What's happening you marvellous readers and reviewers? I'm sorry once again that I took so long to satisfy your hungry fandom minds with another chapter, but here it is! CHAPTER 25 BABY! WOOOOO ok I'm done ^^"
Um it has come to my attention that in the previous chapter I mentioned fanart for thIS fic that I have made...yet I didn't leave a link to my deviantart page, I tried to fix this but the fanfiction website wasn't having it so I will leave it with this chapter instead XD
If you would like to see some new war related artwork that I have done you can check that out here: forinsyther . deviantart . com However please bare in mind that this is me, and if you guys have gotten to know anything about me on this fanfic journey it is that I take ages to finish things. So I only have two pictures for the new war so far, and that probably won't change for a while. But regardless please check them out it would be appreciated and I'd love you forever. Like seriously, forever love I will hold for you.
OK I'm rambling, is it too much sugar or am I just an idiot? Who can know these things XP
I don't own storm hawks.
oOo.
"You're sure it was this mining Terra in particular?"
"Yes I'm sure, for God sake Aerrow have a little faith in me will you?"
"I know it's just, we can't risk wasting anymore time. The sooner we collect all the crystals the better you know?" The Dark Ace nodded in response with an understanding expression, well aware of how important completing this mission was to the Storm Hawk. He had friends - no he had a family to bring back.
While their new ride basked in the radiant sun, rubbing it's dry scaly skin all over the sand, the two soldiered on into the heart of a tiny little village.
"Why exactly did Cyclonis want these crystals?" Aerrow asked, but it lacked any authority that the teen may have had to use on such a knight once upon a time. It was refreshing being able to engage in actual conversations with someone whom you used to stare down your sword at.
"Honestly? I'm not really sure," he answered sounding a little ashamed that he wasn't even informed of his Queen's interest, "All I know was that these crystals had a top secret purpose, it must have been important because she had her best manual workers down here." He hopped down a short rocky ridge with Aerrow close behind, they peered through their sunglasses over at the what appeared to be the deserted little town.
Their weapons were in hand as they hurried over quietly, although the area seemed relatively clear, just two walking dead in sight staggering around.
Dark Ace began towards one to take it out, expecting Aerrow to follow, but the boy was still stationed by the shack they had been covering behind. The Cyclonian only had to take in his expression for a moment to understand, despite all of this, Aerrow still had issues with shoving a blade into a person's skull. When you put it like that, anyone could read it is a sickening act, whether it's for the greater good or not.
Aerrow wasn't a murderer, he was a child in a hero's uniform.
After the raven haired man had gotten rid of the two zombies, Aerrow returned to his side once again. He looked like a puppy who had shied from obeying a command, as his emerald eyes steered away from crimson. Their senses were triggered on high alert as a wooden door swung open abruptly, the two spun around to find a grubby middle aged man standing in the doorway signalling for them to come towards him.
Was it a trap? Surely not. And even if it was, the two greatest knights of the Atmos would have no troubles, especially now that they were on the same side. Plus they had a full grown dragon just a whistle away.
Being the more social of the two, Aerrow stepped in first thanking the old man for his kindness, as he was well aware that the Dark Ace surely wouldn't follow with such manners. When the Cyclonian entered and demanded to know what the guy wanted, Aerrow internally nodded to his correct suspicions.
A woman who seemed to match the stranger's age came rushing in wearing cotton dress, "What is it Bill?" She looked the two guests up and down, "Bit?" She asked sternly, a look of protective instincts drafted over her face.
"No we're both fine," Aerrow reassured.
Bill added as he stood by the woman's side, "I found them outside taking out a few of the wanderers."
Dark Ace sneered, "You call them wanderers?"
After Aerrow gave his partner a stern look, to which he matched the look facetiously, the locals lead them into a dining room with two more people waiting inside. There was an overweight man with a beard, axe in hand and he didn't look like he parted with it often. And a seven year old girl with light ginger hair which matched the older woman's, fear was painted in her sea blue eyes.
The larger built man spoke up with his axe still in hand but by his side, "The name's Jeffrey how do you do?" He shook Aerrow's hand with a friendly smile.
Jeffrey then took Dark Ace's hand, and as he did accidently sputtered a spit filled cough all over the Talon. Jeffrey wiped his mouth with his arm, "I am so sorry sir!"
His crimson eyes were sharp and he had a look of bloody murder on his face, reading this Aerrow quickly stepped infront of his companion to ensure no punches would be thrown. They couldn't risk being tossed out, God knows how many were out there, because these folks look scared.
The woman; Caren handed Dark Ace a handkerchief. He tried to contain his anger as he wiped this fat bastard's germs off his goddamn face, he couldn't help but grit his teeth and growl under his breath. He hadn't noticed, but the little girl was officially terrified by him.
This whole survivors exchange thing really didn't work well with the raven haired man, so Aerrow released a burdened sigh and asked "I appreciate you letting us into your home Bill, but we came here on business, I don't suppose you know if there are any crystals down at the mines that are still full of juice do you?"
"Yeah none of the Cyclonians have shown their faces since the wanderers began to rise, so we can snatch as many as we want."
"There's enough to last us for about a year I'd say," Jeffrey added, keeping his eyes locked on the redhead's at all times, because the taller one looked like he wanted to rip his head off.
"You know a safe way down there?" The teen inquired.
Bill answered, "Sure do, there's a secret route we take that the wanderers don't seem to cross a lot."
Dark Ace added with that bad cop tone, "Where is it?"
"Don't worry I'll take you down myself, I need to go on another round anyway." While crimson eyes rolled with impatience, the Sky Knight thanked the man for his generous offer and accepted courteously.
As the three left the house, Aerrow asked with a gun in hand, "Are there are any more survivors other than you four?"
Bill lead the way with a bat in his hand, "It doesn't seem likely, the infection begun here, so the majority didn't have time to wise up before it was too late."
Dark Ace who was at the back, caught up to walk by Aerrow's side, "Wait how the hell do you know that?"
"Shhh hold up," the man infront said, then he pointed to a zombie that had found it's way onto his trail.
"Should we be worried about this?" Aerrow asked, his head darting around trying to spot any zombies that may decide to emerge and surprise.
"No only the odd one manages to pass through here, allow me, it is my Terra after all." Sky Knight and Cyclonian watched as the local beat the zombie mercilessly in the head with his bat, it took several blows but did the job. "Come on they're just over here."
Bill was a man of his word, there were hundreds of illuminating purple crystals, some already in carts, some still embedded in the stone walls. "How many do you need?"
"Only a few," Aerrow told him, after that Dark Ace marched ahead and began to pick the biggest and brightest of the collection, feeling the need for redemption after the Cyclonian trip fail."So Bill, how could you possibly know that this Terra was where it all started?" The boy asked curiously, making sure to lower his voice incase of any dead eavesdroppers.
"It started a couple of months before the Atmos went to Hell," Dark Ace paused for a moment and approached to get a good listen, he was just as curious as Aerrow. "On my way past the mines, I spotted a couple of science looking folks inspecting the crystals, I figured why not and asked them what their business was, they said pretty harshly that it was top secret and I should keep on moving. So I did, wasn't happy about it though. After leaving with a crate full of crystals, he didn't return for another week or so, and when he did he was accompanied by a lady. This time I snuck up behind them and listened in, this was my home after all and they were acting awfully suspicious."
"So you heard what they said?" Aerrow asked eagerly, his voiced rushed.
"Indeed I did and it sickens me, I just wish I could've thought more of it back then. Maybe I could have warned people."
"Yeah, but what did they say?" Dark Ace pressed.
"In a nutshell; they said that these crystals were perfect. They had the right amount of durance and stimulating power to create an army...basically a zombie army, although her words were more technical but that's pretty much the gist. With this army they would be unstoppable, I mean how could you kill something that has no life? After that they left, but the next day there were tonnes of diggers around the village and in the mines carting out the crystals, soon after that tests were being carried out, on our own Terra too I might add!"
Feeling a little nauseous, Aerrow asked "And that's how it started here? Because of the experiments?"
"Yep, the crystals would emit some thick smoke and if you breathe enough in you turn, this guy I knew; Dale had gone to give them a piece of his mind, unfortunately the air hadn't cleared, and he didn't have the luxury of owning gas masks like they did."
"That's awful," Aerrow said with complete sorrow in his face.
Bill answered, with a growl of hatred in his throat, "Well, what do you expect from those damn Cyclonians?"
Sky Knight and Talon fell silent, their eyes painted with shock. Dark Ace only managed to utter the word, "...What?..."
Then Aerrow added with a dry voice, "Did you say...Cyclonians?"
"Sure did, don't act so surprised, this is right up their alley if you ask me."
With that the Storm Hawk turned to face the Cyclonian, his emerald eyes empty, only disbelief and hatred beginning to sink in. Dark Ace crossed his gaze wide eyed. Standing up, the teen muttered, "You," as he clenched his fists.
The older of the two stood up straight after, his breath hitching as he began to back away slightly, he'd never seen the boy look so hostile, "...No." He shook his head, no clue where to start with proving his innocence.
"It was all a lie wasn't it?"
"No Aerrow I swear I -"
"You son of a bitch!"
"Aerrow -"
Aerrow was rapidly filling with complete malice, his dry voice erupted into a bitter yell "They're dead! They're all dead! Because of you!"
The Sky Knight began to stalk towards the raven haired man who had his hands up defensively, his weapon still away. Dark Ace sputtered out panicked words, "Aerrow listen to me I had nothing to do with this, Hell I didn't even know!"
"YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT!? THE QUEEN'S RIGHT HAND MAN; HAD NO IDEA? Well I may be younger than you but I'm not stupid. It all makes sense! That's why you agreed to help me with this isn't it?"
"No please, you've got to believe me Aerrow! I want the zombies gone as much as you do!" Dark Ace was getting really anxious, and it reflected in his face, mainly because Aerrow looked merciless. This wasn't the usual heroic glare that spoke the words 'I'm going to knock you off your bike and save the day,' it was pure bloody revenge.
"I can't believe I was so blind! I actually thought we were...should've known it was impossible with you, you're just a bastard traitor! I bet Snipe isn't even dead."
Distress was glazed over his blood red eyes. Aerrow felt the same emotional sting, but the betrayal was burning it into a hatred that had been dowsed for quite some time now. He tried to match Aerrow's stare as he endured his lashing out, how the hell could he convince him? But his eyes flickered down and as they did, they caught the site of Aerrow's fingers on the trigger of his gun.
Bill asked from behind them, "What the fuck is going on?"
As quick as lightning the Cyclonian used the brief distraction to punch Aerrow square in the face, so hard it knocked him to the floor, but didn't render him unconscious. Dark Ace dropped the crystals and sped out of the mines, pushing Bill over incase his slow mind clicked on sooner rather than later.
He felt like he'd just been exiled, where the hell was he going to go? He couldn't fly back to Gale, the dragon listened to Aerrow, and it would take mere seconds for him to burn to death if it got close enough. And he was more than positive that Aerrow would give that order, the teen possessed a venomous repulsion for him now, way more than before the new war.
So he kept running, although he had to whip his sword out to decapitate a few of Cyclonis' apparently dead soldiers. Where on Atmos was he going? He didn't know, but his legs continued to carry him quickly incase Aerrow decided to follow... dear Lord had it come to this? That he was actually running away? From Aerrow of all people?
But after everything they'd been through, he felt there was nothing to do but run from the boy, he didn't want to fight him...which was so bizarre but true. An unfamiliar bright light had begun to flicker in his heart thanks to this truce, and it was warding him away from the notion of ending the redhead's life to make things easier.
Since the day he met Aerrow defeating him was all he'd known, but after all the sacrifices they had made for each other, all the secrets told.
But it would be OK now, Aerrow would save the Atmos alone and his memories of this fucked up quest would be erased for the better.
Dark Ace soon learnt that Bill was right, this mining Terra was swarming with zombies. They all seemed to have commuted in little groups. However, growing up with the desire to become a knight of the sky had offered him plenty of opportunities and lessons on how to sneak past the enemy when needed. So evading their one sense wasn't such a hard task when he knew how to run without being heard.
His plan was to reach the edge and venture off into the wastelands again, camp for a little while, maybe climb back to civilization when he was sure Aerrow wasn't trying to ring his neck.
So he continued onward, with the abrupt impact of frustration from recent events grinding down on his mind. He had to relieve his temper, so the next collection of corpses he came across, he whipped out two tomahawks and started swinging. Although the expression he wore wasn't his usual sadistic thrill, it was pain filled stress.
Naturally the zombies all limped towards him at once, but he had plenty of space to step around and hurl his arms around to his mood's content. He filled every strike to the head with massive blows of energy, which is how Dark Ace always dealt with his problems. Screw meditation, violence was the answer. And it worked for him, whether he was taking it out on a punchbag or a person, or in this case a dead man walking.
While they moaned in his face as they tried to get a chomp, he growled with gritted teeth as he sunk the sharp blade into another temple, more blood spitting out and painting the sandy floor.
Just a couple left, this session of stress relief was not lasting long enough, and yet he already felt a little worn out.
One infront, one behind, so he lunged towards the one infront taking it out with the same technique that all the others had faced. As he turned to face the one behind him, it was closer than he thought and went to grab him. It managed to get a hold of his t-shirt, there was a jab of dread as he felt it's fingers trailing along his stomach. Before it could sink in however, he kneed it in the gut to make it stumble back, then swung his weapon hard into it's head.
The last of the horde fell to the ground with the usual severe head damage. Dark Ace screamed with frustration, how could this have happened? In a matter of seconds he had lost his base, his partner, and his purpose in this twisted apocalyptic story. What on the Atmos else could he lose?
His throat felt strained after the yelling, so it resulted with a cough which totally negated his temper filled bellow. There had to be more of them nearby that he could express his anger towards, and now he had plenty of time to do it.
He took a step, but his stomach twinged tightly, he placed his hand over it to give it some pressure. The troubled Cyclonian shook his head and proceeded to move on regardless, but the pain was increasing. What the hell was going on?
There was no time to think about it. Dark Ace had collapsed.
Aerrow marched out of the mines with the bag of crystals slung over his shoulder. The footsteps of the liar were imprinted in the sand, it was time to return to the way things were, in which he kicks that guys ass for being such a ruthless lying bastard. Only this time the Sky Knight was planning to be a little more cut throat, it wasn't his style but for the crimson eyed man he would make an exception.
A hearty whistle passed his dry lips, and as his emerald eyes steered up to the sky, the faithful dragon was spotted soaring down towards him, eclipsing the sun from the boy's sight as it did so.
Without hesitation Aerrow mounted the creature and without even bothering to strap in ordered, "Find the Dark Ace." The dragon snorted with a puff of smoke racing from it's nostrils, it took off again with it's mighty wings uplifting dusty clouds as it did so.
It didn't take too long, Aerrow couldn't help but sneer at what little progress had been made. Although the snide attitude came to a hault when he realised the older man wasn't exactly available to gloat to. "Down," he told the dragon, and before it's feet touched the ground the Storm Hawk was already rushing to the unconscious foe to survey the damage.
Dark Ace was lying on his back sweating profusely, however that could have just been the heat. There were blood stains all over his clothes, and dead zombies were scattered all around him. If he hadn't been panting with a raspy voice, Aerrow wouldn't have known what to make of it all. But he'd seen this before; with Starling. He hadn't witnessed her collapsing, but she did sound like hell and looked as sickly as the Talon did now.
Aerrow stared him down for a moment, as Dark Ace subconsciously clutched his stomach and held his eyes firmly shut as a foreign pain engulfed his body. There was a twisted look of disgust in his emerald eyes, because he knew Dark Ace had been infected, he was going to turn.
"What was it you kept telling me?" Aerrow asked with a rather sinister tone, which truly projected the humiliating pain the Cyclonian had handed him. "They're not people? Well I can agree with you in this case; you're nothing but a heartless traitor. You were planning to kill me, so I'll return the favour."
The teen's clammy hands gripped his borrowed gun tighter, he raised his arms without the quiver of doubt that had accompanied him since the dawn of this new war. It was pointed at the helpless Talon's head, Aerrow narrowed his eyes as the sense of justice once again rekindled.
He held his glare on the Talon for one last moment, enjoying his inner torture.
Then it hit him; a memory. That time in the phoenix cave, he was done for, but Dark Ace had pulled him out. And that time on Saharr, his rival had took down every single zombie and fought for his safety. Why would he do that if he was organising his demise anyway? His mind still niggled at the concept that it was all a secret elaborate plan, but was he really that good an actor? Or had he actually held a little sorrow for Piper that day on Blizarrus?
The kind side of his young heart began to beat again, and he suddenly felt rather wicked for accusing this man of misconduct. Maybe he was innocent?
Aerrow shook his head trying to shift the doubt, this was ridiculous, Don't fall for it you idiot! He homed in on the Talon again and focused as he tried to recapture that hatred. But now he couldn't see evil, he saw a victim to this hellish, detestable infection.
Aerrow was a Sky Knight, and Dark Ace was in need. He had no idea what the hell the man's motives were, but he couldn't let him die, not like this, not without answers.
The redhead cursed "Argh dammit!" and shoved his gun away. He buried his face into his hands, gripping a few strands of hair and groaning with frustration.
Aerrow knelt down by the Cyclonian's head and scooped up his writing top half. With his arms holding tightly onto the older man's sides, Aerrow called over the dragon who approached them cautiously. It lowered it's head, so the Sky Knight rose to his feet with the ragdoll foe and dragged him over to close the distance.
He may of spared his life but as far as he knew, Dark Ace was a traitor, so he mercilessly slung the Talon onto the dragon's shoulders like a hunted carcass, ignoring the groaning protests of the unconscious passenger.
On the way home they had to fly straight and carefully, Aerrow reluctantly had to hold his untrustworthy partner tightly the whole way or he would have fell off.
They made it back safely, bar an assortment of rapid gusts that seemed determined more than anything to throw the Talon off the flying beast.
While the fire breather of the group was granted the rest of the day to soar through the skies and hunt to it's hearts desire, Aerrow was left with the infected Dark Ace.
His ideal option would be to settle him on the couch and try to wake him up...actually that was a lie. Aerrow's true desire was to drop him face first onto the wooden floor, and kick him until he regained consciousness.
Unfortunately the latter was not the end result, the redhead had to tug Dark Ace up the stairs with a great struggle and lay him on the bed. His reasoning for this was that he could tie him to the frame, which was a necessity if he reawoken as one of them. But hopefully that wouldn't be the case just yet.
OoO.
Wooo hooo Cyclonian plot twists are the best don't you agree ;)
Well I'm in college now, and it's easter, so that means I have free time with no excuses. This story is getting rather interesting now too so I will try to upload and not leave you hanging for weeks on end. God I hope I can keep my word this time ._.
See you guys soon.
If you review this chapter and check out my artwork on deviantart I will totally upload faster just saying. God I sound desperate, please toss me your shoe and I will lick them for you while I'm at it ^^"...wtf has this chapter's author's note even been this time XD