Chapter Eighteen

Alice

Everyone explained what happened. I pursed my lips in thought as I laid in my bed that night.

Chess… I thought as the image of that strange boy came to mind. What is it that I am supposed to do with this power?

I looked at my hand and thought of the feelings that occurred while within the dark recesses of my mind. How weird is it that I can't remember anything?

I suppose it was like what happened to Stork during the Leviathan incident.

"Alice!"

His voice kept echoing in my mind. While I was in darkness, I remembered his voice calling out to me. It sounded desperate and frightened, like he was trying to bring me back.

I sighed and got up from my bed, grabbing my blade and putting it on my back. I proceeded to leave. It was the midst of the night, meaning all of Stork's traps were set. I managed to avoid all of them. I got to the hangar bay where all the bikes were set up. The light was out. Just as I was about to hit the switch, I heard something moving around the room.

I froze and listened carefully. I guess I can use this to test my new powers that Chess taught me.

I then focused my energy. When I opened my eyes, my vision had changed. I saw blues, cool red, then bright oranges all around me. Oh yeah! Heat Sight! Just like the FBI! Er...sorry. Randomness.

I looked around and saw a ball of warmth scurry across the floor quickly. I hid behind some crates and waited. The sound of the padding of paws came to my ears.

How did an animal get on the ship?

I watched as the little ball of warmth slowly crept passed me. I grabbed it as I switched my regular vision on. I stared at the creature in my arms.

"Radarr?" I asked. Radarr trilled in relief upon seeing me. I hit the switch to look at him. Radarr blinked his big eyes so they could adjust to the sudden light. "What are you doing in here?"

He then pointed to Aerrow's skyride.

"You were doing repairs?" He nodded. "Couldn't sleep?"

No. Not really. I heard a voice say as Radarr shook his head. I shook my head in shock. What's wrong? The voice said again as worry etched of Radarr's face.

"Did… you just ask what's wrong with me?"

Yeah I- Radarr then chirped in confusion. Wait! You can understand me?

I nodded my head. "Yeah. I can."

Radarr raised where an eyebrow would be to me. That's weird. When'd this happen?

"Maybe it was after my dream…"

Dream?

"Yeah. You see, after I passed out, I had a dream about a boy dressed like a cat. You see, he taught me that I had a lot of power sealed inside me. The Dragon Gift, is what he called it."

Like your sky knight move. Radarr said in almost realization.

"I guess so." I answered with a shrug.

So, what happened?

"He helped me "wake up" so I can go to Terra Wonder."

Terra Wonder?

"Yeah. Apparently, I'm only in a state of REM. Meaning, I'm still asleep. You see, I'm here before everyone but at the same time…I am still not completely alive. In order to be reborn into Atmos and be able to help everyone win this war, I need to find Terra Wonder."

How? That place is supposed to be a story.

"Yeah. I know but then again…" Alice smiled at Radarr gently. "When I first heard of Atmos, it was merely a story to me. I read about it in that tome that I found."

A tome? I nodded. Show me. I'm curious.

"Well, okay." I got up and Radarr climbed onto my shoulder. I walked us into my room, only to smash into someone.

I quickly drew out my energy blade. The green glow revealed the person before me.

"Stork? What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you and nearly set off alarms because you weren't here. Where were you?"

"I went for a walk. I couldn't sleep too well. I only came back because Radarr wanted to see something in my room." I said, putting my blade at my side. "Can I come into my own room?" I teased as he was blocking my only in.

"Oh. Y-Yeah." He said, stepping aside.

Radarr jumped off my shoulder as he ran to my old backpack. In here right?

"Yeah. In there. It's an ancient book."

"Who are you talking to?" Stork asked.

I blinked at him. "Oh. I was talking to Radarr. I can't really explain it because it is hard to explain."

"I can try to understand. Easter wasn't too hard to get after a while." He joked, smiling at me. (I had to throw that in there somewhere.)

I raised an eyebrow then proceeded to explain. Stork, Radarr, and I then stayed up a while, reading through the old tome.

Hey, Alice. Radarr trilled. What's this say? I can't read it.

He pointed to the text. I looked closely. It was written in English! "That's English from my world. It may sound just like the language of your world but that's only coincidence, I guess."

"Maybe it was just the author's lazy attempt at a story." Stork stated.

Radarr smacked Stork in the leg. Don't break the fourth wall!

I didn't know what they were talking about but yawned. "I should get to sleep." I said.

"Good plan." Stork said, nodding tiredly. He began to leave but stopped. "Hey, uh…A-Alice?" He began.

"What is it?" I asked, walking up to him.

I saw that his face was a little red. "I-I…uh…"

"Stork, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

Stork

Those golden eyes stared into my own. I smiled lightly.

Her hair had gotten at least a little longer since we'd met her. Her bangs started to cover her eyes as the sides hovered over her shoulders. She'd gotten tanner too. It suited her somehow.

I shook my head. "I know that." I said. "I just wanted to say 'Sleep well.'" I shrugged then walked out. "S-Sleep well." I said before the door closed itself.

This is not gonna be easy. I thought as I sighed. My heart was still pounding. I walked away, avoiding my traps that I'd set before entering my room. I leaned against the door and put my hand on my chest. It was pounding so fast, I could've sworn that I had gotten the Cardiac Alacrity Disease; your heart's pumping rate will increase, pumping more blood into your system before you finally-

Before I could go any further, I could almost hear Alice's voice in my head.

"Stork, relax. Nothing's bad is gonna happen. We'll pull through like we always do."

I grabbed my head with my olive hands. I can't get her voice out of my head. Why?

Me: Can you figure out why? *Points to you. Finn is suddenly in your place.*

Finn: No, not really.

Me: Popping outta nowhere is kinda weird.

Finn: YOU wrote it!

Me: Your point?

*Finn facepalms*

Junko: Hey, what's 'Cardiac Alacrity Disease'?

Me: Something I made up for a Stork thing. haha! Cardiac is your heart. Alacrity is another word for speed. So, i just threw it together to kinda make it sound like something Stork would say.

Aerrow: Worked out pretty well. So, why the random fourth wall breaking?

Me: I just had to do it. It felt like something I should do for fun. I'm actually going to remove the Easter chapter and set it up as a series of one-shots that will go in sync with Alice in Atmos. Basically, little stories of Alice showing the Hawks about different holidays or anything that the readers wanna see. My brother thinks I should do one about Halloween. I'm all for it but school is a BITCH!

Dark Ace: Quit complaining. It's almost over.

Me: *Pouty face with tears* Even more reason to complain. *Flailing arms* I'm a senior now and it's so sad now! I don't want it to end! Waaahaaaahah!

Dark Ace: *Sigh* *Growl* Lupin.

Me: *Suddenly happy* I'm bipolar. *Dark Ace facepalms* Anyway, I tried to pride Nerd Corps with promises of cake or death (If you get that reference, yay-e) but they still won't give me ownership of Storm Hawks. So, I still only own Alice but things are starting to fall into place. Yay-e! I love you all for reading what I have thus far.

*Little heart* Lupin!