Chapter Text
“Why did you join the Defense Force?”
This was a question that Isolde would be asked many times in her life, be it by her parents, old friends, or even her peers. It makes sense why one would wonder such a thing. Isolde, after all, was always top in her class, and though her family was skeptical once she chose to start military training, she easily surprised them, far exceeding their expectations.
And why she always tried so hard? Well, wouldn’t it be foolish not to yearn for justice in the world? What better place to seek that than in the Eridu Defense Force, where she could protect the weak and give them hope? Especially with the threat of a hollow being able to appear at any moment in front of your doorstep, hope is what the citizens of Eridu need.
So, she worked, worked hard every day for years, until she found herself in the position of a captain in a promising squad of the Defense Force’s Obsidian Division, Agamemnon Squad.
And in that Agamemnon squad, she found her.
...
It was another early morning in Agamemnon Squad’s sleeping quarters, which wasn’t exactly good for the still sleeping Orpheus. A good soldier needs to be up before the sun has come up, and so were all of Agamemnon Squad except for her.
“Orpheus...”
Isolde leaned over the sleeping girl, her bright red hair draped over her rough, thin pillow, her blanket curled into a ball and tossed out of her bed. She did answer her captain, but only in the form of still asleep quiet murmurs from under her breath.
The green haired captain sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose while the other two members of the squad went to check what was going on. It had basically become an event every morning to watch the captain wake Orpheus up after she had missed her alarm.
“Wake up, soldier!”
“Ah! Y-Yes ma’am!”
The spooked red head quickly sat up on her bed, slamming her head against the bed frame bunkered on top of hers. “Uughh!!”
“...You’ll be late for morning assembly if you don't immediately start getting ready. I’m not going to wait for long if you don’t hurry it up... We’re already heading there.”
“Wait, what?? But the sun isn't even up yet, how am I late?!”
“Orpheus...” Isolde had that stern look in her face she only gives to Orpheus when she’s being stubborn, which is often. “I know since you just recently became a soldier you’re not used to the routine... but you better!”
Orpheus knew she couldn’t argue with her captain and just grumpily made her way out of her bed and into the bathroom. Meanwhile, Isolde and the rest of Agamemnon squad started making their way outside.
While waiting for the exact time the assembly should start, Isolde watched her pocket watch while tapping her feet, and once the clock hit exactly 5:30 a.m —
“Huff... huff... I’m not late, am I, Isolde?”
“That’s ‘Captain Isolde’ to you, and no. You’re just in time... barely. Good job. I’m glad that hit you took to the head earlier didn’t make that much of a difference on your brain.”
The redhead glared at Isolde, who smiled in return. This was their relationship. Isolde found pleasure in constantly teasing their newest recruit, who despite just having joined the military, showed more potential than most soldiers in the battlefield. Something about her honest resolve was just so amusing to Isolde.
And she could easily see that during their training. Orpheus always seemed to throw herself at the enemy and slash as hard and fast as she could, with little regard to damage control. At the end of every combat training, despite always winning the combats, she would always have almost as many bruises as her opponent even though she didn’t even get hit.
“Orpheus...”
“It’s... it’s hard! How else am I supposed to attack?”
Isolde sighed. Though the girl’s stubbornness was endearing, it could also be quite annoying at times.
“Meet with me after lunch, next to the barracks.”
Orpheus seemed a little confused, but before she could ask Isolde why the unusual request, her captain had already made herself busy with assisting other members of the Squad with their own training.
Later that day...
Isolde was at a bench placed near the soldiers’ sleeping quarters, which was surrounded by a few other benches. The space was hardly used, just by the occasional slacker and during the infrequent parties the Defense Force would organize after achieving a big goal. She was organizing the med kit she had grabbed, checking if it had everything she thought she’d need, when she heard the sound of footsteps coming her way.
“Why’d you call me all the way out here? If you were gonna reprimand me for being careless then you’d usually do that in front of everyone.”
“Sit down. I am gonna reprimand you for being careless, but also fix up the consequences of your carelessness.”
Orpheus was too curious to say no, so she sat down next to Isolde, who got off her seat and kneeled in front of Orpheus, holding a wet cotton ball up to some scrapes and scratches running along Orpheus’ legs.
The sudden sight of Isolde practically in-between Orpheus’ thighs made the red-haired girl flinch. She had already started to get used to her captain’s unpredictable bold personality, but this took it to a place where it made her imagine her captain in all sorts of ways no soldier should.
“What are you-” She felt her face warming up and had to close her eyes to avoid possibly digging herself a deeper hole filled by her childish embarassment.
“Didn’t I already say? I'm fixing up the consequences of your carelessness. You just throw yourself at the enemy every time you fight, and when you’re done, you’re always this banged up. It wouldn’t be good to have the ‘prodigy soldier’ constantly hurt, would it?”
Orpheus winced, both from the burn of the antiseptic solution on her wounds, and the burn just caused by Isolde’s words. Mix that with that random comment Isolde snuck in there about her appearance, and you've got the recipe for a very flustered Orpheus. “It doesn’t really matter though? Even if I do fall sometimes, I get back up just as quickly, so there’s no loss! And why would I care so much about my appearance? Things like that are trivial to soldiers!”
“Except there is. In the real battlefield, even a fraction of a second is extremely precious. Buuuut I guess since you’re still kind of new here, I’ll just have to protect my prodigy soldier all the time to make sure she doesn't get hurt because she’s too stubborn to admit she’s in the wrong, won’t I?” Isolde winked at the so-called prodigy soldier, making her face even redder. Be it anger or embarrassment, it didn’t matter. If the teasing worked, it worked.
...
And so the days went on, turning into months, then years... They say you never know what’s most precious in your life until you lose it, but Isolde has always known what she holds dearest to her. Which is why, the more time she spent nurturing that feeling, the more she began to understood what it truly meant.
She would catch herself looking at Orpheus more often than not, and it wasn’t just the times she could tease her that she would feel that sense of affection towards Orpheus, it would be any time. Be it when she’s just mindfully taking a stroll around base, probably thinking about fighting and ethereals, when she’s murmuring to herself in her sleep early in the morning, or when she would play the part of the serious soldier during operations. Even though Isolde knew she was so much more than that, she still loved all those parts of her, because they were Orpheus.
Once she had realized that all that teasing and messing with Orpheus had turned into a little more than just affection, be that transition accidental or not, she knew she had to do something. And she was going to do something. It had been too long of them knowing each other, of these feelings developing, for her to just add more time into that pile by hesitating when to tell Orpheus everything. Time was limited in a life, after all, and not keeping any secrets from your fellow soldiers would allow for better synergies.
It was just another day; Orpheus woke up late but just on time to not miss the important parts of Agamemnon’s debriefing on the day’s operation. It would just be the usual hollow area survey, some parts of the Lemnian Hollow that didn’t yet have their data analyzed after the Hollow’s periodical layout change. They were to eliminate any dangerous ethereals from the area and place a data extraction point, that way a specialist could later come down to analyze the data and build new carrot data. Nothing special, they had done this before dozens and dozens of times already.
Isolde didn’t mind that she would confess on such a monotonous day, after all, it was during many days like this that she grew this fondness and love towards Orpheus. It’s the best she could ask for, not to have all the special moments with the one you love, but to live through all the small things with them.
Thus, after the debriefing was done and the soldiers of Agamemnon squad were checking their gear, Isolde approached Orpheus. A determined look, but her heart did waver, even if just a bit. It’d be impossible for it not to, even for Isolde.
“Orpheus.”
“Yes captain?”
Isolde’s mouth curved slightly upward.
“No need for the ‘captain’ this time, don’t worry?”
“Huh? But isn’t that not very soldier-like? You said it yourself! Damnit, and I remembered to use it today and everything...”
Isolde giggled under her palm. She could go for hours just teasing Orpheus again and again like this, but she had something to do.
“It’s because right now I want to talk to you not as just my soldier, but as Orpheus. Is that not okay? Are you gonna disobey your captain’s orders to call her by her name?”
“Now it’s really tempting to call you ‘captain’ just because that's what you don’t want... you should’ve used this strategy from the start,” said Orpheus, giving Isolde her usual glare. Routine banter.
“Don’t be so stubborn now, little soldier...” Isolde stepped closer, holding a hand up to Orpheus’ face, to the other girl’s surprise. Looking deep into her green eyes, hand hovering over her round cheeks before touching one of her pointy ears. She knew just how to turn Orpheus into a mess.
And a mess she was, too stunned to even say anything in retaliation. It’s not that physical contact was off-limits for the two in any way, it’s just that Isolde had never been that direct with the touch. Not just the touch, the feelings behind them, seeping into Orpheus like the heat radiating from Isolde’s body.
So, almost as to give Orpheus a taste of what’s to come, get her to only think of Isolde throughout the rest of the day, she pulled her hand back, not before gently caressing it over Orpheus’ jaw and chin. “After we’re done, meet me by the barracks.”
“Yes ma’am...” That awkward response made Orpheus’ own face bright red, both from embarrassment of sounding so submissive and of anger at herself for mixing up formal and informal speak at such a crucial moment.
Crucial moment it was. Isolde would later regret and loathe that behavior of hers. Always leaving the important parts for later. Always telling Orpheus to meet with her “after we’re done”. Because you can’t really guarantee if the conditions will be the same by then, can you? They’re soldiers. She should’ve known.
Later that day, a hollow appeared in Eridu. The hollow that would be known as “Hollow Zero”. Even years in the future, researchers still can't put their finger on what exactly happened for such a massive hollow to appear so quickly, and it just had to be that day.
Agamemnon Squad was immediately called off their operation once news reached the Defense Force. They were reassigned straight to the front lines, into the depths of the growing Hollow Zero, to reduce the number of casualties as best as they could.
The moment Isolde saw the giant ethereals surrounding every corner, the masses of desperate civilians sprinting out through any way possible all at once, the sheer despair of it all, she froze. Her legs began to shake. But she knew if she wanted to confess her love to Orpheus, wanted to save all those innocent lives they were helping protect, then no matter the size or the power of the ethereal, she could bring up her sword and gun to them, make her way past that barrier of fear and helplessness, and fulfill her duty as a soldier.
It wasn’t enough.
Isolde was lucky to even be able to move after carrying Orpheus out of the danger area and into somewhere they could be picked up. They were in no condition to fight, and half of Agamemnon squad had already died. It didn’t feel right choosing to save Orpheus’ life over theirs, but she wouldn’t have done it any other way.
Isolde was the first to wake up in the hospital, and she immediately went to look for Orpheus. Her work couldn’t have gone in vain... not just her work, her love, the feelings she was meant to confess.
The doctor hesitated to show her the sorry state of Orpheus, but succumbed. Opening the door to Orpheus’ room in the military hospital, revealing to Isolde, the sight of her to-be love severely deformed. She hardly could see her once bright skin under all those rolls of bandages, if it wasn’t for her red hair, she wouldn’t even have been able to recognize her.
“This is the best we could do. We had to amputate some limbs that were infested with ether corruption and crystals beyond repair, a lot could be said with her skin too... the wounds caused from the fighting would go through heavy intake of ether particles and would begin to go through a process almost like blood clotting, but the ether particles would mix with her blood and the scabs with the crystals. At least that's what we think... her blood too shows high signs of ether corruption. I'm sorry but... it’s beyond critical. She has a few weeks at best.”
Isolde hardly listened to what the doctor said. She could tell that the situation was bad just by looking at Orphie, any more details would just be salt to the wound. But she did hear when the doctor mentioned Orpheus’ remaining life span.
So many feelings all at once.
Sadness, for the soon-to-be loss of her would-be lover.
Anger, at the hollows, at the ethereals, at the world
Guilt, for getting out with the equivalent of a “slap on the wrist” compared to how the most important person in the world turned out.
All those feelings overflowed into tears. Her legs gave out, and she was holding onto Orphie’s bed, pushing herself up with it to hold her beloved’s hand, the one that was still attached to her body. She was glad she cried, it made her vision blurry, that way she couldn’t see in closer detail how detail-less Orpheus’ face had become. But even then, she could tell those olive-green eyes would never look the same again.
It was a week until Orpheus woke up. A long, arduous week. Torture. How can you live without telling your dying beloved that they are your beloved? You can’t. Isolde simply survived. But once that week passed, and she received the news Orpheus woke up, she was there as soon as she could be. Slamming the hospital room’s door open.
“Orpheus!”
Only a faint sniffing could be heard. The curtain to Orpheus’ bed was closed, so Isolde couldn’t tell exactly what was going on. Yearning to see Orphie once again, she hurried to it, ready to swing it open, when...
“Stop! Stop it! Don't open that fucking curtain!”
Isolde pulled back almost as strongly as she had pushed forward.
“Please... I don’t want you to see me like this. You don’t need to.”
“...I understand.”
Isolde sat by the chair next to the hospital curtain. Orpheus’ sobs grew louder, it was suffocating. Isolde wanted to say something, to stop her crying, ease her in any way, but what could she do?
Knowing she’s right there, in so much sorrow, yet she’s already done all she could to help. A grim reminder to how Isolde was, though partially, unsuccessful, and how fragile people are.
After the cries died out, Isolde’s mind was a mess. Right then and there, she wanted to do what she should’ve done the week before. Before it all went to hell.
“I love you, Orpheus.”
A moment of silence, before the cries returned. They were quieter, but not softer. The sounds were violent and gutteral, Orpheus’ throat was begging her to stop contracting in sorrow, but she couldn’t. She almost writhed in the way she cried.
And Isolde couldn’t hold it back either. She couldn’t be this pillar of safety, of resilience she wanted to be for Orpheus. She couldn’t hold back her tears in front of her, the fact that the sorrow was mutual, that the despair was real.
And in-between labored hiccups, Orpheus muttered:
“Me too.”
...
Isolde would visit Orpheus often, sleeping in her hospital room most nights. She died two weeks after she had awoken. Even that was a miracle.
Isolde didn’t leave her house for a long time after that, even the Defense Force seemed to not push much, other than the scarce reminders that if she stays away for over a month, there would be consequences. Yet she didn’t even receive any news about a funeral for Orpheus. Disgusting.
When the time came, and Isolde realized if she didn’t move now, she would rot in her home, and the memory of her and Orpheus’ love would be gone forever if she didn’t do something, she decided to leave. Try to return to a life similar to what it was like before Agamemnon squad.
To say she “lived” that life would just be a plain lie. She was a true zombie the whole way through, for years. She would do her work as asked, just how the Defense Force wanted her to. She would join many other squads, and many soldiers would die, but how could she feel sad about them if she couldn't even connect with them in the first place? She had been frozen in the past.
That was until she was assigned to be the commander of a new squad. A promising squad. And who’s the best choice for a commander of such a promising squad if not Isolde?
That squad was OBOL squad. And in that squad, the first face she was greeted by, was that of her late lover-never-to-be. She saw Orpheus, just like when they first met.
“...Orpheus”?
The girl with her lover’s face looked confused, but suddenly Isolde heard a very familiar voice from behind the girl.
“Isolde?!”
And she was greeted by the barrel of a gun. A gun which was an intelligent construct infused with Orpheus’ personality and memories, attached to a clone of Orpheus, which in turn did not carry her personality or memories.
After learning this, Isolde felt like she had really lost her mind.
The military turned her dead lover into a weapon, and she knew she could never forgive them for that.