BIRD OF PREY | a reiner braun spinoff

chapter f o u r.

MARLEY CAMP, ALLLIED FORCE TERRITORIES

"I suppose it's no secret now..." Gelvar said over the sound of the drill whirring in the silence of the hangar. "That you're Commander Magath's son."

When he was ultimately ignored by his captain, he scowled and leaned back on the walls of the aircraft. During their earlier days of their service together, Gelvar had asked what his relations was with Commander Magath seeing as they shared the same name. Saito, who had nothing to hide, simply told him the truth. Quite plainly as well. And honestly, Gelvar had been more shocked by Saito's apathetic revelation than the fact of his connection to the Commander.

So there was no longer any surprising value to Gelvar when Saito's identity as Magath's son leaked from the thin canopy of the War Tent, quickly causing an uproar of excitement amongst the soldiers at camp. Soldiers who knew and respected Saito only as the inspiring Dragon of Marley. And again, it wasn't like Saito had tried to hide it. In fact many of the soldiers had joked that Saito could be Commander Magath's son from the simple fact that they shared a last name. But they never asked like Gelvar had.

So Saito never gave them an answer.

But as it would go, the actuality of the fact, or the possibility that the man who looked nothing like a Marleyan, was in fact the son of the great Marleyan Commadner, never fell into place in their war-traumatized heads. That was at least until the confirmation earlier in the day that spread through the camp like wildfire.

Saito stuck his hand out from the cockpit. "Wrench." He demanded.

"Shouldn't you be preparing for the mission, Cap? You leave tomorrow." Gelvar suggested as he hands Saito the inquired tool. "I don't get it. You don't need to do all this. The Falcon has never been in a better shape. You don't need to tear her apart just to do an examination. In fact I could do it for you. Or do you doubt my abilities, Cap? Just because I didn't go to the most prestigious aerial school in Hizuru like you, doesn't mean I have no clue about the inside of an aircraft." He gave the wing a little kick, frustrated that his Captain didn't trust him enough to handle his bird.

Saito popped his head out of the cockpit and glared at his lieutenant through the thick goggles on his eyes. "I wouldn't trust my bird with someone who has no respect for it." He quipped as he petted his aircraft gently as if to soothe it from Gelvar's tantrum.

"Please." Gelvar scoffed. "Get a girlfriend, Cap. You treat this flying shit better than you treat your one and only, beloved and irreplaceable Vice-Captain. And you treat me better than the rest of the sad lot out there."

Saito slipped back to tinker with the engine, disappearing under the controls. "People are always replaceable, Gelvar." He echoed from below.

"Really? I don't see the you getting replaced by another pilot for the mission." He grinned as he peered into the cockpit, leaning lazily at the door. "Or your old man replacing you with another kid."

"Trust me he would have if he had more interest in fatherhood." Saito grunted as he reemerged out from beneath the controls, lifting his goggles off his weary face before glancing at Gelvar, with a sigh. "Besides, why would he want any other kids when he already had his hands full with those Warrior brats. He apparently had more time to deal with that rotten lot than he ever had for me."

"Oh come on~ He'd never replace you for some Eldian scum."

Saito chuckled. "When you're a bastard. You're no damned different from a fucking Eldian." The curse felt like rocks on his tongue even long after he uttered it. And it left a nasty taste in his mouth. Even after all the time he had spent with his Marleyan comrades, he still couldn't adapt to the their hating culture against the Eldians.