Chapter 3: Gabriel...who have you become really?

Vignette heard heavy footsteps and the rustling of equipment come closer towards her. She looked up through blurry eyes and saw a patrol of Japanese soldiers come running to the scene. A heavily wounded soldier, bloody bandages applied on his left bicep and right thigh, quickly knelt down next to Gabriel and applied additional pressure on her stomach wound.

"How long?," he asked promptly.

"T-Ten minutes!," she cried back.

"Right. Help me get her in the UV!"

She nodded, lifting the barely conscious girl by her ankles while the soldier lifted her under the armpits, and they laid her down in the back seat of the utility vehicle.

"Gab! Hang in here you hear?! We're gonna get you home!," Vignette comforted with both hands applying pressure to her wound.

Gabriel snickered quietly at the desperate girl.

"...pfftt!..Vignette...are you...crying?," she asked with a raspy voice. Her face had lost all of its colour, and she was fading in and out of consciousness. Vignette wondered how she was able to speak, and still be an irritating, sarcastic pain in the neck.

"Just...look at me. Don't talk...," she commanded, trying to hold back tears.

Gabriel nodded with a small smile as her life flashed before her eyes. She was at home playing her role-playing game on a Friday night, instead of accepting the invitation to go with her friends drinking. She remembered the taste of the instant noodles, the way that the soup would splash onto her laptop when she slurped up the noodles. She remembered the slight pain and discomfort in her right wrist from the prolonged periods of intense raids, healing and supporting her teammates as they progressed through the dungeons. It was blissful. There, in that virtual world, she was truly shot with a sense of meaning and purpose.

"Oi. Oi! This is why I said to be careful with that thorns spell!," she complained to no-one, typing some obscenities into the chat and reviving her teammate.

She heard the door behind her creak open, and looked back to see a wobbly Vignette walk into her den.

"Ooh. Vignette. You have fun?," Gabriel asked nonchalantly, still clicking away furiously at the mouse and keyboard. She had got so used to everyone barge in to her living area that such interruptions at one am didn't bother her anymore. Especially the harmless Vignette.

"Gaaab...!," Vignette slurred, collapsing onto the blonde's bed. "...why won't you ever come with us?*Hic!* It was kinda...boring."

Gabriel took a slight glance at the tipsy girl on her bed. "Drinking's for normies. Besides I have a raid to finish," she explained.

"Mooou!," Vignette pouted. "You don't even have to drink. Just celebrate with us...! I mean...we graduated high school...do you even remember?"

"Duh. Just don't care."

Vignette slowly got off the bed and sat down cross-legged next to Gabriel, facing her as she was playing. She drunkenly analysed the blonde loli, taking in her slovenly features. Vignette felt somewhat comforted when she saw Gabriel's unkempt mane and the slight bags under her eyes from staying up too late. Like she was back at home, with her imperfect yet determined partner. For some reason, Vignette wondered what Gab would look like under that sweater of hers.

"Hey. Gab," Vignette purred in a low voice.

"Vignette," she responded while her eyes were glued to the screen.

"Do you...like me?," Vignette asked timidly, her hands clutched together like she was saying a prayer.

Gabriel took a curious look at her drunk friend for longer this time, before replying with a simple: 'sure'.

"Then...," Vignette slurred as she let one strap of her top down, revealing some cleavage. "...wanna have sex with me?"

"N-Not like that!," Gabriel half-yelled as she quickly got Vignette's clothes back on her shoulders.

"Aw...why not? I'm somewhat tipsy ya know...when I wake up...you can just say that I forced myself onto you. No consequence. You can do what you want with me," Vignette offered.

The thought of 'doing whatever Gabriel wanted with Vignette with no consequence' ran through Gabriel's mind, and she saw every unconscious carnal desire: what she looked like under there, what noises she would make when Gabriel touched what...flash briefly in her mind for a second. However, she simply went back to her game, albeit now as a distraction, and reasoned that she wouldn't be doing sober Vignette any good. She still cared for the girl, despite her seemingly indifferent attitude towards her.

"Tempting offer but no thanks," Gabriel simply said. She opened her eyes, and saw her face looking down at her with worry. She felt the color return to her face and she could feel her limbs again. "...say...Vignette..."

She was running by her side as the emergency medics rushed her off to an operating table. Vignette tightened her grip on Gabriel's hand.

"Don't talk! Just keep breathing!," she barked.

"...oh...," Gabriel thought, looking up at her friend. "...I never got to see what you looked like under there...haha..."

And shortly after she felt her head go limp, and she was unconscious.


It was around midnight when Gabriel woke up from her intensive surgery on her gut. She slowly sat up in her bed, noticing the various tubes coming out of her arm, as well as Vignette softly sleeping by her side. The rustling of bed sheets rustled her awake however, and she excitedly perked up to greet Gabriel.

"Gab!," she gasped as she held Gabriel's hand with both of hers. "How do you feel?"

"Eh...unholy...," was all Gabriel managed to mutter out, holding her head in pain. "Argh...my head..."

"Losing half your blood will do that to you you idiot...!," Vignette half-scolded like a worried mother. "Here, some painkillers."

"Thanks." Gabriel gratefully swallowed the two pills handed to her and flopped back down on the bed. She exhaled a deep breath of annoyance and looked up at the ceiling.

"Our...mission?," Gabriel asked hesitantly. "Are they..."

"...I'm sorry Gab. KIA," Vignette finished mournfully. "There was nothing we could've done."

"Kghh..."

Prior to the incident between Gabriel and the wounded soldier, they were on their way to a pinned down battalion to administer medical assistance. However about halfway there, they were ambushed between two buildings, Gabriel's squad getting bombarded with enemy artillery fire. They didn't know that they had that place dialed in, and assumed that all their attention was placed on the pinned down battalion.

"How...how did they die?," Gabriel growled angrily. "Were they given clean deaths?"

Vignette stayed silent, knowing that her answer would infuriate Gabriel. She stood up, placing a portable game console in her hands.

"Here," she said quietly. "You're...on the last level right? Finish it until you get better. I'll come by early tomorrow."

Gabriel grit her teeth, assuming that their allies probably surrendered and were mercilessly tortured by the opposing forces for information. She stared at her reflection in the game console's black mirror, while Vignette watched by the door way.

"Hey...it's...not your fault. Okay?," Vignette reassured. "It's no-one's fault."

"I could have..." Gabriel muttered regretfully.

"No! No, you couldn't!," Vignette yelled, her hands clenching up into fists by her side. "Why do you have to blame yourself?!"

"If I hadn't gotten shot, maybe I would've been able to get to their location and saved them!," she yelled back.

"And what?! Patch them up with strips of your uniform?! Heal them with the supplies you used on our guys?!"

Gabriel bit her tongue and stared at her lap.

"...hurry up and go to sleep Gab. You need to rest," Vignette sighed apologetically. "We need you."

The demon girl ambled out of the room and the door slid shut, leaving the injured medic to sob silently to herself in her bed.

"Why...why do I care?! I shouldn't care...!," Gabriel thought as tears began pouring out. "It's their fault for getting into that mess, not mine! They deserve to die!"

She tried acting in a logical and practical manner, telling herself that it was only around twenty or so people; they meant nothing to the overall war effort, but a terrifying thought manifested in her mind.

"...what if it was Vignette? Or Raphiel? Or Satania? Would you let them die?"

She got out of the bed with great difficulty, removing the tubes from her arms and clutching her bandaged stomach, and ambled over to the exit. It was midnight, so there were few awake to force her back to bed and the people who were patrolling Gab knew from when she often bumped into them after a night of gaming.

"Oi...," Akinari uttered in concern as he rushed over to Gab, letting her lean on him. "Your stomach! Why aren't you resting?"

"Smoke," Gabriel replied nonchalantly, looking him in the eyes. The private noticed an intimidating sense of anger and impatience through her eyes.

"Back to bed Gab-Chan," he growled, but he couldn't get her to budge. "Gabriel White. Move it."

"Aki," she sighed tiredly. "Just...let me have this. Would ya?"

They locked eye contact. He scanned her eyes and body posture for her typical sarcastic and lax attitude, but tonight there was none of that. Only tiredness, restlessness and the unusual aura of anger. He understood, having been shot at and in the same position as Gabriel. One of his buddies from training had died in his arms during an intense firefight, and afterwards, he did nothing but drink and screw around, getting him demoted to where he was now. A simple cigarette for the young girl shouldn't be an issue.

He looked behind his shoulder, and frowned at the blonde.

"Just this once. But if you get caught so help me I'll destroy your consoles."

"Whatever," Gabriel grunted as she turned around and shuffled outside. She sat on a crate, letting the midnight breeze glide through her rustled hair and under her patient gown. She slid her slim fingers into a crack between two bricks on the wall next to her, pulling out a single cigarette and a lighter.

"Fucking...Ares...," she muttered as she struggled to light the flint on the lighter with her thumb. She heard a zippo clinking open next to her, and a flame appeared in her field of view. She leaned her cigarette into it, taking a long, contemplative drag before leaning back on the wall.

"You shouldn't smoke at your age," the masculine voice next to her said simply. Gabriel closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of nicotine awaken her mind.

"Don't care major," she said indifferently as he sat down next to her. The two took periodic drags of their cigarettes while looking off into the ruins of Japan, dimly lit by the moon. They stayed in relatively comfortable silence for about five minutes, despite the major hearing the medic occasionally mutter off some obscenities, like she was having an argument with herself. The two simultaneously flicked their cigarettes away, and the major leaned forward and sighed.

"How's your gut?," he asked not looking at her.

"Fuck off," she quipped back.

The major chuckled. "That's what I like to hear."

"Mercy platoon...," Gab said trying to hide her emotions. "Dead...right?"

"Ten have been captured as hostages. But yeah. Dead," he stated.

"You gonna get them out?," Gab prompted rather dominantly.

The major sighed. "As much as I would like to, the higher ups voted against it. I don't think they want to be held responsible for any more civilians deaths."

"But...," Gabriel grit her teeth angrily. "There are children-"

"I know. But this is the cold truth of war. People die. Good people die. Nothing we can do."

Gabriel remained as stiff as a board, silently suppressing her desire to scream at the major. She took one final look at the ruined city and slowly stood up.

"I'm going to sleep," she grumbled, which was met with a raspy 'goodnight' from her senior. She walked a little faster this time, ignoring the feeling in her gut like her intestines were about to fall out. She deliberately walked past the medical room and walked a little further into the barracks, where she shook Raphiel awake in her cot.

"Raphie," Gabriel whispered. "I need your help."