30th August, 2026

Our House

San Francisco, CA. America

I was woken up by the sounds of a woman talking to herself in what sounded like Polish. I opened my eyes to see a streak of sunlight coming into the bedroom of my home in the suburbs of San Francisco. I turned to my side to see my girlfr- no, fiancee, sitting up in bed looking at her phone with her sketch pad next to her. She was a little paler than most American women but she sported bright green hair. Her name was Elżbieta Bosak but everyone called her Ela and I think she preferred it that way. Oh shoot, I never said who I was did I? Name's Lukas Elias Weiss. You might know my older sister, Monika Weiss of the GSG9. All three of us happened to be part of an International Counterterrorism Unit called "Rainbow", although for the past few months or so, we had been reassigned to the REACT branch to combat the Chimera Parasite. That was old news at this point. More about myself, I am from Leipzig, Germany and I recently obtained my green card (along with Ela) in order to stay in America. Both of us liked it here, even though it had its fair share of problems. I'm sure Ela likes the whole arts district of San Fran. Not going to lie, I have been dragged to a few art museums on days off from time to time. Recently, my sister got engaged to my best friend, Derrick Castellano's, sister. Derrick and I were pretty much the "Dynamic Duo" of Rainbow. Not only did we work well in the field together, I had been there for some of the worst times in his life. A few years back, he had been captured by the White Masks and subsequently tortured for 3 months until Monika and I rescued him and returned to his then girlfriend (now wife) Tina Lin Tseng. He was still suffering from the effects of the torture and nearly killed himself before his sister, Meghan, stopped him. He then joined my old cover band during our Reunion show and has been with us ever since. We tend to jam out a lot at the base during off hours. I was there when his daughter was born and that guy loved that little girl with all of his heart. Then about a few months back, we recently saved Meghan from a Protean Butcher. What's that you ask? Remember how I mentioned something called the Chimera Parasite? In layman's terms, it was like this supernatural organism that wanted to take over the planet I guess. Pretty much right out of a comic book. A protean is like a high level "member" of the Chimera. It can take on a more human form with enhanced abilities. For example, the one that captured Meghan took on the form of the White Mask that tortured Derrick and had some electrical manipulation powers. I think that's enough backstory for now, shall I get back to what's happening on this gorgeous summer morning?

Ela had noticed I was awake and gave me her smirk that I knew meant "You're MINE. Don't you forget it dumbass."

"Morning Fraulein," I said groggily and sat up. I caught a glance at what she had been doing on her phone. It looked like she had been reading a comic book. I gave her a quizzical look when I recognized the panels on her phone depicting a tall mercenary with black hair and a huge greatsword.

"Really? Berserk?" I asked. Ela nodded.

"I heard you and your faithful sidekick talking about it on the base the other day and how detailed the art was. I just wanted to have a look at some of it but I really got into the story," Ela explained. She wasn't wrong. Derrick and I had recently been talking about the various manga we had read growing up. His all time favorite was Fist of the North Star followed closely by mine which was indeed Berserk. I caught a glimpse of what she had been sketching, it looked like a drawing of Casca (one of the female characters in the manga). The drawing was of course outstanding and I'm not just saying that because you know, she's going to be my wife. Ela's a great artist. She was in the process of designing some tattoos for Tina as she had mentioned she wanted one. I took another look at the engagement ring on Ela's finger as she worked more on the sketch. Oh wait! That's a good story! I should tell you how I proposed…even though Ela nearly killed me afterwards. Let's see, it was…a few weeks ago at this point. Before Monika's birthday which is the 1st of the month…so in actuality, about a month now. Anyway, I was on the phone with Derrick who had planted the idea that I should "pull a Loki" in terms of proposing.

"Dude, just do something like I did with Teen. Except don't do the same thing y'know. Make it special. Don't give me that 'I'm nervous' bull dingys either. Just do it. Eliza's in on it too. Jordan most likely told her," he had told me. I responded with "Right…I…I think I have an idea." Cut to about 20 minutes later where Eliza and Jordan were overseeing some drills being performed by myself, Ela, Sledge and Nomad. Basic breach and clear stuff. Except our drills were more high tech than what you're probably imagining. Sometimes, it's that whole holographic training simulation thing but half the time, the latency between my inputs and what my digital self does is severely delayed. There were also rumors that Eliza's digital self has no hit box around her head. Bogus right? Regardless, this time we were doing a "semi live fire" drill. So it wasn't digital but rather, we were armed with ammunition that we typically fired at the Tournament of Champions along with the body suit. Targets this time were mannequins but they did have sensors and fired back at us whenever we passed through their sightline. For this drill, I was paired with Ela and we had successfully cleared a few rooms together. We had decided to split up for the last 2 rooms, mine happened to be completely empty but Ela didn't know that. Eliza knew. She had been the one to tell me to go there right? Ela gave me the signal and kicked in the door of her room and I did the same with mine and stepped. I then fired my weapon in the air, emptying the entire magazine, shouted in pain and then laid on the ground. Eliza "helped" by shouting "Lukas! Rainbow down! Who the fuck put live rounds in the training dummies?!" I barely had enough time to get the ring out of my pocket before Ela was there beside me swearing up a storm in Polish. I remember hearing things like "I will find out who did this and make them WISH for death!" Ela was quickly moving to examine my non-existent wounds before she was distracted by the footsteps of Sledge and Nomad. That had given me enough time to get into a kneeling position with the ring outstretched towards her. One look at her and I could tell she wasn't just angry but almost on the point of sobbing uncontrollably. What didn't help was Nomad smiling in our direction which caused Ela to snap at her with something like "HE'S DYING AND YOU'RE FUCKING SMILING!"

"Turn around Lass," Sledge said calmly.

"WHY?! SO I CAN SEE THAT HE'S ACTUALLY DEAD THIS TIME?!" Ela yelled back. This time, I spoke next.

"Ela, turn around," I said. She did at lightning speed. Almost thought she had cracked her neck. The look she was giving me was something I never wanted to see on her face again. It was as if she just watched her first born child die in a car accident. You might know the time where I was being some vigilante named "Fenrir?" Yeah, about that level of fear. It turned from that, into relief and then to confusion.

"Wha…what?" she stammered.

"Ela Bosak, will you marry me?" I asked her just as confidently as Derrick had asked Tina back on that 4th of July BBQ.

"You…you…I…you tricked me?" Ela managed to say before adding "Derrick's idea?" I nodded.

"To be fair, he didn't suggest the idea that the trick was that I was going to be shot by live rounds accidently," I said in the direction of the observation deck. To be honest, Eliza's statement wasn't part of my original plan. I could also see that Ela was now crying with happiness rather than grief at this point. She knelt down, took the ring from my fingers and (almost as if 4 other people weren't watching) gave me one of the deepest open mouth kisses I have ever received in my life.

"Taking that as a yes?" I said after she finally let me breathe. I'll admit, it was rather funny seeing Sledge and Nomad become astronomers. She nodded and put the ring on her finger.

"No more tricks like that anymore. Got it?" she said.

"Yes ma'am," I responded before I whispered "Wanna go kick Eliza's ass for what she just made you think?" Ela giggled before Eliza's voice said "Right…yeah…that was probably not the best plan….SHUT UP JORDAN! DON'T YOU DARE TEXT HIM!"

Back in the present, Ela had noticed me looking at her ring and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'm not mad at you for that stunt. You know that right?" she asked.

"Yeah. Normally when I'm mad at someone, I typically don't want them sleeping in the same bed as me," I responded. "What time is Craig's wife's party today? One or two?"

"One I believe. We said we'd bring some snacks and beer," she told me, closing her sketchbook and stretching.

"Right. I'll get the beer and you do the snacks?" I asked, getting out of bed and stretching myself.

"Sounds about right. You aren't the best baker," Ela said. I gave her a "you right" look and walked over to my closet to get some pants and a shirt. In the mirror nearby, I could totally see Ela checking out my ass and biting her lip.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," I said sarcastically (knowing full well that she had pictures of my ass saved on her phone) and shoved a few shirts aside looking for something else. Ela gave the same exhale I know Tina gives Derrick whenever he makes a bad joke. I eventually found what I was looking for after moving the teddy bear Monika had given me for my first birthday, the plastic storage container where I stored all my comic books. All of my favorites were there. Spider-Man, Green Lantern, Flash and Gambit where among them with the most expensive one in my collection being the first appearance of Carnage in Amazing Spider-Man #359. Under that, was the one containing all my manga. All of these were in English by the way. This is how I learned to read and write in English growing up too. Monika had suggested I read some American media to get used to it and being as I already liked Spider-Man, my dad had bought me comics when I was growing up whenever I played a new song for him and my mom. My mom always liked the acoustic songs I played and she used to give me an extra one too whenever my dad was unaware. My older brother Richter, was the one who had been into manga. Specifically Dragonball. I looked back out at Ela who was busy getting dressed herself and noticed me staring at her ass.

"See something you like?" she asked.

"What part of Berserk have you gotten to?" I asked. Ela, not expecting this question (cause I don't think she wanted people to know that she also liked some nerd things like Derrick and I) thought for a moment.

"I think Casca just killed that whale guy…Adon I think his name is," she answered in a small voice. Ahh, so she's about halfway through the Golden Age. Oh boy! Being someone who has read Berserk all the way through multiple times. I knew exactly what book to grab out of the container. Volume 8 to be precise. Derrick has done the same with Fist of the North Star. I have even heard him say "Hokuto…HYAKURETSU KEN!" after pretending to do the move on Zoey and making her laugh. I fished Volume 8 out and tossed it over to Ela who caught it. She looked at the cover for a few seconds before her eyes got pretty wide with excitement.

"Art's much better when it's physical. Rest of it is right here," I said and put the container of books on the bench near the foot of our bed.

"Don't…Don't tell…." Ela began.

"Ela, you're sounding like Meghan. Wanna know something? Monika has also read some manga and comic books. So has Tina," I explained. Ela walked over and gave me a kiss on the cheek again. I know that she had been talking to Tina a lot more than she used to and I think she was beginning to view Tina as her best friend.

"My dork. Mine," she said and then squeezed my ass.

"That's mine though" I said.

"Is it? Is it though?"

30th August, 2026

Craig's House

San Francisco, CA. America

Ela and I had arrived a little later than I wanted to go to Kathy Jensen's birthday party. Why? Nothing bad. Food needed more time to cook plus traffic. The Jensens live on the other side of the city really. About a 20 minute drive with no traffic but this time, it took about 40. I saw that a lot of other people were here already. I saw Eliza and Jordan's car, Monika and Meghan's car, Elena and Ryad's car and, of course, the SUV with the Batman symbol in the colors of the Canadian flag sticker on the bumper.

"Ah, I see Master Grayson is already here Master Wayne," Ela said in a passable British accent.

"And your sister and brother in law as well," I said and pointed at Zofia's car. Ela flinched a bit out of habit. The pair of us stepped out of the car into the bright sunlight. I was wearing some swim trunks and a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses while Ela was in a light green top and some jean shorts (torn of course) also with sunglasses. Craig had a big pool and your boy wants to get some laps in. I could see that the party was pretty much going from where I was standing with 2 cases of beer. Most of the guests were in poolwear. Lemme tell ya, after seeing half these people in combat fatigues 99% of the time, it was jarring to see them dressed so comfortably. I always forget that Meghan is pretty toned muscle wise. She wasn't as ripped as I was but still, it was impressive. Monika was a little skinnier and had a little less muscle. Most of us could pick her up with little effort. Unfortunately, Ela caught me staring a little at Meghan's back.

"Oi, stop staring at her back. No no…stop staring at your sister in law's back," Ela said and slapped me playfully. She knew I harbored no romantic feelings towards anyone else but her. We approached the gate where I saw that Meghan was holding the almost 8 month old Zoey in her arms. Zoey had grown so much over the past few months. At this point, she looked so much like Tina I was concerned that there was almost no trace of Derrick in her body. Zoey's hair was in 2 little pig tails again. Over by the pool's edge, I saw Derrick and Tina standing there talking. From this distance I was able to make out what they were saying.

"Really? Is that so?" Derrick said while scratching his shoulder. The guy sported a couple of scars across his body. They were less nasty than when he originally got them as they had healed quite nicely. He was standing there in a bathing suit that had the design of Darth Vader's chestplate on it. His full arm sleeve tattoos of Nordic runes were on full display and he had recently added a few more names to them. Tina and Zoey's. Speaking of Tina, she was in a light blue 2 piece suit. Even at this distance I could almost see Derrick's eyes flit downward towards Tina's chest. And the dude was wearing sunglasses.

"Yeah. I thought you knew that. See, let me show you," Tina said and raised her phone to Derrick's eye level. He studied the screen for a moment. Before he took the phone from her hand. For a split second I saw the "Loki Smile." Oh boy. This one's gonna be GOOD.

"See, told yo- AHHH!" Tina shouted as Derrick gave her a push into the pool and then started laughing. Zoey did too before I heard her little voice say "Dada!" The resounding splash got people to notice that Ela and I were there. Monika went to hug me but I held up my finger, pointed to Derrick's back and cracked my knuckles after putting the cases of beer on the ground. Monika and Meghan both grinned. Silently, I crept up behind Derrick as Tina's head surfaced from the water with an annoyed look on her face before she noticed me standing behind Derrick and then smirked.

"Oh dear! You're all wet!" Derrick said before he must have noticed Tina's smirk. "What's with the face, it is happy but at the same time disturbing," he said in the surfer dude voice.

"Omae wa mou…shindeiru," I said in my best imitation of Kenshiro. Derrick tensed up and I saw him do that one "hold on a second" gesture he does sometimes to be funny. He slowly turned his head to face me.

"Don't tell me, I'm about to get dunked aren't I?" he asked.

"Yep," I said and clasped his shoulder so he couldn't escape.

"To the point where my sister, wife and daughter are going to laugh uncontrollably?" he said and tossed Tina's phone, his phone, wallet and keys onto a nearby pool chair. I turned to face Meghan and Zoey who were both watching with great anticipation. Zoey was in a bathing suit of her own. It had a small design of a cat's face on the front.

"Most likely," I said, turning back to face Derrick. Derrick removed my hand from his shoulder and then turned to face me before taking a deep breath and said "Bring it on." With relative ease, I shoved Derrick into the pool (as he shouted "BOO YAH!") where he made a rather painful smacking sound as his back hit the water. I winced a bit and turned to face Meghan who was doubled over in laughter. Zoey was laughing too and being held by Ela now. Zoey then noticed that Ela was holding her and pointed to her green hair.

"Geen!" I heard her say to Ela as Derrick resurfaced next to a giggling Tina. She hugged him.

"Dude. Ow," Derrick said as he reached for his sunglasses underwater.

"Dude, don't push your wife in the pool," I responded, folding my arms. Derrick looked at Tina and then back to me.

"Had to. Too easy. Hey Snowflake, have you also seen who else is here?" Derrick said to Ela and Zoey.

"Look Zoey, who's that?" Ela said and turned little Zoey to face me.

"OOKUSS!" Zoey said. Ela walked over to me with Zoey who babbled happily and then saw Tina give Derrick a kiss on the cheek. She started to cry for some reason upon seeing this.

"Aww Mini Me, it's ok! I know you don't like other people trying to steal your daddy from you! You know mommy loves you and daddy," Tina said and climbed out of the pool and took Zoey from Ela. I turned to Derrick for clarification.

"Yeah. She has been doing that whenever Tina hugs or kisses me for some reason. Like she knows Tina's her mom but I don't think she's quite grasped the fact that mommy and daddy are married. Like she thinks that Tina is trying to steal me from her. She never cries when Megs hugs me however," Derrick explained and climbed out of the pool himself with my help. Tina was currently rocking Zoey from side to side. Zoey had stopped crying and was looking up at her mother with a happy expression on her face.

"Works both ways too. Watch," Derrick said and kissed Tina on the cheek. Zoey started crying a little again before Tina kissed her forehead. Zoey stopped crying and said "Mama" as Tina started to speak with her. I meanwhile had sensed the presence of Monika.

"Hey sis," I said. Monika hugged me from behind.

"Hi Brüderlein," she responded. "How's things with the future Mrs. Weiss?" I looked at Ela, who was looking in the other direction. I didn't think she'd want to change her name. If I were to guess, if she did, she'd do what Tina does. Tina's official full name is Tina Lin Tseng Castellano but some people still addressed her as Tina Lin Tseng.

"Good," I began (in German) as Ela began to talk with Meghan and Kathy Jensen. "She's, uh, apparently been reading some of the comics I like." Monika's eyebrows raised slightly.

"Really?" she asked.

"Dunno why. She doesn't have to like everything that I do you know?" I said.

"I don't know man. It was a nice surprise when Tina told me she read Fist of the North Star on her plane ride to and from her parents in Vancouver," Derrick said also in German. Yes, he speaks fluent German. Derrick looked at Zoey again and made a high pitched "Bruce Lee" kung fu yell before using both his index fingers to poke Zoey in various locations while also going "AH-TATATATATATATATATATA!" Zoey laughed loudly before Tina essentially did the same thing with one of her hands. Except Tina said "ORAORAORAORAORA!" Zoey continued laughing while Derrick gave his wife a rather serious look and said "JOTARO!" Tina responded with "DIO!" Zoey laughed and said "Mama!" Tina turned her attention to Zoey while Derrick turned back to me and Monika.

"What about you Mon? Has Megs made you listen to the entire discography of New Found Glory yet?" he asked her in German. Monika reluctantly nodded.

"I enjoyed it though. I see where she gets some of her personality," Monika said and looked over to Meghan lovingly.

"What has she been reading there Skywalker? Spidey? You love Spidey," Derrick asked. I shook my head. Derrick thought for a moment before he gasped. Monika didn't react. Ela did though. She didn't look happy either.

"I told you not to tell them I was reading Berserk!" she said in a whisper only Derrick, Monika, Tina and I could hear.

"I didn't. You just did though," I said. Meanwhile, Derrick's eyes widened along with Monika's. Tina however nodded. Fucking what?! Derrick noticed and if a man could love his wife more than Derrick did at this very moment, I would eat my shorts.

"I'm sorry, have…have you read that?" Derrick asked Tina. Tina smirked at him and nodded. Monika looked at her incredulously as did Ela.

"Old boyfriend. Huge anime fan. Guy had me watch the movies and anime with him. Hated it for a while but then I decided to read it when I was stationed with Buck in…Montreal I believe. Few years before I met you honey," Tina explained.

"Why uh…why did you dump him," Derrick said before he winced. Zoey meanwhile had said "Mama!" Tina looked down at her daughter and smiled.

"He was a bit of an idiot and misogynistic. Dated him because I was a stupid teenager at the time. Dumped him when he introduced me as his Japanese girlfriend," Tina said. "Plus, a real man would take interest in my past, and show me what being respected and appreciated in a relationship really was. Sweetie, he means nothing to me anymore. You and Zoey mean everything. You know that Buck is my friend. We were never together." Derrick cleared his throat and gave Tina a quick kiss on the lips (Zoey started crying a little again).

"Right…yes…You were right about the art Derrick. It's insane," Ela said in a low whisper. "I like that Griffith guy." Derrick and Tina both reacted in a similar fashion as I knew they would. Monika and Ela were confused.

"Mon, trust me. You don't want to know. You taped out of Berserk pretty early. Ela, I am just going to say this. You thought some of the earlier scenes were bad? That's cute," I said and left it at that. Then I turned to face Derrick with a smirk on my face. Oh he got what I wanted to do. Monika didn't. Neither did Meghan. Together, with the encouragement of our significant others, Derrick and I proceeded to throw our older sisters into the pool to the sounds of a Mini Tina Castellano laughing her little heart out.

The rest of the afternoon into the evening went rather smoothly. Pretty much everyone had a good time. I even got to speak with Zofia's husband, Andrezj. Nice guy. Really attractive for a man his age. THICK Polish accent though. He often had to resort to looking to Zofia for a translation.

"You're marrying Zofia's sister, yes?" he asked me as everyone was enjoying the weather. Derrick was in the shallow end of the pool with Zoey (who had some water wings on) and she was splashing around in the water looking like she was having the time of her little life. Tina was talking with Meghan, about married life I think, while Monika was sitting near me. Ela was also near me sketching in her art book. Zofia, who was busy watching Jana play with Craig's daughter Sherry, who was around her age, quickly turned to face her husband.

"Excuse me, what?" she asked.

"I noticed the ring on her finger. Isn't your sister dating this man?" Andrezj asked. Ela looked up from her drawing and showed her ring to Zofia. Zofia gasped before she looked at me and then back to Ela.

"Am…am I…invited," Zofia asked in a small voice. I knew why. For a time, Ela and Zofia were not on the best of terms. That had since changed after they had met Derrick and I and showed the pair of them how siblings are supposed to act. I'm almost certain Ela didn't bother to show up for Zofia's wedding. Ela scoffed at Zofia's question. Zofia seemed to take that as a "no you're not" before Ela said "You're the Maid of Honor." It took Zofia 15 seconds to fully realize what Ela had just told her. Ela looked up from her sketch with a smile and raised her arm. Zofia got up and gave her a tearful hug. I heard Ela whisper "I'm sorry for everything before," in Polish. Zofia squeezed Ela a little tighter.

"The Funny Man in Star Wars trunks will be your Best Man?" Andrezj asked me as he jabbed his thumb at Derrick who was currently tossing Zoey in the air and catching her as she hit the water. I nodded. I glanced down at what Ela's sketch was. It looked like a drawing of Griffith with…my face…and Guts with Derrick's…Oh boy….

30th August, 2026

Our House

San Francisco, CA. America

After the party, Ela and I returned home where I decided to work on some plans for my sonic grenade enhancements. Ela scoffed at my idea.

"We're still on vacation and you want to work? Fine. I'll just be upstairs reading," she said before kissing me on the cheek.

"I heard what you said to Zofia. You meant that right?" I said before I could stop myself. Ela looked in my face and then nodded.

"I…I don't have anything left of my immediate family…" she said.

"You have me now," I told her and stroked her cheek. "I'll be in the basement if you need me ok?" Ela smiled and then walked upstairs to our bedroom while I retreated to my man cave. If you've ever heard what Derrick's man cave looked like, mine was almost no different. Had a TV down there along with my personal computer and gaming consoles. My entire collection of music was down here too along with all of my guitars. I owned a few. My first electric guitar I got when I was 12 was mounted on the wall along with my first acoustic. I had 3 electric guitars and 3 acoustics I tended to rotate between. An Ibanez, a Fender and a Squier were the electrics and 2 Gibsons and a Yahama were the acoustics. Hanging on the wall near them, were all of the posters for each of the Iron Maiden albums with Powerslave being the most prominent. I had a history with that one. It was the album that got me into heavy metal. Monika had given it to me for my 10th birthday after she had found out it was released on my birthday but in 1984. I loved that album to DEATH. I think my favorites on it were 2 Minutes to Midnight and the titular Powerslave. On my desk, there was a framed drawing of me drawn by Ela. She had done this when we were stationed in Portland, Oregon together and Derrick had swiped it and planted it in my room. It was a simple drawing of me in my combat fatigues playing a guitar. I smiled reminiscently when I laid eyes on it. I tended to listen to Iron Maiden whenever I worked on anything down here so I fired up their self-titled first album and got to work.

After about a few hours (and listening to the entirety of Powerslave again) I decided that it was time for bed and made my way upstairs. The door to the bedroom was still ajar and I could hear some heavy breathing followed by some soft sobs. I closed my eyes and nodded to myself. Ela had been reading Berserk all this time so I think I knew why I was hearing these noises. Sure enough as I opened the door to our bedroom I saw a ripped up part of a drawing on the ground. It was the one from earlier with me as Griffith but it didn't resemble me any more. His face was drawn to look more demonic and with a knife in his neck. Ela herself was sitting on the edge of the bed simply staring at the wall.

"Ela," I said softly. She didn't respond. I could still hear her crying a little. I walked over and touched her shoulder. She flinched violently before she realized who it was.

"Luke…wh…why?" she asked me with tears in her eyes. I chuckled.

"I remember my first time reading the Eclipse," I said and gestured to Volumes 12 and 13 which were on the floor next to her bare feet.

"It's NOT funny! Why didn't you tell me about that?! Why didn't you say something? For the past 2 days I was picturing you as Griffith and him speaking with your voice…and…and…" Ela snapped back.

"I did warn you," I said before she turned and grabbed my shirt.

"Tell me. Tell me right FUCKING now that Casca turns out ok. DO IT! The pain I saw in Guts' face when he realized she didn't remember him…it was like…like…"

"When you thought I was dead right? When I ditched Rainbow for 2 weeks?" I finished for her. She nodded and started crying into my chest. Now, I understand what you are thinking. "A manga made her act like this? The fuck?" Trust me when I say these 2 things. If you know, you know and if you do not, I warn you now, if you can't handle trauma and I mean trauma, don't look it up.

"It's alright Engel," I told her softly and kissed the top of her head.

"Guss," Ela said in a muffled voice.

"Excuse me?"

"Guts. You're Guts now. I totally heard your voice in my head when he screamed at Griffith. If you were in that situation, I know for a fact you'd also go berserk-...oh…OH…is that what it's called Berserk?" she asked before sniffing. I clapped my hands together a few times.

"We got there eventually huh," I said as Ela continued to hold onto me tightly. "Hey, look at me. Derrick watched the anime before reading it. Said that shit stuck with him for weeks. He said his Air Force comrades looked at him funny for a while and thought he was depressed."

"What about Tina? Do you know?" Ela asked in a small voice. I knew she was looking for comfort. I shook my head.

"I only found out she read slash saw that today, remember?" I answered.

"Oh yeah…how…how far did Monika get?"

"I think she tapped out around the slug dude at the very beginning. You should have seen her face when she saw the first page of the series," I said before holding up the "ok" sign. Protip, don't do that in Germany. It's how we call people an asshole without words. "She thought I was reading translated smut. I turned out ok though huh?" Ela sniffed again but continued to hold on to me before eventually giving me a rather deep and long kiss.

"Luke," she began.

"Ela, I won't tell anyone. You have my word as Mr. Weiss-Bosak," I responded. She shook her head. My face fell a little.

"Just Weiss. I'll be Ela Weiss next month," she said and continued to hold me tenderly. Ahh, what a day I tell ya. What a day.