[b][i]Mykhailo Martinez[/i][/b]

"So the people pay for their Government's actions," Mykhailo could not help but snap in his reply to Scott. "Same old, same old; I'll bring down their planes and hope for the best."

[i]I am not going to get any satisfaction from this. I am either going to be an ace, or dead, and all I can hope for is to coast on my hatred for [b]the enemy[/b] to avoid the latter. I need to control my emotions; I need to let go again, I need to not feel anger and pain or at least keep some distance from it.[/i]

Another voice rose within him, saying, [i]Let go? Let go?! Of what? The delusion that this is a war where we can keep our hands clean? All we can hope for is that there are few to no civilians harmed or to blame someone else for this tragedy! Our glory will be forever tainted with the blood of innocents![/i]

Mykhailo cut that voice off, opening his mouth in real life again to say, "We'll win this. Also, I won't lie; I'm doing this because I have to - Because we'll do more good if we win than if we don't."

But his eyes showed hurt, pain, and loss; loss of a child's self-righteousness and a youth's thirst for glory. At the end of the day, the part of him that cared about others had won, but at the cost of his innocence and naivete.

The young man walked towards his plane; at first, he tried to hide his feelings, but realizing that there was no shame in them, his shoulders loosened and his face scrunched up in disgust. The Pilots would catch another sentence from him as he got to the cockpit, "Fuck Glory; it's not all its cracked up to be."

He was still going to be an Ace. He was still going to clear the skies of enemy planes in conjunction with his squadron. But right now, he felt so [i]alone[/i]; the others were indifferent to him when they did not dislike him. He had brought that on himself. His immature behavior had brought him his nemesis and it was all so unfair and not unfair in his favor.

Then as he turned on his plane, and prepared to take off, Mykhailo Martinez realized he did not have anything to prove: Not to others or himself. He didn't need to care about what others think: He will achieve his objective and save more lives than were lost. 

Ace-hood? He'll use that to save more lives in the future, by intimidating the enemy with the reputation that came with it.

[@Damo021][@Smike][@Rhona W][@Finetales][@AvaP]