Life After-Part Thirteen

The barracks were in an area of the ship Erik usually didn't go to. The fighters were sequestered away from everyone else in an attempt to keep the noise down. Fighters had no concept of normal hours for people to be asleep and were apt to be up and fighting at all hours. Green squad had barracks near the end of a corridor. There were lots of orange warning signs around and the sound of laser fire was a constant.
Erik hesitated at the door. Fighters were scary as hell. Storm all by herself was scary. There was no telling what a group of fighters who had been interrupted by a spare would do. He knocked once and took a few quick steps back. The door slid open. Snowfall stepped into the corridor. He held a long sword over one shoulder and glanced down and then up the corridor before noticing Erik. His eyes had gotten wide and he had pressed himself against the wall.
"Oh. Erik, right? Hello," Snowfall said. "What're you doing here? Is Storm okay?"
"Sword."
"Oh. This." Snowfall sheathed the sword. "Is that better? The other squad leaders've been pranking us. I was just being prepared."
"Yeah. Much better. Storm's okay. She tried to get into strategy and…we aren't sure how that's going to go yet. But one of the doctors thinks that she should learn some anger management. So I was told to come and see if you would come and make sure she doesn't kill us when we're doing that. Or suggest someone who can help her not kill us if you can't. Or if you would make her madder. Or something like that."
"I'll come as long as it's not during combat. I might have to run in the middle. They're advancing all the way up and we've gotta be prepared. Just come down when you have a day."
"Tomorrow? I haven't cleared this with anyone, but it'd be better for it to be sooner instead of later. At least before Clarissa decides to retest her. Things got kind of tense. Not so tense that she tried to kill anyone. But they got kind of tense."
"I'm guessing that Storm's not getting back to the fight soon."
"It's not looking likely. They probably won't have to amputate, but combat's not looking very likely right now. She's using crutches."
"She must hate that," Snowfall said. "Never liked being out of the fight. Remember right after we broke up I'd given her this big cut right across her face. She'd tried to slit my throat. Wanted to go out and fight. Wouldn't let her."
"Oh. Right. There was something else. Randall wanted me to ask you about Storm's first kill. She's asleep so I couldn't ask her."
"It's good that you asked me first. She might not like me telling you this, but as long as you don't tell her I told you she'll probably guess anyway and'll try to punch me some. But I can deal with that. What happened was that there was this civ. He was gonna be a psychiatrist or something. Storm's his project. He called her by her real name, she killed him. Found her in the training room. She was scared to death. Things change when you get your first kill. Start thinking of things differently. She got it a few months early, too. Wasn't even fifteen yet. Storm was really scared she was gonna change."
"And did she?"
"'Course. Everyone changes after their first kill. Just one of those things. Go back and tell the doctor that I'll be around tomorrow if we don't have combat. Early. Might not've gotten any sleep but I'll be there."
"Okay. Thank you."
"Welcome."

Storm was woken up by a combination of pain in her right leg and Snowfall saying "Veðr" right in her ear. Her eyes flashed open and her hand arched towards his face to deliver a ringing slap. It was intercepted by his hand clasping around her wrist. He held on for a few seconds just to make sure Storm wasn't going to make a move to hurt him before letting go.
"Relax," he said. "It's just me."
"No reason to relax," Storm said.
She sat up and ran a hand through her hair. It had been years since they had been a couple but her instincts still told her to try and clean up for him.
"Hair's gettin' long," he said.
"Won't let me near scissors. The hell're you here?"
"Erik said you'd be anger managing."
There was a short silence as Storm went through her mental Rolodex of curses and decided on something long and French.
"Bâtarde foutre la merde I'm gonna kill him!"
"Storm! No threats," Rebeka shouted from the storage room.
"Veðr. I want you back in the fight nearly as much as you do. 'm serious. But if the next best thing's you gettin' and stayin' in strat then I gotta support that. We clear?"
They stared at each other, the air between them nearly shimmering under the heat of their gazes. It wasn't done for a second to fight and possibly kill the squad leader and they had gotten used to settling things by a stare down. Storm was the first to look down.
"Crystal," she said. "But I need to be in the fight. Can't keep all this bottled forever."
"I know that and you know that and some other people might, but you aren't able to."
"How 'bout Deadeye? He's in the fight."
"Losin' an eye doesn't mean he can't move. Can be waitin' for you to catch up all the time."
Storm made a move to punch him. Snowfall caught her fist and squeezed it gently before letting go.
"Come on," he said. "Veðr, minn vinr, you've gotta calm down."
"Usually faster 'an you."
Snowfall sighed and looked away out of a vague sense of politeness as Storm bit her lip. Any fighter showing emotion was an uncomfortable thing even if he was the one who most wanted her to emote.
"Seriously. Veðr. Storm," he said. "You can relax. It's just me."
"Still not a reason."
"Get some sense. We've known each other for how long now? Eighteen years? Long enough to know that you need to relax and let this out."
She took a deep breath and let it and a flood of tears out after a few seconds. A few near silent sobs racked her body. It was a cathartic cry. Fighters had a complicated relationship with their emotions. Crying was something only civilians were supposed to do but when not allowed to fight there weren't many other outlets.
It took Storm a few minutes to recover, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"You good?" Snowfall asked.
"Better, least," she said. "Won't say I'm back to being me."
"Who else'd you be?"
"Dunno. Not fighter."
Erik came in with his bag slung over one shoulder. For a moment he processed Storm's read eyes and open expression. The neutral look he had come to expect from fighters, especially Storm, was gone. He was too shocked to say anything before she noticed him and closed up.
"Um," Erik said. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing," Storm snapped. "Nothing that should worry you, anyway."
Snowfall stood up and gestured towards the seat.
"Sit down," he said. "And explain, Veðr. He's a nice guy and he's looking after you for Godssake."
Erik glanced between them. There was another tense pause before Erik sat down. The pause in the conversation became as tense as a group of A students finding out that project they hadn't done was due in an hour. After about half a minute it was shattered by a long, uninterrupted beep. The fighters had time to flinch, look at each other, and then at one of the machines hooked up to Tomas before Rebeka ran out of the storage room. She examined the machine and then took Tomas's pulse. She straightened up and grabbed his sheet.
"Tomas McKenzie dead at 9:37 on the ninth of September," she said.
The words appeared on the sheet and a red "DEAD" appeared as a watermark. The sheet darkened so just that word was visible and Rebeka put it back down. She took a long breath and rubbed her eyes.
"Erik. Can you run over to Randall and tell him what happened?" she asked.
Erik was frozen in place, staring at the sheet.
"…He's dead," he said.
"Get a move on," Storm snapped.
Seeing that Erik wasn't going anywhere, Snowfall took him by the arm and dragged him to his feet.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go."