The Mystery Within
Part I - Prelude to Terror
by namek kaia
Disclaimer: I own nothing except original characters and attacks. And don't use them without my permission. You won't like the consequences.
Chapter Seven - Rock Bottom
She hesitated, not really knowing where to start. There were so many things to be said. Where does it start? She didn't have to think long before Piccolo spoke. She didn't exactly hear him, still lost in her thoughts of her life, trying to decide where to begin. Hearing his voice again, she was thrown from her thoughts. "Huh?" she asked, reading the expression on his face. He was getting frustrated. He didn't like having to repeat himself.
"Your father... he's not your birth father is he?" he spoke, the agitation evident in his voice.
She looked away, as if in shame, and once again stared into the flares of the fire. "No," she finally stated somberly. Now knowing where to continue from there, she spoke freely, never changing her somber tone.
"I never knew my birth father. Mother never really talked about him much. She always told me it wouldn't do any good to tell me such things that didn't matter. He wasn't coming back, so I shouldn't even think about it. When I was about nine years old, old enough to understand and yet not enough to understand it at all, my mother was killed. Gunned down in a shoot-out she had no part of. Just an innocent by-stander. I understood death, I had seen it many times, but I didn't understand why it had to be her. She had done nothing wrong. I watched her die right there before my very eyes, and I'll never forget it."
Piccolo watched her speak from his seat at the other end of the couch. Remaining silent, and still keeping his gaze on her face. He could see her straining to hold back her emotions as the site of her mother's death became fresh in her mind. But eye contact was never made. Niko continued to look into the fire as if it was the source of the story she told. He listened carefully and never glanced away as she continued.
"I had no other relatives... that I knew of. My mother had family somewhere, but they wanted nothing to do with her, and especially not me. I always figured they hated her because of me. I never knew why for sure. She didn't ever want to talk about it, saying that as long as we had each other nothing else mattered. But I didn't have her anymore. I was sent to an orphanage. But the parents that came to adopt their children always looked over me. No one wanted a nine-year-old child. Eventually I ran away, far into the woods. I thought maybe I could find food in the forest and sleep in a cave somewhere. But that night I had to sleep under the trees, in the rain. It was freezing outside, but I had nowhere else to go. And I sure as hell wasn't going back to the orphanage.
The next morning, I woke up in a warm bed next to the warm fire. And I saw this strange man reading a book in the opposite corner of the room. He looked so strange to me at first. He had blue skin and fiery red-orange hair like I'd never seen before. He was strong. I could tell by the muscles that shaped the arms of his shirt. His leg muscles made his jeans look too tight. But for some reason, I wasn't afraid of him. He air around him was filled with nonchalant kindness. He smiled and asked me what I had been doing out in the woods alone in the freezing cold. I told him about my mother's death and how I had nowhere else to go. He introduced himself only as Alion. Then he promised to take care of me. He gave me food, clothing, and anything else I needed. He even trained me to fight. He lived alone in the woods, so no one ever bothered us. And we lived happily there, without any disturbances, for four years. I had become quite the accomplished fighter and he treated me as if I was his own daughter. And he was like the father I never had the chance to know. The only father I had ever had. That's when they first appeared.
Out of nowhere, without any warning, we heard a blast land near the house. He immediately told me to run through the back door, hide in the woods, and conceal my energy. I did as he told me, but soon returned to help him fight. There were only two of them, but they were strong. We barely escaped with our lives. He told me that they wanted him dead for something he had done on his home planet of Zion. I had never heard of it, but I had never seen anyone that was blue before either, so I knew he couldn't be lying. We moved far away in hopes that they wouldn't find us. This time I had even managed to make a couple of friends, although I never told them that someone was after us. But they managed to find us, and kill my friends, the only friends I had ever really had. The same thing happened at the next place we moved. They came after us and had once again killed all the friends I had made and the first boy I had ever loved. But this time, they had captured me and planned to use me as bait.
And it worked. He came to rescue me, using all the power he could muster in himself to fight them all. I can't remember much of it. During the fight, something snapped in me. Father said I went on an all-out rampage and that we had escaped because of my efforts. He said he was proud of me. It was the first and only time he had said it, and that meant so much to me. This time we moved to the opposite side of the planet, to here. Even if they did find us, it would take them a while to do it. This meant plenty of time for us to train for any unexpected battles. The training was intense for six whole years. Ever since he had started to get weaker in his training, I vowed to protect him as he had done to me. Soon enough he didn't train with me anymore, but I continued to get much stronger on my own.
That's when Zia showed up. Zia was the daughter he was forced to leave behind when he left his planet, and even I considered her family. That's why it was so difficult to fight her. I didn't want to kill her, but there was no way that I was going to lose both a father and a mother. I wasn't about to break my vow to him, not then, not ever. But I did. My pride had taken over me, and I didn't even notice that that bastard had regained his consciousness. It's my fault that he's dead," she finished as she hung her head in shame.
"You haven't told me everything," he stated flatly.
"I've told you everything you need to know!! Are you not satisfied!?! I've spent the past couple of minutes telling you things I've never even thought to tell anyone else! All the things that cause this pain, this suffering! And all you can say is that you want more!?!" she shrieked at him, standing with tears filling her eyes and her face twisted in a strange look of anger and confusion.
"I asked you to tell me what you were hiding from me, and you haven't done that yet," he replied.
"Well dammit, you can just go to hell then. Because I've told you everything that you could possibly want to know. If that's not enough for you, you can just leave. I don't give a damn what you do, just leave me alone," she shouted back at him and once again walked to her room and slammed the door.
Piccolo didn't care. He was just as angry as she was, but for different reasons. He still didn't know the truth about her, and he knew exactly why. She had been lying the whole time.
*****
Piccolo tried to think of a reason to stay, but found none. He still longed to find out what it was she was hiding, but knew it would be no use. She had told him what she wanted him to know and it was a lie. He could tell by her thoughts. As he peeked inside her mind, he could see that she was saying one thing but thinking another. He couldn't see what she was thinking, it was blocked somehow. It was right there if front of him, but he couldn't reach it.
He stepped outside and was slightly stunned by how cold it had gotten. He knew winter was approaching, but he hadn't expected such a dramatic change in the temperature. He had only stayed inside for three days at the most. It seemed very unusual for it to be this cold all of a sudden, even if it was at night. He shrugged it off, thinking the weather usual acted in unexpected ways. Then his sensitive hearing caught on to a sound in the distance. It was the sound of a twig snapping. Someone was in the woods.
But the sounds were getting further away from the house, not closer to them. Who would be leaving her house? He was sure only himself and Niko had been in the house. And Niko was probably still locked up in her room. Could it be him? The one who hid his face in that hood that Piccolo had grown to despise so much? Had he been there watching Niko? Piccolo forgot these questions as soon as he thought them. It didn't matter, he had to follow and see for himself. If it were in fact the hooded figure, his ugly face would be revealed at last. Piccolo would see to that. Without a moment of hesitation, he began to follow the sounds as quietly as he could without exposing his energy.
Finally he had caught up to the person that had made the sounds, and noticed that they had been following a wide stream for quite some time. He watched them as they stopped at the rocks' ledge where the cold water of the stream fell into the icy pond below. The water had not completely frozen yet, but it was still littered with small chunks of ice. He continued, trying to get a look at the one he had been following, with the moon being his only source of light. He couldn't see well, but his sharp Namekian eyes allowed him to see a curvaceous, but toned frame... a woman. He continued to walk towards her as her soft hair blew in the slight breeze. He could tell she was shivering from the cold. "Niko?" he dared to speak.
After only a moment of silence she replied, "I thought I told you to leave me alone. You shouldn't have followed me. But it doesn't matter, you can't stop me."
A wave of fear was sent through his entire body. "Niko, you're not gonna..." he paused, not able to bring himself to even say it.
"It's the only way Piccolo, don't you see that? If the impact doesn't kill me, then the coldness of the water will," she said confirming what he couldn't manage to speak.
"Don't be stupid. You don't have to do this. Please, Niko, come with me and we'll go back inside, where it's warm. You don't even have a jacket on. Please come with me," he pleaded for the first time in his life. Then he noticed something glimmering in the moonlight. It was a necklace that she held in her hand. A golden crescent moon charm hung from the chain. He had never noticed that she even had it before.
"No. I have to do this. You know it's the only way, just think about it. You know I'm right."
"No, Niko. You're not thinking clearly. This isn't necessary. Now please come with me," he said, this time moving closer and offering her his hand.
"You don't understand. There are thousands of them, millions. There's no way we can beat them all, not even if everyone fought. The earth is doomed, and it's because of me. It's me they want revenge on. Well, if I'm dead they won't have to kill me. You see, it makes perfect sense," she explained in a voice that neither of them recognized. It was as if she had become a different person.
"We can fight them, and win. We've been through much worse than these weaklings before. We can handle it, Niko. Everything will be fine. I promise you that."
"You can't promise me anything! You know nothing of what you speak. It's not the weaklings we've been fighting that I'm concerned about. There are much stronger beings, and a lot of them. It won't be long before they reach earth. They won't bother trying to look for me; they'll just destroy the whole planet. I won't let that happen. I won't give them a reason to come here. They killed my friends, my family, anyone I've ever cared about. And it's my fault. I couldn't save them, and now they're all dead. Well no more. I won't let them kill anymore innocent people because of me. It ends here Piccolo. I have nothing else to live for except to bring chaos to this planet. So stop trying to change my mind." With that she then extended her arms and tilted over the edge.
Piccolo rushed to her, catching her left hand with his sore arm. He attempted to pull her back up, but his arm burned in protest. "I told you that you can't stop me. Now let me go!" she shouted and punched the wound on his chest before his other hand could reach her. He doubled over in pain and watched in horror as Niko willing fell to her icy death.
Pronunciation Guide:
Alion: uh-leye-un
Zion: zee-on
**Rules to Pronunciation Guide** Okay in this story, if you aren't sure how to pronounce something then use the following rules. Rules may not always apply. *All A's have a short A sound as in cat. *All I's have a long I sound as in ice. *All E's have a short E sound as in pet. *All O's have a short O sound as in on. *All U's have a long U sound as in tuba. *All consonants have their original sound (c's will not sound like s's).
If these basic rules don't apply, I'll still provide the Pronunciation Guide to help you.
Thanx for all of your support so far. Sorry to leave you with kind of a cliffhanger, but that's just how it worked out. I think most of you will really enjoy the next chapter, or at least I hope. Don't forget to review!
Part I - Prelude to Terror
by namek kaia
Disclaimer: I own nothing except original characters and attacks. And don't use them without my permission. You won't like the consequences.
Chapter Seven - Rock Bottom
She hesitated, not really knowing where to start. There were so many things to be said. Where does it start? She didn't have to think long before Piccolo spoke. She didn't exactly hear him, still lost in her thoughts of her life, trying to decide where to begin. Hearing his voice again, she was thrown from her thoughts. "Huh?" she asked, reading the expression on his face. He was getting frustrated. He didn't like having to repeat himself.
"Your father... he's not your birth father is he?" he spoke, the agitation evident in his voice.
She looked away, as if in shame, and once again stared into the flares of the fire. "No," she finally stated somberly. Now knowing where to continue from there, she spoke freely, never changing her somber tone.
"I never knew my birth father. Mother never really talked about him much. She always told me it wouldn't do any good to tell me such things that didn't matter. He wasn't coming back, so I shouldn't even think about it. When I was about nine years old, old enough to understand and yet not enough to understand it at all, my mother was killed. Gunned down in a shoot-out she had no part of. Just an innocent by-stander. I understood death, I had seen it many times, but I didn't understand why it had to be her. She had done nothing wrong. I watched her die right there before my very eyes, and I'll never forget it."
Piccolo watched her speak from his seat at the other end of the couch. Remaining silent, and still keeping his gaze on her face. He could see her straining to hold back her emotions as the site of her mother's death became fresh in her mind. But eye contact was never made. Niko continued to look into the fire as if it was the source of the story she told. He listened carefully and never glanced away as she continued.
"I had no other relatives... that I knew of. My mother had family somewhere, but they wanted nothing to do with her, and especially not me. I always figured they hated her because of me. I never knew why for sure. She didn't ever want to talk about it, saying that as long as we had each other nothing else mattered. But I didn't have her anymore. I was sent to an orphanage. But the parents that came to adopt their children always looked over me. No one wanted a nine-year-old child. Eventually I ran away, far into the woods. I thought maybe I could find food in the forest and sleep in a cave somewhere. But that night I had to sleep under the trees, in the rain. It was freezing outside, but I had nowhere else to go. And I sure as hell wasn't going back to the orphanage.
The next morning, I woke up in a warm bed next to the warm fire. And I saw this strange man reading a book in the opposite corner of the room. He looked so strange to me at first. He had blue skin and fiery red-orange hair like I'd never seen before. He was strong. I could tell by the muscles that shaped the arms of his shirt. His leg muscles made his jeans look too tight. But for some reason, I wasn't afraid of him. He air around him was filled with nonchalant kindness. He smiled and asked me what I had been doing out in the woods alone in the freezing cold. I told him about my mother's death and how I had nowhere else to go. He introduced himself only as Alion. Then he promised to take care of me. He gave me food, clothing, and anything else I needed. He even trained me to fight. He lived alone in the woods, so no one ever bothered us. And we lived happily there, without any disturbances, for four years. I had become quite the accomplished fighter and he treated me as if I was his own daughter. And he was like the father I never had the chance to know. The only father I had ever had. That's when they first appeared.
Out of nowhere, without any warning, we heard a blast land near the house. He immediately told me to run through the back door, hide in the woods, and conceal my energy. I did as he told me, but soon returned to help him fight. There were only two of them, but they were strong. We barely escaped with our lives. He told me that they wanted him dead for something he had done on his home planet of Zion. I had never heard of it, but I had never seen anyone that was blue before either, so I knew he couldn't be lying. We moved far away in hopes that they wouldn't find us. This time I had even managed to make a couple of friends, although I never told them that someone was after us. But they managed to find us, and kill my friends, the only friends I had ever really had. The same thing happened at the next place we moved. They came after us and had once again killed all the friends I had made and the first boy I had ever loved. But this time, they had captured me and planned to use me as bait.
And it worked. He came to rescue me, using all the power he could muster in himself to fight them all. I can't remember much of it. During the fight, something snapped in me. Father said I went on an all-out rampage and that we had escaped because of my efforts. He said he was proud of me. It was the first and only time he had said it, and that meant so much to me. This time we moved to the opposite side of the planet, to here. Even if they did find us, it would take them a while to do it. This meant plenty of time for us to train for any unexpected battles. The training was intense for six whole years. Ever since he had started to get weaker in his training, I vowed to protect him as he had done to me. Soon enough he didn't train with me anymore, but I continued to get much stronger on my own.
That's when Zia showed up. Zia was the daughter he was forced to leave behind when he left his planet, and even I considered her family. That's why it was so difficult to fight her. I didn't want to kill her, but there was no way that I was going to lose both a father and a mother. I wasn't about to break my vow to him, not then, not ever. But I did. My pride had taken over me, and I didn't even notice that that bastard had regained his consciousness. It's my fault that he's dead," she finished as she hung her head in shame.
"You haven't told me everything," he stated flatly.
"I've told you everything you need to know!! Are you not satisfied!?! I've spent the past couple of minutes telling you things I've never even thought to tell anyone else! All the things that cause this pain, this suffering! And all you can say is that you want more!?!" she shrieked at him, standing with tears filling her eyes and her face twisted in a strange look of anger and confusion.
"I asked you to tell me what you were hiding from me, and you haven't done that yet," he replied.
"Well dammit, you can just go to hell then. Because I've told you everything that you could possibly want to know. If that's not enough for you, you can just leave. I don't give a damn what you do, just leave me alone," she shouted back at him and once again walked to her room and slammed the door.
Piccolo didn't care. He was just as angry as she was, but for different reasons. He still didn't know the truth about her, and he knew exactly why. She had been lying the whole time.
*****
Piccolo tried to think of a reason to stay, but found none. He still longed to find out what it was she was hiding, but knew it would be no use. She had told him what she wanted him to know and it was a lie. He could tell by her thoughts. As he peeked inside her mind, he could see that she was saying one thing but thinking another. He couldn't see what she was thinking, it was blocked somehow. It was right there if front of him, but he couldn't reach it.
He stepped outside and was slightly stunned by how cold it had gotten. He knew winter was approaching, but he hadn't expected such a dramatic change in the temperature. He had only stayed inside for three days at the most. It seemed very unusual for it to be this cold all of a sudden, even if it was at night. He shrugged it off, thinking the weather usual acted in unexpected ways. Then his sensitive hearing caught on to a sound in the distance. It was the sound of a twig snapping. Someone was in the woods.
But the sounds were getting further away from the house, not closer to them. Who would be leaving her house? He was sure only himself and Niko had been in the house. And Niko was probably still locked up in her room. Could it be him? The one who hid his face in that hood that Piccolo had grown to despise so much? Had he been there watching Niko? Piccolo forgot these questions as soon as he thought them. It didn't matter, he had to follow and see for himself. If it were in fact the hooded figure, his ugly face would be revealed at last. Piccolo would see to that. Without a moment of hesitation, he began to follow the sounds as quietly as he could without exposing his energy.
Finally he had caught up to the person that had made the sounds, and noticed that they had been following a wide stream for quite some time. He watched them as they stopped at the rocks' ledge where the cold water of the stream fell into the icy pond below. The water had not completely frozen yet, but it was still littered with small chunks of ice. He continued, trying to get a look at the one he had been following, with the moon being his only source of light. He couldn't see well, but his sharp Namekian eyes allowed him to see a curvaceous, but toned frame... a woman. He continued to walk towards her as her soft hair blew in the slight breeze. He could tell she was shivering from the cold. "Niko?" he dared to speak.
After only a moment of silence she replied, "I thought I told you to leave me alone. You shouldn't have followed me. But it doesn't matter, you can't stop me."
A wave of fear was sent through his entire body. "Niko, you're not gonna..." he paused, not able to bring himself to even say it.
"It's the only way Piccolo, don't you see that? If the impact doesn't kill me, then the coldness of the water will," she said confirming what he couldn't manage to speak.
"Don't be stupid. You don't have to do this. Please, Niko, come with me and we'll go back inside, where it's warm. You don't even have a jacket on. Please come with me," he pleaded for the first time in his life. Then he noticed something glimmering in the moonlight. It was a necklace that she held in her hand. A golden crescent moon charm hung from the chain. He had never noticed that she even had it before.
"No. I have to do this. You know it's the only way, just think about it. You know I'm right."
"No, Niko. You're not thinking clearly. This isn't necessary. Now please come with me," he said, this time moving closer and offering her his hand.
"You don't understand. There are thousands of them, millions. There's no way we can beat them all, not even if everyone fought. The earth is doomed, and it's because of me. It's me they want revenge on. Well, if I'm dead they won't have to kill me. You see, it makes perfect sense," she explained in a voice that neither of them recognized. It was as if she had become a different person.
"We can fight them, and win. We've been through much worse than these weaklings before. We can handle it, Niko. Everything will be fine. I promise you that."
"You can't promise me anything! You know nothing of what you speak. It's not the weaklings we've been fighting that I'm concerned about. There are much stronger beings, and a lot of them. It won't be long before they reach earth. They won't bother trying to look for me; they'll just destroy the whole planet. I won't let that happen. I won't give them a reason to come here. They killed my friends, my family, anyone I've ever cared about. And it's my fault. I couldn't save them, and now they're all dead. Well no more. I won't let them kill anymore innocent people because of me. It ends here Piccolo. I have nothing else to live for except to bring chaos to this planet. So stop trying to change my mind." With that she then extended her arms and tilted over the edge.
Piccolo rushed to her, catching her left hand with his sore arm. He attempted to pull her back up, but his arm burned in protest. "I told you that you can't stop me. Now let me go!" she shouted and punched the wound on his chest before his other hand could reach her. He doubled over in pain and watched in horror as Niko willing fell to her icy death.
Pronunciation Guide:
Alion: uh-leye-un
Zion: zee-on
**Rules to Pronunciation Guide** Okay in this story, if you aren't sure how to pronounce something then use the following rules. Rules may not always apply. *All A's have a short A sound as in cat. *All I's have a long I sound as in ice. *All E's have a short E sound as in pet. *All O's have a short O sound as in on. *All U's have a long U sound as in tuba. *All consonants have their original sound (c's will not sound like s's).
If these basic rules don't apply, I'll still provide the Pronunciation Guide to help you.
Thanx for all of your support so far. Sorry to leave you with kind of a cliffhanger, but that's just how it worked out. I think most of you will really enjoy the next chapter, or at least I hope. Don't forget to review!
