That last week flew by in an instant. And with each day that passed, Sungmi grew more and more apprehensive about what she was about to undertake. Although for now everything was fine and no one seemed to suspect a thing, would it be different once she was fighting? Only time would tell, really.

Sungsook had very strong medicinal herb knowledge, and so she had mixed Sungmi up a rather pungent herb mixture that should work to supress her menstrual cycle whilst she was serving. Both were quite sure that it wouldn’t be detrimental to Sungmi in the long-term, but the problem would be keeping it hidden. In the end, it was stored in a small vile with a rather thick stopper top. Sungmi just hoped that it would actually work.

“How do you feel?” Kyungsoo quietly asked her on the morning of their departure as their cabin packed up their rucksacks with trembling fingers and shaky breaths. Other than Kyungsoo’s words, everyone else had been deadly silent. None of them – not even Baekhyun – was going to make light of the situation that they were in.

Sungmi didn’t really know what to say. In all honesty, she felt awful. Absolutely awful. Her stomach was churning, her heart was racing, her head was spinning and her eyes were a little clouded. She wasn’t sure what the right word for all of that was, so she subtly shook her head, almost just letting it vibrate backwards and forwards. From the look on Kyungsoo’s face, he understood perfectly.

“Morning,” Captain Minseok greeted, poking his head through the doorway. For someone about to go to war, there was something awfully chipper about him. “We’ll be doing an inspection in five minutes. Make sure none of you are late or it will be on my head.”

No one said anything, which under normal circumstances would be cause for punishment, but Minseok knew better than most how new troops felt, so let it slide when he received only a handful of half-hearted nods.

The inspection was quick. Sungmi stayed glued to Kyungsoo as they had all their kit inspected and weapons checked before they were treated to a rather longwinded speech from a particularly dull man who had no doubt made the same speech thousands of times to troops before them, hence his lacklustre approach to the whole thing.

The whole time he prattled on, Sungmi kept her eyes open for her sister. She hadn’t seen her all this morning, and she couldn’t see her now either. Knowing that as soon as the man finished talking they would be taken to their new camp, her searching efforts increased tenfold until her neck was craning in all directions rather desperately. In Sungmi’s team’s case, they were to move into the fifth regiment. And Sungmi really didn’t want to go without seeing her sister just once more. Just in case.

As the man’s words drifted to a close, Sungmi’s hopes began to sink and her panic began to set in. She wouldn’t get to see her sister. What if this was her last chance? She bit her lip hard, looking to her feet as a small, single tear escaped her eye. It was, perhaps, one of those occasions where a person only comes to realise how important the time they have with loved ones is once they don’t have it any longer.

Sungmi vowed then, as she was led from the training camp without even a glimpse of her sibling, that should she be so lucky as to return, she would make the most of every second she had with her family. Second chances were so hard to come by, after all.

The trek to their new base took an entire day and night. Whilst the ground was mostly flat, that still didn’t mean that it was easy or not strenuous to get to the base. And it wasn’t just that, they were also instructed to walk in formation for the march which meant the only talking that could be done was during their breaks. This did nothing to help Sungmi’s mental state, and in fact left her with nothing but her own all-consuming thoughts for company. She would unashamedly admit to crying silently several times on that trek, not that she was the only one by any means.

The new base was a far cry from the comfort of the training camps – which was saying something. The ground was thick with mud and there was a foul smell to the air that had drifted in from somewhere else. Above them, a flag of their nation fluttered ever so slightly, the signature red horse covered by a thin film of grime. The sky was dark, but it didn’t seem like it was about to start raining; it was more like a permanent fixture.  Sungmi couldn’t think of anything more fitting.

All around them, people were making their way around the rickety building structures that looked nothin