Chapter Eight:
The lowest hells were silent.
That in itself was definitely cause for alarm. It was the one place in the universe where peace and quiet always meant that something was wrong. The absence of the screams of the tortured, and the angry yells of the Marshals, not to mention the strange chittering and gurgling of the creatures in the pools was unsettling. Or at least it would have been, had there been anyone left to unsettle.
Because it didn't take a genius to figure out that almost everything here was dead.
The creatures in the pools were still alive, but quiet. There was nothing to eat, and no one around. So why would they make noise? If there was no hope of food, their purpose was served for now and they could be silent.
Then a sound came. Only a small sound, but it was very loud in the huge emptiness. A few chitters came from the pools in reaction, but that was all.
The sound was the sound of feet striking the hard rock that made up the floor of hell.
Far off, it was coming up, a shadow that was not really anything at all. But it was taking a shape, that was why the sound of footsteps was apparent. It came closer, moving far too fast to be walking, but walking all the same. Feet were already visible, and legs. They were clad in skin tight black, but wether that was the thing's skin or really cloth was impossible to tell. It continued down to a three toed foot, quite a bit like Frieza's, each toe tipped with a black claw.
As the shadow continued to take form, it also slowed down. Drawing level with one of the bubbling, boiling pools of magma, it stopped. Now it seemed to be flesh up to the waist, with no sign of any kind of features but the muscular black 'skin'. As it stopped, the thing in the pool seemed to go mad, throwing itself into the air, giving a glimpse of a body that looked like a long house cat without legs, powered by a huge tail at the end. Instead of a mouth, there was just an open slit, and teeth as narrow and sharp as needles could be seen. Then it hit the magma, splattering the molten mixture over the shadow. It immediately steamed and disappeared.
Now the shadow was swirling about the chest, and arms had begun to appear, each with hands that were as black and shiny as the rest, fingers over a foot long and tapering to razor sharp points. One hand waved out toward the pool, and the creature in it immediately died.
Now the shadow swirled up quickly, and made a head and hair in a flash, using the last of it's substance as it took shape.
The hair was wild and spiky, saiyajin like, and hung to the shoulders at it's lowest point, it had none of the shine of the thing's skin, only a dull sheen that was normal for coarse hair.
The face was a break from all the black, it was simple pale skin, the face bony and skeletal like the rest of the body, though muscle was apparent. All the teeth in the mouth were fangs, visible under the thin, slightly parted lips.
But the eyes...
The eyes were jet black, no whites, no irises. Just a plain shiny black eyes like glass, with no eyebrows above them. In the center of each was a glowing pinpoint of red fire, and if you stared at it long enough, it would consume your whole mind and drive you mad.
"Ah, it does feel good to be in my true form." Morgoth laughed. "Unimaginably good."
He was the reason everything else in the lowest hell except for the things in the pools were dead. He had killed them all in one simple out-rush of ki, their spirits simply vanishing. The other hells were untouched by his power, so the things like Frieza and Cell were still there. But he cared for them not at all. They were creatures that followed their own designs, and would never really bend to his will. They would always have treachery on their minds.
Really, almost everyone in hell was like that, at least the strong ones. He had left the things in the pools, that he amusingly called the gluttons, alive only because they were utterly mindless and would do whatever he wanted, which was kill.
He chuckled as he thought of the lovely carnage he would create when he was alive again.
Only four hours left until the gateway opened.
Trunks stomped angrily around for a few minutes, trying to find the mysteriously vanished Osiris, before he finally returned to his injured friend. His anger had begun to cool, or at least get out of the way, and he was very afraid for Goten.
"Trunks-kun?" Goten said weakly as his best friend leaned over him. "I don't know how much longer I can stay awake. He." Goten paused, even talking was taking his breath away. "He got a lot of blood. A whole lot."
Trunks shook his head. "You'll be fine Goten. We'll just get you a senzu bean and you'll be good as new, right?"
He smiled weakly. "Right."
Trunks nodded strongly and picked up Goten, taking off for Korin's tower, which was just visible from the sky. He had to fly slowly, though. Goten was so weak that Trunks figured to much speed could render him unconscious.
ChiChi was pacing back and forth nervously just enough under the ledge so that she wasn't hit by the pouring rain that splattered on the white marble floor a few feet in from the edge. Korin and Yajirobi were sitting more towards the middle, playing cards and trying to ignore her steady stream of alternating curses and expressions of worry.
"I can't believe you just let them take off! My poor little boy, out there fighting those monsters, helpless! What the hell is wrong with you bastards, just letting kids run off like that!?"
"Go fish." Yajirobi said dully. Korin picked up a card, and triumphantly laid down his last pair of kings.
"Hah! I win again!"
"Ah, big deal. You cheated." Yajirobi grumbled.
"How can you be playing cards at a time like this!?" ChiChi screamed. "Oh, my poor little boys, off fighting a horrible monster. And my Goku, lost somewhere far away!" she lamented, then turned back to Yajirobi and Korin. "And oh, you couldn't just tell them not to go, oh, no! You had to..."
"Umm... a little help?"
All three turned and looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Trunks standing, dripping gray rain water on the floor. He was holding an almost unconscious Goten.
"Oh, no!" ChiChi yelled, running forward. "My poor little Goten!"
Korin jumped up. "A senzu bean!" he said, and Yajirobi quickly reached to a pouch that was resting on the floor under the table, a near empty pouch. In it was the very last senzu bean, the only one that they hadn't given to the boys earlier.
ChiChi was next to him before he realized it, and she snatched the senzu bean away. Again she zipped away, back to Goten's side, and quickly placed the bean gently in the boy's mouth.
Trunks sat Goten down on the floor, as the young demi's jaw muscles slowly worked at crushing up the senzu bean and swallowing it.
"What happened?" Korin asked Trunks. "What in the world did that? Is there another enemy we have to worry about?"
Trunks shook his head. "No, nobody new. I don't know how, and I can't even begin to guess, but somehow Osiris survived Gohan. It was Osiris. He drank Goten's blood."
Korin's eyes widened considerably, (which meant that they were actually visible) and he looked quite troubled.
"He bit him?"
Trunks nodded, a look of worry stamped across his features. "That doesn't mean he's going to..."
"Become a vampire?" Korin said, his composure back now. "Oh, no. It's not that simple to become a vampire. But I don't know how much help a senzu bean will be."
Even as he said it, Goten let out a low groan from the floor. He had swallowed the bean only seconds after it had been put in his mouth, bit there was still almost no sign of any improvement, save that the puncture wounds on his neck had vanished.
Trunks knelt by his friend's side, looking more worried than ever. "Is he going to die?"
"Hmm..." Korin looked down at Goten, a paw on his chin, deep in thought. "It's hard to say. He very well may."
"What!?" Trunks jumped to his feet. "No way! He can't die!"
ChiChi knelt down where Trunks had been sitting, and she was holding a wet rag in her hand that she had just gotten while Trunks had been talking. She placed it on her son's head, and he seemed to calm at once.
"You'll be okay, Goten." she said. "You'll be just fine."
Trunks' teeth gritted together. "I can't just let this happen." he said. "That monster might have killed my best friend." his hair flashed gold. "Killed him!"
"Trunks..." ChiChi looked up at him. "You can't do what you're thinking about doing! It's far too dangerous!"
Paying absolutely no attention to her, Trunks blurred out and reappeared next to the rail of the tower.
"There's no way I'm letting that... that thing Osiris get away with this!" he said. Then he took off, before anyone could say another word.
Osiris floated casually over a small section of woods, not minding the rain in the least. His clothing was water proof, and liquid just slid off his skin like it slid off a marble statue. If he had bothered to thoroughly read the minds of any of the Z warriors, he would have known that he was only a couple of miles from Tien and Choutzu's house.
He was thinking.
He was feeling far different than he had in a great while. He wasn't regretting that he had probably killed Goten, and he likewise wasn't regretting the damage he had caused to the rest of the Z warriors. But he wasn't feeling much of anything.
Perhaps it was coming so close to death that made him feel this way, and it would soon wear off. He doubted that, but it was possible. The thing was, he was feeling no urge for violence. He had felt no joy at nearly taking the young demi-saiyajin's life, none at all, and that was unheard of for him. He had felt wonder at drinking blood, as he always did, but none of the wonderful lust for violence that had carried him through so many long centuries.
It was amazing, the thoughts that were occurring to him. He looked at his own white, pore-less and lineless hand, and saw it like he was seeing it for the first time. Even the sensation of the rain on his white skin was new. He felt nothing so far as extreme emotion, but it was strange, as if he was learning to pay attention to things all over again.
"I wonder." he said to himself, and that was all. He ran a hand through his short, glossy hair. He was feeling no uncontrollable urge to kill, an feeling that had been ever present his entire un-life.
"But it would still be lovely to kill that other one who destroyed my robot." he said. That did bring a little bit of a smile, but not as much as he had thought it would. If the boy were in his path, Osiris would kill him and take pleasure in it, but he didn't feel like seeking him out. It just didn't seem all that important.
And unknown to him, Trunks was rushing straight at him, foolishly intent on throwing his life away to avenge a friend he believed would die.
Pausing momentarily in his flight, Trunks looked around him to make sure that there were no people, buildings, or even animals in sight. Unlike his father, he wasn't into destroying things when he let loose.
Satisfied that there was nothing around, he did what he almost never allowed himself to do. He unleashed every bit of power in his body.
Knowing that he would have to be at his best to beat Osiris, and that even then he would be hopelessly overpowered, fueled his resolve. His screams echoed in the empty air, as his hair gained a couple inches in length, and bright ki lightning snapped and whipped around his body. An orb of ki surrounded him, making him utterly invisible to any prying eyes.
Then it stopped. As suddenly as he had begun, his scream cut off, and the bright sphere of ki began to dissipate, reveling a very angry Trunks in the full power of SSj2 mode.
"Now for it." he whispered to himself. Then he took off for Osiris.
Goten's eyes snapped abruptly open fro a grey dream when he sensed Trunks power up.
"No!" he yelled out. "You can't control it Trunks! Stop!!"
ChiChi jumped back as her son got up suddenly, wobbling and dizzy from severe blood loss, but up.
"Goten, what are you doing!?" she yelled, knowing the answer to her question already. "You can't go out after him! You're too weak! You need to rest."
Goten, breathing heavily, shook his head. "Mom, I have to. Trunks thinks that I'm going to die, and that's why he went to attack Osiris. If I don't go help him, I might as well have killed him myself."
ChiChi shook her head back and forth violently. "But you're hurt! You can't help Trunks if you can hardly even stand."
Goten reached slowly to his belt and pulled up the almost empty pouch that hung there. "I have one left. One that Gohan didn't take." he said.
At first she didn't see what he was talking about, but then she understood when he shook one last senzu bean out into his trembling palm. The very last one.
"This is it." he said. "After this is gone, there are no more."
He dropped the bean back into the pouch, and levitated off the ground a foot or so.
"I'm taking it with me." he said. "Trunks isn't strong enough, and I'm definitely not, especially now." he smirked ruefully. "But I bet I know someone who is."
ChiChi put a hand on her son's arm. "You mean Gotenks, right?"
He nodded.
She gripped his arm even tighter. "I guess I can't stop you, not now." she said with a shaky sigh. "But please, Goten, be careful."
He nodded, and flew off before more words could be said.
As soon as he was out of sight of Korin's tower, he summoned all the power he could and his hair flashed gold, his eyes aqua blue. The extra power of super saiyajin would help him keep awake. He really was weak, after losing so much blood. And he had to move fast to get to Trunks in time.
But part of him knew that he was already too late. Trunks had a lot of power hidden inside him. Not as much as Gohan, not even close, but it was still more than was safe. He never used it, not when he could help it. Truthfully, it scared him. He had admitted this to Goten, but to no one else.
It scared him. Level three was a lot more powerful, and harder to control, according to both Goku and Vegeta, but super saiyajin two was no joke, especially for a kid whose life's worth of training didn't add up to what Vegeta did in six months.
The boys were a lot different now, Goten always going after girls, too nice sometimes to just say no, but usually wanting to. Trunks had turned out to be the serious, more powerful of the two. Now Goten wished that it was him in his best friend's place.
Osiris had been simply staring at the ground, allowing the rain to drip over him as he sat deep in thought. But when he felt Trunks' ki rapidly rise, he looked up with interest. He was a realist, he knew the kid would be coming to him. Perhaps his friend had died.
What kind of imbecile attacks someone over five times their own power because a friend died? He wondered, not able to come up with a sufficient answer. He really didn't think that he had taken enough blood to kill the young saiyajin, but maybe he had. Or maybe the other, his mind in a more pessimistic state after the last few hours, had made a bad assumption.
Either way, he was throwing his life away.
Osiris stood, just in time to see a gold star of energy quickly take form and streak from the direction of Korin's tower. In less than a second, it had covered the distance of several miles and he was standing face to face with a very angry Trunks.
For a second, they just looked at each other, Trunks' face a twisted mask of rage, Osiris' as cool and smooth as ever. Finally, the vampire broke the silence.
"I don't understand you." he said, and the strangeness of the question gave Trunks pause.
"What's not to understand!?" he almost screamed hotly. "You killed my friend. My best friend from when I was just a baby. I have to kill you. And I will." Trunks' eyes were two blue glints of ice, suddenly as cold and malicious as Osiris' own. "I will."
The vampire laughed a bit and shook his head, although he was actually taken back by the boy's bravery.
"I'm sorry to throw water on your fire, young Trunks." he said, pulling the name from Trunks' mind with ease. "But I didn't take enough of his blood to kill him. You are throwing your life away for nothing."
Trunks' eyes suddenly went dark with doubt. "Liar! You're just trying to get out of a fight! You're scared." he said, now more sure of himself. "Just scared."
He may have been ready to say more, but a quick burst of power from Osiris made the ground tremble. That wouldn't have been shocking, but there was no ki at all coming from him. Just that strange sinister power that he had used to kill Juuhachi-gou.
"No." he smiled again.
Trunks redoubled his power, throwing out his aura in a golden net, banishing fear. Fear made you weak, and he didn't have room for any weakness if he intended to survive this and avenge Goten, who he believed to be dead, despite Osiris' claims to the contrary.
Then it happened. He heard Goten's voice, directly behind him, yelling for him not to do it.
He turned his head for a split second, and saw his friend flying slowly (well, slowly for a super saiyajin) towards him.
He realized his mistake too late, as Osiris attacked.
His head whipped back around, just in time to glimpse a fist before it collided with his face, shattering his nose and right cheekbone in one blow. The pain flared up red hot in his face, clouding his mind for a fraction of a second, but he was able to see past it. He had endured worse sparring with his father.
He blocked a punch that was aimed for his stomach, just quickly enough so that the wind wasn't knocked out of him, but the force still drove his own hand to the intended target with a little less power, and pain exploded there as well.
His ultra fast vision was able to pick up Osiris drawing back for another punch. He didn't have time to dodge, so he disengaged his aura and dropped. The startled look on the vampire's face as his fist swished over Trunks' head, throwing him off balance, was priceless.
"Kamehameha!"
Trunks looked up and saw a beam shooting from the tired Goten's hands, and Osiris throw up a hand of his own, the kamehameha hitting it and splattering into a thousand streams of golden light.
His ki is so low, Trunks thought with worry. How the hell did he even fly out here, never mind that blast?
But he had no time to ponder this, because Osiris was now turning on Goten. Trunks didn't stop to think, he just let anger and instinct take over. He held his hands above his head and his ki gathered into a huge ball.
"Finish Buster!!" he screamed, and thrust his hands forward and up, earning another look of surprise before the vampire was engulfed in golden energy.
"Trunks!" Goten yelled, and when he glanced back at his friend, Trunks noticed with anxiety that he wasn't even at super saiyajin anymore. "Here!"
A small object dropped down to him, and when he caught it, Trunks realized it was half a senzu bean. Goten was popping the other half in his mouth. He quickly followed suit.
"Alright!" Goten flew down with a tad more energy than before. "I think I can manage now. Ready?"
Trunks looked with worry from his friend to the dust cloud his attack had left. "But, I only came here because I thought you were dead!"
Goten shrugged. "As long as we're here, we might as well." then he grinned. "I appreciate it more than I can say Trunks, but after that blast, he's gonna be way to pissed to just let us go. So let's at least give him a good show."
Trunks didn't need any more words. He let his power drop back to his base stage so that they would be even, and he and Goten placed their arms in the accustomed fusion pose, about to begin.
Then a huge wave of ki blasted out from Osiris, knocking them right off their feet, and into the dirt.
Arda was about to tell what he had begun to say, when the huge wave of ki finally got through the haze and reached the Z warrior's minds.
Gohan, Krillin, and Videl all jumped up from the chairs they had been sitting in. Piccolo's eyes went wide, and Arda stopped in mid word, also wide eyed. Uubu's arms uncrossed and he stood straight, no longer leaning.
"He's not dead!" Gohan screamed. "Goten and Trunks!"
That was all any of them needed. Before they could even blink, Videl, Pan, Bulma, and Bura were in the room alone, and the door was swinging wildly on it's hinges.