Disclaimer: Dragonball Z/GT and the characters pertaining to the series belong to their sole owners. All other materials (original characters, storyline, etc.) are copyrighted to D. DeVangelous. Note: I hate littering great stories; hence, the last chapter will be dedicated to Author's Notes, Disclaimers and the likes.
D. DeVangelous
Fallen
Prologue
THE ROOM WAS OF grandeur. Twenty-four alabaster pillars decorated in golden designs of splendor circled the massive hall, separating the inner and outer court. The audience resided in the burgundy pillow-top marble tiers positioned in the outer court. They were of many races, all being of high statuses of their native nations that scattered the multiverses. In the inner court, the Grand Council, seated in regally distinctive gold thrones and positioned according to rank in a semi-circle shape, quietly discussed and concluded their decree.
The Silence of anticipation clouded the open room. The spectators choked on the thick suspense that tightened its grip around his and her throats.
The Verdict…
"After careful analysis of this hearing," the highest member centered between the Grand Council's voice bellowed, "and the laws that binds the Hierarchy and Grand Council, the defendant is hereby charged with vindicating and assisting Silent Night and its goal to over throw the Hierarchy and therefore must serve a thousand years as a Fallen on the remote planet Earth located in Universe Seven-Two-Seven. However, we cannot jeopardize the well-being of the defendant due to the integrated relationship evolved between the Hierarchy Talon Systems and the charged defendant. Therefore, a sentry will be appointed for the duration of the sentence."
Again, silence plagued the auditorium.
The words echoed through the ears, the heart palpitating from apprehension. "…a thousand years… Fallen…" Was it inevitable? Striving to change the fate that plagued the entire bloodline only resulted to this. From one member, to the next; all banished from the heavens because the blood wasn't pure enough. The eyes blurred fading everything to gray.
There, in the scene of a perfect black and white blossom garden, she stood dressed in a long sleeve, ankle length, plain garb that billowed in the slight breeze that elapse the area … her graceful oval eyes were so uneasy despite the forced smile perfectly splayed about her dark face. She scooped the toddler into her arms and nuzzled the soft hair. Then she playfully nipped at the child's ear before whispering the last words those ears would ever hear from that sweet soft voice. "Dear child, I wish this could last for eternity… but circumstances prohibits my wish." She held the child closer to her, as to never let the bond go. The mother forced her loving composure, fighting the tears that demanded the freedom to flow. Then she pointed to a tall fair-toned man inclined against a concrete wall a few yards away. His dark eyes concentrated on an object that, plausibly, didn't exist. His massive arms folded against his brawny chest; his short, spiky, black hair flowed with the slow-paced wind. "From this moment on, I want you to do and listen to everything that man says until you become of time. He is your new instructor. Don't follow the shrewdness of the rest of us. Undo the seal that marks us."
Following him only led to a never-ending downfall.
The gripping silence shattered under a sudden outburst. "If not anyone has been allotted, allow me to take the place." All eyes turned to a mid-height olive-toned man. His widow-peaked raven hair resembled a dancing flame that reached a half foot. He stood proud and sturdy. Despite the sophisticated dress that draped and hid his body, there was no mistaking he endured hours of vigorous physical training. An auburn brown tail wrapped tightly around his waist. His deep onyx eyes glanced at the defendant and then held the questioning stares of the Grand Council.
"Why would a first class Hierarchy want to associate themselves with such being?" The highest council member inquired without any desire for an answer. "Very well, if that be the case... The specified sentence begins in the next twenty-four cycles. Case dismissed. "
Chapter One
IT SEEMED AN ETERNITY had slipped sitting on the other side of the white streak-free granite bar top. Across from her, two bubbly mid-aged teens, a blonde and a brunette, bounced back and forth serving customers at speeds no other could match. Psyunna Annarah picked at her near liquid banana split. The look of the sauce deterred her from any further consumption. A waste of money… and time. She thought with ennui seeping deep into her being. Impatiently, the seventeen year old ran her course bronze fingers through her untamed deep violet hair that reached just below her shoulder line, and then tied it into an ill-dressed braid. Her eyes, an ocean of violet crimson, wandered aimlessly about the active, but meek, room drinking in every detail. As pointless as it was, she had nothing else to do.
Everything was the norm. In one part of the room, teens of various ages, sizes and genders duke out challenges on video arcade games, card games and the likes. And then, nearer the entrance of the facility, there were those that took very little interest in the games, at present, and discussed the important issues of their lives. At the far end of the room, opposite of the entrance, a wide welcoming hallway led to more of the duplex. What resided there remained unknown to Psyunna for she had not an interest to venture forth there; though, it was open to the public. All that existed beyond the hallway, according to her knowledge, was the library and quieter interactive activates.
When had it all begun?
Teen's Inn was the acclaimed place to be in the city of Crystal Pearl. Psyunna couldn't help but wonder how Dean, the young nineteen year old entrepreneur, could afford to keep up with such a high traffic business. Practically every teen in the metropolitan came to hang out there. Who wouldn't? With over twenty thousand square feet of the latest entertainment and educational needs, who needed to stay home?
A sudden break…"Hey, Yu-chan!"
That tone, that voice; it had to be none other than the loath of her miserable life. How Psyunna dreaded the voice, the innocent almond eyes that held a demon behind them. The voice that suffocated males into lust, it churned her stomach into sour acid. However, it wasn't her feelings for the other female that boiled her blood. Psyunna slightly lifted her face from the bar to view her annoyance. She gritted her teeth in exasperation and bit her tongue. "Oh, you suddenly decide to show yourself. What do you want?"
With slender delicate fingers, Akai brushed the few strands of hair that draped her comely yellow-toned face of innocence. With the red elastic-cloth band around her left wrist, she tied her shoulder-length, cherry-colored, lush hair into a thick tress. Grinning sheepishly, her Asian shaped almond eyes narrowed until they became tiny slits of carelessness; Psyunna turned away feeling hopelessly bleak. She couldn't understand how she and Akai became close friends. Why does she always resemble an idiot? She thought in aggravation.
"Sorry I'm late…" she began guiltily with a hint of effervescency. However, she wasn't allowed an opportunity to complete her reason of pardon.
Psyunna fumed, "You're beyond late!" Then acknowledging the growth of attention, Psyunna dropped her tone a few pitches. "I've waited two hours for you," she waved two fingers before Akai's face to exaggerate her displeasure. "I've done the entire project without you! You've contributed absolutely nothing to this project."
Akai's grin broadened whilst tiny beads of perspiration formed on her forehead... Her composure began to shatter. It was becoming too difficult to mask her true emotion, especially towards the class project. However, her will wouldn't allow weakness. That was the focal reason she continued standing Psyunna at the pub the entire week, to get out of partaking in the assigned project that unveiled the past… It wasn't the project, just the content.
Psyunna quit her bickering. The look in Akai's eyes… Why is she avoiding the something so simple? Psyunna couldn't understand; it was such a simple task. As the highest-ranking student of the class, it wasn't Akai's nature to skip out of school work, especially an assignment of in-depth research.
She sighed, having no heart to interrogate her partner that held a sad and adorable "puppy dog" frown. "Listen, whatever it is, it better be a good reason for you not doing your share." Psyunna left the subject at that. She would investigate further into the situation at a latter time.
Akai couldn't have felt more relived. I can't handle another breakdown at this time. "Thanks Yu-Yu." Her lips slightly curled upwards, though every other part of her screamed otherwise.
Psyunna frowned in empathy. She crossed her arms avoiding Akai's eyes. "Look, I'm sorry for being so callous," she muttered begrudgingly.
Grabbing her backpack occupying the barstool beside her, she headed for the exit. Subsequently added, "I'm letting you get away with it this time… but never again."
Akai rolled her eyes and followed. Her composure returned to normal. "You're always tryina pose and act tough 'n stuff," her inner-city accent heavily scourged her speech. "What's up wit dat?"
THE AIR, SOFT AND MELLOW, brushed its silky fingers against her bare arms and face. She slowly inhaled the breath of life. Though it held the odors of city smog and industrial waste, it relaxed her mind. Leaning against a single tree that centered a hundred in Crystal Pearl City Park, Psyunna meditated the worries and stress out of her mind whilst secretly enjoying the presence of her associate. Loneliness does eat away the soul. Five feet away, Akai sat on the comfortable green lawn, legs outstretched. She practiced a few routine stretching excises. The two had ventured to the square-mile city grassland after the encounter at Teen's Inn.
Akai discontinued her vigorous stretching, temporarily putting aside her obsession for strength. She laid back into the verdant grass and stared into the clouds. "So I've heard you and Vince aren't talkin' no more. What happened? You two seemed so perfect together."
Psyunna glanced at Akai on the ground and raised a brow in question. "Where'd you get your sources? We were never perfect," she proceeded to make a sour face.
The cherry-headed teen rolled onto her stomach, propped her chin into her palms and began fidgeting her legs around. The news of new gossip overly intrigued her. "Go on."
Psyunna rolled her eyes and sat cross-legged at the base of the mammoth oak tree. "What is there to go on with? There wasn't anything there; at least on my part. I wasn't into studyin' him." She wanted to leave the conversation at that.
"Oh come on," Akai protested. "There had to be more than that to the story! One day, you two are all lovely dovey, and then, BOOM, you two are going your separate ways… sounds to me that there is a story to tell." She then sat upright and mimicked Psyunna's posture.
Psyunna blew a gust of air in appearance of reluctance. "There was simply nothing there. He wasn't my type. All of that dovey crap was just for show. Really I could have cared less for him." She began carefully pulling the grass along with their roots out of the ground.
"That's really mean! He's like one of the nicest people in the world. You've probably broke his heart!" Akai stared at her companion in shame and disbelief. She pointed an accusing finger at Psyunna, "Maybe it's true; you don't have a heart to love anyone but yourself."
Shrugging indifferently, "Maybe, maybe not. But I can tell you one thing. He isn't the nicest person in the world. Let me see you have a disagreement with him." Pain tugged at her heart. Psyunna leaned her head against the bark of the tree and closed her eyes.
Akai gasped, "He didn't hit you did he?"
She said nothing. How did her last comment lead to that conclusion? She had no intention to. 'That's what love did to me,' she wanted to say. That's why she had to go. It hurt a little while, but the pain went away; just like all her pains. "I do have a heart; it's just that it doesn't belong to anyone anymore." If she were to stay with him… His strength is inhuman.
Akai's voice faded to a soft whisper, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know…" she wanted to console Psyunna, but she knew the consequences; her efforts would only be eschewed. Akai exhaled noisily, stood and offered a hand to her pal. However, Psyunna refused.
She brushed herself free of any spec of dirt and began parting with her shoulders dropped. It just felt so easy to let depression overcome the soul. "It seems I always attract trouble," she sighed deeply.
That combination of words and actions triggered Akai's suicide alarm. Akai grabbed Psyunna by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. "Don't you say that! Don't ever think that! Just because bad things happen to you more than usual does not mean it will happen all' your life," she scolded. "I'm not gonna let you kill yourself. Even though no one else cares, I do. Remember I was where you are, but I've managed and I'm here to help you."
Psyunna grunted and pushed herself free. "Get a grip Akai, I wasn't even considering it." Lies.
"Really? You had me scared there. It looked like you were about to jump or something'." Akai clutched her chest in relief. "You're my only true friend and I can't afford to lose you."
"You got your rich boyfriend to cling onto to. You shouldn't miss me." Psyunna smirked.
Akai good-naturedly punched Psyunna on the shoulder. "That's not funny."
However, the thought did cross her mind on more than one occasion; the thought of taking her own life. What was there to live for? All that befell her were dire omens, as if a foul karma tailed her every moment of her seventeen years of unwanted life. Nevertheless, there was that one nagging feeling that pulled her to life, that question that she could never find the answer to; "Who am I, really?" The ability to conjure the past memories and revisit the ones that she loved in recollection was foreign to her. She knew none of those things; only the pain and suffering dealt to her by those who could never care or love. The only memories she held was a childhood of loneliness, of constant wandering and pain.
The buzz of a mobile phone aroused Psyunna out of her short daze. Akai answered. "Akai, who' dis?" She awaited the reply and then a glowing smile radiated her face a thousand times brighter. "Hey Trunks! Missin' me, babe?"
THE SUN HID BENEATH the horizon, the remnants of its radiant glow died with each passing moment. The surrounding temperatures cooled in the twilight of night breeding an eerie chill and stirring the feeling of petrifaction to those unaware of the area. A heavy sent of rotten wood and forest odor overwhelmed the air. The mansion was that of one straight from a Hollywood horror film hidden several miles from the nearest traveled road. No part of the exterior was distinguishable due to the overgrowth of vines and other plant lives that leeched from the building; however, only the main entrance and a few windows remained visible. The surrounding greenery contained of only cropped shrubs and weeds that plagued the grounds and never-ending trees. Several hundred feet to the east of the property, a small cemetery contained the loved deceased whom occupied the residence during the structures young years. To add to the effect of the disturbing atmosphere, a thin fog congested the land… simply a Hollywood horror film.
Psyunna parked her crimson polished bike, her only means of transportation, into a three-car-garage sized tool shed located not too far west of the building. She had grown impatient with Akai and her phone talk and decided to venture "home." The tool shed resembled nothing like its parent. Though it appeared ancient for the time, it held a renovated air. All overgrowth had been removed form the murky red brick exterior. Different shades of red fashioned the shed due to attempted cleansing and patchwork to make up for holes and missing brick. Within, many tools hung about in an organized fashion, categorized by their uses and sizes. Shovels, rakes, an old riding lawn mower, chainsaws, hammers, saws, electricity generators and scores of other tools that were used to maintain the premises claimed the shed. To the left, unfinished woodworks awaited completion, planks of wood and drywall inhabited the corner. Pulling the wide pale blue door shut, the single occupant promenaded to the focal building.
Psyunna stood before the main entranceway, hesitant to turn the polished, but worn, bronze knob attached to a refined newly installed mahogany door. "Home sweet home," she dragged before entering her dwelling. In the foyer, a light breezy honeysuckle aroma welcomed her presence. The comforts of home.
At the age of six, Psyunna discovered the maltreated docile area after wandering endlessly in the night for a place to call home. Forever she had been a rag doll of the streets, with no one to call a mother, father, or a friend. Only once, she had a family, an elderly man and his wife whom could never bear children. They welcomed the neglected two year old with open arms into their home and crowned her the name Psyunna Annarah. Shortly after, a mysterious plague overcame the village and claimed every life within a short span of a year. Psyunna was the only survivor. With no one to turn to, she wandered far from the village to a huge metropolitan. Her little frame suffered immensely from wild animal attracts and from the voyage alone. To this day, she never understood why her life was constantly spared.
In the city of Crystal Pearl, it was another story. She could never find anyone as nice as the Annarahs. Every face was gray with no identity behind the masks. Through her eyes, the towering ghosts held nothing but cruel intents and cutthroat mentalities. Then one day, she drifted to the Crystal Pearl City Park, and there she met Akai Son. They played the entire day; however, unlike her, Akai had a family and home awaiting her. Torn, little Psyunna watched with watery eyes her newfound friend depart. Akai looked so happy with her family. A raven-haired fair-skinned mother, dressed in the most conservative of Japanese fashion, held onto Akai's hand. A taller man, clothed in an orange gi, his dark eyes so carefree and happy, his onyx hair expanding in every direction, carried a young boy, a miniature replica of him, upon his shoulders and followed the two females out of the park. The sun set and the violet haired child was alone once more, but she remained in the park in hopes to meet her friend again. And she did.
Over and over, they met and the bond between the two grew and grew. Psyunna was pleased to know that Akai shared a similar past, a stray child whom became lucky and found a permanent family. Akai offered to share her family, but Psyunna, being the way she was, refused. She'd wish to find one of her own but failed. Thus, her search for a home ended at the ragged Mansion far away from the grey faces.
Unsatisfied with the condition of her home, Psyunna refurbished the premises, slowly but surely. Everyday, she would make it a point to fix, repaint, and replace just one part of the adobe. All her replacement parts and additives had come from the Crystal Pearl junkyards; and Psyunna, at such a young age, would lug the items, large and small, several miles from the city. Then she'd refurbish the items to perfection and add them to her home. Through those experiences, she became a skilled carpenter, plumber, electrician and the likes. After a series of trials and errors, she repaired the water line to the house and surrounding structures and created a solar powered generator to distribute electricity to the entire complex.
Psyunna stood in the lobby studying her achievement. "All it takes is a little bit of time, patience and the fact that you've never had family," she scoffed. She ventured up the grand marble staircase, down the stretched oak floored hallways to her bedroom, a small room with only a twin sized bed and a dresser drawer. Psyunna stripped free of clothing, threw them to a corner of the room and entered the adjacent small bathroom. She showered, dressed into a large over shirt, slipped into her bed and fell into a deep fit-less sleep.
HE COULDN'T SEEM to return to slumber. It was that dream again. That woman… He felt a growing tightness tugging at him. Moaning, the haughty young prince dragged himself to the bathroom and took an ice cold shower.