Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Life Mistake ❯ Crossroads (Part Two) ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Oh great, I'm back here again?!

I'm back right where I started from, with the computers and the mindless pawns and... why aren't my arms moving?

I tug on them slightly. FUCK!! That fucking hurt! A rush of agony crashed through my body like a chain reaction. I won't even try moving my legs, which feel immobile currently. I don't want to feel that sharp pain again.

I see out of the corner of my eye wires and bolts, with chips and flashing lights pulsing some sort of pattern. Looking around, I notice that I've... elevated? I'm not on the ground anymore. That's weird...

... HELL NO. I am not thinking what I think I'm thinking so stop thinking Vegeta.

But my mind is telling me that I'm correct and that I am now in the same position that Kakarotto was in. I am now crucified to the damn machine.

What the hell is going on here? First it was Kakarotto missing, then it was Kakarotto coming back, and then all this weird shit happens! Appliances coming to life, chased by non - mindless zombies, going into a cave and then finding out I was being chased by WHITE RABBITS?!, and then leaving the cave and entering a castle and then...

... god, that image comes back to mind. With Kakarotto being crucified to this very machine. I mean, he's basically the cause for all of this. He is, after all, a life mistake.

So. Now I'm crucified. I guess I'm holier than thou.

Footsteps. I hear the faint sound of footsteps in the darkness of this foresaken room. Whoever is coming out is someone whose presense is very, very familiar.

Bet every heavy metal CD I own that it is Kakarotto.

A few seconds later, a fellow Saiya-jin like myself emerges from the darkness, wearing his traditional gi, but it is in a dark blue color. Odd... he was black and white beforehand... and now he's... blue?

Sadness. Blue. Ironic. Why would he be sad, though? Blue also means sereneness and peace. He wants to make peace with me? Screw THAT. I'm ready to kill the motherfucker.

He smiles THAT smile again. Damn asshole! I can't move my body because of fear for another shock. I hate this situation. I hate this. I hate Kakarotto.

"A fine specemin," a scientist clad in white says to the man known as Kakarotto to me. Kakarotto nods his head, and his Cheshire Cat smile grows in size.

HOW a smile like that can grow, I don't even want to know or even imagine. He walks up to my hanging form little by little, and step by step. It's like a spider crawling to the fly, knowing it was caught in its web.

The others began to nod their heads in approval, like I was some slab of dead animal on a table, in the middle of a high school disection lab. I wish this would just end. When will it end?

Someone... stop this. Kakarotto has to stop this.

This is a game. I know it is. I'm the fly caught in the web of the spider, and all I want to do right now is break free.

Click. Click. Crackle. Click.

As he reaches towards this machine I'm in, the sounds of the monster begin to grow and shape into a new form that I cannot even fathom. I can't stand this... I have been saying that too much lately, I know that, but it's true.

This is getting to be too much. I don't know what else can go wrong now. The insanity and the obscurity is... making me mad. In both cases. Insane and... angry. More along the lines of insane, I think.

Kakarotto stands in front of me, but I won't even dare look into those eyes of his. Who knows what the hell he has in store for me now.

Slithering near my body are thick, large wires. There are so many of them... I can't even count...

God, what does he want? What's going to happen? Why me?!

"Kakarotto," I whispered in a snarl, finally locking eyes with him.

I wish I didn't.

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing at all in those eyes of his. No emotions, just total oblivion...

The wires were so close, and I could feel the slick coldness slithering over my skin, and slowly piercing it.

I couldn't scream in agony, but I could scream inside my eyes. Kakarotto understood that I was in pain, I could see it in his own pair of orbs. But he didn't care.

Everything else began to grow dark... I'm probably dying then. All I can see now is Kakarotto, and this pain growing into my very body and heart. He smiles, and is about to speak to me.




"Help me," he whispers, and his eyes now hold this... agony into his very soul.

What?! Now I'm unbound from my chains to the machine. This is too weird... what's going on anyhow?!

My vision looses the darkness that engulfed everything, and now I can see clearly.

... I don't get it. I really, really don't get it.

Kakarotto is on the ground, bleeding once again. There are numerous wounds decorating his body in an unfashionable way, and I can feel his ki weaken substancially.

His eyes are pleading for help, any kind of help. He's weak, and worthless, and absolutely agonized in pain. And he needs someone to pity him now.

I smirk.

Kicking him in the gut, blood spews all over my leg and my chest, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. He tries to speak but I drive my leg into his weak body once again.

Over and over I do this, watching how he screams and yells in pain, pleading with me to stop. I drive my leg harder and harder into him, feeling the bones crack and his breath stiffing.

He tries to talk to me. He wants to reason with me.

... reason. He wants to... reason with me?

I smirk. Badly.

"You want me to stop?" I asked softly, making my hands into fists and raising them into the air. My smirk must look insane or evil, because Kakarotto is wide-eyed and cannot breathe.

He nods his head.

I smirk. Worse than before. And I LOVE it.

"Then you should have STOPPED THIS MADNESS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!"

I drive my fists into his chest, the snapping of the rib cage and feeling them driving through his lungs emerging a horrible, sinister laugh from my voice.

Dear GOD I haven't felt this good in ages! There Kakarotto! Feel my pain! Feel the insanity that you have inflicted on me!

You deserve it! You NEED it! You wanted this, and now you are getting it all back in ten-fold!

Crack. Hit. Gurgle. It's beautiful. It's the most beautiful sound I have ever heard in my life.

Here, the great Kakarotto was kneeling before me, bloodied, battered, and bruised. I loved it.

I craved hitting him, making him bleed, making him suffer like I had suffered. This man who created nothing but pain and insanity in my life for the past... the past... god, I don't even know how long it has been.

He deserves to die! He deserve all the pain in the world!

He is a... a...

... shit.

Is he breathing?

He has to be breathing. The motherfucker is just pretending.

He's pretending to be pale, and lifeless, and bloodied all over. He's nothing. He's nothing at all. He's just a figment of my imagination. This isn't real.

He isn't real. None of this is!

... oh Kami. He's not breathing.

What... have I... done... ?

No, I have no pity. I have no sympathy. I don't give a fuck about this man who just died before me. Hell, he probably didn't even die! He's probably faking it. I know it. I know him.

This is only a game. A dream. A horrible chimera. I know it!

I know I'm right.

I stand there, looming over his body, the blood fresh on my hands, and dripping down onto the ground that doesn't exist. The birds are singing their songs, and I can hear various animals living their lives in the wilderness surrounding me.

Rushing waters are in the distance, not too far from here. I see mountains with snow-covered tops, and a clear blue sky, and the sun, which was stained by blood on this bloody day.

Get up, Kakarotto. I know your alive. This is all fake. You are fake. I am fake. I'm not going to be stupid enough to buy into this act

The sun moves ever slowly to the ground, and the stars begin to emerge. The dark replaces the light, with no moon out to illuminate the way.

Blood has caked into my fingernails and my arms and my clothing. The body of Kakarotto has slowly began to decay. The sun begins to set.

And I'm crying... I don't like to cry. It's a weakness. Nothing but a trait of careless loss of strength and superiority. I'm a prince. I'm a man. I can't cry.

I can cry... but I can't. I mustn't, but I am.

I can't breathe. My breathing is shallow, becoming little drops of air. My vision is blurry, and I can't see a damn thing. My cheeks are wet with despair.

He's... dead. This was the reality, wasn't it? I fucked it up. This is... reality. I missed my chance. Where did I go wrong?

Please... no. Please, Kakarotto, wake up.

It's darkness. Dark came by so fast, and I'm glad for it. There is no moon out to illuminate my endless abundance of tears streaming down my face.

He's dead. Kakarotto's dead. I... can't... no. Not after all of this.

Did they win? Did those unknown villians win? Is this was they desired? Am I free? Is Kakarotto free?

Bending down, I place a hand over Kakarotto's lifeless arm. It's so cold... but I won't remove it.

Narrowing my eyes, I'm trying to see if this is reality. This is reality. Is it... ? I can't stop doubting myself!

And I can't stop crying.

Closing my eyes, I refuse to look at my... friend anymore. My comrade. My enemy. He was my enemy. He wasn't a friend, just an enemy. I should be happy that he's dead!

I'm soft. I'm so soft.

"Please," I whisper softly, turning my head away and removing my arm slowly, "forgive me... Kakarotto."

I pull my hand away, and I feel dead air.




A firm hand grasps my wrist, cracking a few bones.

Startled and confused, I was easily thrown backwards onto this wall that appeared out of nowhere. Darkness was gathered in this area, and I could feel an inky, thick wetness below me.

Raising my hand, I put my hand in front of my eyes. I wasn't blurry anymore. Everything was... here. I could see.

And I saw blood on my hands. Thick, inky dark blood, rushing through my right hand, and dripping off of the glove.

Gasping, I shook my hand, trying to remove the blood that soaked through my hand. The entire area was filled with ankle-high blood. There was an black light in the center of the room, and I could see someone in the distance.

I knew who it was. "Kakarotto! Explain yourself!"

A chuckle came from the distance, but it was mixed with a sob.

Marching through the blood, which was growing by the second, I could see the figure of Kakarotto, kneeling in the blood... like he was... praying.

Praying? What the fuck?!

"You have options," he said solemnly, in a voice that I had never seen him in. It was filled with emotions beyond my comprehension.

Anger, misery, and regret were easily found in his voice. The closer I got, the more I found his situation very... peculiar. Then again, being chased by zombies which quickly became rabbits is odd as well.

"What options, you incompetent loon?" I asked, growling in anger and frustration. I minute I get there, his blood is going to mix with the blood in this room.

I was close enough to see his faint smile. It wasn't his "new" smile, and it wasn't the Son grin I was used to. It was just... a smile, but a faint one.

With his eyes closed, he began whispering a chant I could vaguely understand. The words, though, I recognized in an instant.

"The last rite of the anger of Saint 9 hangs in the Church where crossroads meet..."

He chants that line over and over again, as I slowly make my way to his still form. The blood in the room has risen up to my knees, and it won't stop. I'm not worried though. Worrying will only make things worse.

For some odd reason, I see the figure in front of me, Kakarotto, and I refrain myself from maiming him and throwing his carcass down to the seventh layer of Hell. Maybe because I believe that in this area there is no such thing as Hell.

Kakarotto's is in his regular orange gi, though it is tattered, worn, and stained with his blood. The blood in the room is up to his chest area, mainly because he is kneeling on the ground. Dirt stains his fingernails, and throughout his body are computer wires.

The wires seep through the skin, keeping his body together, and at the same time tearing him apart. Small wires connect throughout his neck and face. Each one of them is colored differently, but they all have one thing in common. Each one of them is sevvered from its host. They are not completely attached to him.

I placed a hand on his shoulder, as he finished up the first line of his chant. I knew the next part by heart, because myself to me back in the castle.

"Since forever the man who cries listened to the sound of the demon's bell and was doomed by the living dead." My monotone voice echoed off of the walls, and I could feel the rushing of the blood entering the room began to slow down a pace.

Kakarotto's new smile regain it's placed on his face. "Devil's eyes shall watch his nightmare until the return of the afterlife into the unknown drives his fear dead again." He chuckled softly. "Do you understand what that means?"

"I don't even understand the first part," I said gently, bending down into the blood like he was. His hands were placed in front of his face, clasped together. My head reached over his shoulders, and we gained eye contact.

His eyes are still the same. They are filled with regret, and a sense of fault and error. He is a life mistake. He feels like one. It's showing.

Goku lost that smile quickly when we met eye contact. I saw his soul again... and I found nothing. My body shivered uncontrolably, and a unnamed feeling emerged throughout my senses.

"This is the crossroads," he explained in an understanding, wise tone. "Anger made this room, and now I am giving my last rites, my final prayer."

"Unlike you, Vegeta, I don't have a choice," he continued, keeping a monotone base within his usual cheery voice. It unnerved me that such a lively, cheerful man with an innocent soul was talking to me like this. I was beginning to get used to the unnatural, though.

"I don't know what choices I have," I said, confused entirely. I was confused. I am confused. I smirked. "I don't even know why I'm not killing you right now."

Kakarotto smiled gently. I enjoyed that smile more than the others he has shown me. "It's because you were already shown that road, that option."

Something clicked within my mind, and I gasped at the sudden realization. "... that makes sense," I whispered, never losing contact with his eyes. I grinned like a madman. "That made SENSE!"

Kakarotto nodded his head in approval. "There is sanity in insanity, Vegeta. The wisest of men are insane, because they know everything, but loose something because of their newfound realization."

I wanted to jump out of the pool of blood right now, which finally stopped its flow. "That made sense too!" I exclaimed.

Kakarotto chuckled again, genuinely and sincerely. He was still filled with error and regret, and I didn't know why. But things were making sense, finally! I knew I was going to understand everything soon enough.

"You have options," he said gently, with misery written on his voice. "You have to choose."

I stopped grinning, and I lost my smile. I looked at Kakarotto sternly. What option do I have? What can I do?

Kakarotto closed his eyes, and moved his sights away from me. "Once you do, your free of this game."

I gasped, and growled shortly after. "So it was a game!"

Silence followed, and Kakarotto curtly whispered. Had I not paid attention, I would have missed it. "... forgive me, Vegeta. You didn't deserve this."

I looked at Goku still, and then the wires on his arms. I took his arm, and felt one of the wires there, seeping through his skin.

He gasped, looked at me in fear, anger, and still in guilt, and his arm clenched. The wire moved. I kept my unwavering gaze. "You didn't deserve this either."

Kakarotto tugged on his arm, but I didn't let go of my grasp. He narrowed his eyes at me and snarled as viciously as he could. "Make the choice and get out now. It's out of control, and you shouldn't be apart of this anymore."

"I've made my decision, god fucking dammit!" I snapped much more viciously at Kakarotto, my hand squeezing tighter around his arm. I pulled him closer to me, with a malicious intent.

He didn't move his gaze from my own, and my free hand was already making a fist. "I'm not leaving," I stated slowly. "I'm... staying... here."

Kakarotto sighed deeply, and he lost all of his emotions, except for guilt... and now pity. Pity towards me I supposed. I have a feeling that I'm right. No... I am right.

"I... didn't want to make you apart of this, Vegeta," he stated slowly, his arm in my grasp becoming loose. He was obviously giving up his struggle underneath my hand. "You had options, and you took a road."

"I want the fucking truth, dammit!" I snarled, letting go of his hand, as the blood in the room began to fill up once more. I didn't give a damn anymore. If we suffocated in here, who cares? I could give a rat ass if we did.

I pulled myself off of the floor, and I grabbed Kakarotto from the floor. He removed his hands from their clasped praying position, and let me swing one of his arms over my back. His body was weak, and heavy with fatigue.

He opened his eyes, and look at me with two conflicting emotions -- despair and hope. "Vegeta... I don't..."

"Stick it, dumbass," I said bluntly. The blood was over my chest area, and heading to my neck area. The blood was at Kakarotto's chest area.

"I don't know what ordeal you went through, but I want details, and answers," I demanded, as the blood rushed faster than ever. I narrowed my eyes. "I want them now."

Kakarotto never blinked, and he stared at me with those two emotions. He finally spoke in a matter of a couple of seconds. "They want us dead, Vegeta. I wanted to save you from this."

The blood finally reached an area were I had to pull my body and Kakarotto's body to the ceiling. As I began to float, I felt something ruff touch the scalp of my head.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed. "We don't have much room to breathe in!"

Kakarotto smirked. "I told you. They want us dead."

"Just get us out of here with that Instant Transmission shit of yours!" I shouted frantically, as our bodies were pushed to the top of the room. If he didn't get us out of here soon, we'd be in deep shit.

Kakarotto didn't move. He kept staring at me. Growling, I shouted at him. "What?!"

"Once we are out of here... are you sure you want the truth?" he asked sincerely, even in the face of danger and certain peril and death. His eyes were searching in my windows to my soul for an answer.

I gave him the truth, from my own lips. "Yes. I'm sick and tired of all these lies and games and insanity."

He vaguely smiled and he closed his eyes. The blood reached over my mouth and was at my nose in a flash. I was able to make out what he whispered to himself as one of his limbs began to rise from the blood.

"You asked for it."