Hello again friends.
I was dissatisfied with how this story began. So I spent a little more time on it, and decided to totally revamp it. Concept remains the same, but I made some tweaks which will become more apparent later. I thank you all for your follows, and luckily, nothing major had happened yet. As always the updates will be hectic as i tend to lose and regain interest fairly quickly when it comes to ideas.
This story is kind of personal. I lost my mom around the same age that Luz did and was raised by my dad. Like Luz i was a bit of a weirdo in school with an obsession in niche areas. The difference is Luz was kind of locked down in Gravesfield, while my dad was a Marine and we hopped wherever the Corps took us. I wondered how our little weirdo would turn out with a similar upbringing.
So as before this is an AU, and while things may seem the same, they are not necessarily, but it will be much closer to canon then the total and utter reworking I am doing over in Titan's Blood. That will be slow going, but this one will hopefully move along at a much more expedient pace.
The question on everyone's mind: Will Luz get a gun? Stay tuned and find out.
Oh, and yeah, this is M for a reason, and I was raised by a Marine and served in the Navy, so if my language offends you, please find something else to read, there are many wonderful AU authors out there for TOH that don't talk like a sailor.
25 Years, 5 months, two weeks, 4 days.
Closer to thirty years now.
Thirty years of hard work.
Thirty years of blood, sweat and tears. Well, no tears that anyone else could see. He was Old Corps, after all.
And no end in sight. He felt he could do this forever.
Oorah.
Colonel Manuel Noceda looked from his computer. Government issue, at least ten iterations old. Truly they were giving him a gift with such new equipment. He had tried to requisition his own computer so he could work on more than one file at a time, but the all knowing logisticians in their cage had saw fit to deny the request.
He sighed. This was a far cry from what he had once been. He stood and walked to a wall of the moderately sized office. It was littered with decorations, letters and photos. A large tattered flag hung in a frame at its center. He gazed at it, with its menacing skull diamond and skull. Next to it was framed photo of 19 young men, smiling, if a little arrogantly, but one could sense the comradery. This photo was nearly 18 years old at this point. He was just a first lieutenant back then. And a salty one at that. He took the photo from the wall and looked at it closer, remembering the faces of those who were not here anymore. Some had died there, in Iraq. Some later. Some had fallen in battle, with honor, some had died in accidents, stolen from this life too soon. Still others… others had gone out with little honor left, if any.
He sighed and rehung the photo. Nostalgia does one no good. It only blinds one to a current reality. Nostalgia is nothing more than a socially acceptable delusion.
There was a buzz from the speaker on his desk. He strode over and pressed the receiver.
"Report," he demanded.
"Sir, there is a Staff Sgt. Norton here to see you. He says it is important."
"Does the Staff Sergeant have an appointment?"
"Well, no sir, but…" The voice on the other side trailed off, sounding unsure.
"But what, son? Spit it the fuck out."
"Sir!" The voice regained its confidence, "Sir, the Staff Sergeant has news about your daughter sir!"
He took his finger off the receiver, "Luz? Oh dios mio, Luz what have you done now?"
He pressed down once again, "Send him in."
Moments later, a tall, lanky red headed staff sergeant walked in. He had a well groomed moustache. His ears were absoulely enormous. They stood out from his head nearly perpendicular. He wore the forest pattern uniform of the modern Marine Corps. On his breast pocket stood a gold badge. 5811. Military Police.
Great.
The Staff Sergeant stopped five feet from the desk abruptly and stood ramrod straight.
"Sir, Staff Sergeant James Norton, reporting."
"At ease Staff Sergeant, and enough with formalities. What is going on with my daughter?"
"Sir there was an… altercation at the base school. It involved your daughter and several other students. Based on reports provided to me it seems that your daughter was attempting to deescalate some other altercation between two students. The reports are mixed, but your daughter got into a fight, is the short of it."
I can imagine how that went. "How are the other kids?"
"The other kids?" The Staff Sergeant appeared confused.
"Yes. How many and what did Luz do to them?"
"Um… There were four others involved, and… well… to be quite frank sir, your daughter beat the ever-loving fuck out of those boys. She's pretty scuffed up too, it was four on one, and she's no Jack Reacher."
"But they are worse off?"
"By a mile," the staff sergeant said in what sounded like barely controlled amusement.
"And where is she now?"
"Outside. She's in the squad car," He realized what he had said and returned to attention, "Y-you have to understand sir, this is highly unorthodox but procedure say we have to-"
He was cut off again by the Colonel raising a hand, "That'll be enough. I understand, son. We all have our duties. Mine is to my men and my command. Yours is to law and order. Now take me to see Luz."
The Staff Sergeant lead Noceda down the halls, out the redbrick building and and too the police cruiser. As Noceda approached his shadow fell across the door and he could see the shadowy shape of a girl in the cab. He opened the door and looked in. A girl sat in the backseat, hands resting clenched in her lap, her head bowed in contrition. She wore a green military jacket, a red beanie sat on her head, beat up combat boots adorned her feet.
"Daughter," the Colonel said simply in a flat tone.
"Father," the girl replied in an equally flat tone.
"Get out. Let me look at you," he said in a firm tone, but with a measure of concern.
Luz climbed out of the car and stood, keeping her face down, staring at her father's shiny polished boots.
He looked at her, taking her in. Her jacket's sleeve was torn at the shoulder, and a blood stain ran down her purple shirt.
"Look up at me," he commanded. Luz visibly tightened. She kept her head down.
"Dad, you have to understand, they were-"
"Look. Up. At me."
Luz slowly relaxed, sighed deeply, and turned her head up to look at her father. He left eye was swollen nearly shut, purplish and ugly. A cut adorned the cheek on the same side. Finally, her left nostril was packed with tissue, already a deep crimson. Someone had done a number to her face.
"What happened?" he demanded of Luz.
"Dad, they- they were picking on some kid. Harrassing him. I'd seen them do it before and I told them to stop, I-"
"You only told them to stop?" He asked, having a feeling she was leaving something out.
"No sir… I- I told them to, er, F off, sir."
"Of course you did… Then what?"
"Sir, they wouldn't stop. It got worse. So I, I kinda shoved the biggest one, and he, he said something and I hit him. Then it kind of becomes a blur."
"What did he say?" Noceda asks. But he knows. Only one thing would set his daughter off quite like this.
"He- he-" Luz is choking a bit, fighting back tears. But she overcomes it, conquers it, pushes that feeling down and masters it. She straightens her shoulders, steels herself. She looks her father in the eye.
"He called me a faggot, sir. I responded in kind."
Just like I taught you.
Noceda looks to the Staff Sergeant, who had been standing by patiently, "Is the CO aware of this incident?"
"He is, sir. You know how dedicated is to the base school. And you know the rule sir."
"Standing order: all parties involved in a fight will be given a warning. Three warnings during attendance will result in an immediate expulsion." He sighed. Great, another thing he had to worry about.
"Are you alright?" He asked in a gentle tone, placing a gentle hand on his daughter's shoulder.
"I've had worse, plus I won the fight, that's what matters," she said. That statement deeply disturbed Noceda. Dear God, how had he been raising his daughter? What was he turning her into? What was this lifestyle turning her into?
He sighed. But he forced a patient smile and looked at Luz affectionately.
"Ok. Let's get you home then."
But it would be a long road before either of them were truly home.
So with my new job underway and school being over, I have a lot more free time on my hands to write, so hopefully a revamp of chapter 2, which i was very disappointed in, will be here maybe in the next week but don't hold me to it. Thanks for reading, and leave a review if you have any comments or concerns or if you just feel like calling me an asshole. It's fine, I know I am.
