READING BEDTIME STORIES

Chapter Seven - Metaphors and the Days of Darkness

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Disclaimer: By now I'm sure you know DBZ is all Akira Toriyama. BTW, I would like to formally apologize for spelling his name wrong all this time. I had the I and the Y mixed up. ANYWAY, the other characters belong to yours truly.

A/N: Finally! More comedy! OH… and as the title suggests, more misery.

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Racoome heaved a great sigh and wiped mounting sweat off his brow. He hurled another shovel of Freeza 79 over his shoulder, muttering, "Why is it so hot suddenly?"

Guldo was panting and soaked as though they were back on the desert planet. He wiped his face on his dripping, smelly shirt and turned to Racoome. "How should I know? Last night it was chilly, like always. Today I'm baking like a potato!"

"Guldo, enough clichés." Ginyu sighed from his lawn chair. "Stop whining, boys. This planet doesn't usually oblige the tanner."

"Sir, my race doesn't tan…" Guldo almost whined, watching his leader relaxing with a cold lemonade in a deck chair.

"This unexpected heat wave is a blessing." Ginyu was wearing shades and a visor, looking quite content. "HM…" he added. "I need sun screen."

Burter approached, shovel over his shoulder. "What's with the weather?"

"You're late, soldier." Ginyu ignored the question. "Where's J?"

All four of the green one's eyes lit up suddenly. He grinned, remembering something. "You'll never guess what I heard last night."

"No, I probably won't." Racoome was honest. He resumed digging.

"Nor do we care, but you'll probably tell us anyway." Ginyu sighed, annoyed. He stirred his iced lemonade and muttered to himself, "Rather tart. Needs more sugar."

Guldo ignored this and started right in, "Jeice and Zarbon were fighting last night. Zarbon's a snob and Jeice can't read!"

"And just how would you know?" Burter was skeptical.

"I listened in." Guldo shrugged.

"I can just see you, ear to the wall." Ginyu snorted. He was still stirring his lemonade, not looking up at them.

"Of course, with a glass." Guldo snorted back. He resumed, "They had a nice little spat and Jeice threw the pretty boy out. Zarbon is SO racist and Jeice is illiterate, I swear!"

Burter was annoyed, "None of that true, Guldo, and you know it."

"Well…" Racoome stopped digging - the only one actually working. "Zarbon always seemed a bit racist to me. Have you seen him around Sayians?"

Everyone agreed in nods and hushed hums. Someone whistled negatively.

"And Jeice can't read a word!" Guldo reminded them, disliking J.

"Nonsense." Racoome shook his head.

"Of course he can read." Burter also sided with Jeice. "We've seen him."

Ginyu slipped his shades on his forehead, his lavender eyes still not looking at them. "He can read. He passed all his entrance exams. He takes regular eye tests. He performs all sorts of everyday tasks that require unassisted reading. He's read aloud spontaneously before us several times in the past and present. Enough said."

Guldo wasn't satisfied, but said nothing.

Burter sighed, starting to dig. He returned to the subject of the weather. "Planet Freeza 79 has never been this hot before. Last night I was grabbing extra blankets. I woke up drowning in my sweat!"

"Unexpected, unexpected." Racoome muttered, tossing more soil. It was as though he was talking to himself and not paying attention to what he was actually saying. It was true nonetheless.

Ginyu was lost in thought, his eyes hard suddenly as he watched the sun finish rising. Jeice still hadn't arrived for duty and probably wouldn't.

***

Jeice lay in bed, sweating insanely. He was staring blankly at the ceiling too worried to wonder about the mysterious heat. He knew he'd missed his morning shift and was more nervous than ever because of it. He'd woken up for work, sweating buckets, worrying instantly about whether Zarbon had stormed to Ginyu or worse yet, Freeza himself.

Zarbon had left very angry. He may he went to Ginyu and had him booted from The Force, or even the army. The idea of him actually going to Lord Freeza wasn't likely, as he was still alive. Maybe he would go to Freeza today. Either way, he had been to afraid to report for duty. Maybe his death or dismissal was waiting for him there.

These thoughts had never crossed his mind at the time of their spat. He'd been so insolent to Zarbon - now he'd pay. After Zarbon had left and he'd realized he could only read parts of his notes… he'd spent the evening looking at all the written word he could find around the apartment.

He'd only been able to read about 10% of what he looked at. Bits and pieces. Parts of sentences. It was so creepy. He'd been very concerned and arranged a appointment with all his doctors. His eye doctor had been quite troubled by the symptoms and had booked him for this afternoon, bumping people out.

Jeice wanted to slink to the appointment, get his evidence and have the doctors send it to Zarbon… and maybe Ginyu is the poison had spread far enough. He sighed and realized he was using very metaphorical language suddenly. Much like he had in his dark, starving days. It was a bad sign, he realized. He was losing hope again.

He glanced at the clock and realized he should eat some lunch and get up and ready for his appointment. He didn't budge. He wasn't hungry. Not at all. He was too worried to eat. Too upset. He lay in his sweaty bed for another thirty minutes before sadly hauling himself across the pad to his bathroom for a shower. He was too worried to sing in the shower though. He left without styling his hair, brushing his teeth or eating.

***

Racoome again wiped some sweat from his brow as they worked away in the heat - this time to clear away debris. It was all that remained of west wing of the Ginyu building.

"It's hot." He muttered to no one in particular. He was stating the obvious, as people often did. It had been hot for hours and was getting progressively worse, even though it was evening.

"I don't understand it…" Ginyu muttered from his chair. "I've never seen anything like it. That damn storm… and yet it was still blazing hot… all through it… totally unexpected…"

"Right out of the blue, sir." Burter agreed.

"Personally…" Guldo was irritable in the heat. "I feel it's all rather freakish. I never saw that storm coming."

"Didn't surprise me." Racoome shrugged. "Thunder storms always seem to happen in really hot weather. The lightening was different though. I don't know. Too bad about the west wing."

Ginyu sighed, "Ya, but there was no warning signs of a storm. It hit hard and furious in an instant… lasted forever… then vanished in a flash without a trace of having happened."

"In this heat… it was like it had never rained at all." Burter agreed. "The lightening was sometimes blue. I think I even saw lavender. Weird, huh?"

"It was such a sickening crack… the one that took the building…" Racoome said, sad, staring at the blackened mess of frazzled materials.

"And where's Jeice through all this?" Ginyu asked the rhetorical question quietly.

They worked in silence for a few moments before Guldo slammed his shovel down in frustration. "This is insane! The weather was impossibly PERFECT for months and months… and then this heat… and that storm… It's just insane!" He stormed off.

Silence.

Finally, Ginyu turned to Burter. "Get me some sugar and sun screen."

***

Jeice sat on the floor of his quarters, staring out the window. He had been almost oblivious of the storm. He'd been far away, lost in the thought, the thunder in the background. Anyone else on Planet Freeza 79 was trying to save their hearing though. The storm had been outrageous.

He'd almost failed to notice the colorful lightening flashes illuminating his room. White, blue, lavender. It had been beautiful and yet terrifying at the same time. The lightening seemed somehow… "furious". It was more powerful than any lightening ought to be. It was strange how all it damaged was the west wing of the Ginyu building. Burned it to the ground.

Jeice didn't know this though. He'd been too lost in worry. Admittedly, the "sickening crack" had startled him from his depressed little zone of blankness. All on the planet jumped at that strike and their hearts had raced as the world illuminated red. The flames angry. Very angry.

Jeice was lost in himself for several reasons…

Firstly, his eye doctor hadn't come up with ANYTHING. He told Jeice the same as Ginyu - everything was just fine. He hinted the only doctor J needed to see was a shrink. Now he had nothing to save himself from Zarbon. Maybe it WAS all in his head and now he'd pay for it.

Secondly, even if Zarbon had been decent to him again and said nothing to anyone… he had missed a full day's work with no explanation. He thought of the storm and red light… and knew something horrible had happened. Something he hadn't been there to help with. If Zarbon didn't have him killed… Ginyu would now.

He just sat, lost in miserable nothingness. He sighed a trembling sigh. The orange youth was a mess. He hadn't eaten in over 24 hours and couldn't sleep. He hugged his knees and started to rock subconsciously. Just as he did in the days of darkness. …Metaphorical language…

***

N/A:

Poor Jeice… _

I'm going to stop feeding you the next chapter titles here for a while. I just don't have things planned like that anymore. One of the reasons I rated this story PG13 is… I have SOME idea where I'm going with this… but I'm more or less winging it. Anywho, I'd rather be safe than deleted. ^_^