A/n: Alright guys, this is the final chapter. About time I got this fic out of my system oO. Anyway, thankyou all for all the reviews, and I hope you have enjoyed. And about who's right between Mahad and Cortes? Well, honestly I don't know. I like being confusing, and letting people work it out for themselves. (Although I reckon neither of them really has to be right...) :P

Wayan was walking back from the water storage facilities and towards the infirmary when he saw the Hyperion pull into Puerto Angel. He slowed down. He wasn't urgently needed at the infirmary. Convinced he wasn't shirking any responsibility, Wayan turned and headed towards the Hyperion's dock.

Mahad and Lena must've decided it was safe enough for them to return. Wayan felt he should at least reassure them that they were safe, and also that there was a cure. That meant he had to tell them about Cortes. He didn't feel too good about that, because he was worried they'd blame themselves for not being there. But they did have a right to know they were safe, at the very least. As well as a right to know what was going on.

It was at that moment that Cortes stepped out of the Hyperion, followed by Lena and Mahad.

Wayan stopped, stunned for a moment, and then broke into a run before skidding to a halt in front of the Hyperion. "Cortes….?" he said, unable to think of anything more literate.

"We had to save his butt," said Mahad with a wry smile.

Cortes sighed. "Yes. Thankyou, Mahad." It sounded somewhat between an actual thankyou and exasperation.

Wayan blinked, was silent for a moment more, and then broke into a grin. "Good to see you're alright." He nodded to Lena and Mahad. "You two as well. What happened?"

"Cortes sent us a message telling us what he was doing. So we thought we'd go help," said Mahad. He shrugged. "No big deal."

"Anyway," Cortes interrupted, "we're all back. Safe and sound. Did you get the cure, Wayan?"

Wayan nodded. "Yes, and…"

"Is it working?"

"Yes. Actually it seems to be working quite well. Everyone seems to be responding. They're not all better yet, but they're well on the way."

Cortes closed his eyes for a brief moment. "Good. That's good."

Wayan smiled. "And it looks like we've found some water too."

"We have?" said Cortes. "How far away do we have to go to get it?"

"That's the best part, we don't. We were so busy worrying about everything that was going on that we weren't keeping an eye on the weather. I checked our computers this afternoon. There's a monsoonal front heading our way. Puerto Angel is probably going to get the tail end of it. Which means enough rainfall to keep us going for a few weeks, but not enough to bring the Sphere sniffing around – they'll probably be concentrating on where the rainfall is heavier."

"That's great!" Lena exclaimed, grinning.

Cortes sighed. "Looks like we got off easier than we should have…"

Wayan was grim for a moment. "Yeah, maybe…"

Cortes looked at him, and knew instantly that there was some bit of bad news the other man had yet to tell him. "Is Cheng alright?" he asked quickly, hardly taking a moment to think.

"What?" said Wayan. "Yeah. Yeah, he's fine. He was awake when I was last in the infirmary." He paused for a moment, deciding exactly how to put his next words. "But… Adrian lost his son. He was pretty much gone by the time we got the cure ready. Sorry."

Cortes sighed, and hung his head. "Alright…"

Mahad shifted uncomfortably. "Well… at least everyone else is okay."

"One is still too many, Mahad," Cortes snapped. He stepped off the Hyperion's deck, down to where Wayan stood.

"Woah… steady," said Wayan, grabbing the captain's arm as he nearly lost his footing. "You alright?"

"No," Cortes grimaced, gingerly pulling his arm back. "I got shot."

"Oh," Wayan blinked. "You'd better go to the infirmary…"

"I am," Cortes replied, and started heading that way without a backward glance.

"I'm glad you two are okay," Wayan said to Mahad and Lena again. "Just see if you can find anything around to help with?" He turned and jogged to catch up with Cortes.

Mahad huffed.

"You okay?" Lena asked.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm okay," Mahad replied. "Just… never mind. Puerto Angel is alright. Guess that's all that really matters."

Lena paused for a moment, mulling over whether to push her brother further. She decided against it, instead just nodding. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm going to go down to the infirmary and see if I can help."

"I'll come with you. Maybe see how Dahlia is doing."

Together they stepped off the Hyperion, and headed to the infirmary.

----

It was the next day, and Mahad stood on the edge of Puerto Angel, a short ways from where the village ended. He was watching the storm clouds roll in from the near distance. The clouds were a grey-green colour, lit up by frequent flashes of lightning. Mahad would've thought that this looked a pretty powerful storm – had he not been flying through the weather of the Dragon's Throat the previous day.

"You should start thinking about going inside soon. That's going to drop hail once it gets here," said a voice from behind him.

Mahad glanced over his shoulder, though he didn't really need to look to know it was Cortes. He turned back to looking at the sky, and Cortes came and stood beside him. "I'll go inside in a bit," Mahad replied.

Cortes stood beside him in silence for a moment more. Mahad noticed his left arm was now in a sling.

"Your arm okay?" Mahad asked, simply because he could think of nothing else to say, and the silence was making him uncomfortable.

Cortes tossed him a look that said 'stupid question'. "I'm fine, Mahad." Which wasn't really a truthful answer. He paused. "I wanted to talk to you."

"About…?" said Mahad, whose mind had automatically started wondering which of the moves he'd pulled yesterday in the Hyperion Cortes was going to tell him was stupid, or dangerous.

"I wanted to apologise."

"Oh…" said Mahad. He shifted uncomfortably. "Well… it wasn't me you wanted to hand over to the Sphere."

"I already talked to Lena. She said it was alright – that I was just trying to do what was best for Puerto Angel."

Mahad shrugged. "I suppose you were. I'd think worse of you if that wasn't the reason."

"My point is," Cortes continued, "Lena doesn't seem particularly bothered now that things have worked out…"

"She should," Mahad interrupted without really thinking. "Um… I mean…"

"… but it seems to have upset you more," Cortes finished.

"What makes you say that?" Mahad snapped.

"You ran away in the Hyperion?'

"Oh yeah… that…"

"I'm not really mad at you, Mahad. I don't blame you for trying to keep your sister safe." Cortes paused, and then sighed. "I was trying to keep Puerto Angel safe. If anything happens to it… it's my fault. And sometimes it's really hard… but that doesn't mean I have the right to put any one person in danger – far less a child – to protect it. The Sphere's already made Skyland dangerous enough as it is, you don't need your one safe place taken away from you. I'm sorry."

Mahad glanced across at Cortes, but the older man wouldn't quite make eye contact with him, instead making a point of staring out into the approaching storm. "Look," said Mahad, deciding to look out at the storm as well, "maybe I shouldn't have run off in the Hyperion right away. Maybe if I'd stayed we could've worked something better out…" He smiled slightly. "Maybe you wouldn't have gotten shot."

Cortes harrumphed. "Maybe I deserved that…"

"You did manage to get the cure off Diwan."

"Not for everyone," said Cortes, hanging his head and pausing briefly. He drew in a breath, and continued more quietly. "And I couldn't have done it without you. If you and Lena hadn't come I would be in Sphere custody now, and Puerto Angel would still be in trouble."

Mahad shrugged, "Hey, it was nothing."

"And what I said before – about you both deserving to feel safe? I won't make a deal like that again. Not without talking to both of you. You shouldn't have to worry about us turning on you." Cortes broke his gaze from the sky, and looked hard at Mahad. "You won't need to run away again; that's a promise."

Mahad returned the look, and then slowly nodded. "Okay. I suppose that's good enough for me."

They both stood in silence for a moment more, staring out into the oncoming storm. In the distance thunder crashed; the wind picked up a little with the smell of rain upon it.

"Maybe we had better get inside soon," said Mahad. "It'll start raining soon."

Cortes nodded. "Aye. But we need it."

"Besides," Mahad couldn't resist adding, "you're probably not supposed to get that wet." He pointed to Cortes' bandaged arm.

Cortes closed his eyes and sighed in annoyance.

Mahad grinned, his objective accomplished. "I'm going in to the tavern. See you there."

Cortes opened his eyes and watched Mahad walk off. He then turned back to look at the storm for one more moment, alone.

They had come so close to losing everything. But despite the mistakes he himself had made they'd managed to pull through. Just. And they were lucky to as well. Finding water could have been almost as big a task as securing the cure had been, if not bigger. The storm had solved that. The water they so desperately needed had just fallen from the sky.

Cortes wished it would do that more often. At least, that it would do so without the Sphere getting between it and those that really needed it first. Cortes scowled. The Sphere. They thought they had so much of a right to all the water that they would poison a block full of innocents who'd taken it simply because they needed it to survive.

Although, Cortes admitted to himself, he did enjoy damaging the water transports.

He drew in a breath and sighed. The anger didn't help anything. He'd figured that out awhile ago, but it hadn't really stopped him from being angry.

This time Puerto Angel was okay. He should be thankful for that at least.

The rain had now started to fall lightly. The storm was almost on Puerto Angel. Everything was already set up to receive the water it would bring.

Cortes turned his back to the storm, and headed for the tavern.