And here's the rest of the story, Enjoy!
Finn rubbed his eyes as he walked onto the bridge. It was gone midday, but it was morning to the late night rocking Finnster.
He yawned and reached for a bowl of cereal. Making his way to the central seating, Finn started chomping and looked round at the other occupants of the bridge. Stork and Junko were inspecting some valves, no doubt for some minor fault Stork's sensitive ears had picked up. Piper was sat quietly with a set of scrolls at the table. Radarr was nowhere to be seen: he would be with Aerrow, wherever he was.
But when Radarr walked in alone five minutes later, Finn started to wonder where Aerrow actually was. It was unusual for Radarr to be very far from his friend for any length of time, especially if he had the chance to hitch a lift on his shoulder.
In fact, now Finn came to think about it, he hadn't seen Aerrow since early last night. And the Sky Knight was always the first awake, an early riser. He swallowed his last spoon of cereal.
"Where's Aerrow got to?"
Everyone but Piper turned to regard him.
"Probably in the training room." Junko suggested. "Haven't seen him."
"Not even for breakfast?" Finn asked.
Junko just shrugged.
"Radarr?"
The blue creature whined and laid his ears back in a negative.
"What? You haven't seen him either?" Radarr nodded. Finn was very surprised at that. "You share a room, you must've seen him!" Radarr shook his head. "Um, okay. This is getting kind of weird now. I'm gonna go find him."
Finn knocked on Aerrow's door, but it opened to his touch. The room was empty, and weirder still, the bed was empty and the covers were neatly smoothed out, as if it hadn't been slept in since the night before. When Radarr appeared by his feet, Finn asked the creature, "Did Aerrow sleep in here last night?" Radarr whined again and shook his head. "Where on Atmos is he then?"
Piper was sulking. She'd spoken barely a word to anyone since last night and the anger that had gripped her so strongly before was now simmering under the surface.
But stronger than that was the beginnings of guilt starting to rear its ugly head. She hadn't meant to lose it so much like that, and she didn't really believe anything she had said to Aerrow. But she was still angry. And she wasn't about to start going looking for Aerrow when he wasn't even ready to apologise.
It was an hour later when Radarr stopped suddenly to sniff at a hatch to the outside of the Condor and point up at it. Finn was bored of searching the ship but he was getting worried now. This was one of Aerrow's favourite places to calm down after a busy day. Without hesitation, he pushed open the hatch and climbed out.
At first Finn thought it was some strange creature perched on the hull of the ship, but when he looked closer he could see it was Aerrow, sat hunched up in a tight ball, staring aimlessly out at the clouds. His hair was limp and wet like his clothes and the occasional shiver racked his body.
"Aerrow!" Finn knelt down by his friend. "Dude I've been looking all over for you! Why are you so wet?"
"Rained." Aerrow mumbled, not even looking at Finn.
"Aerrow? You haven't been out here all night have you? Radarr said you didn't go to bed last night." Finn took Aerrow's silence as an affirmative. "Why did you do that? You're freezing!"
"I'm fine." Aerrow said, his voice becoming a little stronger, despite the tremors in his arms.
"You don't look very fine to me. Come on, let's get in the warm." Finn watched him warily, this was so un-Aerrow like of him. Finn was reminded of their time together as kids, when Aerrow would hunch up like this, full of doubts or nervousness. But he hadn't seen that side of Aerrow for years, not since he went to the Academy to become a Sky Knight.
Aerrow sighed. "Finn, can I ask you something?" Aerrow began rubbing his arm, trying to get some feeling back in them.
"Course you can, the Finnster is right here, chicka cha!"
"Do you think I'm...Do I-"
The Condor's alarm drowned out the rest of Aerrow's words.
"Talk later, come on!" Finn paused for only a moment to look at Aerrow, worry in his eyes, before they flicked to the horizon where a row of red dots signalled approaching talons.
Aerrow jumped into the seat of his skimmer, Radarr already in position. His team was ready behind him, eager faces ready for the thrill of the fight.
"Let's show these idiots who's the man!" Junko punched his fist into the air.
"Um, the Dark Ace is with them again, so, you know, a victory like yesterdays would be good." Stork's voice came over the intercom.
"Haha! Don't you worry Stork. We've got Aerrow, what could go wrong?" Finn, Junko and Radarr grinned at Aerrow. All he saw was the cold look from Piper and how she turned away from him and started her engine. He slumped in his seat as they others took off from the landing strip.
"Hey Aerrow come on!"
Aerrow took off as Finn's voice came through his radio, and he flew into the battle, eyes downcast.
The talons were no match for the Storm Hawks. Finn blasted several off their skimmers with ease as Junko punched his way through others and Piper knocked the rest off. The pump of adrenaline in her veins let Piper throw out all her anger and frustration and she felt herself starting to smile again.
Aerrow fired a few blasts from his daggers to unseat the first talons he came in contact with. He didn't jump up in his seat or stand on the wings or use any complicated moves. All he could think about was Piper's scowl at him. He wouldn't do anything to show off.
But as the Dark Ace flew straight for him and slashed at him from above, blood red sword snarling, Aerrow was forced to barrel roll away. He smelt burning and saw the tip of his hair had been singed because he barely moved in time.
"Another day Aerrow and we meet yet again." The Dark Ace sneered widely at him. Aerrow didn't reply. Instead he pushed his skimmer forwards and began the battle.
They slashed and parried, ducked and dodged, but each time the Dark Ace jumped up on his ride Aerrow retreated to a safe distance and fired basic blasts of energy.
"What's this?" The Dark Ace remarked in a lull in the battle when both skimmers were some distance from each other. "It's like I'm fighting one of your other cowardly storm hawks!" He sneered, "Playing it safe are we Aerrow? Afraid to take a risk now?" Aerrow remained silent. "And you're too scared to even talk to me! Well, if you think you can beat me with such obvious moves, I'll have to remind you who you're dealing with."
With that, the Dark Ace leapt from his ride and crashed into Aerrow sat on his own. Aerrow threw up his blades at the last second and pushed the sword away from him. He tried to stand but the Dark Ace kicked and caught him square in the jaw. The blow sent him rolling onto one of the wings and he had to grab the side to avoid being thrown off.
He heard an angry screech and saw Radarr bite at the Dark Ace's ankle. Then the screech turned to one of pain. The glowing red blade cut into Radarr and he flew off the skimmer, a limp bundle of fur falling to the wastelands. Aerrow's breath caught in his throat as he leant over the wing to watch his best friend fall, No...
A searing pain in his side brought him crashing back to his current situation. Aerrow yelled as the Dark Ace twisted the blade deeper into his ribs. He slashed upwards with his free hand, only to have the Dark Ace grab his wrist and twist it until it snapped and the blade fell from his limp, lifeless hand. He yelled in agony and his broken wrist fell limply next to him. The Atmos spun around him.
The Dark Ace leered at Aerrow lying helpless beneath him. "You are weak Aerrow. You are nothing. And so falls another Sky Knight."
A strangled yell made Piper wheel her Heliscooter around to find its source. Finn and Junko to her left did likewise. Her breath hitched in her throat as she saw the Dark Ace standing over Aerrow, and as she saw the red sword twist into him and he let out another scream, she gasped.
"Aerrow!" Piper pushed her Heliscooter towards him. She could hear Finn and Junko's skimmers near her as they also accelerated towards their leader. She heard the Dark Ace chuckle, low and menacing, and he smiled as the three Storm Hawks closed in on him.
"Move any closer and your Sky Knight will lose his head." He told them in a calm voice. They all pulled up sharply, just a few skimmers' lengths away. "Now, I could defeat you all right here and now, beginning with Aerrow here." He leant into his blade and Aerrow had to clench his teeth together to stop from screaming again, but he couldn't stop the hiss that escaped him when the Dark Ace twisted the blade, grinding and burning into sinew and muscle. "Or, you all pledge allegiance to Cyclonia and join Master Cyclonis' Talons."
Piper glanced at Finn and Junko. Both where pale and watching her, neither looked like they had a plan anymore than she did. Oh god... She thought with dread, Aerrow...what do we do?
From his position on the skimmer, Aerrow saw the Dark Ace's free hand move casually to his back pocket and take hold of something. A glint of light off the object made Aerrow's stomach lurch: it was a dark purple crystal, which could only be an oblivion crystal. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but the Dark Ace pushed the blade deeper into his side and stepped on his broken wrist at the same time with a sinister grin, shaking his head ever so slightly, and the pain stopped any coherent words from escaping his lips.
"Stop!" Piper cried. "Stop. You're surrounded; we'll...we'll blast you before you get to any one of us." It was all she could think of, and she it would make him at least stop for a moment.
"Well if that's your attitude..." The Dark Ace's eyes shifted to Aerrow and he grinned.
Time seemed to slow down as Aerrow watched the Dark Ace's hand move from his side and take aim at the three Storm Hawks in the air. He saw the look of shock and horror wash over their faces, and the look of triumph on the Dark Ace's. He saw his friends' hands reach for their accelerators and knew they would be too slow. He saw the first streak of white energy inside the oblivion crystal that started to make it glow from the inside. All of this happened in less than a second. It took Aerrow only a fraction of that time to decide what he had to do.
With his teeth gritted and his lips pulled back in a snarl, Aerrow pushed forwards into the Dark Ace's sword.
The unexpected force knocked the Dark Ace backwards onto the skimmer and the oblivion crystal flew from his grasp, as the red blade cut right through Aerrow.
He hissed in pain as the blade burst out of his back and the hilt dug into his front. The Dark Ace's grip on the handle broke as Aerrow crashed into him and they rolled on the wings of the skimmer.
Piper saw Aerrow throw himself forwards and force the two of them backwards. She grabbed the accelerator and charged forwards, gasping as she saw the end of the Dark Ace's blade protruding out of Aerrow's back. She whipped out her staff and swung at the Dark Ace's head.
He was too fast for her; the staff missed him by a hairs width as he ducked and pushed Aerrow off him. With one tug he pulled his sword free of Aerrow's side, making the red-head let loose a scream of agony. He jumped off the wind and dropped several feet before snapping open his glider and flying back to his own skimmer. A sudden shot of energy from Finn caught him unawares and he growled as it burnt his arm from shoulder to elbow.
"Until next time, Storm Hawks. Though now you're two members down, I doubt if you can even be called a squadron. I'll pass the good news on to Master Cyclonis." He shouted as he landed on his skimmer and took off for Cyclonia.
The Storm Hawks hovered next to Aerrow's skimmer. Piper jumped onto it and pulled Aerrow off the wings, closer to the seat.
"Argh!" He gritted his teeth in a futile attempt to stop the sound of his pain.
"I'm sorry, oh!" Piper flapped her hands as blood poured out of the gaping wound at both sides. She pushed down on the front and Aerrow shuddered. It seemed to have no effect on the rush of blood; it seeped between her fingers and his back was still open. "We have to stop the blood flow!" She yelled at Finn and Junko. Aerrow coughed weakly.
"Piper."
"I'm here Aerrow, I'm here." Tears started to stream down her face.
"I'm sorry..."
"Shh, no." She ripped the sleeves of her uniform and bundled them up before holding them over the wound in Aerrow's side.
"I'm sorry...that...I wasn't good enough. I...need all of you..."
"No no no, shhh." Piper looked in his emerald green eyes. Eyes filled with tears of pain and guilt and self-loathing. "I'm sorry Aerrow; I didn't mean any of that! You're...you're Aerrow, you're perfect, you can't die! I need you!"
He chuckled weakly, although his face was deathly white and he was surrounded by a pool of his own blood. A small smile touched his lips, and he stroked her face with the bloodied fingertips of his unbroken hand. "I'm sorry," He whispered, the burning fire that was the usual light in his eyes dimming, "I'm sorry...that I wasn't perfect...I tried...for you...for you..." His whisper faded away, his hand fell from Piper's face, and his eyes closed for the last time.
Piper stared at Aerrow's lifeless body. He was gone. Her best friend. Her first love. Her perfect Sky Knight.
Not as I had it planned, but nothing ever works out as planned so there you go! Hope that tugged on some heartstrings, I know it did for me =( Keep on writing, !~A4E~!