William was downtown, having a break from all the military work. He headed to his favourite shopping mall. It had all the things every young adult wanted; gadgets, smartphones and gaming equipment.

There were even arcades and a centre for renting computers. There were facilities which involved indoor swimming and gyms too but for William, it was rather useless as he already trains himself in the base for free.

Passing by a television store, he noticed something that sparked his eye. The clerk of the store was unique. Looking rather mature yet having a very young feminine appearance, she had an aura that attracted him.

No doubt, she was a guardian. Ever since the EU decided to introduce Guardians, it made sense to introduce them to normal human life.

The Guardian/Store Receptionist caught his attention by looking slowly to him, she made a small friendly smile. His aura already indicates his identity.

He not wanting to disturb her work, smiles back before continuing his stroll.

He entered a common food franchise link that he usually goes to. He bought himself a sandwich and headed off to the nearby park. After all, it is Basingstoke. You can't have England without parks and bars, right?

Sitting and relaxing, he watched the trees that swayed as the wind blew and the birds and sang the song of nature, probably grapevine about their catches or odd encounters. How would William know? He cannot speak to Animals nor understand them, he is human.

"Well, considering that most Guardians live in the city or towns, villages or off-lands would probably think of them as monsters." He talked to himself.

Step step step~ 

The sound of heavy yet slow footsteps was nearing him. He thought it was probably a passerby, he didn't worry too much.

"Probably sure...~" The voice of a monotoned maiden replied to him as he felt a warm aura taking a seat next to him.

William turned his head to the replier, "Why do you think that?" He asked nicely before he realised who it was. 

"Well, humans are rather scared of the unknown, just like how most animals are afraid of humans. If you out a human with an unknown species, they would probably freak out." The maiden explained. 

It was Shanina, who was also probably taking a day off. 

"Didn't expect to see you here Shanina?" William replied. "Also, that makes sense." 

"Well... I'm mostly doing assignments or resting in my room but since we destroyed this area's main Axis base, we are safe for now. We still gotta worry about the other state's bases and their enemies too. They cant reach Hampshire again or else London will get destroyed." She explained in her typical monotoned fashion.

"I see..." William replied before both of them became dead silence. 

William's aura was rather calming as he watched the area. He felt like he was in peace. 

Shanina, however, was still rather dark, she had something to let off but it isn't doing so.

William had to know more about her. 

"Miss Shanina, could you tell me more about yourself?" He asked politely as he looked at the trees.

Shanina surprised by his odd question, she asked back. "Why do you want to know?" 

William smiles a little. "You seem to be rather nervous today, did something go wrong, did something happen?" 

Shanina shakes her head slowly as she looked at the floor. "I got a call saying my mother had passed away." 

"Oh, my condolences..." William surprised, he apologised. 

"It's alright, I don't care about her." She replied. 

"Why not? She was your mother? She brought you up." William asked.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Shanina rubbed her arms as she were her lips. 

"Fine... I was raised in Bremen, Germany. I was born to father, Wilheim Leutennegar and mother, Jaim Meraki. A German father and a Russian mother. I had an older sister, her name was Ameli Virinkrov. My family were very strict as my mother and father were both Ex-Military. My father used to run errands by joining mercenary gangs made by both the government and the underworld. My mother, however, was am alcoholic and a drug addict, she couldn't handle her trauma when she was in the Military. She forced me and my sister to do hard chores and train us very harshly. Every mistake we do, she will whack us with a metal hanger. It wasn't fun. " She explained before she reached to a pause to take a breather. 

"That's pitiful... You can tell me more if you want to..." He told her. "I won't judge..." 

Shanina nods slowly, apparently, she is showing more of her true feelings, the softer kind.

"The place I used to live was harsh, we didn't live in the town's part of Bremen, we lived more in the outlands where both city folks and villagers lived. The two sides always fought for land. Well, my family were rather poor so we had to live on the Village side. Though, our clothes and the facilities we have at home were very modern technology. Because of that, my family's tree does not trust my parents. As for my sister, she was rather kind to me. She used to help me when I get bullied by the City folk's or the villager's school bullies. She also had to handle her own problems as she studied in a city college. People made fun of her even though there were strict rules forbidding extremism. She was forced to work part-time after school to earn pocket money. Day in, day out. Some of the money is stolen by my mother as she always runs out of drugs fast. " As Shanina explained more, there was a feeling that her stress is slowly being lifted. But not fully, only about a teensy twenty per cent.

"I see..." William answered, confirming he was listening to her. 

"One day, when I was walking around town collecting leaves as a pastime, I got into trouble with one of the Village's common gangster. He was being rude to me and made fun of my mother and sister and how my father is good for nothing who can't pay him the money he owned. Threatening me, the gangster decided to kidnap me but my sister who was having her term break noticed the commotion and came to me. The gangster obviously angry, decided to pick on my sister instead. As I was a kid, I was too innocent on why did my sister followed the gangster. As I was left alone, I went home and took a nap after doing more chores. Hours later, my sister still hasn't shown up. I got worried and tried to call my sister using my old busted handphone, nothing. 

I waited for hours and hours, not being able to recall the time, I think it was late midnight or something. She returned. Her hair was roughened and her clothing was dirty and black. Something bad might had happened. Her face was black and blue and her arms had soft scratches. She looked like she was attacked by a wild animal or something, that's what my younger self thought. Even though, how many times I asked my sister back then that if she was alright, she would always give me a threatening stare. 

Soon after, she quitted college and always came home late. She started ignoring me and my mother and would be gone for days and weeks. When she does come back, she would chuck cash onto my mum's face and pretend as nothing happened. She would give me some but as I grew older, the sum grew less. So I had to steal from shops or beg." Shanina held her hand tightly as she was holding onto something, probably her tears. 

"Then?" William asked as she pats her shoulder, caressing her slowly.

"Then, one day. My father came back. He was angry with my mother for not being responsible and got into a huge fight. Both of them fought, one was high and the other was insane. Black and blue with spots of blood all over, the shouting stopped. I uncovered my ears as I hid in my room's cupboard.

My father found me in my hiding spot and apologised to me so many times. My father probably left my mother with a divorce paper and took me with him, with agreement from court probably. My mother was left killing herself slowly with this bad stuff while being supported by my minimum wages sister who was also abandoned as she was part of my mother's family side more than my father's. I guess he loved me more than the other two after the change. He forced me to study from everything from A B C to calculus. I followed this path and managed to join a military training camp. He was one of the teacher's of the boot camp, probably from a work change due to years of being missing. Training for a few years for the camp, The Happening happened. Thinking it was all for nothing, I gave up crying to myself every night, I was alone and I was confused, just like the rest of the other campers. 

Till one day, when a familiar General was visiting our camp with only four female boot camp teachers regulating.

She gave us hard tests which tested our limits. Me thinking it was probably part of a secret operative, I had hope for once and did my best and I did. I managed to get the familiar general's attention and she recruited me and a few others, though they were separated to other wings of the base. 

And there is now, the recollection of the only male who somehow survived and now we have to deal with terrorist which our familiar General was related to. Sighs~" 

As William listened on to her explanation, he realised she actually spoke in a normal tone for once, not her typical monotoned and bland voice. She had an actual German-Russian Accent which was equally coarse and fluid.

"Damn, I didn't know you had that bad of a life. I feel guilty about this. My life was all about people doing things for me even though I wanted to do things myself. Yours, however, is really deep and dark. I feel sorry for you." William told.

"It's alright, don't be." She said as she made a small smile. "It was the past anyway, I'm only going to think about the future now and what is coming next. 

William smiled and nodded. 

After they conversed for a little while longer, both of them walked back to the base. They met up with Sherrinford, Chau-Min and Reina as they hung out in the mess hall. Either talking, listening to music or staying quiet and minding their own business. Whatever the case, they still considered each other friends and buddies in the Military aspect.