With the German countryside passing by the passenger car window, Maho watched as the train she was traveling in speeded its way to her stop in the bustling and city of Munich.
After several hours, and a transfer in the station in Mannheim, she was on her way to her destination, and was finally able to relax a little from all of the hustle throughout the last few weeks.
As being in a fairly wealthy family, she was able to get her seat in the first class. The car itself was fairly empty, mainly just military officers and prestigious party member on official duty, and with the exception of several older veterans exchanging old war stories from the Great
War in the very back of the coach, it was reasonably quiet, allowing her to get some peace and quiet before the looming prospect of the hell that was awaiting her where she was going in one of Reich's many training facilities for its armed forces at war.
As time began to move by along the miles of rail, she began to reflect back on her past, mainly back to happier days long gone by.
Most likely due to the occasion her mind wandered to one memory much more than the others.
The first time she ever saw a tank, well at least that's what it was supposed to be.
As soldiers went about on their daily drills and duties, Maho, Miho, and their mother made their way through the bustle of the Munich barracks for the Weimar army.
"Mommy, are you sure were supposed to be here? Miho asked their mother as she held Maho's hand.
"Yeah, I don't think we're allowed here either." Maho stated with doubt in their choice of entering the barracks premises.
"I don't think we're allowed here either. But your father insisted that we meet up with him here before going to the festival."
As she finished Shiho her statement; around the corner of the barracks came the silhouette of a Tankwagenattrappe as it turned toward the three visitors and coming to a stop, the vehicles crew emerging from within; including its young dark-haired commander.
"Speaking of your father." "Daddy!" Shiho stated again before her two daughters left her side.
"Miho! Maho!" Their father called out before taking them into a tight embrace when they reached him. "I missed you two so much." He responded while still holding them before turning his attention towards their mother.
"Odd place to meet up before the festival." She said as she looked at him.
"Well since you were already in Munich I decided to at least show them where I work like normal fathers do." He replied. "And besides, army regulations here are so relaxed, that nobody would mind you dropping by. Actually most of the other tankers actually wanted to meet
Maho and Miho after reading all of their letters they sent me."
Maho and her younger sister regularly sent letters to their father to keep in touch, and he would always find the time to read them and mail some of his own back on his off time in the barracks.
While their mom and dad was exchanging a few words, the two siblings began to look around close by until the vehicle that their father came out of caught Miho's eye.
"Wow! Daddy, is that a tank?" Miho asked. Ever since their father first mentioned his transfer to the armored corps several months back, both girls were fascinated with tanks, and always wanted to see one in real life.
Her father came by to where his daughter was standing.
"Not exactly." He answered while moving towards the vehicle, and kicks the sheet metal "armor" which easily bended to his foot . "You see, after the great war Germany wasn't allowed to have certain weapons, tanks being among them. But a lot of the army's leaders believe even though we aren't allowed to have these weapons, we should still be taught how to use them in case it is ever needed."
"I can see why they don't keep this place tightly guarded." Maho's Mother states, knotting the mocked armored vehicles, and wooden barreled artillery pieces.
"So they train you how to operate this equipment in case something happens like if another war breaks out, or if the ban is lifted?" Maho asks her father rather intelligently for her age.
"That's right." Her father answers. "Didn't I tell you guys, I told you she was smart?" He said to his fellow tankers who got out of the vehicle after him.
"Are we ready to go now?" Their mother asks close behind.
"We are, I signed out at the CO's office just before you came." He answered before turning his attention back to Maho and her sister.
"Maho, Miho, you have no idea how much I love you, a man couldn't ask for more than you. And hay, I may not ever be able to command a real tank, but if you play your cards right, and if it's what you want, you might be able to do it one day." He says while placing it on her shoulder.
"You to Miho." He says to her younger sister, then takes the peaked cap off of his head and places it on hers.
"Thanks Dad." Miho replies.
"Yeah, thanks Dad." Maho also adds in.
"Okay!" He says while standing up to his full height. "Your mother starting to get antsy about going down to the fair, so lets blow this joint!"
"Yeah!" Miho yelled in joy before her father placed her on his shoulder, with her mother on one side, and Maho grasping his hand on the other, the family finally head out towards the barracks gate.
Maho woke up in her cabin seat. She apparently fell asleep for quite some time for now while she last remembered it being fairly early in the morning after a night time ride from Freiburg, it was now approaching noon.
Seeing that she was nearing her destination, she decided to try and get as much rest as she can before her stop, closing her eyes and placing her cap over them to block the light.
As she began to slip back to sleep, she thought back on those days before the Reich, the days when her family was whole, and their household was full of laughter, now full of nothing but sorrow.
Most of all, she thought of her sister who she swore to always protect. Though both became extremely fascinated with tanks and other military equipment because of their family, compared to other girls their age. She vowed that her sister would never so much as tough a tank so long as this war waged. She could not bear the even thought of something happening to her in a place as unforgiving as the frontlines of a war.
And even if she would have to give her own life to protect her from harm.
She would do it gladly.
There we go, if you didn't like this chapter, I'm sorry. But I really wanted to try to and add a little more of a background story for the two characters before they actually meet up. I decided that the best way to do this was to add flashbacks that would move forward as the story go by.
After some deliberation with myself, I decided that since they will be going to similar events at different times before the battle. That the best thing to do would be to switch between their points of views up to the point where they will be both in the city itself throughout the battle.
Thank you so much IcyBlaze4545, and Kimeck for the support you gave me, and the story.
The story IS going to contain a lot of extremely graphic description of the bloody fighting that took place in the streets and buildings of the city. And possibly some scenes of the atrocities committed by both sides during the war which will probably include one of the many mass murders executed by the Germans along the Eastern front, and Stalin's infamous Order No.277 which came with the slogan "Not a step back!" So this stories probably not going to be appealing for the squeamish at heart.
About the... "Experimenting" part in your review. Hehehe. The option is still open, I neither decided to have it, or to avoid it at all costs, but the M rating does give me a lot of wiggle room on the matter. One of the main reasons I chose these two characters, other than there my two favorite characters in the series, especially Maho because I like the Byronic Hero type character. Was so that I could have freedom the subject, a guy and a girl would really force me to make it a romance, and two guys would probably just shoot each other as any two soldiers at war would basically ruining the whole story.
I myself prefer happy endings, but any guarantees, and I am planning on introducing other characters from both Girls und Panzer and possibly other shows as well, but many of them will die.
The written language in America is dead.
