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- Pavle opened his eyes. Before him, a starry sky stretched. Shakily, he brought a hand to his eyes, feeling the moisture around them.
- In his other hand, he gripped a crumpled letter, bearing the message he had never wanted to hear. His heart felt like it would burst from his chest, as the tears continued to fall from his face to the grass below.
- Why had this happened? He had promised. His brother... he'd promised that he would come back so that we could all eat together as family...! The young teenager hid his face with his hand, trying to hold back the tears that wouldn't stop.
- "Why did I just ran away..." He shouldn't have ran away from his house so suddenly. However, he felt that it was what he'd needed to do to sort out his feelings. The letter that had come back to him had been cold, only taking care of informing them of the death of Dragomir, as well as the fact that he would be posthumously condecorated for the sacrifice he had done in his participation.
- "If only he hadn't been relocated to the Orbital Drop forces..." He remembered that being sent to him in a letter. Back then, he hadn't learned of the average casualty rate for those forces, and now he knew that it had practically been a death sentence.
- ...Suddenly, he felt a small weight hit his chest. Startled, Pavle looked up. Eyes very similar to his own, if more feminine, stared back at him. They, too, were puffy and moist from tears that not yet had the time to dry. "Ana..." He blinked at the glaring eyes of his sister.
- "...Before you ran away like that, idiot...! You should read the letter brother left for you!" Ana shouted those words between gasps, before running away, probably to reassure their mother.
- "..." Pavle contemplated the envelope on his hands, giving it a tentative shake. Something inside it clinked with a metallic sound as he shook it up and down. Curious, he slid open the envelope, and withdrew the letter.
- "Brother,
- If you are reading this, then I couldn't make it out of Kashgar. To be honest, I wanted to tell you these words in person, since there's always the risk mother will read this and burn it before it reaches you.
- Pavle, in my time as a pilot, I learned many things. The BETA, the enemies which we are fighting, they are not something we will be able to fend off if we sit and do nothing. I have killed enough BETA to completely bury our town in their corpses, and it wasn't even a minuscule fraction in their numbers.
- I know mother must be suffering right now, but please don't listen to her right now. At this moment, you need to listen to me. Pavle... You must fight."
- Pavle's eyes widened as he finished reading those particular words. Fight? Was brother telling him to go and... his mother's pale and shaken face surfaced in his mind again.
- "You must be shocked that I would say that. I'm not telling you to die. I myself survived for three years on this hell... And you'll do better than me. You're strong, Pavle. You've always been. A certain squad leader of mine taught me... how to sense those who were truly strong.
- Please, Pavle. Think of Ana... and her future children."
- ---!!!
- "Do you want them to live through the same nightmare as us? Having to hear about the people dying out there, for years, maybe even decades? Walking through endlessly long graveyards, just to find mine and father's resting place..."
- No... That's not...
- "I... knew father."
- "Wha-!?" Pavle gasped mutely at the mention of the father he never knew.
- "More than anyone else, I knew him deeply. Back then, he'd speak out his worries to me, even though I had been too young to understand them at the time. His sadness, his love, and his pain... He told me all of it.
- Father... he had the same idea as the me of right now. The BETA that were coming for him... He wanted to fight them with all his might. Never again did he want to see his home collapsing around him.
- I didn't want that either. That's why I, during those three years I fought in, gave it my all to see that I would return to a happy home and see your smiling faces."
- "Th-That i-idiot...!" With crying eyes, Pavle averted his gaze from the letter, and looked at the other thing on the envelope.
- 'Let's wait until he mentions it in the letter...' Pavle continued to read.
- "However, even now... I don't fear death. Back then, I certainly did. But... now I know that if I must die, those smiling faces will never go away.
- Pavle..."
- The space next to that line had a teardrop stain on it, so it had been skipped. Pavle felt his hands tremble.
- "...protect them. Not only their futures, but yours as well. This is something really difficult to ask, I know that. But... we need every man we can to defeat the BETA. Especially somebody strong like you, Pavle.
- Time's running out, so I'd better end this. I've left a little gift inside this envelope. Hopefully it has gotten there intact."
- It was then that Pavle reached his hand into the envelope, grasping at air until he found the metallic object. Grabbing it, he pulled it out of the envelope...
- "-Ah...!?" A gasp escaped his lips. Dangling in front of him was a small metal piece attached to a chain- A name tag. However, what was on the metal was different. It had been changed to show something more than just an ID and a rank.
- Before his eyes, a small steel eagle twinkled in the moonlight. Pavle traced the eagle's contours with his index finger, eyes trembling.
- --At that moment.
- He caught a glimpse of text on the other side of the tag. Gulping down saliva, he hesitantly, slowly turned it around-
- S P R E A D Y O U R W I N G S
- "---" Pavle dropped the tag, eyes fixed on the words that glistened with the lamplights.
- Slowly but surely, Pavle turned to read the last part of the letter, hands trembling.
- "My instructor promised he'd take care of the engraving after I contacted him... I hope he followed through. Regardless, what you now have in your hand carries my feelings. No matter the decision you take... I'll always be with you, watching the smiling faces you'll surely bring to everyone.
- ...I'll see you soon, brother.
- Love, Dragomir."
- "..." Pavle remained motionless. He lost all possible resistance to the sadness in his heart, and let the tears flow out freely. He wasn't coming back. His brother... would never come back.
- Amidst the haze on his vision, he saw the tag his brother had left behind and picked it up, resisting the sudden impulse to throw it away in denial.
- Gritting his teeth, he pocketed it and forced himself to stand up. The remnants of his tears burned at his cheeks, slowly drying under the summer air.
- He just stood there, for several minutes, as he thought on the letter and struggled to come up with a response, even if there was no one to hear it. Finally, his eyes opened in determination.
- "Brother... I don't know if I can be as optimistic as you, but... If I follow you, I will return." He raised his fist at the sky, and with his extended fingers tried to grasp the stars between them. "...The [Dragomir] Precious and Peaceful future you want... I'll keep those words in my heart forever."
- With that farewell, he grabbed the two letters and silently walked back home.
- ---1 year and 8 months later---
- "...It's been a long time since then." Brown eyes stared at the big sign on the building in front of him. Even from this distance, he could clearly read the words 'REGISTRATION OFFICE' with his sight.
- He brushed his brown hair away, accidentally brushing the tag hanging around his neck. The words 'SPREAD YOUR WINGS' flashed in the sunlight.
- "...Here I come." With a small smile on his face, Pavle Borislav Brukovic walked towards his future.
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