DARK ANGEL


Chapter One - the Awakening

"A man is dreaming that he is a butterfly... How can you know, when he wakes up, that it's not the butterfly who is dreaming that he is a man ?" (R.M.)
"Some things are too beautiful to de destroyed... until the point of no return..." (Juunanagou)

A cracking sound...

Winds in the trees...

His eyes were still closed. He was feeling too exhausted to open them. He breathed. Odors of moss and wood... He was in a forest, for sure...

He tried to extend his senses to his skin to locate where he was. Something hard on his back, and he was sitting on something soft. His fingers moved with difficulty. He recognized under them moss and dried fir needles. That was where the odor was coming from. He tried to remember how he had arrived there...

A sudden caw startled him and he opened his eyes widely . He realized he was leant against a fir-trunk, in the forest. On one of his knees, was a crow as dark as the night. He looked at him, astonished. The crow cawed at him one more time, and then took flight. He sat up. *Did he think I was already dead, and that he could have a meal... ?*, he got the funny thought. He looked down to his old orange tunique, but didn't notice any trace of blood.

Then he followed the crow's flight until he saw another man, in front of a little wooden house, vaguely familiar. He could only see the man's back, not his face, but began to observe him. Rather tall, he was wearing a long black coat, under which he could barely see black trouser and brown boots. The man was also wearing a familiar sword over the coat. Hitting detail that caught all his attention. He then saw purple hair, and knew who the man was: "Trunks !", he called out, but his voice was so weak that the man didn't seem to hear him. He tried to move, but he felt so exhausted that he didn't manage to stand up.

He then noticed another detail : Trunks was holding a burning torch in his right hand. The crow landed on the handle of his sword and cawed. Trunks slightly turned his face to the crow and nodded, as if both were agreeing about some idea. Then Trunks began to walk towards the house.

Goku grabbed the fir-trunk to try to stand on his feet... and succeeded. He walked a few steps, as Trunks was touching some parts of the house lightly with the torch. Avid flames began to devor the defenseless wood. Not caring of the increasing temperature, Trunks remained at the entrance of the house, a few seconds, before throwing the torch inside.

The fire began to spread its reign inside the house. Goku noticed a disturbing detail: among the flames, he saw a thin arm, lifeless, soon hidden by the growing flames.

*What the hell is happening here ??!*

He moved a few steps toward the house, wondering why it looked so familiar. Trunks was walking backwards to move away from the burning hell. The crow was still on the handle of the sword, sometimes opening his wings to keep his equilibrium. He cawed once more, and his caw echoed dramatically in the clearing, before the deafening creaking of the fire filled the whole space.

He heard in the back of his mind, something more like a whisper than a real voice: "Sometimes, some things are too beautiful to de destroyed... until the point of no return...". He had already heard those words, but... ?!

He suddenly remembered... At the same time, Trunks turned away from the house and began to walk. Goku saw his face. A face he would surely remember in his worst nightmares.

His face expression was as cold as iceberg, with some burning fury in his eyes. His skin was really pale, almost white, although Goku wasn't sure of the color, with the dancing flames around, projecting golden light on his face. Trunks had, also, black tears coming down from his eyes, and his lips were black, with a smile coming from the tips. He was looking like an Avenging Angel from Hell. His eyes seemed more alive than ever, two pieces of ice ready to burn any foes.

Goku saw Trunks's lips moving slightly, and he heard a whisper of the words: "They will all die ".

They ? Who ? Goku didn't get more time to wonder as the crow took his flight, cawing. Trunks looked at him, and began to run in the same direction. They both passed at 10 meters from a still Goku. When the crow arrived at his level, he cawed again before disappearing into the darkness of the wood, followed by Trunks.

*Was it like... a dark invitation ?*, Goku wondered. As then he remembered Trunks: *what kind of a ki was that ?*

"No more crisis ?", Yamucha asked from the controls of the plane.

"No", Chichi whispered, gently brushing aside some locks of hair from Goku's face. "His dreams seem more quiet now..."

Trunks turned his eyes for a few seconds to watch Goku, then, without a word, looked through the porthole again to the illimited sky...

[TO BE CONTINUED...]