7th – I wanted to be the one
There was a distinct lack of eye contact in the mess hall this morning. Gertrud took her seat and studied her fellow Witches with a deadpan look; sure enough, none of them returned her gaze. Their breakfast was spent in near-silence, and when the meal was over, they all dispersed to fulfill their duties like professional soldiers.
Unbelievable. This is what it took?
Gertrud shook her head as she marched to Minna's office. No matter, she had important tasks to attend to. Paperwork needed to be filled out and filed; schedules drafted, supplies requested and reports sent. Ugh, the reports. She would've dragged her feet at the thought if she wasn't so disciplined. This was going to be the most embarrassing report of her career, and that included the Neuroi bug attack, and that time a third of the Wing wandered into Romagnan caves in search of some far-fetched treasure, and the incident with Erica stealing part of Lucchini's uniform…
…Really, what was up with this unit, anyway?
She knocked on the door to Minna's office and waited for confirmation before she walked in. Minna was at her desk as usual, already busy with one of two stacks of paperwork. Gertrud pulled up a chair and started on her pile. They worked together in amicable silence at first, content to focus on work, but when the time came for Gertrud to submit her own account of yesterday's events, she couldn't help a cringe. Still, she had a duty to perform.
She cleared her throat and handed over her report to Minna to sign. Minna eyed it with sheer distaste, and Gertrud sighed. "I know, but let's get it over with."
"…Agreed." Minna skimmed the report, signed it, and placed it in her outgoing tray. "And let us hope we'll never have need to speak of it again."
Gertrud doubted that; to her knowledge, something like this had never happened before. There would be an inquiry. "Hopefully they'll find out what it is," she said instead.
"Yes. And then we'll never speak of it again," Minna said primly.
Gertrud raised an eyebrow at Minna's body language. On the surface she appeared calm and collected, but working with her for years taught Gertrud what to look for. That twitch of her brow, the irate smolder in her eyes, the way her pen trembled in her tight grip...
Come to think of it, Minna hadn't looked her in the eye during breakfast either. "You have nothing to be ashamed of."
Minna's brow twitched again. "I'm perfectly all right."
"Look," she said kindly, "you had no way of knowing they weren't themselves."
Minna slumped in her chair. "They were still exhibiting strange behavior. I should have picked up on that at the very least."
"We were all caught off-guard."
"You fought back."
"I had forewarning. You, er, went for Erica first." She grumbled at the memory. Erica's response had been the most shameful of all, how she'd thrown herself at their cursed compatriots and rolled over at the first chance of…of…Gertrud still didn't know why she'd done it.
Minna made a face and rolled her shoulders. "Please, don't remind me. Living with this is horrid enough."
Gertrud understood. Yesterday was…disastrous, to say the least. Their memories were intact when they all awoke from the artifact's spell, and those memories were nothing short of disturbing. She shuddered at hers. For a while, she'd believed herself to be in control. She'd taken charge, instructed Miyafuji and Lynne to hide.
She should've known they'd be waiting for her in the hangar.
That image came back to her: trapped in an inert Striker, swarmed by her friends, and Minna… She blinked at a strange detail. Minna. She'd been at the head of the pack. And admittedly, her recollection of that exact moment was muddled by chaos, but she distinctly recalled only one pair of hands on her chest. Minna's groping fingers, and her forbidding glare to the others, who held back…
She refocused on Minna, ears burning; saw Minna blanch, and then her entire face coloring red enough to match her hair.
"Minna!" she squeaked. "Did you…g-g-grab…"
Minna let out a pitiful groan and put her head on her desk, covering it with her arms.
Gertrud made a strangled noise at the unspoken admission. "W…what…" Her chair tipped over as she shot to her feet and slammed her open palms on the desk. "Why?"
A tiny voice came from the pile of arms. "I don't remember."
"What? Don't lie to me. We all remember everything!"
"And we were possessed."
Gertrud shook her head. "That's not an explanation. I heard their accounts too, remember? Nothing like this happened to anyone else. You singled me out!"
"…No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did!"
Minna's head shot up. "All right, fine! It's true! I wanted to be the one! I didn't want anyone else to touch you, all right? I wanted you all to myself!"
"Oh. O-okay." Her mind reeled as she tried to comprehend this.
Minna moaned and returned her forehead to her desk. "This is so humiliating."
"Well, yes, but also…" She coughed. "I mean, I don't know, I feel…" She searched for the appropriate term. "…flattered?"
Minna glowered at her through disheveled red locks. "Come now, you don't need to make excuses for my sake. I'm well aware it was unseemly, even though I was…" She grimaced, "…not in control at the time."
"I'm just saying, if I had to choose anyone to, er…" She blushed at the mental image, "…touch me like that, I'd want it to be you." Why in the gods had she just admitted that?
"What?" Minna slowly straightened in her chair. "Do you truly mean that?"
Gertrud nodded, too mortified to speak, both at the situation and at the surprisingly stimulating thought of a scantily-clad Minna initiating physical contact.
"I see. I…I appreciate the sentiment." Minna's eyes flitted around. "And should our positions—I mean roles! If our roles were to be reversed, you'd also be my preference."
"G-good to hear." Gertrud tugged at her tie. "Permission to never speak of this again?"
"Granted." Minna exhaled forcefully and brushed back her hair. "Let us continue. Time waits for no one." She set about to neaten her desk.
Gertrud followed her lead, and soon they were once again absorbed in their work as if nothing had happened, with one difference: now it was Gertrud who couldn't bear to make eye contact.
Still, she thought as Minna said something to her in a tender tone, at least this incident had a silver lining.
