What Goes Up
Vegeta walked into the room just as Serena woke up. She looked like she might cry, but no tears would come. She kept her eyes closed, so for a moment Vegita thought she was still asleep, but she moaned softly, and pulled the blanket to her chest, hitting the pillow with weakened fury.
"No… why…" she whispered softly to herself.
In that moment, Vegita felt that he connected with the girl somehow. He knew her pain, who she was. She was a girl who had been severed from something so close to her- like him. She was a stranger in an alien land- like him. She needed to regain her old glory- like him.
She opened her eyes and saw him.
"V-Vegita… I was dreaming…" she didn't find the words to finish, and tears did begin to come to her eyes.
Vegita did not know how to comfort. He faked it.
"About what?" he asked, as he strode to the bed softly and sat down, leaving as small a gap as he would risk and as large a gap as he could bear.
Serena took a deep calming breath, "I was with Darian… th- the boy I love-"
Vegita's heart sunk.
"-he… he was with me. HE LOVED ME BACK!" she yelled, and then flung herself down onto the pillow and sobbed, not getting any words out, and being so ashamed for her lack of self-control.
Vegita reached to put a hand on her shoulder, then stopped. He could not touch her. His touch would mean nothing. It would be the sad attempt to comfort the heart of a girl that he barely knew. Once again, someone else was greater than him, too strong for him to beat, but this time he had no image to hate, no person to strive against, and he was so powerless that he too wanted to cry, but he didn't.
"I'm sorry," he croaked out. That was a foolish phrase. But then, he wasn't exactly acting like a stark raving intellectual genius in any of his actions lately, was he?
Serena sat up, and for a moment the river of tears dried up, because she saw that somehow her pain was hurting him. She was very altruistic, and had a big enough heart to do a lot for the healing of a person.
"Oh, it's not your fault," she consoled.
Vegita looked at her. By any sane person's standards she looked terrible. Her nose was running, her hair wasn't done, tears had stained her cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot. Yet, to Vegita, she seemed like female beauty personified. He had no idea that kind of infatuation was in him, but it was a wonderful thing to feel- giddy and childish maybe, but wonderful.
"I know, I mean sympathetic sorry, not apologetic sorry," he answered.
Serena grinned. 'The most fabulous smile,' thought Vegita, not noticing the little rhyme he had just made that she found so amusing.
"Let me guess, you're a poet and you didn't know it?" she asked, and then burst out laughing.
Vegita had no idea how the previous statement applied to him, but when you've just had a bout with depression and lost miserably, you're a wide target for an infectious laugh. Serena's was a regular epidemic, thought there were only two people around to catch it.
They sat there laughing, then laughing at each other's laughing, then laughing just because it filled them with something good when for so long they had been full of something vile, and for a moment they forgot everything and were happy together.
Finally the laughter died, and Serena, feeling contented, made a cooing sound and wrapped herself in the blanket and lay back down.
"So what are we going to do?" she asked, and her voice was tired and beautiful to Vegita.
"You should rest. I'm going to go talk to the innkeeper and see if I can find out where we are." The words came out sounding so much more purposeful and leader-like than Vegita felt, but he was proud of them once he got them said. His pride was short lived.
"No, I feel better now. I think I'm going to take a shower, and then we can go for a walk, and I'll tell you what I know about his place. How about it, hm? Oh, and don't bother talking to the innkeeper. You'll probably scare him more than you learn anything." She said all this as she walked to the bathroom and shut the door.
Vegita was a bit stunned by the suddenness of her apparent knowledge about everything, so he didn't get upset over the statement that he was scary, but he still felt a little crushed at his brilliant idea being dashed to pieces.
While Serena was in the shower, Vegita sat on the edge of the bed and twiddled his thumbs. It wasn't that he couldn't have found something to do, but he wanted to think of something to say or do that would impress Serena. He had no experience in this area, and no idea what to do. All his imaginings ended up being fantasies of kissing her that gave him no further idea on what to do in reality, but were entertaining enough.
He was severely out of it when she came out of the bathroom. That was fortunate, because she had had a brain lapse of her own and completely forgotten that a male was present. She came out wrapping herself in a towel. She had tossed her outfit out of the bathroom once she had taken it off. Normally she would have had some clothes to change into inside the bathroom, and her old habits took over. She also wouldn't have had to worry about being seen barely in a towel either. She had begun to drop it when she saw Vegita, slumped on the bed, his eyes so glazed over she panicked for a minute thinking he had died.
Her startled movement snapped Vegita out of his trance.
"Oh! Sorry… um…" he coughed, and muttered something that could have been, "I'll go get the Corn Nuts, shall I?" as easily as, "Excuse me," and walked out of the room.
Serena watched him go with her eyes wide open and eyebrows raised, and when he had shut the door, she stared at it for a moment.
Outside, Vegita walked away, the red beginning to ebb from his cheeks, when he stopped and looked back at the door. For that second they were both staring directly at each other, but the didn't know it. The embarrassing strangeness of the situation got to them both, and not being able to help themselves, they started to laugh.
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Three days had passed and Vegita and Serena were comfortable together. Very comfortable. They went to watch plays together, and Vegita discovered a taste that he had not known about himself for such things. Serena explained to him about the Silver Millenium and showed him some of the sites. More and more she left out any mention of Darian, and never explained his connection to Endymion. It was something she didn't like to think about, and the dream kept recurring, though with less frequency and vivid detail. Eventually it became a ghost of a memory of pain, with nothing more than the ability to wake her up at night and make her think of Vegita for comfort.
It was obvious that he felt things for her, and he didn't do much to hide it. They didn't have anything to do but spend time with each other, so in three days, Serena had started to like Vegita. She didn't love him, and she knew deep down that she didn't need him, but she could bring herself to want him and like him. That was good enough for her, but not, she feared, for Vegita.
He did want more than he was getting from her. He wanted her to be his girlfriend, but he sensed that she was only suppressing her feelings for this boy that she had left behind in a past reality. He didn't know that those feelings were cut off by a separation that was broader than this reality gulf, but he couldn't know unless she told him.
'Why do things have to be so complicated?!' she thought.
Finally, she decided to end the complications, whatever way she could.
Her and Vegita were walking home from a nice play about young woman who saw terrible futures that she made come true, and was finally able to be free from them when she met man who was the only premonition she'd had that wasn't evil. The play ended with them kissing for the first time in reality, and everyone had thought it was a wonderful love story and held their respective amours close. The whole theatre seemed to have been filled with couples. Vegita and Serena had held each other, partly out of nothing else to do, partly out of an unspoken desire to be romantic.
As they walked, they held hands and talked about the play.
"That was so romantic," Serena commented.
"A little sappy," Vegita said, though he had been touched too.
Serena just smiled and let her eyes follow the lines on the sidewalk. They came to a deserted corner and she stopped. They didn't say anything. Vegita simply looked at her and she looked back at him. Clumsily, haltingly, making short movements, the came close and embraced, gazing into each others eyes.
"It's been a long time since…" she started, then trailed off, looking away. She was baiting him.
He bit. "Since what?"
"Since I've been kissed," she finished, then looked back at him again. She found a surprised look waiting for her. He hadn't expected anything so forthcoming so soon, but his blood raced and he was moved by an ever-deepening ardor. Slowly he closed his eyes, leaned forward, and met her halfway. At first it was awkward- he had never done this before- but slowly he opened up, and found his place on her lips.
The kissed under a lamppost, then walked back to the inn, his arm on her waist.
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Vegeta walked into the room just as Serena woke up. She looked like she might cry, but no tears would come. She kept her eyes closed, so for a moment Vegita thought she was still asleep, but she moaned softly, and pulled the blanket to her chest, hitting the pillow with weakened fury.
"No… why…" she whispered softly to herself.
In that moment, Vegita felt that he connected with the girl somehow. He knew her pain, who she was. She was a girl who had been severed from something so close to her- like him. She was a stranger in an alien land- like him. She needed to regain her old glory- like him.
She opened her eyes and saw him.
"V-Vegita… I was dreaming…" she didn't find the words to finish, and tears did begin to come to her eyes.
Vegita did not know how to comfort. He faked it.
"About what?" he asked, as he strode to the bed softly and sat down, leaving as small a gap as he would risk and as large a gap as he could bear.
Serena took a deep calming breath, "I was with Darian… th- the boy I love-"
Vegita's heart sunk.
"-he… he was with me. HE LOVED ME BACK!" she yelled, and then flung herself down onto the pillow and sobbed, not getting any words out, and being so ashamed for her lack of self-control.
Vegita reached to put a hand on her shoulder, then stopped. He could not touch her. His touch would mean nothing. It would be the sad attempt to comfort the heart of a girl that he barely knew. Once again, someone else was greater than him, too strong for him to beat, but this time he had no image to hate, no person to strive against, and he was so powerless that he too wanted to cry, but he didn't.
"I'm sorry," he croaked out. That was a foolish phrase. But then, he wasn't exactly acting like a stark raving intellectual genius in any of his actions lately, was he?
Serena sat up, and for a moment the river of tears dried up, because she saw that somehow her pain was hurting him. She was very altruistic, and had a big enough heart to do a lot for the healing of a person.
"Oh, it's not your fault," she consoled.
Vegita looked at her. By any sane person's standards she looked terrible. Her nose was running, her hair wasn't done, tears had stained her cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot. Yet, to Vegita, she seemed like female beauty personified. He had no idea that kind of infatuation was in him, but it was a wonderful thing to feel- giddy and childish maybe, but wonderful.
"I know, I mean sympathetic sorry, not apologetic sorry," he answered.
Serena grinned. 'The most fabulous smile,' thought Vegita, not noticing the little rhyme he had just made that she found so amusing.
"Let me guess, you're a poet and you didn't know it?" she asked, and then burst out laughing.
Vegita had no idea how the previous statement applied to him, but when you've just had a bout with depression and lost miserably, you're a wide target for an infectious laugh. Serena's was a regular epidemic, thought there were only two people around to catch it.
They sat there laughing, then laughing at each other's laughing, then laughing just because it filled them with something good when for so long they had been full of something vile, and for a moment they forgot everything and were happy together.
Finally the laughter died, and Serena, feeling contented, made a cooing sound and wrapped herself in the blanket and lay back down.
"So what are we going to do?" she asked, and her voice was tired and beautiful to Vegita.
"You should rest. I'm going to go talk to the innkeeper and see if I can find out where we are." The words came out sounding so much more purposeful and leader-like than Vegita felt, but he was proud of them once he got them said. His pride was short lived.
"No, I feel better now. I think I'm going to take a shower, and then we can go for a walk, and I'll tell you what I know about his place. How about it, hm? Oh, and don't bother talking to the innkeeper. You'll probably scare him more than you learn anything." She said all this as she walked to the bathroom and shut the door.
Vegita was a bit stunned by the suddenness of her apparent knowledge about everything, so he didn't get upset over the statement that he was scary, but he still felt a little crushed at his brilliant idea being dashed to pieces.
While Serena was in the shower, Vegita sat on the edge of the bed and twiddled his thumbs. It wasn't that he couldn't have found something to do, but he wanted to think of something to say or do that would impress Serena. He had no experience in this area, and no idea what to do. All his imaginings ended up being fantasies of kissing her that gave him no further idea on what to do in reality, but were entertaining enough.
He was severely out of it when she came out of the bathroom. That was fortunate, because she had had a brain lapse of her own and completely forgotten that a male was present. She came out wrapping herself in a towel. She had tossed her outfit out of the bathroom once she had taken it off. Normally she would have had some clothes to change into inside the bathroom, and her old habits took over. She also wouldn't have had to worry about being seen barely in a towel either. She had begun to drop it when she saw Vegita, slumped on the bed, his eyes so glazed over she panicked for a minute thinking he had died.
Her startled movement snapped Vegita out of his trance.
"Oh! Sorry… um…" he coughed, and muttered something that could have been, "I'll go get the Corn Nuts, shall I?" as easily as, "Excuse me," and walked out of the room.
Serena watched him go with her eyes wide open and eyebrows raised, and when he had shut the door, she stared at it for a moment.
Outside, Vegita walked away, the red beginning to ebb from his cheeks, when he stopped and looked back at the door. For that second they were both staring directly at each other, but the didn't know it. The embarrassing strangeness of the situation got to them both, and not being able to help themselves, they started to laugh.
************************************************************************
Three days had passed and Vegita and Serena were comfortable together. Very comfortable. They went to watch plays together, and Vegita discovered a taste that he had not known about himself for such things. Serena explained to him about the Silver Millenium and showed him some of the sites. More and more she left out any mention of Darian, and never explained his connection to Endymion. It was something she didn't like to think about, and the dream kept recurring, though with less frequency and vivid detail. Eventually it became a ghost of a memory of pain, with nothing more than the ability to wake her up at night and make her think of Vegita for comfort.
It was obvious that he felt things for her, and he didn't do much to hide it. They didn't have anything to do but spend time with each other, so in three days, Serena had started to like Vegita. She didn't love him, and she knew deep down that she didn't need him, but she could bring herself to want him and like him. That was good enough for her, but not, she feared, for Vegita.
He did want more than he was getting from her. He wanted her to be his girlfriend, but he sensed that she was only suppressing her feelings for this boy that she had left behind in a past reality. He didn't know that those feelings were cut off by a separation that was broader than this reality gulf, but he couldn't know unless she told him.
'Why do things have to be so complicated?!' she thought.
Finally, she decided to end the complications, whatever way she could.
Her and Vegita were walking home from a nice play about young woman who saw terrible futures that she made come true, and was finally able to be free from them when she met man who was the only premonition she'd had that wasn't evil. The play ended with them kissing for the first time in reality, and everyone had thought it was a wonderful love story and held their respective amours close. The whole theatre seemed to have been filled with couples. Vegita and Serena had held each other, partly out of nothing else to do, partly out of an unspoken desire to be romantic.
As they walked, they held hands and talked about the play.
"That was so romantic," Serena commented.
"A little sappy," Vegita said, though he had been touched too.
Serena just smiled and let her eyes follow the lines on the sidewalk. They came to a deserted corner and she stopped. They didn't say anything. Vegita simply looked at her and she looked back at him. Clumsily, haltingly, making short movements, the came close and embraced, gazing into each others eyes.
"It's been a long time since…" she started, then trailed off, looking away. She was baiting him.
He bit. "Since what?"
"Since I've been kissed," she finished, then looked back at him again. She found a surprised look waiting for her. He hadn't expected anything so forthcoming so soon, but his blood raced and he was moved by an ever-deepening ardor. Slowly he closed his eyes, leaned forward, and met her halfway. At first it was awkward- he had never done this before- but slowly he opened up, and found his place on her lips.
The kissed under a lamppost, then walked back to the inn, his arm on her waist.
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