The next time Ace woke, the vomit was gone and there was a blanket tossed over him. His leg was hurting, but the medicine had taken the sharpness of the pain and dulled it down to a deep bruising throb. It was still incredibly uncomfortable, though. And Ace needed to pee, too.

His thoughts were still cloudy, but clearer than they had been before. Must be the medicine. Ace closed his eyes to concentrate and tried to remember what had happened. There was a kid. And I know I've seen them around before…but where?

Wait. Where am I? Ace opened his eyes and glanced about the room. The walls were discolored, rusty in patches, and somehow something about it seemed familiar. Ace scrunched his nose up. God damn it.

With a wince, Ace pushed himself up so he wasn't lying flat on his back. His leg gave a warning pang and Ace ignored it, placing his hands on either side of the mattress. He pulled his good leg underneath himself, and then pushed himself upwards on his hands and leg.

He got his butt about a foot above the ground before his injured leg seized up and Ace yelped, instinctively dropping himself back down and clutching at the leg. His breath hissed between his clenched teeth until the worst of the pain eked away, and then, begrudgingly, Ace curled on his side, defeated.

He dozed for a bit, sliding in and out of memories, trying to ignore his increasingly uncomfortable bladder, until he heard footsteps nearing the door. Ace rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and listened. The footsteps paused for a long time outside the door. Ace yawned. What the hell are they waiting for?

Then they opened the door, and all of a sudden Ace understood.

"You!" he spluttered, because of all the things he'd been expecting it hadn't been this.

"Me," agreed the redheaded brat who Ace had been wanting to best in combat since day fucking one.

Ace snarled. Fuck! Fuck! What the fuck! "What are you doing here?!"

The redhead smirked. "I'm bringing you lunch. Unless you're going to puke this up, too?"

Ace felt his face heating up with anger and fought to keep it under control. "I'm not going to vomit, you fucking twat."

Aerrow gave him a cheeky smile. "You know, it's probably not the best idea to be so rude, you being our prisoner and all."

Ace bared his teeth. "Fuck you."

Aerrow laughed. "Even after we rescued you, too!"

Ace glared at him.

"Okay, okay, here, eat. We don't want you dead, after all." Aerrow bent over and held the tray out to Ace, who reluctantly took it.

Ace saw his chance. "Oh?" he asked in his most honeyed voice, "And why don't you?"

Aerrow gave him a look, and said, "You're smart. You know."

Ace's mouth thinned. "I will not betray Master Cyclonis so easily."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Aerrow replied, before walking to the door and sitting against it to stare Ace down.

A few strained moments passed as Ace inspected the food. It was unidentifiable and smelled vaguely of fish. It reminded Ace of the nasty things Master Cyclonis had cooked for him when she was really little and learning. He frowned at the memory of six-year-old Cyclonis, shoving a plate of burnt scrambled eggs at him, demanding him to taste it. He wrinkled his nose, and then glanced up to glare back at Aerrow.

"Are you going to sit there and watch me eat, kid? That's creepy, you know."

Aerrow raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I am, or else you'll try to keep the fork and then stab someone with it."

Ace grunted and set the tray aside. "Actually. I need you to help me up."

"Uhm. Why the heck would I even do that?"

Ace felt his mouth get hard and flat. "I need to use the bathroom."

"Oh." For once, Aerrow looked like he was at a loss. "Right, uhm, sure. Yeah."

The teen stood and awkwardly made his way over. "So, I need to help pull you up?"

Ace grunted. "I might scream, but you need to keep pulling me until I'm all the way onto my feet."

"Even if you keep screaming?" Aerrow looked a little pale.

Ace shrugged. "Yeah. Once I'm actually on my feet it won't be so much of a problem. It's just...getting there that hurts."

Aerrow seemed to struggle with something, internally, before reaching over and offering Ace his hand.

Ace blinked, sighed, and then took it (he decided against using it to flip Aerrow over. Now wasn't the time for demonstrating unusual skills. Ace would need all the tricks up his sleeves to escape, later). Ace was not looking forward to the pain of standing, but his bladder was telling him that there was no way he could postpone this longer.

"Okay," Aerrow said, "I'm going to pull you up as fast as I can."

Ace huffed. "Okay."

And then Aerrow yanked him up, and Ace yelped when it jostled his leg, but he pushed with his good one and pulled with his arms, and managed to teeter to his feet, clutching at Aerrow like he was an inanimate piece of furniture. Aerrow grumbled something at him, but Ace was concentrating too hard on regulating his breathing to be able to hear him properly. Oh, fuck. My leg does not like this.

"So, uh, now what?" Aerrow was trying awkwardly to disentangle himself from Ace's clutching hands, but Ace was having none of it.

"Dumbass, don't move around like that, it hurts!" (and it did.)

"Well, excuse me for not wanting your greasy paws all over me!"

"Greasy? Fuck you!"

"Hey! I'll just drop you, you know!"

Ace clutched at him harder. "Don't you dare shove me over. I'd fall!"

Aerrow huffed in annoyance. "Fine. How are we going to do this again?"

Ace growled. This is the most embarrassing. I hate this so much. Worse than babysitting. "Well, I suggest you open the door so we can start walking."

"Not what I meant," Aerrow grumbled, and then grabbed at Ace's right arm.

"Oi! What're you doing!" Ace tried yanking it back, but had to stop when his weight suddenly shifted to his left leg and he couldn't breathe.

Aerrow finished pulling Ace's arm over his shoulder. "I'm helping you, Ace. Good lord."

Ace wheezed out something insulting but then they began limping forward and Ace was too busy figuring out how to drag his leg without it making him cry to pay much attention to what Aerrow was saying in response.

It took forever to arrive at the foot of the stairs. Ace was sweating and shivering and leaning heavy on Aerrow. He was in too much pain to care about appearances at this point, anyway. "Oh, fuck, stairs," he wheezed.

"We'll just take the stairs one at a time, okay?" Aerrow was getting impatient. It had taken nearly five whole minutes to guide Ace to the foot of the stairs, and Aerrow was tired of being the man's crutch. Wrinkling his nose, he decided the Cyclonian could probably also use a bath.

"What other choice do we have?" Ace grumbled, and then took a tentative step up with his good leg. His left leg was throbbing, but not too badly. That is, until Ace had to move it across the ground and then up. He could feel the ends of his bone pulling apart when he lifted it, pinching muscles, and that tore a shriek from his throat. Aerrow flinched away from the sound but couldn't go far as Ace's hand was fisted in the back of his shirt.

"Uhm, Ace? Are you okay?" Aerrow asked.

"No," Ace gasped, "I can't move my leg like that."

When Aerrow looked better at the Dark Ace's face, he noticed that tears were leaking out from Ace's eyes. It's no joke. Damn, I really can't stand to watch anybody suffer like this. Even a murderer like Dark Ace.

"Let's take a break," Aerrow suggested.

"No," Ace snapped, "I have to do this."

"I'm going to go get someone."

"What, so you can laugh at poor stupid Dark Ace and his broken leg?"

"No, so they can carry you up the stairs."

Ace gave Aerrow a calculating look, then asked, loftily, "And if they drop me?"

Aerrow shrugged. "You'd fall."

Ace huffed, seemed to think about it, then decided: "Fine. But hurry up, I need to pee."

Aerrow lowered Ace down so he was sitting with his back to the wall and his legs spread along the bottom of the stairwell. "Don't go anywhere," Aerrow said, and Ace rolled his eyes.

"Obviously I can't, Storm Hawk."

Ace was glad for the break so he could catch his breath. He felt shaky and his leg was really starting to hurt. Ace closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. So I've been caught by this new band of kids claiming they're proper Sky Knights. It's ridiculous.

I remember when the Storm Hawks wasn't a bunch of kids. Ace frowned. And they've taken shit care of the Condor as well. Was that the electrical room they stuck me in? What the hell did they do to it, reroute the wires?!

Ace opened his eyes when he heard Aerrow returning, alongside a pair of heavy-sounding footsteps.

"Do I have to?" (the voice was deeper than Aerrow's, and accompanied by a slight humming- probably from one of the Wallop dialects, Ace thought)

"Yes, Junko, you're gonna need to carry him back, too."

"Awww, man..." (this was a whine, and a little more grumbly, too)

The pair rounded the end of the corridor and came into view. The Wallop was smaller than Ace had expected, but he'd definitely be big enough to carry Ace. Ace sighed.

Aerrow trotted down the stairs and the Wallop followed more cautiously.

"Ace, this is Junko."

Ace grunted.

Junko held out a hand. "Hello, it's nice to meet you again. The first time you were unconscious."

Ace accepted his hand warily and shook it. The Wallop had a strong grip, and Ace would have winced but for his pride.

Suddenly, the Wallop was squatting down and scooping Ace up like a ragdoll and Ace yelped out of reflex. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm picking you up," Junko replied, sounding a little confused, "that's what you needed, right?"

Ace squirmed, then stopped when pain ran up his leg, then huffed, "Yeah."

Ace sat in awkward silence as the kid walked up the stairs and then down the hall to deposit him in front of the bathroom. "...thanks," Ace mumbled.

"You're welcome. I'm also carrying you back."

"Huh," Ace said, before dragging himself into the bathroom and locking the door. He ran his hand down the side of his face (it was prickly and he needed to shave). Ugh. I just want to go back to bed.