Chapter Fourteen: Admitting the truth
When I came to I found myself on a work bench in Maru's garage. I let out a slight groan that brought Maru over to me. I then realised that my right shirt sleeve had been cut off. There was a wet rag tied around my arm. Well the rag was almost dry now. Maru removed it than ran a tine down the burn that was there. I figured my arm had landed in some hot coals when I passed out.
"OW" I yelped when he touched it.
"Oh stop squirming and sit still. I was just checking that you still had feelings in that arm" Maru scolded me as he tied another wet rag around the burn.
I yelped again when Crow suddenly wrapped me in a hug.
"Glade to see that you made it" she giggled and tightened her grip.
"Um Crow I can't breathe" I gasped slightly.
"Ok Crow you can let her go" Maru released Crow's grip.
Crow giggled again and let go so I could breathe again.
"Oh and Ashley, Blade told me to send you up to his hanger when you woke up or if you don't feel like walking I could go and fetch him" Maru said then waved a tine to were my now cracked up riding helmet was. "And your helmet did not make the fall either."
"That's ok and I'll walk up to Blade hanger thanks" I answered as I slipped off the table.
"Ok" Maru resumed his work on Dusty and I walked out the hanger.
I pretty much dawdled up to Blade's hanger but the only aircraft I saw was Dipper who was watching Maru work. I figured the rest were either out or in their hangers. I sighed and knocked on Blade's hanger door.
"Come in" Blade called from inside.
I opened the hanger door and stepped inside closing it behind me.
"Maru told me you wanted to talk to me" I said.
"Yes I did" Blade answered his voice tone sounding dead serious. "It's about what happened after Dusty crashed."
"I suppose you want an explanation for it?" I asked as I leaned against the hanger door and slid down it so I was sitting on the floor.
"That would be helpful" Blade agreed.
"Then I had better start at the beginning" I sighed and rolled up my left shirt sleeve to revival my curse mark.
Blade settled down to listen.
"It all started just after I turned five. My birth parents had left me at an orphanage saying that they will be back for me in six months. Six months later they came back for me but little did the person in charge of the orphanage or I know that my real parents had been killed months ago and these two were impostors. Of course they had my birth certificate so the person in charged let them take me. I lived with them happily for the next six months. But on the night of my sixth birthday I decided to play explore the house in the dark with a torch. I waited until I thought I herded my so called parent bedroom door shut then slipped into the hall. I wandered from room to room till I herded talking. Of course being a little kid I decided it needed investigating. The talking led to a door in the house that was usually locked but tonight it was not so I just went and opened it. That was when I realised my mistake. Behind the door was a dark cloud that was a dark evil force that was my so called parents. When the cloud saw me it growled in irritation as it had been found out by a human and because of that it will be destroyed. Knowing that it will soon disappear forever it dropped an ink like substance on the floor that grabbed me. Then it yelled out that I will be forever cursed and disappeared. Then this curse mark appeared to show I was cursed. I later on discovered my curse was not a bad thing. It enabled me to heal, make water barriers, send out water in different ways like wave, spray and so it looks like it shots forwards like a snake, read minds and sense things. Not long after that I met Crow and Cloudy and we became close friends. Then we met Dusty and raced with him in the Wings Around the Globe Rally and have been with him ever since."
Blade gave me an understanding look and I rubbed my left arm were my curse mark was then smiled slightly.
"So you have something else to tell me?" he asked.
"Yes. It's about why I passed out after putting out the fire. My curse mark seemed to tell me to look behind me so I did. When my eyes met yours I saw an image flash up of a white helicopter." I took a deep breath. "It was your friend Nick Loopin' Lopaze. He was still alive and is looking for you.
Blade did a sharp intake of breath.
"When he crash he only stopped breathing until the mechanic's started working on him. One of them moved something and it shocked him back into breathing but by time they fixed him they had lost all contact with you. I saw it all in the image."
Blade looked shocked for a minute before giving me a nuzzle with his nose and whispering a thank you to me. We stayed in his hanger until Maru came looking for me and as he lead me away I could have sworn that Blade smiled at me. I just felt a proud feeling sweep over me for just a moment before I disappeared into the garage with Maru.
Now you know how Ashley got her curse mark. In case you are wondering why i made it Nick did not die I did it because A) I'm using him in later fanfics and B) I didn't really like the fact that Nick died. Kinda changed the story a bit. Next chapter is the last.