For a Reason
"There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be"-John Lennon
Cape Suzette Airfield, November 8th, 1938-
As the clock struck 6:43 p.m. silence descended upon the Cape Suzette Airfield. Over seven hundred attendees and airfield staff entered into 82 seconds of silence; one second for each life lost aboard the luxury airship Konigin der Himmel, known in English as the Queen of the Skies. It was exactly one year to the minute that the proud zeppelin had fallen from the heavens in a blaze of fire and sorrow; the time taken from the watch of a deceased crewmember whose body was pulled from the sea-the time on the face of the clock frozen at the moment the poor man was thrown out of the airship by the blast from the hydrogen that had kept it afloat.
Over the past year many fractured lives had struggled to mend themselves in the wake of the tragedy. This memorial service, situated at the very airfield the doomed vessel had embarked on its return trip to her home port, was the second of two that had taken place in the past two weeks. The first was marked in the Reichland capital of Berzin and was co-presided over by Adolphus Hentrich, the chancellor of Reichland, and Baroness Elsie Riebolt whose husband, the late-Baron Erich Riebolt, had perished in the tragedy.
Now the 37 year old baroness presided over this service. With her were Reichland's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbenstop, and Reichland's ambassador to Usland, von Ribbonstop's brother-in-law Hans-Heinreich Dreckhoff. A fourth person representing Reichland was seated with them: 13 year old Maximilian Erich Riebolt sat between his mother and the foreign minister, a blank expression on his face. The blank expression was unusual on the young fox's face for normally he had a serious look to him that matched his serious, some would say humorless, personality. The boy had never been one given to smiling and would only do so if his mother and grandmothers prodded him enough. Even watching his two twin baby siblings, Friedrich and Franziska who were born three months ago, doing adorable baby things was scarcely enough to make the boy smile. It wasn't even the death of his beloved father that made him so serious. The truth was that Max had been serious ever since he was a young boy.
The brief thought that the boy had of his two siblings gave Max a feeling of sorrow. His mother had only found out she was pregnant three days after her husband had left on his trip. Instead of wiring her husband the joyous news she had instead decided to surprise him when he returned. Erich Riebolt had died without knowing that he would be a father again.
Max looked from his mother and the two government officials with him and looked out over the assembled dignitaries.
Mayor Wallace was there officiating the memorial. Governor Haggarty sat behind the mayor and next to him was Vice-President John Nance Gander, a small cadre of military officers, a group of the city's most prominent clergymen including a famous evangelist, the Catholic archbishop of Cape Suzette, and the city's senior rabbi. Celebrities were present as well as several wealthy businessmen. Among the rich were Shere Khan and Randolph Sultan, chairmen and owners of Khan Industries and the Miniversal Corporation respectively. The world's two richest men had come together to pay their respects to one of their own. Joining them was many family and friends of the passengers and crew and a handful of survivors.
The rest of the crowd consisted of newsmen, airfield officials, curious onlookers, a gray bear, and one other person.
A young bear cub, dressed in a black jacket and tie and joined by the gray bear, walked slowly among the crowd and took seat at the black row. The gray bear, older than the boy by two decades looked uncomfortable in his own suit jacket and tie.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" the gray bear asked, "You don't have to…it's ok you know?"
The cub took a deep breath and answered, "I'll be ok Papa Bear."
I have to be here…I'm meant to be here.
Baloo Bruinwald gave the boy a gentle pat on the shoulder, "I understand Kit, I understand."
Kit Cloudkicker knew that Baloo understood his need to be here. If anyone did, it was the man who had rescued him from a life of piracy and showed him the love he had never known: the love of a parent. Even though Baloo hadn't officially adopted him, Kit felt that the two were as close as any real father and son could be.
The ceremony moved from the 82 seconds of silence to words from the mayor, the ambassador, and finally the baroness. As she spoke about the loss of her husband and of the others who had lost their lives Kit felt his eyes well up in sorrow. He fought to keep himself from crying but the guilt he was feeling was threatening to break him down.
Exactly a year ago 12 year old air pirate Kit had leaped from the Iron Vulture and secured a foothold on the Queen of the Skies. It was he that infiltrated the airship, it was he that destroyed the radios, it was he that fired a flare to signal to Don Karnage and his men to begin the hijacking, and ultimately it was he who had caused the deaths of 82 people.
No! It wasn't your fault! He screamed at himself in his mind, it was never in the plan to have anyone die. It was just a robbery that got out of hand. It wasn't your fault!
The boy had struggled to deal with his role in the disaster over the following year, and while he had gradually began to realize that it wasn't actually his fault (the air pirates would have gotten aboard one way or another) there were still days when the guilt reached out and grabbed a hold of him. Today was one such day.
O God if only I could take it all back! If only I had never gotten onto the ship!
Baloo hadn't been keen on letting Kit attend the memorial service but he knew that no matter what, the boy would go. Baloo could have forbade him from going but doing that would not have deterred him. In the end he had offered to go with Kit and the boy has accepted. Now he sat here and watched and listened as the baroness spoke passionately about those who had died. He looked over at Kit and saw that the boy was looking ahead at the baroness with tear-laden eyes. He put his arm around the cub and pulled him close for a few seconds before releasing him.
Kit had almost broken down when Baloo pulled him close and was thankful when the older bear had released him. If he had been held any longer he feared he would have lost it and started crying. He took a couple of deep breaths and regained his composure. He remained in control of himself for the remainder of the service.
At the closing of the memorial service Baroness Riebolt invited the crowd to file past an obelisk that would be erected inside the main terminal as a monument to the zeppelin and her passengers. On the obelisk were carvings of the Queen of the Skies and a bronze plaque bearing the names and ages of the victims of the tragedy.
Baron Maximilian Riebolt stood at his mother's side as the hundreds of attendees filed past the obelisk that would soon be wheeled into the main terminal and put on permanent display. He stared at the masses. One may expect the boy to cry but he had long ago stopped shedding tears for his father. He had loved his father and had cried when word was given to him about his death but now he stayed calm. He knew that his father was always a calm and steady man and he decided that he'd do his father right by emulating him. There was however one other way that Max would honor his father.
Revenge. He would find those responsible and make them pay. He knew who was behind it: the dreaded air pirate Don Karnage, who with his minions, had been the one who had caused the zeppelin to fall from the sky and so he and his men would pay. He had learned this from his uncle Friedrich. His mother's eldest brother was a former naval officer and current upper level member of Reichland's foreign intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst AKA the SD. As such he had access to information about the tragedy.
Uncle Friedrich had briefed his mother on the agency's findings and then had confided in his nephew what he had told his mother.
Eight months earlier-
"Max, your mother would not think it proper for me to tell you this but you are your father's heir as baron as well as the heir of the company. You deserve to know the truth."
Max looked at his favorite uncle, his lower lip trembling in anger, and waited to be told the truth.
"Tell me."
"The people responsible are airpirates. They're led by a particularly nasty person named Don Karnage. He has terrorized the Pacific for years and was at one time a volunteer fighter pilot for us during the Great War."
"He was on our side?" the boy asked in amazement.
"Many years ago he and others who would be his first pirates fought for Reichland but after the war they stole an aircarrier from us."
"The Eisengeier!" he said excitedly remembering the tale of how the great airship had disappeared years before his birth.
"Yes," Uncle Friedrich said, "It was built by your grandfather to be the means of victory in the war but it never flew in combat. The war ended and it was slated for the scrap heap. That madman Karnage made off with it. That was the first time he dishonored our nation! Now he has dishonored us again!"
Max could barely contain his anger, "I want him gone, I want them all gone!"
"My boy, It may take much time, but we will have our revenge."
Max smiled grimly at the thought of this. But then a question hit him: how on earth did the pirates get aboard?
"How did they get onto the ship?"
"One of their members managed to get aboard. He destroyed the ship's radios and fired a flare to signal his comrades to begin the assault," Uncle Friedrich paused a moment and then continued with a look of disgust on his face, "It was a boy."
"A boy?"
"A bear cub, according to survivors who saw it happen. A bear cub around your age had made it possible. Could you believe that Max? A boy being used in such a way? Those pirates are monsters!"
All thoughts of revenge against Don Karnage and his men faded away to be replaced with the thought of the bear cub. This was the real reason that his father had died. If that cub hadn't gotten aboard his father and the rest would still be alive!
Emotions took over the boy's mind and clouded his reasoning. In Max's mind the bear cub was the true villain. A boy his age would become the target of his hatred from now on. The duplicity of Karnage and his adult pirates took a backseat to the boy pirate. He could honestly care less who dealt with Karnage and the older pirates so long as he dealt with the bear cub. In his head he felt that it was meant to be. Fox kit versus bear cub. There could be no other way. Max then made a vow to himself that he'd find this boy and have his revenge against him. Even if it took years and thousands of miles he'd avenge his father.
"What is this boy's name?"
"We do not have that information Max."
Max gritted his teeth and let anger flow from him, "Find out, I want him found…he's mine."
Friedrich von Listig looked at his young nephew and could scarcely hold his amazement. His serious and shy nephew was speaking with an intensity that he had never witnessed. Gone was the painfully shy and introverted boy he knew, replaced with a mature and focused young man.
Friedrich looked into Max's eyes and said to the boy, "Your childhood has ended Max…you are now a man."
Baron Maximilian Riebolt smiled coldly.
The Present-
Kit felt his knees weaken as he approached the obelisk. His heart pounded as he went nearer.
"You OK Lil' Britches?" Baloo asked.
Kit nodded his head in reply and pressed on toward the monument. Moments later he stood in front of it and looked upon the names of the victims. He then had the feeling that someone was watching him. He looked around until he saw a face looking at him.
It was the face of a dead man.
A small fox kit in an expensive black suit stood upon the raised platform from where the service was being officiated. From his and Baloo's seats in the back he had not noticed the young fox until now. The boy, a miniature version of his dead father, gazed at Kit. The fox's appearance made Kit shudder as an image of the boy's late father appeared in his mind. Kit stopped breathing for a few moments as the fox kit and looked at him.
Their eyes locked on to one another. Kit's brown eyes met the fox's blue and green eyes. The fox had eyes of different colors. The right being sky blue, the left being a deep green. Those eyes bored into him causing him to look away and meld back into the crowd.
Max cocked his head quizzically after the bear cub had broken off eye contact with him and then disappeared into the throng of people, followed by a grown up gray bear. The fox felt there was something strange and familiar about the other boy, something that he should know.
Years later Max would remember this moment and realize that this was the same bear cub that he blamed for his father's death. But now he didn't put two and two together. After all, what would an air pirate be doing here at a memorial service for people whose death he was responsible for? It was because of this that Max didn't realize that this was the boy. Instead he just shrugged the episode off and reasoned that the boy bore a slight resemblance to one of his schoolmates from back home. At the back of his mind however, he didn't believe that explanation.
That night as both boys lay in bed, Kit in the room he shared with Baloo and Max in his hotel room, they were kept up by thought of the day's events and of the thought of one another.
"Does the boy know that its me? Kit thought to himself, "Does he know that I was part of everything that happened?"
"That boy, who was he? There was something about him," Max spoke in his mind, "He looked at me like he knew me."
Sleep finally came to both boys and as they fell into its embrace they somehow knew that they had been in each other's presence for a reason and would be so again.
Author's Note:
The background of this story stems from the chapter Fall From Innocence in the fanfic Cloudkicker/Cloudkicker Redux. Don Karnage's stealing of the Eisengeier is from the fanfic Iron Vulture. The events intertwining Kit Cloudkicker and Baron Max Riebolt will be further expanded upon in two yet to be written stories. On a historical note, Usland's vice-president is based America's real vice-president of the time and both Reichland's foreign minister and ambassador to Usland are based on actual people as well, one of whom would later meet his demise at the end of a rope following his conviction at the Nuremberg Trials.