Operation:Mythic Sky

Reality changes

Mark's POV
11:35
Day 5
Hereford base UK
It was quiet when we landed, Erik grabbed Ra, I grabbed one end of the body bag as Meghan grabbed the other end and we followed Marius down the steps. Doc, Finka and Caveira were waiting for us, Caveira took Ra from Erik and started off towards the holding cells as Erik walked with her keeping his rifle in hand. Doc and Finka walked over to us with a stretcher we carefully placed his body on the stretcher and watched as they brought it to the morgue, Marius walked with them to get proper treatment for his wound leaving Valkyrie and I standing alone on the airfield. I looked over "hey meg, let's go talk to Harry and then we can sit and mourn alright?" She nodded as the pain set in and I gave her a hug, fighting back my own tears "let's go" she nodded, remaining silent, as we headed to Harry's office. When we arrived the guards did their checks and we walked in, Harrys head snapped to the door "Shit, you already arrived. I wanted to be there when you landed but as you can see meetings bogged me down" I spoke emotionlessly "Craig didn't make it" Harry looked down "I was told by Bagram, I was hoping it was a mistake" Meghan spoke "we, uh, we got Ra. taina is interrogating him now" Harry looked back up before asking "what do I need to do to help you two?" I replied "we need time to go talk to his parents and attend the funeral" Harry looked at his hands "consider it done, take your time" I gave a salute before I turned and walked out with Meghan. She asked in a quiet voice "can we get some food? I'm starving" I nodded, completely numb to the world "Yeah" we walked silently to the mess hall, just using the presence of the other to offer some support as we got our food and sat down. I barely ate despite being hungry, Nienke, Alexsandr, Mark and Mike sat down. Mike seemed to be the only one noticing the haunted looks in our eyes since he spoke "lads, stop trying to joke with them. Look" they all looked at us until mark asked "where's Craig?" I spoke for the first time since they sat down "Dead" everyone recoiled as Alex asked "mission go bad?" Meghan shook her head no "we caught the guy, he blew up the door while trying to escape. Craig was caught in the blast" Nienke mused "you two sound pretty okay with it" Mike spoke for us "that's what happens when you see people die a lot, they're in so much pain they're numb to it" she nodded slightly horrified "oh... oh I see" I looked at the dried blood on my hands "huh, I didn't wash my hands" Alex asked "what can we do to help?" I looked up "make a time machine so I can have my brother back" he sighed as I felt some tears leak. Soon enough the dam broke and I was stuck balling as our friends sat helplessly, Mark patted my back as Nienke gave Meghan a hug since she started crying too. Erik walked in and saw the scene immediately coming over and giving me a hug as I cried all the tears I'd been holding for the last 8 hours. He whispered sweet nothings to me "come on buddy, let it out. It'll be okay soon just let it out" after 5 minutes of crying I wiped the remnants off my face as I spoke in a watery voice "thanks" Mike spoke "Son, if you need anything let us know" I nodded as Mark asked "why don't we all go back to mine and Mark's dorm and relax?" I heard everyone say okay or something along the lines as we stood and headed to the dorm. I looked at Meghan "you with me sis?" She nodded slowly "it doesn't seem real" I looked forward "it never does" she sighed "sometimes I hate being a soldier" I nodded as we arrived to the dorm, I was the last one in the room when I saw Nienke on my bed holding the framed picture of my SEAL team 6 teammates. I sat next to her as Mark started turning on the TV and most everyone else was joking with Meghan, Nienke stared at the picture as I spoke "that's my team the day before we raided Osama Bin Laden, the day before we thought we were gonna die" she looked at me "and you still went? Why?" I thought about it before I replied "Rob says it better than me so I'll use his explanation, "we're going for single mom who dropped her kids off at elementary school on a Tuesday morning and then 45 minutes later jumped to her death out of a skyscraper because that was a better alternative than burning alive because it's 2500 degrees inside and her last gesture of human decency was to hold her skirt down so no one saw her underwear as she committed suicide. She didn't want to do any of that, she wasn't supposed to be in the fight, we're supposed to fight that's why we're going"" she nodded "admirable" I looked down "I still have my death letter" she gave me a look of disbelief "really?" I nodded as Mark got Netflix pulled up. I leaned back grabbing my bag and putting it on my lap as I reached into a pouch and pulled it out, handing it to her. She carefully took it as Mark looked at me "what should we watch?" I replied "Tremors, Craig loved those movies" he gave a thumbs up and started typing. I looked over when I heard her reading my letter aloud "Hey Mom and Dad, I'm sorry I'm not coming home in one piece but we got him. By the time you read this, bin laden will be dead and I should be on my way home in a coffin or a coffee bag, depends on if Richie finds my pieces. I love you and I hope I made you proud, goodbye Mark" the room fell silent as the jokes stopped and everyone stared at me. I spoke "you tend to get emotional when you think you're saying goodbye to your parents" they nodded as Mark and Mike walked into our kitchen and nienke looked at me "why do you still have this? It's been what 9 years?" I shrugged "I don't know, holding onto the past I guess?" She looked at the note "you should get rid of this, maybe it'll help with the healing process" I shrugged "maybe" as Mark came back in with several bowls of popcorn and Mike handed out some of our sodas. We moved so we were facing the tv as Mark hit play, I handed the bowl to Nienke to which she placed it on her thighs as we watched tremors and then another movie and another. We spent the day watching movies and just using the presence of each other to get some comfort, it was late at night as we struggled to keep our eyes open with this final movie before everything faded to black.
When I woke up the next morning I noticed 3 things 1.) everyone was laid out around the room like a frat party 2.) the sun is obnoxiously bright and 3.) someone's laying on me. I looked down and saw a mess of white hair before I laid back and stared at the ceiling for another half an hour before everyone started waking up. Mike and Mark started laughing at my predicament, causing Nienke to groan as she covered her eyes. That got everyone else in the room to start laughing, even Meghan was chuckling, causing Nienke to sit up and looked over at the rest of the group on the ground laughing causing her to ask "what's got you all laughing?" Meghan got out while chuckling "you were sleeping on Mark" she looked at me as I gave a short wave "comfortable?" She turned red as we all started chuckling. I sat up "alright lads, let's get down to the mess hall. It's already later than usual" they sighed and started falling out heading to the cafeteria. I looked at Meghan "how're you feeling?" She sighed "it's still hurts like a motherfucker but SEALs don't quit and we don't sit still" I nodded "good idea, we're flying to Washington to talk to Craig's parents later" she gave me an OK hand gesture as she exited. I sighed as I stood and walked towards my closet, pulling out my dress blues as I stared at it before I put it back and walked to the mess hall. I sat down and looked around the table "how'd everyone sleep? Not you Nienke, I know how you slept" she turned red again as Mike replied "I slept fine, your chair is oddly comfortable" I gave him a look "because it's mine, everything of mine is comfortable, hell even I'm comfortable ask Nienke" she groaned causing us to laugh, Meghan looked over "Alright, alright leave her alone" I heard Mark "he couldn't, she was on him" I laughed "alright guys, relax if she turns any redder she'll be on fire" Alex spoke "you two seem better" I shrugged "I'm still in pain, but I've learned humor is the best way to deal with pain" Erik nodded "he's not wrong" I looked over at Nienke "I'm gonna work out after we finish eating you wanna come with?" She nodded still red "I'm sorry about falling asleep on you" I waved her off "not the first time I've had people fall asleep on me, it's fine" I spent the time we were working out looking at Nienke's ass or pushing my body past my limit so it was a good 2 hours. When I finished working out and set out to find Caveira, I walked through the base towards the holding cells looking for Caveira, I found her 15 minutes later "hey Taina, did you get anything out of Ra?" She nodded "locations, plans, names of members, you name it we got it" I sighed with relief Craig didn't die for nothing "good" she called after me as I turned "hey, I'm sorry about Craig" I turned my voice wavering slightly "thanks" time seemed to fly as Meghan and I were boarding the flight to Washington almost as is I blinked and we were here.