Disclaimer: I don't own dragonball z or anything associated with it. I don't own the band Five for Fighting or the song Superman, which is quoted here, or anything associated with it. I DO own the characters Mikayla and Hygram and the whole town of Addaccaville. Upon suance, only thing that will be relinquished will be the whole town of Adaccaville, which is non-exixtant. Thank you.
Author's note: This is a song-fic. Thank you.
Trunks laid the sleeping woman on the bed. Wow, she was a woman all this time and I never even suspected! Man, she's hot, too! He reluctantly, and gently, laid her on the bed and covered her up. Man oh man. He smiled at her sleeping form and returned downstairs.
Gohan was the first to speak. "Isn't she something?" he sighed, smiling.
Goku smiled at his son. "She doesn't seem too happy with you, Gohan."
"I know, we just need to spend some time alone together."
Vegeta couldn't resist. "I don't know. She seemed to like snuggling up to Trunks."
"Hah! I wish!"
"Hmph! We'll see."
"Well, she needs to rest now. Vegeta, are you going to continue to train her?" Bulma looked to her husband, but couldn't help notice Trunks' hopeful face.
"If you don't want to, Vegeta, I would gladly take over for you. Her being a weak female and all, not really worth your time."
Vegeta flashed an evil looking smirk at Gohan. "I never consider training an attractive female a waste of my time."
"HEY!" Bulma exclaimed, whapping Vegeta upside the back of his head.
"Woman!" he growled.
"I'll train her!" Trunks piped up.
"No!" Gohan responded.
"How about me?" Goten asked.
"No!" Trunks and Vegeta protested as one.
"I will do it." Vegeta.
"NO!" Trunks, Gohan AND Bulma.
"I have an idea." Chi-Chi, who had been silent until now, received quizzical looks. "How about Goku trains her, but she stays and he trains her, here?"
Bulma's glare at Vegeta kept him from protesting. "Fine," he said instead.
Gohan clearly did not like this idea but he didn't have much say either way or the other.
"I suppose everyone is going to want to stay until she wakes up, so I'd better go see about dinner." Bulma then left the room.
After a couple hours of peaceful sleep, Mik awoke, pleasantly and slowly. She felt years of tension had left her, but she still felt sorrow. Hygram still lived, but she felt... better. She took a long shower, washing away dirt and blood, scrubbing hard. When she was done, she dressed in black leather pants and the tight pink tank top she had on when she woke. She put on a pair of worn black leather boots that she had been hiding, the heel of them being sure to have given her away, and then slowly descended down the stairs to find the others.
As she passed her old training room, she paused and went inside. Nothing had changed, yet everything was different. She walked over to her CD player she had often listened to during training. She played the CD and fast forwarded it to the third track. As the music filled the air, she closed her eyes and began to sing. Feeling the song's power, the lyrics had more meaning now, more than ever.
I can't stand to fly... I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find... the better part of me
I'm more than a bird, I'm more than a plane,
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me....
Mik opened her eyes. Before her stood Gohan and behind him was Trunks, Vegeta, Goku, Goten, and Pan. She sang to Gohan.
Wish that I could cry... Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie... Bout a home I'll never see
It may sound absurd, but don't be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed, but won't you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me
Gohan stepped forward. She stepped back, shaking her head, continuing her song...
Up, up and away, away from me
Well it's all right, you can all sleep sound tonight
I'm not crazy or anything
I can't stand to fly, I'm not that naive
Men weren't meant to ride with clouds between their knees
I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
Inside of me...
She faded out on this line, letting the song linger out on its own.
"Videl died giving birth to our daughter."
Mik croaked out a sarcastic laugh. "At least your child lived. Because MINE DIDN'T!"
"I need you."
"No."
"Please!"
"NO!" She paused a moment. "We are two different people, Gohan. Different from each other and what we were. It's over, let it go. My life has had no sunshine or roses since you left me. You took my sunshine. You took my roses. Now I have neither because I didn't give them to myself. But I can. And I will. And no one can stop me from giving them to myself or take away my desire to do so. It's all up to me and no one, especially you, will change that.
"I have to be strong for myself. I have to train. Without you. Maybe, MAYBE, sometime down the road, I'll be ready to let someone in my life completely. But it won't be someone who's weak, or makes me weak. It won't be you."
"The day you are ready, you'll realize we belong together."
"No, I won't. Because, we don't."
"Yes we do, Mikayla. And just like you were dead set on facing Hygram alone, I'm dead set on you. We will be one again."
Mik lowered her head. "Leave me please."
"No."
She looked up and glared at him.
"I'll tell you what, I'll make you a deal."
"What kind of deal, Gohan?"
"Kiss me, here... now... if you don't fall for me again, if you can walk away from me, if you can still tear yourself from my arms afterwards... I'll leave you alone."
"What?? No way, this has to be a trick."
"What's the matter? Scared?" Gohan smirked. "You won't do it because you know you can't..."
"That's not it at all!"
"Right, well, we can BELIEVE you, or go with the truth... that being you're scared."
She took a step forward. "I'm NOT scared of you. Why should I kiss you, it just seems to me like you are asking for a reward for doing nothing."
He matched her step. "So call it a goodbye kiss. I want one last kiss to remember you by... even though I know that we both may not be able to control our urges to tear each others clothes off..."
They each took steps toward each other until they were right in front of each other. "I'm not kissing you, not even a goodbye kiss. It's over, Gohan. Deal with it."
In a move so fast, not even Goku saw it until it was over, Gohan wrapped one arm around Mik's waist and his other hand on the back of her neck and pulled her into his kiss. And... and she felt for sure she had died... It was better than she remembered and she was lost. It wasn't long before she was kissing him back, her arms snaking around his neck, her head turning to give him deeper access.
When Gohan thought that an appropriate amount of time had passed to prove his point, he released her. She stepped back and stared at him. And ran from the room past everyone still watching. Gohan tried to follow but Goku stopped him.
"Leave her, son."
"But, Dad!"
"Leave her! She's been through so much, she needs some time alone to figure out who she is and what she wants. Leave her be, don't force yourself on her."
Gohan sighed and walked to the window, watching her take to the sky and far away from him. "You just had to teach her how to fly, didn't you, Trunks?"
"She asked me too."
"Looks like she also stole one of your jackets."
Trunks rushed to the window. "My purple cargo jacket. She has good taste. Looks good on her, too." He grunted slightly after Gohan's elbow landed in his stomach.
No one saw Pan sneak out of the room as the others were looking out the window. And when she felt that no one was watching Mik anymore, Pan took off after her. She had some questions.
When Mik had left Hygram's after their encounter, she had flown back to Capsule Corp. leaving the motorcycle in its safe place in Adaccaville. At her parent's grave sites. Hygram had given them a funeral, hoping it would lure her back. But she had been busy. As she landed she sat down between the tombstones. "What do I do now?"
As she was sitting there, a pretty girl of seven or eight floated down, head first facing her. "Hello, I'm Pan."
"Pan... your father's gonna kill you."
"He won't even care. He's been away for a long time looking for you."
Pan righted herself and sat on the ground next to Mik.
"This looks like a place where my mommy is."
Mik nodded. "My mommy and daddy are here."
"You look so sad. Why?"
"I don't know what to do."
"Oh." She picked at a few blades of grass. " I can see why my daddy likes you."
Mik snorted. "Why? 'Cuz I'm so pretty?"
"No, because no matter what you do, you're so gentle." Pan giggled. "Even when blowing the roof off the house." Then she laughed outright. "You should've seen Vegeta's face! It almost blasted off the tips of his hair!"
Mik chuckled and looked over at Pan. Images of passing a 17 year old beauty just like her in the school hallways flew through her mind. "Are ya hungry, kid?"
Pan jumped to her feet excitedly, "YEAH!"
Mik stood and walked to the bike, got on, and pulled Pan up behind her. She fastened her only helmet to the kid's head, started the bike and took off to her favorite diner.
Pan was bubbling with excitement. "You were just like ME when you were a kid! Just last week I had snuck into Trunks' room and put frogs in HIS bed! Boy was he mad!"
The big blond waitress had known Mik since she was a baby. And was now regaling stories to an enthusiastic Pan of her beloved childhood. The victim of her frog incident had been a young boy who wouldn't go out with her in the fourth grade.
Pan wished she could help her new friend. She still seemed so sad, even her laugh was sad. Daddy seemed to make her sadder, and angrier. She didn't want Mik to be with her dad if it was gonna hurt. Trunks thought she was pretty, she wondered if Trunks could make Mik happy.
"I'm gonna go call your family and let them know you are okay." Mik got up and walked to the payphone. She didn't know the number for Gohan's house, so she called Bulma. When the call was answered she heard Trunks declare, "Hello and thank you for calling the sexiest man in the universe what can I DOOO for you?" She also heard a hysterical Goten in the background, "YOU? SEXIEST? In your MENTAL universe maybe!"
"Trunks, it's Mik." "Sweets! Where are you? Is my jacket okay??"
Trunks could practically see her blushing. "Yah it's fine, fits great, think it's my jacket now anyway..." She could practically see Trunks grin, "I want you to give Gohan a message for me... Pan is with me, I didn't want him to worry."
"WHAT??? That little monster, THAT'S where she went to!"
"Monster? She's been a perfect angel to me."
Mik heard a thud. "Trunks? You okay?" She grinned despite herself.
"Ya, I'm okay, I think we have a bad connection tho, I thought you said she was an angel."
Mik laughed. Wow, even her laughter is beautiful.
"So, when you coming home, Mik?"
What home? "I'll bring Pan home soon. We are in Adaccaville and it's quite a drive. I left the bike here and want to bring it back."
She could feel Trunks tense. "Please leave now... I don't feel comfortable with you being there, with Hygram still alive. Please."
She hadn't thought about that... she was putting Pan in danger. "I understand, I'll bring Pan home now, we should be there within three hours."
Six hours later, Vegeta and Goku had pulled Gohan and Trunks off each other for what seemed like the twentieth time.
"Guys, knock it off, this isn't going to help Pan or Mik!"
"He should've told the rest of us the moment she called, we could've been there before she even hung up the phone!"
"I'm just as worried as you are, Gohan, knock it off!"
"What, worried you won't be able to get into her pants???"
Oops, Trunks got free, darn thought Vegeta as Trunks broke his hold and flew across the room to land a punch across Gohan's face, sending both Goku and Gohan through the wall.
"VEGETA!" Bulma screamed. Damn! Nothing gets past that woman!
"What's the matter, Gohan? Worried I will get into her pants?"
Gohan "broke free" of Goku and sent Trunks flying through another wall.
"GOKU!" Bulma screamed again, but doing the first smart thing in his life, he went into hiding. Vegeta started laughing.
It was then that Pan came flying in through the hole in the wall. Immediately everyone was on her.
"KNOCK IT OFF, guys! I've got a message! We've got to hurry!"
Everyone backed down. "I'm all right... but Mik isn't. These men with guns stole her. They hit her with a bat and she wouldn't wake up!" Pan's eyes were gushing with tears. She heard someone ask, 'who?' but it was a moment before she could answer. "A man named Hygram. He wants Bulma. I'm supposed to bring Bulma to him if we want to see Mik alive again."
"I'm going."
"No, Gohan. Pan, did he say why he wanted me?"
Pan nodded rubbing her eyes. "Something about a contract."
Bulma sighed. "Trunks will go, with me. And before everyone starts destroying more of my house, it's because Trunks is just as strong as the rest of you, and he has a reason to be there, he's my vice president."
Pan stopped crying and started getting excited. "Yeah, Trunks'll save her!"
Trunks grabbed his mom. "Okay, brat, lead the way."
Pan took off with Trunks close behind. Gohan, was hot on their tails. Goku was about to take off when Chi-Chi yelled at him. "You want her dead?? He might kill her if everyone shows up."
"Gohan! What are you doing here, we can take care of this!"
"I'm not gonna leave her with that man again."
"We can handle this!"
"You need someone to cover your back, Trunks. And we are wasting precious time fighting. You guys go in through the front door and I'll keep lookout. Pan, I want you out of there as soon as we land. Go back to Grampa Goku."
Pan nodded to her Dad, that she understood what he was saying. That didn't mean she was going to comply.
"So what happened, Pan?"
"Well after she called Trunks, she said we had to leave NOW! But when we walked outside, someone came up behind us and hit her on the back of the head with a baseball bat. Then they picked us up and threw us in a limo. There was two guys that held her with a knife to her throat and asked me if I knew Bulma Briefs. I said yes. Then they took us to this big house. I didn't want to fight them while they held her like that, so I waited.
"Smart move, kid."
"Well, they took her into the house and after a few minutes they took me in too. I saw her strapped to a wall. I don't know why they kept me there for so long, but they released me to give a message to Bulma. That she needed to sign a contract with him for Mik's life. Trunks, you'll save her, right?"
"You bet, kid."
"I promise not to put frogs in your bed anymore."
Trunks growled. "I'm holding you to that, brat."
Gohan watched his daughter. Why is she rooting for Trunks?
"Or strawberries in your shoes."
"Huh? What strawberries?"
"Uh, never mind."
Mikayla woke up in a compromising position. Her hands were trapped in some metal gloves that were part of a wall. Her legs were shackled apart from each other as well. And she had an ENORMOUS headache. She groaned and looked up, trying to focus.
"I knew you'd be back, my little angel."
She groaned again, not in pain this time, just displeasure. "I should've killed you. Damn me."
"So much for regrets." He walked up to her and pulled a bat out from behind his back. He pulled back and hammered her legs with enough force to break one. She screamed then and tried to use the strength of it to dispel the pain that pervaded her whole body. The snapping of bone echoed in her ears. "You want more, bitch???" Another club, another snap, another scream to help diffuse the aftermath of the invasion.
She felt the rage again, the same rage with her angel fire. Only more. She glared down at her attacker, and he saw only death in her eyes. He pushed his luck. "Not so tough now, are ya? I'll teach you for what you did to me!"
Her ankle muscles flexed as her rage filled every pore. Her muscles worked over broken shin bones and the pain added to her rage. Her ankle shackles snapped and she caught the baseball bat in another downswing between her thighs. She held it there and began screaming more. Her energy flowed around her, rustling her clothes like the wind. Somewhere, deep inside, she found the need to break her remaining bonds. Pressing her elbows against the wall, she tried to pull her hands from the wall. She screamed harder, deeper, energy flowing to her arms. She looked at Hygram and began growling between screams. He backed away slowly from her, afraid for his life. He never imagined she had grown THIS strong.
Suddenly the gloves broke, and she suspended herself in the air before she hit the ground. She was going to have to fly, her legs were useless. She hung there in front of Hygram and crossed her arms.
"AN...."
Energy appeared.
"GEL..."
She rolled it over her fingertips to her palms. Hygram's eyes grew wide. She thrust her arms forward and before the call for "fire" that damned bat came down over one of her arms. The energy ball she had gathered flew to the wall, untargeted, and blasted through. She caught herself before she fell to the ground. She looked to her side as two more guards filed into the room. She flew out the wall, plowing into Hygram and rolling into the grass with him. Quickly she was in the air again.
She held up her remaining arm, confident she could fire an energy blast with one hand as pissed off as she was, faced Hygram and... and the gun he had pointed at her. She doubted she could stop, or dodge, a bullet.
"Oh my Kami...."
All around Hygram's compound was rubble. Out on the lawn were four men... surrounding a hovering Mikayla. She had one arm straight out in front of her, palm facing a man with a gun. Her other arm hung limply at her side. She was bleeding badly and her legs didn't look functional. They could hear the man with the gun scream at her. "I'll shoot you, you bitch, don't think I won't! Yer goddamn dead meat!"
"The man with the gun is Hygram, Trunks," Bulma said.
Gohan was off like a shot, heading for the soon to be dead Mr. Hygram. Mikayla sensed another energy approaching and looked up. Hygram looked up too. Then he panicked and before Gohan could reach him, a bullet tore through Mik's shoulder and another through her torso. She fell to the ground. Trunks gently placed his mom on the ground before he dispatched with the other three men that had been around Mik.
Gohan had plowed Hygram into the ground, without a doubt, now deceased. He then ran to Mik's side.
"Mikayla! Mikayla! Can you hear me???"
Her voice was soft, almost inaudible, but it was music to his ears, she was still alive. "You... uh!... bastard! You made him... urg!... Shoot me!... No.... uuuuuuhhhhhhh.... forgiveness!"
Bulma had run up to them. "Gohan! Get her back home! We need to get her into the healing tanks!" Gohan wasted no time. He was nearly halfway home when Trunks came to his mother, picked her up, and followed suit.