"I'm thinking about asking Brad out," said Erasa, her eager voice coming through Videl's phone. "I mean, I know he likes me, but he just won't take a hint and make the first move."
"That jerk?" questioned Videl as she sighed, kicking back atop her bed with a sigh. It had been a long day and it felt good to be able to finally lie down for a moment or two.
"I'm sorry that we all haven't sworn off boys for all eternity," Erasa shot back and Videl couldn't help but picture the triumphant smirk on the girl's face. "He's not really that bad a guy once you look past the cockiness."
"And how full of himself he is," added Videl before sighing. She could go on, but she knew that her words would go through one of her blonde-haired friend's ears and out the other. "So what plans do you have for the summer? I mean, I know you guys are going away and everything in a few days but is that all?"
"Yeah, I think so. Sorry Vi, but it looks like you're all on your own," Erasa said apologetically. "I'll make sure I keep in touch with you every couple of days though, someone needs to look after you after all."
"Sure," Videl rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I better get a babysitter to go watch me beat up some criminals next time."
"It'd be perfect for you!" chuckled Erasa. "So anyway, are you going to do anything this summer aside from working out? At the rate you're going, it's not because you've sworn off guys that you'll never get a boyfriend but because you'll scare them away with all your big muscles."
"I don't need some wimpy guy in my life who's just trying to leech off dad's money," shrugged Videl.
"Aww… there, there Vi, I'm sure there are plenty of them out there who'll like you for who you are," said Erasa sympathetically as though she could relate to Videl's struggles. "Hey, if the whole thing with Brad doesn't work out, I could at the very least nudge him in your direction. Y'know, let you score off the rebound and all."
Videl grunted as she shook her head. "How is it that you've already planned for your not-yet existent relationship with Brad to fail?"
"In the world of romance, you've always got to be thinking a few steps ahead," advised Erasa as her voice adopted a sage-like tone.
"Ugh," Videl groaned. "Anyway, I'll talk to ya later, I'm starting to feel a little peckish."
"Well I'll talk to you tomorrow or something then, night," said Erasa as she hung up.
Videl tossed the phone onto her bed and got up. The cook would have no doubt retired for the night but she didn't need some fancy french guy to grab one of the cookies in the pantry. Slowly, Videl made her way to the kitchen while doing her utmost to ignore her stomach's gentle rumbling.
'I wonder if dad's home yet,' Videl thought to herself. As of late her father generally returned home pretty late - ever since defeating Cell, he'd become a bit of a businessman as well. While he still definitely brushed up on his martial arts, it was no longer his sole purpose in life.
She paused for a moment on her way to the pantry as she realised that a light had been left on.
'That's strange, normally the maid makes sure that all the lights are turned off,' thought Videl as she peered her head in through the slightly open door. It was their mini-home theatre room and almost unsurprisingly her father was sprawled out across the couch, a glass of scotch on the table to the side.
As the teenager made her way towards her father, the only illumination in the room being that of the movie that was being projected onto the screen, she paused. Drool had fallen all across his chin.
With a look of disgust upon her face, Videl reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a blue striped handkerchief. While she and her father occasionally disagreed on a few things, they had always been somewhat close - losing a parent normally meant that you ended up bonding with the other. She proceeded to wipe the drool off his face before scrunching up the handkerchief and tossing it on the couch.
He didn't even stir.
Videl brow furrowed as her heart began to race, the girl trying to shake her father awake. There was no response. With an air of panicked desperation about her, she lifted her father's sleeve upwards and tried to feel for a pulse.
A moment or two passed as Videl tried to understand what was going on. She called his name, tried to check if his chest was still rising and all the other stuff they had taught her in that first aid course she suddenly wished she had paid more attention to, but for once her father was unnervingly silent. She took a moment to make sure that she wasn't dreaming and then the young crimefighter screamed.
...
Red and blue flashed at the edges of her vision, but Videl couldn't bring herself to care. A strong hand gently stroked her back, helping a few choked sobs to escape her mouth. She felt sick.
"Videl, please, speak to me," said the butler as he continued to comfort the young girl. "What happened? What did you see?"
She tried to respond, but all that came out was an incoherent mix of slurred words. He couldn't be gone.
"It'll be alright, I promise," he tried to get her to relax, but Videl knew that it wasn't true.
It wasn't going to be. Her father was dead.
"Please, we need to know exactly what happened for the police report. I know this is hard on you, but it's very important," said the butler. Videl didn't know him that well but he'd been around for more than a few years and was pretty close to her father. "I don't want to give you false hope, but we need to know what triggered this."
"I found him in the home theater with spit all over his face," Videl sniffed as she tried to pull herself together. Maybe this was just some kind of horrible nightmare? "I cleaned it off his face, but then I realised it didn't look like he was breathing… a-and t-then I…"
"Couldn't feel a pulse?" the butler finished for her.
Videl nodded slowly, pulling the blanket that the butler had draped over her body further to shield her further from the cold.
"Don't worry, it'll be alright," the butler tried to keep the young girl calm. "I'm going to try and get in touch with Erasa and her parents to see if they can't keep you company in the meanwhile."
The girl gave no indication that she had heard anything the man said, other than the downwards movement of her red, blurry eyes. She wasn't sure if she was crying or not, she hadn't truly cried in a very long time, but one thing was certain: she wanted to wake up from this twisted hallucination right now.
…
Videl hated wearing black. Videl hated the rain. And she certainly hated everything that had occurred over the last few days.
The priest said a few words as a swarm of people surrounded her father's grave. She didn't even know a quarter of the people there, but that didn't stop every second person from coming up and expressing their grievances.
Erasa's family had come over with haste the night she had found her father dead. Her dad managed to push their flight back a few days and as such they were due to leave the following afternoon. It went without saying that they had extended an invitation for her to come on vacation with them; an offer that Videl wasn't sure if she could refuse.
At the same time running away from everything and going to another country didn't feel right. She felt broken, filled to the brim with despair and while she was sure that some sunny weather would help her feel better, Videl didn't think she could lie to herself and pretend that everything was still okay.
"Who's going to take her in now?"
"I'd love to adopt her, she's such a sweet girl!"
"I hear that she doesn't want to be adopted…"
"Apparently her mother's estranged half brother is going to take custody of her…"
The whispers were everywhere. No matter where Videl went, the quiet voices of people who thought that she couldn't hear them made the hairs on her body stand up on end. Where was she meant to go? What was she meant to do?
"You look a little lost."
Videl turned around to face the voice, her still eyes red and bleary from a lack of sleep and spending the previous night crying her heart out. "Who are you?"
"I take it you don't get out too much then," said a beautiful blue haired woman. Her skin was so flawless and well cared for that Videl could only imagine that she had spent hours upon hours applying beauty products to it in order to preserve it for while her body seemed worthy of a beer commercial, her turquoise irises held a certain aged shade that spoke of wisdom. "The name's Bulma."
Videl's eyes narrowed as she put the name, the face and the hair together. 'No… it can't be.'
"But that's not very important," said Bulma with a comforting smile. "You've been through a lot the last few days, haven't you?"
Videl nodded. She hated appearing so weak but at the moment, the only thing she felt was useless. "I know you, you worked with my dad for some stuff."
"You've grown a little in the past few years," the woman continued, almost as though she were ignoring her. "I bet it all feels a little surreal to you."
"Of course it does!" Videl snapped. "My father's gone and everyone arou-"
"Well, I had expected you to have a temper," sighed Bulma. "Hey, don't look so glum kiddo. I know it feels like your world is collapsing upon itself but believe me when I say that this isn't the end of the world."
"It might as well be," said Videl, not caring if she created a scene anymore. "Just leave me alone!"
"I could, but if I did, no-one here would," said Bulma as she raised a finger to her chin. "It seems to me like you could use a bit of a break from all this."
"No kidding," said Videl, suddenly remembering to take in that Bulma Briefs was standing before her.
"You seem like a nice enough kid, why don't you crash at my place for a few days?"
Videl almost shot the offer down. Then she thought of Erasa and her family and how she didn't really want to ruin their vacation plans yet again. That and running off to another continent didn't sound like it would help her much. She wasn't sure if another person's place was any better but, Videl reasoned that it was only going to be a few days.
"You don't have to," said Bulma quickly. "I mean I know how much it can hurt to be pitied, nevermind while you're trying to deal with such a tragedy, but having all these people gawk at you while you try and grieve sounds like a hell of its own."
Videl stared at the woman quizzically. Her tone was far firmer, far more aggressive than she had intended it to be. "You don't know what it's like. Both of your parents are still alive… I'm an orphan now."
"You're right," she admitted without much hesitation. "I don't know what it's like. But I do know the pain of loss and the emptiness it can leave you with."
The teenage crimefighter had half a mind to tell the woman that having to bury your cutesy puppy in fourth grade was nothing like prodding your father's corpse but she managed to school herself in time.
"You don't believe me," said Bulma as she gestured for Videl to take a seat. People were looking at the two of them with interest, but there seemed to be a gap - five or so metres in radius - that no-one attempted to breach.
"Am I supposed to?"
"It was a friend of mine, my closest one," said Bulma, her voice teetering on the edge of discomfort. "I'd known him since I was about sixteen and casual remark I made to him one day led to him deciding to throw his life away."
Videl could tell by Bulma's body language that that wasn't the whole story, but the CEO seemed to blame herself anyway. It was odd, the professionalism with which she referred to death… 'throw his life away', that almost sounded like some junkie who had wasted his life as opposed to someone who had supposedly killed themselves.
"You can continue to try and push it to the back of your mind," advised Bulma, "but it will linger in the background, no matter what you do. Believe me when I say the sooner you come to grips with it, the sooner this will all stop feeling like some horrible dream that you can't wake up from."
"And so going on a tour of Capsule Corp. is magically meant to make me come to grips with that?"
"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" asked Bulma. "Well, it's just an offer that's on the table. I didn't know your father particularly well, but I feel like I owe it to him to keep a good kid like you away from all these vultures. Even if it's just for a moment."
"Sure," said Videl through clenched teeth. "I'll let you know."
…
The sun - or, at least, whatever little of it that still in the bleak sky - began to set before Videl's first tears splashed onto the tombstone in front of her. Even still, the girl did not begin to budge.
She felt like saying something to her father or asking why he had to leave her all alone, like they always did in the movies, but decided against it. As sad as Videl was, she still couldn't force herself to come to terms with what was in front of her. She didn't know what she was meant to do next, whether to go home and lock herself in her room and pretend that nothing had happened or to let everyone around her know what she really thought of their presence and inability to leave her alone. There were people following her, eyes that seemed to be drawn towards her by some mysterious magnetic force, no matter where she went. The cameras were easy enough to lose, but the people added another layer of discomfort to the situation: they had stopped approaching her and started clinging to her.
She had just enough space to swing both her fists out - she had contemplated doing so already on a few occasions - but felt so constrained that she was unable to ignore the feelings of claustrophobia and vulnerability that came with her torment. It was even scarier to think that the one thing that made her want to drop to the floor and bawl her eyes was not an evil, well-cultured fighter but a collection of haunting figures that she could not place a face to. She was starting to feel weak; her stomach was begging for nourishment but she ignored it for the umpteenth time.
"Hey, Videl!"
Erasa's bubbly voice, sounding as smooth as honey, was a welcome reprieve for Videl's tortured ears. It was a much-needed change from the sound of the howling wind and muted conversations that were taking place in the background.
"You don't look so good," said Erasa as she walked up to her friend, placing an arm over her shoulder. "Let's get you out of here, it's starting to get dark."
Videl found herself being yanked away from her dad's tombstone by Erasa's particularly firm grip, through what could only be described as a few minor hordes of people. There was a stage set up in the distance where some suits had given a few cookie-cutter speeches about her dad, and in that moment with Erasa by her side Videl felt as though she'd be able to step up in front of the countless anonymous faces in front of her and give her dad the speech he deserved.
She didn't, of course, because that invited the possibility of breaking down in front of thousands of people on a televised broadcast. And Videl Satan didn't break down. Not even if her dad was dead.
"You've got to get a hold of yourself, Vi," said Erasa, trying to comfort her friend. "I remember when my grandparents died in that car crash a few years ago, it wouldn't stop playing on my mind. I would think that I had gotten over it but then five minutes later, I'd feel like balling my eyes out."
Videl just nodded a little. She wasn't confident of her ability to respond to the girl without breaking down but somehow, Erasa understood that and suddenly the blonde stopped and extended her arm to the teenaged crimefighter's shoulder.
"I know this is asking the impossible but you need to try and think of something else - obviously, you can't ignore this," said Erasa as she gestured to their surroundings, "but it feels a lot better as a lingering thought pushing down on your chest than a tsunami that doesn't stop hitting you."
"I guess," said Videl. It was a strange thing feeling so shaken and the black-haired teen definitely didn't like it.
"Why don't you try and think about summer?" asked Erasa. "You need some plans now, there's no way I'm going to let you sit and mope in your house for the next two months. Why don't you come over to the little holiday island we're visiting? The scenery there is going to be breathtaking."
Though Videl's face seemed impassive, she was weighing up her options. Erasa was now the closest thing she had to family - her father had, like her, been an only child and was on his way up to his parents in heaven and she didn't know anyone from her mother's side - and she was sure that if she voiced her concerns about intruding on their family time, the blonde would actually consider slapping her for saying something so stupid.
There was also the fact that she didn't have it in her to break down in front of Erasa. They were close, Erasa was her only real friend, but not that close and it was bound to feel awkward squished in a car with Erasa's two brothers - one younger and one older - as they travelled to the airport. Videl didn't even think she knew their names.
On the other hand, staying at her own place, while something that she knew she could handle, wasn't an amazing choice either. Her stomach curled a little bit as she thought about whether the smell of her father's corpse had dissipated by now or how strange it would be to fetch the first aid kit kept in his study by herself the next time she had a scrape that needed to be bandaged up. The house wasn't empty, there was the cook, their butler and a few others amongst all the people that maintained their grounds but their interaction with the Satans had always been strictly professional.
Then there was also that extremely unprecedented offer that Bulma Briefs had made. She seemed nice enough for someone that had probably been spoiled growing up even by Videl's standards, but she knew even less about the woman and her family than she did Erasa's brothers. At the very least, the offer was only for a few days so she wouldn't have to feel too guilty about ruining a holiday that Erasa's family had spent the last few years saving up for. It also wasn't a formality because there was no expectation that the CEO offered to look after her for a few days, unlike Erasa's dad.
She also supposed that it wouldn't be a bad idea to have Bulma around for the next few days as things like her father's will and her own situation were sorted out. Videl wasn't the most studious of kids, and even then the bookworms in her class wouldn't know what to do in such a situation. Normally, such a responsibility wouldn't even fall upon someone her age but Videl was too jaded to believe that the world wouldn't try and squeeze every last penny of her father's fortune while it was there for the taking.
"Actually, Bulma Briefs actually offered to let me stay at Capsule Corp. for a few days while I try and come to grips with this whole thing," said Videl, suddenly snapping out of her silent trance. "I think it might be best if I sit this one out, 'Rasa."
"Oh," said Erasa, trying to be supportive of her friend's wishes but at the same time clearly disappointed that the pair of them wouldn't be able to build massive bonfires in bikinis on the beach. "I guess that kinda makes sense. Capsule Corp's absolutely gigantic, we went there on a field trip once."
"Plus one of her close friends died a few years ago, so she's probably not clueless about how I should try and move forward." Videl wasn't the type to keep many friends and even though her father was… well her father, he had still definitely been one of the people she was closest to.
"If you're sure about it, I think it'd be a great idea," said Erasa before brightening up. "And I'm going to call you twice a day to make sure you don't get bored. And also, you're free to join us at any time over the next two months, seriously."
"Thanks," said Videl appreciatively. "It means a lot."
"Anytime," said Erasa as she hugged her friend.
…
The next day, Videl packed her bags and headed to the Capsule Corporation. In the last six months or so of owning a jet-copter, it was easily the longest journey she had ever flown but that was hardly comparable to the time she'd had to wrestle her way out of a thug's headlock as he repeatedly rammed her head against a wall.
She found herself standing in front of a gate that was, at least, three times bigger than her own. Not too bothered by the elegancies that she could already see through the gate, she pressed the intercom. It buzzed after a moment or two.
"Come right in," a voice that was most definitely not Bulma Briefs said, emanating from the small speaker embedded into the intercom. "Mrs. Briefs said she was expecting you."
Videl paused for a moment. She hadn't bothered to call ahead, mostly because she obviously didn't have the phone number of the wealthiest woman alive, so it rubbed Videl the wrong way a little to know that the woman was so arrogant that she had expected Videl to come over after a small five-minute chat. She didn't mull over it too much because, she supposed, she was standing in front of the gates of Capsule Corp. after all.
Their front yard was about what Videl had expected. Well, the term 'front yard' was very loosely applicable to the small grassland that ran along the circumference of the building but for Videl, it was close enough. Her own front yard was probably a little bigger but Videl figured that real estate in West City, a hub for technological innovation and the like, was a little harder to come by than in Satan City which didn't have much going for it with crime rates that had been on a steady incline for the past two and a half years.
She stepped onto her tippy toes and pressed the doorbell, just barely able to reach the button. A few moments later, the front door swung open.
"Come right in! The Briefs are enjoying breakfast in the kitchen," said their butler… only it was a robot. A freaking robot. A levitating, spherical ball of metal that had a head and small little pincers that could pass for hands.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked the robo-butler as it extended its tiny little hands, offering to carry the several bags weighing down upon the palms of her black, fingerless gloves. She complied. "Follow me."
And so Videl did, dragging her feet in an effort to not feel too awed by the gigantic household that most definitely put hers to shame, as the butler led her towards where, presumably, the latest Briefs family meeting was taking place.
Its wheels… or erm whatever it was using to stay afloat and accelerate whirred after a little while as they came to a stop outside the kitchen. It gestured with a pincer before disappearing and leaving Videl to face arguably the world's most reclusive famous family with nothing but the clothes on her back and the small pack strapped to her shoulders.
Videl wasn't the type of person that normally got nervous but her step had a small quiver in it as she stepped forward, into the kitchen that was surely large enough to carry the same volume of water as three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The first thing she saw was the blue-haired woman she had run into the other day, trying fruitlessly to reprimand a small silver haired child who was digging into what was, at least, a four-course meal for breakfast. She could count three servings of omelet, cereal, steak, toast and possibly noodles.
Suddenly, she began to worry that the next twenty-four hours would be very, very eccentric. And maybe not in a good way. She didn't have time to mull on the thought, however, as the room's billionaire spotted her and dashed over to the amateur crimefighter with a grin. She tugged at the teenager's arm with a grip made of steel before dragging her to her son.
"Glad to see you made it, Videl. This is my son, Trunks," said Bulma as she gestured towards the silver haired child. There was no way he was older than five years old. "And this, Trunks, is the pretty little lady I told you about who is going to stay with us for a little while. She's had a rough couple of days so make sure to treat her right or I'll give your entire allowance to Goten for the rest of the month."
He gulped, making sure to swallow the mixture of several, contrasting foods, before speaking. "Hi… Videl, it's nice to meet you."
She chuckled, bending down to his level in order to pinch his cheek. "Oh, aren't you the cutest little thing."
"Don't call me cute!" He pouted immediately, crossing his arms over his chest with practised ease.
"Likewise," she said with a grin, ruffling his silver hair before popping back up to meet Bulma's gaze. "I didn't know you had a son, Mrs. Briefs."
"I see you don't indulge in delicacies that make up the celebrity gossip network, Ms. Satan," said Bulma with a grin. Inwardly, Videl noted that it would probably be a good idea to stick to first names with the woman. "Anyway, my husband's up to… god only knows what in that chamber of his, so allow me to show you to your room so that you can get that backpack off your shoulders. God knows your shoulders must be starting to ache."
Trunks snickered for some reason as Videl stammered. "Oh no, it's completely fine. Your… butler already took most of my bags off me so this is nothing."
Bulma started to chuckle too. "That hunk of scrap metal wasn't a butler, more of a robotic slave that'll be lucky to see it past two weeks old with my husband's temper." She eyed her child's plate before whacking herself on the forehead. "Oh my, you must be starving. I'll get something whipped up in the meanwhile. What's your poison?"
It took Videl a moment to comprehend that she was being asked what she would like to eat for breakfast. "Uhh… toast, I guess?"
"Simple, I like it," said Bulma before snapping her fingers twice to summon another robotic slave. "Make some toast for this young lady."
"Can I have some pizza too?" asked Trunks, somehow managing to speak coherently despite the mouthful of food he was simultaneously chewing on. "I'm dying for some meat lovers…" He drooled in the way that only an adorable little five-year-old food-a-holic could.
"You're not having pizza for breakfast," deadpanned Bulma with a decisively firm shake of her head. "Follow me, Videl."
"He sure eats a lot," said Videl, catching up to the woman after she spent a moment staring incredulously at the heels the woman was wearing. Videl was short and thus, normally, a prime candidate for that kind of footwear but she had never been able to understand the impracticability of it.
"Oh trust me, he doesn't have anything on his father," said Bulma with a mischievous grin. "Speaking of which… I don't know how to put this but don't speak to Vegeta when he's either working out or eating. He's hard to approach normally, but he's even worse when he's focussed on two of three great passions in this world."
Videl blanched, not even daring to ask what the third one was - Bulma's face gave her a pretty good idea. "So he's some kind of a martial artist?" A decent fight after the turmoil of the past week and a half, which she was doing her best to forget about except during her most intimate and private moments, would be just what the doctor ordered.
Bulma stopped momentarily, prompting Videl to do the same. "Oh, honey, you have no idea."
...
Happy New Years. Let me know what you thought and - since this a side project that hasn't yet been plotted out extensively - if there's anything you'd like to see in this story.