Cloudfall Air Base

Yakutia, Federation Mainland

March 19th, 437 AC

12:30 PM Local Time

After taxying into the hangar, the remaining Violet Squadron pilots climbed out of their planes and onto the cold hard concrete floor. By that point, Natalie's brain was basically on autopilot. She hadn't even noticed that she dropped her helmet on the floor. All she could think about was how Cap was dead.

"Maybe… maybe he's still out there, somewhere," she mumbled, absently pacing around the hangar. "I mean, we didn't see him go down. Besides, he could've bailed out." She brushed a few loose strands of bleach blonde hair out of her eyes. "I just- he can't be dead. He can't be."

It took Natalie a moment to feel Skyline's hand on her shoulder. "Winter…" Skyline's voice trailed off, and her eyes looked down to the floor. "He's- he's gone," she finally said after a long silence. "They all are." She finally mustered the courage to look Natalie in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

Natalie just felt anger more than anything, but she didn't know what or who she was angry at. Maybe herself for not doing more or Skyline for not telling everyone sooner. Perhaps she was just mad at the war in general. One thing she did know, however, was that she needed to vent, do something to calm down. She exhaled sharply before shoving past Skyline. "Just get the hell out of my way," she muttered. "I need to be alone right now."

"What about the debrief?" Wires asked her as she walked away.

Natalie ignored him and slammed the mandoor to the hangar shut. Under normal circumstances, General Myers would be the last person she or anyone else on the base would want to piss off, and keeping him waiting would undoubtedly do that. At that moment, though, she didn't fear anything. Natalie pressed through the barracks, focusing on nothing but getting to her room. Her head had started spinning, and she was feeling sick to her stomach. The closer to her room she got, the more she felt like her legs were going to give way and leave her stranded on the floor. Luckily, though, she managed to make it and let out a heavy sigh of relief upon closing the door behind herself.

Despite wanting nothing more than to throw herself onto the bed and sleep forever, Natalie dragged herself over to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her skin was pale as the snow that had started falling outside her window, and she looked like she was going to throw up, which she did a few seconds later.

"Come on, Natalie," she said to herself. "Get it together. You're a Peacekeeper, dammit. That means you've gotta be an example for the Federation, and this is one shitty example you're setting."

After crawling back into the main part of her room, Natalie looked around. Despite feeling like shit, she still felt pissed, and she wanted to take it out on something. Finally, her eyes landed on just the thing, a small box with a few miscellaneous items. Her hand clenched up into a fist, and she hit it as hard as she could, sending it, and everything in it, flying. Already she started to feel better, but then she noticed a small folded up piece of paper on the floor that got launched from the box. Natalie groaned. She knew what it was, and yet, she found herself going to pick it up anyway. She sat down on the side of her bed as she unfolded it and started to read it.

"Natalie. I'm sorry you had to find out like this, or I guess I should be. We've been through so much together, so I suppose that's why it took me so long to realize I have to do this. I still look back on those memories with some fondness- getting told we were going to be Peacekeepers, all that time we spent together at the Academy, our first kiss, they really were the good times. I just wish I never realized what you were becoming sooner, what Myers and the other Peacekeepers were shaping you into. I can't deny it anymore, as much as I wish I could. That's why I decided that I needed to leave. Don't bother looking for me; I'll already be long gone by the time you find this. I just hope that someday you can come to realize what the Federation is doing- what it's making you do. Goodbye. -Jay"

Natalie felt her grip on the paper tighten until she yanked it in both directions, tearing it in half. Reading that note the first time around destroyed her. She didn't understand why Jay would just leave without any warning, but now, watching that paper torn in half, she felt fantastic, so she did it again and again until the note was nothing more than a bunch of tiny scraps.

Suddenly, the door to her room opened, and Doc stepped in. "Hey, we're starting the debrief in a minute. I figured you should probably be there for it." He briefly looked around the room. "You uhh… feeling better?"

Natalie took a shaky deep breath in and out to calm her nerves. "I'll be fine," she decided. "Let's go."

"Well, it took you long enough," said a tall man with gray hair and a stern look.

Having taken a moment for herself, Natalie had begun to come to her senses, meaning her fear of the man was coming back. All the same, though, she wasn't going to roll over and take it. "With all due respect, General Myers. My friend and squadron leader is dead. Do you really expect me to just move on as if nothing happened?"

"Yes," Myers quickly answered, glaring at Natalie. "Everyone else seemed to have no issues moving on, and you can bet the Coalition didn't have any problems either. In fact, they're probably celebrating right now. You're the leader of this squadron now, so I'm going to hope you won't disappoint."

Natalie knew when to give up, and with Myers towering over her and shooting her a glare, she knew it was time. "Yes, sir. I won't," she said, dipping her head before rejoining the others.

"Now, I'm afraid there isn't good news," Myers said, turning his attention to the screen. "The European Coalition continues to push from the west, and the West African Concordat is doing the same from the south. To add to the shitshow, we've confirmed that the Republic of Albion has joined the European Coalition officially, and they're now sending troops. Now that the city of Allessia has fallen, I imagine it'll only be a matter of weeks before the Federation crumbles entirely unless Icarus Armories has something truly game-changing to show us at the meeting, but that's not for a few days. With all that said and done, though, that's still not all the bad news I have. We just received word that Peacekeeping Squadron Cerulean was shot down." Myers looked over at Natalie, Wires, Hammer, and Doc. "Meaning you four are the last Peacekeepers in the Federation."