CHAPTER SIX THE WHIRLPOOL INSIDE

742 A.D.

Barely a year had passed by before the child Merilyn had endured enough pain and suffering to endure a lifetime. The sparring with the Saiyins, the sophisticated training she did with Cooler, and the lectures from Frieza had manifested a new feeling in her. That feeling was hopelessness and deepening loneliness. Despite her impressive accomplishments and military respect from the warriors amongst her, everything and everybody seemed aloof to her increasing depression. Only Araro and the mysterious Shain saw past the false façade Merilyn presented to the others. Past the outside show of pride and determination laid a sea of deep sadness and disappointment that had began to take charge over her mind. Her increasing smugness and indifference to the outside world was beginning to become something more.something deeper and more terrifying.

Merilyn stood lazily against the wall of the shower pod. The beads of water ran down in spider webs across her shoulders and splayed across her arms. The budding muscles rippled along her biceps and her abdomen. A small drop of water dripped from the tip of her nose as she stood calmly in the steamy mist of the shower. She flinched suddenly and grasped her swollen side in light agony. Her slightly parted lips took quick breaths as her eyes opened to behold the wound. She turned the shower off and grabbed a towel from the rack. She dried her body and lightly powered up, drying her hair. She walked over to the metal bench and sat by the folded uniform laid out there for her. She smiled faintly. Thanks Araro, you were always kind. Grunting, she pulled on the skintight under suit and finished pulling her over dress on top of it. After pulling on the knee boots, she clutched her gloves and limped her way outside of the showering hall to the inner corridor. She found Vegeta and Nappa standing there against the wall holding their clothing. She hadn't noticed that a line had formed behind them. She hadn't been cognizant of anything lately. Ignoring the glares from them, she grunted and marched off with her head bowed down, hiding the pain on her face. Just as she began to turn a corner, she bumped into a hard figure and felt a jab of pain wrench her gut. She cried out and held her side again, slightly dropping to one knee. She felt a hand grab her arm and pull her up with force.

"Hey, watch where you are going fish monger," Shain growled lightly before bringing his eyes to her bruised side. "Are you okay? I'm surprised that you are hurt."

"Don't worry about my problems, okay? Cooler just happened to land a few good ones today. Of course, he happened to do a crimson energy bomb into my side. I will be fine though. I have never felt pain before. It's a little.weird.I guess," murmured Merilyn with her eyes twitching in confusion.

Shain narrowed his crystal blue eyes at her and watched her closely a few minutes before stomping off to the showers. Merilyn didn't like him too much. He was always appearing from nowhere and asking her stupid questions or making cruel remarks towards her fighting performance. Oh well. She didn't have time for him. She needed to see Dr. Gero for a medical check- up and for x-rays. Apparently Cooler broke her leg a few matches ago and it hadn't healed all the way. This surprised her since her healing ability usually took care of anything in a matter of minutes or hours. Merilyn finally entered the medical bay and knocked lightly on the lab door. It hissed open rather silently, letting out rays of a crimson neon glow. Merilyn scrunched up her nose and entered the lab. The lab formed a circle around a large holographic isotope. The isotope was inserted in the machine Dr. Gero called his library catalog of information. It held the files of several medical records and everything that ever existed in the world. It was like a holographic projected computer. Dr. Gero constructed it after finding the core of nuclear energy on the planet Solruil. Merilyn often visited Dr. Gero since Dr. Gero had a strange interest in her genetic structure. He would ramble about strange theories of cloning exact duplicates of DNA codes and of combining DNA with robotics. Madness. Merilyn shrugged and entered the door past the lab into a neon green lit lab. It was the regeneration lab where warriors recovered in regenerative pods. Sometimes it was used to test warriors and their health, their ki levels and what not. She had seen Vegeta and Shain come here often for shots of adrenaline. It seemed stupid to her since she would never let a needle penetrate her skin. It was a deep phobia of hers. She found Dr. Gero testing one of his creations on a metal table. It was some sort of artificial hand with wires and something like veins protruding from the wrist. Merilyn almost fainted at the sight but instead slammed her hand on the table causing the doctor to jump. The doctor gave her a deathly unnatural sneer that almost made Merilyn step back in fear before he grinned almost forcefully.

"Hello, my dear warrior Merilyn, the child of the century. Lord Frieza sent me a transmission saying you would be here for lab tests I believe. You know how he hates waiting so lets get right to it. Give me your arm for a blood sample," explained the doctor as he greedily stared at her bare arm. His needle was in hand and waiting.

"No blood tests, doctor. I only am required for a cerebral x-ray and a ki reading. Got it, doctor?" sneered Merilyn with a raised eyebrow. This old man made her uneasy.

The doctor's face twitched with repressed anger as he forced a knowing grin. Putting his needle away, he quickly placed her inside the glass chamber along the wall. He stuck wires and plugs along her head and limbs with precision. After securing her form, he closed the door and began to type into the console its instructions. A gas vapor fizzed into the chamber and soon Merilyn fell into a deep slumber. The doctor watched her eyes shut and her head sag to her chest then pressed a glowing green key. A holographic projection of the girl's body appeared as the infra- red scanner scoped the girl's body. The doctor's eyes widened as the repetition of beeps from the monitor gained speed. The ki meter was picking up speed with smoke rising from it. Before the ki meter exploded in a fit of sparks, Dr. Gero caught the power reading. He could hardly believe his eyes and quietly examined the health monitor. The reading on the screen also came as a surprise. How could such a thing be, he wondered aloud. If Frieza or even King Cold knew about this, this girl would be. The doctor snapped out of his thoughts as the computer came alive. "Deactivate animation process. Disengaging vapors and all specimens."

The girl had awoken suddenly and in a fit of distress. Her green eyes shot wild daggers before registering where she was. After the tubes disengaged, the girl stumbled out of the chamber and fought to keep consciousness. She grabbed for her heart then her throat. The doctor reached for her arm but she quickly brushed him off with light force. The old man landed on his side near the lab table. Merilyn meant to say something, anything, to end the cold silence but instead teleported from the lab. Silence followed. Merilyn stood in shock inside her little solarium and looked at her bare hands. The gloves were removed before her examination so her pale little hands were bare of protection. They seemed to glow a fluorescent yellow whenever she touched anything. When she felt the doctor, she could see his soul and his mind. The poor man was corrupted with madness and genius. He would turn out to be something awful later in life, if he ever left Frieza that is. As if Frieza could be destroyed. Merilyn felt a small grin cross her lips but felt a deep pain rip into her heart and into her soul. The pain brought a cry from her as she fell to the ground on the side that wasn't numb. She grasped her arms and hugged her body in terror and pain. Would the pain ever go away? Her head throbbed with the pounding of drums beating her skull. Her legs tingled with numbness and felt like the pricking of cold needles in her nerve cells. She could barely withstand the pain as she let out something she hadn't had in a year. She let a tear of pain slide onto the grass. A flow of images threatened to take hold of her mind but she refused them this one time. She didn't want to feel the loneliness and the sorrow of missing something. She didn't want to see the six sages looking at her with concern and patience. She didn't want to see the beautiful woman and the tailed dark man together. She didn't want to feel the warmness that enveloped her body from the image of the woman brushing her cheek. It was all empty and fake. Surreal, but so close to grasp in her fingers. Merilyn cried even harder and felt weaker like the lost child she was. After a few seconds of crying, she fell asleep and tried to dream of the golden figure surrounded by lightening.

LATER

Merilyn awoke with sleepy eyes and looked around to find Zarbon scowling at her. His green eyes were tinted lightly with concern and shame. She carefully stood on her feet and faced him with a hard expression on her face. She knew what Zarbon had to say and swiftly brushed past him to the door. A hand grabbed her arm and squeezed so tightly she thought her arm would snap in half.

"Don't walk away from me, girl. I didn't volunteer to watch over you. I intend to carry out Freiza's orders regardless of your state of mind," Zarbon hissed with fury.

Merilyn looked at him with a distorted face then wiped it clean w/o any emotion. She hissed at him then sighed with defeat. "Don't touch me ever again, Zarbon. You may regret it one day but later. What do you want now?"

Zarbon crossed his arms and smirked. "Frieza requests your presence immediately on the bridge. I will escort you personally, love."

Merilyn followed Zarbon with her head bowed and her arms limp at her sides. She kept her eyes lowered on the heels of his boots. She didn't understand why Frieza wanted to see her for. She closed her eyes then remembered some possible reasons. During her sparring matches, she had decreased her aggression and stopped executing final blows to her opponents. She had begun to show mercy and pity for them. She refused to fight Cooler at some practices and ended up walking away like a weakling. She didn't understand the logic of it and she couldn't place everything together to make sense of it. She just felt it every time she fought anybody. She felt the sharp pain in her heart and the hollowness that followed it. Merilyn felt eyes watching her. She glanced up to see the Saiyin boys looking at her with a dark gaze. Nappa chuckled with a sneer while Radditz simply twitched his lips with a grin. His eyes were like black lagoons of madness that seemed to swallow her soul. She shivered slightly before looking over at the Prince and Shain. Vegeta stood upright with his arms crossed and his mouth pulled into a smirk. His cobalt eyes mocked her and teased her with a hideous gleam of evil. Shain hunched over with his hands settled on his belt and watched her with a steadiness that gave her little comfort. The crystalline blues of his eyes were ice cold and barren of feeling. There was intensity in his gaze that followed her all the way past the corridor. Even her own race seemed to mock and disrespect her; she was a joke to them and a simple girl. With her spirit and confidence already crushed, she entered Frieza's chambers and stood on the bridge. Zarbon turned on his heel to stand in the corner until he was needed again. He face was pulled in sympathy for her as if he understood her wariness.

Merilyn turned her head to face Frieza. His silhouette was etched in the shadows of the bridge. The lights from the consoles and computers illuminated his pasty features and added a slight transparency to his skin. She heard the rustling of his armor and the light step of his feet on the metal floor. The death-like quietness continued for a few more seconds until a pin drop was heard. A low rumbling echoed suddenly.

"I have been hearing reports from all my senior officers and other warriors that you are not meeting my expectations of you. This disappoints me deeply that my own child dares to show any weakness," Frieza said in a deadly soft voice. He emerged from the shadows with unnatural speed and with the grace of a killer. He made his way to his levitating chair and picked up his wine glass without effort. He sipped it all the while well watching Merilyn like a predator studying its prey. Merilyn simply stood still with rising terror and cleared her dry throat. " I am not your child, lord Frieza. I can't destroy those warriors in such a manner. Its not just."

Frieza choked on his drink and hid back his fury with a soft smile. "Just, huh? You want to see better justice? You selfish little fool," Frieza hissed evilly. He began to move towards her with his eyes frozen in hatred and outrage. " I showed you all you needed to know. There is no justice, there is no peace and there is no mercy. You keep wandering to those stupid emotions and those visions you have. What do they ever do for you? They create pity, weakness, and sympathy. Deceiving yourself with these false thoughts of there being other options and better conclusions is very disappointing to hear of. I thought you had thrown them away and forgotten the past. Apparently, you still believe in equality and peace. What a pity," Frieza sneered then threw his drink to the ground in a rage. He took hold of her chin with his gloved hand. " You defy me greatly in this matter muck like that naïve prince Vegeta. You mope around and manifest this feeling of pain in your mind like you have experienced it. You don't know what pain is nor do you have any concept of what reality is. Life is a cruel irony, my daughter. You fool yourself with these pleasantries."

Merilyn felt her knees buckle as her hope slipped away. She had thought Frieza was righteous and just. She had thought him a great being with notions of future peace and strength for the universe. What he was saying was madness.was it true though? It couldn't be. Her voice returned and fought its way out. The last words of hope and defiance she would ever speak. "I am not your daughter. You are lying. It isn't true what you say."

The room became deathly quiet. She heard Zarbon gasp and became silent with anxiety again. What she heard and felt then was much more than pain. What she had felt before was simply light physical pain. This was an awakening pain of something else. After hearing the hand slap her face, bruising her jaw, she felt the burning sting and a new feeling of awe. She raised her hand to her face and gave Frieza a look of wonder and anger. She suddenly began to snicker for some unknown reason and soon felt a fist connect with her gut. The pain was more than she could bear. Blackness threatened to engulf her mind as she fell to her knees. She held her stomach and tried to think. Her own voice sounded broken and hollow as she gasped in pain.

"HOW DARE YOU, YOU LITTLE BITCH CHILD! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME? UNGRATEFUL BRAT! NOW YOU KNOW THE PAIN YOU SO DREAMED OF! YOU MAY NOT BE MY DAUGHTER BUT I OWN YOU! YOU ARE MINE TO COMMAND AND BREAK! I AM THE ONLY ANSWER! I AM THE ONLY TRUTH YOU WILL EVER KNOW! TO THINK YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A GREAT WARRIOR OF MY OWN POWER? IF I HAVE TO BEAT IT INTO YOU AND BREAK YOU BIT BY BIT, I WILL MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND!" Frieza screamed in wrath-like fury as he continued to kick her sharply in her side.

Merilyn could barely open her swollen eyes. Her vision was blurry and red as the figure of Frieza hovered over her with a sinister glare of hatred. Liquid of some sort was oozing from her mouth and eyebrow. She tried to move but cried out as a sharp pain erupted from her chest. It seemed every bone had been broken and twisted into some odd shape to serve as a painful reminder of her defiance. She wanted to cry but couldn't. Breathing was a giant effort as her airway became clogged with pulsing blood. Suddenly, darkness swept over her face as Frieza lowered his face to hers. His tongue licked her cheek and rolled back into his mouth. " I hope my lesson for the day was as enlightening for you as it was delightful for me. Know that you know loss and pain, don't ever defy my orders ever again. Whenever you are ready to align with me, come but be prepared. I detest cowardice and weakness of any kind. Let the hate burn you now. At least you will be full of some ambition for greatness even if it is to kill me like Vegeta's."

Merilyn heard Frieza come towards Zarbon. "I don't want her in a tank and see to it Dr. Gero slows her regenerative abilities down by 67%. I want her to have a scar to see if she dares to look into the past again. My little warrior needs that valuable lesson." Merilyn could hardly hear Zarbon's stuttering over her own gargled breathing. Her heart and hopes crumbled inside her gated fortress of her mind. Zarbon had her lowered on a medical slab and moved to her rooms. Time scurried quickly on the outside but it slithered like viscosity inside her body. Even the needle the doctor stuck in her arm seemed to move like syrup down a tree. The pendulum swung in her head as she lay down on her cot. The own beating of her heart slowed and palpitated to the rhythm of her life support machine. Merilyn tried to move but felt no will to do so. Everything had fallen away. The small heart inside was crucified and burning with rage and pain. Why couldn't she feel anything? Why couldn't she call out for the pain to subside? Then she remembered closely. How could she forget now? Frieza had beat the hope out of her and cut out her tongue with his words. The feelings she tried to feel were dissipated and simply ashes on the floor of her memory. Her heart was damaged and it leaked out like a kettle her life force. Her soul. Why couldn't she feel again? Oh, her heart was bleeding and dead. The closer she came to her soul and reached for it, the farther it stretched away into the void swirling around her like a spiral. Her soul was like a ghost now. It was haunting her and taunting her weakness. She felt her soul lock its doors to her forever. Araro watched in horror and deep sadness at the state of Merilyn's fragile body as it lay on the metal cot. Every part of her body was covered in wicked purple and blue bruises. Every cut seemed to reach the bone in its depth. Every blood smear that stained her skin and clothes seemed full of life with its glistening reflection. Even her blood reflected more life than the body it came from. Araro watched a little more before turning away in sickness and disgust. Who could have done this? She was only a child, a small innocent young child. A child Araro had accompanied for a year and grown to care for. The sages were right about her uncanny power levels but they didn't understand her inner self. They didn't see the deep affectation and passion she had for life, for simply being. They didn't see the intensity in her will and the neutral sides of her character that weren't Saiyin or Sylph. Throughout Araro's lifetime, she had never met a person who was so extreme and arrogant but thoughtful and passionate. Araro felt a tear leave her eye and quickly brushed it off. These simple emotions were deeply affecting her mission here.

Araro grabbed a washcloth and began tending to Merilyn's wounds. She wanted to cry again at the sight of it but didn't. After changing Merilyn into a simple loose toga, Araro brushed the child's golden hair. She noticed the silvery gray streaks of hair by her temples and felt a tear wet her leg. The child was weeping in her sleep. Araro calmly watched the simplest of wounds heal and regenerate. She knew the others would not heal for a long period of time. There would be scars on the child's hands and one on her knee. Apparently, this lord Frieza wanted the scars to stay as reminders of her defiance. Suddenly, the girl twitched and moaned. Her eyes snapped open and surveyed the room with feral fear. She didn't know where she was or even who she was.

Araro clutched the girl by the arms and held her in place until she calmed down. She calmly released her grip slowly then held her breath in horror. The child's eyes were drooped in fatigue and sorrow yet inside there wasn't any register of feeling or thought. Was she in shock? Araro couldn't tell. She saw only the coolness of Merilyn's emerald eyes. Merilyn put a hand to her cheek and wiped a tear onto her finger. She sat mesmerized by it and slowly looked up at Araro. Recognition reflected in her eyes yet the warmth was gone again. The feeling was lost again.

Merilyn bent forward and wiped the tear on Araro's cheek. Araro could only look in confusion and wonder, her eyes sinking into despair. Her shaking hands covered the child's and held them as if to bring comfort. "Take it. I have no use for tears anymore. It would be false for me to weep if I cannot feel these things I weep for," Merilyn's raspy soft voice echoed in Araro's head. Araro watched the child painfully walk towards the window portal and stand. The child wept her last tears and stiffly smoothed her face of all pain. She turned to face Araro once more and what Araro saw shocked her more than what had happened previously. Her face was blank of all emotion and set like a statue's. Her eyes were slightly narrowed and half opened as if in a dream-like state. The eyes above all were full of another emotion that Araro had not seen before. Determination and the beginnings of her true indifference. A smirk lit Merilyn's lips as she changed from her toga to her loose overdress. She pulled her gloves on and her boots on with disregard of her wounds. After fully dressing, she turned on her heel to leave the room. Araro felt a tear slide down her face again then calmly nodded her head. This child had strength in her she had never seen before. She was excited to see it but not in this state of mind. Araro gripped her hands together and watched Merilyn leave to spar again. Little sparks and glimpses of lightening crackled behind Merilyn as she left Araro.