Matt's Story

A New Plan

     "So now that we know the strategy for this 'battle' we can now fully plan our way out of this mess," Matt said. He looked up at Olia, who stood quietly against his wall. "You know. In full detail. And we can work out any flaws. That kind of stuff."

     Olia was still quiet. She stared blankly at a spot on the floor. Matt got up, stood beside her, and looked at the patch of floor she appeared to be looking at. There was, of course, nothing, but he smirked.

     "So, uh.... Is there some sort of fascinating stain that I can't see? Or maybe the floor is giving you answers?"

     Olia blinked once or twice and slightly focussed more. She looked sideways at Matt, a mixture of sadness, confusion, and anger on her face.

     "There is no stain on the floor. If there was, you would be able to see it. And how would the floor give me answers? It's a floor, Matt, not an intellectual, living thing."

     "What's going on? I've never seen you this upset. We have three quintents to figure this out before the battle. We need to focus now more than ever."

     "You've lost people, Matt. Your dad, this Takashi Shirogane you often speak about.... How can you go on like this? You lost them, don't have closure or anything, and you just go on making jokes... you act like everything is okay. You act like everything will continue to be okay, Matt, but you can't know, you can't see the future, but you know that the rebels are corrupt, that there is truly nobody except a puny group called Blade of Marmora to fight them, that we are about to go into a battle against who knows anymore, that we are going to fake our deaths... and yet you go on and act like everything is fine."

     Matt was taken aback. Olia had never snapped at him like this. He stood, a stunned look on his face as he stared at her for almost a full minute. Olia glared sideways at him and took it in. Matthew Holt taken completely by surprise. It was almost funny, she thought. He stood, his amber eyes wide and bright in the rooms lighting. His lips were slightly parted in a silent gasp. His now shoulder length hair now fell into his face. He looked as though he'd been punched he blinked slowly and, coming to his senses, closed his mouth and looked away. He turned away and sat back down at his desk, a piece of blank paper and a pen being the only things on it.

     "Don't assume to know how I feel."

     "But you can't deny how you act like everything is okay. Because that's exactly what you do."

     "Don't you consider that I act this way because I have to?" Matt practically yelled, swivelling his chair to face her once again. More of his hair had fallen to obscure his face. He had a deep scowl, but that was about all she could see. Matt felt heat rising to his face. Takashi would joke about this, talk seriously about it to him maybe, but he would never have snapped at Matt like this.

     But Olia was not Takashi Shirogane. Shiro had died saving his life. Shiro was gone and there was nothing Matt could do about it. Commander Sam Holt was also gone. And there was nothing Matt could do about that either. He felt tears streaming down his face. Turning away from Olia, he threw his hair out of his face and quickly wiped them away.

     "Matt.... Matt I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into me...."

     "Never mind. Let's just get on with this. Unless you want to add something else?"

     "I'm sorry. I just... I got a letter saying that my brother... that he and his wife...."

     Matt froze. He put the pen back down. He'd picked it up, expecting to write down plans, but it almost broke now. He turned back to Olia slowly. He opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't know what to say that could even remotely help. The words 'I'm sorry' didn't seem to be enough. It relayed sympathy but hardly anything else. So he closed his mouth, stood up, and walked over to Olia. He put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him.