...Part 2...
Chris sat silently in the chair outside one of the Vale Militia's many psychiatric doctors inside a hospital in Vale with his hands resting calmly in his lap and his knee bouncing up and down rapidly. He wore his formal military attire (US Marines) with the hat resting in the empty chair next to him. Each soldier who had exceeded over 5 solid months in combat where to report to psychiatrists to complete a series of questions to determine if they were still fit for combat or more time away from the front. Chris hated hospitals. He hated the sounds of patients groaning in pain, the sounds of surgical equipment powering up to amputate a severely injured GI's arm or leg, and the faint buzzing of the florescent light above him. Originally, there were four others waiting with Chris outside the doctor's office and now he was the last patient of the day. From what Chris could tell, three out of the four were given more time away from the battlefield. How did he determine this? Simple: three left smiling and walking a bit taller while one walked out as if he were a prisoner on his way to be executed. Chris now sat alone in silence in the middle of the hospital hallway, alone with his thoughts. The buzzing of the light above him seemed to slowly grow louder and louder with every passing second before suddenly a new sound entered his mind.
The sound of rifles firing.
The roar of artillery leveling ground.
The purr of tanks and the treads rolling through the mud and blood of a battlefield.
The heat of flames from a flamethrower as it burned the enemy.
"You couldn't save her...you let her die...you failed her...you let her die..." a voice whispered in Chris ear, making him whip his head in the direction he thought it came from.
"No...I...I didn't know she was in danger," Chris muttered as if he was talking to the whisper in his ears.
"You let her die...it's your fault she died...YOU LET ME DIE!" the whisper continued, the last part sounding like a horrid shriek of a woman's voice that made Chris clasp his hands over his ears and wince in pain with his eyes shut tightly.
"Lt. Nikos? The doctor will see you now," a nurse said as she stepped out of the office with a clipboard to check if he was present. Chris opened his eyes to see a nurse standing in front of him with a kind smile and in a white nurse's uniform that almost seemed to make her glow in the light as if she were an angel.
"Oh...okay," Chris said as he slowly stood from the chair, dawned his officer's cap that covered the large gash scars on the side of his head, and made his way into the psychiatrist's office to go through the questioning. The psychiatrist's office was a relatively large one with a large window that overlooked the city of Vale from the top floor of the hospital with a large and, quite expensive, desk sat in the center with the doctor reading over various files and documents as he entered. The sound of the door closing behind Chris grabbed the doctor's attention away from a file he'd been reading and to the soldier. The psychiatric doctor looked to be only a few years older than Chris with short auburn hair kept clean and trimmed neatly, hazel eyes, and a pale complexion from hours of staying indoors.
"Have a...Wait, your still in the ranks with that?" the doctor asked as he gestured to Chris's eyepatch over his left eye.
"I have a procedure, if I pass this test, to get a robotic eye from Atlas," Chris replied as he lifted up the eyepatch to reveal his scarred eye that made the doctor wince and shiver in disgust.
"Yes, yes, very well...shall we get started?" the doctor asked as he gestured for Chris to take a seat in a chair adjacent to the doctor's desk. Chris nodded his head as he sat quietly down in the seat and awaited the doctor to begin the questioning.
"Alright, question one: Do you hear voices?"
'You let her die...everyone knows...even he knows...'
"No," Chris lied.
"Good. Question two: Do you hear sounds that no one else can hear?"
The rifles firing...the artillery roaring...the flames incinerating all in its path...
"Nope," Chris lied, once again.
"Very nice, you're doing very well. Third question: Do the faces you've killed haunt you?"
"If they didn't, you wouldn't be human," Chris replied honestly while the doctor nodded his head in agreement.
"Only monsters kill without remorse. I'd be worried if they didn't after reading your file and your confirm kills-" the doctor began to say.
"You have that list?" Chris asked with a hint of surprise.
"It came with your medical history and family background. I'm sorry about your sister, Mr. Nikos, she was a hero," the doctor said.
"Thanks, but what about the confirmed kills? What's the number?" Chris asked.
"Let me see...Ah, here we are: 67 confirmed, 124 speculated," the doctor replied. Chris was shocked, to say the least, to hear that large of a number from both confirmed and speculated.
"One last thing, lieutenant, and it's pretty important...You're a terrible liar," the doctor said in a serious tone and a stern look that caught Chris off guard.
"You expect me to believe that a man with your combat experience, time in battle, and those scars to actually believe you're mentally unscathed. I spoke with Grace, your team's medic, and she told me how you toss and turn in your sleep along with speaking. If it were up to me, I wouldn't even let you out of Vale. But my word has been overruled by General Schnee on one condition: you be assigned a guard," the psychiatrist said as he suddenly pushed a button on a small device on his desk to signal to the nurse. Just then, the door to the office opened and revealed a young fox Faunus man of about 18 with red tannish skin, black hair, and brown eyes. He wore apparel that reminded Chris of General Ironwood which probably meant that he was with Atlas. He looked authoritative with a stern look that went well with his uniform and rank.
"Lieutenant Nikos, this is Nave Fox-Croft of the 104th Atlas Marines. I've assigned him to watch over you when you return to combat. Now, go prep for the surgery to get your new eye," the doctor said as he gestured for Chris and Nave to head out of his office. The minute the two men stepped out into the hallway, Chris was stopped by Nave placing a hand on his chest to halt him in his path.
"General Schnee has instructed me to make sure you don't lose your cool out on the battlefield. So let me get one thing clear: If you lose it out there and jeopardize the team, I will put you down like a dog," Nave said as he gestured to his weapon. Nave's weapon appeared to be a katana-shotgun hybrid weapon, which definitely meant that he was no ordinary soldier like Chris was.
"Let me get my damn eye before you threaten to murder me," Chris said as he shoved past the Atlas officer and made his way towards the surgery wing of the hospital.
Nave Fox-Croft: ZEF the Fox