Knife in the Dark

Tonight, we are young

I was woken the next morning by Jackson violently shaking me awake, I turned and raised my hands, trying to explain that I did not require any more action, which somehow Jackson understood and stopped shaking me, giving me a chance to get out and walk sleepily to the window. It was not even dawn yet, and it would be another hour before the sun would rise. I stared at Jackson, questioning his sanity in this situation. He silently mouthed 'Meeting in Dres' and pointed to my wardrobe, indicating for me to get dressed, he then exited the room and left me to get changed. While I would normally just do a conversation like this over the phone, I had made my own personal decision to travel to Dres for a meeting, as I was convinced that there was going to be something more important than the closure of C.L.O.U.D. such as a peace negotiation between our two countries. I was being flown there in private aircraft, which would fit Sam, who was also a pilot, just adding to how much I admired the guy. My military advisor had threatened me to make sure that he would come, not that I was scared, I just simply could not care what the man did, but him fuming in my home wasn't good. Jackson was going as my manservant, as I did not require a body guard, no matter where I was going. I got changed into a white shirt with a red tuxedo over the top of it, with black pants and dull red shoes. I chose not to wear a crown, as it would simply give me a stuck-up appearance when I approached someone I had not met. I was fine with not having it on, as all it did was just snap every head in the room towards me, and after fourteen years of learning to blend in, it was the most uncomfortable experience I could have been given.

The only airstrip in the south was in Gambrene, but all it held was passenger and cargo jets, with the exception of a few private jets. Glaive and Raven were signing legal obligations and were unable to attend me to the meeting, so I just decided to take it into my own hands. I was driven to a shade black jet where I was hustled onto the plane by some heavy duty officials, who went so far as to chat on their earpieces, which just made me sad at how hard they must be trying to impress their bosses. I wandered down and took a seat at the centre of the aircraft, which had inflight entertainment, meaning that I could spend time listening to movies and music and not have to deal with my advisor drilling me with useless information which I wasn't going to be needing even when we land. The jet taxied off towards the runway, which had been vacated especially for me, however, hundreds of people lined the tarmac, all hoping to get a glimpse of me. I have to say that I was blown away by the amount of people that stood there, none of them from Sloce, all of them either from Carabin or Gambrene. I waved at them, even though I knew full well that there was no chance in the world that any of them would actually see me, as the plane lined up, it's pointed snout extending towards where it would eventually take off, which I hoped did not require severe jostling. The only time I had been in aircrafts was when I was required to go on that one fateful mission, which hadn't been altogether smooth, with hard seats and little to no comfort, it was simply there as a way of annoying us into a state where we would only focus on the mission, which did not work all that well, but it was still there as an excuse for them to pretend they tried which if it helped them sleep at night, I was not fine with it.

The plane flight was considered by most to take five hours from Gambrene to the capital of Dres, Dafirda. But that calculation did not take into account that today we were being given a tail wind, not to mention the large amounts of fuel that this jet could carry, so that time was halved approximately, although there was always the chance that a problem would occur, which would delay us by a long time, maybe even our lives, but right at the moment was not the time I wanted to be worrying about problems such as that, no matter how plausible they were. I sat back and turned on the entertainment screen, and scrolled through the seemingly endless choice of movies, wondering how I was going to be able to watch all the movies that I wished to see in the time provided, my answer was not answered however, as the second that I went to ask, they gave me a fruit platter, which I was happy enough with and obliged to eating while watching some of the newest releases in film, and the sound was perfect, unlike the cheap headphones that I used to listen to music through, these blocked out all other noise but the screen in front of me, which made me paranoid, but my subconscious was too tired from the large amounts of work and travel in the recent times that I simply did not care anymore, all I cared about was the screen in front of me, and what was happening on it, which was in such beautiful resolution that I wanted to thank its creator with a big high five, even though it is the most unkingly thing to do, I didn't even care. The hours ticked by, with me not really noticing the time or the outside world until we landed with the most gentle thunk that had probably ever happened in the history of aircrafts. We were greeted by an even larger party than the one in Carabin. There was rows of soldiers that turned and saluted at me when I walked slowly down the stairs to the black carpet that had been rolled out, which was the official colour of Dres, which did not make me feel any happier about the situation that I was in.