Girls' Frontline Fanfiction: Tsar of the Mountain

You Shouldn't Have Trusted Him

"..." Zeldri stared up at the ceiling of his quarters. It was six in the morning and his alarm was set to ring in half an hour, but he found himself fully awake. Getting out of bed didn't appeal to him. The concrete that surrounded him offered no warmth in his daze. There was still so much to take care of and time seemed to be slipping away from him. It wasn't until yesterday while talking with Annika that he'd noticed...no. Now that he was alone with his thoughts he recalled this wasn't the first time he'd seemingly 'lost' time or the first time something happened that he couldn't explain. "...?" The back of his head started to throb, just like last time. He wondered if he would also be brought out of this by her words.

"Commander," Tsaritsa's voice came from his phone on the nightstand. Right on cue. "Are you awake?"

"...Yeah."

"Getting proper rest is vital, Commander." While it was the same Tsaritsa he'd always heard, something didn't sit right with him about her words.

"Is it?" he prodded.

"...Yes." Her tone was somber.

"I'm not that tired." Zeldri got out of bed and manually disabled his alarm clock. The throbbing in the back of his head started getting worse. Zeldri heard footsteps in the hallway outside.

"Commander!" Tsaritsa seemed worried. "Please, you need to rest." The footsteps approached his room and a knock came from the door.

"I'm fine." Zeldri intentionally ignored Tsaritsa's worries and approached the door. The throbbing grew worse. "Besides, someone's here to see-"

***

"-me." Zeldri was standing in the hallway on sub-level one when he suddenly talked to himself. The back of his head wasn't hurting, anymore.

"You, what, Commander?" Annika was walking next to him while holding a cup of coffee to start the day.

"..." Again, it happened again. "Annika?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"What time is it?"

"It's almost seven in the morning," Annika said as she checked her watch.

"...Seven..." He ran a hand through his hair and massaged his head. "But, it was six just a few moments ago."

"..." Annika didn't respond and stopped walking. The world seemed to stutter.

"...?" Zeldri stopped a few feet ahead and turned to look back at Annika. Her eyes, which were usually full of life, now appeared vacant and dead as she stared at him. This...has happened before? The pain at the back of Zeldri's head returned. "Annika...?"

"C̶o̷m̵m̶a̷n̶d̷e̵r̴.̸.̷.̷" Annika's voice sounded distant and was slightly distorted by radio static. This was familiar, Zeldri was sure of it!

"Commander!" And, again, Tsaritsa's voice came from his phone. "Ple-" Zeldri shut off his phone and silenced her. This was the first time he'd been aware enough to not fall for words of comfort. The pounding at the back of his head grew stronger. Heavy footsteps started approaching him from behind.

"Annika..." Zeldri wouldn't let this go and decided to test something as he stared into her vacant eyes. "How's the damage reports from Dream Eater and Revenant?"

"Revenant will be finished by noon." Annika's eyes instantly returned to normal, as did her voice. Zeldri glanced over his shoulder to find the hallway behind him was empty. Annika sipped some coffee before continuing, "Dream Eater will be the last ones finished, though that's mainly just A-545."