Birth of a Pilot

Angelo wakes up to a ceiling above him. He hears the quiet sounds of various machines beeping. Dull pains radiating from different parts of his body help him wake up. Someone stands beyond the foot of his bed.

“Muffinhead rises! Hiiii!” It’s Roxie. To the side, Angelo can also see Aiden leaning on a counter. Why doesn’t he just sit in the empty seats?

“Am I alive?” The patient is pretty sure he remembers being involved in a horrible crash. He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of this being some kind of afterlife-induced hallucination.

“Somehow.” answers Aiden.

“I don’t understand… If I’m alive, th-then why am I in the hospital?”

Roxie and Aiden look at each other, not really knowing how to respond. 

“Your brain is a little foggy right now, but things should clear up pretty soon!” This doesn’t give Angelo any answers, but Roxie’s too sweet to argue with. “Did you have any sweet, muffiny dreams?”

“Uh… I think I had one where some girl was staring at me, and there was orange juice… I can’t remember it that well. It was weird.” Angelo wishes he had some orange juice. Oddly enough, some is sitting on the stand to his right. He tries to reach for it, but a sharp pain prevents him from doing so. If it hadn’t, the sling it’s in would have.

“Oh no, don’t move that!” Roxie warns after the fact. “Sorry! I should’ve told you about your injuries! Well, I think you can already feel that you broke your shoulder blade. You also bruised some of your internal organs and a minor concussion, but honestly, that’s a miracle! We’ll still have to keep an eye on your squishier organs, but if things don’t get any worse, we won’t have to do surgery!”

“Yaaaaaaay.” Angelo raises his left arm in celebration. “...Are you guys my doctors?”

“Oh no, we’re just your guardians! Making sure evil forces don’t enter your room.” Roxie wiggles her fingers. “By the way, do you feel like having any visitors? You’re a very popular boy today!”

“Sure.”

“Okay, I’ll go bring them in!” Roxie leaves the room.

Aiden stands there menacingly, as Aiden does. For some reason, Angelo continues staring at him, even though normally he’d be afraid to. Aiden stares back.

“Did Roxie mean anything about evil forces, or was that her being her?”

“Surprisingly not.” Aiden stares into space. “Romero was trying to come in here earlier.” He rolls his eyes. “He’s such a whiny loser.”

“Ugh…” The thought of Romero visiting his hospital room makes Angelo shudder. He has to make sure it didn’t happen. “He didn’t get in, did he?”

“Oh no, we shut that down real quick. But--”

Aiden doesn’t have time to finish his statement before Roxie returns with Jun and the captain in tow. The captain brings a bouquet of flowers. 

“Welcome to the busted shoulders club!” Jun greets, waving their hands before plopping down in the chair Aiden left empty. “Yours is on… the right? Mine was my left shoulder. If I knew all I had to do for it was just chill out in bed, a lotta my problems would’ve been solved.”

“And you wouldn’t have had to have me drag you to the infirmary.” adds Aiden.

“But it’s good that you went so you could get it healed properly!” Roxie points out. “It also helped forge the bonds of your trust!”

Jun moves their bangs without using their hands. “Sure did, Rox.”

“Y-you’re not allergic to these, are you, Ranger Summers?” The captain shuffles awkwardly in the back.

“Not that I know of.”

Hesitating, he places them on the stand, next to the orange juice. Some have white petals and yellow insides, while others have yellow petals with green insides. Angelo feels like they might be daisies, but isn’t quite sure.

“Th-thank you, Captain.”

“You’re welcome.” Captain Galhardo quickly retreats to his original position in the back. “I understand that must have been a harrowing experience, but thankfully you came out relatively okay. We will hold off our departure until you have a chance to properly rest in the infirmary.” He readjusts his hat. “Commander Fitzgerald and my fath-- Chief Commander Galhardo wanted me to send their regards.”

Angelo wonders if he should know who Commander Fitzgerald is, but doesn’t ask in case he should. Maybe it’s the navigation lady? She never gave her name, but expected Angelo to remember her by voice alone.

“Commander Fitzgerald in particular wanted me to let you know that Staff Major Romero will be severely punished for his crimes.”

This is the best news Angelo could’ve heard today, next to him still being alive.

“Oh yeah, you probably don’t know who we’re talking about!” Jun realizes. “You have gotta read the chat logs at some point. It was an adventure.”

“Yes! The chat logs. That reminds me, I should go upload them to the database so they can be used for the trial.” The captain almost leaves, but stops and turns to address Angelo. “Um, before I go. I wanted to thank you for your selflessness towards the crew, despite your apprehension toward Romero’s invention. If you ever encounter a conflict of interests like that again, please inform me or the lieutenant so we can decide on a course of action that…” He pauses to choose his words. “...is less likely to kill you.”

“Like I did!” Roxie points at herself.

“Exactly right, like Ranger Allen did when asking about interning here.”

“I will.” As long as he lives, Angelo never wants to repeat this experience. He also remembers something he wants to say. “I love you guys.”

“Awwww, I love you too, Muffinhead!” Roxie rests her cheek against her hands. This easily tops being alive and Romero getting in trouble as the best news Angelo has received. She probably said it just to be nice, but Angelo finds it worthy of cherishing nonetheless.

“Yeah.” Aiden nods. Angelo’s pretty sure that isn’t a masked ‘I love you too’, but it’s a lot better than he expected out of Aiden. He could’ve easily gotten punched for saying something like that, but Aiden’s such a great guy that the patient knew he wouldn’t do something like that. Angelo is so glad that Aiden is so Aiden. 

“Glad you’re safe.” Jun finger-guns. The young ranger expects nothing less and nothing more from them; being in their presence makes him overwhelmed with joy.

The captain glances back and forth, not really sure what to say. He coughs. “Thank you. I appreciate your service.” With a tip of his hat and a salute, he quickly exits the room. Angelo is completely mesmerized with how cooly the captain walks.

Jun stands up. “I’m gonna head out too, so more people can come in. ‘Sides, me and some other people are having lunch, and there’s a sandwich calling my name. I might be back at some point, though.”

“You guys are getting lunch?” Aiden asks. “Hey Roxie, can I dip out for a sec to get a bite to eat?”

“You’re just gonna leave her here?” Jun places their knuckles on their hips.

“I mean, she can come too if she wants!”

“I… literally can’t.” corrects Roxie. “Someone has to be in the room with Angelo at all times. But you can go! Don’t worry for me, Junzie! Muffinhead will keep me company.”

“You guys have fun. C’mon, Aiden.” Jun leaves the room, with Aiden following behind them.

“Aiden, could you send in the next visitors as you’re leaving?” Roxie calls out. “We can have 3 max.”

“‘Kay.” is Aiden’s only response as he leaves. 

Roxie bobs her head as she waits for the next arrival. She hums a little tune. “I can finally check my phone again without worrying about your death!’

“Yaaaay.” Angelo raises his arm again. “I can be awake without worrying about my death.”

 “Awwww! Poor thing!” She seems genuinely hurt for Angelo. “I can’t believe that you looked Death in the face today, said ‘No thanks’ and lived to tell it.”

“Did I? I guess I did, huh…” Angelo feels that Roxie’s version of things gives him too much credit. It definitely sounds much cooler than screaming, crying, and almost dying.

Just then, there’s a knock on the door. Roxie disappears into the entrance corridor to answer it. “Come in!”