Author's Note: *starts laughing* RC said it herself, I have a knack for making evil cliffys and psycho Trunkses. It's true, unfortunately. Anyway, here I am once again bringing you a new chapter! Please don't kill me, Trunks-kun fans! *hides* I have nothing against him, I just thought he'd make a great... *suddenly chokes on her food*

This chapter is short... but please review it, nonetheless! I couldn't make it any longer, cuz I like the cliffy! ^-^ So, now that I have said what I wanted to say --- we all know that I DON'T own DBZ, so that doesn't need to be mentioned --- it's time for me to... run! *runs to a space ship and flies to wherever to hide*

Crimson Tide
Chapter Twelve: Contract of the Devil

"Explain."

Trunks froze, and a strange sensation filled him soon after. He felt as if his blood turned into ice all of a sudden, and no matter what he tried to do, he could not walk away. When he realized that there was nothing he could do, he spun around to face the person who called him. His master's glowing red eyes were the only part of his body that Trunks could see in the pitch-black darkness of the sleeping city.

"Explain, Trunks. Why didn't you kill her?"

The demi-saiyajin gathered as much courage as he could to be able to meet the gaze of his master, and with a barely audible voice, he replied, "I couldn't."

The other's eyes flickered noticeably in disappointment. "I thought we already talked about it, Trunks. I thought I already made it clear that love and compassion will get you nowhere. I thought you were ready to do what you were tasked to do."

"I know," Trunks intervened. "But I just... I just couldn't do it!"

"Ah. Confidence you lack, my apprentice. But do not worry, I will give you a second chance. And I promise you --- next time, you will not fail."

Those were his last words before the glow in his eyes vanished, as well as his body, into thin air, while Trunks --- confused, frightened and lost, all at the same time --- was left in the darkness.

The darkness had always been his friend, but now he was unsure of that.

A head-splitting pain greeted Trunks when morning came, and it seemed like it would take a while before the headache would actually subside. He reached up for his alarm clock, and the more his head hurt when he realized that he only had ten minutes left before the important business treaty that was to be held in his office.

He pushed himself up, despite of the pain, and mentally told himself that he would ask for a painkiller later. He trudged towards the kitchen to take a quick breakfast, but what he saw when he emerged from his room surprised him greatly.

At first it seemed normal --- the press, and a few security guards, all ready for the historic business treaty. But when he saw his father and Keeney guarding the door of their home from even more reporters in a very defensive manner, his mother crying her eyes out at a corner, a detective interviewing her, and reporters crowding around the two, fear immediately gripped his heart.

He then realized that something had gone terribly wrong.

Adrenaline flowing through him, he rushed down the stairs, ignoring the fact that the female photographers were feasting on his arrival, as he was practically topless and his muscled physique that drove many women insane was now exposed. "Okaasan!" he called out as he forced his way through the crowd, towards his mother who was clearly in distress. "What's going on?! What happened?!"

"Bra... s-she..." Bulma stuttered as she forced back her tears.

"Where is she?! Where's Boxer?!"

"Boxer is... is in his room. Bra... she---" Vegeta's wife stopped as she inhaled sharply, out of breath at the constant arrival of her tears. "She d-disappeared."

His initial reaction was that of surprise, then it fluttered into worry, and then, into panic. The change in his expression was so drastic that Bulma clearly noticed the transition, and then she realized that there was something that Trunks knew in connection to the disappearance of the youngest of the Briefs-Vegeta siblings, Bra. "Trunks, what do you know?! What is it that you're hiding from me?! Do you know where Bra is, or who might have taken her?! Tell me!"

With Bulma serving as the lead, the detectives as well as the reporters then rushed to Trunks to interrogate him about the case at hand. However, he did not hear any of their questions, for there was only one voice that pounded repeatedly in his head. And he knew for sure that the owner of that voice was the one responsible for his sister's disappearance.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Trunks screamed at everyone who flocked around him as he held his head with both hands, and ran towards his room, seemingly driven out of his mind by what just happened. As he ran into his room, the last words said by the owner of the voice at their most recent confrontation echoed in his mind over and over again.

Ah. Confidence you lack, my apprentice. But do not worry, I will give you a second chance. And I promise you --- next time, you will not fail.

"THANATOS! SHOW YOURSELF! STOP HIDING AND SHOW YOURSELF!"

A ripple appeared in the space in front of the lavender-haired saiyajin, and not soon after, a figure clad in dark armor stepped out of it, his crimson eyes still glowing amidst the brightness of the day. He fixed up his right glove before he turned to the person who summoned him and said, "My. How rude. Not only do you accuse me of hiding, you order me like you're the master, when it's the other way around. Now, my apprentice, what's the rush? You seem upset and angry. Very angry."

"Where's my sister?!" Trunks growled.

"Ah, Bra... was that her name?" Thanatos muttered in a satisfied tone as he paced around the enraged saiyajin. "I don't know, what makes you think that I have her?"

Trunks faced the warlord and glared at him with ice-cold blue eyes. "I just do."

"By instinct, then? Well, I am greatly impressed by your skills, my apprentice."

"Then you do have her!" Trunks yelled in impotent fury.

The warlord burst into maniacal laughter, and when his amusement died down, he answered, "Of course I do! I promised you that you will not fail in your second attempt at completing your mission, and I intend to keep my promise!"

"Where is she?!"

"Now, now, Trunks, there is no need---"

"WHERE IS SHE?!"

Thanatos put a hand on his apprentice's shoulder. "Patience, young man, is a virtue," he said, and then he walked behind the young warrior. "And as for your question, you'll have the answer when you wake up."

Trunks did not get the chance to prepare for the blow that was coming, for Thanatos' hand movement was so swift that it struck the pressure point at the back of young man's neck in the blink of eye.

The demi-saiyajin dropped to the ground, unconscious.

KILL.

KILL.

KILL.

That was the only thought that pounded in Trunks' mind as he rushed towards Goten's mansion like a raging storm. Never had he felt so angry in his entire life. Never had his head swelled with so much fury in his entire life.

KILL.

He would not hold back anymore. He would not let his emotions get in the way anymore. He would not commit the same lethal mistake ever again. Now, he was going to do what must be done. He was going to do what he was told.

I'm going to kill you.

The demi-saiyajin practically didn't care, didn't think of what was going to happen next, for the rage that swelled inside of him was overruling his common sense. Only revenge was on his mind, revenge and nothing else. For the life of his sister, for the blood of a Briefs-Vegeta, for the extermination of another member of their clan, Ariadne Son will pay the price --- and she will pay the price dearly.

She might be Celeste's daughter, yes... but he wasn't the father anyway.

What have I got to lose?

"Trunks-san!" Ariadne exclaimed as soon as she spotted her father's best friend, and she hurried towards the gate of her home to invite him in. Before she completely opened up the gate, however, she stopped and turned to him knowingly. "Oh, let me guess. You're here to give me my birthday present! Right? Right?!" she asked as she raised her eyebrow threateningly at the last question. After all, it was her birthday, and that celebration was precisely the reason why her parents were out. To do some shopping for their beloved daughter.

His eyes narrowed at those words, but then he decided to put his anger aside and just play along. He then forced a smile and said, "Let me in first, then I'll give it to you."

Eager to get her present --- she was a kid, after all --- she quickly invited Trunks inside and led him towards the living room. The moment they sat down on the couch opposite to each other, she asked, "So where's my present?"

The older demi-saiyajin looked at her with cold, lifeless eyes. "I think you deserve a break, a vacation. I mean, you do need to relax and have fun. Since I'm your friend, I've decided to give you a very special present. After all, you deserve this."

"So what and where is the present?" she asked, not noticing the other's icy gaze.

"A ticket for a trip," he answered as he stood up and reached for something in one of the hidden compartments of his vest. He then glanced towards her and smirked. "A very special trip."

Ariadne looked at him, excited more than ever. "A trip? Cool! A trip where?"

"A one-way trip to the Afterlife."

Her eyes flew wide open in shock as soon as those words left Trunks' mouth, words that were simple enough for a little girl to understand. The look of fear and shock in her features pleased him greatly, and his eyes sparkled with much delight as he advanced, tightly clutching the pocketknife with his gloved hand. "Yes, you heard me right, girl. A one-way trip to the Afterlife. So it's time to say bye-bye now, Ariadne, because you're not coming back."

She was too paralyzed in fear that she was unable to move out of his attack range. She was too frozen in shock to run away from the man who was going to kill her. She was too scared to move a muscle, too terrified to even let out a scream.

Trunks had officially signed the contract of the devil.