Breakdown

"Hey, Alex?" Gavin looks over me with a frown as he shakes his head. "I'm so sorry Alex. We should have been there for you." 

"It's fine," I say. It's not fine. But they don't need to worry. Man, I can't even act straight in my horrid state. I can tell they see right through me.

"Hey, Alex?" Trisha, Paladin Five, looks at me with an angry look. "You can still fly with us, right? That was totally their fault!"

Wow, thanks Trisha. At least someone still believes in me.

Percy and Kay, Paladin Two and Three, respectively, look away from me. I've never been as close to them, but I've managed to befriend them a little.

"It doesn't matter." Gavin says. "What matters is the fact that Alex, you disturbed the peace. Besides, based on what I've heard, you stopped them from disengaging and restarted the fight."

Yeah, I did do that.

"Hey. We'll come visit tomorrow, alright? So sit tight Alex. We're rooting for you." Paladin One reaches between the bars and gives me a fist, which I awkwardly fist bump. Then one by one, they leave. Again.

I don't even have any words.

And then I'm alone, as always.

***

I'm still in my pilot flight suit, I realize. It's still fresh and clean from a lack of activity. After sitting around in that tiny cell for hours, the outer door to the facility finally opens. The worst case scenario steps in. It's Sophie. I hang my head down low. I don't want her to see me like this.

"Hey, Alex?"

Oh god. Please no. Please no. Please, just no.

"You okay, Alex?"

This isn't real. I look away from her. This isn't me. I feel like I'm floating. Like I'm viewing myself from the third person. Disassociated from the present.

"I though you'd be hungry, so I got you dinner." She says. My stomach grumbles as I look to the side. A few hours ago, I'd been so stressed that all thoughts of food had dissipated from my mind, but truth be told, the mouthwatering scent of what appears to be pasta does catch my nose. I stay my hand however. "Alex, it's okay. I'm not judging you."

"Really?" I look to her wearily. "I'm sure you're not trying to." But it's inevitable, isn't it?

The door creaks open, and Sophie steps in. She hands me the meal, and despite my best efforts to be dignified in front of her, I can't take it. I take the plate and start wolfing it down. She chuckles. 

"Someone was hungry." She looks around the cell, and back to me. "Your squadmate told me about the whole deal. Her name was Trisha." Seriously? Wow, thanks Trish. I guess I owe you one. "We should escalate this right now. I can't guarantee that you'll get off free but..." She trails off. "I can make sure that you won't face the worst of it. You were just protecting yourself after all. Even if you technically continued the fight when it could have stopped." 

I put down my now empty bowl.

"I..." I stop. 'It's fine,' I want to say, but truth is, I do want some kind of help. Is that parasitic? Is that cowardly? Or would refusing be missing a golden opportunity? "I'll...go."

Sophie lends me a hand, and I get to my feet.

Oh boy.

***

I still have my brig ID wristband on my wrist, so it should be abundantly clear that I'm meant to stay in the prison, but Sophie manages to use her princess credentials to her advantage to get me out of here. She heads straight for the palace, where apparently, our base commander got summoned to for some reason.

"Hey, why are the halls so empty?"

"There's been a coup in Novemia. A few hours ago. Everyone's at the palace. The Prime Minister has personally ordered a Parliamentary meeting, and invited all and any senior officers still on the island." Sophie doesn't even look behind as she walks forwards. "Haven't you heard?"

"I was busy doing a tour of the army for morale building a few hours ago." I pause. "Wait, should we really interrupt something like that?"

"It's mostly just rubber stamping. That's what the Prime Minister told me. It should be over by now." 

If it should be over by now, shouldn't people be leaving? 

As we walk, we pass by a television screen. On it is news of the Novemian coup. BREAKING NEWS, it says. I stop. Sophie, seeing me, stops too.

On it is a young man. I assume slightly older than me, but there's a fearsome look in his eyes.

I...feel like I know this voice.

I can barely make out what he's saying because it's all Novemian, but when I look to the side, her eyes are wide in shock. 

"You know him?" I ask Sophie.

"I...guess. Karl Vendreki."

Vendreki? Like the Novemian Royal family? I look back at the TV and look at the subtitles.

Your Majesty, what is your next course of action for the war? The interviewer asks.

This war was started by the cruel and brutal regime of my father, of the Novemian Revival Party. We must put an end to it.

As a frontline soldier of the Novemian Life Guards aerial squadron, you must be familiar with the war and it's effects on the people, correct?

Of course. I think it's about time we stop our nonsensical invasion. The old brass was incompetent and the true enemy of the Novemian people. If we are to achieve peace, we must do it rapidly.

"Uh...I see. Have you ever met him before?"

"I...no." She pauses. "I was betrothed to him when I was ten."

That was when I was still an actor. I recall, the current Royal Family was only elevated after the previous one died in a car accident, shortly before the film awards that year. Sophie and I are the same age, so by that logic...wait. Was that why she was crying on that fateful day?

This irrational war has to end. Karl says. Before the war, I had friends in Mozaka and Elodia. Make love, not war, they say. I believe that if I can simply reach out t-

I grab the remote, which is sitting on a cabinet, and shut off the TV. Karl Vendreki. Prince of Novemia. Leader of the Life Guards. Betrothed to Sophie. 

Something clicks. That voice.

Wasn't that the jerk I was facing down over Glaston and the munitions port? I totally humiliated him. Well, he seems to be pro-ending the war, which...conflicts me. Obviously, that's a good thing, but that means returning to reality, in some weird way. If I'm even capable of returning. What happens to me now?

"Let's...move Sophie. The faster I get my situation cleared up, the better."

"Huh? Sure."

***

We continue to walk down the hallway as we remain silent. A coup in Novemia. I feel a sense of unease, despite Prince Vendreki's so-called 'words of peace.'

There's a few rifles and body armor lying in the hallway. That's...there, I guess. What for?

"Awfully quiet, don't you think?" I say as we approach the door to the meeting room. It's quiet. Too quiet. As a matter of fact, I can't even hear anything as I put my ear to the door. "Hey Sophie, are you sure there's a meeting in there?"

"This...this should be the right room. Did I get it wrong...? Hey-"

I inch open the door, but not all the way to peek inside.

"What the-" 

My blood runs cold as I look at the room. I shove the door wide open. There's blood on the walls. Corpses of what were our national leaders strewn across the floor. Sophie opens her mouth to scream, but I grab her wrist and shake my head.

The Prime Minister is dead. The parliamentary ministers are dead. Many of our generals and admirals are dead.

We're leaderless, basically.

Well, it's a good thing I didn't vote for him. Still, this is madness. I look back at the Prime Minister, and then at the others. I feel like throwing up. I can see the shock in their glazed over eyes, those eyes that will never see again. The horror of the event is engraved onto the faces that will never change expression.

"Alex, what...what's going on...?" Sophie staggers backwards. I step in. I'm scared. But I have to. Someone might still be alive in here, as slim as the chances are.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" There's groaning from underneath the table. I kneel down. "Base commander?" Sophie runs over.

"Sir, are you okay?" Sophie also kneels down. He moves his mouth.

"What?"

"Get...away..."

Suddenly, the door bursts open. We get up.

"Jake?" It's my backseater, my radar intercept officer when I fly a dual seater. "Jake, what's going on...?"

"I...I don't know." Jake says. "I've been ordered to take the princess and deliver her to somewhere safe."

"What...what do you mean?" I give him a weak smile. "You're just taking her to a safehouse, right? Away from this madness."

"Yeah." Jake says, but I can see the guilt in his eyes. The uncertainty in his voice. I look over to Sophie. She's noticed it too. She grabs my arm and slowly, begins to move behind me.

"I...I can handle myself, sir...Jake?"

We stare at one another when the radio on his belt crackles. 

<<Jake, we need support. The Deputy Prime Minister is getting away. Get the Princess faster. Use force if you need to.>>

Oh shit. Seems like Jake's thinking the same thing.

"Wait, I can explain-" Sophie completely hides behind me now. She grips my hand. It actually hurts a little.

<<The general's expecting Sophie captured, but we can't just let Williams get away. Once you find her highness, I want you to move into support-

Jake's face is pale as he takes the radio and stomps it on the ground.

"This...that's not what you think it is-"

We're silent. There's a horrified look on Jake's face.

"Jake. Are you a part of this?" There's no answer for a time being, but his answer is clear when he pulls out a pistol. I grab Sophie's wrist again and manage to pull her behind cover.

"I'm sorry!" Jake says as he fires. "I'm sorry Alex! This is for Elodia! Surrender now!" He's stopped firing.

We're at an impasse. I can hear boots running up the stairs.

"Lieutenant commander! Are you okay?"

"Alex!" Sophie says, frightened. I look around. There's an unbroken champagne bottle lying on the ground. And a lighter. I take both.

Lighter on. Bottle out. Lighter out. There's a flaming explosion. Jake screams. I don't know if he's hurt or just shocked. I hope it's the latter.

I'm sorry Jake. 

I take Sophie's hand and rush out of the room, back into the hallway we came from. I quickly grab a flak jacket and one of the rifles lying on the ground. Well, that explains that.

"Lieutenant, sir!" A round pierces the wall I was standing behind. They're shooting through the walls. Shit, I didn't think of that.

"Sophie, let's go!"

"Don't shoot you idiots!" Jake's voice shouts. "You'll hurt the princess!" I'm glad he's fine. Jake's orders fade into the hallway as we bolt away. As we run, I see a pair of pilots running up from the stairs. One's in a uniform, the other in flight gear.

 I point my rifle at them.

"Hey, hey! Alex! It's us!" Paladin One and Paladin Three. Gavin and Kay.

"Are you with them?" I bark. "Are you?"

"What? No! Are...are you?"

Footsteps behind us. Soldiers. 

"There she is! Get them!"

We rapidly duck behind the stairs as rifle fire cracks throughout the air.

"Here, take this." Kay says, shoving his helmet into my arms as the soldiers now charge at us with bayonets. "We'll stop them."

"Thanks Kay! And Gavin. I'm sorry I never-"

"Shut up and go!" Gavin shouts at me. "Go, go!" I can see Gavin and Kay wrestling with the soldiers. A soldier strikes Kay upon the head with the butt of his rifle, sending him tumbling down. I don't look back. I grab Sophie's hand, and make a break for the door as the soldiers of the coup yell at us from behind.