The Storm Hawks were led back to the Council Hall, the pace of the old men too slow for them, and to a locked room at the back; no one wanted to be interrupted. The Head of Council sat at a high-backed armchair in the far end of the room, the other members of the Council slipping into slightly lower but still comfortable chairs. Four fold-up chairs were offered to the Storm Hawks who refused, too anxious to sit. They stood side by side in the centre of the room, as they had the first time they'd spoken to the Council, except that Aerrow wasn't with them.
"Now," said Oliver, the Head of Council, "start at the beginning. Tell us why you're one member short and why you were running through the forest in the first place."
Piper took a deep breath; closing her eyes, she told the Council everything she had told Aerrow after he'd been let out of the hospital. She told about her fight with Finn, about Aerrow's seizure, about talking to him on the boarding ramp, his hands freezing cold against hers. "He said it was just a hallucination."
The Council nodded; Stork continued, voice shaking, wringing his hands and twitching.
He told about the dinner, how their leader didn't look well, didn't eat. He told about Piper's book.
Oliver interrupted at this point, "A green book that only you could open?" he asked Piper.
"I don't know about the last part, but it was green. And it did seem to glow with some sort of dark…essence."
"Hmm," the Council leader sunk deep into thought, waved his hand for the pilot to continue; Stork did.
He told about Aerrow laughing, about the lights, about Piper trying the Solaris crystal. He told about noticing the lack of stars as Piper had, that they had only imagined the darkness. He told them what the not-Aerrow had said, how he'd looked. He told about the invisible energy that shattered the window, about Aerrow's eyes, about the jumping.
Everyone got really quiet when he said that, moisture returning to Junko's still-red eyes, and entering Piper's.
And then Stork told everyone what only he had seen, about the dark aura around Aerrow, about the floating, about what he'd said then, and promised. He told about the magic, controlling the Condor, about almost killing them all.
"So its true then" Oliver whispered to himself, dropping his head into his hands, "it has finally happened."
"What do you mean 'finally happened'? You knew this would happen?" Piper shouted.
"What exactly is happening? All I really know is that Aerrow went crazy and somehow he can fly?" Finn said before the Head of Council could answer.
Oliver looked sideways at each of the other Council members, he sighed, face scrunched up in pain.
"This is a story that I hoped only to tell my successor." He looked up into each of the Storm Hawk's faces, "I think you should really sit down now."
They sat, each on the edges of the chair, ready to jump up, but they sat.
"One thousand years ago Atmos was just adapting to air travel, and just embracing the full use of crystals. Some Terras were advancing quicker than others, leaving many feeling useless and vulnerable; this prompted hatred and anger in too many people. A creature of darkness was born, the hate, anger and fear fueling its energies. It grew incredibly powerful in a very short time and began to take actions against all people, humans and non-humans alike, creating more hate, more fear. It was a master manipulator, knowing a person's innermost desires and fears, playing on them until it got what it needed.
"Of course, many people tried to kill it, and for the next hundred years they were the only ones the Darkness ever killed-"
"It must have had some sort of compassion then, if it didn't kill."
"Hardly, the Darkness simply recognized that if it killed, that would be one less person it could hurt, one less source of the energy it needed."
"Wait, what does a thousand year old thing have to do with Aerrow, now?"
"Patience. Enough people had died for everyone else to know that he Darkness could not be killed. However this did not deter the faith one man and his wife. Fabian and Ave, the elected leaders of Terra Cyclonia, came up with a plan that would rid the Atmos of the Darkness."
"Cyclonia? Cyclonia stopped this thing?"
Oliver nodded, "Fabian was the last 'good' Cyclonian. If I could tell this story without you interrupting, you will understand what is happening now.
"Fabian and his wife came up with a plan that would rid Atmos of the Darkness forever, but they needed something they could not ask for. They called a meeting on this Terra and Fabian explained his plan; people called him insane and they accused him of being a murderer. Fabian was neither of these things and in the end the other leaders let him try. He tested them, and met with the one person he wished he would not meet. He took this person, his best friend, Tylur, into this room and further explained his plan.
"This is your connection to Aerrow. Fabian knew the Darkness could never be truly destroyed, so he planned to seal it in someone; Tylur was the perfect candidate. Aerrow is a direct descendant of his."
"Then that means-!" Piper gasped, leaping to her feet, "the Darkness is-! How?"
Oliver closed his eyes again, the fingers on his right hand massaging his temple, "From what I can figure it was a combination of him destroying the Aurora stone, the one thing that seemed to repel the Darkness, and touching your crystal Piper. Where did you get it?"
"It was my mother's."
The old man nodded, "We have to alert the other Terras, and this one for that matter…" he paused, turning over a thought in his mind, "but we can't tell them everything. Storm Hawks, we need you to contact all the other Sky Knights, tell them to come here. We're going to tell the Terras that Aerrow has been affected by a strange crystal and that he's dangerous, but the Sky Knights need to know what they're fighting, or at least what to run away from."
"Yes," said one of the other Council members, speaking for the first time, "from what you've told us and what Oliver had explained, it seems this Darkness-Aerrow is not very strong yet; he will try to gather more strength before he makes his first move."
0o0o
He wandered slowly around the market on Terra Rex, people smiling at him, hurrying away when he sneered back. He observed everyone, feeling their levels of pain or anger, reveling in it. He walked slowly toward a small, run-down old building, drawn by the lingering negative feelings flowing around it like a cool breeze. He stepped off the road and into the shaded doorway. He could see three men inside, leaning over a table in the centre of the room, talking in whispers. The man in the far corner looked up and noticed him, "You lost, kid?"
He didn't answer, but started walking deeper into the building toward the closest man.
"Look, you want sumthin' from us?" the second man demanded, tightening his hands into fists. The others walked around the table to stand behind him, cracking their knuckles.
"As a matter of fact," he said his voice that of the boy's and his own combined; he placed his hand on the thick muscled arm of the nearest man, "I do."
The man reached up to smack away his hand and froze, gagging. He began to tremble and the other men backed away from them, expressions horrified. The man fell to his knees, looked at the one stealing his energy; dark, cruel eyes met darker, crueler ones. The man fell to the floor, his eyes shut, barely breathing.
The Darkness looked up from the man slowly to glare at the remaining two thugs, frozen by the corner. He stepped forward and repeated the process twice more, leaving the three half-dead men sprawled on the dusty floor of the abandoned building.
He continued to walk the streets, logic telling him that, very soon, a panic would start as the Storm Hawks spread their story. And a few moments later an announcement blasted out of the loudspeakers all along the square, warning people that, due to the sudden explosion of an unstable crystal, Aerrow of the Storm Hawks was compromised, dangerous, to be avoided at all costs.
The people who recognized his body went into a panic, warning others who didn't and stampeding around. He stopped where he was in the centre of the square, threw back his head and laughed, their voice echoing crazily off of the houses. He stopped and looked around, noticing a couple frozen a little ways off. The tall, white haired woman clutched the hand of her son, holding him close, scared to lose him in the swarming mass of terrified people. He walked over, unnoticed by the two, and asked if the woman needed any help. She turned and screamed, whipping her son behind her, standing over him protectively.
"What would you do if your son disappeared," he asked, waving a hand in front of her eyes.
Immediately the woman threw her hands up to protect her face; when she realized he hadn't touched her she put her hands behind her again with the intent of grabbing her son and running. Her hands met only air and she turned around, her eyes sweeping over the boy but not seeing him. She scanned frantically around the little bubble the three of them were in, and then looked up into the crowd, fearing the worst.
"Mommy?" the young boy cried, grabbing a tiny handful of the woman's pants and tugging on it to get her attention. She gave no sign that she felt him; she turned back to the Darkness,
"What did you do to him?" she shrieked, oblivious to the child crying and shouting, clutching at her leg.
"To him, nothing" he stepped through the crowd and disappeared, searching for another victim.
Ah! I'm so cruel :(
Too bad though I guess.