A/N 1: As in the previous chapters - ideas for fic and character development, questions, plotbunnies, suggestions, flames, character pictures, corrections, additions, comments, and everything in between can be mailed to hack_heaven@usa.net
A/N 2: I better explain this part. This vignette/interlude/whatever is a necessary part of the fic - unfortunately, it didn't fit into chapter 11, nor will it fit into chapter 12. It could, probably, be called something like 11 1/2 or 11b, but I'm *so* not going there.
Therefore, this is the first of the interludes - small (or not so small) chapters that focuses on one or two persons, and which really won't fit in anywhere else. They follow the rest of the fic, meaning that this would take place during/right after chapter 11. Enjoy :)
Note: There's about one person beside me who will understand the meaning behind the title, but that's okay - wouldn't want to give away *too* much, after all ;)
* * *
First Interlude: "I am Darkness, I am Death."
* * *
Contrary to what one might think, the spirit world was not consistent...at least not in the normal sense of the word. In fact, only two things in that world were even remotely consistent - it existed, and it changed.
God, did it change.
Jhonen had quickly learned that the spirits (and he himself) were able to shape the spirit world as they saw fit. It was as if there was a myriad of different worlds that were all, in some weird way, combined.
Each spirit created their own world, and it was obvious that they all had their particular preferences. Jhonen mother, for one, was very fond of beaches, especially Caribbean beaches during sunset. The sunsets she created were sometimes so beautiful that it brought tears to Jhonen's light brown eyes.
Another spirit he'd become familiar with, Christine, loved mountain and created them frequently - majestic, show-covered mountains, so tall that you became dizzy when you stood in their shadow and looked up.
Each spirit had a certain world that they loved - some cold, some warm, some dry, some green and moist - but they all had one thing in common: beauty. They were beautiful.
Beautiful...and very unlike the place that Jhonen now found himself in.
It was, in one word, a nightmare. If Jhonen had been religious, he would have called it Hell.
Twisted, torn rocks reaching towards a dark red sky, and a horizon which was hidden by heavy, ominous, black clouds that made their presence known by a continuos deep rumbling. A large, black lake spread out before him, but any reflection was lost in its endless depths. A roar of thunder made Jhonen jump back, and above him, fierce red lightning tore across the sky.
"Took you long enough," a voice said, and Jhonen spun around.
Behind him stood a boy who was probably only around Jhonen's age, but the haunted eyes and the dark circles under his gray eyes made him look years older. The boy moved closer, and Jhonen unconsciously took a step back. The boy smiled faintly, but didn't comment on it.
"Who are you?" Jhonen asked. It was the one question that had been bugging him ever since the restless spirit first made its presence known - who was this annoy person who insisted on getting them into trouble?
The boy smirked and snapped his fingers. A lit cigarette appeared in the air and fell into his hand. He took a long drag, then blew out the smoke with a satisfied look on his face.
"Erik," he replied. "Erik Angel."
Angel? Yeah, right, Jhonen thought, but kept it to himself.
"What? No jokes about my last name?" Erik asked. "Angel - fuck it," he muttered and took another drag from the cigarette.
Jhonen frowned. He wasn't fond of smoking in real life, and he wasn't about to put up with it here. He did have a certain power in this world, and he wasn't above using it. With only a flicker of a thought, he turned the tobacco into dried oak leaves. Erik, oblivious to Jhonen's trick, inhaled deeply once again, then bobbed over in a fit of coughs.
"Fuck! Bloody asshole!" he managed to get out between coughs.
Jhonen sent him a pointed look, and Erik sighed and tossed the cigarette into the black lake. It disappeared in the liquid without making even the slightest disturbance on the smooth surface. For a brief moment Jhonen watched the lake, then turned his attention to Erik.
"Alright, *Erik*. What the hell do you think you were doing? We got caught by the police because of you, moron!"
Erik rolled his eyes.
"Well, maybe if you wimps hadn't been so determined to protect the flatscans, you might have been able to fight your way out of there!"
"If you hadn't been so determined to make me angry, we wouldn't *be* in this situation!" Jhonen snapped.
"Human-lover," Erik muttered and turned his back to Jhonen.
Jhonen sighed and decided to try another tactic.
"Listen, obviously there's something you want from me, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered to contact me in the first place. So tell me who you are and what you want, and then we'll take it from there."
Erik smiled wryly.
"You're not as stupid as you look. 'Course, that would have been hard, but I think you could have managed."
The only reply he got was a roar of thunder when Jhonen proved that the cigarette-trick hadn't just been a lucky shot.
Erik raised an eyebrow.
"Nice. You know, I'm starting to suspect that you're not the good guy that everybody thinks you are," he remarked casually, but Jhonen would have none of that.
"Talk," he said coldly, and Erik sighed.
"Alright. We'll do it your fucking way. I'm a mutie, like you, and obviously, I'm dead."
"No kidding," Jhonen mumbled under his breath. "Okay, now that we've settled that, what about my other question?" he asked, a little louder.
"In one word? Revenge. I want to get even with the fuckers who did this to me."
Okay, revenge. Jhonen could understand that. He might not agree with it, but he *could* understand it.
"And you want me to do it for you," he guessed. "Sorry, but no can do. I'm one of the good guys, remember? I don't walk around and kill random people."
"They aren't fucking 'random people'!" Erik almost shouted. "They're the goddamn FoHs!"
"FoH or not, I don't kill people," Jhonen repeated through clenched teeth.
"Do you know what they did to me?" Erik sneered. "They followed me into a bar, then drugged my beer to make sure I couldn't use my powers. Then they dragged me outside and into an alley."
Jhonen fell silent, and Erik continued ruthlessly.
"They were armed, you know, but they didn't want to waste a bullet on a mutie. Instead, they beat me until I was almost unconscious, and then left me to die. "
Erik stepped closer, and his eyes glowed with barely contained fury.
"Do you have *any* idea of what it feels like to be beaten to death? Do you? Did you know that you can feel every single blow and kick? Even when you're so much pain that you can't move anymore, you can still feel every single kick in the ribs, every single, fucking bone that breaks, until you're in so much pain that you just want it to stop...but it doesn't. And you're left alone to feel the pain intensify until your body slowly gives up...that doesn't hurt, you know. That's in a whole fucking other dimension of pain," he sneered.
Jhonen felt a shiver down his spine. He didn't agree with violence, and hated hurting others, but this...this was inhumane. It wouldn't be violence - it would be justice, right? They deserved it, didn't they? He was supposed to protect the innocent, and even if Erik wasn't exactly an angel (pun intended), he didn't deserved what had happened to him.
Nobody deserved that.
"Okay...okay," he sighed. "If we meet any of the...persons...responsible, I'll help you get even. I won't kill them, but I'll figure something out...on the one condition that you stop trying to get us into trouble and help us out instead. We have problems enough as it is."
Erik nodded and held out his hand.
"Deal."
Jhonen let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and then accepted Erik's hand.
"Deal."
* * *
Coming up: To rescue or not to rescue...(another Guardians-centric chapter, but don't worry - after that, the Shadow Alliance will get a chapter of their own ;)
A/N 2: I better explain this part. This vignette/interlude/whatever is a necessary part of the fic - unfortunately, it didn't fit into chapter 11, nor will it fit into chapter 12. It could, probably, be called something like 11 1/2 or 11b, but I'm *so* not going there.
Therefore, this is the first of the interludes - small (or not so small) chapters that focuses on one or two persons, and which really won't fit in anywhere else. They follow the rest of the fic, meaning that this would take place during/right after chapter 11. Enjoy :)
Note: There's about one person beside me who will understand the meaning behind the title, but that's okay - wouldn't want to give away *too* much, after all ;)
* * *
First Interlude: "I am Darkness, I am Death."
* * *
Contrary to what one might think, the spirit world was not consistent...at least not in the normal sense of the word. In fact, only two things in that world were even remotely consistent - it existed, and it changed.
God, did it change.
Jhonen had quickly learned that the spirits (and he himself) were able to shape the spirit world as they saw fit. It was as if there was a myriad of different worlds that were all, in some weird way, combined.
Each spirit created their own world, and it was obvious that they all had their particular preferences. Jhonen mother, for one, was very fond of beaches, especially Caribbean beaches during sunset. The sunsets she created were sometimes so beautiful that it brought tears to Jhonen's light brown eyes.
Another spirit he'd become familiar with, Christine, loved mountain and created them frequently - majestic, show-covered mountains, so tall that you became dizzy when you stood in their shadow and looked up.
Each spirit had a certain world that they loved - some cold, some warm, some dry, some green and moist - but they all had one thing in common: beauty. They were beautiful.
Beautiful...and very unlike the place that Jhonen now found himself in.
It was, in one word, a nightmare. If Jhonen had been religious, he would have called it Hell.
Twisted, torn rocks reaching towards a dark red sky, and a horizon which was hidden by heavy, ominous, black clouds that made their presence known by a continuos deep rumbling. A large, black lake spread out before him, but any reflection was lost in its endless depths. A roar of thunder made Jhonen jump back, and above him, fierce red lightning tore across the sky.
"Took you long enough," a voice said, and Jhonen spun around.
Behind him stood a boy who was probably only around Jhonen's age, but the haunted eyes and the dark circles under his gray eyes made him look years older. The boy moved closer, and Jhonen unconsciously took a step back. The boy smiled faintly, but didn't comment on it.
"Who are you?" Jhonen asked. It was the one question that had been bugging him ever since the restless spirit first made its presence known - who was this annoy person who insisted on getting them into trouble?
The boy smirked and snapped his fingers. A lit cigarette appeared in the air and fell into his hand. He took a long drag, then blew out the smoke with a satisfied look on his face.
"Erik," he replied. "Erik Angel."
Angel? Yeah, right, Jhonen thought, but kept it to himself.
"What? No jokes about my last name?" Erik asked. "Angel - fuck it," he muttered and took another drag from the cigarette.
Jhonen frowned. He wasn't fond of smoking in real life, and he wasn't about to put up with it here. He did have a certain power in this world, and he wasn't above using it. With only a flicker of a thought, he turned the tobacco into dried oak leaves. Erik, oblivious to Jhonen's trick, inhaled deeply once again, then bobbed over in a fit of coughs.
"Fuck! Bloody asshole!" he managed to get out between coughs.
Jhonen sent him a pointed look, and Erik sighed and tossed the cigarette into the black lake. It disappeared in the liquid without making even the slightest disturbance on the smooth surface. For a brief moment Jhonen watched the lake, then turned his attention to Erik.
"Alright, *Erik*. What the hell do you think you were doing? We got caught by the police because of you, moron!"
Erik rolled his eyes.
"Well, maybe if you wimps hadn't been so determined to protect the flatscans, you might have been able to fight your way out of there!"
"If you hadn't been so determined to make me angry, we wouldn't *be* in this situation!" Jhonen snapped.
"Human-lover," Erik muttered and turned his back to Jhonen.
Jhonen sighed and decided to try another tactic.
"Listen, obviously there's something you want from me, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered to contact me in the first place. So tell me who you are and what you want, and then we'll take it from there."
Erik smiled wryly.
"You're not as stupid as you look. 'Course, that would have been hard, but I think you could have managed."
The only reply he got was a roar of thunder when Jhonen proved that the cigarette-trick hadn't just been a lucky shot.
Erik raised an eyebrow.
"Nice. You know, I'm starting to suspect that you're not the good guy that everybody thinks you are," he remarked casually, but Jhonen would have none of that.
"Talk," he said coldly, and Erik sighed.
"Alright. We'll do it your fucking way. I'm a mutie, like you, and obviously, I'm dead."
"No kidding," Jhonen mumbled under his breath. "Okay, now that we've settled that, what about my other question?" he asked, a little louder.
"In one word? Revenge. I want to get even with the fuckers who did this to me."
Okay, revenge. Jhonen could understand that. He might not agree with it, but he *could* understand it.
"And you want me to do it for you," he guessed. "Sorry, but no can do. I'm one of the good guys, remember? I don't walk around and kill random people."
"They aren't fucking 'random people'!" Erik almost shouted. "They're the goddamn FoHs!"
"FoH or not, I don't kill people," Jhonen repeated through clenched teeth.
"Do you know what they did to me?" Erik sneered. "They followed me into a bar, then drugged my beer to make sure I couldn't use my powers. Then they dragged me outside and into an alley."
Jhonen fell silent, and Erik continued ruthlessly.
"They were armed, you know, but they didn't want to waste a bullet on a mutie. Instead, they beat me until I was almost unconscious, and then left me to die. "
Erik stepped closer, and his eyes glowed with barely contained fury.
"Do you have *any* idea of what it feels like to be beaten to death? Do you? Did you know that you can feel every single blow and kick? Even when you're so much pain that you can't move anymore, you can still feel every single kick in the ribs, every single, fucking bone that breaks, until you're in so much pain that you just want it to stop...but it doesn't. And you're left alone to feel the pain intensify until your body slowly gives up...that doesn't hurt, you know. That's in a whole fucking other dimension of pain," he sneered.
Jhonen felt a shiver down his spine. He didn't agree with violence, and hated hurting others, but this...this was inhumane. It wouldn't be violence - it would be justice, right? They deserved it, didn't they? He was supposed to protect the innocent, and even if Erik wasn't exactly an angel (pun intended), he didn't deserved what had happened to him.
Nobody deserved that.
"Okay...okay," he sighed. "If we meet any of the...persons...responsible, I'll help you get even. I won't kill them, but I'll figure something out...on the one condition that you stop trying to get us into trouble and help us out instead. We have problems enough as it is."
Erik nodded and held out his hand.
"Deal."
Jhonen let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and then accepted Erik's hand.
"Deal."
* * *
Coming up: To rescue or not to rescue...(another Guardians-centric chapter, but don't worry - after that, the Shadow Alliance will get a chapter of their own ;)
