He stared up, watching the light rays that shone through the window onto the ceiling turn slowly from red to yellow.
It was finally morning. He could get up and his friends would be up too; he would no longer be alone in the world of the conscious aboard the Condor anymore.
He pushed himself up on his elbows, looked at Radarr asleep on the couch at the foot of his bed. He looked kind of adorable when he was asleep, though the little blue creature would never let him admit it.
Aerrow sat up fully, crossed his legs and let his elbows drop to his knees, held his hand in his hands; he stared at his copilot. He looked so peaceful like this, dreaming, oblivious to the horrors of the real world.
Sighing, Aerrow straightened and swung his legs off the bed. Silently, he crept to his dresser and exchanged pajamas for his uniform. Pulling on his boots, he hop-stepped from the room and left Radarr to his dreams.
However late it felt to him it was still very early in the morning; Stork was the only one up. Not really wanting to sit through another lecture on Vamprey Flies and Mind Worms, he decided to wait in the kitchen. He pulled a stool out from the cubby under the island table and leaned heavily against the table's surface. Holding his head up in his hand, he traced the welded seam between two metal plates and felt his thoughts turn to why he couldn't sleep.
The Dark Ace. It was always the Dark Ace. No matter how much he hated Cyclonis, he loathed the Dark Ace even more.
He was the one who had betrayed the old Storm Hawks; Cyclonis had been raised to be evil.
Cyclonis ordered death and destruction, but the Dark Ace went along with it, and enjoyed it.
The Dark Ace was the one who'd put these thoughts in his head, who's words echoed in his mind all night, kept him awake.
'You never know, do you Sky Knight? You don't feel it when the put you under mind control. You just wake up one morning and find out you killed all your friends.
'Or it doesn't even have to be you. You could wake up in the middle of the night and find your precious Piper with a blade to your throat.'
Aerrow raised the hand that wasn't holding his head and rubbed his tired, aching eyes. He froze when he heard someone in the doorway.
"Dude?"
He turned to see Finn. The blonde's usually pristinely spiked hair was sticking out in big clumps at odd angles. It seemed also that he'd tried to put on his uniform while still half asleep and only managed to change his shirt, putting it on backwards, before he gave up. His bare feet were blue against the cold metal floor of the ship.
Aerrow raised an eyebrow at him.
"You look terrible," the sharpshooter commented.
"Thanks," Aerrow said, rolling his eyes sarcastically, "so do you."
"No, really, when was the last time you slept?"
Aerrow felt all expression fall from his face. "Last night," he replied testily.
Finn looked skeptical, "For how long?"
"A while…long enough." He didn't want to talk about it, glared. "Just eat your breakfast, Finn. I'm fine, okay?"
Finn raised his arms in surrender, knowing it would be useless to argue. "Okay, fine. If you say so."
He walked over to the counter and started pulling dishes and boxes from the cupboard. He clattered around for a while and then came to sit beside Aerrow, a bowl of dry cereal clutched tightly in hand. He dropped the container of milk from where he'd been holding it in the crook of his elbow, and looked at his Sky Knight.
"You want some, or did you eat already?"
"Uh…yeah, I ate already." Guilty, Aerrow could not meet Finn's eyes. He dropped his gaze and followed his finger as it resumed tracing the welded seam.
He heard Finn crunching on his cereal, could feel his eyes on him, and pointedly kept his eyes down. He knew that Finn was afraid, he saw it on all their faces: he was slipping. Less laughter, less smiles, more mistakes in practice….but he was trying so hard. So hard not to show them how much he hurt, how much he was afraid, how much he felt like a walking zombie. And each day it got worse…
He sighted inwardly and stood to leave, stopped short when he noticed Piper in the doorway. She looked perfect as always, hair styled up in the orange headband, uniform clean and straight, eyes bright and shining on her smiling face.
"Leaving already? I just got here" she teased.
Aerrow grinned in return, sat back down. "Good morning."
Piper walked around the table to the stove and set the kettle on one of the burners, turned the heat on. She pulled a stool up beside Aerrow, folded her arms across the table.
"So?" she asked, speaking to both boys, "any plans today that I should know about?"
Aerrow kept silent, shrugged tired shoulders.
"How 'bout Tropica?" Finn piped up, eyes wide, hopeful that today would be different and either of them would say yes. "Or Terra Neon? Terra Tasty!"
'I thought you and Junko were banned from there?" Aerrow asked.
"So, Piper, can we? Huh? Please!" Finn begged, eyes widened as far as they could go, leaning across Aerrow, willing her to answer in the affirmative.
"Don't ask me, Aerrow's the Sky Knight." She grinned at him as she sifted the decision.
"Well, Finn?" Aerrow asked, still waiting for an answer to his question.
"What? I get to make the choice?" the blonde looked startled but a joyful glint was quickly taking over his eyes.
"No, I meant are you gonna answer my question?"
"What question?"
Oh. Maybe he hadn't spoken out loud. That was bad.
"Never mind. You know how Stork feels about Neon," Finn's face fell a little, "and I thought you and Junko were banned from Terra Tasty after that…last incident."
Finn gave a guilty cough. Piper grinned, rolling her eyes at the memory.
"But we can still got to Tropica?"
Aerrow sighed and closed his eyes, almost forgot how to open them. Wrenching his eyes open before the others could notice, he looked at Piper.
"Doesn't matter to me," he said.
"Okay, guess we're goin' to Tropica, Finn."
"Yes!" he spooned the last few bites of cereal into his mouth, gulped down the last of his milk and, after an angry glare from Piper, put his dishes in the sink. Then he dashed off to find Junko and share the good news.
Piper got up as the kettle started whistling. She grabbed to cups, two bags of tea, and the container of sugar, set it all on the table. She poured the boiling water into the china cups and pushed one in front of Aerrow.
"Hmm?" he glanced up and suddenly wished he were anywhere else. Piper was staring, analyzing him. He realized what the tea was for: an excuse, a trap.
He felt the blood drain from his face. "What?" he asked.
"Aerrow, you know what." She sounded disappointed and sympathetic at the same time.
"I'm fine, really." He kept his eyes down, tried to pick the scalding hot bag of tea out of the water with his fingers.
Piper raised an eyebrow at him, then turned and grabbed a spoon out of the drawer behind him, handed it over.
"Thanks," he mumbled.
"Aerrow, come on. You haven't slept in almost two weeks, something's bothering you and I want to know what it is."
"I'm fi-" he started to protest, gave up when he saw her expression. "Fine, I can't sleep. That's it, I just can't sleep. Happy?" he snapped.
"Aerrow…" she looked hurt. Great.
"Piper, I'm sorry. Really. But please, I can handle this. I'm fine." He flashed her a quick, lopsided smile.
She wasn't convinced, kept her expression stony.
"Thanks for the tea."
He stood up and the room spun. Aerrow resisted the urge to shake his head, but the walls righted themselves anyway. He picked up the teacup and set it on a shelf in the fridge, "I'll have it as iced tea later."
Piper didn't respond and he could feel her eyes on him as he turned and left the room without look back.
"Do we really have to go to Tropica?" Stork asked as the bridge door slid shut behind the redhead. "Please tell me Finn was lying."
Aerrow shook his head, "Sorry Stork, seems like we really are going to Tropica. It'll only be for the day though."
"It only takes one day," the pilot moaned, turning to face the window again, steering the Condor into open sky, "for them to get you. They're about an inch long, black and scaly. They live under the sand. You're just walking down the beach, minding your own business when sneak up and attack! They bite your feet, and get under your skin. Then they climb up your spinal column and lay eggs at the base of your skull."
He shivered, left eye twitching, "The only cure's more painful than anything you wanna think about."
"Uh, thanks for that Stork," Aerrow groaned, as he sat down at the round table. One more thing to add to list to his list of nightmares, he thought, as his tired mind built a picture of the foot-biting-spine-bugs. He saw them moving in a flock, leaving raised lines in the sand as they shot toward the unsuspecting feet of his team. He saw one jump, arcing through the air to some classic horror music, toward Piper's motionless foot-
He jerked awake, wondering when he'd fallen asleep, and sat up, rubbing his neck where a kink had developed.
Piper was at the table beside him, elbow on the table, propping her head up, watching him.
"We're here," she said, "Tropica. The others are already outside."
"Thanks for waiting to tell me, but why're you still in here and not outside, having a good time? Looks like a great day out," he said glancing out the big bridge windows, "Seems perfect for sunbathing, and swimming, and building sandcastles, and…" he realized he was babbling and shut his mouth, averting his eyes.
"I came back in to check on you." she answered.
"I'm fine," was his immediate answer.
Her eyes moved across his face, her mouth opened in a frown, and her eyebrows pulled together,
"Aerrow, the dark circles under your eyes, it looks like someone beat you up."
He frowned, and turned away.
"Aerrow," Piper touched his arm and he looked back to her anxious face, "you know you can talk to me about anything. Absolutely anything. I'll always be there to listen if you want me to."
She paused only for a second, then seemed to piece something together, "Are you having nightmares? Is that why you can't sleep? Oh, Aerrow!"
"Please, Piper! I'm fine! Just- I can do this!"
She opened her mouth to argue but he cut her off, "Please."
Piper hesitated, her orange eyes searching his green ones, and then nodded.
"Just remember, I'm always here for you." She stood up and, with a last worried glance back at him, walked off the bridge to join the others.
Aerrow sighed and dropped his head to the table. Meeting cold metal, he lifted his face a bit and slid his arms across the table, folding them to make a softer pillow. He stared out the bridge windows at the gently rolling waves, and the tall, tropical trees swaying in the slight breeze.
"I'm fine," he whispered out to the empty Condor, "I'm fine."
He only wished it were true.
I'm not going to continue this, but if anyone out there wishes to, be my guest, but let me know first, m'kay? :D