Major had seemed off today, not like busy but more so, nervous. Everyone had caught onto his sudden nervousness as he stood in front of the cadets, Stone wasn't anywhere in sight. Though it wasn't a surprise.

"I understand that this will all be a big shock to you once I announce this, but the US Army is sending a new major to replace my command." The room fell silent, nobody could believe or understand why major was leaving them.

"Where is Stone?" Cadet Wuilger asks, everyone now seems to scan the room to see if they could spot him, Hayden shakes their head as they turn their gaze to Major

"I'll find him, Major" Hayden states, with a salute

"Very well." Major replies, saluting them back before they both drop them, they start scanning backrooms and the whole ROTC building itself. A few minutes of searching had brought them down to one of the janitor rooms, and not surprisingly they found him

"Cadet Stone."

He was sat comfortably in the corner by the mops and buckets, his head resting on his knees as he slightly shifted from the small noise, he was seeming to be.. Waking up? Had he really been napping when Major had declared his resignation?

"It's Staff Sergeant or Sir to you, Dawson." Stone grumbled as he pushes the buckets away from him

"I'm the same rank as you." Hayden lashes back

"Sure you are, but I'm older and have been in longer. I'm your Platoon Commander." Stone explains with more grumbles as he struggles to stand, his boots getting caught in the mess.

"Major had an important announcement while you were.. Napping." Hayden explains, trying to hold back a smile as Stone struggled to stand

"Oh really? Was it that we needed to clean our barracks? Or is it safety briefs?" Stone jokes, as he finally pushes himself past all the supplies, and now standing in front of Hayden.

"You shouldn't take this as a joke ca- Sir. Major is leaving." Hayden explains as Stone's eyes widen for a second before narrowing as he shrugs

"Psh, whatever. Another major, whatever." Stone dismissed, Hayden raised a brow. It seemed so unusual, him and Major were close even though he wasn't a very good cadet..

"But you and Major seem so close-" Hayden was cut off by Stone pushing past them and opening the door, his touch always seemed to make their face burn

"You don't know anything, Dawson." Stone stated before walking out the room, before Hayden could walk out of the room Stone closed the door, causing Hayden to slam their nose against the door. They stumble back, covering their nose

"Son of a bitch-.. I hate that guy.." Hayden mumbles under their breath as they heard Stone snicker leaving the hallway. It was an odd feeling to them, they hated everything about Stone, but loved everything at the same time. Stone walked down the hall, hands in his pockets before going into Major's office, seeing everything getting packed, he never seen it so bare. He stared at his feet since Major hadn't noticed him walk in, looking down at the ground he seen a note that he had given him, a note to talk in private.

"Oh Stone! We were looking for you, buddy!" Major exclaims as he notices Stone by the doorway

"I noticed Major, Dawson found me." Stone replies, picking up the note

"He's such a good kid." Major smiles before seeing him holding the note "What do you got there?"

"The note I gave you last year, to talk about my dad.." Stone mumbles, staring at the paper

"Oh yeah.. Your dad. How is that going?" Major asks, walking over to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder

"Not any better, actually it seems worse-" Stone explains, tears bubbling in his eyes as his voice cracks. Major's face contorts into one of sympathy and sorrow, he hated seeing Stone like this. Stone's knees shook, the tears now falling from his eyes, Major quickly closed his door so none of the cadets had to see him like this. Just as Stone was collapsing to his knees, Major pulled him into a tight embrace, trying to comfort him.

"He... W-WoN't s-s-ToP..." Stone sobbed as his hands gripped Major's uniform

"I know.. I.. I wish I could stay longer.. But since I can't, promise me you'll take care of yourself, the platoon..." Major pleads with the sobbing Stone, Stone sniffles as he pushes away from him slightly, wiping away the tears.

"I'll do more than that, I'll win that trophy and prove to you I can protect and care for the platoon." Stone says as he salutes the Major

"And yourself." The Major finishes

"Yes, Major." Stone replies as Major opens his door, grabbing his bags. Stone watched him carry the bags outside the room as he seen all the cadets flood into the hallways to watch him leave. Hayden and most of the cadets were already tearing up at his dismissal, but Stone faced away, the promise and tears were a good enough goodbye. A minute had passed by and Major was officially gone, Hayden fumbled to get the letter Major had left for them their commander until the new one had arrived.

"Dear cadets-" Hayden read "I know that you are all devastated about my leave from this school, but there still must be a commander until the replacement arrives. So I am giving the command to Cadet Stone." Everyone felt their stomachs drop when they heard that Stone would be taking charge.

"Why would Major choose you?! You weren't even there when he said he would leave! You're never even in uniform!" Hayden yells as tears bubble in his eyes, yet it didn't phase Stone, he made a promise.

"You listen up, Dawson, all of you. Major put me in charge, I'm now sworn to lead and protect you as MY platoon and god dammit I'm going to do just that." Stone announced as the whole platoon fell silent, from that moment forward until the new major had arrived that's just what he did, everyone seen Stone as a protector. Still it wasn't very good either, Stone didn't uphold JROTC, everything was done half-ass and nobody really did what they were supposed to.. Dawson and his annoying second in command were the only ones taking it seriously.