Chapter Eight

Alice

I dried my body off after I jumped out of the bath. My hair dripped but I didn't bother with it. I didn't really feel up to it.

I sighed and walked down the hallway, hair still dripping.

As I walked down the hall, I heard the Condor groan under some pressure.

"What the-"

I was interrupted by the ship braking suddenly. I flew down the hall and hit the door of the main room. I stood before the door as it opened. The room was spinning as I tried to gather my bearings.

"Wha-ha-aats going on?" I said dizzily.

"I'm parking the Condor." Stork said in a "DUH" tone. "I need to sleep too."

"Did ya hafta hit the brakes that hard though?"

Stork shrugged and pulled some levers before walking to the entrance I was standing in. he stood in front of me.

"I take it that was you who smacked the door then?" He asked.

I glared at him playfully. "No. It was the Dark Ace." I said sarcastically. Stork glared a little but caught onto the joke. "How've ya been holding up?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh! Right the whole…beast thing…" He said grimly. "I'm doing good. Still trying to take it all in though."

He smiled shyly with a shrug. "You should get some sleep then." I said, patting his shoulder.

Somehow, Stork and I got a little closer. He seemed a little protective and watchful of me since the whole incident.

I guess Stork said something cause when he touched my hand that sat on his shoulder and looked at me funny, he had a waiting look in his eye.

"Hm?" I asked. "Sorry. I wasn't listening."

"What about you?" He repeated. "You shouldn't be staying up late."

I shrugged. "I've got insomnia some nights."

Stork just shook his head. "Don't stay up too late."

"Yes, sir!" I said, saluting.

Stork then left. I shook my head and made my way to the balcony like area right outside the bridge. I leaned on the railing and gazed up at the stars that twinkled so far away. I sighed in content.

"Hey, Pipes!" I said as I saw the only other girl in the kitchen the next morning.

Piper looked up at me from her glass of orange juice. "Pipes?" She inquired with humor in her voice, raising an eyebrow with a smile on her face. I shrugged. "What's up, Al?"

I smiled. "Now that we have nicknames out of the way," I said sarcastically. "Can I read your crystal books?"

She looked stunned. "Of course!" She said. "But, why? I didn't think of you as the crystal loving type."

I shrugged. "I wanna be able to identify them so that way I don't accidentally blow myself up."

Piper laughed. "Well, if that's the case, let me grab them."

"Cool. I'll just read them in the bridge."

Aerrow

I entered the bridge to see two piles of books on the table with Alice next to them. There must've been at least fifty books in it!

"Watcha doing, Alice?" I asked as I approached.

"Learning what I can about crystals." She said, closing a book and slipping a book into the pile on her left then grabbing a book from the pile on her right.

"She wanted to make sure she knew what she was messing with is what she told me." Piper said from her charts. "She's been going at it since I gave them to her. Fast reader too."

Finn groaned. "Just what we need. Two smart-asses."

Alice chuckled as she read. "Finn, I was a smartass before I started studying. That's never gonna change. Only difference now is that I'll know what I'm messing with."

Finn groaned, causing me to laugh.

The day progressed as normal. Alice was tearing through the many books quickly.

Night time came around. I was lying in bed, tossing and turning.

Finally, I surrendered and got up. I was walking to the bridge, hoping that the view would ease my mind and send me to sleep.

When I got to the bridge, I saw a dim light over a certain brunette on our ship.

Alice was sleeping in her arms with a blanket around her. She was out cold.

"Sh." I heard someone say.

I looked up to see Stork holding a finger up to his mouth. I quietly stepped up next to him.

"How long?" I asked as I watched her. Alice then groaned in discomfort. She's probably having a nightmare.

"She's been at it all day and she seemed determined to finish them all." He whispered as I turned around to look at the stars. "She could be infected with-"

"NYAAAH!" Alice shouted. The shout was followed by a whimper and a thump from the table.

I turned around quickly to see her on the ground, curled up into a ball.

"Alice!" Stork shouted, running to her.

I rushed to her side. She was covering her ears and closing her eyes tightly.

"What's going on?" I asked Stork.

"I think it may have been a Nightmare."

"No shit." I grumbled. I looked over to see Alice crying! "Alice?" I said.

My hand patted her shoulder. The brunette jumped back quickly. She stared at me and Stork for a moment.

"A-Aerrow? S-S-Stork?" She asked.

"Yeah. It's us." Stork said. "What ha-"

She then tackled us in a hug. I heard Alice sob slightly as she shook violently. I patted and rubbed her back as Stork tried to calm her down.

It took a few minutes to get her to calm down. Finally, she sat back and looked at us calmly.

"S-Sorry." She said with a smile. "I had a bad dream."

I stared at her. "Bad dreams don't normally have that kinda effect." I said. She looked embarrassed for a moment.

"What's going on?" Finn grumbled as he walked in. I looked up to see a sleepy Piper, Junko, Finn, and Radaar looking at us.

"What happened?" Piper asked.

"Alice, are you…crying?" Junko asked.

Alice looked away. "Yeah. I just had-"

"You blame it simply on the dream again, I'm gonna hafta check you for mind worms." Stork warned.

Alice flinched then looked away. "Okay then. I remembered something from a long time ago."

I stared at her.

"A memory?" Finn asked. "What-"

Alice glared at him slightly. She doesn't wanna talk about it. But if it affects her like this, I have to help in some way, however small.

"Tell us, Alice." I said, patting her shoulder. "We'll understand."

"I know that." She said, nodding. "But the way it affects me just…I'm a little nervous."

"Al." Piper said, coming up.

Alice sighed. "A-A little over five years ago…"

She looked different from the girl I knew. The Alice we all know is wild and unafraid. Sure she has a panic attack when she gets eaten by a giant monster but this was unreal. She looked completely awkward.

She took a deep breath then look at each of us with a serious face. "Five years ago, my mom, dad, and brother died. They were murdered and I was left alive so that I can hunt down the killer. He told me to find a world of clouds then vanished. I haven't seen or heard from him since. Of course, when I first found the ruins, the thought hadn't occurred to me that I was closer to finding the killer of my family. I only thought "Hey! This place seems kinda cool! Be nice to go here." that's all. The dream was the memory of the night my family died and it's been getting me ever since that night."

She took a breath like she hadn't taken one in ages.

I couldn't help but stare at her.

"That's why you're the way you are." Piper stated more than asked, patting Alice's shoulder.

Alice nodded. "I've been prepared to fight him since that night. That's why I'm always trying to get stronger."

"Do you really plan to kill him?" Stork asked.

"Hell no!" She said as if offended as she glared at Stork. "If push comes to shove, then I'll seriously injure him. I just…" She then looked sad again. "I've never been able to hurt people. Sure. I can fight. But I know that the person I'm fighting will recover at one point in time."

There was a heavy silence. "Well," I said. "We should all get some rest. Alice, sleep in your room this time."

Alice smiled awkwardly. "Right."

...

Holy crap. An actual insight that foreshadow's a later arc XD

Finn: *Reads chapter as listening to video in other window* The lyrics are hilarious and you wrote this chapter to it?

Me: Yuppers.

Piper: WHat song is this?

Me: Life's Gonna Suck by Denis Leary. Of course, it's a Storm Hawks AMV with the Dark Ace and that guy from Red Eagles that betrayed his own squad then said that it was the work of a hypnosis crystal.

Aerrow: Carver?

Me: That was it! The video is called Words of Wisdom: Life's Gonna Suck. The creator of it is Gothicruby. I recommend everyone watch it. It's funny. That and Something you'd never expect Ace to say! I especially recommend it for anyone that watches Robot Chicken. DISNEYLAND! That's your insight for it.

Aerrow: So why this chapter?

Me: I had to give everyone a little insight of what's gonna happen later on to kinda set a mood. After the Terra Neon thing, I've gotta get on with my arc because I'm slowly having trouble writing the episode parts. The only reason I'm motivated to do InFinnity and Terra Neon is because those are two of my favorite episodes and I already know my plot twist for them. :D

Dark Ace: My turn?

Me: Yup.

Dark Ace: Alanis Cross does not own Storm Hawks. They purely belong to Nerd Corps. She owns only Alice and the Wonderland twist. Trust me. If she owned Storm Hawks, she'd guarantee a third season, save my ass, make Aerrow hook up with me, and give Stork a girlfriend.

Aerrow: Wait! WHAT?

Me: What? It's a funny couple. Some of the stuff I read for you two is pretty hooot.

*Dark Ace & Aerrow do this face O_e while I show them the hot yaoi stuff i found of them*

Stork: Please re-

Me: I got stuff with you and Finn and you and Aerrow too, Stork.

Stork: O.e

Please review! XD