Promised y'all I wouldn't wait a year to update again and I plan on keeping that promise even with like… 13 other stories I'm writing at the same time. Enjoy!

Chapter Quote:
"Blood does not define brothers."

Chapter 14: Inferno

Cipher

"On to the next mission!" Elizabeth exclaimed excitedly, pressing play. She had grabbed some more ice cream out of the freezer, making this the last carton of her stock. Then again, Genette and I were on our last ones as well. We were all fiends for ice cream in this family.

"There's your boyfriend," Genette remarked. His sister slapped him on the arm as hard as she could. I cringed ever so slightly at the sound of her hand hitting his skin because I swear I felt the vibration from it, even though I was on a completely different couch from them. Genette was about to say something else when he was interrupted by Pixy's voice. He either chose not to speak or was just as distracted by the TV as his sister. Regardless of the reason, I was glad he didn't speak because I didn't want him getting hit again.

We listened to Pixy recount the mission of Hoffnung. He seemed to gloss over the mission a bit, but knowing what I did now, I knew the real reason behind that. I grabbed the remote and paused it when he was done speaking. Before my niece could berate me for stopping it, I asked, "Would you two like to have the full recount of that mission?"

My niece and nephew nodded eagerly.

June 1, 1995…

I woke up with Janie in my arms every morning since Pixy's birthday. It was good to have her back because I'd told her the truth. The closest I'd ever felt to being like I was home was when I was with her, and with recent revelations and encounters during the war, I needed home. I needed her. I didn't want to admit that I needed anything from anyone because that's not me. That's not who I am. I am an independent person who needs no one but their family. But I'd created a family here on base without meaning to, a family that included Janie, Pixy, PJ, and even Hammerhead. Pixy was like my twin brother I never had (which in all honesty is probably a good thing) who was born slightly earlier so he liked to try and lord that over me. PJ was like a little brother to me, one who had yet to really experience anything horrific, one that I felt I needed to protect to the nth degree. Hammerhead was like the older brother who watched his little brothers squabble and stepped in when he needed to. Janie was the perfect girlfriend who could shut all of us down with a single glance.

Life was pretty great.

Other than the war we were waging.

But even then, it seemed to be winding down a bit. Our sorties were becoming less and less, but I wasn't complaining. It meant I could see my family sooner. That's all I cared about. It was early in the morning when I rolled out of bed. Janie had left earlier for some reason, but I'd been too groggy to hear what she had to say. I went and took a shower first and foremost because I'd skipped it last night, and I smelled like a dog, although that was from going out to the bar last night in town and finding three massive Bernese Mountain dogs which I proceeded to let climb all over me when I sat down. It was a good thing Janie liked dogs so much, although in hindsight, maybe she left early from my room because she couldn't stand how doggy I smelled…

I'd just stepped out of the shower, towel still wrapped around my waist, when Pixy came barging into my room.

"You know I have a girlfriend now," I said. "Might want to start knocking."

"Janie is in the briefing room, so I figured my chances were good. Listen, we have an early briefing. Get your ass in gear and meet me down there."

"I'm the captain here. I'll tell you what I'm going to do and when I'm going to do it," I retorted. Pixy stared at me with raised eyebrows, telling me he was in no mood for my antics. "I'll get my ass in gear."

"That's what I thought," he said.

"Who peed in your cereal this morning?" I queried, shutting my bathroom door so I could get dressed in peace.

"Ah, it's nothing. Just tired. So did Janie spend the night again? Because it looks like she left something," Pixy remarked.

"What is it?" I poked my head out to see what he was referring to. My comrade was holding a bra up, causing me to blush. "I-uh- didn't see that there when I woke up."

"Well I mean it was flung all the way over to the sofa so I can see why you wouldn't have, but I think I might just mosey my way on over to the window, just in case," he said, getting up from the couch.

"We weren't on there, you're fine," I told him. I threw on my flight suit and went to the main part of my room. My wingman was staring out my window out at the tarmac. He appeared quite pensive about something, prompting me to ask, "You sure you're okay, Buddy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You ready?"

"Ready, Freddie."

"My name is Larry."

"That's not the point of that- you know what, never mind. Let's go." The two of us left my room and headed to the briefing room. Hammerhead and Janie were chatting in the front. My girlfriend smiled at me when I came in.

"Hey!" she greeted cheerfully. "You two doing okay?"

"Oh yeah. Would've been better had I remained innocent as to what you and Cipher were doing last night."

"What?" Janie squeaked.

"He found an… article of clothing."

Janie buried her face in her hands, peeking through her fingers at my wingman. "Sorry, Pixy."

He grinned at her. "It's fine. So what's the mission for today?"

"Why don't you two take a seat and find out?" Hammerhead suggested. We listened to him, taking the chairs in the very front. I was flanked by Pixy and Janie as the lights dimmed and the screen turned on. Hammerhead cleared his throat and said, "The Belkan forces are beginning to take flight. The industrial city of Hoffnung is crucial to the enemy's industrial strategy and the heart of its war productions. The Allied Forces have decided that all Belkan War production must be stopped to expedite the end of the war, and has requested our participation in this operation. The operation will primarily involve the bombing of ground facilities by the Allied Forces' bombers. Your mission is to support those bombers and attack enemy facilities. We have achieved near total air supremacy over the target area, but don't let your guard down. There may still be sporadic resistance."

Mission: Cannibal

Location: Hoffnung

Date: 01/06/ 1995

Time: 23:10

The lights came back on. I blinked the imprint of the screen out of my vision before glancing over at my wingman. Pixy had a hard look on his face, but I knew that whatever was going on in his head, he wasn't going to let me in on it. Not right now. I respected that because I was like him. When I didn't want to reveal anything, I wouldn't, and it bugged me when people asked.

The operation wasn't until late at night, so I had a bit of time to kill beforehand. My priorities went to my stomach because I'd been allowed to sleep in today. I think Janie had something to do with that but I wasn't going to question it. If my girlfriend was going to pull some strings for me that would let me get some extra sleep, then I was going to let her do it.

The rest of the day was preparation for the mission tonight. My wingman remained suspiciously quiet throughout. On the other hand, PJ was extremely exuberant, making me wonder what he was so happy about.

"Did you finally propose to Iris?" I prodded as we walked to the hangars later that night. Pixy lagged behind us, brooding to himself.

"No, but I did buy the ring!" PJ exclaimed. I want to propose soon, but I want to find the right time. This war is causing havoc on the timing."

"For once, the Crow and I agree on something," Pixy said, causing both me and PJ to turn around to raise our eyebrows at him, shocked by the fact he could actually agree with someone other than himself or me. But he said no more, and we turned our attention to the mission.

Taking off in the dark wasn't new to me, but it was certainly not something I wanted to do on a regular basis. Pixy and PJ, along with the rest of Crow Team, were soon to follow. My wingman and I were both equipped with XMAAs. While I knew there were numerous ground targets, I wasn't comfortable dropping unguided bombs in the middle of the night. Radar only gave you so much information and I wanted to avoid killing any civilians by accidentally dropping a bomb on neutral targets.

Radio silence ensued on route to the destination. Not because we were ordered to maintain it, but because we needed the utmost focus to conduct this mission in the dark. Even I was feeling slightly nervous, and that was saying something.

"Galm Two to all units. I've confirmed a burning city up ahead," Pixy announced when we approached the battle zone.

"That must mean the bombing's started," PJ remarked.

"Cover the Allied bombers. Eliminate all ground and aerial threats," AWACS ordered.

"Let's move," Pixy said, sounding less enthused than he normally did. Despite my thoughts earlier, I made a mental note to ask him what was going on with him because not only was it driving me crazy not knowing what was wrong with him, but I was genuinely worried about his well-being. But for the moment, my concerns would have to wait. We had a mission to carry out.

Turning my plane to the left, I directed to the area our targets were located. The dark was more disorienting than usual. Maybe it was the cloudiness of the night sky or the orange haze that seemed to have descended across the landscape. Whatever it was, I didn't like it.

"To all bombers. Remove Belka's ability to counterattack. Priority is placed on destruction over accuracy," an allied bomber instructed. It took a moment for me to register what his words meant, but by the time it did, it was too late. "Initiate bombing sequence. Drop 'em all!"

"There could be civilians down there!" I barked angrily. I knew the bombers couldn't drop their bombs without discretion if there were no targets to hit, so I made it my mission to take out as many ground targets that were priority as fast as possible.

"Turn it to ashes!" the pilot shouted. "That's not enough! Drop more bombs!"

"How can you say that when there are innocent civilians down there?!" I snapped. "Enough people are dying in this war. We don't need to add to the death toll!"

"This is for the greater good. If we don't stop them, then they'll kill our innocents!"

"Killing their innocents makes you no better than those who kill ours!"

"I thought they were on a precision bombing mission…" Pixy trailed off, shocked by the news. He was flying alongside me, targeting the SAMs that were firing at us and the bombers.

"They're just tossin' bombs all over the place," PJ added.

In my anger, I took out three targets at once: two SAMs by missiles and an AA gun by gunfire. I spun my plane around to find some new targets only to see my wingman well ahead of me. For the first time since we'd been paired together, Pixy was outshining me. But I didn't care. He was doing exactly as I was: taking out the targets before the bombers could. I hadn't voiced to him that this was what I was doing, but apparently, I didn't need to. Maybe he figured it out from my outburst, or maybe he just knew me well enough to know I would never condone targeting anything other than the prioritized targets. Regardless of the reason, however, we had a mission to complete, and we wanted to do it with as little civilian casualties as possible. The utmost amount of focus was needed; it was paramount to our success.

I circled the area which comprised of targets both priority and neutral. The neutral mainly consisted of oil tanks while the priority mainly consisted of anti-aircraft weaponry. I took the targets on the outskirts of the main part of the town, those that were hidden in the hills, allowing Pixy to take care of those in the city center.

The hills blended in almost perfectly with the night sky, making my usual 'fly close to the hills to fire at targets' tactic a stupid stunt, even for me. Therefore I flew close to four hundred feet in altitude, allowing me to see the ground below without having my visibility reduced too much by the haze.

I flipped my plane around after having destroyed another AA gun, crossing over the city center and taking out another SAM.

"No! Our city is going up in flames!" A Belkan exclaimed as I took out another AA gun hiding in the hills. Turning my plane to the left, I sent a missile at an AA gun hiding amongst some oil tankers and fired another missile at a SAM taking residence on one of the bridges. Both were successful hits.

I realized we were all being relatively silent and quiet, something that was unusual, even during a high-caliber mission such as this. We'd been in a lot worse situations with much more humor. But then again, something was off with Pixy, I was focused on protecting civilians from getting caught in the crossfires of this war (more so than they already were), and PJ was helping Crow Team.

I zeroed in on another target making its way down the road. It was an APC. It was soon going to be a demolished APC. Right as I sent a missile its way, Pixy said irately, "A Tomahawk just hit the city. Are those guys serious?"

"A Tomahawk did what?" I growled, blood boiling in my veins. However, before I could bitch about it more and demand answers, one of the allies came on, trying to sound calm, saying, "Attention Allied fighters. Our tank units advancing to Sector Two, but some Belkan planes are giving us trouble… Take down those planes for us."

"I'm on my way. Pixy, you continue taking care of those ground units. The sooner we get rid of the priority targets, the sooner those bombers can go home."

"Roger that, Cipher," Pixy answered, and I could tell he caught my drift of what I actually meant: the sooner we completed the mission, the more civilians we could save.

"This is PJ. Somethin' strange is goin' on down there. The number of burning areas just suddenly increased."

"I can't tell why," I sighed, frustrated by this mission and the lack of regard for the innocents down below. But knowing my emotions would cloud my judgment, I forced myself to push everything I was feeling aside and focus on the mission. It was the best thing I could do. For everyone.

I headed in the direction of the place where the tanks were encountering enemy aircraft. As much as I disagreed with what my army was doing, I wasn't going to let them die because of it. This wasn't their fault. It was our own HQ's.

"Inform all units," A Belkan began. "This is an order from Operation HQ. Abandon Hoffnung. However, do not retreat until all facilities are destroyed. Leave them nothing. That is all."

The words rattled me as the first two enemy planes appeared on radar. I could barely make them out against the blackness of the night sky. Had it not been for the small lights on their wings, they could've flown right over me, and I wouldn't have noticed. I fired two XMAA missiles, not wanting to get in a direct dogfight with them. I figured they'd be expecting me to come from behind them instead of in front, which would make them either veer to the side or floor it forward. I prayed for the latter but knew my missiles would hit regardless simply because of the angle and distance I'd fired from.

"Cipher, two Hornets in front of you. Get- never mind. They're gone," Pixy noted, confirming my missiles had hit the targets.

"Way ahead of you buddy. How you holding up?"

"I hate this."

"Me too."

"Not as much as I do."

I was about to ask him what he meant as he fell into flight beside me, but when I saw flames rise up in the city in places that I knew our bombers hadn't been yet, dread filled my bones.

"The Belkans are setting fire to their own…" Pixy observed, horror tinging his voice, and that's when I knew how bad things were. My wingman was more unshakeable than me. He might get frustrated and annoyed more easily, but I'd never seen him shaken before; I'd never heard it in his voice.

"They're desperate," I said. It was the only valid reason I could come up with as to why they would do such a thing. Well, no… that's a lie. There was another reason.

It was their pride. They would rather destroy their own things than give the enemy the satisfaction of destroying it themselves. But I didn't want to voice this out loud because I knew it would sound as if I was sympathizing with them.

And that's because I would be.

I was still Belkan, and I would rather bring my own destruction that let someone do it to me.

I was broken out of my thoughts by my AWACS confirming the kill, and the allied platoon saying, "Mercenaries? Well, we appreciate the help. We'll be moving on."

"Any time. That's what we're here for," I said.

"We still have a lot of ground units to take care of, Cipher," Pixy said.

"Let's take care of them so we can get home," I replied, taking out a SAM and AA gun while my wingman simultaneously took care of two SAMs.

"Burn down the entire city! Set fire to the buildings on your way out!" a Belkan commanded, sending shivers down my spine. I locked onto another SAM just as my missile alert went off, causing my wingman to shout at me to get out of there. But I knew it was my target that had fired at me, and I knew I could easily evade it while taking the target out at the same time. Within seconds, I was fine and the anti-aircraft weapon was disintegrated.

"Get out of Hoffnung. We don't have anything more to do here," Belkan said.

"Two SAMs and an AA gun are taken care of," Pixy confirmed. "There's still some more out there though."

"Not with the roll you're on," I pointed out.

"So this is the price we pay for losing," a Belkan grumbled. For some reason, an image of a rather shell-shocked soldier staring at the wreckage down below flashed through my mind. Maybe because I'd probably be doing that right now if I were in the Belkan's shoes. It was the beauty of being a pilot. You rarely saw the carnage and wreckage of war. At least not like you did on the ground.

"Don't let them push their way into Belkan territory!" another shouted. Either he hadn't heard some of his comrades' transmissions or he wasn't giving up. Regardless, it was sad.

"Hoffnung has fallen to the Allied Forces," a Belkan said, and I could only assume he was informing the one who had spoken before him.

"Even the Hoffnung is falling. What has become of our mighty Air Force…"

"Cipher, I see two more planes. Looks like they're aces," Pixy observed.

"I'm on them. One is… an F-5 and an A-10. I hope they're not using the latter one to help destroy everything," I mumbled.

"I wouldn't put it past them. Desperate people do desperate things." I used another XMAA at the A-10. They moved slower and were an easier target than the small, maneuverable F-5. I turned my plane around to trail the second plane who was zipping their way towards the most intense part of the battle.

"Move to the left, then drop the payload!" an allied bomber ordered. I fired two regular missiles at the plane, praying one of them would hit. I'd taken a risky move to fire as the plane was swerving upwards, but I had to. It was getting too close to an allied bomber, and I had to protect my own. But luck was on my side, and the missiles stayed true.

I narrowed in on two more aerial targets. From the distance I was at, I couldn't tell what type of planes they were. I was just glad that, at the moment, we didn't have any stealth planes on the enemy's side. Especially the Nighthawks. If they were black, we'd be screwed because I could barely see planes that weren't meant to blend in with the night sky. Ones that were? You'd have to be a demon. Or have night vision. But probably a demon.

"Johan! Make some space on the truck bed," a Belkan requested.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Johan countered, sounding partially annoyed.

"We're carrying a wounded soldier."

I tried to ignore most of the enemy transitions coming through. I did so by setting my sights on the two planes that I had rapidly approached. They were both MIG-31s. Strong, but didn't always have the best maneuverability. Although they were kind of speedy. They both flew past me as I flipped my plane around to follow one of them. I wondered if they were having trouble seeing us as we were having seeing them.

"Release all bombs before you get shot down!" an allied bomber yelled. They were also someone I was trying to ignore. I didn't want to hear the sounds of them dropping bombs unceremoniously onto the ground, destroying everything and everyone in its way, including innocent civilians. I would help them if they were being attacked, but otherwise…

When I leveled back out again trailing the MIG, I had failed to realize that they, too, had turned around, which meant they were coming at me head-on. I guess that answered my earlier question about seeing us… The MIG fired their guns at me and even a missile. I rolled my plane to avoid them, sending a missile of my own. I dodged everything they sent at me, but they didn't avoid what I sent at them. That was one less plane we had to worry about.

As I was trying to find the second MIG, a Belkan soldier exclaimed, "They've got bombers up there! Fire! Fire away!"

Suddenly a plane shot past me. I thought it was another enemy, but sighed with relief when I saw it was my wingman. He had fired two missiles when he'd flown above me, and those missiles had hit the MIG, sending it plummeting toward the ground.

"The city's going up in flames!" PJ pointed out.

"Learn to accept it, kid. This is war," Pixy snapped.

"You expect me to believe that arson and indiscriminate bombing is war?" PJ demanded.

"There's no mercy in war. It's a collision of powers."

"Even war has a set of rules to follow!"

Mission Update

Before my wingman and PJ could argue any further, Hammerhead interrupted with, "I've detected an unknown craft on radar. The blip is barely visible. It may be stealth."

I mentally groaned because I swear the universe had sent these planes just because it knew I had been silently thankful that stealth planes weren't here.

"They're definitely stealth," PJ confirmed. "One just flew above me. It looks like an F-35."

"Use your special weapons if you have air-to-air ones. They'll stick on the planes better than normal missiles," I said, locking onto the first target that came into view. I could see the planes appearing and disappearing on the radar. Okay, at least they weren't Nighthawks. F-35s were at least easier to hit.

Usually.

I swung my plane around to get behind the first one. On my radar, I could see Pixy and PJ both trailing invisible blips.

"Burn them to the ground," a Belkan growled. "They'll pay for what they've done to Belka."

"I'll destroy them all," another replied.

I wasn't quite sure what the guy was talking about considering we were the ones burning them to the ground. I mean I had just destroyed three SAMs in the span of ten seconds, probably causing them to be charred remains on the ground.

A shadow flew behind me out of the corner of my eye. Looking at my radar, I could tell it wasn't any of my allies, so deciding it was a stealth plane, I took chase after it. The enemy veered upwards, alerting me that it knew of my presence. That was going to make my life more difficult, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. We both went into a loop, and as he was leveling out, I fired two missiles while I continued my descent downwards to get lower to the ground. The missiles hit, and that was one less enemy plane we had to deal with.

"I won't let them get back alive," a Belkan snarled. Despite how much I was against what they were doing, I had to admire their determination. For better or for worse, Belkans never gave up. It was what made the country, and its people, such a formidable force. But I had to say, I was worried the Belkans had something else up there sleeve. This war seemed to be coming to a close, but it was coming to a close too nicely… too neatly.

I got behind another enemy plane only for it to be destroyed in front of my eyes by PJ, causing me to say, "Nice shot."

"Thank you," he replied. He sounded pleased, but not his usual chipper self. I wondered if his argument with Pixy earlier had affected him…

Suddenly, three F-35s showed up in front of me, perfectly lined up for me to use my XMAAs. I didn't expect them all to hit, but there was that little chance that I banked on of: what if they did? Besides, war was risk, and you couldn't win without taking some. The only person I'd be hurting in this risk would be myself because if these missiles missed, I was down three special weapons. I could handle it though.

I fired the XMAAs. Unsurprisingly they didn't all hit. The first missed. But the other two did, and that was two less enemies we had to deal with. I suddenly saw a glimpse of a plane high above me. I could only assume it was the plane jamming our signals and hiding its allies from us. I needed to take it out if we had any hopes of finding all those enemy planes.

I lifted my plane up, heading toward the jammer, directly underneath it. I knew the minute I fired and if the missiles hit, that I'd have to turn and burn out of there before the debris hit my plane.

I took the shot, but the plane must've been expecting me because he hit the afterburners and high-tailed it out of the area, avoiding the missile and causing me to grumble, "Son of a bitch…"

With an annoyed sigh, I went after him. Thankfully it wasn't difficult to catch up with him, nor was it difficult to shoot him down. All I had to do was go into a loop and as I gained sight of him, I locked on, fired, and left. The missiles hit, and our radar was clear.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" an allied bomber shouted frantically.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"This is Bomb Unit Three! I'm taking enemy fire! What happened to our escort planes?!"

"I'm heading over," I told them calmly, in hopes it would keep them calm too. I glanced at my radar to find the enemy plane, pleased to see that it was only a few hundred feet away from me. When I locked onto the target, it darted upwards into a loop. I had no choice but to follow if I was to shoot it down. As it was heading towards the ground, I hit it with some gunfire because I didn't trust a missile to hit it. I hit the plane but not enough to take it down. We pulled up again, and just as I was beginning to wonder if it was going to go up in another loop, a missile hit the plane from the right. I looked over to see my wingman zipping towards us.

"Thanks, Buddy," I said. "Listen, we have two stealth bombers approaching the city. Let's take them out."

Pixy brought his plane next to mine, and we flew side by side to take care of the last remaining planes on our radar. Or at least the last ones I could see. The two of us pulled up behind the bombers, firing missiles at them. They were easy targets, and within moments of us firing, there were two explosions in the sky where the bombers had been, confirming the hits.

Mission Accomplished

"Down, all Belkan fighters," Hammerhead announced as we all started to get back in formation to head home. I began to relax until another transmission from the Belkans came through.

"Ignore the civilians. Our priority is withdrawing the troops out of the area," an enemy soldier said.

"Abandon Block D. Join up with 5th Company from Block C," another ordered.

"Don't leave anything behind for the Allied Forces," a third chimed in.

How could they leave the civilians behind? Or ignore them? How bad was it down there? I could only imagine considering how it looked like everything was on fire from up here. But civilians weren't equipped to handle decimation of this magnitude. Hell, I don't think their fire department or police station was either if those two institutions were even able to function at the moment.

"Mission objective fulfilled. All units, return to base," Hammerhead commanded.

"Damn them all…" Pixy snarled. I wasn't sure who the comment was directed at, whether it was at the enemy, at our military for lying to us about saying this was going to be a precision-bombing mission, or at those who had started this all in the first place. But I wasn't going to prod, not here.

The trip home was just as silent as the one to the battle area. On that trip, Pixy's words kept replaying over and over in my head. For some reason, they gave me the revelation of why everyone was suddenly so quiet on this mission.

No one knew what we were fighting for anymore.

We had a quick debriefing when we landed, then were dismissed to our rooms. Pixy walked next to me, silently brooding over today. PJ walked few yards in front of us, his head down. I was worried about him. He was a few years younger than both me and Pixy, and a little more easily offended. I hoped what my wingman had said to him earlier hadn't brought down his spirits. We needed someone like him on our team, always chipper or in a good mood, because it was good for morale, and morale was low at this point in the war.

He stopped at his room and on a whim, I turned around and said, "Hey, good job out there tonight. That was a tough mission."

"Thank you," PJ said, giving me a grateful smile. It was small, but it was still sincere. Pixy and I had turned back around to go to our rooms when PJ added, "Hey, Pixy."

The two of us faced him again, me out of curiosity and Pixy out of annoyance. I could sense it was taking all of my wingman's willpower not to strangle the Crow Team member.

"Yeah?" Pixy replied, barely holding back his temper.

"You're wrong."

"About what?" Pixy retorted.

"About how there's no mercy in war. Yeah, it's a collision of powers, I'll give you that one. But having power doesn't always mean you abuse it, and it doesn't always mean you're going to have no mercy. I see Cipher give mercy on enemies all the time. I've seen you do it, too. And you two are the most powerful pilots in this war. Ally or enemy, everyone knows it. So yeah, you're wrong. Good night you two."

Present day…

"Damn, that's quite the exit. So Pixy was already thinking about leaving, wasn't he?" Genette stated.

"Yeah. In hindsight, I recognize all the signs. But back then, I was so wrapped up in the war and in Janie that I failed to see the warning signs in my wingman. I don't know if I could've ever changed his mind or not though," I said.

"Let's see if he has anything else to say," Elizabeth suggested, hitting the play button on the remote. The documentary went back into motion as it showed footage of me and Pixy in our planes at Hoffnung. Actual, real-life footage from that mission. It was slightly disturbing because now I could see the destruction on the ground. Words couldn't describe it…

"Nobody knew why they were fighting anymore," Pixy said, eerily echoing what I'd said in my version of the story. Genette and Elizabeth glanced over at me with raised eyebrows because they were obviously thinking the same thing I was. However, they turned their attention to the screen as my old wingman continued speaking. "All I felt at that point was sadness for the world. That's why I…"

Pixy trailed off as if he was unable to continue. I hated to feel this way, but a part of me was glad that he felt bad, or that it at least was a bad memory for him. He caused a lot of grief at the end of the war for all parties involved, but I took what he did harder than anyone. He had been my wingman, my buddy, my brother.

That night after the battle of Hoffnung, I remember my twenty-four-year-old self, lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, mulling over everything, and thinking how I couldn't imagine fighting this war without Pixy by my side; how I was so glad that we were on the same side.

It's finally up! Reviews would great :)