[5] The Aftermath - The End of an Age

Content originated from dates of: March 10 2012 - August 4 2015; March 8 2017; September 10; September 30 2022; October 4 2022; April 20 2023; April 23 - 24 2023; April 26 2023

Mike rubbed Anastazia's shoulder before releasing her and walking over to the body. Chloe impatiently held the robotic parts of the disassembled android and Mike collected what was once his friend. Nick held out a hand for his sister to take and she stood shaky on her feet. With their packages in-hand, all of the galactic students vanished back to where they came from.

The group reappeared by the critical care infirmary on the planet belonging to their organization. Mike cleared his voice and addressed Chloe who was grumbling about 'weaklings', "Go deliver the parts or something. Maudie, you should go too. Dr. Zenopi will be wanting to hear your report on the mission."

Maudie nodded and Chloe begrudgingly followed the younger girl towards the central building in the city. The vampire wasn't interested in Anastazia's wellbeing, so the option to avoid her was all she could ask for. That runt had somehow surpassed her. Her. Chloe Tano, the strongest vertachic amplified female vampire in all of history… Chloe vowed to destroy Anastazia. One day.

Mike followed his girlfriend with his eyes as she disappeared behind the corner of the building before letting off a sigh. He would have to deal with her later… For now, he carried Shard's limp body into the back door of the infirmary. The door only used to deliver the deceased. He would meet Nick and Anastazia after he sent Shard away.

Anastazia could barely walk on her own as the adrenaline from the battle wore off and the pain she was in took over. By the time she was admitted to a medical bed, she was exhausted and fell unconscious before the healers could even begin their work. She was relatively unscathed as most of the evidence of battle remained bruises and small abrasions. With the exception of the stab wound on her side. That particular injury would take some time to fully heal, even with the professional staff.

"I can't help but feel like it's my fault…" Mike commented as he joined Nick on the observing chairs.

"How do you mean?" Nick asked.

The vampire's hands gripped his legs in frustration, "I tried to use instant transmission so I could take that blast… But it failed me. I don't know why. It was like my energy just wouldn't do it or like something came over me and I couldn't focus enough to pick the spot to appear. Whatever the reason, it made me feel sick and then… He…"

"Your power failed you. It's not your fault. You wanted to. Hell, you tried better than the rest of us did," Nick reasoned.

"But I failed. And I failed her," Mike grit his teeth. He had mentioned to Nick before about his personal feelings towards the man's sister. Although it wasn't something either were comfortable in mentioning, it was still out there.

"Nothing felt right today. Something about it felt different from the start. If anything, I've failed her because I didn't want to believe that feeling that everything was about to change. I never imagined that something like this even could happen," Nick sighed. The brunette knew change was inevitable and needed to happen so had ignored his gut feeling in hopes that something good would come from it. In hindsight, he regretted his decision. "Death really pulls you back to the reality of life…"

Mike simply nodded and the two remained in silence as night turned to day. It was early in the morning when Anastazia began to stir from her deep sleep. The men stood anxiously as she struggled to blink her eyes and move her arms behind herself. The bandages around her side pulled as she lifted herself up off the pillow enough to look at the two by her bedside.

Her voice was hoarse as she groggily questioned, "Where's Shard?"

The brother gulped, and Mike answered sympathetically, "He's gone, Ana."

"No…" she whispered in denial before the tears began to fall. Her arms fell to her sides and she lay back flat on the bed. Anastazia lay whimpering until she fell asleep once more.

"I should get the owlets. They may know we're back and keeping them waiting won't be any better than delaying the inevitable," Nick commented after a little more time passed. It was not something the man wanted to do, but it was best to let them grieve together.

As the human tentatively stood, Mike assured, "I'll watch over her until you return."

Strangely enough, that was oddly comforting. He knew the vampire would make sure Anastazia made a quick recovery. But it was for his own personal sense of ease as well. The brother didn't realize it until that moment that maybe as odd as it was, they had actually become friends over the years. Who would have thought?

"Thanks, man," Nick nodded, resting a hand on Mike's shoulder to show his appreciation and friendship in return.

Nick took a deep breath as he walked down the streets of NWSS on his way to the apartment complex the team called home. The family he was a part of was strained, but this kind of stress was more than the man ever imagined he could handle. He felt burdened with the weight of it all. Only now did he realize just how much he was carrying on his shoulders.

He was an empath; always trying to take everyone else's burdens away. The very concept of being the messenger for such a tragedy made him itch. He should have said something sooner. He should have let things blow over instead of kindle. Maybe then the outcome would have been different? It wasn't as though he'd have rather Maudie be killed, but Shard's sacrifice should have been avoided somehow. Maybe if things weren't so complicated, he wouldn't have thrown his body in front of that blast but a ki ball instead?

Well, there was no point in mulling over the what if scenarios. What's done is done. It was just time to clean up the mess. When Nick finally got to the apartment and walked down the stairs to the living quarters of the 'strongest team', the twin owlets perked up in excitement. As they realized their parents weren't with him, they tilted their heads in slight confusion.

"Uncle Nick?" the young girl began and her brother finished, "Where's Mum and Da?"

"In the infirmary. Come, let's go," Nick announced, unable to bring it upon himself to say anything further. The children's grandfather could tell something was seriously wrong by the man's expressions. Although the owlets were concerned, they had been called to the infirmary before. It wasn't too uncommon for their parents to get roughed up on a dangerous mission, and they were too young to realize that it shouldn't be a normal occurrence.

Back in the infirmary, the twins took to either side of their mother and anxiously waited for her to wake. Mike stood with a hardened expression on his face and intended to leave, but Nick grabbed his arm to make eye contact. Neither said a word, but they didn't need to. They knew they would talk later about what had happened that day. And Mike's look told Nick that the day wasn't over, yet.

"Where's Da?" the young Shard Junior asked the two men, queuing Mike to leave. "Uncle?"

"He…" Nick began, but wasn't able to finish and avoided eye contact with the children. They each looked back to their mom in worry, transforming into humanoids as they had just recently learned to get a little extra height. Seeing them this way made it even more clear that they were still just toddlers. The uncle set a hand on each of the twins' backs to help them climb up onto the bed and comfort them.

The twins' grandfather, Bubo, took the seat Mike had left. The family remained motionless; lost in time as it passed. It was just past 7am by the time Anastazia regained consciousness. Oultilissa was the one to take notice and inform the others with a small peep: "Mum?"

Anastazia's eyelids twitched and fluttered before she more calmly awoke this time. Noticing her children, tears licked her face just as they did before. Without needing to say a thing, her babies climbed across the medical bed to hug their mother and nestle in each arm.

Nick informed the nurses and two staff came by to check on Anastazia's condition. It seemed she wasn't in any pain thanks to a drip line, giving Nick and Bubo some relief. After the staff left, the little boy shifted around and was obviously pouting.

"Mum? What happened?" Shard Junior questioned in little more than a whisper. When he wasn't answered, he started again, "Where's Da?"

"He…" Anastazia hiccupped. "He didn't make it, baby."

"No…" the son whispered in despair. His cheeks turned tear stained.

"No. Not Da… He'll come back. Right, Mum?" Oultilissa desperately clung to her mother's arm. When she was met with a shake of the head, the girl buried her face into her mother's hair and wept.

Mike was beyond frustrated. The vampire grumbled and cursed his way around the small planet as he mulled over what happened that day. He couldn't help but feel guilty. It was his fault for not getting in front of that blast in time. If it wasn't for his lapse in power, Ana wouldn't be widowed and her chicks… He couldn't dare to think about them!

If only he was stronger, or faster! He punched the air, cracking a nearby building's wall and breaking the branches off a tree. A swipe of the leg and a cart left in the street crashed and crumbled like it was made of cardboard. No, he had grown significantly stronger. And his speed wasn't lacking.

Then he wasn't focused. But that didn't make any sense. The only times he's ever lost focus during battle was because of Chloe, but he'd lost those sorts of feelings for her… Wait, did he?

Fuck.

Something was bothering him about her. Her behavior was subpar at best that day. She's usually self centered, but it felt more than that. Chloe was heartless. It wasn't exactly off-brand as she never did like Shard or Anastazia. But the way she went about it didn't sit right in his stomach.

The first thing she did when Shard took the hit was… Insist Mike to give her his energy… Could it have been possible that she stopped him from performing instant transmission with her own agenda of preserving his energy just so she could have a boost?! But how?!

A deep rooted pain took hold of the vampire, and a memory flashed before him. Was it a memory? He didn't ever recall breaking it off with Chloe for real… Unless, she wanted him to forget and plagued his mind somehow.

The pain grew and Mike realized what was happening now. There was a legend of the ancient One vampire being capable of dark magic. Spells that could influence mind and body. Things unspoken of as it was long since forbidden. Could it be that Chloe discovered the dark spells and used it on him?!

That was the last straw of many. Mike's energy crackled and popped as his rage boiled over. She was using him. She let him kill Shard. Chloe Tano would pay for her transgressions.

A dark energy expelled from his body as his power grew higher than it ever had before. Although the spell was extinguished, Mike's control was still lost. Chloe would pay. That remained the only thing on his mind and it would stay there until he'd completed his mission.

It wasn't difficult to spot her as he flew to her typical hang-out spot. Sure enough, there she was with her best friends talking it up. Without any warning, Mike plummeted from the sky and landed a direct assault by headbutt that sent her crashing into the gym building behind her. As she ripped herself away from the rubble, surprise plastered across her face.

When Chloe realized what had happened, she grit her teeth and snarled. The next second, Mike grunted and a hand pulled at his chest as if in pain. Yes, she was attempting a re-cast of the dark spell. To be honest, this wasn't the first time he'd broken free much to her annoyance. Such was the disadvantage of being similar in strength.

However, Mike wasn't having it this time. The dark energy wafted off of his body and he stood back straighter as the spell became ineffective. Fear struck her face as she realized that he was too strong for her this time. Too close to being free.

Mike pulled Chloe from the wall and kicked her up into the air where he punched her fiercely. He wasn't holding back anything and he was already clearly her superior this time.

"You're a witch! How could you?! You ruined my life and now hers too! You made me kill him! On purpose! I'm going to make you pay!" Mike screamed as he launched powerful punch after punch into her weak defenses, sending her friends scattering as rouge electricity shot across the air.

He sent one last punch to her jaw, sending her flying back to the ground and forming a crater. She growled, "You're nothing without me!"

"We'll see about that!" Mike replied, conjuring his energy for his next assault.

Mike lunged forward and Chloe barely dodged before his fist swiped her back down into the dirt. She began to flail, desperate to get distance he did not allow her to have. Blow after blow, Chloe wore down leaving little more than scrapes on Mike while her own body became torn and bruised. Primal grunts seemed to be their only form of communication in this frenzy.

One particular punch from Mike met Chloe's forearm and was rewarded with a crunch as the bones inside snapped. The male growled, "You're not the strongest there is and you never will be!"

The female snarled her response, "I don't care that you're a Vud! I am the chosen One! I won't let you or that filthy passive to outrank me!"

Despite the break, she continued to desperately block and counter. It wasn't the first time she'd fought broken. As vampires, their species were renowned for their resilience. Injuries did not last. Their pain tolerance was known to be incredibly high, allowing them to continue fighting even with the loss of limbs. It was still a disturbing sight, despite these facts, as the broken arm swung and landed blows which gave its own unique sound.

Chloe sent a kick to Mike's torso, but his hand grabbed it before landing. With the new leverage, he swung his elbow into her knee, instantly dislocating it. The girl became rabid as Mike patronized, "There's more to life than just strength!"

She flung her other leg at him, but he simply pushed it out of the way making her spin. When she stopped he wasn't met with a retort and he continued, "I thought you knew that. I thought you cared about having a connection. To me. But you used me, you didn't love me. You couldn't let me go. And now, you face the consequences!"

"You son of a bitch!" came her scream as she threw her signature knives. Mike's arms deflected most of them, while three stuck but were ineffective.

"You fucker!" she cried when Mike removed one of the knives and threw it back at her, successfully lodging it into her abdomen.

Chloe lunged in anger but he easily restrained her by holding her fist with his and her legs are locked by his legs as well. Seeing as her broken arm hung and didn't need to be blocked, Mike took his free hand to drive the knife in her abdomen deeper and twist.

"Bastard!" she snarled as her broken arm attempted to do damage but served to be futile. As a last attempt, she extended her head forward in an effort to bite him. It wasn't often that a vampire would bite another as it was typically only used to prove dominance and/or to kill the other. She was left with no other choice.

In response, Mike simply fired a ki blast into her good arm's shoulder that made her fly back away from him. Finally with some space to breathe, Chloe panted, "I did love you!"

"That's the last thing you did," came his cold response. With incredible speed, he swiped the knife in her abdomen, ripping the skin away to allow blood to flow freely and spray across them both. "I don't ever want to see you again. Near me, or that family, you hear?! Or so help me, I'll send you to Hell myself!"

With a swift finisher, pulling her head into his knee, she fell unconscious with a splash from the collected blood in the dirt. As Mike's thoughts cleared from the bloodlust, he sighed to the woman he used to know, "You owned me like I was a puppet that only you could control. I was merely freeing myself from the cage you put me in."

It was over. Now begins the next step. It was time to clean up the mess and pick up the broken pieces. Starting with paying final respects to a comrade. Ending, hopefully, with their lives finally taking a turn for the future.