Author's note: Well, here we have it, a companion piece to "Only when I sleep." In this, Aerrow also dreams of his past and remembers…. The memory in this story is set about a year after the incident in "Exploding Cross-bows and Guitar Demons" and the second memory is set a further three years after that. Okay, I've rambled on long enough! Enjoy!
A four year old red-haired toddler toddles around the room, giggling as he goes. His green eyes are glittering with mischief and laughter.
"Aerrow? Aerrow, you have to come and help mommy, sweetie!" a female voice calls before its owner walks into the room, looking for the child in question. "You need to- Aerrow, put that down at once!" she exclaims suddenly, looking at her son. Who now happens to be carrying, or rather dragging something which appears to be an energy blade. He laughs before waving it around, much to the dismay of the woman.
"Aerrow! Put that down! It's dangerous!" she rushes over to the toddler, who is still holding on to the energy blade and playing with it. The woman wrestles with the child and manages to extract the energy blade from his tiny grasp, and then she places it on a high table where she is certain that Aerrow cannot reach it. She sighs, shaking her head, causing her long brown hair to sway around her shoulders.
Aerrow stares at his mother, transfixed, before his eyes quickly fill with tears.
"Mommy! You took it! You took it!" he cries, and he begins to wail. He sits on the floor and howls. "You took it mommy!"
His mother crouches down and picks up the sobbing toddler; holding him tightly in her arms. She starts to gently rock him.
"Hush... Oh Aerrow honey, I took it off you because it was bad. You could have hurt someone, or yourself pet! There's no need for tears, baby…" she says, starting to stroke the soft red hair which is so like his fathers.
The toddler's cries subside quickly, because he loves the rocking motion which soothes him and the gentle strokes on his head which calm him down. He leans into his mother, sighing happily.
"There now… feeling better?" his mother asks him.
"Yeth, mommy" the small child lisps. He giggles as the woman's long hair tickles his neck.
"I need a big strong boy like you to come and help me tidy up. Think you can help me?" his mother says, looking at her son. He looks up at her, meeting her dark eyes.
"Yeth, mommy. I will help. I'm a bwig bwoy!" Aerrow says happily.
"Okay then." his mother goes to set him down but he moans. He doesn't want to be put down, not yet. "Oh, you are spoilt, young man." she laughs, picking her son up again. "Right. I need you to help me tidy up in the kitchen; your daddy is coming home and is bringing a guest with him, so we need the place to be perfect!" she says, swinging the boy in the air. He shrieks delightedly.
"Daddy ith coming home! Daddy ith coming home!" he giggles; while his mother carries him into the kitchen. She sets him down on the floor and takes out various items of kitchenware and starts setting them down. She hands Aerrow some napkins.
"Put four of them down on the table there for me sweetie, and then if you want you can get me some mineral bottles from the fridge." She says to him, before starting to lay out the cutlery. "Don't touch those pet, they're bad too!" she hastens to add, seeing her son is looking at the shiny metal knives and forks, his eyes already glittering again. She picks up a plastic knife and fork and places them on the table, and whisks the other items away from the toddler's range.
Aerrow sets down the napkins and walks over to the fridge, picks out two bottles and carefully begins to walk over to the table with them, his tongue sticking out in concentration.
"Aww, well done honey! Thank you! You've been such a huge help to mommy!" his mother says to him, planting a quick series of kisses on his head. The toddler giggles when she starts tickling him.
###
They are just setting out the dinner - well, his mother is, while Aerrow busily plays with his toy monkey, Clover- when there is a knock at the door.
"Mommy! Daddy ith home! I wanna hug daddy!" The small boy clambers to his feet and races to the door, followed by his laughing mother.
She opens the door and smiles at the sight of her husband, her throat tightening. She has missed him so much… After having Aerrow, she decided not to return to the squadron and has seen little of her husband. He is away so often. For more and more Cyclonia Talons are patrolling the skies, more skirmishes are happening in this war and he has to be there… The lump in her throat increases when she looks into his sparkling emerald eyes. She doesn't know what she would do if he never came back…
"Aron…" she says simply, throwing herself into his arms. He holds her close. He has missed her, and Aerrow.
"Oh Niamh…" he sighs. "I have missed you so much. Every single day." He kisses her, holds her close to him for another moment before looking at his son. He grins as the boy laughs happily. "Aerrow! Wow, you've grown! What a big boy you are now! Nearly as big as me!" he laughs bending down to hug his son. Niamh smiles, feeling the constant knot of worry in her stomach loosen up and relax, now that her husband is home safely and her family is united.
"I'm a bwig bwoy, daddy. A very bwig bwoy! Look!" Aerrow stands beside his father, as if to compare height.
"He is big enough now to pick up your old energy blade off the table." his mother says, laughing.
"Taking after both me and you! Ready to save all of Atmos, are we buddy?" Aron grins, picking up Aerrow and whirling him around in the air. The four year old screams with pleasure and chuckles.
"I mithed you daddy!" he says, grabbing hold of his father's hand. His little hand tightens its hold, as if he will never let go.
"I missed you too, sport! Every day! You have to tell me what you've been up too!"
"Will you tell me stories?"
"Certainly, certainly. But first, I have to introduce someone to you." he turns around and gestures to the figure behind him, a grin on his face.
"Niamh, Aerrow, this is my new co-pilot, and my new little demon, Rook. Rook, this is my wife Niamh and my son Aerrow. Say hello!" Aron says with a laugh.
"Hello…" the boy says, looking awkward.
"He's shy." Aron announces. Rook looks at him in annoyance.
Niamh looks at the boy. He looks very young… About fourteen or fifteen, and he is tall, about the same height as her husband, and very skinny.
"Aron, do you not feed the team anymore? This poor soul looks in need of a good meal!" she points at Rook, who grins.
"I eat loads, I do, but I just don't get fat." he looks at Aron, his eyes glittering in amusement. "Unlike the ginger ninja over there."
Niamh laughs while her husband sighs.
"I am not ginger… just, you know, a red head." he says, defensively, while Niamh shakes her head, laughing again. She really has missed her husband.
Rook smirks. "Sure, sure."
Aerrow cranes his neck upwards to look at this new person. He looks at the older boy in sudden confusion. His eyes are red!
"Mommy! Daddy! His eyes are red! Look!" he points at the teenager facing him with an almost accusing finger. Niamh looks at her husband's new charge. He boldly meets her eyes.
His eyes are a most unusual colour; a dark red… She has never seen eyes like it before in her life, though she has heard of some people called Albinos who have them; but they also have white hair, while this teenager has black hair, as deep and as dark as the night.
"Aerrow, it's rude to point." she says quickly, steering Aerrow through the door in the direction of the kitchen.
"But-" he complains, his little mouth set into a pout.
"Go on, sport, show us the way!" Aron calls out. He looks at Rook apologetically. "He has never met anyone with eyes likes yours, kid." The Squadron leader mutters, dragging a hand through his unruly red hair.
"I'm sorry about that, Rook. Please do come in!" Niamh stands aside and lets Rook pass her. The boy shrugs slowly as he enters the house.
"It's okay. Really, it is. I get it a lot, so I'm kinda used to it by now…" he mutters as he walks through the door.
Niamh looks at her husband with a slow shake of her head.
"Poor child..." she mutters sadly.
Aron sighed. "I know, poor little kid." He looks at his wife, and then at the door. "Ladies first…" he grins at her, throwing in a wink when she giggles.
"That means then you should go in first…" she replies with a laugh.
"Oh, that is mean!" Aron says, pretending to look heartbroken. He looks at Niamh suddenly, his expression tender and loving.
"What?" his wife asks curiously, tilting her head to one side.
"Nothing. I just never realised how much I love you, and how much I missed you…" he trails off. Before she can reply he picks her up, bridal style.
"Aron!" she laughs. "Aron! Put me down!"
They are about to go in when they hear a thud, a cry of "Shit!" and "Bloody stupid carpet…" Aron sighs, a small frown on his face.
"Rook! Language!" he calls through the house. There's some muttering, and Aron shakes his head with a rueful sigh. But his eyes are sparkling with humour.
"Let's go in then, shall we…" he walks through the house to the kitchen, with Niamh laughing in his arms.
###
They have just finished dinner, and Aerrow is happily eating a dish of ice cream. Aron and Niamh have a cup of tea each and Rook takes nothing.
"Rook? Are you sure you don't want anything else, honey?" Niamh asks.
The boy looks up at her with those unusual eyes.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks though."
"Daddy?" Aerrow looks up, his face partially covered with ice cream, "Can you tell me stories now?"
Aron laughs. His son is still the same; always wanting to know more about the Storm Hawks. He had told his father that he would be a Storm Hawk too; but not just a member, he would be the Sky Knight.
Niamh relaxes against his shoulder. He has missed her so much; and he knew she missed him, and was worried about him. He quickly drained his cup before starting to tell Aerrow stories. He usually did this when he got a chance to go home, or when Aerrow sometimes visited him. The boy loved hearing all about the adventures the Storm Hawks were involved in. However, they were watered-down versions of what actually happened. The war was bloody, and he would not let Aerrow hear about it. He even hated the fact that Rook had to see it. The boy was fifteen and had seen so many bad things already... Aron shuddered. He liked to look out for the kid, he was like a dad to him; even if he would never admit it.
Aerrow was looking at his father with those big puppy eyes which Aron could never resist.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you some stories… but let's get Rook talking too, yeah?" He looked at Aerrow, who nodded and smiled. Stories were stories, so long as he heard some!
"What do you say Rook? Wanna tell a story?" Aron looked at the teenager, who shrugged his shoulders.
"If the kid wants, I don't mind. What does he want to hear?"
Aerrow appeared to think for a minute and said "I know! I wanna hear about those bwad Cyclonians. My friend Finn says that his daddy says that all Cyclonians are bwad! He said they were…" he trails off, thinking for a bit. "it's a hard word…um…sc…scu…scum!" Aerrow says happy that he remembered a "hard" word.
Niamh looked her son, shocked. "That's a rude word, Aerrow. I never want to hear you say it again, you hear?"
Aerrow looks guilty and nods at his mother. "Okay, mommy, I'm sorry…"
Aron looks at Rook. The kid had flinched at the words his son had spoken, and his fists were now clenched.
Niamh stops looking at her son and glances at the young boy to her left. Why was he acting like that?
"Rook-" she starts, but he cuts through her words like a knife through butter.
"Look, brat. I don't care who told you that, but it isn't true. Not all Cyclonians want to wage a war with everyone, okay? Some of them are arrested if they speak out, locked up in tiny cells in the dark and fed nothing. Some die in there, others are executed. The people who are 'scum' are the ones who carry out the torture sessions, the executions and the ones who want war. Get it?" At this, Rook stands up, shaking, and walks out.
Aerrow looks ready to cry. Niamh picks him up, and starts to rock him, while looking speechlessly at her husband.
"He…he's Cyclonian…" is all he says. Its all he has to say.
While Aerrow is in his mothers arms, he thinks on what he has heard. He looks at his father.
"Aerrow, I know you didn't mean what you said, but it wasn't nice…" His mother starts to say, but Aerrow doesn't listen. He just keeps on looking at his father, while Aron looks at him.
"Aerrow, bad things are happening out there-" he begins, thinking that tonight is as good a time as any to educate his son about the full horrors of the war he is living through.
"Aron! Don't tell him this! He doesn't need to know! He's too young!" Niamh interrupts.
"Love, he needs to know, or else he won't understand everything he has heard tonight…" Aron says to her. He turns to his son again, and continues.
"Aerrow, there is a war going on. You know that, right?" His son nods speechlessly. Aron continues, " It's a bad war. A mess of a war. Many people are dying everyday, just because of what Terra they are from. As you can see, Rook is Cyclonian but he fights with me. However, he does this at a great risk, because if the Cyclonians find out…" Aron breaks off quickly. Aerrow doesn't need to know that much. "Listen, because this is important. Someday, I may not come back-"
"Don't you say that. Don't you dare say that!" Niamh hisses at her husband, while holding Aerrow close. She is blinking furiously and Aron can see that his wife's eyes are full of tears.
"Niamh, he has a right to know!" Aron says angrily back. "Someday I might not come back. But if that happens, you must promise me something. Can you do that?" He gazes seriously upon his young son. Aerrow nods, though he is trying not to cry.
"Yeth daddy. I promith!"
"You need to look after Rook for me. Be there for him. And if anything happens to him, something bad, I want you to be the one to help him, okay?" Aron looks at his son, and holds out his hand. "Big Boys shake hands when they make a deal." He says. "So, we have a deal, sport?"
Aerrow puts out a shaking hand and shakes his fathers hand timidly. "Yeth daddy. We have a deal!"
"Good. Now I need to find Rook…" Aron walks out of the kitchen, shouting for the teenager as he goes.
Niamh holds her son in her arms, shaking herself.
"May his words never come back to haunt him…" she prays.
###
It's a cold, dark day. Rain falls heavily outside, and a seven year old Aerrow has been cooped up in the house all day. His friends are sick with the chickenpox, and Aerrow is still recovering from his bout of it. His mother has made him a bed on the settee and he is all cozy and warm when there is a knock at the door.
"Mom! Mommy! Someone's at the door!" He yells, while struggling to get out of his cocoon of blankets. His mother rushes past the living room and smiles at Aerrow.
"Someone who can shout like that is better. Definitely well enough to go to school tomorrow!" she smiles at her son. She smiles all the more at the face he pulls.
"Maybe... Maybe I'm still sick…" he whispers, putting on a hoarse voice. She doesn't buy it though, and rolls her eyes at him. Niamh walks to the door and as she does so she wonders at who it could be. Maybe Aron? Coming on a surprise visit? His last one had been two months ago, and she missed him more with every passing day.
Opening the door, she is shocked and fails to even say hello to who is there.
It is two representatives of the Sky Knight Council. They look at her with such sadness in their eyes…
"Oh no… oh please god no…" She whispers to herself, having to grab onto the door frame for support.
"We are very sorry to have to tell you this ma'am, but your husband is dead. He died fighting bravely at the Battle of…" they go on, but she has stopped listening. Aron? Dead? No…
She has collapsed onto the floor, not caring how she must look. The tears come soon after, pouring down her face. The men murmur something and slowly back away. She sobs, her hands tugging through her hair, and she starts to scream.
"Mommy? Mommy?" A timid voice comes from behind her. She turns around. Aerrow. Oh god, he has no father…And do I tell him? Her lips tremble as tears crash down around her face.
"Aerrow… Aerrow sweetie, your daddy…" she sobs harder "Your daddy is dead… Your daddy is dead honey…" she cries.
Aerrow looks shocked, and then suddenly bursts into tears, and runs at his mother. She holds her arms out, and holds him to her, rocking him slowly, both of them sobbing on the floor. Niamh looks at the men, who are still there, both of which are wearing identical expressions of grief.
"H…h…how?" Is all she asks.
"We believe that his co-pilot, a Cyclonian boy by the name of Rook killed him after killing everyone else onboard the Condor. Seems that he turned traitor…" they say more, but once again she has stopped listening.
That boy with the red eyes, the one who had yelled so passionately at Aerrow all those years ago, had turned into what he had sworn not to. She had watched him grow up. Aron had looked upon him as a son. And now he had killed her husband, and her friends…
But her husband would have stuck up for him, defended him… She sobs harder, and then looks at her crying son.
"Aerrow, if you ever, ever, meet that boy again, I want you to do something, okay?"
Her son looks at her. "What, mommy?" he says through his tears.
"I want you to help him. As your father would have done. Honour your promise you made to your father, Aerrow, do it for him, and for me…" she cries harder.
Aerrow nods, and though he is crying he swears that he will keep both promises…
I wake up.
Those memories have been present in my dreams ever since I had had my first fight with the Dark Ace, and try as I might I simply cannot get rid of them. Whenever I close my eyes and sleep, they appear and I seem powerless to stop them.
I remember the promise I had made to my father. About helping Rook if my father never came back home, or if something bad happened to Rook.
"You need to look after Rook for me. Be there for him. And if anything happens to him, something bad, I want you to be the one to help him, okay?"
And then my mothers words…
"I want you to help him. As your father would have done. Honour your promise you made to your father, Aerrow, do it for him, and for me…"
When I first saw Rook again, I couldn't believe that he was the Dark Ace. He didn't seem to remember me; or the night which he had yelled at me about Cyclonians. He didn't seem to remember play-fighting when me as I got older, either. I have remembered what he had shouted that day, and I had always believed that he would stand up for Cyclonians, but now his words have come back to haunt him - he has become one of those he himself called scum.
I fear that I cannot help him. There are times when I don't want to help him. He has chosen for himself what to do, and look at what he has done. There are days when I curse him and all I want is for him to die, and by my hand. But there are also other days, when I feel sorry for him. I pity him.
There are more of the latter in my life than the former.
I glance out of the window in my room on the Condor. This was once my fathers room too. The sun is just rising and it looks to be a beautiful morning.
My mind is set. I will honour both my promises and try to help the Dark Ace. Maybe I can help him; maybe I can't. However, I will try. Everyone deserves a second chance, no matter what. That was something that my dad always used to say to me.
And I will say it too; to a man I know needs one.
I will be the one to give it to him.
I will be the one who gives him freedom.
I stop looking at the window and look at my bed. Maybe I can get a few more hours rest before having to get up. We have to start our nest mission early. I clamber into bed and just as I close my eyes I think of my promise. I will do it, I will.
"I promise I'll try, daddy… I promise…."
My eyes close and everything goes black.
Wow, that went on so much longer than what I had intended…sorry about that. I got carried away as usual! Toddler Aerrow and Teenager Ace are just too much fun to write about!
Hope you guys liked this, and remember folks, a review to me is what Heroes is to my sister…
Heaven =] xoxo