-1"Si el universo es átomo siguiéndome las alas,
¿por qué medirme el trino cuando rompe a cantar?"

-"Ya No Es Mio Mi Amor" by Julia de Burgos, Puerto Rican poet.

Rave- "I Am The Killer" by Thursday.

The Colonel- "La Calle" by Arcangel.

Authenti belongs to Authenti; Rave belongs to 7blackcat13; Faroe belongs to Dragon Faere; Varan, Stork(Feonix), Angel, Falshade, Fraggle, and Wasp belong to defectivebrainstorm. All other Ocs belong to me.

In case you're curious, the Condor's Time Pulse code is: 1983765728947827467389283758473674367538756438.

I got it straight off the owner's card.

OoOoOo

Lark.

Two Years Ago.

"So tell me about this Aviles Theory."

I sat at my crystal station, one leg thrown over the other as I started a lesson from another dead relative- this one my great aunt, a master crystallographer in life, and more so in death, given her ability to do nothing but unweave the intricate problems that had plagued her in life for hours on end. She, like all the other Cyclonian ghosts, was trapped to my will, trapped in a cage around me for no other reason than because I shared blood with her. My very DNA formed a net in the shape of a double helix, trapping them all into servitude, never to be released into the next level.

If there even was a next level. Sometimes, the ghosts themselves did not know if this was fancy left over from their life.

"Well, it was only a hypothesis when I was alive," she told me. "But I've gathered that recently the granddaughter of Aviles took up his research and proved it with experimentation. I understand she was able to harvest kinetic energy and-"

I lifted a hand, silencing her. "You're going too fast," I told her before settling back. "Explain from the beginning. Who was Aviles and what is his theory?"

She tilted her head to the side, eyes half-closed as she thought hard. It was odd to see this movement in her because I did it myself often. I liked this ghost, because the more I knew her the more I see bits of myself in her. It was comforting to know I had more relatives than just my father and brother to dwell upon.

"Pajaro Aviles proposed a hypothesis that… that…" she paused to think of it. "Well, I'll give you a mental picture to try and help you understand better. Can you imagine, for a moment, that the entire world- the air you breathe, the water you drink, the very fiber of your being and the being of everything around you, living and inanimate, is a giant crystal?"

I blinked slowly, not sure what she was getting at but allowing her to attempt to explain before I started asking questions. "A giant…?"

"A giant crystal. Everything is just one big crystal. Everything."

"…All right…"

"Like all crystals, this 'Giant Crystal' has energy coursing through it. Imagine, for a moment, that this giant crystal had points on it where that energy was more concentrated than usual."

"That's an impossible imagination, then," I said. "Crystal power and structure is uniform. That's what makes it a true solid. The crystal lattice-"

"Will you let me finish?"

"Fine. Fine." I rested my cheek in my hand, glaring sullenly at her. I could order her away, but then I wouldn't learn anything. Now was not the time for childish behavior.

"These points of high energy on the 'Giant Crystal' are the objects that we here understand to be a real and true crystal. Like these," she said, motioning to the crystals I had on my desk. I nodded. "But these are not true crystals in their own right. They're concentrations of essence from the real 'Giant Crystal'."

"And what is the giant crystal, outside this metaphor you have created?"

"Energy. Sheer and raw and without form. But only the energy from a single facet of this Giant Crystal can be harvested and given usable form- or actually, four facets. The other three are the mildly more common phonic energies that are utilized in Glockenchime with the Timepulse, rare electric energy, and rarer still is being able to harness pure kinetic energy as a weapon and energy source."

"How many facets are there in the giant crystal that we could still use? I mean, what alternate energy sources have been hypothesized?" This was an interesting fact for me, because recently I'd been having some border issues. Terra Tundras- a profitable crystal mine- was legally under Cyclonian control, but Sky Knights from Terra Klime had been attacking my forces there. At times, this caused a shortage in crystal supplies and I'd been forced to put a ration on them. This did not cause good feelings to stir amongst my subjects. If I could harness some alternate energy source it would give me an unimaginable edge over my rivals, who would still be forced to mine for crystals while I…

I decided to have my scientists look into it.

"How many other facets?" I repeated.

She shrugged. "No one knows. There might not be any more than four. Even kinetic energy has only been recreated in a laboratory environment. The others are harder to control because crystals are the ones with the highest concentration of this pure energy, the energy of the 'giant crystal'. And that high concentration is why it is easier to manipulate crystals than free roaming energy, such as kinetic and potential energy."

This was a lot to digest. "This theory is proven, you say?"

"It's commonly accepted, yes."

I dismissed her, to leave me with my thoughts.

OoOoOo

Starling

One Month Ago.

"I remember it all. I remember how I tried my hardest not to look over the maps that whole time, but the further we flew from home the more I needed some form of reassurance other than the word of a four-year old-you."

Stork said nothing,

"Of course Griffin- the previous leader of the Storm Hawks," I explained when Stork made a questioning noise in the back of his throat. "Griffin couldn't help but notice my newfound skill in piloting the Condor- piloting her almost as well as Verna had flown her. He and Ga- and another… another friend both felt it was too soon to be taking off, especially when the Storm Hawks might be called upon at any moment to defend Atmos. But I told them, Griffin and the other three Storm Hawks that were left, if they didn't let me do this one thing, they could go out and find another pilot. And I suppose there must have been something in my eyes when I looked at him and told him we were leaving that he said, Yes.

"You had told me Vern showed you a place that was not on the maps. And I was inclined to believe you, even though I hadn't seen Vern since that last moment when she left me forever. So considering it wasn't on the maps, it truly was foolish of me to keep on consulting them, knowing that all the while my new team mates were watching my back with wary eyes, watching me to see if I had truly cracked.

"Stork, are you sure Vern showed you this? I had asked you.

"You looked up at me, silent for the longest time. No, you said in the end. She doesn't talk much. It might have been someone else. And no matter how much I pleaded and bribed, you had clammed up and returned to you silent shell, and nothing I could do would crack it.

"You do realize there's nothing out here… Griffin finally said, walking towards the helm where I stood, scanning the empty horizon through the great front glass. I decided not to answer, and we were both surprised when you answered for me.

"Yes there is, you said, a mess of crayons all around you, and nonsense doodles on the paper and floor. This is where the merbs live."

Stork watched me with those same massive yellow eyes, the eyes that seemed blank even though deep inside them I could see so many questions, so much doubt and anger. It was like I was both Starlings, living then in the Condor and living then in my basement, and Stork always accusing me silently with his eyes.

"Griffin was sort of shaken by the way you were acting, trying to tell you that merbs lived, of course, on Terra Merb, but you wouldn't listen to him or to me, not that I tried much. I'll admit I'd given up hope on you at that point. This is where the merbs live, you kept on saying. They told me.

"Of course, any queries of "Who told you?" were completely ignored.

"That night I decided to go out flying. Or- decided is a misnomer. Someone decided for me, I guess, because I felt more than heard a voice, telling me it was time to leave. I got out of bed, my eyes bright and alert almost as soon as my feet hit the floor, and in no time I had my armor strapped on and my helmet under my arm as I walked from my borrowed room on the Condor to the hangar. I'd been living there ever since the Interceptors and your mother Vernal and Finn's father Finch had died. The doors always were squeaky, in need of oil, and the whirring power of the crystal motors on the automatic sliders were always too fast, slamming the doors open and shut. But when I approached they slid open as easy and silent as a ghost.

"The Condor knew I wanted- or needed- to leave, and she didn't stop me that day, nor any other day that has come to pass since that time."

Stork spoke. "I don't understand," he said, voice sullen as he shocked me out of my narrative. I was afraid to let him speak, in case what he said would keep me from finishing. I wasn't sure if I wanted to finish. I wasn't sure of anything, except that I had to finish no matter what I wanted. "I don't care about any of that! Just admit what you did wrong!"

"I did everything wrong, Stork, but I can promise you I didn't kill your father."

To look in his eyes at that moment was seeing the twitch, like a switch in his brain had been violently turned on again after a brief moment of inactivity. Stork's bindings made a snapping sound as he lunged for me again, struggling with renewed fervor. "Of course you didn't!" he snarled, inches from my face, but I know the limit of his bonds and he was nowhere near strong enough to break them. "You just fucked around a little, didn't you? Didn't you? Even though you know about the curse! You-"

Reaching for the dial on the machine he was connected to, I raised the voltage to temporarily high levels to shut him up. Really, if I had thought talking to him would have calmed him down better I would have done it, but I knew by then that Stork was… Stork wasn't doing so well mentally, these days. If ever. "If you don't calm down I'm not going to let you go to the bathroom when I'm done," I said smoothly while he panted like a dog, shivering all over from the electric currents interfering with his neural functions. It wasn't painful, just disorienting. I'm not a sadist, thanks.

Rebellion was stirred anew in his eyes.

"Are you going to be quiet? You know, I didn't even know Hibiscus had died until you told me yourself. All I'm doing here is telling you my side- everything I know. You can piece together the rest for yourself."

Stork said nothing, resuming his angry silence, and I continued.

"You were waiting for me in the hangar, also fully dressed, and when I pulled up my Slip Wing you climbed into the seat in front of me. I drove out of the hangar and flew off, and sometimes you'd guide me and sometimes I'd know where to go by myself.

"It wasn't long before I realized there was someone else flying nearby. I looked around- and-" Speaking was getting hard to do when I got to this point. Up until now I'd been a constant monotone, like someone else was using my voice to dryly transmit information, no emotion attached, but now was the hard part. Now was when the truth all came tumbling out. "And that was when I saw him.

"He was grey. It's so odd, that was the first thing I noticed about him, but he was deep grey like ashes."

Stork's breath caught in his throat and he looked away, eyes closing and breathing growing sharper.

"And he was like nothing I'd ever seen…" I mused, wondering if Stork was even listening at this point, or had maybe slipped back into unconsciousness somehow. "Not human…not merbian… I was terrified. He was much larger than me, too- taller even than a full-blooded merb. I'm surprised you didn't grow as big, but then again you're more mixed in with the Thanatos and Tenebrian folk… I guess… His human parent must have been gigantic.

"He attacked me without warning.

"It was only a few moments after I had spotted him but as soon as I did, he came charging right at me like a mad man on a toy skimmer. That's how large he was, I suppose… that a full-sized skimmer looked so… But he flew with great grace. I remember that. But I was more skilled than he, after all I was the leader of the Interceptors and a great Sky Knight at the prime of my life, at that time. But I had you there, holding onto me so tight even though you hated to be touched. I had one arm wrapped around you-"

"Stop," the teenager suddenly choked. "Stop it. I can't stand it- You're making me sick-You're a liar-"

Not willing to let him interrupt me further, in case I lost the memories that were suddenly so vivid in my mind, I zapped him again for him to be quiet. I had started my story after fifteen years of silence. Nothing would stop me now, but for Providence, or maybe my untimely death. Or would it be untimely? What, exactly, is the right time to die?

Certainly we feel that there's a process- we are born- we live- we grow old- we die- but that's not always how it works. It doesn't have to be that way. Nothing in this world has to be, and if it did it wouldn't have to be because we wish it were so. There are simply things that are- and things that could be. Death strikes without warning, without meaning. Seeds wither and die in their mother's wombs. Old men fade in their sleep- or worse, spasm in agonizing pain, their faces almost comical in the way they stretch, unreal in their death throes as their body finally falls to time's blade. Women and children are slaughtered by the warriors who break down the siege doors.

It's just the way things are.

It's just the way things happened.

It's just how things are always going to be.

"Somehow, we crashed. We crashed into the Wastelands, and when I came to he was there on the floor, about to be devoured by some creature. I saved him. At first he wasn't ready to trust me, but with you he…

"I didn't know he was your father. I didn't know until you told me, that day in Tenebria, when Finn was dying. All I know is that we helped each other crawl out of that hell, taking turns carrying you on our backs as we scaled the bare crags of earth that shot out over the cloud line, where we found my skimmer. He and I fixed it, and after all that the only thing he shared with me was that his name was Hibiscus Snowfire. He led me back to Tenebria, to take care of the wounds you suffered in the crash. And then he… And then he…"

I broke down, shocked into tears at the memory and shocked at myself for the sudden outburst of emotion. I couldn't speak for a while after that, frozen on the words… And then… and then he… and then… they were interspersed through the hiccups, shameful tears, idle tears, because there was no point in crying over it now. That's what I tried to tell myself, but there was no helping it until everything was out, everything bottled inside.

"He… He took you…"

I didn't know what Stork was doing- if he was asleep or listening or crying with me.

"He took you away from me… The only thing I had left, of Vern, he took it from me, and I never saw either of you again, until it was too late, and you didn't even remember me. I didn't even recognize you- God, I didn't even recognize Aerrow until we were back on the Condor and he's my-

"….."

I calmed myself enough to finish. My voice did not shake, but my hands did, so I supposed it was a fair trade off. And yet still, I couldn't stop those wretched, idle tears.

"I tried looking for you. But.. Tenebria… you know what Tenebria is like. The merbs of Thanatos were no help, either. They said to give you up for dead and… I just stopped looking. I stopped everything, and began my life as a lone wolf. They said to give you up for dead and…"

"And you did." His voice is flat. Not accusing, for once. Just flat, like the deadline on the machines that monitor the hearts of patients. It startled me enough to stop the endless flow from my eyes to force me to look at him again rather than at my shaking hands.

"Because I'm cursed," I dared to whisper, because his sudden mood shift let loose the last of the torrent hiding just behind the floodgates. "Because everyone I get close to… everyone I love… They all die, Stork.

"They all die.

"Without warning.

"Without meaning."

OoOoOo

Rave.

Seven Years Ago.

It was golden.

I scratched at my soft, pink, human-like neck, at the spot where the collar chafed. Compulsively, I tore at my skin until it bled and then, quivering with rage and helplessness, I slammed my entire body against the steel frame of the box- once- twice- before my energy drained from me as suddenly at it had graced my limbs and I was left huddled inside my box, my mind a complete blank. Though I could see in the dark it felt like some other shroud, blacker than night, had wrapped itself so tightly around my mind I could do nothing, think nothing.

I had been sold like an animal, when I didn't even belong to Cyclonia. Not like this, anyway. Not in the way livestock belong to the owners. I thought I was a citizen. I thought I was a soldier- I was going to be a soldier- I was going to help fight this war- I graduated top of my class, damn it, my advanced, elite class-

What did this mean?

Was this another test? Did the teachers expect me to escape? Did Cyclonis himself watch me when they pinned that badge on my chest? Was he the one who signed me over?

I jumped, the hair on the back of my neck bristling when a clawed hand tapped the side of the great steel box. "Be quiet in there, my pet. We'll be home soon, and if you behave you may be given… liberties."

I didn't trust myself to speak. I may have graduated top of my class with all the other twenty-somethings, but I was still only ten years old. But I couldn't stop a small mewl escaping my mouth, a frightened noise I barely heard, but he heard it. He laughed, talking to someone outside the box.

"Did you hear that, Felipe? Now isn't that adorable. I'm so glad I made this transaction- how many others, do you think, own such a specimen as this? Half-bangledon. Fully blooded bangledons are rare enough. Be sure her wrists are marked the moment we land. I don't want this one escaping."

Escaping what?

What kind of people bought other people?

What kind of emperor sold his own loyal subjects?

Rebellion simmered inside me.

OoOoOo

Present Day.

Smoke fills my eyes as I return from unconsciousness. The Alley- center of most of the action due in part to Wiggy's reckless flying and the fact that just about everywhere was center of the action for the Atmosians at this point- had taken another direct hit and I could only assume the chunk ripped out of the wall could not be fixed by breathing fire on it this time. Getting to my feet, ears flapping in the rushing winds, I look to see the only functional gun left is being manned by the Nord woman. I hiss when two Talons hop inside the wound on the Alley's side, brandishing their spears with matching growls.

"Need some help, kit?" the Nord asks me, not even looking away from the sights.

I extend the staff of my slingshot, goosebumps rising all over my flesh at the familiar uniform. "No thanks," I say, gripping it diagonally across my chest in a defensive stance. "I… got this."

But without warning, the Nord shoots from her seat like an animal, lunging directly at one of the Talons while I go after his partner. She doesn't have a weapon that I could see, so she clamps down on his neck with her fierce, strong jaws crunching through vertebrae and cutting short his frightened scream.

Mine comes running at me, spear point first. I catch it with the Y tip of my staff, pointing it upwards while I lift up one foot and kick him square in the chest. He stumbles backwards and I don't let up, driving him back and to the floor where I pin him down with the Y of my staff pressed against his neck. He scrabbles at it, face turning purple, and then there's no face left when a furry, clawed foot stomps down hard on it, and the skull caves in. I look up warily at the Nord, knowing full well that they were natural enemies of my father's race.

"Afraid to get a little brutal, kitty?" she asks me, toes gripping and relaxing in the mess.

"I'm not scared of anything," I lie fiercely, throwing my chin up in defiance.

"Then let's go back out there," she says, wiping one foot against the steel floor of the Alley. "I'm getting bored, sitting around picking them off with the cannons."

In spite of myself I draw back, collapsing my staff back into a slingshot again. "I'm all out of ammunition," I tell her. "And the only ride on board is Wiglaf's Hummer."

Her broad face is split in two by a predatory grin.

OoOoOo

Cli-click-click-click.

I stood at attention, like I would during Ravess's surprise drills. Only I was completely alone, and there were five strange men staring me down. One of them was going over my credentials, the other one was checking me out for a moment before he dismissed me, perhaps not aroused by a kitten he had found shaking like a bowl of gelatin inside her box. The other three were intent on just being as downright menacing as they could, especially their leader, who was pacing back and forth before me. I was a little more in control of myself now that I was at least able to stand up straight, and so when he paused to stand in front of me I looked him in his solid green eyes.

"From here on out, Rave, you are to be my servant."

I looked up. And up. And Up. I'd never seen this freak before, never even heard of his species. I decided not to say anything.

The monster resumed his pacing. "You needn't worry that I'll harm you, or whore you. Quite the opposite. I need strong young people like yourself to be a part of my personal vanguard. If you work for me, Rave, you will soon find that being sold to me has its extreme advantages."

"Who are you?" I blurted at last, figuring since he'd breached so many military protocol already I was allowed a moment of disrespect. Nevermind that things in the Talon Academy were never that fair- I was far from the Talon Academy now. "Why did Cyclonis… sell me?"

He seemed taken aback, his torso leaning back from me, shoulders rigid in displeasure and looking down at me like I was a puddle of weepy gelatin again, instead of a hard little soldier who was glaring at him with belligerence in my eyes. "You would think the hand-picked chosen of Cyclonis himself would know a bit more about the world," the thing purred.

I shook my head. "No, Sir. I don't think."

That made him laugh, clutch at his large belly with claws the size of my face. Then he leaned forward and down until we were around the same eye level, his putrid breath ruffling the scarce fur on my ears. "Ah, yes! That is his style- repression and discipline. Oh, Veratrin and Horace were ever their father's sons."

My ears flickered upon hearing the real names of the previous two Cyclonis's spoken so casually. Either I'd been sold to a very powerful man or an utter idiot. My wrists burned with the marks they had inflicted on me, brand marks for a slave who could never run away, and my neck was sore from my own self-inflicted torture. The collar still chafed, only now it was against raw bloody skin.

The monster drew himself up to his full height once more, gesturing to himself grandly and smiling at me with a mouth full of wicked sharp teeth. "You may call me Colonel," he said to me in a distinct yet oddly untraceable accent. Then that clawed hand snapped out to grab mine, pressing a kiss against the top. "You are to be the highlight of my new army, Rave. Instead of scraping and struggling for a promotion among those racist human soldiers, you will be respected for the force of nature that you are, here among my people.

I stared blankly at him. "If I'm so respected, then why did you do this to me?" I asked him, holding up both my hands to show him the red welts, intricate spider webs curling around my wrists.

His lips curled up in a smile. "Insurance," he said, turning his back on me. "After all, though you are half-human, you are also half-bangledon. This gives you strength, but it's known that bangledons are all savage beasts anyway."

The Colonel was very unlucky that he happened to have his back turned to me at that moment, because the word savage peeled my upper lips back until my long fangs were bared at him, my body quivering now not from fear but from rage. If he had seen me at that brief instant he would have known that he didn't have a faithful servant in me, not for one moment. Then he wouldn't have wasted all those years training me further, wouldn't have given me enough trust to let me leave, wouldn't have suffered the loss of one of his mansions after the Giants attacked it and rescued me after months of planning with them in secret. Then he wouldn't have my hate, for killing my father to ensure I would never have a home to return to, that there could only be him.

Not that the hate of a heap of quivering jelly was much to a man like him.

But he didn't see. So when he turned around my face was a soldier's blank, careful mask.

"What are your first orders, Colonel?" I asked him.

He seemed surprised at first, knowing our reputation of being independent. But then, the conditioning of Talon Academy had already done an impressive job of mostly suppressing that. He grinned at last, thinking he had won me over, and I stared blankly at him, beginning to think the same.

OoOoOo

I piloted, since the Nords rode Floe models. At first she wanted to see if she could control the turrets while I controlled the engine and flight path, but a sudden idea struck me. "Get on the wings," I tell her. "Like the Dark Ace."

"Huh! The day I take battle advice from a pup-"

"You can hop on board the enemy rides and rip them apart," I say by way of persuasion. It works. After unequipping the cannons to make her lighter and easier to fly, we rocket out of the hangar bay, the Nord woman crouching on my right wing, gripping tightly to it with a the strap of my spare goggles parting the thick fur on her head.

It occurs to me that I haven't flown a Skimmer in five years, ever since I gave them up for the more travel-ready hoverboard that I could keep strapped to my back in case there was need for a quick getaway. I decide not to tell her this.

OoOoOo

Piper

Light blinds me as the Talon levers off a sheet of metal that covered me, quickly holding my chin up with the crystal tip of his spear when he sees what he's uncovered. My whole lower body is pinned- maybe broken in places even I don't know the name of.

"Still alive, are you?" he asks me. His hair was matted against the side of his face with dried blood, and I felt tempted to ask him the same question despite the danger I was in.

"Look," I say, lifting my limp hands up to try and stave him off. There were three of him in my hazy vision, and I was dazedly thinking I could negotiate with him. Them. When did he sprout triplets? For a moment, it seemed almost as if someone had replaced my brain with Finn's. "It might seem like a really good idea to kill me now, but lemme tell you where you're wrong."

But just as he thrust in his spear for the killing blow, a green, three-fingered hand grabs his shoulder and yanks him back. This Talon isn't short, but he has to crane his neck to look up at his new attacker. He got only a view of one furious yellow eye before a fist connected with his face, sending him flying backwards. I think I might have even seen a tooth knocked loose. Clawed feet stride over to me, a dry hiss filling the space behind him where his tail drags along the floor.

Repton peels the rest of the rubble off of me, and when I wiggle my toes I'm rewarded with the rush of blood returning to them. I hadn't been able to feel them because they'd been asleep, not because of any spinal injury, thank God. But I don't have much time to thank God because Repton hauls me upright, glaring me straight in the eyes. Eye. One of his was clamped shut, a mound of dirty gauze hiding what was most likely a hideous sword wound.

His voice is grating, harsh, like he hadn't spoken for quite some time. "I'm here to help," he rasps, single yellow eye daring me to contradict. I don't, so he pulls me even closer to him by the front of my shirt, muscles along his jaw twitching from the force of his clenched teeth. "Where. Is. Nova?"

I point wordlessly to where I thought the bridge was. I was disoriented after the crash, unsure even of what I was doing here, or why Repton was suddenly helping me, or why he was covered in such recent, terrible wounds.

"The crystal shard?" he asks.

"Uh- what crystal shard?" I ask in return.

"The crystal shard," he says, tail wrapping around my wrist and yanking me along. "The one I gave you for your work on Bogaton. Who has it? Where is it? Did you ever get it to work?"

"Get what to work?"

"The crystal shard!" he shouts full in my face and I have to wince. "The goddamn crystal shard, the one that I risked my neck to find in the first place!"

I slap his tail from my wrist and the offending appendage shrinks away. "Well, I never got any crystal shard!"I shout back at him, my senses returned. In response he glares at me so violently I thought I might be joining the knocked-out Talon on the floor behind us.

"You-" he says, fighting to control himself as he forces his eye to look away from me. "Crystal scope- got one?"

I understood. "Yeah…"

"Use it."

There is a crystal scope attached to my staff, so I have no problem switching it on.

What I see astounds me.

OoOoOo

Starling.

Something catches my fall. I halt with an 'urhmph' sound, caught in two burly arms. Gauntleted claws hold me tight and I look up the snout of an adult male raptor. He looks down at me with a sheepish smile, probably guessing what I was thinking, and shrugs.

"You looked like you needed a little help," he explains, Mohawk of spikes rippling in the wind, his face turning a little greener as his eyes spot the purple Interceptor logo on my chest.

"Look! Look! I got a souvenir!" Wasp shouts with delight, her voice uncharacteristically girlish as she waves a disembodied hand in the air with a relish.

The raptor winces.

I settle myself down behind him, putting my arms around his waist and pointing upwards. "That woman is one of the enemy commanders," I told him. "We have to take her out."

"Then let's do it," their Sky Knight says, pointing his scimitar upwards. "Charge!"

OoOoOo

Piper.

We find it in Finn's room, of all the rotten places. Under piles of dirty socks, amidst a collection of cheap crystals we find it nestled there, as if waiting for us. The blue sheen of the crystal shard glows only brighter when I pick it up between two shaking fingertips.

It was a shard of the Stone.

The largest shard of the Aurora Stone that I had ever seen.

OoOoOo

Aerrow.

What could I do? I was dead. There was no way I could have warned them- Nova is coming, run. But then, Lark could have told them. She could have done something too, other than sit there and pretend she wasn't talking to me while Junko began to sob uncontrollably and Finn tried to pull the shrapnel out of my chest. He succeeded and my two friends held my dead body, not knowing that I was standing right there next to them and they were wasting their time.

"He's coming for your body," Lark tells me now. There are two Larks- one enshrouded by night like I am, the other very much alive and instructing my two squadron mates on what to do now.

The live Lark says, "We'd better get him out of here. If Nova finds him like this he'll be able to bring back the body."

"Indeed I could."

It was too late. While they had been struck with indecision here came Nova, strolling along like he owned the place and Immer hovering just behind him like a true ghost, deadpan, without any of the fire and hatred I would always see in his face back when we were both alive. His red eyes look up, right at me- the real me, not the body on the floor.

"Preserve the body, would you Immer?" Nova purrs. "You Storm Hawks are welcome to join us as well, after we bring your friend back. Wouldn't you like that?"

"What a fucking disaster," dead-Lark says to me, one hand over her face so she doesn't have to see this. "I thought if we could run and regroup we'd be able to stop him, but you just had to keel over, didn't you, Hero?"

"Am I really dead?" I have to wonder as Immer strides fearlessly towards Junko, who holds me as close as a girl holds her doll, my face against his chest and his head against my hair. Junko lets go of me easily, though, letting me slip through his fingers, and Finn can only watch with his blue eyes wide and uncomprehending.

Immer holds my body bridal style even as he looks directly at the real me, and I know that he can see me too. "Not what you expected death to be like, is it?" I hear a voice behind me and Immer is there too, a dead-Immer for the dead-Lark. I jump away in fear, melting right through where Finn stands. It makes me wonder what I'm standing on- the ground? Did walls exist anymore?

"If it were up to me I'd leave you dead," Immer spits at me with some of his old passion. He glances over at Lark now, almost sullen. "And what about you? You're not bound to Nova, are you just going to sit here and let it happen? Let Aerrow come back as a puppet I'll have to deal with every day from here until eternity?" He grabs her. "Use the merlop on him, fool! Before Nova can bring him back our way!"

"Junko," live-Lark whispers to my friend, and he slowly raises his head. "Do you have this thing called… mer.. lop?"

"Now, now, before he makes me use the crystal!" dead-Immer shouts, and Nova half turns upon hearing the name of the medicinal plant, and live-Immer shuffles with me in his hands while trying to pull out an Oblivion crystal, and Finn finally snaps and pulls up his crossbow, screaming, "Over my dead body!" and Junko gingerly holds a single purple petal between his thick, deft fingers, and dead-Lark pushes me towards my own body.

"Try to fix this mess you created," she says.

Finn shoots, knocking the crystal out of Immer's hands and my body falls from his arms as he tries to catch the valuable stone, fumbling with it in midair. Lark lunges, chewing on the merlop Junko gave her.

Purple light envelops the room, but not before I feel her lips on mine, forcing the merlop into my mouth with her tongue.

OoOoOo

Omniscient.

The battle outside would have been lost if they had not arrived.

The gold-and-purple fleet hailed them all and the fighting stopped for a second time, each side wondering, Is that our backup, or is that their backup?

When the Colonel's flagship bombed a Cyclonian cruiser, the answer was soon apparent.

"Pah!" the man said, a small gleep in his arms. He stroked the reptile fondly the way you might a cat. "These Cyclonians, they're beginning to get on my nerves, dying and coming back and dying and- bah! Be sure nothing is left of them, Felipe. I'm off to have my sunset meal."

OoOoOo

No matter what they did, it seemed like Kitten was always one step ahead of them. When Angel would shoot with his crossbow she would flick them away moments after they had been shot. Stork threw one of her axes, but the crystal tip of Kitten's whip sliced through the cord the blond used to retract them and the weapon went spiraling down to the Wastelands. The girl didn't try that again, not wanting to be left weaponless.

"What is this girl, a damn mind reader?" Angel cursed. From his radio Starling could hear a thick accented voice answering him.

"I could always take a shot to try and smush her outta the skies, eh? Pull another one of them kamikaze moves that seem so freggen' popular all of a sudden."

"And risk hitting all of us instead?" Varan snorted. "No way, fleabag!"

"Psh, like I'd risk scratchin' the Merlin anyway."

"She's using crystals to enhance her vision," Wasp said suddenly, mismatched eyes focusing on the darting figure. "She's no mind-reader, just extraordinarily perceptive."

"Are you sure, Wasp?" Stork asked, gripping the controls to be ready in case they needed to duck another whiplash strike.

Wasp blinked owlishly down at the other girl. "About what?"

"About what you just said!"

"Oh." Wasp paused. "…Sure. Totally." She held on tight to her seat as Stork veered upwards, eyes narrowed against the winds. Stork saw the whip coming and darted to the side only to find the whip had changed trajectory- almost before Stork had even dodged it- and got a nasty shock, the whip wrapping around her neck and her Hornet flying off without her. Stork dangled in the air, legs kicking furiously against the fading blue sky. Kitten braced herself, half-standing on her Slip Wings foot pedals and pulling on the whip with both hands, jerking it, trying to snap the girl's neck. Wasp veered around on Stork's Hornet, trying to snatch the blond out of the air but Kitten lifted one foot, kicking at the controls to her Slip Wing and dancing just out of the way, every grasp of Wasp's long fingers clutching only air with Stork always barely out of range.

"Fly over her!" Starling suddenly shouted to Varan. The lizard complied and Starling leaped from the Bone Wing, aiming for Kitten. Predictably, Kitten swerved out of the way, but Starling had changed her target last minute to cling to the sides of the Slip Wing instead. The added weight made the ride dip uncontrollably. Kitten, trying to keep her balance, let go of the whip to windmill her arms, single blue eye widening in shock. Stork dropped like a stone, limbs flapping limply in the winds until Wasp, Varan, Angel, and Shade all pooled under her. She was caught in a net of arms, head lolling to the side when they tried to sit her upright.

"She's knocked out," Angel said, scorn in his voice. "God, what a-"

He almost fell out of the skies when Stork came to, leg whipping out to catch him right in the crotch.

And that was when they realized Starling was still on Kitten's ride, and Kitten's ride was zooming away faster every second.

Starling grabbed the front of Kitten's shirt, smashing her down against the controls and shouting in her face, "Why are you doing this, Rissa?!"

Kitten bared her sharp, filed teeth, her single blazing blue eye glaring at Starling. The ride dipped again, wings unstable with no one at the controls. Starling found herself beneath Kitten now, with Kitten's scarred, veined hands gripping at her throat.

"My name-" Kitten switched so that she was holding Starling's neck with only one hand, legs wrapped around Starling's in a deadly lock, ignoring the way Starling beat at her with desperation in her hands. She punched Starling with her free hand. "Is not-" she punched her again, and when Starling's head whipped to the side in the direction of the blow she punched again in the other direction, blood spattering as the Interceptor's nose finally broke under the abuse. "-RISSA ANYMORE!"

Starling gasped through the flow of blood that ran down her throat, choking on it before she reached up with one hand to grip at the back of Kitten's neck, squeezing it in the right place so that Kitten let go of her to writhe in silent pain, her spinal chord one long column of agony. She let go to rip aside the woman's eye patch, where a purple crystal went tumbling out of the empty eye socket to bounce against the metal plating of the Slip Wing and tumble down. Kitten screamed, falling backwards on the ride, one hand covering her empty eye while the other one stared out at nothing, and was horrified at what it saw.

"My eye!" Kitten shouted, stumbling dangerously close to the edge of her ride. "What did you do to my eye!"

"Rissa!"

"You pulled out my eye!"

"Rissa, stop or you're going to-!"

With a savage scream Kitten blindly stepped again, only her foot landed on nothing and she fell right down the same path her crystal had, her inhuman shriek following like a spectral shroud. "Rissa, hold on, I'm coming!" Starling said, hopping forward to grasp the controls and eagle dive, plunging through the cloud line and shouting Rissa's name even though the Rissa she knew was gone in more ways than one. She looked around for a falling body, a wave of shining blond hair, and even listened to see if she was still shouting, but there was so much noise from the battlefield and so many bodies falling- not all of them with parachutes- she couldn't have found her.

Even if Rissa had wanted to be found.

OoOoOo

Soon after that was when the sun fell, up against the ropes bleeding for a while but finally down for the count once it saw there was nothing left fighting for. Headlights blazed into life and the fight down below continued, the Atmosians beating the Cyclonians back into a corner with the unexpected help of the Colonel's fleet of well-stocked warships. The Colonel himself was sitting from a safe vantage point, feeding choice bits of his dinner to his new pet gleep, Komodo. Since gleeps only ate mushrooms, the Colonel had recently become a huge fan of them, especially the pungent, Death's Head variety. He wondered how he lived without knowing the joy of having some of the toxic fungi in existence being shoved down his gullet.

"Enjoying the show, Tora?" he asked someone hovering behind him, in the shadows of the flagship.

"Not particularly," a deep man's voice replied. "You seem a bit detached yourself, Colonel. Want a massage to help you digest?"

"Aheh heh. From you?" The Colonel's eyes swept over to the shaggy, brilliantly white creature and then back to the battlefield, where his green pupils dilated as they spotted the monstrous blue warship known as the Giant's Eldritch Alley. "…No."

OoOoO

End of the "Life Without Stork" arc.

Beginning of the "Boats Against the Current" arc.