ADRIEN

"How is my niece?"

I scoff and show 5 fingers. "She's weak." I put down my thumb. "She's super whiny." I put down my index finger.

"You do know that you're talking to her uncle, right?"

I ignore his statement and proceed with my enumeration, "She's very stubborn." I put down my middle finger.

"Lieutenant, that is enou-"

"But she's very determined." I interrupt him as I put down my fourth finger. "And also hardworking." I finish, putting down the last finger.

"I did not expect a compliment from you...well you gave 2 which is more surprising."

I give out a light chuckle as I shrug my shoulders. "Hey, I give my best at times, even when it comes to compliments."

General Hugo stands from his chair and looks out the window. He stares outside for a while and then starts to chuckle.

Curious, I walk to stand beside him and look out the window too. Outside, I see Private Marinette struggling to carry one sand bag. Her body is bent over the bag. She hangs it over her shoulder and tries to run. But as she takes her first step, she falls on the field with the sand bag on top of her.

"Ouch." General Hugo utters beside me, "That must be really heavy..."

"That bag only contains 10 kilograms, sir...the lightest out of all of them there." I inform him, slightly amused.

"Are those bandages around her arms?"

I look out again and notice the white bandages around her arms. I hope she applied the ointment on her wound.

"She got wounded when they did the team obstacle course yesterday." I explain and through the corner of my eye, he nods.

"Did she wash it? Or..."

"I left a bottle of ointment on her bed last night." I reply. "Although that she is weak, that woman is very hardworking and persevering." I point out to General Hugo. He scoffs and turns around to walk back to his chair.

"She is not a woman..." He murmurs as he sits on his chair. "She is still a girl..."

I take one last glance outside before walking to stand in front of the general.

"I'm guessing that she is uncle's little girl?" I inquire and I see the general's cheeks flush a faint color of red.

"Yes, I know it's embarrassing." He utters, "But I can't help to feel so protective over her..."

"What are you trying to say, general?"

"She suffered alot when her father passed away, and...never mind." He shakes his head like as if trying to erase the thought running in his head.

"And what, sir?" I ask. "Please continue."

"I've heard stories." he says, instead. "Stories that can never let me know if they are real or not..."

"Well I hope that they aren't spooky stories!" I sarcastically utter and the general glares right at me.

"No. I've heard stories about her knowing the government's secrets."

That got my attention. I turn to look at him and he lightly chuckles in amusement.

"I've gotten your attention. Haven't I, Lieutenant?"

"You could of at least told me directly..." I mumble. "How can you prove that the rumors are real? Does she really know things that we don't know?"

He shakes his head and gives out a deep sigh. "We will never know..."

"This is why you want her to join, isn't it?"

"Whether she knows things or not, I want her to join. At least I get to look after her more often."

"Well you should have looked after her when she got wounded."

"I know. I have to check on her from now on. You gave her ointment, right?" He asks.

I nod in reply, "A whole bottle of it."

"Maybe," he starts, "you should ask her to teach you!"

"Woah, wait. Teach me what?"

"What it's like to work as a nurse!" He exclaims, "The procedures, simple first aid, maybe suturing in the near future."

"I don't want to waste my time with her. I've been wasting my time training her, I don't want to waste some more." I utter sternly and General Hugo just sighs.

"Can't you see that I am indirectly asking you to watch over her for me at times?" He pleads and I just give him a stern shake of my head.

"Sir, my answer is no. Now excuse me, I have to join my fellow nurses in the orientation."

------------------------

"All of you will have to learn the basics of medicine." Alya leads us to the center of the infirmary. With us are my fellow soldiers who are now nurses, and of course we have the newly registered nurses. "But for now, we won't be asking a lot from you...well, maybe most of your time.

"After all, you are nurses." She finishes before throwing a big plastic bag filled with white clothing at the center. "Those are scrubs. Find your size and put them on. You'll be wearing these from now on."

All of us approach the bag and start to sort out the different sizes of the top and pants. They are all white! I can't stand white clothes!

I stop myself from throwing a fit, remembering that I am not of high rank in the infirmary, and search for my size.

After changing, Alya takes me to one station in the infirmary.

"Today, I am in-charge of teaching you how to clean the medical tools." She starts as she hands me a pair of surgical gloves before putting her own pair on her hands.

I struggle to put on my gloves and Alya steps in to help me.

"First task on the job and you're having a hard time already." She ends with a light chuckle.

"Sorry..." I mutter, "I'm used to tying the laces on my boots rather than putting on these gloves..."

She gives me a hard pat on the back and shrugs her shoulders, "Well, you gotta get used to it." She carries a rack of medical and surgical tools and places it on a table. "Come here, Lieutenant."

I walk to stand beside her and she presents a pair of silver scissors. "Do you know what these are?"

"Um, a pair of scissors?" I 'guess', but Alya just scoffs.

"These are Kelly forceps." She informs me then grabs another pair of scissors that have a similar feature with the Kelly forceps. "Now, what about this pair of scissors?"

"Um...another pair of Kelly forceps?"

"These are Mosquito forceps."

"They look the same!" I complain.

"And you'll be encountering a lot more, Lieutenant."

"How many tools are there?" I ask.

"About a hundred." She replies nonchalantly and I feel my eyes bulging out from their sockets.

"A HUNDRED?!"

"And those are tools for general surgery. You have a different set of medicinal tools for the other situations, like first aid or fixing a sprain." She continues then gives me another hard pat on the back. "If you can memorize the different types of artillery then I'm positive that you can memorize the different tools and equipment."

"Yeah, I'll do my best to learn all of the names..."

"Allow me to give you another test," she grabs a knife from the rack and it looks like a...dinner knife? Table knife?

Why would they use dinner knives on people?

"What is this knife?" She asks, waving around the knife in front of my face.

"Um...is that a dinner knife?"

She chuckles while replacing the knife in the rack. "Your answer is not even close. It's a scalpel! And one quick note, these are very useful when conducting operations."

I sigh in frustration and do my best to collect myself, "At least you'll be my teacher for the whole time. I hope that you're patient enough to teach me everything."

"Oh," she exclaims, fixing the rack and putting it back in the drawer. "I'm not in-charge of teaching you." She continues, nonchalantly.

"What?!" I shout and everyone in the room turns to look at me. "Sorry!" I immediately apologize to them and they go back to doing their previous work.

"Lieutenant!" Alya scolds, "Don't use your army voice in the infirmary!"

"I can't help to be surprised because you just told me that you won't be my teacher!" I rub my forehead and inhale sharply, "Do you know who will teach me then?"

She just shrugs her shoulders and smirks at me.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I whine. Unfortunate for me, she just laughs.

"I don't know who will teach you, Lieutenant." She replies, "It is your task to find someone to teach you."

"Why can't you teach me?"

"Lieutenant let me make myself clear." She sassily puts her hands on her hips and looks at me, "We are not a lot. Most of our nurses are now privates because of the 'switch' project of the government and because of that, the remaining nurses have to work double time-no. Actually, triple time!"

"So you can't spare a lot of time for us?" I ask deflated.

"The other new nurses have reserved us already...I will be training you for only today but starting tomorrow, I will be helping Rose."

"We have to reserve? How come I didn't know anything about this?" I stare at her in disbelief.

"I think that you were too busy training Marinette to even care about your new job-wait!" She suddenly exclaims, an idea clearly popping in her head. "Let Marinette teach you!"

"No, thank you."

"Lieutenant, I'm serious! You're training her so it means that you spend both of your free time together! Why not split it? One half for your training and the the other half for her training!" She gushes and I had to place both of my hands on her shoulders to stop her from moving around.

"I don't want her to train me." I sternly say and Alya pouts at me.

"You're wasting time, Lieutenant. I mean, you're spending time together already! And now you want to spend time with another person? Shouldn't you feel blessed that someone you know is helping you?"

"I can find someone, except for her, to train me!"

"Good luck with that. Trust me, Marinette is the only person left." She takes off her gloves and throws them in the nearest trash bin. "And she is not an easy person to sway."

"Well I am her superior." I state, "And as her superior, she has no choice but to follow every order I make-"

"In the field." Alya cuts me off. "Just in the field. In here," she points to the ground,"you are just the worm and she is the chicken. She can eat you in just one bite. She's more than your superior here, she's your ruler and you have no choice but to also follow every command from her."

"Damn." I sigh but I can't help to feel slightly amused. Private Marinette...my superior in the infirmary. Believe me, she's more like the Dark Lord. "She's that feisty, Alya?"

"Super." Alya says but her demeanor changes as her head shoots up. "Did you hear that?" Suddenly whispering slowly.

"What did you hear?" I ask her, looking up at the lights.

"I heard a sizzling sound...and it came from on top..."

I notice some of the lightbulbs getting brighter and brighter- Some turned to all...

There is too much electric current...The electricity is surging!

"Everyone! GET DOWN!!" I shout just before all the lightbulbs start to blow up one-by-one. The sound of shattered glass fills the air. People scream and shout as they scramble to stay under the beds, tables or chairs. I cover Alya using my body as we kneel on the floor, our heads looking down. I dared myself to look around and notice that the lightbulbs weren't the only ones malfunctioning, everything that were connected to an electric outlet started to malfunction. Ceiling fans start to fall due to the violent turning of their turbines.

"Lieutenant!" Alya shouts, "Stop looking around and get down!"

My ears start ringing and everything is getting blurry. I cover my ears in anguish as I start to hear voices in my head.

"Soldier!!"
"Adrien!"
"Bomb incoming!"
"TAKE COVER!"

"Stop...stop." I mumble, closing my eyes. But the voices never stopped, instead they started to get louder.

"STOP LOOKING AROUND AND GET DOWN, SOLDIER!"

I open my eyes to see on of my superiors trying to pull me down. "Take cover!"

I allow myself to be pulled down and I land roughly on the ground. Fixing my helmet, I look around me to see different soldiers all firing at the same direction.

"Bomb!" One of them shouts and we all don't hesitate to cover our ears as it explodes nearby but not near enough to cause any injury. I look at the soldier beside me and he brings out his assault rifle and leans it over the small barrier that's keeping the two of us safe. He starts to fire and through the distance I see some of our enemy soldiers falling to the ground.

"Help me out, soldier!" He says, referring to me. I scramble to rest my rifle on our barrier and tried to aim for me to take the perfect shot. But the problem was...

I couldn't pull the trigger.

My index finger rests on the trigger but I couldn't find the strength and will to pull it.

The soldier beside me notices my hesitation. Instead of scolding me, he places his hands on my shoulders and softly slaps my face.

"I know you don't want to do this." He whispers and I can't help to let a few tears slip. "And I know that you're scared-"

"I'm not scared." I immediately defend myself but my tears and uneven breaths say otherwise.

"It's normal."

"I don't want to kill anyone...I can't kill anyone-"

"I don't want to kill anyone too." He says then shakes his head, "But I can't do that because my body isn't mine, my mind isn't mine anymore. The government controls everything I do...even if it is painful.

"If only I could stop, but I can't. I chose this life and now I have no choice but to follow their orders." He says, his tone full of regret. "I know that this is your first time, but you have to do this in order to serve your country-"

"But they are serving their country too!" I shout amidst all the noise from the bombs and the shooting of guns. "I can't let their families be left in grief-"

"But can you let yours feel it instead?!" He interrupts and I am left taken back. "Look, kid. This is a selfish job. I don't want to die because I have a wife and a child waiting for me. I know that our enemies also have people waiting for them but I care more about myself and my fellow comrades. It's time you choose your side!"

He focuses on the enemies in the distance and shoots them down one-by-one. I collect myself before kneeling beside him with my assault rifle. "Tell me which direction I should shoot at."

"You take care of the right, I'll be left." He instructs and I nod my head in understanding.

My heart feels heavy as I aim at one enemy soldier coming at our base.

Pull the trigger, Adrien...

I take uneven breaths and shakily exhale them. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes but I had to fight it.

This is my duty. This is my job...my task at hand.

The rifle vibrates vigorously as I pull the trigger. It's like as if I see my enemy fall to his death in slow motion. His face full of pain, anguish and sadness. I turn my head away, I can't look at him. I can't look at a man I killed...on purpose.

I take a deep breath before aiming at another person.

I can't stop. I shouldn't stop.

I pull the trigger and the bullet hits him right to his heart. I shut my eyes and try my best to erase the cruel scene from my head. But I can't, I just can't.

"Continue!" The soldier beside me shouts, bringing me back to my senses. "There are more co-" he stops as he falls to the ground, holding his stomach and writhing in pain.

"Sir!" I lean closer to him and remove his hand from his stomach. I grimace at the wound, the gunshot, just right below his heart. "Sir..." I shudder and try not to vomit at the amount of blood he's losing, and how deep his wound is.

I realize that I was wasting time. I had to save him. I rip off the left sleeve of my jacket and tightly wrap it around his stomach. He shouts in pain as I apply pressure to the wound.

"Sir, I'm doing this to save you!" I shout but he grabs my ear and pulls it down.

"I-I..." He wheezes, his mouth right next to my ear. "I know I-I'm no-not going t-to live..." He blinks fast as he starts to cry.

My hand covers my mouth as I sob. I go back to stopping the bleeding, but nothing was working. "You're going to live. I won't let you die!"

"S-stop..." He weakly grabs my hand and I am forced to stop. "But sir-" I protest but stop once he smiles at the sky then closes his eyes. "The light looks beautiful and radiant..."

He doesn't move after that. His hand started to feel cold against mine.

"S-sir?" I whisper, unsure of what to do. "Sir?!"

I let go of his hand and grab his tag from his neck. I clasp it in my hand as I sob hard. "I-I should have sa-saved you...I'm so-sorry!"

My eyes flash open and I immediately sit up from lying down on something.

I breathe heavily as I look around me. Am I in the battlefield? Where is the soldier? I frantically look around but realize that there are no soldiers, no battleground, no guns. I am in one of the unoccupied bunkers and I'm sitting up on a bed.

I bury my head in my hands as I sob. I should have saved him. I should have worked harder to save him.

I feel someone wrap his or her arms around me and on instinct I push the person away. I look up through my eyes filled with tears and come face-to-face with Marinette. She looks at me with a face full of pity instead of anger, and I can't help to feel ashamed of myself.

"Don't look at me..." I whisper but she does nothing else but lean closer to me  and she wraps her arms around my body again.

I don't hesitate to wrap my arms around her and cry into her military uniform. My shoulders shake as I sob but she comforts me by rubbing my back softly.

I can never forget that event. I can never forget those faces that died...because of me.

"How long?" She softly asks after a while. I somewhat move away from her but I keep my arms around her, "4 years...I thought I was healed once I became a second lieutenant..." I whisper back. "I thought that I wouldn't suffer from PTSD anymore...I thought that I-I wouldn't be replaying those...those horrible events-"

"Shh..." Marinette whispers, "don't think about it...don't even try to remember."

I inhale sharply as I realize that I have been mean to this girl but now she is comforting me like an old friend of mine.

"Adrien," she utters, calling me using my first name for the first time, "trust me when I say that I'll be the only one who will know about this. It means that you have someone to comfort you all the time..."

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