The night was dark and the fight was over
The moon shone down O'Connell Street.
I stood alone where brave men perished
Those men have gone their God to meet.
"The Dying Rebel"
*~*
Jane stood very still as she watched the clean up begin. The fight hadn't lasted long but it had been enough to do some serious damage. She watched mothers and fathers search amongst the bodies for their children, hoping and praying that they would find them. Jane closed her eyes and concentrated on slowing her heart rate. It wasn't an easy task to accomplish. She had just seen her terra fall. No one would be able to watch that and stay calm. Jane re-opened her eyes as a furious roar ripped through the air. A man had just found the body of his son, and it was very clear that his killer had been the Dark Ace. Jane remained still as the man lifted his son's body into his arms and carried him off into the night. The people around Jane picked up the bodies of the fallen and carried them off to the graveyard. All of them were weeping, and many of them had begun to sing quietly to themselves. As the words washed over her, Jane smiled sadly and began to sing along with the rest of her terra…
We are Terra Melody
We sing loud and clear.
If you think you can break us
You have been mislead.
Terra Melody, terra Melody
Shelter us from the storm.
Hold us in your warm embrace
And protect us through the days.
From coast to coast
We raise our voices high.
From home to home
We raise our voices in triumph.
The night is calmest before the storm
But we will never fall
We have been through all this before
And we will whether the coming storm.
We sing our praise to the Knights
Who protect us from evil.
We sing our thanks to the Knights
Who will rid us from evil.
Do with us what you will.
You may take our home, our terra
But you will never take our hearts, our hope.
We will never bow down to Cyclonia.
As the impromptu song ended Talons filled the skies and threw the people dirty looks. In response the people of Terra Melody simply re-sang the song, just louder and with more feeling. Jane stayed where she was and listened as the song faded into the distance. The Talons followed the mass high up on their Skimmers to make sure that they didn't do anything more than sing. If, Jane thought, they knew us at all they would know that we don't fight, we merely sing.
Jane surveyed the physical damage that had been done to the terra and shed her first tear of the night. She hadn't cried for the people but she would cry for the terra. She didn't know any of the people, had no family. They had been lost to her long ago during the fight that had ended the original Storm Hawks. Her parents had both been part of a Sky Knight squadron, The Red Falcons, had died in the battle. Jane had been left an orphan in the care of some of her mother's friends, who had died a year ago themselves. Since then Jane had fended for herself on the streets of Melody, in particular the street on which she now stood by herself. The droning of the Talons' Skimmers finally faded and she could no longer see any signs of life, Jane let her weary body fall to the floor in a heap. She lay there for some time before she heard the unwelcome sound of incoming Skimmer. Jane didn't bother to look around herself or move out of the way, and was almost hit as a consequence. Thankfully, the rider had noticed her still form and had veered away at the last second. Jane remained unmoved as someone came over to her and crouched down beside her. They carefully placed two fingers on her neck searching for some kind of life. Jane heard a sigh of relief when the person, whoever they were, found her pulse. Jane felt herself being slowly and gently rolled over onto her back and couldn't be bothered resisting the person's efforts. The person very gently cupped the side of her face with their hand.
"Can you hear me?" The voice sounded oddly familiar but not in a good way. "If you can hear me, open your eyes." Jane squeezed her eyes shut even tighter and heard the man laugh softly. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to make sure you're okay." Jane relaxed and opened her eyes carefully. As her vision began to clear the face of the Dark Ace swam in and Jane looked away from him.
"Leave me alone." Jane muttered between her laboured breaths. The Dark Ace winced at the venom in her voice but didn't say anything. He moved his hand away from her face and began to asses her for wounds. Jane swiped at his hand and moved away from him.
"It's okay. Tell me your name." The Dark Ace was holding up his hands in a non-aggressive manner.
"Jane."
"Okay, Jane. Are you hurt?" The Dark Ace seemed actually concerned by her well-being.
"Hurt? You just destroyed my terra, my home, and you're asking me if I'm hurt? Of course I'm hurt." Jane's words were laced with more than a little venom.
"I'm sorry. I'm just following orders."
"Is that what you call it?" Jane was sceptical. "You were there the day my parents were killed." The Dark Ace frowned in confusion so Jane continued. "My dad was the Sky Knight of the Red Falcons."
"Ah, I see. I was there but I didn't kill them."
"But you did nothing to stop it. In fact, it could be argued that you were the one to kill them. Just not by your own hand." Jane began to check herself for injuries, but only so that she had something to do other than look at the man who had betrayed the Atmos. Out of the corner of her eye, Jane saw the Dark Ace frown and sit back on his hunches. He continued to watch her closely until he finally sat down properly.
"I'm sorry. About your parents and about your terra. I know that probably doesn't mean much to you now but I truly am sorry." The Dark Ace looked around them then. "You need to get off the streets. Snipe will be here soon and there's a chance that Cyclonis will come as well. You can't be seen on the streets." The Dark Ace stood up and waited for her to follow.
"I can't stand. I think I've got a broken leg." The Dark Ace sighed in frustration and checked around them again for anyone. When he saw no one he carefully bent down and lifted Jane into his arms and carried her into the safety of a building. He gently put her down on a bench and knelt down to take a look at her leg.
"Well, it's definitely broken."
"You don't say." Jane hissed as the Dark Ace pressed down on her leg. His eyes shot up to hers and he quickly took pressure off the leg.
"Sorry. You need medical help. Who's the doctor here?"
"Gabriel. But he was killed in the attack that you orchestrated. Ow!" Jane kicked out with her other leg and smiled as her boot connected the Dark Ace's chin. He fell back and glared at her. "Problem?" Jane teased.
"No, I'm fine." The Dark Ace froze as the sounds of approaching Skimmers filled the air. "Stay here and don't make a sound." Jane nodded and watched the Dark Ace stand slowly, pull himself together, and stride out of the building. Jane sat frozen in fear, the adrenalin pumping through her body, wondering what was going to happen to her. None of the scenarios she came up with ended well for her. Despite wanting to run Jane managed to stay where she was, with a hand clamped firmly over her own mouth just in case. Suddenly, Jane heard a young female voice ask about the building she was in. The sound of someone walking towards her set Jane's heart racing but she dared not move.
"There's nothing there. I just came out of there." The Dark Ace stepped in front of the door blocking Master Cyclonis' way. There was a small mummer on the other side of the door and then the sound of fading footsteps. Jane released the breath she'd been holding slowly but didn't move. As she stayed there, Jane could feel her eyelids getting heavier and she gradually gave in to sleep.
Jane woke with a start a few hours later when someone put pressure on her broken leg. Jane immediately went to defend herself but calmed down when she recognised the Dark Ace. He was holding up his hands and looking into her eyes in an attempt to reassure her. Jane sat back and allowed him to continue with his ministrations. Jane couldn't help but notice that the Dark Ace was very attractive in a bad boy kind of way. Jane smiled slightly but quickly shook her head to clear away such disturbing thoughts. He was putting on an act, Jane reminded herself, he's pretending, lulling me into a false sense of security. The Dark Ace' hands moved slowly and gently assessing the extent of the brake, and it was only then that Jane noticed that he was touching her bare skin. Jane looked down and saw to her relief that the Dark Ace had cut the leg of her pants and not removed them entirely. Jane cursed her skin and the Dark Ace when her skin tingled at his soft touch. Jane decided that she had better say something to distract herself.
"Why are you helping me?"
"Because I want to," Dark Ace glanced up at her. "Unless you don't want me too?"
Jane shook her head. "No, its fine. It's just strange that's all."
The Dark Ace nodded and then sat back. "Your leg will heal just fine. You'll need to stay off it for a few days. Is there someone I take you too?"
"No, there's no one. They're all dead, remember?" Jane turned her head away from him.
"I do remember. I remember them and you."
"What d'you mean you remember me?"
"We were friends. Please tell me you haven't forgotten?"
Jane kept her head down, not willing to look at him. "I remember. I remember you betrayed me as well as everyone else."
The Dark Ace winced. "I said I was sorry."
"It doesn't matter. I can look after myself." Jane pushed herself to her feet and took a step towards the door. As her foot landed on the floor a sharp pain shot up her leg causing her to cry out and fall. Before she could hit the floor though, the Dark Ace reached out and caught her in his arms, pulled her off her feet and against his chest.
"Apparently. Where are you going?"
"Home." Jane replied quickly, even though she had no home.
"Jane, you don't have a home. Do you?"
"No, but neither do you."
The Dark Ace was visibly taken aback by that. "Yes, I do. I have a home on Cyclonia."
Jane rolled her eyes. "No, you have somewhere to sleep on Cyclonia. You sent your home to the Wastelands. It must hurt every time you see the Condor rising above the clouds. There was a time when you controlled those blast cannons, when you used the hangar and launch pad. It must hurt to see others using it." Jane watched in surprise as pain and remorse crossed the Dark Ace's face.
"Every single time. Every time I see them or fight them it hurts. It's like I'm reliving that day. It's like I'm reliving the day I killed Caleb. And it kills me to fight Aerrow. They look so much alike." The Dark Ace left the building and began carrying her somewhere.
"So then why do you keep doing it?"
"Because I took an oath."
"You took an oath when you joined Caleb, or Lighting Strike, or whatever he called himself. Didn't that mean anything to you?"
"It meant the world to me. But I had to break it."
"Why?"
"I broke it because the old Master Cyclonis threatened Aerrow and his parents."
"You betrayed Caleb for Aerrow?"
"Yes," He stopped walking and looked down at her. "Is that so wrong?"
"No, Caleb would have understood that."
"He did. I told him why I was doing it before I did it. And he told me that he forgave me and that he understood."
"It hurts that he doesn't remember you, doesn't it?"
"Like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't believe that it was him when I first fought him." They continued walking and after a time the Dark Ace walked into a building. "Through that door is the rest of your terra. They think I don't know where they are but, well, here we are." The Dark Ace gently set Jane on her feet. "It was good to see you again, Jane."
"You too, Ace. You don't have to go back to them you know."
"I know. But no one would accept me if I betrayed Cyclonis. No one would believe that I was sorry." The Dark Ace leant down and kissed Jane very softly on the lips. "I've always cared for you Jane. And I always will. Never forget that."
"I won't."
…
Three weeks later, Cyclonia had fallen, the Storm Hawks had gone to the far side of the Atmos, and the Dark Ace was dead.