He awoke not long after Sirus left. Confused and a little drowsy, he tried to ask where Sirus had gone to. After some confusion, Baldr finally understood.

"He went to give the other lot a hand with some heavy loads he said...over there..." he indicated the entrance to the cave. Cortes stood, wobbled, but unaided managed to wander outside. It was still pretty dark, and he couldn't see too well. But at last he spotted a group of people emerging from the caves makeshift entrance, lugging boxes of supplies. Thunder cracked the air and he jumped. So noisy...

But all this wet weather had worn away at the rock face, and inevitably parts of it had started cracking, coming loose. One large chunk snapped free and plunged down towards the group of pirates.

He panicked, he wouldn't reach in time..

"..MOVE IT!!" a loud shout echoed across the way, startling the rebels, who seen the rock bounding towards them and legged it sideways.

It took Cortes a second to realise just who the voice had belonged to. It'd been his own.

--hawuh...did that injection...fix it..?-- he stood there, stunned his hand at his throat --was it possible..?--.

"Thank god for that..." Wayan sighed "nice timing captain...wait," he did a double take "did...you just start talking again??"

Cortes shifted, shrugged, "uhm...seems...like it..." he said slowly, hesitant to believe it was really him.

He scratched his head and tucked a strand of hair behind him ears. And felt a lack of feathers there.

"They're gone..." he said quietly.

"Alright! you're ok now!" Mahad cheered. "now ya gotta just lose the tail.."

"That...would be good.." Cortes smiled. He still felt a little awkward talking again, but that would fade.

He zipped into the caves to find Sirus, wanting to surprise him. He snuck up slowly behind him. Dahlia spotted what he was up to and had to fight not to laugh.

Sirus got the shock of his life when a loud "BOO!" erupted from behind him, and someone's hand clapped his shoulder. He whipped round, coming face to face with a grinning Cortes.

"Gah, don't do that Aran!" he scolded, then realised...

"Heh, sorry" Cortes said clearly. Dahlia was laughing fit to bust at the whole incident, but was relieved to hear Cortes talking again.

"How did...when did your voice come back?" Sirus asked him, poking his nose. Cortes smiled, stepping close and nuzzling against the other.

"Hmm just now.." he said softly "still...little rusty though..."

"I'm sure it'll all come back soon enough..." the angel smiled, running a hand through Cortes hair "those little feathers have gone...maybe the mutations are reversing.."

"I hope so..." Cortes said with a sigh "I just want...to feel like myself again. Not some cross-breed..."

"It doesn't matter what you are..." Sirus whispered so only his aran would hear "I'll still adore you"

Cortes blushed a deep shade of red, and dahlia wondered just what the captain's partner had said to make him turn that shade.

The angel smiled and hugged him gently, "we'll see how it goes. Maybe it'll cure the lot..."

Cortes nodded, but oddly enough, at the thought of losing his wings, he felt almost sad...

It bothered him the whole way back to the Nazaire, where he was tackle-hugged by Cheng, and asked a million questions.

He made to go towards his usual seat, but was nudged in the direction of his room by Sirus. Who insisted he wasn't going to be working for at LEAST a week.

But first, a shower. After being soaked yet again, Cortes desperately fancied a nice warm wash. His lower back hurt...

It continued to hurt even after the shower, and he twisted and turned in his sleep, as the fast-acting drug ran through his system, seeking out the virus it had been created to stop.

The ship took off, with everybody on board. Darius and Baldr followed in their odd little craft, as Cortes had suggested they follow them to avoid getting lost. Looked like Puerto Angel was getting some new residents..

They were fast approaching home by the time he finally woke up. At least his back had stopped hurting. Rubbing his lower back he stumbled over to the window. Then realised what was missing. The tail feathers. Looking back over at the bed he seen them. They must've slipped loose during the snooze he'd been having. He picked the biggest one up, amazed at the length and size of it. It was kind of pretty, but boy was he glad to be shot of them.

"Mngh..you ok aran?" Sirus finally sat up from where he'd been snoozing beside Cortes. "what happened?"

Cortes grinned, "see?" he turned round to show him, lifting the shirt and jacket out of the way "no tail!"

Sirus blinked, sure enough, it was as if the feathers had never been there, only a faint scar marked the spot they'd pushed through. He gave Cortes butt a comforting pat as he stood up. "Looks good to me" he said cheerfully, as Cortes went red.

"I think.." Cortes sighed "that the wings..probably wont fade...they've been there too long. The serum cured these because they were so recent...I have the feeling..it wont affect them..."

Sirus looked at him, noting his expression and tone of voice "is that what you want..?" he asked at last.

Cortes thought about it, the feathers from his tail in his hands. "yeah...I think it is.." he smiled "if it wasn't for them after all, I wouldn't have gotten to know a certain person"

Sirus blushed faintly, and kissed Cortes gently "as long as you're happy love.." he said softly "then that's fine by me"

But even though he smiled, Cortes had another doubt bothering him.

As they all disembarked he watched the crew closely, seeing how they seemed to get on so well. Did they really need him there, they seemed capable of surviving without him. He shook his head, dislodging the thought, but his chest ached slightly. He sat through the doctors examination with barely a word, which the doc found slightly odd.

Cortes tried everything possible to hide his doubts from his lover, and it worked barely. One morning, several days alter, the day before he was due to be allowed back to work, he decided he had to talk to Wayan.

Sirus was off on a water scout mission, so the angel couldn't scold him for over-stressing himself. He started putting his uniform on, but something stopped him, and he left the garment thrown over the back of a chair, instead option to put on an ordinary white sweatshirt and plain black trousers. He tore a hairbrush through his hair and tucked it behind his ears as was the habit since he'd cut it. Then, with a soft sigh, he wandered outside to locate his second in command.

He eventually located him at the repair yard. He was aware a lot of people were casting funny glances his way, never before had he been spotted out of his uniform. Mahad, on a fetching mission for his mother, gawped. Cortes minus the uniform. Something HAD to be wrong. Add to the evidence the guy looked worried about something, and hey presto! Something was going on here...

Wayan looked up as he heard the captains voice, and did a double-take. "Everything alright captain? I've never seen you out of uniform before.."

Cortes sighed, and shifted slightly "..that's what I wanted to talk to you about..." with a sigh he began..

One explanation later:

"You want to WHAT?!" Wayan screeched. Cortes sighed, perching himself on the railing. "I want to retire from this..."

"But..why sir?" Wayan asked dumbfounded/ Cortes seemed miserable at the idea, so why suggest it.

The captain sighed, the wings flapping "this virus...the mutations...its all been too damn much...I know how ive been acting. Careless, reckless...I keep lashing out at people for no reason...I cant control the virus' effects...its wearing me out..."

Wayan frowned, seeing Cortes so unhappy was a sad sight, did the captain really think he wasn't fit to do his job?

"Basiclly..i don't want to be putting any of the crew in danger with my stupid behaviour...what'll happen if I lose my temper again? someone might get hurt..." he shook his head, jumping down from the railing and walking away "I cant risk it. Ill make a formal announcement later on.."

Wayan stared after him as the winged figure walked away. This was bad. The virus was making one of the best pirates in sky land doubt his abilities. --Sorry captain, but I don't think any of us believe you really want to quit. Something else is behind this..-- he went off to fetch the Vector.

Mahad spotted Wayan as he headed for the lighthouse, and went with him. There they ran into Mila and Marcus, who were having lunch with the Vector. Wayan gave them the whole story of Cortes shock announcement.

"--He really seems set on this, but you can tell its not what he really wants."

"He must think he doesn't have a choice.." Vector said "he's afraid he'll hurt someone? I doubt it.hes always had a crabby temper, since when did that matter?"

"Exactly!" Mahad said "but we need to get him to rethink this...its like he doesn't believe he can do his own job anymore.."

"Then we simply need to show him he can!" Marcus said at last. He stood up "I'll go talk to him, see if he'll listen..."

As his dad left, Mahad had an idea. If Cortes needed proof, why not get it? Grabbing a writing pad he enlisted his sisters help and they ran down to the town, to see what people thought of Cortes' loopy decision.

It took Marcus a fair while to find him. But eventually he located Cortes on board the docked Nazaire. The captain was standing in the middle of the meeting room he used as his private study cabin.

Hearing footsteps the winged human jumped, whipping round, coming face to face with Marcus.

"Gah! don't sneak up on me like that!" he said, heart pounding in fright.

"Whoops!" Marcus announced, then looked sternly at him. "Wayan gave us some bullcrap about you apparently wanting to quit. That's a load of rubbish, right?"

Cortes' expression went cold "I hate to disappoint you, but its NOT." he shook his head "I cant control this..damn mutated virus. Even with the mutations halted, I cant risk putting anyone in danger. The incident in the hospital in indication enough. One moments frustration, and the place looked like a tornado hit it..." he looked at the other pirate "what d'ya thinkd happen if someone got between me and whatever im pissed at? Its too. damn. risky. I WONT TAKE THAT CHANCE!!"

Marcus didn't answer for a moment. Then he stepped up to Cortes and slapped him pretty hard across the face. Cortes staggered back, a confused and shocked look on his face.

"Don't be stupid!" Marcus said "listen to yourself! You didn't let yourself get to this state when you went to rescue that lover of yours did you? I've met plenty of people thatre far more violent then you, and you know what I taught them?" he grabbed Cortes shoulders and glared at him sternly "any fool can make excuses for himself, but it takes a really strong person to admit they have a problem...and work around it! You of all people, are no fool, you've proved that enough times!"

Cortes didn't say anything, stunned into silence by the smack across the face, then the ensuing lecture.

"But..." he started, but Marcus cut him off again.

"No buts, CAPTAIN." he stressed the rank, indicating he wouldn't refer to him by any other title. "you're crew doesn't just NEED you to stay, they WANT you to."

There was a knock at the door, and the two kids stuck their heads round. Seeing they'd found who they were looking for, they came in.

Cortes shifted, aware Marcus was giving him that "snap out of it or ill slap you again" look.

"Something I can help you with?" he asked at last, rubbing at the slightly sore bruise where Marcus had clocked him.

Lena held out the writing pad, hidden behind her back, she was carrying something else, "we thought we'd see what everyone thought about you're little announcement, here's what they told us to tell you.."

Cortes took the pad, and opened it up the first page. He flipped through it and the following pages. Each was full of little comments, all protesting his attempted retirement.

One that made him laugh simply said "I told Conrad the news an he bit me. Go back to work you daft goit" obviously from Christophe.

"That's the biggest load of crap captain. You quit and everyone else will. Either you show up for work tomorrow or me and Wayan will drag you thee" - that one was courtesy of Dahlia. she sure knew how to get her point across.

"Even I can tell the chance of you actually WANTING to quit work are about the same as brigs learning to tap-dance. Now listen to your father and quit being silly" -Ames of course.

The rest of the comments pretty much said the same. People were outraged at the idea of him quitting.

He stayed silent, just staring at the pages.

"If it gets too much, just say so..." Mahad said at last "someone else can do the work for you. that way you wont be stressing and losing your marbles. You can trust someone else to cover for you, right?"

"You don't need to quit because of the virus, just do a little less work every now and then!" Lena piped up.

Marcus looked from the kids to the captain "they've got a definite point there bud, you're letting the stress get to you, hence the silly ideas."

He paused before continuing "now, care to repeat you're statement from before?"

Cortes couldn't say anything, all he could do was shake his head, the pad clutched tightly in his hands. Marcus nodded "thought so. Now unless you're going to come out with any other lame-assed suggestions, perhaps a trip to the tavern would help.."

Cortes sighed, but nodded. As they stepped outside, a chilly breeze whipped round them. Cortes shivered, the thin sweater wasn't too good as far as warmth went.

Lena grinned and held up what shed been hiding behind her back. It was the captains jacket. "Thought you might need this back.." she added.

Cortes blinked at her, then couldn't help smiling. "That I do...thanks.." he felt a familiar warmth, a feeling of comfort as he pulled the jacket on.

As the kids ran on ahead, Marcus suddenly realised something, and smacked his head with one hand.

"What?" Cortes asked, baffled.

"I just realised...that Sirus guy's gonna want to kill me." he said sheepishly "if I remember correctly, he's known for lynching anyone that even puts a hand on you.."

"He's not that bad..." Cortes laughed softly "he can be a it over protective sometimes.." he flushed faintly.

"And he's gonna go nuts when he sees that.." Marcus said, indicating the bruise on his cheek.

Cortes laughed softly "I wouldn't worry about it. You had every reason to, I was acting like an idiot."

"Damn right you were, but you wouldn't be human if you didn't." he looked at the captain "part of being human, is getting frustrated. But its also about getting over it. That virus will only affect you if you LET it. Don't think about it, focus on how you WANT to think.."

Cortes thought ab out it, and a faint smile edged its way across his face. He felt better now, as if months of frustration and feelings of helplessness had been brushed away. Marcus was right. Trying to protect the crew by hiding from them would only have brought more pain. He loved his job, deep down, and he didn't want to stop it. In a moment of panic, it had seemed like a good idea, just run away...

As soon as they entered the tavern, Cortes was assailed by a crowd of people, mostly his crew. He calmed them down and embarrassedly explained he'd made a mistake with his announcement to Wayan. The ensemble cheered, and he felt a flood of relief.

--I was getting worked up over nothing...they're right, I need to start handing over some of the work sometimes...--

Some half an hour later, he heard over the radio that the water scouts hand returned. He hastily scuttled off to meet the ship. He wanted to see Sirus. Maybe it was another bird trait, but he hated being away from his chosen 'mate'.

The ships crew were surprised when the captain showed up to greet the ship, wearing an outfit that WASN'T his uniform. They were more then a little baffled. But Cortes was only interested in one person, and he legged it on board to catch him alone.

Sirus looked up as someone came tearing into the room.

"Aran?" seeing his love looked fidgety, he pulled him into a hug and nuzzled his nose gently "what's the matter-?" here he spotted the bruise on his cheek and twitched "-just tell me who it was and I'll show them the inside of their head!"

Cortes shook his head "no...it..well..." he started explaining the whole story, finishing with Marcus clocking him. Sirus looked pissed "legendary rebel or not, he's so dead-" he was cut off by another kiss.

"Please don't...if he hadn't done that. I probably would've done something selfish..." Cortes said pleadingly, and Sirus couldn't help but give in. The one talent he lacked was saying no to cutie Cortes.

"Alright love...if you're sure..." he said at last, brushing a hand against the bruise gently. Cortes smiled and squeezed his hand.

"Thank you.." he said quietly, kissing him again.

The whole trip, Sirus had been bored silly. Now that he was back with his precious Aran, everything was OK again. He was still a little mad Ferrell had the nerve to smack aran, but since his love didn't seem angry, he'd let the guy live.

"Hmm do we have to go the tvaern..right away" he murmured, nuzzling his lovers neck.

Cortes squeaked as a shiver ran up his back. "hnhh..no" he grinned cheekily "and I do believe this ship has a living quarters on board"

"I'm sure they wont miss us for a little while" Sirus suggested, and Cortes blushed, a cheeky smirk on his face...

Some time later:

"Whoops...now they'll have defiantly have noticed were gone..." Cortes admitted sheepishly.

"Eh, so what" Sirus said nuzzling him "you can do what you want cutie"

"Everyone's gonna be suspicious we've been gone so long..." Cortes laughed.

"It's your fault" Sirus sulked jokingly "if you weren't so damn cute, I wouldn't keep wanting to sneak you away"

Cortes raised an eyebrow, then cracked up laughing.

"You goofball.." he sniggered. "That's a load of-mweeh?!"

Their attempts to leave the room were lengthened for a further period of time as Sirus decided to prove his point. heh.

Even Later:

"Ehe...finally we left..." Cortes sniggered. Beside him the angel couldn't keep the sneaky grin off his face.

He'd noticed how frustrated and agitated Cortes had seemed when he'd come to talk to him. So he'd decided to deploy his favourite tactic for making Cortes feel better...cart him off to bed! 3 (he really thinks its the cure for everything...and its not like Cortes has argued XD)

They ambled back to the tavern eventually, and made a rather pointless attempt to explain their lengthy disappearance.

Mahad opened his mouth to make a dodgy comment, but Lena whapped him upside the head before he could start.

Cortes watched them and smiled. Those two got along great as siblings went. He was still getting used to his own big brother being around, but he was glad he'd come home.

He blinked, noting Sirus was watching them as well, and he looked somewhat sad.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly, "you thinking about him?" HIM referred to Anubis, Sirus loopy twin. He'd been built to almost 90 completion, then scrapped by the sphere, as his attitude programming g was considered faulty. He'd been recovered from a scrap warehouse by Macs group of pirates, and they let him run around loose with his corrupt personality files. Which had nearly gotten Cortes and Sirus killed. But Cortes and Marcus had detonated the loons canon, and the resulting explosion was assumed to have killed him, and if that hadn't, the following rubble pile was sure to have, right?

Sirus sighed "yeah...I guess I wish I could've helped him. If I could've looked at his programming, I could've done something...given him the chance at life he wanted..." he shrugged "but. I guess it cant be helped...he's gone now..."

Little did Sirus know, he was abut to have his wish granted.

Wheeo...theres a possible 3rd fic here XD involving the other angel. Now that ive been able to get some sense outta Arsehat, ive been able to get to my fic again

Random Fact: i havent slept properly in nearly 2 weeks! bweeeh...im going cross-eyed here...