Part 29: Erwin

IJN Zuikaku

Reki-jo Residence

The tapping of keys filled the bedroom of Commander Matsumoto Riko. Fingers cramping, eyes straining, brain approaching a sizzle, she typed out a seemingly endless line of text on an After Action Report.

1927: The charges detonated, destroying the battery. Enemy tanks arrived immediately afterwards, forcing my team to flee -backspace-backspace- retreat.

1928: Private Ashihe is kioosd -backspace-backspace- killed by machine gun fire. Private Kuruban is wounded.

Erwin leaned back from her computer and rubbed her eyes, taking a deep breath. This particular report had taken alot out of her, but she was nearly finished. As she reached for her coffee cup, filled with a combination of coffee and Bailey's, a knock rattled her door.

"It's open." She said to the dimly lit bedroom, sipping her drink. The door slid open to reveal Caesar in the hallway.

"Hey, Erwin."

"Hi, Caesar. What is it?"

"Me and the girls are going ashore for dinner and drinks. Wanna come?"

Erwin tiredly shook her head. "I can't. I have to write these reports. You guys go have fun."

Taka tilted her head. "Reports for what?"

"After Action stuff. For Saunders."

"This long after?" The Loader leaned against the doorframe.

"I got the request for it last night." Matsumoto said with a shrug. "I had to ask Guderian for any videos with me in them. She had…" The girl looked away from her email tab. "Quite a few."

Caesar stepped into the room, reading the screen over her friend's shoulder. "Did you get to us getting fucked up yet?"

"I'm past that part. This is after."

"What happened after?" She asked curiously.

"The… final assault."

Caesar eyed Riko, who didn't look away from her laptop. Eyes glued to the screen, she took a hesitant sip of coffee. "You never mentioned… a final assault."

"No. No, I didn't."

"Why not?"

"Because it was… fucking brutal." Erwin set her mug down, resting her head in her hands. "It made the Somme look like a seaside picnic."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really. Not any more than I already am." She gestured to the screen.

"Another secret hidden from the team?" Caesar thought. "First Saemonza, now Erwin? What's next? Is Oryou secretly a kitten in disguise?"

"If you really must, I found these pictures." Erwin clicked on one of her open tabs. A shot of herself was front and center, walking down the trench line. Caesar leaned closer, curious. "Some girl from Fourth Platoon was taking pictures of all of us. I didn't even see her at first." Suzuki studied the image.

Erwin looked ragged. Like one of the US Marines after Guadalcanal in 1943. Her uniform was filthy and torn, with a few bullet holes in the sleeves and trousers. One of her galoshes was held in place by a single clasp, her helmet was dented and askew, one of the collar devices was missing, and her magazine pouches were nearly empty. Her dirty, streaked face held a distant expression, mostly looking straight ahead. To the left, a handful of fresh faced and clean girls filed past, a startling contrast between a new rotation and a grizzled, battle weary veteran.

Caesar glanced up at Erwin's framed Distinguished Service Cross. The Commander couldn't bring herself to pin it to her jacket, but Caesar now had a feeling that she was awarded the medal for more reasons than what she had claimed, as Matsumoto had never shown her friends the paper Francesca had given her.

"Seven hundred and fifty." Erwin said suddenly, making Caesar flinch.

"What?"

"Seven hundred and fifty." Matsumoto caved to her friend's curiosity. "In First and Third. Including myself, that's how many attacked the Pravda line. Out of those… only three hundred and seventeen came back in one piece, maybe… fifty of which being from Third Platoon. Twenty or so trickled back, wounded. Most of them died later. I ended up leading a squad of eight Saunders girls. In the span of ten minutes, all of them were dead. The last one died calling in an airstrike that ended the battle. That... saved my life. She's who I'm trying to write about in this fucking AAR." Erwin closed her eyes and squeezed the sides of her head. "I can't get her scream out of my head. Charging head-long at those tanks, marker smoke in hand." She let out a trembling breath. "I'll never forget those kids' faces. How every one of them thought they were on their way home after that fight." Riko's face hardened as she looked up at Caesar. "They did go home. In pine boxes." She took a deep breath, eyes welling up. "How the Hell do I write a report about that in a way that looks like a damn doctor's note?!"

When I thought of myself as Hippo's Mother Hen, it wasn't meant to be this serious…

"I…" Caesar didn't know what to say, other than the first thing that popped into her head. "I guess I'm lucky not to have been an officer." She offered with a light chuckle. Erwin glared at her, a few stray tears leaking out of her red eyes, before the Loader continued. "I'm sorry… that's not… that was inappropriate."

"Figures. The one time I try opening up." Riko growled.

"I'm sorry, Erwin… look. I… I don't know. The only thing I can think of would be to leave emotion out of it. Just state the facts. What happened and when."

"That's what I'm trying to do. Facts just don't do all of this justice."

"Hey! Caesar!" Saemonza's voice sounded from down the hall. She, along with Oryou, appeared in the doorway a moment later. "We -Hey, Erwin- we gotta go. They're gonna give our table away."

"Just go, Caesar. I'll figure this out on my own."

Taka groaned under her breath.

"You two go and start the car. I'll catch up. Call and tell the host to expect one more."

Oryou and Saemonza eyed each other, before shrugging and leaving the room.

"One more? I told you I'm not coming."

"You are after I help you finish this." Caesar declared. "You've been plugging away at this stuff for too long, and you need a break." She trampled over Erwin's further protests. "So… 1928 hours… Ashihe and Kuruban are hit. What happened next? I'll type."

Erwin growled and leaned back in her seat. "Uh… Christ…" She racked her tired, emotionally drained brain. "Umm… I… called Slugger asking for air support, and… told them the objective was complete."

Over the next few minutes, Erwin recalled her personal war story. Her own personal Hell that she had been put through. Suzuki found herself hesitating multiple times as Matsumoto shared the important details and offered recaps.

"...and 2015 hours, I returned to the Campus." She concluded. "Mission complete."

"And… what next?"

"The template says there are supposed to be personal remarks. Here." Erwin nudged Caesar's hands away and began typing on her own.

Remarks:

I recommend Private Annmarie Kuruban be decorated for valor.

Filing Date: 24/12/2019

Filing Officer: R. Matsumoto. First Lieutenant, 1st Ooarai Ranger Battalion

Signature:

松本 里子

Erwin sighed and pushed herself away from her desk. "Done. Finally." She rubbed her face tiredly. "Fuck me…"

"I'm sorry, Erwin." Caesar said. Her friend snorted.

"Why? It wasn't your fault Command decided to launch a suicide mission. Hell, you're the lucky one. You were smart enough to take a bullet, so you could sit it out."

"Hey, I didn't want to get shot." Caesar said defensively. "You know, things still hurt after all this time."

"I can imagine. I bet Hephaestus' wound still hurts, too. So… where are you three off to?"

"Four." Suzuki corrected. "Kobishan. All night Happy Hour. Get dressed." She stood up, tossing a jacket in Erwin's direction. It landed on her head, and she scrambled to pull the garment off.

"I'm not hungry!" She protested.

"But I'd wager you're thirsty." Taka shot back.

Through multiple grumblings, Matsumoto dressed herself and followed Caesar outside into the cold Christmas Eve air. Oryou's car was in the driveway, purring at idle, and the pair climbed in.

"Oryou." Erwin said, surprised at what she was seeing. "You're… driving?"

"Yes, I am." Nogami said proudly. "Saemonza yelling at me at the party put a few things into perspective." She gestured to the one-eyed girl in the passenger seat, who waved the Driver off.

"Please. I didn't yell at you. I yelled to you. There's a difference."

"At. To. Whatever. Point is, I shouldn't be letting a bum leg hold me back. So, here we are Ze yo." Oryou looked at her friends through the rear view mirror. "Don't fear for your lives. I spent most of yesterday and this morning practicing. I found that the icy roads made for an extra, welcome challenge."

"Your confidence is quite inspiring." Erwin said, buckling her seatbelt.

Oryou managed to pull out of the driveway and onto the street without incident. After a few minutes of Caesar and Saemonza light-heartedly arguing about listening to Christmas songs, the Gunner changed the subject.

"Say, Erwin." She set the radio dial firmly on a punk rock station. "You looked kinda shaken up when we were in your room. What was it about?" Oryou glanced at the mirror curiously, but kept her attention on the road.

Takako opened her mouth to answer for her friend, but opted to allow her to speak when she saw her expression.

"It's a… long story. And telling it now would ruin the mood. Maybe I'll explain later." Erwin smiled. "For now… let's go have some fun."

A/N: Can it be December already? I've had enough of this whole 'summer' thing

So, some folks are still working through stuff. Erwin among them. This AAR, or After Action Report, she's writing is about a certain event that wasn't covered in the main story. That battle received its own chapter in the spin-off 'War Stories'

Oryou and Saemonza are friends again, and Caesar is reclaiming her place as the Mother Hen of Hippo

Special welcome to user Gudpelia, for following and favoriting quite literally everything in my library. Salutations to you

As always, thanks for reading. And stay tuned for more!