The Outsider

Chapter 2

"Well?", Piper asked the girl, who stood there in silence. Aerrow shook his head in disapproval and gently grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back towards him.

"Piper, that's wasn't really necessary," He whispered to her. She looked at him, noticing the intensity in his green eyes. With a defeated sigh, she replied to him, "I guess."

"Look, I didn't mean to be so…" Piper began, but was interrupted by the sudden tears in the girl's eyes.

The girl's body began to tremble uncontrollably, and her breathing increased rapidly. Her hands held onto her neck, as if she was choking herself.

"What're doing?" Piper yelled, worriedly, trying to pry the girl's hands away from her neck.

A pained scream left the girl's mouth, as she fell to her knees and released her neck. The Storm Hawks backed away a couple of inches, but Radarr made his way towards the girl. He rubbed his head on the girl's trembling fingers, trying to calm her down.

"This can't be real…" She said with trembling lips. Radarr looked up at the girl and nuzzled her hand again, but she gently shoved him away from her. "You shouldn't be real….THIS shouldn't be REAL!" She waved her arms up and down, gesturing to her entire environment.

"Ah..Aerrow." Stork whispered from behind the Sky Knight. "It seems we got a REAL nutcase here."

"Yeah, forget I said that she was hot." Finn joined in, receiving un-amused looks from his teammates. "What?"

The girl brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She rested her chin on them and clenched her eyes closed. Tears streamed down her cheeks, as she whimpered to herself. Radarr stared her with worry in his big eyes.

Junko walked towards the girl, lightly shoving his teammates aside. He knelt in front of her and brought his hands to her shoulders. The girl's eyes popped open at the sudden action, her brown eyes looking up to the young Wallop.

Her body trembled as he lifted her to stand on her feet. She noticed the gentle grin on his face and wiped her tears slowly with shaky hands. "Hey, cheer up!" She heard him. "We're here to help ya."

She let out a small yelp when he suddenly hugged her, lifting her off the ground slightly. Her body froze for a moment before she nervously pushed him away. She nodded her head slowly at him. "Thanks Junko." She said softly.

She knelt down to Radarr's eye level and petted his head. "You, too, little guy." She gave him a weak, but sweet smile, which perked a smile from him as well.

Her knees wobbled a bit when she rose to stand and face the Storm Hawks. Her brown eyes met Piper's orange ones, noticing that they were filled with relief instead of anger moments before. She bowed to her, bringing her upper half down into a 90 degree angle. The gesture made the Crystal specialist flinch.

"I'm sorry, if I offended you in any way, Piper." The girl said, as she stood up straight.

Scratching the back of her head, Piper gave her a look filled with embarrassment and a hint of guilt. "It's no prob. I kinda overreacted back there."

"KINDA?" Finn whispered to Aerrow, only to receive a slight punch in the elbow from the Sky Knight.

"You okay? How're ya feeling?" Aerrow asked, walking up to her.

She could see the worry in his eyes, as well as the rest of the crew. "I'm fine, Aerrow." She looked at Finn and Stork with a raised brow. "I'm NOT a nutcase, Stork. And thank you for complimenting my appearance, Finn, but I don't think my significant other would like that."

The two flinched at her remarks. "How is it you know our names? We've never mentioned them to you." Stork asked, glaring at her wearily with one eye twitching. "You a spy for the Cyclonians?"

"Naw way, man! She's obviously a fan!" The blonde wingman boasted. He looked at her with questioning eyes trailing her overall appearance, head to toe. "So….You're married? You look a little too young to be hitched."

"Alright, I'm 5 feet tall, give or take an inch or two, but I'm definitely a lot older than I appear to be." She eyed him sternly. "And be wise, asking a female for her age is a death sentence in itself."

She noticed his eyes widening in terror and sighed. "Look, I was just joking and….." She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, with her eyes clenching shut. She could feel tears forming again as her thoughts about her home flooded her mind once again.

"I…just don't know…how I got here." She spoke slowly, wiping away the moisture in her eyes. "I mean…I was at home doing my own thing…fell asleep for a couple of minutes…then…BAM! I'm here…"

"So you're from a different Terra?" Junko asked, scratching the top of his head.

"No…I mean…I'm not from HERE." She tried to explain, only to receive confused looks from the Storm Hawks. "Look, let's just say I'm from FAR FAR AWAY from here, I have NO idea how I even here, and I need to find a way back home."

"Hey, don't worry. We'll help you out in any way we can." Aerrow assured her. "That's what the Storm Hawks are known for."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks, guys."

"By the way, what's your name?"

"My name's Eniarrol (enya-ral)."

Aerrow raised his hand to her for a handshake. Eniarrol shook the Sky Knight's hand happily. "Nice to meet you, Eniarrol."

"Call me En for short." She requested after the handshake. "It's simple."

Piper noticed En's current attire and shook her head, baffled at what it's made of. "Judging from your outfit," She spoke to the tan newcomer, "I'd take it you don't have any mode of transportation, right?"

En blushed, looking at her bare feet. "Well…no…"

Piper looked at Aerrow in silent question. He simply nodded in approval with a smile. Her heart swooned for a moment after seeing that dashing smile.

"You can hitch a ride with us. We'll take you to the nearest Terra and we'll see if we can find anything to help you get home. Who knows? Maybe someone from your hometown filed a missing person report on you."

She gave Piper a short nod, but averted her eyes to the side. "I highly doubt that, Piper…" She whispered to herself.

"Alright, guys," Aerrow announced, "Let's pack up and get going. En needs our help."

"But we just got here!" Finn complained. "Me and Junko have been working on some awesome barbeque!"

The young Wallop patted Finn's back. "Hey, don't worry, man. We'll just take it to-go."

A deeply disappointed sigh left the young sharpshooter's mouth as he crossed his arms like a spoiled child. En chuckled a bit as she watched Junko and Finn walked towards the others, his arm over his friend's shoulder.

She watched the Storm Hawks walk off for a short while before she gazed at Tropica's horizon one last time. "I miss home…" She thought. "I hope everyone's okay…"

"HEY, EN!" She heard Piper calling. "WHAT'RE YOU DOING? LET'S GET GOING!"

Piper was some distance from her position. She brought both her hands to her mouth to answer, but the moment she raised her hands, the sharp pain from before stabbed into her side yet again. Her hands immediately clenched her side.

Piper could see En's face scrunching in intense agony. "AERROW! GUYS!" She called to her teammates. "IT'S EN! She's in pain!"

The pain in En's side intensified. Her head was pounding rapidly, and she could barely hear the approaching footsteps of the Storm Hawks. Her throat started to tighten, making it more and more difficult to breath as the seconds ticked by. Her body started to shake uncontrollably, causing her stagger backward, landing into the sand on her back.

Her body rolled to her side and curled into a fetal position. She felt liquid seeping through her fingers. With all her might, she removed her left hand from her side and brought it to her face. Her eyes widened with shock and surprise upon seeing what had covered her hand.

The liquid was black as ink, but thick like blood. The metallic scent it emitted confirmed it. Her vision began to darken and a ringing sound shot through her ears. Her black blood surged profusely through her fingers, forming a small pool at her side. Her breathing started to slow and numbness took over her body. The taste of metal dripped into her gaping mouth. All she could hear was the muffled voices of the approaching Storm Hawks.

Darkness took over…and the pain finally stopped.

"Mother…mother…" Said an unknown voice. "Okaasan…shinde…kudasai…"

A/N:

Translation for the last line

1. "Okaasan...shinde...kudasai" (Mother, please die [Japanese])

Thanks for the review, Piper-st. :)