When Val next woke up, the first thing she noticed was white. Everything looked white around her. She blinked her eyes slowly at the brightness of the room she was in. She looked around, seeing her head had been laying on pillow and under a light weight, white blanket. She looked around the room, noticing next she was incredibly thirsty, but also had an oddly sweet aftertaste in her mouth. She saw on a nightstand by the bed she was on had a tall glass of something there. She reached over to it, splashing some of it down on her shirt. She drank a big gulp down, tasting its flowery taste in the aftermath. She made herself drink slowly after that, but finished it in spite of the taste. The favor reminded her of the fortified water she drank on Old Namek. She felt her stomach growl hungrily. She blinked, feeling tired anew from just sitting up and drinking the water.
She looked around the room, white, bright, and aerie. She tried to sense for someone, anyone, but noticed nothing and no one. She felt mentally too tired to try for long. She looked down at her clothes, seeing she was still wearing her old, charred and tattered clothes from when she went down to the Shinsenkai. Closed her eyes at the flash of recent memories from when she had been down there. The pain, the thirst, the eight former guardians surrounding her, the one who read her mind and tormented her with her own thoughts. She pushed the thoughts away, breathing deeply. The air had the same taste and feel of the Lookout's air, making her reason she was still up there, but had no clue as to what time or day it was. She tapped her pants' pockets before remembering she abandoned her phone at the Kame House with Yamcha. She wondered what happened to him, and to the others. The water made it, according to Piccolo, so they just had to be alright.
She noticed at the foot of the bed she had been sleeping on was a set of clothes that were more Namekian style than human style. A pair of shoes sat on the floor by the bed. She riffled through them, seeing they would be baggy, but they would fit. She looked more around the room, seeing a bathroom. She rose up, muscles aching everywhere, especially her upper legs above her knees. She walked there and showered, tiredly and slowly. She felt the knots and kinks in most of her muscles undo. She drank from the shower head as the water fell, too thirsty to care about propriety. Her hair was a rat's nest, making her upper arms and fingers ache as she worked through the tangles.
Once she was done showering and cleaned up the best she could, seeing a slimmed down version of herself in the mirror, beat up with bags under her eyes. She also had bruising from the bird's claw on her upper arm, and scratches on her lower arm and side. The scratches that had kept her alive and breathing long enough. She ran her hand over both places, wondering if scars would develop to join the faded burns scars on her forearms and strikes along her back. If these scars stayed, she felt she would not mind much.
She went to back into the bedroom she had been in. She left her towel dried, freshly brushed hair down, arms too tired to put it back. She sat down groggily on the bed and got dressed. The clothes were flowy and comfortable. She dug into the pockets of her old pants, pulling out her bracelets and putting them on. They moved a little loose along her wrists. After dressing, she felt to weak to move much more. She laid her head down in the middle of the bed, legs curled up to keep them from hanging over the edge. She pulled the blanket top of the blanket over to lay on top of her, even as she lay on the middle of it. She closed her eyes sleepily, drawing deep breaths as she fell asleep like that.
She woke up again, neck feeling a little stiff from laying down curled on the middle of the bed without any pillow under it. She sat up and looked around, seeing a fresh glass of water, two pieces of toast, and an apple on the nightstand. She descended on them, trying to make herself eat and drink slowly, but a bit unsuccessfully. She hoped her stomach would not protest later at how fast she ate.
She felt tired yet, but she rose up, moving towards the door and out of the bedroom she had been in for who knew how long. She walked slowly, seeing the darkness outside. She was in the Lookout, for certainly. She looked around, enjoying the crisp, cool evening air. The place was still half a mess from the fighting. She looked around some more, trying to sense someone, anyone. She groaned, feeling a pull on her chest when she tried. She brought her hand to her chest, stopping in her efforts. She walked over to one of the rows of pine trees, with two downed and the rest were missing chunks of their needles. Several browned needles laid scattered all around the area, wind strewn here and there and everywhere. The pine wood scent was stale, but clung to there air. She knelt down and picked up a few of the browning needles, clutching them in her hand.
She carried them in hand as she walked up to the edge of the Lookout, looking down at the Earth far below. She wondered how damaged it was compared to the Lookout, how damaged those who were infected were as well. She imagined how much worse it had been if they had failed to disperse the sacred water. She threw the needles down over the edge, watching them flutter as they fell. She leaned over the edge to keep them in her line of sight.
"Don't follow them down," she heard a deep voice warned behind her. "You're far too weak to fly." The sound almost seemed to reverberate in her chest. "Korin doesn't have any senzu beans down below, so it will take you some time to recover naturally."
She whipped her whole self around, seeing Piccolo standing there behind her, closer than she realized. She tried to sense him being that he was so close to her, but felt a dull ache in her chest. She gave it up before the pain could ramp up. She rubbed against her chest absentmindedly. She looked down over the edge, no longer having the pine needles insight. "Is everything alright down there?" she asked brushing her loose hair out of her face.
"More or less," he answered, stepping up next to her. She could feel her heart rate increase. She took a deep, steady breath to control her reactions. "It will take some time. Nothing they can't recover from though."
"Just like repairing up here will take a time?" she asked, looking back behind her, trying to figure out how she could help with it. "Where are the others?" She intentionally made sure she did not try to sense for anyone, which felt one part unnatural to not do that now.
"Kami and Mr. Popo are asleep. Gohan and Krillin went home," he answered.
She crossed her arms over her chest, looking back down over the edge. "How long was I out?" she asked.
"Three, nearly four days," he answered. "First two days you didn't even wake up when we poured fortified water and broth down your throat."
She frowned softly, not recalling that. She shivered, rubbing her arms. "Thank you," she slipped out, feeling shy about it. She ran a hand over her forearm and then her side. She hummed, thinking over what she went through over three days ago. "The curse held," she thought out loud, uncrossing her arms and looking down at her hands and bracelets on her wrists. She ran one hand over one of them where the metal was dented and smudged. She felt relieved, even if she was rendered so weak in aftermath. She hope that she could recover sooner rather than later.
"What were you thinking going down there?" he cut in, the harshness of his tone.
She flicked her eyes up at him. "That the sacred water had to make it," she echoed his words. "And it did. And I survived."
"You shouldn't have survived, drained yourself completely of all your energy and your life force, letting yourself get trapped in an ambush lead by the former guardian who hated anyone not from this planet. Eight against one, not even Goku is foolish enough to try those odds," he pointed out, sounding part scolding, part praising. "If you're going to be stupid, you've got to be tough."
"Imagine what she would have done to Kami if she had gotten ahold of him?" she asked, challenging his tone with her own. "And to you. Thanks to the life link," she added, trying not let herself dwell on the words the former guardian told her, 'the one you desire holds himself back from you.' She looked up at him, gritting her teeth. "What would you have done?" She stood her ground, sore muscles tense to ensure she did not step any closer to him.
"Not get ambushed," he answered so simply it irritated her.
"Well..." she huffed, not sure how to respond. "If you're so much smarter than I am, why did you turn down becoming the next guardian of the Earth?"
He hummed, sounding amused, "I have my reasons."
"Well, Kami offered it to me next, and I plan to accept it," she half lied, still uncertain if she wanted all that responsibility, if she was even worthy of it like the guardian mentioned.
"The old man probably is just trying to force my hand rather than genuinely offering it to you," he reasoned.
"He seemed quite intent when he offered it," she countered.
"You would need to learn to be less impulsive before even considering it. Think next time, before you charge head long into danger. If you die, the Anthromorphs die with you," he reminded her.
"Even if I had died when I returned to the surface of the Lookout, it would have been worth it since the planet was saved," she snapped. She straightened herself up, blurting out, "and you're the one just letting the Demon Clan die without a fight." She felt herself blush when she said, wishing that she had kept her mouth shut on that topic.
"What?" he growled down at her.
She avoided his gaze, ashamed of her words. "Never mind," she mumbled, turning to step away.
She felt him snatch up her wrist and forearm, halting her. She rounded back on him, mirroring the grip on his own wrist and looking up at him with her lips slightly parted. She looked at his own lips first, and then met his eyes where he held her unblinking gaze. She straightened up, not wanting to be the one who made the next move. She saw him grimace for a split second. She blinked as he pulled himself away, making her feel a bit cold all of a sudden.
"Val?" she heard another voice call out behind her. She pursed her lips and closed her eyes when she recognized the voice. "Val?" she heard her name called after again. She turned around and saw Tien standing there in the middle of the Lookout.
She gaped at him, trying to comprehend what he was doing here, especially unable to sense him standing there. She froze up, not moving towards him. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, seeing Piccolo stepping away from her before flying off from the Lookout. She reached for him half heartedly, watching him fly off. She was too weak to fly, too weak to follow. She heard footsteps behind her. She heard her name one more time, whipping her head around to look at him, trying to keep her sudden flare of temper in check. She caught another look over the edge.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked. He raised his hands up by his waist cautiously.
She made herself turn back to him, thinking the thoughts of, 'you hardly desire the one you have.' She looked up at him, not as tall Piccolo, but still taller than she was. She made herself nod. She looked down. "Just... yeah," she muttered out, not sure how to answer.
He stepped closer to her, too close to her. She would have stepped back, but she was right on the edge. "Krillin told us what happened. With the black water mist, Garlic Jr., the scared water," he rushed out. "Chiaotzu and I were away from our village when it happened, heading to Kame House when we inhaled the black water mist, but we were far enough away from people over the water that we did not come in contact with anyone else thankfully. We went back to the village to check on the others there. It's still half destroyed. Krillin found us there a little while ago, he told me how you were attacked by several former guardians helping distribute the sacred water, and should have died when you returned to the surface of the Lookout. It was only Piccolo's quick thinking to give you a life force transference that saved you. Something that could have killed him as well in his own weakened state. I wish I could have been there to help you, but the state I was in, almost left stuck in," he rambled, with her trying to focus on what he was saying and listen in. He dug into his pocket. "Oh, here, I got your phone. Krillin got it off Yamcha and passed it to me since I told him I was going to come up here and check on you."
He pulled her phone out of his pocket, passing it to her. There was a small crack along the top of the screen and it was powered off, but otherwise it looked okay. She tried to turn it on, but to no avail. She hummed, figuring the power must have run out. She hoped it would be alright once she charged it, which was something she was not sure about being able to do at the Lookout, but could once she got back to Capsule Corps. "Thank you," she answered, eyes trained on the phone, not sure what else to say in response.
"I got those messages," he interrupted her thoughts. She blinked up at him, not sure what he was talking about. "You didn't respond back when I texted you after I recovered and charged up my own phone. I thought you were still mad. But I guess it was more you did not have your phone, nor even want it in the midst of you near death experience."
She looked up at him, recalling suddenly the four messages she sent him while mad at him at Kame House. "Oh," she gasped at the memory. It all seem so long ago, so not worth the fight she had felt ready to have a few days ago. "Oh..." She brushed her loose hair away from her face.
He cocked his head to the left, excusing, "look, I shouldn't have said any of that to him, but he shouldn't have said anything either. It's just kind of how humans are. You know, you've been around us long enough. I'm sorry it upset you." He was speaking, rambling so quickly that she had trouble understanding him.
She nodded up at him, not sure what to do or say. She pocketed her phone. She brushed a few loose hairs behind her ear, too tired to consider all his words. Too tired to deal with it all. She closed her eyes sleepily for a few seconds, finding they felt better when she did that.
"Oh, you must still be exhausted," he said, drawing her to open her eyes once more. "I got to say, it is weird that I can hardly sense you at all, standing right before me." His hands came to her shoulders, gripping the outside of both. "It is weird I still sense Piccolo as well, even after he's left."
She blinked up at him tiredly, reading a bit of jealousy in his last sentence. He leaned down, kissing her, but barely and quickly. She hummed, standing there and letting him do it wordlessly for a few seconds before she pulled away. "I think I just need to go lay down some more," she excused. She blinked her eyes sleepily, trying to ignore the dull ache above both of her knees.
"How tired are you exactly?" he hinted, suddenly sounding excited. "You're recovering here? I'll stay with you. It's the least I can do."
She looked up at him, not wanting to tell him no with how he was looking at her, not to mention the temptation for company, even if it was not the company she would have preferred. "Okay," she gave in. He looked excited by that. He bent down by her unexpectedly, picking her up under her shoulders and knees. She loosed a small gasp at that. "I can still walk," she said, somewhat enjoying being carried by him. She felt warmed by him at least. She leaned against him tiredly, thinking it could be preferable to walking after all.
"This way, right?" he said but not in reply.
She nodded, giving directions to the room she woke up in. She kept her head against his shoulder, only forcing her eyes open when she needed to give directions. They got to the room, she kicked off her shoes, not caring where they flopped on the ground. He shut the door with his foot before kicking his own shoe off. He walked over to the bed to set her down, but did not quite let her go. Rather he pulled her as close as possible and kissed her.
"How tired exactly?" he asked again.
She brought her hands to his bare forearms, about to speak when he flinched away unexpectedly. "Too tired - what's wrong?" she asked, drawing her hands back to her chest. She backed away, tempted to lay her head down on her head on the bed, and gave into the desire. She flicked some stray hairs out of her eyes.
He raised his hands up cautiously and then dropped them. "For a second there, I thought you weren't wearing your bracelets. And your hands felt a bit warmer than normal..." he explained, dropping his hands slowly back down to his side. "Those sleeves are billowy, and you have lost a bit of weight since the past few days," he half excused, half complimented.
"My bracelets are on," she said, tiredly. She closed her eyes, too tired to explain what he should already know. 'More fear you for your curses than you will ever know,' echoed in her mind. She groaned, crawling herself under the covers and laying against the edge. She felt ready to fall asleep within the minute.
She heard and felt him crawl into the bed next to her, pulling her close. He was so warm, almost comfortingly warm. She scooted closer, drawn in by it sleepily. She felt his hand wrap around her waist. She could feel he was aroused as well, but not pushing his luck.
She did bring one hand up to her inner wrist, stroking it without him knowing it. She hummed desirously, turning her head down into the pillow to help silence the sound. She felt his hand come to her hair, stroking it soothingly. She felt herself easily carried off to sleep by that.