A new front (halo x azure lane)

Comfort

Otto sat in one of the Pelican's seats, the seats beside him left unoccupied, as the other Kansen clearly avoided him. His breath was uneven, Takao's blood dripped from his knuckles, his eyes misty, and his leg wouldn't stop shaking. He didn't want to kill Z25. She was one of his people's fellow countrymen, and he had killed her, and he'd never felt so guilty about anything in his admittedly short life.

As he sat there, almost having a panic attack, he felt an arm wrap around him and pull him close. He recognized them; it was Nevada. She laid his head on her lap and stroked his hair like a mother comforting her son. She whispered words of comfort, and her voice was like silk to his ears. He began to cry softly, and mumble apologies, but Nevada just kept comforting him. As the flight continued, the other girls began to look at Otto with sympathy. It's not as if he had meant to kill the destroyer; he was aiming for a much larger foe, and she had jumped in the way. Plus, they had all moments of pure rage before. He's just happened to be during a battle, and it does happen.

Once the Pelican landed, the girls all shifted off. Nevada gently nudged Otto and got him to stand up before wrapping her arm around him and leading him away from the Pelican and towards the unoccupied canteen. She led him inside, sat him down at one of the benches, and walked off to grab a few things. Within his mind, various thoughts still ran through his skull. It wasn't long before Nevada returned, draping a blanket over his shoulders and placing a mug of hot chocolate in front of him before taking a seat across from him. "Hey," she spoke softly as he looked up at her, "it's okay. You were only doing your job, and we all have moments of rage when in battle or even not in some cases."

"But I didn't want to kill her."

"What about Atago? Did you mean to kill her?"

Otto squirmed uncomfortably at the question. "yes? No? I-I don't know..."

"why not?"

"I don't really want to kill anyone, but I also feel like I have to, to end the war, bring peace to my people."

"an end to justify the means as you would?"

"yeah, I think so, at least. I'm just so confused about everything. I don't know who I am or even supposed to be. I was built to be the leader of Iron Blood, but I was replaced, and now I fight the people I was supposed to rule. I do not know what I'm supposed to be."

Nevada nodded and sat for a moment to think of how to respond: "I can't say I understand, but you do remind me of someone. A person who was also conflicted with what he wanted to be."

"who's that?"

"My husband was in a similar situation to you. he wanted to help as many people as possible, but he also felt like killing his enemies was the way forward. It used to drive him crazy, and sometimes, after he returned from a battle, he would start crying just like you had."

Otto gave her a look of surprise. "How did he get over it?"

"he rationalized that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. that to kill his enemies was only helping bring peace just that bit closer. He felt bad, sure, but understood that he was doing so to protect and maybe give peace a chance."