A/N: Very few people know of the musical "King of Hearts." For those that do, I offer this explanation. My high school recently performed this wonderful musical, and I ran the spotlight, so I've seen it more times than I care to count. Just…enjoy. ^_^
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Really, I don't. Well, not much, anyway. I certainly don't own Johnny, St. Anne's, the town of Dutemps, or any of the Lunatics.
Going Home
I guess you could say I envy Johnny. He gets his chance, now, to do something good in this God-forsaken war. I doubt any of the guys here know my name. To them, I'm just the kid with the med pack, who's never gonna see any action.
They're right, you know. The war's ending today, at midnight. There won't be anymore Germans to kill, and no more injuries to take care of. As much as I hate war…it's given me a kind of practical training I don't think I'd have gotten anywhere else.
Poor Johnny. He's our communications guy, the one who deciphers all of those horrible little beeps to find out what's going on. I always see him with a hand to his ear so he can hear, hunched over his little table, Orville right next to him in his cage. Orville is Johnny's carrier pigeon. Johnny talks to him, as a way to pass the time, I think.
When that message from…Dutemps?...came this morning, Johnny seemed quick to take on the mission. I'm not sure why, but…I might have an idea. Single-handedly saving a town of innocents from bombs is might commendable, after all. I just hope he makes it.
**********
The war is over now. Lt. Cooper left several hours ago to bring Johnny back for the second time. When he was here, Johnny was spouting something about being a king and needing to protect his people. I just wondered if the poor kid had lost it, finally.
He did. We moved into Dutemps this morning, the first day of the armistice. We found Lt. Cooper. He, two of our boys, and three Germans were found dead in a house, covered with blankets as though they'd been sleeping. The townspeople were assessing the damage of the town when we arrived. When we asked about anything unusual, they merely pointed towards the gates of a place called St. Anne's. Being the medic, I was volunteered to check it out.
The place is a madhouse, quite literally. It houses the insane, and I found Johnny there, a crown on his head, a pretty young French girl on his arm. He remembered me; he's not completely gone, yet…he doesn't want to leave. He told me as much. 'My whole life's here, now. There's nothing waiting for me back in America. I'm loved here.' He'd smiled at the girl then, and she returned it.
I could do nothing. I'm sitting in the local wine shop now, wondering if I'll ever find what Johnny finally did, if I'll have to be crazy to.
~Owari