"It isn't real," he confirms, though there's a brittle edge to his voice. "But it was."

He turns to Wrathion, pointing at the bodies. "These were my brothers. This was our first deployment. It doesn't get any better from here." This was where Chopper got his face blown open. If he went looking, he might eventually find dead men from his platoon.

But he won't. It's not real. It's not fading, though. What was it going to take to get this place out of his head?