Author's Notes: This song got stuck in my head. I decided to write a songfic, but I couldn't think of a character or situation from Storm Hawks that worked without using a pairing. So I listened to it and found the tune (not the lyrics) made me think of one particular aspect of Storm Hawks: the Condor.
This story is just . . . odd. That's the best way to describe it. Hopefully I did a good job of doing a good sort of odd. This is about the Condor, not about a character, although that is arguable, since the Condor here is personified (to an extent).
In most of my songfics, I write the lyrics in italics, but due to the nature of this fic, things are a little different. There's regular font for one point view, italics for another (which sometimes takes place in a different time period), and italics and bold for the lyrics. I'll let you figure out what the points of view are.
And just for the record, have mercy. I typed this up at midnight and edited at 2 o'clock in the morning. Let me know if I missed some errors.
Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks. They are property of Nerd Corps. I also have no rights to the song "Somewhere" by Within Temptation.
Storm Hawks—Somewhere: If Machines Could Speak
By WhispertheWolf
He had never seen a ship like this one. She lay dejected, something one had once thrown aside to play with later and then forgotten about, like an old toy or a used sock. This bare, mountainous environment didn't suit her at all.
Running a hand through his hair, the boy slowly approached the ship. There was nothing like this in his world except here on this mountainside. He had heard rumor of people coming across the mountains by an unknown path and bringing with them their primitive technology. They didn't use crystals to get from one place to another. Teleportation was too "advanced" for those people.
But yet they made ships like these, like this item here. What was so primitive about such a beautiful creation? Her tattered, dirty sides must have once gleamed like silver, and through the dirt and rust he could still make out the huge symbol of a blue bird with its wings outstretched in flight. It looked like a bird of prey, but as to what type and what it represented, he couldn't say.
He approached her slowly, wondering what kind of people had built her and who would have left her here, abandoned? All damage to her appeared to be from neglect. There was no sign of violence.
"Oh, what stories you could tell," he thought, "if machines could speak."
It had been long ago. The Sky Knight had called them all together on her bridge. "This is it," he said. "We either go after Cyclonis now, or everything we fought for is doomed."
"Must we meet her in a tunnel?" the Merb gasped. "That's not safe at all."
"Are our missions ever safe?" the girl pointed out.
The Merb shook his head. "We're doomed," he said.
For once, the Sky Knight did not brush off his comment. He merely looked sober and thoughtful. His copilot watched him anxiously, knowing as well as him. Often they had said the guardians' words within the Condor's chambers between themselves:
"All we find is an Atmos without you."
Lost in the darkness
Hoping for a sign.
Instead there's only silence.
Can't you hear my screams?
The boy had at last approached the ship and come up beside her. As he ran a hand along her, he could tell that this contraption was not as old as he once thought. It was less than ten years, so young that with proper care, it could easily be running like new again.
Why would someone abandon such a young, beautiful ship? What heartless people!
Unless, that was, they didn't have a choice . . .
It was decided at last. They were leaving.
Before they had left, the Merb had lovingly run his hand along the Condor's wheel. "Goodbye," he spoke aloud. "Stay safe. Don't get scratched."
When he turned and left, he had forgotten to take the key out of the ignition.
Never stop hoping.
Need to know where you are.
But one thing's for sure:
You're always in my heart.
The boy saw no ramp leading down from the ship, but he saw the open hatch. What do they call it? A bay of some sort.
A hangar. Hangar bay. That was it.
But how to get up there? He didn't have his teleportation crystal with him. He had simply come out for a walk.
There had to be a way.
So long ago, the Storm Hawks had mounted their skyrides. Although the Merb normally rode with the girl, she would need the freedom to use her new power with the Sky Knight. The Binding, they called it. A powerful force it was. It always it seemed to be what drove its crew members away from the Condor's hold, along with this name they kept mentioning: Cyclonis.
The bridge opened up wide, and the Sky Knight started his engine. He and his copilot led the way, with the girl close behind. The Wallop followed.
And last of all were the blond boy with the Merb sitting behind him. The Merb watched the ship as they flew away. "I'll be back," he said.
I'll find you somewhere.
I'll keep on trying
Until my dying day.
I just need to know
Whatever has happened.
The truth will free my soul.
It took a couple of tries, but finally the boy was able to leap up and grab hold of the side of the ship's flat deck . . . the landing strip, he believed it was called. It took even more effort to haul himself up.
Once there, he peered inside the hangar bay with increasing wonder. Look at the work that went into building this! Just look at every bolt, every plate, every little piece in shape! She was a work of art!
And he hadn't even seen the whole interior yet! Excitedly he ran toward the hangar bay, which gaped at him like a sad mouth unable to speak. Oh, if only she really could tell him all her secrets!
Night fell after the Storm Hawks left. The sun rose on yet another day. They had not returned, as the Merb had promised.
No one touched the key or the wheel. No one even made a whisper. Even the chicken had left in the copilot's cockpit.
What music footsteps would seem like if they could tread upon her floors once more!
Lost in the darkness,
Tried to find your way home.
I want to embrace you
And never let you go.
The boy finally found his way through the maze of hallways to the bridge. The bridge! This is where the magic happened! This is where people could make the ship come to life and watch her soar!
He looked around and coughed in the dust in the room. There was a table in the center of the room. It was round, which made the boy smile. Round . . . for equality. He began to believe that he might have liked whoever ran this ship.
That same symbol on the outside of the ship was on the center of the table, covered in dust. He felt it worth wiping the dust at least away from the head of the bird. It was red now, he could see. Blue, he decided, looked better.
There were items strewn across the floor: bottles, magazines, even a pair of goggles. It didn't look like the people of the ship left in too big of a hurry; it just looked like they didn't have very clean habits. He wondered again who these people were and wished the ship could give him some sort of clue.
They must have left expecting to come back, the boy concluded. And they never did.
Another night, another day, and still more. The days turned into weeks, then months, then years. Dust began to settle. Insects began to take residence within. The rain poured down, and sometimes hail fell, making dents in the metal and overtime causing rust.
And still the Condor couldn't move. And no one came back.
Almost hope you're in heaven
So no one can hurt your soul.
Living in agony
'Cause I just do not know
Where you are.
Then the boy's eyes lit up. The key was still in the ignition!
Delightedly he went over to the helm. If only he turned it, she might fly for him, if her fuel was sufficient. He had never operated a machine such as this before, but he was always inventing his own contraptions. Surely he could operate this.
He reached out to the key and then hesitated. But before he could think about it more, he turned the key.
The engine revved but died.
The boy groaned. He should have known better than to expect otherwise. Angrily he kicked the helm's stand.
Then, surprisingly, the engine shook and started again. And this time, it didn't die.
At first the boy couldn't believe it. Then he smiled and looked around. One of the levers next to him ought to bring her up. He pulled one.
Slowly the ship began to rise into the air. When she was well in the air, the boy pressed the helm forward, and off she went.
The boy smiled as he felt himself being picked up and hurled forward. The sensation was amazing! It was way better than teleportation! Oh, what a way to travel!
And once more the Condor was moving. She was gliding through the mountains, over the ribbon of sparkling river, all in the same direction the Storm Hawks had gone when they left.
She was flying, going after the ones who were gone.
I'll find you somewhere.
I'll keep on trying
Until my dying day.
I just need to know
Whatever has happened.
The truth will free my soul.
The ship did strike against the mountainside, thanks to the poor handling of the boy. But it didn't take long for him to get used to it. Soon he was turning the ship with ease and urging her ever faster. It seemed that their great speed was blinding, that they could go forever and fly off the edge of the world!
They swooped up and down, like being on a rollercoaster, and items went flying across the bridge. It wasn't long before the boy felt like he was one with the ship, that they were flying together, avoiding obstacles by feel rather than sight. He and the ship were one!
Faster she went. The Condor's speed increased, and it was still on the very path the Storm Hawks had taken. But soon they reached the point where the Storm Hawks' path had gone on out of sight of the landing site, and no longer was the Storm Hawks' path known. But this was still a way they could have gone.
Wherever you are,
I won't stop searching.
Whatever it takes me to know.
At last, the boy turned the ship around and headed back to where he found her. He lowered her nice and easy, and it took a few tries, but he finally landed her.
Once they were on the ground, he stood there a moment, his hand on the key. He could take it. He could take it, and no one would ever have to know. This could be his ship, his . . .
A ship like this must have a name. If only she could tell him her name.
But as his hand fell away from the ignition, the key was still in it. It was not his to take.
But he couldn't help smiling. He knew he'd be back, and if this ship and this key were still here, he would fly her again. They would fly just about anywhere.
And she would fly. She would fly throughout the Far Side, in search of what she lost.
I'll find you somewhere.
I'll keep on trying
Until my dying day.
I just need to know
Whatever has happened.
The truth will free my soul.
As the boy was walking back down the mountainside toward his home, he turned back one more time to look at the ship. What a story must lie within those walls! What wonders she must have viewed once, and what wonders she could take him to!
If machines could speak . . .
Author's Notes: I did intend to use the older Condor "mourning" the original Storm Hawks first, but then it occurred to me that the original Condor "saw" what happened. She would not be on a "quest" to find them.
I did not actually want to say that the Condor was thinking anything for the simple reason that she—or rather, "it"—really is a machine. So therefore, everything from "her point of view" was really just the telling of the story and made her—it—into a symbol. Only the lyrics of the song truly personified her . . . it . . . whatever . . .
Why didn't the Storm Hawks come back? You tell me. That is completely up to interpretation. Who's this Far Side boy? No idea. I just needed somebody to fly the Condor, and he and his part grew from there. I don't normally like OCs, and for that reason he is nameless.
I know that I, for one, hate reading these kinds of stories without knowing what happened to the characters. However, here I am, writing just like that, but I don't feel like expanding. This feels complete to me. So if anyone wants to use this fic to write another, be my guest. It can be about what happened to the Storm Hawks that made them not come back, it can be about the boy and what happens after he finds the Condor, whatever y'all want. This is my way of giving official permission to use this idea (just let me know, okay?)
Please review! This was a whole new experiment. I need feedback!