(Hospital, Hokkaido, October 2132)
Sean sat on his bed, on sick leave from the injury, staring at the mountains of flowers, letters and fruits that his colleagues had sent him to show their appreciation in exasperation. On one hand he is touched by their actions, on the other hand, he is quite annoyed at the gifts piling up on his bedside table.
He reached for a bowl of strawberries, munching away. Suddenly, the door slammed open, causing him to drop a strawberry in shock. Phineas rushed into the room.
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!" said an urgent voice in a heavy Russian accent at the entrance, only for Phineas to slam the door in his face. "I shouldn't have trusted you!" he yelled. "And don't you dare to melt the door open!"
"Please, I am sorry!" the man pleaded, Phineas ignored him while wiping beads of sweat on his spectacles, evidently spooked big time.
Sean is utterly bewildered. "You're discharged already?" was all he could mutter out.
"Thanks to your timely intervention, my burns aren't severe, some aqua gel—," replied Phineas, giving an irritated glare when the door continued banging loudly.
"Let him in?" asked Sean. Phineas nodded and opened the door, revealing a familiar Sellardraxian of the Draco subspecies, another dragon like race that many would confuse for the Lin. Dracos are differentiated with having 2 sets of horns: one set growing from the top of their heads, one that is much sharper and thicker compared to that of Lins' Eastern dragon horns. Another set grows from the side of their heads. This set somewhat resembles ram horns and looks like an olive crown.
This Draco kept his serpentine tail which has a retractable pincer at the end raised instead of dragging on the floor, dressed in the navy-blue flight suit worn by UNSSD pilots, with a rank plate denoting Lieutenant. He is holding a bag of chocolates belonging to Sean's favourite brand.
"Vasily?" exclaimed Sean in surprise, "did you fall out of the sky?" he joked.
Artemis 7 "Vasily" laughed. "You bast*rd, say something nice!"
Sean laughed; Vasily is the only one from Squad Artemis that he has the face to see. After all, he is a pilot, not in the SOC, unlike the other 13 of them. Consequently, the fallout of Katya's death is less seen on him due to the relative distance, allowing him to be among the few not antagonistic to Sean.
"It's been 2 years, both of us have grown thin, you a bit too much," remarked Sean.
"At least I don't look like a hippie, right Wang Sir?" retorted Vasily, asking Phineas too. Phineas nodded, the 3 of them laughed.
"How are the rest?" asked Sean.
"Simo is hospitalised, but he is fine," said Phineas. "As for that Marine, Louis Fletcher, he has made a full recovery and returned to the US contingent."
"That's good," said Sean. He then asked Phineas what happened outside, prompting Phineas to roll his eyes.
"When I was going to find you, I bumped into Vasily here who came to see you at your Big Sis' request. Upon finding me, we engaged in a conversation. Apparently, we got too enthusiastic and he managed to convince me to join him on a flight around the base on the SU-700 fighter-bomber he flown from Tokyo to here…"
Phineas glared at Vasily who is whistling away, avoiding eye contact with him. "Which I immediately regretted the moment we took off," he continued, recounting the crazy manoeuvres Vasily had done while he sat in the weapon systems officer seat screaming at the top of his lungs asking him to slow down.
Sean laughed, amused. "Well, he is "the star of Earth"," he remarked, referring to Vasily's title in UNSSD aviation.
Vasily shrugged. "I didn't do it on purpose," he said. "Though I must commend you, most untrained people would have passed out from that, perhaps you should apply for UNSSD's aviation unit, instead of being a medic!"
"Maybe next time," said Phineas. Sean frowned, asking Phineas what did Vasily mean when he said Phineas is going to be a medic.
Phineas crossed his arms. "Next week I will be leaving Hokkaido, the CTRU element in the UN police is being called back to Hong Kong. Afterwards I will be joining UNSSD as part of this year's China rotation. My post is a medic."
Sean laughed, "I am out and you're in? Does that mean one of us must be in UNSSD at any time? Funny. Though I suppose that must be a good thing for you Doc. Your sweetheart is there too, isn't her?"
Phineas jumped, flustered, embarrassingly waving his hands wildly while looking away.
"Firstly…she's…just…a…child…childhood…friend!"
"Secondly…she's…in…the…Sellar…draxian…units…I…won't…see…her…any…way!"he retorted. Vasily laughed at Phineas' reaction.
"Yeah right, "just a childhood friend"," mused Sean.
"Don't get too happy yet," replied Phineas, calming down, taking a letter from Vasily, which is the main reason why he had come today.
"Paper files? Ok boomer," laughed Sean sarcastically. He opened it, finding out to his shock that it is a re-enlistment notice from UNSSD meant for him.
Sean frowned. "I have not asked to be re-enlisted, why I am I getting this?"
Vasily shrugged, sitting down. "In principle, you are legally obligated to return if asked to," he said, taking a strawberry from the bowl that Sean had levitated to him and Phineas.
Sean nodded. "Alright then," he replied, putting down the letter. Phineas finished his strawberry, putting the bowl down.
"Look, I know…" began Phineas, only for Sean to interrupt him.
"Good soldiers follow orders," said Sean plainly.
Phineas and Vasily looked at each other. Vasily pursed his lips, wanting to say something, though he soon swallowed it down.
Phineas sighed, nodding. "I hope that was sincere," he said to Sean.
"Why wouldn't it be?" he retorted.
Vasily handed Sean the chocolates. "Got these straight from the Soviets, your favourite."
Sean thanked him. "I guess I will see you at Tokyo again next year."
"Wish you a speedy recovery, comrade!" smiled Vasily. Phineas wished Sean all the best and left with Vasily.
"Hey, how about I show you my true form and you go for a ride in the clouds on my back?" suggested Vasily.
"I'd rather fight a Deep Dweller alone!" retorted Phineas.
Both laughed. "I hope that you take care of Sean in there," said Phineas.
Vasily sighed. "There is only so much me and Big Sis can do, it boils down to Sean and the others to truly move on from Katya's death."
"Hope they can do it," commented Phineas.
Sean waited until Phineas and Vasily closed the door before taking out his phone. He looked at the cover screen: a picture of him and the rest of Squad Artemis 4 years ago in Kiev, about to return home after their first successful deployment. He stared at his 18-year-old self, reminiscing about the time when Squad Artemis had 15 members. Sean looked at himself in the picture, the image overlapping with his reflection in the screen.
"There is only 12 of us left…" he thought.
The truth of the matter is, the more Sean tried to ditch the life of guns-blazing behind him, the more it clings on to him like a shadow. It calls out to him, reminding him of his duty to Earth that he was bred for, and it is a job that he loves, and still does. Yet the self-hate he has in causing the death of Artemis 14 Ekaterina, or "Katya" still haunts him.
A flashback of Squad Artemis saying the oath of the Special Operations when they were formally inducted came to his mind.
"I vow to devote my life for the glory of mankind. Save the last bullet for me!" they yelled in unison.
"Am I still worthy of saying this vow?" he asked himself.