~Everything must come to an end.

::Dedications to all of you who have stuck by me. But a special dedication for this final chapter to Aussie Sheila, for reasons only we know.

Stirring: Chapter 5

June 3rd, 2011

by: Her Head in the Clouds

When Aerrow got out from under the counter, Sally was gone and in her place was a disaster of strewn papers, fallen machinery, and hysterical patients and workers. Before he could decide what to do, another explosion was heard and shook the hospital again, causing him to retreat under the counter once more.

What was happening? What was going on? Were they under attack? What could he do? Aerrow didn't know any ways to fight off Cyclonians! Sure, he'd learnt some defensive combat many summers back, and hi s mom thought it was okay that he was taught to handle dual-wielding wooden swords with a local sensei in their neighbourhood, but he wasn't good enough to do anything to protect himself!

A loud crash was heard as something that sounded like an elephant-ant fell in the hallway behind him. He got on his knees.

"I've gotta get outta here!" he yelled to himself. Looking down, he noticed that he was still holding the papers he'd taken from the counter before the explosion happened. "Piper!"

After hearing what he'd heard about the poor girl from secretly listening in on Sally and the receptionist's conversation, he felt this enormous need to be beside her and protect her, should anything happen. With a deep breath for courage, he quickly crawled out from under the countertop and began to crawl quickly towards the wall. He figured that if he needed to get back to his room fast enough, he was going to have to rely on using the wall the hold him up better so he could walk quicker.

As he made his way closer towards it, another explosion, sounding much closer than the last two, blew a sensation of power through the hallway that had him, along with multiple chairs and two doctors, lifted off their feet and rolling into the rubble on the floor.

The doctors hadn't seen him and jumped up into nearby patient rooms to check the condition of the people inside. Aerrow hit the side of metal cabinet and a familiar pain rose in his side and a cut on his lip split open. Groaning in pain, he tried to get up quickly on his legs. The explosion had him nearly wedged between the cabinet and a small couch that his small frame was almost unrecognizable behind the furniture. A red light began going off and a sound like an emergency horn was blaring loudly in his ears. Aerrow gripped the couch as he wiped the blood from his mouth.

'Not again,' was all he thought.

Suddenly a loud crunching noise from behind Aerrow made him turn around. In the blur of the smoke and dust that was beginning to form at the end of the south hallway, he saw the outlines of tall men, both burly and lanky, holding what looked like staffs with glowing red crystals at their heads. Despite his growing fear, Aerrow narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth.

"Cyclonians."

They began to walk swiftly through the rubble, entering each room as they passed, before coming back out and moving onto the next ones. Aerrow heard sounds of older men and women screaming accompanied with the dull sizzle of a crystal being activated and a red flash that lightened the whole hallway. He didn't need to know what the word massacre was to understand what they were doing - they were sending Atmosians a message from Cyclonia.

Aerrow panicked. He needed to get out of the hallway and back into his room with Piper. As he tried to ignore the pain in his side, he hoped that Sally was already there with her.

"Aah!" he cried painfully. Aerrow dropped to his knees.

A sharp pain was cutting through his legs as he quickly tried to straighten them out. He had never had this kind of pain before. It was shooting all up his legs and down into his feet. Aerrow closed his eyes and bent his head down. Why did his legs hurt so much? They felt like they were being ripped apart and his muscles felt tight. He instinctively tried to massage them with his hands as his eyes blurred. He instantly regretted trying to walk without his walker.

"I...I-I have to get back! G-get back to the...!" he stopped as he heard the Cyclonians' boots crunch closer in his direction. Fear pricked every fibre of his body. Would they kill him when they saw him? He kept his eyes shut.

"How dare you? How dare you! Do you know what it is that you are DOING here?" Dr. Andrew's voice bellowed over the sound of the chaos in the hallway. Aerrow opened his eyes and turned his head behind him and saw the white long coat of Dr. Andrew as he came up right in front of the Cyclonians. Aerrow widened his eyes.

"This is a hospital! Atmosia wants peace! You won't get away with this!" his voice was heard again.

"Are we gonna have to shoot a hole through you too?" laughed a scratchy, dark voice that Aerrow could only guess belonged to one of the Cyclonians.

"Give me that staff!" Dr. Andrew cried before what sounded like a struggle began. Aerrow couldn't see through his painful tears but it sounded like Dr. Andrew had grabbed hold of one of the men and now several of them were trying to pry him away.

"Ugh!..Argh!...Aah!...Aaaarrrgh!"

Then a crystal staff activated, the room flashed red, and Dr. Andrew dropped dead. Aerrow gasped horrifically.

They just... they had just...

Some shuffling was heard again as the Cyclonians tried to regain their composure, then they began walking again, nearly a foot away from where Aerrow had his body recoiling in and out of pain. He shut his eyes again, this time, real tears falling down his cheeks as he waited for them to see them.

But after a couple of moments, he realised they had completely bypassed him and continued their walk toward the other patient rooms. He slowly opened his eyes. Did they not see him? He visibly shook as he watched the retreat of their backs move further into the hospital. These men, these very same men, represented everything that had taken his past life away from him. He sat frozen as a hiccup escaped his throat before he angrily wiped the tears away from his eyes.

They took one life away from him. They would not take his second.

Aerrow slowly turned his head around to where Dr. Andrew had been standing. He choked back a sob as he saw a limp outline of his doctor lying face down on the floor.

Why was he even looking at Dr. Andrew's dead body? He didn't know why, until he realised what Dr. Andrew lying a few feet away from.

A satchel with the Cyclonian insignia printed on it... was glowing blue.

Aerrow didn't know what it meant, but gulping hard and biting all the pain of his legs down, he turned his body around and tried to kneel up into a standing position.

'Just like Dr. Crowe always says before I get up from a fall...' he thought sombrely.

He hoped the kindly old doctor was still... Aerrow pushed the thought to the back of his mind and quickly focused his attention on getting to the bag near Dr. Andrew's body.

When he reached it, he bent down and picked it up, carefully inspecting it as he opened up its contents. Inside he found four brightly glowing blue crystals, all vibrating in a united energy that nearly blinded Aerrow's green eyes.

He blinked widely. What did they do? He had never seen these kinds of crystal before. Only the occasional cooking and engine crystals were what he was used to. He decided to take them since Dr. Andrew had seemingly tried to take them away from the bad Cyclonians. Slipping them in the deep pocket of his hospital pyjama pants, he gave Dr. Andrew's body one last grieving look before he painfully made his way back to where he had meant to go in the first place: his room.

As he finally neared his room with the support of the wall, he was horrified to find that Cyclonians had already reached it and were just finishing coming out and heading the next one. He glared at them as they began talking to one another though they couldn't see him.

"Got her good?" one of them asked.

"Nah, she's already dead," one of them answered back. "Bet it was Snips. He's one hell of sniper" he chucked with his comrades before they continued on their tirade. The rest of their activity was lost to Aerrow's attention.

Already dead? But that meant-

"Piper?" he whispered to himself. Moving more quickly, he held his side as he edged himself on faster to his room. When he reached the doorframe, he didn't even care if the Cyclonians heard him and came rushing back.

"Piper?"

He saw Piper at her bed, still looking the same as she always did when she slept. He walked into the room fearing the worst. But as he neared Piper's bedside, he heard the familiar beeping of her heart monitor. Aerrow outwardly sighed. She was alive. She was alive...

But wait. Who then, were they talking about?

Aerrow scanned the room quickly and to his terror saw Sally slouched against the wall behind Piper's bed. Her arms were limp at her sides at her legs didn't support her. Her eyes were wide open with fear but they did not see.

She had a small hole in the middle of her stomach.

Aerrow fell to his knees shaking. This had to be a nightmare. He crawled up to Sally despite the fear of looking into her dead face. He needed to wake. Gently, Aerrow grasped her shoulders and gave her a tight hug shaking wildly as he silently sobbed into her shoulder. Why couldn't he wake up?

"I'm sorry, Sally... I'm sorry..." Aerrow whispered. He wasn't sure what he was apologizing for but he kept on repeating it, over and over, crying as he hugged her. He was sure her blood was on his clothes.

Everything around Aerrow seemed to come to a freeze. The alarms and explosions and screaming seemed like they were miles away.

"Sally, I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"Hn..."

He was sure he was going to die, and he couldn't do anything about it.

"I'm sorry, Sally... Sally…"

"Hnn...A..."

"I'm so sorry..."

"Ae...Aerro...?"

Then Aerrow heard it. A voice. But it wasn't Sally's.

"Aer...row? ...Aerrow?"

A high-pitched, scratchy voice was calling him, and he didn't need to think twice to wonder who it was.

Slowly, Aerrow lifted his head out of his Sally's shoulder and turned around behind him. He saw Piper's dark fingers move slowly on the bed, though her head did not move.

Carefully he let go of Sally and placed her back in the position he found her, a piece of his heart leaving him as he turned his back on her and got up to go to Piper.

Aerrow walked slowly, careful not to scare her, but more curious of what she looked like finally awake. When he near enough, he finally saw her.

Piper's eyes were droopy from sleep and confusion as he stared into her warm orange eyes. Her mouth was a thin line of curiosity and she gave him a deep stare as she looked at him. Even though Aerrow was a boy, he knew a pretty girl when he saw one. And she was probably smart too.

He blinked.

"Wait," he finally said to her. "You... said my name." She gave him a look that almost asked him if he was stupid.

"Of course I did," she said hoarsely. "You're Aerrow." She said it in a way that seemed like she was supposed to know have him, perhaps even for a long time. Which was impossible to Aerrow, he'd only known her for a few months and in that time all he did was talk. His green eyes widened.

"You could hear me..." he whispered, more to himself than to her.

It wasn't at all how he imagined first meeting Piper when she woke up. He'd hoped that Sally and all his friends were with them and that could have given her a big party. She didn't deserve to wake up surrounded by all this, seeing the first person she laid eyes on crying and covered in blood. Yet despite the situation going on, he gave her a quick and small smile.

It was couple of moments before Piper realised was what going on around her. She lifted her head from the pillow slowly and looked around the room with frantic eyes. When she turned back to him, her eyes were adamant with fear and anger.

"Where's my daddy? What happened to the sky carrier? Where am I? And..." she stared down at the IV lodged into her right hand. "Wh…What is this?"

Before Aerrow could calm her, tears had already begun sliding down her face and she was gasping heavily for air. She clenched her teeth and wiped bitterly at the tears, telling him that she was not a girl who liked to cry or be weak in front of people. He had to do something.

"Piper..." he whispered calmly. "Piper, I promise that I will tell you everything, but first we need to get out of here!" Piper paused in her attempt to pull out the IV and gave him a scared look.

"...Why?" she asked quietly, her orange eyes still wet with fear.

"Because there are Cyclonians here and if we don't get out of here soon, they're going to find us!" The statement was enough to send Piper into shock. Her head dropped back into her pillow and she was looking at the ceiling, trying to find some answers, but her tears and the erratic increased beeping of her heart monitor was preventing her from doing so.

Aerrow realised and gently grabbed her right hand.

"Piper, look at me," he said, repeating the same words that Sally had to him the first day he woke up.

"Focus on me, okay? You've got to calm down. Calm down, all right? Just breathe more slowly. Do it with me, okay? Breathe…" He made a slow inhale and exhale to which Piper was smart enough to follow. They did it a couple more times.

Aerrow quickly lifted his head to the device above her then dropped it back down to her. His eyes were wide with alert but Piper watched him obediently and tried to relax. He sighed and felt relieved.

"Now please, come with me," he said tugging her hand. "We've got to get out of here!"

Piper nodded and went to lift her head again before realising that the room was spinning and bent forward heavily to collect herself.

"I can't," she panted. "The room is spinning."

Aerrow frowned guiltily. How could he have forgotten that she had been sleeping for months before today? Of course she didn't have any energy to get up right away. He almost felt stupid for trying to force her to move. But then how were they supposed to get out of the hospital? The Cyclonians would be back soon and would find and kill them like everyone else.

Everyone else... he wondered how many people were still left alive in the hospital. It made his heart heavy and made his spirit fall... and surprisingly, made his left thigh burn.

Then he remembered.

'The crystals!' he thought quickly. Quickly reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the bag and opened it, letting the crystals fall into Piper's lap. Piper's eyes widened.

"Where did you get these?" she exclaimed, forgetting to whisper. Aerrow didn't hear her as he was talking to himself.

"That reporter lady said that sky knight's needed this to fight... and that receptionist Sally was talking to said they have special healing abilities..."

"Aerrow," Piper called him again, using his name this time. "Do you know what these crystals are?"

"Not really," he said sheepishly. "But I think I can guess..."

Aerrow quickly turned around and went back to Sally. He kneeled down beside her body and gave her a fleeting look of sadness before closing her eyelids in respect. Then gazing at her neck, Aerrow reached up and carefully unclasped the leather necklace around her neck, pulling out the dull brown crystal that hung from it and placing it in her shirt pocket. He hoped Sally wouldn't mind. It was his only shot.

Then getting back up he walked back to Piper's bed and after carefully picking up the smallest crystal he could find, he fit it onto the necklace.

"What are you doing?" Piper innocently asked as she watched him the whole way. Aerrow stared the necklace, surprised that the shard fit, then without hesitation reached over to Piper and clasped it around her small neck. Piper was alarmed but didn't say a word. She must have felt weird wearing a dead woman's necklace.

When he was done clasping it, he pulled away and gave her a soft look.

"I heard that this crystal might help you heal faster. I hope it does."

Piper looked at him for a moment longer before giving him the first smile he had ever seen on her. Aerrow smiled back and helped her take off her IV. Piper rubbed her eyes, trying to push down her tiredness.

"Okay, so there are Cyclonians," Piper said carefully thinking about the situation again. "How do we get out if they are in the hallway?"

Aerrow bit his lip. He was still thinking about that. Without even really thinking about it, he stared down into the crystals again.

"I don't know..." he said with fear clearly in his voice. Piper stared at him for some time and then onto the crystals like he was. She wasn't sure if it really was the crystal around her neck but she was immediately starting to feel a bit better and less dizzy. Suddenly a thought came to her.

"I have an idea!" she said confidently as she tried to push the blankets aside to get off the bed. Aerrow went to steady her, as he remembered the first day he was allowed out of bed and he couldn't stand. Granted Piper was doing better than he was since she hadn't broken both her legs in the crash.

"What is it?" Aerrow asked as he went to collect the remaining crystals from under her blanket when it looked like she could stand by herself. As he carefully placed them into his hands, Aerrow took note of everything about Piper that he had just learnt.

She was a quick thinker and she talked a lot more smarter than most of the girls he knew from his home. Or maybe, it was just because of everything that was happening around him that she couldn't have time to think about anything else like he was. Piper was skinny, probably because she hadn't eaten right since she came to the hospital. He also realised she was the same height as him.

"Do you know what floor we are in this building?" she asked. Aerrow raised an eyebrow. That was a strange question.

"Um... the main floor?" As he answered, a loud explosion shook the hospital again and almost knocked them both off their feet. Good thing the bed was right there. Piper was staring at the window.

"So if we blow up that wall then the ground would be on the other side?" she tilted her head in a calculating way. Aerrow blinked.

"Hey, yeah. You're right!" he said. Aerrow realised just how smart Piper was. He was starting to like her. Then he scratched his head.

"Wait, but how are we gonna do that?"

Piper stared at the wall for a moment longer, before walking over and taking two of the glowing blue crystals out of his hands. She gave him a quick smile despite how tired she still looked - but Aerrow knew the crystal around her neck must've been working. Then without any other explanation, Piper stood in front of the wall and touched the two crystals together out in front of her.

"Move!" she told him. Aerrow did what he was told but gave the girl a worried look.

"Piper, wait! Be careful!" he called out. Suddenly the two crystals glowed a brilliant blue in her hands and before he knew what was happening, a strange energy exploded from the crystals and broke down the wall into front of them. Bright sunshine and a strong breeze blew into the room, washing a clean smell of air over Aerrow. He stared wide-eyed at the young girl as he walked over to her.

"How... did you do that?" he asked still astonished. Piper smiled shyly and gave him back the crystals.

"My daddy taught me. He's very smart and knows a lot about crystals" she said proudly. Aerrow continued to stare at her. Never had he met a girl, let alone a kid, ever do that before.

"Hey, what was that?"

"I think it came from back here!"

"Oh no!" Piper whispered. The Cyclonians were coming back.

"Come on, it's our only way out!" he whispered quickly. Aerrow grabbed her hand and ran through the hole in the wall and dashed down what look like the side of a hill.

They were panting and groaning as they kicked their feet against the dirt and grass. Aerrow had to think quickly. Where could they go? This terra was enormous and with so many Cyclonians everywhere, they wouldn't be able to find anywhere safe to hide. They needed to get OFF the terra!

"There!" Piper cried, pointing at something some yards away from where they were running. Aerrow looked and realised Piper must have read his mind. A whole fleet of Cyclonian skimmers and heli-scooters were parked and they appeared to be left alone without a Cyclonian in sight. It caused the two of them to push on harder and faster towards their only chance for escape.

Once they reached, Aerrow ran towards the farthest skimmer and checked its gauges and fuel supply.

"Do you know how to fly this?" Piper asked uncertainly as she came over panting and leaning a small hand on the front of the skimmer. Aerrow's heart was pounding in his chest as he finished looking it over.

"I, uh... only had four lessons," he said shamefully. Seeing the look of fear in Piper's face he quickly added, "But I can fly it! I can land and take off good, and that's all we'll have to do right? Once we find another terra!"

"But who knows how far that closest one is, Aerrow! And it's... it's so high!" Piper said urgently, in a tone that suggested that maybe she wasn't a big flyer or big sky lover. Aerrow could've teased her had this been any other situation entirely but he understood what she meant and urgently tried to reassure her.

"Piper, come on! We gotta get outta here! Trust me, I'm a good flyer! I won't let anything happen to us! Swear!"

Piper rubbed her arms self-consciously as she shook with fear. Watching Aerrow get on to mount to skimmer made her eyes water and tear over. This was all really happening. An hour ago she swore she was dreaming about her grandma's soup and a giant bowl of ice cream - now she was awake in a world of death and fear and war, with only a boy and his dangerous idea to fly over ten thousand leagues of cloud and nothing else. This was a nightmare, she had to still be sleeping!

Aerrow broke her out her shock by yelling at her. When she looked at him with terrified eyes, he offered her his hand to help her up onto the skimmer. He had the same look of fear and sadness on his face.

"I know it's scary, Piper. I know..." he said softly but the urgency was still shaking in the rest of his body. "But we can't give up! They're not gonna us..."

Piper sniffed and wiped her face angrily. She nodded harshly, clearly still upset with what she had been thrown into. But if Aerrow was scared and alone too, then she could stop being a baby and suck it up for the both of them.

"O-okay Aer-row…" she choked.

Then grabbing his hand, he helped her onto the skimmer in front of him, turned on the engine, made sure she was secure, and took off.

The sun was bright…

The two flew for what felt like hours. The wind was so strong, they had to squeeze so tightly to the body of the skimmer that they couldn't feel their legs. In only thin white, pin-striped pyjama tops and pants, the temperature dipped so low, Piper's teeth chattered behind her crying and Aerrow's body shivered as he silently cried. Ever so often they would call each other over the sound of the brash winds and ask if the other was all right. Both knew it would be impossible to feel all right.

With the terra gone and the hospital forever etched into Aerrow's memory, the red headed boy wondered what he and Piper would do now. Where could they go? If the Cyclonians had reached that terra, they had probably landed on every other terra nearby. Even if they went to the next terra over, both kids would be facing death, or be forced to recruit into a Cyclonian academy to train them like soldiers. The latter might as well be death to Aerrow. With no other option, and no beacon of hope like a hidden, undiscovered terra to magically form in the clouds for the both of them to hide in, Aerrow let out a sob, gripping the skimmer's handles tightly as he did so.

Piper didn't say anything as she heard him break down behind her. As quickly as she could, she carefully turned herself around on the skimmer and faced him, giving him a tight hug for support. Her hair whipped in his face, making it hard to see properly as he flew the vehicle, but he didn't care.

And as they continued to fly off into the sky, sealing their fates for whatever they would and have to encounter, both Aerrow and Piper knew: it was them.

Just them. Both together, and alone.

END.

~This story had little relation to the original course plot of the TV show but I'm glad.

I am such a fluffy writer, jeez lol! Sorry if it exceeded your reading limit, but I'm happy regardless because this is my First Ever Completed Multi-Chapter Story so I'm uber proud. Sorry if I threw you off with any surprises or spelling errors (remembs to PM me if you want clarification!). As of right now, I'm happy with this ending so I won't plan to surprise you with a hidden chapter.

I know they might've had expressions that are probably out of character for eight-yr-olds but since I haven't been in the presence of any eight-yr-olds lately I had to draw from memory. Also, I always thought that Piper should have inherited her smarts from somebody and I believe an interesting backstory like her father having been a crystal scientist or something might've been great so that's why I wrote it as such; who knows I might make a story with it! ;)

Thanks for reading my fanfiction, Stirring, especially to all you reviewers and discreet readers. You're all grand! ;D I have many more ideas/stories to come so be sure to visit my profile in the future, but until then thanks again, and stay gold.

Much love and happy readings, Abby~