M4: Sickness from hell
I awaken. I look around the room, expecting a dark room with dark walls. But I find there are blue walls, and light is flooding in through a nearby window. I sit up, trying to sum things up. I look down at my arms. IV drips have been punctured inside them, and my physique is more prominent. Feeling hot, I grab a cup of water next to me on an end table. I tale a sip, wondering what had happened.
'It was a memory...a dream...' I thought. I'm quite convinced that this is the case. But it all seemed so real. As if I was really four again, the scream from my mother making my ears ring. As I thought of it, my past memories flooded back. Also how I was now in the hospital.
'But what do I have?' I must find out what ails me so. I look about for my phone, finding it placed on the end table next to my cup. I slide my thumb across the screen, unlocking it, and go to my contacts. I tap on an icon and put it up to my ear.
"Hello? Vegeta? Are you okay?" My wife's voice says.
"Yes, I'm fine, but where is my jacket?"
"Your leather one?" Bulma asks. I sigh inwardly, trying to be patient.
"Yes, that one."
"Oh, um, I think I just put that in the washer-"
"You what?!" I exclaim. I could not believe this. Some part of me feels as if it has been abandoned. Somehow I do not feel complete. I just could not believe this. "Bulma..." I say, using her name, as this is vitally important.
"um...yes, Vegeta?"
"I need you to get it out immediately, and return the jacket to me. Do not look inside either pocket. Do you understand?" I could hear her mumble something under her breath, but was undetectable through phone.
"Alright, fine. I won't peek."
"Promise?" She hesitated.
"I promise...love you..." after that she hung up, not giving me the chance to reply. Nonetheless, I had to get that jacket back, no matter what.
I hear the door open and close. Gohan comes in with one bottle of medication and looks at me and does a double-take. "Your awake?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, you've been asleep for sixteen hours with a high fever of one hundred and seven. Also your breath intake rate was high, which is not good either. Anyways, you have to take this medicine to help your fever go down. Don't worry, I made it pill form this time," Gohan said with a ridiculous smile. What on Earth made him so happy all the time?
He unscrewed the lid on the bottle and took out four pills. He filled the cup on my end table with tap water, up until the moment I told him to stop.
"What?" the nerd asked.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Filling your cup with water-"
"Tap water. I refuse to drink such unsanitary liquids," I say, coughing.
"Fine, Vegeta. I'll get you some Dasani..." With that said, Gohan put down my pills onto the end table and took his leave out of my room. I snatched the pills as soon as I heard the door close. I swallow each one, by themselves, and wait for the doctor to come back. When he did, I simply smirked. Gohan took one look at the end table and one look at me. Then he gave me a look to tell me that he knew. My smirk just just widened.
"Seriously? You made me go waste a whole dollar?"
"No, just give it to me, I'll drink it." I say.
"Fine. Here," he hands me the water, which I open and take a drink from. He then turns to a clipboard and scribbles something down. "Vegeta, you have a visitor. It's your wife. Do you want her in?"
"Yes. Send her in." Gohan nods and opens the door. He steps out and begins to converse to none other than my wife.
"Your son is also here," Gohan tells me. I give a curt nod and wait for my family to enter. They step inside, clothed from the cold, and sit down on a nearby couch. In Bulma's hands was my leather jacket, dry no doubt by her mother's help.
"Here, Vegeta. It's already dry so yeah."
"Good. Hand it over," I command, Bulma complying with the instructions. As soon as the jacket was in my hands, I felt around in the pockets for a cool metal to brush against my fingers. I checked the first pocket, finding nothing. Knowing it would be there, I check the opposite pocket. I close my fingers around my prize, knowing I can breathe easy now. 'Now how to get it out without the others noticing...'
Bulma watches my actions intently, wondering what I was doing. I lay the jacket on the end table, deciding to retrieve it once I was alone. She still watches me, her blue eyes shining with curiosity. Blue eyes...
I shake the memory from my mind again. The queen is dead. The female ruler of the saiyans was dead. My mother was dead... 'Oh get a grip!' I shout inwardly to myself, correcting my thoughts. 'Either way, Bulma's eyes are sapphire blue, Mother's eyes were more darker, close to indigo. Sure, they look the same, but they're not the exact thing!' I grit my teeth, steeling myself at the memory of her crumpled body against the courtyard surface. I close my eyes, trying to remove it, but it just turns worse. I open them, seeing Bulma giving me a quizzical look. I give a slight shake lf the head, ending the staring contest.
"Mom! I was just talking to Gohan about some random stuff, and I figured out that we're made of stardust! Just holy crap! I never knew that!" My son exclaimed, flailing his arms about.
"Yeah, we're made out of stardust, Trunksy."
"But that's so unnatural! I can't be made out of dust from freakin' stars!"
"You are," Bulma said, nodding her head. "Just embrace it." Trunks just shakes his head, turning back to Gohan. They murmur something undetectable, interlocked in conversation, when Gohan turns towards me.
"Vegeta, I forgot to inform you about your sickness!" he says. "Well, you do have influenza, but you have the most dangerous kind: type-A influenza. But don't worry, I'm pretty sure you won't get any pneumonia. It doesn't happen too often; mainly cancer patients, children, the elderly, and asthmatic children suffer from pneumonia due to type A influenza." I just nod, not very concerned.
"Vegeta," My wife says, demanding attention. "I've just thought of the cutest nickname!"
'Well, that was random...' I ignore that thought and reply in an irritated tone, "What is it?"
"Oh, your gonna love it!"
"Just spit it out already!"
"Well, I kind of thought about your nickname, Veggie, right? So I decided to use some Japanese affection to make it! Does Veggie-kun sound alright?"
My heart stops. She's saying something, but I don't hear. I'm not paying attention. All at once, the scent of honeysuckle and lilacs come to mind, a joyful laughter sounding in my ears. But then it turns bitter and cold, the feeling of love melting away into the grasp of death. I look at my wife. She has a concerned look on her face, her eyes flicking to the monitor. She says my name, but it's muted. My lungs are being constructed my some unknown source, squeezing breath out of them.
'How could something be wrong? She merely said an old nickname! How in the world could this effect me? What's wrong with me?' that's all I could think before I fall backwards, darkness enveloping my vision.
A/N: I know this chapter was shorter than I would have liked. Also how I made vegeta go unconscious and made him look like a pansy...oh well. Can't be helped. But first of all, what's wrong with Vegeta? How in the world could the saying of one nickname cause him to pass out? Well we'll find out in a later chapter. I hope you have enjoyed!
