Remember Normandy

Chapter 0 - The Grand Onset

6:02 am

That's what his dirt-smeared wristwatch read when his body slammed onto the ground. Gustave groaned out the pain coursing through the throbbing shoulder he fell upon, a puff of dust filled the air as he coughed.

"Well, Gustave, I am truly flattered at how well you've served us all these years," a man's voice resonated across the dim underground tunnel.

Gustave slid his hands under him and pushed himself up from the compact dirt ground. He only had enough strength to get on one knee before falling into a cross-legged sit in a haste. He looked up to his wrist and found how his priced watch, the only thing left from his previous life, had indeed shattered from his fall. His sour moment was further lengthened as a thick trace of blood now trickled down his lip. The man before him continued speaking, pacing around the tunnel as he did, but he paid little to no attention to him. Gustave was slow as he brought a hand up to smear the streak of blood off from his lips.

His world felt like a blur. Moving slow, distant, muffled, not grasping any sense of realness as he stayed there on the ground. He didn't know what he was here for, he never did, they never told him. A part of him felt like he knew, a part of him didn't. No, he did know, it was obvious what they wanted, he just didn't understand how he fit into all of it, or maybe he was wrong. Frustration brewed up inside of him as Gustave pulled at the matted hair on his head. All those years of isolation had left him with a muddled consciousness, barely able to recognize what he knew to be true and what had been fed to him as a lie.

But above it all, despite all the confusion and lost sanity, the one thing that felt real to him was the foul taste of guilt sitting at the back of his throat, even if he had no reason for it.

Gustave had been so lost in his own thoughts he didn't realize how the man was now towering over him, doing a slow clap as he approached him. A smug smile filled the likes of Rodrigue Allender as he crouched down and dropped his hands onto his knees.

"It truly has been the highlight of my life." Rodrigue chuckled, "At least for now." He pulled himself up again and spoke over his shoulder, "What's coming next will definitely defeat everything else that –"

"Oh, stop it," Gustave cut in.

Rodrigue turned back around, "So, he finally speaks."

Gustave used what little strength he had left to lean against the wall behind him. "You don't have to keep rub-rubbing everything in my face," he took a second to breathe, "It's done, just let it be."

Rodrigue sighed as he made his way back to him. "Gustave, my friend," he bent down again, this time much closer to his face and said in a whisper, "I know this may have rubbed off in the wrong way, but really, I am simply, truly, thanking you." His hot breath made Gustave turn his head to the side, burying himself deeper into the wall, desperate to put some distance between them.

"Thanks to you - to your honor and your sacrifice - we are here." Rodrigue jumped onto his feet and gestured to the tunnel with arms wide open. "And if that isn't enough to deserve such merit, then I truly don't know what is."

A terrible exhaustion took over Gustave. Despite his entire weight resting on the wall behind him, he couldn't help but feel like a large portion of it was still being carried by him. The exhaustion was so much that he seemed to be swaying back and forth now. Rodrigue let his arms fall to his side as he noticed the state of his prisoner.

"You may not understand it now, but in due time, I promise you will see this is the way, the right way, for the greater good of the-"

"Of what?" Gustave cut him off, "Of the family?" He chuckled at the thought of this. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that."