Only Words

8. Another Favour

"Let me go!" Marron tried to scream, as she struggled to remove her own mother's hands from around her throat. It took her a moment to realise that Juuhachigou's grip had indeed lessened, and another moment to realised that it was no longer hands that were wrapped around her neck.

Marron's eyes shot open. She couldn't believe it. She was back in her own room, and the tightness that she felt around her throat was simply her bed sheets, which had somehow gotten tangled.

"It was a dream… just a dream," she whispered.

"Not exactly," an all-too familiar voice replied. Marron looked to her window. The double of herself was perched delicately on Marron's windowsill. The same double that had spoken to her when she had first arrived in that messed up world, and the same double she had seen while her own mother had tried to kill her.

"Not a dream…?" Marron repeated, stupidly.

"Nope, take a look for yourself." The Pseudo-Marron motioned for her to look at her appearance. Marron did so and saw that she was dressed in the clothes that Bulma had picked out for her. The clothes, as well as her skin, were covered with dust from the battle and some small stains that might have been blood.

Marron looked back to her double. "Then what…?"

"An alternate reality. You see, a reality exists for every event that could have been. Thus, I simply transported you to a reality where you actually were never born, as per your wish."

"Who are you?"

The Pseudo-Marron just shrugged and smiled. "Just a friend, who happens to enjoy granting wishes."

Marron looked narrowly at her double. "Shenlong?"

"And who says blondes are stupid?" Shenlong laughed.

"How can you look like me? You're a dragon!"

Shenlong-Marron rolled her eyes. "I'm only a dragon when someone gathers up the Dragonballs and makes a wish. The rest of the time, I can take on whatever form I desire. What did you think I did when the Dragonballs were inactive? Laze around beneath the earth somewhere?"

"Well, actually, yeah," Marron admitted. "Guess we mortals don't know as much about you as we thought, huh?"

"Damn right."

"So, why did you grant my wish? I didn't have the Dragonballs."

"Well, I thought I'd do you a favour, since your father did an alright job of protecting the Earth. I say 'alright' because it was destroyed on more than one occasion. And every time the Earth gets destroyed, I have to wait around in Otherworld for some schmuck to wish it back. You would not believe how boring that can get."

"You call sending me to that place a favour!? I nearly died!" Marron cried.

"Yeah, but you didn't die, did you? I got you out before that happened."

"That's not the point! I still don't see how any of that could have been classed as a favour."

Shenlong-Marron sighed. "Well, you learnt a lot while you were there, didn't you? Trunks still fell in love with you, even though he knew you were the daughter of his enemy."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I think I may have to scrap my earlier comment about blondes not being dumb. If that Trunks there could forgive you, then the Trunks here is sure to forgive you too."

Marron looked at her feet sadly. "I doubt it." Suddenly, an idea sprung into her mind. "I don't suppose you could do me another favour. Like, make them all forget what happened that night?"

Shenlong-Marron shook her head furiously. "Not a chance!"

"Why not?"

"Well…uh…you see, when I said there's a reality for every event that could have happened, there are some events that have to happen. You know, fated events. In every reality where you, Trunks, Goten and Bra all exist, the events of last night were destined to occur."

"Last night? You mean no time has passed here?"

"That's right."

Marron thought about what Shenlong had said about fated events. "Wait a minute, if that stuff last night was fated to happen, does that mean that Trunks and I aren't meant to be together? Oh, please don't tell me I'm fated to be with Goten – that'd just be weird!"

Shenlong-Marron laughed. "Trust you to worry about that. No, it doesn't mean that you and Goten are destined to be together. On the contrary, it means quite the opposite. Last night was a test, to see how you would react and cope with the situation."

"So, I'm guessing, there's a reality where I never made my wish," Marron concluded. "What's that world like?"

"I have no idea, because I, like you, belong to this world. And don't get any dumb ideas about wishing to go there!" Shenlong-Marron gave Marron a stern glare.

"Alright, alright!" Marron almost had to laugh. "I think I've done enough damage. Too bad I have no idea how to fix it…"

Shenlong-Marron smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Look, I feel kind of bad for nearly getting you killed and all. To be honest, I didn't expect it to get that bad. So, if you want, I'll help you out. Think of it as another favour."

A real smile spread across Marron's face.

*   *   *   *   *   *

A figure that looked remarkably like Marron walked up to the front door of Capsule Corp. and rang the doorbell. Bulma opened the door.

"Oh…Marron…hello," she stammered. With a quick glance behind her, Bulma lowered her voice. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but Bra told me if you or Goten came to tell you to 'fuck off and die'. Trunks didn't say anything against it either."

"I thought they might have," Marron sighed.

"You know I would let you in…Goten came too. I think he's outside Bra's window…"

"Bulma, please, I need to talk to both Bra and Trunks. It's very important that I do."

Bulma gave in, and let Marron pass by her. There was something in the girl's voice that made it almost impossible to disobey her request. As Marron continued on towards Bra's room, Bulma called out, "Good luck."

Meanwhile, in Bra's room, the Saiya-jin Princess was sitting on her bed, reading a magazine and trying to ignore the voice that was calling from outside her window. Despite having locked the window, and closed the blinds, she could still hear him.

"B-chan, please listen to me!" Goten called. "It was an accident! It wasn't how it looked. You know that I'll only ever love you!"

"That's what they always say, you jerk," Bra mumbled, knowing quite well that he couldn't hear her. She wished that she could hate him. She wished that she would be able to never forgive him, or Marron for that matter. But for some reason she couldn't. She wiped the tears away from her eyes.

"Hey, sis," Trunks greeted, coming into Bra's room. "How're you doing?"

"How do you think?" Bra growled. "And haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"The door was open." Trunks sat on the end of Bra's bed and sighed. He knew how she was feeling, because he felt the same way. They had both been betrayed by the person they loved most and their closest friend.

"How could they do this to us, Trunks?" Bra asked, after a moment of silence. He voice had softened considerably. "Why would they do it?"

"I don't know, Bra, I just don't know."

"Maybe you'd like me to explain then," came Marron's voice from the doorway.

*   *   *   *   *   *

A/N: Mwa-ha-ha! I love having cliff-hangers. Anyway, sorry this chapter is pretty short. It's the second last one, and I should have the last chapter out soon! Will Bra and Trunks give Marron a chance to explain herself? And what favour did Shenlong offer Marron?