Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this chapter!
Author's Notes: Minna-chan! Here is the eagerly anticipated chapter 10! It tells all! And I won't talk too much this time, except to tell you, please review at the end! Again, italics denote thoughts. And now… the story!
**********************************************************
Chapter 10:
Usagi's eyes widened incredulously, staring at the man heading straight for her in open-mouth shock. His fist connected with the side of her face, causing her head to snap back. She slowly moved her head back to look at his dark eyes. This mean, crazed-looking man (AN: Pardon me! *dodges all kinds of stuff being thrown at her by Bardock fans.* Remember Usagi is in shock!) was her father?! What on earth was Queen Serenity thinking?? Several things struck her at once. He had called her mother Selenity. Second of all, somewhere in the middle of this void, she remembered her mother's name. Her memories had returned. She now remembered everything, including what her mother had erased. As she stared unflinchingly back into the man's eyes, images of a handsome man, laughing carrying a blond-haired, blue-eyed baby girl in his arms reappeared. This was why the man had looked so familiar. Her body reacted as if possessing its own will. Before his fist could strike again, she gripped his hand with her own tinier one.
"You will stop doing that father and explain," Her voice sounding as cold and dead as her eyes. This was not the father she remembered. Anticipating her father's other fist flying at her, she did something that astounded even herself. With a slight narrowing of her eyes, she froze him.
Bardock stood in shock as he discovered he was unable to move anything. It was as if he was a prisoner trapped in his own body. Summoning all his strength, he tried to do something, anything. He even tried moving his head and he couldn't even do that. The beautiful young girl that was his daughter had a look of amazement on her face.
"How the hell did you do that?" He snarled.
"I… I don't know. My powers… it's like they're amplifying. With each moment that passes by, I'm getting stronger. I…"
She stopped suddenly, and her face twisted in pain. More memories flooded through her as she clutched at her head. Mamoru smiling at her, her senshi fighting along her side, Mamoru's face darkening in anger…
**********************************************************
"What do you mean you don't think we should be together anymore?" He yelled out, his face taking on an expression she had never seen before. They had been in the middle of an argument. Of late, they were fighting more often. As she grew older, she saw different aspects of him, how he had always let her down, time and time again. Upon the first sign of trouble, his love for her had always failed. Call her naïve but she wanted someone who would be by her side no matter what. In anger, she had thrown those words at him. His jaw clenched as the face she loved turned into a complete stranger. His hand flew out and he slapped her with such force that she flew back quite a few feet. Crashing into the table which lay into the middle of his apartment, she landed rather painfully on her ankle. She did not know this, but when she had landed, she had accidentally destroyed her communicator. She scrambled quickly to her feet. This was the stuff nightmares were made of. Her beloved Mamoru had actually hit her. She fluttered her hand towards her right cheek, which was undoubtedly purple and swollen at the moment.
"You… you hit me," she whispered.
He laughed evilly. "And I'll do it again you damned bitch. You think I'll give up my cushy position as future king? I've put up with you for long enough. I can't believe someone as klutzy and as worthless as you will become future Queen of Crystal Tokyo."
Her heart tore, wrenching in absolute pain. She felt the tears fall from her eyes, and stream down her cheeks. Even his fist didn't hurt this much. She choked back a sob as she stared at him.
"I thought you loved me…" she whispered, hurt apparent in her voice.
"I never loved you, Usagi. That was just fate."
Cries finally escaped her lips, the pain inside her no longer bearable. She could not hold it in any longer.
"Oh God, you're pathetic. Get out of here before I really let you have it," he snarled.
**********************************************************
Usagi had dashed out of the apartment, an absolute mess. Her cheek throbbed with pain, but she felt nothing. The pain she felt deep in her soul was more than she could take. Blindly, she made her way to the park. She heard loud voices, and one of them, which sounded familiar, finally penetrated her thoughts.
"She is so incompetent. How is it that she's our leader?" Sailor Jupiter had said.
"I even paged her repeatedly. She's obviously too busy with sleeping, or eating, or playing video games." Sailor Mars added harshly.
She made her way closer to her senshi, unable to believe her ears.
"God, it'll take us a while to mend up now. No thanks to Sailor Moon," Sailor Mercury spat out.
She let out a gasp, drawing the attention of the senshi to where she was.
"Oh look who finally decided to show up," Sailor Venus snarled, while Sailor Mars merely looked disgusted at her.
"What… what happened here?" She asked softly, her eyes taking in the badly beaten forms of her senshi.
"We called you repeatedly on the communicator. You ignored us. Leaving us to beat the youma ourselves," Sailor Mercury cried out angrily. "You know, I always knew you were incompetent! Time and time again, I told everyone to give you a chance, but here you proved me wrong!"
"Odango Atama, you really are one, aren't you?" Sailor Mars taunted, her saccharine-laced voice at odds with the sarcasm dripping from her tone.
She had been so distracted by everything that happened to her that she missed the eerie mist that had surrounded the park. Suddenly, the senshis' eyes flashed with anger, their fury finally having been fanned to a blazing inferno. They circled her, eyeing her much like a predator would its prey. Her screams of pain, agony and betrayal were drowned out by the cries of their attacks. With each blow that struck her, she wondered what had happened, and what had gone so terribly wrong. After the first few hits, she no longer bothered to defend herself. She just laid there, her mind strangely detached from her body. Eventually, they left her alone. Her body was battered, bruised, and singed beyond belief, but she felt nothing. She felt an icy numbness flood what was once her heart. Without warning, a pain so immense and so wrenching ripped through her. She crumbled back to the ground, the betrayal of all who were once close to her finally sinking in. Clutching at her locket, she whispered softly, "Please. I just want to get away from this all. Please." The next thing she remembered, she had ended up in some deserted alley.
**********************************************************
The treachery of the five people closest to her drummed repeatedly in her head, like a set of bongos being pounded over and over again. Her blood roared as she seethed in anger. The power surge was unbearable now. With a loud scream, a blinding light enveloped her as she transformed.
Bardock, still frozen, merely looked on in amazement. He was still unable to believe how his daughter had rendered him immobile. He watched her closely as she shrieked in pain, holding her head. Her memories must be returning to her, he thought silently. He observed the play of emotions on her face. Whatever she was remembering must be hurting her pretty bad. The Saiyajin felt a long forgotten feeling of protectiveness towards her. The pain on her face was quickly replaced by rage. As she concentrated on her emotions, Bardock felt her power rise to immense levels. Iie, masaka, it couldn't be… His daughter was turning into a super Saiyajin.
Her silvery white hair turned into a pure shade of platinum, and unlike the other SSJ men, it did not defy gravity. Rather, it lengthened until it was almost trailing past her feet. Her eyes became an opaque medium blue, with an almost glazed over look to them. She stared blankly at her father in front of her. Her blood was still bubbling from the last power surge, and the feelings of rage ran deep in her. Bardock knew what would happen next. In a blink of an eye, his daughter had narrowed the distance with a battle cry, her fist headed straight for his face. Just as suddenly, her fist stopped, just millimeters from connecting. The rage drained visibly as she realised in dismay that she had almost killed her father. Bardock breathed an unnoticeable sigh of relief. There was no doubt in his mind that she would've killed him had her punch followed through. Her power levels began to diminish, causing her to revert back to her normal form.
Her eyes were wide with terror. It was too much, all too much. Regaining her memories, almost killing her father, and turning into this crazed person with unbelievable powers… what was going on??? She gazed at the man in front of her, eyes pleading for him to tell the truth. With a deep sigh, Bardock began to speak.
"If you unfreeze me, I'll tell you everything. I'm starting to lose blood circulation here."
Usagi assessed his ki. It was so different now. His demeanor and his voice were unlike the abrasive, rude man that had greeted her earlier.
"If you attack me, you'll have no honour." She warned as she blinked in his direction, a slight smile crossing her face as he stumbled out of his once unmoving state.
"The truth happened so long ago I forget it sometimes. I've been living the way I have for eons, or so it seems." His voice sounded far away. "I loved your mother, blindly and passionately. However, I was not from her time. I had traveled there in my younger days, before Goku was born."
"Who's Goku?"
"My son, your older half-brother. He is full Saiyajin unlike you. At one point, I was cursed with being able to see the future. The future I saw if I had stayed with you and your mother involved your deaths. I made the decision that the two of you would be better off without me. I… I also saw my own death. I wanted to spare you from all that. So I left your world, never to return."
"Are you dead now?" Usagi asked hesitantly.
Bardock nodded. "I've been dead for a long time now. My spirit still exists, in hopes that I can see my sons and my daughter."
"Sons?!" She exclaimed.
"You also have another half-brother, but Raditz has passed on. Goku still exists in his world."
A thought suddenly occurred to her as she froze in realisation.
"Does that mean I'm dead too?" She whispered.
"Iie. You are here, in another dimension. In mine to be precise. I exist somewhere between life and death. It's where I've been for God knows how long. I lost track of time a long time ago."
"Why am I here then?"
Bardock shrugged. "To find out the truth. Or maybe to train, I'm not sure."
"Can you train me?"
He laughed sardonically. "You almost killed me there girl," he growled. "How can I train you? Your half brother would be better suited for the task. If only he could be here somehow."
"I could summon him…" She said, more to herself than to Bardock. Using the ginzuishou shouldn't be as much of a problem now as it used to be.
A figure appeared in the void, and bowed in the direction of Usagi.
"Setsuna!" She cried out, flying over towards the Guardian of Time.
"Princess…"
"Setsuna! I told you, just call me Usagi." She chided gently.
"Usagi-hime…"
Usagi grinned. That was probably as close as Setsuna would get to addressing her informally.
"I can save you the trouble, and bring Goku to you."
"You also brought the Outers to me, didn't you?"
"We had to be sure of your safety. The forces of evil have returned."
"An old evil. Yes, I sensed it earlier today. Am I here to train?" Usagi asked, though she suspected she already knew what the answer would be.
Setsuna nodded. "Hai, Usagi-hime. Your powers are now almost completely fused. Your Lunarian and Saiyajin blood have combined to make you one of the most powerful beings any dimension has seen. You've also regained your true memories I see."
Usagi nodded, her eyes softening in memory of her one true love.
Heero…
**********************************************************
As the queen tried to warn everyone about the evil approaching, Heero felt a prickle of awareness and sensation.
Tenshi?
A brief silence greeted him.
My love, you remember?
I remember everything now.
The queen paused in mid-sentence and looked over at him. With a soft smile, she began talking again.
Are you all right? Are you hurt?
I'm fine, Heero. I… I have to remain where I am for a while. I must train for this upcoming evil. I cannot die like I did last time.
We cannot die like we did last time, tenshi. He corrected. And if we did, I'd only find you in our next lives.
I don't have much time left. My training will begin soon. Aishiteru, Heero.
Aishiteru Tenshi.
And just like that, the link between them was severed.
**********************************************************
Well, minna-chan? Love it? Hate it? Does the story of betrayal I created satisfy you? Please let me know! I thrive on feedback, not flames, and constructive criticisms are always welcome! :) Few notes on this chapter, Bardock is probably really out of character to those who watch Dragonball, but I wrote his character under the assumption that he was a different person when he met up with Selenity. When he finally is with his daughter, he can behave the way he was before. And the mushy moment between Usagi and Heero? Like I can let this chapter get away from me before doing something like that huh? *grins* Anyway, next chapter should be interesting I think as well, and before you think I've done explaining it all, let me say I haven't even come close! There are (here come a few teasers) surprising twists to Heero and Usagi's pasts, and confrontations to be had… and what's this? A big battle?! *laughs* No, all those questions won't be answered in the next chapter, but they will be answered eventually. I'm evil I know… but hey, I gotta keep my readers hooked, ne? If you have any suggestions for this story, or any of my other stories (If you haven't read Forever Afters, His Touch, His Touch – Usagi and Trunks' Story, please check them out and review them too hehe), do not hesitate to contact me or leave an email with the review! I think I will leave you with…
Begin
While reviews = true
Chibi_Tenshi = happy
More_Stories = true
More_Chapters = true
End loop
Ja ne minna-chan!