Juliet Coleman was said to have magic in her fingertips. Soldiers walked out of infirmaries as though they hadn't just been fatally wounded. Their lives were no longer hanging by a severed thread.
Tales of her became well known among the frontlines...
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It was surmised that a perk of war would be travelling the world. That was false; all you saw was mud and gore for months on end. If you were lucky and got severely wounded, you could see a sliver of a European country from your hospital window.
Juliet wasn't stupid. She knew of the horrors of war; she didn't choose to filter her brain with thoughts of foreign ports and exotic flavours.
You could blame her father, who fought in the Great War and was one of the few returning soldiers that willingly shared detailed accounts. Although these days, the four years of turmoil would be called the First World War. It was a pity, the fact that the human race killed their own based on nothing but hatred twice in the space of thirty years.
Juliet hated war with a burning passion. But that was why she became a nurse. That, and the fact that she had the power to heal people.
She didn't know where the powers came from. She didn't know if she woke up with them one night, or they were something she always had. But when used correctly, she could save someone's life without touching bandages or medicine.
Her powers did have limitations. Nothing went without flaws. She could handle most injuries, such as broken bones, burns and gunshot wounds. But she couldn't rebuild missing limbs, nor serious diseases. She couldn't use too much of her power at one time. That drained her.
Juliet was currently in New York, much to her dismay. It was December of 1942, and she had just returned back from a short campaign pushing into French Morocco and French Algeria. Operation Torch saw some brutal casualties over the course of a few days, and Juliet was beyond exhausted. The troops were still fighting the Nazis, but she was immediately dispatched back to America.
The US Government, who seemed to more about her powers than she did, insisted that she take some leave until the New Year. She had been in Europe for two months prior to Operation Torch, then near the frontlines of El Alamein, so she had pushed to her absolute limit. They were losing a valuable asset, but any longer and there would have been dire consequences.
So Juliet was stuck in a paid-for apartment for a month with two roommates. According to the directions she had been given by one of the Colonel's, their names were Betty and Florence. She was relatively social, so she hoped they could become fast friends.
She was walking down the streets of Brooklyn, trying desperately to locate the apartment complex. Despite being a medic laced with magic, she was hopeless when it came to addresses.
If her adopted older brother was here, he would have laughed at her and found the location within seconds. But much to her dismay, Private Gatsby Coleman had been relocated to Tunisia. The last time they interacted, she was healing his arm that had been struck with a bayonet.
The cold chill of a New York winter had hit her as soon as she stepped out of the aeroplane. She had grown so accustomed to the heat of Northern Africa that returning to subzero temperatures was a shock to the system.
To those who passed her on the street, she was almost like a foreign goddess. Her skin was freckled with caramel, due to seeing endless sun for nearly a month. It contrasted nicely with her brown hair and brown eyes, highlighting them enough to give her a unique appearance. She was clothed in her white and dark blue uniform pieces, looking like the perfect military nurse.
A pair of best friends, two men, were walking in the opposite direction. They were absentmindedly having their own conversation when the taller one's eyes landed on the confused brunette.
"Steve, look at her." The man's voice was hushed as he grabbed his friend's arm. They stopped abruptly, triggering groans of annoyance from people walking behind then. "I think I just died and went to heaven."
"Then go talk to her Bucky. Nothing's ever stopped you before." Steve chuckled at his friend, perplexed at his reaction. This was new, having seen him pick up girl after girl.
Bucky cleared his throat, before strolling towards Juliet. He felt an unusual flutter in his stomach, but ignored it as he put on his best smirk.
But before he could approach her, she disappeared into the busy New York crowd. Bucky cursed under his breath, and jogged back to Steve.
"She's gone. She's an angel, I swear." Bucky concluded, subconsciously shielding Steve from the push and shove of commuters.
"Buck, angels don't exist." Steve rolled his eyes, but a smile was apparent on his thin face.
"I have to find her." Bucky started walking in the direction Juliet went, but Steve was quick to stop him.
"There's a difference between wooing a girl and blatantly stalking them." Steve pointed out. Bucky's shoulders sagged as he realised that his best friend had a point. "Look, maybe you'll see her again. If you believe in fate and destiny and all that."
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Can you tell I suck at first chapters??? That's why this is super short. It's more of a prologue than a first chapter, because everything else will be a lot longer.
