Let me know what you think of this because for me this is pure love (and I did not just say that...Die inner-fangirl, Die!)
Night fell slowly on the Condor. He waited until dark, until the pacing feet left his hallway and shrugged off their weight in their own rooms. Aerrow waited until he could hear (when he listened hard) each of the Storm Hawks settle down and their breathing slow as they fell asleep. Then he stood. He got to his feet slowly, the chains slithering, clinking, after him. Trying not to make too much noise, he turned and examined the bolts on the wall. They had been welded, or perhaps the energy from Junko's Knucklebusters had just fused it. Either way, he had to try.
Flipping his bangs out of his eyes, Aerrow grasped the large metal loop in both hands, and gave an experimental tug. Bracing himself, he pulled with all his new-found strength to remove the bolt from the wall. It held fast.
Pausing to reevaluate, Aerrow grabbed a length of chain, wrapping the thick loops around his hands, and pulled hard. The metal groaned but held together. Frustration mounting at his inabilities, Aerrow grabbed in both hands one of the chains linked to his wrist and threw all his weight into pulling the single chain from the wall. He succeeded in doing nothing.
He screamed his frustration, whipping a length of the thick metal chains at the wall, sending terrifyingly loud echoes reverberating throughout the ship. His annoyance was temporarily alleviated however, when several panicked cries answered him. Five sets of feet followed, all running in his direction.
He chuckled to himself as they got closer, holding the smile on his face as the door slid open and the Storm Hawks peered nervously inside, their weapons drawn.
"Hello," he greeted cheerily, "Did I wake you guys up? Sorry 'bout that. Don't mind me; I'm just trying to escape."
He was met with one angry glare from Finn, and nervous stares from the others.
"Seriously, you guys can go back to bed. Nothing to fear from me, I promise. Well, maybe not you, Piper, but you know…"
Aerrow laughed as her eyes widened and her mouth puckered into a terrified 'O.'
"C'mon," Finn said, turning his back on his former Sky Knight, "he's bluffing, he can't get out. Just go back to sleep."
"D- Don't you th-think he should have a-a g-guard?" Stork stuttered, his whole body twitching as he looked from the smirking redhead to the resident vampire expert.
Finn shook his head, forcing an encouraging smile onto lips that would rather frown, "You're fine, Stork. He wouldn't go after you anyway."
The blonde ushered everyone down the hall, turning to leave Aerrow with one last glare before heading back to his own bed.
The door locked with an echo of finality, leaving the almost-vampire in complete solitude once more. He flopped to the ground, leaning his back against the wall before hugging his legs to his chest and resting his head on his knees. Then he closed his eyes, simply resting, unable to sleep, waiting for the ship to resettle.
After a long while, he wasn't exactly sure how long, he finally decided that the Storm Hawks were asleep, and climbed to his feet. Aerrow stared at the welded links before grasping the chains and resuming trying to pull them from the wall. After several more unsuccessful attempts Aerrow dropped his head in exasperation, and then raised his eyes into a menacing glare at the stubborn metal. He wound a loop of the thick chain around each of his hands and pulled back as he walked forward, eventually stepping up the wall until his feet were level with the connecting bolts. Then he straightened his legs, pulling straight out from the wall with all his might.
Slowly, and with a loud, groaning crack, the brackets slid out from of the metal plating of the wall. With a snap of metal, Aerrow was thrown backwards, head connecting painfully with the floor, leaving his head fuzzy, before the rest of him slumped to the ground.
Only two pairs of feet came running this time. Aerrow knew one of them was not Stork. The paranoid Merb would be curled into a ball in the corner of his locked room, wearing 'defensive' gear and wielding some kind of Vampire Repellent. And he was reasonably sure neither of the two was Junko. It took a lot to wake a sleeping Wallop, especially a second time in one night. Neither of the footfalls was light enough to be Radarr, either.
Aerrow twisted onto his knees, bundling a length of free chain by his side and gripping it near the end as he waited.
When the door slid up and Finn walked in first, Aerrow whipped the chain at him, completely unfazed that this boy was one of his best friends. Finn reacted quickly, dodging to the side so the end of the bolt grazed his cheek, leaving a hair's width cut along the side of his face.
As the sharpshooter put his fingers to his face to check the damage, Aerrow looked over at Piper. His eyes flashed in the light of the hallway as he winked at her, and the girl seemed to freeze.
Finn pulled his hand away, staring with wide eyes at the blood on his fingertips until Piper suddenly grabbed him, forcing him back against the wall. She leaned into him, holding his head still with her hands, locking his eyes with her unblinking ones.
Aerrow stared hard at the two, eyes narrowed.
Confusion was written all over Finn's face as he stared down at the shorter girl, "Piper, what's-?"
The girl pressed her lips to his, seemingly paralyzing him. After a moment, Finn seemed to relax, though what Aerrow could see of his face still looked somewhat confused. Piper slowly removed her hands from the blonde's head, reaching slowly down to pluck a ring of keys from his pocket. As the keys were in the process of changing possession, Finn's hand shot out, wrapping around Piper's wrist. The ring fell the floor and skittered a short distance away.
Finn moved his grip to Piper's upper arms, tilting her body into the light from the hallway. Her pupils were non-responsive.
Aerrow's eyes followed the path of the keys as they landed and bounced toward him. He was up immediately, crawling across the cold floor on his knees, straining against the bonds that still held his ankles. He reached, stretching out on his stomach as far as he could, fingertips grasping at air mere inches from the keys. He put his whole concentration into stretching just a bit farther…
Piper blinked and staggered, barely managing to keep herself upright. She looked confusedly into Finn's face, too close to hers, and then around the room, as if trying to remember where she was.
"What…happened?"
Finn was cut off by a shriek of frustration, and he looked down to see Aerrow's predicament.
He smirked, placing a foot over the ring of keys, "Having trouble?"
If looks could kill, Finn would be a pile of ashes. He'd never seen Aerrow look that angry before. The sharpshooter slid his foot back, dragging the keys with him, before stooping to pick them up.
"So close Aerrow, and yet so far," he taunted.
Aerrow hissed at him, feral, a growl in the back of his throat. Finn kept his smile in place as Aerrow glared, and turned to look at Piper, asking her to go get Junko for him.
"What's your plan, Finn?" Aerrow demanded once Piper had gone, sliding back onto his knees.
"I'm gonna get you back Aerrow, the real you. Whether you want me to or not."
Aerrow scoffed, a small grin on his face, "What, and then we can just forget that any of this ever happened? Go back to being a great squadron and a perfect family? You think I'll forget that you tortured me? You think that you'll forget everything that I've done? This will never leave us, Finn, none of us. The Cyclonians will be after me, vampire or not, the other Sky Knights will never trust me. Piper won't either. Not until she doesn't care, not until she sees that everything I've done has been in her best interest."
"What? In her best interest! Aerrow, you tried to kill her! You sat there and calmly planned to murder Stork, Junko, and Radarr, among others! I knew that vampire venom caused slight insanity but this is ridiculous! You're insane, not oblivious, how can you not see-"
Aerrow raised an eyebrow at the sharpshooter, "About that venom thing…how do you know I won't be like this when you 'fix me,' just minus the bloodlust? Then you'll have to kill me knowing full well that I am completely human."
The door slid up, interrupting Finn's angry denial, and Piper walked in with a yawning Junko.
Aerrow slid back against the wall, drawing his legs up, and folding his arms over his knees. He looked expectantly between the Wallop and the human, his previous grin just a ghostly remnant on his lips. He absently put a hand to his chest, rubbing his fingers across the area around his heart. Finn's eyes widened slightly as he noticed this, and he turned to the giant ballistics expert.
"Junko, I know this is a lot to ask but we don't have time, I need you to hold Aerrow down for me. And, Piper, I need you to hold his head still."
Aerrow skittered backwards with a gasp, shaking his head frantically as Junko stepped toward him, "You wouldn't!"
"What are you going to do?" the girl asked quietly, glancing at Finn.
He shook his head slightly, watching Aerrow as he scooted sideways along the wall, straining against the bonds still clamped around his legs. Junko was closing in, Aerrow backed into the corner. Suddenly the vampire lunged, throwing himself out from the wall toward the Wallop, fingers curled into claws. Junko flinched backwards as Aerrow scrabbled desperately at his face, digging pale fingers into the flesh of the other's prominent ear. Junko locked his hands around Aerrow's upper arms as the boy snapped lethal incisors at his neck, and yanked him off, ignoring the stinging pain in his ear when Aerrow refused to let go. Junko tackled his former Sky Knight to the ground, sitting heavily on his stomach, holding his arms pinned down. Aerrow shrieked in denial, trying to squirm out of the other's iron grip, legs flailing dangerously as he attempted to unbalance the Wallop.
Piper crept forward cautiously, kneeling at Aerrow's head. Her fingers hesitated as he whipped his head side to side. She didn't want to be bitten, the only reason they could hold him down like this was because he was so weak…and she didn't want to hurt him.
Slowly, Piper reached her hands out, running her fingers into the fiery hair atop his head. Aerrow froze, and Piper took this opportunity to trail her hands down his face, holding him still while she inched forward and slid her folded legs around his head, one knee on either ear, locking him in place, her hands still on his cheeks.
He scowled up at her, but Piper could see the confusion and hurt in his face. 'Sorry,' she mouthed at him as Finn crouched beside her.
The blonde held two red pills in one hand, steadying himself with the other.
"We gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way?" the sharpshooter asked, raising a knowing eyebrow at the pinned Sky Knight.
Aerrow locked his teeth together, glaring fiercely at the other boy.
"The hard way then." For a moment, Finn's cold expression broke, and Aerrow could see just how much this was hurting him, but the blonde recovered fast. Scowling, Finn took a deep breath, and clapped a hand over Aerrow's mouth, pinching his nose closed with the hand that held the pills.
Aerrow's eyes widened in disbelief and he jerked, struggling harder to free himself, to tear his head free.
"I thought you said that could still kill him!" Piper shouted angrily, grabbing Finn's wrists.
"Don't!" Finn shouted back, "I'm not going to kill him! If he won't take the pills willingly, I need to force him!"
"Not like this!" Piper cried, gesturing to Aerrow's steadily reddening face.
"Do you want Aerrow back or not?" Finn shot testily.
That was a low blow. Piper's eyes filled. Several tears rolled down her cheeks, and splashed onto Aerrow forehead. He flinched.
Finn looked down and, noticing how purple the Sky Knight was, withdrew his hands.
Aerrow gasped in a deep breath, his colour returning as his body absorbed the oxygen. Finn shoved the two pills between Aerrow's teeth and quickly clamped his hands over the boy's mouth, holding his nose again. Aerrow lurched, scrunching his eyes closed. His lungs were burning from lack of oxygen, his heart was throbbing painfully, his fingers and toes were going numb, and Piper's tears were dripping into his eyes. His burned skin ached where anything touched it, which happened to be most of him, but he didn't want to do this.
"Swallow, Aerrow," Finn commanded.
"Please, you're hurting him!" Piper sobbed, but she didn't release Aerrow's head were she still held it.
"You won't let yourself die, Aerrow, c'mon." Finn urged.
Aerrow's eyes wheeled frantically, darkness creeping in at the edges of his vision.
He could feel himself slipping, didn't want to slip. Everything was going foggy, waves of fog over his brain. What was he supposed to be doing again?
"Swallow the pills, Aerrow."
But taking those pills would kill him.
Not taking them would kill him faster though.
Painfully, Aerrow dry swallowed. He choked, and the hands were hastily removed from his face. Hacking, Aerrow pulled in as much oxygen as he could, all the way down to his toes. He blinked the darkness from his eyes, as the fog in his brain slipped away.
Aerrow felt his head being released, felt the crushing pressure leave his stomach as Piper and Junko stood up. He pulled himself upright on quivering arms, still coughing, and put his head between his knees.
He was vaguely aware of the others standing around him, and he looked up, blinking blearily around at their hazy, distorted shapes.
"Aerrow?" the smallest, bluer one asked, her voice rather far away.
"Piper?" And then darkness pulled him under.
Yes? No? YesYesYes! XD Pure love I tells ya.