Aero woke up tangled within the thick confines of her comforter and drenched in a cold sweat. While she had been imprisoned on her home world she had never slept; never dreamt, but now that she was free every night was almost hell. She would hover in the realm between nightmare and premonition, always seeing enough to know that whatever the dream showed was bad but she never saw enough to help.
Tonight she had only heard. Chanting, broken glass, and death screams. The worst part was the she recognized the voices; at least some of them were Ienzo, Lea, and Myde. Could her dreams be telling the future of those her conscience mind could not?
If that were true then there was not much she could do now. She had seen too little to even begin to guess at what is to come, but the violet haired girl wrote her observations down just in case. Perhaps tomorrow's sleep would yield a bit more information.
After grabbing an outfit out of her closet and throwing it on, Aero made her way to the cockpit. She was looking forward to being able to look at all the stars outside the big window and think on all the drama life had thrown her way. It was a calming exercise and the solitude would be welcomed. No one else would be awake at four in the morning.
Unfortunately for her, the resident physic did not take into account the sleeping habits of a cretin white haired dark warrior.
Aero and Riku did nothing to acknowledge the other as the seer took her rightful place in the pilot's chair. She could tell that the boy in the chair beside her had something on his mind but she didn't ask. It may have been a question that she could not answer. He had obviously noticed too many things for it to be many other things.
"There we go." She muttered more to herself then anything a few moments latter. Riku looked over and then directed gaze to the root of her own.
It was the oddest thing Riku had ever seen. Although he had never seen a world from space he knew that this one was not normal; not by the way Sora had described them. Instead of one world with its features enlarged to show travelers just where they were going, he saw only a group of small sphere, not unlike a schoolhouse model of a solar system only this one held not dozens of planets but hundreds.
A gasp was heard as the girl read some data off of a screen. With a push of a button, an enormous alarm rang out throughout the entire ship. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Within thirty seconds, Blaze and Terra both came running in the area fully dressed and alert.
"Man the guns and buckle up cus I got a bad feeling about this."
"What's going on?" Blaze asked slightly panicked. Aero was not one to call alarm to a situation. There was something going on that she wasn't telling them. She would not have woken them at this hour for nothing.
"What's going on is that according to the scans, we are about to intrude on a major space battle and it's not going to be pretty. I'm not talking about clearing a Gummy path either. This time it's war." The two boys who had worked with her before knew that when she said the words 'buckle up' you listen, because it was not a phrase the great Stunts said lightly.
Almost before they had a chance to take her advice, the need for it came into play. Outside the window a scene gruesome in it's beauty unfolded. A space craft that had to of been several miles long was being attacked by countless smaller fighters.
Blaze couldn't help comparing the sight to that of ants trying to take down a fully grown bear. Impossible.
"Aero, who exactly are the good guys on this one?" He was actually afraid of the answer, and Aero's bitter little laugh did nothing to quell his fears.
"The underdog. Who else would it be?" She asked as she pulled the ship into a tailspin so fast even she must have gotten a little dizzy. Shots were being fired from all directions and it was not looking good.
Blaze watched as two small ships zipped past them with a kind of grace rarely seen on a battle field. It was, to put it in an overly romantic way, almost a dance. The blond haired boy stole a glance at his friends face and even an idiot could tell that Stunts was impressed. Whoever it was had skill. Mad skill.
Now that he really looked, as he set the controls of his own laser he realized just how beautiful the battle really was. Despite what his history may suggest, he was not easily one to relish bloodshed, but this was different. Blue and red streaks of light across a lighted planetscape with the sun rising just over the horizon. It was not something anyone could ever forget.
"Oh shit!" Aero said with a gasp. Being an ex-oracle gave her special privileges, including seeing exactly what she had to do to give them a chance at saving their own asses. It was not going to be fun (for anyone besides her, at least) , in fact things were going to get a lot bumpier from here on out.
"Hey guys?" She asked unsurely as she followed the two fighters.
"Are any of you religious? Cus if you are, now would be the time to pray." A scary thought, especially when she hit the thrust and aimed the ship directly at the monstrosity ahead.
The yellow fighter did a complete summersault as it sent laser bolts into the side of the giant ship. Within seconds, the blue shield that apparently kept the bad things out in the good things in blinked out of existence just as a set of huge metal doors begin sliding in to take its place.
When Blaze saw exactly what Aero had in mind he screamed. It was not the excited scream of an adrenalin junky skydiving, nor was it the surprised scream one would have made when playing with a jack-in-the-box for the first time. No, this was the scream of a six-year old girl with a habit of still wetting the bed, who was forced to watch a Chuckey marathon. Not pretty.
The moment the ship hit the ground there was a scramble to get out; even Terra walked toward the exit a little faster then normal. It was a depressing thought, seeing how he usually had very good space legs.
In their hurry to get out no one really noticed the two robed figures fighting a small army of robots that were in the hanger with them as well. The light show made from their swords mirrored the civilized grace of the battle that was raged out in space.
Once every metal body had hit the floor, the figures turned to the crew of the unnamed ship and as Aero looked into the eyes of the warriors a million images hit her mind. She was filled with such a cold feeling of dread and despair that she could not help the tears that leaked from her eyes as Blaze caught her, preventing her from sinking to her knees.
"Aero!" Terra and Blaze cried in unison as the raced to catch her.
"It's nothing. Just…just my gift acting up again." She tried to make it seem as if it were a natural, everyday occurrence, but no one was fooled. The blue-eyed man with the scar over his eye narrowed his eyes at her as she fought not to do the same. It would not do to accuse him of the trillions of murders that would be on his hands or fall on his word. He had not done them yet and now was neither the time nor the place.
"That bad, huh?" Blaze whispered. She had told him of the many tragedies she had seen and the many dark souls she had come across in her imprisonment but she had never reacted like this. Wither it had to do with her being free or the particular situation was unclear, but what she said next lead him to believe it was more the former
"You have no idea. Just watch out. It's not safe." She said, latching onto him. As she looked around, she gave a little shout of despair. Parts of the ship were strung from one end of the hanger to the other and what was left in the general form of a ship did not even remotely resemble the masterpiece it once was.
"It's okay, Aero. You can fix it." Blaze muttered, rubbing her shoulder.
"Fix it?! Fix it?! I'll have to totally rebuild it and I built it from scratch to begin with!"
"Weren't you the one driving?" Riku reminded her only to receive a very feline like hiss in return.
"Master, shouldn't we be going if we want to rescue the Chancellor form Grievous?" A young man Aero knew to be called Anakin Skywalker said. His face was set in a hard determination that only made Aero angry, despite her not showing it. All he would do… all the lives… how could she do anything else but hate him?
"You might want your robot to hack into the ship's mainframe and find out just where exactly your friend's being held. I mean, knowing a direction would help in our search, wouldn't it?" The cold sarcasm in Aero's voice told her friends that something was up, but they didn't ask.
Anakin nodded to Artoo, and the little droid got the hint.
"How did you know that we were looking for someone?" The slightly older man, Obi-Wan Kenobi, said. It was clear that he was the voice of reason and decorum between the pair but the hostility was obviously there, just a little more buried then his friends emotions were.
"Why else you be blasting your way into an enemy ship in the middle of a space battle? I suppose it could be sabotage but considering the fact that all of your side's other ships are trying not to hit this one, I figured it's a hostage situation." Terra was dumbstruck. She had time to notice all that in the middle of the battle? He had been more concerned about hitting the bad guys.
"How would you know that? You're probably separatist." Anakin accused, causing her to roll her eyes. Terra knew that she should probably shut up; that the temper that was so like her sister's was going to get them in trouble, but he could do nothing. Once she was fired up, it was all but impossible to cool her down, and considering the seine it was bound to cause, Terra knew better then to attempt it.
"And you're probably Sith. Now do you want to sit hear blabbering or do you want to save your friend. Your choice." Skywalker and Kenobi shared a look and headed over to where the little droid was. Once they were out of ear-shot Terra grabbed Aero's arm.
"What do you think you're doing? If they are the good guys, like you said, then why are you acting like this? It's not you Aero." The violet haired girl could not dispute his logic nor dispel the agony his tone had brought her.
"They're the good guys. For now. You don't see what I see, Terra, and I would never want you to. The darkness we sensed is not Thanroe's making, and it's only going to get worse." The complete horror in her voice took Terra by surprise. She was not one to be frightened by much.
"Well whatever happens hasn't happened yet, so don't act like it has or it will only make things worse." It was the only advice he could give her; it was not like he could empathize with what she was going through. From what he could see both their new friends were good people.
"We should probably follow them." Riku whispered as he felt both Jedi's boring into his back. They were suspicious of them; which made since to Riku. Strangers who show up knowing things that weren't their business with a tiny hostile girl were not usually given a very warm welcome on any world.
Morose hated diplomacy. The entire idea was the antitheist of how she saw the world. Making friends and asking for help was not her thing; she infinitely proffered to do things on her own. If you can not reach your own goal on your own merits then you do not disserve to reach it at all. That was something her brother had never gotten.
Malaton had always been the kind of person who enjoyed working with others. He believed that when you worked in a team then your friends were likely to have found something you missed in a situation.
What a load of bull. No wonder Maleficent couldn't stand him.
If it weren't for Thanroe's genius plain then she would not be here. The boy in front of her could not be more then maybe sixteen and yet he still had that same smile her brother had. The kind that was like a parent hearing a child's amusing tale all the while knowing it wasn't true.
"You think I need your help?" he laughed, "I am infinitely more powerful then your are and besides you don't want to help me. This is all about you."
"I do not want Yoah dead. I will win this tournament and I don't need your help, so I suggest you leave before I loose my patients and kill you." He continued.
Morse's deathly pale face puckered in disgust and astonishment. The nerve! Did he not know who he was dealing with? No matter, she could just use the lamp…
"You are quite mistaken; I am well aware of who you are. I think it is you who was misinformed. Your father's magic would not bind me so don't waist your wish."
Morose was shocked. Could he read minds? If he could then he would know…
"Yes, as a matter of fact I can." He answered just as his watch started beeping. "It's time for my match. For your own sakes, it would be wise for you not to be here when I return."
Despite all he had done, Hao had never seen himself as a villain, but these people were. Their was no question that they were the embodiment of evil, especially the male. Hao may want to rid the world of the petty and corrupt human race but there were some things that even he would not do. Some things so despicable that even the human race did not disserve. Things Hao Asakura would not do. Ever. No many how many times he survived the fires of hell its self.
There were just some cans of worms that did not ever disserve to be opened. Koji Minamoto knew he just so happened to have opened one. He had never told Kouichi this, but he had little intention of ever calling his father's bluff.
He was not ashamed of his brother by any means. His father was just not the type to take well to losing and by knowing that the truth about his first wife and eldest son was no longer a secret, he had in effect lost one of the biggest battles of his life.
Koji would never even pretend to understand, especially since Kousei Minamoto offered no excuse to his betrayal. That fact had hurt the warrior of light more then anything. Was he not even worth the breath it took to give a reason? To explain why ten years of his life was spent wrapped within the confines of a very uncomfortable lie? Along with the lack of excuses came the lack of caring. He had never asked anything about the son he had given up, nor he wife he had left to fend for herself.
Though, thinking back on it, Koji really hadn't given him much of a choice. His exit had been a bit cursory.
"Hey man. What's going on? Koichi called me saying he was worried and you won't answer your cell. And I mean you always answer for him." Takuya asked as he came to sit beside his best friend on the park bench.
"It's complicated." Ever the man of few words Koji did his usual. Answered the question wile giving as few details as possible. Sometimes Takuya could swear that his friend was moodier then his mother when she has her 'Aunt Flow' over. Not that he would ever tell Koji that. One thing you never wanted to do was get Koji mad. That boy was wicked dangerous with a kendo stick.
"More complicated then the time you found out that your arch enemy was your twin brother that you never knew you had? Or what about the time when said twin turned out to be just a spirit and almost died?"
"Yeah, pretty much." He replied nonchalant as ever.
I don't know if it's Kendo that he's so good at but we'll just go with that unless someone can point out the right thing. It's going to be fun seeing how Aero and Anakin's personalities clash. They will either be worst enemies or best friends. Even I'm not so sure yet.
I'm going to West Virginia to visit some family for at least a month so I'm not sure just how much time I'll have to write, but I promise that I will find a way even if it means doing it on paper first *gag.* Also I'm interested to see what said family says about the purple strip I've dyed into my hair. Well… you only live once. Maybe.