Shorter Than Me

27 Levi

Two of the eight newest recruits died on the expedition. One of the five selected from the top ten trainees died as well as one of the three that chose to join. It's the least number of new recruit deaths we've had for the longest time, so the Commander praised the six still alive.

Today, some Scouts are going out to inform the families about their dead relatives. Guiin will probably deliver the news of her friend Atkins. The Commander tries to make the delivering of the news personal by having the friends of the deceased or family friends tell them.

As I'm walking to breakfast, I see Guiin emerge from her room. She's in a rush, probably trying not to be late, and it looks like she's putting a necklace on. As I watch, she finishes and brings her hands back down from her neck. I watch something slip from her throat and land on the floor. She doesn't notice and just hurries outside. I stop and lean down to pick it up. It's a small necklace. There's a blue stone on a chain. This is the necklace she got for her birthday from an anonymous person.

I drop it in my pocket to give it to her. She probably doesn't want to loose it.

***

When in doubt: have a flashback. This flashback is brought to you by... Me. :)

The first time I saw Petr was after Petra gave birth. I stayed there for a few days. Petra kept catching me looking at him. To be honest, I was happier than I had ever been. He was a symbol of Petra's and my love. He made it permanent. He was ours and no one else's. I was scared about how we would handle having a child and being in the Scouting Legion at the same time, but not too much. I was marveling that this child was our responsibility, that we would have a little child tucked away for the rest of our lives. He would grow up and we could be proud of him.

I was scared that I didn't know how to be a father to him, but Petra kept assuring me that I'd be fine. So far, I think I've failed, but what else is there for me to do? Maybe everything was going well until Petra died. Then I saw too much pain in him. Where I had once seen potential and a new experience, I now see just a broken promise and dead feelings. I love Petr, but it can't be the same now that his mother is dead.

Levi's where you get all your information and cute flashbacks while Ecyn is where you get the actual plot. Levi's parts are so short. I don't know why I'm complaining about it. Does it bother anyone? You wait a whole day for a stupid little six-paragraph-long thing from Levi's pov after waiting a whole two weeks for a new chapter. Maybe I'm just lazy. I write these author's notes faster than I write Levi's pov (probably because it's my pov...) But anyway, thanks for putting up with horribly short Levi's povs and unnecessarily long author's notes. I love your comments so much. They make me laugh and want to cry at the same time. :D