InsaneJournal

V - D - V

At the sight of the sunrise through his window, Dark Ace got up and grabbed a pair of red slacks and a gray cloak from his closet. After putting them on, he made sure the cloak covered most of his face. As much as he enjoyed seeing the look of pure terror and fear in people’s eyes when they saw him, he couldn’t afford the Storm Hawks to know any of this.

He went to the window and caught a glimpse of the sandy grounds. Seeing that it wasn’t a huge drop, he climbed over the windowsill and jumped off from it. As his feet landed on the sands, he looked around for any signs of his Master and went off to find her.

Around this time, there weren’t many people at the beach and as the day went on, he searched for the other places in Tropica. He looked in the luxuriant hotels, back at the beaches and even in the damp caves.

By the end of the day, he was back in the beach. Master Cyclonis was nowhere to be found. Maybe his mind was truly playing tricks on him. He had never considered the possibility of her truly being dead, even though he had heard that fatal, dying scream during his battle with Aerrow from many months ago.

He walked towards the shore and sat on the sands. He looked around and saw that many of the people have already started leaving. He frowned and glanced at the glittering waters. Looking at his reflection, he realized that the cloak was already gone. He was exposed.

He slammed his fists on the sands, frustrated with himself. The Storm Hawks were probably looking for him now. Because of his carelessness, all of his plans, his goals, both long-term and short-term were going to be ruined.

“Damn it all!”

A soft feminine chuckle reached his ears. He gasped. He knew that laugh. He looked up and there she was, gliding towards the shore. Black tendrils swirled around her possessively, evidence that she had used that forbidden crystal. She descended to the ground, holding out her hands.

“Master…” he whispered breathlessly. “You’re alive.” He rose to his feet and reached out, touching those hands. They were warm. She was truly alive. “We can rebuild the empire again,” he mused aloud, “we can— ”

She shook her head, a sorrowful smile on her face. “I gave it all up.”

Dark Ace froze, not quite understanding. He was already thinking of stealing one of the skimmers from the Storm Hawks and escaping with her, but what did she mean by those words? She didn’t seem like the type of someone who would just roll up and die because of mistakes and failures, no matter how bad they were.

“Do not play dumb with me, Dark Ace,” she said sharply. “In order for me to live, I had to give up what was truly precious to me. In a sense, this crystal is not only one of the sources of my power, it is also my life force now.”

“But Master— ”

“Dark Ace,” she stated, stepping back. She was so different now, practically a ghost of her former self. She gazed at him, her eyes were truly dead. “Listen to me. I do not want you to address me by that name.” She turned around, the tendrils were thickening like the misty fogs surrounding the mountains. “I’m not your Master anymore.”

Silence.

And then he understood. He was no longer her subordinate; they were equals now and even then, she was so much like him. Because of what she had to give up, he no longer had a purpose, but there had to be a way around this. For once, he wanted to hope for the sake of it.

But she crushed it all with that one penetrating look of her vacant eyes. His hands were balling into fists again, his knuckles turning white. “What else is left for me to do then?!” he yelled angrily. “I’ve always been with you.”

And yet, she was already leaving, hovering above the ground. If she had wings they would have been black. She glanced back and smiled again. “Live. Regain your former self, Dark Ace, be a sky knight again. You’ve much to learn from Aerrow as much as I have to learn of this world.”

She joined the flow of the winds and flew into the limitless skies.

She was gone.

Why didn’t you take me with you?

V - D - V

Aerrow turned to the side of the bed, looking at the window listlessly. Ever since yesterday, people have been complaining about the infamous Dark Ace. He would have sent his team to go after him, if it weren‘t for the fact that the Sky council had entrusted Aerrow — not his team — to deal with Dark Ace. He had told his squadron and the people of this terra that he would take care of the problem himself.

But he couldn’t even bring himself to stop thinking about what had happened in the beach. Had he truly expected that make-out session to happen? All he truly wanted from Dark Ace were answers. He had received them and a lot more. It was harder to forget those encounters and the dreams of himself and Dark Ace now.

He had another one last night and it had been far more vivid and clear. It had left him clutching tightly at the sheets, and with a deep, aching desire for something or someone he would never have. But he wasn’t sure if he was ready to accept the mere possibility that he was physically attracted to Dark Ace.

It just didn’t make sense, but maybe it was a sign that he had been repressing his libido for too long.

The last person he had been with was someone rather unexpected in the team, but it had been a casual fling, a secret between them. Even to this day, neither of them breathed a single word of their past relationship for the fear of ruining not only their reputations, but their team as well. It didn’t mean anything to him because he wasn’t the one who had instigated it.

But what about Dark Ace?

He really didn’t know what to think anymore. He sighed and walked over to the door. He took out his crystal from his pocket and let the door slide open with a subtle creak and then—

BAM! 

Somebody had smacked into him, the crystal slipping out of his hands. He fell on his butt and gasped as the crystal landed softly on his bed. Oh, what a relief. He wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead and stared at the intruder.

“Piper!” he exclaimed. He got up instantly and offered a hand to his Crystal Specialist. “Man, I didn’t see you there.” She took his hand, but she wasn’t looking at him; she was gazing at the crystal. He supposed he couldn’t keep it a secret to her anymore.

“That’s a Tracking Crystal,” Piper whispered, letting go of him and walking over to his bed. She held it in her hands, her eyes wide and filled with awe. “All you have to do to make this work is simply take something from the person you want to watch, be it a piece of hair, a drop of that person’s blood, or even the old pieces of that person’s dried skin. Then through the mysterious powers of this crystal, it just works.”

“Yeah,” Aerrow agreed with her, scratching the side of his head in embarrassment. That had been careless of him, but it wasn’t like he was using the crystal often in front of his teammates. He had been caught off guard, that was all. “But I have to get going. Dark Ace—”

“Aerrow,” she interrupted, one hand planted firmly on her hip. “What’s going on between you and Dark Ace?” She stared at him, waiting for an answer. How was he supposed to give her one if he didn’t know it himself? She sighed deeply and returned the crystal to him. “If you were truly going to take care of him, you would have went after him yesterday, not now. What’s going on?”

“I…” Aerrow trailed off. He gazed at the crystal. It gleamed and revealed to him that Dark Ace was outside, standing near the shore. There were many things Aerrow didn’t understand and he had many uncertainties, but he knew he couldn’t be sure of everything. He could only live in the present and plan for the future. He couldn’t deal with what had happened and what should have happened. It was a total waste of time.

“Aerrow?”

“I heard the complaints about Dark Ace,” Aerrow stated, “but I didn’t hear about him really disturbing anyone. And I know him. If he truly wanted to get through all the tests, all the challenges, he wouldn’t be messing around.” If anything else, Dark Ace was taking a break too, from him and the rest of the Storm Hawks.

“So you’re saying that you trust him?”

“What?” Aerrow exclaimed, shocked by his friend’s words. A long time ago, he had wondered why there had been such a melancholy look on her face in that pub. He would have completely brushed it all off as her grieving for the war, but when he had seen how she reacted to Dark Ace, and put all the puzzles together, he knew that there was something wrong.

He frowned. She didn’t have the right to interrogate him like this. He turned his back on her and swiftly left the room. He didn’t bother trying to hide the crystal, but he wasn’t using it either. He climbed down from the Condor and returned to the beach.

And just as he expected, Dark Ace was still there.

His rival stood there, still but not rigid, gazing at the moon with that lost look in his eyes. He knew that look, he knew it all too well. That unbearable sadness, that overwhelming abyss of hopelessness and despair.

Who did you lose?

V - D - V

Days had passed.

The vacation didn’t feel like one anymore. He had been keeping tabs at Dark Ace, so it wasn’t as fun as he would have liked. All the man had been doing recently was just the basics, going out of his room to eat, to use the bathroom and to stand in the shore of the beach during the nights.

It had been awkward between them; they barely talked to each other as Dark Ace had stopped visiting him in his room. Not that it truly mattered to him. He just believed in that as long as he kept Dark Ace close to him, sometimes far closer than his best friends, he would be able to save them from the pain and the hurt, even if he had to sacrifice himself.

To make things worse, he wasn’t in good terms with Piper, which had caused unnecessary tension in the squadron, but for some reason, he didn’t care much about that. He wanted to know why Dark Ace went out at nights, standing by the beach with that same look in his eyes.

He wanted to know him, to understand him, despite all the hatred between them, and the knowledge that someday, he was going to avenge his father, whether he liked Dark Ace or not.

He could always forgive, but he would never forget.

V - D - V

With the vacation finally over, they were slowly getting back on track with their basic missions, and even their behaviors have returned to normal, or as normal as they could be. The team had finally gotten used to having Dark Ace around; they basically acted like he wasn’t there.

He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing though. It wasn’t at all fair, but it wasn’t like Dark Ace was truly speaking to any of them anyway. The man had completely tuned them out as well. It was rather frustrating because Aerrow didn’t like the pretense. He had a bad feeling that this was going to backfire on them someday.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He went to the meeting room and saw that everyone, including Dark Ace, was actually there. He took a seat and so did the rest of the Storm Hawks and waited for Starling to show up. A great silence occupied the room, which was then broken by several bad habits.

Finn began to tap his fingers on the table and next to him was Junko flipping the pages of a small book. Stork was slowly moving out of his seat, sliding back to the bridge where he could control the Condor. Piper sighed and took out her book of logs. Radarr was looking at him inquisitively. Aerrow shrugged. He had no idea what was going on. People were just being themselves. He even found himself staring at Dark Ace.

But the man was looking at the window, as though what lay beyond the window represented all the freedom he could have had. Aerrow snorted and glanced at the door. It slid open and their awaited guest finally came inside. Starling looked the same as ever, still somewhat rigid even as she sat with the Storm Hawks and smiled at them all.

Though the moment she saw Dark Ace, that smile turned upside down, her eyes narrowing in distrust and suspicion. “I suppose we should cut to the chase,” she muttered. “I’ve found the remaining Murk Raiders. They mostly reside in three spots: Terra Deep, near the Colonel’s Compound and Terra Zartacla.” Some of the Storm Hawk members either winced or grimaced. Starling laughed. “And it’s easy to see why they picked those spots; not many Sky Knights, even after the war, would want to find themselves there.”

“Well, duh,” Finn said with a roll of his eyes. “We’ve been through a lot of crap. Seriously, who wants to go back to Terra Deep? ‘Cause I don’t.” He laughed nervously, and so did Stork and Junko. Piper sighed again.

“It shouldn’t be a problem for us though,” Starling said confidently, “Terra Deep is Terra Deep. Of course it’s going to be hard, but the Colonel’s Compound? The Colonel is in hiding now. He knows what has happened. His influence can only take him so far.” She turned to Dark Ace, giving him a rather penetrating look. “And your knowledge may actually come in handy once we go to Terra Zartacla.”

Aerrow frowned. Starling had only been here for a few minutes and already he could sense an upcoming argument. He gazed at Dark Ace, to see if he had taken the subtle insult, but the man was looking to the side, somewhat bored and disinterested. Wait. Wasn’t Dark Ace determined to go through all the tests alive? Wasn’t he willing to do whatever it took?

Or maybe something had changed.

“Aerrow,” Starling said, snapping him out of his reverie, “I need to speak to you alone.”

V - D - V

She watched with a frown as Starling and Aerrow stood up and left the meeting room. What did Starling want to talk to Aerrow about?

Piper stared at a page of her current log, biting the top part of her pen. After crossing out a few sentences, she looked up from her book and found Finn giving her a funny, impish look.

“Piper, you know that saying that if you really want something, you gotta go after it yourself?” Finn inquired teasingly. Piper chose to ignore him, but that didn‘t stop him from talking. “So aren’t you a little nervous that Starling’s here? ‘Cause Starling’s that type of person, if you know what I mean.”

“But Starling’s not the type of person who’d get close to anybody,” Piper said softly with a small, bittersweet smile. “Don’t you remember how she lost her squadron?”

“Uhh, oh yeah,” Finn muttered, obviously embarrassed. “But you know what I mean! You really should just tell him, man, before it’s too late.”

Piper stood then; she couldn‘t take this anymore. “I’ve had enough, Finn! I’m sick and tired of you treating me like this! It’s not fair for you to assume that I like Aerrow just because we’re best friends. I don’t like him like that, and even if I did, I would never let it sabotage the friendship we have!”

She grabbed her book of logs and her writing utensils and stormed out of the meeting room. She didn’t understand Finn, didn’t understand why he kept going on and on about her supposed crush for Aerrow. She admired Aerrow, and considered him the best Sky Knight; she even loved him, but as a friend, because he had been with her in times of trouble and vice versa.

Once she reached her room, she slammed the door open and dropped her things to the side. She was about to fling herself across her bed when she saw that somebody else was already occupying it. She froze in her tracks. Black hair, violet eyes and a wicked smile on that pale face. The past had found her at last.

She stepped back, but with a graceful wave of that pale hand, the door was slammed shut. She didn’t think that Master Cyclonis— no, Cyclonis, would risk herself like this. It just wasn’t her style. She’d prefer others to do her dirty work, but maybe she’d rather deal with Piper alone, to exact her revenge effectively.

Not today.

In mere moments, Piper snatched her staff, the tip of it now pointing at Cyclonis. The ex-empress merely snorted and pushed the staff out of her face.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Cyclonis said softly. “Like you said, there’s really no point in endless fighting. I’d rather use my energy in something more productive.”

Piper was relieved, but only a bit. “Then why are you here? Are you here to take back what was yours?” She took a step forward, holding her staff cautiously. One could never be too careful, right? That woman was practically back from the dead, but when she got a closer look of Cyclonis, she noticed something strange.

Black tendrils were rising, swirling around her like smoke. Cyclonis lifted her head and their eyes locked. A moment passed. She smiled bitterly and laughed softly. “Yes, it is the forbidden crystal. Our family had stolen it from those old geezers in Atmosia a long time ago.”

“You didn’t know it how it worked back then, huh?” Piper asked and the woman who could have been her best friend just laughed again. “Or maybe you did, but you didn’t expect it to come to this.”

“Right,” Cyclonis said with a nod. “But I digress. I’m only here to check up on Dark Ace. I slipped into the wrong room.” She rose to her feet swiftly and headed towards the door.

“Wait!” Piper called out, grabbing a hold of her wrist, “you wouldn’t just drop here by mistake.” Piper could only think of one plausible reason why Cyclonis was here; she needed Piper’s help in reversing the effects of the forbidden crystal. “If you were no longer bound to that crystal, would you try to take over Atmos again?”

Cyclonis gazed at her thoughtfully. “To be honest with you, I do not know. I wouldn’t expect anybody to break this curse. I just came here to see you.”

She just wanted to see me?

“But… I nearly killed you. Don’t you hate me?” Piper asked, letting go of Cyclonis’s wrist. Her cheeks felt hot. Why was she embarrassed?

“I should hate you,” Cyclonis muttered, “and I suppose I do have another reason for dropping here besides the obvious. Dark Ace seems to be taking what I said to him a little harsher than I would have thought.” She shook her head and sighed deeply. Piper had no idea what she was talking about. “I’m thinking of starting a small shop that specializes in crystals. I was wondering if you’d join me.”

“A shop? Why?”

“Well, there aren’t many occupations for women around these parts,” Cyclonis answered cynically, crossing her arms. “And I’d rather do something that I have a passion for, don’t you agree?”

“Well, yeah, but I do have other interests besides just crystals, though I’ve been studying them for a long time,” Piper said pensively. She sat on her bed and watched as Cyclonis turned around and walked towards the window.

“Just think about it,” Cyclonis said as she sat on the windowsill. “In the meantime, I’ll take my leave. Tell Aerrow to take care of Dark Ace for me.” She waved at Piper and leaned back, letting herself fall off the Condor. Piper gasped and ran over to the window.

She just…vanished.

Piper couldn’t believe that Cyclonis had already assumed that she wouldn’t be able to help her in something that she prided herself with. That was rather condescending of the ex-empress.

Piper was going to prove her wrong. Once she found a way to break that forbidden crystal without killing Cyclonis, Piper was going to offer her a deal that she wouldn’t be able to refuse.

V - D - V

They stood in the launching area silently, isolated from the rest of the squadron. He glanced at Starling; her eyes were intense. “So how’s it going with your solo missions? Besides tracking down the Murk Raiders, I mean,” he said, a feeble attempt to break that same, suffocating silence between them.

Starling shrugged. “A mission’s a mission, something I have to do as a Sky Knight. I’ve been hearing all sorts of things though. Dark Ace nearly died from the first test. The Sky Council’s not too happy about that.”

“So they’re just trying to kill him through these tests? What if he passes all of them? And why all the fuss if they can just execute him?” He tried to stop, but the questions just kept spilling from his lips. “It doesn’t make any sense, and why me? Why did they choose me to baby-sit him? The man’s nearly twice my age!” Aerrow exclaimed, earning a disapproving look from Starling. “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. You’re the same as ever.”

“I wonder if that’s a good thing,” Starling mused, looking at the ceiling pensively, “never changing, always remaining the same. The third task, test, challenge— whatever you call it, should explain everything, or at least that’s what I’d like to assume, but I’ve made a few guesses of my own. Would you like to hear them?”

“Yeah, you probably know more than any of the Storm Hawks here,” Aerrow answered with a weary smile. “All I know so far is what I think and what Dark Ace thinks based on what’s been going on. It isn’t much, just speculation.”

“Well, think about this then,” Starling said with a small smile of her own. “You spared Dark Ace for some reason. The Sky Council, instead of just executing Dark Ace, then decided to give you this nearly impossible task of watching over him. You also have to keep in mind that the Sky Council aren’t just old men; they are wise men who would usually know what’s good for Atmos.”

“Okay, but what about it?” Aerrow asked, wondering where Starling was going with this.

“They, knowing Dark Ace’s brutal history, then had already assumed that Dark Ace would try to manipulate his way out of prison, which had already happened, am I right?”

“Yeah, and?”

“So the Sky Council decides to give him three tests to go through, each one far more dangerous than the last. Through that, you also have to evaluate him. I think it’s reasonable for you to assume that they just want to kill Dark Ace, but it is much more than that,” Starling added, crossing her arms. “Dark Ace had destroyed many of their Sky Knights and had caused many people to turn to the other side. He was one of the best Sky Knights before you, and to see him betray Atmos like that— well—”

“It’s unforgivable,” Aerrow muttered, closing his eyes. “It’s understandable. The past can’t be forgotten, right?”

“It can never be forgotten,” Starling whispered. “They not only want to eventually kill Dark Ace through these tests, they want to break him; break his spirit, his mind, his soul— everything, and they’re using you to do it, because of your own personal history. Does it all make sense now?”

Aerrow merely nodded; it was a lot to take in and while he knew that all of this were just Starling’s speculations, it made twisted sense. “They don’t strike me as being that vindictive though. Isn’t it a waste of time?”

“Didn’t you want revenge on Dark Ace too? It’s all too perfect, isn’t it? Letting you watch over him, having these tests. The only person who is truly in the way is you, because you saved Dark Ace in the first task,” Starling stated and for a while, Aerrow didn’t know how to respond to that.

“But what makes you think of all of this? Even if makes sense and can explain a lot of things, there’s no real proof. They are, as you say, just speculations,” Aerrow pointed out, facing her now. Her eyes gleamed.

“The truth is that they aren’t speculations,” Starling revealed, her smile sharp as a blade, “I wasn’t just tracking down Murk Raiders, I sometimes act as their personal messenger. I would overhear them at times in the council room, just them talking and playing chess. It’s a bit of a bad taste, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know what to think of all of this,” Aerrow muttered, feeling rather lost again and strangely bitter. Was this the feeling of a personal betrayal? “If you don’t mind, can you find out what the third task is all about? I haven’t heard much from them.”

“Actually, I don‘t mind it at all,” Starling said, grinning deviously. “In fact, it’s the least I can do for you, since you helped me out a long time ago.”

“Thanks,” Aerrow said with a small smile. Things were looking a little brighter now. “I really appreciate it.”

V - TBC - V

A/n: You know, this story is half-way done. It’s going to have ten chapters. Damn, I was really aiming for 7000+ words this time, but since I got all the scenes in, I can live with that.

I was rather unsure of Piper throughout this chapter, but she got her reasons. Poor girl. Second to the last scene seems a little sloppy, but I tried my best. =D

Uh, questions? Reviews? Feedback? Etc? Care to guess the implied pairings? Is anybody still reading this?