Title: Absolution
Date first posted: April 04, 2008
Author(s): Ulti/Rael
Summary: Well, it's pretty much Aerrow gets kidnapped after saving the prisonners.
Main pairing(s): Aerrow/Piper
Main character(s): Pretty much everyone I guess.
Genre(s): Adventure, drama, romance, etc.
Time period: At the end of episode 16, "Escape!"
Rating: I'll just put T.
Warning(s): Curse, torture (not described), blood, etc.
Completion status: Not completed.
Word count: 1348 words… really too short
Chapters: 0/?
This was a bad day for Aerrow. Sure, the plan to save the prisoners while he acted as a distraction went well. What wasn't going that well was… Well, he wasn't out of troubles yet.
He was proud of the surf-on-the-missile trick he pulled. The face on that man was completely worth it. But said missile ran out of power exactly RIGHT before he could reach the Condor's hook.
That was followed by a long fall. Of course, with his heli-scooter, the cyclonian had tried to get to him. Aerrow had smirked when all his tricks had finally come in hand, as he had seen the motor explode and the man being sent away.
That had been a short relief as his situation had returned to him. All he had seen before being caught and knocked out was a red blur and a sadistic smile.
At the time, he had taken that person for a random cyclonian taking his chance at glory. It was only what he thought was hours later, when he had briefly woken up, that he had caught a glimpse of the back of the one who had caught him; his arch-enemy's sword always on his back if not in his hand.
He was now in a cell in one of the deepest prisons of the cyclonian empire, if the complete lack of light, and windows for that matter, was any indication. Well, at least, that's what Aerrow thought he didn't see, thanks to the complete lack of light.
Suddenly, a door opened, blinding the chained Aerrow, who could do nothing but shut his eyes quickly. He felt a hit to his head before the sudden brightness of the room turned to black.
The first thing he saw when he finally opened his eyes again was that he was seeing the back of the cyclonian empress, master Cyclonis. He wanted to say something, but a guard, having seen he was awake, took his hair and pulled on them roughly, earning a yelp of pain from the red haired teen. This, of course, caught the attention of the evil teen in front of him, who turned around with a sadistic smile on her pale face.
"Seems like our guest finally came to," she said, looking at her fingernails, as if out of boredom. Aerrow's glare earned him another hit, this time to the ribs. The sound that echoed through the room was proof that at least a few ribs had been broken. Aerrow gritted his teeth.
"What do you want?" he said harshly, earning another kick to the ribs. He was getting angrier as each seconds passed. Cyclonis leaned toward him, clearly enjoying his pain.
"Aerrow, Aerrow, Aerrow… You should learn respect. I'm the one asking question. As it is, the only right you have is to answer me and that's it," explained the young empress, before Aerrow received a punch to the face. He coughed, blood making its appearance on the floor. "But since I'm feeling generous today, I'll still answer you," she said.
She turned around, reporting her attention back to the crystals she was working on. As the minutes passed by, Aerrow was getting more annoyed, but decided it'd be best to keep quiet, given the circumstances. Frowning at his lack of retort, Cyclonis turned around, clearly unsatisfied at his quietness.
"You see, thanks to you, Storm Hawks, I've been running low on people working for me, as several of my… employees… have been either captured by you sky knights or left in fear of retribution from your part." Here, she made a small pause to mutter something Aerrow didn't catch before she turned back to him, her evil smile back in place. "I'm offering you to join the cyclonian army," said the purple dressed teen. The reaction was instantaneous.
"As if I'd ever…" started Aerrow, before getting a knee to his face, making more blood appear on his face, slightly matching his hair.
"Now, now, Aerrow, don't be so hasty. Think carefully. Because either I gain a new officer…" she lingered. Several of the people present, including the Dark Ace, who was hiding his presence, had frown on their faces. An officer? Why would an enemy immediately get a high grade right from the beginning? Indignation rose into the room. But said indignation was soon replaced by malice as the second option came to the light. "… or I get a new lab rat for my experiences," Of course, he'd accept, but just imagining him suffer was enough to compensate for the fact that…
"I'd rather…" Aerrow's voice cut everyone's train of thoughts. "… become a lab rat than to betray and turn my back on my friends…" finally finished Aerrow, his hand hanging from the exhaustion. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. Was he mad? Further wondering was cut short by the smirk on master Cyclonis' face.
"Very well, then, Aerrow. I gave you a choice, but you made the decision. We'll see each other tomorrow… in laboratory number 13," she finished. Several smirks appeared on the faces of people in the room, each looking forward to the… "show". Only one man kept his frown. "Take him back to his cell!" finished the Cyclonian queen, before turning back to her crystals, preparing them for the following day, or rather, days.
Aerrow was taken back to his cell, only mildly aware of what would happen to him. One thing was clear in his head though; he would not betray his friends, no matter what.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" said Cyclonis, stopping the guards and Aerrow right at the entrance. The two guards looked at her. "Give our… permanent guest a welcoming party, will you," she said, not even turning around. She didn't need to, already knowing that twin sadistic smiles had already left the room.
Aerrow was led to the dungeons, but instead of taking a left turn at a place, what he thought they should have done, they took a right turn. Perhaps he was wrong, but he had a bad feeling about what was going to happen next. His feeling was proven right when he saw, at the door of a room, a bright sign saying "Torture Chambers". The last coherent thought he had that day was What the hell? Why do they need a freakin' yellow and green sign to tell them where they are?
Hours later…
A bloodied Aerrow was tossed inside his cell. His lungs were making him suffer for the screams he had, even though involuntarily, made for the last hours, that had been pure pain to him. He directly fell asleep on the cold hard floor.
He had resisted, and that had earned him another hour of pain. Now he wasn't sure if he would have done it anyway or would have been submissive. Even in his dreams was he haunted by the choice he had made that led to his current situation.
He was woken up by an icy cold bucket of water on his dirtied skin. Jolting up, the blinding pain he felt made him curse as he fell back from his sitting position.
A flash of the past events took all the time he had before being dragged by his harms to another part of the prison where he was cleaned up, or in other words thrown on the floor while someone took a pipe to shoot an intense jet of water at him. He would have lost consciousness had the water not been, as earlier, icy cold.
He was dragged again to another room, where a uniform of some sort took the place of his now almost inexistent old clothes, too badly damaged to be called clothes anymore.
As he entered the laboratory, he almost regretted his choice at the sight of all the tools in the room. But he regained enough of his mind long enough to remember that he'd never betray his friends. Never.
Master Cyclonis' sadistic smile came back to her at sight of the horrified expression on Aerrow's face when he saw all her tools, some that she most certainly would use on him that day.
And so, the day began, with her evil majesty wanting to try a new crystal of her invention on her new favourite red haired guinea pig.
To be continued…
Well, that's the first (short) chapter of my new fanfic, but the next chapters should be longer. I'm so evil toward Aerrow right now… But, oh well, I guess it goes with the story. Now, review. By doing so, you most certainly will encourage me to continue to write this. And if you don't want me to continue then… review anyway XD. Also, about the title, Absolution, then… I just took the first word that came to my mind XD. It has nothing to do with the story. Just a random word.
Edit: 30/04/09 Some mistakes corrected. Thanks to Ambrel for pointing them out.