Chapter 7 - Talc Returns
Thanks!
Summary of story: Garlic Jr. goes to the Sailor dimension and spreads his special blackwater mist. Serena gets taken to DBZ dimension to be kept safe. She starts training with Piccolo, and then she spars with Goku. Now Vegeta's been training her. ;)
Ok, now...just to warn you...this chapter came out of nowhere. Believe me, it wasn't planned. It surprised me too...just remember Vegeta's character in the show...
Oh, and I had this chapter done on Friday morning but i couldn't get on the site to put it on...does anyone know why that happens so much? Is it just me?
***************************************************************
Long ago, when the Saiyan race was young, a great empire ruled the universe. They were strong, like gods; but in them there was no wish for power, no wish for anything other than peace and the well being of others.
They formed moons around the planets they protected. In exchange for the peace and serenity they offered the races they protected, all they asked for was assurance that the inhabitants would be peaceful and not seek war. Under the rule of Lunarians other races lived long, peaceful, and happy lives.
Though there are always those who cannot accept peace. The Solarites were as powerful as the Lunarians, except they didn't want peace. They declared war against the Lunarians and asked all the races under the control of the Lunarians to join them against the Lunarians.
Most Saiyans, being power hungry and war craving, pledged allegiance to the Solarites. The Solarites were pleased with the Saiyans and bestowed on them the power to change into oozarus, ware-monkeys. In this form they were nearly unstoppable and a valuable asset to the Solarite army. The rest of the Saiyans stayed with the Lunarians and were spared this curse.
The Lunarians wished to punish the Saiyans that turned against them, and they feared the oozarus lack of control and lack of morals. They used their power to punish the Saiyans so that they could only change into oozarus when they saw the light of the full moon. The Saiyans that rejected the Lunarians, in order to gain more power, ended up needing them to keep their power.
Eventually the Solarites and the Lunarians destroyed each other and the planets and races left behind started over.
The one side of Saiyans stayed power-hungry and were always fighting, a blessing or a curse, from their allegiance with the Solarites. They still relied upon the moon ruins, left behind from the Lunarian bases, to grow in power. The other side was still powerful, but because they had stayed with the Lunarians they loved peace and that was all they wanted.
Where the power-hungry Saiyans had their power and love of war, and the ability to transform into oozarus, the Lunarian-Saiyans were peaceful to the core, and their peace radiated from them.
The power-hungry Saiyans could not understand, and so resented the peace their cousins felt, and concurred them making them their slaves. Because they were peaceful, the good Saiyans didn't resist and served their restless cousins.
Conditions stayed mostly the same as time went on; the peaceful Saiyans stayed slaves of the power hungry Saiyans, and the two groups stayed pretty much separate in those capacities. In result, it was out of the ordinary when the Saiyan King, King Vegeta, fell in love with a peace-loving Saiyan slave girl, and took her for his concubine. The Saiyan King's love was not the same love the girl was used to, he was cruel and brutal to her, never showing his love, yet she knew he loved her and she loved him back with all her heart.
It wasn't long before the mismatched couple had a son; the Saiyan prince, Prince Vegeta. As custom went, the mother would raise the child for it's first three years of life and then he would be taken away and trained in the art of war. Because of his love for his concubine, he allowed her this privilege, despite her peaceful inclinations.
The girl loved her son. Secretly, she taught him the ways of her kind, learned long ago from the Lunarians. The boy loved his mother with all his heart and readily learned the ways of peace and love. He wouldn't let her out of his sight; he always wanted to be with her. The peace that came from his mother's touch was all that could console the young prince and bring his fiery soul, from his father's side of him, to peace.
The time came for him to leave his mothers side and learn to be a heartless warrior. The Saiyan race needed a strong leader, and King Vegeta wouldn't listen to the pleas of his concubine. He would give the universe the most powerful Saiyan he could, and show them what the Saiyans were about. He couldn't stand any form of weakness in his son, and he did whatever possible to kill every bit of peace and love in the boy.
When she saw the pain her son was put through to "toughen him up" and "make him a man," the peace-loving girl nearly died with the pain her soul, and her son's soul, went through. She came to wish she had never taught him what true love and peace was, it only made the transformation more painful on him. She watched the torture and suffering her son, she loved so much, went through and it nearly drove her insane. Nothing anyone could have done to her would hurt as much as watching her son suffer.
He was taken away from her a screaming child, crying for his mother. The years she waited she tried to tell herself that her lessons would win, that he would still be kind and loving. Yet, he came back a few years later as cruel and heartless as any other Saiyan.
When she was allowed to see him again she ran to embrace him and tell him how sorry she was for his pain, and that she loved him...but he forced to the ground with a look of disgust in his eyes. The pain of her sons attack was no match with the pain she felt inside. It was that night that she took her own life.
*****************************************************************
Serena sat on a log by a campfire smelly and dirty, but happy. She had the distinct smell of fish radiating around her. Vegeta was sitting across from her picking his teeth with a fish bone. The silence was killing her.
Serena had always complained of how tired she was of eating the same tiring old dehydrated food. Just adding water was not enough to satisfy her. After three weeks of eating the same thing repeatedly and listening to Serena complain about it, Vegeta had finally decided to try some other source of nourishment. Of course, he had to turn it into some sort of training activity.
He had made it a race between Serena and him, to see who could not only stay under water for the longest, but also catch the most fish. The looser had to clean and cook all of them.
Of course Vegeta had won. Serena dove under and started grabbing fish as fast as she could. The thing was, that after she had about five in her arms they started slipping out. She had looked over at Vegeta and he was catching them and throwing them out of the water at lighting speed. When Serena had tired this she did pretty well, but Vegeta had already had a head start on her. The final score was Vegeta: 30; Serena: 25.
It had taken her forever to clean and cook them but she did it happily. As long as she didn't look at the poor dead fish in the eyes she could handle the job well enough, of course she made a huge mess.
Now that she had a full stomach, there was nothing to do. She wondered what Vegeta was thinking about. The two of them barely ever talked...well, she talked plenty, but he never talked back, just listened to her... The training was amazing. Vegeta surprised her with his skills everyday, and she suspected that there was an even bigger power inside of him he wasn't showing her.
***
Vegeta sat at the campfire pondering the problem they were having. He knew Serena had reached a level nearly as strong as a super-saiyan, yet she stopped making any progress, and couldn't go beyond. Maybe there was something she needed to push her to that level. What it was, was what puzzled him.
The silence between them didn't bother him at all but he could tell by the way she was fidgeting, it was bothering her. With all the talking the girl did, he realized she didn't talk much about the Lunarian race and why she was the only surviving one, all she talked about was her friends and how hard it was to be a normal kid and save the world.
"So, Vegeta, what is the Saiyan race like?" Serena asked, trying desperately to break the silence.
"So, Girl, tell me about your place as a Lunarian," Vegeta mocked her, knowing that was exactly the thing she didn't want to tell him, and he really didn't think she could understand anything at all about Saiyans.
"How about you call me by my name, we've been around each other long enough for you to learn it." She said changing the subject.
"Girl, is enough."
"Why is that?"
"That's what you are, and you're below me, there's no reason for me to respect you by using your name."
Serena was taken back by that. Conceded was what came to her mind, that's what he is, should she call him that. She decided not to bring that thought up. "Calling me Serena isn't showing any kind of respect."
"How about 'Brat,' 'Whiner,' 'Baby,' 'Looser,' calling you anything else would be signaling you were an equal."
"Equal?! I'm ten times more important than you."
His eyebrows rose in mock surprise.
"How about, 'Serenity,' 'Serena,' 'Bunny?' Mr. High-and-mighty."
"Ten times more powerful than I?" he said still caught up on her last sentence, he was growing angry with her and he didn't even know why. His mind turned over an idea.
"I didn't say powerful, but yes...why not." With the fierceness of his voice and the look on his face, Serena was starting to get scared of him again. She'd tried her hardest not to be afraid of him, but it seemed to be an instinct of some sort.
Vegeta stood up. "Alright, lets prove right now who's the master here."
Serena's eyes almost jumped out of her head. She knew he was ten times stronger than her, but there was no backing down now, even though every inch of her told her to run and hide. The look he gave her was deadly. She didn't know why he was getting so angry but she had obviously hit a nerve.
"You got it," she said, her voice trying to be strong.
By now the stars were out around them. The lake was black, and the trees of the forest around them whispered in the nights wind, with ghost-like howling. Yet, it all seemed to grow silent when Vegeta started powering up. The yellow/white glow erupted around him and Serena felt his power level skyrocket. She followed suit, powering up as well.
Even after Serena finished powering up to her highest level, Vegeta's power was still growing. His body was tense with concentration. His power kept growing and growing. Then in a blaze of lights and power, that knocked Serena off her feet. He turned Super-Saiyan. Serena had never seen a super-saiyan before, and his power was overwhelming. His usual black, spiky hair had turned blond, his black eyes blue.
Here she thought she had almost caught up to him in power, and now she finds out he was only holding back the entire time, she was nowhere near that power.
"Wha...what are you?" she stammered, visibly afraid.
Vegeta just glared at her, "It's called a Super-Saiyan." Then he smirked, "Kakorott turns into one as well, he just didn't want to embarrass you."
Serena's fear suddenly turned into anger, she wasn't a baby who needed to be protected. She could fight for herself.
"You'll never be a good warrior the way you flaunt your emotions to the world, all good fighters know that." He emphasized 'good' in that sentence.
Serena shot at him with a yell of rage. He didn't even try to move as she punched at him, first his chest, then his face. As soon as he made contact with him, she though she heard something crack in her arm. She pulled her fists back with a cry of pain. He was harder than the hardest rock she'd ever hit. She felt her fists bruising from the impact with his solid flesh.
He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her, betraying no emotion.
She looked up at him again, her rage melting back into fear.
He surprised her by punching her in the face, causing her jaw to practically fall off. "You'll never be good enough to beat Garlic Jr." He punched her again causing her to sail right through a row of trees. She fell to the dirt of the forest floor on her side, struggling for breath. He walked up to her. "You'll go back to watch him kill your friends, and there'll be nothing you can do about it."
He kicked her in the side and sent her straight into the lake. She panicked as she struggled to the surface for a breath, but she hardly had anytime to move because Vegeta was upon her again. He grabbed her by the neck and dunked her back under the water.
"Just like you watched your little boyfriend die, you'll watch the rest of your puny world get destroyed."
Under the water, gasping for breath, Serena heard his words loud and clear. She stopped struggling and her body went limp, her eyes opened wide in shock. His words repeated over and over again in her head.
Was what he said true; was she to blame for Mamoru's death? The scene flashed before her eyes, almost as if her life flashed before her eyes. He'd died because of her. How many times did that happen? How many times had she watched all of her friends die because of her? She was never strong enough, and now Mamoru was gone for good because of her.
Her lungs burned as a reminder of where she was. She wouldn't allow it to end now. Vegeta was right, she was never going to save her friends, and Mamoru was dead for nothing, the way she was fighting.
Her body tensed, and her hands balled up into fists. Everything inside of her seemed to explode with her emotions. The energy inside her changed her body, and exploded out of her in a silvery, blinding light. The water around her was expelled away from her causing what seemed like a huge hole in the lake, the water shot up in all directions with her power.
Vegeta was flung away from her by her power, surprised. He recovered his shock and held his ground a hundred feet away, and watched with awe and surprise. As the clouds and sprays of water cleared, he got a good look at her, and was truly shocked.
"S..so powerful," he stammered.
She floated above the water with the silvery-white light radiating from her. She appeared unharmed, as if all her wounds had been healed. Her hair had turned sparkly white, and her eyes were bright silver and seemed to be glowing. A silver tear rolled down her expressionless face.
"I won't allow that to happen." Her voice was unrecognizable as her own. It held no emotion and made her words sound as if law, threatening anyone to disagree with her.
Vegeta just stared at her shocked and speechless. She finally did it, she found her power, and it was amazing.
Serena floated there for a while just looking at him with her unblinking, emotionless gaze, he wasn't sure what was going to happen next. Then, surprising him, Serena closed her eyes and fell to the water below her. Without thinking, Vegeta swooped down and caught her in his arms. Her hair had changed back to blonde, her eyes from silver to blue. He too transformed back to his usual form.
He brought her back to the campfire with mixed emotions. He checked to see if she was still hurt from his attacks, which had come out more brutal than he had wanted, but found that she was healed from all her wounds. Once again he was surprised by her power, and relieved at the same time.
They didn't have any beds or pillows or anything comfortable, Vegeta thought beds and pillows were weak and didn't use them while training. He sat down and kept her in his arms for lack of anything softer. He stroked her hair as she remained as if sleeping. Perhaps he had gone to far to bring her power out of her, it worked, and she was stronger for it...but he wasn't feeling very good about it.
Serena woke up but was to exhausted to move. She looked up at Vegeta; her head was against his strong chest.
She forgave him for everything he'd said and done to her when he saw the look in his eyes, he looked as if he had killed her. She knew why he did all that, he was trying to make her stronger, and it worked. She had gained the power she felt from her vision, and he gave it to her.
"Thank you Vegeta," she whispered to him.
His eyes became surprised, and then he nodded to her.
She snuggled into him more and asked him the same question from before. "What were the Saiyans like?"
This time he would answer her, as he did so he realized a few things himself. "They're strong, powerfull, and prideful. They concurred other planets and destroyed entire populations for a price. They didn't care about anything except themselves..."
"But not all of them," Serena insisted as if she was looking inside of him.
He looked at her surprised again. Her eyes were full of love and knowledge. "There were some who were the exact opposite, they were like you. Innocent, kind, loving, only caring about others."
"I can see it inside you, you're like that, you just forgot."
"Ha! I destroyed the only one that ever loved me, the only one who believed in me. Because of me she died."
"No, Vegeta. For you she died."
He felt like yelling at her that she had no idea what she was talking about. How could she know anything about him? But before he voiced his thoughts he felt that peaceful power radiating all around him from her embrace.
She hugged him closer and continued looking deep inside of him, a feeling that was both scary for him and comforting at the same time.
"You're wrong about something else as well. She wasn't the only one he believes in you and cares about you you."
He started at her speechless. The peaceful feeling coming from her numbed him to all else but her, her smell intoxicated him. He was lost in the vast ocean of her eyes; eyes that shown with unconditional love and understanding. She closed her eyes and a foreign emotion took over him as and he leaned down, closing the gap between them. Their lips met gently yet passionately as they kissed. All that was important in the world at that moment was right in his arms, and that was just the way he wanted it.
Then, they broke apart.
*****************************************************************
Boy am I bad at romance! Did it seem to unrealistic? I don't know...should I stay away from the sappy stuff? It's totally up to you.
Anyway, this chapter did not turn out the way I planned it, as I said at the beginning...Talc was supposed to show up...this fic seems to have a mind of it's own, I don't even know what's going to happen any more.
So tell me what you think. Do you have any questions? You can ask me in reviews and I'll answer at the top of the next chapter, or write me and I'll be happy to write back, promise.
Talc *should* come in the next chapter....
~Shi
(Shigal5@aol.com)
Thanks!
Summary of story: Garlic Jr. goes to the Sailor dimension and spreads his special blackwater mist. Serena gets taken to DBZ dimension to be kept safe. She starts training with Piccolo, and then she spars with Goku. Now Vegeta's been training her. ;)
Ok, now...just to warn you...this chapter came out of nowhere. Believe me, it wasn't planned. It surprised me too...just remember Vegeta's character in the show...
Oh, and I had this chapter done on Friday morning but i couldn't get on the site to put it on...does anyone know why that happens so much? Is it just me?
***************************************************************
Long ago, when the Saiyan race was young, a great empire ruled the universe. They were strong, like gods; but in them there was no wish for power, no wish for anything other than peace and the well being of others.
They formed moons around the planets they protected. In exchange for the peace and serenity they offered the races they protected, all they asked for was assurance that the inhabitants would be peaceful and not seek war. Under the rule of Lunarians other races lived long, peaceful, and happy lives.
Though there are always those who cannot accept peace. The Solarites were as powerful as the Lunarians, except they didn't want peace. They declared war against the Lunarians and asked all the races under the control of the Lunarians to join them against the Lunarians.
Most Saiyans, being power hungry and war craving, pledged allegiance to the Solarites. The Solarites were pleased with the Saiyans and bestowed on them the power to change into oozarus, ware-monkeys. In this form they were nearly unstoppable and a valuable asset to the Solarite army. The rest of the Saiyans stayed with the Lunarians and were spared this curse.
The Lunarians wished to punish the Saiyans that turned against them, and they feared the oozarus lack of control and lack of morals. They used their power to punish the Saiyans so that they could only change into oozarus when they saw the light of the full moon. The Saiyans that rejected the Lunarians, in order to gain more power, ended up needing them to keep their power.
Eventually the Solarites and the Lunarians destroyed each other and the planets and races left behind started over.
The one side of Saiyans stayed power-hungry and were always fighting, a blessing or a curse, from their allegiance with the Solarites. They still relied upon the moon ruins, left behind from the Lunarian bases, to grow in power. The other side was still powerful, but because they had stayed with the Lunarians they loved peace and that was all they wanted.
Where the power-hungry Saiyans had their power and love of war, and the ability to transform into oozarus, the Lunarian-Saiyans were peaceful to the core, and their peace radiated from them.
The power-hungry Saiyans could not understand, and so resented the peace their cousins felt, and concurred them making them their slaves. Because they were peaceful, the good Saiyans didn't resist and served their restless cousins.
Conditions stayed mostly the same as time went on; the peaceful Saiyans stayed slaves of the power hungry Saiyans, and the two groups stayed pretty much separate in those capacities. In result, it was out of the ordinary when the Saiyan King, King Vegeta, fell in love with a peace-loving Saiyan slave girl, and took her for his concubine. The Saiyan King's love was not the same love the girl was used to, he was cruel and brutal to her, never showing his love, yet she knew he loved her and she loved him back with all her heart.
It wasn't long before the mismatched couple had a son; the Saiyan prince, Prince Vegeta. As custom went, the mother would raise the child for it's first three years of life and then he would be taken away and trained in the art of war. Because of his love for his concubine, he allowed her this privilege, despite her peaceful inclinations.
The girl loved her son. Secretly, she taught him the ways of her kind, learned long ago from the Lunarians. The boy loved his mother with all his heart and readily learned the ways of peace and love. He wouldn't let her out of his sight; he always wanted to be with her. The peace that came from his mother's touch was all that could console the young prince and bring his fiery soul, from his father's side of him, to peace.
The time came for him to leave his mothers side and learn to be a heartless warrior. The Saiyan race needed a strong leader, and King Vegeta wouldn't listen to the pleas of his concubine. He would give the universe the most powerful Saiyan he could, and show them what the Saiyans were about. He couldn't stand any form of weakness in his son, and he did whatever possible to kill every bit of peace and love in the boy.
When she saw the pain her son was put through to "toughen him up" and "make him a man," the peace-loving girl nearly died with the pain her soul, and her son's soul, went through. She came to wish she had never taught him what true love and peace was, it only made the transformation more painful on him. She watched the torture and suffering her son, she loved so much, went through and it nearly drove her insane. Nothing anyone could have done to her would hurt as much as watching her son suffer.
He was taken away from her a screaming child, crying for his mother. The years she waited she tried to tell herself that her lessons would win, that he would still be kind and loving. Yet, he came back a few years later as cruel and heartless as any other Saiyan.
When she was allowed to see him again she ran to embrace him and tell him how sorry she was for his pain, and that she loved him...but he forced to the ground with a look of disgust in his eyes. The pain of her sons attack was no match with the pain she felt inside. It was that night that she took her own life.
*****************************************************************
Serena sat on a log by a campfire smelly and dirty, but happy. She had the distinct smell of fish radiating around her. Vegeta was sitting across from her picking his teeth with a fish bone. The silence was killing her.
Serena had always complained of how tired she was of eating the same tiring old dehydrated food. Just adding water was not enough to satisfy her. After three weeks of eating the same thing repeatedly and listening to Serena complain about it, Vegeta had finally decided to try some other source of nourishment. Of course, he had to turn it into some sort of training activity.
He had made it a race between Serena and him, to see who could not only stay under water for the longest, but also catch the most fish. The looser had to clean and cook all of them.
Of course Vegeta had won. Serena dove under and started grabbing fish as fast as she could. The thing was, that after she had about five in her arms they started slipping out. She had looked over at Vegeta and he was catching them and throwing them out of the water at lighting speed. When Serena had tired this she did pretty well, but Vegeta had already had a head start on her. The final score was Vegeta: 30; Serena: 25.
It had taken her forever to clean and cook them but she did it happily. As long as she didn't look at the poor dead fish in the eyes she could handle the job well enough, of course she made a huge mess.
Now that she had a full stomach, there was nothing to do. She wondered what Vegeta was thinking about. The two of them barely ever talked...well, she talked plenty, but he never talked back, just listened to her... The training was amazing. Vegeta surprised her with his skills everyday, and she suspected that there was an even bigger power inside of him he wasn't showing her.
***
Vegeta sat at the campfire pondering the problem they were having. He knew Serena had reached a level nearly as strong as a super-saiyan, yet she stopped making any progress, and couldn't go beyond. Maybe there was something she needed to push her to that level. What it was, was what puzzled him.
The silence between them didn't bother him at all but he could tell by the way she was fidgeting, it was bothering her. With all the talking the girl did, he realized she didn't talk much about the Lunarian race and why she was the only surviving one, all she talked about was her friends and how hard it was to be a normal kid and save the world.
"So, Vegeta, what is the Saiyan race like?" Serena asked, trying desperately to break the silence.
"So, Girl, tell me about your place as a Lunarian," Vegeta mocked her, knowing that was exactly the thing she didn't want to tell him, and he really didn't think she could understand anything at all about Saiyans.
"How about you call me by my name, we've been around each other long enough for you to learn it." She said changing the subject.
"Girl, is enough."
"Why is that?"
"That's what you are, and you're below me, there's no reason for me to respect you by using your name."
Serena was taken back by that. Conceded was what came to her mind, that's what he is, should she call him that. She decided not to bring that thought up. "Calling me Serena isn't showing any kind of respect."
"How about 'Brat,' 'Whiner,' 'Baby,' 'Looser,' calling you anything else would be signaling you were an equal."
"Equal?! I'm ten times more important than you."
His eyebrows rose in mock surprise.
"How about, 'Serenity,' 'Serena,' 'Bunny?' Mr. High-and-mighty."
"Ten times more powerful than I?" he said still caught up on her last sentence, he was growing angry with her and he didn't even know why. His mind turned over an idea.
"I didn't say powerful, but yes...why not." With the fierceness of his voice and the look on his face, Serena was starting to get scared of him again. She'd tried her hardest not to be afraid of him, but it seemed to be an instinct of some sort.
Vegeta stood up. "Alright, lets prove right now who's the master here."
Serena's eyes almost jumped out of her head. She knew he was ten times stronger than her, but there was no backing down now, even though every inch of her told her to run and hide. The look he gave her was deadly. She didn't know why he was getting so angry but she had obviously hit a nerve.
"You got it," she said, her voice trying to be strong.
By now the stars were out around them. The lake was black, and the trees of the forest around them whispered in the nights wind, with ghost-like howling. Yet, it all seemed to grow silent when Vegeta started powering up. The yellow/white glow erupted around him and Serena felt his power level skyrocket. She followed suit, powering up as well.
Even after Serena finished powering up to her highest level, Vegeta's power was still growing. His body was tense with concentration. His power kept growing and growing. Then in a blaze of lights and power, that knocked Serena off her feet. He turned Super-Saiyan. Serena had never seen a super-saiyan before, and his power was overwhelming. His usual black, spiky hair had turned blond, his black eyes blue.
Here she thought she had almost caught up to him in power, and now she finds out he was only holding back the entire time, she was nowhere near that power.
"Wha...what are you?" she stammered, visibly afraid.
Vegeta just glared at her, "It's called a Super-Saiyan." Then he smirked, "Kakorott turns into one as well, he just didn't want to embarrass you."
Serena's fear suddenly turned into anger, she wasn't a baby who needed to be protected. She could fight for herself.
"You'll never be a good warrior the way you flaunt your emotions to the world, all good fighters know that." He emphasized 'good' in that sentence.
Serena shot at him with a yell of rage. He didn't even try to move as she punched at him, first his chest, then his face. As soon as he made contact with him, she though she heard something crack in her arm. She pulled her fists back with a cry of pain. He was harder than the hardest rock she'd ever hit. She felt her fists bruising from the impact with his solid flesh.
He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her, betraying no emotion.
She looked up at him again, her rage melting back into fear.
He surprised her by punching her in the face, causing her jaw to practically fall off. "You'll never be good enough to beat Garlic Jr." He punched her again causing her to sail right through a row of trees. She fell to the dirt of the forest floor on her side, struggling for breath. He walked up to her. "You'll go back to watch him kill your friends, and there'll be nothing you can do about it."
He kicked her in the side and sent her straight into the lake. She panicked as she struggled to the surface for a breath, but she hardly had anytime to move because Vegeta was upon her again. He grabbed her by the neck and dunked her back under the water.
"Just like you watched your little boyfriend die, you'll watch the rest of your puny world get destroyed."
Under the water, gasping for breath, Serena heard his words loud and clear. She stopped struggling and her body went limp, her eyes opened wide in shock. His words repeated over and over again in her head.
Was what he said true; was she to blame for Mamoru's death? The scene flashed before her eyes, almost as if her life flashed before her eyes. He'd died because of her. How many times did that happen? How many times had she watched all of her friends die because of her? She was never strong enough, and now Mamoru was gone for good because of her.
Her lungs burned as a reminder of where she was. She wouldn't allow it to end now. Vegeta was right, she was never going to save her friends, and Mamoru was dead for nothing, the way she was fighting.
Her body tensed, and her hands balled up into fists. Everything inside of her seemed to explode with her emotions. The energy inside her changed her body, and exploded out of her in a silvery, blinding light. The water around her was expelled away from her causing what seemed like a huge hole in the lake, the water shot up in all directions with her power.
Vegeta was flung away from her by her power, surprised. He recovered his shock and held his ground a hundred feet away, and watched with awe and surprise. As the clouds and sprays of water cleared, he got a good look at her, and was truly shocked.
"S..so powerful," he stammered.
She floated above the water with the silvery-white light radiating from her. She appeared unharmed, as if all her wounds had been healed. Her hair had turned sparkly white, and her eyes were bright silver and seemed to be glowing. A silver tear rolled down her expressionless face.
"I won't allow that to happen." Her voice was unrecognizable as her own. It held no emotion and made her words sound as if law, threatening anyone to disagree with her.
Vegeta just stared at her shocked and speechless. She finally did it, she found her power, and it was amazing.
Serena floated there for a while just looking at him with her unblinking, emotionless gaze, he wasn't sure what was going to happen next. Then, surprising him, Serena closed her eyes and fell to the water below her. Without thinking, Vegeta swooped down and caught her in his arms. Her hair had changed back to blonde, her eyes from silver to blue. He too transformed back to his usual form.
He brought her back to the campfire with mixed emotions. He checked to see if she was still hurt from his attacks, which had come out more brutal than he had wanted, but found that she was healed from all her wounds. Once again he was surprised by her power, and relieved at the same time.
They didn't have any beds or pillows or anything comfortable, Vegeta thought beds and pillows were weak and didn't use them while training. He sat down and kept her in his arms for lack of anything softer. He stroked her hair as she remained as if sleeping. Perhaps he had gone to far to bring her power out of her, it worked, and she was stronger for it...but he wasn't feeling very good about it.
Serena woke up but was to exhausted to move. She looked up at Vegeta; her head was against his strong chest.
She forgave him for everything he'd said and done to her when he saw the look in his eyes, he looked as if he had killed her. She knew why he did all that, he was trying to make her stronger, and it worked. She had gained the power she felt from her vision, and he gave it to her.
"Thank you Vegeta," she whispered to him.
His eyes became surprised, and then he nodded to her.
She snuggled into him more and asked him the same question from before. "What were the Saiyans like?"
This time he would answer her, as he did so he realized a few things himself. "They're strong, powerfull, and prideful. They concurred other planets and destroyed entire populations for a price. They didn't care about anything except themselves..."
"But not all of them," Serena insisted as if she was looking inside of him.
He looked at her surprised again. Her eyes were full of love and knowledge. "There were some who were the exact opposite, they were like you. Innocent, kind, loving, only caring about others."
"I can see it inside you, you're like that, you just forgot."
"Ha! I destroyed the only one that ever loved me, the only one who believed in me. Because of me she died."
"No, Vegeta. For you she died."
He felt like yelling at her that she had no idea what she was talking about. How could she know anything about him? But before he voiced his thoughts he felt that peaceful power radiating all around him from her embrace.
She hugged him closer and continued looking deep inside of him, a feeling that was both scary for him and comforting at the same time.
"You're wrong about something else as well. She wasn't the only one he believes in you and cares about you you."
He started at her speechless. The peaceful feeling coming from her numbed him to all else but her, her smell intoxicated him. He was lost in the vast ocean of her eyes; eyes that shown with unconditional love and understanding. She closed her eyes and a foreign emotion took over him as and he leaned down, closing the gap between them. Their lips met gently yet passionately as they kissed. All that was important in the world at that moment was right in his arms, and that was just the way he wanted it.
Then, they broke apart.
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Boy am I bad at romance! Did it seem to unrealistic? I don't know...should I stay away from the sappy stuff? It's totally up to you.
Anyway, this chapter did not turn out the way I planned it, as I said at the beginning...Talc was supposed to show up...this fic seems to have a mind of it's own, I don't even know what's going to happen any more.
So tell me what you think. Do you have any questions? You can ask me in reviews and I'll answer at the top of the next chapter, or write me and I'll be happy to write back, promise.
Talc *should* come in the next chapter....
~Shi
(Shigal5@aol.com)