"Onii-chan"
by Marron
She didn't sleep much anymore. Even under slowly dying foliage, it was hard to sleep when the sun shone brightly in the sky, its rays sifting through the leaves of the dense wilderness. On sleepless days like these, she usually found her comfort in him; Onii-chan seemed to share her sleepless days, unlike Goten, who slept heavily (and loudly!), and Marron, who slept lightly, but always.
Onii-chan, Trunks, was not awake to sit with or talk to on this cloudy day, however. As Chikyuu's life faded, the winters became colder; they didn't have blankets, really, other than a few tattered rags. To start a fire would be to invite Aisuzu to find and destroy them, so they had nothing to rely on in the cold of winter other than ragged clothes and their own body heat. Onii-chan, on this particular day, was sound asleep, nestled snugly between his two best friends. He lay on his back, an arm wrapped protectively around Marron, who was snuggled up to his side, her head rested on his chest. Goten lay on Trunks' other side, stretched out on his back as well, snoring loudly. The Son boy was sprawled out, a leg over Trunks', and his arm flung over Trunks' chest, the back of his hand resting against Marron's cheek.
Bra shivered a little as she watched the three sleep. Maybe she should join them, curl up between Onii-chan and Goten, and find a few hours of dreamless sleep before night crept over them and it was time to train. She looked over her shoulder at Piccolo, who slept sitting up, leaning back against a tree trunk. Go to sleep, brat. She could almost hear him chiding her, and for a moment, Bra wondered if she was actually hearing him. The thought was confirmed as the Nameksei-jin opened his left eye slightly, just enough for one coal black pupil to look towards Bra sternly. She smiled, sheepishly, and pulled her tattered blanket about herself, tiptoeing towards Piccolo's other students. She crawled between Trunks and Goten, who was now turned on his side towards the lavender-haired young man. As Bra rested her head on Onii-chan's shoulder, Goten draped a warm, lazy arm around her, causing her to both blush and smile. Maybe sleep wasn't a bad thing after all.
---
Laughter, soft and airy, like small, tinkling bells filled the air. That was the first thing Bra heard as she woke up, the thing that woke her up in fact. She sat up, groggily, rubbing her eyes; it was still light outside, but very close to sunset. Bra looked around, finding Goten sprawled out next to her, and Piccolo still resting against the tree. Onii-chan and Marron were gone, though, so she decided to go investigate.
Following the sound of the laughter, Bra crept through the bushes silently, until she found herself spying on her Onii-chan and Marron. They were standing together, slow dancing clumsily (Onii-chan never did have any rhythm!) as Trunks sang softly to Marron. It was Marron's giggles that had woken Bra; it was an unusual sound, after all, as Marron never laughed-- it was hard enough getting her to smile, let alone chuckle, but laughing was out of the question! She did look very happy, though, and Bra knew it was because of her beloved Onii-chan. He was the staple of all of them, after all. Piccolo may have trained them, but Trunks kept them together, kept them hopeful with his cocky, arrogant attitude and rebellious air.
Marron's laughter faded, her smile going with it, and she hugged Trunks quietly. Trunks returned the embrace, and Bra sighed wistfully as she spied on the two. Maybe Goten-kun and I could be like that....? She thought, blushing a little as she thought of how Goten had draped his arm over her in his sleep earlier that day. Lost in a love so real, you wipe each other's tears away. It was Bra's favorite line from a song that Marron often song, a song by some silly boy band that had been popular right before Aisuzu's arrival. Indeed, Onii-chan and Marron were that way. When they were alone, or thought they were, at least (Bra and Goten had the tendency to spy upon them...), they were lost in such a love. They shared their tears, whether they were of sadness or joy, they shared their smiles, their laughter, their love. Bra could see how Marron could fall for Trunks so easily. Under his cocky exterior was a gentle, caring, protective, and loving person. Onii-chan loved all of them and would gladly give his life for them. How little Bra knew...
****
"One day, Goten-kun and I will be a happy couple like you and Onii-chan!" The sun had finally set, and the group was going through their pre-training evening routine. Bra and Marron chatted, as young girls often do, as Trunks and Goten were looking for breakfast.
"Of course you will, Bra-chan." Marron continued to brush Bra's hair, pulling it tightly into the topknot the girl liked to wear. "You're a little bit young for that right now, though. Maybe in a few years, when you're older."
Bra snorted. "I'm not little!" She said with a huff. Marron chuckled.
"I know, but Goten hasn't noticed you yet. I'm sure he will when you've grown up a bit." The blonde said as she finished fixing Bra's hair. Bra pouted as she, in turn, helped Marron to brush her hair. Marron's hair was long, reaching midway town her back; she always pulled the golden tresses back into two pigtails, secured by red ribbons (to match the logo on her vest) which held the hair in place just behind her ears.
"But... He will notice me, deshou?" Bra asked as Marron put away the brush and stood up.
"Oh, of course!" Marron gave Bra a thumbs-up. "You and Goten are meant to be-- just like Cinderella and Prince Charming."
Bra smiled and hugged Marron. She liked the way the older girl would tell her stories-- fairy tales, and things about what life was like before Aisuzu-- or sing her songs. Marron was just a few years older than Bra, but she had a keen memory of the way things had been before Aisuzu had come. Bra had a feeling that some of the things Marron said were made up, but she talked about a lot of things that were nice; it made Bra feel good to know that things had been happier once. Maybe.. Maybe, Bra hoped, things would be happy like that again.
"Araaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Bra and Marron snapped to attention, running towards the sound of Goten's surprised scream.
"Goten-kun!" Bra, Trunks, and Marron all arrived at Goten's side at the same time, shouting his name simultaneously. Goten looked at all of them, a bit startled by their arrival, then screamed again, hugging Trunks and dancing.
"Snow! It's snowing!" He sang excitedly.
"Uso da!" Trunks exclaimed, now dancing with Goten.
"He's not lying." Marron said matter-of-factly, holding her hand out in front of herself. Small flakes, tiny stars made of crystallized ice, fell onto her fingertips and, as she looked up into the cloudy night sky, onto her face.
Bra looked up into the sky, amazed by the rapidly growing snowstorm. "Onii-chan," she whispered, "this is... snow?"
"Sou da, Little bit." Her Onii-chan said with a nod, still dancing happily with Goten.
"It's so pretty..." Bra said with a smile, holding out her hands to catch the snowflakes. "Ne, Marron-chan, does this mean that it's Christmas?!"
Goten and Onii-chan stopped dancing and looked at Bra. "Christmas?" Onii-chan asked, and she nodded. Turning to Marron, Trunks shook his head. "I wish you wouldn't fill her head with such things."
"With what such things?" Marron asked. "With stories of happier times? With hope of happy times again?" She put her hands on her hips. "We can't all be brain dead like Goten or mopey like you are."
Goten took a step away from Trunks as the purple-haired boy reciprocated Marron's pose, hands in fists upon his hips. The Son boy leaned over to Bra, whispering a solitary word: "UT-oh."
"Marron." Bra winced-- her Onii-chan's tone was a bit harsh. "I just don't think you should be filling Bra's head with fairy tales and.." Onii-chan lowered his voice; Bra couldn't hear. "False hopes." Marron dropped her hands from her hips, looking genuinely hurt by whatever he had said, and he shook his head. "Even if it is Christmas, what gifts would we give to each other?"
Bra took this opportunity to jump in. "Friendship!" She chirped. "Marron-chan says that friendship is the foundation of everything. Just like Onii-chan's love and friendship keeps us all together and happy." Bra smiled a bit as Onii-chan glanced over at Marron, his expression softening.
"I don't even remember the real reason people celebrated Christmas," Goten said, finally adding his two cents to the conversation, "but I do know that it always meant lots of love, for everyone no matter what. Deshou?" He grinned widely, stretching out his arms to the others. "Group hug!" They all laughed.
"Che, I leave for a little while, and what do I find when I come back?" The group turned, caught a bit off guard, as a caped, turban-wearing figure came into view. "No training, no exercise. Not even with your guard up." Piccolo circled them, towering over even Onii-chan and Goten, and looked down upon them with a scolding and stern glare; his hands were locked together behind his back, concealed by his flowing cloak. "What if I was Aisuzu? You would be dead now."
"Never." Onii-chan defied their mentor by speaking up. "Her forces are few now, and we could take her, easily, if you would let us."
"If you want to die, go right ahead." Piccolo said with a snort.
"Onii-chan, Piccolo-san, dame da yo! Stop it!" Bra stomped a tiny foot. "Have you forgot about Christmas?"
Trunks sighed, murmuring some sort of apology to Piccolo. The Nameksei-jin smirked a little, then removed his hands from behind his back. In one green palm, he grasped a camera. His pupils looked at him, and the camera, with growing interest.
"Polly Roy, or something like that. That's what they used to call these. I found some new ruins nearby, and found this in it. It still has film." Piccolo explained. He stared directly at Marron as he finished the thought, "So that you can always remember." Piccolo was god once, Marron knew; perhaps he still had some sort of knowledge, some sort of premonition of things that were still to come?
"Waii waii!" Bra hopped up and down. "Piccolo-sensei, will you take our picture?!" The Nameksei-jin nodded. If one looked carefully, they might have seen his stone-cold glare soften, the side of his lips almost, almost turning upward into a slight smile. He would never, he could never tell them, but he was proud of them. None of them, including Piccolo himself, stood a chance against Aisuzu, but they had become strong, and he was proud of them, very much so.
Trunks and Goten situated themselves on either side of Marron, and Bra stood in front of the three. "Ready?" Piccolo asked, his taloned fingers wrapping themselves around the camera at an odd angle, bringing it to his face to look through. It was kind of awkward, as Piccolo only vaguely knew of what he was doing, but at least his fingers weren't in front of the lens.
"Wait!" Bra shouted, running off. She stopped not too far away as the others save Piccolo looked at what she was doing. She tore a few leaves and a berry or two from a berry bush, one of their few sources of food, and ran back. This time, she hopped on Marron's shoulders. "Onii-chan!" Bra exclaimed, "Look, it's mistletoe!" Bra grinned mischievously, holding the leaves over Marron's head.
"Mistletoe?" Both Trunks and Goten asked in union, then promptly leaned over, kissing Marron on either cheek. The girl blushed a pretty shade of pink, and Piccolo took their picture.
As they waited for the instant picture to develop, Bra scolded Goten with earnest. "Goten-kun!" She said, folding her arms in front of her.
"Marron-chan is Onii-chan's girlfriend! You can't kiss her!"
"Really, Goten." Bra saw Onii-chan winked at his best friend. "You don't want to kiss Marron, she has cooties."
"Trunks!" Marron punched him playfully in the arm, and he laughed, pulling her into a warm embrace.
"Kidding, kidding."
"Anou, ne..." Goten interrupted. "Did any of you see where Piccolo-sensei went?" He scratched his head as the others glanced around.
"No doubt, he went back to the ruins where he found that camera." Marron surmised. She closed her eyes for just a moment. "Nn... I can feel his ki. It's in the same direction he came from earlier. He must have gone back to fully explore it. I guess that means we should just start train--"
Marron stopped, mid-sentence, and her eyes snapped wide open. The others looked to her, but before any of them could ask what was wrong, they felt it, too. Aisuzu...!
Aisuzu, it appeared, had been able to gather up what little of her troops remained alive-- Byatcha and Hora? Were those their names?-- and had rather stealthily planned an attack on the protectors of the earth, these young children who were thrust so unwillingly into a life fueled by war and rage and destruction, fueled by the need to prevent those things. Aisuzu's entire army, save herself and these two, had slowly but surely fallen prey to these children over the past eight or nine years. She grew weary, the cold-hearted queen of the universe, with those who would strive to protect that which she wished to destroy, and she sought them out.
None of these teenagers, these children, had faced Aisuzu herself; they had only hastened against her endless troops, until the great warriors of the greatest warrior all perished. There was no more time for games, Aisuzu knew. She was tired, so very tired, of waiting. Now that she had found them, they needed to die. Trunks, the strongest of the group, immediately launched a large ki blast at the group of invaders, distracting them.
"GO!" He shouted an order over his shoulder as he lunged at Byatcha. "Get out of here, all of you, and find Piccolo!"
"Trunks, no, we can't!" Marron began to rush forward to aid her friend, her lover, but
Goten grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her. As Bra
began to race towards her Onii-chan, Goten stopped her as well, picking her up and carrying her under one arm.
"Goten-kun, let go! We have to help Onii-chan!" Bra screamed, struggling against the Son boy.
"Goten, get them out of here NOW!" Trunks, who was now fighting both Byatcha and Hora, demanded. "I'll hold them off!"
"Demo, Trunks-kun..!"
"Damnit, go!" He was hit as he yelled at Goten, and Bra screamed again as her Onii-chan flew past them, blood spurting from his mouth like water from a fountain. As the purple-haired boy bounced back again, this time wielding his sword, Goten hefted Marron's light frame over his shoulder and took off into the air, towards where Piccolo ought to be.
*****
"Piccolo-saaaaaaaan!" Goten screeched, a cry of the Nameksei-jin's name that would have put even Gohan to shame, as he flew, carrying the two girls, towards the ruins Piccolo was rummaging through. Piccolo looked up at the Saiya-jin, cocking a hairless brow as the young man landed, setting down Bra and Marron.
"Aisuzu found us!" Bra sobbed. "Onii-chan is still there with her!"
Piccolo's expression turned to one of wide-eyed shock, and, he thought, his heart skipped a beat or three. "Aisuzu found you? And Trunks...?"
Suddenly, all four of them except for Bra froze where they stood, their eyes widening with disbelief. Each of these young people, and their mentor, had a special bond, a connection. They could feel each other, sometimes even read each other's thoughts. Bra looked up at the others, and suddenly, she felt it, too.
Somewhere, the life-force of one of them dwindled drastically; then, as a candle snuffed out by the wind, the life-force disappeared.
"Onii...chan...?" Bra asked, bewildered.
"TRUNKS!!" Marron pushed Goten aside and took off into the air, heading back towards their training site, where Trunks had stood his ground against Aisuzu and her minions.
"Marron-chan, wait!" Goten called helplessly after her.
"Go after her, just in case." Piccolo instructed. "Bra and I will wait here. Hopefully we'll be safe for now."
******
Not too much time had passed since Marron and Goten left. Ten minutes or so, Bra figured; about the same amount of time that it took for them to flee and find Piccolo. Marron-chan and Goten-kun should be arriving to help Onii-chan any moment now.... Bra thought, worriedly.
A cry pierced the air, and both Piccolo and Bra looked up, then to each other. It wasn't really a scream; it was more of a wailing, perhaps like a banshee of old legends would cry. It was a mournful, painful cry, and it sent shivers down Bra's spine.
"What... Was that?" She asked, quietly, edging towards Piccolo-sensei.
"I'm not sure." He said, his head turning in the direction that Goten and Marron had left. He had lied; he did know what the sound was: it was a sure sign that they had found Trunks.
*****
An hour or so passed, or so it seemed to Bra; a long period of time filled with a quiet so loud, so overwhelming that Bra was ready to scream, to kick herself into the air and go find the others, anything to rid herself of the silence!
Piccolo, who had spent the time meditating, opened an eye, looking up. "They're back." He said, standing up, his cape billowing out behind him as he did so.
"Thank goodness!" Bra said with relief. "Onii-chan! Goten-kun! Marron-chan!" She called, ready to run to them as they landed a short distance away.
"Stay here." Piccolo commanded. Bra sulked a bit, sitting back down, and did as she was told as Piccolo walked to meet the teenagers.
Marron walked past Piccolo as he approached them. She said nothing, didn't even look in her sensei's direction until he moved to block her path. She looked up at him, an empty stare that caused Piccolo's stomach to churn. He stepped aside, and she continued walking away from Goten. Piccolo went to the young man, glancing back over his shoulder at Marron; she was walking towards Bra.
"What happened?" Piccolo asked in a low, gruff voice. Bra couldn't hear Goten's response; it was so soft, and it sounded as though he was... crying?
Bra looked up as Marron stood in front of her. She stood, tilting her head back to look up at the taller girl. Marron looked at her-- no, not really at her. It was as though Marron was looking through her, as though Bra was there, but Marron didn't really notice. In her hands, the blonde girl held Onii-chan's sword, the sheath covered in blood.
"So much blood..." Bra murmured as Marron wordlessly dropped the sheathed sword into Bra's hands. "Onii-chan beat them good, ne?" Marron said nothing.
"He killed ..... Byatcha ... and Hora .... but Aisuzu .... and ... when we got there he was ...." Bra looked past Marron, hearing Goten's explanation, between sobs, to their sensei. Goten was crying openly, Bra could see, as he set down what he had carried back: Trunks.
"Onii-chan...!" Bra started to run towards them, but Marron's hand shot out, grabbing the girl by the shoulder.
"No, Bra." She said. Her voice was flat, void of tears, void of emotion, void of anything.
"Let go!" Bra demanded, yanking herself out of Marron's grip. "Onii-chan! Onii-chan!" She cried, running towards the others. Marron turned away, looking up at the sky.
"Goten-kun, is Onii-chan hurt bad?" Bra found herself hugging Piccolo's leg--something the Nameksei-jin normally didn't allow-- as she looked down at Goten, who knelt beside her Onii-chan's motionless form. Goten was crying, his tears slipping through his fingers and landing on Trunks' face, and although he tried to tell Bra that her Onii-chan was more than just hurt, the words couldn't come out. He could do nothing but make small, choked sobbing sounds as he wept over his best friend.
"Bra, I'm sorry." Piccolo spoke up in the Son boy's stead, looking down at the young girl. "Goten tells me that when they got there, Aisuzu was already gone. Byatcha and Hora had been finished off easily by Trunks, it seems; their corpses were not too far away from Trunks himself. But Trunks was no match of Aisuzu..." He stopped, looking away from Bra, as if he couldn't bring himself to look at her any longer. "Aisuzu killed him, Bra. He hardly has a scratch on him, but... Show her, Goten."
"Please.. No, Piccolo-sensei. She shouldn't see..." Goten looked up, his eyes wide and full of tears, his expression a pleading one.
"She has to see for herself." Piccolo explained. "Show her." Goten swallowed, hard, and opened Trunks' jacket.
Bra's hands clasped themselves tightly over her mouth, and her eyes widened as though they might pop out of her head. What Piccolo said was true; there was not a scratch on the beautiful young man's visage, nor on his body, save under his blue Capsule Corp. jacket. His undershirt had been ripped, and there was a huge hole in his chest. Aisuzu had not only killed the boy, but she had done it by ripping out his heart. Bra conjured an awful image into her head, one of Aisuzu ripping the boy's heart out, and of Onii-chan looking at her in shock for the second before he quite understood what had happened and died. In her mind, Bra could see Trunks' heart, still beating in Aisuzu's clawed hand.
Bra backed away rather suddenly. She turn and ran away from them, soon falling to her knees, sobbing, and vomited.
*****
They held something akin to a funeral for Trunks at sunrise, taking great effort to bury him, as any warrior with such honor deserved. Bra was frightfully mad at Marron, for even as Goten and she herself sobbed, the blonde did not; she didn't even shed a tear. She just looked at Bra with an emotionless expression-- one that might have mirrored her Jinzouningen mother's.
She cried herself to sleep, sleeping a deep, dreamless sleep of exhaustion as Marron and Goten looked over her, and Piccolo looked over them. Nightmares crept into her dreams, and she startled herself out of sleep, looking around, groggily. Piccolo was sitting not too far off, meditating, but Goten and Marron were nowhere to be found.
Bra stood, furrowing her brow, and concentrated hard, looking for their ki. When she found it, she followed it to a small, half collapsed building in the ruins. She peeked, rather suspiciously, into the window, immediately spotting her two friends. Goten's eyes were still wet with tears, and he was hugging Marron, who had her face buried in the young man's shoulder. She was crying, murmuring, "Oh, Trunks..! Why? Why?" Over and over again, as though it was a mantra. She stopped suddenly, looking up at Goten. "Poor Bra-chan... Trunks is all she had left...!"
"No, no." Goten hugged the pigtailed girl tightly. "Bra still has us, and Piccolo-sensei. We all have each other, and we'll be okay. Everything will be okay. We just have to hold on."
Bra stopped spying in them and ran around the building, to the door. She swung it open and ran to Goten and Marron, who both embraced her warmly. The three sat there, for a long, long time, crying together, and even laughing as they thought of some of the fun times they had all had together with Trunks in spite of everything else; and they wept for both the happy times and the sad times. They wept for each other, and for their loss, but most of all, they wept for him, for Trunks, Onii-chan, who was a brother, a lover, and, most importantly, a friend.
Piccolo looked in on them from the window. No doubt it wouldn't take Aisuzu a very long time to find them again. They had a week, at the most. Six days from now, before Aisuzu decided to make another move, Piccolo decided, would be a good time. "Time to use the black stars." He murmured softly as he watched the children he had raised.
The End