Battle Scars I - The Immortal

Chapter 6: Welcome to War

1

     After the ceremony, we went on with the day as usual, training, studying, and finally going back to our quarters. Hardly a word had been spoken between us today, there was a rather somber mood that hung around us. Finally, after many years, success, yet at such a steep cost.

     A and D had taken up their usual spots on A's bunk, while I had seated myself on the floor facing them. I still remembered a week ago clearly. Neither of them had brought up that night since, almost like it had never even happened.

     I cleared my throat.

     "I believe I never apologized to you all for my conduct that night."

     D looked up. "You don't need to."

     There was no spite in her voice. I had been trying to avoid this moment for every second, because I had fully expected one or both of them to address it to me. Or more likely because I believed they were both still pissed. I could almost feel that they viewed me differently, though oddly enough not for the worse. It was almost as if the sight of me brought a certain sadness to them.

     "But you were so angry." I pointed to D, "I thought you might fight me. How could you brush it off that easily?"

     "We couldn't and we didn't simply brush it off. It took a great deal of effort and fortitude, but we came to accept your decision."

     "Why?"

     D took pause, her and A ever so slightly glancing at each other. I understood both of them were about to lie to me.

     "You always have a reason for your decisions."

     "That is your all's response every time I ask you a question like this. It won't work every time and this time I want to know the real reason."

      A spoke up, "The truth is we think that what you did was for the best too. After thinking about it, we realized sooner or later this would probably start wearing on the both of you with deployments."

     Still a lie, but closer to the truth. Probably as close as I was going to get right now. That was fine though, I have something else to bring up anyway.

     "So, we all have call signs now and code names, but still no proper names. There's nothing to mark us as something more than property or assets. What would you both say to picking our own names?" I asked, looking at them.

     We all sat in silence for a moment. A shifted, looking at me

     "Well, I say that the man with the idea goes first."

     I felt a bit of heat rise in my cheeks, "The doctor always calls me John. I figure I might as well go with that."

     I was embarrassed by the simplicity and unoriginality of it. I had heard from the soldiers that it was a very common name in the inner human systems.

     There was another silence.

    "I think it suits you." D responded, then A nudged her, and she seemed to remember something.

     "Oh, I'll go with Amelia. I've wanted that name since I was six."

     "Like the high-power rifle company. It has a nice ring to it. That being said, I always liked the name James." A said.

     James and Amelia, I thought to myself. My brother and sister.

     I tried to smile, but I couldn't bring myself to. Somewhere in my mind, I wondered what name V would have picked.