Chapter 14: Gear Shift
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of the following characters except Celeste. She's © Me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Celeste woke up to darkness and moonlight flooding the room. Her sides ached and it hurt to sit up, but
she swung her legs over and stood up anyway. Taking a step forward, she caught her foot on Trunks's
sleeping form. Celeste caught herself before she fell, hoping Trunks hadn't woken up. No, he stirred, but
he didn't wake. Letting out a sigh of relief she sat down on a chair that stood in the middle of the
room.
Now, what to do? Celeste was up at. the clock showed 1:18 am. What could she do? She glanced around
surveying her surroundings, remembering what had happened. Remembering Vegeta's blast,
remembering Trunks pushing her aside, remembering.remembering the ground rushing towards her, the
searing flash of pain that shot through her and red haze that flooded her mind before she blacked out.
She reached back to scratch her neck and discovered her tightly bandaged wings. And now that she
thought about it, they itched. BAD. Celeste tore the wrappings off, carelessly tossing them aside and
standing up to stretch her wings. The itching faded, and she sighed with relief, regardless how much it
hurt to breathe. Looking down at her chest and stomach straining against the blood stained bandages, she
wondered how bad her injury really was. She found a loose end and unwound the wrappings to reveal
a large bruise the size of a football and a slowly healing gash in the middle of it. A tiny trickle of blood
flowed from the cut and over the purple and blue skin of Celeste's stomach.
"Ew." She muttered to herself, using the already bloodied wrappings to gently wipe away the blood and
then rewrapped it around her. A small gasp of pain escaped her when she accidentally pulled on the
bandages, tightening them.
Trunks made a funny groaning noise and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Celeste?" He asked groggily. She finished wrapping the bandages and whispered: "Shh, go back to
sleep." Trunks obeyed, seemingly uncaring. He flopped back onto his side and was asleep before his head
hit the floor.
A sudden craving hit Celeste. Dear Kami, was she hungry! She walked out of the room and made her way
to the kitchen, where she soon emptied a good portion of the fridge.
Her hunger satiated, Celeste wandered back to the room. Trunks still lay asleep on the floor, with the light
blanket pulled up under his arms. He shifted, and the blanket fell down to expose his chest. Celeste sat
down on the bed, staring at him, thinking. She started to hum a tune that she couldn't remember the
origins of. It relaxed her somehow, and the tune itself felt peaceful, like the gentle moonlight streaming in
through the window. Smiling and still humming, she laid down and watched Trunks sleep. He slept with
all the innocence the she knew didn't lie within him. He'd been through to much to be innocent anymore.
She knew about all the evil they had fought. The androids. Cell. Buu. All of them.
How?
She didn't know that. But no matter. 2 a.m. is no time for thinking. Time for sleep.
Which is exactly what she did.
~*~
Bulma woke to Vegeta's snores. Kami, could that saiyan snore! It sounded like trucks shifting gears on
the highway.
She shoved him over to the edge of the bed, and got up to dress. While she pulled on her shirt, a nice
robin's egg blue with a sleeping cat on the front, Vegeta stopped snoring and sat up. Rubbing his eyes
sleepily, he walked to the kitchen in his boxers before realizing his state of undress. Making his way back
to the bedroom, he stopped to check on Celeste, feeling (if any) the slightest pang of guilt.
No, he decided. It's just hunger.
Trunks lay on the floor, and Celeste was lying face-down on the bed. Her wings shifted and twitched,
rustling the sheets and her tail was draped over the edge of the bed. Large scratches marked the entire
bed, cause by Celeste's spikes and wings. Trunks was lying there on his back, the sheet Bulma had given
him twisted into an obscene rope and wrapped around his waist and legs. Since they were both asleep,
Vegeta made his way quietly out of the room and back to his and Bulma's room, where Bulma was just
finishing making the bed.
"They still sleeping?" Bulma asked, not bothering to look up at the Prince, who had taken out a red T-
shirt and was slipping it on.
"Yes, woman." He replied, pulling out a pair of blue jeans. He wondered why Bulma was laughing at him
after he put them on. "What?" He snapped.
"You. You've got them on backwards Veggie!" She snickered. Vegeta glanced down, and true enough,
the back pockets rested on his hips. In a flash he had them off and back on correctly. He growled and
stormed out of the room to the kitchen to await breakfast.
Trunks entered the kitchen, still in his bloody jeans, which Vegeta told him to go change. Trunks
stumbled back in and sat down, now dressed, and downed a cup of coffee. He yawned.
"G'morning."
Vegeta only stared at the purple-haired saiyan and sipped his cup of coffee, barely taking notice of the
dark shadows underlining Trunks eyes.
"Trunks, can I borrow some clothes?" Came Celeste's voice from down the hall.
"Yeah." Trunk called weakly.
"WHAT?" She yelled.
"Yeah." Trunks replied, a little louder, but it wasn't enough.
"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
"HE SAID YES YOU PATHETIC CHILD!" Vegeta yelled angrily, becoming tired of their little game. He
heard Celeste say something back, but it was too quiet to be heard clearly.
"Same to you." Vegeta mumbled to himself.
THUNK.
He glanced over to find Trunks face-down on the table, regardless of the empty of coffee. It should have
woken him up, but no, here he was snoring into his own drool.
Celeste walked in adjusting a t-shirt of Trunks's and wearing Trunks's baggy pants that had a large
rip in the left knee. Her wings and spikes had been pulled in to accommodate for Trunks's clothing.
"What's for bre- Holy crap! Trunks!" She ran to Trunks shook his shoulders.
"Calm down, he's just sleeping." Celeste blushed with embarrassment as she realized this was true and
stuck out her tongue out at Vegeta. He ignored the girl and sipped his coffee again.
"Wow, he must be really drained." Celeste commented.
"Brilliant deduction, Holmes." Vegeta smirked, to which Celeste merely rolled her eyes. She lifted
Trunks's head and called his name. His eyes fluttered.
"Ce. Celeste?" He whispered wearily.
"Hey, you alright?" She said.
"Dunno. I. really tired. n'sleep." His eyes closed again and he didn't object when Celeste set his
head back down on the table. She slipped her arm around him and hoisted him up so that most of his
weight was on her and walked him to the living room where he fell onto the couch for a merciful nap.
Celeste went back to the kitchen and poured herself some orange juice just as Bulma walked into the
room.
"Why is Trunks sleeping on the couch? Didn't he get enough rest?" She asked, switching on the stove to
make breakfast.
"Guess not." Celeste answered. Vegeta looked at Celeste oddly, and she returned his gaze. "What?"
"Show us your wound, child." He demanded.
"Why?"
"Just do it."
Celeste sighed and reluctantly lifted Trunks's shirt to exposed a bruise not much bigger than a baseball.
The cut itself was healed, leaving the faintest of scars. Bulma gasped, amazed.
"Celeste! It healed so fast!"
"Really?" Celeste said, poking the bruise. "I guess. It still hurts though."
"The fact that it healed practically overnight, LITERALLY overnight, is amazing, let alone that chance
that you could have died from that injury. But how? How did it heal so fast? Not even Vegeta or Goku
heal that fast." Bulma said, cracking some eggs and scrambling them in a frying pan.
"Oh. Cool." Celeste said, taking another swig of orange juice.
"What about your wings?" Bulma continued.
"What about them?"
"Are they okay?"
"Oh! Yeah, they're fine. Stronger than before if I do say so."
"Good." Bulma said, going back to the eggs and starting on some pancakes, bacon and french toast for
Vegeta, and a grapefruit for her. "Hungry?"
"Extremely." Vegeta said.
"Not you Veggie! I already started your breakfast. I'm asking Celeste."
"Uh. No, it's ok. But thanks anyway." Celeste said.
"I'll haf sumfin." Came a weary voice from the living room.
"What do you want Trunks?" Bulma asked.
"Any fin."
"Ok, go back to sleep."
"Seep."
Celeste raised an eyebrow. That would have been an ordinary conversation, if Trunks had bothered to
remove his face from the couch cushions.
An hour later Bulma had finished cooking the enormous breakfast, and Trunks had managed to stumble
into the kitchen and seat himself at the table.
"Trunks, you're really wiped out. Are you sure you're okay? Trunks?" Bulma asked as she set down a
heaping plate of food in front of him, but no answer except the occansional snore.
"Trunks!" Bulma said, shaking him.
"I'm up." He said, speaking into his arms. Lifting his head enough so that his eyes were visible, he
reached for the fork sitting beside his plate and took a bite of pancakes.
"Trunks, go back to bed if you're still tired. Before you fall asleep in your food." Bulma told him.
"Yeah. good idea." He set his fork down and stood up then left the room. Celeste heard his bed squeak
signaling his collapse.
"Hmmm. He got as much, if not more, sleep than I did, and I'm wide awake. Odd." Celeste spoke her
thoughts out loud.
::It's like Androids 19 and 20, they way they sapped others' energy.:: The thought popped into Vegeta's
head unexpectedly.
Vegeta noticed Celeste stand up, leaving half a glass of orange juice on the table. Having finished his breakfast and not being one to waste, he reached over a downed the rest of her drink.
~*~
Celeste walked into Trunks's room and looked down at his unmoving form. He hadn't even bothered to
slide under the blankets, so She grabbed one that had been laying on the floor and spread it over him. She
brushed a few loose strands of hair out of his face, and his whole body shuddered as she touched him. A
tingly feeling ran over her stomach right after his slight convulsion. Lifting her shirt and looking down,
she saw some little reddish sparks playing over her bruise. She hadn't lifted her hand from Trunks's face,
but she didn't notice until Trunks shuddered again. But instead of removing her hand, Celeste continued
to watch the little flashes.
When they finally stopped, the bruise had gone, along with the scar. There wasn't even a mark! Trunks
stopped shaking as soon as the sparks stopped. His breathing had sped up, and Celeste could see the beads
of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"Oh Kami! He's got a fever!" Celeste said. Placing her hand on his forehead confirmed that thought. She
raced out and got Bulma so she could see.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Celeste asked, worried.
"The fever is pretty severe, and all his strength has been sapped somehow, leaving his body with no
energy to fight it. It doesn't look good. We can only hope the fever breaks."
"No. don't go. don't." Trunks mumbled, his teeth clenched and unclenched. "Don't! No. don't go."
"He's hallucinating." Bulma observed. "It's the fever. Wait here, while I get him some more medicine."
And she left the room, leaving Celeste to sit by Trunks's bedside, waiting for to heal or die, whichever
came first.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Would've had the chapter up sooner, but I had to work. Sorry. But hey, at least this one's 6 pages instead of the usual 5. Don't ask what the chapter title means, it was just the first thing to pop into my head when I looked over what I had written. But now, must sleep. Goodnight.
Oh, and please review.
- Siphyis Pendragon
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of the following characters except Celeste. She's © Me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Celeste woke up to darkness and moonlight flooding the room. Her sides ached and it hurt to sit up, but
she swung her legs over and stood up anyway. Taking a step forward, she caught her foot on Trunks's
sleeping form. Celeste caught herself before she fell, hoping Trunks hadn't woken up. No, he stirred, but
he didn't wake. Letting out a sigh of relief she sat down on a chair that stood in the middle of the
room.
Now, what to do? Celeste was up at. the clock showed 1:18 am. What could she do? She glanced around
surveying her surroundings, remembering what had happened. Remembering Vegeta's blast,
remembering Trunks pushing her aside, remembering.remembering the ground rushing towards her, the
searing flash of pain that shot through her and red haze that flooded her mind before she blacked out.
She reached back to scratch her neck and discovered her tightly bandaged wings. And now that she
thought about it, they itched. BAD. Celeste tore the wrappings off, carelessly tossing them aside and
standing up to stretch her wings. The itching faded, and she sighed with relief, regardless how much it
hurt to breathe. Looking down at her chest and stomach straining against the blood stained bandages, she
wondered how bad her injury really was. She found a loose end and unwound the wrappings to reveal
a large bruise the size of a football and a slowly healing gash in the middle of it. A tiny trickle of blood
flowed from the cut and over the purple and blue skin of Celeste's stomach.
"Ew." She muttered to herself, using the already bloodied wrappings to gently wipe away the blood and
then rewrapped it around her. A small gasp of pain escaped her when she accidentally pulled on the
bandages, tightening them.
Trunks made a funny groaning noise and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Celeste?" He asked groggily. She finished wrapping the bandages and whispered: "Shh, go back to
sleep." Trunks obeyed, seemingly uncaring. He flopped back onto his side and was asleep before his head
hit the floor.
A sudden craving hit Celeste. Dear Kami, was she hungry! She walked out of the room and made her way
to the kitchen, where she soon emptied a good portion of the fridge.
Her hunger satiated, Celeste wandered back to the room. Trunks still lay asleep on the floor, with the light
blanket pulled up under his arms. He shifted, and the blanket fell down to expose his chest. Celeste sat
down on the bed, staring at him, thinking. She started to hum a tune that she couldn't remember the
origins of. It relaxed her somehow, and the tune itself felt peaceful, like the gentle moonlight streaming in
through the window. Smiling and still humming, she laid down and watched Trunks sleep. He slept with
all the innocence the she knew didn't lie within him. He'd been through to much to be innocent anymore.
She knew about all the evil they had fought. The androids. Cell. Buu. All of them.
How?
She didn't know that. But no matter. 2 a.m. is no time for thinking. Time for sleep.
Which is exactly what she did.
~*~
Bulma woke to Vegeta's snores. Kami, could that saiyan snore! It sounded like trucks shifting gears on
the highway.
She shoved him over to the edge of the bed, and got up to dress. While she pulled on her shirt, a nice
robin's egg blue with a sleeping cat on the front, Vegeta stopped snoring and sat up. Rubbing his eyes
sleepily, he walked to the kitchen in his boxers before realizing his state of undress. Making his way back
to the bedroom, he stopped to check on Celeste, feeling (if any) the slightest pang of guilt.
No, he decided. It's just hunger.
Trunks lay on the floor, and Celeste was lying face-down on the bed. Her wings shifted and twitched,
rustling the sheets and her tail was draped over the edge of the bed. Large scratches marked the entire
bed, cause by Celeste's spikes and wings. Trunks was lying there on his back, the sheet Bulma had given
him twisted into an obscene rope and wrapped around his waist and legs. Since they were both asleep,
Vegeta made his way quietly out of the room and back to his and Bulma's room, where Bulma was just
finishing making the bed.
"They still sleeping?" Bulma asked, not bothering to look up at the Prince, who had taken out a red T-
shirt and was slipping it on.
"Yes, woman." He replied, pulling out a pair of blue jeans. He wondered why Bulma was laughing at him
after he put them on. "What?" He snapped.
"You. You've got them on backwards Veggie!" She snickered. Vegeta glanced down, and true enough,
the back pockets rested on his hips. In a flash he had them off and back on correctly. He growled and
stormed out of the room to the kitchen to await breakfast.
Trunks entered the kitchen, still in his bloody jeans, which Vegeta told him to go change. Trunks
stumbled back in and sat down, now dressed, and downed a cup of coffee. He yawned.
"G'morning."
Vegeta only stared at the purple-haired saiyan and sipped his cup of coffee, barely taking notice of the
dark shadows underlining Trunks eyes.
"Trunks, can I borrow some clothes?" Came Celeste's voice from down the hall.
"Yeah." Trunk called weakly.
"WHAT?" She yelled.
"Yeah." Trunks replied, a little louder, but it wasn't enough.
"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
"HE SAID YES YOU PATHETIC CHILD!" Vegeta yelled angrily, becoming tired of their little game. He
heard Celeste say something back, but it was too quiet to be heard clearly.
"Same to you." Vegeta mumbled to himself.
THUNK.
He glanced over to find Trunks face-down on the table, regardless of the empty of coffee. It should have
woken him up, but no, here he was snoring into his own drool.
Celeste walked in adjusting a t-shirt of Trunks's and wearing Trunks's baggy pants that had a large
rip in the left knee. Her wings and spikes had been pulled in to accommodate for Trunks's clothing.
"What's for bre- Holy crap! Trunks!" She ran to Trunks shook his shoulders.
"Calm down, he's just sleeping." Celeste blushed with embarrassment as she realized this was true and
stuck out her tongue out at Vegeta. He ignored the girl and sipped his coffee again.
"Wow, he must be really drained." Celeste commented.
"Brilliant deduction, Holmes." Vegeta smirked, to which Celeste merely rolled her eyes. She lifted
Trunks's head and called his name. His eyes fluttered.
"Ce. Celeste?" He whispered wearily.
"Hey, you alright?" She said.
"Dunno. I. really tired. n'sleep." His eyes closed again and he didn't object when Celeste set his
head back down on the table. She slipped her arm around him and hoisted him up so that most of his
weight was on her and walked him to the living room where he fell onto the couch for a merciful nap.
Celeste went back to the kitchen and poured herself some orange juice just as Bulma walked into the
room.
"Why is Trunks sleeping on the couch? Didn't he get enough rest?" She asked, switching on the stove to
make breakfast.
"Guess not." Celeste answered. Vegeta looked at Celeste oddly, and she returned his gaze. "What?"
"Show us your wound, child." He demanded.
"Why?"
"Just do it."
Celeste sighed and reluctantly lifted Trunks's shirt to exposed a bruise not much bigger than a baseball.
The cut itself was healed, leaving the faintest of scars. Bulma gasped, amazed.
"Celeste! It healed so fast!"
"Really?" Celeste said, poking the bruise. "I guess. It still hurts though."
"The fact that it healed practically overnight, LITERALLY overnight, is amazing, let alone that chance
that you could have died from that injury. But how? How did it heal so fast? Not even Vegeta or Goku
heal that fast." Bulma said, cracking some eggs and scrambling them in a frying pan.
"Oh. Cool." Celeste said, taking another swig of orange juice.
"What about your wings?" Bulma continued.
"What about them?"
"Are they okay?"
"Oh! Yeah, they're fine. Stronger than before if I do say so."
"Good." Bulma said, going back to the eggs and starting on some pancakes, bacon and french toast for
Vegeta, and a grapefruit for her. "Hungry?"
"Extremely." Vegeta said.
"Not you Veggie! I already started your breakfast. I'm asking Celeste."
"Uh. No, it's ok. But thanks anyway." Celeste said.
"I'll haf sumfin." Came a weary voice from the living room.
"What do you want Trunks?" Bulma asked.
"Any fin."
"Ok, go back to sleep."
"Seep."
Celeste raised an eyebrow. That would have been an ordinary conversation, if Trunks had bothered to
remove his face from the couch cushions.
An hour later Bulma had finished cooking the enormous breakfast, and Trunks had managed to stumble
into the kitchen and seat himself at the table.
"Trunks, you're really wiped out. Are you sure you're okay? Trunks?" Bulma asked as she set down a
heaping plate of food in front of him, but no answer except the occansional snore.
"Trunks!" Bulma said, shaking him.
"I'm up." He said, speaking into his arms. Lifting his head enough so that his eyes were visible, he
reached for the fork sitting beside his plate and took a bite of pancakes.
"Trunks, go back to bed if you're still tired. Before you fall asleep in your food." Bulma told him.
"Yeah. good idea." He set his fork down and stood up then left the room. Celeste heard his bed squeak
signaling his collapse.
"Hmmm. He got as much, if not more, sleep than I did, and I'm wide awake. Odd." Celeste spoke her
thoughts out loud.
::It's like Androids 19 and 20, they way they sapped others' energy.:: The thought popped into Vegeta's
head unexpectedly.
Vegeta noticed Celeste stand up, leaving half a glass of orange juice on the table. Having finished his breakfast and not being one to waste, he reached over a downed the rest of her drink.
~*~
Celeste walked into Trunks's room and looked down at his unmoving form. He hadn't even bothered to
slide under the blankets, so She grabbed one that had been laying on the floor and spread it over him. She
brushed a few loose strands of hair out of his face, and his whole body shuddered as she touched him. A
tingly feeling ran over her stomach right after his slight convulsion. Lifting her shirt and looking down,
she saw some little reddish sparks playing over her bruise. She hadn't lifted her hand from Trunks's face,
but she didn't notice until Trunks shuddered again. But instead of removing her hand, Celeste continued
to watch the little flashes.
When they finally stopped, the bruise had gone, along with the scar. There wasn't even a mark! Trunks
stopped shaking as soon as the sparks stopped. His breathing had sped up, and Celeste could see the beads
of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"Oh Kami! He's got a fever!" Celeste said. Placing her hand on his forehead confirmed that thought. She
raced out and got Bulma so she could see.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Celeste asked, worried.
"The fever is pretty severe, and all his strength has been sapped somehow, leaving his body with no
energy to fight it. It doesn't look good. We can only hope the fever breaks."
"No. don't go. don't." Trunks mumbled, his teeth clenched and unclenched. "Don't! No. don't go."
"He's hallucinating." Bulma observed. "It's the fever. Wait here, while I get him some more medicine."
And she left the room, leaving Celeste to sit by Trunks's bedside, waiting for to heal or die, whichever
came first.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
Would've had the chapter up sooner, but I had to work. Sorry. But hey, at least this one's 6 pages instead of the usual 5. Don't ask what the chapter title means, it was just the first thing to pop into my head when I looked over what I had written. But now, must sleep. Goodnight.
Oh, and please review.
- Siphyis Pendragon