___Chapter 54___
She tried to close her eyes again, but it was to no avail- she couldn't sleep. Whenever her lids shut, she saw that forest again, the same image and numbness that had hovered in what was left of her mind for five hundred years, and she jerked out of it in a cold sweat.
Oboe sighed, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, feeling that familiar sense that'd haunted every night of her young, earthbound life. It was setting in again...
At that point she just nuzzled her face into the grass, the smell and warmth of her homeworld calming her, and had almost drifted off when she suddenly went cold. Oboe's ears twitched at the silence in the air, the knowledge that hers was the only heartbeat she could hear, and the realization of Piccolo's death hit her hard. Without a sound, the namekian woman's eyes flew wide, glazed over.
---
Gohan awoke from a dream where he was a little child chasing Piccolo-san to the sound of screaming. He jerked up, startling Lute awake, and turned his head around quickly, trying to figure out where the unearthly sound was coming from before his eyes settled on a shaking, whispering/whimpering form in the small patch of shadow they had.
The halfling boy's eyes were unreadable, save for a strange, understanding sadness as he shook the poor woman awake. He didn't know much namekian, but there'd been a few words in there he'd recognized, like his sensei's name.
"Hey, Oboe, snap out of it..." he whispered, just a bit afraid. Then she jerked around, staring straight at him with those big blue eyes, but no light reflected off them, the pupils dilated, and Gohan lost his nerve, fleeing a couple feet away behind Vegeta's little house-thing.
"Gohan-san, what's going on? Where are you? Are you ther- ANOCHA!" Lute's little voice rang out as he looked around, forgetting his earlier train of thought at the sight of his mother.
The halfling swallowed nervously, leaning his head on his hands and thinking to himself {{What to do, what to do...}}
He glanced back over, but at the sight of Oboe's empty eyes, he panicked again, biting his lip and staring out at the coast. She was really scaring him, just like she had when she'd blindly hacked Kartak to pieces, just like whenever he saw her after she'd told her story. Oboe had always seemed so harmless, such a sweet little thing... but inside she was crazy, just a paranoid girl who should have died five hundred years ago. She'd found ways to forget herself, but when all that was stripped away......
Gohan stared at his hands, his shaking hands, and bit his lip. He closes his eyes, and prepared to just walk away when-
SLAM!!
Vegeta threw the door open, knocking the halfling soundly into a tailspin.
"Ok, WHAT the hell is the green boy yelling about that's important enough to wake me up??" he hollered, glaring at the person he'd knocked flat on his ass. Gohan glared at him, and was about to respond when the sayian just waltzed past, picked Lute up with one hand, stared him in the face and ordered him to tell what the hell was wrong.
Upon being hefted up in the air, the emerald-eyed boy stared blankly at Vegeta, tears streaking his little face. "Anocha, something's wrong with anocha..."
"STOP SPEAKING THAT CRAP LANGUAGE!!" the sayian shouted, causing the little one to start crying again. The sound of thunder cracked overhead, soot-hued clouds began their assault, darkening the sky, and the sky opened up, as if Nameksei itself was crying. Vegeta ignored the rain that hit his unprotected scalp, and was about to yell again when he locked eyes with him. Lute's face was flushed, and he was sobbing bitterly, pounding on Vegeta's arm with his fists. He'd never really looked at the kid's face, but now that Lute's normal silliness was gone, he really did look just like....
Vegeta dropped him like a ton of bricks, biting his lip. Lute just clamped his eyes shut, clenched his little fists, and bawled, causing Vegeta to stumble backward till he bumped into something. It was Oboe, still comatose. And those eleven little words echoed in his head-
"Hey Vegeta, you take care of Oboe while I'm gone, ok?"
He glanced down at her, and back towards Lute, but the kid wasn't there anymore, he was sitting on Gohan's lap and getting rocked back and forth, the halfling whispering "It's alright, it's alright...." while stroking his little head. That resolved, he looked back to Oboe, and kneeled down, uneasily.
Truthfully, next to her was one of the last places he wanted to be right now, but that's what he'd promised.....
---
Lost.
Very lost.
The namekisan-jin man was getting rather unnerved by this point. Piccolo was nowhere to be seen, and he'd gotten a shiver down his spine just a minute ago. Neru was getting scared.
He'd tried to meditate, but hadn't been able to collect his thoughts, which made that impossible. He'd tried thinking about other things, but after recalling his past so shortly ago, he just kept seeing all those bodies. He'd tried figuring out where they were, but that only hurt his head. He'd tried contacting someone, but no luck.
All he had to do was sit, and try not to think of what it was that was frightening him, deep inside.
---
The furry little bundle trotted in, tail swishing with the happiness warm fur and a full belly brings, holding the stem of an apple in his teeth. He was bringing a gift to a friend.
Kami glanced down when he heard a little 'ooh', and felt someone tug on his robe. It was Bubbles, sitting up and holding out a small green fruit.
The old god knelt down, a confused look to his face as he asked "Yes, what is it?"
Bubbles just 'ooh'ed again, pushing the apple into his hand, and making a gesture that meant 'eat it'
A soft smile crossed his wrinkled face, and he patted the simian's head gently, saying "Well, thank you, little one. That was generous of you." Standing up, he laid the gift gently on the windowsill and added "But I'm not hungry right now, I'll keep it here until I am. Alright?"
This seemed to satisfy the small ape, and with a happy look to his face, he totted back outside. Kami-sama just sighed, a smile still lighting his lips, but it faded when he glanced back to the figure in the corner. With a sad sigh, he leaned back on his staff, feeling considerably older than he had a minute ago.
"Child, don't give up."
---
Piccolo didn't hear his words though, he was lost in the plain of nothingness known as.... whatever.
"GODDAMNIT!!!" he screamed, getting aggravated by this point. He'd lost all track of space and time, and was currently trying to quell a rising sense of panic. If this place was just like the Room of Spirit and Time, he might never find his way back, might never see his friends again, or Lute, or.... Oboe.
{{Calm down, there's got to be a way out of this}} his logic tried to reason, but he couldn't calm down, no matter what he tried. It pissed him off, but there was literally nothing he could do (short of knocking himself out) to keep the emotion out of his face and voice.
---
The rain fell lightly, then hard, around the little shelter between rock and trees, which shaded the two forms from it. Vegeta was speaking quietly, not knowing if she could hear him, not knowing if he was doing any good, only knowing that he'd promised, and that he wouldn't be able to face his friend if he didn't do SOMETHING.
---
Everything had a melancholy air to it, Gohan observed from the window of Vegeta's little capsule house, which he'd moved into. It wasn't very big, no more than the size of a normal room, but it was enough to keep them out of the storm.
Remembering his companion, Gohan shifted Lute's sleeping form. The kid had cried himself to sleep... The halfling sighed, re-adjusting the weight against his chest, making sure not to wake him. He watched the little one twitch slightly, and smiled at how Lute's face, usually so impish/elfish, had a more innocent tone with those big eyes closed.
Gohan let his attention wander back outside, wondering what was going on with Oboe.
---
The three rested in the shade of a wall briefly, to collect their thoughts before going off again. The two halflings, however, just crashed asleep before they hit the ground, and Dende had to shake them up.
"Comeon guys, we've still got work to do!"
"*grumbles* I'm still hungry...."
"Yeah, I know Goten, *also grumbles* Mom had to go ruin it for us..."
"Oh stop it, bakas. *hoists them up* it's time to get going."
"AWWW!!!"
"Stop whining you two!"
"Yeah, and this coming from a guy in a dress."
"HEY!"
---
He knew he wasn't doing much good. She hadn't even looked in his direction to acknowledge him, just kept staring ahead. The sayian sighed to himself. Great. Now he was getting soaked for nothing.
Still.....
{{Damn Piccolo}} he murmured, {{I hope you're fairing better than I am, friend.}}
---
"Hey, Tien?"
"Yeah?"
"You ever thought about death?"
"... I try not to."
"I have, sometimes. Thought about it more when I learned Bulma had left me for..... him."
::silence::
"I'd be more comforting, but we're sorta toting a ton plus block above us, so there goes the pat on the back."
"It's ok, I'm fine now, really."
"... your sure, Yumcha?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Alright. Because if you've ever got to talk to someone, I'll be open, ok?"
"Sure Tien, thanks. *smiles* "
"Ok, block down! Alley OOP!"
*thunk*
"AAAHHH!!!! MY FOOT!!!!"
"*both sweatdrop* sorry Goku...."
~~~NOTE~~ well, it's been a long time since I've updated, because of other stuff, school, working on "the journals of a young boy" and "disconnected" (two up-and-coming ficcies of mine), national crises, and one helluva case of writer's block, but after seeing the reaction to "footprints"- well, it seems you do all still care about me //.^ Ciao. ~~~
She tried to close her eyes again, but it was to no avail- she couldn't sleep. Whenever her lids shut, she saw that forest again, the same image and numbness that had hovered in what was left of her mind for five hundred years, and she jerked out of it in a cold sweat.
Oboe sighed, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, feeling that familiar sense that'd haunted every night of her young, earthbound life. It was setting in again...
At that point she just nuzzled her face into the grass, the smell and warmth of her homeworld calming her, and had almost drifted off when she suddenly went cold. Oboe's ears twitched at the silence in the air, the knowledge that hers was the only heartbeat she could hear, and the realization of Piccolo's death hit her hard. Without a sound, the namekian woman's eyes flew wide, glazed over.
---
Gohan awoke from a dream where he was a little child chasing Piccolo-san to the sound of screaming. He jerked up, startling Lute awake, and turned his head around quickly, trying to figure out where the unearthly sound was coming from before his eyes settled on a shaking, whispering/whimpering form in the small patch of shadow they had.
The halfling boy's eyes were unreadable, save for a strange, understanding sadness as he shook the poor woman awake. He didn't know much namekian, but there'd been a few words in there he'd recognized, like his sensei's name.
"Hey, Oboe, snap out of it..." he whispered, just a bit afraid. Then she jerked around, staring straight at him with those big blue eyes, but no light reflected off them, the pupils dilated, and Gohan lost his nerve, fleeing a couple feet away behind Vegeta's little house-thing.
"Gohan-san, what's going on? Where are you? Are you ther- ANOCHA!" Lute's little voice rang out as he looked around, forgetting his earlier train of thought at the sight of his mother.
The halfling swallowed nervously, leaning his head on his hands and thinking to himself {{What to do, what to do...}}
He glanced back over, but at the sight of Oboe's empty eyes, he panicked again, biting his lip and staring out at the coast. She was really scaring him, just like she had when she'd blindly hacked Kartak to pieces, just like whenever he saw her after she'd told her story. Oboe had always seemed so harmless, such a sweet little thing... but inside she was crazy, just a paranoid girl who should have died five hundred years ago. She'd found ways to forget herself, but when all that was stripped away......
Gohan stared at his hands, his shaking hands, and bit his lip. He closes his eyes, and prepared to just walk away when-
SLAM!!
Vegeta threw the door open, knocking the halfling soundly into a tailspin.
"Ok, WHAT the hell is the green boy yelling about that's important enough to wake me up??" he hollered, glaring at the person he'd knocked flat on his ass. Gohan glared at him, and was about to respond when the sayian just waltzed past, picked Lute up with one hand, stared him in the face and ordered him to tell what the hell was wrong.
Upon being hefted up in the air, the emerald-eyed boy stared blankly at Vegeta, tears streaking his little face. "Anocha, something's wrong with anocha..."
"STOP SPEAKING THAT CRAP LANGUAGE!!" the sayian shouted, causing the little one to start crying again. The sound of thunder cracked overhead, soot-hued clouds began their assault, darkening the sky, and the sky opened up, as if Nameksei itself was crying. Vegeta ignored the rain that hit his unprotected scalp, and was about to yell again when he locked eyes with him. Lute's face was flushed, and he was sobbing bitterly, pounding on Vegeta's arm with his fists. He'd never really looked at the kid's face, but now that Lute's normal silliness was gone, he really did look just like....
Vegeta dropped him like a ton of bricks, biting his lip. Lute just clamped his eyes shut, clenched his little fists, and bawled, causing Vegeta to stumble backward till he bumped into something. It was Oboe, still comatose. And those eleven little words echoed in his head-
"Hey Vegeta, you take care of Oboe while I'm gone, ok?"
He glanced down at her, and back towards Lute, but the kid wasn't there anymore, he was sitting on Gohan's lap and getting rocked back and forth, the halfling whispering "It's alright, it's alright...." while stroking his little head. That resolved, he looked back to Oboe, and kneeled down, uneasily.
Truthfully, next to her was one of the last places he wanted to be right now, but that's what he'd promised.....
---
Lost.
Very lost.
The namekisan-jin man was getting rather unnerved by this point. Piccolo was nowhere to be seen, and he'd gotten a shiver down his spine just a minute ago. Neru was getting scared.
He'd tried to meditate, but hadn't been able to collect his thoughts, which made that impossible. He'd tried thinking about other things, but after recalling his past so shortly ago, he just kept seeing all those bodies. He'd tried figuring out where they were, but that only hurt his head. He'd tried contacting someone, but no luck.
All he had to do was sit, and try not to think of what it was that was frightening him, deep inside.
---
The furry little bundle trotted in, tail swishing with the happiness warm fur and a full belly brings, holding the stem of an apple in his teeth. He was bringing a gift to a friend.
Kami glanced down when he heard a little 'ooh', and felt someone tug on his robe. It was Bubbles, sitting up and holding out a small green fruit.
The old god knelt down, a confused look to his face as he asked "Yes, what is it?"
Bubbles just 'ooh'ed again, pushing the apple into his hand, and making a gesture that meant 'eat it'
A soft smile crossed his wrinkled face, and he patted the simian's head gently, saying "Well, thank you, little one. That was generous of you." Standing up, he laid the gift gently on the windowsill and added "But I'm not hungry right now, I'll keep it here until I am. Alright?"
This seemed to satisfy the small ape, and with a happy look to his face, he totted back outside. Kami-sama just sighed, a smile still lighting his lips, but it faded when he glanced back to the figure in the corner. With a sad sigh, he leaned back on his staff, feeling considerably older than he had a minute ago.
"Child, don't give up."
---
Piccolo didn't hear his words though, he was lost in the plain of nothingness known as.... whatever.
"GODDAMNIT!!!" he screamed, getting aggravated by this point. He'd lost all track of space and time, and was currently trying to quell a rising sense of panic. If this place was just like the Room of Spirit and Time, he might never find his way back, might never see his friends again, or Lute, or.... Oboe.
{{Calm down, there's got to be a way out of this}} his logic tried to reason, but he couldn't calm down, no matter what he tried. It pissed him off, but there was literally nothing he could do (short of knocking himself out) to keep the emotion out of his face and voice.
---
The rain fell lightly, then hard, around the little shelter between rock and trees, which shaded the two forms from it. Vegeta was speaking quietly, not knowing if she could hear him, not knowing if he was doing any good, only knowing that he'd promised, and that he wouldn't be able to face his friend if he didn't do SOMETHING.
---
Everything had a melancholy air to it, Gohan observed from the window of Vegeta's little capsule house, which he'd moved into. It wasn't very big, no more than the size of a normal room, but it was enough to keep them out of the storm.
Remembering his companion, Gohan shifted Lute's sleeping form. The kid had cried himself to sleep... The halfling sighed, re-adjusting the weight against his chest, making sure not to wake him. He watched the little one twitch slightly, and smiled at how Lute's face, usually so impish/elfish, had a more innocent tone with those big eyes closed.
Gohan let his attention wander back outside, wondering what was going on with Oboe.
---
The three rested in the shade of a wall briefly, to collect their thoughts before going off again. The two halflings, however, just crashed asleep before they hit the ground, and Dende had to shake them up.
"Comeon guys, we've still got work to do!"
"*grumbles* I'm still hungry...."
"Yeah, I know Goten, *also grumbles* Mom had to go ruin it for us..."
"Oh stop it, bakas. *hoists them up* it's time to get going."
"AWWW!!!"
"Stop whining you two!"
"Yeah, and this coming from a guy in a dress."
"HEY!"
---
He knew he wasn't doing much good. She hadn't even looked in his direction to acknowledge him, just kept staring ahead. The sayian sighed to himself. Great. Now he was getting soaked for nothing.
Still.....
{{Damn Piccolo}} he murmured, {{I hope you're fairing better than I am, friend.}}
---
"Hey, Tien?"
"Yeah?"
"You ever thought about death?"
"... I try not to."
"I have, sometimes. Thought about it more when I learned Bulma had left me for..... him."
::silence::
"I'd be more comforting, but we're sorta toting a ton plus block above us, so there goes the pat on the back."
"It's ok, I'm fine now, really."
"... your sure, Yumcha?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Alright. Because if you've ever got to talk to someone, I'll be open, ok?"
"Sure Tien, thanks. *smiles* "
"Ok, block down! Alley OOP!"
*thunk*
"AAAHHH!!!! MY FOOT!!!!"
"*both sweatdrop* sorry Goku...."
~~~NOTE~~ well, it's been a long time since I've updated, because of other stuff, school, working on "the journals of a young boy" and "disconnected" (two up-and-coming ficcies of mine), national crises, and one helluva case of writer's block, but after seeing the reaction to "footprints"- well, it seems you do all still care about me //.^ Ciao. ~~~