"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Twelve Chapter Twelve

Space was even more beautiful than he'd imagined it would be. A pitch black velvety expanse flecked with the lights of stars, near and far; the slightly fuzzy lights of distant galaxies; the rocky tumbling of asteroids and meteors; and now and again the glow of a comet as it passed close to a star. There was a serenity to it, a silence that seemed to envelop him even as he stood in front of the viewing window of the ship, looking out. He wasn't even thinking now. He just was, and let the silence wrap around him, deadening his ears to the hums and whirrs of the ship.
After he and Endive had changed into the Saiya-jin armor, they hadn't said much of anything to each other. He'd stood in front of the window, watching space go by them, and she'd draped herself over a chair, and sat there now holding that necklace up, staring thoughtfully at the pendant.
It was so strange. It seemed they were going so slow, but he knew they were really going very, very fast. He was glad that space wasn't zipping past them, though. It gave him more time to watch, more time to see.
Endive reminded him a little of his father. She wasn't quite so cold, not so fixed on power alone that she was blinded to everything else, but she did share that same distant coolness. He had to pry to get any details out of her. He wasn't sure if she didn't want to tell him anything because there was something particularly nasty about what she might have done, or if she were simply afraid to open herself to anything. Or maybe she just didn't want to? That was likely. . . but why wouldn't she want to? He was there to help her find whoever she was looking for. In order to do that, he needed a few details.
Trunks turned to look at Endive. She'd put the pendant away and sat in the chair with her arms folded across her chest, crossed legs dangling over one arm of the chair, head tipped back to look at the ceiling. She'd chosen the black spandex suit to go under the armor; it gave her a very lean, sleek look. "Are you going to tell me anything more about whoever you're looking for?"
She blinked and turned her head to look at him, fixing him with a cool gaze. "What do you want to know?"
He folded his arms and frowned at her. "Everything I should know. His name, what he looks like, some of your past history together. Are you hiding something? You haven't told me anything, Endive."
The Saiya-jin stared at him for so long and coolly that he imagined ice crystals forming in the air between them. Finally she sighed and tipped her head back again, and closed her eyes. "No, I'm not hiding anything. There's nothing to hide. He was a friend of mine. His name was Amian, and he is an Ikomian. Tall, pale skin with a bluish sheen, purple hair and green eyes. I met him on the parasite ship. He'd only been there a few days longer than I. We teamed up and destroyed the parasite infecting the main computer, thereby shutting down most of the rest since they didn't have the computer to take orders from. There were several that didn't need the computer, though, and when I made the stupid mistake of crouching over one I thought was dead to try to find the keys to the cells, he punched a hole in my stomach. That's how I ended up in the suspension tank. Amian was supposed to take me to a place he knew that had the capabilities to fix such a wound, but I guess something happened in the meantime. I closed my eyes in the tank, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in that little prison of a room you and your mother put me in."
Trunks was still and silent for a minute. He'd never heard her say so much at one time. "How did you get out of there anyway? The room, I mean?"
Endive smirked, seeming only amused by his question. She opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. "Never ask a woman about her secrets, Trunks. I've told you what you need to know. Now tell me a bit about your father."
"My father? Oh. . . he died when I was a baby. I don't really remember him.."
One of those finely arched black brows lifted. "I was under the impression that you knew him."
"I do," he said quickly. "Or I did. It's a long story. I did know him, but not in this timeline. It gets complicated."
She opened her mouth as if to say something else, then shook her head slightly and closed it. "So what do you think of space?"
"It's better than I imagined it."
Endive tipped her head to one side to look a the window. She didn't seem impressed. "Then how badly did you imagine it?"
Trunks looked at her, then at the window. "You're telling me you aren't affected at all by the beauty of it? The serenity?"
"It is beautiful. I will give you that. But it's really anything but serene. Every moment, planets and stars die, and new ones form. Life grows and changes on planets, and old life dies. The universe creates even as it destroys. Keep in mind that it is never really serene, no matter how silent it might seem."
"You're a pessimist."
"Of course I am. I'm a Saiya-jin."
That seemed to be the end of that. She was toying with the crescent necklace again, her eyes narrowed slightly with thought.
He looked back a the viewing screen. She was right. There was death and destruction and life and growth going on every second. Still, that made it no less beautiful. It followed the same cycles as everything else.
He went back to the window and looked out for a while longer, but this time his mind wasn't drifting so much. He wondered if this Amian was still alive. He wondered if this trip was all going to be for nothing. He wondered what Endive intended on doing if it was, and what she intended on doing afterward. He wondered if she and Amian might have been more than friends, or close to it. He wondered why he wondered that, and felt a little jealousy with it.
The chair behind him creaked softly as Endive got up. He heard her light footsteps as she left the room.
There was no reason for him to be even a little jealous. Endive wouldn't be right for him, and he knew it. They would probably end up fighting constantly, and they were too different. The image of his mother and father of the past flickered through his mind. Opposites could attract, couldn't they? Yes. . . but that didn't make it right. Endive was a cool-headed and -hearted woman. She didn't share emotions, and didn't say much more than she had to. . . unless she wanted something.
He thought of how she'd invited him to go with her. What was the reason behind that? Did she have a plan for him, or did she just enjoy his company? True, they'd spent quite a bit of time together lately. They were friends, if a little uneasy about it. Was there a reason behind that, too?
He just didn't know.