Womble: I don't own Valkyria Chronicles...or else Faldio would have been a playable char (Historians FTW!!! :D)

At the beginning of the war, Ted Ustinov introduced himself with a barrage of jokes and a contagious smile. As the war progressed and soldiers died, Ted's unending stream of jokes and witty one-liners, complete with a waggle of his eyebrows, kept the morale of Squad 7 up far beyond that of the other squads. That and his perpetual grin. Even through the darkest days the squad faced, Ted remained up-beat and cheery, his smile never faltering.

Or at least that's how most people saw it.

Most people didn't keep themselves apart from the rest of the squad's interactions, content to watch proceedings from a far. Most people didn't have a vested interest in keeping a constant eye on Ted to be ready with a glare if it seemed he was going to approach her. Most weren't born and raised to be hyper-observant. Most weren't Marina Wulfstan.

She had watched Ted like a hawk from the first time he approached her and tried to get her to smile, glaring at him with such force that it should have been apparent his presence was nor required, or indeed tolerable. After the first few weeks of continuous clowning around resulting in no smiles and many life-threatening glares, Ted had toned down his interactions with her, keeping to short pleasant exchanges, rather than the stifling ones of before. Over time Marina had come to accept that Ted was one of those people who wanted, if not needed, to be friends with everyone, and reluctantly resigned herself to his unwavering cheerfulness.

Now though, after weeks of hard fought battles, and the grim prospect of trench warfare at Naggiar to come, Marina noticed that Ted's smiles were a little less...engaging, his jokes a little less snappy, his eyes a little less bright. Though it pained her to admit it, she was worried about him. He had forced himself into her strictly guarded isolation, past her shields and now she found that he was one of the few people that didn't make her immediately tense up when she encountered them in camp...unless it appeared he had a new joke for her.

*****

That night the heat was stifling and sleep was hard to come by. Running a hand through her hair in frustration, Marina decided that rather than sit and stew in her tent she'd take a stroll around the camp, let the night's tranquillity calm her.

A few minutes into her walk, her keen eyes picked out a lone figure, sat hunched over a rock a reasonable distance from the camp staring out into the distance. Even in the low-light of the nearby campfire Marina recognised the profile of the brooding soldier; it was Ted Ustinov.

Shaking her head at what she was about to do, Marina strolled over and sat herself down next to her comrade. Ted quickly lifted his head and attempted to shoot her a smile, his face and eyes lighting up in his usual expression of cheerfulness.

"Hey Marina! What's up?"

He was just that split-second too slow though, before his mask slid into place, she saw the tiredness in his eyes and the struggle with which he pulled his mouth into a grin.

Marina gave him a glare, letting him know full-well that she had spotted his slip,

"Ted..."

Ted sighed and dropped his head in defeat. After a few moments of silence, he turned to look at her, and Marina was quietly shocked at how weary and worn down he looked. His eyes were dull and his usual cheery demeanour was completely absent. As was his smile.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this."

Marina wondered if she should make some reply, but Ted carried on before she had a chance to,

"It gets worse every day, all these people expecting me to be so goddamn cheerful, despite the situation. Yesterday I heard Rosie and Largo discussing how important I was to the squad's morale, how I was almost the 'heartbeat' of the squad! And...and they said Varrot'd commented on how squad seven seemed the least fatigued, the most ready for action of all the militia squads, and this is all supposed to be because of me and me alone? It worries me, 'cause I'm struggling to hold m'self together at the moment, let alone everyone else. Being cheerful all the time's hard enough, but when people are dying all around you? I don't think I've got much left."

Ted dropped his head and stared at the ground. Feeling slightly awkward, but never-the-less determined to help, Marina tentatively reached out and placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on his back.

"You're not alone though Ted...or at least you don't have to be." Marina braced herself for her next words, anticipating some cheesy line and a characteristic waggle of the eyebrows from a stupidly grinning Ted, "If...if you want, whenever you're feeling particularly down...you can come talk to me. Just make sure we're no-where near anyone else at the time, we've both got reputations to uphold after all."

Instead of her expected reaction, a still depressed looking Ted turned to her and gave a short sigh,

"Thanks Marina. You're probably the only one in this camp that doesn't expect something from me whenever I appear, no jokes, no spirit boosting tale, nothing. At first I thought it was annoying, a slight, but now...now it's a refreshing break. Whenever I'm acting as your spotter I don't have to be the clown, I can just be plain old Ted Ustinov. I accept your offer...I think I'm gonna need these moments more and more in the coming days."

Marina was struck by the sincerity in his eyes as he spoke; here was the Ted that remained hidden from everyone else, the Ted where all the same worries and fears as the other squad members were allowed to break past his mask. And, despite her best efforts at remaining cold and aloof from her fellow militia, Marina could not help but feel touched that of all the people that Ted had gone out of his way to befriend, she was the only one he felt comfortable enough with to drop his mask. She nearly allowed herself a small smile at that, but decided that she rather liked this new mature, calmer Ted, and she doubted his reaction to getting her to smile would be calm. Maybe after the war...

Womble: Well, there you have it. It could probably do with a bit (or a lot) more work, but I've got nada. If you've got any ideas, hit the review button and let me know.