2 Brothers in Arms

+Outskirts of KSA, somewhere in a desert village, 2023+

-A unit of 80 Saudi Arabian Soldiers were eating in their mobile barracks.-

One soldier, no older than 17 years old. Sitting with him is another soldier, albeit three years older.

The 17yo soldier was in the middle of finishing a meal he was given by some of the locals for keeping them safe. However, his meal was ruined by a bullying soldier who quote on quote "accidentally" dropped his shoe on it.

The soldier who did it was named -Theo-, and the young soldier who got his sandwich smashed was once named Khalid, his friend was named Isaa, and he was the young soldier's only friend.

Theo bullyingly said "oh? How did my shoe end up on a little shit's sandwich? ×reaches out towards the,

shoe to grab it× aww man! It REALLY destroyed your lunch man! guess I over di-" before he could get his hands on the shoe, Isaa snatched it saying "nah, I don't think so", that made Theo a little angry as he wanted to smear Khalid's food all over the table he was eating on.

Isaa was just one rank lower than Theo, but he still stood up for his friend. They've been friends from the moment they started kindergarten, and their families were close neighbors too.

But I digress, as Isaa cleaned the food off the shoe, he looked at the size and commented "sheesh, you got fat or something Theo? ×shows Theo the number at the bottom of the shoe× this says 50." Theo snatched the shoe back threatening him "THE FUCK YOU SAY? YOU WANNA GO MISSING? I DON'T MIND TAKING YOU OUTSIDE AND SLITTING YOUR FUCKING THROAT!" Isaa looked him dead in the eye and scoffed "you haven't got the balls to put down a terrorist, how are you gonna slit my throat? Get some of your wives to do it" (ooooooo, somebody get the milk, my man got burned)

Don't mind the man that talks in brackets, that's just the author hyping himself up for no reason. Nevertheless, we continue.

Isaa was referring to Theo's friends of course, not that Theo had a wife or more than one lover already. But in the end, Theo's pride as a man was hurt, and because he didn't want to look like a pussy in front of his aforementioned friends.

So He balled his fist and grabbed Khalid by the collar of his uniform, and lifted him off his seat, but he had forgotten, Khalid was 186cm (about 6.1 ft) tall, a freaking monstrous size when compared to him!

As he stood up, Theo's hand couldn't keep holding on, so he let go of him as he nervously said "i-I'm gonna kick y-your ass now!" A 6ft 17yo versus a 4ft 20yo, you can probably guess who'll win.

Theo prepared himself to throw a right jab at Khalid who just looked down on him with little to no emotion in his amber eyes, as if he didn't care, and as soon as Theo threw the punch it connected with Khalid's jaw.

Upon impact, Theo could feel his knuckles practically shatter, he never fought before, he only uses his gang of bullies to intimidate and bully people into submission. thing is, what happens when he bullies someone who doesn't care what happens to their body? Khalid only cares about those close to him.

He gripped his hand, internally screaming as he looked Khalid in the eyes, he didn't even flinch, a bit blood did escape from the side of his lips, but he wasn't reacting like a normal human, he only wiped the blood off meekly uttering "that...hurt" and then Isaa proceeded to grab Theo's hand and pull him over his back and onto the ground with a loud [SLAM!]

Isaa warns Theo whose groaning on the ground while holding his arms "don't do that again. for YOUR safety first lieutenant" and with that, he pulls Khalid away from the lunch table as Theo's friends ran to his aid saying "hey man, you, okay?" and "you showed him what's good man!" and there's this one soldier who said "you got knocked on your back! Got your shit scrambled by that mulazim!" but Theo grabbed him and pulled him in close threatening him "you speak one word about this I WILL end your existence" and the soldier zipped his mouth showing he understands.

-Outside the barracks, and behind a rather large sand hill-

Both Khalid and Isaa were lying with their backs on the sand, Isaa opened a cigarette pack and pulled one out admitting "×lights it using an antique lighter× ×takes a lungful from the cigarette before blowing it out× I fucking hate bullies, picking on the weak and defenseless. Allah damn them all!" Meanwhile, Khalid was looking ahead into the desert before he sat upright to pour himself a cup of Nescafe thinking "I should really stop drinking coffee, my heart feels like it's about to beat faster than desert lizards whenever I drink it, maybe I should drink tea instead", but he downed a whole cup in the matter of minutes.

Isaa blew a cloud of smoke out of his mouth asking "×smoke starts escaping his mouth× what's up with you K? You used to be more lively, fresh, alive and a little bit of a crybaby. What happened bro?" Khalid was already expecting that type of question, so he sighed as he told his friend "Dad died" that sentence was like a knife piercing Isaa's heart, he stood up questioning him confusedly "what are you talking about? I spoke to Uncle Mohammed a few days ago, he was as healthy as a stallion! He even went swimming at a water park last month!" Khalid looked at Isaa with eyes full of regret, he failed to notice how little time he spent with his old man, I mean, the guy didn't even speak to his old man after finishing basic training, what kind of son does that?

Isaa noticed how remorseful Khalid looked, and how his eyes seemed to lose their light. Like a a star that died because it lost someone it truly admired, loved and wanted to prove itself to. Now, he was just an empty husk, a zombie, someone who no longer cares about himself or about proving anything.

So Isaa comforted his friend as he offered his hand to him "I don't know how you feel Khalid, but you're like a brother to me, and if you're depressed, then I won't rest till i help you get back to your former self ×smiles warmly×" Khalid thought about what Isaa said "i don't know how he can keep smiling after hearing that, I almost died when I first heard about dad, I wanted to just disappear or even go back in time to spend more time with him. But Dad would have wanted me to keep going, He probably would have a great story to tell me about giving up. ×smiles subconsciously×" and then he grabbed onto Isaa's hand repeating a promise they made at middle school "the sons of Arabia never fall low"

Isaa pulled him up finishing the last part of the promise "×pulls him off the ground and on his feet× whether the sky rains or the sun falls" after that, they walk back into the barracks chatting about the newest dark souls' game.