Author's Notes: Again, a late update due to login problems. I'm not getting many reviews lately, so I'm thinking Fanfiction's problems are messing with more people than just me. Either that, or my long absence has made me lose some of my audience. Eh, oh, well. Here we go.

Chapter 20: The End

Sacrificing your happiness for the happiness of the one you love, is by far, the truest type of love.

~Anonymous

Knowing there was not much else they could do, being surrounded by the Talons, the group hunkered down in the cave for the time being.

Finn was the first to ask that vital question. "So . . . what'd we do now?"

"I'm thinkin'," Aerrow answered.

"Maybe you shouldn't think," Finn grumbled.

Aerrow rolled his eyes. "''Cause I'm the reason we're here in the first place, blah, blah, blah,'" he mocked Finn. "Yeah, I get it. But we're here now, and that's not gonna change."

Piper was obviously thinking, her brow furrowed. "What if we were somehow able to temporarily distract the Talons and then sneak past them?"

"Distract them?" Aerrow asked. "With what?"

Piper shrugged. "I'm still working on that part." She studied him. "How'd Lance and Gos catch you last time?"

"Starved us out," Aerrow answered, "by chasing us. But we had a skimmer."

"What I'd give to have a skimmer here," Finn moaned.

Piper went to the entrance to peer outside tentatively, for only a moment. Then she turned back to the others. "We'll have to sneak past them somehow. What if we do it when they settle in for camp?"

"Lance will have at least one guard up," Aerrow said. "We'll have to be careful."

That night, the four of them headed out as soon as they thought the Talons were asleep. Aerrow had never felt so hungry in a long time. They hadn't been able to eat, with no way of cooking their food without running the risk of revealing their hiding place.

As they tiptoed out of the protection of the overhang, they all became more cautious, aware that they were out in the open, exposed. As they neared the area that they knew to be the Talons' camp, they took to scrambling from boulder or volcano to the next, trying to keep out of sight.

Aerrow paused for only a moment when he peered around one boulder. Just as he suspected, there was a guard sitting alertly. The group had made a point of going around behind him, so he wasn't facing them. Everyone else was asleep.

Aerrow led the way behind the guard. It would take a couple of boulder/volcano stops to make it past.

They had terrible timing. The guard was getting up to shake one of his comrades to wake him up.

They were just tiptoeing past when Finn tripped on a large stone. With a loud, "Oof!" he landed flat on his face. Piper stopped to pick him up. Aerrow and Radarr were already safely hidden.

But it was too late. The Talons whirled around. "You!" one yelled.

Both Finn and Piper turned to the sound. "Uh oh," Piper gasped.

Aerrow thought uh oh was an understatement.

The Talons got up as one with their staffs, shouting. Others were already raising their heads groggily.

Aerrow and Radarr turned and ran. Aerrow knew, from experience, from plain common sense, that Piper and Finn would be right behind him.

He made it to a volcano large enough to provide cover. It was inactive at the moment, and as soon as he was behind it, he leaned his back against it. Radarr did the same. Both were breathing heavily.

Finn and Piper didn't show.

Panicky, Aerrow quickly staggered toward the side of the volcano so he could peer around it . . . just barely.

But he could see nothing. He had made sure his escape path was as secure as possible.

From what he could see, his friends weren't coming. And from here, he couldn't see if . . . if possibly . . . they had been captured.

Looking up the face of the volcano, he saw that past lava channels had made grooves in it. Without telling Radarr what he was up to, he started climbing. Giving a worried churr, Radarr followed him.

When at last they were high enough, they looked out.

Aerrow caught his breath. Finn was being held by two of the Talons. The others were forming a circle around them, and Piper was also in that circle. Aerrow couldn't hear what was being said, but he knew from his friends expressions that they were terrified.

He felt cold, deathly cold, at the thought that anything should happen to them. It was as if someone was ripping his heart out . . . like losing Radarr all over again. Finn's words rang in his head: This is all your fault!

He was right. This was his fault!

His grip tightened on the rock as he saw the Talons close in around Piper.

This simply couldn't be happening. It couldn't!

When at last Aerrow could think clearly enough to say something, his voice reached out to the last thing with him. "Radarr . . . we've got to do something."

Radarr whimpered, as if he didn't know if there was anything they could do.

Aerrow began climbing down. "I'm going after them," he announced.

Radarr squawked in terror.

Once they were on the ground, Aerrow looked at him again. "I mean it, Radarr. I'm going after them."

Radarr just looked at him dubiously, as if to say, How?

"Radarr . . . listen." He knelt in front of him. "I want you nearby, but don't you dare try anything that'll get you caught. You got it? I need you to lead the others away."

Radarr whimpered again, really worried now about what Aerrow had in mind.

"Please, Radarr."

At last, Radarr gulped and nodded. He didn't like the agreement he was making, and he might break it if he had to, to save Aerrow. But he could not abandon Piper or Finn, either.

"Good," Aerrow said. "Here's what we'll do."

For Piper, this was all quite a strange, terrifying experience. For Finn, it seemed like a strange, nightmare-quality case of déjà vu of the first time he was caught.

Finn hadn't gotten away fast enough when they had retreated, and one of the Talon guards had caught him by the arm. The other guard soon helped him with the boy.

Piper had made the mistake of hesitating when she saw Finn in trouble. It had given some of the Talons enough time to overtake her. Now she was surrounded.

All she could do was close her eyes and pray that Aerrow and Radarr got away. Then she charged at one of the Talons.

She did manage to barrel him over, but he tripped her up when she did. She fell, busting her watch against a rock.

She was up again in a moment but not soon enough. A Talon came at her. Laughing, he grabbed her arm, making her gasp. "Let go of me!" she exclaimed, trying to shake out of his grasp.

"Easy with her!" A green-haired Talon stepped forward, his eyes hard. Aerrow had described the man well enough that she knew who he was instantly: Lance.

The Talon growled. "I only wanted some fun," he grumbled. "I don't see why I can't, after all we've had to go through."

"She's only a girl!" Lance looked ready to strike the Talon who held her.

Piper looked at him curiously. How had Aerrow described him? A good guy, in an evil sort of way.

He studied her with an unreadable expression. "So this is how the boys managed," he said. "They found you."

"Hey, don't touch her!"

Piper turned to see Finn struggling vainly against his own captors. That only served to get him a punch in the face. Piper flinched and watched as Finn went limp a moment, his breathing ragged, before he finally looked up.

One of the Talons looked up at Lance. "Is this the one?" he asked.

Lance shook his head. "Not the one Buteo wanted."

"Yeah," another Talon shot back. "He wants the one with the critter."

It took a moment for Piper to realize they were talking about Aerrow.

The bearded one, who Piper thought might be Gos, looked at Finn as if he were a skimpy piece of meat. "Hope he's satisfied with this one."

Lance looked to his Switchblade before pointing to two other Talons. "You two, with me. We'll see if we can't spot the other boy."

"He probably already met his maker in this place," one Talon grumbled.

Lance shook his head. "Not Sparrow. If they're here," he pointed to Piper and Finn, "then he's here. Somewhere."

Piper watched fearfully as the three Switchblades took to the skies. She hoped they wouldn't find Aerrow. To her relief, they took off in the wrong direction.

The Talon holding Piper turned back to her. "Well, let's see what these two got, shall we?"

Gos shook his head. "Get your grubby hands off her," he said, sounding exasperated. "Lance'll have your hide."

"Lance isn't here," the Talon pointed out. "So what does it—?"

At that moment, a shadow seemed to unhinge itself from a nearby slab of rock and turn upon the Talon. He was flat on the ground before Piper figured out what had happened.

Someone was standing over the stunned Talon.

"Aerrow!" Piper gasped. "But how did you—?"

"Not now!" Aerrow hissed. "Go!"

Piper didn't know whether he meant to escape or to help Finn, but she chose the latter. She ran at the Talon, slipping her bag off her shoulder as she did. One of the Talons let go of Finn and came at her, but she knocked his head with her bag.

Aerrow was right behind her, but he was after the other Talon and kicked him where no man wanted to be kicked.

Finn staggered away from the Talon, showing him his fists as he did. The Talon had fallen to his knees without Finn even touching him. "Yeah, that's right!" he exclaimed. "No one can hold the Finnster!"

But Aerrow had grabbed his shoulder. He shoved him and Piper away. "Look for Radarr!"

Radarr was standing off to the side, chirping, indicating they should follow him. Without second thoughts, Finn and Piper headed for the escape.

But Aerrow lingered. He knew they couldn't outrun the Talons by far. If they all ran, they would all be caught again. He stayed behind, hoping to hold the Talons off a little longer.

"You, kid!" Gos exclaimed. He swept toward Aerrow, trying to grab him. Aerrow rolled out of the way just in time and jumped as one of the pulses from Gos's staff came at him, but a second one he wasn't ready for. He was knocked flat to the ground.

Struggling to his feet again, he saw two more Talons were already up, and one was recovering. Piper and Finn were nowhere to be seen, and every Talon was focused on him.

He succeeded. Now for the final test: could he save himself?

No sooner did he have both feet under him when another Talon lowered his staff at him. Aerrow leapt away again, only to confront another Talon. He knocked the guy in the stomach and threw his staff into a lava pool. "Hey!" the Talon gasped, although it came out as more of a wheeze. Aerrow spun away only to find himself suddenly face to face with Gos again. While he tried to find away around him, he felt himself hurtled sideways as pain shot through him. Another crystal pulse from a staff had struck true.

This time, Gos already had his hair in his hand by the time Aerrow came to. "You think you're real crafty, don't you kid? Didn't anyone teach you humility?"

Aerrow just smiled uneasily. "Hey, Gos." He had one move left. While still being held, he kicked at Gos's shin.

It worked well enough. Gos let go of him, gasping in pain.

But Aerrow had hardly sat up when pain exploded in his head. He collapsed.

Groggily, he opened his eyes to see a blurry figure standing over him. His head pounded, but at last his vision cleared well enough to see a Talon holding a bloody stone.

Wait, bloody? Heart beating wildly at the thought, Aerrow fought to get up. But it was as if that last blow had knocked all the energy out of him. He couldn't even lift his head.

But an angry, savage howl rang out. The Talon screamed as he staggered back, something furry clinging to his face. "R-Radarr?" Aerrow managed.

Again, he fought to raise his head, just to see what was going on. His head whirled and his vision blackened every time he tried. All he could do was listen to the wild howls, squeals, and growls, some human, many he knew to be Radarr's.

It tore his heart to hear a high-pitched whimper. "Radarr!" he gasped.

Things were quiet. His pounding head seemed to drown out everything else. But he felt Radarr crawl close to him.

Aerrow didn't want to see if he was injured badly, and if so, where. He just put a hand on the creature, relishing the feel of him being close. It was as it was supposed to be. Two friends, together until the end.

And this was the end.

There was nothing more for Aerrow to see. His vision only blurred in color, and a red curtain was falling over one eye. Wearily he closed his eyes. He heard a whimper and a cold nose against his neck, but he didn't open his eyes.

They had lost. This was it for them. At least Piper and Finn got away.

Author's Notes: Aw, poor Aerrow! He's so easy to beat up, though. He just takes it so well.

Don't worry. Despite this chapter's title, this is obviously not the end of the fic.

Hey, where are you going? Get back here! Press that review button! You heard me, soldier!

*reader glares at Wolf and balls up a fist*

Um . . . please?