HERE'S CHAPTER 78 D!!! To those who miss Logan looks at Sketty and HughLoverX ;) --- heheh...don't worry, our favorite and beloved adamantium wielding soldier will be back soon...somewhere in this chap ;)
Chapter 78: This is not goodbye
She could feel her hand clutching his shirt so tightly. She knew just how true her words were. She had seen videos and pictures of the dead bodies of the soldiers who have died in those jungles. Yes...those soldiers did come home --- but they were already void of life, with nothing left but their bodies to be buried six feet under. The last thing she wanted to see was William being one of them. She didn't want to lose him that way.
"But that's why I have to go, Yuriko." He said firmly as he directed his eyes towards the ceiling above them. He couldn't bear to see the sadness in her face, because he knew that he was the one who was causing her all that pain. "That's why I have to go there...to do the best that I can to stop more people from dying. And I'm not just going to prevent them from dying, Yuriko...I'll be saving lives. I'll be saving lives --- for a change." His voice was passionate and vivid. He knew that what he was doing was right.
"I know this Vietnam thing is nothing compared to what we do. You may even think that it's my pride that's pushing me to go through with this." He said softly. "And maybe it is my pride --- because I know that I'm the best damn soldier they'll ever have. It's about time that I used my skills out in a real battlefield where I can help 'real' people. Those are real people out there, Yuriko...real soldiers. They're not like us who hide behind the shadows and go into enemy strongholds with a solid plan of how to get in and how to get out. These soldiers...they cross enemy borders with nothing but their weapons and their hopes that they make it out of the crossfire alive."
His eyes continued to stare up at the ceiling as he talked. He didn't even glance or look at her. Then he breathed in and exhaled. "The Black Ops mission that recruited me --- it's primary objective is to rescue the POWs in North Vietnam. That's why I signed up for it. I never really believed in this war in the first place. But I, I can't just sit here and work in the headquarters while more soldiers out there die, trying to rescue their comrades. They need someone who's skillful enough to fly them in and out of those jungles without getting shot down and you know that I'm the man for the job. You know as well as I do that I can drive any military vehicle better than anyone else."
He finally looked to his side and saw Yuriko looking at him as if she was memorizing every facet of his face. He could see it in her eyes that she was trying to hold back her tears. If only he could find the words to make her feel better.
"How long will you be gone?" She asked softly. She didn't want to ask that question in fear of the answer, but she couldn't help it. She needed to know.
William looked away from her again. He turned his head so that he was facing away from her. It was one of the questions he wished she would never ask.
Then his lips parted. "I don't know..." He said softly. "A couple of months maybe. It all depends on the length of time it would take us to find all the camps. The head of the Black Ops missions is not even sure how many camps are hidden in those jungles. The enemy may have even caught more soldiers and set up more camps as we speak...So I'm really not sure how long I'll have to be there." He really didn't know how to break it to her gently. But he didn't want to lie to her. He wanted her to know everything.
"And we don't want to get out of 'Nam without all those POWs. We don't want to leave anyone behind. My father was a soldier too, Yuriko...just like them...and if he were the one out there, I'd do anything in my power to save him. That's why I'm going to do whatever it takes to bring everyone home."
Yuriko gently reached out and placed a finger on his chin. Then she tilted his face towards her so that they were face to face again. "Then make sure you bring yourself home, William. Dammit, you better bring yourself home ---." Then she forced a smile on her lips as a tear rolled down her cheek. "--- or me and Logan will go there and take you home ourselves." She laughed, in an effort to joke about the situation, but more tears continued to stream down her face.
She didn't want to cry, but she couldn't hold back the tears that tricked from her eyes. William was her best friend. Though she loved Logan, she had a special connection with William. He was like her blood-brother...the other half of her whole to the point that they knew what each other was thinking just by looking at each other's expressions. And she couldn't bare the reality that he was going to be away from her for months.
They wouldn't even be able to communicate with each other during his entire stay in Vietnam. How would she ever go through the next few months without hearing the sound of his voice or seeing his face? But what worried her the most was the possibility that he might not make it home. She knew he was an exemplary soldier. She had seen his skills and his abilities firsthand, and she knew what he was capable of doing...
But the work that he was going to do in the Black Ops mission was going to be different from the work that they've done in Code7 for the past four years. In their Code7 missions, they had their stealth, and their well-planned strategies to rely on. But in Vietnam, you rely on nothing but your senses, your trigger finger, and your luck.
"Please don't cry." He whispered as he gently ran a finger down her cheek, wiping some of her tears away. "Please don't look at it this way." It pained him to see her like this. He wanted to say goodbye to her --- not make her cry.
"Hey...I'll be back before you know it." He said softly, forcing a smile upon his face. "Next thing you know, I'll be back, bugging you again like I always do." He said with a chuckle. He wanted to see her smile again. He knew it wasn't the right time to make such jokes, but he didn't want her to feel worse about his departure.
A faint smile curled up Yuriko's lips, then she wiped the tears from her cheeks and gave out a small laugh. "You never bug me." She said as she looked at him, shaking her head from side to side. Then she breathed in and moved herself even closer to him. "I just wish you could have told me about this sooner."
Then she let go of his shirt and gently placed her hands over his. "Logan knew about this, didn't he?" She asked as she gently rubbed her hands against his clasped hands.
William didn't say anything. He just looked at her and nodded his head.
Then he pursed his lips and pulled out one hand out from under Yuriko's hand, and he placed it on top of hers. "I couldn't tell you." He said softly. He looked down and watched as he gently gave her hand an assuring squeeze. Then he looked back at her. "I knew you wouldn't let me go if I did." A smile arched up the corner of his lips.
"Of course I wouldn't let you go." She said firmly. "Which person in their right mind would let their best friend go to a death-stricken war zone?" Then she closed her eyes and snuggled her head against him. "But if you did tell me, and I said no, I know you'd still go anyway. I know you, Will. Once you set your mind on something, there's no stopping you. It's just that --- I, I wish you could have told me sooner so that ---"
"I just didn't want you to worry, Yuriko." He immediately said before she could say another word. He did feel guilty about not telling her. He knew he should have, but he didn't want her to worry too much about it. "I knew that if I told you about it, you'd spend the rest of the past month worrying and ---"
"Why? Am I not worrying right now? I'm worried about you, Will. I'm not going to deny it...I am!" She said as she looked at him. "Do you think it's nice to wake up at ten a.m. in the morning and suddenly find out, from out of nowhere, that your friend is flying to a deathtrap and is going to stay there for months?!" She asked imposingly. She couldn't help but feel a bit of anger that he had kept this from her.
"Yuriko, I'm so sorry..." He pleaded. Then he shifted to his side, so that his body was facing hers, and he gently wrapped an arm around her blanketed body and held her so close to him. "I'm so sorry, baby..." He said softly as he gently rubbed her back.
Yuriko nestled her body so close to him and surrendered to his warm embrace. She buried her face against his chest and felt comfort at the feeling of his body against hers. She knew that this would be the last time in a long while that they would be this close to one another. And she wanted to enjoy it. Who knew how long he would be gone?
"I'm going to miss you." She whispered. Then she wrapped an arm around his midsection and held him so tightly. "I really wish you didn't have to go...I'm going to miss you so much." She said softly as she clung to the back of his shirt.
She gasped as she tried to hold back the tears that were starting to form in her eyes again. She didn't want to cry anymore. She'd had enough of crying. She wanted to show him that she was strong enough to handle this goodbye. After all, she too was a soldier just like him. She, like William, was trained in Code7 to be a soldier of rational choices --- a person who should be driven more by her mind than her heart. And as a rational soldier, she shouldn't be crying at her friend's departure. In fact, she should be proud of him. She should be proud of what he had decided to do as a soldier and as a person.
William looked down and gently ran his fingers through her hair. "Hey...I'll be back soon before you know it." He said softly, a gentle smile spreading across his face. "I promise you that. I'll come home no matter what."
Then the smile on his face grew wider and he tilted her chin so that she was looking up at him. "After all, think about all the free time you're gonna have alone with Logan while I'm away." He chuckled. "No more William to pester the two of you, eh? Just imagine --- a few months of just you and Logan --- together." He said with a sly grin.
Yuriko smiled and quietly laughed. Then she narrowed her eyes and looked at him quizzically, as if she were judging what he had just said. "You know what? I think you're right." She said with a smile as she nodded her head.
The two of them looked into each other's eyes and they suddenly laughed in unison. Their arms were still wrapped around each other's bodies and Yuriko was still cuddling so close to him. William was glad that she was feeling better now. He didn't want to leave today, knowing that he had left her in tears. But now that he had her laughing in his arms again, he felt at ease that he was going to leave her with a smile on her face.
Then Yuriko's eyes suddenly shot wide open, as if she had just seen a ghost. But the huge smile that appeared on her lips meant that she was happy to see this 'ghost'.
"Logan." She whispered. She seemed to be looking over William's shoulder.
William furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her curiously. "What?" He asked.
Yuriko laughed and quickly propped herself up on her elbow, while her other arm remained wrapped around William's body. She had an excited and happy expression on her face as she looked at whoever it was who was standing behind William.
William looked at her curiously, and noticed that she was looking at someone else...someone who was standing somewhere behind him. He slowly turned around on the bed, and saw Logan standing in the doorway of Yuriko's room.
His eyes suddenly shot wide open at the sight of Logan and he impulsively turned harder and faster to the other side, in an effort to move away from Yuriko. "Logan!" He yelped. Then as he turned, he fell off the bed and landed on the floor with a soft thud.
Yuriko's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she saw what just happened. She quickly threw the covers off of her and quickly moved to the side of the bed where William fell off. She looked over the side and saw him writhing on the floor and grunting in pain. He was on his stomach and he was rubbing his jaw.
"Oh my god, William, are you okay?" She asked with a worried tone in her voice.
William's winced in pain as he rubbed his jaw. Then he turned on the floor so that he was laying down on his back. He looked up at her and smiled in a disgruntled manner. "I'm okay." He said. "Trust me...I've fallen off the second story of the headquarters before, and this is definitely nothing compared to that." He chuckled.
Then he turned his head to look at Logan and made a little wave at him. "Um, hey there, Jimmy!" He said with a smile. "Heh...You, uh, quite surprised me there." He whimpered. He really hoped Logan wouldn't think anything negative about what he and Yuriko were doing just a while ago. After all, they were just having a heart to heart talk. It's not like there was something else going on between them.
Logan remained standing by the doorway, as he looked at William with one of his eyebrows arched up. 'That' was the person he had been trusting with his life for the past four years? The boy could barely keep himself on a bed, for crying out loud. Thank God William was better and far more focused in the battlefield.
Logan sighed, rolled his eyes and shook his head from side to side. Then he looked at William sternly and walked towards him. He leaned down and grabbed the young man by the front end of his shirt, and then he pulled him up and sat him down on the bed. Sometimes, he really couldn't help but feel like a big brother to William Stryker.
"So I see you've already said your goodbyes." He said as he looked at both William and Yuriko. The two were sitting on the side of the bed looking up at him. Logan could clearly see the sadness in Yuriko's eyes. He knew she cried just by looking at them.
Yuriko and William looked at each other, and then Yuriko looked up at Logan and nodded her head. "Yeah. He told me about it. He told me about today."
Then she stood up and wrapped her arms around Logan's neck, and then she buried her face in his chest. She could feel the tears budding from her eyes again, and she didn't want William to see her cry. She would rather keep her pain to herself, than make her friend leave with the memory of her sadness for his decision.
William sighed and stood up from the bed. Then he breathed in and walked past Logan and Yuriko. "Take care of her, Logan." He said as he walked pass by them. Those would be his final words until they meet again. His flight to the USA was thirty minutes from now, which meant that he had to go to the airport this instant.
Logan's eyes followed William as the younger man left the room. He knew that that was the last time he was going to see his young friend for a very long while. Then he looked down and focused his attention to the weeping girl in his arms. She still had her face against his chest, but he could feel her sobs and tears against through his shirt. He gently placed an arm around her and tenderly rubbed her back.
"You okay?" He asked softly, as he looked down at her.
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"Yuriko? Are you okay?" Logan asked as he looked at the sleeping form of Yuriko.
He couldn't help but feel worried about her. She had been groaning and wincing in her sleep for a few minutes now. Was she having a nightmare? If only he could delve into her mind and pull her out of whatever nightmare she was having at the moment.
Yuriko furrowed her eyebrows in her sleep and she winced again as if she was in pain. Then she gave out a small groan and shifted on the bed. Logan couldn't understand what was wrong with her. He remembered her mentioning Stryker's name a while ago, so that could be the reason why she was acting like this right now. Perhaps she was having a nightmare about Stryker. Maybe she was having a nightmare about all the terrible things that Stryker had done to her back when she was his slave.
Logan pursed his lips and breathed in, and then he reached out and gently gripped her upper arm. "Yuriko!" He said firmly. He couldn't bear to see her like this any longer. He had to wake her up. "Yuriko! Wake up!" He said as he gently shook her.
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