So... it's been four months since I first posted this, but I finally have a bit of an add on for you all. I ended up using half of the remaining lyrics, and you can let me know what you think. Basically, it's what I promised, a continuation / alternate ending to what I originally posted. So I hope you enjoy Standing on Hope 2.0 !
I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps. I also do not own any rights to the song "Stand in the Rain" by Superchic[k].
So stand in the rain
I stood on the edge of the terra, alone – those who would normally have my back were now the ones who sought to destroy me. I couldn't help but think of how the tables had been turned by the Dark Ace controlling my team and killing my Sky Knight. Looking behind my approaching friends, I took note of the Dark Ace's victorious smirk. We both sneered when our eyes met.
He knew that I couldn't hurt my teammates, myfriends, my family – even if they were the ones attacking me. As lightning lit up the sky and thunder filled my ears, I tried my best to look beyond the looming shadows of my friends. I stood as the rain – and my world – crashed down all around me. I refused to flinch, I defied defeat, and most importantly I would never allow myself to give up hope.
Stand your ground
"All it takes is one Storm Hawk to turn the tide of a battle."
I looked to the sky as Aerrow's words came back to the front of my mind. He knew that in each one of the Storm Hawks, there was something special and important. He knew that we could all make a difference in our own way, no matter how big or small.
Bringing my eyes back down to the terra below me, I looked at the firm ground beneath my feet and then backwards at the swirling clouds below the terra that hid the Wastelands and their horrors. However, looking back up at my approaching friends, I knew that the Wastelands held nothing compared to the horrific, heart-wrenching sight before me.
Even so, I had to face my friends. I was their only hope for freedom and survival. I had to stand my ground. I had to fight. Not against them, but against what they had become. But more importantly, I had to triumph over the people that had taken them from me.
Stand up when it's all crashing down
As my friends closed in around me, I glanced at the Dark Ace and the Cyclonians once more before I cried, "Storm Hawks fight to the last breath!" They all stared after my sudden outburst. "We fight for the freedom of Atmos and for justice. We fight against Cyclonis and her twisted ideals." That comment earned a sneer of surprise from the Cyclonian Commanders.
"Our wings can't be clipped so easily you know. If you strike one down, another will stand in their place!" I felt confident for a moment, but it was fleeting, and came at the cost of blow to my ever dwindling hope.
"But who's left to take up your fight when you're crushed under Cyclonia?" The Dark Ace narrowed his eyes before he threw one final jab at my hope, "You're the last Storm Hawk, girl. There's no hope left for you."
Stand through the pain
I glared at my enemies as my glowing green friends closed ranks around me. I looked up at their faces and I could still recognize who they were an hour ago, but the glazed emerald eyes told me all I needed to know and what I wished I could forget. I refused to forget who they were though. They were my friends, and I wasn't about to hurt them. I would however try my best until my dying breath to free them from their glowing bonds.
As Junko took a step towards me, I dodged his large, clumsy hands as they reached for my throat. I lunged to the side a bit and then slid through his legs and through the mud. I looked back at him and my line of friends as I ignited the Dark Ace's red blade once more while I stood. As I griped the familiar weight of my staff in my hand closest to the Cyclonians, I muttered, "There is always hope. If not for me, then hope for the rest of Atmos through my death."
You won't drown
I closed my eyes and listened to the silence around me. I reopened them slowly as thunder rolled overhead and ever present lightning lit up the dark sky while shadows danced across the clouds.
Shadows of the past and shadows of the future.
Shadows of what once was and what was becoming reality.
Shadows of all I held dear fading into nothingness.
Shadows rippling and churning as they ran from the light that would reveal them as illusions of the storm. Illusions of my mind.
Shadows of an army surrounded me on the terra below, and the lightning revealed what the shadows horded – the enemies of freedom for all Atmos. Why have freedom when you can have a Cyclonian Empire?
I looked around me again and again as the storm raged about and within me. I knew the end was near as the wind and rained buffeted me, battling between trying to knock me down or to help me stand. Either way, I couldn't let myself drown in the memories of the past and the dreams of what could have been.
Only hope could support me now, and what a battered support it was becoming.
My focus returned to my enemies as the Dark Ace yelled to his army, "Talons! Clip her wings!"
As Talons surged forward, I dashed to the side and ran along the edge of the terra, tormented skies and Wastelands on my right, and an approaching army of Talons behind me. I gradually veered to the left, hoping to be able to reach the protection of the forest once more, but I never found it. I came face to face with a sheer rock face instead. It was there that I would make my stand.
For better or for worse.
And one day, what's lost can be found
Once I reached the cliff, I turned around with my back to the firm rock behind me, the glow from my enemy's sword reflecting off of the embedded minerals made smooth from years of erosion and the rain that was still falling. I braced myself as the quickest Talons approached. I quickly lashed out with my staff, knocking a few unconscious while a wave of crystal energy from an icer crystal froze those who'd managed to dodge my strike.
As I continued to move along the face of the wall, I faced wave after wave of Talons, each falling like the last onslaught of Cyclonian soldiers, but my energy could only last for so much longer. I found myself relying more and more upon the wall for cover with each step, lunge, and strike. With no one to cover my back, it was the next best thing.
The next wave of Cyclonians was different though, they didn't charge at me carelessly like the others had. They didn't charge at all. They surrounded me on all sides and as the thunder crashed and the lightning flashed, I could see their smirks and glares. When the lightning revealed the faces around me, it also revealed a figure amongst the rocks behind me.
With the next flash of lightning, the silhouette had vanished. A figment of my imagination I guessed, but I couldn't help but wonder who I had been imagining.
I turned my attention to the Talons in front of me and couldn't help but groan a little on the inside as the Dark Ace flipped over their heads and landed in front of them, now only a few yards away from me.
Raising my weapons, I called out, "I'm not afraid of you Dark Ace."
"Then why do you keep running?"
"Hope."
The Dark Ace growled at my response before he spat, "Hope! All you can talk about is hope!"
"When it's all you have, you tend to hold onto it."
"Oh really?" The Talon Commander taunted before he reached behind him and dashed towards me as a streak of bright blue erupted from behind him and arced through the air as he approached. I raised his sword in defense, and soon the blue light crashed down upon the Cyclonian weapon in my hand before the Dark Ace asked, "Where's your hope now?"
My knees shook silently and my heart ached at the sight of Aerrow's energy blade. Tears began to sneak into the corners of my eyes as he whispered, "Where was Aerrow's hope? Where was his team when he awaited the death blow? Where were you?"
"NO!" I cried as I shoved against the blade with all my might. I wasn't just fighting against the Dark Ace anymore – I was fighting against my guilt. As I flung the glowing blue blade out of the Commander's grip, I yelled, "You killed him, not me."
As I glared at the red-eyed monster of a man in front of me, I prepared for him to begin the duel again with Aerrow's second blade. However, I wasn't prepared for a battered voice from somewhere behind me to speak as a blue glow inched forward from the right.
"Piper was where she was needed." As I kept my eyes on the Dark Ace, I tried to search for the source of the light before the voice cried out once more. "She had her place, just as I had mine. However Dark Ace, my place is here – right now – and not in a watery, unmarked grave."
And so my hope flared. A friend at last stood by my side, and his smile was contagious, as was his courage. We were both wounded, both tired, yet our determination couldn't be drowned and our flame of hope couldn't be snuffed out, not while we stood side by side once more.
Hope can never truly die, especially when the lost are found.
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day, what's lost can be found
You stand in the rain
A little long winded at times, I know, but hopefully it wasn't too repetitive. I wrote a lot of it tonight and I'm pretty tired at the moment, so my appologies if I overlooked something during my editing process. Also, sorry if my writing is a little choppy and almost forced at points - I've been having tense issues with my writing lately for some reason even though I haven't had any major issues in the past. But anyways, please excuse anything weird while my writing style remains under construction!
As for this story though, I still have one last chunk of lyrics left. If you'd like to see a third ending of sorts added onto the original story, please let me know as I have a few ideas in mind as to what I can do, but I don't want to write anything if no one is interested or if my writing style has become autrocious! :P
Anyways, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but thank you to everyone who reviewed last time with such warm and encouraging notes and welcome backs, they were very appreciated.
~CrimsonFox4
