Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Black Hearts ❯ Time To Change ( Chapter 16 )

Pan opened her eyes slowly, and for a moment she didn't know how she got where she was. Gradually, it all came back to her. She felt a tightening in her chest. A guilty conscience plagued her thoughts. It quickly became unbearable. Her face slowly distorted, forming a look of despair. She shook her head, and blinked away the tears that were forming. Gradually, she became aware that she was being watched.

She looked up, and saw Vegeta leaning on the doorway. Rays from the sun shone on his lower half, but missed his face, which was in the shadows. He was wearing light clothing, and had an unreadable expression on his face.

Vegeta...Pan then realised that it wasn't Vegeta's fault that her son was dead. It was in fact hers. She had been punished for her wrongs. And why not? How many unborn children had she killed? Billions, surely. Suddenly, her loss seemed insignificant. It seemed as if it was merely a light scolding and that she deserved far worse.

Pan sat up on the bed, and she found herself completely healed. All the pain was gone. Well, the physical pain, that is. `Vegeta,' she sighed sadly. She couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes. Vegeta said nothing, but he did slowly approach her. He sat down on the bed next to her. They just sat there in silence for a very long time. Vegeta was stoic, but Pan was quivering slightly. After an age, Pan spoke.

`Vegeta...I feel...so...' She paused. `So...lost. I thought I knew what I was doing.' She paused again, trying to form words for how she felt. `I thought I had everything figured out...but so much has changed. That is, my perspective has changed. I went mad Vegeta. Utterly insane. I tried to wipe out all life in the galaxy. I tried to kill you. I killed my son.'

`Pan, that was my fault. I'm so sorry-' began Vegeta, before he was cut off by Pan.

`No Vegeta. It was my fault. I'm sorry Vegeta. Please, forgive me.' Pan was in tears by now. `You're all that I've got left,' she sobbed quietly. `Not that I ever had anything to begin with though...'

`I forgive you,' were his only words. Vegeta looked sad, and bowed his head to hers, so that their foreheads were pressed against one another. Pan slowly tilted her head upwards, and when Vegeta didn't draw away, she kissed him softly on the lips. Vegeta gently kissed back to let her know that it was ok, but he drew away shortly. They both knew it wasn't the time for anything more. Pan gingerly leaned her head on Vegeta's shoulder, and inhaled his scent. She wrapped her arms tightly around Vegeta, who did the same back. Pan could no longer hold back her tears. Apart from the guilt and the loss of her son, she was elated that Vegeta had forgiven her, had accepted her, and her tears were also ones of happiness.

`Vegeta,' she said, choking on the word. `I love you. I love you so much. I love you more than anything. Please Vegeta, say you love me too. Say you love me too,' she begged in barely more than a whisper. Vegeta stroked her hair tenderly, relishing in the feeling that her confession stirred in him.

`I love you too, Pan. I love you too. I will never leave you.' Pan looked up, seeing Bulma in the doorway. Both Vegeta and Pan suddenly got defensive, having been caught in such a position. Bulma had just walked in, and hadn't seen what Pan and Vegeta were doing, so she mouthed off.

`Vegeta, your son is really annoying. He's so strong it hurts when he kicks-' She stopped when she took in the situation. Pan pushed Vegeta away from her and leapt up. She looked from Bulma to Vegeta.

`Vegeta? Is she carrying your child?' she asked in disbelief and horror. `Is it true?' Vegeta was at a loss for words. His eyes told her all that she needed to know. Tears trailed down her cheek steadily. She felt her heart shredded once again. `No...' she cried. `No!!' Vegeta got up and moved to embrace Pan, but she held up her hand. `No! Stay away. Don't touch me.' She turned toward the window, and blasted out of it, speeding away from the CC building. Vegeta stared after her in shock.

`What just happened?' asked Bulma. Vegeta's shock quickly turned to anger. He tried to reason with himself. It was his fault. Nope. It just didn't work. Bulma moved to touch Vegeta, and he struck her. She cried out in pain as she was knocked to the floor. He walked over to her and grabbed her neck. He hoisted her up and slammed her against the wall.

`You couldn't keep your fucking curiosity in check for one fucking day! I was going to tell her in my own way! Instead, you come in and scare her off!! I should fucking kill you!!!!' he roared at her. The only reason he didn't was, as before, Kakarott. He couldn't beat Kakarott, and he didn't think Pan could fight in her present state. `GRRR...BITCH!!!' He released her, and she fell back to the ground, coughing painfully. `And just in case you haven't noticed, I'm not available!'

`W-what?' she asked in shock. Vegeta sneered coldly at her.

`What? You thought I didn't notice how you look at me? How you reek of sex when I'm around? How you moan my name in your bed at night? Well I did, and quite frankly, I'm disgusted. Keep your distance from me human, or I will kill you. I have no son!' He promptly blasted out the window to follow Pan.

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He reached out to try and sense her, but he got nothing. He looked out into the vast expanse of West City and realised that she had vanished into it. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. Vegeta hovered, contemplating his next action. After minutes of indecision, he flew in the direction of the city centre.

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Pan was sitting on a bench in a park, crying. Her pride was discarded. For now, at least. It was simply too hard to keep it with all that had happened to her recently. Pan had her face buried in her hands, and was sobbing softly into them. It was all coming down on her. Her son, Vegeta, herself. Even before then. Freeza's treatment of her was finally catching up mentally. She cursed her emotions.

For literally hours she sat on that bench, surrounded by trees and playing children. Perhaps these children had the longest life expectancy of any children in the universe. They had been in Pan's company for hours, and lived still. Pan did notice this. *How horrible* she thought to herself, her tears spent. *That these children are lucky to be alive. All children should have that, not just these. And it's all my fault.

Pan's train of thought was interrupted when she felt a small pressure on her arm. She looked up, not really caring who it was, or what their intentions were. She was genuinely surprised to see a young boy of about five tugging on her arm.

`Lady, are you ok?' he asked in a voice which was concerned. His childlike tone was a shock to Pan, who had never spoken to a child before in her life. At least, not without intending to hurt it. Pan sniffed, and wiped her eyes.

`What?' she asked, her voice strained.

`What's wrong? You've been crying like that for a very long time! I was just worried about you. Do you have an owie?' Pan couldn't help but weakly smile, and chuckle softly. Imagine! A child, worried about her.

`Yeah. I do. Deep inside, where it can't be healed,' said Pan softly.

`I have lots of owies. I have one on my...um....' The child tried to say where, but didn't have the words for it. `Up here,' he said, tapping his shoulder.

`Oh? And how did you get it?' asked Pan. She liked the kid. She wanted to keep hearing him talk. It made her feel as if she wasn't too evil to be near children. It made her feel like a better person. The child took on a slightly grimmer look.

`My daddy gave it to me.' Pan's brows furrowed.

`Oh?' she asked.

`Yep. Daddy also gave me this one, on my arm,' he said, pointing to his arm, where a rather large bruise lay. Pan, being and expert on torture and mutilation (both giving and receiving), instantly recognised them as being caused by a fist. Pan became sterner. She repositioned herself so that she was facing the child.

`What else does daddy give you?' asked Pan, while wiping the last of her tears from her face.

`Umm...I'm not really supposed to tell. Ever since mommy died...I mean, went away, he's been different,' confessed the child, who's tone had become rather sad. Pan looked at his feet, and in a moment when his trouser leg rose, she saw badly scarred tissue.

`Did daddy give you that, too?' Pan asked, pointing to his leg. The child shook his head.

`No,' she child looked very nervous, even scared, as soon as Pan mentioned his legs. `I'm afraid that if I say, it'll happen again. It gives me bad dreams. I was in hosdabal for ages after it happened.'

`After what happened?' pressed Pan.

`...After...after this evil lady burned me at McDonalds.' Pan's eyes went wide with shock. Her mouth went dry and hung open. She did this to him...could she ever get away from what she had done? A hand clamped down on the child's shoulder. Pan looked up, and into the eyes of a man with crew cut and a clean shaven face. He looked strong, and was very tall.

`I hope my son hasn't been annoying you miss,' he said pleasantly. He smiled at her. Pan could see his hand was exerting a very great amount of pressure on his son's shoulder. Enough to bruise it. Pan didn't like this guy. She could see right past his fake empathy. `I'll take him home now. Sorry he was bothering you.' The man tipped the top of his baseball hat, and turned to leave.

`It's all right. He...he wasn't bothering me.' But the man was already too far away to hear Pan's quiet defence of the boy. Pan watched as the man took the boy away, smacking him on the back of the head twice, and lecturing him. Pan felt a flare of anger. It was weird, but a part of her wanted to protect the child. She had a keen sense when it came to seeing if people were not as they first appeared, and that sense was now telling her that this man mistreated the boy. For reasons that she didn't fully understand, she go up and discretely followed them.

She kept a safe distance as the man and the boy left the park and got into a large jeep. The car started, and drove down the street, which had tall houses made of brick lining it on each side. She took to the skies to keep up. The car drove through the city and came to rest in the driveway of a typical two storey suburban house.

She landed on the slanted roof undetected, and watched as the father and son entered the building. She walked softly across the roof to the ledge above an open window. Pan grabbed the gutter, and flipped down, landing silently on the plush carpet inside.

It was the kids' bedroom. It was perfectly tidy. She ignored the rest of the details and went out into the hallway. She made her way down the stairs, and waited just out of view of the kitchen, where the two were. The father was cooking, and the boy was waiting at the table. She observed them for a long time. They ate, talked, watched TV, the father got the kid ready for bed, put some kind of ointment of his scarred legs and then went to sleep.

Nothing seemed abnormal at all. Pan decided to leave, as nothing was wrong. Perhaps the child was mistaken when he had said his father gave him the bruises. Or maybe it was an accident. Or maybe he was lying. She waited another hour after all was silent before she decided to leave.

She opened the front door to leave, and just before she shut it, she heard something break. The thumping of heavy footsteps, which dragged themselves along the ground, followed this. Pan listened closely as the sound moved around upstairs. She heard a door open. She caught a strong smell of alcohol as the door opened. She re-entered the house and shut the door, making her way upstairs. She took them each like a panther, treading softly as to not make a sound. She peered down the dark hall, and saw the father, obviously raving drunk, stagger to the kid's bedroom. He kicked the door several times before it gave way. Pan heard the kid screaming as the father rushed over to the bed and began to assault him.

Pan was unable to react. The screaming caused her to think of the time in McDonalds. It reminded her of the hideous smell of the boys living flesh being cooked. The sound of him...Pan couldn't think. It wasn't some exceptionally loud noise that brought Pan out of her trance, but the eerie silence that had settled. Minutes had passed, but Pan didn't notice them.

She cycled through everything that could have happened. The father killed the boy and shut up; the father stopped beating him out of shock…She decided to find out. She entered the room and saw the father unconscious on the floor. The boy was dead in the corner: several blows to the head. Pan felt as if she failed. *I'm good for nothing* She sighed deeply in regret and turned to leave when the window suddenly blew inwards. Vegeta flew in. He landed in front of Pan and surveyed the surroundings.

`I have nothing to say to you,' whispered Pan. Vegeta looked hard put to say anything in his defence.

`You didn't let me explain,' he argued.

`What is there to explain?'

`The circumstance-'

`What? That you raped her?' Vegeta looked surprised. He hadn't expected her to say that. `Oh don't look so shocked. The truly surprising thing is that she survived. That must be a first.' Vegeta didn't say anything. `What? Nothing to say?'

`No, there isn't. I have no defence and no excuse. All I can say is that she means nothing to me. You are who I care about. I...was going to tell you. Soon. I wish you hadn't found out like that.' Vegeta was encouraged that she was listening for this long. `Please come back with me. I'm sorry.' Pan was silent. She was contemplating it. She bowed her head slightly. She knew she would go back. She had admitted her love to Vegeta, and she wouldn't let her pride keep her from him. She could feel those despicable tears rise yet again. She missed her son so much...damn us both for the death of my son!

`I'll come back with you. I love you. I just want things to be right. No more pain. No more death. No more suffering. Vegeta, we've seen so much of it in our lives. We've been so much of it. Don't you think it's time to rest?' Vegeta slowly nodded his head, though not in agreement with her. Pan continued. `Vegeta, ever since our births, we were destined to be killers. Freeza made sure of that. He made us what we are. We never had a chance to become our own people. Who knows how we might have turned out if we were raised on Planet Vegeta? But Freeza is gone. Blasted into little pieces by a Saiya-jin. Don't you think we should stop being what he made us, and start being what we should have been?' Pan waited for Vegeta to say something, but when he didn't, she knew he didn't think so. `You don't...' she sighed sadly, mourning who they never were.

`I'm happy that you're coming back,' said Vegeta, changing the subject. `What about the man?' Pan let go of what she had been thinking a moment earlier, and glared at the father. She began to walk towards the window, he face shrouded in shadow.

`Kill him. And burn the house.' She then flew out the window into the cool night air in the direction of Capsule Corporation. Vegeta chuckled quietly to himself about her decision to kill the man after that speech. Vegeta looked at him and snorted. He was already dead. To much alcohol. Vegeta raised his arm and blasted.

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Course set for Earth. Slipstream drive activated. ETA:

16 hours.

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