Title: Traveling Soldier
Significant Change: Just about everything! Its totally alternate reality. (Its okay if you don't like it, I won't be offended. This has been rolling around in my head and its an idea that has intrigued me for a really long time. Anyway, review if you like it, don't slander it, if you don't.)
Disclaim everything recognizable as thought up by those behind the soap opera known as General Hospital.

Dark clouds roll overhead as he packs his bags for his long trip, many years he had envisioned this day, but never thought he'd see it come true. The moment he graduated from high school, he signed up as quickly as he could and did everything he had to in order to qualify, knowing that his life would never truly begin until he was out of that house, out of that family.

From his bedroom upstairs, he could hear the usual family fight raging downstairs, making him wonder how things would be once he was gone. Would they even miss him? Would they notice his absence and wish he were there or would they simply go on with their lives as if nothing had changed?

Shaking his head, he secures his duffel bag over his shoulder, deciding that he'd rather wait out the rest of his time in town at a local diner than in his family home. He was just about to walk out the front door when the soft voice of his sister calls out to him, stopping him from pulling it open and leaving the place behind him.

"You're leaving already?" she asks him, a sad look cast over her features. "Weren't you going to say goodbye?"

"I thought you'd be sleeping by now." he concedes, in fact he had been hoping she would be, not one to handle goodbyes all that well. "What are you still doing up?"

"I can hear them from my room." she says simply, slowly lowering herself onto the stairs to sit down. "This is the loudest I've heard them in a long time."

"You think this is loud? You should have been here when I told them I was joining the Army." Jason drops his bag beside the stairs, lowering himself down beside her. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah...I'm used to them by now." she assures, taking a deep breath. "I'm really going to miss you, though."

"I'm gonna miss you, too, kid." Jason admits, leaning over and kissing her forehead before hugging her to his side. "I'll try to write while I'm gone."

"But you won't make any promises, right?" she guesses, boy did she know him so well. "Its okay. I understand."

"Goodbye, Em." he says softly, placing one last kiss on her forehead before rising to his feet and slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder. "Take care of yourself."

Tears well up in her eyes, the reality of him leaving suddenly hits her like a ton of bricks, causing her to throw herself in his arms, holding him tightly as her tears fall. She breathes him in, knowing that it was a real possibility that she'll never see him again. Needing to remember this moment forever. To remember her big brother in all his glory.

"I love you, Jason." she says with her whole heart, clinging tightly to him. "I'll never forget you."

"I love you, too." he assures, slowly moving her out of his embrace, a slight smile on his face. "Always, little sister."

"Goodbye, Jason." she says as she fights to control her tears. "Please, be safe."

Granting her a slight smile, wondering to himself if he'd ever see her again, Jason turns on his heels and walks back to the door. Pulling it open, he takes one last look at his sister before walking out of the house and shutting the door firmly behind him.

"Leaving?" his brother, AJ, catches him as he's about to straddle his bike.

"Yeah." he says simply, sliding his key into the ignition. "You gonna get out of the way?"

"Sure." AJ shrugs, sliding his hands into his jacket. "But not before I say something."

"This should be good." Jason counters, settling back on his bike to hear what his brother had to say.

"As much as we want to kill each other on a daily basis, Jase, I honestly wish you weren't doing this." AJ admits, taking a deep breath. "You're smart, probably the smartest Quartermaine to date. Which means that you can do just about anything, corporate or medical. Anything."

"Is there a point to this?"

"My point is that you didn't have to choose this career yet you did. A decision that I would have never been able to come to." AJ smiles slightly, knowing he could never sign up for something like this. "So, when they do deploy you, keep your head down and don't play the hero. Just do what you gotta do and nothing more. You got that?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd actually believe you cared."

"I do care." AJ says seriously as he steps to the side. "Regardless of everything else, you're still my little brother. Just...just be safe."

With a single nod, Jason starts up his bike and takes off into the night, leaving his brother and the rest of his family in his rear view mirror. The farther away he got from the estate, the more he thought about his life after his father found him at that shelter. He thought his life was bad then, he had no idea how much worse it could get until he arrived at the Quartermaine estate and was treated like the bastard he was.

The moment he had stepped through the threshold of that place, his true hell began. A hell he was now running away from, as fast and as far as possible. As much as he loved his little sister and his grandmother, neither of them were incentive enough for him to stay. Absolutely nothing and no one could keep him there.