Star Darlings; the Other 12

The Final Battle

Nicholas knew something was up. Coming out of the tunnel, he was immediately confused as to what was happening. He saw 22 of his friends held back on the wall, and Cyrus holding the hostage.

"CYRUS!" Nicholas yelled. Jumping down from the stage. "What are you doing!!?!"

"Oh, Nicholas..." He laughed. "You didn't figure out who I was, did you?"

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"Nicholas!" Andrew yelled from the wall. "He's not Cyrus! It's Aiden! The guy you-"

"Shut up, Andrew." He said, waving his hand. Andrew fell limb on the ground.

"Andrew!" Tessa yelled.

"Aiden..." Nicholas said. "You..."

Cyrus' face flickered. A much older, meaner face replaced it. He had orange-coloured hair and eyes. Going down his neck, Nicholas can see the visible black veins pulsating with negative energy.

"Remember me?" He asked. "The one you replaced."

"Who is that, Austin?" Astra asked.

"I only heard stories from Cyrus, but if I'm not mistaken, that's Aiden," Austin said. "He was a Star Darling, but after a giant debate or something, he was kicked out and replaced by Nicholas. They'd been nemesis ever since. Aiden never even graduated from Star Prep; he was expelled after finding out he was helping Rancora in her first attack."

"Woah..." Scarlet said. "Getting replaced isn't fun, but you don't have to help destroy Starland..."

"Coming from the one that got the treatment personally..." Orrin said.

"Shut up, all of you." Aiden flicked his hand, and everyone went limb.

"Piper... go help the others," Nicholas said. "I'll take him."

"Oh, can you?" Aiden asked balls of dark energy appearing in his hands. "Come on then."

They circled each other, eyes focused on every move, and searching for weak points while Piper tried to wake up the others.

Nicholas made the first move. Unsheathing his wrist blades, he lunged for Aiden's leg, cutting through his hamstrings. Aiden cursed, and point-blank shot a dark beam of energy at Nicholas. Nicholas ducked and again stabbed Aiden in the shoulder, rolling away as Aiden roared in pain. This continued for a bit, the two never going for a full-contact fight, instead of circling and rushing forward before leaping away. Nicholas had the upper hand of having the hand-to-hand combat skills, yet Aiden healed faster than everyone else. Every time he had a chance, dark energy spread from his hand to the wounds, instantly healing him. Nicholas wasn't touched at all.

"Well since you're gonna lose..." Sage said. "Care to tell us why you're here?"

"Oh..." Aiden laughed. "What else do you expect? I'm part of the Horde now."

"The what?" Andrew asked.

"Nicholas hasn't told you everything, has he?" Aiden smirked. "Ever since Mistress' first defeat, she's been building her army ever since." He said as he dodged a strike from Nicholas. "Now, we're starting or... plan. Oh, and Nicholas... you may want to check on your cult's HQ; we sent a little present."

"You son of a..." Nicholas said, grinding his teeth together as he fainted a beam of energy.

"Now, I was... tasked with killing all of you, but I soon found out about the girls as well! So, while Mistress went to sabotage them, I had a new task; to find a way to infiltrate Star Prep and figure out what's happening." Aiden continued as he parried Nicholas. "However, on one of Mistress' visits, Cyrus found out who we were. So, Mistress took control of him and told me to replace him as a Star Darling."