The smell of the sea assaulted Vincent's nose, waking him out of a sound sleep. Looking around, he found himself in a bed, drapes covering the sides and the front, enclosing him in a square of cloth. It was behind him that he noticed the circular window, wide open. This and the sound of water lead to him concluding that he was on a ship. He wondered what he was doing here, then the pain made him remember.
He and his unit had been ambushed. The last of rebels had been cornered, and using their full resources, they had captured a base with a missile silo. His unit was the right side guard of a mega-tank, when the mega-tank had been hit with the missile, damaging their unit as well. Then rebel mechs and tanks had appeared out of nowhere and attack them and the mega-tank. It was a slaughter. Vincent didn't know how many of his men had survived, but he remembered the Green Earth neo-tanks coming to his rescue, then blackness.
Vincent looked down at himself. He had bandages all over his chest, his left leg was in a cast, and his left arm was in a sling. He smiled to himself. He was whole. That was a gift from the heavens when you deal with tanks. Suzy Q had saved him once again. Speaking of her, he had no memory of what damage she took.
Voices reached his ear. The drapes surrounding his bed were pulled back, and a doctor and an Orange Star officer were standing there, watching him. Vincent knew who the officer was in an instant. He was Major Bendrick. He was the one who assembles the men for the medium tank units. He was damn good at it too.
Vincent raised his good arm and saluted the Major. The major did the same for him. The doctor looked at the charts at the end of Vincent's bed. "So Lieutenant, how are you feeling today?" Vincent looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I guess I should be happy I'm alive. I ache all over, but beyond that, I've got not complaints."
"I'm glad." The doctor looked over at the Major. "I'll leave you two alone for now. If you need anything, ring the call bell." The Major nodded and the doctor left the room.
The Major pulled up a seat and sat beside Vincent. "Lieutenant, I'm sure you have some questions you want to ask me." Vincent started to open his mouth but the Major continued. "Well, I'm going to give you answers, so all you need to do is listen." Vincent closed his mouth.
The major sighed, taking off his beret. "I'm going to be frank with you Vincent. I feel very bad right now." Vincent stared at him unblinking. "When the neo-tanks got there, the mega-tank was badly damaged, but still fighting. Your unit was thought not to be there until they spotted Suzy Q on fire, with you crawling out of her." Vincent blinked in surprise. He didn't remember that. "I'm sorry to report this, but your whole unit died except for you and Stan, and he's missing both legs." Vincent looked down at himself, clenching his teeth. "Also, Suzy Q exploded shortly after you were pulled out. It seems the fire caught her fuel. Nothing could be salvaged." The major stood up and turned his back on Vincent. "Also, I am to inform you that Orange Star is not making anymore medium tanks, since they think they can't be used as effectively anymore, so you will be honorably discharged, as soon as we get to the Orange Star mainland." The major bowed his head, and left the room.
Vincent wanted to scream, but he knew he couldn't. They betrayed him, just like he had predicted they would. He still couldn't believe it though. He had given up everything for Orange Star, and now he had nothing left. He thought of what he could do. He could try going back to his parents. He and his mother had started speaking again a year ago, though his father was still a stubborn old goat. He had nowhere to go, and he didn't want to spend what money he had saved on a house yet. Also, he was a soldier. He had some experience working with his tank. It looked like he would be working with his hands. Maybe he'd become a mechanic.
Vincent closed his eyes. He was already starting to feel sleepy, and he hoped everything would be different when he woke up. Before he fell into the abyss of sleep, he did something he hadn't done in years. He prayed. Then sleep took him, carrying him on its dark wind into the bowels of his own mind.
When he awoke, it seemed that his prayers were unanswered. They reached the mainland. He and Stan were awarded the Purple Heart and the bronze star for staying and fighting the rebels. After that, he and Stan were discharged, and sent along their separate ways. So Vincent found himself at his father's mansion gates.
Vincent looked up at the massive house. It was the keeper of all the memories of his childhood. He had spent so many hours wanting to get away from it, but now, he wanted nothing more then to go back inside. Unfortunately, he didn't know how his father was going to react. He had hoped that wearing his two medals and his uniform might impress his father, but he highly doubted it.
He rang the electronic buzzer, and waited for a face to appear on the screen on his side of the gates. There was no face, but a voice came out from the speaker. This voice was female, so it wasn't his father, and it was to young to be his mother's.
"This is the Derfail residence, how can I help you?" said the voice.
"Yes, I'm from the Orange Star military, and I…"
"You are not welcome here, I must ask that you please leave." Said the voice, sounding a lot angrier. The screen flicked on, and there stood a young woman Vincent recognized in an instant. She was Maria Calloway, the daughter of a good friend of his fathers. His father and her father had baited them so that they would grow to like each other and eventually marry. She had fallen for it, but Vincent hadn't. It wasn't that he didn't like Maria. She was certainly beautiful, and smart, and nice, but he was just to free spirited. He wanted to marry whom he wanted, when he wanted.
It seemed she didn't recognize him, with his arm in a sling, his head covered by a hat, and his body wearing the uniform. Maybe it was also because it was nine o'clock at night. He didn't know. Maybe it was because he had changed. War had showed him a lot of things, and he wasn't in the best shape as a human.
"Who is it dear?" another voice came over the speaker. This one was female as well. Vincent could tell that it was his mother.
"It's just a man from the military." Maria responded, glaring at him angrily.
"Well, let me talk to him dear." Maria's face left the screen and was replaced by his mother's. He noticed she had a lot more wrinkles and gray hairs, probably from worrying about him. He raised his left arm to salute, but cringed and had to salute with his right arm. He was left handed, and it was more awkward with his right arm.
"Mrs. Derfail, I'm from the Orange Star Military, and I'm here to brief you about your son."
"I'm sure you are Vincent." She responded, smiling. This made Vincent take a step back. He heard over the speaker Maria gasp, and in the background, a deep voice mumbled, "What did you say?" Vincent regained his composure in an instant.
"Yes it's me mother. The army discharged me, and I have no place to go. I was hoping I could stay here a few nights until I can get back on my feet."
"Of course dear. This is your home you know."
"I thought father banned me from here."
"Well, I'm sure he'll change his mind. Come right up." His mothers face winked out, and the gates opened. Slinging his backpack over his back, Vincent started up the driveway to the mansion's front door. He was glad that he only had a backpack of personal possessions. It would have royally sucked if he had to have made multiple trips, especially with his arm.
After what seemed a mile, he finally reached the front door. He dropped his backpack on the ground and rang the bell with his good arm. He could hear the bells ring within the house. He had always like his family's doorbell. It made the place seem a little less dreary.
After a minute, the door opened and Winslow, his father's butler, and one of Vincent's good friends, greeted Vincent. Winslow seemed to not have aged at all since he had left. "Winslow, my old friend! How good it is to see you! You haven't aged a bit in four years."
"Thank you, Master Vincent, and I hope to not age for a long time." Winslow replied, giving Vincent a pat on the shoulder. "I do hope you didn't have any trouble driving here with that arm of yours sir."
Vincent smirked. "I don't own a car."
Winslow looked taken aback. "You mean you walked here, all the way from the docks?"
Vincent shrugged. "I've had to go farther distances with even worse things on me then a backpack and a broken arm."
Winslow picked up his backpack and ushered him into the mansion, closing the door behind him. "Everyone is in the living room waiting for you, Master Vincent. The living room was moved upstairs since your departure. It's where the old painting room was. I shall prepare your old room for you." With that, and his backpack, Winslow left the entrance hall.
Vincent came to the staircase that leads to the upstairs of the house. He couldn't remember how many times he had slid down that banister, no how many times his father had yelled at him for doing that. He felt like laughing, but he knew his ribs were still healing, and he wasn't in the mood for pain.
As he was ascending the stairs, he heard a pair of high heels come from the hall that connected with the top of the stairs. Since he knew his mother disliked high heels, he knew it could only be Maria. He didn't know what her reaction would be, but he guessed that no matter what it was, he wasn't going to like it.
Reaching the top of the stairs, he turned to look at who was coming his way. Sure enough it was Maria. He was dazzled by her. She was in a white satin dress, with her raven hair in a ponytail and her neck adorned with an exquisite diamond necklace. She was absolutely stunning.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she caught sight of him. The two of them just stood there, staring at each other. Vincent was the one who finally broke the silence.
"Hello Maria, it's good to see you again." He said a little bit timidly. Maria didn't answer. Instead, she walked up to him calmly, and embraced him in a huge hug. Normally, Vincent would have appreciated the hug, but it seemed she had forgotten his arm. Vincent tried not to show that he was in a lot of pain. It was then Maria who spoke, with a soft voice mixed with relief and anger. "Don't you ever run off and join the military again! If you try that again, I'll find you where ever you are and tan your hide, got that?" Vincent nodded, and with that, Maria looked up and kissed his on the lips.
Not having been kissed for a while, Vincent couldn't help himself blush, but that faded when his father and mother came into view behind Maria. He almost had to pry Maria off his lips in order to address his father. Even then, she clung on to him, her arms like steel clamps. He raised his arm and saluted to his father. His father was in his old silk robe, smoking his ivory inlaid, mother of pearl handle pipe.
His father took the pipe out of his mouth and looked him up and down. "You've lost weight." he commented.
Vincent nodded. "What fat I had on me was lost or turned into muscle." In truth, he hadn't had that much body fat at all. It was just that his muscles weren't toned too much.
His father's eyes stopped at his medals. He bent over to look at them closely. "What did you do that earned you that bronze star?"
"I stayed and fought. That's all."
His father nodded, then extended his hand. Vincent took it and shook it, looking his father square in the eye.
His father turned away and started walking back to the living room. Over his shoulder, he said to Vincent, "Well, I see the military made a man of you. At least they can do that. Now that you're ready, I can teach you to run a business."
As Vincent heard this, he felt part of himself die. His spirit broken, he began to follow his father into the living room, with Maria still clinging onto him, and now with his mother scolding him for letting himself get hurt. Little did he know that a phone call would change his life.