Shun
The train car was packed with soldiers that were returning home, Dan and I included. The ride wasn't quiet, but it wasn't loud either; it was mainly comprised of idle chitchat about how happy people were that they could finally go home. There were several stops between the station we left and the station that Dan and I would get off at.
It wasn't an inconvenience to me, but my friend was making it seem like it was the end of the world. He wanted to hurry up and get home and see his mother and father again, to eat one of his mother's home cooked meals, to sleep in his own bed rather than a canvas cot.
It wasn't like that I didn't want to hurry back and be in the comforts of my own home, but I wasn't in a rush; I was going to enjoy the last few moments of peace that remained before life tried its best to return back to normal. I stared out of the window, watching the land fly past me as the train sped along to its next stop.
Trees shot by, sometimes becoming nothing but green and brown blurs, while other times I would catch a total image of the tree. As I looked out the window at the world that sped by, Dan sat next to me and suddenly asked, "So, you mentioned something about that Runo girl being worried about me? Not that it matters to me, I just find it amusing is all."
I rolled my eyes, dumbfounded that he hadn't admitted to himself the obvious. "Yes, she asked about you. And like I said before, she appeared to be genuinely concerned for your well-being." Dan tapped his index finger on his chin and looked up at the ceiling of the train car.
"I see," he said ponderously. "You think I'd ever see her again? I really don't want to, but I think it would be nice to let her know that I'm alive and survived the war, rather than worrying herself to death wondering about me," he said awkwardly, trying desperately to recover and make it appear that he didn't care for the bluenette.
I sighed and asked him, "Why don't you just admit that you kind of like her?" Dan laughed, but I could tell that it wasn't a true and genuine laugh. "Oh, please. And people say you lack humor at times. Me? Care for that stubborn girl? Yeah, right…..Besides, the wars nearly over and the North's pretty much won. I'm sure she'll hate us Northerners even more because of that," he said to me, his voice trailing away towards the end.
I pulled my gaze away from the window and shot a serious look to my friend. He seemed to be surprised by my sudden action, and backed away a bit. I told him sternly, "If there is anything that this war has taught me, it's that you should never give up a good thing, no matter how hopeless it may seem."
The brunette blinked in surprise, obviously not expecting the words of wisdom I had just relayed to him. He said to me, "These past four years have really changed you, haven't they?" I wasn't about to deny that the war had changed me; it had. Whether it was for better or worse, only time would reveal.
I nodded and told him, "It's changed a lot of people, not just me." Dan crossed his arms over his chest and let out a huff of air that caused his partially overgrown bangs to flutter. "Tell me about it," he said under his breath. I could see that the war had even changed my best friend. He was no longer as loud and obnoxious like he used to be.
He seemed to have mellowed out a bit, perhaps even grown out of that childish, immature attitude he had at times. There had been a time in my life when I wondered if Dan would ever grow up, and now that I saw that it had finally happened, I wasn't so sure if I'd ever get used to this new side of him.
But not everything could change about a person, right? Parts of their old selves surely would have had to lingered, just like with me. The war may have changed me, but not entirely. It may have made me wiser, even braver, but I was still the same nonetheless.
Or, at least, I was going to try and remain as much like my old self as I could manage. Dan leaned back in his chair and said, "Okay, let's say that I did care about Runo, not saying that I do. I'm just speaking rhetorically here. Do you really think going back into the South after all the events that have transpired recently? They didn't like us from the start, and I really doubt they'll feel any different now. It wouldn't be a good idea for me to go back there."
I sighed, finding that the only thing that hadn't changed in Dan, was his stubbornness. I told him, "Then wait till the bad blood washes away. If she means of any importance to you and vice versa, then time shouldn't matter, right?"
Dan shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I suppose…When did you become and expert on this kind of stuff? I mean, seriously?" I smiled and gazed back out of the window, watching the land rush past me once more. "Reality will teach you some valuable lessons in life, it just depends on whether or not you want to listen and learn from them."
Alice
The train docked in its station, and I found myself stepping out onto the platform. New York was quite the city, even for its time. The buildings weren't much larger than what I had back home, but there were multitudes of them everywhere, packed tightly together and creating narrow alleyways.
How am I ever going to find Shun in such a place, I thought to myself. I knew that the soldiers most likely hadn't returned this far North yet, so I had some time to go around the city and see if I could scrounge up any information about where I would most likely find Shun.
But that would have to wait till the morning, for it was getting late, and I was growing tired. I slung my luggage bag over my shoulder and walked through the streets of the massive city, passing by horse-drawn carriages and people. Their faces all seemed to be brightly lit, and smiles were found almost everywhere I looked.
Perhaps they were also happy to have the soldiers returning home from the war soon. After a few minutes of walking, I finally came across an inn that appeared to be nice enough to stay in; many that I checked out, weren't in the nicest of conditions. I walked up to the front counter and rang the service bell.
A rather eager-looking woman came running up to the counter, fixing her hair and quickly apologizing for the delay. I laughed and told her it was of no inconvenience to me and that I would like a room. When she asked me for how long I would be staying, I replied with, "I'm not sure. You see, I'm waiting for when the soldiers from Grant's army arrive back here. There's somebody that will on board that train that I've been waiting to see for quite some time now."
The woman smiled and placed her hand on her collarbone, making it appear as though she had been moved by my story. "That's so romantic," she said breathlessly. "Here, since you've been waiting so long for this, how about I give you a room free of charge until they arrive?"
I wasn't sure I had heard her right, so I asked her to repeat what she had just said to me. The woman repeated herself, verifying that I heard her right. I smiled and said to her, "That would be greatly appreciated." She smiled brightly and turned around, grabbing a room key from one of the slots, and handed it over to me.
"Do enjoy your stay," she said happily, "and I'm very glad to help if you need it." I thanked her for her kindness once again, then started up the stairs when I remembered something. I hurried back down and ran back to the counter, catching the woman off guard by my sudden reappearance.
"Yes?" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise. I drummed my fingers on the counter. "You wouldn't happen by chance know where the soldiers will arrive back at? Like, what station, day, and time?" She tapped her finger on the end of her chin and gazed thoughtfully up at the ceiling.
"Hmm. I've heard rumors around the city that they'll arrive at the station about three blocks from here on the East side. As for day and time, I don't have the slightest clue. I wish I could help more," she said sympathetically. Thanking her again, I let her know that she had helped me out more than she would ever realize.
I then proceeded upstairs to find my room, which was rather nice for a local and inexpensive little inn. The room was spacious and sported a bed and desk, along with a couple of wingback chairs. I placed my bag down on my bed and immediately hurried over to the window, where I threw back the currents, taking in the site of New York at night.
Windows were lit up with oil lamps, making it look like the life inside the buildings had suddenly adopted a way to show themselves.
Since I had no knowledge of when the soldiers' train would arrive at the station, I figured that I would have to make my way to the station as often as possible and see if when I showed up, they were returning as well.
But as I gazed out the window, I couldn't help but smile when I realized that I would be able to see Shun again without being pressed for time.
Shun
The loud screech of the train's brakes woke me from my slumber. I jumped in my seat, frantically looking around to see what was going on. I apparently wasn't the only one who had been startled by this, for several other soldiers were doing the same thing as I.
Dan, who had also been asleep, hadn't even been fazed by the sound. He still slept soundly in his seat beside mine. I shook my head in disbelief, wondering how he had gotten any rest at all during the war and during the battles that went on through the night.
But now that I knew that I was awake and that we had stopped, I glanced back out of the window to see if I could identify where were at. I found myself looking out into a familiar train platform, and it didn't take me long to realize that this was one of the main train stations in New York, and the very one that we had gone to when we were first shipped off for the war.
We were home. I turned around and shook Dan awake, which was easier than I was expecting to be. He looked around sleepily. "Huh? What's going on?" he asked with a yawn. I told him, "Dan, we're home. We're back home." He stared at me for a moment, then I knew when it registered to him, for his eyes grew wide with excitement.
"Are you serious?" he asked and pressed his face against the window. He then backed away and said with a smile, "We are back home." The train conductor stepped onto our car and said, "All that need to get off at this stop, gather your belongings and please proceed onto the exiting platform."
Dan didn't hesitate to get out of his seat and run out of the train car. I rolled my eyes, finding that Dan's mature attitude he adopted during the war, might just have been temporary. I stepped out of the train car and walked towards the storage car.
There, I asked the person that was handing out people's belongings to hand me my things, and to unload the horse that I had brought back with me; it didn't occur to me at the time that I really didn't have anywhere to keep the animal right off, but I was sure that I would figure something out.
Besides, I had grown rather attached to the horse that I bought off the hands of a total stranger. The storage manager let a ramp down in the back and disappeared inside the car, then reappeared shortly after, leading my horse along by its reigns.
He had also tied my belongings onto the saddle, so it was all bundled as one convenient package. I thanked him, and he thanked me for my service in the war, to return the courtesy. As I exited the platform, I began to scan the gathering crowd of people for my idiotic friend.
I didn't immediately spot him among the masses, and I began to wonder if he had just run right back to his home. But I continued to search for him among all of the others faces of people waiting for their loved ones to emerge from the train. I found it strange and almost foreign to be back home; the battlefield and all of its hardships had been my life for what felt like an eternity.
Suddenly, I heard Dan shout my name, and I eventually saw him waving his hands above his head. He was standing beside his mother and father, who he apparently had located in the massive crowd. I hurried over to them, pulling the horse and my belongings along behind me. Both of his parents smiled warmly at me and embraced me in a quick hug.
Since Dan and I had been friends for the longest of times, they considered me as part of the family, and vice versa. They began to tell us how happy they were that we made it out of the war and how glad they were to have both of us back.
"Where is he?" a raspy voice shouted over the crowd. I cringed as I suddenly recognized it. Before I had a chance to react, my grandfather emerged from behind Dan's parents, his eyes furrowed like always. They then locked onto me, and for the first time in my life, I believed that I saw his expression soften a bit.
But it was short-lived when he approached me and popped me in the back of the head with his hand. "What was the meaning of going off into battle without bothering to tell me? Do you have any idea how much worry you've caused me?" he asked gruffly.
I rubbed the spot on my head where he popped me, and noticed that Dan had a sly grin on his face; he was obviously enjoying my confrontation with my grandfather. I turned back to the old man and said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I first left. I didn't want to cause you any worry or grief with a goodbye."
He closed his eyes and said with a huff of air, "Well, what matters now is that you're back here in one piece." I smiled, knowing that this was the only way that my grandfather could probably show that he cared. Dan's mother clapped her hands together and said cheerfully, "We should celebrate the boys' arrival back home. They've been gone for such a long time. I'm sure you both would appreciate some time to relax and get back accustomed here."
With that truth being said, we began to cut our ways through the crowd of people, which was rather easy when people saw the 900 pound horse behind me. They quickly cleared out of the way so they wouldn't have their feet trampled.
But as we fought against the sea of people, I thought I heard somebody calling my name, so I stopped and looked out into the masses, but saw nobody that I recognized. Dan, his parents, and my grandfather all had stopped walking when they realized I had stopped following them.
Mrs. Kuso asked me, "Is something wrong, dear? Did you leave something on the train?" I shook my head and told her, "I thought I heard somebody calling my name."
I turned back around and began to walk with the others again, and we had almost cleared out the station when, for a fact, I heard my name being shouted. I turned around just in time to have the arms of Alice wrap around my neck.
this will be another two-part chapter (i can do that now since the war is pretty much over). read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~
