Chapter eleven: Sins bared

I waited three weeks, he did not come. I began to wonder if she had been right.

I decided to show her what this monster had done.

I stepped into the living room to find her attacking a large meal. She seemed to like the same food as I did, and she did have some semblance of table manners, not much, but some.

She noticed his presence immediately and bared her teeth. He sighed

"Come with me" she scowled but followed him from the room

*

I watched from the window as Trunks took off with the girl in a tight hold. I knew what he was going to do. I sighed and went back to reading.

I was disappointed in Trunks, but I could not blame him. I would have been just the same had it not been for the influence of my father. I just hoped he would see the right thing to do.

*

I glided over the freshest of seventeen's attacks, just before I found her. I felt her stiffen as she saw the destruction. The dead had been cleared but it was still evident what had been done

I toured a few sites, then showed her a city, it had once been the biggest in the world. The job was a large one so there were still many human remains here and there. She froze and shivered

Then I showed her the archives, of all the people, and the individual killings, there were some photos as well, the slow deaths, the painful ones.

I pulled up the profile on the screen and forced her to look at it. She went limp, and I saw her eyes were closed and her face was white. She started to shake, I held her up until she started to breathe again.

"Gods" she whispered. I nodded grimly.

*

I looked up as Trunks landed on the balcony. I saw he was carrying her this time, and set her down much more gently. He tilted her head up to face him and said something I did not catch. When he let her chin go she stared at the ground. Even at a distance I could see her white face and shaking hands.

Trunks stood by her for a few minutes then rested a hand on her shoulder. She did not respond. He left her alone, leaning on the rail.

*

I felt my eyes sting, I didn't know what it was but it hurt. I let little droplets of salty water run down my face and fall over the edge to shatter, into millions of crystal shards, on the concrete so many stories below.

I was crying, as I later found out it was called, not because of all he people who had died, or because of the fact that it was Ven who had done this. I was crying

Because, despite all of this

I loved him.

And in some ways, more.

Because if he could just kill anyone he saw without batting an eyelid, it meant he must have felt something very powerful for me from the first moment. And that made me love him more.

I had never felt something so bitter and so sweet at the same time.

I wept, like a child for, many hours.

*

I knew I had only a little while until Trunks got impatient, he would do something rash, he had in the past.

I wondered how I would get her. Trunks was my only obstacle

As I was pondering this my sensors told me Trunks had cloaked his power. I knew he was close by. I slipped into the shadow that the ruins of this city seemed to be made of.

*

I wondered where I was going. It had been simple enough to leap off the balcony and sprint. Trunks had disappeared. I knew he would be after me soon. I just wanted to draw him off the trail, soon.

I had already made it out of the compound and the surrounding area. I was thinking to go to the nearby ruined city; he would have trouble finding me there. I blanched at the thought of the dead. But I consoled myself with the fact that it was not the same city as the one Trunks had forced me to see.

I slipped behind a building and slunk along the alleyway. My recovered Moccasins making no noise on the rubble

*

I readied myself for what I had no doubt would be my last battle as Trunks blasted into super saijin mode.

I knew I would join my sister soon.

I just hoped Mei would learn of my crimes and hate me enough so she would not care if I lived or died.

He charged