Rehab with Bright Colors

Comprehension started to making its presence known as Hex stepped out into the cool night air. The combination of stress, Stimpacs, alcohol, and the extensive amounts of raw data was pounding against his skull in a dull throb of pain. Show off the company at the Gala, finish for the night, and get back to work preparing the troops for warfare. Take care of business and then go to bed had been the plan, but everything went to shit after the first step.

He managed to get to a small secluded bench in the middle of Celestia's gardens, not far from where his small circle of friends had gathered just the night before and sat down heavily. There was too much weighting down on his mind, he loved his brother and his mother was somewhere safe as far as he knew, yet in the same stroke he was pulled into a game he didn't know the rules too by nothing more than blood relation. They needed infantry that wasn't scared to kill, but it would come at a cost to him and the turning of gears he couldn't understand.

A feeling he could only describe as a dull knife being slowly pushed into his skull was enough to remove any doubt that things were only going get worse.

"I'm truly sorry to bring you into this, but I need you at your best."

Looking around only sharpened the pain, and deepened his sense of dread when he found there was no one remotely close to him.

"I get that your a ghost now Mark. But that hurts. A lot. Talk to me when your actually beside me. I've got enough of a headache without you adding to it."

"That's the problem Hex. I can't talk to a dull mind, I've tried and it isn't pretty. I'm not strong enough to have a conversation like this without killing a regular human, but every ghost can talk to those with the gift. It hurts at first, but practice makes it easier."

If felt like his guts were bottoming out when the dots started to connect in his throbbing head. The pain seemed to bounce back a second time so hard that all he could do was lean forward and empty is stomach of everything he had just consumed. It only made things worse.

"I hate to do this to you brother, I really do. The thing is I need an ally that isn't half crippled, and that means breaking everything down and putting it back together again the way its supposed to work."

Another wave of vomit came, with enough force to make his entire frame shake with the strain. He knew somehow that his brother was holding back, yet it did nothing to curb the feeling that his skull was cracking open.

"I was stronger than you when we got tested, and they came after me because they couldn't detect the gift that we both shared. I got away with mom, but they got you and didn't know what they had. They tried to put you through the resoc tank, and it failed."

The gift his brother went on about was trying real damn hard to kill him, or at least that's what it felt like as he heaved for a third time in front of him. Somehow he had managed to keep from splattering himself but his boots were slowly being surrounded by a growing pool of filth.

"They put you through a second time and they thought it took, but while they convinced themselves it worked you did just the same even if you knew something was wrong. Too many problems to address it properly, no time to rest. You have the time now, so own up to the issue."

"Mark. I don't know what the hell your talking about..."

"Don't deny it Hex, it only makes it worse. You've been using a ghost's abilities this whole time, and its kept you alive and protected you from going off the deep end. Your mind is a scary fucking place, and the only thing keeping it together is what makes a ghost so much more dangerous than a dull."

"All Marines are given what they need to survive combat Mark, its shoved into our head in the tanks and was done so twice for me after two dunks."

"There it is Hex. Everything they need except for that little bit of something extra you've got that they don't. Resoc tanks shove knowledge into your head, everything you need to know, but not how to apply it. Humans would have won the war already if they had a ghosts perception, you've just given it another name and slip in like it comes naturally."

Another forced heave gave way to every last ounce of fluid left in his stomach. He was so empty that the pain from his stomach only added to the crippling agony tearing his head apart. It was probably the pain that kept him from realizing something so very simple, and as he covered his face with his hands his body continued to shake as he whispered.

"The machine."

"That's right big brother. Marines don't have that cold spot in their minds that let them function so very well in combat. That's why they've died by the droves, and you survive. You may have had your close calls, but that's because you've had more at hand then they've ever dreamed of. You've gone farther than I did when I first started out, and I think you'll go farther with a bit of training, but think it over Hex. I can hand you the weapons but you have to be willing to use them."

"You're already splitting my skull Mark, so at least tell me how your talking to me."

"Think of the machine as clay Hex, something that you can mold in your head then use outside your body. We're talking because I'm thinking of it as a needle in your brain, one that you can actually hear my voice from. You will die if we continue, and using it at all might do the same, lay off."

With on final flash of agony he felt the dull knife yanked from his skull and sat there with his face in his hands and the taste of copper filling his mouth. He was breathing hard, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do at that moment besides sit there and hope that he wouldn't pass out in the pool of vomit beneath him.

When he found the strength to get up and wobble towards the small pound off to his left the vison in his right eye suddenly blurred and stung, causing him to tear up and for the first time notice there was fluid leaking out of his nose. The reflection staring back at him looked like something from a horror movie. There was blood slowly seeping out of his right eye, along with a massive nose bleed and from what he could tell by the pain in his mouth it felt like blood was being pushed out of his gums over his teeth. If that was just a needle, he could only imagine how painful it would have been if it was something bigger.

All in all he looked a lot like shit as he did his best to wash the blood away and try to clean some of it out of his eye. Either he was bleeding from his tear duct or a blood vessel had burst in his eye, but there wasn't much he could do besides keeping it closed and letting it slowly weep blood. Two soft hooves wrapped around the sides of his head as something warm pressed into his back, and against the top of his still pounding head

"Poor little lamb, are you lost in this land?"

It was strange how his anger exponentially increased towards Lumia every single time they encountered each other. Maybe if she wasn't tied to so much luggage he might have thought of her as wanting to try something new, but nope there was too much shit following the mare for it to be coincidence.

"Get your damn hooves off of me Lumia. I don't want anything to do with you or the bullshit my brother is knee deep in."

"Whether you like it or not Hexus, you're apart of our little circle now. Your brother made sure of that when he asked for my dearest friend's hand in marriage."

Regardless of how much his mind rebelled against the idea, his body had no problem with her comforting softness or the soothing way her hooves felt running down his shoulders and slowly wrapping around his chest. Nothing like a mare who knew what she wanted, and cared even less about how she was going about to get it. He suddenly missed his dear little Scratchy, the only strings that came with her was a decent rut at the end of a nights drinking.

"It doesn't have to be so difficult Hexus... I can make it worth your.... commitment."

A slow promising lick up the back of his neck would have felt a thousand times more erotic if it didn't carry the guarantee of husband entrapment. He was tired of the stupid game, he was tried of his brother who hadn't been around for more than a day, and he was certainly tired of this bitch who was literally on his damn back with nothing to offer but years worth of headaches.

She thought he was complying when he reached back to caress her face, and as she licked and nipped the side of his neck he smiled and sighed with genuine pleasure. It was really easy to grab the bitch by her horn, giving her the old lean and pull as she was yanked over his back and pulled over his shoulder to land in the pond with a satisfying splash. Given the way she was thrashing about he assumed she couldn't swim, but she was close enough to the edge not to drown.

Walking away from her struggling form he wondered just what kind of repercussions he'd face from the political department for throwing a house figure head into a pond. His question was answered the moment his feet suddenly seemed glued to the ground before being yanked out from underneath him. Like the crazed she-bitch that Lumia was the pony was snarling as she flipped him onto his back and jumped on top of his chest.

Like some kind of sick rapist she still held his head gently between her hooves as she smiled down at him.

"Struggle all you want Hexus. I don't have to be nice with you and I certainly don't have to take your whining."

His arms snapped up on either side of his head and where held there as her horn glowed crimson. Even with the such a bad situation the machine kept him calm and even eased some of his pain before he stopped.

"I bet your the kind of man who enjoys being rode Hexus, the ones that like being held down."

Slipping out of the machine and looking at it inside of his head, Hex did as his brother had explained and thought of it as something else entirely. He thought of it as a nail, but that was too small... a really big nail, and just like that the machine changed its shape into a rail road spike.

"Don't get me wrong Hexus... I'm not mad at you."

A slow and very distracting lick ran its way up his neck and all the way to his ear, where it ended in a shape nip on the lobe. Pulling his focus back in he went back to the spike and with a bit more concentration it turned into the prettiest rail road spike he had ever seen. Nothing but shining blue steel, fresh off the factory line and ready for a few whacks to send it into it's final home.

"It's like the old saying goes. Nothing of value is gained without a struggle."

"You're going to have to try harder woman."

He took his fancy spike and looked up into those questioning lavender eyes. Imagining the tip being placed at the top of her head, he felt the heavy pressure return in his own head in a flash of pain but ignored it. She raised one perfectly lined eyebrow as she smiled at his pain, and as he imagined a hammer and the single blow it would take to drive it home. The bitch never saw it coming as she licked the tear of blood running down from his right eye.

One good blow, and her body went rigid. As agony exploded in his own head he could still see the way her eyes narrowed to pinpricks and the way her jaw locked in a silent scream. He knew she was in so much pain that she couldn't cry for help, he knew that even though it was killing him to do it, the cost was well worth the pay, and he also knew what terror tasted like from the spike drilled into her mind.

Through that spike he said just a few words that he put every ounce of promise he could muster behind.

"I will end you."

He yanked the spike free, and she convulsed on top of him before falling to his side. It took everything he had left to get up and onto his feet but looking down at her he felt joy for the first time in his life from causing someone else pain. She was scared, and tears streaked her pretty face as blood ran from her nose. There would be no more magic from her, and at that thought he laughed and walked away.

Everything was suddenly funny as he wobbled along. He laughed at the tears steaming down his left cheek while blood came down the right, he laughed even as blood dribbled from his nose and out of his mouth. What made him laugh the hardest was when he saw Mark, looking deathly ill and the rest of them looking mighty scared.

"I'll sooner die a free man then led by a leash. No matter how pretty that mare holding the leash may be."

Mark seemed to get paler, Shiny and Durge just looked confused, but Salamack was smiling before nodding his head in agreement. It didn't take them long to snap out of their stupor, and when they did rush him with demands of what happened Hex did the one thing he had wanted to do for a while now. He simply let go, and slipped into that welcoming blackness that took all the pain and worry away.