Disclaimer: Do not own Jack! Ugh.. lets not mention fast food.. my stomach feels terrible right now.
Note: Chapter is the title to a song I was listening to for motivation, by Dido. It doesn't mean the chapter takes place the day before the fight, thought I should clear that up! Also, I edited a few things from last chapter to make it a little more smooth, if you all feel like re-reading that to remember exactly where we left off, please feel free to do so.
Dude Where's my World
Revised
Chapter 52: The Day before the Day
Stacks of black cafeteria bench tables were upturned, splintered in half, while remnants of the others laid in heaps all throughout the largely devastated cafeteria. Trunks sat on the ground breathing heavily as he scanned the room through one swollen eye for his best friend amongst the rubble, finding that difficult to do with the fluorescent ceiling light swaying over the area steadily from side to side. He groaned as he tried to sit up straighter against the uncomfortable surface of a fallen beam.
"Goten?" He inquired into the echoey room. He heard shifting of rubble to his right and stared in the general direction, smiling when only his best friend's head popped straight out of a pile of demolished tables. Goten groaned miserably as he yanked his arms upward and freed them from their entrapment and muttered to himself as he dropped them back down onto heaps of wreckage, letting his chin rest on the pile in front of his, as he caught sight of Trunks through his peripheral vision. Goten raised up a thumbs up and grinned at Trunks tiredly, making the older teen laugh. "—Oof." Trunks grimaced in pain as he warily looked down at his torso, confident at he had a few broken ribs; He chuckled anyway. "That was almost fun." Trunks remarked. "But I think we've let ourselves go, buddy. We are out of shape." He remarked.
Planting his hands on the rubble up to his shoulders, Goten huffed in response to Trunks comment, making his best friend grin with amusement. "Speak for yourself, Trunks" Goten insisted with a grin, "I am totally—" Groaning, Goten let himself drop forward again.
Trunks laughed, "Come-on, Goten." Trunks insisted, flinching again as he pushed himself up on to his feet and walked towards the younger half-saiyan and easily offered a hand, yanking him out. Goten stumbled back to his feet and with a small limp he made his way towards the opposite side of the cafeteria. "…Where you going?" Trunks asked, confused.
"Do you think they have some food here?" He asked with hope, as he studied a large hole in a wall and disappointed with what he saw, he pulled back out and continued to walk along the wall. "We are in cafeteria, aren't we?"
"How can you be hungry at a time like this?" Trunks asked following him with his eyes, surprised.
"That Pima guy knocked me out before! Where do you think I went for all those minutes!" He asked, outraged, for just a moment, before his eyes lit up when he saw a large counter that appeared to lead to the kitchen. "Yes!" He rubbed his hands and limped faster, easily going over the counter and disappearing from view. Trunks chuckled as he flipped some of the rubble, looking for his watch he'd somehow lost or possibly destroyed during the battle as Goten continued to banter on about the cheap shot Arapaima had taken at him while they were under this level. "You think they have cranberry juice anywhere around here?"
"I don't know." Trunks answered back with an easy grin, as he took off his now worthless coat. When he discarded it to the side it landed on something that fell off some rubble and clanked when it hit the ground. Curious, Trunks climbed rubble in that direction and laid on an uncomfortable stack of debris to reach down through for whatever it was that fell down. He finally felt his fingertips touch something and extended his shoulder just a little further into the opening and pulled it out: It looked like a CC Capsule Case that had gone through hell and back. He grimaced, slowly adjusting himself back into a sitting position on the uncomfortable and uneven surface, as he studied it curiously, turning it around and seeing the little stick figure drawings before movement to his right caught his attention.
Immediately Trunks was on his feet, "GOTEN!" Trunks warned instantly. It only took seconds for recognition to dawn on him, and he slowly dropped his fighting stance. He offered a smile to his father, relieved and grateful to see him okay. "Hey," He greeted with a shaken laugh, "Sorry, you kind of startled me...Dad?" He asked, his smile becoming tentative when he saw the expression on his father's face.
...
*Flashback*
Vegeta had been careless; one of Babidi's had ran at him and embedded a pathetic knife through his shoulder.
But Vegeta had still been able to hear it.
The crunch of the orb, nor the sound of Babidi's furious screams of anger could cover Josie's screams of agony as Babidi took out his rage on her. The light from the shattered orb that had brightly encompassed the whole room had covered the visual, but the sounds had been enough to figure out what happened. When the light went away the scene had been almost entirely different. Before him had now stood an imposing man of 6'6 with black hair and light blue eyes with a light-yellow complexion; wearing a blue tarp with a gold sash around his waist with high black boots and a black small medallion hanging on his forehead. His stern eyes were ignoring everything in the room but Babidi, his fists tightly clenching at his side.
Vegeta looked past him towards Babidi whose body was drastically frail now and shrunken, as he sat back on his throne, appearing to be on the brink of losing his life. Babidi stared back resentfully at the man before him, unable to properly lift his head anymore. "Y-you...were not supposed to be freed; your life is mine." The man only stared at him, taking a step forward to look down at the disappearing man whose clothes were beginning to fit bigger and bigger by the moment. Babidi raised his arms to the sky, weakly. "Paparrapapa!" He shouted, his arms glowing for a minute, letting them drop painfully to his side, cackling happily. "You'll pay." Babidi warned happily, eyes shifting to Vegeta.
"Hn.. you seem to be the only one paying now, rodent." Vegeta observed with a sneer.
Babidi laughed in his last moments alive, struggling to manage it through each weak and labored breath but he didn't seem to mind the effort, as he grinned. "Look a-around." He gloated. "What do you see?—Or rather who do you not see? Or maybe you can see her!" He joked morbidly. "There, t-there and there," He rasped, laughing maniacally. "…You didn't win." He assured, sneering with hatred. "And you never will, Vegeta."
*End Flashback*
Vegeta had not expected a man to come out of the orb, he glanced at the quiet man standing off to the side, surveying the damage with an unreadable expression on his face. They were all above ground now, out in the Namekian sun. Vegeta had gone to tell Trunks first and shortly after found the others already taking unconscious bodies above ground.
His son.
Vegeta's body tensed, turning away to stare at a body of water with a scowl. That deep-seated hurt that had trampled inside the recesses of his son's blue eyes, that same gut clenching hurt he'd have to see in his wife's eyes, and worse yet, in his daughter's eyes when his youngest found out about this. His mouth turned down in a snarl, feeling irritation drum through his system at the thought of the stupid girl who he brought home for quick questioning and brief medical treatment, but had, in addition, completely changed his family's life; and he couldn't even stand to be in the same room with her.
"Vegeta?" He barely turned his head to acknowledge Goku who flew beside him. "We're taking some of the survivors to the Elder Moori, and we need to get in contact with Bulma to get the scouter back, since we couldn't locate any of the balls on the ship."
Vegeta nodded. "Go to Moori." He said. "I'm going to find my son and we'll meet you at the ship." He said receiving a nod. Vegeta took one more look at the strange man that Goku comfortably walked up too and chatted at with ease. Vegeta shook his head with exasperation at Goku's lack of guard with strangers, but even he had to admit, that whatever that man was, dangerous to them or not, bringing him back had rendered Babidi's minions useless and had killed the sorcerer in minute; so, for the moment, Vegeta could tolerate him around. He flew back to their space ship knowing that his son was already arriving there.
When he had told Trunks the news, he had remained on Babidi's ship with Goten nearby for the next half hour while the others cleaned the wreckage and searched for survivors. As they mostly worked outside, Trunks had wordlessly left with Goten following, without anyone stopping them. He knew he'd be heading to their spaceship to inform Bulma and it was just as well; he had never been good at that sort of thing and he needed time to think about what he'd say if they asked him questions about the girl's death. Even now he still had no idea how much he'd tell them, but he knew that, regardless of that fact that, he needed to get back to his family.
When he landed by the familiar ship, he calmly walked up the plank where the still injured Goten was standing guard at the base of the stairs, looking pretty upset himself. Vegeta put a hand on the boy's shoulder, grateful that he'd kept a strong chin for his own son; Goten's eyes briefly came to his and quickly nodded, looking back ahead as he wiped at his right eye in annoyance. Vegeta patted his shoulder before going up into the cockpit where Trunks was holding his mother. Her sparkling blue eyes opened as soon as her husband entered the room, and he felt his heart squeeze just a little at the sight of her eyes looking so red. He knew her well enough to know that she had been crying well before Trunks had arrived to tell her the news; maybe she had already known.
An hour later Trunks laid on his own bed, his shoulders and head propped up some with a few pillows as his hands listlessly toyed with the scuffed and bent metal capsule case he'd found in the Dining Center, and what he now knew to be Josie's emergency capsule case. He turned it to the front cover and traced the drawings of him, Goten, Josie, Valerie and little Bra beside them.
"…You don't have to stay." Trunks said in a quiet voice to Goten who sat on his own bed, facing Trunks and staring directly at him unrepentantly, with worry.
"Not yet" Goten said firmly. He'd stayed resolutely at his best friend's side since he'd come back out of the kitchen and had seen Vegeta with a hand on Trunks shoulder, talking quietly in the dark and empty dining hall.
Goten closed his fists above his knees, hating this day with a reverent passion. "...Trunks, we'll wish her back." He finally couldn't help but say. He was trying as hard as he could to just let his best friend go through what he was going through, but he had to give him hope. His father had warned him against it because of the limitless possibilities due to where the girls came from, but he had to try.
Trunks turned his head to look at him for a moment, his fingers stopping their inattentive toying for a few seconds before he became preoccupied in it again. Dully, he asked. "What if we can't"
"..." Goten looked down at the ground, knowing that that was the question on everyone's mind. They had all lost their disbelief over the girls origin somewhere along the way, but with normal rules not applying to them, it left so many questions about what could happen to them in this kind of situation: what if her body was buried somewhere underneath rubble, what if her body had disappeared to the other world or if she had maybe been transported back to her world completely after she'd died.
They heard a brief knock at the door before Gohan stood at the doorway, looking hesitant.
"We've rescued just about everyone we could rescue - Dad says he's almost ready to go, Goten." Goten nodded, "But you have to get fixed up first, so head to Moori's when you can." Gohan couldn't help but shoot a sympathetic look at Trunks before stepping back out.
Trunks sighed, putting the capsule down on his chest and turning his head to look at Goten. "You're going to earth?"
Goten nodded. "I talked about it with Dad — though we have full intention of bringing her back — Dad thinks it's only a very small matter of time before Dende and the others figure back home find out what's happened here and he—We think that Valerie should hear it from one of us."
Trunks nodded, going back to staring at the ceiling. "I can't do it." He said simply. "I should do it—I know I should but…" He shook his head, turning away, remembering the small conversation they'd had while he'd temporarily gone back to earth.
("You'll bring her back, right?" Valerie asked, eyes coming back to meet his questioningly, hopeful.
"Of course he will." Bra jumped right in, hand on his knee and her shoulder. "We'll all be back here hanging out in no time." Valerie continued to stare into his eyes, searching.)
"Trunks," Goten said firmly, thankful when his friend turned to look back at him. "Don't worry about it, I'll do it." He assured. "Your mom's working on the Dragon Ball Scouter again, I'm sure you'll want to be here and have first shot at getting the balls back together." Trunks sat up, turning his legs towards Goten, giving him a nod.
"I appreciate it, Goten." He said with a sigh. "I'll walk you out." Trunks walked outside of the ship with him towards Moori's, stopping a few feet before the village giving Goten a hard hug. "Thank you." He said sincerely, patting his friend's back and seeing him off with a small smile. When he was finally alone, his smile dropped and he slowly flew upward, keeping an eye out for any of his friends, thankful when he only saw less than a handful of Nameks; satisfied that he wouldn't be stopped, he flew off quickly through the sky.
His father had refused to tell him how she'd died and instead had left him to wonder all the terrible ways it could have happened, not having realized that that could be a worse fate. He just needed this break from the idleness of waiting. He would rather be up to his neck fighting another enemy than to stay with the others at that moment. As he started flying in the direction of the remains of Babidi's ship, before he hesitated in the air. What would he find there anyway? He'd already scoured a lot of the ship while Goten was with him and had not found anything other than the Capsule Case. His father had finished destroying the room that Babidi had been in, possibly to prohibit him from seeing something there, but regardless of what the reason was, whatever was in there was gone now. He changed direction and instead headed to the body of water that Josie and him had spent time at, soon after they had arrived on the planet.
He landed gently on dry land beside the body of water, staring intently at the calm surface. He doubted Josie had known she would find something here when she came back on her own and had been taken. Maybe she had simply come back to distract herself temporarily? Hell, he thought with a light kick at the ground, maybe she had been looking for something, who knew at this point? He hadn't gotten to ask her a single question in those few moments that he'd been with her. He'd only hugged her, pointed out she was bleeding, received a few well-deserved hits from her and the next thing he knew he had grabbed the poor defenseless — and likely — traumatized girl and had kissed the daylights out of her. He shook his head with a groan, sitting down roughly at the water's edge, unable to believe how stupid he had been. What must she have felt when they took her? Where had they taken her? Right here in this very spot he was sitting at? Had she been about to leave? And why the hell had he kissed her? He frowned at the water.
Impulsively standing up, Trunks took off his new jacket in one flurried movement, before jumping in to the welcoming cold slap of the lake.
…
Goten sat on a table with Moori's hand on his shoulder. Smiling softly, Moori declared, "You're healed now, young man."
Goten remained seated, hands on the table beside him, looking like he was miles away. Elder Moori looked at Goku who stood a few feet behind his son. Goku gave him a grateful nod and quietly came around the table to stand where Elder Moori had stood and gently placed his own hand on his son's shoulder. "Goten?" He asked gently.
His son slowly raised his head and Goku could see the pooled tears there. "Oh Son…" He mumbled sympathetically, opening his arms as his son came into his embrace for a tight hug. "It's been a tough week, Goten, but it's over now." He assured softly, squeezing his youngest who cried. "You did a fantastic job, son," Goku reminded. "Nobody could have asked for any better…"
Goten took a few more moments before finally pulling back and taking a deep breath. "Thanks, Dad."
Goku merely smiled affectionately, rubbing his sons head. "Just glad you don't have a hole in your head anymore." Goten smiled at that' He'd taken a pretty nasty fall from Arapaima that had knocked him out of a few minutes during the fight.
"Dad, let's go." He requested. "Are the others ready?"
Goku nodded but looked at his son with concern. "Are you?" He challenged.
"Yeah," Goten waved off the concern. "I'm sure Eighteen and Uub want to get back to their families and... no matter how much time I wait, Valerie will still have to know. She should know." He repeated adamantly. "I'd want to if it were Trunks." Goku nodded.
…
Trunks appeared in the cave Arapaima had stopped him from entering before, warning him that he wouldn't like what he saw in there. Trunks picked himself out of the water, immediately aware that, for the first time, that disgusting creature was right. He remembered some of this place, when Goten and he had fused, he got very small flashes and he'd been thankful for the chance to fight the being, who was partly Cullo.
Looking at this place now though, he wished so desperately that he had a chance at Cullo alone. The image of the torn cage to his left, of the shackles on the ground, of the blood on the walls did not, and could not, add up to the same girl he'd been teasing on their ship twenty-four hours ago. Less than three days ago he'd been catering to her drug induced whims, had been trying to train her to punch without hurting her wrist, and had helped comfort her while her burn was cleaned; if she could barely tolerate that, how they hell had she been able to survive what the walls of this cave were screaming had happened here?
He walked directly to the torn cell and studied the hole that had been made with a blow-torch from the emergency capsule case. Unable to fit through the hole that Josie made for herself, he tore open the cage and climbed in, grateful not to find any blood in there. He could see vomit in a corner and swallowed down the lump in his throat, as he turned around and sat down against the cave wall, unknowingly wanting to experience what she did, maybe in hopes that it wasn't as bad as what his mind was able to conjure up? He didn't know, but this looked bad…
He turned his head lazily to the side when he felt the insistent drip of small water droplets on the back of his hand resting beside him. He raised his hand up and let the droplets fall onto his open palm.
What if he had gotten to her in time?
He would have gotten up to get a cup of water, only to realize Josie wasn't sleeping in the bed next to him, and he would have gone out to the ship to search. He would have seen the comm system was unplugged and immediately plugged it back in, turning it on and finding three relieved little faces.
"Trunks, we were just trying to re-establish connection with you guys! Josie just left the ship five minutes ago, please go after her!" Valerie would have cried out.
Trunks wouldn't have wasted another moment and gone out, flying overhead, instinct guiding him on the only familiar grounds the girl had walked to on her own while on the planet. He would have remembered how focused she'd been on the water when he'd come upon her swimming before, and something would have told him to dive right in, and he'd come upon the cave. He would have come upon Josie crouched, with her back to him, using bolt cutters on the chains to free Puchi. He would have unintentionally startled her as he came out of the water, and when her eyes recognized him, they would have grown wide and she would have thrown herself into his arms sagging with relief, for just a moment, before she remembered herself, and she would have scrambled back and dragged him towards the boy, insisting that he help.
He would have ripped the chains apart in a moment, and a grinning Josie would have picked up the boy half her size, and when Arapaima and Cullo entered the cave, Josie would have startled, but she wouldn't have been afraid, comforting only Puchi, as she trustingly took a half step behind Trunks, asking him what the plan was. The plan would have been simple too, nothing ego-centered. He wouldn't have wanted to risk her and the young boy with the unknown forces, he would have powered up, and used his speed to get Josie and Puchi back above ground, with enough power flares to have alerted all of his friends of the imminent danger. Goku would have been the closest, along with a few of the warrior clan Namek's, but that would have been all he needed. He would have flown Josie back onto the ship doors, where his mother would be in the cockpit talking to Bra and Valerie. They'd see Josie was back with a new little companion, both safe and sound, and they would have broken out into cheers of celebration. A sheepish Josie would have apologized for scaring them all and his mother would have immediately gone into mother-hen mode, upon seeing the soaked Josie and bruised and battered little Namek. Before Bulma could drag them to the med-bay, Josie would have resisted, turning back to Trunks who was already making his way back to the door and she would have grabbed his sleeve to stop him. He would have turned toward her, and she would have brought him into an embrace, tightly, murmuring a thank you and asking him to please be safe.
And even if they failed to drag their two opponents in for questioning, because Babidi would have interfered by removing them from the fight, it wouldn't have mattered, because Goku would have seen the symbols, and they would all gather on the ship, with Josie at their side, and come up with the plan for the downfall of Babidi for the final time.
But instead, she died.
They knew this trip would have its dangers, but he never for one moment thought that this would be something that could have happened. That her, the sixteen-year-old weak teenage girl, of all of the crew members on board, would be a target.
If only he'd known, he would have warned her away then…
*Flashback*
Trunks rubbed the back of his sore neck, yawning as he entered his room, late the night before they headed for Namek, when he heard a noise.
"Psst." He stopped at his door and turned around, confused, looking down both sides of the dark corridor and not seeing anyone or hearing anything anymore. He was about to turn back into his room when he heard the quiet but persistent noise again. "…Psssst." He finally saw Josie's door across the hall open a little wider, but it was too dark to see anything else. He shook his head, smiling, sure that it was Josie.
"Yes?—"
"—Shh!" He heard her voice scold, "…C'mere!" Grinning, he rolled his eyes and went to her room, finally able to make out her shape now. Josie straightened as she walked back into her room now, upright. Trunks immediately noticed her bed was still made and her large windows were completely open, letting in the moonlight and a light breeze. Josie climbed onto the pillow at the head of her bed and stared out her window, leaning her shoulder and her on her bed rail. Trunks watched, confused and two things struck him at once: her hair was down, which she rarely ever had it like that, and two, she was strangely quiet.
Josie glanced at him and smiled. "Sorry," She mumbled, turning back to the window. "I saw when you came out of training with your dad," She explained, pointing at the Gravity Room through the window. "I know its late and you're tired and we have a long day tomorrow, but I can't seem to sleep." His face softened at that and he nodded, grabbing her desk chair and flipping it around to straddle it, placing the chair as close to the bed as he could.
"Scared?" He asked gently, arms and chin resting on the back of his chair. She wrinkled her nose at the word and his lip raised on the right side in amusement. "Stubborn mule." He saw her eyes narrow and couldn't help but grin into his arm. She was so easy sometimes. He preferred her this way though, he thought with a soft smile; all full of fire and righteous indignation rather than looking worried or hurt. He took a deep breath and scooted closer, with a soft smile. "How can I help?"
*End Flashback*
How can I help, Trunks mocked disparagingly, as further memories haunted him.
("Did she say she was going there?" Trunks asked Valerie through the comm system.
"She said she wasn't... but she had this look, I know that look, Trunks." Trunks nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
"I'll find her." He promised simply, smiling reassuringly before running out)
Trunks shook his head in self-deprecation, because he had found her all right. He had found her briefly, unconscious, strung over the shoulder of some demented being, and he couldn't forget he'd found her later too, feverish, scuffed, blood stained, and harshly berating herself right before she left the room and...apparently died.
Trunks got up and left the cell, swallowing down the bile that danced its way up his esophagus, as he forced himself to step closer to the scene.
...
The sun barely starting to set on earth, Puchi was already tucked away for bed and the others all sat at the steps of the entrance, none pretending that they'd get even a minute of sleep that upcoming night, while their loved ones were off fighting Babidi and whatever new monsters he'd brought along.
After hours of endless waiting, just like that, in a flash Goku appeared ten few feet in front of them with Goten, Android Eighteen, and Uub alongside him. There was a flurry of noises as Krillin and the others immediately got up to greet them, overjoyed that they were back and safe from harm. Bra had chosen to remain by Valerie's side through the night and the two stood up as the others stepped forward. Bra's little face drew into a frown, as her eyes worked through the faces of those that suddenly appeared, not seeing her brother who promised to be back with any news.
Goten made a beeline around the happy reunion and headed straight for the two girls, eyes immediately landing on Valerie who stared back in surprise. He looked so unnaturally intense, and she couldn't help but feel an insistent sense of trepidation wash over her, as he finally stood before the two girls. He wrapped an arm around Bra who mumbled a distracted greeting, asking where Trunks was. "He's on Namek." He assured quietly. "Most stayed behind to help find the Dragon Balls." Valerie nodded slowly, eyes still on his, feeling like he still had a canyon to drop on their heads.
"So," She swallowed nervously, "Everything's okay..." She tested out carefully, seeing the flicker of shame in his eyes that immediately told her that things were definitely not okay. Her jaw instinctually hardened and her lips pursed in anger. "No," She rejected, angrily turning to go up the stairs, for once not caring that everyone was probably staring at her.
"Make fun all you want." Josie voice echoed in Valerie's mind, as she hurriedly walked away from the others. "But its Dragon Ball Z Val! When don't the good guys win?" The memory of Josie voice insisted. " We'll win anyway, and our lives will change here, Val—I feel it!" Josie's voice shouted happily.
"Val…" Goten attempted, reaching for her arm, feeling it quickly yanked away.
"NO!" She all but screamed at him, irritaetd that Bra was softly crying a few feet behind Goten; there was no need to cry, if nothing was wrong. "Trunks just came and told us she was alive, Goten! People don't just die like that—" She clamped her mouth shut, aware of how stupid the words she was saying sounded, but seeming unable to explain to him what she meant.
"We'll bring her back…" Goten couldn't help but promise, desperate to comfort her. "I'm sorry Val, we'll bring—"
She waved her arm. "Are you kidding me? What the hell happened!" She demanded, turning to look at him angrily, as her heart worked on beating its way right out of her chest, or possibly cracking into pieces before then.
"…" He looked at her helplessly for a moment, before becoming distracted by the softly crying young girl by his side. He huddled the youngest Briefs gently to his side, whispering comforting words to the little girl who was practically his baby sister, hating to see either of them hurt like this. He glanced up momentarily, but Valerie wasn't there anymore. He sighed, reaching for Bra's face and bringing it up for him to look at and he smiled gently down at her big, beautiful, blue tear-filled eyes. "Come-on, Kiddo." He said, "Let's get you inside, I'll take care of Val in a bit."
Bra shook her head. "No" She argued, sniffling. "Go take care of her now. I'll be okay." She said, looking up at him with the same determination he constantly saw in her mother, father and her brother. "Go." She insisted, jaw tight as she fought to stop herself from crying. "I'll go with Marron's mom."
He nodded, giving her a long kiss on the forehead. "I'm sorry…" He whispered there, heart breaking just a little more when her face crumpled, and she inhaled a sob.
She nodded quickly and quickly moved away before he reached for her again. "Go." She cried. He watched her go for a few seconds, torn about who he should follow. He finally went in the opposite direction of Bra, off down the side of the building and around back, where he found Valerie standing with her forehead planted against the wall of the building, hands fisted at her side and mumbling to herself quietly.
"Val?" He asked tentatively, hands immediately going into his pockets. She slowly turned her head to him, eyes shutting tightly and turning back to the wall as she continued to mumble. He got close enough to reach her but choose not to, instead he carefully leaned his shoulder on the wall beside her and listened. He felt his heart expand painfully as he heard her words, smiling down at her tenderly. "You're praying…"
"We should have never come." She muttered with her eyes still closed.
Goten's smile faded. "Please don't say that." He requested with a pained sigh.
"She should have never gone." She re-worded, turning towards him, eyes downcast.
"Probably." He agreed, his free hand instinctually raising to stroke her hair.
She looked up at him with a frustrated sigh, leaning her temple against the wall. "I encouraged her to go." She said weakly. "Enjoy the ride, is what I told her. What kind of f-friend am I?" She asked rhetorically, her voice breaking.
He shook his head softly. "You're an amazing friend." He said quietly.
She shook her head adamantly, choking out "But what kind of person—"
"An incredible one." He cut off, undeterred by her refusal to believe him, simply grateful that she had not shaken his hand away. Valerie took a deep breath, staring at the ground as tear drops fell onto the ground and her tightly closed fists shook at her side. "Val?" She looked up, realizing how closely huddled Goten was now, but not minding at the moment.
"I just don't know what to do now. What do I do, Goten?" She asked in a whisper, helplessly.
"You keep going." He murmured, continuing to stroke the back of her head. "And you spend time with me until we bring her back." He added, with an encouraging smile when her eyes came back to his. "Val," He swallowed. "I'm so sorry I couldn't ..." Goten frowned, trying to find the words. "Stop this from happening, but I'll do what I can to help you get through this, I promise."
She nodded, sniffling. "I know." She assured, wiping at her eyes.
"...And I know, this is not the right time..." He added, sighing as he let his hand drop from her hair to her arm and finally down to her finger tips, feeling so unbelievably thankful and encouraged when she automatically wrapped her fingers around his instead of pulling away. He swallowed anxiously, looking down at their hands. "I just can't help but think," He mumbled, eyes downcast. "About what I would have felt like if that had happened to you and..." He shook his head softly. "You're just such a special person Val and so sweet. I..." He grimaced, not liking how this was coming out at all. He took a deep breath and raised his eyes to find her curiously staring at him, clearly confused.
"I know Josie made you ask me out," He changed tactics, exhaling on a laugh when she cringed. "But I'm... really glad she did." He added, light color staining his cheeks. "I didn't want to say anything because all we really seem to talk about is when you're leaving." He smiled at her cringe. "So, I took a step back, but even if it's only another week...I'd really like to spend more time with you." Valerie's mouth nearly dropped open.
"W-" she coughed, "What?" She squeaked. "You-but, you never…"
Goten shrugged, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment, thankful that she hadn't let go of his hand yet. "You'd made it pretty clear before that you weren't interested in dating, and I thought I got lucky with getting that one date out of you. I didn't want to push it and I tried to be respectful and keep my distance, but I had a really good time with you that night, and I love being around you all the time, haven't you noticed?" She shook her head dumbly and his smile became even more tender. "Trunks is, and has always, been my best friend in the world, Val, but we honestly drifted apart as we got older. I think I've spent more time at his house in the last few months than I have in years."
Valerie nodded, "Yeah, your mom told me." He tilted his head, surprised his mother had said anything about the topic. Valerie shook her head. "Go on."
"I knew you were leaving, from the beginning. I've never been in a situation like this and I didn't want to make things weird or hard for either of us." He saw fresh misery return to her face and he shook his head quickly. "No, no. Please don't." He drew her just another inch closer with a small tug of his hand. "I don't want to make you feel bad, but I just need you to know this now, Val: I like you." He finally admitted with a tender smile. "I seem to like you more every day."
Valerie stared at him in utter wonderment, as Goten blew out another shaky exhale, looking more uncomfortable and embarrassed than she had ever seen him before. "...Val?" He questioned, nervously as she continued to stare in shock. "I'm so sorry about the timing - I'm sure this is the last thing you need to think about right now—" Valerie finally blinked and squeezed his hand tightly to silence him.
Goten swallowed anxiously as Valerie studied his t-shirt with a soft smile, wondering desperately what the heck she could possibly be thinking. "Your mom...told me you liked me, but—"
"My mom?" Goten asked, mortified, letting go of her hand immediately and turning away with a groan, startling Valerie into laughing. She watched him groan and complain aloud for a minute—covering his bright red face and shaking his head in mortification—with her own thankfully smile. Unintentionally, Goten had coaxed her through a moment she had been deathly afraid of, for over a week now, and though she had been sure she would not be able to handle it, somehow, here she was, in fact, handling this with his help. Logic told her that Josie was likely in 'other world' at this very moment, getting ready to receive her sentence of fluffy clouds and harps, and would soon be wished back with the Dragon Balls, just like Goten said.
Goten.
She was tempted to grumble at how disgusted she was at the idea that Josie may have been right about him and about them. She smiled at that, as she studied grumbling Goten, deciding that she wasn't disgusted at all; She was grateful, that the baka girl may have been right, after all. She shook her head to clear her mind from anything other than this moment, and that amazing guy a few feet away, who she decided, she absolutely needed to kiss. Taking the few necessary steps to get to him she grabbed him gently by his shirt sleeve to turn him towards her, and as soon as he did, she reached for the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.
All thoughts of the humiliation his mom had brought him by talking to Valerie about her little boy's "Crush" had flown at the window as she initiated their very first kiss. He couldn't help but smile widely, as they kissed, scooping her up happily into his arms.
…
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Josie drummed her finger tips on the thigh of her crossed leg, her other elbow on her knee with her chin resting on her closed fist, sulking. She stared out past her cell bars vacantly, a frown cemented on her face, as her fingers drummed harder on her thigh in annoyance. Distantly the noises of bubbling liquid could be heard from the blood-filled lake a hundred or so feet away, interrupted only be occasional squawk of a black bird flying across the red sky.
Casually, a white skulled creature walked by, wearing a white and black wife beater and shorts, slowing down to glance at her, immediately receiving an angry growl in response from the small girl in the confines of her outdoor cage.
"What are you looking at?!" She shouted, defensively, startling him for a moment, before he continued past her, leaving Josie to slowly settle back in her chair and resume the same position. She stared out out into the red world in displeasure, as her fingers began to drum on her thigh once more.
After a moment, she snarled with indignation, "This is such a crock of —
Thank you's:
Thomas Drovin: Now I know we've gotten farther this time than we did last time the story was posted because I don't recall you having known about Josie's death before. Wohoo, progress! slow but its progress! X) and to answer your question, you didn't have to wait too much longer for Val and Goten, thankfully! ;)
GVLuver: I really hope you liked this chapter! hopefully i'll keep throwing surprises left and right ;)
ImmatureChild: Haha, yeah, I considered changing that but there are soooo many more venues to explore with death. I hope the end of this chapter indicated that somethings definitely going on with Josie in otherworld ;)
Buzzk97: Aaah! thank you so much, I was so nervous about it that chapter! I love Gotenks too! so that will definitely not be the last time he shows up :D
GirXzimXfanatic: Between you and me? nah, I don't think Vegeta hates her ;) but you know how he is, he's so stubborn! shh, I didn't admit that though X) I'm so so glad I could still throw surprises at you guys 30 chapters later though and that you enjoyed it :D
Evalyd Yamazaki: I love you, thank you for squealing with me lol I'm sooo stoked that the chapter had you all over the place emotionally, I really hope you enjoyed this one too!
Saiyan God.101: YES! I'm so glad you mentioned that, I think she'll receive help in coping with the aftermath but she's still definitely going to suffer an after affect, as will Josie from all of this.
Explorer girl in training: I'm so, so very glad to hear you say that. You're my most recent review so I hope I still hear from you soon, you made my butt get into gear with editing, so I really appreciate it!
Notes: As always, reviews have that wonderful effect of making me feel horribly guilty (Which trust me, is a good thing lol) and make me want to come back to finish editing so please feel free to drop me a line telling me what you think, what you thought, your favorite moment :) they make my day so bright!
