Coldness, darkness and a howling wind. Aerrow opened his eyes, his entire body ached, he was laying face down into the sopping wet, muddy grass. He felt the heavy rain on his body, the storm hadn't faded, he wondered how long he had been laying there. He got to his knees, looking around, for his blades, his skimmer anything that could help him.
Cyclonis
Had she survived the fall?
Cyclonis lay nearby, she let out a soft groan. Her body ached immensely, her arm hurt, her leg hurt. She forced herself up, the rain burning her leg and arm as it pummelled down on her. As she sat up, she began to survey the area, her eyes taking a moment to focus, the forest around her was foggy, the heavy downpour of rain didn't help either.
Footsteps...
She swiftly turned around.
There, stood above her, the Sky Knight. The idiot boy who got her in this mess in the first place.
Why couldn't they just let me go! Cyclonis thought to herself.
Aerrow didn't speak, he held his hand out to her. Gesturing to help her up.
She didn't accept. She pushed his hand away, she didn't want help from him, she slowly attempted to get to her feet. A dizziness overwhelmed her. The first time in her life she truly felt physically weak. She wondered how far they had fallen, how long she had been passed out.
Aerrow didn't care that she refused his help, he grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her up and helped her to stand.
She scowled at him, he had a huge tear in his shirt and a large cut across his chest.
She clutched at her sore, aching arm, examining it, realising she had a cut across her arm. The rain hurt more now that she had realised that the cut was bleeding.
"We have to get out of this rain, I saw some creatures run past, which means it's not safe to be around here unarmed." Aerrow spoke loudly to ensure he could be heard over the storm.
"Don't tell me what to do Sky Knight!" She snapped at him. Who was he to order her around?
"You can either come with me or stay here alone and unarmed, we will be safer if we stick together". Aerrow looked around for any sign of somewhere safe to venture towards.
She hated to admit it, but he was right she had no crystals, no staff, no Dark Ace... Nothing to protect her from harm, he wasn't much use either, he too was unarmed, but if she needed a meat shield, he could come in handy.
"Come on!" Aerrow barked his order once more, much to Cyclonis' distaste.
The thunder roared and the lightning lit the sky as the rain pelted down onto them. The mud was thick and difficult to traipse through, the rain making everything slippery too.
Cyclonis followed Aerrow but she was slow, he was moving much quicker than she was, her leg was in excruciating pain, she touched her upper thigh, retracting her hand when it stung. Realising she had a cut across her leg too. Aerrow looked back making sure that she hadn't got lost or ran off. He noticed her struggling he walked back towards her.
"Put your arm around my neck" he said, offering assistance to her once again. She was slowing him down, but he wasn't willing to just leave her to die out in the rain.
"I don't need your help! I'm perfectly fine! Just keep moving!" She snapped, walking a few paces ahead of him.
She's so goddamn stubborn! Aerrow thought to himself as she walked in front of him.
He followed on aside of her, they walked for a fair while, the rain not subsiding, they had no idea how long they'd really been walking. There was a long mass of water blocking the pathway, obviously a river or lake had flooded nearby. Aerrow looked around at the stretch of water in front of them for any other way around.
"We have to get around it". Aerrow turned behind to face the slow walking dark empress walking behind him.
"Just walk through! Stop wasting time!" She walked into the river, letting out a yelp and she fell into it, the water up to her ribs, a lot deeper than she initially anticipated.
Aerrow sighed, following in after her. The water was freezing cold, perhaps it just felt colder than it should with the added rain falling on top of them. Cyclonis was a little ahead, Aerrow followed her to the other side of the riverbank, pulling himself up, almost slipping back in as riverbank was muddy. Cyclonis struggled to pull herself up, her arm ached as she tried to lift herself out of the water, the muddy riverbank really didn't help either.
Aerrow watched her struggling before without even asking, grabbing her by the wrist, pulling her up out of the water. She looked at him, shooting him a look of annoyance but without uttering a word to him, they then continued to walk onwards.
A thank you would be nice... He thought, but better to have her being ungrateful than yelling at him once again.
Cyclonis squeezed at her arm. The rain beginning to irritate the cut even worse since their little detour through the water, she assumed the water wasn't overly clean and dirt had gotten into it.
"Hey!" Aerrow shouted to her, she turned, stopping in her tracks as he was pointing in another direction. She turned back and made her way towards where Aerrow was standing.
"There's a cave over there! We can wait it out in there until the weather eases up". He added.
"And then what, wait for whatever's inside to come and rip us in half? Or wait it out until your little posse of idiots come and you lock me up and throw away the key? No, this is where I leave you Sky Knight!" She hissed.
Aerrow sighed deeply.
"You're hurt, you won't get far alone and unarmed. I have no way of contacting my team, my skimmer crashed, just wait here, I will check the cave on my own if you're worried about any creatures, if I don't come back in 10 minutes, assume the worse and do as you want. Just trust me." He said with a reassuring look on his face, hoping she would buy into it and just this once, trust him.
The last 3 words annoyed her, Sky Knights had ruined so much for her, for him to ask for her trust? She felt irritated by it, but Sky Knights were honest people, she knew a liar when she met one, she was a good liar as was Dark Ace, and he looked her in the eye when he spoke, which she also loathed.
"Fine." She bluntly replied.
Aerrow nodded, jogging towards the cave, leaving Cyclonis out in the rain. As Aerrow walked into the edge of the cave, he tripped as he entered the cave, a cracking noise echoed through it.
Please don't be bones... He thought to himself before he reached out to the objects beneath his body. He felt the items beneath his hands. It was a dry, wooden feeling. Just branches and dead grass. He let out a huge sigh of relief.
Thank god. He thought, pulling himself off the ground.
The cave was pitch black, only light source he had was from the flicker of the lightning briefly lightning up the cave every so often. It wasn't too deep a cave, it was more a small opening in the rock than an actual cave itself.
Cyclonis was tired of waiting, he had been gone for what felt like forever, she was sat on a rock, resting her leg, sighing deeply as she grew tired and bored.
Stupid sky knights obviously been kill-
Her train of thought was lost as she saw the redhead emerge from the fog in front as he ran towards her.
"All clear!" He called out.
She was somewhat annoyed, she now had to put up with the Sky Knight for even longer, a part of her wished he had been killed or eaten. The two then made their way into the cavern. Aerrow picked up a few of the sticks as they walked inside, feeling around the dark for some of the bigger sticks. Cyclonis groaned a little as she sat down on a large boulder within the cave, her leg was causing her a lot of discomfort.
"I'm going to try get a fire started, least we will be able to see a little better in here". He spoke, looking in her direction.
She didn't respond or even look at him, she watched the rain pour down outside of the cave.
Aerrow took a little time with it but he eventually managed to get a fire going, the fire blew up in his face a little as he found a lot more sticks and dried out grass surrounding him than he initially thought was there. He assumed all the foliage had been blown in from previous storms.
He sat next to the fire, warming himself up next to it.
"If you sit closer to the fire you'll be warmer you know." He directed at her. Looking in her direction once more.
"I'm fine here sky knight". She responded, knowing he would keep talking to her if she ignored him again. She was still looking out in the distance.
He could only just see one side of her face illuminated by the orange glow of his fire. Aerrow removed his soaking wet shirt. He made a makeshift clothing rack out of several sticks for his shirt to rest on whilst it dried near the fire.
"Your clothes will dry off quicker too nearer the fire." He tried again to coax her over.
She ignored him, rolling her eyes with annoyance at him still talking to her, she let a soft groan as she moved her leg a little.
Fuck it hurts!
"Are you alright?" Aerrow asked, a tone of concern in his voice.
What is it of any concern to him? Why is it sky knights are so sincere, it sickens me.
"None of your business Sky Knight and why would you care anyway?" She didn't expect or want an answer from him.
"I think we cut ourselves when we fell through those trees", he stood up, looking over to her, gesturing at the large slice across his chest. "And well, if it's hurting you maybe I can try and help?"
She glanced up at him. His cut wasn't bleeding, but it still looked painful.
"I'm fine, just stay over there out of my way." She responded, less snappy than before.
"But you'll get sick if you stay soaking wet, and your wounds could get infected." He added, his usual tone of concern returning.
"Well so could yours too Sky Knight". She replied with a less caring tone than his. Trying to get him off her back.
He sighed a deep sigh.
"Fine, be stubborn." He huffed.
The Condor rocked and squeaked, a horrific scraping metallic sound echoed through it as the storm rattled it around in the sky.
"This isn't good, the pressure isn't gonna hold through this all night, we need to find somewhere to land or our energy crystals are just gonna run down and the Condor is just going to get sucked into that storm" Stork cried out, panicking.
"Piper we need a plan!" Junko added, looking to her for answers.
"I'm thinking..." She said looking at the sonar, nothing but hundreds of tiny blips showed up.
"We don't have any maps of this place, we could fly for miles and still not get out of the storm and we don't want to go too far, we could lose Aerrow's location, even more than we have done". She was worried, she had no idea what to do.
"There's a big ass mountain over there, can't we just jam the Condor between two spiky parts and just wait it out?" Finn added, gesturing to a large Rocky Mountain in the near distance.
"You know, that's just so crazy it might just work!" Piper beamed at Finn.
"Fly us over Stork! Give it everything you've got! Junko, Finn get ready to shoot out some hooks so we are securely latched on!" She ordered.
"Yes sir!" Junko and Finn responded in unison, running to the Condors blasters.
"Radarr go help Finn and Junko!" Piper continued.
Radarr nodded, going to assist the duo.
Stork guided the Condor toward the mountain, the winds becoming stronger, he was struggling to pull it towards the mountain. Piper watched with anticipation.
Stork yelled as a hoard of creatures flew into the Condor, rocking it towards the storm, jolting it and the eerie metallic sound echoing through the Condor once again.
He pulled the wheel of the ship in the opposite direction, pulling them back into stability, flying them closer to the mountain. Sweat dripping from Storks head as he let out a mild sigh of relief.
"Now you gotta wedge us in somewhere Stork! Look for an opening!" Piper instructed, looking out to the mountain, hoping to be of some help.
"I'm trying, but it's hard with all this fog and rain you know!" Stork replied, stressing out once again.
"Right there!" Piper called out pointing to a small gap on the edge of the mountain that looked just the right size for the Condor to be able to wedge into
Stork swerved the Condor swiftly, ramming it between the ledge on the mountain, rubble fell below as the Condor had impacted it, metal scraped and creaked as he flew it into the rock. Storks face cringing at the sound.
"Finn, Junko, Radarr! Tie us in!" Piper called out over the intercom.
The trio released the grapples and hooked the Condor into the rocks.
"Yes! We did it!" Piper celebrated with Stork, embracing him in a huge tight hug, Stork merely sighing with huge relief.
"Just hope Aerrow is having as much luck as we are.." Piper said, looking back out into the distant storm.
Aerrow looked over at Cyclonis, she was shivering. He let out a loud sigh. "You'll catch a cold you know?" He aimed at her.
"What?" She replied but she hadn't really been listening to him.
"I can see you're cold, just come and sit by the fire you'll feel a lot better. I promise." He attempted to coax her over once again.
She hated listening to him. She stood up, groaning as pain shot through her entire leg. She limped towards the fire, sitting on the ground, on the opposite side to him. The fire was warm against the bitter cold air that swept through the cavern. The wind howled as the rain continued to pummel down.
"You know you should take that collar thing off, leave it near the fire to dry." He suggested.
"Get lost Storm Hawk." She quickly responded.
She knew he was right, she just hated doing as he said. She was an empress who once had an empire and he was merely a disposable mercenary in her eyes.
"Look, here, take these sticks and just stand it up on them". He walked towards her, sitting next to her and setting the sticks up as another makeshift clothing rack.
She sighed with annoyance, clicking the button on the metal neck piece and opening up the collar before placing it down, her emerald green cape attached to the back draping over with it.
"Now let me take a look at your wounds." Aerrow said concerned, wanting to help further. He wasn't sure what compelled him to want to help, maybe it was just his good nature.
"Keep away from me". She swiftly added.
"Look, I'm trying to help, stop being so stubborn and let me help you. You just don't listen do you? You wouldn't have killed Dark Ace if you just listened!"
He instantly regretted his words.
She grimaced.
"Get away from me Sky Rat!" She snapped at him, turning herself away from him.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean-" He said walking in front of her so she was looking at him once more.
"Just shut up! Get out of my sight" She roared, turning her head away from him as he sat down in front of her.
"Cyclonis, I said I'm sorry." He felt terrible, he really tried to make amends.
She turned to him and lunged forward, grabbing him by the jaw with the arm that wasn't cut.
"Master Cyclonis to you! You got that Sky Knight!" Her mood angering rapidly.
"Okay! And it's Aerrow, if we are talking names." Her grip wasn't too hard.
She released him from her grip.
"Now let me look at your wounds." He kept on persisting.
"Don't push it Sky- Aerrow..." She corrected herself, not wanting to become even more irritated by him.
He swiftly grabbed her by arm that was cut. She winced, he soon loosened his grip as he noticed her facial expression. He began examining the cut on her arm.
"It looks sore, but not too deep, like mine. This one should be fine." He reassured her.
He shuffled beside her. Touching her knee.
"Take your hand off me!" She protested, flinching a little at his touch.
"I'm just trying to take a look at your leg!" He added defensively.
She refused to listen, again. He pulled body around to face him in the light of the fire so he could get a better look at her, her facial expression wasn't happy, he simply ignored her. He looked down to her wounded cut was much deeper and was bleeding. He cringed a little as it looked fairly painful.
"This one's a lot worse, please, just let me help you." His tone of concern becoming more irritating to her.
"Touch me one more time and I will break your arm." She shot him an evil look.
He walked over to the fire and picked up his semi-dry shirt, he pulled at the sleeve and tore it off.
"Rest your leg up on my knee". He said whilst sitting himself back down next to her.
"How about you rest up in - go to hell Aerrow?" She felt his sentence was uncouth and rather rude.
"You're so stubborn and quite annoying you know that? Why don't you ever just let me help you, everything is always a battle with you".
She frowned.
"Fine have it your way." He was about to turn away.
She slammed her leg onto his knee as hard as she could muster, it hurt her leg but the pain was worth it, she smirked a little as he let out a quiet "ow" as she did so. He placed the sleeve under her leg and tied it around the area that was cut. She groaned as he tightly pulled the makeshift bandage around her leg.
"You bastard that hurts!" She cried out.
"There it's all done now, that should stop the bleeding a little. And it'll stop more dirt and germs getting into it".
She removed her leg from his knee.
"Thanks..." She spoke very quietly under her breath. Just enough that he was able to hear.
"Don't mention it..." He added.
She shot him a look of annoyance, she hoped he hadn't heard that.
Aerrow walked over near the edge of the cave, looking out into the storm, up to the sky, it was darkening even more so than before, soon it would be nightfall and he assumed it could become even more dangerous.
"We have to be on alert tonight. Maybe take it in turns to keep watch while the other rests up?" Aerrow suggested.
She was starting to hate how wise his plans were, Cyclonis was good at planning, but not so spontaneous like this, she planned things out with precision and a lot of time spent thinking her ideas through to ensure no mistakes were made. He just seemed to make it up as he went along.
"Fine..." She didn't object, knowing she couldn't possibly find an excuse as to why it was bad idea.
"I'll take first watch then, you should rest up". He suggested.
He was right again, the fall had taken much of her strength, and the cut had made her lose a little blood, she was a little light headed and desperately needed rest.
She grabbed her cape and tried to make some sort of cushioning for herself to lay on. She placed it down and rested her head on top of her hands, her knees tucked up. It was the most uncomfortable thing she had ever experienced, the floor was rocky and cold, her cape just kept her head from the dirt beneath her, nothing more. She was freezing, the fire warmed her face and hands a little but her clothes were so drenched and the cold winds sweeping through were no help.
She was so exhausted that she eventually drifted to sleep, shifting uncomfortably as she slept.
Aerrow sat near the edge of the cave, looking out into the sweeping darkness in front. Rain illuminated by the occasional lightning, followed by a distant rumble of thunder. He turned to face the fire, to face Cyclonis. She was shivering quite severely but even the thunder wasn't waking her. Aerrow wasn't much warmer, his trousers were drenched and his boots soaked through. Although taking off his soaked shirt had kept him from feeling so freezing as his torso and arms had dried off.
Aerrow looked around, thinking of how he could keep the cave safe, he picked up as many sticks as he could carry, picking out the, longest, fattest and most fragile sticks he could find before placing them in a semicircle around the fire and Cyclonis. He was making a sort of self made alarm, if anything walked near, the sticks would snap and make a sound and they would surely be alerted. He tested his theory a few times, stepping on some of the sticks to test if they'd make the snapping sound, which they did. Cyclonis jolted a few times to some of the snapping echoes, but she still did not wake.
He kept checking over at Cyclonis as he finished placing the last stick. He quietly approached the sleeping empress, sitting down gently next to her, carefully lifting her head onto his knee. She let out a soft groan as she was moved but placed her hand onto his leg, but still remained in her deep slumber.
What am I doing, this girl caused so much suffering for Atmos and so many innocent people... And here I am making sure she's sleeping comfortably?! I should leave her, find my team... But I'm a sky knight and no matter who they are, I can't give up on anyone and just leave them to suffer.
He looked to the fire. Watching the flames dance in the air as it crackled softly. Aerrow touched his drying shirt, it was still damp from the rain but it was getting there. Aerrow felt his eyelids growing heavy, he was tired too, he'd fought against a storm, fell from a great height and trudged through mud, water rain and winds. Slowly but surely, Aerrow too fell asleep.
Xxxxxxx
Thank you for the messages/reviews on this fic already! Anyone see the hinted ship here? I can throw these chapters out a lot quicker as I said, this one's complete just in the process of editing. Reviews please!
