Part 1

"What brings this little girl into our humble home?"

The old man smiled as he directed his eyes to the young girl coming in.

She bowed deeply and smiled. A common courtesy of those coming into someone's home unannounced.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Aria Anemoi of House Anemoi. I'm here to convince Valion to be my Combat Partner.

I know that if we work together we can improve one another and achieve significant results."

"I see. I see."

He nodded his head and closed his eyes while smiling.

His uncle always pictured Valion as a great Sky Pilot.

He often practiced using the Sky Ships being fixed by his uncle.

His Uncle was a mechanic specializing in Sky Ships.

Because the having your Sky Ships fixed in the city costs more than having it fixed elsewhere the people always counted on Revan for simple problems.

"Ah! Where are my manners? I'm Revan Notos. A mechanic here at Caurus. I hope you take care of Valion from now on.

Even though he doesn't look like it he is a kind boy. Someone that has the patience to look after the old me."

"I don't mind looking after you uncle. It's people that push themselves to other homes that I dislike being with."

"Don't say that. This child traveled all the way here to meet with you. If that doesn't prove her willingness then I don't know what is."

Traveling from the city to this village required her to travel via car.

In this day and age, using livestock is obsolete. Much like how Sky and Air Ships are powered by magic.

Cars are powered by them as well. It is a lot slower but is efficient if traveling for a short distance.

It usually takes 30 minutes to reach the village from the city.

"I'm not interested in becoming a sky dog for the empire. You know how much I loathe them."

"You still have so much hate in you."

His uncle's face went grim as he heard those words come out of his nephew's mouth.

Meanwhile Valion threw a clean towel, a dry shirt and shorts to a shivering Aria.

"Wear those if you don't want to catch a cold. The bathroom's over there."

He pointed to the door in the west corner of the house.

"T-Thanks!"

She quickly walked to the bathroom to change clothes.

When she entered the bathroom, Valion sat in front of his uncle.

"I'm not partnering up with her no matter what."

"Let me ask you a question."

"..."

"What did you feel when your up there."

Revan pointed upwards with his metal arm.

Valion visualized the moment the two of them decimated those who made fun of him.

He couldn't lie to himself to him it was the best feeling ever. It was the most fun he ever had in a long time.

In the sky there's only you and them. Beating them, Outwitting them, Outmaneuvering them. He couldn't help but smile when he's out there.

"It doesn't matter. The sky is where it all started. I hate the sky."

"Valion. Even though you hate it, the sky favors you the most. When I see you flying the ships I fixed. I can feel it in the winds.

You are blessed by the gods. Your sense is better than most. And that girl is the perfect partner for you. I don't want to say it but I watched the tournament

It brought tears to my eyes to see you shine in front of everyone. Your father.. My brother would've cried if he saw what I saw. If only.. I.."

Revan covered his face using his left hand. Tears fell down but he tried stopping it.

Valion felt the sadness and regret of his uncle. He couldn't do anything but watch.

His steeled heart started crumbling.

"Uncle I'm sorry. I know you, Father and Mother only wanted my happiness but I can' fly for fun. Something like that it's too heavy for me.

Eveytime I fly, I always felt anxious. The only time I didn't feel anxious was when I flew with that girl."

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A door was slammed open and a girl wearing a boy's clothes came out. She inhaled a huge amount of air then shouted.

"THEN FLY WITH ME! AND ONLY WITH ME! People can say what they want about us but up there in the sky.

We are free! So please come and help me achieve my dream. But more important than that.. I want to fly again.. to fly again with you."

It seemed that the girl was listening the whole time. Her eyes were red due to tears and her cheeks were stained.

"How unpleasant."

For the first time in his life, it seemed that Valion had someone other than his uncle understand what he felt.

He couldn't help but smile as he tried very hard to stop the tears from coming out of his eyes.

A silent agreement was made that day.

Part 2

"Damn it! Where is she?"

In front of the Academy stands a boy waiting impatiently for a girl he was supposed to meet.

After knowing that the competition was not over until the previous winners have faced each other, they decided to meet up to pick up the gift of the Dean.

The problem was that Aria is late by half an hour and Valion stood like an idiot in front of the gates while eyes gazed at him with contempt.

It seemed like his bad luck would not end there when he met another person that wants to barge into his life.

"Ho Ho. What do we have here? The leftovers of the Notos House. It takes quite a nerve for you to stand at the gates!"

"Shut the hell up. I don't even know you so stop acting like I do."

This struck a nerve to the person he was talking to.

It was Elias Venti, Minerva Von Eurus' personal guard and a retainer for the House Eurus.

"Fool! Only an idiot won't know who they're gonna go up against soon."

"Who cares? I'm just gonna beat you like the rest of those scrubs in the freshman year."

Valion didn't even look at his direction when talking.

He was somehow disinterested to talking with him that he was distracted by the fact that his partner is still missing.

This was noticed by Elias and it angered him a lot more.

"Even I can make those you battled with destroyed. You were just lucky that Aria was with you.

Her defensive shield compensated on the fact that you lack the ability to care for your ship.

Such recklessness can cause your downfall and I'll make sure of it!"

Wanting to end their conversation, Valion faced the boy he didn't even know.

"If you really want to fight that badly then stop talking and prove that your better than me in the field.

All this trash talking nonsense can only take you so far. I find you annoying. So get out of my face."

"Why you!"

Elias raised his hand ready to hit Valion who was bracing himself when voices were heard from a short distance.

""STOP!""

The two of them looked that way and saw Aria and Minnie.

Aria looked like hell by the way. Snot was dripping from her nose and her eyes were watery.

She was clasping a handkerchief on her left hand and after blowing and wiping her nose, she went in the middle to stop the fight.

"You're late."

"It doesn't mean you need to start a fight because of it."

"I don't even know this dude. He just came up and started talking. For a second, I thought he was crazy."

Once again, Elias grinded his teeth when Minnie looking angry at him started talking.

"Elias is this the manner of the future heir of House Venti should act?

You're better than this! Apologize!"

Elias didn't know if she was angry or sad but her teary eyes said the truth.

He felt guilty of shaming House Eurus' name so he faced Valion and bowed.

"I'm sorry for my intrusion."

Valion noticed that he was clenching his fist while walking away.

"Hey what's your name?"

"Elias Venti. The person who will make your life hell."

The two stared at each other for half a second then continued walking away.