Idea came from fire-dancer123...this has been sitting in my documents for a year or two now. I hadn't finished it by the time last Christmas came up so I missed that deadline, but this year! Oh-ho-ho! I got it this year! In yo face! :3
It was December 24th in Atmos, that time of the year Cyclonis hated.
All through the week leading up to this day her generals and Talons acted weird; shooting her strange glances and giggling behind her back (even the guys).
It disturbed her more than the thought of how the Storm Hawks kept evading them and foiling her plans.
But worse still was that after that one day, no one spoke about it at all until the next year and she could never remember what had gone on.
Well, this year was the end, she would find out what happened or die trying!
She walked briskly to her private crystal lab, ignoring the stares and snickers as she had all week. Closing the door behind her she let out a small sigh, closing her eyes.
In the faint light she walked up and down the rows of cabinets, examining labels and inspecting crystals. She picked a red and purple one up as she passed, barely sparing it a second glace. This wouldn't work without the other one…there it was! Smiling slightly she gently scooped the small crystal into her hand.
Perfect.
Tonight she would find out what happened on the 24th day of the 12th month; she was determined!
She silently appraised the stranger-girl in the mirror. Using the Chroma crystal she'd picked back in her lab, Cyclonis had changed her looks. She now had short-to-the-extreme fluorescent orange hair, dark blue eyes and skin slightly darker than usual. Not, after all, a bad look if she did say so herself.
Done with her scrutiny she turned to look at the second girl standing in the room. She looked exactly like Cyclonis had only moments ago; in fact, she was clone.
They had agreed that as one of them went undercover and observed as a second party, making sure at least one of them kept their memory, the other was pose as, well, Master Cyclonis and just go along with whatever happened.
The plan was for them to leave ten minutes apart so the disguised Cyclonis left first.
She stood in the hallway a moment wondering which way to go. After a bit she heard voices and crept down the hall in her tight-fitting green and black one-piece getup, following the voices. She stayed just far enough back that their words were lost to her, so their destination was as unexpected as any. The Talons stopped outside the doorway to her throne room, checking to make sure the coast was clear before entering. As they opened the door Cyclonis was hit with a nearly tangible wall of sound. Drum beats and electric guitars played at their top volume and multi-coloured lights flashed around the room. She was stunned to say the least. When had they had time to do this? She'd left the room barely an hour and a half ago!
As horrified as she'd been outside the room, it was nothing compared to how she felt when she walked in. The entire room had been transformed; small yellow lights lined the room, their crystals attached to a green wire, long ropes of flame corn and something leafy and green hung around her crystal machine and red berries hung from the ceiling. A small platform had been erected in the center of the room and a small band in the corner was letting out horrible screeching noises she assumed everyone else liked by the fact that they were dancing.
She noticed, in horror, that Ravess was 'dancing' creepily with a lamp-shade over her head and Snipe was kind of stumbling around drunkenly, trying not to fall off of the stage.
She jumped as voice whispered near her ear, "Never seen you before, girl."
She turned to see Dark Ace next to her, eyeing her strangely.
"I'm…new! My name's…uh…Krista…l?"
"Hmmm…so this is your first time with this?"
She nodded, he smirked.
"The Master's just arrived," he said, turning her toward the door and pointing out her clone, "Watch closely."
With that he left her, stooping once to pick up a small bottle from a counter, and strolled casually (for him) to the other Cyclonis. The girl was looking around in amazement and horror when the Dark Ace reached her. Their faces flashed different colours as the beams of light flew across the room, first blue and then green, purple, red, and back to blue. She could see their lips moving and Dark Ace handing her the bottle then the next moment a large Talon moved in front of them, blocking her view as he swayed to the music.
Walking into the room she was struck by the same feelings, she was sure, that her disguised counterpart had felt; surprise, awe and horror. She hadn't gone ten steps into the room when she was pulled aside by the Dark Ace; he handed her a bottle of blue liquid.
"Master," he shouted over the music, "have a sip?"
"I don't think so"
"It's a party, just one sip"
"No"
"You need to lighten up, Lark"
"What did you say to me?"
"You've had one every other year"
"Is that why I can't remember anything?"
"Of course not"
She hesitantly brought the bottle to her lips, tipping it ever so slightly to take the smallest sip she could. Immediately she was consumed by a warm fuzzy feeling. Her mind buzzed and her body felt pleasantly warm, spreading to her toes and fingertips. It lasted only a second but she was eager for more; she brought the bottle to her lips again…
Dark Ace watched in satisfaction as his master swallowed the last of her drink. The bottle slipped from her fingers, crashing into floor and shattering. Everyone in hearing distance turned, nudging the others near them until the whole place was focused on Cyclonis. She stumbled forward slowly, a drunken smile plastered on her face…Guess they would have a show this year after all, Dark Ace thought.
The horror of it! Her top, most loyal general had drugged her clone!
'Krystal' jumped again as the Dark Ace joined her.
"You drugged her! She's drunk!"
He shrugged, the stupid and anticipatory smile still on his face, "It makes for a better party."
They turned, along with every other Talon in the room to the stage were the plastered Cyclonis was-!
She woke up in the infirmary. Grabbing her pounding head as she sat up, Cyclonis looked around. Dark Ace was standing at the side of her bed and staring at her in an exasperated manner.
"You missed it!" He complained.
"Missed…what?"
"The party?" He prompted, "The Master? Drunk? Ring any bells?"
"No…I remember going to the throne room…Master Cyclonis got drunk? She wouldn't ever-"
"Never mind" He said.
He strode over to a Talon at the door of the ward and put a hand on his shoulder, restraining him, "She doesn't remember, don't bother with the memory wipe."
She started hyperventilating as soon as they left the room. She did remember and she had understood the importance of Dark Ace's probing. If what happened last night happened on every Christmas-! It was even worse than her darkest imaginings.
Her Talon soldiers seeing her like that! Every year!
She clamped a hand over her mouth to stop from screaming. She climbed out of the bed, checking her clothes in case someone had taken advantage of her passing out as they had her clone…
She removed the Chroma crystal and ran to her room. The clone was still there, on the bed and fast asleep, luckily no one was with her. The origi-Cyclonis reversed the other crystal, removing the clone from existence and fell onto the bed. This could never happen again!
Then she thought of something; something brilliant.
All she had to do was wait for April and then she'd see just how the Dark Ace liked it…
Before you say anything...just take that whole "advantage" thing can be taken however you want. I was picturing something along the lines of dancing (fully clothed, thank you very much) in front of the Talons, maybe the Dark Ace just generally making a fool out of her (cleanly! Innocently!) y'know?
Anyway...sequel time. If anyone wants one...If I get it finished on time...I've also been working on that for about a year...What can I say? I get distracted easi-