Ace Combat
Heart of the Melting Blood
Written by: Lone Wolf NEO
Conceived by: Lone Wolf NEO
Author's note: Ace Combat is copyrighted by NAMCO, and Lone Wolf NEO does not own any or all real-life features or whatever facts featured in this story. He does, however, own the copyright to all his original ideas in this fiction. The author would really appreciate it if readers do not plagiaries everything inside this story without his knowledge.
Prologue
Memoir
The person was standing in front of the ageing gate. Aged in her mid-20 and wearing simple, sleeveless white gown, she looked back and forth between the empty areas surrounding the airstrip and the guard post before she lowered the sunglasses. She nodded and walked into the vicinity, ignoring the 'Off-Limit Area' signboard that was erected next to the post. She walked past the abandoned hangar, where several F-16C fighters were parked inside, and headed to the barrack not far from the hangar. She stopped cold when she was standing next to the door and read the sign 'Personnel and Staffs only'. A rather amused sigh was the only thing she made before she entered the building and headed to the reception desk.
The woman approached the empty desk and reached for an anonymous envelope. It was poorly folded, and she could only guess that the envelope was homemade, guessing from the materials used. Slowly and carefully she opened the envelope, and took out a piece of blue paper from inside it. It was crumbled, eaten by grubs and covered with dusts, and carefully he blew everything from the paper.
Then she started reading the small, hand-written words on the paper.
"Dear hero. This is a letter from me, a young village girl who barely knows everything, to a hero who prefers to keep his identity secret from everyone's reach. And this is a letter which I wish the hero to read and understand, despite its poor handwritings. I'm sorry if this letter somehow disturbs your time, hero."
She just chuckled at the thought of the letter's writer; the person must have hard times thinking of something to write on.
"Dear hero. First of all, I am among millions of people who have watched and followed you and your fellow wingmen along the time. I was so excited when I saw your squadron's victory in destroying the super bomber, and never in my whole life would I see a battle faced by people as courageous as you are. I immediately became your admirer and wrote many letters to you, but none of them could be sent because of the height of war. This is the only letter I managed to write and send to the post office, and I've been praying days and nights just to make sure that this letter reaches your hand safely. If it does, I'll be more than happy to know that.
"Dear hero. My family, my friends and I were devastated at the news of you being grounded for court martial. We thought it would be the end of our hope as we had endlessly prayed for your success in the war. When we found that you had indeed continued your fight under a different wing, we were so excited and thought our dream could finally become true.
"Dear hero, I don't expect you or any of your friends to reply to this letter since you might be occupied with your missions. But if you do, I only want you to keep this letter because I know you're more than grateful to receive a letter written by one of your most loyal fans. Thank you for reading this letter. Yours truly."
She lowered the letter. She glanced at the notice board and saw the picture of a band of pilots kneeling in front of a Su-30MK. She approached the notice board and took a deep look at the picture, even as her eyes were trying to recognize the pilots. Then she glanced at a note scribbled on the lower-right corner of the picture, and chuckled at its description.
"In memories of the Knights of Silver Moon, Radiance Island's elite squadron who had fought alongside people and freedom fighters in battles to liberate beloved motherland from the iron claws of enemy."
She turned around, watched outside the broken window and looked at the setting sun. Suddenly, her memories started flying back in time, until it arrived on a day similar to today seven years ago. It was a day before the group photo was immortalized, and she remembered the day very clearly.