Authors Note:
Hi guys! So this is my first fanfiction and since I love reading the ones that all of you have written, I thought that I might try my hand at it as well. Now, I know that it begins a bit the same as some others, but I have plans to make it different! I promise. Also, I'm rating this story as "M" because, honestly, it could go anywhere language and otherwise. So... Just a heads up.
By the way, I do not own Dragonball Z or any of it's characters or counterparts. If I did, this wouldn't be a fanfiction, would it? (I'd be pulling in the big bucks :D)
***Prologue***
Dust billowed down from the ceiling, invisible yet palpable as we breathed it in, huddling there together as it coated our clothes, skin and hair in that small, dark room, small chips of cement raining down on our heads as the world shook once again. It had been doing so for hours now and the dark quiet only seemed to amplify the cacophony from above as arms tightened around me, just as I too clung tighter to my family. Burying my head even deeper into my father's chest, I took what little comfort I could hiding beneath his lab coat, muffling my frightened whimpers into his sturdy abdomen just as I heard Chi-chi do the same. Being close together helped drown out the hellish havoc above us, our rapid heartbeats and breathing vaguely muting the booms and screams that echoed down from the surface.
Everybody's heart seemed to accelerate even more so after everything turned quiet. Even Mom in all of her usual ditzy optimism was unusually somber as she clung onto the three of us tighter, the way Dad was trying to rub her shoulder soothingly not seeming to help.
We knew that there were only so many reasons as to why it was suddenly silent. It could mean that everyone was already dead, or it could mean that he had changed his mind and was just going to destroy the planet. Either way... This was it. He had said that he was going to eradicate every single human from the earth. And those strange spectacles that his men all wore somehow allowed them to find living beings. The four of us clung even closer to each other—if that was even possible—all silently praying that it would be fast and without pain. There was no escape from them.
All breathing ceased and everyone flinched as the door to the underground bunker was ripped open violently, illuminating the room with the now blinding sunlight—meaning that there was nothing left of our home or the facility that had been above us. The air tasted sour with smoke as we blinked back tears, unsuccessfully trying not to hyperventilate now that our ability to breathe had returned. The only thing that I could see other than the bright light was a tall, dark silhouette as it slowly descended the stairs, two dots gleaming from the shadows of his face like golden stars. There were more shadows behind him, blocking out some of the brilliance with their bodies, but only the one entered the room. We all flattened ourselves against the wall, as if we thought we could merge into the corner or turn invisible. We were in no way a threat to him—we were only weak humans after all. But he most certainly was a threat to us.
Chills ran along my spine as the hairs on the back of my neck raised, the four of us simultaneously tensing as his smooth voice slithered across the distance between us. "Congratulations, Doctor. Lord Frieza, being the merciful ruler that he is, is allowing you to survive this day."