The Black Dragon
Volume I
Star Fazed
Chapter Ten – Only A Dream
By: Juki
Sweet
laughter, her eyes in admiration to him, picking up her dress she laughed
quietly and skipped over the rocks towards the creek. The flowing rivet of her
dress like translucent silk, he followed behind with a tender smile as she
looked over her shoulder at him again and called out, "Catch me!" He did not
hesitate to do so as his laughter echoed after hers, jumping over the rocks, he
extended his hand, just to touch her, he would be satisfied. His fingertips
grazed over her back as she laughed once again and quickened her place, almost
always barely out of reach. She turned her head back, concentrating on where
she was running as he took a giant stride and leapt forward, locking his hand
around her wrist and whirled her around. As she turned, her hair flew in her
face, concealing everything until it sprayed away to reveal an old woman with
young eyes. His eyes widened at the ugliness of the woman…her flesh melted and
scarred. She hissed and freed her hand from him, which he did not fight to
keep, with an eerie and twisted chuckle, low and throaty, she took a step away
from him, he took a step back as well. She then pointed towards the creek and
said, "Look at your own reflection…"
He looked quickly to the creek, back at her, then to the creek again to find
himself kneeling in front of it without any further movements aside from moving
his head previously. His eyes scanned over the pool of dark water, searching
for his face…then it came, as clear as a mirror. Aged, a deep scar across his
left cheek, he threw his hand over it to conceal it to have another gash
reappear in his right. He fell back onto his bottom and moved away from the
creek as he shook his head. He touched his face again, felt around…to find it
smoother than glass. He turned back to the woman, her back to him, moon bathing
on a rock as she whispered, "You're too vain…"
"Who are you?" He asked in return, too afraid to approach her or the creek, he
didn't want to see that horrid reflection…
"Are you mad?" She turned to face him, beauteous hazel eyes, long obsidian
tress, rosy lips and clear complexion, "I'm Pan."
He tried to digest it, he could see it was her; yet a moment ago, he had seen a
twisted creature in her place. "What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" She asked him casually with a look of confusion. "Did
something happen to me?"
"Where did you go?" He stood up and brushed himself off, "That night in the
forest?"
"Trunks, please…" She gave a timid laugh, "Stop teasing me,
nothing happened."
"I-I'm Mirai Trunks…" He stated, disappointed.
She tilted her head slightly, "Future? You are not my future, nor are you my
past, you are who you are. You are Trunks. Do not forget that…" She turned back
to the moon then pointed, "Do you see that star?"
He followed her hand, then her finger to a small but bright star, "Beautiful
isn't it?"
He nodded. "What's its name?"
"Iris…the eye of the body…some people say that your heart is
what you see with and your eyes are what's inside." She gave a dry laugh, "I
think it's foolish, don't you?" She turned to him, "How could a person see with
their hearts?"
He studied the red tinted star in the sky, "Iris? Who named it?"
"I did." Pan stated flatly, "It feels like my heart, but I
don't want it." She brushed her hair over her shoulder haughtily and narrowed
her eyes at the star, "What's the use of a heart when all it does is bleed and
twinge at every motive anyone makes?"
"That's not true…you feel with your heart…y-you need it. Don't say that…"
"Why not?" She turned to him, "You've never cared before, why do you care so
much now? Is it because of your guilt, Trunks?" She snapped at him then nodded
her head once she locked eyes with him, "I see now…you love me, sadly, I don't
anymore. A little late." She stood up, "If you think you can get my heart back
within seven days, Trunks…you're very…very wrong." She caressed his cheek with
her index finger before whipping away nonchalantly and dispersing into
oblivion, leaving him in that place again…where it happened…where he saw her
last…
His eyes flung open as he shot up from the sofa, he had fallen asleep within the short hour while they were supposed to wait. His surprised reaction caused them to look up as Goten, out of kindness asked, "What's wrong?"
Mirai Trunks rubbed his eyes with his fingers while he leaned back on the sofa, "N-nothing." He whispered, "Nothing happened…just a dream…just a dream…" He assured himself while he slowly calmed. Just as he was completely composed, Bulma stepped up from the basement and motioned for them to come with oil all over her clothes. They stood up and followed her downstairs towards a dimly lit staircase and then a bright room. "This used to be my bomb shelter." She explained and it vindicated for the fact that there weren't any windows or doors. Just as they stepped through another heavy door, their eyes fell onto a triangular shaped machine that basically filled up the whole basement, leaving very little room to go around it.
"What is it?" Goten asked as he touched the cool fabricated
metal that resembled metal but was much more harder. He knocked at it and heard
a hollow echo and excused it while Bulma gave a tour.
"That is the cockpit." She pointed to a large screen that deflected everything
inside so they couldn't see.
"OUCH!" Goten rubbed his forehead as he felt in front of
him, there was nothing there but he had bonked his head on it.
"Oh, oops!" Bulma led Goten away, "That's the wing I've been trying to hide
with my new invention…invisible paint."
Goten touched his forehead and then down at his finger to find a shiny runny
liquid on his hand. He rubbed it off of his shirt to find that his finger was
gone.
"It works…but the problem is, once you get it on, you can't get it off."
Goten tugged at Bulma's shirt.
"Not now, Goten…" Bulma batted him away, "That wing is the
dormitory, it's pretty roomy…"
"That explains the empty blot on the ship." Trunks rubbed his chin, "When did
you start building this?"
"I don't know, ten years ago? When it got too boring and peaceful, I just
thought maybe we could take it to space some time, it was just for fun…then it
got into this giant underground project with my Otousan…"
"Bulma!" Goten wailed, "I got the invisible paint on my
hand!" He tugged at her coat until she paid attention to him.
"Ugh, just go wash it off at the sink…when I said it doesn't come off, I meant
it on fabric." Bulma grunted and looked at the hand mark Goten made on her
sweater. "Eh, there goes my sweater." Bulma grunted and the others watched
where the shiny paint mark was, watched as it melted into the fabric and made
it transparent, then got to see Bulma's waist, which she didn't care that they
could see.
"Moving on…" Bulma breathed out as she led them around, "Generally, this is
meant for one pilot, and I figured it resembled pretty much like the time
machine you had to work with, Mirai Trunks." She said, "So you could pilot this
thing no problem."
"How many people can fit on this ship?" Marron asked.
"Up to Seven people, but I think the lighter the load, the faster it goes."
"That means we can all go, right, Okaasan?" Bra asked as she looked about them,
"They might need a mechanic, and I can handle it." Bra looked earnestly,
wanting to make up or at least help.
"Well…you don't eat much…and you can do repairs if anything happens…"
"And me too!" Marron said, "I-I can cook, I can be the chef, if they eat
healthy, they perform better."
"If your parents let you go, then be my guest." Bulma tucked her hands in her
pocket, "I even made a suit that attached to the ship in case you need to work
outside…or have to blow up anything." Bulma rubbed her chin, "Now the only
problem is…finding the pulsar…"
"What's a pulsar anyway?"
"Astronomically or astrologically?"
"Well, which ever!" Goten said as he rubbed his forehead with a soapy towel.
"Astronomically, a pulsar is just a giant meteor floating around…but
astrologically, it could mean it's a star…most likely a tinted one, those are
rare."
"A red tinted one…" Mirai Trunks whispered.
"Red?" Bulma rubbed her chin, "I've only heard of blue ones…"
"Nothing." Mirai Trunks shook his head and made a motion for Bulma to move on.
"The nearest pulsar is about…approximately 25,000 light years away, but with
the speed of my ship…my baby, hehe." She patted the ship, "It'll take you
about…half an hour to travel up to 1,000,000 light years…so…split that in half…yadda
yadda… eh maybe five minutes?"
Mirai Trunks held back, he had the urge to reveal what he knew…from that dream,
but felt foolish because it was, after all, a dream. How reliable is a dream?
To him, it wasn't reliable at all, just a fraction of the mind…he didn't want
to announce another theory that could waste time to explore…he wanted it done,
as fast as possible.
"Mirai Trunks?" Bulma called to him from across the ship, "We're going inside
now."
"Oh." He looked up and followed them up the step down lever and climbed in.
Once inside, it was all aligned with a cushiony substance, he knew why…rides
could get bumpy…his very own mother thought of the very same thing for his time
machine. He explored the control panel while the others went for the dormitories.
He touched the steering wheel, the layout of the buttons in chronicle
order…just like his mother. Biologically, this woman is his mother…but…not
technically. He sat down on the seat and looked around the dome glass, to find
that the screen spread as far back as about a metre behind him for maximum
provision. He nodded in approval, he now had the confidence that…he could
manoeuvre this ship in space…