hello all! i've come back with another fic!

actually, it's the fic that my previous one, "All These Years" was kinda based on. i decided just to write it and hope people enjoy it. :)

sooo um...yeah. enjoy!

review if you like it, reviews keep me motivated to keep writing :)

please and thank youuuuuuuu.

and again, sorry if my grammer gets weird, i tend to spell words one letter off, turning it into a totally other word, or accidentally type the wrong word in place of the one i intended, so spell check misses it because it's spelled right.

sorry :)

i have reeeeally bad eyes.

is why i have contacts. :3

disclaimer: sadly, i am not awesome enough to own the storm hawks. :(

---STORM HAWKS---

Night was a blanket of stealth in Cyclonia, to both sides of the raging war; Cyclonian against Sky Knight, and the battle continued to rage on. Many soldiers from both parties had fallen, and the toll of injury and death was steadily increasing, but the final battle was almost over, and every Atmos citizen held hope in their hearts as they risked their lives to fight the good fight.

Within the castle walls, a young man with fiery red hair had just managed to rip the Cyclonian they called Dark Ace off of him and quickly leapt back onto his feet. This battle was almost over, and Aerrow was going to be the victor.

"This ends now, boy!" Dark Ace hissed as he crouched into a position, ready to attack.

Aerrow stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth. Clutching his energy blades, he managed to sputter out scrambled words from his mouth.

"Bring it on."

Racing towards each other, the two had lunged at each other in fury, slashing at the other at every opportunity.

Aerrow had failed to realize that Dark Ace's energy blade had cut deeply into his shoulder.

Landing on the ground, he prepared himself for another attack. Raising his arm in the air to strike, he felt a burning pain in his shoulder. Looking down, he saw the blood.

Dark Ace had taken that opportunity to jump at Aerrow, aiming a swift kick into Aerrow's left shoulder.

Crying out in pain, Aerrow was pushed to the floor, with Dark Ace's foot strategically placed on his injured shoulder.

Aerrow tried to use the energy blade in his right hand to get Dark Ace off of him, but Dark Ace had blasted the energy blade from his hand, leaving a deep cut that ran from his index finger to the middle of his forearm. Aiming his energy blade towards Aerrow's throat, Dark Ace's eyes flickered with the anticipation of victory.

"Your time ends soon, boy. Very soon. Say goodbye, Sky Knight. "

Dark Ace readied his blade to strike, holding it high above his head. The grin on his face widened, and Aerrow prepared for the blow. So it was true what they say about death. You life does flash before your eyes. He thought about his life, his team, and the brown-orange eyes he had loved so much, and the face of the person who wore them so well.

If only he could see her again, just one last time, before…

He looked up at Dark Ace, only to find that the grin Dark Ace had worn was frozen on his face, and without warning, Dark Ace had disappeared under the midnight purple energy of an Oblivion Crystal. Aerrow slowly got to his feet and sighed. It was all over now. All over.

He staggered towards his savior and suddenly noticed those familiar orange eyes. A grin spread across his face as a face emerged out of the darkness, revealing his navigation and tactics officer, and his best friend.

She limped towards him with a look of concern on her face, and with one look at him, dropped her power staff. She then ran to him as fast as she could with her injured leg, pulling him towards her into a tight hug. Ignoring the excruciating pain in his shoulder and legs, he wrapped both of his arms around her slender waist and embraced her tightly, inhaling the scent of her hair and enjoying the warmth of her body against his. Pulling her in closer to him, he felt a sense of belonging holding her; feeling that his body just seemed to fit into hers perfectly. In that exact moment, Aerrow wished that all time had stopped, and that he could be in that exact moment, forever.

She moved her head from his chest to look at him, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"I thought I was too late…I thought…"

Her throat had closed up and verbalizing how she felt became increasingly difficult the longer she was in his arms. She felt tears starting to run down her face and she definitely didn't want him to see. Burying her face in his chest, she just thought what would've happened if she had lost him…if she had arrived just a second later…she didn't even want to think about that now. Atmos was finally free. They had done it.

He gave her a smirk and slowly lifted her face out of his chest. Taking his hand from under her chin, he wiped away the stray tears running down her golden brown face and moved his hand to a lock of midnight blue-black hair that covered the left side of her face and tucked it behind her ear. Aerrow looked into her eyes and his smirk turned into a full-blown smile.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just happy you showed up when you did. I owe you my life, Piper."

She blushed, which was hard too see due to the color of her skin and the lighting in the room.

"Don't say that, Aerrow."

"I mean it."

For the first time in years, Piper was left speechless. What did one say after hearing something like that?

For several moments, there was nothing but silence, and Aerrow gazed into Piper's eyes, while she had become lost in his.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, neither of them had realized how close their faces had become, with less than an inch between them. Reluctantly letting go of each other, Aerrow had run to get his energy blades while Piper had grabbed her power staff, ready for battle.

The tension grew as the footsteps became louder, and the two were very surprised when they had become face-to-face with Finn and Starling.

Starling looked the same as ever, her purple eyes fiery and alert, with several cuts and scratches all over her body.

Finn was similar, however his eyes were still alive with vivacity, but his face looking tired and battle scarred. His blonde hair was stained with dirt and possibly blood, and several parts of his uniform had been torn. He too, was limping, and there was a very visible cut running across his right leg. Approaching his teammates, Finn's mouth had turned upward into a humongous grin that looked several sizes too big for his face.

"Who's the big hero? Who should they make a statue of? Who's gonna get all the glory?" He pointed at himself to emphasize his point.

Aerrow, somewhat amused, decided to have a little fun. "Um, Piper?"

Starling cocked an eyebrow at a giggling Piper, and Piper quickly shut up.

Finn was not amused.

"No dude, ME! I totally sent Master Cyclonis to the depths of a totally other dimension and totally saved the world!" He threw his arms up in excitement.

Piper and Aerrow shot each other of look of bewilderment.

"You?"

"But I thought-"

"No way!"

Finn's grin had returned.

"Way. Am I totally awesome or what?"

Starling walked up and patted Finn on the shoulder.

"Very nice, Finn. Have you taken care of Dark Ace?" She asked Aerrow.

Aerrow glanced at Piper, who was pretending to examine a cut on her hand.

"Actually, Starling, Piper was the one who handled Dark Ace."

Starling looked at Piper.

"I didn't expect that. Good work, Piper."

Piper gave Starling a small smile. "Thanks."

Aerrow cleared his throat very loudly. "Well, I think we should make our way back to the Condor and see how everyone else is."

Piper walked by him, and gave Finn a punch on the shoulder.

"Nice work, Finn."

Finn crumpled on the floor, moaning in pain about his arm.

With a small smirk, Aerrow helped him to his feet and helped walk him back to the Condor.

Walking up next to him, Starling whispered in Aerrow's ear so only he could hear her.

"When we get back, I need to talk to you."

And with that, she had walked away.

Aerrow stared at her disappearing figure, wondering why she would need to talk to him.

It was all finally over.

Finally.

Or was it?