The Black Dragon
Volume I
Star Fazed
Chapter Two – Angel
By: Juki
Marred. Tainted. His fate, his physical self, his mental health and his emotional peace. Inner conflicts omnipresent in every aspect of his broken and winded life. In addition to all this, the agonizing twinge pounding his head, the humidity of the place and the confusion of his dwelling, he could not see. He wondered if he had really opened his eyes to find nothing but black, the fear that rose in his heart at the possibility…that apart from having a shattered world, a lost soul and starvation for justice, that he was also blind? When will he ever see the peak of his suffering, if there were any at all in the first place? About to lose his vision, the only line defining to him what was real, to have the only thing deprived from him that he embraced wholeheartedly and dared to use more than once instead of preserving it like all of his other worldly treasures, that he may never fight in his life again… The overwhelming trepidation that coaxed at his heart; closed his throat and choked him until he was thoroughly shaken from the core of his entire being. Widely awake now for he could find no rest, sat helplessly as his heart rapidly beat his life away, his lungs inflated and deflated over again. Routine that meant nothing now, and as a survivor of everything thrown at him, losing the will to live…was like losing his very breath…
Just as he sat up, her comforting
hand descended down upon his burdened shoulders and eased him towards the
pillow placed against the wall in which he might find temporary comfort. A nod,
a signal, carefully, stilled, with the pair of sharp scissors in her hand, she
slid the bottom piece, the cool smooth metal…near his cheek. He shifted and she
immediately withdrew the scissors. The coldness. What was that? He stifled back or as far as he could
against the wall. "Do not be afraid." Her voice echoed clearly into his ears,
"I am here…to help you." Cautiously slid the scissors underneath the thick
layer of gauze wrapped around his eyes, snipped off a layer as she then took
the scissors and laid it down on the stool next to her hip. Now easing his head
up away from the pillow, she started unravelling the gauze; the damp strips of
thin linen heavily covered with his blood and tears. His shoulders slumped
forward as he felt wind across his face and rapid movement in front and close
to his eyes. As she saw the layers thinning, that…the truth had finally shown
out from within the confinement of white, she slowed down her movement. At the
last thin soaked gauze on his eyes, she peeled it off gently and then left the
bundled up linen on the floor as she then, softly with a damp cloth, dabbed at
the gash on the left corner of his eye…it had narrowly missed his eye. To think
that if he had fallen just a millimetre to the right…he could've scored his eye
with the metal. He winced at the jolt of pain that dashed through from near his
eye and he quickly opened them to find a hazy blur up close and a drop of water
through his eyelashes. She looked down and into his eyes for she had been
standing, tilted his head back slightly as she stared deeply into his eyes,
looked for uncertain or unusual specks. His eyes fell upon her, the onyx eyes
filled with joy and happiness as a mask and then within that, unspoken enigma
lurked where no one not even herself could detect. She smiled in satisfaction
once she examined both of his eyes and could have the privilege of not telling
him that he might lose his vision.
The light played across her ivory skin, spheres of brilliant light shown behind
her, and he wondered if here, standing in front of him, an angel. Her features
were not as defined to him as he would like, for the light truly hid her from
his vision. She released his head and soon scurried away and onto the ground,
picking up something. He turned his head down, tilted it slightly to the left
and watched her. She rolled up the dirty gauze with her hands, knowing if she
washed it, it could be reused. As she stood, she felt eyes blaze upon her back
and she turned around and looked at him with an unwavering expression, in which
she knew no other method to look at him. Her look of indifference as the light
veered from her back, he simply lost himself in her, his eyes dilated from her
glory and he knew that perhaps his north star had been found.
Balancing the tray of food while
holding a piece of toast in her mouth, she jingled down the wall with the
plates and forks clattering from her unsteady hands at holding small openings
on wooden boards that held things. Still in her pyjamas, still early in the
morning, knew he must be hungry from…whatever journey he had suffered to get
all the way here. To her small world of goodness and peace. As she walked in,
noticed him still seated the way she had left him over an hour ago, his knees
drawn up and his head perched up on his knees, he looked up to her upon her
entry.
"Good morning!" She chimed to him through a mouth of bread and gritted teeth,
placing the tray on the stool, she pushed it forward and said, "We have a wide
variety today." And pointed to the yellow plate, "This one brought to you by
Bulma, pancakes, or…" She pointed to the blue plate, "Brought to you by Trunks
and Bra, eggs…or…" She pointed to the red one, "Brought to you by me, waffles."
She picked up the tray as he moved his legs back down and set it on his lap.
"Personally." She said as she sat on the edge of his bed in a comfortable manner,
"I wouldn't touch the blue plate…I never knew Trunks and Bra could cook…so,
either it's ordered out…or they actually cooked it. At your state, I wouldn't
take the risk." So with that, she drew the blue plate up and examined the weird
watery scrambled eggs and concluded that Trunks and Bra must've attempted at
cooking. It jiggled like gelatine as she shook it slightly and then poked it
with her finger. Making a face, she didn't even want to eat it herself, pushing
it far away on the small round table close by with magazines, she made a mental
note to discard it secretly before they found out no one ate it. He smiled at
her humorous gesture and at her friendliness and took up his fork and knife to
have his hand erupt into merciless shaking. Dropping the knife onto the plate,
he placed the fork down and simply looked at his food while embarrassed at his
disability. She didn't seem to care as she took the fork and knife up for him,
"I know how it must feel," She said softly, "I once hit my head and went out
for two days, when I woke up…I couldn't even talk. I had people serving me for
a whole week straight, actually…it was quite comfortable." She drifted off for
a bit, "Having everyone being your slave…bending at your whims…hmmm maybe I
should hit my head again some time." She laughed and then looked to the yellow
and red plate. "Which one do you want first?"
He looked from the pancakes to the waffles, pancakes, waffles…indecisive, he didn't know which one to pick. "Red." He blurted out mindlessly and she turned to the waffles and started cutting it into pieces. He watched as she sliced through the whipped cream and the strawberries put together into a smiley face and then the chocolate chips on the side. Then to the pancakes, much more nutritious as he could tell. She forked a piece with waffles, strawberries and whipped cream and brought it to his mouth. A streak of red came across his face as he studied her intention, he was to be fed? Feeling awfully embarrassed he looked away and opened his mouth. She smiled and placed the fork in his mouth while he closed it and then drew the fork out. To his great relief, no one else was there…
"How is it?" She asked and stared at him, at this moment he noticed she was covered with a white powdery substance, which he detected was flour. He swallowed, "It's very good.", and when he saw her expression of happiness, felt much better than he felt before at being fed. Saw a streak of flour across her face, he lifted his trembling hand up and then with his thumb, rubbed the white powder off and then looked at it on his thumb.
She laughed, "It's my first time." She said and then cut another bite size piece and forked it. Lifting it up again to his mouth, he leaned in and ate from it.
"Hey!" Trunks' voice came
from behind, "I never got fed…how come you never feed me?" Trunks whacked Pan
across the head while he walked in with his pillow.
She grunted in irritation at his playful gesture and said, "You're not special
enough." He pouted at that and sat on the foot of the bed with his leg raised
up onto the bed and him laying on it. "Ah…"
"What are you doing?" Pan
asked him as she cut another piece of waffle. "Get off, you're squishing him!"
Trunks ignored her and looked around, "Wow…very white…this room." He said and
then noticed the blue plate on the table. "Hey! We made that!" With that he
stood up and picked up the blue plate and nudged it to Pan. "He needs
nutrition!"
"I'm sure he does," Pan said dryly, "That's why I'm not feeding him your eggs,
he needs nutrition, not poison…" Trunks made a sad face, "B-but…the burning of
the oil when I dropped it in, the sizzling…was that all in vain?"
Pan sighed, "I'll eat it." She said, "But later…I'm feeding him now." She cut
another piece while Mirai Trunks studied them. Trunks put the plate down and
picked a strawberry from the plate while he sat next to Pan cross-legged and
looking. "He looks just like me!" Trunks sighed almost too happily, "He's got
my charm…my beauty…my intelligence…not to mention my great personality. There's
just one thing that he doesn't have…"
"Your vanity." Marron said as she walked into the room, the tall blonde with
eyes that of the honey and lips of roses. Trunks looked up with an earnest
smile at her arrival and quickly stood up and greeted her warmly with a hug.
Pan gave a meek smile and turned quietly back to Mirai Trunks, feeding him,
while he noticed something that stirred beneath the calm surface of her
obsidian eyes that indicated nothing when in reality, everything was happening
underneath them. Marron sat next to Pan, "Here, let me help!" She volunteered
and snatched the fork and knife away then started cutting up the pancakes. Pan
stood up, she didn't remember saying yes but it didn't matter, brushing herself
off and watched as particles of flour drifted from her shirt and shorts. "I'm
going to go downstairs and see what else I can bring."
"Oh, while you're at it." Trunks said from next to Marron, "Could you bring me
some milk?"
"Get it yourself!" Pan said while folding her arms over her chest, "I'm not
your slave!"
"Please?" He pouted and looked at her with sad eyes, "All I want is…some milk…"
She rolled her eyes as her heart softened and soon exited the door. Marron
smiled to him and introduced herself while she fed him. He simply nodded and
heeded it. "That looks like an awful cut." She motioned to the gash near his
eye. "How did you get that?"
"I-I don't remember…" Mirai Trunks whispered timidly while Trunks said, "Ah…so handsome, just like me."
"Oh please Trunks, I
personally think he looks better than you."
"What?" He asked in an outburst of astonishment. "B-but we look exactly
the same. How, I say, how can he look better than me?"
"I was just joking…chill!" Marron said and pushed him back down onto his butt
on the bed, "As I was saying, it's nice to meet you…Mirai Trunks." She heard
about him and what he had suffered, making him an exception.
Pan walked in with a jug of milk and a jug of water with glasses balancing
between each finger. "I don't know if you wanted milk or water."
"I said I wanted milk." Trunks said as he reached for it.
"I wasn't talking to you!" She moved her hand away, "Mirai Trunks gets first
dibs."
He pointed to the water. Pan sat the jugs down on the table and poured him a
nice tall glass of water and was about to hand it to him when Trunks interceded
and took it. "I'll feed you, Mirai Trunks!"
For an odd reason, Mirai Trunks…feared that, "I-I can manage now," He said and
took the fork from Marron and ate by himself, sometimes missing his mouth, but
he didn't trust Trunks with sharp objects near his face…like a fork…or a knife…
Trunks frowned and took the milk once Pan handed it to him. "You guys don't
appreciate me and what is Trunks." He said out of haste, "You take advantage of
my kindness!" He took a sip from his milk, "I mean…the eggs! Look at the glistening
shine of it…!"
Pan wished that he had forgotten about that…seeing him look hopefully at her,
she picked up a spare fork from Mirai Trunks' tray and sceptically poked at it
with her fork. As she looked up, seeing his earnest gaze, she cut a small piece
off with her fork and scooped it up. His mouth opened as she brought it near,
anxious to know… She put it in her mouth, the cold eggs that tasted sweet and
peppery…not to mention something crunchy was in it, which she decided was an
eggshell. Bit into it and forced a smile on, "It tastes good." Swallowing it
was hard but preventing herself from gagging…even harder. He urged her to eat
it all and said, "Mirai Trunks has pancakes and waffles, you can have this for
breakfast!" Half finished, she felt her stomach churn in the weirdest of all
motion. Scooping up the now gooey part of the egg, which she learned from
Trunks, that Bra made it. She laughed nervously, "hehe…great…"
Once the egg touched her tongue, she felt the greatest urge to spit it back
out, the gooeyness…slimy almost, she suspected that it was undercooked. "Uh,
it's a bit cold…" She said, "Let's go microwave it…?"
"I'll do it!" Trunks offered and picked up the blue plate confidently, "Chef
Trunks!" With that, ran out of the room and towards the kitchen.
Marron laughed, "Man, I feel sorry for you, Pan." Marron exclaimed, "Did
it…taste…bad?"
Pan pretended not to hear, "Are you full, Mirai Trunks?" She examined his empty plates, he nodded. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Marron and Pan
said together in unison. Marron laughed at it while Pan simply smiled meekly,
when Trunks returned with sizzling hot eggs, he handed it to her and looked at
her again to finish it. Bra walked in next with a towel on her head, "Was it
good?"
"Pan's still eating it." Trunks said as he pulled a seat up in front of her to
watch her eat. She decided taking larger bites would mean she would taste less
of it in time's length. Once it hit her mouth, she gagged, literally…but
managed to make it sound like a "Mmmm!", swallowing it without biting, it
tasted sour…she didn't know why.
"When I went down, it looked a bit dry…so I put water on it." Trunks explained,
"Smart eh?" Pan nodded and picked up another piece, now fully prepared to
wrestle the taste after fully experiencing the awful eggs. Yet, she was
surprised again at the second bite to find it…oily. Basically eating oil soaked
eggs and she swallowed that. Her stomach churned again and she quickly took the
last bite, swallowed that and said, "That was the best eggs I have ever
eaten…!" Almost too unenthusiastic and reached for the glass of water too fast.
"Really?" Bra asked in disbelief, "Good! Then I can cook breakfast for all of
you tomorrow!"
Pan almost spat her water out once she heard it, once she managed to gulp it
down, "No, you know, too much of a good thing can be bad…you should save it on
special occasions, Bra."
"There you guys are!" Bulma said as she stood by the door with her hands on her
hips and a look of displeasure on her face. "Bugging him already? He needs his
rest!" She walked in and noticed the blue plate and the colour of Pan's face
and nodded knowingly and felt sympathy for the poor girl. She could remember
being stuck and forced to eat their…'cooking', it tasted horrible, but to make
them feel better, lied about it. Shooing them up, Mirai Trunks stopped her,
"N-no, they were just keeping me company." He explained.
Bulma looked sceptically at Trunks, "You mean this guy…kept you
company?" Trunks looked insulted, "What's with all the anti-Trunks vibe today? I
resent that!"
Laughter came and Bulma decided to get off their cases. "Well," She said,
examining the gauze on his head, "It would seem as if you can get off the
medicine now…it would hurt for a while, but." She touched his wound, "It'll do
you more good than having too much antibiotics and painkillers." She explained,
"And if I can get some help now," She glanced at Trunks, "We can move you to
your new room where you can rest better."
"H-how long have I been…"
"Unconscious? Oh, for three days!" Bulma exclaimed, "I was so worried about you!" She said as she pinched his cheek, "But now that you're all better," She cooed, "We can grill you with questions!"
"Okaasan!" Bra broke in,
"He's still very ill!"
"Well, I meant it, eventually we could grill him for answers." Bulma said with
a frown, "Now." She clapped her hands together, "Trunks and Marron, help him
will you?"
Trunks nodded and pulled the sheets off of him, "Want a piggyback ride?" He
asked Mirai Trunks.
"Trunks!" Bulma scolded, "Just help him walk…don't tease him!"
"But I wasn't teasing him!" Trunks retorted in defence, "I was literally going
to give him a piggyback ride."
"Well I don't want anyone giving anyone a piggyback ride. He can manage!" Bulma
said sternly and waited for Trunks to help him out of bed. Once his foot set
onto the cold tired floor, his head began to spin. Trunks held onto him and had
his arm draped over his shoulder while he placed his arm on his back while
Marron supported the other arm on her shoulder and started walking. Pan watched
silently as she followed them from behind, her eyes set onto the arm snugly
clinging onto Marron and quickly diverted her eyes away when the familiar acid
ate at her heart again.
The room ornate in colour-washed blue
across the walls that resembled a lot like denim patterns greeted him. The room
at least 500 sq feet in a pentagon shape with a large pane of window with a
windowsill that resembled a bench overwhelmed him. The large doubles bed,
sitting snugly pressed against the wall with the head of ebon pillars that held
drapes of soft denim fabric that could shield around the bed if desired, seemed
inviting. The sheets of black satin with white sheets folded up at the press,
masculine in a roguish sense - suave. Mirai Trunks was overwhelmed at the
luxury of it and couldn't accept it, "I-I don't need to…"
"It's designed for you, Mirai Trunks." Bulma interrupted with her mothering
ways, her eyes softened once they locked to his, stripped away all the pride
and all the differences, "You are here, and as long as you are here, in this
world, you will be my son and I will be your mother." His heart tingled at the
humanity of them, that they could be so tolerable and embrace him like family.
Uncertainty came as he tried to find ways to repay them in his mind, what could
he offer them? As if she delved into his mind, she whispered, "There is nothing
you have to do, love is unconditional…all I want for you to do is to be happy."
"That's what we all want, Mirai Trunks." Marron added as she helped him to the
bed and whilst he sat down, stayed next to him while she looked around. "This
room is magnificent…" Marron exhaled in pleasantness and admiration. "You're
starting to tempt me to move in!"
"Like Pan?" Bra asked with her eyes twinkling, "That would be so neat! It'd be
like a sleepover every night!"
"But remember," Bulma reminded Bra, "She is only here because Gohan and Videl
are off in a business trip."
Pan rubbed her arm as she stood by the door, she didn't hear their conversation
as her eyes scanned the entire room. Empty picture frames on the wall, the
sleek black furniture, leather, that sat pressed up against the wall with a
blue rug over the beige carpet that felt like animal pelts. Every last detail
she etched into her mind, and then from this image, derived her own room and
how it would be like if she could have such a room and such luxury. Feeling
dismal and poor between all the magnificence, she tucked her hands into her
shallow pockets and stepped out, knowing they won't miss her or acknowledge her
departure…
He watched as she exited without a word, and in his eyes, she had just spread
her velvet wings of purity and had fled from him, now, in midst of all the
talking that to his ears, silence. As she exited, darkness shrouded him again
despite the sunlight and the warmth of their touching words.