This follows on from episode six of season two; the greatest Strike Witches episode there has or ever will be (yeah, I'm calling it now), and stems from comments on /u/ regarding Sanya's reaction (you know the one). The title refers to the first card in a tarot deck, and his journey as told by the other major arcana; the Fool, meaning beginnings, but also faith in things and the pursuit of desires. That said, I have no occultist leanings myself; it's merely a convenient plot device.

The Fool's Journey

Chapter One

Eila stayed silent in Sanya's arms all the way to the ground, staring at her feet. The embrace felt a rigged necessity, the adrenaline high from their seemingly flirtatious ascent doused in an instant. When they landed she was the first to stow her Striker unit, heading straight inside the base without looking back, avoiding the runway victory celebration.

She paused in the doorway, looking back as hugs were piled upon Sanya and Miyafuji. The pain shot across her features for a moment; a grimace, and she kicked the wall. Sanya looked about from across the tarmac, presumably for her. Their eyes met, and Eila looked away.

In the mess hall Eila raided the refrigerator, setting herself in the corner with a bowl of strawberries. She ate a few before pushing them aside and fixating on the patterns in the wooden table's grain. Sanya was surprisingly fast to follow her inside, flanked by Hartmann. Both headed over, standing across the table from her.

Eila didn't look up, but she could feel Hartmann's eyes on her. This was one of those uncharacteristic bouts of seriousness that Sanya often claimed to be witness to.

"Eila…" Sanya's voice was oh so quiet. She sounded upset. Eila frowned and kept her eyes low.

"Sanya thinks something's wrong, Eila. She's really quite upset, and I don't like that, and I would think you wouldn't either." Hartmann took Sanya's hand and sat them down opposite Eila.

"I was hungry."

"Why are you being like this?" Sanya cried out all of a sudden, clearly on the verge of tears. "You're acting like you did when we first met!"

"I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Eila stood and headed for the door.

"What about the strawberries?" Hartmann eyed them longingly.

"They're off. Bitter." And she was gone.

Sanya moved to stand and follow her, but Hartmann placed a hand on her shoulder. "Give her a little while."

Sanya sat back down and stared at the table. Hartmann wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into her. Sanya rested her head on her good friend's shoulder. "Thank you, Erica."

"It's no trouble," replied the blonde fighter ace, helping herself to a strawberry. "Hey, they taste just fine."

Eila lay on her bed in the dark, staring into space. "Like when we first met, huh?" she whispered to herself, turning onto her side.

# Flashback #

Eila sat up in her bed and looked to the clock; there was time to do a daily reading. She reached over to her bedside table and snatched up her tarot cards, shuffled the deck twice, held it between her hands and paused.

"Give me the guidance I need for the day." She'd stopped saying please a long time ago.

Eila placed the deck face down in front of her, cut it to the left and restacked it. She paused again, then reached out and flipped the top card. Her heart skipped a beat, and she stared for several moments. This was a first and statistically massively overdue; she'd turned over the Lovers major arcana. Eila felt her face redden.

"I don't believe you." She turned another card, knowing she shouldn't.

The Empress stared her in the face. "Seriously, those two together?" she whispered, blushing bright red, knowing the combined meaning.

She reshuffled the cards quickly and headed for the briefing room. She'd be early, but she wanted a chance to talk to Wing Commander Minna before the others turned up.

"I'm worried about Eila." Minna's voice came from the open doorway, and Eila hung back in the hall to listen.

"Oh? Why?" Squadron Leader Sakamoto replied between sips of tea.

"When she first arrived she wasn't social, and I thought it was just homesickness, and that it would get better with time, but since then she's cut herself off even further from the group. When we're not on a mission she shuts herself up in her room, just coming out for meals or training, and has only the bear minimum to do with anyone else."

"I haven't noticed anything."

"That's because you're always working. And I wish you would free up some time to have fun with someone else, too."

Mio grinned from behind her teacup, ensuring it obscured the slipup. "Well, Eila needs to learn that human interaction is about giving as well as taking. I think she deliberately refuses to understand others. She knows she needs to be flexible, but she won't. It's arrogance."

"Oh, it's not arrogance, I'm sure... it's just how Eila protects herself. She's very lonely, but very afraid of showing her real feelings or opening up to others. It's not shyness, she jokes about when she must – she even groped me! It's something else. I wish there was some way I could convince her that she can trust us. I'm just afraid it would push her even further away."

"You should talk to her. You're very good at the motherly type things."

"You really think so?"

"I do."

Eila burst in. She'd heard enough. "Commander Minna!"

"Yes?" Minna jumped a little in surprise. Mio stared with an interested eye.

"Are there any new recruits on the base today?"

By the look on Minna's face, this was not a question she had expected. "Why, yes. Did your cards tell you that?"

"Who? An engineer?"

"No, a new witch. I've heard she's quite shy, so I was going to ask you to show her around to help her settle in." She exchanged glances with the Squadron Leader.

"A girl?" Shock flashed across Eila's features.

"Unless you've heard of a male witch?" Mio laughed. Eila didn't look like she appreciated the joke.

"You can't ask me to show her around!"

"Yes we can," replied Mio. "We're your superior officers."

"Please!" Eila looked desperate.

"If Commander Minna thinks it's a good idea, I think it's a good idea. It's for your own good."

Eila shot them dirty looks and stormed out.

"Report to me at ten hundred hours for guide duty, Pilot Officer," Mio called after her. "Dismissed!"