*BRIEF WARNING - This chapter does contain the mentioning of assault. Viewers be advised.*
The next day came about as those who survived began their way back towards the airport in Aides. They were on their way to a new, assigned location.
Since the group was so small, only one plane was required. Soon after, they were airborne.
Over the next few hours, the group reached the highest of the mountain peaks before the land got its chance to level out again.
They were about to test out the skill they acquired of parachuting.
After briefing the group, Gabriel was the first one to jump out of the plane, with Mason leading on the next person to jump.
Very soon came Claire's turn.
"Alright, Claire. Are you ready?" he asked, but she didn't reply. Instead, she looked out the plane, her gaze found the ground.
All the way to the bottom of the huge fall she had to undergo.
They were at a higher altitude than at training.
"Alright, Claire, you have to jump out now, otherwise we will lose the group," Mason spoke in a weary voice.
To his words, Claire's eyes widened ever so slightly. 'Lose the group?... Lose Gabriel?'. With that thought, she remembered last night, how he took care of her. She swallowed whatever was in her mouth. 'I-if I don't jump now... something might happen, he might get hurt. Others too... and I am holding us up.".
Scrunching her brows and tensing her jaw, she looked up at Mason before giving him a slight nod.
She took a step back, her hands anchored to both sides of the door. And with a deep breath, she pushed herself forward before jumping out of the plane.
---
A few days were spent crossing the border between Iarterre and Failin.
When the nights fell, the temperatures dropped even lower to the ones that they still weren't quite used to.
They weren't allowed to light a fire, since the area where they were in was occupied by the enemy forces, it would blow their cover.
With the mixture of blizzards that came about, many more died as a result of hypothermia.
By the time they reached the lowlands of Failin, out of the force of 50 that were under Gabriel's care. 29 made it to the other side of the mountains.
In a small village, there awaited them a bus.
Once boarded, they began their way towards the capital of Failin. Lilin.
Nighttime came by the time they arrived at a hotel they planned to stay in.
---
Claire was given a key to her room, but right before she and the others were let off, Gabriel caught their attention.
"Before you all go, I just wanted to reiterate that whatever question, or questions, you have, don't hesitate to give me a knock on the door. This includes any worries. Anything at all, is that understood?".
"Yes, Captain!" he heard their replies.
With a smile of contentment, he dismissed his force. But right before turning around and heading his way into his room, he looked at Claire, who looked at him.
He gave her a smile, but she felt as if something was off.
Before she gave her mind the chance to delve deeper into the topic, she saw the way he turned on his heels and walked off.
'Perhaps... perhaps he is just tired?'.
But deep within her, she felt a pulse of something that she hadn't felt before. As if something began to crush her chest as she watched Gabriel walk further away from her.
She felt like she was on the verge of crying.
Crying for both him and her.
---
Some time passed, Claire was in her room. She was sitting on a small couch in her living room, that was shared with her kitchen and very small dining room.
With a towel in her hands, she dabbed her hair, trying to dry it.
Hand drying her hair as much as she could, she spread her towel, before wrapping her hair up in it.
With that, she returned back into the bathroom before walking up to the sink. There she found a toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste that they received from the hotel.
She brushed her teeth.
Rinsing her mouth, she rose back up before looking at herself in the mirror.
A small smile appeared on her lips. After spending so much time out on the battlefield, she felt good being clean.
Battlefield...
'Battlefield...'. Instantly, her smile dropped. 'Danielle... Out of all the people, Danielle didn't deserve what happened to her...'.
Suddenly, a knock on her door kicked Claire out of her thoughts.
Shaking herself back to reality, she turned on her heels before she walked out of the bathroom.
Unlocking the door and opening it, she saw it was a fellow colleague of hers. Not that she knew him.
"Are you... Claire Emerson?".
She nodded. "Yes. That's me.". A very brief pause followed her words. And in that time, she looked at the young man as he twisted his body to reach his bag. "D-did something happen?".
"No, I have a letter for you..." And just as he said that he produced a letter from his bag before he handed it over to Claire.
When Claire took the letter, he looked at her in the eyes, a small smile developed on his lips. "You have a good night, Miss.".
With that, he walked off, away from Claire. But she remained by the door frame, observing the young man for a second or two more before retreating back into her room.
She closed the door behind her as she kept her eyes on the envelope she received.
It was from home.
Her heart swelled with joy, yet a throb or two of sadness didn't manage to go unnoticed.
Opening the letter and taking out the page, she unfolded it.
Dear Sweetie,
How are you? How is it there? I know we ask in every letter we send you, but all we ask of you is to excuse both your mother's and my concern.
Like always, in all the other letters we've sent you, we miss you very much, Honey. We hope you can return back home to us very, very soon.
To be quite honest, nothing new has happened ever since the last time we sent you a letter, except that Meghan gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. You became an aunt! Can you believe that?! We shared the good news with Garrett too, but it's within days that we'll see what he has to say.
It's kind of the same story with you too if we were to be honest.
She didn't think of a name, yet. Both mother and I suggested Mary, or maybe Grace. But it's up to Meghan to decide on behalf of both herself and Garrett.
While on Garrett, have you heard of a place called Agluf? Not that I've ever heard of it, but he said that it's where he'll be with his squad for the time being. He also said about how this all might get worse, but end very soon. All I hope is for this war to end right now. So that both you and Garrett can make your way back home, back to us. But I know that it won't, it cant end just like that.
Let it take a longer time, just as long as it doesn't get worse.
But until that day comes, stay strong, Sweetie, okay? Be careful, stay safe.
Please do write back to us whenever you could.
We love you so, so much,
Dad and Mom.
By the end of the letter, her eyes were filled with tears as she adverted her gaze out the window.
"Agluf..." she whispered under her breath. "Agluf...". But then she furrowed her brows. 'Where is Agluf?' The question dwelled on her mind.
With that, her eyes descended down to the ground. 'Does Gabriel know where this place is?'.
Slowly she went into a dilemma. 'Should I really bother him about this?'. A pause. 'But he did say to go to him if we have any questions...'.
'But... is this the type of question he'd want to answer?'. Another pause. 'He said 'any', Claire.'.
After some time spent thinking, she decided to make her way to Gabriel's room. Walking out and into the hallway of the second floor, she was due to go down to the first floor.
Reaching the door with his room number on it, she knocked on the door.
A vague 'come in', signalled her to enter the room.
And upon her entry, there she saw Gabriel, by the window, sitting on a sofa. The main light, which was closer to the main door, was on. But he had a lamp turned on right by the sofa.
There, beside the lamp, Claire saw an open bottle of whiskey.
From the alcohol, she looked back at Gabriel who looked at her. He held a glass with whiskey and ice in his left hand, while a small smile stretched across his face. She could tell it was forced.
"Claire?" He called out. "Is everything okay?".
She closed the door behind her before facing Gabriel once more.
"C-Captain?-".
He let out a drunken laugh. "Now, now. What did I say about calling me 'Captain' off duty?".
Claire widened her eyes ever so slightly to his tone. 'He sounds just like them. Those men who'd end up slurring their words...'. She hitched a breath at such a thought.
"I-is everything okay, Captain?" Claire redirected his words back to him, disregarding his words.
Slowly, the smile that was on his face began to retreat. "Yeah... yeah, I am fine. Why do you ask?".
'A lie...' Claire thought to herself. She saw by the way his face tensed, the way he blinked as he spoke.
"I don't believe you..." Claire spoke as she took a step closer towards Gabriel.
"Claire, I told you. I am fine...".
"Then tell me why are you drinking?".
He let out a sigh. "I told you that I am fine," he repeated his words.
"No... no, you don't seem fine to me.".
Gabriel gritted his teeth as he stood up. "For fuck sake! I told you that I am fucking okay, Claire!".
To which Claire reacted by widening her eyes. Slight fear began to fill her up.
It took him a second to realise that he just rose his voice at Claire. And when he did, he sat back down in her seat before sinking his head into his right, empty, hand.
Seconds passed before he uttered an apology. "I'm sorry...". A second of silence passes. "It's my force, Claire...". He took another pause, gulping down what was left of his drink. "I am sure you have noticed that many of my people died. Back in Arittoria, we had a crew of more than 100. Now here, we have less than 30.". His gaze rose to meet hers. "And at this rate, we will lose the war, Claire.".
His words caused a slight lump to grow in his throat, they left a similar effect on Claire too.
But, clearing her throat and furrowing her brows, she spoke up, "And what will alcohol do? I am pretty sure that you drinking won't solve the problem and bring them back to life.".
She kept her eyes on Gabriel as his head dropped ever so slightly. She couldn't help but soften her gaze upon him. It looked like he understood what point she was trying to make...
"I-... I just want to forget for a bit..." he replied, breaking the short-lived silence. "The war has been harsh on everyone. Believe it or not, it has even been harsh on me too.".
"I don't doubt that..." Claire replied, her tone quietening. Her eyes navigated their way down and looked at the ground.
After another moment of silence, once more, Gabriel was the one who broke it. "Seeing my people die, it's hard. Gut-wrenching.".
Again, quiet ruled between the two. Gabriel couldn't encourage himself to add anything else to his words.
"You know... I've never told you this, but I hated working in the bar with my mother, that is, I hated working in the bar during my night shifts.". A brief pause followed. "During the day it was grand enough. But when the night time came, the men we had over, they'd drink as if their life depended on it. I've been a witness to such occurrences for years now, and yet, I still don't know why they do it.". Another pause followed. "Not that there weren't women who didn't drink. They drank too. But unlike the men, they drank in moderation.". She looked out the window that was behind Gabriel. "Guys drinking wasn't what bothered me. Yet it was their actions that resulted from the alcohol.".
To her words, Gabriel raised his gaze to her. His brows furrowed ever so slightly. 'What happened?...' he thought to himself.
Claire noticed his unawareness, yet the determination in his eyes to know why she felt such a way.
"I was the witness of my mother getting attacked, assaulted by a group of drunk men years back," Claire took in a deep breath before continuing. "They were trying to force her into having... sex with them.".
Gabriel's eyes widened to her words. "T-they tried to-". Claire knew what he was going to say, but before she could finish, she stopped him, interrupted him.
"Yes... I-I remember I stood there... terrified. I felt as if my legs were dug underground, I couldn't move... I remember the laughing, the shouts from them... the vulgarity their words contained. Thankfully before they managed to cause any harm to my mother, my brother and father came rushing in. I'm guessing they must have heard all the commotion.". Claire took another, short break as she realised that her rehearsing such memories did not leave quite a good effect on her. She felt a swirl of fear and nausea accumulate in her chest.
Her eyes remained on the ground. "Ever since that day even now, I have a fear of men drinking excessively and getting drunk...". All this time, her hands were behind her. But at that moment, she reoriented them, holding the letter, that was still in her hands, in front of her.
'Me opening up about my past wasn't the reason why I came to talk to him...'. To that thought, a small frown appeared on her lips.
She was about to apologise to him when she let out a loud shriek of fright.
The crashing of glass was what scared her.
Looking back at Gabriel, she saw him on his feet, bent over, with his hands anchored against his thighs.
What Claire missed to see was the look on Gabriel's face. The pain, fear it contained. She didn't get a chance to see the way he tensed his jaw before grabbing the bottle of whiskey by its neck. How, with a firm hold upon it, he flung the bottle against a wall. The way that the glass bottle shattered into millions of pieces.
But what his actions resulted in was the splatters of the alcoholic drink painted all across the wall.
"I'm sorry..." he muttered under his breath as his head dropped.
The glass he once held in his hand was nowhere to be seen. It, too, probably managed to find its way to the ground.
"I am sorry that you had to see that...". With him saying that he straightened himself back up, his uneasy gaze returning onto Claire just for a second. With that, like only seconds ago, his eyes moved off of her. "That was the only way for me to stop myself from drinking even more...".
Once more, silence descended between the two. Claire remained silent as she tried to comprehend what just happened.
"Why did you come here? Was there something you wanted to ask me?" He asked, kicking Claire out of her trance.
Turning himself that bit more, he fully faced Claire, with his gaze following the lead of his body only moments later.
"I-..." Claire began but upon a better thought, taking into consideration what has just occurred, she thought to herself. 'Is it really a good idea to ask him now?'.
Coming to a decision, Claire gave Gabriel a sheepish smile. "It's okay... don't worry about it.".
"Are you sure?" Gabriel asked, furrowing his brows, as the letter in Claire's hands finally caught his attention.
"It's getting late anyway..." she added, the smile still on her lips faking her contentment.
He felt as if her words were off. She wouldn't brush something off just like that.
So he proceeded to ask, "Is that a letter in your hands?".
Claire took a deep breath, trying to think of anything, anything that could convince Gabriel that everything is okay. That tonight, he doesn't have to be bothered to look after her.
But she knew all too well that if she attempted such a thing, he'd call out her bluff.
In the end, all she replied with was a "yes.".
To that, a small smile appeared on Gabriel's face. "Is it from home?".
She froze for a second before nodding to his words. "Yes... yes it is.".
For a brief moment, the forced act of contentment on her face disappeared. And, for the first time that day, a genuine smile made its way to her lips.
The fact that he still cared made her smile.
"How are your parents? They must miss you very much.".
Claire replied by nodding her head. "They are well, thank you... thank you for asking," Claire began. "Actually, my brother's wife gave birth to a baby girl. So I guess that means I became an aunt.". That thought in itself made her smile grow that bit bigger.
"You became an aunt! Congratulations! That's awesome news. One of the better ones that I've heard recently," Gabriel admitted as his smile too only grew on his lips.
With that, again, another brief period of silence descended between the two. But not that either paid much mind to it.
From the ground, Claire looked up at Gabriel's face, only to see the way he smiled at her.
She didn't remember the last time she saw him this content. She liked it, she liked the sensation that spread through her body whenever she saw him smile.
Then, a moment later, the smile on his face began to slowly fade away. "Did you hear from your brother?".
His words left a similar effect on Claire. Her smile receded ever so slightly.
"I have, well, not directly, but I've heard from my parents that he is healthy and well.". A pause followed. "But he did say that over the next weeks and maybe even months, the war might get worse.".
Gabriel nodded to her words. "He's not wrong..." he replied softly. Then, clearing his throat, he asked, "Did he say where he's deployed?".
Claire widened her eyes ever so slightly. It's almost as if he read her mind.
She swallowed whatever was in her mouth and cleared her throat. "That's... that's actually why I came to talk to you...".