Wayward Son: Grounded

Chapter 6

"Inside Atmos brings you news on the move! Breaking stories from all over the Atmos!"

"Why are you shouting?" muttered Stork, only to be shushed heavily by Finn and Junko. He put his hands over his ears with an angry frown.

"Everybody knows about Aerrow of the Storm Hawks," the reporter pretty much yelled as clips of video footage of the eponymous Sky Knight were played to a soundtrack of exciting music. "It's pretty much impossible to talk about Sky Knights without mentioning his exploits, despite spending only a little over a year on the job as of reporting!"

"Oh boy," Aerrow whispered, and raised a hand to cover his face.

"But nobody knew where he went half a year ago when he suddenly vanished from our skies like a ghost, sparking rumours of tragedy within the greatest heroes Atmos has ever known."

The video switched to a street on Atmosia, with the camera quickly zooming on Aerrow walking next to Piper, he with his left arm in a sling, both of them nervously waving to somebody out of shot.

"Well, guess who's back from the dead! Apparently the teenage superstar was involved in a devastating crash that rendered him unable to leave his ship for over half a year!"

The next shot was of Aerrow, surrounded by reporter's microphones.

"None of you say anything," he said, trying to hide his face in his arm.

"What's the matter?" asked Piper. "You look fine! It's not like your arm is visible or anything."

"Yeah, but me and cameras don't mix!" the redhead complained.

"Rumours of my death were, uh, exaggerated a little," said the obviously-uncomfortable Aerrow in the video. "I'm looking forward to getting back to work. It's true that I might still be avoiding serious combat for a little while longer, I can't go making any accurate predictions yet, but I'm hoping to cruise the skies again before the year is finished. Trust me; I may be down, but I'm not out."

"Oh god, that sounds so cheesy," real-time Aerrow moaned as in the recording he was shepherded away by Piper.

"Here's hoping that sometime soon, the living legend will be back to flying high and looking good while doing it!"

"Dude, I think that reporter has the hots for you," Finn quipped to the mortified Sky Knight.

"Nah, he says that about everyone," Junko pointed out as the newscast came to an end, Radarr took the reel off the projector and Stork uncovered his ears with a grateful sigh.

"Can we never get another one of those again?" he asked. "That reporter's cheeriness and optimism, it's... it's sickening."

"He is rather obnoxious," Piper admitted.

"Yeah," all the boys said together.

"At least this time he wasn't getting pictures taken of me behind bars," said Aerrow, "but I still wish I could've avoided getting this much publicity. It's embarrassing having all those cameras and microphones shoved in my face."

"Yeah, when they've got a way better face to shove 'em in right here!" said Finn, pointing at himself with his thumb.

"No, nobody's that desperate," said Stork.

"But was it really a good idea to go out like that?" asked Junko. "Now everybody's gonna know you're hurt, Aerrow!"

"I may be hurt, but I'm still alive," Aerrow stated. "And anyway, the reason I waited this long is because I've got enough control over my arm for it to look like I'm recovering from a bad fracture. And now that everyone has proof I'm still alive, it's definitely gonna put some minds at ease. And probably annoy plenty of others."

"The Dark Ace, for one," said Piper.

"Cyclonis for another," Finn added.

"I think Repton will probably be pretty peeved as well," said Junko.

"Not to mention that Cyclonian jailor who hates you so much," Stork said. "If he survived the Wastelands, that is..." He gave a sinister grin as his eye twitched uncontrollably.

"Guys, you're making it sound like everyone in Atmos hates me," Aerrow pointed out.

"Well, it's not like you've ever exactly avoided making enemies," Piper told him.

"I don't do it deliberately!"

"I'm not saying you do, it's just something that happens somehow."

Aerrow sighed.

"I meant what I said there," he said. "I can't wait for the day when I'm finally able to fight again."

"Yeah, but knowing you, you'll break it trying to pull some insane stunt and wind up exactly where you started," Stork deadpanned. "And you can count that as an official prediction."

"I'll be sure to," said Aerrow, equally as flat.

He looked down at his left hand and clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, then demonstrated – both to himself and his squad mates – how he could now bend and move the wrist as though it had never been lost to him.

"You can control it that much?" asked Junko, gazing in wonder.

"You bet," said Aerrow with a satisfied smile. "I swear it's getting easier every day. I can even kinda move the elbow now. Like I said, that's why I timed my appearance like that. So people don't get too suspicious. It barely even hurts anymore!"

"That's so great!" cried Junko, and he swept up the hapless Sky Knight in a massive hug.

"Does that mean we can stop buying painkillers now?" asked Stork. "So we can spend our money on more vital things like bug spray and cleaning cloths?"

"Junko, I think you'd better put Aerrow down before you undo all his hard work," said Piper.

"Yeah," said Finn, "I didn't know it was possible for people to turn that shade of blue."

"Oh," said Junko as he released the redhead, "sorry!"

Aerrow didn't reply. He was just trying his hardest to breathe.

"But seriously," said Finn, "that is pretty awesome. Probably better than that pipsqueak was doing."

"He had two, remember?" asked Piper.

"Yeah, and they cost him an arm and a leg," Finn said. "Literally!"

Despite his near-suffocation, Aerrow couldn't help but smile.

This was exactly the kind of time-wasting silliness he'd been missing.

It was twenty-three minutes past three in the afternoon.

Six and a half months after the departure of Edward Elric.