Well this is the chapter where things begin to pick up a little. EMOTIONS! Thank yous go out to Jazzy Pony, who is the creator of Jay, Tex, Wes, Mikey and Crowe! Read her story, Out of the mist! It rocks!

Chapter 3: Bearer of bad news

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Jay strolled along the windows of the bridge, Tex silently taking the Osprey's wheel as the clouds lazily floated by. The rest of the team was somewhere unknown on the ship. The fair-haired girl let her fingers lightly trace the metal frames of the windows, the glass and steel cold to her fingers. For some reason, Wes had become detached today. Always fingering with that blue necklace Rose gave him before they had parted... His green-blue eyes had become a bit dull, Jay trying to convince herself it was something he ate or that he hadn't slept well the previous night, but she could instinctively sense something was amiss in her brother's character. She could feel it. No matter how many times Wes had told her it was nothing and then walk away, Jay couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Jay? You alright?" Tex asked, turning from the controls for a second. Jay smiled and shrugged, still thinking. "Wes's alright, I bet he's just thinking about his bonny lass." He chuckled and went back to his task. Jay couldn't help but smiled wider.

While continuing her idle walk around the bridge, she passed the ships' communication center. The second she cleared it however, a crackle broke out of the speaker. Jay stopped to turn back at it, unsure what to make of the sudden sound. Tex lifted his head for a moment, and then ignored it. The girl's royal blue eyes remained on the speaker, as if waiting for someone. She got her wish soon enough.

"This...Storm Hawks." Finn's voice, feeble but audible, gave Jay all the reason she needed to respond.

"Finn? This is Jay. What's the matter?" She said while scrambling for the headphones and flicking the switches to lock on him and the Condor.

"We...got... problem." His sentence was choppy as Jay turned the last knob, finally bringing his voice in loud and clear. "Well, not us, but Rose really."

Tex had joined her now, giving her faces that asked silent questions. She ignored him, catching Rose's name in the light static.

"What?" Was all Jay could think of to say.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, Rose has a bit of a problem. Its kind of a 'home takeover' deal. Her Uncle paid her a visit and is now forcing her to..." Finn's voice went from strong to faint and echo like. "Aerrow! What is her Uncle trying to do? OH! Got it!"

Jay opened her mouth to get more answers out of him, but was cut off.

"Rose's Uncle has got this guy he brought to the place and wants her to marry the guy."

"What in all of Atmos?" Jay exclaimed, confused to say the least. "Finn, cut to the chase clearly please." Crowe waltzed in.

"Hey Dorkweed, hey Jay!" She said cheerily, Tex pushing his hand forward to shush her. Crowe bit her tongue when realizing that Jay was on the communication system. Finn continued.

"Rose's Uncle came with this Clarence guy who is now Rose's fiancé. Unwillingly." Finn ended gravely. Jay unplugged the headphones when Mikey trotted in as well, Tex calling him over.

"Finn can you repeat that?" Jay asked, her whole team leaning in around her to hear as Finn sighed.

"Rose is being forced to marry the Clarence guy by her Uncle Lennox." The blonde's words shocked everyone, Tex's eyebrows disappearing behind his rust colored hair. Crowe gasped with Mikey. "We want you guys to meet us on Terra Barsha so we can share ideas on how to crash this wedding."

"Alright, Finn." Mikey filled in, Jay sitting there silently. "We're heading there now."

Tex took the initiative and went to the controls, sharply turning left. Crowe gripped the back of Jay's chair, Finn sending his goodbyes to everyone on board. The group was still, Tex shifting the handles at the front lightly to steady the ship. Jay switched the communication controls off as Crowe asked the question that everyone was thinking:

"What's Wes gonna do?"

"Nothing. At least not now." Jay answered while keeping her back to them.

"Are you insane?!" Mikey added. "He never stands still if one of us is in trouble. Rose is up there on his A-list with you, and he'll flip for this news. And not in the good way."

"I second that." Tex agreed.

"Well I don't care who third's it, Tex." Crowe scowled at him. "Wes is-"

"Not going to do anything." Jay finished suddenly, getting out of her seat. Her hair swished with her movement, Crowe meeting her eyes with confusion. "He's not going to do anything because we're not going to tell him. Not yet."

"Quite a gamble there Jay..." Tex commented, risking getting his tongue cut off by Crowe. "He'll kill you once he finds out you didn't tell him right away."

"He'll get angry, worried, and worked up for nothing if we tell him now." Mikey was slowly approving Jay's idea, wanting Wes in a better mood for as long as possible.

"So we should let him know once we get to Barsha?" Inquired Crowe, Tex the only one not siding with Jay on this one. Mikey and Jay nodded.

"I still don't think we should-"

"Tex, come on! He'll still know about it, for goodness sake!" Crowe barked at him, her violet eyes making him reconsider.

"Fine. I'll go with it." He turned away from the three, his eyes trained on the passing sky.

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Rose stood on the roof where her Uncle and Clarence had left her, Jay-Jay and Yuro at her sides. Her light hands clutched them to her, begging for company. Yuro understood, but still shivered in the light breeze. Rose noticed her brother's chill but forced herself to make him stay.

"Rose?" Jay-Jay looked up to his sister with that quiet, unsure voice. It made Rose's stomach jerk.

"Yes, Jay-Jay?" Her sky blue eyes trained on his navy ones.

"What are we gonna do?" He asked her, Yuro looking up to her as well. The two brothers had always looked up to her ever since Fallon and Reah left. She was all they had left.

"Be good to your sister, okay?" Fallon smiled at his boys, Jay-Jay's smile trying to break through his tears. "Listen to her, look up to her. She is a strong girl, like your mother. She'll know what to do. Someday you will too." Yuro and Jay-Jay hugged their father tightly one last time, the eight and seven year olds tears leaving stains on his shoulders.

Jay-Jay needed to know what to do. He was lost and afraid. A prisoner of his very own home. Yuro watched his sister turn her head from him to Jay-Jay, her brown hair falling into her face. Rose's mind raced for a solution, praying to keep her one promise to her father.

"Roseate..." He smiled down to his daughter, realizing how much burden she was being forced to carry. "Guide them." Fallon gestured to her brothers who were saying goodbye to her parent's squadron. "Don't ever show you're afraid or worried around them. They need you now more than ever, with all the trouble they get into." Father and daughter laughed lightly. "Promise me you'll be their guide to the world, protect them, keep them safe and assured. If you do that, there will come a time when they'll have to be strong for you. Because you'll make them strong."

"I promise dad." Rose answered, the twelve year old solemnly swearing to her father.

"I'm going to stay up here and wait." Yuro gave her a weird look, knowing Cosette wouldn't be back for a day at the least. That bird was always slow. "And you are going to go remove those nitro crystals from your lab and throw them to the wastelands."

"Okay." Jay-Jay now had something to do, the nine year old already heading for the hatch to the house. Yuro stayed behind for a second and didn't speak until his younger brother was out of ear shot.

"Is Aerrow going to get here in time?" Yuro let the question sink in. The family's lives rested in the hands of the Storm Hawks now, and Yuro wasn't so sure that any ship at Saharr could get here in the matter of three days. Heron whined loudly in a manner that resembled a howl. Rose could talk to Yuro more, her oldest brother more understanding. But this was something that she was still taking in.

"I think so." She lied, not breaking her promise. "Now go help Jay-Jay. Clarence might not let him in alone." As Yuro disappeared reluctantly down the ladder, Rose sighed to let out a pressurized breath that had been building in her chest. Ice formed in front of her face, her crystal's power still shining through faintly. The ice chunk fell to the roof with a clatter, Heron backing out of its way. Rose wanted to cry, but a sudden feeling made her stop with sudden shame. Why cry? Nothing's going to happen. She considered, and settled for sitting along the roof's railing with a face of mixed emotions. Heron nuzzled his face under her hand, whining a little more. But her hand went to her neck, groping for her mothers necklace. When she closed on air, she sadly smiled.

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"Did Cosette get sent, Piper?" Aerrow turned to her when she returned to the bridge with books in her hand instead of the pigeon.

"Yeah. She almost got sucked into the engine though. Leave me some time before taking off next time." Piper laid down the books as she settled in a bench along the center table.

"What are looking for?" He asked her.

"Something doesn't seem right about this, this, wedding. Arranged marriages haven't happened in hundreds of years. Except on Terra Rex." Piper pointed out with no surprise to the Sky Knight. "I know it seems silly to think that..."

"No. I don't. I kinda got the same feeling." Aerrow commented to her.

"Hey lovebirds!" Finn called from across the room. "I got to Jay and the Falcons. They said they're heading there right now."

"Good job, Finn. Junko?" Aerrow said to him as he entered, looking disheveled. "How are the new parts working?"

"Pretty good." The wallop answered, wiping a grease smudge from his forehead.

"Nice. Stork?"

"Getting there...We're only a couple hours away." Stork assured.

"Maybe we should hit the books now." Aerrow grinned to Piper, who handed him a big green one.

"You asked for it." She said while scooting over for him to sit next to her. Piper dove into the contents of a history book, while Aerrow scanned a crystal book. Radarr scooted away, not eager to get reading. He settled near Finn, who was absentmindedly looking out to the sky. The sharpshooter gave the sky-monkey a quick pat on the head and scanned the skies again. Poor Jay...I hope Wes doesn't flip for news like this. In the bad way.

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Well... that's chapter three! The forth one will be longer I swear! R&R por favor, mis amigos!