Prologue

"Piper wouldn't really leave us…would she?"

Aerrow watched as Piper flew away on her heliscooter. He was in complete disbelief, unable to come to terms with the fact that she would leave the squadron behind, that she would leave him behind. He wouldn't be able to learn how to live as a Storm Hawk without her. She had been with him since the beginning, and they weren't just friends anymore in his eyes. That much was clear. The toll her absence took on his heart made that painfully clear.

"Congratulations, guys, I think we did it." Aerrow looked back from the window, after trying to spot Piper after their "delicious" meal.

His smile was forced through his guilt, though, and Junko voiced his doubts by asking, "You don't think this was too mean, do you?" Aerrow's eyebrows pushed together in concern at this, hoping they weren't hurting Piper. He just wanted her to come back to the Condor.

"Are you kidding?" Finn burst through Aerrow's thoughts. "This plan was flawless. Piper would be proud." Aerrow was still unsure, but maybe Finn was right for once.

"What happened to all the f-furnace crystals?" Junko asked through chattering teeth. "It's f-freezing in here." Aerrow resisted a shiver as the cold of the bridge swept through to him, trying to focus on the crystal in his hand.

"I'm working on it, Junko," he said patiently. "This is harder than it looks." He hit the crystal with the spark machine in his other hand. It glowed hopefully for a second, then died in a puff of red smoke. Aerrow sighed. God, he would never take Piper for granted again. She was so smart to do all this stuff on her own, and without any training or anything. Even he had had training.

"You, know, she could've stocked us up before abandoning ship," Finn muttered, rubbing his arms to try to eliminate the cold. Don't say "abandoning ship," Aerrow thought irritably. She didn't abandon us...I hope…

"Well, at least we have plenty of Piper's sandcakes left," Stork commented with an attempt at a smile, heading over to the cookie jar. Aerrow smiled. That's true…way to be optimistic Stork. "A day without those ," Stork continued, "is like a day without.." He paused dramatically, holding the lid to his chest. "Bat repellant." He stuck his arm in the cookie jar, fishing about for a cookie…anything! He let loose a shriek when he discovered the jar was empty. Looking around desperately for the culprit, Stork let loose a growl as he saw a bloated and contentedly full Radarr hiccup on the ground.

"I miss Piper," Junko sighed morosely. "Can't we just go get her?" Aerrow smiled gently at the Wallop, thinking about how he had taken the words right out of his mouth.

"Guys!" Finn exclaimed, drawing Aerrow and Junko's attention over to him. "Snap out of it, okay? This is exactly what she wants you to think! It's a mind game, and we're gonna win." Aerrow half-grimaced, hoping Finn was right and it was just a game. He didn't want Piper to get hurt.

Later that night, Aerrow was awakened by the soft sound a motor purring beyond the walls of his room. The alarm wasn't going, off, so he didn't panic, just getting up blearily and wandering to the bridge. Putting his hands on the window, he stared out through the glass in curiosity. He saw a familiar Heliscooter resting on the landing strip and a shadowy figure enter the hangar bay.

"Piper," he breathed, his eyes widening. Was she coming back? He was ready to beg for forgiveness if it meant she would come back. Aerrow whipped around and sprinted to the hatch that led to the hangar bay. His feet slammed on the ground and he looked around frantically, but he was too late. Piper was gone, and when he looked out the open doorway to the landing strip, her Heliscooter wasn't much more than a dot off the Condor. "Piper!" he shouted, his eyes following her Heliscooter as it disappeared into the trees of the nearby terra. He couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes away, only able to keep staring. She was so close and yet so far. She had come back, then she left again. Why? What was going on?

"Why are you up?" asked a groggy voice from behind him. It was Finn, with Junko at his side. "I heard you shout." Aerrow let his eyelids fall so his eyes were only half open as he looked at the ground. Finn put a hand on his back. "Don't worry. She'll be back," he told Aerrow. "She's just…blowing off some steam."

"Yeah. Sure." They turned to go, then Aerrow noticed a pair of objects lying on the ground. Finn stepped forward, then lowered onto his knees, inspecting what the objects were.

"Stork's X-Ray peepers," Junko gasped. Beside him, Aerrow stepped forward and crouched down next to Finn, taking the book into his hands.

"And Piper's log," he breathed.

"She wouldn't go anywhere without this," Finn commented, his eyebrows pushing together. Aerrow opened the book and flipped to the last entry.

"Unless she wasn't planning on coming back," he murmured, feeling like his stomach was falling away. He held the book open and put it in front of Finn's face.

Hard to believe all this time I was just holding the Storm Hawks back. This will be my final entry.

Piper out.

Finn chuckled. Aerrow looked up at him sharply. How could he be laughing now? Piper was definitely gone, now. She was gone, and it wasn't just a game.

"Aw, you should see your face!" he exclaimed. "This is all part of her plot! Obviously! You know how deep Piper likes to go on her plans! This has got to be more of her mind games. Don't fall for it, Aerrow, we'll make it yet." Aerrow thought for a second, then released a small chuckle and a half-smile. He hoped that it would fool Finn, although he could still feel his eyebrows pushed together.

"I'm going out on patrol." Aerrow hoped the white lie would fool Finn as he strode quickly towards the door. He was sick of these "games," this refusal to search for a member of their own team.

"You mean you're going to look for Piper," Finn corrected him, sounding bored. A shock suddenly shook the ship, causing Finn to fall out of his chair and pulling Aerrow's mind off of Piper.

"It's a power drain!" Stork shouted. "We're going down!" Another shudder rocked the ship as the first two anchors on the ship gave way. As Aerrow struggled to regain his balance, the ship's alarm began blaring suddenly.

"Now what?" Finn cried, from the floor. Stork grabbed his periscope, yanking it down to eye level.

"Proximity alert," he replied. "Something's coming!" A wave of relief washed over Aerrow. Was Finn right after all? Was Piper returning just when they needed her?

"Piper?" he asked excitedly, hoping beyond hope that Stork would turn back and nod with a smile. A part of him told him that it was too good to be true.

What he wasn't expecting, though, was for Stork to turn to him and shake his head, saying, "No, she wouldn't trigger it." As if on a whim, he quickly turned back, burying his face back in the periscope. "Wait, I got something." Aerrow leaned forward excitedly. Maybe Stork was wrong. Maybe Finn was right. Maybe his hope would come true. Oh, and Junko wasn't allergic to Murk Raiders. Yeah, right. Turning back to the rest of the squadron with wide eyes, Stork whispered, "Cyclonians."

He was caught, trapped on both sides. Ravess in front, Cyclonians on either side that prevented him from moving. Ravess fired a single shot, her aim dead on, the arrow flying towards his head.

Aerrow's eyes widened in terror. This couldn't be the end. Not yet.

His Skimmer suddenly shifted to the side, and smoke rose from the collision of Ravess's arrow with the Switchblade next to him. Was it Finn or Junko that had saved him? He would owe them a foot rub or something when this was over. Aerrow glanced to the side as Radarr attended to the Talon next to them. His emerald eyes met familiar hazel ones, and he felt a sudden surge of happiness in his chest. Piper was back, and that alone gave him the strength to fight like never before.

"Piper!" The relief that Aerrow felt at being able to see Piper again exploded from his lips unexpectedly. He quickly tried to cover for himself, looking at his dashboard awkwardly after his outburst as he flew beside her. "I mean…hey," he said quietly, trying not to betray how furiously his heart was pounding. Piper seemed to want to stay along the lines of fake distance, too.

"I – I just came back for some stuff," she told him, and his heart sank. It couldn't be true, could it? She was just playing right? She wouldn't just save his life then leave all over again…would she?

Ravess flew away on the back of a Switchblade. Aerrow smiled cockily as she turned around and screamed, "Next time, Storm Hawks, you won't be so lucky!"

"Luck has nothing to do with it, Ravess!" he shouted after her. A Heliscooter flew down to block his view of the fleeing Ravess. Piper smiled at him skeptically, raising an eyebrow. Aerrow realized in an instant how lucky he was to have her, how lucky he was that she had saved his life, and how lucky he was that she was always there for him, even if she wasn't on the squadron anymore.

"Okay, maybe a little," he added sheepishly.

"Well…" Piper said awkwardly as they stood in the bridge. Aerrow scratched the back of his head, trying to hide the absolute joy that wanted to burst from every part of his person. He looked to the side, attempting to distract himself from how pretty Piper looked, and how much he wanted her to stay by his side.

"You know, Piper," he began, forcing his mouth to spit out her name only once, "you could always stick around." His mind scrambled as he tried to think of some other reason besides 'I think I might be in love with you and I want you to stay by my side always.' He added quickly, "I mean, someone has to make sure Finn doesn't break your Berry Blitz record."

"You'd never hear the end of it if he did," Piper replied, rubbing her arm. Aerrow nodded, deciding to build on this.

"It'd be like doing us a favor," he told her, hoping she wouldn't notice his genuine affection prompting the words. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, doing his best not to all-out beam.

"Okay, I'll stay." She threw her arms out dismissively, and Aerrow looked at them, wanting to grab them and pull her into a hug and just twirl her around. Before he could, Junko snuck up behind them.

"I love you guys!" he cried happily, scooping them up in his arms and squeezing them to his chest. I love her, too, Aerrow thought, not even bothering to reprimand himself this time.

Look familiar? Yeah...it should...it's from episode 13: "Storm Warning"...hence the title. Yes, the part where they found Piper's log was created by myself, so don't search for that haha.

Well, I don't own any part of Storm Hawks or anything like that, so yup. Please review!