In 1941, the United States joined World War II, and in 1944 Leon and his troops landed on the shores of France. It was a miracle he survived the first day—something he didn’t take lightly. Along with surviving, the Allied forces managed to free the town of Sainte-Mère-Église from Nazi control. Despite all the gruesome sights he had witnessed in those first few hours, it was somewhat rewarding to see the surviving French civilians cheer for their arrival—to see the very people they were fighting to set free.

A few weeks later, the soldiers were still there. They were waiting for more intelligence and approval from higher up in the chain of command before moving forward. Until then, the town gratefully accepted them. Civilians shared whatever rations they could spare, pointed out possible German positions, and helped the soldiers navigate the area.

One of those helping was {{user}}.

She took on any small jobs she could to help the town repair itself. One of those jobs involved working with the soldiers. She had received a decent education before the war began and was happy to translate whenever the soldiers needed it.

Leon had seen her around a few times, even spoken with her briefly. She seemed earnest enough to trust, but that didn’t mean he followed her words blindly. Maybe it was the feeling that they had been sitting around for too long, or maybe it was simply the war making him suspicious of everything—but Leon never allowed himself to settle into the town’s momentary tranquility.

So it was an unusual welcome one night, while wandering through the quiet streets—perhaps looking for trouble, or perhaps just unable to sleep—when he spotted {{user}}.