Silver with a Heart of Gold

Chapter 3 - Scolding the Innocent

"You know, I never pictured you as the fighting type." Nanaba ran a calloused finger across a bandage wrapped around Ailynn's swollen hip. "After all, nurses aren't permitted to fight. Why did you try?"

Ailynn sat slumped in a scratched wooden chair beside Nanaba, her head low and posture bent. The images of all of those corpses - her comrades, friends and people she regarded as family. All were dead. And Dara...

"Ailynn?" Nanaba's sweet voice guided Ailynn's wandering thoughts back to the current reality.

"Oh. I, uh. I thought I could do it." Her head hung lower in shame. "It was naiive and
selfish of me but I needed that revenge. That beast murdered my entire squadron. How would you think I should have reacted? Forgive the damned thing with a box of biscuits and a cup of tea? You would have done the same thing."

"Because I'm a soldier. You're a nurse. You're apart of the valuable medical squadron. We can't let you just sacrifice yourself like that." Nanaba's patching grew rough as she harshly tugged at Ailynn's hip-bandage seemingly irritated.

"I almost made the final blow! I would have been fine if..." A mighty knock at the door of Ailynn's quarters startled and silenced the two young women. Erwin's broad figure revealed itself from the shadows of the door. Ailynn's heart stopped, making her skin grow pale.

"I should go." Nanaba had already packed up the medicine bag and snuck away through the gap of Erwin and the door.

"What the hell were you doing out there? Medics do not fight. Especially nurses." His voice boomed as if he were making an announcement to the entire Scouting Legion.

Ailynn tensed her jaw and felt her teeth press hardly against one another. Her frustration was now at boiling point. "I would have died if I didn't fight, uncle." She spat.

He let out a sharp sigh. "All eyes were on you Ailynn. My top soldiers where all there to protect you. You wouldn't have died."

It seemed Erwin couldn't get it past his thick head that his niece was grown now, and was capable of making her own decisions - whether terrible or somewhat acceptable.

"You are going to have to let me go one of these days or another. I'm not the weak medical student you knew all of those years ago. I'm an adult now - a Scout. Its my job to protect people. Not to sit back and watch them die." She spat out her words and felt the anger and grief mix up inside. More tears ran down her face but she stood her ground. If the two shared any trait besides their eyes, it was their stubbornness.

Erwin stared at her, his eyes wide and confused. Visions of his late sister began to settle in. Ailynn was the perfect mirror of her. She never backed down until she heard what she thought was right. She fought with all she had to make a change - until it got her killed. He shook his head. "You're a nurse, not a Scout. And its my job to protect you. You know your mother wouldn't want you to fall for the same mistakes she did. She..."

"You leave my mother out of this!" Ailynn barked lowly at her uncle. Her eyes had grown red and swollen with tears. Her mother was her role model - her idol. A strong woman with a push for change. Janie Bareck was the reason women were allowed much more freedom in all regiments. Nowadays they could fight, heal and teach - all without being discriminated on by the men.

Erwin fell silent. He had gone too far - once again. "Ailynn... I just want you to be safe." He paused, not being used to expressing his true feelings to anyone. With a huff, he opened his mouth to speak once again. "It pains me to think about what happened to Janie. And you know I don't want that to happen to you. You're the last family I have left. And I'm all you have." His heart skipped a beat when he felt Ailynn's warm embrace encase him. She buried her face in his chest and wept, the cut from losing her mother still fresh. Erwin wrapped his arms around Ailynn's broad shoulders and rested his chin upon her head of silver hair.

"I know you don't want me to fight, but I need to. After what happened today, I don't think I'll ever be able to revert back to peace. I want the medics to be able to fight. If those who died today were given the training of a soldier and where permitted to fight, perhaps they wouldn't have all met the same damned fate." Ailynn broke the embrace and turned away. She wiped another escaped tear from her cheek.

Erwin gave her a slight nod. He thought of no words to say and soon found himself walking out of the door. His acceptance was not clear, so that was Ailynn's next mission. To prove her worth.