Sky King

Epilogue

Summer had arrived, heat bathing the fields of grass. Mother nature's breath spun through the twin apple trees in the backyard, one falling to the ground right next to a young girl sitting by its trunk, staring up at the blue sky and wondering what it would be like to have the superpower of flying. Spreading her arms and lifting off of the ground to travel anywhere she could think of, that was her ultimate dream. She tapped her straightened out legs in a rhythm on the grass, her red shoes cushioning each light impact with a small thud.

She made sure to wear a normal short sleeved shirt so she wouldn't get grass stains on any of her dresses, donning old jeans for the same reason. A straw hat sat atop her head, black hair tied into a single long braid. With it like that, she was less likely to get her hair caught on a branch or have grass in it.

Still looking to the clouds, footsteps approached from behind, a young woman kneeling down beside her in a beautiful strawberry red dress, her Auburn hair flowing wildly in the gusts of wind. She adjusted her glasses and looked down to the child.

"What's up?" She said with a warm smile, the girl pointing up to the atmosphere. The woman squinted her eyes at the poor attempt at a joke, but the girl did answer her question after.

"I want to go there," she said, watching the white puffs slowly roll by. Her mother's smile vanished for a moment, making sure to bring it back in seconds.

"Are you sure? It can be pretty mean in the sky," the woman said.

"I still want to go," her daughter remained adamant and the woman silently chuckled to herself.

"Well, maybe one day you will Kuujiro. When you're older, of course. Now let's go, it's an important day today," the woman helped her daughter to her feet, walking around the front of the cottage home and entering a blue two door car. Her daughter wasn't exactly old enough to be in the front seat but currently the back was filled with boxes of CDs and tapes. They drove down the country roads and into the city.

White flags with a coiled black snake on a red shield as an emblem flew from most shops or houses, black haired people roaming the sidewalks among the usual blondes. The woman pulled up to a small store with a black sign above it, yellow lettering reading, "Carmak's Collection." She and Kuujiro entered the shop, it separated by aisles of wooden shelves with hundreds of old music CD's, movies, and tapes. Behind the counter in the back of the shop were two men, one tall with short blond hair that was slicked back, and an older bald gentleman with a long, grey goatee. The woman approached the two, the blond man beaming with happiness.

"Amarra! Back again with more to sell?" Ed asked her while she held Kuujiro's hand so she wouldn't go off to possibly take things from the shelves.

"Yeah, it's a bit of a bigger load than last time, I hope you guys don't mind," she adjusted her glasses and her daughter waved to Ed silently.

"Hey there Little Kuu. How's it hanging?" the two bumped fists, something Ed made sure to teach the child whenever they came to visit or sell.

"It hangs goooood!" Kuujiro said in the lowest tone she could, trying to flex the non existent biceps she had. Amarra rolled her eyes and let the two have their moment. She was at least glad they got along.

"I'm going to check out what they have this time boss, I'll be right back," Ed said to old man Carmak, who nodded and smiled at the two customers. Both of the men wore the signature grey collar shirt with black pants of the shop employees, name tags above their right pecs. Amarra followed Ed outside to her car, opening the back doors to show him the dumb amount of boxes she had somehow stuffed in.

"Good god man," the blond said, "even my girlfriend doesn't have this much and she's been collecting music discs since she was six years old,"

"Well, I like to have a lot of references for what I make," Amarra replied, "now I do just fine without any so, all yours,"

"Might as well just leave the store with our register, this is gonna be worth quite a bit," Ed laughed a little, looking over the boxes one more time, "Ace would've thought you were insane for having all of this in storage,"

"Yeah, probably," Amarra said, looking down the street to a group of black haired vagrants heading into an alleyway between two office buildings. Ed followed her gaze and sighed.

"Damn criminal assholes have been popping up more and more since the war," he said quietly so only Amarra would hear, not wanting Kuujiro to learn any new words she shouldn't know yet, "they haven't been near the shop yet but we have guns under the counter if they do show up. Can't even imagine what they're doing down those alleys,"

"I don't even want to know," Amarra said, turning to the boxes and helping Ed take them inside to the backroom where the employees would inspect each disc for quality and judge the rarity based on what exactly the disc contained. Kuujiro helped by carrying the smaller boxes and in the span of ten minutes, the backseat was cleared. Outside of the shop, Ed stood with Amarra and her daughter just before they left.

"It'll probably be a couple of days before we can even tell you an estimation of how much this will be worth, so we'll call you whenever we have an idea," the blond man said to Amarra, then kneeled down to her daughter, "make sure to keep it real Little Kuu,"

"Keep it real!" Kuujiro pumped her fist into the air, then high fived Ed. After saying their goodbyes, the two got back into the car and started off once more.

She drove until reaching a gated field further in the city, parking in the lot next door and holding her daughter's hand while entering through the black gates. They walked for a minute or two, stopping in front of a pure white headstone, the shape of a crown carved out of the top. The two females knelt on both knees, hands balled together near their chests, closing their eyes. In front of them, the black lettering on the grave was still clear and well taken care of by the graveyard staff. The lettering itself read as followed.

Here Lies Legendary Pilot Kenjiro Nansachi, Sky King of Syncaire. May He Peacefully Rest Among The Clouds

Both Amarra and Kuujiro opened their eyes, standing up. Kuujiro told her father how cool Ed was and how she was excited for school to start, ready to meet new people and make many friends along the way. At the end, she said something Amarra wasn't expecting in the slightest.

"One day, I'll fly in the sky just like you!" Kuujiro said with excitement. Amarra smiled, trying to appear happy for her daughter, but inside her heart sank. Kuujiro most likely wouldn't be able to become a pilot as only men were allowed into the military, but finding someone to teach her how to fly wouldn't be so bad. She just didn't want her daughter to meet the same fate as her father had. When Kuujiro was done talking, it was Amarra's turn to say what was on her mind.

"I wish you were still here to see everything," was all she could muster up without crying. They said their goodbyes and walked back to the car, taking the short trip back home out in the country roads. Though nothing would bring him back, the legend of Kenjiro "Ace" Nansachi would forever be remembered by generations as the pilot with the most aerial duel wins in the history of the country. Amarra hoped his soul was at peace among those also lost to the war that defeated their country and killed so many, both in the air and on the ground.

Hopefully the future held only peace for as long as they lived.

Sky King - The End