Dragonball FT, The Black Thorn Saga
Chapter 12: Armistice

Xavier slowly opened his eyes. A haze clouded everything he saw. As far as Xavier could tell, he was lying on his back, but not much more. He could make out two objects, one dark in color, the other lighter. He tried to rub his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision, but found he could not lift his arms from his sides. Xavier blinked twice and found that his vision was slightly improved. The lighter colored object suddenly disappeared from his sight. Xavier then heard a calm, familiar voice say, "Good, he's awake."

The voice was familiar. Xavier tried raising his head, but once again found that he could not move an inch. He blinked a couple more times, clearing his vision a little more. Now, he make out the outline of the dark object. It was oval in shape, green, and, as far as Xavier could tell, had two sticks poking out of the far right side of it. As he struggled in vain to move, he heard the voice again. This time, it told him, "Stay still. this won't take much longer."

"Dende? Is that you?" Xavier managed to whisper.

"Yes, it is." Dende replied.

"How long have I been out?" Xavier asked.

"About ten minutes. Now, try not to move." Dende replied.

Xavier did as Dende. As he lay there, motionless, Xavier noticed that his vision was slowly clearing. As it did, he realized that he was back in the small house. He saw Dende had both of his hands outstretched, palms facing Xavier, and was either standing or kneeling at Xavier's side. From his perspective, Xavier couldn't tell. What he could tell, however, was that Dende was emitting a calm, warm glow. It reminded Xavier of the white fire that had surrounded Roshi earlier that afternoon. The light that Dende radiated, however, was not violent, but was very serene.

"What happened?" Xavier asked, with a little more strength in his voice.

"Roshi, over there," at this, Dende motioned with his head towards his right, "forgot to control his own strength during his ki demonstration."

"Alright, alright!" Xavier could hear Roshi shout from across the room. "A guy can't get a break around here. It used to be a good thing to be strong, now I'm getting lectured about it!"

Dende rolled his eyes and returned his concentration to the prone Xavier.

"Tell me," Xavier started, "Does ki always hurt this much?"

Dende smiled at the question while Roshi let out a chuckle before he replied, "Only when you are on the wrong end of it."

Dende let out a slight laugh at the remark as did Xavier, although his was cut short by a sharp pain in the back of his lungs. Dende saw Xavier wince in pain and said, "Please, lie still. It will only take a few more moments before you are healed, but I need to concentrate."

Xavier was about to ask another question, but thought it better to just lie there. A half minute later, and Xavier was sitting up on the purple couch as soon as he could move, although still a little sore, he was free of the intense pain and paralysis that had afflicted him only a minute ago. After he moved his arms and legs and was satisfied that everything was in proper working order, Xavier asked, "What exactly happened to me?"

"Well, you see," Dende began. "When Roshi started his ki demonstration, he underestimated his own power. The force of his power-up sent out a 'wall' of energy, which is what sent you flying into the tree. As far as I can tell, when you slammed into the trunk, you injured your spinal cord and broke a couple ribs. When Roshi realized what he had done, he powered down and contacted me telepathically. I arrived moments later and we carried you in here, where I set to work healing you."

"Wow..." Xavier replied, somewhat shocked that he was almost paralyzed for life. "Wait, you can heal people?!"

"Yeah, it's a useful little trick I picked up a looong time ago." Dende told him.

"I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise, huh?" Xavier said musingly. He then looked at his watch and said, "I should probably be getting home. I don't think I can do any more training today, anyway. Injuring your spine takes a lot out of you."

"Alright, then," Dende replied. "Whenever you're ready to go."

"OK, just let me grab my coat." Xavier said as he made his way to the porch where he had left it, walking with a slight limp.

When Xavier returned, he said goodbye to Roshi and walked back across the room to Dende.  When he got to him, Dende placed his hand on Xavier's shoulder. An instant later, they were gone from the small house. When he saw that he was alone again, Roshi sat down on the couch, his attention given totally to the aerobics show on the TV.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
In the blink of an eye, Xavier found himself and Dende standing in the kitchen of his apartment.

"Do you think you will want to train tomorrow?" Dende asked.

"I don't know." Xavier replied. "It depends how much I'm hurting tomorrow."

"Alright, then we will have to wait until tomorrow." Dende replied. As he said this, he put two fingers to his forehead and started to blur away. Xavier was surprised, however, to see Dende suddenly take form again in front of him.

"I just remembered," Dende said to the confused Xavier as he reached into a pocket in his maroon vest, pulling out a small, brown bag. "If you take one of these, you should feel better."

Xavier took the bag, opened it, and pulled out a small, green/grey bean. "What's so special about these?" he asked.

"Those are senzu beans." Dende replied. Eating one of those is the equivalent of eating ten days worth of food. They do wonders when it comes to regaining energy and healing injuries."

Xavier eyed the bean that he held between his thumb and index finger skeptically. Then, after considering what Dende had said, he tossed the bean into his mouth. As he crunched down on it, Xavier realized that it had no determinable taste. After chewing it for a few seconds, he swallowed it. Instantly, Xavier felt like he had just eaten a nine course meal. "Wow, these really do work." he said to Dende.

"I know." was all that Dende replied before blurring away completely.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Xavier looked at the clock above the small TV as he sat on the couch. Ten o'clock...and I've got way too much energy to burn, thanks to that senzu bean.

He was right. After Dende left, Xavier had spent most of the evening on the couch watching TV, but he had to keep getting up and walking around the small apartment. Xavier just couldn't seem to sit still.

He got up and walked to his room. There, he grabbed his coat off the back of his door, threw it on, picked up his portable music player, put it in his pocket and walked out of his room. Xavier stopped in front of his sister's room and opened the door slightly. He poked his head through the doorway and, in the slight glow of his sister's night-light, saw that she was sound asleep. Upon seeing this, Xavier pulled his head out of the doorway and quietly shut the door again. He walked to the kitchen table and quickly scribbled a note that read "Gone for a walk. Be back soon." Xavier then walked to the door and exited his apartment.

Xavier got to the street and still had no particular destination in mind. Rather than sit and think about it, he simply started walking, letting his feet take him where they would. He put on the headphones to his music player and turned it on. As he walked, Xavier tried to just clear his mind of everything; not thinking of anything that had been happening, where he was going, or what he was going to do. The music that was being delivered directly to his ears occupied all his thoughts. He let himself be carried away by the driving drum beats, insane guitar riffs, and unmistakable vocals. The absence of any sort of worry was a relief on his mind. It made Xavier feel better.

Before Xavier realized it, he had walked to a park that was located six blocks away from his apartment. When he realized where he was, Xavier picked up his pace and started to jog along the paths that were made for just such an activity. As he did, Xavier was once again happy. He was jogging in time with the music that coursed through his brain. He started to take in deep, refreshing breaths of the cold night air as he made his way further and further along the path. There was no one to bother him as he jogged through the dark stillness that the pale lamps of the park could not wholly destroy. On either side of him, there was pitch black, a result of the tall trees that surrounded him. In front, he could see only as far as the lamplight would allow. Beyond that fifteen feet was more darkness. The only sounds were those made by his footsteps, but those were unheard by Xavier, since all his hearing was dedicated to the music he was listening to. Xavier continued to jog for a few minutes in this quiet contentment. Following the path, Xavier turned a corner as he ran. As soon as he did, he ran headlong into something. His momentum caused both himself and whatever he hit to tumble to the ground, alongside the path. Xavier quickly picked himself up off the soft earth and extended his hand to whoever he had run into, for he was now certain that it was a person.

"Sorry about that." He said to the person, whose features were shrouded in the shadows.

"That's ok," said a sad, familiar, female voice as she took Xavier's hand.

He helped her up and knew instantly who it was. Her face was mostly covered by black hair that was disarrayed by the collision, but he still recognized her. "Oh, hey, Jane." Xavier said as he thought Great, just who I wanted to run into.

"Xavier?" she said surprised. "What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"Jogging." he replied. "I should ask you the same."

"I needed some fresh air so I went for a walk." she said.

"OK, well, see you later." Xavier replied as he turned to leave. He had taken two steps when Jane spoke again.

"Xavier, wait." she said. He turned to face her again. He saw she was standing, eyes facing the ground, her hands in her pockets.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry about what happened yesterday and this morning." she said.

"Oh." was all the somewhat shocked Xavier replied.

"Yeah, I really don't want to be mad at you." Jane said.

"You? Mad at me? Aside from my being an ass earlier, I haven't given you any reason to be mad at me." Xavier replied, slightly annoyed.

"Well, you did insult Chris yesterday." she retorted in a 'matter-of-fact' tone.

"Huh? No, actually, I didn't. There is a difference between insulting someone and telling the truth about them." he responded, now fully annoyed.

"How do you know that what you said is the truth?" Jane started. "I mean, have you ever actually talked to him or gotten to know him? He's a real nice guy."

"Ok, first, I have absolutely no desire to get to know any more about that asshole than I already know." Xavier began, visibly upset at his friend's naiveté. "Besides, how can I get to know him, when I can't stand to listen to him talk for more than five seconds? He has the personality of a brick wall and a brain to match. And about him being a 'nice guy'...you should ask the last girl he went out with about how nice of a guy he is."

By this time, the two of them had begun walking in the direction that Jane was headed in. When he realized that he was going to be involved in a conversation, Xavier had put his headphones in his pocket with his music player.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she asked, both annoyed and intrigued at the same time.

"What I mean is that he used her like he did every other girl he's dated and when he got bored, he cast her away like a piece of trash." Xavier replied.

"And how do you know this? I doubt he'd tell it to you, since the two of you obviously don't get along too well." Jane asked.

"I didn't need him to tell me. He tells everyone in the room when he and the morons he calls friends compare the pictures in their wallets."

"What?! He announces these things to the entire room?"

"No, he doesn't announce them. But they all talk loud enough amongst themselves that you can't help but hear them. Believe me, I've tried blocking them out."

Jane didn't reply. She didn't know how to reply. She had heard rumors that Chris was an ass, but those were just that: rumors, most likely started by girls that he had broke up with on bad terms, she always thought. But now, she was being told by a friend, although she didn't want to believe it.

They continued walking in silence until they had gotten to Jane's apartment building. Before Jane walked into the building, Xavier stopped her and said what he told himself would be his last attempt at warning Jane about Chris. "Look, I'm not trying to tell you who you should or
shouldn't date." he began. "I'm just trying to warn you before something terrible happens to you that you're gonna regret. I know the side of Chris that he's not going to show to you because that side would repulse you. I don't know how to make you see his true nature. I just hope that you do before something bad happens."

"Xavier, don't worry about me." Jane replied. "I can take care of myself."

"I can't not worry about you. I care about you too much to see you get hurt. But if it's what you want, I won't bring it up again. I suppose I can do that much." Xavier replied.

"Sounds good. I'd rather not get into another fight about it again." she told him. "Goodnight."

"'Night" Xavier replied as he watched her walk into the building before he walked home, himself.