Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 35 ( Chapter 35 )

Chapter 35

"Sergeant! From what you have just told us, do you actually believe that ningen female holds the remotest possibility to defeat my son?" the king demanded, his black eyes somehow becoming darker.

Puerro swallowed whatever moisture was still residing in his nearly dry mouth, before croaking out his answer to the king's question. "My liege, I can only truthfully relate what I witnessed that night on Xenobiron! I honestly don't know if she can best the prince!"

"Come now, Puerro! Surely, you should be able to hold forth the courage of your convictions!"

"S--Sire?"

"I will put it to you this way, soldier. If, according to your account, she proves to have the wherewithal to defeat my son in battle, I will personally see to it that you are immediately promoted, as a reward for your brilliant powers of observation!"

"And…and if the prince defeats her?"

"Then you will have attained the noteworthy honor of dying by my royal hand, as punishment for having so little faith in the abilities of your sovereign prince!"

As the king walked back to his previous station on the observation deck, Cebolla turned to a shell-shocked Puerro, saying under his breath, "Well, pal, it was nice knowing you! So tell me, would you prefer to slit your wrists right now, or wait until you get home?"

The sergeant's reply came out in a weak, whispering laugh. "Heh…if it's all the same to you, I guess I'll wait 'til I get home!"

Lluvia shrugged. "Oh, well, looks like our cover is blown. Our past has finally caught up with us, Tris." Her friend started to chuckle in response, until he caught the sharp gleam in her eye and his smile fell away.

During Puerro's recitation, Tristan had been watching Lluvia absently pin her hair up into what he'd always jokingly termed as her "battle bun". Once she'd grown her hair into a longer, more flattering length, Lluvia opted for the tightly wound `do whenever she was preparing for combat. It was one less advantage that she might allow an opponent in the middle of a skirmish.

Once she completed securing her hair, she carefully removed her earrings, bracelets, and rings, stashing her few pieces of jewelry into the pockets of her jacket. When that was done, she shrugged the garment off and gave the jacket to Tristan to hold. It was an automatic gesture that she'd always done without otherwise granting it any kind of conscious thought. He'd always been her designated second; an understanding that the two of them had established from the onset of their relationship.

Nonetheless, the moment that his fingers touched upon the jacket, Tristan picked up a disturbing vibe coming off of his friend.

"Yoo-hoo! Excuse me!" Lluvia waved and pointed towards the observation deck. "Inasmuch as I really hate to interrupt this little love-fest you all have going on up there, I need to make a request!"

"You have a `request'?" the prince disdainfully huffed. "You are in no position to make…" His scornful interjection was overridden by a resonant and authoritative voice coming from above.

"What is your request, Lluvia?" All eyes turned to face King Vegeta.

Time to go for broke, thought the dancer. She took a deep breath and looked the king as squarely in the eye as she could from her protracted distance. "I want my friend," she said, now pointing towards a startled Tristan. "To be safely escorted out of here and onto our transport…and for said transport with its passengers to leave Vegeta-sei unimpeded," she added, bringing her hard-edged gaze downwards towards the prince, "by anyone or anything."

Snorting his derision, Prince Vegeta was just about to put his opinion in on this outrageous demand when his father answered simply, "It shall be done."

Whew! That was easier than I thought it would be, thought Lluvia, breathing an inner sigh of relief. I suppose that means that my intuition was right. The king wasn't privy to the prince's intrigues.

But before the Saiya-jin monarch could say anything further, Tristan shouted in dismay, "NO! Forget it, Yu-vee! I'm not leaving you here to face him by yourself!"

Lluvia pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger in an effort to keep her rising temper in check. "Tris, now's not the time or the place for you to start acting all brave and heroic-like…" she began to say in her most reasonable voice.

"I'm not abandoning you! And that's final!" Her friend stood before her with his arms folded over his chest, wearing a very obdurate look on his stubble-covered face. Once again, he was pushing the envelope with her and she was getting very pissed off by his inability to take in the larger picture. Lluvia quickly covered the few steps between them and roughly grabbed him by his shirtfront to pull him closer until there was just an inch of space separating their faces. Tristan gulped at the flash of angry sparks he saw in her eyes.

"Dammit, Tris! This arrangement is non-negotiable! Do you understand me? You will do as I say, or else!"

Good Kami, he thought, inwardly quavering. Three days on this barbarian planet and she's become as savage as these bloody Saiya-jins! But she was still his friend, his life-sister, and he wouldn't back down so easily. His next words were spoken in a low, but steady, voice. "Or else, what, Yu-vee? Are you going to hit me?"

His restrained words stabbed deeply into her heart and Lluvia's grip on his shirt slowly relaxed. In her fury at his bull-headedness, she was all set to literally beat some sense into her friend. But as she looked into his light eyes and saw only the concern reflected there, she realized that he was doing what he'd done all her life, wanting only to stand beside her to give her moral support. Upon finally releasing her hold on his shirt, her hands moved up to gently frame his face between them, forcing him to look directly into her eyes as she whispered, "Tristan, my dear…stubborn friend, there is no way in hell I can let you do this! As of last night, your priorities have radically changed! You have a mate who adores you…and a beautiful, little daughter…my namesake…both of whom are waiting on that transport for you…Tris…please!" She squeezed her eyes shut to hold her rising tears in check. "If I'm forced to, I'll fight you, too, if it insures that Rayne will grow up with a mother and a father in her life!" Tristan's eyes began to spill over as she brought her gaze up and gave him a rueful half-smile. "Let her grow up with two parents by her side, to love and nurture her always. Do that one little thing for me, please?" He went still for a second then nodded in hesitant, but sad, agreement.

Lluvia was inwardly battling to keep her own tears from emerging, but she knew that she had to be strong, for Tristan's sake. Besides, she'd be damned if she was going to let that pretentious pissant of a prince see her cry!

"This is for Jen," she said, pulling his face closer to tenderly kiss his teary right cheek. "And this is for Rayne," she added, placing a second kiss on his equally wet left cheek. "And a final kiss," she whispered, pulling his head downwards and letting her soft lips briefly touch the middle of his warm brow, "for you to remember me by."

Overcome by the realization that he might never see his friend again, Tristan threw his arms around her, breaking down into shaking sobs. "I love you, babe!" he cried, fiercely embracing her one last time. "I'll never forget you!"

Lluvia pulled back a little to grace her friend with a wan grin, softly laughing as she ruffled his hair. "After the lifetime of aggravation you've caused me? I certainly hope not!"

All too soon, a Saiya-jin soldier appeared at the training room's open entryway, ready to escort Tristan to the launching pad and the transport awaiting there. Lluvia watched with a growing heaviness in her heart as her friend walked haltingly away from her. At her insistence, he was taking her leather jacket with him, with a promise to distribute the jewelry to Morgana, Soledad, and Jenika. The jacket itself would be a gift to Rayne when she'd eventually grow into it.

He paused before stepping over the threshold and flashed a quick, pointed look at Prince Vegeta before turning his gaze toward Lluvia. "Hey, Yu-vee! Just do me one last favor, would you?"

Knowing that Tristan couldn't resist throwing out a small zinger in parting, she grinned, "Sure thing; what is it?"

"Kick this guy's sorry ass one time for me," he said, jerking his head towards the surly prince, who scowled deeply at the remark.

Lluvia tossed an impish wink to Tristan, as she replied, "I'll see what I can do!"

A few feet behind her, the sound of gloved hands clapping pulled her attention away from the door and Tristan's departure. The doorway closed behind him with a hiss as she slowly turned her head towards the prince.

"Bravo! What a touching performance! Why, I'll bet there isn't a dry eye left in the house after that one!"

He continued his affected applause as Lluvia slowly stalked up to him until she stood a just couple of strides away. The icy loathing radiating from her eyes made his stagy clapping falter, then cease altogether, as she glared down at her shorter antagonist.

King Vegeta and the other spectators continued to lean forward, peering downward through the two-way transparent dome towards the floor of the training room. It unquestionably looked like one of the most mismatched pairings for a duel he'd ever seen. Lluvia was taller than the prince by only half a head, but she was positively willowy in comparison to the shorter, but more densely muscular Vegeta.

"Well, 'Ultra-Violet', or whatever your real name is, you ready to fight me?" snarled an increasingly impatient prince, after a few minutes' worth of staring.

"No, I'm not."

"And why not?"

Keeping her eyes trained on Prince Vegeta, she raised her hand and pointed to the device attached to her right ear. "Because until I receive solid assurance via this transceiver cuff that my friends are safely off-world, I won't fight. You can attack me now and I will not put up any resistance. Of course, you will most assuredly kill me, but your victory over me will be a hollow one."

"You're just stalling, because you know I will easily defeat you!" he replied, while clenching his jaw in annoyance.

"Perhaps, but without my fullest participation in the process, you will never realize what I can do as an opponent and, as a Saiya-jin warrior, the curiosity will just about eat you up alive!" she softly taunted.

Grrr! Vegeta was seething, caught between his immediate need to put her in her proper place and his inborn desire to always battle his foes to the fullest extent of their abilities. Scowling at the delay, but more determined than ever to see this resolved to his own personal satisfaction, Vegeta turned on his heel and stomped over to the opposite wall.

As he faced her from his new position he pointed derisively towards her, saying, "Fine! Have it your way! But I warn you that I will be very put out if you do not carry your end of this bargain, woman!"

Offering only a mock bow in reply, Lluvia turned and strolled over to nearest wall. She then leaned her back up against the smooth surface, with one leg bent up to brace her weight. With her arms folded in front of her, she settled back and shut one eye, keeping the other focused on the prince. For a moment, her mind drifted to her beloved Bardock, but she gently put the thought aside. This was her fight, and she had to focus only on what was right in front of her.

I don't believe it, thought the king, analyzing this new circumstance. She just shifted the balance of control to herself! And my stiff-necked offspring hasn't a clue as to what she did! He's so consumed with the overwhelming need to fight her, that he missed the subtle transference! That cunning little fox…

King Vegeta's mouth involuntarily twitched into a small smile, until he heard Zarbon say, "Your majesty! I really must protest this…this untenable situation! I demand that you call a stop to this at once!"

The king of all Saiya-jins merely turned his head and, with a threatening look, silenced the sputtering speaker. "You forget yourself, Zarbon," he growled lowly. "You may be Frieza's representative, but you are also merely a guest here for the duration of your stay. Need I remind you that I am the king of Vegeta-sei; therefore, I, and I alone, will make the decision whether or not this match between the dancer and my son will continue? Be candid for once, Zarbon," he added, motioning his head in Lluvia's direction. "Aren't you the least bit intrigued? From all appearances, she has no intention to back out of this; why should I call it off when she has not asked for my specific intercession to do so?"

Zarbon's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, as the usually silver-tongued emissary floundered to say something. He didn't want to outwardly admit to the smirking monkey-king that part of him also wanted to see how Lluvia would fare against the prince. Unable to come up with a decent retort, he pressed his sensuous lips together and ground his molars in silent frustration.