The Pale Beauty and the Green Beast
By Psycho Llama and Sarah Dempster
Disclaimer: Neither of us own DBZ. Sarah Dempster owns Terra.
Notes: The plot and Terra are owned by my good friend Sarah Dempster, who wrote the chapter briefs for me and I've written the actual chapters which you see here before her, all reviews for it will be forwarded to her as well via e-mail.
'She must have low blood sugars or something. . . She's always falling asleep,' Cell mused as Terra sat quietly in a corner of the marble arena, her head bobbing slightly as she slept.
'Gohan couldn't kill me, it's preposterous! Him? A mere child beat me, the almighty Cell?! Of course not! Hmph! The whole idea is absolutely ridiculous! . . .But how could have she dreamed of Gohan if she's never seen him before? Coincidence? Unlikely,' Cell sighed out of his nose in frustration.
'If she is right though, then I would be endangering her life by making her stay here. But should I just drop her back in Ginger town? People mourning for the people I absorbed would surely hunt her down and kill her like a wild animal. . . any human that knew about the Cell games would,' Cell paused to think where exactly Terra could go.
'Not a human. . . I couldn't leave her with any of the Z fighters, Gohan would probably kill her if not the rest of them. Dende is too closely linked to the Z fighters so that leaves. . . me? She'll die if she stays. . . yet she'll probably die if she goes too. If she is right and Gohan does defeat me. . . Even if she does escape Gohan. . . She will more than likely be on the most wanted list for the rest of her life.'
Cell looked sadly over at Terra's sleeping form, 'I must not loose. For Terra's sake, I swear I will win this tournament,' he vowed silently, 'I will sacrifice my own life for her if that's what it takes to protect the only one I care about, and love even.'
Terra shifted slightly in her sleep, a frown spreading across her forehead, Cell became slightly worried, 'She must be having one of those dreams again. . . Poor thing, she has become almost paranoid.'
Terra looked around, she was in some sort of elaborate. . . place. She didn't even know what it was, let alone where. Everything seemed so real yet she felt like she was being dragged along like a helium balloon being dragged along by an energetic little kid. She saw some huge red guy in some sort of blue suit behind a very large desk. Terra did a double take, not only did this guy have horns growing out of his head, but he was the size of a giant. Terra could berley hear him though, it was as if someone had turned off the volume switch. . . then Terra clearly heard the word, 'heaven' and she was being taken away somewhere. Somewhere away from Cell. Terra's animal instincts kicked in. She was away from Cell, the only thing that mattered to her. Terra stopped moving, some kid of ogre pushed her forward slightly to keep her going up the path.
ell was also being taken somewhere, but the opposite direction that Terra was going in, 'They must have put me in the wrong place. . . oh well, I'll just go with Cell. I'd rather go with him to hell that spend an afterlife in heaven alone.'
Terra pushed past the ogre and began to walk towards Cell, when she felt someone grab her arm, Terra glared at the ogre and began to struggle against his grip.
"Let go!" she suddenly snapped, her radiant magenta eyes burning with fury.
The ogre seemed to snigger, "That's the way to H.F.I.L, you're going to heaven miss."
Terra frowned, "But I don't want to!" she growled.
Every sound, even her own voice, sounded as if it was someone else speaking far away.
The ogre almost laughed, "Good one, now come on!"
Terra yanked her arm away, "I am not leaving Cell!" she protested, and ran towards where Cell was. Cell, of course, was trying to blow up every ogre, obstacle and bystander stopping him from getting to Terra.
Terra felt two ogres, one on each of her two arms, grab her and began to drag her back towards the entrance to heaven. She saw a last glimpse of Cell being punched in the face by some green guy with no nose before the image faded.
In her dream, she could see Cell. He was sitting cross-legged in a cave. . . with bars? It looked like a prison. There were a handful of other odd looking aliens that looked marginally humanoid. Terra felt her heart twinge painfully when she saw the look of utter shame and misery on Cell's face. She knew that he was missing her terribly, just as she did him. . .
Terra awoke with a jolt and sat up, her breathing ragged and harsh. Cell was already seated beside her, smiling gently in a reassuring way, "Another dream?" he asked quietly.
Terra nodded mutely, still afraid of the dream. Being parted from Cell was more frightening and painful than death, she knew that.
Cell frowned, "Terra. . . my dear, you are shaking. You look ill," Cell tilted her chin upwards and looked at her pale and sweaty face. Her face was usually chalk white, but it was now so pale that it would make snow look dull.
"It's nothing. . ." Terra winced.
"What happened in the dream?" Cell asked, concerned.
"After we died. . ." Terra murmured.
"Let me guess, you went to heaven and I went to H.F.I.L?" Cell smirked.
"How did you. . ." Terra started.
"Did you really think I would go to heaven?" Cell chuckled.
Terra rolled her magenta eyes to try and hide her growing fear, "Oh yes, there you are with one of those sissy-stringy-music-things and a dress."
"A harp and a robe? You use such wonderful descriptive language my dear," Cell smirked teasingly.
"It was scary. . . I was trying to get to you but some stupid ogres kept trying to haul me back into heaven," Terra pouted.
"Heaven?" Cell blinked, "You. . . didn't want to go to heaven?"
"It wasn't heaven that was bothering me. I was trying to get to you," Terra smiled wearily.
Cell frowned, "You'd rather go with me to H.F.I.L then go to heaven?"
Terra nodded, "I'd miss you too much and I care about you more than heaven or H.F.I.L."
"You're sure?" Cell frowned.
Terra smiled and nodded, "Of course."
Terra froze, her eyes loosing focus slightly. She stood up, and so did Cell, "Terra?"
"Someone's coming-" Terra muttered just before Goku suddenly appeared.
Cell blinked, 'How did she know that?' he mused as he stepped in front of Terra, hiding her from view from Goku.
Goku glared at Cell, "Let her go now, she doesn't belong here."
Cell frowned, "And where would she belong then? Since you're so all- knowing," he sniggered.
Goku frowned in thought, after a while his tiny monkey-sized brain gave up, "Let her go now."
"And then what? It's not as if she would simply run towards a friendly group of humans that would more than likely kill her," Cell stated harshly.
"I don't understand," Goku growled.
"And what else is new," Cell muttered under his breath, "Because she resembles me in physical appearance she is condemned to be tortured and killed to avenge the deaths of the people I killed. Intelligent the human race is, is it not?" Cell snorted.
Terra shuddered slightly as she stood close behind Cell, remembering how the people had swarmed around her and bet and hit her with whatever they could find, Cell noticed this and moved to completely hide Terra from Goku's sight.
"If you dare hurt her I promise I will kill you," Goku hissed.
Terra stormed out from behind Cell, walked over to Goku, whacked him in the face pretty and yelled in his face, "Don't you dare talk to him like that!!!"
Goku stumbled backwards, surprised at Terra's aggressive reaction but even more so at the way she was dressed, even his thick mind could see the similarities between the two, "Holy cow, you look just like Cell!" he exclaimed thickly.
Terra's eyes began to water and she hid behind Cell, obviously hurt at his immediate reaction. Cell glared at Goku, "Leave," he hissed.
Goku did so without hesitating for a moment. Cell turned to Terra, "Are you alright?" he asked her gingerly.
Terra looked up fearfully at Cell, "Everyone thinks that I look like you. . ."
"Well, you do. But it is not a bad thing is it?" he added hastily when he saw Terra's expression.
"Yes, because I'm powerless to stop anyone from attacking me," Terra sobbed.
Cell smirked, "That may be so, but from the look of the hit you gave Goku I'm sure there will be at least a bruise there before long."
Terra blushed, "I-I'm sorry, I was just really upset at what that guy said to you. . ."
Cell, who was also blushing, changed the subject abruptly, "How did you know Goku was coming any how?"
"Well. . . I've always had premonitions of the future since before I can remember. Be it two seconds or two years before the actual event occurs. . . Which is why I am absolutely sure that the dreams I've been having are t- true. . ." Terra stuttered quietly on the last word, chocking down tears.
Cell nodded, "Yes, but maybe they're there for a reason. For example you could prevent your own death by hiding before I get killed."
"Well if it's deaths we're preventing then yours is top priority! I don't care if I get killed, I just don't want to stay away from you, or I'll die anyway. . ." Terra trialed off sadly.
"Well what if I do win, and I kill all of the Z fighters, then what?" Cell smirked.
"The entire world will fall to chaos and disaster will sweep the land. If the people of the world panic, al order and society will fail and they will be reduced to square one. Proper, unspoilt food will diminish and most of the humans will starve," Terra told him wisely.
"And so will you," Cell told her in a concerned tone, "Yet another reason to not hold the Cell games," he sighed.
"Well. . . maybe it turned out alright in the end. Maybe I make it to H.F.I.L after all and we live happily ever after," Terra grinned.
"My dear, I hope that premonition comes true more than anything else," Cell smiled softly.
Terra looked out towards the sunset, yet another army of tanks was making it's way across the dry and uninhabited desert, Terra inwardly groaned, 'Something just had to ruin the moment, didn't it?"
Cell was really getting pissed now, all the interruptions. You'd think people would leave you alone if you were going to take over the world. Cell didn't even think of the consequences, he simply shot a very large ki blast at the tanks, blasting them to oblivion. The blast shook the Earth and the force even knocked Terra backwards and into one of the four marble pillars that each stood on the four corners of the arena. Terra's head knocked against the hard marble pillar, she gasped and continued to stare at the enormous ball of light, blinding almost, flaring away at the edge of the desert.
Cell mentally slapped himself, 'Too much ki, damn it, I think I hurt Terra too. . .'
Small spots began to appear in Terra's vision, the blinding light radiating from the ki blast almost burning her eyes. The spots grew, and son her entire vision was just one spot. Terra could feel her consciousness ebbing slowly away. The spot that covered her vision became a swirl of colour, the edges fading to darkness. The little consciousness Terra had left let the picture slowly focus. . .
The entire world was green. . . hold on, no. It was just the water around her. She was in a tank, little bubbles floating around her. Terra's bleary, small eyes had just opened for the first time seemingly. She could see through the giant tank that was her home, her life support. All she knew was of this tank. . . Her musings were cut short when her eyes focused enough to make out the blurry settings around her tank. There was a person. . . an old man? Terra disregarded him as just another worker for whoever created her and. . . Terra looked at the tank beside her. There was a tank beside her? Terra focused her beady magenta eyes on the tank, she could see a small figure inside it. Similar to her. It looked no bigger than a little prawn. . . Which almost reminded Terra of how hungry she was. The spot that had obscured her vision and had shown her this 'movie' of her own past began to slowly fade away, as spots on one's vision tend to do. Terra tried to hang onto the vision, she had to know what happened to her before she had lost her memory.
Terra blinked and looked up at Cell, who was gently shaking her shoulders, "Cell? What are you doing?"
"I was trying to get you awake, you were in some sort of trance," Cell sighed, relieved that she was okay again.
"Oh it was nothing, I was just seeing spots," Terra smirked.
"I'm sorry about the ki blast. It was a bit big, eh?" Cell smiled wearily.
"A little. . . Owie, I hurt my head," Terra frowned and rubbed the small bump on the back of her head, "Headache. . ."
"Are you alright?" Cell asked her tenderly.
"Yeah. . . But I saw something. Like a memory almost," Terra muttered.
"Hmmm?" inquired Cell.
"I was in some sort of tank. . ." Terra trailed off.
"Did you see anyone?"
"Yes, an old man."
"Was his hair longish and white?"
". . .No, it wasn't."
"Then I can't have been Dr. Gero."
"Who?"
"Never mind."
"Well. . . there was another tank beside mine. There was some sort of shrimp-thingie in it."
"Shrimp-thingie?" Cell's eyes went almost crossed in puzzlement and confusion at Terra's dream, but his face still remain straight.
Terra giggled, "Heh, you're cross-eyed."
A few hours later, Terra doubled over as hunger pangs seared through her body.
"Hungry?" Cell asked her.
"I don't know. The 'hungry' you're thinking of comes from the stomach!" Terra growled, hugging herself tightly.
"Where else would you be-" Cell paused, he knew what it was.
"My back hurts. . ." Terra mumbled, sitting on the arena floor, curled up and hugging her knees to her chest to try and stop the pain. Terra squeaked loudly when a long, thin, almost cord-like tail erupted from her backside and tore a small hole in the back of her skirt, just enough for the tail to squeeze through. It was white with black spots and looked very similar to the one Cell used to have.
"My dear, I do believe you now have a tail," Cell stated plainly.
"Oh great! Now everyone's going to think I'm your long-lost sister or something!!!" Terra moaned, still hugging herself in pain.
"You do know what this means, don't you?" Cell asked her, crouching down to her side.
"Yes. But I don't wanna absorb people!" Terra whined, the pain affecting her concentration.
"My dear, I'm afraid it's compulsory," Cell sighed deeply.
"Could you please use little words? I'm in a lot of pain right now!" Terra hissed, her well-of-souls sending out constant messages of hunger that hurt like H.F.I.L.
"You, need, to, absorb, people," Cell said in a mockingly slow manner.
Terra gave him a deadly look, "No."
"Why not?"
"It's wrong."
"In which way? That pizza I gave you had meat in it. Are you a vegetarian?"
"No. I'm not a cannibal either!"
"Cannibal? Unless you try and eat me I doubt you'd be that."
". . .I'm a human." Terra told him sulkily, in denial of her horrific genes.
Cell shook his head, 'This isn't going to be easy. . .'
After half an hour of arguing, and Terra still keeling over in pain, they almost came to a decision.
"What about small, over populating woodland creatures?" Cell suggested wearily.
"They're too cute," Terra replied thickly.
"Well would you like me to find some disgusting and mutilated ones?"
"No."
"What about a cow? There was ham on that pizza and you didn't mind then."
"Have you seen my tail? It's skinny! How could a cow fit up my tail Cell?!"
". . .It stretches."
"Cell I do not want stretch marks on my tail!"
Cell rolled his eyes, "And to think, you're still in pain."
"Yeah. . ." Terra squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on anything but the horrible pain coming from her well-of-souls.
"What about small children? They wouldn't stretch your tail too much," Cell suggested wryly.
"Children?! That's horrible! How can you be so heartless?!" Terra growled.
"Well I'm not the only one who is a little. . . empty, right now," Cell smirked.
Terra couldn't help it, she was vulnerable when it came to jokes, she repressed a giggle an turned it into a squeak of pain.
"What about just sucking their insides out, you don't stretch your tail and you could try picking off some robbers or non innocent people," Cell tried again.
"No, they're all fat and gay," Terra croaked.
"What about lions or tigers or some other type of wild animal? If you suck their power out from the inside then your tail wont stretch and it's not as if Tigers are cute," Cell sneered.
"Yes they are cute!" Terra argued crankily.
"Think of it this way. You are not eating them, you're simply joining forces with them."
"So I'd be part cat?"
"I wouldn't know, I've absorbed humans and androids, and I am a bio android with human DNA encrypted into my system. . . No, probably not," Cell lied, 'But then again, my physical appearance became more human when I absorbed those androids. . .'
"Just to be safe, you shouldn't try absorbing anything colourful," Cell sighed.
"Colourful? It's not like I'm going to eat a poison arrow frog. . . he, he," Terra giggled at the thought of a frog-like version of herself with bright, poisonous skin and huge, bulging eyes, though she was still clutching herself in pain.
"What about the white tigers? They may be endangered but if I leave one they could still clone that one to make more. . ." Cell mused.
Terra squeaked loudly, "I think I'm going to black out. . ."
Cell paused and looked down at Terra, 'Why didn't I think of this earlier?' he thought absently, kneeling down beside her.
Cell put one of his china-white hands on the joint connecting Terra's tail to her back. Terra froze, Cell was transporting some of his energy into her! The pain vanished and they both stood up.
"Y-you just. . ." Terra trailed off, then blushed, "Thank you."
Cell shrugged, "I've got enough to spare some, it wasn't a problem."
Terra grinned and nodded, now feeling fully refreshed.
It had been a while now. There was now only two days before the Cell games and Terra had spent most of the time reminiscing about her horrific past. Terra sighed out loud as she went over the main events in her life.
She remembered when she was fourteen, her foster family forcing her to literally paint her skin to try and make her look more human, but they soon gave up when it became too expensive and kicked her out. Terra looked down at her hands, she could just see the many jars, bottles and oil-paints piled up on them. She only really needed them in summer, the rest of the time she was made to wear clothing to cover all her skin except from her face. They'd tell people that she had a cold when they went out. But then again, none of her foster families had ever let her of her 'home' often. Going by herself was considered illegal.
Terra ran some more memories through her head, she chuckled as she remembered her first foster family. She was berley eight and the family's excuse for her pale skin was that she was either half albino, or that her ex-parents had mutilated her as a child by draining her blood for Gothic rituals or bleaching her skin. She had always preferred the Goth story, it seemed much more tragic.
'All those families. . . I must have gone through dozens. . .' Terra mused sadly.
A few of them had abused her badly. One tried every attempt to remove her well-of-souls. They had set it alight, tried to burn it off with acid, smash it with a hammer, cutting around the skin that connected it to her skin and tried to rip it off. Every attempt should have, by all human tolerance levels, killed her eight times over. But she survived. At times she had wished that she had died long before she had met the family. She ran away from them after she heard the family talking about injecting the area around the well-of-souls with a smallpox virus so the flesh around it would rot and they would be able to remove the well-of-souls.
The abuse just got worse. The more families that rejected her meant the worse her reputation got, which meant the families she was handed down to got worse and worse. Terra shuddered as she remembered one of the last families she had gone to. She wasn't even going to bring up the unpleasant memories that surrounded that place.
"Terra?"
Terra jumped when Cell snapped her out of her semi-trance, "Ah! Oh, sorry. Spaced-out."
"What were you thinking about?" Cell asked soothingly.
"Foster homes. The dreaded foster homes," Terra muttered, her tail swaying agitatedly behind her.
Cell frowned, "I thought you lived alone."
Terra laughed, "Oh no. I had run out of food after running away from my last family."
"Why did you run away?" frowned Cell.
"Because they were thugs, murderers, thieves, r- don't worry about them," Terra stopped herself from saying something.
Cell knew it wasn't his place to question her further, so he quickly changed the subject, "How do you feel, I mean with the tail and all."
"Fine. How long until the games?"
"Two days."
"Wow. It's really been a while. . ."
"I have come up with a way for you to prevent Gohan killing you."
"What's that?"
"Try to absorb him."
"Cell! That's. . . a really good idea!" Kamiya grinned up at him.
"Thank you," Cell smirked, his ego back to full size and climbing.
"Will you be alright with less power?" Terra asked him tenderly.
"Probably. Training wouldn't hurt though. . ." Cell stared skywards into the velvety night sky, the stars glittering positively, "Would you mind if I left for a few hours?" asked Cell.
"Nope," Terra grinned.
"Just. . . watch out for meteorite showers. And, how much do you humans like Mars?" Cell questioned her calmly.
"Not too much," Terra lied, still smiling happily.
Cell nodded and flew off into the starry depths of space. Terra watched him nervously, as if worried that he would drop out of the sky at any moment, though she knew he wouldn't.
Terra's ears twitched, she knew that was a bad sign, 'Someone's coming.'
The thought ran through her head as she ran over to and behind one of the four marble pillars, watching the spot where she knew someone, probably and enemy, would appear.
And someone did appear. Terra inwardly sighed, 'Great, the same damn idiot. Why can't he just take the hint and leave us alone?!'
Goku blinked and looked around, 'Hey? Where did everybody go? Did the Cell games come early and I missed them? . . .Bummer. . .'
Terra tried hiding further behind the pillar, Terra slipped and fell off the edge with a very loud, "Aw crap!"
Goku spun around and saw Terra, who had swerved at the last second and landed on her front, her tail slashing through the air agitatedly. Wait, she has a TAIL?!
Goku gawked at the cord-like white and black spotted tail, 'Maybe she's Cell's long-lost sister or something,' Goku mused, which was a really rare thing for him to do.
Terra rolled over and stood up, watching Goku apprehensively, "What do you want?!" She asked him, her voice quavering slightly, revealing her fear.
Goku's expression darkened, "You."
Terra stumbled backwards, "What?! Uh. . . stay back! Don't come any closer or I'll. . . I'll. . . I'll do something really painful and you know I can!"
Goku paused, "But your power-level is tiny!"
"Ha! I'm hiding mine! In real life it's bigger than yours, no twice as big as yours but you're so weak you can't even feel it!" Terra lied confidently, 'Dear God, only an idiot would fall for that. . .' she thought stupidly.
Goku blinked, "Really?"
Terra sweat-dropped, 'Yup, he fell for it alright.'
Cell smirked as he blew the last meteorite that was once Mars into oblivion. Satisfied with himself, he flew back down to Earth.
'I wonder how Terra is. I only left her by herself for a few moments. I hope she doesn't go all 'clingy' when I return. Well, maybe just a little. . .' Cell chuckled evilly to himself, 'Then again, I'm pretty hot. It's not as if I can blame her for being clingy.'
While Cell was feeding his own ego, Terra was still trying to get Goku to believe her that she was awesomely powerful.
"Well I can fly, but flying is for weak people," Terra told him snobbishly.
"So you use instant transmission?" Goku's eyes narrowed, 'She's lying. She looks like Cell. Cell is bad. She must be bad. She is bad. Don't trust her!' his mind calculated slowly.
"No. . . I'm so powerful that I don't need to move myself at all!" Terra poked her purple tongue out.
Goku frowned, "I don't believe you."
Terra scoffed, "You would have to be stupid not to believe me."
"Well I am stupid so that means that I can't trust you! Haha! I foiled your fool-proof plan to trick me!" Goku grinned stupidly yet challengingly, "Now who's the stupid one?!"
"Still you."
Cell flew down to Earth, disrupting some very peaceful clouds and frightening a nearby flock of geese to death.
Cell flew down, just above the arena, and looked down. Cell's magenta eyes widened, he had flown in just in time to see Goku using instant transmission to transport him and a very upset Terra away.
Cell tried to fly down fast enough to stop them, but he didn't make it in time. Cell practically crashed onto the marble arena not one second before Terra and Goku vanished. Cell cursed and hissed to himself, his eyes glistening with tears, 'I should never have left. . . Now she's gone. Judging by Terra's prophesy, Gohan will probably kill her. I'll never get to see her again. . . Terra. . .'
By Psycho Llama and Sarah Dempster
Disclaimer: Neither of us own DBZ. Sarah Dempster owns Terra.
Notes: The plot and Terra are owned by my good friend Sarah Dempster, who wrote the chapter briefs for me and I've written the actual chapters which you see here before her, all reviews for it will be forwarded to her as well via e-mail.
'She must have low blood sugars or something. . . She's always falling asleep,' Cell mused as Terra sat quietly in a corner of the marble arena, her head bobbing slightly as she slept.
'Gohan couldn't kill me, it's preposterous! Him? A mere child beat me, the almighty Cell?! Of course not! Hmph! The whole idea is absolutely ridiculous! . . .But how could have she dreamed of Gohan if she's never seen him before? Coincidence? Unlikely,' Cell sighed out of his nose in frustration.
'If she is right though, then I would be endangering her life by making her stay here. But should I just drop her back in Ginger town? People mourning for the people I absorbed would surely hunt her down and kill her like a wild animal. . . any human that knew about the Cell games would,' Cell paused to think where exactly Terra could go.
'Not a human. . . I couldn't leave her with any of the Z fighters, Gohan would probably kill her if not the rest of them. Dende is too closely linked to the Z fighters so that leaves. . . me? She'll die if she stays. . . yet she'll probably die if she goes too. If she is right and Gohan does defeat me. . . Even if she does escape Gohan. . . She will more than likely be on the most wanted list for the rest of her life.'
Cell looked sadly over at Terra's sleeping form, 'I must not loose. For Terra's sake, I swear I will win this tournament,' he vowed silently, 'I will sacrifice my own life for her if that's what it takes to protect the only one I care about, and love even.'
Terra shifted slightly in her sleep, a frown spreading across her forehead, Cell became slightly worried, 'She must be having one of those dreams again. . . Poor thing, she has become almost paranoid.'
Terra looked around, she was in some sort of elaborate. . . place. She didn't even know what it was, let alone where. Everything seemed so real yet she felt like she was being dragged along like a helium balloon being dragged along by an energetic little kid. She saw some huge red guy in some sort of blue suit behind a very large desk. Terra did a double take, not only did this guy have horns growing out of his head, but he was the size of a giant. Terra could berley hear him though, it was as if someone had turned off the volume switch. . . then Terra clearly heard the word, 'heaven' and she was being taken away somewhere. Somewhere away from Cell. Terra's animal instincts kicked in. She was away from Cell, the only thing that mattered to her. Terra stopped moving, some kid of ogre pushed her forward slightly to keep her going up the path.
ell was also being taken somewhere, but the opposite direction that Terra was going in, 'They must have put me in the wrong place. . . oh well, I'll just go with Cell. I'd rather go with him to hell that spend an afterlife in heaven alone.'
Terra pushed past the ogre and began to walk towards Cell, when she felt someone grab her arm, Terra glared at the ogre and began to struggle against his grip.
"Let go!" she suddenly snapped, her radiant magenta eyes burning with fury.
The ogre seemed to snigger, "That's the way to H.F.I.L, you're going to heaven miss."
Terra frowned, "But I don't want to!" she growled.
Every sound, even her own voice, sounded as if it was someone else speaking far away.
The ogre almost laughed, "Good one, now come on!"
Terra yanked her arm away, "I am not leaving Cell!" she protested, and ran towards where Cell was. Cell, of course, was trying to blow up every ogre, obstacle and bystander stopping him from getting to Terra.
Terra felt two ogres, one on each of her two arms, grab her and began to drag her back towards the entrance to heaven. She saw a last glimpse of Cell being punched in the face by some green guy with no nose before the image faded.
In her dream, she could see Cell. He was sitting cross-legged in a cave. . . with bars? It looked like a prison. There were a handful of other odd looking aliens that looked marginally humanoid. Terra felt her heart twinge painfully when she saw the look of utter shame and misery on Cell's face. She knew that he was missing her terribly, just as she did him. . .
Terra awoke with a jolt and sat up, her breathing ragged and harsh. Cell was already seated beside her, smiling gently in a reassuring way, "Another dream?" he asked quietly.
Terra nodded mutely, still afraid of the dream. Being parted from Cell was more frightening and painful than death, she knew that.
Cell frowned, "Terra. . . my dear, you are shaking. You look ill," Cell tilted her chin upwards and looked at her pale and sweaty face. Her face was usually chalk white, but it was now so pale that it would make snow look dull.
"It's nothing. . ." Terra winced.
"What happened in the dream?" Cell asked, concerned.
"After we died. . ." Terra murmured.
"Let me guess, you went to heaven and I went to H.F.I.L?" Cell smirked.
"How did you. . ." Terra started.
"Did you really think I would go to heaven?" Cell chuckled.
Terra rolled her magenta eyes to try and hide her growing fear, "Oh yes, there you are with one of those sissy-stringy-music-things and a dress."
"A harp and a robe? You use such wonderful descriptive language my dear," Cell smirked teasingly.
"It was scary. . . I was trying to get to you but some stupid ogres kept trying to haul me back into heaven," Terra pouted.
"Heaven?" Cell blinked, "You. . . didn't want to go to heaven?"
"It wasn't heaven that was bothering me. I was trying to get to you," Terra smiled wearily.
Cell frowned, "You'd rather go with me to H.F.I.L then go to heaven?"
Terra nodded, "I'd miss you too much and I care about you more than heaven or H.F.I.L."
"You're sure?" Cell frowned.
Terra smiled and nodded, "Of course."
Terra froze, her eyes loosing focus slightly. She stood up, and so did Cell, "Terra?"
"Someone's coming-" Terra muttered just before Goku suddenly appeared.
Cell blinked, 'How did she know that?' he mused as he stepped in front of Terra, hiding her from view from Goku.
Goku glared at Cell, "Let her go now, she doesn't belong here."
Cell frowned, "And where would she belong then? Since you're so all- knowing," he sniggered.
Goku frowned in thought, after a while his tiny monkey-sized brain gave up, "Let her go now."
"And then what? It's not as if she would simply run towards a friendly group of humans that would more than likely kill her," Cell stated harshly.
"I don't understand," Goku growled.
"And what else is new," Cell muttered under his breath, "Because she resembles me in physical appearance she is condemned to be tortured and killed to avenge the deaths of the people I killed. Intelligent the human race is, is it not?" Cell snorted.
Terra shuddered slightly as she stood close behind Cell, remembering how the people had swarmed around her and bet and hit her with whatever they could find, Cell noticed this and moved to completely hide Terra from Goku's sight.
"If you dare hurt her I promise I will kill you," Goku hissed.
Terra stormed out from behind Cell, walked over to Goku, whacked him in the face pretty and yelled in his face, "Don't you dare talk to him like that!!!"
Goku stumbled backwards, surprised at Terra's aggressive reaction but even more so at the way she was dressed, even his thick mind could see the similarities between the two, "Holy cow, you look just like Cell!" he exclaimed thickly.
Terra's eyes began to water and she hid behind Cell, obviously hurt at his immediate reaction. Cell glared at Goku, "Leave," he hissed.
Goku did so without hesitating for a moment. Cell turned to Terra, "Are you alright?" he asked her gingerly.
Terra looked up fearfully at Cell, "Everyone thinks that I look like you. . ."
"Well, you do. But it is not a bad thing is it?" he added hastily when he saw Terra's expression.
"Yes, because I'm powerless to stop anyone from attacking me," Terra sobbed.
Cell smirked, "That may be so, but from the look of the hit you gave Goku I'm sure there will be at least a bruise there before long."
Terra blushed, "I-I'm sorry, I was just really upset at what that guy said to you. . ."
Cell, who was also blushing, changed the subject abruptly, "How did you know Goku was coming any how?"
"Well. . . I've always had premonitions of the future since before I can remember. Be it two seconds or two years before the actual event occurs. . . Which is why I am absolutely sure that the dreams I've been having are t- true. . ." Terra stuttered quietly on the last word, chocking down tears.
Cell nodded, "Yes, but maybe they're there for a reason. For example you could prevent your own death by hiding before I get killed."
"Well if it's deaths we're preventing then yours is top priority! I don't care if I get killed, I just don't want to stay away from you, or I'll die anyway. . ." Terra trialed off sadly.
"Well what if I do win, and I kill all of the Z fighters, then what?" Cell smirked.
"The entire world will fall to chaos and disaster will sweep the land. If the people of the world panic, al order and society will fail and they will be reduced to square one. Proper, unspoilt food will diminish and most of the humans will starve," Terra told him wisely.
"And so will you," Cell told her in a concerned tone, "Yet another reason to not hold the Cell games," he sighed.
"Well. . . maybe it turned out alright in the end. Maybe I make it to H.F.I.L after all and we live happily ever after," Terra grinned.
"My dear, I hope that premonition comes true more than anything else," Cell smiled softly.
Terra looked out towards the sunset, yet another army of tanks was making it's way across the dry and uninhabited desert, Terra inwardly groaned, 'Something just had to ruin the moment, didn't it?"
Cell was really getting pissed now, all the interruptions. You'd think people would leave you alone if you were going to take over the world. Cell didn't even think of the consequences, he simply shot a very large ki blast at the tanks, blasting them to oblivion. The blast shook the Earth and the force even knocked Terra backwards and into one of the four marble pillars that each stood on the four corners of the arena. Terra's head knocked against the hard marble pillar, she gasped and continued to stare at the enormous ball of light, blinding almost, flaring away at the edge of the desert.
Cell mentally slapped himself, 'Too much ki, damn it, I think I hurt Terra too. . .'
Small spots began to appear in Terra's vision, the blinding light radiating from the ki blast almost burning her eyes. The spots grew, and son her entire vision was just one spot. Terra could feel her consciousness ebbing slowly away. The spot that covered her vision became a swirl of colour, the edges fading to darkness. The little consciousness Terra had left let the picture slowly focus. . .
The entire world was green. . . hold on, no. It was just the water around her. She was in a tank, little bubbles floating around her. Terra's bleary, small eyes had just opened for the first time seemingly. She could see through the giant tank that was her home, her life support. All she knew was of this tank. . . Her musings were cut short when her eyes focused enough to make out the blurry settings around her tank. There was a person. . . an old man? Terra disregarded him as just another worker for whoever created her and. . . Terra looked at the tank beside her. There was a tank beside her? Terra focused her beady magenta eyes on the tank, she could see a small figure inside it. Similar to her. It looked no bigger than a little prawn. . . Which almost reminded Terra of how hungry she was. The spot that had obscured her vision and had shown her this 'movie' of her own past began to slowly fade away, as spots on one's vision tend to do. Terra tried to hang onto the vision, she had to know what happened to her before she had lost her memory.
Terra blinked and looked up at Cell, who was gently shaking her shoulders, "Cell? What are you doing?"
"I was trying to get you awake, you were in some sort of trance," Cell sighed, relieved that she was okay again.
"Oh it was nothing, I was just seeing spots," Terra smirked.
"I'm sorry about the ki blast. It was a bit big, eh?" Cell smiled wearily.
"A little. . . Owie, I hurt my head," Terra frowned and rubbed the small bump on the back of her head, "Headache. . ."
"Are you alright?" Cell asked her tenderly.
"Yeah. . . But I saw something. Like a memory almost," Terra muttered.
"Hmmm?" inquired Cell.
"I was in some sort of tank. . ." Terra trailed off.
"Did you see anyone?"
"Yes, an old man."
"Was his hair longish and white?"
". . .No, it wasn't."
"Then I can't have been Dr. Gero."
"Who?"
"Never mind."
"Well. . . there was another tank beside mine. There was some sort of shrimp-thingie in it."
"Shrimp-thingie?" Cell's eyes went almost crossed in puzzlement and confusion at Terra's dream, but his face still remain straight.
Terra giggled, "Heh, you're cross-eyed."
A few hours later, Terra doubled over as hunger pangs seared through her body.
"Hungry?" Cell asked her.
"I don't know. The 'hungry' you're thinking of comes from the stomach!" Terra growled, hugging herself tightly.
"Where else would you be-" Cell paused, he knew what it was.
"My back hurts. . ." Terra mumbled, sitting on the arena floor, curled up and hugging her knees to her chest to try and stop the pain. Terra squeaked loudly when a long, thin, almost cord-like tail erupted from her backside and tore a small hole in the back of her skirt, just enough for the tail to squeeze through. It was white with black spots and looked very similar to the one Cell used to have.
"My dear, I do believe you now have a tail," Cell stated plainly.
"Oh great! Now everyone's going to think I'm your long-lost sister or something!!!" Terra moaned, still hugging herself in pain.
"You do know what this means, don't you?" Cell asked her, crouching down to her side.
"Yes. But I don't wanna absorb people!" Terra whined, the pain affecting her concentration.
"My dear, I'm afraid it's compulsory," Cell sighed deeply.
"Could you please use little words? I'm in a lot of pain right now!" Terra hissed, her well-of-souls sending out constant messages of hunger that hurt like H.F.I.L.
"You, need, to, absorb, people," Cell said in a mockingly slow manner.
Terra gave him a deadly look, "No."
"Why not?"
"It's wrong."
"In which way? That pizza I gave you had meat in it. Are you a vegetarian?"
"No. I'm not a cannibal either!"
"Cannibal? Unless you try and eat me I doubt you'd be that."
". . .I'm a human." Terra told him sulkily, in denial of her horrific genes.
Cell shook his head, 'This isn't going to be easy. . .'
After half an hour of arguing, and Terra still keeling over in pain, they almost came to a decision.
"What about small, over populating woodland creatures?" Cell suggested wearily.
"They're too cute," Terra replied thickly.
"Well would you like me to find some disgusting and mutilated ones?"
"No."
"What about a cow? There was ham on that pizza and you didn't mind then."
"Have you seen my tail? It's skinny! How could a cow fit up my tail Cell?!"
". . .It stretches."
"Cell I do not want stretch marks on my tail!"
Cell rolled his eyes, "And to think, you're still in pain."
"Yeah. . ." Terra squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on anything but the horrible pain coming from her well-of-souls.
"What about small children? They wouldn't stretch your tail too much," Cell suggested wryly.
"Children?! That's horrible! How can you be so heartless?!" Terra growled.
"Well I'm not the only one who is a little. . . empty, right now," Cell smirked.
Terra couldn't help it, she was vulnerable when it came to jokes, she repressed a giggle an turned it into a squeak of pain.
"What about just sucking their insides out, you don't stretch your tail and you could try picking off some robbers or non innocent people," Cell tried again.
"No, they're all fat and gay," Terra croaked.
"What about lions or tigers or some other type of wild animal? If you suck their power out from the inside then your tail wont stretch and it's not as if Tigers are cute," Cell sneered.
"Yes they are cute!" Terra argued crankily.
"Think of it this way. You are not eating them, you're simply joining forces with them."
"So I'd be part cat?"
"I wouldn't know, I've absorbed humans and androids, and I am a bio android with human DNA encrypted into my system. . . No, probably not," Cell lied, 'But then again, my physical appearance became more human when I absorbed those androids. . .'
"Just to be safe, you shouldn't try absorbing anything colourful," Cell sighed.
"Colourful? It's not like I'm going to eat a poison arrow frog. . . he, he," Terra giggled at the thought of a frog-like version of herself with bright, poisonous skin and huge, bulging eyes, though she was still clutching herself in pain.
"What about the white tigers? They may be endangered but if I leave one they could still clone that one to make more. . ." Cell mused.
Terra squeaked loudly, "I think I'm going to black out. . ."
Cell paused and looked down at Terra, 'Why didn't I think of this earlier?' he thought absently, kneeling down beside her.
Cell put one of his china-white hands on the joint connecting Terra's tail to her back. Terra froze, Cell was transporting some of his energy into her! The pain vanished and they both stood up.
"Y-you just. . ." Terra trailed off, then blushed, "Thank you."
Cell shrugged, "I've got enough to spare some, it wasn't a problem."
Terra grinned and nodded, now feeling fully refreshed.
It had been a while now. There was now only two days before the Cell games and Terra had spent most of the time reminiscing about her horrific past. Terra sighed out loud as she went over the main events in her life.
She remembered when she was fourteen, her foster family forcing her to literally paint her skin to try and make her look more human, but they soon gave up when it became too expensive and kicked her out. Terra looked down at her hands, she could just see the many jars, bottles and oil-paints piled up on them. She only really needed them in summer, the rest of the time she was made to wear clothing to cover all her skin except from her face. They'd tell people that she had a cold when they went out. But then again, none of her foster families had ever let her of her 'home' often. Going by herself was considered illegal.
Terra ran some more memories through her head, she chuckled as she remembered her first foster family. She was berley eight and the family's excuse for her pale skin was that she was either half albino, or that her ex-parents had mutilated her as a child by draining her blood for Gothic rituals or bleaching her skin. She had always preferred the Goth story, it seemed much more tragic.
'All those families. . . I must have gone through dozens. . .' Terra mused sadly.
A few of them had abused her badly. One tried every attempt to remove her well-of-souls. They had set it alight, tried to burn it off with acid, smash it with a hammer, cutting around the skin that connected it to her skin and tried to rip it off. Every attempt should have, by all human tolerance levels, killed her eight times over. But she survived. At times she had wished that she had died long before she had met the family. She ran away from them after she heard the family talking about injecting the area around the well-of-souls with a smallpox virus so the flesh around it would rot and they would be able to remove the well-of-souls.
The abuse just got worse. The more families that rejected her meant the worse her reputation got, which meant the families she was handed down to got worse and worse. Terra shuddered as she remembered one of the last families she had gone to. She wasn't even going to bring up the unpleasant memories that surrounded that place.
"Terra?"
Terra jumped when Cell snapped her out of her semi-trance, "Ah! Oh, sorry. Spaced-out."
"What were you thinking about?" Cell asked soothingly.
"Foster homes. The dreaded foster homes," Terra muttered, her tail swaying agitatedly behind her.
Cell frowned, "I thought you lived alone."
Terra laughed, "Oh no. I had run out of food after running away from my last family."
"Why did you run away?" frowned Cell.
"Because they were thugs, murderers, thieves, r- don't worry about them," Terra stopped herself from saying something.
Cell knew it wasn't his place to question her further, so he quickly changed the subject, "How do you feel, I mean with the tail and all."
"Fine. How long until the games?"
"Two days."
"Wow. It's really been a while. . ."
"I have come up with a way for you to prevent Gohan killing you."
"What's that?"
"Try to absorb him."
"Cell! That's. . . a really good idea!" Kamiya grinned up at him.
"Thank you," Cell smirked, his ego back to full size and climbing.
"Will you be alright with less power?" Terra asked him tenderly.
"Probably. Training wouldn't hurt though. . ." Cell stared skywards into the velvety night sky, the stars glittering positively, "Would you mind if I left for a few hours?" asked Cell.
"Nope," Terra grinned.
"Just. . . watch out for meteorite showers. And, how much do you humans like Mars?" Cell questioned her calmly.
"Not too much," Terra lied, still smiling happily.
Cell nodded and flew off into the starry depths of space. Terra watched him nervously, as if worried that he would drop out of the sky at any moment, though she knew he wouldn't.
Terra's ears twitched, she knew that was a bad sign, 'Someone's coming.'
The thought ran through her head as she ran over to and behind one of the four marble pillars, watching the spot where she knew someone, probably and enemy, would appear.
And someone did appear. Terra inwardly sighed, 'Great, the same damn idiot. Why can't he just take the hint and leave us alone?!'
Goku blinked and looked around, 'Hey? Where did everybody go? Did the Cell games come early and I missed them? . . .Bummer. . .'
Terra tried hiding further behind the pillar, Terra slipped and fell off the edge with a very loud, "Aw crap!"
Goku spun around and saw Terra, who had swerved at the last second and landed on her front, her tail slashing through the air agitatedly. Wait, she has a TAIL?!
Goku gawked at the cord-like white and black spotted tail, 'Maybe she's Cell's long-lost sister or something,' Goku mused, which was a really rare thing for him to do.
Terra rolled over and stood up, watching Goku apprehensively, "What do you want?!" She asked him, her voice quavering slightly, revealing her fear.
Goku's expression darkened, "You."
Terra stumbled backwards, "What?! Uh. . . stay back! Don't come any closer or I'll. . . I'll. . . I'll do something really painful and you know I can!"
Goku paused, "But your power-level is tiny!"
"Ha! I'm hiding mine! In real life it's bigger than yours, no twice as big as yours but you're so weak you can't even feel it!" Terra lied confidently, 'Dear God, only an idiot would fall for that. . .' she thought stupidly.
Goku blinked, "Really?"
Terra sweat-dropped, 'Yup, he fell for it alright.'
Cell smirked as he blew the last meteorite that was once Mars into oblivion. Satisfied with himself, he flew back down to Earth.
'I wonder how Terra is. I only left her by herself for a few moments. I hope she doesn't go all 'clingy' when I return. Well, maybe just a little. . .' Cell chuckled evilly to himself, 'Then again, I'm pretty hot. It's not as if I can blame her for being clingy.'
While Cell was feeding his own ego, Terra was still trying to get Goku to believe her that she was awesomely powerful.
"Well I can fly, but flying is for weak people," Terra told him snobbishly.
"So you use instant transmission?" Goku's eyes narrowed, 'She's lying. She looks like Cell. Cell is bad. She must be bad. She is bad. Don't trust her!' his mind calculated slowly.
"No. . . I'm so powerful that I don't need to move myself at all!" Terra poked her purple tongue out.
Goku frowned, "I don't believe you."
Terra scoffed, "You would have to be stupid not to believe me."
"Well I am stupid so that means that I can't trust you! Haha! I foiled your fool-proof plan to trick me!" Goku grinned stupidly yet challengingly, "Now who's the stupid one?!"
"Still you."
Cell flew down to Earth, disrupting some very peaceful clouds and frightening a nearby flock of geese to death.
Cell flew down, just above the arena, and looked down. Cell's magenta eyes widened, he had flown in just in time to see Goku using instant transmission to transport him and a very upset Terra away.
Cell tried to fly down fast enough to stop them, but he didn't make it in time. Cell practically crashed onto the marble arena not one second before Terra and Goku vanished. Cell cursed and hissed to himself, his eyes glistening with tears, 'I should never have left. . . Now she's gone. Judging by Terra's prophesy, Gohan will probably kill her. I'll never get to see her again. . . Terra. . .'