Skyborn The Divine

18: War

"So what is it like?" Alice asked.

She and Ethan sat in Ethan's living room. Both were focused on the large flat-panel TV with a 3-dimensional display in front of them. They were playing a video game, a shooter. Alice and Ethan were both playing the roles of soldiers, the screen showing the world as seen down the sights of a combat rifle. Alice sat cross legged on the floor in her street clothes, a pair of red jeans and a Sherpa-lined hoodie. Her Echo sneakers were off and resting next to her backpack filled with her workout clothes. Ethan lounged in what they jokingly referred to as "the throne", a microfiber overstuffed armchair.

"What is what like?" he responded.

She took her eyes off the screen to look at him. "Combat. You know, the missions where you fight and..." she paused.

"And kill people?"

She nodded. She wasn't paying any attention now, and her character on screen had just been shot dead. Ethan paused the game and scratched his head.

Alice had just finished her daily training with Athena, and she'd come here to Ethan's personal rooms to pass the time with him. They'd become closer over the past couple of weeks, ever since they'd sat together in the dark on the way back from North Korea. She'd begun to not only feel drawn to him, but to enjoy his company. She'd taken to staying late at ORIGIN to pass some time with him. Clawson still seemed reluctant to let Ethan ever venture out into the world, even though he seemed content to let Alice come and go as she pleased, so the number of places the two of them could hang out was limited.

But her reason for seeing him on this particular day was much more urgent than any other.

"Well," he sighed, "I guess Athena told you you're going to start going on combat missions, right?"

It was true. Athena had informed Alice of this new stage of her training only minutes before she'd come to see him. She realized he must have known because Clawson and Athena probably discussed this with the rest of the team.

"As soon as I get some training, yeah," she answered. She put down the bulky controller in her hands and spun around to face Ethan. He seemed to be looking at her with a pained expression on his face. Was it pity?

"I don't really know what to tell you." He shrugged. "On a lot of those missions, people shoot at you, and you fight back. You, ya know..."

"Kill them?" she finished, biting her lip.

He raised his hands as though to say he didn't know, and then let them fall in his lap. "Yeah," he answered. "That's combat. Life or death. Killing a terrorist or a soldier could save lives that might have been lost if that person were to live. That's why they send us on those missions. We're not assassins, you know? We don't just go kill people who are dangerous. We only show up when things have already gotten...violent."

She hugged her knees. "Does it hurt?"

He barked a laugh. "What, getting shot? I think it depends on what they're shooting you with, but I think most small arms fire just kinda stings a little. Nothing to be afraid of."

She shook her head, as though disturbed by an unexpected answer. "No, not us. Does it hurt them? You know, when you kill them?"

Alice regretted saying it as soon as it had been said. She knew it made her sound like a child, but she couldn't think of any other way to voice the growing knot in her stomach.

Ethan looked at her, his eyebrows knit as though he were trying to solve a difficult riddle. Then his face split into a beautiful grin, and he took his game controller in his hands again and unpaused the game.