They entered the big town. Merely driving two minutes down the main road, they were abruptly stopped by a group of soldiers who appeared out of nowhere.
"Stop the car immediately or else I'll shoot," said a soldier as he approached the car, with a gun - pointed up at the car - held in his left hand.
Both Claire and Gabriel were caught off guard by such words.
The rest of the group circled the car, each having their own weapons, pointed at the black car as well.
Needless to say, Gabriel did as he was told. He turned off the engine.
Then, when the soldier came up to Gabriel's side, he knocked on the window.
Such action caused Gabriel to roll it down. Only then did both Gabriel and the soldier make their first eye contact. The soldier outside the car widened his eyes.
"C-Captain!?" He exclaimed.
In an instant, the soldiers surrounding the car lowered their weapons. Muffles of confusion as the soldiers looked at one another.
"Shorty?" Gabriel questioned, scrunching his brows as he recognised the soldier's voice.
The soldier had a mask on, so by looking at him, Gabriel wasn't able to recognize whether or not he knew him.
Slipping his mask up to his forehead, the soldier revealed his face.
Slowly, from a confused face, a small smile appeared on Gabriel's face. "It's you! It's actually you, Shorty!".
Claire gave the soldier a look, her jaw dropped when she managed to recognize him too. It took her a moment to remember from where he looked all so familiar.
And then it hit her. He was alongside Gabriel when they came to their bar, that one warm day, all those months ago.
Gabriel watched as the soldier turned around and told the rest of his group to go and hide. "That way we won't have as big of a chance of getting spotted.". And following his words, the group retreated from the car.
"What brings you to this end, Captain?" the soldier asked, coming back to Gabriel's window.
"War, Shorty. But also, I have made a special mission for myself, and that is for this young lady to see her brother. Our camp is very close to here, so I might as well take the chance and bring her here.".
The soldier, Shorty, nodded understandingly to Gabriel's words. "Being considerate as always, Captain.". With that, he averted his eyes to Claire. It seemed as if he recognized her too. "You... you are that lady from the bar... where we went all those months ago in Arittoria...".
A brief moment of silence passed. "What happened, did you quit from there?".
"Oh, no, no. I'm just here for the war," replied Claire.
Shorty nodded his head. "When did you join?".
"All the way back in October, last year.".
"October!... You were with us for quite a while.". Then, from Claire, Shorty's eyes move back to Gabriel before he looked back at Claire, smiling. "What did my Captain assign you to do? Hopefully nothing too difficult.".
"I am a medic," Claire responded.
The small smile that was on Shorty's face receded ever so slightly. "Oh, I see... not too bad, Captain. Better than in between the crossfires of the bullets.". Then a pause followed. "But you must be exposed to some gruesome stuff then, I assume.".
Claire couldn't help but smile at his words ever so slightly. She smiled at the fact that he tried to empathize with her. "You're right. As a medic, I saw some things I don't wish for any other person to witness. Even upon my worst enemy, I don't wish it at all. But I can imagine what Gabriel does to be even worse. You'd are out there, on the spot, with bullets flying right, left and centre.".
Once more, Shorty nodded, "Yes. You've got that right.".
Gently tapping the metal of the car, it acted sort of like his cue to stop talking. "Anyways, I don't want to keep you any longer, you must have a lot of stuff to get done when you get back to the camp. I wish you all the best.". When he finished, he gave a salute.
"Wait, wait, wait..." Gabriel spoke up, immediately, Shorty lowered his hand before listening up to what Gabriel had to say. "Would you happen to know a fellow soldier by the name of Garrett Emerson?".
"Garrett Eme-... Oh! Seargent Emerson," Shorty spoke up. It was these words of his that grabbed the attention of Claire and never let it go. "I do, I do indeed.". Then, he averted his eyes back to Claire. "Is he your brother?".
Claire nodded, she couldn't help but let her eyes well with tears.
"Now that you say it... I can really see the resemblance!". Shorty's words caused Claire to chuckle through her tearful eyes.
"We both get that a lot," she replied.
"So, where can we find Seargent Emerson?" Gabriel asked.
Shorty turned his head and pointed towards a building. It was a mere 100 meters aware from them. "His group are in that building over there. I do recommend you walk over there. Just like us, they are on high alert.".
And so Claire and Gabriel did as they were told. They walked over to the building. Upon their entry into the building, two soldiers sneaked up behind them. "Identify yourselves.".
Behind them, Shorty rushed in. "Don't worry, they are ours.".
To his words, the two soldiers looked at each other with slight uncertainty. Then, they looked back at Claire and then at Gabriel.
They took a moment as they looked at Gabriel's attire. Slowly, the faces of the two soldier's softened.
"Captain!" they both spoke out, saluting Gabriel.
"What brings you here, Captain?" asked one of the soldiers, lowering his hand down by his side.
"We are looking for Seargent Emerson. Is he here?" Gabriel inquired.
"You can bet your ass he is, Captain!" replied the second of the two soldiers as he still held up his hand, saluting the Captain.
He brought his hand down when he received a smack on the back of his head from the first soldier. "Is that the language you use when speaking with the Captain?".
"No..." he replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm sorry, Captain.".
Claire looked at Gabriel as he looked at her.
"C-can I see him then?" Claire asked the soldiers.
"Who, Seargent Emerson?".
Claire nodded.
"Of course.". The first soldier looked back at Shorty. "I've got them from here.".
She second soldier looked at his colleague in distraught. "What about me??".
"You'll stay here and learn how to greet people, is that understood?".
The second soldier's head sunk ever so slightly. "Yes, Seargent.".
With him saying that he turned his attention back to Gabriel and Claire before telling them to follow him.
---
They ascended the stairs of the old, abandoned building.
The journey was silent, but not that Claire minded. She was too busy looking around herself at what was leftover from the building.
"You don't have to worry. The building does seem quite damaged, but it is sturdy enough," the soldier said. "At least I hope so..." he muttered under his chin.
They walked a few more steps before they reached a double door.
"Here we are..." said the soldier. "Give me a moment, I'll inform the Seargent that you are here to see him.".
With him saying so, he turned swiftly around before knocking on the door. He then opened the door before looking inside. "Mayor? Seargent?". A pause followed.
Then a familiar voice boomed from the room. "Seargent Doyle?".
The voice caused Claire's eyes to widen ever so slightly.
"Seargent? I have two people here who want to see you.".
"Oh?" the voice was heard once more. And then, footsteps.
Step after step, each step only grew louder. The soldier who lead them here moved out of the way.
And then the door opened.
The soldier who exited had his dark hair combed to one side as his gaze was pointed down at the ground before him.
And then, his dark eyes rose up. Almost instantly, his eyes met with the gaze that he hasn't seen in so long, yet remembered the feeling it bought of nothing but love that lingered in his chest.
"G-Garrett?" Claire called out through the lump that grew in her throat. She tried to swallow it down, but it struck back with nothing but pain.
"Claire?..." he spoke under his breath as his eyes too welled with tears.
Nothing else was said, they both ran into each other's embrace. One hugging the other tight, tighter than ever before.
It when then that Claire let herself breakdown, she couldn't hold back the tears, not any longer.
"Garrett!!... G-Garrett," she attempted to speak, but her tears didn't let her do so.
"Hush... hush, Claire," he whispered to her, trying to hold his tears back.
"I am so glad that you-you're alive..." she sobbed her words out.
Garrett opened his mouth to say something, but her words caused even more pain to accumulate in his chest. More pain than he expected.
And instead, a silent sob managed to come out of him as the first of his tears rolled down his face. He pressed his left cheek against the top of Claire's head.
Just like Claire's breath, Garrett's breath too became ragged from their tears.
"I-I'm glad that y-you're alive too, Claire," he managed to get himself to speak up seconds later.
And from there, muteness took over, replacing words for the time they spent in each other's arms.
All while Gabriel had an eye out on them both. A small smile appeared on his lips as, bit by bit, his eyes filled with tears.
---
It seemed like seconds before they broke away from their embrace. From here, Garrett looked Claire back in the eye.
He noticed the way her eyes were red from crying, and she noticed the same on his face too.
From her face, he looked down her body, at the uniform she wore.
"Mother and father told me..." he spoke out as his eyes returned back to looking at Claire's face. There was a small sheepish smile that formed on his lips, but soon enough, it began to fade away. "Why did you join because of me?...".
"Because... because right after this war ends, I want us both to head home together, Garrett," Claire replied. "I want us both to head back to mother and father...". With those words of hers, she couldn't help herself but let another tear or two roll down her cheeks. "I promised them I'll bring you back home...".
From there, Garrett takes a step towards Claire before pulling her into another hug. "I love you, Claire. I love you, my little sister.". A pause followed his words. "I still can't believe that you are here because of me.".
"You know I'd go to the end of the world if it's for you. I'd do anything for you, Garrett," she replied as they were still in their embrace.
To her words, Garrett tightened his embrace by that bit. "I'd do the same for you, Claire. I hope you know that.".
She nodded against him. "Yes, I know. I know very well.". After her words, she let a genuine smile grow on her lips.
While in their embrace, Gabriel's eyes land on them both. The smile remained on his lips as he too remembered his brother. They were just as close as Claire and Garrett.
"You're crazy Claire, you know that?" Garrett spoke.
As a reply, Claire chuckled at his words.