by Sparks
Disclaimer: Stryfe (happylustfulsigh) and Poccy (ewww) both belong to Marvel. "So Long" the song is Everlast's, "So Long" the fic is mine. No profit, no sue, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...
Author's Note: Special thanks to Diamonde, for her inspirational liquor and letting me know that this will pass as Decent Fic. ;) Yes, Dia, Stryfe IS hot, but I'm not completely crossed over yet... <g>
~I think I'm gonna die today
Everyone who hurt me's gonna pay
How could such a short time feel so long?
How could such a young life go so wrong?
Go so wrong~
***
~I knew a man with a son
Bought him a gun
And learned shorty just how to use it
Taught him huntin' and skinnin'
Right from the beginnin'
Made himself a mighty fine killer~
***
He inhaled deeply, the crisp, biting mountain air. It nipped at his tongue and the soft inner flesh of his lungs before he thought to close a protective telekinetic barrier around the tender organs.
*The flonq why?* he then thought to himself, and released the shield, allowing the cruel sting to once again assault his insides, reminding him that he was still alive. The cold had since numbed the rest of his body; gooseflesh was now a distant memory, giving way to frostbite and discolouration. The only warmth contained within him was the heated rush of the brandy as it slid fluidly down his throat and into his belly. The snifter cupped in his right hand trembled subconsciously, his iced fingers refusing to respond. The muscles clenched together, holding the bones stiff. He felt not the strain.
Azure eyes, now hollow as the tube they had been spawned in, gazed out upon the mountainous terrain. The highest point in the world; Everest. He kept the howling winds at bay himself, leaving the landscape in such a quiet that it felt like it was screaming. Silent, dead moments wandered in passing, feigning the life and the movement of time. They dared not ripple in his presence, not anymore.
Nothing messes with Apocalypse's bitch.
A true definition, at least from his point of view. Born and raised to be a fucking dog. Trained to obey, held eternally by that big-lipped bastard's choke chain. Even with the death of the God, he dangled pathetically by his warped neck, straining for breath through a crushed windpipe. He felt Apocalypse might be congratulated now. He had finally been strangled.
***
~Well shorty got picked on
Beat on and kicked on
And all his classmates wanna punk him
So with tears in his eye
He played catcher in the rye
And told his old man he went huntin'~
***
So many battles.
And he never fucking got it right. "Use your power to its fullest extent, Stryfe." "You are not a real person, Stryfe." "You've failed again, Stryfe."
Not again. He would not be proved an incompetent imbecile by those who would demean him. Inevitability would stare them in their Goddamned faces and they would regret every. Single. Thing. He would make 'dear old dad' proud. He would win. He would triumph over them all.
***
~And he felt so free
Like his destiny
Lay somewhere out on the horizon
His heart went cold
He felt a hundred years old
And started pullin' back on the trigger~
***
They sent him here. They chose this for him. This is what he was meant for. The cold didn't matter now. Neither did the brandy. It couldn't warm his soul--he had no soul. Never did have one, either. His heart; a piece of thumping stone, pounding and grating in his chest, grinding with excruciating patience to dust. He had always been quite impatient.
The thought sent a pang of bitterness reverberating through his body. His jaw clenched, and his teeth ground against each other. His temples pulsated in an intoxication of madness, the constricting feeling in his chest pressing inwards, threatening to crush his rib cage and snap his sternum. His ribs; like fingers, urging to grasp at what base elements kept him alive and squeeze them like a python, gripping them until all that was left was a fine power and liquid of rancid pink.
***
~See me
Hear me
But don't touch me
You should fear me
We're not dealing
Cause I'm seriously disturbed
That's my word~
***
His mind felt like a sort of twitch now, like a winding clock, tightening with every gradual tick, pulling taut, strumming with tension. Like a fine...cable.
It snapped.
***
~Straight to my mother
Wave my brother
From another
Point or place sucker~
***
A power like none other surged through him, racking his body and tearing him off of the ground. His back arched as he levitated, encompassed by the sheer energy that he had thus far contained inside of himself. It snaked around his body in tendrils, weaving together into a blanket of white heat that cracked and shuddered the air around him in waves that shattered the snifter in his hand and broke against the mountain peaks.
Avalanches shivered and spiralled down the slopes, denting the very mountains that held them. His head rose, focusing on one very specific, blinding spot in the horizon. He stilled completely, his breath frozen in his lungs, inching outwards to form but two whispered words that contained so much wealth in their meaning.
"So long..."
***
~Cause I ain't the one
Who is shading your sun
And took all your shine
Watch me get mine~
***
The earth trembled hard with the force of the blast. Anyone ignorant enough to glance upward, to behold such a tremendous and catastrophic event was instantaneously blinded, and though they were unaware at the time, they were the luckiest people on the planet.
The sky was ablaze with fire and smoke. The small, charcoal spot in the brilliant flares of the sun was indistinguishable. The surface of the star crackled and shattered, drawn inward to the point of impact, compressing down with such force in a growing, blackened concave. Midnight blanketed the fire in a cold embrace that lasted the time of one thought from one mind. The shockwave was left unheard.
If he had remembered anything, it would have most likely been the sound of the world screaming.
Pity.
He always did prefer the quiet.
***
~Feel my love burn
Be for my sins
Watch my world turn
The saga begins...~