Well, Decided to re-write 'Ashes' as a horror fic. Hope it pans out alright. Please note: Original Ashes fic is now deleted as I'm taking it in this direction.

First few parts are the same as the old fic, but I've changed little bits and added more descriptions.

Standard disclaimer rules apply unless other wise stated.

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Prologue - The girl in the bar

The bar had been there for at least 25 years, over time, the outside of it had changed along with the surroundings, but the interior hadn't. It was still the same, A lot of dark, stained wood, tables of various size and shape scattered along the interior, the same finish and look as the bar that ran the length of the room. A large mirror dominated the wall behind it, complete with bottles of sprits on shelves in front of it.

It was as if stepping into it was stepping into another dimension.

A girl with long black hair sat at the bar, twirling an empty shot glass on the wood as the bar-tender poured another shot for her.

"Thanks…" she said, picking it up,

"Hey, no worries." said the barman, walking up to the other end to serve other customers, a welcoming smile on his face at all times.

As the woman stared at the dark brown spirit, the door of the bar opened, and a few people turned to look.

"Hey! I'll just be five minutes!" called a woman with short brown hair while walking in and closing the door behind her.

"Jeez, some people are so impatient…" she muttered.

The woman's eyes scanned the room and came to rest who she'd been looking for, the long haired woman. The shorter haired woman smirked and walked straight over. She took her coat off and pointed at the raven haired woman sitting at the bar, then held up two fingers. The bartender nodded and poured to shots of whiskey.

"You're a hard person to find…" said the shorted haired girl, leaning with her back against the bar, next to the other woman.

"Not hard enough." came the reply as the long haired woman turned to look at the other, her cobalt blue eyes locking with the brown eyes of the other woman. The room held a pregnant pause, as if the pair where about to begin a fight over something only they knew about.

Finally, the longer haired woman sighed, turning back and finishing off her drink.

"Kagura."

"Sakaki." sighed Kagura warily, picking up the glass of whiskey. The pair didn't speak for a moment. Most of the people in the bar went back to their own business, but there was an occasional glance at the two young women.

"Come to make sure I don't miss the plane?" Sakaki finally said.

Kagura pushed herself off the bar and turned around, sitting on the stool next to Sakaki.

"Something like that…" she said, "Really, I just wanted a drink before we go."

Sakaki nodded. "I never thought I'd come to this…" she said, looking up at her reflection,

"How can so much change in seven years?" she asked.

Kagura looked at the bottles arranged behind the bar, then back to the glass clasped in Sakaki's hands, "Like how your drinking a lot?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean…" said Sakaki. Kagura sighed and looked down at the wood-grain.

"I don't know." she said, then surprisingly, Kagura laughed.

"Y'know, You haven't changed Sakaki. Your still beautiful, You still look perfect. Sakaki blushed slightly and turned away. "

Tell me something. Why?" asked Kagura, Sakaki looked up at her.

"Why did you want to do this?" Kagura sat waiting for an answer, that took at least a minute.

"Because…" Sakaki said finally, beginning to lift the glass to her mouth, until Kagura firmly held her wrist against the bar.

"Your not drowning this one Sakaki. Why." said Kagura firmly. Sakaki glanced up at her, then back to the shot.

"Mostly because of what happened to Tomo, and everything else that happened." said Sakaki. Kagura smiled and let go of Sakaki's wrist.

"'Hell hath no fury' eh?" chuckled Kagura. She turned to look around the bar.

"Nice place, Can you believe this no smoking thing? Jeez.." said Kagura, pouring another shot.

"Why did you want to do this?" asked Sakaki quietly, almost inaudible over the slow song playing from the jukebox in the corner.

"Bhats dhat?" asked Kagura, with a mouthful of the snacks from the bar.

"I said, Why did you want to do this?"

Kagura swallowed what she had been eating and picked up the shot glass again.

"So you wouldn't get all the fun to yourself," she said, "We're still rivals, no matter what the world is doing." she said punching Sakaki lightly in the arm.

"What's the real reason, Kagura?" said Sakaki, twirling the glass again. Kagura was lifting the glass to her lips when Sakaki asked, and it stopped halfway. Kagura stared distantly at her reflection. Then she frowned slightly.

"I…I don't have one…" she said, and knocked back the shot.

Sakaki nodded and stared at her drink. They sat in silence for a moment, unsure of what to say to each other.

"Do you still see him?" asked Kagura. Sakaki jumped at the sound of her voice and looked over at Kagura, who was staring at the bar.

"See who?" asked Sakaki. Kagura blinked slowly, her eyes half open.

"The first one…" she said. Sakaki arched her eyebrows and began to lift a hand to Kagura's shoulder.

"Because I do. I see him every time I look in a mirror, every time I close my eyes and every night when I dream. Every time, he's still got that smile he gave me, even though I killed him, he's still smiling at me." said Kagura, as she knocked back another shot.

"I can see why you do this now." she said as the glass hit the bar with a dull clink. Sakaki sighed and her hand dropped, never even reaching Kagura.

Sakaki stared at her drink, then lifted it.

"It's a very, very…" she sang softly, in time with the song playing on the jukebox.

"…Mad World." sang Kagura, finishing the lyric.

"What's going to happen to us Kagura?" sighed Sakaki, looking into the mirror. Kagura smiled.

"Well…First, I'm going to finish this," she said then downed her drink.

"Then, Your going to finish yours, and the both of us are getting on that truck and going to do our job." she said winking.

"And then?" asked Sakaki.

"Then we can come back here and drink again." she said, slightly more seriously this time. Sakaki smiled and finished off her drink, "What about after that?"

"We'll drink some more" said Kagura.

"Then?" asked Sakaki, frowning slightly at Kagura's tone.

"Then we'll drink again, and again. until we forget about what we've done. Then we'll go to sleep, and when we wake up we'll get on with life." said Kagura, seriously. Sakaki nodded,

"I'll drink to that…" she said dryly without realising it. Kagura's mouth twitched into a smile, then she almost fell over from laughing so hard.

"Oh man, Sakaki. That was a good one!" she said, dropping some money on the bar.

"This was on me" she said, winking.

Sakaki smiled and picked up her jacket and olive drab back pack.

As they turned, the door to the bar opened again.

"Sergeant Kawada, Have you found her ye…Oh, Sorry Captain Sakura, I didn't see you." said the lieutenant, saluting. Sakaki lazily returned the salute and slung her pack over her shoulder.

"Get back to your unit lieutenant, Echo-174 is moving out." said Sakaki.

"Yes Ma'am." said the lieutenant, turning and walking out of the door. Kagura smirked.

"Captain Sakura…" she said, shaking her head.

"What?" asked Sakaki.

"Nothing, Just you giving orders. Never quite got used to it." said Kagura.

As they walked towards the door, an group of elderly men raised there glasses towards the two soldiers. The girls nodded respectfully back.

Sakaki followed Kagura out of the bar, into the snow and to the truck that was waiting outside.

"Told you I'd find her!" shouted Kagura, jumping into the truck.

Sakaki paused for a moment to look at the organised chaos around her.

An American tank growled past a column of marching German soldiers, heading to wherever it was needed. The smell of diesel fuel filled the air and the noise of machines and men mixed together into some awful sounding symphony. The noises where drowned out for a second as two Loyalist Russian jets streaked over head.

Over the street, a few British Paratroopers jumped out of the back of a truck across the road, and headed for one of the abandoned buildings. While most of the towns-people had stayed behind, others had left to find safer places to live.

Another truck pulled into the town, and American marines jumped out of it, whooping and giving high-fives at the completion of a mission. The Marines scared Sakaki, almost as much as the British SAS did. The roar of Helicopters sounded and Sakaki noticed three Russian Hind-D's flying in formation. The sight sent a shiver down her spine as it reminded her of a Soviet Special Forces group.

Sakaki sighed to herself and her shoulders dropped as she remembered what the world had become.

Sakaki threw her bag onto it and braced herself to haul herself into the truck, until a hand held itself out towards her. Sakaki looked up and saw Kagura's grinning face. Sakaki smiled and took the offer, and found herself pulled onto the floor of the truck. She sat down and nodded to her friends from school, who smiled and nodded back.

Sakaki sat next to Kaorin, who handed Sakaki her rifle, a G36, and prepared for the truck to set off. Usually, this would make Kaorin happier than ever, but the current atmosphere hung over them like a dark cloud.

Sakaki glanced at her friends one more time. Osaka was sleeping, her Dragunov sniper rifle cradled in her arms, Tomo's empty eyes just stared at the ceiling, Yomi's head resting on her shoulder. Both of their M4 carbines where on a rack behind them. Tomo's eyes drifted towards Sakaki, and a smile crossed her face, Sakaki smiled back.

The now twenty year old Chiyo sat next to Osaka, an M249 'SAW' leaning against her shoulder, the stock on the floor. Usually, The girls would find this comical, The girl that had been brighter than all of them in school carrying the biggest gun. Chiyo could of easily avoided all this, but she had wanted to be with her friends, and it wasn't the time for jokes.

Nyamo soon appeared at the back of the truck, it had been her that 'volunteered' everyone into the squad, keeping all the friends together from the beginning. She was wearing a camouflaged jacket with a high collar, and was wearing a drab green BDU cap. Her face lit up into the usual smile that Sakaki had gotten used to in her gym lessons.

"Sakaki…Glad we found you…" she said, climbing into the truck. Sakaki just smiled. Nyamo walked to the front of the truck's cargo area and banged on the wall separating driver from passengers. The machine roared into life and began to move down the centre of the road, passing soldiers marching up either side of it.

Luckily, Yukari was also sitting in the back, asleep. So they'd be spared the driving ordeal of Yukari driving a truck again.

Sakaki pulled her jacket tighter around her body, as her an Kagura where the last into the truck, they where closest to the opening, and leant her head against the trucks canvas wall as Kagura lit a cigarette opposite her and looked out of the back of the truck, her own AK-47 resting against her thigh.

No one spoke, No one saw the need to, How had so much changed in seven years?

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End of Prelude.