Chapter 37- Undying Hate
The first few rays of dawn were beginning to rise over the eastern horizon, the sky a beautiful pink, orange and red color, a few clouds scattered along the horizon as well. But despite all of this beauty going on, what was going on within Catherine O'Hara's mind as she dreamt was terrible, a nightmare that she used to have frequently. Now brought on about the news Welkin Gunther delivered about a certain enemy unit they would face in battle soon. The Oka Nieba, what made it so terrible was because it was an event that forever changed Catherine O'Hara's life.
Catherine had a flashback to a memory of herself many many years ago in her dream, she and a young promising recruit were training together on a sniper's training field. Catherine watched through a pair of binoculars as her promising new student nailed yet another perfect bulls-eye from 100 yards away.
"Excellent work, Ellen." complimented Catherine, smiling down at her student who was laying in a prone position, pulling the bolt to her sniper rifle back and ejecting the spent cartridge.
"Thank you Miss O'Hara, you've taught me so much." said Ellen, sliding the bolt forward again. She was a young, pretty girl, with short jet black hair and emerald green eyes, a common trait among Imperial born people.
Catherine had personally chosen Ellen, her new student for two reasons. One was that she was an excellent shot for someone so young, and this filled her with so much potential. The other was that she was Imperial born, but had been risen in Gallia as early as three years of age when her parents moved to the more peaceful land of Gallia to raise their baby girl.
This being so, her enlistment into the Militia was tough. Being of Imperial birth and the fact that Gallia was now at war with the Empire, she was viewed on as a being possible threat, a spy perhaps.
Catherine, however did not see her as such, not when she was far too young to even remember the first few years of her life in the Empire. And not when she had such a strong will to defend her home, Gallia. Ellen knew which she'd call home, which country she'd fight to defend and which people she'd fight to protect.
That however changed, a few months into the war, with the Empire getting deeper and deeper into Gallian territory, a law was passed, which stated that for security reasons, all Gallian citizens of Imperial birth would be sent to internment camps. This law also banned all militia soldiers of Imperial birth from active service. Sadly, this included Ellen, Catherine's friend and student.
Back at the main Militia base, Ellen was being lead towards a military Jeep by a group of armed soldiers and military police. she was dressed in civilian clothes, and had a duffle bag over her right shoulder, the feeling of betrayal she had within her was beyond words. Her head was down in sadness as she was being escorted off base towards a military jeep by Gallian soldiers, but behind her she heard a voice.
"Stop!!, what are you doing to her!!" cried Catherine's voice as she pushed her way past two military police officers, a third tripped her and she fell flat to the ground and was immediately pinned by two other officers. More officers drew their pistols and raised their sub-machine guns and aimed them down at Catherine and towards Ellen as she tried to run to Catherine.
"Why are you taking Ellen away, she didn't do anything." cried Catherine as she continued to struggle to break free.
"Simple orders, she is of Imperial birth and must be taken away." said one of the officers, holding Catherine's head to the ground.
Ellen looked around at the officers pointing their guns at her, the same as if she were an enemy combatant and not a Gallian Militia soldier, she then looked down at Catherine with teary eyes, "Catherine…why…why are they doing this to me." said Ellen sadly, "I've only ever loved Gallia, fought for Gallia, I forsake my Imperial birth…yet they treat me like this."
Catherine struggle for a moment more, then stopped, "I won't struggle anymore…if any of you have a heart, then please… let me say good-bye to my student." pleaded Catherine. All the officers looked at each other and nodded and raised their guns up and away from Ellen and Catherine. They then let Catherine stand up and she straightened her blue, red and white uniform and walked up to Ellen, who was looking down at the ground, tears flowing down her small cheeks. Catherine's heart was breaking, but she managed to hold them back. She then reached forward with her right hand and placed it under Ellen's chin, and slowly she raised her head up until she was looking into Ellen's emerald green, tear filled eyes with her own bright blue eyes.
"Catherine…tell me why…" said Ellen in between sobs.
"I don't know dear…It's all wrong…" said Catherine, two tear drops finally falling from her eyes. She blink hard and held her eyes closed, trying to keep more from coming out. She then pulled Ellen close and hugged her long and hard, Ellen returned the hug as she cried against her shoulder. "Ellen I… I'm so sorry…" said Catherine.
The two girls then heard a gun cock back, "Alright, time's up." said one of the officers.
Catherine sighed sadly and let go of Ellen, she then quickly reached up and began to undo a chain around her neck, revealing a G shaped pendant with a red, blue and white metal background, G for Gallia, the colors for their countries national colors. She then placed it into Ellen's hands and closed them around her pendant.
"Sweetie, whatever happens, please don't give up on Gallia…don't give up on being a militia soldier, I know we'll find a way to change this and get you back, I won't rest until I do. I give you my word!" promised Catherine as she held onto Ellen's hands, even as she was being dragged away.
"I know you will Catherine, and I know that you and I will fight together again someday." called out Ellen as she was lead further and further away from Catherine by the military police.
"Yes we will, we'll fight together again, I promise!!" yelled back Catherine as she watched Ellen being put into the jeep, once the door was closed, Ellen moved up to the window and placed her right hand against the glass, the pendant was in the palm of her hand, against the glass as well. The jeep then shifted into drive and began to drive away loudly, Catherine watched in great sadness as her student and Best friend was taken away from her.
And as Catherine moaned and rolled around in her bunk, tossing and turning as her nightmare went on she remembered a few more months into the war.
Catherine was inside the loft of a warehouse, it was raining outside, thunder was clapping, lightning was flashing outside, but it was hard to tell which was which. Because at the same time tanks on the ground below were firing off shells loudly, explosions were going off left and right, giving off bright white and red flashes everywhere. Despite all of this, Catherine remained focused on her task, down below her, her squad was advancing forward in the streets below in urban combat. Her commanders tank was driving down the road, soldiers were moving forward from cover to cover behind rocks, destroyed cars, in the doorways of blown apart buildings and behind the commanders tank. All were firing forward at Imperial soldiers behind sandbags, up in guard towers and inside of pillboxes, they were defending a command post which was located in a school building a few blocks ahead of Catherine's position.
Catherine was looking through her scope, searching for important targets, such as those of Imperial officers, machine gunners, and other snipers that were the biggest threats to her squad that was moving forward.
"Catherine, second floor, third window from the right, enemy sniper." said a male voice.
Catherine quickly moved to the said position and immediately spotted an enemy sniper taking aim at her squad mates below. She moved her crosshairs over him and fired off a shot, the Imperial she hit fell forward, over the railing he was against and drop to the ground below.
"Excellent shot, dead center." said Catherine's spotter, patting Catherine on the shoulder.
"Thanks Lance." said Catherine, she pulled her sniper rifle bolt back and loaded another round into her chamber.
Another loud clap of thunder went off, but for some reason, Catherine could of sworn she heard something else. Something closer, so she looked over her shoulder, but saw nothing but wooden boxes, hay, blankets and the small lamp they had close by. She shook that thought away and looked for more targets, Lance her spotter and close friend searching for more as well.
"Machine gunner, straight ahead, pinning down our squad mates." said Lance, seeing two Imperials, a gunner and a belt feeder shooting at a large group of shock troopers hiding behind a large pile of rock and rubble.
"Piece of cake." said Catherine, she put her cross-hairs over the gunner and fired, quickly reloading. "I'm not done yet!", she then took out the belt feeder a second later.
"NOW!!" said a voice behind them, and from behind the boxes and also leaping down from the rafters in the rooftop came three figures, dressed in black from head to toe, all three drew swords from sheaths attached to their waist. Two of the black figures quickly rushed and tackled Lance from behind, the other charged at Catherine. Catherine quickly turned and raised her rifle up, sideways and blocked an incoming sword, swung by the assailant. She pushed the sword away, and hit her assailant across the face with the butt of her rifle and followed it up with a hard kick that sent her attacker backwards, crashing through one of the boxes. The attacker let out a loud feminine sounding grunt as she broke through the box.
Catherine then looked over at Lance, he was defending himself against the two attackers, but as he tried to duck under a sword swing from one of the attackers, the other attacker behind him sliced her blade across Lances hamstring. He cried out in pain and dropped to the ground, the two attackers then held him down.
"No!!" cried Catherine, raising her rifle to her shoulder and taking aim at one of the attackers. She then quickly pulled the trigger, but her gun let out a 'click' sound, empty. "No…" thought Catherine, she quickly pulled her bolt back and slide it forward again, but no cartridge came out. She had run out of ammo and didn't realize it.
Just then Catherine heard a loud, angry scream coming from above, as yet another attacker dressed all in black came jumping down from the rafters, face covered with a black mask. This person then crashed down on top of Catherine, pinning her to the ground. A small blade was then draw from her attacker and held against Catherine's throat.
Catherine sighed in defeat and closed her eyes, "Just…make it quick…" pleaded Catherine.
But much to her surprise, a female began to giggle over and over again, followed by, "I win again Catherine O'Hara, you never were good at close quarters battles. You also never remember to keep track of your bullets." said a familiar voice. This made Catherine's heart come to a grinding halt and she quickly opened her eyes. Her attacker was still on top of her, mask still on her face, but… through the slit between the mouth and head was a pair of emerald, green eyes.
"E-Ellen??" asked Catherine, her heart was now beating at a million miles an hour.
Her attacker nodded, reached up and quickly removed her facemask and it was indeed Ellen, her black haired, emerald green eyed best friend and former student, looking down at her.
"Ellen…wha…" stammered Catherine, too surprised and shocked to say anything.
"Wow…who'd of thought that we'd meet up like this huh??" said Ellen, moving back and sitting on top of Catherine's chest, her wrists pinned by Ellen's knees as she remained sitting on top of Catherine.
"Ellen…" said Catherine once again, but she was still too shocked and surprised to say anything else.
"You lied to me." said Ellen coldly, "You promised that you would come find me."
"Sweetie…I tried, I tried very very hard, but they wouldn't tell me anything. Not where you went, not where you were taken, nothing." replied Catherine. She could now see, on Ellen's right arm, a red armband, with the Imperial crest on it.
"She did, from the moment you were taken, Catherine searched everywhere for you. She rarely slept, rarely ate and worked herself to pure exhaustion looking everyday." added Lance, who was now being held prisoner by the two other, now obviously female masked soldiers.
"Is he still here??" asked Ellen, looking up at Lance angrily. She then looked up at the two other Soldiers and preformed a kill him gesture by sliding her thumb across her throat with her right hand.
Catherine looked up, which from her position, allowed her to see Lance behind her, but upside down. "Ellen, no STOP!!" cried Catherine, but too late as one of the female soldiers quickly ran her blade across Lance's throat, a fountain of blood came pouring out as he gurgled blood for a moment, then closed his eye's and slumped forward, dead before he even his the ground, blood starting to pool around his body.
Catherine closed her eyes and screamed in rage and anguish.
"How does it feel??" asked Ellen, "To helplessly watch as someone you love is killed before your very eyes??"
"ELLEN!!" screamed Catherine, glaring daggers at Ellen, still sitting on top of her, "why are you doing this??, why have you become like this??"
Ellen glared back at Catherine just as strongly, "Losing my Imperial friends and family isn't reason enough?!?" growled Ellen, some spit and saliva coming out of her mouth and hitting Catherine in the face.
Catherine's anger disappeared for a moment, replaced by shock, "Wha…Ellen, tell me… Wha-what happened to your family??"
Ellen rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Tsk…you don't know anything do you??" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in anger, her eyes burning with anger "Typical of someone from Gallia!!"
Catherine gasped, "What do you mean, your from Gallia, you are Gallian…" said Catherine
"No, I had the honour of being of Imperial birth, I was too young to realize what I had given up when my parents moved here. Nor was I given the option of staying, I went with them and it cost me everything." said Ellen.
Catherine could not believe what she was hearing, this coming from her former student, who gladly signed up to fight for Gallia and defend her home and friends from the Empire without any sort of delay.
Ellen then sighed, her anger level dropping, "Catherine... for the fond memories of us I have, I'll give you this one chance." said Ellen, "I want you to leave the military, otherwise… I'll kill you" said Ellen, rather calmly.
Catherine's eyes opened wide in surprise, then sadness. "Ellen, tell me, why…why have you joined the Imperial forces??" asked Catherine.
Ellen sighed once again, long and loud, "You really have no idea do you??" asked Ellen, Catherine shook her head. "The camp my parents were sent to, it was a death camp. They rounded up any Imperials who participated in Imperial rallies. Turns out they found my parents names on that list of participants from our hometown. Truth be told, they never attended any rally in person, rather signed their names for much needed food and other provisions which weren't being given out by Gallia, because they were Imperial born…so in exchange for signing a clipboard. They were giving food and everything they needed by Imperial merchants.
For that simple act, they were executed, without pity or mercy by Gallian forces. And I was left to rot in a Gallian interment camp, all the while thinking 'Catherine will get me out of here, Catherine will get me out of here.' over and over again." explained Ellen
"Ellen…I had no idea." replied Catherine, shocked and appalled by what she heard.
"Of course you didn't" said Ellen, "You have this image in your head that your Gallia is beautiful, peaceful, could never do any wrong, while we Imperials are blood thirsty monsters out to kill Gallians." said Ellen, glaring down at Catherine.
"Sweetie…I'm so sorry about your parents and what happened to you…" said Catherine, lost for any other words.
"I waited…waited so long for you." said Ellen angrily, "But another group of Imperial born Gallian militia soldiers like myself turned out to be the one's to help me escape from that camp. Together we hatched a plan and broke free from that place, but not without great sacrifice… a lot of good people died to help the few of us escape. My company here are among the few of those who did escape.", Ellen was gesturing to the few other masked soldiers with her.
"Ellen I-" started Catherine
"Enough, as much as I hate you for abandoning me, I still remember you once believe in me when no one else would and treated me so kindly..." said Ellen, closing her eyes and smiling slightly as she remembered the once good times she had with Catherine, but her expressions quickly changed to anger again "So that earns you this one chance, leave the military now and never come back. Otherwise, you'll regret it and you'll be hunted by us…and I'll know if you've left or not, because I created this group that hunts only snipers...The Oka Nieba."
Ellen then sheathed her small sword and got off of Catherine, her comrades putting their swords and daggers away as well. All 4 of them proceeded to the large, square window nearby. The other three masked female soldiers climbed the window sill and leaped down in an acrobatic flip one after the other out the window to the nearby rooftop of the next building below. Ellen was the last one still standing on the sill, she sighed once moe and turned and faced Cathrine, who was slowly crawling towards Lance on her stomach.
"Remember what I said Catherine, so long ago." asked Ellen, "I said that 'I know that you and I will fight together again some day', well it looks like it was true... in a way…not the way I had hoped."
Catherine reached Lance and slowly placed her hand on top his head, running hear hand down the back of his hair as tears streamed down her face as she mourned the loss of her friend she was unable to save, due to running out of ammo. She then looked at Ellen with such sad eyes, "Ellen, don't do this, you're my friend…"
"Enough!!, Leave the military, otherwise the next time we meet I won't hold back!!" warned Ellen before she leapt out the window and disappeared from sight.
"ELLEN!!" cried Catherine, hand stretched out towards the window sill where Ellen once was.
Catherine was then being shook awoke by a few concerned female soldiers from squad 7, who included, Aika Thompson, Juno Coren, Dallas Wyatt and Audrey Heitinga.
"Miss O'Hara!, are you alright!" asked Dallas, a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah, we all heard you, you sounded like you were in some sort of distress…" said Juno, worried as well.
Catherine finally sat up in her own bed, her face covered in cold sweat, her skin cold and clammy as well. And without saying a word, she got up and moved past everyone and rushed to the bathroom. Once she was there she went to one of the nearby sinks and splashed some cold water on her face, running some cold water through her hair with her hands as well.
She then looked at her reflection and was breathing in and out slowly, trying to calm herself after remembering those terrible past events.
"Is she still in that unit…am I going to have to fight my old friend tomorrow again??" thought Catherine, looking at her reflection the entire time, which seemed to suddenly change into Ellen's, complete with black hair, green emerald eyes before she blinked that reflection away and hung her head low, releasing a long, sad sigh.
Hmmm...Is this too dark??, Perhaps Cliche??, or do I dare say...CHEESY!!, hey, alittle cheese never hurt anyone...unless your lactose intolerant. I'm kind of so-so on this one...what do ya think readers??. oh and "italics" cap is usually used in dream, flashback, memory so thought I'd use that to help.