“… Hey Big Sis…Do you know what Christmas is?”
“Um…No. I don’t think so. Or, is this a rhetorical question to get my attention?”
“N-no…I really don’t know what Christmas is… but I keep hearing it among the crew members who once commandeered me, talking about it after the New Year……..And what’s a New Year?”
Pastrache tilted her head.
Usually she would frown or grimace whenever she faced a difficult problem. It was a bad habit really, to the point where her teachers thought she disliked her superiors (#BornRebel). Even when the teachers had a change of heart and pass out cookies, the Half-Elf girl at the time would be seen grimacing while munching on Gingerbread Dwarves.
It was because she was still trying to figure out the answer to a trigonometry question in the previous class block. Yeah, she was that devoted.
Now, in the present, she could be found sitting on top of a certain T-34 Russian Tank. Both of them marching through a road that wove through a large farmplot full of rice paddies. It looked Japanese, but everyone there was speaking Common, or the Queen’s English. Shrug.
“…I don’t know how to answer this ridiculously impossible question Nello. I’m sorry, I was never an expert in geometrical functions and gravity acceleration.”
“Oh don’t worry about that, Big Sis. As a tank, I have to learn some physics in order to properly fire my cannon in the most effective angle. Yeah, elevation of shell drop, range to target, and also how to stabilize myself when I’m running while shooting. If Big Sis has a math problem, feel free to ask me.”
<< Nello used HONEST GESTURE. Dealt you -100 Emotional Damage. Please enter Summer School. >> << Your Relationship with Nello decreased by 1%. The 'Let's Get Hitched' Option is closed. >>
“……………………………………………………………………………”
The Half-Elf had this flat look on her face. It wasn’t sure if it was curious, angry, or downright p*ssed to the point where all of her emotions went numb.
However, when the T-34 Tank hit a small pothole in the ground, her boot ACCIDENTALLY swung into the barrel of the tank’s onboard anti-infantry Machine gun.
<< You used MALICIOUS JEALOUSY KICK. You dealt Nello -0.00000000001 Bludgeoning Damage >> << You are current alignment is: Chaotic Villain of the Day. Please seek counselling. >>
“OW! M-ME EYE! Wh-what was that? A-A German Tiger Tank!?”
“Oh deary me. My foot sleep. Ahem. Ahem. I'm soooooo sorry, Nello. Ahem.”
“……Phew. I-I thought we were under attack. It’s okay Big Sis.”
<< __ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!!__ >>
~ Two Faced Samaritan~
You somehow gained admiration from the one you attacked in malice. Are you a Sadist!?
“………………I…I’m supposed to be mad, y-yet why-why do I feel so guilty…..Ugh.”
The T-34 Soviet Tank named Nello had stopped in his tracks, turning his turret head around to scan the area. As a certain Half-Elf was sitting on his skull, he couldn’t see this sour and twisted look on her that was a mix of jealousy and remorse while she kept mashing the [x] on every mystical window that kep popping up in her face.
Knowing he was alone with nothing but hundreds of rice paddies surrounding him from front back, left, right, his 3 meter long cannon drooped in relief and he continued to march down the roads on his track.
Maybe to make the guilt subside, the Half-Elf spoke up with an apologetic tone.
“………..About that question you asked…Could you, maybe give me more clues? I might be able to figure out. I’m not good with counting, but I always love myself a good mystery novel every now and then. If my number one detective isn’t Shylock Hemlock, it’s definitely Detective Merdock of the Thoronto Constabulary!!”
“…Who’s Shylock Holmes and Detective Dock?”
“Mer-Dock! Meeer-doooock!”
“Y-yes, Big Sis.... Hmmmm...”
Across the long and empty dirt road the T-34 took a moment to scan his environment again. Making sure there wasn’t any massive grey tanks hiding in a rice paddy, or maybe even a last minute U-Boat lurking in the paddy waters, he picked up the pace and rolled faster down the quiet road.
Like someone who thinks they were being followed into a shady alley.
“Um…I was born in January…The Crew from my last life always kept mentioning Christmas in December, which would be the month before I was born. They always kept talking about the gifts they got from their families that were back in Moscow or fled to Finland and Sweden.”
“…Gifts? Like what kind of gifts?”
“Hmm…My Commander got cigars from his wife…The…gunner got a handknit scarf from his father’s sister, Mr. Driver got a cup that read ‘NOT A STEP BACK!’ or ‘SAY NYET TO FASCHISM’…..Uuuh. The four one… I think the spotter got a plunger.”
“…What’s a plunger? A weapon?”
“I-I’m not sure, my memory is vague on that day because they ended up fighting. I think, it’s was a joke from his friend in the Eastern Front, about how he could clean school toilets again when the war is over.”
“……..That sounds like a crude joke, Nello.”
“I’m not sure. Maybe he used to be a janitor, I don’t know.”
Suddenly, Pastrache would see her friend’s 3 meter nose drop down. It was like the shoulders of a child losing all energy to keep them up any longer.
“……In the end, I-I don’t know what Christmas is but… they were really happy while they were talking about their family, the gifts they got, and the little post cards that read ‘Srozhdyestvom Hristovym’”
“……………………………………………………A-hem.”
“Ah. Right Big Sis doesn’t know Russian. I-it means Merry Christmas.”
“…………….Merry…Christmas….Ah! I-I finally understand what you’re saying now!”
“H-heh!? You do? B-but I wasn’t very clear.”
The T-34 Tank suddenly slowed down, afraid that if he went too fast he would miss what the Half-Elf was going to say. If he had the function of deploying an independent flying drone into the air with some camera functions, he could have seen this bright look in her sapphire eyes.
The gaze of a curious child who figure out the world’s hardest puzzle.
“The Festival of the Shining Prince!”
“……………Who?”
“Come with me, Nello! This way!”
“Nuwoooh! D-don’t just jump in front of me, B-Big Sis!! I-I could have ran you over if I hadn’t stopped in time! W-wait, wh-why are you dragging my nose!? Wh-where are we goiiiiiiiiiiiiing!?”
----------------------------------------
Away from the rice paddies, taking a long detour from the country side, a certain Half-Elf 'dragged' a 26.5 ton Russian tank into the middle of a large field. It was nothing but flatlands full of emerald grass all over. Trees surrounded the 100 acre land, like an army about to attack… or, an army devoting themselves to protecting the line.
“……Big Sis…I…I can’t climb that scary looking mountain. I-I’ll fall.”
“Sssssh. What do you see up there on the top of the Rock Spire, Nello?”
“…………..Um…..A house…with…with a big T and a circle in the center.
“That, is the very church where the Shining Prince was born.”
“……..Oh?”
Nello was standing in the middle of the large grass field. As there was not a speck of shrubbery anywhere save for the wall of trees forming a distinct barrier, he stuck out like a sore thumb across the grass. Standing next to him on her feet was Pastrache.
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The Tank turned his turret head at a small angle, to glance at his friend. She was eyeing something in front of them, with a soft smile and hands folded in gentle prayer.
Nello would then turn back, to see this large rock mountain…. No, no, no, it was more like a pile of boulders hat somehow miraculously formed itself into that of a straight coloum, a tower of rocks so to speak. It stood about 30 meters high, a perfect cylinder if one were to measure it from bottom to top.
A small cottage like structure sat on the perfectly flat top, holding aloft a cross-like monument with a circle in the center, made of wood. It resembled a bit like the Celtic style cross.
The whole thing on top…. Was glowing.
“Nello. Did you know 1000 years ago, we’d be standing at the bottom of the sea.”
“………………… HEH!? I-I CAN’T SWIM!”
“No, no, no. 1000 years ago in the past. This used to be a great and vast ocean as far as the eye could see, with only one continent in the center.”
“…..Hooh.”
“The first continent was grand with so many technology and scientifice advancement...however many of the government officials and politicians became corrupted and always waged Civil War with each other. It would kill their citizens by the 1000s just so they could gather more land and power.”
“………………………………..”
“In that old war, there was this small and nameless Royal Family, who didn’t want to take part in all the senseless fighting. They decided to be neutral, even use their small kingdom to take in refugee. Unlike most of the other royalties, they devoted themselves to the Goddess of Faith, Light, and Compassion.”
“……Oh…..But… you said 1000 years ago this used to be a big sea and there was one big land…Wh…what happened to them?”
“…Those corrupt nobles decided to try and destroy their kingdom, they saw them as nothing but an eyesore.”
The T-34 Tank didn’t know what to say. As it was technically only 5 days old before it was reincarnated into a new fantasy world, there was not much he could do or say to interject in this solemn discussion.
But like any good brother, he listened to his Big Sister. All the while staring up at that small cottage.
As if to answer his question, the Half-Elf gazed upon that glowing house on the top of the tower of boulders.
“The Peaceful King’s wife was pregnant. She was overdue for labour even, as she wanted to support her husband in helping the refuges fleeing from the war and slaughter. When the corrupt nobles attacked, her water broke.”
“I-is that bad?”
“Yes. It means she had to give birth right away… even when their city was being destroyed.”
“Th-that’s terrible…D-didn’t the Goddess do anything to stop the bad guys?”
“……………………………………………………………………………….”
The silence coming from the small Half-Elf felt deafening to the ears. Even if the tank had none, he still felt the weight of that void sitting on his tracks.
“…Big Sis?”
“Unfortunately, she had a miscarriage… she was too scared for her husband, who lead his small defensive armies to battle all of the corrupt nobles. Her anxiety caused... problems…..Her child never had a chance to open his eyes.”
“………………………………………………………………”
“So, the Goddess of Faith, Light, and Compassion broke a law held amongst the other divine spirits. She… gave her own son to the poor peaceful queen.”
“…Heh!?”
“The Goddess sacrificed her happiness, and implanted the soul of her future child into the body of the peaceful queen’s baby… To reincarnating him.”
“…R-reincarnating!? H-he sounds l-like me after I blacked out from Stalingrad!”
“On that day, when the queen saw her son open her eyes… she found him glowing as bright as the heavenly sun…. His light pierced through the roof, through the beams, and even into the skies that had always been covered in thick clouds…… As if to declare a new era, the entire world they knew collapsed into a giant earthquake.”
“………………………………………………………………………………”
Pastrache smiled and she knelt down across the grass. She held her folded hands up to her lips and whispered a soft prayer. She even touched her head, her shoulders, and her heart to pay her respect.
“The tower of rocks and the glowing church, is the only thing left of that time 1000 years ago. The only relic of that bloodied history that still survived the Great Cataclysm.”
“……………………………………Whooooooa. But.... What happened to the mother…and her… shiny child?”
“The nobles already took her husband before he could see his own son…Alone in an empty world with only a few survivors… she started over, with her blessed child. Along with the new born King... they begin a new dawn of peace and prosperity to the future generation………1000 years later, I’m here…”
“………….I’m sorry Big Sis, to hear about that sad story.”
“It’s not a sad story, Nello. In fact, it’s a joyous occasion!”
“H-heh? H-how is it happy?”
“Today is the 25th Hour of the 25th Day of the 25th Month. It should be reacting from the angle of the 10 moons coming into position.”
“……B-Big Sis. If this is a Physics question, I-I don’t know how to answer—HOH! A-A GIANT RAINBOW!”
When the skies above their head cleared, 10 beams of different moons in the sky fell down. They all struck the tower of boulders and bedrock. The Celtic style cross on top of the worn out church glowed even brighter, like a star that peeked over the horizon to see the new world.
<< Accessing NELLO's POV CAMERA....... COMPLETE! >> [https://media.giphy.com/media/o5Enskn6DssRG/giphy.gif]
Hundreds of colored diamonds ignited across the blouders, coiling around in a spiral like formation. They glimmered from the moon light, from the cross’s radiance, and blinked with different colors of ruby, emerald, sapphire, citrine, to even diamond white.
Blinking, dancing lights, colorful waltzes. With the radiance from eacxh glowing stones, it gave the stone a deep evergreen sensation.
……..A Christmas Tree?
“The story isn’t about tears or victory over evil…It’s a time of joy, rebirth, and second chances!”
“…H-heh? S-Second Chances Big Sis?”
“Yes! The time where even wars must stop to bow their head in prayer, where soldiers no longer see each other as enemy on this day and hug one another to respect who they are. To abandon the responsibilities of your hard life, so you may accompany your loved ones … The day to celebrate the re-birth of the Shining Prince, and to be together with your cherished Family!”
“…….Family……Ah. B-Big Sis is…dancing?”
That was right. Pastrache had risen from kneeling after her prayer and could be found hopping and dancing around across the soft grass. Nello wasn’t sure, if the colored lights glimmering on the stone tower had any psychedelic effect or would affect one’s mind with a hypnotic trance.
But, every step the Half-Elf made, every swing of her soft arms, and the radiance of her smile, was too genuine to be false.
The girl then stopped, standing in front of the T-34 Soviet tank and touched the front of his arm. The tank lowered his barrel, to properly look at the girl two times shorter than himself.
“Yes Nello. Family….We’re family! We’ll be together, through thick and thin! No matter how sour the taste of defeat will be, no matter how bitter the roads we take will end up, no matter if we make a good or bad decision… we’ll do it side by side, both of us will share the triumphs and our spoils together! ... If worse comes to worse… at the very least, we won’t exit this world all alone.”
“B-Big Sis…”
The Half-Elf smiled, holding back a soft tear. She reached up in order to caress her hand across the iron beast’s long nose. She wasn’t at all afraid.
“If there was one wish I could make before the Shining Prince… is that I wish I could see Nello smile…and be free.”
“……………And…..I wish that Big Sis will grow up to have a happy life… become super famous, have a big giant house, and an army of bunny maids to serve you! Whatever bunny maids are!”
“W-wait a minute, N-Nello. Th-that’s also another wish of mine! I-I just put your feelings above my own a-as my top priority. Th-there’s no need to use y-your wish to f-fulfill my secondary objective in life now.”
“I also wish that Big Sis will marry a good man and have lots of kids! I heard my former commander said he wanted about 30 when the war was over!”
<< Nello used SCARY IDEAL. Dealt you -1000 Emotional and Psychological Damage >> << Your Emotional Status is Prone: Men have Advantage in attacking your heart. >> << You are stricken with ABSOLUTE FEAR. Please seek out a Midwife for counselling. >>
“NUWOOOOH! SH-SHINING PRINCE IN THE SKY! SHINING PRINCE IN THE SKY! C-CANCEL THAT LAST WISH! PLEASE CANCEEEEEEEL!”
“…Did I say something wrong?”
Nello watched as his happy-go-merry Half-Elf friend suddenly break down as if the sky was falling all of a sudden. She went from hugging the tank to grovelling on her knees and bowing her head at the small church sitting on top of the tower of boulders.
It was like she was praying for whoever lived up there to ignore that last part about having 30 babies.
“M-my body will break after I hit 3…Th-there is no way I’ll survive to 30!..........Hmm? Wh-what's this cold….Ah…I-it’s…”
“…Oh! Big Sis, it’s snowing! It’s snowing!”
[https://thumbs.gfycat.com/CapitalImpishIzuthrush-small.gif]
Pastrache paused when she felt something chilly touch the tip of her elven ears. Upon looking up to the sky with her tank friend, she could see the grey clouds sprinkling powder of snow all over them. Snowflakes gathered to form small orbs of gentle frost, fluttering down to the world. It wasn’t a storm, but it felt hard.
No sooner did she breathe three times, the trees guarding this sacred location were already covered in a fine sheet of white.
“….Th…this is the first time…I’ve ever been excited to see the snow…”
“N-Nello? Wh-what do you mean?”
“Um…in Stalingrad… during the war… it’s always cold and always snowing. It would freeze my tracks over and I couldn’t run away fast enough from the German Tanks… Every time I see the sky drop snowflakes… I would feel scared…..but now, I-I feel…um…um......Uuuuuh.”
“…Happy?”
“Yeah! Happy! Very Happy!”
“………………………………..Pffffft. Now I really want to see Nello’s cute face while he’s staring up at the sky and snow. I know your grin would definitely make girls fall for you.”
“Ha-ha! I only want you to see me! Because I love Big Sis!”
<< Nello confessed his Undying Love for you!! You were dealt -10,000 Emotional Damage. >> << Your Heart Rate is 120 BPM. Your Blood Pressure is 300/300 above nominal. Please see a doctor. >> ---
<< __ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!!__>>
~ Shooting An Arrow in the Guy's Knee ~
A boy confessed to you, he is down on one knee. Congratulations!! You will have 30+ Babies.
Pastrache turned red. Upon hearing this 26.5 ton war tank confess his feelings to her, she was turning beet red from the tip of her nose to the two tips of her pointed ears. She tried to hide it, by rubbing some patches of snow she caught with her hands to her cheeks. They melted the second they came near her burning cheeks.
Even so, she smiled, and let one small tear drip down her small chin. If she was going to say it... then she'll say it like true family would do!
“…Yes. I love you too Nello! You're my bestest best friend!”
“Nn! Merry Christmas, Big Sis!”
“I-it’s not Christmas, it’s Day of the Shining………..Yes! Merry Christmas, Nello! Now, let's go and get drunk!”
“DAH! DAH!...Wait, I can't drink."
Together, once more, in a brand new world full of cruelty, unfairness, and bitter laws… the Half-Elf Girl and the T-34 Soviet tank laughed all the evil away from their hearts as they sat marched under the pure snowfall.
All’s well, that end’s well…Dah.
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