Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Bonds and Beginnings ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Ryven was standing by the door, wondering why Sensei hadn't come back yet. She had felt the clash of both powers in the distance, and she knew better than to interfere in Piccolo's battles, but also couldn't overcome the feeling that something had gone terribly awry. The feeling gnawed at the back of her mind, pushing and shoving to come to the forefront. Snowblind whined and paced the floor, looking to the window every so often, then letting his head sink back to the floor. He looked as worried as she did, whining as he was.

~I don't like it.~ Ryven stated, crossing her arms. ~He should have been back by now. I hope he's not taking him on by himself. Sensei's not prepared for any of the magic Al'Thor can work.~

~I agree, it doesn't look promising to me either.~ Her wolven familiar agreed. Ryven nodded firmly.

~Then it's settled. We're going. Let's go, Snowblind.~ she thought to him.

Ryven strapped her sword back on and rushed out into the dim early morning light, noticing that the new fallen show came up to her ankles on the forest floor. Its white blanket cast a magical, pure look on the land around her, silencing the small sounds that would normally echo throughout the forest. She caught the faint dimples of where Piccolosan's footprints had been covered by the falling snow, and followed them on foot so not to give away her power level. Soon, she felt two powers flare powerfully from a distance not too far to reach. Ryven was sure it was them, so she ran towards the powers, her breath trailing behind her in white puffs. She could feel both powers slowly rising, the sudden spikes the harbingers to the fight that wound ensue.

~He is taking him on all by himself, Snowblind.~ she concluded grimly, rising to her feet and looking on to where the feeling was emanating. Snowblind sneezed, but didn't reply, knowing that she had probably guessed correctly.

"We have to help him," she stated out loud. Her wolf snapped his head in her direction and gave her the closest thing to a look of amazement that an animal could muster.

~What are you talking about, Ryven? This is Vortigaine Al'Thor we're talking about! We can't go up against him! You're so much weaker than he is, and he's after you, in case you've forgotten!~ the wolf suddenly exploded, amazed at the fact that she would even think of such an act. Ryven merely flicked her deep blue eyes at the wolf, almost icing him over with her gaze.

"I'd do the same for you," she replied coldly. "You can stay here, if you want to be safe. But I'm going." With that, she began to run toward the fight. Snowblind sneezed and looked away, then began to follow her.

~Not that it would matter. If you get hurt, I get hurt. If you're unconscious, I'm unconscious, if you die, I die.~ he grumbled.

~I knew you'd see it my way.~

~Feh.~

~Don't be a snot.~

~I'm not being a snot! I'm being practical-!~

Ryven stopped dead in her tracks just as she entered the field of battle, almost causing Snowblind to run into her, but causing him to cut off in mid sentence. He growled a bit, but then silenced himself as he realized what she was sensing. She sat down low and watched as the two talked amongst themselves, about her, about Piccolo, about some "primary dilemma". She knitted her brows as she watched and listened, until finally the battle started almost without warning. Before she knew it her Sensei was already against a tree, and wincing in pain.

"He's using magic bonds, Snowblind," she whispered, ducking down again. "There's no way Sensei can get out of those, unless he knows how to use the proper deflection spell. And I know for a fact that Sensei doesn't know any of the magic here. We've gotta help him in anyway way we can."

~Can you weaken or break the bonds from here with a counter spell?~ Snowblind asked in all seriousness. Ryven took a moment to think a bit, biting back some anger as she saw Al'Thor begin to beat Piccolo while he was pinned to the tree.

~Yes, I think so. But I don't know if it's the right spell.~ she replied. ~But I've got to give it a shot.~ With that, she settled down and began to chant an incantation from memory, weaving her hands back and forth in odd and obscure gestures. Slowly a dim yellow light began to for around her hands, then suddenly a beam shot from the light from her hands to the bonds themselves. The bonds let out a high pitched whining sound as all four exploded in a fine, shimmering white mist. Piccolo fell from the tree at the last minute, allowing Al'Thor to bash into the trunk with his high-powered attack instead of Piccolo's head, as he had intended to do. The elf went flying from the sheer power of his attack, finally stopping several feet away. He left a furrow in the snow, melting it to water, then freezing as quickly as it had melted. Al'Thor stood from his snowy bed and let his sharp hazel eyes rest upon the girl as she made herself known.

"You," he growled. "I didn't think you'd be as stupid as to show yourself so easily. I overestimated you, child." Ryven stood up and unsheathed her sword, narrowing her eyes as her ki rose sharply. Al'Thor let out a chuckle as she began to float toward her.

"You're power is higher this day, but it's still nothing in comparison to mine. You're in over your head, girl."

I have a name, and it's not girl."

"No you don't Halfbreeds don't deserve names."

"Aye, I do."

"Let's not start this annoying argument again. Are you going to surrender peacefully, or am I going to have to disfigure that pretty little body of yours while I take your power from you?" Al'Thor asked, seemingly exasperated.

"You can try, but you won't get very far." Ryven replied, smirking cockily. She set her feet firmly into the ground, forgetting momentarily that the ground was covered in wet, slippery snow. She flicked her eyes briefly to Piccolo to check on his situation. He was still lying on the ground, and from what Ryven could feel, he had been drained substantially from the magic bonds that had been placed upon him. Snow fell freely over him, the flakes resting upon his cloak and hands.

Please make it long enough for me to dispose of him, Sensei. She silently prayed in her head.

Al'Thor began to circle Ryven, his eyes locked to her hers with grim concentration. Ryven was tense with fear and anticipation of the coming battle, as she was unsure of the outcome, and that much showed, even as she tried to bluff.

Suddenly from behind, Snowblind leapt upon Al'Thor's back, ripping at the back of his neck with his long, canine fangs. Al'Thor screamed in pain, thrashing around madly trying to throw the huge wolf off his back. Ryven took this opportunity to deal a few blows to the Elvin warlord. She slashed at his belly several times, finally giving him a hard roundhouse kick to his chest, sending him backward as Snowblind leapt from his back and landing lithely on the ground. She let out a loud, shrill war cry as she leapt upon him herself, slamming her knees into his chest and raising her glowing blade above her head for the final strike. But, just as she did so, Al'Thor's mouth upturned in a frightening snarl.

"Foolish girl!" he shouted in rage, struggling to rise. However, Ryven kept on top of him. Closing her eyes, her shoulders flexed as she brought the blade down with swift strength. But, to her surprise, the warlord began to laugh. The blade hit something solid, and as Ryven opened her eyes she realized that he had conjured a deflection spell at the last minute, sending her blade bouncing off the magic and into the snow beside her. In that second Al'Thor tossed the elf girl from his chest, landing on top of her in turn, his breath heavy as he held her to the ground with his knees and his hands.

"You thought you had me, didn't you, Ryven the Nameless?" he sneered, taking a deep breath. "Well, now it seems that the spider has caught the fly. It's time for you to perish, girl. It's a shame too, you've grown since the last time I've seen you. I'd even consider marrying you, if it weren't for that nasty little fact that you only a half breed and the fact that you worship a weak goddess!" Al'Thor smiled devilishly, not meaning most of it, but just trying to mess with her. "But, perhaps I'll give you a thrill before you die horribly, and I imbibe your power."

Ryven's brows creased in angered confusion, struggling feverishly to escape from his grip.

What the hell are you talking about, truth-twister?" she spat out angrily.

"Ah, I forget that you are one so young and naïve," he replied. With that, he suddenly leaned down and planted a long kiss on her lips, again just to mess with her. Ryven's eyes opened wide as she screamed, fighting franticly to escape.

All at once, Al'Thor's eyes opened wider as he broke off the kiss and screamed. In the struggling, Ryven's knee had broken free, and had planted itself in his groin. He rolled off and laid in the snow, uttering every curse known to him at the girl. Ryven took that opportunity to scramble to her feet and rush for her sword.

"Not today, you scheming little bitch!" the warlord shouted. He rolled over onto his shoulder, flailing his free hand toward her as he cast a quick binding spell towards her. Ryven fell forward all at once, her face burying in the snow she found that she couldn't move her arms or legs. Acting on instinct, she began to chant under her breath, praying to her Goddess that the magic would be done in time. However, Al'Thor was on her in a second, clapping his hand over her mouth and twisting her bound arms in an odd, painful angle. Ryven screeched through his hand, her eyes squeezing shut.

"And don't think your meddling fur ball will help you, either!" Al'Thor stated in fury, whirling around. He flung his palm out in front of him at the last second, blasting the wolf away on a small energy beam. With that out of the way, he pulled a dagger from his boot and brought it out in front of him. Ryven saw it, her eyes widening as she fought against him with renewed strength.

Al'Thor smiled, panting. "Now, half-breed, this will all finally end. A cold blade through the heart is your fate, and my fate is your power belonging to me!"

As the blade drew closer to her body, Ryven struggled more and more, hoping that by some chance that her movement might deter the blade, or throw him off balance, or something to spare her life. But, soon she realized that he was firm in his footing as well as in his grip, and there didn't seem to be anything that was going to divert his aim at her heart.

"You talk too much!" a low voice shouted, cutting through the early morning air. Al'Thor whirled around just in time to take a ki blast to his face, forcing him to drop Ryven and fly backward through the forest. Ryven fell face first into the snow, her heart beating like that of a frightened rabbit's. She raised her head from the snow in time to see Piccolo kneeling in the snow, his hand still extended and slightly glowing with the attack he had just unleashed, panting heavily. On instinct she made the effort to leap up, but all at once she remembered that she was still in bonds, so she went nowhere.

"Sensei! His magic is powerful! Be on your guard!" she shouted, her breath melting the snow on the ground. Though his attention was focused on Al'Thor, he gave a slight nod. Knowing that she couldn't do anything else, Ryven began to chant in a whisper, casting a magic deflection spell over her teacher with the magic power she had left inside her. When she was finished, she knew it wasn't strong, but it would soak up most of the damage, at any rate. Al'Thor, however, stood up some distance away, brushing the snow off of him and casting a death glare in the duo's direction.

"Why won't you die!?" he shouted from afar, not daring to move any closer. He hovered and fumed, but then began to fade from view in the dim morning light.

"Watch your backs, because this isn't over. This is far from over. I will have that power of yours, Ryven the Nameless!" he stated, then slowly disappeared from view. The binds on Ryven disappeared as well, leaving her free to stand and move about as she please. She leapt up, red faced and angry.

I do have a name! You hear me, you bastard?! I DO HAVE A NAME!!

she screamed into the sky until her voice cracked, fuming and panting. Piccolosan stood behind her, panting silently as he held his shoulder in place, also fuming, but fuming inwardly. He was too focused on keeping his pain hidden to be angry. Standing up as straight as he could, he walked forward a few paces in the snow toward where the shed was.

"He is gone now, it is time to leave," he said in a low voice, almost startling Ryven where she stood. She whirled around to face him, and, after looking him over, nodded in agreement. Gathering up her blade, she sheathed it quickly, pausing a moment to jiggle the sword in its sheathe to test the movement. Snowblind came trotting up next to her, and having everything she needed, she started off after her Sensei.

She caught up with him after a minute or so, surprised that even in his condition he could be so fast, even while walking. She pulled up beside him and kept up with his long strides in a quick walk, almost a trot. Finally she gave up and began to float above the ground. She hadn't been floating for ten seconds when Piccolosan turned his head to glare at her, his look poisonous.

"Do you want to be found, girl? Keep on the ground and keep your power level down," he scolded harshly. Ryven looked a little taken aback, then quickly put her feet on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Sensei, I just couldn't keep up-"

"You do not have to walk beside me, you know,"

Ryven slowed her pace and stared at the back of his head in a confused manner. "...alright."

"You should have stayed away."

"But he would have killed you..." she trailed off, beginning to build her own theories about what he was getting at.

"That matters not, he could have killed you."

Ryven blinked a bit at that. "I'm sorry, Piccolosan. Please don't be angry."

"It is a little late to be angry," he replied, and then added quickly in a grudging, choked voice, "But I appreciate what you did. But if you ever do that again, do not expect me to bail you out." Ryven smiled and nodded behind him, relieved to find that he wasn't too terribly disappointed in her.

"Piccolosan, are you going to be alright? It looks as if he took a lot out of you," Ryven ventured after a few minutes of silence and a few minutes of looking him over. Piccolo grunted a little.

"Do not worry about it."

"Oh, that's right, you can regenerate." she reiterated to herself. "I should have known better."

There was another silence after that, but neither party paid any mind to it; they were used to it by now. The two very rarely had conversations that lasted more than five minutes, and most were about what was to be done next. But there was no need for lengthy conversations between the two, at least, at regular intervals. There had been times that, at night, Ryven came to join Piccolosan when she was feeling especially lonely, or when she lost sleep, plagued once again by the nightmares of past atrocities. In either case, she merely followed his power level and found him, meditated with him for a while, and then, if the mood struck either individual, a conversation would be struck up.

And that night was no exception.

Upon seeing Al'Thor again, so up close and real proved to be more than she could handle that day, and going from not seeing him in person in several years to suddenly being kissed by him was an overload for her. She tossed and turned in the cottage she had found (and had pretty much adopted as her own), her arm under her head as she slept near a dying fire in the hearth. She mumbled and cried out incoherently in her slumber, a cold sweat breaking out over her waxen forehead as her familiar whined nervously next to her, looking like nothing more than a pile of white fur.

A short distance away on a high wooded cliff, Piccolo was deep in mediations, as was the case for most nights by himself. The stars winked in the sky above, the heavens sharper that winter night. The moon was merely a crescent, but even in that phase it gave out a great deal of light. The soft moonbeams played upon the freshly fallen snow, making the world seem all the brighter then under its blanket of sterile, silencing white.

Piccolo's cape fluttered in the slight breeze coming down from the mountains above, his cape almost as white as the snow was. His eyes were closed as he floated above the snow, deep in a meditative state, which was, most times, the closest thing to sleep that he needed. On occasions he slept, but not very often.

The piercing cold didn't seem to bother him, as he was blocking the outside world from his consciousness, telling himself that it didn't exist. He was lost in his own mind, becoming at peace with himself and his surroundings while burying himself in hard logic, which was just as hard and cold as the icicles hanging from the trees around him.

Suddenly his brows pinched together, like someone had driven a wedge in his clear, precise meditations. His mind was suddenly filled with leaping flames and the sounds of screaming people, pounding hooves and the shouts of riders. Crimson blood seemed to splash up from nowhere, as easily as a boy would slop their glass of cherry kool-aide on a hot summer's day. Suddenly there was a child's high pitched scream; one filled with much anguish, fear and anger. The images played over and over in his head until they abruptly stopped; the flames disappearing as suddenly as they had appeared, like someone had hit a light switch. Piccolo's consciousness surfaced quickly as he sighed a little, the images still imprinted in the fibers of his mind.

He had been able to tell when Ryven had her dreams of the past ever since that first day when he pried into her head and saw what had happened to her so long ago. It formed some sort of link between the two, and they were able to talk to each other telepathically henceforth, whether they were meditating or not. So, Piccolo merely kept his eyes closed until the images faded, and halfway waited for his student to show up, as she was known to do.

Ryven's eyes snapped open, wide and glassy with fear and tears. She sat up with a start and looked about her, almost forgetting where she was. The fire had gone out, and only the glowing embers remained in the stone fireplace. The stones on the floor were warm enough, even with the bit of snow on the windowsill, yet Ryven was still compelled to pull her black cloak around her shoulders and shiver. Poking Snowblind in the ribs, she roused him and started toward the door, following her Sensei's power signature through the forest.

She made her way through the endless, blanketed trees until she had followed the signature to a high cliff, also heavily wooded. As Snowblind turned to his raven form, Ryven floated to the top of the cliff and landed softly, her small feet crunching the snow softly as she walked. She only took a few paces forward, until she saw Piccolo's figure outlined in the thin moonlight. Then she merely sat down, crossed her legs Indian style and closed her eyes, floating a few inches above the ground as she began to meditate as well.

"What now?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Alright."

And with that, an hour or so passed with no sound between the two. Finally Ryven opened her eyes, not having the patience to meditate for hours on end, and sat against a tree on her cloak, despite the snow. She sat like that for a few minutes, staring up at the moon, until she finally broke the silence, shattering it like a thin sheet of ice on a puddle.

~Sensei, why are you here?~

That question took Piccolo by surprise, and he held off on his meditations for a while.

~It is long and complicated, and I do not want to get into it.~

~I heard Al'Thor talking about me earlier, before I had reached the battleground. I heard it as plain as day. What does this all have to do with me? Are you here because of me?~

Piccolo sighed. ~Partially, in a way. I stumbled onto you.~

~Then you need me for something, right? Your, what did you call it, your "primary dilemma?"~ she continued.

~I said I was not getting into it, girl.~

~I have a name.~

That comment took him by surprise as well, not expecting such a harsh reply. But, he figured, she was in the right, so he let it slide.

~Alright, Ryven, I said I was not getting into it.~

~Why?~

~You are the persistent one tonight,~ Piccolo mumbled in his head.

~Well, it's important. I hate being left in the dark.~

~Fine.~ He took a breath and prepared to tell a story that hurt even him in his cold shell of apathy.

~The world I come from is in danger because of the very people like me.~ He began. ~The fighters of earth have large, powerful ki signatures, and, we have surmised, the earth had grown accustomed to them, and learned to thrive on them. Well, after Goku died, there had been a relatively large amount of crustal disturbances, like earthquakes and things like that. Bulma was the one who figured out that it was because of the absence of power. But, soon after, everything seemed to settle down. It was alright after a while, and many years passed without any occurrences. My first seito, Son Gohan, had settled down with his brother and his mother, as many people on this planet seem to do. But, soon after, there was a sudden shift in power. The atmosphere suddenly turned sinister, and we all knew that there was another power, a dark one, and it was throwing off the balance. All the fighters gathered to flush out the new power, and there was a great battle between this newcomer and us. It was a long and bloody battle, and in the end, the new fighter ended up killing Gohan.~

~It was Bulma's idea that someone go into some other dimension where the world hadn't had time to adjust to the power levels, and bring back a light ki to bring balance to the world. Even though she wanted someone without a significant power level to go, I insisted I should go. She was reluctant at first, but then she finally agreed to let me go.~

Ryven frowned. ~But if you were a large power-level, then how did you get out without upsetting the balance even more?~

~Dende.~ He said. ~He is mimicking my power level until I get back. He could only do that with mine, because he could not handle Vegeta's. So, that is why I am here.~

Ryven laughed wryly. ~And now you're training me? You think that I'm going to save your world? I'm not nearly strong enough.~

~Do not sell yourself short, Young One. You have the potential to get much stronger.~ Piccolo said in his usual toneless way. The comment, in turn, took Ryven by surprise.

~...You really think so?~ she ventured. Piccolo nodded. She smiled a little. ~Thanks. That means a lot to me.~

~Iie, do not thank me. Compliments are earned.~ he replied gruffly. His air, however was different, as if he were emotional for the first time in a long time. Ryven sensed this much, and quickly realized why he never spoke about it.

~Sensei, whatever happened to your world, I'm terribly sorry. But I know that I'll work myself into the ground if it helps your cause. It's time I returned the favor.~ Ryven stated solemnly, looking up at him. Piccolo looked down at her in turn, his face stone but his eyes giving away a look of gratitude.

~Domo.~ he replied just as solemnly. ~And in return, I shall ... take care of you. I will not let anything happen to you.~

Ryven smiled slightly. ~...promise?~

He nodded in return. ~I swear it.~

The air of mutual gratitude filled the air, and there was no need for spoken thanks. The fact that they were still with each other was thanks enough. And the two felt a sort of peace that neither had felt in a long time.