Disclaimer; I still down own DBZ, but I do hate disclaimers
A/N; yay, I finally got a new chapter ready and up for you guys. I am sorry for taking so long, but I have been sooooo busy I have hardly had time to sleep let-a-lone write. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy. ~D.B
And Then You'll Know
Chapter 10
Krillen was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, he didn't want to be here doing this, killing really wasn't something he enjoyed. The door creaked open and Krillen glanced toward the doorway to see who had just entered the sleeping quarters, he smiled when he saw it was Kakkarot, the two had become extremely close friends over the past few days. The vast nothingness of space really was a great place to make friends – and enemies.
"Hey" said Krillen as he sat up. Kakkarot walked over and rested his arms on the bed, it was a top bunk, just the right hight to lean on.
"Hi, I've been looking for you"
"Well you found me. What can I do for you?" asked Krillen.
"Eh nothing" replied Kakkarot. Krillen laughed. Kakkarot was dim-witted, but he was so much fun to be around. He was a real down to earth kinda guy and he knew how to have a good laugh. Plus he had the same view on killing as Krillen, which had made them instant best buddies.
"Do you know how much longer till we get there?" asked Krillen.
Kakkarot shrugged "I think I heard your brother saying something like 4 hours" Krillen groaned and pulled his pillow over his head.
They had already taken out one of the two planets Frieza had told them to, Sutek was now nothing more than dust and debris, Krillen felt horrible after that, even though he hadn't done much fighting. He spent his time tending to the wounded Sayians. And there had been a lot. The people of planet Sutek had possessed amazing fighting power and their power levels had almost averaged the Sayians. It had been a long hard battle, but they had come out Victorious. And now they were closing in on job number two.
Planet Kiasom.
Their people didn't have a lot of Ki, though they weren't weaklings. But the technology their planet possessed was amazing. They had just about every sort of gun you could imagine. Lasers, electro-beams, rays that turned you into a pile of dust. They had it all. Krillen gulped, he didn't want to be turned into a pile of dust, he wanted to make it home alive.
"Krillen...Krillen. Yo buddy, you still in there?" asked Kakkarot as he waved his hand in front of Krillens face.
"Yeah, I'm back" said Krillen, "I just tuned out for a second there".
"I know" said Kakkarot and he began to laugh, a few seconds later Krillen joined in to.
***
4 hours seemed to pass like 5 minutes and before they knew it the ship was preparing to land. Kakkarot felt nervous, or maybe he was just hungry, he wasn't really sure which it was. He did get hungry an awful lot, and several of the guys on the ship had already told him he ate about 10 times more than any normal Sayian
Krillen and Kakkarot walked into the briefing room and sat down with the rest of the men. A few minutes later one of the Elites walked to the front of the room. Everyone else fell silent. Krillen looked around, he saw his brother leaning against the door.
"Alright men. We're about to head out to planet Kiasom, remember; their technology is far beyond anything we have ever seen before, so beware. But also remember that we are stronger than they are and that there are more of us than there are of them. Their most vulnerable spots are the back of their heads and the base of their spine, so aim direct contact for these regions when possible. But beware the weapons, I can't stress that enough, stay away from the guns! We are going to have to outsmart these men, brut strength isn't going to do it this time. Hand to hand combat will help you, Ki blasts will be of great value, but you really need to use your brains for this one boys"
Everyone nodded their heads to show they understood then got up to leave the briefing room and get their spandex and armour on.
"I hope we can get this done quickly. I wanna go home" said Kakkarot as he pulled his armour over his head.
"You and me both" agreed Krillen
***
It was early morning on planet Vegeta, only a few people were awake and 18 was one of them. She yawned as she crept down the many halls towards the kitchen, her aim to steal a little food for her brother. She arrived at the kitchen and pushed the door open, there were two people inside. Sneaking inside, she quickly ducked and hid behind a counter. As quietly as possible, she began to pull open all the cupboards in search of food, but unfortunately, all she found was pots and pans. Crawling along she came to the pantry, there just had to be something in there she could take. Stretching up to reach the handle, she pulled at it, only to discover it wouldn't open, upon further inspection, she discovered it was locked.
"Dammit" she cussed under her breath. Then with one swift movement, she forced her fist down on the lock, shattering it into several pieces. The resulting crack got the attention of the cooks who quickly ran over to investigate the noises.
"Shit!" 18 quickly jumped up and ran into the pantry, not even looking at what she was taking, she grabbed as much food as she could fit into the small bad she was holding, and headed for the door. Only to be stopped by two very angry cooks, one holding a rolling pin and the other a rather large pot.
"Shit" she said again as she prepared to fight off the cooks. With a quick flick of her wrist, 18 formed a bright pink energy ball in her hand and threw it at the men, they jumped out the way of the blast, effectively clearing the way for 18. It didn't take them long to regain their senses though, and before 18 was even halfway to the door they were blocking the way. One of the men – the fatter one – was trying his best to sock 18 in the jaw, she was to quick for him though and she dodged his blows with out much trouble. The other guy was throwing random ki blasts at 18, not even bothering to aim, and it was because of his stupidity that 18 escaped the kitchen that morning. The fat cook aimed yet another punch for 18's head and just as she moved out of the way the other one threw a blast at 18. 18 had to snigger as she watched the blue beam hit the fat cook right in the head. Then she turned around and ran straight out of the kitchen.
A few minutes later she was safely back with all the other slaves, she pushed open the big wooden doors and slipped into the cold room. Walking into the center room, which they had decided to be the warmest since it had no windows, only doors leading to other rooms, she saw her brother. He was propped up on a rather large pile of hay, everyone had bundled it all up so 17 could rest on it comfortably. Tarie was sitting by his side holding his hand firmly in hers.
"Good morning brother dear," greeted 18 as she got down onto her knees. "Let's see what I have for you today". 17 smiled weakly at his sister, she was trying so hard to help him get well, giving every last scrap of food she could get her hands on to him. He wondered when his sister had last eaten.
"-And some bread, beans, something green, and biscuits" 17 tuned back in to hear his sister rattle off the last few items.
"Great" he said quietly. 17 watched as 18 broke the loaf of bread in half and he took it when offered, slowing chewing on it, he eventually ate it all.
"Tarie, you stay here and make sure he eats all of this ok. I have to go and do some work," 18 turned her attention to her brother then "I'll be back as soon as possible ok".
***
"Krillen!" shouted Kakkarot at the top of his lungs, "Get your ass over here pronto". Krillen looked up then rushed in the direction of Kakkarot's voice.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Over there" Kakkarot tilted his head and Krillen glanced in that general direction.
"You'll be alright" said Krillen as he scooped the wounded and very bloody Sayian up into his arms. He knew he wouldn't make it, but he wasn't about to tell him that. Krillen was just thankful he didn't know this one.
He was your typical Sayian, huge, long black hair and a brown fluffy tail. He coughed and spluttered and spat up sticky red blood all over Krillen, it didn't faze him thought, he was already covered in dry blood from head to toe.
"Tell my mate I love her" he said, and his eyes rolled back in his head, Krillen felt his body go limp. Shutting his eyes and sighing, Krillen took the latest casualty to the ship for identification. He felt horrible having to do this, how many more innocent Sayians would have to die at the hands of Frieza?
Nine horrifying hours later, the Sayians were believed to have won. The only Ki they could sense were that of the other surviving Sayians. One by one they all filed back on to the ship, and Krillen felt a huge wave of relief wash over him when he spotted his brother stroll casually through the door, also covered in blood.
"C'mon Krillen, let's hit the showers" came Kakkarot's weary voice from somewhere behind him. Krillen blinked himself back into reality and turned to follow his friend down the hall.
***
18 looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed, it was almost 3 and with the amount of crap Chi-chi had demanded she do, she wasn't going to be finished until after dark. Suddenly 18 heard a loud frustrated groan coming from the other side of the room. 18 looked across at Chi-chi who was sitting on her bed with a huge book in front of her. She wondered what she was looking for, but didn't dare ask, to talk to her mistress before being spoken to would be like asking to be hung.
Almost another hour passed, and 18 was still busy, vacuuming, dusting, putting away Chi-chi's clean clothes. All the things a normal 20-year-old should have been perfectly capable of doing herself. Chi-chi was still reading that damn book. Suddenly Chi-chi snapped her head up and jumped of the bed, in a second she was gone. 18 could only stare stupidly out the window, for she felt it to. The sudden influx of Ki, it could only mean one thing. The men were back from battle, and it had only been 6 days! She wondered – but didn't really care – who had made it back alive.
***
"B, wait up" called Chi-chi as she raced towards the palace doors to Bulma who was a few metres ahead, Bulma stopped and waited, then they both quickly made their way out to the landing bay. Just as they pushed the doors open, the ship touched the ground, Chi-chi felt her heart beat quicken as she awaited Kakkarot's return.
It wasn't long before the king had come out of his office to greet his men as well, he was glad they were back, it was a welcome distraction from having to deal with Frieza and his stupid goons.
"Chi-chi dear, shouldn't you be inside?" asked the king, in his usual, deep gruff voice.
"No papa" said Chi-chi, she didn't take her eyes off the ships doors as she watched them slide open. One by one, the tired, dirty and very blood covered men filed out and Chi-chi felt her heart sink as none of them were Kakkarot.
Then she saw him!
Kakkarot popped his head out the door, looked around and began his descent down the ramp, continuing his conversation with Krillen the entire time. Her heart skipped a beat or 6 and without even thinking about it, she ran over to greet him.
"I was wondering how much longer you were going to be" said Chi-chi. Kakkarot quickly waved goodbye to Krillen before replying, "Sorry I took so long".
Chi-chi seemed to take in his scent and appearance then. "Look at you, your filthy" she said. All Kakkarot could do was shrug his shoulders in a sort of I-can't-help-it way.
"Well you can't go out in public looking like that," said Chi-chi, "C'mon, you're having a shower".
***
The throne room was being inundated with phone calls from angry and confused royalty from other planets, as well as importance from their own. King Vegeta sat at the table taking call after call trying to explain himself and his action, in the end he gave up. Slamming the phone down after a call, he quickly stood up, causing the chair he had been sitting on to topple to the floor. All the men and women in the room looked up.
"Here is what's is going to happen," boomed the king to all the people he had helping take calls. "We are not taking anymore calls. Instead, you are going to invite everyone here, so I can explain to everyone in person. And I want everyone here. Understood?" There was a murmured response as everyone returned to their business and the king stormed out the room.
***
18 opened her eyes, rolled over and groaned.
"Crap" she muttered as she sat up. She had fallen asleep on Chi-chi's floor, she was just thankful Chi-chi hadn't come in, or else it would have been more than likely that she never woke up. Standing up and running her hand through her sleep tousled hair she walked over to the door and quickly left the room.
She made her way down the her way down the halls, she noticed that they were unusually busy for this time of night, no one was having a party or dinner tonight, because she would have working her butt off all day preparing for it. But she looked around and could see lots of people, all dressed in expensive coats and furs. Most of them weren't even from Vegeta-sei. Then finally she saw someone she recognised, he saw her too and signalled for her to come over to him.
"What's going on?" asked 18.
"Let's go outside and talk there". 18 agreed and they made their way outside to the big patio where Chi-chi had had her birthday party.
"It's much nicer out here" said Krillen, who unlike everyone else inside wasn't dressed all fancy, in-fact, 18 was pretty sure he was in his pyjamas.
"What's going on in there?" 18 repeated her question.
"My father seems to have pissed off half the universe by doing what Frieza told him to, there are a lot un-happy races in there which my father needs to talk to, so he's holding a big meeting," explained Krillen. "So how's your brother?"
18 shrugged her shoulders "He's alive. He's got no good food to eat to help nourish him, he has no bed to sleep on to help keep him comfortable and his wound doesn't even have a bandage on it". Krillens eyes widened in shock, exactly how bad were they treated down there?
"Could you take me to him?" asked Krillen kindly. Now it was 18's turn to look shocked. Why the hell would you want to go down there of your own free will? It was cold, had no electricity, smelt worse than anything this side of hell and was home to lots of mice and rats.
"Are you serious?" asked 18.
"Yes".
She shrugged her shoulder and stood up, "You coming or not?". Krillen quickly jumped up and followed her, not really sure what to expect when he got there.
***
"Excuse me," No one heard. "Excuse me" he repeated himself, this time getting the attention of the room.
"Thank-you," said the King. "Now I'm sure you all have a lot of bad thing to say to me, and I can assure you, I don't blame you. But please, before you start throwing pitchforks at me, let me explain my self.
I'm sure every one of you is aware of Lord Frieza and his amazing power and I'm sure you all fear the worst for your planets when he arrives on them, and as you know Vegeta-sei has had much trouble with him in the past. Well this time I didn't plan on risking my peoples lives though I know now there were better ways to go about it and believe me, I wish I didn't do what I did, but there is no way to change it now. I know you hate me right at the moment, but I promise you nothing like this will happen in the future, I value you all as my allies and my friends and the Sayian race is going to extreme measures to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. There is going to be a memorial service held in their honour. I am deeply regretting my decision, and I will be for many years to come, but I am asking you to forgive my mistake and remain within the allegiance. Everyone makes mistakes you know. Now is there any questions?" asked the King.
The room was silent for a few minutes as people thought over what the king had just said. Then all in one second, 60 or 70 hands shot up. The king raised an eyebrow and groaned, this was going to be a long night.
***
"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked 18 sceptically.
"Yes" replied Krillen curtly. 18 shrugged her shoulder "Ok," she said "Hope you're not afraid of rats".
Krillen face paled considerable and 18 smirked at him. 'Rats' he thought 'oh no!'
They arrived at the big wooden doors, which were easily 4 times taller than 18, and almost 20cm's thick, they were very big, very heavy doors. 18 had to lean against them and push as hard as she could just to open them. "Here we go" she said as they stepped inside.
Krillen almost died, no Sayian could live in here, in was repulsive, he'd only taken one step inside and already he felt sick.
The entire complex was made of blue-grey cobblestone and was very very cold, there was a thick layer of dust and dirt covering everything and Krillen couldn't see a bed, shower or food anywhere.
"Come, I'll take you to 17, that is, if you think you can handle it"
Krillen nodded his head dumbly, he'd come this far and he wasn't turning back now. He looked up and saw that 18 was already halfway across the room and quickly followed her. He was lead through a few more rooms before he saw 17.
18 walked over to him and kneeled beside him, feeling his forehead in the process. He was hot.
"Here ya go, drink this" said 18. As she held a dark ceramic pot to his lips, another women helped him to sit up, and slowly he took a few sips of the liquid inside. Next 18's small hands travel down to her brothers stomach where there was a big open wound, it was a little yellow around the edges and it was weeping.
"Tarie, did you get something clean?" asked 18 quietly, never lifting her eyes from her brother.
"Yeah" replied the women and she help up a piece of blue cloth. 18 took it and with little effort ripped it in half, she wet one half, folded it and put it across her brother's forehead. Then she took the other half and began to mop of the gunk around 17's wound. It was disgusting work, but someone had to do it.
Krillen took a few more steps forward, he crouched down beside 18 and watched her carefully go about her work.
"Where's Nison?" she asked after a few more minutes of silence.
"Over here". 18 briefly looked up, she hadn't noticed he had been in the room the whole time.
After a few minutes 18 stopped, she re-positioned herself so she was more comfortable, and looked Krillen in the eyes.
"So, what do think, now you've seen how we live first hand?" asked 18.
Krillen felt like a tiny insect under her scrutinising glare, but he had to answer her. "It's appalling, absolutely disgraceful. I am going to be having words to my father about this, I can assure you. You're not going to live like this anymore, I promise you ".
Krillen saw the brief look of surprise in 18's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a look of doubt.
"Don't lie to me Krillen"
"I'm not"
"I don't believe you"
"Why not?"
"Because weather you have befriends me or not, you are still royalty, and you are all the same" she sneered.
Krillen felt his heart sink, so that was how she really felt about him. He was sure she knew him better than that, but he was obviously wrong.
"Ok," he said quietly as he slowly stood up. "If that's how you feel, I'll go".
He turned and left the room, feeling terrible, he pulled open the door and headed down the hall, then he heard footsteps behind him.
"Krillen wait!"
A/N; Ooooh, what's she gonna say to him? You'll have to wait till next time to find out ~D.B