Archive of Our Own

They both arrived at the same time, from different directions, so it was a surprise when Filicia stepped off the train to see another girl in an Army uniform.

"I didn't know there'd be two of us," she said. The other girl—a raven-haired beauty, thought the part of Filicia's mind that had still been reading the romance novel she'd been given for the train—turned her head away sharply.

"They sent me here," she said, which wasn't much of an explanation because they'd sent Filicia here, too.

It wasn't like anyone chose to come to Seize. Filicia knew why she was here. It was because she was crazy. The last thing any tank crew needed was a loader who saw dead people. Heard dead people.

"Hello, new girls." Filicia looked up. There was an older girl with red hair by a battered old motorbike. "Today's my lucky day—two for the price of one."

The dark-haired girl grunted, but Filicia saluted.

"Corporal Filicia Heideman, reporting to the 1121st Platoon."

The other girl, who reminded Filicia of Anna, saluted back. "Sergeant Major Yukari Blumstein. Welcome to Seize, Filicia." She reached out and took Filicia's hand in both of hers. "We don't really use ranks here. Please call me Yukari."

Filicia smiled. For the first time in a long time, since before Vingt-et-Un, she felt good. Well, maybe not good, exactly, but better.

Yukari turned her attention on the other girl. "So, you must be the Princess. Private Rio Kazumiya Arkadia."

Princess? Filicia turned sharply. She did look like Iliya!

The girl's glare got sharper. "Just Rio Kazumiya. I don't use my father's name or title."

Yukari seemed to take all this in stride. "Okay, then." She folded up the paper in her hand and tucked it into her breast pocket, then turned to reach into the sidecar, taking out two helmets. "These are for you. Safety first."

Filicia watched the princess as she buckled her helmet into place. She wondered if it was appropriate to approach her and offer her condolences. She'd been devastated to hear of Princess Illiya's death, almost as though she'd talked to her for more than five minutes. Just hearing that song and seeing that light… it had been the difference between life and death. Filicia felt tears come to her eyes just thinking about it.

The ride to the fortress was somewhat awkward, with Filicia practically sitting in the princess's lap in the tiny sidecar.

"I'm sorry, er, Your Highness."

"Rio," she corrected her. "Rio is fine."

"I'm sorry." Filicia felt herself flush. It didn't seem right to say "I'm sorry" again about Illiya, so she stayed quiet.

And then, when they arrived, there were the other two members of the platoon to meet—Irène André, the tall, calm lieutenant, and the tank's gunner, Hilde Suzuhara.

Being with these girls reminded Filicia of the good times with her old platoon and she tried not to let the memories overtake her. She had to push the dead back or she wouldn't be able to live.

It almost felt like betraying her friends, to like this new platoon, but the kitchen was warm and the calvados soon made her sleepy. Through the haze, however, she noticed that Rio never said a word.

**

"All right," Irène said one morning a few days later. "Today's the day. We have to pick the Flame Maiden."

Rio froze. The Flame Maiden? Like from the story?

Yukari buried her head in her hands. "Gods, please don't make it me again. Just because I have red hair—"

"Maybe it should be one of the new girls." Hilde had a devious smirk on her face.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Filicia's body went rigid. The others didn't seem to notice, but Rio watched as she tried to pick up her cup of tea, rattling it against the saucer.

"Hmm," Irène said. "Filicia's cute."

Tea sloshed out onto the table. "I'm sorry!"

"Why don't you just do it by lottery?" Rio said quickly.

Filicia visibly relaxed and used her napkin to mop up the spill. The other three jumped on that idea happily, talking about what kind of lottery they'd use.

On the way out of the great room, Filicia caught her eye and gave her a grateful smile. Despite herself, Rio smiled back.

**

Filicia didn't go to the festival. She didn't like the idea of the crowd, or the story, or any part of it. In fact, she rather liked the idea of having the Fortress to herself. It would give her a chance to explore, something she wanted to do when she had plenty of daylight and plenty of time.

She started out in the main part of the Fortress, where they all had their rooms. It was only a very small part of the structure and Filicia could tell it was old, even though it was obviously lovingly maintained. She didn't go in the other girls' rooms, but she did go upstairs to the briefing room. It was really a lovely room—bright and sunny and she paused in the window, surveying the grounds.

The other buildings looked much older, or at least, in worse repair. Did she want to go over there? At least it was daylight and there was no one else here. This was probably the best time to go exploring.

She left the barracks and crossed the courtyard. The door opened surprisingly easily without so much as a squeak, which surprised her. The inside was dark, though, and the windows grimy. She moved cautiously, unsure what she was afraid of. More ghosts? It didn't look like this was a place that had seen many soldiers.

She walked past the block of lockers (why were they so small?) and up the stairs. She had expected them to be unsteady, but they felt steady under her feet.

The staircase opened onto a long hallway lined with doors. Filicia slid one open and stuck her head inside. Lots of desks all facing the front of the room. What had this been used for?

She stepped inside, running her hand over one of the desks in the back row. The dust was inches thick, but she could see there were some ideograms carved on the surface. She was about to lean in closer to look at them when she heard a crash from the other end of the hallway.

Filicia screamed and dropped into a crouch, clutching her head. What was that? Before she could even begin to ease her breathing, she heard running footsteps.

"Filicia?" Someone slid the door at the front of the room open and pounded inside. Filicia looked up.

"Rio?"

"Are you all right?"

Filicia stood shakily, bracing herself on the desk. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Rio looked skeptical, but there was concern in her eyes.

"Yes," Filicia said. That was when she noticed what Rio was holding. "What is that?"

It looked like a trumpet, but circular.

"Oh, this?" Rio's face lit up. "I found it in one of the music classrooms."

"Music classrooms?"

Rio was looking at her like she was stupid. "Of course. This used to be a school."

"A school." Filicia looked at the room again, taking it in anew. "It was a school."

Rio brandished her new instrument proudly. "I don't know what this is, but I think I can play it."

Filicia knew Rio could play the bugle—she was the communications officer, after all—but she hadn't thought about how that might transition to other instruments. "Is it similar to a bugle?"

Rio turned it over in her hands, examining it. "It might be." She raised it to her lips and blew.

The screeching sound made them both cringe.

"I'll have to clean it," Rio said. She looked over her shoulder. "Were you exploring?"

"A little."

"I was going to look in the warehouse next," Rio said. "Do you want to come with me?"

**

The skies looked darker as the exited the school building and they were halfway across the courtyard when the sky opened up. They were both soaked by the time they reached the large building and Filicia saw immediately this wouldn't make the best rain shelter.

Rio seemed to have noticed this, too.

"Come on," she said briskly, striding across the floor, her hair streaming out behind her. Filicia suddenly decided she wanted to let her hair grow out. She followed Rio over to a patch of floor that was shielded by a large platform that could have been some kind of stage and together, they slid under it.

Neither of them spoke for a while. Finally, Filicia said, "Why didn't you go to the festival?"

Rio shrugged. "I had better things to do. What about you?"

"The crowds." Filicia ducked her head, suddenly embarrassed in contrast to Rio's aloofness. "The noise."

Rio leaned back against one of the pillars. "I can't blame you for that."

There was a clap of thunder and Filicia cringed again. She had always hated thunder before the war—Vingt-et-Un had made it worse.

"Filicia?"

She looked up, hearing Rio say her name. "I'll be all right." There was another rumble of thunder and Filicia drew her knees up to her chest.

Rio looked nervous. That was the way everyone looked around Filicia when this happened. Rio bolted to her feet and suddenly Filicia thought she would leave.

"No—"

"Hang on." Rio darted across the floor of the warehouse over to the body of the tank. Filicia hadn't noticed it before. It looked nothing like the ones she was used to.

There was another flash of lightning and this sent Filicia out from under the platform, over to the tank. She'd rather get wet and not be by herself.

"Rio?"

**

Inside the tank, Rio scowled at the controls. It had to be like the other one. They looked exactly the same. She flipped a switch and the display lit up. Rio couldn't stop herself from grinning. She pressed the button.

The music that filled the room sent a wave of comfort over Rio. She wasn't sure she'd ever wanted to hear that song again, but something had just felt right about playing it for the girl, who seemed so lost. That was what Iliya would do.

Rio climbed out of the tank and perched on the edge of the turret. Filicia was looking up at her, eyes wide.

"That song…"

"You can hardly hear the thunder now, right?"

"How do you know it?" Slowly, realization dawned on her face. "Your sister!"

Rio jerked back, startled. "How do you know it?"

Filicia didn’t answer, caught up in the music as it swelled. Finally, she said, "She found me with it."

"Found you?" Suddenly, all the pieces fell together in Rio's mind. "When she was doing search and rescue… Vingt-et-Un…"

Filicia nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry."

Filicia nodded. The storm seemed to be letting up now and she seemed more relaxed. "I was sorry to hear about your sister."

Rio slid down from the tank. "It was just like her. Running off to help someone with no thought of how much trouble she'd cause for others."

"I think that sounds admirable."

Rio smirked. "You would."

Filicia beamed, a genuine smile that made Rio feel warm inside. Maybe it wasn't so bad here after all.

**

Time seemed to pass alternately very fast and very slowly at the Fortress. Perhaps it was the name, Filicia thought, but one summer day, she realized she'd been there three years.

She found Rio early one morning on the ramparts, right after she'd sounded reveille.

"It's going to be a beautiful day."

The breeze lifted Rio's hair. "It's going to be hot."

Filicia leaned back against the wall and gazed up at the sky. "I like the heat."

Rio nodded, looking far away. "I hear Yukari is leaving."

"She is?" Filicia suddenly felt nervous. "But then… it'll just be us…"

Rio examined her bugle as if she'd never seen it before. "They're sending two new girls."

"Ahh." Filicia clapped her hands together. "Just like us!"

Rio smirked. "I guess."

"Do you remember that, Rio?" Filicia turned to look at her. "The day we came?"

"How could I forget?"

"I'm glad meeting me left such an impression on you."

Rio's lips were twitching. Filicia smiled. She'd get a laugh out of her before she was through. "I can't imagine the platoon without Yukari."

Rio nodded. "I guess one of us will be the most senior when the new girls come…"

Filicia smirked. "Rio, do you want to be the commander?"

Rio went scarlet. "No!"

"Are you sure?"

Rio still looked flustered. "You know I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"I think that's a shame." Filicia tossed her hair back. "I think you would make a great commander."

"Who have you ever seen me command?"

"We had Rosa before she left."

"And no more juniors after I scared her away."

Filicia gigged. "Oh, Rio. You could be a wonderful mentor."

"That's you, Filicia. Not me."

"I think that will change." Filicia leaned against the railing. "When you see girls looking up to you…"

Rio sniffed. "I already told you. They wouldn't look up to me."

"And I tell you I think you're wrong." Filicia smiled and turned on her heel. "I'm going to talk to Yukari."

Rio leaned on the railing. "Tell her to make you the officer!"

Filicia just laughed.

**

Rio didn't really know what to do with them when they came. The day of their arrival, Claus brought them to the Fortress. Rio stayed back while Filicia welcomed them. It seemed wrong having Yukari gone and she just wasn't sure how to relate to these girls.

They both looked nervous—Rio wasn't sure how she'd looked when she'd first arrived, but she remembered the looks the others had given her when she'd arrived, like she was an animal in a cage, and looked away.

Filicia's welcome was warm enough for both of them, she figured. It had always amazed her how Filicia could do this, simply take any new development in stride and move forward, doing what had to be done.

She's compartmentalizing, the voice in Rio's head said. It doesn't mean she's better at dealing with it.

**

"Today was a nice day," Filicia said, as she came into the commander's office. She didn’t seem surprised to see Rio already there. "I like these girls."

Rio leaned back in her chair. "We'll see."

Filicia lowered the towel she'd been using to dry her hair. "You know, Noel was working in the labs at Vingt."

Rio's chair legs hit the floor. "You're kidding."

Filicia shook her head. Rio had never seen her expression this grave. "And Kureha is perfectly innocent…" She sighed and sat down behind the desk—her desk now. Rio was suddenly glad it wasn't her sitting behind it. "I'm sure Noel has seen awful things." Her gaze was a million miles away and Rio tensed. Filicia had never talked much about what she'd gone through and Rio had never wanted to pry.

"We'll watch out for them," she said suddenly. "Our girls."

"Just like you watched out for me?" Filicia smiled. "Are you going to introduce them to Takemikazuchi?"

Rio's first instinct was to laugh, but that didn't sound like such a bad idea. "Maybe so."

"I have confidence in you, Rio." Filicia was suddenly serious. "Don't be afraid of them. They'll need you."

Rio didn't like the feeling of responsibility—it reminded her too much of what she'd come to Seize to escape. It wasn't that she didn't want to be responsible for anything—there was just so much pressure…

Filicia was still smiling in her disarming way and Rio could feel herself getting flustered. Why did she let her do that to her?

"Maybe," Rio allowed. "I'll think of something."

Filicia smiled again, that faraway look, but this one was lighter. "We can do some good here, can't we?"

Rio smiled. "I think maybe we can."