It's 2018. I love you all. Let's get to it. Star vs the Forces of Evil is owned by Disney and Stands are the creation of the brilliant and talented Hirohiko Araki. Blibbity. Blibbity. Bloo. Enjoy.
Flowers and Brimstone: Chapter 6.
(Two hours and twenty-seven minutes later)
BOOM!
Marco's eyes snapped open as he was suddenly jolted back to consciousness; a sensation vaguely similar to a car slamming into a brick wall.
Alive.
He was alive~
Somehow, and against all odds, Marco Diaz was still alive~
'In your face, Death.' The young Latino thought brazenly. 'Not today, bitch.'
Not that it really made much of a difference, considering that he still couldn't see, hear or talk.
All he could do was lay there and ache all over.
EEEEEEEEEEEE~
Suddenly, an irritating, high-pitched whine started assaulting his ears; seeping into his brain and clawing at his synapses. Then, as mysteriously as it began, the awful din went away, and words started to take its place.
"What's wrong with him? Why isn't he responding?"
"He's probably just in shock. If we'd found him a couple seconds later he'd be dead. And I mean all the way dead."
"You don't think he's got brain damage, do you?"
"Let's hope not. That's one of the few things I can't fix."
"Wait, I think he just looked at me. Marco! Marco, can you hear me?"
"J-J-Janna? Cough! Cough! Is that you?" he croaked weakly.
"Yeah, it's me, man. And Jefferson's here too. You're safe now."
"Wha… What's happening? Where am I? And why… why can't I see anything?"
"You tell us, Diaz." Said Jefferson, sounding somewhat less cutting than usual. "Janna and I had to fish you out of a storm drain. You had two pipes sticking out of you and most of your blood was missing. Your face was pretty messed up too. So, either the shock of almost dying has caused you to develop hysterical blindness or that beating you took caused your retinas to detach. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that it's the former."
"Great… Cough! Cough! Just great…"
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The air was suddenly shattered by the horrendous wails of some distant and unseen crier.
"Oh, for the love of… what now?" the older man asked annoyedly.
"Don't know. I'll go check it out." Replied Janna. "You keep an eye on Marco. I'll be right back."
Somewhere, out in the darkness, a door suddenly opened and then slammed shut.
Now he and Jefferson were all alone.
"Jefferson? Jefferson, are you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm still here, ya big goof. What is it?"
"I… I… I'm blind!"
"So I've noticed."
"But… but why am I blind? Why is this happening to me?"
"I told you, it's probably psychosomatic. And even if it's not, panicking won't do you any good. So just calm down."
"Calm down! How am I supposed to calm down? I'm blind, I can't move, and I don't even know where I am. My life is over!"
"Ugh, just listen to you. All scared and insecure. You're finally starting to sound like your old self." The older User said, sounding both smug and relieved. "You know, there just might be hope for you yet, Diaz."
"But, what's gonna happen to me? Am I gonna be like this forever?"
"Probably not. I mean, odds are you're just reeling from the shock of almost dying. That, and the fact that you're still about a liter low on blood."
"Wha… What do you mean? I thought you healed me."
"I did. But you were so banged up I didn't have enough aura to fix everything. I mean, for the love of chives, I had to regrow your f***ing hand."
"Oh, I see. So, your powers do have limits, after all."
"You don't know the half of it."
"Well, I'll just have to keep that in mind from now on." The young Latino said, before letting out a soft yet begrudging sigh. "Anyway, thanks for saving me and… whatever."
"You're welcome." The older man replied bluntly. "Now if its not too much trouble, would you mind telling me what the hell happened? I mean, I know you're not up to 100% yet, but even at 30 you shouldn't 've gotten this banged up."
"It was these guys, called themselves the Diamond Dogs. Ever heard of them?"
"And how. Those guys are all 1st Class Psychos. They're ranked 2 through 6…"
"On the Biederbeck List, I know. That loud-mouthed Australian told me all about it while he was rearranging my organs. They got the drop on me and then someone else got the drop on them while the big goon was pounding my face."
"Someone got the drop on the Diamond Dogs? Who?"
"Don't know. I was pretty out of it at the time. All I remember are these… big, round, glowing eyes."
"Hmm… doesn't sound like anyone I've heard of. We're either dealing with an ambitious newcomer, or an old pro who's good at staying out of the spotlight. Either way, I don't like this. Whoever this guy is, he's tough enough to takedown five S-Rank lunatics singlehanded."
"Six."
"Say what now?"
"There were six of them. That bitch Nikki was there too; watching the whole thing."
"But… I only counted five."
"What's that?"
"Back at the alley, before Janna and I found you, I counted five bodies. I mean, they were all torn apart and mutilated, but I definitely counted five."
"But… but that means…"
"You stupid, stupid idiot!" cried Janna from somewhere close by; followed swiftly by the sound of someone smacking someone upside the head.
"Ugh… what now?" Jefferson groaned in exasperation. "You wait here, Diaz. I gotta go deal with this."
"Oh, uh… okay."
And with that, the older man left the room in a hurry; leaving the blind Latino alone with his thoughts.
'Oh Lord, I can't believe this.' He thought despondently. 'Last week I was the God of Destruction. The deadliest man alive. The undisputed King of all Stand Users. And now look at me. I'm just a blind invalid. Getting my ass handed to me by two fat slobs and an Australian. My life couldn't get any worse.'
SLAM!
"UGH! That stupid, spoiled, airheaded little… UGH!"
'I stand corrected.' He thought bitterly, before speaking up. "Hello, Janna. What ever is the matter?"
"Star's a moron, that's what's that matter! Do you know what that bimbo just did?"
"No, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me."
"Okay, first, I go over there and that braindead partygirl Ponyhead is bawling her eyes out over some stupid dance club closing. Can you believe that?"
"Very easily."
"And then Star starts bawling like an idiot and, of course, Lightfoot just rushes over to coddle her. And I'm like, 'What the f***? Am I the only one who sees how ridiculous this is? Does Star seriously think some stupid club matters right now?'"
"Well, if it's the one I think it is, then I can see why she…"
"So, I go over to smack some sense into her thick head, when Jefferson walks in and tells me I'm out of line. Me! Can you believe that?"
"Again, very easily."
"Oh, who asked you?"
Then, after another frustrated grunt, Marco felt the young Filipina plop down on the bed beside him.
"Uh… Janna. Not that I particularly care, what with you and Jefferson essentially holding me hostage with your creepy shadow Stand, but are you alright? You sound like you're coming unglued."
"Like you're one to talk, Mr. I Married a Demon."
"Touché. But you see, I'm not the one smacking my friends upside the head because their feeling sentimental."
"Well, excuse me, Marco. But we don't have time for any of Star's stupid crap right now. There's a psychopath out there ripping people's heads off. Not to mention all the other nut jobs in town I have to watch out for. Plus, I have to watch you 24-7 to make sure you don't kill anyone! And Jackie still won't answer her phone! And… and… Sweet Christmas, I'm starving! Do your parents have any chocolate cake or something?"
"No, they don't. But what the hell does… wait, where are we exactly?"
"We're in your room, Diaz. I'm surprised you couldn't tell by the smell. Now, back on topic, what about brownies? Or maybe some cookies? Heck, I'd even take plain old sugar candy."
"Janna, I think all this stress is giving you an eating disorder."
"Oh, what do you know?"
WHRRMM~ WHRRMM~
WHRRMM~ WHRRMM~
"What was that?"
"It's my phone. Hold on. Let me just… GASP!
"What? What's happening?"
"It's Jackie! Oh, thank goodness! She's finally calling me back."
BEEP!
"Jackie, where are you? Did you find the book?"
Marco couldn't hear what was being said on the other end, but whatever it was, it was making Janna grind her teeth.
"Who are you? And what have you done with Jackie?"
"Janna? Janna, what's going on?"
"Listen to me, you little piss stain. If you touch one hair on her head, I'll… wait, hey! No! Don't interrupt me! I… Uh-huh… Uh-huh… Uh-huh… NO, your ass is mine! Uh-huh… Uh-huh… Okay, he's right here. Hold on."
"Janna, what's…"
"SHHHH!" the young Filipina said, before shoving her phone into Marco's hand. "There's a psychopath on the other end and she's kidnapped Jackie. Keep her talking while I go get Jefferson."
But before the blind Latino could even try to reply, Janna was already out the door.
Having no other alternatives, he just shrugged and put the device to his ear.
"Um… Hello?"
"Ah, Marco. So, you really are still alive." Said a familiarly oily voice on the other end. "That's good. I'd hate for you to miss what comes next."
There was a strange sort of distortion in the voice, similar to when Janna had spoken to him through her Stand, but it was still unmistakable.
"You… You're the one who killed the Diamond Dogs. You took Jackie?"
"That's right, SLURP! Oh, excuse me. Anyway, yeah, I took your little girlfriend. And that bush-head who was with her too. What's her name again? Oh right, Kelly."
"Kelly? What the hell was she doing with Jackie?"
"Doesn't matter. They're both with me now. And if you ever wanna see them alive again, you're gonna do exactly what I say."
Marco grit his teeth, but managed to keep his anger in check.
"What do you want?"
"Heh-Heh. Good boy. Now listen up. I want you to give your boss a message."
"Boss?"
"You know, the old man Janna's always hanging out with. The one who smells like a gin mill."
"Jefferson? Wait, how do you know about…"
"Never mind that, just shut up and pay attention. See, I've set up this little game for the girls to try out. Nothing too complicated. Just a little endurance contest. Should only take about five days. And if they win, they get to come home. But listen, I'm taking a pretty big risk with this little project, and I value my privacy as well as my anonymity. So, I need you guys to do me a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
"Nothing big. Just keep the cops out of this."
"What?"
"You heard me. If word gets out about a missing teen, the cops might start poking around where they shouldn't. And if that happened, I'd have to kill them. And that would draw even more attention to me. So, I'm asking you, please, keep a lid on this. Or else."
"Or else what? You're already gonna kill them if they lose whatever game you've got planned. So, what's my incentive?"
"Heh-Heh-Heh~ You're a cold one, Diaz. I like that. But if you want incentive, here you go. If the girls lose my game, I'll just kill them like I did those thugs in the alley. But if the cops get involved, or if one of you bozos is stupid enough to try and find me yourselves, I'll do something much worse." The voice explained calmly, before devolving into something more crazed and animalistic. "I'll eat them both alive, and I'll make you watch!"
Suddenly, Marco was overwhelmed by an odd but familiar sensation.
A feeling he hadn't felt in over 800 years.
Fear.
"See you around, Cutie Pie~"
Click.
End Notes:
You've all probably figured this out by now, but Part 3 is gonna be a little longer than the first two. Maybe even a lot longer. I don't know. It will take as long as it takes to finish this. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next one.
Peace.