Versus 3: Eclipse
--And Everything Under the Sun Is In Tune--
After finally leaving Goten to heal and collecting the torn pieces of her shirt from the cameras in the hall, Bra slowly made her way back outside. She couldn't help feeling guilty about leaving him deserted. She had been a little self-centered in the demands she made on him. She hadn't tried to see things from Goten's point of view. Maybe there had been a good reason for him to totally disregard her wishes the way he had.
No. Trying to understand his motives was not something she should do. The real damage didn't come from the fact that he'd held back. A lot of this was about the fact that he'd taken a shot at her pride. A lot of this came from the fact that he underestimated her. And a lot of it was about the fact that he'd deprived her of her right to grow as a fighter, as a Saiyan. But the majority of the reason she'd been so angry at him was that he'd lied to her about it for so long.
On the other hand, maybe she was a fool to believe that she could actually become a great fighter. Maybe this was a sign that she should give up fighting altogether. Tears threatened her eyes again. There was no way she could give up fighting when she'd been fighting all her life. It was like giving up music or building those useless contraptions she built sometimes. Just as those things were in her blood, it was in her blood to fight. If she gave that up, she wouldn't even be the same person she is today. If she gave that up, she'd lose the connection she had with her father. The only person she'd really ever looked up to.
Besides Goten, that is. And if she gave up fighting, she may as well give up Goten. For some reason, even though she was at the border of despising him, she couldn't bring herself to accept losing him. Of course, when she'd left him out there to die, she would have lost him. A bit of a drastic measure, leaving him to die like that. What if she would have left him out there too long? What if she'd never gone back for him? She would have lost him forever.
Wasn't attempted murder some sort of federal offense? Couldn't she go to prison for trying to kill someone?
Then reality hit her. Goten wouldn't want to be with a person who tried to kill him. Bra knew that if he'd tried to kill her, she wouldn't want to be with him.
What had she done...?
The tears that lingered at the backs of Bra's eyes finally began to fall as she rounded the corner of Capsule Corp. She glimpsed the watery image of a van in the front yard and gasped. Had one hour gone by in what seemed to be such a short amount of time? She wiped away the tears that stained her face and impared her vision. And when she reopened her eyes, she knew that this was Eroder's band van. It didn't have anything in particular on it to signify that fact, but it was an unknown van in her yard. So it had to be Eroder's band van.
She hadn't even asked Nick to go out with her tonight. What was she going to do?
She looked down at her clothes. All she had on was a blood-stained bra and a pair of jeans. She gasped again. There was no way she was walking through the door like this. Especially considering that Pan, Marron and two members of Eroder were probably in there waiting for her.
Bra would just have to go back in the way she'd left. And as soon as she made it back into her bedroom window, there was a knock on her door.
So Bra quickly washed some dried blood off her chest and stomach, changed clothes and splashed her face with water. Then she ran to the bedroom door.
Once she opened it, Pan burst into the room. "What in the world is going on, Bra?" She put her hands on her hips and stared at her angrily.
Bra was really in no mood for this.
"We've been waiting for you for about 20 minutes. Nick said that you never asked him if he'd go out with you. What's the deal?" Pan asked.
Bra frowned. There were no answers she could give that would excuse her impunctuality. But she'd have to give it a shot. Just when she was about to speak, Pan interrupted her.
"Have you been crying?" Pan asked.
Not again! Why did the evidence of tears stick around for so long?
Bra looked away. "I got soap in my eyes." She looked back at Pan.
Pan rolled her eyes. "That's just not gonna cut it this time." She walked back over to Bra's bedroom door and slammed it shut. "Now, you listen to me." She put her hands on Bra's shoulders and made her sit on the bed. "You're gonna tell me what's going on. I know there's something wrong. And if you don't tell me what it is, I can't help you."
Who did Pan think she was, pushing her around like this? Making demands?
"Who said I needed your help?" Bra asked, looking up at Pan with a look that could have shattered a stone.
But Pan didn't back down. "ME. I said you need my help. I'm probably the only friend you've got in the world because you never open up. We've been friends all our lives, yet I can never tell what's going on in that thick skull of yours. It's okay to keep some secrets. Everyone does. But when you don't talk about things that effect you like this... Well, let's just say it's really useless to have friends if you don't get help from them when you need it. And you need it now."
Bra was a bit speechless.
"You keep so much bottled up that I don't even know who you are. It's like we're perfect strangers," Pan said quietly. She sat next to her and looked straight ahead.
Silence...
In a way, what Bra was doing to Pan was like what Goten had been doing to her...
And in a way, what Goten had been doing to her with his power was like what Bra had been doing to him with her love...
"Pan?" Bra finally spoke.
Pan looked at her. It was a serious look. Not a look Bra should be getting from this fun-loving teen.
Bra sighed. "I think I've been taking you for granted. I think I've been taking everyone around me for granted. I haven't been putting things into perspective. And for that, I'm sorry."
It must have sounded strange to hear her apologize because Pan looked shocked. And Bra couldn't blame her for being surprised. It wasn't every day that she apologized to someone.
"But I can't tell you exactly what's been going on with me right now," Bra continued.
Pan looked a little disappointed.
"I can't tell you because it would just ruin our night out," Bra went on. She put her hand on Pan's shoulder. "I want us to have fun tonight. And then I promise I'll burden you with my problems."
"I can't believe you're putting it off again! You always do that!" Pan almost shouted. But after only a few seconds, she smiled and stood up. "You promised. Just remember that you promised." She clasped her hands together. "Come on! Nick already agreed to go out with you tonight. It's a triple date!"
Bra gave Pan a strange look. Her friend was definitely one of a kind.
--moving on--
"And now, the lady we've all been waiting for. Bra's finally ready," Pan said once she walked into the living room.
Bra's face was flushed with embarrassment. Was this really called for?
To add insult to injury, everyone in the living room gave her a standing ovation. Marron, Wes, Nick and Hunter were all there.
Bra folded her arms across her chest.
"What was the hold up, Bra?" Marron asked. "Couldn't decide on which outfit to wear?"
It was sarcasm. That was just like Marron. Always teasing Bra about her lack of style or something along those lines.
"Let's just get out of here and get this night started," Bra said. She looked at Nick and frowned. "Oh..., I'm really sorry that I blew you off earlier." She lowered her head.
Nick shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I think I've gotten to know a little about how you are. I'd expect no less." He smiled.
Was he being funny? Because with the way Bra was feeling right now, she didn't have a very good sense of humor.
She studied his smile and noticed that it faded into a kind of sadness. No one else was really paying attention, but Bra knew all too well how he felt. She knew that he was strangely attracted to her mother, but would never be able to have anything with her. Just like she knew that she was strangely attracted to Goten, but would never be able to have anything with him.
In Nick's situation, it was nobody's fault. Her mother was married and Nick just so happened to fall for her. How her mother felt about him, she would never know. She thought highly of him. That was about all she knew. She didn't really want to think about her mother being attracted to someone--not even her own father. But that was beside the point. Nick had a case of ULS. Simple and to the point.
Bra's situation was a little more complicated. She was attracted to Goten. And Goten was attracted to her. That was a simple enough concept. But they never really 100 got it together. That was bad enough in itself. Then came the fact that she wasn't able to tell Goten that she loved him. His world had obviously been shattered. That added an unnecessary obstacle in an already rocky situation. Next came the fact that Goten had been holding back some of his power. Her pride was scarred. Nothing in the world could have hurt her more. And finally, to add icing on the cake called disaster, she tried to kill him and actually left him for dead. Had he not come in and out of conscious, he would have never known about that part of it. It would have just been something she had to live with. But he knew about it. And now just she didn't know what to think. Would he hate her forever? Was there no going back to him after what she'd done?
At some point during her reflection, they had all gotten into the van and were driving down the road. She began to notice that Pan and Marron really were just a couple of chatter boxes. It was something she'd always known, but she hadn't paid attention to it lately because she was always in her own little world. As Wes drove, Marron wore out his ear. But he seemed to be chatting right along with her. So maybe he didn't have it so bad.
And then there was Pan. She just rambled on incessantly, talking with both Hunter and Nick. Hunter wasn't much of a talker, so he really didn't have anything to say. Yet somehow he seemed to be at home with this kind of thing. Nick, on the other hand, spoke to Pan about the band and tomorrow's gig. Bra could tell that this was not really a date for Pan. She was just out to have a good time.
This would surely go on all night. They took a short break from yammering to take in a movie. Bra couldn't be sure what movie they'd gone to see because her mind was on other things. Namely how Goten would react once she got him out of that regen tank.
Then it was back to the road and they yapped away again. Neither Bra nor Hunter cared to join in the conversations. They just listened quietly.
The group drove to a park at the edge of town.
"I love to see this place after dark," Marron said, clinging to Wes's arm.
"I remember hearing you say that you liked this place," Wes told her as they walked ahead of the rest of the crew and continued to talk.
Bra hugged herself and looked up at the night sky. The light pollution on this side of town made it impossible to see the stars. Or maybe it was just a cloudy night. She couldn't be sure which. Yet the place was still beautiful. The lamp posts decorating the sides of the broad brick walkway running through the middle of the park were stunning. The amount of light they cast onto the path was utter perfection. It was like someone measured out exactly how much illumination each light would give off, then planted the surrounding lamp posts flawlessly to create the indescribable sight before her. Almost as if the whole park were in black and white.
"Hey," Pan chirped to everyone. "There are the swings. Nobody's around. Why don't we go take over?"
Hunter smiled. "Sounds good."
It was the first thing she'd heard Hunter say all night.
"No thanks," Wes said. "I think Marron and I will just walk around a little more."
Marron smiled and lay her head on his shoulder.
Pan giggled. "Alright, but you're gonna miss out." She went running over to the swings and occupied one on the end.
Hunter went to the one beside her. They both laughed and swang away.
Bra shook her head. Grown people on children's play things was a ridiculous sight to see.
"Wanna try out the see-saw with me?" Nick asked Bra.
She looked a little surprised.
"It would be pretty silly for one person to ride a see-saw, you know," Nick went on. He had a silly smile on his face.
A smile Bra hoped she would see on the face of the man she loved again. But chances were that she wouldn't.
Nick went over to a teeter-toter and readjusted it so that it would be a little more balanced for their differing weights. He looked Bra up and down. "I would ask what your weight is, but girls don't seem to like to reveal that kind of information."
Bra shrugged. "I'm somewhere around 130."
Nick raised his eyebrows. "Well, you're not self-conscious about that at all, are you?"
Bra raised an eyebrow. "There's no reason to be," she answered confidently.
"Wow. Alright," Nick went on. He got the see-saw into position. "There. Ladies first."
Bra shook her head and got on the contraption. It had been years since she'd done something like this. Decades even. She didn't have much of a chance to do things like this in her youth, being the daughter of a fighter and a technological genius.
Once they started teetering and totering, Bra started to feel something she hadn't felt in a long time. She felt like she was having pure unadulterated fun. She even laughed a little.
The night would eventually come to an end. And then she would have to deal with her problems again. But for the time being, she would ease her mind with the antics of children.
--End And Everything Under the Sun Is In Tune--
--Welcome again to another episode of Versus 3. Thank you for reading this insanely strange story that's getting more and more depressing as it goes on. What will happen in the last episode of this tale? There's only one way to find out. Please stay tuned. I know it's hard to do sometimes.
--This story's uncanny ability to write itself seems to be getting me into more trouble than I can handle. What do you think? Please review.
--Thank you all for your wonderful and much needed reviews. Whether this entire catastrophe goes on or not is entirely up to you.