Tests

Aerrow

I wasn't allowed to do anything. Kai made me promise not to bother her about what happened for what was left of that day. Finn, of course, I had to talk to.

"Finn…," I sang down the halls. With no luck, I peered into Piper's lab. "Kai, will you go find Finn for me," I smiled.

She raised her uninjured brow, placing a hand on her hip. "You're going to kill him, huh?"

I just stood there, smiling.

Kai sighed. "He's with Stork. He said it'd be the last place you'd look!"

I smiled again. "Thanks!"

Kai

I shook my head, watching Aerrow rush off toward the doomed boy. I walked over to an unoccupied counter and lifted myself up onto it, watching Piper as she worked.

"You know that was a fatal mistake, right?" Piper chided.

I shrugged. "I don't know these things… I'm still new," I winked. Finn would get whatever Aerrow threw at him no matter if I intervened or not. That much I knew about Aerrow.

Piper shook her head, returning to examine the once unstable Chroma crystal. "What I don't understand is how its effects stayed with you." She removed the crystal from its stand and held it out for me. "Do me a favor?"

I nodded, taking the crystal. What I didn't expect was another transformation. Piper examined my new figure closely, taking each change down into a notebook. "It's still highly unstable, though less now than before." Piper walked away and I tried to shove the crystal back in her direction but she paid no mind. Returning with another crystal, she instructed me to hold that one as well.

"What're you doing?" I asked, then noticed I began to lift up from the counter. I was floating.

"Testing a theory." Hearing noise from the bridge, Piper walked toward the door, leaning against the doorway. Muttering a few words to herself, she waited for whatever she suspected was coming. Suddenly, the noise grew louder and I could discern what it was. Finn was racing down the halls away from an imminent threat. Whether it was Stork or Aerrow, I assumed the latter. As the blond quickly passed our room, Piper called out. "Finn! Finn, come here."

The boy reacted as if she was saving his life, hiding under the desk I was 'sitting' on. I set the odd floating crystal on the desk.

"Please, don't make me go back out there."

Piper laughed. "Then help us out. Do you have any crystals stashed anywhere? I'm doing a test on Kai."

I leaned over, waving to the boy from above the desk.

As he tried to stand up, Finn hit his head on the desk. I laughed quietly, watching him make a successful second attempt to stand up straight. "Nice…," he smiled. "Back to the Cyclonian look, eh?"

I was quick to assume that the Chroma crystal had taken me back to the disguised we'd used for the academy. I shrugged, sighing.

"Finn, do you or do you not have any crystals on the ship?"

I noted the boy was still wearing the Talon Academy uniform as he began furiously searching through the pockets. "I have… this…," he pulled out an odd-looking necklace, a crumbled up piece of paper, "and… this. I think Kai might want the first two," he laughed.

Piper snatched up a familiar looking crystal, rushing to a microscope of sorts. From there, Finn picked back up the paper and necklace, handing them to me. "Kai… I know it was horrifying, but I thought you might like to keep these. They were on the top of your supply bag. It… it was all I could grab in time."

I took the strange objects from him, examining them both. I dangled the necklace in front of me, setting the Chroma crystal aside. Finn shielded himself from the release of crystal energy. "It's… it's the necklace I found in Elle's drawer." Which immediately meant the paper was the picture with the note attached that I had found.

Knowing Elle was gone, I contemplated the appropriateness of reading the letter.

I set the letter and necklace aside, pushing myself off the counter. I threw my arms around Finn, trying to keep back tears. "Thanks, Finn…" I closed my eyes, remembering the girl. It was traumatizing, watching them murder her in front of me, that much was clear. But why was I crying? Shear trauma, or the loss of a friend? I hadn't known her that long…

I opened my eyes slowly, looking at the ground. Spotting a pair of shoes that weren't there before, I followed them upward, finding a red head with his arms crossed in the doorway. I quickly removed myself from Finn, walking around to greet him. I sniffed in, rubbing an eye. "Hey...," I smiled.

"What's going on?" he asked cheerfully, seeing the experiment was at a bit of a standstill.

"Nothing," I shook my head. "Finn… brought me some precious items I thought I'd left at the academy."

Piper grabbed my shoulder, pulling me back onto the desk. She lodged the Chroma crystal in my hand, the boys standing by watching, as well as the crystal Finn had given her. "No change with the Levitation crystal, correct?" she asked me.

"Uh… that one?" I looked at the crystal she'd handed me before. "Not unless levitation is considered a change."

She shook her head.

I noted Finn and Aerrow looked a little confused. Upon looking upward, Piper carried the same expression. "What?" I asked, looking at the three of them.

Stepping back from me, Piper held her hands up defensively. "Kai… put down the Frost crystal," she instructed quietly.

"Why? Whats wrong?!"

"Just put down… the Frost crystal," Aerrow agreed.

I quickly abandoned the cold crystal, watching their expression become relieved. "What the hell just happened?" I asked quickly.

Piper sighed, taking the Frost crystal. "Listen to me, Finn. Never, ever, ever combine a Chroma crystal and a Frost crystal. You hear me?"

Still stunned, Finn nodded.

"I may regret telling you that later, but it's worth a shot."

Aerrow laughed.

"Will someone please tell me what just happened?!" I asked again.

Aerrow stepped over to me, resting a hand on the desk. "It's fine now."

"I rather not explain it to you. Let's just say it's rather frightening, even if you have no idea what the process it." Piper pointed to Aerrow and Finn. "Scared, yes. Knowledgeable, no. I'm unsure if it was the instability of the Chroma crystal that caused it, or if any Chroma crystal would do. Finn, did yours survive?"

He shook his head. "No, it disappeared…"

Piper nodded. "Kai, how much do you know about crystals?"

I thought for a moment. "Not much. We used Frost crystals, Cooking crystals, Fuel crystals… the basics. Nothing intricate like the Chroma crystals." I didn't understand what went wrong. When Elle had used the Frost crystal on my face, nothing bad happened, right? So what went wrong this time?

"Look at it this way—now that you're a Storm Hawk, you'll learn a lot more about crystals in a very short amount of time. One, for battle. Two, for rescue. Three, to prevent Finn from using any dangerous crystals."

Finn laughed nervously.

I handed the Chroma crystal back to Piper. After concealing the unstable crystal, Piper said she would re-examine me one last time for any changes the unstable crystal would've left behind.

Finn's jaw dropped. "Kai… Kai, you're going to die."

My eyes went wide.

Aerrow smacked the back of Finn's head. "That's not even funny."

I looked from Finn to Piper, then back at Finn. "He's kidding right?"

Piper sighed.

"Someone say right!"

"Yes, he's kidding."

My gaze shot to Finn.

Aerrow patted Finn's back. "I suggest you run."

I looked away, my gaze lowered.

"That's not really the best thing to say…," Finn told Aerrow.

I sighed. "He's right, though. You better run." I quickly pushed myself off of the desk and bolted after Finn, who took the hint and got a head start.

"Boys…," I heard Piper sigh as I left.

I laughed at the inference, continuing at my top speed after Finn.