Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks or Labyrinth. Also, there will be cameos and references to which I don't own either.

Queen of the Night

Chapter 1: A Wish Gone Wrong

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered. I have fought my way to your castle beyond the Crystal City to take back what you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is great…

"My kingdom is great…

The bell rang loudly as students got up and started to leave. They rushed out of the door like cattle except for one, a red-haired teen sitting near the window. Instead, he took out a small booklet and flipped through it until he came upon a certain passage:

"You have no power over me."

He sighed. Of course, it was that line. He memorized pretty much everything else, yet that one line had eluded him. Tucking the booklet away, he got up and headed out right into the busy hallways. He needed to remember it. He and his friends had been working on a play for the past couple of weeks and they needed to have it ready by the end of the month.

Speaking of his friends, the boy soon felt one of them grasp him. "Hey, dude! How's it been going?"

"Just fine, Finn," he replied back to the blonde, "Where are the others?" It was then that two others came up from behind. One was a tall and muscular boy who grasped the two into a bear hug. The other was skinny, pale, and his bangs covered one of his eyes. The latter avoided the hug as both Aerrow and the blonde kid called Finn were having their lungs crushed.

"Ugh, nice to see you, Junko," Aerrow greeted before he and Finn were set back down. He recognized the two to be another of his friends. The big guy was Junko and the smaller one was called Stork. He glanced back at Junko as he brushed himself off. "Still need to work on that."

"Hehe, sorry," Junko apologized as he rubbed the back of his head. Despite his size, he was a nice guy. Maybe a little too strong when it came to hugs, but he was pretty much ready to help anyone who needed it. Stork was also an enjoyable person in his own way. He may have looked at a half-filled glass like it was poison and reveled in the dark side of life. But in the end, he was a good friend to have.

After a second, Aerrow took a quick glance around. "Hey, where's Piper?"

"Oh, she's probably reviewing the script for our doom-to-fail play," Stork answered. Despite this, Aerrow couldn't help but smile. If Piper was looking over the script, then she was doing her best to make sure that everything would be perfect. They already had a short time left before the actual play and they needed to have a good rehearsal tonight. After all, he was going to be busy with other things.

Going back to the crowd, he and his friends soon came upon a dark-skinned girl juggling books and papers. Her orange eyes took notice and heading towards them in a cheerful rush, she called, "Guys! I've finished those changes to the script. I feel that it's now much stronger in the ending."

"That's great!" Aerrow said to Piper, another one of his friends and someone who he admired a lot. She was studious, responsible, and was the one who made sure to keep the guys, especially Finn, in line. Since the beginning, she had been making sure that the play would be perfect. Doing tasks like rewriting the script and seeing that everyone had practiced their parts. But with the many revisions she had made over time, it was difficult to memorize the little changes.

From behind the red-haired boy, Finn grabbed the papers from her and began to read over them. "Did you put in those long lines again? I don't think I can remember them, especially if you keep using those fancy words too."

Piper huffed at his comment. "The lines aren't that long. And those fancy words are ones that everyone knows about." As both she and Finn gave glowers at one another, Aerrow couldn't help but smile. His two oldest friends were about as opposite as they could get. But when it came right down to it, they would still stand by each other through thick and thin.

But since this wasn't those moments, he quickly got between them and said, "Come on, guys. We're having a rehearsal tonight, remember? I'll be sure we'll be able to memorize it before the performance."

"And hopefully survive the curse," Stork continued in an eerie manner. Finn and Junko reared back in freaked-out fashion. Piper just rolled her eyes.

"Stork, that's just a silly superstition. Everyone knows that those kinds of things don't exist."

The paranoid member of the group turned his head towards Piper. "Oh…" Then, he took out a bunch of papers from his bag. "Strange mishaps during production! A black raven following actors! And the disappearances of the main actor along with someone close to them! I'm telling you. It's all linked back to who the play is based on! The Queen of the Night!"

There was an awkward silence between friends. But it didn't last long as Aerrow said, "Stork, Piper's right. It's only superstition."

"Oh, and I supposed that you haven't noticed the blackbird that has been stalking us allowed lately?" Stork waited for them to answer him, at least agreeing that there was a strange raven that was following them.

Unfortunately, Junko was the one to answer with, "Aren't there a lot of blackbirds around town?" Stork, both physically and mentally, slapped his own face.

Aerrow just patted Stork's back and reconciled him with a smile. "Hey, even if there's something weird going on, that's not going to stop us from doing this play. We did volunteer to do it for the school, remember?" Everyone nodded, remembering the situation that got them doing it in the first place. Let's just say it was about trying to get to class faster using a slingshot and firework rockets.

"Considering that this is for the school," Piper spoke as she rearranged the papers. "I would like some extra time to rehearse more." Noticing the concerned look in her eyes, the red-haired boy was about to say something. But she snapped out of it and smiled. "But it's okay. We understand how important the tryouts are to you."

Aerrow gave a silly grin, ignoring the blonde's comment about why he wanted to join a snooty private school. Finn was then silent by an elbow from Stork. Checking the time, Aerrow waved goodbye and headed out. But not before he overheard Piper reminding him that the rehearsal was at his house. He grimaced but soon regained his composure. His home. Great.

Once out of the school, he began looking over his revised lines with great interest. It looked like Piper made minor changes to his, though she kept that last line. He probably should have told her that he couldn't remember it, no matter how simple it was. Also, he didn't even understand why it was in there. It seemed too out of place after what was essentially a grand speech. Maybe he should check the book again to see if there was something he missed.

Suddenly, a loud caw broke his train of thought and almost made him trip. Aerrow then started to look for what caused it, soon finding a large black bird sitting on a power line. It was a strange-looking bird, appearing to be much more elegant than any other bird he had seen. It also looked like it was observing him with curious intent. As he continued to stare, he couldn't help but think back to Stork's research. On how the actors of the play were being stalked by a black raven…

The boy then shook his head back to reality. "It's just nonsense. That's all." He continued to head back home, not realizing that the curious blackbird was flying behind him.

When he got home, Aerrow immediately started on his homework in the kitchen. He had planned on getting it and some other papers finished before his friends arrive. It wasn't exactly hard, managing to keep decent grades. But the amount the teachers gave him would definitely take more than one night to finish. He was finishing up his algebra homework when he heard the door slam open.

"Damn Billy, dropping off work just for some date."

"… Tough time at work, Luna?" Aerrow asked the complaining voice while glancing up from his paper. In front of him was an older woman was long scarlet hair that covered her eyes. She looked at him and smirked, before walking over to the fridge.

"Just got a call from the boss. I have to work Billy Rex's shift," Luna answered before grabbing a soda, "It's strange. Whenever someone wants to get off work, I'm the one he calls. Must think I don't have a social life." She then proceeded to walk past Aerrow and make a bigger mess of his hair.

He gave her a half-smile before fixing his hair. "Are the others busy tonight too?"

"Dad's fishing late and then he plans on taking Mom for a night on the town." Between speaking, she opened up her soda. "As for my little sister, she is helping out a certain blonde with his history homework."

"You mean the captain of the baseball team?"

"Yup. And she insists that it's not a date," Luna finished and proceeded to drink. Once finishing a gulp, she looked back at Aerrow, "What about you, kid? You'd going be alright by yourself?"

He nodded. "Yea, I'm actually pretty glad." It took him a while before he noticed the cocked eyebrow she gave him. He then tried to explain, "I-it's not like that! It's just that my friends are coming over and we need to work on our play."

"And you think we'll scare your little friends away?" Luna began to mock-sobbed, "Oh, my baby brother. Why must you be so mean? And after all the good times we had together."

"… You considered walking me through the dangerous part of town a good time?"

The older sister shrugged. "Well, it wasn't like it was that bad either." There was a slight chortle from both of them, remembering the times they had when they were younger. Although not related by blood, the Inverse family had raised Aerrow from a young age. Ever since his parents'… He quickly returned to his homework, not wanting to think about it anymore.

His big sis glanced over from behind him. "I'm guessing that's why you're finishing up your schoolwork… Among other things." She then picked up a sheet that sat next to his books, looking at it. "Does Dad know about this?"

Aerrow noticed what Luna was holding and quickly snatched it away. "He doesn't need to worry. I plan on paying with a couple of full-time jobs over the summer."

"Really? I think it would be better not to do it and just save up with part-time right now. Then, you can wait until next year plus spend the rest of your time with your friends," Luna advised. "Besides, you don't need to rush getting there. Especially since you're busy with your little play."

He looked at her, gripping his pencil. "I just think I have a better chance of making it to the Elite Force if I go to Skies Academy early."

"Well, Dad didn't even go to Skies Academy and he almost made it to the Elite Force. Decided it wasn't worth his time." Aerrow raised an eyebrow before going back to his homework.

Seeing his despondence, Luna sighed and sat down. "Listen, we understand why you're doing it. And we're not saying that it's a bad thing either. But you're still young and you should spend what free time you have left enjoying your youth. It's not going to last forever."

The peace after that didn't last too long as the older sister noticed the time. "Damn, I need to get going to make it to my shift. See ya, twerp"

She stood back up and head out the door before something crossed her mind. She stopped and glanced at Aerrow, saying, "Oh, and make sure none of them enter my room." And with the scariest smile in the world, she left.

The red-haired boy didn't look up to see her leave, just hearing the door close shut. After that, he sat there thinking it over. It wasn't like she would have understood anyway. He simply wished to help people just as his dad did. In order to do that, he had figured that it was better to get into the academy now. He wasn't going to wait for another year to do so.

Besides, his friends knew the pressure he was facing. They sounded a little disappointed when he told them at first. But they understood it was something he wanted and had even helped him through it. The play proved to be a challenge when it popped up, but they were all working it out as well as they could. They just needed this rehearsal to get things cleared.

After contemplating, Aerrow returned to his homework, finishing up what he had left. As he was doing so, he listened to the outside wind rattling against the windows as if someone were knocking. It made him nervous. The news said that it wasn't going to be a big storm, but the gusts were telling him otherwise. He hoped his friends would come before it hits. While he worried about their safety, he couldn't help but hear a young girl giggling in the back of his mind.

He soon slipped out of quiet paranoia when the doorbell started to ring. Finishing up the last question, Aerrow got up and rushed over to the front door. Once there, he opened the door to find his friends, standing outside with their raincoats on. They didn't look that terrible though Stork was trying to fix his umbrella that turned inside out. He probably expected it to rain hard. The young boy welcomed them as they took off their coats and walked inside.

"Glad we could make it before the rain came," Piper said as she hung up her coat. "Anyway, we should get started on rehearsing. Did you look over your script?"

Aerrow slightly nodded and answered, "I did, and I kinda have a question about it." He hoped that he could talk to her about the last line.

"In a moment. We should do the opening first to see how we are."

"But-" Aerrow sighed, realizing how enthusiastic she was. "… Nevermind. It's not that important." And so began what he hoped to be a quick rehearsal.

… Apparently quick was not the best word choice.

It had been an hour and it was a disaster from the start. Forget how stiff the actors were, lines were either forgotten or misspoken. Mostly, it was Finn who was the culprit for this. He and Piper were getting into arguments about how he said something wrong.

"For the last time, Finn! It's 'Speak thy words', not 'What's your wish?'!" Piper shouted, causing Aerrow, Stork, and Junko to cringe in terror. Yet Finn wasn't backing down so easily.

"So?! It's like saying the same thing! What's the point of saying it in fancy talk?"

She groaned and explained, "It gives character, atmosphere! This is a play is set in medieval fantasy for Pete's Sake!" She then rubbed her head at the mere frustration of it all. "… Did you even read the script?"

"Of course, I did!" Finn stood there smug before noticing the stare he was receiving from Stork. "… At least all the lines without those fancy words."

There was a groan from everyone as Finn smiled sheepishly. "So? Piper keeps changing the script around to make it confusing." Before another argument could erupt, Aerrow quickly stepped in to stop all this.

"Guys! Come on. We have limited time, and we don't need it wasted on arguing with one another. So, can we just settle down and get this over with?"

"Yea…" Junko spoke up, "I need to get back home soon." It became quiet between everyone, almost nerve-wracking given the circumstances. But it was about less than a half-minute later that Piper and Finn settled their differences.

"Okay, let's take it from the top then." Piper coughed before glancing at her script. Then, she began to narrate, "Once upon a time, there was a handsome boy who had many friends. They, on the other hand, were spoiled by his generosity. And the boy was practically their slave. But what no one knew was that the Queen of the Night was smitten with him and gave him certain powers. So, one night when his friends were particularly cruel to him, he asked the Goblins to help."

Aerrow couldn't help but seem distracted around this part. He thought he had heard something. As if there were pests around the house but they were larger and… Talking? No, it couldn't be. Mr. Inverse had checked for rodents last week and only found his daughter sneaking in late-night snacks. Still, he was hearing something and in clarity, it was saying, Hey! Hey! Listen…

"Speak thy words," Finn spoke in a nasty high voice, "And we will take them to the city and you will be free." To which Piper explained how the boy knew that the Queen of Night would keep his friends in the castle forever and how staying there would change them.

"So, the boy suffered in silence. Until one night, when he was tired from doing the hard labor. And hurt by the hard words of his friends fighting and he couldn't stand it any longer…"

Yes, yes, say the words, say the words!

"Say what words?" Aerrow muttered, looking confused.

Piper glanced over with a little concern. "Your lines, Aerrow. You know them, right?"

The boy perked up and nodded. "Y-yea." He tried hard to remember them, almost getting them off the tip of his tongue. But it seemed to get interrupted by the unknown chattering.

Did he say it?

Shh! Shut it!

You shut it!

Listen! He's going to say the words!

After a moment, he finally got the lines and shouted, "Oh My Dark Queen! Wherever you may be! Take these friends of mine away from me!"

It sounded like a bad performance as Aerrow heard a loud groan. "Okay, guys, I get it. That was pretty lousy." All the others blinked in confusion at his unwarranted comment.

"Uhh, Aerrow," Stork said, "We didn't say anything. Although, that was a bit tacky."

The red-haired boy blinked, shocked to hear that. "But I thought I heard…"

"I think it was pretty good," Piper said as she looked at him, "Especially with how you projected the last line." While that was reassuring, the voices had another thing to say.

No! No! All wrong!

Where do they get this rubbish?!

Doesn't even start with 'I wish'!

"But shouldn't it start off with 'I wish'?" Aerrow asked. Everyone else blinked as they looked at him, wondering when he thought that. "I mean, I know the line is supposed to be like grand and all. But wouldn't it be better just to make it a wish?"

Everyone began to contemplate this with Junko responding, "I think the wish could work. It's much simpler than what Aerrow said."

"If you ask me," Finn stretched after standing for so long. "This entire play would be easy if Piper wrote it like any normal person." Piper twitched and was about to pound him, but Aerrow stopped her from doing so.

"Come on, guys. Do you have to fight right now?"

Piper shot a sharp glare at Aerrow. "Aerrow, I've worked hard on this! And he's just being lazy!"

"Well, uh-!"

"Hey! I practiced all your lines!"

"Yea, and-!"

"Only the ones your brain could understand!"

"But-!"

"Well, you keep rewriting everything!"

"Um-!"

"Aerrow! You can't be taking his side!"

"No! I'm-!"

"Oh come on, Aerrow! Why are you always on her side?!"

"Wait a sec!"

"Well, it doesn't matter," Stork spoke up, "We're all doom anyway." Despite that last sentence, it didn't seem to snap Piper and Finn out of their squabble. Also, Aerrow was getting pretty tired of standing between them. He headed to the kitchen in frustration leaving both Stork and Junko to watch.

Once in the kitchen, he let out a long sigh. This was supposed to be easy. They were supposed to have it perfected by now. Instead, his best friends were arguing and he didn't know how to make it stop. Yes, Piper was in the right. But this was the only time they could properly rehearse and that should be the only thing that mattered.

He huffed as he listened to them arguing, thinking about the boy in the play and how badly his friends treated him. "Maybe he had the right idea about wishing them away… I wish I knew how."

'I wish for the Queen to take my friends away right now!' Is that so hard?!

Aerrow's head perked up as he heard one of those voices again. That was a weird thought. Wishing his friends away so he could at least have his head clear. Of course, it's not like it could happen. So, in a joking matter, he muttered, "I wish for the Queen to take my friends away. Right now."

His eyes snapped open when it suddenly became silent.

Author's Notes:

Hi ho! MSCK here! Right now, I'm starting a new project that I definitely look forward to. It has been on my mind for quite some time and I finally decided to write it. I am also working on rewriting my old Gaia/Atmos work so please bear with me as I do plan on updating chapters every two weeks or so.

As you may guess, this takes inspiration from the Labyrinth movie (with some creative changes added to it). I love the movie since I saw it as a whole. And while it may have been used many times before, I still want to write this, and I hope that everyone will enjoy it as much as I will.

This also going to have a couple of references here and there. The most notable one (At least for Slayers fans) is Aerrow's adoptive sister. This is based off my fantasy of having Lina Inverse's family adopting Aerrow and having Lina and Luna as sisters. This is definitely not the last of the easter eggs I shall write. More shall appear within this fic.

Well, this is pretty much what I want to talk about for now. Thanks for bearing with me!

Please Read and Review!