Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with "Storm Hawks". Characters, places, and other aspects of the story (except for original characters, animals, locations, and some other aspects) that are referenced to do not belong to me.
A/N: This is going to be a longer chapter, and the last stretch of Sparrow's focussed story arch (for now at least). Now that Warbler and Crow have entered the picture, let's see how our lonely crystal mage changes…
5 years ago, late morning, hidden cavern…
Snores rumbled from the lounge floor as Warbler and Crow had slept there through the night.
As the morning's breeze crept in through the entrance of the cavern, Warbler began to stir slightly.
"Morning already?" Warbler remarked as he woke up.
Through squinted eyes, Warbler poked Crow lightly as to wake him up.
"That was the most sleep that I've had in a while." Crow commented as he rubbed his eyes.
"We need to head back to base camp." Warbler suggested.
"I know, but do you think we can have some breakfast first?" Crow asked.
"Sure." replied Sparrow.
The merb and the blizzarian looked over the counter to see Sparrow setting plates on a table.
"Apples sound good?" Sparrow questioned.
"Yes, thank you." Warbler replied on behalf of both guests.
While Sparrow went to grab breakfast, Crow and Warbler walked over to the table.
They found three stuffed rucksacks sitting at one of the legs of the table.
"So, you've decided that you'll definitely come with us then?" Crow said facing Sparrow's direction.
"Yeah. Our conversation last night got me thinking, and I think this is what my mom would've wanted." Sparrow replied as she came back with three apples.
Crow and Warbler shared a look of relief as their pleas had been heard and accepted.
"So, where are you guys set up anyway?" Sparrow asked as she gave each resistance member an apple.
"We're currently located a short distance away from this very location." Warbler informed as he bit into his apple.
"In that case, the trip shouldn't be too demanding." Sparrow replied as she slung her rucksack over her shoulder.
"You're right, it shouldn't be too tedious." Crow added.
"Then let's get going." Sparrow announced as she made for the entrance.
The three friends had breakfast on the go as they departed from the small cavern.
Early afternoon, resistance base camp…
After navigating through the thick vegetation which masked the hidden camp, Warbler, Crow, and Sparrow found themselves at the Quies Resistance base camp.
The fighters looked weary. Some were sharing simple meals by their campfires, while others were marching along the perimeter to ensure the safety of the camp.
The crystal mage observed the serenity of the camp.
It was alien compared to what Incrementum had become.
"I know it's not glamorous, but this is all we've got." Crow commented as the three walked past the numerous tents.
"Don't worry, I wasn't expecting a hotel." Sparrow joked to which Warbler smiled.
"We're happy to finally have you on board with us Sparrow." Warbler remarked.
"It's an honor to be here, fighting alongside the people who want to liberate our terra from the Cyclonians." Sparrow replied with a smile.
Crow and Warbler smiled back at her as the crystal mage's attitude had changed drastically compared to last evening's encounter.
Back in the present…
"Warbler, Crow, the other resistance members and I did quite a bit after I joined up." Sparrow stated.
"Slowly, I grew to trust the resistance, and thanks to Crow and Warbler, I moved on from being the brooding mage who blamed everyone for the loss of her mother."
"The true enemies have always been the Cyclonians." Phoenix commented.
"Yeah, and I've lost count of how many times we've kicked their butts." Sparrow stated as she continued with her story.
4 years ago, late afternoon, Cyclonian weapons depot…
Sparrow, faced smeared with camouflage paint, snuck up alongside the factory wall with three resistance members trailing closely behind her.
"When we get inside, stay close, and watch yourselves." Sparrow whispered to which the three nodded in acknowledgement.
Sparrow glanced up at a nearby hill to spot Crow and Warbler glancing down at the weapons depot.
Sparrow gave a thumbs up to her two friends who responded by nodding in unison.
"Go time." Sparrow stated internally.
Sparrow motioned for her assault party to follow her through the factory gates.
Upon entering the main storage area, Sparrow handed each resistance member an unstable crystal to place at strategic parts of the storage facility.
After all of the crystals had been placed, the group met up at a designated rendezvous, and began to make their way out of the Cyclonian facility.
"Hey! Stop!" shouted a Cyclonian guard upon seeing the group exiting the storage area.
Within moments of the guard catching the group, his back was bombarded with crystal blasts.
Unfortunately, his loud remark had been heard by the surrounding security forces who now swarmed the storage area.
"What do we do commander?" a resistance member asked Sparrow as he brandished his bow menacingly at the surrounding Cyclonian forces.
"Too bad for you, we brought some friends." Sparrow announced to the surrounding Cyclonian contingent.
According to the backup plan, Warbler, Crow, and a large group of resistance members poured over the hill and charged at the bewildered Cyclonian forces.
The battle had begun.
Everywhere, Cyclonians were clashing fiercely with the Quies Resistance members.
Now with more advanced training, the resistance members put up a tougher fight against the Cyclonians than ever before.
Crow glanced over his shoulder for a moment to see a Cyclonian rushing towards him.
The man's manic dash for Crow was suddenly interrupted by a purple crystal blast.
Crow looked over to Sparrow who gave him a prompt salute before continuing the struggle.
About an hour later…
Bodies littered the floor.
Surprisingly, the Quies Resistance members had lost less troops than anticipated.
Sparrow observed the carnage as a shiver shot up her spine.
"I hate scenes like this." Warbler stated as he walked up beside Sparrow.
"I second that." Crow commented as he joined the two.
"Get our people out of range. We're going to send this place sky high." Sparrow stated.
With the wounded relocated to a safe position, Crow handed Sparrow a detonation switch which was connected to the crystals the assault group had laid down previously.
"Would you like to do the honors?" offered Crow.
"Gladly." Sparrow replied as she took the detonation switch and clicked it.
The whole facility went up in flames and smoke as the unstable crystals exploded violently.
Back in the present…
"So, you're the one who caused those fireworks!" Phoenix exclaimed.
"Yeah, pretty good fireworks at that." Sparrow replied.
A few months after the weapons depot mission, Incrementum, late afternoon, newly established underground resistance base…
Sparrow, now a distinguished commander of the rag-tag resistance group, strolled through the newly established resistance headquarters located directly under the old library in Incrementum.
"Where are Crow and Warbler?" Sparrow inquired as she saw a passing resistance member.
"Commander Crow and Commander Warbler are in the new situation room down the hall." the resistance member replied.
"Thanks." Sparrow said with a small salute as she headed off to find the merb and the blizzarian.
As she walked into the situation room, she noticed busy resistance members setting up complicated communication devices, tables, and other logistical devices that would be used in the fight against Cyclonia.
"Ah, Sparrow, you made it!" Crow remarked as he saw the crystal mage enter the room.
"Of all the places, we decided to set up in a place crawling with Cyclonians?" Sparrow asked.
"Well, we can hit harder this way, and more frequently at that." Warbler stated as he joined the group's conversation.
"He's right. If we don't get caught, this place is going to be a major strategic advantage for us." Crow commented as he continued supervising the resistance members scrambling to set up the new base.
Back in the present…
"That experience, along with many other instances, gave me hope that we could one day take back our terra. I can still remember probably the most important mission that I went on." Sparrow reminisced.
"Which one was that?" Phoenix asked.
"Oh, come on, you should know!" Sparrow exclaimed.
Phoenix rubbed his chin in thought for a few moments.
"I'm stumped." Phoenix stated.
"It was finding you!" Sparrow said putting her hands on Phoenix's shoulders.
3 years ago, early evening, Incrementum, underground resistance headquarters…
"You guys called for me? What's going on?" Sparrow inquired as she entered the now fully equipped situation room.
"We found our big break Sparrow." Crow stated as he flipped through an old record book.
"What do you mean?" Sparrow asked.
"We've identified the son of the former sky knight of Terra Quies." Warbler began.
"We've determined that he is currently being trained as a Cyclonian cadet at the academy here." Warbler continued.
"He's another major asset that we need to overthrow the Cyclonian occupation." Warbler finished.
"What makes you think he'll join us? If he's in the cadet corps, then he's obviously got some good ties with Cyclonia." Sparrow stated.
"That's the thing. It wasn't by choice." Crow explained.
"We believe he was kidnapped as a child, and he was forced into the Cyclonian academy." Crow continued.
"If we show him his true past, he might join us." Crow finished.
"Ok, well, how do you suppose we get him?" Sparrow questioned.
"We've been doing major surveillance on him. We know he's a great fighter, and he won't go down easily, unless we give him an explanation." Warbler stated.
"So, you're saying we just go up to him and ask him to join us?" Sparrow said with a slight uneasiness in her voice.
"Not exactly. Our sources say that his cohort will be coming through the town for urban patrol drills tomorrow. We need someone to intercept him, and convince him to meet with us at the library to talk further." Crow informed as he tossed a small photo of the sky knight's son on the table.
Sparrow picked up the photo and examined it slowly.
The cadet had ocean blue eyes and messy black hair.
"I'll do it. I'll put an ambush in place, I'll give him the message, and we'll meet back here in the evening to talk more." Sparrow suggested.
"Why the ambush?" Warbler inquired.
"We need to make it believable. If I just walk up to him and ask, one, he'll just arrest me, or two, he'll be accused of conspiring with the enemy and be detained and executed." Sparrow stated.
"That's a risky plan, but I see validity in it. Are you sure you want to do this?" Crow asked with a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
"I'm sure Crow. This will work." Sparrow finished as she looked back down at the photo of the cadet.
Back in the present…
"Wow, creative." Phoenix remarked as Sparrow finished her story.
"Indeed." Primiceriatus added.
"Well, that's really all of it. After that, you know the rest. We retake Quies, go on a bunch of adventures, and so on." Sparrow remarked.
"Yeah, quite the journey so far." Phoenix stated.
"And I'm glad I can spend it with you." Sparrow stated as she leaned up against Phoenix.
"Same here my little Sparrow, same here." Phoenix commented as he returned Sparrow's embrace.
"It's getting late my friends. Young Phoenix, young Sparrow, I hope we can chat at another time. Tonight, was truly insightful." Primiceriatus noted.
"Thanks for dropping by master." Phoenix stated as he looked at his former master.
"No worries, young sky knight." Primiceriatus replied as he transformed back into a bird and ascended slightly.
"Goodnight you two." Primiceriatus stated as he swooped off.
"Goodnight!" Sparrow and Phoenix replied in unison as they saw the wise master fly towards home.
"We should get going too." Sparrow stated with a yawn.
"I agree." Phoenix said.
Midnight, Terra Quies, on board the Thunderbird…
After separately showering off and preparing for bed, the two tired crew members found themselves moving back toward their respective quarters.
The ship was silent as Finch, Crow, and Warbler had already fallen asleep.
"Goodnight Phoenix." Sparrow said as she offered a small smile to the sky knight.
"Goodnight Sparrow." Phoenix replied.
Sparrow let out a small sigh and she began to rub her arm gently.
"What's wrong?" Phoenix asked.
"Oh, nothing, it has been a long day is all." Sparrow replied.
"I know when something's up Sparrow. You can tell me." Phoenix continued.
"It's just, after talking about my mother and talking about some of my darker memories, I feel just a tiny bit, I don't know, uncomfortable I guess." Sparrow admitted.
"I'll be fine, really." Sparrow assured.
"Alright, if you say so. Goodnight then." Phoenix stated as he walked into his room.
"Goodnight Phoenix." Sparrow stated as she walked into her room as well.
After closing his door and getting on his bed, Phoenix lay with eyes wide open.
He couldn't help but worry about Sparrow in the room next to him.
After what she had recalled today, he felt that he should be with her to support her.
"She said she'd be fine, but that's because she doesn't want to trouble me." Phoenix told himself internally.
"Who am I kidding, if she's distressed, then I am too." Phoenix admitted mentally.
With that thought, Phoenix got up and walked over to open his door.
As he entered the hallway, he reached for Sparrow's room's doorknob and turned it slowly.
He slowly opened the door to see if Sparrow was still awake.
"How did you know I'm still up?" came Sparrow's voice from the darkness.
"I just do." Phoenix replied simply as he sat beside Sparrow on her bed.
The two sat silently for a few moments.
"Sleepover?" Phoenix suggested.
"Really? Even after Finch said-
"You really think I'm worried about that?" Phoenix stated as he put his hand on the crystal mage's shoulder.
"I'm so glad I have you Phoenix." Sparrow stated as she gazed through the darkness and into the sky knight's ocean blue eyes.
"I love you too." Phoenix whispered as he returned her gaze and got up from the bed.
"Our room awaits." Phoenix said as he motioned for Sparrow to exit her room and enter his.
After closing her room's door behind him, Phoenix entered his room, closed the door, and got on his bed beside Sparrow.
"At this rate, I don't think I'll need my bed anymore." Sparrow joked as she felt the sky knight's arms wrap around her.
"I think you're right." Phoenix answered as he kissed Sparrow on the head.
"Goodnight my little Sparrow." Phoenix whispered.
"Goodnight Phoenix." Sparrow whispered back as she slowly drifted off to sleep.