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He was born to the cherry blossom. A flower of infinite charm and hope, but short-lived. We were the same, in a sense, with me under the dandelion. Neither of us were meant to bloom for long. I guess that's why we grew so close. I held onto his every word, even though I had a feeling that it might kill me some day.
He was always optimistic. So it was no surprise that when the satellites reported an incoming missile, he refused to flee. “I'll pilot the counterstrike,” he said. The elders tried to tell him that there wouldn't be a counterstrike, that we were evacuating. “There will be,” he insisted. “Because I'll do it myself.”
He smiled when I climbed into the co-pilot seat. “I thought you wanted to run,” he commented. My mouth had gone dry, and I could only shake my head. I couldn't let you do this alone, I wanted to say. But he just looked so bright and full of hope, I didn't have the heart to voice my fears. He clapped my shoulder. “Glad to have you with me!” My heart felt heavy.
His eyes grew focused as he flicked switches and turned dials. “If we fire from the very edge of our range, we'll be fine. We can't let it into the atmosphere.” But I knew somewhere deep down that we just wouldn't have the firepower.
I was right. We hurtled towards the incoming missile, our shots bouncing off of it with no effect. “We need to run,” I told him.
“If we run, there will be no home for anyone to return to.” He didn't waver even a bit. He was just like the heroes in stories that we always admired. And I would admire him for it, but I knew how those stories end. He used to close his eyes and pretend there was a happier ending if he didn't like how it went. His eyes were wide open now.
“I'm going to ram it and abandon ship. You should jump first.” Even saying something like that, he still held firm. His goodbye kiss tasted of tears. And perhaps it was my own blurry vision, but it looked like they weren't all mine.
My suit's stasis mode has failed. I'm down to an estimated 1% oxygen remaining. If you're hearing this, please hope more than I could that Saku made it. Care for him like he deserves.
This was Tana, dandelion crest. Good night.