urm is it okay if i request sledgefu for “Pass me the sledgehammer."? if not then any hbo war pairing of your choice is okay too :) - webgottrash
yess good choice!! i’m sorry it took so long haha, I tried my best! hope you like it (i’m putting it under a read more because it turned out to be quite long) :)
“Pass me the sledgehammer.” Snafu looked at Sledge, his squinting eyes filled with hesitation. “You’re not actually going to do it, are you?” He sighed, letting out a mist of smoke from between his dry, chapped lips. The cigarette was glowing in the dim afternoon, the grey smoke slowly soaring towards the sky.
They were still at Peleliu, that godforsaken piece of land, and it didn’t feel like they were leaving any time soon. Today had been a bad day; they had lost Ack Ack, and every ounce of hope had left them. They were completely and utterly left to themselves.
“I tell you, destroying stuff won’t be of any good.” Sledge shook his head, trying to free himself from his thoughts. He was incapable of forgetting; the images wouldn’t leave him alone. It wasn’t just Ack Ack that haunted him anymore; it was all of them. Every single slaughtered soul, every pair of empty eyes, every stiff, broken body.
“I know,” he muttered under his breath, “I… know.” But he didn’t care. Snafu put the cigarette in the corner of his mouth, as he reached for the sledgehammer Eugene had asked for. He took it with weary fingers, still shaking from the sound of the bombs. It was a nice tool, dirty with mud yet glimmering in the setting afternoon sun.
“Yeah I’m not giving it to you.” He raised his eyebrows, looking for any sort of emotion in his friend’s tired eyes. Any reaction, whether it be anger, annoyance or resentment - just anything other than that goddamn grief.
But there was none. Eugene Sledge looked at him with empty eyes, and for a moment there was nothing but silence between them. Then he shrugged.
“Whatever. Keep the goddamn thing if you want it that bad.” He shook his head and began walking away from him, leaving Snafu alone. The dark-haired marine looked at him disappearing further and further away, debating with himself whether he should follow him or not. Eventually, his ever-changing humanity won him over. Snafu swallowed, getting annoyed both at himself and Sledge.
“Hey, come on!” It didn’t take long before he caught up with his jaded friend. He stepped out in front of him, forcing him to stop. “Don’t be like this, alright?” But Sledge just pushed him aside, not saying a word.
“I know I- I’m not the one you’d want to talk to… About feelings and all that. But-” Sledge interrupted him, and it didn’t matter that much to Snafu, because at least he wasn’t quiet. He hated it when people just stopped talking to him, when there clearly was much left unsaid.
“You wouldn’t understand.” Snafu looked at him questionly.
Sledge took a deep breath, relaxed his shoulders and turned down his gaze. “I’m just so tired,” he mumbled, “so… tired.”
“Well, name one who isn’t.” Sledge knew that Snafu was right, but that wasn’t what he meant.
“It’s not like that,” he tried. It was hard to explain something when he himself didn’t really know what it was.
“You’re scared,” said Snafu suddenly, and Sledge turned up his head.
“No.” He wasn’t; not anymore. That kind of fear had left him, together with the screams of the men he had watched die; it had been ripped from him, just as their tormented souls had been ripped from their bodies.
“Then tell me.” Sledge thought for a second whether he should tell him or not. The cons clearly outweighed the pros, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like he didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore.
“I’m not scared of dying, I try- I try not to think about it that much, not after…” His voice trailed off. Not after Ack Ack died. He could only hope that Snafu understood what he meant, because he couldn’t talk about it anymore. He was sick of feeling the grief devour him from the inside - he was sick of drowning in the sadness over and over again, when there clearly was no way out of it. Then he kicked on the ground, and all the pent up anger inside him started welling up. He hated feeling so weak.
“Then what are you afraid of?” If there was one thing Sledge knew about his friend, it was that Snafu wasn’t keen on giving up. So he spat out the words, quickly, before his voice started to tremble and the sentences got stuck in his throat.
“I can’t lose anyone else.” The words soared to the sky, danced with the wind among the clouds. At first Snafu didn’t say anything. Then he said everything all at once.
“Well, there’s not much we can do about that.” His words didn’t hurt, but they were cold and merciless. It was the truth, though, and Sledge knew that. He wiped his hand over his forehead and realized how tired he was. Completely exhausted.
“I know I’m going home in a coffin.” He sighed, his eyes trailing off, scanning the calm, blue sky above them. “But I just don’t think I can handle seeing one more of you go.” Then Snafu took a few steps closer to him, and for once, the look in his eyes was warm.
“I’m sorry,” was all he managed to say, but it was enough. In the midst of a raging, burning war, it was enough.
Later, when the sky had begun to adopt into darker hues and the sun lay dying against the horizon, Snafu began to talk again. “I know it’s not much of a consolation, but I ain’t gonna leave you.” Sledge didn’t have to look at him to know that his words were true. “I know,” he answered. “I know you won’t.”
