Stella flops onto her bed exhausted from the ordeal she just went through. Tristan was not even close to someone she would ever think about dating. Why did her family always have to try and set her up with someone that would benefit the company? She was sick of it, and just wanted them to leave her alone.
She sat up on her bed and looked around her room. The lights were dim so they did not affect her eyes too much. She looked over at the door that leads to Samael's room, wondering if he would open up to her if she asked.
"Does not hurt to try." Stella said as she got out of bed. But she stopped before getting to the door looking down at her dress. She walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on. Stella did not want to go visit Samael with the same dress on.
She did not waste time and was out of the shower in no time. She then walked over to the door and pushed in on the wall unlocking the door. She pushed it so it was open about an inch. She could not see into the room because it was pitch black.
"Samael are you awake?" Stella asked, from the other side of the door.
"Did you need something?" Samael said from inside the room, almost scaring Stella.
"I was wondering if we could talk for a moment." Stella said worried about the answer.
"That is okay. I do not mind." Samael said as he turned the lights on. He had on black combat pants and a dark tan shirt. His I.D. tags were outside of his shirt still hanging by his old chain.
"Thanks." Stella said as she walked into the room. She had on a light gray nightgown made of silk.
"Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Samael asked as Stella sat on the bed.
"Well. I kinda just want to know more about you." Stella said, looking down at the ground.
"Just ask me anything you would like. I have nothing to hide from you." Samael said, as he sat on the desk.
"Ok. What units did you serve in during the war?" Stella asked as she looked up at Samael.
"That is easy. I was in the 184th infantry division, and the 1st shock regiment. But unlike normal infantry I was a shock trooper." Samael said as he took off his ID tags and tossed them to Stella. She looked at the first tag and it read:
184th I.D.
25th Assault
Onyx 231
"So do you keep your tags to remember what units you were in?" Stella asked as she looked at the other tag:
1st Shock Regiment
1st Division
Onyx 231RD
"No, it is more a force of habit to keep it on." Samael said.
"So what does a shock trooper do?" Stella asked as she looked back at Samael.
"In the beginning I would breach the trenches and make an opening for the rest of the unit. But later on we turned into just a special force used when needed. It was not upcoming for one of us to get sent on a mission solo." Samael said as he stood up and walked over to Stella.
"What unit were you in when I was your war correspondent?" Stella asked as she handed the tags back to him.
"I would have been in the 1st Shock Regiment. Well in, is the wrong term. I was in charge of the 1st Shock Regiment." Samael said as he sat down on the bed next to Stella.
"Wait. So when I was talking to you that whole time, you were an officer?" Stella said, thinking back to how she would talk to him.
"Yes I was a Colonel at the time." Samael said as he put the tags back around his neck.
"I thought you were just another soldier. I mean from what I remember you were always going out on missions or rearming between them." Stella said.
"That is true, Unlike a normal Colonel I lead from the front and would always be right next to the other shock troops." Samael said as he unclipped the knife from his belt and set it on the bed next to him.
"What is that?" Stella asked as she leaned forward to look around Samael.
"It is my Onyx blade. It is given to every member of the Onyx Core when you finish training." Samael said as he picked up the knife and handed it to Stella.
"It is heavy." Stella said, when the knife was placed in her hand. The sheath of the knife was simple, only having a belt clip and retention for the blade. It was a dark gray with black lettering on the sheath that read "Onyx."
"I have had it for so long I don't even think about it anymore." Samael said as he watched Stella try to remove the blade for the sheath.
"Why wont it come out?" Stella asked again, trying to pull the blade from the sheath.
"Let me." Samael said as he opened his hand so Stella could place the knife in it.
"Ok fine." Stella said, placing the handle of the blade into his hand. Samael to the handle in one and the sheath in the other. He did not have to use much force to pull the two apart and remove the blade from its sheath.
"See not that hard." Samael siad, as he handed the knife back to Stella.
"For you that is." Stella said as she took the blade from him. There was not much to it, a pure black blade with the numbers 231 engraved on both sides.
"I would be careful with that. It has a special edge that when sharpened like it is now will cut almost anything." Samael said, trying to avoid Stella accidentally cutting herself.
"Really? But why have I never heard of a blade like that before?" Stella asked as she looked at the knife more carefully.
"It can only cut like that one time before needing to be sharpened again. But if it is not sharpened it will still work like any other knife." Samael said, as he handed her the sheath.
"What does the number 231 mean?" Stella asked as she put the knife back into the sheath.
"That is me, I was the 23 soldier of class alpha 1" Samael said as he placed the knife back onto the bed next to him.
"I get it, 231 that makes sense." Stella said as she yawned.
"You should get to bed." Samael said as he stood up.
"I should, But I want to keep talking with you." Stella said as she stopped sitting up right and let herself fall onto the bed.
"If you want to keep talking we can." Samael said as he sat back onto the bed.
"Why are you so nice to me Samael?" Stella asked as she closed her eyes.
"To use some of your own words. I am just myself." Samael said.
"Why did you join the shock troopers?" Stella said, trying to stay awake.
"I do not think there is a simple answer to that. I did not have a choice if I wanted to or not. It was something I had to do, something I was raised to do." Samael said, looking up at the ceiling.
The room was silent, the only thing Samael could hear was the sound of Stella breathing. She had fallen asleep and was sleeping soundly. Samael leaned over and moved her so she was laying in the bed and had a pillow under her head. He covered her with a blanket so she would not get cold.
He watched her for a moment before turning away, but he was stopped. Stella had grabbed on to his shirt in her sleep. Samael moved slowly so he was sitting on the bed beside her. He then slowly used his hand to remove her grasp of his shirt. He moved her hand slowly so it was under the blanket and got ready to get off the bed.
"Don't go." Stella said softly in her sleep. Samael returned to his seated position next to Stella, and watched over her as she slept.
Stella woke up the next morning wondering when she had gotten into bed. She sat up in the bed and started to stretch. As she stretched she fully opened her eyes and started to look around the room. It took her a couple of moments to realize that it was not her room. When she realized that it was not her room she stopped stretching.
"Did you sleep well?" Samael said, startling Stella.
"I am sorry I didn't realize I was that tired." Stella said as she quickly got out of the bed.
"It is fine. You did ask me to look after your well-being. So letting you get some much needed rest is nothing." Samael said as he got off the bed.
"Thank you for letting me rest." Stella said as she nervously rubbed her arm.
"Not a problem. You should take a shower and change. I will go make you something to eat, It is already past midday." Samael said as he walked over to the door.
"Is it already that late?" Stella asked, taking a couple of steps closer to the door.
"Yes, I know that you did not have anything planned for today so I thought It would be best for you to get some rest." Samael said as he opened the door.
"Thank you for taking such good care of me Samael." Stella said, as Samael walked out the door.
"Again it is not a problem" Samael said as he closed the door.
Stella stood in the room alone for a moment thinking about what happened last night. She made her way back into her room and started the shower. In her mind she was stuck on 231 and how Samael had said that "That is me". She thought about how numbers are attached to soldiers but something about it did not sit right with her.
She was lost in thought and it started opening more questions. When she got out of the shower she walked into her room and picked up her phone, as she laid down on her bed. She did a search for "Shock Troops". The search had many results, most of them talked about encounters with or times when they had worked with one of them.
From what she could tell they had a reputation of always getting a job done. But the stories were inconsistent and some even seemed to sound like a fairytale. Telling how one man watched as a shock trooper ran across no man's land. The story was unbelievable, The trooper had taken several direct hits but not stopped and made it all the way to the enemy trench.
Stella was so focused on reading that she did not even hear the door open to her room. Samael had walked not only inside the room but also closed the door behind himself. He let Stella continue to read as the food needed to cool down.
"Stella, are you ready to eat?" Samael asked, breaking the silence in the room.
"When did you walk in?" Stella said as she quickly turned to see him. It took her only a moment for her face to turn bright red. In the process of leaving the shower and wanting to look more into the shock troopers. She had forgotten to put anything on and was now laying in her bed with only her towel covering her.
"I have not been here long. You were reading so I thought I would let you finish. But the food was going to get cold if you waited too long." Samael said as he walked over and set a plate on Stella's lap.
"I, um, well. Thank you." Stella said, struggling to find the words she wanted to use.
"You should dry your hair so you don't catch a cold." Samael said as he used the door that joined their rooms to walk into his. Before Stella could say anything he had already closed the door behind himself.
She did not know what to think. On one hand she was embarrassed that he saw her like this, but she was also a little mad that he was so composed with her only having a towel on. She did not think that she was the best looking woman out there. But she had always reserved compliments on her body and good looks.
Stella exhaled trying to put the thoughts out of her mind. She looked down at the plate of food, it was an omelet simple but packed with ingredients. It was not the normal light and fluffy omelets the chefs would have made for her. It took her a moment to realize that Samael must have made this himself and not asked the chefs to make it.
After she realized this she started to tear up. She has not had someone willing make her something to eat before. She had only ever eaten what the chefs had made for her, even when she was sick the chefs and maids would take care of her.
She did not know how long it took her to finish the omelet. But after she was finished she got dressed and knocked on Samael's door. When Samael opened the door Stella did not hesitate, and hugged him. Being this close to him meant that the height difference was easy to see. The top of Stella's head did not even touch his chin.
"Is everything ok?" Samael asked, surprised by the hug.
"Everything is fine. I just wanted to thank you for making me something to eat." Stella said, trying to get emotional.
"I am glad you liked it. But you should get some more rest, take things easy today." Samael said, as he placed his hand on top of her head.
"I will. But you also have to take it easy today." Stella said, as she released Samael from the hug and smiled at him.