Only Words

5: Sorrow

The first thing Marron smelt as she woke was the distinct, masculine scent of the man she loved. A smile formed on her lips and murmured, still half-asleep, "Oh, Trunks, I just had the most horrible dream…"

It was only after she had spoken the words that she realised how wrong the situation was. They weren't in Trunks' bed at Capsule Corp., or even in Marron's on Kame Island. They were outside on a bed of cold, hard stone. It all came rushing back. She had not been dreaming.

"What about?" Trunks inquired, though he didn't seem in the least bit interested.

Now fully awake, Marron glanced around. Sometime during the night, Trunks had swapped places with Goten. Without waking her, he sat next to her and shared his warmth, while Goten had kept watch over their tiny camp. She wondered why Trunks had done such a thing for her, when he saw her as nothing more than a jinzouningen.

"Oh, nothing, it doesn't matter," she mumbled. "Why didn't you wake me to do a watch shift? Still don't trust me?"

"It wasn't that," Goten explained. "We just didn't think that you would be able to keep your eyes open. And we didn't know how good your night vision was."

"Oh, okay then." She yawned and stretched. "So, when do we head off?"

"Not til it's dark," Trunks stated. "The jinzouningen have much better vision in the day than in the night. We're less likely to be seen once the sun has gone down."

"But it only just came up! You mean we have to bum around here for the whole day?"

"That's right. Actually, Goten found a cave last night. Very well hidden. We'll stay in there."

"Oh, goodie," Marron grumbled. She was already sick of spending time in caves; spelunking had never been her type of thing. She was more of an indoor girl.

Trunks shrugged as he stood. "Stay here if you prefer, but I know my mother won't be pleased if I go back and tell her you were killed by the jinzouningen. For some odd reason she seems to have taken a liking to you."

"We should get going," Goten suggested, before Trunks and Marron could engage in an all out verbal war. "Before the sun comes over that ridge, because the minute it does, our shadows will be visible for miles."

"Yeah, whatever," Trunks grunted. "Lead the way; you found the cave."

Goten nodded, and offered a hand to Marron to help her to her feet. She took it gladly, and shot a smirk in Trunks' direction. She didn't know why she even bothered; he hadn't been looking.

Trunks and Marron followed Goten for around ten minutes, until they finally reached a small opening in the cliff face. Marron, with her small frame, could easily fit through, but it was a much tighter fit for Goten, and even worse for Trunks, who was the biggest build of the three. But after some struggling and twisting, all three were finally in the cave. It was quite cosy or overcrowded – depending on how you liked to look at it. Marron just hoped there were no bats. She hated bats.

Upon voicing this fear, Marron scored a slight chuckle from Trunks. "The daughter of the terrifying Juuhachigou is scared of a couple of bats?"

Marron almost lost her temper at his reaction, but then she realised that this was the first time she had seen Trunks laugh. Perhaps she really was getting onto his good side. And besides, making fun of her was such a Trunks-like thing to do; it made him seem more like her own Trunks.

"So…what are we going to do to pass the time?" Marron asked, trying to start conversation.

"Typical woman," Trunks snorted. "You always need something to do."

Marron scrapped her previous thought of how this Trunks had acted somewhat like her Trunks. No, this Trunks was so much like Vegeta that it made her sick.

"Again, you'll have to excuse Trunks," Goten sighed. "We've gotten used to spending days on end doing nothing. Just hiding from the jinzouningen."

Marron nodded, but she didn't know if Goten saw her do so. It was pretty dark inside the cave. But then, she was sure that Saiya-jin had incredibly good eyesight. She didn't know how she was going to survive in this hellhole. Against her will, she sniffled as tear after tear slid down her cheek.

"I want to go home," she sobbed quietly. "I hate this place. Everything is so wrong."

"Hey, now, don't cry," Goten tried to sooth. It was obvious that he had little practice in doing so. Marron supposed that all the survivors had been conditioned and didn't cry anymore.

"She's right though," Trunks stated, in his emotionless tone. "It is all wrong." He moved close to Marron ear. "You should be glad you haven't had to live it as long as we have."

"But that's exactly my point," Marron cried, her tears streaming more heavily. "This is how it's been for you! I know that it can be different. And I know why it's like this. It's me. I caused this."

"No, you didn't," Goten stated, bluntly. "Did you even listen to what Bulma said to you?"

"H-how do you know what Bulma said?"

"I listened, while Trunks was filling Piccolo in." Goten sighed. "Look, Marron, I know it wasn't my place to eavesdrop, but Bulma did have a point there. You can't make the decision about whether you were born or not. I'm sure this world would exist even if you hadn't made your wish."

"Then…my world would still exist too. I didn't wish it away, I just wished myself away."

"Sounds logical."

Marron sighed. "Oh, I don't want to think about it anymore! It's all so confusing."

*   *   *   *   *   *

The jinzouningen had not yet returned to their "home". Despite Bra's constant whining, Juuhachigou had won over Juunanagou, and convinced him to wait until the morning and restart their search for Juuhachi's apparent offspring.

As they waited for the night to pass – as jinzouningen they did not require sleep – Juuhachigou thought about the girl who had claimed to be her daughter.

I suppose she did look like me, she mused. I mean with the colour of her hair, and her eyes. And something about her reminds me of Krillin… A feeling which could have been described as guilt welled up inside Juuhachigou's artificial body as she thought about the man who had once been her husband. Very occasionally, Juuhachigou felt something like remorse for killing him. Could they have worked it out? Could they have been a real couple?

Of course not! Juuhachigou snarled to herself. I'm a jinzouningen, and he was just a weak, worthless human. What chance could we have ever had? But, that girl… Juuhachigou had never imagined that she could have children. The thought had crossed her mind maybe once or twice, but she had always firmly squashed it. But this girl had brought doubt to Juuhachi's perfect mind. What if it was possible? What if she and Krillin had produced a child together? Would things have been different?

Juuhachi's train of thought was interrupted by the return of her brother and his toy. Juunanagou was pulling his pants up and Bra was adjusting her top. As far as Juuhachigou was concerned, they were both pathetic. But at least they had done the courtesy of going somewhere else to do their business. Thank goodness for small favours.

"You're an animal, Princess," Juunanagou purred. Bra giggled stupidly.

Juuhachigou did not even try to hide her disgust. "You too make me sick."

Bra immediately took the chance to bait the other woman. "You know it's just because you're jealous." With a seductive look on her face, Bra moved closer. Juuhachigou didn't flinch. "You're always welcome to join us, of course. I always love a good ménage a trois."

"You're a sick bitch, you know that, don't you?" Juuhachigou hissed.

This was not the first time that Bra had invited Juuhachi to join herself and Juunanagou in one of their bouts of sexual activity. The two of them were nymphomaniacs and their behaviour disgusted Juuhachigou. Juunanagou had always been that way, even before he had turned Bra. His lust for Bra could only been quenched by viciously raping woman after woman. But even when Juunanagou finally took the Saiya-jin Princess as his own, the rapes did not stop. Bra introduced him to a world of sadistic sexual pleasure.

A world which Juuhachigou was forced to endure. Part of the jinzouningen's home – an abandoned block of units in one of the desolate towns – was a torture chamber for Bra's pleasure. Instead of killing people on the spot as the twins had once done, they now took prisoners for Bra to torment and play with until she was bored. Though it wasn't always sexual, the majority of the time it was.

Despite her hatred for the former Saiya-jin, Juuhachigou had to admire the girl's ingenuity. Bra had come of with some interesting, painful ways to kill people. Juuhachi's personal favourite involved heated metal spike being stabbed into the still-living victim. The heat stopped the bleeding, so that the victim would not die too quickly of a haemorrhage.

Juuhachigou didn't no what gave Bra the ideas that she came up with. She assumed it was some form of innate bloodlust that all Saiya-jin possessed; something that could not be removed in death, nor in transformation into a jinzouningen.

"So, what's your plan, dear sister?" Juunanagou inquired, before the two women could engage in a catfight. As much as he would have enjoyed that, there was no mud around to make it truly worthwhile.

"I want to get that girl," Juuhachigou replied, stepping away from Bra. "Find out why she's here, and then kill her."

"Why bother with the first bit?"

Juuhachi shrugged. "I'm curious."

This was a lie, but Juunanagou would not work that out. Unlike her two companions, Juuhachigou still had some sort of link with her humanity. Perhaps it was her guilt over Krillin's murder; perhaps it was something else. But whatever the reason, it made Juuhachigou the least dangerous of the three. She could be reasoned with, and she would show remorse. It was a far change from the Juuhachigou of the future.

"So, how exactly do you plan of getting her?" Bra asked, scornfully. "Onii-chan and Goten-kun seem to be rather protective of her."

Juuhachigou smirked. "We make a trade with them. Didn't you always want a puppy to play with, Bra?"

*   *   *   *   *   *

"I can't take it anymore!" Goten groaned. "If I don't eat anything, I'm gonna starve!"

Inside the cave, only the morning had passed, and Marron sighed inwardly as she realised she still had several hours left to spend in the cramped space. And now that Goten had started complaining, it seemed to have become even more stuffy and uncomfortable.

"Fine!" Trunks growled. "Go out and find something to eat. But be fucking quick about it!"

"Alright, alright!" Goten squeezed through the entry of the cave. Poking his head back in, he asked, "You guys want anything?"

"Just go!" Trunks barked. Marron swore she heard Goten yelp as he ran off.

Wandering away from the cave, Goten grumbled to himself. "Stupid Trunks. It's not that easy to just find something good to eat out here, doesn't he know that? Hey, wait a minute…" Goten sniffed the air, his sensitive Saiya-jin nose picking up the scent of something edible. "Mmmm…that smells good…"

He followed his nose to a small clearing some distance away from where Marron and Trunks were still hiding. In the centre of the clearing, some sort of beast was roasting over a fire. The intensity of his hunger had driven any logic that he may have had from his head. Goten approached the roast. But before he reached it, he finally realised how suspicious the whole situation was. He also noticed that the entire area was eerily silent. Almost frozen with fear, Goten glanced around.

"Fetch, Puppy!"

That was the last thing Goten heard, before something solid connected with his head, and all went black.