Traveling Solider
A/N I don't own Victorious or Travelin' Solider by Dixie Chicks. This story is better when listening to the song at same time but you don't have too. By the way this story takes place at the time of the Vietnam War in about 1966.
Beckett Oliver walked from the bench he was sitting on waiting for the army bus, carrying his large bag full of more army green clothes like the ones he was wearing along with some other necessities and keepsakes. He had just turned 18 and a day later been drafted. He walked in to a small café. He used to come here with his father every Sunday. He slid into their old booth and a pretty girl maybe 17 comes up a bow holding half her hair back. This girl was Aria Hale, everyone in town knew her, the mayor's daughter and the only piccolo player in the town, but they also knew her for other reasons she had a smile that could lift anyone's spirit.
"What can I get you, Beck?" She asked Beck
"Um… just coffee." Beck said shyly. Aria flashed that beautiful smile and Beck said something without even realizing it.
"Also would you mind sitting down for while and talking to me? I'm feeling a little low?" he asked
"I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go." Aria smiled. After that hour was up she came back and got Beck. They walked slowly down to the pier. Beck turned to her
"Aria I bet you have a boyfriend but I don't care. I have no one to send a letter too. Would you mind if I sent one back here to you?" Beck asked after about a half hour.
"No I don't have a boy friend and I don't mind if you sent one to me." Aria said smiling again she took her order pad out of her pocket ad wrote her address. They walked back to the café and Beck boarded his bus for California. Little did Aria know she would later wish she had never let go of his hand.
14 months later
Aria was sitting at home with her friends. She was telling them about Beck. She always did. She was 18 now and even more sure she loved Beck than before
"It scared me when the letters started coming from Vietnam. I guess the chance of him getting hurt just got more real." Aria finished
"Aw, Aria" Cat said
"You really love him?" Jade giggled
"Yes, he is so complex he actually thinks and listens to me." Aria says
"And we don't!" Robbie says in mock insult
"I guess we're too simple for her" André replied. Aria perked up when the mail truck drove up. She ran to the door. The mail man handed her a stack of mail. She flicked through it until she found what she wanted she ripped it open:
Dear Aria,
Glad to hear you are okay. I miss you. I carry your picture in my boot everywhere I go. Being over here is getting worse. But then I think of you and its okay. I think this is love. I can't wait to see you and hug you and kiss you. I won't ever want to let go. I'm so scared every time we hear pounding or bangs we think we are being attacked. I dream that the enemy captures me and tortures me telling me I'll never see you again. When it's getting rough over here, I think of that day sitting down on the pier and I close my eyes and see your pretty smile. I'll be home eventually and we'll get married and have a big house and the war will be gone from my mind. Don't worry I won't be able to write for awhile.
Love,
Beck
"How is he?" Tori asks after a few minutes of silence.
"I think he is going into battle! He says he can't write for awhile." Aria says tears welling up in her eyes.
"He'll be okay." Robbie says hugging Aria
6 weeks
Aria and her friends sat in a row at the local football game. Aria had just finished playing the National Anthem and the Lord's Prayer had been recited. Now the spokesperson said into the microphone.
"Folks please bow your heads for a listing of the local Vietnam dead. Gary Adams…"
Aria gripped Tori's and Cat's hands praying his name wasn't on that list.
A/N Here is where the story is slightly different from the song.
"And a local solider that is wounded and in critically condition Beckett Oliver."
Aria let out a sob and ran away. She went under the stands and sobbed. She was the only one that cared about Beck both his parents were dead. Aria ripped the blue bow out of her hair and threw it to the ground. Her friends came and tried to comfort her but it was hopeless.
3 weeks later
Aria met the mailman and he handed her a letter by itself first.
"This may help."
It was a letter addressed to her from…
Beck
Aria let out a cry and ripped it open.
Dear Aria,
I'm coming home. I have post-traumatic stress disorder. I was in battle and I was shot but I'll survive. But I feel as if some part of me is dead. I left to get more food and when I came back all my friends I had left behind were dead all shot in guerrilla warfare. I'm going to be home in a week see you then.
Love,
Beck
Aria took the rest of the mail and ran to call her friends to tell them.
1 week later
Aria sat at the bench Beck had left her at. The army bus pulled off and the second Aria saw Beck she grabbed him in a hug. But there was something wrong. The lights behind his eyes were gone and he was paler and clammy. He was right, part of him had died with his friends and no matter how hard Aria tried she would never get it back. Beck would never be the same and would never forget the war.
"I love you." He whispered and kissed her. She kissed him back and when she pulled away she noticed the cast on his arm.
"I love you too and I will never leave you behind!" Aria said "2 years ago we stood here and you said you would find me when you got back well here I am. And I don't want you wasting anytime "
"I won't."
It was a struggle. Beck was trying to regain his old self and Aria was trying everything in her power to help him. They were married, they had the house, it had been 4 years, heck they even had a baby girl. Beck was thankful for them and knew they were keeping him afloat, but Beck wasn't better he could never forget, because war had tattooed itself to the back of his eyelids. It just proved to him, war was never easy and war was never pretty and it was never good.
Hope you liked it and I'll be taking some songfic requests just give me a pairing and song Reviews make me happy.