Subaru, since his childhood, had always looked up to his father, so much so that he tried his hardest to be like him, it was one of the reasons he joined the military. In his opinion, the army, for all their faults had quite literally beat any kind of weakness right out from him. However, no training in his twenty-two years of life could've prepared him for anything like this.
He looked to his companions with eyes as big as saucer plates, remembering having his life abruptly reaped just a few seconds ago, he attempted to comprehend what exactly was happening. The three of the individuals he was looking at - even himself - were supposed to be dead, charred sacks of meat at best. So just how were they standing there? What had happened to Powers? Why was he back at camp? How did Davis grow his legs back? Was this heaven? Hell? Was he seeing ghosts? His mind raced with thoughts, trying to reach a conclusion, but try as he might, he couldn't come up with anything other than the possibility of him having a nightmare or hallucinating. Infact, even if he doesn't remember consuming narcotics, one or the other had to be the only logical reason. What else would explain the fact that they were all alive?
Moreover, he couldn't help but not ignore the fact that it had all felt so real. Too detailed for that to just be a simple nightmare. As if to aggravate his inner turmoil, he felt a phantom of pain across his entire body, mainly around the chest and face. The sensation on his face felt similar to being stung by a bee, only a thousand times worse. Whereas the pain on his chest felt like he was stabbed multiple times by small knives. If these sensations were real, Subaru would undoubtedly be under intense and excruciating pain.
He visibly cringed. So... was all that real?
He didn't want to believe it, but... why could he feel it?
"Nat!-" Subaru visibly recoiled as he was brought out of his stupor. "-What is the problem, man? You sick or somethin'?"
Lloyd and the others were tense, staring at him with their brows lifted, Lloyd's concern over Subaru was evident.
Subaru didn't register he was still hyperventilating, gripping his chest tightly as if his heart would fall out. He felt suddenly claustrophobic, suffocated inside of the tank, feeling like the confined inner compartments would come to crush him. Close to having a meltdown, he weakly attempted to form his words.
"I-I-I need a moment..." He jumped out of the turret from the commander's hatch and onto the camp's muddy floor.
When bile rose to his throat, he couldn't hold it together anymore and promptly emptied his bowels onto the track-marked mud.
"Jesus Christ, Nat... what's gotten onto you?"
Subaru's only response was to continue vomiting.
"What's going on with him?" Malcolm voiced.
Lloyd shook his head. "That's what I wanna know. I never seen him like this."
"I-I'll go get some water." Davis ran off in the direction of the camp's medical tent.
"See if you can bring a doc along! On the double!" Lloyd shouted to him as he went.
Davis raised his hand in acknowledgement as he ran. Lloyd frowned as he could do nothing but only helplessly watch as his childhood friend retching. With a reaction like that out of nowhere, it was possible that Subaru might've needed medical attention.
After a few more minutes, Subaru had finally calmed down and sat with a canteen on his hands while being checked by a field medic, the newly formed crew waited for him by the tank.
The medic, after one last look at him, sighed, "No mosquito bites, nothing. Look, aside from nausea, I don't see anything wrong with you. Tell me, do you have anxiety or any other medical condition I should be aware of?"
"Um... no. No, doc, I'm perfectly fine. See, still healthy as a bull!" He jested, "I think I just ate something that uh, made me sick, is all."
"You'd be taking a shit then, Corporal Bullshit, not be vomiting. Well-" The doctor stood from his crouched position, "-You're clear. But, if you still feel like puking after a few minutes, head to the medical bay immediately."
"Alright. Thanks, doc." Subaru thanked the medic with a nod as he walked away.
Subaru, with duties to attend of his own, took another sip of water from the canteen Davis had borrowed from someone and stood to walk back to his tank. He was still feeling a little queasy after his 'vision' he'd called it, but thankfully the sensation was passing.
"Hey, guys. Uhh, sorry you had to see that. I don't know why it happened." In truth, he knew. He just didn't want to reveal what had caused it.
"No worries, dude." Davis nodded along with Malcolm.
"Don't mind that. You all good now?" Lloyd asked.
"Yeah, I'm good."
"Mighty fine, then. 'Cause here comes the Sarge." Lloyd pointed to the direction of their oncoming NCO.
"Guess it's time to get going, then." The gunner snorted.
Having gone through the exact same procedures as the last time, in accordance to his 'vision', the tank platoon, along with an entire mechanized infantry company, had set off on the same column formation to their objective's location, an information of which was unfortunately still unknown to him.
This time around, however, Subaru was anything but relaxed, gripping his periscope so tightly his knuckles turned white. He cursed himself for being so lax in his 'vision', the worst consequence of his preposterous act aside from his death, was his inability to remember where they had been ambushed. Still, he luckily had another lead: time. While he indeed failed to recall the location of the ambush, he was very certain it had happened some time in the afternoon. The now concentrated gunner, determined not to repeat his previous fatal mistake, preoccupied himself with scanning each and every crevice of the hills they passed, taking special care so as to not miss the movement of a single bush or tree. One mistake could cost not only his life, but also the whole unit going with him.
The second problem that was eating at him was the fact that he could not just simply say that they were going to get ambushed. It would be stating the obvious, any soldier in the frontlines knew they would be under attack at one point in their career, that was a given. What was not so obvious was where and when. In this particular occasion, Subaru had a vague idea of both of these instances. Then again, who would believe him? They only had intel on enemy formation around the areas near their destination, not somewhere else. He had four years of military experience under his belt, but no combat experience. That fact in itself was tragically ironic, considering he had experienced a little more than just combat. He had experienced death.
Would he go back if he died again? He didn't know, and he wasn't so keen on finding out if he had more than this second chance at life.
The thought alone made him grasp his chest, recalling the pain of having been shot. It had hurt alot more than he originally thought, although it was certainly no worse than being on fire.
He begged to all deities in existance for the North Koreans to fuck up at something and allow him or someone else from his unit to spot them. If his memory served right, they weren't exactly incompetent in guerrila warfare, as they had surprised his unit with an attack from all sides, quite possibly wiping out half of the infantry company; hell the ambush was so effective it took out two of their tanks. That begged the question: What kind of anti-tank equipment did they have? Bazookas? Howitzers? Tanks? Be that as it may, he steeled himself for the inevitable skirmish. He was going to save his crew and live this time around.
His eyes narrowed with renewed vigor as he surveyed the on passing earthly ondulations, hoping to catch sight of the enemy.
He swore that this time, they would die.
In another plane, a woman sighed as she left her tent, eyes focused and her head held high, displaying an air of discipline. Having been trained to know the way of the sword since her childhood, she was on duty to protect her home.
Crusch Karsten, fifth candidate for the throne of Lugnica, always believed that some day, her nation would be subjected to hardship, difficulties of which severities would consequently demand a solid foundation of collectiveness, perseverance, and a sense of union from its people. What future problematics she had expected however, did not come to consumate themselves as she thought they would, for the other kingdoms took it as a sign of weakness.
A glance at the open fields served to further steel her resolve, her foes, in great quantity, stood in a long line formation, waiting for their orders to attack. Here, she would stand firm.
She could only hope the other front would be as steadfast.
