Disclaimer: I own no gavel's or convertibles or dragon ball/z/gt characters. Only my silly, silly girls!
DWMW
Revised
Chapter 34: Respect the Gavel
*Flashback*
Josie slowed to a stop down at the wide doors of the Check-In Station with wide eyes, gulping at how enormous it was. "...Don't know why I bother to be surprised at how big everything constantly is." She mumbled on a nervous laugh. "Hey Baba?" Josie got ready to ask, glancing behind her shoulder at the floating witch, who only raised an eyebrow in response. Josie grinned, having spent the long journey here with the grumpy and inquisitive woman. "How come I'm not a fluff?" She asked, pointing a thumb at the line behind her filled with adorable bantering body-less spirits.
Baba eyed them before turning to her. "It's a good question." The old woman's cracking voice admitted, as they entered the check in station.
"And this is the perfect place to answer a question like that." King Yemma's voice boomed in a friendly manner, from behind his large mahogany desk.
Josie's instinct was just like everyone else's when they first come across the incredible size of King Yemma. She craned her neck to fully look up at him, her mouth opening in shock. "Oh, you're friggin huge…"
King Yemma chuckled at the common sentiment expressed by the small unassuming girl. The sight of the Fortune teller Baba beside the still bodied girl, however, immediately alerted him to the fact that this could not be just any girl. "What have you brought me this time, Baba?" He asked, his curiosity aroused, unbothered by Josie continuing to openly gawk at him.
Baba shifted in her seat atop her crystal ball, uncomfortably. "She uh...well," She cleared her throat. "She comes directly from the battle on Namek, King Yemma."
King Yemma turned his full attention to Josie, staring at her with surprise. "Really?" He asked, somewhat doubtfully. "You appear to be human, and I am familiar with all the Human fighters from planet earth."
Josie blinked and closed her mouth, as she tried to focus on what his moving mouth had said. "Oh!" She exclaimed, realizing his question. "I'm not a fighter." Josie explained, scratching the side of her head uncomfortably, wondering how much he knew about their situation.
"If you're not a fighter what—" King Yemma became quiet very suddenly, his countenance darkening. "You" He said simply.
"...Is there a...problem?" Josie asked with some trepidation, eyes wide as she observed King Yemma's expression change drastically and so quickly.
"Baba, you would dare bring her here?" Baba looked embarrassed.
"When I realized she would be here soon I made sure to bring her directly to you." King Yemma tense form studied Josie's confused face.
"I assume you know who I am." He stated angrily. Josie head tilted just a little bit to the right, hesitating. "WELL?" He asked, his voice louder now.
Her eyes slowly narrowed, as her own anger spiked at how rude this leader of other world was being. "WELL WHAT, you big jerk?" She asked angrily. "YES, I know who you are, how do YOU know me?" She asked, hands fisting on her hips. King Yemma muttered angrily to himself, opening his thick book before him, and flipping through it with increasing agitation. Josie's face slowly began to clear with understanding, "...Oooh, I see." Josie drawled out grinning. She bit the inside of her check in an attempt to stop herself from laughing at the sight of sweat appeared on King Yemma's face, as he continued to furiously turn pages. "I'm not in there, am I?" She asked, sounding a little cheeky.
"OF COURSE YOU ARE!" His voice reverberated throughout the room. "Everyone is." He said more calmly, as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead and cleared his throat, looking right at Josie through narrowed eyes. "I can see here that you've done nothing worthy of keeping your physical body." He partially lied, smiling at her in satisfaction when she finally began to look nervous. Josie took a step back, tensing. "We will rectify that immediately." He assured, feeling more confident as he picked up his gavel.
"No, wait!" She quickly interrupted, stepping forward. "I can't be one of those things, come-on, be reasonable!"
He only grinned and slammed his gavel twice. "I sentence you to eternity as a spirit!" He slammed the gavel one final time making her cringe.
Josie instinctively dropped into a crouch near the ground, protectively covering her head in hopes of keeping the transformation at bay. Several seconds later, through panting breaths, Josie began to open her fingers apart to peak an eye through, realizing that she still felt the same. She slowly began to pull her arms away, looking herself up and down as best she could to make sure everything was still there. After as good as an inspection as she could make without a mirror, she mischievously looked up at him with a triumphant grin.
"Whatsa matter, Yams? Your tiny thing run out of juice?"
*End Flashback*
Josie sighed now as she swatted at a fly miserably, from the same spot she'd been sitting in for hours now. King Yemma had flipped a lid after that last comment, nearly making her go flying out of the room with how loudly he yelled at her. If it hadn't been for Baba — who held onto her hat with one hand and her hand with the other — Josie was sure she would have flown right out of the room, like the unlucky and innumerable amount of spirits who flew straight off the path. He had sentenced her right then and there to HFIL — in a cage, no less — the kind of which they put the most powerful of opponents in to prevent escape. He had ordered her to be thrown into one of those, along with assigning her own personal body guard.
"Such friggin over kill." She muttered, crossing her eyes with boredom as she groaned, letting her head thump back onto the cell bars.
…
"She asleep?" Goten asked, eyes focused on Valerie's hands, as they sat on a couch facing one another with legs crossed under them with their fingers entwined. Valerie glanced to the left, nodding as she brought her focus back to their entwined fingers as they playfully attempted to cover each other's thumbs with their own. Bra had been as brave as she could but had been deeply wounded by the loss, not having even entertained the possibility that their plan to bring Josie back may not work. Goten and Valerie had stayed with her on the couch, promising not to leave until she'd fallen asleep. "I know this is a dumb thing to bring up, especially when we JUST started talking about the possibility of being together." Goten quietly said, watching her furrowed brow. "But... how soon after we bring Josie back do you think you'll go, you know..." Valerie stopped her hands then, looking at him apologetically.
"Back home? We're over the halfway mark so its maybe two months" She admitted.
He exhaled heavily with a sad smile, nodding. "I shouldn't have waited - I just." He pulled up his shoulders a fraction and shook his head. "I was stumped on this one, you know? I knew It'd be asking for trouble because you were leaving but now... I'd really like the chance to…"
"Date?" Valerie asked, Goten eyes connected with her, nodding. Valerie began to move her hands to resume the battle again, smiling lightly. "It would have been nice," She agreed quietly. "I liked our first date."
"That was our second date," He corrected with a smile. "Our first was the art gallery."
Valerie looked at him with surprise. "I told you that wasn't a date though!"
Goten shrugged with a grin. "I took a beautiful girl out, we talked, laughed, learned, ate, learned and laughed some more…to me, it was perfect date. Don't get me wrong the second was fantastic too."
"So, we had one date where one of the parties involved wasn't aware that they were on a date, and the second was completely set up by our friends…" She summarized with some amusement in her voice. Valerie tried to look as casual as she could, unable to hold back a smile as she asked this next question. "What would we have done if we had another?"
He grinned, pretending to think hard about it. "A date? Oh gee... I don't know." Valerie smacked his arm lightly. "Hm... maybe we would have done normal teen things, instead of the over the top stuff" Valerie grinned over at the bed where the sleeping Saiyan princess slept.
"She and Josie only tried to make it special." She defended good-naturedly.
"Oh, it was special, alright." He laughed lightly, shutting his mouth when she brought her index finger up to her mouth, pointing at the young girl. He stood up, coaxing her off the couch with their still joined hands. "Come-on, let's let her sleep."
"Where we going?" She whispered even more quietly as they went out into the hall.
"Well, we apparently don't have the years I wanted for us 'hang out' and I don't want to waste this time by sleeping, so let's go on a date." He said, easily able to gently pull her out the front door with that declaration. "And get started on that getting to know each other part of dating." Before she could agree or argue, Goten scooped her up and quickly flew out and off the lookout sending them hurtling towards earth.
Valerie closed her eyes tightly and held onto him with every ounce of her strength, though Goten kept his hold relaxed, used to this. When they finally got to cruising altitude, Valerie opened one weary eye and blushed when she noticed him staring, a smile immediately coming on her face, feeling giddy and unable to believe that this was happening. "What are we going to do?" She shouted over the sound of wind rushing by and flapping their clothes against their bodies.
"Eat, of course! How else do people get to know each other?" Goten asked rhetorically, making her groan as he arched in the air with a grin and flew towards the mountains.
...
Josie miserably pressed her hands against her cheeks, making her lips and upper cheeks puff up, moving one hand full of cheek slightly up, then the other, just for the sake of having something to do. She stopped abruptly when she noticed a human man a few feet past her cage, arching a brow at her with a bit of distaste. He looked quite a bit like Vegeta did every time she was around him with that expression and self-consciously, she immediately pulled her hands away, going back to resting her chin on her closed fists, embarrassed.
Suddenly though, Josie coughed abruptly, eyes wide when she saw the man walking away. "—Saiyan!" She blurted out, shocked. Sure enough, the man immediately turned, looking a lot more guarded now than he was curious. Instinctually she knew she was right, even just that gesture and look was just like Vegeta and Josie quickly scrambled towards the bars, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You're a saiyan." She repeated with awe.
Her guard, glanced at the man, smirking. "She's found someone else to aggravate, fantastic." Josie shot him a glare.
"I have been in this hell hole for five hours trying to get you to say a single word to me and you haven't said a peep this whole time—I thought you were mute, jerk." She reprimanded.
"I'm not." He snapped back. "But now I wish I were deaf!" Josie silently gasped, outraged. "Cerean," The ogre called the man who was watching this interaction with crossed arms. "Yemma called you to guard some little dweeb a few miles north, do me a solid and switch me." Her guard pleaded. "I promise you this creature is much more of a challenge that the runt you're being sent too." The man's eyes came back to the Josie, as she stared back with a raised brow; if nothing else, Cerean did look at least a bit intrigued by this challenge.
Cerean's hair was black with black eyes and slightly heavy brow and a straight nose. He had a strong chin and was wearing a long sleeve black spandex top, and armored white shorts with a gold lining and white boots to match. If the tail hadn't given him away, surely the direction of his hair and the size of his muscles should have been an indicator; he was roughly a little taller than Goku's height but with wider shoulders and naturally more muscular build.
After giving Josie the longest most awkward silent prying look, Cerean snorted lightly. "Not interested." He assured the other guard, raising a gloved hand in goodbye to him, as he started to walk towards the stairs that led to King Yemma's office nearby. He veered off the path slightly and slowed down, when another cage was carried out by two more guards getting ready to place the scratchiest voice'd prisoner Cerean had ever heard.
"YOU FOOLS! Do you not know who I am?!" Babidi' screeched angrily, shaking the bars furiously. "YOU'LL ALL PAY—"
"...Babidi?" Cerean raised a brow at that, curious about how this girl seemed to know every creature down here. He quickly put together that seeing this small little wrinkled creature had not been expected — nor a joyous occasion — because as soon as she said his name aloud, the color drained from her face and she began to tremble furiously.
Babidi turned and looked at her, mouth turning down in a sneer. "You" In a moment, the seemingly rational, albeit snarky girl, lost her cool instantaneously. She screamed obscenities and threw herself against the cage, trying to attack Babidi, who only smiled at her in amusement. "Even in death you entertain me." He cooed at the half-mad girl, laughing. "Yes, my pet, that's right, act like the animal that you are." Cerean eyes narrowed in mild annoyance. The puny old creature's voice was graining his nerves much more than the screaming girl.
"I AM NOT" Josie shouted furiously as Babidi laughed. "ANYTHING OF YOURS, you piece of—" Seeing enough, Cerean quickly stepped back into the fray standing between the two cages and signaled Babidi's cage be taken away.
"Go." He commanded loudly to the two men who'd stood frozen until then. They immediately did as commanded, while Cerean turned his attention back to the still flailing girl.
"—Pathetic reject!" Josie screamed after him. "I'm glad they killed you! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
"Cerean…" The guard begged, rubbing his ears in obvious pain. "Can you at least cover me, or get somebody to cover me for a break?" Cerean exhaled in annoyance, and after a moment he finally nodded his head to signal him away. He walked over and took the proper post at the corner of the cage, keeping an eye on the nearly hyperventilating girl who still tightly held on to the cage bars, hands and body quaking. After a few minutes of Josie trying to regain her breath and pacing wildly from side to side in her cage, Cerean's voice finally eliminated the tense silence.
"Your strength will be insufficient against these bars." He explained dispassionately. "They're meant to hold a being of any possible power level within it."
Josie looked at him, surprised. Did he actually believe that she was powerful? That her inability to break the cage and reach Babidi had anything at all to do with resistant bars? She could almost laugh...if she wasn't so ready to cry. She sat heavily on the chair, feeling miserable as she thought of her friends on Namek. What were they doing? Were they okay? Did they all make it out alive? She felt like she had been slapped with the memories of the last two weeks, having forgotten — or possibly suppressed — the last few days here. Had it been days? A day? Longer? She looked up at the sky for the millionth time, but the sky didn't change at all, which only made it harder; time truly had no meaning in HFIL.
Josie took another deep shaky breath, attempting to slow her racing heart-beat."...Your name is Cerean?" She asked distractedly, staring at the ground. He studied her, curious as to her drastic mood change from the fiery girl she had been only a few minutes ago, to this despondent creature. She looked up when she heard no verbal response and immediately her brows drew down when she noticed him staring right at her. "Uh..." She mumbled, trying to think of something to ask him to divert his attention away; Did Saiyans have no manners? Did he not realize that was impolite? "Are there a lot of your kind in hell?" She asked, hoping to distract him momentarily.
He arched a brow at the odd question. "My entire race." He answered, seeing no harm in admitting that.
Josie choked on a laugh. "—Sorry!" She quickly covered her mouth, "I didn't mean to laugh, I wasn't laughing at your planet's destruction, I promise, I just—again, I'm sorry—I was just laughing at the stupidity of my question." She said, shaking her head. "I know that—I knew that, I don't know why I even asked." She explained as she looked up and kept eye contact this time, giving him a genuine smile. "My name is Josie." She offered, standing up and putting her hand through the bars.
He looked down at her hand, keeping his own tucked tightly in the crook of each elbow. "Cerean" He said simply, receiving a small chuckle, as she walked back to her chair, not offended at all.
"Don't worry Cerean." Josie did her best to assure. "If I intended to hurt you, I would have made a move for your tail a few times by now with your back constantly turned to me." Immediately he whirled in her direction, eyes a bit wide at that statement. Josie sat again, trying to set him at ease with her hands up, and another kilowatt smile. "I wouldn't, and your far enough away I probably couldn't reach you if I tried." She attempted to reassure, realizing she'd failed miserably the first time, as per her usual. Her smile immediately faded as she looked past Cerean's shoulder, making him glance back, realizing her guard was back. Her original guard quietly took back his post, talking under his breath for a minute with Cerean before the Saiyan began to leave. "Thank you, Cerean." Josie said quickly, hands wrapping around her cage to get closer, wanting to make sure he heard her.
He glanced back at her with a raised brow, perplexed. "...You're the only person in this entire universe who has not dismissed me as weak." She explained, smiling. "I appreciate it." Unsure of how to respond to that, he nodded, and moved to go again.
"You sure you don't want to switch?" The guard asked, jumping on the opportunity. "Obviously, you've managed to tame her." Josie settled herself in a ball in her chair yawning, flipping her guard off without missing a beat when he made the comment, unwittingly amusing the Saiyan.
He seemed to consider the offer for a minute, before finally responding.
"No." Cerean declined.
Josie lifted her head when he spoke, a little disappointed by his response, watching him walk away. "See that," Her guard said in annoyance, knocking on her cage, making her jump back. "Our own Guard Keeper couldn't tolerate you." Ignoring her skittish nerves, Josie stared off at where the Saiyan had left, wondering more about who he was.
…
"Yeah, s-sorry, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Valerie shouted into the cell phone as they called a nearby restaurant Goten had recommended that was open twenty-four hours a day. "YES, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT—SORRY, I'M IN A CONVERTIBLE," She continued to shout, elbowing Goten lightly to slow down. She was trying as hard as she could to cup her hands around the phone to block out the sound of the wind blowing past them, with no luck. Goten only grinned down at her and continued flying. "IT'LL TAKE TWO HOURS?" She questioned, startled. "BUT—YES, I DO REALIZE IT'S A HUGE ORDER—FINE, TWO HOURS, THANKS." She hung up the phone, glaring at Goten who only laughed as they began descending by a mountain side. They finally landed in a clearing of grass where he set her down gently, smiling as he noticed how absorbed she was in taking in the surroundings. "What is this place?" She asked, impressed as she wandered towards nearby trees. "I can hear water."
"It's one of the places I liked to run off too when I was a kid." He said sheepishly. "Home is not very far from here, but far enough to keep Gohan and mom from coming too often when me and Trunks wanted to run and play superheroes." Valerie laughed at that, shaking her head as she explored closer towards the water with Goten following her calmly with a smile.
"Why would you guys ever play superheroes when you both already are?"
Goten shrugged. "We liked to pretend we were the strongest fighters in the universe, like our dads —Trunks usually won."
Valerie grinned. "I know that feeling. I haven't known Josie my whole life, but I can imagine if we'd been kids in a play pen together, she'd have been the same, finding any way she could to cheat."
He nodded, smiling, hands in his pockets. "I can see that." He replied with a grin. "If you promise not to go wandering too far, I'm going to go collect some wood for a fire."
"I promise." She assured him, coming closer to the running river she'd heard as soon as they'd landed. "There you are." She mumbled happily to the water, going to sit by the river, watching the moon light illuminated river that rushed wildly past her. Valerie looked over her shoulder at where Goten had stood before he left and she smiled softly, comforted by the knowledge that the constricting in her chest loosened with every moment she spent with the endearing hybrid nearby.
Twenty minutes later Goten came back, dusting his white t-shirt off, clapping the residue on his hands as he went to the area he'd left Valerie at. "Hey Val, I think I'm just about ready for that fire, I'm sure you're probably freezing by now—Val?" He slowed when he noticed her form by the river, peacefully sleeping. He chuckled to himself and walked over to her, picking her up gently and carrying her over to the clearing where he had a huge stack of firewood ready. He placed his previously discarded jacket over her sleeping form, lighting up the fire to keep her warm and carefully sitting down to watch over her from a few short feet away.
…
Josie mindlessly tossed a small ball someone had taken pity on her and had thrown in her cage; Granted, they hadn't mercifully left her have the ball, so much as thrown it right at her head, but still, she considered that a merciful pity at this point. She bounced it a few times on her hand, the purpose of the game becoming to not let the ball hit the ground. She'd been at it for over two hours now, having nothing else to do since her guard refused to talk to her, which, at this point, was fine with her because he was a dunderhead, as far as she was concerned. She returned to her seat, tossing and catching the ball, her eyes on the back of her guard, irritation making her contemplate all the ways she could annoy him until she got out here.
She smiled at the mischievous thoughts, distraction momentarily causing her to fail to catch the ball she tossed up, which bounced on her knee and flew right out of her cage, leaving her shocked and blinking at it from her spot on the chair for just a moment, before she jumped off the chair, across the cage, with one hand reaching out for the ball. "Wilson!" She called miserably. Seeing that she was getting nowhere, she groaned and let herself slide flat on the ground. She turned back around, she heavily draped her arm over her eyes, letting the depression at the edges of her conscious take hold of her.
"And you're not getting it back either, girl." The guard said firmly making her groan louder.
"I never thought I'd be able to say I know what you felt like, Tom Hanks..." She was feeling legitimately sorrowful, knowing fully well that days had to have passed at this point. "...All I did was call Yemma's stupid gavel small..."
She heard a laugh covered by a cough and turned her head to the side, glanced to the side seeing Cerean near her cage, who was trying not to look amused at her dismay. "What are you doing here?" She asked with some annoyance, still a little irrationally offended that he had dismissed her so easily a while back, when the offer to watch her cage was given to him. They seemed to have gotten along... as well as any full blooded Saiyan seemed capable of getting along with her, and certainly more than the ugly brute currently watching over her for sure. She went back to covering her eyes with a sigh, choosing to simply ignore him when he hadn't answered her question. He passed by every single day and never said a word to her, and she didn't figure today would be any different. He did always come by though, and she found herself wondering if it was because he was intrigued or because he had too; bozo the clown over there had, after all, called him a guard keeper.
Regardless of the reason, she decided stubbornly, If he was actually curious about her, he would HAVE to at least grunt at her in acknowledge or something, instead of his usual rude staring. After a few minutes of silence passed, her curiosity got the best of her and she lifted her hand enough away for her to look at the spot where he had been and didn't find him there anymore. "Fannnntastic." She muttered, dropping her head back down to stare at the ceiling of her cage.
…
Earth:
"Val?" Hearing the gentle concern in the voice calling her out of her sleep, Valerie opened her eyes and turned her head toward it, eyes squinted with fatigue. Upon seeing Goten's smiling face, Valerie forced her eyes open, sitting up and looking around with confusion. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you, but you were mumbling in your sleep." She tried to remember how it was that they'd gotten outside and why she was here instead of—frowning, she looked at the ground, recalling quickly the events of the last few hours. "You ok, Val?" Goten asked softly, not having to be a mind reader to imagine what she was thinking about, or had likely been dreaming about for that matter, based on what she'd mumbled.
"What was I saying?" She asked quietly, looking up at him.
He shook his head. "Nothing important" He covered for her, busying his hands so she wouldn't catch the lie.
"That's good…How long was I out for?" She asked, stretching her arms over her head with a sigh.
"Almost three hours," He said, some of the pain showing through his voice.
She glanced at him, confused before her eyes widened in total recollection: They were on a date and she hadfallen ASLEEP."Damn it, the food! I am so sorry, Goten!" Valerie groaned in horror. "Let's go get it—" He shook his head, smiling sheepishly, pointing past her, near the fire was a dozen large bags of food tightly closed.
"Sorry," He laughed quietly, as he got up and made his way to the food, Valerie following him with her eyes. "I would have set it up to look nice when you got up, but I wasn't sure when you last slept, or how long you'd be out for, so I figured it stood a better chance at staying warm if I kept it all bundled."
Valerie's mouth dropped open. "...You didn't already eat?" As if on cue, his stomach produced the loudest growling noise she had ever heard it make, making her burst out into laughter, causing Goten rub the back of his head with embarrassment. She wasn't surprised — she thought with a grin — that Goten would have a talent to simultaneously make a gesture so hilariously cute and unbelievably sweet, waiting for her to wake up so that they could eat together. Still grinning, she quickly opened the bags and started to unload the containers, serving him an extra-large portion to thank him for his consideration.
Taking the massive plates, one after another, gratefully, the drooling Goten turned his attention to Valerie. "Tell me more about yourself, Val." He encouraged as he began to dig in to his many plates. Valerie suddenly got this 'Deer in the headlights' look when he asked her that question, making him laugh around a mouthful of food. She was so curious! One minute she'd taken the reigns and pulled HIM down for a kiss, and the next minute she was as shy as a wall flower, blushing and unwilling to talk about herself at all. "Would it make it easier if I started?" He offered after gulping down a mouthful, grinning at her simple but enthusiastic nod. "Okay," He agreed as he sat back, gratefully taking the drink she gave him. "Well, I'm not sure what you don't know about me, considering the situation..." He laughed a bit awkwardly.
"I didn't watch GT—which is what they call the time-frame when you were a teenager." She assured, smiling as she sat back. "Your life's not as exposed as you think it is, or at least not to me."
He nodded slowly, a lot more relieved to hear that than he realized he would be. "Well," He started. "I'm not much into fighting anymore." He admitted with a light shrug, observing her demeanor. "Does that disappoint you?" He asked, curiously.
She blinked, surprised. "Why would you ask that?" She asked, confused.
Goten shrugged, kind of embarrassed. "I've picked up on the fact that you've kind of got a thing for my dad…" Goten couldn't help but burst out into laughter at how bright red Valerie's face became.
"I don't!" She defended ardently.
He nodded through his laughter at how indignant she looked, holding onto his sides as he attempted to get a hold of himself. "I know," He assured, wiping at his eyes. "I didn't mean like THAT, I just meant, you're as into my dad as Josie is into Vegeta, is all." He said, still grinning. "...Or should I be warning my mom about you?" Valerie huffed in outrage, throwing biscuit after biscuit at Goten's head making him cry out in shock and horror at the waste.
…
Namek:
Bulma sat in her work office, staring distractedly at the wall, hands propped up on her desk with tools in hand hovering over the dragon ball radar, which she'd had to check for defects multiple times throughout this trip, thanks to Babidi's tricks. The truth of the matter was that there had never been anything wrong with any of her scouters, and she was tinkering with the big one in her hands for the sake of something to do, because she couldn't stomach the idea of working on any of the projects she'd started for Josie anymore. She'd panicked when she'd gone to give her son the scouter radar and hadn't found him on the ship, but Vegeta had kept her calm throughout that fiasco, placing the scouter on her own face and finding their sons stable power level for her, to show and soothe her.
"He's fine." He'd assured, from over her shoulder. She nodded, relaxing back into his grip for a moment to absorb some of that unshakable strength. "He'll be fine." He added calmly, not wrapping his arms around her, but not pushing her off either. When she straightened once more, he started to leave but she reached for his arm instinctually and he remained patient. "We just need to get these stupid wishes out of the way." He reminded her, his voice rough but not cruel. "You ready to head to earth?" She squeezed his arm in affirmative, unable to speak aloud for the moment, still constantly feeling like there was a knot in her throat. "Good, then there's plenty for you to do to prepare for our departure, isn't there? Get to it then, woman."
"…Vegeta," Bulma thick voice requested his attention one more time; Vegeta looked at her. "Bring him home, and…do so however you need to. I know that he probably wants to start looking for the dragon balls, but he hasn't had more than thirty minutes rest in over thirty-six hours. Make him sleep." Vegeta nodded in agreement and left.
Vegeta had immediately known where he was when he saw the scouter's numbers and quickly left the ship and flew directly to the location. He dove into the water and resurfacing within the cave without a moment's hesitation, and found his son at the far end of the cave, sitting against the cave's bloodied walls with a knee up, and an arm on it. He didn't acknowledge him and he would have believed that he hadn't even noticed he was there, until his son's eyes suddenly shifted his way, moving his fingers over his knee and audibly pressing a button on a black devise resting there.
"…Hello?" Josie's voice suddenly sounded in the echoing cave, her voice quiet and nervous.
"Bulma?…C-can anyone hear me?" There was a tiny thunk and then silence so heavy, that both of the men could feel this was when hope started to fade away for the girl. They heard sniffling. "Anyone at all? Please? I…" Her drawn out supplication ended for a moment, and it sounded like the radio had fallen, before the sound of muffled weeping filled the space between them. Vegeta kept his eyes on his son who he'd never seen look so defeated.
"I've never heard her cry before," Trunks quietly told his father, the silent continuation of that sentence stating quite clearly that he had never wanted to hear it at all, especially not like this.
It was a couple minutes of it before a growling Josie —who was clearly struggling for composure— seemed to pick up the radio.
"Okay, well… at least this is recording, I g-guess. I don't know what I'm supposed to say in this kind of situation…" She said with some resignation. "All that keeps going through my head is that I think I'm going to die, pointlessly too." There was a sniffle and some movement, before her thick voice asked. "…How can anyone ever…" Her breath hitched on a sob and she cursed, followed by the sound of something wet and heavy hitting the ground. "Blood friggin everywhere," Josie's voice muttered, her voice quiet and clearly not intending for that to be recorded by the radio, but it was loud enough for both of them to pick it up. There were more sounds for a few more moments, before the radio seemed to be brought closer to her face after an exhale. "I want you to know that I'll try to live, but I don't see how I can here—wherever here is. I have to try to go before I lose my nerve to try, and if I die, I'm sorry…I w-wish I could tell you I was brave, but…" More choked sobs riddled with not just fear, but shame. "But I wasn't brave at all, and I-I'm not now, I'm scared—" Her cries grew as the radio was clearly discarded entirely, but not shut off while she groaned with despair, in clear mourning.
Trunks stopped the recording, having already heard this recording a solid dozen times since he found it when he started looking through her capsule case. He quietly placed the recorded where it belonged and put it back in the capsule case. "How long do you think she was in here for?" Trunks asked his father, somewhat rhetorically, receiving no answer from. "It couldn't have been that long, right?" He added after with a dark and hollow chuckle. "I mean, I'd only seen her in bed thirty minutes before Valerie's voice woke me... it couldn't have been much more than that…" He mumbled thoughtfully, frowning.
He lifted his eyes to his father's whose arms were crossed, standing inside the cave, water dripping off of him and looking completely unaffected by the scene. "That's right," Trunks said, louder. "You've been here before, haven't you?" He asked rhetorically. "Did this bother you, even remotely, father?" He asked, not surprised when his father remained silent. "No, probably not huh?" He chuckled once more, the sound bitter, as he turned his heavy head to the right, moving his hand over the weapons he'd found down here. "Suppose it doesn't matter really…" He murmured more to himself than to his father.
His hand trailed the weapons on the ground:
A shattered taser gun
A knife covered in dried human AND Namekian blood
And an axe drenched in dried Namekian blood
He picked up the axe and tested its weight absently in his hand. "She fought, hard, by the looks of it..." He murmured. "She put this into his side." He explained, turning the weapon towards his stoic father for him to see. "I think I narrowed down where she did it too." Nodding towards the spot where pieces of chains still lay torn and abandoned. " You probably didn't think she had that in her, did you?"
Still nothing.
"...I didn't." Trunks mumbled, eyeing the blade at his side with her blood from tip of the blade to handle, trying to imagine what those minutes must have been like for her…how terrified she must have been…how much pain she must have experienced.
Trunks brow twitched, and his jaw clenched and grip on the handle of the axe tightening viciously…but honestly what good was all that fury on her behalf now? He shook his head with self-disgust and threw the axe to the side, and it lodged itself into the cave walls, letting his head fall back onto the cave contours, feeling like he was going crazy.
A few moments of silence passed before Trunks felt a small plop on his lap, and he looked down to find the scouter his father had been wearing a few minutes ago.
"We can start the search right now, you and I," Vegeta said strongly, staring directly at his son. "Kakarrot and the others can catch up later." Trunks stared at his father, eyes wide in surprise that his father would offer to get a jump start on this, when he hated Josie as much as he did, and when everyone was so exhausted. "Well?" His father asked impatiently, wanting to get his son out of this cave now.
Studying him for deception, Trunks finally nodded and got up, tentatively smiling. "Thank you." Trunks said sincerely. He turned on the scouter and blinked in surprise when the scouter showed that all seven of the balls were in completely different parts of the planet. "How did they get so far apart again?" Trunks asked, confused.
"I'll explain later, let's go." Not wishing to waste any more time inside this cave, Vegeta took his son out of the dark and dank cave, both of them powering up to dry off, before Vegeta knocked his son on the back of his neck, catching him when he passed out. Wordlessly he took him to the ship and deposited him in his bed, Bulma unsurprisingly having been waiting. He helped Bulma take off his sweater and she took off his shoes, allowing him to stand back while she continued to fuss with his pillow and blankets.
"Thank you," Bulma said tightly, having a hard time keeping a tight lid on her emotions from her spot beside him on the bed. Vegeta looked at her and she looked at her sleeping son, so Vegeta wouldn't see her chin quiver. "I feel like I'm condemning her with this choice, but he's my baby boy," Her voice trembled as she explained, stroking her son's hair. "And we're all so exhausted—but I can't help but think that she must be so scared wherever she is…" She brought the back of that hand to her mouth to quell her cries from waking Trunks, as she stood up and left the room.
Vegeta looked at his son for a moment before he left the room and glanced in the open door to his room where Bulma now cried on her bed, before he went to the cockpit and down the entranceway outside, wordlessly pulling out the scouter and placing it on his head. He pressed a few buttons and flew off.
…
While Goten and Valerie laughed, Goku materialized before them, smiling. "Sorry to interrupt guys," He started. "But I just wanted to let you guys know that Puchi's pretty eager to head back to his family, so we'll be going to Namek soon."
"Tonight?" Valerie asked, somewhat panicked, receiving a nod.
Goten stood up, turning towards his father with a smile. "I think I'll sit this one out dad, I'm going to help out here."
Goku's smile grew. "It's your decision, son." He reassured kindly. "Just take care of your mom for me and tell her I'll be back real soon." He said with a small wave for both of them.
Without missing a beat, Goku put two fingers to his forehead just as Valerie shouted, "WAIT" Both men turned to look at her, a little surprised. Valerie turned to Goten, hesitating. "I... I think you should go with him." Goten looked like he would not have been more surprised if she told him to light his hair on fire and moonwalk upside down while in the air. "I know, kind of strange." She laughed, embarrassed. "But...how is Trunks?" She asked, wishing she would have asked earlier, especially after the shadow that came across Goten's face at the question; she nodded. "Yeah, go back to Namek." She insisted, more sure of her decision now. "You can help them find the Dragon Balls faster." She stepped closer to him, lowering her voice. "I need Josie to come back home with me, and there's no one I trust more with that than you two. Please help him bring her home."
Goten seemed to be struggling with the decision. "But you…"
"I will be fine, thanks to you." She assured him. "Do I feel good? No, not really" She admitted. "Since you told me I've kind of felt like breaking down and throwing up—in no particular order—but I'll be okay." She assured with a small smile. "But I'll be better the sooner you bring her home." She added. "Please?"
Goten shook his head. "You're such a great friend." He mumbled to himself, noting the disbelief in her eyes, but before he argued her expression or felt the need to add to his statement, Valerie stepped up to Goku smiling.
"Let's go back to the look out." She asked, noting Goku looked to Goten for permission.
"Back to Namek it is then." Goku said with a smile.
Goten agreed, moving to them and grabbing onto his father's shoulder. The three quickly arrived at the look out where only Dende, Puchi and Mr. Popo were waiting outside. "Everyone is asleep, and we didn't think it wise to wake them, after everything they've all gone through." Dende explained to the three. Valerie immediately turned to Goku, giving him a tight hug and lingered in a hug with Goten for a long minute.
"...I'm so very sorry." Goten couldn't help but mumble through the embrace.
"Just bring that pain in the butt back home to me." Valerie insisted, smiling brilliantly at him as she pulled away. "And come back safe."
"You've got it." She stepped back to let him go, standing beside the others and watching Puchi go to Goku who happily greeted him again before lifting him up into his arms, and put his other hand on his son's shoulder.
"We'll see you all really soon." Goku promised his friends, with all the sincerity and comfort in his tone that only he knew how to provide, before de-materializing out of view with a smile.
Thank you's:
ImmatureChild: Not much information on the mysterious man in this chapter but I promise, he will not be forgotten and more will be seen from him in the future. As for Vegeta, there may not be immediate gratification but everything that's happened will have an effect on him, I assure you! PS. You gave me the BEST PS I have ever read ;)
Thomas Drovin: Hopefully this chapter explained a little better why she was put in HFIL. Is it a good reason the King gave? no, but I think he/as well as many people in that galaxy will show that they are afraid of what they don't understand and I love exploring all the possible reactions people can have to them, not to mention King Yemma has always been an easily angered character with a tendency to overreact. And YES, I loved Goten too, he was such a good friend and honestly just such a good person with good character, just like I'd like to think his parents taught him to be.
: I sent you a PM in regards to why Josie was in HFIL and I REALLY hope that this chapter explained some bits, if you have any other questions/concerns, please let me know!
Evalyd Yamazaki: I felt so bad for Trunks too! right now, he's hurting, he's angry, he's confused during this time but I'm going to do some light chapters to counterweight all the heavy stuff that just went down. Don't worry about not remembering much about other world, I'm going to remind everyone in a hopefully fun way and explore old characters ;)
Buzzk9: You know what I'm really loving? everyone's reaction to Josie being in HFIL. You all have no idea how GRATIFYING it has been to hear outrage over this because I truly was under the impression Josie was not a character that people cared for that much about because of how childish and impulsive she can sometimes be. I personally love her for it, I think she's very flawed and Very young and making mistakes but she will be learning from them and she will Grow; and as you said, she is a lot stronger than they give her credit for. Anyway! :) thank you so much for your comment, I promise, I'll take good care of her and give her things to smile about soon :) I love the term Quasi-evil haha, that perfectly describes our ball of chaos and destruction.
Luvrainluv: Heck yeah I am! today! and HOPEFULLY next saturday/sunday too ;) as long as the reviews keep coming, I'll keep forcing myself to get up and post! I promise :)
DreamAngel2713: I sent you a PM to tell you how grateful I was for your reviews and truly, truly, I could not tell you how happy and stoked I was to receive each and every one of your reviews. Those kinds are always the best because you let me share in your reactions, thank you!
Note: Thank you all SO much again, like I mentioned to a reviewer, I LOVED reading your reactions to all the things that have gone down. It's so very cool for you me to see how much you guys care about Trunks, Goten, Valerie And Josie. So stoked for the next few chapters. Please review! Wish me a safe trip, I'm going to Vegas in a few hours :)
