Hi. Sorry if I'm not my usual, bubbly, annoying self today - my house has just been burgled. Oh happy days.

Any who, I'm just writing this off the top of my head because my note pad was stolen! So, sorry if it's rubbish…

So please enjoy if it isn't too bad. Oww my head hurts…

Chapter 10

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"Guys, has anyone seen Ember? I need to start her combat training as soon as possible." Aerrow asked the members of his squadron. The only replies he got were a series of shaken heads and a chirp from Radarr. Until Jake walked in, flustered and on the brink of crying.

"She… she's gone…" He handed a note to Aerrow, who read aloud "Dear Storm Hawks, If you have found this note, I'll already be far away. I have left, because what I have discovered is too much for me to keep as a secret from you, but if I told you, I fear you could never forgive me. In the case that you discover the truth, I'm sorry. Especially to you Aerrow. I thought it was best to leave on good terms, so here you are; goodbye, good luck for the future, Ember." Everyone in the room stood silent. Shocked. What could possibly be so bad? "Wait, there's something else. 'P.S. Finn, I've 'borrowed' your skimmer. Sorry'."

"Aww, man! I just polished it!" shrieked Finn, to which everyone gave him the 'shut up' glare. "What? I did!"

"I'm going to go after her. Can I borrow one of your rides? I need to go alone; I have a feeling she'll only talk to Me." said Jake, with new-found authority in his voice.

"Course. Take mine." said Aerrow, before adding "Are you sure you want to do it alone? We'd find her quicker if we were all searching."

"I'm sure. I think I have an idea of where she's got to." Aerrow handed him the keys to the skimmer. "Thanks."

Little over a minute later, Jake had begun his search, heading directly towards the orphanage, while the Storm Hawks looked on from the condor.

"Can he actually fly that thing?" Stork pointed out.

"Oh… forgot to ask." admitted Aerrow, while slight embarrassment showed on his features.

Ember sat sobbing on her bed, which was perched on a heap of rubble - the building had fallen into further disrepair; alongside Finn's ex-cyclonian skimmer, which sat in a crumpled heap of twisted metal.

She sat up. There was a distant noise… but she couldn't quite place it. She'd only heard it recently… a skimmer! One of them must have followed her to bring her back… or had they figured it out?

'I've got to find somewhere to hide!' she thought while clambering over large boulders of collapsed building. A large freestanding section of wall seemed the best option. Now all she had to do was sit and wait for them to go. However, the urge to peek around the corner and watch them suffer a little proved too tempting. She didn't dare admit it to herself, but she found it quite enjoyable in an odd way. But when she saw the long, scruffy, un-brushed hair, she knew it could only be Jake.

After a fairly successful landing, Jake dismounted the contraption and began a thorough search. He called her name every ten metres, and scoured the ground for clues until he came across a thin silvery bangle. Ember's bangle. "Ember. I know you're here." he shouted in no particular direction. "I've found the bangle I gave you for your eleventh birthday."

Ember heard this, and grabbed her wrist. How could she have not noticed? She had cherished that gift from the moment she was given it. She had to have it back… she had to have her best friend back too. She stood up from her hiding place to reveal herself. "Jake I'm here. I'm so sorry."

He turned to find his friend; a filthy, snivelling wreck of a girl.

"Come on Em, what's going on? You normally tell me everything."

"I've found out who my dad is." She replied in monotone and completely without enthusiasm.

"That's great, right?" He just couldn't grasp the situation.

"No. No Jake, it's not. You know how everyone said how I looked like that Dark Ace guy?"

"You can't think some random bloke is your dad just because you look a bit like him Ember, honestly, I thought you'd found out that you're a … vampire or… something weird."

"Jake! I'm serious! It's not just that… I found his diary, and it had a picture of my mum in it - don't ask about that too - They were a couple."

He was finally beginning to understand.

"Oh, and by the way, guess what else there is." but he just stood there silent. "He killed. Aerrow's. Father."

Once again he just stood there, silent.

"Jake. Say something. Jake! Please!"

He looked as if to be thinking something over, then walked back to the skimmer.

"Jake… what are you doing? Where are you going Jake?"

"I'm going to put things right." was his only reply, before taking off back towards the Condor.

"Don't do it… Please don't tell them…"

….

Well that's all for now folks! Stay tuned for the next chapter :)

Turned out a bit better than I thought… but what do you think?

Plz review!

*Yawn* Nighty night people, it's really late.

Ta-ta, Kezzy xxx