Fragmented Afterthoughts Chapter Seven:
Unaccustomed Relations

Chapter Seven:
Unaccustomed Relations

Magick was completely shocked by the fact that so many of the old members had
stood by Team Rocket Forty-Seven the whole way through, and were now considerably
older, looking at her strangely, just like she were some sort of new person; and then and
there, it was easy to spot the new people, the quiet, pale people. Madoki hid behind her
leg, then reconsidered and hid behind Joey's leg.

Scanning quickly in the crowd, Magick carefully picked out those not paying
attention; one of those beings happened to be Luke, who was engaged in a conversation
with a pretty young Raichu Femm, closer to his own age than her own. Winding up from
behind, she crouched low and waggled her bum in a manner most cats would be proud
of.

"I don't think-" Joey started, but it was a bit late, and Magick was off, charging
down the limited amount of space towards her friend. Leaping into the air and gaining
sufficient altitude, she started to fall just as he looked up. A look of ultimate surprise
crossed his face, and he put his hands out just in time to avoid collision of the chins. He
was knocked head over heels, and ended up in a somewhat awkward position as Magick
crouched on his chest and leered amiably down at him.

"Who the hell're you?" he asked, straining to keep his neck up in such an
awkward position. He let it rest against the ground one moment as the Raichu Femm
walked over, giggled, shook her head, and then crossed her arms expectantly. Magick
could feel the anger radiating from Crash in one moment, and it was gone when the
Femm looked up, blanched, and stepped even further away.

Magick sighed, rolling her eyes and getting off him with a disappointed frown
tugging at the corners of her mouth. "How many other girls with ears and tail like this
pounce you on an everyday basis, huh?" She couldn't resist a jab at his chest as she leaned
over and prodded him.

As quickly as she had done so, he had grabbed her hand, thrust her down on to the
ground and replaced her standing. Grinning evilly down at her, he closed his eyes. "Yes,
definitely the same old Magick. Same old tricks. Same old grabability."

"Is that a word?" Magick heard Jads whisper, and she giggled behind her hand as
Luke looked in that direction. With a tug on his still immobile arm, Magick brought
herself up on her feet and grinned at him. He blinked at her as she hugged him, and
hugged back gladly.

"Good to see you too," he chuckled, grinning as she stood on her tiptoes and
swayed.

"I missed you!" she exclaimed into his back, and finally opened her eyes and let
go. She looked at him studiously; he had changed so much from the younger man she had
known so long ago. It was something she knew would happen over the years, but hadn't
really expected of him. It was definitely him, though; there was no mistaking the same
sweeping black hair and the self-satisfied smile that crept onto his lips every so often.

Magick looked over her shoulder and looked into the crowd again. It was so full
of new members, she could hardly pick out the old members. Two factors got in her
way; one was seeing as how all the members had grown older, and while retaining much
of the faces she had known so well so long ago, they were elder and looked different. The
second factor was that all the new members shuffled mindlessly around, looking blankly
up at her while the crowd seemed to form around her and move past. Luke shrugged, and
moved to grant her leeway into the sections of the room, striking up a conversation with
Crash.

She spotted another person; she was reading a book, sitting in one of the large
armchairs, completely preoccupied. Her flaming red hair came in waves down around
her face, and she stared intently at the book with large, jade-green eyes. It was distinctly
Dreana.

Magick grinned. She slowly slunk over, then tapped Dreana on the head. Dreana
looked up slowly, and was immediately hugged by Magick. She choked and coughed,
holding her book out to a side to avoid smacking the dark-haired girl. Magick understood
her reaction; she had hardly ever interacted with Dreana, though she knew that the
woman had exchanged few words with many. However, she smiled, and hugged Magick
faintly back, not really wanting to get involved with someone she hardly knew.

"How are you?" Magick asked her, and the woman smiled prettily, black lashes
demurely covering her eyes as she looked down.

"Very good. How have you been?" Dreana asked, dulcet voice sounding as she
put down her book and set a bookmark in it before closing it and crossing one leg over
the other petitely. She looked so formal; it was no wonder that she was admired
throughout the HQ.

"Great!" Magick replied, smiling widely. Admiration spread through her warmly
as Dreana stood, coming a bit taller than herself and folding her hands neatly together in
front of her. "I've missed you all so much! I can't believe you're all here!"

Dreana smiled once again, perfectly white teeth showing as she did so. "We've
missed you too. What, with you being gone to Urth and all."

Magick nodded, looking over Dreana's shoulder to see Ira, Jads' boyfriend,
standing and chatting with a new member. His black hair was smartly tied back into a
ponytail, and he seemed to be studiously thinking as he murmured assents and distresses
to the personel. "Mind if I leave?" she asked Dreana, and the woman shook her head,
sitting back down into the chair and opening her book once more.

Magick stepped over, then hugged Ira tightly from behind. He, too, had a reaction
like Dreana's; it was true that Magick only knew him by his face, and had never
interacted with him whatsoever, but she still felt an obligation to hug him. She waved,
then moved away, leaving him somewhat confused and somewhat appreciative. Jads
looked over, and stepped to him herself. He greeted her in what seemed to be a murmur;
everyone was talking that way.

One member looked her way, locking eyes and then turning slightly from her, his
face going slack of all emotion. He turned fully from her, almost frightened seeming, and
murmured as all the rest were doing by speaking to each other.

Thinking about it, it was slightly disconcerting to hear that; there was no loud
talk, laughter, or any of the like; it was all low speaking, as if they were all keeping
secrets from one another. She was reminded of an office, and finally went back over to
Joey and Crash, frowning.

"Why is everyone so quiet?" she queried in a loud voice, and some conversation
halted as people turned to look at her. She blushed and looked at Joey further, not
looking at anyone else. Joey shrugged, brushing hair out of her face.

"No clue," she retorted in the same tone, and all conversation halted. The sudden
silence was incredibly still disconcerting. Clapping once and grinning to her purple-
haired friend, then whirling to the largely assembled crowd of members.

"So! When's dinner?"

***

It was not until after dinner when Magick chose to go off exploring by herself
around the base. Darkness was falling, and it was a good time to be warm and safe
inside. So, full of the good dinner, she made her way out into the compound itself.

She had spoken with many of the new members during dinner, learning names
but quickly forgetting them, catching up with many of the people in the HQ. All except
for Kaxic; she hadn't been able to find him, and didn't want to be rude by asking. She
learned about three who she kept particularly in mind; Mazaki, a member who looked
entirely too much like a gothic wannabe, Nakri, who seemed to be a morph from the
energy that Magick had derived of her, and Zae, who wasn't there, but was apparently a
cause of suspicion among many of the members.

It became slightly muggy as she left the main hall for dinner, like some window
somewhere had been opened to let in the warm heat of the outdoors. It was hardly on her
mind, though. Where was all the cool stuff? Like the artillery? Big weapons? Fancy
bombs? Where was the trademark Rocket stash-o'-goodies?!

She tentatively pushed open a door that seemed to just pop out of nowhere,
blinking and looking in cautiously. There seemed to be nothing in it. Maybe a room just
for storage they had cleaned out? Or was it a secret hiding place for when they needed
the BIG guns? There was only one other thing in it, and that was a large, bay window
reaching the ground, along with a balcony, showing the night outside to be displayed as if
some dark blue satin had rolled across the sun.

Humming, she strolled right in, head held up high as she looked around,
thumping about freely. Banging into a closet door, she opened it, only to find that some
resident Spinaraks had found their way in and started building the nasty little webs
symbolic with the larger ones used for catching prey. Shrieking and clawing her way out
of the closet, she brushed herself off, making annoyed little squeaks of disgust as she
brushed herself off furiously, rubbing her arms. "I HATE spiders. . . "

Looking back over to the door as she was trying to make her way out, she found it
had closed. Jiggling the door handle, she furiously swore under her breath, placing her
foot on the side of the door and pulling with all her might. She flew backwards, and met
resistance with something that was little more yielding than the wall which she would
have slammed into. Large hands gripped her arms near the shoulders, pinning them to her
sides, and she heard a voice growl near her ear.

"Going somewhere? So late at night? Young ladies shouldn' be un-escorted,
y'know. . ."

Eyes going wide with panic, she shook herself once again, then writhed in rage
and terror, tail whipping behind her. She felt a boot slam down on it, pinning it to the
floor, and she yelled out loud; that HURT!

"Shush, hussshhh. . ."

Jamming an elbow backwards and trying to yank free, she found only that the
hands let her go, letting her make a great show out of fighting to maintain balance once
she had done so. Finally managing to whirl in heavy boots, she fought her way around
and shoved up the shoulder on her black tank. "The hell-?"

Standing in front of her, hands grotesquely warped and hanging down to his
calves, was Zaerenz, his once almost-amiable countenance now smeared with blood and
frowning. It made Magick shiver just to see that. Putting her fists up at her face, she
yelled at him, "I'm not afraid of you!"

The tremulous tone to her voice only made the beast laugh, and his whole body
shook. The shadowed face of his reminded her of the face so long ago, the one that ran
with the blood in it's mouth. She took back her stance, crouching in upon herself
somewhat.

"Come now," he said, cracking his neck from one side to the next. He took a step
forward, and she took one back. "I've just come to kill you. Y'see, v'got it all figured out. .
. I kill you. . . and see, then they think y'ave gone back to Urth. That place. And they
accept it, movin' on, no problem. It all works out fer me."

Magick looked highly offended, then started thinking to herself. If she could only
get him close enough, she would be able to do something. She started building up energy
in her hand. Just trying to keep him talking would be hard, as he seemed to be one of
those creatures of few words, more killing than anything else.

"And how'd you get. . . I mean, in, who do you work for, aren't you going to tell
me any of your diabolical schemes before you kill me?!" Magick squeaked, trying to
keep him busy, but he still advanced, slowly swinging the tremendous claws.

"I'm not telling you anything, love," he said, laughing slightly under his breath. "I
don't see the need, what with you goin' to be dead and all."

Magick stepped as close as possible to the door. "Not even a hint?" she queried,
the energy nearing peak.

"None," Zae said, and finally stepped so close she could see the blood on his face;
still fresh, still warm. And it reeked of death, of all the horrible things she could have
imagined for this moment, yet the energy was ready, and she decided on a dime what to
do.

Winding up her arm, keeping it slightly slack, she swung with all her force at his
face. A sharp *CRACK!* resounded through the room as she connected with his slim
jaw.

He stood with his head slightly angled from the force for a moment, then
straightened up and started laughing. His whole body shook once more as he put his
hands on his hips and laughed at her, eyes blazing. "Thas' not goin' ta do it, love!"

Magick had little choice left at this point, and simply burst into tears. "I don't w-
want to die. . ." she sobbed, not controlling her emotions at all. She felt like a small child,
but she simply sunk to her knees and sobbed into her hands, covering her entire face as
her body shook. "Please don't kill me. . ."

Zae paused, his eye twitching. This was a perfect opportunity to slice her head
off; it would be an easy movement, and then he would have taken care of another
member. This just didn't feel right, however. She seemed like just a little girl. Was it
ethically right to do something like this?

Magick looked out of her hands, wiping away her tears to see him standing there
in confusion, sneering down at her. He was surely no sort of soft-hearted fool. It was his
decision now that led her life in one direction or the other, and there were only two
choices.

There was another pause of silence as she hiccoughed and looked up at him
through constantly blurring tears. There was a cocenetic heat between them, where she
tried to perceive all she could about him; his history, what his intentions were, but she
was repelled by a strange sense of hatred and cold. So much COLD.

There was nothing between them, no psychic link, no special bond, no personal
history, nothing. So, shrugging it off, Zae stepped forward and lunged at her. His claws
stretched as he swiped at her face first; the idea was to blind her, and while she was
clawing at her face, he would kill her by ramming the hard spikes through her body.

It was an instantaneous reaction Magick had not expected as he lunged towards
her, but she hopped onto the balls of her feet and propelled forward. She touched his
chest, then bounced off, moving past his claws as they retracted and aimed once more for
her.

She was now clear of his first range, but she had little idea on actually how long
they could grow, or how much damage they did; whether they were poisonous, or burned,
or would strike with electricity. Yet she was now in a perfect place to start excercising
her powers of prowess once more. Lunging for him, she sparked an Ember from her palm
onto his clothing and stepped back and around him.

Magick had to hand it to the fellow. He wasn't a fool, patting out the fire that had
started to spark on his clothing with only a small, quick movement. He spun around,
claws whipping out with a loosely braced bone fixture. It was almost a sure thing that if
he hit her now, she would go through the wall. So, taking a stupid risk, she threw herself
at the ground and lay there, panting. Her back was now the the window, while his to the
door.

He took no pauses though, and brought his claws heavily down onto the floor only
inches from her face, lining them to look like some sort of cage. She backed up, not
wanting her nose chopped off, but he was now behind her. So, consequently, she had
backed right into him. Letting out a cry of shock, she moved forward again, growing her
own nails out for a Slash attack, but it was nearly impossible to break through those
nails.

Zae picked her up easily. She was hardly worth it, to go through this little
excercise. It actually was quite fun. He held her by the back of her shirt, and she
struggled, choking in the air as she was lifted to his eye level, a good half foot higher
than her.

"Ready?" he asked cynically. "If it's this easy to kill alla you, I shouldn't have a
problem."

Magick frowned at him, then hung her head, accepting her eminent fate.

Zae paused once again. Ethics and morals came about in his mind. This was
altogether too easy; he should have attacked them when they were a bit more ready for
such an assault. At this point, he could most likely take over the entire base, if they were
all this weak.

Magick peered up at him once more, and there was the same contemplative stare
on his face as before, where he frowned and winced, looking at her. It didn't give her any
more sense of security then what had taken place earlier.

It was not until she heard a muffled slobbering noise below her. She saw the beast
snap out of his trance and look down as well. What could be making such a ludicrous
noise?

It turned out to be a ditto, chewing on his boots. She raised an eyebrow, and the
leviathan similarly did so. The ditto continued chewing intently, focusing on the leather
in front of him. A small puddle was forming from it's wasted efforts, and it was actually
somewhat amusing, despite the obvious situation at hand.

Magick looked back up the beast, who shook the ditto off with little more than an
effortless kick. It was sent across the room, sliding on the floor, which gave it much more
leeway to the ice rink effect.

Zae finally looked back up at Magick, then, giving her an angry glare, he set her
down gently. "I'm not after you, love," he spat angrily, and turned from her. She
cautiously watched him; it was an instinct to keep her eyes on him. After all, he had just
had her in a life-or-death situation. She glared at him, putting up a barrier in defense, but
he just shook his head.

"I personally don' think you people are worth it anymore. . . after watchin' you,
you're just not that interestin'." He stretched, his claws reverting to normal hands.
Grinning evilly at her, he bowed elegantly, taking her hand in his. "Pleasure. Really.
Hope to battle you again, when you think you're worth it."

"Worth it!" she spluttered angrily, the tears on her face reminding her of how
childish she had acted in front of an enemy. "I can take you on any day! You want to
fight again, I'll fight!" She struck a Mantis pose, bringing back two striking fingers and
balancing on her back leg. It occurred to her she probably should have put in actual
fighting tactics before she had even gotten involved with this particular fellow.

Stepping to the window, he opened the bay window doors and stepped out onto
the landing. Looking up, he raised his eyebrows and turned back to her, and with a smirk
of satisfaction, he made a small wave with one hand and stepped off the platform.

Magick immediately rushed over. "Come back, you coward!" If he was
anthropomorphic, he would have had to change before doing something like that, and if
he wasn't, he had just condemned himself to a painful death on the cliff. Looking out
over the platform, she saw nothing below, and nothing above. It was strange, how he had
just seemed to disappear like that. . .

Frowning, she slipped back inside the room, going over to the ditto that lay
against the wall. It looked up at her, and immediately smiled in recognition. It didn't
quite look like a ditto. In fact, it looked too well-formed to be a ditto. It looked rather
much like...

"Myu!" it cried, and squished up to her, happily purring.

Magick's lower lip trembled with recognition. "M-Madoki?" she whispered, and
looked down at him with a sniff. "You poor thing!" she cried. "You must've gotten turned
into a ditto because there's no such type other than you on this planet! Poor Madoki," she
sniffed, and hugged him close. Indeed, it had to be him, for he had the same consistancy
as a slime normally did.

A sudden twisting of the door handle brought her back to her senses, and she
blinked, looking up in surprise as the door opened. A young man, older than Magick
remembered him stepped through, closing the door behind him once more. Silver hair
hung in his face; white skin shone eerie in the moonlight. However, there was no
doubting who he was at all.

"K-kaxic. . ?"

Kaxic smiled, leaning down o her and offering a hand. "Magick," he said, his soft
voice echoing through the room and flowing out the open window behind her. She took
his hand, one hand still clutched tightly around Madoki, and was helped up. She stood
motionless for a moment, just looking at him, until she rushed him and hugged him
tightly, burying her face in his lather jacket.

"Kaxic! It's been so long, how are you, how have you-- I mean, you're all right,
nothing. . . I don't understand, but you're alive, you're still alive!" she cried in a jumble,
and Kaxic did nothing but hold her, looking bemusedly down at the small girl who had
once been so much smaller than he, so much more fragile, and so much more healthy
than she was.

"Luck, and help," he replying quietly. "My friends were able to come to my aide.
Joey and Jads most of all. They helped me with life support and much more. Both gave
blood, along with many others of the enemy side, however unwilling."

It was a sentence that shocked her somewhat, and she had not thought until then
how he had gotten in. "They're wonderful people," she whispered, looking up and him
and letting go, holding Madoki in both arms and hugging him to her chest.

He nodded, saying nothing more as he looked out the window, being slightly
tousled by the wind coming in from the window. He narrowed his eyes, then put his
hands in his pockets and looked back at her. "C'mon. We should get back to the others."

Magick nodded, slightly numbed by her reception from him. He seemed somehow
changed, and somehow different from who and what she last knew him to be. Shrugging
it off, she took up his arm as she walked with him to the door, wondering about him and
what had happened. He opened the door emotionlessly, then smiled down at her once
more, and they stepped out, back into the HQ, no one knowing about what had just
happened.

***

Magick tossed in her sleep, holding the pillow tightly to her as she winced,
growling low within her throat. Her dream was rocking her wildly in what appeared to be
reality, and she kept seeing her dream as if it were narrated to her.

She was a sort of high nobility. . . it seemed strangely like she had known this
dream before. . .

There was a princess who lived in a high tower each day of her desolate life. She
was kept there by an evil queen, who wished her to never know anybody or do anything.
So day after day, she longed to be in the outside world, which was displayed to her from
a balcony with a rail. A gargoyle was perched on the side of it, and each day she spoke to
it.

It was her only friend.

She spoke of how she longed to fly away, of how she would be free someday, and
how she would die if she tried, for the curse that bound her to the castle was the same
curse that would kill her should she try to leave. However, it was only under her own
will; should the queen decide to take her out for the day, she would be bound the the
queen.

Only with another's help could she free herself.

The gargoyle's inanimate stone heart was touched by the girl's true words, and the
heart that she freely gave to it. The queen saw this, and was enraged.

When the princess was in her room asleep, the queen came out and touched the
gargoyle, giving it life. There was but one catch; the gargoyle, too, was bound to the
tower, despite it's wings and huge, leap-worthy claws.

The princess could ask for no better friend. The gargoyle spoke with her every
day, telling her of the years it had spent and the things he had seen. She listened, and
would always smile at his heartfelt, loving stories. But what she did not know was that
the gargoyle's love had grown for her, and his compassion was wrought in the same stone
he was made of, though inanimate. He felt compassion for her sad dream of always being
to able to fly away from the castle.

He vowed to her finally that he would get her out. He told her to climb on his
back, and he would fly her away from the castle. She asked him if he told her true, and he
nodded. He would have given his life for her.

With tears in her eyes and on her face, the princess boarded the gargoyle's back,
and with a tremendous crunch, the gargoyle lifted up and away from the castle, his back
legs left there to crumble to dust.

He flew her to a safe part in a nearby forest, and flitted down, only to shatter and
crumble upon impact with the ground. The princess was heartbroken. The gargoyle had
been her only friend for as long as she could remember, and now he was gone. She tried
to put him back together, but could not, but found something, instead, in the rocks.

There lay Kaxic, crumpled, dead.

She woke up with a scream, panting as her forehead was beaded with sweat. She
choked, holding onto her covers as Madoki hopped up and patted her arm gently. She
burst into tears, holding onto Madoki and sobbing. Only one came to comfort her, and
through it all, she never saw his face, but knew that the dead man was live, and had risen
to help her.

Email Magick
Read Chapter Eight
Back to Fanfics