Chapter 13 - It Was an Accident
"Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and
also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain
increases the burden. It is easier to say, 'My tooth hurts' than to say
'My heart is broken'." - C.S. Lewis
Dressed in one of Bulma's casual yet elegant outfits, Macey walked down the stairs and into the Capsule Corp living room where her little brother was doing his homework as Bulma helped him.
"Woah," Bulma said as she looked at the teenage assassin, "you look amazing," she said with a smile and a little bit of shock. "I never thought I see you like that," she chuckled. Macey was wearing clothes that no one ever thought they would see her in. Her makeup was done almost perfectly after Bulma showed her how to do it – even covering up the scar on her face and stomach perfectly, her hair was down and styled as it remained in its purple color, the top she had picked out was a teal, half-bodied, long-sleeved, scoop necked shirt that rested on her shoulders. She picked out a matching, all teal mini-skirt with ruffles and matched it with a pair of tan wedges and a tan handbag.
"Where exactly do you think you're going?" Vegeta demanded to know as he came out of his gravity room and into the living room on his way to the kitchen to get something to eat.
"I was invited to a party tonight by some people at school, so I'm going to it," she told him.
"Not like that you aren't," he ordered as he looked at her outfit.
"Seriously?" She scoffed. "What's wrong with it?"
"I can see your stomach, and your ass is about to hang out!" He told her sternly. "What do you mean, 'what's wrong with it?'."
"I took them from your wife's closet," she scoffed. "Besides, you told me yourself that you didn't care what I did, so I'm going, and I'm wearing this outfit."
"Fine," Vegeta said as he realized that there was no use in arguing with her. "At least take one of those jackets," he told her as she got by the door and next to the coatrack.
"Fine," she sighed as she grabbed one of the jackets – a gray one that happened to be her father's.
Bulma looked at Vegeta who was clearly aggravated by his daughter's stubbornness and chuckled. "You really can't out-argue a fifteen-year-old?" She joked. "Wow. I guess the Prince of all Saiyans' one weakness is his teenage daughter!"
"Shut up," Vegeta replied quietly and under his breath as his face turned red. Outside, the cold winter air hit Macey like a freight train and caused her to walk as fast as she could to the car that was waiting for her outside.
"There she is!" Sharpner happily yelled out of the driver's side window as Macey came out of the Capsule Corp house. "What's up?" He asked as she got in his passenger seat.
"Hey there," she said with a smile as she got in and buckled her seatbelt. "Thanks for coming to get me," she said with a nervous chuckle. "It's just been so cold out, and I didn't want to freeze on my walk over there."
"Nah, it's alright," he replied as he put his car into drive. "I wouldn't want a gorgeous girl like yourself to freeze just to come to a party," he laughed with a flirtatious tone.
This is what I need, Macey thought as she looked out the passenger side window and looked at the bright lights of the city. Just one night of being a normal teenager, but somehow, I feel like it won't be that simple. After all, how many teenagers carry a kunai knife with them to a party? She asked herself as she remembered the kunai that she stuffed into her handbag.
"So, how many parties have you been to?" He asked her.
"Honestly?" She chuckled. "None."
"Seriously?!" He said as he looked over at her with disbelief. "Wow. I don't even remember my first party," he laughed. "Well, I'm glad that your very first high school party is going to be at my place. I'll introduce you to some of my friends and if you want to play party games, we have beer pong, body shot contests, drunk pin the tail on the donkey, and drunk Marco Polo in the pool."
Bulma told me about all this, Macey reminded herself. I've never even tasted alcohol. Should I even try it? She asked herself. Whatever, one night won't kill me. I'm here to have fun, not worry about the stupid assassins.
"And here we are," Sharpner excitedly said as he pulled up into his driveway. As they drove up, Macey saw the abundance of cars that lined the streets and the driveway and was amazed at just how big the gathering was.
"Wow," she said in awe. "There are a lot of people here," she chuckled as she opened the door to get out. As she opened the door, she remembered the jacket that she was wearing, and because she didn't like how it went with what she was wearing, she took it off and threw it in Sharpner's backseat. "You're gonna be able to take me home, right?" She asked before she shut the door.
"Of course!" He replied. "You said by midnight right?"
"Yes," she confirmed as they began walking up to the house. "Otherwise, my father will lose his mind."
"Yeah, speaking of which, are they your real parents, or are you just in their custody?" Sharpner hesitantly asked. "I know it sounds like I'm trying to get all up in your business, but I just heard that they bailed you out of jail."
"I'm just in their custody," she casually replied. As the two of them got closer to the house, Macey could hear the loud, muffled, music playing and the laughs and chatter of everyone inside, and then, when Sharpner opened the door, the muffled noise went away and the music and voices could be heard clearly.
"Hey there, Sharpner!" A clearly drunk girl said cheerfully as Macey and Sharpner entered the house. "And hey there…girl!" She said towards Macey as she tried to keep her balance by clinging onto Sharpner and figure out who the girl with the purple hair was.
"Her name's Macey!" Sharpner replied, having to yell over the loud music. "Macey, this is Sofai," he introduced the drunk girl to Macey.
"Uh, hey there," Macey said awkwardly. "It's only eight o'clock and people are already drunk?" She whispered as she leaned over to Sharpner.
"Yeah," he chuckled as Sofai made her way back to the large crowd. "Some people have been here since six. Here, let me show you around," he said as he closed the door and began to walk Macey through the large house.
"Videl, can we please just go?" Gohan begged his girlfriend as the two of them stood against a wall in the large kitchen. "This is boring."
"Just mingle, Gohan!" Videl said happily as she drank a soda. She and Gohan were some of the few people there that weren't interested in drinking the alcoholic beverages, so they opted for other drinks such as water, juice, and soda. "Come on, it's fun!" She said excitedly as she tried to get her clearly bored boyfriend to move, but all of her efforts were to no avail. "Fine," she sighed as she sat her soda can on the counter, "let's go."
"And this is the kitchen," Sharpner said as he led Macey into the kitchen, but was seemingly unaware of Gohan and Videl.
"On second thought," Videl said in a thoughtful tone. "We're staying, Gohan."
"Videl, please don't tell me you're going to start something with her," Gohan pleaded.
"Don't worry, I'm only observing and interpreting," she said with a wink.
"And here's the drink room," Sharpner said as he led her to the last main room of the house. Usually, it was used as an outdoor patio, but tonight, it was where all the drinks were held. "Here," he said as he tossed her a beer bottle.
"Uh," she said as she stared at the cold alcoholic beverage in her hand, "I've never had one of these."
"Oh, well, if you don't want to drink, there's always soda, water, and juice inside," Sharpner informed her. "A lot of people here actually don't drink."
"No," she said as he popped the cap off of the bottle. "I came here to have a good time, and I'm not leaving until I do."
"Cheers!" Sharpner said with a smile as he raised his bottle up to Macey's, and they both took a giant gulp.
"Wow," she said as she drank as much as she could without it coming back up – which honestly wasn't much at all – and shook her head, "that's strong."
"Well, it wouldn't do any good if it wasn't," Sharpner chuckled as he guzzled down the rest of his beer, and as Macey watched Sharpner do it, she decided that she was there to have a fun time, so she was going to drink all that she could before feeling sick.
…
Back at Capsule Corp, Bulma got Trunks situated for bed, and as she went back downstairs into the living room to make sure all the lights were out and the doors were locked, she found her husband sitting on the couch with his head tilted back and his eyes looking at the ceiling.
"Hey," she said quietly in the silence of the quiet house, causing Vegeta to look over to his left to see her.
"What do you want?" He replied with annoyance in his tone.
"It's almost ten o'clock," she told him, "Are you coming to bed?"
"In a bit," he plainly replied as he tilted his head back to where it was before she walked in. Noticing that there was something bothering him, Bulma made her way over to him. "Hey," she said as she walked through the quiet, dark living room and sat down next to him, "talk to me."
"About what?" He asked as he closed his eyes.
"Something's bothering you," Bulma insisted. "I've known you long enough to know when something's on your mind."
"Nothing's bothering me," Vegeta countered.
"You're worried about her," Bulma told him, "and that's perfectly normal; she's a fifteen-year-old, young, beautiful girl who's at a high school party, and I'm pretty sure even you can figure out what happens at those parties, but however crappy she feels tomorrow is the outcome of her own decision."
"Just go away," Vegeta said in a quiet, demanding voice so that Trunks wouldn't wake up.
"Fine," Bulma said, knowing that it was no use to argue with him. "Come up whenever you're ready, but just remember that I was once a fifteen-year-old girl, so I know what they're like," she told him as she got up from the couch and made her way back upstairs.
But you never had thousands of assassins after you, Vegeta thought as he got up and headed towards the kitchen. Why do I feel so sick? He asked himself as he put his elbows on one of the counters and put his head in his hands. I couldn't possibly be scared, can I? What would I be scared of anyways? The worse that can happen is that she'll feel like death in the morning, but that's her own fault. Come on, Vegeta, snap out of it. She can handle herself. Ignoring the sick feeling in his gut, he opened the refrigerator, pulled out some leftovers, sat down at the table, and slowly ate them – the complete opposite of how he normally ate.
…
"I hate her," Macey slurred as she stood next to Sharpner in the large open living room and looked at Videl and Gohan who were standing across the room and in front of the fireplace. "I mean…I just really…I just really don't like her," she scoffed as she looked at Videl in disgust. "I mean, just who, who does she think she is?" By the time ten-thirty came around, Macey had downed four beers, seven shots of liquor, three mixed drinks, and was working on her fifth beer.
Sharpner laughed. "Oh yeah?" He asked. "And why's that?"
"Because," she began as she used Sharpner to hold herself up. "Woah," she chuckled as she nearly fell. "Because, I want him."
"Who?" Sharpner laughed. "Gohan?"
"Yeah," she replied in a sad tone with a hiccup, causing Sharpner to have a smirk come across his face.
"Well, what if I told you that you'd have much more fun hanging around me, and you could get your mind off of Gohan?" Sharpner said in a drunken, flirtatious tone as he nudged Macey.
"Oh yeah?" She replied in the same drunken, flirtatious tone. "Then I'd say, 'prove it'," she chuckled as she looked up to Sharpner.
"Well then, take my hand, and I'll show you the time of your life," Sharpner said as he held out his hand for Macey to grab. Quickly, Macey finished the beer in her hand and grabbed onto Sharpner's extended hand, and as he led her upstairs, Videl noticed the drunk pair and stealthily followed them without Gohan noticing.
Good job, Sharpner, Videl thought with a chuckle as she followed them upstairs and watched them enter one of the rooms on the right side of the hallway, and once the door was closed and the lock was turned, Videl quietly went up to the door to listen inside the room.
Once Macey entered the room with Sharpner, she saw the giant queen sized bed off to her left, the desk and study area straight ahead, the door to the joined bathroom on the right side of the bed, the door to the closet on the left side, and on the right side of the wall was a small, brown couch facing the wall, and a large flat screen television on the wall.
"So, what're we doing in here?" She asked as she looked around the room, and as she did, she began to feel dizzy. "I think I drank too much," she said as she leaned against the locked door and closed her eyes.
"There's a couch over there you can sit on, or you can sit on the bed," Sharpner offered her as he walked over to his closet. With the bed being closer, she went over, sat on the foot of the bed, and leaned back to try to get her head to stop spinning. "Feeling any better?" Sharpner asked as he came back out and looked Macey who was still extremely intoxicated.
"I guess a little," she managed to get out. "What are we doing in here?"
"You told me to prove it, didn't you?" He said as he pulled Macey up by her hands and got her to stand on her feet. "So, I'm proving it," he said as he pulled her close to him and began kissing her. At first, it startled her and caused her to try to get away, but then she changed her mind as she remembered that she was there to have a fun time and forget about everything else. Slowly, Sharpner walked her backwards so that she would fall on the bed on her back, and he would be above her.
"What're we doing?" She chuckled as she looked up at the muscular, long blond haired guy inches away from her face.
"Have you really never done this?" He asked in disbelief. "I figured a gorgeous girl like yourself would have slept with someone before."
"No," she chuckled, "I haven't. I never really had the time."
"Well, if you don't want to, then just say the word, and we won't," Sharpner told her as he leaned down to kiss the left side of her neck.
"I'd be careful," she chuckled as he kissed her neck. "My dad might kill you if you leave marks on me," she told him as she leaned her head up to kiss him and pull him closer to her.
"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Sharpner asked as he pulled himself away from her lips to make sure that she knew what she was doing. "I mean, it's your first time. Are you sure you wanna lose it at a party?"
"Just get down here," Macey ordered him as she pulled him in closer to her once more.
About hour later, at eleven-forty-five, Macey, who was still extremely intoxicated due to having three more shots after she and Sharpner left the room, was picked up by the taxi that Sharpner had called for her.
"Sorry I couldn't take you home," he apologized as he handed her the jacket that she had put in his backseat. "I just don't feel comfortable driving."
"It's fine," she chuckled as she stumbled her way into the taxi. "Thank you for the awesome night," she laughed as he closed the door and leaned in the rolled down window.
"She's going to Capsule Corp," Sharpner told the driver. "And I'll see you on Monday," he said as he leaned in further to give Macey a kiss. As he backed away, he tapped on the hood of the taxi, giving the signal that it was clear for the driver to back up, and right at midnight, the taxi pulled up in front of Capsule Corp and dropped the wasted teenager off.
"Oh, here you go," Macey said as she stumbled her way to the driver's side window and handed the driver a twenty-dollar tip.
"Thank you, ma'am," the driver replied as he graciously took the large tip. "Would you like me to help you to the door?"
"Nah, I got it," she chuckled as she walked around the front of the cab and made her way to the door, and once she got to the automatic doors, the cab driver pulled off.
"Well, it's about time," Vegeta said as Macey loudly stumbled into the large living room so that she could make it up the stairs and into her bed. Vegeta, who was sitting on the couch in the living room still with all of the lights out, watched as his intoxicated daughter tried to get herself through the front door.
"Vegeta!" She yelled as she flipped the light on and ran towards Vegeta with her arms open like she was going for a hug; however, because of her incoordination as a result of the wedges and the alcohol, she tripped over her right foot, and began to plummet to the floor, but luckily, Vegeta was quick enough to catch her and hold her under her armpits.
"What on Earth is wrong with you?" He snapped at her.
"Nothing," she chuckled as she looked up to her father. "Absolutely nothing. I feel awesome!" She slurred.
"You need to keep your voice down," he ordered her. "Trunks and Bulma are asleep."
"Oops," she said quietly. "Sorry," she chuckled.
My God, she smells like alcohol and rubber, Vegeta thought as he leaned down to pick her up bridal style and carry her up to her room.
"Oh my Gosh!" She said excitedly as she got down and ran towards her bed and face planted on it. "Here's my bed! I was worried that it might be gone when I got back!"
"What?" Vegeta asked with confusion as he watched Macey try to get into bed. "No, get out," he ordered her, "you aren't going to sleep just yet."
"Huh? But why not?" She said in a letdown tone as she sat up in the bed.
"If you go to sleep as drunk as you are without drinking water, you'll feel even worse in the morning," he told her as he walked over to her bathroom. He grabbed a cup from the medicine cabinet, filled it with water, and brought it back over to his daughter, and while he was trying to hand her the water, she couldn't help but to look at him with her eyes squinted and laugh. "What's so funny?" He demanded to know.
"You are," she chuckled as she took the water from him. "It's so cute to see you care about me."
"After you finish that, you need to get a shower," he said, changing the subject. "You smell like alcohol and rubber."
"Yeah," she said in a drawn-out voice, "I had a pretty fun night," she chuckled.
"What do you…Oh my God," he said as he realized what she was talking about, "please tell me you at least used some sort of protection."
Macey glared at Vegeta. "Please," she scoffed, "I'm not that stupid," she chuckled. "Of course we did."
Thank God, Vegeta thought in relief. But still, this isn't like her at all. She's too smart to get involved with the party crowd. "How much did you drink?" He asked her.
"Umm," Macey began to think, "I forget."
A look of anger and disappointment came across Vegeta's face. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked her as he knelt down next to the bed in order to make eye contact with her. "You're too smart and skilled to be getting involved in this." As she looked into her father's eyes, she could see the disappointment and anger in them, and due to her intoxicated state, she was unable to control the tears once they filled her eyes.
"I just wanted to forget," she said quietly as tears streamed down her face. "The assassins, Kaiser, Pax, Nemei – everybody and everything. I just wanted to forget. I just wanted to feel like a normal teenager. In my real life, I'm Dea Tacita – wanted assassin, but I never get to be Macey Evans – normal teenager. My life is anything but normal, so doing something normal that people do at my age, seemed like fun. I'm sorry that it's such a crime."
My God, Vegeta thought as he looked at his obviously upset daughter and felt his chest become heavy. This is all really taking a toll on her – even more so than I thought. I have to do something to get her to stop this, or else she'll only go downhill. Depression, alcohol, sex – never a good combination.
"I'm fifteen," she continued in a whisper. "I'm fifteen. Why can't I just be treated like a normal teenager and do normal teenage things without having to worry about being assassinated? I highly doubt that the other people from the party are sitting in front of their parents talking about what I'm talking about."
"How much of tonight are you going to remember?" Vegeta asked her in a serious tone.
"Hopefully none of it," she replied as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"Then never mind," he said as he stood up and walked towards the dresser to grab some clothes that Bulma had let her borrow. "Here," he said as he tossed a pair of pajamas to his daughter – a baggy black t-shirt and a pair of green pajama pants. "Get a shower and put those on," he told her. Without argument, Macey, who was still intoxicated, grabbed the pajamas, got up, and stumbled her way to the bathroom and nearly fell face first on the tile floor when she got there, but again, she was caught by Vegeta. "Can you handle yourself?" He asked, sounding annoyed.
"Yeah," she replied. "I don't need your help." After refusing help from her father, Vegeta led her into the bathroom, shut the door behind her, and stood outside the door in case she passed out in the shower.
There has to be something I can do to put a stop to her slippery slope before it begins, Vegeta pondered as Macey got her shower. She wasn't raised by a parent – she was raised by her brother, and I'm sure he was more of a friend to her than a parent. Come on, Vegeta. Think.
"All done," Macey said about ten minutes later as she tried to open the door that Vegeta was standing in front of. Noticing that she couldn't open it, Vegeta turned around and let her out, and as she headed for her bed, Vegeta walked behind her to make sure that she didn't fall.
"Where's your bag?" Vegeta asked as Macey situated herself into her bed.
"Over there," she said as she pointed to the handbag that she had taken to the party. Vegeta grabbed the bag, walked over to his daughter, placed the kunai that she had hidden in it on the nightstand, and took her phone out of it.
"Here," he said as he set down the kunai but kept the phone in his hand.
"And my phone?" She said as she went to grab the phone from him, but ultimately, he moved it away too fast.
"Yeah, you'll get this back in a week," he said as he looked at the phone in his hand and turned it off. "You can use it to check in with the C.I.A., but that's it."
"Have you lost your mind?" She snapped at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Three weeks," he said as he upped the amount of time her phone would be gone, causing her to go quiet. "You're done running around as you please and wearing whatever you want, so I hope that you had a fun time tonight, because that won't be happening again."
"You can't be serious," she scoffed. "You do realize that I'm still an assassin, right? I could either easily find it or kill you."
"Four weeks," he upped it again. "And you said you wanted to feel like a normal teenager, well, here you go. Besides, if I don't do something to limit the amount of freedom you have, then you're going to end up assassinated or pregnant. You should just know how to be responsible on your own, but clearly Kaiser didn't raise you right, and legally, according to the C.I.A., you're in mine and Bulma's custody until you're eighteen, and biologically, you're mine, so whatever rules I place on you, you will follow from here on out."
"Fine," she finally and reluctantly agreed knowing that she was too intoxicated to argue or fight with him. Besides, she thought, if I break one of the C.I.A.'s guidelines, they'll put an execution warrant on me, and even more assassins will be after me. Maybe it won't be so bad. After all, he is my father.
"Now, go to sleep," Vegeta said in a demanding tone. "Tomorrow, we're going to see Nemei and then we'll figure out if Kaiser is the one behind all this." Before he got to his last word, Macey was already curled up and passed out in her bed. And hopefully being treated like a normal teenager will help put her mind to ease – at least a little bit, he hoped as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Six hours later, while the entire Capsule Corp house was asleep, one person was awake and ready to go.
Alright, Vegeta thought as he stood outside of Macey's door, here we go. Out of nowhere, he slammed open the door which instantly woke Macey up, quickly flew over to Macey's bed, and while she was trying to figure out what was going on through her hangover, she was met with a right kick from her father, which knocked her out of the window, off the balcony, and onto the ground.
"What the hell are you doing?!" She yelled as she held her face in the palms of her hands as she sat on the ground. "You're going to kill me!"
"Exactly!" Vegeta yelled back as he flew down to his daughter who was trying to get up from the ground. "I'm an assassin, and I'm here to collect the money for your contract because that's all your life is worth!" He yelled as he began throwing his daughter around – admittedly only using a tad bit of his strength so that he didn't hurt her too much, so technically, the bark was bigger than the bite. "Come on!" He yelled as he landed combination after combination on her. "Fight back!"
"I can't!" She yelled as she tried to block her father's blows and move away, but he caught up to her like it was nothing. "I'm going to puke!" Unable to do anything, she went to her knees as she held her mouth shut and tightly closed her eyes, but she was met with a left kick to her side. "Will you stop it?!" She yelled, starting to get angry. "I can't do anything!"
"Exactly," Vegeta said in his normal tone as he walked up and stood next to Macey who was under her broken window, on her knees, and trying to hold herself together. "If you start spending all of your time partying and being hungover, then how are you going to fight for your life when one of the assassins comes after you? What would you have done if I had been a real enemy trying to kill you?"
"I don't -," Macey began as she tried to ignore her aching head and nauseous stomach.
"That's right," Vegeta cut her off, "you don't know. You had no time to react because you're so hungover. You couldn't even grab the kunai that I left sitting right next to you on your nightstand."
"I forgot that -," Macey started as it became harder for her to stay awake.
"You forgot that it was there," Vegeta finished for her. "You forgot that it was there because you were so blackout drunk that you didn't remember me putting it there. Do you remember me taking your phone?"
"Yes," she replied as she tried to get back to her feet.
"Go back to bed and be hungover for a few hours," Vegeta told her as he picked her up and floated her back up through the broken window. "I'll be coming to get you in a few hours after I finish my training."
"Yeah, sure," Macey said as she tried to keep herself from throwing up.
"Hang on a second," Vegeta said as he laid Macey in her bed and walked towards the bathroom. "Here," he said as he grabbed the trashcan and brought it over to her side of the bed, and as soon as the trashcan was placed on the floor beside her, everything from the previous night began to come up. "Have fun," Vegeta said as he walked towards the door and walked out of it. She's gotta learn one way or another, Vegeta thought as he made his way to the gravity room that had been repaired by Bulma the day before.
Ugh, Macey thought as she finished throwing up all the alcohol from the night before, maybe my dad's right. I would have died if that had been a real enemy attacking me. All I could do was sit there on the ground and try not to throw up. What was I thinking? I've never drank before. Why would I drink that much? And then to have sex with a guy I hardly know? I've never fallen so far from the assassin path. This isn't what an assassin does. Maybe Kaiser was right – maybe I have forgotten what I am. Before she knew it, she passed back out in the comfort of her bed and was woken up two hours later by Bulma who came knocking on her door.
"Can I come in?" She asked as she stood outside the teenager's room.
"Yeah, sure," she replied tiredly as she sat up in the bed.
"Here you go," Bulma said as she walked in and handed Macey a giant jug of a sport's drink and a few pain relievers for her headache. "You shouldn't try to drink water; it'll make it worse especially if you drank liquor. You need to get some electrolytes in your system."
"Thanks," Macey replied as she put the medicine in her mouth and washed it down with some of the sport's drink.
"So, how are you feeling?" Bulma chuckled.
"I think you can tell how I'm feeling," Macey sneered at her.
"Yeah, I know, but it comes with the fun," Bulma told her. "You just have to know your limit. So how was it?"
Is she really trying to talk to me like she's one of my girlfriends? Macey wondered as she looked at the curious woman sitting on her bed next to her. "It was fun while it lasted, I suppose," she shrugged as she continued to drink the sport's drink.
"Yeah, Vegeta told me that he took your phone for a month," Bulma said as she looked away from the sick teenager.
"Yeah, it's whatever though," Macey shrugged. "I don't know too many people anyways. I only really ever used it to contact Kaiser in case I ever needed him."
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed as her eyes opened wide. "I was supposed to train with Goku today!"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Bulma said with a chuckle. "He came by about thirty minutes ago, but I told him you weren't feeling well, so he told me to tell you that you can train with him anytime when you're feeling better."
"Awesome," she said in a relieved tone as she laid her head back down on her pillow and closed her eyes.
"Get some more rest," Bulma said as she watched Macey's eyes close. She took the drink out of her hand and sat it on her nightstand so that she could reach it if he suddenly got thirsty. That stupid Vegeta, Bulma shook her head as she looked at the broken window. It's a surprise that he didn't hurt her. Poor thing.
Deep in Macey's mind as she slept, she dreamed a dream that she hadn't dreamed in a long time, and if she could, she would wipe the dream from her mind for forever.
"And the winner of the life and death match is Dea Tacita!" The announcer yelled as Dea ended the life of her opponent with a single cut to the throat. In the large, closed off arena with shatterproof glass surrounding it, assassins were made to fight for their contracts. In the room, there was a manmade forest so that each assassin could fight fairly. Some assassins preferred to stay on the ground, some preferred to stay hidden the entire time, and some, like Dea, decided to use a combination of both. After her opponent fell lifelessly to the ground, the fourteen-year-old assassin was escorted out of the room and to Queen Enyo where she was handed the contract that she had fought for.
"Here you are, Miss Tacita," Queen Enyo said as she handed the black folder over to Dea. "Since you fought for this contract, you should already know the information in it, and just like all the other contracts, you have a month to complete this one, but I'm sure you'll have it finished long before then."
"Yes, milady," she said as she bowed and walked out of Queen Enyo's office.
"Oh, and Dea," she said, grabbing the young assassin's attention. "This time next year, you'll be sent on your big assignment; don't forget."
"Yes, milady. I won't," she said with a smirk as she finished walking out of the door and headed back to her small studio apartment. Okay, she thought as she walked into her apartment, sat down at her desk, and began to prepare for the assassination that she won. Name is Damen Simos, address is 982 X Street, height is 6'1", hair color is blond, eye color is brown, and he's wanted for Treason, but most importantly, his bounty is twenty-thousand dollars. Quickly, she got her stuff together and made her way to where her target was last seen. Okay, she thought as she entered his house. There's no reason that he shouldn't come back here. He doesn't know about the contract placed on him, but according to my information, he'll bolt and never be found again if he gets spooked. Let's make this quick, nice, and clean. As she walked straight ahead, she transparently perched herself on the railing of the stairs that led to the second floor, and she had an arrow ready to shoot as soon as her target walked in the front door. And if he comes in the back door, I'm sure he'll head upstairs sometime. As she sat there for an hour, she finally heard her target begin walking up the stairs to the front door and mess with his keys. Aha, she smiled as her adrenaline began pumping at the sight of the knob turning. Any second now. As her target opened the door, he was carrying what appeared to be a bag of groceries over his left shoulder, and as soon as she confirmed that it was Damen Simos, she let go of the arrow, shot it through the bag of groceries, and into the heart of her target; however, she quickly learned that the bag of groceries wasn't a bag of groceries when she heard the blood curling scream of an infant. Oh no, she quickly thought as she undid her transparency and ran over to the crying baby and the dead target. Oh no, oh no, oh no, she freaked out as tears began to fill her eyes. As she picked up the crying baby, and undid the arrow's transparency, she noticed that the baby was one that she was all too familiar with. "Jason," she whispered as she looked at the blond haired, brown eyed, baby boy that was bleeding profusely. "Okay," she thought as she tried to help the infant that she had just impaled with an arrow, "it doesn't look like it went through his heart," she told herself as she tried to find out where it had pierced. "Hopefully it just went through his muscle, and I can get him back to the compound in time." However, the infant's crying died out, and the entire house became completely silent except for Dea's crying that she was unable to control. "I'm so sorry," she whispered as she fell to her knees and held the infant close to her, and as her heart shattered into a million pieces, she was overcome with agony, and her crying screams were uncontrollable. Once the clean-up crew got the call that the assassination had been completed, the infant that Dea had accidentally killed was taken along with the target. She tried with all of her strength to keep the baby in her arms, hoping that he would wake up, but eventually, after having to use five different clean-up members at the same time, they were finally able to pry the baby from her arms, and once they were done cleaning up the mess, Dea found herself overcome with guilt and sat in the room where the tragedy had happened.
From the result of the dream that she hadn't had in what seemed like forever, Macey shot up straight out of her bed while she was screaming and crying in agony as tears began flowing uncontrollably which caused Bulma and Vegeta to get to the room as fast as they could to see what had happened to her. When they arrived, they found the teenage assassin sitting on the bed with her knees hugged to her chest, and it was easy to see that her heart was breaking into a million pieces, and it was breaking to the point that it shattered Bulma and Vegeta's.
"Bulma, get out," Vegeta ordered his wife, "now." Without argument Bulma did as she was told, but she still waited outside the door with worry as she could still hear her step-daughter crying and screaming. Vegeta, who is usually the one to show little concern, found himself in nothing but worry as he saw his daughter having a complete mental breakdown. "Mace," he said in a panicked tone as he went over to sit next to his daughter who now had her knees up, her hands behind her head, her eyes closed, and was rocking back and forth.
"I'm so sorry," she said through her cries, "I'm so, so sorry."
"Hey, talk to me," Vegeta said as he put his right hand on her left arm to get her to stop moving, but it was forcibly moved when Macey swatted at him with her right hand.
"He was wearing his little dog outfit with the ears on the hood," she cried as pain filled her heart.
"Who was?" Vegeta pushed. "Come on, talk to me," he pleaded.
"His brown eyes were filled with tears and pain, and his cry is still piercing my ears," she said in agony through her gritted teeth as she continued to rock back and forth and move her hands to cover her ears.
"Who's eyes?" Vegeta asked, still trying to push for an answer.
"His tiny fingers were covered in little paw shaped gloves, and on his wrist was a wristband from the carnival that they went to," she continued cry as she seemed to be unaware of Vegeta sitting next to her trying to help her. "I'm so sorry," she continued as she gasped for her breath.
"Mace, who are you talking about?" Vegeta asked again. "What happened?"
"I'm so sorry, Jason," she cried under her breath. "I'm so sorry."
"Mace, look at me," Vegeta said as he tried to get his daughter to make eye contact with him, but she only closed her eyes tighter and lowered her head more. "Who is Jason?"
"I kill him," she cried out. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to kill him. I promise I didn't mean to," she continued.
"Mace," Vegeta said sternly as he tried to get her attention. "Who is Jason?"
"I killed her baby," she continued without answering Vegeta's question. "I killed Pax's baby," she painfully cried out.
"You what?" Vegeta said quietly in shock as his daughter began to break down even more.
"It was an accident!" She cried. "It was an order. It was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt him. I'm so sorry. He was completely innocent. His face was filled with so much fear."
"Mace, come here," Vegeta said quietly as he pulled Macey over to her left side and onto his lap so that her back was facing him. "You're going to give yourself a heart attack if you don't calm down."
"It was an accident," she tried to stress to herself as she continued to loudly cry out. Vegeta, who felt completely useless and unable to help her because she wasn't listening to him, had a tear stream down the right side of his face at the sight of seeing Macey hurting so badly. With nothing else he could do, he began to stroke her hair with his right hand in hopes of calming her down as she continued her breakdown on his lap.
"It was an accident," he assured her as he stopped himself from letting anymore tears out.
"I promise it was an accident," she said, still crying but seeming to calm down a little bit.
"I know it was," Vegeta replied quietly even though he knew that Macey was unaware that he was there. It's time for this to end, he thought angrily as he saw how much pain Macey was in and thought about how badly Nemei was traumatized. It's time to bring an end to all of them – everyone in the Order – especially him, he thought as his rage filled at the thought of Kaiser. I swear he'll pay for what he's done to them. That son of a bitch and everyone else involved in their suffering will die by my hands. No one else's. As Vegeta's rage engulfed him, it took everything in him to stay calm for the sake of his daughter who was seemed to be calming down as he kept stroking her hair. Eventually, after about ten minutes of having her lay there and stroking her hair to calm her down, his efforts paid off and her screaming cries were reduced to sniffles. "There you go," he said quietly as she began to breathe normally.
"Dad," she said quietly as she opened her eyes and looked at the room in front of her with her blurred vision, "it was an accident." She closed her eyes again, and the layer of tears that was causing her blurred vision, turned into the last set that streamed down her face.
"I know it was," Vegeta said as he continued to stroke her hair. Ten more minutes of her sniffling and saying how it was an accident went by, and the whole time, Vegeta sat there calmly yet filled with rage, stroked her hair, and assured her that it was an accident. Then, once her breathing returned to normal, she closed her eyes, and since she was now exhausted from her breakdown and still a bit hungover, she passed out right there, laying on her father's lap. Carefully, Vegeta gently maneuvered her so that she was still laying on the left side of her body with her back against the pillows and headboard – the same way she had been laying on his lap. After he gently got out from underneath her, he quietly walked to the door, opened it, and closed it behind him.
"So, how is she?" Bulma asked as she and Trunks stood out in the hallway.
"I can't wait to get my hands on these bastards," Vegeta said with his clenched teeth as he balled his fists up.
"What happened to her, dad?" Trunks asked, sounding concerned for his older half-sister.
"A lot's happened to her, son," Vegeta replied, trying to keep them from knowing what had happened. "If she wants to tell you, then she'll tell you, but I'm not going to bring it up to her, and I suggest that neither of you do either," he said in a stern tone to them as he walked away and headed back towards his gravity room.
…
"Do you think she's ready, sir?" An agent asked another as they walked down the long hallway that led to the interrogation rooms where Macey was given her deal and were Nemei was being held.
"Yes," the other agent replied in a serious tone as the two interrogation rooms came up on their left. "She's been making great progress," he said as they stopped at the first room and looked at Nemei who was sitting at a table that had been brought in for her and drawing. Before, the room was empty and had nothing in it except for a cold, steel table and a chair, but now, while it was acting as Nemei's home, there was a twin sized bed that was brought and a brand new table so that she could be comfortable and not have to sit on the cold, steel furniture. "She still won't talk though," he informed the agent next to him, "she'll only reply in drawings. It took us hours to be able to go in there without her trying to attack us, but finally, she calmed down, and we were able to take the muzzle off of her and give her some new furniture to keep her comfortable. We tried to get her to talk to us, but she refused to speak, and at first, she would carve words into the wooden desk we put in there, so we just got her a bunch of paper and some colored pencils, and she hasn't stopped drawing since."
"Very good," the other agent replied.
"Yes, it is," the explaining agent agreed. "We should be able to get some information about what happened to her in no time, and then she should be ready to be transferred to your department."
"Yeah, about that," the other agent said as he exhaled and turned towards the agent who explained the status of Nemei, causing the agent to look at him. Before he could tell what was happening, the explaining agent was met with a kunai to the lung that the other agent had hidden up his right sleeve.
"A…agent…Berry," the explaining agent said in shock and disbelief as he felt his breathing become more difficult. Without saying a word, Agent Berry pulled the kunai out of the other agent's back and allowed him to drop onto the floor.
Okay, Nemei, it's time you come with me, he thought as he smirked through the two-way wall and watched the young assassin quietly draw her pictures.