Ad Astra Per Aspera [2] - Band of Brothers

34 | a world of light

The war had changed her, it had changed her more than she could ever imagine. Her mindset, her views on the world, on war, on emotions, on love and hatred. Her views she felt were forever changed. D-Day one year ago had changed her life forever, her life would never go back to June 4th, 1944, to whatever she had been before that day, she would forever be changed by June 6th, 1944, forever and ever.

And most of the time, war changed people a lot, just to simply be that way - they'd sometimes be forever changed because of it. Hazel let out a quiet sigh, as she watched the stars quietly moving across the Earth.

Her heart was filled with so many different emotions. They were being redeployed to the Pacific.

They'd have to go through this terror all over again.

She didn't want to.

She didn't want to go through all of this again because it sucked.

She thought with this war over, they'd be going home, they'd be going back to America, she could see her family again.

She thought maybe she could be with Joe, be with him in San Francisco.

Have the life she saw in her head with him.

But with the war?

With the Pacific theater quickly approaching their set time, love was hard to get by with. It scared her. She was scared for what might happen to the men who had already been through so much turmoil. She didn't want any of them to have to go through the war again. She wanted them to be able to go home, away from all of this and try to get back to their lives which were stopped by war.

But those sad thoughts disappeared when she looked at Joe, sitting so contently quiet, a soft smile on his face, with glowing eyes, his entire face glowing. He brought her happiness in so many forms.

Like this very moment.

Hazel softly placed a hand on his knee and gently squeezed it. Joe looked at her and couldn't help but softly kiss her forehead as she giggled.

Everything would be okay, all of it.

It would all be okay.

The stars watched her, they watched Hazel finally feel a sense of happiness, sense of trust and love and peace with herself.

The stars cried that night.

On June 7th, Hazel was lying on her side in bed, with a sad heart. Last night with Joe, had been everything she ever wanted, but sometimes happiness didn't always last through for the following days. Shifty was leaving today. One of her best friends was leaving. And she knew she should be happy for him, happy for him to be able to leave the company and go home, but she couldn't help but feel sad that one of the people her understood her the most was leaving. But he deserved to see home again, he deserved it so much.

Hazel felt an odd swirl of emotions within the pool of her stomach. A year ago she had been praying with Gene in Normandy for Catherine's safety and Lizzie's safety and every single Easy Company man's safety. Now she was watching Shifty leave, the first of many she assumed in the upcoming months. Hazel forced herself up and out of bed and to the mess hall, her feet quiet on the ground as she walked in and found Shifty in his normal spot, sipping coffee, dressed in his beige uniform, cover and newspaper sitting beside him, scooping oatmeal into his mouth. Hazel smiled softly and approached him.

" Hey, Shifty," she said and Shifty turned at the sound of her voice.

" Hazel!" he said, his eyes lighting up, " Wanna sit down?"

" Of course," she said and slowly lowered herself in her seat next to him, softly letting herself sit by his side. Shifty noticed that she wasn't completely herself. She wasn't completely Hazel Parker.