"What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes part of us."
~Hellen Keller

___________________________________

Brian

After the story, we all headed to bed. I told Bryn to sleep in because Felicity and I would be. Well, that was what I told her. What I didn't tell her was that I wanted to drag out how long she was here to give my dad ample time to get here before Bryn left. She might hold the key to the missing parts of his memory, and I couldn't let her leave without at least seeing if said possibility existed.

I woke up at eleven and shuffled quietly downstairs into the kitchen. I filled the kettle with water and waited for it to boil. I found myself staring at the steam erupting into the air. I was making some much-needed water for the hot chocolate for the cold and snowy day. The news said the storm would let up in another few hours, but I could already see the snow weakening. I prayed it didn't. I had a feeling Bryn would be out of here the moment she could. After all, telling Felicity and me all these stories had to be dredging up some long-repressed, unwanted memories.

Felicity leaned against the counter next to me, asking, "What are you doing?"

I continued staring at the rising steam. "Thinking."

"We both know how bad that is for you."

"Do you think it's possible?"

"Sweetheart, I know you really well, but I haven't reached mind-reading capabilities yet. You have to be more explicit."

"Do you think-" I glanced over my shoulder at Bryn, who was passed out on the couch with Mobius- "it's possible that my dad could know her? Not just as Mobius, but as someone from his personal life?"

"Stranger things have happened. I mean, having the legendary ribbon fighter on your couch is one such instance."

"And having them be related to two other legendary fighters, also known as fucking Galm 1 and Razgriz 1!" I ran a hand through my tousled hair. "I know I'm acting calm despite all this, but it's because my brain is overloaded with so many questions and so much intrigue that my body has just... shut down, and I can't be anything but calm because if I let everything come out, I'll probably explode."

"To be honest, that made no sense whatsoever. How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Four hours. I was researching Bryn."

"How many pages into Google have you gone?" Felicity narrowed her eyes at me when I didn't respond. "Brian. How many?"

"Uh, I'm in the high triple-digits," I admitted.

"You need help."

"I don't need help; I need answers."

"Any answers I can give?" Bryn asked from behind me. Felicity and I jumped in surprise, not having heard our guest get up. "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing," Felicity and I said simultaneously.

"Uh-huh." Bryn flicked her eyes between us, obviously not believing our blatant lie. "What do you say I make us some lunch while I tell you about the next mission? Mostly because I'm starving."

"You two sit down," Felicity said, shooing her hands at us. "I've got lunch."

Without argument, Bryn and I sat at the bar. The former dove into the next mission.

___________________________________

Bryn

I didn't tell Lucky about my experience with Yellow 13. If the enemy fighter was as famous amongst his peers as he was with mine, then he was bound to figure out where I'd been, what I flew, and my plane's symbol. My anonymity would be gone, and if he ever saw me in battle, he wouldn't be able to fight like he needed to. I didn't like what he was fighting for, but if he got distracted by me being up there, then Lucky risked his own safety, and I couldn't bear the idea of being the death of him.

"You ready?" Miranda chirped, falling into step beside me.

"You bet your ass I am," I said. We entered the briefing room and took our seats. Whiskey stood in the front of the room, leaning against the board with crossed arms. He eyed all of us, mentally taking a tally of who arrived on time and who didn't. Unable to stop myself, I asked, "Hey, Whiskey, what's the punishment today for those who arrive late?"

"How about babysitting Paul and Murray?" Miranda suggested, glancing over her shoulder at her wingmen. Both of them flipped her off.

"No, that's too severe a punishment," I said.

"Then what did I do to deserve to have them as wingmen?"

"Everything. If you like, I can go down the list, starting with saying everything is fine in our last mission and causing Yellow 13 to show up."

Miranda slapped me on the arm. "Shut up!"

"I told you it would happen! But did you listen? Noooo. You proceeded to-"

Miranda clapped a hand over my mouth, which did nothing to stop me from ranting. Although it became extremely muffled, my exaggerated gestures and facial expressions clearly got my point across. When I was finished and Miranda still didn't move her hand, I stuck my tongue and licked her palm. She jerked her hand away while I gagged from the taste of lotion.

"Jesus, did you bathe in Pure Seduction?" I asked, referencing her Victoria's Secret lotion while swiping Paul's water bottle and chugging it to rid myself of the taste.

"What? You think I got all the guys by looks alone?" she countered, wiping her palm on her pants.

I looked her up and down. "Yes."

She grinned and opened her mouth to respond when the lights dimmed, the screen flickered on, and Whiskey cleared his throat, capturing everyone's attention. "We will launch a surprise attack on the Aegir Fleet while it lies immobilized at Comberth Harbor. This large-scale airstrike will be the largest and the most strategic operation since the transfer of HQ to North Point. You may need to resupply along the way because this operation will be long in duration. Remember, it is imperative that you complete the mission objective and return to base safely."

Operation: Rough Seas

Location: Comberth Harbor

Date: 11/23/2004

Time: 1200 hrs

"Aww, Whiskey," I said, getting up when the lights turned back. "You do care about us."

"I do. I care that you all come back because if any of you get shot down, the less there are of you to help us win this war," he replied. Whiskey watched our allies leave the room, only waiting until it was just the three of us to add, "But you two are my favorite."

"Of course we are," Miranda said, flipping her brown hair over her shoulder. "Who else would keep those guys in line?"

"I think Whiskey could handle them," I remarked, nudging him with my elbow.

Whiskey tilted his head back and forth a couple of times. "I could, but I wouldn't want to."

"I don't blame you."

"You two should get going. Kick some ass out there. And Miranda? Don't-"

"- speak Yellow 13 into existence. I know, I know," she finished grumpily.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Do you?"

"Ask me that again, and you'll find out."

I slapped her upside the head. While she registered what I'd just done, I bolted out of the briefing room and hopped into my plane, shouting at the techs that I wanted the PGB as my special weapon. They stared at me in befuddlement until they saw my friend come bursting into the hangar. Miranda flipped me off as she passed me on the way to her own plane. I saluted her in return. Before I pulled onto the runway, I shot Lucky a quick text. His response was immediate: Be safe. I love you.

I prayed Lucky was far away from our target area. Of course, it's not like I'd know if I was fighting him, but still, I didn't want to even have to think about it. If I could, I'd find a way to single-handedly end this war as soon as possible in order to finally reunite with him. It'd been so long since we'd seen each other in person...

But I couldn't think of that right now. I had a mission to focus on. My allies and I took off in a short amount of time, all of us eagerly anticipating dealing a third lethal blow to the Erusian's war efforts. There was our first attack at Comberth Harbor, then the petrochemical complex, and now Comberth Harbor for a second time with the so-called 'invincible fleet.' I was going to make sure they discovered how vulnerable they really were. No one was invincible, and the Aegir Fleet was no exception.

Upon arrival to the harbor, SkyEye came on, ordering, "Initiate attack. All aircraft cleared to engage any and all targets. Sink the 'invincible' Aegir Fleet while they're at anchor. Good luck!"

"Let's go!" Murray cheered, diving low to the water. I veered to the left, heading towards a cluster of ships. Meanwhile, my comrade's enthusiasm suddenly evaporated when he said, "That sea sure looks uninviting."

"Yeah, so don't get shot down," Miranda warned, "because I won't be coming after you."

"I thought the captain goes down with their squadron?"

"It's the captain goes down with his ship, and I obviously do not command a ship."

"Thank God for that," I said, zeroing in on a destroyer waiting idly in the harbor and wholly unsuspecting of its impending doom. It made for an incredibly, almost pitifully easy target. I locked on and fired two missiles before pulling up and searching for my next target, absolutely sure the target would be annihilated. I was right.

"Cruiser Fenris sunk!" SkyEye confirmed. By this time, I'd already set my sights on another cruiser and had lined up a perfect shot. I took it, and within a second of flying over it, SkyEye said, "Cruiser Kolga sunk!"

"Excuse me, why is that?" Miranda demanded indignantly while I circled around to get a better lineup for my next attack. "I would make a great ship captain!"

"Because you're a walking ball of righteous fury and stupid impulsiveness in a five-foot-ten body. You would use that ship as a weapon in ways it was not meant to be used as a weapon."

"Ember has a point, Angel," Murray agreed.

"What? You think I'm just going to drive it straight into the middle of another ship to destroy it?" she asked.

Without missing a beat, Murray, Paul, and I said simultaneously, "Yes."

"I hate all of you, even if you are probably right."

"Uh, there should not be a 'probably' in your statement," I told her, firing at a destroyer with my guns until I saw an explosion. SkyEye announced 'Destroyer Herne' had been sunk.

"Shut up and destroy as many ships as you can before their air support gets up and gives us hell," Miranda snapped. Still, I knew my friend well enough to know she wasn't actually upset at our teasing.

I directed my attention back to the ships. We had a long way to go before this mission was over, and the ships were scattered all over the harbor. We might've had fifteen planes on our side, but there were almost four enemies for every one of our planes. The majority of them might've been on the ground, but they were armed with SAMs and AA guns. This wouldn't be a walk in the park.

"Halo 5 through 10, take care of the enemy planes swarming the area," Miranda instructed. I glanced at my radar to find her coming toward me. "Halo 2 through 4, come with me to assist Mobius with the ships."

Halo squadron obeyed without any snark, although most of them had only been temporarily assigned to the team for this mission, so they weren't brave enough to say anything but 'yes' to her. Plus, Miranda favored Paul, Murray, and Gary. They'd been with her through mostly everything during this war, and even though they got on her last nerves, I knew she would absolutely protect them with her life.

"There are only a handful of targets left over here," I informed, circling back around to assess what else needed to be demolished. I counted two ships, one submarine, and two cranes as I dove for the sub. I fired and hit it with ease. "Take away the sub. I took care of it."

"Leave some for us, will ya?" Paul said, his voice tinged with a mixture of amusement and awe.

"The flagship Tanager made it out of the harbor," an Erusian announced. It made my stomach drop to hear that, but I knew we couldn't stop every single ship from leaving port. We were still severely outnumbered, and it's not like I was the Demon Lord...

A burst of frustration exploded in my chest, and I took it out on the targets in front of me. Without enemy planes to target me, and with Miranda and Halo Team still speeding over to me, I fired two missiles at a destroyer, swiftly switched to my special weapons and sent a PGB speeding towards a cruiser, then switched to guns and took out a crane. Within seconds, I'd destroyed three targets.

"Cruiser Lazuli sunk!" SkyEye confirmed.

Murray whistled. "Damn, Ember. Who pissed you off?"

Knowing it'd make no sense to tell him I was mad at myself for something I really had no control over, I said, "I woke up like this."

"Glad I'm not your enemy."

"Speaking of enemy, the sky's swarming with hostiles," I observed, keeping my voice calm despite the loud missile alert blaring in my cockpit. "Want to get over here a little faster?"

"Don't worry, princess, we're here," Paul said.

I frowned. "Call me 'princess' again, and I'll make sure you become one with the sea."

He didn't respond, but I noticed he took on the planes farther away from me than the others. I smirked, pulling up into the fray with the intent to join in, but Miranda came on and said, "Go take care of the ships. They're the most important thing. We can handle these pilots."

"Call me if you need help," I replied, looping over and flying out towards the sea at the stray ships that managed to slip past us.

"Bull's eye on the Aegis ship," an ally declared. I didn't know their name, but I knew they were on the Rapier squadron. I hadn't worked with them before, but it was nice to have more support.

"One of ours took on an artillery barrage!" I recognized the deep voice as Rapier 2, and it made me wonder if they'd made it out alive. If they did, they'd need to turn around and return to base because their plane had to be heavily damaged.

Finally, the escapee enemy ships came into view. I switched to special weapons. I wanted to turn and burn as soon as I fired to get away from them before any of their AA guns and SAMs could lock onto me. There were five ships in a 'V' formation. I angled myself so that three of them were directly in front of me. I fired PGBs at the first two, then switched to missile for the last one. One by one, they disappeared off my radar. I smiled to myself, proud of the quick destruction. I turned around and aimed for the last two, following the same tactic I had before. Unfortunately, the Erusian ships took notice. Before I could launch my missiles, their AA guns fired with deadly accuracy at me. I heard more than a few bullets hit and graze my plane.

"Shit!" I growled, launching the PGBs before going vertical to avoid anymore gunfire.

SkyEye came on and announced, 'Cruiser Beluga and Battleship Tanager sunk!"

"What's wrong?!" Miranda demanded, ignoring our AWACS.

"Some bullets hit. Minimal damage, though. I'm fine," I promised. I took a deep, slightly shaky breath. Thank God those had been bullets and not missiles.

As I leveled out, I saw a missile streak past my cockpit. Unsure of where it originated, I looped up and around in a tight circle. I found myself surrounded by five bandits, and they were hungry for blood.

I found myself going head-on with an F-14. I prayed they didn't have anti-air missiles as their special weapons because they'd be able to fire at me sooner than I could them. We closed in on each other, and the second I locked on, I launched the missiles and cut sharply to the left, not watching to see if the enemy was struck. Instinct told me they would. Besides, even if they didn't, I'd just find another time to take care of them.

"Damn it, I'm hit!" an Erusian said, sounding more annoyed than panicked. "Can't see through the smoke!"

I wondered if that was the enemy I'd just hit, and if so, why was I picking up his transmissions? Were our radios interfering with one another's?

I didn't have time to think about it because I'd already found my next target. I locked onto them easily, but as they flew towards me, I recognized that their flight path would cause the missiles to overshoot. Rather than wasting my weaponry, I switched to guns and looped around behind them. I found myself hardly three-hundred feet from them. I took a chance and sent a barrage of bullets their way. It didn't take long for the F-14 to turn into a fiery ball.

Two down, three to go.

Another enemy zipped upward, so I trailed and followed, higher and higher into the sky. Although the plane had been flying at a rapid pace, it couldn't outdistance my F-22, and the higher we climbed, the closer I got to them until I was within gun range. Like before, I sent a wave of bullets at them with deadly accuracy. They barely had started to pull in a dive when their plane exploded.

I dove to the ground myself, intending to take on the other two planes but saw Miranda and Gary taking care of them. I leveled out and directed my aircraft at the next cluster of targets in the harbor. Miraculously, I found them perfectly aligned in a straight line. Even better, they were all cranes. Each took only one missile, and with one flyover, I destroyed them all.

Ahead lay more targets. This time, SkyEye came on and informed, "Shipyard facilities at vector 300. 4 miles."

"Time to take out the trash," I said, zeroing in on the cruiser directly ahead of me.

As I was firing a PGB, Miranda came on, saying, "That's the best you could come up with?"

"Oh, what, like you have anything better?" I countered, launching missiles at some cranes.

"I'm not saying I have any, but at least come up with something original."

"Hard to come up with something original when I'm in the middle of a battle!"

Miranda tsked. "You're slacking."

"Tell that to the ten-plus ships I've already sunk. How many have you- oh, wait, you haven't sunk any."

"I'm gonna sink you if you keep talking."

I snickered while targeting some submarines, having no intentions of shutting up. "You'd have to catch up to me first, but considering you're flying as fast as a one-winged plane, I'm not too worried."

"Submarine Beowulf V sunk!" SkyEye chimed in, interrupting our banter and effectively stopping it. I think his words sent a newfound course of determination in my comrade because Miranda's plane suddenly moved around a lot faster on radar.

I dove towards a submarine and locked on, firing two missiles. Believing there was no way they could miss, I lined up behind three gas tanks and, with a consistent stream of bullets, blew them up one by one. I circled back around to assess where my other targets lay when I noticed that the submarine I'd fired at right beforehand still showed on radar. What the hell was that about?

Frowning, and with no small amount of annoyance, I locked back on, waiting until I got closer to fire. Just as I started to press down on the trigger, I realized the submarine was under a canopy of concrete that resembled a sub itself. Clever. I zipped overhead of it flipped back around, switching to PGBs. Regular missiles wouldn't work on a concrete bunker like that, but maybe my special weapon would. Praying this worked, I waited until I was nearly on top of the sub before releasing the projectile. As I pulled away, I swear I heard the explosion behind me. Looking at my radar, I saw the target had disappeared. I guess even a submarine isn't immune to a few thousand tons of concrete falling atop it.

I turned my attention to some more gas tanks, just waiting for me to take them out. I used a missile on one and gunfire on the other, effectively eliminating both of them. An ally must not have liked my tactic, though, because they said, "Forget the small fry, concentrate on the larger ships."

"The small fries can be just as effective as the big fries," I replied. "It's the small fries that are sending missiles and bullets our way from difficult to see and hit locations, so whether you like it or not, I will continue hitting them. You can focus on wherever you're fighting instead of where I am."

Irritated and flying low to the ground, I found myself level with the entrance to a bunker housing two submarines. I slowed my plane down and locked onto one of them, sending two missiles whistling inside the bunker. I latched onto the other sub as the first exploded, releasing two more missiles. Like its predecessor, it exploded.

I was finding this mission, dare I say, easy. Yes, there were a ton of targets, but my allies were keeping them at bay while I took care of the ground forces. I couldn't be touched thanks to them. As long as it stayed this way and no Yellows appeared like last time, I had a feeling we'd be fine.

Remaining at a dangerously low altitude, I zeroed in on another sub hidden under a bunker. I sent a PGB its way, pulled up a little, and found two ships directly in front of me. I hurriedly sent a couple of missiles at a destroyer and fired my guns at the cruiser. Neither stood a chance against my sudden attack.

I circled the area intending to find more ground targets, only to find the space empty of them. Instead, the sky now swarmed with enemy planes that had slipped past Miranda and Halo Team. Unwilling to hightail it away from the area, I decided to engage them. In the chaos of six planes, I chose the closest one, which was trying to get an advantage by flying over me, presumably to get on my six. I pulled up, firing my guns at them since they were at too close of range for me to effectively fire missiles. A few bullets hit, but not enough to destroy the hostile. I jerked my plane around to get it back in my sights, but out of nowhere, a missile blew past my canopy and into an oncoming bandit I hadn't even noticed in the glaring sun.

"You so lucky I got here when I did," Miranda said, her voice strangely devoid of sarcasm. "A couple more seconds, and you would've been dead."

"What do you mean? They didn't have a lock on me," I replied, finally locating my prior target and shooting a missile at it. It was a hit.

"Ember, there's no way they didn't have a lock on you. Were you that in the zone trailing that enemy, or is your plane malfunctioning?"

"My missile alert was going off earlier, but I haven't heard it again since I got struck by some bullets. You don't think-"

"Anything's possible," Miranda said grimly. "I don't want to chance you getting shot down because you don't know whether or not the enemy has a lock on you. Focus strictly on the ground forces and evade the planes. The rest of Halo and I will take care of them."

For once, I didn't argue with her. She might not have been my captain, but even I was unnerved by not having my alert system working. This made the mission ten times more challenging, not to mention terrifying.

"Are we cleared to shoot?" An Erusian demanded over the radio as I dove to the ground and blended in with the gray buildings and brown terrain. "This isn't an exercise?"

"Does- does he see his ships being attacked?" Murray inquired.

"I don't really care who we take out today because all Erusians can go fuck themselves for what they've done to the Usean continent," Paul said bitterly, flying overhead and joining the dogfight with Miranda, "but someone let that man live because I'd feel bad killing a soul so innocently stupid."

I kept quiet, biting my tongue to prevent myself from arguing with him over the Erusians. Yes, they'd wreaked havoc and hell on my home continent, but not all of them were bad. The actions of their government didn't necessarily speak for the people. Lucky was against the war, but his sense of duty to Erusia, coupled with his belief that the Erusian government really would turn the Usean continent into a better place once they won, made him stay. I obviously disagreed, but we never argued about it. Despite our conflicting views, we understood and respected each other because our upbringings and environments shaped how we saw things. We couldn't fault one another for that.

"New Comberth Harbor at vector 340, on the nose," SkyEye confirmed. I'd already approached the new zone, setting my sights on a crane and a small ship that appeared to be holding supplies. Sending a missile at the crane and another at the boat, I flew by as fast I could, unable to see if any of the targets were SAMs or AA guns. Now that I suspected my missile alert system was toast, I was paranoid that I constantly had a missile lock on me without knowing. The best way to combat that was to fly a mercurial flight path as fast as my plane could go without breaking under the strain and pressure.

I tried different tactics, coming from the east and turning south, attacking whatever targets came my way. Then I'd loop around, coming back from the south and then banking to the west the moment I released a missile or PGB. I was using my gunfire sparingly, unwilling to get too close to any targets if I couldn't see what the others were around them. I found most of the ships in New Comberth Harbor were accompanied by SAMs and AA guns. More than once, I saw a SAM fire at me, but I'd pull up into such a steep climb that it'd lose track of me almost instantly.

I played a dangerous game of cat and mouse, but more often than not, it felt like I was the mouse despite being the one destroying everything.

The longer the mission went on, the more cramped my hand became on the joystick. I wondered if I'd even been able to uncurl my fingers from around it when I landed or if it'd be permanently stuck like this. I guess that's what stress and underlying terror of never knowing if you have a missile lock on you can do that to a pilot, no matter how good they are.

At least I had Miranda covering me. She barely let me out of her sight, and along with Paul and Murray, they methodically took out every fighter that came within a few thousand feet of me.

After a few harrowing escapes from missiles, a couple more mild hits by bullets, and more than a few swears, I'd exterminated all targets in New Comberth Harbor.

I headed out to open water upon seeing some escapee ships when a familiar, rare voice shouted, "Die you S.O.B!"

"You know," I began, lowering my plane's altitude to line up with the ships, "I feel like every time I've heard Gary speak, he's just calling the Erusians sons of bitches and telling them to die."

"It's his battle cry," Paul said. "An effective one considering he's somehow still alive even though he flies like shit."

"You know antagonizing him won't get him to speak to you. It'll only make you regret your life choices," Murray chimed in. "Remember what happened last time you tried that?"

"... Yes."

The grimace in Paul's tone made me ask, "Uh, what happened?"

Murray snickered. "Gary gave him such a violent wedgie that-"

"DO NOT TELL HER THIS STORY!" Paul barked, sounding absolutely mortified.

Murray paid no heed to him and finished. "It ripped Paul's underwear and gave him the equivalent of rug burn in his butt crack."

I laughed so hard that I momentarily forgot I was fighting a war and nearly let myself get shot down by a SAM. If I hadn't seen it coming straight for me, it might've gotten me.

"That is the most glorious story I have ever heard," Miranda said once her own guffawing abated.

"I guess what Gary lacks in communication, he makes up for in superhuman strength," I added. "Maybe we have our very own superhero flying with us, but instead of it being Captain Osea, it's Captain Usea."

"Pretty sure Captain Osea's vocabulary is cleaner than Gary's despite how little Gary actually says."

"Speaking of little-" I glanced at the remaining targets on radar, primarily comprised of fighters with the occasional ground force- "how much longer do we have until this is over?"

"Two minutes," SkyEye answered. The response elicited a groan from almost everyone. We were exhausted by this mission, and two minutes felt like forever. The past ten minutes felt like an eternity, but I'm positive my tension and state of high alert played into that. I took a deep breath. If I could live ten minutes without my missile alert system working with a ton of anti-aircraft artillery around me, I could survive another two minutes with hardly any.

I forced my weary mind to focus on the task at hand, which turned out to be a Herculean effort. I tried to stay over the water as much as possible when attacking. It was safer that way.

"Mobius, last ground target is near the return line," Miranda said, pulling up alongside me. "Want to do the honors?"

"Why don't you want to take it?"

"I've done all the heavy lifting with the fighter jets today, so I'll let you have them."

I scoffed. "You've done all the heavy lifting? I'm the one who took out over forty ground targets!"

"Let's see who can get to it first, then."

Miranda and I hit our thrusters, straining to get to the ship first. I dipped my plane down to get the advantage of gravity on my side, but my friend had the same idea. We only pulled up when we were barely a couple hundred feet above the water. The final ship came into view, and I switched to my last PGB. I could fire it from a farther distance than a regular missile, therefore beating her to the punch. I pulled the trigger and-

Nothing.

I looked at my reserves for special weapons and realized I'd used my last PGB earlier. Shit. Meanwhile, the ship got closer and closer until finally, I was within distance to fire regular missiles. Angel and I simultaneously shot at the destroyer. Our missiles spiraled around each other so quickly that I couldn't tell whose was whose. This didn't help our competition when one projectile hit the boat just slightly sooner than the other one.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

I opened my mouth to make a witty remark, but our AWACS cut me off. "SkyEye here. Enemy fleet and harbor facilities confirmed destroyed. Mission complete, all aircraft RTB."

"We did it!" Murray cheered. He belted out into a song, one I didn't know the lyrics to, but I knew the theme: freedom and success. It'd been a popular war song during the Belkan War for the Allies, and it'd made its way up to us. Paul and Murray, along with many others of the Halo Team, sang it on the way back. They only stopped when Angel threatened to shoot them down if they sang it for the tenth time in a row. It was followed by Whiskey's impeccable, tension-reducing briefing. "The Erusian's so-called 'invincible fleet' has been destroyed. Their plans for invading North Point have been delayed indefinitely. Although we are still far from triumphant, this victory gave our troops a much-needed boost in morale."

When we landed, the maintenance crew swarmed my plane. Miranda and I stayed and watched them examine it, curious to know what was wrong with it. It didn't take long for us to find out. "

"It looks like the wiring was faulty in the beginning, and one of the bullets that hit your plane just nicked it enough to stop it functioning entirely. It's an easy enough fix, so we'll have it up and ready for your next mission," the maintenance man said.

"I appreciate it. This plane and I have been through a lot together. I'd hate to lose it now."

"Yeah, well, planes are replaceable. It's the pilots that aren't," Miranda said. "You'll never get me to repeat this, but I don't know if we'd have won some of our past few victories without you."

"Aww, I didn't know you cared so much."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't let it-"

Miranda was cut off by my phone ringing. I dug it out of my pocket and answered with a beaming smile. "Lucky!"

"Ember! You're finally back from the mission!"

"Yeah, I'm back. Just landed, actually."

"You're okay?"

"I'm fine. Plane's a little damaged, but nothing maintenance can't fix."

"Thank God," Lucky breathed, and I could hear the relief in his voice. "What happened to your plane?"

"Got hit by some bullets, and it damaged some already-faulty wiring, which caused my missile alert system to stop working early in the battle," I explained, shuffling away from everyone to avoid them overhearing my conversation.

"Your missile alert system went out?!"

"Yeah. Angel helped me figure it out. If it weren't for her, I'd probably not be on the phone with you right now. Let's put it that way."

"She's living up to her callsign right now, that's for damn sure. Give her my thanks, would you?"

"I will. How are you doing?"

"Good, and even better now that I know you're safe and sound. Not going to lie, I always say death favors no one, but he sure as hell seemed to favor you today."

"I don't want to jinx it by agreeing with you, but yeah, it seems like he did."

"I hope it stays that way because I'm seeing you after this war ends, one way or another."

"I'm going to hold you to that," I said, smiling to myself at the thought of reuniting with him.

"I'm holding myself to it. I have to go, but we'll talk later. Love you, Em."

"Love you too, Lucky. Be careful."

We hung up, and a bright idea popped into my head. Striding back into the hangar, I called out, "Hey, Miranda, remember when you were giving me shit for not coming up with a good line earlier? Well, I finally came up with one."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh, yeah? Hit me with it."

"Death favors no one, least of all you."

___________________________________

Brian

Death favors no one.

The words echoed obnoxiously loud in my head, accompanied by an incomprehensible realization settling in my bones. Bryn took notice. Swallowing the last bite of her chip, her brow crinkled, and she asked, "You okay, Brian?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah. I'm just-" I searched for the words to recover from my fumbling, but I couldn't.

Felicity came to my rescue. "I think he's in awe at how many enemies you defeated in such a short amount of time. That's Demon Lord and Razgriz level right there."

Bryn smiled, but I couldn't see she didn't wholly believe us. "I guess, but that's not my most impressive mission. That comes later."

"I can't wait to hear it! Listen, I just remembered I forgot to turn in an application to a school, and the deadline is today," I lied, jumping out of my chair.

"You go submit that. I'll do the dishes," Bryn replied, grabbing my plate and moving to the sink.

Felicity and I locked eyes, and a silent understanding passed between us. She said, "I'm going to go with him in case he needs any help."

Before Bryn could respond, Felicity and I bolted out of the room. My friend tried to beeline to my bedroom, but I grabbed her hand and yanked her into my dad's. Closing the door, I sprinted to the right side of his bed and lay flat on my stomach, wriggling underneath and pulling out a box.

"What are you doing?" Felicity hissed, kneeling next to me. "I don't think your dad wants you going through his stuff!"

"Because I think I know where I recognize Bryn from!" I exclaimed excitedly, lifting the top off and digging through my dad's mementos from the war. There was his squadron patch, Yellow 4's handkerchief, a few dozen photos of him with his wingmen and comrades and-

"Ah-ha!" I lifted the photo of my dad with his best friend. He'd never remembered her name, and he'd never said it in front of me while I was with him during the war. Maybe if he had, I would've put two and two together sooner, but how could I have ever predicted this?

"Holy shit," Felicity breathed, grabbing a corner of the old photo with a shaky hand. She stared at the image of my dad with his childhood best friend. I'd never learned her name, and after the war and his crash, he couldn't remember her either, no matter how often or how long he stared at this photo. But now... now I knew.

"This is why we know her," I said. Although the girl in the photo was only about twelve or thirteen, there was no mistaking her identity. "This is why Bryn is so familiar to us. She's dad's best friend from before the war."

I put the lid on the box and slid it under my dad's bed, keeping a tight grip on the photograph. I paced up and down his room, staring at it while mulling over this life-changing information. Felicity watched me, allowing me a few moments of peace to think before saying, "What are you going to do? You need to tell them before they see each other. Bryn thinks your dad is dead. She's thought that for twelve years. Even worse, he's-"

"I know, I know. I'm not sure which revelation to them is going to be more-"

"I'm gearing towards them finding out the other is alive, but the other news is just as mind-blowing."

"We have time to figure it out, at least. My dad's not supposed to be here until later tonight or early tomorrow. We need to tell Bryn, but she's going to have so many answers, and I won't be able to answer all of them, and I know she's going to ask about his time during the war, and then I'll have to tell her the truth, which I'm sure will either make her wary of my dad despite their history, or she'll book it out of the house without second thoughts, and we'll never find her again."

"Maybe it would be best if we waited until right before he was about to walk through the door?" Felicity suggested, sitting on the edge of my dad's bed. "That way, she won't have time to make a run for it if that's what she decides to do."

I stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. "That's very conniving and absolutely brilliant."

"I know."

I pulled out my phone to text my dad for a status update. Weirdly, he didn't respond immediately like he usually did, but I assumed it was because he was on the phone either for work or trying to get a plane ticket here.

Felicity got up and peered through the window, watching as the wind howled and bent the trees sideways. "He's going to have a hell of a time getting here."

I came up behind her, my chest brushing up against her shoulder. "Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing."

"That wind is hellacious. Hell, it even sounds like it's buffeting like a helicopter," she remarked. "I doubt your dad can make it here in this weather, giving us time."

"If my dad can survive a plane crash, he can find a way to make it through this."

"You make it sound like he's going to try."

"You didn't hear how desperate he sounded on the phone to meet her. Last time he sounded like that was when I called him after my wreck when he was asking if I was okay and where they were taking me."

"Please-" Felicity shook her head- "don't remind me. It's a miracle you walked away from that."

"Miracles don't run in my family, but they do for Bryn and hers, apparently. We should-" I stopped short when I heard the unmistakable sound of the garage door raising underneath my feet. Felicity and I looked at the ground as if we'd be able to see through the carpet and floor into the room below to see who was arriving, even though we already knew who it was. We lifted our heads and locked gazes with wide, panicked eyes. Without a word, we dashed out of my dad's room, crashing down the stairs faster than my hopes and dreams of preparing Bryn, my dad, or both for this meeting.

The moment my feet hit the ground floor, I heard glass shatter in the kitchen, and I knew I was too late. Heart thundering, I walked slowly into the kitchen, gauging the scene before me. My dad, confused, breathing heavily, and wet from the snow, stared at an awe-struck, shell-shocked Bryn, her hand still frozen mid-air around where the now-broken glass used to be. Dad watched her slowly step up to him. Bryn lifted her hands up to his face, cradling it, unable to say a single word.

"Dad, this is Bryn Holloway," I said in a carefully controlled voice. Given the second bombshell I was about to drop on my poor idol, I don't know how I managed it. "Bryn, this is my dad, Christopher Galbraith."