MARINETTE

"Wait, so let me get this straight." Lieutenant Agreste repeats for the third time. "The government is conducting an experiment and we are the lab rats. They want to see if we are capable of becoming a nurse and a soldier at the same time...Where the hell is the logic in that? I mean, it's easier if we stick to just doing one job! This is pissing everyone off!"

"Lieutenant Agreste, Don't use such colorful words at me!" The general scolds and lieutenant just slides back onto his chair. "The government knows what they are doing! Let us just follow what they want!"

"The government is trying to hide the fact that they are corrupt!" lieutenant intercedes.

"Are you trying to start a mutiny here, Adrien?" General Hugo seethes, with his hands turned into fists and his body leaning towards him.

Ah, his name is Adrien...

"Well," Adrien leans closer too, "what if I am?" he whispers with a smirk playing on his face.

"Don't even think of doing that..." I say sternly as I push the two of them away from each other. "Lieutenant," I start, facing Adrien, "don't use 'mutiny' as a threat. I know that we just met tonight but I have to reprimand you right now. You don't know the true intentions of the government. This experiment can actually make a good change to the military."

"And General Hugo," I turn to the general, "since we are pushing through with this, I suggest that you shouldn't make us do everything all at once! This is a slow process! We're not perfect people!"

"Do the two of you understand me, now?" I ask and Adrien scoffs, "Like as if you know what it's like to be a soldier," he seethes, "Go back to being a useless nurse!" he harshly opens the door and slams it shut once he was out of the office.

"How dare he!!" I shout, heading to the door, "I'm going to show him a-"

"Marinette!" The general shouts just when I opened the door.

"What, uncle?!"

He points at the door, "Shut it and come back here." I roll my eyes and follow what he said.

"Uncle, honestly I don't like this..." I complain once I slump on my chair.

"Welcome to the club..." he whispers and sits on his chair again to sign certain documents.

"Me, a soldier?! I know that we were taught the basic things about being a soldier, just in case. But I didn't expect to be using these tactics! I thought that I'll just be healing soldiers, not fighting with them!" I rant as my uncle would just nod his head at times, but his attention is still on the documents.

"Hey!" I wave my hand in front of him to get his attention. "Are you listening?! Hello!"

"Shut up, shut up. I can hear you, my dear!" he rubs his ears and glares at me. "As much as I want to stop this, I can't!"

I sulk on my chair and play with the stallion figure on my uncle's table. "I know...I know." I mumble and my uncle grabs my hand and holds it reassuringly.

"But," he starts, "this might be for our own good. You might be a fine soldier, Marinette."  he shrugs his shoulders and smiles. I smile back and nod.

"Okay..." I say as I pat his hand. "I'll be going ahead, uncle...I have to pack." I stand and straighten my skirt.

"Sleep well, Marinette." he says as I open the door.

"I'll try."

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"Girl, you better take care of yourself there!" Alya says while looking at her hand mirror and applying lip stick.

I'm back in our bunker where all the nurses sleep in and my luggage is opened wide in front of me. I was folding my blouses when I realized that Alya was putting on lip stick.

"Where are you going?" I ask and Alya smiles shyly.

"I'm going out..." she mumbles and I roll my eyes.

"Okay, I won't be asking where but with whom?" I stand and walk to her bunk bed. "Nurse or soldier?"

"Ugh, I can never hide anything from you, can I?"

"Well, I never hide anything from you, Alya. You better tell me the truth right now." I demand and she rubs her arms out of nervousness.

"You wouldn't like him..." she mumbles and now I understand who she is seeing.

"A soldier? Really?" I say in disbelief and I run my hands through my face. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Hey!" I get startled once she shouted at me, "just because your mother's heart got broken by a soldier doesn't mean that all soldiers are players! The one I'm seeing tonight is kind, Marinette..."

I shake my head, trying to prove my point. "It's not only that," I say slowly so that she can clearly understand my point, "Every year, we lose nurses because they get pregnant!"

"That's why they're trying to get more male nurses! It's not a big deal!"

"Not a big deal?!" I seethe and I run my fingers through my hair, "Okay, listen. These women, who are at home with their kids, are waiting for the father of their kids to come home! And what if he doesn't come home? I just don't want them to expect too much..."

"All soldiers are born to die...They offer up their lives to their country." Alya whispers as she puts a scarf around her neck. "And we, lovers," she continues, "should realize that already. That one day, we would never see him again..."

"You talk like as if you know a lot about the relationship between a nurse and a soldier...have you ever experienced being in love?" she asks and gives me an apologetic look saying that she really had to see him.

"I've never experienced being in love! I swear! I just know because of the movies I have seen..." I trail off trying to distract myself. "Hey, use protection..." I tease and she blushes a dark shade of red and waves her hand in denial.

"Oh no!" she cries, "We are not like that! Trust me!"

I giggle and wave my hand bidding a good-bye and she waves back before exiting the bunker.

You're a liar, Marinette...

Do you want your best friend to go through the same despair you felt years ago?

"Was it my fault for waiting for him to come back?" I whisper to no one but myself. "I was just so in love..." I continue as I put my clothes inside my luggage.

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"Follow me, nurse."

I jump in my seat and spit out my water once I hear the voice.

I was just drinking my water while sitting with my friends in the canteen. Who wouldn't get startled by a sudden command? My friends stopped their conversation upon hearing the voice and they started to turn red, not only by the person who is standing at my back but also by me, a wet mess.

I turn around to see who called to my attention and I gasp.

Lieutenant Agreste stands tall and straight in front of me, looking down at me with a scowl. I must look like a stray dog who just came from drinking a whole liter of water.

"Wipe your mouth and follow me." he says with authority, and it gives me the push to immediately stand up, fix my attire and wipe my face.

"I'll see you girls later..." I mumble to my friends before brisk walking to Adrien, trying to match my pace with his.

"Where are we going?" I dare to ask as I am now walking beside him.

"Since you have my job and I have yours." He says, emphasizing the word, 'yours'. "You should know how hard and how challenging my work is."

Yeah, like as if being a nurse is also an easy job...

"I understand, lieutenant..." I utter, not wanting to start a debate with him.

"Forgive me." he softly utters. "I was acting irrational last night..." he continues and I nod my head in understanding.

"It's okay." I say and through the corner of my eye, I can see him looking at me.

After a while, he clears his throat and looks forward. "We're here." he announces and I find myself standing in front of a big bunker.

Adrien opens the door and ushers me to enter first. He turns on the lights and I gasp in awe.

"Welcome to the weapons bunker." Adrien welcomes me and I walk nearer to some artillery nearby.

"May I touch it?" I ask.

"You can. You'll be using it in some time so I don't see the problem in doing so. Just don't press anything or pull any trigger." He warns and I nod my head in understanding.

I look around the whole bunker until I see something that catches my eye. "Oh my gosh!" I utter excitedly, "are these sniperscopes?" I ask as I look through one.

"Ah! This one you cannot touch!" He says, immediately grabbing the sniperscope from me.

"Hey! Give that back!"

"No way, nurse!" He says, turning his body around to stop me from getting the sniperscope back.

"Give it! I want to see it!" I command, wrapping my arms around him. I'm trying to stop him from moving!

"Well it's good to see the two of you getting along."

Adrien and I stop what we were doing once we saw General Hugo leaning on the ledge of the door. I immediately let go of my hold on Adrien, and Adrien slowly puts down the sniperscope.

"It's amazing to see the two of you acting all 'lovey-dovey' this morning when last night you wanted to murder each other..." He continues and places his hand on his chest and dreamily looks up to the ceiling. "My...how fast they grow..."

Adrien grumbles and immediately walks out of the bunker, not even bothering to acknowledge the general.

"Uncle, it's nothing. Really." I clarify and he just nods while chuckling.

"Oh yeah, it's nothing alright." he teases and I just roll my eyes at him.

"I'm out of here..." I mutter as I exit the bunker.

"You'll be switching bunkers starting tonight!" my uncle shouts as I walk on the way to my bunker. "I'll see you there!" he continues.

I don't turn back to look at him, instead I start to sulk just thinking about my new job.

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This is it.

You are going to walk in the bunker and show them that a nurse can also be a soldier.

You can do this, Marinette!

I affirm myself on my way to my new bunker. I whisper words of encouragement to myself. And just when I arrived right in front of the door of my new bunker, I immediately turn the other way around and walk back to my bunker.

Who the hell am I kidding? I can't do this!

You CAN'T do this, Marinette!

You can't! I repeat, YOU CAN'T!

Don't show off what you don't have!

"No Marinette!" I stop to scold myself from downgrading my abilities. "You were picked for a reason! Now you gotta fulfill that plan this instant!" I turn around and walk back to my new bunker.

"Here goes nothing..." I mutter to myself as I slowly push open the door. All the soldiers stopped talking once they saw me standing behind the door.

"H-hi.." I stutter as I awkwardly wave my hand at them. Most of them ignore me by not even acknowledging my presence. The others scowled at me.

At least they know that I exist...

Ah who am I kidding? I don't belong here-

"Welcome Private Marinette!" someone interrupts my train of thought and I come face-to-face with a soldier wearing eyeglasses and a baseball cap.

"Hi. I'm Nino." He presents his right hand and I grab it to shake it. "Captain of this troop." he continues as he lets go of his hold.

"Good evening, Captain Nino." I greet and he ushers me to follow him.

"This is one of the biggest bunkers in the garrison." He starts as we pass by different bunk beds with soldiers talking to each other, playing card games and even exercising.

"We are known to be the noisiest," he continues, "but we are the most competent out of all the troops here..."

Double the pressure...

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but where will I sleep?"

"Ah...you'll be sleeping on this bed." he says as he pats the bed beside him. "And I'll be sleeping on top of the bunk. Lieutenant Adrien used to stay here since he was the second-in-command. Now you'll be taking his place."

"Oh, I see." I place my bag on the bed and I start to unpack some of my things. "Where can I change into my sleeping clothes?" I ask and Nino laughs loudly.

"Private Marinette! We are soldiers, not tourists! We sleep with our uniforms on!" he laughs and climbs the ladder to the top bunk. "Lights off!" he commands and one-by-one the lights are switched off.

What?? Lights off already? I haven't unpacked yet or even change or even wash my face!

I lie down on my back and I just look up, trying to fall asleep.

This is going to take time for me to adjust...

I felt my eyelids starting to get droopy and I knew that I was going to fall asleep any second now. And just when I was about to fully close my eyes, like a synchronized orchestra, I can hear all the soldiers snoring.

I have never gotten used to snoring. We, nurses, rarely snore. And when we do, we snore softly, not snoring like a dragon's roar.

All of them snore all at once with each having a different pattern of snores. Seriously, I can make a song out of their snores.

I grab both ends of my pillow and bring it closer to my ears. If I want to sleep well tonight then I have to block out the sound.

Oh yeah, This is TOTALLY going to take me a lot of time to adjust.

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