Chapter Three

"An apple?" Sen asked confused, handling the juicy red fruit, turning it around in her hands.

"I know! It's such a weird thing to get someone for their birthday." Sen frowned deeper, watching as Kyrie as she turned around again, pacing around the bedroom.

"Maybe it's symbolic?" Kyrie snorted.

"I don't know. I... I know it sounds weird, but every time I've seen him, he seems to be.. expecting something from me." Sen let Kyrie snatch the fruit from her hands, watched as Kyrie examined it closely, as if expecting it to burst open with some sort of hidden message.

"I think maybe he didn't want to get you something else, in case he thought you might think he stole it." Kyrie stopped pacing, staring sadly at Sen.

"... Maybe. I suppose that's what I would think if he had given me something like a watch or something." Sen nodded.

"Exactly."

"I still don't get it though? Why me?" Kyrie began to pace again, her mind racing. Sen shrugged, yawning.

"You should have asked him." Kyrie sighed, watched as Sen stood up, stretching.

"You going to bed?" Sen nodded.

"I don't think he'll be back tonight. I know you worried, but try not to think about it. Just think of it as a birthday present."

"I'll try to push it out of my mind that it wasn't from a megalomaniac android, currently hell bent on wiping out the population of the planet, shall I?" Sen laughed.

"Exactly! Now, get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning." Sen smiled warmly at Kyrie as she left the room, her blood colored eyes beaming.

Kyrie threw herself at her bed, staring at the apple. She thought of Cell. She wondered why and how his strange infatuation with her began, and what the significance of the apple was for. She wondered absently, if the apple was poisoned. She pushed that thought from her mind. Cell appeared to be a man of his word, and she didn't think he'd need to poison her to kill her. She shuddered at the memory of the people being drained like liquid through his tail.

She hesitated, before she put the apple to her lips, and took a small bite. She savored the rich and sweet taste, trying hard to recall if she had ever eaten an apple quite as sweet as this one. She took another bite, feeling the satisfying crunch of the apple's crisp flesh. Kyrie stood up, headed to her balcony. She leaned against the banister, sparing a glance at the spot where Cell had sat perched, more cat than man. She took another bite of her apple, letting her mind wonder in the night air.

\/\/\/

He stopped on top of an outcropping of rocks, silent, watching the town nestled neatly in a valley. He could feel the life force of several hundred people sprawled beneath him. His tail gave an involuntary flicker to express his agitation. He didn't understand why he felt so bitter and angry. He turned to Kyrie, his Kyrie. It had been four years since he had last seen her. He had spent those four years as a nymph beneath the ground, absorbing nutrients and energy so that he could obtain his mature form once again. As his body had slowly evolved it's self, his mind had locked him into a sort of sleep like trance. Occasionally he dreamed. Sometimes of his creator, Doctor Gero and the purpose he had been given in life. Sometimes he had dreamed about his sibling androids, the teenage twins, 17 and 18. He saw the young roughish faces, salivated at the power they would eventually give him. But most of the time, he had dreamed of Kyrie.

He hated himself for it, knew Gero would be ashamed of him if he ever knew that his greatest creation had developed a soft spot for a human female. But Cell couldn't help it. He had tried to simply erase her from him mind, and that had been horrid. His mind refused to focus, and he found himself even more infatuated with the woman he had spent so many lonely nights with. She had been his comfort, his companion, and his friend. She had known him to be evil, but had accepted him regardless. She had confided her deepest and darkest secrets to him, considered him to be a great source of trust.

When he had finally emerged from the ground and shed his larval form, taking to this fresh, untouched, peaceful world, his mind had once again turned to Kyrie. He had fought hard to resist simply going and seeing her. After all, she had told him where she had lived when she was younger. He knew where she would be.

Despite his shame, despite his pride, he had turned his back on the veritable smörgåsbord of humans in the city near to where he had emerged, and instead, he had traveled the relative distance to find the woman who had haunted his dreams, hoping that if he could just see her, he could concentrate on hunting his androids.

He found the manor easily, as it stood out like a beacon on the side of a huge hill. It was just as grand and impressive as Kyrie had always told him it was. He had sat hidden in the bushes, out of sight. He had seen the hover cars arrive, delivering their important guests. He had not expected to see her.

The light turning on in one of the smaller upstairs balconies had caught his attention. Even though he was here to see her, he was not prepared for her sudden appearance, dressed in a form hugging black gown, looking sadly down at the city below the hill. She had hugged herself then, the night air chilly and breezy. He resisted the urge to go to her then. He moved through the underbrush to get a better view. Her eyes suddenly fell to where he now stood. He froze, watched as her eyes swept across the shrubbery under the tree line, then she turned, and headed back inside.

He had leaped then, silent and predatory, he had landed smoothly on the balcony. He berated himself mentally, unsure what he hoped to achieve with his reckless actions. But the damage was done. He hid himself quickly in the shadows of the room. He had seen her then, truly. She was as she had always been, only the lines of age and stress removed from her features. She was slightly shorter, and didn't have the hard form from years of poor and unpredictable diet. Her hair was shorter as well. The only real difference was her eyes. She had yet to gain her adult maturity, her eyes now softer, more innocent... less simply accepting. And then she had seen him.

He stood now, several days later, on top of the rocky outcropping, torn between devouring the town before him, or going back to Kyrie, and explaining why he had such an obsession with her. But no, that would be simply stupid, fool hardy and painful.

"No." He was considerably more used to talking now, after sharing a long discussion with Piccolo after the Nikki Town incident. "It is better she never knows." He finally forced himself to push the thoughts of Kyrie to the back of his mind, and he stole into the night, making a bee-line for the town below him, hungry.

\/\/\/

Kyrie was feeling tired, but she was still unsettled with her third encounter with Cell. She had finished her apple with relish, and held the core in her hand as she headed across the lawn. She loved the feeling of the dew covered grass blades between her toes. She pulled her nightgown tighter around her shoulders to ward off the chill from her skin. She stopped, finally, at the edge of the manor's estate, near the front wrought iron fence. A small hedge like garden grew along the front. She headed towards the forest tree line. She used her hands, digging a hold in the dirt. She buried the apple core it's seeds in tact. She stood back up, brushing her now dirty hands. She smiled inwardly at herself, hoping this small act would be a start to making up for the wrongs that Cell had done. She turned back to the mansion, knowing in a few hours the sprinklers would water the seeds and hopefully, they would start to grow.