Disclaimer: don't own DBZ
Warning: Just language mainly.
A/N: I rearranged the lay-out of my entire story. As some might know, it's a new rule on that you can't post long author's notes or even review replies. Seeing as I have already lost one story, I really do not want to lose this one. So to be certain Prince of Darkness stays up on I revamped it. I think I'll just have to reply on the reviews by email, unless you really don't want me to send you an email or something. Just tell me on review if you don't.
CHAPTER 20 : NIGHTMARES AND MYTHOLOGY
"And … that's it." Piccolo had just finished reading the whole chapter of the 'Apocalypse' to the Saiyans who had so insisted on it. Jeice had also woken up by now, as the sun has risen, and had just listened along instead of interrupting. Raditz however was still asleep.
"What? … But it made no sense. At all." Vegeta exclaimed annoyed.
"It's very symbolic." Piccolo explained. "Like about everything in this book."
"If it's so hard and symbolic, then why do people read it so much? Isn't religion something of the masses…" Turles spoke.
"It has to do with their religion… the message behind is usually quite simple, but then again, there are also a lot of humans who just believe everything literally. But anyway, the 'end of the world' is a rather complicated matter. Many other religions have their own 'Apocalypse' as well, 'Ragnarok' for instance."
" 'Ragnarok'?" Turles asked, looking thoughtful "I think I've read something about that in those books…"
"It's the 'end of the world' in Old-Scandinavian mythology. But it's less symbolic, more like just a story. But I actually don't know much more about it." The Namek replied.
"I don't know… it seemed to me… wait, is there a book of it too, like this 'Apocalypse'?"
"No, not like this… but there are probably plenty of books written about the mythology, and the Ragnarok."
"Then where can we find these books?" Vegeta asked.
"In a library, most likely." Piccolo answered. "There should be…"
He was interrupted by a yawn from a sleepy longhaired Saiyan who was now staring at them "What's all the excitement about…"
"Oh, we found the 'Apocalypse', little brother."
"No kidding…" He yawned again, sat up on his bedroll, and stretched out his large, muscular body.
Vegeta watched him, and then grinned slyly "And we're certain you know more about it…"
Raditz blinked "Er… why would you think that?"
Turles joined in "I'm sure you know what we're talking about … War."
Raditz hesitated for a moment before answering "No, I … really don't. And why do you call me that way."
"You called yourself that way when you had that 'amnesia'." Turles replied "Come on, little brother… you do know more, why don't you just tell us?"
In the meanwhile, Raditz was having an inner discussion as well 'He's right, why can't I just tell them? Father's still alive, we're both reincarnations of Demon Lords and got their powers now… that's about it.'
'Because we have been betrayed in the past before we could enact our revenge and take our rightful place in the universe. We can't have this happen again. That's why we must be careful until more is certain. Too much is at stake right now… This might be our last chance.' War replied in Raditz' mind.
'I see… Very well then.'
Raditz shook his head "I really can't tell you right now… just trust me, please… besides, I really don't know much more than you guys do, so we'll be still looking for more answers together."
Though neither Vegeta or Turles looked too happy about this answer, they nodded in acceptance. "But you will tell later on, right?" Vegeta still asked.
"I will, promise… You will find out."
"Weeelll… why don't we go searching for this 'Rag-whaddyamacallit' thing then?" Jeice piped in, also trying to break the tense moment.
"Sure thing." Turles agreed.
"So… why is there STILL no answer…" The angry Ice-jin tyrant gritted between his teeth.
The alien sitting behind the communication computer gulped nervously "I'm trying, my Lord… there is connection, but there is simply… no one there. No one's answering or opening the link."
Frieza growled annoyed "This is preposterous! Simply impossible, there has to be someone there. Why, they should already be heading to the Cold planet with those ill-mannered monkeys."
The poor technician thought his life had come to an end when suddenly the computer beeped and the screen went on. He gasped "Someone's answering!"
"Finally!" He pushed the alien out of the way to hover in front of the screen himself, at least in the hoverchair, and yelled at it "Where have you been? Couldn't you just-…" He fell silent as the screen showed nothing but an empty room, littered with the mangled corpses of the former technicians of the control room on King Cold's spaceship. "W-What the …" He stuttered.
"Why, hello there, lizard breath!" A strangely familiar voice suddenly answered as a hooded figure appeared on the screen.
"What?" Frieza practically exploded "Who, what … have you done that?"
"Done what?" The figure glanced to something off-screen "Oh, that! Yeah, that was me…" He nodded.
The Ice-jin was steaming with anger "Who.. the hell… are you? And where's King Cold?"
"Oh, he's pretty… dead. Finito. Gone. Down the drain. Well, actually, barbequed. Fried. Roasted. Toast. Take your pick."
"W-W-WHAT?"
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, etc. Yep, he's gone. But that was my son's doing though. He gets the credit for that one. And man, that were some fireworks! Too bad I didn't have a camera at the time. I would have loved to see it in slow-motion."
Frieza was just gaping wide-eyed at the screen.
"Quit that, you're attracting flies. Unless you'd somehow like that… not that I'm interested in your diet at all. But you're starting to resemble a fish. A very ugly one at that."
"Raaaaaaaaaaaah!" Frieza yelled out in frustration, causing everyone in the same room to cower away in fear.
"Oh, cool it, overgrown lizard. Don't blow an artery or something. On second thought… please go ahead."
Frieza stared seething at the screen "Who. The hell. Are you?"
"You know me…" The person chuckled, and a hand reached up to lower the hood, revealing the face of a Saiyan he thought he had gotten rid of a long time ago…
"NAAANNNIIII? BUT YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Not dead… more like, 'Death'." The Saiyan smirked "It has been a long time, hasn't it, lizard… But here I am, 'coming back to haunt you'. Death awaits you, Frieza."
Frieza would have staggered back if his legs still worked, but instead he kind of looked even more pale than usual, as he heard the same voice from his dream repeat those words, now over and over again in his head while his mind's eye saw the dream being played over again in detail.
The face, the evil smirk, the clothes, the weapons… they were exactly the same, as if the creature from his dream had come to life and indeed came back to haunt him now. Cold sweat ran over Frieza's face and body as his gaze was locked on the screen.
"You will die, Frieza. Either by my hands, or those of my kin. Just like your 'dear father' was utterly obliterated by my son. You have met him… and by that, I meant the same way you met me like this."
Frieza lost his breath again, the vision of the red-armoured, longhaired creature appearing in front of his eyes, he saw it in reality before in the eyes of the longhaired Saiyan when he fought back against the Ice-jin. He could almost see the deadly halberd's blade glint in the cold light of the room as it was brought back in a wide arch… Frieza screamed again but the vision was gone before the weapon's stroke fell.
Frieza was left gasping for breath and bathing in his own sweat, the laughter from the scarred Saiyan ringing in his head while the communication link was closed.
"You're, erm… quite popular." Jeice blinked as he watched the last human run screaming out of the building called 'library' after seeing Piccolo.
"My father took over the world once for a few days."
"Oh… I wish my father had…" Jeice sighed.
"At least my father kept ruling it." Vegeta retorted.
"Will you guys quit acting like children for a moment and help me search for this 'Ragnarok'?" Turles said annoyed.
"It's a plane." Raditz replied while looking to a picture.
"What?" Turles blinked.
"Raditz… you're holding the book of a game, which some kid must have left here. There's probably just some plane called Ragnarok that appears in that game." Piccolo explained.
"Oh… how stupid." He put the booklet with 'Final Fantasy VIII' printed on front of it back down on the table.
Turles sighed while shaking his head "I'm sorry, guys, but this is very important… we've got to find out what is going on with us."
"But Turles, none of us except for Piccolo can read Earthen language, so we can't really help much." Jeice commented.
Turles nodded "I know… but at least Piccolo showed you how 'Ragnarok' is written, so you can find that. So let's spread out and try to find it in this library."
The others nodded in agreement and they started searching the large display of books.
A little while later, Raditz walked over to Vegeta "Hey, Ouji-sama… I couldn't help but notice you're not looking all that well. Had a bad sleep, next to the happenings with those strange creatures?"
Vegeta looked up to him while putting another book back on the shelf "Hai, I had a strange dream… it could be called a nightmare, but at least it didn't involve Frieza or anything like that."
"Then what was it?" Raditz asked curiously.
Vegeta sighed softly "Well… actually, I don't see why I should tell you everything while you don't tell us anything at all." He replied a bit annoyed.
Raditz just gave him a smile instead of an angry answer "I told you I just can't right now, Ouji-sama…"
"Then you won't mind waiting until you decide to tell your part. But if it makes you feel better, I haven't told it to Turles or anyone else either."
Raditz nodded "Alright, my Prince. You can tell me then whenever you see fit." He walked casually past Vegeta, but their tails brushed against each other when he did, which sent a spark up Vegeta's spine that made him gasp. He turned around looking to the retreating back... or hair of Raditz.
"Raditz, you're hot!"
Raditz turned around halfway to look at Vegeta and flashed him a grin "Heheh, I know… but thanks anyway."
"…. Er… No, I meant, you're really hot!"
"Yes…" Raditz raised an eyebrow.
Vegeta sighed, stalked over and grabbed Raditz' tail in a manner that wouldn't really hurt him "Your tail… it's almost burning hot."
A look of realisation appeared on Raditz' face "I, er… must be after-effects from the fight with Cold or something…" He pulled his tail from Vegeta's grip and wrapped it securely around his waist "It's nothing, really… I'm fine."
Raditz started to walk away, but Vegeta moved in front of him, staring stubbornly up to the longhaired Saiyan "Raditz… you ARE the fire creature, aren't you…"
"Er… what fire creature?"
"The one that destroyed Cold, of course… Raditz, I might have been dizzy from the hit, but that creature appeared right where you stood, and disappeared where you were lying unconscious. Besides, Turles and Piccolo said they had seen the same."
"I told you I don't remember."
"You said you indeed knew more and that you will tell about it."
"Yes, later on, but not now."
"Why not? Heh, 'War' is not letting you?"
"Er…. Well…. Yes!"
Vegeta blinked "What?"
"…. Nevermind, I'm just… kidding… erm… we're still supposed to look for that Ragnarok thing, right?" He turned again and walked away.
Vegeta stared at him while he left 'This 'War' is a real person… the one from my dream?… or is Raditz just him… or … is 'War' possessing him and pretending to be him?' He raised an eyebrow in confusion, then sighed frustrated "This whole mystery thing is really working on my nerves…"
A little yellow plane landed on the ground before the small house that was previously occupied by five aliens. The blue-haired young scientist stepped out and with one glance to the open door of the house, it wasn't hard for her to notice there wasn't anyone inside.
While the others had stayed at Capsule Corp. to discuss the matter, made even more complicated by Baba's cryptic riddles, she had gone to confront these visitors herself in person, without the rest really knowing she did.
"Riddle me this, riddle me that…" The woman murmured to herself, thinking of Baba's words, as she looked around "Where are those 'dangerous' aliens at…"
Seeing no sign of them, she assumed they could have gone to the nearby city. There probably wouldn't be much else to do around this area. So Bulma stepped back into her vehicle, started it up and headed to the city.
Once Bulma arrived in the normally quiet city, it wasn't too hard to find the aliens' trail. Just follow the panicking humans.
"They're at the library? I wonder what they're up to in there…" She mused to herself as the large, old building came in sight, with the large frontal wall in the ClassicGreek and Romanstyle that was popular during the Renaissance. Bulma entered the library as quietly as she could, and she quickly noticed the five beings standing huddled around a table.
'So they were telling the truth… Piccolo is with them, and one of the aliens really looks like Goku's twin brother. But what are they reading?…'
"I found it!" Jeice yelled to the others, taking a book from the shelf he was checking, and ran back to the centre of the library. He gave the book to Piccolo who read the cover and nodded.
"This seems promising indeed…" The Namek said and placed the book on the table as the Saiyans arrived as well.
"Found something?" Vegeta asked, looking down to the book.
"Hai. 'Ragnarok and other Old-Scandinavian myths'. This must be it." Piccolo replied and opened the book.
