Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Combat. C'mon, what makes you think I would anyway? Yeesh!

A/N: After having just finished the game, this sort of came to me. It's intended as a one-shot, but we'll see.

ACE COMBAT 5: Shattered Skies: Aftermath

Date: July 21, 2020

Daniel "Blaze" Knight had mostly kept to himself, with the only visits coming from the Razgriz Squadron members. Having become bitter over the betrayals, he had asked the 48th President what he had thought about it all. Surprisingly, he had just gotten a, "You'll figure it out, Kid."Well, having to shoot down a symbol of Peace, and a weapon no Man should ever use, anyone would have been disturbed. But, they had survived, as had Pops. All seven, the Squadron Members, Pops, and President Harling, had met mid-2011.

"So, what's going to happen to Hamilton, and all of the people we had gone up against?" Daniel asked.
"I've sent out an order to the city police departments that anyone from the 8492nd and those who helped them in any major way was to be brought to Oured for a trial."
"But," Nagase started, "won't they know about the order?"
"If they do, and go into hiding, then we will cross that bridge when and if we have to. Hamilton's trial's done, remember?"
Pops smiled. Hamilton, and the former Sand Island base commander had both been convicted of treason and had been stripped of all rank, all records showing their existence wiped out, and then they were given a simple number, and locked away in prison. Yuktobania was doing the same with the people who started the escalation on their side.
"They're building a new ship to replace the Kestral. Ironically, they're naming it the Demon," Grimm smiled. Daniel had fallen out of contact almost immediately after the New Year started. So, he'd missed out on a lot. None of the squad had flown in battle since then or ever would. They entered a quiet civilian life, none too eager to witness the chaos and destruction war brought again. The one exception was Grimm. Though it was more for teaching than anything else.

His daughter, now nine, came running up to him."Hey, kiddo, what's up?" he smiled at her, putting away the two medals the President then had given him and his wife with the rest of the Squadron, even Bartlett. No one was proud their part of the war. Chopper's will was also interesting as well. His lawyer had been instructed to only reveal it once the war had ended and peace between the two countries restored. And he had. After all, it was good to have peace again, even if it was a blink in the overall scheme of things."Momma says dinner's ready."
"All right," Daniel nodded. He got up, picked his daughter up, and walked into the dining room with Kei and his daughter.

Blaze had gotten down on his knee in front of the Capitol early September of 2011, and had asked Kei Nagase to marriage. She did not refuse, and they got married five months later, on the anniversary of the end of the last war. Harling, Bartlett and the rest of the Razgriz members had come to the ceremony, held in private for just them. The President had nodded to Blaze when he'd been told about it, and smiled. That night, they'd conceived their daughter. Not surprisingly, not a single trace of the 8492nd Squad could be found. The Ofnir Squadron survivors had immediately been picked up and also tried late in 2011.

"Daniel dear," Kei smiled once they were done eating, "Don't you think Tasha should see the Memorial?"
Daniel looked at his wife blankly.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, sorry. Yeah. We should." She immediately went to pack.

In the following months, on the anniversary of the death of Chopper, Harling had announced to Osea's and Yuktobania's surprise that a memorial would be constructed on Sand Island. A small airstrip was to be maintained for planes to land to visit the memorial and nothing more. It was no longer a defense. The memorial itself was a stroke of pure genius. A statue of Chopper had been erected, with Chopper looking out towards Yuktobania, and behind him erected in the air, the four airplanes of the Demons of Razgriz. A wall was erected to the side, listing all of the fighter pilots and ground men who died during the fights, both on the Yuktobanian and Osean sides. No former Belkan personnel were listed, and not even the 8492nd, Graboc, or Ofnir Squadrons had their names etched into the stone. It had been a harsh gesture to the remaining Belkans who did not participate in the madness, but it reminded everyone else of the hard, cold facts. A new base was erected in the middle of the ocean between the two countries, shard by both as a testament to their relationship. Though it too was a sand island, it did not take the name. The entire island of Sand Island became known as the Sand Island Memorial Park. The remaining space of the park that wasn't the airstrip, hotel, or the statues, was grass and trees and to one end, a beach where people went to visit was present. At night, one could feel the cool air roll and the tranquility seeped into every pore of the body.

When Daniel, Nei and Tasha got to the airport, the still had their two final jets from their war days, though they repainted them with a slightly different insignia and color scheme. Nei and Tasha took the two-seater and Blaze the one seater. Daniel on occasion went to train pilots in the armed forces of both countries, since only the leaders of the two nations knew who Daniel was. Tasha had at first been sick of her parents acrobatics, but found that a barrel roll could be good for sight seeing around places, and her stomach became accustomed to the unusual habits of her parents at a very young age. Though the fighters weren't loaded with weapons, they were laden with extra fuel tanks for long flights. The family friends, Snow, Grimm, Bartlett, Anderson, Pops, Harling, and Genette, were called 'Uncle' by Tasha, more out of respect for her parents friends than anything. But also, because they were uncles to her mind's eye. And that's the way she liked it. Pops cared for the aircraft like always for the two, as well as Snow's and Grimm's, as well as a spare. Just in case, is what he said."Hey Momma?" Tasha called over the radio
"Yes?""Will I learn to fly some day?"
"Maybe, if you want to."
"Geez, Kei, don't encourage her that much!"
"Oh, stop it, Daniel."
"Fine, Kei, don't act like you won the war."
"You maybe the ace in the war, but we helped out too you know."
"You guys even said I could've done it all by my lonesome."
"We were joking!"
"So?" They began to hear laughter. It was Tasha laughing at her parents' banter. She'd gotten to the point where she sort of knew when they were serious and when they were fooling around. She may have been a kid, but she was very astute and very smart.

The following years afterwards seemed a bit of a blur, Blaze taught in the school, while Nei managed a bookstore. Her book from the war, the one Genette taped her reading, had been placed over her registers, as a small reminder to everyone who passed by. Tasha had grown up, strong and able, and eager to learn, and was a quick learner at that.

"Daddy, what happened during the war?" She had sobered up rather quickly, Kei noted."Well, your daddy and I were two pilots in the war."
"Really?"
"Really. It wasn't fun. Was it Blaze?"
"No, it wasn't, not at all. War is hell. No, war is much worse than hell."

A lot had been lost during the short war. Both countries had come close to being annihilated. It was a lot to endure. The respect the Razgriz had held for the base commander and Hamilton as superior officers was gone forever. Genette was careful when publishing the story to hide the true identities, and made the Demons of Razgriz famous. Not too many people truly understood the origin of the reason behind the name. Most thought it was because of their ability to dogfight. Daniel had been merciless in his battles he participated in, going after anything that wasn't marked friendly. Too many people had died from his hand. But it was war. He was THE ace from that war. That was fact.

"Some people, war breaks them , Tasha. Others it makes them."
"Why?"
"Some people enjoy it. Others become so sick with it, and some depressed. Others are driven mad." They were getting ready to land, and they did so with the same precision that they had during the war. Tasha immediately made a dash for the changing area in the airstrip and ran off to the beach. Her parents took their time and went up to the statue. Her parents had outfitted the weapons bay into a storage area for carrying items like suitcases and spare clothes.
"Do you think he would have made it through if he'd lived?"
"Perhaps."
"He probably would have soaked up the attention though."
"That would have been fine with me." They walked to the beach and watch Tasha play in the sand for a while, before she went into the water. They followed soon after, forgetting their hard times in the war. At least for the moment until war decided to rampage again, and a new set of heroes appeared.

The nature of a human being is such that no matter how hard it is tried to be avoided, the cycle of death and life, war and peace, prosperity and scarcity, cycles slowly, wrapped around a rod the loops expanding or contracting according to events Man places itself. This Eternal Cycle has existed since before Time began and will last until after Time ends. Peace will never last forever, but neither will war, Change is the only Eternal Thing. The Chain of Events, Wrapped around the Rod of Time, seemingly chaotic and random measured only by the precise pattern it follows, cannot be changed by Man, but it may change Man, for better or for worse. Though parts may be forgotten, it will remain there, a scar like that upon a burned face.