Kane was sitting in her room reciting the lord's word. It gave her a manner of comfort reading it, no matter the bombshells that flew and hit be they real or more presently emotional.
The yelling of arguments and the occasional outside patter of gunfire meant nothing when she was here at her little bedside Baptist church.
The room itself was a nice touch to add to it, better than just mumbling to herself underneath the covers so that Finn somehow heard or god forbid Monika.
Speaking of Finn she seemed to have tried to help out in the current conversation based on the mumble she managed to hear, the honest attempt she saw made her feel pity.
Usually, the "intellectual bouts" of unrestrained anger pattered out when either Monika ran out of steam or when York decided to leave as it was a waste of her time (and how she'd be right and ready to come back for another argument the next day.) Finn joining in was new.
She was in the house of the almighty though, none could reach her unless they opened the door, which they never did.
Wherever they were they would argue now and then, it came naturally to a bunch of people stuck in the same place, and frustrations arose and fell like water in the sky and on the ground.
Kane looked up from her bible and sat to the side of the scrawny bed she was on and rummaged around her pockets until she discovered the tiny little box of righteousness.
With great care not to crush it she removed a small little torch, the red phosphorous sat prettily on top of its spire on the tiny wooden stick. The smallest friction would result in a fire-licked feast of light and create a white phosphorous that would spread on contact with the air.
With one fell swoop she ignited the spark. And oh, How it glittered with its every movement. The flame consumes the wood and creates blackened charred remains. Bless the lord for his ingenuity in the subtle complexity of fire.
Insignificant compared to Uriel in scale, but it was still satisfying to be reminded of the lord our god's ligh-
CLANG
The loud noise outside of her thin walls interrupted made her fumble the match and let it fall onto her palm trying to grasp it in the air, she hissed as it hit her armor. The pain was nothing, the matter at hand was more of an issue to deal with.
They were throwing things now. Not slamming tables with fists or doing anything of note. God- Don't use the lord's name in vain- DAMN IT.
This wouldn't trickle down, this wouldn't fade away, it was silly of her to even think that they would in retrospect. She never stepped in, there were people better suited for it.
When someone needs a heart-to-heart they went to the heart. When someone needs common sense they go to the mind. Now she'd need to attempt to alleviate the spirit.
Almost flattering, if not instantly dreadful once she realized she'd have to do it with Monika, and the presence of Yorktown wasn't very delightful either.
Kane took her sweet time waiting in the cramped unairconditioned room and waited for the fighting to die down, it made sense to wait for a time for cooler heads to prevail, even if they never win arguments with utter infernos.
After opening a slight crack in the door to check if the coast was clear, she silently attempted to go unnoticed, even if she was absolutely terrible at it.
Next to the door, she found the thrown object, it was a dinner tray with an emphasis on the was. Next to the twisted piece of metal was a roll of crumpled paper in Urdu.
"پISA کمانڈر کا بھائی ٹائپ 4 استعمال کر کے واپس آیا۔"
The headlines were big and bold but she couldn't understand it never having learned the language. But there he was, bold on the cover slamming down on some yellow-haired girls claws fully out in a full arena with the classic IS academy logo. whispy (ironically) cirrus clouds formed into two wings in front of 3 commas angled at each other in a circular pattern. Kane tried to focus on the familiar figure.
HE'S WEARING ONE OF THOSE? God. Poor dude. That must suck. A fate worse than death now is it?
That form of black humor made her chuckle to herself over how royally messed up his life was, he would not enjoy it at all.
Guess he's never coming back, now she had to act. Still, wow. Pity him. She knew they were close but she would throw a fit too. Now instead of just thinking he's been in captivity for the past few months, he's just stuck there.
May the lord guide his path because he certainly is in the dark right now. And stumbling.
Looking over to the living room nearby she passed by York with the same bitter scowl that comes out whenever she "wins" at an argument. She noticed Kane holding the newspaper along with the bent metal and stopped immediately.
York tried to make something resembling a sympathetic look but really, who wouldn't be too tired after arguing with that whirlwind?
"Just give her time to -to realign herself." A very calculated way of saying calm down and York knew seeing as how her face drooped. "Maybe we can do something later. You holding up alright yourself from it?"
Kane took another look at the dead man fighting hard against the girl crumpled under his claws.
"Pity him. This hurts a bit more than I let on, we lost a brother. Still, I wouldn't trade places with him if I had to."
It was true. The place seemed to be stuck up in all the wrong places, she might get worse if she stayed there.
"He's alive and that's some of the better news we've gotten compared to the front. AISes have been set up too well, along with general CDTs"
"I'll need to step in?"
"No. No. Grunts are being used now instead of drones. Funny how we're going back to bipedal locomotion now when they've always been doing it."
That intellectual joke just glanced off her and the response didn't help the unsteady York.
"Just go relax, I'll make sure to stay out of the way."
York weakly nodded in understanding. Poor girl.
" She's processing this. I'll try to find some way before the next OP."
With a thumbs up she went over to the lobby. Monika wasn't there, thrown over chairs proved it. So it was obvious where she was now. Finn and Shafe seemed to be holed up in their room playing chess as usual guessing as to how they hadn't made an appearance, guess Shafe knew now.
In the "training room" which was just the thing they called a punching bag and a bunch of weights in a cold mortar and cement room, one had to stay mobile after all the blonde girl out of uniform in just her T-shirt combat pants. How did she feel comfortable out of uniform?
The sound of a mortar being fired nearby just added to that feeling of not nearly enough protection. Even if they were carrying portable bunkers 24/7.
Still in the center, Monika was going feral at that poor thing, just punching and kicking with each hit knocking the bag more and more back. It wouldn't be unfair to assume that Monika would just start scratching and biting it, more animalistic than ever.
Kane made a sign of the cross to protect her from this encounter, she'll just wait for her to come around, maybe wait outside her room.
"I know you're here." Spoken right before another proper wallop at the bag.
The recoil of the words sent to her was more than enough, they didn't talk as much. Guess she was all in now.
"Bless me with a conversation sister, I know I've had some faults. Our last proper conversation was a long while ago." The distance was short but it made their conversation seem so far. Monika paused her unending siege but still didn't bother to look at her.
"Do you know?" Her response was laced with cyanide and unlit fuses.
"I've seen it." Kane took another good look at the picture. A friend in a faraway place known by quite a few people if the news reached them here. At least he seemed alive and well enough. He was probably thinking about them 24/7, god knows they were.
Monika instantly turned to face Kane with a rapid turn fists still clenched hard and in the air.
"AND YORK DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING." Monika pointed at her rapidly and seemed to want to go in for another hit but stopped any proper momentum right before she hit the bag again. "Months of asking and waiting and this is how we find out. One of us just disappeared and no words. Not even a confirmed kill, being worried over what could have happened or worse. what is happening."
Everyone knew the punishments given to the captured, they've all seen them on the battlefield. They've seen the judges, juries, and executioners and been them as well.
Kane wanted to defend York, to say that she was just a noncom and that she was at the will of their superiors as anybody else. But it seemed like it'd be healthier just to let her get it out now.
" Shame we found out this way wasn't it?" Kane was forcing a more empathetic tone, she didn't want to get on York's bad side either. "He's alive at least."
"And never coming back." Monika's voice seemed to crack by just the slightest fraction, it made Kane feel a deeper pity at not helping as much as she did after the escape. "He's gone."
"All of us would've gone to get him." York included. " We were about to if the higher-ups didn't tell us not. He's being fed and seems to be hold-"
"Don't start." The utter rigidity of the response. Right. Help her vent.
" We could've been told anything. Instead, we were twiddling our thumbs waiting for anything. And do you know what? Nothing. How long has he been there, what is he doing? Why is he there? Questions they ignored and spat on." BIt too harsh on their lifelines and Kane knew she didn't mean it, but it was a bit too much.
"You're right." Monika continued on without caring about the meek response sent her way.
"I tried raising it to York over how little we knew and since we found out now maybe we could ask our superiors. She flipped out on ME." Monika pointed at herself with one finger and tapped her chest with ferocity. "ME" Well, that was a strange new occurrence. Usually, it's the other way around. "Talking about how it wasn't our place" She made an exaggeratingly cold mimicry of York's tone. "Damn well wanted to punch her in her regulations. Like she was more worried about the rules and rulers instead of fallen comrades."
York started it? Well, maybe she didn't know all the facts.
"Cold-hearted york. Always looks up at the people who give her instructions and never down at the people who she puts her life in. Trying to play chief instead of commander."
Kane preferred them to switch to another topic instead of falling into a rant.
"Wouldn't you be happier knowing he's alive?"
"If I was told earlier-" was a very interesting wording. The rest of them cared. "If we were told earlier," Oh she did notice. "Ugh. he's good as gone now that his cover is blown." That was the right part.
"We're never going to see him again." Monika paused." I'm never going to see him again." she started to slump on the floor as if finally realizing it. Right, they were the closest.
Kane wanted to walk over and pat her on the back, but this was the exact thing to make her jump up and start yelling at her. She watched how Ichika treated her well enough. So she went to the opposite side of the room in front of Monika and sat down cross-legged. Maybe a bit of distance wasn't all that bad.
"Anything else?" Asking the question felt like she was already overreaching, this was not her forte. Just be a listener, not a healer.
Monika was silently still with her face on her knees. So Kane was fine with just sitting there waiting for her to start. After a while, a weak response came out.
"You're all the best thing I have going on right now. What if another one of you goes away." Monika seemed like she was about to start sobbing.
Kane silently judged her for that show of weakness subconsciously, Monika was tough, would she crack after all the things they went through just by the "death" of this singular person? Then Kane thought about it and realized she didn't know how she'd react, which put in a new topic for self-reflection later.
But even shepherds can bring down giants. The smallest things can bring down impenetrable monsters as long as they go for the head. It made sense, they've all had their brief schisms at least once.
"We're here for now." a terrible misstep that Kane knew wasn't a good response.
"This is all I can- I can see now, i want to yell so much more. At york, at command, at the bitch that took him."
"Just focus on our work. We do good. The act will make you better. I'll be here." this was the best she could do.
That made Monika look up from her curled up and give a piercing gaze straight into her eyes that made Kane know that she misstepped in some crucial way.
"God. I know you want to make me feel better. And I'm sorry for whatever I've done to you." Monika started to tremble as her voice rose to a calm callout. "But you know better and are failing at this. I don't know how god helps you justify this. But I don't see his mercy being given to us like him." Her voice was stable but now it turned at her with a sharpness like a knife's edge. She was nearing an outburst.
"He will. I pray for you all and know we will all be blessed in his protection." Kane wouldn't let an insult to god stand, even if she didn't know what she was talking about. Sure they'd die. But Ichika was doing just the same work as them. And maybe she put a bit more irritation into the phrasing than she should've.
"So was your trip in his plans?" That mention sent a chill down her spine they both knew it. She thought she covered her tracks well.
"It was." There would be no backing down on god. Not in his holiest place either.
"Alright." Monika stood up and left but just before the door's entrance, she stopped. "if that's how you justify it to yourself." It had too much clarity and calmness to it that was unknown to someone like her. It wasn't even hostile. Utterly alien to the demon of wrath that was her most of the time. It made Kane's soul itch like when she struggled to light a match.
Kane survived this encounter. It wasn't a physical trial but a spiritual one that she had to fight through. did she help at all? No. Sitting on the cold floor just made her shudder a slight amount. So she decided to just stay there for a while until the coast was clear and returned to her room.
The radiant light from another torch made her calm down. The vigil of justice still needed to be maintained, amen to that.