Inferior

Chapter 1

"Each day, you go on and you have troubles, everyone does. Some worse than others, but in the end it's our own problems, and it's how it affects us. You have to move on to move forward." That's what my mother always told me. She taught me how to be nice, how to be caring, how to be happy. And after all these years, I've never valued her words so much as I do now. To my brother and I, she was a queen. To everyone else, she was a traitor, wanted by the crown to be trialled. But we all knew she was going to be executed even if she did get a trial. So we ran. We ran far and fast, never daring to look back. The only belongings we had were the clothes on our back and the little food we got from begging on the streets or going through the garbage bins.

It was difficult to start out with, being that our mother was 6 months pregnant when we left Terra Reign. We stayed with our Aunty for a while until the royal guards knocked down the door and burned down the house, brutal, I know. She's now disowned us; we were never related by blood anyway. The royal family and guards have no remorse whatsoever for the people. You're probably thinking, 'why not just move to another terra?' that's what I asked my mother after she gave birth to our little brother. She would never give me an answer, and I never pushed it. I don't know why I didn't.

There was four of us in our little runaway family; my mother, June; my older brother, Gale; my little brother, Aiden; and myself, Regina. I was 8, when our mother was lying on her deathbed. I didn't cry, I couldn't. I was the only woman of the family left, and I couldn't let her down, I couldn't let people see me be weak. Aiden cried. He was 4, so he cried a lot. It pained me to know that he grew up in these conditions, where he had to scavenge and beg for food just to get by. But, as our mother told us repeatedly "You have to move on to move forward." So we did, well we tried. Gale tried looking for some small work to try and get us by, it worked but just barely.

That was 9 years ago. Gale had found a loophole in the Skynight academy so he could attend and work his way to becoming a Skynight. He's now with Terra Reign's squadron as their sharpshooter, The Forever Knights. I have taken up a small job at working at the florist, cleaning up the shop every now and again. It gets us by, we managed to buy ourselves a little shack, it was all we could afford but it works well. Aiden has now gotten a job as a courier, earns little money, but it helps.

It was now well into the night and Aiden and I had finished dinner, which consisted of some bread and cheese. Gale still hadn't returned home, and I was getting worried. He never comes home this late. Aiden was pacing the length of the small room and picked at the hem of his worn out shirt. 'Where is he? He shouldn't be out this late.' He said. I let out a sigh and walked over to him and slowed down his pacing.

'He'll be fine, I'm sure he'll be home soon okay? You should be getting to sleep anyway, Aiden.' He gave me a worried look and reluctantly agreed. Going over to the bunk bed he hopped up to the top bed and soon began to snore quietly. He must've been tired from today. He worries too much. I thought to myself. Wrapping my coat tighter around myself, I took the blanket from my bed and gently placed it on Aiden. It was a cold night, and he couldn't risk getting sick. Suddenly feeling tired; I slowly went to the bottom bunk to lie down. I'll be awake for when Gale gets home, but until then I'll just close my eyes for a little bit. It must've not been long until I heard a door creak open, I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes, it was like my eyelids were made out of led.

I listened as I heard him walk around and put some things away before coming over to our bunk. I heard a soft, "I'm sorry I came home so late." Before feeling cold lips touch my forehead. It must have been even colder outside. After a few more minutes of more moving around, I finally heard him settle down on the couch. After hearing silence, I let my mind wander and drift into a dreamless sleep.

A girlish giggle was heard throughout the Condor, and it wasn't Piper. Finn and Junko had set out on a mission to retrieve a midnight snack while everyone was asleep. Not that it was the first time, but it had been a running joke between the two friends to see who could get to the kitchen first, and who was the quietest. So obviously this was a challenge to make the other wake up the rest of the team.

Junko grinned like a mischievous child as he waited behind his close door. He knew that Finn would make the first move, so he planted a booby-trap right at his door. Once Finn's door opens a large bucket of week old merbian cabbage would fall on his head. Just as he had planned, he heard the hiss of Finn's door opening and shortly after heard an audible thud. Snickering, he then decided it was time to open his door and face his opponent head on. The hiss of his door sounded and he peered his head out the door. As he searched the dark corridor, he noticed that he didn't see his blonde haired friend anywhere. Taking this as an okay sign, he quickly rushed out the door, only to be met with a dozen mousetraps attacking and snapping at his feet.

Biting his finger, he whimpered slightly as he tiptoed past the other few mousetraps. He then heard the distinctive sound of his friend snickering. He can laugh now, but he can't be quiet about my next trap! Junko thought to himself. As if on cue, Finn had tripped a line that triggered a light to suddenly come on, illuminating his hair gel in a glass box on a pedestal. Suddenly, a large weight came down on the hair product and crushed it. Finn let out a squeak as he watched his favourite item being pulverised in front of his very eyes. He turned around to watch Junko slowly but surely make his way past him, sticking his tongue out as he did so. Ditching his poor hair gel, he ran over to Junko and tackled him to the ground. The two attempted to quietly fight it out in the middle of the corridor until a light came on. Looking up, they saw who had flipped the switch. It was Radarr; he was glaring daggers at the two who were still on the ground mid fight. Squawking angrily at them as the rest of the crew came out to see what all the commotion was about.

'Really? It's 2 in the morning!' Piper said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes, Finn and Junko suddenly got up, looking at her like she killed their puppy.

'We got hungry!' Finn exclaimed, as if on cue, his stomach made a loud grumble to try and back up Finn's story. Piper and Radarr continued to glare daggers.

'Guys, we have to ration the food until we stop at the next terra. So, that means no midnight snacks. Now back to bed.' Aerrow commanded as he slowly made his way back in his room with Radarr following close behind. Radarr squawked in agreement as well as gesturing that he would be watching them. Once they made sure that everyone had gone back to bed, they quickly made an alliance and ran for the kitchen.

Running in and switching on the light they were shocked by the sudden appearance of Aerrow and Radarr standing there, waiting for them. Although, Aerrow didn't look that intimidating in his boxers. 'Go.' He commanded. Hanging their heads low, they slowly trudged back to their rooms with empty stomachs and a whole lot of traps that hadn't been tripped, yet.

A scream sounded the next morning. Finn ran onto the bridge with bright blue hair and looked absolutely furious. Running over to Junko, he pointed an accusing finger at his friend. 'You did this!' he yelled, Junko looked like a scared little puppy.

'I-I-I didn't do it Finn! T-That wasn't my trap!' Junko stuttered as he tried to sink into the couch to try and get away from the raging blue haired friend.

'Then who did it?!' While Finn raged, they heard quiet snickering come from the other side of the couch. Turning his red face to see who it was, Aerrow and Radarr burst out laughing, which resulted in Radarr falling behind the couch and onto the floor.

'I'm n-not sorry, Finn!' Aerrow laughed as he wiped a tear from his eye, this made Finn fume even more and run back to bathroom to try and wash the blue out. From the bridge they heard Piper burst out into a fit of giggles as she saw Finn.

'Junko?' she asked as she entered the room. He shook his head and pointed to Aerrow and Radarr who were holding their stomachs that were aching from laughing so much. She giggled again and brought the map she was carrying to the table. 'Okay, so the next terra we'll be coming across will be Terra Reign.' She stated as she looked at the map of Atmos.

'Terra Reign? What's that?' Junko asked. Stork hissed as he steered the Condor.

'Terra Reign, it's only the terra that the royal family belongs to. They're terrible; I bet that's where the mind worms originated from. They must use it as a torture device for thieves and traitors. Wait, or is it the rats?' Stork began to ramble on about some other kinds of diseases. Junko, Aerrow and Radarr turned back to Piper for more information.

'He's actually right, well not about the mind worms, but he's right about Terra Reign belonging to the royal family. King Genopole and Queen Fandra rule over the terra, although they're pretty cruel, as well as their guards. They don't show mercy and hardly take in any new comers. So stocking up on supplies from them will be tough, but they are known for having the highest quality supplies.'

'They sound lovely.' Aerrow stated sarcastically.

'Oh I heard of them!' Finn exclaimed as he re-entered the bridge. Everyone looked at him like he grew three heads, or maybe it was because of the blue hair that was now lighter than before. 'Don't give me that look! I listen to people when we have pit stops! I heard that about several or so years ago, they burnt down a house because they thought there was a fugitive taking refuge in there. Other times I heard that this woman, Jill? Or was it Jane? Anyways, apparently she claimed that the Queen was a fraud and tried to poision her then punched her in the left tit.' He told them, recalling the rumours he had heard. 'Or was it the right?'

'A-Anyways,' Aerrow began. 'How are we meant to get supplies?' Piper brought out another map from who knows where of the terra. As they gathered around the table to get a closer look she began to rapidly point to different points of the map.

'If we land slightly under the terra, there is an area that's big enough to hide the Condor. As for getting supplies, we would have to hide out in this little shack here,' she pointed to a little square at the edge of the terra. 'From there we'll have to go in disguise because they only sell to their own.'

'And if that doesn't work?' Finn asked with a smirk. Piper looked at him with daggers.

'If that doesn't work, I'm throwing you over the edge of the terra.'

'You're doing good work, Regina.' My boss praised as he came over and watched me finish up adjusting a bouquet. I flashed him a smile and bowed slightly.

'Thank you, Mr Louvet. It's always a pleasure working for you.' I've always been quiet grateful to him, he let me work when I asked, even after other stores turned me away just by looking at me. Giving me a warm smile, something lurked in his eye but I decided to ignore it. Handing me my pay 5 silver coins. I tried to smile, but it was just that for the work I do, I still get so little. Mr Louvet must have noticed this because he coughed to get my attention.

'You know, there's always another way of getting more money.' He said, I now figured out the look in his eyes. I could feel his hungry eyes roam my body, taking everything in.

'No, it's okay. I'm fine with what I'm getting now.' I say, smiling, trying to ignore his eyes burning holes in my chest. His devilish smile dropped.

'Well I just won't pay you anymore. Then we'll see how long you'll last.' He hissed as he stomped off. Well I take back all the nice things I said about you then. Yes, everyone on Terra Reign was absolutely horrible. Well, most of them. There use to be this old lady who would come by our shack every so often and we'd all have dinner together, it was lovely until some thugs thought it'd be funny to beat her to death in an alley. My heart ached as the memories ran through my mind.

Leaving the shop, I made my way over to the stalls to get something small for my brothers to nibble on when they come back home, bread and cheese, maybe I'll add some ham. We're going fancy tonight! Thanking the lady and handing over all the coins I just earned I quickly walked back to the shack, you never know what could lurking around in the dark, and I didn't want to stay to find out.

As I got inside, I saw both brothers wrestling on the ground. 'What happened this time?' I asked a hint of amusement evident in my voice. They both turned to me with large child like grins on their faces.

'Just having a bit of fun.' Gale replied, his light brown hair messed up from the fight. Aiden was the same, they both mouse brown hair from our father, while I got the chocolate hair from our mother. Gale got the best genes, he has the bluest eyes you have ever seen, while Aiden and I got chocolate brown. Even though we never met our father, mother always use to say when she looked at Gale and Aiden, she saw him staring back.

'Whatcha got there, Regi?' Aiden asked as he quickly got up from the ground and ran over to smell the ham. 'Oh! Fancy!'

'Yep, I got some ham for my lovely boys!' I say happily, Gale gave me a serious look. He didn't like it when I called him a boy, but that's what made it so fun.

'I'm not a boy! I'm a man!' Gale mumbled. 'I'm 22!' stomping his way over to the table I simply laughed at how childish he was being.

'Really? I thought you were 5!' I say, shocked. He turned to me with a grin and poked his tongue out at me. Laughing we all grabbed our own portion of the food and sat down comfortably next to each other while we ate.

'Gale! Tell Regi what you saw today! You know! When you were out flying!' Aiden spoke excitedly while having a mouth full of food. I looked to Gale expectantly. His eyes lit up and he smiled.

'While we were out patrolling, I saw a ship!' He said.

'Who's ship?' giving my a sly grin he continued.

'The Storm Hawks.' My eyes shot open, wait what?!

'S-Storm Hawks? Here?' He nodded excitedly and then Aiden pitched in.

'We can ask them for help Regi! They can get us out of here!' Gale's head began to nod as well. They looked to me for the final say but I looked at the ground, trying to think about this. You see, I've never liked flying. I hate it, actually. I'm afraid of heights and flying, so flying on a skimmer is my worst nightmare as well as flying in the sky on the Condor. They both knew this.

'I-I don't know guys, they're probably really busy.' I say, the light in their eyes dim a bit and my heart began to ache. This is all we've ever wanted, to get out of here. And now here I am, refusing the idea of even leaving this place. 'They're probably not even coming to this terra anyways, but just passing by.'

'We have to ask them, Regi! We need to try! They can help us, and then we can fly out of here and be happier than we are now and then it'll all be okay,'

'Aiden…'

'And then we can live on the Condor, and go on missions! And be really cool! And we could maybe, possibly, hopefully be apart of the Storm Hawks!'

'Aiden.'

'Then we'll all go on adventures with them, and we'll do all this awesome stuff! Oh! Do you think they'll let us touch their weapons? That would so co-.'

'Aiden, ENOUGH!' I didn't mean to snap. I didn't realise that breathing was so difficult until now, it felt like I was being strangled. My eyes began to sting so I took this as my cue to walk outside. 'I'm going for a walk.' I whispered quickly as I got up and rushed out the door. The cold air did little to calm me down. My breathing was still uneven and I couldn't focus, my mind was racing with a million images. Everything was a blur. Crying is for the weak. CRYING is for the WEAK! I yelled to myself in my head. But it didn't stop the hot tears running down my face; I had just let her down. Sobs shook my body; everything hit me like a ton of bricks. No, more than that, it was like the whole world that I was carrying on my shoulders just fell down and broke me. Everything. My mother's death, running away, living like rats, the death of Mrs Kella who was beaten to death, even all my fears broke me down.

Suddenly large warm arms wrapped around me, by the oak, cinnamon and crystal fuel smell I instantly knew who it was; Gale. We probably looked stupid; both sitting on the ground in the dirt, one crying like a baby and the other with messed up hair. We really did match the slums of Terra Reign. Hearing the soothing sounds of his voice, I started to calm down. My breathing slowly became regular again and the tears had finally stopped flowing. 'Are you okay?' he asked softly. I nodded, not trusting my voice. But I knew I'd have to speak soon.

'Is Aiden okay?' He nodded.

'He was more concerned for you though, he understood his mistake and says sorry.' Suddenly, Aiden burst through the door and basically jumped on me and began to squish me in his bear hug.

'I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry Regina!' He said, voice muffled from being pushed into my chest. I chuckled.

'It's okay, Aiden. I'm sorry for yelling at you.' He lifted his head to look at Gale and I.

'I love you guys. You guys are the best brother and sister I could ever ask for.' I saw how sincere he was. I smiled warmly.

'I love you both as well.' I said. Kissing Aiden on the forehead and kissing Gale on the cheek I looked at both of them with a large smile. 'You know we still have some pretty fancy food inside, and it might go to waste if we don't eat it soon.' They both smile back, Aiden the biggest smile out of all of us. He got up as quickly as he got down and rushed inside.

'I win!' He called from inside, making Gale and I chuckle.

'So what's the plan again?' Finn asked as Stork moved the Condor under a ledge, shooting out the grappling hooks that secured Condor. Piper sighed as she walked over to grab another map.

'We go up and find the abandoned shack and wait there until morning, then we put our disguises on and make our way to the supplies. Easy!'

'Ahh, okay.' He said, nodding his head. 'So where's the shack?' Piper face palmed, and just walked away.

'Ready, Storm Hawks?' Aerrow asked, once Finn and Piper entered the hanger bay. Piper nodded happily as she made her way over to her heliscooter, while Finn just shrugged. He had gotten most of the blue out now, but it was still a baby blue colour.

'Why can't Junko come?'

'Because we can't draw too much attention to ourselves.' Piper answered, Finn nodded again. To be honest, he knew all of this, all by heart. It was just fun to annoy Piper, that was the only reason he did it. Revving their skimmers and heliscooter they drove off the landing platform then changed their vehicles. After 2 mins they quickly landed and turned off their bikes. 'If I'm correct, the shack should be right here.' Piper said as she pointed to the small shack that appeared to have a light on.

'Um, Piper, did you check that no one was in it?' Aerrow asked as he noticed the illuminated cracks through the wood.

'No?' she replied sheepishly, rubbing her arm. While Piper and Aerrow began to have a heated discussion about what the plan was now, Finn decided to go and knock on the door. After waiting a few seconds, he grew impatient and knocked again.

'Hello? Is anyone in there?' As he was about to knock again the door suddenly opened. Standing at the door was an old man who was crippled over and leaning against his cane. Grey eyes slowly looked up to meet with Finn's sky blues and just glared. 'Um… Hi, old man. My name is Finn, do you-.'

'No one's home.' The old man croaked out.

'But your-.'

'I said no one's home, boy, do you not speak the common tongue?' he croaked out again. Finn began to feel a bit awkward as he just stood there having a staring contest that was probably ten times his age. Give or take a hundred years.

'Yes, sorry, sir. I'll be going now, have a go-.' Then suddenly the door was slammed in his face. 'Well he was lovely.' He said sarcastically as Aerrow and Piper approached to see what the commotion was.

'Hello? Who's there?' a voice called out. The trio looked around to try and pin point the sound until Aerrow saw a figure just ahead of them in front of another shack.

'Yeah, uh, hi, do you know if there's anywhere we could stay? We've been flying all night and we're really tired.' Aerrow said as he began to walk towards the figure. As he got closer, he noticed that the man was wearing a uniform of some sort. 'Are you a Skynight?' The stranger chuckled.

'Indeed I am, although I'm just a sharpshooter for my squadron. The name's Gale, sharpshooter of The Forever Knights.' Gale greeted as he held out a hand, Aerrow shook it happily.

'Aerrow, Skynight of the Storm Hawks.' Gale's smile widened as did Aerrow's.

'Sweet man! Sharpshooter bro!' Finn exclaimed as he also shook Gale's hand. Gale chuckled and turned to Piper.

'Hi there.' He said holding his hand out to her, her face began to burn and she took his hand. She giggled as she managed a small "Hello." Gale chuckled again. 'Please, I wouldn't want you three to get a cold, come inside. I'm sure we may have some food left over.' He said as he gestured for the trio to go in.

'Regi, is there someone outside?' Aiden asked me when we heard Gale begin to talk to someone outside. I shrugged my shoulders.

'Maybe, don't know who it could be though.' He got up from his spot on the floor and quickly came over to me and sat down, holding my arm tightly.

'Do you think it might be the guards?' I shook my head.

'We haven't done anything wrong. There's no reason for them to be here.' Unless they decide to execute June's children because she died, but they don't know she's gone so what the hell could it be? Just then, Gale opened the door and in come three people, matching clothes and all. Maybe they're apart of a squadron? 'Hello,' I greeted. 'I see my brother has brought friends.' Looking at Gale I noticed that his smile was almost child like as he was quietly talking with the guy with very light blue hair.

'Hey I'm Aerrow, and these are my friends, Piper and Finn.' He said, he seemed nice enough. But always be cautious.

'Welcome, what brings you to this part of Reign?' I asked, shaking their hands. Piper piped up this time. See what I did there?

'We've been flying all night, and we found this place and hoped that we could stay here for a night, if that's alright with you?' She asked. Suddenly, it seemed as though everyone was looking at me with puppy dog eyes. Well, Gale and Aiden were, the others were just looking at me hopefully.

'We'll see, sleeping arrangements are tight already, but we'll make something work.' I was surrounded by a lot of very happy faces.

'What's it like flying?' I heard Aiden whisper to Aerrow. I heard him turn on his side and respond.

'It's amazing, you have so much freedom and being able to feel the wind on your face and through your hair just makes everything feel great.' I heard such warmth and love in his voice when he talked about it. It made me feel guilty that I completely blew off Aiden when he talked about going with the Storm Hawks to get out of this place. I wanted to agree with them, but I just couldn't make myself believe that it was a good idea to go on those flying death traps.

'Wow! D-Do you maybe, sorta think… never mind…' he trailed off. I knew what he wanted to ask.

'What is it, Aiden? You can ask me anything.'

'Do… do you think you could take me flying one day?' he asked, he sounded so hopeful. It broke my heart listening, but I knew I wouldn't be able to make myself not listen to the conversation.

'Of course! We could go flying tomorrow, if you'd like.'

'That sounds awesome! But, Regi probably won't let me go.' It shattered me.

'Regi?.. Oh! Regina, yes she will, why wouldn't she let you have a go?'

'Don't tell her I told you but, she's scared of flying.' My breathing started to act up again, I quickly reached out for Gale's hand that was resting on his chest. Piper took the top bunk while I took the bottom, none of the boys wanted to take the couch so they all slept on the floor, in this order left to right; Aerrow, Aiden, Finn and Gale, who was next to the bed. After finally finding his hand, I held on tightly to try and calm myself down, I felt a reassuring squeeze back as I continued to listen.

'She is?'

'Yeah, even though we all want to get off of Terra Reign we won't be able to because we can't leave her behind.' I felt numb. I was holding them back from getting off this terra, me, their sister. I couldn't continue. I had to get out. Quietly getting out of bed I quickly rushed to the door and headed outside. I didn't know what I was going to do. I just knew I had to get some space.

'Why do I even listen to it?' I asked myself angrily as I headed for the fountain in the middle of town. 'I'm so stupid, I didn't even bring a coat!' pulling my hair in frustration I sat at the edge of the fountain, a hand just touching the surface of the icy cold water.

I slowly lay down on the edge, my entire hand now in the water quickly going numb. Staring up at the sea of stars that shone brightly in the night sky, I wished that I could have the courage to be able to go up there; to fly.

It would make them happy, to finally be rid of this place. It would make all of us happy.

'Regina, are you mad? Coming out here with no coat and putting your hand in the water?' I sat up and watched as my brother approached me, coat in hand.

'I'm not mad, I'm thinking.' I said as he handed my coat to me.

'About what?' I quickly put my coat on and stood up and looked at him right in the eye. Dead serious. This is the decision you want to go with. Yes.

'You and Aiden. I've decided something.' I began. He watched with me with curious eyes as I began to fiddle with my fingers. 'I want you and Aiden to go with the Storm Hawks and get out of here.'

'No.'

'You don't have a choice, Gale. It's for the good of not just Aiden, but you too. I won't be able to go, and I'm just holding you two back from leaving this place. I don't want to hold you back. Tomorrow when the Storm Hawks go, I expect you two to be on board with them. Okay?' I saw the hint of anger in his eyes.

'Regina, how could you? We're a family, we stick together! If you even think that we're going to leave you here in this wretched place then you're dead wrong! What were you even thinking? Were you even thinking? We only have each other.' He grabbed my shoulders and began to shake me. 'Don't leave us like mother did. We need you, so we're staying and that's final.' Pushing his hands off me, I took several steps back to put distance between us. Fresh tears were running down my face once more, I cursed myself for crying again.

'Gale. I'm not going to give you a choice. Think about Aiden, not me. Do you want him to keep living in this place? He's already had a rough childhood; I don't want the rest of his life to be stuck here. I can't go, and I don't want him to be alone. Please.' The last word came out as a whisper. I couldn't speak anymore, the tears wouldn't let me. I dropped to the ground and just let the sobs go. I could tell by how stiff Gale was standing that he was furious. But yet he still dropped down and took me into his arms.

'You're a fool, Regi.' He mumbled into the crook of my neck, he took a shaky breath. 'Please. Please, take care of yourself. For both of us.' I continued to cry into his coat. This is not my day.

'I will, you two be careful as well. Take great care in the open skies. Have lots of fun, okay? Embrace your five year old self.' I sniffed as I heard him chuckle.

'This is worst moment in history that you could crack a joke.' He said jokingly. I nodded.

'But it lightens the mood a bit, doesn't it?' he shook his head. 'We should be getting back.' This time he nodded.

As we stood up, not even bothering to brush the dirt off, we turned to the direction that we came and saw a very serious looking Aerrow. 'Regina. Do you think it's a good idea to stay back? You can come too, we can help you with your fear of flying-.'

'Aerrow, you're kind, really. But I won't be able to. The fear is too strong and it's held everyone back for far too long. I'm sending my brothers with you, please take them with you.' I pleaded.

'I don't want to separate a family. That's not what I aim to do. Please, come with us. It'll be okay. Trust me.' He took my hand in his. 'We'll all help you get over this fear of yours, and we'll never push you too far. If your brother's come, you do too.' His green eyes bore into mine and I could tell instantly he meant every word. With Aerrow holding my hand, and Gale's arm around my shoulders I just felt so guilty. But this was for Aiden and Gale.

'No, the boys are going with you, and that's final. Are we clear, Aerrow?' He looked down and let out a sigh then met my eyes once more.

'Yes.'

'Thank you.' Letting go of my hand we began to walk back to the shack.

'Tomorrow we'll have to get some supplies.'

'Do you know how difficult it is for an outsider to get supplies here?' Gale replied, Aerrow nodded and tilted his head to Gale.

'That's why we may need both of you to assist us in getting some.'

The next morning, everyone awoke with tension in the air. They all knew something was wrong, but no one wanted to mention what. When Aerrow, Gale and I got home last night, Gale began to pack all of his and Aiden's belongings so he wouldn't see and freak out. While he was packing, Aerrow and I began to make a list of all the things they needed. We were now ready to go out and get the supplies.

'We'll be back in 20 minutes.' I told Aiden. 'Make sure you listen to whatever Aerrow says, okay?' He nodded; I knew he knew something was up. I felt bad just thinking about what was yet to come.

'We'll make sure little dude is safe, don't worry!' Finn said as he wrapped an arm around Aiden, which made him smile a bit.

'All right, Gale and I will be off. Be back soon!' And with that we were gone, walking quickly through the town to our destination that was near the castle, we vanished into an alleyway just before some guards walk past us. After making sure it was safe we walked the few metres and arrived.

'Ah hello! What can I do for you today?' The merchant said cheerfully. Unlike other terra's, all our supplies were in one large stall, quite convenient. Giving our list to the merchant he quickly brought the necessary items together into a few boxes, paying for the items was a breeze after Piper gave us the coins for it. Thanking the merchant we slowly made our way back to where the Condor was located was like looking for an elephant in a haystack. Well, I thought it'd be that easy, but you'd be surprised; we didn't know which ledge it was under, and there were a lot of ledges.

'I see something shiny!' Gale exclaimed as he pulled his head back up from the edge. Giving me a toothy grin as I took a few more steps back away from the ledge and began to place the boxes on his skimmer.

'Great! Now get these down there and come back quickly… So we can say goodbye...' I finished, sadly.

'Alright, I'll be 2 minutes.' It's fair to say he was true to his word; I counted. A minute and 48 seconds later he returned and tackled me with a bone-crushing hug. Picking me up while he was still hugging me, he carried me over to the shack so I could say goodbye to everyone else.

'Regina! I'm not going without you!' Aiden yelled as he ran out once he saw Gale put me down.

'Aiden, please, this for your benefit. I'm holding you both back, and you'll have each other.' I said calmly.

'No! We need you too! We're family! Family sticks together!' tears started falling down his face; wiping them away, I brought him in for a hug.

'Please don't cry, everything will be okay. I promise.' You're a liar, Regina. You just lied to your own blood.

'Promise?' he asked, holding out his little finger.

'I promise.' I say, interlocking our pinkies.

Watching the exchange between Aiden and Regina; Gale, Aerrow, Piper and Finn stood off to the side discussing their plan.

'Piper, do you have it?' Aerrow asked. Smiling, she held up the small brown bag.

'Are you sure this will work?' Gale asked, looking at the bag with an unsatisfied look. Feeling Finn place his hand on his shoulder Gale turned to him, receiving a reassuring smile.

'Let's do this.'

Finn came over and said his goodbyes as well as Piper and Aerrow. It broke my heart knowing that I wouldn't be able to see my family again. Aiden had already disappeared with Finn to go down to the Condor, while Aerrow and Piper waited for Gale.

'I guess this is goodbye.' I said quietly as he walked up to me and gave me warm hug. After what seemed like forever, Gale still wasn't letting go. 'Gale, it's time to go. I'm sure the Storm Hawks have some things to get to. You're going to have a fantastic adventure.'

'Yep, and you're coming with us.' Confused, I pulled my head back to be greeted with a smirk. My heart dropped.

Suddenly I felt a strong electric shock and everything turned into darkness.

Oh I'm going to kill him.