Chapter 8: Unstable Airspace
1251 Words
Chapter 8: Unstable Airspace
(POV: Kai)
The base always felt quieter at night than it should.
Not truly silent—the low, constant hum of engines still lingered in the distance, footsteps occasionally echoing through the corridor in rhythms far too familiar—but quiet enough to make thoughts sharpen.
Too clear. Too precise. Too difficult to ignore.
Kai stood by the window of the officers’ lounge, a cup of coffee in his hand, long gone cold. He wasn’t really drinking it—just holding onto something, perhaps, something that gave him a reason to stand there without looking like he was waiting.
His gaze rested outside, on the runway slowly emptying after a long day.
The runway lights stretched across the darkness like thin lines of control—straight, ordered—trying to impose structure on something that was never meant to be contained. Calm. Too calm. And Kai had never trusted skies that were too calm. Experience had taught him that stillness was often nothing more than the pause before something broke.
---
Footsteps approached behind him.
Light. Measured.
He didn’t turn.
He already knew.
---
“If you stare at the runway any longer, the aircraft still won’t move on its own.”
The voice was Scarlett’s—flat as ever, stripped of anything that could be mistaken for concern or mockery.
Kai exhaled slowly before answering, his eyes still fixed ahead.
“I’m just making sure everything stays where it should.”
Scarlett stepped beside him, leaning slightly against the table near the window.
“Everything is where it should be,” she said. Then, after a brief pause, she added, “That’s not the problem.”
Kai glanced at her briefly.
Scarlett wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze remained outside, and for a moment, Kai wondered what exactly she was seeing.
“Since when do you pay attention to things outside the mission?” Scarlett asked.
Kai almost smiled.
“I always pay attention.”
Scarlett shook her head slightly.
“Not like this.”
Silence.
Kai didn’t respond.
He turned his attention back to the runway, letting her words hang in the air unanswered.
The door opened, the sound cutting too clearly through the stillness.
Kai turned immediately—reflex before thought.
Amelia.
She stepped into the room, pulling off her gloves, a small file still in her hand. She looked tired, but controlled as always. Her eyes moved quickly across the room—habit, instinct—reading the space before fully stepping into it.
Kai held a small breath.
Unnecessary.
Another set of footsteps followed behind her.
Kai didn’t need long to recognize who it was.
Rhys.
Kai remained still.
Nothing should have changed.
But near the door, Rhys stopped directly in front of Amelia, and the distance between them—not inappropriate, but not entirely formal—made something in Kai’s chest tighten in a way he couldn’t quite name.
From where he stood, Kai couldn’t hear what they were saying. Their voices dissolved into the hum of machinery and the quiet of the room.
Still, he watched.
The way Rhys stood facing her—too focused.
The way Amelia held her ground—not stepping back, but not relaxed either.
Small details.
Irrelevant.
Things he shouldn’t have been paying attention to.
Kai turned his gaze back outside.
“Don’t make it obvious,” Scarlett said quietly beside him, clearly meant for him.
Kai shifted slightly.
“Obvious what?” he asked.
“You stopped looking at the runway,” Scarlett replied, glancing at him briefly, her tone unchanged.
Kai let out a quiet breath.
“I’m just observing the situation.”
“You’re not on a mission right now.”
Silence again.
By the door, Amelia hesitated for a fraction of a second—so brief it was almost invisible—before giving a small nod to Rhys.
Rhys moved first, stepping out of the room.
Amelia followed.
This time, Kai didn’t watch them go.
He kept his eyes forward.
And found that it was easier that way.
The door closed.
“Since when?” Scarlett’s voice came again.
Kai lifted a brow slightly.
“Since when what?”
“Since when do you pay attention to things that aren’t part of your assignment?”
Kai exhaled shortly.
“I don’t.”
Scarlett didn’t argue.
And that silence—uninterested in proving anything—felt heavier than any response.
His thoughts drifted.
Back.
---
Cranwell.
A small briefing room that always felt too confined for four people.
Amelia stood at the front, pointer in hand, her voice steady as she walked through the data. Kai sat back in his chair, leaning casually, pretending not to care. Rhys stood near the display—too close to Amelia, by a measure Kai had never consciously defined.
"You held that position too long,” Kai said to Amelia, cutting in without a clear reason.
Amelia glanced at him.
“I was still within limits.”
“For now.”
Silence.
Rhys stepped closer to Amelia, his voice lowering slightly as he spoke.
“It’s not about the limit. The problem is, you trust you’ll always correct it before it’s too late.”
Amelia said nothing.
She didn’t step back.
Didn’t argue.
And Kai noticed the distance between them.
Slightly too close for just an instructor and a cadet.
Without knowing why.
From the corner of the room, Scarlett spoke quietly.
“Interesting.”
Kai turned to her.
“What is?”
“The three of you.”
Kai frowned slightly.
“Why?”
Scarlett didn’t answer.
Rhys stepped back half a pace.
Everything settled back into place.
And Kai didn’t think about it again.
It didn’t matter.
It had nothing to do with him.
Until now.
---
Kai returned to the present—to the officers’ lounge, to the cold coffee in his hand, to Scarlett still standing beside him with a patience that never rushed.
“This isn’t a problem,” Kai said at last.
Scarlett raised a brow slightly.
“If it isn’t, you wouldn’t still be standing here like that.”
Kai shook his head faintly.
“She can talk to whoever she wants.”
“True.”
“And it has nothing to do with me.”
“Also true.”
Silence.
Kai exhaled slowly, and for the first time, he heard how heavy that breath was.
“And yet…”
The words trailed off.
Unfinished.
Unnecessary to finish.
Scarlett didn’t push.
She simply looked back outside, her expression unreadable.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “It always is.”
Kai glanced at her.
And in that moment, he realized—
Scarlett saw it too.
Not just tonight. Not just now.
She had always been watching.
Always known.
Only better at keeping it to herself.
Kai turned back to the runway.
The lights are still steady.
Calm.
He took a sip of his cold coffee.
Bitter.
He didn’t comment.
Because there was nothing to comment on.
Nothing had changed.
And he had no intention of thinking about it.
But for the first time—
The thought didn’t fully leave.
Kai remained where he was.
Facing the runway.
As if that was enough to distract him from something he couldn’t control.
It wasn’t.
Somewhere down the dim corridors of the base, Rhys Cavanaugh was walking beside Amelia Thorne.
Kai didn’t see it.
He didn’t need to.
Because he knew.
And this time—
He didn’t quite succeed in ignoring it.
---
- Writer
