Chapter 8 : Arguments and Awakening
Disclaimer: do I really have to keep putting this in, I. Do. Not. Own. Dbz. Okay?.
Normal Timeline
For hours Pan scraped away rocks from the passage, pushing them to one side and inching forward bit by bit. Every minute or so she turned round to make sure Bra was still okay, she didn't have a clue what she would do if something worse happened to her, she'd just have to hope against hope that it didn't.
Bra had never known there were so many shades of grey. But there they were, dancing in front of her eyes, dark and light, dark and light. Pushing herself up on her elbows, she saw a blurred image of Pan, working away at the collapsed passage.
"Pan?" She squeaked, Pan spun round
"Oh Bra" She said, crawling over and hugging her friend, Bra hugged back weakly, eyes half shut
"I'm so tired" Bra yawned, Pan nodded, she too was feeling sluggish, and knew it was the worst of signs.
"I think the air's getting thinner. Don't worry, I made a promise long ago not to let you fail, and I intend to keep it. I'll get us out of here"
Bra shook her head "Let, me, help" she said, pulling herself up on her knees "see, I can still use my legs". She hobbled on all fours over to the place where Pan had been digging and began scrabbling away at the rocks. Pan crawled over, smiled at Bra, and began digging beside her.
Bra worked as vigorously as Pan to start with, but it wasn't long before her movements got slower and her breathing faster, and she took to working on her stomach so she didn't have to support her body weight. She pressed her fingers into her eye sockets, desperate to keep herself awake, and lay her sore head on her arm. A half moan, half yawn escaped her mouth.
"Don't go to sleep" Pan warned
"I won't, I'll just, rest my eyes"
"Don't even do that, it's too dangerous"
"Okay" Bra said, then closed her eyes, and was immediately lifted up from the pain into sweet blackness. Deep and rich and...
SLAP!
"Owww!" Bra woke up abruptly, grabbing the left side of her face and glaring at Pan
"Sorry, I had to do it, you were asleep. Actually, I don't even need to apologise"
"You're right, you don't. Thank you"
Pan wiped the sweat off her brow "okay, you rest if you must, I'm going to keep digging"
**************
The Dreampool
When Bra woke up the second time she was surrounded by green, green ferns, green shrubs, green everything. For a moment she wondered if Pan had managed to dig them out, but there was no burning pain in her legs, no sharp pain in her forehead. Bra breathed in wonderful fresh air, there was no pain in the Dream. *But what about Trunks?* The question crossed her mind, *his transparency, why is he so weak here?* No answer was offered. Bra was lying on her side in the undergrowth, arm outstretched, a small, bright green frog sitting perfectly still on her hand, looking at her. Bra flinched when she saw it, the frog hopped off her hand, unhappy at being disturbed, and bounced off in the direction of the Pool, where it landed with a ploop. Bra smiled when she heard that peaceful sound, then frowned in confusion when she heard another, voices. There had never been anyone but herself and Trunks at the Pool before. Bra lay where she was, listening to what they were saying, although
generally she held eavesdropping in contempt.
"First you do not allow me to explain to Trunks, now you forbid me from saving their lives!
"Sister, they may find a way out of the cave yet"
"Since midmorning they have been digging, and they have only dug through less than twenty meters, there is over eighty to go and they have, what, maybe an hours worth of air left. If we do nothing they will die, then where will Trunks's world be?"
"It will be where it was before 'you' decided to interfere"
"ME!"
Bra lifted her head slightly, so she could see the speakers. A male and a female, both with dark green hair that accentuated their strange, yellow green eyes. The female wore a long white dress, vines wrapped round her waist, and all she could see of the male was his long, also green, cloak. "It will not be as is was" the woman continued "the Pool had done something to Trunks, unless he finds away himself to beat it, then his world is doomed. You know as well as I do that he is the only hope for his world. And you know as well as I do that Bulma is too cut up with worry to create anything to help him, so the burden rests on the girls shoulders. Both of whom are lying unconscious in the cave as we uselessly argue!"
*We are?* Thought Bra, the woman in white recomposed herself after her outburst.
"Look Brother, Kami foresaw the androids, Kami gave us the Pool and the power to Dreambind, and Kami entrusted us with his worlds future after he was gone. How could you even think to betray his trust by leaving the girls in the cave, by letting them die?"
Bra had to admit the woman was good with her words.
"I am not betraying his trust" The male said "I am simply being-"
His sister cut him off. "Male" she said, a touch of malice on the word.
"What does that mean?" He asked.
Bra never got to find out what it meant (although she thought she probably already knew) because at that moment she sneezed, and when she looked up to where the guardians had been arguing, they had vanished.
*****************
Normal Timeline
The Dream lasted for some time after the Guardians left their pool, and Bra was permitted a few hours of dreamless, true or otherwise, sleep before waking up. The sun was warm on her face and she was weighed down with blankets, thick, heavy and warm. Bra yawned contently, before rolling over to see Pan sleeping softly in the bed next to her. She smiled at some unknown dream as she slept, and Bra smiled to see her friend happy.
The realisation dawned on her that she was no longer under a mountain of rocks. The air was fresher than that of the stuffy, overbreathed air in the cave. Sitting up, she blinked in the radiant light reflecting off the while tiled floor outside. Bra rubbed her eyes and sleepily brushed a strand of teal hair away from her face, noticing with pleasure, but confusion, that the scar on her forehead was gone. Pulling on the white fluffy dressing gown lying on the end of the bed, and peering out the huge windows looking out over the white shiny tiles to the endless azure sky. She could see Mr Popo watering the flowers on the opposite side of the lookout.
"Oh, you're awake" Dende's soft voice sounded behind her. Bra was suddenly washed over with worry, Dende would be sure to tell her parents, they only had one dragonball to go and she didn't want to face them before her quest was complete. Come to think of it she didn't want to face them 'after' she'd made her wishes, but that couldn't be avoided.
"Don't worry, I haven't told anyone, I've been to busy trying to work out how you got here" Dende seemed to read her mind, or possibly just her face.
"What? You mean you didn't bring us here?" Bras worry was replaced with confusion
"No, I just healed you. There was a woman, dressed in white and green vines, she appeared on the lookout with you and Pan unconscious at her feet, then disappeared"
Bra nodded, finally understanding, the female Guardian had gotten her way.
"I should warn you, though, Piccalo was here when she appeared with you. He went down to get Gohan, they'll be back soon"
Bra bolted back to her room, shaking Pan violently. "Come on Pan! We're going".
Pan opened her eyes groggily, "but we just got here" she complained. "Where is here?" she added, as an afterthought,
"You're Otousan's on his way up here" Bra informed her, panic fulling her voice
"Otusan?" Pan sat up, realising where she was. "Bra we nearly died" she stated matter-of-factly. "Why is our parents knowing now such a bad idea?"
"We'll be grounded forever! Trunks doesn't have much time! If you're not coming then I'll go by myself!" Bra threatened, knowing perfectly well that she wouldn't.
Pan opened her mouth to say something, but stopped, staring at something, or, more likely, someone, behind, Bra. Bra hoped Pan was looking at Dende, or even an unusual shaped cloud, Bra turned her head.
She was looking at Gohan.
****************
Disclaimer: do I really have to keep putting this in, I. Do. Not. Own. Dbz. Okay?.
Normal Timeline
For hours Pan scraped away rocks from the passage, pushing them to one side and inching forward bit by bit. Every minute or so she turned round to make sure Bra was still okay, she didn't have a clue what she would do if something worse happened to her, she'd just have to hope against hope that it didn't.
Bra had never known there were so many shades of grey. But there they were, dancing in front of her eyes, dark and light, dark and light. Pushing herself up on her elbows, she saw a blurred image of Pan, working away at the collapsed passage.
"Pan?" She squeaked, Pan spun round
"Oh Bra" She said, crawling over and hugging her friend, Bra hugged back weakly, eyes half shut
"I'm so tired" Bra yawned, Pan nodded, she too was feeling sluggish, and knew it was the worst of signs.
"I think the air's getting thinner. Don't worry, I made a promise long ago not to let you fail, and I intend to keep it. I'll get us out of here"
Bra shook her head "Let, me, help" she said, pulling herself up on her knees "see, I can still use my legs". She hobbled on all fours over to the place where Pan had been digging and began scrabbling away at the rocks. Pan crawled over, smiled at Bra, and began digging beside her.
Bra worked as vigorously as Pan to start with, but it wasn't long before her movements got slower and her breathing faster, and she took to working on her stomach so she didn't have to support her body weight. She pressed her fingers into her eye sockets, desperate to keep herself awake, and lay her sore head on her arm. A half moan, half yawn escaped her mouth.
"Don't go to sleep" Pan warned
"I won't, I'll just, rest my eyes"
"Don't even do that, it's too dangerous"
"Okay" Bra said, then closed her eyes, and was immediately lifted up from the pain into sweet blackness. Deep and rich and...
SLAP!
"Owww!" Bra woke up abruptly, grabbing the left side of her face and glaring at Pan
"Sorry, I had to do it, you were asleep. Actually, I don't even need to apologise"
"You're right, you don't. Thank you"
Pan wiped the sweat off her brow "okay, you rest if you must, I'm going to keep digging"
**************
The Dreampool
When Bra woke up the second time she was surrounded by green, green ferns, green shrubs, green everything. For a moment she wondered if Pan had managed to dig them out, but there was no burning pain in her legs, no sharp pain in her forehead. Bra breathed in wonderful fresh air, there was no pain in the Dream. *But what about Trunks?* The question crossed her mind, *his transparency, why is he so weak here?* No answer was offered. Bra was lying on her side in the undergrowth, arm outstretched, a small, bright green frog sitting perfectly still on her hand, looking at her. Bra flinched when she saw it, the frog hopped off her hand, unhappy at being disturbed, and bounced off in the direction of the Pool, where it landed with a ploop. Bra smiled when she heard that peaceful sound, then frowned in confusion when she heard another, voices. There had never been anyone but herself and Trunks at the Pool before. Bra lay where she was, listening to what they were saying, although
generally she held eavesdropping in contempt.
"First you do not allow me to explain to Trunks, now you forbid me from saving their lives!
"Sister, they may find a way out of the cave yet"
"Since midmorning they have been digging, and they have only dug through less than twenty meters, there is over eighty to go and they have, what, maybe an hours worth of air left. If we do nothing they will die, then where will Trunks's world be?"
"It will be where it was before 'you' decided to interfere"
"ME!"
Bra lifted her head slightly, so she could see the speakers. A male and a female, both with dark green hair that accentuated their strange, yellow green eyes. The female wore a long white dress, vines wrapped round her waist, and all she could see of the male was his long, also green, cloak. "It will not be as is was" the woman continued "the Pool had done something to Trunks, unless he finds away himself to beat it, then his world is doomed. You know as well as I do that he is the only hope for his world. And you know as well as I do that Bulma is too cut up with worry to create anything to help him, so the burden rests on the girls shoulders. Both of whom are lying unconscious in the cave as we uselessly argue!"
*We are?* Thought Bra, the woman in white recomposed herself after her outburst.
"Look Brother, Kami foresaw the androids, Kami gave us the Pool and the power to Dreambind, and Kami entrusted us with his worlds future after he was gone. How could you even think to betray his trust by leaving the girls in the cave, by letting them die?"
Bra had to admit the woman was good with her words.
"I am not betraying his trust" The male said "I am simply being-"
His sister cut him off. "Male" she said, a touch of malice on the word.
"What does that mean?" He asked.
Bra never got to find out what it meant (although she thought she probably already knew) because at that moment she sneezed, and when she looked up to where the guardians had been arguing, they had vanished.
*****************
Normal Timeline
The Dream lasted for some time after the Guardians left their pool, and Bra was permitted a few hours of dreamless, true or otherwise, sleep before waking up. The sun was warm on her face and she was weighed down with blankets, thick, heavy and warm. Bra yawned contently, before rolling over to see Pan sleeping softly in the bed next to her. She smiled at some unknown dream as she slept, and Bra smiled to see her friend happy.
The realisation dawned on her that she was no longer under a mountain of rocks. The air was fresher than that of the stuffy, overbreathed air in the cave. Sitting up, she blinked in the radiant light reflecting off the while tiled floor outside. Bra rubbed her eyes and sleepily brushed a strand of teal hair away from her face, noticing with pleasure, but confusion, that the scar on her forehead was gone. Pulling on the white fluffy dressing gown lying on the end of the bed, and peering out the huge windows looking out over the white shiny tiles to the endless azure sky. She could see Mr Popo watering the flowers on the opposite side of the lookout.
"Oh, you're awake" Dende's soft voice sounded behind her. Bra was suddenly washed over with worry, Dende would be sure to tell her parents, they only had one dragonball to go and she didn't want to face them before her quest was complete. Come to think of it she didn't want to face them 'after' she'd made her wishes, but that couldn't be avoided.
"Don't worry, I haven't told anyone, I've been to busy trying to work out how you got here" Dende seemed to read her mind, or possibly just her face.
"What? You mean you didn't bring us here?" Bras worry was replaced with confusion
"No, I just healed you. There was a woman, dressed in white and green vines, she appeared on the lookout with you and Pan unconscious at her feet, then disappeared"
Bra nodded, finally understanding, the female Guardian had gotten her way.
"I should warn you, though, Piccalo was here when she appeared with you. He went down to get Gohan, they'll be back soon"
Bra bolted back to her room, shaking Pan violently. "Come on Pan! We're going".
Pan opened her eyes groggily, "but we just got here" she complained. "Where is here?" she added, as an afterthought,
"You're Otousan's on his way up here" Bra informed her, panic fulling her voice
"Otusan?" Pan sat up, realising where she was. "Bra we nearly died" she stated matter-of-factly. "Why is our parents knowing now such a bad idea?"
"We'll be grounded forever! Trunks doesn't have much time! If you're not coming then I'll go by myself!" Bra threatened, knowing perfectly well that she wouldn't.
Pan opened her mouth to say something, but stopped, staring at something, or, more likely, someone, behind, Bra. Bra hoped Pan was looking at Dende, or even an unusual shaped cloud, Bra turned her head.
She was looking at Gohan.
****************