Sir! We can't even see what we're shooting at out here, this is suicide!

You have your orders, Sargent. Now get out there!

Boom!

"Ahhhh" he screamed, loudly and in more terror than he expected.

Felix felt the shoulder on his hand, and his body reacted on instinct. He was on his feet, and moved to have his back against the nearest solid surface, which in this case was the prison fence. His hand on instinct went immediately to his hip, where his pistol always was.

But it wasn't there.

Felix look down at his hip, wondering why on Earth he had forgotten the one piece of kit that should never be forgotten by any soldier, and suddenly remembered he was still in prison, and that the war had been over for years.

But it's never over, is it?

He looked up, and saw Violet standing in front of him. She was kneeling in front of him, gazing with her beautiful blue eyes into his own, and holding a thermos in one of her hands.

She asked, gently, "Are you alright, Felix? I apologize if I startled you. It seemed as though you were having a nightmare"

Felix wiped a hand over his face and took a few deep breathes before speaking again. He looked up at the sky, and realized that the sun was much lower than it had been this morning when Violet left to make more coffee.

When did I fall asleep?

"Yeah, yeah I'm alright..." he said, not entirely believing the answer, "I was just uh...just thinking. Yeah, that's it, thinking."

Violet placed the thermos at his feet, and returned to her place at the typewriter-turned-rifle. She loaded a new sheet, adjusted the spinner, set the roller back and let the bolt slam home. Felix felt his spine tingle at the noise, and he had to force himself to bring his mind back to the present moment.

"I will tell you something that I have yet to tell anyone else. We are friends, and I don't believe that any of my colleagues at CH will understand in the same way you do, Felix" she said, taking a deep breath.

"I have nightmares as well. On one event in particular. The SSB was assigned to assault the enemy's headquarters, in an old castle some miles back from the front lines. If successful, the attack would have brought the war to an end. My unit was assigned to infiltrate the castle prior to the main assault, in order to signal the main force to move in and disable the enemy's artillery" Violet said, so softly that Felix could barely hear her.

"The mission was a success, but it was a costly success. Out of fifty soldiers in my unit, I was the only survivor. And I was...wounded" she continued.

Felix opened the thermos, and didn't even bother with the mug. He took a swig straight from the container, and let the warmth of the coffee soothe both his throat and his soul. He sat down at his own place across from Violet and asked, "Wounded?"

She nodded, and gently began pulling her brown leather gloves from her hands. It suddenly occurred to Felix that he'd never seen his friend Violet's hands. She had never taken her gloves off before.

Why doesn't she ever take off her gloves?

With her teeth, she removed the first. It seemed like an awkward struggle for her. After she finally got the first glove off, she gently removed the second, folded the gloves neatly into her lap, and held up her hands for Felix to see.

The lowering sun shimmered on her metal fingers as Felix took the sight in. He'd heard of other soldiers getting plates in their heads, or pins in their knees, but both hands was something he'd never seen before.

"Both hands?" He asked, seriously and not rhetorically.

"Both arms, actually. They were lost in the mission I just mentioned" Violet said, still holding her metal hands in the air.

Felix nodded respectfully, and then took off his left shoe and sock, and held a metallic foot in the air, "I guess we really are alike. I've got this too. Only the foot though, the leg's still there"

Violet lowered her hands and asked, "Did you also lose your foot in a mission?"

Felix nodded, "A mission, but not because of the enemy, at least, not directly because of the enemy. Something he did before I got to the battlefield"

Click click click

What the hell does she have to write about now? How is this important?

"How was the enemy able to take your foot away before you arrived at the battlefield?" Violet asked.

Felix opened the new thermos that Violet had prepared and took a sip of the new coffee. It was even more delicious than the first three, and tasted slightly different than those.

"The coffee tastes a little different now. Sweeter I think?" Felix said, looking at the thermos to see if he could pick out the flavour with his eyes.

"I have added some mint leaves and honey to the grinds. By carefully grinding the beans, the mint mixes in with the grind and releases an aromatic note when the grind is brought to a boil. Just before the water reaches boiling temperature, adding a single line of squeezed honey traps in the flavour of the mint and the coffee, while still allowing the coffee to flow freely within the thermos" Violet said, displaying the mint leaves within her metal hands. She crushed a single leaf with her fingers, and allowed the gentle breeze to sail the leaves away on the wind.

"Reminds me of how we did it on the front. We didn't have honey, but we had our rum rations. Most of the boys would just mix it straight in, but I found that if you wait, and add the rum just before you pour the water into your mug, it makes the flavour last a whole lot longer. It also stops burning the alcohol off too much so you get that nice buzz before you go over the top" said Felix, savouring the mint and honey flavour but longing for a glass of Soldier's Rum.

"There are many different ways to prepare coffee" said Violet as she lowered her metal hands again, "But again you are attempting to delay our work. Our time is running out today. I don't wish to pressure you, but we should conclude this chapter before I leave today"

You can't trick her. You need to stop trying

"Fine, fine" Felix sighed deeply. He took another sip, and decided to simply unload, "The Enemy took my foot away, because the field we were fighting on that night was littered in mines. Command, naturally, neglected to tell us about the mines before we got there, and it ended up killing more of the squad than the enemy did"

Another sip, and he continued, "This was my first mission as a Sargent. There were others before that, but this one sticks out the most, until I was sent to the Western Front, anyway. Our squad was part of a larger company attack. We were supposed to support the advance of another company on our right flank. We were going to try to take away a series of hills that overlooked a wide valley near the city of Dresal. If we took those hills, the Artillery Corps would be in perfect position to shell those bastards day and night, so we had to finish our mission at any cost"

Click click click

Felix took the final sip, and poured out another mug. The coffee was warm, which was a good thing, because his mind was starting to remember how cold it was that night.

"Our commander, some fat Colonel who grew up the son of money from another son of money, sent us down some dried up old creek bed to get around the enemy's main trench. We set up our camp for the night, but before we got to sleep he called in on the wireless telegraph, safe a long way from the front in some other rich bastards sitting room. And he ordered us to attack, in the pitch black night of a new moon. Without any flares, or coverage from the other squads, or anything else working in our favour" Felix said, quicker than he expected.

"You have your orders, Sargent. Now get out there! Those were the last words he said to me. So we attacked. You can't go against orders, right? I'd end up back in jail again, or worse. And sure enough, as soon as we opened fire, the enemy hit us back. And a single squad was facing down the better part of a battalion. Three Hundred and Fifty, against twenty. Gustav, Karl and me argued about what to do. But I was in charge, so I said we weren't staying here for some fat Colonel's folly. We were getting out alive" Felix said.

Click click click

Just like the bolt on a machine gun

"Gustav stood up, and a Sniper put a bullet right through his moustache. Karl turned around to shoot back, and the sniper got him too. A bullet between his green eyes. But the funny thing is, if funny is the right work...The Sniper was behind us. The bullets came from the south, not the east where the enemy was. I wasn't able to prove it, but that Sniper had to be one of our own. Maybe the fat Colonel ordered him to shoot us for running away. It wouldn't surprise me. Officers are all useless like that, every single one of them"

Click

But she stopped after only a single word. Violet looked up at Felix, and her blue eyes weren't sad. But they were angry.

"What did you say?" she asked, quietly.

Felix stood up on his metal foot, "I said that every Officer in the Leiden Army is a useless son of money from other sons of money. They got to sit back in their comfortable tents, and drink coffee, and eat roast beef sandwiches, and call the actual fighting men like me cowards, while we fought and died for their stupid mistakes"

He sipped the coffee in his own mug and continued his rant, "Hell, the only one who was ever any different was Major Gilbert Bougainvillea, and that's only because he actually took the time to shake my hand once. I could even tell he wasn't any different than that Fat Colonel who got my men killed that night. His hand had a weak grip, and it was soft, like he'd never worked a day in his life. I'd be surprised if he even fired a shot once in the whole war"

Suddenly, and faster than Felix thought she could, Violet stood up and ran towards him. Her metal hand slapped his face. Not the playful slap that Katrin had gave him so long ago, but a hard slap, meant to hurt. It was enough that he fell to the ground, and spilled his coffee over the grass.

"Shut up!" Violet screamed at him, "Don't talk about the Major ever again!"

Felix stood up, and looked at the Doll that was his friend. But the Doll, and his friend, had a look of murderous rage in her deep blue eyes. But he was never one to back down from a fight when he knew he was right.

"It's true isn't it? He had coin, and so did his family. I bet his uniform was pressed every day by some poor bastard like me. I bet his boots shined like the metal on your hands, and he didn't even have to polish them himself. And I'll bet everything I've got left that Gilbert Bougainvillea was a coward, just like the fat Colonel!" screamed Felix.

Violet again moved with blinding speed. She threw a fist at his face, and connected hard on his jaw. Felix was reeling but still in the fight. He threw his own fist into her stomach, and it was enough to push Violet back a few feet.

Felix was about to make a counter attack, when Olaf charged over as fast as his old bones could carry him. He swung his truncheon into Felix's back, and knocked him down onto his face into the grass that was supposed to be soft, bet felt as hard as the metal that served as Violet's hands.

"Alright! That'll do, both of you!" Olaf shouted, pointing the truncheon at Violet.

Felix tried to stand back up, but was met by another truncheon hit from Olaf on the back of his leg, "Hold still right there, you young punk, or the next one's coming for your empty skull!"

"She started it! I was defending myself, you miserable old bastard Olaf!" Felix shouted.

Olaf put his boot into Felix's back, keeping him on the ground for a few moments, "I saw that, but you don't ever strike a woman in my presence!" he again pointed the truncheon at Violet, "I'm sorry Miss, but if you hit him again, I'll have to put you in a cell too. It's probably best if you leave for now, you can come back tomorrow"

Violet stood still for a long moment, and both Felix and Olaf wondered what she would do next. But instead of attacking again, she walked calmly back to her place, put away the typewriter-turned-rifle and the thermos, folded the blanket neatly against the handles of the basket, and walked away without another word. The young guard from the Gate escorted her out, and she was halfway to the tram station before Olaf allowed Felix to stand up again.

"What the hell's the matter with you Felix? You don't strike a woman in anger. Even I know that" said Olaf as he shoved the prisoner back towards the metal door leading to the cells.

"She started it" was all he could he reply. And when he finally got back to his cell and laid down on his hard bed, the pain from her fist shot through his face at the same time the pain in his heart started inside his chest.

He went to sleep, with a single tear in his eye, and one final thought on his mind.

She started it.