Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Psyche
(Disclaimer: I own nothing of BLoSC or Disney. As a head's up, there's a lot of song lyrics in this chapter, but the lyrics serve an obvious purpose (songs in fanfic tend to do) so I hope you enjoy. If you don't want to read through the lyrics here, I would highly recommend listening to legal rips of the songs on Youtube in advance. Oh, and if anyone wants to know, these songs, the rock orchestra part of "Best Day Ever" (2:04-5:30) and the vocal "Ignite" and "Bad Luck Charm" are from the RWBY web animation. Whether the BLoSC characters have seen the show or are fans, who knows? Anyway, enjoy, and feedback, particularly constructive criticism, is appreciated!)
0000
Night on Tangea, the time many Royals considered the most magical, never ceased to amaze Princess Mira. This night, Aura, the Greater Moon, rose in the resplendent glory of her annual Ascension, casting a rich cerulean glow over the planet. Behind her, the Twin Handmaidens, Sentia and Psionia, complemented Aura's beauty with their own lighter and darker blue shades. The ivory-white walls of the palace caught the moons' glows and, like crystal, magnified them until it the whole structure appeared to produce its own light. In the shadowed land below, truly phosphorescent plants and animals gave off their own radiances, blues, greens, reds, pinks, purples, and golds sparkling toward every part of the horizon.
Young Mira stood on the largest balcony and leaned out over the balustrade. Her eyes darted between different fluorescent birds soaring between treetops, and she loved catching sight of those glowing red or red-orange especially. Some of those fiery feathers adorned the diadem she now wore, which her father commissioned and then presented to Mira for her seventh birthday. Sometimes, when no nobles clung to her parents and diverted their attentions with paltry requests or attempts at social advancement, she skipped and twirled in the King and Queen's presence, flapping her arms and pretending she, too, could fly, the other birds in her flock all atwitter and fighting among themselves for who would next grant her their pieces of smoldering light.
"Are there many birds out tonight?"
Before she even turned, Mira felt her mother's warmth and love caress her mind. Queen Andromeda Miranda Nova stepped up beside her daughter, a light blanket wrapped around her shoulders though the night air carried no chill. Her silvery, silken nightgown billowed around her ankles, tiny embedded gemstones giving off the illusion of stars reflected on the surface of gently flowing water.
Mira nodded. "I've already counted thirty-five red ones!"
"Really? They must be celebrating Aura's Ascension like we are."
"Yeah! But I'm, I'm going to try and count one hundred blue birds tonight to honor Aura!"
The laughter-lines around the queen's lips creased gracefully. "I'm sure she will be delighted. Would you mind if I help?"
In no time at all, Andromeda and Mira called out, "One hundred!" together, their last bird a slim, sleek Tangean lunar crane, one of their world's rarest creatures. When the bird passed in front of the Greater Moon, a shimmering comet's tail of long feathers arced across Mira's sight.
"My, aren't we fortunate! They say a lunar crane rising for Aura's Ascension is good luck," said the queen.
"And that whoever sees it will have their greatest wish come true that year!" Mira finished.
"What's this about dreams and luck?"
King Nova joined his wife and daughter on the balcony. He wrapped an arm around Andromeda, kissed her cheek, and asked, "I suppose I missed something?"
Mira hugged him. "We saw a lunar crane!"
"Indeed? Well, I'm sorry I couldn't make it here earlier; I don't think I've seen one of those on an Ascension night in a long time. You and your mother are very lucky, Mira."
"Do you know what I'm gonna wish for, Father?"
"It's 'going to', Mira, not 'gonna', and no, I do not. Would you like to tell me?"
"No! It's a se-cret!"
The queen tutted. "Mira! Be polite to your father."
"Oh, it's fine, darling. If I recall correctly, if you tell anyone besides Aura your wish on a lunar crane, the luck runs out, so Mira's wise not to share."
"That's right. It won't come true if I tell you!" Mira put her hands on her hips proudly. "So I've gotta keep my wish a secret."
"'Got to', Mira, and you 'must' keep your wish a secret. I don't know where you hear those more uncouth contractions – certainly not from me. Do you have an idea, dear?"
"I don't – oh!"
Suddenly, the queen slumped forward, King Nova tightening his grip around her shoulders and steadying her in the nick of time. Mira, however, hopped back, her heart racing with fear; a weakness she never felt before flowed through the telepathic link she and her mother shared.
"Meda? My love, you look unwell. Are you all right?" the king asked.
Placing a hand on her forehead, Andromeda looked up at him, but Mira noticed something wrong: Her mother's eyes, so bright and gentle normally, looked dim and confused.
"I-I, um… Perseus, where, where are we? W-What are we…?"
King Nova froze in the ensuing silence, and Mira, looking back and forth between her parents, sensed terror creeping from her father.
"Come inside, Meda – Mira, you too," he said after a moment. "I think we should retire early tonight. Rest now; I'll send for one of the royal physicians in the morning."
Watching her father guide her mother back into the palace, Mira prayed to Aura, asking if she could change her wish…
…
"…wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are – !"
Mira looked up a ladder leading to an open hatch in the ceiling above her and shouted with a young man's voice, "Ion, you dyin' up there? You sound like our cat when she coughs up a hairball!"
A green, scowling face popped into view at the top of the ladder. "Shut up, Warp! Like you could do any better!"
"I bet I could! 'Don' wanna be a Mahambian idiot – !'"
"Augh, my ears are bleeding! Mom, make him stop!"
"Okay, you boys knock it off!" a woman's voice called from around a corner. "You're both giving me a headache."
"Hey, Warp started it!"
"You're just mad 'cuz you can't sing worth crap, Ion!"
"You can't either!"
"Look, I don't care who started it, because I'm finishing it." A handsome blue-skinned woman with long, dark blue hair and equally dark blue eyes exited the kitchen and walked toward the ladder. She looked exasperated when she said, "Warp, leave your brother alone; so long as he makes a joyful sound, the Triune doesn't give two rips one way or the other. We've got no one to impress out here in the sticks anyway."
"Whoever the Triune is, he must be deaf," Mira grumbled.
"Warp…"
"Alright, alright. If Ion's caterwauling bursts your eardrums, don't come cryin' to me!"
Ion's barely audible voice said, "I bet Warp knows all about crying girls."
"I heard that!" Mira raised her fist up at the hatch. "You want a knuckle-sandwich with your popcorn?"
The woman strode to stand between Mira and the ladder. "Warp! Ion! Enough! I didn't raise the two of you to squabble like two-year-olds. The next lunar eclipse isn't for another fifty-two years, and I doubt it'll happen on the same night as a meteor shower, so if either of the two of you ruin this – "
"Right, right! Sorry, Mom!" Ion called.
"Yeah, sorry, Ma. Is the popcorn ready?" Mira asked.
"As it happens, yes. Actually, Warp, would you get it out of the package and into the bowl? I need to bring up the stereo and get it plugged in, and then we'll be all set!"
"Cool! Yeah, I got it."
Mira darted into the kitchen, ripped the top off the bag of popcorn, and poured it out into a large bowl. She then returned to the ladder, scurried up to the roof one-handed without spilling a single kernel, and plopped down next to Ion. A minute later, her mother ascended one-handed as well, carrying an old, beat-up, CD-playing stereo that she plugged into an outlet by the hatch.
Sitting behind Mira and Ion, their mother said, "All right, boys, dig in and enjoy. You won't be enjoying popcorn like this for another fifty-two years." She hugged them both. "Love you two, you know? You've given me more gray hairs than I care to count, but I wouldn't trade the two of you for all the beaches of Mahambas VI."
"I dunno, I might trade Ion and his ugly mug for one of those Mahambian bikini models one day," Mira snarked, earning a half-hearted punch in the shoulder from her brother.
The popcorn ran out long before either the eclipse or the meteor shower ended, and the three watched the moon turn blood red behind hundreds of white-yellow fireballs passing through the atmosphere. Behind them, the soft, calming styling of Debussy's "Clair de Lune" drifted on the air…
0000
Mira awoke groggy and irritated. Her head hurt but, thankfully, spared her any intense pounding or pressure and allowed her to orient herself and sit up with little problem.
However, when she reached full wakefulness, neither pain nor general tiredness prevented her from remembering her dream.
"Yesterday, and now today… No, neither of those visions were simple dreams; what I saw was far too specific and makes too much sense. I'm…" Mira sat up and ran her hands through her hair. "I'm tapping into Warp's memories somehow. What in Saturn's rings did that stupid tea do to me? I've never reached into Warp's brain or used my telepathy on him. I've never wanted to! Who in their right mind…?"
Mira paused, flashing-back to the memories belonging to her. The temperature around her dropped, and she shivered, wrapping her arms about herself.
"Why would my mind keep digging up what happened to my mother with everything else going on? What does she have to do with…? Wait. What did Buzz say? 'Their' deaths? Who does he mean? No one else I've known and been close to on Tangea has died, so..." Bracing herself, she recalled the most sickening image she envisioned the day before. "Those wounds… They looked like some sort of chemical burns, and the skin, it was green."
The face of a single green-skinned young man shouting, "Shut up, Warp!" popped to the forefront of Mira's thoughts.
"Ion. Warp's brother. Someone or something killed him, and if my subconscious is relating my mother's death with what happened to him, then Warp took losing Ion at least as badly as I took losing Mom." Mira clicked her tongue. "Huh. I guess my teasing him about Debussy wasn't so far off the mark."
Her satisfaction fell flat, and she continued, "But that still doesn't answer why or how this would be happening in the first place. What's the common denominator here?"
From the darkest depths of her heart, she heard, "Who are you?"
"Buzz? No! No, that can't happen! It won't! I…" Mira clapped her hands against her head. "I don't know if I could…"
She jerked when Warp knocked on the door.
"Princess? You doin' alright in there?"
"I don't know. Am I?" Mira muttered, a tear slipping down her face. "No. Yes. I don't know. I'm just," she let out a long breath, "I'm just tired of this soap opera we've fallen into and can't wait to get back to normal."
"I get'cha. So, you up to coming out again? Methinks you need some major unwinding, and I've got just the trick."
"…really? What happened to launching me straight back to Star Command and letting the Rangers deal with my damage?"
"We haven't found out how you got in here yet, have we? Besides, I'm not quite ready for the Rangers to come bloodhounding around Rhizome; I gotta get all my Moozles in a row first."
"Ah. Still, you want to risk going through more psycho-schizo dramatics, as you put it so eloquently? I would think you'd be all for keeping me penned up in here after yesterday."
"Hey, I might not like the copy-and-paste soaps they show on the net, but now that I've slept on things, you've got me intrigued. It's not every day I get to dig up the dark-enshrouded phantoms of the woeful past of the Princess of Tangea, especially the phantoms that maybe, just maybe, drove her to become a Space Ranger."
"Tch. Now who's being a sadist?"
"Not once did I claim to be a saint, princess. Talk to Buzz if you want the straight-laced goody-two-shoes treatment, but never let it be said I can't be a nice guy when I feel like it. You comin' out, or what?"
"Yes, yes, I'm coming," Mira sighed. "Keep your shirt on."
"Oh? Here I thought Her Majesty couldn't get her fill of the eye-candy. After all, like any good treat, I live to be served on every occasion."
Mira's nails bit into her palms. "I would not start down that road again were I you, Darkmatter. I don't sample goods from a salesman who's more intent on selling himself, especially when he's not nearly as desirable as what he advertises up front."
Warp barked out a laugh. "There's that fire. I was hoping you'd say something like that, princess; today'll be more fun than I thought. Now come on. Don't expect for me to wait on you forever."
Huffing, Mira rose from the mattress and walked outside, catching up with Warp in but three strides and following him through one of the mystery doors from the previous day. Walking side-by-side at an unhurried pace, they proceeded down a flight of stairs.
"You know, for all the times you call me 'princess', one would think you'd be willing to wait on me for real at least once," Mira said, quirking an eyebrow at him.
"And make an exception for that 'everyone-should-treat-me-like-any-other-person' thing you're so insistent on?" Warp quirked an eyebrow back at her. "Can you say 'double standard'?"
Mira shrugged. "Eh, it was worth a shot. I don't think you've ever even called me 'Mira' once."
"Is that an invitation?"
"I wouldn't look too far into it. Come to think of it, you ever call any women by their first names – their real ones, anyway?"
"Who needs real names when you have the inspired brilliance of 'Galaxxia' or 'Qassiopeia'?"
"Let me guess, the first one with two 'X's' and the last with a 'Q'? Please. I've heard more creative names given to thoroughbred racing puffers."
"I don't suppose it's too much for me to hope Your Majesty is a gambling woman on the sly? Surely the Tin Toy's rubbed off on you a little bit."
"Close, but no cigar. I save my risk-taking behaviors for defending the galaxy, or standing around talking with you."
"Heh. Good thing, too, because we're here."
Warp opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, and Mira, eyes widening, walked into the one room she hoped against hope to find.
"Sweet mother of Venus, I love it," she said, taking in every inch of Warp's personal gym.
While the blue and green room measured maybe a quarter of the size of Star Command's exercise yard, it could accommodate two people without any problems. Glancing around, she spied several different pieces of workout equipment – weights, ellipticals, an old-fashioned punching bag, and more – ringed by a jogging track, and then four fair-sized speakers hanging higher up on the walls caught her eye.
"Of course," Mira whispered. "Why does that not surprise me?"
"Welcome to the crème de la crème of Casa de Darkmatter, princess. What's a real safe-house without a place to keep my finest assets looking their best? Can't have any love-handles when I get back to facing off against the likes of Team Lightyear." Warp gestured around the room. "Get crackin' however you want. I'll start up the tunes and then join you."
"Hold up, Darkmatter." Mira tugged on the bottom half of her toga. "You got some shorts I could borrow? I'm not giving you any chance to ogle me in this thing with all the moving around I'm gonna do."
"Ogle? Moi? I'm hurt, princess; you mistake me for some sort of womanizing scoundrel with little moral compunction."
"Too bad that's what anyone means when they say 'Warp Darkmatter'."
"Ouch," Warp chuckled. "Stepped into that one, didn't I? Yeah, I got a pair. Gimme a sec'."
One set of loose Warp-scented boxers later – sweet mother of Venus, her thighs felt tiny – Mira went through her warm-up routine, and once finished, she started a brisk jog around the track and reveled in the rhythm of her feet pounding against the floor.
"Oh, this feels great," she breathed, each syllable uttered alongside an individual footstep. One, two, one, two...
Before she finished her second lap, a rockin' melody started playing over the speakers. The thrumming of an electric guitar, the hammering of drums, and a grandiose orchestra accompaniment matched the wild glee in her heart, and Mira burst from a jog into a run. Her visions forgotten momentarily, she wondered how many laps she could complete before the song finished and ended up challenging herself to twelve.
On a particularly thrilling guitar riff, Mira heard herself laugh, and on a whim after reaching her twelve-lap mark a minute or so later, she pitched herself forward into several fast cartwheels. Landing on her feet and facing the way she came, she then leaned backward and completed one, two, three, four, five, six successive backflips. The last backflip became a rapid flying twist, which she also landed without losing an iota of balance.
Mira stood, triumphant. "Whoo! Eat your heart out, Cirra!" Her bluster receded with the end of the music, and she then smoothed down her hair and wiped sweat from her brow. "Never thought I'd be happy just to feel hot and grimy after a good run again."
Mira spied movement out of the corner of her eye and heard several loud thuds during a break in the music. Turning toward the punching bag, she laid her eyes on Warp, who let loose before her. His face the picture of concentration, he went through a series of attacks, each movement powerful and transitioning fluidly into the next.
"Hello there, my enemy!
Welcome to my punching spree.
This is where I lay waste, and you'll go home bleeding!
Didn't have to be this way,
Should have stayed out of the fray,
Now you're headed for a beating..."
Mira envied the bag none of the raw, resounding punches, kicks, and elbows knocking it silly, and the more blows she witnessed, the more she observed that Warp attacked to the new song's rhythm. For the most part, he succeeded, and whenever he missed a beat, he recovered within the next move or two and resumed like nothing went wrong.
Slowly, with her female inclinations clamped down tight, Mira allowed her eyes to stray over the muscles rippling smoothly beneath Warp's skin. Physical attraction aside, his swiftness of movement and lack of visible fat given his bulk impressed her. Not to mention, if the very slight sweatiness told her anything, he had yet to begin exerting himself. No wonder he kept up with Buzz so well.
Is he imagining Buzz in the bag's place, I wonder.
Warp's gaze darted over to her, and, smirking, he asked, "You wanna join me?"
Returning his smirk, she replied, "Sure, why not?" and jogged to the other side of the punching bag.
"Think fast, princess."
Warp sent a lightning-fast jab into the bag, and Mira returned it with a back-fist-right-hook combo. He caught it dead-center with a savage elbow strike, and she roundhouse-kicked the bag before it could slam into her.
Back and forth they traded blows, each trying to catch the other off-guard while matching the music. To Mira's overall pride, she slipped off-tempo only once, but on that occasion, she screwed up a simple move and swore she heard Warp snicker. She overcame most of her embarrassment and kept going, but Warp dodged to one side when her last blow, a vicious donkey-kick, swung the bag up in a wide arc and nearly snapped the chain.
"Easy there, princess. I'd rather not have to replace this anytime soon." He caught the bag and steadied it before snapping his fingers and stopping the music. "You know, you aren't half bad."
"Thanks. You're not bad yourself."
"Too bad your teammates didn't really let you have at me during our last match on Tradeworld; I could've seen what you're really made of." A second passed, and Warp's eyes sparked with a mischievous glint. "Say, there's a thought. Since we're here, how about you and I go a round?"
"Me? Spar with you?"
"Think about it: Agent Z versus the Princess of Tangea - the grudge match of the century. I don't have any gloves lyin' around, but somehow I get the idea you wouldn't mind too much. Wha'dya say, princess?" He grinned. "I bet you can't take me without you freaky Tangean mind powers giving you an edge."
Mira blinked. A chance to have a go at Warp Darkmatter? Without gloves? While he said to her face that only her Tangean abilities made her good enough to fight him normally?
I couldn't have asked for a better, more obvious cliché.
"I'll take that bet, Darkmatter, and raise you one," Mira said, placing her hands on her hips. "I don't think you can take me without that security deposit you call a right arm."
"A fight with no enhancements on either side?" Warp admired his cybernetic limb, smiled to himself, and let the limb drop to his side. "You sure know how to show a guy a good time, princess."
Mira faked a curtsy. "Co-Master of Ceremonies for Star Command's legendary mixers the past five years running: Mira Nova at your service. Or didn't you know?"
"Moving up in the world, I see. Cirra Mistral your copilot?"
"The obvious stylistic choice for all the lonely hearts in the crowd, while I bring the class for the real party."
"Maybe I should've tried ghosting into Star Command instead of suffering through the fopmeisters of Tangea." Warp flashed his canines. "Here's hoping you fight as well as you talk smack."
Raising her fists and bending her knees, Mira circled right, and Warp went left, snapping his fingers once again. Both of them watched one another's every moment, gauging any weaknesses and preparing for the first move.
"Pain
Is your reward for being near me."
Mira struck first, darting at Warp and aiming a punch at his face, but he blocked her at the last second.
"Fate
Won't be your friend when I'm around."
Before he could grab her wrist, Mira jumped out of his reach. However, Warp followed, matching her quickness, and she narrowly ducked an elbow swinging at her left temple.
"Blame
Me for the tragedies that follow."
Leaning onto the balls of her feet and keeping her knees bent, Mira drove forward. Warp pivoted on one foot and avoided taking an elbow into his stomach, but as Mira passed, his flesh-and-blood hand chopped down, striking her between her shoulder blades.
"Grave
The situations that surround."
Warp didn't hit Mira particularly hard, but the blow combined with hitting the mat still knocked some of the breath out of her. Yet, her mind remained sharp, and she rolled to her right, intense relief flooding through her when she heard Warp's foot come down hard where her head had been. Quickly, Mira rolled back onto her feet, but Warp pressed his advantage and put her on the defensive.
"I'm a harbinger,
I cannot lie,
I will change the color of your life.
I don't mean to bring you pain,
But I will, just why, I can't explain."
"Had enough already, princess?"
"I am no one's blessing.
I'll just bring you harm."
"I'm more than just a pretty face, Darkmatter."
"I'm a cursed black cat,
I'm an albatross,
I'm a mirror broken."
Finding an opening, Mira let loose another roundhouse kick, but her heel met the palm of Warp's left hand.
"Your pretty face is telegraphing your moves, princess."
Warp's fingers wrapped around Mira's ankle before she could withdraw, and he yanked her off balance.
"Sad to say,
I'm your bad luck charm."
With one powerful, wrenching twist, Mira's world spun sideways. When she hit the only-somewhat-forgiving mat again, her surprise caused her to misjudge movements she needed to make to catch herself properly, and her head rapped against the floor.
Green and blue stars exploded in her vision.
Lying dazed, pain blooming in her skull, Mira heard another snap that cut off the music. A couple of seconds later, Warp knelt over her, his face intruding into her rather picturesque view of the ceiling.
"Hey, you - "
" - alright, Lil' Blue?"
Mira groaned, "Call me 'Lil' Blue' again and I'll make your eye a lil' black an' blue, Ion."
Warp's eyes widened, and Mira, still blinking away stars, realized what came out of her mouth.
"You don't need to ask," she said. "Where and how did I hear about your brother, right? And I reserve the right to remind you of your claim that my little Tangean psycho-schizo soap opera intrigues you in the first place. Don't start crying to me that you got what you asked for."
Warp swallowed. "Right. Yeah. I remember." He shifted himself back when Mira sat up. "How the frag do you even know Ion used to call me that? Tch. Buzz must've flapped his gums to infinity and beyond."
"I've never heard Buzz say anything about your past, whatever he knows of it. I... I heard Ion's voice - sensed it, whatever - right after I bonked my head. No idea how. Maybe that narcotic drink thing I mentioned on the first day I was awake here, but without grilling Professor Triffid, I can't say."
"Huh. Interesting. And if the drink has nothing to do with it?"
"Then I'll cross that bridge and let you know how it goes." Mira gave Warp a querying look. "Somehow, being called 'Lil' Blue' doesn't sound like something a tough guy like you would tell anyone willingly. How'd Buzz wheedle it out of you?"
"Spilled that one on another night I indulged a bit too much." Warp shrugged. "Told Buzz if he ever used it, he'd find himself on the ground with a broken jaw, and he never brought it up again."
Mira's ears picked up a split-second hitch in the word "indulged", and she filed it away for future reference. With that, she rose carefully to her feet, and Warp followed suit.
He asked, "You wanna keep going?"
"Yep. I'm peachy." Mira rotated her neck until it popped. "You think I'm gonna let a little bump hold me back from getting the better of you?"
"Never said anything of the sort. Though," Warp smirked, "that pretty peachy face of yours is the only thing you've got over me at this point."
"And you'll be nursing a broken ego under the iron pit at my center by the time we're through." Mira began circling right. "Get ready to pucker up and eat my pretty peachy fist like a man, Darkmatter."
"Heh. We'll see if Your Royal Tartness doesn't get too bruised to dish out one good slice."
Her eyes trained on her opponent's every move, Mira let out a long breath and relaxed, letting her anxiousness flow out of her. Even fighting with one arm, Warp's bulk would win him any out-and-out contest of strength, and it would take at least twice the number of hits to bring him down than her. More: Both of these facts he already knew and knew she knew.
So, definitely no need to rush her sweet victory; better a slow, lasting burn than a quick burst that faded in a moment or two, no matter how impressive the display.
"All righty, then. Think fast, Lil' Blue; it's on for real this time."