--I don't own DragonBall Z and never will… no one pays me to do this! I wish they did.

little_dende@planetnamek.org

Just Another Day

Arenna left the school just as the sun was getting low enough to irritate her eyes. It was about 5:00. She squinted and put her head down a little to keep as much sun out of them as possible, and a strand of golden-blonde hair fell in front of her face. She scowled, as she knew she'd have no relief from its bright rays; it was the same every day as she walked home from school. Always the sun was right in her eyes. Ah well. It was better than rain, at least.

She stopped and took her shoes off so she could walk barefoot on the grass. She loved the feel of the cool grass on her bare feet! The wide school lawn soon ended, however, and she was faced with a rocky winding path. She sighed. This was going to require shoes again.

* * *

Arenna washed up the dishes from supper as her mom sat and watched the Evening World News. Her dad was hunched over the table, going over some work documents, or something. It was the same every night. Arenna would wash the dishes; her mother would watch the news; her father would sit wrapped up in whatever business of his. Arenna began to resent the mundane life that was dealt her.

"Honey, come here and see this," Arenna's mother called to her dad, with some interest in her voice. He got up and left his work, breathing only the softest sigh at having been interrupted, and joined his wife in the living room. Arenna went to see what was on the news, too. The face of the reporter looked back at her from the telescreen.

"Earlier this afternoon, scientists from the FGSA institute discovered a meteor heading toward our planet. Citizens around the world were not notified, as the meteor did not appear big enough to cause a global catastrophe. The citizens of Canaea, however, where the meteor is expected to hit, have been waiting for it.

"The Canaean's were urged to evacuate the area, so that no one might be injured by the impact, but many have decided to remain to witness, as some have called it, 'a fantastic light show'.

"The meteor has entered the atmosphere, and the majority of its mass is expected to be burned off. We take you live to the scene where some of the Canaean's are eagerly waiting the spectacular sight."

Arenna was never really interested in things that happened half way around the world, but she did like astronomy. She wondered what broken planet the meteor was from, and what kinds of things the scientists would find by studying it.

Arenna watched as a sudden bright light filled the sky and streaked toward the earth, to end in a powerful and deafening explosion, quickly followed by a second. 'So there were two meteors, not one?' Thick clouds of dust filled the air, and as it began to settle, many Canaeans seemed to appear out of nowhere, coming out the workings, to try and get a good look at the meteors, or at least the craters they had left. Arenna strained her eyes and peered forward, wishing she could push all of the people out of the way.

The telescreen showed two views, alternately. One from ground level, from the point of view of the people, and one from far up above, a bird's-eye-view, so to speak.

The dust began to settle, and the world seemed to go silent. There was hardly a sound coming from the TS; everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Arenna could've sworn her heart even stopped beating.

Her parents watched intently.

Arenna peered closer.

"...What the hell?"

It looked like something was moving, up out of the dust. Arenna could almost hear the collective gasp.

"Holy shit!" she yelled. A white explosion ripped its way through the crowd.

"What is that?" her mother screamed. Another explosion. Many dead Canaeans.

Her father looked at the TS, bewildered.

A bright white light filled the view of what was happening, and the picture on the screen, from the point of view of the Canaeans, suddenly went dead, and the screen became static.

Just as Arenna was about to yell out, the static was replaced by the ariel view.

It was difficult to see, there was still so much dust in the air, but wait, yes, she could see it; there were two figures down in the crater. Well, not really down, they seemed to be hovering somehow, above the gaping holes they had created.

'Wha--?' Could it be? Were these aliens that had crashed here, and not meteors at all? Yes, Arenna could definitely see, these were two people, and not of her race. They were similar to her race, in form and body structure, but Arenna could see they were different. Even from the helicopter camera view Arenna could see that.

One of them, the smaller of the two, was dressed in blue and white; the other in black. They both had thick, very thick, coarse black hair. They were wearing gloves and boots, and belts made of some kind of animal fur. Arenna wished she could see their faces. She wanted to know what they looked like.

The small one was standing with his arms folded in front of his chest. He looked over to his partner-did he say something? Arenna couldn't tell. He put his hand out in front of him, palm towards the crowd, and then... Arenna stared, startled and shocked. 'Wha-how did he...?' A bright white light seemed to emanate from his hand, engulf all of the people in front of him, and end in a glorious and powerful explosion.

He crossed his arms again.

Silence.

The other alien looked up and back, over his left shoulder, right at the TS screen. Arenna almost fell over herself trying to get a look at him, but the camera was too far away, and his face was soon covered by his arm, as he lifted his palm toward the screen. There was a split-second flash, and then static. All Arenna could hear was her own breathing.

Soon, the reporters face was back on the telescreen. Arenna didn't stay to hear what she had to say. What could someone say... after seeing that?

* * *

Arenna and Treena sat in the coffee shop, talking about the recent goings-on at school: how much their teacher sucked, and how unfair he was.

"Can you believe he is making us hand in that essay on Treowsday? Treena complained.

"I know," Arenna added to the rant, "it's like he thinks we don't have a life outside of his classroom. Like we just go to school and come home with only his lessons on our minds."

"Ass hole."

"Yeah."

The two girls sat in silence for a while, sipping their drinks and looking out the window at the bright summer day.

"Hey," Treena brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she broke the silence, "did you hear what happened in Canaea?"

"Yeah I did. So?"

"It's weird," said Treena, "that aliens would just come and start blowing up Canaea like that." She paused. "I didn't think I'd ever get to see an alien in my lifetime! I didn't think our planet was worth coming to," she mused.

"Well if you ask me," Arenna put in, "they're doing us a favour. Maybe the aliens just realised the Canaeans were stupid, like we did," she smiled. Their country, as well as a few others, had been having a very difficult time keeping peace with Canaea lately. Many speculated an all-out war would soon erupt. But it seemed these aliens--whoever they were--had seen to it that that wouldn't happen-by blowing the country away.

Arenna nonchalantly changed the subject. Matters from the other side of the world didn't concern her much. Anyway, she was too busy thinking about a certain guy to give much thought to anything else at all.

She smiled a little. "I talked to Broch today." She finally blurted out what she had been waiting to tell her friend all day.

"What?" Tree exclaimed, shocked. Her green eyes sparkled. "I didn't think you were ever going to work up the nerve to talk to him. What did you say?"

"Hello." Her grin widened. "He said hi back. And he smiled at me." She got butterflies in her stomach just thinking about him.

"See? I knew he liked you! Are you gonna talk to him again?"

"Yes, of course!" Arenna exclaimed. She could see in her mind how soon they would be going out; maybe they'd go to the season-end dance together. She'd bring him here for drinks sometime, too. But first, she had to talk to him again.

* * *

Arenna and Tree walked home together as the sun made its way down into the tops of the trees, indicating it was about 7:30 and probably very close to supper-time. They came to the corner where Treena had to turn to get to her own house, so Arenna said goodbye to her friend and continued walking down the street towards home.

* * *

She walked through the door, to be greeted by a lot of things all at once: the smell of nearly cooked food, the sound of her little brother playing very loudly, and the face of her mother, looking at her.

"You're awfully late today," she said, "where did you go after school?"

Arenna turned on her defensive side. "Me and Treena went out," she said. Why did her parents always have to be so nosy? She walked down the hall, past her noisy brother, and retreated into her room.

* * *

Her father came home and they ate dinner together. It was another uneventful evening, again.

As the dishes were being washed, her mother watched the news, as usual.

"Honey," her mother called to Arenna's dad, "come here and watch this." Just like last night.

Arenna walked after her dad, curious to see what was going on, but didn't sit in the room with them. Instead, she watched from the doorway in the hall, trying to go unnoticed.

The scene on telescreen looked just the same as last night. But what the reporter said was a little different.

"The alien intruders have moved east from Canaea, leaving only a battered shell of what used to be a civilization behind them. There are no known survivors of the aliens' attack." The reporter continued, "The aliens have moved to the island nation of Moriah, and have continued their destruction there. The Morian military was called in, but was quickly dispatched by the smaller of the two aliens; the army's weapons seemed to have no affect on him." The scene on the telescreen showed pictures of a burning city. Wounded and injured Morians could be seen crying, screaming, and trying to escape. The streets were also littered with dead bodies. Arenna's heart felt like it fell right into her stomach, and she could feel the colour leaving her face.

The reporter continued. "The Morian governor has declared the country to be in a state of emergency and distress, and has asked for help from the nearby country of Greenhollin. The Greenhollin army has since moved in and continues to battle the two powerful entities."

Arenna could see the soldiers on the screen...and then very soon could not. A bright flash of light filled the picture on the TS, and when it finally faded, all that was left of those soldiers were piles of ash. Arenna's mother gasped and looked at her father.

"Ohh shit." Arenna breathed silently to herself.

She had seen all she wanted to see, and headed back into her room.

* * *

The next day at school, Arenna could not stop thinking about the scenes she saw on the telescreen, mostly because those images had plagued her dreams the night before and made them feel all-too-real to her. Just what exactly were these aliens here for, anyway? They didn't seem like a problem when they were only blowing up Canaea, but now that they've moved and started to destroy Moriah as well...she wondered if they would move again. She wondered what exactly their intentions were.

She walked down the hall to her locker, preparing to go for lunch. Though her mind wasn't really focused on where she was going, and she almost ran right into Broch. Arenna gasped inwardly to herself. "Hi," she smiled.

"Hi," he smiled back, and leaned against the locker he was standing next to.

Arenna could feel the colour rising to her cheeks. "What...what are you doing for lunch today?" she asked without really thinking.

"Probably going out to the back lawn," he replied, without really thinking.

"Me too! D'you wanna go and eat together?" she couldn't believe it she had just asked him out.

"Yeah, sure! That'd be great." She couldn't believe it, he just said yes.

That afternoon at school, Arenna could not stop thinking about Broch.

* * *

A few days passed. Arenna now intently watched the news every night. The aliens kept moving, from city to city, country to country, destroying everything, and they did it very quickly. It was clear--everyone knew it--that they intended to sweep the entire planet. Arenna still didn't know WHY. And it seemed that, no matter how hard the people fought back, nothing seemed to be able to stop them. Almost three-quarters of the world's population was gone by now.

Arenna was sitting in her room, trying to read a book, but really could only keep thinking about the future. She thought she had one-once. She knew just what she wanted to do; had it all planned out. After she graduated Second-Level school, she was going to go into Advanced schooling, and have a career and a bright future.

A bright future. Yeah, right. Just how long of a future did she have to look forward to now? A week? A DAY?

Arenna shut her book. All of this thinking alone was not doing her much good. She went into the kitchen where her mother was cleaning ('Why is she cleaning?') and sat at the table. Arenna just watched her for a little while. She could hear kids laughing and playing in the park near her house. Geeze, did they even KNOW what was going to happen? She wondered how their parents could live, knowing their children had no futures at all.

'Good kami,' Arenna thought, 'I wonder how MY parents feel, knowing what's going to happen to Ferran and me. They're probably way more concerned about us than they are about themselves.' Arenna suddenly realised how much she meant to her mother and father. It was starting to make sense now; why her parents always seemed so nosy, asking where she was going, and how long she would be. Snooping into her business and all. It wasn't because they mistrusted her, or wanted to make her unhappy, it was because they really...loved her.

This realisation hit Arenna with the force of a sledgehammer. That was why her mother was cleaning the kitchen right now; she needed to take her mind off what was inevitably going to happen to herself and her family, and she wanted to make everyhthing seem...normal.

"Mom," said Arenna, "when you were a kid, what did you want to be?"

Her mother looked at her for a moment, and smiled the slightest smile. "When I was very young I wanted to be a dancer, but as I grew older I wanted nothing more than to become a lawyer. That's where I met your father; in lawschool. We got married, and I quit school so I could stay at home and look after you."

"Are you upset that you didn't get to live out your dream?"

Arenna's mother was slightly taken aback by this; she could hear Arenna's unspoken words, "because of me."

"Arie," she said, "meeting your father and quitting school was the best thing that happened to me. I'm so proud of the children I have... I couldn't be any more happy with you and Ferran than I am right now."

Arenna thought about this for a moment. It was so weird; she had never had a conversation like this with her mother before. She couldn't think of anyhting to say, and went back to her room.

Arenna's mother and father were watching the news. It ran pretty much 26 hours a day now, keeping steady tabs on the aliens' progress. Arenna sat down and joined them. She could see her parents exchange a glance; they didn't want her seeing this. But Arenna was going to stay. She didn't want to be left in the dark about anything. Her mother was holding Ferran in her lap, and she rested her chin on his head.

Arenna looked at the telescreen. It was a different reporter, and a different studio. Arenna shuddered as she realised why. She didn't understand how he managed to look so calm as he spoke.

"The aliens have swept up the whole west side of Forlindon and are expected to cover the entire eastern half of the country within a day or two.

Arenna...couldn't believe what she had heard. No...no! They had to be wrong! That's...that's where SHE lived! In Harlond, near the east coast of Forlindon. No, they weren't coming here, NOT YET!

Arenna was filled with a sudden terror, she didn't know what to do, she had to go somewhere, somehow she had to get away from here, so the aliens could not kill her. Her eyes welled up with tears, she choked on the lump in her throat. She got up and ran to her bedroom as the tears spilled uncontrollably.

"No!" she yelled as she punched her pillow, sobbing very loudly, "It's not true, it's not! It...can't be..." She put her head down and cried. She couldn't help it.

She heard someone open the door as her mother came in. "Arie," she said as she sat down beside her.

"M-mom?" Arenna had trouble talking as her sobs shook her body. Arenna's mother put her arms around her. Her father came in and sat on the bed next to them. Arenna spoke a little softer, "I'm so s-scared..."

* * *

Arenna sat through her classes, but she couldn't concentrate on what the teacher was saying. And by the looking around her, it seemed no one else could either. At first she didn't understand why they even bothered having school anymore. But then she realised, to keep everyone from all-out panic, it was good to just go about your daily routines. Just when she thought she couldn't take it any longer, the buzzer for lunch sounded.

Thank the stars, she thought.

She walked so quickly to her locker that she very nearly ran over about four different people. She packed her schoolbooks into her bag, and then on a whim she also packed her pictures, her notebook in which she kept all her own private writings, and other sundry items that she had, until her locker was virtually clear.

Arenna walked quickly down the hall, and ran right into Broch.

"Hey…" he said.

"Hey," Arenna spoke softly, eyes not meeting his.

"Are you…going outside for lunch today?"

Kami, why was everyone trying to fool themselves into believing they weren't afraid? "Um, no…" she tried to smile, "I…I can't today. Maybe another time, okay?"

"Alright," he said, trying to smile as well. "See you later, Arenna."

"Yeah," Arenna said quietly as he walked away. "See ya."

Normally she ate lunch on the back lawn with her friends, but today she couldn't. She just couldn't. She just...really wanted to go home. She sort of...missed her family. And she was a little scared, too.

She walked quickly all the way home, at times breaking into a jog. When she arrived home, she found her mother and brother as expected, but her father was there too. Normally he didn't come home until suppertime. But Arenna was glad he was here.

Her parents didn't ask her why she was home from school early; they were glad she was here too. And there was no need to ask why.

They didn't talk much, just sat around the kitchen table together. Arenna held her little brother on her lap as he played with some little toy of his.

"Can't we just go somewhere else?" Arenna's mother finally broke the silence. She voiced the hopes that were going through everybody's minds, but at the same time, she also knew the harsh realities that were evident to everyone as well.

"Where would we go?" her father asked. "It's obvious they intend to cover the entire planet. There is nowhere we could hide. All that we can do is try and stand our ground when they do come." The family retreated into silence again.

Arenna and her parents slowly went about their daily routines. Cooking supper; eating supper. Arenna played with her little brother for a while. They didn't watch the news that night.

* * *

Arenna had trouble falling asleep. Her mind was racing, afraid, thinking about the impending confrontation with the two aliens. When would they come? What if they destroyed her house? or killed her family? or killed her? What would it be like when they came? She tossed and turned and stared at the ceiling.

The thick silence was starting to become unbearable. She listened to the crickets outside her window.

Somehow, despite her anxious mind, Arenna did finally fall asleep that night. It was a deep, dark sleep, completely dreamless, and very welcome.

She was jarred awake as her house shook with a tremendous force. She heard her little brother scream, as he had no idea what was really going on. She ran out of her room, not sure of where she was going, just wanting to see her family. She ran into the hall as her parents ran into her little brother's room to get him. The house continued to lurch and shake, off and on, and numerous rumblings could be heard outside. The house was shifting, creaking, groaning, as if in some terrible pain. It felt and sounded a lot like an earthquake.

Soon, Arenna could hear people screaming, but it sounded far off, like the screaming and danger were out there, and Arenna and her family were safe in here, insulated from the outside world. That is, until the entire southern wall of Arenna's house collapsed into nothing more than rubble.

Arenna and her family ran to take cover in a far corner of the house, but not before she had gotten a good look at what was out there. Nothing in Arenna's life could ever have prepared her for what she saw out there. It was like her world had been turned upside-down in an instant. It had probably only been forty-five seconds since she was awoken by that first blast. She had never seen such...destruction. It was worse than it was on the news, much worse. For the first time in her life, she could see Treena's house from her own, because all of the houses and trees, and everything else that used to separate their two streets had been completely leveled. No, wait...she was wrong, she couldn't see Tree's house...it had been leveled, too. As Arenna sat shaking, huddled in the corner with her family, she finally felt true despair, and her stomach seemed to fold right in on itself. She started to cry.

Flashes and streaks of bright white light could be seen outside, some were far away, while others were all too close to home. She could see her neighbour's house light up from the inside out, with a blinding light that poured from the windows, and then explode with a deafening roar. It sounded unreal, like a dream, or like she was under water. She felt like she was somehow outside of it all. Rubble and pieces of wood and plaster shot into Arenna's house through the gaping hole that had once been a wall. She could hear the blood pounding in her ears. Arenna shut her eyes to protect them from the shards that shot with the force of a hurricane, and coughed as clouds of dust poured in. After a moment her father jumped up.

"Stay here!" he yelled, "I have to help them." The Buccans had been friend's of theirs for a long time. Had been. The phrase rang in Arenna's mind. She thought this was a very poor time for her father to choose to be heroic. But her mother would not let him go alone.

"Arie, stay here with Ferran!" Before she could protest through her tears, her mother had gone and run off after her father. That was the last time Arenna saw her parents.

She sat huddled in the corner, holding her little brother, trying to console him, to keep him from being afraid. She forced herself to stop crying, to remain strong for him, so he might feel a little better. It didn't help though, as soon he was in hysterics, screaming and crying uncontrollably, and trying to get away from Arenna.

'What are you doing?' She thought. 'Why do you want to get away?'

He had been screaming for his parents, for his mommy, and with a kick that took Arenna by complete surprise, he got out of her grasp and ran outside to find his mommy.

Arenna sat stunned for a moment before realising what had actually happened. "Ferran! Come back!" She jumped up and ran outside to look for her little brother, and the sight she was faced with was much worse than it had looked from the comfort and safety of her home. She could see...everything was flat. There was rubble everywhere. Broken down houses and buildings. Trees, some on fire, some already ash. The explosions and all the bright white light made Arenna's eyes burn. She saw vehicles, burned out from the inside, or ripped in half, or flattened under buildings. She saw one couple still in their car.

Arenna had to look away. She almost threw up. She wondered where they were trying to go, and why they would be so stupid to think they might find safety somewhere else on the planet.

Arenna had to put her hands over her ears; she couldn't take the noise any longer. The noise... the noise was so much...Arenna wanted it to stop, wished it would stop. There were sirens and alarms from disturbed vehicles. She could hear rushing water from broken pipes and water mains. The popping and hissing sound of severed power lines, and rumblings and crackings that sounded like thunder. But the worst... the worst was the screaming. Please...stop screaming. She heard mothers crying over the deaths of their children, husbands trying to tell their wives that everything would be okay, and holding them one last time. She heard children crying, looking for parents they would never find. People screaming in fear, and futily begging for their lives to be spared. A little baby crying all alone, who would never feel the cool grass between its toes on a warm summer day, who would never know friendship, would never know anything.

But worse than the noise, much worse, was the smell. It made Arenna nauseous. There was the smell of gas, from destroyed vehicles, homes, and buildings. The reek of tar, from a half-melted street. The smell of dust and plaster, everywhere. The smell of ozone. 'From where?' she wondered. From Them. From those explosions they could make. But overpowering all of these and making them virtually unnoticeable, was a something far worse. The smell of death. It made her so nauseous her legs became weak and it was an effort just to stand. She could smell blood, from those who had gotten crushed beneath buildings. She could smell burning clothing, burning hair, and charred flesh that, Arenna was disgusted with herself to admit, reminded her of a cookout.

For an instant, she drifted back to a happier time, back to a time when her family was together on a picnic, cooking supper over the fire. Her parents were preparing the food, while she and her brother played a rollicking game of Chase. Those were her favourite times, when she and her family would go out on picnics together. She never realised before how much she really loved them. She wondered why she had never told them that before. She wished that she had. She loved those picnics and loved playing Chase with her brother. She thought she could almost hear him yelling with excitement right now. No, it wasn't excitement. It was...fear.

There he was, no more then fifty feet away from her. Being held in the air, by his neck, by one of Them. She wanted to run. To her brother? To rescue him? Or away? Run away from this madness and save herself. She could run away! Run away and be safe, while the alien was distracted. Distracted with...her little brother. He was being held in the air by his neck. He was so afraid. Little children were not supposed to understand the concept of mortality, but he knew. He knew, and was afraid. Or rather, terrified to the point of irrationality. Even from this far away she could see his bloodshot, tear-filled eyes and the fear in them.

The alien was looking up at him, but didn't even seem to care about him. Didn't even know he was someone's little brother. The alien tossed him about 25 feet into the air--the little boy's scream was like nothing Arenna could have imagined; it sent chills down her spine--and fired a blast from his hand that quickly engulfed Ferran and turned him into nothing more than ash that drifted slowly to the ground.

"Nooo!" she screamed. Arenna instinctively began to run to the spot where he...would have landed...were he still whole.

She stopped abruptly as something blocked her path not four feet away from her, something that wasn't there an instant ago. The alien. The alien that had killed her brother. He stood in her way, looking at her. Finally, she got to see his face. His eyes gave her chills and pierced her soul. They were cold, uncaring, unforgiving. They had seen more death and suffering than one person should ever be subject to. They had probably caused most of that death and suffering. They knew no emotion except hate, anger, jealousy, and pride.

They were eyes that had never known love.

'This is why he does this', she thought to herself, 'because of hate. Hate against who? Maybe against those who have people that love them.'

He continued to look at her with those eyes. She could feel his hatred in an almost tangible way. And yet, his eyes were also so...disinterested. She couldn't believe it, he didn't care about her at all. He really didn't. He raised his palm toward her; she watched it for what seemed like an eternity. She wanted him to know her name, to know she had a name. She started to cry.

The last thing that she saw was the killer's face, but even the coldness of his eyes could not stop the warmth that engulfed her.