Flight School: Predator

Low Heights

A/N: Incredibly long chapter D: and I'm so sorry for the late update! This took longer than expected /.\

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Poor Iolani Tori had been feeling incredibly bored on his flight to the Philippines. The class' private airship was ghost quiet the moment it set-sailed and Io—being, well, Io—was wide awake unlike his peers who had planned to fill the time with some well-deserved shut-eye. With Luka asleep and Lyra tucked away in another part of the airship, the sparrow had absolutely no one to share his bottled excitement with.

Without a doubt, this was not Io's first time on an airship. In fact, a vague recollection of his first time reminded him of nothing but nervous shadows above clouds. Himself being one of them.

As a glass of chilled lemonade sat in a corner of his absurdly polished mahogany tray table (which certainly did not resemble a tray), the sparrow had found himself mainly fascinated by the seat's ability to somehow transform into a comfortable bed. A couple of minutes later however, Io's attention had turned towards his personal in-flight entertainment system which included a touch-screen television with the most generous music and movie collection, games, and even a digital version of the catalogues they offered in the post office back in school for digital shopping on the go.

Despite the extensive options provided by the in-flight entertainment system and the airship itself (a variety of meals and dessert choices that included a strangely appetising thing called crème brulee), Iolani's mind was not sated by either of these luxurious options and focused merely on the destination at hand. He had always wondered how the rest of the world was like outside his tiny village. The most he had seen was only an island; and an island in the sky that most ordinary beings couldn't even see! He might as well have seen nothing.

So when the class of hearts had finally arrived at their destination, Io could not wait to leave their flying ship. The rest of the majority however, begged to differ as their half-lidded eyes pleaded for extended hours of sleep.

Io shook his friend awake. "Luka, we're here!" He peered out of the window. "I can barely see anything. Where are we? Why are there still clouds? Oh...I think we might still be in the air."

The eagle rose from his sleep to take in (what he considered was) a sight for sore eyes, sitting up before leaning over the sparrow to share his view of the sky. "We're here. It's in the mountains."

The word sounded fairly familiar in his mind, striking a fearful image of heights and sharp edges in general. Those were all stories he had heard and never experienced for himself.

He glanced downwards in attempt for a tentative scout and saw miniature versions of what he thought were trees, shunning away from the window as the creature in his chest began to beat far too loudly for comfort.

Luka handed Io his backpack that had fit snugly with the eagle's own duffel bag in the storage compartment above, signing shortly that they should disembark the airship.

"But we haven't landed yet," Io pointed out with a puzzled tilt of his head, glancing out of the window once again just to confirm.

"It says we have," Lucienne (who had been seated in the row in front of Luka and Io) directed their attention towards a blinking sign. Everyone else was getting their hand-carries ready as well.

Confused as always, Io proceeded to tail the girl with auburn curls in front of him—still not catching her name since he had barely interacted with half the class, really. The sparrow was nearing the exit when he felt a blast of cold wind square in his face.