The Russian woman sat in the small house she was now forced to leave, emotionless eyes reflecting the light before her. The room was dark, lit only by the flames infront of her as they licked up the papers and photographs; devouring the records and memories like rare delicacies. No one would know, no one could possibly ever know. The only record the world has of her would be her work records, spendings, and life after she left the orphanage. There was nothing before that.
Kit poked the fire, to make sure everything was there. Nothing was too good for the flames, the hot fire that promised to make it up to her, after that horrible accident in the aircraft. Cost her everything, it did. This was the least her fire could do to make it up to her. After everything was gone, Lt. Ivanova picked up the packing tape and sealed her mouth shut. It was time for bed; it wouldn't be a good idea to fall asleep on her way to the asylum in the morning. She closed her eyes, A and K keeping an eye on the house as she relived everything from the beginning; seeing things that not even her doctor could know without prying it from her himself. Hell, she didn't even remember her family until she saw the ground racing up at her.
---------FLASHBACK/DREAM-------------------
Kitten opened her eyes, shaking in fear as her mother screamed. A and K pulled Nikkita away, screaming profanities at the woman dying on the floor before them. Blood coated the little girl, her tiny white gloves stained red. Her father's body was draped on the ground, dead before he had a chance to get to her. Now he would never hurt her or mama again. A walked away, and threw the kitchen window open. K helped Nikkita out, and then they led her away. Behind the trio, ashes fell from the sky and mixed with the snow surrounding the girl's world.
"Don't worry, milachka. A and I have you. They don't, and we'll never leave you alone with anyone ever again..." K smiled, and whispered to his little sister in light, intoxicating russian.
A sat down in the tool shed, and hugged Kitten close, making sure she was okay in the cot until the whiteout would end. "But now you know. We're different than you." Their bodies were missing. "We love you, Kitten, and now you need to keep the secret. Okay?"
The little girl shuttered from the cold and from the images of her parents and her friends, who wanted so much to be her brothers. She said nothing. No one saw them, what happened? Mother and father should have seen them, they were right there in front of them.
All of her family's records were gone in the flames of the house, and Kitten was found in the orphanage the very next day. She wanted nothing to do with the other children, and nothing to do with those who considered bringing her home. Nikkita had her friends, and that was all she needed as a young child. Before long, she completely forgot her parents; after all she was only three the last time she saw them. Instead, she set her heart foward with a passion: she dreamed of flying, and her passion was nurtured by the great stories of the aces from the wars of the past.
She would fall asleep, and enter a world in flames. Bullets and flak surrounded her as she destroyed the lives of Germans who threatened her home and her friends. There was no question, this world was just as real as the one where she was still too young to fly. The only difference was that K and A had full names, and they were just as real as her.
It wasn't long before Nikkita persued a life in the Russian Air Force, and after gaining respect as a Lieutenant... she found herself taking up a second job. She would become a commercial transport pilot, though she still longed for the life of an ace. A and K never left her side. Even when she lost both engines, and did her best to save only 10 lives out of over one hundred souls on board.
That day was just fated to be drenched in blood. She was a bit suspicious of the weather, all though all reports indicated they would be fine. Clear skies until FL250, and above that only cumulus clouds caused by the occluded front. Dangerous, but still, there was no real excuse she could use to get out of working that day. With zero visibility for only a few minutes, IFR rules ran off through her head like a well rehearsed equation. Then the turbulence hit.
At first, only moderate, though there was a PIREP mentioning Severe Turbulence at lower levels... which forced her to swallow the fact she always kept buried in her mind. The reason there was no 'extreme' option on a PIREP under turbulance... was because no pilot would ever be able to fill it out. She did her best, trying to maintain level flight attitude, so she didn't overstress the airplane. But lets face it-women don't often have the kind of arms to keep the aluminum beast from thrashing... and ripping itself apart.
A few of the passengers were dead already, they hadn't worn their strangling seatbelts. A flight attendant was crushed between the serving cart and the wall next to her emergency seat. Still, the carnage was not finished. A and K did their best to help her, but the plane lost it's 'tail'... before long, the remaining bodies and torn fuselage littered the ground in flames. Only ten made it out alive, including Lt. Ivanova herself... She could only stare at the damage, muttering under her breath over and over again why she shouldn't have listened to her boss, that she should have done as her instincts said. She began speaking out loud to A and K, and by the time she was sent to court to loose her certificates and spend a life in jail for terrorism, she got out on the insanity plea.
-----End of Flashback-----
Lt. Invanova woke up, with A towering over her protectively. Warm blood dripped from her forehead, and a bruising arm remained tangled in the bookshelf. She ripped the tape off of her mouth, "Thank you for waking me."
A shook his head, "I didn't. The doorbell woke you. They're here."
K nodded in agreement, helping her up. "It's time to go, Kitten. Get your backpack. They're waiting at Abattoir."
