Chapter Ten
Aerrow told Finn to stay on the Terra, ignoring the blonde haired boy's arguments. But Aerrow reasoned that one person flying to Cyclonia would attract less attention than two would.
Radarr insisted on coming, but Aerrow told him to stay behind and keep an eye on Finn, which convinced him.
Aerrow never wanted to see Cyclonia. Not after what had happened to his family. But he didn't look back once, as the looming and dark Terra came into view. He was going to save Piper.
Piper struggled in the hands of the huge Talon who was holding her, but she was much smaller then he was, and didn't stand a chance. They dragged her into a circular chamber and threw her across the room.
She hit the wall, and fell on her side. Her hands had been tied behind her back so she had to use her elbows to push herself up. She could taste blood in her mouth.
A smaller Talon came over to her and used a chain to secure her to the wall.
He smiled cruelly at her and she spat in his face. He stumbled back in surprise and disgust. Piper couldn't blame him. A mixture of blood and saliva was gross.
Once he got over his initial shock, he glared and slapped her. He hit her so hard, her head snapped to the side, and her cheek throbbed. She knew it would leave a bruise.
They didn't say anything to her, but they kept hitting her, if she so much as looked at them. When they were finally done beating her, they left, locking the huge metal door behind them.
Piper sunk to her knees. She placed her chained hands in her lap and gave the chain an experimental tug. She got to her feet and pulled as hard as she could. She tried kicking it, and even biting it. But the links were way to strong for her. She gave one more tug, harder than the rest, and ended up bumping into a small table in the center of the room. She hadn't payed much attention to it before, but a small, diamond shaped crystal, colored a deep ocean blue, clattered to the floor at her feet.
It rolled onto its side, and made contact with her ankle.
Instantly, Piper collapsed. She could barely breathe; she broke out into a harsh coughing fit.
She realized that the crystal was glowing a faint blue color and figured that it must have something to do with her distress, so she rolled away. The chain clacking against the cold stone floor.
She curled up in the corner and tried to stop shivering.
"Aerrow…." She croaked, opening her eyes just a crack. "Please….. Hurry."
Aerrow knew he was in trouble when a sentry on top of the wall shouted, "Sound the alarm! There's a skimmer coming this way! It's not one of ours!"
Aerrow yanked on the controls, and spiraled into a dive. He managed to avoid crashing, or being hit by any blasts the Talons fired off.
Cyclonis stood at the window of her tower and smiled when she saw Aerrow land in the courtyard.
"It's the boy." She said to the Talon commander next to her. "Who?" The commander questioned. Cyclonis rolled her eyes in disgust. "It doesn't matter!" She hissed. "But he's here for the girl! I don't want either of them getting away! Use the girl as leverage! Do whatever you have to! But I want both of them alive!"
The commander, as clueless as ever, had no idea who the boy was, but he understood that when Master Cyclonis said something, it was always in his best interest to do whatever she wanted.
Four Talons came for Piper before half an hour had passed.
They unchained her from the wall and dragged her by the chain out the door, and into the courtyard. She didn't fight back.
That's when she saw Aerrow.
He was crouching behind a row of black hedges, the only reason she could see him, was because she was a lot smaller then the Talons were and could see under the bushes without having to bend down.
She was half relieved, and half terrified. If they caught him too….. Well, it wasn't going to end well.
"Come out boy!" A fat Talon called. He was obviously a commander. When she realized what he had said, Piper felt like her heart had stopped beating. Her blood turned to ice.
Aerrow didn't move, but both Piper and Aerrow knew, that the Talons were on to them.
The large Talon from before grabbed Piper's chain and held her over the edge of the Terra.
Piper stifled a scream, as her feet dangled over an endless, dark, amount of nothing.
"You have until the count of three to show yourself and surrender." The commander said. "Or she dies."
"One…" He counted, the large Talon loosened his grip on the chain and Piper fell about a foot, before he caught her again.
"No!" Aerrow cried, and he burst out from his hiding place. "Stop! I surrender!"
The commander smiled cruelly and snapped his fingers. The large Talon grabbed Piper by her arms and threw her onto the ground, where she lay trembling, trying to catch her breath.
"Piper!" Aerrow exclaimed, he tried to run to her, but two of the Talons grabbed him and tied his hands behind his back with yet another chain.
The commander hauled Piper to her feet and led the small group back into the base. Aerrow walked beside Piper, and let her lean on him.
"I'm really sorry." She said. "It's my fault you're here." Aerrow gave her a brave smile. "It's not your fault. And don't worry; we'll get out of here. You'll see. Just hang on."
The Talons left them in the same circular room as before and locked the door behind them. As soon as the door was closed, Piper collapsed again, that stupid crystal was right there!
Aerrow did his best to catch her with his bound hands, but they both ended up on the ground.
"Piper! What's wrong?" Aerrow questioned.
Piper gave the crystal a feeble kick as an answer, and luckily for her, Aerrow got the message. He stomped on the crystal as hard as he could and it shattered into pieces. The blue glow faded until it was gone completely.
Piper relaxed and her breathing evened out.
"Thanks Aerrow." She panted. He gave her a small smile and helped her sit up.
"What was that?" He asked. Piper just shook her head. "I don't know. But we have to get out of here."
Aerrow nodded. "I think I have an idea."
Aerrow picked up a piece of the shattered crystal and told Piper to show him her hands. She wasn't sure what he was going to do, but she trusted him, so she turned around and in a few seconds, the chains fell away and her hands were free!
She turned back around and Aerrow handed her the crystal shard. She used it to pick the lock on his chains like he had done for her, and soon they were both standing by the door.
"Ready?" Aerrow asked. Piper nodded. She was catching onto the plan now. She opened her mouth and started to scream. "Help! Somebody! Come quick! There's a fire in here! Hurry! Please! Help us!"
There plan worked and they heard footsteps on the other side of the door and the sound of a key being turned.
The door swung open, and Aerrow acrobatically jumped onto the back of the smallest one, knocking him to the ground, and using the Talon like a springboard, he flipped onto the large Talon's shoulders and the other Talon, who clearly wasn't very bright, hit the large Talon on the head with his weapon, knocking him out cold, just as Aerrow sprang off and kicked the other Talon to the ground. The Talon commander glowered down at Aerrow who just smiled.
The commander made to grab Aerrow, but the much smaller boy, jumped into the air once again and flipped over the commander's head. He landed neatly on the other side, and hit the commander with the weapon one of the other Talon's had dropped. Soon the commander fell to the ground too, with a nasty bump on his head.
Aerrow took Piper's hand, who was fairly shocked, and pulled her through the corridor, all the way back out into the courtyard, where she snapped out of it and climbed onto the skimmer behind him.
They took off, and Piper didn't dare look back until the outline of Terra Neverlandis came into view.
Later that night, Aerrow and Piper stood together on the edge of their Terra, and Aerrow took Piper's hand. She looked at him, knowing that there was something he wanted to say to her.
"Piper," He began, looking a little embarrassed. "I just wanted you to know that…. If something ever happened to you, I don't know what I'd do. What I'm trying to say is, I couldn't live without you. And I'm glad you're safe."
Piper smiled at him and took both of his hands in her's. "I couldn't live without you either." Then she got up on her tiptoes so she could reach his face, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Now come on," She said, releasing his hands and leading the way back down the path.
"Finn and Radarr will be wondering what happened to us."
A/N: I just realized how long it's been since I last updated and I am so sorry! I love you all and you have awesome ideas! I just hope you guys still want to read my stories even though it's been this long since I last updated. I hoped you liked the chapter. The idea came from GreyWolfDruid. I might be wrapping this story up in a few more chapters because The Blood Of Olympus is coming out soon and I would like to have at least one Percy Jackson fanfiction posted before then. Anyways, please review!