"Major", she was still mulling over the map of the area when a soldier barged in. She didn't like the intrusion. For her, maps were hard enough to read on their own, a disturbance like this was absolutely unwelcomed.

"What do you want, soldier?", she suppressed her annoyance.

"You've got a call, sir", he answered before hurrying outside.

She sighed. That map was definitely not helping her, she rolled it aside and headed outside. The chilly winds hit her face, she knew it was going to snow.

"Major!", she hadn't reached the telephone yet.

"What's the matter?", the whole camp was in a hassle, she looked around confused.

"Central says they can't send rations. The whole pass is blocked. There's been an avalanche and the signal's lost. We can't get through", she read the worry, the informant wore on his face.

She silently went back to her bunker. She walked to and fro, trying to figure things out.

"Send the Captain", she instructed a soldier.

Soon, a tall young man walked inside.

"Major."

"Yuri, we have a problem. Comms are down. We are not getting rations. Winter is out of the question. We can't stay here any longer."

The young Captain looked at her sternly.

"There's nowhere to go", he answered.

"Yuri!", another man followed inside.

He had the same deep blue eyes as the Captain and the same dark hair too. His features were similar but softer.

"Not now, Iori", Yuri answered.

"Oi, don't push me aside", he resisted, "Major, we'll be fighting tonight as well. Shouldn't you issue orders?"

"Its not favorable at a time like this, Lieutenant", she answered.

"We should return", Iori proposed, "We still have time. After tonight, we should return. There's no point fighting anymore. The pass won't be closed yet, there's not been any snow yet. But come winter, we'll be imprisoned. If we survive tonight, that would be the best course of action. We still have enough rations for the way back, don't we? We'll make do."

"Oi!", Yuri tried to stop him, "Turn tail on the enemy and run? That's not a soldier's way."

"No", she interrupted, "Iori's right. Reinforcements will join us this evening. They'd already made through the pass, last I heard. They'll have some ration on them. We'll travel back with them come morning. We don't have enough ammunition to last the winter anyway."

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"Major", Yuri wasn't happy, "You can't fail the mission. There's already too many dead."

A long silence ensued.

"Yuri, we can't let more people die either. This mission...was a failure from the beginning."

"Why? What do you mean?"

"We can't get the North back. Mercae has lost here. We were their last shot. We did our best. But it wasn't enough. We've lost this front. Its time to go home."

"Yuri, let's go home", Iori placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, "You can tag along too, Major. Its all cows and goats though, I warn you."

"How I'd love that!", she smiled.

Yuri tried too.

***************

"Yuri and I will go ahead. Soon as the re-enforcements arrive, Iori will join us with the remaining men. There's not a lot left of the company but we need to be smart making our moves. Iori, the first thing we'll need is ammunition. Make that your priority. We'll be counting on you, you hear?"

"You're leaving me behind again?"

"This is the last push, don't be like that now", Yuri muffled his hair before heading on to meet with some soldiers.

"Come on, it doesn't matter. He doesn't think you're a kid. This isn't about your brother, alright. Its just the hierarchy. If things go alright, we won't have a lot to worry about", she comforted him.

Iori looked glum, "Major, could you...promise me something?"

"...?"

"Please look after him. Just this once, let it be alright", he was more concerned than she'd imagined.

"I will", she patted his shoulder.

**************

The night marked the last night of fall. Some say, fall left through the North that year. The battlefield saw the hell it had never before seen. It was called the "Bloody Fall".

Reinforcements never arrived. Mercae's men were killed like pigs. They had no means to resist, nowhere to hide. The plans were a failure.

She saw hell break lose right in front of her. All her strategies had failed. No help came. Ranks meant nothing anymore. They were fighting for their lives. In the midst of that blood soaked battlefield, she saw Yuri. He wasn't in his right mind anymore.

"Yuri!", she called for him, at the top of her voice.

He was walking aimlessly against the hellfire.

"Yuri!", she followed him, pushing through all her soldiers, "Come back, Captain! Yuri!"

She finally grabbed hold of him, pushing him to the ground.

"Yuri! What are you doing?"

"Major, they're...", he was delirious, "All of them...we're all dead."

Even someone with as strong a constitution as him had broken down in face of such a terror. She knew there was no bringing him back but she grabbed him and dragged him out of the gunfire. She had to get him away from all this.

He resisted, breaking lose and dashing forward.

"Yuri!", she followed him but he was gone way too far.

She saw his body getting riddled by a dozen bullets. He embraced each and every one of them with a smile on his face.

"Yuri!", she saw him falling to the ground among a horde of men getting slaughtered just the same.

Yuri turned his head towards her as his last effort. His intense gaze and determined deep blue eyes said it all.

"I'm leaving it all in your hands."

So that's it, she thought. This was no place for a major to die. Yuri had sealed her fate before he left.

She stood up and turned her back to that front. And she didn't look back until the sound of guns was no more and the sun was making her blood glow. She was the only one that made it out.

The records showed no survivors, she had died in that field alongside Yuri too. And so, she was a dead person walking now. She thought of Iori. There was no sign of him. When the reinforcement didn't show up, the remaining men led by Iori had joined the battle. They met the same fate.

She sat against a pine tree in the woods, nursing her wounds as her breathe turned to smoke. She looked up at the white sky. The first snow of the winter showed up to warm her feet.