Sky Gunner
Heavenward
The waterside town of Rive.
Gunner's Café.
Laughter can be heard outside of the mansion where two of this town's most famous gunners, defenders of the sky, reside. They were sitting in their chairs looking out at the yellow sun as it beautifully set into the glittering ocean. One had spiky blonde hair with perfectly orange eyes and was dressed in mainly red while the other had short blue hair with matching eyes wearing a mix of creamy colors. Both were quite young yet incredibly talented for their age, and they were both reminiscing of events that occurred several months ago. The adventure revolved round the epic battle between three gunners and a certain criminal mastermind who had attempted to make the getaway of a lifetime, but was righteously defeated.
"So these guys are all like 'Let's shoot him down,' and started ganging up on me, but I was pretty chill 'cause they didn't know who they were dealing with," boasted the blue haired. "They all started chargin' at me head first, and I straight up vortexed the living crap outta them! Aw man, it was like the fourth of July!"
The blonde commented, "Copain, you are sadistic!"
Copain said back, "Hey, you got a mean streak, too! You told me about what's-his-face. Rival, right?"
The blonde was ready to shoot back with a tale of his of own, "Who, that nut? Okay, so I was mopping up some guys over the town when suddenly this one guy showed up. I'm not joking when I say he literally looked like a bat out of Lord knows where. He's like 'Play with me Ciel' and we got into a fight. It took like five freakin' times to knock this guy down to earth.
Blue haired Copain complimented his friend, "A dogfight right over Rive? Pretty ballsy, Ciel."
"It was pretty good day for my heavy fire, tough," Blonde Ciel said.
Copain needed a moment to catch his breath as the two were simply having too much of a good time together. Both he and Ciel were stuck together and just could not be torn apart no matter how hard anyone or anything tried. Little did Copain know that his namesake was about to have a deeper meaning than ever before.
"Man, I already miss Femme," complained Copain. "She deserves to have a blast with us here."
"Yeah," Ciel concurred.
"If there's one thing that she's shown me, it's that girls can kick a just as decent amount of tail as we can," Copain continued.
"Yeah," Ciel concurred again.
"I mean, she was really something, seriously. I gotta learn to be more open-minded about people sometimes," Copain confessed.
"Yeah," Ciel concurred a…third time?
Okay, what was up with him? Truthfully, Ciel had been doing except staring at the moon that partially shone away from the sunset. He had been zoning in and out of the conversation ever since Copain first found him outside with eyes dead set on that thing. He had decided to prop up chair with him and just shoot the breeze. Copain's curiosity was now getting to where he couldn't possibly ignore what was on his best friend's mind.
"Hey, Ciel, Ventre's back," Copain sarcastically called out to him.
Ciel snapped out of it, "Yeah…wait what?"
"Finally! Welcome back."
"Sorry about that, I was just…daydreaming," Ciel said embarrassed.
"As always," Copain jabbed.
If there was another that Ciel was adept at other than flying, it was dreaming. He was quite the free thinker and always wondered what kind of possibilities this world had to offer. Ever the excitable young man, his wings were just not meant to stay folded and his feet grounded. A silence fell over the two as Copain tried to lock in on where Ciel was locked. The silence was broken when Ciel decided to release a little bird hidden in his very heart.
"Have hope and courage without end and pledge to the faraway sky.
Whether in the sun or shade, our feeling change
Because not everything is so easy.
But I want to keep believing that our wishes will become wings
To a still unknown tomorrow.
Come and stand, having caught the wind and, as if to dry all of your tears,
Draw yourself as seen in dream upon the faraway sky.
Now catch a rainbow and chase a shooting star.
We're going on a journey which, like a cloud, has no shape and no road
Come, fill your chest with the wind, and as if you are singing with a smile
Have hope and courage without end and pledge to the faraway sky."
Copain in disbelief asked, "What the heck was that?"
Ciel answered, "It was a lullaby that my father would sing to me. It's a song about going the distance and never being afraid of the unknown. He's sadly not around anymore.
Copain empathized, "I'm sorry, pal."
He could never ever forget that song and the man who sang it to him. He could never forget the one man who always believed in him when no one else did. Copain couldn't see it, but Ciel's eyes were now filled with a sort of determination that he had rarely seen. The silence broke again when Ciel then asked probably the most audacious question to ask given the time.
"Hey, Copain?"
"Yo," he replied.
Ciel asked, "What do you think outer space is like?"
Copain was completely deadpan, "What?"
Ciel repeated, "What do you think outer space is like?"
If Copain had to answer something that was just so silly to him, it was the following, "Gee, I don't know. No air, no pressure, no gravity, nothin'."
Ciel retorted, "So why do we go up there?"
Copain's sarcasm struck again, "Because we're crazy."
"Why're you so cynical? I'm serious," Ciel got on to him.
Copain replied defensivly, "What? I'm not being cynical, I'm being realistic. If you ask me the sky's the literally the limit."
Ciel corrected him, "You're wrong. You shouldn't ever underestimate what people can do. Do you even see what we are capable of, the technological lengths we've gone to show our maker that we're better than he made us?"
The only thing that differentiated the pair was that Ciel was always looking forward to the future while Copain insisted that there was no time like the present, and the past could stick it. One was happy to show what today's technology was capable of while the other was never satisfied. This one young man was willing to go the extra mile or two to the world that he is not to be trifled with.
Ciel asserted himself, "When I was given Avenir, I pledged my allegiance to the heavens. Didn't you do the same when you got Chevalier? You may think that gunning is just a job, but I am telling you that it's more than that. It's an opportunity to show people that you're willing the brave the unknown."
Now Copain was feeling like a class-A jerkwad. He had no idea that his closest friend felt that way. Is this what he had been doing his whole life, just shooting bad guys in the sky just to keep others comfortable? No, he thought, he's right. There comes a time in a man's life when he eventually has to leave the nest and go to places he or she never thought possible.
Ciel continued, "I wanna go there one day. To that rock in the sky. I wanna go to the moon."
"Ciel," Copain interjected, "I'm seriously being realistic this time. The people who go all the way up there have spent not days, not weeks, but years training and preparing for that kind of journey. Do you really think you have the time and energy to do that yourself?"
"I don't know," Ciel responded as a matter of fact, "but we never know until we try. That's right, I said we. I want you to come with me. Femme, too."
Copain was incredulous, "You're joking, right?"
Ciel was quick to assert himself again, "Look into my eyes and tell me if I'm joking."
Copain thought about it and realized that there was no point. Once Ciel had his eyes on the prize, there was nothing that was going to stop him. Ciel then reached his hand to him, beckoning for some sort of connection. Copain returned by bring out his own hand clasping it together with Ciel's. There was no way that the two could call each sworn brothers if they weren't willing to see each other go that extra mile to greatness. This was the bond that gunners had for each other, I'll watch your back if you watch mine.
The two smiled at each other as the deal was sealed even further now that one had revealed his ambitions to the other. The three gunners of Rive were going to break that limit altogether. Their fealty to the sky was unshakeable and their true journey heavenward had only just begun.