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"Hey Richelieu, here's your letters." 

The passing soldier tossed the stack of envelopes onto the two sibling's table, his gaze of envy wandering in his line of vision. The letters were numerous, some of which a couple were from the same person. But as blinded by romance by the young, energetic and naive the soldier was, he didn't even bother to read under the line, but rather only glances through names and the embellished envelopes, his jealously was completely off the mark. 

[color=0072bc]"Thank you Daniel. Have a good day."[/color] 

Those letters almost entire went under one name: Richelieu. 

"Heh, looks like elder brother's enjoying the water of the channel." The young boy next to Anna sneered, both in jealously and petty wish-fulfillment. "Let's see if he'll enjoy it once he gets back to the front."

[color=0072bc]"Owen."[/color] Right then and there was Anna's sharp glare. [color=0072bc]"Stop it. He's your brother."[/color] 

"...But I can't stand the fact that he's boasting about how good his vacation is." The boy, his hierarchy, quickly turned sullen, before waving the piece of paper before her big sister. "Just read the letter!"

Oh yeah. He did sound a little snobbish when he wrote this. It appeared like he was just trying to piss Owen off rather than sharing a happy moment and wishing the others all the best. He did wish for Anna's well-being though, so that's at least something else. 

[color=0072bc][i]'Aaayyy, guys...'[/i][/color] 

Really, they ought to learn to work together more often. She knew they were brothers, so fighting among them are almost inevitable. But seriously, their jealousy with each other were intolerable from time to time, and being the only female of a male dominated family, her job as the rational voice and the calm face amidst the chaos was like in a crow's nest. Even when they were hundreds of miles apart, they still somehow found ways to duke it out at each other. 

It didn't even help her the fact that her parents were almost entirely away throughout her whole life. As beautiful as the family looks from the outside - a rich and hard-working parent, five healthy and lovely young children - the reality of her whole life had been entirely hollow. Their parents weren't parents at all. They were just offspring producers, pumping out children in the fear that their genes would be extinct, after generations of some branches of their family going heirless for one sickeningly unfortunate reason or another. After that, they didn't care. Their only presence in the sibling's worlds were just to give some crucial information about education, accommodation or whatever. Their care belong to the servants instead. And they were paid. Ohh, the beauty of capitalism. Their only drive to care for the young kids were if they get a raise from their sweet sugar parents, though in this case it's not a romantic relationship. Anna's just one of those victims. Growing up without those parental love that every kid around her got, her brothers were the only ones she had. She didn't want to lose their love too, or see their love for each other dwindle. But apparently, that latter half were under serious doubt.

[color=0072bc]"...I get it. But it's not a reason to respond with a spiteful tone that intends to turn the table."[/color] She scolded. [color=0072bc]"If you keep being angry at each other, when will you be caring toward each other. You're brothers."[/color]

"But why am I supposed to be the one defusing it? He's the one who started it first!"

[color=0072bc]"I will say the same to him as well, but continuing a fight is not a sign of a man, Owen - it's to be the one to stop it."[/color] 

Her calm rationale seemed to have broken through to the young soldier. But youngsters will always be youngsters, and teenagers will still be teenagers. He sullenly pouted, tossed the envelope onto the stack before heading off somewhere else - a typical sign of defiance. Oh well, it's just a phase. He'd grow out of that soon.

She was thankful that she didn't bring him over to meet with the sappers of 15th Atlantic Rifle the day before. It would've been demoralizing and a total embarrassment if he displayed his childish face to the squad. She didn't know the other sapper, but especially to Michael, who apparently is a person of upper-class too. Who knows what negativity could be circulating in his head if he saw it?

Anna simply just forgot about her idiotic younger brother, letting him have his own time while she read over the remaining letters from her two older brothers. Mostly about their break, but they also mentioned about how their platoons were also planning an assault, a pretty big one at that, so they would have to return to the front a little sooner than they expect. They were pretty excited too. A liberation perhaps. Whatever brings the Feds closer to the end of the war, she guessed. 

But all of a sudden, a huge thump erupted, shaken her out of her thoughts and back to earth. [color=0072bc][i]'What the hell was that?'[/i][/color] she mused. A period of silence ensued, before the whistling danger of an incoming object siren her senses. Combat training basic, Anna immediately leaped from the table onto the dirt, covering her head and curling her torso a bit upward, leaving a bit of space between her chest and the ground. 

And without long...

[h2]BOOM![/h2] 

The deafening roar of combustion blasted through her ears, even when she had already covered her ears somewhat. She was expecting shrapnels to pierce her fragile mortal body, or at the least a huge shockwave to rock her senses to its limits, but thankfully enough, it was not that bad. The shell probably landed a bit further away from where she was, so she was totally fine, aside from getting a little dirty from instantly jumping onto the ground instinctively.

She was safe. But her brother...

[color=0072bc]"Owen..."[/color] Her thoughts came right to her younger brother. Was he caught in the blast? Or did he remember not to keep his chest too closely to the ground? [color=0072bc]"Owen!"[/color] 

Anna immediately got up and paced around the camp ground, forgetting even her rifles and the letters, trying to look for even the slightest of her brother's look. Scenarios of what could happen began to run inside her head, as she passed through soldiers that were still listless from what just happened. That maybe that moment when he crudely tossed that envelope to her would be the last time she ever saw him alive. She ought to have gotten used to it as a soldier, but she couldn't. It was way too strong to be desensitized. 

But thankfully, it wasn't that. Owen was easy to be found, as he was standing right there in the open. 

[color=0072bc]"Owen, thank god."[/color] The first thing he felt when he turned around to the call was his sister's warm embrace around his shoulders. He could tell she was sickened worried, even for just that tiny harmless shell, she was already dying to look for him. 

"I'm fine sis. It's ok." He couldn't help but smile, but wished that she didn't need to be this tight. "Don't worry. Those Imps don't have a chance at hurting me with just that!"

[color=0072bc]"I know you're strong, but..."[/color] She sighed. The encouraged attitude was endearing in a normal scenario, but Anna wasn't impressed. [color=0072bc]"Remember to follow what is said, alright?"[/color] 

The sapper nodded enthusiastically. Whatever if that's just to reassure his lovely big sister, or he really did keep that in mind, it did its job. Anna let go of the boy, sighed in assurance and patted him on the shoulders before going back for her belongings and her gears, before someone took it away in mistake, letting the upper-class boy do whatever he wanted. She needed her own time[hr]
An hour passed, and Anna had finished her lot of letters to be sent back to her two older brothers. Having it carefully folded and sealed, she was on her way to deliver them to the mail soldier when she saw a crowd suddenly gathering over the camp barricade. A lot of talking jumbled over one another, which Anna found it difficult to decipher what they were referring to, before a clear, firm and loud noise dominated all of them. 

She couldn't see him clearly, but what was uttered were so familiar to her. That's right: the same thing that drew her family in and kept them completely devoted to this...'thing'. The all too well-known "Federation rocks" and dehumanizing patriotic speech of the enemy. Making your enemies look like pig dogs may seem like harmless fun now, wait until some innocents die over a brainwashed maniac who listened too much of propaganda and given a dangerous weapon. Or even better, when you blame your own faults on those demons you create, and then they get mad and start the next Europan war. It took more than that to impress and motivate people like her. 

Seeing that many people fawning over such a speech, Anna didn't know what to think of the situation. On the one hand they were motivated, but one the other she felt sad that they were so hypnotized by the blatant and overused media tactic. And looking even closer, she could see that her very own brother too had fallen into such a camp of people. 

[color=0072bc][i]'Just forget it...'[/i][/color]

She didn't forget what she had to do.