Stork: Why am I doing this again? *glances around nervously* I absolutely hate getting up in front of people.
Me: I promised that the mind worms wouldn't make an appearance if you did.
Stork: You're probably one of those psychos who think that mind worms don't exist anyway.
Me: Just introduce the chapter.
Stork: Thank you Aerrow4eva, Yumi-temme, Tege, Nezy, Hawk-Masters, Pascy, and Love Shall Never Die for reviewing. In fact, I'm so grateful that I'm willing to share my patent recipe for Vulcabat repellent. You need—
Me: Number one, you're not allowed to give away those secrets. Number two, I don't own the Storm Hawks. Number three, let's start!
000000000000000000000000000
She didn't feel very good. Her head pounded, and she felt extremely groggy. Violet eyes inched open, to be hit by bright light and bring another wave of pain through her head.
Cyclonis took a deep breath, clearing her mind. She could think a bit better now. She noticed she was in an upright position, and that her wrists were sore. Opening her adjusted eyes, she looked down, surprised to see Dark Ace's hands on hers. He was holding her uncomfortably tightly.
Then it hit her—she didn't remember a thing from the night before. Try as she would, the only thing she encountered when she tried to go back in her mind was more waves of pain. A cold shiver ran down her spine. Why was he holding her so tightly? What exactly happened last night?
She carefully pried his fingers off and stumbled to the bathroom. Standing up quickly like that made her feel like she was going to puke. Steadying herself on the sink, she shakily splashed her face with some water.
Suddenly, she remembered everything. Cyclonis screamed, eyes rolling into the back of her head as she collapsed into a trembling heap on the bathroom floor.
"Piper?" A nervous Dark Ace raced to the hanger bay, looking for the young Storm Hawk. She lifted her sleepy head from her cereal. "We have a bit of a situation…"
Piper entered Cyclonis and Dark Ace's bedroom, to see the teen empress huddled in a small ball, shaking. "I'm not really sure what's wrong with her," he said, wringing his hands. "She collapsed in the bathroom, and I carried her here, then got you immediately."
Piper thought for a second, then asked, "Have you tried talking to her?"
The Dark Ace fidgeted. "No…"
"Lark, it's okay, now could you please tell us if you're hurt?" Piper said kindly, placing a hand on her trembling friend's shoulder.
"I am going to die…" Cyclonis moaned. "Of embarrassment!"
"Oh, dear," Piper said. "Dark Ace, could you leave us alone for a minute? We need some girl-talk. Right now." The Dark Ace allowed himself to be kicked out of his own room. He was nervous about where this was going.
Piper let Cyclonis sob for a few minutes, then spoke. "Pull yourself together, girl," she gently scolded. "Come on. You can talk about it. Get it all out."
"You....were...so...right...." she said between hysterics. "Those stupid crystals...they did mess with my mind. It was like being drunk, except far, far worse. Not that I've ever been drunk..." She collapsed into more sobs.
"I'm surprised," Piper mused. "You would think that one little Floater Crystal wouldn't have effected you that much."
The guilt showed clearly on Cyclonis's face.
"You made another, didn't you? I mean, I told you not to, but still, I'm interested, what--"
"A Firebolt. A really powerful one, too," Cyclonis confessed.
"Now, are you going to tell me what happened? Get it off your chest?" Piper wondered.
"I..."
Dark Ace played with his cereal nervously. Finn sat across from him, looking equally glum. "What's wrong with you?" he asked the blonde, wanting a distraction from his thoughts. His Master was going to kill him, so might as well not spend his last few minutes wondering how.
"Starling," Finn replied. "I'm starting to become good friends with her, and I don't want to ruin it, but I want to get closer with her..." He trailed off.
"Take my advice, get two cups of coffee and ask her to come sit on the balcony with you, and talk. When she enjoys it, suggest you make a habit of it, do that every morning."
"Starling drinks coffee?" said a confused Finn.
"That's not the point!" Dark Ace replied, frustrated. "Yes, she loves coffee, but the point is it's a nice thing to do for her, and you'll have about fifteen minutes of private time with her in which she is utterly grateful to you every morning. Or are you going to have to sabotage her parachute to get another moment with just you and her?"
Finn mulled over what he said. "You know, you're right," he decided, "And that parachute idea? Brilliant! I'll keep it in mind for when this war is over." He left for the kitchen to make the coffee. Aerrow slid into his empty seat.
"You look like you're waiting for your execution," the teen Sky Knight joked.
"I am," Dark Ace replied. "As soon as Piper finished talking to Master Cyclonis, well, then it's time to say my goodbyes."
Aerrow's eyes widened. "I heard her scream this morning...what happened?"
"Do you really want to know? The crystal-making effected her judgment last night, making her act as if she were, well, drunk, or high. She came into our bedroom, and well, I don't really know how to say this--"
"You slept together!?!"
"No! I stopped her, but I think that was her intention. But now if she remembers everything..."
Aerrow looked sympathetic. "Sorry if I sound like Stork here, but, You're Doomed."
Dark Ace nodded.
Aerrow sighed and got up, going to check on the engine room. Piper had mentioned a faulty crystal and he wanted to make sure their ship was working perfectly; you never knew when you'd be called to battle. He wanted to get away from his archenemy who was starting to feel, confusingly, like a friend. He doubted that Dark Ace would really get hurt. Much. He didn't really want to be around to see it.
Behind him, Finn was leading a confused and uncharacteristically giggly Starling to the balcony. Starling gave Dark Ace a questioning look, but he just shrugged, face blank. This was a one-time thing; he was not planning on becoming the Storm Hawks' matchmaker. He was definitely not planning on admitting that he had done some matchmaking.
He looked down at his cereal to see that it was soggy. Great. Just great. His last meal, and it wasn't even the way he liked it. He sighed, trying and failing not to be so pessimistic. The problem was, he knew Cyclonis quite well, and he knew she did not forgive personal embarrassments. Although the whole stupid problem wasn't his fault, he was sure there was some way to twist logic and make it so. After all, it was a lot easier to blame someone else than take responsibility for something yourself.
Piper walked onto the bridge, her face completely blank. "Master Cyclonis will see you now," she said in monotone. If he weren't so nervous, he may have noticed that she wasn't calling her 'Lark.'
He walked into the bedroom to find her back to him; she was looking out of the small window in the corner. "Sit down." Her voice was cool, collected, and devoid of emotion. He stood awkwardly, not ready to let down his guard. "Sit down. I didn't rig a trap on the chair, you know. In fact, I'm not even punishing you. I just called you here to talk."
"Of course you're not going to punish me. Good. You're in a merciful mood. So it will be a quick and painless death?"
She laughed, and not in a threatening way, either. "It's not your fault at all. I was stupid, I played with energy when I didn't know how it would affect me, and now I pay the consequences. You behaved better than I could have ever expected you to. You thought about me, and what I would really want, and you didn't take advantage of me at all. Now will you sit down, or do I have to order you to?"
What in the world had Piper said to her? He carefully lowered himself into the chair. Nothing happened. He let out a long sigh in relief.
She walked over and climbed into his lap. Such an innocent position; in fact, since they had gotten on the Condor, she sat on him more than she sat on chairs. He didn't know what to say, so he kept his silence. It was sweet, just sitting together, and if it had not been in the light of such an embarrassing situation, he probably would have never wanted it to end. As it was, he wanted to get this over with.
She finally spoke. "About last night--"
"I know," he cut in. "I don't judge you on any of your actions. You had no idea how creating a crystal would affect you, so really, it's not your fault at all. And I know you didn't control anything you said or did. So we can just forget it ever happened and have things go back to normal."
Cyclonis silenced him by placing a finger on his lips. It took all his self control not to kiss it. "That's not what I was going to say," she said, looking half annoyed and half scared. "I was going to say...I know that I wasn't myself last night, and that everything I did, I wouldn't have normally done. But I didn't lie, or say something I could take back that easily. You see, everything I said last night...it was completely true."
She took a deep breath. "I love you."
She looked at him, beautiful violet eyes wide, waiting for a response. The Dark Ace could only sputter in shock.
"You...you?" Then his eyes cleared. "I know what's happened. You knocked me out with a crystal as soon as I came through the door. I'm imagining the whole thing."
She grinned evilly. "Think you can imagine this?" she said, before leaning up to kiss him.
When they broke apart, she smiled at him, a sad smile. "Everything I said last night was completely true," she continued, "but everything I said before that was true too. We might have feelings for each other, but we can't let them get in the way of anything. Of this shadow-war. Of the spread of the Cyclonian Empire."
Dark Ace looked confused. "So...you're breaking up with me?"
"Not really. Breaking up with someone requires you to date him or her beforehand, then break up. We haven't really ever been a couple. Then, of course, when you break up with someone, you don't 'like them that way' anymore. I still love you, and I'm not going to deny it. I'm just saying that we both have to ignore this, because our duties come first. Maybe later, when this whole stupid war is over…" A tear leaked out of her eye, which he gently brushed away.
He leaned in, bringing their faces extremely close. "We shouldn't," she whispered. "We should make this a clean break. It'll just be more painful if we drag it out."
"We're the bad guys," he replied. "Do we ever do what we're supposed to?" Then he crossed the last of the distance and they kissed.
Finally, she broke away. "We should go back to the bridge," she said softly. "I think Aerrow and Piper are worried about if you're dead or not." She got up and walked out the door, and he stared wistfully at her.
What a mess. What a stupid, painful mess they were in. Usually the heroes of the story were fine once they confessed their love to one another, but it just didn't work that way in real life, did it?
He felt her last kiss on his lips, on his heart. He would treasure it, and never forget it, and maybe, when this was all over, just maybe, he would get another.
Snap out of it! he told himself. You're acting like a scolded puppy dog. You're the Dark Ace! You never lose, and this isn't any different. It shouldn't even be that hard, as she loves you! He hurried after her.
On the bridge, everyone was looking nervously at a message bird crouched on Finn's arm. "We have a bit of a situation from Terra Vapos…" he began.
00000000000000000000000
Me: Mwahahahaha! I'm so evil! Number one, of course Dark Ace and Cyclonis can't just live happily ever after! There's no plot in that! Number two, you might get another chapter today if I get a lot of reviews. If not, you'll have to wait with that cliffhanger…
Stork: Why should they even bother? Everyone knows what's going to happen.
Me: WHAT!?! You found my story notes?
Stork: No. But it's obvious. We're doomed, and nothing can change it.
Me: Stork, you are not doo—oh, wait, I can't say that; it would give something away. Let's just say that as long as you are alive, the story continues, and the story does not end next chapter.
Stork: We're still doomed.
Me: Don't listen to him! Review anyway!