The Possessor

~§~

MANY CENTURIES LATER

~§~

It was a warm, sunny day up at the Kami lookout. But it wasn't a very good day for the beings that had lived there. Dende and Mr. Popo were gathered around a rather large table, stacked with big old books, reading and reading and reading. The expressions on their faces represented worry as they read.

"Mr. Popo," Dende began, flipping through a page and scanning over it with his dark purple eyes, "this is really bad."

"Yes, I know it is, Lord Dende," Mr. Popo replied, "but there isn't anything we can possibly do right now."

Dende slumped against his chair, defeated. "I can feel it," he said quietly, closing his eyes. "It's out there…waiting." His hands clenched into fists beside him. And Mr. Popo kept silent, reading on.

"We have to tell them…"

"Yes, Lord Dende. We must."

~§~

She found herself wandering aimlessly through an uninhabited garden. It was large and magnificent. Never before had she ever laid her cerulean eyes on such glorious beauty. She had no knowledge of how she got there, but, anyhow, she was there.

Dream, my child, dream.

The voice was soft, but dark and hoarse. It was a terrifying sound for a child to hear. The girl glanced behind her and saw only an empty stretch of walkway. She quickened her pace.

Dream of me, for you are the key to everything.

Her little legs carried her as far as to the edge of a cliff, and her gaze was unconsciously cast downwards. The regal waves below crashed against it, calling to her with their harsh, but haunting melody. She did not know where else to go, so she turned around. But then she gasped.

Lead me, my child.

A large, dark shadow figure stood before her. It lunged at her instantly and leaped off the edge, giving the girl no time to run away. She screamed as they fell past the sharp, rocky walls of the cliff-side. It was a frightening feeling. They fell and fell and fell, for what seemed like forever. But, in the end, a round black portal had engulfed them both and the two were hurled into its eternal darkness, losing their selves into its gloomy midst, and the child found herself powerless to stop it.

Lead me to the planet of life…

~§~

Marron awoke with a start and looked about her. Little beads of sweat trickled slowly down the sides of her face. And her breathing was heavy. It was then when she had realized that she had fallen off her bed, while sleeping. She groggily picked herself back up and sat herself down on the soft mattress. Flashbacks of the dream invaded her mind and she tried to shake them off. It seemed so real, but, then again, it mustn't be. After all, she was still there was she not?

Knock. Knock.

Marron turned to her door, startled by the sudden sound. "Yes?" she squeaked unintentionally, telling herself to calm down.

"Honey, are you all right?" her father asked on the other side, a bit of worry evident in his voice. "I heard you yell and I thought I'd just come and check up on you."

Marron smiled at little this, despite her heart's beating pace. Sweet, loving Krillin. He really worried about her too much, especially since that whole Buu thingy had ended.

Marron rested her head back upon her soft pillow--just as she had done many times before--knowing that nothing was wrong or ever would be for a while. 'Twas a soothing notion for the girl, and it had helped her a lot. "I'm all right, Papa," she said, closing her eyes. "Just had a bad dream is all."

"Well…" Krillin hesitated, "if you're sure." After a moment's silence, Marron knew he had left. She soon fell fast asleep, never to have that awful dream again.

~§~

The night had passed and the afternoon sun had soon taken over. Thirteen-year-old Trunks sat dejectedly on the carpeted living room floor of the Chestnut home, playing "Tea Party" with little eight-year-old Marron. He felt quite uneasy, mainly because he was being watched closely by a creature, otherwise known as a mother, with hawk-like eyes.

A tiny cowboy hat rested comfortably on his mushroom-cut lavender hair. And he still had his usual clothes on. The silly hat wasn't all that bad, but if it weren't for the silky pink scarf wrapped rather tightly around his neck, he would've looked just fine.

There was a small round table situated between him and Marron. And a set of saucers and cups rested steadily upon it. Marron had poured out tea for him, and then for herself. She questioned him on how many lumps of sugar he had wanted, and he was about to reply with a nasty remark, but then he had felt Juuhachigou's cold eyes stinging his backside, so he had just indicated for two. Marron obeyed and dropped two imaginary lumps into his cup of imaginary tea. And he pretended to drink it. It was at this point when Marron had attempted to make conversation with the boy.

"So, how's school life been going for you, Mr. Trunks?" she inquired in her most sophisticated manner.

"Just fine, Ms. Marron," Trunks responded, still feeling that sting. "A bit boring, though."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really," he mumbled, placing his cup down. "And you?"

"Well," Marron thought out loud, and Trunks quickly regretted ever asking, "now that I think of it, school's been very, very fun lately. I mean, you should've seen this one girl…" and, as the demi-saiyajin had predicted, she continued to blab on and on.

~§~

Half an hour had passed by and Marron was still babbling. Trunks had been nodding every now and then, not really paying much attention, and not realizing that the subject had been changed several times. If it weren't for Juuhachigou, he would've lost his sanity on the girl ages ago. And he felt that he was practically gonna snap real soon if she didn't stop, Juuhachigou or no Juuhachigou.

Then, suddenly, much to Trunks' relief and without much warning whatsoever, the door to the Kame household burst open and Marron had abruptly stopped talking. They both looked towards the hallway curiously and got a glimpse of Krillin standing there, in front of the door, with someone they couldn't quite make out.

Juuhachigou stood up from her position on the couch. And, sensing something wrong, she walked over to her husband and the stranger. They all entered the living room, a moment later, with Marron and Trunks still watching them. The stranger had turned out to be Dende, and he had a somber look imprinted upon his olive-green face.

Juuhachigou and Krillin had led him into the kitchen, but before he had followed them in, he unexpectedly stopped in front of Marron and cast his gaze down upon the curious girl. She looked into his dark and mysterious purple eyes and had a terrible sinking feeling, within the pit of her stomach, the instant she had seen them.

The moment had ended as quickly as it had come, and Dende disappeared into the other room. Marron watched him go. And after a minute or so of sitting in silence, she stood up, feeling slightly uncomfortable just then, and wandered upstairs into her room, leaving Trunks alone to ponder with her tea set and maybe to call his mother to come over and pick him up from his latest punishment.

~§~

Dende sat silently at the kitchen table, in front of the Chestnut couple and the old hermit Roshi. He fiddled with his fingers nervously, not knowing how to break the new news to them. They waited patiently for him, and he knew they were dying inside to know what he had to say.

"Goku…" was the first word that had escaped his lips. "We must summon Goku. He might need to know." He looked around.

"But what about everybody else?" Krillin questioned. "Don't we need to call them too?"

"No, no, we mustn't." Dende shook his head. "This information can only be heard by the trusted and the important. Goku should definitely hear this, along with the two of you." He gestured at Krillin and Juuhachigou. Then they all looked at Master Roshi.

"What?!" the old hermit snapped, looking at all of them. After no response and much staring, Roshi glared. "Oh, all right, all right! I can take a hint." He mumbled incoherent words angrily as he stepped out of the kitchen.

Krillin walked over to his phone and immediately called Goku. And, within a fraction of a second, the well-known happy-go-lucky saiyan appeared before them.

"Hey, guys," Goku greeted, placing his right hand down from its position on his forehead. "So, what's up?" He looked at the green man at the table. "Dende??"

Dende waved off his confusion and gestured for them all to sit down. "Yes, yes, I shall explain," he said impatiently. And he began.

~§~

The sun was soon to be found hanging slightly over the calm, blue ocean, threatening to set and disappear from the sky for the night to take over. Goku and the Chestnut couple sat, in the Kame house kitchen, too transfixed and too bewildered, on the Namek before them, to even notice. The saiyan's mouth had been dangling slightly open and, for the first time, he did not hear the loud, demanding rumblings of his stomach. Dende had just explained to them an implausible fact that had gotten them all to stare at him in such a way that made the Namek uncomfortable. He did not enjoy the forbidding silence.

"It's...it's preposterous!" Krillin yelled finally, snapping everybody out of it and scaring them all half to death. "You can't possibly be telling me that…"

"Your daughter is destined to be?" Dende filled in cautiously.

"Rubbish! I don't believe in such fantasies."

"But Krillin…"

Goku held up his hand to shush the Namek. He did not want him to continue, for he had a notion of his own. "The short man does have a point," he said, and Krillin glared at him. "How could Marron possibly be capable of saving the world?"

"Uh, you mean, the universe," Juuhachigou corrected him, sounding rather proud. In her little mind, she was thinking something far different from everyone else in that room. Her daughter was finally good for something after all!

Goku ignored her. "I mean, the girl's merely a human," he continued point-blankly. "Could it not be Bra or Pan or anyone else?" So far, he had hoped he had gotten his point straight across. He had doubted the girl had any chance whatsoever of succeeding in what she was destined to do. She hardly seemed the type. And he hardly seemed the type to have little faith in people. But something told him that this mission was a very bad idea, especially if the girl was to travel alone.

Dende shook his head patiently, gazing down at the floor. "No, it can't," he said slowly. "Marron is a reincarnation of one of the first humans on this earth. She has knowledge that no one else alive possesses and she doesn't even know it. In this case, she is known as 'The Possessor'."

"But, then, that would mean she's the re-embodiment of a primitive person, does it not?" Krillin wondered. He had been wondering about it for quite some time. Every book, he had read, told him that the first humans had evolved from apes and that they were primitive and uncivilized. He had studied much about it. There were theories and pictures, and they all seemed pretty logical to him.

"No, no," Dende said, throwing Krillin's notions away, "the first person was not remotely primitive." He chuckled a bit. Where had people gotten their ideas? "In fact," he continued, "he had come from a world with such advanced technology, it would probably be only known to us in the far future. He was one of the long lost castaways, and the last creature who had ever obtained knowledge of Oblivion's precise location…" He paused, then added, "Before the gangark's poison had completely taken over his mind, that is."

Juuhachigou narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the green man. "And how could you possibly know all this?" she demanded. For some reason, she had doubted his word after thinking carefully about what he had said. She decided at once that she did not want to believe him, hero daughter or no hero daughter.

"Lord Kami had told me," Dende said simply. "I had made contact with him telepathically, you see, and he told me to look up something in his old library. I had found quite interesting facts that I never knew existed. It was amazing to know that there was an Oblivion somewhere out there. I had heard stories of it from my elders when I was just a lad, but I didn't know they were true." He shifted in his seat.

"Although," he continued uneasily, "I was truly shocked when I had found out that there was but one person in the entire universe who held the secrets to Oblivion's location. The person who had reincarnated himself had probably wanted someone to find it again. It seems that Lord Kami, Mr. Popo, and I were the only ones who had known about it in the first place."

"Wait," Juuhachigou said, "how did you know that Marron was 'the one', anyway?" She wanted to know. Nothing she had heard sounded very logical anymore.

"We felt her energy," Dende explained. He was beginning to get uncomfortable by her. "Y-you see, she has this special energy that is difficult to detect and only few know how. She's been having dreams about Oblivion and dreams about him." He had hoped he detailed it out quite clearly for them. But what he got in response were confused and concerned faces.

Krillin slumped in his chair. His heart was sinking at the thought of his daughter, his little baby, going out there without anyone to protect her. "But why?" he asked quietly. "Why must she be the one?" He had planned out so carefully how he had wanted her future to go. No fighting. None whatsoever. But this new obstacle that had been presented to him gave him no choice but to let her. He had a feeling there was a fight involved.

Goku patted his friend's back to comfort him. And they all sat in silence for a while, not daring to answer Krillin's question.

"Marron…" Dende said finally, gulping down a lump in his throat. "She is in great danger, Krillin. You must…understand that." He looked at Goku, not wanting to say what he had to say. But he had to. He had to help the future sake of the world. No…of the universe. He had to deliver his message. "And you, Goku, my friend, " his voice was shaking, and he glanced at Krillin, "…must train her…" The small man cast his eyes aside at the word, but Dende continued, "And I shall help. We will train her when she is old enough. I have found a remote place where we can train. No one will be able to sense the energy. Not even Vegeta."

Krillin stood up. A new thought had crossed his mind. "This…this gangark person…" he began. "You mean, h-he's after her?" 'My baby?' he almost said.

"Yes," Dende answered. He had not wanted to, but it was needed. The faces before him had all twisted into deeper concern.

"But how did he know about Marron?" Goku asked.

"The gangark…is a monster with great power," Dende clarified. "The person that had reincarnated himself into Marron was victim to him. Unfortunately, the gangark has the ability to detect any of his victims. When he was sent off and trapped somewhere in space, he could feel his victims being scattered around the universe. And before he was able to free himself, they had all died. But now, one of them had been reborn, and he's out there trying to find the person. He doesn't exactly know who had been reborn or where. But if Marron keeps dreaming about him, it'll be much easier for him to locate her." He folded his hands upon the table, silently praying for the endangered girl, unbeknownst to the people before him.

"And if he finds her?" Juuhachigou questioned. She was beginning to worry herself. What if the green freak was telling the truth? What if her daughter really was in great danger?

"Well, he doesn't necessarily need to find her," Dende replied sullenly. It was a fact that could not be changed or helped. "If she keeps up her dreaming, she might unintentionally give him the last clue to Oblivion's location. According to what I've picked up, she has given him a few clues already. Oblivion is the planet of life, you see. If he takes over, everyone is likely to suffer under his reign. Many lives will be lost. That is why Marron must travel to Oblivion and find the star-crested pendant. She must destroy it. It is the power source of the gangark. He had created it to keep himself alive all this time. And he had hidden it somewhere in Oblivion."

"So there's nothing we can do but wait and train her?" Krillin said quietly. And Dende nodded his head. He looked out the window and realized what time it was. His stay there was longer than he had expected. Mr. Popo was probably waiting for him. He stood up and gazed at all of them. "I must leave now," he said quickly. "But we must keep this a secret between us. No one must speak a word of this ever, until the time is right. Is everyone clear?"

They all nodded grimly, and Dende had left.

PREVIEW OF NEXT CHAPTER:

Juuhachigou noticed the heavy tension and decided at once to introduce their new guest. "Marron, sweetie," she said, walking over to the man, "this is Mr. Trunks Briefs of Capsule Corporation. He's the pres--"

"The president," Marron filled in nonchalantly. "I know." She pointedly tried to avoid looking at him as she walked over to fix herself a cup of tea. That man was up to something and she knew it. "So what does he want, a business deal?"

"Well, sweetheart, you yourself own a company, so why not?" Krillin offered, smiling.

A/N:

This first chapter is more like a second prologue or something. Anyway, the real stuff begins in the next one. This story is sort of an A/U, but don't worry, you'll understand. R&R!

A/N#2: SPECIAL REPORT!!

EVERYBODY must read An Angel's Tears by summerdragonfly. Pleeasse, review her/his story. Somebody has to get her/him to update that thing! He/she must be motivated. WE must motivate him/her. It's such an awesome story and I'm absolutely desperate to find out what happens next. SHE OR HE OR WHOEVER MUST UPDATE!! It has been a while, already!!

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An Angel's Tears by summerdragonfly =A romance/drama/friendship/humor fanfic about Trunks and Marron and how they got together. Bra and Goten are also together at this time. Not TOO fluffy; just some parts. An epic, gonna be a long fic. T/P fans can read this too; no bashing in this fic. R/R

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Her/his fic is not categorized (I think) under any character name, though I wish it was. It would be much easier to find. But anyhow, if you have trouble finding it, look under my favorite stories. It should be there. Read and review it!!! I'm begging you!