Hello Everyone!!!
Well, I'm finally back, after a lot of delaying... but i am still experiencing severe writer's block, so even after promising to write the whole story first, i have only written a few chapters. Nevertheless, after consulting with Blue (thanks for the advice again) i have decided to publish my first chapter and hopefully i will get some inspiration from my reviewers.
A/N: If you haven't read 'The Aftermath', then i suggest you do so... the story id is 4939747. If you've forgotten the events in the story or just couldn't be bothered to read it, there is a summary of it before i begin this chapter.
So without further ado, i present to you the first chapter of 'Haunting Memories'...
Summary of 'The Aftermath':
The Storm Hawks lost the final battle. Cyclonia now had control of all terras in the Atmos. During the battle, Aerrow was captured, but he managed to tell his team to escape and go into hiding – Piper to Terra Gale, Radarr to Atmosia, Finn to Terra Vapos and Junko to Terra Wallop. Stork crashed into the wastelands with the Condor. While the Dark Ace was torturing Aerrow at Terra Zartacla, the others slowly made their way back together. Finally, they managed to rescue Aerrow (although not before he was badly injured) and get him back home to the Condor.
Now the story continues with 'Haunting Memories'
Chapter 1: Healing
2 weeks after the events of 'The Aftermath'…
"Hurry, Junko, they're catching up!" Piper yelled over her shoulder at Junko, who was having trouble starting his skimmer, and then glanced back to the trees on the horizon, where shadowy figures could be seen. Her heliscooter rumbled beneath her as she waited.
After a few failed attempts at starting the engine, Junko's skimmer came to life with a roar. "On my way," he said, as he sped ahead of her.
Piper quickly caught up, and they weaved through the trees as they tried to get away from their pursuers. The forest became more dense, and it grew harder to dodge at high speeds, so she yelled at Junko to slow down. The ground was moist from recent rains and whenever she braked, huge amounts of grass and leaves were dug up, making her groan. They couldn't stop and hide anymore as they could easily be tracked; they would have to out-ride them. Once they made it to a clearing, she chanced a look behind her.
"Crap."
"What?" asked Junko, as oblivious as always.
"They didn't slow down Junko. They're gaining on us."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh. Step on it. We gotta get out of here."
"Right you are, Piper."
As Junko hit the accelerator, so did she. Her heliscooter sped up, and the art of dodging became a lot harder. Vehicles such as her heliscooter weren't exactly agile. She would have used some of her blasting crystals to get rid of these trees, but someone (aka. Finn) had 'accidentally' put them in the microwave yesterday, rendering them useless. Cursing Finn under her breath, she looked over her shoulder again, and clenched her teeth. No matter how fast they went, the gap still dwindled. It was frustrating, annoying and maddening, in just a few words. She had more, and she wasn't afraid to use them.
"Hurry up, hurry up," she willed her heliscooter silently, "Faster, faster, faster."
Despite her pleas, a burst of energy hit the ground next to her front wheel, causing the whole vehicle to spin, throwing her off and onto the ground, where she slumped in a heap. She heard Junko stop further ahead, but other than that he didn't move. An energy blade was placed against her throat, and she looked up at her attacker as he spoke.
"Surrender now, and I might not kill you."
She scoffed. "You might not kill me, but a week of your chores sure will," she said, smiling, as she looked into the face of her friend and leader, Aerrow.
"You're probably right," he replied as he twirled his energy blade and put it in the case on his back. "Those chores hurt me pretty bad a few weeks ago," he held out that same hand to help her up. She rolled her eyes at his reply, but took his hand gratefully. When she was back on her feet, she looked him over, checking out his injuries.
"I still don't know how you managed to catch us by driving one-handed," she said, her eyes wandering to his broken arm, which was currently in plaster and a sling. His other wounds had almost totally healed, which was the reason why she had let him join in their game today. She had been unrelenting for the past week of his pleas; making him stay in his room, when it was obvious he was getting sick of it. For the sake of everyone's sanity, she had let him out today, which had turned out to be a bad idea, because she would now have to do his chores for a week.
Aerrow shrugged. "Practice, I guess." Piper was just about to point out that he'd never had any practice with one-handed driving, when Junko finally decided to voice his thoughts.
"Hey, Aerrow? Where's Finn?"
She realised that the absence of their blonde haired teammate had slipped her mind for a minute, but now that Junko had alerted her to the fact, she was curious too.
Aerrow just smirked. "He should be here soon." When they raised their eyebrows questionably, he added, "He ran into a tree." They all burst into fits of giggles, which stopped abruptly (for a few seconds) when a dishevelled looking Finn came into sight, before starting up again, louder than before.
"What?" He asked, oblivious to the fact that he looked like a walking bush. This only made the other three start laughing harder, until Aerrow grabbed his ribs in pain and lowered himself to the ground, breathing heavily, his face bright red from lack of oxygen. Piper stopped laughing and looked at him, worried. That was, until Aerrow and Finn looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"What?" she asked, annoyed. "Oh, come on! It's just because I care about you, Aerrow!"
"I know, Piper," Aerrow replied, trying to calm her down, "but you don't have to act like you're my mother. I can look after myself you know," then, noticing their apprehensive looks, he said, "well, I can! …ok, most of the time," he added in defeat.
Aerrow shook his head, mumbling 'girls' to himself as Piper stomped away in the direction of the Condor with a "hmph," He would never understand them.
"Geez, what's up her tree?" said Finn, prompting fresh bouts of laughter from the other two boys. "Ok," he said, now clearly confused, "can someone tell me what the heck is going on?" He watched as Aerrow and Junko rolled on the ground laughing. "Obviously not, then."
It was a few minutes before both boys had sufficient breath back to actually tell Finn what he looked like. They took turns telling him about his mud-coated shoes, pants covered in bark, leaves and twigs sticking out from his shirt and the bunch of leaves that was his hair. As icing on the cake, Junko also explained about the general mud, dirt and grass that basically coated him.
Finn's eyes grew wide with every detail of his appearance, until he was standing stock-still and staring straight ahead at the end of the description. Aerrow and Junko exchanged amused glances, before Junko walked up and slapped Finn across the cheek. He came out of his trance, but he wasn't very happy.
"Ow!!! What did you do that for?" he asked, or rather, screamed.
Junko giggled, "That hurt, didn't it? My bad."
Suddenly, Aerrow was thrown back in time, to a place he would rather – and had been trying hard to – forget.
A searing pain down his chest, blood covering his clothes, pain beyond what he had ever felt before… and above all, red eyes, boring into him. Laughing at his pain. And a voice - "That hurt, didn't it Aerrow?"
Just as suddenly, he was back, laying face up on the wet ground. His breathing was fast and shallow, and he was sweating profusely. Finn and Junko were crouched above him, their faces full of worry.
"Aerrow, buddy, are you ok?" said Finn. He may be annoying, but when it came down to it, he really did care about his friends. "I'm gonna go get Piper," he said, starting to get up, but Aerrow grabbed his wrist. It was only then that Aerrow realised he was shaking, too.
"Don't tell Piper. I don't want her to worry more than she is already. Just wait a sec, and I'll be fine," Aerrow said, desperately trying to convince them that what he said was true. It didn't work. Finn started getting up again, until Aerrow said, "Please, Finn. Just this once?"
He sighed, "Alright. But if it happens again, I'm getting Piper."
Aerrow nodded with relief as Junko and Finn helped him up so he could lean against the base of the tree. They watched over him closely for five minutes, until he had calmed down. His breathing was almost back to normal and he was beginning to get cold. He shivered.
Junko noticed. "We'd better be getting back." Finn and Aerrow nodded their agreement. They helped him up and together they started walking slowly back to the Condor. Aerrow noticed that the other two were watching him closely the whole time. It was a bit unnerving, but it was good to know that his friends were close by if he ever needed them.
They got back to the Condor, where Junko and Finn kept their promise. While Aerrow went to his room to rest (on Piper's orders) they started playing a game of soccer against Radarr, who was surprisingly good. After a while, he thought that they must have forgotten about the incident in the forest. However, at dinner, he noticed that they kept glancing his way, as if afraid he would collapse again.
He would never tell them, but secretly he was afraid of it too. He had thought that if he locked those memories up in his mind, that he could forget about them and that they would never plague him again. He was wrong, obviously. He knew that he should talk to someone about it, but he was afraid. Not only of the memories, although that was the main part, but also of what others would think of him. Would they think he was weak, being affected by these memories like that? His head said yes. His heart said no. He didn't listen. If he had, perhaps he could have prevented the events that were looming. But he didn't. And therefore he couldn't.
Well that's the end of the first chapter... hope you enjoyed it!!
Please review... hopefully it will cure my writer's block and i will be able to finish the story quicker!
The next chapter should be out in a few days.
Merci!
