This idea popped into my head (rather randomly) awhile ago. It was originally going to be in third person, but changed it to first. I initially used names, but I decided I wanted to be more ambiguous. It is about the Storm Hawks. However, I didn't specify whether it was the old or new, even if it may seem like I did. It's all up to the reader to decide. It's also up to the reader to decide who the narrator is. And as far as the content of the story: just remember this, "Not all is what it seems."

Songs: "In the End" by Linkin Park and "The Fight" by The Classic Crime

-xxx-

Perfidies: The Fall

I was in the kitchen hunting down some snacks to munch on when he approached me late that afternoon. Although I heard footsteps coming down the corridor, I paid them no heed; so I was taken completely off-guard when he yelled my name. I turned to him, startled.

"We need to talk," he said to me, rather coldly. "Privately."

He looked absolutely livid, like he was ready to choke me to death. He had been out on patrol by himself (For the afternoon patrol. We had all gone out for the morning patrol, though I did get separated from them for awhile.), and had just returned. I was confused as to why he was so angry. It wasn't like him; even when I did something stupid.

"Okay," I replied, slowly.

I should have figured something was wrong when the others kept giving me strange looks and avoiding me like the plague while he was out on patrol. Not to mention the way they were all acting when we returned from our morning patrol. He looked mad then, but it seemed to have blown over by early afternoon. I supposed he had been mad at me for getting separated from him and the squad on our morning patrol; but that reasoning didn't make any sense, so I brushed it off as everyone having a bad morning.

We ended up in my room and after the door closed he turned and locked it. He was obviously very serious about the privately part. He faced the door for quite some time, his hands pressed against it, arms slightly bent. I stood next to my desk in an awkward, and somewhat fearful, silence. I was becoming anxious and didn't want to be in there with him. I could feel a vast amount of bad ambiance filling the room. I opened my mouth to speak, but he suddenly spoke, still facing the door.

"Would you ever betray us?"

"What…?" I said, shocked, wondering if I heard right.

"Would you ever betray us?" he repeated, angrily, turning to face me.

"No," I replied, horrified that he had even thought of such a thing. "You know I'd never do that."

He glared at me, and I didn't like the look.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," he seethed, venomously. "Would you betray us?"

He was practically in my face at this point and I was ready to pass out from fear. It was the first time I had ever been afraid of him. I started shaking and soon found myself unable to speak. I could feel my eyes welling up with tears. He drew his blade from its sheath on his back and pointed it at my throat.

"Answer me!" he yelled. His eyes were filled with a fury I had never seen before. "Would you ever betray us?"

"No!" I cried, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Why do you keep asking me that? I could feel his blade pricking the skin of my throat. "What did I ever do to make you think that?"

I could see the hate in his eyes. I knew he didn't believe me. Without answering me, he withdrew his blade and walked towards the door. He turned back to me briefly, glaring with intense malice, and walked out.

I fell to my knees sobbing. I couldn't understand why he would think I would betray them. And I wondered if the others felt the same way. I sat back, my back flush against my desk. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I couldn't stop crying.

I skipped dinner that night and it became apparent to me that I wasn't missed. Nobody came to my room to ask me why I wasn't there. Nobody came to ask me if I wanted anything. I was nearly convinced that they all believed that I would betray them, until I heard a light knock at my door. I opened it up to find a plate of hot food and a glass of water sitting on the floor. I caught a glimpse of our carrier pilot out of the corner of my eye as I bent down to pick up the plate and glass. He didn't act like the others did towards me. I figured he was just as clueless as I was as to what was going on.

After I ate, I placed the glass and plate back outside my room. It wasn't long after I had closed my door and laid down on my bed, that I heard footsteps again. They stopped at my door. There was a heavy sigh and the clacking of the plate and glass. I knew it was our carrier pilot because I heard him mumble something about how "that redheaded March Hare is going to kill me for bringing you dinner."

I then heard him ramble, "I don't know what his problem is. I mean, he wouldn't even let me come and see why you hadn't shown up for dinner after the rest of us had come. When I didn't see you there, I figured one of them would go get you, but when they just sat there with those looks of malcontent, which really creeped me out, I volunteered to go get you, but he gave me that look. I thought he was going to snap my neck for even suggesting such a thing. We ate in silence, which under normal circumstances would have been a breath of fresh air to me, but it was not a very benevolent silence. And then when I offered to bring you some food, well…." He sighed. "Look, I have no idea what's going on here. I don't know why he believes what he does. Whoever suggested such a thing must have been pretty damned persuasive."

I was now standing at the door with tears in my eyes. "Do you—do you believe I would ever betray you guys?"

There was silence and I was beginning to fear his answer. But a half-smile worked its way onto my face when he finally answered.

"No," he said, "I don't." He paused. "But I can't speak for the others. From what I've seen these past ten hours, I don't think there's any chance of convincing them you wouldn't, especially…." He sighed again and walked away.

As his footsteps faded away, I slid down the door and onto the floor. I could feel the tears beginning to fall once again. I quickly found myself sobbing uncontrollably. Why was this happening? What had I done?

The following two days weren't any different. I ate all my meals in my room (which were brought to me by our pilot) and ventured out only to use the bathroom (and shower) and grab something to drink from the kitchen. I made the mistake of venturing down to the hangar that second day after the confrontation (though he did all the confronting) with my Sky Knight. I simply wanted to relax out on the deck, but got distracted by how dirty our rides were and decided to wash them up. That was a big mistake. I was nearly finished when he walked in. Apparently, he had been looking all over for me. Because I had my headphones on, I didn't hear him approach. He grabbed my shoulder roughly, scaring the crap out of me.

"Get away," he snapped, jerking me back.

"I'm just washing them," I said, rubbing my shoulder.

What did he think I was doing? Sabotaging the sky-rides? Of course, with him believing I'd betray him, I wouldn't put it past him.

"Don't tell me you still think I would betray you?" I seethed. He glared at me. "I can't believe this." I tossed the rag I was holding onto the seat of the skimmer I had been cleaning.

"Just stay out of the hangar," he said, flatly. "And stay off the bridge unless somebody else is there."

"In other words, stay off the bridge unless you're there," I replied, just as flatly.

If he hadn't of been so serious I would've laughed. It was so absurd. I could still see the fury in his eyes. I realyy ticked him off with that remark. He huffed at me, gave me a mock laugh. I knew what he was thinking.

"You honestly think I'm gonna stay out of the hangar because you told me to," I said, haughtily. "What did you think I was doing? Sabotaging the rides?"

What's worse than a glare? Whatever it is, that's what he was now giving me. It was that same look he had given me two days ago in my room. I didn't like it two days ago and I didn't like it there in the hangar. I watched his hand reach for his blade, but he stopped when I flinched.

"Stay out of the hangar," he seethed.

"What are you gonna do?" I said, snottily. "Confine me to my quarters?"

He put his arm down. "You know…that's not a bad idea."

After that remark, I was absolutely sure of one thing….

"You don't believe I'm going to betray you. You believe I already have. That's why you don't want me in the hangar. You think I'll take one of the skimmers and meet up with some Cyclonians." I glared back at him. "And you know our very own carrier pilot believes me and not you."

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "

Or maybe," I continued, "you want me to betray the Storm Hawks."

He grabbed my arm and pushed me forward. "Get out of the hangar."

"You weren't asking me if I would betray you," I said, beginning to walk out of the hangar. I could feel his glare boring holes into my back. I stopped just before the doorway and turned to face him. "You were accusing me."

"Go!"

"Now what?" I said, when he stopped me in front of the bridge door. "You gonna send me to my room?" He pushed me away from the bridge and down the corridor. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

I wasn't about to defy him at that point. I could feel that bad ambiance again. Being confined to my quarters was probably healthy for both of us, mainly me.

A few days later, all that had occurred seemed (and I use that word loosely) to have blown over and be returning to normal. They all acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, except for our pilot. We were constantly giving each other looks of uncertainty, when no one was looking at us.

By the following week, we were all back to our normal routines. But I remained wary. He acted as if he had never accused me of betrayal or put his blade to my throat. No one made mention of betrayal, but I couldn't keep it out of my mind.

We ran into the Cyclonians a couple times during that week, which I was almost grateful for. The battles pulled my mind away from everything that had happened within the squad. Unfortunately, that lasted as long as the battles. When we'd get back to the Condor, it would all come flooding back. I tried hard not to let on that I was still mindful of those events, but I imagine some of them did catch on. If he had, he didn't tip his hand. He would talk to me as if nothing had ever happened.

Two weeks after the whole betrayal-thing, we—they were out on patrol. I decided to stay behind with our pilot and hang-out in my room, catching up on my laziness. I hadn't had any time to just be lazy. I was finally feeling that everything really was getting back to normal. I couldn't have been more wrong. I was flipping through a magazine when I heard knocking on my door.

"It's open," I said, not wanting to get up off my bed.

"Is this what you do when I'm not around?"

I brought my magazine down just enough to see over the top of it. That look. It felt like those piercing green eyes of his were staring right through my soul. It was worse than the last time. I sat up, laying the magazine down beside me.

"Find anything interesting out there?" I said, trying to ignore that look.

"You could say that?"

I looked at him. "Care to elaborate?" I said as I stood up.

Ignoring my question, he held out a white crystal. "You know what this is?"

"A message crystal."

What was this? Was he planning on giving me a lesson on crystals? He knew as much about crystals as I did.

"It was delivered here a few hours ago."

"That's nice," I said, flatly, walking over to my desk. "What's that got to do with me?"

"Oh, it has everything to do with you," he hissed, glaring at me.

It was starting again. I could feel the air in my room growing thick. He was looking at me condescendingly, flipping the crystal in his hand.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I hissed.

"Well, the package was addressed to you," he said, coolly.

"So you made it a point to open it for me."

He smirked in response. For the first time since we had met, he was seriously ticking me off. "And I suppose you made it a point to listen to it." I said, trying not to show my anger.

He smiled at me with that same condescending look.

I returned his smile with a scowl. "So find anything new about me?" I said, coolly.

"Oh, I found exactly what I needed." With that, he tossed the crystal to me and walked out.

I never bothered to listen to the message. I should have. It probably would have saved my squad…and me.

Later that night we ate dinner in relative silence. He kept looking at me. He never said anything, but I knew what he was thinking. Traitor.

The others, with the exception of our pilot, wouldn't look at me. I knew something had happened while they were out on patrol. Our ballistics expert had said it was "all routine" when I asked him how it went. But with everything that had happened over the past two weeks, I knew better. Whenever I asked any of the others, aside from our pilot, anything about the patrols they would always look at our Sky Knight before answering. And if he wasn't around they'd hardly say anything at all. The only one who would really talk to me was our pilot. I wondered if the others were simply afraid to talk to me. But as another week passed, I had to realize that what was happening between us was far from simple.

After a month had passed since our initial confrontation, he confronted me for the third time. I had no idea what went on during those patrols; what he did; or where he actually went. I rarely went on any, by my own choice. He no longer forced me to stay on the Condor. I was down in the hangar for this third confrontation. We hadn't spoken to each other all day, mainly because I had been avoiding him. Whatever happened to him on his patrol that day was far worse than any before. I was sitting on the floor against the wall not doing anything, just staring off into oblivion. I heard footsteps approaching and stood up quickly when I realized it was him. I was standing flush against the wall when he drew his blade and held it to my throat.

"We both know the truth," he hissed. "Don't you dare deny it."

"What are you talking about?" I said through my teeth, afraid to move even in the slightest. "What's wrong with you?"

"This isn't about me," he seethed, retracting his blade. He glared at me and left.

I decided at that moment, one way or the other, that would be the last time he would hold a blade to my throat.

Two more weeks passed before we saw any action. And during those two weeks I began to wonder if all of it had been a farce, some kind of test concocted by my Sky Knight. Everything went on as if the last six weeks had never existed and I was beginning to believe it so. I was finally feeling that I was part of the squad again. I was finally happy again.

But my happiness was short-lived. On the morning of our battle with the Talons, I heard him speaking to the rest of the squad about me. It wasn't good.

"I guess they still believe that crap," I whispered to myself, standing on the other side of the bridge door. "Well, if betrayal's what you want, then that's what you'll get."

As I walked down the corridor to my room, I heard the bridge door open and our pilot call out to me. But I ignored him.

Less than an hour later we ran into the Cyclonians. In the midst of the battle, I seized my opportunity.

Crouched on the back of his ride, I reached for his blade saying, "You know that old saying, what you send around, comes around?"

Huh? was his response as I drew his blade.

He turned his head quickly to see me rearing his blade back, ready to strike. I couldn't believe he had the nerve to look shocked. "I put my trust in you!" I yelled. "And look where it got me!"

He tried to say something back to me, but I didn't let him. Perhaps, I should have.

When all was said and done, I made my way to Cyclonia; to a new life; a new name. Neither of which I truly wanted. I had no desire to pledge my allegiance to Cyclonia and for awhile, I resisted with a strength I never knew I had. But after a year of torture, both physical and mental, I found myself bowing to Cyclonis and saying "Master" with reverence.

I had been pushed as far as I could go with the Storm Hawks. And I wondered, how far could I be pushed with Cyclonia?

"Now that your submission is complete," my master began….

Now, when did I say anything about complete submission?

fin

-xxx-

So, does anyone have a clue as to what's going on? Perhaps, you're as clueless as our narrator. Do you know who the narrator is? Regardless, of your own thoughts on this, just remember what I said in my opening notes. "Not all is what it seems."