A/N sorry its been so long since my last update; I got tangled up reading instead of writing! You have to check out Saerphe's work. They're brilliant.

Anyhoo, on with the fic!

The court was still in chaos as the Dark Ace was dragged out by the guards. Aerrow had to sit down carefully, mindful of his injuries and take a breath.

Kes was still crying in the stand. His guards had abandoned him to help with the capture of Cyclonia's number one man. His team were somewhere behind him. What happened? He thought. Dark Ace was controlling Kestrel, but he was wearing that stupid headdress, did that mean he was being controlled? Aerrow clutched his throbbing head. He felt his body shutdown with the shock of the recent events, his charges, his assault, and the drama of the day. He didn't feel the hand on his back. Someone pulled him upright and he peered at the face.

"Sky Knight Aerrow, are you well?"

Sky Knight? They must be dropping all charges, Aerrow thought absently. He was hauled to his feet but his legs collapsed.

"The charges against the Sky Knight Aerrow of the Storm Hawks have been dropped. He is free to go." Aerrow heard his team cheer, joined by several others in the crowd.

Suddenly Aerrow was surrounded by people talking at him. He couldn't make out what anyone was saying because of the blood rushing in his ears. He saw his team all smiling at him and he tried to smile back. He gained his feet and clutched a nearby table. The chatter around him lessened and they waited for him to speak.

"Aerrow, are you alright?" Piper's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Where's Kestrel?" Piper hesitated. Piper glanced over at the girl still breaking her heart in the stand; no one had gone to her.

"She's still in the stand, Aerrow I think you need to sit down for a moment." Aerrow pushed through the crowd and staggered over to the stand.

Kestrel was on her knees, weeping into her hands. Aerrow clutched the wooden surround.

"Kes?"

A tear streaked, very red face turned towards him. Her eyes widened and Aerrow saw real fear in them. "Please, I'm sorry, I'm, oh I didn't mean any of it, Aerrow," she whispered the last of it and slunk away from him, expecting a blow.

Aerrow reached for her but she batted his hands away, getting more and more frantic as he became more insistent. Aerrow got a hold of her arms and dragged her over to him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

Kes lay stiffly for an instant then melted into his arms. "Aerrow I'm sorry, I love you, I didn't mean to hurt you, I,"

Aerrow's battered and bruised heart soared as she declared her love for him. "Kes, I know, I know, and I love you. Oh gods I need you. Please get rid of those fucking crystals." Kes chuckled weakly and nodded her head into his shoulder.

Kes helped Aerrow up and they walked over to the crowd.

--

Aerrow was glad to be back on the Condor. It had taken three hours of explanations and apologies to get them out of the court and a promise they would not go anywhere tonight. Aerrow walked the bridge, touching instruments and enjoying the silence. The rest of his team was in the mess hall enjoying their supper but Aerrow wanted the solitude. Junko had come up behind Aerrow just before dinner and clapped his hands on Aerrow's shoulders to welcome him back to his ship and Aerrow nearly collapsed. He got so scared he almost ran from the room. Kes had found him on the balcony staring into the distance. She tried to get him to talk about what was bothering him.

She wouldn't understand, he thought, how could any of them.

He kept thinking about it, his brain could not leave him alone for even a minute. Nothing happened, he told himself, and the guards stopped it after only a few minutes, what is the big deal.

The big deal was the thought that it could have been worse; he couldn't fight them off him. And they thought they were in the right. Aerrow groaned and held his still throbbing head. He'd had the worse of his facial injuries seen to by Piper but he couldn't get her to help him with the others. Sitting was still a bit of a problem.

And then there was Kestrel, she had been quiet since they had returned to the Condor. The rest of the Storm Hawks were wary at first but Aerrow had taken her crystals from her and asked Piper to destroy them. Piper had been only too happy to comply. Kes was now back in her rag tag uniform and eating with the crew.

Or so he thought. "Penny for your thoughts commander?"

"They're not worth that much." He turned as she approached. She tucked her self under his chin and held him as if her life depended on it.

"What happened Aerrow? What's made you so edgy?" She held onto his waist but raised her head to look him in the eye.

"Honestly I'm fine. It's just been a hard week. I'm a bit all over the place." Kes knew he was holding something back as she tucked her head in again.

"If you're sure."

--

Aerrow was rudely shaken awake the next morning. Finn's face was the first thing he opened his eyes to. Not the worst thing I've seen when awaking, he thought.

"Come on buddy, they're sentencing the Dark Ace today. It was announced first thing this morning." Aerrow took a moment to come round.

"We need to get to the trial." Aerrow swung his legs round and sat up.

"Yo, dude what happened to you? You all bruised and stuff." Finn turned Aerrow round and checked out the myriad of bruises all over the young commanders back.

"Nothing, just a bit of rough treatment in the prison." Aerrow reached out and grabbed his uniform top. He pulled it on and grabbed his trousers. Once dressed Finn led Aerrow to the hanger bay where the rest of the team was checking their rides out.

"Morning Aerrow," Piper called out. The rest of the team called different greetings.

"Morning guys." Aerrow smiled. Definitely one of the best mornings in a long time.

--

They rode up to the Court room, Kes on the back of Piper's bike and went inside taking seats for the hearing. The room was packed. Aerrow realized they kept his trial hushed up but the trial of the notorious Dark Ace was going to be a popular event.

Aerrow saw his ex rival getting pulled into the dock. He saw Ace had been beaten as well; though it was more likely the guards than the prisoners that did it. Aerrow saw the headdress clearly on his head.

"He's still being controlled. I need to speak to the commander of the guards." Aerrow excused himself from the row and walked over to the dock.

"Come to gloat boy?" Dark Ace spat at him.

"Excuse me, I have information I need to tell the judge before this prisoner is sentenced.

The prosecutor came over. "If you have information then you can be called to testify in the stand. Are you okay with that?"

"Well yeah but it's not what you think." The man just waved him to sit in the witness box. It's going to be a hell of a shock that someone is actually defending Dark Ace, Aerrow thought to himself.

Eventually the court came into session and Dark Ace's crimes were read out. That took a long time. His most recent crimes were the abduction of a sky knight and perjury, forcing another person to lie in court. When asked how he pleaded, the Dark Ace told him to fuck off.

Aerrow was the only witness wanting to speak at the trial, they had so much evidence against the Dark Ace the judge did not see the point but as the sky knight was the victim in the Cyclonian's recent crimes, the judge decided the boy had a right to say what he wanted.

Aerrow smarted a bit at being referred to as 'the boy' but he mounted the stand. Before the prosecutor could ask him a question he interrupted.

"He's being controlled by crystals." The court started to murmur. "His headdress holds controlling crystals, I know because I knocked it off when he held me captive. Ravess put it back on him and Cyclonis must have sent him to control Kestrel."

"Lies! I am not being controlled, I am the master of the Talons, commander in chief, and no one controls me." Dark Ace spat furiously, standing up despite the arms forcing him into his seat.

Aerrow walked over to him. "Ace I know you better than that." Aerrow reached up for the headdress and Dark Ace leaped up, tackling him. Aerrow landed with a thump on his backside. He winced in pain and the Dark Ace took the opportunity to pin him, holding his arms above Aerrow's head.

Aerrow panicked and didn't really feel the Dark Ace being pulled off him. He was helped to his feet and he stood, leaning on the guard. The Dark Ace was still swearing at him as they pulled him back to the dock. Aerrow brushed the guard away and ran up to Ace, he jumped onto the dock surround and grabbed for the headdress. Ace managed to punch him in the face but Aerrow landed holding it.

The court stared at the Dark Ace as the red eyes faded to blue and the face stopped sneering. Ace sat down hard and stared at Aerrow. Aerrow grinned cheekily at him. Ace smiled back in relief.

--

"So you Dark Ace, want us to believe you were under Cyclonis' command this entire time?"

"When I was a member of the Storm Hawks I was captured. When I was released I was in her power. I killed the leader of the Storm Hawks and betrayed the Atmos. I could not do anything to stop myself. It was like being suspended in a dream, not being able to affect the actions of your own body."

"You have been the face of evil and terror for over ten years now, even if what you say is true, you are going to be hated, no one will trust you. If you are found innocent, what will you do?"

"I do not know my lord, I know nothing but being in the air. I would try to find something that I could do."

"He would become a Storm Hawk." Aerrow walked up to the stand, where Ace was giving his statement. "I'd have him on my team any day." The court was murmuring again, this time with outrage. Aerrow turned to Ace, who was as shocked as everyone else. "After all, I need the second best fighter in the air where I can keep an eye on him." Aerrow spoke softly enough so that Ace was the only one to hear him.

"Second best?"

A/N another massive chapter, used to stop at 2 pages on word, now its 5.

Cheers to my reviewers, Biteylove, tege and Bluewizard16, you know I love ya!

XXX

Ps review, you know you want to.