Chapter Ten:
Unexpected Revisions

Things are starting to look fairly normal, if one could call it that, again, and as
for Kikiri and Mazaki... Kikiri hasn't been seen since that night when the two had been
wheeled away, and Mazaki was up and moving, but refuses to leave the confines of his
room. Sure, he may have cried and shed some blood, but there was still the issue of all
the other members in his "gang". Nobody was quite sure what was left to do. I sure didn't
know. Besides, how am I supposed to keep track of some killer with a wired contraption
stuck on him? I don't even know how it got on in the first place.

About this point I can say I'm feeling immense anger, frustration, and
incompetence. Do you know how hard it is to come from another planet, and to come to
see how all your friends have grown better than you? How they seem to improve, and
you're still poor little old you, with nothing to show but some good grades you get when
you were three. They don't care. They sure as hell don't care.

So what can I say? Not much. I just feel like there's this empty part of me, part of
me that wants to kill them for being so good at what they do, part of me wanting to be
better, part of me wanting to cry out and just wish for someone to go help me. Noone
really does that anymore. Excusing Kaxic on that part. And even then, when I thought I
had something special, he turns. Into what? I'm lost, you tell me. You're the one seeing
this, aren't you? You've got a good idea of what I do every day. So give me a little hint,
huh?

I'm still confused on what to do about this all. I wonder about my parents a lot,
after that one night. The same day Kiri calls me "big sister" is the day he's attacked, and
that gets me to wondering further about what I'm here for, where I came from. Maybe I
should ask around soon, find out what others have to say on it. I hope something worth
noting. I can't go on much longer without knowing. No, I'm not talking about suicide,
dumbass. I mean, I've had my fair share of attempts, few scars here and there, but
nothing major. I just won't have anything to live for.

As for the headquarters? Too much of a good thing can kill you.

Magick sighed, putting down the pen on her little leopard-skinned notebook.
Feeling the stretchy, fake material, she rolled over onto her back and stretched out, trying
to honestly think as best she could about where she came from. Still, the deep resentment
she had spoken of was still coursing through her body. Rubbing a tense spot on her
shoulder, she winced as it went cold and prickly. She just could hope for the best now,
and wait and see what happened in result to that.

Stretching slightly as she got up and moved off the couch and onto the carpeted
floor of the lounge, she yawned, displaying tiny fangs. A little inner voice was telling her
that there was some sort of tension needing to be released, and it clicked. Anger could be
taken out in simulation.

Dropping her pen and notebook onto one of the pillows, she strode briskly from
the room in bare feet and took a few sharp turns down empty corridors. It was late at
night, hardly anyone would be up to notice that she was going somewhere. Finally
finding her destination, Magick sighed in contentment, looking up the stairwell to the
simulation room, where punching bags and all sorts of tension-relievers were just
WAITING to be ripped apart.

Stepping up the stairs, she clenched her fists tightly in her building rage and
reached the top, looking around gleefully to the huge area specified for fighting and
training. A punching bag lay within range, and she immediately lashed out with an arm,
punching it squarely on the little red dot. Rethinking quickly, she hopped over to a
cabinet, holding hand tightly, and wrapped the wrist fondly, then switched to the other
one. Stripping down to undershirt and underwear, she then bandaged her ankles, and one
bandage around her head to prevent sweat from dripping down her face.

Freed of her clothing, Magick immediately set to work, punching the bag with all
her might. It always swung back, which annoyed her, and only made her punch it harder.
She wanted it down, and she wanted it to STAY down. With a cry of anger, she
pummeled the bag with everything she had. It still swung back, simply succeeding in
vexing her further.

Furious, she finally used a blasting attack on it, not defining the particular attack.
It had succeeding in making her mad enough to blast it into tinny bits, and now the
stuffing floated around in the room, sticking to her now slightly sticky skin and onto the
floor, collecting as dust.

"You don't loik losing, do you?"

Magick whirled, immediately covering up herself modestly with hands. The
figure in the window raised his eyebrows, then gave a glance down, then back up to her
face.

"Practicing, have you?"

Zae.

"Oh noooo," Magick moaned. "You did NOT come a good time. Come back later!
I'm not clothed!"

Zae chuckled, looking grimly at her as he stepped into the room and grinned
down at her. "I'm not goin' ta fit your appointment, love," he grinned, fangs showing in
the light from the room. "Just here to kill you, make sure you get chopped into itty bitty
pieces. Gone!"

Magick backed away, then hopped over to her clothing, piled messily, and
stepped into her kender pants, furiously tugging them up as she looked at him angrily,
narrowing eyes. "Look away, would you? If I'm going to fight you, I'm going to do it
clothed, damnit!"

Zaerenz nearly face-faulted, then looked up to her. "ExCUSE me?!"

"You're not excused! Look away!" Magick fought with the pants and finally got
them up, waiting for him to turn, simply staring at him expectantly and wide-eyed until
he obliged.

Rolling his eyes, then blinking as he did so, Zae turned slightly and crossed his
arms. "I'm not very patient," he said quietly, tapping his claws on his sleeve and picking
at an errant thread. " 'Sides, this was a get-in-get-out type of spontinaeity. You mind
giving me a li'l bit of credit?" He grumbled all sorts of other things, up to and including
"bloody woman, Oi'm not SO rude as to stare" and "hurry up, will you?"

Magick turned and gave him a glare worthy of most PMSing women. He threw
his hands up, then turned his back fully as she continued pulling her clothes back on.
"Damnit, woman! Hurry up! If I'm goin' ta kill ya, it's got to be soon! I'm not stopping in
for tea or that loik, just get it over with!"

Magick couldn't help but giggle to herself in this sort of situation. Evil or not, the
creature certainly could be agreeable. Then again, she knew very few who dared to mess
with a woman who gave THAT sort of look. Finishing, she fastened her pants with a
safety pin, and tied her hair up in a loose bun. "H'okie doke! You can look now!" She
assumed a fighting position, fists up as she waited.

"Don't I feel PRIVELIGED," he muttered, and turned around, claws growing out,
then inspected her clothing. "Don' tell me I have to ruin that lovely shirt."

Magick blushed. Lovely shirt? This... thing... was telling her she was dressing
fashionably? Letting go of the position, she blinked and looked down at it, stretching it
out to admire it. The fairy on the front stretched with it, and she smiled as she looked
back up. "Do you really like it?"

"D'I like it?" Zae seemed puzzled by the question, but his hands grew normal once
more as he crept over, put a finger on the fairy, and blinked. "I... guess so." He frowned
deeply, creasing his forehead with lines as he stepped away, his fingers looking laquered
black with the readied position of fighting.

Magick beamed at him. "Want it?"

"What'd I do with it, 'f I had it?"

"I don't know. Wear it?" Magick had to shrug.

"WEAR it?!" Zae backed away, reguarding her from one eye now and blinking
incredulously. "I may be in for the kicks, love, but I'm NOT about to go around wearing a
tiny li'l shirt o' some gills. Don' even know your name."

Magick offered a hand, patting her hair to keep it in place. "Magick Sudomyuu."

Zae looked down at the hand, then back up to her face. "Eh..." He blinked, then
shook it with a surprisingly warm hand. "Wot'm I doin' now, makin' frens with the
enemy?"

Magick blinked at him. "Zaerenz, isn't it?" She waited, and he assented slowly
with a nod, looking distrustful. "So switch it around. Make it something different."

"Two zee's, two ee's, an ay, an enn, and an are... " The man paused in thought and
looked down. A frown creased his otherwse handsome features, and when he looked
back up he was neutral. "Nerezza?"

Magick shrugged with a very neutral look to herself as well, then broke the
tension by smiling happily. "Well, there you go! Happy to meet you, Nerezza."

There was an awkward pause that reminded Magick of the first time she had seen
the vampire; then he had attacked. She readied herself, and this time, should he attack,
she would be ready. But nothing came, and he simply stood slack, towering over her.

Magick then relaxed herself. Thinking quickly, she hopped onto the balls of her
feet, and balancing precariously, took hold of the vampires trenchcoat. He looked
surprised, and backed away a bit, but she simply drew nearer until she licked his nose.
"And now it's settled," she said. "You can't be-- eeeeee..."

She recoiled, her tongue hanging out of her mouth, and she wiped it off with a
hand. It tasted like dead flesh, which, essentially, it was, and it only sickened her even
more. Coughing and spluttering, she sat down on the floor cross-legged, shaking her
head.

Nerezza crouched down beside her, looking over and wiping his nose with a
closed fist. "You thought that was bad. You should have been on the recieving end."

"Eh... you too, Magick..." He glanced down, then around, and finally ended up
with a hand behind his neck. "But... now what?"

Magick looked up at him from the floor, tongue hanging out of mouth. "I dannaw,
it calda uthed thalt."

Nerezza looked disgusted as he glanced to the window, then strode over briskly.
Looking out, then around, he stepped back up onto the windowsill.

"Wait!" Magick cried, looking after him, then standing. "You can't go yet, you
just got here... and... and besides, you can stay here, with us! You can be a Rocket
member!"

Nerezza shook his head, putting his other foot on the windowsill. "Whether I'll be
dragged kicking and screaming into the foirey burns of 'Ell, I'm NOT joinin' this ickle
corp'ration. I'm not good, nevah ha' been, nevah will be." His eyes traveled from the
outside back to Magick, and he tilted his head slightly and looked at her, then narrowed
his eyes. "It's not like I'm going to forget ya." His eyes shined for a moment, then he stood
up and launched forward, straightening out after leaping out and dropping down.

Again? Magick thought, and went slowly to the window, only to find that this
time, instead of there being nothing, the nosferatsu had reverted to what could only be
described as a wolf from Ur-- Earth, and he loped off into the woods, tail wagging with
every step.

Magick sighed, then rocked back on her heels, covering arms with hands and
sighing. "Oh well... mebbe'll see him again..."

***

I don't think I can take much more of this. I don't know if there's any hope for me
ever going to find my parents, I guess. Or finding out why I'm here. How I got here. Or,
you know, honestly, what I really am. Am I something like a mew?

There's been a worry going on with Joey. She keeps talking about this one man
named Thanos, which they made for this big bad evil dude who apparently was the one
who made me leave "home" so many years back. They call him Thanos, short for
Thanatos. He must be some pretty powerful guy. I imagine he must have gotten better
over the years. Not better, persay. Just more powerful. He could wipe any of us out, I'm
sure.

Joey told me something the other day. If you look into someone's eyes and see
remorse, pain, anger, love, or anything like that when they're saying something, they
must have a weakness at that point, and you can use it to your advantage, or you can do
something... eh, I forget. She was talking about it for awhile, but I don't have the best
attention span. I know she meant well, but I'm pretty stupid that way, and I keep losing
track of it. It was something about if they attack you, you can know they're not really
heartless, to a lesser degree or something. I'm rambling now.

So this vampire guy. Zaerenz, but I should start calling him Nerezza, he asked me
to do that for him. Fangs, blood-drinking, the whole ordeal. I still don't understand why
there's such a thing on this planet, but maybe he's not really a vampire, more of a
chaemera. Not the three-headed beastie that I know from Earth, but one of those things
that means a mixture of a whole bunch of things. I don't know, he's sort of cute. But then
again, so are the guys in the HQ, nearly all of them. I can't believe how much they're all
adult-y. It's sort of startling to see, after you get over the fact that you've known these
guys for over five years.

I guess you could say I'm starting to find more to do, more to be in life, but I'm
still wondering what's out there, left for me. I still have all my individual problems, and
for each good thing there's a consequence, but you know. I suppose I can live with that.
Or can I?

Magick brushed back a long strand of hair from her face, closing her diary once
more and putting the tiny lock on it, securing it firmly. With a sigh, she then turned and
lay on the couch, looking up at the stucco ceiling in awe. What really did await her now?

With a purse of her lips and a frown, she whispered to the empty room.

"Is there anything..?"