AN: IF YOU WANT TO KNOW INFO ON THE STORY, YOU SHOULD READ THIS: Hi guys! Sorry this took so long. I finished this chapter in August, but when I re-read it, I realized something very important; it sucked. So this is revised and also co-written with a friend who would like to remain anonymous. This chapter has some wierd, semi-funny, non-important stuff in it that was written at two o'clock in the morning when I was in between a state of falling asleep and a state of total hyperness from caffine.
Anyways, here is the story. Some personal notes are next, and I would REALLY appreciate if you would read them; they may interest you.
I am looking for online DBZ/GT episode summeried, prefferably with pictures. I am also looking for good quality DB GT fansubs (tapes with subtitles) and stuff for my new Vegeta/Serena shrine. (Vegeta/Serena fanart, computer made pics, fanfics, etc.) The last thing I am looking for are crossover pics (fanart or computer made, showing crossover couples). PLEASE E-MAIL ME OR LEAVE A URL IN YOUR REVIEW IF YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND THIS STUFF. ALSO E-MAIL ME TO SUBMIT VEGETA/SERENA STUFF FOR THE SHRINE. THANKS!!!


Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or SM, but I do own this story.


CHAPTER 9

Serena woke up slowly. She willed herself to go back to sleep, but her mind wouldn't oblige. She could see the sunlight behind her eyelids. She suddenly felt confused; hadn't she already woken up that morning? She didn't remember going to sleep at night after the last time she had woken up. She opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light. She looked around, realizing she wasn't in her room. Her eyes fell on 17 sitting beside her on the bed, and they widened slightly in surprise. 'Oh no, this is not happening,' she thought.
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up, Tenshi. Perhaps we should allow you more sleep. We can't have you falling asleep while you're working." 17 was sprawled out against the pillows casually, watching her. Serena sat up quickly. Her mind whirled. She didn't want to think about what might have happened after she had fallen asleep. And she had fallen asleep in his arms, no less, she remembered with disgust.
17 stood slowly and stretched. "Well if your ready, we have things to do," he said as he walked out of the room. Serena stared at the doorway he had just exited through for a moment. She shook her head and followed him out.
17 led her through a room that look suspiciously like the one on the other side the doors to his chambers. Leading her out into the hallway, she saw it was the same room. Her suspicions were confirmed; she had been sleeping in his bed.
She vowed to take that information with her to the grave.

****************************************


Serena swore under her breath as she limped to the Medical room. She had been whipped again, as she usually was when she was working in the mines. She had made a sort of game out of aggravating the droids. Unfortunately, since they had no feelings or emotions, it wasn't all that satisfying. The Androids had more emotions then they did! But just defying them was enough. She didn't see 18 much, so she couldn't annoy the female android. Which was probably for the better since 18's punishments were worse than the droid's now. Serena was happy to know that she had gotten under the android's skin. Anything to make their lives miserable, she would gladly do.
After getting bandaged and partially healed from the medical thingy-ma-doodle device, Serena headed towards the kitchens where she would be working with Lita and Ami for the rest of the evening. She had spent all day chipping at rocks. She had found a large pocket of minerals. They were like nothing she had ever seen before, but she had been too tired to take much notice. She had had to chip away around them slowly. Unfortunately, if you chipped slowly, you could make a very large chip in the rock. You had to bring the tool, usually a pick, down hard, which meant fast. But if you brought it down fast, you might hit the mineral. Serena had felt like screaming many times while she was working, but settled for swearing at the droids.
Reaching the kitchens, Serena saw Ami working on the far side of the room and gave her a small smile before being hustled away by Lita to work somewhere else. Lita was running all over the place, adding ingredients, testing to see if things were cooked, chopping and shredding and mixing and cleaning. Serena was quickly put to work chopping herbs, feeling little dizzy with Lita running every which way.

The girls had been working as slaves for nearly three weeks now. They had become used to the life and the work, and knew where things were and where to go. Serena served 17 mostly, but worked in the mines some days. Lita was working in the kitchen every day, but luckily didn't have to get up early to make breakfast. Ami was in the Medical Room everyday, and Raye and Mina switched off mining and cleaning. 18 had wanted Serena and Lita to do mining all the time, for they were the strongest of the group, but 17 had wanted Serena to serve him and convinced 18 to let Lita work in the kitchens. His reasoning had been that the better the slaves ate, the better they would work; the same reasoning that Serena had used, but he didn't tell 18 that. If she thought that Serena wanted Lita to work in the kitchens, she wouldn't have allowed it, just to be cruel.
18 was still annoyed that 17 never did anything to Serena when she talked back or was insolent. He never punished her, he just let her get away with it. He had never done that with any other slave, even if they were attractive females. But 18 let him to as he pleased. She knew that he was planning something. Probably to seduce the girl. Not that she cared, but she didn't think he should let her act like that towards him. But he had his ways.


"17, I want to borrow your slave," 18 told her brother one morning. 17 raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Whatever for?" he replied.
"I was wondering what it was you saw in her, and besides, it would be nice having someone to do things for me. I might get a personal slave of my own, since the other girls don't serve us directly as we had planned. I know your busy today, so let me take her. I have things to do she can help with."
17 thought a moment. He knew 18 would find some way to use his answer to mock him if he said no. He didn't really mind if it was only for one day, since it was true that Serena wouldn't have served him that day anyway.
"Fine," he told her, "but only one day. If you want one, get your own. You know she's mine."
"I know, brother."


18 took Serena to the tailors first. She was having Egyptian robes made. She looked over designs as Serena stood, bored. The slaves outfitted her with royal attire and 18 examined it in a long mirror.
"What do you think?" she asked Serena.
"Not that it matters, I think you need a headdress," Serena replied. 18 turned to her, intrigued.
"A headdress?"
"Yeah, one of those gold ones. The hanging part should be just as long as your hair. And you need a gold bracelet that is in a spiral. Maybe two," Serena suggested thoughtfully. Whatever it took to get her out of there, she would do. She was bored to tears. 18 turned back to the mirror, thinking about Serena's suggestions.
"Maybe your not so bad after all. You have a wonderful fashion sense," 18 said.
Serena snorted. "Great. A good fashion sense. I'll add that to the list of my good qualities." 18 just laughed.
"Ok, what do you think of a dress made out of this?" 18 held up a bolt of blue cloth. It was a rich color, and a fancy material. Serena cocked her head to the side in thought as she studied it.
"Hold it up to you," she said. 18 ignored the fact that a slave was giving her an order and held it to herself. "I don't think so. It's nice, but it doesn't suit your eyes. Maybe a sea green, or fusia, but not that shade of blue."

The rest of the day went faster than Serena had thought it would. She spent most of the day with 18 going over outfit designs. She almost had fun, but not quite. She was, after all, a slave, and 18 was a murdering android. But at least Serena hadn't been as bored when she was making suggestions.

****************************************


Serena sighed as the guards closed the doors behind her, and she was once again left alone with 17. She walked up to the dais and sat beside 17, who was lying on his back with his head propped up on several blue satin pillows. His eyes were closed.
"I'm relaxing today. 18 is handling everything," 17 said without opening his eyes.
"So you don't need me today?" Serena kept her voice even and her face void of emotion, though inside she was feeling hopeful. 17 opened one eye to look at her.
"I always need you, Tenshi," he said. Serena held back a groan. So much for getting out of the humiliation that had become routine in her life. 17 opened his other eye and sat up.
"Well then, what do you want to do today, Tenshi?" he asked as he formed a pile of pillows and leaned against them.
"Does my opinion really matter?" Serena responded, raising an eyebrow incredulously.
"That depends on what you want to do."
"I want to go swimming. To the beach maybe," she said, leaning back on the pillows. She didn't expect him to do anything about what she said, but she thought she might as well humor him. "Or take a nice hot bath instead of those cold ones we always get. Hey! I've got it! Let's free all the slaves!" She said the last part sarcastically.
"I don't think that last one is such a good idea," 17 said.
"Why not? You would probably get more done. The droids would work much better than the slaves. They don't need food or water or sleep. They don't need rest, they are stronger, and they won't die," Serena said. "And there are so many droids just watching the slaves work. Besides, many of the slaves just cook for the others, clean the slave barracks, or mend slave clothing. If there were no slaves and all the droids worked, there would probably be more workers than before."
"That's true. But there are a limited amount of droids that can be built. And some droids do mine. But if we wanted to get rid of the slaves, we would just kill them, not free them. Why make them happy? They should fear us," 17 replied.
"Ok, scratch that idea," Serena muttered.
"Besides, killing humans has lost most of it's entertainment, but making them slaves is a new game. Though sometimes I find sit more of a bother. It does amuse me at times, however. And 18 loves it, so I let her have her fun."
"Game. Of course, a game. Oh boy," Serena muttered. "You know what? You need a hobby."
"This is a hobby," 17 objected.
"Says you, El Diablo."
17 thought for a minute. "Well, that hot bath sounds nice," he said suggestively.
"You do know that I meant just me?"
"Does it make a difference?"
"Let's just forget the whole thing, ok?"


TWO HOURS LATER:
Serena looked around the room for the hundredth time, totally bored. 17 seemed content to just lay there and watch her, which annoyed her to no end. Though currently he had his eyes closed. She sighed. She actually wished she were working in the mines. At least it was something to do. Except for the few short conversations which always turned for the worst and she tried to end as soon as possible, nothing had happened the past few hours.
She picked up a grape from one of the bowls of fruit on the steps and examined it. "I wonder if I could balance this grape on my forehead," she said muttered. 17 opened one eye and looked at her incredulously.
"Why would you want to?" he asked.
"Because I have nothing else to do and if I don't do something I will go crazy," she replied.
"Well, that hot bath offer is still open."
"Oh, shut up."

After that, Serena had decided to just not say anything. He always managed to say something to make her uncomfortable. But when she could find nothing else to break the silence, she started to feel like screaming. She directed her attention to the fountains. They had once seemed very pretty, but now they were seemed excruciatingly boring. She stared at them for several minutes.
"You need fish," she said finally. 17 looked from her to the fountain, and back at her. He raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Because fish would make the fountains less boring. And they would look nice."
"You're starting to sound like 18 when she is redesigning something," he said, sounding amused.
"Fine, I'll suggest it to her."

"You have lots of ideas concerning the slaves," 17 said a bit later, "Why don't you advise me?"
Serena looked at him incredulously. "You want me to advise YOU? Are you actually asking for my help?"
"I'm bored. I thought it would be interesting to see what you thought," he replied. "I had planned for us to do other things today, but certain problems occurred." Serena was pleased to see that he looked slightly irritated.
"How do I know you won't use my ideas to make life worse for the slaves?" she asked suspiciously.
"I suppose my word wouldn't be enough."
Serena burst out laughing. When she didn't stop after a minute, 17 frowned. "It's not that funny." But she just kept laughing. After a few minutes, she calmed down enough to talk. Of course she hadn't found it that funny, but she wanted to drag it out as much as possible. Unfortunately, 17 didn't seem too annoyed. She had almost given up in trying to get that sort of reaction from him.
"My first idea is too free all the slaves for reasons that I mentioned before," she said.
"Suggestion noted, but don't expect to much."
"Yeah, well, I figured that. Secondly, put Lita in charge of the kitchens. She can make more food with the same or only a little more ingredients. Not so many slaves will die of hunger or depression," Serena said.
"How does more food effect depression?"
"The food will taste better if Lita is in charge. Every little thing helps. I know you don't want them to be happy and blah blah blah, but it would be better if they weren't so depressed that they gave up on life altogether. Sometimes the little things make them feel better, and then they will at least have hope. That will keep them alive and more willing to get through the day's work." 'Not to mention it will make their lives just a little bit better,' Serena added mentally.
17 seemed to consider what she had said. Serena had hoped that he would, but half expected him to promptly forget what she said. "I'll mention it to 18," he said after a moment. Serena smiled inwardly, though she didn't let it show on her face. Maybe she would be able to make a difference here.

**********


Serena yawned loudly as she trudged towards 17's room the next morning. The guards no longer escorted her, for whatever reason. She looked up sleepily at the sound of footsteps coming towards her and saw it was 17. He turned her around in the middle of the hall and herded her forward quickly. "Com on, we've got to go," he told her, sounding a little hassled. He seemed to be trying to get away from something as quickly as possible.
"Where are we going?" Serena asked as she hurried to keep up the pace.
"To get fish," 17 muttered, obviously annoyed. Serena stared at him for a second as her mind registered what he had said. Then she burst out laughing.

After awhile they, had come to a large door that Serena hadn't seen before. 17 had blindfolded her and led her as they walked from then on. It suddenly hit Serena where they were going. If they were going to get fish.... then that meant they were going outside! She felt a surge of happiness. She hadn't been outside since she had been captured, which had been more than a month before. She heard the sound that sounded almost like a car door opening, but thought that it must have been something else. But she discovered that it was definitely a car when 17 guided her into it. What in the world did an Android want with a car? 17's hand left hers for the first time since she had been blindfolded, and she heard him close the door and walk around the car. Instead of opening the other door, she felt the seat shift as he jumped over the side of the car. 'A convertible, huh? Oooookay,' she thought. She heard something that sounded like a wall moving, and she felt the car moving forward. And then they were outside.
She could feel the sun against her face and the wind around her. She grinned, unable to hid her joy at finally being out of the prison she had been in for so long. She thought she would never see the sunlight again. Not that she could see it now, still being blindfolded, but she doubted that 17 was going to keep her blindfolded the whole trip. She leaned back and enjoyed the feel of the wind in her hair.
About ten minutes later, 17 took the blindfold off. Serena looked around and saw that they were driving in a red convertible. She raised an eyebrow. 'Nice car, though...' They were currently on a highway that had somehow survived the destruction that plagued the rest of the world. She glanced over at 17 and saw that he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the ride. She turned back to look out her side of the car. The window was rolled down, and she rested her arm on the door. She watched as green grass and a few trees flew by, finding joy at the sight of a bird overhead— the first bird she had seen in a very long time. Even before her capture, the city she and the other girls had stayed in didn't have any birds. The force of the wind nearly tore her hair tie off, and she had to hold her pony tail in her hand to keep it from flying everywhere.
A few minutes later 17 put the car hood back up. "I need to talk to you, and you wouldn't have been able to hear me with the top down," he explained. Serena nodded, still watching the side of the road. The windows were left down, but the wind was more of a breeze. She took out her hair tie, which had been almost down to the bottom of her ponytail, and started to put her long hair into a bun.
"So 18 decided she wanted fish, huh?" Serena said with a smirk as she twisted her hair into place.
"Apparently. But you should know that; I didn't tell her." 17 replied.
"So I mentioned it last night when I saw her. I didn't think she would take it seriously," Serena said as she struggled to get the hair tie to go around the bun a second time. It wasn't an easy task; since her hair was so long, the bun was quite large.
"One thing you should know about 18: she has her own idea of fun, and if she thinks she wants something, she has to have it," 17 muttered as he recalled the conversation earlier that morning. 'I need you to get some tropical fish for me today,' 18 had said. 'Why me?' 17 had asked. 'Well, your not doing anything today, are you?' 18 had replied. A short argument had followed in which 17 had told her to get her own fish and that he wasn't her servant, and 18 had told him fine, she would get her own, she would just borrow his car. And oh, don't blame her if it didn't come back in one piece, because you know how accidents happen, and it also might get a little 'scratched' if she decided to go blow up a city. And no, she couldn't just fly because if people saw her flying they would panic and she wouldn't be able to find out from them where to get the fish, and besides, she was tired of flying.
And here he was, getting 18 her fish. Her stupid tropical fish that she had threatened the well-being of his car for.


Serena finally gave up on her hair and put it into a high pony tail. She watched in amusement at 17 irritated expression as he seemed to remember an unpleasant memory. She guessed it was of 18 convincing him to get her fish. She just wished she could have been there to see it. She looked away quickly and tried to look innocent as 17 seemed to come out of his thoughts.
"So, where would we go to get tropical fish?" he asked.
"To a pet store. Or a tropical fish store," Serena said. A thought suddenly struck her. "Unless you guys destroyed them all..."
"Uhhhhm..."
"Oh, this is just great."
"Well, we haven't touched much of South America yet..."
"Do you speak Spanish?"
"I could try."
Serena groaned and and let her head fall onto the dashboard. "Why me?"
17 patted her on the back sympathetically.



"Alright, how much of Japan have you destroyed?" Serena asked once she had regained her composure.
"Uh... all of it, I think... there might be a few buildings standing," 17 said, trying to remember.
"Do you really expect someone to be selling fish in a town that is nearly entirely demolished and whose only inhabitants— if any— are people living on the streets with no money and no food and who WOULDN'T EVEN WANT TO BUY FISH ANYWAY?!?!?" Serena slumped into her seat and held her head in her hands.
17 just shrugged, knowing it would only infuriate her even more. He held back a grin as she growled in frustration. He stayed silent as she tried to calm down. After a few minutes, she tried again.
"Alright, what about the US? How much of that have you destroyed?"
"Just the major cities... and a few states...." he said.
"Your in luck, I speak English," she told him. One of her friends on the streets had taught her one winter to keep their minds off of the cold and their hunger. "But we may not find anything, now that I think about it... Why would anyone be selling fish now? Everyone's probably been busy building secure shelters and advanced weapons to try to defeat you two. No one would be wasting their time with trivial things like fish."
"Well there was an amusement park open in China last year," 17 said. Serena decided not to ask how he knew that.
She sighed. "Alright, I want to get this over with. We find a populated area, I find a phone book and we can look up pet stores."
"You find a phone book?"
"What, do you want to show yourself to everyone?" she asked irritably.
"Doesn't concern me," he replied.
"It will slow us down if the army starts bombing us."
"Fine, I'll stay in the car while you check the phone booths," he agreed. 'And next time 18 can get her own damn fish.'
"Wait a minute— what country are we in??" Serena asked suddenly.
"Japan," 17 replied.
"...You do realize we can't drive to the U.S., right?"
"I know," he said. He pulled the car over to the side of the road.
"So how exactly are we going to get there?" Serena asked.
"We fly," 17 said as he got out of the car.
"Fly?" Serena repeated, confused. 'As in an airplane? ' She suddenly realized what 17 meant. At the same time, he opened her door. "Oooohhhh no," she said, scooting backwards. 17 reached in pulled her out so fast that she hardly saw him move. One second she was in the car, and the next she found herself several feet from the ground in 17's arms.
"Fly," 17 said cheerfully. He shot into the air, flying faster than Serena would have liked. She closed her eyes tightly to avoid seeing the ground zooming past, clinging to 17 for dear life. 'Breath, Serena,' she thought desperately. 'Soon it will be over, you'll be ok, just don't think about it. ' After awhile, she finally gained enough confidence to open her eyes.
That was a mistake.
They were flying hundreds— if not thousands— of feet above the ground. Though at this point, they were above an ocean, and land was only a thin brown line in the distance. Serena willed herself not to close her eyes again.
'If we're going from Japan to California... this is going to take a looong time. Though I think we're flying faster than an airplane... and we've already been flying nearly half an hour. This had better not take long.' She realized with dismay that they would have to fly back once they were done. 'I hate him, I hate him, I hate him I hate him I hate him Ihatehim IhatehimIhatehimIhatehim ' she thought again and again. Though she didn't look at his face, she was sure that 17 was finding humor in her reaction to flying. 'I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him...'

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END OF CHAPTER 9



AN: Ok, I know it wasn't very good. The next chapter will be better, I promise! AND PLEASE REVIEW!!!!