Silent Soldier| Children! La Squadra x fem!reader

десять | A Wonderful Day In The Woods

(Y/n) always wondered how she managed to get so lost that day.

Akira had repeatedly reminded her to stay close by, that anyone could get lost in those woods, but the beautiful call of a crow had torn her attention away from the path she was meant to follow, and separated her from the only person that could guide her out of the maze of trees.

The panic began to set in when she yelled out his name, and heard no response other than her own cry echoing back to her. There were no footprints to track in the snow, no sounds to follow that indicated Akiras presence. She was stuck wandering, alone, bound to die as the woods only seemed to grow thicker, and repetitive.

Every tree soon looked the same; Like they were all mere copies of the other, their thin, dead branches curling up towards the sky like fingers. They reached for the setting sun, yearning to grasp an ounce of warmth in the relentless cold, but all in vain. 

(Y/n) was only fifteen at the time, maybe sixteen, forced to wonder if maybe she'll end up in the newspaper tomorrow; Under the popular column, 'Missing Persons'. 

The whistle hung loosely around her neck was begging to be used. "It's an emergency!" If it could, it'd scream at her, "Akira said to use me in emergencies, use it!"

But she couldn't bring herself to, and the most horrifying part, was that she didn't know why. She'd keep stumbling through the snow, the ends of her fingers growing numb, searching for her brother with what little strength she had left. 

Rivers were crossed, hills were tripped over, and dens burrowed into the ground were quickly passed. At one point, there came a little mountain of stone she had stepped over, the plates of earth slick with ice and making her lose her balance all too embarrassingly. 

She felt like she almost couldn't move after she had fallen; The static, fumbling sensation in her fingers having spread all the way up her forearm, and leaving her to feel about as mobile as any fabric doll. An unbearable cold would swarm over her body like flies to a corpse, eating away at her last bit of warmth and plaguing her mind with the thought that she may very well die where she lay.

She wasn't wrong to think that, of course. 

A low grumbling arose from off to the side, shaking the earth in tremors, and snapping the little girl out of her blurring daze. There was a huff, and growl, and slow heavy steps that got closer by the second-- And (Y/n) almost wished she hadn't looked over to see what it was.

Akira had taught her many things when they went out to hunt, life lessons she could always use no matter how old; geese always flew south when the snow comes, ice is thick enough to walk on if you can see animal tracks on it, you can tell the time by the position of the sun, and know where you are by the position of the stars...

And that bears can still be active in the winter.

Almost literally frozen in place, (Y/n) had no means to move as possibly one of the largest brown bears she's ever seen slowly stalked toward her. There was no way she could play dead, pretend like she was just some game left by the wasteful wolves-- it can see her smoky breaths, the trembling gasps of fear leaving her throat.

The shotgun right beneath her arm only housed a few bullets; Akira had all the ammo with him, like he usually did. Of course, there was some spare shells in her pocket she could sue, but to take the time to shove them into the gun, with death looking into her eyes? It'd be futile.

With no more warning than a guttural roar, it came at her in a charge, the young girl struggling to bring herself to her feet to run, as all her strength had drained away into the air like steam. The best she could afford to do was crawl, but even then, her legs were beginning to fail her too. 

She called, and cried, and screamed Akiras name, for him-- or anyone in general-- to come help her, and stop this hungry animal from turning her into the same meat she hunted so freely. Nobody came to help.

At this point, the only thing that stopped her face from being ripped off was the barrel of her gun between the jaws of that monster; Her body rendered immobile with its weight pressing atop her.

She unsure how she's managed to live this long. Barely anyone survives a bear attack, only a small percentage ever making it out alive, and in one piece. But what most people tend to forget when considering those numbers, is that those that have died, had no drive, or will.

Everyone has a tendency to forget how strong their will can be, how determined someone might become for the sake of their life-- How their fighting spirit will shoot up if they feel like there is more for them to do in existence, more for them to accomplish.

And (Y/n) fought because she knew, that if she lived, the sunrise of tomorrow will have been the most beautiful she'd ever see. She wanted to see the next day, listen to the mornings greeting of the birds outside, smell the sharp cold air of the frost, taste her dearest fathers baking, and feel the familial love of her brother as she gave him a hug. 

But the bear wouldn't let up, and right as her fate was sealed for her, written in stone, (Y/n) took what could've been her final breath, and screamed like she hadn't ever before. Yelling into the open air, with all the force in her chest that she could muster, she rocked tremors into the ground beneath her, and left the trees shaking.

Her eyes shut tight, not wanting to confront the reality of dying-- She let another scream rip from her throat, cracks forming in the dirt and rock. In all of her panic and worry, she hadn't noticed the bear was already gone, and she was laying flat on the ground, wailing and sobbing all by herself.

If she had taken the time to look, she would've seen its mangled body dozens of meters away, laying slack against the trunk of some tree, unrecognizable with its spilled guts and ripped face. It had been launched away with a single shriek, the trees in the surrounding area following suit and uprooting themselves before getting promptly blown back.

When Akira had finally found her, she was laying stiff on the ground, quietly whimpering to herself. He asked her what had happened, as any would; Where she went, what happened to all the trees, and if she was ok.

She remembered, even many years into the future, that the very second she had spoken a single word to him, just a simple acknowledgement, the ground in front of her tore up, and it split half a mile into the woods.

Talking from then on was prohibited. Everything she wanted to convey was to be shown through sign-language, or written down. She couldn't whine when she pricked her finger with a needle, she couldn't laugh when someone told a joke, she couldn't sing along to her favorite songs... A piece of her had been erased, and she was left an empty shell of her former self.

Over the years, (Y/n) had adapted to the change, learning to bite her tongue even if she had been stabbed or shot, and made way into the military, where she thought she would be able to perform best. Though, she soon found out that she was a little too good of a soldier, and instead of being another citizen of her home country, she was used as a weapon. 

Despite being treated like royalty for her gift, (Y/n) broke away from the military the moment this damned war broke out-- when the general she served under told her to shoot a child. He hadn't done anything, he was just sitting there, crying, holding onto the sleeve of his fallen sibling and babbling incoherent pleas. 

When she wouldn't do it, the general threw a fit, and decided to make an example for her by doing it himself. A gunshot was fired, and the kid went slack, the cries that once clawed at everyone's ears fell silent.

Even now, she looks at the approaching tanks and trucks, the marching men with guns in their arms, set on retrieving the one thing that could practically hand them victory-- and she wonders to herself, why had she managed to get so lost that day? If she just stuck by Akiras side, would she have had a different life than what she has now?

Ah, but that doesn't matter right now... What's happened has happened, and the problem will find its place in her story.

As for now, she should focus on the battalion of soldiers charging toward her.