The stars above.
They were the finishing touches to the city's brilliance.
A place built for the exchange of generational wealth, arrogant laughter, and the 'clink' of handcrafted champagne glasses.
The city of Ascendia; it was the country's ostentatious display to the world. An old and expensive timepiece upon the powerful wrist of Retroidica.
Though the sights of cranes and steel frames among its landscape revealed a state of everlasting incompletion.
"They didn't waste time." Yuna thought, guiding herself through the turbulent winds.
To land discretely was her goal, not too far from Nico's rendezvous location.
Gales of wind battered at the hull relentlessly. A bead of cool sweat streamed from her blue, metal headband. It dropped on to white tracksuit bottoms worn over a blue, skin tight under suit.
It was like a second skin the way it clung to her. Breathable, but left no crease or fold unattended. A letter 'p' was embossed above her chest; a symbol of peace that now alluded her.
Still unfamiliar, it tempted her to readjust, but she dared not take her hands from the console.
She attempted a deep breath, but a Staris Daily cover denied her.
Fluttering across the windscreen abruptly, she did all she could not to jolt the vehicle.
Alarming the on looking passengers behind was another worry amongst a growing extensive list.
'Retroidica's unprecedented economic boom shocks many'.
Her thoughts were validated as soon as they were conceived. The country below was taunting her.
Overly enthusiastic relations with a resource rich neighbour and covert slavery; that was the simplified formula.
It was more than enough to allow new high rises to be built each month, though not to mention unregulated weapons programmes and unethical research.
The name of the brutalist landscape before her derived from the countries discarded ancient language to ascend.
The vines of its influence encroached across the planet and its many arms reached defiantly into the sky. But at what cost?
Wanderers would look up in awe of its unique architecture, where heritage was slowly eroded by the contemporary. The 'city of gold' was its second name as it bathed in the light of the sun, however, Yuna was taught to see beyond.
The Captain had referred to the country's dealings before the UN council, a place where the walls would listen more closely to an honest plight.
"We have to do something..." She demanded to herself.
But they had not entered Retroidica illegally to tear down their government in some rebellious act of heroism, rather, the Red Paladin, Captain of the Peacekeeper Paladins had gone missing.
…
"You are going to land this thing, right?"
"Yes, I'm working on it!"
She didn't intend to snap but she had never successfully landed without help.
"Looks like someone's still a little tense," Ryu started, "you must not look upon the auto-land in shame... the button, it calls to you..."
"That's enough. She's trying her best." Mercy was strapped tight to a seat next to him, briefly distracted from Nico's most recent report on her own console station.
She hadn't taken the sudden mission well, but her encouragement was more than welcome.
Yuna felt she could lean on her. She saw her as the mother of the team, though she'd definitely prefer 'older sister'.
Yuna spotted a deep storm-water aqueduct. Dry and empty, it would allow for a temporary hiding spot.
Ryu appeared at the cockpit's dashboard. The aircraft dipped in surprise as he materialised wearing baggy grey sweats over a dark green under suit.
"Relax, I'm only taking a look," He steadied himself then leaned forward, "I can't… see a thing?"
"I could disable the stealth and use the headlights? How about a large flag at the tail end announcing the Peacekeeper Paladins' arrival?"
He grumbled, though he found his efforts peering at the void ahead futile, despite a hand held beneath a green, metal headband.
"Just sit down. Before you know it we'll be on the ground, safe and sound. Isn't that right, Yuna?"
She wished she could catch even a glimpse of herself through Mercy's eyes, though the tightness of her seatbelt subtly betrayed her words of encouragement.
She still wasn't competent enough to have gained their full trust, it was painfully obvious.
Though overstimulated at the pilot's seat, she ascertained that their concerns were unfortunately valid.
In the sky she could see far too much; the constant war with her vertigo was one where the Paladins' intervention was unlikely.
She gripped the steering console tighter as she gazed into the vast sky above; she was reminded of the older anxiety she kept to herself.
Though having a nonsensical fear, born from a traumatic childhood event was not uncommon, Yuna managed to be especially irrational.
Despite the fog that clouded her earlier memories, the sensation of falling through the air, weightless, was as clear as day.
It further evolved into an anxiety that feared the sky, though not falling from it.
To have gravity suddenly lose its secure hold on you. To lose your grounding in an open field; a rejection from the place we call home. A disregarding of your person, as if it never mattered.
Some may find it ridiculous, others a liberating experience, but to fall indefinitely with no purpose, no destination...
The thought she had fully processed this fear a long time ago, was more self delusion as of recent.
It appeared with a sinking pit in her stomach randomly, along with a light headedness that kept her from forgetting what she had already long forgotten.
She loosened her grip on the console and took a deep breath. I'm ok…
She grounded her mind and reassured herself with her current realities.
Despite the turbulence, it had been relatively smooth sailing since lift off.
She was already well on her way towards the landing zone. She could do it.
As her confidence grew, a red light flashed before her.
It was among a complex assortment of switches, screens and dials on a pale dashboard.
That was all they became as her heart dropped and her mind began its descent into panic.
She knew it was too good to be true.
No!
There was no need to resign herself to failure already; she was going to finish what she started.
She raised a trembling hand towards the auto-land, the button she had the utmost faith in to work, though she did hate to give Ryu the satisfaction.
It didn't work.
As her reality denied her assuredness, her confidence began to deteriorate faster. She looked to the console above for the light. A pointless effort but a force of habit.
It refused to turn on.
"What is happening?"
Her mind was a mess as she screamed internally, continuing to fumble at the dashboard as the stealth deactivated.
"Is everything okay?" Mercy had caught on.
"Yeah, everything is..."
Yuna was known to only ever excel at one thing.
Whether during training simulations on the Nimbus or skirmishes in the field, the Paladin of Defence and Assault saw no equal.
But she now realised how truly niche her skillset was as gravity began to dissipate.
For a moment, the familiar sensation of weightlessness took hold; her rational mind let her know what followed was far worse.
"What happened! I thought you had it under control-!" Ryu was on his way to his seat when he and a couple of loose cases and bags slid to one side.
The engine and the rest of the vehicle's systems were cold.
Was it Retroidica?
An EMP blast to prevent their landing?
Her mind raced towards a multitude of possibilities as they plummeted in a cage of her own making.
She thought better. After spending hours on the flight simulator function, rehearsing all the necessary procedures before setting out, she made sure the stealth had been activated before lift off.
Retroidica should have no chance of knowing of their presence, at least not until now.
"I knew it! I knew I should've flown instead," Ryu managed to sound somewhat mellow dramatic within their predicament.
He sat unharmed, squatting on the back wall with his head in his hands.
"This can't be how I meet my fate!"
"Quiet! Let me focus." Mercy was still strapped to her seat like Yuna, her eyes closed.
Both of their behaviours were odd, but they were the Peacekeeper Paladins, she didn't expect anything less.
Though, any thought of some kind of test or prank vanished as she glimpsed at Mercy's resolved expression in a reflection.
Yuna had to act.
She looked towards the sideways exit as the skyline encroached in her peripheral. If she could just get to the door and manually open it they'd all be able to escape, using the glider function in their suits to land.
The problem would be the jet, it would be left to free fall and explode somewhere. Alerting the country to their presence would be the least of their worries if the Paladin Jet collided into an occupied building.
They'd go from peacekeepers to terrorists in an instant.
Years of goodwill built with the general public and governments internationally, her fathers work, it would all come crashing down in a single incident.
It would be all her fault. The incompetent newbie.
She could already see the headlines and news reports detailing the horrific casualties and deaths. There would be riots in the streets calling for their heads, demanding their governments take the appropriate action.
Her head pounded as future scenarios tormented her being. The change in air pressure stabbed at her ears and her heart rate and breathing accelerated, reaching terminal velocity alongside the lifeless jet.
Was there nothing she could do?
A light flooded into the cockpit and the rest of the interior.
She feared it was a live news helicopter before coming to her senses.
"Alright I've encased us! But we still need to land this thing. Yuna be my eyes!"
Yuna quickly snapped out of her stupor and looked through the windows.
She found herself insulated by the consequences of her inadequacies once again as Mercy enveloped them in purple.
The spherical construct began to sprout a flat, triangular surface on either side, growing until an arrowhead-like shape formed around it.
The wings of a plane.
She was attempting to glide them down.
Disorientated, Yuna managed to spot the winding strip through the purple haze.
A building impeded their path.
"Left! Now!" Without hesitation they veered, narrowly avoiding steel girders and scaffolding.
They had picked up too much speed.
Even if they'd managed to reach the aqueduct, would the barrier withstand the collision? She had seen Mercy in action, her constructs were not invincible.
Unable to see a way forward, Mercy's smooth manoeuvring exuded a skilled confidence, disregarding her many anxieties.
She lifted a small flap on the wing, orienting them sideways as the prevalent winds kept them aloft.
She was remarkable.
"That's it, now straighten up, it's right ahead!"
The aqueduct stretched across in the fast approaching distance. It was a dry canal of pale grey concrete slabs and sloped walls.
Isolated from most buildings and roads, it ran throughout the city alongside a belt of greenery.
Though their velocity and angle frightened her. Surely Mercy had a plan, right?
No, it was down to her. And in the current moment, her eyes belonged to Mercy. They were the guiding path towards their survival for the precious few seconds that proceeded.
She briefly caught a reflection of themselves from a building nearby. Her previously stealthy aircraft was now a gigantic glowing rocket ship, lighting up the night sky as they descended further into the city.
She thought it best to worry about survival before already compromising the mission.
"Building! Bank right!" An ancient temple with a tall decorative spire loomed in their descending path.
Mercy avoided it in time but Yuna saw as fine bits of stone crumbled and fell from their brief contact.
She continued their change in trajectory through a viaduct before gliding parallel alongside the winding storm-water system.
Gradually they lowered until they were no more than ten metres above the ground, breaking the tops of the taller trees in their wake.
They were too wide.
To fit inside, their additional wingspan would have to be removed completely, eradicating all hopes of a smooth landing.
On Yuna's instruction, they were slowly drifted to the centre and the construct was reduced until only the barrier around them remained.
Yuna braced for impact.
Smashing to pieces across the aqueduct floor lacked the finality she had dreaded as they rocketed into the air again.
The sensation was abrupt as it was unexpected, lurching the two forward in their seats while Ryu held on to his own for dear life.
Admittedly, it was hard for Yuna to sympathise.
Their momentum had carried them a great distance before they yielded once more to the Earth.
They bounced off the floor again and again, each arc growing smaller as they leaped from sloped walls then back to the centre.
They were a bouncy ball, thrown into an exposed gutter in a children's game.
Finally, they collided into a bridge that stretched across their path. The construct broke apart after rebounding off of its surface.
The aircraft spun as it landed, skidding across the floor while it kicked up dust and sparks before grinding to an eventual halt.
Yuna sat in a bewildered silence. They were alive.
Fears of potential scenarios slowly melted away like a forgotten nightmare, fading to a place that could no longer reach her.
They weren't in the clear yet, someone may have seen them. Though despite the thought, she bathed in her relief regardless.
"We did it team! Nice one!" Ryu was already cheerfully opening the back door manually, beaming as it laboured its way open. Yuna couldn't quite believe it.
"We as in Yuna and I, right?" He conveniently didn't respond to Mercy's retort.
"You best be speaking Foire, because there's no way your taking credit for that!" Ryu had finally done it, Yuna was mad.
Mercy sighed.
"He's just being regular ol' Ryu, you'd get a headache taking him too seriously..."
"No! He was just screaming like a baby! Something he does a lot when Nico or the Captain aren't around!"
The words came out on their own, born from pure adrenaline. Or perhaps from her own self frustration.
A flash of annoyance appeared across his face as he turned to her.
Did she over step?
His expression quickly softened again, returning to his usual smug demeanour.
"Ah you see, I was showing you the consequences of your incompetence and how it may affect others," he appeared next to her but this time she tracked his movements, "I'm sure you'll land as gracefully as your looks may suggest next time..."
He was trying hard to recover the situation with his forced sophisticated rhetoric.
She hated that he was able to crack an embarrassed smile.
"Yeah right..."
"Ryu," Mercy warned disapprovingly, "stop horsing around, we're already on the clock."
"Wait, you're not mad at me too are you? If I could fly around the jet and carry us down you'd be calling me Captain!"
There was a tangible silence.
Mercy stared at the Green Paladin unenthused.
"...No? Too soon...?"
"Never mind that," she reached into a large, brown duffle that was now by her feet, "wear these over your under suits, we'll need them to blend in."
A loud boom went off somewhere above them and Yuna flinched. It was followed by a crackle then another ear splitting shockwave.
The sound was all too familiar, but the context appeared to be starkly different.
"You see? They've already started the festivities, hopefully our little stunt can be retroactively overlooked."
"Ha, 'retro-active' I see what you did there!"
Yuna walked down the ramp and looked out into the sky. Lights streamed into the air like missiles before exploding into an expansive, colourful display of purple and red glowing light.
"Oh, just fireworks."
"Yeah, the country goes pretty hard for their national holidays, especially spiritual ones," Ryu informed, "best firework technology in the world actually."
"Seems pretty standard to me..."
As the chorus of explosions briefly subsided, a singular stream of white light traced through the night.
It left star-like embers in its wake as it streamed upwards before abruptly changing its trajectory, cutting a slanted oval of light in the sky.
Yuna's breath caught in her throat when it finally exploded. It had created an impressive galactic disk that filled her vision with a vibrant, detailed display of spiralling colours.
It slowly turned as it lingered while more smaller fireworks added additional galaxies in the background.
"... I stand corrected."
"Here, this one's for you." Mercy had passed her a dark fabric with silver design detailing.
Heavier than expected, its material was textured and soft.
She turned to Ryu as he wrapped himself in similar drapes, though a greyish brown with rose gold detailing.
"Nothing like traditional Retroidican cloth, huh Mercy?"
"Nico was adamant that we bring our armour, we don't know when or where to expect some action," she didn't want to waste anymore time, "and house it somewhere other than your foreheads, please..."
She flung her own reddish brown cloak over her shoulders and pocketed a wad of Retroidican tens in an inner compartment.
"Our approval rating is mid to low in this country as far as the people are concerned, but it's even worse for their government. They've been waiting for an opportunity like this one to destroy our credibility."
Yuna took off her metal head band and placed it around her waist. She watched as the nano-technology flipped and transformed, creating a chunky, blue, white, and orange belt.
"You still haven't cut your hair?" Mercy had stopped in her tracks to face her.
Yuna ran her fingers gingerly through her curled, blue dyed hair. It tended to sprout beneath her helmet.
Mercy impatiently held out a claw tie as she watched Ryu's headband morph into a green and gold kasa hat, only this one was metal and had a golden dragon snaking around the edges.
"...What?"
Mercy rolled her eyes as she slowly closed the jet, it seemed she already knew the logic in his justification and didn't want to bother.
Yuna wondered how he did that. She was still getting used to controlling her Paladin armour, but it was virtually impossible to deviate from the pre-set variations.
"Oh wait, my weapon-" He suddenly appeared with it in his grasp well before the hatch closed.
The green and red sword showed its age with a weathered tsuba and a frayed ito. Its sheath was equal in length to a standard katana's, though the handle was just as long.
Yuna remembered training with the weapon once out of curiosity; it was almost impossible for her to achieve a clean cut thanks to its unconventional length and balance.
He rarely used it in actual combat; it was closer to a charm of good fortune than a deadly weapon.
"Alrighty then," he cheerfully announced at first, wrapping his 'charm' in cloth, "rendezvous with... Nico. Great..."
…
Yuna couldn't let herself get over what had transpired.
As they walked up the side of the aqueduct she racked her brains for potential causes of the PJ's system failure.
Everything was fine up until the red light had appeared.
"You do realise what happened wasn't exactly my fault? The console just died on me..."
"Is that so?" Ryu started, " you mean it had nothing to do with the simulator function you spent hours on before we set off?"
The realisation stung like a slap in the face. She wondered how he even knew?
"Thermal stress, hardware degradation… these things could pretty much burn out the power relays, low voltage converters…"
"If you knew all that, why didn't you tell me!" Yuna protested.
"Hey, I added two and two together just now, I'm not always the 'not just a pretty face' guy... maybe like half the time-"
"Seriously Yuna?" Mercy cut in with a tone of irritation, "draining the PJ's battery before a mission, you should be more cognisant!"
Her words cut deep.
"Sometimes I really wonder what Victor was thinking about letting you into the initiative so early, he hasn't been the same since..." She trailed off.
She had muttered under her breath, but it was more audible than she had anticipated as the fireworks briefly died down.
Yuna found herself vacantly staring at the back of her short curly hair.
She always looked up to her, hating to let her down, but she always felt there was an unresolved tension between them and the Captain.
She desperately didn't want to fracture their relationship any further.
"I know Nico would say: 'it was the Captain, he anticipated our pursuit and rigged the jet!'" Ryu's impression failed to lighten the mood but she didn't mind the attempt.
"I'm sorry," Mercy said finally, "I didn't mean to say that. I'm just... worried..."
"All these sudden absences, they aren't like him," she continued, "I want to understand why but... this mission risks... everything."
"...Well, we're already off to a great start, team," Ryu cut in again, "anyway I was meaning to ask Mercy, before you involuntarily soured the festive mood, how were you able to change the property of your constructs back there?"
"...Oh, the rubberised construct? Just something new I..." Her melancholic tone trailed off again as she reached the top of the slope.
Her sudden apprehension let Yuna know someone was there.
Once they finally caught up, the three of them stared across at two shadowy figures looming ominously in identical, Retroidican cloaks.