"He still looks like Aerrow," Junko mused, staring up at the Darkness, "you think he'd have, I dunno, changed shape or something."
Piper looked up too and silently agreed with the Wallop, wondering why this powerful evil being chose to stay in their friend's form instead of reverting to its original. She pushed the thought out of her head; she was wading too close to dangerous waters.
"He's just floating there…" she said, bemused.
"Maybe he's just trying to weird us out," Finn suggested, fingers nervously, absently, adjusting the scope on his crossbow.
"It's working," Cyclonis muttered under her breath.
A few more moments passed and, when nothing happened, Piper nudged Cyclonis without taking her eyes off Aerrow, gesturing toward the hangar with her chin. Together the two girls backed slowly into the recess and as they were about to lose sight of him, the Darkness moved. He lifted his right hand from where it was folded across his chest, and pointed almost lazily at the Condor; the same black lightning Piper had seen on Rex swirled from nothing at the end of his finger and shot into the middle of the group of Talons, Finn, and Junko who were still gathered at the end of the landing strip, shattering into smaller sizzling bolts and whistling past faces and legs. The previously frozen people burst into life, scattering in different directions only to freeze at the strip's edge, leaning over open sky, before whirling and stampeding toward the hangar. Piper and Cyclonis jumped back and plastered themselves to a wall so as not to get trampled, watching the floating, gloating threat and at the same time the people running toward them.
Finn was the fastest and nearly two steps away from the shelter of the hangar when the lock-down door suddenly clanged shut, locking him and everyone else outside.
"No!" Piper gasped, rushing forward and throwing her hands against the door, fingers spread wide, hoping that maybe it was just another of the Darkness' illusions. No such luck; she rested her forehead on the cool metal of the door and slammed her fist into it, huffing as the hollow thud of her flesh striking the thick metal echoed once in the empty hangar bay.
She didn't know to blame Stork or the Darkness for locking her friends outside, leaving them at the latter's non-existent mercy.
"Piper," Cyclonis whispered harshly in the dim light, her body merely a silhouette, "that's not helping either us or them."
The navigator stood up straight. Cyclonis was right of course, giving in to despair and fear wouldn't help anyone.
"Come on," she said, fumbling in the poor lighting to grab the other's hand. Piper led Cyclonis over to the door on the far side and into the Condor's main halls. Once through the girls simultaneously dropped each others hand, Cyclonis unconsciously lagging behind as they began to run. Piper headed for the bridge, for the master control of the lock-down door. It didn't matter if either the Darkness or Stork had triggered the door; they could open it from the bridge. And if not, they could always jump down from the balcony. Moving through the dim, quiet halls with her ally-as-of-only-minutes-ago Piper felt on edge, a tingling at the back of her neck like someone was stepping on her grave. Maybe it was just that Cyclonis was behind her but something told her otherwise; she thought she felt heat at the hollow of her throat.
"The bridge is just up that hallway," she said, pointing to a turn a few feet away. She hurried around the corner, down the passage a few steps and jolted to a stop, spinning around at the pained gasp behind her.
"Cyclonis?" Piper peered around the around the corner, then stepped out to put a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Cyclonis, what is it?"
The young ruler didn't answer, but clapped her hands to her head as if to hold her skull together, her face twisting in evident pain as she breathed in short little gasps. Screeching at the excruciating mental torture, Cyclonis staggered to her knees, throwing a hand out momentarily when she nearly keeled over sideways. She moaned as Piper watched helpless, and bent her body in on itself until she was in a little upright ball with her forehead on the ground, hands still on her head.
And then it stopped; the pain vanished as suddenly as it came and she stayed prone for a few seconds, gasping for air. Cyclonis finally looked up and Piper breathed a sigh of relief. However the girl's eyes passed over her as she frantically scanned the hallway.
"Piper?" she called, pushing herself up with weak arms onto shaky legs.
"I'm right here," the navigator said, shoving away her curiosity and discomfort to offer the other her strength.
Cyclonis gave no indication that she had heard and called her name again, surging forward past Piper and around the corner, an involuntary whine escaping her throat at the empty corridor beyond, intuition telling her that something much worse than her only friend disappearing was going on.
"Oh no," Piper whispered as the Cyclonian ran off. She'd seen this before too, on Rex with the white-haired woman and her son. She followed Cyclonis to the bridge, momentarily forgetting the possible situation of the others on the landing strip in favour of this new, closer problem.
Piper nearly ran into the stationary girl, frozen just inside the door as she was. Cyclonis raised a wobbly hand and pointed in the general direction of the helm, the quivering distorting her aim, "Shouldn't the pilot be here?"
For a second Piper thought she was asking her, that she was suddenly visible again; until Cyclonis moved again, creeping up to the helm as if expecting Stork to jump out at her, and starting moaning again, "Where'd he go? And Piper too…"
Piper gasped, running to the helm; Stork lay on his stomach, his eyes open and unblinking, arms stretched over his head from when he fell. She kneeled beside him, putting her hand on his chest, feeling the gentle rise and fall. Piper allowed herself a small smile; he was only asleep, albeit an enchanted, nightmare-filled sleep, but still alive.
"No…no, they're all gone!" Cyclonis' shaky exclamation pulled her concentration away from the Merb. Piper stood up and walked to Cyclonis' side at the window, the sight below all too familiar. Finn, Junko, Radarr, and all the Talons running wild or laying still, all with glazed eyes, faint shouts heard through the glass windows. Piper breathed out sharply, the realization that she was the only one left forming a tight ball in the pit of her stomach.
"Don't leave me alone!" Cyclonis screamed, pounding on the glass as she slid to her knees.
She couldn't have put it better, Piper thought, watching as the girl burst into tears, but unsure of what to do. Unsure of why she hadn't been forced into a nightmare as well.
"Why can't I find you, Piper?" his voice whispered in her ear. Too shocked to scream Piper spun around, tripping over her feet as she jumped back, only to find the bridge empty. Heart pounding in her chest, head throbbing where it had connected with the window, she pushed herself upright on the glass and looked over at Cyclonis; the other gave no acknowledgement that she had heard or seen anything.
Taking deep breaths to steady her racing pulse, Piper half rolled, half twisted around, leaning on the window and looking up; the Darkness was in the exact same spot it'd been in when Stork first pointed it out.
She stepped away from the window, out of his line of sight. Looking at Stork and Cyclonis and the others out on the landing strip one last time, Piper pulled one of the three levers attached to the helm to open the hangar door, then headed out, her face set, fingering Fabian's crystal still around her neck.
She climbed onto her heliscooter, revved the engine, and hesitated. Taking off without running over or hitting anyone might be a challenge the way they were all running around. Piper slipped off the scooter and grabbed the handlebars, started pushing the vehicle slowly out of the hangar. She moved cautiously, unsure of whether she'd be attacked if any of the affected people saw her and mistook her for one of their nightmares. At the edge of the landing strip Piper looked up to judge the Darkness again; it'd dropped lower, moved its hands to its sides, smirking in anticipation.
Piper braced herself against the deck and shoved her scooter overboard, jumping after it and pulling herself onto the seat. She dropped a few feet before the propellers caught, then turned and climbed level to the Darkness.
"Piper," he said, "you're looking…hopeless. You came to face me all alone?"
Her scowl deepened. Piper blinked, resisting the urge to cry and scream at him, to let him know how much he'd hurt her, through the people on Rex, through Harrier, Cyclonis, Finn, and Stork and the others…and Aerrow. He knew exactly how much it hurt her and he reveled in it. She bit her tongue, forcing herself not to charge him already and make him feel the pain he'd inflicted on all of them.
He cocked an eyebrow, exaggerating the movement, making it clear how much he was mocking her, "No snappy comments? That's right Piper, keep all that emotion bottled inside. Seethe and rage at me until you explode; anger tastes so much better…fermented."
Her eyes widened. She bit back a shout, wanting to yell at him that that wasn't going to happen; to tell him that she was going to make him pay for hurting everyone, that she was going to stop him.
But Piper kept her mouth closed tight as ever. Above all, she could not raise suspicion of what she was going to do. He would be expecting it this time. She suspected that Fabian only got lucky the first time, and that the Darkness would be expecting the same trick twice.
He sneered at her and several screams pierced the air, drifting up from the deck of the Condor. Piper recognized Junko's voice among them.
"No!" she couldn't help herself anymore, "Stop it! Leave them alone! What have they ever done to you? Haven't you done enough?"
He chuckled and, though she couldn't be sure, Piper thought the sky may have gotten a little darker, "Piper, it's only been thirteen days. I could the suck the life out of every creature in the entire Atmos for the next millennia and not be satisfied. And I do plan to be around for that long."
Something burst inside her, "Fat chance!" she cried, unthinkingly whipping out her staff and swinging it at his head.
There was a loud thwack and his head whipped so far and so fast to the side she was sure that under ordinary circumstances she'd have broken his neck. But he just turned his head back to look at her, his neck cracking sickeningly and his dark eyes meeting hers. He glared at her and slowly reached back with one hand pull out one of Aerrow's energy daggers; he lit it and it glowed with the same dark energy that surrounded him.
He struck silently, suddenly. Without warning his blade was slashing through the air, arcing up to her chin; Piper jerked her head back, barely avoiding the crackling energy of the blade. She threw her staff out as he brought his arm down, catching the blade mid strike. They held, battling in place for a moment, the Darkness slowly, inexorably forcing Piper's arms down until she tilted her staff and his blade skittered harmlessly along its length before falling through empty air.
A split-second flash of despair struck in her chest as, instead of flailing off balance, the Darkness simply flowed with the motion, swinging around and aiming for her head. Piper threw her staff out, striking the dark-glowing blade on the side, momentarily diverting him. The next six attacks came in rapid succession, beating her down, his blade coming dangerously close to the propellers of her heliscooter; it was all she could do to hold him off.
She couldn't take much more of this. Their little fight was hardly long enough to be called a battle yet his strength greatly outmatched hers. She had to do something…and fast.
Taking half of a second to analyze her situation, she saw no immediate answer to her problem. Hopelessness flooded through her. She was alone, miles above any solid ground, fighting an immortal enemy in the guise of her best friend who was so much stronger than her.
She let out a tiny shriek as his blade whistled past her head, glancing off the shaft that connected the propellers to her scooter, forcing herself to concentrate on just surviving the next few minutes.
They broke apart. The Darkness didn't seem to be breathing any faster than normal, but Piper could feel the sweat on her brow, lacing her arms. Her breathing came in quick little gasps, her muscles shaking from the force of repeatedly locking blades with an enemy far stronger than her.
He flashed her a small smirk and attacked again; Piper swung her staff out, meeting the glowing energy dagger halfway. What little breath she had fled in a huff as their weapons met, sparks flying as metal screeched against metal. And suddenly she knew what to do, an idea springing into life as she watched a single tiny spark as it floated down, bright against the dark sky, and faded into oblivion.
Her left arm gave out and with a simple flick of his wrist the Darkness sent her staff flying. Piper watched as her only weapon tumbled farther and farther away from her, finally disappearing from view as it fell through the clouds to the Wastelands. She looked back up only to meet Aerrow's face as his hand wrapped around her neck.
He chuckled, "So weak, Piper. Hardly worth the effort…"
"Why don't you just kill me then?" she spat, glaring fiery, white-hot daggers at him.
He laughed full out at that and brought his head closer to hers, "Piper," he said, Aerrow's lips almost touching her ear, "if I kill you, how can I make you suffer?"
His breath was cold against her skin and she cringed away from it even as he held her. Then the full realization of his words sunk in; she tried to swallow past the choking force of his hand on her throat, and then he let her go.
Her head hit the seat of her scooter as he threw her off and without conscious thought Piper grasped the handlebars of her scooter, yanking them up. The heliscooter shot upwards, the wind whipping her hair into her eyes, cooling the sweat on her skin. As she continued to rise, Piper leaned over and looked down at the shrinking Darkness and the larger Condor beneath him. Stretching her lips into a grimace-smirk of her own, she waved down at him, goading him.
He hesitated as the girl disappeared into the topmost layer of clouds that covered the Atmos, wondering what her plan was, what the trap was. But really, what could she do to him? Weak, mortal, human girl...he flew up after her.
He broke the cloud layer, bursting into blinding white sunlight; he threw a hand up to shield his eyes, the light shining red and painful even behind his closed lids. It was too hot, too bright, he couldn't see…
With a shrieking battle cry Piper swung her scooter around, materializing as a silhouette against the sun, stopping inches in front of him. Flowing with the motion she swung her arm out in an arc, stabbing past his arm, the armor on his chest, Fabian's crystal seeming to lead the charge as it embedded itself deep in his chest. She choked in a breath as her body began to glow with the crystal; she could feel it draining her, making her weaker and weaker. Piper slumped against the handlebars, her fingers slipping limply from the crystal, barely mustering the energy to stay conscious. She watched through blurry, unfocused eyes as thick, black liquid oozed like blood from around the crystal. Her eyes dropped to her hand and, just before her vision faltered to leave her in a world of white mists, she saw her hands covered in the same black, freezing cold substance. Then she was dimly aware of falling, the white transitioning into black, spiraling down, down into infinite darkness.
Aerrow doubled over, his fingers clenched around the triangular blue crystal lodged in his chest. Dark liquid seeped over his hands, fizzling out of existence as it fell into open air; the Darkness stared down, mouth open in disbelief, his eyes widened in pure human terror. No…not again! It had hadn't been two weeks! It wasn't possible! No!
His body began to spasm, his limbs shaking as his aura slowly faded. He fell.
Back beneath the clouds, falling, he clawed at the empty sky, trying desperately to stay up, to stay in control. Against his will, his fingers starting twitching, curling his hands into fists. What-? Aerrow!
He should have killed him! But he wasn't strong enough…!
With one last monumental burst of strength the Darkness managed to stop his fall. He hovered for a second, trying to force Aerrow under his control again, to stay free, to stay out! But sudden intense pain flashed through him, streaking out from the crystal still locked in his flesh and with one huge, silent explosion, the darkness was ripped open.