So finally here's chapter two!

When Kate finally came to, everything was a fuzzy blue and white. Blinking to clear her vision, she realised that she was actually looking at the cloudy sky.

The next thing she noticed was that she had a pounding headache, and that scraping noise was not helping.

Scraping? She wondered dizzily. She tried to sit up to find the source of the noise but flopped back down, failing miserably. Instead she craned her neck to the right to see.

At first it didn't register what she was looking at, with her first glance it looked like some kind of moving boulder.

Don't be ridiculous she thought to herself. Squinting she could now pick out some colours – red and black mainly. A couple of seconds later she recognised that it was clearly a man sitting on an old upturned tree root.

Maybe he knows what's going on, she presumed.

In his hands was a square tin bowl filled with some kind of food, the scraping noise happening every time his spoon attacked the metal.

He was facing away from Kate but his body was angled sideways, close to a small fire as if to gather its warmth. The wind was steadily beginning to pick up speed, causing his black hair to ruffle in the breeze.

Now fully awake Kate was trying to figure out how she got here. The last thing she remembered was fighting The Dark Ace and crashing her skimmer.

Wait a minute – The Dark Ace! He must have…. Kate tried to get up, stretching her arms and legs …. Tied me up, she concluded glumly, relaxing again.

She had come to the conclusion that 1) there was no way she could untie herself, 2) she really needed some painkillers and probably a medic and 3) that the guy in the clearing had to be The Dark Ace.

Too wrapped up in her own thoughts, she had failed to notice that the man in question was staring right at her.

Kate was worrying about her friends on the Condor. She hoped that they were all right. She was especially apprehensive about all the things that could have possibly happened to Aerrow. Her mind was whirring madly with all the possible outcomes that his fight with the Cyclonian Commander could have created. The last time she remembered seeing him was when he fleetingly knocked Dark Ace off of her skimmer, but at the time she was so full of adrenalin that she didn't even remember that fully.

She looked back to the right but found that the dark-haired man was not there anymore.

Suddenly a shadow fell over her and she looked up. But instead of seeing the cloudy sky she was met with The Dark Ace. His black hair looked as if it were glowing, surrounded in a halo of white light from the quickly setting sun.

'I see you're awake.' He said, kneeling down so their faces were just around a foot apart.

She turned her head away in disgust but he quickly grabbed her chin and turned it back, his red eyes looking straight into her blue ones.

'Go to hell' she muttered, trying to avoid eye contact with him and instead attempted to bite his withdrawing fingers but missed.

'Now, now' he tutted, 'That's no way to treat anybody, especially if that person was the only other human on this entire Terra.' He finished, smirking.

'Oh good!' she came back easily, 'so there's a chance that you're going to get mauled to death and eaten by a wild animal then?' she asked sweetly. She was being sarcastic and hopeful at the same time.

Before he could reply thunder crashed overhead and rain began to pour heavily.

He swiftly got up and walked back towards his tent. 'Have a nice night!' he called back cheerily, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, before stepping inside his make-shift shelter.

Kate couldn't believe he had just left her outside in a downpour like that. She was only wearing a thin sleeveless white tank top and a pair of jeans. She was immediately soaked completely through.

It was not even five minutes later, but she was absolutely freezing. She was shivering madly with giant Goosebumps all over. What was worse though was the fact that the rain had turned into hailstones which were steadily increasing in size. From the size of apple pips to the size of golf balls.

'What! You can't just leave me out here in thi-uhh..' She grunted as a particularly large ice ball hit her injured arm.

He could hear Kate shouting him but he was busy unrolling his sleeping bag.

The awful weather was now coming down harder than ever. It was as if the gods of the sky were punishing her for something she had done.

Kate resorted to threatening him. 'At this rate these hailstones will finish me off before we even get to Cyclonia! Those were your orders weren't they? To deliver me to Master Cyclonis alive 'cause you've had plenty of chances to kill me yet and you haven't. And if they were your orders you're about to fail you're goddamn mission!'

This made him pay attention now, he made up his mind while sighing lightly and getting up. He knew he would get no sleep with her shouting all night.

Kate knew she was freaking out a bit, but the pain of when a piece of ice landed on one of her many sores was almost unbearable.

'Dark Ace!' Kate actually screamed. The hailstones were now leaving at least two inch wide bruises on her, some even breaking the skin. She closed her eyes and tried to hide her head from the onslaught.

Suddenly she felt herself being picked up bridal style.

'Oh Kate, I love it when you scream my name.' The dark haired man said, laughing quietly to himself. In reply she tried to punch his stomach, but just ended up hurting her hand – it was rock solid. He laughed a bit more then.

He clutched her tightly to his chest as he jogged back to the tent. Once inside he dumped her unceremoniously on the right side of the huge double sleeping bag he had unrolled on the floor of the tent. Her mouth made a little 'oh' sound as she landed.

Kate just lay there, unsure of what to do.

'I thought you were cold, get in' Dark Ace said annoyed.

'Yeah, because I can unzip a sleeping bag, get inside it and then zip it back up again while my hands are tied together behind by back.' Kate said sarcastically. She gave him an exasperated look.

'Fine' He grumbled after a moment's thought and went to retrieve his energy blade.

Kate looked at the fiery sword, fearful of what he was going to do with it. He kneeled down beside her and she swallowed audibly. The Talon Commander pushed her on to her side with a smirk, loving the way that one minute she was being sarcastic, and the next she could be frightened of him.

All he did though was cut through the rope that was binding her hands together.

Just as Kate was about to get in she realised he was staring at her. 'What?' she asked perturbed.

'You know' he began, 'you'd get a lot warmer if you took your clothes off.' He said, a smug look in his face.

'Pervert.' She snapped back. Yes, she was cold, and wet, but there was no way in hell she would take off anything with him there leering at her. Kate stared back at him defiantly.

'Go to sleep before I change my mind.' He told her eventually, as to which her muttered reply was a 'Yes Sir!'

As she got in she became a little nervous about being in the same sleeping bag as him – even though there was a huge gap between The Dark Ace and her. Kate realised her feet were still tied up, uncomfortably, but she was just too tired to care.

Probably so I don't try to escape, was her last sleepy thought before she was lost to unconsciousness again.

The Dark Ace looked down at her sleeping form. He was amazed at how quickly she could fall asleep but then thought it could be because of her injuries also. He wondered why he had untied her but told himself it was so Master Cyclonis could inflict the injuries herself (if that was what she wanted) rather than let the ropes have all the fun.

He sighed and leaned back onto the sleeping bag shutting his eyes, but kept his weapon nearby. He knew she would start putting up a fight as soon as she woke up and guessed he would need his sleep for the upcoming day.


The Dark Ace woke with a start. He was lying on his back he wondered what has woken him, then realised it must have been the abrupt cease of hailstones. He turned his head towards Kate and saw she was sleeping peacefully. Her face was completely relaxed, making her look young, she could only be about 14 The Dark Ace mused. After a few more minutes of looking at her he decided now would be a good time to get up. He got out of the sleeping bag quietly as not to wake Kate – he really didn't want to have another argument this early in the morning. Although it was rather fun when he had to scare her into submission.

Rummaging through his bag he picked out a new Cyclonian shirt and swapped it for the one he was wearing. Sheathing his energy blade he opened up the tent to check on the condition of his switchblade. It had fared well, except for the odd piece of ice here and there it was perfectly fine. Opening a compartment under the seat he extracted a new piece of rope and headed back to the tent.

He knelt down beside Kate's sleeping form and carefully unzipped the sleeping bag on her side. He deftly retied her wrists knowing that if her hands were left untied she would probably try to crash his skimmer. Picking her up he carried her out of the tent and placed her on the grass, wondering how anyone could sleep through this. He turned around and packed up his tent and sleeping bag and stuffed it into a compartment in his switchblade. He then proceeded to pick up Kate again and place her on his ride, then sliding in behind her so she was leaning back against his chest.

Revving his skimmer he set off into the sky away from this inconsequential Terra and towards Cyclonia – it could be no more than four hours away.

Kate shifted about and groaned, stuck in that half-asleep half-awake area of consciousness. She could hear the steady thrum of a skimmer and felt someone at her back. She guessed it was Aerrow, or maybe Finn, behind her and she was in his skimmer. After a moment she realised something was off, the sound of the skimmer – it was too deep to be a Storm Hawk skimmer. These ones usually belonged to…Talons. This realisation brought back all of her memories of the previous few days, which led her to conclude that she was in fact in The Dark Ace's arms.

Dark Ace had hoped that the young Storm Hawk would stay asleep throughout the entire ride but he guessed she was just too stubborn for that – they were only around 45 minutes into their flight.

Throughout her realisation Kate had hoped to keep her body relaxed – to not betray the fact that she was awake.

'You can't fool me, I know you're awake.' The Dark Ace said, being observant.

'No I'm not.' Came Kate's icy reply.

The Dark Ace stayed silent, instead focusing on steering his switchblade.

After about two and a half hours Kate couldn't sit still – she couldn't feel her backside because it had gone numb and she could tell her legs were beginning to feel the same. Plus she couldn't stand the silence, even though she absolutely did not want to talk to him it was making her uncomfortable.

In the end she gave in. 'Are we there yet?' She hated to be the one to break the silence, it made her feel weak.

'No.' Was his only reply.

Kate figured if she couldn't fight him then at least she could annoy him to death. 'Well, find a Terra and land because I need to stretch my legs.' She said sulkily.

'No.' was his only reply again.

Now he was starting to get on her nerves rather than the other way round. The Dark Ace was delighted by this.

'I can't feel my bum.' She didn't want to sound like she was whining but the minute those words were out she instantly regretted them.

Dark Ace smirked and leaned forward so his lips were by her ear. 'Want me to rub it better?' he asked with his hand on her hip gripping tightly. He loved to aggravate people, especially her.

'Asshole.' She said wriggling herself out of his grip. 'Land this thing!' She stated angrily pushing his arms.

'No!' He shot back.

'I'm not going to Cyclonia!' Kate shouted.

'Yes you are!' He shouted back.

'Screw you.' Kate muttered and acting on instinct she lurched forwards and grabbed control of the skimmer sending it into a spin.

The Dark Ace, cussing, had focused his attention on righting his switchblade and Kate immediately took the opportunity. I'd rather die than go to Cyclonia, she thought grimly. God knows what they'll do to me there. As the switchblade spun around to the right she went with it, throwing herself off of the side.

Falling through the air made Kate feel so weightless. If there wasn't the obvious danger of dying, she felt that she could do it all day.

It took only a second for the Cyclonian Commander to realise what she had done. Stupid child, he thought, swinging his ride to the right and taking control of the spin. Rebalanced, he angled downwards and quickly managed to catch the falling Storm Hawk well before she managed to get anywhere.

'That was a clever little stunt wasn't it?' Dark Ace cursed, snaking his arm tightly around her waist so she couldn't move at all.

'It caught you off guard didn't it?' it was a rhetorical question.

'Hardly.' He replied. 'That trick's been pulled before.'

'And what happened?' Kate questioned.

'They fell into the Waste Lands.'

Kate gulped, thinking about falling to her death.

'Why didn't I?' She said after a pause.

'You're important to Master Cyclonis.'

They left the conversation at that, which they were mutually glad about since neither had anything to talk about, plus they were abductor and abductee.


At one point Kate must have fallen asleep again – her injuries were taking their toll – because she was jolted awake by the sound of other Skimmers. This must be Cyclonia Kate realised.

Landing his Switchblade they immediately drew all the attention in the area.

'Get up.' The Dark Ace ordered.

Kate tried but practically fell over. Everything seemed to be spinning. She looked down at her arm and saw that it was all red and weeping a nasty yellow fluid. 'I can't'. Was her only comment.

'Fine.' He snapped and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder he began walking down the corridors of Cyclonia, towards Master Cyclonis' Crystal room – knowing that was where she would be.

Kate tried to fight him – she honestly did, whether he was too strong or she was too weak she couldn't tell, either way it only exhausted her and got her nowhere.

The Dark Ace smoothly arrived at his destination without even breaking a sweat – considering he was carrying a person.

As soon as he was in the room he dumped the Storm Hawk on the floor and addressed Master Cyclonis.

'Master Cyclonis, your will is done.' He said, respectfully bowing.

'Good.' She replied, never turning to face him, too focused on her crystal machine. 'Take her back to your rooms and throw her in your cell. I will give you further orders soon.' It was a clear dismissal but before he turned to leave he asked 'Why not the dungeons?'

This time she turned to look at him 'I know what goes on down there between my Cyclonians and the prisoners and I need her to be at least….coherent.' She finished, giving him a knowing look.

The Dark Ace smirked darkly and deftly grabbed Kate from the floor and threw her back over his shoulder. He left the room and walked through the corridors. Swiftly arriving at the door to his rooms he easily entered the numbered password and opened the door.

Turning to his right he undid the lock on his private cell and walked inside to put Kate down on the hard concrete floor.

'Sweet dreams little Storm Hawk.' Was the last thing Kate heard before blacking out again from the agony in her arm.

Review and I'll update XD