It was the day after the last match as the students were going to have the extra day to themselves but this day was going to be their last. Miho and Yukari had gotten their stuff together as the rest of them had been packing for tomorrow. Miho looked at Yukari as he had a question for her:
"Hey since we're going to be leaving this place tomorrow, want to go for one last ride with all of us to see the forest?" Miho asked.
"Sure thing but how are we going to transport our friends?" Yukari asked as she was more than eager for one last ride.
"There must be a sled around here somewhere." Hana told them as they began looking around for a towing sled. Hana knew there was nothing though she exited the house followed by Miho. Miho continued looking around when she spotted something. Shichiro with a bunch of rental sleds to be attached to the back of the snowmobiles.
"Lightbulb." Miho told Hana. She went back inside to grab the money that was going to be needed for this and gave Hana the money. "I'll get the snowmobile started up." Miho walked off to purchase a rental sled for the rest of the group to ride around in.
Miho was driving the group as Hana, Saori and Mako were riding around in the rental towing sled as they were going to spend the last day here together and in the wilderness.
"So we lost, was it intentional Miho?" Saori asked. She wanted to figure out the thought process behind what happened.
"It wasn't but Momo said we can't constantly be number one. Plus with what we learned from Pravda according to Momo was their tactics, we were just too slow." Miho responded back. It wasn't on her end to lose but she was just merely playing to Momo's words.
"Well so long as it wasn't intentional." Hana responded. Mako was just falling asleep on Saori's lap while Katyusha and Nonna came from another section of the forest, towing two lovely people around.
"Hey Nonna, you seem happy, anything exciting going on?" Miho asked. Nonna began to think about it before she began speaking.
"Take a look at the rear, two people seem to be happy." Katyusha drove off to let Miho see Brook and Dimitri were riding in the sled. They seemed to be happy that they were riding along.
"They certainly seem to be introducing themselves." Miho commented. Nonna nodded with agreement.
"It was the best thing for a horse and carriage we could offer them. I wanted them to have one more day of magic before we head for Japan so the question is, want to ride with us?" Nonna offered Miho to follow up ahead of them and join their trip as they were going to take their romp around the forest. Miho began to think about it as Nonna's offer seemed to interest her in allowing them to travel around the forest.
"Sure, we can always spend the day with you Nonna." Miho replied.
"Well then, follow us and we'll explore the wilderness together." Katyusha excitedly ordered Miho to follow her. Katyusha drove off first with Miho and the others following behind. Miho was driving alongside her. Snow from a falling tree sprinkled a few flakes of snow on the two riders.
"I think if these flakes were silver with a nice shine of light on them, would Katyusha complain to you Nonna?" Dimitri asked. Nonna looked at the boy with a smile on her face.
"Katyusha says whatever the color is and we don't complain about it. As long as she provides an exclamation to what she is saying. I tried to prevent her from eating lemon snow as she thought it was lemon ice." Nonna replied that they weren't protesting Katyusha's demands.
"Was it really lemon?" Miho asked Nonna if that was true. Nonna began to think about what she remembered that time back.
"It was not, some dog must've marked its territory." Nonna answered Miho's question.
"Okay then. Now we know." Miho smiled happily as they continued driving around in the snow. The journey had decided to bring them all the way to a gas station and a small store for them. Nonna, Miho and Yukari got off as Nonna went to fill gas up in the snowmobiles.
"We're going to run into the store to get some snacks, you guys want anything?" Miho asked them what they wanted.
"Surprise us Miho." Nonna replied. She was helping Hana refuel after she got out of her nodded as she and Yukari walked into the building.
"So what do you suspect we'll do?" Hana asked.
"Snowmobiles are being packed up this evening as they're all heading to Vermont so they could be transported on the way back plus the train ride back isn't going to be a long one so we'll be back to Japan in a couple of days. I just hope we can apply what we learned to Sensha-Do. However, it is going to suck to give the snowmobiles back as we've rented these for the winter." Nonna replied. She finished fueling up hers and decided to fuel Miho's next. The others were riding around and using this gas station to refuel.
"Yeah but we're more than happy to be getting back into Sensha-Do." Hana told Nonna after spending months locked up in the building due to the freezing cold.
"Weather is bound to get warmer, especially with next month rolling in. I was driving along when I spotted this on one of the trees before we met up. I just had to take a picture of it." Nonna got out her phone and showed it to Hana.
"It's a flower. Flowers are coming early?" Hana asked if this was going to be true.
"Yes, they're coming alright. Spring is upon us!" Nonna said with excitement. "We're looking forward to all of the spring activities that might be ahead."
"What activities?" Hana asked.
"We don't know, but we can do something with flowers." Nonna suggested. Hana's eyes widened as she knew what this meant.
"Flower arrangement?" Hana suggested. "I call it Ikebana. I think my mother should teach you about how to arrange flowers with a message."
"So what's your best arrangement? Four seasons?" Nonna asked, she was curious to see what Hana's favorite arrangement or something she was the most proud of.
"Actually the one I did with the Panzer 4 as the vase. My mother said I found a new meaning after she rejected the fact I was practicing Sensha-Do the year before." Hana replied. "It brought meaning to me as both a loader and an Ikebana participant. The vase in question was the type 3 Chi-Nu but was it the answer. Am I getting confused. Sorry Nonna." Hana tried her best to piece together what exactly happened during that time. It was clear she was having some faulty memory of this and was having trouble remembering what happened.
"It's fine but let me tell you about the four seasons arrangement." Nonna placed her hands on Hana to change the topic a bit so she didn't stress herself out.
"So what's the four seasons, I bet it is the name it implies?" Hana asked Nonna if the four seasons flower arrangement was straight forward and implied its name.
"Yes it is. The branches that are bare are the winter, the buds are spring, the green leaves are summer and the orange leaves are autumn. These are arranged in a circle as the four seasons are revolving around, much like the earth." Nonna explained to Hana what this flower arrangement meant and what symbolic meaning each section was.
"We saw something budding so we might have Spring coming?" Hana asked if this was going to be true.
"Yep this is true Hana." Nonna replied. She had finished helping everyone fill up their gas as Miho and Yukari walked out with the snacks.
"One bag for us and one bag for Pravda." Miho told them as she handed Nonna one of the bags. Nonna took it and carried it off into the snowmobile and placed the bag into the storage. She hopped back on as Katyusha started the engine.
"We'll lead the way back to your cabin Pirozhki." Katyusha told Miho to follow her and Nonna. They then started the trip again as Miho and the others followed in behind, they decided to make the trip back together.
The two groups drove back together as they wanted to get back to their cabins as fast as they could. They didn't want to get stuck in any mud that might overcome them.
The two groups got back to their cabins as that was the riding they were going to do for the day. The snowmobiles were parked right by the rail entrance by Ami and Shichiro so they could be loaded later on tonight. As the snow began to fall on what seemed to be their last night together. Dimitri was spending the time with the Pravda students as he wanted to give something to one of the students.
"Hey Nonna, should I give something to my girl? I've already bided farewell to Vladimir as we're leaving tomorrow, and he had something to do with his wife." Dimitri asked. He wanted to figure out if now was the right time to give her what he wanted.
"Well if you must, the snow falling outside of the window is beautiful so… give it your best. I think she'll appreciate it." Nonna told Dimitri. Nina and Alina came over as they wanted to give him their confidence.
"Yeah. Tell her!" Nina cheered on with her excitement. She was bouncing up and down. "I don't think a boy has confessed to me before."
"She will be happy." Alina added. Nonna looked at the two younger students as they seemed to be chirpy and nagging Dimitri along.
"Alright you two. Give Dimitri his space. I will keep you two occupied until he comes back." Nonna tried her best to keep Nina and Alina calm. Alina pulled something out of Dimitri's pocket and Dimitri tried to grab it back. Nonna helped with what Alina just took and gave it back. "Good luck." Nonna escorted Nina and Alina away as Dimitri got up and began walking to the window of the cabin. Brook was staring out of the window watching the snow fall onto the ground ahead of her eyes. Dimitri then sat down next to her.
"Enjoying the sight outside?" Dimitri asked.
"Well… yeah. Don't know if we will see anything of this beauty ever again?" Brook asked. She sighed as this was probably the last time they will be staring out of the window at a frozen lake and a snowy forest.
"We will one day but there is something I wish to talk to you about." Dimitri promised her.
"What is it that you wanted to speak to me about?" Brook asked Dimitri. She turned her head back out the window to see the snow falling on the lake.
"Well Brook, I've been thinking about it for the past few days and I wanted to give you something." Dimitri began the conversation as he wanted to definitely give her something. "But first, I think Vladimir found something back a few years ago." Dimitri then got his phone out and began searching for the picture that his uncle gave to him. Brook looked on as she began speaking.
"No, he's probably too busy spending his reward money as fast as he can." Brook teased him. Dimitri looked back at Brook who he knew was only trying to tease him.
"It's not like I have ten million rubles laying around as a reward for finding you." Dimitri giggled. He continued to look for the picture as he swore he had it somewhere. "Here it is." Dimitri turned his phone to Brook. In the picture was him and a girl with light brown hair and blue eyes. She was small for her age but not tiny and had a white dress on her.
"During middle school, many of us got together to party and I saw this pretty lady sitting by herself and I decided to ask to dance with her before we were going to Japan for my father, he wasn't doing too well and I wanted to give you something but I couldn't find you I don't think we even exchanged names but even that, I still remembered the girl in the picture." Dimitri described what he remembered from the picture. Brook looked at the picture in the phone and the picture in it, staring at the girl for a solid few seconds before she came to a reflection about who exactly was the girl in the picture.
"Dimitri, the girl in the picture… is me." Brook replied. Dimitri looked at her as he couldn't believe it, she was right there all of this time all along.
"You were small in the picture. Now that I look at you, you're so much bigger, you must've grown." Dimitri told her. Brook was moreover curious about what he had said.
"Yeah the white dress we gave back as those caregivers never really cared about me. At least you do?" Brook was slowly piecing together her past and what this all meant.
"I never thought the girl was you all of the time. It's like I've been teased all of this time and here I am, sitting next to you almost as if I got my reward, I didn't want the money as much as the girl." Dimitri told her. "Plus that dress will most likely not fit you."
"You think so?" Brook asked, she pinched Dimitri on the cheek.
"I think so. Now to the real part that I wanted to give you." Dimitri pulled out the music box he had on him this entire time. "This is what I wanted to really give you." Brook gently took the music box and held it in her hands.
"Although I'm a music lover, I don't think I would figure out how it would work, Irina would know." Brook told Dimitri. Irina walked out of one of the rooms with Nonna.
"Did you say something about me, my granddaughter?" Irina asked. Brook and Dimitri looked at the lady as she sat down on the couch. Brook and Dimitri walked over to her while Brook was holding the music box.
"We wanted to figure out more of this music box and if it still works?" Brook asked. She handed Irina the music box. The old lady began to wind the music box up, once she wound it up just enough. It began playing a tune and two small figures popped out of the box and began to spin around.
"It still works my dear." Irina told Brook. "In fact the figures you see dancing are my son Nicholas and his wife. He was Natascha's brother and the uncle to my grandchildren. In fact when you were just four years old. I wanted to give you the music box when I went away to make our separation easier for both of us. I even wanted her to imagine it was me singing to her to help her sleep."
"Really. That is very sweet of you to have told me this music box was hers. I wanted to give it to her this whole time but I didn't know it was her but I didn't know this was a present for her. I picked it up in some kind of junk sale and it worked." Dimitri told Irina what he remembered.
"I am glad you wanted to return something very grand that I have for her back to her. How can I thank you?" Irina asked Dimitri how she would be able to thank him for looking out for her youngest granddaughter.
"Maybe you can let me be with her but would you sing us the lullaby first?" Dimitri asked if he could have Brook and have Irina sing the lullaby she would sing to her kids.
"Sure thing but give me some time to think about letting you have my granddaughter." Irina told Dimitri that he wanted to hear their lullaby. Brook was feeling drowsy as her eyes were ready to close. Irina looked at her and smiled.
"If it makes a lover of my grandchild happy." Irina sighed. She breathed in and began to say the lullaby: "On the wind across the sea, Hear this song and remember you'll be home with me, Once upon a December." Irina looked down to see Brook asleep on her lap. She must've gotten tired. The two figures stopped dancing and dropped back safely into the box as Irina closed the lid.
"Wow the music did the trick in putting her to sleep." Dimitri commented to Irina.
"Yes it did, she sleeps like a kitten no matter how old she gets." Irina gently patted Brook on the head while she was fast asleep.
"So what exactly happened?" Dimitri asked Irina what happened and how he ended up with the music box.
"Not that I want to tell you but our lives were ruined, all of our lives in one night. They broke into the place where we were staying with Nicholas and destroyed the country. I thought I was never going to see my grandchildren ever again." Irina closed her eyes as she didn't want to think about that horrible night.
"Yeah we were all affected one way or another but we got the pieces back together?" Dimitri asked if this was going to be correct.
"Yes we did. Now with your friend asleep, I need to carry her off to bed." Irina giggled. Nonna came over to see that Brook was fast asleep on Irina's lap.
"Mind if I help you carry her?" Nonna asked. Dimitri nodded. Nonna went over and gently rolled Brook as they gently picked her up. They carried her to her bed and tucked her in. "I got her bed prepared ahead of time. I was thinking she was going to fall asleep." Nonna told Dimitri. Brook opened her eyes half dazed but still tired.
"So did you have fun as of today?" Dimitri asked.
"I certainly did and I can't wait to go back home one day." Brook replied with a yawn. Dimitri then sat on her bed.
"Someday, Irina is a nice grandmother and we could look for something for you, me and your family. A nice cabin in the woods, away from civilization. No one could find us." Dimitri had high hopes that they wouldn't be found out about where they had gone off to.
"Let's hope nothing ever bad happens and you can live the life you wish." Nonna replied.
"Yeah. Brook, this is for you. After spending the time trying to find you, all of those years of trying to achieve what Irina wanted, I feel like you are my reward." Dimitri laid down onto the bed as it was nice and warm. Brook just leaned over and unexpectedly kissed his lips. Dimitri was taken completely by surprise as Brook just kissed him without any caution whatsoever. "I guess I didn't need to do that."
"I thought not." Brook said with a smile. Dimitri got up and walked to his bed. Brook then fell back asleep, having gotten what she wanted.
Epilogue:
Brook and Nonna were sitting by their IS-2's as they were just about ready to go into the match. Their plans were clear, capture the major ports of the island and eliminate Kuromorimine and its allies along the way.
"Well we should be excited to be fighting again in Sensha-Do Brook." Nonna told her.
"Certainly am, though the other sport provided speed, something I was moreover keen to take advantage of." Brook tried to keep her head up high though she was already missing the winter sport.
"Well your objective is to land with twenty-five tanks and the objective is Feodosiya recapture, then we'll move in and destroy Kuromorimine completely." Nonna laid out Brook's objectives.
"Should we get out and try invading on foot first or roll straight in with the tanks?" Brook asked Nonna which would be possible.
"Just secure the beachhead first while rolling in the tanks." Nonna told her. "Count High School isn't very formidable so this should be easy." Nonna wanted this done swiftly with the tanks. Brook nodded and understood the orders.
"Katyusha will have her spirits as high as a Sturmovik and destroy the enemy. No enemy is going to stand in my way." Brook told her. She boarded her IS-2 which had the number "19" on the turret.
"Okay. Good luck." Nonna told her. Brook nodded as her group split off from the rest and they were going to help cause damage to Kuromorimine's team. Brook decided to look ahead to see the point she was going to take.
"Yep that's alright. Let's get this port and clear the way for Katyusha." Brook called out to the group. She boarded her IS-2 and got ready for the task ahead. Taking a point she was familiar with was going to give her an advantage as they could remember the landmarks. Once they got to within a safe distance to land: Brook took out a flare gun and loaded a green flare, she fired it into the sky. Nonna turned her head and spotted it.
"Okay Brook, you're clear to go." Nonna told her. The ramps opened as the twenty-five or so tanks rolled off as the IS-2 was leading it. The fifteen Count Tanks were situated at strongpoints they believed they could hold up Pravda. The IS-2 took the lead as the IS-2 found its first target, a T-4 tank. Brook got down as the massive turret rotated to line the shot up. She got down and pulled the trigger, the T-4 was instantly knocked out. Two T-3's fired away at the IS-2 but they couldn't make a scratch on the heavy tank. Her loader was trying to get the next shell into the breach while she turned to focus in on one of the T-3's. Suddenly one of the T-3's was knocked out from an incoming T-34 shot.
"Okay the gun has been loaded, ready on your mark." The loader told Brook. She nodded and prepared to fire on the T-3. The remaining T-3 tried to run but Brook's tank was right on it. It rotated and prepared to fire. Once the tank was driving in a favorable position, she fired. The remaining T-3 was instantly knocked out. Mizuki in her T-38 tank knew what was happening and decided to retreat.
"All remaining tanks fall back, we can't challenge Pravda." She called out. The Count tanks turned their tails and fled the scene. From fifteen and twenty-five tanks both sides started out with, Pravda only lost one tank while Count High School lost about ten.
"Okay Nonna, this is Brook, we've retaken Feodosiya point. I suspect you're coming down the road, we'll meet up there and drive the remaining tanks into the ocean." Brook stated that her current objective has been completed.
"Nice work. I got a call from Dimitri saying he's cheering you on." Nonna stated that this was news for her friend. Brook nodded with approval.
"Tell him he's allowed to cheer me on all he wants, I am more than welcome to begin something new and he is helping me there." Brook said with a smile. Her IS-2 began rolling out to go link up with Nonna.
"Okay I'll call him back." Nonna giggled. The two groups of tanks rolled onward as they had something bright ahead of them.
End of Story
[A/N]: This last part of the story was just mostly character development and some wrapping up of loose ends as a lot of questions have been answered.
Also using my longest GuP fanfic as a bit of a reference with part 1 taking place between chapters 18 and 19 with chapter 21 as the jumping off point and part 2 taking place between chapters 29 and 30 with chapter 42 as the jumping off point. I won't tell you the title as it's something you need to figure out for yourself. See you in the next story, goodbye.
