Hope you enjoy the beginning of part two! (And thankyou so much to the ppl who reviewed...I LOVE YOU ALL!!)
Part Two
The passion of it all, the expression of the colors and the lovely power of provoking emotion. Passion being the key word. No matter what the message, colors, depth, shapes, or texture; passion could always be felt through art. When most people hear art they picture the burray and easel and a concoction of colors on a canvas that is as vague to them as a foreign language. But many have always felt that art is everywhere. You can take any object or scene and portray an emotion, statement, anything you want.
Some choose to create beauty as their art, but not all.
The sun, for instance, shows beauty, shining brightly over the Earth. It is portrayed within art and worshipped when captured in a still frame. The dark, however, also has the ability to be captured on canvas.
The canvas can be chosen by the artist. They can choose something as simple as paper or parchment. On such easily obtained objects the creator shall usually choose to instill upon the paper their talents of beauty, precision, and patience.
But a skilled creator, someone with rich imagination free of the boundaries of this world, needs no parchment, needs no paint or brush. They have the talent to create a masterpiece, something to marvel and aw at. Something beautiful. Something so brilliant and breathtaking is created from this person, not from hand, but from their mind.
Over centuries, artists have chosen art as release, a way to express their feelings about a moment in time, about a group of people, about their love, hate, anguish, and dispare. They have always relied on man-made items to display their emotions, so what would happen if someone with a talent beyond all others had the power to input their greatest fears, hopes, and dreams onto the world we know?
The world is their canvas.
Though this person would have the talent of no other to ever exist on this planet , what would happen when they lost control over when they chose to create a masterpiece and when they didn't?
What would be unleashed upon the world?
""""""""All the pretty colors.....""""""""
The lights were bright, fluorescent. A total change from initial dark and dreary night outside.
Total opposites.
In the light, it was warm and welcoming, proof that the world does still indeed function even if your own life is in danger. The light, like civilization, knows nothing. It goes on day by day providing and giving, like civilization is capable of. But the dark on the outside knows all. It sits there like a predator, waiting for you to return to it's clutches, to its nightmares. It doesn't care, doesn't give, but it knows. Knowledge is power.
Power is everything, and as of now, Gohan had none.
The night, the dark, it has power. No matter how much light there is, darkness will always exist, but can you say that the other way around? Will there always be light, or is light doomed to perish like all that is good in this world?
"""::shrugs::?????
"You like tofu?" Videl asked carrying a little shopping basket filled with cardboard, paper towels, duck tape, Quick Wrap, orange juice, and some candy bars.
"What?" Gohan was dripping wet, leaving big sloppy footprints around the isles Del had ordered him to scout for what they needed.
"Tofu. Do you like."
"I know what you said."
"Then why did you say 'what'?
"Tofu."
"What about it? You have something against tofu?" She walked past the milk cartons, Gohan following close behind.
"No. I thought your question was just a little random. That's all." Gohan picked up some cheese-sticks and threw them into the basket.
"No." Videl pulled the cheese-sticks out of the carrier, "Cheese gives me gas. Now put them back." She shoved them at his chest and continued down the row of refrigerated items.
Gohan fumbled the cheese and said, "But you don't have to eat them."
Videl stopped, turned around and began to walk back to him. "I'll be tempted. I love cheese, and I'm doing you a favor by saying 'no'. Now," she grabbed his upper arm and began pulling him down the cold foods section, "we have to keep moving. The doll snake rat-quick little monster thingy is still alive, remember?"
She sure remembered.
The eyes. Those green eyes. Just like her dream. But how? How could it be real? How could he be real? Oh, Him.
If the man behind her was really 'Him' than that monster was going to stop at nothing to kill Gohan.
Gohan. That's a nice name. A nice name to go along with a nice guy. Though he was moody at the moment, she could tell he was a good person. He had to be if he was Him.
What scared Videl most was the question, ' If he survives tonight, will it come back again tomorrow, and the next day?'
Videl glanced back at the man. He was stumbling behind her looking like crap. She couldn't blame him though. He lost his new car, he was wet, muddy, being chaced by an imortal being, and probably injured, but that wasn't it. She new he lost something more. Something more precious that couldn't be replaced. What could it be?
In her dreams, he would come and he would be shining, like a knight in armor, but this man didn't have that glow. She would have been able to see it. To see his lightwould have been easy, like seeing he had black eyes- which was pretty wierd-. Nonetheless, he had no light.
So then why the hell would her monster be after him?
"Oh, I completely forgot. How stupid of me." Gohan rolled his eyes, stumbling from her strength, or maybe it was his lack of it. After dragging him to the last refrigerator, Videl stopped, shook her head, and pulled open the door to grab a container to place into the basket.
Gohan reached down and picked up the new food item. "Tofu. Ah, tofu... I don't like tofu."
Videl snatched the box from Gohan's grip and shoved it back into the basket. "I knew you had something against tofu."
"Well, so what if I do?"
"It's healthy."
"So is cheese."
"We went through this. Cheese gives me gas."
"I don't care."
"You should."
"You get tofu, I get cheese."
"I get tofu and you leave the cheese alone."
"Can I at least get one cheese-stick?"
"No."
"Aw, common!"
"No."
"Your worse than my mother."
"I'm stubborn."
"You think?"
"I know, not think."
"That was rhetorical."
"Then don't ask me."
"I wasn't asking you."
"You're eating tofu and that's final."
"I don't want to eat tofu."
"Tofu reduces the risk of prostate cancer."
"So?"
"Well, don't come crying to me when you wake up one day with prostate the size of a basketball, Tofu boy."
Gohan stopped.
"What?" Videl asked.
"The window's broken."
"And?"
"You can sit next to the broken window and I won't smell a thing."
"A broken window won't fix anything. It'll still be rancid."
"Well, I can hold my breath, so if we time it right-"
"We are not getting any freaking cheese!"
"You suck." Gohan stuck out his tongue.
"Well, at least you won't get prostate cancer, Tofu boy."
"Who said I was eating the tofu?"
"I did."
"I'd like to see you try and make me."
"I'm worse than your mother, remember?"
"Oh don't you dare try and be my mother now."
Videl smirked, "Try and stop me."
"""""""::piffs:: oops..I uh..didn't do it .....""""""""""
"I hate you."
"Hate is such a strong word, Videl." Gohan bit into one of his numerous cheese-sticks.
"God, I hate you."
"Heh heh. You failed to realize that, like my mother, you are about a foot or two smaller than me."
"No. I never failed to notice that. I just hate you for finally see my lack of height. Tsch, took you long enough anyway, dork."
Videl bent over the steering wheel trying to find somewhere along the highway to safely park the car and fix the window...and maybe steal some cheese from Gohan.
Rain still pouring, wind still blowing, she couldn't see much past the headlights, but found an overpass looming in the distance that might be suitable for short-time shelter.
Gohan munched happily on his cheese-sticks.
Easing on the brakes, Videl pulled the car off to the side of the road and hopped out.
"Come on. I'll need your help, Tofu boy."
"Stop calling me that." Gohan secured his cheese safely back into the grocery bag and jumped off his damp seat and out of the car.
He stood there and looked around.
The downpour continued to slam the pavement and the thunder rumbled onwards. A truck passed overhead sounding as if a jumbo jet was about to land.
The dark shadows in the corners frightened him. He could still feel it coming. Closer and closer. They shouldn't have stopped, but leaving the window shattered was a hindrance. Gohan turned around half expecting to see the monster standing there just outside the overpass, larger. It had to still be growing. He wondered how big it was now.
"Kannahan-"
"Gohan."
"Whatever, just soak up as much water from the seat as you can." Videl threw the roll of paper towels at Gohan and he went to work.
While Gohan soaked up the water, Videl started fixing the window.
First she used a pocket knife to cut out a piece of cardboard the size of the window and covered it in Quick Wrap. She then fixed it to the window and used duck-tape to secure it snugly.
A cold wind blew chilling Gohan.
While doing the tedious job of drying the blue upholstry, Gohan began to think. -Which was never a good thing. He could get a headache-
He knew that if it wasn't for Del he would probably be dead by now. Laying in a gutter somewhere. Yupp. Eyeballs ripped out and a finger thrown here and there. Not a good picture. Nope. But he wasn't laying in a ditch or gutter, he was standing here. Alive. Not well, but alive. All because of Del. She helped him when she didn't have to, and she continued to, but he couldn't let her. If she got hurt, if she died, it would be his fault.
And he couldn't live with that.
Another beautiful life, full of kindness and compassion, dead because of him. Okay, well, maybe she does get bad mood swings, and she may act a little wierd here and there, but don't all women?
Overall, allowing her to help him was putting her life in more danger than she realized. That thing was far more intelligent than she knew and her staying here...
That's it. He would have to go on alone. Just find a car and go off driving, hoping that the thing doesn't know how to drive too. Praying to not run out of gas before dawn. It would be slim, but he could do it. No big problem, right?
Wrong. In the back of his mind, he knew. That thing was smart. It could learn. Though driving away into the wild blue yonder may seem logical, it wasn't full proof. What if the deadline really wasn't dawn? What if it still was alive when he returned home - if he lived long enough to do so - and he was then slautered?
Either way, he felt an obligation to protect Del. The fact that she had to help him bothered Gohan. He was the man, he protected her. That was it, plane and simple. He had to protect her, and the the only way to do that that was in his power now was to leave her behind and go off himself. He had to do it. Though he may no longer have his Saiyan powers, he was still strong and he knew how to fight. That was all he needed. Okay, and maybe a gun would be nice...
"Del."
"Yeah?"
Gohan paused.
He couldn't keep her in danger. He would have to continue by himself, stop endangering her life. He wasn't worth it. Not at all.
"Could you drop me off somewhere?"
"Huh?"
Gohan threw aside another soaking paper towel. "Somewhere I can get a car."
"What do you mean?"
"Well,uh...Look. Thanks and all for helping me and all, but I need to do this on my own, stop putting you in danger."
"No can do."
"I'm being serious, Videl."
"So am I. I smushed it. That doll snake rat-quick little monster thingy has to have something against me also and-"
"God, Videl! Don't you understand? It'll rip you to shreds if it has the chance!"
Videl took a deep breath trying to suppress her frustration, "No. It won't"
"...Excuse me?"
"It just won't, okay. And don't you for once think I can just leave you somewhere and go home like nothing happened. Okay? We are finishing this night together and that's final,"she said quietly but stern.
Videl threw the remanding items in the back seat and hopped in the car. "Now come on. We have to keep moving."
Videl slammed her door.
"But-"
"No buts damnit!" Videl exploded, "I am your only fucking chance of surviving this night! Now get in the god damned car!"
Gosh. He was trying to be nice and let her go, but instead she got pissed. Must be that time of the month...
"Get in now or it'll catch up."
"How do you know it won't hurt you, Videl? Huh? How can you be so sure!? I can't let you risk so much for me! You don't even know who I am and yet your here, doing this. Saving my damn life! I don't care wha-"
"Get in the damn car, Son Kannahan Gohan fucking Tofu boy! Get in now ."
"I'm not going to let you die becuase of me!"
"How many time must I say this? It won't hurt me..." Videl glared ahead as she usually did, refusing to look into his eyes.
"How can you be so God damn sure!?"
Videl snapped her head towards Gohan. Something was wrong. She felt it. For the first time she looked deeply into Gohan's eyes, absolutely terrified.
The wind howled under the overpass bringing a small spray of cold water with it.
Gohan shivered as he looked at Del. Her eyes were no longer a clear royal blue, but dark, haunting pools of liquid in a bottomless ocean of confusion and torment. Those oceans bore into his sole, slowly eroding his defenses, looking deep within him, wave after hypnotic wave.
Another wind came, bringing no water, but a bone rattling chill accompanied by a black shadow that swept across the night, dissolving everything before his eyes.
He was once more trapped in a black void. Nothing was everywhere, and where matter once stood there was not a trace of its existance. This was the place, the place of birds and feathers. Not a good place to be.
Birds and feathers.
He loved birds. So beautiful. So elegant. Mesmerizing.
He began walking around nothing. He didn't know why, but he was.
For what seemed like hours, he continued to walk, not seeing or hearing anything but his own footsteps. Shouldn't something have happened by now. A revolation of some kind, something to help him survive. To last until dawn.
Birds.
Is that all he truly remembered, then? Darkness, nothingness, emptyness. Is this what summed up his life? A living void of nothing going through life having those he loved vanish before his very eyes, and killing those responcible. Not possible. He had happy memories, but...
Could it truly be? Was this the sum of his life?
Crunch snap.
Gohan flipped around only to realize he was making the noise.
Crunch crunch.
Dead leaves. Twigs.
Trees surrounded him on all sides. Light was still hidden behind countless layers of blockades, not allowing a single ray to pass.
The brush was thick. That will make navagation difficult.
"Navagation to where?"
Crunch snap.
Gohan stood still and perked his ears, listening.
Snap snap crunch snap.
In the not too far distance he heard the sound of something sprinting through the forest.
He felt compelled to follow.
With delicate grace, he maneuvered around the tree's in a silent dimeanor.
In his pursute, his hearing picked up a second set of chrunch-snapping, following the enital footsteps closely.
His adrenaline pumped.
He ran faster, streching his strides to the breaking point. He won't make it.
Abruptly, the first thing fell with a thud as it came into his sights.
His heart jumped.
To his right, in the darkness, a pair of radiating green eyes appeared out of nowhere.
He was tossed backwards slamming against a nearby tree. Beside his left was a three foot fallen branch. Quickly standing, Gohan picked it up and dashed towards the eyes.
He felt urgency towards the death of whatever this monster was. It had to die, now. Before it killed the other one.
Holding the branch as a baseball bat, Gohan bashed the monster on the side of it's eyes, supposively it's temple area.
Hearing the thing collapse, he ran over to the fallen creature. A woman was on her knees, trying to push herself up with her hands.
Gohan quickly went to help her and extended his hand.
She turned her head to look at him.
Del.
Gohan smiled and leaned forward to help her stand.
Her face suddenly went pale, the whites of her eyes growing.
Everything went black.
What was that? What the hell just happened?
She was so terrified. Her eyes...
He stopped and looked around the void once more trying to see if a new scenery appeared, or if he would have to wait a few more hours.
He heard wings flapping in the distance. The birds tantalized him, their sounds echoing throughout this void of darkness.
He spun around only to be bombarded by a blinding white flash, knocking him backwards.
Rage, hatred. He felt powerful. It was unlike any rage he felt before. A rage driven by malevolence alone. A soulless fury.
Suddenly, a rain swept street appeared before his eyes, and looked far down the long road in the middle of nowhere. What was this place?
The rain slapped his face and pounded the road with vehemence, but he didn't care. He wanted, no, absolutely needed what was down that road. He needed to torture it, ravage it, kill it. His lone rage was so powerful he was prepared to lose everything to gain that rush of the capture, that intense kill. He would lose everything.
He was confused. He never wanted to kill anything, but now...now the need was so strong. So furious.
He began walking, staring intently down that road, not knowing what he was looking for, but knowing that once he found it, it must die.
Die before dawn.
Have a nice day....CAFE!