Crimson Tide
Chapter Eleven: One Line of Light, One Line of Dark
Chikyuu (Earth), 796 AD


"You seem puzzled. What is it that's troubling you? I see confusion and uncertainty in your often-too-stable eyes. Would you like to tell me about it?"

Celeste, eight and a half months pregnant with her second child with Goten --- Ariadne Son was born four years ago --- just sighed. "I don't understand why you didn't put an end to Goten when you had the chance. You were so close. You almost had him. No one knew that you were nearby, ready to pounce on your unsuspecting prey. And yet you pulled back. Why? I don't think you were threatened by the presence of the rest of the Z-Senshi, including that Sabrean princess, because I know that just like me, you have full confidence in your abilities. That's what I've been thinking, that's what had been bothering me for so long..."

"I see. Forgive me. I had been too occupied in making sure that my plans would go smoothly and without trouble that I forgot to explain to you the complexity of this undertaking of ours, most especially all the bits and pieces."

"I have been keeping my end of the bargain."

He smiled. "I know, and for that, I will give you all that you would ever want --- and all that you're due --- when the time for my empire to rise to its full glory will come. And there's only one more thing I need to attain that end," he paused to look at her. "The right puppet to govern the new order."

"Puppet?" she asked in confusion. "You still need a puppet?"

"Yes," he replied as he snickered in satisfaction. "A puppet, indeed. One with the charisma to gain support from everyone present --- no matter what the rules are, no matter how the government system goes. That's the kind of person I need, because I've learned that my ruling ways aren't the best."

"And who, may I ask, is qualified for the job?"

A soft chuckle escaped his lips. "Who is qualified for the job? Indeed, that is the question, and it took me such a long time to figure out the answer. But as I observed my brother's battle with Goten four years or so ago --- such a poor soul, to be exterminated because he refused my help --- which I found in my brother's battered low-class ship, the answer came to me like how light comes into a pitch-black pit."

At that, Celeste's eyes snapped towards Thanatos in an utterly surprised fashion as all the pieces of the puzzle that had been lingering in her mind finally fell into their respective places. With the surprise in her voice at the same intensity, she asked, "Goten?!"

"And that's precisely the reason why I didn't kill him when I had the chance."

She paused as she gathered her thoughts, and then began her attempt to check the accuracy of her theory. "So, you came here to Earth to finish what Seth started. To take the fruit of the seeds he planted. Am I correct?"

He smiled.

"Seth fought Goten not only to test him, but to lure Gohan and Goku back here from where they were. He knew that their return would only cause hostility between them, considering the fact that they haven't been in good terms for quite a long time. And that would tear Goten up inside and render him helpless, in a way. Then there was my task to turn Trunks away from his best friend---"

"... as well as to remove a significant figure in the Son household."

"--- Yes, that one too," Celeste muttered, nodding in agreement. "And at that juncture, Goten was almost completely isolated. And once that isolation is achieved, we can easily twist his mind for him to succumb to your bidding. The puppet with the charisma, there you have him."

Thanatos smiled as he stroked the cheek of the Sabreur who stood before him. "Excellent deduction. You never cease to amaze me, Celeste. I was right to take you under my wing after my brother's death --- if I pushed through with my plan to kill you then I would never have had gotten this close."

She nodded with a smirk, but then she pursed her lips together into a frown. "But there's still that arrogant Vegeta to worry about."

"He won't be a problem any longer if we get Trunks to do what he is supposed to do, and taking absolute control of Trunks is what we should accomplish next. He is the key to everything, Celeste. The key to the Z-Senshis' destruction, the key to the awakening of Goten's true nature --- and his true power --- and the key to our success in dominating the universe. However, the key still needs to be pushed to fit into the keyhole, and twisted to pry open the gateway."

"And that's my job."

"Precisely."

She rubbed her belly, soothing her unborn son, before she turned to her hooded companion and smiled in assurance. "There's nothing to worry about, my lord. I've got everything prepared. Seducing Trunks Briefs-Vegeta to our side and against Goten Son will be a very easy job. We'll just have to make him remember all the times Goten had surpassed him, and then we'll let him taste the power the dark side has to offer. Then, he will be ours."

The Chief Executive Officer of Capsule Corporation, Trunks Briefs-Vegeta, pushed the door of their home --- and his office, as you can call it --- open, expecting to see a comforting sight of his family together after his rather tiring business meet. However, he found nobody home. He thought that everyone was just tired and that they were all in their respective rooms, resting up, but when he saw a note written in Keeney's handwriting neatly taped on the refrigerator door, his eyes narrowed significantly.

The more they narrowed and transformed into mere slits when he saw what the note was all about.

Oniichan,

Hi! We're at Goten's right now, he suddenly got ill, Celeste's out and there's no one to take care of Ariadne. Mom's here to figure out the cure, Dad's babysitting the little girl --- can you imagine?! --- and I'm here to do the housework. But you don't have to worry, really. In fact, dad says you don't have to come, because we have everything under control. So just rest up, we know you had a long and tiring (and most probably BORING, as always) day. We'll be back soon, we just gotta make sure Goten's going to be alright. Can't let him stay that way when his life is on the line! Seth is still after him, remember?
See you later!

Love, Keeney

"I'm always the one left behind. The odd one out. The person no one will miss. Goten, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Everyone just loves him. Everyone just wants him. Everyone just needs him. But not me," Trunks muttered indignantly as he took the note and ripped it into pieces, marched up to his room and dumped his stuff on the always messy floor of his always messy room. "I have the looks, the talent, the wealth, the power, the charm, and yet they don't notice me!"

Yes, indeed. Why don't they notice you?

He froze as the voice echoed in his head. It was cold and unfathomable. A voice that he recognized, and yet he could not seem to point out to whom it belonged to. A voice that spoke words, and yet he understood the message not through them, but through the emotions it conveyed. It made him sense but not hear; it made him feel but not see.

"Who are you?" Trunks asked, rather perplexed.

Someone who can help you, the voice answered.

The saiyajin pondered on the meaning of those words, when his communicator rang. It was Celeste, the woman he loved and his live-in partner. Although he was only half-listening to her --- for he was too disturbed by the voice to really pay attention --- her last words hit him hard.

For her last words were, "He can help you."

Help. There it was again, although he could not understand why he kept hearing the word, over and over again. What did he need help in? He needed help in nothing! He was a man who lived a carefree life --- worry-free, problem-free.

Who are you trying to deceive?

He swallowed. True, his life wasn't carefree at all. He had worries, he had problems. But he certainly did not need any help from anyone, most especially not from a weird voice from the back of his head.

Don't you need help in proving your worth? Don't you need help in regaining your honor?

His eyes narrowed into slits once more at that.

Don't you need help in destroying Goten Son?

Only eight words, and yet those eight words held so much conviction, so much power. As those words echoed in Trunks' mind, images of all the times Goten surpassed his strength and struck a sensitive string in his ego in their invisible feud flashed in his mind so vividly that the chains of his emotions shattered into many Lilliputian pieces.

Goten, you have gone too far! The time has come for you to pay the ultimate price!

"I'm coming," he told Celeste in an extremely inert tone before he crushed his communicator into tiny, powder-like pieces with his bare hand, and walked off towards their point of rendezvous.

:: ONE WEEK LATER ::

"Are you okay now, daddy?" Ariadne asked as she bounced up and down on Goten's lap. The demi-saiyajin was now nearly back to full health, thanks to the medicine Bulma made for him.. At the moment, he was playing with his daughter while waiting for his wife to come home, along with Trunks who offered to be with him just in case some problems would arise and Celeste won't be home yet to handle them.

"Yup! As good as new! Now, how would you like to fly?" he asked with a grin as he stood up and threw her into the air with ease. Before he could catch her, however, his vision blurred and he fell back to the couch as he lost his balance.

Luckily, Trunks was just standing nearby, and with his lightning-fast reflexes he caught Ariadne promptly with one hand. He then turned to Goten and exclaimed, "What the hell do you think you're doing, murdering your own child?! You're lucky I was here or you would have killed an innocent soul!"

"Trunks-san!" Ariadne snapped in an authoritative tone, and at that tone, Trunks swore she sounded just like his brother's girlfriend Pan, the bratty Sabrean princess, who was one of the people he argued with the most because he simply hated her guts and her bossy attitude.

Goten's hand flew to his temple as he replied, "I'm sorry, but I don't feel too good..."

"I was just kidding," Trunks said to both Sons with an expression of mock hurt as he put the girl back down and moved to where his best friend sat. "Hey there, buddy, let me help you up."

"Thanks, Trunks, but I think I can handle myself," Goten blurted out as his best friend assisted him and helped him get up. "Can you please do me a favor? I'd like to doze off, would you be so kind to watch over Ariadne?"

The other glanced at Ariadne. "If she would let me."

"Oh just do what you must! Daddy needs some rest!" she exclaimed in her usual bratty tone with her hands on her hips.

Trunks chuckled. "Well there's your answer, Goten."

"Thanks. So, you two enjoy yourselves until Celeste gets back, or until I wake up. If you're hungry, there's a heap of food in the 'fridge, so don't think that I'm punishing you. Just leave some for me, I don't want to starve when morning comes," the younger of the two male demi-saiyajins said with a wink before he proceeded to his room in the second floor.

"So..." Trunks began as he sat back down on the couch, right across Ariadne who chose to make herself comfortable on the floor. "How about we play something? We can't just sit here and stare at each other for the rest of the night. Let's see... Truth or Dare?"

"Too boring."

"Uh... Spin the Bottle?"

"Too common."

Trunks scratched his head as he attempted to think of more games, although it was clear that the little girl did not enjoy his company. "How about Trip to Jerusalem?"

"Too lame."

"Guess and Test?"

"Too easy."

"What about a sparring session?"

"Too tiring. Besides, we don't want to blast our mansion into pieces or wake daddy up, do we?"

"Frontier X-Zero?"

"Do you have a real-time virtual simulator at hand, version Chrono-Millennia X99, Trunks-san?" she asked as she looked at him with one eyebrow raised. When he did not reply, she turned back to her work and said, "I thought so."

A heavy sigh escaped Trunks' lips, although he was not giving up, despite how he hated the little girl's guts. She was Celeste's daughter, yes, but they spoiled her to much thus she ended up that way. He stood up to think of something else when he saw what Ariadne was actually doing. Sprawled on the floor, with crayons and pens scattered by her side, she was drawing a donkey on a large piece of drawing paper.

He got an idea.

"Pin the Donkey's Tail... how about that?"

She stopped and her eyes turned to the older saiyajin, then she shook her head as she resumed coloring. "You said that only because you saw me do this with interest."

"Oh come on, Ariadne! I can't just sit here and watch over you while you draw a stupid donkey! You've got to let me do something!" he reasoned out. Before the other could say anything more, he quickly added, "And no, I do not want to color that stupid donkey!"

"Alright, then. Pin the Donkey's Tail, let's play."

He looked around for a scarf, and finally found one by the laundry bin. He took it and went back to where the little girl was, preparing to blindfold her, while she prepared the donkey and the tail that was supposed to be pinned at its end. When the rest of the setup was ready, she walked over to Trunks and allowed him to cover her eyes with the scarf. He worked on it without trouble, but when he heard the voice that had been haunting him for around a week now, he froze.

Kill her now, while you have the chance.

"Trunks-san, are you all right?" her voice broke into his consciousness. "I think that's enough, and don't worry, I'm not going to cheat. Now spin me around, will you?"

He obeyed, but as he did was he was told, his mind spun. It was the perfect opportunity to execute his mission, the perfect opportunity to do what he was supposed to do. However, part of him said that he should not go on. After all, she was just a child.

And allow her to grow up into someone who can surpass another member of your clan? She might seem harmless now, but not in the future. Do you want someone else in your clan to suffer as much as your father did at Goku's exploits, or as much as you did at Goten's achievements?

Trunks' eyes snapped open.

He will not allow it happen.

As Ariadne walked towards the wall where the drawing of the donkey was pinned, he followed her with light, slow steps so he would not be sensed. When she paused in front of the wall, ready to pin the tail on the donkey, he put his hand close to her neck, ready to strike her pressure point, ready to strike her down for good, just like a ninja would. After all, it was the easiest way to end someone's life --- no blood, no struggle, just a single blow that would cause instant death. Plus, it would leave no evidence against him, because if an autopsy would be conducted, it would appear that she died of natural causes.

"Well, here goes!" she exclaimed gleefully as she reached up to pin the tail, and at the same time, Trunks swung his hand to hit the pressure point at the back of her neck.

Before he touched the pressure point, however, he stopped.

"Aw man, I missed! I can't believe I missed!" Ariadne exclaimed in utter frustration right after she removed the blindfold and saw that that tail was pinned on one of the donkey's hooves. "Oh well, so much for that. Your turn now, Trunks-san!"

He took the blindfold with an expression as if nothing happened, and turned his back against her to put it on, when he saw a shadow dart up the stairs, the owner of the shadow doing his best not to be seen or noticed. Trunks' eyes narrowed significantly at that. There were only three people present in the mansion. Two of the three were in the living room, playing a game of Pin the Donkey's Tail; the last was Goten.

And it only meant one thing.

Goten saw him.

Author's Note: That was a massive time jump, ne? *sweatdrops* And for those who read the original Renascimento version, if you remember, Goten only had one child. Now, the reason why that changed because there was a plot hole, and I only noticed it when I was writing this fanfic already. You see, when I was doing Renascimento, everything seemed to flow in proper order, but when I was doing this, there were, "Gee! That can't be, it'll ruin the story!" and other similar plot holes. So if there are other changes from what I had mentioned in the original Renascimento version, the reason would have to be a plot hole. Okay?

Nothing much happened in the six year gap, and the important events that happened were pretty much mentioned within this chapter. Don't worry, there will be scenes where those events will be explained in detail --- and if you have questions, feel free to ask! I'm here to answer those questions!

I also thought of one thing to make the baddie more unique (thanks to an anime called Fushigi Yuugi) and more... annoying. But hey, it's a villain thing! You know, to get them sorta near the line of the invincible? Or something like that. =P Also, I think I will prioritize this more than Renascimento so there won't be any more plot holes that will cause things to change or anything. After all, those holes can get annoying.

Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks a lot!