friends: the blank principal          



Chapter 8

Dio will definitely come after me.

Claus' aircraft left the venue and began to head through the Calgray forest, toward the empty town of Norkia.


* * * * *


"...I found you." Dio narrowed his eyes as the silver vanship moved forward through the narrow valley. "I won't let you get away." Having moved to his own vanship and immediately taking off after Claus, he pulled the throttle. The hum of the liquid claudia could be heard as he accelerated, as the white aircraft pushed forward in chase.


* * * * *


"He's coming," with visual confirmation of the pursuing aircraft, Claus raised his speed, inviting Dio to keep dogging him. The two vanships swept through the valley of the city, Dio's unit firing off machine gun bullets that hit and shattered some roof tile on a house. Claus dodged by rolling his aircraft to the side, and descended until the very last moment to break out of the alleyway at breakneck speed. The aircraft grazed the stone pavement below, sparks flying.

There's a t-junciton ahead. The dangerous area that a lot of pilots get frustrated by in a vanship race.

"4 ... 3 ... 2 ...1 ..." Claus' machine began veering to the left without compromising the vanship's speed, as Dio gave chase effortlessly. "He's still remarkable, after all." Claus smiled.

"There!" Alvis cried, spotting the two of them. Claus' machine looped into the reservoirs below, Dio's still chasing behind him. At that sight Lavie understood immediately that they were about to enter the underground waterway.


* * * * *


The sound of machine gun fire echoed in the underground water canal. It shot at the water, splashing up and blocking visibility. As Dio's shooting accuracy increased, Claus' machine continued to bear the scars of it.


* * * * *


"I am with you, everyone." Sophia spoke gently as the venue began to regain its composure. "The Grand Lake will nurture all of our lives with its abundant waters."

Even though he was layed out on a stretcher, Vincent continued to keep watch around him.


* * * * *


The two vanships exited the waterway and began to ascend, unfurling their wings as the dogfight continued. Dio kept shooting without mercy, Claus timing to dodge each shot at the very last second. The violent clash was reminiscent of the Horizon Cave endurance race. A bullet grazed Claus' machine, the duralumin alloy tearing apart.

I'm almost out of fuel.

Though he figured he did pretty well for having made an enemy out of someone like Dio. Would Lavie praise him for doing this best? The image of Dio's machine approaching began to fill the rear-view mirror. Claus pulled the throttle, lowering the flaps on the wings of his ship. He suddenly drew upward, tracing a beautiful turn in the air as the silver aircraft shone beautifully under the morning sun.

"An Immelmann Turn ... but, you can't get away. You won't escape because I know that move." Dio made the same move without effort, angling his ship's nose to directly face Claus' machine.

"Lucciola, we've won." Dio pulled the trigger slowly.


* * * * *


"Immelmann Turn!"

"I've never seen such a beautiful turn!"

"Immelmann is Immelmann."

The very moment that Dio pulled the trigger, the image of a boy and girl flying a silver vanship flashed into his mind. Dio Eraclea's cloudy, glassed over eyes suddenly regained their clarity.


* * * * *


"Immelmann?!" Dio shouted. The silver aircraft was moving into a dive as the spray of gunfire approached it. "Don't hit it!" Pulling his hands away from the stick, Dio stretched himself forward. "No!" He reached his hand out, fingertips stretching out as if to try and catch the bullets. It looked as though light spilled from his fingertips as it reached toward the silver, shining vanship whose body began to split and scream. Steel bullets shot through the metal where the pilot sat, hitting Claus' shoulders, his arms, and straight through his legs. Claudia liquid spewed from the machine. His goggles went flying, and the pilot's expression could be seen.

"Immelmann!" Dio had recovered.


* * * * *


It might have been a plain coincidence that the vanship carrying Claus went crashing down on the slopes where he and Lavie desperately tried to survive as children after the death of their parents, learning to fly their vanship. So many times they almost went falling off the side of the cliff there, but eventually in the end their silver aircraft took to the skies. The vanship carrying the injured Claus finally stopped at the very edge of that cliff. The smoldering white vanship dropped and hit its goal right after it, as Dio jumped from his aircraft despite it not completely coming to a stop yet. He raced across the grass, stumbling once over a stone.

"Immelmann!" He climbed up into the battered aircraft to pull Claus out of the cockpit. His flying suit was mangled, both legs that had been shot drenched in fresh blood. Dio desperately pulled him out.

"Claus!" Lavie cried out. Beneath the cliff, Dio could be seen pulling Claus away from the smoldering vanship. Lavie and Alvis began to run toward them as Dio layed Claus' body down, and moved to cover and protect him as the vanship exploded into flames.


* * * * *


"Throw away your fears, overcome that anxiety of moving to new world. We shall keep building our future together in that new land." When she was finished speaking, Princess Sophia closed her eyes.

"Princess Sophia!" one boy cried out.

"Sophia!"

"Sophia!"

"Princess Sophia!" The crowd burst out the chants just as Sophia finished her last word.


* * * * *


"It's your birthday ... be happy..." Claus weakly worded the song, despite being so close to death. "You're ... born ... you ... live ... and back to ... dust ... you go..."

Dio held Claus close. "Congratulations ... congratulations ... happy birthday..." Fresh blood poured from his flight suit. "Dea ... r ... Di..."

"Claus!" Crumpled over, his face wet with tears, Dio called Claus by his name for the first time. On this day, Dio Eraclea turned 18 years old.


* * * * *


"You can do it!"

"Just a little bit more, Miss Dunya." Half a year passed since then, and in the small house in a wheat field, a new life was about to be born.

"Is it here yet? Is it?"

"Kweh, kweh!" Mullin and Sleepyhead were waiting outside, uneasy. After a few more moments of silence, they heard the sounds of a baby's first cry from inside the cabin.

"Uwah~!"

"Kweh!" Running down the steps of the cabin and jumping over the fence, Mullin dashed toward the wheat fields. "He was born! He was born!" Sleepyhead happily chased after him. "I'm a father!" Mullin cried out, before tripping and falling face-first into the mud.


<— Chapter 7 | Chapter 9 —>