A/N: Hello, and welcome to my new fanfiction; both my first Romance-themed story and my first one-shot – YAY!
This story is based on one of my favourite pairings, from one of my favourite cartoons from my childhood that I've been revisiting for a while. After reading a few other Storm Hawks Cyper fanfictions out there – namely 'A unique start' by PariahDark, and 'The Infinity Stone' by ClockwerkOrange that I thought tragically aborted and abandoned; until recently XD – this idea began to build inside my head, until I finally had to go ahead and make this.
So, without further ado, I give you:
Another World
Piper couldn't get back to her workshop on the Condor soon enough, with her new crystal find in hand. She'd been on recon investigating reports of Cyclonian dig operations on Terra Aztekos, and her pleasure at getting ahead of the Cyclonians had only been eclipsed by her discovery that the prize was nothing other than a Cosmos Stone. After she'd grabbed the crystal, Piper had raced straight back to the Condor on her Heliscooter in a state of excitement, and she wasn't sure the guys had even registered her telling them over the radio what she'd found; before she was docking on the ship, and headed straight to her room.
No Cosmos Crystals had ever been found in recorded Atmos history before, they were only known from several ancient terras' mythology, and many modern crystal-enthusiasts had doubts that they'd ever existed at all – until Piper got the living proof now, that is. Cosmos Stones were usually revered in the ancient texts and said to be incredibly powerful; granting one dreams and visions of the lives they could have led in what-might-have-been's. Those among crystal-theorists who thought the Cosmos Stone could have been real believed that to mean the crystal's power could let one view parallel universal streams coexisting with our own universe; Piper's head was whirling with the implications of it.
As soon as Piper was in her crystal-lab bedroom, she had the door sealed behind her and all her windows shut, not wanting anything to disturb her. The only source of light in the room was the illuminating glow emanating from the Cosmos Stone, shining all the colours of the rainbow. Piper was almost reverent with the crystal in her hands, which was cut into the telltale shape of a finch; as she set it in her workshop's crystal-holding vice to start examining it.
Piper precariously started working on the glowing stone with a soldering torch, being very careful to ensure it was perfectly stabilised before she could start tinkering much further with it. But Piper's blowtorch seemed to be all the tinkering the crystal needed to give Piper an early reaction out of it; about halfway through the process, the stone started trembling fiercely, its glow pulsating bright before Piper's face. Immediately lifting her safety goggles at the unexpected reaction, Piper grinned as she looked with baited breath to see what would happen – she hoped the crystal wouldn't explode like her Vesuvian Crystal had a week ago. But when she did look, Piper found she couldn't take her eyes off of the centre of the bright crystal – it was like a magnetic field was holding her gaze pinned firmly on it.
The sense of some unseen, infinite cosmic depth took up Piper's peripheral awareness as suddenly, she was ripped free from her seat inside her head, being sucked deeper into the crystal's core. Torn from her body, time and space themselves lost all meaning to Piper, as stars, galaxies and entire universes wheeled by overhead. Even awareness of herself seemed to be slipping away on her; until all she knew was one particular universe amongst the endless expanse, suddenly coming to a halt just short of its membranous surface…
Forks of lightning flashed across the oppressive bloodred clouds that dominated the skies of Cyclonia, hanging low around the monstrous fortress of a terra. On the looming metal tower, near the spire at the top, the Master herself stood, looking out from on her balcony; watching as her Talons and battle-cruisers were all flying out to war.
Master Cyclonis' trademark nefarious grin was across the sharp-featured girl's pale-skinned face, her dark-rimmed purple eyes looking triumphant as her armies advanced to conquest. And why shouldn't she be feeling so triumphant? Her empire was now on the verge of victory, with nothing left to stop them on their way to claiming all of the Atmos. The Storm Hawks, led by Aerrow, who'd stood in the way of Cyclonis' plans for far too long; had just four days ago, finally been destroyed. There had been a great battle between Sky Knights and Cyclonians over Terra Tundras, a crucially-valuable mining point in the war between the two major powers for Atmos, which could turn the tide in either side's favour; and the Storm Hawks had been among the Sky Knight squadrons fighting there. The Dark Ace had been leading the Talons' assault against the Sky Knights above the terra, and according to the report; he'd personally engaged Aerrow in a sky-duel in the middle of the battle, and had struck down the one Sky Knight he'd ever lost a battle to once and for all.
Though the Dark Ace hadn't lived to enjoy his victory, Cyclonis noted. For just two minutes later, he'd perished himself when the Screaming Queens had taken him down in a great, fiery explosion; the all-female squadron giving their own lives to take down the fearsome Cyclonian general. Cyclonis permitted a momentary pang of mourning for her faithful right-hand man to be felt within her being.
Though the Dark Ace's fall in the battle had almost been worth it for the outcome. Half the Storm Hawks squadron had perished in the same assault along with the Condor, and those that had survived had scattered to the winds, no longer to be of any threat to Cyclonia again. All except one, Cyclonis mentally noted; looking back over her shoulder to the captive within the room behind her.
"Ah, impressive, isn't it?" the Master purred in her silky-soft yet cold voice, over her shoulder at Piper; the one Storm Hawk who'd been captured alive at the battle of the squadron's downfall, now suspended in a cage of violet energy that Cyclonis had spun just for her. The indigo-haired girl with skin the colour of chocolate, was unresponsive to the black-haired young empress; her brown eyes were seemingly looking elsewhere.
In truth, Piper was thinking of her squadron, her friends; those she'd lost at the battle a few days ago and those of them who'd gotten away with their lives. She remembered seeing the Dark Ace strike Aerrow down during the heated sky-battle, then seeing the Dark Ace perish himself just minutes later; and she remembered seeing Finn die in the conflict as well. The only hope that Piper now had came from having seen Radarr, Junko and Stork flee into the Wastelands after the Condor had fallen; before Cyclonians had pulled Piper from the wreckage, and brought her back to Cyclonia in cuffs.
Here and now, Piper kept silent not so much out of refusal to let the Master see her so weak, as because she was simply beyond tears now. She'd had a day and a half crammed alone in a Cyclonian cruiser's cell to weep her heart out over the deaths of her friends, and at the end of it, she'd just felt hollow; with no moisture left in her eyes to add to the salty tear-stains that had been left on her face.
"Well, you're the quiet one, now, aren't you?" Cyclonis observed in response to her prisoner's silence, grinning. Piper hadn't said a word since arriving yet. Cyclonis had heard a lot of but hadn't met the famed crystal-mage of the Storm Hawks, until now. She'd given her Talons orders to bring this particular Storm Hawk back to her alive if they ever had the chance; expecting Piper's widely spoken-of crystal talents could be very useful if she were in the Master's hands.
"What do you want, Master Cyclonis?" Piper said, finally raising her head to look at the other girl. Her voice sounded horribly hollow, and those eyes that were a very lovely shade of brown seemed so horribly dead.
"It's simple, really," the empress purred as she stepped inside, towards Piper's energy-cage. Her eerie mane-crowned figure stood a foot below the energy-suspended Storm Hawk, yet very imposing, as the two girls' eyes locked. "I've been hearing quite a lot about your crystal mastery, Piper. I wanted those beautiful skills of yours working for me." Piper took all of 1.5 seconds to respond to what Cyclonis had said.
"No way," the imprisoned girl said. Though her response was devoid of any spirited resistance; and the Master found that that actually disappointed her.
"At least, that was my original plan," Cyclonis specified, her purple eyes practically alight as her smallish grin spread from ear to ear. "But the Storm Hawks are gone, and you and I both know that the Alliance they'd brought together is sure to crumble, if you're half as smart as they say you are. I wanted a piece to keep as evidence, of the triumph of Cyclonian might on that day." Piper's tired-seeming bloodshot eyes widened just a little, as it clicked in her head why she was still alive if Cyclonis no longer needed her for the war.
"So I'm… some kind of trophy?" Piper exclaimed, craning her head to look on the purple-eyed girl before her. Cyclonis' only response was to smile almost warmly, like a teacher giving a child a cookie for getting the right answer. Cyclonis had truthfully considered ordering Piper be executed when news of the Storm Hawks' destruction had reached her, but she'd decided that she preferred this instead. Though she was not normally the covetous type, preferring all trace of her enemies' resistance be utterly crushed and the fragments washed away; in this girl's case, Master Cyclonis was willing to make an exception.
Two weeks passed, and the Master remained at work directing the royal Cyclonian fleet's forces. Ravess was now placed in command over the assault fleet since the Dark Ace was no longer among them. Though she wasn't as effective in directing the invasion as the Dark Ace had been at the spearhead of the fleet, Cyclonis was pleased that Ravess' performance results had gone up since the Storm Hawks were no longer a significant problem. Within the last fourteen days, over nine terras had been conquered, and the Sky Knights were falling fast as the Cyclonians won a new victory each day.
Sitting on her throne at her desk within the great tower, planning out her forces' invasion of Terra Aquanos; Master Cyclonis had found that now, it all seemed so… numb. Almost meaningless, even. She had been preparing and prepared all her life for this, she'd unquestionably been raised to be a conqueror rather than a governor. And now that a glorious restoration of Cyclonian rule over the Atmos, the completion of everything Cyclonis' father and grandmother had worked towards, was so close at hand; she found herself almost bored, without any purpose or idea of what she would do after it was complete.
In these last two weeks, the only times Cyclonis had seen Piper was when the captive girl had been taken from her cell to dine with the Master at her table, at the Cyclonian ruler's command. Over the first week, the former Storm Hawk had remained quiet whenever they'd dined together, mechanically eating her food without a word spoken; and Cyclonis had found during that time that she didn't like seeing this monotone misery on the other girl. But during the second week, Piper had seemed to be regaining some of her spirit, as she'd started speaking to the empress about topics relating to Cyclonia's war effort and the Sky Knights' stand against them. Piper had spoken with a level of open defiance in front of Cyclonis that had only served to put a grin on the empress' face.
Outside Cyclonis' office chamber on Cyclonia, thunder was rumbling in the bloodred skies, but there was no trace of lightning flashing over the industrialised terra-monstrosity– a phenomenon that was most unusual, Cyclonis noted, though she had little thought for the weather right now.
Whilst in another part of the great metal fortress, on the same level as Cyclonis' office in fact; Piper sat in her despondent-looking prison cell against the wall, listening to the guards' footsteps as they faded away out of all earshot. In the wake of the silence now hanging outside her cell, which she'd come to learn was when the guards changed shifts; Piper took out the pin that she'd managed to hide and bend into a lockpick, her brown eyes looking to her cell door.
Master Cyclonis had just finished the work on her latest battle-plan at her desk in her dimly-lit office space, standing up from the throne that she seldom sat in and walking away from her desk. The light sound of her knee-length boots' footsteps upon the floor was the only audible sound in the domed room that was devoid of any other personnel. But then the sound of something rather-loudly clattering had Cyclonis stopping in her tracks; her purple eyes widening on her composed, pale face as the only sign of her reaction to the disruptive sound.
In the rusty-red, gloomy-aired hallways; Piper went wide-eyed like a doe at the loose pole she'd just sent clattering loudly to the floor in her clumsiness. She took a moment to look around and make sure nobody had heard that and was coming. After that, Piper was sure to be creeping as silently as was possible as she navigated through the industrial hallways, which seemed to have oppression hanging heavily in the air itself. She stuck to the shadows, even if there weren't immediately guards on duty, to avoid bumping into any Cyclonian that was on their way to perform some other duty. Making her way downward, Piper remembered the route from when she'd been brought to Cyclonia two weeks ago as she retraced her steps backwards; hoping to make it to the terra's docking bay, steal a Switchblade and get out of here. Piper didn't know what she'd do after she was out, but she had to do something to remind people in Atmos that Cyclonia hadn't won yet and there was still hope.
Piper was passing through the corridors running by the Master's chambers, and was careful to steer clear of going in there; making her way towards the elevator shaft that she'd been taken up to Cyclonis in in the first place. The shaft was literally just round the next corner coming up on Piper, and then she could climb down the open shaft to the dock-bay along the elevator's cable. Piper's eyes were scanning around her as she moved stealthy as a cat to turn the last corner. She didn't even see the other girl who'd been lurking round that corner, looking for any sign of what disturbance she had thought she'd heard; until they directly bumped heads.
A moment passed when Cyclonis and Piper saw each-other, their faces just a couple feet apart, eyes locked as brown and purple met. Piper's eyes were wide like a doe's caught in the headlights, Cyclonis' were wide with her shock. Then, being the first to find the will to act, Piper swiftly grabbed Cyclonis' head between her legs in a headlock, and threw the Master straight to the floor behind her. Piper immediately made a run for the elevator shaft, her cover now blown. But Cyclonis saw what Piper was doing, and brought out a crystal in her outstretched hand. It sent an icy blast to the wall, which immediately froze the doors over when Piper was within just an inch of them.
Piper looked back just in time to see the enraged empress aim another blast from the crystal at her. Though the hallway's space was very confining, it was still enough for Piper to leap gracefully clear of the icy blast that would have hit her; the purple-eyed girl looking on with something akin to astonishment, as Piper touched down to the floor in a crouch. Piper had landed within two feet of where Cyclonis was standing, and the other girl already had her arm held out, telekinetically calling her crystal-staff to her hand. Piper moved to make a swiping kick that would bring Cyclonis' feet out from under her, but the other girl's staff arrived half-a-second too soon; and she immediately slammed its hilt down to the floor to block Piper's attack. So swift one could barely see it coming, Piper brought up her leg to land an upwards kick to the square of Cyclonis' collarbone; but the other girl blocked the strike with her staff again, pushing Piper back with the staff. Piper next aimed an uppercut past Cyclonis' staff that successfully hit home below the black-haired girl's chin; and in the moment that Cyclonis was momentarily stunned, Piper was suddenly leaping upon her to pin her down. Both girls were sent to the floor, Piper atop Cyclonis; their faces were less than a foot apart as both of them wrestled furiously with the staff between them, their eyes glaring into each-other's. So many emotions swirled in the brown and purple gazes that met; each one fighting to avoid yielding to the other first. And it was just there in that position fighting for dominance like this, that the craziest thought went through Cyclonis' head, as she saw the face of this fierce girl atop her and noted how lovely it was.
Cyclonis wondered if Piper was thinking the same thing, as for just a moment she thought she saw the other girl's features soften. But Cyclonis didn't get the chance to look again and confirm it, before the brown-eyed girl was knocked clean off of her by a bright red flash. Piper slid away across the floor, unconscious, smoke pouring off of her body from the electrical current that had blasted her. Cyclonis' gaze whirled from Piper to the two Cyclonian guards, who had just arrived from an adjacent hallway and seen their Master's situation. Whatever irritated feeling Cyclonis felt at this interruption must have shown on her face, as the guard who had clearly fired the shot from his crystal-spear, immediately squirmed like a worm under her gaze.
After a pause of only a few seconds, a furious growl escaped Cyclonis' grit teeth as she fired a blazing-red bolt from the end of her own staff. It hit the guard dead-on in the chest, slamming him to the wall behind his back with such force that he was instantly knocked out cold. The remaining Cyclonian looked back to his Master with fearful uncertainty written across his features, as Cyclonis stood back up to her short yet imposing stature. Her purple eyes were positively scathing.
"Take her back to her cell," Cyclonis ordered; even she was surprised at how threatening her hissing voice sounded as she spoke it to the Cyclonian, who nervously all but tiptoed past his Master in his desperation to stay clear of her wrathful aura, picking Piper up in his arms off the floor. Cyclonis' burning purple eyes never left the man's back, as though daring him to try harming Piper and see what would happen.
For the next week afterwards, Piper and Cyclonis continued their daily routine of seeing each-other for dinner at Cyclonis' dining table, though something had shifted in the interactions between them following their little scuffle during Piper's failed escape attempt. Both girls were rather hesitant to look in the other's eyes, tending to try and look this way and that as they engaged in small chat over the table. Piper's period of silence after the first couple of weeks was completely over, now she was admittedly starting to like talking to Cyclonis; however shy the conversation was on both their sides.
But no matter what the odd feelings were between them nor why Piper felt this way, she still didn't forget that this was Master Cyclonis, the enemy of all Atmos; nor did she forget that she was a prisoner here and that she needed to help the rest of Atmos, now more than ever. At one point during their dinner conversations, Piper had asked Cyclonis if there was any chance of her ending the war, which the Master had promptly denied – declaring that this war was far too close to being won for them to go back. Specifically, that its victory had been all but decided the day that the Storm Hawks had been destroyed. That had immediately started a shouting match between the two girls as Piper had been reminded of the destruction of her squadron and deaths of her friends, all by Cyclonis' minions. Cyclonis had rather-adamantly defended herself with the statement that it was the Dark Ace who had killed Aerrow, and now he was dead too. In hindsight, even Piper had been surprised at how she and Cyclonis had sounded, exchanging spats with each-other at the dinner, and the way their arguing had seemed to just go together.
Three weeks and four days after Piper's arrival at Cyclonia, she'd befriended a young boy – barely more than half her age – who worked in the kitchens, serving the dinner at the table when she and Cyclonis ate together. The blue-eyed kid with dishevelled blonde hair and poor skin, dressed in Cyclonian uniform, was evidently child labour brought in from one of the Cyclonian-conquered terras. The realisation of that actually served to disgust Piper, and more so to remind her why she had to get out of here and away from the Master, no matter the feelings between them.
It had taken another ten days before Piper had gotten the boy, who'd given his name as Loon, to tell her of a way out of Cyclonia through the kitchens. The boy was a shy kid whom she could seriously sympathise with. It had taken her days of talking with him alone when she'd seen him passing by outside the cell where she was kept, before he'd started to say any words to her. After he did start talking, Piper got Loon to tell her how she could hitch a ride out of Cyclonia, through the royal kitchens' disposal chute to the base of the terra. And Piper had promised him that she would get Loon out as well.
Another couple days later, Piper had mentally drawn up a plan in her head, and was ready to act it out. After her daily dinner with Cyclonis, Piper was being led back to her cell by two guards – not the ones who had blasted her and been punished for it on the night she and the Master had scuffled – and she quickly dispatched her escorts using her Sky Fu training as soon as there was no-one else in sight amongst the hallways. Even Piper was surprised at how easy it had been, and guessed that Cyclonis hadn't known she knew Sky Fu and therefore hadn't informed her guards to look out for it. After quickly stuffing the two guards' unconscious bodies out of sight in a janitor's closet, Piper immediately made her way towards the kitchens; she knew they'd be mostly understaffed right now, after the Master's dinner had been cleaned up. Piper successfully avoided guards all along the way, and found Loon waiting for her exactly where he'd said he would in the royal kitchens.
Piper was the first down the kitchen's disposal chute, with Loon following right behind her. It was a long slide down that seemed to eat up ninety seconds, before the pair finally emerged out the shaft's bottom on the fall-breaking food waste filling a rubbish skip, at the rocky base of the industrialised Terra Cyclonia. Dry, howling winds brushed and beat at their hair and bit at their skin out here in the open, exposed to the air currents circling round the terra. Piper wasted no time guiding Loon right behind her on their way amongst the terra base's rocks that were only just above the Wastelands here. They both knew they didn't have much time before someone noticed Piper was missing. Piper knew from a previous recon of a minor repair-yard the Cyclonians had near the terra's base, where she could steal a sky-ride and get away with Loon; but they only had a short window of time to get there and make their getaway.
Sadly, time didn't seem to be on Piper's side at all; for as she ran with the little boy amongst the rocky inclines, she heard voices shouting loudly from above. She looked up, wide-eyed; to see several of the Talons that patrolled Cyclonia's skies, come swooping down on their Switchblades straight towards her and Loon.
Piper tried to make a desperate run for cover with the boy, but a red blast from one of the Talons hit the rocks just behind them and caused an explosion; throwing them both hurtling forward, to land facedown upon the rocks. Piper groaned painfully as she forced herself up on her hands, and the first thing she did was immediately look round for Loon. She saw the boy had landed a short distance away from her, groaning in pain but otherwise seeming unharmed. But before Piper could look him over more closely, a shadow descended over her, making her look back over her shoulder. The five Talons that had shot at her were hovering no more than several feet above on their rides, the lead one leering triumphantly down at her.
"There's no running away from Cyclonia, girl," he hissed down at Piper. One of his comrades brought his Switchblade down onto the rocks in land-mode and dismounted it, moving past Piper straight towards where Loon was lying. Piper felt horror surge through her as the Talon pointed his crystal-spear at the boy; its red point blazing, and ready to blast the boy who lifted his head and looked up in terror.
"NO!" Piper cried out desperately.
"Quiet!" the nearest Cyclonian to her growled, immediately grabbing Piper roughly off the ground in his arm and holding her in a painful headlock close to his chest.
"Enough!" a familiar voice called from above, causing Piper to crane her head vertically upwards; to see Master Cyclonis flying vertically downwards towards them without a sky-ride. The empress whirled her body to halt her descent as she reached the group, hovering in the air just a foot above the rocks. Piper wasn't sure what she felt at Cyclonis' appearance, but it certainly wasn't an entirely negative feeling. The Talon who'd been just about to blast Loon had looked up with his comrades in fearful submission at the Master's arrival, but the point of his crystal-spear was still crackling dangerously close to the boy's face.
Piper's brown eyes shifted almost frantically between Loon and Cyclonis, the latter of whom had her purple eyes fixed on Piper and caught her gaze. Piper's eyes did all the begging as she couldn't get a sound out past the Talon's tight hold on her neck; she was pleading for Cyclonis to not let the boy die. Cyclonis looked over at where the boy was lying, and for one terrible moment, Piper dreaded that Cyclonis wasn't going to do anything or would even kill the boy herself. Cyclonis' purple eyes shifted for all of a split-second back to Piper's pleading brown ones, and Piper swore she could see anger in them; before the empress spoke.
"Leave that boy untouched!" Cyclonis hissed commandingly over at the boy-menacing Talon. Then she added in a scathing voice, which was somehow less cold though no less frightening than was usual of her: "I'll deal with him myself!" Ludicrous as it seemed, Piper was sure that the anger the other girl's purple eyes bore Loon with was almost possessive.
"But, Master," the Talon protested in a feeble voice, not lowering his crystal-spear; "y-you can't mean to let treachery like this serving boy's go unpunished, especially given how indulgently the girl has been treated-" The Talon's words caught in his throat when he saw the look in his Master's eyes, her whole figure calm but a shadow of silent fury passing across her face. There was a tense pause as Piper looked on, before Cyclonis finally spoke, softly.
"Indeed, disobedience is a very serious crime," she murmured almost airily, her purple eyes looking out from under the shadow of her closed hood. She seemed to be waiting for the very second that the Talon deflated with relief at her response before she ordered: "Throw him into the Wastelands." With a snap of her fingers to the other Talons.
In less than two seconds, a couple of the defiant Talon's comrades were grabbing him by either arm, as his eyes went wide under his red-tinted goggles. He immediately started kicking, screaming and pleading as the two hauled him between them down the rocky inclines. He yelled, begging his Master for forgiveness and mercy, as he was dragged away from sight to his certain doom. Only when he was gone and another Talon was picking up Loon by the scruff of his neck, did Cyclonis turn her eyes back onto Piper. Piper immediately felt the slightest inkling of fear at the anger there was in them, and could swear she saw just a hint of hurt in their purple depths.
"Bring her back to my chambers," Cyclonis ordered in a cold but slightly softer voice, to the Talon holding Piper; who'd all-too-eagerly nodded and bowed his head submissively.
A couple minutes later, Piper was back in Cyclonis' chambers, where one of the first things the empress had done was angrily chide Piper for trying to escape from her. She'd proceeded to lecture Piper on how it was stupid and pointless; whilst Piper had defended herself that she was a prisoner here, so of course she would try to escape. At the end of the argument, Piper hadn't known what to be more surprised by: how uncharacteristically Piper had felt like she and the Master were speaking on equal footing, compared to the submissive terror that Cyclonis held her subordinates in, or how much more like a marital spat their argument was than anything else.
Though Piper had been relieved, before being taken back to her cell; to be told by Cyclonis that the worst Loon's punishment would be for helping her escape was demotion from the kitchen to Cyclonia's sewer maintenance.
Whilst Piper slept in her cell that night, and Cyclonis stayed up late in her chambers; the purple-eyed girl's mind was forever on what Piper had said about being a prisoner here who would always want to escape. And the Master thought on how exactly she could satisfy Piper's stubborn mind's cravings, to make her complacent.
It had been about forty days since the Storm Hawks had fallen and since Piper had become Master Cyclonis' prisoner; and Cyclonia was just days away from secure dominance over the entire Atmos. The Sky Knights' Alliance was crumbling, and the number of terras left that hadn't yet surrendered or been taken by force, Cyclonis could count off on the fingers of her two hands. Though it was too early to be called a celebration of Cyclonian victory, the high morale had been enough for the Master to exploit as she organised a celebration on Cyclonia; intended to fulfil the plans for Piper that she'd been formulating in her mind.
It was an event unlike anything that Master Cyclonis – or any of her ancestors in recent times for that matter – had ever held: a ball was taking place on Terra Cyclonia, in the least-gloomy spacious hall that the capital had to offer. The walls and ceiling had been decorated in amethyst-purple and bright-gold colours for the occasion, which almost served to take away the gloomy atmosphere altogether. Ravess was furiously leading the cello band that played the tunes filling the hall, whilst what very select few nobility the rapidly-expanding Cyclonian Empire had to boast as its supporters, were dancing across the hall floor.
When the Master herself arrived quietly, she was dressed a ball-gown which matched the purple colour of her eyes. It had sharp, curvy edges that pointed upward along her bosom and shoulders, and it accentuated her thin, lean figure. Her dress's skirt from the waist-down was like an upside-down purple rose, with the petal-like layers that curved slightly at the edges like they were ready to bloom in spring or fall with rot. The attire was nothing short of witchy. Cyclonis waited until the current tune was finished and the next one began, before she approached the dance-partner whom her temporary acting right-hand man – a muscular, dirty-blonde haired lieutenant with an X-shaped scar on the right side of his face, who'd flounced too eagerly at his promotion for Cyclonis' liking – had escorted in.
Piper wore the ball-gown design that Cyclonis had had picked out for her to wear to the ball. The attire was a stark contrast to Cyclonis' gown, with dazzling royal-golden colours and white underskirts that hugged Piper's figure almost exactly as her old uniform had (Cyclonis was pleased to see that). Piper's indigo-blue hair had been tied up into a ponytail, and she wore white elbow-length gloves on either arm with her dress. As Piper stood impressively calm and composed whilst Cyclonis moved past the dancers straight towards her; the former Storm Hawk's wide, shy-looking brown eyes gave all her emotion away to the smirking empress.
"I-uh, oversaw the dress's design personally to make sure everything was as you specified, Master," the burly temporary right-hand standing next to Piper said as Cyclonis approached them, looking rather pleased with himself. "I think you'll be pleased to hear that I selected and fired each seamstress accordingly throughout every second of the process-" Cyclonis silenced the Cyclonian with a composed but dark look. "I'll go make sure the royal fleet is functioning properly," he quickly said with a nervous puppy-dog smile, before he left his Master and the other girl with each-other. Only then did Cyclonis' gaze soften again as she looked back to Piper with a smile.
When Ravess' band started playing the next tune – a rather grim but far-from-melancholic sound – Cyclonis took both of Piper's hands in hers and they started dancing. The brown-eyed girl looked very nervous, and Cyclonis could quickly guess that Piper had never learned how to dance, living as an orphan and then as a Storm Hawk out in the wilds.
So Cyclonis decided to lead her. She brought Piper's left arm so that her hand was resting on the Master's shoulder, as Cyclonis cupped her adjacent right arm to the small of Piper's back; their other two hands held out away from their bodies and joined. The new tune was appropriately slow and gentle in its pace, as Cyclonis began leading Piper in the smallest salsa steps to begin with – her leg in, partner's adjacent leg out, then reverse. Next, vice versa; Cyclonis' leg out, Piper's leg in. Piper had to shift her eyes downward to her feet to see, but didn't dip her head on her neck. Cyclonis was quite pleased when after only three salsa steps, Piper was successfully doing it on her own without looking down. And it satisfied something very warm inside the Master of Cyclonia to see that Firebolt-red blush that came upon the other girl's face.
Only about two minutes into the tune, Cyclonis was teaching Piper in gliding steps – bring one leg out, then the other leg in. After that, Cyclonis was leading her golden-gowned dance partner out into the procession amongst the dancing nobles, their slow dance as Cyclonis led, taking them gliding around the hall amongst the vibrant array of other dancers' colours.
"…I didn't know you could dance," was all Piper could say as she and Cyclonis waltzed together, the former Storm Hawk's cheeks refusing to stop blushing a bit.
"Well, it's been a long time," Cyclonis responded, her voice silky as she slowly led her partner round the dance floor. Cyclonis' grandmother had given her some basic dancing lessons when she'd been a child, but after grandmother had died, Cyclonis had no longer had the time for such trivial fun and games. The young empress was actually surprised to see her moves remained this good after so long.
Cyclonis next proceeded to bring Piper's left hand in hers, up over the brown-eyed girl's head; turning her around, so that her back was placed to Cyclonis' front, and bringing their joined hands down in a lock in front of Piper's chest. Cyclonis' lips were less than two inches from Piper's ear as she purred flirtatiously into it from just over the girl's shoulder: "You're performing beautifully for a beginner yourself, my dear."
Cyclonis then reversed her wrapping turn, bringing Piper back around to face her again. Cyclonis could have smiled the sweetest smile when she saw how the red blush on Piper's cheeks had managed to intensify. Her brown eyes were shy in the cutest way, as Cyclonis continued to lead her waltzing round the dance floor.
Piper, meanwhile, was utterly struggling with something else to say. She'd been shocked – though admittedly not nearly as shocked as she would have been about a month ago – when she'd been told that Cyclonis had arranged a royal dance on Cyclonia, and that Piper was going to be the Master's dance partner. Even now, she could hardly believe this was happening, and felt like slapping or pinching herself to see if this were all some mad dream. Though Piper certainly wasn't complaining, nor nearly as uncomfortable as she'd have thought she probably should have been to be here, in this ball-gown, dancing with Master Cyclonis.
"So, we're shy for words tonight?" Cyclonis purred in Piper's ear again as she led her into another wrapping turn. Secretly, inside, Piper loved the way Cyclonis' voice sounded right now when she was in such a mood as this.
"Well, I'm not really used to dancing, compared to dealing with Murk Raiders or Raptors," Piper admitted as Cyclonis turned her back round, a smile spreading to the indigo-haired girl's blushing cheeks.
"Oh, really?" the Master purred silkily as she suddenly brought Piper into a ballroom dip; the black-haired girl's face was just an inch above Piper's, their noses were almost touching. When they resumed their dance, it could have melted Cyclonis' heart to see the other girl before her give the warmest, most genuine smile she had seen on her since the day they'd first met, as jailer and prisoner, over a month ago. The two girls continued dancing without words spoken, just staring into each-other's faces. After a while, Piper finally asked Cyclonis the question she wanted to know the answer to.
"Why are you doing this?" Piper asked, the happy perfection of her face momentarily broken as she seemed to avert her brown eyes.
"Why?" the other girl echoed. "Well, it's fairly simple, Piper," the black-haired girl said as she continued leading Piper in their waltz; moving a little faster now that Piper had gotten the hang of the dancing steps. "I've been thinking a lot about you, I find you beautifully attractive and intelligent," Cyclonis twisted Piper round in another wrapping turn and purred into her ear: "and I'll admit that just for you, I decided to spoil us both with a lavish ceremony for once, to remember the day I asked for your hand in marriage by."
Piper felt like her heart had skipped a beat and just jumped up into her throat; she was that shocked and caught off-guard by what she was hearing. The moment felt like an eternity to the girl, but in a good way, before she found herself face-to-face Cyclonis again. Cat seemed to have caught Piper's tongue as she just blushed furiously, waltzing in the other girl's arms, before she finally wrestled enough control to reply. Cyclonis' face was calm as they continued to dance, with that signature lopsided smirk on it that Piper admitted she had grown very fond of; but despite the girl's composed exterior, Piper could see the fear, the anxiety that was in her purple eyes as she awaited Piper's response.
"Y-You… want me to marry you?!" Piper managed to get out past her tongue. Seeing the sting of rejection that was about to pass over the other girl in her eyes, Piper immediately drew up the confidence in herself to assure her dance partner: "I'm not saying no. I mean, it's been a long month, and I've never really been with anyone before, but… I like you too." Piper pressed her message home to erase whatever doubt she saw lingering in the other girl's purple eyes as she said: "You're smart, you're tough, and… when I'm with you, it just isn't like when I've been with anyone else before. With you, I just… feel so alive."
A long moment passed between the two dancers as amethyst-purple stared into varnish-brown, the insecure side of the girl opening up her heart to Piper here, such a complete contrast from the terrifyingly-ruthless Master that everyone else was greeted with. Then, suddenly and without warning, Cyclonis seized Piper's lips with her own in a passionate kiss that could have lasted an eternity. The two girls' eyes were closed as they felt the exchange reach into their very souls, making them both feel alive physically and spiritually at once, unlike anything else in this world ever had. In the long, blissful eternity that passed between them before their lips finally parted, Piper had felt whole, complete; like a hole within herself that she hadn't even known was there had just been filled.
The two girls' eyes remained locked with each-other upon opening at the end of their kiss. The adoring expression across Cyclonis' face was such a complete contrast to her usual coldness and wrath, that no-one would have thought this was the face of a ruthless warlord-empress. And the look on Piper's beaming face made Cyclonis feel no less warm and alive inside; a flame that she thought she'd extinguished long ago now fed kindling that made it blaze like a roaring fire.
The two girls continued to dance for another hour, with no words spoken between them; all feelings were exchanged through their eyes. Cyclonis soon saw some uncertainty, some shadow of doubt fill Piper's brown eyes which were shifting, and concern instantly welled up in the black-haired empress.
"What's wrong, Piper?" Cyclonis asked her dance partner who'd been her prisoner, and who she now supposed was her official lover, hand in marriage or no. Her voice was genuinely warm and comforting.
"Well… you're the Master, and, we're both girls, so…" Piper stumbled over how to finish this sentence to the other girl. "Isn't there some law that says you need to make an heir?"
"Oh, Piper, my dear," Cyclonis purred, in what Piper found to be the warmest, most reassuring way; as the purple-eyed girl brought her partner into another wrapping turn. "We're crystal-mages. You and me both. You don't think there's no way to conceive with magical means, do you?" Piper couldn't helped the butterflies she felt swarming like crazy in her belly, that she and Cyclonis had gone from talking about marriage to talking about having babies. Her partner and new lover, apparently sensing her inner-turmoil, turned her around to say to her:
"But it's not something to worry about yet. If we do marry, we'll have plenty of time to talk about children before we're ready; and even if we don't… I won't force it on you."
Hearing that from the other girl brought more warmth into Piper's heart, as she was touched beyond measure to hear it. But there was still one other issue between them and the loving happiness Piper found she wanted with Cyclonis, which she had to bring up to get it out of their path.
"But, what about the Sky Knights?" Piper asked Cyclonis as the purple-eyed girl reversed her wrapping turn, and led them waltzing round the dance floor again. "I mean, I'm one of them, and with the war and the fate of Atmos…" Piper struggled for just a moment to find it in herself to pull together, before she locked eyes with Cyclonis, baring her heart to her. "I love you, and I want to be with you, but I'd never be able to live with myself if I married you and did nothing to stop everything the Cyclonians and this war are doing to innocent people." Piper could have baited her breath anxiously as she awaited Cyclonis' response; and she was surprised, to say the least, at how gentle and sure the other girl's reply was. It was as if Cyclonis had already known what she was going to do about this.
"I know how much your precious Atmos and the suffering of its people means to you, Piper; I haven't forgotten your little runaway with the child," Cyclonis purred silkily, smiling. She leaned forward mid-waltz so that her head was right next to Piper's, mouth level with Piper's ear as she whispered in: "At 11:00, tomorrow morning, the war will be declared over, and Cyclonia will call for a truce."
Cyclonis had all of one second to register the wide-eyed, heartfelt look on her partner's face before, with speed so fast that Cyclonis barely even saw it coming; the brown-eyed girl grabbed Cyclonis' lips in her own. Piper's hand was moving from Cyclonis' shoulder to cup the raven-black hair on the back of her head, as they were immersed in their second deep, passionate kiss of that night. When they finally broke apart again, the heartful look on Piper's smiling, beautiful face moved Cyclonis beyond words, before Cyclonis finally spoke the question she'd been meaning to ask.
"Piper… will you be my wife?" Cyclonis asked. A pause lasting two seconds in total passed, before Piper said her answer without a shred of hesitation.
"Yes. Yes, I will!"
And just like that, they were locked in their third passionate kiss of that night; the whole room around them was meaningless, there was only the two of them, as Piper and Cyclonis' engagement was sealed.
The current Master Cyclonis would rule for many long years with her wife, Piper, by her side; before they would die, happy together, after a rule lasting many decades. Though it would be a long journey of hardship and arguments and facing troubles together, the two pulled through every challenge and their love never failed; it was everlasting, one could say. When Piper's marriage to Master Cyclonis was publicly announced, there was much outcry, just as Cyclonis had been expecting – though she'd punished and quietened it in a much less disciplinarian manner than she would have a year ago, for the sake of her bride's happiness.
Under the newlywed couple's reign after the war had ended, the whole of Atmos prospered as Cyclonia put the ways of oppression and conquest that it had followed for centuries, in the past behind it; even extending aid to rebuilding their former-enemies' casualties in the war and give them back what was violently taken. Though it would take years of hard work to fully rid the formerly-warmongering empire of the corruption that remained amongst its ranks, it was a fight that was worth it in the end.
And it wasn't more than a few years into the Master and her Queen's marriage that they were expecting their first child, the first royal heir to be conceived by crystal-magic in recorded Atmos history.
Piper's eyes were wide like saucers as she came out of the crystal's vision, returning to her body in her lab; the world that she knew rematerializing all around her. She was in a total stupor as she blinked her eyes twice; trying to get her stunned brain over the mental roadblock brought on by what she had just seen in the crystal. Her… and Cyclonis?
Piper felt weirded out – there was honestly no other way to describe what she was feeling right now. She felt like she'd need to scrub out her frontal lobe with a bucket and sponge before she'd be able to think non-hazily again after this. If anyone else had told her about it, she'd have sooner believed Stork's superstitions of cloud-giants and gargoyle-fever. Although maybe…
Piper immediately shook that thought away from the inside of her head as she realised what she'd been about to entertain. After an experience like that, she needed a hot drink and an invigorating dose of her favourite music to clear her fuzzy-feeling head and get her thinking straight again. And she had no intention of experimenting with this crystal again for a while, she decided; dismissively chucking the finch-shaped Cosmos Stone into her chest, where the other crystals that she'd put away for future use were kept.
And Piper certainly had absolutely no intention of breathing a word to the guys of what she'd seen in the crystal; she knew as she stood up and walked through the door, out of her crystal-lab to go get that hot, soothing drink.
A/N: So, that was it! Tell me all your: thoughts, opinions, feelings, what you liked and didn't like?