Fragmented Afterthoughts
Chapter 14:
And When You Begin To Suspect...
Chapter Fourteen:
And When You Begin To Suspect...
Magick was knocked flat against the gate, opening it as Thanos drew nearer, his voice
oozing with sarcasm.
"How good to see you, little one! How good of you to come visit me."
His cloak fluttered in the wind, the grey clashing with the darkened night, creating the
effect of torn material. Torn, indeed, Magick thought, standing up once more, only to feel
as if a
giant hand had enclosed her face, closing off her lungs and slowly starting to choke her.
She
gagged, trying to suck in breath, and found nothing to be happening. Her vision swam with
little
black spots, and red danced before it, pounding to a cadence with her heartbeat, which was
quickening rapidly. Thanos snickered, a dry, coughing noise that grated every nerve tensed
in
Magick's body.
The fist closed tighter, now holding her aloft and squeezing, doubling her pain. She
choked further, knowing her conciousness would last few more seconds. Her eyes began to
haze
over, and she closed them slightly, her vision becoming blurry.
"I thought you might want to skip the speech where I announce my latest evil plan to
murder you and kill your friends, so I skipped RIGHT to the good part," Thanos said,
his voice
filled with mirth, resonating in her ears. She choked once more, a feeble noise, and she
barely
saw his pale lips frown. "Oh, dear me. I've been rude. Do relay my message to Hell
that I'll be
home soon, all right?"
Magick's eyes closed, and she sunk into some sort of sleepless rest. She felt her eyes
grow moist, and felt something wet and hot run down from her eyes, feeling quite like
tears. So
it wasn't good enough I tried to kill myself, she thought in her last moments. I had to
die at the
hands of the enemy.
The hand let go, and Magick fell, dropping onto her face in the damp sand. She willed
herself to get up, but could do nothing, feeling only one of her fingers twitch at her
side.
Struggling to open her eyes, she looked out, seeing red once more, and feeling crimson run
further from her eyes. Blood? I'm not crying, she thought defensively, and tried to move
again.
Again, nothing. I thought I was going to die there. What happened?
"Roight," she heard a familiar voice say, and her eyes widened further as she
gained her
breath back slowly, taking in shallow breaths. It can't be him... he's loyal, isn't he...?
A simpering, sarcastic voice broke the crashing waves once more. "Ohh, 'Da'! How
oi've
MISSED you!" A clash was heard, distant somehow, and a rip of material, a curse word
uttered.
"Oh, you 'ave'nt missed ME? Wot a PITY! An' oi've SO looked fohwad ti comin' 'ome and
sayin' 'ello!"
Another clash.
It had to be him. Nerezza. What was he doing here?
She saw a blurry form go past her face, and she blinked at the grey-clad figure stumbling
in the sand, kicking up small clumps of it as he held a trembling hand to his face. If one
could
call it a hand. Blue snakeskin was torn into shreds, and skin was severed off, laying in a
particularly disgusting formation around where the man had just stumbled back from. Ashen-
coal coloured bone stuck out from the midst of the so-called flesh, and Magick could feel
her
insides churning as she worked not to vomit.
Nerezza's boot-clad foot landed close to her face, and crunched in the sand. She saw
Thanos lift off the ground, and heard a whisper, then say the man go flying over the gate.
His
head cracked into a particularly large rock, and a sharp cracking noise was heard from
that
direction. The body of the Dark One went limp.
She saw Nerezza stoop, and felt her body, feeling nearly limp, be picked up and brought
close to his face. She hung there, helpless, looking into his face as he sneered. and
carried her by
his side like a doll, holding her up by her jacket's collar.
"Yeh roightly should've died there, mew," he spat angrily, marching past the
gate and out
into a field facing away from the ocean. Crossing through it, not taking mind to watch
where his
captive was, he stepped over small rivulets of water leading to the ocean's mass, his
breath
coming in short hisses through a tight-lipped mouth. "Oi'm not one to nitpick, love,
but that was
STUPID."
He came to rest at a rather large circle of stones, and then dropped her. She tumbled from
his grip, and caught a glance of the massive claws which had now saved her life. His
leering face
neared hers, and she couldn't help but repress a small shudder.
"From 'ere you go North," he explained impatiently, "and you damn well STAY
there. I
want NO interaction with your..." Nerezza stopped, and straightened up. "
'Orginization'. So keep
the hell out of my buisness, an' I'll keep the hell out of yours."
Magick made a feeble choking sound at the back of her throat, and Nerezza paused as he
lifted a foot to walk away. "D.. on'..."
"Don't what?" he snapped, annoyed.
Magick lifted a hand slightly, and then dropped it, eyes closing once more. "G..
o..."
Nerezza made a chuckle seem loud at this point, laughing so hard he bent down to look
at her, face split in a grin. "Aww, isn't that CUTE? The ickle mew-thing wants me ta
STAY!"
Magick closed her eyes. Fine. Just... fine.
Nerezza leaned in close, the faint smell of old blood sticking to him as he whispered.
"I'll
tell you one thing, love. Soon as you're ready, geh up an' run as FAST as you can."
He stood back
up, and his boot-clad toe nudged the dirt in front of her, giggling evilly and he did so.
"Ickle
mew wants a friend out of me, not even a good meal..."
Oh, bite me.
"Shouldn't offer loik that; I just TOLD you yeh'd make a poor meal," Nerezza
growled,
and started away.
Magick stiffened, and immediately felt immense pain from doing so. He could hear her?
This was stupid; telepathics were not made for vampires, and in any case, it was almost
amusingly infantile that such an occurance should be true. So stay for a little bit
and maybe I can
talk with you. I want to be your friend.
An exasperated growling cough emitted from the vampire, and a dull clap of leather on
leather made Magick assume he had dropped his hands to his sides in annoyance.
"Damnit! Wot
do yeh NOT undastand!? I don't WANT to interact with you! I don't LOIK you! I don't want
anything te DO with you! DO YOU GET IT?" The young man leaned in once more, but still
she
couldn't see him, for her eyes were closed.
But I like you. I thought you liked me. I would have said so otherwise, wouldn't I?
"Yeh, well..." The vampire paused. "I don' loik you. I've... got my
reasons. Git on home
afta this. That's it, all roight?" Magick heard a *zip* of strange material, and
opened one eye to
peer at him and what he was doing.
He was searching through his pockets, and tossed various unseemly objects out onto the
ground; a blood-stained packet of whatnots, a small and deathly sharp knife, a strange,
almost
human-looking type of doll...
And a spray bottle. He whipped it out, turned it on Magick, and sprayed it on her back
with a humming sort of hiss. He glared, then shifted his weight. "You breathe a word
of this to
anyone, an' it's bad news." He turned, and his slow and steady pace away changed as a
breeze
wafted in; most likely his wings. A parting mutter left Magick wondering about the man;
"Meifuku o inoru."
Magick sighed inwardly, feeling the effects of whatever he had sprayed. It made her skin
crawl, but maybe it was helping, as he stomach became less knotted, her head throbbing
minimally. When she was "ready"? She would be laying here for another good day
or so. This
didn't look like it was good, and it didn't look in any way, shape, or form about to get
better.
That would have been true, if there were not a pace coming directly towards to girl, fast
and strong, that of either friend or foe. Any person would determine her existence if in a
bad
mood, especially if they were... crazy, like Thanos.
Whoever it was, and whatever they were, she would either get help, or suffer through
madness and menopause.