A/N: There is a massive tornado coming that's currently about 10 minutes away from my house. I put all our pets in the basement and Mom's on her way home from work now. I wasn't going to post this chap for a little while yet to build up suspense, but in case the very worst were to happen (though it won't) I want you guys to have this much of the story.

(If I die, tell Xekstrin or Elocinaqui to finish it.) :P

That said, here you go...

24: Mistake

The wind howled against his frame, battering him with icy punches and sucking the air from his chest. He glanced back through the wide, curving window, to see Stork watching him with worried eyes. Finn was sitting in one of the seats behind the helm, tapping his feet. Only Junko wasn't present.

He looked back ahead into the raging sky. The near-black clouds continued to pelt the ship with tiny droplets of condensation, and every few minutes the thunder would roar below. This low-pressure front was immense, and all other airships, even other cruisers, were grounded. Only one metal body still hurtled through the sky.

Only one family was missing their last member.

The sharpshooter's eyes flicked from his feet to the carrier pilot, wide with childlike fear. Stork gazed ahead, his expression a solemn one as he gripped the controls, watching his leader.

Aerrow was unaware of the knots his muscles had become from his rigid grip on the railing and he didn't feel the dried blood of the enemy on his hand. The relentless howl of angry wind that curled around groaning metal and knocked the ship to and fro as if it were a toy barely grazed his psyche. He felt nor saw any of it.

Only her.

The quiet brilliance of her wide-eyed smile and the glow of the sun on her slender legs.

The smell of her skin

(that night)

when he knew that he would never be complete without her.

It was cold that night - the kind of cold that seemed to freeze the clouds into the darkness. The kind that kept the floor so icy that it hurt to walk on it even with the heaters up as high as they would go.

He couldn't sleep.

He held his eyes closed until shapes shifted on the backs of his eyelids - until they morphed into monsters, demons, that flickered in and out of focus; squirming silhouettes that writhed to the dripping of the pipes overhead.

Seconds passed slowly. Grudgingly. As if time itself had grown weary of performing its eternal act of progression.

Sweat dotted his forehead.

Movement. A harsh exhale.

He rested his face in his hands, feeling the click in his throat.

His feet hurt and his back hurt and his head was throbbing vengefully.

Familiar hallways seemed shrouded in darkness. Silence became grainy, whooshing beats moving in time with the blood moving sluggishly through his ears.

The couch grunted haplessly beneath him as he fell onto it, digging his fingers into his hair as he willed the pain away. He hated these nights.

He hated the way his mind worked when he couldn't shut it down.

And he could feel that familiar ghost of a thought worming its way up through his subconscious, climbing into his thoughts. Infecting him until there was a lump in his throat and his eyes were cloudy and his stomach was wrenched up inside him.

He could feel her coming before he could hear it. There was a familiar warmth - a softness - that filled him when she was near. He had enough time to get his breathing back to normal before her weight rested beside him and her pretty, gentle voice chimed.

"Hey Aerrow."

A swallow, a long, even breath. He looked up, smiling. "Hey Piper."

"Is everything okay?"

(Of course not.)

He smiled again, vaguely. "I'll be fine."

"You know you can tell me anything, Aerrow."

He closed his eyes, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Am I a good leader?"

Her expression was indignant. "Of course."

"Do you think we're a good squadron?"

She answered him solemnly. "The best."

He sighed. The Condor clacked mutedly around them.

"It's not easy sometimes. You know-" He nodded a little. "-when everybody tells you you're not good enough."

Her hand was warm and smooth against his shoulder and the scent of strawberries grew stronger when she leaned close.

"You can't let them get to you, Aerrow."

He gazed at his hands, silent.

"There are a lot of people who don't believe in us. They think we're just kids. They think we're just playing a game by doing what we do. But they're wrong."

She lightly squeezed his shoulder.

"I know it. Finn and Stork know it. Even Junko knows it. But we are doing everything we can to stop Cyclonia. We're going to defeat them. I think you know that too."

Aerrow smiled, ever unaware of how handsome he looked. "Thanks, Piper. It's just that…"

Suddenly that lump in his throat was back, bigger. Tears sprang to his eyes and the words tangled themselves up in his mouth.

"…sometimes I wonder if my dad would be proud of me."

His vision was blurry and he gave up trying not to cry. He was too ashamed to look at her face.

"Can we ever be the Storm Hawks that they were?" He sobbed, hard. His head throbbed angrily as he tightened his hands around it. "Can I ever be good enough to honor him?"

The Condor seemed silent now, unable to find any mechanical response to the words he had just uttered. Seconds ticked by: one, two… painfully slow.

"Aerrow-" her voice was surprised and bewildered.

He sobbed again, and she squeezed tightly.

"Aerrow, look at me."

Those eyes were brilliant in the dim light. He could've sworn that no sunrise had ever been as striking.

"You are the best sky knight I have ever met. You're the best person I've ever met." She leaned closer, stare almost overpowering. "Sometimes I don't think we deserve a leader as kind and brave as you are. And … sometimes … I don't think I deserve a friend like you."

"Piper-"

"No. Listen."

He hiccupped pitifully, struggling to regain control of himself.

"You gave us a purpose, Aerrow. You gave us something to fight for. And when we had nobody, you made us a family. You gave us everything."

She was crying now too. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and rested his cheek on her shoulder.

"Don't you ever forget how much you mean to us." She shook him, her nails digging into his skin. "Don't you ever think you're not good enough."

Neither of them spoke for a long time.

She was so warm and fragrant. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe as her long fingers moved soothingly over his back. There was nothing in that moment that mattered anymore, nothing but her. He knew then that she was all he needed - all he could ever ask for.

He knew then that he would never want for anything again if she was here with him.

"You all right?"

Aerrow looked up, startled.

Finn's yellow hair was whipping back, his hands tight on the railing against the force of the wind.

Aerrow stared at him wordlessly, comforted a little by the fear he saw reflected on his friend's face.

You just seem to be … I don't know.

On the same wavelength as me.

"I … I'll be fine. As soon as we find her."

Finn gazed at the knight, then smiled for a moment. "Okay."

The redhead mirrored the sharpshooter's smile for a minute before he turned to look at the sky.

"We'll get her back, Finn. We have to." The blonde watched him silently.

"I have a mistake to fix."

-xXxXx-

She sobbed into his chest, long and hard. She had no one.

She had nothing.

The dark warmth of him became shape as she slid her hands over his shoulders and locked them around his neck. He stroked her hair as she cried.

Piper wept until her throat was raw and her eyes were dry. She breathed in and it felt like needles lined the walls of her chest, and when she breathed out, her sides ached. His heart beat against her cheek. It thumped and thumped, a rhythmic throb against her face, a calming pulse beneath her wrists. She turned her eyes to him, burning yellow inside exhausted red. "Dark Ace," she whispered hollowly.

His eyes were full of promise as he blinked at her. "What do you want me to do?"

His heart pulsed and Piper gazed at him, empty. "Hold me."

His arms were strong around her and his slender fingers curved into her skin. He molded her stomach to his own and slid his fingers into her hair.

Piper sighed. Her eyes closed. "Kiss me."

The warrior leaned his forehead against her forehead, midnight blue tangled into black. His lips were warm against hers. Her insides twisted as he opened his mouth and pulled, and when she ran her fingers down his back, he made a noise deep in his throat.

Breaking his mouth from hers, he gasped for air. For a minute red locks and green eyes flickered onto his features and Piper immediately pushed them away. Her arms came around his strong shoulders, her lips against his beautiful throat. He made another sound and his grip tightened on her.

The girl opened her heated eyes, meeting his glazed red ones without fear.

"Love me."