AN: Ah, don't you just hate it when someone you hated and thought was dead comes back? A bit of a sequel to Changes, in which we meet one of Ratigan's deadliest foes, Eris. Medieval battles for all, hee-hee!
"Come to me now, my pretty", the voice said in the long-haired girl's head. The nude girl in the shadows stalked forward, doing back flips and leaps to dodge the various lasers. Eventually, she reached a case that had an Egyptian-styled crown with a snake protruding from the forehead, resting on a velvet pillow. The golden plate on the pedestal below the display read "The Crown of Eris".
Slowly the girl removed the glass case, setting it carefully on the ground. Then she slowly reached in and picked up the hat. Suddenly, a klaxon alarm sounded, but no guards arrived to stop the intruder. The girl smiled evilly, and exhaled, causing the alarm to cease.
"Good", the voice in the girl's head said. "Now put on the crown." Slowly the girl placed the crown on her head.
Suddenly, the girl's form twisted and contorted, marking the beginning of a horrifying transformation. Her back arched as she grew taller, and her fingers lengthened, claws extending from them like a tiger's. The shadows from the room flowed and swirled onto her, molding her form into something else. As all this was happening, the girl let out a piercing shriek that slowly formed into a cat's snarl.
When the transformation was complete, the girl was gone, and, in her place, stood Eris, the master dæmon of chaos and disorder. She smiled wickedly, smoothing out the creases in her burgundy gown and straightening the crown so it didn't flatten her cat ears. "Many years have passed since I have walked the earth, but now I have returned to wreak revenge on he who destroyed me in the first place." Her sharp teeth glinted as she grinned, turning towards a mirror.
The cat dæmon gestured as if to wipe a bit of dust from it, but instead made an image of the sleeping Ratigan appear on it. "So, he's still alive." The dæmon's grin, if anything, got wider. "So, you're still here, Ratigan. I must observe this", she said, turning from the mirror, "to see what glorious mischief can be accomplished in my favor." She started laughing, a high, cruel laugh.
And all the while, the meerkat/dæmon hybrid, Neo, watched from the rafters above…
Ratigan tossed and turned in his bed, the unbidden images flashing through his mind like wildfire.
He saw himself in the past, hunched over in pain, having discovered his wings for the first time…
Gliding through the air like a hawk…
Running towards Amelia as she fell…
Lyra, kneeling next to him, and Pantalaimon, comforting him after he tried to kill himself, but failed, only causing his wings to return…
Suddenly, Ratigan sat straight up in bed, eyes wide with fear, screaming "NO!" Looking around, he calmed down and sighed. This had been the third time he had that nightmare. He laid back down, sitting up again from a sharp pain in his back.
Basil poked his head in the doorway. "Are you okay, Ratigan?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare."
"Are you sure?", Basil asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. Just go back to bed, okay?"
"Fine", Basil grumbled, walking away.
Ratigan laid back on the bed. "It was just a dream", he said, trying to convince himself that it was. But he couldn't.
"Where's Shego?", Ratigan growled to himself. Drakken was standing over by his typical doomsday device, screaming random obscenities in the heroes' directions, and the henchmen were busy trying to defend their boss with little success. But where was-?
A blast of green fire and a taunt of "Come and get me, rat-face!" revealed her location immediately. Dashing through the hallway, he emerged… to find a veritable cornucopia of nothing lurking on the balcony. Where did she go now?!
Shego signaled to the henchman hidden behind Ratigan to fire.
The henchman grinned to himself, or rather, herself. Revenge would be sweet…
Ratigan didn't even have a chance to turn around before the laser slammed into him, sending him over the balcony onto the platfom below... just as the others rushed out onto the balcony.
Basil looked around the balcony. There was almost no sign of Ratigan being here aside from the gap torn out of the balcony from where the blast hit. Shego looked on with a look of amusement on his face. Basil strode over and picked her up by her collar. "Where's Ratigan?!"
Shego chuckled venemously. "He took a little tumble off the cliff."