Sorry for the delayed chapter but I've been pretty unwell this past week, but I'm feeling better now.

Chapter 8: Crossroads

A couple of weeks on from the night they spent with their friends, Noca and Pan had decided that the time was finally right for them both to return to work. It had been long enough, they both had plenty of time to grieve and adapt to the changes in their lives. They couldn't hold it off any longer, as much as they would like to.

Their last couple of weeks before returning to work had been almost completely uneventful. The only thing that happened was a couple of visits from Pan's parents, which was necessary for all parties involved, and nice. Aside from that, separately, Pan had gone out to lunch with her university friends a couple of times, while Noca was beginning to realise that without his job and without regular training, there really wasn't much he was doing with his life.

Sure, he liked to relax and play video games occasionally, but that was a simple pastime, a hobby. It was never important to him; it was merely something to do when he needed to unwind. The moments that Noca yearned for were the times he was with Pan. They had been trying to find the time to have a proper discussion about what Pan was thinking about the next stages of her life. Noca especially wanted to have this discussion after discovering that she wasn't finding satisfaction with her studies or direction.

Those conversation with Pan were what led to Noca's own self-reflection about what he was doing with his own time and how he could use it. It was difficult because Noca had gone from an active childhood in his home village, believing he would grow up to work around the village with the people, faming, labour, that kind of stuff. Upon his arrival in West City Noca had been thrust into training, school, a life with Pan and her friends, but that didn't offer him any focus.

Without a fight, without a threat, Noca was lost, just as lost as Pan had begun to feel with her studies. They were two young adults who found themselves at a crossroads in life.

Both of them knew it would help to get back to what they could consider a normal routine in their lives, something that really had been sorely missing for a while. Pan's motivation had started to come back with her regular meetups with friends, going for lunches, just hanging out and talking, and it helped get her back into the right mindset to go back to a working environment.

As for Noca, while he could have gone back to work sooner, he wasn't all that eager to do so. The only real reason he was doing it was because he knew it wouldn't be good for him to be stuck at home by himself. Although, he didn't really look forward to going back to being a security guard at the Capsule Corp. compound. For one, it meant that he would be closer to Vegeta, again.

Pan's first week back, beginning on June 26th, helped her realise that it really was not a job that she found enjoyment or interest in any longer. She appreciated that she was gradually earning more responsibilities, showing that she was a good worker and was prepped for a better job within the company once she graduated from university. There was so much more that she could do within the company, earning more money, but she just didn't find satisfaction in the work.

There was nothing wrong with working there otherwise, the people were kind, and Pan had befriended a few of them, but there was still that itching feeling that she could be doing more. She wanted to do more. It was something that she needed to discuss further with the people she trusted and cared about, like Noca and her parents.

Speaking of Noca, he returned to work on the same day as Pan, and he found that wandering those halls was just as mundane as it had always been. The bests parts of his day were when Bra and Dom had some free time and Noca could go and speak to them. Other times he just had to make sure that he avoided bumping into Vegeta. He didn't want to be forced into anymore training sessions. Although, after their last clash, Vegeta had pretty much left Noca to his own devices.

When popping in to speak with Bra and Dom he couldn't really get into whatever they were talking about, with much of it flying over his head, but he still liked being with them. As for the extra-terrestrials that were hiding out in the Capsule Corp. basement, they were focussed on making sure that everything was prepared for their eventual departure.

There had been a lot of last-minute works happening on the ship, to make sure it was completely ready for long form, interstellar travel. Plus, they had to make sure they had all the fuel and supplies needed to get to wherever they were going. Besides, Talia found it nice to have a place specific for training and was doing a lot of work towards becoming a vastly better warrior. So, Bulma had decided to help incorporate a training zone into the new ship, which meant expanding, which meant more work and more time.

After two weeks back at work, both Noca and Pan had found themselves in completely different mindsets from when they first started their jobs. Pan was trying to find her way closer to making a final decision about the direction she wanted to take in life, while Noca was starting to accept that to escape his boredom he needed to do something.

Monday 10th July Age 798

Pan and Noca had to work in tandem that morning. Both of them had work that day, but they operated on slightly different schedules. Pan was the first to wake up and get ready, and upon rolling out of bed she managed to wake Noca, meaning that he could make sure Jessie the cat was fed, and her litterbox cleared out.

Once Pan was out of the shower and out of the bathroom it was Noca's turn to head in. Pan would get dressed and sort herself out, but Noca was in and out of the bathroom while Pan was still getting ready. Both of them worked at different paces, but somehow, they managed to be ready at the exact same time.

However, neither of them had left enough time to have something to eat together before leaving, but there was plenty of time for them to share a kiss as Pan was heading out. A quick exchange of good day wishes, and Pan was out of the door. Noca still had a little bit of time before he needed to leave.

As she usually did, Pan stopped into a café on the way to grab herself a coffee and meet one of her colleagues. Wandering into the coffeeshop while Pan was standing in line was a petite young woman, seventeen years of age, with straight dark brown hair, and she was wearing a purple hooded jacket over a plain white blouse. Finishing off her look was a pair of black jeans and some white trainers.

"Hey," the girl greeted, half-groaning and half-yawning at the same time, as she moved up beside Pan to join in waiting for their coffees.

"Morning, April," Pan said, turning to the girl, two years her junior. Pan noticed she appeared incredibly tired. "Good weekend?"

"Oh, don't be like that, mom," April joked, nudging Pan gently.

"I didn't say anything," Pan chuckled, shrugging her shoulders and smirking.

April was a girl that worked in the same office as Pan at the Capsule Corp. tower, but she was an intern on very low pay, and had managed to get the job through a family member.

"Did you order my coffee already?" April asked.

"Yep. Black. Three sugars," Pan replied.

"Can't wait!" April said, finding the energy to put on some fake excitement. Pan knew it was sarcasm and couldn't help but continue to smirk.

The barista set their drinks on the counter and called Pan's name, both girls grabbed their drinks and off they went on their way to work. There wasn't much conversation happening as they walked along, although April did start to wake up as they grew closer to the tower and began to tell Pan a little bit about her plans after graduating from high school.

Just as they were approaching the gated entrance to the tower complex, with Pan reaching first and entering her code to get through, a voice called out to both girls, drawing their attention.

"Wait for me!"

The voice belonged to a young man, mid-to-late twenties, brown skinned, wearing a black suit, and with neatly combed, short black hair.

"No, Pan, don't wait for him!" April said, showcasing some more energy, although it was so she could amplify her fake fear upon seeing this man. "Quickly, don't let Tom suck out our souls."

April was pretending to push Pan towards the stairs, but Pan was stubborn and remained standing, showing that April wasn't really trying to push her. Pan just smiled and gave a small wave to Tom as he rushed towards them.

"Did you forget your key card again?" Pan asked, as Tom caught up to them.

"Maybe, but even more worrying, I am late," Tom said, chuckling nervously.

"I hope they fire you," April said, dead-pan expression on her face, and a serious tone to her voice.

"Nice joke, but uh, they can't fire me, I'm too good at my job," Tom said, smugly.

Tom, like April, also worked in the same office as Pan, although unlike the two girls Tom was actually a full-time employee who had been working there for a few years at that point.

The trio ascended the short stairs up to the front door to the building. They entered and headed through the lobby towards the back and then around a corner, down a hallway, towards a couple of elevators. There were already some people waiting so they didn't need to press a button.

"Maybe this will be an easy day for once," April groaned as she stood between Pan and Tom in the elevator.

Tom responded with over-the-top fake laughter that drew awkward glances and stares from the people around them in the elevator. April recoiled, moving closer to Pan, clinging on to the Saiyan's arm.

"Ew, Pan, make him stop, please," April said.

Tom stopped by himself, very suddenly, and he turned to stare at April.

"When that monstrous woman is about, she will always have work for you to do," Tom said.

"Monstrous is a bit harsh," Pan replied, but she still wore a smirk.

The elevator eventually arrived at their floor, and they stepped out, heading around another corner and down a hallway until they came to a very large office space filled with about twenty-five cubicles laid out in a grid. There was a conference room off to the right side and then two private offices to the left, with an employee kitchen towards the back.

Inside one of the offices was a grumpy looking man with a moustache, who appeared to be sitting back in their chair and reading a book. In the other office was a blonde woman in a pantsuit, who was typing away at her computer, until she noticed the new arrivals. She perked up and immediately stood up, leaving her office.

"Here she comes," Pan muttered.

The woman practically rushed towards them, and Tom begrudgingly stepped forward, ready to address his lateness.

"Hey, Leslie, look, I just wanted to…" Tom started, but the woman, Leslie, immediately cut him off and moved towards April.

"April, April, hi," Leslie greeted, gently taking the girl by her shoulders. "I need you to come to my office, I've got a stack of files that I really need your help with."

"Oh, yay, of course, Leslie. That sounds super," April said, using all her fake enthusiasm.

"That's the spirit," Leslie said with a smile, and then she turned to Pan. "Pan. Donna is off on her vacation this week, so I'll need you to fill in at her station, is that ok?"

"Sure, that's fine," Pan said, smiling at the woman who was one of the bosses for the department they worked in.

Leslie smiled at Pan as she led April towards the office, with the young woman turned around to glance back towards pan, mouthing the words 'help me.' Pan could only scoff to herself quietly before going to find the cubicle she would be working from.

Noca arrived at the compound, ready to relieve the night-guard, or rather the early hours of the morning guard. Noca wasn't working on his own that morning though, there was another security guard on-site, but they were on the other side of the compound. They could still see everything Noca could, but it was good to have an extra set of eyes on the scene.

He signed himself into the system and took a moment to sit down and monitor what was going on around the compound. Nothing interesting, as per usual. The first hour went by without much happening, until Noca spotted something outside the main gate. There appeared to be a young man standing outside, rifling through a small satchel bag, looking for something.

Noca sat forward, watching, and he could tell that the young man was in a little bit of a panic. The Saiyan grabbed his capsule-pad, so that he could continue to monitor the cameras as he moved through the compound, and he left the security room and headed to the front desk.

The woman at the front desk wasn't busy with any work at that point, so she seemed to be distracting herself with something on her phone. Noca quietly cleared his throat to make his presence known.

"Oh, Noca," the young woman said, surprised. "Hi, what's up?"

"It could be nothing, but there's someone outside the main gate, they've been standing there for a while now," Noca explained, pointing to her own screen which allowed her to see the main gate.

"I hadn't even noticed them, whoops," she said, chuckling nervously.

"It's ok, I'll go out and speak to them," Noca said, smiling back to the woman as he headed out the front door.

The gate where the man was stood wasn't an entrance used for cars or deliveries, it was a reasonably smaller gate, usually just for the compound employees. Sometimes it was used by any compound residents too.

"Hi," Noca said, again making his presence known, "is everything ok, sir?"

"Huh?" the man exclaimed when he noticed Noca, shocked by his seemingly sudden arrival. He dropped his bag to the ground and some stuff fell out, just a couple of notebooks, stationary, and a drink bottle. "I'm sorry…"

"It's ok, just, what are you doing standing outside the gate?" Noca asked.

"My name is Oscar, Oscar Tau…" the man said, as he frantically gathered up the stuff he had dropped.

As the young man did that, Noca spotted something.

"Is that a Capsule Corp. employee card?" Noca asked, pointing to a small key card that seemed to have fallen away from the man.

"Card?" Oscar questioned, and he quickly looked to the place where Noca was pointing. "Oh, yes. That's mine, that's… I'm starting here, today, I couldn't find the card in my bag, it must have gotten stuck inside my book."

Noca scoffed and opened the gate for him. Oscar handed his card over to Noca and the Saiyan inspected it, looking at the photo of a bespectacled young man with dark tan skin, and curly black hair. Noca looked up at that same bespectacled young man with dark tan skin, and curly black hair standing before him.

"This is definitely you," Noca said, handing the card back to the man.

"I should hope so," Oscar replied, chuckling nervously.

"Do you know where you're going, or did you need some help?" Noca asked.

"I need to meet with Bulma Brief, I'm supposed to be her new assistant," Oscar explained.

"Ah, assistant to the boss? Big honour," Noca said with a chuckle and a smile. "I'll take you to her office, if that's where she even is."

On the way to Bulma's office the two men shared in some small talk. Oscar explained how he had been at one of the Capsule Corporation's universities, and he had been recommended to Bulma directly by his course leader and tutor, who was a former assistant to the late Dr. Brief when Bulma was a young woman.

They made it to Bulma's office, Noca pressed a button on the door and after a few seconds the door buzzed and opened. Bulma's office was half like a personal space with bookshelves and a couple of computers, but on one side there was also like an actual mini laboratory with a worktable and other bits and pieces. On one of the sides there was even a couch. But mainly, and obviously, it was a mess, but as Bulma would tell anyone who came to see her, it was an organised mess. The organised mess of a genius.

"What is it, Noca?" Bulma asked.

It sounded blunt, but in reality, Bulma just liked to get straight to the point, it wasn't meant to come across in a mean way. Noca knew that. Bulma didn't even look away from her computer right away.

"I have your new starter with me," Noca said, standing to the side to let Oscar walk in.

Bulma looked up.

"Of course," she said, standing up and walking over with her hand out. "You must be Oscar."

Oscar took her hand, and they shook.

"Yes, Ms. Brief, I am Oscar. Oscar Tau," he greeted, semi-awkwardly, but it earned a soft chuckle from Bulma.

"I wish I could use this time to get better acquainted with you, but I'm working on something right now and I do need to get on with it," Bulma explained, walking over to her desk, and pressing a button on her office phone. "Tiffany, could you come to my office please."

"Right away, Bulma," a woman's voice replied.

"So, I'll hand you over to Tiffany, she's been my assistant for a very long time now, knows the ins and outs of doing the job, she'll explain everything to you and help get you set up with some work, and also show you to your on-site accommodation," Bulma explained.

The accommodation that Bulma referred to was something that had been set up a while ago. The Briefs always had a lot of staff working for them, continuously, so to make things a lot easier for them there were living quarters that were set up for anyone who wished to stay. They didn't have to because typically the staff would work one day on and one day off, they weren't required to work all the time, especially seeing as they were mostly only needed during business hours. It was just a way to be helpful. People came from all over the world to work for Capsule Corp., whether at the tower or in the compound, so the family always wanted to accommodate for their employees in the best possible ways.

Tiffany didn't take long to arrive, and after a quick greeting with Oscar and a few instructions from Bulma they were on their way again, leaving the scientist alone with Noca for a moment.

"Do you need something, Noca?" Bulma asked, noticing a pondering expression on his face.

"Yeah, just… I didn't realise you were getting a new personal assistant. I know that Tiffany has been around for a long time, and it left me wondering," Noca started, "will Oscar be let in on all the details of life around here? Like the fact that there are aliens living in the basement?"

There was a jokey tone to what Noca said, but it was still a genuine concern.

"Oh, no, that wouldn't happen until I knew I could wholeheartedly trust such a person with information like that, Tiffany isn't just a personal assistant but a really good friend, plus she'll still be around here," Bulma explained, "I'm not silly," she added, with a friendly chuckle.

Noca scoffed.

"Of course, it was just a thought," Noca replied.

"Understandable," Bulma added.

"I'll let you get back to work," Noca said, nodding his head to the blue-haired scientist as he backed out of the room.

Noca walked off back down the halls, with his capsule-pad in hand so he could check on everything, hoping that nothing had happened while he was gone, although it was very rare that anything of real interest happened on the job. As he was swiping through all the various cameras Noca had become distracted, not paying attention to his surroundings, and as he came around a corner, he almost bumped into someone. Thankfully, his senses came into play at the last moment.

Noca stepped back, ready to apologise to whoever it was in front of him, but he stopped himself upon coming face-to-face with the Saiyan Prince himself.

"You need to watch where you're going," Vegeta spat.

It was pretty clear he still harboured some negative feelings towards Noca after the last time they saw each other. Noca was the same.

"I know where I'm going," Noca replied.

Vegeta scoffed.

"I can sense you getting weaker by the day," Vegeta said, clearly an attempt to get a rise out of the young man.

Noca's turn to scoff.

"I can smell you getting older by the day," Noca retorted.

It wasn't a great one, but it was the first thing that came to mind in the moment. Noca did follow it with a light chuckle, as if to show it was a joke, but Vegeta wasn't in the mood for pleasantries.

"It's about time for a spar again, don't you think?" Vegeta suggested.

Noca rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Why would I need to do that?" Noca questioned.

"It might help to offset your boredom," Vegeta said, with a small smirk crossing his face.

Noca frowned, which only made Vegeta feel more satisfied with his response. He knew he hit the nail on the head.

"Unless you feel like you've dropped off that much. Maybe you're too weak to fight me now," Vegeta added.

"I'm just as strong as ever," Noca replied.

"Hm, I might need proof of that," Vegeta said.

"I don't need to prove anything to you," Noca said, and then he walked past very quickly, nudging him with his shoulder as he did.

Vegeta scoffed to himself as the young Saiyan rounded the corner. Noca felt that final scoff and it made his jaw clench. The worst part about that interaction with Vegeta was that he was right about the boredom and how he wanted something to take it away, and he hated that Vegeta even knew that was going on in his head.

When he got back to the security room Noca immediately took out his phone and stared at the screen for a moment. He didn't know why he went to his phone, but the next thing he thought of was Pan. He decided to text her.

Pan sat at the desk inside the reasonably sized cubicle, working away on the computer, looking over some spreadsheets while a couple of paper files sat opened up on the desk to her left. While she worked, not completely engrossed in what she was doing, something flashed briefly in the corner of her eye, coming from the right side of the desk, which was where her phone was.

As she was about to turn her head, something else popped up to distract her from the left. It was the sudden and abrupt arrival of April, who rushed around the wall of her cubicle and practically dove to the ground beside Pan, knocking into her chair.

"What are you doing?" Pan asked, taken by complete surprise.

"Shhhh, I'm hiding," April replied, in a hushed tone.

"Why?" Pan asked, mimicking the hushed tone.

"I just needed to get away from Leslie for a few minutes, is that ok?" April asked, acting as if she wasn't disturbing Pan from any work.

The youngster quickly looked over the top of the cubicle towards the offices, to check on the location of their boss.

"Ok, she's busy in the office right now," April said, sounding relieved.

"And I was busy in here," Pan replied, motioning towards her computer screen.

"You don't care about this work, I certainly don't," April replied, folding her arms across her chest. "I don't know how much longer I can put up with this place."

"It's not bad here," Pan replied, trying to get back to what she was doing before. "What is it you'd rather be doing anyway."

"Not work in a boring office all day, that's for sure," April said.

"Well?" Pan pressed.

April looked at Pan and her brow furrowed for a second.

"You can tell me," Pan added.

"Ok, fine," April said, turning around and leaning back against the desk. "I always wanted to be a teacher."

"Oh, really?" Pan questioned, and then chuckled softly. "You know, on the surface I wouldn't get that impression, but that totally seems fitting for you."

"Yeah, that's what I'm looking into right now away, I'm hoping to start a teaching course at some point," April explained.

"Are you looking to go into that when you graduate?" Pan asked.

"Yeah, well, after I graduate I'm definitely quitting this place, and maybe I'll do some volunteer work for this summer school thing that I read about," April said, acting almost dismissive, and like she hadn't really been thinking about it, but it was clear this was well laid out in her head.

Pan scoffed with a little smile.

"What?" April questioned.

"Nothing, I've never really heard you talk about something as passionately as this," Pan replied, "it might not look like it, but I think this is something you're very excited about, right?"

"Maybe," April muttered.

"I think it's great," Pan said turning back to her computer and trying to get back to work, but she was still thinking on what April was talking about. "I think I'd like to work with children someday," Pan added, absent-mindedly, basically like she was thinking out loud.

Pan didn't really notice what she had said, but April did.

"You totally should," she said, grabbing Pan's attention again.

"Huh, what?" Pan questioned.

"Yeah, you should totally look into working with kids, I think you'd be good at it. You've told me that you're not really sure about what it is you want to do, and you don't really enjoy this stuff," April said, motioning towards the computer screen. "But you just said, out loud, that you'd love to work with children. Is that true?"

Oddly enough, there was a shift in April's demeanour, one that almost mimicked Pan's demeanour when April was talking about what she wanted to do, and it was like their roles had been reversed. She seemed like she was genuinely interested in helping Pan with that train of thought.

"I don't really want to drop out of the course I'm doing though," Pan said.

"You wouldn't have to. No, if you maybe started by doing something like I'm doing, like the volunteer thing in the summer, that's at least like a foot in the door, and then you could always look into doing that more once you graduate," April explained. "And there's nothing saying that you have to go the teaching route like I want to, you could find some other way to work with children."

April was certainly showcasing her ability to think on the spot quickly and effectively, especially when it was something she was passionate about. It seemed that, in that moment, like she was passionate about helping and guiding people.

"Ok, you've given me something to think about," Pan muttered, turning away, and noticing that her phone was still flashing.

Meanwhile, April had started looking over the top of the cubicle again. She noticed that Leslie was starting to look around, presumably trying to find where April had run off to.

"Damn, looks like I'm out of time," April groaned, "let's talk soon, ok? Hit me up."

Pan didn't get a chance to reply before April turned and was off again, making it look like she had been busy with something while slowly heading back towards the office. Pan watched her go and then looked back to her phone, noticing the flashing was a text message, from Noca.

Even though Noca knew that Pan was working, and was most likely significantly busier than him, he still hoped that she would reply quickly. A few minutes passed by with Noca looking at his phone, but there was nothing coming straight away. He told himself that she must have been doing something important and set the phone on the side, looking back at the security screens again.

No matter how long he looked away from the screens, practically nothing had changed when he looked back. Maybe someone was in a different room, or some people were travelling through the halls, but there was nothing interesting happening. Which was a good thing, really. Noca did catch a glimpse of Vegeta walking through the halls again. He didn't know what the Prince was doing, nor did he really care. It was just an observation.

The young man was snapped back to reality when his phone dinged in front of him. He immediately grabbed it and unlocked it, opening up the reply from Pan. She said she was doing good, having a nice day, and she hoped the same for him. She even asked how he was dealing with the boredom, in jest.

Noca smirked at the message and started typing his reply right away, although, he only got a few words into the reply before realising that he wasn't being truthful. He was saying that his day was good too and that he was handling it well. The truth was the monotony of the job was getting to Noca, but more so than that, he had let Vegeta get to him, again.

He stared at the flashing insertion point line in the message box as he was halfway through typing his reply. Sure, his day was good by the standards that nothing bad had happened, but the boredom hadn't subsided and Noca found himself stuck within his own thoughts. He hit backspace on the message until all the words were gone and he typed his new response.

This time, he simply told Pan that it was a good day by the usual standards, but that it wasn't necessarily a good thing for him. He had hoped for something to happen that would make his day interesting, even if that also wasn't necessarily a good thing. However, he also told Pan, that most of all, he was looking forward to seeing her when he finally got home that night.

Pan's response was quicker this time, seconding Noca's words about looking forward to seeing each other again, and she said that she hoped his day would pick up in some way. She told him she loved him, leaving a couple of hearts at the end of the message, and Noca replied with the same. Then he locked his phone and glanced up at the screens in front of him again.

He looked over the compound and his eyes fell on Vegeta again, and he watched as the Saiyan Prince entered a hallway that was a blind spot for the cameras. Noca knew where that hallway led. It was a hallway he had travelled down many times before. Noca had a feeling that the state of his day was about to change, and he had come to a decision that he was going to do something about the boredom.

The Saiyan reached forward and grabbed his radio, holding the button down to speak to his security colleague.

"Have you got everything covered on your end?" Noca asked.

"I sure do," a voice replied. "You got somewhere to be?"

"I'm gonna step away for a little bit, hopefully I won't be too long," Noca said, "but if you really need me, I'll have the radio and my phone."

"No problem, dude," the voice replied.

Noca cursed to himself as he ended the call with his colleague, feeling like he was making quite a bad decision. He pocketed his phone and the radio in his security jacket and headed out of the security room, making sure to lock it behind him. However, before he decided to step away, he just stood and stared at the door for a moment.

He had nothing to prove. Noca knew that. Noca had said those words, many times. He had nothing to prove to anybody. He wasn't doing any of this to make a point.

Noca stepped away from the door and made his way along the hall. He knew where he was going, and he knew exactly why he was going there. He needed to reassure himself that he wasn't doing it to make a point. He really had to make that absolutely clear. He was doing it all for himself. He was doing it to ease that boredom. He wanted to do something that would shake up the lethargic routine he had fallen into with his life.

Once again, he wasn't doing it to make a point. He had nothing to prove to anyone, not himself, and especially not Vegeta. No. He had nothing to prove to that man. Noca knew who he was and, in that moment, for the first time in a short while, he knew what he wanted.