Work Text:
It is 7:18pm. Indiana Jones stands in front of his father’s doorway. Henry Jones Sr. stands before him, a copy of the New York Times in his hand. The headline declares “FRENCH SIGN REICH TRUCE .”
“Junior, you’re early! What a pleasant surprise. Dinner will be ready in a moment.”
Henry Jones leads his son to the dining room. On the way, Indy takes off his hat and jacket and hangs them on the coat-rack. At the table, Henry carefully inserts a velvet ribbon in-between the pages of his newspaper and places it on top of a copy of the Princeton Review . He sits.
“Dad, I’m going to Europe tomorrow,” says Indy, still standing.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Junior. There’s a war going on.”
“I know , dad. The MI Corps requested me for their operations there.”
“A request? So you can say no.”
“I didn’t say no.”
“Why?”
“It was strongly worded,” Indy says as he finally sits down. He looks just beyond his father.
“Junior, you’ve never done something you didn’t want to do in your life.”
“I need to do this, dad.”
“Why?”
“They’re Nazis, dad. You know what they’ve done, what they’ll do.”
“They shot me, Junior. I’m well aware of what they’re capable of. But why you ?”
“Because of my illustrious career in killing them.”
“Ridiculous. There are a million young men in this country who would like nothing more than to live out their war fantasies. Why does it need to be you of all people?”
“I have experience, dad. I’ve done this before.”
“Exactly. You’ve done your part. You were too young for that first war and you’re too old for this one!”
“It’s not about that.”
“What?”
“It’s not about orders or duty.”
“Then what, some juvenile urge for adventure, like last time?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You ran away to play soldier before and now you’re doing it again.”
“I thought I was saving the world!”
“You were running away, like you always do!”
Indy stands up.
“Junior…”
Indy turns around and walks towards the front door.
“Henry,” his father calls out.
Indy grabs his hat and jacket. He does not stop to put them on.
“Indiana!”
At the doorway, Indy stops.
“I’m sorry, son. Please. Help me understand.”
Indy slowly turns around and puts his things back on the coat-rack.
“It’s different this time. It’s not opposing empires showing off. It’s… I’ve looked into the eyes of a lot of Nazis, and there’s nothing . They need to be stopped. But it’s not about that. This war… I need to do this for me . Not for Europe. Not for America. For me.”
“But why ? What drives you to do this to yourself?”
“Because it’ll be worse for me if I don’t. You were right. I was too young for the first war, and maybe I’m too old for this one. But I’d rather die there than live here and do nothing. I joined the Great War because there wasn’t anything for me at home. We didn’t talk. We didn’t do anything. But out there… I thought leaving would be noble. Righteous. A simple choice. It wasn’t any of those things. I killed and I bled and and I watched a thousand good men and women die and it was for nothing ; a decaying status quo, a reshuffling of some colonies. There were no revolutions. There were no heroes. There were corpses and apathy and lies. It broke me, and if there’s a way for me to… fix myself, it’s back there.”
Henry Jones hugs his son.
“I’m sorry, Ju- Indiana. I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be the father you needed. I’m sorry I drove you to that war. I’m sorry I could never understand what you went through there, that I still can’t understand it. But if you say you need this, I support it. Do what you need to do. Just promise me we’ll write this time,” he finishes with a sad grin.
“Sure, dad. That sounds nice.”