Alright, before this chapter gets underway, can we all have a round of applause for Ambrel? -gives you a moment to clap wildly- 'Cause I had NO idea how I was gonna do this chapter. Finn didn't want me to write it, I guess. He likes Ambrel better. xD So, I asked her to write this, and yay, she did!

If you haven't read her 'fics yet, go now. She's amazing.

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I've learned a lot in the past few years. Most of my time with the Storm Hawks was spent learning something new at every turn. A new move, a new technique, new facts about friends… and enemies. Seeing new people, going places that most people only hear about in stories. Going places that no one even knows exist.

I like to think that I have gained something from my years with the others. And one of those lessons is this:

If you see an opportunity, you take it. You grab it with both hands and hold on for dear life, because if a single moment passes and you aren't ready, that opportunity will disappear like so much smoke.

Like whenever I'm sighting down the scope. I can't sit there and waver over whether or not to take the shot. There's not enough time for that. If I ever hesitated, then I would have missed my shot, or worse, someone could have gotten hurt.

And over the years, I've started to apply the same philosophy to life in general. Take this, for example: There's this really hot girl who likes you, and wants to go out with you. But you have something else to do, like… I dunno, fix your skimmer. If you take too long to decide, the girl might walk out and leave, but hey, the skimmer's still sitting broke in the hangar bay. You decide to fix the ride, and the girl still leaves because you made her wait too long… but suppose you take the third option? You take her out, have a good time, and when you're done, you get a good night kiss. And when you get back, the skimmer is waiting there for you, just like you never left.

Win-win, right?

So, in essence… if you're going to blow her off, it had better be important, right? Whatever it is has to be more important than that girl. You have to be sure you can live with throwing it all into the wind.

See, that's the problem I had up until a week ago.

I can remember the exact day that I met Ada. It was on one of our trips to Vapos, shortly after I saved their collective butts. I liked stopping by every now and then to see how things were going on that old rock, and from the looks of it, prosperity had reared its head once more. Fields were in full force, filled to bursting with crops and grasses. The granaries were topped off and the livestock fat. The streets and buildings were slowly being repaired. The castle was not longer a forgotten ruin and for once, the people were wearing a startling variety of clothing that I had never seen there before. No more drab, white cloth and boring grey homes for the citizens of Vapos. They were free of their curse and they were joining the rest of civilization in leaps and bounds.

I remember sitting next to King Agar as he told me some story or another from his youth. I sincerely doubt the old man actually intended on finding an ending to that story at all, since he just kept rambling on and on into different tangents.

I had been looking around in desperation, sure that my brain was going to crawl out of my ear and run screaming back to the Condor in a last ditch attempt to save my sanity from the boredom brought on by Agar's mumbling, when I saw her.

Remember the aforementioned hot girl in my example?

Well, this was her.

Actually, no. Hot is too mundane a word to describe it. Beautiful.

She was beautiful. And I watched her descend the newly made steps in the feasting hall to rest a gentle, pale hand on Agar's shoulder. She bent down, and with soft, rosebud colored lips, whispered into the old man's ear.

How I wished I was that ear.

She smiled at him, and motioned to an attendant to help him hobble off to his rooms before she turned what had to be the eyes of an angel on me.

"Great Domo," she said, her voice ringing out with a clarity and presence that nearly took my breath from me, "I apologize for Grandpapa. He's getting on in his age, and sometimes he loses himself in his past."

"I-uh, I mean…"

She smiled, and I saw the very sun rise within her face. "My name is Ada, Great Domo."

"Uh…Princess?" I croaked, somehow finding my voice.

"I suppose you could call me that."

"You're beautiful." Did I say that? I must have, because it was so profoundly true. She blushed and looked away. "Um… I mean.. would-uh?"

She seemed to have a better grasp of the language than I did, and for that I was grateful. "Since I have deprived you of Grandpapa's company, would you permit me to take his place this night?"

It was all I could do to nod.

We spent that night with each other, talking (once I got over my tongue tied surprise) and laughing about everything under the sun. The next day, and the day after that, we were virtually inseparable. I even managed to get her to treat me more like a real person, rather than the legendary Domo.

The rest of the Storm Hawks and I ended up staying for longer than we planned, near on two weeks. It gave me plenty of time to strike up a great friendship with Ada, though I still thought she was really pretty. I kinda kept it to myself.

Don't laugh. Its hard to tell someone you like them when you really do. And I had only known her for two weeks.

When it came time for the Condor to take flight again, she had pulled me of to a private corner before we all left the palace. She looked troubled and suddenly grabbed my hands and asked me to remember her always.

I frowned in puzzlement at the question. "Of course I'll remember you, Ada. You're really cool."

She sighed and shook her head. I must have been missing something at the time, judging from the annoyed look she shot me. But hey, I was a fifteen year old kid. Who could blame me for being a little bit dense?

"You are just not much of a romantic at all, are you Finn?" she asked pointedly, then huffed a sigh. "You're supposed to say something equally fluffy."

"Uh…why?"

"So I have an excuse to kiss you, you idiot!"

That stopped my mind right in its tracks. "Zuh?"

"Idiot." she said again.

Then she kissed me.

From then on, each time the Condor was in range, I came to Vapos to spend time with her, even when the rest of the crew stayed on the ship. And each time I had to leave, it was harder and harder.

We had been doing this for years. And she supported me through it all. All the fighting. All the pain. She was my constant. She was there for me. And she never wavered.

To this day, I think she is the reason I survived.

And so one day, when I had made my way back to Vapos for a visit, I took her to a secluded meadow. I hit my knees and held out a ring, and asked the question that had been on my mind for months.

"Will you marry me?"

She didn't say anything for a while, and her eyes filled with tears. She put her hands to her mouth and gasped.

I didn't think I would be that nervous. I mean, it wasn't like this step in our relationship had been any surprise in coming. But all of a sudden, my breath was catching and my stomach did flip flops until she found her voice.

"Yes. Oh, yes, Finn!"

It was the happiest moment of my life. I couldn't wait to tell everyone.

OOO

It could have gone better.

Aerrow was the most upset, but I was expecting that. What I wasn't expecting was the total meltdown that he apparently went through.

I'm not exactly the most understanding of people, so I probably just made it worse by arguing with him, but really, what did he expect me to do? There was no need to have me around anymore. No more bad guys to shoot! I was out of a job here, right?

The hardest one to face was Junko. Yelling and fighting, I could deal with. But tears?

I knew that would happen. I tried to be prepared. But Junko's tears were almost my undoing. But I still held firm, with the sound of Ada's voice strong in my head.

But he was mad anyway. By the end of the 'conversation', I was pretty steamed too, so we both ended up disappearing into our rooms.

I cooled down quick though. But every time I tried to find Aerrow, he either walked right by me or was locked up tight in his room.

It wasn't until today that I finally caught up with him.

I heard the sounds of crashing echoing through the halls. It was coming from Aerrow's room. I ran. I doubted there was anyone attacking, since we really had no enemies, but you never know.

By the time I had arrived at his door, everything had gone silent. I paused, a little uncertain, when I heard a noise.

It sounded like heavy breathing. I walked to the door and opened it silently. It was Aerrow. He was kneeling in the middle of the wreckage of his room. Deep, gasping breaths were wracking his body and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut. He held his head in his hands and his shoulders were shaking.

I glanced around. He hadn't realized that I was there yet. Everything was in disarray. Shelves overturned. Clothing flung about. His mattress from his bed was leaning on the opposite wall.

Aerrow never kept much in the way of personal effects, but those that he had were decorating the room like a hurricane had been in there. Even some of the furniture that was bolted to the wall had been torn away and flung.

I finally realized then, I think, how much Aerrow had grown himself. Broad, tall, and strong, he could best all but Junko in a physical fight. I had counted on Aerrow's strength, just has he had relied on my aim. And right then, standing there watching my best friend losing it, I began to get an inkling of how he actually felt.

And I knew that I had to be the one to start talking to him. He had learned his role of leader far too well. He would never be the first to back down.

So I went to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and stared up at me, bloodshot. "What do you want, Finn?" he bit out.

"I just want to talk to you, dude."

He narrowed his eyes at me. For a long moment, he just stared with a betrayed look on his face, but he stood. "You're leaving."

"...Yes."

"Then we have nothing to talk about."

I grabbed his arm. "Is that it? We have nothing to talk about? I spent six YEARS right here with you and now we have nothing to talk about?"

He tried to shake me off, but I held on tighter. "Oh, no, Aerrow. I know that more than six years of friendship rates me more than a cold shoulder. Its not the end of the world! For Atmos' sake, I'm twenty-one! You're twenty! You have your whole life ahead of you and you are acting like everything is over!

'We beat the bad guy and there's peace again. There hasn't been peace in more than twenty years since the Dark Ace defected! And now you can go do whatever you want. You don't have to fight anymore Aerrow! And neither do I."

Aerrow's face twisted and he shoved me back. I stumbled and caught myself on the wall. "Don't you think I know that Finn? Don't you? Its all great now. There's no more need for the Storm Hawks anymore, is there? You and Ada can go start a family! Piper and Stork can go be a family too! Hell, even Junko has plans. Everyone's happy, Finn. Everyone has plans and everyone has a future." He was shouting now. I could hear the raspy strain he was putting on his voice. "Everyone's got plans, Finn. Everyone but me!"

As though he realized what he was doing, he stepped away from me and visibly collected himself. I shifted my weight cautiously and waited to see what he would do.

After a tense moment, he looked up at me, then off to the side. "I thought we would be a team forever. I thought we would always be the Storm Hawks. We…" he shuddered and hung his head, his voice breaking a little, "we were a family."

If I were a more sentimental guy, I would go into how much this hurt, to see him like that. But I'm Finn, the sarcastic sharpshooter. I don't do sentimental.

But that didn't stop me from hauling my best friend into a rough hug. "We'll always be buds, Aerrow." I pushed him to arm's length and let him go.

What? Guys are allowed to hug. In only a few select cases. Its governed by a series of complex rules. Just trust me when I say this was one of those instances.

Aerrow stared back at me bleakly. "It doesn't change the fact that you're leaving. So will everyone else. Its just a matter of time."

"But it's the way it has to be." I tried to say it gently, but he still flinched. "It's not goodbye forever, man. You, Junko, Piper, hell, even Stork, are all going to visit me on Vapos. We'll still go out riding together. We aren't going to just lose touch. We've been through way too much together to do that."

He didn't say anything to me. He just looked around his mess of a room, head down. I opened my mouth to say more, but all of a sudden, I realized the futility of my efforts.

If he didn't want to come around, nothing I did, short of breaking off my engagement, would do it. And even then, I don't think he would want me to do something so drastic even if I were willing.

I turned and picked my way over the clothes and the keepsakes that littered the floor. It took me a few moments to navigate my way to the door and when I reached it, I pushed it open.

"Finn," came Aerrow's voice as I prepared to step over the threshold. He sounded weighed down and tired. And alone.

"Yeah?"

"I'm…I'm going to miss you."

I paused at the door and glanced over my shoulder. He was still standing there in the center of the space. His head was low, chin on his chest, and his hands dangled helplessly at his sides. I was struck by how much he resembled a lost child.

"I'm going to miss you too, Aerrow."

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Yep. I had no idea how to handle Ada...I didn't put much thought into her. xD I just needed a gal for Finn to run off to.

And Ambel pulls this off. Go her!

Thanks for following along with this 'fic, and thanks for the reviews. We're halfway done!