Chapter 1: I WILL NEVER HEE-HAW AGAIN
Chapter Text
….Previously, in ‘You, Me, and the War I’m Trying to Forget…
….Ena, in concept, knew what a baby was. It was a smaller version of a species. She didn't need to know the specifics….
….When Ena opened her eyes again, she was no longer in her bed. A dark void surrounded her. She whipped around, unable to source an exit…
…. Wrapped in a snug red wrap, it had an omamori-esque pouch pinned to it with a name clear as day stamped onto the front. THEODORA. The thing cried a terrible noise that made Ena’s head begin to hurt….
….Ena needed to find that damn Shaman. Fast.
Luckily, she had a few ideas of where to start….
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— — —
Yelling. Screaming. Gunfire.
A crosshair lining up with the corner of a wooden stand, a finger pulling the trigger as someone steps out from behind. A body hitting the ground.
“Ena!” an accented voice called out to her, her idle grin fading as she lowered the rifle and turned her head back.
“Please. Please help me. Please help her!” The Voice cried out.
Ena couldn’t make out all the definite features of the face, just a youthful roundness and big gloopy tears dripping down cheeks onto the blood soaked woman in her arms. The wounded woman began to scream, and the round-faced crier slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to shush her.
“Ena you have to help me, you have to help me help her!” The woman whispered desperately.
Ena scooted over, scanning the wounded woman’s body, patting her torso down until the Injured soldier hollard in pain. Ena lifted her shirt with urgency, sourcing the bullet wound quickly. She jabbed a finger into the wound, feeling around to her best ability despite the jolting.
“You’re hurting her!” The non-wounded cried out
“ Better hurting than dead! Shut up!” Ena shouted.
One. Two. Three. Christ. Four. Five. Six. Six fragmented pieces of bullet, and that was just what she was able to feel with a finger. Ena went quiet and removed her finger.
“Ena? Why aren’t you doing anything? Save her!” The woman, her face coming clearer slowly and slowly, big youthful eyes becoming apparent.
“I Love her, Ena. You have to do something!”
Ena should have told her. Told her there was no saving her. They just didn’t have the resources on the field like this to do anything worth doing.
But, Ena could help her. Help end her suffering. The round one’s eyes grew wide at Ena’s face.
“Ena?”
“Ena- stop it-”
“ENA! NO! WE HAVE TO-”
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Ena’s eyes ripped open to see a bright blue sky, and hear a sharp and telling whine from next to her. For a breathless moment, she waited for the gunfire to continue, but it was only the very much alive lump next to her making noise. The thing had started crying, again. More out of a desperate attempt to ignore the revisited memories of the dream than anything else, Ena carefully lifted the potato like baby and held it close.
“Hush Hush, small investor, the company picnic is soon.” She rattled off, which did nothing to soothe the hungry little ear-sore. Ena had learned a few days ago after dealing with some judgmental looks from passersby, that apparently the thing needed to eat, but no, of course it couldn’t eat just anything . Ena had to pay an arm and a leg to some gelatinous price gouger to get something suitable for the little food critic.
In jerky unfamiliar motions, Ena prepared a green tinged and odd smelling liquid into a bottle. The gelatinous jerk she’d bought it from explained it was imported from some far-off place, and that rich folks fed their kids with it to enrich their brains. Ena, hoping it would give the baby some genius germs, reluctantly paid around three-hundred chocolates for it.
At first she felt conned but the thing seemed to be fed and not sickly after drinking it, so she considered it a success. She sat impatiently as the baby drank in her arms,remembering how confused at first she was why it wouldn’t eat by itself. She reasoned that it must not have been that hungry if it wasn’t trying to eat, until the Gelatinous fraud explained to her like she was a child that it wasn’t strong enough to feed itself.
“That feels like a manufacturing error.” She’d commented, and the Gelatinous one looking at her like she was stupid after that comment convinced her to shut up and move on. Soon they would be in Magic Town, a place Ena was certain the Shaman would have gone to. The baby wiggled against her chest, the warm weight being displaced drawing her eyes down. Bottle finished, the thing began to babble, reaching its hands up toward Ena and trying its darndest to get a fistful of her hair.
“A five star meal, I take it?” she’d joked aloud, getting a little closer to the lump, that giggled as it successfully entwined its fingers in her geometric hair, yanking roughly.
“ -OUCH! What the hell!” she’d shouted, quickly rushing to use her other hand to try and disengage the grip, this time her shouting only causing the infant glee, rather than tears.
“Now, this is no– ow!! – way for an intern to behave!” Ena found herself somehow laughing out, managing to unfurl the unnecessarily strong fist.
“I don’t wanna have to get HR involved, so knock it off okay?” she commented as she slung the baby over her back, managing to secure it in the onbuhimo, where it lifted its head and looked around, something she offhandedly noted it did not do a few days ago. She didn’t quite get what that meant, and just assumed that it was feeling a bit lazier a few days ago. She glanced down at the ground where the two had rested against a hill. The baby had been on her left, non-dominant side, while to her right, a safe distance from the child but close enough to grab in a hurry, her old rifle lay. She grabbed it, the child on her back, and the rifle in her other hand. She had places to be.
— — —
“WHAT? ARE YOU CALLING ME A LYING STINKY PENGUIN?!” Dratula shouted dramatically, looking wounded. Froggy sighed, he was getting nowhere here.
“I just want to know if you said anything to The Boss, or anyone he would have known.” Froggy muttered, sounding defeated.
“I AM NOT A LIAR!!” Dratula shouted
Froggy buried his face in his hands, shaking his head.
“We’re just going to have to-” Froggy started
“Excuse me?” a female voice started boldly from behind Froggy, who let out an inquisitive noise and turned around, coming face to face with a blue-red skinned woman.
“Er uh- how can I help you?” Froggy inquired confused.
“I’m looking for someone and I was thinking you may be able to help me.” the woman rattled off, sounding more like a statement than a question. Her demeanor falsely open and inviting.
“Who are you looking for?” Froggy hummed, half expecting her to be asking for The Boss. The woman grinned, her short hime cut swishing slightly as her head tilted. Froggy’s eyes widened in surprise as she spoke.
“I am looking for an….Ena.”
Nearby, the Suspicious Man’s grin grew.
— — —
SNAP. CRUNCH. CLACK.
“GRAHH! STUPID TEETH!” Ena shouted as she walked down the landscape, that would frequently and randomly split apart to try and bite or lick at her. The baby had a grand time, laughing as it bounced around with every jump. Ena kicked at a long tongue that tried to creep up on her, it wiggled offended before retreating into the crevice it originated and sealed itself closed.
Off in the distance Ena could make out the spiraling towers of MagicTown, as well as the faint colorful bursts in the sky above no doubt from fireworks or magic spells. A bit on the nose, she guessed, but it was as good a guess as any to the Shamans location. Shortly she approached, coming across a large and cartoonishly shallow moat, a closed drawbridge staring back at her.
“HALT!” a deep reverberated voice called from atop a watch tower. “WHO GOES THERE?”
Ena looked up at the watch tower and came face to face with a short older man with long dark hair dressed in a far too large purple robe covered in tacky orange stars.
“Good Morrow Magic Man! I was seeking passage through your….” Ena cleared her throat “Magically diverse locale.”
“Ah! How do you know my name?! You must be a very skilled divinator! Can you see my future?” Magic Man cheered.
“ I see you opening the gate right now!” Ena shouted.
“Of course! Of course! How skilled you are– I was thinking of doing that!” Magic man let out a boisterous and echoing laugh.
Ena watched as the drawbridge exploded into glitter and fanfare, and the ground beneath her feet jutted out, carrying her to the entrance with a long stretching noise. It dropped her off, before zipping back to its resting place, and the drawbridge faded back into existence behind her. Ena continued along the stone and brick street, watching as a variety of robe and hat clad individuals casually commuted around her, occasionally stopping when the baby seemed particularly interested in what Ena thought were cheap magic tricks. The magic users, ever the crackpots, reveled in the baby’s gleeful cheers at them.
Ena found herself unknowingly stopping more often than not to indulge in the baby’s interests.
“Don’t get too interested in these cheap tricks intern, they’ll distract you from your path to financial success” she’d scolded, though she still somehow found herself buying a few cheap knick-knacks that the thing had reached for, as long as they wouldn’t fit in it’s mouth, as she almost immediately realized that anything she handed to it would immediately be brought to its mouth.
“Knock it off! It can’t taste good!” She’d yelled, frustrated, as the thing continuously tried to shove a plush star into its mouth. The baby revolted against Ena, moving it away from her grabbing hands and making angry noises at her.
“What an interesting pair,” a voice called near Ena “A baby, and an Ena. how peculiar.”
“ What’s it to you?” Ena sassed, looking over at the woman, a claymation-esque Skeleton in a long black dress with deep purple hair.
“Something tells me you’re looking for that Shaman.” She spoke in a suave voice. Approaching and patting the baby’s head. Ena defensively turned, quickly pulling it away from her.
“This has him written all over it. Tell you what, do me a favor and I'll tell you where he is.” She offered with an outreached hand.
“What kind of business are we talking about?” Ena tilted her head, unknowing of the child mirroring her, the woman's grin grew and she retracted her hand, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a legal envelope with the words ‘ Divorce’ written on it in fancy macabre sprawl.
“My husband thought it’d make me happy if I was a skeleton. It does not. So I'm divorcing him. He runs a gag shop on Tom Foolery Avenue” She sighed “It’s just past the cemetery, you can’t miss it.”
Ena quickly snatched the envelope and grinned.
“Consider it done!” she cheered, darting off in a direction and hoping it led to Tom Foolery Avenue.
After about ten minutes of wandering, and asking for directions– that which all of them were extremely unhelpful– she could see the gag shop, with an obnoxiously loud and large sign that read ‘MAKE YOU GAG!’.
“What an extremely unflattering sign. That’s bad business, Intern, write that down.” She rattled off, the baby just cooed.
As she walked past the before mentioned cemetery, a voice called over to her.
“Oh! Ms. Ena! How curious to see you here!” The witch from the lonely door, Maude, called out to her. Her heart shaped earrings dangling as she waved enthusiastically at the two before rushing over.
“I didn’t think i’d see you again Ms. Ena, especially not so soon,” her eyes drifted to the baby. “Oh my! Who’s this little guy?”
“It’s a baby!” Ena clarified, arms on her hips triumphantly.
“No silly, I mean what’s his name? Oh- come to grandma Maude!” She made grabby hands at the baby, and Ena– reluctantly at first– handed the baby over to the older woman, who cradled the baby close.
“Its name? Uhm. I don’t know, it never told me.” Ena shrugged.
“Silly girl” Maude grinned.
Ena frowned, realizing what she said must not have been the correct answer.
“With babies, the mother is usually the one that picks the name, so what have you thought of?” Maude conversed, implying that Ena was the baby’s mother, Ena’s heart raced.
“No no no- I'm not the mother. The Shaman and I accidentally created a life- this baby- together that he left with me.” She clarified, unhelpfully.
“Oh! How terribly shameful of that Shaman to leave the mother of his child alone with the baby!” She declared, a disappointed look on her face as she shook her head.
Ena raised her hands, frantically shaking them defensively at the misunderstanding.
“ NO! IT’S NOT LIKE THAT!” she yelled “I took the baby myself but it wasn’t a baby then, it was just tiny. I lost it for a while, and then the genie returned it to me.” She tried to explain.
“Oh my…” Maude said softly, raising a hand to her mouth, a sad look in her eyes. “It must not be easy being a single mother. How thoughtful of the genie to return him to you.” she nodded.
Ena sighed, figuring it was no use to keep arguing.
“A dear friend of mine had the baby blues too,” Maude hummed, lightly tickling the baby who basked in the attention of a new person. “It’s not going to be easy, Ms Ena. but I promise it will get better. The first couple of weeks are always tough. I know it may not be what you want to hear, but thinking of the baby as more than just a life will help you connect better.” the older woman croaked out.
Ena crossed her arms defiantly, looking off to the side.
“Sure…” she’d placated. Of course Maude wouldn’t understand. Ena couldn’t be a mother, she would never be able to. It just wasn’t something she was capable of. Even if she wanted to- which she didn’t- she just had too many ailments. How could she rationally want to put a baby through that? She just didn’t have what it takes.
“I know you probably think you don’t have what it takes,” Maude said knowingly, causing Ena’s head to whip toward her.”But I think that’s something all parents think at first. How about this, I’ll watch the boy for a bit while you go on a little walk. Take a break for a bit, maybe brainstorm some names, okay?” she offered
“ I don’t know..” Ena was hesitant. She’d not been away from the baby since it had been acquired, but Maude smiled and shoo’d her off, shoving a few chocolates into her hand and telling her to go find something nice. Ena, not wanting to be rude to one of the few people who treated her nicely, nodded and turned heel. She was certain the baby was in capable hands, probably more capable than her own. She glanced back and saw how easy the older woman handled the baby, how happy it seemed cooing and smiling at Maude. It unwillingly caused something ugly to bubble up in Ena’s chest– and she hated it. She turned, practically stomping away.
Ena made it to the gag shop, opening the door and flinching at the sound of a donkey’s loud and obnoxious HEE-HAW!
“Welcome in! – HEE-HAW! –Welcome in!” a half-donkey-half-man– but not in the way you’d think– called out to her from behind a large cardboard cutout of a clown-wizard. “What can I do for you? HEE-HAW! We’ve got a large selection of gags, gifts, and– HEE-HAW!– punchlines!”
“ SHUT UP ALREADY!” Ena shouted, gripping her head, before taking out the letter and jutting it toward him. He grabbed the note with an oddly opposable hoof, and looked it over, letting out a few quieter, sadder, ‘hee-haw…’s as he read it. Upon finishing it he dropped the note and burst into loud obnoxious tears.
“THIS IS JUST TERRIBLE!!!! HEE-HAW!!! MAI WIFE!!!” he cried out, rocking side to side. “TERRIBLE!!! TERRIBlE!!! HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW? I JUST WANTED TO MAKE HER HAPPY!!!!! HEE-HAW!!”
Ena slammed her hand down on the counter, causing the man donkey to flinch and quiet down.
“ DID YOU EVEN TRY TO TALK TO HER ABOUT IT?!” she yelled.
“No!! She just took our daughter and left– she told me she had enough trouble raising our daughter and then- HEE-HAW– then I turned her into a skeleton! I could tell she was stressed taking care of Katrina and just wanted to help!” man donkey pleaded. Ena laughed, but not a ‘ha-ha’ laugh.
“ ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? INSTEAD OF TRYING TO MAKE HER HAPPY BY CHANGING HER– WHY DON’T YOU JUST HELP WITH YOUR DAUGHTER!? TAKING CARE OF A KID IS HARD ENOUGH WITHOUT SOME JOKE-MAN MAN-DONKEY BEING MORE CONCERNED WITH HIS HEE-HAW’S THAN HIS OWN FAMILY!” she screamed at him with her megaphone.
The man donkey immediately stopped and went quiet, letting out a little ‘eh?’ as the words verbally processed in his mind. He let out a loud HEE-HAW that felt like a lightbulb going over and starting bouncing back and forth on his hooves.
“You’re right! HEE-HAW! I don’t know what I was thinking!!! I didn’t think Ena could give good advice! The last one that came through just told me to give her all the money in the register but you actually helped me!! Oh! Oh!!! Take something you’d like on the house!” The mans donkey rushed over to the entrance, and after a moment managed to wiggle it open.
“Thank you so much Ena!!!” he yelled, before darting out, the sound of hoofbeats fading in the distance. Ena sighed, and rubbed her face with her hands. Well, might as well make good on man donkey’s word and pick something. She wandered a bit, not really finding any joy or use in the essentially useless knick knacks. She was about to give up, when she accidentally knocked a small booklet off the shelf near the counter. It didn’t actually look like something for sale, rather a personal item. She blinked curiously and picked it up, reading the title.
‘10,000 Baby Names for Clueless Parents(parents who don’t know what they’re doing)”’
That might be useful. She flipped through the pages, seeing a few names circled, including one super outlined and underline– Katrina– so it definitely was a personal item. Well, she rationalized, he never clarified it had to be for sale.
“Hee-haw.” she nodded, with a serious face, pocketing the book and exiting the shop. She only made it a few steps before she was bombarded by man donkey and the skeleton wife, as well as a shadowy little girl with vivid white eyes who clung to the woman's dress, Ena would bet this was katrina.
“Oh Ena! HEE-HAW!!! You gave the best advice!! Me and Cassandra made up!!” The man donkey cheered.
“For now, you still have to make good on your commitments, Mandonk.” Cassandra spoke firmly, to the man donkey– Mandonk, she’d learned– who still seemed gleeful, nodding rapidly. The little girl smiled at Ena, before approaching her. Ena instinctively got down on one knee to her height.
“Thank you for helping my mommy and daddy” she whispered, her voice rattling around Ena’s head.
“All in a good day’s work.” Ena grinned, before standing and meeting Cassandra’s– um– eyesockets.
“Ah, right.” she nodded, brushing hair behind her…nothing, Ena watched as it fell right back into place. “After the lonely door closed, the Shaman fled to the Crowd Door, I only know because we cosigned on a house ten years ago and he’s required to tell me.” she clarified. Ena smiled.
“Bless you for your business!”
Ena made her way back to Maude, who had now been joined by her sisters Linda, Laurel, and Laura that all crowded around the baby, who was now in a red onesie to match the red wrap he’d originally worn. Ena vaguely thought to herself that it seemed like the baby had more hair than it had when she’d left it, but she brushed it off as ignorance on her part.
“Welcome back Ms. Ena!” Maude called out to her as she approached.
“What a peculiar baby you have Ms. Ena” Laurel croaked out, lightly patting the baby’s back. Ena was quick to scoop up the baby and hold it close, giving it a good once over to make sure it was okay as the baby babbled and patted at her face, going for another handful of hair.
“He definitely missed his mommy, I couldn’t get him to smile that much!” Maude cooed.
“Looks like she’s the best and you’re the worst, I wonder who got the chest hair?” Linda said in a joking tone.
“I GOT THAT REFERENCE!” Laura shouted, her and Linda high-fiving despite Ena’s confused look.
“So, what’s next Ms. Ena?” Maude asked softly, gently placing a hand on her arm.
“I found out that the Shaman fled to crowd door when the lonely door closed, so I guess I'm headed there.” Ena muttered.
“Please dear, let us help you get to the casino, it’s the least we could do!” Linda offered.
“ANYTHING TO HELP A SINGLE MOM!” Laura shouted proudly.
Ena opened her mouth to interject, but promptly closed it. She didn’t feel like arguing, and soon enough, Maude had given her data matrix to Ena, and told her to call whenever, before they sent her on her way.
— — —
The woman kicked the shoe cabinet in the little house over, before stomping into the main part of the house.
“ENA!” she shouted “I KNOW YOU’RE HERE!”
The woman dug around, growing more and more frustrated, throwing anything of value towards walls and floors as hard as she could, kicking her boots through the delicate shoji walls, until she came across a dark chest and flipped the lid open. She dug around the personal belongings before pulling out a digital map that seemed to have been recently marked, explaining how to get somewhere called ‘MagicTown’. The woman grinned, a clawed hand wiping the screen clear and reflecting her face back at her, leading her to realize something was off in the reflection. The woman turned around, and finally took notice of the wicker basket that had clearly housed some kind of infant.
“Oh Ena…. ” the woman laughed cruelly “Ena, Ena, Ena, you’ve really lost your edge, haven’t you?” the woman tucked the map away to take with her. “Pathetic.” She hissed, screaming as she brought her boot down on the basket, smashing it instantly.
“GODS Ena….You’re such. A fucking. Hypocrite!”
— — —
Chapter 2: THROUGH THE VALLEY
Summary:
Previously on Mushi no Onna:
....“You’re hurting her!” The non-wounded cried out
“Better hurting than dead! Shut up!” Ena shouted....
... The woman grinned, her short hime cut swishing slightly as her head tilted. Froggy’s eyes widened in surprise as she spoke.
“I am looking for an….Ena.”.....
...“ANYTHING TO HELP A SINGLE MOM!” Laura shouted proudly.
Ena opened her mouth to interject, but promptly closed it. She didn’t feel like arguing....
...“GODS Ena….You’re such. A fucking. Hypocrite!”....
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Ena and her unsolicited sidekick—a questionably sourced baby—are forced to compete on WIN or DIE!, a televised trivia nightmare hosted by an unhinged genie with a flair for drama and execution. Between rigged questions, glitter bombs, and rising flashbacks, Ena’s starting to realize the game isn’t the only thing that’s been set up.
Notes:
WELL. WELL. WELL. HERE WE ARE. What's had to be done, was done. but what hadn't been done is also being done too. And now that this chapter has been done, I can hopefully get done what should have already been done, pre writing it....Done, done, done....
this was SO fun to write, can you tell I'm having fun? I got a little carried away in this one, all of your comments inspired me greatly!! also, consider this my amateur prediction of Ena Dream BBQ ch2.
Also, I'm hoping to at some point draw some art to put in this!! I think that'd be neat.
Enjoy!!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
and I fear no evil because I'm blind to it all.
And my mind, and my gun, they comfort me
Because I know I'll kill my enemies when they come."
Whiz– CRACK
“Again” The commanding voice remarked, sounding disappointed.
Whiz– CRACK
“Again Ena.” It was demanding.
Whiz– CRACK
“Again.” it hissed, sounding more and more aggravated.
Whiz– CRACK
“Are you even fucking trying Ena?” The hand connected to the voice grabbed a fistful of dark hair and yanked.
“ Fuck. You. ’ Ena bit out, gritting her teeth.
The Ena hit the ground, having been roughly shoved. The rifle skidded a few feet away to where it met the feet of another woman, who was quick to pick it up and take aim.
Whiz–CRACK– CRASH !
The bottle placed a hundred feet away shattered into pieces as the bullet finally hit it. Ena hated her. Ena wanted to kill her for what she had done, and now this too?
“Good work.” Her commander had praised the other woman, who grinned and held out a hand to Ena.
“Can we talk?” she asked, her grin falling and her tone becoming more serious, something almost like sympathy in her eyes.
Ena hated her.
– – –
“Ah. Ena. How pleasant. It is. To see you here.” The Suspicious Man grinned at her, only now out of place in the strangely desolate casino floor, subconsciously noting that not even the receptionist was there.
“Yeah, yeah. Great to see you too.” Ena greeted sarcastically, readjusting the baby on her hip.
“Well. Well? Well. Who do we have? Here?” The Suspicious Man leaned down over them, so close that Ena could see the reflection of herself and the baby in his eyes.
“It’s a baby.” Ena grinned, hand on her hip, this time more defiant in her answer than clueless.
“This. I can. See. Tell me. You? Are going to. Crowd door?” The Suspicious Man, ever grinning, inquired.
“Yes, I’m looking to return this infant to the manufacturer.” Ena nodded out, unknowingly seeming quite solemn.
“Are….you not…the manufacturer?” The Suspicious Man tilted his head, confusion seeping into his voice.
“GRAH! NO! WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT?” Ena shouted, jostling the infant who was giving The Suspicious Man a familiar scowl. He looked between Ena and the baby, at their matching grumpy faces. The odd man laughed, throwing his head back in amusement.
“Piero the genie. Will. LOVE. This.” he claimed. Ena rolled her eyes, before looking around, raising a brow.
“Uhm, where is everyone?” She pressed.
The Suspicious Man's eyes locked onto her, his laugh starting small and devious before gaining to a loud malicious rumble. Realizing she was not going to be receiving an answer, she proceeded to the crowd door, yanking the caution tape out of the way and stepping around a wet floor sign. The polygonal woman reached toward the crystal – just as the others in the statue– feeling a humming buzz through her fingers up her arm at the point of contact, before finding herself, and the baby by proxy, yanked into the portal.
It was a few more minutes before The Suspicious Man’s laughter ceased.
“Goodbye. Ena.” he giggled deviously. “And, Good luck. With your. Friend. ”
– – –
“HALT!” a reverberating voice called from above. “WHO GOES THERE?”
“Open the gate!” The woman yelled up, facing the older man with long dark hair wearing a far too large purple robe covered in stupid orange stars
“No can do ma’am! You must- AH!” The magical fool ducked down as a bullet whizzed past his face.
“Okay okay! Jeez!” He yelled from behind the wall.
The woman holstered her handgun, scowling as the drawbridge fizzled into sparks, and the ground beneath her jutted her toward the city. She walked the streets with purpose, those who saw her wilted into the shadows and avoided eye-contact, doing their best to avoid drawing any attention to themselves. The atmosphere was tense, and the space quiet, no doubt from the presence the woman commanded. She would be lying, if she said she didn’t revel in the fear.
“You.” She decided abruptly, grabbing a poor joe-schmoe who happened to be walking by. He yelped as the woman forced him against the wall.
“I have reason to believe that an Ena with a baby has passed through your city. Is this verifiably true?” she cocked her head, her flat voice strangling the mans heart.
He was silent, shaking, his mouth gaping like a fish. She frowned and tossed him aside. She turned to see the group of people that had gathered around them, whispering amongst themselves. She yelled out to them, trying to gain the mob’s attention, and when that failed she stepped onto the counter of a nearby fruit stall and fired two warning shots into the sky. Some screamed and fled, others ducked down, but they silenced their meaningless chatter.
“I will make this very easy for all of you.” she spoke unto the awaiting citizens. “You will tell me what I want, or there will be nothing but death and despair for your people, your families, your children.”
She scanned the crowd until her eye caught on some kind of half-donkey-half-man– though not in the way she would expect– and jabbed a pointed finger at him.
“You.” she declared.
“WHAT!? HEE-HAW!” the man shouted nervously, and the woman beckoned him closer with her outstretched finger. He looked around tensely before making his way toward her, looking terrified. In one fluid motion, her weapon was unholstered and pointed at his oddly-human head.
“My target is an Ena, who is most likely in possession of an infant.” She decreed, scowling when they all looked at her, then at each other, and then back at her dumbly.
“Red and White. Kind of bitchy, into prism schemes.” she further clarified “is anyone willing to speak up?”
A few moments went by of chatter amongst themselves, seemingly trying to ask each other if anyone knew anything. A beat went by, then two. Nothing. She grinned, clicking the safety off.
“ Well, then .”
– – –
It wasn’t long until Ena opened her eyes to find herself under a dark sky, lights flashing all around her, music blaring faintly from all directions. People lounged around in flashy, revealing, articles of clothing. Some running around with cameras, and others posing for them. Ena knew what people said about the Crowd door, full of pseudo-celebrity-wannabe’s seeking their 15 minutes of fame, or more specifically, their 15 minutes of fame on ‘ WIN or DIE!’ , an extremely exclusive and elusive game show hosted by this doors genie, Piero. The concept was fairly simple, in fact so simple you could infer it just by seeing the title. It was an in depth trivia show, where you could either win– or die. Ena scanned the area for anyone remotely informative looking that stood out to her. She was about to approach some sophisticated looking woman with a camera when a force bumped into her from the side.
“Oops! Sorry! Haha!” A bubbly voice giggled out.
“ HEY! WATCH IT!” Ena scolded, holding the baby close to her.
“My bads!! OH EM GEE! What a cute baby!” the voice cheered.
Ena finally turned to look at the woman, who was a mop of average height in a small pink dress with painted on lips and expensive looking sunglasses. The mop lady immediately shoved a phone into their faces, the light flashing rapidly.
“Are you his mommy? Aww- this is gonna blow up on Webby!” she cheered, taking more pictures
“ W…webby?” she spoke, covering the baby’s eyes from the flash.
“Yah!!! Webby!! Only the best social media matrix!!” She explained, like it was stupid to even ask.
“Might you explain further? This feels like a wonderful future business opportunity- take notes intern!” Ena grinned, allowing the young woman to go into a twenty minute deep dive on the app.
“It’s also like- the best opportunity to get picked for WIN or DIE!! Piero the genie is the most followed person on webby–” she flipped around the phone to show Ena what was presumably Piero’s profile, it was mostly ads for WIN or DIE mixed in with few odd low quality shirtless pics of the sad-clown-like-man.
“Aren’t you like a single mom or something? You’re so lucky! I wish I was a single mom, I bet it’ll give you a better chance of getting on the show–” she quickly snapped a photo of a flustered Ena and grinning baby, posting it quickly and submitting it to the WIN or DIE registry.
“ L-LUCKY??? Shut up! I don’t wanna be on the stupid show!” she yelled. The woman flipped her mop-rope hair.
“Your loss! Keep an eye out, they’ll be announcing this episode's picks soon!” she called as she hopped away, the mop handle making a tap-scratch tap-scratch sound with every bounce. Ena sighed.
“Kids these days. They don’t understand the value of good hard work!” Ena shook her head, not noticing the crowd beginning to hype up behind her as all screens tuned in for the choosing of contestants.
“You’re not like that, huh intern? Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you never have to resort to cheap cracks at fame! You’ll become a successful businessman, it’s the right thing to do” she laughed, not noticing the spotlight that had shined down on her from above. Ena put her other hand on her hip, continuing to rattle off in her ‘kids these days!’ lecture.
“Besides! Only idiots get picked for game shows, so there’s definitely no chance that stupid picture will get us chosen…” Ena grinned for a moment, the area silent. “.....there’s a spotlight on me, isn’t there?”
“AND FOR OUR THIRD AND FINAL CONTESTANT– THIS BABY!” The voice of Piero the genie cried out, to the mixed reactions of those around Ena. The red-and-white woman turned around, seeing herself and the baby being projected onto large screens across the plaza. Ena opened her mouth to protest, but she and the baby had already been consumed by the sinking feeling of dropping through the floor and finding themselves on the large state-of-the-art game show stage.
They stood under hot, studio lights, being ogled at by a live studio audience.
“Uh oh. We’ve been drafted for brand exposure– haven’t we?” Ena muttered, her comment going unheard over all the ruckus. In a grand display of smoke and mirrors, Piero the genie made his appearance, his large form floating down from an opened skylight and landing in an obviously orange-tape-marked spot, the weight of his landing and subsequent steps causing the building to shake.
“Let’s introduce our wonderful contestants this evening!” Piero shouted, his thick French accent making it near impossible to make out what he was saying. The lights all dropped except for one, focused on a bald man a few feet away from her.
“This is Rob, Rob is your average everyman, I’ve peaked into his head and let me tell you– BOR-ING!!!! But maybe if he wins today, he’ll use his wish to become a more interesting person!” Piero canned the man’s confidence, snapping his fingers and letting the audience watch as fairy-tale-like sparkles circled the man. When they dissipated they revealed him now in a formal black tie suit, a beat later and another light raised, focusing on the second contestant.
“This is- uhm- This is three racoons in a trench coat.” Piero cleared his throat. “Their hobbies are eating trash and cosplaying, I’ve peaked into their heads and let me tell you, just total chaos. A real dumpster fire.” Piero snapped his fingers, and after some minor fanfare the three raccoons had been stacked up in a black three piece suit that appeared quite lumpy as the raccoons seemed to not be able to fill it out right.
“And last but certainly not least- This baby!” a light shot up, blinding Ena who reflexively covered the baby's eyes until it lowered a bit. The audience was crickets.
“Uhm…” Piero looked at a stressed out PA, who shrugged. “I’m led to believe you’re the boy’s mother, yes? And you’ll be answering on his behalf?” Piero inquired.
Ena had opened her mouth to deny being the baby's mother when Piero cut her off.
“Because if you’re NOT this baby’s mother and can’t speak for him, you’ll both be DISQUALIFIED…through DEATH!”
Ena swallowed tensely.
“ Y….Yes. I’m it’s- his- mother. There isn’t a question I can’t- I mean- he can’t answer!” she plastered a grin on her face, the baby laughed and yanked on a handful of her hair, causing her to grimace. The audience broke out into applause.
“Touching, truly touching. I’ve peaked into both of your minds-” Piero rattled off, Ena’s stomach sank, “This is an Ena! One that settled down after many years fighting in The Great Severance, a part of the 604th National Platoon! Notorious for their- oh- uhm- sorry, safety and practices is warning me NOT to mention what happened- anyway! This- is a baby! Hi baby! He is just so happy to be here with his mama!” Piero baby-talked to the infant, who laughed and babbled at the audience, who aww’d. Ena stood, wide-eyed. Mouth agape.. She was uncomfortable, Feeling exposed– and the gross smelling glitter that had encased them and left her in a long black formal gown and the baby in a red little tuxedo hadn’t helped.
“Oh- I’m just now receiving word they can’t locate a birth certificate- what’s the little guy's name?” Piero inquired, much to the interest of the audience, who silently anticipated an answer.
“His- his name? It’s uhm-” Ena thought back to the threat earlier, she had to make it seem like she was his mother. Think Ena, what was on the paper the Shaman gave you for the head?!
“He’s my- uhm son-....board?” She squeaked out.
“His name is…..Son Board?” Piero asked incredulously.
“...yes?” Ena decreed.
After a few moments the scoreboard updated, displaying all their names in a flashy colorful display.
ROB. THREE RACCOONS. SON BOARD (and Ena)
“Now we’ll be back- right after a commercial break!” Piero declared, and after a few moments a horn blew, and a director called cut. The other two contestants excitedly spoke to one-another, bouncing around in excitement. Ena just looked at herself and ‘Son Board’ up and down. She was terrified to commit to naming the thing, but even if she did, Son Board would NOT have been her first choice. She thought for a quiet moment.
If – she actually was a mother and had a son. What name would she have picked. She thought of the booklet she’d taken from ‘MAKE YOU GAG!’. She had briefly looked it over before they reached the casino. None of them really stuck out to her, and the ones that did gave her this uncomfortable fluttery feeling she didn’t like. She ended up tossing it into the red sea of legs, and watching the baby laugh over the legs fighting for the book– before it sank and she pushed it out of her mind.
“ –and we’re back!” Piero’s voice interrupted Ena’s train of thought, the lights came up again and they all found themselves behind podiums that flashed their names in bright blue letters.
“Now Rob-” Piero spoke condescendingly “-as you know up on the board here we have a variety of categories, you’re first up to pick for this round!” he explained in his show-host voice.
“Uhm…” Rob cluelessly looked at all the categories. “How about- erm- Color?” he picked in a meek voice.
“What a dumb choice! Okay- here’s the first question-” Piero turned as the option on the
Board, color flashed before being zoomed onto the screen, the first question popping up.
“What color do you get when you mix blue and yellow?” Piero read off the screen.
“Ah…you get– green?” Rob answered after some careful consideration.
“Correct-a-mundo!” Piero cheered, Rob’s scoreboard ticked up to one. Piero waved a massive finger toward the Three Raccoons.
“You’re next!” the board cube-transitions into the next question.
“What– is the color of surrender?”
The Three Raccoons chattered amongst themselves before the one that acted as the head chirbled out an answer.
“Green?” they answered, the audience was silent for a moment before a loud buzzer rang out.
“INCORRECT!” a deep and guttural voice rang out from Piero’s mouth, as an almost comically placed trap door opened beneath the Three Raccoons, loud squeals leaving their mouths as they dropped. It would have been funny- Ena thought to herself- if not for the delayed and then final CRACK that echoed from deep in the hole, followed by silence as the trap door closed itself.
The audience was quiet, a silent tenseness over all of them.
“MOVING ON–” Piero yelled gleefully, the spot light moving over Ena, whose mouth was slack, and the baby was anxiously gripping onto her.
“You’re up Son Board!--” Piero grinned something devilish. “And Ena , as his interpreter.”
The screen zoomed to the next question.
“What– is the color of war?” Piero crooned, voice dripping with mischief.
“ I-It’s–” Ena stammered, closing her eyes for a moment to try and focus. All she saw was blood and fire. “ Red. The answer is…red.” she spoke in a serious tone.
“That…is…” Piero started, grinning wildly as the audience practically leaned forward in anticipation– on the edge of their seats. “CORRECT!” he shouted, to the cheer of the audience. Ena let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
“Pray tell, how many rounds are in this game?” Ena called out, her voice strained.
“As many as it takes until there’s only one left!” Piero jousted “This next session is multiple choice– so let’s hope you can at least guess right! Ha-ha-ha!” he twisted around as with a loud scraping sound, the screen grew a few feet bigger to accommodate the multiple choice questions. He turned back to Rob.
“Your turn Rob! Go on! Pick the next SUBJECT!” Piero spoke condescending, the force of his laughs shaking the building.
“Uhm..” Rob hummed, sounding unsure. “How about…workplace readiness?”
Ena grinned, a laugh bursting from her.
“I believe you’ll regret this.” she taunted, something competitive entering her voice. It was on .
“Okay Rob, here’s your question:
Which of the following is an acceptable reason to leave work early?
A) You’ve been impaled
B)Your coworker turned into a wolf
C) Your baby is growing too fast
D)You died!”
Rob visibly slumped, mouth agape. He swallowed tensely.
“Uhm. I don’t know… is it…. A?” he muttered out.
The audience was silent in anticipation. Piero’s grin stretched as he crossed his arms.
“hm…I dunno. We’ll take it to the polls.” he nodded, as production assistants scrambled to hand clipboards out to audience members.
“WHAT!? Is all of this subjective!?” Ena shouted, slamming her first down. “The answer is E! There’s never a reason to leave early!”
“The polls are in! The answer is…” Piero grabbed the slip of paper a PA handed him, that was comically small in his large hands. He squinted down at it.
“Correct! The answer is A!” Piero shouted, to the applause of the audience. “Moving onto Son Board! Your question is–” The sad-clown genie stretched out the sound as his face seemed like it would split in half from the size of his grin, as the words illuminated on the screen and he read them with faux innocence.
“What was the last task Ena failed to complete before the end of the war?”
A) File the report
B) Cover her platoon
C) Check for survivors
D) Surrender
“ WHAT KIND OF HOGWASH IS THIS? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!” Ena shouted angrily, shoving the podium over before jabbing a finger at Piero.
“Is that your final answer?” Piero giggled devilishly leaning in like a ragdoll being tugged at its center. “Because it’s WRONG ”
The audience erupted in chaos, in complaint, in defense of Son Board– and by proxy Ena. the trapdoor beneath Ena flung open, and she just had managed to side step it. A PA quickly rushed up to Piero’s all-too-pleased form and got his attention. They exchanged a few words as Ena gripped the baby close, looking around for some kind of exit she could flee to. Just as she was about to dart, Piero let out a loud and disappointed sigh and raised a hand toward Ena and the baby- a strong force holding them to the space. Ena continued to desperately struggle against the force, at least trying to look somewhere he could even just toss the baby to get him away.
“It has unfortunately been brought to my attention that during the previous question there was a miscount . A) You’ve been impaled was NOT the correct answer, it was C) Your baby is growing too fast." The crowd silenced as Rob let out a guttural yell of fear. The trap door beneath him swung open, and he dropped with a fearful yell, ending in a cartoonish SPLAT! Ena felt the force on them relinquish, causing her to stumble to regain her balance.
“This means that the winner of this episode of WIN or DIE is Son Board!!!! –and Ena.” Piero shouted, a tone of disappointment hidden under his mock glee. Ena sighed in relief, the crowd exploded in applause as balloons and confetti rained down from above. Cameras rushed up and began taking photos, Ena covered the baby’s eyes to protect them from the flash.
Soon the fanfare calmed at Piero’s will, and he looked toward the baby.
“Any words you’d like to say to the crowd before I grant you an aspiration?” Piero asked sarcastically. The baby turned up toward Ena and smiled.
“--Na!” he shouted, reaching for a handful of Ena's hair and yanking her head to the side. ”Na! Na!” He called out to Ena, who’s eyes widened.
“Are you.. Are you reading my name tag?” Ena questioned, suddenly and strangely overcome with an overwhelming sense of excitement. “Are you trying to say Ena? En-uh?” She over-enunciated.
“Ena! Ena!” the baby laughed out.
The crowd burst out in aww’s and cheered at the sheer adorableness of the situation.
“So he speaks?” Piero interjected, a devious tone making itself apparent.
Ena felt a wave of cold run over her, what was that bastard planning?
“Since it’s been proven now he can speak, It only seems fair that he makes his wish himself right? We wouldn’t want anything to be misinterpreted…would it?” Piero giggled out.
Ena scowled at the genie.
“YOU CHEAP LITTLE-!” she started to shout, only for the baby to interrupt her, while reaching toward Piero.
“Ena!!” He shouted gleefully.
Piero leaned in close, he hummed pleasantly as the infant looked at him, grin falling and taking on an opened mouth gaze.
“Hello little one. As you know, I’m Piero the genie. What would you like your wish to be?”
“Ena!” The infant smiled.
“If I may-” Ena tried to intervene, but Piero raised a hand, silencing her.
“Are you sure, Son Board?” Piero confirmed, a knowing tone lacing his words
“Ena.” The infant spoke in a serious tone.
“Well! You heard the boy!” Piero laughed, backing up to his original position, he laughed wickedly at Ena and the infant.
With a snap of fingers, a sense of weightlessness overcame the both of them as they dropped through the floor. The last thing Ena heard was Piero’s taunting call.
“Have a fun trip!”
— — —
Ena laid face down on the ground, the coarse dirt feeling like sandpaper against her skin. She tried using a red hand to push herself off the ground, but all strength had left her. She coughed, a red viscous fluid spattering in front of her.
“Help–” she managed to bite out, just barely a whisper. “ –Help me”
She turned her head as far as she could, taking in the sight of the bodies scattered around her, blood seeping from the holes in their heads.
Everything hurt so much. Her hand scraped along the ground until it reached her face, she blindly felt around, until she found the hole. The hole in her head. Her face. Her eye. The shot that should have killed her.
“Someone..” She forced out, her voice leaving her. A creak of the wood nearby made her jolt. She fought to lift her head toward the sound, where she crouched over the body of her fellow soldier. She faced away from Ena, gun still to the head of the dead soldier though it didn’t move. She killed them all. Killed Marla. Tried to kill her. She faced away from Ena, and Ena felt nothing but hatred . How could she do this to them? To her family? To her? After everything they’d been through?
“I’m gonna fuckin– kill you” Ena bit out in a soundless growl, but It fell on deaf ears, and the woman stood, slinging her weapon over her shoulder and wordlessly heading to the door, voices distantly shouting something beyond it. She opened it and the light flooded into the room, illuminating the massacre. Ena closed her eyes and clenched her red fist as the woman left, one last thought in her mind as her furrowed brows relaxed in unconsciousness.
“I’ll kill you and everyone you come to love,
if you even fucking can .”
"I walk beside the still waters
and they restore my soul
but I can't walk on the path of the right,
because I'm Wrong"
Notes:
"DAMN IT!!! SHUT UP!!! YOU KNOW- I DON"T EVEN BELIEVE ANYTHING, BUT YOU'RE BLEEDING OUT SOME REAL BULLSHIT HERE!!! YOU'RE A FLUKE!!!"
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This was very fun!! It would have been longer but it was already just past 4,000 words. Before I started this I said to myself- I hope to make it hit at least 10,000 words! Little did I know, it would only take like, 2-ish chapters. I was gonna include a part where Froggy and the rest of the lads from the casino saw Ena on TV, but it was cut for time, maybe it'll make it into the next chapter!!
.
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.Lyrics are from "Through the Valley". Specifically, the Ashley Johnson version.
also- poor Mandonk, he may have HEE'd his last HAW.
and, sorry in advance, the name 'Son Board' as an actual name wont be sticking around too long- I *did* pick out a name, but I figured it could wait till next chapter, mwahahaa.
I have three finals due Sunday, which I have not really started any of. so. oops? I'll try to have the next chapter out ASAP! it'll probably get worked on a bit every day.
this is already one of the longest stories I've ever written. As stated before I haven't really written like this in a long time, when I was younger I used to have to fight myself to make a chapter be over 1,000 words and with this I'm easily hitting minimums of 3,000 and upwards of almost 5,000 a chapter
I'm thinking of porting the playlist I've made for this story so far to you tube for others to listen to as well, would anyone be interested?
Chapter 3: IT'S A LOVELY DAY TOMORROW
Summary:
LAST TIME ON MUSHI NO ONNA...
...“Can we talk?” she asked, her grin falling and her tone becoming more serious, something almost like sympathy in her eyes....
...“Goodbye. Ena.” he giggled deviously. “And, Good luck. With your. Friend.”...
...“Have a fun trip!”...
...“I’ll kill you and everyone you come to love, if you even fucking can.”....
(CW: Manipulation, Grooming in a Military Setting, General Distress, Both Graphic and Non Graphic depictions of death/wounds, Child in Distress)
Notes:
"I'm unsure how much truth this has...but it appears...all of this has something to do with the concept of-"
(In Cousin Kyle voice) I"M BACKKKKKKK
HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!!! I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG, in true fanfic author fashion a bunch of stuff happened between the last chapter and this one- I sat down tonight and said 'look, I've got to work on it just a little bit, at least get STARTED! I'll just write around 1,000 words and call it a night and work on it more tomorrow" but NOPE here we are 3,000 words later, the spirit of angst has possessed me for this one.
let me tell you, this chapter- "It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow" aka the flashback episode, aka the hurt-no-comfort-never-comfort episode- is really something. I was genuinely nervous to post it, because from my own writing experiences that big portions of a story like this that largely involve things non-canon to the source material are sometimes a hard read for readers looking for content of the original source material- and I get it, I really do, I just hope you'll bear with me, because I think this chapter is very important to the story, if not the MOST important chapter.
title and lyrics are from "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow" by Vera Lynn, you should DEFINETLY give it a listen after reading this, not before, it will hit different- trust me!
(I wrote all of this while not wearing my glasses, so really we should all just be happy the words are actual words and not just letters)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“It’s a lovely day tomorrow
Tomorrow is a lovely day
Come and feast your tear dimmed eyes
On tomorrow’s clear blue skies.”
— — —
“Okay, Okay, line up ladies,” Their commander barked at them. “As you may remember, we recently lost Sergeant Vice on the field. In light of this loss-”
Ena hated having to listen to her, her eyes drifting to the side toward a woman further down the line, tall with dark red hair and a rectangular face, and smiled slightly. It had been a terrible day when Marla was drafted. Ena enlisted the very next. She didn’t care where she was placed—only hoping that she might end up close. But by the time Ena was assigned to the 604th, Marla had already been there three weeks. And those three weeks had changed her.
At a sharp whistle, Ena’s attention was drawn back to The Commander and a newly present woman next to her, with shoulder length hair and a sharp smile, dressed similarly to the rest of them minus a different ranking patch.
“I hope you’ll respect your new Sergeant just as much as you did Sergeant vice.” The Commander grinned something wicked, something knowing. Ena looked from The Commander to the new Sergeant- who’d been staring directly at Ena. Ena stiffened, straightening up immediately. The Sergeant crossed her arms and approached Ena, that grin not leaving her face.
“What’s your name, Private?” the Sergeant asked, her voice like sandpaper.
“Ena, ma’am,” she replied stiffly.
“Who?” The tone shifted—sharper now.
“I said it’s—”
A sudden shove to the chest cut her off. Ena stumbled back.
“I’m sorry— are we friends? I asked you WHO YOU ARE!” the Sergeant barked.
“…Private Ena,” she spat back, scowling now.
“Private Ena?” The sergeant was grinning again.
She let out an approving hum, before her face turned serious again and she marched back to where she’d been initially by The Commander.
“Well, Private Ena, I’m gonna need you and all your little friends here to DROP AND GIVE ME 50! ”
As all of Ena’s fellow soldiers dropped down, while groaning complaints and giving Ena dirty looks, she knew she hated this Bitch already.
— — —
“Stop it. Ena– Ena stop it!” the young man below her cried out, but Ena did not stop.
BANG
The gun smoked as Ena lowered it, silent,
“Good, Ena. you’re doing very well.” A reassuring voice crooned from near her, approaching softly and placing a hand on her shoulder, the other gently removing the weapon from Ena’s stiff, overworked hands. Ena swallowed thickly as the others behind her, with their stark coats and tough frowns, watched as she’d killed another, and another. And another.
“You’ll do just fine, Ena.” The voice cooed, patting her on the back.
“You have to.”
— — —
It was thundering, and coming down hard.
The Sergeant's eyes never left her. Always watching. Always judging. Her newest flavor of annoyance was dragging her away from Marla at every chance she got. If Ena so much as even glanced at her love, The Sergeant would snarl at her to pay attention, sometimes even yanking her away. Ena had finally had enough of it. Late in the night, soaked in the rain she’d approached The Sergeants tent, gun in hand.
“Come in, Private Ena.” The Sergeants voice called out, just as Ena had been trying to sneak a hand toward the door.
Ena tensed, ceasing all movement. Perhaps if she’d stayed still long enough The Sergeant would forget she was there? Or think it was just the storm?
“ I said come in, Private Ena.” her voice broke through the quiet, sounding like it came from between clenched teeth. Ena swallowed, and swished the tent door-cover to the side, entering and letting it drop closed behind her. The Sergeant was facing away from her. The gun in Ena’s red hand suddenly felt heavier.
“I take it this is no ordinary visit, is it Private Ena?” The Sergeant hummed, turning to face her.
“You keep trying to take her away from me.” Ena snarled out.
“Private Marla, I assume you’re talking about?” The Sergeant clarified, eyes unsubtly drifting to the Nambu in her hand.
“This is not a place for love, Private Ena. you should know that. This is war.”
“ STOP calling me that, it’s just Ena.” Ena shouted, pointing the gun at The Sergeant who frowned, raising her white and red hands in an act of surrender.
“Okay. Ena.” The Sergeant nodded. “I get it. I really do.”
“No you fucking don’t, you could never.” Ena growled, jabbing the gun toward her as thunder crackled outside.
“Do you know why they moved me here, Ena?” The Sergeant frowned.
“I don’t care.” Ena hissed.
“They moved me here because my platoon was killed. All of them. The 503rd.” The Sergeant scowled. “I cared for them. I really did. Loved them like family…and it was a mistake.”
Ena lowered the gun slightly.
“How did they die?” Ena asked softly, yet not kindly. She couldn’t imagine losing Marla, it would kill her. The Sergeant remained tight-lipped, and didn’t answer, though something on her face let it be known there was something important left unsaid.
“You’ll learn, Ena. Love doesn’t survive war, Not unless it turns into something else.
Ena ended up back in her own tent that night. She laid beside Marla, but she didn’t sleep.
The Sergeant lived to see the next morning as the storm slowly cleared.
— — —
“I want to go outside.” Ena said softly, staring out a window into the lush green forest from the pale, sterile room. She pressed the red half of her face against the cool glass.
“You can’t Ena. Don’t be stupid. You aren’t ready yet. You need to be prepared to kill The Severed, they’re going to kill all of us if you don’t. You don’t want them to do that, do you Ena?” The voice taunted in a soothing tone over the speaker.
“ No. I don’t want them to do that.” Ena said just above a whisper, vulnerable and sad. She placed a red hand against the window longingly.
“That’s good Ena. Just a bit more training and you’ll be placed with your first platoon. You remember what I told you, yes?” the voice said tenderly. Ena nodded, though none of it sat right with her.
“Yes.” Ena whispered, before leaving the room.
This was not going to end well.
— — —
Ena hated to say that she had begun to almost like The Sergeant. A few days after her confrontation, The Sergeant approached her while she was in the shooting range, Marla was on patrol which unfortunately for her platoon mates left Ena to her own angst filled devices.
“ You need to think more before you pull the trigger, it’s a waste of bullets if you’re just going to come in here and shoot at the walls ” The Sergeant scolded, but there was no malice in it. She approached, using her own hands to guide Ena’s red-and-blue ones into the correct positions, and using her feet to nudge Ena’s into a more grounded and centered form.
“If you keep shooting like that, you’re gonna break an arm. That’s dangerous, you know we don’t have much medical equipment in the field-”
“Why are you helping me?” Ena snapped at her, bearing her teeth angrily. She hated the way The Sergeants touch steadied her, it made her feel seen. And worse, it made her feel like a soldier.
The Sergeant frowned and looked at her with something like defeat.
“You’ll need to learn, especially if you plan to protect Private Marla.”
— — —
The man with the voice and too-big teeth patted her back as another man she didn’t recognize handed her a rifle, one unfamiliar and too heavy for her hands.
“You’re ready Ena. I just know it.” The voice offered kindly, ushering her toward the convoy. “I’m sending you to your first platoon, remember what I said? Big happy family, Ena. Just like I promised.”
Ena nodded, her face set in stone cold seriousness.
“Yes sir. I won’t let you down sir.” Ena rattled off coldly.
“You’ll make wonderful soldiers out of them Ena, I believe in you. You can’t mess this up, all of our fates depend on you. ” The Voice gripped her shoulder tightly.
“I won’t mess it up, sir.” Ena nodded as she sat in the back, The voice closing the door and watching as she was driven off.
She messed it up,
— — —
“Sergeant?” Ena called out into the munitions building. The Sergeant had been staring out the window, hand pressed against it as she stared into the foliage. She turned quickly, like a child with their hand caught in the cookie jar.
“Yes, Ena?” She spoke softly. Ena closed the door behind her and locked it, fists gripped tightly as she looked up at the concerned face of The Sergeant.
“...Is everything in order?” The Sergeant tilted her head arms behind her back. Ena, in a stark moment of change let out a cry and wrapped her red-and-blue arms around The Sergeants middle, who threw her white-and-red arms up in confusion at the weeping Ena stuck to her middle, startled and frozen by the softness of it.
“Marla is mad at me. I don’t know what to do.” Ena sobbed. “What will I do without her? I can’t live without her!”
The Sergeant, after a moment, wrapped her arms around Ena and patted her back.
“ I don’t think Private Marla could be *that* mad at you.” The Sergeant tried to reassure the dual colored woman. “ What could even have caused something like this?”
“I just wanted to talk about what we’d do after the war– after all of this– and she yelled at me and ran off. I just DON’T get it. Doesn’t she understand that this is going to end one day? That we’ll get to go home?” Ena bawled, frustrated. Above her, The Sergeant grimaced at her words.
“ Not everyone is going to get to go home, Ena. Sometimes it’s stressful to think about getting home when you don’t know for certain if you will.”
“But we will? Right?” Ena looked up at the Sergeant, desperately. “Marla, you, and me?”
The sergeant brushed a piece of hair from Ena’s face.
“Yes.” The Sergeant promised.
“Yes, Ena. We’ll get to go home.” The Sergeant promised, though she knew that promise would break.
Ena looked relieved, a shuttering breath leaving her.
“Why don’t you let Marla cool off for a bit, talk to her first thing after patrol tomorrow, okay?” The Sergeant offered, Ena nodded silently, pulling from her and wiping at her tears. The sergeant patted her back, ushering her to compose herself before going back out into camp.
“Heal, Heal, Ena. Everything will sort itself out.”
— — —
“You fucked it up Ena. You didn’t make good soldiers, and now you have to fix it.” the voice rattled from the field-telephone, leaving Ena to flinch at the tone, gone was the syrup-slick kindness of yesterdays.
“What…What do you want me to do, sir?” Ena asked softly, quietly as to not alert her platoon, her family, no less than a hundred feet away.
“Kill them, Ena. You messed everything up. We have to start over now because of you. It's all your fault.” The voice screamed at her, as she slowly turned to look back at her platoon, talking and laughing with each other. She didn’t want to do it. She loved them. Tears welled in her eyes, all of the air leaving her lungs as she cried into the phone, words fighting to make their way out.
“H..How? How do you want me to do it sir?” She sobbed, covering her mouth to not alert her friends. Her family.
“You know what to do, Ena. I’ll send a truck to pick you up tomorrow and collect the bodies.” The Voice came coldly, disappointed, Ena wasn’t sure what hurt worse.
“Yes sir.” she whispered out as the line went dead.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Three weeks of rigorous training later, and Ena was back on the road. She’d been appointed to a new platoon, though it was different this time. She’d arrived early in the morning and shook The Commander's hand, getting a tour long before the privates would be woken up. The Commander was mid lecture on their strict scheduling when her field telephone neatly on the side of her desk began to ring. The sound made Ena nervous, now. After a few moments of respectful acknowledgments, The Commander handed the phone toward Ena, who took it and placed it to her ear.
“Private Ena.” She answered flatly.
“That’s Sergeant Ena now isn’t it?” A familiar honey-toned voice crooned. “Tell me, are you settling in well?”
“Yes, sir.” Ena rattled off coldly, more out of necessity than want.
“Goodluck, Sergeant Ena. We’re all counting on you.” The Voice spoke, the grin could be heard a hundred miles away through the phone as the line went dead. Ena clinically handed the phone back to The Commander, who soon ushered her outside and down the hill to a group of waiting soldiers.
“Okay, Okay, line up ladies,” Their commander barked at them. “As you may remember, we recently lost Sergeant Vice on the field. In light of this loss, a new Sergeant has been instated for your platoon. Be pleased to meet Sergeant Ena.”
Ena stood next to the Commander, her eyes wandering amongst the soldiers as her hands rested behind her back. Her eyes landed on a lone woman, who was clearly distracted by a platoon member further down the line. The Commander, noticing this, let out a sharp whistle to regain the group's attention.
“I hope you’ll respect your new Sergeant just as much as you did Sergeant vice.” The Commander grinned something wicked, something knowing, her eyes flickering to Sergeant Ena who crossed her arms and approached the distracted woman.
“What’s your name, Private?” Sergeant Ena inquired, already sensing a troublemaker.
“Ena, ma’am,” The soldier responded defiantly
“Who?” Sergeant Ena’s tone shifted, more intense. She needed her to know she was serious. She had to be. She had to make good soldiers.
“I said it’s—” The young Ena started, getting into Sergeant Ena’s face, who instinctively shoved her back, more out of reflex than aggression.
“I’m sorry— are we friends? I asked you WHO YOU ARE!” Ena barked at the younger, trying to not let the stress seep into her voice.
“…Private Ena,” she spat back, scowling now.
“Private Ena?” Sergeant Ena spoke, relief flooding her voice, she knew the young woman wouldn’t understand. Of course she wouldn’t. She had no idea what happened to Ena’s in this war.
She let out an approving hum, before her face turned serious again and she marched back to where she’d been initially by The Commander.
“Well, Private Ena, I’m gonna need you and all your little friends here to DROP AND GIVE ME 50! ”
Ena didn’t enjoy all of their complaints and targeted looks toward Private Ena, but she wasn’t there to enjoy what she was doing. She hated how much the younger Ena reminded her of herself.
She had to make them good soldiers.
She had to make them good soldiers, so she wouldn’t have to hurt them.
All of their lives depended on her.
— — —
They were under enemy fire. It was just supposed to be a routine patrol, and now they were under enemy fire.
They were under enemy fire from The Severed, and Marla was shot. Ena carried her fifty yard to where The Sergeant was peeking over cover, eye to a scope and firing at the enemy.
“Ena!” she cried out to the sergeant “Please. Please help me. Please help her!” Marla groaned in pain in her arms, bleeding viciously. The sergeant whipped back, slinging her rifle over her shoulder and scootched toward them.
“Ena you have to help me, you have to help me help her!” Ena whispered to The Sergeant desperately. Ena watched The Sergeant pat her down, before lifting her uniform and jamming her fingers into the bullet wound in Marla's abdomen, Marla, who cried out in pain, leading Ena to place a hand over her mouth to quiet her, less they be heard by the enemy as they both thrashed around in wet, messy, earth.
“You’re hurting her!” Ena cried out
“ Better hurting than dead! Shut up!” The Sergeant shouted, panic seeping into her voice. Ena grew more and more devastated as the expression The Sergeant's face grew more and more cold and desolate, as she dug around the hole. She went silent and removed her hand gently, gritting her teeth as she brushed the hair out of a terrified looking and pain-ridden Marla’s face.
“Ena? Why aren’t you doing anything? Save her!” Ena cried out, tears streaming down her face and dropping onto the woman below, mixing with deep red blood. “I Love her, Ena. You have to do something!” Ena begged, sobbing loudly, wishing The Sergeant would say something, anything, to reassure her. Why wasn’t she saying anything? The sergeant's eyes became distant, looking at Marla before coldly meeting Ena’s.
“Ena? Ena watched as The Sergeant's hand quickly drifted to her holster, unfastening her handgun, and a sickening realization overcame the Red and Blue woman.
“Ena- Stop it-” Ena desperately tried to scoot away from her seated position, dragging a suffering Marla with her as The Sergeant pointed her handgun at the love of Ena’s life.
“ENA! NO! WE HAVE TO-”
BANG!
— — —
“Ena?
.
.
.
“Ena!”
.
.
.
“Ena- Mama- Please!” A small voice squeaked distantly, echoing through Ena’s throbbing head and the deep void-space they inhabited. She grunted, forcing herself to sit up, and pulling her form out of an organic shape and burying her face in glowing-orange hands.
“ Ugh. There’s too many bodies. ” she grumbled out, pain ripping through her head, leaving her to cry out. Small hands jumped at the sound before tiny arms wrapped around her middle, leaving her frozen in shock at the softness.
“Please mama, I’m scared!” The tiny voice cried out, that Ena did not recognize.
Through jolts of pain like lightning bolts in her eyes, she peeled them open and looked down at the small boy in red that was in her lap, looking up at her with frightened eyes. He looked around 10, with a familiar face and short brown hair and striking red clothes, there was something in his tear-rimmed eyes. Something she knew, even if she couldn’t remember why.
“ Wha…What? Who?” Ena shot up, suddenly remembering she was supposed to have an infant with her.
“Baby- where’s the- ” She deliriously cried out, unable to think straight. The boy in red backed away from her and deeper into the void as she stood on unsteady feet. “ Where’s the baby? Where’s my- ” she abruptly covered her mouth to stop herself from throwing up.
“ It’s so loud. ” She groaned out, falling back down to her knees and resting her head against the cool feeling ground.
“ I’m not…doing what they say I'm doing. I’m not doing anything at all! I didn’t want to do any of it!” Ena sobbed out violently, gripping at her hair in distress.
“Please Mama, it’s okay. I promise it’s okay mama- I’m sorry” The boy cried out, trying to pry Ena’s hands from her hair, yet they were too small to do much.
“I’m sorry, Mama Ena. I was just trying to help.” The young boy whispered out through his own tears.
At the sound of something approaching he looked up, and gasped as a little cartoonish skull rolled toward him, stopping just a few feet away from the lightly convulsing and rambling Ena.
something– no, someone coughing in the distance.
“She can’t hear you right now, young one.
But the other one can.
Be careful with how you proceed.”
—---
“If today your heart is weary,
If ev’ry little thing looks gray
Just forget your troubles and learn to say
Tomorrow, is a lovely day”
Notes:
"-FUN! May I see it, please?"
Edit: I noticed there was a burst more confusion than intended, so I tweaked s few things to make it more clear whose who- sorry!
perspective is a hell of a thing- isn't it?
between the last chapter and this chapter, I've been rewatching Power Of Potluck over and over, and I think some of it definitely leeched into this- sorry not sorry!
you'll be please to know I passed all my finals!! they kicked my ass though, especially my 2D animation one, I slammed the whole thing out in one night and then proceeded to be burned out for several weeks after. What can I say, the grind goes crazy.
you may have noticed that it says 3/5 chapters now...well...I plan to have the next chapter be the big-big, then the next one be the resolution/epilogue, I have the titles picked out for the next two chapters already- and I see no reason why I can't tease you with it!! but only kind of-
The Title of the next chapter is "For The Last Time" - scary, huh!? the title of the last chapter? you'll just have to wait.
I hope you all know I read all of your comments, they help me when I need to go "Oh fuck!" and fix something. shout out to Bangoose, who guessed the big twist before I meant for it to be know so I had to go "oh fuck!" and make it harder to realize, so if any of you original readers notice some slight changes in the first chapter that's why- no harm no foul, the whole thing made me laugh and go "shit, maybe I'm not as subtle as I thought..."
double mention of Bangoose who made a comment about the hurt no comfort tag, this chapter is for you buddy- the relevance is here and I hope it hurts!!!(in a good way!!!)
another big shout real quick to FinleytheFiddle, whose story was one of the original bases for this one- thank you for all your continued support!!
(In Other mother from Coraline voice) here's a fun little bonus game, I'll shout out in the next chapter the first person to correctly guess who the voice at the end of this chapter is! Happy guessing! Thank you all!!
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