Chapter 39

"The first night."

"Do I look like a doctor to you?" Patchouli grumbled as Hong lay sideways on the operating table moaning from the wound.

"You fixed Captain Autumn's ass so yeah "Choolie" I would say you're a doctor until we get my bony ass back to Saigon for cold beer and poontang!" Sonu said as he shuffled along with a strange tin box.

Patchouli huffed trying to ignore Sonu.

"The bullet passed through your intestinal tract but personally that's not as bad as removing a cross dimensionally cursed object from your aura." Patchouli said.

"English please…Chooly." Sonu said as he shook the box.

"This should be relatively easy to fix." Patchouli said as she began healing the wound.

"Hey...patch me up Patchy…" Sonu said again casually patting Patchouli's butt.

Hong laughed to herself as a boiling rage oozed from Patchouli. Roy came in and removed his gear.

He sat down in one of the plushy seats on the side. Cirno followed him in and took a seat on the floor next to him.

"How are the wounds?" Roy asked.

"Do you want to see them again?" Cirno asked sarcastically.

"No…I don't." Roy answered as he closed his eyes listening to Meiling wince in Pain from her wound being healed.

"Those are some awfully big ass bullets Roy." Cirno said as she pointed to Roy's M14. The the length of the rifle towered over her as she lifted it to her side, the magazine was as big as her face. however as she stood there, Roy kept looking at her lower half wondering how the hell was he able to fit inside her tiny body. "You're lucky nothing broke off inside you?" Patchouli said.

Roy snickered at the remark. Sakuya walked in with a tray of tea.

The teacups were rattling a little more than they did before as she kindly handed a cup to everyone with a trembling hand. Roy noticed that Sakuya was sweating a little from having her first glimpse of modern firefights.

"You got your combat cherry popped didn't you?" Cirno said with a sigh.

"Eh if that's the way you want to put it maybe." Sakuya said looking at her hand.

"It's the adrenaline receding…it will go away later tonight." Roy said as he got up to hold Sakuya's hand.

"You can't see the bullets but you can hear them and feel the heat coming off of them...I'm so glad you guys showed up we were toast." Cirno said holding her stomach.

Sonu walked back into the room.

Cirno fell into a state of horror as she recognized the markings on Sonu's helmet. He didn't recognize who she was though.

"You're one of those pilots." Cirno said as she approached Sonu.

"Huh...oh yeah...well im the gunner actually." Sonu said.

"What happened to your skin why are you a skully?" She asked.

"Eh um…I have no idea…I just remember waking up next to some NVA officer in a cell one night, I can't recall." Sonu said.

"So correct me if I'm wrong but when you shot Eagle down they were alive?" Roy asked sternly.

"She shot my crew down…WHEN THE FUCK DID THIS HAPPEN...oh wait?" Sonu yelled angrily.

"When those things hit the ground, four men got out and ran towards the mansion two were pretty injured…I didn't feel like chasing them...I was more interested in the thing they flew around in." Cirno confessed giddily.

Roy didn't say a word as he walked past Cirno giving her a pat on the shoulder. Sakuya rolled her eyes as she went to follow Roy.

"I can't believe you Roy, out of all the lovely things you do, you decide a good strategy is to recruit an idiot like Cirno into the mansion." Sakuya said with concern.

"There are not a lot of Idiots with her intuition, she trained those wild Fairies how to use automatic firearms, she's a valuable asset if she can lend us her skills." Roy said quietly.

"Ok…I have to find her a room but I'm pretty sure Miss Remilia is not going to like this one bit." Sakuya Bellyached.

"I don't think Remilia is in any position to like anything at this point." Roy said scratching the back of his head.

"I'm sorry for what I did to him Sak...I hope you'll forgive me." Cirno whimpered.

Sakuya Nodded slowly.

"I will have to…" Sakuya said.

Cirno remained silent for the rest of the evening. Apart from the hostile encounters Roy had with her, she seemed more reserved and humble. After seeing, so much gruesome death by the hands of human soldiers and modern weaponry, Cirno felt powerless for once in her life.

Flandre found Roy in the Parlor twiddling his thumbs as he lay quietly on the sofa.

"Isn't it past your bedtime Flandre?" Roy asked shifting his head on the pillow to look at his watch. Flandre ran over to Roy and put her hands on his stomach.

"Why are the wild Fairies here Roy?" Flandre asked softly.

"They needed shelter…the bad guys were chasing them out of the woods with flamethrowers." Roy spoke softly.

"I've never seen so many wild ones before…everything is so quiet all of a sudden." Flandre said as she held Roy's hand.

"The calm before the storm." Roy muttered to himself.

"It's almost Christmas." Flandre said as Roy sat up to let her sit beside him.

"Oh god…Christmas…fuck." Roy covered his mouth as flandre hit him in the shoulder.

"Sorry...When's Christmas?" Roy asked Flandre with a sigh.

"Two days…It's just not going to be fun this time around." Flandre whimpered as she snuggled up with Roy.

"Don't say that… however the last time I celebrated Christmas…it seems like eons ago." Roy said as he held flandre upright.

Patchouli waltzed into the parlor carrying a Vinyl sleeve.

"Who is stealing my records?" Patchouli wheezed as she held up an empty record sleeve of Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow.

"Rhodes and Meiling stealing stuff from you again?" Roy asked stretching his arms over his head.

"No…it's either that little ball of ice or that blabbering bonehead who keeps disappearing lately." Patchouli said softly fearing someone else was listening.

"Sonu or Cirno…well I don't think Cirno's into records." Roy said rubbing his whiskers.

"Well have you seen Sonu around?" Patchouli asked.

"Last place I saw him he was touching your butt...no offense." Roy said dryly as he rose to his feet.

"He touched her butt…and got away with it?" Flandre gasped.

"For some reason he didn't feel like he was made of bones…" Patchouli said to herself.

"What?" Roy asked.

"Nothing...I'm tired and crabby and I probably need to go to sleep before I destroy something." Patchouli said wearily as she pinched the brim of her nose.

Flandre flopped back in the sofa as Hong walked in.

"Aww someone needs to go to bed." Hong said.

"Whoa I feel weird." Flandre whispered as she struggled to get up off the sofa.

"Sakuya doesn't like anyone sleeping there, you should grab her Roy." Hong said.