Chapter Eight-Finding 'Mom'
Cycloniss's POV
"Now since Piper doesn't have a map of the inside, I'll lead Aerrow and I inside, to the office for the files, and out."
A-"How are you going to get us inside if you can't use your 'status power'?" I gave him a meaningful look. These sorts of things, personal/private affairs, stay within the family…I thought.
"This stays between you and me." I got out of my seat, even though there was a substantial amount of food on left on my plate. I hardly ever ate because I hated eating with Grandmother; this time it was because I didn't feel comfortable in this unfamiliar atmosphere.
I waited for him, leaning on my skyride.
"It's rude to make someone wait."
"It's rude to walk away from the table." he countered. I froze.
"Cycloniss! It is rude to leave the table before your host does!"
"But I want to play-"
"But nothing! No exceptions!" Momma pleaded for me as she always did whenever I got in trouble. Grandmother was the punisher and she was never lenient. Not even to family.
"Please Master, she's just a child, don't-"
"Do not tell me what to do Lina. You may be married to my son and the mother of the next Empress but you are far beneath me!"
"Try to reserve play time for…a time other than when you're with Grandma okay?" I simply nodded, dreadfully sorry for getting Momma in trouble.
"Aw, come here sweetie…listen to me, never lose your ability to have compassion for others, sympathy,"
"But those are silly things momma, Grandmother says so." she looked at me anxiously.
"No they're not, and those who think so or seem mean are just people who need it the most. Do you understand sweetie?"
"I think so?" she looked at me like she desperately wanted me to understand at that moment. Were she my grandmother I would have just said yes.
"Like your father, he's a very kind man isn't he?"
"Yes!"
"Just like him." she said as she smoothed down my hair.
"And you?"
"…yes, but stronger. "
I didn't understand then but as I grew older I realized things; the feeling I had when I heard and saw Grandmother belittle my mother and witnessed my mother's inability to stand up to herself, I found it's name:
Pathetic.
She wasn't able to stand up for herself and neither was I; later on, unable to protect herself from the sky knights who killed her, and my inability to protect them. My father died as well even though he was the best fighter in all of Atmos. But I wasn't stupid, I didn't have the political power do a thing…grandmother did.
Grandmother didn't do a thing.
I shook the memory off and accelerated to catch up to him. I pressed to pass him and he competed with me until we got close to the smelter.
"We'll go on foot from here." I hurried to the nearest bushes. Down graded to this-
"I don't keep secrets from my family," he said; I looked over the bushes to look for cyclonians patrolling the perimeter.
"That's nice." I took a beat. "Listen, I understand and I respect that but…it's your decision; if you think it's best then it's your call. They're your family after all, you know best."
"Thanks…Cycloniss…?"
"Sure. Let's move!" I ran to the fall, Aerrow right behind me.
"Boost me up. We'll get in through that air vent." I used his hands to get onto his shoulders.
"Hurry up!"
"Hold on, I'm short!" I rolled onto my heels.
"Oh geez!"
"Shh, quiet!"
I unscrewed the to screws on the bottom corners then forced it off all the way with my own strength because I couldn't reach the top corners. I lifted myself in and crawled into the first intersection to do a u-turn and crawl back into position to lift him. He was looking around for the patrol.
"Thought I abandoned you? Come on, you're my only brother after all." I pulled him up and crawled backwards until there was an exit between us.
"The office is right under us?"
"Of course not, it's in the center; with two rings of traffic around it, at least one person will catch the intruder." I jimmy the grate and pull it in, saving it for later. It was in moments like this that I hated my height, or lack of it.
"Will you hold on to my ankles? Floor's too…far from here."
"Uh…sure, yeah."
"Okay." I rolled onto my back, slipped in until I could brace myself with my hands at arms length.
"Hey, you know, maybe this is a good thing. It is a good thing." he suddenly said.
"What are you talking about?"
"We're building trust. I got'cha." I felt him secure me.
"Don't…don't drop me until I give the go." I slipped farther down until my knees became hooks.
"Go." I dangled like a ladder until I pull my feet down.
"Okay, now…" I held my hands up.
"You know how the trapeeze artists in Terra Neon hold on to their partners hands?"
"You've been to Terra Neon?"
"No, back to the point. Hold yourself up on my hands." He did the same thing I did ended up facing me.
"Good." "Good."
The door slid close behind us.
"So where do we go from here?"
"Get past the two rings and hope the office…isn't...hard to find…"
"You don't know where it is exactly," he pressed.
"I did say they were all different right?!"
"Well we can't stay here for long. I'll admit, there are a lot of cyclonians here-wha-?!" I quickly forced him into a nearby locker. Outside the door passed a pair of workers.
It's amazing how unaware they are...
"We won't speak of this, ever." I told him. Our bodies were pressed against each other, my breasts tocuhed his, and we had to turn our faces away otherwise…our lips would touch.
"They're gone."
"So back to figuring out…I have an idea…" he opened up more lockers and tossed me a uniform. I tilted my head. With a smile he backed into a locker shut the door.
"Ugh…" I went into one and changed too.
"If it's this easy to fool the workers Im gonna-"
In no time at all and zero trouble we were in the office.
"No hard feelings right?"
"No." I filtered through the files of the working prisoners, natives of Gale, to find the women's section and then looked for file with my mother's first name.
"Look for the registration book for land ownership while I..."
"Got it." "I'm done too. Now that we have 'camoflauge' we walk out through the back doors."
AN:This is a really long one, I hope you like it. I was going to break it up but it's Cycloniss' time to shine and that flashback was a spontaneous bout of inspiration. REVIEW!
Jan.17th
