Video: Love at War

Chapter III - The Gift of Hope

After having shown Piper around the city, Aerrow found a nice place where she could settle down for the time being, like her own room. She spent a while on a kind of library since she loved reading. During one evening in which the sky was getting darker and darker for the night was coming, she had picked up a book and sat by the edge of the Terra to read it. She stopped by a certain page, which made her frown. She rested her head on her hand, shaking it a little and sighing sadly.

A few steps could be heard coming from behind her. Aerrow and Radarr had seen her there by herself and wanted to make her some company.

"Hey there. What are you doing here all alone?" - the boy greeted.

"I was just reading a book about some crystals." - she told him, then stared back at the page.

He noticed her upset mood, so he sat beside her.

"Something wrong?" - he asked.

"It's nothing. I just... While I was reading this book I found this." - she showed him the page, it was talking about a purple crystal he had never heard about before - "This crystal is a rare kind and it can be found in my home Terra. I used to have a few of them. They're nothing special, really, their power is quite silly actually, but..." - she trailed off.

"They still mean something." - he completed her speech for her, and she stared at him glad he understood that.

"Yeah." - she nodded - "The Cyclonians must have snatched everything from my home Terra by now, though. So I guess I'll never see those crystals again." - she said as she closed the book and stood up - "Well, at least everyone I knew escaped safely, so that's enough for me."

"Never is a really long time, you know?" - he began as he stood up as well - "I'm sure our forces will win this war soon, then you'll be able to have plenty of those crystals just for yourself. I've already gotten news from my ship. It's about to be docked in a Terra nearby, we can go there in the morning two days from now."

She smiled at his positive thinking and his attempt to cheer her up, but she had a logical mindset, so it was hard to truly believe things would get better easily or soon. Still, she decided to hide her feelings, she didn't want to bother him any longer.

"I'll go pack a few things then. Good night, Aerrow. Good night, Radarr." - she said as she turned around and left for the cave.

"Good night..." - he replied.

He could sense she was still depressed. Who wouldn't be? Everything she knew and grew attached to was probably gone by now. He knew what that felt like all too well. Radarr climbed on his shoulder and chirped sadly, almost as if he were asking what they should do. The boy thought for a moment, and an idea hit him. He knew how to really cheer her up.

~~~

In the middle of that night, Aerrow and Radarr woke up and prepared a skimmer. They were going on a secret mission. They sneaked out in the dark of the night, without waking Piper up. They took off and flew in low altitude, being covered by the clouds. They kept flying until they saw a mass of earth in the distance.

"That must be Piper's home Terra." - the boy whispered to his partner - "Let's scan it first, to be sure we won't run into any Cyclonians."

They sped up towards the Terra. Once they were within enough range, Aerrow pulled out some binoculars to take a look. He saw a few troops there. They were just casually defending the area since the village was in ruins. The Sky Knight now guessed he'd have a hard time finding what he was looking for.

"All that trouble for a Terra with just a small village of innocent people... The Cyclonians don't know when to quit, do they?" - Aerrow mumbled in disbelief - "They have to be stopped."