Chapter Summary:
Decisions made in anger cannot be undone.
Dark Ace knows this.
He's afraid for what might transpire on Gale.
A/N: Putting children in mortal peril.
"So you're the Dark Ace's ward."
Aerrow shuffled about on his feet, struggling to meet the eyes of Captain Turaco. The Red Harts captain was much more intimidating in person, even more so than Snipe. Though to be honest, Snipe wasn't all that scary up close. Corythiax was starting to go grey, his dark eyes were near-impossible to read as he held out a massive hand for Aerrow to shake. He was sure the captain could feel his own hand trembling.
"Yessir," he said, lips pursing at the sound of his own voice. His accent always felt so obvious when meeting new people.
"This is the team that stole the Aurora Stone," Snipe introduced, roughly wrapping both arms around Aerrow and Dagr's shoulders. Radarr squeaked in surprise at the motion and resorted to climbing onto the artillery general's shoulders to avoid being crushed between his biceps. "Meet Lotus and Nightshade."
"Only two names between the three of you?" Turaco asked, glancing over the three boys one by one.
"This little guy is part of the Lotus package deal," Snipe said for them, clapping the two boys on the shoulders before letting them both go. "Just call'em Red and Blue Lotus if you need to distinguish them."
"Huh. Don't think I've ever seen that look on your face before."
"What look?"
"The one your mom makes when you go and do something dangerous."
Unimpressed, Achilles looked over at Austry with a deadpan expression.
"That one I have seen before."
"You're bullying me. I'm bedridden and you're bullying me."
"It's your own fault for channelling the Aurora Stone, Feathers."
"The Aurora Stone didn't drop a ceiling on top of me."
"It kinda did."
Achilles rolled his eyes, immediately regretting it when the action spiked a headache. He'd been dealing with the dull pressure in his skull since he'd first woken up in the infirmary.
"Seriously though, what's bothering you? Gail only ever makes that face when she's really worried about you."
"She's always worried about me."
"And you are dodging the question."
He sighed, "I'm worried about Aerrow."
"Because of the wannabe Storm Hawks? Ryder said he seemed pretty upset about it."
"Not just that. Delphinium had the bright idea to station him on Terra Gale."
Austry's eyes went wide, "She what?"
"Exactly."
"Why would she do that? Why would Aerrow even agree to it? He knows what happened to-."
"If I had to guess, he feels guilty over me being here and not there. Gale was meant to be my assignment, remember? I've asked Naius and Snipe to keep an eye on him until he can be convinced to come home."
"Right… And how are you feeling about those kids?"
"…I'm pissed, what else would I be? Bad enough it happened once, now we've got a bunch of kids trying to rebuild the squadron? It needs to be nipped in the bud. Fast."
"Thought so. At least it's not all adults this time."
"Someone probably put them up to it. My money's on the mage's father; Aniara. He chased off his son, and now he's got his daughter off digging up the dead. Fucking typical. And the brat threw sparklers in my face."
"Who was his son again?"
"Flax Tui, over on Zeal. The geriatric."
"Oh, him. No wonder he has issues."
"Mhm."
"And you're worried about Aerrow because he's mad at these kids," Austry said, getting back on track.
Achilles sighed, "I am. You know how I reacted the last time."
"He's not you. You know that, right?"
"Doesn't take away the fact that he's angry. I don't want him doing something he'll regret. Remember when he kept trying to fly off Cyclonia?"
"I remember you pulling your feathers out and saying his mom would haunt you if he got hurt."
He chuckled at that, "I did. And she will if something happens to him."
"I see your point. At least while he's on Gale, he's not likely to run into those kids."
"Do not jinx it, Deider."
Austry laughed and raised his hands in defence. "I won't, I won't. I'm sure things will go alright. Or at least won't end in disaster."
"You're sure of it?"
"Feathers, when have I ever said something I'm not sure about?"
"That's a trick question, you're sure of everything you say."
Austry nodded, "Exactly."
"Heh… Alright, you've convinced me. Let's just hope he doesn't try running Widow's Canyon on his own."
"You told him about that death-pit?"
"How could I not? It's the one good reason to go to the Gale Province."
"You have some weird priorities, Feathers."
The meeting was unbearably long. Aerrow regretted his insistence that he, Radarr and Dagr attend it. It was just as boring as the briefings on Cyclonia, just with more people who didn't pay any attention to the trio of teenagers that was listening in.
At least there was food to snack on. Aerrow and Radarr were currently sharing a cheese sandwich, and he'd managed to snag a mug of coffee before any of the adults could question if he was old enough to be drinking it. Dagr and Radarr were having a conversation in sign language about whether or not the cheese on Terra Gale was really as good as the few Talons from Gale liked to go on about. The consensus seemed to be that it was overhyped.
Aerrow stopped paying attention when the Nightcrawler captain mentioned the Condor.
Its presence on rebel territory had been confirmed.
"And you're certain that it's the Condor?" Captain Turaco asked, and Aerrow waited for the answer with bated breath.
The nightcrawler nodded, and so did the lieutenant standing by his side, a merbish-looking individual who Aerrow recognised as Naius Casaury. One of Achilles's friends. Hadn't Naius been mentioned in the report on the fake Storm Hawks? He couldn't remember.
"It's definitely the ship, I recognised the class and model," Naius insisted, "You don't see many old ships like that in this area."
Aerrow, Dagr and Radarr all exchanged looks as murmurs rippled through the briefing room. Discussion about what to do about this 'new threat' started up, but Aerrow already knew what he wanted to do about it.
Now he just needed to be presented with the opportunity to meet them…
They'd spent hours coming up with a secure plan to help break the Rebel Ducks out of the Cyclonian mining prison.
Well, Piper had, at least. Finn had been more focused on meeting 'that hot babe' than actually helping, Ciel sadly had no experience with infiltration missions and asked a lot of questions (which were more helpful than Piper realised), while Junko and Stork focused on preparing the Condor for another potential battle. Just in case things went wrong, Stork said. But Piper was certain that if they all followed the process, they'd pull this off without a hitch.
First up, Finn went in with an aqua crystal to create a steam cloud that would provide everyone else with enough cover to sneak in.
"Why not just use a Nimbus crystal?" Finn had objected.
"Because Nimbus crystals create a specific kind of cloud that Talons are trained to recognise. It'd blow our cover a lot faster," Piper explained, though she doubted Finn was actually listening.
Surprisingly, the plan had gone even smoother than Piper had hoped, barring a minor incident where Junko had to incapacitate a pair of guards who didn't fall for their stolen uniforms, or Piper's attempts to make Dove sound like a high-profile prisoner.
However, as the Rebel Ducks took to the air on their retrieved sky-rides, the two teams got barely halfway back to the rebellion's home base before things went sideways. Dark, ominous clouds with an unmistakeable red tint started rolling in, and Piper's stomach did flips as she saw the silhouettes of Talon switchblades lit up with lightning.
"Scatter!"
The Rebel Ducks all split off in different directions, clearly well-practised in such tactics. Piper panicked and swerved as one of the Switchblades zeroed in on her, clipping the back wheel of her ride as it passed. She glimpsed a hooded figure at the wheel, and another much smaller one in the copilot's sidecar. The Aurora Thief brandished their spear and charged again. With nowhere else to go but down, Piper dove under the clouds as fast as her little heliscooter would take her.
Unfortunately, this thing wasn't built for speed. She could practically feel the crystal energy of the Talon ride's thrusters, tingling on the back of her neck. Risking a glance back, she found herself looking straight into a pair of shadowed green eyes.
Then a bolt of blue knocked the Talon off-course.
"Piper, get to cover!" she heard Ciel shouting over their comms. The archer readied another arrow and fired, but the Talon dodged it with an artful spin.
Then they turned their sights on him.
The colour drained from Ciel's face when the Talon started flying towards him. Piper tried flinging a few ice blasts at them, but they were out of range within seconds.
Ciel turned and fled.
"Help!"
"Keep flying!" Stork ordered over the comms, "Talon switchblade engines are terribly inefficient. If you waste his time for long enough, he'll have to give up before he loses steam."
"That's your best advice?!"
"My usual advice is 'give up and accept your fate, but you don't like when I say that, so GET MOVING, CIEL! I'll cover for you as soon as I can!"
Whimpering in fear, Ciel didn't argue. Instead, he put on as much speed as his skimmer could allow and zoomed off towards the nearest Terra he could see. A dry, rocky one with canyons and rock formations that would surely make a good place to hide if he got there fast enough.
The Talon was quickly gaining on him. Their ride was different from the rest. Slimmer, more streamlined, much faster too. Was he even going to make it?
"Come on, come on…"
He ducked into a canyon, frantically weaving between pillars of rock and sand, yelping when he clipped a wing on one of them. There was a cavern up ahead, maybe he could find a hiding spot there. His engine whistled in protest as he desperately went faster.
"Ciel, are you crazy?!"
What was Finn shouting about this time?
"That's Widow's Canyon, you're gonna-!"
The comms cut off, but still, Finn was too late. Ciel was already in the cave, and to his horror he didn't see a safe place to switch to ground mode. The only way was forward, where he could see sunlight glinting at him. His stomach leapt up to this throat when he realised the passage was getting narrower.
Yelling in sheer terror, Ciel did the only thing he could think of and switch to ground mode anyways.
Too late. His wings shattered against the cave walls and he was flung out of the exit, sent into free-fall. Frantic hands grabbed at the pull cord for his parachute, and just as it deployed, he saw the Talon also come soaring out of the canyon with their ride totally untouched. The switchblade wings spread back out like a bird in flight.
Ciel had been outclassed before the chase had even started…
He didn't have time to think about that though, as he hit the ground with a thud. Not the most graceful of landings, but far better than the alternative.
Bootsteps crunching on the dry ground snapped Ciel out of his relief. Slowly, he turned to look at the Aurora Thief, stlaking towards him with a dangerous purpose in their step. The spear was lit up a fiery red, levelled in his direction.
"Hey- hey now, we don't have to do this," Ciel whimpered, rising to his feet only to get tangled up in the cords of his parachute. "Y-you- you won this one, a-and it's not a fair fight if I'm unarmed." His bow had been flung off his back during the crash.
The Talon didn't appear to care though. They kept walking towards him slowly, like a cat circling its prey. Ciel very much felt like the mouse, struggling to untangle himself so he could try to run. He couldn't even see his attacker's face, shrouded in shadows from their hood and the glaring sun.
They were just a few feet away when Ciel managed to free himself and try making a break for it. A hand grabbed his arm, making him cry out in fear, and he was pulled back to face the Talon up close. At this distance, Ciel could see the snarl on their face, and… skies above, were they growling at him? Since when did Talons growl?
"Y-you don't have to do this…"
He struggled, but the grip on him just tightened, and to his horror the spear was swiftly raised above both their heads. Was this it? Was he going to die here, when his life as a Storm Hawk had barely even started?
Tears burned in his eyes as he searched the shadowed hood for any sign of humanity. He hadn't even managed to find his mother yet…
Time seemed to freeze…
Then suddenly, he was shoved back into the cliff with a grunt. Red light flashed above him, he screamed and braced for the inevitable blow.
SCHRACK!
Stone splinters hit Ciel's face, making him yelp.
But nothing hurt.
…What?
Slowly, he opened his eyes to find the spear lodged into the cliffside. Mere inches from his shoulder. The Talon still stood over him, gripping the weapon in both hands and snarling in laboured breaths.
Had they missed?
"Out," they growled, sounding barely human.
"…What?"
"I'said get out!" the Talon snapped, pulling the spear out of the stone so he could brandish it in Ciel's face. "Away, go! Never come back! You and your friends!"
Ciel yelped and scrabbled away in a panic. He could smell singed hair, his own in fact. Stomping footsteps behind him told him that the Talon had finally backed off. Every muscle in his body trembled with shock, even when he turned to see them taking off, back towards the dark clouds surrounding Gale.
It wasn't long before his comm unit crackled to life and Finn's voice was blaring in his ear.
"You made it!" the marksman shouted, relieved.
"Y-yeah, I- I made it," Ciel stuttered, and his voice cracked on the last syllable. "I-is that why they call it Widow's Canyon?"
"You didn't know already? Dude, that's one of the deadliest sky ride runs in Atmos, it's famous."
"Y-you know that- that I'm more interested in Ssky Knights, Finn."
"Are you okay man? You sound really out of it. Did the Talon splatter instead or something? Is there blood?"
"N-no, I- Fin can you just pick me up, please? My ride's wrecked."
Finn went quiet for a moment before answering. "I can do that."
With that said and done, Ciel's legs gave out from under him.
It was plain sailing after that, with almost everyone making it back to Wren's windmill. Unfortunately, the Rebel Duck's medic, Carrion, was recaptured in the skirmish. Nobody seemed to hold it against the Storm Hawks, and Wren barely stopped to consider it before rushing to his granddaughter and weeping for joy at her return. They were invited to a night of revelry by the rebellion, but to Finn's dismay, Piper insisted that they keep going. She was still painfully aware of the fragments of Aurora Stone on the Condor, held in a containment box in the lab. Every moment Atmosia spent without it was a moment where danger got ever closer to it.
So with a bundle of supplies gifted to them upon Knight Lapwing's insistence, and a Wind Stone that Dove managed to convince Wren to give up, the Storm Hawks set off for Atmosia.
"Wait!" It was Dove.
Piper was confused as the girl skidded to a halt in front of her, panting and holding up an envelope in her face.
"You are Piper, yes? From the Academy?"
"Yes?"
"The teacher's pet?"
Piper's expression soured and she didn't answer. Dove carried on,
"I need you to deliver this letter to Lucky Ardennes at the Sky Knight Academy. Can you do that?"
"Sure," Piper said after a moment of hesitation. She knew who Lucky was, they could drop the letter off after the Aurora Stone had been returned to Atmosia. And she could take the opportunity to search the sky knight academy's library for some useful reading material.
Dove's smile was practically blinding, and Piper found it in herself to forgive the 'teacher's pet' comment. The girl probably hadn't meant anything by it.
She was just glad none of the others had heard it. Finn would never let her hear the end of it that her reputation – unearned, mind you – had escaped the Academy grounds.
A heavy sigh escaped her as everyone boarded the Condor and started preparing for the journey. Everything was fine. They were all okay, and when they got back to Atmosia, she could carry on with her original objective.
She needed to find Aerrow, the fate of Atmos depended on it. Today's encounter just further proved that.
She hoped nothing more would keep getting in her way.
Aerrow was huddled up on the infirmary bed, keeping a close eye on the passing doctors and listening out for Radarr in the air vents. He'd woken up here after being pulled out of the fire by a familiar face, and now no one was letting him go anywhere.
The grumpy doctor with the moustache had said he'd go and get Achilles for him. He was taking too long.
Chirping from the vents above him caught his attention, and he shifted around to look up at the pair of eyes peeking out at him.
"Find him yet?" he asked, in almost the same chirps and squeaks of the lemur, who just shook his head. That was disappointing. The one familiar face they'd found since being brought back to Atmos, and he was gone almost as soon as he'd appeared.
He briefly considered trying to leave the infirmary again, but the last time he'd tried that had ended in instantaneous failure. The lack of a prosthetic did not help matters.
What would these people do with him once he was healed? Would they even wait that long before kicking him out? Everyone he'd seen so far had been much older than him, and almost all of them dressed in green and red uniforms that he recognised. And didn't much like if memory served. Not once did he think he'd be getting help from Talons of all people, yet here he was.
Sensing his brother's upset, Radarr squirmed his way out of the vents to leap down onto Aerrow's lap. The redhead scooped him up into a hug, and they both waited.
He wanted to go home.
He'd had it.
He'd had it, his chance to send those thieves a message had been right in front of him, and he'd let their archer go. He could've cut the ginger's parachute strings on the way down from Widow's Canyon. He'd done everything Achilles had taught him, and he'd still let them get away.
What had stopped him?
Aerrow was seething as he skidded to a landing in the shipyard on Gale. Talons jumped out of the way and cursed him out for it, but he ignored them and stormed into the barracks building he'd been assigned to.
"Hey, pipsqueak! Where's the fire?!"
"Go away, Snipe!" he shouted over his shoulder, ignoring Radarr's chastising shrill.
"That bad, huh?" the general deadpanned, "Well, we tried. C'mere, kid."
Massive hands grabbed Aerrow by the shoulders, making him shriek indignantly.
"What happened, kid?" Snipe asked, and his tone told Aerrow that there was no room for him to try dodging the question. "You get hurt?"
"I had one of them!" Aerrow shouted, squirming angrily in Snipe's hold. Radarr, the traitor, just hopped onto the bigger man's shoulder to watch.
"One of who?"
"Those Storm Hawks! But they're not Storm Hawks, they're thieves! But the archer got away!"
That got him a raised eyebrow. Clearly Snipe didn't get it.
"That happens sometimes," Snipe shrugged, "The Rebel Ducks were our real targets anyhow. I noticed you weren't there to help get them back."
Aerrow stopped struggling.
"What, you got something personal going on between you and those kids?"
"…They probably still had the Aurora Stone," Aerrow mumbled. "We could've got it back. Used the archer as… as a rantsom."
"You mean ransom?"
"That."
"Okay… Then why didn't you say so earlier? One of the 'Crawlers could've helped you nab him."
Aerrow didn't answer, just scowled and crossed his arms. Snipe carried on,
"Not much we can do about it now, I guess. I'm sending you back to Cyclonia."
"What?! No! I still-."
"Yes. The Dark Ace wants to talk to you."
Achilles… What did he want this time?
"Besides, there's nothing for you to steal here. And people don't count."
"…Fine. I'll go home."
A/N: I said it once and I'll say it again: Apologies to Panda for putting Ciel in peril.