Soaring Planes and Medical Kits (Pilot X Alyssa)

Chapter 3

Pilot was standing with Alyssa in the front yard where they often spent time together, and Alyssa, who was standing silently in front of him, was trying to find words that would tell him what was happening. She took a breath.

"Pilot, I'm going away. I'm going to fulfil my purpose." She choked out, withholding her tears as he saw a look of panic spread across her lover's face.

"What?" His throat hurt and his mouth went dry, his voice only coming out as a whisper.

"I was built as a military doctor, and I'm being sent to a battlefield very far away." She looked at the ground.

He fell to his knees and hugged her tightly, pressing his face into her stomach. She was very surprised by this, flinching for a moment.

"You're gonna be back soon right?" He looked up at her.

"I can't promise that." She said softly, patting his head comfortingly as tears streamed down his face.

"No, you HAVE TO come back soon, You have to come back to me, Don't leave!!!" He hugged her tighter.

She broke out of his grip and walked away, him, slumping to the ground and holding his torso up with his arms as a shadow cast over his face. He couldn't bring himself to even watch her leave.

Then he heard a rustle as she turned back toward him.

"I promise, no matter what it takes, I'll come back to you!!!" She called out to him just before walking off into the distance, and when he could no longer hear her footsteps he forced himself to stand. He shakily walked home and spent the next few days in silence. Not a word.

She, too, couldn't bring herself to speak to anyone.

And they both felt the weight of loneliness drag them down, the longing for one another clouding their thoughts and pouring down from their eyes. And sometimes they just wished that they would drown.

It took seven months for him to go completely back to normal, in attitude that is. His heart felt so far away, but he managed to find ways to keep himself busy and distracted.

Pilot's pov

Today I've invited Artman over for a sleepover, being as we haven't hung out in a while, partly do to my grieving. I hear a knock at the door and go to answer it, seeing Artsy standing there with a concerned look on his face.

"You know you've been worrying people right?" Artman stepped inside and put his bag down.

"You're definitely starting this off with an explanation." He sat on the couch and I sat beside him.

He looked at me questioningly.

"It's Alyssa. . ." I began. He suddenly jumped up, seeming angry.

"Did she break up with you!?! Did she hurt you!?!?!" He yelled.

"No! No, of course not! She had to leave..." I quickly defended as he calmed down, sitting back down in his spot.

"She left to do what she was made to do." I looked down as a shadow cast over my face.

"She's a medic in a war somewhere really far away. And I don't know when she'll be back." He sighed sadly looking up at his friend, who just looked sorry that he had asked.

"Well, everyone is really worried about you, you've been acting really . . . off." He patted Pilot on the shoulder. "I'm really sorry to say this, but not everyone comes back from wars between humans. Many will die, and she may be one of them. You need to move on-"

"No! She promised she'd come back for me, and I'll hold onto that promise as long as it takes!" He exclaimed, cutting his friend off. He didn't want to hear the rest of that sentence, although part of him was screaming it to him. 'Promises are only words. They are not definite.'

"You're in denial, Pilot. It's bad for you to stay like this." He rubbed up and down Pilot's back comfortingly.

"I know, I'm not as stupid as everyone seems to think I am, nor am I as innocent to the truth." These words caught Artman off guard, he'd never seen his friend so serious.

"Hey then, let's relax and play a game of monopoly, y'know get your mind off of all this." Artman gave a warm smile as Pilot nodded, smiling back.

They managed to have fun like before all of this, and this was the moment Pilot had finally realized that waiting for her to come back wasn't gonna be so bad.

Over the next three years, he had let his heart slip away, not making any move to get another girlfriend, not making any move to flirt or find someone else. He left any romantic feeling he had left behind and moved onward to focusing more on becoming an actual pilot.

Of course, he never forgot her.

He still woke up every day with the hope that she would walk through the door and everything would go back to the way it was so long ago.

He still counted the days that he didn't get to see her.

But at least now he could have fun with his friends again, that he could find ways to be happy, even if he knew that feeling were to fade after the day ended.

He still found sunsets beautiful, although he couldn't look at them the same way.

He drew pictures in the stars and more often than not, it was images of two people he hardly recognised dancing across the sky to music that wasn't even playing.

And he rested restlessly as his lips longed for hers and his body longed for her warm embrace once again.

And with every hopeful gaze at the door, every new day to count, every moment of happiness, every golden sunset, every dancing star, and every restless night, he wished to see her smile again. He wished to be the reason for that smile.