9. Qiana?!
"Adam?" Leela entered the underground house. "Are you there?" she got no answer. "Cody? Lilly?"
"Hello." Cody stood next to her.
"Jeez! You scared me." Leela said. "How have you been?"
"Whattya think?" Cody said, just as moody as always.
"So, is anyone else home?" Leela continued, ignoring Cody's behavior.
"Yea there is." Cody answered and left through the door which led to their very small and dark living room where the only light came from candles. Leela followed him.
"Oh Adam, have you seen my necklace?" a female voice asked. It sure wasn't from Lilly. This voice was much too…!!
Leela couldn't believe her ears. Was that the voice of Qiana?!
"I thought I left it on my dresser…so weird…" the voice said.
"Adam?" Leela softened her voice in a confused way. She had to be wrong about hearing Qiana. She had to be for Qiana passed away recently. Slowly Leela stepped closer, curious and yet doubtful.
"Leela!" Adam called out cheerfully.
"Hello Adam." Leela smiled. "How've you been?"
"Me?! Look at you! You're a mess. Have you fought…'them'?"
Leela looked away, ashamed. She did fight Juunanagou…and lost.
"Adam?" the voice sounded curious. It was in the room.
Leela looked in the voice's direction. "You…" she gasped.
"Adam, who is this?" the girl wondered and tried to smile to keep her cool. What was wrong with this woman before her?
"Are you okay?" Adam wondered when he saw Leela becoming upset.
Leela regarded the girl in front of her in astonishment. This was Qiana! The same eyes; hair; everything! She held a glass of water in one hand and a necklace in the other. How did she survive? Didn't Trunks take her with him? He buried her, didn't he? Then why was she standing right before her eyes?!
In the presence of the anxious-getting Leela, the girl began to feel unsafe without Adam's protection, so she hurried to him and grabbed his arm with the hand she held her necklace with.
"You are dead." Leela blurted out.
Adam felt how the girl's grip weakened. Her eyes had gotten wider and suddenly, a sharp sound of breaking glass filled the room; the girl had dropped her water in shock.
"What did you say?" the girl whispered at Leela.
Leela's eyes went from Qiana to Adam, to Qiana and back to Adam. "You know her?" she asked him.
"Who are you?" the girl demanded.
Leela had so many questions right now, she couldn't figure out which one to ask. Which question would cover them all? "You don't know me?"
"I've never seen you in my life."
"Who are you?"
"You answer mine first." she said back.
"Adam, who is this?" Leela insisted.
"What's going on, Leela?" Adam said as a reply.
"She is dead." Leela answered.
"Who is?" Adam asked.
"She is." she pointed at the girl beside him.
"Qiana." the girl said.
Leela knew it! This was Qiana. But how…?
The girl continued: "My twin sister."
Leela looked even more surprised. Twin sister? Her mouth dropped. Twin sister?
The girl left the room crying.
"Wait!" Adam called after her, but she wouldn't listen. He looked at Leela. "What's going on here?" he asked. "Who is Qiana?"
"Obviously her twin sister." she replied and thought it through.
"You knew her twin sister?"
"Yea, I did." Leela said. She pointed at the door where the girl had just walked out through. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Meris. I met her outside, when I was trading for some warm clothes. She has nowhere else to go and we could really use the help around the house, so I thought she'd come stay with us."
Leela felt guilty for the way she acted towards Meris. But how was she supposed to know? Of course she would, if she had thought about the fact that Qiana was long dead and buried underneath tons of earth! But it was such a shock… What had she done? She had just let a girl know her sister was dead, in the worst possible way!
"Wait here." Leela said to Adam and hurried after Meris. She past the hall, thinking this whole underground hideout was quite primitive, though very useful and most importantly: livable. There were four rooms; a kitchen without any electrical devices. This room was used for keeping and preparing food. Then there was the main room, furnished with a small couch; a few chairs; one table and a desk where the candles; flashlights and batteries were stored. A radio stood on the desk.
The last two rooms were bedrooms; one for Cody and Lilly, one for Adam…and Meris, so it would seem. Leela saw Meris sitting on one of the two beds. She was staring into a dancing flame of a lit candle.
"Meris?" Leela asked permission to enter the room. She kept her distance by the door. "Meris, I'm sorry. I didn't know…"
"How did she die?" Meris kept staring at the flame.
Leela came closer. "She was…" How on Earth could she bring this easy, when a moment ago she just blurted it out?! "Juuhachigou…she…"
Meris set her eyes upon Leela, who then got tongue-tied. "I see." Meris said. "She got killed by the androids.
"Well, one in particular." Shut up Leela! she thought. You only make it worse! Leela didn't know how to handle this kind of situation. Maybe it was best to just keep quiet.
"You know, Qiana wasn't the nicest girl around." Meris began.
Leela bit her lip. She had so many comments to that, but she knew none of them were appropriate.
"But she could be quite enjoyable at times." Meris looked at Leela curiously. "How did you know my sister?"
"That's a long story, but to make things short: through Trunks."
"Trunks? The Trunks?"
"Yes, that one."
"Is he your boyfriend then?"
"He wishes."
"He wishes?"
"Nah, I'm just..." she sighed. "I don't think he likes me that much after…"
"After Qiana?"
"How did you know?"
"Well, that's my sister. She always got in between relationships of others. She took quite some pleasure in it actually."
"What a snob." Leela snorted, then gasped. What did she just say?! "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."
"Yes, you did." Meris smiled at the apologetic look upon Leela's face. "I can't blame you. You must've hated her for taking Trunks away from you."
Leela wanted to say that she never had Trunks in the way Meris thought, but still, she couldn't say it aloud.
"So you are in love with him?"
"What?!"
"You were pondering. That can only mean one thing."
"I wasn't pondering. I was…thinking."
"Right…"
"Besides, even if I did like him, and I'm not saying I do, because I don't, he doesn't like me very much, remember?"
"Why won't he?"
"That's a long story."
"It seems you only have long stories. Just tell me, I've got time."
"Shouldn't you be crying about your sister?" Leela knew she was very rude now, but she didn't want to answer Meris' questions. She didn't even want to think about it herself.
"I tried, but it's been too long that we've spoken. It was the shock that overcame me. I'm sad, yes, but I'm not devastated. Qiana and I didn't like each other very much." For a moment, Meris got quiet. Then she said: "It's weird though, knowing I won't be seeing her anymore. And still, it doesn't hurt much. It's frustrating, not to feel grief for your own family, huh?"
"I wouldn't know."
"Do you have a sister?"
"I had a little brother."
"Had." Meris repeated.
Leela nodded.
"So you know what it's like to loose someone."
"I have to go." Leela said, wanting to avoid any questions relating to her family that she couldn't even answer herself. Before she left she said: "Listen, if you ever want to, like, talk or whatever…"
"Thank you." Meris smiled and watched Leela leave the room.
Leela found her way back to the main room, where Adam was still waiting.
"Leela." he said. "Is everything alright now?"
"Yes, it is. I'm sorry for making a scene a moment ago."
"It's okay." he said. "So, what made you come in the first place?"
Ah yes, that, she thought. "I uhm, I just wanted to see if everything was alright here. And it is."
"You're a good friend, Leela." Adam said.
Leela gazed at him, then wrapped her arms around him and said: "Thank you." she felt a shooting pain in her left wrist and pulled back.
"What is it?" Adam saw her holding her hand.
"I bruised my wrist when I was fighting them." she said. She was so embarrassed by the fact that Juunanagou had broken her wrist that she just couldn't bring herself to tell the whole truth.
"You should get that checked."
"I will." Leela forced a smile. "Anyway, I'd best be going now, before the androids start figuring out where I am."
"Will you come back?"
"Eventually."
"Be careful."
"You too. Say hi to the little ones for me, okay?"
-
-
"Leela." Bulma welcomed her. "Where have you been?"
"Nowhere important." Leela answered.
"Trunks told me your wrist is broken. A friend of mine is a doctor. His name is Will. He can help you."
"No thank you, I can manage." Leela could only think about what this doctor might find if he would take care of her wrist.
"Really, how?" Trunks had entered the room.
"It will probably heal in time." Leela said, knowing better than that.
"I don't think so. It will only get worse if you don't do something about it." Bulma said. "Now just let me look."
"No." Leela said. "I'm gonna take a bath and turn to bed. I'm tired." She left the room as fast as she could.
"So now what?" Trunks asked. "We can't make her."
"Yes, we can. When she's asleep, I'll enter her room and give her a drug through an injection so she won't wake up for several hours while Will can work on her wrist as long as he needs to." Bulma explained.
"Smart move." Trunks said, proud to have such a genius for a mother. He left for the gravity-room to train.
-
-
Leela was on her was on her way to the bath-tub, feeling the constant pain. She had to undo the break in her wrist. But she wouldn't allow anyone to do it and she couldn't do it herself. What was she supposed to do now?