Malenya
Yurii: I got through watching 'Letters From Iwo Jima' before this…I cried, admittedly. God, it's a beautiful and powerful movie. Inspired from what would have been or may be a fan fiction.
Feel free to insert yourself in here, I didn't specify a name for a reason
Three months.
It had been three months since they'd last heard from her, and time seemed to drag by so painfully slowly now.
Admittedly, when Mr. Dickenson had announced that an army officer was going to be put under their roof and in charge of their safety, none of them had expected what they got.
Her.
The crazy, outspoken and somewhat trigger-happy feminist of an American corporal who had the honor of referring to herself as a soldier. They had laughed at first, finding a gun pointed at their foreheads in turn; it had been the beginning of a wonderful relationship.
She didn't look special on the outside; five-foot-six, Prussian blue eyes, brown hair, and astoundingly strong. However, it was the outside that fooled them all; as tough as she made out to be, on the inside, she was just as hurt and angry as they were.
The first week of her stay had been shaky to say the least. She was always challenging Tala's decisions, taking pride in proving him wrong, only to apologize for it later. She beat Ian at every game he'd ever challenged them to, she could outsmart and out-strategize Spencer at chess, and could even hold her own against any of them in a fistfight, starting with Tala and ending with Bryan.
The only remotely okay thing to come out of it was that the dog liked her. Blitzkrieg was a coward, even for a German Shepard, but he had taken to her as soon as she stepped through the door.
And, in a subtle, unnoticed way, so had they.
It wasn't until she had hacked into the Biovolt mainframe and discovered the whereabouts of their missing teammate that it started to turn around. When she had set out to rendezvous with the team that would get him back, she had refused to say where she was going. Tala had put up a fierce verbal fight, only for it to end when she punched his lights out. Right between the eyes.
Needless to say… he was furious when he woke up.
However, it disappeared when she came in with an injured but very much alive Kai in the passenger seat of her truck.
"I'm going to kill that bitch when she gets back…"
"Sit down, Tala." Spencer warned. "Pacing isn't going to bring her back any sooner."
The redhead scowled, resuming his pacing. Now, he was sporting a lovely bruise on his forehead where that crazy American had punched him, and it was giving him a serious headache.
As soon as Blitzkrieg perked up, he stalked to the door to throw it open and return the 'favor' given to him nearly four hours earlier.
"Before you kill me, Red, mind giving me a hand out here?"
He had whipped open the door, fist poised, only for it to drop in shock.
Parked outside was her truck, and sitting in the passenger seat…
"Tala? What the-?…god…" Spencer started, going silent again when he saw what had made his captain pause.
The American soldier smiled, pleased to see she'd done something right.
"Come on, let's fix him up. Kai wouldn't let anyone touch him until he saw you guys."
Tala had had a much harder time hating her after she rescued their comrade. All of them had been secretly afraid that he was hurt or worse…
To the others, she was starting to become a member of the team.
She joined them in their non-beyblade related training, not having one of her own, and in their spare time, tutored the others in English and allowing them to teach her Russian.
Their captain still refused to trust her, but she would earn it eventually, even though it would take a long line of events to finally find her way into his ice-imprisoned heart.
Truth be told, she was every bit as afraid of being hurt as he was.
"Dammit Tala, what the hell is your problem??"
"My problem?? You're one to talk, 'Lefty'!" He shouted back, earning a glare for the way he spat out her nickname. "You expect me to trust you after you barge in here and act like you own the place?? How fucking stupid are you!"
She narrowed her eyes at him, fists clenching.
"Do you think I asked to be stationed here?? You should at least be a little thankful after I brought back your teammate, you ungrateful bastard!" She yelled back, jabbing a finger at his chest.
Tala glared at her for all this worth, barely restraining himself from lashing out at her. As much as he couldn't stand her, he wasn't going to hit her.
"Thankful?? I find it a little too convenient that you managed to find him a few days after you join up with us! How am I to know you're not some kind of Biovolt spy??" He shot back. "And considering the condition you brought him back in, how can you expect me to believe you??"
Not wanting to continue, he whirled around and stalked to the stairs.
"Goddammit Tala, when are you going to stop acting like you're the only person in this world who's suffered??"
It had stung deeply when she threw that back at him, and even now, he couldn't help but admit it…
She was right.
However, he would continue to deny it until what they might have called Judgment Day arrived.
"Fuck!"
BLAM! BLAM!
A chink of concrete flew past her head from the force of a bullet hitting it, though she paid it now mind as she pulled two hand guns out of her shoulder holsters. Somehow, this 'Boris' guy had found them and had a squad of snipers firing at them.
They had taken refuge behind a brick wall, but the crumbling stone wasn't providing a lot of shelter.
"On my mark, we run."
A few more shots, then clicking as the shooters ran out of ammo.
"NOW!!"
The group had bolted down the alley, hot in pursuit by another group of Biovolt shooters. Shots rang past, most of them missing from their inexperience. However, one lucky shot sunk into her arm as they rounded a corner.
"Shit!"
They had no time to stop; one wrong turn had put them directly in front of a group of five or so snipers.
"NO!"
Gunshots were exchanged fiercely. .
However, as they dared to look, they realized not one of them had been hit. She wasn't so lucky.
"Dammit…"
She'd thrown herself in front of them, arms spread protectively, bullets lodged into her arms, legs, one graze at the neck and one in her bulletproof-armored chest. Her own shots had hit their targets, but it didn't do much good with her out of commission.
When they had escaped, it had been Tala carrying her back.
It had been two agonizing hours waiting at that damned hospital waiting for news on their brave comrade. Seven bullets, but she would be fine.
Much to their own surprise, they had all been a little more than pissed when the nurse wouldn't let them visit her.
Needless to say, it had been an interesting conversation they'd had when they finally were allowed in.
"Are you bloody crazy, woman?? Seven bullets! You could've died!"
She smirked weakly as Ian continued to rant.
Naturally, he was the most open about his feelings of concern.
The others were mostly silent until Bryan spoke up.
"Why?"
She looked over at the falcon, mildly surprised to hear him talk first.
"What?"
"Why do something that stupid for us?" He asked again.
A smile spread over her face, half-covered by an oxygen mask.
"You didn't think I'm just here to be your mother-in-law, did you?" She kidded.
The smile became thoughtful.
"Because I wanted to."
She'd gotten five looks of confusion in reply.
"I know you can all handle yourselves, I can see that, but that doesn't mean I'm going to leave you to fend for yourselves." She closed her eyes, the thoughtful expression becoming compassionate. "So long as I'm around, nobody gets left behind."
Those were the words she lived by.
Nobody gets left behind.
Tala had reprimanded her for making a hollow promise, saying that it was a stupid way to try and give them false hope.
She wouldn't speak to him for days, her feelings hurt.
It wasn't until one fateful Valentine's Day that they saw just how vulnerable and human she really was.
"Yo, Red, the mail's here!"
From his place at the computer, Tala stood up, stretched lazily and walked into the living room; he caught the pack of letters lobbed at his head by Ian.
Stupid kid.
"Oi, Army Bitch, you got a letter."
She snatched it out of his hand, biting back a snide comeback.
She still refused to speak to him.
However, as he turned around to jab at her silence, it died on his tongue when he caught sight of her pale, shocked expression. The envelope had fallen to the floor, and her hands were trembling as she read further.
"Nikita?" Ian started, using the nickname that seemed to stick to her like glue.
She said nothing and turned sharply on her heel, walking briskly past them, head down, the letter crumpled in her hand. They exchanged a few looks before they all settled on Tala.
He sighed.
"Fine, I'll go check on her."
He didn't even get to her room; the letter lay on the floor in the hallway, her door shut. Bending down, he picked it up and read over it.
We regret to inform you that Staff Sergeant Fletcher Jay Sampson passed away on February 3rd after being shot in action. He was pronounced dead at 9:27 pm on the way to the hospital.
Tala's expression softened.
He'd heard of this Fletcher Sampson before…he was her lover.
Going to her door, he raised a hand to knock…but lowered it again, not knowing what he could possibly say. Behind the doors, he could hear choked-back sobs as she tried not to cry; he felt so helpless.
He'd never lost anyone he loved before, at least, not like she had.
There was so much pain radiating off the forced-down crying that all he could do was turn and walk away to leave her to herself.
She had taken it so hard, the loss of a loved one; they could all understand that since they had seen their friends disappear as they grew up, but never had any of them been so attached to them as she was to the man she'd loved.
Given the situation, Tala had decided to swallow his pride that one time and apologize to her.
One and a half months, and already she had become a large part of their lives; she was starting to give back to them what had been stolen from them.
Their lives.
Somehow, she knew exactly what buttons to press to get out of them some of the things none of them had told anyone before, getting the burden off their shoulders. Even though they had been angry at first for it, it always ended with a feeling of relief and a tight but loving embrace from her.
Tala had been the hardest to get to, but it was after that night that he, too, started to see in her what the others saw in her.
"Are you always this self-loathing?"
Glare.
"Shut up."
She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Can't. You can't seem to either, and you're talking to yourself more than me."
God, he hated that woman.
"Don't you have something better to do?" He snapped.
"Even if I did, I think the matter at hand is more important." She replied, still calm.
"What matter? There is no matter!"
Dammit, why did she have to be so good at making him angry?
"I think there is, and it has to do with why you don't trust me."
He shot her a dark glare, stalking up to her and standing at his full height a good six inches over her.
"Stay out of my head." He growled lowly, delivering his coldest glare.
She only returned it and brought back that line that had made him think so angrily about her for weeks.
"Need I remind you. You're not the only person on this earth who has suffered."
At that, his temper snapped as he grabbed the front of her shirt, enraged.
"Oh?? And what would you know about it, you little brat?? What makes you think you can tell me that??" He shouted.
Her expression was surprisingly calm.
"What makes you think you can ask me that?"
His eyes narrowed.
"How many comrades have you lost?? How many times have you been hurt by people that were supposed to care about you?? What's so special about you that makes you think you can tell me I'm not the only person who's suffered??" He yelled, fury turning into hurt anger.
Her eyes softened, seeing the rage being replaced with sadness as he waited for an answer.
"More than you know." She replied softly.
Tala's grip tightened on her shirt, then let go. He hadn't admitted anything to her, and yet it felt like an immense weight had been lifted from his mind.
"Che. What am I telling you all of this for…"
He started to turn to go, but was enveloped in two arms and pulled against her, one hand stroking his hair.
"Because I know exactly how you feel."
As angry and brash as she seemed, under that tough Marine exterior, there was a heart of gold that had been brought to the surface, and it was starting to rub off on them.
Somehow, she had managed to become someone important to them.
Her selflessness didn't stop at them. She would occasionally disappear for one or two days at a time, leaving with a truckload of supplies, returning with it completely empty again. At first, they had assumed she was making deliveries to more isolated army bases, but when Ian had asked, she invited them to come along.
"Are you just gonna sit there, or do you wanna help me with all this stuff?"
It was more of a request than a question, and in a way, an order as she hauled another crate into the back of her truck.
"What do you do with all those boxes?" Ian asked, assuming it was a perfectly innocent question.
At that, she paused in her work, wiping her forehead. She couldn't help but grin.
"You wanna come with me and find out?"
He perked up a moment as she picked up another crate and slid it onto the truck bed.
"You'd let me?"
"Well, yeah. It's not confidential or anything."
"I'll get my jacket!"
Ian's simple question had somehow turned into her roping all of them into it, and two long hours in the car later, they met something none of them expected.
"Wake up, guys. We're here."
"Nnngh. Five more minutes." Ian groaned.
"Nope, sorry. Come on, get up." She teased, poking the younger boy.
"Fine."
She had backed her truck into an open door of what appeared to be an enormous garage, but as they looked around the mountain of crates, they didn't see the expected machinery.
It was a homeless shelter.
"What are we doing here?" Kai had dared to venture.
She grinned as she pulled down the tail gate.
"I thought Mr. Dickenson told you, when I'm off-duty as a Marine, I work in the Peace Corps. I deliver supplies to homeless shelters." The grin widened. "Although, I brought you along for a purpose besides helping with the unloading."
All they had to do was look down, and three bright, awe-struck faces stared back.
She smiled again.
"You're their heroes."
Even though none of them had ever really liked kids, it was hard to resist showing them how to beyblade properly and occasionally showing off by battling each other. She had been right, among the kids and teenagers of the homeless shelter, they weren't celebrities, but idols that they looked up to.
However…
It was her that they really saw as a hero.
The Peace Corps officer who dedicated so much of her time and effort into making their lives better, delivering the necessities of life as well as something else just as important.
None of them would be able to put their finger on what it was until she left.
As the newspapers continued to talk about the wars raging on in the world, a small breath of air came in the form of other news; the upcoming World Tournament. They'd starting training before the crack of dawn, and even then, she still got up to train with them, offering whatever help she could.
However, it was when that day came that they really started to improve.
"Ah, crap."
She got five questioning looks as she went through her own stack of mail.
"Something wrong?" Ian asked hesitantly, lest the letter be a notice of the death of another loved one.
"Yeah. Me and my regiment are being deported to Afghanistan in two days." She replied.
Silence.
"You mean…you're leaving??" The youngest member burst out.
"Sorry, guys. I was expecting this to come, just not so soon. It looks like I won't be around to see you off to the World Tournament."
Those last two days had passed far too quickly for any of their liking, and when it finally came time to see her off among the crowds of families at the port where the huge aircraft carrier was waiting, none of them was ready to see her go.
"Man, I'm going to miss you guys."
Nearly half a year had passed, and the annoying American they had so resented at first had become a part of the family, but with only one letter, she was being taken away from them.
It hurt. Deeply.
"I'll write you guys, and I want a response, okay?" She teased, though they knew she meant it. "I may need the morale."
Seeing the quiet, saddened looks from her friends, her expression softened.
"Come on, where are the fearless, invincible Blitzkrieg Boys I got an ulcer putting up with? You act like I'm going to be gone forever."
She smiled.
"Aw, cheer up. I'll make you all a deal; I'll sign my military resignation and return to the Peace Corps for good if you guys blitzkrieg your way through the World Tournament and win. Does that sound fair?"
They looked at her to meet her poker-face smirk, hand extended to shake.
"Deal."
They'd all shaken hands, traded email and home addresses (or in her case, the number of her sector and station) as well as words of good luck and encouragement.
She had all given them one more hug, some of them a bit hesitant but letting her anyway. When she got to Tala, they would wonder for the rest of those five months exactly what had happened.
"I guess this is it, huh?"
She could only offer a smile, a brave cover-up as to how much she was going to miss them. Tala shook her extended hand, letting her hug him and actually returning the embrace.
"I'm going to miss you all so much…"
Her hold on him tightened a little bit, but as she started to pull away, he held on.
"Tala?"
"Мы воля быть вместе снова, маленя." He replied softly in Russian.
Tala knew very well that she couldn't understand him, but it had to be said in his own language.
"Malenya? Are you going to tell me what that means?" She asked when he let her go.
"You have to come home alive and in one piece if you want to find out."
Those were the last words she heard from him.
In less than a week, they'd gotten a letter from her station in Kabul; apparently, there was a serious shortage of supplies, followed up by a few humorous jabs at the government.
Ha. The fine work of our government indeed. Nice going, Mister President. Somewhere in Texas, a village is missing their idiot.
As little as they knew about the American president, they laughed.
They had exchanged letters weekly from there on out, and for a while, it almost seemed like she was there again with her sarcastic remarks and twisted sense of humor.
Then the letters stopped coming.
At first, they had thought it was from a problem with the mail delivery, but as news of the war told of more violence and more attacks, dismissal became concern, concern became worry, and as the days continued to grind by more and more slowly, that worry turned into something else.
Fear.
The very idea of what might have happened to their little Nikita was too much to bring up… even when it wasn't, the person questioning could never finish that sentence.
None of them was taking it as badly as Tala.
Every time the mail came, both a slight flicker of hope and dread, it would take nearly an hour of him working up his nerves to see if any of them were from the army office. When she had been reported as missing in action, it was silent for days.
Yet another day was crawling by when someone hit the buzzer outside the gates leading to the house.
They exchanged a few looks before Tala got up to answer it.
"I'll open the gates."
As he came to the window and flicked the switch, he glanced outside at the snow-blanketed landscape, dreading seeing an officer with an American flag lest it be the one draped over a coffin.
What he saw made his eyes widen.
"She's back!"
It took only a moment to register what he'd said as Tala ran outside towards the figure hobbling up the driveway.
Even three months later, she was still their same Nikita, but this time she was decorated with four Purple Hearts and bearing the badges of a Sergeant. Even on a crutch to steady her splinted leg, she hadn't changed at all.
The same smile still adorned her pretty face.
"Miss me-? Oof!"
She was cut off when she was flying-tackle-hugged by Ian, who had somehow outrun his captain and thrown himself at the big sister he never thought he'd see again. Her backpack lay forgotten in the snow.
"I'll take that as a yes…"
Each of them got in their own greeting and the best hug she could manage with one arm, when again she stopped at Tala. This time, the sad smile was replaced with something else.
"C'mere you."
She gestured him forward towards her, but she didn't have to; almost immediately, she was pulled into a tight, warm embrace by the Russian captain.
She dropped her crutch, letting it hit the ground so she could return it with both arms, letting him hold her up.
"Tala?"
Tala held her tighter, almost as if he were afraid that if he didn't, she would disappear again.
No… not again.
"Not again…I'm not letting you go again…" He muttered.
Five months.
Five months, and she had finally come back to them, the same American soldier they'd grown to know and love.
It had been agonizing, wasting days waiting for any word of her whereabouts or conditions, receiving nothing, and there she was, right in front of them.
Like hell was he going to let go of her now.
"Are you going to tell me what you said to me before?" She asked softly.
Tala pulled away, his arms around her waist to keep her up on her feet; he rested his forehead against hers, his azure eyes locking with her own Prussian blue ones.
It was in that moment, it started to sink in finally exactly what that expression was when she had looked at him those months ago.
Love.
"Dearest. 'Malenya' means Dearest."
Yurii: Eh… I dunno what to think of it, but I liked how the ending came out. REVIEW PLEASE!!