Artificial Horizon - A César Fernando Basa x Reader story

XXXIX - DETRESFA

The code word used to designate a distress phase, which is a situation wherein there is a reasonable certainty that an aircraft and its occupants are threatened by grave and immediate danger or require immediate assistance. It is the third and final phase declared in an emergency where a Search and Rescue (SAR) function is absolutely necessary.

* * *

Even though I told César earlier on that I'll definitely be able to return back to sleep, I realize that I still somehow managed to do so. For some reasons, I almost think that I am only dreaming or that I may be waking up to the afterlife to figure out that the entire world somehow seems to be too quiet.

With the roaring of planes overhead, bombs dropping from the sky and exploding, and the chaos that is going on the early dead hours of today... it is definitely strange to find some comfort with sleep and wake up in an almost normal peaceful day. Gone are the planes and the bombs, but the people and the busy streets are definitely right there.

And if it isn't for the strangeness of the room now, I'll actually think of yesterday as just one very long nightmare. However, it isn't. The decor of César's room is once more a reminder that the war that the Philippines and the United States had been dreading for against Japan finally commenced.

To add with all of it, César is already up himself. Compared to last night and the early hours of today that we've talked during the night bombings, he is out of bed as he slowly and quietly moves from one part of the room to the other. He is already dressed up in the white dress shirt tucked in the khaki trousers of his formal uniform. Strangely, too, he is wearing his boots, already properly tied up. Currently, he is working on his neck tie as he stands in front of a mirror.

From where I lie on the bed, I can see his almost unreadable expression and his fingers deftly working on with the all too familiar knot of his tie. On a rather different day, I'll definitely want to do the work myself, and be teased later on how slow I work that he'll find himself late—but despite such teasing, he'll still want me to do it for him.

I don't know if he had already sensed me waking up, but I didn't make any indication yet as I remain unmoving underneath the blankets and just watch him. Strangely wishing right now that it is still not yet time for him to leave.

But with the brightness outside that transcends through the windows, it is very evident that we'll just be fooling ourselves to deny the things that must be done right now.

After ensuring the perfectly knotted neck tie, he takes the outer uniform coat that is properly folded on a chair just next to where the mirror is. The shuffle of his clothes are the only things that accompany the two of us right now, before he proceeds in buttoning it all up and completing the look with a matching belt. The collar pins glimmer against his reflection on the mirror, the epaulettes outlining his shoulders, and the wing badge that denotes his most celebrated achievement to be interred as one of the Sixth Pursuit Squadron, the best of the best that the Philippine Army Air Corps has.

He seems to have noticed me awake already that as he brushes his uniform for any non-existent dirt, with him still staring at his reflection on the mirror, he suddenly smiles and says, "Good morning, (Y/N)."

I flush, almost getting embarrassed on how I may have looked while looking at him... or perhaps I am ogling him without me even knowing that it is what I am actually doing in the first place. As I draw the blanket closer to me, almost up until my chin, I ask, "You've known? All this time?"

"Hmm... Yes?" He chuckles lightly before sitting on the vacant side of the bed that he occupied last night, and adds, "You have a habit of stretching out your arms to my side of the bed. As if inaalam mo kung nakahiga pa ako, at kapag naramdaman mo na wala ako, madalas nagigising ka na rin kaagad."