Work Text:
Looking out the window of the plane he contemplated the seasons.
Seasons come and go flowing gradually one into the other. One ends, another begins.
A helicopter crash had changed everything. Had changed him mentally, physically, changed his direction, his very life.
He'd been in limbo for a while. Then released from obligation.
Debriefed,rehabilitated, discharged. Season ended.
Now a new season was beginning, he'd been accepted into the program, he was returning home to a new career, one that had called him before, like a siren's song.
No one would meet him, but Cascade was home none the less. Had it really been that long?
He'd been and done so many things and could be anything he wanted. He'd lived a lifestyle of change. He had set himself a course
But then a crash had changed everything, a fiery mess of screaming metal and hot flame.
He'd once heard that flying a broken helicopter was like trying to fly a bathtub.
When Mother Earth called you to her breast you went, ready or not. A bird pierced by an arrow or in this case a missile .
And a tiny piece of metal, that was all. No visible damage, nothing that even he would notice.
Later on he may need reading glasses, but perfect vision was required to use the monocle.
He'd never fly Apaches again, anyway his gunner had already been reassigned.
Season over, a door firmly closed.
He relaxed back into his seat as landing was announced, a new season, a new direction, a new life.
Student of Anthropology, a return of sorts. Chuckling to himself, he gazed at the cherished book in his lap again. Maybe he'd find a Sentinel.
Hell, maybe he'd even grow out his hair.