InsaneJournal

***

The corridors of the Condor were peaceful with the gentle hum of the ship and the smoothness of Stork’s navigation of said ship. Piper was looking out of the window, a small smile on her lips. She liked this. She liked this very much, but she knew it wouldn’t last long.

One.

Two..

Three…

“JUNKO! GIVE THAT BACK!”

Piper sighed. She’d usually run to the source of that familiar voice and scold Finn, but she didn’t have the energy to do so today. She turned away from the window and merely watched as Junko burst out of one doorway and ran to the other side of the corridor.

Finn was taking a quick rest by the door, one hand on said door, his other hand on his knee. He was panting for his breath. “Junko! Those are my creampuffs!”

Piper continued to watch and said nothing as Finn eventually straightened himself and chased after his best friend. She returned to the window and gazed at the radiant skies.

The peace was really gone.

She began to head back to her room. Sometimes, her teammates acted like little kids. Sometimes, with them probably being the youngest Squadron, they probably were just little kids. But other times, she didn’t feel that way.

This was one of those times.

She never really had a true, calm moment where she could just admire the skies by herself. She never truly had a moment of peace. The dark nights in her room and in her lab didn’t count because she could still hear them snore.

She finally reached her room and came inside. She wondered how she was able to put up with all that noise, but she figured, it was just something she had to do, and of course, she had the headphones that Finn would often “borrow” from her.

“You know, the offer is still open.”

That snapped her out of her thoughts.

Piper stared at her desk. A little blue cube was sitting there. It beeped and slowly, a small slim figure materialized above the cube. Master Cyclonis was sitting on her throne, her legs crossed, her head tilted to the side, her chin resting on the palm of her hand.

Piper glanced at the window and saw that the window was open. Cyclonis probably had her own messenger birds to bring the little contraption here. There had been other attempts to create something like the cube, but they had all failed.

She approached the new device, marveling at its ability to show the hologram effectively. The hologram of Cyclonis was smiling at her. It was a smug smile.

“Like what you see?”

Piper stopped and glared at her enemy. “No, and I’ll never take up on your offer. You should know that by now, Lark.”

Cyclonis chuckled and stood up, erect and firm, with a countenance of authority even though it seemed like she was just standing on Piper’s desk. “I would, if you were with me. Unfortunately for the both of us, we both seem to be stuck in situations where we lack control.”

“So what? That doesn’t mean anything,” Piper said stubbornly. “You’ll never get me to join you. I don’t belong to anyone.”

Cyclonis froze and pointed one long finger at Piper. There was something hilarious about a mini-Cyclonis making a threatening gesture to her like this. “So you do know.”

“Yeah, I’m not stupid like your subordinates--”

“--or your teammates? I know, I know,” Cyclonis said and she was smiling again, lowering her hand. “But mark my words, Piper. One of these days, you will regret your words. You will be mine.”

Piper had had enough.

She snatched her staff and in one swift move, she smashed the cube into pieces. She watched as the pieces scattered all over her room. She stood there for a long moment and realized that she was panting for her breath and that she was angry.

She turned to the window, closed it and sat on her bed. She sighed and began to lay down, gazing at the ceiling. She lied. She did belong to someone, but that someone, with her friendly smiles and her light giggles, never existed.

Lark was never real.

Fin.

***

A/n: … To remind myself just how many people are reading my SH fanfics, I’ll put the ratio at the end of each chapter or story. Based on my last one-shot, Human, it was 59: 2, or 59 readers/hits to 2 reviewers. Compared to the other fandoms, this is actually pretty good. XD

Hmm, I enjoyed writing this, but Piper still confuses me. D: oh well. @_@ I’ll write more about her later.