Chapter 16

The girl's body fell onto the platform, her eyes wide as blood seeped out of the wound in her chest. Vegeta bent down and picked up the fragile girl in his arms. The still unnamed boy growled in anger and looked at the person responsible for it. The soldier noticed the deathly glare sent his way, and shivered. The boy jumped down, and ran at the Porre soldier with a speed unimaginable. That was all they would see, for just then, they reached the top.

The doors opened, but no one got out. Elvor searched his pocket, and finally came up with one of Laze's medicine containers. He gave it to the girl, who took it gratefully. Laze bent down near Ciria, and checked the girl's pulse by placing two fingers at her neck. The pulse was rapid, and losing speed slowly as more blood was lost. She shook her head.

"Sorry Vegeta, I don't think there's anythin' we can do for her," she said, standing up.

Ancha hung her head, and left the elevator. Laze followed her example. Elvor walked down the steps, and watched the girls walk ahead down the corridor to the right, before he turned back to Vegeta, whom was still holding Ciria.

"Vegeta… come on! Let's go…" Elvor got out, but it sounded timid and weak.

He had never seen his friend this way, and it hurt him.

Vegeta was silent, until he said: "I'll… I'll be right there…"

Elvor obeyed, but not because Vegeta told him so. It was both the pain in his eyes and the pain in voice that scared him. Elvor knew that he would never forget a gaze like that.

Vegeta heard Elvor walk down the corridor, but he still didn't move. He was still holding Ciria, looking down at her face. Slowly, her silver eyes opened to look up at him.

"Ve… ge… ta…" she whispered.

"Ssshhh… don't talk," Vegeta said, caressing the girl's face with his hand.

Ciria slowly laid her hand on his.

"I… I've always wanted you to… to do that…" she said, indicating to him caressing her face.

Vegeta didn't know how to respond.

Ciria felt that she was losing it, just when she was where she had always wanted to be. Life was hard, she noticed. Especially for her. Why was it so hard for her? She didn't know, and she didn't think she'd ever.

"Vegeta…" she whispered.

"Yeah?" Vegeta asked her quietly.

"Will you… kiss me goodnight?" she begged, her silver eyes beginning to dull.

Vegeta hesitated, but, it was the wish of a dying girl. He smiled down at her, and slowly lifted her head to his. Their lips met, and Ciria smiled softly.

When they parted, Ciria felt like a weight had lifted off her heart, and right before she passed away she whispered: "I love you… Ve… ge… t……"

Her eyes closed, and her soul left her body. Vegeta looked down at her, tears threatening to overflow, when a hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked back to see the strange boy standing behind him.

His eyes may have been of a blood red, but it seemed as though they weren't as emotionless as thousands of people had claimed to be.

"You're going to have to get up sometime," the boy said, and easily pulled Vegeta up.

This guy couldn't be any younger than Vegeta, a little older maybe, but that's it.

"Who are you?" Vegeta asked, still holding Ciria's body in his arms.

The boy had already started walking down the corridor, and now stopped to turn to him.

"Haelles," the boy said, and continued his walk.

"This's friggin' cool!!" Laze said, having it bounce around the giant room.

They were standing in a room where the first floor could just as well be the second and reversed. It was rather confusing, but Laze seemed to like it.

Elvor blinked, and asked: "Where's the first and where's the second floor??"

Haelles chuckled, and walked over to the center of the room, where a large platform was.

Everyone followed, and when they were on the platform, they noticed they were once again standing on the Dragon Emblem. The emblem was glowing with a purple hue, and when they all stood on the emblem, smoke came from the six outer circles. Suddenly, everyone felt like they shot up through the ceiling and moved at speeds they'd never traveled with before.

When they stopped, they noticed clouds float a little lower than the platform, which meant that they were up rather high. Laze was the first to break the silence.

"Oi!! Wha the Bloody Hell was tha?!"

She looked around.

"How'd we ge' all the way up here?!"

She walked over to the edge, and looked down.

"Wooooooow!!!" she exclaimed. "Bugger!! We're so high up!!"

She looked at Haelles.

"Is this thing floatin'?!?!"

Haelles nodded.

"Yes, it is, not bad, huh?"

Elvor looked down as well.

"Wow, that's one hell of a way down if someone were to fall!!" he said.

"Then you'd better make sure you don't," Vegeta said, regaining part of his humor.

Elvor stood up, with his fists on his hips, facing Vegeta.

"Yeah, well, you'd better…"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off sharply by the opening of large doors at the other side.

They all turned to face the doors, and Haelles watched them open as well. He then turned to them.

"You're going to have to enter on your own. If I were to go with you, things would go awfully wrong."

Ancha looked at him a little confused.

"Why? Iz there somet'ing in zere???" she asked.

Haelles sighed and said: "Just go through the doors, and leave the dead girl if you don't mind."

The last part was directed at Vegeta, who reluctantly laid Ciria's body on the ground.

The group of four walked through the doors, not really comprehending why they were in the first place. The doors closed behind them as they entered, and at first, they saw nothing, until they heard something humming from up ahead. The humming of some sort of machine. Slowly, they made their way over toward the center, hearing the humming almost constantly. After some time however, they stopped dead.

Six Dragon statues stood in a circle, surrounding a pedestal in the very center of the room. Nothing stood on the pedestal however, but from under the statues, came a gentle glow, each lighting up the statue.

One was a pure white, another was a flaming red, a third was pure blue, the next was bright yellow, yet another was lime green, and the last was a pitch black. Each stood in the same position, facing the pedestal, and they all stood in the Dragon Emblem. The four of them walked closer to the center, looking around at the room.

Laze walked toward the wall. She placed her hand on it, and suddenly felt something; indents. As she moved her hand over it, she could make out letters.

"Hey guys!!" she said.

Everyone turned to her.

"Listen ta this!"

Thousands of years ago, we were stranded on these isles, left without our powers, alone, with nothing but our friendship to rely on. Somehow, we managed to survive without our powers, but our bodies underwent strange changes. We became different, and we got scared of people hating us. However, they did the exact opposite and accepted us gladly. Others of our kind would've died, but we survived, glad to have one another.

"How strange," Elvor mumbled.

"Who were zat??" Ancha asked.

Laze shrugged, and joined her friends again.

However, when she joined them, something in the room lit up. The pedestal was glowing brightly, and it seemed to intensify. The four friends were forced to hide behind their arms, as the light engulfed them whole.

Haelles simply waited, until the four of them walked out again, fully transformed. He smirked. The four of them didn't even seem to bother with how they were now; it was controllable.

"Now what do we do?" Vegeta asked of Haelles.

Haelles looked down at Ciria's dead body.

"Let's make sure that this child gets a proper burial. Does anyone know a place for that?" he asked, looking at them.

Laze looked at Ancha, who looked back. Elvor was lost in thought, like Vegeta was too.

"Cape Howl," they each said at the same time, and they looked at each other in confusion.

"So be it."

The group of five now stood at Cape Howl, watching the grave before them, under which lay their friend.

R.I.P.

Our beloved friend Ciria

No one can take anything from her

Nor can anyone give anything to her

What came from the sea

Has returned to the sea

Haelles sighed and said: "The past is dead, it was all just a dream."

Laze looked at him, a little confused.

"Wha do ya mean by tha?" she asked.

Haelles turned to her and said: "It simply means that the past can't be changed and must be accepted."

And with that, Haelles left the gravesite. Laze blinked.

"Me folks also said somethin' like tha," she said and ran after him until she was walking beside him. "They said: 'Don't look back ta the past, keep looking at the present and future. Lookin' back hurts the most… Both figuratively as literally speakin'!'"

Ancha and Elvor, who had walked after Laze and Haelles, joined in the laughter fast enough, but hardly anyone noticed that Vegeta was still standing at the grave.

He looked at the grave, tears rolling down his eyes. This was something in the past that he didn't like to accept, and he never would if he had a say in it. He highly doubted it though. Vegeta reached into his pouch, and pulled his pocketknife out. He slipped the blade out, and watched the shining cool blade glister in the dying sunlight.

Vegeta crouched in front of the grave, and stroked over it with his hand. The writing on the tombstone wouldn't shift, no matter how hard he tried. Then, he lifted the blade of his pocketknife to his wrists.

"Ya think he's alrigh?" Laze asked, looking at Haelles.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. Trust me," he said.

Elvor and Ancha were just playing a game of cards, that Elvor constantly seemed to win. Ancha finally gave up.

"Je KNOW you cheat!!" she accused, while Elvor laughed over yet another victory.

"No, I'm just plain good!" Elvor said, chuckling.

"Oh yeah?!" Laze asked, and grabbed a chair. "Try me on then!!"

They did. There were times that Laze indeed won, and Elvor didn't seem to bother, but everyone was getting worried about Vegeta. He was taking too long up at that grave.

After awhile, Elvor said he'd check it out. Laze nodded, Ancha said she understood, and Haelles just remained silent. Elvor headed toward Cape Howl, wondering what was taking Vegeta so Goddamn long. He reached Cape Howl easily, and when he got there, Vegeta was just leaving, not even seeming to notice Elvor. Vegeta was holding his pocketknife in his hand, and Elvor noticed the indents in his skin where the blade had been pressed to his wrist. Elvor could tell he had hesitated, before deciding not too. However, the tip of the blade was broken.

Elvor headed toward the tombstone, and read the writing he and his friends had put there. There was more this time though. This was done with a pocketknife, and at the fourth letter, the tip had broken off. Elvor smiled as he recognized Vegeta's crooked carving and read aloud what Vegeta had written.

I shall never forget you

Another chapter posted, I'm racing through this rather fast. Alright, Mt. Pyre is their next stop, meaning they're going to meet the Fire Dragon. Also, a small secret about Bulma is revealed.

Reviews:

Bulma BriefsYue Lover: This was as soon as I could.

Hope: Thanks. I never see something like that often, and I just had to put it in there!

Ciria: Well, Elvor meant that Vegeta had waited too long with Ciria, and Elvor wants to make sure he won't do something like that again. And Elvor and Vegeta are like brothers to each other, so they have to care. Yeah, Vegeta blames himself mostly.

trunks babe: Well, maybe I'll find a way to get Haelles back, but I won't promise anything. Oh and uh, Mt. Pyre's in the next chapter, so what does that mean?

Ha! Finished with another chapter. Hey, I would've posted it sooner, but I had my hair done (I had to wash it every two days, so I shortened it, it was driving me CRAZY!!). Anyway, please review.