Chapter Summary:
Discoveries are made, but something important is yet to be found.
Aerrow is looking to the future.
A/N: This fic introduces a new fan-species belonging to my friend Grimm! 'Dawnrunners' are something of an 'anti-nightcrawler' species in this fic, and I'm very excited to introduce a new character as one of them. Deo belongs to myself.
Aerrow didn't like Cyclonia much. Not just because there was the feeling that this was not a good place to be, but it was really difficult to get around. Back home, he had trees and branches and all sorts of handholds to navigate by. In here, in this 'infirmary', the walls were smooth and he could barely get more than a few feet before he started struggling.
At least until one of the nurses gave him a pair of crutches. Sure, they were unwieldy and made his arms sore, but once he figured out how to use them, there wasn't much anyone could do to keep him in the hospital bed without taking the crutches away from him. And if they did, Radarr would just steal them back.
Now he just had to figure out how to follow Radarr into the vents. Then they'd be in business to find a way out of here.
Achilles hadn't been much help. Aerrow didn't understand, why was Achilles working with Talons? He remembered now, Achilles had fought Talons. Was he a spy? Was that what he'd decided to do after losing the Storm Hawks?
Was that why his mother had been so angry at him that one time?
If they ran into each other, he would have to ask. For now, though, he wanted to get a feel for where he was, regardless of what the doctors and nurses tried to tell him.
"Prehral si?"
Radarr chattered a warning, but it was too late to stop Aerrow nearly jumping out of his skin and whipping around to find the source of the voice. In doing so, the crutches caught on his leg and he was falling-.
"Woah! Teraz ľahko!"
Small, rough hands grabbed his shirt and caught him before he hit the ground, and he found himself face to face with a person the likes of which he'd never seen before. Bright orange, cat-like eyes blinked down at him from a face framed by a pair of striped horns.
"Si v poriadku?"
Aerrow just blinked at them with wide eyes, not knowing what to say and also trying to figure out what this person was. A deep scar went down the left side of their face, and the horn on that side had a strange metal cap on it that glinted silvery in the overhead lights as they tilted their head.
"Do you speak Atmosian?" they asked, and Aerrow quickly nodded. "Oh good."
He didn't know how to react as he was pulled back upright and allowed to lean on the crutches again. Horns took a step back, and he was able to see that they were, to his surprise, shorter than him. They only just reached above shoulder height to him. He could also see a black and white striped tail flicking about behind them, and cloven hooves for feet like some sort of goat.
"You're Dark's little friend, aren't you?"
Who? Again, Aerrow didn't know how to respond. The tail flicked slightly.
"Shouldn't you be back at the infirmary?"
"Uhm…"
"Especially with that," they carried on, nodding towards Aerrow's leg. Or rather, the half of one. "Don't want that healing wrong, do you?"
"It… already healed," Aerrow muttered, shifting slightly on his foot. "Long time ago."
"Oh."
There was a moment of awkward silence before Radarr let out a nervous chirp, sidling up to Aerrow's leg.
"Who are you?"
"Hm? Oh, you can just call me Deo. You're Aerrow, aren't you? The Strike kid."
That took him a back slightly. Deo had an idea of who he was already, but his name? More than that, his last name. The one he hadn't heard be used in a very, very long time.
"Mhm."
"Y'know, the doctors are going to worry if they find you're not in the infirmary anymore. Those bandages smell like they're due for cleaning."
"You can… smell that?"
"Of course I can. Your friend there can't?" she asked, gesturing to Radarr. His brother, to his chagrin, glanced away somewhat guiltily. "Seems he can."
Traitor.
"Don't want to. They poke n' don't listen."
Deo's expression softened, "Yeah, they'll do that. Tell you what? You don't have to go back now, if you let me stick around. Deal?"
"…Deal."
She grinned, showing off sharp teeth that made Aerrow think of the giant cave panthers that lived back home. He felt Radarr's grip on his leg tighten.
But he really didn't want to deal with the doctors right now, and she was tiny. Surely she couldn't be that much of a threat.
"Come on, I know a good place away from the doctors. It's near the library, too."
"Li…brary?" The word felt familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.
"Big room full of books," Deo explained as she started walking. Aerrow hobbled on after her. "You can stay there for a little bit before the doctors get too grumpy."
"…What are you?"
"Huh?"
"What are you? We've never seen…"
"I'm a Dawnrunner. What, you've never heard of us before?"
Aerrow paused, had he? The name, again, felt familiar. Had he heard it before in passing? When he was small?
"Maybe? Are there… lots of you?"
"Here on Cyclonia? No, it's just me. Lucky you, right?"
"Uhm…"
"Oh look, we're almost there already."
Apparently nothing could just stay simple for the Storm Hawks. Piper's father had suggested that they head east, specifically to Nostrus so she could seek out someone called 'Aria' ("She'll be expecting you," he'd told her, "look for the temple."). Nimbus was also east, one of Aerrow's last known locations before he'd disappeared with his mother, so that was one of their ports of calls after Nostrus.
That had been the plan.
Things had not gone to plan.
It wasn't Talons or madmen in cauldrons that tore them off-course this time, but a mega-storm. The worst one that Piper had ever seen, which sent the Condor careening off course, spinning wildly in the wake of a twister. Rain and hail lashed at the windows, thunder cracked and roared in their ears, lightning came so close as to blind them. Piper heard Stork screaming in terror and alarms blaring from the navigation console.
When the storm finally cleared, or maybe they'd just left its reach, they had no idea where they were. Clouds still choked the sky, sunlight struggling through it. When Stork checked the navigation systems, he descended into a torrent of fitful muttering.
The storm had thrown out their equipment. It didn't seem to be beyond repair, but the damage was extensive enough that they needed to land on the nearest Terra to fix everything.
"How about the one we're going to crash into?" Finn drawled, pointing to an approaching silhouette through the clouds. Stork and Ciel's screams returned to ring in everyone's skulls as the merb yanked on the controls to steer them away.
"You couldn't have pointed that out sooner?!" Piper shouted.
"I thought you guys saw it too!"
"No, Finn! Not all of us have the literal eyes of a hawk[1]! You're our marksman for a reason!"
"I'm a marksman too…" Ciel pointed out quietly, but he went unheard.
"Sorry Finn, Piper's got a point," Junko cut in, and Finn turned to give him an offended look when the Wallop frantically grabbed the blond's shoulders to make him face the windows again, "Maybe you could use those hawk eyes now?!"
A glance out of the windows, and Finn let out an ear-splitting scream. Coming towards them on webbed grey wings was a pack of horrifying creatures. Finn saw red eyes, stony skin, and blunt gnashing teeth. There was a moment of frozen panic before everyone rushed to their stations.
They fought the beasts for what had to be ages before they finally retreated. The Condor was scratched and dented, and there was a sizeable crack along one of the bay windows. Battered and dejected, the Storm Hawks made their way over to the Terra that they'd almost crashed into.
Where they were immediately attacked again. This time by people wielding red-crystal spears.
For a split second, they thought they'd just landed in Cyclonian territory. Until,
"He's here! It's the great Domo!"
It had taken a nil crystal, forced upon him by Cyclonis, and another two days of bed rest before the Dark Ace was finally fit to leave the infirmary. His leg still felt tender from the break, but he could at least put his weight on it again.
He was just glad to be out and about. That was the worst part of any injury he got; the restlessness that itched under his skin and chewed at his bones until it drove him mad.
Gail was waiting for him at the infirmary doors, looking glad to see him. And beside her was someone equally glad to see him. Dressed in her service vest, tail wagging and paws tapping the floor with barely suppressed excitement, Duchess all but tackled him to the ground as he approached and knelt down to meet her.
Achilles laughed, "Nice to see you too, girl. Were you good for Mom while I was in the infir-eugh!"
The dog had just stuck her pointed wet nose in his mouth, and now it was Gail's turn to laugh.
"She missed you," his mother said, "I lost count of the number of shoes she's tried getting me to chase her for."
"Of course it was the shoes," Achilles snickered. He had his hands buried in Duchess's thick white fur as she sniffed him all over, "I'm doing okay, Duchess. He patched me up, see? I'm already better."
Duchess snorted in dissatisfaction, but let up all the same. The service dog always had a nose for when he was downplaying his state, which made convincing Gail he was alright a bit more difficult than he'd like. Still though, the dog's presence in his life had been much appreciated in the years since she'd entered it.
"Do you want me to make lunch today?" Achilles asked, earning a smile from his stepmother.
"That would be wonderful. I need to finish helping Aerrow with his schooling."
"How's he doing? Still upset about those kids?"
Gail thought about it for a moment. "Somewhat. I haven't pried."
"Thought so." Achilles had always liked that about Gail. She pushed when it mattered, but never so hard that something broke. It made her easy to trust, a safe person to be around, something he'd been in dire need of as a kid, and Aerrow needed that right now when Achilles wasn't around or enough of a stable presence for him. "Are he and Radarr focusing on their lessons at least?"
Gail chuckled, "As much as they usually do. They seem to be more interested in geography though, which is nice. Normally they're just bored."
Achilles nodded, expecting to be pleasantly surprised, but more surprised that he wasn't. Geography meant maps and Terras and exploring. It was one of the primary subjects required for Cyclonia's cartographers and charter scouts, so that they knew what they were doing when exploring past the current known Atmos.
Lightning had always loved the subject.
Being a scout meant a chance of finding new Terras. Of finding one Terra in particular.
An interest in geography wasn't all that surprising once he thought about it.
When they reached the living quarters, they found Aerrow sat at the dining table in front of a set of books, pens and pencils,
Completely distracted from whatever studies Gail had given to him in a game of pencil wars against Radarr.
Of course.
"Finished already?" Achilles asked, ruffling both boys' hair as he limped past and into the kitchen. He heard the redhead huff behind him.
"Got stuck," he muttered, prompting a slight chuckle from Gail. She sat back down next to him and looked over what Aerrow had managed so far.
"Once you finish this page, do you want to help make lunch?" she suggested. Food always got them motivated. So while Aerrow got back to his schoolwork, Achilles slowly gathered up everything they needed. Ham, eggs, cheese, some sourdough bread that he cut into thick slices, and salad ingredients all got laid out on the countertop. Grabbing the good kitchen knife, he started preparing everything. Aerrow joined him halfway through, while Radarr helped Gail clear the table of school supplies.
"Is it true there's an Oracle on Nostrus?" Aerrow asked out of the blue. Achilles froze with a half-cracked egg hovering over the frying pan, dripping thin strands of its insides that sizzled in the hot oil. When the hell had he heard about her?
"Yes, why?"
"Just asking," Aerrow shrugged, and they both knew that that was a lie. But Achilles was hungry and sick of infirmary meals, so he let it go for now.
"Gail told me you met an Oracle," Aerrow said that evening, when he was supposed to be in bed so that he was rested enough for early morning training. Instead, they were both talking in the living room, Aerrow having come out to find Achilles up reading and drinking coffee far later than Owler would approve of. "When you were starting out."
"I did, and she was fucking weird," Achilles muttered, making Aerrow laugh. "What's got you so interested?"
"I thought… I thought I could ask her if she knew where Terra Lotus was."
The answer wasn't what he'd been expecting. If he was being honest, he thought Aerrow had wanted to learn something about the kids that were trying to be the Storm Hawks. Maybe ask if he would ever manage to take the mantle back from them. The answer he got was… saddening to say the least.
"…I don't think that's how that works, kid. They're supposed to tell the future, give us vague little poems and leave us to scramble around to find a meaning that we like from it. Not give foolproof directions to uncharted territory."
Skies, he hadn't thought about talking to the Oracle in years. Or the prophecy that she'd given them.
"Clouds gather at the beacon. Lightning strikes again."
He could mull over that later. But some part of him wondered if it had finally come to pass after ten years…
"…It's not as if you know where to go."
The words were so quiet that Achilles almost didn't hear them, but he saw the regret on Aerrow's face and the way Radarr froze.
His shoulders sank, "You're right. I don't. I have no idea where that Terra is, and nobody's been able to track down a lead in the year and a half since you got here. We don't even know its actual name, or if it even has one. And it's not like I've had much help for most of it either."
They didn't even know which cardinal direction Aerrow had come from. The poachers that had stolen him and Radarr from the Terra they'd grown up on were practically lost to the wind. Not even his contacts in Atmos's criminal underground, where information was its own currency, had scored him any leads. Aerrow had seen a flower he recognised from the Terra in the Cyclonian palace gardens, but none of the botanists in charge of maintaining the damn greenhouse had been able to trace its origin.
The boy shrank in on himself, "You promised you'd help us get home."
He did. He knew that. It was another promise on the stack of them that he had made over the years, another search to carry out on top of the one that had been plaguing him for ten years with no luck. Another 'personal project', another 'sentiment' that Anarchis had disapproved of whenever she caught him 'indulging' in it.
He was starting to think he was just very bad at finding things. Bad at finding people. Bad at finding Terras. Another thing he was bad at, alongside keeping his temper in check and comforting homesick kids.
"Are you sure you want to go to Nostrus?" he asked, and Aerrow nodded. "Okay. Deo's heading out there tomorrow afternoon. If you promise Gail that you'll do some homework on the way there, I'll try to get you an audience with that Oracle. Deal?"
Both boys looked up at him in surprise, and the hope he saw in their eyes felt like a knife to the gut.
"You don't think it's stupid?" Aerrow asked.
"I think you might be disappointed. But I won't hold you back. Just… stay out of trouble this time, okay? And listen to Deo."
He jumped when Aerrow and Radarr both launched themselves at him. The spontaneous hugs were still taking some getting used to, but he couldn't say he hated it.
If that Oracle left them in despair, he was going to crack her shell open.
Footnotes:
[1] Finn's 'hawksight' mutation means he has sharper eyesight than the average human.
A/N: I'm sure you can guess which episode this chapter is meant to be a reference to.
And that's us all caught up on the current chapters for now. Let me know what you think, and consider checking out my friends on AO3 & Tumblr!