Closer To Heaven

"The Tragedy"

    Emma cried for hours, alone, in her room. Ben, Sam, Sarah, and Finn stood outside the door. They all exchanged disheartened looks at each other, listening to the cries coming from the room. It wasn't long until the crying died down. "She must have fallen asleep." Ben guessed. The others nodded. "I've never heard nor seen her act like this." Ben continued. "She must have really loved her." Finn announced. They stood in silence for a while before they too, went back to bed.

    A year later...

    Elizabeth walked along the runway of the airfield. She looked up in the sky, hoping to see Yellow 13, Emma, reappear. Nothing. Nothing but clouds and birds chirping in the sky. The war grew and the Erusians are being pulled back day after day. This was the airfield that Emma used to be stationed at. It's been a couple of months since they took the airfield and occupied the town of Liedz. They even turn Emma's mansion into an extra headquarters. The military was kind enough to let Emma's family and servants stay at the mansion; they even let people stay in Liedz but people wanted to leave anyways. It's been a year since Elizabeth last saw Emma. She wondered how she was doing.

    Today was an important day. Elizabeth and the rest of Mobius squadron, along with other squadrons available, were to link up with friendly B-2s and B-52s and escort them to their targets. The targets: were a chain link of oil refineries, a heavily fortified airfield, and a chain link of weapons factories and vehicle depots. This is going to be a near suicidal mission, but it has to be done in order to bring the end of the war closer. Elizabeth walked back to the briefing room.

    Upon arriving at the briefing room, the other squadrons and their members were already present. There was Red Eagle, Mobius, Dragon, Delta, Deadman, Rascal, Ghost, and Saber squadron. The screen turned on immediately, showing a map of the area. The computerized voice went through key details and told every squadron's role. Everyone wrote down everything they possibly could and then, the briefing was over. It was time to get geared up and be ready for take-off.

    Minutes later...

    Everyone was geared up and ready to go. The alarm sounded and everyone along with their flight crews ran towards their planes. Elizabeth hopped in her seat and did a systems check. She then checked the flaps and stabs, then she did a double check on everything again and gave one of the crew members an ok. The canopy closed and she was now sealed in her grave. The crews pulled the brakes away and the plane started to roll a little. Elizabeth formed up with her squadron and waited to be next in line. Finally, after minutes of waiting, she was next in line. She moved faster and faster down the runway until she was finally in the air. She then followed her squadron and got into formation. The other planes eventually joined with them.

    30 minutes later...

    Someone finally spotted the friendly bombers and they all descended to get into formation with them. They stayed outside of the bomber flight so that they don't interfere with their path of travel. Elizabeth had a bad feeling again. She looked all around to keep an eye out for any fighters, but there was nothing. Minutes later, the cloud covering cleared up a little and they spotted the targets along with enemy fighters approaching. Elizabeth along with everyone else immediately engaged. Elizabeth got behind three F-18s and fired, but she missed and was immediately fired upon. She looked in her rear view mirrors and looked behind her to see the enemy. It was an Su-50. Elizabeth tried to line him up and immediately did a Cobra maneuver. Su-50 tried to brake but Elizabeth ripped him apart with her cannons. The fighter went down in flames. An enemy F-16 passed overhead and took out two friendly bombers. Elizabeth chased after him. The fighter tried to shake her but Elizabeth had him in her sights no matter how hard he tried. She fired a missile at medium range. The fighter didn't fire flares and was immediately vaporized. Elizabeth tried her best not to pay attention to the radio chatter. "I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T! I WANNA GO HOME!" Yelled someone over the radio. "This is Dragon 4! I need help!" "Die you S.O.B.!" "Red Eagle 2! Missile! MISSILE!" "This Saber 2. Take out those hostiles." "Rascal 5 to Saber 2. Roger.". The radio was full of men and women giving orders, screaming and crying. Elizabeth was flying through hell but she was so close to heaven.

    Elizabeth looked around to see everyone chasing somebody. She noticed Chris and saw him go up in flames. Elizabeth's heart stopped. She couldn't believe that he died right in front of her eyes. Who did it?!  She thought. She looked around and saw nothing. She then wanted to find Maria and James. Elizabeth broke through the clouds and saw them. It was the Yellow squadron chasing Maria and James. Elizabeth quickly chased after them. She came up behind a Yellow and he quickly tried to shake her. "Damn! He's on my six!" Screamed a familiar voice on the radio. Elizabeth was about to press the trigger when she suddenly recognized the voice. It was Ben. Ben got away and went to rejoin the others. Elizabeth couldn't do it. She just couldn't. Then she remembered Chris and started to get angry. "Elizabeth! What are you doing?!" Maria yelled. "Maria! I need your help!" Yelled James. Maria went to go help James but they both had their own problems. Elizabeth couldn't move. Thoughts ran through her mind and she didn't know what to do. Then, Elizabeth snapped when she saw Maria vaporize along with James. A plane passed over her. It was her. It was Emma.

    "Elizabeth..." She called out. Elizabeth screamed in horror and anger. She chased one of the Yellows. It was Finn. They did twists and turns through the clouds. Elizabeth fired everything she had. When she chased one of the Yellows, another one or more appeared behind her. She was too fast for them; they couldn't keep up with her. She fired and screamed until she was out of ammo. After what seemed like an hour of fighting, Elizabeth stopped chasing them when she was out of ammo. She didn't kill a single one of them. Elizabeth went crazy inside her cockpit until she finally calmed down. She looked to her right to see Yellow squadron disappear in the clouds. It was going to be a long trip back to base... alone.

    Elizabeth made it back to base safely. She exited the plane with a blank expression on her face. The crew wanted to make sure that she was ok, but she shoved them away and yelled at them. She then got undressed and didn't go to the mess hall to have dinner. Instead, she snuck into the hangars to be alone with her plane. She laid on top of the wing of her plane and curled into a ball. She whimpered and tried to be quiet. She lost all of her friends in a blink of an eye.