Tilted Axis

Chapter:9

Gon POV

    We stand outside the Colonels office anxious and hesitant to knock. "Well c'mon then mate. Knock. Your the one he wanted to see." Leorio says nudging me. "Piss off. Let me calm my nerves first alright?" I say quietly.

I take a deep breath before knocking on the door. We both stand at attention and wait for the Colonel to answer. When he opens the door we simultaneously salute. "Cadet Gon Freecss and Cadet Leorio Paladiknight, reporting as ordered sir!" I exclaim with a strong voice.

He quietly salutes in return before opening the door to us. "C'mon in boys. Let's chat." His tone deadpan and serious. I swallow hard and glance at Leorio who has a nervous sweat built up around his shirt collar.

We enter the small office that holds a common metal office desk strewn with paper work. He has filing cabinets situated behind his seat. He motions to the two chairs opposite of his seat. "Sit. And try not to be so nervous. I'm not gonna bite your heads off." He says cracking a smile.

We quickly take a seat and I nudge Leorio not to stoop over in his seat and keep his back straight. "Now Gon. You must be wondering why I asked Knuckle to have you come to me right?" He asks looking at me. "Yes sir. I haven't done something wrong have I sir?"

"No no lad. From the reports I get from the sergeant you are in the top of the platoon like he said. However." He looks to Leorio. "I myself am wondering why he sent you in as well."

"You must be one of the cadets that wasn't present when I was there earlier!" He says snapping his fingers as if a lightbulb lit up. Leorio nods. "Yes sir! My name is Leorio Paladiknight. I was helping the base nurse with a cadet who had gotten injured on the course. It's an honor to meet you sir." Leorio says promptly. He kept his tone level as to not show how nervous he is.

"The pleasure is all mine son. Now it's time for me to answer the question of why I wanted you here Gon." He steps out of his chair and goes to a filing cabinet and shuffles through it. "Ah damn it all. Where did that file go? I had it right here."

He shuffles through the cabinet for a few moments before pulling out the file he seemed to be looking for. "Here it is." He slaps the folder onto his desk and sits back down. "I know why you are here Gon." He says to me his tone serious.

   "Excuse me sir? I'm not sure I understand." I say shifting anxiously in my seat. "Don't play dumb now. I know you are here to meet your father." He says opening the file to show a picture of my dad, Ging Freecss.

   I feel a tightness suddenly in my chest. As if my heart stopped beating entirely. I look at him shocked. "Oh c'mon boy. You can't tell me you thought nobody would figure it out. It's as obvious as a land mine above ground!" He exclaims.

   "But that's not the point of why I came to you about it." He slides a hand written note to me. "Your father wrote this letter and it has sat in that folder for the last 17 years."

Dear Gon
So. You've decided to join the service huh? Not sure why you would want to do that. I'm sure Mito gave you hell for it. Why did you do it? For the honor? For your country? To protect your aunt? Or to see me? Perhaps all of those are your reasons for doing it. Well as you know I'm a four star general for the royal army. Getting to see me won't be easy. You may not get that chance. But if you impress those high up you just might. Good luck kid. You're gonna need it.
Sincerely, Ging
P.S. Morel will take good care of you. I also told him not to take it easy on you. Have fun!

I put down the note and look up at the colonel. "You know my father?" I ask intrigued. "I do. We have been friends for a great number of years. Joined the service just after The Great War. With his smarts and skills he managed to shoot up in the ranks. I'm still a Colonel but that's best for me. I couldn't keep track of as many people as he does."

"Do you know where he is?" At this Morel shakes his head. "Unfortunately not. Info traveling around has been rather tight lately. But I don't keep up with that. I've got enough to worry about." He says gesturing to the messy table.

"Do you know how many others know that my father is the general?" I ask. "I've only told Leorio." I say gesturing to him. "Well in that case, I'd say only me and him. Knuckle is a good man but he's none too bright. Guessing you would rather keep it a secret?"

"Yes sir! I don't want even more unwanted attention from the platoon. I've already got a target on my back as is. And sergeant has me helping Leorio to get into proper military shape." I explain. Leorio mutters something under his breath that I can't quite catch.

"Understood. Well in that case I'll let you get back to it. Try not to be the next injury on the obstacle course. I'd like to actually have a platoon by the time training is done. If I don't the other COs will probably get me demoted." He says chuckling.

"Yes sir!" I stand and salute him quickly. I kick Leorios foot to get him to do the same. "Alright then. Dismissed!" Morel says saluting us and going back to his work. "Oh one more thing Gon." He says as we are walking out. "Yes sir?"

He holds out the small picture of my father. "Want to keep it? It's only collecting dust here." I walk back over and take the picture from his hand. "Yes sir! Thank you sir."

"My pleasure son. Now go on and catch up Leorio. I suspect he's already out the building." I nod and leave putting the picture in my jacket pocket above my heart.

I exit the building to find Leorio sitting on the stairs hanging his head. "Fuck me mothers arse. That was stressful." He says sounding tired. "Hey it could have been worse mate. At least you behaved yourself." I say jokingly clapping him on the back.

"That's being generous. I felt like I was gonna throw up." He groans. "So guess that whole fact of your father stays between the three of us then?" He asks. "Well yeah. Like I said I don't need another target painted on me."

"Fair enough." He shrugs. We sit in silence looking across the base. From the main office building we can see the training field where cadets are still running. Only two have passed and the third is struggling on the wall. "I take it we don't get lunch until they are done right?"

"I doubt it. If we had to wait for the entire platoon of 34 guys to finish he wouldn't be done till dinner." I say to him. The platoon was 35 but with Wellsprin in the infirmary we are down one.

"Fair enough. Maybe sergeant will give us a fun training tomorrow after breakfast. Maybe we finally get some gun training in." He says enthusiastically. I laugh. "I doubt that. We've only been here a week. We got nine left."

"Then lets hope nobody has a major cock up and ruins it for the rest of us."

"Agreed. Otherwise our time here is gonna be even worse." I reply. I stand and stretch my arms above my head. "C'mon mate. Let's go rejoin the squad and get some water. Hot as hell today."