Minn: First of all, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you lovely people who reviewed the last chapter! Wolf and I got a fantastic amount of reviews. BIG VIRTUAL HUGS for all of you lovely, lovely readers. You people really gave me the energy to keep on going with this fic and the plethora of results let me know where to take this with my writing and what to look out for. A couple more chapters until the halfway point (I really don't know the exact number) but I'm enjoying every bit of this. :D
Secondly, sorry there was a bit of a wait... what can I say? Season 2 of Sherlock is now finished and we all know that means fanvids a plenty. Also... guess what? I GOT A TABLET! Deviantart, prepare for a boom in Storm Hawks and Sherlock fanart.

So yes... basically I've been very distracted from this fic... but can you really blame me? :3

I'd also like to say sorry that this chapter is a bit short... but the next couple of chapters might end up being a bit longer than normal, so it might take more time to get them written up. But at least it's something to look forward to...

Chapter 10: Aid

It was a long time until he woke up, and when he did, it was to be greeted feebly by the soft sound of gentle crackling. And yet, even with that gentle reminder of reality, he still had not realized he was awake. His eyes remained shut, though his breathing had sped up slightly. But the sound was persistent, and as he slowly came to, it grew in volume and became noticeably clearer.

Aerrow opened his eyes.

Everything was fuzzy, and he still wasn't thinking clearly, but as he laid where he was (what was he even lying on?) some primary instinct alerted him that he had been sleeping for quite a while. For once, he actually felt well-rested.

The setting around him began to clear, along with his thoughts. He was lying on his back – he identified that much – and he seemed to be inside some kind of wooden room; panelling lined the walls and ceiling. Turning his attention towards himself, Aerrow took note that he was actually lying on a couch, with a light blanket draped over him. He wasn't willing just yet to try and piece together how this came to be, so instead he turned his gaze towards the source of the crackling noise.

It was a fire. Just a small one, burning happily in the hearth opposite him. It filled the room with warmth and dim, incandescent light which gave the place a very comforting atmosphere. Another spark popped and crackled as Aerrow examined the fire from where he laid. Slowly, the Sky Knight sat up and took in the rest of his surroundings. His strength was almost completely reclaimed now, and needless to say, he was extremely curious as to how he got here... and even where 'here' was.

Like he suspected, the room seemed to be mostly built out of wood, though there was a small rug placed in the center of the floor along with a table and a couple of chairs to give the place a bit more character. Various paraphernalia filled the shelves on the walls. There were papers, books, spare parts, a couple of stray crystals. Yet as Aerrow continued examining his surrounds he realized that there seemed to be an order to the madness. Cluttered... yet carefully organized. With a melancholy thought, Aerrow felt that the place reminded him a little of his old home on Neverlandis.

Now feeling an absolute thirst for answers, Aerrow looked for a means of pursuing them. There wasn't a window in the room, but two doors on opposite walls lead out to what promised to be more of the ... would you call it a house? Well... wherever he was.

Aerrow was just giving consideration to exiting through the door closest to him, when the other one opened. The Storm Hawk tensed at who might come through, but fortunately, it was the one person left whom he felt he could trust.

"Starling."

The Interceptor smiled as she saw the expression of relief on Aerrow's face. "Good," she said briefly yet not without compassion. "You're awake."

"What happened?" Aerrow immediately asked, moving his legs over the side of the couch and placing the blanket aside as Starling pulled up a chair in front of him.

"First you should eat something," Starling said, offering Aerrow a tray with a bowl of soup on top of it along with some bread. "From how long you were asleep, I'm guessing you need to get back some of your energy."

"How long wasI asleep?" Aerrow asked nervously, placing the tray on his lap and grabbing the piece of bread to start.

"Not too long," Starling reassured him. "Most of the morning is gone, but that's understandable. Really it was solidness with which you were sleeping that concerned me. You were out the entire flight back."

Starling's partial anecdote reminded Aerrow that he still had multiple questions for her. "So what did happen?" Aerrow asked resolutely. "Where am I?"

Starling smiled slightly at the Sky Knight's persistence. "Some place safe," she said, leaning back in her chair, relaxed. From the casual way she was conducting herself, Aerrow wondered idly if this was in fact the place Starling normally resided while not out on missions. The clutter on the shelves seemed to testify to that theory.

"And it's alright for me to be here?" Aerrow questioned perhaps a little timidly. Though the place was modest, Aerrow couldn't help but feel he was encroaching on something private and intimate to Starling.

"Absolutely," Starling replied sincerely. It was obvious form her openness that she remembered well enough that Aerrow offered to share his home with her too, not so long ago. "I've never told anyone about this place, or let them follow me..." At this, the Interceptor inserted a knowing wink. "So I can absolutely guarantee we'll be fine here. I come here to disappear. It's not even on any of the maps... just a small terra in the middle of nowhere. And this place itself is hidden, too. The building can't be seen from the sky."

Aerrow nodded, impressed with how thorough Starling was. Yet he still didn't know the whole story. As he finished off the last of the bread, he turned to meet Starling's gaze head-on, solemn at the impending seriousness of their conversation. "What happened, Starling?" Aerrow questioned, seeking a detailed answer. "How did you find me?"

Starling's manner also became more grave, though it seemed natural for her. "It hasn't been easy," Starling began. "But I'm sure you know that better than anyone. Although, my situation was slightly different... I have a high status with the council, and naturally when they came to their decision, I knew it was time to vanish. More than one Sky Knight has been pressured into this..."

"Politics," Aerrow remarked dryly, to which Starling gave a knowing nod.

"Politics," she agreed. "Yet the situation could grow to hold more dire consequences if opposition was brought to light. I intend to stick beside your squadron no matter the cost, though I knew that if my stance was made clear to the council, I might find myself without certain... liberties. Either way, I figured I could be of more aid if I kept out of the way."

Aerrow looked like he could understand Starling's actions if not entirely agree, though Starling was far from done explaining.

"I haven't been idle," she clarified. "At first I tried listening in on the different radio signals to get information... but I found they were being monitored, by more than one source nonetheless. Not willing to expose myself, I stayed off the channels, even though I knew it possible that you might try to contact me."

Aerrow nodded. It was the cautious thing to do. "So I resorted to tracking down your team on foot," Starling continued. "I have to say, you're rather good at hiding."

Aerrow laughed darkly. "I wouldn't have thought so," he protested coldly. "It seemed like we did nothing but run into trouble."

"On the contrary," Starling argued gently. "It's impressive you lasted this long. Regardless, I finally caught up to you when you had hitched a ride with Harrier. I was following him, and knew something was wrong when I saw you go with him. However, unsure of how the situation would turn out if I confronted him directly, I decided that the best idea would to simply follow you. It's a lucky thing I did, because from my concealed position beneath the cloud cover, I was able to catch you after you fell. Which reminds me..."

Starling paused her story for a moment as she rose from her chair and walked towards a large cupboard standing in front of the opposite wall. Aerrow tried to look around her to see what she was retrieving, but his curiosity was answered soon enough as Starling returned, two twin blades in her hands.

"What?" Aerrow asked happily, as he took his weapons from her. "How?..."

"They fell along with you from Harrier's skimmer," Starling replied with a small smirk, secretly pleased at the joyous relief on Aerrow's face. "I guess he didn't bother stashing them somewhere secure."

Aerrow's temporary happiness was instantly depleted when Harrier's name was mentioned again. "Why were you following him?"

Starling hesitated a bit, obviously reluctant to approach a certain subject that was drawing close. However, she answered all the same. "I had received news that he was the one responsible for the capture of some of your teammates."

Aerrow rose to his feet in a flash, almost knocking over the side table as he did so. "Who?" he demanded from Starling. "What happened? Are they alright?"

"Take it easy!" Starling ordered calmly. "You'll hear everything you need to know, just calm down."

Aerrow took a deep breath and sat back on the couch, but he remained tense and clearly agitated.

"I regret to be the one to tell you this," Starling said slowly and sadly, hoping that Aerrow would keep a level head. "But three of your squad have been taken to Cyclonia."

"Who?" Aerrow asked it quietly, but the tension and passion that resonated behind that one word spoke loudly enough.

"Stork, Junko and Piper."

Aerrow sighed and looked away briefly, letting the news sink in. So what Harrier said was true. An entire half of his team... he had failed them. While Aerrow's gaze was diverted, Starling let the youth take his moment of silence and eyed him with empathy. She knew what it was to lose fellow teammates.

"Any news of Finn or Radarr?"

"Nothing I've heard." Starling was prompt with her response, and Aerrow spoke in clipped tones.

Aerrow breathed a sigh as he shook his head briefly, trying to adjust. "What happened, Starling? How were they found?"

Starling once again looked uneasy, but knew she owed the Knight any answer she could give. "I think your squad may have actually been looking for me," Starling confessed. "They were found on Terra Mesa. They weren't brought in by the Guardians, but I knew Harrier had something to do with it. He was there with the other squad while it happened."

Aerrow was still full of questions. "Harrier..." the Knight said, thinking back. "He had said there was a fire. What happened..." Aerrow took a breath, trying to take control of his anger and concern. "What happened to them?"

Starling continued to eye Aerrow with understanding. "I don't know the details," Starling defended. "But from what I heard, they generally came out okay. Nothing serious."

Aerrow once again paused in his response to think. Nothing serious...He gave a hollow laugh. Starling was uneasy at his reaction and looked at him with apprehension. Yet she knew enough not to say anything just yet. Aerrow sat as he pretended to think things through, but then the thoughtfulness melted off his face and was replaced by a reckless desire. Aerrow rose to his feet once again and addressed Starling directly.

"Right," he said briskly, with a casual air that alerted Starling's instincts that something was wrong. "No point just hanging around... Starling, do you have a skimmer I could borrow?"

Taken aback, Starling stuttered in her next question. "What? But... where do you plan on going?"

Aerrow, who had been making for the door, turned back to Starling with a genuine expression of confusion. "Well... Cyclonia, of course."

"What?" Starling corrected, also rising from her chair. "Aerrow, wait just a second. There's no way you can go there now!"

"What do you want me to do?" Aerrow snapped back. "Just sit here? My friends are being held in the Cyclonian Tower. If that's where they are, then that's where I'm going."

Starling's face fell, because this wasn't merely the tantrum of a boy who had lost his friends... it was the anger of a leader who had lost his team.

"Listen, Aerrow. We still have no idea what Cyclonis might be planning. I know what you're going through, but this isn't the solution."

" 'You know what I'm going through'?" Aerrow yelled back in frustration. "You're telling me you know what it feels like to be betrayed by your friends?"

"I know what it feels like to lose everything!" Starling corrected him with vehemence, also temporarily losing her composure. "And I was trying to make sure the same doesn't happen to you!"

This outburst surprised Aerrow out of his anger, and he broke eye contact with Starling, ashamed that he had used her to vent his feelings. "...I'm sorry," he conceded after a pause.

Starling was breathing heavily, but sat back down calmly all the same. "Don't be. It's natural for you to feel this way. But if you want to find your friends and free the others, we have to go about this logically. Rushing into situations like this is the worst thing to do. Don't think I'm lecturing you, because I'm not. I'm talking from experience. The first thing I wanted to do when the Raptors had claimed my team was to tear apart Bogaton tree by tree. But I hung back... thought things through... planned my actions. When fighting a war, you can't let emotions get in the way."

Aerrow (who had fallen into a seat while Starling was talking) looked up in disbelief at Starling's last words. "Do you really believe that?"

Starling sighed and looked away, feeling she had said too much. "No," she confessed. "But that is how a soldier should think... It's why so many are able to go along with the treaty. They put aside their guilt and let their own concerns guide them instead. But an asset can also be a disadvantage. All I'm saying is that you should be careful about what you do next, Aerrow. This isn't like any other mission. You can't afford to take this lightly."

"I'm not-" Aerrow was about to protest, but Starling cut him off by raising her hand apologetically.

"You know that's not what I meant," the Interceptor said gently. Aerrow relaxed and leaned back into his chair.

"They're at Cyclonia, Starling..." Aerrow confessed. "They're there because of me."

"No," Starling argued back strongly. "They're there because of Cyclonis."

But her words did little to improve Aerrow's mood. "How long before the rest join them?" the Storm Hawk mused quietly. "Finn? Well... I don't even know where Dove stands anymore. As for Radarr? Who knows..." Aerrow clearly needed some cheering up, but Starling knew that right now there was nothing she'd be able to say. "If only we knew..." Aerrow continued. "Cyclonis... I just can't accept that it would end like this."

A sudden thought seemed to have occurred to Aerrow, and he looked up at Starling. "Why didn't you turn?"

He wasn't accusing her of anything – it was simply curiosity. Starling sighed, yet also gave a small sad smile. "I know no one wants to turn their back on peace," Starling began. "But I would never be able to trust Cyclonis. It was on her orders that the Raptors attacked my team. I know it sounds vengeful, but there are some things that peace simply cannot replace. And I'm not about to make the same mistakes twice."

Aerrow looked sharply at Starling at her last words, and she realized her confession. She looked away, embarrassed, and if Aerrow didn't know her better, he would have suspected that there was a red tinge behind that purple hair. However, what she said had almost completely summarized Aerrow's feelings. No one was willing to give up their chance for peace... And some of what Harrier had said before was also true; the Alliance was not incapable. They had means of ensuring that Cyclonis lived up to the terms of the treaty and of monitoring Cyclonian activity. If only they could show people that the risk was too great... If they could find some evidence, or even a hint of what Cyclonis might be planning...

In the middle of his thoughts, Aerrow looked back to Starling. She had grown quiet while the both of them reflected on their next course of action. To think... she had felt the same way before. Only circumstances had been different then...

...But were they?...

Sensing something approaching, Aerrow looked down in concentration. A treaty... between Cyclonia and the Alliance...

Starling had been staring at nothing, quietly thinking on circumstances, when she was almost startled out of her seat when Aerrow suddenly lunged forward, putting his hands firmly on the table between them.

"That's it!" Aerrow announced spontaneously.

"What?" Starling asked, still a bit flustered. "What's it?"

Aerrow gave a sideways mischievous smile, and the old glint of his daring spirit finally reappeared behind his eyes. It was the look he used to have on the eve of a mission. It was the look of a plan.

"I think I know how Cyclonis is going to break the treaty."