Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat.

"Hey! You!" I hear someone shouted.

I recognised that voice. To say that I'm thrilled to hear it is a bit of a lie. In fact I was hoping I don't have to hear it, ever.

"I know you can hear me!" the voice called out again.

A part of me attempt to persuade me to turn around and be done with this quickly, but another part of me said that dealing with this sort of person is never quick and easy, they bring nothing but trouble and once we dealt with it even more trouble will arise. Naturally the rest of me agree with that one and I decided to just ignore it, hopefully this annoyance will go away.

It wasn't meant to be sadly, as this person instead seem to see this as a sign to be bolder, it seems. I can feel a hand grabbed my shoulder, trying to forcefully turn me around, trying because being bigger and plain stronger, I shrugged their attempt off easily.

This didn't deter them however, they instead decided to directly impede me by getting in the way, forcing me to stop.

"Are you getting kicks from making people angry or something?!" the annoyance asked loudly despite the fact that we're only a feet away from each other at most.

I scan the annoyance in front of me, a short, angry girl around my age looking straight at me.

This girl, we only interacted once and already she act like she can tell me what to do. Any other day, I would've just get her out of the way and move on, but I did the exact same thing last time and look how well it turned out. Taking a deep breath, I decided to just this once listen to what she wanted to say.

"Why didn't you turn around?" she asked.

"Why would I?"

"Because I called you!"

"I—"

"Don't you dare say you didn't hear me because I know you did!"

"Wasn't going to," I said.

"Good," she said, but after a moment something crossed her mind, it seems.

"Wait, if not that then what—, hey!"

I get her out of the way, not waiting for her to finish her question, I said I'll listen but I didn't say anything about hearing the full story. This naturally earned me another scathing look from her, doesn't stop her from following me for some reason.

"Where are you going?" Curious, this one.

I kept quiet, not really feel like telling a stranger about anything. This earned another ire from her. She fall in beside me, angrily.

"Don't ignore me!" she shouted. This girl really likes shouting, it seems.

I glanced around, the nosy creatures around us are starting to take notice. I knew this girl is trouble.

"None of your business," I said.

"Grrr…" She looked like she was about to start another bout of tantrum when she took a deep breath, and then another, and then several more. She's trying to keep her temper in check, it seems. That's nice of her.

"Look, I know you hate being disturbed like this, but I only doing this because I wanted to apologize, all right? So can you please at least listen to what I wanted to say?" Apologise?

"What for?"

"You know, about three days ago." Ahh, three days ago.

I looked at her. She currently has her gaze away from me. She feels guilty about it, it seems.

On one hand, her accusation is baseless and almost got me into trouble. On the other hand, if I was to be in her shoes and see what she saw, I would probably though the same thing.

Well, not really but the thought will cross my mind.

"Forget it," I said, focusing back on the road.

"What?" she asked. She didn't expect me to be flippant about it, it seems.

"You're doing what you think is right, I can't blame you for that."

"But… why?"

"Not sure. Someone taught me that a while ago." Introduce me to the concept more like, but fail to elaborate.

"But, but… because of me, you're almost… I—"

"Nothing happened in the end, so it doesn't matter anymore," I cut her off. Something dramatic might happen if I let her continue.

"Still…."

"You wanted me to be mad at you?" I stopped and asked. Strange how when people seek forgiveness, they tend to try to turn it down when it was presented to them. Maybe because it usually hard to come by and it caught them off guard when it isn't?

"No," she said after some time.

"Then what's with the attempted rebuttal?"

"I… don't know," she said, doubt in her voice. Guess I should have seen this coming.

"Don't worry about it," I said. She looked up at me.

"I don't care about it, you shouldn't too."

"Okay," she said after some time. At least she's not the type to let things drawn out, that's a plus.

I quickened my pace. I have done enough good deeds today, the time has come to get her off my trail.

"Hey, wait up!" she said after she has her emotions in order and realised that I'm already some distance away from her, not waiting around for her.

"Why are you following me?" I asked.

"You got a problem with that?" she asked back.

"You're a stranger."

"So what?"

"It's not safe."

"Why? Are you going to do something dangerous?" she asked, suspicious.

"No."

"Then what's the problem?" This girl… been a while since the last time I saw her kind.

Guess it won't hurt letting her tag along for now, probably safer for her too. Who knows, maybe we'll run into her parents or caretakers.

My silence is all she needed to continue following me.

Scofields Plateau Air Base, Southeast Usea

27 May 2019

Trigger

"Good work you two, dismissed," the Base Commander said.

I stood up from my seat and made for the door when Clown tried to hold me in place by grabbing my shoulder, causing me to almost instinctively throw him over it. Good thing I'm aware of my surrounding enough not to.

"Wait up Leadman, looks like up top got another job for us," he said.

I look over him, sure enough the Base Commander has his adjutant whispering something to him while his eyes locking to our direction. They have received words from upstairs to send us to do more errands for them, it seems.

Of course, why wouldn't they send us on another mission immediately after we finished one? It's not like we're tired after eight days of almost being constantly up in the air fighting for our lives, we've rest enough when listening to debriefing and between missions after all. And our jets, the maintenance crews must have at least checked them out, that should be enough to keep us going even though we're probably got sent out for another job far too soon for them to do anything to our crafts. If we end up getting ourselves killed out there, then we should've pay more attention back at flight school.

Fs.

"What now, sir? Rescue surrounded units? Break the enemy assault? Suicide attack on a 'key position'?" Clown asked after their secret conversation is done, lacking that almost always present cheerfulness. He's more tired about all of these than I thought, it seems.

"Escort mission." Dun dun dun.

"Who's the escorted?" Clown asked.

"If you sit back down, we'll start the briefing," the Base Commander said.

Sit back down, we did. Just like whenever we receive missions like this, the briefing consist of watching a pre-recorded briefing instead of being told by the Base Commander himself.

"The aircraft carrier Vulture alongside several ships and aircrafts belonging to the navy branch of the International Union Peacekeeping Force has been assigned to take part in the operation to take back the space elevator." Thought the force for that are already assembled by now, apparently not.

"IUN, or Osea? Clown snidely asked. For obvious reason, the recording didn't respond.

"As of now the carrier is waiting for the forces and the aircrafts assigned to fill in the gap caused by the surprise attack by Erusea off the southern side of the continent. However, the route taken by this contingent is very close to the enemy territory and we believe that Erusea will most likely try to intercept our allies," the recorded voice said, while the screen is showing the detail of what this contingent are comprised of and their supposed route. There are surprisingly fewer of them than I imagined a task like this would normally require. Tomcats, thought Osea no longer use them, either I was misinformed or these guys just got the short end of the stick.

"The IUN-PKF 508th Tactical Fighter Squadron has been ordered to assist in ensuring the rendezvous a success. First, you will head to the incoming allies position and hold your position there until further orders and then once they've regroup, Mage Squadron will escort them back to Fort Grays or serve as a rear guard if the need arise." As he said that, the screen shows the approximation of what our AO will be like upon our entry.

After some time, the Base Commander turn the screen off, indicating this briefing is over.

"Well, you have your orders. Good luck," he said.

We leave the room to get ready, as usual. It always like this ever since Mage got 'loaned' to the front line, one mission to the next. Stationed on this base today, other base tomorrow. We barely even have time to at least wash our face. I'm amazed that we can still stand and our aircrafts are still in good enough shape to function at all to be honest, but I suppose we're more resilient than I thought.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Clown, who is lagging behind. He didn't show it, but he's probably more tired of all of these missions than I am. It's bad enough that it an almost constant these past days, but it also tend to be futile. A unit that we've rescued will be sent again to their doom, an assault that we repelled would later be followed by an even more fierce assault that we'll be called in again to repel, and the most annoying of all, every time we attack a 'key position' or launch an assault ourselves, it was all a waste of fuel, ammo, and time, and the occasional lives when we work alongside others, because it will either be secured by Erusea before our allies can do anything about it, or even worse those that were supposed to handle things after we secured it is just that incompetent that Erusea would quickly snatch it back. In short, we have to do basically the same thing over and over again, which is annoying.

It almost makes me think they expect us to single-handedly fight and if possible win this war for them, a thought I'm sure also cross Clown's mind. If my experience with them is anything to go by, I believe it actually a possibility. It's not uncommon for me to get sent out to deal with what would be an impossible odds for any other pilots back then. It's less uncommon to be sent out on missions without any chance for respite. Now that I think about it, this really feels like back then, only this time someone occasionally suffer with me.

I almost feel sorry for Clown. I will never say it, but I admit I like the man. It's not every day you get to meet a good-natured opportunists like him. I bet he's hoping things would be easier with me as his wingman. Too bad while I could possibly did make things easier for him, I brought along many cons to outweigh that pros, like the expectations of the Fs back at Osea. Then again, that's what happened if you decided to take chances instead of thinking things through.

Guess it's too late to complain now. At least they don't get clever and try to swindle me out of my pay this time.

When we reached the hangar, the maintenance crews are understandably surprised that we're going up there again this soon. I look at my falcon, it hasn't fail me yet, which is impressive considering who manufacture Osean planes these days.

I got up to the cockpit, will it sturdy enough to get through this mission? Time to find out.

Spring Sea, Southern Usea

27 May 2019

Trigger

"This is Mage, we're in position," Clown said.

"Copy Mage Squadron, keep the airspace secure until our allies arrive," the AWACS assigned with us answered. I just realised I forgot what their TAC name are, we've been through many of them that I fail to see any reason to remember them. They belong to the OADF instead of IUN air force, that much I'm sure.

As ordered we waited, flying around the AO just in case there's something that manage to get through our watcher. We already ran to some opposition on the way here, it's more than likely we'll encounter some more, being close to the enemy territory only ensure it. Being so close to Erusea's territory means if things goes downhill, assistance will take a while if not unlikely. Why they would risk their lives flying this close to the enemy territory would be a mystery only those who decided this is the route they should take can answer. After several minutes of wasting fuel, the AWACS spoke up. Shame, this is the most peaceful that I've been in since we set foot on the front.

"Mage Squadron, Allied forces approaching the operation area."

I look at the radar. Several friendly dots has appeared in it, good to see they at least have the decency to be punctual. The sooner we leave, the less likely we have to deal with interceptors that most likely are already heading our way.

"Roger that," Clown responded, "Allied forces, this is Mage 1. We'll be your escort today," he said to the approaching allies. Quite formal, he really wanted to get this over with, it seems.

"Roger Mage, we have you on radar," they said.

We fall in behind them. It's an odd feeling flying with so many allies like this. Hmm, did I ever do something like this? I don't remember. As we fly, one of the jets is falling behind and take position near us.

"Say, you guys are from Fort Grays right?" someone asked, presumably this pilot.

"That's right," Clown said.

"I knew it. Heard about you guys, they say you're unstoppable."

"Not sure about that. My wingman certainly seems like it."

Unstoppable. It's not even a month yet and already some F are spreading nonsense about us. I suppose a pilot can be unstoppable provided they have the skill and ammo that can last forever. It's a bit silly, but at least it's still believable, even though it's a stretch. I guess I can let it slide this time, so long as that's the only exaggeration them Fs say about us.

"Really? Well, I'll look forward to working you," the pilot said. He then move back to formation with his own squadron and we're once again flying in silence, save for them occasional idle chat the pilots did. That silence is broken for me once again however, when chatterbox pick up an enemy voice.

"Understood, we got them."

I look at my radar, nothing, but that can't be true because chatterbox has caught a voice. Unless it's a ghost, then there has to be some interceptors heading our way. I look around me, these clouds is starting to be quite the inconvenience. I checked my radar once more, one of them will make a mistake and reveal themselves.

Sure enough, I was proven right once more. A single blip appear and quickly disappear, closer than I thought. Thanks experience, you're all right. What's their crafts are, I wonder?

I turned toward the clouds, who knows, maybe I'll crash into one of them.

"Mage 2, stay in formation," the AWACS ordered.

"You got something Trigger?" Clown asked.

I didn't answer, instead letting my action speak for me. Calculating their current possible position based on the information I received, I fire a burst into the clouds and was answered with a hit indicator on my HUD.

"They caught us! All aircraft spread and engage the enemy! Open fire as soon as you come out of the clouds," the enemy said. That's surprising, didn't think they would break that easily.

Enemy signatures is starting to appear into the open as soon as the order are spoken and I finally got a good look at the enemy. Foxhounds, of course, why would I expect anything else?

These guys are fast and annoyingly resilient, but Foxhounds aren't exactly built for close range, and far from being the most manoeuvrable craft in the world, should use that to my advantage.

I open fire on the one right in front of me, from the angle of my approach I should be able to hit the cockpit. It turned out yes, I can hit them and without anyone alive to operate them properly, it was only a matter of giving them an impromptu funeral pyre.

I turned toward the rest of them that has flew past me, ending up on their six. Normally, I would say it's a bit too soon to use my special weapons, what with we've barely a minute from the start of this engagement, but…

I fired my special weapons at the trio of in front of me, and boom they're history. Unfortunately, while I was doing this, two of them attempted to get the best of me. A good plan, but executed poorly.

"Nice kills, Mage 2! Guess they're not wrong about you," someone said.

Strange, here our group consist of fighter jets and several ships down below, but their concern seem to be directed on the aircrafts only.

"All aircrafts, this is Argus. Be advised, multiple bandits carrying long range anti-ship missiles approaching. Mage Squadron, intercept." Ah, there they are.

"We got them," Clown said.

I lower my altitude below the clouds. Su-35, the S variant. Fancy.

"Here they come. Careful with the Hound, he takes on our forces back at Farbanti and come out on top." Who they are talking about, I wonder.

Need to be fast, the ships might ended up in trouble if these guys manage to be within range of their LASM. As I head to greet the new guests, I hear our allies chatting among themselves.

This is why I hate escort duty. Having to worry about someone else's lives, few things are more annoying than that. The fact that silence tend to be unlikely when there are a lot of people only make me hate it even more.

The fighters open fire at us as soon as we're within range, sadly they seem to have forgotten that to hit something, one must make sure the target is right within sight.

I took position on their tail, while Clown is still on the way to assist. I fired a burst at one, turning them from an expensive aircraft into an expensive fireworks. Their reactions are swift, as they're quickly break their formation, two of them are heading for Clown while the rest stay here to deal with me. They wanted to get rid of us first, it seems.

"Take him down. Make him pay for what he did to Erusea!"

Quickly manoeuvre myself behind the closest to me, I open fire as soon as I lined my shot. Can't afford to give them a chance to fight back, I have better things to than humouring a patriot.

Two of them released their missiles at me. Hmm, I wonder…

Turning quickly, I head straight for of them that didn't fire a missile at me. However, I didn't attack it, instead I flew past them, causing the missiles to change target. Huh, it worked, good to know.

I dance around a bit more against the other four. They're good enough, as expected from pilots of one of the best air force in the world. However, good enough is not enough.

They're flying in two-man formation, two of them engage while they each have someone to watch their back just in case I manage to get the better of them. Their reasoning is sound, but not exactly perfect. Outwitting the two designated aggressor, I get behind one of their support and released my missile once I close enough that they don't even have the chance to use their countermeasures. As soon as I took them down, I fired a burst at the aggressor, allowing them to join their wingman. I employ the same tactic on the remaining two.

"Dammit, to think Osea still got pilots like this…" the last of the four said before he disintegrate along with his aircraft. Perhaps if they make more use of the clouds around us, they'll fare much better.

I check how everyone else is holding up. Clown has taken out one of them, I noted, while the last two MiGs have been dealt with. They better give these 'allies' a hard time because if I find these escorted already taken care of them a while ago and content themselves with watching us from a far, then this mission will fail. I head over to where Clown is and take out that last Flanker.

"Thanks, Trigger," he said. Hmm, usually he can take care of himself just fine. If this keeps up, he'll be in serious trouble.

"Area clear. Good work everyone," the AWACS congratulate us. I hear everyone else cheering over our victory. If only it's true.

If the past days is anything to go by, something annoying will happen, like UAVs or something.

"All right, continue the mission. Rendezvous with the carrier ASAP." Any minute now.

We go to where the Vulture is, who been patiently waiting for us quite some distance away from where the engagement took place. Undefended, risky. The Eruseans will kick themselves when they learned that they've let such an easy and expensive prey off their grasp. Still, no complication in sight. Any seconds now.

"Wait. Bogeys inbound." Heh, called it.

"I got them on radar. So many of them!" one of us said.

I checked my own radar. UAVs from the looks of it. Which one, I wonder.

There are some reports about a new type of UAV employed by Erusea. Most of them are rather inconsistent, but so far all reports indicate they have successfully crush any opposition they faced, which means they're possibly better than the 99s. Mage hasn't encounter any of them sadly, though not because of lack of trying.

Need to be careful, I don't know what they are but I'm certain they will be these new types. Lady Luck hate me after all.

Whatever they are, they're fast. Already we can spot them in the distance heading our way.

"Mage Squadron. Intercept and engage, don't let them get close. Everyone else, maintain course and leave the area immediately," the AWACS ordered. These Fs would've told us to get them the sun if they can get away with it. I hear Clown took a big long breath over the radio.

"Well Trigger, guess it's another bout of last stand for us. Let's do this," Clown said.

We turned toward our opposition, just the two of us like these past days. Two overworked, barely alive pilots flying battered aircrafts against at least a whole squadron of fresh, advanced, and fully loaded UAVs.

Command better set us for life after this or someone will kiss a missile, or a bomb, or both.

When we get close, my prediction are proven correct. They are not the 99s. Man Lucy, what did I ever do to you?

"Argus, we have eyes on. Looks like drones, though I never seen them before," Clown said.

"It doesn't matter, hold them off," the AWACS said. Typical, just typical.

It took me quite the effort just to scan their capabilities. Faster, higher manoeuvrability, and lacking in human's inhibition. They're definitely better than the 99s. Still, it appears that at its core, they're just like them. Flying based on what data they're provided with, which could possibly means they suffer from the same flaw and repetitiveness as the 99s.

As I engaged them, I noticed that while yes they're still flawed, they fly better than the 99s, providing less opening than them. Still many of the flaws, especially the bigger ones are still there and they're still as repetitive as ever. Whoever these drones are based on must be one lucky pilot if they're still alive now, what with their glaringly flawed flying style.

Thanks to these disadvantages and their fragility, we managed to one by one take them down, though it's more like only me I noted. Clown is surprisingly quite restrained while engaging them. The fatigue is finally getting to him, it seems. He better snap out of it soon, doubt these drones got any mercy in them.

As I thought, they don't. Slowly, they are starting to overwhelm him, and eventually land some hits on him.

"Dammit, I'm hit!" That shook him awake at least.

"This is Argus. Mage 1, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, for now."

"Dammit." After a few moment of silence, the AWACS spoke up again.

"All right, Mage 1 withdraw and rejoin our allies. Mage 2, hold them off until our allies have left the combat zone." Figures. And they still dare to look down on me.

I looked at what's left of these drones. Only now I realised that these guys receive constant flow of reinforcements. For every one we shot down, more will come to replace it. Them 'allies' better pick up the pace, my ammo supply aren't exactly infinite.

Hold them off I did, regardless of how futile it was. Well, at least my first time engaging them was in a rather fair circumstances. What I learned today will help in keeping me alive in the future, that's always a plus. If this is an RPG, I would've level up quite a lot by now.

But still, that doesn't mean I can do this forever. This aircraft can't run without fuel after all.

"Mage 2, all allies have successfully leaving the operation are. Good work, now get out of there." Finally.

As soon as the orders came out of his mouth, I took the first chance I got to break off. The drones however, either programmed not to let a prey escape or wasn't very keen in letting their brethren die for nothing, give chase. Really, Osea better sculpt a golden statue in my honour for this.

…On second thought, forget the statue. They better give me the gold for the statue and some more for this mess.

I manoeuvre as wildly as I can to throw them off my back, using the clouds for good measure, dodging and weaving to evade their attacks. It worked for the most part, though not exactly enough to completely clear my six. I suppose it can't be helped, they are advanced. The warning alarm's going crazy with their warnings, so does Heather, reminding me that I'm in danger. I can feel my craft protesting against my command every time I manoeuvre. Come on, stay strong just a bit more. We don't endure this long just so you can break when success is within sight.

For what feels like hours I dance with them, trying to get them off my tail and shooting down any that I can shoot down. But there are many of them and my patience is wearing thin. Next time, when the order are no longer to retreat but to kill, I'll kill them so hard they'll independently learn the meaning of regret. But for now, I need to find a way to clear out.

All right, think, there has to be a way. Their numbers are compensating their repetitive movements and looks like the move they take are randomised for each drones, but it still randomised from the same flying style. Just need to wait when most of them do one of their flawed move and rip it open.

…There.

Punching through the opening, I hit the gas as hard as I can. They're quick to caught on, unfortunately, and being faster they rapidly closing in. The lock on warning is blaring once again. You're wasting your missiles, you flying tin can.

However, there are no missile warning that followed it, the warning instead abruptly stopped.

"Bogeys are retreating. That some impressive flying, Mage 2." What?

I checked the radar and looked behind me. As the AWACS said, they are retreating. That's odd.

"You're well behind everyone else, they're waiting for you up ahead," the AWACS said. Right, this mission isn't exactly over yet.

Refocusing myself, I turn back toward the task at hand. I can think of all of the question I had after a bit of a rest.

Fort Grays Air Base, Southeast Usea

27 May 2019

Victoria 'Brownie' Hardy

"Here they come," Knocker said. I look toward the horizon, spotting some ships and aircrafts in the distance. Finally.

It's been eight days since Mage were sent to the front to assist in pushing the Eruseans back. A long and agonising eight days of waiting, worrying, and wondering just why they were sent out without Golem. Bossman and the Base Commander said the request came straight from far up and there is nothing we can do about it.

And so while Golem remained here preparing for the operation to retake the space elevator, Mage is out there, kicking ass and taking names.

I can't say I'm happy about it, why Mage gets to be the hero while Golem stuck with this? Sure it's important, but dammit more than half of the job is just waiting around doing nothing! It might not be so bad if I get to relax in those times, but I can't.

Every time I tried to, my mind would drift to Trigger. I heard all about his exploits back home and I've seen with my own eyes how capable he actually is, but I just can't help it. I can't stop thinking about all the bad things that could happen to him. What if he met his match? What if he finally get himself into a situation he can't handle? What if he's betrayed and the ally become the enemy? I know it's unlikely especially the last one, I mean he takes on squadrons of highly advanced UAVS and one of the best air force in the world by himself and basically won. If they can't bring him down, what chance do we have?

But on the other hand, what if against all odds it happens? What if some guy got lucky and shoot him down? Or he do something stupid like sacrificing himself?

Okay, that last one might be a bit stupid.

In any case, when I heard that Mage Squadron is escorting some allies back to Fort Grays, well, I'm ecstatic. I could at least make sure he's alive.

That is why right now Golem is currently watching the incoming allies from the harbor, hoping to catch an early glimpse of the duo.

"Someone's trailing smoke," Boggard brought me out of my thought.

I look at the one Boggard was talking about and regret it. A lone viper is trailing behind everyone else, smoke trailing him.

Immediately negative thoughts invade my mind. Is that Trigger or Clown? Where's the rest of Mage? What happened to them?

"All right, come on," Knocker said. He didn't show it, but I know he's worried. Clown is his best friend after all.

We head for the hangars. We'll learn what happened later.

We arrived just in time to see Clown or Trigger on a final approach. Hopefully the damage looks worse than it actually is. Thankfully, it does. The falcon land and head for the hangars without much problem.

When we come over, we saw that it was Clown. Fear gripped my heart.

"Hey guys, good to see you again," he said. He looks like he barely had enough rest to pilot, and it shows when he almost fell off the cockpit when he tried to get out of it. Thankfully, Knocker and the maintenance crew is quick to help him.

"What the hell happened to you?" Knocker said.

"Oh you know, the usual sortie and all that." At least he's good enough to joke around. But when he realized Knocker isn't laughing, he took a more serious expression.

"We were attacked by some new type of drones and the AWACS got the bright idea to only have us to hold them off."

"Captain?" I called, a call that took him a bit to respond to.

"Where's Trigger?" This is it, the shots fired. I prepared myself for the worst.

"Sorry but… I'm not sure. He was ordered to watch our back. He's still fine when I got hit though."

Okay, that still leave the possibility that he's okay. He had done the same thing back at Farbanti, if he can survive that, these new drones shouldn't be a problem.

Still, when he do it back then he's in a prime condition, or at least as prime as someone like him can be. If Clown looks like that, then he shouldn't be any better.

I'm overthinking this, he'll be fine. He'll said the same thing if he's here, plus some sarcasm and tactless comments, if he could be bothered to talk at all.

So I waited, letting Knocker deal with his best friend. Thankfully I don't have to wait long.

In the distance, a lone F-16 is approaching. From the way it fly alone, it's obvious who that is. Thank goodness.

He approach from the same direction as everyone. From the look of it, he at least doesn't seem to be damaged.

He landed, in a faster speed than should've been. Thankfully, it didn't damage his landing gear.

When I come over, he's still inside the cockpit. As I expected he look even worse than Clown is, which is saying something. I climb up the ladder.

"Trigger." I shook him. He didn't react.

"Hey, you're all right?" Still no response.

"Axe," I shook him again, a bit harder. Normally, I would've smack him by now, but in this condition I'm worried that I might actually hurt him.

He finally react, looking at me with barely focused eyes. What the hell happened to them?

"Come on, let's get out of here," I told him.

I help him get off his jet. Command better pray I never find out what they have them do while on the front if they knew what is good for them.

I walk as close as I can to him, just in case he abruptly collapsed. He seems to be able to walk just fine, though with a slight limp in every step.

"I think we should get you checked up first."

"No need to bother the doctor," he said.

"It's hardly bothering. Taking care of sick people is their job."

He didn't respond, but continuing to the debriefing.

"I can—" He stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine," he said. He then walked off, while I stood there like a stump. I quickly catch up when I realized he's leaving me behind.

Debriefing was awkward, to say the least. The Base Commander has to stop every few seconds because the two guys that this debriefing are meant for either lose focus or straight to dozing off. It's a good thing he's patient and understanding enough of their plight and keep it short. Might as well, doubt any of them even register what he was talking about. That is why I made a note for him.

When it's done I was quick to grab hold of him, no way I would let him wander off and doing who knows what while being barely alive like this. Obviously, he's not exactly on board with my idea.

"You need to rest."

"I am going to my room." That caught me off guard. Usually it took a bit of 'convincing' before he would do something sensible like resting when tired.

I let go of him, but remaining close to him. As he said, he went straight for his room, though he's not exactly resting.

"Aren't you going to rest?"

"I am resting," he said.

"You got a different definition of it than me."

He continue writing something on his journal, probably about whatever information his brain manage to memorize, while I spent the rest of it convincing him to take a break.

"You know, I already have a note about what those UAVs if you want." He look away from his book.

"You're persistent." And you're stubborn.

"Only because it matters and I know you don't get enough rest out there."

"What gave it away?"

"Don't try that tone with me, I'm serious right now," I said.

"Come on, just lie in your bed and close your eyes. I don't understand why this is so hard for you."

"Maybe because there is an annoying nag that won't shut up about it."

"Well, that good samaritan can't shut up about it because there is a stubborn mule that doesn't seem to understand how to take care of himself!"

"Hmm? There's a mule here?" he asked, a hint genuine curiosity in his voice.

"No, I mean— ugh! You're really know how to get under someone's skin, you know that?" He tipped his hat.

"Fine, whatever. Just don't go running to me if you ended too tired to do anything."

"I can't run if I'm too tired."

"You know what I meant!"

This dense, stubborn idiot. The nerve of him! Here I was trying to be nice and help him and he repay me by being an insufferable ass. I don't even know why I bother in the first place!

I stopped my line of thought. Dammit, I fell for it again.

For some reason, it's hard for me to control my emotion when around him. That and the fact that he, regardless of what he said, love to mess with people's head means all of those years of practicing to be more patient immediately went down the drain.

"You know what, I'll stop pestering you if you tell me what you're doing at the front."

"You know what I'm doing."

"Only broadly, we both know you've been doing more than that."

And that is, as much as I hate to say it, the truth. All I know is that Mage orders came straight from the top. What's the orders are, I have no idea.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Reasons." This secrecy is starting to get aggravating!

"Because you're secretly still been doing a 'solo flight', didn't you?" He closed his book.

"That's right, I heard about—" He suddenly stood up and close in.

"Don't finish that sentence," he said with a tone that he usually reserved for when he's about to rip someone a new one.

"You heard, but you don't know."

"Then tell me. I thought—" He cut me off with a very sharp pen on my throat, so sharp that all he need to is a bit more push to get some blood out of me.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll get it out of your head and throw it away as far as you can."

"T-Trigger…" He pulled his hand back and get back to sitting spot.

"Some things are better left alone," he said as he's sitting down.

I didn't register what he said, too surprised by what just happened.

When I came to, I look at him still sitting there like nothing happened, his face kept hidden by his hat. He… he just…

As fast as I can, I turned around and ran. I ran, ignoring everyone and everything until I reached my own room.

He just threatened me. He, my best friend, someone I trust the most, someone that I thought will always be there for me just like I'm to him, someone that I love, just threatened to kill me, without even the slightest hint of hesitation.

Why? Why would he do that? All I've done is trying to help him and mention his lack of wingmen back when he's still back at Osea. Why did he suddenly become aggressive? Is it because I reminded him when he's alone? That's very unlikely, but…

Yes, it has to be about that. But why did he mad at that? It's not like flying solo is anything bad. Why, I heard the Ribbon did basically that most of the time.

There has to be something about it. Something more than just him being on his own. Perhaps even something bad. Why would he threatened me if he has nothing to hide?

That's it. With a new found determination, I stood back up. If he in trouble and can't say it then I'll step in myself. Still, I can't do this on my own. Hmm…

I know just the person to help me.