She woke up in a comfortable position in his arms; he was also holding her tightly his chin or her head whilst she nestled into his neck. His chest was warm while she laid there in her bra; the warmth coming off him was infectious. She noticed how he held her, his arm around her waist the other resting over her shoulders pulling her in lightly.
"Nice of you to wake up." He yawned. Piper sprang off him hitting her head on the cave wall.
"Ouch!" Dark Ace was up in a flash pouncing to her position; she put her arms up to brace for impact but it never came. He softly grabbed her head checking where she had hit it.
"You're fine." He said flatly realising what he had just done. Backing away he grabbed his shirt pulling it over his body throwing hers at her. She quickly pulled it over her mocha skin and stood up dizzy. Maybe she had hit her head harder than she had thought, she fumbled falling back down.
"Are you alright to walk?" He asked softly. She tried standing up again but black dots once again blurred her vision falling straight back down.
"Yeah I'm fine." He scoffed and picked her up softly turning around.
"Get on my back."
"What are we five?" She slurred out. The sides of his lips twitched up.
"Well if you want we could continue sleep-"
"Let's just go." She cut him off quickly and walked out of the cave. At least there was no more rain, that was a plus. She looked around eagerly.
"There, we have to get to there that is the highest point of the mountain, its looks like a three day trip. C'mon." She said. He followed behind the girl, the silence made her uneasy but all she could think about was him. The way he looked last night, how comfortable she was, how not that evil he can really be…
What? No, she had hit her head to hard she had told herself. The rest of the day was smooth, until night. She didn't really know what to do, because when the scary noises started to echo through the night, well she was petrified. The tree they had found themselves under was relatively closed off so she was hoping that an animal would have a hard time getting through.
"Why cyclonians?" She finally asked. He looked up to her.
"I'm not talking about this."
"Why I mean its just-"
"I'm not talking about this!" He said angrily. Piper flinched then rested her head back against the tree. A pang of guilt pulsated through him after he saw the look on his face.
"Why Storm Hawks?" He asked quietly. She looked over to him, there was still a man there, a broken man but none the less she could see past that.
"My mom and dad died when I was three. After that I found Aerrow and the rest of the guys and we have been together ever since." She said smiling at the memory.
"After that we knew we had to do something better with our lives then stay on that stupid little Terra we called home and when the opportunity came we took it." Dark Ace stood there and listened almost feeling bad for her story.
"Should have joined the Cyclonians, they would have taken care of you."
"Yeah, like you take care of your men?" Piper asked. He gave her the best evils he could manage before turning away. She looked at the broken man and gave a hollow chuckle.
"Is that why you hang around them? Because you like Master Goth?"
"No, no, it's nothing like that." He ran through his files of memories. All the nights they had shared together. All the times Cyclonis had used him for pleasure and in many ways he had done the same to her. He was a man with needs and she could give them to him.
"Oh please, have you seen the way she is with you?"
"Oh yeah? You're Aerrow's little pet, he says jump you say how high." Dark Ace spat. Piper gave a small, sad smile.
"Guess we aren't that much different then." She murmured. Her amber eyes met his for a second and she felt something warm stir inside of her. He felt it too, the young girl sitting in front of him in all her vulnerable form.
"There are times, when I look at you and I see a shred of humanity left in you." She whispered.
"Then you may need to look harder, because my humanity left years ago." He turned his back closing his eyes against the tree. She laid down on the grass and closed her eyes hoping he wouldn't kill her during her sleep. He never did, her words rang through his head all night, there was no humanity left in him, he was glad through. Humanity made you weak and not able to do the things that need to be done.
