Dark mystery has been devastatingly neglected and for those of you that were enjoying this fanfiction I'm so sorry for leaving it this long to update. The truth is New War was my favourite to write, so I ended up putting all my focus and attention on that one. However, new war is now finished and thanks to a good friend of mine I have been encouraged to continue with dark mystery. So here I am again :)

I don't own Storm Hawks

OoO.

There was a quiet atmosphere at the breakfast table the morning after the trip to Tropica. After a brief good morning to his mother and father, Ace did not speak again, but felt somewhat responsible for the overall silence, like his failure to join in yesturday had dried up people's patience with him.

He was sat staring at the bowl of cereal infront of him, because focusing on it felt like a pretty good evasive tactic, but he wasn't tenacious enough to keep it up. He carefully glanced up at the faces around him, resembling a cautious wounded animal. Pam and Lightning were not engaging in their usual morning smiling and casual chit chat, it must have had something to do with the heated discussion they were having before he entered the room.

"It's a bad idea!" Lightning gruffed, and Ace could practically hear him folding his arms and twisting his face.

Pamela objected, her voice sounded worn out, "Lightning, please, he needs this."

And then Ace wandered in tentatively, and the two of them fell silent, offered him weak smiles, and they all sat at the table with the rest of the dead silent crew.

Had Pamela actually won the argument? Because when he looked at her, she was smiling softly, whereas Lightning was straight faced, and he was stabbing at his bacon rather cruelly.

Whatever it was, he didn't really want to get caught literally in the middle of it, so when breakfast ended Ace shot to his feet, and excused himself. As soon as he left the room, the discussion started up again, Lightning was saying something, but his lowered voice was less than a muffle in the boy's ear.

Just before he reached his bedroom, he could hear hasty footsteps echoing through the corridor behind him. Definitely coming this way. Am I in trouble? That quick thought turned his last few steps into a rushed skip to his bedroom, as if being in there would make the raised voices easier to take.

The door did not get a chance to slide shut, Pamela had reached him. Ace turned to face her, she was stood before him with her arms tucked away behind her back. Her face was bright with a kind of excitement he recognised from when he first came aboard as her son. But her words were soft and hopeful, "I know you really wanted your friend to come and join us, but I think I can make it up to you, if you will let me?"

A smile was beginning to bloom on the nine year old's face, he felt confident that this proposal was contained within whatever she was holding behind her back. He nodded, his neck craning to the left as he tried to spot what she was hiding.

"Oh good," her emerald eyes shone, and she showed him a cardboard box with a red ribbon tied loosely around it. She settled it on the bed, and Ace realised the box had round cut out holes all around the walls, his mind was swelling with anticipation.

"Can I open it now?"

"Yes, yes of course."

With that he tugged the ribbon off and let it flutter to the floor, then slid the lid off and when he saw what was inside, his mouth gaped.

"Ta-da!" She cheered. "Do you like him?"

"What is it?" Ace was looking down at a bundle of sky blue fluff with white patches. It was curled into a tight ball, with a feather like tail wrapped around itself. It's little body gently moving up and down as it breathed.

"He sweetheart; is a seven week old sky monkey," she explained, her smile stretched to it's peak now, as her son seemed more than pleased with the surprise.

"Can I...pick him up?"

"Of course, he is yours now."

His sparkling eyes widened, and he couldn't take them off the little creature. "All mine? Like my own little...pet? To keep? Forever?"

She chuckled, her hands finding their way to his shoulders, "yes he is sweety, oh but that means he's your responsibility mind, you have to feed him, train him and take care of him. Can you do that?"

Ace craned his neck back at her and nodded, then scooped the baby sky monkey up and smirked as it fit snugly in his hands. It was funny to think that something this small was radiating so much heat, it's fur brushed against his skin and a sweet little "Aw," passed his lips. "Does he have a name?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll think of a great one for him." Since it didn't wake up, he settled it back down into the box carefully, and gently rubbed it's forehead with his fingers, it's paper thin ears twitched at his touch.

He finally turned back to Pam and embraced her tightly, the pair of them almost losing their footing. "Thank you! I love him! You won't regret it! I promise I'll look after him!" She hugged back even tighter, lifting him off the ground, knowing fine well that this had infact been the right decision.

She stroked his dark grey hair, kissed him on the forehead which he rubbed away childishly, and then let him go and headed for the door. "Well then, I'll leave you two to get acquainted, be careful with him though."

"I will," he promised with a playful salute.

Ace turned back to his new little pet and found it had awoken, it's eyes were round and twinkled in the light. It stretched, it's fluffy tail feathering. The nine year old sat down on the bed right next to the box, and peered down in wonderment at the creature, he had never seen anything so precious and exotic. The only animals he had ever really seen was just a few birds who sang their songs on distant branches back at the orphanage.

It peered up at the cheerful boy, and cocked it's head to the left with curiousity, in response he smiled back down at it, "Hey there," he waved. It sniffed the air in his direction, and then held it's tiny pink hand out towards him. Slowly and gently, Ace went to hold it, and when he did the monkey chirped delightfully.

It was so adorable, he had never seen such a thing in his entire life, teddy bears did not even match this little creature. He picked it up again and it seemed happy that he did so, as it chirped again. Ace brought it close to his chest, never taking his eyes of it's round fluffy face, it sniffed his chin and then reached up on it's hind legs and brought it's wet nose into contact with his.

Ace giggled, and then spoke softly "I promise, I'm going take good care of you." It barely took notice of his words, it was too busy identifying his scent, and starting to crawl down his arms and onto his shoulders. Ace continued to giggle and kept stroking it every time it stop moving.

Meanwhile the Storm Hawks and Pamela were all back on the bridge, the majority of them sat around the table. Stratos was currently driving, taking them to Polaris Point as per her leader's instructions. Lightning was pacing back and forth beside her, worrying about his adopted son instead of the Cyclonians.

"Please don't be so dramatic dear," Pam said as she ran her fingers through her red hair, infront of her was a sheet of paper with a list of things the new furry member of the Condor would need.

Her husband huffed, and put his hands on his hips, "I'm not being dramatic. I just don't think he's ready for this kind of responsibility. I mean this is an actual life we're talking about Pamela, the boy can't even be trusted with a wrench for god sake."

"I agree. The kid is only what nine? You should have waited a little longer," Johnny added, he had his dagger infront of him with a selection of different crystals.

Leo was sat close to Pam, he kept leaning over to look at the list and adding things to it. "Well I agree with Pam, you're getting worked up over nothing, he's a kid not a bloody sociopath." He caught sight of Johnny who rolled his eyes and furrowed his brows. "Don't get pissy, all I'm saying is stop stressing over a bloody monkey."

Lightning sighed, and retreated to his wife's side, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're right, it's not that I don't trust him, I just don't want that little thing getting hurt."

"It won't," Pam insisted and looked up at him, her emerald eyes locking with his until he smiled back at her.

Lizzy heard footsteps from the corridor, she arched around and spotted the youngster making his way toward them. She spoke up, alerting the team that the topic needed to be dropped. "Hey Ace! Given him a name yet?" Ace came into the room with the baby sky monkey in his arms.

"Not yet. But this needs some serious thinking."

"Gotcha," she winked at him.

Lightning strolled over to the boy, towering over him with an authoritative presence. When he placed his hand on his shoulder, it felt like he was being gripped by an eagle talon.

"Tanner listen, we've got to leave in a minute. Some Cyclonians have been sighted and are causing trouble, so that means you need to stay out of the way in your room."

The nine year old grimaced, but tried to maintain a firm tone in his voice, "You promised you would call me Ace."

"Well I tell you what, you start earning that title by doing what you're told and I will."

"Yeah, but, um see I was thinking if you trained me a little then maybe I could hel-"

Lightning turned his back to him, casting an even bigger shadow, and began marching back towards the rest of the squadron, "Lee; we're getting closer to our destination, so create some cloud cover for me. We need the element of surprise and there aren't many blind spots around here."

"Yes sir."

The crew all stood to attention, ready to attend to their posts and jobs. Whereas Ace was left standing there feeling frustrated and inadequate, he gritted his teeth as he tried to contain his temper. Pamela homed in by his side, already beginning to guide him back to his room.

"Sorry sweety."

"No you're not," he spat, and picked up his pace so he was out of her tender reach. He wanted to stamp his foot, and scream about how stupid and unfair they were, and how he hated it when his mother acted so false. She didn't want him as a squadron member as much as the leader did. The fact that they didn't appreciate him enough to even let him prove his worth was what really writhed his nerves.

The only thing stopping him from kicking the wall of his bedroom with a foot red with rage, was the concern that he might frighten his new pet.

Fifteen minutes later, and the nine year old could hear the skimmer engines humming outside as the Storm Hawks cruised by the ship. The desire to be a part of that had yet to burn out, and he couldn't stop himself from racing to the window to try and catch a peek at the them all flying. No such luck.

His dark cloud of a mood cleared after a while, sitting on the bed with his new friend saw to that. He was already trying to teach him some tricks. He grinned proudly as the sky monkey had already mastered the basics; sit, lie down, paw. Were all sky monkeys this smart or was his just gifted?

His face kept fashioning a glorious pout though when he heard the commotion of the sky battle outside. It felt like a taunt, like they were dangling his craving right infront of him.

There was a thunderous bang outside, suddenly the Condor shook like a ship on a raging sea, things were being thrown from shelves and the lights flickered. The sky monkey's ears flattened, it shrieked and began to hop about on the bed in a confused panic.

Ace recovered pretty quickly, and was now trying to calm his new friend, but was failing spectacularly. "Shh, it's OK! It was just an energy blast hitting the ship - it happens all the time!" It's frantic leaping did not cease, he couldn't keep up with it's abrupt movements. "Easy boy easy!"

"Come here!" And then he managed to grab the poor little thing, it's was fur frizzed in a fray and it's round eyes were wide with stress. Ace stroked it's tiny head with his thumb, trying to ease it's fear, but it squealed with terror and tried to wriggle free of his grip. Ace let go worried that he was hurting it, and it dropped to the floor.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry! Are you alright?" He got down on the floor with it, kneeling by it's body, but the little thing was already back on it's feet. It merely shook the shock from the fall off, then scrambled across the floor and scratched at the door with a whimper.

"Sorry little guy we're not supposed to leave the room." It didn't pay any attention, and continued with it's primitive protests. "OK, I'm going to let you out, and you'll see everything is fine. But we have to come straight back." The door slid open and the sky monkey burst out of the room chirping madly. It began to run down the corridor, however, amongst it's sprinting it would often stop, and check behind to make sure Ace was following.

The boy tip toed after his pet with urgency, and was lead back onto the bridge, the battle in perfect view from the pilot's window. Stratos was usually always there, watching the squadron fight the war, cheering them on like a supportive fan on the bleachers of a football pitch. But Ace was greeted by a rather concerning sight; Stratos was not there, which meant she must have been called out to help against the opposing skimmers.

Pam usually sat on the bridge while Stratos steered, but since the pilot had gone, his mother must have been hiding in her room.

"See boy? We're fine, so lets get back before-"

Then a thunderous roar boomed from the thick clouds that the sky battle resided in, and from within the depths a blazing red bolt of energy came flying towards them at nitro crystal speed. Ace only had time to drop to his knees and cover his head before it hit the front of the Condor and cracked the windshield like it was wafer thin ice.

"- Before I get blamed for that!"

Still on his knees, Ace began to crawl towards the alert sky monkey who was peering out the window into the sky. Before he scooped it up, he looked at the crack in the glass again, but soon his eyes found their way past the damage. His heart thudded in his chest like a drum as he spotted Leo dangling from his parachute, drifting down through the sky. In any other case it could have been shrugged off with a these-things-happen kind of attitude, but the blonde Storm Hawk's arm was drenched in blood, some of it dripping down into the wastelands. The boy trembled with distress, the Storm Hawks always returned with their bodies and dignity fully in tact.

Ace had never actually seen an injury heavy enough to drip blood and form a pool. He had involved himself in many scraps in the yard at the orphanage, and even helped patch up Ralph, but they were always minor cuts, the kind that you could dap a few times and the bleeding would vanish as if magic had been at play. He swallowed hard, then became aware of the tight lump in his throat.

Leo will be OK...won't he?

Fear stricken, the nine year old scrambled to his pets side, who was still standing by the window, it's thin tail twitching nervously as it suspended in the air.

His hands fumbled around as he went to pick it up, but his eyes were fixated on the villainous triumph outside, bewildered by the notion that a do gooder could actually lose to something corrupt. The Storm Hawks were failing. Lightning was still soaring typically, but no matter how hard he looked Lizzy could not be found, and Johnny's engine was smoking, one of the wings clinging onto the body of the skimmer .

Ace's body suddenly rippled with goosebumps, as another red blast pulsing with energy was fired at the Condor. It hit, and exploded like a water balloon as it came into contact with the Condor, every inch of it coursed through the affected area of the ship. Upon further inspection the attack had left a big hole in it's place, gusts of howling air began to invade the bridge.

The sight of the damage terrified him, it was like being stuck in a house while a wrecking ball keeps bursting through the walls. He wanted to cry, and didn't want to hold the tears back like usual. What if they were boarded? What if the Condor fell? He had never wanted Pam to hold him more.

His eyes shifted through the sky, as he tried to find the culprit, not to form a plan of attack, but to abolish the fear of unknown. It could not have been an enemy carrier ship, the veil of clouds could not possibly conceal it's ginormous form. So it was coming from a Talon's weapon. Aiming randomly at a ship would only leave cracks and holes, so did that mean they were trying to aim for a particular weak spot? Ace had no idea what that would be, so he could not even think about trying to defend it.

A Cyclonian skimmer was soaring in the distance amongst thick black clouds, another red blast emerged from the driver's weapon, and was now flying through the sky towards the Condor again.

Ace's mind was a desperate kind of blank. However, like a puppet on strings his mind somehow commanded his body to stand, and he instinctively grabbed a hold of the steering wheel, then yanked it as hard it would go to the left. He couldn't carry it as swiftly as Stratos, it dipped down minorly, but there was no ricochet; the shot must have missed.

"Holy crap...did I just do that!?" He turned around on the spot, double checking the damage, reassuring himself that he had infact literally just steered a massive ship out of the way.

The success of his spontaneous deed was starting to seep in, and he was now fully aware of the position he had just put himself in. He straightened his back, rubbed the tears from his eyes and adjusted his grip on the handles.

"OK." He breathed. "OK. I can do this." He jumped as the sky monkey suddenly chirped, he gazed down and looked at it by his feet, "Oh sorry, I mean we can do this!"

So now he was flying the Condor. Oh god...now he was flying the Condor. His legs trembled, warning him of their desire to collapse. His mind was flooded with sheer excitement and fear. Sweat beads had already formed on his furrowed brow, and his eyes were wide enough to pop out as he scanned for more blasts. When he could think to, he turned to the ship's radar for support, but every time he was left growling with frustration because he couldn't read the damn thing.

His chest heaved, and his hands were shaking. Waiting for another one, and not knowing where it would emerge from, was the worst.

Ace heard the sky monkey abandon his side, he glanced back and watched it run to the right hand side of the bridge. Then moments later they were hit again by the same damaging boom, a sharp, high pitched gasp escaped him. It was a side attack to the right, how was he supposed to have seen that?

With one hand still on the handle like it was glued on, he knelt down and signalled the sky monkey to come with his free hand. "Come here boy, come here! That blast could have hit you, come stand next to me!" The creature just chirped at him. He kept his eyes on it, watched it sniff the air, it's ears suddenly perked and then it raced to the other side of the room. Seconds later another shot hit the ship, the boy instinctively covered his head, then checked to make sure his pet was OK. There was a great crumbling dint in the wall now, and the sky monkey was positioned right beside it.

"Oh my god come here before you...Wait a minute..." The creases of concern in his face vanished, he understood now, at least he hoped he did.

Like clockwork the blue ball of fur sniffed, perked his ears then darted to another specific spot in the room. This time Ace kept his eyes locked on the little creature, waited for it to stop, and once it did he steered the ship with all his might in the opposite direction.

Beyond his belief, a blast of energy went zooming past the window; they had averted it. "No...way..." his eyes cast back down to the little creature, mouth unhinged, mind completely boggled.

"Right. Let's do this." His face was lined with determination.

And soon, he actually began to feel the thrill of the battle. This is what Sky Knights lived for, and he could understand why. He had never felt something more rewarding and courageous. He was preventing the Condor from falling, he was helping the Storm Hawks win the war, and he was protecting his mother.

Ace had forgotten the impending doom that would surely follow after Lightning discovers he'd left his room and was touching important ship things. Despite all the previous boring lectures, fiery rants and finger pointing, right now he didn't care about any of the consequences. Because he felt like a Storm Hawk. He felt like a hero.

His swerves were not nearly as smooth as Stratos, there was a lot of rocking and occasional dips, but he couldn't avoid it, it was so stiff to steer, how she managed it with such ease he would never know.

Meanwhile the fearful redhead was on her bed, legs tightly tucked up to her chest, a pillow acting as her only comfort. It felt like the Condor was trapped in the middle of a stormy sea, the waves towering and unforgiving.

Pam couldn't sit in her room any longer, she had to check on her son, he was a brave boy but what if at this moment he was just as terrified as she was? The Condor had not suffered like this in a while, and to pile this kind of traumatic stress on a child was an unbearable thought. I've got to get up. Be brave for him. Come on Pam.

She checked his room, he wasn't there, neither was the sky monkey, she wanted to scream with worry, but only a gasp and jagged breaths were able to pass her lips. Where the hell was he? As she raced through the halls, she checked each windows she passed, the Storm Hawks were having difficulty, and she knew for a fact some blasts of energy had bitten into the ship.

Where was Tanner?

She didn't want him to see the squadron in trouble, and she didn't want the Cyclonians to see him. He was an easy target for abduction, what if a hostage situation arose? She wanted to collapse, cry and wish that he would just suddenly appear infront of her unharmed. Her steps were uneven and weak as she hurried down to the front of the ship.

But when she reached the bridge, she didn't know whether to laugh with overwhelming relief or scream with panic. There he was, her nine year old, somehow thrown into the heart of the battle. Before she could call for him, he looked at his chirping sky monkey, then pulled on the handles and tilted the ship to a hefty right, Pam gravitated into the wall as he did so, and another glowing red blast dashed past the window.

She could not believe the sight before her.

"Tanner!"

Ace turned his head and his eyes widened when he spotted her. He was screwed, and busted, and grounded, and dead.

He wailed frantically, "I'm sorry! It's not my fault! I didn't know what else to do!" But he was still clutching the controls, and then he heard the creature chirping again. He didn't want to avert her gaze and dive into more trouble by continuing this, but he couldn't help himself. He searched for where his little friend was stood, then pulled as hard as he could to avoid another shot. His nervousness held him back, and made the shot graze the condor, red energy shot through the pipes.

"Tanner!" Pam screamed again for him, voice broken with terror, her hands out in the open like they were blindly finding something to hold. She hated the sky battles. Hated the risk of death. Hated that her husband and friends brushed them off like another day at the office. And now the boy she adopted, chosen to be her son, was standing as boldly as Lightning, doing exactly the same thing. Risking his life for a war. Being another piece in the chess board of this senseless age old feud.

Her scream sent a shiver down his spine but he barely noticed. Before him came another raging blast, bigger this time, it had to be the result of one of those special moves the brave Sky Knight always bragged about. He tightened his grip on the handles, so hard his wrists and arms screamed in protest as he tried to hoist the ship upwards.

There was a rattling of footsteps, and then Pam was behind him, muttering all sorts that he couldn't fathom. His mother wrapped her arms around his body, snaked her hands over to the handles and held them with him. She gritted her teeth and pulled up with him. Together they just managed to evade the shot, the sound of it passing was solid and made the redhead wince.

After that she dared to peer outside, her mind not calm enough to be thankful for the fact that Lightning, Stratos and Johnny were still flying, just barely. But as she continued to pick out skimmers, she found that the Cyclonian rides were spewing out a lot of thick smoke, and were beginning to flee back into the veil of clouds.

She sighed with relief in between heavy breaths, and held onto her boy, her red hair draping over his face. "It's over, we won," she barely managed to say, her voice quivered with her frame. Ace gladly sunk back into her arms and stood there for a moment, soaking up her comfort and warmth.

"Ace, I'm...I'm so proud of you."

"You're not mad?" He still wanted to cry, and his uneven voice was evidence of this.

"I'm terrified, but I'm not mad. I'm just so glad we're OK." Then she spun him around, planting a chain of kisses all over his face, which he contently allowed.

The battle was all but a memory to him now, as he was currently overwhelmed by how much Pamela actually seemed to care for him. How easily she rushed to his side to protect him, even though he knew how fragile a state she got herself in during sky fights.

So...is this what having a mother is actually like?

"OK sweetheart," she said after finishing her flurry of kisses, "you need to take your pet and get to your room before they come back." The fact that he wanted to collapse on his bed with exhaustion was reason enough to obey, he certainly didn't have the strength to march into another battle. There was a part of him actually glad that he had to retreat to his bedroom, it meant he would be safe from Lightning and Johnny's wrath of disapproval for a few extra minutes.

As soon as his bedroom door closed him off from the rest of the world, he dropped to the floor like a discarded ragdoll and groaned weakly into the cold surface. His body was so limp, he couldn't even raise a hand to stroke the sky monkey who was gently nudging him with it's nose. He felt like he had just ran one hundred miles in the pouring rain, while carrying two weights under both his arms.

His heavy eyes draped shut, but he listened to the commotion back on the bridge. He could faintly hear Lightning being apologetic, and Pam was apologising too, although Ace couldn't really understand why, she's not the one who almost lost to the Cyclonians. Unless she was already telling them about the wild little adventure he had just enrolled himself into, that thought alone made him gulp.

Ten minutes later and the boy had managed to gather himself up, and reach his bed which he fell onto, his pet had leapt up and was sprawled out across his chest.

Unannounced and uninvited, the leader of the Storm Hawks barged in with a seriously stern expression, it wasn't fatherly, and somehow it wound up enough energy for Ace to sit up and begin sputtering "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't do it again I promise!"

"Hey! Take it easy, Ace." Lightning's seriousness swiftly disappeared, his eyes melted into a more tender gaze, and he felt taken back that he had made the boy fret so much. When he spoke again he paid attention to his voice and made sure each word was low and calm, "Today we greatly underestimated the Cyclonians. But, it seems I have been underestimating you too."

Ace's face dropped with disbelief, Lightning was carrying a benevolent disposition, something the boy had never really seen before, he wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"You...did?" He asked, half expecting the act to drop and the rant to begin.

Lightning himself looked a little uncomfortable, he was shifting about on the spot, and scratching the back of his neck. Not because he didn't believe what he was saying, just because he didn't really know how to deal with children. How had Pam adjusted to being a parent so easily?

"Yes, myself and the Storm Hawks managed to fight off the Talons. But if the Condor had fallen, well, we would have been in some real trouble. So you helped save the day Ace. You and your furry little friend." He flashed him a crooked smile, then proceeded to leave again, hoping the boy wouldn't be too disheartened by how awkward he felt.

Before the leader could leave Ace said, "Radar."

"What?"

Ace smiled, "His name is Radar," and began scratching the baby sky monkey's head.

Lightning mirrored the boy's expression and nodded, "Yes, I'd say that fits rather well. You both did good. Er...Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes, and Pam told me to tell you, you can have all the dessert you want, but just don't make yourself sick because that would um...really suck." With that he gave another nod then hurried out the door with one long stride.

Twenty minutes later and Ace came strolling to the dinner table with his held high and smirk on his face, like a newly crowned prince who couldn't wait to throw out some orders. The fact that they all applauded him as he entered certainly encouraged the sensation, and he didn't even consider resisting the urge to thank them for their enthusiastic gratitude.

The squadron all sang his praises and were constantly rewarding him with encouraging names like 'Hero of the day', 'Jolly good fellow', and his personal favourite 'A Sky Knight in the making'. He sat down at the table, right in the middle of them all, soaking up the back pats and proud smiles.

But much to his dismay, Pam was stood by the window with her back to them all, her expression unable to reflect in the cracked window. Ace could not tell what she was feeling, and was a little disappointed when she didn't brag about how selfless and gallant her son had been today.

A few bites out of dinner, then a hard swallow, because he knew all of this praise was about to drop dead like a plague carrier. "So, um, since I did a good job and all, maybe you guys could train me up a bit? Nothing major! Just little things. I mean you never know when something like this might happen again or, whatever." He laughed nervously and took a sip out of his water.

Lightning Strike rose to his feet, this couldn't be a good sign, his arms were folded loosely. However he didn't look angry, which did not suggest voices would be raised, he just looked really serious. This was either going to be really good or really bad.

"You did a terrific job today Tan - Ace." He called him by his title; this was going to be good! "But the fact of the matter is; you're only nine years old, you're too young." Never mind it sucked.

The boy slumped back in his seat, and wanted to keep sinking down until he was under the table, shielded from this verbal burn. His eyes were cast down with a familiar bitterness, deep down he expected nothing else, but hearing it out loud seemed to enhance the disappointment. "Yeah, OK."

"I'm not finished. So sit up!" As if Lightning had just flicked a switch only he could control, Ace immediately obeyed. "You will however, be old enough on your tenth birthday."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, that is the minimum age in which a person can join the Sky Knight academy, and that is when you will be enrolling." Lightning suddenly beared a toothy grin and winked, his eyes painted with pride. Leo and Lizzy seemed to ignite with excitement and started cheering for him, wrapping their arms around the boy and fist pumping.

All the while Ace was dumbfounded, and was muttering to himself, "What?...Oh my god are...are you serious? Me? I get to..."

The Sky Knight's smile did not descend into a frown, and people were still cheering. It was beginning to hit him, his dream had come true, or it was on the verge of becoming true. They were actually going to let him train, and be part of missions, and fly skimmers and wield swords.

His eyes widened, he couldn't sit still, so he shot up from his seat completely ecstatic, "Oh my god! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you so much Lightning!"

The squadron chuckled at him, and as the leader sat back down, he continued, "All right settle down, it will be hard work you know."

"I know but oh gosh...this is the best thing ever!" His hands were clenched above his head, his sparkling eyes picked out every single squadron member, desperate to catch their joy, because it was all for him.

Then his eyes found Pam again, her back was still facing the celebration and her shoulders had sank as low as they would go.

"Is this OK?...Mother?"

She sighed heavily, and stroked her own hair like a substitution comfort blanket. She gathered up her concern and forced it to leave her face, then finally looked at him, her expression was long and hard, sorrow hidden within emerald eyes.

"I wish you didn't want this. But I," she took a deep shuddering breath, knowing that crying would completely ruin this for him. "I know how much this means to you, so I'll...I'll stand from the side lines and cheer you on all the way. OK?"

Ace didn't fully understand why she looked so discouraged. He knew flying was a little dangerous, Mia had reminded him of that often enough, but it's not like it was deadly or anything, they had parachutes and stuff. No one ever got really hurt, did they? Surely not, otherwise why would so many people be doing it? Leo had been injured today but it was mended just as quickly. He figured that this was just Pam, being well, Pam, caring too much. So he squeezed past everyone at the table, broke the distance between them and held her comfortingly.

"Don't worry," he whispered to her, "I'm going to be fine."

She pursed her lips and gently rested her chin on his head, "I hope so," she swallowed, as if that would get rid of the tears that were welling in her eyes. She smiled weakly, trying to reassure herself.

"It'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"

OoO.

If you are enjoying this I will honestly try not to leave it in the dark for as long as I did again. I'm enjoying writing it and I do honestly have every intention of completing this.

If you enjoyed this chapter and you would like me to keep writing please review, because I'm writing another fanfic called Stone Cold which is my new favourite so dark mystery is competing against it.

Until next time!