Archangel - Chapter 8: My Name is Acre

Acre's eyes took a moment to adjust to the change in brightness as she walked through the door into the base. Although Acre thought that nothing could faze her ever again after what happened in the past 24 hours, what she found behind that door caught her completely by surprise.

The first thing that happened was Acre getting a face full of confetti. Acre recoiled backwards, almost knocking Castle over as colourful strands of plastic fell onto her face.

"What the fu-" Acre began before suddenly stopping, noticing the scene within the room.

In front of her, Acre saw an entire welcome party waiting in the staging room, complete with decorations and accessories acquired from who knows where. Acre's bewildered gaze was met by a dozen or so other SFMTF dolls all awaiting Acre's return, a banner with the words "KATANA 2-CHARLIE" painted over it hanging above them. With a gentle shove, Castle pushed Acre into the room towards the small mob of unfamiliar dolls.

"Welcome back!" a doll in the crowd shouted. Acre turned her head towards the voice but couldn't make out who said it.

"Congrats!" Another voice called out, causing Acre to confusedly turn her head again.

"I- Thanks-?" a thoroughly confused Acre stammered amidst more cheers and applause, now surrounded by the group. Acre had never been congratulated by anyone before, much less by an entire group of strangers; she couldn't understand what all the big fuss was about. Nevertheless, Acre tried her best to smile and go with the flow. Although Acre felt completely out of her element, she still found the situation rather agreeable.

After a while, the commotion mostly died down as most of the dolls broke off into individual groups, talking amongst one another. One of the girls handed Acre a juice box which was probably smuggled off a raided Griffin convoy, which Acre politely accepted. Despite the fact that it was 2 months expired, Acre thought the apple juice tasted pretty good. Well, not that she has ever drank juice before.

"Enjoying yourself?" Castle asked, walking over with a smile.

"Um, I don't know what I'm doing," Acre replied, taking a sip from the expired apple juice.

"But are you having fun?" Castle prodded.

"I dunno, I've never had fun before," Acre said, looking around.

Castle sighed, "Well, you better start learning how. You can't log 20 hours a day in combat sims everyday forever, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Acre admitted, "I just don't really get it all, I guess I don't really know how to connect with all the other dolls, if that makes any sense."

"I know what you mean. You just gotta take it one step at a time," Castle said, looking around. "Speaking of which, here's an opportunity right here."

Acre followed Castle's gaze to another T-doll running towards her. Wearing an elegant white dress, the doll clutched a small box wrapped in ribbons close to her chest. Her loose chestnut brown hair bounced through the air as she raced towards Acre, a decorative bluebell flower (a 3D-printed model, of course) sitting above her right ear.

Acre's eyes widened as she recognized who was approaching her. "Ah, Bluebell!" Acre exclaimed in surprise.

"Katana 2-Charlie, Welcome back! I'm so sorry I was late to-" Bluebell happily shouted before suddenly stopping in confusion, "Wait, did I ever tell you my name?"

"Ah, well…" Acre began, giving Castle a knowing glance.

"Nevermind that," Bluebell said, returning to her previous cheery demeanour. "Welcome back, 2-Charlie! How did your first mission go?"

"It went… uh…" Acre stammered, not wanting to sour the mood. "It could've gone better, but it could've gone worse."

"Well, at least you're safe and sound," Bluebell smiled, suddenly wrapping Acre in an embrace.

"Uh, yeah!" Acre hurriedly replied. She fought the urge to push her squad mate away, not being used to the sudden show of affection.

"Aw, come on! You don't have to be so standoffish all the time, ya know?" Bluebell said to Acre with a playful pout. "So did you think of a name for yourself yet? You promised me, remember?"

"Yeah, about that…" Acre began.

"Ahh, forget it, you probably forgot again!" Bluebell scolded Acre, poorly faking a stern, angry expression.

"Actually, I did come up with a name for myself," Acre proudly announced, flashing a smug grin at Bluebell.

"No way!" Bluebell gasped, "Tell me, tell me!"

"Uh, it's…" Acre started, her face reddening in embarrassment.

"C'mon! Don't be afraid, I wanna know!" Bluebell eagerly prodded.

"…Acre…"

Bluebell's eyes widened in (fake) shock before she burst into laughter. "Acre? What a silly name, I love it!" she declared as she wrapped her arms around Acre again.

"Thanks, I- whuaagh-!" Acre yelped as she lost her balance, falling onto the floor along with Bluebell."

Castle watched in amusement from the side. It seemed like Acre was finally beginning to break through her shell and reveal another side of her. No matter what the other people might say, Castle knew that despite her body being made up of metal and wires, her emotions and thoughts felt decidedly human. That's something that Kia had taught her a long time ago, and it's something that Castle hoped Acre would learn in due time.

Acre got up and dusted herself off as she looked at Bluebell, noticing the gift Bluebell had been holding in her hand this whole time. "Um, what is that?" Acre asked, looking at the small box.

"Ah, I almost forgot," Bluebell responded, quickly presenting the present to Acre. "Open it and you'll see!"

Acre took the box from Bluebell and carefully opened it. Inside it, Acre found a rather expensive-looking hairbrush. "What?" Acre asked in confusion.

"It's a hairbrush, silly," Bluebell smiled.

"I know, but what am I supposed to do with it?" Acre inquired.

"Um, you brush your hair with it?" Bluebell responded with a laugh.

"Well yeah, obviously," Acre said, "But I don't need it."

"Okay, first of all. That's not how you reject a present, Acre!" Bluebell sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes at the clueless Acre. "Secondly, of course you need it! Katana 2-Charlie—the tactical doll—might not need it, but Acre—you—need it!"

"But I don't know how to use it…" Acre protested, looking up at Bluebell.

"Oh my God, I'll teach you!" Bluebell laughed, ruffling Acre's hair.

Acre looked at Bluebell, who was waiting for a response. Acre felt a strange feeling she had never felt before, and although she couldn't identify it, she realized it felt… strangely good.

"Thanks, Bluebell," Acre finally said. A genuine smile crept across Acre's face for the first time in her life, and it was the most beautiful smile Bluebell had ever seen.

Just then, a girl approached Acre from behind a table with a cake in hand. "Ah, thanks," Acre awkwardly thanked her. Bluebell stepped back as the girl walked up to Acre with a beaming smile, presented Acre with the cake, then bashed it into her face.

The room erupted into laughter and cheers as the other dolls, all waiting for this moment, clapped and celebrated this Katana division tradition. Castle covered her mouth with her hand, trying to supress her laughter; she remembered back when she was the one with a cake in her face.

"Um, are you alright?" a somewhat-concerned but also somewhat-laughing voice asked Acre.

"Fuck, does it look like I'm fine?" Acre sarcastically retorted through a mouthful of strawberry frosting. Wiping the mess from her eyes, Acre's stomach instantly dropped when she realized who she just replied to. "Erm… I meant-"

"No offense taken, Katana 2-Charlie. At ease," Archangel smiled as she handed Acre a paper towel from the table.

"T-thanks," Acre sheepishly replied, her face thoroughly red from more than just the food colouring.

"You don't have to be so uptight, 2-Charlie," Archangel assured Acre as she looked at her in amusement.

"Uh, actually, Katana 2-Charlie has a proper name now!" Bluebell chipped in, smiling as always.

"Oh really? That's great!" Archangel beamed, "What is it?"

"Uh… Acre," Acre said self-consciously.

"Acre… I like it," Archangel approved, "Well, good to see you're doing well, Acre."

"Thanks…" Acre replied, still not used to conversing with a ringleader so casually.

"Actually, the reason why I came here was because I wanted to check on you, Acre," Archangel admitted, her face taking on a more serious appearance. "I know this was your first mission, and it was a rather rough one at that, too. So, if you ever need-"

"No, Archangel," Acre replied calmly, "I'm perfectly fine."

"That's good to hear," Archangel said, relieved. "From experience, a lot of dolls return from their first engagement feeling a bit… lost."

"I was lost, yes, but I'm not anymore," Acre replied with a smile, glancing around herself at Castle, Bluebell, and all the other dolls in the room before confidently looking Archangel in the eye.

"After all, I think I've found what I'm fighting for."

A/N: Ok, this officially marks the end of Part 2 – Archangel, and the first story arc! Time for some introspection… I think I spent too long on the action sequences and not enough world/character building. Specifically, I wanted to introduce Acre as a eager yet quite flawed individual, and develop her as one of the main characters throughout the story. I also think I'm not very good at writing the more sentimental scenes, so I'll have to go back and fix them later. As usual, any feedback is GREATLY appreciated, so feel free to give some :D

So what's next in the story? Well, I'm going to do an "interlude" where I write some short, silly stuff that doesn't progress the plot that much. Maybe a chapter or two, just to have some fun and maybe flesh out some of the characters. The tone of the first 2 parts was quite dark, so I'm gonna try to lighten it up a bit. The next story arc will focus on someone other than Acre, someone you've already been introduced to. The story so far was largely exposition, and the plot should start picking up its pace from here on (I'm envisioning about 16 parts). Whereas the themes of this arc mostly focused on the individual hardships of war, the next arc will explore more widespread issues, including morality in armed conflict ^^