I just stood there for a while beside the bed. Just standing there watching him sleep. My ears back. He looked so calm now. So calm now that we had fucking drugged him. Forcing him to sleep. I felt so bad. Like this was all my fault that he was like this now. My fault that those birds had been taken away. I was the leader. I should have seen what was going on. I should have seen what was going to happen. I knew that he was acting weird but I did nothing about it. I just stood by and let it happen. I should have stopped him the first day he had brought them back. The first day when he snapped at me in a very out of character sort of way. It was my fault. I should have done something. Anything. Now we were here. Peppy stood there beside me. I was guessing that he could read the look on my face because he said the thing that I really didn't want to hear right now but probably needed to hear.

"It's not your fault."

"I know but it feels like it is. I should have done something."

"I was there too you know." Peppy stated. "I saw how he was acting. How he snapped at you. How he was distancing himself. I could have done something but I didn't."

"Yeah but you're not the leader. It's my job to make sure everyone comes back safely during a mission. It's my job to protect everyone. I failed. I couldn't protect him from those, those Fucking rocks." I said sadly and with obvious frustration. My ears going back even farther. I sighed. Now what? How was I suppose to help him now? I hesitantly walked out. Peppy followed.

"We should probably tell the General about Jay." Peppy stated.

"No... He probably already came to the conclusion that Jay was affected too. Besides I don't want him shipped off to some lab or wherever they took those other birds." I replied.

I guess that it was unavoidable but the General had gotten in contact with us. We had to drag our asses to meet him in his office. We told him Jay had been affected too like he obviously knew for a fact before hand. Then we had to spill that whole story about how we had found the stones in the first place. About Jay's weird behavior and well everything. No subject had been left untouched.

"'We are the shadows' huh?" The General asked seeming to be in deep thought.

I nodded.

"Yeah. I don't understand what's going on. They're just stones."

"Wait." Peppy interrupted.

We all looked at him.

"Remember before we went to save that city he had seen the creatures somewhere before? He seemed kind of... spacey." Peppy continued.

"Oh yeah. And he couldn't remember where but he swore that he had seen them somewhere." I said thinking now too. "But that doesn't explain why it's only affecting the birds."

"Guess we'll have to interrogate the bird when he wakes up." Pigma said with a joyful smile that bothered me immensely.

"You cause him any physical harm you'll suddenly find yourself as the ships personal maid." I threatened.

"Whatever." Pigma shrugged.

"I have to agree with that idea." The general informed us.

"(You can't be serious!)" I thought but didn't dare say.

"We need all of the information that we can get." The general continued. "Dismissed."

We exited. I was so tempted to strike Pigma. That joyful smile still plastered onto his face. But I couldn't hit him. I had to focus on this stone problem. I had spent my time pacing the ship and checking on Jay almost constantly. The drugs kept him out for awhile. When he did finally wake though. I made sure that I was there. He was much more calm which was good. The red color that had stained his eyes had hardly dulled if it had at all.

"Jay?" I asked still unsure.

"I...need it." He mumbled yawning sleepily.

I sat down and put my head in my hands. Well my hope of him just waking up and well being Jay again had been crushed.

"No."

"Need it... Obey." He mumbled before closing his eyes again.

"Oh Jay. What happened to you?" I questioned hopelessly.

I looked up when I heard the door open. Peppy looked in.

"Sauria is under the attack of those things." He stated.

I stole one last look at Jay and headed out. We shot through the skies shooting and destroying the flyers. I noticed that they were tougher this time around. Basically we just did the same thing that we did last time. It longer this time due to the numbers and there quickly increasing skill. I just had to cover the skies first before I went to help the other team that the general had hired to cover for all of the birds that were taken away. I remember almost losing hope. That is until I got back to my Arwing. Peppy told me some news as we flew back to the ship.

"James. I just got some news a few minutes ago." Peppy informed me.

"Hm? What is it?" I urged.

"It's about the birds. Most of them are fine now. It seems that the effects of the stones wears off." Peppy explained.

"Really?! That's great!" I exclaimed my hope returning.

"That means that Jay should be fine eventually." Peppy added.

We sped back to the ship. I walked to Jays room. I brushed the stones off of the desk and into my hand. I was about to leave but stopped as a thought came to me. I dropped to my hands and knees. I searched the floor and sort of cleaned the room a bit as I searched for any stones that may have fallen. Once he moved back into his room I didn't want any stray stones to screw him again. I found like twelve. I was glad that I looked. With more thoro search I exited and made my way to the kitchen. I dropped the stones into a ziplock bag.

"James!"

I looked back hearing my name. A few seconds later Pigma entered.

"Dude! Jay escaped while we were gone!'

"W-what? No! That's impossible!" I responded as I followed the pig to the infirmary. Sure enough the restraints that had held him were undone and Jay was gone.

"No." I said again. "How? There is no way he could've escaped on his own."

"Exactly..." Peppy said thoughtfully. "But who came onto the Great Fox and let him go?"

"Well let's see." Pigma said pointing to the camera.

We all mentally agreed and rushed to our little control room with the camera footage up and ready to be played in no time. We watched. After a few minutes or so of Jay just sleeping we fast forwarded.

"There!" Peppy announced as a figure entered the screen.

A canary whose feathers looked like they were turning black.

"Who the hell?" Pigma wondered out loud.

We watched as the bird undid the restraints that bound Jay. Throwing off the covers he tossed Jay over his shoulder and started away. We paused. His eyes were a brighter red than Jay's had been if that was even possible. I swore. That canary kidnapped Jay! Now that we knew, what were we suppose to do? He definitely didn't look like he was from Corneria. Who was he?

"Wh... Why are his feathers turning black? He's a canary." Peppy questioned.

"Do you think it's the stones? Do you think that Jay's feathers would start turning black if he was exposed to the stones for much longer?" I wondered.

"Lets hope that we never have to find out... Now let show this to the General. We need to figure out who he is and where he went." Peppy pointed out.

I nodded in agreement and we were off. We quickly got ahold of the General and sent him the tape. It didn't take long for him to respond.

"So. Do you think you could figure out who that bird was?" Peppy asked of him.

"I'll give it a try but I can't make any promises." The General explained almost sadly.

I guess he was sad to have lost one of his best mechanics or he was sad to not be able to help us as much. Sure I was a little sad too but mostly worried about Jay but THEY HAD JAY. That ment that he would be on their side and he knew knew all of our ships and weapons inside and out. That ment that we were at a disadvantage. We had to find him and bring him back before they had him building things for them. They'd be our weapons only I don't know BETTER. They'd end up cushing us. I started pacing as I thought over what had happened in the last... hours. The attack on Sauria. Jay was kidnapped. Wait. Was the attack just a diversion so that they could get to Jay? No. Now I was just reading into it too much. But they went after Jay and no one else... maybe it had to do with how long he was exposed to those stones. If that wasn't the case then they just took him because of his skills. Dammit Jay. You always have to get yourself into the worst situations don't you? Now... where would they go? Where would they take you Jay? I combed my fur back with my fingers. I felt so stupid. Like I should know this. Where? Where?... WHERE?... The cave! Duh! I really was stupid.

"Th- That cave!" I shouted out in realization. Peppy and Pigma looked at me like I was crazy. "That cave where we found those stones. That's where that bird took Jay. I'm sure of it. And and that's where their so called master has to be too. They have to be deeper in that cave." I rambled on.

"So where is exactly is this cave?" Peppy asked.

"Remember that planet where Jay got those stones from? It's in that thick forest outside the city."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go." Pigma stated pulling out a rope.

Pfft. Let it go. With that we were off without so much as a hint to where we were going. It took some time to reach the planet but we made it. With in what seemed like no time at all we all we were searching the forest. I led the way to the well hidden cave. We slid down into black stones were difficult to see in the darkness. We followed the dark cave paths deeper and deeper.

"How deep does this thing go?" Pigma whined.

I stopped causing the other two to run into my back.

"Sh. Listen." I whispered.

They did so. We could hear speaking. We slowly proceeded. There was a dull light up ahead. Finally an end to all of this darkness. I slowly peeked my head around the corner. I couldn't believe it. There were so many of those black creatures... Jay. He and many others birds along with the dark creatures were kneeling in front of this much larger shadow and it was speaking!

"So that's their master." I whispered my voice barely audible.

With bowed heads they all listened to the creatures preaching and orders. It's voice was more like a growl. It basically told them of how their numbers were growing and victory was near. When the larger shadow stood and exited through the path behind it's stone throne they all scattered. I kept my eyes on Jay and I watched him exit through the path on the far left side of the room. We struggled to remain undetected as we made our way over to the path ducking behind stalagmites and mounds made of the same substance that the black stones were made of. We followed the path to a large room. Uh oh. These were the enemies ships.

"Looks like they already have him working on their ships." I stated.

"This isn't good." Peppy said plainly.

Jay stood on one of the larger ships wings examining the damage. We slowly approached hoping that he wouldn't notice us until it was too late. He wore his usual headphones and was probably listening to techno like always. Why he liked that stuff I could only guess. With a sigh he started to work on it. He soon leaped down and started doing what he had done to another damaged area. He stopped and that made me think that he had noticed us for a second. But he only reached over to the stone covered wall. He pulled off a chunk. I thought that he was going to hook it up to the ship or something but instead he took a bite out of it. That made us react. We ran to him. Peppy yanked the rest of the stone out of his hand. I performed the heimlich maneuver on him forcing him to cough out the stone fragments onto the cold cave floor. I covered his mouth before he could call out to those creatures for help. Pigma help me restrain him when he tried to get away.

"How're we going to get out of here?" Peppy questioned.

He had a point. What do we do now?

"Easy. We steal a few of these ships." Pigma suggested as he started to bind Jay.

"I guess that's the only option that we've got." I responded.

So then we escaped on one of their ships. Sure we got shot at and we could've like been shot down and killed by Jay too if he managed to free himself but I'd say that it was worth it.

So does anyone out there like this story? Please just give me a hint. Good? Bad? Any crits? Bad crits work too. Actually better because than I know what I do wrong.