She was met with utter and complete silence. It was an uncomfortable silence, thrust upon her with such unexpected finality, it felt as though she had been slapped in the face. Standing before her friends, her wide eyes searched their faces. One by one, each in his turn, they averted their gaze and refused to look at her. The betrayal was sudden and fierce, but evaporated in a puff of smoke, more suddenly than it had come. What had she expected?
"So none of you will even entertain the idea that Radditz was here to warn us? That he was trying to find allies against something that would –" she sputtered, searching for words that could convey the depth of her barely contained desperation. Words of any kind wouldn't matter. Though no one had ever said it out loud, she knew that everyone believed her mind had been telepathically violated when the strange alien's thoughts had infiltrated her own.
She clenched her eyes shut tightly as a wave of dizziness overcame her. She couldn't blame anyone for doubting her. In their position, even she would doubt. For days after the attack that killed the alien - and almost Goku along with him – she had been unreachable to anyone. Lost within the landscape of a foreign mind had invaded her own, she hadn't been aware of anything but terror, darkness, and a violent certainty that death was coming for them all.
After weeks of sudden cold sweats and a paranoia that would crash over her without warning, leaving her petrified and inconsolable, she had finally surrendered to medication. Though her panic attacks hadn't stopped, she could manage them well enough to keep them mostly hidden. Sleep was still fitful and plagued with nightmares, and she still screamed into her pillow most nights, but her determination to appear improved forced her to take more interest in what was going on around her. She ignored the hallucinations of alabaster lizard men laughing at her, and pretended not to see the scenes that flashed in front of her eyes, visions of her friends with their throats torn out superimposed over the faces of her real friends, who were alive and well.
Instead, she tried to focus and see beyond their missing limbs, sightless eyes, and steaming entrails as they tried to speak to her. It had become a game to her; to see the most horrible things but respond to life normally, as though the terrors that flooded her vision weren't there. A good day was when no one noticed a suppressed body flinch or see fear flash on her face before she could quickly twist it into a smile.
She had been having so many good days recently. But they still doubted. They were still afraid. Of her.
And they should be.
What scared her the most, and what she kept hidden with ardent desperation, was that when she awoke to her own horrified shrieking, she was screaming in languages not known to Earth, and it was she who gleefully tore at their throats with bloodied hands and swallowed their fear and flesh with sharp teeth.
She sighed and tried to appear objective, assertive, and in control. Like she used to be. "He – the alien. I mean, you saw how powerful he was. He was toying with all of you."
She had their attention, but she wasn't sure if it was to humor her or if she was striking a chord. They had known Radditz could easily defeat them, but he hadn't. In fact, he hadn't even tried. Instead, he goaded them in to unleashing more and more powerful attacks, knowing that he was the target. Radditz was more powerful than they, but even he would know fighting against four at once could more than even the odds. Why would he do that? For the joy of battle? Possible. Probable, even, if one were to compare his Saiyan battle lust with Goku's. But…..
What if he had held back for a different reason? They had all heard the translation of his words. How could they not see reason?
She fought another wave of nausea, knowing that she was close to her goal. If she could just make them listen. "He said, 'They come for you. To enslave. To destroy. To kill.' I'm sure we all agree that someone is coming to Earth, and they aren't friendly." Her breathing was becoming labored. She couldn't remember the last time she had spoken so many words all at once. The concentration it took to focus her thoughts were draining her.
"But then he said, 'He comes as I came.. Watch for him..' If Radditz came to warn us, possibly look for warriors and allies, it's possible there's someone he wants us to look for when the attack comes; a friend hiding amidst the enemy. Someon-"
"Enough!"
Bulma nearly jumped out of her skin from the unexpected outburst. Everyone's eyes turned to Yamcha. He was breathing heavily out of his nose, his nostrils flaring, his hands in fists at his sides. "Enough of this, Bulma," he seethed. "We all heard the translation. That bastard was probably sent as a forward scout, testing our limits and sizing us up. He came here and attacked us, and everyone following him will do the same! Whoever he was talking about isn't anyone special; there are no hidden allies. We're on our own. He was just fucking with you, Bulma. When whoever 'they' is finally come, the guy to look for will be the biggest, meanest, cruelest asshole of them all. The only thing Radditz did was tell you that you'd know the fucker when you saw him because he'd be the dickhead leading the charge!"
The room tensed, expecting the fall out of her wrath. Instead, as if resisting the unwanted inevitable, the room fell into stillness so unwavering, Bulma felt time settle on her shoulders. She realized after a few frozen moments that she was too late. She hadn't responded as she should have. It hadn't even occurred to her, and now everyone was staring at her.
Even as her eyes filled with tears, she tried to pass off a bark of laughter as a cough. When Goku blinked at her, his expression one of concern and confusion, she couldn't hold it in. Trying to gulp in air as the air tried to escape her in a peel of nervous snickering, she choked. The struggle to breathe and the ridiculous noises that came with it made everything worse, and she could no longer stop herself from giggling. At the sound of her own hollow mirth, she broke out into hysteric laughter, even as her tears fell.
If she had felt her carefully constructed façade had been fooling anyone, she now admitted that she had only been fooling herself. Clearly, she was still suffering from the ghostly residue of a dead but lingering alien mind.
