Once a Hero…

Kai

I stepped forward and took the spotlight amongst the other. All eyes were on me—I wasn't cheered for, I was shunned. They wanted this spotlight. Each and every one of them secretly wished to be standing here, no matter how afraid they were of the strange Talon.

Honestly, I could've cared less about training with him. Sure, it was important to get the facts straight from the head honcho himself, but was it worth the jealousy? The strange looks? The silence…?

I kept my gaze low, watching the man from my peripheral vision. He stepped forward. "A girl…," he laughed in disbelief.

To draw attention away from a potentially dangerous scene, Ravess soon grouped off the other talons and cleared the arena.

"Hm."

I brushed my hair from my eyes. "What? Something wrong with me being a girl?"

He smiled. "I've never had to work with a female student…"

"I don't have cooties," I scoffed.

"Listen, I don't want to work with you just as much as you don't want to work with me, so can we find some middle ground here? Can we come up with an agreement?"

"You know, of all people I thought you'd enjoy this! You wouldn't rather torture a student? Someone who 'apparently' has no training experience?" Okay, Kai, don't go overboard. "I say you're chicken. You don't have the stones to work with a girl because you're afraid she'll kick your ass!"

Pressing his lips together, he stepped forward, looking down toward me. He held up a finger and smiled. "Just the argument I was looking for…" He stepped back and turned around, staring at the clouds.

What was supposed to happen? I was supposed to be a trainee Talon. I was supposed to have no training, and my lack of tactical training should be enough… My lack of flying skills didn't seem to matter, seeing as I learned quickly. Fighting skills wouldn't matter, would they? Did Talons ever get far enough into a battle to have any type of combat? Finn gave me the impression that they were chickens… What about him?

If anything was going to happen, I knew I was in for trouble.

I wasn't used to being taller… I knew the instant I was back on the Condor, everything would seem a lot bigger, and the Dark Ace, a lot more intimidating. Though I only had about a four inch advantage with the added height, it still seemed like a considerable difference from my eyes.

"Honestly, I could give less of a damn about how you can fight," he spoke up. "I don't need another cocky Talon on the team… Chances are, if you survive the academy, you won't step foot off Cyclonia. If my team gets taken down, there's a back-up and a back-up for them, etcetera. This academy will teach you bull. You wanna learn?" He turned around. "If you jump off that cliff—," he pointed behind him, "—how long do you think it'll take you to reach the bottom?"

"Uhh…"

"If you were flying and you ran out of gas, what's the safest route out? If the only place you could land was the Wastelands, would you land or risk endless clouds?" He continually inched forward at a steady pace, staring me down. "If there was an invasion on Cyclonia, who would you run to? If the damned Storm Hawks showed up—"

My eyes went wide as the anger in his voice rose. Tears began clouding my silver eyes.

The Dark Ace cut back his words, looking away. "Don't do that."

I looked down toward my feet, fidgeting my hands.

His hands clenched into fists and the man walked off. "Let's go. The less time you spend here, the less corruption they fill your head with."

ooo

I opened my eyes and watched as we wove in and out of dark rain clouds. Unsure exactly of what direction we were in, the first tragedy came to mind—what if he ran into the Condor? Our mission would surely have gone down the drain…

Hours went by without sign of a destination. I wanted to question him—my stomach ached from both hunger and flight sickness. I needed to get to stable ground… I couldn't question him if I wanted to stay on the safe side. Who knows? Maybe they already know about the Storm Hawks infiltrating the academy and he's flying me to my death?

I sighed.

"You're not going to start complaining, are you?" he asked.

I loosened my grip around him, shaking my head. "No, I just forgot to breathe," I laughed. With the wind in my face and the thought of immanent death if I fell from the bike, breathing was the last thing on my mind.

He grumbled to himself. "Hold on tight," he demanded, tipping the bike straight downward without a split second to prepare myself. Fearing for my life, I gripped tighter onto someone that could potentially kill me.

As the bike spun downward, I felt this was it—this was the end. But, honestly… if you thought about it… Would someone with such a high ranking kill himself over someone that really didn't matter—over me? A wave of reassurance washed over me when I knew my life wasn't worth losing his. I was going to live and Dark Ace knew exactly what he was doing.

Just like Aerrow…

Things quickly changed—one moment we were falling downward, the next we were upright and driving full speed through less-than-favorable terrain. "Don't move, unless you have a death wish."

What was this place? This was a Terra I had yet to set foot on. For that matter, it didn't look like anyone could survive here. The farther in we traveled, the hotter it got. The lava surrounding us seemed like the likely cause of both the heat and the odd smell. I closed my eyes, feeling the blood flee for its life from the surface of my skin. The skin on my hands felt as if it was going to melt off—but I still couldn't complain.

The only say I had was when I could blink and when I could breathe.

I wanted to pull my arms from around him and hide them—take them away from the heat. It only got worse.

When it was safe—and safe was a matter of opinion in a place like that—he pulled the Switchblade to a stop and ordered me off of his bike.

"Take a good, long look, Everett."

"I-It's Zaria…" The second those words passed my lips, I regretted it. I closed my eyes and ducked, awaiting a punishment.

"I don't care," he laughed.

I slowly opened one eye, then the other. I uncurled my arms from my chest, making sure I was just out of his arm's reach. My skin began turning red with the heat, begging not to be boiled or melted.

"This is about as far into the Wastelands as you can go without your skin falling off."

"This is inhabitable! Get me the hell out of here!"

He turned around, grabbing my jaw in his hand. "You leave when I say you do."

My expression suddenly became worried, as did my mood. What… what was happening.

"Look around." He removed his hand, turning back around, scanning the area. "This is the exact place I dragged my team to burn. They couldn't fly here-they weren't skilled like I was."

I hugged my arm, looking downward.

"I took every one of them down. Every. Last. One." I watched him as he stood there reminiscing, his eyes filled with an emotion similar to happiness. Happiness… over killing his own comrades? My deep respect for him grew… into a little something called fear.

"They burned here… This exact spot." He looked at me. "Those Storm Hawks never saw it coming. Even the dumb kids that replaced them are smarter!"

I frowned. He took down the original Storm Hawks? His own team?

"So… you were a Sky Knight…"

"I was stupid," he growled. "I was never going to get anywhere with them and nothing good would ever come from the Storm Hawks or any of the other squadrons for that matter. I found something better and the world was better off without them anyway."

I clutched my sides. A sickening feeling overwhelmed me. He had no remorse! This man could snap my neck like a twig and eat lunch an hour later with no second thoughts! He killed off the original Storm Hawks… His own team…

"I don't want to be here anymore," I cried softly, turning toward the bike.

"Smart," he chuckled. "You sensed you weren't safe and chose to find a way out."

I cringed. Finn told me that's exactly what a Talon would do. They rather save their own skin.

I blinked first.

I let my arms fall to my sides. I turned around. "No… I'm not giving in now. I'm not like the other Talons. I'm not afraid of a little challenge." I faced the Talon. "I'm not scared of a threat, no matter who threw it on the table! You don't scare me," I lied. I stepped up to the man, looking up into his red eyes. "You couldn't hurt me because the instant you see the pain in my eyes, the second you hear me cry out you'll back away like the coward you are.

"You couldn't stand the thought of me crying when you yelled! If you struck me just once… You'd turn right around and take everything back. You may not blink first, but the instant I cry… you're finished."

He narrowed his vision, scanning my eyes for any loophole, for any lie… A smile crawled on his face when he lacked the evidence to prove me wrong. "Let's go." He grabbed my arm and pulled me off toward his Switchblade.

At least I had something against him…