June 18th, 5017
Dearest Father,
I do hope you've been doing well, and I wish to start this letter off by apologizing for not responding to your letter when I received it a month ago, but alas, the day I received it was the day I birthed our first child.
Vul was so happy when he first held his baby; a healthy boy. We've named him Victor. Victor Bryce Raynals. He's a beautiful little angel, and already looks like his father, right down to the birthmark on his left ankle, it's so precious.
Victor is a quiet little one, always sleeping soundly through the night, not crying often. It makes a very peaceful household!
Anyhow, I do hope you and mother drop by to visit someday. You are always welcome.
Do say hello to mother for me.
Your loving daughter,
-Valentine Margret Raynals
—–—-–—
October 11th, 5020
Dearest Father,
Just the other day, on October the 8th, I gave birth to our second child. Vul was as equally happy when he held this one as he was with Victor, whom is now three years old. Time flies by quickly when you're in love, does it not?
This one is a darling little girl, whom we've named Valkyrie Corliss Raynals. I do hope mother doesn't mind we've used her first name as Valkyrie's middle name. Valkyrie is a little more fussy than Victor was, even at a few days old, but she never cries in her papa's arms. She sleeps like a log when Vul holds her, though, this makes Victor a little jealous, so he'll climb right into Vul's lap whenever he's sitting down, just so he can cuddle with his father too.
I came home the other day from doing some errands, and found them curled up in his arms, fast asleep, and my captain looking more tired than I've ever seen him. Looks as though raising two little ones is harder than captaining a warship!
I miss you both dearly, do come home soon. I'm sure Valkyrie would love to meet you, and Victor would like to see his grandparents again.
Your loving daughter,
-Valentine Margret Raynals
-—–-
You, reader, must be wondering why there are two letters, between Valentine Raynals and her father, Argus Raynals, both of which were written three years apart. Well, they hold a significance in two ways. One, is because these mark the dates that Victor Bryce and Valkyrie Colriss Raynals were born into the world, secondly, because they were reported 'lost', never reaching her father, and thus, having to be re-written. Now, suspicious, isn't it, that these are the only two letters that were ever 'lost' between Valentine and Argus? I think so. And I'm sure you think that as well. Reader, the events in this story take place fifteen years after the Warship Halberd was downed, and thirteen years since Victor Bryce was born.
In that time, a man who's hatred for Vul has been growing evermore, all because of one, crucial event in both Captain and this man's life. This reason, this event, whatever it may be, has been hidden for twenty years. Hidden by Captain Vul.
But, Vul has never told Valentine, or anybody. Only him, the man, and Sir Meta Knight know of the event.
Now why would Vul hide this? None know. Vul's hidden many things in his heart, and those things have never surfaced, yet they aren't forgotten,
Dear reader, before I go onward, I must tell you the tragic thing about secrets, that we all learn painfully at some point in our lives. Secrets never remain hidden forever, no matter how hard we try to bury them in the past, leave them for lost, we cannot. We cannot even hope to. Eventually, these secrets accumulate with lies that were created to cover them up, to prevent them from being known. These lies will grow. And grow. And grow some more, until we can no longer hide them, and sooner or later, they explode out, being spilled into the world by the secret-keeper. It's things like this that ruin friendships, marriages, anything really. It takes years for trust to be built, but letting out a secret of any sort can break it down in an instant. Maybe you knew this from your own experiences, maybe I've taught you this before you can experience it, in which case, I do hope it is the latter. Though if it is the former, I know how you feel.
Back to the story now. The secrets Vul Raynals holds even now in his heart are held within this story, within the pages you desire to read. These secrets have been carefully concealed in the darkness, where they belong, chained in chains, locked with locks.
To kindly, not be touched.
Reader, I forewarn you now. These secrets were meant to be kept in darkness. I won't tell you to put down this book, I won't tell you to stop reading this very sentence I have written, but I will only tell you this:
You are about to expose the lies and secrets Vul Raynals has hidden carefully. You are about to learn his, and many others' pasts. You are about to bring them into the light, where they don't belong.
You are about to touch those secrets, about to pick the locks, unchain the chains... You are about to open the box that the Captain has locked away within the darkest depths of his heart, and thrown away the keys for.
You, are about to perhaps ruin everything. But I've only perked your interest, have I not? That is what I hoped to do, even if that was a warning. You, are willing to risk ruining things just to learn secrets.
I do believe I've covered my bases, informing you that you are unlocking the dark secrets of two men who's lives are intertwined. One, a successful Captain, with a wife and family of his own, the other, a high-ranking assassin, who has devoted the past twenty years of his life plotting the murder of the captain.
If you wish to know everything, how this story unfolds, read onward.
If not, then I do not think of you any different than when you started reading.
This, this is the tale of a Captain, a First Officer, bound by love and by their children...
An assassin and his brother, a clueless mechanic, one of which plots the Captain's death..
Knights, lies, secrets, and darkness.. And a little girl, with her father's golden blonde hair.
This, dear reader, is the tale of them all.
This tale, dear reader, is, as you may know...
is We Fly Again.