Chapter 9 – Death Sentence

Finn had brought the unconscious Piper towards the village in hope of finding some assistance, but found it to be completely deserted. There was no sign of any life; it had just been abandoned for some unknown reason. Finn had taken refuge in one of the nearby houses and placed Piper on the futon that was laid out. Inside was fairly cosy; it had a fireplace in the main room with a fury rug laid out in front. The futons used to sleep on, were placed near the fire place just next to the same rug. Chairs were toppled over and junk was spread out all over the room, but Finn managed to tidy up the place just to past the time.

He lighted the fire with one of Piper's fire crystals she had handy in her crystal sack. It lighted up the whole house, creating a nice comfy environment for them both. Now he was sitting legs crossed, with his arm resting on his right knee and head placed into the palm of his hand, in front of the fireplace, unsure what to do next.

Piper was lying soundly asleep lying on the soft futon with a thin blanket over the top. One arm was placed across her chest and the other beneath her head. Her mouth was set in a frown and her eyelids were fluttering. She was dreaming, perhaps of home back in Atmosia, Finn missed it there. It wasn't as many complications, and all they had to deal with was the Cyclonians. But if she was dreaming of home, why was she frowning? Finn figured it must be the fever she was experiencing.

She stirred in her sleep, mumbling under her breath. Finn watched her, wishing he had listened to Piper's lecture on medical treatment. She had always been precautious when it came to the health of all of the Storm Hawks. She had properly informed them on how to treat wounds and any fevers that were encountered. Finn, being his usual self, had not payed any attention to her words.

Piper rolled over facing away from Finn. He walked over to the futon she was laying upon and bent down running his hand over her head to feel how bad her fever was getting. Her head was burning up dangerously high, Finn had to do something to help, but he had no clue.

"Piper?" he called, shaking her awake. "Can you hear me?"

Piper had no clue of where she was. She was unable to see anything. Blackness completely surrounded her, as if it engulfed any sort of life that existed. She figured she was unconscious, but how? The last thing she remembered was…actually she couldn't remember anything. How did she end up here? She tried opening her eyes, but her eyelids refused to release its grip.

Hang on a second? Piper thought to herself, is that a voice I hear? Piper could slightly hear the sound of a voice talking to her. How is that possible? She thought. Maybe they were telling her to wake up. The voice sounded very familiar, but she couldn't quite make out the sound.

"Piper?" Maybe they were trying to tell her something important, but the problem was she was unable to move or respond. "It's me Finn," he continued. Finn? Who's Finn? Piper couldn't remember anything. But what bothered her most was that she recognised the voice, the name, but couldn't quite figure out what important part that person played in her life. Concentrate Piper, she encouraged. That voice might just be able to help you.

"Wake up Piper," the voice replied again. But maybe this Finn guy is what caused me to be like this, Piper contemplated.

She felt a hand grab her and shake her awake. The motion was making everything spin vastly around her, creating her vision to be filled with moving dots that were appearing in front of her eyes. It went from blackness, to a sudden pang of light that invaded her eyesight

"Piper!" Finn shouted gleefully, "You're finally awake! God, you don't know how long I've been sitting here waiting for you to wake up." Finn helped lift Piper into a seated position. She grabbed her head, steadying the intense headache and dizziness she was experiencing.

"Wha..What…Where am I?" Piper asked, unable to properly produce any words.

"You're safe. We managed to evade the monster. It looked pretty bad there for a second there."

"What? What monster? Who are you?" Piper asked. Finn looked puzzled.

"What are you talking about? You know who I am," Finn responded. Piper gave him a blank look. "It's me, Finn. You know the one that always enjoys pissing you off all the time."

"I…I'm sorry but, I seriously do not know who you are." Finn gulped. This wasn't good.

The sun was finally lifting up from the surface of the earth. Junko was fast asleep while Stork was up pacing the room. He hadn't slept all night, the need for the soft humming of the Condor's engine was floating at the back of his mind. Stork never slept well whilst not onboard his ship. He always needed the vibrating underneath his feet as he piloted the Condor. In a way, it always comforted Stork, which was one of the main reasons he always remained on the ship.

Junko snored away, another reason why Stork couldn't get to sleep. He argued whether or not he should wake Junko, but Junko is usually a deep sleeper, so it was always difficult to wake him up. He stirred a little, rolling over to one side. Stork stared at Junko not realising it. He was too deep in thought.

"Um…Stork, why are you staring at me?" Junko asked, turning to his other side to face Stork. Junko's question startled Stork. He looked at Junko, still a bit dazed from his previous daydream.

"Uh…well…no reason, just thinking I guess." Junko stood and stretched out his muscles. Stork could hear a few bones cracking into place. However, Stork noticed something peculiar beside Junko, a large eight legged creature, similar to that of a spider except a few centimetres taller. It had thin grains of fur travelling across its body, with thick legs carrying it. The spider was brown in colour and was fairly close to Junko as he packed up camp.

"Junko?" Stork knew Junko was always afraid of spiders, so it was fair to warn him.

"Yeah Stork?" Junko responded.

"You'd better move a little to the left." The spider was closing in on Junko, but it wasn't bothered by Junko's presence.

Junko looked curiously at Stork, and turned to his right to see what Stork was on about. As soon as he noticed the spider, it crawled upon him making Junko scream with panic as he ran around frantically to try to get it off.

"AHHH! Help!" Junko shouted. He started running around crazily, trying to get the spider off of him. Junko banged into the side of the cavern, knocking a few rocks out of place from the ceiling above.

"Junko! Be careful!" Stork called, knowing Junko's size, he was positive Junko was able to bring the whole place down upon them. Which is exactly what Junko did, as he rammed himself against the wall one more time; rocks started falling from above, crashing down upon the two Storm Hawks, and spelling doom for them both.

Time dragged on for Aerrow. Not being able to see the sun and keep track of time, made it even longer for him. He was still chained up, his wrists red and scarred from the pressure of the shackles that were bound to the chains. He could only move about a metre from the wall, thus making it even harder for Aerrow to find a way out.

The cell he had been allocated, was dark and cold, but none of these attributes bothered Aerrow, even though he had been chained up for over two to three days, he showed no sign of discomfort. Rather, the Storm Hawk looked devoid of any spark of life. His green eyes lacked the usual vibrant luster, and his skin was more unusually pale than normal. All Aerrow knew was that it had felt like such a long time since he was arrested.

He sighed, bored. They really knew how to torment a person, making them wait hours on end, thinking the slightest sound would be the guards dragging him away to his death. But that moment never came. He started brushing through his hair, which was slightly clumped together due to the lack of cleanliness.

That was another thing he hated, not being able to clean himself like he did every morning. He liked his hair to be soft and smooth instead of clumped together with bits of dirt stuck between every strand.

Although, that was the least of his worries. He could feel his head throbbing from the physical abuse he had endured from the guards. They had enjoyed coming in every now and then to take out their rage on Aerrow. But every time they did, he thought he was gonna be dragged away to his own execution. It was the worst possible way to die for Aerrow. He'd prefer his life to end by the tip of a blade in battle, a more honourable way.

The sound of muffled voices and footsteps outside the door to the cell disrupted Aerrow's thoughts, and caused him to lift his head up in expectation. He was practically holding his breath, hoping it was another round of their beatings. Aerrow sat up and crossed his right leg underneath him, while the other was spread out in front. His eyes strained on the door expectantly.

Aerrow heard keys jangling behind the cell door. The door slowly creaked open, allowing three figures to step inside the cell. Two guards emerged who lifted up Aerrow and unlocked his chains, placing energy-bound cuffs in its place. Both of them walked out and closed the door behind them.

The third figure remained behind; Aerrow looked at him with hatred.

"Are you prepared binder?" Mukesh spoke. He stood directly before Aerrow, Aerrow's eyes fixed upon him, not daring to remove his gaze.

Aerrow swallowed hard, "No one can prepare themselves for death. It just approaches them when their time has come," he answered firmly.

Mukesh smirked at his wise response, "Then are you afraid?"

"No," Aerrow responded.

At this, a terrible smile surfaced across Mukesh's face. "You should be. Guards!" Aerrow always hated it when he said that word.

As expected, both of the guards entered the cell quickly and each grabbed one of Aerrow's arms, roughly pulling him forward out of the cell.

Aerrow sighed as he cooperated with their actions. This was it, Aerrow thought. It was gonna be the end of him; after all the sky knight training, defeating the cylonians numerous times, and winning the war fought against cyclonia, he was finally finished.

Although, Aerrow felt strangely calm, as if he had been in a state of high agitation but had now slowly calm down. They directed him down a long dark hallway, a similar design to that of the cell. Mukesh followed behind them.

They approached a door with a bright light streaming through the cracks underneath it. The guard opened the door, and as he did Aerrow squinted at the sudden wave of brightness that enveloped his eyesight. Being trapped inside a dark cell for two days and suddenly introduced into a widely bright room wasn't an overly good feeling.

Although Aerrow couldn't see, he certainly heard a lot. It sounded like a crowd was forming to watch Aerrow be executed. Voices flooded his ears as his eyes tried to adjust to the blinding light.

Aerrow finally re-adjusted his eyesight and saw a whole audience gathered around a fenced up ring in the centre. A projector was displayed on the far side of the arena. On it, Aerrow saw what appeared to be his own reflection, but from a different angle. He tilted his head in confusion. If they don't use crystals, then how the hell would they get something like that to function? Aerrow thought.

The audience started booing as they saw Aerrow enter the ring escorted by two guards. Aerrow bowed his head in embarrassment by the audience's reaction. Mukesh obviously had quite an influence on these people. Aerrow prayed they wouldn't find Atmos, these people seemed a lot stronger than normal human beings, and he wasn't sure if the Wallops were still sided with the sky nights. An alliance with the Wallopian people could prove to be quite handy.

Atmosia still wouldn't stand a chance against these people. They obviously had some sort of advanced technology Atmosia hadn't discovered yet. Electricity Mukesh called it. Aerrow had no idea what electricity was, and as soon as he escaped, if he ever did, it was his job to investigate.

The guards closed the gate behind Aerrow, trapping him within the centre ring. Aerrow looked towards Mukesh who was just on the other side, widely smirking at Aerrow's misfortune.

"Good luck Aerrow," Mukesh spoke with a hint of sarcasm, "you'll need it." He walked off laughing, walking to his seat away from the rest of the audience. Aerrow looked around, stance at the ready. He did not know what to expect. Knives might be suddenly thrown at him, or a chainsaw could come down from above and just chop him in half. Those were the sort of things Aerrow feared.

"Release the Bonemark!" Mukesh ordered. The ground started to shake beneath Aerrow as he stood in the centre of the ring. His emerald eyes widened, looking back and forth between the crowd and Mukesh. The hard floor began to open ever so slowly. Aerrow was trapped and was unable to prevent himself from falling into the depths below.

He ran to the edge of the ring and pounded his fist onto the fence, but it was no use. The floor kept opening wider and wider, until Aerrow could no longer keep a steady stance. He slid down, attempting to grab hold of any extended rock pieces of the wall, but each time he did, it slipped out of his grip. Aerrow started to panic, descending into the darkness below.

A/N: So the update wasn't as late as last time, thankfully :) but i still want to be a little faster next time, which knowing my life it won't let me. I don't really like Stork and Junko's part in this chapter, i find them really difficult to write in character, i don't know why, they should be the easiest personality wise. I wonder what this bonemark is, you'll find out next chapter. and of course, don't forget to review! :DDD