A/N: I'd like to apologize for the poor quality of chapter five. I would've improved upon it, but I didn't really know how to make it not seem so rushed. That's okay, though. I think it was still a good chapter.
The cool wind of the night ran through the countryside. Axel closed his eyes as the wind rushed past him and provided him with cool comfort. The day had been scorching and this was just the therapy he and the others needed. He leaned back and supported his body weight with his arms as he sat on the cool and dry grass. He dug his fingers into the soil, crushing the grass between his paws. It was almost as if he could squeeze the water out of those healthy blades of grass. What a perfect way to relieve oneself of stress.
"Hey guys," came a familiar voice from over the hill. He looked over his shoulder to see the same familiar crew of female aviators. A soft smile came to his mouth. He was just glad to see Pretz again. The young squirrels formed back into their regular circle and began talking amongst each other again. Pretz had walked over to Riley and gave him a small hug. He's definitely got her now, Axel thought as he wrapped his arms around her. He led her to a spot in the grass and the two of them sat down.
"Hey," came a small voice from Axel's right. He turned and looked up to see Kaila take her seat beside him in the grass. She settled in the grass and hugged her knees to her chest. "Hey," Axel responded quietly.
"How're you?"
"Not too good, actually,"
"Why? What happened?"
"Got in trouble for fighting."
"Riley was right about you, yer a lose cannon, ne?"
"Hmm.."
Axel brought his gaze upward, then back at Kaila, then at Riley and Pretz. "You all right?" Axel looked back at Kaila, then at the ground for a brief moment, then back to her. "Yeah, sorta."
"You're a rather difficult person to talk with, you know."
"Yeah..well…uh, yeah."
Kaila snickered a bit. She couldn't help but think that he was cute. She cautiously scooted closer, being careful not to make him nervous as Riley had told her how Axel hated having his personal space invaded. "What's wrong. You talked a lot more last night. Is it me?"
Axel shook his head. "No, it's not you. I just…that…well…stuff."
Kaila smiled. "We just don't know each other well enough, do we? Is that it or is it that there's nothing to really talk about."
"Bit of both, but more the latter."
"Well, then….do you like star gazing?"
"What?"
Kaila leaned back and laid down on the grass. "Star gazing. I've always loved it. Care to join me?" Axel hummed silently as he leaned back onto the grass. He placed his hands behind his head and stared up at the sky. There were a few clouds in the sky, but other than that, it was clear. Good star gazing weather actually. "There really isn't a lot to talk about when it comes to star gazing, but it allows me to clear my mind," Kaila said. Axel could hear her voice loud and clear, but he wasn't concentrating on what she was saying. He still had his mind on Harry. Harry was basically a splinter in his brain, always tormenting him and showing up right when he had erased the memory of his existence from his mind for the time being. He didn't want to think about it, but the thought could not be avoided and it would only become worse if it were left ignored.
Something gradually began invading his train of thought. He heard the sound of someone calling to him in the back of his mind, but he chose to ignore it out of fear of who it could be. The voice gradually grew louder and was getting to the point where ignoring it was not a possibility. However, it was the feeling of something poking his arm that brought him out of his trance.
"Man, when you space out you really space out." Pretz said. Axel quickly snapped his head to the left to see her sitting beside him in the grass. "Uh, yeah. Sorry 'bout that," he stammered. For some reason, whenever he was brought out of a state of mind like that, he was always slightly nervous. "What were you thinking about anyway?"
"Nothing."
"Okay,"
Pretz layed back down in the grass and rested her hands on her chest. "What is it that you do?" Axel looked at her from his position in the grass, then looked back up at the sky. "What do you mean?" Pretz looked at him and rolled over to her side. "You know, what are you doing now? What are you're plans for the future?" Axel blinked a few times at the starry sky. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "I'm an art student."
"Could you be a bit more specific?"
"Animation. 2D and CG."
"Really,"
"I do some of my own work. Paintings and sketches, things along those lines, but it's just for fun."
"Paintings huh? What of?"
"Basically anything that comes to my mind. Most of them are dark and rather gory, though. But overall people really seem to like my creativity. I owe that in great part to my inspiration."
"And what would that be?"
"The sky."
He lifted his paw and pointed to the full moon being surrounded by clouds. "You see that cloud up there? It sort of looks like a skull. A flaming skull that's about to eat the moon. I could easily make a picture out of that. I might sketch it when I get the chance."
"You think you'll remember all the details?"
"All the details are inside my mind. It's not the clouds that I'm drawing, but my mental interpretation of what I could make out of it."
"Will you paint something for me someday?"
"Sure,"
Through out their conversation, Axel was too occupied to realize that Pretz had taken his mind off of Jones, his punishment, and even Harry all together. His mind stayed clear and free of disturbing thoughts the rest of the night and not even one single nightmare tried to disturb him. It was as if she had the power to clear his mind of unwanted concern and though those concerns did return they weren't as strong as they once were.
However, that did not eliminate that fact that the training was about to intensify. As the date for the troops to be sent out drew nearer the drill instructors pushed every recruit to his limits. There were no exceptions. Slowly but surely the young trainees began subconsciously learning discipline and improved in terms of speed, strength, and skill. It was a sight that made each of the Instructors as well as the Sergeants and Commanders proud.
"Well, this is it." Axel said to Rodent. The two were walking along the training grounds as final preparations were being made for the shipment of the new soldiers. "Tomorrow, we will be true soldiers. You feelin' okay?" There was a silent pause and Rodent never lifted his gaze from the ground as they walked. Whatever he was thinking about, he was in deep thought. "Huh? Sorry, didn't quite catch that." Axel suddenly stopped walking and placed his hands in his pockets. Rodent stopped as well and looked back at him. "Okay, what's wrong?" Axel asked. Rodent had been acting weird ever since he learned he would be assigned to Communications. Axel figured Rodent was upset that the Uppers didn't think he was soldier material, but there had to be something more to that. "I was just thinking," Rodent looked around, then walked over to Axel. He leaned in a bit and made sure no one was around before whispering the rest of the sentence. "..about the experiment."
"Experiment?" Axel whispered back just as quietly.
"No one's supposed to know about it. It's experiment number G7224. Indestructible Titanium laminate. I volunteered to be the first to be fitted with it in an actual combat scenario."
"What is it? Some sort of bullet proof suit?"
"It's more powerful than that. They say it's practically everything-proof."
"So when are you going to test it?"
"During the last assault. It'll take them a while to make the final touches."
"Hey guys!"
Rodent and Axel looked up to see Riley, San, Hunter, and Blaine walking towards them. "Don't tell them about the experiment." Rodent whispered. "Don't worry," Axel replied. "Where've you been all day?" Riley asked as he and the others arrived.
"Just walking around." Axel replied nonchalantly.
"Right. Still can't believe all our suffering ends tomorrow."
"I wouldn't say all of our suffering." San said, matter-of-factly.
"You gotta point there. Still, it will be nice to graduate."
"Yeah, not a bad present they're giving me." Axel said.
"Present?" Hunter replied.
"Didn't he tell any of ya?" Riley said as he walked over to his friend and slapped him on the back. "Ol' Axel here's gonna be turning 20 tomorrow."
"Really? Tomorrow's your birthday?" Rodent asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"It's not that important," Axel replied. "aside from tomorrow being graduation as well I mean."
"Both of which are only eleven hours and twenty six minutes away." Blaine said.
"Eleven hours? What time is it?" Axel asked.
"12:34"
"What?! Shit! Shit! Shit! I'm late for my cleaning duty! Ancon is gonna be pissed!"
With out another word, Axel took off in a panicked pace. "He could really use a watch," Riley said, sweatdropping as his friend ran screaming off into the horizon. The rest of the day was relatively uneventful as the officials made their final preparations. Axel had to do a few push ups for being late and Riley took a quick trip into town, but other than that nothing special happened. The night, however, held a different story as the recruits went to meet their aviator friends (and girlfriends as the case may be for some) for the final time.
"Kaila was still pissed that I beat her score on the flight simulators," Axel heard Pretz say to Riley. Kaila leaned in closer to Axel. "She was cheating," she whispered. Axel gritted his teeth to keep him from laughing. Over the past few months, he and Kaila had grown rather close and he no longer felt uncomfortable around her. However, they hadn't grown as close as Kaila had hoped. She really like Axel and I mean she really liked him, but she never got passed the 'friends' barrier. What's with this guy? Kaila thought as she watched Axel put the final touches on his sketch. It's usually the guys that have the problem of falling in the friends zone. I don't get it. He's not like any guy I've ever met. He actually cares for women, either that or he's gay. "I'm not gay," Axel said suddenly. Kaila blushed suddenly and pulled away. "How did you…"
"That's my little secret. Really, I thought women hated sex crazed guys. But, if that's what you want," Axel put his sketchbook on the grass and smiled evilly at Kaila.
"Now now, let us not have it come to that." Kaila said putting her paws in the air.
Axel stopped his advance and stared at her with a smirk on his face. "I'm sorry, Kaila. I just don't have the same feelings for you. I could never look at a women sexual if I didn't care about her." Kaila was at awe at Axel's statement, but then she gave him a stern and sly look. "Really? Never?" Axel paused for a moment. "I know you guys, you can't fool me."
"All right all right! Maybe every once in a while if I see a scantly clad hotty walking down the street or something but that's it! I'd never look at a women I knew personally like that. I'm not that kinda guy."
"Is that so?" Kaila said with a tell-tale grin on her face. She reached towards her shirt collar and slowly turned away. She kept looking over her shoulder at him with anticipation. She's not gonna do what I think she's gonna do, is she? Kaila read his expressions perfectly and nodded her head. Before Axel could react, she turned around, her chest bare and exposed to him. Axel's jaw dropped and his eyes grew large as he stared at the girl before him. "K…Kaila!"
"I'd never flash a guy I didn't know personally. I'm not that kind of girl. Consider this your birthday present." She said with a soft laugh. Axel continued to stare with unblinking eyes. He had gotten to know Kaila rather well, but he didn't realize just how comfortable she was with him until now. "Your nose is bleeding." Kaila said with a laugh. "You naughty boy!" Axel brought his paw to his nose to discover that it was in fact bleeding. Kaila smiled and reached between her breast, pulling a white cloth from between them. "Here," she said. Axel's hand shook as he reached for the cloth. She dropped the cloth into this hand and he quickly placed in under his nose. He took this moment to look around.
San and Miya were talking.
Hunter and Sabrina were frenching. (awww..^_^)
Blaine and Gena were making out….again.
Riley and Pretz were talking as well.
At least no one noticed. Axel thought. Then a wave of guilt hit him. There was still one more person that may have witnessed what had just happened. Axel turned his gaze to the starry sky. The hurt was attacking him again, but at least he could apologize this time. Sorry about that, Sarah.
Forget about Sarah, that was pretty hot!
"Dammit, shut the hell up Harry!"
"You say somethin' Axel?" Kaila said as she buttoned up her shirt. Axel threw his gaze to the ground. "Naw, just…it was nothing." Kaila suddenly turned around and slowly approached him. She sat down next to him and slowly leaned towards him until their foreheads touched. "Axel," she whispered as she closed her eyes. "I'm really going to miss you." With that, she planted a formal kiss on his cheek. She slowly leaned back and looked into his eyes for a response. However, Axel was doing all he could to avoid eye contact. "Kaila," he started, then finally allowed his eyes to lock with hers. "I….I'm…."
"Don't say anything," Kaila said suddenly placing her paw over his mouth. "I know how hard it is for guys, even descent guys like you, to express their feelings too much. I don't expect you to say that you love me since I know you don't feel that way. Maybe someday you will?"
There was a pause that filled the air between the two. Axel dropped his gaze to the ground. He stared at the grass for a few seconds without blinking until he closed his eyes completely. "Maybe," he replied. He opened his eyes and brought his gaze back up to Kaila. "but I can't guarantee anything." Kaila nodded her head. "I won't expect anything specific from you in the future. Except maybe for you to have changed somewhat, but that's to be expected, right?"
"Of course,"
"Hey you guys, com'ere!" They heard Blaine call. The two squirrels turned their attention to the others who had formed a circle in the grass. They shared a quick glance before getting to their feet to join them. Axel held his sketchbook in hand as he took a seat in the grass. "Axel," Riley said. He turned his attention to his friend, who in turn handed him a brown paper bag. "Here. Happy birthday, man." Axel took the bag from his grasp and slowly began to open it. "Glad to see you took your time wrapping it," Axel said sarcastically as he reached inside. When he pulled his hand out of the bag he was pleased to see what was resting in the palm of his paw. "Holy shit, limited edition."
"What is it?" Pretz asked.
"Limited edition X-games sports watch. Thanks Riley!"
"Sports watch?" Pretz looked at Riley and cocked an eyebrow. "You gave him a sports watch?" Riley smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? The guy's an X-games fanatic."
Axel seemed satisfied enough as he set the watch and strapped it to his left wrist. It was definitely something he could've used sooner and would aid him deeply against his tendencies to be tardy. The next few hours went on relatively uneventful as the young recruits discussed their thoughts on completing basic training and moving into the heat of actual combat. They were anxious, of course. No more blanks, training missions and flight simulators. They were mere days away from the battle field where their skills, allies, and a little luck would be the only things keeping them alive.
"I guess that's it then," San said as he looked at his digital watch. "1: 54, we should be heading back now." As the squirrels rose to their feet a deadly silence filled the air. The ugly truth was apparent now, they may never see each other alive again. "Thanks Axel," Kaila whispered as the two rose to their feet. "Thanks for what?" Axel replied quietly.
"For, you know, not shutting me out, just being there to talk. That's all."
"Right,"
Kaila wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. Although taken by surprise, Axel allowed her to hug him. At first his arms rested lifelessly by his sides as he didn't really know what he should do, but then he slowly lifted them and wrapped his arms around her as well. His face was completely expressionless as he stared into thin air. A nervous feeling churned inside of him almost to the point of making him sick. But for the moment that feeling left him as Kaila released her embrace.
"Axel," a voice to his left called. He looked over just in time to see Pretz approach him and hug him as well. He hugged her back as well, though this time he lacked the hesitation he had with Kaila. "I'm gonna really miss you." She whispered with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Yeah, me too." Axel replied. As they slipped out of each other's embrace, Axel took his sketchbook in hand and opened it. "This is for you," he mumbled as he tore out a page. Pretz gently took the page from him and smiled when she looked upon it. "Sorry about it's lacking color," Axel said. Pretz shook her head in response. "It's fine, I love it. You have a great imagination."
The picture featured a small mountain village surrounded by hills. Above the town was a beautiful full moon surrounded by stars in the clear midnight sky. Above the moon was a menacing figure constructed of bones and fire. A large flaming skull stood above the moon, it's evil eyes shining down from it's position in the sky, it's jaws open as it is mere seconds away from clamping down on the moon and devouring it. At the very bottom to the left-hand side Axel had placed his artist signature.
"Glad you like it," Axel said quietly. Kaila gently poked him in the ribs. "You never drew me anything." She said mockingly offended with a wink at the end of her sentence. "We'd better get going," Pretz said with her eyes still on the picture. Riley came up to her and gently laid his hand on her shoulder. He then brought his hand to her chin and turned her head towards him. He gently leaned in and invited her to kiss him. Their lips met, then stayed, and slowly pulled away. "Bye Axel," Pretz said as she quickly glanced back at him. She then slowly turned to catch up with the other girls. She was a bit reluctant to leave, but she started on her way.
Kaila began to go on her way as well when she suddenly stopped in front of Axel. She turned to face him with her fun-loving smirk on her face. "Scantly clad hotty. That's Axel talk right there. That's your own special style and don't forget it." She abruptly ended her speech with a gently slap on his right cheek. However her paw never left his face. As her hand stuck to his cheek as if it were glued, the smirk melted off of her face. Axel had on his own saddened expression which showed a slice of concern as Kaila now looked as if she might cry. She looked to the ground and closed her eyes. She mustered a sad smile as she reopened her eyes and met his gaze. "Good bye," she whispered.
Axel lifted his hand to hers and gently peeled it off of his face. He gripped her hand snuggly, but he was more than ready to let go. He was starting to feel uncomfortable again and this was hard enough already. "Just go. Everything will be fine." He whispered to her as his grip on her hand loosened. Kaila slowly nodded and allowed her hand to fall to her side when Axel let go. Without another word, she turned around and slowly walked away. Pretz had been waiting for her at the edge of the hill. When she reached her friend, Kaila gave Pretz a quick nod and the two proceeded down the hill and vanished from sight.
Then there was silence. Axel stared at the spot where Kaila and Pretz had been not to long ago. It felt weird. That spot now empty was once where they stood. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to stop looking. He felt a friendly paw on his shoulder but still refused to turn his gaze. "Don't worry, you'll find another one." Riley said. "I don't really want to, I'm not ready." Axel said quietly. Riley shook his head and put his arm around his shoulders. He pulled him a bit to the left to get him to move and Axel's feet quickly shifted to keep him from falling. "You just need time, that's all. You'll find some one else." Axel remained silent and started at the ground as the walked. There was a sad look in his eyes, not just from the previous parting. He didn't like the thought of finding someone to replace Sarah. She was irreplaceable. "Sarah'd want you to be happy, you know that. If you were the one to die wouldn't you want her to move on? She doesn't want to see you be miserable and lonely for the rest of your life you know." Axel bit his lip in response to that and sighed heavily. "I know, I just……I'm just not ready."
"I understand."
A/N: I have no idea how graduation is supposed to go. The only clue I have is from what I saw in Full Metal Jacket, but I'm not gonna go by the movie. I'm just gonna make stuff up, it's my fic after all. So odds are I'm going to get a million things wrong, but oh well. On with the story…
Axel opened his eyes the next morning to the usual wake up call. However, Ancon wasn't cussing them out like he usually was. He seemed to be in a good mood. He sounded, dare one say, remotely nice. "Hurry up boys. We haven't got all day!" he yelled into the bunk. "Get dressed and make those beds pronto!" With that said and everyone out of bed, he slammed the door shut, however it wasn't nearly as violent as it had been for the past few months. "What happened?" San said groggily as he scratched the back of his head. "Ancon was is a good mood, sort of, something's up." Hunter replied as he straightened out his bed sheets. "Probably just glad to be rid of us," San said.
Axel finished making his bed, getting dressed and lacing up his boots. Something was giving him extra energy that morning. He did have a bit of anxiety that morning what with graduation and being sent to the battlefield. When he was nervous or had any type of adrenaline running through his blood he tended to move faster, however this was usually accompanied with minor clumsiness and he hadn't dropped a thing. It wasn't his anxiousness. 'Sarah'd want you to be happy,' Riley's voice from last night suddenly invaded his mind. "She would, wouldn't she?" he mumbled quietly. 'If you were the one to die, wouldn't you want her to move on?' That's when the thought occurred to him. "Am I ready? It's been a few months but," Axel ended his thought with a sigh. This was not something he wanted to think about at the moment.
After all morning duties were taken care of, the entire army of young recruits were lead out over the training field and into a huge lot. In the middle of the lot there was a rather large stage. The recruits were divided up by their platoons and sent to specifically marked areas on the lot. When the recruits were situated in their proper places, the ceremony began.
Ten Squirrel High Command officials including Sergeant Rico and a few of the Drill Instructors walked on stage in an orderly fashion. They each took a seat and the SHC top-ranking General, General Surge, walked out to the podium. He brought his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. He then placed both hands on the podium top as he prepared to address the combat-ready youths before him.
"Today you are soldiers. Soldiers of our country and soldiers of our freedom. Several young men such as yourselves have already fought and given their lives for our battle for freedom. When you fight, you will be fighting to honor them and this great land of ours. You will carry the honor and courage of the soldiers who came before you and those yet to come with you to the battlefield. If you fight with your honor and courage in your souls, whether you perish or survive, you will not lose. Always carry the memory of your brothers in arms who are fighting and giving their lives as we speak on the battlefront. Carry their memory in your minds and contain their strength in your souls. Our victory and survival depends on it, and it depends on the will of your heart and the heart of your souls. To souls and soldier squirrels!"
To be continued……
LOL! That speech turned out way better than I thought it would! Now our heroes move to the battlefield! Who will survive? LOL, I sound like the announcer guy for Mobile Suit Gundam. ::sweatdrop::
Before we end this chapter, a few more things. First of all, I hope I didn't offend any homosexuals with the gay thing earlier. I respect gay people just as I would straight people. And for those of you who don't get the bloody nose thing (when Kaila gave Axel that wonderful b-day surprise LOL) that's sort of an anime reference. Sometimes when a guy sees a girl's 'naughty parts' his nose bleeds a bit…..or it gushes. Either way it's funny. The sweatdrops are an anime reference too. When a character is embarrassed (either for themselves or someone else) a large sweatdrop appears on their heads. So if you're wondering what the deal was with the "Axel sweatdropped and sighed," stuff, now you know.
