Chapter 10 everyone, posted today like I promised... Well, it's still 'today' where I live. It's a lot longer than the last one, almost 3000 words, and- Ah, just go on and read it. I don't really have anything important to say. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks but I do own Raven and Terra Pax... and the two crystals I've mentioned so far.

Cyclonia - Throne Room:

"Everything's going as planned, Master Cyclonis. Everything should be ready by the day after tomorrow."

A smirk appears on the teen's face as she listens to Ravess' voice through the radio. Lifting the mouthpiece higher, the young ruler replies.

"Good. The Dark Ace will be there tomorrow."

Turning off the device, she turns to three Talons that stand in front of her, waiting for an order.

"Go, get me the girl."

The Talons bow to her before leaving the room. As the door closes behind them, the Dark Ace moves out from the shadows by the wall. Stopping in front of his mistress, he bows like the Talons before him, his hand on his chest. Meeting her eyes as he straightens himself, he wonders out loud.

"I thought you were going to tell me my mission now, Master Cyclonis."

"I will, Dark Ace, but we will have to wait for... your 'partner'."

"My what?"

"You heard what I said. Piper will be going with you."

"You know she won't agree to do so, your highness. She's a Storm Hawk; she won't agree to betray her teammates."

Master Cyclonis lets out a low chuckle and her lips form a smirk once more.

"Isn't that what you, too, said all those years ago, when you were a Storm Hawk yourself? However, I should tell you that I will not ask her to do anything. I am not even going to threaten her."

She opens a box, placed on a table next to her seat, and carefully picks up the spherical crystal she had been working on that morning. Holding it secure in her hands, she lifts it up for him to see.

"After I'm done with her, she will become one of us, a Cyclonian, and she will not hesitate to do what is best for Cyclonia."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Cyclonia - The Prison:

Sighing, the young woman picks herself up from the cold floor and walks over to the window, even though she knows she cannot see anything but the red sky and the Wastelands through it. Grabbing one of the bars, she allows her mind to travel back in time, wondering how all of this could have happened.

"Piper?"

Startled, she turns towards the whisperer, her amber eyes watching as the shadowy figure stands up and walks towards her.

"Yeah?"

"I forgot to tell you earlier but I have your necklace."

As he stops at the bars between the cells, hands raised up to his neck to take off the pendant, she walks over to him.

"You found it? I thought I lost it in the Wastelands."

"You did. Finn found it near your Heliscooter. Piper... it's completely destroyed, even Stork doubted he could repair it when I asked him to help me. I still tried though. Turn around; I'll fasten it for you."

She turns around, her hand touching the crystal as he places and fastens it around her neck.

"You asked him that? Why? Finn told me you all thought I died."

She turns to him again, her eyes meeting his.

"We did, we all did, but until I had to tell Starling you crashed, it didn't seem too real. I didn't want it to be real. Even though all the evidence told me you couldn't have survived, I kept telling myself that we didn't actually find you and therefore had no way of knowing what had really happened to you. There was... something that kept telling me that there was still hope. "

He looks to the side, trying to hide what his eyes might reveal.

'She'll think I'm nuts if I tell her it was she who told me.'

"Um... How did you survive the crash anyway?"

For a moment, the only thing that cuts the silence is Finn's light snores. The navigator watches her friend, trying to figure out what's bothering him, but soon looks away and walks to the wall. Sliding down to the floor, her head resting on the bar next to her, she begins to tell him what happened, her soft voice barely reaching his ears.

"I'm not really sure. Judging from what I've heard, I should be dead. My parachute didn't work, I guess it got damaged in the battle, so I tried jumping off the Heliscooter when I got close enough to the ground. Let's just say that didn't go so well. I don't remember much but apparently I hit my head and got knocked out."

She pauses for a moment and closes her eyes. The Sky Knight silently moves towards her and sits down next to his friend, waiting patiently for her to continue.

"When I woke up the next morning I was in a hospital on Pax with a very worried-looking Raven sitting next to me. She told me that a guy, heading back home to Pax, found me in the Wastelands. Our battle with the Cyclonians was in the way so he had to fly around it. When he saw me fall, he raced after me but he was too slow to catch me. He took me to Pax and left me at the hospital."

'It should've been me who found you... Piper, I'm so sorry...'

"A word got out that a teenaged girl had been found near death in the Wastelands, possibly a Storm Hawk. Raven heard it and rushed to the hospital to see if it was me. We were really good friends when we were younger but after I lost my parents, we started to see less and less of each other until we lost touch completely. I've told you about her before, remember? She's the one I wrote to right after we formed the squadron three years ago."

Even though he knows her eyes are closed, he nods.

"But since they knew you were a Storm Hawk, why didn't they contact us?"

"They tried, I even tried soon after I woke up, but we never got an answer... Not even a signal for that matter."

She looks directly at Aerrow, a question in her eyes, but he doesn't look back. He knows why she got no signal. He clears his throat, his eyes locked on his feet.

"Oh right... Yeah, about that... I think I know why..."

He trails off and turns his eyes to the ceiling. She waits, but nothing more is heard from the Sky Knight. The young woman turns so her body faces the bars that separate them, her hand moving through them to touch his shoulder, both in comfort and to urge him to continue.

"And...?"

"The radio, um, got broken somehow and Junko didn't finish fixing it until the night after you crashed. I'm guessing it was already too late by then."

"Broken? How? It was fine right before we went out for battle."

FLASHBACK:

'How could this happen? How could we not find her? I'm a Sky Knight for crying out loud. I shouldn't have let this happen. I shouldn't have taken my eyes of the Dark Ace. If I hadn't I would've been able to warn her or at least safe her.'

As the Sky Knight walked into the bridge, he grabbed the first thing his hands touched and threw it at the wall. It hit the wall, creating a loud sound, and fell broken to the floor.

-- --

He didn't realize until much later what it was that he threw. The moonlight lit up the broken pieces where they lied on the floor, allowing him to see them as he walked past them later that night, heading for his room.

END FLASHBACK

'Why do I get the feeling this is all my fault?'

"Aerrow?"

"Huh? Oh yeah."

He turns to her, kneeling, his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm so sorry, Piper, about everything. I should've known Dark Ace would try to do something like attacking us while they retreated; I should've been able to prevent is from happening. And the radio was my fault too. When we only found your ride, I just felt so... and I just, I don't know, kinda grabbed the first thing a saw and threw it at the wall. If I hadn't then we would've found you a lot sooner. And maybe we could've been able to protect Terra Pax from the Cyclonians. And-"

She puts a finger on his lips to silence him but withdraws it as soon as she realizes what she just did. Slightly blushing, she thanks Atmos in her mind it's too dark for him to see it.

"Sh... It's okay, Aerrow. This wasn't your fault; we all let our guard down. I should've paid more attention instead of turning my back to them completely."

"But I'm the Sky Knight. I should-"

"Sky Knight or not, you're still a human! We all make mistakes sometimes."

Letting go of her shoulders, he cups her face instead, his head moving closer to the bars as he whispers, his voice softer than before.

"But my mistakes shouldn't get you almost killed."

Behind Piper, Finn stirs on one of the two cots in the cell, but neither of them notices. As the sharpshooter sits up, rubbing his eyes, Aerrow takes a deep breath and Piper whispers, lost within his green eyes.

"Aerrow-"

Neither of them notices the footsteps in the hallway, but Finn does and wide-eyed, he stares at the figures that approach the cell - his cell - as Aerrow cuts off the crystal specialist, his voice also a whisper.

"No, I need to say this now before I loose the courage to do so. You deserve to know this. Piper, I-"

"Uh, guys, I think we have visitors."

The door is opened, a creaky sound slightly echoing as it does, and only then do they look away from the other. Three men, all armed, block the doorway, a smile on every face. The three Storm Hawks stand up immediately and the Sky Knight's hands curl into fists.

"What do you want?"

Two of the Talons chuckle as the third answers his question, pointing at the woman.

"Her."

Not even a second passes before his hand his through the bars, placed in front of her as if to protect her. Chuckling again, the three men point their weapons towards them.

"We can do this with or without hurting anyone, your choice, Sky Knight."

"It's okay, Aerrow, I'll be fine."

Her low voice makes him turn to her, emerald meeting amber for a brief moment. He knows she's able to take care of herself, after all this is Piper, the strong and sensible Piper, but he can't get rid of the feeling that something bad will happen. His hand falls down to his side as he tries one more time to keep her from getting more hurt than she already is. She may be strong but he's still a Sky Knight and she's still his teammate; he's not letting anything happen to her if he can prevent it from happening.

"Take me. Leave her alone and take me instead."

"Not gonna happen, Sky Knight. We're here for her and her only."

Two of them approach the sole female in the cell slowly, weapons still ready and one Talon guarding the door. With her back already up against the wall, she watches as the Cyclonians move closer. Not knowing what to do or say, the Sky Knight reaches out for her hand and holds it tightly in his, his eyes meeting hers again.

Not daring to move because of the weapon pointed at him, Finn stares as the Talons grab his friend, one arm each. They drag her with them to the door, her hand slipping from the young man's hold. Unwillingly, she goes with them, casting a glance at her friends as the door closes behind her. They stare back, watching as she's led away from them.

'Piper...!'

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Cyclonia - Throne Room - Piper's POV:

I allow the Talons to lead me through the hallways without protests, patiently... okay, not so patiently waiting for their hold on me loosen up a bit. I mean, these are just Talons; they always mess up something.

Right?

To be honest, I'm not really sure anymore.

And as we round one more corner and a heavily guarded double door meets my eyes, I finally realise how wrong I am. I try to pull myself free but they only grab me tighter and I try hard not to grimace as pain shoots up my left arm. I wasn't kidding when I told Aerrow that jumping off my Heliscooter didn't go so well.

The door is opened and they drag me inside, pushing me down to my knees in the middle of the room; a Talon staff is pushed into my back, preventing me from attempting to escape.

"Ah, Piper, we were just talking about you."

I look up as I hear her voice, my eyes meeting red ones first and then violet ones.

"What do you want with me?"

She acts as if she didn't even hear my question. Taking few steps towards me, she raises her hand, showing me a crystal.

"Do you know what this is?"

I hate to admit it but I have never seen a crystal like that one before. And of course, she just has to notice.

"I guess you could call it a memory crystal. You must've heard of them."

A memory crystal? Of course I've heard of it, but only in stories. It doesn't exist and I tell her that.

"The memory crystal is a myth, Cyclonis. It doesn't really exist. No one has ever found one."

On second thought, she probably wouldn't claim this crystal to be something it isn't. This can't be good.

"True, but I didn't find this one. I made it myself. And you will be the first person to feel its power."

Lucky me.

I stand up, ready to run, but the Talons grab me again and hold me still. Fear decides to make itself at home within me and, judging by the twisted smile on Cyclonis' face, it shows on mine. I close my eyes and wait for the inevitable, thinking about everything she might make me forget.

Stork, Junko, Finn, Radarr...

Aerrow...

Will I ever see my friends, my family again? Will I remember them?

I feel a blast hit my chest but instead of throwing my body backwards, it seems to go through me, no inside me, and I cry out in pain. I fall down to my knees, my arms wrapping themselves around me in an attempt to make it hurt less; like a young child that clutches a small cut in hope for the soreness decrease. I can feel my mind being drained of everything I remember - names, faces, places - and I desperately hold on to the one thing that has yet to be taken away.

Red hair, green eyes and a confident smile.

Another scream escapes my mouth and I fall face down to the cold floor, allowing the darkness to take me.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Cyclonia - Throne Room - Third Person:

As Piper's voice fades into nothing, Master Cyclonis turns to the Dark Ace. Seeing the confusion in his eyes as he stares at the now light orange crystal in her hands, she explains.

"A memory crystal can take person's memories away, even alter them if desired. Unfortunately, such power over a person comes with a certain prise. Not only does her mind becomes linked to this crystal but her life as well, meaning I cannot send her alone to Pax to complete the mission without the risk of her dying."

She walks up the steps to the table next to her seat and picks up another crystal.

"What does that have to do with me, your highness?"

She walks to him again and hands him the two crystals.

"I want you to take her and these two crystals to Pax. Give her the purple one when she wakes up; I will give her further instruction later when everything is ready. The memory crystal you must keep with you at all times. Don't tell anyone about it or its effects on her. And stay close to her; I have yet to test the crystal further and therefore I do not know how far from it she can go without anything happening to her."

The man nods as he places the crystals in his pouch. With a wave of her hand, she dismisses him and he turns to pick up the dark-skinned teen on the floor.

"Oh, and Dark Ace."

Turning his head to the side, he looks at her from the corner of his eye.

"No mistakes."

I really hope the 1st person part came out okay. After many failing attempts to write it in 3rd person it just seemed to be the best way to write that part.

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