Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z or the characters, except for Relena and Seether.
Notes: Believe me, your day is not complete until you have stepped in roadkill on your way to school -_-; (And for some reason decided to post that fact on the internet. O.o)
Hmmm... If green is my favorite color, then how come my favorite character isn't Piccolo??
Chapter Twelve: Into the Crevasse
"You come here, lie to everybody about who you are, put us all in danger, and now Bulma is dead!" - Goten
April 6, Friday à Five days until the eclipse
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"Well, Vegeta-chan," I say, kneeling before him. "I think I've made you wait long enough.
He's lifeless, but I can see that he is frightened of what I'm about to say.
"You know what I'm going to tell you," I say, smiling.
He hates me.
"I guess I'll just tell you anyway."
He doesn't want to hear it. He doesn't want to know.
His sadness is so invigorating. I let go of his will so he can express it more.
"Bulma is dead." My voice is impassive, cold.
He is still frozen, his beloved's death not yet hitting him. Then he starts to shake, trembling violently. He keels over, palms on the ground, fingers grinding into the dirt.
"No..." he whispers.
"Yes, she's gone. Gone forever."
He glares up at me, hatred in his eyes. "You... You did this."
He takes a hasty swing at me, but I simply bend backwards and avoid the blow. He no longer fears me, I can see, but no matter.
He tries again, this time with more control, but I catch his fist in my hand.
I stare in his eyes, slowly putting him in a daze. "No. I didn't."
The hatred disappears as he gradually falls under my spell. "Hai, you-"
"No."
His hand drops limply to his side, his expression only mere confusion. "But..."
"The one responsible for her death is Kakarot."
"Kakarot...?"
"He let her come down here. He didn't try to stop her. He couldn't even get to her in time to save her. If he hadn't let her come down here, I wouldn't have had to send my minions after her."
"But..." He's trying to deny it, but he can no longer think clearly.
"Listen to me, Vegeta-chan," I purr, leaning against his hard body and caressing his face, my cold fingers stroking his cheek. "She is gone. Your love is gone. All because of Kakarot and his stupidity. And now the only one left on this miserable planet that still loves you is me."
He shakes his head, a little dazed, eyes half-closed, but his gaze still locked onto mine. "Trunks and Bra..."
"Forget about them," I order. "You do not have any children. Understand?"
"...Hai..."
"No one loves you except me. Understand?"
"Hai."
I lean my face closer to his, pressing my black lips to his, engaging him in a long kiss that instantly makes him submit to me, the tension leaving his body as I take over. He is too weak from his mate's death to resist me, and without her in his life he is desperate for any warmth, even from my icy lips. I stand up and place one hand on his forehead again. "Now close your eyes and relax. We're going to try this again."
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Relena trudged along the dirt tunnel, trailed by her four miserable companions.
The previous day, all they had done was search for Bulma in the desperate hope that she was still alive. They walked through the underground network, calling her name, but no one answered. Relena tried to contact her on the walkie-talkie, but there was no response. They gave up, rolled out their sleeping bags, and went to sleep, all agreeing on concentrating on finding Vegeta.
But no one could forget the look on her face when the creature pulled her down into the earth. It was horribly ironic; the planet she had helped save so many times contributed to her death. And Bra and Trunks... Relena couldn't understand how they were handling this so well. She knew they'd seen people die before, and they'd brought people back to life, but still... They were so strong, those two.
They came to a branch in the tunnel. The path broke off into three other underground passages. Goku tried to find Vegeta's or Seether's ki to tell which direction to travel, but he couldn't sense anything, and neither could the others. They'd tried to do the same thing when they were searching for Bulma, but the technique had failed then too. Relena chalked it up to Seether's powers.
"Well then, which way do we go?" Goten asked.
"I don't know," Relena said.
"Well, I guess you don't know everything," Bra muttered.
Relena frowned. Everyone but Goku had been making comments like that since Bulma's disappearance. It was logical, Relena knew. They had just lost a okaasan and friend, and she was the perfect person to take out their aggressions on.
But she'd had enough. "Look," she snapped. "I'm here to help you. I'm not here for you all to bitch at just because you lost someone."
"We didn't lose just anyone," Trunks said through clenched teeth. "We lost our okaasan."
"Thanks to you," Bra grumbled.
"Me?" Relena couldn't believe this. "I tried to help her-"
"You brought her down here!" Bra yelled.
"I didn't bring her down here! She came because she wanted to save your otousan! She came on her own! I even told her she didn't have to come!"
"Why should we believe you?" Goten asked.
"Huh?" Now Goten was in on this too?
"You come here, lie to everybody about who you are, put us all in danger, and now Bulma is dead!"
"That's not true!"
"Sounds about right to me, Relena. Come on. We don't even know if that's your real name."
"That's enough!" Goku yelled.
They all turned to him in surprise, never having heard such a tone from the man.
"You three aren't being fair to Relena."
"But she lied to us!" Trunks pointed out.
"Everything Relena did was all in good intentions." Goku came and stood beside her. "The only reason she lied was to find Vegeta and help him. And she didn't put anyone in danger. You all agreed to come. So did I." He paused. "So did Bulma."
There was a long stretch of silence.
Trunks stepped forward, staring at the ground. "I- I'm sorry, Relena. I shouldn't have taken everything out on you. You were just there, and... I guess you were the easiest to pick on."
"I'm sorry, too," Goten said.
"It's alright," Relena said smiling. "I understand."
"I would like to apologize," Bra said. "But I can't."
They all stared at her.
"Why not?" Relena asked.
"I can't excuse what you did to me."
"I told you I was sorry I attacked you-"
"Not that."
"What?"
Tears sprang to her eyes. "You lied from the moment we met. You became my friend, but only to carry out your mission. You used me." She sniffed. "Did you ever really like me at all?"
"Oh, Bra," Relena said. "I do like you. You're a sweet girl. I never meant for you to feel that way. I was only trying to warn your 'tousan."
"I know; I like you too. And I understand why you had to lie. But after this is all over, I'll never see you again, and...you're actually one of the best friends I've ever had."
Relena smiled at Bra. "I'll miss you, too. All of you. You guys are the most interesting people I've ever encountered, and it'll be hard to let you go."
"But," Relena continued, "after this mission I am obligated to return to headquarters for my next assignment."
Bra nodded. "Sorry. I just got a little emotional. Sorry for yelling at you too."
"That's all right."
Goku nodded. "Good. Now that we have that settled, what do we do about these tunnels?"
"We split up into three groups," Relena said. "We'll see where each one leads and report to each other on our walkie-talkies if we find anything important."
"All right," Goku agreed. "I'll take the right passage by myself. Relena and Goten can take the middle, and Bra and Trunks can go left."
Everyone nodded and split into their teams, taking their designated tunnel.
Relena went ahead of Goten, shining her flashlight down the dirt corridor. Their tunnel widened a bit; they could now walk side by side without hunching over.
"This tunnel gets bigger," Relena spoke into her walkie-talkie.
"Mine too," Goku said through the speaker.
"So does ours," Trunks put in.
"How large? Ours is about seven feet by nine feet. This goes on for a while."
"Same here," Goku replied, "um... I guess."
"Us, too," Trunks responded.
"That seems a little odd," Goku continued, "that our tunnels are the same."
"Seether probably doesn't want us to figure out the right way," Relena explained.
"Does anybody hear that?" Trunks asked.
Relena froze, Goten bumping into her.
"Sorry," Goten apologized.
"Shh!" Relena put a finger to her lips.
A low rumbling noise echoed through the left wall. After a moment Relena could feel a slight trembling of the dirt below her feet, the shaking getting more violent each second. Soon the ground was practically convulsing under her and Goten.
"What is that?" Goku's voice crackled through the speaker.
"WHOA!" Trunks yelled. "LOOK OUT!"
With an enormous snap, a crack in the soil exploded through the lower left wall, sending up a small cloud of dirt. The crack shot through the floor of the tunnel into the right wall. The two halves jerked apart, forming a sudden crevasse in the floor. The gap shot to about thirty feet.
There was no time for Relena to react to the chasm that formed beneath her feet in an instant. The flashlight flew from her fingers, plummeting into the abyss. She felt herself falling in the empty space, shooting to the depths of the earth.
She felt a sudden jerk on her wrist and looked up. Goten had grabbed her hand; she was safe. He was hovering in the air, floating to the wall of the cleft. Relena had forgotten that he could fly. He pulled them both back up onto solid ground. He pulled himself up, and then reached for her other hand. Relena swung her body and propelled her arm up far enough that she could grab his hand. He easily lifted her up to him, putting his hands on her waist to balance her when he got her to her feet.
Relena knew she was blushing, her cheeks inflamed by the feeling of his hands above her hips. "Um, thanks." She stepped away from him, straightening her shirt.
Goten turned a little red himself. "No problem. Do you think the others are all right?"
"I don't know. Seether seems to want us out of the way, though."
Relena and Goten turned their backs on the underground canyon, making their way to the end of the tunnel. At the end they met Bra and Trunks and Goku; the three tunnels had rejoined into one passage.
"Are you guys okay?" Goku asked.
Goten nodded. "We're fine. How about you guys?"
"Trunks lost his flashlight," Bra said.
"I dropped mine, too," Relena replied. "We'll have to manage with three."
"Do you think this Seether will have any other surprises for us?" Trunks asked.
Relena nodded. "Plenty."
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Pam: Isn't Seether just lovely? ^_^ Anywho, soon I'm gonna put up another comedy fic that I was inspired to write during my Shakespeare class! This means that I may or may not post another TSE chapter for a while.
Guess what? Kim's over again! And, as usual, she has something to say. Go ahead, Kimmie.
Kimmie: Bwahahahhahahaa! Yo yo yo yo YO! What it is motha f--woopsies! Now, now, I must remember..No bad words ^_^;; Psst! Guess what Pam's doing? XD She's making popcorn. Hahaha! ...Riiiiight..Anyhoo, I hope that everyone's enjoying Pammie's stories ^^! I missed Trunksie-poo playing with the squirrelies yesterday *Sniff* But oh well. Okies, welp, I love you all! Enjoy the story! And do the dance of joy, it'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I'm off now to think about how Bura and Claudia from Interview with the Vampire relate in some twisted way. Ja ne!
-Kimmie-chan
P.S. ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT FRIEZA IS #1!!!!!!! DON'T FORGET, OR ELSE....I 'LL SEND YOU TO THE "NEXT DIMENSION" ::Runs off having a spasm, laughing her ass off like a mofo:: Bwahahahaha!
Pam: O.o Um... riiiiiiiight. Well, anywho, ja ne till the next chapter or until I put up the comedy fic. Whichever comes first. Hey, Kim, what is a "mofo" anyway?
Kim: ^_^; Um... ::puts hand behind her head and laughs nervously:: I don't know. I heard it from my friend.
Pam: -_-; Well, if anyone out there knows, feel free to enlighten us. Why would you use words that you don't even know the meaning to anyway?
Kim: Well, at least I don't step on dead animals on my way to school...
Pam: Shut-up, Kim!
Kim: ::points and laughs at Pam::
Pam: -_-;
Kim: Hey, was it a squirrel? ^_^ I love squirrels! They're Trunksie-poo's *special* friends.
Pam: I didn't exactly care to look.
Kim: One time-
Pam: At band camp?
Kim: What? O.o Anyway, the other day my dad was driving me to school and there was a dead squirrel in the road and he was so evil 'cause he wanted to run over it again!
Pam: ....
Kim: I think he was joking, though.
Pam: ..... No comment.