Disclaimer; Still down own it…..WHY DON'T I OWN DBZ…Life's unfair!
A/N; Ok everyone I have an announcement to make the official Krillen and 18 Campaign is hereby underway. What's that? I hear you ask, well my faithful reviews, the Krillen and 18 Campaign is something that I urge all of you K/18 fans out there to take a look at…for more information check out my bio and please join…I want to recruit as many people as possible. Well I hope you'll all consider joining and I also hope you'll all enjoy this chapter.
~Deadly Beauty
And Then You'll KnowChapter 36
It was a beautiful spring morning. The sun was just beginning to rise over the land, and coat everything it is warm golden glow. The palaces youngest prince, had already been up for quite some time now, busing himself preparing for a beautiful surprise.
Despite the rising sun, it was still quite fresh outside, and Krillen was glad that he had chosen to wear a jacket as he wandered the paths surroundings beautiful lush gardens. It had been a long time since he had simply walked, it was something he had immensely enjoyed.
In his hand was a rather large, yet hastily picked bunch or pretty colored flowers. He knew the gardeners didn't like it when he picked them, but he couldn't very well go into town and buy his own. He looked down at his watch and smiled. Turning on his heel, he headed towards the entry to the gardens, he walked up the few steps and waited just beside the heavy wooden door. A few minutes later, it was pushed open and 18 walked out.
"It's cold out here" was the first thing she said. Krillen, being the gentleman that he was, took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulder, "There ya go babe"
"Thanks," she said as she tucked a strand of hastily brushed hair behind her ear, "Now, what did you drag me out here for?"
"Follow me"
He led her out of the gardens and towards the back of the palace grounds. She knew where they were going. "Krillen," her voice was unsteady "Do we have to?" she asked. He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "trust me"
The walked thought the gates to the cemetery, right towards the center. 18 knew that Krillen's mother was buried here. They approached the grave and kneeled down in front of it.
"This isn't the surprise, we are just stopping here for a minute" 18 silently nodded, paying her respects to the Queen. They sat in silence for some time, each deep in their own thoughts. 18 was only vaguely aware of what was going on around her when Krillen took hold of her hand and lead her down some more paths. Before she had even realized it, they were on the ground again. This time, in front of Astrid's grave. Straight away, she could tell something was different, and it only took her a second to see what.
Before, Astrid's grave stood alone, there were no other graves surrounding it, but now, next to Astrid's final resting place, was another tomb stone, 18 couldn't read it though, as there was a piece of red silk cloth covering it.
Krillen handed her a bunch of bright flowers and she gently placed them in front of Astrid's grave, but she never took her eyes of the mysterious new tomb.
"Krillen, what is that?" she asked
"Read it" Krillen urged her.
"Alright" 18 said quietly, she reached forward and grasped onto the cloth, pulling it away, she carefully read over the inscription in the freshly cut stone.
Bianca
Mother to the beautiful twins. She died for the ones she loved.
May she rest in peace
18 opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She was overwhelmed, utterly lost for words. The tomb was carved out of white stone and engraved with gold writing.
"It's only a memorial, but I hope you like it"
"Krillen" she uttered his name like it was the most sacred word ever to be spoken. "I…I…I don't know what to say" her voice left her lips as nothing more than a whisper.
He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and flashed her a warm smile, "Just tell me you like it"
She was quite for a while longer, still not being able to form a sentence in her head, that when it left her lips, would possess enough thanks and gratitude. This, this was too much. It was more than anyone had ever done for her and her brother, an everlasting monument to the woman who had fought so hard and given so much to try and save her children.
"Krillen…I…" she stopped and let a long sigh escape her lips. Krillen didn't push her; he knew what she was going through. "Thank-you" she finally said, "This is…amazing. You didn't need to do this"
"I know I didn't need to. But I wanted to. For you and for 17 and for everyone else who has suffered."
She turned to look at him; her eyes sparkling with unshed tears, "You are amazing. I don't deserve you Krillen"
"Don't say that 18. Please don't say that. This is a happy day. I don't want you thinking like that. Understand?"
18 nodded her head then rested it on Krillens shoulder.
They stayed like that for almost an hour, basking in the cool morning sun. Neither of them wanted to move. 18 because she was utterly amazed at what she was seeing before her. A memorial to her long deceased mother, right beside her best friend. Where she could be loved and remembered for generations to come, and even better. 17 would be able to bring his own daughter up here and share with her the beautiful memories of her grandmother that he undoubtedly had locked away in his mind.
Before either of them had realized it, voices could be heard. People were beginning to stroll the paths to pay respects to the loved ones who were no longer with them. 18 felt her stomach churn when she heard laughter. Laughter! In a place like this!
"I have to go" she said standing up and brushing dirt off of her exposed knees.
"Must you?" Krillen asked as he to, stood up. 18 unzipped Krillens jacket and handed it to him. "Unless you want to be burying me here next, I have to go"
Krillen couldn't argue with that. Instead, he stood there and watched as she disappeared from the safety of his view, and ventured into the unknown.
***
She strutted down the halls, looking forward to a good sweat. She had long since decided that she wanted, no, needed to get into better physical shape. If not for herself, then for her people.
Walking into the foyer of the training complex, she looked around. 3 G.R's were already in use. She got in luck, in one of them Chi-chi was training. Kahlia terminated the gravity simulation and stepped inside the room.
"What?" chi-chi mumbled to herself. Someone turned the gravity off. Looking around the room, she laid her eyes on the culprit. A woman dressed in a hot pink spandex, her long pale pink hair tied in a braid and the whole ensemble toped of with a pair of killer black-heeled boots. It was Queen Kahlia.
"So," she called up to the Princess "you quite content to kill the air, or are you up for a real challenge?"
Chi-chi gritted her teeth together and dropped into a fighting stance mid air. "Bring it on"
Kahlia jumped up into the air and charged at Chi-chi. She was quite a few years older than the young princess, and naturally had a little more fighting experience under her belt. She had many a trick up her sleeve that Chi-chi hadn't been expecting.
They traded blows silently for almost an hour, with no real winner emerging. Every time one woman look sure to win, the other would pull something out of seemingly nowhere and get herself right back into the match.
Chi-chi was mad. She wasn't winning this battle, which by the process of elimination, meant she was loosing. And she hated to lose. Her Ki exploded around her, stunning Kahlia for a minute; Chi-chi took that as her opportunity, and lashed out at the Queen, effectively sinking her fist into her jaw.
The Queen however, wasted no time in her revolt, and with one swift roundhouse kick to the midsection, sent Chi-chi plummeting to the cold hard floor of the G.R.
Cursing to herself, Chi-chi attempted to stand up, but something was stopping her. Opening her eyes, she realized it was Queen Kahlia's foot, planted firmly on her chest.
"Well," said Kahlia crossing her arms over her own chest "I can't say I'm not impressed."
Chi-chi snorted and wiped a trail of blood from her lip "What do you mean not impressed? I am 10 times the fighter you are"
Kahlia shook her head removed her foot from Chi-chi's chest and offered her hand to help Chi-chi up. "What's happened to you?" she asked as she picked a towel up off the floor and wiped her brow with it
"What do you mean? I'm as fit as I've ever been"
"No Chi-chi, I'm not talking about that. You've become so aggressive and hostile. Your father has every right to be worried about you"
"My father has nothing to do with this"
The two women walked out into the foyer, towards the vending machines. They both got out a bottle of water, and sat down on the couches, continuing their little chat.
"Well whether he does or not, he is still worried about you. Tell me, is everything going alright for you at the moment?"
She tried not to say anything, but she was mad. Without thinking about it, she crushed the water bottle in her hand and threw it halfway across the room. "Of course everything is not alright! It hasn't been alright for months now!" she screamed, anger consuming her entire being.
"Chi-chi, calm down. We can help you. Your father and I want to help you"
She narrowed her eyes on the Queen, and spoke to her in a tone harsher than she had ever used with anyone "You stay away from my father! You hear me! I see the way you two look at each other. It's sick! Well I swear it, I will kill my own father before I let him get anywhere near you," she sneered, then stood up "You disgust me!" and with that, she stormed out the room, leaving a stunned and shocked Kahlia behind.
** *
"I am so great"
"No you're not"
"Yes I am"
"Woman, I can assure you, that you are not."
Bulma spun around to face Vegeta, a kind of amused smirk on her face. She was great and she knew it.
"Vegeta, do you have any idea of you have just witnessed the creation of?" she asked him.
"An upright coffin?"
Bulma rolled her eyes, "for the millionth time, it is not an upright coffin!"
"Sure looks like it" said Vegeta, knowing exactly how much Bulma hated it, "Is it finished yet? Are you going to tell me what it does now?"
"Yes Vegeta, it is finished. After 3 long weeks, my greatest project ever is complete"
"Well what the hell is it?"
"This Vegeta. Is a Regeneration Tank"
"A Regena-what?"
Bulma rolled her eyes, and began to explain it in simple terms for her sometimes dim-witted boyfriend. "Ok. Just imagine you get really badly hurt in battle, and you have pretty much no chance of survival. Well now, thanks to this baby, all some has to do it pop you in here for a few hours, leave you be and when they come back, you'll be as good as new"
Vegeta looked stunned "Woman, that is in-genius!" Exclaimed Vegeta, he seemed genuinely impressed.
"I know, and I did it all by myself" she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him, "I told you it was my best invention yet"
"Who else knows about this?" asked Vegeta
Bulma shook her head, "No one," she said "not daddy, not the head of science, not the King. No one. I have a meeting arranged with the board tomorrow, and I plan on presenting it to them then. Do you think they'll love it?"
"Woman, if they don't love this, then they are all insane"
"Don't call me woman!"
Suddenly there was a knock on the office door. "Come in" Bulma called. It was 18. Vegeta took that as his cue to leave.
"Hi 18, what's up?" asked Bulma as she sat down in her chair and motioned for 18 to do the same.
"Nothing really. Just bored I guess, this is the second time in 2 weeks Chi-chi hasn't given me a task sheet. You're not busy are you?"
"I'm never to busy for friends. You should count yourself lucky, you have a day off" sad Bulma with a smile. 18 only shook her head though
"This only means I'll have double the work tomorrow"
"Oh"
18 sighed, "It sucks to be me"
"Hey don't say that"
"Why not? It's true." Bulma had nothing to say to that, she could only offer 18 hollow condolences, "Don't worry, I'm sure things will start looking up really soon"
"So, how are things going with you and Vegeta?"
Bulma threaded her fingers through her hair and pulled on it, "Well after that fiasco with the newspaper last week, it's been pretty crazy. But apart from that, things have been going great. How about you and Krillen?"
A small, but telltale smile appeared on 18's face "Fantastic," she replied dreamily. You'll never guess what he did"
"What?" asked Bulma, eager to find out.
"He got a memorial plaque for my mother. It's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me"
"You're mother isn't with us anymore? 18, I'm so sorry"
"It's alright," said 18, though the pain in her voice was obvious "she was killed a long time ago"
***
"Sire" called Kahlia as she pushed open the door to the throne room.
The King looked up and smiled when he saw the Queen. She had changed out of her training attire and into a white pants suit. "Ah, Queen Kahlia. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I was hoping we could have a talk"
"Of course"
She motioned around the room with her eyes, "in private"
"Of course. Nappa, I'm taking a break"
"Yes Sire"
~
They walked thought the lush palace gardens and eventually stopped by a bench, they sat down, but neither of them talked for quite some time.
"So, what did you wish to speak to me about?" the King finally asked
Kahlia sighed, "Your daughter"
"Chi-chi" the King didn't sound to thrilled, "What has she done now?"
"I don't think I can help her, Vegeta."
He looked upset; "I take it you spoke with her then"
"Yes," she nodded, "we sparred, then we spoke, she only abused me though"
"I'll speak with her"
"No, don't. You'll only make it worse".
He sighed deeply, took his crown off his head and massaged his temples. He didn't know what to do. Chi-chi had become impossible. She was abusive, rude, just plain horrible. She had shut Kakkarot right out, destroyed her relationship with Vegeta, didn't want to know Bulma anymore. It was killing him to see his only daughter just throw her life away, for no apparent reason, he had no idea why she was acting the way she was, and in turn, knew no way to help her. She wouldn't talk to anyone, rarely came out of her room except to train.
It was driving him crazy not knowing what to do, which was why he had turned to Queen Kahlia. He had thought, being a woman, maybe she would be able to help. But alas, he had been wrong.
Sighing deeply, he turned to look Kahlia in her sparking green eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, "I never should have asked you to come down here"
"It's alright," said Queen Kahlia. Briefly, her hand brushed up against the King's "Maybe there is still something we can do for her"
"Like what?"
"I don't know"
King Vegeta titled his head back and watched the fluffy white clouds roll across the sky. It was relaxing to imagine you were one of them, or that all of your troubles would float away when the clouds did. He didn't know how long he had been gazing upwards for, seconds, minutes. But it was the sound of Queen Kahlia's sweet voice that brought him back to reality.
"King Vegeta?" she tapped his shoulder to see if he was even awake or if he had dozed off. His head snapped forward, and he looked around, clearly startled.
"Oh…sorry Kahlia. I guess I just…" he stopped and thought, "I guess I don't really know what happened just then".
Kahlia laughed, thought it was a very polite, lady like kind of laugh, and she stood up. "Well, King Vegeta, I best be getting back indoors now. I'll leave you be with your thoughts." She said, and disappeared inside.
He didn't attempt to follow her
***
"I…I know I haven't been up here for quite some time, and I know there really is no excuse for not visiting sooner. But…can you forgive me? Please?" she sat quietly for some time, as if waiting for a reply, but when none came, she continued to speak.
"I don't know where else to turn. My life…it's getting more than I can handle, I've gotten in to deep and I just keep on sinking. I think there is no help left for me now. I don't know where to turn. I want to be helped, but I've turned everyone who could help me away. There is no one, nothing left for me anymore. If this keeps up, I'll be joining you soon, mother"
Chi-chi wiped the moisture of her tear stained cheeks, but more just kept coming. She was scared, scared and confused. She didn't want to turn to Kakkarot; she loved him too much to burden him with her troubles and risk loosing him. But on the other hand, if she couldn't confide in him with her problems, what could she turn to him for?
Chi-chi ran her hands over the smooth marble of the tombstone. It was beginning to chip away around the edges, and it was no longer shiny, it had gone dull with age and the writing was getting hard to read. It was sad, that something like this could go forgotten for so long.
There were other people around her, but she paid them no heed. She was aware that they probably saw her, noticed her tears. But she didn't care. Not only was she mourning the death of the only woman in her life, but having to grow up without a mother.
Suddenly, she felt very very angry.
~
Her blonde hair blew around in the mid afternoon breeze, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get it to stay in place. It was frustrating, and in her seemingly unprovoked anger she picked up a clod of dirt and threw it in any general direction, not really caring where it landed.
There was however, a much deeper reason for her to be angered. Right now, she was mad with everything. Mad with herself, mad with 17, mad with Krillen and especially mad with Chi-chi. She felt like she hated everything, like there was no one left on her side, and she had been left totally alone and defenseless. The cause of her anger was unknown to her, she had been doing some of Tarie's work, and then all of a sudden, she was mad. Angry at everything and everyone around her.
She had hoped that coming up here to this place of eternal sleep and rest, she would be able to calm down. It had helped a little. Being near her mothers and Astrid's memorials.
She wiped at her tear stained cheeks, but she only served to rub the moisture around, not stop it. Creating dirty mud streaks all across her face
"Mother, Astrid. Help me, I'm scared, so scared. Everything is happening so fast and I feel like I'm loosing control" she pulled at the roots of her hair and smashed her fists on the ground, creating two decent sized creators.
~
Chi-chi eyed the dirt debris that had landed only meters away from her and smashed into thousands of tiny pieces. Had someone intentionally thrown that at her? Because if they had…. She stood up and craned her neck around, her eyes falling on the perfect pray for her to vent her upset anger on.
She strutted along the old stone paths of the cemetery towards her young blonde slave. She hadn't left her a task list today; she wanted to given her one double the length tomorrow. Now stalking towards her unsuspecting pray, a certain fire burned in her eyes. She wanted something, and she always got what she wanted.
She stopped just behind 18 and crossed her arms over her chest. After a few minutes it became apparent that she wasn't going to turn around, either because she simply didn't realize Chi-chi was there, or was ignoring her.
"Get up 18!" she spat, choosing to assume that 18 was merely ignoring her.
18 jumped and almost bit her tongue. Chi-chi! What was she doing here? Slowly, 18 stood up, she didn't want to face Chi-Chi, but she didn't really have a choice, she was probably about to get a beating either way. "Ma'am" she greeted Chi-chi, customarily bowing to her.
"Cut the crap 18. I know you hate me, and I despise you too. Way I see it, the less I have to look the better"
18 swallowed hard. That didn't sound to good. Without realizing it, she raised all her defenses, clenching her fists and flexing what little muscle she had. Preparing her body for the onslaught it was undoubtedly about to receive.
"18, if we ever meet again, tell me what it's like to die in a cemetery. Kind of ironic isn't it?" mocked Chi-chi and before 18 even had a chance to respond jumped up and kicked her in the side of the face, sending her flying.
She didn't want to get up, if she lay here long enough, maybe Chi-chi would think she was dead. But whatever chance she had of faking it, was taken away from her by the need to breath, coughing, and spitting blood out of her mouth.
"So, that wasn't enough hey?" Chi-chi hauled 18 up by the collar of her worn, dirty shirt. Chi-chi considered blasting her at point blank range for a second. It would be an effective way to destroy her, and involved minimal mess. But then Chi-chi reconsidered, she wanted 18 to experience a long and painful death.
She rammed her fist into the younger girls stomach, 18's knees buckled and she fell, her shirt collar cutting off her air supply. Chi-chi grinned as she watched 18 squirm and try to breath.
Yet another reason why she hated her so much popped into her mind and added fuel to the fire. 18 was beautiful, it was undeniable, with her crystal clear blue eyes and unusual blonde hair coloring. If only she had more meat on her, she would be almost as pretty as Chi-chi herself, and if one couldn't hate someone for being beautiful, then what could you hate them for?
Letting go of 18's shirt she watched on for a few minutes in slight amusement as she gasped for air, her face going from blue to red back to its regular flesh color.
It was time for round two.
She waited while 18 staggered to her feet, before planting her fist into her temple. Then she quickly followed up with a knee in the stomach causing 18 to double over in pain, and finally Chi-chi elbowed her in the back. It was all over so quickly, that the other few people in the cemetery hadn't even noticed anything had happened
18 fell to the ground in a bloody heap. Her midsection was burning from the repeated attacked on her liver and kidneys. Blood was flowing from a severe gash in her head, streaming down her face and running on to the ground, forming a pool of blood all around her.
Tucking her hair back behind her ears, Chi-chi smirked triumphantly, with one more hard kick to the stomach; she watched on as 18's frail body suddenly went into violent convulsions and large clumps of blood oozed out of her mouth.
Turning on her heel, Chi-chi walked off, feeling very proud of herself. If everyone was going to hate her, than she would give them good reason to do so, and killing an innocent slave seemed a perfectly good way to start.
***
17 strolled along at a leisurely pace, after all, he was in no rush. The sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains and give everything a beautiful orange glow. He enjoyed days like this, it made it seem like his life wasn't so bad. Well really, his life wasn't half as bad as it had been 8 months ago. Then, he had been living on the brink of death, often going days without food, rarely bathing and living in extremely unsanitary conditions. Now though, thing were better, he ate 3 good meals a day, bathed when ever he felt like it, got up each morning, worked all day and went home at night to his family-to-be, his two precious girls who he would do absolutely anything to for.
His daughter hadn't even been born yet, and already he loved her more than life itself. She was truly a miracle, although an unplanned miracle and even though he had never seen her, he thanked god everyday for bringing her to them.
He counted down the days until he would be able to hold her in his arms, kiss her, tell her that her daddy loved her and would always be there for her no matter what. That he would never let anything happen to her, protect her from everything to the absolute best of his ability.
17, a father. Every time he heard someone say it, it wounded wired. He couldn't be father, not him. But yes, it was true. In only 2 short months, he would be able to hold his baby girl.
"17!" he heard someone call his name. He stopped, turned around and saw Krillen walking towards him. Once he caught up, they continued to walk, "I don't suppose you have seen your sister have you?"
17 shook his head, "no, I'm heading up to the cemetery now thought, she might be up there"
Krillen nodded in agreement and picked up the pace, 17 walked a little faster to keep up with him.
"So," Krillen attempted to begin a conversation "is your new room ok?"
17 smiled "It's perfect. Tarie and I couldn't ask for anything more"
"That's good. I'm really glad that you two are happy"
"Did 18 tell you we found out the sex of the baby?"
"Oh yeah she did" said Krillen with a bright smile, "A girl, congratulations!"
"Thanks"
The pair arrived at the gates to the cemetery quickly. They didn't stop though; they continued to walk up the gentle slope to the back of the cemetery where Astrid was buried.
Once they reached the site, 17 dropped to his knees and read over the memorial plaque, Bulma had told him about it earlier that day.
"You did this?" 17 asked, looking up at Krillen. Krillen nodded and looked around, he couldn't see 18 anywhere.
"Thank-you. This will make her smile…" he was going to say something else, but he abruptly stopped.
"What's wrong?" asked Krillen
17 looked down at his hands, they were covered in blood. Looking at the ground he noticed a thin stream of blood coming from further up the hill…and he had to put his hand right in it.
"Blood," 17 answered Krillen question as he stood up. He didn't have a very good feeling about this. Setting off, he followed the flow, Krillen close behind.
Where was it coming from? Had an animal found it's dinner and left the bloody remains behind? It soon became apparent that the blood was coming from behind a large tombstone. 17 took a step closer to investigate.
"What is it?" asked Krillen.
17 didn't reply.
"17?" Krillen sounded alarmed.
17's legs gave out beneath him and fell to his knees by his sister's side. Seconds later, Krillen was by her to.
"What the hell happened here?" 17 cried. 18 wasn't moving, he could feel a very faint pulse when he pressed his fingers to her wrist, but she wouldn't survive very long like this. She was covered in blood and dirt. Her clothing had been torn and it looked like she had also been sick. "Krillen, do something!"
"What can I do?" he asked frantically, furiously wiping tears from his eyes. He reached out and touched her, but she didn't respond.
"We need to get her to the med wing now!" 17 demanded.
"Can we move her?" asked Krillen, trying to remain level headed, even though he just wanted to scream. He couldn't remember a time in his entire life that he had ever been more scared than this.
"Well if we don't, she doesn't have a hope of surviving!"
Krillen jumped into action and scooped 18 up into his arms, he was instantly covered in blood, but that was the least of his worries right now. "You go get Bulma, I'll take her to the med wing!"
17 didn't argue, he was gone in a flash.
~
Krillen raced as fast as he could through the palace, he arrived at the med wing in record time. The nurses there took one look at them, and promptly put 18 on a stretcher and wheeled her off. He didn't have the strength or the will to follow. Instead, he leaned against the wall, sunk to the ground and burst into tears.
"Where is she?" Krillen heard Bulma call as she ran towards him. He looked up and saw not only Bulma, but 17 and Vegeta as well.
"I don't know. They took her through there about 5 minutes ago" Krillen pointed towards a big set of double doors.
Bulma nodded her head, "Alright 17, come with me" she ordered, grabbed 17's hand and pulled him through the doors. Leaving Vegeta to deal with his younger brother.
"It'll be ok," said Vegeta, who didn't even know what was wrong. He helped Krillen up off the floor, noticed he was drenched in blood but said nothing about it, and sat him down in a chair. Sitting down beside him, he decided he'd better ask, "What happened?"
Krillen was silent for a long time "I don't know," when he did speak; his voice was hardly even a whisper "17 and I, we…we just found her like that"
They sat there like that for 45 long minutes, neither of them spoke. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Bulma emerged from the doors, she was wearing a white doctors coat, much like she wore in the lab, and it was splattered with a little blood.
Krillen jumped up and ran to her. "She's going to be alright" Bulma told Krillen what she knew he wanted to hear.
"She has lost a lot of blood, she needs a transfusion, 17 is in there now donating his blood. They had to stitch up her head and there was bruising to the skull. She received a lot of blows to the midsection and one of her kidneys has inflamed, that'll need to be watched closely because if it ruptures the doctors will only have a matter of minutes to get it out of her."
"Can I see her?" was all Krillen wanted to know.
"Not yet Krillen, I'm sorry. She's not stable"
"But you said she's going to be ok!" Krillen shouted.
Bulma placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes; "She will be once she gets 17's blood into her. You saw her thought Krillen, she isn't even conscious. Her face is swollen and bruised. She has broken ribs, and she is literally as white as a piece of paper from blood loss. It's best not for you to see her right now"
"You can't keep me away from her Bulma! I need to see her!" he demanded, tears of panic streaming down his face. He tried to run through the doors, but Vegeta had a very firm grip on his shoulders preventing him from going anywhere.
"No Krillen. Just wait. Everything is going to be ok. Why don't you try and get some sleep?"
"Sleep!" Krillen spun around and exploded "My girlfriend is in there dying! And you expect me to sleep! What are you? Insane!"
"I know you're upset Krillen, but Vegeta is right. You can't do anything for her right now. You'll just be in the way. If you get some sleep, you'll be fully refreshed to see her in the morning"
He sunk to the ground in defeat. He wasn't going to win. Bulma walked off and arranged to have beds set up for them all to sleep in.
This was going to be a long night.
***
His sleep was plagued with bad dreams, but finally morning did roll around. Krillen awoke from his restless sleep to the sound of someone softly calling his name
"Krillen. Krillen, it's morning. I brought you some breakfast and fresh clothes" it was Bulma speaking.
Quickly, Krillen sat up and looked around, not really knowing what was going on. It all came back to him quickly though. "18! Where is she?"
Bulma sat in the end of her bed and smiled sympathetically at him "It's alright Krillen, you can see her in just a little while. Just get changed, eat something and then I'll take you through"
"Is she ok?"
"She survived the night, so she's gotten past the worst of it. She isn't conscious yet, and don't be too shocked when you see her ok. She doesn't really look like herself right now"
"I'm not hungry" said Krillen, he climbed off the uncomfortable hospital bed and got changed, "Take me to her"
"Alright then"
They walked out into the waiting room and through the daunting double doors. Inside it was a very somber atmosphere. They walked for a few more minutes, past many doors, until eventually they stopped outside on eof them, room number 30.
"17 is in there, he has had a very hard night, try not to wake him"
Krillen nodded, pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Instantly, a loud monotonous beeping noise filled his ears, but he hardly even noticed it. His attention was fixed solely on the bed, and the woman on it. As he got closer, he felt his heart sink deeper. She really did look dead.
18 had tubes coming out of her arms and an oxygen mask covered her mouth and nose, breathing for her. Her head had a big bandage on it, covering the stitched up wound. Her face was bruised and swollen just like Bulma had said, and an I.V drip was slowly letting blood run from the bag, directly into her veins. But to him, she was still beautiful.
17 sat in a chair on the far side of the bed, his head resting on the thin mattress. He looked like a truck had hit him, poor guy.
Pulling up a chair Krillen sat on the down and took hold of 18's cold hand. He was shaking like a leaf and tears slowly leaked from his eyes.
"18, please be okay," he begged her "I couldn't live without out you. I love you so much. Don't leave me"
How long he had been sitting there for, he had no idea, but sometime during the course of the day, Bulma came into the room, a team of doctors behind her. They pushed Krillen and 17 to the back of the room and crowed the bed, blocking out their view of 18. They stayed like that for almost 20 minutes, mumbling things to each other that the boys couldn't understand.
Soon Bulma came over to them. "Why don't you two go and get a coffee or something" she said, trying to give them the hint that they probably didn't want to around for some unknown reason.
Out in the hall, they spotted Vegeta. He too, looked like he had been deprived of sleep last night.
"How is she?" he asked
Krillen shrugged his shoulders, "They kicked us out the room"
20 painfully long minutes passed, and in that time, Krillen managed to down 5 cups of coffee. He would have kept on going to, if Bulma hadn't come into the waiting room.
She approached the 3 men and flashed them a ghost of a smile. "Good news," she said, "18's awake. Now, she's very drowsy because of all the pain killers, but she's asking for you, Krillen"
~
'Krillen' she moved her lips to form the word, but no sound came out. That didn't faze him though. Krillen rushed to her side and gently kissed her cheek. "I was so worried. I though I was gonna loose you"
18 didn't reply, she just gazed up at him lovingly.
Even thought she couldn't talk, her mind was racing. She was scared. But she was so glad that someone found her, she surely would have died. She wasn't going to give Chi-chi the satisfaction of winning, no, she would get better.
She fell asleep, she wasn't sure how long for, but when she awoke, she found that she could talk a little. Krillen was still by her side, and so was 17. She felt so relieved to have the people she loved around her.
"Who did this to you, sis?" 17 asked as he brushed some hair out of her eyes
"Chi-chi" she replied weakly. 17 nodded, he had guessed as much.
Beside her, 18 heard the clatter of a chair, turning around; all she saw was Krillen storming out the room.
~
He was pissed, he hadn't really doubted that it was Chi-chi who had done this, but hearing 18 confirm it, only made his rage explode.
He practically ran down the halls, quickly arriving at Chi-chi's room. He didn't knock, or even announce that he was there. Instead, he just booted the door with his foot, snapping it off its hinges, breaking it in half and scaring Chi-chi half to death.
But half wasn't good enough.
"You!" he snarled, storming across the room and shoving her hard. "You did this!"
Briefly, Chi-chi looked startled, but she quickly realized why Krillen was so enraged by. Picking herself up of the floor, she slapped Krillen hard across the cheek, he wasn't fazed though.
"My my Krillen," she toyed with him. "What's gotten you all worked up this morning?"
"You know damn well. Do you have any idea what you've done? You are a witch!" he roared
Chi-chi only laughed at him, "Krillen, you are so sad, I almost pity you, I really do. Honestly, that girl what's-her-name, I was really only doing her a favor," she briefly patted his shoulder, enjoying every second of this torture "she's better of dead anyways"
Krillen made sure to take slow steady breaths and ball his fists by his side to prevent himself from putting his sister through the wall. "Chi-chi I swear, if 18 dies, you'll be joining her next" he spat through gritted teeth.
Chi-chi blinked, she wasn't dead yet? "Oh great, I can torment her in death to" she said, then added a cute little smile to annoy him even more.
"That. Is. It" he spoke slowly, his entire being had long since been entirely consumed by anger and she was only added fuel to his fire. Without even thinking about it, he swung his fist at her face and sent her reeling across the room, where she landed on the bed, out cold, yet relatively unharmed, but shutting her up for a few minutes nonetheless.
It would have to do for now, he needed to get back to 18, needed to be by her side. On his way down the hall he ran into Kakkarot, who instantly picked up that something was wrong with his best friend and stopped to try and help
"What's wrong Krillen?" he asked, clearly concerned.
"My bloody sister is what's wrong!" he snapped back in reply and started walking again. Kakkarot felt a sense of doom wash over him. What had she done now? He followed Krillen down the hall, very very worried. He had never seen Krillen like this, and quite frankly it scared him.
"Krillen, what did she do?"
"Follow me, I'll show you."
***
A/N; Poor 18. Chi-chi is evil…but I planned it to be that way! I planned for her to take it one step to far, don't worry, it will all fall into place soon enough. So what did you think? Good bad or otherwise I'd love to hear in a review. And don't forget to check out the Campaign!
This will probably be the last update before school starts again…I might get one more, but I'm not sure
Bye bye for now!
~Deadly Beauty