Author Note: Rough first start, sorry if it's no good. I own nothing
Summary: Piper goes after Cyclonis and the repair crystal only to catch a glimpse of what she truly used it for.
I've Got You.
Piper couldn't tell if she was more shocked or sad. This is what she had ransacked the Condor for? This is what she had beaten the guys for? Cyclonis sat looking with the strangest longing at what, in Piper's mind, had to be the creepiest mother daughter moment in history. She stood hidden in the shadows transfixed by the cold stare of the late master Cyclonis.
'I've never seen eyes so devoid of compassion'
Eventually Piper's gaze moved from the chilling visage to the girl, clinging to the leg of her seemingly unaware mother, clutching a raggedy looking doll of some type. She looked, almost, cute in the snapshot, the smallest little smile gracing her young features. Piper couldn't be entirely sure but it looked as if she were tentative about the affection she was receiving. The blue haired girl couldn't imagine that the ice witch before was very nurturing as a parent, but the sweet smile on her Cyclonis' face led her to believe otherwise.
The hologram died out in a bright light leaving only the dim ambience of the room behind. Silhouetted by the soft glow emitted by the crystals, the most feared person in all of Atmos knelt, tears flowing in silent rivulets down her cheeks. Piper felt her own tears prickling behind her eyes. Cyclonis looked so fragile, so young. If she hadn't known Lark, she would have never been able to reconcile this poor girl, with the heartless, sadistic woman she fought with so often.
Cyclonis wiped her eyes free of the last remnants of her weakness, then stood, her body retaking the rigidity of an iron fisted ruler.
"Enjoy the show did you?" her soft voice floated across the room, venom palpable in every syllable.
Piper slinked out from her hiding place behind one of the room's strange constructs.
"That's why you took the repair crystal?" Piper thought she did a good job hiding the incredulity in her voice. A flash of movement and Piper felt a hard object impact her chest. Cupping her hands she caught the small green crystal as it fell.
"You have what you came here for, now be gone." Cyclonis turned her back to Piper once again, her features tightening to prevent another bout of pathetic sobbing.
"You really loved her didn't you?"
Whirling enraged to face her adversary she spat "Of COURSE I loved her, she was my MOTHER."
Putting out her hands in a gesture of peace Piper tried to soothe the irate girl. "I'm sorry that was stupid of me, it's just, from the hologram, I got the feeling that she, maybe wasn't the …warmest …caregiver in Atmos"
The goth girls shoulders slumped, "My mother was a powerful woman, a great women, I'll be lucky to amount to even half of what she was! She NEVER showed weakness, she was a flawless idol for all her subjects to worship unquestioningly. So what if she didn't shower me with affection like other children's parents, I knew she loved me and that's all that matters. "She glared menacingly at the tanned girl before her, daring her to disagree.
"She was your whole world wasn't she?" Piper couldn't tell if she was touched or unnerved. "To lose her at such a young age must have been absolutely awful for you." Piper spoke softly, slowly approaching Cyclonis.
The ebony haired girl tensed to an almost painful degree. Her teeth clenched and her eyes closed tight, obviously fighting back tears. "My mother would never have forgiven me if I had shamed her passing with my weakness, so I didn't, I moved on honoring her in the only acceptable way." She raised her pale hand and clenched it into a fist. "By conquering all of Atmos!" Master Cyclonis' purple gaze lit with rage and the slightest hint of madness as darkness tainted her voice.
Piper moved another cautious step closer to the maniacal ruler. "Cyclonis, you can't just push aside your grief like that. You have to deal with it; you have to let it out, to let yourself heal. I'm surprised you've kept it together as well as you have."
The dark leader of Cyclonia flew at Piper pinning her to the cold steel wall. "YOU DON'T KNOW ME! You don't know anything about me! How dare you presume to…?"
Grabbing Cyclonis by the shoulders she jerked her around swapping their positions "But I do know you Lark, after all 'you can learn a lot about someone in just a few short hours' isn't that right?" The goth girls violet eyes narrowed dangerously. Before she could act though, Piper continued, "I know that your lonely, I know that what you really, desperately want is a friend, someone who cares about you, and someone who loves you. I know that you still have a hole in your heart where your mother was." Cyclonis twitched and tensed, once again fighting back the violent sobs that threatened to rip through her. Piper pulled her gently into a loose embrace and whispered soothingly into her ear. "Most importantly, I know that, despite all you've done, to me, to my friends, to the people of Atmos, I'd still like to be that friend." Cyclonis' eyes drifted closed as she leaned slightly into Piper's warm embrace. A soft sigh escaped past the dark ruler of Cyclonia's lips, breaking the mood in the room as surely as an energy blast. Before she could even fully grasp what had happened, Piper was surrounded by a violet aura and thrown violently across the dank chamber. She hit the ground rolling, narrowly dodging a bright orange blast that left a crater where her head was mere moments before,
"You don't care about ME!" The ebony haired girl screeched. "NO ONE cares about ME!" she fired another couple of blasts out of the orange crystal in her palm. "My mother was the only one who ever cared about me! She told me about people like you, enemies looking to eliminate me, rivals looking to dethrone me, peasants looking to use me for my power! All of you are the same." Another blast.
"Cyclonis! No!" Piper dove out of the way again "I just want to –WHAA--help you!"
"LIES! Nothing but LIES!" Cyclonis seemed to lose the last of her self control. Her eyes went wild and dark. She sprayed forth frothing purple and orange energies out of the crystals in her palms, seemingly at random. Taking cover behind the heavy metal piece Cyclonis had tossed aside earlier, Piper sat gasping for breath, looking on in awe at the destruction being wrought in this pitiable girls blind rage. Through the flashes of purple and orange light Piper could barely make out streaks of moisture running down her attacker's cheeks.
'Shit, what am I going to do? If I try to move in on her I'll probably get blasted.' A bolt of crystal energy smashed into her makeshift shield. 'But if I stay here I'm definitely done for!' A few more blasts crash against her metal barrier. Pulling out her crystal staff, Piper took a deep breath 'Here goes nothing!' Leaping in a tight back flip the dark skinned girl flew out from behind her metal barrier. Striking her crystal staff at the ground, she fired a blast of concussive force that propelled her up enough to dodge a spattering of orange and purple energy blasts. Twisting in the air Piper brought her staff to bear on the out of control ruler. Moments before impact Piper felt herself stop falling. She had been trapped in the same violet aura as before.
'Damn, that's not good.'
With a flick of her wrist Master Cyclonis sent Piper reeling into the pile of crystals that had caused all this fuss. Piper hit hard against the small outcropping. She sat dazed for a few moments before realizing that the psychotic waves of crystal power had stopped. Looking up she caught Cyclonis staring a something directly over her shoulder, transfixed. Piper turned and was faced with… her face. It was a picture of her; she seemed to be laughing uproariously at something, tears trailing out of her closed eyes. Tentatively Piper reached out to touch the little teal gem again. The picture shifted to her, standing ready for battle her staff in held aloft in front of her. Another touch, she saw herself hanging upside down in her Sky-copter, her face a mask of concentration. Slide after slide it was the same. Her, leaning over some new crystal experiment she was working on, curiosity bright in her amber eyes. Her, sitting at a table just smiling serenely, seeming content with the world. Her asleep and peaceful, looking innocent and dead to the world. Her, looking questioningly into the distance, as if working out some great mystery.
Cyclonis drifted slowly towards Piper, a certain… fragility in her steps. Passing by the blue haired girl without so much as a glance she summoned the crystal into her hands and clenched it tightly to her chest. Ignoring Piper's questioning stare she turned away from the other girl.
Finally she managed to speak, her voice small and wounded. "Please just… just go. Please."
Piper took a small step forwards, her arms reaching out slowly. Seeming to think better of it, she let her arms fall to her sides as she turned for the cruel looking archway she had entered from. Supporting herself lightly on the black construct she turned her head to look at the completely immobile ruler of Cyclonia.
"You don't have to be alone Lark."
Cyclonis stood stock still until the trailing fall of footsteps finally faded. She dropped quietly to her knees, finally letting her sobs overtake her.