A/N

So, the trailer for Ace Combat 7 came out. To which the snarky git in me pushes to say, "oh so now you decide to give an installment a number! What, did you lose count or something?" Well, probably not, considering the setting of Assault Horizon and Infinity, but anyway, drabbled this up.

Where Angels Dare

They call this place the Lighthouse.

It is not a beacon for ships that sail the sea. It is not a guide for sailors in the dark. Rather, it is built to reach up into the dark, into the depths of space. To be a point of call for ships of another nature. Piercing the sky like a needle. A Tower of Babel. For indeed, the masses are divided. Divided by ideology, if not by language.

I am up here. In the clouds, above the earth, yet not in Heaven. Strangereal is not yet Hell, and I am no angel. But up here, I believe I am safe.

I am wrong.

Two demons come soaring through the clouds. One of Osea, one of Erusea. Yet another war, in a world that has seen too many. They are not angels, I tell myself, no matter how high they fly. Angels do not bring death to those below. Angels do not kill one another through spears of fire. Angels…I snort. Even in my suit, I feel the air's chill. I see the mist well up on my visor. Angels bringing death to those below in a field of fire. The world tried to stop Ulysses from reigning destruction from above. Now, Man tries to finish what the asteroid started.

A larger demon enters through the clouds. A flying fortress, dwarfing the fighter that remains. Has God himself entered His domain? This false Heaven that Man has created?

If so, God is angry. God releases angels of his own. Or rather, UAVs. Drones. Dedicated to war, unthinking in their pursuit of fire and fury. No different from Man.

We once reached so high. To pierce the clouds and enter the darkness so that we could bring light to that realm as well. But instead, we are here. Bringing fire to the earth. Bringing fury to Heaven. The fury of a thousand sons, as the spears of angels head to Babel's tower. As if it itself were the target. To scatter Man, from now unto the ending of the world.

And so I jump.

Gravity is the law of the universe. No angel, demon, or son of Man can overcome it. Even wings must thrust against the world's pull. Soon, very soon, it will all be over.

I look upwards as I fall. As one angel engages the others.

Fly with the angels…

And I look downwards, at the cold, hard earth that awaits me.

There are no angels above.