[M] Seer's Fate (Saito and Soldierscowgirl)

[SouthernBelle]

M for Violence, and the blood and gore that accompanies it, excessive language, use of alcohol, and possible adult situations.

"Fate is normally set in stone, Charity, but you can change that fate." Charity's dad would always tell her. "Only problem is if anyone knows what you can do they'll turn you into a lab rat any you'll never help anyone else ever again. Never tell anyone what you can do. If you do you'll no longer be able to help."

Charity had lived by her father's rules her entire life. The things she saw that she could change without anyone knowing she had anything to do with it, she would. When she was a senior in highschool her father came up with a system for her to draw out what she saw without leaving any trace of herself on the drawings. Any crimes that she saw she would send the notepad into the police station, though it took a while before they took any of it seriously. She knew there was even a search going on for her. After they heard of a program where drawings could be compared and it could tell if the artist was the same or not she stopped drawing anything that wasn't from a vision. The few times she did draw something else she would lock the drawings away in a safe so no one could ever see them.

The system worked, up until her parents died going to try and save someone. That was the thing, she only got certain visions, she couldn't help everyone. She figured it was because the visions she got were things that needed to be changed. Events that needed to be stopped. There never was a connection between visions until she started to see visions of SEAL team 27. Once the visions of the team started, they just kept coming. It took her a while to track down where the team was located. She needed to find a way to let them know, to prevent the ambushes, torture, and death from happening. That's why she got the visions, right?

So she moved close to where they were stationed and found out who the higher in command was. She set up her new home to where there was a room where she would draw in only. On the inside of the door there were several boxes of latex gloves, of which she wore two, and a box of hair nets. Once she drew the notepads up, which were like giant flip books of the coming events, she would put them in an envelope inside of another envelope and then go to different post offices and would put on more gloves pulling the inner envelope from the outer one. She would use stamps to mail the envelope so she never stepped food in the post office and her name or face was never registered on anything. Finding the address to send the envelopes to took a little longer then she liked, but once she found it she sent in the notepads the same day she had the vision just in case.

Once settled she got a job at a local bar where the team would hang out at every now and then. For months she would see someone missing, or notice an injury being covered up and anger would fill her because her warnings were being ignored. But after a month or two she noticed someone must've taken an interest in her drawings because the fate of the team had changed. When someone was supposed to have been seriously injured, they weren't. When someone was supposed to have been captured, they were still there. She couldn't have been happier with the outcome of it all. She felt she was doing something good for the world. Helping in a way no one else could.

[Saito]

Michael and the squad had just returned back home from their last mission. As he walked towards his favorite bar hee replayed the mission over and over in his head, and he couldn't believe it. The intel on the mission was spot on, but something was bothering him. The intel was almost too perfect. Everything from the layout of the compound, to the troop sizes, even the locations of specific enemies, Intel was never that good. He was trained to adapt to situations in combat, but this past mission everything was planned out perfectly. He should have been thankful, but something was worring him. If any nation had the power to know that much detail about their enemies, he was afraid of what they may do.

He was nearing the bar by this point, he hadn't told his squad where he was going. Tonight he wanted some time to himself. He had been brought into the squad a few missions back after his last squad was lost in a firefight. The story of the mission had been passed around and he had recieved the nickname Reaper. It was a bad omen to have that nickname, it usually meant death followed the person given the title. He was doing everything he could to loose the title given to him but everything he tried only made his squad more insistent on keeping it. He walked into the bar and took a seat at the counter as he thought about the name.

He looked around the bar to see who was working tonight. He had hoped Charity was working, but it seemed no one was behind the bar at the moment. He had noticed her a few times but never had the chance to talk to her other than a quick introduction, however the squad had insisted that she refer to him as Reaper, since that's how everyone else refered to him.

[SouthernBelle]

Charity took a deep breath as she finished loading her tray up with more glasses. The bar had just opened and there wouldn't be too many people yet, not for another hour or so. She pushed the swinging door open with her butt as she walked backwards into the main bar carrying the tray over to the counter. When she saw Reaper she smiled. They must have just gotten back from their mission, not that she could let him know that she knew that.

Reaper was one of the nicer of the group in her opinion, though she wasn't really all that sure why they called him Reaper. Or why they insisted she call him that, though he didn't seem to put up all that big of a fight so she figured he was okay with the nickname.

"Hey, Reaper, haven't seen you in a while." She smiled as she put the glasses away quickly and then walked over wiping her hands off with a towel. "Can I get you something?"

She always asked what people wanted, even if she knew their normal order. She glanced around the bar, the live band was setting up, but otherwise Reaper was one of maybe five customers.

[Saito]

Michael looked up when he hear his name called, well one of his names at least. He saw Charitie's smiling face and he showed a small smile. He had always thought she was rather beautiful, but he didn't believe she thought the same as him. She asked him if he wanted a drink and he thought about what he wanted. He wanted to say how about your number to start with and we'll see where that goes. But he was sure that would just make a fool out of him and that would follow him for longer than he wanted. Instead he just ordered a drink. "Hey Charity, can I get a whiskey over ice please? And if you want you can call me Michael, Reaper wasn't my choice in nicknames."

He kept thinking back to the mission that gave him the nickname. A lot had happened, he lost friends during that mission and it weighed heavily on him. He hoped that the whiskey would help the memories subside. He looked over at the band setting up. "Looks like it's not going to be a quiet night. How's the place been holding up? Anything interesting happen while we were gone?" He was trying to start up a conversation trying to get his memories to recede back into his subconscious, and perhaps he could get to know her a little better.

[SouthernBelle]

Charity grabbed a bottle of whiskey and dropped a few ice cubes in a glass before pouring in the whiskey. She set it in front of him and smiled a little.

"Micheal it is then. You're friends always seemed very insistent on the nickname. I figured you didn't mind it." She smiled apologetically as she put the whiskey bottle away and poured a draft beer for another of the people sitting at the bar before moving back over to where she could talk to him while keeping an eye on everyone else. "It'll pick up in a few hours, it's usually this slow this early, but give it an hour or two and I'll be running like a chicken without a head. Though I wouldn't mind if we had a slowly night."

Most nights she got home around two thirty and her feet always felt like they were about to fall off. She walked back home, only living about ten minutes away from the bar in a small little cabin overlooking the beach. Her parents had owned it and left it to her, and she liked to walk the beach home, enjoying the scent of the ocean. It helped calm her down and always made her sleep better.

"Nothing too interesting has happened, I think a new bunch of sailors moved to this base because there have been a lot of new people I've never seen before. Normally it's just our regulars, but here lately there have been a bunch of new faces." She replied as she leaned back against the back counter and watched him take a sip of his whiskey. "Where are all the others? Whenever y'all are gone for a while you all tend to come in together."

[Saito]

Michael drank the whiskey slowly, he felt it warm his stomach, a feeling he had always enjoyed. Charity asked about the squad and he shook his head. "I'm sure they'll be here shortly, I believe they're storing their gear away before the drop by. I dropped off my pack back at my place and went for a walk to try to clear my head and ended up here." Michael lived off the base down by the ocean. He never liked handouts, even if it was given because of his job. His parents always taught him to be self reliant, to the point that asking for help bothered him. He knew it was foolish to have that mindset, but still it was the way he was raised. His parents had died shortly after he had graduated high school and the money they left him he had given away to charity but the money he earned packing up and selling the house made him enough to purchase a beach front property that needed some work. In the past few years he had fixed the place up to the point it had nearly doubled the value of what he bought it for and he had done most of the repairs himself.

He took another sip of his drink and asked charity about the new faces. "So you think these new guys are fresh from basic? Or do you think they were assigned here after a cruise at sea. And biggest question of all. Are any of them worth their weight, or are they just squids? If they give you any trouble let me know I'm sure I can...talk to them." Too many times he had seen fresh recruits get a big head and cause problems in the past at other places. He would hate to see Charity go through the same headaches others have.

He took another sip and started to feel a little better as the memories started to recede. He turned his neck hearing it crack and he leaned forward onto the bar. "You got a bouncer for tonight in case some patrons get a little out of hand with the live music tonight? Cause you need I could stick around to help out, free of charge."

[SouthernBelle]

"Naw, Billy is sick, but we can handle it. I won't object to you sticking around if you want to though." She replied with a smile as she leaned back against the bar again. "I think a lot of them are probably newbies, I've seen my share of weathered sailors and most of these aren't them. They are too cocky, too high and mighty about what they are. Don't get me wrong most military boys are both, but it's a little less in your face once they've been in a while."

She watched a crowd slowly start to trickle in and she straightened up. She had taken care of several fights on her own before, but it was always nice to have backup.

"It'll take a little more time before I can tell you if they are worth their weight." She smiled

[Saito]

Michael sat back and crossed his arms when she spoke about most military boys being cocky. "I have to ask. Is that how you see me? I'm interested in finding out what you see when you look at me, am I cocky and high and mighty? Please tell me the truth." He really was interested what she thought of him. She was someone that saw many people and he was wondering if she saw him as a reaper. He was afraid that his nickname may be changing him. On the last mission he thought he had sensed a change and it frightened him.

When she said she didn't mind him sticking around he could help but smile. He removed his pistol and it's holder from his belt and placed it on the bar counter. "If you don't mind holding this behind the counter I would be very greatful. Last thing I would want is to try to break up a fight and someone grabs my sidearm. That could lead to some problems." The gun was not a normally military issued side arm but it was his, and he had permission to use it in the field. It was a colt 1911 with a dual layered clip that held 14 rounds. However if he was to help out this evening that meant he wouldn't be able to drink anymore. A small disadvantage but one he didn't mind if it helped out. He finished the whiskey quickly and placed it close to the back of the bar. "Looks like I'll have to switch water or cranberry juice from now on." He changed to a stool closer to the wall and leaned against it while sitting in the stool. From there he could keep an eye on the entire bar. He turned to Charity with a small smile. "If you need any help with someone just give me a sign and I will do what I can."

[SouthernBelle]

Charity took the gun setting it in the safe that was under the counter next to her Springfield S .45. She locked the safe back and stood up glancing at him as she pondered his question.

"No, you don't really fit in with how most military guys act. I don't know what it is. But you seem more confident then cocky, like you know what you are capable of and you don't fill you need to let the whole world known unless the need arises." She replied as she grabbed a cup and filled it up with some cranberry juice setting it in front of him. "You're a rare kind of military person, like you aren't trying to show off, you're just doing your job."

"Hey, Bar Keep, can I get some beer?" Someone called from down the bar. She quickly walked down to where he was and got his beer setting it in front of him. The room started to fill up and she was suddenly very busy filling orders and making sure she had enough cups for the night.

[Saito]

Michael watched as Charity walked to the far end of the bar to serve a customer, he took a drink of the juice and sat it down as he thought about what she had said. He was glad that he wasn't seen as having an over inflated ego, though he wasn't all that happy to hear the patron be so rude to her. He scanned the room seeing the crowed grow slightly larger when he heard someone shout at him from the doorway. "Reaper! So this is where you've been hiding!" Michael sighed recognizing the voice as one of his squad mates. It was Nitro's voice. Nitro was the teams explosives expert, and Michael believed that Nitro's mouth was louder than his explosives. Shortly after Nitro enter the rest of the to squad except for the higher ranking members of the squad.

Michael turned towards the group and shook his head, "Nitro, stop shouting I'm a few feet away from you not a mile away." He turned back around and took another drink from his cranberry juice. Specs saw what Michael was drinking and started shouting, "Your drinking vodka and cranberry juice right after a mission? Man it didn't go that bad. None of us even took a hit." Specs was the last person other than Michael to join the group, he got his nickname from the coke bottle glasses he wore whenever not in the field. Michale turned back to the group and shrugged. "I like the drink. And besides I bet I could drink all three of you under the table only drinking this drink. You guys can drink all the beers you want and I'll continue to drink mine. We all put in 50 dollars winner takes all. What do you say boys...wanna test your livers against mine?" He slurred his words a bit to try to goad them into the wager.

Tex showed a huge smile on his face and said. "Hell yeah we're in, winner take all. I could use an extra hundred fifty dollars." Tex got his nickname from the cowboy hat he always wore whenever he was out of uniform. When Charity came back over Michael told her about the wager and handed her the $200. "So these three can drink beer but I have to continue to drink what's in this cup. Do you think you could hold on to the winnings until the winner is announced?" He winked at Charity with a sly smile on his face.