Children of War
Written By: Error 401 - Talent Not Found
Dedicated to Nerd Corps
Chapter 4: The Girl
Chapter dedicated to secret lurkers; I know you're out there
The boys were awake at the time and they could see the blasts that narrowly missed them, but it felt as surreal as it sounded. They did not react, but whether it was because they did not know how to, that it was too surreal, or because starvation had sapped the last of their strength from them, they did not know. As they neared the ground, a final shot was sent in their direction ("hold your fire, it's two kids!"), tearing the parachute and sending the two boys and their companion tumbling down the hill and stopping in front of a girl with green eyes. She was slightly shocked at the grubby and malnourished boys that had rolled to a light stop in front of her, unconscious, and she immediately got them medical attention.
They spent a day unconscious, a week in the infirmary, and three months under medical surveillance. They had not made it to Atmosia, but they had made it somewhere safe. They had arrived at the Sky Knight Academy of all places. Somewhere they could learn to fend for themselves. Somewhere that would not be attacked by the Cyclonians. They had a Sky Knight squadron here and an academy full of Sky Knights in training. They could not be harmed. They would learn. They would train.
But the school was not a charity case.
There was tuition to be paid, and for two orphans and their...pet, tuition seemed impossible. It was not an act of greed, but Atmos was becoming more and more impoverished, the funding needed to be upheld.
That is when they were enlisted to help around the school to pay for their tutelage. They agreed to it wholeheartedly as well. A myriad of work cleaning, organising, and helping in the kitchen. They were children, so they were not given tasks that were labour intensive, but it was necessary work nonetheless.
When the boys were finally let out of the infirmary after that first week, they were placed in class together, learning theory, about crystals, and the practical aspects of being a Sky Knight. They remained there for two years. To Finn's delight, he excelled at marksmanship, and to Aerrow's pleasure, he found his place in sparring and flying. They were trained well with practice scenarios and qualified teachers.
During down time, when the two boys weren't working for the school, they would be talking in the dorms. Alone, Finn would be shooting or setting up some sort of prank- small ones that didn't do much harm, but were funny nonetheless; Aerrow would either be training, or in the library reading with Radarr on his shoulder.
The first book he picked up had a deep green cover and inked pictures every so often. It had a lot of words that he couldn't yet understand, so he kept a dictionary nearby. The first time he opened the book, the faded memory of a printing book surfaced, but he pushed the thought away. The title was Peter and Wendy. It spoke of a boy who had the ability to fly without wings and without a skimmer or ship. He was fascinated by the book and often returned to the library to read it.
Usually the library was only occupied by senior students, but there were juniors scattered here or there. One of the recurring people Aerrow seemed to see was a petite girl, but she was always busy with her books, so he never really knew what she looked like. On one occasion, near the end of the year when the library was considerably fuller than usual with students studying, he sat in the seat next to her, of course after he asked.
They didn't really converse as the boy was engulfed in his book and the girl was busy with whatever work she was doing, but he noticed that she always left the library with stacks of books.
The same girl also appeared for sparring practice on down time. Though her stature was slightly shorter than average, her form was excellent. As he and the girl were the only ones still without a partner, they did the logical thing. He was quite impressed. It happened only once though and the two remained at a formal distance.
The rest of the term passed without incident and the results of their testing had finally arrived. Of their year, the overall highest scorer turned out to be Aerrow. Finn had accomplished something too, he had scored the highest overall in marksmanship, making up for the few lost points in his theory classes. A girl's name they did not recognise had gotten the highest in academics.
Because Terra Mesa's Sky Knight squadron was short one person, the highest scoring student of the graduating senior class would train for an additional two months and join the ranks. So at the age of 12, that same green-eyed girl from their first encounter became part of a Sky Knight squadron.
With testing out of the way, the boys got free run at break. It was a fine break indeed.
Then the ambush began.
Two years since their arrival and the terra was under attack. The Sky Knights put up a good fight, but they were defeated by sheer numbers. Raptors, slashing through their defenses, Talons destroying the school, crushing it downward into its foundation. Immediately, the boys grabbed weapons and helped fight. But it became clear they were losing and the boys retreated into the school for more ammunition. They ran into two girls on the way there. One was the newly appointed Sky Knight with green eyes, and the other was the studious and combat proficient girl.
"Take the gliders and get out of here. We're evacuating everyone now."
"What about you?"
"Exactly, we can't just run off when our terra's under attack!"
"I'm a Sky Knight, I'll be fine. Now hurry before I throw you off the cliff." She shoved three metal gliders into their arms and ran off to find others.
They were taught to pack emergency kits in one of their classes and it was mandatory that each student have one. So, in their situation, their kits were useful. After they had retrieved them, they bolted out of the building and ran to the edge of the terra. There were other students jumping from the side and gliding off into the distance.
The two boys, the girl, and the animal briefly outlined a path they would follow for their journey and it was then inked with a pen on the back of their hands. They would go the journey together and find safety.
With one last look at the battle behind them and a salute to the girl riding a purple-toned skimmer, they jumped.
Every terra they came across was a battlefield littered with corpses, sometimes abandoned, sometimes crawling with Talons.
They flew for hours on those metal wings, doing their best to hide their presence in thick clouds or lower than ground level to avoid being detected and captured. Ahead of them, there was a little terra, Cyclonians had raided it too, but for the moment, it looked as if they had left. The four travellers decided to rest here before continuing.
The travelled for days. Their efforts soon began to prove fruitless as all land seemed to be a myriad of olive green and rusty red. The smell of sweat, engine oil, iron, and rotting flesh burned into their memories.
At last, on the fifth day, they saw green, but it was not stained and dark like the uniforms of a Talon- it was lush and fresh. The boughs of an enormous willow tree covered the northernmost end of the terra, four or five piles of the wreckage of old houses remained. There were no bodies. No talons.
It was a recently unnamed terra.
It was liberated land.
Maybe it was because of circumstance that the first thought that came to Aerrow's mind was Peter and Wendy. The book about a land for children.
Neverland.
This was their Neverland; a place for them. He turned to the others with Radarr on his shoulder.
"Welcome, to Neverlandis."
Finn and Piper smiled in return, relieved.
They needed rest, but first, they climbed the boughs of the tree and tied a stiff stick to one of the higher branches. And on that stick flew the Sky Knight insignia, proud and free. They decided to sleep in shifts, but not long after, fatigue stole over all of them and they fell fast asleep under the vast leaves of the tree.
When they awoke, they were no longer on the terra.
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