Inspired by:
Halo 3:ODST - Deference for Darkness
Girls' Frontline
Author: I didn't plan to make any further updates and just leave that tiny flash fic as it's own little thing, but music told me otherwise. So there you have it.
After escaping by the skin of our teeth we somehow managed to bring the fight back to them. Some of my Dolls were celebrating each and every small victory we've had since Nightingale allowed us to escape. Even now they were celebrating and I couldn't bring myself to join them this time.
It was raining. As I was staring at the moon out of the open window, allowing rain to hit me, I wondered.
"Was it all really necessary? Was his death really necessary? Just how many comrades are we going to lose? How many am I going to lose?"
No one answered. Of course no one answered. I was making these pleas, asking these questions over and over from the moment we lost ST AR-15, then M16. Many of my fellow Commanders wound up dead or MIA and now I'm the last one standing. At times I feel like all these people, my own dolls look up to me as if I'm some sort of mythical being, and yet I feel like the biggest fraud. I simply got lucky.
Someone knocked on the door. Groza entered as I was closing the window, my hair and face soaking wet. She kept the door open for a few short moments to let some light filter in, she saw how I looked and pulled out a bottle of whiskey from behind her. I was hoping that she just wanted to share a couple of drinks in a simple companionable silence, I was wrong.
"He still bothers you, doesn't he Commander?" She spoke softly while pouring the drinks, I nodded stiffly. Then I took a generous sip of my whiskey.
"Were you close to him?" I couldn't help myself but ask. They always looked so close despite the ongoing war that it made me a little envious.
"We were, yes, though I hoped that he would allow himself to rest on his laurels for once instead of…" The last words ended up choked in her throat as she took a generous gulp from her glass. I think at that moment the dam broke for the both of us.
"He… he was a good man. I wish I could've known him better." For some reason it felt like Groza felt the same way despite her being a lot closer to him than I could ever be.
"Once this is all over… if ever, I think I'll retire after getting him a proper funeral."
And so we sat in my room for the rest of the night, drinking in silence.
It was a terrible night for rain.