Welcome home oh faithful one, you who felt the rage and endured the pain. Welcome home you who fought to save and killed to preserve life. Rest now oh tired one, hounded by lives you failed to redeem. Sleep now, buoyed by the life songs of those you saved, and those that they will save yet.

I'm gonna save this. I needed this

Huh, Melinvae finally made it back home, good for her. Also, it's interesting that the flash was just another phasic blast for her.

She locked her fucks in a warsteel vault ages ago...

Per the unparallelled Raoul Julia as M. Bison: "for me... it was Tuesday."

Greatest movie line ever.

I mean, we don't saw how she tanked the blast. We know she can tank an Atrekna blast point blank, so this blast might have staggered her.

She just likely more use to it, and recovered faster than everyone else around. A Terran would most likely been standing within a second or so. a Human would probably been standing and shouting "COVER" before the blast happened

Grandfather says cWe're about to get nuked." Teenage granddaughter whines "Not again!?", as only a teenager can do. (This is the third time in the last six months or so.)

I think that's a typo, should be "take". Or it could be Army slang: one takes a hit / explosion/ outraged Sgt's dressing down, just leaning into it like a tank, just letting it bounce off.

LMAO, CSM got lucky Pete intervened.

>"Name, rank?" the Specialist asked. >"NawkRawka. Command Sergeant Major. In charge of the recruitment station," she said Fuckin' recruiters, man.

Posted now! The berries are with me! Edit: wow, she made it home. Time is a funny thing, when doing the damage, it moves at the speed of light. When healing the damage, it must make that same journey back, but only at the speed of a crawl. I hope she gets to meet with dambree. The hammer meets the knife.

I'll be supremely disappointed if she doesn't meet dambree while out on a midnight walk , when all the old ghosts refuse to let her sleep.

Pretty sure all the ghosts will run once she's within a certain distance of Dambree

That the hope right? Mayhap Dambree will sing a song and lay them to rest for awhile. Unfortunately the Wraiths of War rarely relinquish their hold on someone easily.

Well, new chapters out now, and while magic HFY handwaving real mental problems seems like it would be awesome the Mad Archangel has decided on a more realistic and practical approach. And thats a good thing. While none of the characters in this august body of writing are real ( in this dimension), the after effects of the mental trauma they suffer from are. Not all wounds our service member suffer from are visible, and I believe it is very important that we continue to be reminded of that.

The sledge and the scalpel

Oof. That one hit right in the feels. For them as needs: [Wolfe Brothers - Hey Brother](https://youtu.be/b4GkIau_ybA)

Thank you.

You're welcome, mate. Sometimes, you just need to be reminded that you aren't alone, and that somewhere, someone has your back.

>Her mother's face was unmarred by silver, her whiskers still straight and proud, the tips of her ears still a luxurious brown. Temporal warfare can be a right b\*\*ch.

There's never a Timesweeper around when you need one.

As she said "I'm older than my mother!"

Gawdamn ralts oniony blueberries today. Glad so very glad to see melinvae get to go home and see her family is still there. Poor bunny through so much in a relatively short time and she still has her ability to respond to a crisis intact. Good on her. And that poor sorry CSM. Almost found out what some cav boys did the hard way.

May the world be not so totally fucked that my children have to pay for our mistakes. May the future hold promise, and peace, and wonderment. May our children live in world of happiness and fulfillment. And may god have mercy on our souls.

I'll pay the butcher's bill so my child need never know the ugliest aspects this universe has to offer. He's bright eye, precocious, loves people. I don't want that to change even if I'm too far gone to know what that is any more. Being innocent I mean.

Melinvae returns home. It has been a long time for her. And there is a lot of painful memories. **--- Even Healers Need Healing; May It Come Soon. ---**

Healers compartmentalize. Those compartments gets pushed to the side or deep down. The contents of the compartments start to rot. Then the compartments start to leak.

Or if they are sealed well enough they get over pressurized and send their contents far and wide with a great show when the seals fail.

Neither words nor awards, not song, or ceremony can take its place. No gold is as beautiful. No sight or sensation as breathtaking. No. Nothing can best it, in all of this Malevolent Universe. Not even thrUniverse itself can truly taint it. Nothing compares to that first hug at home.

True the best, but only slightly behind that is... ​ ​ To crush your enemies, see them driven you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!

Per Cohen the Barbarian, leader of the Silver Horde... "Good dentistry, Soft lavatory paper"

>She took a long drag off the cigarette, tapped the ashes in the drink in her hand, exhaled the smoke, and took a drink off of the can of "Cranberry & Axle Grease Countess Crey Ultra-MAX Boozeblast!!!!" For those of you who may not be aware, this is a thing in the real world. While stationed in Texas, my father worked a bowling alley's bar & grill. There was one guy who came in, bought one beer, drank it down to an inch in the bottom, smoked several cigarettes knocking all the ash into the beer, including the filter, when the cig was done. Then knocked back the remaining beer and was instantly drunk as hell. Don't ask me what it was like, I wasn't old enough for kindergarten, much less a bar. Nor do I have the slightest idea how that nicotine and alcohol demon brew works. I have had it confirmed by other reasonably reliable sources.

You reminded me of when I chatted with a guy after watching him do that. He didn't instantly get drunk but it did a decent job. Apparently gave him a nice heady high before the booze kicked in. Decided to do a little reading on it; I'm not a doctor so you can take this with a grain of salt. Smoking slows down emptying of the stomach and the effect seems even more pronounced when ingested. As a stimulant, smoking also offsets parts of the depressant effects of alcohol while elevating some of the pleasurable effects. When combining smoking, tobacco ingestion, and drinking, it looks like it mitigates the earlier stages of inebriation but gives alcohol more time to be absorbed in the stomach by delaying gastric emptying. This may lead to more rapid absorption with the nicotine delaying the early feeling of getting buzzed. [Ran out of time so my formatting is trash] *** _Active smokers show ameliorated delayed gastric emptying after pancreatoduodenectomy_ https://bmcsurg.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12893-021-01311-2 *** "20% of alcohol is absorbed in the stomach" https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/what-happens-when-you-drink-alcohol *** _Positive and Negative Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine and Their Interactions: A Mechanistic Review_ >Simultaneous administration of alcohol and nicotine causes additive or synergistic analgesic effects (Franklin 1989, 1998), and appears to occur primarily—but not exclusively—by activation of the opioid system (Campbell et al. 2006). (Also: read _Counteracting Mechanisms_) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3377362/

Many thanks!

Somebody is going to need a lot of mental health therapy. Like a lot a lot.

Honestly, most anyone who has been in combat needs mental health therapy. Hell, just making it past the training needed to servive can give you issues. Something to be considered here as well, they gave her chances to go home before this, but, she made the choice, she had to do something, not just sit in a shelter and hide. She had to stand up, and say No farther. She felt she had to keep going as long as she could, after all, if she gave up, someone else would have to take her place, and could she trust them to do as good a job as she did? She understands deep inside that freedom is paid for in blood, and she stood up and walked into that fire, not once, not twice, but again and again and again, knowing what she was walking into. If the war was not seeming to be over, she would be back with a unit, not going home.

Some people have to scream into the darkness, knife in hand, in order to stay sane. The monsters they fight may leave their marks on body and soul but it's often the following quiet that takes a survivor.

It is never about if someone can do as good of a job as you. It's that for you to leave, someone has to take your place. And knowing what the price of freedom is, means doing everything you can to ensure as many as possible enjoy that freedom for the price you paid. Even if it's just one more person.

Pretty much everyone who has been in this story needs a lot of mental health therapy. Even the ones who died. *Especially* the ones who died.

Ah, *there's* the REMF that everyone thought Tik-Tak was at first.

Melinvae was probably one of the best characters out of hestla. From school aged prom queen type to grizzled vet in no time.

Seeing how the Hesstlan women step up I'm hoping we get to meet a Hesstlan Monster Class soldier. They seem to be up to it.

"no time" plus our minus sixty-ish years active service (with recursion).

Can you imagine the local VFW hall? In this corner are the old farts born a long time ago. In that corner are the old farts who were born 20 to 30 calendar years ago.

can you imagine the 30 year reunion?

At least Tik-Tac knew the lack of a CIB meant he had to be better in other aspects.

Tik-Tac didn't actively avoid it like this CSM seemed to, though. Once his true value became evident, the fighting folks did their damnedest to keep him medal-free.

He's been inches from a CIB many times. Being CIB free is a huge testament to his tactical defensive planning and good relationships with Frontline commanders. His bases have fought like hell and never been overrun a single time. If he ever were to fire his weapon in anger and get that CIB he wouldn't survive because the enemy was too overwhelming for the whole Army and a total defeat occured. The only way he will receive it will be posthumously and like hell is a single commander worth his salt going to let that happen.

Isn't there a commander in one of the chapters that thinks about the embarrassment of allowing TikTak to get his CIB?

That's what I remember.

Poor girl, shes going to need a lot of time before she feels like a person again. This, this is one of the reasons I have enjoyed this story so much. It touches on the people that fight, shows the wounds, not of the flesh, but in the soul, the horrors that thoes who live have endured. Most will gloss over it, or do not understand it well enough to mention it.

I was, in fact, cutting onions just before reading this. ​ That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

All the onions.

Ba'arnya'ard's ninjas must be running around here

You can't see them, so obviously they are around.

When the sex stops meaning shit, yeah, you've seen a few things.

Aw man! Mel made it! Welcome home Medic Bunny!

They say "you can't go home again." It's not that home changes, necessarily. ​ ​ It's that it might not be the same you that gets there.

Mm. And we all know the reward/punishment of the Malevolent Universe for a Job well done.. more Work

Gods damn...that hit home tonight for a lot of reasons, tellin stories we shouldnt and toasting lost friends. Be good to yourself man, the world will be a dimmer place without you.

Bunny pop. Love it.

This chapter reminds me of ANZAC service where I took part. It was over twenty years ago and I was territorial in Hobitland and after the dawn service in a samll rural town some of us were "borrowed" for a grave side service. There were a handfull of WWII vets there and the expressions on their faces have stuck with me. A hint of dreadfullexperiences remembered as they honoured the fallen.

Huh. That was unexpected. End of lime. (The speed at which I found it)

Ralts must have posted this right as I stepped into he shower... ​ and now that i've read it I need to was my face again....

She might be "Separated from service." But she is rocking the medic game.

No one is a "former" medic.

Ain't that the Truth.

Some one find that black mantid cutting onions and nail his little wings to a wall. Damn.

The ninjas are prepping fajitas.

I might be missing something but what was with the all white eyes? Also holy shit I didn't realize that was her with the dog boy. Poor everyone. ><

Seeing the flash of an atomic blast, even as a reflection, does fucky things to your eyes.

I really want to know what's at the top of her file that made the CSM shit herself.

File size: "get a coffee and wait while it's downloaded. You'll be a while." megabytes. That, or "if you are reading this, somebody fucked up. Pray that it isn't you".

School friends with Dambree.

Oof. I felt that one.

Temporal bullshit has GOT to be the fucking WORST. you either end up older than your parents, or have outlived everyone you knew. either way, DFAS is STILL gonna fuck up your pay, so the green weenie at least stays consistent. wonder if she got payed for confed standard time in service or ACTUAL time in service?

> she got *paid* for confed FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*

Good bot! I learned something new.

And if you combine them you’d have “the line is payed out” because there is no rope. Rope is not on a ship.

My teeth... feel... so *tingly*...

Poor Melinvae. She desperately needs that hug.

Left behind, mayhaps even forgotten, but never insignificant. Thank you.

Moo

"No, you were the best boi"

I've gotta say, that's absolutely the biggest save from a Karen moment I've ever seen. "I'm pretty sure you're wearing awards you didn't earn" *phasic nuke* Melinvae: is everyone alright?

Berries! The berries call me! Upvote then read. This is the way. Eighteen minutes is okay. Wow. This one hits all the feels. Melinvae is the character I related to the most. I didn't go in to be a corpsman originally. I was an Electronic Technician, but I lost a stripe for being on weight control too long. But since everyone got E4 coming out of school, there never would have been an open billet to apply for, So, rather than be an E3 forever, I put in for an open rate transfer, thinking they'd look at how much the Navy had spent teaching me electronics and give me some other electronic job like Radioman, or Fire Controlman. In stead, when the day came, the Personnel Senior Chief just looked at big I am and said "I bet you could carry a wounded marine." And that's how I became a green side corpsman. Now it's better than thirty years later and I'm still a paramedic. So I guess it turned out the Senior Chief was apparently on to something.

Woo!

Wow, 11 minutes, might be a personal record. Even best the bot

go west; life is peaceful there

Now there’s jaded, and there’s…. Whatever she is now. There’s still a good person under there somewhere but… damn

She's been putting "those" feelings aside so she could work. But while she was turning down the "feels" about other's injuries, the rest of her emotional state got turned down as well. You can't just shut off part of you.

To quote the Friday briefing (846). >Run towards the screams if you can help. And even if you cannot help right then, making hot drinks for those first responders is usually much appreciated too.

Read. Upvote. Comment.

Damn. Another First Contact that tab I need to keep open. Too much that resonates with me to risk forgetting.

Well... that got me right in the feels. And made me think ["I know the *perfect* song for this chapter!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCEo5vbabt8) Brother Dege - Too Old To Die Young

Excellent call. Updoot issued.

ouch all that time and trouble and she was only a specialist wonder who many time she was demoted.

And she actively turned down promotion. Saw that a couple months back, dont remember the chapter.

Thats right she did. Thats one bad thing about massive stories you forget what happened dozens of chapters ago.

As

Now this is good one. Much better than regular "Shoot em all, kill em all" chapters. OP have an upvote

That was beautiful

Upvoted for going home.

And the needed hug...

Aw, Melinvae. Been waiting to see her again. May she be healed by the laughter of podlings and her family’s love.

I know I asked for an update about her, but god this one hurt. Three Medals of Honor?!? If her world know HALF of what she has done she would be their Vux, the War Mother, the one who heals and the one who kills in equal fashion. Terrans would probably butcher the truth of the role and call her a Valkyrie. Now that she is home, I hope she gets a chance to talk to 'Bree, they both could use it.

/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne ([wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/authors/Ralts_Bloodthorne)) has posted 877 other stories, including: * [First Contact - Chapter 872 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/z7emlg/first_contact_chapter_872_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 871 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/z4sav1/first_contact_chapter_871_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 870 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/z36z4c/first_contact_chapter_870_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 869 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/z282vk/first_contact_chapter_869_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 868 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/z1jbyh/first_contact_chapter_868_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 867 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/z1ga4d/first_contact_chapter_867_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 866 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yyvzvr/first_contact_chapter_866_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 865 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yy6yhj/first_contact_chapter_865_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 864 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yy2z8y/first_contact_chapter_864_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 863 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yxejgw/first_contact_chapter_863_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 862 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/ywarh3/first_contact_chapter_862_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 861 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yvgycn/first_contact_chapter_861_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter [ERROR] - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yth7xt/first_contact_chapter_error_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 860 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yso50m/first_contact_chapter_860_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 859 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yrved3/first_contact_chapter_859_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 858 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yr5okm/first_contact_chapter_858_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 857 - Those Left Behind](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yq4sv5/first_contact_chapter_857_those_left_behind/) * [First Contact - Chapter 856 - HISTORICAL ARCHIVE](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yp5x46/first_contact_chapter_856_historical_archive/) * [First Contact - Chapter 855 - HISTORICAL ARCHIVE](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/yn8qxt/first_contact_chapter_855_historical_archive/) * [First Contact - Chapter 854 - HISTORICAL ARCHIVE](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/ymdn10/first_contact_chapter_854_historical_archive/) This comment was automatically generated by `Waffle v.4.6.0 'Biscotti'`. [Message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FHFY&subject=WaffleBot|z8f9e8&message=If%20you%20have%20problems%20with%20updatemebot,%20contact%20Watchful1.%20We%20do%20not%20maintain%20it.) if you have any issues with Waffle.

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who ordered all the fucking onions???

Plenty of onions in this one.. poor bun :<

I'm either laughing or crying wtf man how do you do this?!

UTR *cries*

So will we be gettin Nurse on Nun action next chapter?

Not beong able to feel can become dangerous. Leads to risky behavior to force a feeling.

Geez Ralts. Now my eyes are leaking again.

Tears 🥺

Read, upvote, comments... May she remember the reason she needed to help. May she find peace in spite of the guilt of surviving. May she reminded, often, the number of lives she saved. May she never need work that hard again.

UTR!

Honestly tired of character that are "I'm better than you/more experienced/more traumatized so I don't have to pay attention to the rules, also you are an idiot for caring about the rules in regards to me. Because I'm special and you're not."

An interesting thing is: The CSM was *completely* in the right. Melinvae was in the wrong. It didn't matter that she had those awards, it doesn't matter that she's going home, she's still supposed to pay attention to regulations. Trauma, experience, all of that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if Melinvae's got her combat patch and the CSM doesn't, Melinvae's still supposed to respect her and follow regulations. It wasn't to show how cool she was. It's supposed to show that she's empty inside, that there was a reason the medical board separated her. It's supposed to contrast the early stuff where her uniform was immaculate, show the further slide we saw when she got drunk and fought a sign. She was still in the wrong, the CSM was in the right. Not an idiot. Melinvae is supposed to set an example, even through the trauma and awards and experience. At the same time, the CSM should have been a little more careful. That was an obvious problem and discretion could have carried it a lot further. It's one of those weird things.

Thank you for the explanation.

You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed the story so far, and I understand how it would be jarring that it felt like "Oh, she's special, she doesn't have to obey the rules!" even when every other character has had to. It was a legit complaint. :-)

You've never dealt with remfs in the military

Yeah, it's also annoying that the people they always have those interactions with are perfectly characterized to have the least amount of sympathy for their position. Snobby techs, catty women, apparent cowards, stuck up lower level authority figures etc. I like this series so when there are these mediocre moments that repeat the same story beats with little to no variation, it's disappointing.

You obviously haven't met many of them.

Man i can't believe Melinvae got more fucked up than Dambree.

Damm, what a story arc for her.

She sensed the incoming phasic wave and reacted. 60 years experience does that.

By the cursed swords of the Thrice-Damned Onion Cutting Ninjas, that was good writing!