Gargoyles

by defectivebrainstorm

While the rest of Atmos seemed to think the danger had past, one young Sky Knight and his motley squadron set off in the pursuit of nightmares to unearth a new evil before it could grow larger than anyone had ever imagined. This is their story. Mostly OC

26. When Worlds Collide

26

When Worlds Collide

A/N: Cyclonis: Just Like You Imagined by Nine Inch Nails

Dark Angel: The Monster is Loose by Meatloaf

Dark Angel & Cyclonis: Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson

Falshade vs. Dark Angel: Had Enough by Breaking Benjamin

Are ya motherfuckers ready for the new shit? Stand up, admit tomorrow's never comin'

-This is the New Shit, Marilyn Manson

You had to have it all/ Well have you had enough?/ You greedy little bastard/ You will get what you deserve/ When all is said and done/ I will be the one/ To leave you in your misery/ And hate what you've become

-Had Enough, Breaking Benjamin

x.x.x Dark Angel x.x.x

Looking down over the pit in the earth he tilted his head curiously, watching the barred doors roll open slowly. The moment they rattled open far enough groups of a half dozen Blitzkrieg each poured out of their appointed holding cells and clashed into one another in the middle of the pit, snarling and shrieking like demons as sharpened teeth sunk into flesh, attacking each other all at once in one large cluster.

"We do this with every new batch." Zodiac was at his side suddenly, looking down with interest, chewing at his tongue hungrily as if he too wanted to be down there in the thick of the carnage. "To weed out the weaker ones."

Dark Angel continued to watch as ruined bodies were trampled and thrown to the side to make room for the surviving Blitzkrieg to continue fighting one another, fingers sinking into eye sockets, throats being torn wide, limbs snapping and jaws breaking. "...How many are we keeping?"

"Twelve."

"Out of the whole batch? Seems like a waste, don't you think?"

Zodiac gnashed his teeth. "The reproduction process has become so simplified by now we don't have to worry about sparing any extras. There will be another batch this size ready for tomorrow, and besides, the Master wants only the best; last thing we need is another one like Carrion."

Dark Angel smirked. "They're impressive, considering they don't even have weapons yet... they don't really even seem to care that their killing their own kind." He gave Zodiac a look. "You never had to face the pit, did you?"

Zodiac made a growling noise. "I didn't have to." He hissed. "My skills were unprecedented." He reached out slowly and drew a finger along one of the dark scars that stretched across Dark Angel's cheekbone. "Or have you forgotten?"

Dark Angel bared his teeth at him. "Well you didn't kill me, did you?"

"I may still get a chance." Zodiac vowed, sounding smug; Dark Angel quirked an eyebrow questioningly. "The Master wants to speak with you. You're coming with us today; consider it your test flight. If you should perform poorly the Master has promised you to Carrion and I. And then I will have my turn in the pit."

"I look forward to it." Dark Angel assured him snidely, turning on his heel and striding from the precipice that overlooked the Blitzkrieg's pit, which now was clogged with torn corpses and severed limbs as the remaining eighteen Blitzkrieg stalked from side to side like caged wolves now that there was so much less of them. Boots striking of the solid stone floor Dark Angel stalked along the corridor, rubbing at his face irritably where Zodiac had touched him. He didn't like the arrogant Blitzkrieg at all, but Zodiac had been assigned to him, his personal guard dog, keeping an eye on him constantly as if he was just waiting for him to make a break for it. His Master still didn't trust him...

Gritting his teeth he entered the Heart Chamber, coming to a halt several feet behind his Master, who was preoccupied as usual with the large crystal before her. Cutting a small segment from one of the facets she turned, ignoring him completely, and opened her hand, allowing the shard to float above her palm. She then focused her attention at the far wall, where a small bird was fluttering hopeless on the floor, one wing dragging, broken, over the stone. She narrowed her eyes, fixating on it and holding the crystal shard out, a reddish glow seeping from her fingertips. The crystal shard started to tremble violently and the bird made a screeching noise at which Dark Angel flinched, watching the poor thing stuggled, his heart pounding unsteadily. But then the crystal shard exploded into an array of thousands of glittering pieces, cascading to the floor as a wave of red energy dissipated in the air and his Master lowered her hand, turning her back without a second glance at the bird.

"Get rid of it." She instructed to a nearby Blitzkrieg, who stalked over to the small creature, snatching it from the floor and shoving it head first into his mouth, jaws unhinging like a snake to fit the entire creature in whole. Dark Angel tried to ignore the crunching sounds as he directed his attention to his Master, who brushed the crystal dust from her pale hands and turned to him.

"Walk with me." She said, moving past him and back out into the corridor and he followed behind her obediently like her second shadow.

"I trust Zodiac has already informed you of today's attack?"

"He did."

"Good." She paused, turning to him to take him in. "I'm sending you with them; I have a bit of a job for you." He straightened to show he was listening. "You see I've become rather fed up with Halo's failures in the past; he has done his work for me and I no longer require him as my General. I'd like you to accompany them today, and should you perform well I'm hoping to grant you his position instead."

"I'm honoured."

She grinned wickedly. "So you should be; it's no minor advancement. You'd be the commander of all my Fleets, all my Blitzkrieg, you understand."

He nodded, pulse stirring. He knew what she implying; he would be the one to lead her armies into this war, leading the attacks that would wipe the Sky Knights from the face of the planet.

"I'm placing a great deal of faith on you, Dark Angel. You understand this, don't you? To disappoint me would be devastating for you."

"I understand." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Master." He added quickly. She nodded approvingly. "So what is the purpose of today's assault?"

She smirked, laughing under her breath and turning to keep walking. He strode along, barely a step behind her, listening as she explained. "Well, you see, there is a certain squadron out there that has been slowly growing on my nerves lately. I trust you know which squadron I am referring to."

Something hitched in his breathing and he swallowed slowly. "...The Gargoyles."

"Correct." She paused once again to look at him, eyes glinting maliciously. "I would have them obliterated, you understand, if it weren't for one member of their little team in particular. She is of great value to me and yet due to Halo's incompetence she has continued to slip through my grasp again and again."

"If I may ask, Master, how is she valuable?"

She looked back towards the Heart Chamber. "You undoubtedly noticed my failure with the crystal moments ago." She looked up at him again. "I am about to confide in you, because I find myself extremely frustrated by this fact; I do not have complete control yet over the full potential of the crystal's destructive force. If I did believe me, none of you would be of any use to me; I would be supreme ruler of the Atmos as we speak."

Dark Angel nodded, taking the subtle hint; they were all disposable.

"I believe the girl is the key to unleashing the crystal's power. With her I can wield the crystal completely, so securing my place in supremacy over this wretched world." His Master continued, her mouth curling as if she could already taste the deliciousness of utter domination. She looked at him seriously. "Understand this; I need the girl alive, and as unharmed as possible. If I were to lose her the one responsible would be punished with a fate worse than death."

Again Dark Angel took the hint. "I understand the importance of the matter. This girl... how will I recognize her?"

His Master's voice took on a dark, seductive edge. "You know the one I mean." She whispered, something cunning dancing in her eyes. "She has green eyes, very unique green eyes. Beautiful almost." She leaned in towards him suddenly, speaking into his ear. "You remember those eyes don't you? They never did look at you with very much affection."

Dark Angel's chest seemed to seize, his heart rate picking up again. In his mind he could see them, sea green eyes shining with laughter and stubbornness.

"Were you jealous of him, perhaps? Of the way she'd look at him and never at you?" His Master continued, her voice a sly whisper. "You were always second to the both of them, you know. They called themselves your best friends, but did they really act like it? They didn't need you around; you were disposable to them."

Dark Angel swallowed, hand curling at his side and uncurling slowly. He remembered that feeling, the paranoia and frustration with the two of them, always feeling on the outs. But then... it wasn't always that way...

"If you retrieve the girl for me, once I am finished with her I will give her to you and you can do what you wish with her." Cyclonis promised enticingly. "Would you like that?"

An entirely different pair of eyes sprang into his mind then, one a dark, earthly brown and the other a brilliant shade of amber, staring down at him, something like joy flashing across their surface, a dragonfly skipping over a pond. Those eyes held both suffering and outlandish beauty and if he recalled they could look absolutely deadly as well, piercing right through their enemy's flesh. But... he recalled them looking at him with something much different than that and felt hands ghosting over his skin, someone's voice other then Cyclonis' in his ear. He shivered and broke away from her, stepping back.

"What of the others?" he asked, ignoring her last question and she furrowed her brow at him, annoyed by his reaction.

"The others?"

"The rest of the Gargoyles. Surely they won't let the girl go without a fight."

His Master blinked at him as if this answer should have been obvious. "The girl is the only one with any use to me; kill the others. They've been a nuisance to me for too long."

Under the pulsing of the crystal in his chest Dark Angel felt a flicker of something, unease and alarm trickling through his veins.

His Master cocked her head curiously as if she could sense his sudden uncertainty. "I have something for you." She told him then, pulling something out from her cloak and holding it out in her hands. He stared at it, an adamantine crafted headpiece glinting in the grim light of the corridor.

"It belonged to your father." She explained, reaching up to place it on his head and suddenly he felt like she'd placed a huge, unwanted weight on him, his skin burning anywhere the cold metal touched him. She pulled a few strands of his lank hair over the edge of the headpiece and looked at him critically. "I consider it something of an heirloom... it suits you." Her voice almost had a taunting edge and he grit his teeth, wishing he could take it off.

She was watching him, waiting, and after struggling for a moment he coughed up his voice.

"Thank you, Master."

---

He heard Zodiac's boots scraping on the floor at the last minute and turned to catch what the Blitzkrieg threw at him.

"Seems like we don't have any newer weapons to waste on you." He said as Dark Angel examined his sabres, each equipped with a flickering red Firebolt crystal.

"Well that's alright; personally I find your newer weapons are of poor quality anyways."

He caught Zodiac's daggers as the slashed towards him and threw him back. "You seem to forget that my weapons have tasted your blood in the past; I wouldn't be so quick to insult them, because they might just taste it again." He snarled.

Dark Angel turned his back on him strictly to annoy him, strapping his sabres to his back and looking over the fleet of Nightflyers, waiting for their riders to launch the assault. He heard Zodiac leave and leaned against the wall, gritting his teeth. He didn't like this. Images of the girl his Master so desperately wanted kept flitting through his mind, brief flashes of lightning over the deserted wasteland of his head; her jumping on him and attempting to beat him around the head, pulling at his hair and biting into his shoulder, her leaning on him and laughing obnoxiously and one strange memory of her flinging her arms around him tightly, even though he was bleeding all over the place. These images seemed detached from him, like they were flashback from a past life, some strange form of déjà vu, but he recognized them anyways. They felt familiar to him, made something stir in his chest that he didn't understand. He had a hard time believing his Master when he saw those images... this girl, she must have meant something to him before, and he must have meant something to her as well, before he'd been throttled and died in his own chest.

And then there was that other set of eyes as well, the ghostly feeling of someone's fingers twined through his in the dark, a feeling of yearning in his stomach. It wouldn't leave him alone, this feeling of a haunting presence following him, whispering words he didn't understand into his ear, tugging at him. Something from his past, the before-Angel, the Angel that was in a coma in the very back, most secluded corner of his mind, something from then knew these eyes, something had stirred at the mention of the Gargoyles and he couldn't just ignore the feeling that these people, they'd been something important to him from before, they were locked in a time capsule in his head, buried but not forgotten.

'Kill the others.'

But...

One more image flared up in his mind, the blood splashing of over the stone walls of the pit as the new Blitzkrieg, barely out of their comatose state, ripping each other apart ruthlessly, mercilessly. They hadn't even stopped to think that this was their own kind they were killing, clones of themselves. They hadn't even stopped to ask why. They'd just done it, all too happy to butcher one another.

And somewhere inside, this made him sick. Their sole purpose was to destroy, it was what they'd been bred for. And now it was his purpose too.

Running his hand over the handle bars of his new Nightflyer, he glanced over at the stockpile of explosive devices lining the walls, ready to be grabbed as soldiers made their way to their skimmers. He moved towards them and looked them over, fingers brushing the crystals that protruded from the surfaces. Glancing back at his ride he felt his hand close around one of the devices.

... Just in case he changed his mind.

x.x.x Varan x.x.x

"You really don't want to talk to me, do you?"

I jumped and turned to find Roo, hands on her accentuated hips, standing a little ways behind me at the entrance to the little alley I'd just skirted down. God when had that girl grown up? I mean before I'd left she'd just been this skinny little rail, mane of tangled brown hair cut short like a boy's and she certainly didn't have a figure like that.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "I'm not avoiding you or anything."

"Riiiiiiiiiiiight." She drawled, smiling mischievously and striding towards me. "Jeez though you know, you up and leave me on my lonesome after we lost Shade to the Sky Knight brigade, and now I actually have to keep girl friends thanks to you, and you finally get back and can't even take a little bit of time to hang out with me?" she pressed in a bit closer, feigning a look of hurt. "I thought I was a little more important than that."

I snorted. "Heaven forbid you finally start spending time with your own gender. And maybe the reason I up and left was because you kept beating me up when we were younger, did that thought ever occur to you?"

She cracked a grin, punching my arm playfully. "You know usually girls beat up on guys because they like them. Did that thought ever occur to you?"

My tail scuffed the pavement as I swallowed nervously. "Um..."

She laughed, her tinkling little pixie laugh that didn't suit her new punk persona. "So what have you been up to? What's it like being a big hero?"

"I wouldn't know, you'd have to ask one." I told her. "I've actually become more of a mother, believe it or not."

Roo laughed. "Oh man that sounds like you alright. So you're looking after those little punks huh? That's adorable."

"I wouldn't go so far to say that." I said wearily. "But what about you though? How have you been?"

"Oh, you know, I've been alright. Kinda lonely lately though, brothers are all off having lives of their own, and with you and Shade off saving the world... oh Thane's engaged eh? The wedding's next spring."

"Seriously? Wow, nice for him."

"Yeah I suppose so... it's just weird you know, thinking about him getting married; I mean he's not much older then you. And then he's gonna start having kids and everything... I'm gonna get dragged into babysitting, I can see it now."

I laughed and mussed up her violent orange hair sympathetically. "Well then you'll know how I feel."

She grinned again, pushing my hand away playfully. "Hey, yeah, we can start up a support group, Babysitters Anonymous." She looked up at me, the little flecks of gold shimmering in her dark brown eyes and something stirred in my chest. Roo had always been my little ally, my misfit-in-company. She'd been out of place in her world of older, tougher brothers, chasing after them and scrapping her knees trying to keep up, more like a puppy to them then their little sister. And I was just a skittish little newt from the get go, always shy and awkward, and Roo grabbed on to that, sensing companionship in someone not as overbearing and reckless. I was someone whose hand she could grab, pulling me along after Shade and her brothers, someone she could strike off, no longer the weakest of the pack. And I could play off her energy, her zeal and childishness, just I did with Falshade's, letting it infect me and influence me and shake off some of my anxiety for awhile. She and I acted as each other's sanction when the rough-and-tumble ways of our wild-boy counterparts got to be too much. Despite her energetic, spunky attitude there was something deeper and softer about Roo too, something that noticed things that I did, like shining pebbles and bird feathers, all the little treasures offered up to children from the tangled grass and dusty earth. I mean once her brothers grew up a bit and deemed us secondary friends, she still stuck with Shade and I and the two of them got along as thick as thieves, coaxing me along into some harebrained adventure or other. But she'd always clung to me too, twirling about me and showing me the hidden, sensitive side of her she was too proud to show her brothers.

And then of course there was that year Falshade was at the Academy. During that time we were each other's only friend and she barely left me alone long enough to get any training in with Owhl. She used to drag me out into rainstorms and bring me home-made cupcakes, always decorated differently, which she wouldn't let me have until I told her at least three things that were brilliant about her on that given day. And sometimes, always when I was least expecting it, she'd kiss me on the cheek before running off, laughing like a lunatic.

And then I just left, without thinking about the nervous, budding feelings I had for her or what she was going to do without me, her only remaining link to childhood, her last ally.

I felt pretty bad around then; I mean I would have gone with Shade regardless, that was just a given. But perhaps I should have spent more time with her, taken into consideration all the little messages she sent me, or should have at least said goodbye.

"Hey what's up with you?"

"Hmm? Nothing." I scuffed my foot. "Just thinking."

She quirked an eyebrow. "So I meant to ask; what with you flying around being a big hero and all, you must meet a lot of girls. Got yourself a girlfriend?"

I felt my cheeks burn. "No." I said, tail flicking annoyingly. "Come on, you serious? If girls are watching me I assure you it's not because they want to get to know me."

She frowned. "You're talking about the whole scales thing? What's the big deal with that?"

I shrugged; I didn't feel like getting into that right now. "What about you then?"

"What, do I have a girlfriend?" she laughed and I rolled my eyes. "Nah, and I don't have a boyfriend either. There's not a good-looking guy on this terra... well not anymore anyways."

I gave her a look but she ignored me. "Hey, wanted to show you something." She said, sitting on a nearby crate and unlacing her shoe, a high-top the stretched all the way to mid-calf and was as orange as her hair. Man she would have gotten along well with Stork...

"It's not another tattoo, is it?"

She laughed. "I wish. Man mom freaked when I came home with this, I'm not allowed anymore tattoos or piercings until I'm out of the house." She wrinkled her nose a bit, silver septum hoop flashing in the sun. I dunno, I'd never been really into the whole facial piercing gig, but I didn't mind hers so much. The tattoo though I wasn't too sure about.

She dropped her shoe on the ground and I had to grin at her stocking, striped orange and blue. Oh yeah, she and Stork would have been the best of pals. She pulled her sock off as well and then stuck her pale little human foot out towards me, wiggling her toes. "Ta-dah!"

"Ew, human feet." I said and she kicked at me, pressing her toes against my knee and spreading them wide like little tiny fingers. I cocked my head and felt a smile spread over my face when I looked at them more closely; all five little nails were painted with a coat of shiny, forest green.

"I've been keeping them like that you know, waiting to show you." She said, her voice hushed a bit and I glanced at her. She took her foot back and pulled her sock back on half-heartedly, looking up at me. "Do you ever miss me?"

"...Yeah, sometimes. I miss having you around to help me out; I'm still stuck with a bunch of rowdy kids you know." I said quietly, my tail holding still for once.

"I miss you too. A lot. When I'm all by myself, or listening to my friends go on about boy bands. Sometimes I kinda wish I would have come with you guys. Seems like a lot more fun than being stuck on this bloody rock."

"You... you could, you know. Shade would say yes, and the others wouldn't mind. Hell, Stork would love having you around."

She shook her head, pulling on her shoe and ignoring the laces. "Nah. I don't know any fancy sword moves or anything."

I sighed. "You girls are so indecisive."

"Oh, hey now!" she said, pretending to be annoyed, smacking my arm and standing on her crate. "Damn did you ever get tall."

"Maybe you're just shrinking." I teased, still feeling a bit bad. Why hadn't I ever thought to see if she'd want to come along? What was so different with her then my friendship with Shade?

She snorted and then tilted her head, looking like she was considering something. Then she let out an exaggerated sigh. "You're going to have to be closer for this to work." She said and before I could ask what she meant she reached out, grabbed me by my vest and pulled me in closer, pressing her soft, warm lips to mine.

At first I was completely dumbstruck, paralysed by shock. I mean I'd never been kissed in my life and Roo's boldness took me by surprise. But then it was like something melted in me, all nervousness gone and I tucked my hand around her waist, careful not to slice her with my claws or pull her off her crate by accident. She leaned in closer when I hesitantly kissed her back and I could feel her heat on my skin, her delightfully warm-blooded body pressed to my cooler one, feeling better than any ray of sunshine.

I don't know how long we stayed like that but eventually she broke away and smiled at me, no longer her suggestive, mischievous smile but the one I remembered when she was just a pint-sized little girl, running after us boys and grasping my hands, tugging me along to find fossils and bird's nests with her. I smiled timidly back.

"Well I guess I won't hold you up any longer." She said, hopping off the crate.

"...I didn't mind. I really did like seeing you, you know." I told her honestly and she smiled again, moving in to hug me, briefly but tightly, and then skipping back, her laces flopping around her feet.

"Yeah, I'm glad I got a chance to see you too. Any idea when you'll be back again?"

"No idea. You know how Shade is, everything's a spur of the moment decision with him."

"Yeah, but that's what makes him fun." She pointed out. "Anyways, I'll see you around then, Var. Don't let those kids get you too down."

"Oh they're not so bad I guess." I said, not lying, not really. I loved the little buggers anyways, so what was I really going to do? "Take care, Roo."

"Yeah, you too." She turned and moved back down the alley before pausing and turning back to me.

"I'll keep them green, you know." She called. "Until you get back."

.x.

"Hey, what's up with you?"

"Huh?" I looked up at Stork, who'd prodded me with one of her wrenches. "Oh, nothing, just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing."

"You sure? You kinda sighed and looked all nostalgic for a second. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I shifted slightly, trying to chase thoughts of Roo from my head. I'd been thinking about her a lot lately, and I wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe I'd just been trying to think of happier memories, since nothing but depressing things had been going on lately. But I think deep down I was wondering if I really would see her again, ever go back to Vatican sometime, or if she'd just end up keeping her toenails green forever. Or until she met someone else I mean. I wasn't so arrogant to think she was totally committed to me. I mean hell, we were close friends and everything, but it had been one kiss, we'd never really made anything official. All I had to go on was a promise of toenail polish. Like what was supposed to happen if I did go back? I could see myself being terrible in a relationship anyways, what with my awkwardness and insecurities.

And that might not ever happen anyways. I'd almost died as it was, just a few days ago, and things were steadily getting worse. There wasn't really much room to look at any future plans or relationships. All I could do was dream and wonder and wish maybe I'd had the guts to do something differently in the past.

"You're thinking about Roo, aren't you?"

I started and stiffened, tail flicking to the side uneasily. "...What makes you think that?"

"Dude, I'm a girl, I have what's called female intuition." Stork explained, holding out a hand. "I need a size thirteen." I dug the wrench out of her tool box and handed it to her and she continued. "I'm just saying I've started to really notice lovesickness when I see it. And, no offence, but you don't have a good poker face, if you know what I mean."

I sighed; Stork knew me too well. "I wouldn't go so far to say I'm lovesick. I don't even know if I'm in love with the girl. That's the thing, I'm wondering if I'll ever get the chance to figure it out."

Stork made a sympathetic humming noise and patted my knee. "Falshade wouldn't like to hear that sort of pessimism. Cheer up a bit, Varan, I mean... this ain't over yet, anyways."

"Yeah, I know." I scratched at my side, itchy below my bandages. "I've just been thinking about that sort of stuff lately."

"Well, you know, I'm all ears about it. I can be a girl sometimes if you need me too, you know."

I grinned a bit. "I know. Thanks Stork, but I don't even know what I think about it all, you know? Makes it hard to talk about."

"Alright well, you know where to find me. Hand me that exhaust pipe, would you?"

I dug said pipe out of the open crate next to me and handed it to her. The two of us were camped out in the hanger, avoiding the cacophony of the bridge, where Fraggle and Wasp kept swapping records back and forth, blaring their selected music as loud as it could go, their collective coping device. Falshade had gone through with Stork's suggestion and just yesterday we'd stopped by a shipping yard and found an old, roughed up skimmer which we were able to buy for cheap. So now Stork was working avidly at patching it up for me, making it as top-notch as possible with what we had on hand; it already looked a lot better than the hunk of scrap metal we'd picked up, I had to say. I'd joined her to keep her company, as it was my skimmer she was working on after all, and had been given the role of wrench monkey for today.

However I also had an ulterior motive to sticking around down here, other than avoiding Wasp and Fraggle's music; while she'd seemed to have gained most of her strength back, running around the Merlin and as obnoxious as always, we all were still a little worried about Stork and we'd been discreetly trying to keeping an eye on her between the four of us. Although I think Stork was on to our game, because she'd almost seemed annoyed with me when I insisted on sticking around in the hanger, but she'd needed a wrench monkey and let me stay anyways. Until now though she'd been a little crabby, until she'd picked up on whatever distress I'd been radiating. Stork had always amazed me that way; despite her stubborn attitude and how nasty she could be when it came down to it, she'd always been perceptive and rather sensitive to our feelings.

"Do you like her though?" Stork asked after a moment.

"We're still talking about this?"

"Yeah, 'cause it's got me interested now, and it's better than talking about all the other shit that's been going on."

She had a good point there. "Well yeah, of course I do."

"Dawww." She teased and I rolled my eyes. "We ought to start a whole teen romantics support club or something. I mean now you've got this whole long distant thing, and with Wasp..." she trailed off. "Well I just mean the girl seems lonely and... well hell I don't know anything about what was going on with Angel and her, I'd been away."

"I wasn't exactly too sure about them either." I agreed, heart contracting unhappily.

"...You think she's in love with him?"

I shifted uncomfortably; god that was a weird concept to think about. "You're the one with the female intuition."

Stork snorted. "Yeah, well it gets a bit warped when it comes to crazy little Faerieshians." Then she sighed. "Forget it, I don't wanna go into that, it makes me too sad. I feel really bad for her."

"Yeah, me too..." I trailed off and sighed. I was worried about the poor girl; she wasn't nearly as cheery as she usually was, only looking vaguely interested in anything when training was mentioned, or when her music was blaring away. Other than that she just sort of staggered miserably from place to place or stayed holed up in her room. Falshade didn't seem to be doing too well either; I could barely get him to eat anything, which I took as a bad sign, because usually he'd eat anything you put in front of him... except broccoli. I had a suspicion he was blaming himself again for everything that had happened, losing Angel, Stork's whole disaster and my injuries and had shut down a bit, constantly brooding and not very talkative. It upset me that much more to see the others distressed, even though of course I couldn't blame them, and for the life of me I didn't know how to help them, especially since they were rejecting all advances of sympathy.

"So note that I'm adding spikes and what not to your armour, to make your ride look as tough as you." Stork said, poking me to get my attention, changing the subject and trying to cheer me up. I grinned.

"I had noted. Although last thing I need is too look more intimidating. Seems to be giving off a false message don't you think?"

Stork snorted. "Nah. I could put tassels and pink racing stripes on this thing and you'd still make it look tough."

I pulled a face. "Please don't."

"As if I'd put any skimmer through such torture." Stork said. She leaned over to adjust something under the runner boards and some of her bangs fell into her face and around then she threw something of an abrupt and disarming fit. She sort of shrieked in frustration, swore under her breath angrily, shoving her bangs back and hurled her wrench at the wall.

"God damnit!" She seethed, sitting back and folding her arms around herself, scrunching into a little ball and radiating annoyance. I blinked at her, trying not to look too frightened.

"Uh... so that was quiet a mood swing. Anything you wanted to talk about?"

She sighed irritably. "It's just... the god damn hair! And I know, I know it's just hair, I know, but... well it's like a principal thing, you know? I see the hair and it just reminds me of... of everything." She wrung her hands a bit before her eyes fell on her tube of grease, balanced on the edge of another one of her many toolboxes. Before I knew what she was doing she lunged forward, grabbed the tube and squeezed a glob of grease into her palm, clutching her bangs and smearing the oily substance over the strands, turning them a dirty shade of off-black. Then she looked at me for approval, face torn and conflicted.

"...You know we could always get you some hair dye." I muttered. "It seems like a cleaner solution, anyways."

She laughed, looking like she'd rather cry. "Yeah, I guess we could... Varan can I talk to you about something?"

I swallowed, feeling a little disarmed; I knew girls could change their mood at the drop of a hat and everything, but Stork's sudden plummet into distress had me unnerved and concerned. And while Stork and I were close and trusted one another with some of the stuff we wouldn't say or do around the others, I'd always thought Falshade was more of her confidante about anything personal. If she ever bothered to reveal anything personal at all, a rare occasion indeed.

But I nodded anyways because I was worried about her and she was my friend. "Yeah, of course."

She blew out a sigh, cleaning her greasy hands with her oil rag distractedly. "It's just... well I don't wanna mention anything to Shade, because I know he's all worried about me and I don't wanna give him any extra excuses to be all protective and nervous and shit, you know? Like he's got enough shit going on, and you guys are seriously annoying me, acting like I'm going to drop dead any second." She gave me a look and I tried and failed to look like I didn't know what she was talking about. "Like seriously, I feel fine..."

"...But?" I prodded gently after a moment.

"But... well the whole hair thing got me thinking. And mind you this theory is gonna sound real sketchy, but what with all the shit going on anything sounds believable, so... anyways. The thing is... Cyclonis has black hair, Wasp told me all about her when I asked. She has black hair, Varan, and now I don't anymore because she's not..." Stork swallowed, looking ill. "...she's not inside me anymore." she pulled a face. "God I hate that thought, it makes me feel so god damn dirty inside, you know?"

I nodded. I was still having a hard time digesting everything that Wasp had told Fraggle and I, once I was awake after all that had happened the other day. I mean... it just didn't seem plausible. But then, they'd apparently found a crystal that they could bond to people, create mutated soldiers with it from scratch, so...Stork was right, anything seemed possible now. But just the thought that she'd been among us, all along, watching everything, it was a whole new level of shock, extremely hard to swallow. I couldn't imagine how poor Stork felt. "But Stork, listen to me for a second here; you didn't know. How could you have? Who in a million years would have thought 'oh hey, I think I've got Master Cyclonis' soul hibernating in my body somewhere'? Like you're acting like you were enabling her, and you weren't, so just... don't be so hard on yourself."

"I know." She wiped at her face roughly. "But it's hard not to think like that, you know?"

I nodded again. "Yeah, I know. Anyways, so what about the whole hair thing? What are you getting at?"

"Well... I just... look, they never found Cyclonis' body, and now we know why, don't we? She didn't exactly die, she just sort of ... fuck if I know. But then I came along and she's inside of me. And... the thing is... they never found Aerrow's body either."

I blinked at her, unease curling tightly in my chest. She looked up at me, a frightened sort of certainty in her eyes. "...Varan you saw that photograph. You know I've got his eyes."

"...Lots of people have green eyes, Stork, it doesn't mean..."

"Varan you don't get it!" she said, her voice taking on a neurotic, shrill edge. "They found me in the god damn Scar as a baby! Exactly a year after Cyclonia fell, they found me in there, in the ashes, it's why they named me Feonix! And they brought me to Finn because I had Aerrow's god damn eyes! Stork told me, they all saw them, they saw Aerrow's eyes in my face! And they never... no one ever knew who my parents were. And it's all making such god damn sense; Aerrow and Cyclonis, neither of their bodies were ever found, and then I magically appear in the Scar, with Aerrow's eyes and apparently Cyclonis' hair!"

I gawked at her. "...They found you in the Scar?" I repeated dumbly.

She nodded miserably. "Yes. And the thing is... Angel said it before, if Shade's dreams are telling us the Storm Hawks have a role to play in this, that somehow they're connected to this, then how? We were missing the link... and I think I'm it. Think of it, I was raised by Finn, I'm the only one of us who has any connection to them. And if I've got Aerrow's eyes... then it makes me think that somehow... he's in me too."

I'd never felt more completely dumbstruck in my life. "Stork... I don't see how..."

Stork shook her head, biting at her lip, burying her face in her knees. "And the thing is..." she continued, interrupting my rambling. "What if he gets out of me too? What if I'm just this thing, this shell carrying them both around, and if he comes back then I'll just..."

I snapped out of my confused stupor then, my heart aching at the sound of the brittleness in her voice, no longer her bold tone but just a scared little girl, lost in the world. I leaned forward and looped and arm around her carefully, leaning against her and talking to her cheek because she had her face hidden from me. "Stork, listen to me. I don't know what's going on, how Cyclonis ended up in you, or if Aerrow's somehow in there too, but I know you, Stork, I know you're more than just a shell. So you might have his eyes, you might have had the black hair, but you know what, you've got your own blonde hair and your own freckles and laugh and smile and you're your own person. Inside it's just you, and Cyclonis was just renting some space, you know? And if Aerrow's in there that's all he's doing, you're still completely our girl Stork outside the two of them. Whatever the fuck is going on, we'll get through it, we'll figure it all out, and in the end you'll still be Stork, you're always going to be Stork. And the Stork I know is too brilliant to just fade away."

She peeked up at me from over her arm, emerald green eyes shining with tears. She sniffled. "...You think so?"

"Definitely." I pulled her up towards me, ignoring the pain that sang through my taught, burnt skin and cradled her a bit. She accepted my gesture of comfort eagerly for a few minutes before gently pulling away, wiping at her face and smudging grease onto her cheeks.

"Thanks Varan." She said quietly. "It's just... it's been eating me up for ages that idea. I feel like I'm having an identity crisis, and just so much is falling into place the more I think of it. Shade says I was in that dream, and the Lightning Claw, that was Aerrow's move, somehow he's still a part of all this, and I don't know what that means for me. I feel nervous all the time, like I'm all of a sudden just going to have another brain attack and this time I won't wake up."

I made a sympathetic noise and rubbed her shoulder, careful not to nick her soft skin with my claws. "We'll figure it all out. You're not going to stop existing, so don't worry about it."

She blew out a shaky sigh and grinned a bit. "...Yeah, I know we will... you really think I'm brilliant?"

This was coming from the girl who proclaimed her own brilliance about thirty seven times a day.

"Yeah, I do, and the others do too."

She grinned with a bit more enthusiasm this time. "Cool beans. I think ya'll are brilliant too."

I grinned too, ruffling her hair. "Well, thanks. But you know, and I mean you don't have to do it right yet, but you should tell Shade about this. If we are missing puzzle pieces in all of this mess then we really gotta start putting together the ones we do have. He needs to be on the same page. And I know you don't want to worry him." I interrupted as she opened her mouth to argue. "But Shade's never been one to want to pass things off just so he won't be worried about them. And besides, he wouldn't like knowing it's eating you up like this. That boy cares about you a lot, you know, and he'd wanna make sure whatever you're going through, you'll have all of us by your side, you know?"

Stork wrinkled her nose, looking conflicted. "You know, you're the only one who can get away with being so cheesy and sentimental." She informed me after awhile. "If it were anyone else on the planet I'd have to beat them up for being so mushy."

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. "Yeah I know. It's because I take so much bullshit from you guys you know, it makes it that much more amazing that I can still be so patient and caring."

She laughed and punched my arm playfully, being careful to avoid any sore spots. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Seriously though, thanks." She said earnestly, smiling at me. "You're little lovey-dovey motivational speeches always do the trick."

"Well at least I have some other skill outside the culinary field."

She snorted and scuffed a spot of grease from my new/used skimmer. "Well, the angst-fest is over, back to work." She said, reaching for her wrench again before remembering it was lying on the other side of the hanger. "Hey, wanna be that much more amazing for me and go and grab that?"

I heaved an exaggerated sigh but got up, edging around the other's skimmers and the parts she had littered over the floor to retrieve her wrench.

"Thank ya darling." She trilled when I passed it back to her and was about to ask me something else when Falshade cut her off, his voice echoing over the intercom.

"Hey guys, were almost at our terra, you wanna come up here for a bit and..." he trailed off suddenly and Stork and I exchanged a look. She got up from where she'd been sitting on her knees in front of my skimmer and I stood uneasily, tail twitching. We waited with baited breath until Falshade's voice finally picked up again, a hard edge in his tone:

"The both of you get your gear on; they were expecting us."

x.x.x Falshade x.x.x

"Okay, ready?" I called to Wasp from the other side of the bridge. She nodded and I threw the Striker crystal for the umpteenth time at her. She held out her hand like a telekinetic and narrowed her eyes, focusing on the crystal as it sailed towards her. About a foot in front of her it slowed to a halt in mid air, quivered for a second and then fell to the floor with a clatter.

"Damn." She said, scooping it up and tossing it back to me.

"Well I'd consider it a feat that you can stop it at all; I can't do it." I reminded her positively.

I'd gotten sick of mulling over the Prophecy, trying to find something, anything, that might tell us where to find Angel, going over notes I'd made about things from my dreams and what they'd meant symbolically and my field guide as well until my head started to hurt so bad I felt sick. So I'd gone looking for Wasp, since Varan and Stork were busy in the hanger and figuring she could use a distraction as well as I could. I found her in Angel's room of all places, curled up tightly on his bed, murmuring to her dragon figurine incoherently, nose buried in one of his shirts. I lured her out, figuring it was unhealthy for her to be so depressed and clinging to whatever part of him still remained around the ship like that, and dragged her to bridge with me. And now here we were, an hour later, trying to pass the time and distract ourselves from our worry and misery by practicing her new found skill. It had taken us awhile for her to be able to get any sort of hold on the crystal's energy at all, making it slow down and then stop altogether, and now she was trying to have enough control over it to get it to come straight to her outstretched hand, slowing its momentum dramatically.

Fraggle's ears perked up as the last song on his Bad Hair Day record played itself out and the needle scratched against the rim of the disc. "Oh, you're turn there, eh."

Wasp turned to the record player at around the same time I threw the crystal at her and it bounced off her shoulder.

"Oh, shit, sorry!"

She made a face at me, picked up the crystal and chucked it back at me. "Take that!" she said, grinning deviously. The crystal missed me by a mile, because her aim was atrocious.

"Ah ha, ya missed me." I taunted, retrieving the crystal. "That's like what, Falshade seven, Wasp zero?"

True I'd hit her that many times completely by accident but she seemed to think it was funny and I was glad to see her at least a little more perky then she'd been earlier. And I kinda thought it was funny too. My whole distraction thing was actually working quite well, I had to hand it to myself.

Wasp hopped over to the record player and put Fraggle's record back in its sleeve carefully, pulling out one of her own. The two of them had come to terms with their shared sense of comfort that they got from their appointed music and had made a deal with the other; Fraggle was allowed to play once of his records all the way through, then Wasp one of hers, and then back to Fraggle. I had to admit they had the volume up a little too loud and I definitely preferred Fraggle's more uplifting, punky music selections then Wasp's, but not all of her underground metal bands were so bad. Some of it I even liked.

"Take it away, StraightJackit!" she crowed happily as her abrasive music kicked up and then she turned back to me, bouncing about slightly to the chugging guitar notes and motioning for me to throw the crystal once again. I threw it at towards her and she stuck her hand out again while still crashing her head about to her music. The inactive crystal flared to life and slowed as it had done time and time again, but this time kept moving forward until it was pressed up right against her palm and her fingers were able to close around it easily.

She blinked in surprise before grinning wildly. "I did it!!!"

"Hey, awesome!" I said while Fraggle turned to see.

"Ya did? Hey, maybe it's your music there eh, something of a motivational thingy."

Wasp's eyes widened. "You're right!" she turned to the record player. "StraightJackit Parade you are my muse!" she spun around a bit, a few strings of crystal energy crackling around her. "My foxy babe's got rabies, sounds like lunch to me, she's all teeth and leggy, I'm gonna eat your spleeeeeeeeeeen!!!"

"Yeah, that's inspirational stuff right there." I said and Fraggle laughed.

"Ah, you know, it's ain't such bad stuff, eh. Although I can only handle so much screamo."

"Same here; it's gotta be tasteful." Wasp agreed, holding the crystal out to me once again and I decided not to ask her what drew the line between tasteful screamo and the grating, regular kind. "Hey, maybe you should try now, Fal-Shade. In case it comes in handy, you know?"

"Try the whole crystal thing?" I clarified and she nodded enthusiastically. "I dunno, I don't think just anyone can do it."

"Well that's what she said too, but I dunno, I think you could if you tried. All you have to do is lock on to the energy." Wasp went on as if it were the simplest thing in the Atmos.

"I don't even know how to do that." I explained.

"Hmm..." Wasp said, seeming to be thinking about how she could explain it to me. "You know how the Oracle said she could see our auras?"

"Yeah..."

"Well that's kinda what I mean by energies. I can't see them, but I can feel them, and you probably could too if you tried." She said, taking my hands and holding them just over her cheeks carefully, releasing me. "Feel it?"

"...I don't know what in hell I'm feeling for here."

Fraggle snorted. "Stop feeling each other, eh." He said and I whipped my hands back. Wasp pulled at his ear playfully.

"No no no, we're not actually touching each other." She said and I felt my cheeks burn for some stupid reason. Then she held her palms a little ways from Fraggle's back. "See, I can feel Fraggle's energy; I always liked yours, it's all vibrant and cheerful."

"Really?" Fraggle looked down at himself as if he could see it. "You know what there, eh, it might be a female thing you know. Like sometimes I think Stork can do it too, eh. Like you girls, you know when something's up and whatever, you pick up on that stuff, eh. Starla was really good at it too."

"See, Cyclonis mentioned something about that too." Wasp said, moving her hands over his head and along his ears until he flinched back, snorting with laughter; his ears were sensitive. "But you know, the whole female intuition, mothering instinct thing... I dunno. Sure maybe girls are a bit better at it, but like you guys seem to have it too. Like a nurturing side I mean, something that cares. And you guys can pick up on stuff; Falshade always knows when someone's upset."

I scratched at the back of my head, face still hot. "I do?"

"Yeah, eh." Fraggle nodded, going along with Wasp. "Like that's what you do, eh, you and Varan, you're always trying to take care of us and stuff."

"I like it about you guys." Wasp went on conversationally, smiling. "That you're all so nice I mean, that you look out for each other."

I smiled now too, grabbing her around the shoulders. "Well, that's what friends do. You're the one who said it, that's what sets us apart from them."

"Well that and we're just awesome, eh." Fraggle added and I laughed. We passed through a layer of clouds and Fraggle perked up with interest. "Oh hey, terra dead ahead, eh. That's our stop, isn't it?"

I looked over at the map, checking our heading. "Yeah, that should be it. Remember, approach with caution."

Fraggle nodded and eased off the throttles a little, although even from here I got the feeling it wouldn't matter; that terra looked pretty deserted, more than likely another abandoned mining terra. I felt my good mood plummet and bit down on my tongue, squelching a depressed sound in my throat. Shit... this was the fourth terra on our list of coordinates, and if it was another bust... that left one terra, and if it was unoccupied too, then what? I said we'd keep looking, there wasn't anything else to do but keep looking, because I wasn't going to give up on Angel, ever. But without the coordinates we were back at square one, no leads, no where to begin looking, and we'd be wasting time. Angel's time. I felt a swell of panic in my stomach and tried to fight back the feeling of hopelessness that had become a constant occupant in my veins and limbs, waiting to reach up and strangle me when it was least appropriate.

Wasp stood next to me, sensing my distress with whatever sort of perception she had. She nuzzled against my shoulder like a cat, rubbing against me comfortingly. "There's still a lot of Atmos out there." She murmured. "We could still get lucky."

I nodded, ruffling her hair. "I know." I went over to the wall and pressed the intercom button to tell Varan and Stork we'd arrived at our destination. "Hey guys, we're almost at our terra, you wanna come up here for a bit and-" I cut myself of, darting from the wall and back to the windshield, looking out at the terra once again. "Fraggle, stop!"

The Merlin jerked to a halt so suddenly I was thrown up against the windshield slightly, banging my forehead. I ignored it and kept looking out towards the terra, only about half a kilometre away by now.

"What's up, Chief?" Fraggle asked uneasily.

I focused on the movement I'd seen on the terra's surface, trying to pick it out once again. Then the clouds shifted and a blade of sunlight speared down onto the terra, reflecting sharply off metal wings as they snapped open, a whole horde of Nightflyers taking off, heading straight for us.

"...It's an ambush." I breathed, heart hammering.

"Of course." Wasp said, sounding eerily calm. "Stork knew our coordinates; Cyclonis knew where we were headed next..."

I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. "Shit!" I seethed, backing away from the windshield. "Alright well fine then, they want a fight, they got one." I stepped back to the intercom. "The both of you get your gear on; they were expecting us." I instructed. "Wasp, go get your armour on; Fraggle, you go ape shit on those bastards, alright?"

"Right, eh." He said, gritting his teeth and tightening his grip on the controls. "I believe I've got a score to settle anyways..."

I clapped him on the shoulder and darted to my room, heart pounding in the back of my mouth as I clipped my armour on in record speed and dashed to the hanger.

Varan and Stork were waiting for us, looking weary but determined and I suddenly remembered that Varan was still healing after our last attack and Stork... well she seemed fine, but her energy still didn't seem up to its usual par. I felt nervous all of a sudden about letting them come with us, and it must have shown on my face.

"Don't you dare tell me to stay behind, unless you wanna end up singing in the sopranos." Stork growled, face set doggedly.

I sighed. "Alright, alright. But if you start feeling like you're in trouble you fall back and you can take the topside Blaster, alright?" I met her challenging stare. "Alright?"

"Fine." She relented after a moment.

"Varan's skimmer's all good to go?"

"Yup, she's ready to give some hell." Stork assured me, rubbing the handle bars affectionately.

"Right... Varan, same to you, I know you can look after yourself but you're still pretty roughed up. If it gets to be too much..."

"I'll come back and do what I can." He promised and I nodded gratefully; I knew he was a tough guy and all, but I was worried his injuries might compromise his movements and against these guys you really couldn't afford to be down on your game.

The bay doors rolled open and we started up our skimmers, watching the sky ahead of us become clotted with the swarm of Nightflyers, ready for the attack.
"You guys listen; if you can, catch one of them. Not one of the Berserkers but a human, bring them back here." I said, an idea crawling into my mind. I didn't like it much, but if it meant finding out where Angel was...

"What? Why?" Stork asked before taking in my meaningful look. "Shade, they're not going to trade him back for a foot soldier..."

"I wasn't planning on doing hostage negotiations." I told her, something cold creeping into my voice. "We're going to make them tell us where they've got Angel." I wasn't much one for torturing anybody, and I didn't know how cruel I'd be able to be, even to one of those guys. However I had faith that someone like oh, say, Wasp, would be a much more persuasive, especially if it concerned finding out where they'd taken Angel. God I'd hate to be any poor bastard she caught a hold of...

Thinking of Wasp struck me with inspiration just then and I leaned over to catch her by the arm as she was about to chase after Stork down the run way. "Wasp, can you help me with something?" I asked quietly.

"Sure."

"Listen, I've gotta keep an eye on Varan, in case it looks like he's getting into trouble out there. So can you just keep one eye on Stork for me? I know she says she's fine and I know she can handle herself, but..."

She looked at me, smiling grimly. "Of course."

"Thank you. And, you know, look after yourself." I added and she nodded.

"No worries."

"Okay." I blew out a sigh and leaned on my handle bars. "You go ahead and sick 'em."

Wasp cracked her psychotic, werewolf grin and took off with a shriek of laughter, machetes flashing wickedly in her hands. "SOUNDS LIKE LUNCH TO MEEEEEE!!!"

Yeah, now that seemed inspirational.

I took off, doing a quick scan to see where the others were before charging forwards to meet the first line of Nightflyers as they poured down on us like murder of crows, hurling bolts of red energy left right and center and attempting to overwhelm us, a whole plague of great, black locusts.

I met one head on, blocking his blade as it swung towards me and throwing an elbow into his face, stunning him long enough to meet him with a second blow to the face, this time with my boot. He keeled over the side of his Nightflyer, which started to plummet, losing altitude, and crashed into a second Nightflyer below. I felt a strange combination of calm and overwhelming fury rise up in me, a sort of controlled rage that let me keep my head this time, keep everything in perspective, and still absorb strength from the anguish and wrath that churned into liquid fuel in my guts. Everything that had happened coming back up on me and putting fire in my chest; I was ready to hack these guys to bits, so god damn sick of them springing on us whenever they pleased, hurting my friends and taking them from me, trying to ruin everything good in the world. I had a whole lot of anger to take out on these guys that had gone unrequited last time too and I was prepared to sink to the whole vengeance thing, teach them a serious lesson about messing with my god damn squadron.

I hurled a bolt of energy at a Nightflyer that was coming up to side-swipe Varan while he was distracted and then rolled to the side as someone tried to slice my arm off, coming in low to attack me. As my skimmer flipped under his I slashed upwards with Sliver and felt it bite through metal as it hacked both port side wings off. The Nightflyer plunged past me and I turned, about to charge into the midst of a group of about seven that were closing in on Wasp, when something roared overhead of me, so large and fast I was buffeted by the air current, my Ultra pitching right over itself in a summersault and I was nearly vaulted from my seat. I looked up to see the Merlin racing by overhead, Fraggle turning her to side so suddenly I heard the rudders screeching in protest, the broad side of her hull crunching into a horde of them. Skimmers exploded into hundreds of pieces and riders jumping ship to avoid being crushed, Fraggle hollering the whole time: "WOOOOOO, TAKE THAT YA BLOODY HOSERS!!!!"

"Okay, Fraggle, when I said go ape shit I meant keep in mind we're out here too." I told him over my intercom, watching soldiers and busted up skimmers alike plummeting down into the clouds below, smoke trailing acridly.

"Oh sorry eh, I almost get'cha?"

"Pretty damn close." I agreed. "Anyways, just keep an eye out for us, alright?"

"Gotcha." He said before ploughing into another group of them and I took off, looking for Varan in the mess of skimmers and bodies, in case he could use a hand.

"SHADE, LOOK OUT!!!" I heard him yell from above me a few moments later and looked up to see something flying through the air, pulsing and heading straight for a group of Nightflyers that were dead ahead of me.

Ah, shit.

I wrenched my handle bars upwards and threw my throttles into overdrive, tipping nearly vertical as I accelerated like mad, desperate to put some distance between me and that explosive before it went off.

The shockwave caught up to me a few seconds later, blasting me upwards and I had to go into a wild barrel roll to avoid colliding with the other Nightflyers that had been higher up, flipping and rolling between dozens of them as we all were rattled about by the force of the explosion. Shrapnel was propelled like rockets among us, spearing into engines and flesh alike; I felt something strike off the underside of my Ultra but it must not have penetrated the armour because my ride thankfully didn't start smoking or shuddering below me. I almost got my wings clipped off when I narrowly avoided one Nightflyer, metal screeching against metal and then I was free of the tangled mess of them, high above the battle field so I could watch all the little bits that remained of both Nightflyers and soldiers drop down like a rain of carnage into the Wastelands far below.

"Shit I'm sorry!" Varan said remorsefully, pulling up beside me. "I didn't see you down there until after I threw it."

"Well you're the second one of us today to almost kill me." I said, but I was grinning to let him know I was just teasing. "It's alright Var. You doing okay?"

"Side hurts like hell, but I'm fine, can still move alright and everything." He said, looking down at the mass of Nightflyers that were blocking out the sky below us. "Jesus, Shade, look at them all... why are there so many? You'd almost think they really wanna finish us for good this time."

Unfortunately that probably was the case.

"Numbers don't mean anything." I reminded him, although yeah, they did really help. "We'll get out of this. Just watch for us before you throw another one of those things; we don't need to lose anyone else."

He grimaced and I spied Stork and Wasp among the swarm of Nightflyers, fighting close to one another. Then I saw Halo making a beeline for them from off to the side and before I knew what I was doing I had my skimmer in a nosedive, picking up more and more speed as I dove down like a shooting star, keeping my steering locked onto his skimmer as I got closer and closer, wind screaming in my ears.

He was almost on top of Stork, halberd raised high to slice her when I crashed into him like a meteor, the front end of my Ultra pounding into his so hard I felt his Nightflyer crumple below me. Blood erupted up into my face as he howled, arms crushed under the mighty force of my skimmer slamming into his. The front end of my Ultra caved slightly under the impact and as I rolled free I saw a thin trail of smoke curling from my engine, but my meters were reading fine and my skimmer was still aloft so I hadn't received that much damage. I watched Halo and his skimmer drop down out of sight and couldn't help but smirk.

"You scared the shit out of me!" Stork snapped, smacking the back of my head as she flew by, slamming her axe into the grill of an oncoming Nightflyer, jerking it so violently that its rider was pitched over the handle bars and down into the open sky. "Don't just come out of nowhere like that!"

And here I was foolishly thinking she'd been scared that I might have gone plunging into the Wastelands.

"Right, next time I'll just let you handle him." I said sullenly, hurling another bolt of energy at some oncoming skimmers.

She was about to say something when that horrible, piercing voice exploded in our ears: "WELL LOOKIE WHO'S BACK!!!" Carrion screeched, pulling up close to us and raising her hammer as we wheeled about, alarmed by her sudden appearance. "Hmm, who shall I smush first, the Sky Knight or his little girlfriend?" she cackled in sadistic delight. "Eeny, meeny, miny-"

"MO!!!" Wasp howled, crashing into her Nightflyer from out of nowhere, throwing her impending strike to the side with one of her machetes and diving in with the other, aiming for Carrion's exposed ribs.

Carrion let out an enraged shriek. "WHY-WON'T-YOU-DIE?!?" she screamed at Wasp, coming back in with her hammer, which Wasp dodged. The wings of their skimmers were locked together and she leapt back from her seat onto her starboard wing, machetes crossed in from of her challengingly.

"Weird, I was going to ask you the same thing!" she said, sounding sincerely fascinated, and Carrion lunged at, sweeping out with her hammer in attempt to literally knock Wasp's legs out from under her. Wasp jumped over her swing and crashed into her, hands wound in her shirt, jaws lunging for her throat, snarling. Carrion flipped her over top of her and raised her hammer to bring it down on Wasp's head.

I rocketed over head, Sliver knocking her hammer's blow to the side and my boot coming out to catch Carrion in the neck, snapping her head to the side. She shrieked and lunged after me, forgetting about Wasp and attempting to make the jump to my skimmer. She had a hold of my wings when Wasp sprang forward and seized her, hauling her back, fangs sunk into her narrow shoulder. I rolled to the side, tearing my skimmer out of her grasp and circled back around. I had to get one of them to realize if they didn't unlock their skimmers they were very shortly going to start plunging into the Wastelands and since they were both bent on killing the other I figured I was going to have to knock Carrion from their locked wings, or dart in to catch Wasp quickly if I had to. I flung a bolt of energy at Carrion, who snarled and turned to me, raising her hammer and I only just avoid getting my wings torn off as she swung wildly at my skimmer.

Wasp, who was bleeding I only just realized, hauled herself up onto her wings and looked like she was about to throw herself at Carrion again when she froze, ears standing up from her head, and turned around, looking out at the rest of the battle. "...Angel?" I heard her call out incredulously.

"WASP, LOOK OUT!" Stork screamed at her, only just looking over from where she'd gutted another Nightflyer with her axe, but her cry came too late. Carrion thundered into Wasp, blasting her from her wings and the two of them went tumbling into the open air. Stork dove down after the two of them, flinging a throwing axe at Carrion and yanking it back when it stuck in her shoulder blade, hauling her off Wasp with a sickening wrenching sound as her axe pulled free of Carrion's plummeting form. Stork continued her dive to catch Wasp, oblivious to all else, and that's when I caught sight of Zodiac closing in on her from out of nowhere and I my vision went red.

I was speeding towards him, ready to crash into him and tear him to pieces. How was he still fucking alive??? He'd taken Angel away from us and now he was going after Stork once more and it set something off like an explosion in my chest. I was going to make him suffer, I was going to chop his god damn head off for tangling with my best friends.

I met him just as he was reaching out for Stork, thundering into him and slashing out with Sliver, catching his daggers and throwing them to the side, slamming a punch into his jaw with my free hand. I heard him snarl and then the claws on his other hand were coming at me and I twisted, blocking with Sliver and then turning my arm until my muscles sang with pain, reversing my block and attempting to slice into his exposed throat before he had time to catch my blade.

But then something blasted into the side of my skimmer so hard I was sent spinning to the side, my leg throbbing with pain, having almost been crushed with that blow. Shaking my head to get my senses back I looked up just in time to see a red blade coming down at me and got Sliver up to block it, my elbow bending back a bit with the force. I looked into the face of who was attacking me, prepared to deliver a good kick into their chest while I had their arm out of the way and then felt my entire body freeze, blood turning to ice in my veins.

His eyes were burning fiercely as he leered down at me. But they were the wrong eyes... those weren't his eyes, they weren't his pale grey in colour. They were a deep, bloody crimson, gruesome orbs leaping out at me from the wrong face.

But it was still his face.

"A...Angel?" I choked out, my body completely numb. What was wrong with his eyes?

His other sabre came out of nowhere, nearly diving right into my ribcage, and I only just managed to block it, so stunned I could barely function. He wasn't as hesitant though; he slashed out at me again with his other sabre, which I caught with the armour on my forearm, feeling it bite into my flesh and I shoved it back, yanking my skimmer away from him, wondering why in hell he was attacking me.

He chased after me, slashing at me again, honestly trying to hack me apart and that kicked my fighting instincts into play, even if the rest of me was still reeling in utter shock. I caught his sword and flung his arm out to the side, diving in with Sliver, aiming for his controls. He caught my attack with his other sabre and slammed his boot into my collar bone, sending me tumbling back, almost right off the other side of me skimmer. Swallowing down my pain I caught him by the wrist when he slashed down at me and shoved him back, standing on my skimmer and leaning into his face.

"Angel, it's me!!!" I shouted at him, shaking him. "Stop it!!!"

He gnashed his teeth at me as if he didn't even recognize me and slammed the hilt of his sabre into my jaw so hard it almost knocked it out of socket. I fell back to my skimmer, pain and shock disorientating me and I wasn't able to wrench my ride out of the way fast enough as one of his sabres plunged into my engine compartment.

"FALSHADE!!!" I heard someone cry out as my ride started to shake and dip to the side. Shit shit shit! I tried to pull up, looking for the Merlin, but it was way off on the other side of our aerial battlefield; I'd never make it that far.

Then my eyes fell on the terra, a lot closer then the Merlin, and I yanked my steering around, aiming for it, opening my throttles wide to get every last bit of speed from them as I could before my engine choked, sputtered twice and then died on me. I had enough momentum to coast along, getting closer to the terra, before my Ultra's nose started to dip and then my skimmer was picking up speed, decreasing steadily in altitude. I heard that horrible whining sound as my ride plummeted and tried to keep the front end of my skimmer up, leaning back hard on my controls.

I had just barely made it over the edge of the terra when my ride completely gave out on me and went into a nosedive, the ground rushing up to meet me. At the last second I managed to wrench my controls upwards once more, lifting the front end of my skimmer so that the underside and not the grill would take the brunt of the hit and then I crashed down hard onto the terra's surface, vaulted from my skimmer as it punched hard into the earth, metal squealing as it scraped along and crumpled, the entire thing tumbling over itself about four times before it slid to a halt, completely totalled.

I rolled over myself twice before similarly sliding to a stop, getting chewed up by the stone and landing in a crumpled heap about fifteen feet away from my wrecked Ultra. I groaned, pushing myself to my feet groggily as I heard Stork trying to reach me desperately from my radio.

I only made it a step towards my ride before I heard another skimmer touch down behind me and then was bowled over, someone tangled up with me as we tumbled over one another before being slammed down hard into the rock as I was pinned under my attacker.

I barely managed to get Sliver up in time to catch his sabres as they came down on me in an X, forcing my elbows back into the terra below me, muscles straining to hold him off as he snarled down on me, sun flashing off the strange headpiece he was wearing.

I struggled, heart jackhammering against my ribs painfully. "Angel!" I wheezed, wind knocked out of me. "Angel, snap out of it, it's me, it's Falshade!!! Don't you recognize me???"

He stared down at me, face like stone, eyes blazing as if I were the enemy, as if he hated me. But then something passed over him briefly and he snapped his gaze out to the battle that was still raging not very far away and he abruptly backed off me, sheathing his sabres in one fluid motion before grabbing me by the front of my shirt, hauling me up with an alarming strength and slamming me into a pillar of rock, pressing in close so the both of us were out of sight.

"Listen to me now and listen closely because we don't have a lot of time." He hissed, glancing over his shoulder at the battle again before leaning in close to me, staring right into my eyes seriously.

"Angel, what-"

He pulled me forward slightly and then slammed me up against the rock once more with an uncanny amount of strength for his thin arms. "Listen to me, Falshade!" he snapped. "Cyclonis is after Stork! She needs her and she'll stop at nothing to get her, do you understand?"

I didn't think I could feel anymore stunned then I already did, but his words hit me like a freighter. I felt panic sluice in my veins as I stared at him. "What? Why???"

"I'm not exactly sure... this crystal that's she's using to do all of this, she doesn't have complete control over it yet, and she believes Stork is the key to possessing it fully. Don't ask me how because I don't know, but that's why she's after her and she will kill all of you to get her!"

I swallowed, throat constricted. "So what are we going to-"

He snapped me a look and shook me. "You're in over your head now, Falshade! You can't win this war! My suggestion is you hide, you hide Stork somewhere and you pray to god she doesn't find you."

I jerked away from him, shaking my head, trying to fight back his words. "No! I can't just give up on this, can't just let her win!" I snapped at him, wanting to push him away. He ground his teeth so hard I heard something crack. Jesus since when had he been this tall? He was almost as tall as me now and his bones, his fine bird bones, seemed thicker somehow, his narrow, boy's shoulders wider, his jaw line harder, not quite as slight as it had always been.

I forgot all about what he'd been saying as I looked over him, taking in that helmet again and the way it shoved his bangs out of his face, revealing those awful scarlet eyes, gleaming away unfittingly in his face. "...My god, Angel, what have they done to you?" I whispered, trembling as I reached out to touch his cheek. He snapped at my hand like Wasp did when she didn't want to be touched and snarled at me.

"Don't, Falshade." He growled. "Just don't." He looked out over his shoulder again as another one of Varan's explosives went off, demolishing more Nightflyers. "Listen, I've got an explosive device rigged up in my skimmer. Halo's already fallen, they'll fall back if I go down too. In a minute I'll set it off and you guys get out here. Run, Falshade."

I shook my head, overwhelming desperation taking over me and I grabbed his shoulders, shaking him slightly as if I could wake him up, snap him out of it. "Come with us." I pleaded.

He looked at me, something flickering briefly in his blood red eyes before his face hardened. "...No."

"Yes!" I shouted at him. "Come on Angel, you're still one of us, you've told me all this and you recognize me, it's still you in there and we can save you, we can fix this if you just come with us!" My voice was breaking by the end and I shook him again, harder, trying to reach him desperately, begging to find some shred of my best friend, my brother, in this guise he was wearing now.

He stared at me for a few moments, looking confused, conflicted. Then he looked down at his boots as if he couldn't bear to meet my eyes anymore. "...I don't know who I am now, Falshade." He muttered and there was something in his voice, something that sounded so much like the old Angel, my Angel, that it made my heart seize. But then he looked up again abruptly, eyes blazing once more, face set in an expression of utter contempt. "But I know I am not your ANGEL ANYMORE!!!"

His fist connected so solidly with the bridge of my nose I cracked my head back against the stone, blood starting to flow almost immediately. My knees gave out and I crumpled down to the ground, feeling like my whole heart was being torn apart. He turned his back on me and started to stride back to his Nightflyer and I heaved myself to my feet again, anger and betrayal driving me and I was ready to grab him, shake him, beat the living shit out of him and physically drag him back to the Merlin, put all this right, and then beat him some more for being such an idiot, a selfish, callous, traitorous idiot. I dove after him, catching him by the shoulder, my other arm coming around to slam a punch of my own into his god damn nose and see how he liked it, that son of a bitch.

But his reflexes were faster then I remembered and before I even realized he'd done it he ripped one of his sabres out of its scabbard and sliced right into the underside of my arm, tearing through skin and muscles. I recoiled with a yelp, clutching my arm to stop the bleeding and he turned on me, slamming a furious kick right into my chest and sending me reeling backwards, losing my footing and falling back into the dirt. He stood over me, one boot pressed hard into my chest so I couldn't regain my lost breath and leaned down to look me right in the eyes. "Run, Falshade." He told me, his voice hollow and cold. "Run. Because if I see you again, I will kill you."

And then he was gone, back on his Nightflyer and leaving me there in the dirt to choke for breath and try to fight back the tears that welled up in my eyes, fury and heartbreak consuming me as I pounded a fist into the stone, hating him, hating what he'd become and hating him all the more for not letting us try to fix it.

And fuck does it ever hurt to hate the people you love most.

I wanted to puke, I wanted to break down and bawl, I wanted to chase after him and beat him to a pulp, I was so god damn angry, the bitter taste of his abandonment clogging in my throat, the look of hatred in his eyes and how easily he'd seemed to accept turning his back on me, on all of us. Everything was pounding hard at the base of my skull but I felt strangely calm too, blunted of all feeling, as I watched him steer his Nightflyer into the largest group of remaining Nightflyers and at the last moment leap off the back and plummet into the sky as if he'd accepted the idea of his own death while his skimmer exploded, the blast taking out all others within a twenty foot proximity, shrapnel spraying like buck shots.

And then far below I watched Zodiac catch him, hauling him back onto his Nightflyer and start shouting out to the others to fall back. And as if the two of us were still connected I felt his gaze burn into mine as he looked back towards me where I was still crumpled on the terra and I heard his words echo in my own voice inside my head, promising him the same thing:

If I have to...

If you make me...

I will kill you.

x.x.x Stork x.x.x

I wrenched one of my throwing axes back towards me and watched it slice through the neck of the poor bastard it had been hooked in, slowly tearing right through to the other side and I felt sick again. But then, I was getting better at this, I was more used to it; these guys were evil, sadistic sons of bitches who'd just as soon kill me and my friends as look at us. So what did I really owe them, right? It was more the gore if anything that was bothering me now.

Just then I heard another blast and whipped around, making sure none of my teammates were dropping down among the scattered pieces of skimmers. I'd lost track of them in all the pandemonium, getting separated from Wasp after I'd caught her and deposited her back on her Gremlin and I'd seen Falshade go down but I had no idea what had happened to him after that. And man forget about Varan, for a guy with a mohawk like that he sure didn't stick out much. I couldn't see any of my guys falling among all the others who'd been taken out by that explosion so I turned my focus back to my own well being and slammed my battle axe into the front of a Nightflyer that was racing past me, cutting almost clean through it like a hot knife in butter.

Around then I became aware of the call of 'fall back!' echoing between the enemies. I glanced back, watching groups of them hightailing it out of there, less than half remaining then there had been before. Oh ho, snap, score another fine victory for the Gargoyles. That'd teach them, those slimy sacks of-

Okay so, you know that phrase, don't count your chickens before they hatch?

It has an annoying amount of that thing called logic that I so hate.

I watched as, while her cohorts fled into the skies, Carrion made one last ditch attempt to try and do us in, flying in close to the Merlin as Fraggle continued to fire rounds like mad after the retreating Nightflyers. She dodged one of his blasts and swooped in next to the port side engine, something soccer-ball sized in hand that she jammed against the Merlin's hull before rolling free and gunning it.

Which pretty much let me know exactly what she'd just stuck to our ship.

"FRAGGLE GET TO THE TERRA!!!" I screamed into my radio and then did something incredibly stupid (what else is new) and threw my throttles wide, pushing my Hornet for all she was worth towards the Merlin, eyes locked on the bomb as it started to pulse, glowing increasingly brighter. Oh fuck that thing must have been packed to the ass full of god damn Leecher crystals, and with all the energy the engine was giving off it was only a matter of time before they absorbed their capacity and then-

I felt someone's arm wrap around my waist, almost pulling me right back off my skimmer and I turned to start hacking with my throwing axes at whoever's body that arm was attached too when I realized it was Varan's voice roaring in my ear.

"NO, STORK, NO! ARE YOU BLOODY STUPID???"

"VARAN, THAT THING IS GONNA-"

Well, I don't have to say it; let the bomb do the talking.

Varan and I both flinched as the roar of the explosion clashed against our ears. A huge shockwave of purple energy burst from the side of the Merlin and tore the engine to shit in its passing, setting off some of the crystals inside the turbine. Almost immediately the Merlin started to keel, the remaining engine struggling like mad to support the bulk of the wounded ship as she started to lose altitude faster than her remaining forward momentum could push her.

"FRAGGLE!!!" Varan and I shouted as the Merlin started to go down, picking up speed all the time. I suddenly remembered Stork telling me what had happened in the final battle of the Atmos, of the Condor plunging into the Wastelands and Stork attempting to go down with her like a good captain.

Varan and I started to gun it at the same time, chasing after the Merlin, the same thought apparently occurring in our heads at the same time; Fraggle wouldn't give up on the Merlin, not in a million years, not even if his life depended on it, and if he didn't make it to that terra he was going to end up buried in the ruins of his good ship on the floor of the Wastelands.

And he didn't have a sky ride to bail out on, even if he wanted to.

Looking at it like that, Varan and I might just have to pull a Piper to get that stubborn fuzzball out of there.

He did make it to the terra, barely and with way to much speed; and man if I thought watching Shade go down was rough, seeing the Merlin smash into that terra was just torture.

She had too much forward momentum still, and as objects in motion tend to stay in motion, she barrelled along the terra's surface, metal screeching and squealing against the stone. She ploughed through a few rock pillars and slid along on her side at one point for five teetering seconds and oh god I thought for sure she was going to roll onto her roof and that'd be the end of it, we'd never flip her back over after that. But Fraggle apparently had some brains in that blonde head of his after all and must have yanked the steering hard in the opposite direction, the rudders pushing against the earth and nearly being torn off, but managing to push the Merlin back onto her belly. She came to a crunching halt against a large rock formation, smoke billowing from her damaged engine.

I think I must have stopped breathing, because I almost passed out for a second there before I sucked in a lungful of air with a squeaking noise. Varan was hanging in the air just behind me, struck dumb, eyes stretched to frightening proportions.

"Oh god..." I croaked.

"St...Stork, go and get Shade." Varan instructed hoarsely. "I'll... I'll go check on Fraggle."

I nodded and tried to get over my shock enough to steer towards the terra, trying to block the scar that the Merlin had scored into the surface from my vision. Shaking I dropped into a bit of a messy landing and spotted Falshade's Ultra, totalled, a little ways away. Falshade was sitting on one of the bent wings, fingers tangled in his hair, staring at a fixed point with a brutal expression on his face. I shut off my engine and strode over, feeling slightly hesitant in light of that look.

"...Falshade?" I called out carefully and he looked over at me slowly.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly and I nodded, moving over next to him and running a hand over his crumpled runner board.

"I'm fine... jeez your poor Ultra... what's wrong? You look seriously-oh my god!" I cut myself off, voice going high when I noticed the blood that was staining his shirt. "What are you doing just sitting here like an idiot???" I demanded, hitting him in the shoulder for being such a dumb-ass and taking his arm carefully, turning it over with a hiss. "Oooh, Shade... jeez, are you trying to bleed to death?" I asked, tearing a strip from his ripped sleeve and knotting it messily on the largest part of the gash. He watched me without much interest and I could practically feel vibes of fury and hurt radiating from him. I tried to give him a look but he was avoiding my gaze.

"Come on, let's get to the Merlin... or what's left of her, anyways." I said, tugging at his arm until he slid off his wing and trailed after me sullenly.

God it literally hurt to see the Merlin like that, as if it were one of my own friends that was beaten up like that, crumpled there like a dead bird, wings tangled and broken. "You poor baby." I murmured, touching her damaged hull gently as we made our way around to the runway, avoiding chunks of metal that had been torn free during her landing. Bile rose in my throat when I took in her butchered engine, the gouges that had been scraped into her hull.

We entered the hanger to find a nasty scene unfolding; among the ground zero that had once been my at least moderately organized tools and parts stood Varan, trying to keep a desperate hold on Wasp, who was struggling against his burly arms like mad, spitting and snarling like some feral beast, shrieking incoherently and frothing at the mouth.
"LET ME GO!!! LET ME GO!!!" she was howling, actually trying to bite Varan through his scales.

"Wasp, stop it, that hurts!!!"

"LET ME GO!!!" she screeched again and then caught sight of Falshade. "WHY DIDN'T YOU GET HIM???" she screamed at him. "WHY DID YOU LET HIM GO???"

I had no idea what the hell she was freaking out about, but I didn't like the way she was attacking Falshade. I stepped in front of him protectively and tried to keep my head in all of this madness. "Wasp, calm down, please! What's wrong with you?" I demanded and she just ogled at me, eyes stretched wide.

"LET GO OF ME!!!" She snapped at Varan, pushing against him with her feet and fighting against his grasp ferociously.

"WASP KNOCK IT OFF OR I'M GOING TO HIT YOU AROUND THE HEAD SO HARD YOU'LL WAKE UP IN A HOSPITAL!!!" Varan roared and that got to her. She froze and went limp so suddenly he dropped her by accident.

"No hospital..." she whimpered and Varan sighed.

"Look, come here, you're bleeding." He muttered, heaving her up again and she held still obediently, aside from the shaking of her limbs, as he checked out the wound at the contour of her neck and shoulder. "Jeez are you ever lucky you were wearing this." Varan muttered, tapping her metal throat guard pointedly. "Or that could have been your jugular."

I moved closer to take a look hesitantly and pulled a face at the wide bite mark that was oozing blood over Wasp's collar bone. "Oh god, Wasp."

"Don't move." Varan instructed, looking queasy all of a sudden and picked something out of Wasp's shoulder with his claws; one of Carrion's sharpened, off-coloured teeth.

"Ewww." I groaned as Wasp took the tooth from Varan and examined it passively.

"I told you." She said, dropping it to the floor. "Breakable." Her boot came down on it hard and it crunched loudly, turning to powder under the heel of her boot.

"...Come on, let's check out the bridge." Varan muttered, turning from her and the rest of us followed after him in a morose silence.

The bridge was a disaster, chairs, books and navigational devices thrown everywhere, the record player a sparking, shattered mess on the floor where it had tumbled from its shelf. The windshield was cracked in several places and staring through it blankly at the wall of rock we'd come to a halt against was Fraggle, hands still wrapped in a death grip around the controls.

"...Fraggle?" Varan called out carefully. "Are you okay?"

"...I'm gonna kill 'em." Fraggle wheezed, a hard edge in his voice that I had never heard there before. "I'm gonna kill every single one of those battery-powered HOSERS!!! NOBODY MESSES WITH MY GOD DAMN SHIP, EH!!!" he exploded, releasing the controls so he could clench his fists tight. "GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING SONS OF A DIRTY-YEOW!" he cut himself off with a yelp, clutching his side. "Owwww, serious pain, eh. I'm going down." He fell to his knees with a groan and Varan darted over next to him.

"Take it easy." He told him, prodding his ribcage carefully. When he brushed over one spot in particular Fraggle flinched and whimpered to himself. "Shit, I think you've got yourself some broke some ribs there, buddy." Varan muttered and I winced in sympathy; he must have been thrown against the steering hard during impact, punching the controls right into his ribcage.

"I don't care." Fraggle growled, getting to his feet shakily. "I'm gonna kill them, ribs or no- ow-ha-howwww, oh fuck that hurts!"

"Go lie on the couch and don't move around so much. Nobody's going off to kill anyone just yet.... Falshade are you bleeding again???" Varan demanded, only just having noticed. "Jesus, would it kill you to say something???" he righted one of the chairs and jabbed a finger at it. "Sit."

Falshade stayed where he was, something strange and deadly glinting in his usual peaceful violet eyes. "...You might as well tell me now, Wasp." He said abruptly, his voice a dead-pan. "It doesn't really matter anymore; not like he's keeping it much of a secret."

Wasp was huddled on the floor, knees drawn tight to her chest. She looked up at him slowly, something torn in her expression. "... So then why-"

"I just want to hear you say it." Falshade said hollowly. "I just want to know for certain."

Wasp swallowed and looked like she might cry, no longer as fierce as she had been down in the hanger fighting against Varan. She met Falshade's cold stare and closed her eyes, breathing out a long sigh. "...His father was the Dark Ace."

Silence swept over the five of us as Varan, Fraggle and I looked from her to Falshade, confused and frightened. "...What... what the hell are you guys talking about?" I asked hesitantly after several moments of foreboding silence stretched past.

Falshade let out a humourless bark of laughter. "So that's why she picked him. Out of all of us, that's why she wanted him."

"But now do you see?" Wasp demanded desperately, springing to her feet. "Do you see why he never wanted to tell you? I never thought it'd be such a big deal to you, but he thought-"

"Yeah, well, you know what? You're right, I might not have thought it was a big deal, might not have... but then he had to go and... and..." Falshade trailed off and dug his fingers into his scalp, biting down on several swear words all at once, turning to kick one of the chairs.

"...Are you talking about Angel?" I asked slowly, feeling so nervous and stressed out it was making me feel sick.

"Yeah, Stork, we are." Falshade said sharply and I took a step back, stunned by this nasty side to him I'd never seen before.

"So, what, he was out there? Just now, he was there?" I demanded, looking from him to Wasp and back again, desperate for some freakin' answers. Ever so slowly Wasp nodded.

I gawked at Falshade. "Well why didn't you get him??? Falshade why did you just let him-"

"He didn't want to come."

"...What?" I said, completely out of my mind now. "He didn't want to come??? Why the fuck not, why didn't you-"

"BECAUSE HE'S NOT ANGEL ANYMORE, STORK!!!" Falshade exploded so violently I actually flinched. "HE'S NOT ANGEL, OKAY??? Fuck, you think I just wanted to let him go??? I tried to get him to come back and he didn't want to! And then I was gonna drag him back and look the fuck what he thought of that idea!!!" he lifted his arm to display the blood-soaked strip of his sleeve that I'd tied over the gash.

I felt like my whole world was crashing down around me. "W-what do you mean he's not... what... what are you talking about?"

"They've put one of those crystals in him." Wasp said then, her voice small and vacant. "She's brainwashed him."

"Apparently wasn't that difficult." Falshade muttered and Wasp snapped him a look.

"And what is that supposed to mean, Falshade?" She demanded. "You think he just wanted to become like that? Listen to me, that crystal has taken over his mind, the part of him that's Angel, it's trapped in there somewhere! It's not him, Falshade, he'd never do that to us on purpose!"

Falshade's face was still livid but his eyes were agonized. "...Angel or not, whatever they've done to him, the thing is, he's on their side now, she using him against us. So what am I supposed to do, just let him kill us? He will, Wasp, he said he would!"

"But he didn't! Falshade he didn't, he's still in there!"

"Yeah, and if she doesn't kill him today for leaving me there then she's going to make him worse, he won't recognize us the next time!"

"So what are you saying, we're supposed to just kill him like he's one of them?" Wasp snapped. "You're just going to turn your back on your best friend???"

"Here's a question, Wasp; if it were anyone but Angel would you have such a problem with that?" Falshade snapped right back and I gaped at him.

"Falshade!" Varan hissed as Wasp simply stared at him, something like disgust in her eyes now, titling her chin formidably.

"Yeah, I would. So let me ask you; why all of a sudden is it so easy for you to just forsake him?" she countered and I clutched my head, wishing I could block this all out, wake up from a bad dream and make it all go away.

"BECAUSE HE ABANDONED US!!!" Falshade shouted, fury mixed with heartbreak in his voice. "You think I like the idea of fighting him? You think I like it at all, having this idea in my head that he's out there trying to kill us and to defend myself and the rest of you I might just have to try and kill him??? Don't you start throwing that bullshit at me!!! Don't you fucking blame me if I have to defend myself, because he made the first move, not me!!! I don't know what they did to him, but you know what? I really do believe that whatever it was that made him like this, he didn't want it to happen; I know he'd never intentionally turn on us, I know that, okay??? But the point is it happened, he's on their side now, under Cyclonis' thumb, and you know what he told me? Cyclonis is after Stork, she'll stop at nothing to get her, and using Angel against us is one of the ways she'll do it, because how the fuck are we supposed to react towards that? So we gotta pull our heads out of the fucking sand and realize, Angel or not, he'll kill any of us to get Stork. And I'm not going to let that happen!"

I felt like my chest had imploded in one swift motion, all my insides dropping right out and leaving me with a hollow, brittle body under a head that was reeling and spinning and was way too heavy. "Wh...what? Cyclonis... she... why?" I choked out and Falshade looked at me, his face crestfallen.

"Whatever this crystal is that they're using... Cyclonis doesn't have full control over it yet. And she thinks you're what she needs in order to achieve it."

I pressed my fingers into my temples until my head started to hurt, sinking slowly to my knees on the floor. "...But...that doesn't make sense... I..."

"She doesn't have full control over it yet???" Fraggle demanded suddenly from his place on the couch. "You've gotta be shitting me, eh... I mean look at what they can already do with it... if that's not even its full power, eh..."

"Exactly." Falshade muttered. "What will she be able to do once she does have full control? We can't let her obtain that, and there's no way I'm letting her have Stork, or any of you for that matter. About time I did my job properly."

"Don't make me into a Damsel in Distress, Shade." I spat coldly, my voice finding words on its own. "I can fucking look after myself thank you very much!"

"Okay, this has to stop, now!" Varan said sharply as Falshade rounded on me. "Would you guys fucking listen to yourselves? This is exactly what the Prophecy was warning us about! The Oracle said our bonds were going to be tested and we're just going to lie down and give them up for this bullshit? Angel even asked, what's big enough to tear us apart? I don't think it's this, this is just pathetic!"

"Bit ironic that it was Angel who asked that." Falshade seethed and Varan fixed him with the coldest expression I'd ever seen on his usually placid face.

"Yes, Falshade, because Angel knew exactly what was going to happen ahead of time." He said sarcastically. "Listen, you're right, Cyclonis is using Angel against us because how in hell are we supposed to fight back against our own friend? But we can't just let her win like that, and if you abandon him for us and try to kill him you're abandoning yourself too, Shade, you won't be you anymore and then we're as good as lost. There's a reason all of us are here and we can't give up on each other, or ourselves, because if we do then we might as well just hand the Atmos over to her! The Oracle told us our bonds are going to be one of the most important things in all of this and we can't just forget about them. Look I know you don't want anything to happen to us, and I don't either. But if we let this happen, turn against each other like the Prophecy said then the rest of it is going to come true as well. We never wanted to kill anyone before... even when they wanted to kill us. So I mean yeah, the rest of them are fair game now, even I'll admit that, but... Wasp is right, Angel's still in there somewhere and if we just give up on him we're giving up on ourselves too. You'll never be able to live with yourself, Shade, if you hurt him. So just... please stop shouting at each other, because we're all we've fucking got."

Falshade looked at him for a long time before his defensive front of anger just seemed to snap and all his hurt flooded to the surface, betrayal and fear and hopelessness overwhelming him and he dropped to the floor like I had, drawing his knees into his chest tight and pushing his face into his kneecaps as if to hide from all of us.

"...I'm sorry." He said brokenly, his voice small and far away. "I'm sorry you guys... I just don't know what to do anymore."

I crawled over next to him and bumped him with my head gently. "Shade, when have we ever known what to do?" I pointed out softly. "Listen, I know you're Sky Knight and everything, but that doesn't mean you have to handle everything on your own. Fuck, you never had a problem with letting us help before, so why start now? We're all in this together, you know."

Falshade sighed. "I know."

"I'm sorry I shouted at you." Wasp added dolefully, moving over as well and crouching on his other side, pushing her nose into his hair. "You scared me though; that didn't sound like you. We can't lose you. But I know... I know what he did must of hurt. I know what it feels like to have someone turn on you. So I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry I shouted at you too. And said what I did, that was a bitch move, I'm sorry." Falshade muttered mournfully.

"It's okay." Wasp assured him, stroking his hair. "For the record, I'm not just defending him because it's him. Varan's right, if we lose sight of each other, we lose sight of ourselves, and we can't afford to let you do that, Shade. We need you."

"I know... I'm sorry, I just... anyways no, you defend him; I need to keep all of that in mind." Falshade snorted messily. "And Stork, I'm sorry I blew up on you back there..."

I shrugged; I mean god, how many times had I blown up on him, right? "Look, it's fine, it's been a rough day."

"See this is all I wanted." Varan said quietly, sounding considerably relieved. "Now look, the two of you are still bleeding and poor Fraggle's sitting over here with broken ribs, so now that we've got all our nastiness out, can I do my job and look after you guys?"

Falshade sighed and got up stiffly, wiping at his face and sitting in the chair Varan had stood up for him finally; Wasp pulled herself onto the table, knees tucked into her chest. Falshade looked at me worriedly as Varan inspected his arm carefully. "Are you okay, Stork?"

"Hmm? Yeah, sure, whatever. There was a serious amount of mechanical abuse today, but I can get over that..."

"You know that's not what I meant."

Oh right, he was only referring to the whole Cyclonis out for my blood so she could gain complete control over a crystal that had the potential to bring the entire Atmos to its knees thing. You know, that little thing.

"I dunno... I'm still in a state of mind fuckery about that. When I figure it all out I'll let you know."

Falshade sighed. "They're going to come back for us... fuck we're sitting ducks out here, stranded like this."

"...You guys could take Stork and get outta here, eh." Fraggle said suddenly, sitting up and wincing. "Owww... Like, I dunno, go and get a hold of the rest of the Legion and tell them what's the haps and figure something out."

"What about you?" Falshade asked as if he were seriously considering the idea and I felt outraged and appalled. What, did I not get a say in this or something???

"I'll stay here, eh. No way I'm leaving the Merly behind; captain goes down with his ship, eh."

"Then I'm staying too." Wasp declared. "I'll be your body guard, Fraggle."

"Heh, we'd make a good team eh, Fuzzbucket and the Psycho."

Wasp giggled but I was putting an end to this crap right now. "No! We are not splitting up! That is Gargoyles rule number fucking one, nobody gets left behind, damnit!!! Jesus, we just had a big pow-wow about not breaking apart emotionally and now you guys are seriously considering doing it physically??? That is some serious bullshit, man! And once again, Damsel in Distress is NOT a role I am going to play! Fuck all this Cyclonis-is-after-me shit, I can look after myself you know, I'm not completely incompetent, and I'm not leaving any of you guys behind to die on my god damn account! I'll fix the Merlin, everything will be fine, so smarten up or I'm going to start beating people's skulls in with my ratchet set!"

I crossed my arms, putting on my best don't-you-mess-with-me-right-now-unless-you-wanna-have-your-face-torn-off look and stamped my foot finally. The others stared at me for a few seconds before Fraggle piped up "Did you honestly, in all seriousness, use the term 'pow-wow' just there, eh?"

In another fine example of Fraggle's mastery of comedic relief, we all burst out laughing because fuck, with all the other shit going on that so wasn't worth laughing about, we really fucking needed it.

---

I didn't like how comfortable I was becoming with the whole sneaking into Shade's room in the middle of the night thing by now, but yet here I was, standing outside his door once again. It was late I knew, but I just hadn't been able to sleep, ripped up inside over everything. I didn't even know where to begin thinking about all this Cyclonis stuff; it's like my mind wouldn't let me, because if I did, if I really grasped the reality of the situation, I was going to fall down and break apart inside, just lose it. And then there was this whole Angel thing... I hadn't seen him out there, so maybe that's what was making it so hard to believe that suddenly... suddenly he was on their side. I mean the guy was a vicious, snide, annoying asshole but... but he was our friend, he was a Sky Knight, he... deep down I knew he cared about us a lot, I'd seen it in his eyes on those few rare occasions. He loved us and we loved him and now... fuck the thought that he'd betrayed us, just turned his back on us, that hurt man, it really fucking hurt. I had to believe Wasp was right; Cyclonis had done something to his head, they crystal had him possessed, whatever he was right now, that wasn't our Angel. But still it just... how were we supposed to fight back against something like that?

I wanted to be with Shade because of all of that, because I was messed up and freaked out about the news he'd given us and because that look on his face just kept haunting me, the agony in his eyes at having his best friend turn on him, and having to face the notion that he might just have to...

I shook my head, blinking like mad to stop any would-be tears and knocked on his door softly.

"It's open." I heard him say and I stepped into his room.

He looked mildly surprised. "Hey, is everything alright?"

"That question's getting hard to answer lately." I said, sitting next to him.

"Hmm... hey, look... I really am sorry for snapping on you like that and being an asshole about everything earlier. And I know you can look after yourself, I didn't mean to be condescending."

I smiled; see that, that right there, is why I love that boy. "It's alright, you freaked out, that's all. Even the mighty Falshade freaks out sometimes you know."

"Apparently." He said, giving me a half-hearted shove. "So, seriously though... I mean not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but you don't usually just drop by and visit at one in the morning. You sure you're okay? It's gotta be really weird to be you right now."

"Well..." I sighed and fiddled with a hole in my jeans distractedly. "No, I don't think I'm okay. Like shit, that whole Cyclonis thing, that's freaky as all get out. I don't like it at all... I don't like that I'm suddenly what's going to decide if she gets control of the Atmos or not."

I mean yeah, you know, I'm an arrogant little bugger and everything, I make a big deal out of me, but I hated that I was suddenly the centre of attention because of something like this, you know? It was a huge fucking deal, and it was making me paranoid slightly too; I kept thinking I could hear noises down in the hanger, as if some crack ninja assassin was coming to abduct me or something (which I'll admit is a part of the reason I came up here in the first place. Like yeah, I can look after myself, but that didn't mean I didn't get scared or anything). I still couldn't really digest everything properly, the idea that Cyclonis had first been inside me and desperate to get out and now she wanted me back? It was seriously messing up my mind, trying to absorb all of this. I felt lost, I was scared, I felt brittle inside like anything might just suddenly trigger a break down, like there was a whole wall of stress waiting to collapse in on me like a tidal wave, drowning me. And I didn't know what we were going to do, about this or about Angel, or whoever he was now. It just fucking sucked, man, to be terribly blunt; it was one big suck-fest.

Falshade made a sympathetic noise and wrapped his good arm around my shoulders, the other in a sling against his chest to let it heal without bothering the stitches Varan had neatly sewn into his skin. "Yeah, it just... it's fucking insane, isn't it?"

"You can say that again. I just... shit Shade, I don't know what I'm going to do. All it takes is one slip up and bam, I'm the reason the whole Atmos is under Cyclonian reign. And as if I didn't fuck up enough by bringing Master Cyclonis back from the fucking dead in the first place..." I seethed, feeling shaky and teary inside.

"Stork, you're being stupid. You had no control whatsoever over Cyclonis being inside you like she was, you didn't know, nobody did. Like who'd have thought of that sort of thing anyways? And they're not going to get a hold of you. We're not going to let them, okay?" Falshade assured me comfortingly.

I nodded, rubbing at my nose. "Yeah... it's just hard to keep telling myself that constantly."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." He agreed, rubbing my shoulder.

"Look, I was talking to Varan earlier and he thought I should mention it to you, just so we're all on the same page... I... this is kinda dumb of me and everything, but... I dunno, I get the feeling that Aerrow's in me too. I've got his eyes, you know, and I mean come on, they didn't find his body either, what are the odds that somehow he ended up in me too? Maybe I'm the link to how the Storm Hawks are connected to this. I still don't know what that means if they are, but..."

Falshade seemed to consider this. "Well... I dunno, it was hard enough believing the Cyclonis thing, but thinking all this time there's been three of you cooped up in here?" He poked my ribs playfully. "I dunno Stork... like I'm not saying I don't believe you, it's just..."

"Hard to swallow." I nodded, understanding. "Yeah... hey, you wanna know why I ended up getting stuck with my dumb real name in the first place?"

"Sure."

"They found me in the Scar as a baby. In the ashes. That's why they named me Feonix."

Falshade's eyes widened and he looked distracted suddenly. "...In the ashes..." he muttered slowly, clutching his head.

"What?"

"Well... I told you I saw what I thought was a baby in some ashes in my dreams once, right? Well say that symbolizes you... and then now you might be what Cyclonis needs to fully utilize this crystal? Like that's a lot of stuff that adds up, if you think about it, connections everywhere... huh, maybe you really are the link, the missing piece."

"Yeah but... it still doesn't get us any closer to what it all means, which is sort of the important thing." I pointed out. "Like say if Wasp was right, the monster that ate my head being the manifestation of the evil, or maybe like, Cyclonis herself, why would she destroy me if she needs me? What's that mean?"

"Hmm... I dunno." He ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh. "It's too late to be thinking of this kinda shit... but you know, thanks for telling me, cause you're right, this way we're on the same page."

"No problem." I leaned against him. "Sigh. So, what about you then, are you okay? Like you really didn't look good earlier."

He wrinkled his nose, mouth cinching. "Yeah, well... it's just... man I feel like an idiot for yelling at Wasp like that; she's right, I know, Angel's my best friend, I can't just give up on him... but at the same time, he doesn't see it that way, he told me... he told me next time we see each other he'll kill me, Stork. So I just... I dunno what to do. I need to protect you guys, and if it really comes down to it..."

I felt my heart seize and pushed my face into his shoulder. "He said that?" I whispered and Falshade sniffled.

"Yeah... but I mean... shit I dunno. If this is all because of that crystal, we can still change it... I just don't know if I can focus too much on that when he's attacking us. My priority is you guys, the ones who are still on my side, and whether he wants to be or not, he's not on our side anymore... like if it were just me, yeah, I could focus on getting him back. But it's not, it's all of us out there, and shit happens..." he sighed. "Fuck, I don't know anymore. I just feel wrecked about everything. It's fucking... I wanted to stop all of this before it happened, you know? That's what I set out to do and I've fucking failed, because it's happening anyways, and what's worse is you guys are paying for it. That's what kills me."

I really couldn't bear to hear the heartbreak and misery in his usually so optimistic voice. God I felt bad for him; Angel was his best friend, his brother Sky Knight and now he was warped into this... thing that just wasn't him anymore, whether he'd wanted to be (which I really didn't believe; not even Angel would sink that low) or not. Falshade felt betrayed by one of his closest friends and worse, said friend had also promised to kill him. I mean yeah I'd thrown some nasty things (literally and figuratively) at him over the years, but that was the worst of the worst. And that aside he was just as clueless about everything as always, no idea what to do as the walls of his nightmares were tightening around us all, and he was beating himself up for it bad, which I didn't think was fair. I mean, hell, what did any of us know about what was going on, right? Why did he have to take all the blame?

I blame the next sequence of events on the fact that I just felt so god damn bad for him and I wasn't half as good at cheery, motivational speeches as Varan.

Without even realizing what I was doing I lifted my face from his shoulder and leaned towards him to press my lips right up against his.

I felt his entire body stiffen with utter shock for a few seconds before he hesitantly moved in towards me, hand brushing my neck uncertainly and his warm mouth moulding firmly around mine. I think it took us about half a minute of being stuck in this awkward 'are we gonna take this further or not?' state of limbo before we both seemed to snap out of it and tore away from each other, staring at each other with wide eyes.

"Whoa..." Shade muttered, glancing away from me as I felt my face heat up like crazy. "Did we just..."

"I'd like to take the last minute of my life back, please." I said, voice embarrassingly squeaky.

"You just-"

"Don't say it!!!" I interrupted, throwing up my hand. Maybe if we pretended it didn't happen, we could just go on our merry little way, la di da di da...

A goofy grin crawled over Falshade's face suddenly and my cheeks somehow got even hotter. "You just-" he started to say in this really sing-songy voice but I threw up my hand again to stop him.

"No! No no no, no Shade, it didn't happen, you're mistaken! Don't say it!"

"Yes it di-id, you totally just ki-"

I put my hand over his mouth desperately. "Stop it! Look maybe if you don't say it, it will magically be forgotten about and we'll never speak of this evil again!"

He gave me a look, eyebrow cocked, and we stared at each for about five seconds before we simultaneously burst out laughing. Oh fuck, I mean come on, me and Shade??? Nooooooooo way, man. Like yeah, Falshade's an amazing guy, he's charming and funny, thoughtful and sensitive and just generally fun to be around, and, I'll be honest, he's pretty good looking too. Like I won't lie, I make it a point never to tell them this but I thought all my guy friends were good looking; I mean hey, I'm a girl, I know a good looking guy when I see one. Fraggle was just adorable, in that sweet, non-threatening way girls like while still pulling off a bit of a punky look, Varan was tall and strong and pretty damn handsome, mohawk and all, and the fact that he was just such a sweetheart really closed the deal (Roo knew a great catch when she met one). And I mean even Angel was pretty sexy, although you totally didn't hear that from me, what with his angular features, alluring eyes and tan skin. You know, when he wasn't being an asshole (or being turned into the enemy). And then Falshade was just roguishly handsome, what with his messy hair, bright, expressive violet eyes and that boyish smile of his. I'd seen more than a few girls watch him walk by on terra streets and it made me sort of proud, in this younger sister-ish way. It was like a 'yeah, those are my fine looking boys you're drooling over', sort of thing.

All that aside though, Falshade was my best friend, kinda like the perfect older brother to me. I'd always seen him like that; I mean we had our spats but he was always there for me and we could still be all rough and tumble with one another but really caring with each too. I felt safe and happy when I was around Shade, and I'd never really looked for anything more than that from him.

Although if you were to ask me 'well, why not?' I wouldn't have a good answer to give you for the life of me.

The two of us finally stopped laughing and I leaned against him again. "Oh man, we're so retarded."

"You're only just realizing that now?" He asked, pretending to be shocked.

I hit him playfully and said. "Look, just so nobody's getting the wrong idea here, I did that to try and cheer you up. Don't ask me why I thought that would work, I had like, a momentary lapse in sanity."

"Ah." He said with a brief nod. "Gotcha." Then he glanced at me seriously. "Although... it worked, you know."

I blinked at him. Whoa... what did he mean by that? "Hey, Shade, look, you're a great guy and all, but-"

He laughed and held up a hand to stop me this time. "Don't worry about it, I'm not getting any ideas. You're my best friend, Stork, and I don't think I'd want to trade that for anything."

I smiled, butting him with my forehead. "See, this is why you're brilliant."

"I do what I can."

"Ahem?"

"Yeah, yeah, you're brilliant too." He said, giving me a nougie.

Ah, you can never hear that enough.

I cleared my throat, glancing at his alarm clock. "Hey... I hate to seem like a baby here, but is it cool if I stay up here again? I know it's dumb, but I'm getting spooked down in the hanger." Yeah I know, the whole Damsel in Distress speech was suffering because of this but seriously, if I can be tough and look after myself in battle, is it such a crime to have a moment of weakness and need for company in the middle of the night when you think there's someone (and there really was someone in the big picture of my reality) out to get you in the dark?

If you said yes, you're a filthy liar.

Falshade's face softened. "Yeah, sure you can. Although I thought you said my room smells."

"Well, it does, but I'm getting used to it." I informed him, feeling rather exhausted all of a sudden. I felt a sense of security around Shade and it allowed me to feel tired, because suddenly I wasn't so afraid to fall asleep. He must have felt the same way, or was just plain wiped out anyways, because he got up to shut off his light before flopping down onto his bed next to me with a low groan.

"Here." He passed me his pillow 'cause he's so gentlemanly and whatever, and because when not being plagued by nightmares that kid can sleep anywhere, pillow or no pillow.

"Thanks." I snuggled in under his blankets. Hey, you know what, his room didn't really smell so bad after all. It was kinda comforting actually, as weird and probably gross as that is. "Just to warn you though, if you start snoring I'm gonna kick you until you stop."

He laughed softly. "Yeah, right back at you."

"I don't snore!" I said, affronted.

"Well we'll just see about that, won't we?" he teased and then yawned, shifting next to me. "Anyways, good night Stork."

"'Night, Shade."

x.x.x Dark Angel x.x.x

He felt his feet leave the ground, his body being lifted as if there were some sort of hook caught up in his rib cage, constricting his chest cavity and making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Her eyes seemed to bore right into his skull as she glared at him, watching him struggle for breath like a dying fish on a hook. "I was certain I made it clear how very important the task was that I gave you." She said, her voice deadly calm with an edge of steel. "And I was also quite certain I made the punishment clear if you should fail."

He had to fight to suck enough air into his lungs to get the words out. "Forgive me, Master, my sky ride-"

"Do not lie to me!!!" she snarled, something deeper and unearthly echoing her words. "You set an explosive device in your skimmer! Do not take me for a fool, because it will be the last mistake you ever make!!!"

He felt some external force seize him and throw him back hard into the stone wall and then abruptly release him, letting him fall to the floor in a heap. He barely regained his breath when the pain tore into his head, setting his nerve endings on fire, gouging in like a drill to the very center of his brain. He clutched his temples, jaws locked so he couldn't even cry out if he tried.

"According to Zodiac your appearance had the desired effect on Ravenscroft." Cyclonis said, approaching his quivering form. Every syllable she spoke reverberated in his pounding head, shattering his mind, each coming louder than the next, a terrible wave of agony. "You are lucky that was the case; it means you still have use to me. Otherwise you would consider it relief when I finally handed you over to him and Carrion."

"I-I'm s-sorry..." he choked out, clawing at his head. Oh god please just stop...

She didn't appear to hear him. "The fact that you did indeed attack Ravenscroft tells me you still may prove useful yet... however you seem conflicted on where your loyalties lie. It would seem the crystal has taken a proper hold on you. Impressive, in a pathetic way, that your ties to the others haven't been completely been severed. I suppose we'll have to do something about that..."

The pain started to fade at an excruciatingly slow pace and he gasped at his place on the floor, trying not to be sick. "T-Thank you..."

"Oh I'm not finished with you yet. I have to insure there will be no further failures from you. Besides, I've been meaning to test this experiment for awhile, and you seem like a worthy candidate."

He felt himself lift from the floor again and he tried to get his feet under him as she strode down the hall, tugging him along by some invisible leash. She stalked smoothly through the dimly lit corridors, trailing deeper and deeper down into the heart of the terra. The air turned colder around him as he stumbled after her, losing his footing every now and then and being dragged forward by the thread of energy that was connecting him to her. At one point she turned and led them through a room lit only by a few dim lights that glowed eerily through the tanks filled with green liquid. In each circular tank a new Blitzkrieg was suspended eerily in the viscous fluid, tubes down their noses and throats, wires attached to their bodies, giving off readings onto the small monitors fixed to each tank. They were in varying degrees of development according to each row; some were still fetal in appearance, hollowed and wraithlike, alien creatures that sent a shiver down his spine. Others were nearly full grown, resembling their vicious brethren; some where even beginning to move, surfacing from their hibernative state. One had its eyes open and watched as Cyclonis led Dark Angel by the rows of tanks, black eyes grotesquely wide and curious; the sight haunted him, made him feel like he was looking into the eyes of the dead.

Cyclonis didn't even give a flicker of acknowledgement to any of these new creatures as she strode purposefully to an area near the back of the nursery chamber. Here she finally stopped before a space where the floor had been replaced with a large grate, which shone slickly in the dim light. She turned to Dark Angel as he stared at some of the machinery nearby, which looked like over-grown surgical equipment.

"No doubt you remember your meeting with Kronos when you first joined us here?" she asked him, something in the edge of her tone that sounded excited, like a gleeful child; a sick, sadistic child.

"...Yes." he said slowly and then flinched when the pain ripped into his head once again. "Master, master!" he added loudly and the pain receded.

"He was not the first of my specialized creations." His Master continued as if she'd never paused to punish him. "I'm creating a few of my own, ah, custom, shall we say, Blitzkrieg, a little surprise for our friends the Sky Knights when they meet them in battle. I've been trying to think, what would give someone an extra edge, a rather nasty shock to any who happened to come up against them? Obviously Kronos will be quiet useful; imagine him released on an entire terra already bathed in bloodshed?"

Dark Angel recalled the way the massive, mutated Blitzkrieg had tracked him due to the reek of bloody coming off him and fought back the urge to shudder; he'd be a marauding, rabid, killing machine.

Cyclonis grinned wickedly as if the same image had come to her. "I've had a few more ideas; extra limbs would be something practical, wouldn't you say? However this latest one I think would be quite useful indeed during aerial combat, and I can't think of anyone it would be better to test it on then you."

He swallowed uneasily, wondering what grisly mutation his Master had in mind for him and the only thing that kept him from flinching back from her hands as she grasped his wrist was the knowledge that his fate would be much, much worse if he were to run. He watched fixatedly as she snapped shackles around his wrists calmly while he struggled with himself to stop his limbs from shaking. Once the metal cuffs were secured she backed off the grate and clicked her fingers.

Three figures stepped from the darkness, gender indiscernible as they were wearing thick, bleached lab coats, stained here and there with faded brown splotches; dried blood. They're heads were shaved bald and they had masks over their faces as well as if they were working in a quarantine zone, the air unsafe to breathe. They didn't even look at him; they only had eyes for his Master.

"We're going to try out experiment eleven today on this subject; I trust all the procedures necessary have been completed?" Cyclonis asked and one of the masked assistants nodded, moving to the wall and turning a crank several times until Dark Angel felt his feet lift from the floor, hauled upwards by the chains on his wrists. A second assistant darted forwards and snapped clasps shut around his ankles so he couldn't move, muscles stretched uncomfortably. The third moved in front of him and cut his shirt down the front, pulling it from his torso. He tried to meet their eyes, but the assistant refused to look at him, as if he wasn't even there. This was all routine; the subjects didn't matter them.

One of the other two moved back in and prodded at his side for a second before locating a vein and injecting something. He flinched, surprised by the sensation and heard his Master chuckle.

"It's simply a preparatory drug, Dark Angel. It'll allow your body to accommodate the changes. Unfortunately it also heightens nerve sensitivity; oh well." She taunted with mock empathy.

He felt one of the assistants come up behind him and twisted his neck to try and see what they were doing. He felt a stinging sensation and heard a slight scraping noise and assumed he'd just had another incision drawn into him with a scalpel over his left shoulder blade. Another was scored over his right. He heard the assistant move back, the grating rattling under their boots slightly as a second approached him and reached for his back. He felt something dig into his skin as the assistant's fingers pushed something into the incision made on his back, digging in under her flesh slightly. Judging by the way the crystal shard in his chest pulsed suddenly at the contact, he could guess what it was.

A second sliver of crystal was inserted into the other slice in his back and then the medical workers backed away from him, standing behind his Master slightly. She was grinning, watching him with fascination as if she was waiting for some sort of spectacle to begin unfolding. "I designed those crystal pieces myself you know." She told him conversationally as if she were commenting on the weather. "My control over the crystal is not so impartial that I cannot influence its creational powers."

Dark Angel swallowed uneasily, a cold sweat on his skin, a feeling of paranoia stirring in his chest. Then it was as if a jolt tore through him, the two shards flaring to life. They started pulsing in time with the one in his chest, which suddenly had a life of its own and was growing hot under his skin. Then it seemed to branch out, sending little tendrils of heat, two veins that stretched and wormed their way through him right to his spinal column and then all the way to where the two shards sat atop his shoulder blades. When the lines of heat connected with them a second jolt stabbed through his muscles and then he felt a shuddering feeling spread through his upper body. He felt something expand slightly, jab out and connected with his skeleton and then harden on either side of his spine. And then it started stretching, growing beneath his skin and the sensation made him feel as if he had eels moving under his flesh and it made him feel sick. It crawled along either side of his back, rooted to the places on his shoulder blades and pushing outwards and downwards behind his organs, just on the outside of his ribcage. It felt like he had a tree embedded somewhere under his skin, branches slowly spreading out and growing larger, pulsing and still glowing hot against his skin from the crystal's energy.

Finally these branches stopped spreading, pressing up from the inside against his skin slightly, as if testing the level of resistance. He felt like he had sharpened sticks embedded there, trying to tear their way through his skin.

Then there was an itching sensation as he felt things starting to spin together and bind to these stick-things on either side of his back. He twisted again, trying to see what was going on, and was able to pick out a defined ridge under his tan skin, two curving shapes protruding from the rest of him like he had two broken bones that were jabbing through his flesh.

But then the itching changed; he could feel something growing around these two ridges, a familiar ache of muscle being stretched and altering itself, but that was nothing compared to the increasing pressure against his skin as whatever these two things were forming under his flesh started to take up more space, bound down tight by his skin but pushing for more space.

Around then he started to panic as he felt his chest cavity being squeezed steadily tighter, as if some giant snake were wrapping itself around him to crush the life from him. He glanced down at himself and watched with horrified fascination as his ribs stuck out, defined as if he were extremely emaciated as his skin was stretched and pulled taut around the expanding ridges on his back. He heard a creaking noise and realized it was his skin being pulled too tight, stretching painfully against the opposing pressure. He felt his ribs crack with the strain and bit down hard on his lip to squelch down on the burning pain.

Then he felt a slight tearing feeling, a slight release of pressure and glanced back a third time, horrified to see a split in his taut skin, a spray of blood gushing free and dripping down to the floor; now he understood what the grate was for. Beneath his ripped skin he could see something dark, trying to push the rest of the way free from his body.

He grit his teeth as his skin split again, this time further down his back on the opposite side, the dark thing beneath growing too big to be contained beneath his brittle layer of flesh. He could feel a tingling feeling as his body attempted to heal, the crystal in his chest still acting on his cells and causing them to regenerate at a heightened pace, fighting against his strained skin to form a slight membrane over the tear, but it was split open once again as the things, whatever they were, under his skin continued to take up space, even though there was no more space by now. He squeezed his eyes shut as his ribs snapped in several places, spearing into flesh, his back searing with pain.

And then he felt the skin on either side of his back tear apart all at once, two long rips tearing down the sides of his spine as the objects that had been growing beneath burst free, shooting out into the sudden expanse of space and he felt a howl escape him as agony tore through his shredded flesh, muscles and bones aching from the strain, crushed ribcage just one throbbing mass of pain. Blood splashed out behind him and dripped down into the grate, running in thick rivulets down his ruined back and the two little crystal splinters clattered to the ground, thrown free of his body.

He felt the clasps on his wrists release by some external signal and he fell forwards, grate cutting into his arms as he groaned and tried to suck enough air into his crushed squashed lungs, his head spinning dizzily. Blearily he was aware of something dark flopping down on with side of him, hanging next to his cheeks. He glanced at the foreign thing on his right, touching its slick surface, which was wet and sticky from his own blood. He felt the touch of his fingers register with this appendage and it occurred to him vaguely that this thing was attached to him, it was part of his body now.

He rubbed his fingers over the ridge of bone incredulously as the pain began to ebb from his tortured body and feeling continued to spread through these new attachments. His thumb brushed over the dark coating and pushed some of the gossamer material back from the skin and he realized what it was made of; feathers. Sleek, black feathers.

He heard his Master laugh darkly and looked up at her from his trembling place on the floor where the grate was pressing into him. She gave him an uncompromising, final look. "Now you will have no further excuses should your sky ride fail you again." She assured him. "Keep this in mind; there are ways I can punish you that you cannot even imagine."

He nodded weakly and she smirked, looking thoroughly pleased. She lifted her hand and he was lifted once again from the ground by that external force. She spread her fingers wide and felt the two appendages on his back flare slightly as well, mirroring her movements. She titled her head, examining the work and then laughed once again, eyes gleaming spitefully. "Every time a bell rings..."

"Look Daddy! Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!"

If you don't know what that quote is from then for shame (XD kidding of course). If you do then this is my ironic greeting of 'Tis the Season to ya'll. I'm just a horrible little person ain't I?