It was a beautiful sunny day in the state of Trendom.  Right beside the state of Trendom was Zelabble.  A boy and a girl were just playing in the pasture.  They both always had lots of fun together whenever they were playing a game in the pasture at the borders of the states.  For quite a few centuries, there was peace between the states after a great time of war.  The people have been nice to each other since the peace treaty that ended the tensions between the states.  One day, when the girl and the boy were playing a game of chase in the pasture at the border of both of the states, their parents came along and got to see them play for a little bit.  Not too long after, they called each of them over.  When they both got to their parents, they were both really sad and upset.  They told the two,

“We are really sorry, this will be the last time you get to play together. We are going to be moving away from the border and into the city center.”

The boy and the girl hugged each other one last time before they went away with their parents.  Everyone had shed at least a tear that day.  When the boy got home, he immediately asked his mom and dad when he was going to see the girl again.  They looked even more sad and told the boy what was going on and why they couldn’t see each other.  Both of the states are back at war with each other.  Something happened to the peace treaty, and war was beginning again for the states of Trendom and Zelabble.  For fourteen years, Trendom and Zelabble were at war with each other again.  Neither side could figure out how to get the other to agree with them, with all the anger and fighting going on.  The boy and the girl were separated because of the war between the two states.  Even against their will, the kids were going into the armies of their states’ militaries to learn to fight one another.  Ryley Emmett Haas, the boy, was heading right into the military to get ready for a special attack on the Zelabbles.  

Over on the other side, the military there was planning a special attack as well on the Trendom state.  Hating to fight with each other, both of them went through an all-state war that was going on.  People from both states were fighting all over each state, and lots of people were dying.  The battle went on, and to each side’s surprise, both of them had the same idea of where to attack next, and they were sabotaging each other from different standpoints.  Bullets and cannons and explosions coming from all over the field.  Yelling from people one minute, silent and sleeping the next.

The states of Trendom and Zelablle were at peace for almost three hundred years until something happened to the peace treaty that was signed by the previous mayors.  Nobody knows what happened to the treaty or if someone did something with it ever since they went back to war.  Back to the battlefield they go, only after a few centuries have passed.  After the battle of the special surprise attacks on each other, the Zelablles won, with the Trendoms fleeing.  More and more fights like this went on.  Until one fateful day, months later after the surprise battle of both states, the Zelabbles were planning to send in a spy to try and figure out their battle techniques to find a weakness or have them surrender.  None of the soldiers from Zelabelle had been in the state of Trendom since the war.  Except that only four spies have been in Trendom since the war began from the state of Zellebelle.  General Boris  Nova appointed a young soldier to head to the Trendom capital as a spy.  Her name was Skye Schuyler.  She had played with her childhood friend Ryley there in the pastures of where the war took place, but now she was forced to fight the war to win for their state.  As Skye got into her disguise, General Nova gave her a walkie-talkie that only went to the station they used in their command center to send them the information.  After she left the headquarters, she went off to head to Trendom.

Even though she was on a mission to go and leak out Trendom’s command center’s information, she still went and did some of her own things.  As Skye quietly ran across the pastures, right past the edge of the end lines, right into the state of Trendom.  Sneaking back through the backways through town and slowly made her way towards the Capital.  Sneaking in the back door of the courtyard, Skye had her gun right at hand in case anyone found her.  It looked like she was just coming back from her post.  And as she thought, right around the corner, there were guards.  She just marched right to the gate, and she made it inside undetected.

Later, as she finished talking to the general and some other soldiers, she snuck out around the back and took the walkie-talkie and gave the information to General Nova.  Meanwhile, Ryley came to the back as well.  Without knowing that anyone was back there, he was going to eat his lunch in private.  After he turned the corner, there was a scream and a yell.  Both of them hid right behind the corners of the wall they were at.  But then realized after a few seconds.

“Oh, it’s just you, soldier,” said Officer Haas.

“Uh, y-yeah, it’s just me, Officer Schuyler.  What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you that!” Haas replied.

“Well, I asked you first!” Schuyler said.

“Okay, I was just coming out back here to get away from the other guys to enjoy my lunch in peace instead of having them all over me,” Haas exclaimed.

“Yeah, they can really get out of hand when it comes to meals,” Schuyler replied.  “I can understand.  It is peaceful of sorts out here in the back, gives you a sigh of relief even with this whole war thing going on.”

Haas smiled.  He sat down and finished his lunch.  Schuyler was just sitting there, really nervous, wondering if she had just been found out snitching on the Trendoms.  But Haas did not comment, so she felt a bit calmer and more relaxed looking at the clouds in the grim gray sky.

“I still remember the times I had when I was younger, in school for a bit, but then we all went to train for the military.  It wasn’t all bad because we didn’t have any homework and no extra work unless you were failing the obstacle course tests.” Schuyler commented.

“Why, I do recall that there were a few upsides to growing up from that.  It did seem easier than normal school, where you had to wear those itchy school uniforms.” Haas said.  “By the way, Officer Schuyler, what age did you first start training in the military?”

“I think I was six years old.” She replied.  “What about you?”

“I think it was the same age for me, too.  Can we just please get a breath of peace without fighting with each other or the enemy?”

Schuyler stayed silent.  She looked down at the ground.  Haas stood up and felt the wind as it swept through.  Schuyler, on the other hand, was watching the grass sway in the wind.

“Are you watching the grass, Schuyler?” asked Haas.

She nodded softly.  Haas thought of it curiously himself.  He looked down and watched the grass sway in the wind as well.  Nothing but the wind could be heard rushing through the trees and the grass.  It was quite a soothing sound.

“The swaying grass makes you feel like you are flying across the ground.  I mean, it really is something.  With the sound of the trees and grass in the wind.  The beauty of nature, which I never got to fully understand in school, but was the only thing I really wanted to learn about,” said Schuyler.

“I understand.  But all the swaying grass really reminds me of my childhood.” Haas replied.

“How so?” asked Schuyler.

“Well, I would lie down in the grass on the hills of the pastures and look at the stars late at night sometimes.  But what it really reminds me of is when I played with my childhood friend in the pasture every day when we didn’t have school.  Of all the fun we had, it was unforgettable,” said Haas.

“I remember playing with a friend in the pastures in my childhood as well.  I can’t remember his name, but we had fun.” Schuyler said.

“Ha, I bet you didn’t have as much fun as I did with my childhood friend!” bragged Haas.

“Nah, I think my childhood friend and I had way more fun than you guys!” Schuyler said right back.

Both of them started laughing and still arguing for a little bit about who had the most fun in their youth.  Then they both realized that even though they had their past brought up to each other, they are living in a present-day warzone until something happens for one of the states to win against the other state, or come up with some sort of peace treaty.

“Well, that was how much fun we had until my parents came up to me, and then I never saw him ever again.  The war began with the states, and I had to leave my childhood friend behind in the pastures.” Schuyler said.

“Yeah, the same thing happened to me. I left her, and she went with her parents,  and I went with mine.  I wish I could get to see her again someday.  Except that she lives in Zelabble, and we are at war with them.  I hated it when I had to kill all of those civilians.  But it’s just a part of war.” Haas replied.

“Do you know her name?” asked Schuyler.

“Very briefly,” said Haas.  “I can’t remember her last name, but I think her first name was Skye.”

Schuyler’s eyes widened.  She looked at Haas and realized something.

“Wait, my first name is Skye,” she said.

“What!?” Haas replied, shocked.  “But, there’s no way that you were her.  She is from Zelabble, you’re from Trendom.”

Schuyler thought about it for a second or so and decided to reveal herself to him.

“Officer Haas, it’s me.  I am the one that you were friends with all those years ago.  I am Skye.” Schuyler said nervously.

Haas gave Schuyler an embrace as she hugged him back.  After a little reunion with each other, something immediately came to Haas’s mind.

“Wait, Skye, if you’re here, then did you move to Trendom?”

“No, I am not. I was sent here by my general,” she replied.

“To do what?” asked Haas.

“To, to leak out your battle tactics to our side so we could expect every attack that you would do to us,” answered Skye nervously.

“That’s what we did!  We sent a guy named Brock over to go and be our spy for your battle techniques, but the idiot accidentally exposed himself and ended up getting killed.  You need to be very careful when going through here.  If you are caught, you will be executed on the spot,” warned Haas.

Both of them went back inside the command center.  Another attack was planned to attack the Zelabbles.  Skye Schuyler decided to go with the plan that the Trendoms were going with.

A week had passed, and the states were still at war.  Skye was just about to head back to the Zelabbles’ headquarters.  As she snuck off back the way she came from.  Little did she know that she was being followed.  After arriving in the town center of Zelabble, Skye had just gotten to her house to pick up some supplies.  Knocking came at the door, Skye got her gun at the ready, and opened the door.  Officer Haas was right outside the door.  He came in and hid down away from the door.

“Ryley!  What are you doing here?” asked Skye.

“To help solve the missing Peace Treaty!” he replied.

“Ok, one, you are absolutely crazy, and two, how exactly do you plan on doing that?” asked Skye.

“Well, what I know is that the Peace Treaty was last put into your headquarters.  We haven’t seen it since then, so that’s where we shall start.” Ryley answered.

As it was said by the generals, the peace treaty was gone from the pedestal.  But at the scene of the crime, there was a trail of footprints.  Of course, out of curiosity, Skye and Haas followed them to see what happened to it.  It led them down a staircase, outside, around the corner of a house.  What they found next was the reason for the whole war.  There was a reminiscence of a fire, and on the edges of the fire were pieces of paper, the pieces of the peace treaty of what one piece looked like.

“This is the Peace Treaty, alright.  It says here, declare peace,” said Skye.

“So it was burned?” asked Ryley.

“Someone who came here and burned this to ruin the treaty.  But who?” said Skye.

Just then, a voice was heard coming their way.  Ryley and Skye quickly ran behind the building and a cart.  The person who walked there was General Nova.  But what would he be doing there?

“Alright, here it is.  The burnt fragments of the Treaty.  I want this cleared and not to be seen again.  I will be back in an hour, that’s when you’ll start.  I have a meeting to attend about the next attack of the Trendoms.  Speak to nobody of this or its execution of the both of ya,” said General Nova.

It was General Nova!  But why would he ever have wanted to start a war with the Trendoms anyway?  Ryley and Skye knew that they couldn’t just leave this alone.  Skye had taken one of the soldiers cleaning while Ryley had tackled the other.  After having the two in custody, they just had to wait for the traitor to return.  An hour later, General Nova came from the back way of the headquarters.

“Those lazy scumbags, they didn’t even finish cleaning up this mess!”

“Stop right there Gentlemen!” yelled Skye.

Skye rose from the top of the cart and aimed her rifle down at the General across the room.

“Oh, Officer Schuyler.  I’m sorry, but you are not going to speak of this to anybody, or you will be executed on the spot,” threatened General Nova.

“Sorry, but she already did!” Ryley said as he came from behind the corner with an automatic in hand.

A whole army of troops came out from outside and inside the room.  All of them aimed their rifles at the General.  He had been cornered.

“You have sadly given your last command, General.  We have you surrounded,” said Skye.

General Nova had no choice but to surrender.  After the troops took in their own General, they executed him and the two boys he had with him.  Everyone cheered that the culprits had been killed.  But even though they had done that, there was no leader for the Zelabbles.  There was no way to sign a Peace Treaty, so they were both still at war.  Everyone looked around, standing in the center of the state of Zelabble.  Officer Haas had an idea.  He asked Officer Schuyle,r and she agreed.

“Everyone, may I have your attention, please?  I am Officer Ryley Emmett Haas.  I am one of the soldiers from Trendom.  Yes, I snuck past your borders and fitted in with one of your own kind, but one of you guys did the same for us.  So we are even with that.  If you don’t already know her, this is Officer Skye Schuyler, and she was sent to our headquarters as a spy.  But she and I have teamed up, and we are the reason we have found the treaty, or what was left of it.”

“Why should we trust you, Trendom?” said one person from the crowd.

“How do we know it isn’t one of your little tricks to make us the bottom state?” said another.

“Guys!  Listen to me!” Skye shouted.  Ryley and I have been friends since our childhood, and we both, even though we come from different states, still crossed the borders of both our states just to be able to calmly play in the pasture as little kids.  We all want this war to end, right?  Aren’t all of us ready to have peace again?  The only way we can do it is if we all work together!”

“So how do we get a sign to give peace to cease the war?” asked one of the troops from the crowd.  Many others commented in agreement.

“Me and Skye shall get married.  It will be the official sign of the peace treaty of the war,” answered Ryley.

And so, Ryley and Skye did get married.  After the crowd cheered in Zelabble, they went to the Capital of Trendom.  There it was finished off that the marriage shall end the war with the peace returning.  The marriage happened right in the middle of the battlefield.  The pastures in which Skye and Ryley both played when they were kids.  Ever since that day, there had been marriages of the offspring of individuals from each state to continue the peace between the states for years to come.

-end