"Man," Finn moaned, stretching out in a vain attempt to get comfortable on the dungeon floor, "Why is it I'm always the one that gets the bad luck? Eaten by monsters, landing on everyone's sky rides, and now getting captured by Cyclonians? This sucks."

Stork was starting to seriously consider doing something to Finn, if only to get that idiot to shut up. He really shouldn't have left the Condor.

Then again, he wasn't sure if he had a choice. Right before the mission had started, he thought he had caught a glance of dark robes out of the corner of his eye, turning a corner and vanishing before he had a chance to really see it. Normally, it would show up in plain sight to announce a new round, but it was known to be purposely sneaky like that. That was one of its ways of making the Game more interesting.

A puff of icy wind suddenly breathed past his ear, causing him to look to his left. There, standing next the wall, was tall figure shrouded in a pitch black robe that seemed to devour any and all light that touched it. Nothing could be seen of the person inside, their face completely shrouded by the hood and the sleeves covering their hands.

Stork raised an eyebrow at the figure before turning to glance at Finn. The sharpshooter had gotten up and was peering out of the bars of the cell door, either waiting for their teammates or looking for some guards to insult. Seeing that he was distracted, the pilot turned back to the figure, muttering in a low voice so Finn couldn't hear. "I thought the round already started?"

The figure didn't say anything. Instead, one of its sleeves shifted to reveal an hourglass, almost all of the sand in the bottom half. Stork's breath caught in his throat, and his eyes widened.

The hourglass was only shown when the Merb had no chances of winning.

Swallowing the lump back down, Stork looked at where the figure's face would be. "So it's time, then?"

There was a slow, almost sad nod in response.

Stork quickly glanced at Finn again before looking back at the figure questioningly. This time the figure shook its head, and Stork's shoulders slumped slightly in relief.

At that point Finn yelped and scrambled back from the door as the dull thump of boots hitting stone announced the presence of the Dark Ace flanked by two Talons. The Champion of Cyclonia looked Finn over derisively, as if he was nothing more than a bug to squish (and to the Dark Ace, he probably was), before turning his attention to Stork.

The Merb merely stood up and casually strolled over to the cell door.

"Wait, Stork!" Finn cried in objection. "Where are you going? Where are you taking him?"

Stork turned to the blond with a sad smile. As obnoxious as he could be sometimes, Stork eventually grew to regard him as a part of his family. "Finn," he said gently. Fearful blue eyes turned to meet his own yellow orbs. "Make sure the others remember they still have a mission to do." And with that he turned and walked through the opened door, calmly holding out his wrists for the Talons to cuff.

"Stork, no! Come back! Stork! Stork!" Finn's desperate cries followed them down the hallway until they were finally cut off by a large heavy door.

As they walked through large foreboding halls, Stork turned to the Dark Ace. "I just have one question." He waited until he had Ace's attention before continuing. "Why would Cyclonis order my death?"

Surprise flashed in the Dark Ace's eyes. He managed to keep his composure, however, and answered, "Master Cyclonis believes that removing you first would cause more damage to the Storm Hawks."

"Because I'm their best carrier pilot."

"Yes."

And when he died, their ability to travel to the places that needed their help would be seriously crippled. Hopefully they would be lucky enough to find an able replacement soon.

"And don't even think about hoping your friends will come to save you," the Dark Ace continued. "Master Cyclonis has ensured that won't happen this time."

Stork smirked. "I'm a Merb," he answered. "I don't hope, I assume the worst." He then looked to his other side. The figure glided next to him, as tall as a Wallop and its robe looking even blacker in direct light. Most people assume a Merb would be having a heart attack seeing this figure, yet Stork only felt comfort in its presence. The figure would take care of him. The figure would bring him home.

They soon entered a small room, empty but for a single block of stone and a grate in the middle of the floor. On the other side was Master Cyclonis herself, dark and brooding in her cloak and hood. On one side of her stood Ravess and Snipe, and on the other, the Raptors. Repton had a look of animalistic glee on his snout in anticipation of the execution, but it disappeared as soon as the figure entered, his spines quivering as he looked around the room suspiciously. His brothers also shifted uncomfortably, and Spitz downright shivered as if in a chilly breeze.

So they can sense its presence, Stork thought. Interesting. Before he could ponder on it some more, however, he was roughly shoved onto his knees, his head placed on the stone block. The Dark Ace bowed to Cyclonis, then walked up to the block by Stork, taking his sword off of his back and activating it.

As the Dark Ace drew the sword up over his head, the figure's sleeves once again shifted, this time a hand made of nothing but bone stretching out and resting gently on Stork's shoulder.

And as the sword flew down, red energy crackling from its blades, Stork smiled and closed his eyes.

A/N: Uh, yeah. I'm not really sure where exactly this came from. I'm pretty sure some of you are confused, too, so I'll try to explain: this story was written under the assumption that merbs can physically see Death, and that their "paranoia" is not really fear so much as them playing a kind of "game" with Death (you have to admit guiding souls to the afterlife had to have gotten boring sometimes). The basic rules of the game would be that Death would show itself to the merb to start off a round, and the merb would have to survive the (usually life-threatening) experience. If they won, Death would probably give them some kind of reward, like a crystal or a pet or something. They can probably tell when someone is going to die, too, I don't know. I haven't given this concept that much thought yet.

Anyways, disclaimers: I don't own Storm Hawks, they belong to Nerd Corp. And I don't think I really want to own Death….

Review, please. All flames will be used to make s'mores. :)