Anniversary
It seemed like a normal day of firefighting at Piston Peak. Dusty and Sky assisted the team in putting out several fires and even a search and rescue operation. When they didn't work, they mostly hung out around the base and talked with their friends. Business as usual.
So when Blade announced to Sky one morning that he would be leaving for a trip to Los Angeles for the day, Sky became rather confused. "All day?"
"I have some business to take care of." Blade explained, beginning to make his way to the door. "It's…..sort of an annual family reunion."
"Cool!" Sky said excitedly, finally finishing with her hair braiding. "Can I come?"
"Don't you have a job to do here?" Blade asked, an eye frame raised.
"Don't I usually do my job when I'm with you?" Sky countered. "Come on, please? I've never been to L.A. before."
Blade regarded her for a moment before sighing. "All right. Let's go."
"Yes!" Sky cheered, grabbing her small backpack from the corner and following Blade out the door to the hanger and out towards the runway. "Bye Dusty!" Sky called. "I'm going to L.A.!"
"Bring me back a souvenir, would ya?" Duty called. He wondered why Sky would be going with Blade at first, but he long since learned to just go with it.
Sky nodded to Dusty's request and hopped into Blade's hoist hatch. Blade started up his rotors and took off, heading south.
It took about two hours to fly to Los Angeles, and the second Blade landed and opened his hoist hatch Sky jumped out to stretch her legs.
"Yeesh, I forgot how sleepy my legs get when I'm riding you or Dusty for so long." Sky groaned, stretching her back a bit. "So where to?"
"I'm going to finish my family business." Blade said. "You go busy yourself and stay safe. We'll meet up in a few hours."
"I can't come with you?" Sky asked innocently.
"This is personal, Raven. Better if I go alone." Blade explained kindly. "You go on. Explore a bit. There's a shopping center down the road there."
Sky rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Blade. You know I'm not that girly."
"There's a bookstore." Blade added.
"BOOOOOOOOKS!" Sky squealed, taking off down the street.
Blade watched her go, chuckling. "Skipper was right. Works every time."
STAR
Sky mentally kicked herself for letting herself get tricked like that; and because apparently Skipper told Blade her biggest weakness. When she left the bookstore, she carried a paper bag with about five books she found and decided she couldn't live without. Also in the bag rested a small snow globe for Dusty; the souvenir she promised him.
"One of these days, I'm going to have to open my own personal library." Sky laughed to herself. She looked to her phone for the time. "It's been about two hours. Wonder where Blade is." She looked around, wondering if she should pull her radio from her backpack and call him. But if he was in the middle of his "family business," she didn't want to interrupt. So Sky began looking around for another store to go into.
But she paused when she noticed a flower shop just ahead. What really caught her attention was the sight of a familiar AgustaWestland emerging from the shop. Sky ducked down behind a lamppost, watching Blade exit the shop and look around a bit, as though making sure nobody followed him. Then he continued down the road and out of the shopping district. Sky watched him go, confused.
What was Blade doing in a flower shop? That doesn't look like family business. If it was, wouldn't his family be with him? Sky began following Blade, keeping a good distance away so he wouldn't see her coming. What could he need flowers for? Unless he's going on a date. Is he? Sky's eyes widened, and she smiled. Of course! Family business? That was just an excuse to keep everyone off his tail! He's gotta be going on a date with someone! Sky smirked craftily. Oh Blade. Did you really think you could hide that from me?
Sky's curiosity only grew and grew as she stealthily followed Blade. What did this mysterious girlfriend look like? Did Blade know her from "CHoPs"? How long had they been in a relationship? More importantly, why had Blade kept her a secret? Well, Sky supposed Maru would never leave Blade alone about it if he knew the rough and tough Piston Peak Air Attack Chief had a lady friend. But Sky wanted to meet her. She wouldn't let Blade live this down, but she could be more subtle with her jabs.
Blade journeyed far from the hustle and bustle of L.A. to the quieter neighborhoods outside of town. Sky continued to follow him, wondering where this supposed date could be. But all her expectations shattered like a glass cup hitting a hardwood floor when Blade came to the gates of a cemetery and rolled right in. Sky knelt down beside the brick supports of the gate, watching Blade drive in very purposefully, as though he had been here many times before. Sky carefully followed and ducked down behind a tree, peering out as Blade approached another helicopter in the cemetery. Oddly enough, this other helicopter, colored crimson red on white, looked like a Hughes 500D. Just like…
"She looks like Nick." Sky murmured. She tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear and cocked her head a bit to better hear the conversation.
"Hola Mrs. Lopez." Blade greeted. Sky did her best not to gasp, her eyes wide when she realized this other helicopter truly must've been Nick Loopin' Lopez's mother.
The smaller helicopter looked over, her hazel eyes sparkling with warmth as she smiled. "Blade August Ranger, as I live and breathe." She said, her voice heavily accented with Latina dialect. "It's good to see you again."
"Good to see you too." Blade said.
"You're just in time." Mrs. Lopez said. "I just finished cleaning. You're all clear to take over."
"Thanks." Blade nodded. "Didn't think I'd run into you. Usually you're gone by the time I get here."
"I wanted to wait." Mrs. Lopez said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay." She looked to Blade, still smiling comfortingly. "Are you okay, mi querido?"
Blade looked down, feeling a pang of hurtful nostalgia at the fond, motherly tone Mrs. Lopez took on. She always did like to view Blade as one of her own, even to the point where she called Blade's mother her sister. Blade sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay, Mrs. Lopez."
Mrs. Lopez scoffed. "I thought I told you to call me Tia Maria. You're family, Blade. You know that."
Blade didn't look at her, staring at the headstone before them. "I know. I know that."
Silence.
"How's Ben?" Blade asked.
"Oh, irritable as ever." Mrs. Lopez sighed. "Neglected to come because he knew you'd be here. But don't let that get to you, sobrino. He never liked you, remember?"
"I don't care anymore." Blade assured. "I never needed to care."
Mrs. Lopez analyzed Blade for a moment. "You seem different this year. You used to cry an awful lot when you did this before. What's different this year?"
Blade thought about it. What had changed since last year when he did this? The only thing that really changed was Dusty and Sky coming to Piston Peak and learning about….of course, the Soul Connection. Sky was really the only thing that changed. His heart shattered to pieces when Nick died, but he supposed Sky helped him stitch some of it together again. But could he tell that to Mrs. Lopez right now?
"Just…found something new to hold onto, I guess." Blade said.
Mrs. Lopez smiled knowingly. "You really should come to my house sometime for dinner. I don't know what you eat up at that firefighting base, but you could use a good, home-cooked meal now and then."
Blade smiled softly. "Thank you, Mrs…erm…Tia Maria."
Mrs. Lopez nodded, as though in satisfaction, and turned to hop off and return home. Blade waited until she disappeared before returning his attention to the headstone in front of him. He couldn't focus on the dates but rather the other inscriptions:
Nick "Loopin'" Lopez
Brother, son, friend
Lost but never forgotten
Blade opened his hoist hatch, an amber-colored marigold resting in his hoist hook. He swung the hook around carefully and lowered the flower to the stone base the headstone rested on. He reeled in the hoist and closed the door, staring at the marigold. For as long as Blade could remember, Nick always loved the marigold. For one, it reminded him of his favorite holiday: Day of the Dead. The other reason: it was the only flower Nick could find that closely resembled his eyes (usually). It seemed odd for Nick to love a flower so dearly, but the marigold was his favorite, and nobody could doubt it. As a joke, Blade once made a crown of marigolds and put in on Nick's head while he slept. When Nick woke up, he paraded around the "CHoPs" set like a king, wearing the flower crown proudly.
Blade felt another round of pain as memories engulfed him. He blinked, but the tears in his eyes forced their way out. He sighed raggedly, staring at Nick's headstone. The words "Lost but never forgotten" seemed to mock him.
Lost but never forgotten.
Lost, never forgotten.
Lost.
Lost.
Lost.
"I'm sorry, Nick." Blade whispered. "I'm sorry, all right? I should've done something and I just…." It's not that he didn't. It's that he couldn't. He couldn't do anything because he didn't know how to help. That one moment, the moment his best friend slipped away while he could only watch, haunted him to this day. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He tentatively rolled forward and gave the headstone a gentle nuzzle. But the hard stone only scratched him, and he struggled to hold back another round of tears.
Sky found she couldn't watch anymore. She turned and leaned against the tree she hid behind, sliding to the ground and hugging her knees. Tears silently streamed down her face. She both hated and was thankful she found out about this. She couldn't let this go on. Ever since discovering her Soul Connection with Blade and finding out about Nick's fate, Sky made it her mission to help Blade let go of the pain he felt the day he lost his best friend. She thought she made progress, but now it seemed she hadn't helped Blade at all. He still blamed himself, and he allowed himself to feel guilty over what happened. Sky looked out and watched Blade for a while, noticing how he seemed to calm down slowly but surely. When he began departing from the graveyard, his tears since stopped and he had his normal stern glare in his eyes. Sky watched him leave.
Once Blade disappeared, Sky rose from her spot and made her way to Nick's headstone. She knelt down in front of it, staring at the writing in the stone. She glanced to the marigold Blade left, and she rummaged around in her bag of books from the store. She pulled out a couple paper bookmarks the lady at the checkout counter gave her, looking through each one and finding the perfect one: black in color, with a deep red rose and white lettering that wrote out "Love is both beautiful and deadly." Sky lifted up a small rock from the grass and set the bookmark next to the marigold, using the rock to keep the paper down. Sky stared at the headstone for a moment.
"Love is both beautiful and deadly."
It's true. Sky thought. Love can build relationships and families. It can make you feel so happy. But then you lose it and you feel like you can't breathe. I bet Blade feels that way a lot. She glanced in the direction Blade left, wondering how long he held this annual tradition of visiting Nick's grave. She didn't want him to feel bad about what happened, but isn't it still good that he's doing what he can to remember Nick and the memories they shared? Sky wanted Blade to let go of his pain, but he couldn't let go of his best friend.
"All right, Blade." Sky nodded, patting Nick's headstone. "I'll let you have this."
STAR
Blade searched the bookstore for maybe half an hour before he finally found Sky sitting at the café inside the store. He came over and found her reading one of her new books. "Hey Raven! You ready to go?"
"Yeah, sure!" Sky nodded, smiling. She put her books away in her bag and followed Blade outside to find a place to take off.
"You enjoy yourself?" Blade asked.
"Yeah!" Sky nodded happily. "You have fun with your family?"
"Yes, thank you." Blade nodded.
Sky could see Blade definitely seemed happier than he looked back at the cemetery. I'm still here for you, Blade. I hope you always know that. "Hey, you think I could come with you next year?"
Blade glanced to her and grinned a bit. "I don't see why not. You seem to enjoy yourself in that store."
"It's full of books. Why wouldn't I?" Sky shrugged.