*smug grin* heh heh well readers I'd say this is a pretty nifty update time if I do say so myself I hope you enjoy this chapter

I don't own Storm Hawks

OoO.

The throne room in Cyclonia's citadel was far more intimidating ten years ago, it carried a sinister air to it that reflected the people who ran the Terra rather well. The throne itself looked as though evil sat upon it. And the closest thing to evil did.

The previous Master of Cyclonia, Lark's father, rose from his throne and slowly carried himself and his glorious violet cloak down the five steps. Stalking towards him. Tanner Strike, eighteen year old Ace, still wearing his Storm Hawk uniform. He was standing as tall and straight as possible, almost on his tip toes, more so out of nerves, as he had only encountered such a terrifying setting in horror stories.

The King was huge in comparison to Ace's slender build, both in height and width. He stood over the young co-pilot, circling him like a vulture.

"I don't trust you, Storm Hawk," his deep voice alone managed to shoot chills down the teen's spine. It was like a lion standing right behind you, snarling in your ear, but Ace kept his stance, refusing to let himself visibly flinch. "I don't trust that you'll get the job done, my mother thinks different, but she's always had a soft spot for children. The future of my empire has been thrown upon your shoulders and I do not like it."

He was infront of Ace again, bending so that his cold eyes were in line with his, their noses almost touching.

"I won't let you down," Ace said, a shaky exhale slowly pushed past his lips after.

"We have met with you five times before, all the while impressed with your skills. The Sky Knight council saw your rage as a problem, but we see it as a promising tool. There's just one problem, do you know what that problem is?"

His dry lips parted as if he were ready to speak, but his eyes were dashing about thoughtfully, desperately scrambling for a quick answer that would suffice. "I won't... the Storm Hawks aren't my family, I won't back out when the time comes, I will do it. And I'll enjoy it."

The king shook his head, his straight face creased but he held his anger back, only his eyes showing the flames of his rage. "You are a human being. That's my problem, and what's worse, you're a young human being. Hormonal, confused, grieving. Of course you want to vent, take it out on the people that are making life so darn unfair for you. But it's not all rage knocking about in that pretty little head of yours," he rattled Ace's head with his fist, still bent down, nose still almost touching.

"People are so unstable, and it's worse in a war, so many emotions, so many conflictions, so much longing for different things at different moments. People say things they don't mean when they're angry, promise things when they're sad, think they understand the way the world works without realising their own ignorance. I make it a habit not to trust people, and I will certainly never trust a traitor.

"That's what you'll become you know, when you do this thing you say you'll love to enjoy. The title of traitor will become like a brand on your soul, because everyone who knows you will know that you are a person capable of stabbing them in the back. You're the worst kind of person, thinking that it's OK to change your mind when you're offered something the side you're on cannot give you."

Ace swallowed, he was forcing himself not to cast his eyes away from the King's, it was so hard to do, his brows were twitching, his nostrils flaring, he was swallowing so much.

"My family has promised you power, all the power your young ambitious heart has ever desired, because that's all you've ever wanted. But the problem with people is; they're not programmed to follow one path all their life, somewhere down the line, in the future you could decide that you want something else. It won't be power anymore. You'll want it so bad and you'll feel like shit even though it's your own fault that you're deprived of it, and maybe just maybe, someone who isn't a Cyclonian will offer it to you.

"I will be ready for you when you stab us in the back, because tomorrow, if you decide to murder your squadron, you will forever be a traitor. And nothing will ever change that."

That memory always caused Dark Ace great torment, whenever he dared to remember that conversation it caused him pain like an artificial headache. And as he lay there in the darkness of his cell recalling that event his chest felt tight, even the hairs on his arms were standing on end.

That was the night he had taken his real first step off that cliff into treachery. The night he decided that the title traitor was worth everything that came with it. And it had been... eventually. There had been a lot of pain and suffering to fight through after making Cyclonia his home, but in the end he became 'The Dark Ace', Master Cyclonis' right hand man. Proved everyone wrong. Even the scum in the cell next to him, who laughed in his face the day he was refused knighthood.

But 'Traitor' was a complicated profession.

"We need you to kill them all, every single person living on that ship, if you fail, then I will personally cut out your lying tongue."

Those were the words that stuck in Ace's mind the most from that meeting. But there was another voice in his head, talking just as loudly, while he snuck through the halls of the Condor.

"He's your little brother Tann - I mean Ace, it's the job of a big brother to watch over his little brother."

Grace, his adoptive mother, told him this, while hugging him tightly as they looked at the baby in the crib. He missed her. She'd been gone for a year. And yet her words managed to ring out louder than the King of Cyclonia.

Night would soon fall onto the Atmos, and tomorrow the battle to end all battles would begin. Good vs Evil. Sky Knights vs Cyclonia. Lightning Strike and his Storm Hawks were outside, on their skimmers, training for the last time. Ace had not been invited, was told that the role of co pilot did not need to be rehearsed.

He entered the nursery, the smallest bedroom on the Condor, to find four year old Amory already tucked up in bed asleep. Radar was curled up at the foot of the bed, his ears and tail sprung up upon Ace's entry, excited to see him as always.

"Radar, pack some of Amory's stuff will you?" He sounded so distracted and disturbed, which is why he cocked his head at the human, it was peculiar to hear him giving actual orders. Radar made a gesture, Ace furrowed his brows, "What do you mean why? Because I said so, go!" His little friend hopped to it after a slight flinch at his harsh tongue, but the teen had worse things to worry about than an offended monkey.

He tucked his arms gently under little Amory making sure not to stir his little brother, and then reached for a folded up blanket sitting on a stool nearby. He wrapped it around the little boy, making sure he was comfortable and warm.

He carried the child in his arms and a bag of his clothes and toys on his shoulder, with Radar pattering along beside him down into the hangar bay. "Start the engines on the spare skimmer Radar, and remember, quiet." In a matter of minutes Ace and Radar had mounted the skimmer and flown off away from the Condor without a single member of the squadron knowing.

He'd been contemplating his options ever since the Cyclonians had decided to trust him, and this seemed like the best option. Terra Neverlandis. The Terra was a lot bigger ten years ago, before Cyclonia attacked it, destroying most of it.

It was like a little island in the sky with a few homes built. Peaceful people, friendly, and definitely not followers of Cyclonia. Perfect. Ace landed the skimmer, having already silenced the engine. They were veiled in darkness now, his steps were unheard as he ran across the lawn and up to one of the first houses, little Amory still asleep in his arms. He leapt up to the window and gripped on tight, pulling himself up with one hand, peeking inside. It was an empty bedroom, so he crept in.

There were voices in this house, a mother telling her little son Finn to stop making such a fuss.

He put the slumbering Amory into an empty bed and tucked him in, and then placed a sealed envelope close beside him, ignoring the confused whimpers of Radar.

"I'm so sorry. I can't do it to you. This isn't your fault." And then he began to take his leave, it was too much to bear to stay longer than necessary.

Radar followed at his heels while pointing at the little boy he was leaving behind. Ace swallowed and knelt down before the little sky monkey. "Radar, you uh, you have to stay here OK? I need you to protect him. Besides, they wouldn't let me keep you." He stood back up and stepped away from his pet, who looked heartbroken, his little hand reaching out to him, unable to comprehend the feelings that come with being abandoned.

"If anyone tries to hurt him, you don't hesitate to bite them in the ankle, you hear me?"

But then the sound of Amory yawning froze him, and he had no choice but to return to the little boy's side. He rubbed his emerald eyes with his pudgy hands and then looked up at the thin figure.

"Big brother?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"What are you doing silly? Where am I?"

"Hey, well, this is your new home. Neat huh?"

He gave a quick scan of the room and scrunched his face up like he was sucking on a lemon, "Why do we have to live here now?"

"Not me. I have to say goodbye."

"What? Where are you going? Can I come?"

"Just away. I'll be gone for... a while. But listen, you uh, you have to do something for me, it's super important."

"...Okay?"

"You know about the bad guys, right?" Little Amory nodded. "Well you've got to stay here now, by yourself, because if they find you, they'll, they'll do bad stuff to you, do you understand?" His little face looked so bewildered and terrified, but he bravely nodded none the less. "So, you can't be Amory Strike anymore."

"I can't have a name?"

"You can, just not Amory Strike, especially Strike, if someone found out that you were here, alive and well, something very bad would happen. So, if someone asks your name, you got to tell them it's Aerrow."

He scrunched his face again, and squeaked "Aerrow?"

"What? I like that name, I always thought you should have been called Aerrow, better than being junior to that jerk. So, you've got to be Aerrow from now on, can you do that for me?"

"Uh huh."

"Good," he managed a smile, and began to stand but as he did, little Aerrow beat him to it, and hurried to wrap his arms around him.

"I'll miss you."

He held his little brother for the last time, "I'll miss you too."

"I'm gonna see you again, right?"

"Sure. Yeah. It's a small Atmos, we'll meet again." His heart sank, if they ever did meet again, it would be after so long. Little Aerrow would soon surely forget all about this, forget about his family and his big brother.

And he did. Ten years later and the brothers didn't recognise each other when they had their first battle over the aurora stone. Only when the walls of Cyclonia were crumbling around them, only when the new Sky Knight declared that his name was Aerrow of the Storm Hawks, had Dark Ace realised what he had done.

Letting that one kid live was the biggest mistake. The King had been right, he should have killed everyone on the Condor. It would have made his future as a Talon so much easier.

Seeing him again after a decade had meant nothing to him, a hellish life on Cyclonia had fucked up his compassion. His selfish ambitions and now infamous fury were too strong for him to feel anything for a boy he didn't know anymore. He never once thought of him as possible family, at that point he only saw an enemy wearing the uniform of the man whom he detested the most.

OoO.

The Storm Hawks were bunched up together on their couch, watching the trial back on television.

Although they didn't show the whole thing, just focused on the walk to the courtroom, savouring the state of his bloodied up face. Guy was soaking most of the screen time, talking about the case and how great it was to finally have Dark Ace imprisoned, and soon to be gone. He even went on to say that it was the Storm Hawk's greatest moment, admirably living up to their predecessors.

Aerrow was the only one without a snack or a drink on his lap. By now the team were too happy not to smile and talk about the event tomorrow. He had missed most of Guy's blabbing, too much going on in his head, too big to discuss.

But he did catch the bit when the reporter said; "When given the chance to show some us some empathy, all The Dark Ace had to say was:"

The screen then flashed to a clip of Dark Ace standing behind the glass. Aerrow's eyes flickered with hope. But the only part they showed was of him spitting the words;

"You're all going to die!"

"He didn't say that! Well he did but that's out of context!" By the time he realised he shouldn't be saying stuff like that infront of his squadron, the words had already passed his lips, unable to mask his outrage.

The rest of the Storm Hawks sat there quietly, not sure how to respond, side glancing him like he wasn't right in the head anymore. It was devastating. Getting rid of the Talon had not worked, maybe this went further, maybe it was Cyclonis controlling him. They were still obsessively fixated on the idea that it was mind control or manipulation, Aerrow sympathising with the Cyclonians never came to thought.

He slammed his hands on the couch and pushed himself up, and began to storm away, when his friends asked where he was going he simply muttered back with a resentful tone, "People are so empty headed."

Piper skittishly followed after him, soon racing to catch up, as he marched on to the bedrooms despite her calling his name. She grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him back so she could look him in the eye.

"Aerrow wait, will you please calm down. I've never seen you like this before."

She didn't look mad, she was just here for him. His rage melted away, he was getting out of hand again, and he hated that, he felt like such a burden to them. He was troubling her, and after seeing her suffer in the apocalypse, he'd never wanted to see her upset ever again. He was causing her misery right now, so he forced an apology out of himself.

"Please," she begged with all her might, holding onto his hands, "tell me what's wrong."

"I just think death is a little too strong when he's trying to help us."

"He told us Cyclonis' plot how else can he possibly help?"

A hard exhale left Aerrow while his eyes darted around, looking anywhere but into her amber eyes.

She just sighed, trying to say this in the best possible way, "Aerrow, you have to understand how gullible you're being, it's not like you. I'm sorry but we can't help thinking there's some kind of extortion at play here."

"There isn't." He huffed, so close to shouting it in her face.

But she didn't hold quite as much control. "Then prove it! Be the Aerrow we all know and love, stop siding with someone like Dark Ace. Please I just don't get any of this."

She exhaled, trying to calm herself down as well, afraid of ruining the relationship they'd just created. She leaned in and gave a quick kiss on the lips, still not confident enough to simply steal them whenever she saw fit. "I just want you to be OK."

His heart fluttered after feeling her pillowy lips on his own, she was his girlfriend, she was so pretty and smart, maybe she would understand. "Piper, have you ever thought that maybe, some Cyclonians aren't as bad as we think?"

Her face fell and Aerrow's eyes widened, he wanted to abort, she wasn't ready to hear such blasphemous talk. But she was still holding onto his hands, and soon guided him past his bedroom and into her own, that stale smell of crystal smoke wafting his face when the door zoomed open.

She sat him down on her bed, only leaving his side to retrieve a hefty leather book down from a shelf. She sat down with him and opened the pages at a random number. Aerrow had never seen this book before, simply because the history of the Atmos had never fascinated him that much. She explained to him that this book recorded past battles, and historical events, that affected the way they lived in the world today.

OoO.

Dark Ace was hating Carver more than usual for asking about how he'd killed them all, because now he couldn't stop thinking about Grace, about losing her. And how it all spiralled downhill from there.

His mother's death had affected everyone on the Condor, some more than others. Some in the squadron became careless. Some tempers were easily triggered. And then some just remained the same after the time of mourning.

It was the night before the battle to end all battles and after the last minute training session everyone had gone to bed, all but Ace who was alone in the hangar bay. Who was trying so hard not to think about the four year old boy he'd just left on a strange Terra.

There was no way he could sleep, knowing what was going to happen tomorrow, he was surprised anyone could really. This was going to be nothing like he'd endured before, the battle was going to be worldly, and horrific, and devastating.

He was under Corin's skimmer, forcing himself to forget and ignore all of the times the blonde had been nice to him, for his own sake. There were moments when he had treat him just as poorly as the rest of the squadron, he had to focus on memories like that. He had to keep that hateful fire inside burning high.

The sabotage had to be subtle. He clipped a tube in the engine just barely. Eventually the crystal energy would burst it completely, the ride would malfunction, and by the time Corin could smell smoke it would be too late. He would already be flying in the fight, would suddenly fall, and with a damaged parachute he'd simply have to enjoy the ride.

He had to wait before he could do anything else, couldn't leave a huge time gap. He was in the hangar bay when the sun came up, sat on the table, twiddling his thumbs as his nerves rattled him to a sanity breaking point. The Storm Hawks flocked in asking him why he was up so early, he hardly remembered answering them, too absorbed in the thought of their inevitable demise.

Crystals weren't his speciality, but he'd certainly done his homework, slyly plotting against his fake family while they cluelessly got on with their lives. But still, if he got this wrong, forgot to focus, if he fucked up, he'd be dead.

An hour before take off and he crept through the halls of the condor, it was chilled, but that wasn't why his hair was standing on end. He went to the main engine room, where the fuel crystals powered the ship. He'd been turned into the cabin boy/co pilot after being denied the right to graduate what he had trained so hard for. So he knew how to dismantle it.

Working in the darkness, too anxious to put the lights on, as if for the first time someone might decide to walk by and find him. He took two of the fuel crystals out of the rotator, and replaced them with a phoenix crystal, and the strongest icer he could find. Once in their slots, they were immediately activated.

The icer would slow the process down for a considerable amount of time, but eventually the icer would die out, and the phoenix crystal would be free to burn at it's highest degree. This type of crystal was far too unstable to be put in an engine, so without something repelling the furnace like heat, it would blow the engine up.

The Condor would die, taking Stratos, the carrier pilot, along with it. That backstabbing bitch would crash and burn, he only wished he could watch her die for what she did. He hoped it was going to be long and painful when the wastelands swallowed her up.

He remembered purposefully trying to antagonise Amory, throwing mean comments and insults every chance he got, just trying to rile him. Could only remember doing so souly because it served a purpose, it would be valuable later, he had to make him as irrationally angry as possible. He already hated young Ace, never really accepted that he was around and that he'd been asked to like it.

When he stuck his sword through the back of Lightning Strike, Amory would go for him before anyone else. Ace would cease that moment and kill him, it wouldn't be too hard, he was the moron of the squadron. And then he would conjure his special move, the thing that made him better than the majority of the people in the Sky Knight squadrons, and release the final blow that would stop the wave in their tracks.

Just before they would take off into the sky and charge for Cyclonia, Ace gave Kiki; the blonde who flew the heliscooter, a quick scotch to settle her. After Grace's death, her closest friend on the ship, she'd retreated to the comfort of alcohol, and soon needed it to steady her nerves before flying. And because he was the cabin boy, he of course had to prepare it for her. It was funny, they all seemed to forget in a flash how important being a real part of the squadron meant to him. Unable to see the humiliation that came with being demoted to glorified waiter.

So he fixed her drink as usual, with an added something that would kill her once she was in the heat of battle. Cheers Kiki, the wastelands await your loud mouth.

Lightning Strike eventually came to mind, and Dark Ace gritted his teeth hard enough to crack them. He hadn't realised how hard and short his breaths had become, his face creased with pure, boiling, hatred for that man. He slammed his fists on the bed loud enough that the sound carried through his entire section. He jumped up, too enraged to sit still. That Sky Knight, and that carrier pilot. Lightning Strike and Stratos. Just picturing their faces fueled the burning rage inside.

He couldn't start thinking about them without remembering the day. The day he walked in on the two of them, betraying his mother, how long it had been going on he had no idea.

Lightning had chased him down the hallway, grabbed him and locked his arms around him tightly. Made him swear not to tell anyone, especially Grace, never Grace, because it would be too heartbreaking for her, she was too fragile. And he agreed, he agreed to lie to his mother, so afraid of hurting her.

Lightning doing this to her, he could barely manage to tolerate, just a stray thread had kept him together. But after she died, that was gone. The Storm Hawks were just a group of people he had to live with. He thought of them like they were a curse or disease. Especially the couple, who felt braver to express their love when Grace was gone.

He hated that he'd followed Lightning's example, and kept it a secret. If he'd told her she wouldn't have found out on her own, she wouldn't have stormed out, unable to handle the argument. He wouldn't have lost her that day. He didn't even know how she'd died.

He screamed in his cell at throat ripping volume. Flipped his mattress and booted the edge of the bed until the metal curved in. He hurled a little wooden stool into the stonewall, smashing it.

Fuck those two. He was glad they were dead. They'd taken his mother from him and Aerrow.

Other prisoners were getting riled up, it was an interesting night for them.

Unable to contain his anger he screamed again. He was in here because of Lightning, and because of the King of Cyclonia. Bastards. Fuck them both. He'd trusted both of them, and both of them had taken something precious from him. He rammed his fist into the wall, and heard a crunch when his knuckles cracked, a splatter of blood was left on the stone.

OoO

Just three hours till sunrise and a guard was patrolling the cells once again, his slow steps echoing through the early morning. All the prisoners were fast asleep. He reached Carver's cell, shining a torch into the confined space like he had done with every other, and was shocked to find the Sky Knight traitor was wide awake.

He furrowed his brows as Carver stared right back at him, mouth gaped but he looked highly amused, he raised his eyebrows at the guard who grunted and continued on. Carver sat there with his head against the wall, still silent, listening intently. And then he heard a sharp gasp, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the immediate commotion, the guard raced back down the way he came.

"Dark Ace has escaped!"

But he was already running through the empty streets of Atmosia.

Aerrow, who was running just in front of him lead the way to a narrow back alley, and then they stopped, slamming their backs to the wall, panting wildly.

"Aerrow...you've just-"

"You can't stay on the Condor, just hide, just hide somewhere. Go before someone sees, please!"

Dark Ace wanted to say more; apologise for actually leaving his cell when Aerrow had turned up to unlock it. He'd told him no at first, because an act like this was as good as betraying the Sky Knights. He'd been close to refusing to leave, almost sat back down on the bed. If he thought real hard about it, that's probably what a loving family member would have done.

As he ran from Aerrow into the wilderness of Atmosia he thought himself a coward. He'd risked his little brother's reputation because he was afraid to die.

Now that Aerrow was alone. He panicked. He'd gone against the council and saved a Cyclonian capable of murder. A serious act of treason, but he had good intentions, he always had good reasons, surely people would see this. Right?

His breath was so loud. He didn't even have the strength to curse or cry. How had he thought he could get away with such a plot? He was the only person on Dark Ace's side, he was bound to be a suspect.

If they found out someone helped him escape, god knows what would happen, would they lock him up too? Maybe they'd forgive him...?

Fucking god dammit how else was he supposed to react to the death sentence?! He was supposed to protect people. People would be grateful down the line when Dark Ace was helping fight to save the Atmos, like he'd done before.

But the council would hate to be betrayed again by a Storm Hawk. Not that this was betrayal, he hadn't killed anyone. He was as good as innocent. He'd just saved a life.

He half screamed/half growled and fell to his knees, his eyes were wide, pupils dilated. Terrified, he was actually terrified, he'd done this, and there was no turning back, no matter what happened now he would surely have to face someone's wrath. Till now he'd been following a pretty righteous path, a straight line, so which way was he supposed to turn now?

Should he admit he'd committed a crime if asked?

Or just lie.

Dark Ace had told him that it was a dangerous thing to do, he didn't look like he wanted to escape when he saw it was him busting him out. He'd looked so conflicted, even used the word traitor to describe his future if people discovered this little stunt.

However, this wasn't some big revelation, this had all gone through his mind before he'd flown to the prison. But deep down he knew it was the right thing to do, he was sure of it, as certain as he possibly could be given the circumstances. Maybe he was wrong, but it didn't feel wrong. Weren't you supposed to go with your gut at times like these?

The book of Atmosian history pointed the blame at Cyclonians in every single chapter, Piper narrated it as they went along through the pages, stressing the point that it was always a Cyclonian or a Raptor's fault.

And that's when he knew it. That he was right. Because a war is never one sided.

OoO.

Me hopey you likey, if you did let me know which parts you enjoyed, reading your reviews are always such a delight to me and make writing this story seem all the more worth it