Unfinished Highway, Cascadia

Monarch sat in silence as the world burned before him. Orange lightning crackled through the air, torrential winds blew in seemingly random directions, and the clouds looked like they were on fire.

His thoughts were… turbulent, to say the least. He yearned to fly, but at the same time, he felt like he could never touch a joystick again. He wanted to get revenge, to burn the Federation to the ground, but at the same time, the last thing he wanted to do was add even more violence to the fray.

Prez sat beside him, not even trying to hide the fact that she was worried about him. She was the only thing keeping him together. He had no family to return to, and now, not even a country; the Federation had made sure of that.

After minutes of awkward silence, Prez sighed and gently spoke. "It's not your fault, Monarch. There was nothing you could have done."

And that's the worst part. Monarch thought.

He knew that Prez was right, but he didn't want her to be right. He wanted to feel like he was in control of any given situation in the sky, especially when lives were at stake. Prospero hadn't just hurt because of what had happened, it hurt because, no matter how skilled he was, he had been powerless to stop it.

"I know." He croaked out. He had to say something to Prez, anything. He knew she was trying to get him to talk more, but he could barely summon the will for it.

She leaned over and hugged him, and he leaned into the gesture. He shed no tears, as over the last few days he'd cried all that he could.

"It's going to be okay. I don't know how but… we'll come back from this." Prez told him. "Stardust says that it looks worse than it is."

"I believe him, and you." Monarch replied. "I just…"

He trailed off, unsure of what he'd been trying to say. There were so many things he was unsure about now that he didn't even know where to start listing them all.

"It's okay, I know what you were trying to say." Prez said as she held him just a little bit tighter, offering him some desperately-needed reassurance.

"…Thank you." He said.

He closed his eyes and, just for a moment, allowed himself to get lost in her embrace. For a brief moment, there was no war, no calamity, no more death, only her and their mutual love for one another. But all good things had to come to an end.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Monarch's eyes shot open as Prez released him. They both turned around to see Stardust, looking just as disheveled and exhausted as the rest of Sicario and the Independence Force. Still, he had a small smile, and he didn't look quite as bad as everyone else.

"Sir, I-" Prez spoke up, but Stardust waved a hand to silence her.

"I'm not going to judge you two, we all could use a little comfort right now…" Stardust said. He looked out of the tunnel at the roaring calamity, and for just a moment, Monarch saw his optimism fade, before quickly reigniting.

How does he do it? Monarch enviously wondered. Stardust seemed like he never lost his hope for victory, even now, in Cascadia's darkest hour.

"Monarch, I need you for an Op. I know Comic and Diplomat's planes need some work, but I could use a Wingman and we've got a battalion out there that needs our help. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

For a moment, Monarch was silent, prompting Stardust to look Monarch in the eyes and wince. He knew that he looked bad, but judging by the look on Stardust's face, he must've been worse than he thought.

"I know you're not at your best right now, but-"

"I can fight." Monarch said, and to his surprise, he believed his own words. Maybe it was the fact that Prez was sitting next to him, or the fact that more good people needed his help, but his hellish mental state suddenly seemed just a little bit more manageable. "Prez, warm up the Tomcat. I'm going to need you on this one."

She gave him a confident, happy smile, and took off to make the necessary preparations for a mission.

Stardust let out a breath in relief. "Thank you, Monarch. I would never admit this to my countrymen but, well, I'm afraid to fly out there. I'm not sure I can handle what we're going to see, not on my own."

Back in the saddle… Monarch thought. "You won't be."

Author's Notes: This ended up being much shorter than I expected it to be, but I figured I'd still upload it.