"Radio, KD-9158, ready for departure." Hae mumbled through the radio, informing the air trac controller of his departure.And with much practice, Hae's take o was as smooth as breathing. It was as if the plane was an extension of his own body and the skies are its home.Warm sunlight welcomed him, like Apollo, the sun god, had been waiting long enough to touch Hae's soft skin, as he dived through clouds after clouds. Without the voice in the radio keeping up with his location, he would have been lost by now, yet he couldn't care less, enjoying as it felt like the world was revolving around him and him only."KD-9158, aircraft YJ-1863 approaching from the right side."A familiar set of numbers were heard through his headphones, excitement rushing in his veins as he quickly responded to the radio."Radio, KD-9158, asking for permission to go near aircraft YJ-1863 and be connected through radio."Without much thought, the controller granted Hae the permission he asked for, knowing these pilots long enough that they are condent with the skills of both of them, after all, the two are the best pilots they’ve got."Good day, Captain Taylor. This is Captain Alora."The static in the voice isn't enough to get rid o nor lessen the comfort it gives her. Never once did the presence of Hae made her feel burdened. In fact, it made her feel like home, as if she is being cradled with much care. The wind sifted through her hair as if it was Hae's ngers, giving her all the head pats and scratches she deserves."This is Captain Taylor. Can I help you with anything, Captain Alora?" He looked over his right window, hoping to see the person that makes him feel like all the birds and butteries that soar through the sky, caged within his stomach, making him all giddy and excited for a grown man."Yes." A radiant, serene, soothing smile plastered in his face, like how the smile has always been from the very start. The smile that’s full of— hope, promise and confidence, as if he knows everything that is ahead of them, as if he knows what tomorrow and the rest of the future will bring."What is it, Captain Alora?""Hmm, can I call you baby?""Sweetheart, you don't need to ask.""Then, how's your ight baby?""Boring. Not until I heard your voice through the radio.""I love you. Have a safe ight, my Aya." Static noises not only coming from the radio can be heard, yet the man was not fazed as he controls the plane with much condence despite the fact that the air trac controller has been screaming at him in his radio for the past minute."Mhm. I love you more, safe skies." The moment he heard it, his hands immediately went to the button to cut o all the radio connection, letting his headphones rest on his shoulders. Changing the direction of his plane's nose, towards the skies above the vast ocean, and as he did, the plane has already been tilting downwards.“You knew this would happen, didn't you?” Hae chuckled as he listened to the voice beside him, so bitterly that no one would recognize it was his’ as everyone knew him as the radiant, serene, and soothing person because that’s how it has always been, from the very beginning.And then nally, after years and years of avoiding and pretending as if the black gure beside him was invisible to his eyes all the time, nally, he looked up to the voice that has always accompanied him throughout his life, his ups and downs, with a smile so bitter and sad. A static voice came out of the black gure, “Your time is up.”“I can’t save you this time.” The once full black gure of a man was now just a blob. A sad little black guy that looks just like the slime Hae was playing with when he was a little kid. As if the sacrices they made for Hae took a little of their life away, and because it did, way too many times. “I had always admired how you loved the sky, how you always kept your head high just to gaze at the ocean of clouds, too bad the sky loved you so much it took you.” The black gure mumbled, And maybe because I care a little too much for a character I myself once wrote, that it drained me as I tried to save its life even though I know, from the very start, that his death has been set and even I can't change it."Go back," Ari. Hae thought. But this remains unspoken— yet again, no one has to know, not in this lifetime."I will." The black gure bitterly said, he could imagine the expression it must have had on, if only they had a face. The plane slowly fell down the dark pit of an ocean. "Flying was set out for you. All along, it was what you're meant to do."As the plane accelerated towards the vast ocean of the unknown, his thoughts were surprisingly clear. Funny how it showed as if it was giving him peace for the last time. As he lost sight of the things he once called home; the bright blue skies, the freely owing clouds, it comforted him. He blinked, slowly taking in all at once; the sudden rush of air from the gravity's pressure pulling him down, the force of hitting the ocean.The salt water fe