Sky King

Part Five: Funeral For A City

The next day, Ace was forced awake by knocking at his apartment door. He was trapped in a daze still, putting on a pair of black sweatpants and a white shirt, walking to the door. On the other side, Amarra stood, a very pleasant sight for his stressed mind, until he saw her mismatched clothing. This time, a red short sleeved shirt over a pink long sleeve, a grey short skirt over her waist and light blue yoga pants on her legs. Her socks were two different colors, which was probably what bothered the pilot most, one being green and the other orange. He just about physically cringed at the sight, somehow able to hold it back.

She was about to speak but instead stared at his face with worry.

"You were at the estate when it got bombed, weren't you?" Amarra said taking his right hand in both of hers, "You have cuts on your face and burn marks too. I'm glad you're okay. The air raid sirens were going off all last night and there was so much gunfire and explosions..."

"I was there, yeah," he answered, "then...another pilot and I fought them off after the estate was destroyed,"

"You weren't badly injured, were you?" she asked.

"No," he said simply, avoiding her gaze and trying not to have the memories play through his head again. Apparently that was the wrong move, because Amarra picked up on it immediately, dropping his hands and going to feel his cheeks, but he stopped her, grabbing her wrist.

"There's nothing wrong with-" the pilot started to hiss back, but the woman pushed him into his apartment and closed the door, crossing her arms over her chest, peeking at him over her glasses. They stood in silence, with her staring at him and the pilot watching the floor, fists clenched and eyes shut tightly.

"Bottling it up won't help anything," she said, showing a more steadfast side of herself she hadn't previously, "what happened?"

Ace allowed himself to relax, breathing deeply and unclenching his hands, now looking into her eyes.

"I knew something was going to happen. I knew in my mind it was a horrible idea to get all of these high ranking officials and politicians gathered in one place, yet I said nothing," he dropped to his knees and buried his face in his palms, wanting to scream at the top of his lungs, holding it back for the sake of his neighbors, "so many people died, so many families were ruined in just a couple of minutes..."

"But you saved more," Amarra crouched in front of him, "you and that other pilot saved so many more by taking down the bombers. This wasn't your fault, none of it is. Even if the banquet didn't happen, I'm almost certain some kind of attack would have taken place anyway,"

The woman very gently took his hands away from Ace's face, tears streaming down his cheeks and regretful terror painted in his brown eyes. Her hands were as soft as before and feeling them in his own calmed him immediately. She was a poorly dressed goddess capable of silencing his anguish, something no other could do, not even Ed. Their eyes met, and she presented him a warm smile, wiping the tears from his face with her sleeve.

"Are you hungry?" She asked, changing the subject entirely. Ace realized he hadn't even eaten at the banquet, the empty pit in his stomach crying out for food.

"Very," Ace replied, clearing the water from his eyes, scooting over to his table with Amarra, who stood and walked to his door, "wait right there, I'll be back in a second,"

The woman closed his apartment door, leaving Ace to revel in his own thoughts for approximately two seconds, as loud footsteps dashed from next to his apartment and to his own, the door swinging open. A V-neck white, short sleeved shirt wearing Ed quickly closed the door and scuttled to the table. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder and stared straight into his soul.