Sorry it's been so long since the last update, but I have had so much to do, and the worst writers block with all of my fanfictions… Oh, and there has been a time skip of a week!
Anyway, there isn't much action in this chapter, but there is a lot of mature Finn, in depth conversations and random life on the Condor.
_

"They never healed properly?" Finn shouted, jabbing a finger at Aerrow, "You could have died you idiot!"
Aerrow blinked, then sighed.
"Piper told you?"
…

Ten minutes Earlier…

"Piper?" Finn said, entering the kitchen to find her, "I have a question?"
Piper gave her customary sigh.
"What is it now Finn?"
"Aerrow. Me and Stork have been talking, and we figured that with the increased power of the crystals from here, he should have been able to get out of bed after a day or two… Three days tops even with Atmosian healing crystals."
Piper froze slightly, before replying.
"I told you, I just wanted to make sure-"
"There's more to it than that, isn't there?" It wasn't really a question, and Piper nodded.
"Yes. But I promised I wouldn't tell you guys…"
"Promised who? Aerrow?"
Piper nodded.
"But Finn, everything is fine. Honestly. He's back to normal…"
"What do you mean back to normal? It was just his ankle… right?"
Piper hesitated and Finn blinked.
"He got himself injured some other way?"
"Not… Not as such…"
It took a few seconds for the dots to connect and everything to click in Finn's head, before he cursed.
"The injuries never healed from the beating he took a couple of weeks ago, did they…? The injuries in his side and everything…"
Piper looked torn, then sighed and nodded.
"They didn't fully heal, no. And the contact with the energy field and the running and fighting over the last couple of weeks haven't helped. It was bad… That's why he was on the healing crystals for a few more days. I wanted to make sure they had healed fully this time. He's an idiot when it comes to looking after himself… You know that."
"Yeah, I do. And it's about time I talked to him about it. Maybe he'll take note if it comes from me… Especially if I'm completely serious the entire way through."
"Finn… I think you should just leave it for now…"
"So he can go and do it again? Not likely…"
Piper looked at him with an expression that was part frustrated, part surprised and part… was that pride?
"Okay… He's in his room I think."
"Thanks…"
"Just make it worth it?"
"Count on it, Pi."
Piper blinked as Finn head out. Just what the hell had gotten into Finn over the last week?
He'd got more responsible, mature… It was actually-though she would never admit it- a pleasant surprise. And she was sure she knew who to thank for it…
Maybe she should go and have a word with Ace…

Finn didn't even bother knocking as he barged into Aerrow's rooms, and Aerrow, who was lounging on his bed, swung up.
"Finn? What-"
"They never healed properly?" Finn shouted, jabbing a finger at Aerrow, "You could have died you idiot!"
Aerrow blinked, then sighed.
"Piper told you?"
"No. Me and Stork pieced it out. What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that we didn't have time for taking a break."
"Well we had enough time for you to fully heal. Why the hell did you get up and around so soon?"
"Because it's what I do!"
Aerrow got to his feet, crossing his arms.
"It's what I do Finn. It's always been what I've done. I get up, and back on my feet because I can't stand to feel useless."
"Useless? When have you ever been useless?"
"I-I just don't like leaving the chance that I might not be there if one of you gets into trouble."
"And what about you? What if you get into trouble because of some blasted injury that you ignored? How do you think that would make us feel?"
"I- I don't-"
"Exactly. You don't know. And how do you think we'd feel if you ended up dead because of it? Then what use would you be to anyone? We've nearly lost you so many times, and… Damn it Aerrow, each time you get like it, we all worry like hell that you won't pull through. Don't you think we would rather wait a few days for you to heal than run the risk of losing you?"
"Finn… I-" Aerrow sighed and sat down on the bed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I'm sorry if I make you worry so much. But try to look at it from my point of view. For years now, I've done everything I can to keep you guys safe. I've always bounced back from whatever was wrong with me because you needed me to, and that was all that-Is all that matters to me."
"And that's what is getting on our nerves Aerrow. The fact that you disregard your own safety for our sakes. What if you had died because of it?"
"I didn't-"
"Not this time, but what about the next time Aerrow? Or the time after that? What if it comes to a fight and you can't defend yourself because of it?"
"It won't-"
"You don't know that! Look, you may think it's your job to worry about us, but I don't think you realise how much we worry about you. I think I speak for all of us when I say that-out of all of us-you are the one we worry about most."
"I can handle my-"
"In a fight, maybe. But you don't seem to give a damn about yourself when it comes to us. Put it this way, you think that by risking your life you're protecting us? What would happen if you died Aerrow? Where would we be then?"
Finn realised that he had to leave before he said something he'd regret and glared at the Sky Knight, who looked torn between surprise and guilt as Finn spoke, and turned around, heading out.
"Why don't you just think it over, Aerrow. I've already lost one brother… I don't want to lose another with no chance of getting him back."
Finn ignored the look on Aerrow's face, and head to his own room.
To yell and rage into a cushion.
No matter how girlish he thought it made him seem.
Then he just turned on the radio-Razor lark of course- and tried not to think of his infuriating red-headed brother-because what else was he really?- a few doors down.

Aerrow sighed as Finn left, and sat back, leaning against the wall.
He'd had no idea that they all thought like that…
And Finn… He'd been… very un-Finn-like. Heck, he'd kinda reminded him of himself in a way…
He'd been acting slightly differently all week. More mature, more sensible… And manipulative. That was the best guilt trip the blonde had ever used…
Now he understood why.
And he was actually quite proud of him…
Aerrow sighed as he heard the radio start blaring out.
It was Finn tactic number one. It was an unspoken rule on the Condor that when Finn had the music above a certain level, nobody went into his room.
It was well above that level…
Aerrow thought for a while, then sighed, getting to his feet and stretching, revelling in the fact that he was now fully healed-aside from the multitude of scars he had- and head out.
Rules were made to be broken after all…
He realised there was no point in knocking with the music that loud, and simply opened the door, almost blasted back by the volume within the room.
"Finn!" Aerrow cursed as he head over and clicked the off switch, resulting in an indignant 'hey!'
"Damn it Finn, no wonder you're half deaf half the time…"
"Only when it's convenient…"

Finn was still glaring at him and Aerrow sighed, leaning against the wall.
"Look, listen.… I'm sorry if I make you guys worry so much. It's just that I guess I worry about you guys more than I need to. Habit after so long I guess… I mean, I know you can look after yourselves, but I still do what I've always done. And getting on with things is something I've always done. I've always wanted to be strong for you guys… Ignoring injuries and just getting on with things is just a habit now…"
"And it's one you need to break. You said it yourself, we can look after ourselves. We're not the same people we were back then Aerrow…"
"None of us are, but some things still haven't changed Finn."
"Goddamn it, why can't you just start looking after yourself? It does us no good to be constantly worrying if you're hiding something. And we always do. You'd be making our lives a hell of a lot easier if you just looked after yourself. I know you always feel like you still have to look after us, and I'm not gonna deny that we are all idiots at times and need it, but don't keep doing it to the exclusion of yourself."
"You know, you've changed over the last few days. You're much more mature-"
"See? That's what worrying does to you…"
"I know. Why do you think I'm so mature?"
"Because you worry too much. Or not enough depending on your point of view."
"Finn…"
"What? You know it's true. How about a deal?"
Aerrow blinked, instantly suspicious.
"A… Deal?"
"Yup."
"Terms?"
"We get informed of any injuries. Then Piper says whether we can 'ignore them' or not."
"'Ignore' huh? By your standards or mine?"
"Well, by your standards, you could be dying but still fit enough to fight, so Piper's."
"Right to appeal?"
"… Granted."
"And your side of the deal?"
"We'll stop hiding things from you."
"What?"
"Well, we've always thought you had enough to be getting on with, so we sometimes keep things to ourselves… Heck, you worry over the slightest scratch on us, when you could be dying of blood loss and we'd never know. So we hide things… Just a little. "
"Little?"
"Aerrow, it's no biggie. But that's the deal."
Aerrow glared at him, considering, then gave a taut nod.
"Fine…" Then he sighed, collapsing onto the bed. "Nice finishing touch back there by the way. Very guilt-trippy."
"I'm glad you approve… Even if I didn't actually mean it as a guilt trip."
Aerrow raised an eyebrow.
"But he alternative is… Finn? Did you come out with girlish drivel?"
Finn glared at him.
"No! Oh, the horror…"
"Yeah, that's not fooling anyone."
"It's not?"
Aerrow grinned, punching him in the arm.
"Nope." Then he frowned. "Do you really think about your brother that much? What's the story anyway?"
Finn sighed.
"Just before I joined you guys… Well, you know my parents died… And Aaron… I didn't realise at the time, but looking back, I guess he felt I was abandoning him… Even if he has a family of his own now. He's twenty three you see. Got married last year. But I think he didn't want to lose the only real family he had for so long… And he was likely worried anyway."
"But Finn, it wasn't your fault. You shouldn't feel guilty about it leaving. He had someone, and he shouldn't have begrudged you that. I guess he was right about worrying though…"
Aerrow sighed as Finn gave a non-committal nod.
"Okay then, how's this? When we get back to Atmos, I'm going to have a word with this brother of yours. Then you two are going to sit down and actually speak to each other."
Finn blinked.
"What? I'm not sure that's a good…" Then he sighed and nodded. "Actually, that's the best idea I've heard all day. But surely we should be focusing on getting back? Oh, and Cyclonis of course."
"Well, we haven't heard anything all week. Maybe we'll be lucky for a couple of days."
They both looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
Right, because they could count on their luck.
Then Aerrow punched Finn in the arm.
"Oi! What was that for?"
"Not telling me you had a brother. Long delayed, but appropriate."
Then he hit him again.
"Ow! What was that one for?"
"Being manipulative."
Then Aerrow moved again and pulled Finn into a headlock.
"Oi! Lemme go!"
"Why? You'll just turn on the damned music again…"
Finn struggled, then sighed.
"Fine! I won't turn it on for the rest of the day…?"
Aerrow grinned and released his hold.
"Deal."
"Okay, what was that for?"
"I guess it's a brotherey thing."
Finn grinned evilly.
"And so is this!"
He leapt from the bed to the floor, grabbing a water pistol from under his desk and lasted Aerrow with it.
Aerrow, as he ran after him, was astounded.
He honestly had no idea where Finn kept half his stuff, and why, but it was very effective…
Heck, they had literally searched and confiscated everything they could find!
He was grudgingly impressed though, even if it didn't stop his amused irritation.
"Finn! Get back here!"
"Like that's happening!"
"We both know I'll catch you!"
"Not this time!"

Piper pressed herself against the wall as they ran past, a 'mission accomplished' from Finn and a 'morning Pipes' with a quick, passing peck on the cheek from Aerrow, and blinked after them, grinning.
Mature and sensible maybe, but with regards to generally being guys? They never changed…
A small word with Ace-who was teaching Junko a few new fighting techniques that were more subtle that 'run at them and knock them out'- had revealed that he had, apparently and from what they could deduce, been the catalyst for Finn's change in attitude, though it appeared that it had been building for some time now.
Now she was heading to find Arya.
Piper grinned as she heard a Dove record playing from the girls rooms and knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
She opened the door and grinned as she saw Arya, tongue sticking out from the side of her mouth, examining crystals with the aid of a book. She grinned as Piper entered.
"Hey Piper. Did I hear Aerrow chasing Finn again a couple of minutes ago?"
"Yup. From what I could see, we didn't confiscate all of Finn's water guns…"
"Oh… Damn. We'll have to conduct another search…"
"It's impressive though. Considering he was acting alone and all with less than ten minutes warning that were searching… Anyway, how's the crystal work going?"
"Great! I'm sure I can identify the majority of crystals that you've shown me, as including the ones from Atmos."
"Uhuh, I thought as much… Which is why I wanted to step up the schedule. How would you feel about a little experimenting. And a pop quiz throughout of course…"
Arya grinned.
"Need you ask? Pop Quizzes, what's not to love…"
"You sounded just like Finn then…"
Was there a small blush at that? Piper dismissed the idea as Arya jumped to her feet.
As they left, Piper glanced around and frowned.
"Any sign of Glitch?"
"Still M.I.A. Any sign of Radarr?"
Piper shook her head.
"He'll appear for a few minutes a day to say hello-at least, I assume it's hello- to Aerrow, then will vanish into a vent and not be seen till the following morning… It's weird…"
"Damn right… I've had one visit from Glitch in the last three days…"
"Hmm… I'm sure we'll find out just what they're up to soon enough."
As they head to Piper's room, they pressed themselves to the side of the walls again as Finn ran back past, still followed by Aerrow.
The two shouted heys' which the girls returned, -though Piper could swear she saw something pass between Finn and Arya…- before vanishing from sight around a corner and the girls continued.
As Piper pulled out different crystals to show different fusing's, she started firing off random questions about the ones she was using-their names, properties, strengths and weaknesses- and stifled a grin as Arya got all of them right.
The girl was a natural…

A couple of hours later and Aerrow had caught Finn, there had been a water fight, they had cleared up the mess from said water fight before Piper found out that they had been messing in her kitchen and Junko had told them that Piper was about to conduct another search for Finn's contraband.
At which point he had pretty much begged Aerrow to help him hide the stuff.
Aerrow had been incredulous, considering that Finn had just blasted him with it, but was eventually persuaded by the promise that Finn would use none of the stuff they hid on Aerrow, and Aerrow could borrow whatever he liked whenever he liked.
Without Piper realising.
How could he say no to that?
He was still surprised… no, completely shocked to the point of stuttering and gaping, when Finn handed him item after item from pipes, vents, cupboards and secret compartments under the floor, before taking an arm full himself and giving the order to scatter and hide it.
Aerrow knew just the place and, after a narrow run in with the two girls, who seemed to be on the warpath, stashed the stuff in a secret compartment he knew of in the engine room beneath the floor. It was big enough even for a wallop to squeeze in comfortably, and was always stocked with something or other for when they had an impromptu game of catch the sky knight on the Condor. He would hide in their-often with Radarr- and they would just eat, listen to music and chillax until the others blared the give up signal over the speakers.
It was fun… He had other hiding places of course, some in the same room, and blinked as he noticed a bleeping red light on one of the things Finn had given him.
Examining it, he felt an evil grin come over his face,

It was a tracking beacon.
Seemed someone wanted to find the small secret spaces he knew.
Well, two could play at that game…
He grinned, before sneaking to Piper's crystal chamber and depositing the boomerang-yes, Finn had boomerangs- in her desk before sneaking out again.
Had he not told them time and time again that they would never find his secret hiding places? Apparently they had still not learnt their lesson…
Aerrow whistled aimlessly as he traipsed through the Condor, before deciding to drop it and rounded a corner, only to be met with a sight that made him blink.
Finn and Arya had their arms around one another and were kissing…
Aerrow grinned.
Not like he hadn't seen it coming…
He gave a soft ahem, causing them both to split apart and jump back, coughing embarrassed.
"Erm… Hey Aerrow."
"So Finn, I mean, we could all see it coming, but why are you guys hiding it?"
The two shared a look and Finn suddenly laughed.
"Because If Piper found out, she gets the location of half of my stuff. It was a hastily and badly considered wager that we wouldn't be going out like ever."
Arya gave a sheepish smile.
"It lasted the whole of two days…"
Aerrow blinked, then burst out laughing, leaning against the wall.
Finn frowned, crossing his arms.
What's so funny?"
"N-nothing I just… I… Oh hahaha…" Aerrow eventually managed to stop his laughter and saunter past the two of them, clapping Finn on the shoulder.
"Nothing Finn… Hang on," he stopped, raising an eyebrow, "How long is it till this bet expires?"
"Three weeks…"
"What was that Finn?"
"Three weeks."
"Ooh… Ouch. Where is Piper by the way?"
"You're not going to tell her are you? I like my boomerangs…"
"Yes, about that? Why do- No, wait. Not the time. I was actually going to say that I have the answer to all your problems… For a price."
Finn and Arya shared a look, then stared at him, suspicious.
"What answer, and what price?"
Aerrow grinned.
"The answer, I hide most of your stuff. That way, you technically only have very little of it, and Piper can take half of what little you still 'own'. Then, I give it back to you."
"Good plan. The price?"
"I don't know where you got he boomerangs from, but I want one. Maybe two… And some of those delightful trackers you have… And possibly a couple of other things."
Finn blinked.
"That's it?"
"Yup."
Arya pulled him aside to whisper conspiratorially, but Aerrow managed to listen into some of it.
"It's a good deal. He gets a few things, Piper gets a few things, and you get the majority of your stuff, with me as a bonus!"
"Yes… But there must be a catch…"
"With Aerrow? Not likely… But there is that chance…"
"You know what? Right now, I don't care if there is a catch. Or that I'm proving Piper right. Aerrow!" At this point, Aerrow tried to act as thought he had not heard every word said.
"Yes?"
"You have yourself a deal."
"Perfect."
They grasped hands, and Aerrow grinned as they parted, rubbing his hands together.
"So, when do we begin?"

The random life on the Condor thing is something I am considering continuing for another chapter, but what do you think?
Oh, and as for Radarr and Glitch… All will be revealed… In time :D
Yes, there is a catch to the deal, but that will also be revealed… probably next chapter!
They will carry out their plan, but if it will work or not, You'll just have to see :D
Anyway, please review and let me know what you think of the different sides of the characters I've added in, and the different aspects of their lives and such! (It's not my best chapter ever, but reviews are appreciated all the same…)

Till next time, Raven xx