Being with the Chaos Pirates isn't easy. You have to put up a tough front at all times in battle, you're not allowed to show any emotion in battle aside from aggression, and you have to take orders from Svetlana. It can be tough sometimes, especially after being a loyal S.P.A. agent, but I've survived so far. I may only be 18, but age doesn't really seem to matter in a fight.
As for the other Chaos Pirates, they're probably the coolest people I know. Rose and I have been best friends since I joined and Raphael seemed more than happy to show me around, and to help get my plane fixed up. As for Dragomir and Svetlana, they seem to be slightly more advanced than us, but I've stayed on Dragomir's good side for the most part.
Actually, one might dare to say more than that, but the only proof of that might have been at initiation. When I first came to them (or rather they came to me) I was told that to get in, I had to see Dragomir's face for the first time (I'd already seen it but the memory was fuzzy), and live. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, until Rose explained that he had a…few, scars on his face, and that Raphael had looked at him to wrong way at first, and got beat pretty badly. But he did put up a good enough fight, and he got in anyway.
When I walked down the dark hallway to his room, I could hear Raphael snickering behind me, and Rose elbowing him in the ribs. I slowly opened up the door to his room, and slipped inside. It was kinda dusty in there, with the window as the only source of light. Dragomir was lying on his bed with his eyes closed, his blood red hair slightly glinting in the sun. I could see right away the x-shaped scar going across his entire face. He then opened his eyes, stood up, and came directly towards me. When he stood an inch away, he looked down into my eyes and said in a thick Russian accent,
"When I look into your eyes, I see a deep green sea of fear, confusion, and affection. What do you see when you look into my eyes?"
I was completely shocked at this. From the way Rose had described him, I was expecting the first confrontation to be…well…not this. I realized, as I looked straight into his bright red eyes, that I hadn't prepared an answer for this. So I stuttered out,
"I- I see fire and blood, but at the same time I see…" I trailed off, as I couldn't think of anything else to say. For the few seconds that he looked at me seemed like an eternity. And then, he suddenly laughed, ruffled my hair a little, and made a motion for me to follow him.
We walked out of his room to a waiting Svetlana, Rose, and Raphael. Rose had fake shock, Raphael looked genuinely shocked, and it was impossible to read the expression on Svetlana's face. Obviously, she had expected someone like me to come crawling out within an inch of my life. After all, I didn't really look that tough, at least, compared to these guys. My hair was long, I didn't have any tattoos or piercings. The only thing that might have suggested some sort of daring stunt for the sake of my appearance was my dyed hair.
I didn't know it then, but at that point everything changed. I know it may sound cliché, but it's true. Everyone always expected me to stick to the side of good, no matter what, because my history suggested that I was that kind of person. I sometimes think that I should've try acting a bit more like Will, my more unpredictable cousin in SkyForce.
But fate happens the way it does, and at the moment, it had me sticking with the Chaos Pirates. We are now employed by Morcubus, and why he trusts me now, I don't know. Only a few months ago, Evelyn and I had thwarted his plans of world domination, and yet he now trusts me because I fly with the rouge pilots. Wow.
"Flameheart!" Morcubus walked toward me, with Dragomir walking next to him. For some reason, my heart seems to skip a beat whenever he's near. "I need you and Dragomir to scout out somewhere for my…weapon to be placed."
"Sure," I said, with a slight shrug, trying to look casual. Of course, Dragomir just saw right through it and smiled for a second.
As we were walking down to our planes he said, "Сегодня небо, Завтра мир."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"It means: Today the sky, tomorrow the world." He said, quickly glancing down at my face, before turning to face forward again.
"Ah," I should've guessed. He's always saying stuff like that, usually with more enthusiasm, but that's only when he's expecting someone to fight with when we get there.
"Wait!" We both turned around to see Rose running toward us and waving.
"Wus up, Rose?" I asked as she caught up.
"Svetlana heard that you two were going out to scout some place, and probably wouldn't be fighting anyone." She gasped for breath and went on, "She said that she should come if there wasn't going to be an action from SkyForce."
"If there wasn't any action?" I asked in confusion. That made no sense. Why would she want more to go, if it wasn't likely that someone was going to come?
"She also said-" Rose was cut off abruptly by a Russian voice from down the hall.
"-That Dragomir should stay." Svetlana said this as she walked up to the three of us.
"Why?" Dragomir asked, a little challenge in his voice. Whenever asked who our leader was, we would normally answer "Svetlana," but it was still unclear if she or Dragomir should lead. "Flameheart and I never get to go out on missions together." He continued, "The only time we ever get to talk is when you are out somewhere, and you hardly ever go out without me."
They were face to face now. You could almost taste the tension in the air. You would think they were twins, regular siblings at least, but unfortunately, they weren't. Svetlana took a deep breath.
"Fine, you can come." As she walked briskly towards the planes she "accidently" jostled my shoulder roughly. Rose rolled her eyes and walked away. Dragomir and I exchanged a quick glance. For some strange reason, it felt as if this were the last time I would look at him the way I just did.
As we hurried down to the planes, a piece of folded up paper fell out of one of Dragomir's pockets. I was about to tell him that he had dropped it, when Svetlana made a jerking motion with her head to indicate that we should get in the planes at once. I quickly looked at the paper and saw that it was hand written in Russian. No time to ask about it now.
When we got to the Imperial Palace, Svetlana began to check her radar for enemy planes. I did the same, and discovered two of them near the edge. If we were careful, we wouldn't attract any attention. That is, we wouldn't have if Svetlana hadn't shot a missile up into the sky, clearly notifying the two other planes that we were there.
"What the Hell, Svetlana!?" Dragomir yelled at her over the sound of the missile.
"I'm in the mood for a good fight!" She yelled back, "And besides, Morcubus told me that this isn't REALLY where we're gonna put it!" She glanced over at me, and then back at him, "You and her take on the plane closest to you, I'll take this one!" She motioned towards the plane heading toward her.
"Alright!" Dragomir yelled back. He motioned at me to follow him, just like he did on the first day we met. When we reached the plane, I realized that it was Will.
"Flameheart, Dragomir! Long time no see!" She said to us half jokingly-half challengingly. She and Dragomir were constant rivals at times, and she fought me the same way she fought him. With just enough strength that said, "At this moment, I hate you, and I'll go as hard as I'd go with anyone else. But I won't hurt you enough to kill you." Which was a pretty good deal, when it came to war.
While Will was more focused on Dragomir, I glanced over at Svetlana to see who she was with. And out of all the pilots she could've gotten, it was Justice, leader of SkyForce. After a few quick shots at Will, I realized that Svetlana was almost losing, but not on accident. She's planning something, but I can't tell what.
At that moment, I saw Svetlana give Dragomir a quick motion to move to the side. I looked over at him to see that while he did it, he was as confused as I was. When I looked back at Svetlana I was horrified to discover that she, with Justice shooting furiously behind her, was head straight for my plane! Too late, I noticed that some of the controls on my plane had been tampered with earlier, and I couldn't move from where I was. As soon as Svetlana was about to collide with my plane, she veered up wards so that I was directly in Justice's line of fire.
The next thing I knew my plane was heading straight for the ground. The last thing I saw was a look of pure horror on Dragomir's face, and a slight hint of satisfaction in Svetlana's solemn stare. Then my plane hit the ground hard, and I did the same.