Hello there, Skylinemaster here with a one-shot story about the Demon Lord Cipher.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Ace Combat.
Please enjoy.
"What's this?"
Brett Thompson asked aloud as he stared at the small cardboard box sitting on his desk.
"Dunno, it was addressed to you though. Came in this morning."
His coworker, James, said in as he walked by with a cup of coffee in his hand.
Brett shrugged his shoulders and started up his computer, before turning back to the package.
He glanced at the shipping label to see who sent it.
The subject of your documentary
Brett's eyes shot wide open at this. He opened the package forcefully, tearing the box and finding a small, black dvd case inside. He opened the case, finding a blank dvd inside of it.
Pulling out a set of headphones from his desk, he placed the dvd into the tower of his computer and put the headphones over his ears.
A black screen appeared, before the words 'my story' appeared on the screen in big white letters.
"Is this thing on?"
A male voice asked, tapping the camera before the video showed up.
Brett watched as the man walked towards a chair in front of the camera and sat down, facing the chair. He observed that the room where this was filmed is quite dimly lit, with a window directly behind the chair.
Brett looked closely at the man's face, though obscured by the darkness, to make out his features. A rugged, clean shaven man, with messy brown hair in his early thirties. He saw the sadness in the man's piercing green eyes, which contrast with the darkness of the room.
"Brett, thanks for everything. You told the world of my story through their words. Now, let me tell you it through my words, the Demon Lord's words."
Brett only watched in silence as the man continued.
"That's me, let me start from the beginning though Brett, is it okay if I call you Brett?"
The man walked off screen, before reappearing a moment later with a bottle of what looks like vodka.
"My name is 1st Lieutenant Aaron Stinwell of the Erusean Air Force. I, uh, joined the Academy back in 89, and I admit, I sucked as a student."
The now identified Demon Lord, Aaron Stinwell, spoke. Brett made a mental note to check that name out.
"...I suppose it was a miracle that they didn't kick me out. I probably deserved it. Anyways, I graduated, and was commissioned into the fighter program. That's where I began to spread my wings..."
He opened the bottle of vodka, and took a sip before placing the bottle back down.
"...Sorry, it helps me get through the day. I was damn good at what I did. I loved the air, I loved flying, but I hated the rest of it. The bullshit of it all. I wanted to fly, not get roped into mandatory briefings and other pieces of crap that took me away from my plane."
"...Anyways, just about two years pass when the war started. The decision was easy for me. I was young, hated my job, and could get a pay raise doing something I love. So, yeah, going AWOL was an easy choice."
"..You know, my first kill wasn't an escort fighter over Valais right? It happened a few miles east of Johnston Air Force Base. They tried to get me back, I wasn't going back. There were five of them. We were, by this time, over the Sea of Kylin."
He paused for a moment, as if to recollect something.
"Yess, it was five MiG-21s. I was in a Falcon. They were from the 25th Tactical Fighter Wing, the Grey Wolf, Squadron."
Aaron rolled his eyes at Grey Wolf.
"..I always hated them, bunch of pricks. So I shot all of them down."
A small smile appeared on their face.
"...From that moment on, I liked it. I killed them, and watched the flaming wreckage plummet into the ocean. I completely understand that enjoying death is not normal, but hey, it happens..."
"..So, I get to Valais. It was really simple actually, signing up. Show a military ID card, sign some paperwork, and boom! You are a mercenary."
"...I met Pixy the day before we shot down the bombers approaching Valais. Didn't know anything about him, and didn't care. I was looking out for myself and only myself."
A look of regret appeared on his face.
".. He was strong, so it wasn't a problem. We worked well, we each did our own thing and supported each other if we needed it, which wasn't much. I didn't need him and he didn't need me."
He stopped talking for a moment as a plane was heard in the background.
"As my legend grew, something started happening to me."
He bit his lips at this.
"Dreams, vivid dreams of death in the sky. Not my death, the deaths of the ones I've caused. I kept reliving their final moments as I shot them down and sent them to Hell. Nightmares would be something that would frighten you, wouldn't they?"
He took a big gulp of his vodka as he said this.
"...I like it, the rush of killing in the sky."
He looked directly at the screen, and smiled. A very depraved smile appeared on his face.
"..I'm a monster aren't I?"
He chuckled a little bit.
"That's what they called me as they plummted to their deaths. I suppose I deserved it."
He looked to something off screen for a few moments before looking back at the camera.
"..So, they, the Belkans, were being pushed back at this point. I already destroyed Excalibur, so I was pretty famous. The money was good, the fame was better, but the killing is really why I stuck around. I liked what I did, and I did what I liked. Who wouldn't want that job?"
He sighed.
"I wasn't disillusioned with anything, I knew what I signed up for. Pixy, oh Larry, that idealistic buddy of mine..."
He said, stressing out the word buddy as long as he could.
"I didn't care about the death I caused, the misery I created. I relished it. I relished this foolish war. It gave me the chance to be who I really was..."
He looks nostaglic at this.
"...They called me a monster for killing baby ducks, they called me a monster for not caring about orphans, they called me a monster for killing them. You know, they were right. I enjoyed being a monster. I didn't care, for any of it. Except the killing..."
He took a breath at this.
"Now, the war was lost for the Belkans before Hoffnung. But that is what I would call my favorite mission of the war."
"I hummed a tune while Hoffnung burned. I just wanted to watch the world burn? Is that so bad?"
"..When the bombs dropped and the city went up like a candle, I smiled. I smiled throughout the entire mission. I wish I could hear the screams of them, all of them below."
He said, dejectedly.
"...I knew the Belkans were desperate, but what they did at Waldrich actually surprised me. Nuking their own citizens? That's where I stopped to think about the war. That never happened before..."
He said, reminiscingly.
"I don't blame them. Pixy I mean. I say that now, because then I was pissed. Not that he was a friend, but it was a betrayal that he tried to kill me."
"..The money didn't matter anymore after that. I was seeing red for Pixy. He needed to die after what he tried to do to me."
He took a big gulp of vodka after.
"Well, the Belkans soon have their little treaty after with us, and all is won right? After those pockets of resistance were wiped out, I became sad. I thought the war was over, that there would be no more use for me, a psychopath with a silver bar on his uniform."
He said, looking down at the ground below his chair.
"..Then they came along. A world with no borders."
He said mockingly.
"...Change the world, no classes, no suffering. What a bunch of bullshit. But you know, I was actually interested. They call it resetting the game board, I call it destroying the world."
He said as he chuckled.
"I would have joined their little cause, if they invited me. But no, try to kill me..."
"..So, I wanted to take them down. All of them, especially Pixy once I heard his voice after I destroyed the XB-0."
"..It was bittersweet going back through B7R, the site of my greatest fights.I knew the war was over then. If I failed, I'd save the world. If I failed, V2 would have destroyed civilization as we knew it. It didn't really matter if the latter happened to be honest. I didn't care for it anyways."
"...So, after shutting down the V2, Pixy shows up and kills PJ. I felt something at that time. It wasn't sadness, I don't believe it was. I appreciated his self-sacrifice to save me from Pixy's laser."
"...Pixy was right about seeing our true selves at Avalon. We see our true selves at the verge of death."
A bittersweet expression appeared on his face as he chugged down more alcohol.
"...He didn't die. I know that, both at the time, and it was confirmed in your wonderful documentary."
"...I drifted around after that. Years melded together and ten years passed by before I knew it."
"...I went everywhere with my earnings, Osea, Yuktobania, Belka, Estovakia."
"...I'm sending this to you from Gracemaria. I've found myself here. A new life, a wife and kids. I don't know if a monster like myself deserves them, after everything I've done."
"...Still, I live for them now. Not for myself, but for them, and their happiness."
A small smile crept up on his face.
"..Pixy."
He chuckled.
"...I forgive you, and I still am alive, buddy."
He smiled at the camera. He stood up and leaned into the camera.
"Now for you Brett. I thank you for letting me tell my story."
The camera turned off as Brett just sat back in his chair, digesting everything he saw and heard.
"Well, the Demon Lord has told his side of the story."
Please review.
Just a spur of the moment thing to write.
Until time, Skylinemaster out.