the 'The Attack of Agnes Outpost', and it was now evening. Limp bodies of dead soldiers lay on the ground. Both Quadarics and Sha'rians. Their blood, guts, and organs mixed in with the sand. Pieces of brain matter were splattered all over the place. Pieces of teeth scattered. It was a bloodbath. They had failed to hold the outpost. Frank, Lt. Ferguson, and most of the '240th Sha'ri Heavy Armoured Infantry Brigade'(as some had managed to retreat in time) were now POWs. They all looked tired and miserable. They were ashamed of themselves. Frank was furious. He wanted to free the rest of the soldiers but he'd have to wait for the right moment to strike. They were taken into trucks by the enemies and taken far away to a POW camp. They travelled and travelled and travelled until the unbearable heat of the Sha'ri Desert had turned into the muddy plains that were the frontlines. Fields of dead bodies could be seen. They had been travelling for quite a long time. Frank couldn't remember the last time there was any sand. He was too ashamed. His emotions overwhelmed him from all logical thinking. It was raining. The lighting was as fast as the thunder. It struck near the convoy. The lead vehicle caught a landmine and exploded. Just like back in Umbarken. Frank enjoyed every last bit of their suffering. Little did he know that the others weren't enjoying it as the more the convoy slowed down, the longer their journey lasted and so was their suffering. It was too nerve-wracking. Although, most of them had accepted their fate. Frank didn't. A fire in him grew more and more as his hate for the enemies grew.

Hours had passed, yet, they still hadn't arrived at the POW camps. The Sha'rian soldiers that had captured Frank and the rest of their company were planning to leave the moment they arrived at the borders of the Sha'ri desert but they decided to come along and visit some other foreign land. The Sha'rian soldiers wanted to meet up with the Juevian soldiers. Perhaps for personal reasons? Frank waited impatiently. He couldn't just jump out of the truck and run! The enemies would capture him immediately. Something abnormally lucky had to happen. And that would come in the form of a friendly ambush. As the convoy of POWs drove onward, the front truck was shot by a Rocket Propelled Grenade(RPG). The truck exploded into flames. The rest of the convoy stopped. The Sha'rian soldiers came out first but the moment they came out of their armoured trucks, they were shot up. 4 Sha'rian soldiers dead. Then, the rest of the convoy started to reverse but then the truck at the back was destroyed. The shrapnel from the explosion killed some of the POWs.

"What are our troops doing!", Frank thought angrily.

"They are killing us!"

Frank was right.

The Quadaric troops that were doing this ambush were sacrificing the POWs "for the greater good" but it was a ludicrous plan! No POW should ever be killed in the process of rescue. This was insane! Unluckily for Frank, he wasn't able to escape in time as the Alaric troops came out and launched a counter-offensive to the ambush and won. Some POWs escaped and while some survived, many others didn't. Frank was infuriated at the incompetency of the Quadaric troops. They were pathetic! This was not what he thought of the Q.A.F soldiers! They were meant to be brave war heroes! Not foolish bastards! This shattered Frank's view of the Quadaric troops.

"We are as stupid as the enemy!", Frank thought.

He couldn't handle it anymore. His barrier of ignorance had just been shattered and he couldn't accept it. The relentless ignorance of Frank was superb, to say the least. He was so clouded with misinformation and propaganda that he wasn't able to see the full picture. He had lived behind a wall that blocked all the sunlight. Now the sunlight had shone bright through the cracks of the wall. He was angry at the soldiers.

"We were meant to be faithful, invincible, and strong soldiers!", he thought while tearing up.

They were not.

"We were meant to be well-trained and well-equipped soldiers. No a disgrace to our nation..."

Once the ambush had gone awry. The convoy moved on from the embarrassing display by the Quadaric soldiers. Frank felt second-hand embarrassment. He couldn't believe what had just happened. It was shameful. He didn't understand.

"Why did we lose?", was a thought that lingered on in his head for a long time along the journey.

The convoy crossed puddles of mud and craters from bombs. The truck Frank and some other soldiers were in, rocked at the poorly disfigured terrain. The roads were too dangerous so the convoy went off track and drove on the sandy surface. The sandy surface turned into the rocky, grassy terrain of life. They had travelled so far that they were now in the grassland biomes. It was a much nicer experience now.

Once they arrived at the POW camp, after a few more minutes, the POWs were horrified and disgusted at the sight of the POW camps. They now feared the enemies who used to fear them. No longer were they the fierce fighters in scary uniforms and armour. No longer were they the once so-called 'Brave Rookies' company. No. They were now prisoners of war. A pathetic, cowering display that put their nations to shame. It felt horrible. The life in the camp was terrible. Low hygiene, low on food, and broken, dirty, wooden shelter. The camp had wooden fences for protection. It was not properly cleaned. Although it had many soldiers guarding it. They were mainly Alaric. Frank couldn't blame it on them though. It was technically their fault that the state of enemy POW camps had become like this. The Q.A.F had been intentionally attacking supply lines that led to the POW camps. They thought it'd lower the defences of the camps so they could successfully rescue their soldiers but instead, it only made the lives of the POWs even worse. Frank was surprised the Aalric soldiers even cared for their well-being as they tried their best to make the conditions better. This was when Frank started to realise that the enemies weren't the once evil fools they thought them to be. But instead, they were pretty much the same them. This revelation hit Frank like a truck. He couldn't believe it! All this time he thought of the enemies as ruthless killers but ultimately they were all the same. He knew the Q.A.F had been using propaganda to make citizens enlist more but he didn't expect it to go this far! Frank now felt awful. He felt sympathy for the enemy which he never has. He realised that he'd been the ruthless killer all along. They were showing no mercy to the enemy. The fire that once grew his hatred for the enemy soldiers now had burned out. He would notice more and more of this as he spent longer in the POW camps. The entirety of the '526th Armored Infantry Desert Corps' was wiped out before they even arrived.

The transport spaceship that the '526th Armored Infantry Desert Corps' were in had been blown up into mush. This was confusing as the travel route was meant to be as safe and secretive as possible so you can imagine the sheer panic that came over to the higher-ups AKA the commanding officers of the entire campaign. They ordered an immediate retreat to all troops in the Sha'ri Desert and immediate inspections of their troops and lockdowns in the borders of Sha'ri began. That part didn't work as planned as Sha'rian resistance fighters kept pushing them back. There used to be two governments that ruled the Sha’ri desert. There were two types of Sha’rians, the Juevians and the Betruvians. They were some of the first nations to revolt against the I.F.Q.S. The high command was in shambles. The enemies must've gotten classified, secretive information about the operation. Some say spies caused it. Some say it was simply just an accident. Some even say it was an inside job! Either way, it was a massive disaster for the Q.A.F. The I.F.Q.S covered it up framing the whole thing as a tactical manoeuvre and that their troops hadn't lost! That was a blatant lie but the Quadaric populace didn't know any better so they believed in the lies. They too were clouded by the facade that the I.F.Q.S had put up. An unfortunate reality that they were cluelessly in. The propaganda wasn't visible to the naked eye.

Days had passed yet no one had come to rescue the POWs from the camps. Frank felt lost in his thoughts slowly being driven to insanity. He feared that the guard might suddenly beat him up. He especially feared the interrogation room. Every day, the guards would acquire a Quadaric high-ranking and take them in to interrogate. There were rumours that the way they were interrogated was using psychological warfare. Striking when you were at your lowest. Breaking you down until you finally broke and that the living conditions were intentional. Frank couldn't tell if this was coping coming from the Quadaric POWs or if they were legitimate. Either way, Frank gave them the benefit of the doubt and feared the room. Little did Frank know that this was exactly how THEY treated POWs too. Just as horrid and inhumane. The other POWs in the camp were suffering the same fate as Frank. Paranoid in fear of death. Most of them were Quadaric troops but some of them came from other backgrounds. But one thing was for sure, they moreover blamed the Q.A.F's horrendous tactics and lack of sympathy for their suffering. There was one POW that was nice to him. His name a Friedrich Jauqer. They became close friend helping each other out in times when they needed each other. But one day, Friedrich disappeared. The guards searched for him everywhere but they still didn't find him so they sent a small search party to recapture the POW. Frank was saddened by this. Friedrich was a good man. He had never done anything cruel in his life. He wasn't even a soldier! It was then that Frank realised the true cruelty and unfairness of the world. No one good or bad could escape from its grasp. Day by day more and more POWs went missing. Until they finally found out the reason why. It was cannibalism. Some of the POWs had resorted to eating other POWs to maintain their hunger due to lack of sufficient food. Now most of the POWs were paranoid. Trying to stay away from each other fearing that they'll become the next victim. Frank knew that if things continued like this, he'd never be able to survive.

"Why did the Q.A.F have to sabotage the supply line!?", Frank said cryingly.

He didn't want to live out like this anymore. He hated it!

"I joined the Q.A.F to be a war hero! Not a prisoner of war!", Frank cried out.

"I-I didn't expect this. Why does the world have to be cruel!"

Frank was frustrated at the world but he was more so angry with the Q.A.F. All the sick lies they told the public. He didn't want more people to enlist anymore. Knowing that they might meet an even unluckier fate. He wanted the war to stop already. He felt as if he had done the work of the devil.

It was 6 in the morning, Frank was daydreaming about Amelia wondering what she looked like under her helmet. On 'Eulero 43Z', a day was 27 Earth hours. Although Frank had already lost count. He felt lost as he didn't know what his feelings towards Amelia were. He didn't even know what he was doing! Did he love her or not!? He always felt neutral towards her so that can't be it... or can it? Frank then quickly changed his thoughts to his wife, Samantha in their warm and cosy house and his adorable kids. Tears poured out of his eyes. He missed them. But all of a sudden Frank was snapped back to reality to realise that yes he was still in the POW camp.

"Frank get back to your senses!", Col. Alberton yelled.

"Wha-What! Oh...", Frank replied in a panic.

"Let go get our breakfast before the others do.", Col. Alberton told him.

Frank quickly stood up and went to get their food with Col. Alberton. After they'd gotten their food from the cook, they sat down in their cell/chamber that was mostly made from scrap and didn't have any roof even the walls weren't built properly so it was see-through as there were cracks. But either way, Frank and Ferguson started eating and something came across Frank's mind.

"Sir, may I ask you something?", Frank asked.

"Sure, what is it?", Alberton responded.

"Why did you remind me of all the company's soldiers?", Frank whispered.

Alberton stopped eating for a few moments and then replied.

"Because I wanted to."

Frank was confused by this but shrugged it off.

"Besides, you're glad you were woken up to eat early, aren't you? Otherwise, you might not even be eating right now!", Alberton added.

"Yeah... I guess", Frank muttered.

Frank envied Col. Alberton as he was living luxuriously on the frontlines but now he was a mere POW.

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"You know... when I was a soldier just like you, I was betrayed by one of the other soldiers," Col. Alberton spoke.

"It was my friend. He told the mission plans and attack plans to the enemy and our entire operation became an absolute disaster."

"It turns out he was a spy. We were on a mission behind enemy lines. We had to sabotage the weapons depot. It was precarious. One small mistake and the entire operation would be foiled. I never forgot about it to this day. The deaths of my comrades, their faces torn to bits due to the explosions. It seemed that I was screwed but they captured me instead of killing me right then and there, although I wished they would've so that I don't have to live with the burden of guilt."

Frank was surprised to hear Alberton tell all that. Then Frank started thinking about Josh and the similarities between Lt. Ferguson's story to his friend. Frank now worried that Josh might've turned into a spy after getting captured. He didn't want that. Then he started thinking about Amelia. Hoping and wishing the best for her. He felt bad that he never even properly introduced himself to her. He was disappointed in himself. Perhaps he could still be with her today if he'd managed to warn about the convoy faster. It was a stupid little mistake that had cost many soldiers' lives.

"I wonder what the other soldiers would think if they found out that I was the reason they were captured", Frank spoke nervously.

"If only I could've warned them faster..." Frank mumbled.

"Oh, stop thinking about that already! Even if you'd managed to, the convoy would've chased us 'til we couldn't retreat anymore. We'd still put our nations to shame and it would still make the Q.A.F look bad." Alberton explained.

Frank was disgusted after hearing that as he's gotten sick of hearing praises about the Q.A.F being so good at defending against those "filthy animals" that the enemies supposedly were.

"Casualties were inevitable, Frank.", Alberton added.

"Look. How about we try our best to live out our lives even if we're in an enemy POW camp? It's better than being depressed and miserable all the time."

Frank took a minute to let that sink in. Then Frank realised.

"Wait why am I profusely thinking and wishing the best for Amelia? I-I'm married! I have a wife and kids! How can I think of such perversion!", Frank thought worriedly.

He realised what this meant and felt ashamed for thinking about another female while he was away from his family. He didn't want to cheat on his wife. It felt wrong, perverted, and all in all, weird. He felt like a weirdo. Besides, Amelia could have been underaged and that would make him a paedophile! Frank now feels conflicted about his feelings towards Amelia. On the one hand, she's a very good friend while on the other, she was tearing apart his family. What kind of situation has Frank gotten himself into? A love triangle perhaps?

After they finished eating they went to join with the others. When Frank came to join his company or at least what was left of them had weird looks towards him. He figured that it was because he and Ferguson ate earlier than everyone else but one of the POWs yelled something rather familiar.

"If only you'd warned us earlier!"

Frank was shocked to hear this and was now mad at Ferguson thinking that he had gossiped. Frank went to confront Ferguson. Frank was furious. He felt betrayed.

"Why did you talk about it knowing that they would hate me for life if they found out!?", Frank yelled.

"Gossip about wha-", Ferguson was interrupted.

"You're always living in luxury! Not giving a care about your troops! You know what! You are just like your friend! A traitor! You're no different! You're no different from those cannibals! You-", Frank was briefly cut short after Ferguson punched him in the stomach. Frank fell to the ground, grunting in pain. Alberton looked pissed.

"Don't you ever bring up that traitor! He's different from me. He's not a human but a lying rat! So don't you dare compare me to that sub-human, soldier," Alberton said angrily.

Frank, trying to get back up, realised that he had messed up and now feared that Alberton was going to beat him up to a pulp.

"Anyway, I didn't gossip about it. I'm not even the type of person to do that. Someone probably eavesdropped on our conversation so don't come yelling at me about that again, got it?"

After that, Frank got up and went away to sit in a corner. His stomach still hurting and in pain. He was once again ashamed of himself. In a fit of rage, he had lashed out at his commanding officer. It was embarrassing for him. Due to his foolishness and stupidity, he had now crossed Col. Alberton for no reason whatsoever. Frank started getting lost in his thoughts again. Thinking and thinking for eternity until eventually he completely loses grip on reality and goes insane. He was a failure. Pathetic. Frank heard voices in his head calling him out for his actions. Hallucinations would appear now and then to remind him of the pathetic cowering man that he was. Luckily for him though, he and the rest were going to be rescued much earlier than they would've expected. Ferguson was an intelligent and strong man who had lots of respect from his troops and led many successful missions. It seems that Frank had crossed the line by insulting him in front of others. Putting all his life's worth to shame.

The next day, Frank was walking around when he decided to apologize to Alberton.

"Sir, I apologize for what happened yesterday—" Frank stopped himself.

"No,"

"I apologize for MY actions yesterday."

"It was just that I wasn't in the right mood and when I started getting called out I got mad and lashed out on you... I truly am sorry. I should've known better."

There was an awkward silence until Alberton spoke up.

"Don't worry. I've been in your situation before. Lashing out at anyone that I could blame so I don't necessarily blame you for it. I understand you."

While the two commemorated and agreed, the air raid sirens blared. All the POWs were in a state of panic now. Then, explosions and gunfire roared throughout the camp. It was then that Frank realised that they were going to be rescued! Jets flew at high speeds that broke the sound barrier shaking the ground and creating huge trails of dust, flying just high enough that they didn't touch the POW camp. Then... BOOM! A huge explosion shook the ground. Knocking everyone to the ground. Dust fired up into the air blinding everyone. The smell of blood, dirt, and faeces polluted the air, suffocating many POWs and enemy guards. It was madness!

"What kind of high-ranking officer would plan such a chaotic and deadly rescue mission!?", Frank thought to himself.

Well, Frank would soon find out who the mysterious but familiar mastermind behind this was.

A few minutes after the initial assault, the smoke died down and Frank saw bits and pieces of wood with flesh and guts mixed in a sick way. Soon, friendly soldiers overran the entire POW camp. Bullets whizzed passed Frank's ears and grenades exploded, temporarily deafening Frank's hearing. The smell of gunpowder became more noticeable as the battle became more brutal. Some of the POWs were taken away to a safer area, while Frank and the rest were given rifles to help in taking over the camp. Frank saw the enemy desperately trying to retreat but they had been surrounded. An enemy soldier soldier tried to stab Frank. Frank dodged and retaliated with a gut punch. The soldier fell to the ground. Frank aimed his gun to shoot but then something snapped inside of him. Instead of shooting immediately, he ordered the soldier to surrender and called for friendly troops to take the soldier in but the enemy soldier didn't give up so easily. He pushed Frank's gun, punched him in the face, and pinned him on the ground.

"I'm not going to surrender to a filthy animal like you!", the soldier yelled in an Alaric language.

Frank clearly didn't understand the soldier and tried his best to survive the fight.

"Screw you! I'm surviving this fight! No matter the cost!", Frank yelled.

The Alaric soldier then took a large chunk of shrapnel and swung it at Frank who was pinned down underneath. Frank blocked the attack but in doing so got his hand cut. He then grabbed a bunch of mud and swung it at the soldier's face. The soldier tried desperately to get rid of the mud from his visors but in that moment, Frank threw a hard punch at the soldier's face armour although it staggered the soldier quite a bit, it didn't do much else. Once the soldier backed off of him and stood up to refocus, Frank tried his best to crawl away but it was no use as the dizzied soldier walked towards him to finish him off. Then, the soldier pulled out a dagger and turned Frank's crawling body to face him. Then the soldier lifted the dagger into the air and stabbed Frank in the stomach, ripping through his uniform as the dagger went in deeper. Frank screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. Then the soldier wanted to stab Frank one final time so he grabbed Frank's body armour strap and held him against the ground to lock him in place. The soldier lifted the dagger once more and yelled in glory. As the soldier was about to stab Frank in the neck, a stray high-calibre bullet hit the soldier in the noggin and exploded his lower jaw. Blood splattered across Frank's face. Frank decided to follow his instincts and swiftly pulled the grenade pin of a grenade from the soldier's belt. Frank then tried to get back up but struggled to stand up again but he forced himself up and ran away as fast as he could. The soldier was still in shock and startled by what had just happened was paralysed and fell to the ground. Then soldier desperately tried to put the pin back in, then... the grenade went off. The face of the poor soldier was torn to shreds from the explosion. Frank was unfortunately hit by the shrapnels and the shockwave knocked him down to the ground hard. As his vision got blurrier, he could feel numbness in his body and then he passed out due to blood loss and concussion. When woke up, he realised the soldier's dead limp body was on top of him. Frank now shocked, and startled in horror by this, wanted to puke but he didn't have time to process it as he had to escape out of there so he regained his senses, pushed the soldier off of him, shoved him to the side, and got back up. Frank was too scared to even look at the soldier's dead body. When Frank finally stood up, he was baffled by the sight that he was witnessing. The camp was empty with no one anywhere in sight. He ran helplessly, yelling out with his voice reverberating. He limped his way through the gates of the camp, his stab wound getting worse in minutes but through all that pain he couldn't give up. Once outside the fences of the POW camp, he could hear the voices of people speaking in the distance but he couldn't tell if they were in his head or if they were real. Panicked thoughts ran through Frank's head. He didn't like any of them though. Then, he saw Quadaric soldiers busy rescuing the POWs! The assault had been successful! Frank smiled in joy, hysterically laughing. The Quadaric soldiers saw him in the distance and soon enough, he was rescued as well. Quadaric medics rushed to give him medical care and treated him. His left leg had been torn up. It was due to the grenade exploding. Frank was thankful he survived it until the end. It wasn't long until he was ordered to help out with the searches for any injured POWs still lost in the wreckage of the POW camp. It had taken some time to fully search the camp but in the end, they succeeded in saving other lost POWs just like Frank. A force of a thousand soldiers had come to save the POWs, a magnificent sight to say the least. They had planned everything out and rescued the POWs systematically. Despite that, there were still missing POWs who ran off into the woods. They were still being searched and progress was slow, unfortunately.

In the evening, Frank was helping out other POWs when a familiar but distant voice shouted in his ears. A soldier came running to him.

"Frank!", the soldier shouted.

Frank finally recognized the voice.

"Josh?", Frank muttered.

"Wait. Wait. Is that you Josh!?", Frank said in disbelief.

"It's me, Josh!", the soldier yelled again.

Frank was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe it!

"A-are my eyes deceiving me right now? Yeah, that must be it! I-it's just one of the hallucinations!", Frank said out loud in denial.

But it wasn't. Josh was there. Alive and well. Josh hugged Frank. They hadn't seen each other for 2 years at this point so they were more than glad that fate had made them meet again.

"J-Josh! Y-You're here! You're here!", Frank cried out.

"It's so good to see you again, Frank!", Josh said emotionally.

Frank shed a tear in delight and happiness. The two long-lost friends had reunited once at last. Now, it was only a matter of time until the world's cruelty divided them again.

After some time with Frank's reunion, Frank went on one of the VTOL(Vertical take-off and landing) aircraft along with his long-lost friend Josh and other POWs. The aircraft took off into the air and flew across the sky.

"Frank! How are you!? Are ya doin' good?", Josh curiously asked.

"I'm doing okay I guess...", Frank replied.

"Frank, what's wrong?", Josh asked.

"What's bothering you?"

Frank quietly thought to himself for a few moments before answering.

"I don't know. I don't know how to feel right now. I have mixed feelings about this. This is all too much for me! I-I-I don't know! I just don't know! A part of me wants to believe this was all in my head and it's all an illusion but I-", Frank was interrupted by Josh.

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. I know you've probably been suffering in that hellhole but you don't have to worry about that now. You've been saved and that's all you need to care about right now.", Josh reassured.

"Yeah...", Frank mumbled.

When the VTOL arrived at an airfield, it started descending. Once it landed, all the rescued POWs got out were immediately assessed and examined by medical professionals and were taken to a medical area for further medical treatment. Frank blurrily looked at Josh while getting taken away. Frank was given the needed treatment and rested in his medical bed until he was fine to go. And Frank, still yet not recovered, was horrified by what he'd gone through. Especially now that he's in a nice and peaceful place. There was a TV displaying a propaganda video. Something snapped inside of Frank. He grabbed the remote and forcefully switched the channel. It was clear Frank was fed up with all the lies and the facade of the I.F.Q.S being painted as the good guys.

"Lies. Lies! LIES!", Frank yelled.

A nurse barged into his room in a worry. Frank apologised for the yell and said that it was nothing to worry about. Frank felt disgusted having to lie about that. It seems that this would veer Frank towards a path he would've never imagined.