Sapphire and Gold

By Toku Tenshi

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. Yeah, I know, I had me going too.

A/N: No one reviewed the last chapter? What the Freak! I thought you guys WANTED more chapters, but if you aren't reviewing maybe I have no reason for bothering to upload chapters. Oh, I'll keep writing them, make no mistake about that, but if no one is reading them, then why take the time to put them up?

Chapter 12: Music of the Night

The night air was more frigid than it had been recently and was filled with a fierce, icy breeze. Dashi stood on some scaffolding and gazed out over the destruction on the edge of the city. The mounds of rubble had once been buildings that stood proudly, perhaps where this skeleton of a new one was standing now. Beyond the legacy of the Androids was a scorched land slowly licking its wounds and springing back to life. Her eyes took this all in, but she saw nothing.

Dashi's hair now looked as if someone had dumped a bucket of white paint on her head, the liquid streaking down unevenly into the remains of her pink locks. She felt so… unfamiliar to herself. Dashi raised her right hand, the leather cuff still in place, and frowned at the tanned skin she found there. Slowly, she opened up her clenched fist and her scowl softened considerably. Pressing her hand and the item she held with it close to her chest, the teenager sighed miserably and slumped down to sit on the metal I-beam.

Suddenly, a single clear note shot through the air and demanded the girl's attention. Dashi spun her head to face the direction of the sound. It was coming from beyond the city limits. What could have caused it, she had no idea and was about to dismiss it when it came again, this time lasting much longer. Dashi leaned towards the sound and found her lids grow heavy.

With so much of her focus on the repeating sound, Dashi failed to sense the approach of the fighter until his arms were already tightly around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides and sitting her up straight in one quick movement. "Dashi, you have to come back," Trunks said firmly. When no response came, he tried again. "You're sick, you aren't thinking straight. Mom and I found a way to help you. We can get you back to normal." Trunks felt the girl slump in his arms and he panicked over what he could have possibly done. "Dashi?" He asked, releasing his grip only slightly and moving to get a look at the girl's face. Dashi's eyes were closed and her mouth open slightly, sharp intakes of air were a clear, but disturbing, sign that Dashi was still breathing.

The sound that started as a faint, single note had become an overpowering symphony of pounding notes in an eerie minor. Dashi could barely move, hardly breath and if it wasn't for Trunks's firm grasp the girl would have surely fallen off the scaffolding. There was a meaning behind the music – a command the girl could not yet understand. Something, someone, was calling for her.

Dashi struggled to open her eyes, cursing her body for ignoring her own commands with each torturous lift. She found Trunks staring at her, fear in his eyes and determination on his face. Dashi opened her mouth to speak, but could not make the words come out. Aggravated, Dashi tried another way of communication and sent thought after thought to the male. His face looked surprised and Dashi sighed. Trunks was hearing her. 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!' the girl screamed in her head. 'I must have done something that was very bad to have been dealt with like this.' She lifted a strapped wrist and shook her head. 'I don't know what I did. I just remember landing here… what have I done? What's happened to me!'

Trunks quickly recovered from the shock of the bond once again linking the two minds and stroked the unnatural hair on Dashi's head. 'I suppose it makes sense that you don't remember. You are infected with a virus that is trying to change you but the saiya-jin body won't so easily be converted. The virus seems to raise the primitive instincts of the mind but when you got some of your ki back it must have boosted your control over the virus.' Dashi nodded her head; that made sense. 'We need to get back to CC right away! We have a cure for you there and you could very quickly be back to your old self.'

"Can you hear it?" Dashi asked out loud, surprised that her body would now allow her to speak. "That music?" Trunks strained his ears for a moment to listen, but heard nothing and reported that to Dashi. "I can… hear…" Dashi mumbled as her eyes lowered and head drooped. She was silent for a moment as the command suddenly screamed over the sound in her ears. "It's calling me." She whispered while sliding out of Trunks's arms too quickly for him to register and floated in the air above him. "It's calling me." She said again, a tear falling from one of her glazed eyes as she looked at Trunks. Her hand gripped the tattered ribbon against her chest and before Trunk could even stand up, she was gone. Wither she had teleported or simply sped away at an impossible pace, it didn't matter. She was gone.

Trunks stood on the scaffolding and looked over the city at the mesh of destruction and construction. He looked at the rocky terrain beyond dotted with patches of young plants. His eyes took it all in, but he saw nothing.

They sat together on the sofa, exhausted and confused from the resent set of events. "'Calling me'…" Trunks repeated slowly, trying to figure out what Dashi had meant. He hadn't heard anything at all and though he was only half-saiya-jin he still should have been able to pick up some hint of the music Dashi spoke of. He had tried several times to communicate with Dashi, but the bond was slipping in and out. He wondered if there was some sort of distance limit on the bond.

"Something calling her…" Bulma rubbed her eyes and slid farther into the cushions. "Calling her and only she could hear it."

"I still should have heard something. I'm not a full-blooded Saiya-jin like Dashi, but-"

"You aren't infected either." Bulma cut in as she pieced everything together. "She was being called by the creator of the virus, no doubt. If there was someone controlling the creatures than that would explain their organized movements despite the lack of rational thought."

Trunks sat up straight at turned sharply to his mother. "Why? Why would someone do that? Hasn't everyone suffered enough because of the Androids?"

Bulma sighed and looked at the teenager. "You have too much faith in people, Trunks. Remember, the Androids were built by a human and even though they turned on him, they did just what he programmed them to do." She turned away and looked at the floor. "Humans are horrible creatures that at times will thrive on the pains of others and use broken spirits to build up power. The aftermath of any disaster will always be seized as an opportunity for self gain and preservation by someone."

"If… if that person can get a strong enough hold over Dashi, there's no telling what he'll make her do." Trunks tried to recall which way the girl had been facing when he found her. Dashi was distracted by something; could it have been the music she was listening to? "Dashi gained back a lot of her ki and from that she seems to be more in control now but who knows how long that will last." He shook the thoughts from his head and tried to remember. At last it came to him but he sighed hopelessly. He didn't know what he would be looking for or how far it was. He may have narrowed it down, but ¼ was still a lot of ground to cover. Trunks stopped and looked at his mother. "If you were experimenting, wouldn't you want to watch the results?"

"Of course!" Bulma huffed. "How could I know if anything went wrong if – "She stopped and closed her mouth, understanding what her son meant. "The map!" She cried and the pair hurried over to the area map on the wall. Several different colored pins poked out from the paper, marking places where the creatures were sighted, rumored, or killed. A large red pin stood out from the rest – this marked the first appearance of the creatures. It was near the outskirts of town where few lived and an old subway rusted. "Around here somewhere," Bulma muttered as she fished for a marker in a nearby drawer. "I'd say he wouldn't want to be more than a mile away," she drew a circle as she spoke, "Any farther away and you can't get a radio signal out of the city."

"So," Trunks started while studying the map, "he's either in the city or just outside it. I'll go check right now." He turned to leave but Bulma stopped him.

"You need to rest first; just a small nap is all I ask."

"But Mom-" Trunks began as the woman shoved him to the couch.

"How long has it been since you got some proper sleep, hmm?" Bulma scolded while pushing the teen into a lying position "If you believe me or not you ARE tired and DO need sleep. Not only do we not know exactly where or who the idiot who made the virus is, we also have no idea what to expect." Bulma blew a wisp of hair from her face and crossed her arms. "If you don't go down peacefully I can always get some of those tranquilizers."

Trunks grumbled in defeat and readjusted the throw pillow under his head. "Fine, but don't let me sleep too long…" He didn't leave the woman anytime to respond before sleep took him. The blue-haired woman smiled sympathetically and slowly settled down in a chair for a little shut-eye herself.

8 8

Dashi glided down the hidden staircase into the darkened tunnel effortlessly. If she hadn't been told where to go, then the girl surely wouldn't have found the spot easily. The cracked tile and broken off segment of ceiling bothered Dashi little as her feet simply drifted over the rubble. The music was crescendoing with the notes jumping up the scale impossibly fast and stopped for just a second as Dashi reached a metal door and opened in easily. The sudden light stung her pale eyes and she looked away, raising an arm to block the brightness. The music started up again, slow and low in the last measures of the haunting piece that had guided the girl. She had finally arrived at the source.

In the large room were numerous computers and clear tubes filled with strange, different colored liquids. Theories and equations covered boards, walls, and parts of the floor that were carefully marked off. Several doors stood along one wall, some broken and most likely lead to nowhere. In the center of the room were a gurney, a few odd-looking pieces of equipment, and a tri-layered keyboard type instrument. Seated at the keyboard was a figure in a tattered and dirty lab coat. Dashi made her way over to the figure and touched down a yard away, her socked feet making little noise but enough to turn the figure around.

It was a man, middle-aged but appearing much older than he truly was. His dark grey hair was messy and hung over the left side of his face. He was startled, to say the least, and stood up from his seat quickly. "Wh-what do you want? How did you get here?"

Dashi slowly bowed her head and looked up at the man. "You called me," she replied simply in her sweet voice. The man straightened and cleared his throat. He walked around the girl, sizing her up and taking note of her many oddities.

This truly had to be one of his creatures. He smiled broadly and motioned to the gurney, indicating that Dashi should sit down. "You are not like the Others," he started as he once again sat by the keyboard, "what is your name?"

"Dashi." She said while floating up slightly to sit on the high hospital bed. The man was surprised.

"H-how did you do that?" He asked, getting up once again to re-check the girl for any device that might give her flight.

"I have always been able to do so. It is something quiet simple for my people."

The man stopped and leaned on the bed, starring at Dashi incredulously. "Your 'people'? You aren't from around here?"

"No," Dashi replied with a small chuckle, another thing that the Others never did, "in more ways than one I come from very far away." She turned to face the man and looked at him with half-lidded eyes. "I came from a planet called Vegeta and a time before the Androids attacked."

"Another time? Another planet?" The man stood straight and ran a hand through his tangled hair. "That would explain how you react differently to the Change. More than just your appearance, you act differently, much MUCH differently, than the Others." He continued to mumble to himself as he uncapped a marker from his pocket and searched for a clear space to write. The man scribbled insanely on a door for a few minuets before rushing over to Dashi and hooking her up to some of the equipment nearby. "Tell me, my Dashi, what else can you do?"

The girl tilted her head and smiled. "Would you like me to show you?" The man gulped. There was something in her tone… he nodded his head yes, despite the nagging in the back of his head. Dashi leaned forward and held up her left hand, looking at her palm. The man leaned in too and waited. He didn't have to wait long. Energy crackled in the open palm and flared into an unsteady looking bit of blue light. The man jumped back, and just in time, as Dashi closed her fist, sending the light into five angry streaks across the room. They whirled and darted across the space like psycho-fireflies until Dashi raised her fist and pointer her index finger to the ceiling where all the lights immediately struck in the same spot and made a mad-dash for the dark sky above several tons of rock. Dashi smiled and tilted her head again. "Would you like to see more?"

The man stood very shocked for some time, starring at the girl before him, wondering how much of her abilities and attitude were natural and what was due to the virus he had constructed. After some time he managed to shake his head in a 'no' and chuckle. "What a treasure I have found," he told himself while once again running his eyes over the teenage girl.

"If you don't mind, Master," Dashi started sweetly as she regarded the machines gathering whatever information they sought, "What may I call you? You know my name; I think it only fair for you to tell me yours."

The man smiled smugly. "Although I think 'Master' would do fine, I will grace you by telling you my name." He took Dashi's right hand in his own. "I am Mul Kimchi," he kissed Dashi's hand lightly and bowed, "my goddess Dashi."

End chapter.

SA: Dumdumdum! Dashi is in the hands of the enemy, literally! How can Trunks save her when he doesn't know where she is? It's been a while, but how about an interview? Tonight we have…. Mul Kimchi!

MK: Hello, miss author. It's so good of you to finally put me in the story.

SA: Honestly, I had no idea you'd be popping in… looks around

MK: You what! And I suppose now you're going to tell me that you came up with my name by randomly clicking around BIN-GO!

MK: Ahhh! I can't believe this! This is insane!

SA: no, YOU are.

Mk: nu-uh!

SA: yeah-huh!

MK: nu-uh!

SA: Yeah-huh!

(etc. etc.)