By tomorrow_4eva
Disclaimer: DBZ characters property of Akira Toriyama.
Author's note:
Some say that Hell is other people. Some say that Hell is yourself. I think Hell is a little bit of both, but here's how I think Hell deals with those that try to escape it.
He wandered through the tunnel, avoiding the occasional rocky obstacle, picking the next direction he would travel in purely at random. He didn't bother trying to remember the path he'd taken - it didn't matter. After all, if he didn't know where he was, there was less chance that others would, and despite the occasional discomfort he felt much more at peace and relaxed inside these catacombs then outside. There wasn't anyone else around in the earthen passages. The only light was cast by the Ki ball hanging near his head, and the only noises were the ones he made as he moved. It was almost blissful.
"I suppose they're right, hell is other people," He mused out loud, the sound shattering the silence of eons. He smiled, a nasty, victorious smirk. "To think, they're all miserable out there, tormenting each other. It's so much more peaceful in here."
Taking a deep breath he stopped, enjoying the contentment of solitude and savouring the knowledge that outside others were suffering while he was content. Moving on, he saw a smallish opening in the wall, and on a whim, he squeezed through it. Immediately he found himself enclosed in a small, cramped space. His Ki light seemed to have disappeared, but through cracks in the wall in front of him he could make out a few shelves that jutted out uncomfortably from the wall into his arm, and several primitive looking devices propped against the wall or lying on the floor by his feet. The tiny room was cramped, and he could no longer feel an opening behind him - instead he felt the smoothness of a fourth wall.
Suddenly the wall he was facing was pulled back, and he recognized it as a door. Holding the door in one hand, and a bottle of some sort in the other, was a female oni, who was staring at him in surprise. Despite her non-demonic appearance and brightly coloured clothes, her startled expression was quickly morphing into one of hostility.
"What," She demanded forcefully, "are you doing, in my broom closet?"
"Er, my mistake," He said slowly, deciding not to provoke her. Even weak onis could be trouble when they were mad at you. Something about this oni woman bothered him, although he couldn't figure out what was wrong.
"'Mistake'? How do you mistakenly find your way into a broom closet?" Her eyes narrowed. "How did you break into my house without me hearing you?! I've been inside all morning, and my son would have heard you if you broke in last night!"
"Through a hole in the tunnels," He said, deciding there wasn't any reason not to tell the truth. She frowned, suspicious incomprehension on her face. "You know," He continued, "the labyrinths? There's a large part of them that's all caves and tunnels? I went through an opening in the wall of one of the passages, and found myself here."
The oni leaned against the doorframe, her proximity making him attempt to shrink back, but there was no room inside that tiny space. Her second hand held the door, a blockade warning him not to attempt anything.
"I see the inside of this closet everyday," She said accusingly, "and I have never found a hole in it large enough for someone your size to fit through. Except the door."
A voice in the back of his head warned him that she wasn't going to believe anything except the story she had already made up in her mind. So, he just stood there, staring at her, silently daring her to call him a liar outright. She frowned, probably deciding what to do with him. She wasn't really a scary oni, but that nagging feeling that something was out of place, that some fundamental thing had changed, made him wary.
Abruptly a knocking sound came from somewhere nearby, followed by the sound of something opening, and a cheerful female voice called out, "Chichi, are you ready to go shopping?"
"Just a minute!" The oni called back. His eyes followed her gaze as she turned partially to speak, and he froze as his sight caught on a small, still image, placed on a nearby wall.
That face.
There was no mistaking that face. His eyes darted frantically over the picture, noting the two other faces present: a young boy, easily recognizable despite being older, and the woman that stood in front of him.
"Now you, you go back through that hole!" The oni woman commanded him. He barely acknowledged her, his mind too busy whirling, trying to figure out what that picture was doing here - wherever here was - and what it's implications were.
He realized the door was shutting a mere instant before it did.
And he was in a small, narrow passage, made of stone, illuminated by his Ki light, which hung just ahead of him.
And a sickening feeling settled into his stomach as Freeza realized what had been bothering him about the woman.
She'd had no halo.
- Finis -
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