I don't own Storm Hawks.

Rain

It was raining. I actually never liked the rain. But right now, it felt somehow nice. It felt nice and warm against my pale skin. It didn't patter ruthlessly down on me. It wasn't the kind of rain I was used to.

So I just lay there.

My lids felt so heavy. I wanted to close my eyes. But I didn't. I should stand up. But I didn't. My stomach ached.

I was too lazy to stand up right now. So I remained on the cold ground motionlessly.

I didn't feel like moving. The pain in my stomach grew.

I wondered if I should call someone. I didn't want to be alone right now.

No. They probably had different things to do. They were probably busy.

I had already done my part. I could stand up and help my friends.

But my stomach hurt. I really wanted to help them. It hurt to move but doing nothing also hurt.

So I chose the lesser evil. I remained laying on the soft ground. I actually didn't choose. I had no other choice. It just hurt less.

It hadn't stopped raining yet. I was cold. The rain felt warm. It was nice.

I was tired. So tired. I just wanted to shut my eyes.

Maybe the pain would subside then. It surely would subside.

I knew I shouldn't close my eyes.

The rain became more forceful. My vision was blurry.

"He's over there!"

"Aerrow?"

I knew the voices. Junko and Piper.

I smiled. It was good to hear them.

Someone sat beside me. I forced my head to look at the person. It was Piper. I grinned at her.

She was crying. My grin fell. Instead I frowned. It was as if she didn't want to look at me. She kept averting her watery gaze.

"Piper…why are you crying?"

She didn't answer. The tears only came faster. They mingled with the rain taking the dirt from her cheeks. The tears left their traces.

"We need to take him to the Condor, Piper!"

Was that Stork? It had to be him. He actually had left the Condor. Strangely, I felt happy about that.

He sounded very panicky though.

"Won't that make the wound worse?"

It was Finn who had spoken. I frowned again. My eyes were still focused on Piper.

"Wound? What…what is going on?"

Piper forced her eyes to remain on me. She placed a shaky hand on my cheek.

"Everything is going to be okay. Just don't move."

My frown deepened at her answer.

I yelped. The pain in my stomach became unbearable.

"Stork! Stop it! You are hurting him!"

Piper sounded horrified and angry.

"We need to move him away! I cannot treat his wound here!" Stork sounded even angrier.

I found it harder and harder to concentrate on things. The pain in my stomach made it hard for me. I could only feel the agony.

"Stop arguing already! He'll bleed to death!" Finn shouted at them. He seemed to be the angriest of them.

Wait? Bleed to death? Were they talking about me?

"Piper?" I called. My voice was very weak. I winced. It actually hurt to talk.

She averted her gaze from the merb. She looked at me. And gasped.

I didn't know why. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know why.

She looked like she didn't want to look at me.

"Piper, what has happened?" I breathed out.

Piper was nothing more than a mere blur. I blinked. I blinked again. I blinked once more. I still couldn't see clearly. I tried to blink once again but this time I didn't open my eyes.

"Aerrow!"

I could faintly hear the mingled voices of my friends calling my name frantically. I forced my eyes open. It took a lot to manage it.

Only two bright orange blurs told me that I was looking at Piper. I couldn't really make out her face but I was sure she was crying.

"Aerrow you can't die now. We have finally defeated Cyclonis. You can't die!"

Finn also sounded like he was crying.

I was dying? Well, that would explain the pain I was in. It would explain why everyone seemed to be crying.

But then I smiled. I, at least, thought it was a smile.

"We've won?"

"Yes Aerrow, we've won, so you need to get better quickly. We can't celebrate without you."

Junko's voice sounded somehow muffled. It was hard to understand him, to make out his words.

But I understood him. I knew he was crying.

"Don't…don't cry," I bit out, every movement sending jolts of pain through my body. "We've won," I said and tried to smile in spite of the pain.

I had a good reason to smile. We had won! We had finally managed to take Cyclonia down. Wasn't it what we had always wanted?

At least, it was what I had always wanted. My friends were also okay. So, I was happy.

So, I smiled.

I smiled as I slowly closed my eyes. This time I didn't open them, although my friends screamed at me to open them.

The last thing I noticed was that it had stopped raining.