BIRD OF PREY | a reiner braun spinoff

chapter t h r e e.

MARLEY CAMP, ALLLIED FORCE TERRITORIES

"Two and a half years." Magath sighed as he pressed the bridge of his nose as if to keep his headache at bay. "And this is where you have been all this time?"

"Huh." Saito scoffed as he picked up a bottle of wine on a shelf stuffed to the brim with a wreck of documents and papers. "You actually sound more disappointed than I was expecting." He flipped one of the glasses beside the bottle before pouring himself a drink.

"Disappointed? I'm beyond disappointed." Magath echoed angrily. Saito lifted a brow carelessly as he leaned against the shelf, sipping his wine, almost as if he was bored. "Do you know how shocked I was when they told me you vanished. Just gone! No one knew where you were for the past two and a half years. Whether you were alive at all. Or if you were hurt-"

"Oh please." Saito snorted, cutting his father off. "Don't act like you care. You and the fucking Azuambito's." He sighed. "You both think you're better than the other but you're all the goddamn same. I had to get away from the both of you."

"Don't you compare me to those greedy, money-grubbing foxes, boy."

"Are you calling my mother a filthy fox?" Saito growled, defensively, dark eyes flaring with a rage Theo Magath had never seen in his son.

He was quickly taken back. The image of a gentle, soft-spoken boy that he once knew as his son flashed before his eyes. Smiling and with eyes full of life. But the mirage was quickly replaced by the soldier before him. A rugged man with the face of his precious boy... Only darker... And colder. Every hint of hope and life that he had on it, simply ceased to exist.

He wasn't supposed to turn out like this. What have I done, Magath realized in panic. He had always thought that sending the boy back to Hizuru, to the ancestral palace of the Azumabitos, the clan of the boy's mother, was the best decision he could make for the boy. But as he could witness at that moment, it seemed his prior decisions were bearing a rotting fruit.

"Saito... " Magath began. The pilot didn't respond to him and kept his eyes on his swirling wine. General Magath leaned back in his seat. "Help me understand this at least." He exhaled, shoulders heaving down as if in defeat. "Out of every place in the world you could have run away to... why here? In the middle of a fucking war? You could get killed! Did you want to fly a damn bird that bad? Do you think the battlefield is a playground? Or perhaps did you think you'll be able to see--"

Magath trailed off, not having the heart to speak further. To mention the certain Warrior his son had once been so attached to.

Saito sipped his wine lazily, taking his time to drink it before he even prepared to respond to his father's question. His expression was still set on boredom. He opened his mouth to speak. But then he paused.

And then he lifted his shoulders, bunching them close to his neck, shrugging.

"I can't say I had any reason." He chuckled as he glanced over at his exhausted father. "You're right I could have gone anywhere else in the world. In fact I could've flashed the Azumabito crest and gotten anything, everywhere. Well... I can't say that lifestyle doesn't sound appealing. But you and the Azumabitos would've found me way easier if I had done that."

"Or! I could've claimed to be the son of the most respected Marleyan Commander, and probably marry a rich heiress quite easily. I bet I'd have a mansion to myself as well." Saito caught his father's unamused frown and rolled his eyes as his quip went unresponded.