The Sound of Silence: Fire in the Dark, Fanfiction Book #2

Chapter One

"Flight 237 for Iasi International Airport, Romania, now boarding. Flight 237 for Iasi, Romania, now boarding."

Leon stood and heaved his backpack over his shoulder. He clicked the pulley of his suitcase, a small one, and toted it along as he made way towards his terminal. As he boarded the plane, he glanced at his ticket, then searched for his seat. He knew his had to at least be close to a window. Something with a good enough view of the world below. 

After all, having commandeered a plane once in Chinese airspace had its own interesting perks. 

He found his seat and put up his suitcase and backpack in the upper storage compartment. He then sat down with a sigh. It would be a solid 18 hours of nonstop flight. He was used to catching cat naps from time to time to help with the jet lag, but even then, with a mind going 90+ mph over the sudden appearance of his spouse, he was unsure of what to think, let alone what he could do with his time.

...he could study the local language...Romanian shouldn't be hard, right?

Standing in the aisle, getting a small suitcase put into the overhead compartment, was a slim woman, barely five foot three, rising on her toes to do so. Vibrant red locks, and eyes the color of the sky accompanied the rather short woman.

For a moment, she paused, before sitting in the same aisle as Leon, a seat between them unoccupied. However, she kept getting bumped, but didn't seem to mind, pulling out her phone to send a few messages before putting her phone on airplane mode. Yet she kept fidgeting in her seat, not used to such a mode of transportation as planes were.

"I don't know how people can fly like this on a normal basis...." She mumbled, trying to force herself to relax, to take a deep breath. "And I can't believe I am....."

"This your first time?" Leon happened to ask without looking up. He had a book opened, reading Romanian and Translation to and from English. He glanced over, seeing the girl. Odd...she looked familiar...

She nodded. "It is. Ish. Normally, I'm sent on shorter flights, not longer ones. I prefer keeping my feet on the ground, after all. What about you? Seems like you're comfortable in the air."

Leon chuckled. "Be in my shoes long enough you'll find that flights came as a near-weekly routine."He extended a hand. "Leon. What's your name?"

The woman took it, shaking his hand warmly. "Ariel, but everyone calls me Zemira. Heading to Romania too?" She asked.

"Yep," Leon responded, smiling. "Got a call about my spouse. Hoping to meet up with him. He's over there for work."

Once again, Leon knew it was a bullshit lie. But his reasons were simple; with Chris having just been located, there was no telling as to the sensitivity of his disappearance. For now, Leon had to play safe, and keep the farce as long as he can.

"What about you?" He asked, "You look like a blogger looking for a new venture."

"That's exactly what I am." Zemira chirped. "A blogger looking into disappearances and reappearances. And no, it's not that I'm an adrenaline junkie. I run a cold case blog, and it seems like Romania is the one place where people are vanishing a little more often than they have a right to."

She looked down for a moment. "I'm hoping that, with a bit of sleuthing, I can figure out why. And before the disappearances become more cold cases...."

Sleuthing? Cold cases? Leon's brows knit, considering how to respond carefully. He knew better than to get a blogger involved in his case, and worse off if she was, in truth, an international reporter. He then rolled his shoulders back. No, he knew exactly what to ask.