foolhardy flyer

[The Fool]

<<We're connected by this sword. It will burn up the darkness to make way for light. This will be our path back home.>>

After saying these words, callsign “Foolhard”, fired his missiles to start the attack. Ahead of him, preparing to merge, was the enemy.

<<Back then,>> callsign “Joker” mused on the open channel, <<I wondered where your anger truly came from. Why you’ve been fighting your reflection even now.>>

<<I hope you can see my answer down there,>> Foolhard replied.

Joker chuckled as he turned his plane to glance at the burning earth below. <<Oh. You think I’m satisfied with that?>>

With a good locking tone, Joker fired two missiles. Foolhard braked right, climbed, and pumped flares to make the missiles miss. They did.

<<Then what the hell kind of answer do you want?>>

<<An admission. That everything you are now, you took from me.>>

Curveball, having gained airspeed from his climb, plunged his plane back into the clouds.

<<If that’s what you want…>>

Foolhard braked again, sending his plane vertical, slowing him -- but making Joker overshoot in the process.

Joker could only contort a smirk.

He taught Foolhard that trick on a day like this, too, with the sun barely peeking over the horizon at 16,000 feet.

“Pugachev’s Cobra is the ultimate gamble, Foolhard,” Joker said to young cadet Jasper Griffey. <<You’re putting both your airframe and yourself on the line for the perfect shot -- but what a shot that would be.>>

All that, and the time they spent together, was wasted on a foolish decision in the heat of battle that drove them apart instead.

<<...then I hope you’re alive to hear it.>>

With his target locked, Foolhard fired.

It had been nearly two years since Jesper set foot on university grounds.