Hey guys. Great to be over my milkshake addiction though this chapter is defiantly not one of my best. Stay with me though it's kind of important for the rest of the plotline. Anyway, to my reviewers:
Delphigirl: Hope you enjoy this. Sorry it took so long.
Ali: Yes, but you're the world's nicest hypocrite. Admit it. You love cliffies really. Thank by the ways. It's good to be back.
Rose: You're still more evil than me *cough* but not for long. Anyway have fun even though you probably won't read this until you're gone.
Jenergy: I updated ASAP. No more whining please. That's Finn's job.
Finn: Hey!
LostLyra: Good to have you back.
Doilan: Thanks, it was my best fight scene yet. Here's your next installment.
Gato: I think we both know the answer to that.
Aerrow's POV
There she was, not five feet away from me and for some reason, she was still far away. She was Piper; there was no doubt about it. No-one had her chestnut skin or her dark blue hair but she looked different. She was wearing the Talon's green and red and as if Cyclonis had a sense of humour, there were orange patches like on her old armour. She wasn't wearing her crystal necklace.
Worst of all were her eyes. They weren't the soft, amber I remembered. They were a hard, cold orange-red that reminded me of the Dark Ace's eyes. Full of hate, spite and anger without a hint of compassion that Piper had always had from the moment I first met her.
"What are you doing here?" she spat at me.
"Looking for you," I said, taking a tiny step forward. It was a mistake. A flicker of fear ran across the whole of her face and she leapt forward, trying to punch me. I grabbed her arm before she could give me a black eye. "What's wrong?"
"You DARE ask ME what's WRONG?" she yelled and I listened hard for Talon footsteps but there weren't any. I was a little bit angry. I had not come all this way to be shouted at for trying to help her. I held my temper in check. This was still Piper.
"Piper, c'mon, it's me Aerrow," I said as calmly as I could. "You can tell me what's wrong."
Lark's POV
I was going to kill him. I'm sure Master Cyclonis wouldn't mind. She was always saying how inferior the sky knights were compared to her Talons. One less sky knight out there wouldn't even catch her attention. I struggled to get loose of his hold but he held on to my arm with a grip of steel. Still I got the feeling that if he wanted to hurt me, he could have by now. I dismissed the thought. He was a coward. He probably needed his friends to help him torture an innocent Talon.
"Piper, c'mon, it's me Aerrow. You can tell me what's wrong." I was going to hang him from the ceiling and get the Talons to use him for target practice. How dare he taunt me by calling me his old teammate's name. As if I would ever become a Storm Hawk.
"I'm not Piper. My name is Lark. Your precious Piper is rotting in the dungeons. You'll never see her again and she will never see the light of day," I said and I wished I had a camera with me. His face was priceless. It was all there. Hurt, torment, betrayal. All the things that he deserved.
Aerrow's POV
For a second, I wasn't sure. What if this wasn't Piper? Cyclonis had done freakier things than making a clone of Piper and calling it Lark. Or Piper could have another doppelganger. After Princess Peregrine anything is possible. But then when I mentioned Piper's name, I noticed that she was clutching at air near the base of her neck.
Piper had always done that; it was like a nervous twitch. Whenever she was thinking hard about something, she always stroked her crystal necklace. And now it wasn't there anymore.
"What are you trying to hold on to?" I asked. Startled, she looked down. Then she just got angrier.
"None of your business!" she yelled and brought out a firebolt crystal from somewhere. That proved it. This must be Piper. She was always carrying crystals in case she was attacked. But she had never attacked me before.
"Pi…" The crystal glowed and I corrected myself, "Lark, what are you doing here?"
"Like you don't know."
"Would you believe me if I said that I really have no clue what you're talking about?"
"No."
"Well tell me anyway."
Lark's POV
It was the stupidest thing that I have ever done since I woke up in Cyclonia but looking at him, I realized how much I just wanted to tell someone what had happened to me. How confused I was and how strange Master Cyclonis became with every passing day. Okay, maybe I should just tell him the first bit.
"I'm here because of you. You and your idiotic band of Storm Hawks tortured me for Cyclonian information until I was so traumatized that I forgot everything. Then the Dark Ace brought me back here so that Master "he flinched when I said this for some reason" Cyclonis could heal me." He looked confused.
"We never did any of that. To anyone, Atomosian or Cyclonian. Pi…" I swung the crystal under his nose. He looked more annoyed that scare "Oh for…Lark then. If you don't remember anything how do you know any of that?"
"So you did torture me?"
"No. I just said that." He looked surprisingly calm for someone with a firebolt crystal under his nose and then been accused for attacking someone. "Don't change the subject. How did you come up with all that stuff?"
"I didn't come up with it. Master Cyclonis told me. She saved me along with the Dark Ace. They took a defenseless girl with no memory, they helped me remember my crystal training then they let me work on some projects and they never stopped working on a way to get my memory back with hypnosis sessions." He raised his eyebrow.
"How convenient. So you only remember your crystal training?" I nodded, defiant. If I wasn't going to tell Master Cyclonis about my new fighting moves I certainly wouldn't tell Storm Hawk scum. "Have you ever thought that you might only remember your crystal training because it's convenient to them?" He locked eyes with me and I couldn't help that his eyes were the colour of light shining through the underside of a leaf. "When was the last time you had a hypnosis session to get your memory back?"
I thought about it. "It has been a while. But we've been busy."
"With what?"
"Now, now Lark. Don't give away all our secrets." Oh no. I recognised that voice. I didn't take my eyes of Aerrow for a moment.
"Dark Ace," I said "How nice of you to join us."
Aerrow's POV
It wasn't the fact that the Dark Ace had emerged from the shadows that bothered me. Dove and Radarr were standing a few feet behind him. I told them with my eyes to be quiet. Radarr nodded and Dove seemed frozen in place. The firebolt crystal was getting annoying. It was still stuck under my chin.
"So I heard that a doughnut truck had been turned over in the cargo bay and I said to myself what Talon wouldn't be careful with doughnuts. You might as well have sent us a letter, Aerrow," Piper rolled her eyes. At least, she still didn't think his banter was any good.
"You might want to lay off the doughnuts, Dark Ace," I said and Piper stifled a smile. I grinned at her and she scowled at me. Oh well at least it was progress.
"So Aerrow, what brings you here? Do you just come to prank us or do you want to start torturing poor Lark here because she looks like your captured girlfriend?" I scowled at him and snatched a glance at Piper. She looked calm like she had known it all along but her eyes were full with some emotion I couldn't make out. Pity? Anger? It was hard to tell. "But since you're here, there's something that I want to show you." He brought out a crystal from his pocket. I could see right through it to where Lark was standing stunned. Obviously this was a powerful crystal.
"Dark Ace, is it such a good idea to show that to the enemy?" asked Piper. I was hurt. She thought I was the enemy?
"Oh he's not leaving. If he runs you'll just get him with that firebolt crystal won't you?" She looked at me with a look of steel.
"Yes."
"Well, then there's not harm in showing him this, it there?" He looked at the crystal for a moment and I was scared that he would see Dove and Radarr in the reflection. He didn't. He pulled out his sword from its holder and slotted in the crystal. Pure, dark red flames shot up the side of it and then he brought it down on the wall of the corridor. There was a hiss as the sword cut through steel.
He pulled it out of the wall and I stole a glance at it. He hadn't just melted the steel. The rock behind it lay in a small puddle of molten steel and lava at the bottom of the wall. Behind him, Dove drew out her crystal staff. She brought it to face the Dark Ace back…and then she swung it round so that it was aimed at the back of Piper's head. Dove held up three fingers. I tried to shake my head but it was difficult to move without her being seen.
Dove put down one of her finger. Two seconds. I looked at Piper. Hadn't Dove realized who it was? One finger. One second. Don't ask me why I did it but I couldn't see her hurt.
"Lark, look out," I said and she turned around. The Dark Ace looked at me and then I realized just how bad things were. The Dark Ace pulled up his sword and swung it towards Piper. I watched and knew what I had to do. I had just enough to say one thing.
"Run Dove!"
Lark's POV
Aerrow's accomplice disappeared. She looked like she had been about to hit me with a wind stone. If he hadn't warned me I could have been thrown against the wall and my head would have cracked open. I turned back to face Aerrow. But he had moved.
He was in between the Dark Ace and I with the Dark Ace's blade was sticking out of his side. He was kneeling in pain. I swallowed the urge to be sick. Blood was pouring from his wound.
"Are you alright, Lark?" asked the Dark Ace.
"Why did you do that?" I asked, angry for some reason. He scowled at me.
"Ungrateful girl. I saved your life. He was about to grab the firebolt crystal from you and shoot you when I stopped him," I sagged slightly. The Dark Ace had saved me. Yes that was right. But something didn't make sense. I would think about it later.
"Come on, let's get him to the infirmary," I said picking him up by the arms and starting to drag him. The Dark Ace sheathed his sword and then picked up his legs.
"Thanks," I said and he nodded. This was no time to get emotional.
Dove's POV
Tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was gasping for air as I ran. Radarr hadn't moved on my shoulder. It was like he was made of stone, shocked by what he had seen. Didn't Aerrow understand that Piper was gone? She was holding a firebolt crystal under his chin! How could he have missed that! One way or another he wasn't fit for command anymore.
"But we need him back," I whispered as I grabbed my skimmer. Aerrow had never abandoned me even when I had accused him of stealing. We would be back. If we were going to rescue him, we needed a plan. And I can only think of one person good enough. I landed in the hanger bay. Finn and Junko were waiting. When they saw that Aerrow wasn't there, Finn started to ask me something but I switched on the intercom system,
"Stork, we need to leave. NOW!" I nodded to the guys to follow me and walked towards the cock-pit as we took off and left Aerrow behind. We needed help and there was only one place where we could find it.
Terra Atmosia.
And so the cliffhangers continue. Sorry guys but I am evil (according to Rose).
