Death's Wake 2—A Future of Darkness—Shadow's Story

Chapter 2: Discovered!



I had been spotted. The one thing I was supposed to do was not been seen. I had already screwed up the entire mission. They were all watching me now. I slowly lowered myself to the ground, a few feet away from Trunks who took a wary step back. Other than that no one else made a move, including myself. I was cautious. I didn't know what this people were going to do to me, despite the fact that my parents had told me they wouldn't harm me. What did my parents know? They also said that the Time Machine my Aunt Bulma had built wouldn't malfunction. Well that theory was shot down rather quickly. From behind me, I felt a small tug on my sleeve. I turned around and found my past self gazing at me. She threw her arms around my legs and squeezed tightly.

"Mama!" She cried. I stiffened and gently pried her away.

I shook my head at her. I knew why she had called me 'Mama'. It was true that I looked identical to my mother in every way possible, but my hair was longer. But before I had left, my mother had cut it. It was hard to watch my long silky strands of black hair fall to the floor in heaps.

My father pulled her away from me and frowned at me. "Who are you?" He asked.

I kept silent. I would not reveal my origins so easily.

Trunks looked me in my eyes. "You look just like Angie." He said quietly. He circled me once and then gazed at my past self. But he didn't say anything else.

Vegeta glared at me before turning back to everyone. "Let's go. There's no reason for us to stay here…"

"No…" My father said in a low growl. "Not until we know who she is." Everyone was staring at me again. "Who are you?" He demanded.

Hesitantly, I said, "I can't tell you."

"At least tell us your name." A man with spiked black hair said. I gazed at him. He was my grandfather and I had very vague memories of him.

I shook my head. "I can't tell you, Goku."

He blinked. "Huh? You know me?"

"I know you all: Vegeta, Trunks, Gohan, Goten, Goku, and…" I paused when I came to my past self. "…and Shadow…"

"How do you know us?" Vegeta demanded.

"…I can't say…" I repeated.

"I don't feel like standing here playing "20 Questions" with some stupid girl who somehow knows us." My father said angrily. He was so cold towards me, I was beginning to think of him just as Goten instead of the loving Daddy I had and loved back in my own time.

"I'm not stupid." I responded.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "You seem stupid to me." He growled.

I was quiet for a minute before a familiar thought I had learned long ago popped into my head. "…'We only think that many things are idiotic because they are too advanced for us to comprehend'…"

Trunks' eyes went wide. "Mom's always saying that…" He said in a low voice.

Vegeta was watching me as if I were an untrustworthy enemy. "That does it. Who are you and where are you from?"

"I think a better question is how do you know Bulma?" Goku asked me.

I lowered my gaze to the ground. "…She taught me when I was very young… She's my Aunt…" I said in a nearly silent voice.

That brought forth a murmur. Goten looked furious. I knew why. This was not the appropriate place for me to be. My mother had just died and here I was, an exact duplicate. "We're not going to asked you again."

"Look," I began, "I have no business being here and I'm sorry if I disturbed anything. I'll go if you want me to."

"Then go already." Goten said harshly.

Goku frowned at him. "Goten, don't." Goku said. "She's done nothing wrong."

He turned on his father. "How do you know?!"

"Bro, that's enough," Gohan said gently. "She's only a kid."

Kid, indeed! I was as old as my mother was at the time! I was not a child! And I was ready to tell him so, but my Uncle Gohan was on my side, so I kept silent.

Goten looked down at my past self with a sad glance. "Whatever." He said with a sad sigh. Despite the fact that he was a big jerk, I felt like the little girl in front of me. I wanted to run to him and hug him, comfort him somehow. But I couldn't.

"How old are you?" Trunks asked me.

"Huh?…Oh…Twenty-four…" I hoped silently that it would be enough. But no, I had just made them more curious. God, if you haven't left me by now, please do me the favor of striking me down… I prayed silently as their stares intensified.