Piccolo sat cross legged in front of the large glass wall, the sunlight
warming his skin, heating it from the shivering chill of the massive
library. He'd never known that the library existed, until about three weeks
ago. Since then he'd not come out except for a few times when Dende or Popo
had cajoled him out, or had out right threatened him to get sleep and some
water. But, even they couldn't keep him from the library for long, and
soon they'd find him sitting amidst a pile of books, some as old as the
lookout itself, some of the pages brittle and Piccolo had often times no
choice but to put the books back up on the shelf, unable to read it.
Some of the books he'd discovered were written in dead, alien languages, and he briefly wondered just who the hell besides Kami had been a guardian not from this planet. He'd pondered asking Popo the history of the guardians; since accessing Kami's memories hadn't done much in the way of helping out. Kami didn't know who the previous guardians were anymore than Piccolo did. Kami had known the one before him, since the man had been the one Kami had taken the position from. Piccolo remembered the man being human, and ancient.
Blinking slowly, he rubbed a stinging eye with a coarse knuckle and yawned. He'd been in here since dawn and hadn't really found anything of interest. So far it was old historical tomes on Earths history, some dating as far as back as to the supposed birth, life and execution of a man called Jesus. Pretty typical boring stuff, and he wrinkled his nose in disdain, Earth history bored him to a certain extent especially theology, coming to the conclusion that earthlings really had no clue as to why they were there, only that they were and that whoever had the better idea as to why they were seemed to be good enough explanation to the rest of the sheep. He'd met real gods, had fought along side some of them and had the opportunity to speak at length with more than one.
Standing, he stretched and let stiff joints loosen up and picked up the pile of books he'd accumulated and headed back to the shelves that lined wall, not bothering to use the ladders provided for those with non-flight capabilities; hovering he placed them back onto the shelf, not really caring if they went back in the order he'd found them. Why not? I'm probably the only one that's been in this library since before Kami, and from what I've gotten from his memories, he didn't come in here too often himself.
Exiting the library, he faintly heard voices from outside, Dende's tenor voice, and a definite female voice interspersed with an occasional male voice joining in. He picked up that it was Gohan and Videl; and nearly turned back to go into the library before he was caught.
"Piccolo!" Gohan called out as he sensed his former teachers Ki. "Piccolo, hey we came to see you!"
Piccolo sighed softly and squared his shoulders. He really didn't feel like seeing anyone, particularly Gohan, but may as well make the best of it, he thought. "Hey Gohan, Videl, its nice to see you both."
Gohan beamed at Piccolo as he slipped an arm around Videl. "We came to tell you and Dende the good news; you're both the first to actually know, even before our parents."
"Well out with it." Piccolo glanced at Dende, who frowned at the older namek's attitude.
Videl blinked slowly, her smile faltering for a moment before looking to Gohan for reassurance. Gohan's own smile faltered just for a mere second before he perked back up again. "Well, we wanted you two to know that Videl and I are going to have a baby soon."
Piccolo wasn't sure how to react. He'd always thought Gohan as a child, even after he'd realized the boy had grown into a man, there was just something too innocent about Gohan, something that made Piccolo think that Gohan would never have kids, or get married. He nodded again, unsure of what to say. "Congratulations. I hope all goes well with your family Gohan."
Dende meanwhile grinned and clapped his friend on the back. "Congratulations Gohan! I'm glad that you're getting a family started! Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"
Videl laughed shyly and shook her head; "No, it's far too early to tell what sex it will be. We're hoping for a boy though, or at least I am. I'm not sure what Gohan wants."
Piccolo could hear Videl and Dende talking about children and the future; mean while his eyes locked on Gohans eyes, and both of them stared at each other in what almost seemed like silent challenge.
Piccolo broke eye contact first and turned away. "I'm sorry, I cannot stay longer Gohan, I have some things I need to attend to, and again I congratulate you on your news and wish you the best of luck."
"Piccolo.. Wait, can't we talk for a minute?" Gohans hand reached out to grab for the older Namek's arm and stop him. "You know, play catch up? I've got some news that I thought you'd like, and maybe you know, sit and just chat?"
Piccolo glanced to the pale hand on his arm and stopped, turning to look at his former student quietly. They were far enough away that Videl wouldn't hear what they were saying, but he knew that Dende still could easily pick up what conversation passed between them.
"Please don't take offense at this Gohan. You've been a good student and a friend. But let's face it, we've gone our own ways, and perhaps its best left at that. You've grown up and to be honest, I've just lost touch with everyone else. I haven't seen you in over three or four years, except for the few brief meetings we've had, and well, you're a stranger to me Gohan." Piccolo's voice was low and steady, he was sure this was the right thing to do. "You know I'll always be there when there's a threat, especially if it was to you or your family, but its time all of us had time to ourselves and give each other the chance to become individuals."
Gohan stood there, feeling awkward and childish again. He suddenly felt guilty for feeling like he'd been using Piccolo's friendship, and then leaving him when more important matters came up. He cleared his throat and spoke uncertainly; "Sure Piccolo, I understand. I mean, yeah. I guess its time for all of us to kind of normal for a while. I, I understand that you want space. So uh, take care and see you around huh?"
Gohan didn't wait for an answer, he approached Videl, wrapping his arms around her and murmured that they needed to go. Dende glanced back at Piccolo uncertainly, and somewhat accusingly, but said nothing. Videl nodded and smiled, offering a small wave to Piccolo before the both of them disappeared over the edge of the look out.
Piccolo watched them go with a remote expression on his face. He knew he'd hurt Gohan and on some personal, deep level, he wouldn't even admit to himself, he didn't care that he had hurt him. Piccolo knew that Gohan would get over it and move on. He knew Gohan had figured that the namek didn't want him near anymore, that he'd pestered the alien enough.
But, what about Piccolo; he felt as if Gohan had turned away from him as well, and had felt that way for some time. He knew it was petty, childish and even bordering on stupid, but he couldn't help it.
"Piccolo, maybe it's not my place to say so," Dende's voice shook him from his thoughts, "but maybe you could have been a little nicer to Gohan and Videl. I mean they did come all the way up here to see you."
"They didn't come up here to see me, Dende. They came up here to see the both of us. I don't have to explain anything to you, Gohans happy and I'm happy for him. What more did you expect out of me? I wasn't going to scream and whoop and make an ass out of myself. If anything the last thing this damn mud ball needs is another saiyajin running around, causing a ruckus."
Dende stood there, shocked at the words, but deep down not surprised to hear them come from Piccolo. He just shook his head unable to answer with nothing more than; "It's your decision Piccolo, and I'll respect whatever choice you make for yourself. After all, in the end it only affects you."
Piccolo gave the guardian a look that either indicated he was about to hit him or say something they'd both regret, but he just sneered at the younger one for a moment before storming off to his rooms.
Dende closed his eyes and let his shoulders slump a bit, he leaned heavily on the walking stick that Kami had left behind some years ago. He shook his head and murmured to no one in particular, "They say there's nothing worse than being lonely; but I think Piccolo's proved that theory wrong. There's nothing worse than being lonely, and knowing you're lonely, yet you continue to shove the people that cared about you away."
Piccolo shut the door to his room and lay on the bed, feeling suddenly exhausted. He was irritated with Dende, and a little more than irritated at the fact that Dende had been right. He'd been an ass to Gohan and Videl both; but dammit what was he supposed to do? Gohan was a stranger to him now, and he'd never taken too kindly to strangers before, nor was he about to start. Piccolo fell asleep, although it was anything but restful. He dreamed.
It couldn't see, they had blind folded it, and had bound its hands behind its back, the ankles bound in the same fashion; hands tightly gripped its arms and mid-section to the point to where it felt like it couldn't draw a proper breath. It snarled and snapped at anything that came close to its face, and more than once it had scored a good bite on a hand or two, fangs driving deep through bone and tissue. Its efforts were rewarded by blows to its head and body with batons, fists and more than a few feet. The creatures snarling and cursing at it in their language, shoving its face into the dirt as they attempted to put it into the transport, getting it ready to put into a holding cell that was bolted to the bottom of the transport..
It didn't understand why it'd been woken from its slumber, why they had come for it and had pulled it out of its dark, safe cave and into the sunlight where it howled in fury and fought like a wild thing, killing several of these men before being subdued. Unless it had something to do with the humans it had come across some weeks before. It had been purely accidental; it had been thirsty, the dry hot air parching its throat, drying its skin and making life in general miserable for the alien. It hated the desert it had come to, and hated the fact that its thirst had roused it from its nearly five hundred year sleep. But it had gone out in search of water, and had found it some several miles off; what it hadn't known was that humans inhabited the area; so it came as a shock to both the alien and the humans when they'd come upon each other. It had been swimming, absorbing water through its skin, refreshing itself, and drinking deeply from the pure tasting water. It couldn't recall the water being this fresh at home, so it had drank deeply, sated and sleepy once more by the liquid, and from the fruit it had eaten off a nearby tree, when the humans had shown up and both too startled to move stared at each other with fear filled eyes. Then it had disappeared, leaving its clothes behind, simply vanishing in front of their eyes.
So the army had been called, they had sent out a special task force to apprehend the creature, and so they had, with efficient and swift fury. It had of course fought back, but in the end it got it now where. except.
The Lab; the dark room with the covered faces, the painful needles, and the operations that rendered it senseless from pain, it tried to tell them that it couldn't succumb to sleeping aids, that putting it to sleep did nothing more than make it drowsy and sluggish. It endured the exploratory surgeries in a red hot pain filled haze, the creature quickly learning that they didn't know or didn't care that it felt pain, that when it screamed and cried that it was not out of rage or anger, but out of pure pain and suffering. It lived in a constant state of pain and fear, trying desperately to communicate with these simple minded things that it too felt, that it thought, and had feelings. But these ignorant humans blithely ignored it, assuming that its gestures were indeed some sort of communication, but apparently such basic sign language was beyond these creatures.
They gave it food and water, but never once gave it clothing, it felt vulnerable and exposed to the elements, and often times shivered in the cold room, beneath the thin blanket, and often times cried softly.
Then one evening they had come and taken it away again, this time to a different room, an empty room with nothing inside. This confused it, and the confusion was apparent on the creatures face as it slowly crept to a corner and stood there waiting for the humans to make some move. They watched impassively, and it watched just as impassively back. It didn't dare use its skills here; it could prove disastrous for all around. They exited and another pair of humans came in dragging in something with them. Its head was covered and the thing reeked as if it was something rotten living. The creature that was with the humans snarled and jerked on its restraints and the two humans quickly let go of the things chains and closed the door hurriedly behind them.
They had left this thing alone with it. The other creature snuffled and snarled, tearing off the head covering, rendering the cloth to nothing more than tattered pieces. The thing was hideous, and the smaller creature had never seen anything like it. The smaller one stepped back in fear, back pressed against the wall and stared at the hulking mass of reeking flesh.
The monstrous thing faintly resembled one of its own kind, but larger, deformed, something that would have been destroyed upon its birth. The power alone from it was enough to send the smaller one to pursue some means of escape.
The larger creature growled and sniffed the air, then as it caught the smaller ones scent its beady eyes focused on it. The larger creature grinned, the mouth full of flesh tearing teeth; no, this thing was nothing like it. This creature was something more hideous than any thing a nightmare could conjure and it had focused on the smaller one, its musky scent spiking as it laid eyes on the smaller one.
The smaller one sneered and crouched into a defensive posture, if the thing wanted to have at it, then so be it, but it wouldn't get what it wanted without a fight. And fight they did, the larger beast pounced on the smaller one, slamming it against the wall and tearing at the creature with teeth and hands, trying its best to pin it down; the smaller one tore back, using its own claws and power to blast the thing back. The ugly monster howled in pain as ki exploded against its body, driving it back to the other side of the room.
The smaller one wasn't without its wounds either. It had its arm torn and was bleeding badly, but at least it was still standing. The other creature wasn't so fortunate. Quickly the humans came in and dragged out the unconscious monster, keeping a wary eye on the smaller creature. They closed the door and left the smaller one alone to itself.
After hours of waiting, wanting water and to clean up; they came for it and put it back to its room, where it was cleaned and taken care of.
Several more times the smaller alien met with the huge one, and twice it had succeeded in getting what it wanted from the smaller one, despite its best efforts to keep the creature off of it. But it paid dearly afterwards, the smaller creature pent up with hatred and anger turned on the sleepy and spent larger alien and had beaten the thing nearly to death each time, the humans having to come in and shoot the creature with a paralyzing weapon to get it to stop. After that there were no more meetings between the two. The larger one could be heard in another corridor sometimes howling and tearing things apart, but the smaller one never saw anyone else but the humans, who watched it, took blood samples, and measured its body occasionally.
Soon after they came and took it to a different room. There they injected something into the small alien and laid it in a soft coffin like bed, there it grew sleepy, and soon it knew nothing.
Darkness for so long, that's all it knew, no matter how hard it tried to wake, it remained in a forced slumber. Soon it stopped sensing others to check on it, it sensed darkness and an emptiness that stretched to eternity. It slept deeper, dreaming of green fields, tall trees and endless sunlight, it dreamt of laughing voices, friends long passed, cool breezes and cold water. It longed for those, and in this forced slumber it could have it. So it dreamed and extended its other senses out, seeking something familiar, something to touch and feel.
Then one night it felt a presence it hadn't felt before. It was brief, almost fleeting and for a moment it didn't quite believe it had happened. A mind so much like its own, with memories so much like its own, that it felt like for a second it had hit a mirror; A vision of someone tall, stoic and reserved; someone that spelled out salvation.
It cried out in its native tongue, crying for help, and telling the mind that it was so very dark, so very cold, and so very, very lonely, telling the other its name. It wasn't sure if the other had heard, but it was a glimmer of hope all the same.
After the presence had gone, had disappeared, it sighed in its sleep and resumed its dreams of sunny fields, lakes and endless sunlight.
Piccolo woke up with a hand shaking his shoulder, opening his eyes to a very concerned looking Popo and Dende standing by his bed, Dende's hand locked in a firm grip on his shoulder. "Piccolo wake up, please! Wake up! You're having a bad dream."
~Allet Kihann, doau chai!~ Piccolo's eyes focused finally and he stared at Dende dully. "What is it Dende." He rubbed his face and sat up, feeling oddly chilled and even more oddly thirsty. "What'd you wake me for?"
"I heard you screaming all the way from the hall Piccolo, I thought something was wrong." The younger namek looked at Piccolo with more concern than the older namek thought necessary. "That and you were screaming for someone to not go, I had really thought you were being attacked or something."
"Huh?" Piccolo stared at Dende completely perplexed by his words. "What do you mean I was yelling don't go? And to who was I yelling at?"
Dende shrugged his slender shoulders and responded slowly, "Well you were yelling in Namekkian for one, and I've never heard you speak it before, and like I said, for a second I thought someone else was here, and then I came in saw you thrashing on the bed like a crazy person, screaming in our language for someone to stay."
"I don't know Namekkian Dende, I never learned it." Piccolo leveled an annoyed gaze at Dende and snorted softly. "I never had the opportunity to learn while on Namek, and I haven't really accessed Kami's memories long enough to pick up on anything."
The dream had caused Piccolo to feel unbalanced and feeling strange. Whatever it was had wanted him to help, but was it a precognition of some sort? Or was it something pulled from his imagination from too many books, and not enough time spent doing other things? Or could it have really been someone calling him from someplace dark to help it?
He realized Dende and Popo were standing there waiting for some sort of answer. "I'm fine, just a bad dream, I probably just heard the words from Kami before and repeated them for whatever reason. Go on and go back to whatever it was you were doing. I'm going to take a shower and head to earth for a while."
Swinging his legs over the bed, he headed to his own private bath chambers without waiting for Dende or Popo to leave, closing the door behind him.
Dende and Popo stood there for a few more moments after Piccolo had departed; Dende looked to Popo and shrugged. "Well, there's not much we can do for him, he'll realize what his dreams mean soon enough."
Both of them turned and headed back to their previous duties, leaving Piccolo to his own devices. Soon after Piccolo exited his rooms and took off for earth. Dende smiled faintly to himself and watched from his heavenly perch. Relieved to see that Piccolo still indeed possess emotions and had gone in search of something.
Some of the books he'd discovered were written in dead, alien languages, and he briefly wondered just who the hell besides Kami had been a guardian not from this planet. He'd pondered asking Popo the history of the guardians; since accessing Kami's memories hadn't done much in the way of helping out. Kami didn't know who the previous guardians were anymore than Piccolo did. Kami had known the one before him, since the man had been the one Kami had taken the position from. Piccolo remembered the man being human, and ancient.
Blinking slowly, he rubbed a stinging eye with a coarse knuckle and yawned. He'd been in here since dawn and hadn't really found anything of interest. So far it was old historical tomes on Earths history, some dating as far as back as to the supposed birth, life and execution of a man called Jesus. Pretty typical boring stuff, and he wrinkled his nose in disdain, Earth history bored him to a certain extent especially theology, coming to the conclusion that earthlings really had no clue as to why they were there, only that they were and that whoever had the better idea as to why they were seemed to be good enough explanation to the rest of the sheep. He'd met real gods, had fought along side some of them and had the opportunity to speak at length with more than one.
Standing, he stretched and let stiff joints loosen up and picked up the pile of books he'd accumulated and headed back to the shelves that lined wall, not bothering to use the ladders provided for those with non-flight capabilities; hovering he placed them back onto the shelf, not really caring if they went back in the order he'd found them. Why not? I'm probably the only one that's been in this library since before Kami, and from what I've gotten from his memories, he didn't come in here too often himself.
Exiting the library, he faintly heard voices from outside, Dende's tenor voice, and a definite female voice interspersed with an occasional male voice joining in. He picked up that it was Gohan and Videl; and nearly turned back to go into the library before he was caught.
"Piccolo!" Gohan called out as he sensed his former teachers Ki. "Piccolo, hey we came to see you!"
Piccolo sighed softly and squared his shoulders. He really didn't feel like seeing anyone, particularly Gohan, but may as well make the best of it, he thought. "Hey Gohan, Videl, its nice to see you both."
Gohan beamed at Piccolo as he slipped an arm around Videl. "We came to tell you and Dende the good news; you're both the first to actually know, even before our parents."
"Well out with it." Piccolo glanced at Dende, who frowned at the older namek's attitude.
Videl blinked slowly, her smile faltering for a moment before looking to Gohan for reassurance. Gohan's own smile faltered just for a mere second before he perked back up again. "Well, we wanted you two to know that Videl and I are going to have a baby soon."
Piccolo wasn't sure how to react. He'd always thought Gohan as a child, even after he'd realized the boy had grown into a man, there was just something too innocent about Gohan, something that made Piccolo think that Gohan would never have kids, or get married. He nodded again, unsure of what to say. "Congratulations. I hope all goes well with your family Gohan."
Dende meanwhile grinned and clapped his friend on the back. "Congratulations Gohan! I'm glad that you're getting a family started! Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"
Videl laughed shyly and shook her head; "No, it's far too early to tell what sex it will be. We're hoping for a boy though, or at least I am. I'm not sure what Gohan wants."
Piccolo could hear Videl and Dende talking about children and the future; mean while his eyes locked on Gohans eyes, and both of them stared at each other in what almost seemed like silent challenge.
Piccolo broke eye contact first and turned away. "I'm sorry, I cannot stay longer Gohan, I have some things I need to attend to, and again I congratulate you on your news and wish you the best of luck."
"Piccolo.. Wait, can't we talk for a minute?" Gohans hand reached out to grab for the older Namek's arm and stop him. "You know, play catch up? I've got some news that I thought you'd like, and maybe you know, sit and just chat?"
Piccolo glanced to the pale hand on his arm and stopped, turning to look at his former student quietly. They were far enough away that Videl wouldn't hear what they were saying, but he knew that Dende still could easily pick up what conversation passed between them.
"Please don't take offense at this Gohan. You've been a good student and a friend. But let's face it, we've gone our own ways, and perhaps its best left at that. You've grown up and to be honest, I've just lost touch with everyone else. I haven't seen you in over three or four years, except for the few brief meetings we've had, and well, you're a stranger to me Gohan." Piccolo's voice was low and steady, he was sure this was the right thing to do. "You know I'll always be there when there's a threat, especially if it was to you or your family, but its time all of us had time to ourselves and give each other the chance to become individuals."
Gohan stood there, feeling awkward and childish again. He suddenly felt guilty for feeling like he'd been using Piccolo's friendship, and then leaving him when more important matters came up. He cleared his throat and spoke uncertainly; "Sure Piccolo, I understand. I mean, yeah. I guess its time for all of us to kind of normal for a while. I, I understand that you want space. So uh, take care and see you around huh?"
Gohan didn't wait for an answer, he approached Videl, wrapping his arms around her and murmured that they needed to go. Dende glanced back at Piccolo uncertainly, and somewhat accusingly, but said nothing. Videl nodded and smiled, offering a small wave to Piccolo before the both of them disappeared over the edge of the look out.
Piccolo watched them go with a remote expression on his face. He knew he'd hurt Gohan and on some personal, deep level, he wouldn't even admit to himself, he didn't care that he had hurt him. Piccolo knew that Gohan would get over it and move on. He knew Gohan had figured that the namek didn't want him near anymore, that he'd pestered the alien enough.
But, what about Piccolo; he felt as if Gohan had turned away from him as well, and had felt that way for some time. He knew it was petty, childish and even bordering on stupid, but he couldn't help it.
"Piccolo, maybe it's not my place to say so," Dende's voice shook him from his thoughts, "but maybe you could have been a little nicer to Gohan and Videl. I mean they did come all the way up here to see you."
"They didn't come up here to see me, Dende. They came up here to see the both of us. I don't have to explain anything to you, Gohans happy and I'm happy for him. What more did you expect out of me? I wasn't going to scream and whoop and make an ass out of myself. If anything the last thing this damn mud ball needs is another saiyajin running around, causing a ruckus."
Dende stood there, shocked at the words, but deep down not surprised to hear them come from Piccolo. He just shook his head unable to answer with nothing more than; "It's your decision Piccolo, and I'll respect whatever choice you make for yourself. After all, in the end it only affects you."
Piccolo gave the guardian a look that either indicated he was about to hit him or say something they'd both regret, but he just sneered at the younger one for a moment before storming off to his rooms.
Dende closed his eyes and let his shoulders slump a bit, he leaned heavily on the walking stick that Kami had left behind some years ago. He shook his head and murmured to no one in particular, "They say there's nothing worse than being lonely; but I think Piccolo's proved that theory wrong. There's nothing worse than being lonely, and knowing you're lonely, yet you continue to shove the people that cared about you away."
Piccolo shut the door to his room and lay on the bed, feeling suddenly exhausted. He was irritated with Dende, and a little more than irritated at the fact that Dende had been right. He'd been an ass to Gohan and Videl both; but dammit what was he supposed to do? Gohan was a stranger to him now, and he'd never taken too kindly to strangers before, nor was he about to start. Piccolo fell asleep, although it was anything but restful. He dreamed.
It couldn't see, they had blind folded it, and had bound its hands behind its back, the ankles bound in the same fashion; hands tightly gripped its arms and mid-section to the point to where it felt like it couldn't draw a proper breath. It snarled and snapped at anything that came close to its face, and more than once it had scored a good bite on a hand or two, fangs driving deep through bone and tissue. Its efforts were rewarded by blows to its head and body with batons, fists and more than a few feet. The creatures snarling and cursing at it in their language, shoving its face into the dirt as they attempted to put it into the transport, getting it ready to put into a holding cell that was bolted to the bottom of the transport..
It didn't understand why it'd been woken from its slumber, why they had come for it and had pulled it out of its dark, safe cave and into the sunlight where it howled in fury and fought like a wild thing, killing several of these men before being subdued. Unless it had something to do with the humans it had come across some weeks before. It had been purely accidental; it had been thirsty, the dry hot air parching its throat, drying its skin and making life in general miserable for the alien. It hated the desert it had come to, and hated the fact that its thirst had roused it from its nearly five hundred year sleep. But it had gone out in search of water, and had found it some several miles off; what it hadn't known was that humans inhabited the area; so it came as a shock to both the alien and the humans when they'd come upon each other. It had been swimming, absorbing water through its skin, refreshing itself, and drinking deeply from the pure tasting water. It couldn't recall the water being this fresh at home, so it had drank deeply, sated and sleepy once more by the liquid, and from the fruit it had eaten off a nearby tree, when the humans had shown up and both too startled to move stared at each other with fear filled eyes. Then it had disappeared, leaving its clothes behind, simply vanishing in front of their eyes.
So the army had been called, they had sent out a special task force to apprehend the creature, and so they had, with efficient and swift fury. It had of course fought back, but in the end it got it now where. except.
The Lab; the dark room with the covered faces, the painful needles, and the operations that rendered it senseless from pain, it tried to tell them that it couldn't succumb to sleeping aids, that putting it to sleep did nothing more than make it drowsy and sluggish. It endured the exploratory surgeries in a red hot pain filled haze, the creature quickly learning that they didn't know or didn't care that it felt pain, that when it screamed and cried that it was not out of rage or anger, but out of pure pain and suffering. It lived in a constant state of pain and fear, trying desperately to communicate with these simple minded things that it too felt, that it thought, and had feelings. But these ignorant humans blithely ignored it, assuming that its gestures were indeed some sort of communication, but apparently such basic sign language was beyond these creatures.
They gave it food and water, but never once gave it clothing, it felt vulnerable and exposed to the elements, and often times shivered in the cold room, beneath the thin blanket, and often times cried softly.
Then one evening they had come and taken it away again, this time to a different room, an empty room with nothing inside. This confused it, and the confusion was apparent on the creatures face as it slowly crept to a corner and stood there waiting for the humans to make some move. They watched impassively, and it watched just as impassively back. It didn't dare use its skills here; it could prove disastrous for all around. They exited and another pair of humans came in dragging in something with them. Its head was covered and the thing reeked as if it was something rotten living. The creature that was with the humans snarled and jerked on its restraints and the two humans quickly let go of the things chains and closed the door hurriedly behind them.
They had left this thing alone with it. The other creature snuffled and snarled, tearing off the head covering, rendering the cloth to nothing more than tattered pieces. The thing was hideous, and the smaller creature had never seen anything like it. The smaller one stepped back in fear, back pressed against the wall and stared at the hulking mass of reeking flesh.
The monstrous thing faintly resembled one of its own kind, but larger, deformed, something that would have been destroyed upon its birth. The power alone from it was enough to send the smaller one to pursue some means of escape.
The larger creature growled and sniffed the air, then as it caught the smaller ones scent its beady eyes focused on it. The larger creature grinned, the mouth full of flesh tearing teeth; no, this thing was nothing like it. This creature was something more hideous than any thing a nightmare could conjure and it had focused on the smaller one, its musky scent spiking as it laid eyes on the smaller one.
The smaller one sneered and crouched into a defensive posture, if the thing wanted to have at it, then so be it, but it wouldn't get what it wanted without a fight. And fight they did, the larger beast pounced on the smaller one, slamming it against the wall and tearing at the creature with teeth and hands, trying its best to pin it down; the smaller one tore back, using its own claws and power to blast the thing back. The ugly monster howled in pain as ki exploded against its body, driving it back to the other side of the room.
The smaller one wasn't without its wounds either. It had its arm torn and was bleeding badly, but at least it was still standing. The other creature wasn't so fortunate. Quickly the humans came in and dragged out the unconscious monster, keeping a wary eye on the smaller creature. They closed the door and left the smaller one alone to itself.
After hours of waiting, wanting water and to clean up; they came for it and put it back to its room, where it was cleaned and taken care of.
Several more times the smaller alien met with the huge one, and twice it had succeeded in getting what it wanted from the smaller one, despite its best efforts to keep the creature off of it. But it paid dearly afterwards, the smaller creature pent up with hatred and anger turned on the sleepy and spent larger alien and had beaten the thing nearly to death each time, the humans having to come in and shoot the creature with a paralyzing weapon to get it to stop. After that there were no more meetings between the two. The larger one could be heard in another corridor sometimes howling and tearing things apart, but the smaller one never saw anyone else but the humans, who watched it, took blood samples, and measured its body occasionally.
Soon after they came and took it to a different room. There they injected something into the small alien and laid it in a soft coffin like bed, there it grew sleepy, and soon it knew nothing.
Darkness for so long, that's all it knew, no matter how hard it tried to wake, it remained in a forced slumber. Soon it stopped sensing others to check on it, it sensed darkness and an emptiness that stretched to eternity. It slept deeper, dreaming of green fields, tall trees and endless sunlight, it dreamt of laughing voices, friends long passed, cool breezes and cold water. It longed for those, and in this forced slumber it could have it. So it dreamed and extended its other senses out, seeking something familiar, something to touch and feel.
Then one night it felt a presence it hadn't felt before. It was brief, almost fleeting and for a moment it didn't quite believe it had happened. A mind so much like its own, with memories so much like its own, that it felt like for a second it had hit a mirror; A vision of someone tall, stoic and reserved; someone that spelled out salvation.
It cried out in its native tongue, crying for help, and telling the mind that it was so very dark, so very cold, and so very, very lonely, telling the other its name. It wasn't sure if the other had heard, but it was a glimmer of hope all the same.
After the presence had gone, had disappeared, it sighed in its sleep and resumed its dreams of sunny fields, lakes and endless sunlight.
Piccolo woke up with a hand shaking his shoulder, opening his eyes to a very concerned looking Popo and Dende standing by his bed, Dende's hand locked in a firm grip on his shoulder. "Piccolo wake up, please! Wake up! You're having a bad dream."
~Allet Kihann, doau chai!~ Piccolo's eyes focused finally and he stared at Dende dully. "What is it Dende." He rubbed his face and sat up, feeling oddly chilled and even more oddly thirsty. "What'd you wake me for?"
"I heard you screaming all the way from the hall Piccolo, I thought something was wrong." The younger namek looked at Piccolo with more concern than the older namek thought necessary. "That and you were screaming for someone to not go, I had really thought you were being attacked or something."
"Huh?" Piccolo stared at Dende completely perplexed by his words. "What do you mean I was yelling don't go? And to who was I yelling at?"
Dende shrugged his slender shoulders and responded slowly, "Well you were yelling in Namekkian for one, and I've never heard you speak it before, and like I said, for a second I thought someone else was here, and then I came in saw you thrashing on the bed like a crazy person, screaming in our language for someone to stay."
"I don't know Namekkian Dende, I never learned it." Piccolo leveled an annoyed gaze at Dende and snorted softly. "I never had the opportunity to learn while on Namek, and I haven't really accessed Kami's memories long enough to pick up on anything."
The dream had caused Piccolo to feel unbalanced and feeling strange. Whatever it was had wanted him to help, but was it a precognition of some sort? Or was it something pulled from his imagination from too many books, and not enough time spent doing other things? Or could it have really been someone calling him from someplace dark to help it?
He realized Dende and Popo were standing there waiting for some sort of answer. "I'm fine, just a bad dream, I probably just heard the words from Kami before and repeated them for whatever reason. Go on and go back to whatever it was you were doing. I'm going to take a shower and head to earth for a while."
Swinging his legs over the bed, he headed to his own private bath chambers without waiting for Dende or Popo to leave, closing the door behind him.
Dende and Popo stood there for a few more moments after Piccolo had departed; Dende looked to Popo and shrugged. "Well, there's not much we can do for him, he'll realize what his dreams mean soon enough."
Both of them turned and headed back to their previous duties, leaving Piccolo to his own devices. Soon after Piccolo exited his rooms and took off for earth. Dende smiled faintly to himself and watched from his heavenly perch. Relieved to see that Piccolo still indeed possess emotions and had gone in search of something.