⇢ prologue - it all fell down ⇠

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

-TEN YEARS BEFORE TOP GUN-

THE SUN BEAT DOWN ON ELLIE AS SHE RAN THROUGH HER AUNT AND uncle's front yard, her feet thumping against the ground as she chased after her little sister.

Her short blonde hair flew through the wind, her hands outstretched as she grabbed Annie's arms. The little girl laughed as her older sister pulled her into her arms, falling onto her back.

"That's no fair!" Annie whined.

"What's not?" Ellie asked with a small smirk on her face.

"You're faster than me because my legs are too short," Annie pouted.

"Well, you know what makes you grow taller?" Ellie asked.

Annie shook her head. "No, what?"

Ellie noticed the interested glint in her sister's eyes and she leaned down to her ear, acting like it was the biggest secret ever. "Vegetables."

Annie's face dropped, scrunching her face up in disgust. "Eww!"

"Mhm," Ellie confirmed as she nodded her head. "You should listen to mom when she tells you to eat them."

Annie huffed in annoyance and Ellie only smiled, getting to her feet and holding out her hand for her five year old sister. The tiny brunette grabbed her sister's hand, pulling herself to her feet.

A sudden jeep drove down the street, both Kazansky girls turning their heads as a small smile appeared on Ellie's when she realized who it was.

Earlier in the day, her letter from the Naval Academy had arrived. She was very excited, knowing that Bradley's letter must have come, too. She had gone to his house, where he was living with his aunt and uncle after the death of his mother, but he was nowhere to be found.

Ellie placed her hands on her hips, watching as Bradley stepped out of his jeep. Annie spotted him almost immediately, letting out a tiny squeal as she ran towards him.

Bradley's expression changed from an annoyed look to a smile when he saw Annie running at him. He caught her in his arms, twirling her around in the air.

The blonde smiled warmly at the two, shoving her hands into her pockets as she approached them. "I was looking for you earlier."

Bradley looked at her. "Yeah, sorry. I was kind of busy."

"Don't worry about it," Ellie replied. "Come on in, I'll get you something to eat."

Bradley nodded, setting Annie back on the ground as they followed Ellie into the house. He sighed to himself, his hand reaching to his back pocket to make sure his letter from the Naval Academy was still there.

Ellie entered the kitchen, grabbing a plate from a shelf before she placed a grilled cheese sandwich on it. The blonde turned and sat the plate onto the table, sliding it over to Bradley as he took a seat.

The eldest Kazansky girl's eyes landed on her acceptance letter to the Naval Academy and she smiled, walking over to grab it. But she slowed to a stop when she looked at Bradley, whose eyes were glued onto her paper, the same annoyed expression returning to his face.

Ellie slightly tilted her head in confusion, turning to her younger sister. "Hey, why don't you go get Ben and take him down to the creek?"

Annie nodded and ran off to get Ben, their brother as Ellie turned back to Bradley. The girl placed her letter on the table, taking a seat next to him.

"What's going on?" Ellie asked.

Bradley sighed, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his letter. Ellie's eyes fell onto it, reaching over and taking the letter from his hand.

The blonde opened the paper, her eyes quickly skimming over the words as she felt her heart drop.

"Unfortunately, we cannot accept..."

Ellie set the letter down, biting on her inner cheek before she looked back at Bradley. His eyes were casted downward and he was picking at the skin around his nails.

The blonde placed her hand over his, keeping him from doing it. Bradley looked up at her, seeing the sympathetic look she was giving him. Immediately, that made him want to shrivel up and die. He got enough of those looks since his mother's death.

"I'm sorry," Ellie said, her voice just above a whisper.

"It was Maverick," Bradley immediately replied.

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"He pulled my papers from the Naval Academy," Bradley explained.

Ellie didn't know what to say. Maverick pulled Bradley's papers? But why? Then it clicked, she sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. It all made sense.

"Why would he do that?" Bradley asked her.

"Maybe he's trying to protect you," Ellie replied.

"From what?" Bradley asked.

Ellie mentally rolled her eyes at him, not understanding why he didn't know why Maverick pulled his papers. It was pretty obvious to her.

The blonde took a deep breath. "From what happened with your dad."

Bradley's eyes softened momentarily at the mention of his father, but they soon turned to anger. "Don't bring him into this."

"It's a valid reason," Ellie countered.

"No," Bradley replied, standing from his seat as Ellie's eyes followed him. "No," he repeated, it almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself that that wasn't the reason. "He shouldn't have stood in my way."

"Bradley-"

"Are you taking his side?" Bradley cut her off.

Ellie got to her feet, approaching him. "Just listen. Can you think of any other reason why he would pull your papers?"

Bradley went to speak, but he couldn't find the right words. He shut his mouth, scoffing as he took a step away from Ellie. The blonde watched as he did, knowing how short-tempered Bradley could be.

He didn't want to believe that's why Maverick pulled his papers.

So he changed the subject, looking back at Ellie. "Did you get in?"

"That's not important right now," Ellie replied.

"Did you get in?" Bradley repeated, anger in his voice, getting upset with her.

Ellie's mouth went dry, her eyes falling on her acceptance letter to the Academy on the kitchen table. Swallowing thickly, she nodded. "Yes."

Bradley scoffed, he couldn't believe that Maverick didn't pull hers. I mean, why would he? It made sense, her father, Tom Kazansky was still alive, but he didn't really care at that moment.

Knowing that Bradley was mad with her now, Ellie was mad, too. She didn't know why he was upset with her, and that made her angry. It wasn't her fault, so why was he taking his anger out on her?

"Maybe it just wasn't meant to be," Ellie said quietly.

"What?" Bradley asked.

"You becoming a fighter pilot," Ellie replied with a shrug of her shoulders. She didn't mean that at all, though, he deserved to become one.

Okay, now she had to be doing this just to piss him off.

Bradley scoffed once again at his friend, his eyes landing on her face. Ellie stared back into his eyes, not backing down. Bradley clenched his jaw, turning on his heel and leaving her house.

The blonde let out a breath after he left, she sighed and leaned against the table, she shouldn't have said that. She was very upset now, mostly with herself, knowing that she wouldn't be able to communicate with Bradley again, or at least for a while.

No one held grudges better than Bradley Bradshaw.

That was one of the last times Ellie talked with Bradley, maybe saying hello and asking how they were doing a few times when they ran into each other at Top Gun.

But after graduating from Top Gun, Ellie and Bradley barely spoke to one another. They would still count each other as friends, but it was definitely awkward between them.

Their friendship was strained, but not their stubborn feelings for each other. They would always be in love with each other, even if they didn't know it themselves.

Ellie never thought she would be around Bradley again, that was until she was called back to Top Gun for a special training detachment.

eden speaks!

this was probably one of the worst prologue's i've written, but i could care less lmao.

but other than that, i'm very excited to write these two.