Jack paused again, he was going to tell it anyway, regardless, but he'd give the boy a moment to recover. He was clearly about to start crying...which was fine, but Jack knew himself too well...he would touch him. Take him in his arms and hold him like a child-protect him. That's what soldiers do...what they were supposed to do...not...
"You remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, you know? I might seem cool now but I was a real firebrand at your age. Well, when I was your age, our country had its last great conflict and every Soldier of age was called in. Things went well for awhile. Most place saw us coming and they would surrender. We rarely had to actually fight and when we did it was over fairly quickly. This is what we were born for, trained our lives for...except...things started changing...very quickly."
He swallowed.
"They started asking more of us. Not just taking strongholds. Not just retaking what was ours...but pressing further. We had them on the run...but the enemy leaders were hiding in a village. A small, beautiful mountain town. They wanted to send me in alone and kill everyone, you know, make an example of the place. I didn't want to. There were innocent people there. Well, too bad, they said a Soldier does what it is told and they..."
His own voice cracked at that.
"They have a...a serum. They call it something quaint like "Doctor's Orders" and it...it makes us run on auto-pilot, Soldiers, I mean. No hesitation, no mercy...no human element at all. They just pumped me full of it and dropped me there. I don't remember a thing after hitting the pavement. I know I woke up in a military hospital with a media circus and a lot of medals pinned on my uniform."
He sighed.
"I sure didn't feel heroic. I felt sick. I...I didn't question anything again. I was a good Soldier and when the war was over...I came home and never wanted to go back...but...I know what it's like to be forced into things you don't want. I might have been raised with a silver spoon in my mouth but I know how it got there."
no subject
"Okay...alright. See? No touching."
He paused a moment.
"Did I hurt you? Is there an injury I can't see?"
Aside from the obvious one on the boy's heart.
"May I tell you a story? Yuri?"
Jack paused again, he was going to tell it anyway, regardless, but he'd give the boy a moment to recover. He was clearly about to start crying...which was fine, but Jack knew himself too well...he would touch him. Take him in his arms and hold him like a child-protect him. That's what soldiers do...what they were supposed to do...not...
"You remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, you know? I might seem cool now but I was a real firebrand at your age. Well, when I was your age, our country had its last great conflict and every Soldier of age was called in. Things went well for awhile. Most place saw us coming and they would surrender. We rarely had to actually fight and when we did it was over fairly quickly. This is what we were born for, trained our lives for...except...things started changing...very quickly."
He swallowed.
"They started asking more of us. Not just taking strongholds. Not just retaking what was ours...but pressing further. We had them on the run...but the enemy leaders were hiding in a village. A small, beautiful mountain town. They wanted to send me in alone and kill everyone, you know, make an example of the place. I didn't want to. There were innocent people there. Well, too bad, they said a Soldier does what it is told and they..."
His own voice cracked at that.
"They have a...a serum. They call it something quaint like "Doctor's Orders" and it...it makes us run on auto-pilot, Soldiers, I mean. No hesitation, no mercy...no human element at all. They just pumped me full of it and dropped me there. I don't remember a thing after hitting the pavement. I know I woke up in a military hospital with a media circus and a lot of medals pinned on my uniform."
He sighed.
"I sure didn't feel heroic. I felt sick. I...I didn't question anything again. I was a good Soldier and when the war was over...I came home and never wanted to go back...but...I know what it's like to be forced into things you don't want. I might have been raised with a silver spoon in my mouth but I know how it got there."