This was probably the most difficult chapter I've ever had to write. It's all downhill from here and most likely I'll have another chapter posted within the week. I tried to make this one longer than the others. Some long chapters will be coming up so don't worry.
Well, enough chatter. I'm sure you don't wanna hear me ramble on forever... here's the chapter...
Chapter 5
The slight shift in the bed as Vegeta rose woke me early the next morning. I watched him dress through one sleep-hazed eye, turning so I could bury my cheek into his pillow. Vegeta tugged on his rumpled grey tanktop and faded blue jeans, then fixed dark eyes upon me.
"Are you coming?"
"Do you really think there's a reason to?" I countered, my voice slightly muffled in the pillow.
"Do you?"
Heaving an annoyed sigh, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with the back of my hand and sat up. Two conversations were going on here and neither I really wanted to address at eight o'clock in the morning just as I hadn't wanted to last night. Vegeta came over to the bedside; I sighed again and scooted over to make room for him.
"Do you think this power is strong enough to worry over?" I asked, and added haughtily, "Don't answer with a question."
"Yes," he said, studying my face. "I am not worried but I was unprepared once and I will not be so again."
I nodded, understanding that he was referring to the second battle with Frieza in riaru. The battle none of us ever wanted to talk about.
Vegeta's gaze hardened. "And if Kakarrot is going to train, so will I."
"Right." I shifted behind him and leaned my forehead against his warm shoulder. For a moment he didn't say anything. Then I felt an intensely strong hand grab my wrist, the one uninjured, and lightly tug me to stand in front of him.
"Are you coming?" he demanded once more.
Can you? he was asking. Can you fight again if an enemy shows up? Can you use the same power you used before? Can you?
Could I?
There was a great chance that this 'enemy' supposedly coming (or here already) was only Mirai Trunks and therefore not an enemy at all. The weird feeling we'd all been having seemed to be centered on the boy yet no one had put two and two together. Still . . . I refused to just stay behind and watch as the others trained, even if I couldn't summon up enough power to get my feet off the ground by myself.
"I'll come in a minute," I told him.
Vegeta accepted my answer with a grunt, stood, and stalked over to the large bay window nearby. He raised it swiftly with an arm.
I frowned. "Vegeta! Don't go out the-" A swoosh of stirred air and I was alone in the guest room. ". . . window . . ."
***
I quickly dressed and hurried down the hallway to find Bulma and perhaps beg for breakfast. Trunks's door slid open just as I passed by and I found myself staring into two deep blue eyes.
"Good morning," he said, hesitating slightly.
"G-Good morning," I returned after somehow my voice. I forced a bright smile and stuck out my hand. "I'm sorry! We weren't properly introduced. I'm Ally."
A warm hand curved around mine in a brief handshake. "I am . . ." Then his eyes darkened and fell to the floor.
I wanted to scream. So he was going to put up this front after all? What was he going to try and accomplish? Would he attempt to talk to Gokou? Argh! Too many questions! Well, at least he was being careful about spilling who he was and risking the possibility of not being born.
I suddenly felt sick.
Trunks was shifting nervously from one foot to the next. I must have paled because his eyes widened and he asked, "Are you alright?"
I nodded a little too insistently and found myself laying a hand on his arm. "Hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me anything about yourself." Not yet anyway.
The corners of his mouth turned up just barely. "Thank you . . . Ally."
I shrugged, tossing my braid over one shoulder. "So, would you like to go with me to bug Bulma into getting us some food?"
"Uh, I was actually trying to find Gokou. Have you seen him by chance?"
My insides turned cold. "Sure haven't," I said truthfully. And even if I had, I wouldn't tell you. "Come on. You know you're hungry!"
"But-"
"Rumble! Rumble! I can hear it!"
"Alright," he agreed reluctantly, again sporting a fraction of a tiny smile, and followed me into the kitchen. Bulma was sitting at the table, munching on a burnt bagel and reading the morning paper. She glanced up at us when we entered.
"Good morning," she said brightly. "Afraid this morning's breakfast is free-for-all. There's bagels or cereal so take your pick."
I gave a soft laugh, remembering how Bulma had never been famous for wonderful meals, unlike my own anime mother. "A bagel sounds fine to me," I said and grabbed a package of them from the counter. Trunks was hovering near the entrance to the kitchen. A blush had crept up his neck and he was trying hard to keep his eyes off Bulma.
"Oy," I called, plastering a smile on my face. "Want a bagel?"
Trunks jerked blue eyes to meet my own green ones. They were so, so sad, and my smile wanted to falter. But then he seemed to shake himself and crossed the kitchen to heat up his own dozen bagels.
Bulma laughed when she saw his plate piled high with the crusty things. "You eat like some other people I know do," she commented, studying the boy musingly. "I swear Gokou could always pack away two dozen of those little things."
"I apologize," Trunks said softly, but she waved a hand.
"Don't worry about it. You get used to it after awhile." She and I shared a knowing look behind his back and then Bulma went back to reading her paper while I sat down across from her. Trunks finished heating his heap of food and then took his own seat adjacent to both of us. Silence mostly filled the kitchen except for the sounds of food being devoured and the occasional rattle of the newspaper. Bored with watching Trunks watch Bulma, I settled on reading what I could of the back of the paper the blue-haired woman was holding up.
"Anything interesting?" I inquired lazily, nibbling a corner of a bagel.
"Not much," Bulma answered, moving on to another section. "Videl's father announced he was leaving the martial arts business, but that's about it."
"Did he now? Suppose he couldn't handle it."
"Suppose."
I rested my chin on one palm and scanned over the headlines. "New Type of Virus Decoded." Boring. "Mr. BlahBlah Awarded City Key." Whatever. "CC Developed New Design to Encapsule Frozen Food." Nothing new. "40-Year-Old Laboratory Found Destroyed." Same oh, same-
Laboratory?
I tilted my head to read more of the article. "Cave explorers were hiking the cliffs near South City when they stumbled upon a hole in the cliff side that led deep into the mountain. What they found were the abandoned ruins of an old laboratory of some kind. Officials scouting the area also uncovered two buried bodies inside. One was of the late Dr. Gero, an infamous scientist for his research in bio-prosthetics. The other body could not be identified."
The paper rattled as Bulma made a move to switch over to the back page. In a quick movement, I snatched that side of the newspaper before she could see it.
"I- I was reading that!" I said at her bewildered expression.
She shrugged. "Take it then." Bulma stood and put her dishes in the sink. "I've got a ton of work to do for now, but I'd like to speak with you later on, if that's alright." This last part she said to Trunks who looked away and nodded.
The both of us watched Bulma hurry off and we finished out breakfast in silence. Suddenly the front door slammed open and ChiChi rushed into the kitchen.
"There you are!" she huffed, leaning against the wall to catch her breath. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"What is it?" I asked, pushing away my half-eaten bagel.
"Gokou just came in and ate everything in the house before taking off to spar with that blasted Vegeta again! We have to go shopping! Now!"
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Fine, fine. We can go. But where's Gohan and . . . the kids?"
Trunks raised his head at that but said nothing.
"Gohan's joining Gokou in training." ChiChi muttered something else under her breath that sounded like a curse. "The children are in the hovercraft."
My heart was pounding, palms sweating. The truth was so close to being blown that I could literally feel it. "Ah, okay. You go on out and I'll be there in a moment."
She nodded and turned to run back outside. The moment she was gone I gave a shaky smile. "We take care of a neighbor's kids sometimes."
"Oh." Trunks shifted around in his seat. Taking that as a sign, I said a quick 'see you later' and bolted out the door. By Kami, Trunks could keep his mouth shut for two hours. Oh please Kami!
Seconds later, I was roaring toward town, my heart still racing. What had I gotten myself into?
***
The lavender-haired youth rested his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. Every time he spoke to Ally, he grew more confused. She seemed nice, though the feeling he kept getting from her was strange. And what happened last night was even stranger. He had hoped the morning would give him clearer senses but it hadn't.
He couldn't feel Ally. It was as if she didn't actually exist.
Sighing, the young man leaned his forehead on tanned fingertips. Later today. Maybe everything would be clearer later today . . . after he found someone to talk to . . .
Glancing down the hallway, he checked on his hidden sword. Then he took off, flying away from Capsule Corporation.
***
I hate Mondays, I thought wearily to myself, trailing behind ChiChi and trying to keep the two scurrying children within viewing range at the same time. Trilku's flame of black hair vanished around a corner in the marketplace and I quickly grabbed the collar of his little sister's jacket to keep her from doing the same.
Hefting the three-year-old on my hip, I made sure I knew which direction ChiChi was heading before ducking around the same corner after my son.
Where is he . . .? Seeing the crowd, I ground my teeth and scouted the area for the seven-year-old.
"There he is, Mama," Bapa pointed. I looked and caught sight of his "lil bad man" T-shirt right in front of a toy plane shop. I hurried through the crowd toward Trilku, bumping into another woman carrying a large bag of groceries.
"Sorry!" I said when a sack of apples split open and tossed its contents on the ground. "Go get your brother," I told Bapa and bent to help the young woman.
"You need to look where you're going," she muttered, not much emotion in her voice.
"Guess so," I admitted, handing her the last apple as I straightened. I looked up into her face and felt my blood run cold. She was short, short as me and that was saying a lot. Yellow blonde hair hung past her shoulders and was pulled back in a loose ponytail, two strands framing her face. Dark, intense eyes stared at me and the strange thing was- I could sense the power radiating from this woman. From this android. Juuhachigou. Number Eighteen.
"You're- You're-"
"Do I know you?" she asked, frowning a little.
I shook my head, backing away. "Time to go, children," I said to the kids and took each by the hand. "Sorry about the apples," I told the, uh, the- I told Juuhachigou. And then I melted back into the crowd. Once we put some distance between us and the woman, I turned to see her still gazing where I had vanished. A black-haired man walked over to her and they stood there for awhile, conversing in low tones. Then they both glanced around and vanished in the opposite direction.
Feeling my legs threatening to give out beneath me, I quickly met up with ChiChi and spent the rest of the shopping trip in numb silence. Once my anime mother had dropped us three off at the house far up the mountain, lunchtime had already passed. I made the kids some hasty sandwiches and went upstairs to the bedroom.
I found the tape where I had hidden it and popped it into the VCR. With the volume turned low enough it couldn't be heard downstairs, I watched as Mirai Trunks defeated the metal Frieza and King Cold, watched until he said goodbye and returned to the future, then shut it off. I leaned back against the foot of the bed, resting my head on the soft bedspread, and stared up at the ceiling. I didn't have an episode with Juuhachigou on it. But that woman . . . and the black-haired man with her . . . A normal woman couldn't possess that kind of power. It had to be her.
And if it was?
My cover would be blown.
I wondered why no one else had sensed her power- nor that of her brother, Juunanagou- then I realized that Androids couldn't be sensed.
Then why could I?
Sighing, I stood up and walked over to the computer Bulma had given us for Christmas a few years ago. I brought up the password-protected file and stared at the last part I'd written.
A few feet above the treetops, there was a flash and Vegeta raced into the sky again with me in his arms.
"One day, woman, I will not catch you."
His dark eyes glittered and I laughed, twining my arms around his neck.
Starting there, I typed up everything that had happened since Kami had died. Trunks appearing. My plan. Seeing the twins that resembled Android Seventeen and Eighteen. By the end of it, I was shaking so bad I could hardly type so I quickly saved the file and cut the computer off.
Was this another kind of test to see just how much I wanted my life here? I had been tested before so it wouldn't be any surprise. The walls were closing in around me and I felt like I was suffocating. Grasping the phone, I dialed Bulma's number.
"Hello, Bulma? This is Ally." A pause. "No, no, I'm fine. I was wondering if you could get someone to come and bring the kids over to your place." I waited for her answer. "Well, I've just got something to do and need a babysitter. Yamucha'll come? Yeah, that's fine. Thanks, Bulma, I'll pick them up later on today. Bye."
I hung up just before I felt hot anger swell up. Why was this happening to me?! Throwing open a window, I called Nimbus. The orange cloud appeared from the sky and bore me deep into the forest surrounding my home.
My home. That's what this world was. It . . . belonged to me. Yes, belonged! And no matter what I did, it always seemed to try and slip through my fingers.
I alighted in the middle of the trees and sent Nimbus away before balling my hands up into fists as my anger grew. Never had I felt so angry . . . so cheated . . .
"Never!" I shouted into the sky, the word burning in me. "I will NEVER give up! I fought for this life and I will never let anyone take it away from me! You understand, anime world?! It's mine! It's mine!"
The energy suddenly drained out of my body as quickly as it came, and I sank to the ground. "It's mine . . ." I sobbed. My hands cupped the area above my heart as I doubled over till my head rested on the warm grass. I felt as though my soul had been ripped apart and, in a way, it really had.
***
Oh dear! Another bad place to end... I'm writing! I'm writing! Sheesh.... ^_^