Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never will.
A/N: So, here we are at the second last chapter of Mind Games. I hope you all enjoy this, it's pretty dramatic. I'll try to get the final chapter out as soon as possible ok. Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed chapter 13, they all mean so much to me and I can't even begin to thank you enough for letting me do what I love to do. You make my day with all your kind words.
-D.B
Mind Games
Chapter Fourteen
It seemed like weeks had passed, but it reality it had only been two days. Two days of hell. Krillen sat on a bench outside the door to Marrons room while the doctors again stabilize her heartbeat. This was the way it had been since they got here. She would be fine – well as fine as could be expected one minute, and then the next her heart would either slow right down or speed right up and a team of doctors and nurses would rush in and push them out. It was so scary.
Looking down, Krillen brushed 18's hair back off of her face. Her head was resting in his lap, it was the first time she had gotten any kind of rest since Yumcha had informed them they had found Marron. He gently ran his fingers through her soft hair and turned to look down the hall. Roshi was approaching, and he came bearing coffee.
"Here you go my boy, drink up"
"Thank you, Master" Krillen forced a smile as he took the drink. It was vending machine coffee and tasted foul, but he quickly gulped it down regardless.
They sat in silence for several minutes until the door to Marron's room opened and her doctor stepped out.
"How is she?" Krillen asked, his voice weak and emotionless from lack of energy.
"Fine for now. This is how it will be until her body builds up enough immunisations to fight off the infections itself." The doctor replied as she pushed her hair back off her face
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course" the doctor replied.
"The pneumonia, what are the odds it could cause brain trauma?" Krillen's voice shook as he spoke, mainly because he was scared of what response he was going to get.
"There is a possibility, yes, but as I said, we're expecting your daughter to make a full recovery" she smiled warmly at Krillen, but her just didn't have it in him to smile back.
"Can we go in?" he asked hopefully
"The nurse will tell you when it is okay to go in"
Krillen didn't like this doctor; it was almost like she was mocking him whenever she spoke. It wasn't her daughter in there on deaths door. It wasn't her who was going through hell out here in the cold, unwelcoming hall. What right did she have to smile at him?
When he looked up again, she was gone. Sighing, he reached over and took hold of 18's hand. Absent mindedly, he ran his thumb back and fourth over her wedding ring, the cool gold felt nice against his skin. She began to stir soon afterwards, and her eyes fluttered open.
She groaned as she slowly blinked, "Where am I?" she muttered, this wasn't her bedroom, her home.
"You in the hospital sweetheart, remember?"
"Oh," 18 let her head fall back into Krillen's lap, "yeah"
"How are you feeling?"
18 sat up on the hard wooden bench and ran her fingers though her hair, everything had come back to her now, "I feel sick"
Krillen tuned to look at her, "Do you want me to call the doctor?"
"No," she shook her head, "I think I'm just going to step outside and get some fresh air"
"Ok," Krillen let go of her hand, "How about Master goes with you though, it's dark outside?" he suggested, looking up at Master Roshi.
18 was in no mood to argue with Krillen, and quite frankly, she didn't mind if Roshi came with her, "Ok" she sighed, she was to tired to put any real volume into her speech.
---
Krillen was right; it was dark outside, and cold too. 18 zipped up her jacket as she stood out under the covered entrance to the hospital. It was raining and as her breath hit the air to turned to fog. She pushed her hands deep into her pockets to help keep them warm.
As she looked up into the dark clouds and watched the rain pour down, her eyes began to well up with tears. She didn't want to cry in front of Roshi, but she was unable to keep it in, and a loud sob escaped from deep in her throat. She didn't know what she would do if anything happened to Marron.
"18," Roshi stepped forward, "it's ok, let it out."
18 didn't say anything. She was mad, so mad. She had to clench her fists be her sides to stop herself from powering up a ki ball and her whole body shook with uncontrollable rage. She hated 17, and she was going to get him for what he had put her family through. Everything was out in the open now; there was no more damage that could be done. The worst had happened, Marron had been brought into the middle of everything.
"Roshi," 18's voice was low, and it startled the old martial arts master, he hadn't heard her speak like that before, she sounded, well, scary.
"Y-Yes 18," he stuttered, "what is it?"
This time, when she spoke her voice was soft, calm, Roshi was confused now, all of the emotions 18 was going through must have been hell for her, "Tell Krillen…" she stopped as she yawned, she was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, "Tell Krillen, I love him and not to follow me. Marron needs him. I'll be back though"
Roshi knew where she was going, and before she had a chance to blast off into the sky, he grabbed on to her wrist, "18 no!" he demanded, "You can't go after 17. In your condition, it would be suicide. And Krillen and Marron need you; you can't just desert them now"
18 shook Roshi off her with very little effort, "Just pass on my message old man" with that, she blasted off into the rain.
---
Krillen hadn't moved a muscle when he heard footsteps fast approaching around the corner, sitting up straight in his chair, he turned his head just in time to see his Master running towards him.
"Master," he stood up, looking and sounding alarmed, "What's the matter?"
"It's 18, she took off. She went after her brother, I tried to stop her. I'm sorry"
"What?!" Krillen turned on his heel and ran to the window, resting his head against the cool glass he sighed, "She's going to get herself killed"
"I tried talking to her son, but it was useless"
"It's not your fault Master," said Krillen, turning his back on the world outside, "She would have done it regardless. You know her; once she's made up her mind on something…" he trailed off. He was scared for his wife.
Roshi knew what he was going to do next, he had raised and loved this boy for practically his whole life, and so before Krillen had even had the chance to ask the question, Roshi was giving the reply, "You're not going after her,"
Krillen's face fell.
"I know you love her, but your daughter needs you. 18 knows what she is doing. She's a smart woman, if things get out of hand, she knows better than to stick around and she'll come back"
"But Master," Krillen felt his knees getting wobbly and sat down in the arm chair next to the window, "She's sore, she's sick, she's tired, it's dark, it's raining. How can you possibly expect her to be ok?" a tear slid down his cheek. He was now not only terrified for his daughter, but for his wife as well.
"Master…" he turned his gaze back to the window, he didn't say anything more though, as much as he loved 18, and as much as he detested the idea of her being along with that psycho that was her brother, he knew his place was here, with Marron. "I've got to go" he sighed, then stood up and disappeared into Marron's room.
"Sir," a nurse looked up upon hearing the door open, "you can't come in here yet"
"I don't care," he strode across the room " I'm staying with my daughter whether you like it or not" he pulled a chair up to the bedside and plonked himself down in it, reaching out, he wrapped Marron's tiny hand up in his.
The nurse quietly left the room; he wasn't so inconsiderate as to intrude on a moment that was clearly meant for father and daughter alone.
"Marron," Krillen voice broke as he reached out and ran his hand across the tiny girls forehead. She was so pale, her little face was expressionless, the only indication the she was even alive anymore was the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, but she even needed a machine to help her breath. "Daddy's here firefly. Don't be scared. Daddy's here, and he loves you, and your mummy loves you to, and she'll be back real soon, I promise" he leaned over the bed and gently kissed her check.
She had a pneumonia, which had led to a whole mass of other problems. Gohan had managed to explain the whole story of how he had found Marron to Krillen and 18 earlier that morning, it had been one of the first times the parents had had time for the boy, their hero. They had been so tied up with doctors, nurses and paediatricians. Gohan had told them how he had found Marron near a river, lying in the mud. It was clear that 17 had left her there with every intention to die. He hadn't hurt her; he had been planning to leave that to nature. He wanted it to be as slow as possible for the girl. His niece. Gohan had gotten to her in the nick of time, he was sure that if he had of come 20 minutes later, he would have been too late. But as it was, he wasn't to late, and he had taken Marron to the hospital, where she had remained under critical watch ever since.
Looking up at the roof, Krillen sighed and closed his eyes. Silently, he prayed to a higher power that his little angel be ok, be allowed to fight the illness and live to grow up and be strong and healthy. That wasn't so much to ask was it? To have his family back.
---------------
"17!" 18 landed in the clearing where his cabin was, raised her arm, and with one shot, blew the entire house to smithereens. It didn't take long for him to arise from the rubble; he rubbed a thin line of blood from his chin, all the while wearing a victorious smirk upon his face.
18 sneered, and took off into the sky, it was faster and with more anger than 17 had ever even known his sister possessed, and before he had had a chance to think about it anymore, 18 had slammed him back down into the remains of what once was his home. She didn't stop there though, because before he knew it, a barrage of Ki balls was raining down upon him at such a ferocious speed that many of them actually hit him before he had a chance to escape the now burning pile of wood.
It wasn't hard for 17 to get the upper hand on his sister, she was upset and scared, the worst possible combination when you were fighting a serious battle, quickly 17 appeared behind his sister and got her into a dangerous sleeper hold around the neck. She struggled for several moments, trying to break free, but the hold began to take effect, cutting off the oxygen to her brain, and she became weaker and weaker.
"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to show up" he sneered.
"You're a bastard" 18 hissed through gritted teeth and she again thrashed around in 17's embrace.
He tightened his grip around her neck, cutting off her air supply, she gagged as she tried to breath, but 17 just kept applying more and more pressure as they hung in the sky high above the burning house.
Once he was satisfied that she had gone without air for long enough, he let go, she only just had time to take one deep breath of smoke filled air before 17 slammed his joined fists down in between her shoulder blades and sent her plummeting towards the ground, she landed with a thud amidst a pile of burning wood and rusty nails. She could feel the metal inside her body reaching dangerous temperatures and she quickly shot back up into the sky where hand-to-hand combat broke out between the twins.
She had no idea how much time had passed, whether it be seconds, minutes, hours. All she was focused on was this minute, surviving just one more second. She was in no condition to be fighting; her body was an emotional and physical wreck. But she kept on going; she owed it to her daughter, and to her husband to win this battle. After everything she had put them though since this whole ordeal had began, she would finally have her victory, and it would be for them and it would be because of them. Krillen and Marron were her only reasons to keep going, she had to see their faces on more time, hold her baby in her arms and take in her sweet smell. She would do this for them, she would win for them.
18 knew how to beat her brother; she knew how to kill him. Those who thought they were immortal were idiots, just because they couldn't age, didn't mean they couldn't die. Below them, something exploded, and flames burst up into the air, they consumed twins for a brief moment, and 18 yelped in pain, her body now covered in burns, blisters and welts. 17 didn't fare much better than her, he seemed to be better at hiding his agony though.
The explosion had sent flames not only shooting upwards, but outwards as well, setting all the forest ablaze. 17 began to cackle as he wiped a dirty smudge from his face. As far as he was concerned, this battle was just heating up.
He lunged at 18; he was just as intent on killing her as she was on killing him. He aimed a fist directly at her jaw and connected, sending her reeling backward. She quickly retaliated though, and charged at him, slamming her knee as hard as she possibly could into his gut. He gagged and began to hack up blood, it splattered all over 18's shirt, she hardly even noticed.
She didn't give her brother even one second to recover. She attacked him full force with a savage assault of punches and kicks, all of which were thrown with such anger, hate and power that even 18 herself was surprised. She was tired and scared. She found it hard to keep her mind on this fight when her baby was lying on a hospital bed, and she didn't even know if she was still alive. Yet here she was, engaged in what was without a doubt her most ferocious battle ever.
18 continued to pound her brother, and he in return belted her back. They fought and fought as the blaze beneath them grew, spreading though more and more of the forest. It cackled and burned beneath them. Heat rose up, near unbearable heat that continued to burn the skins of the two siblings.
Finally, 17 backed away and stared intently into the eyes of his sister. She was covered in smoke, blood and dirt, but there was something in her eyes, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"I didn't think," he shouted over the cackling of the flames, "that you would last this long. I guess I under estimated you"
18 wasn't going to listen to a word he had to say though, she had a job to do, and a family who loved her to get back too. She just wanted to be done with this man once and for all. She powered up a Ki ball and hurled it at him; he only just managed to catch himself before he collided with the burning treetops. And the battle stated all over again. 18 sensed that this was going to get worse before it got better
---------------
"Krillen" Krillen awoke with a start and jolted upright on the bench where he had dozed off. It hadn't been a pleasant sleep, but then again, what he was faced with when he was awake wasn't much better.
"Krillen" he turned his head and almost yelped with fright. There, right in front of him, was Bulma. Her hair was all tied back off her face, and she wore a concerned smile.
"How's everything?" she asked as she sat beside him.
He shrugged, "dunno" as the days wore on and everything seemed to be getting more and more hopeless, he seemed to loose more and more of himself, he hardly had it in him to speak anymore. He silently wondered how long it would be until he had no energy left to care.
"I spoke to the doctors," Bulma placed a reassuring hand on her friends shoulder, "they say Marron made some improvement during the night"
Krillen's eyes lit up, this was the first ray of hope after a long cloud of doom, "really?" he asked.
"Really" Bulma nodded in response. "Hey," she looked around, "where's 18?"
That feeling of doom quickly returned to the pit of Krillen's stomach. She wasn't back yet. "Last night," he stopped to breathe, "She flew off. To find 17. She went to kill him. I'm scared Bulma. I can't loose her, not her"
"Krillen, I..." Bulma trailed off, what was she meant to say? She had seen the kind of shape 18 was in, she was hardly surviving as it was, there was no way she would be able to take on 17 in her condition. In the end, Bulma settled on giving Krillen's shoulder a reassuring squeeze instead of actually saying anything.
"Can..." Krillen chocked on his words and hiccuped, "can I please be alone? Just for a little bit?"
Bulma nodded her head, "I'll go get you something to drink"
He waited until Bulma had walked around the corner before he silently stood up and disappeared into his daughter's room. The doctor was in there, the one that he didn't like. He glanced up at her, his eyes begging for good news, he didn't care how small and insignificant, just as long as it was good.
"How's my baby?" he muttered.
"Sit down," the doctor motioned to the chair beside the bed. He did as he was told. "She's doing well. Better than we expected her to be doing so soon after being admitted"
"It's been three days," Krillen sneered, "three days and she hasn't even opened her eyes"
"Yes, but what's going on on the inside, that you can't see, is making an enormous difference. She was breathing by herself for almost 2 hours last night. Surely you must understand how big that is"
Krillen nodded, "can I hold her yet?" he asked. It was all he wanted.
"Not yet," the doctor shook her head. Krillen realized that this woman was here with nothing but good intentions, she was trying to save Marron's life, and yet Krillen still felt like he hated this woman. The way she spoke, it was so cold and uncompassionate. Like she didn't care about how Krillen or 18 or Marron really felt, she just cared about her big fat pay check at the end of the week.
"Where's your wife?" she asked suddenly, bringing Krillen back to the here and now.
"She went home," he lied, without ever taking his eyes off his daughter, "for clean clothes." What was he supposed to say, 'oh yeah, she went off to go and kill her brother, who was the one who started this whole mess and it should be him in this hospital right now, not a helpless child, but yeah, she'll be back soon doctor.' He had a feeling that that might not go down to well.
"Marron," he reached out and ran his finger down her cheek. He loved her so much. She meant the entire world to Krillen and 18. Nothing was more important to them than her, and Krillen really didn't know how his wife would handle it if the unthinkable occurred. He knew how he would handle it though, he wouldn't, he would die before he was able to come to grips with the death of his own child. But it wasn't going to come to that, because he wasn't going to let it.
---------------
The fire had burned itself out where the once proud cabin stood, it still burned in a circle far out around them, and off in the distance fire crews were working to put it out. The sun was beginning to rise, poking up from behind the flames.
High in the sky, two weary and exhausted beings hovered, they were hardly even able to support themselves in the sky anymore, they panted for breath as blood flowed from their bruised and battered bodies to the ground far below them.
"When are you going to give this up?" 17 threw his hands out to his sides. He was faring better than his sister was, she had been in bad condition before this had even begun "You can't beat me"
"I've not giving up 17. You've taken too much from me already. Enough is enough." She lifted her arm to fire a blast at him, but she was so worn out and scared, a little energy crackled around her fingertips.
Her whole world was spinning around her, she was scared and confused. Was she up or down? Where was 17? She had no idea what was going on anymore. Suddenly, and very much to her surprise, she crashed into the ground. Had she fallen out the sky or had 17 hit her?
Forcing her self into a sitting position, she opened her eyes.
"Well," she heard 17 speaking and focused her eyes until she was able to see him standing right in front of her, "I didn't even have to do anything that time"
18 opened her mouth to shoot a no doubt rude reply at him, but no words came out, instead all that was heard was a loud sob, then another and another. 17 raised an eyebrow. "You're crying?" he asked, and then kicked a plank of wood at her, deeply cutting open her arm, blood oozed out of the wound and formed a puddle around her fingers. "Crying!" he yelled.
"Just leave me alone 17!" she whimpered, she couldn't take it anymore, "You win ok! You win"
17 stopped dead, "What?"
"I don't know what your problem is, but I can't take it any more" her chest heaved up and down as she sobbed, every breath she took felt like her body was tearing in two. She had to get 17 to leave, so she could make her escape, there was no way she could kill 17 and if she wanted to save her own life, she needed to get back to Krillen. "Just let me die in peace" she muttered and dropped her gaze to the ground below her
17 blinked and took a few steps closer to the pathetic heap on the ground that was his sister, "you've got to be kidding me" he spat as he walked a slow circle around her, "You brought this on yourself. You came here looking for a fight, and now that you've finally realized that you can beat me, you want out?" he shook his head, "What would the good doctor think of you 18? What would he think?"
18 didn't even bother to dignify that with a response. "Haven't you put me and my family through enough yet?" she forced herself onto her feet and shot 17 the most evil glance she could muster up. "You almost killed my daughter. What kind of a sick bastard tries to kill a child, a baby, she's only a baby." More tears streamed down 18's face, washing away little tracks of dirt and blood
"Oh for god's sake!" 17 threw his hands up in the air and growled; "all you ever fucking do is complain 18!" he spun around and slapped her hard. "Did you ever stop to think about me for one second!"
18 breathed hard, trying to contain her rage, it didn't work though, and she exploded, "You! The whole reason this fucking mess started is because I cared about you too fucking much! I only ever wanted to help you get well, and this," she spun her arms out around her, "This is how you repay me! You try to get my husband to divorce me, you beat me within an inch of my life, and you try to kill my daughter. How dare you say I didn't think about you 17? You have no right!" she hissed, and swore under her breath. She just wanted to get back to Krillen, to Marron. She needed them.
17 turned and walked away, up the pile of smouldering remains. He ran his fingers through his long knotty hair, which was encrusted with blood and dirt. Taking several deep breaths, he tried to clear his thoughts. They were all so messed up and confusing, he never knew what to think any more. He stayed like that for some time, looking through all of his burnt and destroyed belongings. How dare 18 do this to him? That stupid stupid woman would pay. He turned around to march back toward her. But she was nowhere to be seen.
---------------
Krillen sat beside his daughter's bed, tears welling up in his eyes. Never had he been so happy to be able to look into Marron's big black eyes. She was awake. Drowsy from all the medications the doctors had pumped into her, but she was awake and breathing on her own.
"Marron, I was so scared" he held out his finger and Marron wrapped her little hand around it, "we were so scared we were gonna loose you" he whimpered, but smiled down at her. A doctor walked into the room then. He was over weight and middle aged, but he had a gleam in his eyes, and straight away Krillen liked and trusted him
"Hello little lady," he smiled at Marron as he picked up her patient chart off the end of the bed and glanced over it, "I bet you're daddy is glad that your awake"
"You have no idea," Krillen looked up at him and smiled. The doctor smiled back.
There was silence in the small room for several minutes as the doctor went about his business. But soon, Krillen spoke up "Do you think I could hold her yet doctor?"
"Just one minute," he spoke as he unhooked Marron from one of the machines, "Now you can hold her"
"Are you serious?" he asked, he was expecting the same answer he got every time he asked that question.
"Sir," the doctor smiled, "I have children myself, I would never lie to a parent about something like that. Just be gentle, she's probably still very sore, but being near someone familiar is probably just what she wants"
Krillen didn't need to be told twice, he leaned over and scooped Marron up off the bed. He'd never been more grateful to have arms in his entire life. To be able to hold Marron and kiss her and love her was truly a blessing.
"You're gonna be ok now firefly. We're not ever going to let anything like this happen to you again. I swear on my life, this is over now"
"Krillen!" Krillen's head snapped up, someone was calling his name out in the hall, and it sounded very urgent. "Krillen" the door swung open and Bulma was in the doorway. "Thank god I found you," she panted, and Krillen was instantly filled with doom.
"What?" he asked, "What's the matter"
"It's 18"
Gently, Krillen placed Marron down on the bed, then followed Bulma through the hospital and strangely enough outside. "Where are we going?" Krillen demanded
"She insisted we didn't take her inside. You know how she is with doctors"
They rounded a corner and Krillen stopped dead.
Gohan was sitting beside 18, who was hunched up against the wall of the hospital.
"18," Krillen fell to his knees beside her, "are you ok?"
"What do you think?" she asked.
"That was a stupid question," Krillen leaned forward and kiss her head, "Sorry. Let us take you inside"
"No, I'm not going in there. They'll ask me questions, and touch me and," she began to couch rather violently, "and I don't want that"
"Marron's awake"
18's eyes shot open, "What? Take me to her"
"I can't babe. Look at you. Let Bulma take you to the Capsule Corp. She'll dress your wounds and let you rest. Won't you Bulma?" Krillen looked up at his long time friend. Krillen was scared, but he was doing his absolute best to stay calm for his wife. She needed someone to be strong for her now that she couldn't be strong for herself.
"I sure will" Bulma replied.
"No," 18 protested, "I want to see Marron"
"Tomorrow," Krillen helped 18 into his lap, "tomorrow, when you're feeling better"
"I don't want to go to the Capsule Corp" she hated the labs there. They reminded her of Gero's lab far too much. Krillen knew what she was thinking though.
"Bulma wont take you anywhere near the labs, I promise. You have to go now though, you're a mess babe, these wounds," his eyes travelled up and down his wife's body "They're going to get infected. Gohan, can you help 18 to the car?"
"Yeah," the young boy nodded, "sure"
"18," Krillen looked into her eyes, trying his best not to cry, "I love you"
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A/N: Well at least Marron is ok. But is 18 ok? And did she get rid of 17once and for all or not? What do you think? Final chapter will be up soon, and also keep an eye out for my new fic "Serendipity" (what a cool word) which will be coming out soon! Let me know what you thought of this!
-Deadly Beauty