Piper arrived at the asylum in which Cyclonis was housed later than she anticipated. It was already past midday as she landed her heliscooter on the edge of the secluded terra. The scent of fresh fruit and jungle flowers tickled her nose, just as it always did, turning her frown into a slight smile.
Piper was late, and not due to any fault of her own. There was an issue that arose in the Cyclonian colonies outside Cyclonia. While Terra Cyclonia may be lost to the Wastelands, its colonies on Terra Nimbus, Terra Bluster and Terra Zartacla still held firm.
Defeating Cyclonis turned out to be a simple task compared to the tumult known as post war politics. Moving the Cyclonian colonies from the terras they had conquered previously was not only infeasible, but impossible. The Cyclonians had established lives here and were even rooted a couple of generations deep into the culture. The native inhabitants didn't seem to care about or understand these facts. To them, the only fact that maintained significance and dictated action was the reality of the end of Cyclonian rule. It didn't matter to them, the war was over and the natives wanted all remnants of Cyclonia out of their mountaintop kingdoms; of course, this resulted in conflict.
Even though the sky knights tried calming both sides, maintaining peace was a chaotic task to undertake. The Sky Knight Council had managed to briefly end the conflict with a temporary cease fire. Though, Piper knew it'd be just like all the others and hold up for the entirety of a week. She kicked a rock thinking about the complications of the new post war era. She would never have imagined that she would miss traveling the world with her friends while in constant danger. They barely saw each other anymore.
Piper sighed and parked the heliscooter. She began the walk towards the asylum. Her mind began to wander. She did miss the old days when she traveled the world with her friends. Things were busier now. While Finn and Junko were protecting a diplomatic mission established in the raptors' home of Terra Bogaton, Aerrow and Radarr spent their days patrolling the skies in search of insurgents. Stork, meanwhile, refused to leave the Condor.
Piper herself was given another assignment; study Cyclonis, analyze her, deliver your findings to the Council. She figured they wanted her to estimate how dangerous the girl really was and whether or not they should keep her alive. While most of Atmos prefered Cyclonis executed, the remaining Cyclonians would likely revolt if their beloved Master lost her head, and revolts were the last thing the Sky Knight Council wanted when peace had finally been established after so many years.
Piper was used to working alone but she still wished her friends were here. Aerrow in particular. She thought of how little she saw of him these days. Even now that the war was over, she saw him for an hour a day at best. Some days he would already be asleep by the time she returned from diplomatic missions in the Cyclonian colonies. She thought their relationship, or whatever it was, would have time to blossom with the war being over but within the post war climate, nothing was guaranteed between the pair.
During the times in which she would find herself free of the inconveniences of maintaining peace within the Atoms, he would be away on some mission. It had only been a couple of months since they shared a small, shy kiss alone on the Condor's bridge, and now they were caught in a struggle of finding time for one another. Time had not become Piper's ally.
Piper was greeted at the gate by the facility's guards, gates opening just as they had every day for the past month. This was a secret location to avoid any liberation attempts by the former master' many followers who still remained loyal to her. Piper passed the guards, saluting them on her way in. They reciprocated salutes of their own. These were sky knights hand-picked by the Council.
Entering the facility, Piper began to make her way towards the upper levels to where Cyclonis was held. The inner walls of the asylum were constructed from smooth beige stone, fitting together perfectly as if crafted and shaped by the greatest stonemasons. The asylum was bright, well lit, and strangely mystical. There was a cool, calming feeling that precipitated through the floor penetrating one's body as they walked upon the ground.
Before she could make it to the staircase that would lead to Cyclonis' cell, one of her caretakers stopped Piper.
"Greetings, Miss Piper," the merb said with a slight smile upon his face.
Piper bowed towards the older man dressed in white and golden robes. "Good afternoon. I apologize; there was trouble at Terra Bluster that required my immediate attention."
The merb kept his smile as his eyes shifted between Piper's bandaged forearm. He held no doubt that she would return after yesterday's incident, her dedication to the fallen master's cause was impressive. He was, however, surprised that she would return so soon after such a provocation. He wondered why the sky knight would so promptly resume her visits when the former master would have been so apt to attack once more. His train of thought was broken by Piper's speech.
"Don't worry," she said, catching his eyes as they perused her thoroughly bandaged arm. "I'm not planning on giving up yet."
Piper smiled widely, filling the old healer with more hope for the fallen regent than he thought he could feel. He closed his eyes and returned Piper's smile. He had heard stories of the courageous Storm Hawks and their ability to spread hope and optimism wherever they went, but it hadn't been until he was faced with staring into this young girl's calm hazel eyes that he truly understood.
The smile on the old merb's face faded, his wrinkles folding into a frown upon his face. He looked from Piper to the ground below as he began to speak. "Miss Piper, at some point in the night, Cyclonis was struck with a fever."
Piper's face twisted in worry, her newly forming wrinkles crinkled upon her forehead.
The old healer continued. "We have placed her in the infirmary, however, her fever has not broken since. The nature of her affliction, it is almost supernatural. Standard protocol disallows visitors, as their presence can diminish possible resting hours and aggravate illness."
Piper held her battle staff, looking at the beige tile that decorated the floor. Her heart sank, and she felt a tingling in her throat. She almost began to speak, promising to return at a later date.
"However," he said, looking down upon the young navigator. "There are exceptions, Miss Piper. Perhaps your appearance may provide her with reassurance of normality. Go to her; provide her with a familiar and friendly face in her time of need."
Piper bowed to the old healer with sincere gratitude, and made her way to the infirmary.
Piper entered the infirmary and found it to be much like Cyclonis' cell. White stone, pieced together in perfection, littered the walls and ground below. Three beds lined the walls on both sides of the room, all of them empty with the exception of Cyclonis occupying the bed furthest to the left.
Two healers, a human and a lady wallop, sat around the young girl as she lay upon her bed. As Piper slowly approached, they stood, bowing to her in a show of respect. Piper returned the gesture.
The wallop began to speak. "Her condition hasn't changed much since last night. Her fever is still high and every so often she seems to experience severe chills."
The human piped in. "We've tried a variety of remedies; however, none seem to delay the symptoms. It looks as if she still has to overcome this ailment on her own. We'll leave you to visit her, Storm Hawk. She isn't particularly lucid, as the fever produces small bouts of delirium."
The two healers bowed their heads once more and exited the room.
Piper stood over Cyclonis' bed, staring down at the young woman. She slept lightly, her body covered by clean white lining save for her arms that lay motionless at her sides. Cyclonis' face was a picture of discomfort. Her brow was slightly downturned, nose wrinkling as if she was slightly pained. Beads of sweat sat upon her forehead as her chest rose and fell irregularly with shallow breaths.
Piper frowned, unsure whether or not she could do anything to alleviate the distress of the broken master. She sat by her side, and saw a bowl of water that sat upon the nightstand next to the bed. She found a piece of cloth nearby, and soaked it in the tepid water. Drawing a frost crystal from her shoulder bag she wrapped it within the cloth piece, partially freezing the soaked cloth. She carefully folded the stiffened strip of cloth and placed it upon the young girl's forehead.
There was a reaction upon Cyclonis' face immediately. Her strained expression was mollified, as her features calmed to present a more peaceful picture of rest. Piper couldn't help but to smile, at least something she did for Cyclonis could provide her with some form of relief.
Piper moved her hand over the cloth in a smooth and flowing motion when the ice from the frozen cloth began to melt on Cyclonis' warm forehead. She did this several more times, expertly swaying her wrist over the cloth to combat the high temperature that plagued the other girl. Eventually, the heat that emanated from her body began to slow, conceding to Piper's efforts.
Breathing in relief, Piper placed her hands upon the edge of the bed. She had hated the other girl for so long. She had, admittedly, wanted her dead more times than she could count. But the picture of the dark, evil master was so completely shattered by this frail, poor girl in the sick bed that Piper found it difficult to believe they were one and the same person.
She bowed her head and began to whisper to herself, more than to the sleeping girl before her. "I wish there was more I could do to help. It seems I've been nothing but an annoyance, a bother to you. I wish there was something-"
As if to answer Piper, Cyclonis' head lazily turned in her direction. Her attention snapped towards her face as she began to speak. Her eyes struggled to open, allowing only a portion of the strong, violet spheres to gaze into Piper's direction.
"Piper…" she slowly slurred, barely aware of her surroundings.
Piper listened to Cyclonis, despite the obvious signs of delirium.
"D-dont…" she barely articulated, "...don't leave me."
As Cyclonis' eyes closed once more, Piper felt a hand weakly grasp onto hers. The young sky knight was not only shocked but filled with an almost foreign sense of grief. Within her unfocused eyes, she saw a truth, a truth she had only seen once before so long ago.
She softly returned the squeeze that she gave her hand and whispered. "Don't worry, my friend. I'll be right here."
AN: Even though Master Cyclonis is my favorite character from the show, I can admit that she is rather one-dimensional. Whenever she is on screen, she is either angry, annoyed or smug. She is always pure evil. If she feels slightly out of character in this story (like displaying actual emotions), it's because I tried to make her more human. Keep in mind she has just lost everything and has been kept in prison for months without barely any social interaction. I try really hard to emulate her mannerisms in her sparse scenes from the show in my writing.