We're Not Broken
Raiden
Set during episode 23, after the point in time when Shin, Raiden, Theo, Korena, and Anju learn who the "foreign officer" is - and agree to work with Lena.
...
"I know you don't understand, Ernst." Raiden shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned one shoulder against the doorframe. The older man sat at his desk, one hand folded over the other. Dark hair streaked with grey fell over his forehead.
"But, I came to remind you: this is our choice."
A long pause. A stillness that wasn't waiting. Just quiet.
The Federacy President removed his glasses. Long, nimble fingers, folded metal temples over the lenses. "I don't understand. And I won't insult you by pretending I do. But, it pains me."
"You don't have that right."
"I don't. But, I do care. And still."
Raiden growled. "We don't need your pity. Or your good intentions. We've each struggled with our own demons, but, we've made our peace with it." One fist slammed against the doorframe. He tsked at himself, jammed the hand back into his pocket, and stared at the ceiling. 'I let myself get carried away.'
"I see."
"Anyway, that's all I came to say." Raiden stood and turned to leave.
"I didn't fight. I-I didn't stop you, I didn't even really try. To prevent you from returning to the battlefield. Barely giving you some pretense at setting yourselves up for having a future. When I was so afraid."
Raiden glanced back at the older man. Ernst stood, one arm stretched towards the door. As if he was reaching for something.
"All I could do was delay the inevitable."
"Story of our lives."
"But I don't understand why. We all know, now, what was done to you. And that foreign officer has no right—"
Raiden chuckled.
...
"We thought of you as a wannabe saint and a hypocrite. A pig who didn't realize how much of a pig she was."
"We don't think of you as an equal, or as a comrade. You're an idiot who's stomping on our faces while trying to calm us down with platitudes. That's how we will always see you."
...
The Federacy officer brought a hand up to his face. 'I guess she proved me wrong. How about that?'
"No one has the right to treat people like they're less than human. For any reason."
...
"Raiden, you got in another fight, didn't you?" She held him close - with her silver eyes and pale skin. When all the others called him dirty.
She held him.
...
Raiden bowed his head. He could still remember her face. Her tears. 'She held on to me as long as she could. And fought to give me a home.' He squared his shoulders and stood tall. For her.
"As for that foreign officer, I think you should take your issues up with her. We'll fight, whether she's there or not."
"I know that." Ernst's voice rose in the stillness of the room. So loud, compared to the ghosts of memories.
"what I don't understand is-"
"You don't understand why. As far as the others are concerned, I don't know either. But, as for me. I think…"
...
"How damn idiotic can you be? Handlers don't share vision because it causes blindness!" He screamed through the para-raid connection. "And those mortars you dropped, there's no God damned way you got permission!"
"Who gives a shit?"
It was more than her voice that gave him pause. He could feel it through the connection: the fear - not of the enemy. But of losing...people she cared about.
"Blindness doesn't set in immediately. And using guns and breaking orders won't kill me."
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"That foreign officer, as you call her. I'd have to say…"
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"If the only two paths are to die fighting the Legion or to die having given up completely... We'll survive to the last moment, and go down fighting. That's the reason we fight.
...
"She's a little like, remembering home."