MidReal Story
Legacy of the Unborn Warriors
Scenario: история про боевых големов которые управляются еще не рожденными детьми, и судьбу этих детей после рождения — когда они уже демобилизованы и испытывают ПТСР и остракизм со стороны общества
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I’m not sure what I expected to find when I walked into the support group.
Maybe a room full of people like me, all of us broken in our own way.
Or maybe a room full of people who had it worse, so I could feel better about my own problems.
What I didn’t expect was to see Marcus Tane sitting in the circle, his eyes already on me as I walked through the door.
He was the last person I’d expected to see here, and for a moment, my heart stopped in my chest.
I hadn’t seen him in over a year, not since he’d left without saying goodbye.
Not since he’d left me without saying goodbye.
I forced myself to look away from him and found an empty chair on the other side of the circle.
I sat down and folded my hands in my lap, staring at them as if they held all the answers to the questions that had brought me here tonight.
I’d been through a lot of shit in my life, but nothing had ever made me want to run away as much as this moment.
I felt like Marcus’s presence here was an accusation, a reminder of everything that had gone wrong between us and that I’d never been able to fix.
It was the last thing I needed right now, and I wondered if it was too late to get up and leave before the meeting even started.
The door opened, and a petite woman stepped inside, a stack of folders tucked under her arm.
She had bright blue eyes and long, wavy brown hair, and she looked more like a college student than a psychologist who specialized in working with former golem pilots like us.
She set the folders down on the table in the center of the circle and turned to face the rest of us, smiling warmly.
“Good evening, everyone.” She cleared her throat and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
“I’m Dr. Livia Krell, and I’ll be leading the group tonight.”
She looked around the room, her eyes meeting mine briefly before she continued.
“I want to thank you all for being here tonight.It’s not easy to admit when you need help, but I promise that this is a safe space for all of us.
For those who are new, I’d like to start by going around the room and introducing ourselves.”
“Oh, I think we all know each other just fine.” The man sitting next to Marcus gave him a pointed look, but Marcus didn’t even flinch.
He was used to people reacting that way when they saw him for the first time.
He’d been called all sorts of names over the years—“monster” being one of the nicest—and he’d never let any of it bother him.
I knew it wasn’t easy for him, though, which was why he’d spent most of his life hiding from the rest of the world.
At least until now.
“Let’s start over here.” Livia motioned to the person sitting next to her and went around the room, letting everyone introduce themselves one by one.
When it was finally my turn, I kept my eyes trained on the table in front of me.
“My name is Elara Voss.”
“And how are you doing today, Elara?”
“I’m fine, thank you.” I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to be honest or just give a polite answer, so that was the best I could do.
But I knew that “fine” was a lie, and I wondered if she could tell.
She didn’t say anything, though, and the silence stretched on before she finally turned her attention back to the person next to me.
Once we were all finished with our introductions, she picked up one of the folders on the table and opened it.
“Before we get started, there’s something that I think you all need to know.”
The door opened, and a tall man stepped inside.
This one, I recognized on sight.
He had a muscular build and sharp features, but it was the scar that ran down the left side of his face that made him stand out.
In fact, he’d been one of the best—the golden boy of the program, everyone liked to call him.
Livia looked up from the folder in her hands and gave him a tight smile.
“Marcus Tane, right on time.I was starting to think you weren’t going to show up.”
She motioned for him to take a seat in one of the empty chairs, but he didn’t move.
“I couldn’t miss this for the world.”
The room went quiet as everyone turned to look at him, and Marcus’s gaze locked on mine.
I stared back at him, trying not to let my emotions show on my face.
It had been over a year since we’d last seen each other, and yet I felt like no time had passed at all.
The last time we’d been in the same room together, it had been under the worst possible circumstances.
The war had just ended, and we’d thought that we were finally going to get our lives back.
But that was before the government had made their decision—before they’d told us we’d be decommissioned along with our golems as if we were just another piece of outdated military equipment.
I still remembered what it had been like standing in that room with all those other pilots while the general had droned on about our options, as if any of them were acceptable.
But there was only one option that really mattered, and I’d known it even then.
I couldn’t live without my golem, and I couldn’t live with the knowledge of what they’d done to her, either.
I’d wanted to scream and cry and rage against the unfairness of it all, but doing any of those things would have meant showing weakness in front of the rest of them—in front of Marcus.
So I’d swallowed down my grief and anger like a bitter pill and waited for the general to finish what he was saying so I could leave this place behind for good.
But I hadn’t been able to leave until I knew where Marcus stood on all this, too.
I’d tried to catch his eye, but he hadn’t even looked at me, and then he’d walked out the door without saying a word or even looking back, leaving me alone with the others and all the pain swirling inside me.
It had taken everything I had not to break down right there in front of them all, and every moment since then had felt like a struggle just to keep myself together.
But here we were more than a year later, and nothing had changed in that regard.
If anything, the pain was even worse now.
The room was so quiet I could hear the sound of my own breathing, and I forced myself to look away from Marcus, staring down at the table as if it held some great secret.
Livia was looking at him with an expression that was somewhere between amusement and exasperation.
“I didn’t realize we were having a reunion tonight, but if you two need a few minutes alone…”
Marcus cleared his throat and finally took a seat next to me, his shoulders stiff with tension.
“Sorry about that,” he mumbled, avoiding my gaze.
“It’s good to see you again.”
The words were polite enough on the surface, but there was something strained in his voice, something almost desperate like he was trying to convince himself of something he wasn’t quite sure about yet.
When she turned her attention back to me, I was surprised by how bright her eyes were in the dim light of the room.
“I’m Livia Krell,” she said.
“I’m a psychologist for the Department of War Veterans, but I’m here as a member of the group just like you.
Everything we talk about here is confidential.
Whatever you say stays within these four walls.”
I nodded, but my gaze was still fixed on Marcus’ face.
Even with the scar that ran across his cheekbone and down his jawline, he was still the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life.
I wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch him, but I kept my hands folded neatly on the table in front of me and forced myself to focus on what Livia was saying.
“I know that we have a new person here tonight,” she continued.
“So thank you for coming.”
The woman who had been sitting next to Marcus got up from her seat in the corner and moved over to sit next to a large bald man on the other side of the room.
Livia glanced over at Marcus again.
“And obviously, there’s an old face here that we weren’t expecting as well.”
She tried to give us a smile that was more apologetic than anything else.
“I know I said that everything we talk about here is confidential, but just so you don’t get any ideas, I do not have any more dirt on Marcus than you do, so don’t even bother asking me about it.”
A few of the others laughed at that, but it was short-lived, cut off by Livia’s expression when she realized that Marcus was not among them.
“I’m sorry,” he said, clearing his throat again.
I didn’t mean to interrupt.
Please go on.”
She looked at him for a moment longer before nodding curtly and continuing with what she’d been saying.
We’re going to start by going around the room, just like always, but before we do…”
Her gaze flicked over to where Marcus was sitting, his leg bouncing anxiously under the table in a way that I knew meant he was nervous as hell, even if he was trying his best not to show it.
He’d always been like that—always ready and eager for action, but he never liked waiting around for it.
It put him on edge in a way that no one else would ever be able to detect unless they knew him as well as I did.
“Does anyone have anything they’d like to share with the group?”
Livia asked, but no one said anything, so she nodded and took a deep breath.
Her eyes met mine again, and there was something in them that made me want to look away, something that I couldn’t quite define.
I’m just going to start by saying that it’s been a tough week for me, and I’m really glad that we’re all here together.”
Several of the others nodded, but I just sat there, watching them.
The room was a mix of familiar faces and new ones, all of them with their own stories about what they’d seen during the war.
For a while it had seemed as if we were all starting to heal a little bit, but that was before the government announced that they were going to decommission all the golems, too.
It felt like a betrayal of everything we’d ever fought for.
Golems were gone now, but the memories of what those machines had done would stay with us forever.
I know that things are hard right now, but I promise you all that we will get through this together,” Livia said.
With the support of each other, we can move forward, so let’s start by going around the room.”
