Nefarious and Mariana just stood there embracing for what seemed like forever. It was not like earlier when they were clinging onto each other for dear life, but totally affectionate. Who would have ever thought that this day would come for the infamous Dr. Nefarious Tropy? Certainly not him. He wished he knew what Mariana was thinking about all of this. He wondered exactly how she felt about him, and since he opened up and blurted everything out, he wanted her to tell him. But, he was not about to rush her, especially not if she was the 'love of his life'.
He now felt it necessary to slow things down between them, just so he had no chance of hurting her in any way. It reminded him of what his future self in his nightmare had said about never hurting her again. Five minutes ago, he had done just that, but he had redeemed himself. Thinking back to both his nightmare and earlier conversation with her, he realized that in a certain amount of time, he was going to screw up in Necromancy, end up like her friend Ellen, and say that it was worth it. But, somehow, he was going to live through all of it. He would live, become a true Necromancer like her… and end up alone for eternity… or from what he had read in the Necronomicon, until Cthulhu decides to eat him when he returns when the stars are right. He thought it best to ask her about Cthulhu. She would probably know more from personal experiences than what a book written by Abdul Alhazred, also known as the Mad Arab, could tell a person.
"Mariana, I need to kn…" He was cut short by the sound of an explosion. N. Gin burst into the corridor with a horror-ridden expression on his face.
Without letting go of Mariana, Nefarious asked him, "What did you blow up now, Gin?"
"We're under attack!" N. Gin exclaimed. "Crash Bandicoot is here!"
"What?" Now he was confused. Crash never came directly to them unless they were undergoing an evil plot. "Why?"
"They want me back on the island." Mariana said gravely. "The tribe that took me in."
"How do you know that, dear?" Dr. Cortex had not been far behind N. Gin. He was holding a blaster in his right hand, and a freakishly long scythe in his left. He tossed the scythe to her.
"Last night, I actually came home early." She explained, catching her scythe. "They wanted me back, and I refused. They began attacking me, and… I could have killed them, but they were with me my entire life, and… Cthulhu did not need any more sacrifices than what we gave Him."
"Sa…cri…fices…" Nefarious sounded shocked and repeated the word, syllable by syllable.
She kissed him on the cheek. "Only for born Necromancers. You cannot take part of those kind of rituals." She continued. "Anywho, they must have went to this… Crash, for assistance. Damn… they know I won't hurt animals. They're using it against me."
"He's a mutant." Dr. Cortex corrected her flatly.
"Either way, he was once an average marsupial, yes?"
"…Okay, yeah. He was." They heard another explosion coming from directly behind them. Crash stepped into the corridor. He was holding some sort of bazooka on his shoulder. Dr. Cortex screamed and hid behind N. Gin, who was holding his own oversized rocket launcher on his shoulder.
Oh, Crap! Nefarious thought. I don't have my tuning fork! Suddenly, the pentagram on his back began to burn, and he fell to his knees with a yell of pain. What the bloody hell? Crash gave him a confused look, but then looked at Mariana. He pointed the laser of the bazooka right at her heart.
"N…no!" Nefarious was in too much pain to stand. He noticed that she had gone into the Necromancer's state and she was too close to him, making him feel weaker.
"Take your best…" BOOM! She was cut off in mid-sentence by the deafening sound of Crash's bazooka. It hit her right in the center of her chest, sending her flying back into the wall on the far end of the corridor. The hit the wall with a loud SMACK, and slid to the floor with a dull THUD. No one said anything. N. Gin and Dr. Cortex were both too shocked to fire back.
That did it. Nefarious rose to his feet without any struggle at all. He felt his eyes shifting in some way as he took up a stance. It was not his normal fighting stance, either. His legs were straight and pushed together at the knees, his back was just as straight, and he held his arms down, and then turned his elbows upwards to a sixty-five degree angle. His hands seemed to catch on fire, but it was not an average fire… it was purple. He felt himself begin to levitate.
Other than rage, he felt completely and utterly emotionless. It was as if he was meditating, but this time it was different. He still had no control over his emotions, but it was not a trance. He could move, he could hate… and he felt somewhat insane. But it did not bother him one bit. He wanted to kill. That was all that mattered.
Stretching one arm out at Crash, the bandicoot seemed to freeze on the spot. He imagined his hand around his neck, and he closed it. Crash began struggling as if he were being choked by some invisible force. Nefarious decided to have some fun. He loosened his grip, but did not release him. He lifted his arm, picking Crash up off the floor from at least fifty feet away, and swiftly swung it to the left. Crash smacked right into the wall. He was then thrown onto the floor, picked up, smashed into the right wall, then onto the ceiling, and then onto the floor again.
He began to laugh, and it was not a 'sane' laugh, either. He ran his tongue over his top row of teeth, only to realize that he had fangs growing in where his canines should be.
"Aha…. AHA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!" He broke out into hysterics, swinging Crash from left to right and continuously smashing him into walls and such. "NOW THIS… THIS IS POWER! AHA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!" He used the invisible force to pull Crash up to eye level. He and the other two doctors could instantly see the life force being sucked right out of the bandicoot. It was madness.
"Dr. Tropy!" Dr. Cortex screamed. "Mariana's alright! Put him down!" But his words did not reach Nefarious' ears. He was too caught up in his insanity. Suddenly, a long blade ripped into his right shoulder. He screamed in pain and lost his focus, dropping Crash with only moments to spare. Dr. Cortex and N. Gin sighed in relief at the fact that Crash was still alive, which is strange. They were always trying to kill the bandicoot, but seeing him busted up like that, they worried. They were still worried about Nefarious' condition… a 16.5 foot long scythe blade sticking out of his shoulder, demonic features, and inner insanity that they have never seen before. And the strangest part of it all: Mariana was the one who had ripped into him with her scythe. He turned to face her.
There was a hole in her robes, and there should have been a hole going straight through her chest, but it was only raw skin… or whatever raw skin looked like when the natural skin color is white. She was breathing hard, cold sweat running down her face, and she was only halfway into the state of the Necromancer.
"Ne…farious…" She huffed. "Stop." She looked as if she were going to beg him. "Regain your focus… meditate right now." She commanded weakly.
Seeing her like this made him obey. He closed his eyes and began the Necromancer's meditation. Once again, he had no feeling whatsoever. He was alone with only his thoughts. He felt some sort of force helping him, and decided that it must have been her lending him her power. After who knows how long, he felt normal again… only weak.
Mariana pulled her scythe's blade out of his shoulder, and he fell over in both pain and exhaustion. She fell forward right next to him in the same state as he was in, dropping her scythe. They were both breathing hard, wheezing if you will. Staring each other down, he could tell that she was livid with him, but relieved that he was alright. With the rest of his strength, he put one arm around her.
"Thank you…" He whispered. "I'm sorry…" All went black.
When he awoke, he was in one of the hospital beds in the infirmary. Mariana was in the bed on his left, and Crash was in the one on his right. He remembered all that had happened, and was regretting it. He hated himself.
What did the world expect of him? He was doing many new things, experiencing new feelings. He had never felt so protective of one person. But it seemed as if he was failing, making mistakes every step of the way, but who could blame him? In the end, would it even matter? He felt as if he were going over the edge… of sanity, and of life.
Everything up to this point in his life must have been mistake after mistake… never ending screw ups. He failed to be an average person, an evil henchman, a Necromancer, and worst of all… a loving guardian. He wondered if it would ever end. He wondered how long it would take for him to do something right in someone else's eyes. He wondered how long it would take for him to do something right in his own eyes. He guessed that he would just have to wait and see. Not wanting to be what other people want him to be, but wanting to be his own person, whatever that was, he stared at the ceiling, and tears flowed down his face.
Am I going to be a failure forever? He wondered.
From the part where Nefarious stood up to fight Crash to the end was inspired by "Numb" by Linkin Park. Hope you all are enjoying this so far! I don't know exactly how far it's going to go. ^_^;
