FicWad

Botta returned to the ranch's control room with his team, having completed their plundering of the Exsphere stockpiles. "Any trouble?" he asked the leader of the other team, which had been left behind to monitor the base.

"A little, sir, but we took care of them," the man nodded to a pile of several bodies in the corner, "Just a patrol. We'll be long gone before anyone notices they're missing."

Botta froze upon seeing the bodies. It...it couldn't be... He ran over to them, lifting the corpse on top to better see the one beneath it, a young woman whose helmet had fallen off, revealing strong features and long dark hair. He knelt beside her, cradling her head in his hands. "Rosa," he whispered, "...why?"

"...Sir?" one of the soldiers asked uncertainly.

"She was my younger sister," Botta murmured distantly. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence. They'd all heard of this happening, of siblings who ended up on different sides of the same fight. No one liked to think about it; it was too real a fear for most people, that a close friend or family member might end up dead for opposing them.

After a few moments, Botta rose, his expression set, although his eyes still betrayed the depth of his pain. "Let's go," he told them quietly, and both teams obeyed without a word. The silence endured all the way back to the base.

--

That night, there was a knock on the door of Botta's quarters. "Come in," he called without looking up from the files he was working on.

The person entered, and the door slid shut behind them. "Botta?" Lord Yuan's voice asked.

Now Botta did look up, to find his leader standing before him, wearing his usual neutral expression. "Sir!" he said, rising quickly, "I apologize; I didn't realize it was you..."

"Sit down, Botta. And what did I tell you the other day about the usual formalities? It's just the two of us here, you don't need to be 'sir'-ing me right and left."

"Sorry, s- er, Lor- er, Yuan," Botta replied as he sat down again. He still hadn't gotten used to the idea of being friends with the unpredictable man, but what Lord Yuan wanted, Lord Yuan generally got. Speaking of which... "Was there something you wanted, -?" he asked, barely remembering in time to leave out the automatic 'sir' at the end.

"What happened on the mission today?" Lord Yuan asked him.

Botta frowned slightly, "Didn't Jordan give you my report?"

Lord Yuan nodded, "He did, yes. I was wondering what happened today that caused you to send the report via a subordinate, rather than delivering it yourself as usual. I suspect it's probably the same thing that's currently causing you to brood here and be rude to visitors." Despite his dry tone, Lord Yuan's eyes showed a hint of concern for his new second-in-command.

Botta looked away. "It's...personal," he murmured.

"I understand," Lord Yuan replied with a slight nod, "...If you want to talk about it, my door is open." He turned to leave.

Botta looked back at his leader in mild surprise. After another instant's hesitation, he spoke quietly, "A patrol interrupted the team in the control room today, and was killed."

Lord Yuan turned around from where he had been halfway to the door, and returned to stand before the desk. "Your report mentioned that, yes," he replied evenly, "That sort of thing happens occasionally, although we try to avoid it."

Botta sighed, looking down. "One of them was...was my youngest sister," he whispered, a single tear tracing its way down his face despite his best efforts. He'd hardly allowed himself to think of it before now...the child he'd practically raised, whose smile had lit up days darkened by their father's uncaring harshness...now lay dead, buried in a pile of her comrades in the enemy base. They'd lost touch once the siblings had separated, going their own ways as soon as they could all escape that house and survive on their own. He wondered what had happened to little Rosa in the time since then, appalled at the fact that he simply had no idea.

Lord Yuan was silent for a long moment. "...I'm sorry," he said finally, and Botta looked up in surprise at the genuine apology in his tone. The blunette's emerald gaze was distant, his expression troubled. He sighed, "That's always hard, to find someone you care for on the side of your enemies, and worse not to be able to prevent their death. I know that nothing I can say will make this easier for you, but for what it's worth...I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"...Thank you," Botta replied softly, uncertain what else he could say. This was a side of his leader he hadn't seen before.

"Don't," Yuan shook his head with a frown, "It's my fault you were there in the first place, after all...I could have given someone else the mission."

Botta shook his head slowly, "Either way...she would still be dead. I think...I think it would be worse not to know." He sighed, "I wish I had known where she was earlier, that we hadn't lost touch...but even if I had known, I doubt I could have convinced her to change her mind. She was always stubborn." He shook his head, "No, there's nothing that could have been done." He had to believe that, or he'd never escape the guilt.

Yuan nodded sadly. "I'll leave you alone," he said, turning to leave again. He halted a few steps from the door, turning around again briefly, "Oh, and Botta?"

"Yes?" Botta responded.

"Thank you. For being willing to talk to me." Yuan smiled ruefully, a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, and suddenly he changed. It wasn't anything that could really be seen, but somehow, he was a different person to Botta than the man that had entered the room. It was a strange feeling, to see his leader like this, not as a symbol or a hero, not even really as a superior anymore, but just as a person. A person who surely had doubts sometimes, about his chosen path, especially when it caused pain to those he'd taken in and protected...and a person who, in keeping himself as an authority figure to so many, made himself all the more lonesome. It was no wonder he had insisted on an informal relationship with his new second-in-command; everyone else was afraid of him.

Botta nodded at him, "You're welcome...Yuan." For once, the name didn't feel as awkward without the title preceding it.

--

The next day, Botta rose for work reluctantly, still feeling numb after the events of the day before. He stopped in front of his door, seeing a note that had been slipped underneath it. He picked the letter up and read it; printed on it was an official notice from the scheduling department:

'Your application has been approved for a week's leave. Be back at your post within seven days.'

Beneath this, in an elegant scrawl, was another message:

'I know you wouldn't ask for it yourself, but you need it. If I catch you doing any work this week, I'll use you for target practice. Yuan.'

Botta blinked at the messages, smiled faintly at the second, and began planning in his mind how he could use the week to track down his other sisters, to tell them the news and simply to check in with where they were. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice; from now on, he promised himself, he would keep in touch with his remaining family. He just hoped it wasn't too late...