Stork was let out from his room around noon, since Venus had assured the boys that the spell would have worn off by then. Sure enough, the Merb was back to his hermit-like, doom-predicting, self.

"You've got a penchant for messing things up, don't you?" Aerrow said, frowning at Venus. She shrugged.

"If you think I'm trouble, dear, you should meet my relatives. Eris, in particular..."

"Aunty Eris? Oh, she's real fun. Parties like there's no tomorrow," Eros laughed. Then his face turned straight. "Then again, she did start the Trojan war."

"The what war?" Junko asked.

Venus slapped Eros, then turned towards Junko and grinned. "Long story."

--

Piper and the Dark Ace had to land to refuel. When they were about to take off once more, Piper grabbed the Dark Ace's arm and glared at him, long and hard.

"Let me go home."

"No."

"Look. I don't love you. I don't want to love you. You're a murderer. Sorry to break it to you like this, but..."

"I don't care."

She stopped. "You don't?"

"No." He shrugged. "You could learn to like me. Maybe even love me back." And with that, he picked her up and sat her down on the skimmer.

Later that day, when night was slipping by again, and the Dark Ace was asleep, Piper slipped to the skimmer and grabbed the radio. She needed to talk to someone who wasn't driving her insane.

--

The radio crackled, and Finn was the one on "listen for Piper" duty. He yawned and picked up the mouthpiece.

"Master of Ladies speaking, state your problem."

"Finn! God, I was hoping to talk to someone sane."

"Piper! Hey! It sucks here without you, girl. Now, look: if you could just make a steak and mail it to us, I'd-"

Aerrow knocked Finn aside and grabbed the radio. "Piper? You alright?"

"Physically, never better. Mentally...my sanity's getting pushed to its limit."

"Look. Venus told me that there was a way to reverse the spell."

"Tell me. Now." Her voice sounded brittle. Aerrow sighed.

"You have to do something horrible to him. Something...so bad that he'll hate you forever. Not that he really liked you to begin with. But Venus said there were reper-"

"Forget the repercussions, I just want to get away from him," she hissed. "Okay, I got the message. I have to go, now."

Finn suddenly jumped up from the ground. "Again, if you could send us a steak, or even some short rib-AAACK!"

Aerrow ribbed the blond. Hard.

The radio clicked.

She was gone.

OOO

A/N: Dun, dun, dun...

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