Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Beautiful Warrior ❯ Desperate Decisions ( Chapter 3 )

 

Chapter 2

 

Videl got out of work at midnight and headed home. As she walked home she found herself thinking back to the mysterious man from this morning. He had such intense eyes.

 

When she finally made it home she was so caught up in thought she almost didn't notice the light on in her front window and the door was open a crack. Normally her father would have been asleep or out on a night shift so when she saw the door open she ran inside fear and panic running down her spine. She ran into the main room and her father was laying on his futon and their neighbor, Suki, was kneeling by his side.

 

She stopped dead in her tracks and stared as Suki dabbed his head with a wash cloth.

 

Suki finally saw her and said, “Oh Videl! I saw him come home and he passed out when he opened the door. I called the doctor and he said he has pneumonia.” Videl hit her knees beside her father and shook her head in denial.

 

“No! No!” She mumbled. “Father.” She wept as she held his face and touched his forehead with her own.

 

“The doctor said if he rests and takes all his medicine, he should be fine.” Suki said motioning to the tray next to him.

 

“I can't…cough cough…I can't miss work… cough cough weez.” Hercule tried to sit up, but Videl pulled him back down.

 

“No! I will not lose you the same way I lost mom!” Videl shouted angrily glaring down at him.

 

Hercule's face softened he knew it was a battle he couldn't win. “But…cough…my boss is a hard ass…coughs…saiyan. They don't get sick…I will lose…cough…my job!”

 

Videl frowned. “I have a job. We will be fine. You just rest.” She said. “Thank you Suki.” Suki nodded and left the house. Videl sat by her father watching him until he fell asleep. Once he fell asleep she grabbed a blanket off her bed and slept in the chair in the main room all night to watch over her father.

 

Two weeks later….

 

Hercule was doing much better under Videl and Suki's careful watch. When Videl went to work Suki watched and cared for him and during the night Videl would stay awake and train so that if her father needed her she was wide awake to attend to him. She got very little sleep in those two weeks, but she did get to train a lot. Little did she know that things were about to be come horribly unpredictable, especially concerning her father's illness.

 

Hercule was able to go outside for the first time as he was feeling much better and longed for fresh air. It was Videl's day off and they were both out in their small front yard. Videl was practicing her katas much to her father's chagrin he was doing his best to make her stop, by grumping and grousing, but she just sighed and smiled and mostly ignored him.

 

Just then Hercule stopped his ranting as he saw something strange. A sturdy saiyan soldier was going door to door along their street. He finally came to their yard. Hercule stood up and walked shakily over to Videl and touched her shoulder. She was very deep in concentration when her father touched her shoulder. She snapped out of her trance and stopped her kata just in time to see the saiyan enter the yard.

 

He gave a small bow to Hercule and pulled a data disk out of a pack over his shoulder.

“Frieza's soldiers have begun an offensive. The royal army of Vegeta-sei needs skirmishers. One man from every family in the populated areas must serve. Hercule Satan…the kingdom calls on you. All the info is on the disk. Good day.” With out another word the saiyan headed off to the next house. Hercule stared down at the disk blankly and Videl's mouth hung open in disbelief.

 

“Father….you can't…” She stuttered when she regained her voice.

 

Hercule was hobbling back into the house to watch the disk. “I don't want to hear it Videl I have to go!”

“Father you're sick you can't possibly fight!”

 

“I have no choice!” He snapped angrily at her. He turned to stare hard at her. “Before I leave I am contacting the match maker. Even if I do not return you will be married.” With that he let out a loud cough and walked into the house.

 

Videl clenched her fists and bit her lip. `I won't lose you father. No.'

 

The next day her father had tea with the match maker. As they talked Videl trained trying to not be angry knowing how sick her father was. That night after dinner, her father retired to bed early as he had to leave early the next day, but before going to bed he had a coughing fit and Videl had to help him to bed. Hercule held her hand before falling asleep his way of saying good bye.

 

While he slept unaware Videl snuck into the main room with the data disk and watched it for herself. It had all the information on where and when he was to meet the rest of his unit. As she stared at the screen she didn't know what to do.

 

Her mind raced with ideas, but known of them were plausible. “What can I do?” She whispered anxiously squeezing her fists in her lap. She closed her eyes and took a few deep composing breathes. Then it came to her like a helpful whisper. `One man from every family…'

 

She thought hard for a few moments weighing her idea. She could be killed if she went and if she was found out even worse things could happen to her. She looked towards her father's door and sighed. “I have to go.”

 

So with that she grabbed the disk and went to her room. She tied her hair back and with a quick snip cut it short. With a few more cuts to clean it up she looked successfully like a male. She wrapped her chest tight so that even the smallish swell of her breasts was unnoticeable. She put on some of her father's old training clothes and put a few things in her backpack including the disk. She glanced at the clock.

 

“It should take me an hour or so to get to the ship docks. I better go.” She looked in on her father one more time and sighed. “Sorry father, but I have to do this.” With that she left and headed for the ship docks a detailed story forming in her head as she went.