A Second Chance

Part 81 - Home Sweet Home

The rest of the trip to the airfield was uninterrupted, which at this point felt like a miracle.

We boarded the plane and Rami went straight to the controls. "Seatbelts on, everyone!"

"Wait, you can fly this thing?" Priya asked.

"Airline pilot is my actual profession," Rami said, running through the checks without looking up. "Everything else is a side gig from that job."

"That's insane!" Deon exclaimed.

The plane took off and I leaned back and let out a breath that had been sitting in my chest for about two days. I genuinely never want to be in a warzone again. I know I've been in bad situations before, the Never-Realm, the Oni dimension, all of it, but those had a fantasy quality to them that made them feel almost separate from reality. 

Yemen was just real. No elemental spirits or ancient curses, just a conflict that was grinding for years with real people caught in the middle of it.

Charlotte was next to Libber with her head against her shoulder, looking shaken in a way she was trying not to show. Libber had her arm around her and wasn't saying much, just being there. I couldn't blame either of them.

"There's nothing else after this, right?" Oliver asked from across the aisle. "Like, we just go home now?"

"Yeah, home sweet home," I smiled. "Life continues, you go back to school, you tell your parents some version of what happened, and eventually this becomes the wildest story you've ever told at a party."

He stared at me. "That's your advice?"

"Tried and true!"

"Hey." Dylan appeared from the seat behind me and leaned forward.

"Hey," I said. "Look, I'm sorry for putting Charlotte in that situation. I should have just made her go back through the basement and-"

"You didn't know you'd end up in this hellhole," he said. "Neither did I when I let her go with you to the school. And from what I saw on the way here, you looked after her the whole time. So, thank you for that."

"It wasn't a big deal."

"It really was," he said. "Also, while you two were gone we found out the full scope of what they were planning. A complete takeover of the city, top to bottom. We stopped it before it got that far, a lot of arrests, but it exposed a massive loophole in our own system that let this happen in the first place."

"So you're opening up to the rest of Ninjago?"

"It's the only move that makes sense," he admitted. "Our government is modern but it's been relying on Imperium for support and that's clearly not enough. Ninjago's the strongest realm out there, an alliance with our outside world is the obvious next step."

"Glad to hear it,"

Dylan nodded and sat back, which was at least good enough for me. At least we're ending on good terms. 

I got up and walked over to where Libber was sitting. Charlotte had fallen asleep against her shoulder, and Libber looked up when I sat down across from her.

"Fun ride?" she asked quietly, so as not to wake Charlotte.

"Incredibly fun,"

"We landed literally right before they started attacking the airport," she explained. "Like, the wheels touched down and twenty minutes later the whole thing started. Who could have seen that coming?"

"Justin probably had a feeling, with that stupid system of his,"

She laughed quietly. "So what happens after you go back?"