Skyborn The Divine

21: Witness

"Thirty seconds!" yelled Athena over the roaring wind.

The Black Swan's cargo doors yawned open, revealing a brilliant blue sky beyond. Roaming the horizon like enormous, white tortoises, cumulus clouds marched in lazy formation.

All things considered, a perfect day for flying.

"Ready for this?" grinned Ethan. There was no sign on his face of Clawson's sharp reprimand earlier.

Ethan had put on a jump suit over the "I have the body of a god" t-shirt she'd seen him wearing earlier. It was nearly the same shade of blue as the sky outside. On the outside of the jump suit, Ethan wore a webbing of tight harnesses and hooks.

Alice knew she needed to attach herself to him to carry him to the jet. She positioned herself behind him and fastened her own harness to his. With her chest pressing so close to his back, she realized she could feel his steady breathing, and even the metronome beating of his heart.

For most of your life, you've lived without family, without freedom, and without friends. How are you still smiling? How are you always, always smiling?

She withheld her sudden urge to wrap her arms around his broad chest and cry on the back of his silly t-shirt. Instead, she hooked her arms under his shoulders and prepared to jump.

"Go! Go! Go!" Athena shouted.

Alice bent her legs and threw herself out into nothing.

The first thing she was aware of besides the rushing of the wind in her face was the sound of Ethan's voice. He was shouting, howling like an excited child on a roller coaster. She smiled as she rocketed towards the beacon highlighted on her goggle display. She knew it would be a flight of at least an hour before they would see the plane. She could do with a little enjoyment until then.

Alice activated the controls to her body glove's Skycamo. The leather-like surface flashed and rippled until it perfectly blended in with the streaks of cloud and the brilliant blue above. Between her Skycamo and Ethan's jump suit, the two of them were virtually invisible to a casual glance outside a passenger jet window. All the better to sneak aboard the Olympian without being seen.

Alice hugged Ethan's shoulders a little tighter as she listened to his cries of joy and delight at sailing through the perfect sky. She wondered if it would be a mistake to make this the last mission on which she would go with him. The thought gave her a deep ache in her chest that wasn't immediately explained by simple friendship.

She wondered, for the first time in so many words, if she loved him.

Is it because you're right for me? Or is it because I wish someone in this world would love you the way I know you deserve?

Her goggle display highlighted the lonely speck of the passenger jet against the azure sky. Alice sighed, a noise undetectable in the whipping, clawing wind. Her gut gave an awkward squeeze as she imagined that speck filled with hostages guarded by armed men. The feeling was so uncomfortable that she had to shift Ethan in her grip.

"You nervous?" he asked. She could hear his voice perfectly clear since they were connected by earpiece. "Don't be. Athena wouldn't have put you on a combat mission if she didn't think you could handle it. Just remember: combat missions are just like rescue missions. In both cases, you're just saving lives. In one, you're protecting people from hurricanes, fires, or floods. In the other, you're just protecting them from other people. Same thing. Just save the hostages."

Alice frowned, not finding much comfort in his words. At that moment, she felt him reach up and place a hand on her wrist and give it a gentle squeeze. Unlike his verbal reassurance, the hand seemed to relax her.