| ~YOKAN NO KAZE~ By EvFairy Chap1/Alternate Future: "Rebirth of Decay" *suuuuuuuuuish* The wind blows softly down at my feet, dancing around with the ashes and dust of the ground. Sometimes I miss the variety of sounds that were once heard normally everyday at the city: Cars honking, people's chatter, wild sirens going off, the little stray gig that street bands played at some corners that you unconsciously hummed all day.... I sighed. But now, all you can hear is a hollow, empty sound because the streets (or at least the dry abandoned plains where building scraps and corpses lie, that is) are deserted and there's no beginning, only end. It's amazing how people can still survive in this hostile, almost unbreatheable environment. Then again, maybe it's only unbreatheable to me ^^U The tobacco has eaten away my lungs almost completely, but smoking is bad habit that I could never take out of the daily basis. Bad habit? Hmmph... That term is almost non-existent for me; Now it's just one of the few pleasures of life a middle-aged woman like me can have. Unfortunately, the world seized to be a place where dreams bloom and children play freely on the streets or wherever. Neither the remaining young or adult people came out, afraid of losing their lives without having a chance to fight back. This is just so like Mirai Trunks' future, the one we feared about so much. It looked that we had nothing else to worry about after Cell's defeat in Gohan-kun's hands, and many peaceful years came after that. Obviously didn't last forever. The future we once 'avoided' appeared unsuspectedly, but this time worse than ever.... A malicious creature born from the dark wishes and intentions of every living being had been awaken: An authentic demon with a wide desire of conquest and absolute power that goes under the name of 'Sengaru'. Many brave warriors confronted it but they only contributed to the raise of its own power. Even warriors from other worlds, like dear Son Goku, came down to defend both living and death realms. Ironically, no one did even a scratch and no existent being was protected. They failed horridly, Gohan, Vejita, Yamcha, Goku and the rest of the Z senshi. One doesn't know if trying to live is worse than death itself. Either way, I won't fall so easily. I won't stop even if only my dear son Trunks and I stay as the only live souls around here, because life's the greatest gift of all. I've only seen like ten persons this week. I shudder just to think that almost twenty years before we saw people everywhere at anytime. The sky was true blue, sometimes covered by gray-purple clouds of glorious rain but it was never in this everlasting black color, only with a luminic metallic aurora lights we see on what was supposed to be the morning. Sometimes I wonder if the sun still exists. I looked at my watch, it was past 8:00pm. *I should hurry up if I want to finish the Asiel Project....* I was only out for a few groceries in a humble store like 10 miles from Capsule Corp. Trunks usually offers himself to do the job but today he decided to find Sengaru's weak point. Did I oppose?? Of course! Which sane mother wouldn't?? But my boy is just as stubborn as his father is.... Heh. Trunks-kun. No one can deny anything from him. Maybe, deep inside him, he has faith that everything will go back to normal again, just like before. Personally, I think everybody does. I've been working on a time machine, just like my counterpart in Mirai Trunks' future did; hopefully this could help us. This is taking a lot of time (of my precious life, mostly ^^U) but it could work. Project "Asiel", named after the heavenly being of healing. It's impossible to change timelines, but there's a possibility of healing and preventing other catastrophes. When it's finished, Trunks will travel to the past and alert everyone about this. This time, he will arrive quite on time so he could warn them properly. 'They' the ever so powerful z senshi, who were always there to protect the earth. I've been doing an intensive research about Sengaru, and found that we are dealing with an almost apocalyptic crisis here. The documents in which I found information about him are, ironically, antique biblical texts written by enlightened prophets. They mentioned that it couldn't be destroyed unless someone with a pure heart strikes him with a sacred element stained by its blood. It's impossible to do it these days; I hope Trunks gets to find that element too. And speaking about low points, my machine is so defective and undone that I'm afraid Trunks might end up in the stone age instead of the scheduled timeline -_-U.....They say I'm getting old for this, but I believe that age does not count when dealing with things like this, only the strenght of will and heart. I will make it.... Correction, we will make it. *Jeez!! I'd better run!* I skipped a little faster, avoiding pointy rocks and cracked asphalt on the way. I can see my house from here; the lights are out so I'm assuming Trunks is not home yet. *Please let my boy still be alive and safe..* I finally arrived to the old mansion and laboratories of Capsule Corp. I climbed down the stairs and placed the grocery bag on the kitchen's table. As soon as I placed it, I stretched myself because of my crippled back and felt a little relieved. I picked my cigar pack and my cap, then I went to the lab. I lit a cigar at the same time I put my cap on backwards. "Yeah! It looks great! Bulma, you're a genius!!" I said to myself, laughing a little at the sight of Asiel. It's not even close to done but it looks fine. Before I could kneel down at the base of the machine, little sounds coming from the kitchen stopped me. *Whew, finally! Trunks is here!* "Okaasan! Okaasan!!!..." Yup, it's Trunks all right. Though he sounds a bit weary.... "What's going on, dear? Why are you yelling like that? Are you hurt or something??" I raced to the kitchen, my heart accelerating at 100mph. The lights were out and I couldn't see a thing, only his dim silhouette traced by a stray light that came from the methane aurora that crossed the sky. The live image of his father, only that he's seventeen.... "Okaasan..." He was breathing heavily but he sounded a bit more calmed. The heavy load formed in my chest by previous concerns about his well-being was now eased. "...I couldn't find Sengaru but I did find one of his people..." "Oh, that's okay Trunks!" I replied, happy that he was fine. "The important thing is that you're okay and.." "No!!" Trunks exclaimed, this time desperate. ".....Okaasan...I was there watching while it slaughtered someone....and I couldn't do anything..." he fell silent and lowered his head, ashamed. I walked closer to him, a little overwhelmed to see him with such a self-pitying look. I felt like taking him over my lap and hold him, like I used to do when he was small and downhearted. But I knew that if I tried he'd complain and blush. "Don't blame yourself, honey. Come in and let's talk abo......" I stopped abruptly when my eyes noticed something clinging to Trunks' left leg. I adjusted my glasses and inclined forward to see it more closely. Hiding behind Trunks' leg was a small boy, peeking shyly over while watching me carefuly with a sorrowful, tear-streaked face. The little guy caught me staring at him and he quickly hid behind Trunks. Trunks noticed this and patted tenderly his head. "Okaasan...his mother...that creature killed his mother and his sister, leaving him homeless and with nowhere to go...." "Aaah...So I see." I knew what he was up to, but I preferred to stay silent at the moment. I hope that Trunks what is he getting us into, this was taking care of another human being, not a pet. And things are rather more difficult these days, we barely could take care of ourselves!. Either way, I kneeled before the little child, his almond-shaped gray-lilac eyes shimmering because of the tears. He looked nor a day older than 6, and had glossy, short jet-black hair, a little tussled, but still falling like a fine black curtain over his ears. He seemed scared and was pleading me for mercy with his ever-silent gaze. I snapped out of it and smiled at the boy, trying to ease his discomfort a little. "Hi there! I am Bulma, Trunks's mom. What's your name, little one?" The child looked at Trunks, as if asking him if it was all right to answer. Trunks nodded and placed a reassuring hand on his little head. Then he stared at the ground, lowering his face, and replied with a low and fearful tone of voice: "M….Mattiu Kuzuki…..ha-hajimemashite Bulma-san" I took a closer look of him: Those narrow and expressive eyes ….they remind me of someone….but who can it be? I smiled at his politeness. "My pleasure, Mattiu-san!" I stood up and pointed the both to come in. "Well, then! Come on in! I'll take care of your injuries while you eat something and tell me about it, okay?" Trunks hesitated, a little surprised. "So that means he can stay?" I scowled. "We'll talk about that later, young man……" ~Owari (to be continued!!….)~ |
