THREE DIMENSIONS
Chapter 11
A/N: I'm SORRY!! SO SORRY!!! It's been too long an update!!! But I'm running out of ideas!!! SO SORRY!!! REALLY REALLY SORRY!!!
*We now back away from author on her knees begging forgiveness and go on with the fic!*
WWAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIT!!!!
For those that asked me, Overlord Vegeta actually said "Masaka" in the last chapter, which means 'Impossible' in Japanese. NOW you can go on with the fic~!
Gohan squinted his vision at the distant red clouds, knowing they were not natural. Familiar surges of panic surged in his mind.
Pan.
An urgency was in the air, pushing him on along with the sickening tightening of his stomach.
He was afraid of what he will find once he got there. Afraid of what his family and friends might be.
"Please, hold on guys..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They watched in horror as the figure fell, spinning as if in slow motion in a rain of blood. The golden mane of the figure shortened, returning to midnight black.
Laughing from a painfully familiar voice was the only sound.
The silence only echoed as King Vegeta's once proud form crashed into the ground in a unclimatic dust cloud.
And suddenly a scream filled the air. A scream that was neither of pain or remorse. One of terrible anger.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!"
There was no time to react. No time to block, no time to think.
Serpia crashed into the dirt beside the fallen King, the red aura of her attacker floating above her, the tangy taste of blood in her mouth.
"He was MINE to kill! Not yours wench!" Another punch slammed into her face, sending shock waves of pain in her skull. Long gold hair flickered in her vision.
Goku and Goten rushed to the side of the Overlord, checking for a pulse, anything.
Blank eyes met them, telling them the horrible truth.
He was alive, but not for long.
The blood slowly dripping from the hilt of the sword mixed with the blood of it's victim.
"Goten." Goku's voice was deadly calm. "Get him to a regeneration tank."
"Tousan..."
"Go."
The utter conviction in his father's voice made his choice.
Without a word, the demi saiya-jin carefully picked the fallen King up.
"LEAVE HIM!!!"
They all turned startled, to stare at the voice. A voice of such anger unparalleled to anything they've heard before. The Prince looked at Goten with the most dangerous eyes he had ever seen.
"Do not move him."
His hair was now down to his knees, cackling with the anger of Super Saiya-jin Three. There was no remorse in those eyes. No caring at all.
The bloody, but still eerily smiling form of Serpia lay at his feet. Slowly the girl got up. The Prince spun on her, slamming a foot into her side before anyone of them could blink.
"He was MINE to kill." He repeated, levelling a gaze at Serpia as she once again got up without fail.
The skies reverberated this statement with a shocking crack of lightning, silhouetting two other figures in the air. The very mirrors of the two facing off on the ground.
No words exchanged. There was nothing left to be said.
These two were usually the best of friends, destined to be happy, smiles lighting their faces often by the love of their family and friends. Fate made them enemies on this day.
Simultaneously they both charged, auras flashing gold and purple in an instant, both filled with anger and rage.
One fighting for revenge, another fighting to save her.
Powers clashed violently as they fought, unknowingly weaving themselves into a ritual that has been done since Saiya-jins were created. The dance of the full moon.
Down below, tension stretched as the two stared at each other.
Goten stood nervously, still carefully carrying King Vegeta over a shoulder.
"Father...what should I do?"
"I SAID, leave him." Prince Vegeta snapped, eyes never leaving the form of Serpia, standing flawlessly a few metres away. Goten tensed. Scowling, the Prince turned on him. "He is mine to kill third class. "
"He's already half dead! Don't you care at all!?" Bura stumbled out of the dirt her face and body bleeding, obviously weakened. Goku flickered his gaze worriedly toward her.
Prince Vegeta's lips quirked as if the very idea was laughable. "No."
Looks of horror washed over the diminished group of warriors.
It was the raspy laughing that broke the silence. A form sprang from the ground, reduced to the first stage of super saiya-jin, bleeding heavily and clutching his arm in obvious pain. It took alot to make him show pain. Vegeta looked his 'son' in the eyes.
"Boy, you care all right. It's against your lineage not to care, no matter how you were raised. Even by me." The original Saiya-jin no Ouji looked at his almost dead counterpart. "If you fight her now, it would mean nothing. She is weakened. You do not have the honor of inheriting the throne."
Goku's eyes widened. So that's why. A sharp pain in his head signified the use of the new information in his head. It made sense. The Prince had to fight. Serpia had defeated his father, and was now, under Saiya-jin law, Queen. The Strongest will rule. Prince Vegeta would lose the throne. Yet, Serpia was now weakened, if he fought her now, they were not fighting as equals, it would mean nothing for him to win. He would get the throne, but she will always be stronger in opinion.
Prince Vegeta scowled menacingly. "My honor has nothing to do with it. HE obliterated that useless emotion by using me as his...as his..." He couldn't let himself say it. The scowl grew fiercer as the Prince glared at King Vegeta. "Take him to a tank." He looked at Serpia with the eyes the colour of molten red, blazing in limitless orbs. "You will pay wench." Serpia smiled.
"Goten." Goku looked at his son. With a nod of understanding, Goten lifted off the ground, blasting off in search of a regeneration tank.
"Now where might you be going?"
Goten's eyes widened, backing away slightly as black fiery orbs of pain bored into his eyes. Bardock's body floated infront of him, arms crossed.
"Forget about me did you. Now we can't have that can we?" The being named Mesuinu tilted Bardock's head, a smile twisting his features.
Goten's face turned serious. "Let me pass."
Almost immediately, Mesuinu burst into laughter at the absurdity of the idea.
Goku saw the opening. "GO!!!" With a yell, he drove a fist towards Mesuinu's head, only to have it hit an invisible barrier in mid air. Goten hesitated, his eyes widening.
Growling, his father looked at him. "GO!!!"
But it was already too late. Goku looked in horror as his son stopped dead-still in mid air, eyes wide and begging at him. The King's unconscious body fell from the demi saiya-jin's limp grip to the ground far below, still dripping in blood. Mesuinu smiled, hand slowly closing in at him. Invisible fingers tightened on Goten's throat.
"Mortals, so easy to break, so easy to control."
Lightning crackled around Goku's body as his eyes flashed in fury. No one messes with his family. This THING has gone too far. With a snarl of anger, the super saiya-jin 4 attacked, launching blow after blow on his father's body.
Only to be met with an icy glare of promise.
Eerie blue light rippled in the air where his fists landed, inches from Bardock's body.
"Fool, do not deceive yourself into believing you can defeat me."
Goku smirked, seeing Goten pick the King up and fly off at the corner of his eyes. "I don't."
Mesuinu didn't lose her smile and only lifted hand towards the disappearing duo. If was almost as if time rewound and once again, Goten and King Vegeta floated a few feet away. Mesuinu levelled a stare at him. "Do not mess with what is preordained. He will die."
Goku didn't know if that meant his son or the King. Either way, he would not let it happen. A familiar ki shot into his senses. And approaching fast. With an uncharacteristic growl he backed off, never taking his eyes from Goten. Worry swam in his mind. With Gohan here, there was no one to protect Chichi and Bulma. But for now, he HAD to get the King away to a regeneration tank. But how?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Gohan's eyes widened seeing his daughter and Trunks fighting in the air. He could tell it wasn't just a spar. And most unnerving of all was the fact that Pan appeared to be the aggressor.
"Pan-chan!!!"
Both figures stopped and looked at him.
Trunks's eyes widened, warning him away. Behind him, Pan smiled, but not the open and brilliant smile that was characteristic of her. Something, almost evil.
Her eyes jerked to Trunks, followed by a thundering punch across the jaw of the unsuspecting Saiya-jin.
"Pan...!"
She laughed, grabbing Trunks's hair in her hands and slammed his head on her knee with what looked to be...glee?
Gohan looked in horror as Trunks started fighting back at his only daughter. Their hits exploded around the sky before him with loud sonic booms. The first thought in his mind was, *Why?*
Trunks flew past him, spitting out a wad of blood to the side. His voice was raspy from heavy breathing. "Gohan, get out of here."
It was all he could say before Pan fazed above him, and slammed both fists into his head, sending the demi saiya-jin crashing to the ground. She smiled, wiping the blood from her chin with an arm. Eyes of violet bore down on him, uncovered by long, wispy strands of silver hair.
"Father." Her voice made his eyes widen. There was so much hatred in that voice. So much contempt. He had never heard that tone in her voice before. Not even when they had been fighting the likes of Bebi or the Evil Shenlongs. Those times only brought concern and anger in her voice. Never hatred like this. And never would he have imagined that this voice be direct at him.
"Pan-chan, what..."
He only saw a fleeting smile before her fist slammed into his face, the power behind it way too high for it to belong to his Panny...
"GOHAN!!!" Trunks's voice yelled.
A ki blast shot past his falling body, exploding with yellow brilliance where Pan was a moment ago. Gohan pushed his ki beneath him, stopping his decent in the air. His eyes adjust just in time to see Trunks elbow Pan in the face.
"NO!!!" The scream tore from his throat. An aura of yellow surrounded him as he exploded into Super Saiya-jin, flying toward his daughter. He pulled Trunks away from her angrily. "What do you think you're DOING!?!"
That voice sounded behind him. "Fool."
Trunks's face scowled as Pan shot a leg out in a roundhouse kick, effectively getting Gohan out of the way. Howling in anger, he charged at her, punching her face in hard enough to let loose the bandana that covered part of her head. The only way he could win is to hit her hard enough to knock her unconcious.
Her body propelled back, flipped in mid air, easily fazing from his sight.
"Dammit...!" Trunks stretched his senses around him. Pan was strong. Stronger than she had ever been before. Except...
He brought his arm up just in time to veer off a titanic kick to his head that could've done serious damage to his neck. A ki blast came out of no where to explode painfully against his side. Gritting his teeth, he struck out at the recurring blur around him, grabbing the soft strands of silver in his hands. It was dirty but...
Pan screamed, teeth baring angrily at him.
She was strong all right. Except, it was no where near the power levels Busu and Ama had generated during the fight against SSJ4 Goku and Vegeta. She had only a boost to just above his. It was like she was given just enough power to fight him alone. So be it. He did not intend to lose.
He clamped her legs and arms in a death lock.
"Pan listen to me...I know you're in there somewhere..."
"Shut up you...you...BASTARD!!!" With a clarifying scream, Pan let loose a tremendous wall of power around her, making Trunks lose his grip on her completely. A round of punches came directly after, slamming into his body repeatedly with cruel strength. Wetness splattered on his cheek with each blow. Too cool to be blood.
Tears?
Trunks brought his arms up to ward off her attack, felling a kneed into her stomach before she could do any more damage. With a twist in mid flip, he turned once again to face her.
Long strands of silver covered her face, yet they couldn't hide the shaking of her shoulders, nor the silent droplets of tears flowing from her eyes.
Distrust of what she had become made him stay where he was, though all his being told him to comfort her. His Panny.
When she looked up again, it wasn't hatred that looked back. But pain. Terrible, terrible pain. The violet of her eyes were darker now. Red as the moon above them.
"Why...what did I do to deserve your pity...your hatred? Don't I deserve love like any other person? Don't I breath? Don't I bleed? Do they like hurting me? Giving me pain like this?" She seemed like she was talking to herself, yet strangely he could feel she was talking to him directly.
He was caught unprepared when she lashed out at him, the sheer power of her hurt ripping the breastplate of his armor to pieces. She was fighting with her emotions! Something only done when one had nothing else to lose. To fight with pure emotion meant fighting with the very essence of your life.
"Pan NO!!! Stop!! Don't do it!!!" He tore at her, trying his best to stop what he knew to be suicide. Every ki trained fighter knew to fight with the essence of your life meant to throw it at the enemy. Another form of this is the self destruct. Like...like what his father had done at one time.
The destructive energy collected around her. Desperation welled in his heart.
A sharp rise in ki came from below. No! Not now!!!
"Stop it! You're going to kill her!!!" The other man's scream tore through the skies.
*He thinks I'M doing this?!* Trunks though wildly. Shaking from any distraction, he traced her movements through the air. Her attacks were getting sloppier. More energy getting concentrated inside her.
"PAN STOP!!! STOP OR YOU'LL KILL YOURSELF!!!" Faster than he had ever moved before, his arms locked around her waist and arms, pinning her to his body. The shaking from her small frame could be felt all oevr his body.
Yet still she made no noise. Tears soaked into the tattered remains of his clothing.
He almost didn't hear the whisper that escaped her lips.
"Trunks...I don't want to die..."
She head rested on his shoulder. The gesture was just so...right. His arms moved from pinning her to him to wrap solidly around her waist. Trunks looked down at the silver strands of hair laid across his chest.
"Then don't." He said just as softly.
"I...can't."
It seemed perfectly natural for them to do this in the midst of battle. In the midst of a battle that may affect the whole universe. But for now. It was just them.
He noticed the slow darkening of her hair.
"We don't hate you Pan-chan. We would never do that to the one we love most."
Pan didn't look up, but she didn't break from his grip. "Don't lie to me anymore...I can't take it...I just..."
Her body started to glow. Trunks ignored it, knowing the only way to stop her was in another way, other than fighting.
"I'm not lying Pan-chan. We need you...I need you." He added the last, much softer than before. She had said she loved him. And maybe...
She just shook her head on his shoulder. "Goodbye...Trunks..." Her head tilted back to the sparkle of tears on her cheeks, her whole body bathed in a golden deadly glow, centered inside her very life source.
Desperate, Trunks gripped her hard, not letting her go to oblivion if he could stop it. The pale skin of her neck was revealed as silver tinted hair blew back with her own energy. Instinct told him to do...something. If only he knew what!
Again, pale skin, glowing unnaturally, tempted before his eyes. He had the strangest urge to...
Pan's eyes closed tilting herself away from him. "Leave me alone..."
"No...NO!!!" Going with his instinct, he sank his teeth into her neck. A startled gasp escaped her throat. It was the exact moment her energy reached its peak.
"NOOOOOOOO!!! PAN-CHAN!!!" It was Gohan's voice that screamed that broke their intimacy. And surprisingly it was him who delivered the harsh blow to Pan's cheek.
The woman in his arms was flung into the sky, the shock of being hit so hard knocking her concentration apart. Her body landed on the ground, a hand covering her slightly bleeding neck. Pan's body quivered in sadness clearly seen in her form.
But when she looked at her father with wide, black, eyes there was only confusion in her face. Utter remorse played over her features. "Why...Dad..."
Gohan's eyes flashed fury beneath the aqua-marine exterior. "If you kill yourself I will never forgive you. Never." He landed on the ground infront of her, arms crossed.
Her head lowered. "If you hate me so much why don't you let me die?" her voice was barely loud enough to hear.
"LISTEN TO ME!!! WE DO NOT HATE YOU!!! PAN...Pan," He continued in a softer voice, "We love you. You should never doubt that. You are my only daughter. A friend. A family member. A team mate..."
"Stop it. STOP IT!!!" Pan stood, eyes blazing brilliantly in the passionate spirit Gohan knew so well. "LIAR! FRAUD! Bastard." Her eyes started to flicker aqua, each word a stab to Gohan's heart.
Trunks suddenly had a flash of feelings that were not his own. Betrayal. Hurt. Anger. Hate. Confusion. He stared at the now distance figure of Pan, her aura rising again in anger. But in an familiar gold. Could she...
"What did I ever do to you to deserve such hate? The looks of pity because I was not strong enough, or was too useless to EVERYONE AROUND! Because I wasn't pretty as someone else, or smart enough to stand out! I couldn't even have a normal life because of you people! People who I thought loved me, but only pitied me, hated me and scorned me again and again!!! But now I have the power to do something about this don't I!?! Are you scared Papa!?! YOU WHO DID ALL THOSE THINGS TO ME AND MORE!!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!" A scream wrought the air as Pan was surrounded with a pure globe of light. Muscles enlarged with a crackle of lightning, fuelled by anger and hate. Hair, burned from silver into gold with vengeance, turning all signs of her possession to that of the glory of a Super Saiya-jin. And continued to expand.
Gohan watched in awe as she transformed into the Level of SSJ2. And kept rising. "Kami..."
Trunks dropped to the ground beside him, watching with the same awe and fear. Not fear for himself. For Pan. For his Pan.
Both were stunned as a golden snake-like belt lashed violently behind her. A golden tail meant....
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!!!" Eyes blooded into red.
A roar filled the air, tormented and angry. The form of a Golden Oozaru filled the skies, lashing at the red moon that glowed eerily in the heavens.
"She...she..." Trunks began.
Gohan grimaced. "She's transformed into the madness of Oozaru."
A matching scream from his companion pierced the air in time with Oozaru Pan's. Gohan spun to see Trunks kneeling on the floor, hands clenched in his hair, his mouth wide open in a scream that had long ran out of sound.
"Trunks!!!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Bulma almost jumped as the wrench she had asked Chichi to pick up for her shattered on the ground, dents made in the solid titanium handle like those of fingers.
"Chichi?" The blue haired scientist asked inquisitively. after minutes, there was still no answer. Then, an in draw of breath could be heard.
The voice that did answer wasn't one used by her friend. "This has gone too far."
A chill ran down Bulma's back with the softly spoken words. Words that held power that even she could detect. But it wasn't in the sense of ki. The power shook her in the greatest depths of her soul. A strange calm befell her. Bulma did not turn around as if a sudden sense told her not to. Yet another part of her being screamed at her to turn. To see what had become of her friend.
"Bulma...we must go." Chichi's voice was soft and serene, unlike the sweet homemaker and wife who was never soft in the least, even in the best of moods. The only time Bulma had heard this tone in her friend's voice was in her...wedding day. Too long ago.
"Chichi...what..." Bulma turned around. At first there was nothing surprising about Chichi. But with a second look it was obvious.
"We must go. NOW." She was younger. The same age as she was when she married Goku. But it was not Chichi that commanded that body.
Bulma found herself walking and turning on the machine she was working on. It lifted into the air silently. Both women entered and sat inside. Bulma drove, staring at the windscreen with blank eyes, a serene voice whispering instructions in her ear. A voice that brought comfort, the kind the made the very core of your soul happy to be filled with such a voice.
It sounded...like Chichi.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Her lithe form flew past the almost dead body on the ground, pulling out the blood dripping sword with a twist. There was no sound from the King who had fallen there shortly before.
Serpia lifted the sword's blade over her face, the blood from its hilt once again seeping through her fingers. Eyes glowing amethyst reflected off the blade, sending a chill of nothing but exhilaration through her opponent.
Both ignored the golden clap of thunder around them with another the transformation of Serpia's counterpart. They ignored the startled gasps, the awed faces. Even the almost dead enemy to them both that lay all too still on the ground. For now it was them and the moon that shone over head, seering their senses, and the lure of battle.
Prince Vegeta growled, the crackle of SSJ3 erupting around his body magnificently. As if on signal, a roar pierced the air. A prince and an assassin disappeared from sight, the only known signals of their whereabouts was the glint of metal spinning with deadly accuracy in the air, with an unimaginable amount of skill. Gold and purple arcs of energy slashed through the air.
Prince Vegeta bared his teeth, the sheer blade of ki in his hands locked against hers. The only warning came with a glint of her eyes. A dagger sliced through the air at his face. he could only tilt his head back as the blade skimmed his left cheek, cutting into flesh silently. The only emotion displayed on her face was one of glee. Insane glee.
Eyes shot into an angry red. "Now you die." With a roar, he flipped back, slamming both feet into her face. It went right through. An image only. A glint appeared above him, the only warning of the approaching blade. Gold aura flashed as it was caught in his hands.
Suddenly, Serpia shrieked, vaulting back, the blade of her sword slipping through his fingers as she twisted. Her arm came up to catch the sword, spinning gracefully in an arc. Another hand came up behind the blade. Her eyes snapped wide as the sword glowed.
Flying forward with vengeance after his prey, Prince Vegeta didn't expect the energy blast to come from the sword. A flash of lightning rebounded off his quickly emitted shield.
"Impressive wench, but skill can never beat pure power." His hands cupped to the side with a smirk. "GALICK...GUN..."
Serpia's hands fazed in front of her, ki charging into her palms. Palms locked one behind the other, ki combining in intensity and power. No words escaped her lips.
"FIRE!!!" At the same time, a purple glowing blast erupted from Serpia's hands, the two colliding with an explosion equal to the brightness of a star. A gold and purple swirling globe expanded around them, contorting into something entirely different than that of ki blasts. A cone of containment. Prince Vegeta snarled with a look around him. "So that's your trick."
He deftly caught the blade of her sword in his palm, pulling it from her in one go. In one swift move, he snapped the blade in half on his knee. "Enough of this."
Serpia stopped to stare at the shattered remains of her sword. A slow smile came across her face. Both broken pieces lifted from the ground, reflecting the glow of the dome around them. They flew into her hands as whole swords, bleeding their sorrow and hatred onto her arms. The smile appeared again as she attacked, slashing with complicated moves of spinning arcs and kicks. Multiple shallow cuts dug into his skin in short sharp twists of pain. Prince Vegeta saw her flip toward him and launched, grabbing her wrists, almost crushing them in his grip. With a grunt, he slammed his head into hers in a hard head butt, sending her body reeling back, the swords lost in her grip.
He pushed his aura after her, breathing in heavy gasps, ignoring the pain from her attacks. Fists locked together and came down like with vengeance on her stomach. Blood sparkled into the air from her lips. He fazed again below her.
Serpia stopped her decent, just before she reached him, twisting in a total circle so her legs and fists rained down repeatedly, the heels of her boots digging into his skin. She glanced at the sword lying on the ground. As if on silent command, it flew to her hand, her figure already charging after the Prince before it landed. The well of physical pain he dealt her was just beneath her consciousness, ignored until it became too much and she would die. But then, he would be dead already by that time.
A glove raised to wipe the blood from his mouth, a smirk on his lips. "You are tired wench. You can't hold much longer. Your blows hurt, but lack the power to do damage to me. Give up." Her sword came down at him from above, dodged just in time for it to fly past. The blade swerved to cut across.
Prince Vegeta jumped into the air as it swung under his legs, delivering a tornado kick to her face. Her whole body spun with the force. He watched as she stood, one again without fail. He marvelled at her determination.
They faced each other once again, grim determination on both their faces. Serpia smiled slightly, bringing her sword over her head as her knees bent in the Wattou style, one leg dead straight in front of her, the other bent slightly at the kneed and ankle behind her. Two fingers of her spare hand, dripping in blood, raised...as if to aim.
He puzzled over this change in style with a scowl before getting into a stance of his own. Something told him this would be the last round in their battle. One of them would die here and now. It would not be him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Mesuinu didn't blink as the dome erupted behind her, closing off Serpia's and the Prince's fight. Nor as King Vegeta's almost dead body flew past her ear and fell to the ground with a large dust cloud that momentarily hid Bardock's features. Her eyes stayed on the frozen form of Goten in front of her.
Goku tensed, his mind a jumble of awe and fear for his son. The roar that was his granddaughter, having reached the stage of Golden Oozaru filled the air again. The sense of his long time rival and friend stood a little behind him.
Vegeta shifted his glance to Bura worriedly to meet her steeled gaze. He scowled. Her attachment and concern to Kakarotto's 2nd brat was obvious in her eyes. Eyes that told him with the same will as her mother that she would not leave. Not until she knew the brat and himself was safe. Bah.
Another roar filled the air, this time accompanied with the sound of his son screaming.
Mesuinu smiled. "Do you truly think you can win against me Son Goku? You do not even know why I have done this do you? Your mind tries to contemplate the reasons I would kill your loved ones...make them suffer, make them feel the glory of pain. You try to fathom the reason behind this do you not?" Her taunting voice held amusement as Goten's body started thrashing in the air, spasms that didn't show on his blank face.
Goku clenched his hands. "I couldn't care less. You hurt my family, it's reason enough for me to kill you. If you think I'm going to stand by and do nothing..."
"I don't expect any such thing...I expect you to watch. That is all. And accept your fate." Her eyes blazed with sudden promise. "Your fate is decided. Three becomes one, and the universe is mine." A shudder coursed through Goku's body at those words. It took all of his mind frame to not believe them when everything in his being told him this thing told the truth.
"Shut up." Bura's voice broke through quietly, her teeth gritting against each other. "Just shut up you bitch. I don't care how powerful you are, or what you want. NO ONE DECIDES MY FATE BUT ME!!!" With a scream, her form hurled towards Mesuinu, to the utter shock of those around.
"Bura!" Vegeta watched in horror as his only daughter shot towards their enemy.
"HHHHHNNNNGG!!!" Her ki collected in her palms in a bright golden glow. "GALICK GUN FIRE!!!" Bura put all her strength behind the blast, her throat going hoarse with her scream.
Mesuinu watched the approaching blast with a smile. "Boy."
Goku's eyes widened as Goten's body moved in front of the blast, batting it away easily. Goten's face displayed a look of fear as his body moved without his authority, charging towards the stunned Bura, ki gathering in his hands.
"Goten-kun..." A fist drove into Bura's face before she could react, followed by another to her stomach. A hand grabbed her descending face. She could see the fear and horror on Goten's face. The steel grip on her head drove it towards his awaiting knee with the sound of crunching bone.
Anger rippled through the two Saiya-jin like never before. As one, they moved, fists clenched as a surge of power rippled their bodies. Mesuinu watched their approach, willing Bardock's body into a readied stance. The fists of both warriors collided into a impenetrable field inches from Bardock's face. A cruel smile was reflected in eyes that bore into their souls.
A scream tore through the air, the sound of a million dying at once, the sound of hell itself captured in one sound. A sound that could not be heard with mortal ears. It brought pain to the essence of living in itself.
Shock registered in their bodies, the pain of rippling through them testing the limits of mental tolerance. Dim awareness of blood seeped from open wounds of veins all over their bodies. In a single horrifying instant, they could feel the truth of real fear, the fear of ultimate destruction that was not confined by the depths of death.
Blackness coursed through their bodies shaken in agony pure agony and boundless despair. It was a greater horror than they had ever known, carried with it, the sensation of being mercilessly flung into the void, of being cast into the darkness, into the terrifying unknown from which, the black curtains of blissful shock remain the only reprieve . . .
The only sound fathomable was the amused laughing that was one and the same as the screaming, blocking all thought. A crushing weight pressed from all sides, as if to squash them from existence.
Stop.
"I do not want you to die yet mortals, for that is what you are. My existence may be the result of your creation, but it is me that controls your existence." Mesuinu smiled at the vacant stares of the four in front of her, their bodies sunken into the ground in their own pools of blood as every outer vein had burst in their bodies. Hands had cupped themselves over their ears, now still with shock, the only sign of life being the deep rasps of breath in other wise blank faces. Her words though, were definitely heard. But it was useless for those destined to die.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Gohan watched as each fell. His father, his brother, Bura, Vegeta, their bodies exploding in a mass of blood that made nausea settle with the cold fear in his stomach. The scene made the hairs on the back of his neck raise, of something terrible that was just fortunately out of reach. He could see Bardock's body there. His eyes stopping on his form, the silent silhouette against the golden dome of the other Trunks and Pan.
Yet his mind was detached, too horrified to acknowledge the surroundings. The screams of his companion and friend howled beside him, eyes pressed shut, hands clasped over his ears in a futile attempt to stop the pain reflected in his screams. The roars of his daughter punctuated the sky. The sound of battle that settled in a dim thunder all over the planet.
A nightmare come to life.
"UAAAAAAARRGH!!!" A fist came out of nowhere to slam into his chest, bringing back into the horrors of the present. Golden fur surrounded him as the fist clenched around his ribs, squeezing his arms to his chest. A scream broke through as ribs broke under the strain. Gohan writhed in the hold, his mind succumbing again and again in incoherent screams.
He could see the looming jaws of the Oozaru above him. A sick realisation shuddered through his consciousness.
"PAN!!! STOP IT!!!" The desperate shout tore from his throat. Ki charged in his body, billowing his golden hair into a flame of orange.
The jaws closed moments above his head.
Red eyes of the beast gave him an almost curious look. The look turned to anger. A shrill roar pierced the air, coupled with a golden dome of light, erupting with the weight of a thousand suns, crushing Gohan's body into the ground. His scream was ignored in Pan's tortured haze.
Everything went into a standstill for but a few precious seconds.
Trunks lifted his eyes, blurred by the vertigo inside his mind, golden light seared his vision. Undeniable power sang through the air, uncontrolled, untamed, centred in a heart wrenching source. He backed away on his knees as the small figure stepped from the globe of light, her dark hair whispering with power. Blood red fur spread through her body, hidden only by the tattered remains of pants, her chest shamelessly uncovered.
In her stood the terrifying combination of fear and desire.
"P-Pan..."
Her eyes glowed golden at him beneath bangs of black that shadowed her face as she walked towards him, unhurried in her approach. She stopped in front of him, an unknown breeze lifting her bangs to reveal her face. Pale skin shone in the moonlight, her eyes accentuated by red rimming, glowing with the golden yellow of Super Saiya-jin 4, a feat thought impossible for one with so little Saiya-jin blood. Her stare remained cold and emotionless.
Trunks drew a breath as she came near, his senses numbed by her closeness as her hand wound around his neck, pulling him up, her face inches from his. His eyes saw her cherry red lips part, no words leaving them. Those lips drew closer to him, her hand tilting his head. A shiver quaked through his body as her lips descended on his neck, teeth sinking into skin. Senses overridden with lust felt her body pressed against his, breasts crushed against his chest. Slowly she pulled back, licking the blood from her lips. He was shocked to see tears in her eyes.
Pan looked at him, her voice soft with emotion. "I am no longer useless."
He felt her ki deplete rapidly in shock, easily catching her fallen body in his arms as fur disappeared from her form, returning it to normal. The black silk of her now long hair draped over his arm as her body fell into unconsciousness. Trunks sank to the ground in shock, his arms still holding her carefully as he dropped. The blood travelling down his neck the mark of her possession.
"Pan-chan..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" She heard herself scream, her motions a blur as she fought the blaze of gold in front of her. Her body was pushed to the limits, only continuing through the stubbornness of her mind.
One more death on her hands before peace. Before she could die.
Blackness dwelled close to her consciousness, only to be pushed away again as her sword slashed through the air at him, satisfaction coming in a rain of blood from the hilt of her sword and from the cut on his arm.
A thundering crash to her senses came as his elbow smashed into her face, torpedoing her body through the air and into the dirt. She stood, ignoring the rapid pain, the promise of blackness, concentrating on her hate, her hate for this man. She saw through a haze of emptiness, that he had picked up her sword. Her eyes narrowed, the uncontrolled smile reaching her features once again. With satisfaction, her sword exploded in his hand, causing a pained grimace to light his scowling face as his hand reemerged, broken and openly bleeding.
She couldn't hear the threats issued at her anymore. Her mind fixed on the one thing. To kill. To kill her enemy to gain the peace of darkness, of death. So her sins can end. So her hatred can end. Amethyst blazed in her vision as armoured plates gloved her hands forming into the shape of take, dripping with the blood of her hate.
He fazed into sight, legs, shooting at her faster than possible. Nimbly, with waning strength, she dodged, changing her style, grabbing his shoulders as she flipped over head. The armour on her hands punched into his shoulders, followed by a full flip to dig her heels into the exact same place, before her feet locked around his neck, throwing him to the far ground. She saw him stand, breathing heavier than before, blood ensuing from his mouth and shoulders. The smile on her face continued to be seen, the opposite from the screams in her head. The never-ending screams of insanity.
Prince Vegeta fought the torrent of pain from the impact of her attacks, noting the change in weapon. A smirk flitted over his face in response to her smile. Fazing from sight, he charged at her, driving his fist into her back as a leg came up and harshly delivered a double kick to her side. She faltered only slightly, spinning and blocking his punch with the strange armoured gloves. A move she had not done before. Until now, she had not blocked his moves completely to stop pain, taking them as they came. It showed her weariness. It showed his sign of victory.
A yell tore from his throat as ki collected in his hands, shooting forth towards her in ball of light. Serpia blocked again with her tekkou, but didn't see him following the blast afterwards, having no awareness as he appeared above her, fists locked as they came down with vengeance on her head to meet his knee. Blood spilled from her mouth from a hit that could not be ignored in her condition.
An arm grabbed her, throwing her into the air. Her awareness dimmed from the onrush of pain, dodged the blast just in time. Another came straight after to rip through her body and armour. Followed by an onslaught of hundreds.
A split second eternity was all it took as a hand smashed her against the lighted dome that surrounded them. It flickered, driving a sharp pain of electric needles into her back, before finally bursting, her scream unheard in the explosion.
The smoking hole that was once the remains of the foundations of the palace was all that was left. Prince Vegeta staggered up from the ruins, his hair returning to normal in near exhaustion. Eyes searched the crater, finally centering on the still form half buried in dirt. With a grunt, he stumbled forward.
A hand clasped around her neck, lifting her from the ground. Her eyes bore down on him blankly as her body struggled in gasps for breaths. Her body broken and battered.
"I win wench." He said dispassionately, chest heaving with breath.
Moments passed in silence as they locked gazes.
A low growl emitted from his throat came as the Prince turned away in disgust, before staring at her again. "Do you find pleasure in this wench? Killing everyone in your path so you can kill me? Or is it my father? You accuse us of having killed without care, yet you have done the same. Your revenge holds no logic except for the weak comfort of satisfaction in our deaths. What is the point of revenge if you can't enjoy it? You live for death. A meaningless existence. But now you have lost." He completed watching her lowered head, silver bangs hiding her expression.
The final words sank in slowly.
A gasp shook her body. Wetness dropped on his arm to the Prince's widening eyes. Tears?
"Kill me." The softly spoken words were the first she has spoken since her transformation. Prince Vegeta regarded her with a scowl. "Kill me." She said again, in acceptance, in need of her fate. She had failed. Failed to do the one thing that gave her existence meaning. Without a purpose her life was useless. Wasteful.
Cold eyes regarded her with mild surprise and a new feeling of uncertainty. It was the last he had expected of this fiery woman to give in so easily.
"Kill me Prince." She whispered, raising her eyes, eyes that had lost all feeling in them. Eyes without hope or emotion, no will to live.
Fury sparked in him. "You will give in so easily wench? Is that the outcome of this? For me to kill you?" Bitter laughter threatened him from the depths of his throat. It confused him. Wasn't his intent to kill her all along? Wasn't this his chance? If he had not fought to kill her then...
Serpia raised her left hand to cover his around her neck, squeezing lightly as her remaining strength permitted, a dagger appearing in her other hand, lifting towards his cheek. Her gaze remained locked as tears clouded her vision slightly.
Prince Vegeta wondered her purpose as the dagger raised to his cheek, the pain from the other cut there only now swimming into his memory. He sensed no killing intent in her movement, besides the intent of killing herself. The blade sunk into his cheek, making him wince as it trailed down, completing the scar already there in a cross.
Her hand dropped, the other pressing around his on her neck. A strangled gasp left her lips, though her gaze never wavered.
"No."
Serpia's eyes only widened as he moved forward, expecting the killing blow. Instead, his hand moved to frame her head, the sensation of teeth marking her neck strange, yet not unpleasant.
Mesuinu watched the exchange from afar with a chilling smile. Even more so as the Prince detached, falling back into the ground his face that of shock, the a hole in his side seeping blood. Blood that matched that shining dagger in Serpia's outstretched hands.
Mesuinu smiled again in silent laughter as Serpia too fell, her body too battered to move, the tekkou disappearing from her hands, leaving only the crimson stain of blood that mixed with her own from various wounds.
At last, laughter broke through her smile. Gratifying as the last piece of destiny fell into place.
Small flickers of ki came and went behind her as the man known as Son Goku stirred from the pain filled world he had been sent.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Trunks looked up slowly as two familiar kis landed in the form of what looked to be an armoured capsule car. He dimly realised he was the last to be conscious, everyone else had fallen. Despair was all he felt as he cradled Pan's body in his arms, watching as the car landed.
"'Kaasan." Anxiety filled his heart as he willed them to go away.
With a dust cloud, the hatch doors opened, the tepid foot steps he knew as his mother's stepping out, her eyes betraying the horror of what she saw. They shifted to land on him. A gasp left her lips.
"TRUNKS!!! KAMI!!! What happened!? Where's Vegeta..." She ran over to him, noting how he held Pan in his arms almost possessively. He looked away.
"I don't know Kaasan. I don't know." He said slowly. Her face increased with worry.
Another figure appeared from the ship. But there was something wrong with his sense of her. Trunks looked at Bulma to see her unaware of the person that came out. The shadows lifted to reveal Chichi. Yet...
He pulled Pan closer, "Kaasan, who is that?" His voice held slow caution. Bulma looked confused.
"Who's what?" Trunks's frown turned into a scowl. A tingle of wrongness edged her mind. Bulma turned, and gasped. "Chichi? What..." Recognition entered her strangely fuzzy mind. She realised she didn't know how she got here. A spark of almost remembrance was just out of her mind's reach as she stared at the now young body of her friend.
A look of pure fury crossed the young woman's features as she gazed at the barren and crater ridden ground. She spared a glance at the blue haired scientist before turning to look at the lone figure still standing. "This has gone far enough."
The hairs on the back of his neck raised at the voice. It held the same power that Mesuinu's had. Yet instead of the darkness in hers, this held...comfort. Yet there was till something deeply wrong about the voice. It seemed...unsuited to anger.
Chichi's body lifted off the ground, floating through the air, a wake of promise in her departure.
"Since when could Chichi fly?" Trunks managed to murmur.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Goku stirred, aware of the pain enveloping him. Aware of the laughter that sounded in his ears. Laughter that responded in hatred in his mind. A feeling he seldom felt. Yet still he could only see darkness, his senses limited to that of...something. It reminded him of the time he had joined with Shenlong. Then he could only feel the power of life itself as well. Yet not in terms if ki.
A swirl of darkness stood in the place of the laughter, an intensity of something not quite evil dwelled in one source. Dark strands of the power spread throughout everything, a dim shade of grey that appeared all around. Beneath the gray was pure light. The brightness that signified life. The brightness lay in those around him, and he could sense some had more brightness than others. Namely himself and Vegeta, both of them. What could this mean?
Something was coming. Familiar, yet not.
Goku 'looked' toward it, and was blinded by its brightness. The presence of it was comforting, peaceful. Happiness personified in the mortal soul. It hovered above him. Goku could not move, only sense as white light encompassed those around him, stretching into infinity, tainting the darkness momentarily. And then, it seared him.
And he awoke.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eyes he knew so well looked into his, but the person inside was not who it seemed to be.
"Chichi..." Goku sat up, startled when he felt no pain. The multiple injuries to his body had been healed. Only the residue of blood around him showed what had actually happened. A frowned marked his face as Chichi's eyes turned toward Mesuinu.
"This has gone far enough Mesuinu. You have interfered with what is set. You know the consequences of your actions." Chichi's voice...it was...
A scream tore through the air, yet this did not bring pain. The world shook as white light bathed around it, ripping the fabric that made the very universe in a portal into the unknown. The power behind it incomprehensible in a mortal mind.
The portal swallowed everything in its path, yet Goku felt no fear in its approach. The feeling that came with its passing was almost like...a return home.
"This ends NOW." Chichi's voice rang like thunder in his mind.
With slight humor he voiced what he had known all through his married life.
"Chichi is GOD."
END CHAPTER 11
A/N: FLOWERS!! HAVE SOME FLOWERS!!! I AM FINALLY FINISHED!!! THE JOY IN MY HEART SHOULD BE SPREAD FOR THIS CHAPTER!! ALMOST 4 MONTHS IN THE MAKING!!! SO HAPPY!!! SO VERY HAPPPY!!! Weee!! Weee!!
Vegeta: (backing away) The onna has clearly gone insane.
THE MIGHTY AUTHOR aka QOVAD: LOOK!!! A TREEEEEEE!!! I AM A TREE!!! IT RYTHMES WITH QOVADEEEEEEEE!!! IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE I WILL PUNISH YOU!!!
Vegeta: It's gets a lot worse if you don't review. For the sake of my sanity! REVIEW!!!
QOVAD: (starts dancing, microphone in hand) Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight...
Vegeta. OH DEAR KAMI NO!!! (shakes the bars of the confines of QOVAD's room where she has been locked for the months writing this chapter) LET ME OUT!!! KAKAROTTO!!! ANY BODY!!! LET ME OOOOOOUT!!!!
We now back away evilly and leave Vegeta to his torture.
If you don't want to save him REVIEW!
If you do REVIEW!
If you can't stand me leaving you on such a bad cliffhanger REVIEW!
If you can't wait ANOTHER 4 months...REVIEW!!! CONSTANTLY to bug me to get my ass moving. A encouraged author is a motivated author.
Till next time....
QOVAD: I wanna be the very best...that no one ever was...
Vegeta: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Chapter 11
A/N: I'm SORRY!! SO SORRY!!! It's been too long an update!!! But I'm running out of ideas!!! SO SORRY!!! REALLY REALLY SORRY!!!
*We now back away from author on her knees begging forgiveness and go on with the fic!*
WWAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIT!!!!
For those that asked me, Overlord Vegeta actually said "Masaka" in the last chapter, which means 'Impossible' in Japanese. NOW you can go on with the fic~!
Gohan squinted his vision at the distant red clouds, knowing they were not natural. Familiar surges of panic surged in his mind.
Pan.
An urgency was in the air, pushing him on along with the sickening tightening of his stomach.
He was afraid of what he will find once he got there. Afraid of what his family and friends might be.
"Please, hold on guys..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They watched in horror as the figure fell, spinning as if in slow motion in a rain of blood. The golden mane of the figure shortened, returning to midnight black.
Laughing from a painfully familiar voice was the only sound.
The silence only echoed as King Vegeta's once proud form crashed into the ground in a unclimatic dust cloud.
And suddenly a scream filled the air. A scream that was neither of pain or remorse. One of terrible anger.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!"
There was no time to react. No time to block, no time to think.
Serpia crashed into the dirt beside the fallen King, the red aura of her attacker floating above her, the tangy taste of blood in her mouth.
"He was MINE to kill! Not yours wench!" Another punch slammed into her face, sending shock waves of pain in her skull. Long gold hair flickered in her vision.
Goku and Goten rushed to the side of the Overlord, checking for a pulse, anything.
Blank eyes met them, telling them the horrible truth.
He was alive, but not for long.
The blood slowly dripping from the hilt of the sword mixed with the blood of it's victim.
"Goten." Goku's voice was deadly calm. "Get him to a regeneration tank."
"Tousan..."
"Go."
The utter conviction in his father's voice made his choice.
Without a word, the demi saiya-jin carefully picked the fallen King up.
"LEAVE HIM!!!"
They all turned startled, to stare at the voice. A voice of such anger unparalleled to anything they've heard before. The Prince looked at Goten with the most dangerous eyes he had ever seen.
"Do not move him."
His hair was now down to his knees, cackling with the anger of Super Saiya-jin Three. There was no remorse in those eyes. No caring at all.
The bloody, but still eerily smiling form of Serpia lay at his feet. Slowly the girl got up. The Prince spun on her, slamming a foot into her side before anyone of them could blink.
"He was MINE to kill." He repeated, levelling a gaze at Serpia as she once again got up without fail.
The skies reverberated this statement with a shocking crack of lightning, silhouetting two other figures in the air. The very mirrors of the two facing off on the ground.
No words exchanged. There was nothing left to be said.
These two were usually the best of friends, destined to be happy, smiles lighting their faces often by the love of their family and friends. Fate made them enemies on this day.
Simultaneously they both charged, auras flashing gold and purple in an instant, both filled with anger and rage.
One fighting for revenge, another fighting to save her.
Powers clashed violently as they fought, unknowingly weaving themselves into a ritual that has been done since Saiya-jins were created. The dance of the full moon.
Down below, tension stretched as the two stared at each other.
Goten stood nervously, still carefully carrying King Vegeta over a shoulder.
"Father...what should I do?"
"I SAID, leave him." Prince Vegeta snapped, eyes never leaving the form of Serpia, standing flawlessly a few metres away. Goten tensed. Scowling, the Prince turned on him. "He is mine to kill third class. "
"He's already half dead! Don't you care at all!?" Bura stumbled out of the dirt her face and body bleeding, obviously weakened. Goku flickered his gaze worriedly toward her.
Prince Vegeta's lips quirked as if the very idea was laughable. "No."
Looks of horror washed over the diminished group of warriors.
It was the raspy laughing that broke the silence. A form sprang from the ground, reduced to the first stage of super saiya-jin, bleeding heavily and clutching his arm in obvious pain. It took alot to make him show pain. Vegeta looked his 'son' in the eyes.
"Boy, you care all right. It's against your lineage not to care, no matter how you were raised. Even by me." The original Saiya-jin no Ouji looked at his almost dead counterpart. "If you fight her now, it would mean nothing. She is weakened. You do not have the honor of inheriting the throne."
Goku's eyes widened. So that's why. A sharp pain in his head signified the use of the new information in his head. It made sense. The Prince had to fight. Serpia had defeated his father, and was now, under Saiya-jin law, Queen. The Strongest will rule. Prince Vegeta would lose the throne. Yet, Serpia was now weakened, if he fought her now, they were not fighting as equals, it would mean nothing for him to win. He would get the throne, but she will always be stronger in opinion.
Prince Vegeta scowled menacingly. "My honor has nothing to do with it. HE obliterated that useless emotion by using me as his...as his..." He couldn't let himself say it. The scowl grew fiercer as the Prince glared at King Vegeta. "Take him to a tank." He looked at Serpia with the eyes the colour of molten red, blazing in limitless orbs. "You will pay wench." Serpia smiled.
"Goten." Goku looked at his son. With a nod of understanding, Goten lifted off the ground, blasting off in search of a regeneration tank.
"Now where might you be going?"
Goten's eyes widened, backing away slightly as black fiery orbs of pain bored into his eyes. Bardock's body floated infront of him, arms crossed.
"Forget about me did you. Now we can't have that can we?" The being named Mesuinu tilted Bardock's head, a smile twisting his features.
Goten's face turned serious. "Let me pass."
Almost immediately, Mesuinu burst into laughter at the absurdity of the idea.
Goku saw the opening. "GO!!!" With a yell, he drove a fist towards Mesuinu's head, only to have it hit an invisible barrier in mid air. Goten hesitated, his eyes widening.
Growling, his father looked at him. "GO!!!"
But it was already too late. Goku looked in horror as his son stopped dead-still in mid air, eyes wide and begging at him. The King's unconscious body fell from the demi saiya-jin's limp grip to the ground far below, still dripping in blood. Mesuinu smiled, hand slowly closing in at him. Invisible fingers tightened on Goten's throat.
"Mortals, so easy to break, so easy to control."
Lightning crackled around Goku's body as his eyes flashed in fury. No one messes with his family. This THING has gone too far. With a snarl of anger, the super saiya-jin 4 attacked, launching blow after blow on his father's body.
Only to be met with an icy glare of promise.
Eerie blue light rippled in the air where his fists landed, inches from Bardock's body.
"Fool, do not deceive yourself into believing you can defeat me."
Goku smirked, seeing Goten pick the King up and fly off at the corner of his eyes. "I don't."
Mesuinu didn't lose her smile and only lifted hand towards the disappearing duo. If was almost as if time rewound and once again, Goten and King Vegeta floated a few feet away. Mesuinu levelled a stare at him. "Do not mess with what is preordained. He will die."
Goku didn't know if that meant his son or the King. Either way, he would not let it happen. A familiar ki shot into his senses. And approaching fast. With an uncharacteristic growl he backed off, never taking his eyes from Goten. Worry swam in his mind. With Gohan here, there was no one to protect Chichi and Bulma. But for now, he HAD to get the King away to a regeneration tank. But how?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Gohan's eyes widened seeing his daughter and Trunks fighting in the air. He could tell it wasn't just a spar. And most unnerving of all was the fact that Pan appeared to be the aggressor.
"Pan-chan!!!"
Both figures stopped and looked at him.
Trunks's eyes widened, warning him away. Behind him, Pan smiled, but not the open and brilliant smile that was characteristic of her. Something, almost evil.
Her eyes jerked to Trunks, followed by a thundering punch across the jaw of the unsuspecting Saiya-jin.
"Pan...!"
She laughed, grabbing Trunks's hair in her hands and slammed his head on her knee with what looked to be...glee?
Gohan looked in horror as Trunks started fighting back at his only daughter. Their hits exploded around the sky before him with loud sonic booms. The first thought in his mind was, *Why?*
Trunks flew past him, spitting out a wad of blood to the side. His voice was raspy from heavy breathing. "Gohan, get out of here."
It was all he could say before Pan fazed above him, and slammed both fists into his head, sending the demi saiya-jin crashing to the ground. She smiled, wiping the blood from her chin with an arm. Eyes of violet bore down on him, uncovered by long, wispy strands of silver hair.
"Father." Her voice made his eyes widen. There was so much hatred in that voice. So much contempt. He had never heard that tone in her voice before. Not even when they had been fighting the likes of Bebi or the Evil Shenlongs. Those times only brought concern and anger in her voice. Never hatred like this. And never would he have imagined that this voice be direct at him.
"Pan-chan, what..."
He only saw a fleeting smile before her fist slammed into his face, the power behind it way too high for it to belong to his Panny...
"GOHAN!!!" Trunks's voice yelled.
A ki blast shot past his falling body, exploding with yellow brilliance where Pan was a moment ago. Gohan pushed his ki beneath him, stopping his decent in the air. His eyes adjust just in time to see Trunks elbow Pan in the face.
"NO!!!" The scream tore from his throat. An aura of yellow surrounded him as he exploded into Super Saiya-jin, flying toward his daughter. He pulled Trunks away from her angrily. "What do you think you're DOING!?!"
That voice sounded behind him. "Fool."
Trunks's face scowled as Pan shot a leg out in a roundhouse kick, effectively getting Gohan out of the way. Howling in anger, he charged at her, punching her face in hard enough to let loose the bandana that covered part of her head. The only way he could win is to hit her hard enough to knock her unconcious.
Her body propelled back, flipped in mid air, easily fazing from his sight.
"Dammit...!" Trunks stretched his senses around him. Pan was strong. Stronger than she had ever been before. Except...
He brought his arm up just in time to veer off a titanic kick to his head that could've done serious damage to his neck. A ki blast came out of no where to explode painfully against his side. Gritting his teeth, he struck out at the recurring blur around him, grabbing the soft strands of silver in his hands. It was dirty but...
Pan screamed, teeth baring angrily at him.
She was strong all right. Except, it was no where near the power levels Busu and Ama had generated during the fight against SSJ4 Goku and Vegeta. She had only a boost to just above his. It was like she was given just enough power to fight him alone. So be it. He did not intend to lose.
He clamped her legs and arms in a death lock.
"Pan listen to me...I know you're in there somewhere..."
"Shut up you...you...BASTARD!!!" With a clarifying scream, Pan let loose a tremendous wall of power around her, making Trunks lose his grip on her completely. A round of punches came directly after, slamming into his body repeatedly with cruel strength. Wetness splattered on his cheek with each blow. Too cool to be blood.
Tears?
Trunks brought his arms up to ward off her attack, felling a kneed into her stomach before she could do any more damage. With a twist in mid flip, he turned once again to face her.
Long strands of silver covered her face, yet they couldn't hide the shaking of her shoulders, nor the silent droplets of tears flowing from her eyes.
Distrust of what she had become made him stay where he was, though all his being told him to comfort her. His Panny.
When she looked up again, it wasn't hatred that looked back. But pain. Terrible, terrible pain. The violet of her eyes were darker now. Red as the moon above them.
"Why...what did I do to deserve your pity...your hatred? Don't I deserve love like any other person? Don't I breath? Don't I bleed? Do they like hurting me? Giving me pain like this?" She seemed like she was talking to herself, yet strangely he could feel she was talking to him directly.
He was caught unprepared when she lashed out at him, the sheer power of her hurt ripping the breastplate of his armor to pieces. She was fighting with her emotions! Something only done when one had nothing else to lose. To fight with pure emotion meant fighting with the very essence of your life.
"Pan NO!!! Stop!! Don't do it!!!" He tore at her, trying his best to stop what he knew to be suicide. Every ki trained fighter knew to fight with the essence of your life meant to throw it at the enemy. Another form of this is the self destruct. Like...like what his father had done at one time.
The destructive energy collected around her. Desperation welled in his heart.
A sharp rise in ki came from below. No! Not now!!!
"Stop it! You're going to kill her!!!" The other man's scream tore through the skies.
*He thinks I'M doing this?!* Trunks though wildly. Shaking from any distraction, he traced her movements through the air. Her attacks were getting sloppier. More energy getting concentrated inside her.
"PAN STOP!!! STOP OR YOU'LL KILL YOURSELF!!!" Faster than he had ever moved before, his arms locked around her waist and arms, pinning her to his body. The shaking from her small frame could be felt all oevr his body.
Yet still she made no noise. Tears soaked into the tattered remains of his clothing.
He almost didn't hear the whisper that escaped her lips.
"Trunks...I don't want to die..."
She head rested on his shoulder. The gesture was just so...right. His arms moved from pinning her to him to wrap solidly around her waist. Trunks looked down at the silver strands of hair laid across his chest.
"Then don't." He said just as softly.
"I...can't."
It seemed perfectly natural for them to do this in the midst of battle. In the midst of a battle that may affect the whole universe. But for now. It was just them.
He noticed the slow darkening of her hair.
"We don't hate you Pan-chan. We would never do that to the one we love most."
Pan didn't look up, but she didn't break from his grip. "Don't lie to me anymore...I can't take it...I just..."
Her body started to glow. Trunks ignored it, knowing the only way to stop her was in another way, other than fighting.
"I'm not lying Pan-chan. We need you...I need you." He added the last, much softer than before. She had said she loved him. And maybe...
She just shook her head on his shoulder. "Goodbye...Trunks..." Her head tilted back to the sparkle of tears on her cheeks, her whole body bathed in a golden deadly glow, centered inside her very life source.
Desperate, Trunks gripped her hard, not letting her go to oblivion if he could stop it. The pale skin of her neck was revealed as silver tinted hair blew back with her own energy. Instinct told him to do...something. If only he knew what!
Again, pale skin, glowing unnaturally, tempted before his eyes. He had the strangest urge to...
Pan's eyes closed tilting herself away from him. "Leave me alone..."
"No...NO!!!" Going with his instinct, he sank his teeth into her neck. A startled gasp escaped her throat. It was the exact moment her energy reached its peak.
"NOOOOOOOO!!! PAN-CHAN!!!" It was Gohan's voice that screamed that broke their intimacy. And surprisingly it was him who delivered the harsh blow to Pan's cheek.
The woman in his arms was flung into the sky, the shock of being hit so hard knocking her concentration apart. Her body landed on the ground, a hand covering her slightly bleeding neck. Pan's body quivered in sadness clearly seen in her form.
But when she looked at her father with wide, black, eyes there was only confusion in her face. Utter remorse played over her features. "Why...Dad..."
Gohan's eyes flashed fury beneath the aqua-marine exterior. "If you kill yourself I will never forgive you. Never." He landed on the ground infront of her, arms crossed.
Her head lowered. "If you hate me so much why don't you let me die?" her voice was barely loud enough to hear.
"LISTEN TO ME!!! WE DO NOT HATE YOU!!! PAN...Pan," He continued in a softer voice, "We love you. You should never doubt that. You are my only daughter. A friend. A family member. A team mate..."
"Stop it. STOP IT!!!" Pan stood, eyes blazing brilliantly in the passionate spirit Gohan knew so well. "LIAR! FRAUD! Bastard." Her eyes started to flicker aqua, each word a stab to Gohan's heart.
Trunks suddenly had a flash of feelings that were not his own. Betrayal. Hurt. Anger. Hate. Confusion. He stared at the now distance figure of Pan, her aura rising again in anger. But in an familiar gold. Could she...
"What did I ever do to you to deserve such hate? The looks of pity because I was not strong enough, or was too useless to EVERYONE AROUND! Because I wasn't pretty as someone else, or smart enough to stand out! I couldn't even have a normal life because of you people! People who I thought loved me, but only pitied me, hated me and scorned me again and again!!! But now I have the power to do something about this don't I!?! Are you scared Papa!?! YOU WHO DID ALL THOSE THINGS TO ME AND MORE!!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!" A scream wrought the air as Pan was surrounded with a pure globe of light. Muscles enlarged with a crackle of lightning, fuelled by anger and hate. Hair, burned from silver into gold with vengeance, turning all signs of her possession to that of the glory of a Super Saiya-jin. And continued to expand.
Gohan watched in awe as she transformed into the Level of SSJ2. And kept rising. "Kami..."
Trunks dropped to the ground beside him, watching with the same awe and fear. Not fear for himself. For Pan. For his Pan.
Both were stunned as a golden snake-like belt lashed violently behind her. A golden tail meant....
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!!!" Eyes blooded into red.
A roar filled the air, tormented and angry. The form of a Golden Oozaru filled the skies, lashing at the red moon that glowed eerily in the heavens.
"She...she..." Trunks began.
Gohan grimaced. "She's transformed into the madness of Oozaru."
A matching scream from his companion pierced the air in time with Oozaru Pan's. Gohan spun to see Trunks kneeling on the floor, hands clenched in his hair, his mouth wide open in a scream that had long ran out of sound.
"Trunks!!!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Bulma almost jumped as the wrench she had asked Chichi to pick up for her shattered on the ground, dents made in the solid titanium handle like those of fingers.
"Chichi?" The blue haired scientist asked inquisitively. after minutes, there was still no answer. Then, an in draw of breath could be heard.
The voice that did answer wasn't one used by her friend. "This has gone too far."
A chill ran down Bulma's back with the softly spoken words. Words that held power that even she could detect. But it wasn't in the sense of ki. The power shook her in the greatest depths of her soul. A strange calm befell her. Bulma did not turn around as if a sudden sense told her not to. Yet another part of her being screamed at her to turn. To see what had become of her friend.
"Bulma...we must go." Chichi's voice was soft and serene, unlike the sweet homemaker and wife who was never soft in the least, even in the best of moods. The only time Bulma had heard this tone in her friend's voice was in her...wedding day. Too long ago.
"Chichi...what..." Bulma turned around. At first there was nothing surprising about Chichi. But with a second look it was obvious.
"We must go. NOW." She was younger. The same age as she was when she married Goku. But it was not Chichi that commanded that body.
Bulma found herself walking and turning on the machine she was working on. It lifted into the air silently. Both women entered and sat inside. Bulma drove, staring at the windscreen with blank eyes, a serene voice whispering instructions in her ear. A voice that brought comfort, the kind the made the very core of your soul happy to be filled with such a voice.
It sounded...like Chichi.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Her lithe form flew past the almost dead body on the ground, pulling out the blood dripping sword with a twist. There was no sound from the King who had fallen there shortly before.
Serpia lifted the sword's blade over her face, the blood from its hilt once again seeping through her fingers. Eyes glowing amethyst reflected off the blade, sending a chill of nothing but exhilaration through her opponent.
Both ignored the golden clap of thunder around them with another the transformation of Serpia's counterpart. They ignored the startled gasps, the awed faces. Even the almost dead enemy to them both that lay all too still on the ground. For now it was them and the moon that shone over head, seering their senses, and the lure of battle.
Prince Vegeta growled, the crackle of SSJ3 erupting around his body magnificently. As if on signal, a roar pierced the air. A prince and an assassin disappeared from sight, the only known signals of their whereabouts was the glint of metal spinning with deadly accuracy in the air, with an unimaginable amount of skill. Gold and purple arcs of energy slashed through the air.
Prince Vegeta bared his teeth, the sheer blade of ki in his hands locked against hers. The only warning came with a glint of her eyes. A dagger sliced through the air at his face. he could only tilt his head back as the blade skimmed his left cheek, cutting into flesh silently. The only emotion displayed on her face was one of glee. Insane glee.
Eyes shot into an angry red. "Now you die." With a roar, he flipped back, slamming both feet into her face. It went right through. An image only. A glint appeared above him, the only warning of the approaching blade. Gold aura flashed as it was caught in his hands.
Suddenly, Serpia shrieked, vaulting back, the blade of her sword slipping through his fingers as she twisted. Her arm came up to catch the sword, spinning gracefully in an arc. Another hand came up behind the blade. Her eyes snapped wide as the sword glowed.
Flying forward with vengeance after his prey, Prince Vegeta didn't expect the energy blast to come from the sword. A flash of lightning rebounded off his quickly emitted shield.
"Impressive wench, but skill can never beat pure power." His hands cupped to the side with a smirk. "GALICK...GUN..."
Serpia's hands fazed in front of her, ki charging into her palms. Palms locked one behind the other, ki combining in intensity and power. No words escaped her lips.
"FIRE!!!" At the same time, a purple glowing blast erupted from Serpia's hands, the two colliding with an explosion equal to the brightness of a star. A gold and purple swirling globe expanded around them, contorting into something entirely different than that of ki blasts. A cone of containment. Prince Vegeta snarled with a look around him. "So that's your trick."
He deftly caught the blade of her sword in his palm, pulling it from her in one go. In one swift move, he snapped the blade in half on his knee. "Enough of this."
Serpia stopped to stare at the shattered remains of her sword. A slow smile came across her face. Both broken pieces lifted from the ground, reflecting the glow of the dome around them. They flew into her hands as whole swords, bleeding their sorrow and hatred onto her arms. The smile appeared again as she attacked, slashing with complicated moves of spinning arcs and kicks. Multiple shallow cuts dug into his skin in short sharp twists of pain. Prince Vegeta saw her flip toward him and launched, grabbing her wrists, almost crushing them in his grip. With a grunt, he slammed his head into hers in a hard head butt, sending her body reeling back, the swords lost in her grip.
He pushed his aura after her, breathing in heavy gasps, ignoring the pain from her attacks. Fists locked together and came down like with vengeance on her stomach. Blood sparkled into the air from her lips. He fazed again below her.
Serpia stopped her decent, just before she reached him, twisting in a total circle so her legs and fists rained down repeatedly, the heels of her boots digging into his skin. She glanced at the sword lying on the ground. As if on silent command, it flew to her hand, her figure already charging after the Prince before it landed. The well of physical pain he dealt her was just beneath her consciousness, ignored until it became too much and she would die. But then, he would be dead already by that time.
A glove raised to wipe the blood from his mouth, a smirk on his lips. "You are tired wench. You can't hold much longer. Your blows hurt, but lack the power to do damage to me. Give up." Her sword came down at him from above, dodged just in time for it to fly past. The blade swerved to cut across.
Prince Vegeta jumped into the air as it swung under his legs, delivering a tornado kick to her face. Her whole body spun with the force. He watched as she stood, one again without fail. He marvelled at her determination.
They faced each other once again, grim determination on both their faces. Serpia smiled slightly, bringing her sword over her head as her knees bent in the Wattou style, one leg dead straight in front of her, the other bent slightly at the kneed and ankle behind her. Two fingers of her spare hand, dripping in blood, raised...as if to aim.
He puzzled over this change in style with a scowl before getting into a stance of his own. Something told him this would be the last round in their battle. One of them would die here and now. It would not be him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Mesuinu didn't blink as the dome erupted behind her, closing off Serpia's and the Prince's fight. Nor as King Vegeta's almost dead body flew past her ear and fell to the ground with a large dust cloud that momentarily hid Bardock's features. Her eyes stayed on the frozen form of Goten in front of her.
Goku tensed, his mind a jumble of awe and fear for his son. The roar that was his granddaughter, having reached the stage of Golden Oozaru filled the air again. The sense of his long time rival and friend stood a little behind him.
Vegeta shifted his glance to Bura worriedly to meet her steeled gaze. He scowled. Her attachment and concern to Kakarotto's 2nd brat was obvious in her eyes. Eyes that told him with the same will as her mother that she would not leave. Not until she knew the brat and himself was safe. Bah.
Another roar filled the air, this time accompanied with the sound of his son screaming.
Mesuinu smiled. "Do you truly think you can win against me Son Goku? You do not even know why I have done this do you? Your mind tries to contemplate the reasons I would kill your loved ones...make them suffer, make them feel the glory of pain. You try to fathom the reason behind this do you not?" Her taunting voice held amusement as Goten's body started thrashing in the air, spasms that didn't show on his blank face.
Goku clenched his hands. "I couldn't care less. You hurt my family, it's reason enough for me to kill you. If you think I'm going to stand by and do nothing..."
"I don't expect any such thing...I expect you to watch. That is all. And accept your fate." Her eyes blazed with sudden promise. "Your fate is decided. Three becomes one, and the universe is mine." A shudder coursed through Goku's body at those words. It took all of his mind frame to not believe them when everything in his being told him this thing told the truth.
"Shut up." Bura's voice broke through quietly, her teeth gritting against each other. "Just shut up you bitch. I don't care how powerful you are, or what you want. NO ONE DECIDES MY FATE BUT ME!!!" With a scream, her form hurled towards Mesuinu, to the utter shock of those around.
"Bura!" Vegeta watched in horror as his only daughter shot towards their enemy.
"HHHHHNNNNGG!!!" Her ki collected in her palms in a bright golden glow. "GALICK GUN FIRE!!!" Bura put all her strength behind the blast, her throat going hoarse with her scream.
Mesuinu watched the approaching blast with a smile. "Boy."
Goku's eyes widened as Goten's body moved in front of the blast, batting it away easily. Goten's face displayed a look of fear as his body moved without his authority, charging towards the stunned Bura, ki gathering in his hands.
"Goten-kun..." A fist drove into Bura's face before she could react, followed by another to her stomach. A hand grabbed her descending face. She could see the fear and horror on Goten's face. The steel grip on her head drove it towards his awaiting knee with the sound of crunching bone.
Anger rippled through the two Saiya-jin like never before. As one, they moved, fists clenched as a surge of power rippled their bodies. Mesuinu watched their approach, willing Bardock's body into a readied stance. The fists of both warriors collided into a impenetrable field inches from Bardock's face. A cruel smile was reflected in eyes that bore into their souls.
A scream tore through the air, the sound of a million dying at once, the sound of hell itself captured in one sound. A sound that could not be heard with mortal ears. It brought pain to the essence of living in itself.
Shock registered in their bodies, the pain of rippling through them testing the limits of mental tolerance. Dim awareness of blood seeped from open wounds of veins all over their bodies. In a single horrifying instant, they could feel the truth of real fear, the fear of ultimate destruction that was not confined by the depths of death.
Blackness coursed through their bodies shaken in agony pure agony and boundless despair. It was a greater horror than they had ever known, carried with it, the sensation of being mercilessly flung into the void, of being cast into the darkness, into the terrifying unknown from which, the black curtains of blissful shock remain the only reprieve . . .
The only sound fathomable was the amused laughing that was one and the same as the screaming, blocking all thought. A crushing weight pressed from all sides, as if to squash them from existence.
Stop.
"I do not want you to die yet mortals, for that is what you are. My existence may be the result of your creation, but it is me that controls your existence." Mesuinu smiled at the vacant stares of the four in front of her, their bodies sunken into the ground in their own pools of blood as every outer vein had burst in their bodies. Hands had cupped themselves over their ears, now still with shock, the only sign of life being the deep rasps of breath in other wise blank faces. Her words though, were definitely heard. But it was useless for those destined to die.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Gohan watched as each fell. His father, his brother, Bura, Vegeta, their bodies exploding in a mass of blood that made nausea settle with the cold fear in his stomach. The scene made the hairs on the back of his neck raise, of something terrible that was just fortunately out of reach. He could see Bardock's body there. His eyes stopping on his form, the silent silhouette against the golden dome of the other Trunks and Pan.
Yet his mind was detached, too horrified to acknowledge the surroundings. The screams of his companion and friend howled beside him, eyes pressed shut, hands clasped over his ears in a futile attempt to stop the pain reflected in his screams. The roars of his daughter punctuated the sky. The sound of battle that settled in a dim thunder all over the planet.
A nightmare come to life.
"UAAAAAAARRGH!!!" A fist came out of nowhere to slam into his chest, bringing back into the horrors of the present. Golden fur surrounded him as the fist clenched around his ribs, squeezing his arms to his chest. A scream broke through as ribs broke under the strain. Gohan writhed in the hold, his mind succumbing again and again in incoherent screams.
He could see the looming jaws of the Oozaru above him. A sick realisation shuddered through his consciousness.
"PAN!!! STOP IT!!!" The desperate shout tore from his throat. Ki charged in his body, billowing his golden hair into a flame of orange.
The jaws closed moments above his head.
Red eyes of the beast gave him an almost curious look. The look turned to anger. A shrill roar pierced the air, coupled with a golden dome of light, erupting with the weight of a thousand suns, crushing Gohan's body into the ground. His scream was ignored in Pan's tortured haze.
Everything went into a standstill for but a few precious seconds.
Trunks lifted his eyes, blurred by the vertigo inside his mind, golden light seared his vision. Undeniable power sang through the air, uncontrolled, untamed, centred in a heart wrenching source. He backed away on his knees as the small figure stepped from the globe of light, her dark hair whispering with power. Blood red fur spread through her body, hidden only by the tattered remains of pants, her chest shamelessly uncovered.
In her stood the terrifying combination of fear and desire.
"P-Pan..."
Her eyes glowed golden at him beneath bangs of black that shadowed her face as she walked towards him, unhurried in her approach. She stopped in front of him, an unknown breeze lifting her bangs to reveal her face. Pale skin shone in the moonlight, her eyes accentuated by red rimming, glowing with the golden yellow of Super Saiya-jin 4, a feat thought impossible for one with so little Saiya-jin blood. Her stare remained cold and emotionless.
Trunks drew a breath as she came near, his senses numbed by her closeness as her hand wound around his neck, pulling him up, her face inches from his. His eyes saw her cherry red lips part, no words leaving them. Those lips drew closer to him, her hand tilting his head. A shiver quaked through his body as her lips descended on his neck, teeth sinking into skin. Senses overridden with lust felt her body pressed against his, breasts crushed against his chest. Slowly she pulled back, licking the blood from her lips. He was shocked to see tears in her eyes.
Pan looked at him, her voice soft with emotion. "I am no longer useless."
He felt her ki deplete rapidly in shock, easily catching her fallen body in his arms as fur disappeared from her form, returning it to normal. The black silk of her now long hair draped over his arm as her body fell into unconsciousness. Trunks sank to the ground in shock, his arms still holding her carefully as he dropped. The blood travelling down his neck the mark of her possession.
"Pan-chan..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" She heard herself scream, her motions a blur as she fought the blaze of gold in front of her. Her body was pushed to the limits, only continuing through the stubbornness of her mind.
One more death on her hands before peace. Before she could die.
Blackness dwelled close to her consciousness, only to be pushed away again as her sword slashed through the air at him, satisfaction coming in a rain of blood from the hilt of her sword and from the cut on his arm.
A thundering crash to her senses came as his elbow smashed into her face, torpedoing her body through the air and into the dirt. She stood, ignoring the rapid pain, the promise of blackness, concentrating on her hate, her hate for this man. She saw through a haze of emptiness, that he had picked up her sword. Her eyes narrowed, the uncontrolled smile reaching her features once again. With satisfaction, her sword exploded in his hand, causing a pained grimace to light his scowling face as his hand reemerged, broken and openly bleeding.
She couldn't hear the threats issued at her anymore. Her mind fixed on the one thing. To kill. To kill her enemy to gain the peace of darkness, of death. So her sins can end. So her hatred can end. Amethyst blazed in her vision as armoured plates gloved her hands forming into the shape of take, dripping with the blood of her hate.
He fazed into sight, legs, shooting at her faster than possible. Nimbly, with waning strength, she dodged, changing her style, grabbing his shoulders as she flipped over head. The armour on her hands punched into his shoulders, followed by a full flip to dig her heels into the exact same place, before her feet locked around his neck, throwing him to the far ground. She saw him stand, breathing heavier than before, blood ensuing from his mouth and shoulders. The smile on her face continued to be seen, the opposite from the screams in her head. The never-ending screams of insanity.
Prince Vegeta fought the torrent of pain from the impact of her attacks, noting the change in weapon. A smirk flitted over his face in response to her smile. Fazing from sight, he charged at her, driving his fist into her back as a leg came up and harshly delivered a double kick to her side. She faltered only slightly, spinning and blocking his punch with the strange armoured gloves. A move she had not done before. Until now, she had not blocked his moves completely to stop pain, taking them as they came. It showed her weariness. It showed his sign of victory.
A yell tore from his throat as ki collected in his hands, shooting forth towards her in ball of light. Serpia blocked again with her tekkou, but didn't see him following the blast afterwards, having no awareness as he appeared above her, fists locked as they came down with vengeance on her head to meet his knee. Blood spilled from her mouth from a hit that could not be ignored in her condition.
An arm grabbed her, throwing her into the air. Her awareness dimmed from the onrush of pain, dodged the blast just in time. Another came straight after to rip through her body and armour. Followed by an onslaught of hundreds.
A split second eternity was all it took as a hand smashed her against the lighted dome that surrounded them. It flickered, driving a sharp pain of electric needles into her back, before finally bursting, her scream unheard in the explosion.
The smoking hole that was once the remains of the foundations of the palace was all that was left. Prince Vegeta staggered up from the ruins, his hair returning to normal in near exhaustion. Eyes searched the crater, finally centering on the still form half buried in dirt. With a grunt, he stumbled forward.
A hand clasped around her neck, lifting her from the ground. Her eyes bore down on him blankly as her body struggled in gasps for breaths. Her body broken and battered.
"I win wench." He said dispassionately, chest heaving with breath.
Moments passed in silence as they locked gazes.
A low growl emitted from his throat came as the Prince turned away in disgust, before staring at her again. "Do you find pleasure in this wench? Killing everyone in your path so you can kill me? Or is it my father? You accuse us of having killed without care, yet you have done the same. Your revenge holds no logic except for the weak comfort of satisfaction in our deaths. What is the point of revenge if you can't enjoy it? You live for death. A meaningless existence. But now you have lost." He completed watching her lowered head, silver bangs hiding her expression.
The final words sank in slowly.
A gasp shook her body. Wetness dropped on his arm to the Prince's widening eyes. Tears?
"Kill me." The softly spoken words were the first she has spoken since her transformation. Prince Vegeta regarded her with a scowl. "Kill me." She said again, in acceptance, in need of her fate. She had failed. Failed to do the one thing that gave her existence meaning. Without a purpose her life was useless. Wasteful.
Cold eyes regarded her with mild surprise and a new feeling of uncertainty. It was the last he had expected of this fiery woman to give in so easily.
"Kill me Prince." She whispered, raising her eyes, eyes that had lost all feeling in them. Eyes without hope or emotion, no will to live.
Fury sparked in him. "You will give in so easily wench? Is that the outcome of this? For me to kill you?" Bitter laughter threatened him from the depths of his throat. It confused him. Wasn't his intent to kill her all along? Wasn't this his chance? If he had not fought to kill her then...
Serpia raised her left hand to cover his around her neck, squeezing lightly as her remaining strength permitted, a dagger appearing in her other hand, lifting towards his cheek. Her gaze remained locked as tears clouded her vision slightly.
Prince Vegeta wondered her purpose as the dagger raised to his cheek, the pain from the other cut there only now swimming into his memory. He sensed no killing intent in her movement, besides the intent of killing herself. The blade sunk into his cheek, making him wince as it trailed down, completing the scar already there in a cross.
Her hand dropped, the other pressing around his on her neck. A strangled gasp left her lips, though her gaze never wavered.
"No."
Serpia's eyes only widened as he moved forward, expecting the killing blow. Instead, his hand moved to frame her head, the sensation of teeth marking her neck strange, yet not unpleasant.
Mesuinu watched the exchange from afar with a chilling smile. Even more so as the Prince detached, falling back into the ground his face that of shock, the a hole in his side seeping blood. Blood that matched that shining dagger in Serpia's outstretched hands.
Mesuinu smiled again in silent laughter as Serpia too fell, her body too battered to move, the tekkou disappearing from her hands, leaving only the crimson stain of blood that mixed with her own from various wounds.
At last, laughter broke through her smile. Gratifying as the last piece of destiny fell into place.
Small flickers of ki came and went behind her as the man known as Son Goku stirred from the pain filled world he had been sent.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Trunks looked up slowly as two familiar kis landed in the form of what looked to be an armoured capsule car. He dimly realised he was the last to be conscious, everyone else had fallen. Despair was all he felt as he cradled Pan's body in his arms, watching as the car landed.
"'Kaasan." Anxiety filled his heart as he willed them to go away.
With a dust cloud, the hatch doors opened, the tepid foot steps he knew as his mother's stepping out, her eyes betraying the horror of what she saw. They shifted to land on him. A gasp left her lips.
"TRUNKS!!! KAMI!!! What happened!? Where's Vegeta..." She ran over to him, noting how he held Pan in his arms almost possessively. He looked away.
"I don't know Kaasan. I don't know." He said slowly. Her face increased with worry.
Another figure appeared from the ship. But there was something wrong with his sense of her. Trunks looked at Bulma to see her unaware of the person that came out. The shadows lifted to reveal Chichi. Yet...
He pulled Pan closer, "Kaasan, who is that?" His voice held slow caution. Bulma looked confused.
"Who's what?" Trunks's frown turned into a scowl. A tingle of wrongness edged her mind. Bulma turned, and gasped. "Chichi? What..." Recognition entered her strangely fuzzy mind. She realised she didn't know how she got here. A spark of almost remembrance was just out of her mind's reach as she stared at the now young body of her friend.
A look of pure fury crossed the young woman's features as she gazed at the barren and crater ridden ground. She spared a glance at the blue haired scientist before turning to look at the lone figure still standing. "This has gone far enough."
The hairs on the back of his neck raised at the voice. It held the same power that Mesuinu's had. Yet instead of the darkness in hers, this held...comfort. Yet there was till something deeply wrong about the voice. It seemed...unsuited to anger.
Chichi's body lifted off the ground, floating through the air, a wake of promise in her departure.
"Since when could Chichi fly?" Trunks managed to murmur.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Goku stirred, aware of the pain enveloping him. Aware of the laughter that sounded in his ears. Laughter that responded in hatred in his mind. A feeling he seldom felt. Yet still he could only see darkness, his senses limited to that of...something. It reminded him of the time he had joined with Shenlong. Then he could only feel the power of life itself as well. Yet not in terms if ki.
A swirl of darkness stood in the place of the laughter, an intensity of something not quite evil dwelled in one source. Dark strands of the power spread throughout everything, a dim shade of grey that appeared all around. Beneath the gray was pure light. The brightness that signified life. The brightness lay in those around him, and he could sense some had more brightness than others. Namely himself and Vegeta, both of them. What could this mean?
Something was coming. Familiar, yet not.
Goku 'looked' toward it, and was blinded by its brightness. The presence of it was comforting, peaceful. Happiness personified in the mortal soul. It hovered above him. Goku could not move, only sense as white light encompassed those around him, stretching into infinity, tainting the darkness momentarily. And then, it seared him.
And he awoke.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eyes he knew so well looked into his, but the person inside was not who it seemed to be.
"Chichi..." Goku sat up, startled when he felt no pain. The multiple injuries to his body had been healed. Only the residue of blood around him showed what had actually happened. A frowned marked his face as Chichi's eyes turned toward Mesuinu.
"This has gone far enough Mesuinu. You have interfered with what is set. You know the consequences of your actions." Chichi's voice...it was...
A scream tore through the air, yet this did not bring pain. The world shook as white light bathed around it, ripping the fabric that made the very universe in a portal into the unknown. The power behind it incomprehensible in a mortal mind.
The portal swallowed everything in its path, yet Goku felt no fear in its approach. The feeling that came with its passing was almost like...a return home.
"This ends NOW." Chichi's voice rang like thunder in his mind.
With slight humor he voiced what he had known all through his married life.
"Chichi is GOD."
END CHAPTER 11
A/N: FLOWERS!! HAVE SOME FLOWERS!!! I AM FINALLY FINISHED!!! THE JOY IN MY HEART SHOULD BE SPREAD FOR THIS CHAPTER!! ALMOST 4 MONTHS IN THE MAKING!!! SO HAPPY!!! SO VERY HAPPPY!!! Weee!! Weee!!
Vegeta: (backing away) The onna has clearly gone insane.
THE MIGHTY AUTHOR aka QOVAD: LOOK!!! A TREEEEEEE!!! I AM A TREE!!! IT RYTHMES WITH QOVADEEEEEEEE!!! IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE I WILL PUNISH YOU!!!
Vegeta: It's gets a lot worse if you don't review. For the sake of my sanity! REVIEW!!!
QOVAD: (starts dancing, microphone in hand) Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight...
Vegeta. OH DEAR KAMI NO!!! (shakes the bars of the confines of QOVAD's room where she has been locked for the months writing this chapter) LET ME OUT!!! KAKAROTTO!!! ANY BODY!!! LET ME OOOOOOUT!!!!
We now back away evilly and leave Vegeta to his torture.
If you don't want to save him REVIEW!
If you do REVIEW!
If you can't stand me leaving you on such a bad cliffhanger REVIEW!
If you can't wait ANOTHER 4 months...REVIEW!!! CONSTANTLY to bug me to get my ass moving. A encouraged author is a motivated author.
Till next time....
QOVAD: I wanna be the very best...that no one ever was...
Vegeta: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!