Aftermath

[Strazio Rockwell]

By now their immediate surroundings had been consumed by the choking fog. Whispers and distant screams faded in and out, like they were in the heart of some schizophrenic’s brain. Nemesis stood eerily still, every muscle frozen and unmoving. Shrouds of shadow washed over him, and were it not for the bright orange headlights he called eyes one would be hard-pressed to spot him. Valerie fidgeted, not for fear or nervousness, but rather the byproduct of an uncontrollable compulsion. Strazio had managed to crawl a few feet away from his attacker, but his weakened state made movement difficult.

“Ah, the prodigal apprentice Gamzee Makara,” Nemesis spoke, his voice filtered and reverberated through the mask.

“Woah, that’s creepy,” Gamzee said, a row of icicles digging into his spine, “how’d you know my motherfuckin’ name bro?”

“That isn’t all I know about you,” Nemesis responded.

On an almost subconscious level the troll could feel something picking away at his brain. A strange vulnerability shuddered through his body and his stomach did a backflip. The thing that stood before him absolutely oozed bad juju. He tried to spot Strazio, but the white-haired was buried beneath two feet of smoke. On instinct his body tensed and entered a fighting stance, his clubs materializing in a puff of rainbow smoke.

“So quick to violence,” Nemesis chided, “you’re a lot like you friend Strazio, except he doesn’t pretend to be a peace-loving hippy.”

“Fret not my horned companion,” Valerie interjected, “this one speaks with a tongue dipped in silver, but his words are as weightless as this fog.”

“Are they though?” Nemesis responded, “my eyes do not lie, and I see into your wretched little heart troll, and you know what I see?”

Gamzee turned his head down and spit a faygo-infused lugey, “I don’t care what you see brother.”

“I see the heart of a coward and a murderer, a creature too afraid to admit that it’d rather see the world dead.”

“Silence you!” Valerie commanded and sent a veritable tidal wave of thorned vines at the interloper.

The vines wrapped around Nemesis, strangling his limbs and cutting into his clothing. Where there should have been blood, there was only smoke. The hunter laughed. He laughed and laughed, an echoing chortle as ephemeral as their surroundings.

“Don’t worry,” he taunted, “I’ll be back to kill you all, well, that is if your grey-skinned friend doesn’t beat me to it.”

Without another word the man exploded into a puff of smoke. After a few seconds the unearthly miasma dissipated, and Valerie strolled over to the downed Strazio. The green mage crouched next to his pupil and placed two fingers on his neck. A pulse, faint and slow, but still present. Gamzee watched from a distance, his mind spiraling in on itself.

“Help me drag him back to Darkshire,” Val shouted over his shoulder.

Snapping out of his stupor the troll responded, “uh yeah, sure I gotcha brother.”

---

The medical tent was filled to capacity with the injured and maimed. Teams of surgeons, clerics, and other medical personnel worked feverishly to stitch up the fresh tide of wounded. Strazio opened his eyes to the sight of a surgeon finishing the last stitch on his torso. His entire body hurt and it felt like a line of fire was cut through his gut. He was used to this body-encompassing pain, but it was never pleasant. Valerie sat across from him, twiddling his thumbs and humming pleasantly. Gamzee sat on the floor, scratching a pattern in the dirt with a stick. Strazio held up a fist and smacked the edge of his bed.

“God Dammit,” he muttered.

“You’re awake, splendid!” Valerie said, clapping his hands together.

Strazio sighed.

“Now tell me my perpetually perturbed tulip, just who is your friend here?” Valerie said, “he’s been awfully quiet.”

“That’s Gamzee, he’s my partner,” Strazio said.

Valerie’s mouth dropped open for a bit and then he grinned, “oh, that is wonderful Strazio, I’m so glad that you’ve found a lover in this wonderful world.”

“Pffft,” Gamzee exhaled air through his mouth, and snickered.

“No, damnit, Val you’re pissing me off,” Strazio fumed, “he’s not my lover, you bastard.”

“Yeah, he’s teachin’ me how to sling spells and all that mystical shit,” Gamzee added.

Strazio shot the troll a withering glance and he got the feeling he had said something that should not have been said.

“He’s teaching you magick?” Valerie asked, biting the tip of his thumb.

The two primes answered simultaneously, Gamzee said yes while Strazio said no. They shared a glance and Strazio threw his hands up in indignation.

“Fuck it, I’ve got nothing to hide,” Strazio said, “yeah I’m teaching him magick.”

“Oh my,” Valerie said, putting his hands to his mouth, “you’ve barely got a grasp on your own magick, has he performed the rite yet?”

“Yeah,” the white haired boy said and avoided eye contact.

“Oh no no no, that is not good at all,” Val turned to Gamzee, “has he gone through the tenants of magick with you? The risks? Anything?”

Gamzee scratched the back of his neck, and looked to Straz for guidance “uh, yeah?”

“Oh my poor peculiar little Gamzee, he has not has he? You understand that magick is primarily emotion-based and that if one does not have a strong grip on their psyche it can have disastrous results.”

“Oh come off it Val,” Strazio said, “I was pretty unstable and I turned out fine.”

“Hardly, were it not for your tempestuous temper your grasp on magick would be nonexistent,” Valerie said, “and even still your magick is so destructive that I’m surprised you haven’t killed yourself with it.”

Strazio remembered the fight with Harbinger, and the fact that he had killed himself with his own magick.

Strazio’s phone buzzed and he checked it. He spent a few moments reading his messages. The Rock had sent him a series of texts regarding the upcoming Dante’s Abyss. At first it annoyed him, but then he remembered his prize from the first Dante’s Abyss, The Necronomicon. An artifact of unrestrained power and the perfect weapon to realize his revenge.

“I’m done with this shit Val,” Strazio growled, sitting up in his bed, “my apprentice and I have places to be, and I don’t really want to sit here and listen to this garbage.”

“Fine, corrupt this young practitioner and send him down the path of unrestrained rage like yourself,” Valerie shrugged, “I’ve little stake in this beyond my disappointment.”

“Oh fuck off already.”