Author's Note 1: Thanks for your patience! I think I caught a cold with fever probably brought in by my mom's clinic (it's attached to the house and I pass by its door when I go downstairs, or maybe my bro (who's a medical intern) brought it home from the hospital ER… XD Anyways, I'm starting to feel better at the moment after waking up (12:40pm here lol)… Let's make Part 3 a little more interesting by focusing more on the Kogan friendship interaction too, instead of purely Kogan professional interaction ;P Please enjoy! :)

Author's Note 2: By the way, to make things more fun, I kinda made a photo reference blog post on my Tumblr, which you can access in the link below (just replace the dash between btrandkittens, tumblr and com with periods, coz FF keeps removing those parts :3)

btrandkittens-tumblr-com/post/99339042127/photo-references-for-terror-and-truth-in-the-sky-kogan

TERROR AND TRUTH IN THE SKY

Part 3

"No…" they say at the same time…

Kendall and Logan look at each other in pure horror as they realise that their fate onboard the silent A330 has been sealed…

There was no way for them to restart the engines. And they could not control the aircraft.

There was no way for them to control the aircraft as the A330 silently glides and begins its slow descent into the Pacific Ocean, with probably nobody knowing where exactly they are at the moment, save for the last location they were spotted at before they disappeared from radar.

As Kendall and Logan hold back their tears, they both clench their fists and decide to figure out a way to save the aircraft. They need to save the lives of the passengers and cabin crew. It is their job. It is their responsibility.

Kendall tries once again to control the aircraft as he yanks his control joystick around and step on the rudder pedals to feel any reaction from the A330.

Nothing.

Logan also does the same with his control joystick and rudder pedals, and also tries to restart the APU, turn the engine ignition crank switch to Start, and once again reset the fuel pumps to OFF and then ON.

Nothing.

"Wait, let's check the avionics bay! There could be some popped circuit breakers down there. That's why all our systems shut down!" Logan says, with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Both of them are hoping that resetting fuses at the avionics bay below the cockpit will reboot the aircraft's systems and save the plane.

Logan then leaves his seat, grabs a flashlight attached at the wall behind his seat, and opens the avionics bay hatch on the floor behind them, and goes downstairs via the ladder built into the space. He hurriedly scans the avionics bay, a small room which looks both like an IT server room on one side and with rows upon rows of round-shaped circuit breakers or fuses on the other side. The first officer then goes through all the circuit breakers and sees that nothing has been popped at all. As a desperate move, he pops out and pushes in each and every circuit breaker, in the hopes that one of them will restore the electricity supply above. Logan then shouts at the access hole to his captain. "Captain! Is something happening there?" "Nothing! She's still dead," Capt. Kendall answers back, referring to the plane.

The first officer then scans the computer boxes and trays on the other side to see if he could restart any switches or reattach any cables. Despite flipping switches and tightening plugs, the rows of boxes of computers are all dead, with all their LED indicators off. Logan's shoulders drop in surrender as he slowly comes back up the cockpit. He puts the access hatch door back into place. He then asks Kendall's permission to leave the cockpit to talk to a cabin crew member about their predicament. Kendall says yes and tells Logan to make the passengers prepare for a water landing, or a ditching. Logan then instructs the cabin crew to announce their status via a megaphone in one of the storage cabinets, and prepare for the inevitable landing at sea.

Logan then returns to the cockpit door, and after he closes and locks the door, he slowly drags himself to his co-pilot seat, with the look of defeat in his eyes.

Kendall looks at his best friend, and reaches out with his right hand to tap his best friend's shoulder.

"Hey, Logie. It's okay. You did your best. We did our best. But it looks like this is it…" Kendall says with a forced smile on his face, trying to hide his feeling of defeat and surrender to their eventual doom.

Logan also forces a smile at his best friend, in a desperate attempt to make Kendall feel better about their fate.

"Thanks, Kindle… Yeah, looks like this is it…" Logan says with a sigh as they both look forward through the windscreen at the horizon, where the light blue and clouds of the sky kiss the dark blue of the Pacific Ocean below, and the mid-day sun shining happily and brightly above, oblivious of the terror and despair that prevails inside the doomed A330.

Kendall then shifts his position towards Logan, grabs his hand and grips it tightly like the way they do when they congratulate each other back in their high school and college days.

"You know what, Logie, this isn't so bad. At least we've lived almost all our lives together as awesome best friends. And now we're meeting our end, together. It's been an awesome life with a great friend like you… Ever since we started kindergarten together, life has been awesome having a best friend like you. You helped me a lot, especially during high school and college. You've protected me from bullies and taught me stuff that I did not quickly understood in school. You were there in my times of sadness, in my times of celebration, in my times of fun. You were always there for me. Thank you for everything, Logie." Kendall says with tears trickling down his face and his grip on Logan's hand tightening further.

Logan starts to sob as he hears the comforting words and final thank you's of his best friend.

"Me too, Kindle. It's been an awesome life. Thank you for being my best friend all throughout my life. You know what, I've been very shy when we were still in kindergarten. I thought nobody would make friends with me. But you approached me and said hi to me, and it felt good. I had a friend now. And all throughout these years, you've also helped me a lot. I owe it to you for helping me realise that my life-long ambition is in aviation… To fly like a bird in the sky… To be a pilot." Logan says between sobs, to which Kendall dawns a realization.

"Oh, Logie… Shit… I'm so sorry… If I didn't convince you to become a pilot, then you wouldn't have been here. You would've been safe and alive for a very long time. I am sorry, Logie. It's my fault that your life will be cut short," Kendall says as he begins sobbing loudly.

"Hey, Kindle! NO! Stop that! NO NO NO! Stop crying! It's not your fault! Being a pilot has been my dream already since we were in grade school. I just decided to forget about it, thinking I'm not good enough. But eventually, you made me realise that I can do it. And I did. We've been flying for several years now, and from two bars on my rank epaulet, I am now a three-barred First Officer, and will be… or… would've been a Captain next year… but, still, it's been an honour working with my best friend. I owe it to you that I am this happy, Kindle. Thank you for being my best friend. And you know what, it's kinda cool that, yeah, we've lived our lives almost always together, and now we're facing the end of our lives together too…" Logan says as happiness about their friendship briefly interrupt his sobs of sadness.

Kendall looks at Logan as more tears continue to flow from his green eyes.

"Thank you, Logie. It's been an honour for me too. And, uhm, I know this is awkward… Actually, this is probably a very bad timing… But I need to be really honest with you…" Kendall says as his sobbing face tries to stop the tears and becomes serious. Logan looks at him in a worried way.

"What is it, Kindle?" Logan worriedly asks.

Kendall then pulls Logans hand near his own face, and kisses it gently.

"Logan… I… I… I love you…" Kendall finally says.

Logan looks at his best friend, shocked at what he just hear him say.

"Whu… Wh… Wu… Wha… What?" Logan asks, with confusion and panic in his eyes.

"Yes, Logan… I love you, Logie… I've actually fallen in love with you for a very long time now. I'm trying to hide it because I am scared that you are straight and you won't love me back, and our friendship would be destroyed. But now that we've got nothing to lose, I had to tell you the truth… I love you, Logan…" Kendall tearily says as he kisses Logan's hand once again, with some of his tears falling onto Logan's hand.

"Kindle…" Logan was only able to utter his best friend's name as he then stares quietly at Kendall.

Kendall's sad face became sadder as he realises that his bestfriend, the love of his life, Hortense Logan Mitchell, can't love him back.

Logan then suddenly sobs as he flips their joined hands together, pulls it quickly towards him and kisses Kendall's hand.

"I LOVE YOU TOO, KINDLE!" Logan finally shouts as he sobs.

Back in the cabin, despite the eerie silence of the cabin, pierced occasionally by sobs of the frightened passengers and crew, nobody hears what the pilots are expressing for one another, as the silence throughout the passenger cabin has become a deafening one, as fear and feeling of certain doom envelop each and every passenger and cabin crew member.

Kendall's sobs slow down as he looks directly into Logan's gleaming brown eyes. "You… love me, Logan?"

"YES KINDLE! I'm sorry if I didn't admit it to you sooner. When we were still in middle school, it's like I started to have a crush on you, and when we were in high school, I was convinced that I am in love with you. I am just scared to tell you because I thought you might not like me," Logan says.

Kendall and Logan stare at each other for a moment, realising how stupid they are to have been hiding their feelings for each other, when in fact they were actually truly in love with each other. The signs have been there all along, both of them realised. They didn't have any girl crushes. They didn't have girlfriends. They didn't hang out with girls. They didn't even sleep with girls. It was always them hanging out. Either Logan or Kendall sometimes playfully cuddling alongside the other guy as they sit on the couch, either in Logan's house or Kendall's house, while watching a movie. Kendall or Logan would cook a big mean breakfast, lunch or dinner whenever the other boy comes by to visit. They enjoy each other's company that they didn't need anyone else in their lives. They were always happy whenever they are in each other's company. They felt complete. They were actually in love and were discreetly showing affection towards each other.

And Kendall and Logan lean on the center control console as they move themselves close to each other. With their remaining free hands, the two hold the back of each other's heads as they slowly join each other's lips, their very first kiss.

The boys finally feel the sensation they've been longing for. Their first kiss of true love for the man that they love. They pull each other's heads closer to each other as their first kiss turns from a gentle kiss into a more passionate one. Kendall is the first to stick his tongue out and explore Logan's mouth, to which Logan willingly obliges. And as Kendall pulls his tongue back in, it was Logan's turn to explore Kendall's willing mouth with his own tongue. They continue to kiss fervently, releasing the tension of hiding their true feelings for each other after all these years.

They feel much more complete this time.

They feel content.

They feel happy.

They feel loved.

And as the reality of what's happening around them settles back into their minds, they slowly part their lips and lean back on their seats, but Kendall's right hand and Logan's left hand, still locked in a gentle grip.

Kendall then lets out a cruel chuckle… "Well, fate is a cruel mistress… We finally declare our love for each other and had our first kiss, and now we have our final moments together, and our first kiss is actually our last one too… All in the same day… All within the same hour…"

"You said it, Kindle," Logan says with a bitter smile. "Fate is a cruel mistress… And as they say, 'til death do us part.' But you know what, fuck that! I love you, Kindle. We'll see each other in heaven and we'll continue being united there. Just wait and hold on. We'll see each other there soon. I love you, Kindle…"

"I love you too, Logie."

And they embrace once again and indulge into a second passionate kiss of love.

After a minute of the second kiss, they return back to leaning on their seats. They look at the remaining flight instruments that are powered separately by a backup battery… 11,220ft… Probably around 5 to 10 more minutes before the descending disabled aircraft hits the ocean.

"I love you, Logan"

"I love you, Kendall"

They then turn back to looking through the cockpit windscreen, with the captain's right hand and the first officer's left hand still clasped together and resting on the black engine thrust levers. Their eyes, glistening with mixed tears of love, joy, fear and doom, continue to gaze at the horizon and towards their inevitable fate…

To be continued…