Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me. I am not making any money off this, etc, therefore it would be completely pointless to sue me over this one little fanfic. Also, to answer a question I've been asked about twenty times, no, I had never, ever read Ender's Game before writing this story. Whatever similarities between this fanfic and OSC's writings are purely coincidental, believe it or not.
Fire and Ice
Chapter Seven, The Androids
[Has it been this long already?] She stretched, eyes still on the data that was flashing by on the computer screen. [Three years seemed like an eternity when Alec first arrived. Now...]
"Are you sure about this?" Alec said from behind her. She turned to look at him, but he was avoiding eye contact, those pale eyes of his on the moving code.
She shook her head- she knew and he knew that he didn't know anything about programming languages. So why was he pretending? She mentally shrugged, turned back, and scrolled up to look at the coding she had missed, "You're being unreasonable. There's no reason that the gateway won't work. It was fine last time, remember?"
"Still..."
"And I'm checking it now."
"You might have missed something."
"I haven't."
"...Did you enter my data in?"
"Yes."
"This means that..."
"You can go through the gateway whenever you want to enter any timeline. And you can go through my gateway as well."
"...We can both fit in the time machine."
"What's the point? We don't know how the time machine works with two people in it, do we?"
"Yeah, but..."
"And I know how the gateway works."
"That's not my point."
"So what is your point?"
"I just..." [I just don't want you to get hurt.]
"I'll be fine."
* * * * *
[She's changed.] Alec thought to himself, not for the first time.
She was still cold, still so maddeningly systematic, but over time, that icy shield around her was beginning to lower, little by little. Sometimes, there would be unspoken sympathy, a reassuring word, a glance that said nothing but everything- small things like that.
[But I still don't know a damn thing about her.]
In two years, she had never mentioned her past, never mentioned her family, never mentioned anything about everything. No. That wasn't fair. She had told a few things. But only a few.
Ender. An orphan. Parents were killed by Frieza when she was very young. Got by on her own, somehow, living through one year after another on her own in the wilderness. No human contact. At least, not until he showed up to fight Frieza, and then the only reason she appeared was because she wanted revenge.
[What really bothers me though, is why she still won't tell me why she still 'blanks out', even now.]
[Well, why should she? Everyone has their own little secrets.]
It was a sort of unspoken agreement between the two of them. She would only tell him what she wanted him to know, and he would not press her for information. No more arguments, no more grudges. They spent almost all of their time together, because, despite everything, they were good company for each other. They could tell stories, reminisce about the people they knew, discuss their two different worlds, or just talk. Simple, mindless talk. All they had to do was set the boundaries for conversation, and then they could become...what? Comrades? Partners?
Maybe even friends.
But they never spoke about the androids. It was an uneasy subject, one that kept them edgy, so they kept away from it.
She continued to work, her fingers moving over the keyboard, typing in instructions in a coding that he barely understood. She rested her head on her hand, leaning forward to study the monitor as she continued to type with one hand, forgetting the world around her as she resumed her role as the methodical Saiyan once again.
[Ice... ]
He shook his head, got up.
[Two years. In two years, what...what I'm...feeling, towards her, has grown to more than just physical attraction. ]
"Ender?" He wanted to explain, tell her that he didn't understand these emotions running through his mind right now.
[Then what? What am I to say after that]? He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself. [That I've been trying to... suppress... whatever I feel for her for such a long time?]
"Yes?" She said.
[No. I can't tell her that. I just... ]
"...Never mind."
She looked up, met his eyes for a second, pale blue-green eyes probing, searching, until he was sure that she could read every thought in his head, clear as day. She looked away.
[Dammit! It should be so simple, and yet...why can't I just make myself open up to her?]
[Because I...]
[I don't know.]
[Another time, maybe. Maybe when I figure out whether she feels the same way that I...]
He watched her work for a long time, letting himself enjoy just being close to her. Watched the way she brushed her hair out of her eyes, watched the way her fingers moved over the keyboard, the way the computer screen shone a soft light over her body, outlining some areas and throwing others into shadow.
Unconsciously, a smile formed on his face.
[Fire...]
* * * * *
As she stepped through the gateway, she looked over the cavern that had been her home before she had arrived in Alec's timeline. It was still organized, and it looked the same as when she had left it, but had become very dusty.
[Haven't touched this place in two years, remember?]
She reached out to wipe the top of her computer, looking at the somewhat cleaner traces her hand left, then turned around to see Alec coming through the gateway, holding a cardboard box against his hip.
"What's that?" She asked, taking a capsule out from her pocket. She had brought several of these compressors into Alec's world, and she needed to uncapsule them to organize everything.
"Bulma's idea." Alec set it down, "I think it's dinner. Or at least supplies for dinner. She thinks that you're not capable of taking care of yourself." Ender shook her head, turned on the computer. The start-up screen appeared on the monitor.
"What day is it here?"
She pointed at the computer screen. May 11. One day before the androids were supposed to arrive, "Are you going to take the time machine to come here?" She said.
"Yeah. One advantage about it, the people you left behind don't have much time for concern. You can return to close to the time you left. There's only a time gap of a few days at the most." He nodded at the gateway leading to his world, "I don't want my mother to worry while I'm gone."
She nodded. The gateway was useful, but it had one flaw. Even while you were gone, time continued to pass in the place you left. So while she had been in Alec's world for two years, it meant that in the meantime, two years had passed here.
[It must be nice to have someone who cares about you. Worries about you. Like Alec has his mother.]
"Are you going to be all right here?"
"Of course."
"Ender..."
"You'll see me tomorrow, remember?"
"Yeah."
* * * * *
She woke up with a start, eyes flickering open with the too-familiar nightmare that was beginning to haunt her again.
[What will you do if, you know, one of the androids' the same person from three years ago?] She stared at the ceiling in the semi-darkness, suddenly feeling cold even though it was late spring already.
[Doesn't matter. What are the chances?]
[Gero's very careful about keeping his work safe. He would never let the androids run around like that without first making sure that he could control them. He's not an idiot.]
She got up, let the two blades shoot out of her hands as she walked outside. Sleep wasn't going to come tonight. She might as well do something more productive than lying in bed. She positioned her hands and feet, and began the first warm-up exercises.
* * * * *
Nine o' clock in the morning. Piccolo shot through the air, Goku and Gohan only a few feet away from him.
[May 12. I've been training for this morning day and night for three long years.]
[If only I had known about this earlier. Then I could have trained longer, gotten stronger, gotten faster. Then I would have more chance of making it out of this alive.]
[But Goku's right. I need to relax more. I'm at the peak of my abilities right now. I'm more powerful than I've ever been in my life. This is as prepared as I'm ever going to get.]
[So why do I feel so nervous right now?]
* * * * *
She woke up in the branches of the tall oak towering in front of her cavern's entrance. One of the few things she liked about her residence: It was forty feet off the ground. That made it inaccessible to any human and it meant that there were plenty of tree boughs to sleep in if she ever got tired of the stuffiness of the cavern.
She stood on the branch, keeping her balance, and descended, hovering a few feet above the ground. She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes, letting her ki rise up around her in golden waves.
[It was time.]
* * * * *
"Be careful, okay, Trunks?" Bulma said, a little too quietly, as she watched her son climb up into the time machine. He turned a little, the concern in his face showing for a second, then grinned to assure her, flashed a thumbs-up, and sat down, pushing a few levers and buttons.
To her, he would be returning in just a few hours, but she was still worried. Twenty years ago, she had thought Vegeta would come back to her, and twenty years ago, the androids had...
On that day, a part of her had died as well when Gohan told her the news. When she found out there would be no body. When she knew that he was gone, forever, and he could never see those rare smiles, hear the teasing insults. That final realization left her empty. Drained.
There were some bad days, even now. During the worst times, she'd reach out in the middle of the night, wanting to touch him, wanting to believe that he was there.
He never was.
The time machine rose in the air, whirring softly all the while. Trunks looked down at her through the glass windows, and grinned at her. She smiled back, hiding her anxiety for a while.
[Trunks...please come back.]
There was a blinding flash of light, then all that there was left was a hazy arc in the sky: the path that the time machine had taken. She stood there until the smoke in the air had cleared, until the sun had risen, and until she forced the memories away.
She stood there for a long time.
* * * * *
Ender spotted most of the others on the cliffs surrounding the small city located on the island nine miles southeast of South City.
[Just as Alec said...] She mused as she landed on the cliff face above all of them, and waited. Krillan and Gohan were making faces in front of the small child Bulma was holding, trying to amuse him.
Chibi Alec. She shook her head, amused. While the older Alec tended to be moody and dark at times, the child seemed to be totally innocent as it laughed in his mother's arms.
[Was I ever like that?] She brooded to herself, watching Chibi Alec, or should she say, Trunks, smiling angelically. [Was my life, at any point, ever so simple?]
[I don't remember. But...]
[I don't think so.]
* * * * *
Bulma wondered how she could have changed so much in three years. In the past, she had worn tighter, more low-cut clothes, meant to flaunt her body. But now, she was dressed more conservatively, no make-up, no earrings, giving off a sense of maturity.
[Of course. I've fallen in love, I've had a child. Of course I'm different. It's to be expected.]
She looked down at the child in her arms.
[Was I shocked when I heard that I was going to have you? She smiled. Of course. Was I angry? At the beginning, yes.]
[But am I willing to be your mother now?]
[Absolutely.]
* * * * *
[Up, up, up.] Its instincts chanted, forcing Its limbs to fight free of the wires that were holding him, [Move, move, move.] The door above It opened as he ripped free of the last threads connecting It to this cocoon. There were still clamps at Its wrists and ankles, however.
[Battle, fighting, kill.] The voice inside of Its head continued to mutter in a rising whisper, but it was replaced by another, more soothing tone. Its programming. [Remain still as the machine releases you. Stand. Open your eyes.]
The first thing It saw was the old face of...of...
[Master...] It bowed, showing Its respect for the man who had given him life. It could almost sense the other smile, and It straightened.
[Blood, war, death.] It looked up at his creator, the one that made It sentient with only a few parts of machinery. His master was tall, thin, with a hat on to hide the surgery he had done to his own head. Almost as if the other man could sense the murderous desires within It, he nodded.
[Goku...]
* * * * *
"So maybe the guy was wrong, huh? Maybe these 'androids' aren't going to show up!" Yamcha was yelling at Bulma once again. Ender shook her head. Some things never changed. Even after three years, even after Bulma had fallen in love with a different man, the two of them were still arguing.
[Crazy...]
"It's only a few minutes past ten," Bulma retorted, "Be a little more patient!" As if Trunks could sense his mother's mood, he began wailing. Ender found herself staring.
[Was Alec ever like that?]
Somehow, she couldn't imagine Alec crying.
[Not the Alec she knew. Not the Alec who had laughed at her seriousness whenever she tried to explain something to him. Not the slightly unpredictable Alec who had been through more than most humans went through their whole lives. Not the Alec who would insist on helping her with the gateway, then drag her out to spar every night.]
[Not the Alec whose eyes were as tired as her own.]
* * * * *
Ten-thirty, and even Bulma was beginning to become impatient, but she continued to stand there on the cliff, looking out towards the town.
[I know that time traveling means breaking through the fabric of space and time, which means that sometimes, futures can be altered unintentionally. If that's what the stranger from the future did, that explains everything: Why the androids haven't arrived yet, why Goku hasn't had his heart disease yet...]
* * * * *
She watched as Yajirobe dropped off a small bag of senzu beans, watched him flatly refuse to fight with Goku, and then, watched him take off to the sky in that car of his.
[Coward.]
[Refuses to fight, even though he has the capability.]
Then she shook her head at herself, for being so cynical.
[Not everyone is born with the blood of warriors.]
[So, does that mean that you're bloodthirsty?]
[No, it means that if I'm not afraid of battle.]
[It means that I'm not afraid to die, as long as I die fighting.]
[It means that you're the coldest, most inhuman little thing that ever lived.]
[...Yeah. Basically.]
* * * * *
As Yajirobe pulled the lever back and felt the air vehicle rise in the air in response, he sighed in relief. He was afraid that somehow, Goku would convince to fight alongside the others, and that he'd get killed somewhere along the line.
[I should have known that Goku's not the kind of person to force someone to make a decision.]
[Maybe I shouldn't have been so-]
He stopped the vehicle, leaning out of one window, trying to ignore air between him and the ground two hundred feet beneath him. What were those two specks in the air? Birds? Birds would be moving, wouldn't they? Cars? There weren't that many flying cars around yet, but that could be it. Yeah. Cars.
* * * * *
Ender looked up, feeling the tickling sensations in the back of her mind that signaled there was someone, or something, nearby. She rose in the air and scanned the sky, careful not to disturb Goku and the others, who were standing on the ledge beneath her.
After a few minutes, she found what she was looking for. Two dark points in the air, close to each other, barely visible, and a bigger one nearby. She flew closer to the dots and tried to reach out with her power, to see what they were.
An explosion, filling the air with debris as her hair whipped back. She was buffeted by the incoming dust, being forced backwards by the wind for a second before she managed to stop herself.
As the sky cleared, she searched the pale blue horizon for the three dots again. Except, now there were only two.
Her power level climbed, and she let her dark hair whip around her face, the strands blowing back in the wind. The two dots disappeared, and it took a few minutes to see them again.
[They're in the city...]
[Damn, that'll make it harder.] Too many distractions in there. Too many people to get in the way.
She changed direction, heading down, down, down, at an almost terrifying speed, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of where they were before they disappeared again.
* * * * *
He was feeling pretty damned good as he put his foot down hard on the gas pedal. A raise, a promotion, a car, a secretary, and a pretty damn sexy one too. The new boss really was too lenient. He was going to put on the speed today, and if the police caught him, screw the police.
He was still putting on speed when he saw the two people standing in the middle of the air, dead ahead.
[Oh, shit.]
He put on the emergency brakes, struggling to stop the car before he hit them. The tires squealed noisily, leaving black marks all over the road. Just as he thought that they were all going to die, the car stopped, two inches from the taller one's knee.
"Dammit!" He screamed, opening the window and leaning out, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
The tall one looked at him calmly. He cringed despite himself, inwardly wondering what he had gotten himself into. The tall one punched his windshield, his arm shattering the glass, his hand on his throat, clamping down hard.
[Oh, _shit_!]
* * * * *
He could sense her arrival, hear the footsteps, almost see the face, but he ignored it, continuing to choke the man.
"It's been a long time, Shiranai." He said, calmly, as the man at the end of his arm beginning to making gagging noises, "What name do you go by now?"
She didn't flinch, although he could imagine the surprise going through her head, "Put him down."
He obliged, dropping the man. He fell with an audible thump, "Congratulations," He smiled, "You've learned the art of iciness over the last three years."
"Who the fuck are you?"
He smiled. It startled her a little, the way the edges of his lips curved up, but the way his eyes still stayed so cold...
[Just like Seventeen.]
"Isn't it obvious?" He said, turning around to face her, waiting for a reaction.
"...."
Author's Note: Please review, people. You have no idea how much it helps.
Fire and Ice
Chapter Seven, The Androids
[Has it been this long already?] She stretched, eyes still on the data that was flashing by on the computer screen. [Three years seemed like an eternity when Alec first arrived. Now...]
"Are you sure about this?" Alec said from behind her. She turned to look at him, but he was avoiding eye contact, those pale eyes of his on the moving code.
She shook her head- she knew and he knew that he didn't know anything about programming languages. So why was he pretending? She mentally shrugged, turned back, and scrolled up to look at the coding she had missed, "You're being unreasonable. There's no reason that the gateway won't work. It was fine last time, remember?"
"Still..."
"And I'm checking it now."
"You might have missed something."
"I haven't."
"...Did you enter my data in?"
"Yes."
"This means that..."
"You can go through the gateway whenever you want to enter any timeline. And you can go through my gateway as well."
"...We can both fit in the time machine."
"What's the point? We don't know how the time machine works with two people in it, do we?"
"Yeah, but..."
"And I know how the gateway works."
"That's not my point."
"So what is your point?"
"I just..." [I just don't want you to get hurt.]
"I'll be fine."
* * * * *
[She's changed.] Alec thought to himself, not for the first time.
She was still cold, still so maddeningly systematic, but over time, that icy shield around her was beginning to lower, little by little. Sometimes, there would be unspoken sympathy, a reassuring word, a glance that said nothing but everything- small things like that.
[But I still don't know a damn thing about her.]
In two years, she had never mentioned her past, never mentioned her family, never mentioned anything about everything. No. That wasn't fair. She had told a few things. But only a few.
Ender. An orphan. Parents were killed by Frieza when she was very young. Got by on her own, somehow, living through one year after another on her own in the wilderness. No human contact. At least, not until he showed up to fight Frieza, and then the only reason she appeared was because she wanted revenge.
[What really bothers me though, is why she still won't tell me why she still 'blanks out', even now.]
[Well, why should she? Everyone has their own little secrets.]
It was a sort of unspoken agreement between the two of them. She would only tell him what she wanted him to know, and he would not press her for information. No more arguments, no more grudges. They spent almost all of their time together, because, despite everything, they were good company for each other. They could tell stories, reminisce about the people they knew, discuss their two different worlds, or just talk. Simple, mindless talk. All they had to do was set the boundaries for conversation, and then they could become...what? Comrades? Partners?
Maybe even friends.
But they never spoke about the androids. It was an uneasy subject, one that kept them edgy, so they kept away from it.
She continued to work, her fingers moving over the keyboard, typing in instructions in a coding that he barely understood. She rested her head on her hand, leaning forward to study the monitor as she continued to type with one hand, forgetting the world around her as she resumed her role as the methodical Saiyan once again.
[Ice... ]
He shook his head, got up.
[Two years. In two years, what...what I'm...feeling, towards her, has grown to more than just physical attraction. ]
"Ender?" He wanted to explain, tell her that he didn't understand these emotions running through his mind right now.
[Then what? What am I to say after that]? He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself. [That I've been trying to... suppress... whatever I feel for her for such a long time?]
"Yes?" She said.
[No. I can't tell her that. I just... ]
"...Never mind."
She looked up, met his eyes for a second, pale blue-green eyes probing, searching, until he was sure that she could read every thought in his head, clear as day. She looked away.
[Dammit! It should be so simple, and yet...why can't I just make myself open up to her?]
[Because I...]
[I don't know.]
[Another time, maybe. Maybe when I figure out whether she feels the same way that I...]
He watched her work for a long time, letting himself enjoy just being close to her. Watched the way she brushed her hair out of her eyes, watched the way her fingers moved over the keyboard, the way the computer screen shone a soft light over her body, outlining some areas and throwing others into shadow.
Unconsciously, a smile formed on his face.
[Fire...]
* * * * *
As she stepped through the gateway, she looked over the cavern that had been her home before she had arrived in Alec's timeline. It was still organized, and it looked the same as when she had left it, but had become very dusty.
[Haven't touched this place in two years, remember?]
She reached out to wipe the top of her computer, looking at the somewhat cleaner traces her hand left, then turned around to see Alec coming through the gateway, holding a cardboard box against his hip.
"What's that?" She asked, taking a capsule out from her pocket. She had brought several of these compressors into Alec's world, and she needed to uncapsule them to organize everything.
"Bulma's idea." Alec set it down, "I think it's dinner. Or at least supplies for dinner. She thinks that you're not capable of taking care of yourself." Ender shook her head, turned on the computer. The start-up screen appeared on the monitor.
"What day is it here?"
She pointed at the computer screen. May 11. One day before the androids were supposed to arrive, "Are you going to take the time machine to come here?" She said.
"Yeah. One advantage about it, the people you left behind don't have much time for concern. You can return to close to the time you left. There's only a time gap of a few days at the most." He nodded at the gateway leading to his world, "I don't want my mother to worry while I'm gone."
She nodded. The gateway was useful, but it had one flaw. Even while you were gone, time continued to pass in the place you left. So while she had been in Alec's world for two years, it meant that in the meantime, two years had passed here.
[It must be nice to have someone who cares about you. Worries about you. Like Alec has his mother.]
"Are you going to be all right here?"
"Of course."
"Ender..."
"You'll see me tomorrow, remember?"
"Yeah."
* * * * *
She woke up with a start, eyes flickering open with the too-familiar nightmare that was beginning to haunt her again.
[What will you do if, you know, one of the androids' the same person from three years ago?] She stared at the ceiling in the semi-darkness, suddenly feeling cold even though it was late spring already.
[Doesn't matter. What are the chances?]
[Gero's very careful about keeping his work safe. He would never let the androids run around like that without first making sure that he could control them. He's not an idiot.]
She got up, let the two blades shoot out of her hands as she walked outside. Sleep wasn't going to come tonight. She might as well do something more productive than lying in bed. She positioned her hands and feet, and began the first warm-up exercises.
* * * * *
Nine o' clock in the morning. Piccolo shot through the air, Goku and Gohan only a few feet away from him.
[May 12. I've been training for this morning day and night for three long years.]
[If only I had known about this earlier. Then I could have trained longer, gotten stronger, gotten faster. Then I would have more chance of making it out of this alive.]
[But Goku's right. I need to relax more. I'm at the peak of my abilities right now. I'm more powerful than I've ever been in my life. This is as prepared as I'm ever going to get.]
[So why do I feel so nervous right now?]
* * * * *
She woke up in the branches of the tall oak towering in front of her cavern's entrance. One of the few things she liked about her residence: It was forty feet off the ground. That made it inaccessible to any human and it meant that there were plenty of tree boughs to sleep in if she ever got tired of the stuffiness of the cavern.
She stood on the branch, keeping her balance, and descended, hovering a few feet above the ground. She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes, letting her ki rise up around her in golden waves.
[It was time.]
* * * * *
"Be careful, okay, Trunks?" Bulma said, a little too quietly, as she watched her son climb up into the time machine. He turned a little, the concern in his face showing for a second, then grinned to assure her, flashed a thumbs-up, and sat down, pushing a few levers and buttons.
To her, he would be returning in just a few hours, but she was still worried. Twenty years ago, she had thought Vegeta would come back to her, and twenty years ago, the androids had...
On that day, a part of her had died as well when Gohan told her the news. When she found out there would be no body. When she knew that he was gone, forever, and he could never see those rare smiles, hear the teasing insults. That final realization left her empty. Drained.
There were some bad days, even now. During the worst times, she'd reach out in the middle of the night, wanting to touch him, wanting to believe that he was there.
He never was.
The time machine rose in the air, whirring softly all the while. Trunks looked down at her through the glass windows, and grinned at her. She smiled back, hiding her anxiety for a while.
[Trunks...please come back.]
There was a blinding flash of light, then all that there was left was a hazy arc in the sky: the path that the time machine had taken. She stood there until the smoke in the air had cleared, until the sun had risen, and until she forced the memories away.
She stood there for a long time.
* * * * *
Ender spotted most of the others on the cliffs surrounding the small city located on the island nine miles southeast of South City.
[Just as Alec said...] She mused as she landed on the cliff face above all of them, and waited. Krillan and Gohan were making faces in front of the small child Bulma was holding, trying to amuse him.
Chibi Alec. She shook her head, amused. While the older Alec tended to be moody and dark at times, the child seemed to be totally innocent as it laughed in his mother's arms.
[Was I ever like that?] She brooded to herself, watching Chibi Alec, or should she say, Trunks, smiling angelically. [Was my life, at any point, ever so simple?]
[I don't remember. But...]
[I don't think so.]
* * * * *
Bulma wondered how she could have changed so much in three years. In the past, she had worn tighter, more low-cut clothes, meant to flaunt her body. But now, she was dressed more conservatively, no make-up, no earrings, giving off a sense of maturity.
[Of course. I've fallen in love, I've had a child. Of course I'm different. It's to be expected.]
She looked down at the child in her arms.
[Was I shocked when I heard that I was going to have you? She smiled. Of course. Was I angry? At the beginning, yes.]
[But am I willing to be your mother now?]
[Absolutely.]
* * * * *
[Up, up, up.] Its instincts chanted, forcing Its limbs to fight free of the wires that were holding him, [Move, move, move.] The door above It opened as he ripped free of the last threads connecting It to this cocoon. There were still clamps at Its wrists and ankles, however.
[Battle, fighting, kill.] The voice inside of Its head continued to mutter in a rising whisper, but it was replaced by another, more soothing tone. Its programming. [Remain still as the machine releases you. Stand. Open your eyes.]
The first thing It saw was the old face of...of...
[Master...] It bowed, showing Its respect for the man who had given him life. It could almost sense the other smile, and It straightened.
[Blood, war, death.] It looked up at his creator, the one that made It sentient with only a few parts of machinery. His master was tall, thin, with a hat on to hide the surgery he had done to his own head. Almost as if the other man could sense the murderous desires within It, he nodded.
[Goku...]
* * * * *
"So maybe the guy was wrong, huh? Maybe these 'androids' aren't going to show up!" Yamcha was yelling at Bulma once again. Ender shook her head. Some things never changed. Even after three years, even after Bulma had fallen in love with a different man, the two of them were still arguing.
[Crazy...]
"It's only a few minutes past ten," Bulma retorted, "Be a little more patient!" As if Trunks could sense his mother's mood, he began wailing. Ender found herself staring.
[Was Alec ever like that?]
Somehow, she couldn't imagine Alec crying.
[Not the Alec she knew. Not the Alec who had laughed at her seriousness whenever she tried to explain something to him. Not the slightly unpredictable Alec who had been through more than most humans went through their whole lives. Not the Alec who would insist on helping her with the gateway, then drag her out to spar every night.]
[Not the Alec whose eyes were as tired as her own.]
* * * * *
Ten-thirty, and even Bulma was beginning to become impatient, but she continued to stand there on the cliff, looking out towards the town.
[I know that time traveling means breaking through the fabric of space and time, which means that sometimes, futures can be altered unintentionally. If that's what the stranger from the future did, that explains everything: Why the androids haven't arrived yet, why Goku hasn't had his heart disease yet...]
* * * * *
She watched as Yajirobe dropped off a small bag of senzu beans, watched him flatly refuse to fight with Goku, and then, watched him take off to the sky in that car of his.
[Coward.]
[Refuses to fight, even though he has the capability.]
Then she shook her head at herself, for being so cynical.
[Not everyone is born with the blood of warriors.]
[So, does that mean that you're bloodthirsty?]
[No, it means that if I'm not afraid of battle.]
[It means that I'm not afraid to die, as long as I die fighting.]
[It means that you're the coldest, most inhuman little thing that ever lived.]
[...Yeah. Basically.]
* * * * *
As Yajirobe pulled the lever back and felt the air vehicle rise in the air in response, he sighed in relief. He was afraid that somehow, Goku would convince to fight alongside the others, and that he'd get killed somewhere along the line.
[I should have known that Goku's not the kind of person to force someone to make a decision.]
[Maybe I shouldn't have been so-]
He stopped the vehicle, leaning out of one window, trying to ignore air between him and the ground two hundred feet beneath him. What were those two specks in the air? Birds? Birds would be moving, wouldn't they? Cars? There weren't that many flying cars around yet, but that could be it. Yeah. Cars.
* * * * *
Ender looked up, feeling the tickling sensations in the back of her mind that signaled there was someone, or something, nearby. She rose in the air and scanned the sky, careful not to disturb Goku and the others, who were standing on the ledge beneath her.
After a few minutes, she found what she was looking for. Two dark points in the air, close to each other, barely visible, and a bigger one nearby. She flew closer to the dots and tried to reach out with her power, to see what they were.
An explosion, filling the air with debris as her hair whipped back. She was buffeted by the incoming dust, being forced backwards by the wind for a second before she managed to stop herself.
As the sky cleared, she searched the pale blue horizon for the three dots again. Except, now there were only two.
Her power level climbed, and she let her dark hair whip around her face, the strands blowing back in the wind. The two dots disappeared, and it took a few minutes to see them again.
[They're in the city...]
[Damn, that'll make it harder.] Too many distractions in there. Too many people to get in the way.
She changed direction, heading down, down, down, at an almost terrifying speed, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of where they were before they disappeared again.
* * * * *
He was feeling pretty damned good as he put his foot down hard on the gas pedal. A raise, a promotion, a car, a secretary, and a pretty damn sexy one too. The new boss really was too lenient. He was going to put on the speed today, and if the police caught him, screw the police.
He was still putting on speed when he saw the two people standing in the middle of the air, dead ahead.
[Oh, shit.]
He put on the emergency brakes, struggling to stop the car before he hit them. The tires squealed noisily, leaving black marks all over the road. Just as he thought that they were all going to die, the car stopped, two inches from the taller one's knee.
"Dammit!" He screamed, opening the window and leaning out, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
The tall one looked at him calmly. He cringed despite himself, inwardly wondering what he had gotten himself into. The tall one punched his windshield, his arm shattering the glass, his hand on his throat, clamping down hard.
[Oh, _shit_!]
* * * * *
He could sense her arrival, hear the footsteps, almost see the face, but he ignored it, continuing to choke the man.
"It's been a long time, Shiranai." He said, calmly, as the man at the end of his arm beginning to making gagging noises, "What name do you go by now?"
She didn't flinch, although he could imagine the surprise going through her head, "Put him down."
He obliged, dropping the man. He fell with an audible thump, "Congratulations," He smiled, "You've learned the art of iciness over the last three years."
"Who the fuck are you?"
He smiled. It startled her a little, the way the edges of his lips curved up, but the way his eyes still stayed so cold...
[Just like Seventeen.]
"Isn't it obvious?" He said, turning around to face her, waiting for a reaction.
"...."
Author's Note: Please review, people. You have no idea how much it helps.
