AN: Again, thanks to everyone who did everything with this story, I greatly appreciate it and it is what keeps me going. I'll try and update at least once a week, but as I said, when I get writer's block, I really get writer's block. And when I feel the urge to write, I really feel the urge to write. So sometimes there may be multiple updates in a week, and then none for a month. Lol
Thanks, and enjoy! :)
The three of them were sitting and eating dinner, outside of their little house but towards the back of their cave. Sometimes the three of them in their abode made it feel cramped, especially considering Broly's bulk. Cheelai knew that he usually tried to avoid going in the house, feeling more at home in the cave than in the dwelling. Just another one of his quirks, she thought with a smile.
There hadn't been much conversation going on tonight, all of them just enjoying the company of the others in silence until Lemo eventually cleared his throat.
"So," he began, yellow eyes staring down into his food instead of on herself and Broly. "I think I mighta found us a new home."
This revelation instantly brightened Cheelai's entire mood and demeanor. She had been waiting for what felt like forever for Lemo to say those words. Sure, Vampa wasn't so bad, but still. It was pretty crappy if she were being honest.
"Seriously?" she practically squealed, "That's great! When can we leave? Do we have enough fuel in the ship to make it there? How long do you think it'll be to pack up all our stuff? What's the planet like? Does it have food and water on it? Is the soil…" Cheelai trailed off, noticing that neither Lemo nor Broly seemed as excited by this as she was. What was their problem? Wasn't getting off Vampa a good thing?
She studied the two of them, looking from Lemo, who was watching her from beneath his ugly hat, and Broly, who had stopped eating and was looking down at his food, face expressionless.
Uh-oh.
"Guys?" she asked nervously, eyes flicking back and forth between the two of her companions, "What's up? I thought we all wanted off this freaking hell-hole?"
Again, silence permeated the cave, though this time it was of the uncomfortable kind. What was wrong with those two, she couldn't help but wonder? Why weren't they happy? Lemo just looked reserved, or like he knew something she didn't, and Broly…she just couldn't read his face. Sure, he wasn't the most expressive guy, but normally she could at least have a general idea of what he was feeling. But this wasn't one of those times. Though if she had to guess, she would wager that he was upset about something. Normally that was when he got like this. Not upset at himself, but upset about something external. Something either she or Lemo had done. Like when Cheelai had suggested possible washing Bah's ear so that it didn't smell so bad anymore. Boy, had that not gone over well. At all.
Or when he started thinking about his father. Despite how the man had treated him, that was all Broly had known his whole life. The only constant in his world, and that had been cruelly taken from him. Sure, Paragus had taken Bah from him, but that wasn't enough to take the love and loyalty that Broly had for him. Sometimes Broly would just go and pummel rocks or be a little extra violent when exterminating the parasitic beetles that dwelled on the planet. Or sometimes he would just sit and brood. Those times worried Cheelai the most, as not much could get through to him during those episodes.
Poor guy had never been taught how to handle his emotions, after all. And anger seemed to be a new and foreign one for him.
"Guys?" she prompted again. "What's wrong?"
At her words, it was Lemo that she finally elicited a response from. The little orange man sighed and rubbed at the back of his head.
"Broly doesn't want to leave." He stated simply.
Say what?
Cheelai was shocked. Broly didn't want to leave? Why the hell didn't he want to leave? Didn't he want to see life outside this shit planet? Didn't he want to leave the place that he had spent his entire life?
Oh, shit.
The answer hit her life a spacepod hurling through the universe, and she closed her eyes as the weight of the answer fell over her. Of course he didn't want to leave. Just like Paragus, this place was all he knew. This stupid, desolate planet was Broly's home. He had even called it that when he was talking to them before, on Freiza's ship. He had said the words back home when talking about the story of Bah. He considered this to be home. His (mostly) safe home. The realization made her instantly ashamed of her reaction, and more understanding of why Lemo had been so reserved when talking about the possibility of a new world. Broly must have already told him his wishes.
But why only tell Lemo, she wondered? Why not tell her, too? Was she not trustworthy now that he was aware of her femininity? Or did he just trust Lemo more than her and always had? If that was the case, then she was greatly saddened, and just a little pissed off. It had been her who had made the finger-snap decision to save his life and wish him back to Vampa. Not Lemo. Her.
Steeling herself, she tried to get her emotions under control. Maybe Broly just hadn't had the chance to talk to her about it yet. Maybe he had been waiting, because he knew how badly she wanted off this rock. Or, maybe he had talked to Lemo about it because it was he who was looking for a new home for them? It could have been any number of reasons, she told herself. None of them had to be bad.
"Broly, is that true?" she asked, moving a little closer to him. He visibly stiffened, and Cheelai found herself moving back. He was almost acting angry. Or was he just being defensive because he didn't want to change his mind?
It took him a moment to answer, and he was still refusing to look anywhere but his lap, his hands fisted in the fur around his waist. He looked visibly uncomfortable, and she regretted having to make him feel this way, but dammit, this needed to be talked about. It couldn't just be ignored, or put on the shelf for another day. Finding a new world had been one of their core goals since arriving on Vampa, after all.
"It is." He said quietly, almost so much so that she had trouble hearing him. "I…don't want to leave home again."
Again? Like when he had left when she and Lemo had found him, and brought him to Freiza?
Oh. That made sense, then, she thought. Of course he wouldn't want to leave again; the last time he had left, his father had died, and he had been forced to fight to the point that it had almost driven him insane. Sure, he had gained two friends, but that didn't make up for losing your father and your sanity (however briefly). Really, the outside world to him a strange, dangerous place that had done nothing but screw him over.
She found herself unable to blame him. Honestly, she just felt like a bad friend for not considering his feelings on the subject.
Bad Cheelai, she scolded herself. Being a shitty friend. How could you?
"Oh." She said, her tone empty. She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I get that."
"You do?" Broly asked, finally raising his eyes to hers, hope shining in their dark depths. It instantly made her heart melt a little, but it also further dismayed her. She could only dash his hopes in the end; they couldn't stay on Vampa. Frieza knew where they were, and would eventually come for Broly in the end. He was just too strong for the tyrant to ignore.
She held back the urge to make a face and sigh, instead of holding back her reaction. No need to make the situation worse, after all.
"Yeah, I do." She said quietly, then so, so slowly reached for his hand. His skin was rough, rougher than her own by far, but then she wasn't surprised by that. He came from a warrior race, after all, and it wasn't like he was one to use skin cream. Er, if they had any, that is. She gently squeezed it and gave him a small smile. "I get that you don't want to leave. This, this place, is home. I know how important home can be."
Okay, she was lying through her teeth on that last bit; Cheelai had left home at a young age (not that she was old by any means), and hadn't looked back since. The concept meant nothing to her. But to Broly, it was everything. Just like his father had been.
But that didn't mean it had to be everything to him now. He had her and Lemo. Home could eventually become people, not a place, to him. He just needed to see that.
"But," she continued, maintaining eye contact with him, hoping that her purple eyes conveyed her conviction. "That doesn't mean home can't become something else."
Broly's head gave the minutest of tilts, and Cheelai smiled brightly in response. He appeared wary, bit open to the idea.
Removing her hand from him, she gave him her sign and then looked him directly in the eyes.
He has such dark eyes, she found herself thinking out of the blue. Such sad ones.
Tearing her mind away from that line of thought, Cheelai refocused on the task at hand; convincing Broly to leave Vampa.
"Look at us," she gestured toward herself and Lemo. "We might live on Vampa now, but that doesn't mean it's our home. I don't live on my home planet, and neither does Lemo. Right now, our home is with one another, big guy. Me, you, and that old man over there." She jerked a thumb at Lemo with a cheeky grin, just to watch the "old man" huff.
"What did I say about calling me old?" Lemo demanded under his breath, pulling his hat down further onto his head in irritation, though Cheelai knew there was no real censure in his comment; they were on better terms than that by now.
"With…one…another?" Broly repeated slowly, blinking all the while.
"Yeah," Lemo pitched in, agreeing with Cheelai. "Home is with us. We all care for one another, right? Like good friends, like you and Bah?" he waited until Broly nodded before continuing. "Well, when you have friends like that, home is what you make of it. Joined the Freiza Force pretty young, myself. Meant I spent a lot of time moving from one place to another. And my home planet? Not much for me there either, so I sure don't consider that home. So, me personally? Home is where my good friends are."
Something sweet and child-like appeared in Broly's eyes, and it made Cheelai ache for the child he never really got to be. The emotions he never learned how to deal with, or was allowed to feel. She was mostly a care-free, not-too-deep kind of girl, but Broly seemed to be bringing out the mushy-gushy side of her.
In Lemo, too. She thought with some humor. I've never heard him say something that sappy before.
"Besides," the orange man continued, beginning to eat his food again. Cheelai saw the action for what it was; an attempt to be casual. For Broly. To make him not feel so defensive, on edge. She felt a little bad for it, like they were luring him into a false sense of security just to get what they wanted in the end. Which was to have him concede to their wishes, to leave this place that was no bigger than a moon or large asteroid. "It's not we would have to leave right away, if you do decide that leaving is something that you wanna do. It's not like we're gonna force you Broly. Or leave without you. We're good friends, aren't we? Good friends don't leave good friends." He finished with finality, and pointedly took a bite of his own food.
Whoa. Lemo was pretty good at speaking, Cheelai thought with some bemusement. Maybe it was because of his age? Didn't people say you were supposed to get wiser as you got older, or something like that? Maybe that was true with him.
She could see that Lemo's speech had visibly relaxed Broly, so much so that his jaw was no longer clenched, nor were his hands fisted tightly in Bah's fur. It showed her that they were making some progress with him…which, to be honest, she was starting to feel kind of bad about.
Was it really right to make Broly leave, she worried? Should she and Lemo just suck it up and stay on this desolate planet forever with him, relying on the kindness of that weird Saiyan they had sorta-kinda befriended and eating bug juice? They had made the choice to come with him, after all. It wasn't like they had been forced to come here as he had. They had known what they were getting into. Or, sort of. She, personally, hadn't thought that the planet would be completely devoid of anything sustainable, like the fact that it lacked even water.
Apparently, that time on Frieza's ship really had been the first time he had drank it.
She hadn't really noticed that silence had been permeating the cave once again, so lost in her thoughts. Lemo seemed content to let it stay, silently eating his food and occasionally glancing at her and their personal Super Saiyan.
It was said Saiyan that broke the quiet, and he did so with his eyes downcast and hands stroking Bah's ear gently.
"You mean that, because we are good friends, that you will not leave without me?" he finally asked, and Cheelai was taken aback by his question. She even let out a little breath; not quite a gasp, but a little expulsion of air. Even Lemo looked stunned at Broly's question, his eyes wide and mouth slack.
Ah, shit. Shit, shit, shit.
"You mean, you thought…you seriously thought that we would leave without you?" Cheelai broke out, the words getting stuck in her throat.
The nod he gave was all it took to make her sigh in defeat, and for Lemo to hang his head.
Rubbing at the back of her neck, she wondered at how to approach this situation. It wasn't exactly shocking, she figured, that he didn't completely trust them. First, he had lost Bah, then he had lost Paragus, and now he figured that he was probably going to lose them at some point, too. It was pretty freaking sad. She just didn't know how to address this little problem. This was shaping up to be yet another conversation that made her feel uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable as the previous sex-talks they had had, she thought as she made a face. She just wasn't well equipped for seriousness.
"Hey," she said, clearing her throat. Broly looked up at her through his hair. She gave him a crooked smile, trying and failing to lighten the mood. "You think we'd ever leave you, big guy? That's just…that's just a load of crap, Broly." She stated firmly, causing him to look at her blankly.
"What is…crap?" he asked, and Cheelai smiled inwardly to herself; he could be just so damn cute sometimes.
"It means that she's saying you're being…er, uh…" Lemo trailed off, unsure of how to define such a word without hurting Broly's tender feelings.
"I just meant that that was a dumb idea, Broly." She said, and almost winced at the look of hurt that crossed his face.
Well, she told herself, he does need to learn, I guess.
"I don't mean that you're dumb," she amended, "I just mean that thinking that we're gonna up and leave was dumb. We did save you, didn't we? From those Saiyans, and from Frieza? We aren't just going to get fed up and leave; we've invested in you, big guy." She laughed a little, and then reached over to very lightly punch his arm; she had learned that too much pressure just resulted in her hurting her hand.
"Yeah," Lemo agreed. "We couldn't leave you. We changed our whole lives for you, Broly. We want to be friends with you. To be here with you. If we didn't, we wouldn't have come here in the first place."
Quiet reigned again for the umpteenth time, and Cheelai fought the urge to squirm as she waited for Broly's answer. Jeez, could nothing be easy with this guy?
Before Broly could answer, she spoke up, keeping her voice bright and cheery as a somewhat-solution occurred to her.
"Tell ya what, big guy," she said, "Why don't you just think on the idea of leaving, and we'll wait for you to decide. Okay?" she winked at him and threw him her signature gesture.
"Yeah," Lemo chimed in, perking up. "How's that sound?"
The small smile on his face was all the answer that they needed.
"That sounds…good."