Author Notes: I decided to write a little story for the Dragonball series, so this came to be. I was thinking of doing this after watching Dragonball GT that left Piccolo in Hell and ended in a major cliffhanger in my opinion. A light bulb came on, so I thought I would continue this great anime series that I think most of you have grown up with. This is the first time that I've ever done a fighting anime series fanfic. Enough about that let's just get this started now! :)
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OF THE DRAGONBALL SERIES!!!!!
I sense darkness rising among the land, yet it is shrouded deep within the earth. An elderly woman gazed out her open window, watching a doe and her fawn feasting on the newly dewed blades of grass with the sun just peeking out from behind a tall oak tree. Morning was coming with another day, when everyone living was unaware of the darkness that would soon be rising.
"Mother, you should be in your bed, your illness—" A youthful maiden beckoned her mother back into her well-padded bed, but was cut off by her mother's hand.
"My illness has nothing to do with looking out my window and on day like this," the elderly woman replied, her voice crackled sweetly as she looked out the window again and dropped her hand on her lap.
The old woman was as withered of her youth as a raisin is drained of its juices by the sun's light. Piercing, pale blue eyes burned into the scenery with cat-like vertical, stared sorrowfully at her daughter. Her silver stardust hair flowed to her ankles, like the Milky Way melting into the universe with the grace of ocean waves pushing and pulling white foam onto the beach and back again. Such beauty once belonged to this woman, but the years were good to her; as were the people that loved and comforted her when her husband died in war, defending his people from cruel, unforgiving warriors. Yes, how her people loved her as the queen of the Delahi, lost warriors of earth. Yet she knew that someday their love would not save her, for she was weak from an illness that even they did not have the cure for. They tried to ask the Guardian of the Earth for help. He simply said he could not help and left them to mourn for the life of their queen, which was slipping with every second.
"Mother, please, you are not well, you must rest in order for yourself to get." The young maiden clutched her mother's thin, feeble hands into her pale, gentlr, strong hands.
The queen's daughter was beautiful, with long, flowing dirty blonde hair and a floral crown resting on top of her head, made of wildflowers picked by the children of the village. She was a benevolent princess, with the same cat-like green eyes, which were like green pools hidden inside a lost forgotten forest where unicorns would dwell. Pale, moonlight skin graced the fragile looking woman. She was around the age of twenty or so, with a smile that shone as brightly as the sun rising in the east, peeking out from the dark storm clouds that depart after a night of terror. So pure so innocent, that it was hard to believe that she wasn't an angel sent from the heavens themselves.
"I think I'll stay here a bit longer, honey, I promise I'll head over to bed later." The queen smiled sweetly at her loving daughter.
"Alright, I'll be in the next room if you need anything." Her daughter let go of her hand moving toward the door undecidedly, afraid on leaving her mother alone in her large open room that was filled with gifts and presents from the citizens hoping that she would be well soon. Wildflowers were draped along the wooden bed frame dispersing their sweet sent throughout the room warming the room of the outdoors for the queen could not venture out due to her illness.
Walking down the hall to her room the maiden pondered on what she could do to help her mother in her time of need. Was there any cure for her was there any hope of saving the queen? As the princess she felt so weak just watching her mother grow frail that soon she would be nothing more but just a vegetable lying in her bed waiting, yearning for death to come and deliver her from her burden state. Entering her room stood a lonely girl placing clean blankets onto the bed for tonight. Unaware that the princess was standing in the doorway until she was almost done with the placement that she soon dropped the dirty old blankets bowing her head respectfully to the princess.
"P-Princess Akela," The servant stuttered not knowing what to do in the Akela's presents such as this. The poor girl has never met the princess before after being hired for only a few days now didn't know the proper etiquette when address the princess.
"Be still, it is alright you do not need to bow as if you were encountering a horrifying tyrant." Akela replied humbling grabbing the fallen blankets handing them back to the servant. "It's best that you don't mention this to anyone in your quarters and your mistress. It would be heart to explain this to them if they found out that you didn't know what to do in my presents." Akela added sweetly.
"Of course your grace I wouldn't think of it." The servant bowed racing out of the room.
The Princess was now alone in her large room, with the rays of sunlight peeking out from her open window and wind whipping the fresh air in, ruffling the blankets on her large wooden bed. A large circular table sat in the center the room, where a vase of freshly picked flowers was arranged daily by the maids, keeping the room fresh with the presences of the flowers. A large bookshelf as tall as a basketball player stood close to the bed, shelving a vast majority of novels, all hand-written by writers from the Delahi village who gave her the first editions of their book as for gift of her kindness to them. Others were spell books passed down through the royal family, filled with the secrets of the Delahi people and their powers from long ago. It was a plain, simple room, when Akela thought about it. Not much furniture, as she did not want to feel as if she need all of the elegant furniture that most princesses would want. She would much rather have a simple room that would be easy to move around in. That and it was easier to practice the new abilities that were printed inside of the books.
She scanned through the bookshelf in search of a specific book that contained the most ancient of techniques passed down through time. Shelf after shelf, she searched for the book. She always hated hunting for the book after throwing it back onto the shelf, after hearing someone walking down the halls right about to enter her room when she was working on a technique. Just when she was about to give up the search she found the book, it was almost the size of her forearm, stuffed with page after page of knowledge. The cover was ocean green and was well worn after all the uses it had seen over t over the years. Thousands of markers marked page after page of the book, keeping track of what was used for what. As heavy as it was, it was a real hassle just carrying the thing back to the table a few feet away from the bookshelf.
"Next time I should just cloak this with No Sight so I don't have to do this every time." Akela wiped the sweat from her brow, evidence of her effort to carry the large book. "Let's see now, where is that page? I know it was in here somewhere." Akela thumbed through the book until she reached a page written in a script far different then our own; almost as if they were runes painted on the page, curving and weaving their way across the paper in beautiful artwork. All connecting, parting, dipping, as if a dance was written within the pages as Akela read the words inside her head. Memorizing and letting the lettering soak into her mind as the words seemed to pop out of the tan paper.
After stared at the page for several minutes, Akela walked over to her door to shut it, closed and locking it hoping that no one would dare to open the door on her now that she was working. "I hope that this works, if not I don't know what to do." Akela closed the book now not needing it now for whatever reason she had in mind.
Grabbing a bottle of pure white sand that lay hidden under her bed, Akela began to pour the sand onto the floor into a circle; a method she had perfected after agonizing days of practice. Throwing the empty bottle onto her bed, Akela stood in the center of the circle moving her hand toward the candles that rested on the highest shelf of the bookcase. Slowly they floated toward the sand circle, the candles creating five points along the rim of the sand, Akela had hoped they would. She pointed her index finger toward the wicks of the candles, causing fire to sprout forth with a faint crackle like embers popping in a camp fire. Once the candles were all lit she closed her window, covering it it with a thick blanket that she normally used for cold nights. The room was dark, with the flicker of the candles' light casting uncanny shadows throughout the room. Akela sat crossed-legged in the center of the circle, eyes closed as she focused on her meditation in order for this to work out.
She floated several inches off of the ground, legs still crossed and hands resting on her lap with her fingers interlocking. All but her but her index fingers and her thumbs were touching one another in her meditation. Her eyes flashed open, glowing yellow covering her whole eye, masking her stunning green eyes. Fire crackling voice spoke softly out of her lips and soon became visible, swirling round and round the circle as the electrons around the nucleus. Faster and faster they rotated around Akela, as she chanted the fire-crackle of the verses. The candlelight soon went out from a light breeze. Bright light filled the circle like the sun brightens the day of the morning; warmth coursed through Akela's veins like water surging through the river bend, down toward a waterfall where it would soon converge into the ocean. Then Akela simply vanished in a flash of light, leaving the room dark and empty.
Still in her trance, Akela remained sitting in a light orb as it floated through dimensions blurring passed as they were water colors splashed on a clean canvas. Gradually the large orb slowed itself as it reached a dark land where sinister clouds blocking the glorious sunlight. Standing on the ground Akela looked around the desolate land, seeing no sign of life anywhere in sight. How is it that he could be in a place like this? The stories she heard from her mother after the world was saved implied otherwise.
"Now if I were someone who wasn't meant for Hel,l where would I be hiding?" Akela pondered, walking down the large ravine that was as deep as a skyscraper is high. Menacing peaks of darkness loomed, where demons could be lurking in every corner, as she walked farther and farther into the darkness. "It sure is creepy down here. I knew I should have brought a flashlight with me."
"Well, if my eyes don't deceive me, I think I see a fair maiden strolling down the path of darkness," an elderly man spoke from where he sat crossed-legged on top of a boulder with a wooden staff in his hand. He was bald with well defined wrinkles on his brow. A snow white beard covered his chin and reminded Akela of Santa Claus. He was frail though, just skin and bones, no meat at all connected to the bone. The man wore a robe of red that had tears on his sleeves with brown splotches splashed upon them. Akela hoped that it was just dirt and not dried blood. "By the looks of you, you look like you don't belong down here."
"Yes, I'm here on important business," Akela smiled sweetly, hoping she hid the fact that she was scared out of her wits talking to the man.
"We normally don't get girls like you all the time," the man said, hopping off of his perch and hobbling closer to Akela.
"Yes, well I'm sure of that. After all, this is Hell, a world full of sorrow and despair. If you'd excuse I'm off in search of someone." Akela backed away slowly with a nervous laugh, hoping that would give the final hint that she didn't want to talk with this old geezer anymore.
"Wait, you seek someone that was sent here unfairly right?" the old man questioned, stopping Akela dead in her tracks.
"How did you kno—" Akela started but was cut off once she noticed the man was only a few feet away from her. When she had last spoke with him he was a few yards away.
"I know much young lady. I'll help you to see him, but first you must do me a favor," the old man said deviously.
Why is it that I have a bad feeling? Akela thought to herself. "What is the favor?" She wished she didn't have to ask, seeing the man looking up and down her, like she was a model on a runway, with the hungry eyes of a predator ready to pounce on its prey.
"Well, how about making sweet love with me?" the old man blurted out with a large grin on his face.
Akela's face contorted with disgust just thinking of such a thing! She had principles, standards even, and this was not part of them. Smiling, Akela bolted out of there and didn't look back, hoping that the old man wasn't fast enough to catch up with her sprint. Behind she could hear steady footsteps racing toward her. Not daring to look back, she kept on running until she reached the end of the road which was blocked with fallen boulders from the top of the ravine. Why, oh why did this have to happen now, when there was a creep right behind me?
Great, just perfect! Akela thought, franticly trying to find someplace to hide, but it was too late. The old geezer was standing right in front of her, laughing at her effort to get away from him. Creeping closer and closer toward Akela, and dropping his staff onto the ground, he opened his arms wide open, waiting for Akela to race into his arms. An earth-shattering scream escaped her trembling lips
* * *
Sitting crossed-legged on the peak of a mountaintop was a muscular green figure meditating in the darkness. His eyes were closed tight, as if trying to focus on something unreachable. A white turban rested on his bald head, hiding the two antennas mounted just above his eyebrows. Flowing behind him was his pure white cape flapping in the cool breeze that smelled of earth and blood. The old metallic smell you get from a cut that was long forgotten. The same old tang that he was used to living with now, in a place that drowned in that smell.
A scream jolted him to his feet with the speed of sound and he scanned the area for the source. "SOMEONE HELP ME!" a female voice sounded frantic as her cries were echoed through the canyon, bouncing every which direction.
Zooming off of his perching, heading with the speed of a jet plane down into the canyon, he spotted a young woman with pale skin covered with filth. Her flowing blonde hair was tussled, pinned to her face by the wind whipped around her. She ran like a gazelle leaping away from a hungry lion. Fear was glazed over her emerald cat-like eyes as she raced farther down the canyon, that sent her flying, landing on her face. Behind her was an elderly man with a dirty look on his face, leering at the girl down with her face masked in fear. Disgusting how most men are when they see a young woman in distress the way this was in. It was like watching Master Roshi spying on woman whenever he was out and about the city, or just watching the morning workout session on TV.
"When are you going to learn that you can't outrun a dead guy whose soul has been lost in darkness for over two hundred years?" The old man knelt down beside the woman, caressing her arm.
"Get your vile hands off of me!" The woman smacked his hand away from her, stunning him before he gave off another filthy smile.
"I always like a woman who has some fight left in her," the man snickered under his breath, ripping a small section of her dress just at the shoulder. "You are quick, but sooner or later I'll get you."
"Try this then!" Akela kicked him in the jaw with her right foot before bolting away, but was stopped by the man again, who was suddenly standing in front of her.
"What did I say about trying to outrun me?" The man shook his head as a parent would do when their child goes off and disobeys them. "It's useless, just give up and it will be over quickly." The way 'quickly' hissed out of his chapped lips is what scared her the most
"Why don't you just go and find some she-demon to harass, old man?" the green man said coldly, landing behind the man with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Well, if it isn't the Guardian of Hell!" the old man countered sarcastically, even though he was really shaking where he stood as the woman snuck away to stand behind the green man.
"Are you going to do what I said old man?"
"How about… no." The old man charged the green man with full force.
Dodging his blow swiftly, the green man elbowed him on the back of the neck, sending him down to the floor and leaving a massive impact crater. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, the green man threw him into the canyon wall sending boulders racing down from the top of the canyon and piling on top of the old man. The woman staggered toward the green man when she thought it was safe enough with the man buried under the rubble.
"Thank you so mu—" the woman said but was cut off.
"Don't thank me just yet, he's still alive." The man readied himself as the rubble began to move, knocking over the large boulders until the old man stood in the center, looking up into the blackened skies.
"My, my, that was the first time I've ever had a good fight. This might be interesting." The old man looked at the green man with hungery eyes that were far different than the eyes that he looked at the woman. They were eyes wiled of pleasure, like when one sees a meal after being lost in a desert for months, eating nothing but snakes and insects the whole time. "I must tell you young man that I should not be underestimated."
"Same goes for me, old man, now are we here to talk or are we here to fight?"
"My, my, Piccolo you are in a foul mood today aren't you?" the old man said, tilting his head to the side like a curious bird.
"After what you were planning to do with this woman, why wouldn't I be pissed off?" Piccolo asked, aggravated.
The old man said nothing, letting the breeze with the smell of blood and earth pass by before flinging himself forward and striking out at Piccolo with lightning quick punches and jabs. Dodging them all, Piccolo moved his head side to side, back and forth not even bothering to strike back. Piccolo back-flipped on the stack of boulders that had been piled on top of the man. The man flew toward Piccolo, fist ready like Superman flying through the sky. When he was just inches away from Piccolo's face, Piccolo clutched the fist in his hand. Shocked, the old man stared at Piccolo, wide eyed, not knowing what he was going to do next. Piccolo grinned, tightening his grip on the clenched fist of the man breaking his hand as his crimson blood spilled onto the ground and was left on Piccolo's green hand.
"Now, are you going to leave this woman alone?" Piccolo asked, shaking his hand splashing and the blood clean from it.
"How about not. You may have broken my hand, but I can still fight." The old man charged toward Piccolo again, kicking and jabbing as Piccolo dodged every attack easily.
Flying up into the dark clouds, both kept striking one another not even laying a dent in the other's body. The fighte lasted for over thirty minutes with Piccolo and the old geezer fighting that soon tiring the old man and slowing his pace. Piccolo just had to keep on dodging for now and wait until the old man was too tired enough to dodge Piccolo's final attack. I have to give credit to the old man, he is strong. Yet his age makes it harder for him to keep a steady pace in his attacks. Piccolo dodged another drop-kick effortlessly, watching the energy was waning in the old man.
Not waiting too long for the old man to tire out Piccolo began to fight back kicking, punching not showing any signs on letting up on the poor old man. Punching him square on the face sending him to comet down to the earth leaving a large crater where he lay unmoving where he lay. Blood trickled down his partly opened lips from the impact; puncturing his internal organs killing him painfully.
Landing at the rim of the impact, Piccolo made sure that he was truly dead and wasn't playing possum on him. He stared at the corpse for a few moments before switching his attention to the woman, who was busy dusting off her white dress from the dirt with no luck. Piccolo walked over to her. She looked up and he could see that the fear had left her gaze. Joy, purity now was in her eyes, her face. How is it that she could bounce back after what the old man had in his vile, corrupted mind? Most women would fling themselves onto their rescuer, crying about how scared they were. In a way it relieved Piccolo. He didn't like it too much when woman were blubbering their fear or feelings to him.
"Thank you, Piccolo." She bowed her head in respect with a smile on her beautiful face. "I'm Akela, daughter of the Delahi, a long tribe from Earth," she introduced herself.
"What are you doing here?" Piccolo asked as if she hadn't said a word. "You don't belong here do you?"
"That's right. I'm not part of this world that you live in at the moment, and frankly neither are you," Akela replied, looking at Piccolo with thoughtful eyes.
"Never mind that, what are you doing here?" Piccolo asked.
"I'm here to get you out of here Piccolo. You don't belong in a place like this. Earth still needs you there is a darkness rising within the earth!" urgency was in her voice. "Without you the darkness will spread and destroy everything on Earth!"
Piccolo was silent for a moment looking at the corpse that was nothing but bone now after the effect of dying in Hell. He thought of what would happen if he stayed in Hell and waited for an angel to come down from Heaven and offer to free him from having to stay here for eternity. Would he have gone with them? Would he stay in this world of night forever, or would he go back to Earth and live there and die and hopefully go to Heaven... or back to Hell. Should he go back, should he risk his life for the people of Earth? Piccolo, why are you questioning yourself? Kami's wise, gentle voice echoed through his mind.
C'mon Piccolo go with the girl Earth still needs you! Nail joined Kami.
Why should I go with her? Piccolo snapped at the two voices inside his head.
Silence echoed throughout his mind as Nail and Kami did not answer, leaving Piccolo alone with his question as it echoed within in his mind. Why did they always do that to him?
"Piccolo, you don't understand what this means for Earth do you?" Akela took hold of Piccolo's large green hand in her small pale ones. "If the Earth goes into the darkness, that's it, life as we know it will end!"
Piccolo looked down at her hand on his, feeling his heart beat faster than it ever did before. Most people that would have come down here and asked him for help he would just turned aside. But for her he was willing to help in any way he could. What was this feeling that was deep inside of him? Looking away, he gently pulling his hands from her grip, hiding it into his cape as he looked up at the darkened sky. "Alright, I'll come with you back to Earth," Piccolo finally said, looking back to see a huge smile planted on her.
"Alright, now to just get you and myself back to Earth!" Akela skipped off, bending over when she was near a pile that had been over the old pervert. Grabbing a fist full of the sand she skipped back to Piccolo and began to trace a circle around him and herself with it. Clapping her hands clean after the circle was completed, she entered the center of the circle with the bewildered Piccolo watching as she busied herself like a mother cleaning a messy house before her guest arrive. She snapped her fingers appear and five candles appeared, forming outside of the circle into five points with flickering red flames.
"What in the world are you doing?" Piccolo asked, standing next to her, watching her sit crossed-legged in the center.
"Quiet please, I need to concentrate for this spell to work," Akela said as she started the fire-crackle chant again. Her eyes filled with yellow light like they had before as the crackle language continued. Rune-shaped figures formed circles around them like electrons around the nucleus of an atom. Light filled the circle, blinding Piccolo; he wasn't used to so much light after days of darkness in Hell.
They raced through dimensions, Piccolo only seeing glimpses of other dimensions. Such dimensions were strange indeed, with him in another life, dark and shrouded in black. What dimension would that be, he wondered, as they whizzed through, not stopping at all. Akela still continued with her chant, too focused on her spell to notice the different worlds they were passing. In view Piccolo could see a spacious room indeed with closed windows and a large book resting open on a large table. They landed in the center of the room, the light vanished as did the candles flame and Akela left her trance, standing up and stretching her arms while looking around her room.
"Wow, we made it just before lunch. That's way quicker than when I was in Heaven looking for you last month." Akela removed the heavy blanket from the window, seeing the sun just barely high enough in the sky to be after noon.
"Why would I be in Heaven?" Piccolo asked, looking around the room, seeing the green book on the table and trying to read the runic writing.
"Well, for starters, I thought you should be there but someone, Gohan I think, said that you were still in Hell. Odd really." Akela unlocked her door peeking out into the halls, making sure it was clear to widen the door.
"Gohan is dead. Huh, how long have I been gone?" Piccolo asked.
"Well I would have to say between fifty years and a hundred years," Akela replied, placing her index finger to her chin while trying to think of the exact year.
Piccolo grew silent, thinking of everyone he knew having died during his absence. I see," was all Piccolo managed to say.
He soon regretted on saying that as Akela took hold of his hand again, looking at his palm intently as if trying to figure out what lines meant what, following the curves of his hand seeing the pattern of life and of death. Maybe that was another line that she had been looking at for the longest time; she was never good at palmistry. Strange how his palms were so much larger than hers, as she held them in her small hands that seemed to be dwarfed by his. So strong, that she felt safe in his hands.
Piccolo pulled his hand away looking up at the doorway and sliding his hand under his cape swiftly. Akela looked over her shoulder to find that a maid was standing with a sad, worn look on her old face, testament to years of working for the royals. Strands of her wiry hair fell out of her neat bun. She must have spent a lot of time running around helping the Queen this morning. Her lavender cat eyes didn't notice Piccolo; she only looked at Akela with a look that called out 'something is very wrong!'
"Koko, what is it?" Akela's voice sounded dry to her, as if she had been busy screaming at the top of her lungs.
"It's your mother, Princess, she's dying," Koko replied.
Akela racing out the door and down the hall to her mother's room, only to find that two other maids were at her bedside watching her weak, frail body. They looked up at Akela as she entered, backing away with sad eyes and walking dejectedly out the door past Piccolo, who stood by the doorway with Koko close by him, still not noticing he was there at all.
"Mother, it's me Akela." Akela grabbed hold of her mother's thin hand that was cold as death itself.
"Akela, I was hoping that I would get to see you before I passed on. Tell me my daughter what to you sense in this world?" her mother asked in a raspy voice. Her hair was plastered on her face from her own sweat.
"I sense an ominous form rising, that is what ails you so Mother? Please tell me what I must do to help you get well." Tears threatened to escape, stinging her green eyes.
The queen looked up at the ceiling, her breath becoming more and more shallow. She lay there for a few more moments before staring at Piccolo, who was now beside Akela with his arms folded over his chest as he stared back into the queen's blue eyes. They pierced into his soul finding the glimpse of darkness within him that even he was not aware of. Her dying chills down his spine but he couldn't force himself to look away. What was it that she was looking for within him?
"Piccolo, do an old woman a favor and listen to me. You are one of the only people that can stop this evil from forming. If you fail then the world as we know it will end."
"How do you know my name?" Piccolo asked.
"I know much, Piccolo. Akela, I need you to listen as well. You are the last Princess of the Delahi People. I need you to be brave for me. Can you do that for me?" the queen asked her daughter, who was wiping her tears from her cheeks.
"I will, Mother. I promise," Akela reassured her between breathes.
"Thank you, Akela." The queen shut her eyes and drifted away into eternal sleep, to hopefully to Heaven.
Akela let go of her mother's hand, kissing her on the forehead before dashing out of the room with her hands over her eyes. It was amazing that she knew where the heck she was running off to. Piccolo watched her disappeared as the two maids shuffled back into the room heads low as they draped a white cloth over the Queen's body.
Akela walked down the halls, which were now silent except for her soft weeping. She crouched against the wall, balancing on the balls of her feet. Tears still spilt down her cheeks, staining her perfect pale face.
She whipped her face up at Piccolo, with those green eyes that were waterfalls of sorrow spilling tears on the parched desert ground where new life shall grow. How helpless she looked, fragile even, as he watched her mourn over her mother's death. what is it that could possibly make her feel better?
They were silent for a few moments, allowing Akela to calm herself. Silence helped with her nerves. All her life Akela had only her mother. Her father died when she was a child. Now it felt as if she lost half of herself, the only part that held the child within her in place. Now that child was free, but didn't know what to do; either stay like this the rest of her life hoping that someone would pick her back up again, or for better perspective to lift herself up--that was the only option for her. She stood up and dried the last tears trailing down her cheeks with the back of her hand, she looked down the hall past Piccolo, watching as two men carried a bundle the size of a woman wrapped in white and sprinkled with wildflowers that smelled of incense.
"Strange really, all this time I wondered what it would be like—with her gone. Now I that it feels like an emptiness within my heart." Akela hiccupped, watching the two men walk down the hall with the bundle.
"What are you going to do now?" Piccolo asked frankly.
Akela was silent again, looking down at her palms for the longest time, memerized by the curves that they held. They matched Piccolo's lines perfectly—a sign for which she had long forgotten the meaing; intersecting, breaking free from one another like a maze within her flesh. Following the lines, she tried to find a way out of them forgetting that Piccolo was standing next to her. She was in her own little world staring deeply into her hands. Blinking back into reality, she gazed back at Piccolo who was now looking out the window watching the sun rise to the highest point, indicating that it was noon. How peaceful he looked, staring out at the blue sky--a nostalgic look masked his usually serious face.
Her mother's funeral was like a dream. She stood, watching, as the priest of the village said their farewells in the Delahi tongue; bittersweet words of good-bye. The smell of incense still filled her nose, the bitter smell used in every funeral service. The smell of wet dirt mingling with the incense as ten of the men in the village buried her mother next to her deceased husband. There were thousands of mourners in the village; grieving her mother's death and blessing her in her reign over them. She didn't feel worthy of the blessings they were bequeathed her. She felt neither felt worthy nor desire to be queen. All she had ever wanted was to roam free without the weight of being the princess or the queen.
"Princess Akela, the people are waiting for the ceremony to crown you as queen." Koko fixed Akela's hair into her headdress, which was a large crown that resembled much of the crown that the Statue of Liberty wore.
"Yes, I know. Where is Piccolo?" Akela asked, standing up from her seat wearing a gorgeous lavender dress that trailed far beyond her ankles. Its sleeves covered her hands, which were tatooed with henna in the traditional runes that represented the new heir to the throne.
"He's on the rooftop my Princess. Would you like me to send a guard out to fetch him for you?" Koko offered.
"That won't be necessary Koko, I'll go get him myself," Akela replied, walking out the door.
She walked up the rooftop the heavy train was a hassle, Akela had to drag it behind her as she climbed the ladder to the roof. She heaved herself onto the roof, tearing a small rip on the sleeves, nothing too noticeable to cause a whole scene with the seamstresses. She stood and brushing off the dirt on the lavender dress, wishing that she could just take off the dress and search for Piccolo on the roof without any weight holding her back. Where in the world could Piccolo be? It's not like he could be hiding up here. Akela scanned the roof, seeing no sign of Piccolo. How hard could it be to find a green man out up on a flat roof?
"He couldn't leave, could he?" Akela asked jumping off the roof and landing with the grace of a cat on the dirt ground before racing into the palace. She dodged the maids and servants carrying decorations for her coronation which would be arranged tonight; she had no time to waste. Flinging herself through the mass line, not wanting to stop for praise or people asking where to place the decorations, she finally made it to where she wanted to go. Not watching where she was going, she ran into something large and hard, knocking her down to the ground and knocking her headdress off. She looked up to find Piccolo hovering over her, tall and strong as a pillar. His dark cold eyes peered down at her, with no apologizes in them for knocking her down. "Piccolo, thank goodness, I thought that you left." Akela flew to her feet gracefully like a cat, picking up the headdress.
Piccolo said nothing looking past Akela to see Koko running down the halls like a mad woman. "Princess Akela the coronation is about to start, you must be in the throne room at once!" Koko dragged Akela down the halls, away from Piccolo who stood still, watching them run off.
Akela, forget about me and become the queen of your people. I have other business to attend to. Piccolo's voice echoed through Akela's mind.
But Piccolo you don't know how this world is now, how will you ever know where to go? Akela asked within her mind.
I'll find myself around, don't worry I'm a quick study. He began to walk away with Akela still focused on his form as it disappeared deeper and deeper down the halls until she entered the throne room, where the high priest stood by the throne. Thousands of people stood by the walls, parting as she walked by and whispered their blessings and thanks for her kindness. Akela did not hear what they said as she was thrown into the seat of the throne by Koko.
Akela watched the expressions of the people as the priest chanted the crowning speech. She sat there blankly, not knowing what to do know. If she stayed she would be isolated from the world and from Piccolo, not knowing what he would be up to. If she left, she could not care for her people for some time. Something inside of her was telling her, shouting at her, to go after Piccolo. Waiting until the priest was nearly done with the chant, Akela stood up, looking at her people with empty eyes. She removed the headdress from her head and handed it to Koko, who had a baffled look on her face, and she walked away fromt the throne. Whispers filled the large room as the citizens watched as Akela walked past them with their eyes boring into her soul as they figured out what she was doing.
Akela turned to gaze at everyone who stared back at her gaping as she stood at the door. She smiled sweetly as she always did when she was in the village. Her green eyes filled with tears. "I am sorry that I cannot be your queen as of yet, I have something to attend to before I am ready to take the title. In my absence I will appoint my youngest brother, Taka."
Akela ran out of the throne room before anyone could object. She ripped the long train off to make the dress lighter as she ran down the hallway. While she ran she ripped off the long sleeves that were annoying her as well. She made it to the courtyard, panting and looking around befoere jumping high into the sky toward Korin's Tower, hoping to find Piccolo.
Well here you go fans. Please R&R