Chapter 11: Dreams and Directions
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of the following characters, except Celeste. She's © me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Bulma walked in around 11 pm. She had stayed at work late to catch up on some things she had forgotten,
and had only finished a few minutes ago. She quickly made her way to the bedroom, passing Celeste's
room on the way. A groan escaped the room, intriguing Bulma to look in, which she regretted quickly.
Celeste appeared to have had bandages on, at one point in time, anyway. Most of them had come off,
revealing what looked like slashes in her shirt and still bleeding cuts around her waist. The bed itself was
torn and bloodstained. Bulma couldn't right away see what had shredded the mattress, until she noticed
the large spikes sticking out of Celeste's elbows, knees, ankles and what seemed like every other joint on
her body. Bulma gasped quickly, then turned to leave the room, figuring that at least Celeste had her
wings retracted or the damage could have been worse.
Bulma walked down the hallway to her and Vegeta's room, where Vegeta had apparently decided
subconsciously that he wanted the whole bed that night, as he had sprawled himself across the mattress.
Bulma made short work of that decision, forcing Vegeta onto his side and taking her place, and fell asleep
quickly.
~*~
Trunks woke in darkness. The clock beside his bed read 3:17 am. Something tugged at his mind;
something had drawn him awake. He sat up and ran his hand through his hair, swinging his legs over the
edge of the bed and leaning on his knee with one hand. He sat for a minute in his odd smiley face boxer
shorts, playing with the tugging feeling, wondering what it was, then laid back down. He looked over at
the door, then rolled onto his side so his back was to it. The tugging feeling got stronger, but he ignored it.
He felt a hand settle lightly on his shoulder, so he closed his eyes pretending to be asleep. The hand shook
him gently, and it would have woke him, had he actually been asleep. He rolled over, not caring if
whoever it was guessed he had been faking.
"What? Who.?" He asked, then stopped mid-sentence.
Celeste loomed over him, wrapped head-to-toe in a torn and bloodstained sheet. Her eyes were, although
hidden slightly, obviously scared, yet they seemed tired at the same time. The wind from his slightly ajar
window\caught the torn sheet and pressed it against her, outlining her wings and the spikes on her elbows
and wrists.
"Oh." Trunks said. The tugging feeling increased drastically, then flashed and disappeared. "What is it?"
"I had a nightmare." She whispered. She sounded like a 5 year old who had seen the shadows moving in
her closet and taken then for monsters. "Can I sleep with you?" The question had no sexual tone
whatsoever, and again reminded Trunks of a child. Memories went back to a time when Young Trunks
had come in asking the same question. Trunks had let him, of course. It had been to late at night to refuse
and force the kid to walk back to his room in the darkness and shadows.
"Can you pull in your wings? And the spikes too, if possible." Trunks responded. Almost immediately, the
sheet sagged around Celeste's now humanoid form, apart from the tail which could be seen through the
tears in the sheets wrapped around her waist. She still had the sheet pulled tightly around her for warmth
as if that would stop the breeze that blew through the window from entering the sheet through the holes.
"Alright. Drop the sheet first." Trunks moved over as Celeste climbed in. She wore the shirt she had worn
all day, which was ripped and bloodied also, and no pants. She huddled close to Trunks, pressing her back
against his chest, and curled up into a ball. Trunks felt the strong fear emanating from her and felt a pang
of sympathy for her. Not knowing who she was and having to live with people that she only knew the
names of. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her. She let him, and relaxed in his arms. Trunks listened
to her breathing shallow out as she fell asleep, then let himself drift off too, not bothering to remove his
arms, even though one of them had gone numb.
~*~
..::The sunlight drifted in through the trees of the forest. Trunks looked around, not knowing where he
was. A path was visible, but it only went forward.
Was this the start, or the end?
Trunks started forward down the seemingly endless trail. He walked on and on, never slowing, never
stopping. The sun above sank ever quickly, replaced with the shining disk of the night, the moon. He
seemed to be able to see and count every star in that sky, but he didn't. He didn't know why, but he had
to keep going. Something was waiting for him at the end, or maybe the beginning of the path. He had to
get there fast, but It would wait for him; It couldn't start without him.
Trunks reached another clearing, bigger than the one at the other end. He could see where the trail
continued on the opposite side. Trunks looked behind himself, then crossed the clearing and continued
along the trail. It wasn't far now, Trunks could feel It coaxing him onward. It wanted to start, to finish. It
needed to tell him something, and he felt the familiar pulling sensation.
Trunks started to run.::..
~*~
Vegeta woke to whispers in the darkness of the early morn. He sat up on one arm and listened as hard as
one could at 3 am (roughly, anyway). Down the hall, Trunks's room maybe? The whispers stopped.
Vegeta laid back down and went back to sleep.
~*~
..::Hurry! It hurts so badly, but you must know! Hurry, Trunks.::..
~*~
.hurry.
Vegeta woke again, a mere 2half hour since the first time he woke up. ::What the hell?:: Vegeta thought,
rubbing his eyes. He listened for the sound that had caused his waking, but nothing came. He sat on the
edge of the bed, thinking, when Bulma rolled over and woke up.
"What is it Veggie? Go back to sleep." She said.
"I can't sleep. I'm going for a walk." He responded, getting up and putting on his pants. Bulma rolled
back, not saying anything else. Vegeta walked over to the sliding door that went out to a balcony. As he
shut the door behind him, he whispered, "Don't wait up." to her unmoving form.
~*~
..::Trunks's shirt stuck to his back from sweat, but he didn't care, he ran and ran, forgetting he could fly,
totally absorbed in reaching It. He was close, just a little farther.
He burst into another clearing. There was a bright flash and Trunks froze. He couldn't move. He could see
and hear, but not move.
Frozen mid-stride, he waited. What would It show him?
+|The little girl, not yet 11, sat in the clearing, crying her eyes out. The sound was heart-wrenching. It was
like she couldn't stop. The tears kept coming and coming and coming. A twig snapped behind her. She
turned around, coming face to face with a dark cloaked figure. It circled her, it's face never visible, and
although Trunks could tell it would not harm her, it meant no good for her either. Trunks fought against
the immobile ness, wanting the fight off the figure, or at least call out to the girl. But he couldn't, and
that made it all that much worse.
The figure spoke to her, in quiet swishing whispers, in words only she could hear. She look straight at the
figure, and her eyes, oh her eyes! Those of a child forgotten, looking for her place in the world, looking
for a friend, looking for anything that would end her loneliness. And here it was. Offered to her on a
silver platter. The joy was so obvious in those deep sea-blue eyes, the joy so falsely created. The figure was
deceiving her, but she didn't know that. Trunks wanted to kill the dark figure, to release the child from
his lies, anything to help her, anything to prevent what he knew was the inevitable.
The little girl wiped the tears from her eyes, standing up. She was taller than she had first looked. She
nodded, sealing her fate, granting the figure her trust. The figure laughed. An arm shot out of the cloak
and grabbed her, then threw her by the arm into the shadows from whence it had came. It followed soon
after, still laughing quietly to itself in mockery and triumph.|+ ::..
~*~
Trunks sat up quickly, gasping for breath, sweating pouring out of what seemed like every pore of his
body. He remembered. a dream. A child. A shadow. Then it faded into the dark night that enveloped
everything. The clock on his bed side table read 4:03 am. It hadn't been that long since he last woke to
Celeste entering his room.
Celeste! Where was she?! Trunks looked around. Celeste was not in then bed anymore. The torn and
bloody sheet still lay on the floor, but Celeste was nowhere. Trunks got out of bed and crossed over to the
door. He peeked out and looked up and down to each end of the hallway. The main bedroom's door was
ajar and Bulma's deep breathing could be heard, but Trunks couldn't sense Celeste in there. Nor did she
seem to be anywhere else in the house. Had she gone out on another "midnight romp"?
::Kami, I hope not!:: Trunks thought, going back into his room to throw on some jeans and a T-shirt
before running out to search for Celeste.
((AN: Can't have him running around in his boxers, now can we? ~_^ ))
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Whee. I'm up at three am writing the eleventh chapter to my story for you ungrateful little. Ack no! Wait! That's the stomach flu talking! Yeah, I'm sick, so I figured I'd update. Why not? I'm not tired so this is all I have left to do. Do you people even read these afternotes, let alone care? I mean really, do you care at all? Never mind. I'm just tired. If there are any spelling mistakes, like missing 'i's, then that's because the 'i' button on my laptop is jammed. Sorry.
Hey, go read Saiyan Girl's stories. They kick so much @ss that there's none left to kick. So yes, go read them. Now. And review. Please. Plllllleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssseeeeeeeee review Mine and Her stories.
Please?
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of the following characters, except Celeste. She's © me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Bulma walked in around 11 pm. She had stayed at work late to catch up on some things she had forgotten,
and had only finished a few minutes ago. She quickly made her way to the bedroom, passing Celeste's
room on the way. A groan escaped the room, intriguing Bulma to look in, which she regretted quickly.
Celeste appeared to have had bandages on, at one point in time, anyway. Most of them had come off,
revealing what looked like slashes in her shirt and still bleeding cuts around her waist. The bed itself was
torn and bloodstained. Bulma couldn't right away see what had shredded the mattress, until she noticed
the large spikes sticking out of Celeste's elbows, knees, ankles and what seemed like every other joint on
her body. Bulma gasped quickly, then turned to leave the room, figuring that at least Celeste had her
wings retracted or the damage could have been worse.
Bulma walked down the hallway to her and Vegeta's room, where Vegeta had apparently decided
subconsciously that he wanted the whole bed that night, as he had sprawled himself across the mattress.
Bulma made short work of that decision, forcing Vegeta onto his side and taking her place, and fell asleep
quickly.
~*~
Trunks woke in darkness. The clock beside his bed read 3:17 am. Something tugged at his mind;
something had drawn him awake. He sat up and ran his hand through his hair, swinging his legs over the
edge of the bed and leaning on his knee with one hand. He sat for a minute in his odd smiley face boxer
shorts, playing with the tugging feeling, wondering what it was, then laid back down. He looked over at
the door, then rolled onto his side so his back was to it. The tugging feeling got stronger, but he ignored it.
He felt a hand settle lightly on his shoulder, so he closed his eyes pretending to be asleep. The hand shook
him gently, and it would have woke him, had he actually been asleep. He rolled over, not caring if
whoever it was guessed he had been faking.
"What? Who.?" He asked, then stopped mid-sentence.
Celeste loomed over him, wrapped head-to-toe in a torn and bloodstained sheet. Her eyes were, although
hidden slightly, obviously scared, yet they seemed tired at the same time. The wind from his slightly ajar
window\caught the torn sheet and pressed it against her, outlining her wings and the spikes on her elbows
and wrists.
"Oh." Trunks said. The tugging feeling increased drastically, then flashed and disappeared. "What is it?"
"I had a nightmare." She whispered. She sounded like a 5 year old who had seen the shadows moving in
her closet and taken then for monsters. "Can I sleep with you?" The question had no sexual tone
whatsoever, and again reminded Trunks of a child. Memories went back to a time when Young Trunks
had come in asking the same question. Trunks had let him, of course. It had been to late at night to refuse
and force the kid to walk back to his room in the darkness and shadows.
"Can you pull in your wings? And the spikes too, if possible." Trunks responded. Almost immediately, the
sheet sagged around Celeste's now humanoid form, apart from the tail which could be seen through the
tears in the sheets wrapped around her waist. She still had the sheet pulled tightly around her for warmth
as if that would stop the breeze that blew through the window from entering the sheet through the holes.
"Alright. Drop the sheet first." Trunks moved over as Celeste climbed in. She wore the shirt she had worn
all day, which was ripped and bloodied also, and no pants. She huddled close to Trunks, pressing her back
against his chest, and curled up into a ball. Trunks felt the strong fear emanating from her and felt a pang
of sympathy for her. Not knowing who she was and having to live with people that she only knew the
names of. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her. She let him, and relaxed in his arms. Trunks listened
to her breathing shallow out as she fell asleep, then let himself drift off too, not bothering to remove his
arms, even though one of them had gone numb.
~*~
..::The sunlight drifted in through the trees of the forest. Trunks looked around, not knowing where he
was. A path was visible, but it only went forward.
Was this the start, or the end?
Trunks started forward down the seemingly endless trail. He walked on and on, never slowing, never
stopping. The sun above sank ever quickly, replaced with the shining disk of the night, the moon. He
seemed to be able to see and count every star in that sky, but he didn't. He didn't know why, but he had
to keep going. Something was waiting for him at the end, or maybe the beginning of the path. He had to
get there fast, but It would wait for him; It couldn't start without him.
Trunks reached another clearing, bigger than the one at the other end. He could see where the trail
continued on the opposite side. Trunks looked behind himself, then crossed the clearing and continued
along the trail. It wasn't far now, Trunks could feel It coaxing him onward. It wanted to start, to finish. It
needed to tell him something, and he felt the familiar pulling sensation.
Trunks started to run.::..
~*~
Vegeta woke to whispers in the darkness of the early morn. He sat up on one arm and listened as hard as
one could at 3 am (roughly, anyway). Down the hall, Trunks's room maybe? The whispers stopped.
Vegeta laid back down and went back to sleep.
~*~
..::Hurry! It hurts so badly, but you must know! Hurry, Trunks.::..
~*~
.hurry.
Vegeta woke again, a mere 2half hour since the first time he woke up. ::What the hell?:: Vegeta thought,
rubbing his eyes. He listened for the sound that had caused his waking, but nothing came. He sat on the
edge of the bed, thinking, when Bulma rolled over and woke up.
"What is it Veggie? Go back to sleep." She said.
"I can't sleep. I'm going for a walk." He responded, getting up and putting on his pants. Bulma rolled
back, not saying anything else. Vegeta walked over to the sliding door that went out to a balcony. As he
shut the door behind him, he whispered, "Don't wait up." to her unmoving form.
~*~
..::Trunks's shirt stuck to his back from sweat, but he didn't care, he ran and ran, forgetting he could fly,
totally absorbed in reaching It. He was close, just a little farther.
He burst into another clearing. There was a bright flash and Trunks froze. He couldn't move. He could see
and hear, but not move.
Frozen mid-stride, he waited. What would It show him?
+|The little girl, not yet 11, sat in the clearing, crying her eyes out. The sound was heart-wrenching. It was
like she couldn't stop. The tears kept coming and coming and coming. A twig snapped behind her. She
turned around, coming face to face with a dark cloaked figure. It circled her, it's face never visible, and
although Trunks could tell it would not harm her, it meant no good for her either. Trunks fought against
the immobile ness, wanting the fight off the figure, or at least call out to the girl. But he couldn't, and
that made it all that much worse.
The figure spoke to her, in quiet swishing whispers, in words only she could hear. She look straight at the
figure, and her eyes, oh her eyes! Those of a child forgotten, looking for her place in the world, looking
for a friend, looking for anything that would end her loneliness. And here it was. Offered to her on a
silver platter. The joy was so obvious in those deep sea-blue eyes, the joy so falsely created. The figure was
deceiving her, but she didn't know that. Trunks wanted to kill the dark figure, to release the child from
his lies, anything to help her, anything to prevent what he knew was the inevitable.
The little girl wiped the tears from her eyes, standing up. She was taller than she had first looked. She
nodded, sealing her fate, granting the figure her trust. The figure laughed. An arm shot out of the cloak
and grabbed her, then threw her by the arm into the shadows from whence it had came. It followed soon
after, still laughing quietly to itself in mockery and triumph.|+ ::..
~*~
Trunks sat up quickly, gasping for breath, sweating pouring out of what seemed like every pore of his
body. He remembered. a dream. A child. A shadow. Then it faded into the dark night that enveloped
everything. The clock on his bed side table read 4:03 am. It hadn't been that long since he last woke to
Celeste entering his room.
Celeste! Where was she?! Trunks looked around. Celeste was not in then bed anymore. The torn and
bloody sheet still lay on the floor, but Celeste was nowhere. Trunks got out of bed and crossed over to the
door. He peeked out and looked up and down to each end of the hallway. The main bedroom's door was
ajar and Bulma's deep breathing could be heard, but Trunks couldn't sense Celeste in there. Nor did she
seem to be anywhere else in the house. Had she gone out on another "midnight romp"?
::Kami, I hope not!:: Trunks thought, going back into his room to throw on some jeans and a T-shirt
before running out to search for Celeste.
((AN: Can't have him running around in his boxers, now can we? ~_^ ))
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Whee. I'm up at three am writing the eleventh chapter to my story for you ungrateful little. Ack no! Wait! That's the stomach flu talking! Yeah, I'm sick, so I figured I'd update. Why not? I'm not tired so this is all I have left to do. Do you people even read these afternotes, let alone care? I mean really, do you care at all? Never mind. I'm just tired. If there are any spelling mistakes, like missing 'i's, then that's because the 'i' button on my laptop is jammed. Sorry.
Hey, go read Saiyan Girl's stories. They kick so much @ss that there's none left to kick. So yes, go read them. Now. And review. Please. Plllllleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssseeeeeeeee review Mine and Her stories.
Please?