Journey To A New Home

Once again, I found myself in a dark and blank space. However, I knew this time that this was in dreamscape, and I knew that I should expect company any second now.

"Chopper." That voice. That wasn't Luna. "Hey Chopper, you there?" No... it couldn't be... could it? I gulped, then turned to face the source of the voice. There before me stood Blaze, Nagase and Grimm, dressed as they were when I saw them at my funeral. "Man, you look like you've seen a ghost." That wasn't too far from the truth, I thought as Blaze unwrapped Nagase's arm from his waist and approached me. When he embraced me, it felt real. In the back of my head I knew it wasn't, that it was just a figment of imagination brought to life. That didn't help keep the emotions at bay at all.

"Damn it man, you aren't supposed to me making me cry you know!" I said through my tears. "That's my job." We separated from each other and I looked at Nagase. She had a small smile on her face as her eyes glistened from tears of her own. She eagerly wrapped her arms around me and started to sob into my chest. I held her and rubbed her back, comforting her and letting her empty herself of the emotion. I looked over to Blaze who was giving us a small smile.

"She misses you already, you know." He looked down for a second or two. "It's already too quiet up there..." Nagase let go and stepped over to Blaze to hug into him once more. Grimm took this chance to barrel into me and knock me to the ground. He too embraced me in a chest-crushing hug, before he started crying into my chest.

"Gah, Grimm. Chill out man, it's okay!" I managed to get him off of me and back on his feet. He then helped me up. While he had stopped crying, he was still clearly upset.

"It's not okay! I left you exposed and open to attack. If I managed to shoot that Typhoon down sooner you wouldn't have been hit!"

"And then you would have left a gap in our coverage, which would have given the enemy a route to attack those civilians. You know that. And you know that my death means that hundreds of innocent people live; that's the cost of war." I rested a hand on his shoulder. "Ever since the surprise attack on Sand Island at the start of the war, you've been there on my wing and looking out for me. You've watched my back and I've watched yours. Over that stadium, we were stretched thin and outnumbered six-to-one. I didn't expect you to be there for me all of the time. We had to split up and cover our own sectors. You need to understand that this, me getting shot down, was not your fault."

Grimm sniffed a little, but gave me a nod in understanding. I turned my attention back to my flight leader and his wing-woman and rolled my eyes at them. Blaze gave me a puzzled look in reply. I sighed audibly and dramatically.

"Should've known that it was going to happen sooner or later. Funny how death brings out emotion in people." Now both of them looked confused. "Kid, Nagase, how long have you had it for each other, and be honest with me. Saint Hewlett? Eglin? Wait, don't tell me, it was Glubina, right?" I swear, if their faces got any hotter and redder, they would be able to distract an AIM-9X Sidewinder without any issues.

"Well, it was actually before we arrived to Sand Island, actually. Jayson and I were in the same group of nuggets, and we became close friends shortly after we arrived." Nagase looked up at Blaze and gave him a small smile. "It wasn't until we found out we were both being posted to Wardog at Sand Island when I realised there was something more. Back then I was unsure if he felt the same way though.."

"Yeah, took me a while to realise it myself actually. I guess it was after she were shot down at that POW camp when I realised how much I missed her and cared for her." I started to think back on our CSAR mission with Sea Goblin, and how there was a difference in the way Blaze was flying. I can now even remember seeing him pull a aileron roll after we pinpointed Nagase's position. "That night we brought her back, well, that's when I made my feelings known."

"I see..." I said, thinking back to the night after the mission. The two of them had left the mess early and headed off to someplace else. "So... that explains the noise I was hearing from your room late that night..." I said to myself, but loud enough for them to hear. "I just thought that Pops was checking the suspension on one of the tugs outside..." Sure enough, the red on their faces returned in full strength. "Nah, I'm just kidding with you, there's no way you... possibly..." I trailed off as I caught the tense vibe between the three of us. "... Wait, you mean to tell me..." I couldn't help but grin at that. "Good on you two, good to know that the squadron's spreading the love!"

"Still the same old Chopper, huh." Grimm said to me as we watched the pair blush madly.

"Man, you know me. Keeping it real like always. At least you guys have each other, look after them for me Grimm."

"Will do Chopper." I patted Grimm on the back as Blaze and Nagase stepped towards me.

"I hate to say this, but this is the time where we part ways. For now at least..." Blaze started.

"Hey, don't you dare forget about me. If you ever do, I've got a disk in my room with my name on it. It has a full eighty minutes worth of my rants and remarks. Play it if you ever feel like you need to hear me." Nagase got a little chuckle out of that.

"Shame we can't play it over the aircraft radio for Thunderhead. He'd really enjoy that." She said with a laugh.

"Please don't remind me of him." I said as I lifted my palm to my face. "Oh, before you go; you gotta tell me something. It's been bugging me since before the war started."

"Oh, and that is?" He said with genuine interest.

"Are you by any chance related to either Mobius One or the Demon Lord?" Blaze just stood there for a few seconds before he started to laugh. And I mean really laugh.

"Who gave you that idea?" He said as he regained his breath.

"Aero and I were discussing it after hearing that you kicked Magellan's ass in a sortie. He said that you had to be related to them because of your skill."

"I can understand why. But no, I am in no way related to either of them. If it helps, I have an older second cousin on my Dad's side who's in the Republic of Emmeria's Air Force. Can't for the life of me remember his call sign though, something to do with luck or charms." I deflated at the news, but hey, at least I can say that Aero was full of shit. I gave my three friends all one final hug as we said our goodbyes.

"Hey Kid!" I said before they started to walk off.

"Yeah Chop?"

"... Bring them home."

I woke with a slight start to find that it was still reasonably dark outside. A quick check of the clock confirmed that it was past midnight, but I had no real feeling to go back to sleep anytime soon. As I reminisced about the dream I just had, I remembered that there was somebody I could still talk to this time of night. With a slight boost of energy, I dressed into a simple set of clothes; a tank top and my repaired flight suit unzipped to the waist with my sleeves tied around; and made my way towards the throne room. The one person I could talk to about my dream and also about my future here was there.

Princess Luna.

It didn't take me long before I found myself at the doorway of the throne room. There were already a few distinct differences about the place though: the two guards watching the doorway wore midnight purple armour and both had black fur as well as bat-shaped wings; the doorway itself was alternating tones of blue and black; and the carved-wooden sun doorhandles were now metallic-white crescent moons. I shrugged and made my way to open the door before I was interrupted by one of the guards.

"Sorry, her highness is having a rest break at this moment. Nopony may disturb her." One of them said gruffly.

"Look, I would like to talk to the Princess regarding some dreams I'm having. It's kind of important."

"Nopony may disturb her." He said again.

"Look, just poke your head in and tell her that 'Chopper' would like to speak with her. It's that simple." The guard rolled his eyes but gestured to his companion across the doorway. The second guard did as I recommended and waited. When he looked back at me, he nodded. "See? How hard was that? Now, thank you for your gracious hospitality gentlemen, but I have a meeting with the moon." I smirked as I made my way inside. Once inside, I took stock of the many changes that had taken place. Much like the guards and doorway, the entire room seemed to have changed from a solar motif to a lunar one. Rather apt given who was on the throne right now.

"Good evening, Chopper. I am rather surprised you are not asleep, given the current hour." Princess Luna said as she stepped down from the throne.

"Believe me, I'd still be asleep if it weren't for a dream I just had." I noticed Luna's face light up at the very mention of a dream. "Figured I might come down and talk to the master about it."

"And that is a wise choice on your part, I must say." She turned and started to lead us towards the room where we had visited my world. After fetching a drink of each of us, we sat down and made ourselves comfortable. "So, tell me about this dream of yours."

"Well, I'm not entirely sure it was a dream in the traditional sense. All that really happened was that I got to speak to my team, about the crash and a few other things. It was weird, they seemed to know that I was dead, yet they still treated me the same as if I was still alive." I leaned back in the chair, looking at the ceiling.

"Did you notice anything in particular about your friends?" Luna asked me, her tone strangely mirroring that of a psychiatrist.

"Well, Nagase was a quieter than normal. Grimm was beating himself up over my death, because he thought that by watching his sector left me vulnerable. Which I will admit is a fact but given the circumstances was necessary. Blaze just seemed very accepting of the whole ideal, he was upset but he wasn't letting it show."

"Chopper... how did you feel after seeing that your friends did indeed survive after your death?" I looked back at her, and she was giving me an analytical look. If she had a notepad, glasses and either a sweater or cardigan, she would have easily passed for a shrink. Still, her question did get me to think.

"Well, I felt like the weight on my shoulders had lifted. I felt guilty knowing that my death could have very well led to their own. Now, I feel relieved."

"So, you would say that you received closure in the fact that you now know that they lived?"

"Yes, I'd say that would be about it. But what does that have to do about my dream?"

"Do you feel that your friends would want some closure about your death as well?" It all started to fall into place. "Maybe after you found that they had lived, you subconsciously started to feel guilty with knowing that they would have to live without your being there, and without the same feeling of relief you had after finding out they lived."

Now that I thought about it, it really started to make sense. Even though I no longer felt guilty about potentially but indirectly being the cause of their deaths, I now felt guilty about the fact that I had left them behind. They would have to fight the war without me, and after the loss of Captain Bartlett and shoot down Nagase, it would hurt them even more. Loosing one and almost loosing another had pushed us as a group close to the breaking point, and now I felt guilty of being that 'straw that broke the camel's back'.

"Perhaps your dream was fuelled by a desire to comfort your friends and tie up the loose ends you had left behind. Though, there is only one way I can be fully certain of myself. Would you be okay if I looked into your dreamscape and watch over that dream myself?"

I woke up with my head on the table, with heavy eyes and a sore face. I had given permission for Luna to look into my dreams, but she needed me asleep to do so. All I really remember was hitting the table before waking up.

"Sorry about the sleeper spell, but it requires the recipient to be unaware of it happening, otherwise the spell would not take hold." Luna gave me a sheepish smile, which I returned. "However, that is not the concern right now."

"Huh-wha?" I was still a bit tired and drowsy, more from the impact on the table than the remnants of the sleeper spell.

"You didn't have a dream, but a vision."