Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Appearance: Part 1 ❯ And Then Came the Prophet ( Chapter 27 )

CHAPTER 27: AND THEN CAME THE PROPHET

"Earth doctor! I demand you release me from this hospital prison I have been trapped in for the last three days!" Marley shouted as her doctor walked into the room. She and her child had been in that room for three days "recovering" and she was sick of it.

"B-but Mrs. Son! You lost a considerable amount of blood giving birth, you must stay here for a week or more, it's standard procedure."

"Damn procedure! Damn you! I demand I am released!"

"Now Marley," Gohan said, stepping into the room, "he is just doing what he thinks is best."

"Don't `now Marley' me!" She yelled as her tail swished violently. "You are the one that put me here! I am healed! If I wanted to I could escape! But I stay here because of pathetic Earth `procedure' and they won't let me have my brat!"

"I'll see what I can do to get you out of here by tomorrow, okay Marley?"

She eyed him, and then the doctor. Then she let out a deep breath and said, "Fine, but I require my brat now!"

"All right Marley. Doctor," Gohan said to the man huddled in fear in the far corner, "could you please send someone for our child?"

He swallowed hard, nodded and scrambled out of the room. "You know honey, you've got to stop scarring the doctors, they are not like the ones you've dealt with."

"It isn't my fault they were born weak and scared," she said looking out her window. "Gohan, did you bring the Box like I asked?"

"Yes, I did."

"Leave it with me. When they bring me Kakkarotto, take him and wait till I'm done. It is very important you don't enter the room while the Box is open."

"Okay Marley, I just wish you would tell me what you were doing," he said handing her the Box.

"Thank you Gohan."

She took the Box in her hands and rubbed the glossy lid. She smiled at its happy song, and then opened it. She was sucked into the different dimension with the mirrors, but this time there were only two mirrors.

Key Bearer, the Box said to her, you have returned.

Of course I have Box, I needed to see the Future again, she said to the Box in her mind.

I'm glad for your return, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten your mission and me.

I couldn't forget my mission. I see, she said changing the subject, that one of the Futures had been eliminated.

Yes. It was eliminated right after you gave birth to your son. But two Futures still remain. Look into the mirrors.

She looked into the first mirror. This is what will happen if you don't accept the help of your friends, Earth and everyone on it will die.

She looked into the second mirror, currently, your actions are taking you down this path.

She saw herself bloody and beaten, fighting with Gohan, who was possessed by the evil Dark Man's spirit.

Box, I need to know, what will happen in this Future, how can I defeat the Dark Man?

That isn't revealed.

Do you even know?

No.

Well what do you know?

I know that you must battle him alone.

But I thought that if I didn't accept help from my friends, I would fail.

True, but they are to help train you not fight with you.

But Box, I have less than a week to prepare. It is impossible to train for a major battle in a week! Plus, I don't know if you noticed, but I was pregnant. It is impossible, she finished.

That is where you are wrong. Ask the Saiyan known as Goku about the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

Okay Box.

Was there something else?

She hesitated a moment, not knowing how exactly how to say what she wanted. Do you remember when I was young and I first met you. You said that the Key was in my soul where no one could get to it.

Yes.

I think it would be best if you left this plane of existence. I think that I should absorb you into my soul, like the Key, that way you could be with your other half forever.

Silence.

I would take care of you Box. And you would be complete.

I will do this thing you ask of me Key Bearer. But it will come to great risk for you. There are things I see that you may not be able to handle, new…responsibilities… you may not like.

I am willing to make these sacrifices in order to save this planet and its people.

If you accept this Key Bearer, you will become a prophet in every sense of the word. You will constantly have visions about the Past, Present, and Future. You will be plagued with these visions until you learn to control them, or you go crazy.

I am ready Box, I do not fear this new task.

Gohan looked through the window at his wife. She was sitting there with the Box on her lap, her eyes glowing that weird blue color. His son squirmed on his shoulder. Kakkarotto was still sporting his golden hair and green eyes, but he had abandoned the gold aura he was born with. My strong son, I will love you forever. He glanced again at his wife and gasped. She was levitating over her bed, the box directly in front of her. She was doing it again, removing her soul. Her bluish soul with the red center appeared in front of her hovering body. The Box slowly became transparent and meshed with her soul. A blood-curdling scream escaped her lips. Gohan handed Kakkarot to a nearby nurse and rushed into her room. She had fallen onto the ground and was breathing heavily.

He lifted her onto his lap and said, "Marley? Marley! What happened? Are you alright?"

Her eyes slowly focused on him, and then unfocused again. She started babbling nonsense, but the Dark Man was mentioned frequently.

"Sir," the nurse holding Kakkarot said, "Is she alright? Sir?"

He turned to the nurse and growled, then leaped up and grabbed Kakkarotto from her. Then he hoisted Marley over his shoulder and flew out the open window.

He flew to his parent's house and gave Kakkarotto to his confused mother, "What is going on Gohan! Is Marley okay?"

"Not now Mom! Just take care of Kakkarotto for a while. I don't know what is happening to Marley, could you get Dad to get Piccolo and Dende. I need their help with Marley!"

"Sure honey, one minute," she said. Kakkarotto was looking like he was going to cry so Chichi soothed him and went outside to get her husband.

Gohan had put Marley on the couch, she was still babbling nonsense, "Marley…Marley, you've got to wake up!"

He was worried out of his mind. Slowly she looked into his eyes, as if seeing him for the first time. "Gohan? Are you really there?"

"Yes, I'm here! Stay with me Marley!"

"Stay far from the blood fields of New Earth young Saiyan, there you will find the Dark Man waiting to steal what you own more than anything. The woman with the Box and Key will battle for and with the soul of her beloved there, stay far away Earth Saiyan…" her babble trailed off as Goku teleported in Piccolo and Dende.

"What is going on Gohan?" Dende said calmly.

Gohan looked as if he was going to have a nervous breakdown, "I don't know, one minute she was sitting in her bed, the next she was removing her soul and it and then the screaming and she said-"

"GOHAN!" Piccolo shouted getting his attention and snapping him back into reality. Gohan's head shot up with a look of surprise on it, "Now tell us calmly."

Gohan took a breath, "She was in the hospital bed, I had left to bring her Kakkarotto. She said not to enter the room because she was opening the Box. So when I came back she had removed her soul and the Box kind of got transparent and then she absorbed it into her soul. And then she screamed. And then I brought her here. I didn't know what to do!"

Dende looked at Marley thoughtfully. "Hmmm…Do you remember that she told us that the Future was in the Box? Well I think she was trying to hide it from someone, this `Dark Man.' It is possible that she has found a way to hide this object in her soul, like she claimed to be able to do with her Key."

"That is right," Piccolo chimed in. "She is absorbing the Box, and so the Future. She isn't just babbling nonsense, she is telling us the Future!"

"So you mean she is a fortune teller now! Cool!" Goku said stupidly.

The rest of the group almost fell on their faces. "Goku," Piccolo said trying to control his temper, "I think that a more accurate word is `prophet' or `oracle.'"

"Oh, so she can't do palm readings? `Cause I once knew this woman and she could tell the future, but she was really trying to steal the dragon balls and-"

"Goku!" Piccolo yelled.

Suddenly Marley sat up and grabbed hold of Dende's robe, "Namek, I will be using your Hyperbolic Time Chamber, this I have seen." Then her eyes glazed over again and she said, "And tears fell from the heavens and struck the planet. The half bloods of the lost ones will protect the young one, and he will see all to the end and new beginning…" she drifted off into her prophecies again.

"How much of that is coherent to you Dende?" Piccolo asked.

"Well, I believe that she wants to train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but then she drifted off into her babble again. She's obviously done this to protect the Box, it must be very powerful indeed for her to inflict this sort of torture on herself. I say, we let her train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, I mean if she's seen it in the Future, there is no use stopping her, she'll end up doing it anyway."

"What? You can't let her in there in her state! It might kill her!" Gohan, who had been listening to the conversation intently, yelled at the Nameks.

"That," Dende said calmly, "is why I propose that she have supervision. I can set the Chamber for three people, but it can't go a year. For three people it only goes eight months, so sixteen hours. Two people should be enough to control her if she gets out of hand."

"I'll go! I want to train some more!" Goku yelled excitedly.

"Wait, wait! You mean your just gonna send her in there, that place is grueling, it was hard for me to be in there, it could kill her."

"Stupid brat!" Vegeta's familiar insult was heard from the back of the room. "She's a Saiyan, she can take it. I'll be training there too, when do we leave."

"How long have you been here Vegeta?" Goku said good-naturedly.

"Long enough to hear her babble. I felt a power surge and followed it, sue me."

"Cool, training with Vegeta and Marley for eight months!"

"Dad, we need to think this through a bit, she is unstable and she just gave birth. She shouldn't be training, she should be in a rejuvenation tank healing!" Gohan, couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were going to send his wife for a major training session in one of the toughest climates imaginable while she was recovering from giving birth. It was insane! "No! I forbid it! She is too week!"

"Gohan," Marley, who had managed to sit up, said, "I have to go, don't worry, I'll be fine."

She stood up and said, "I'm ready, lets go."

Everyone stared at her in silence, amazed by her determination. "Are you going to stand around and look at me or train! We don't have that much time left!"

With that she walked out of the room upstairs. When she came back she was wearing her Saiyan battle armor. She waited in the front yard for them.

"Well you heard her, lets train!" Goku said excitedly.

"You are so stupid Kakkarot," Vegeta murmured loud enough to be heard.

They all walked outside. Marley was starring at the sky with a hard expression on her face and her tail twitching back and forth, apparently annoyed. "Finally, I thought I'd have to drag you monkeys out here."

The trio of Saiyans took off with Piccolo and Dende, but stopped when they heard Gohan's voice. Marley landed on the ground. Her expression softened as she approached her mate.

"I guess I take care of Kakkarotto for a few hours," he said dejectedly.

"Thank you. Stop worrying, I'll be fine. I'm strong."

"I know."

She raised her hand and touched his cheek, a tear in her eye, "I'll miss you."

"I know." Then he took her hand in his and kissed her. Marley melted in his embrace and felt herself shaking when he stopped. She smiled with a dreamy expression on her face and kissed him back.

"You gotta go."

She turned and flew off then stopped in mid-air, "I love you Go-chan!"

"I love you too Marley-chan!" He yelled back. Watching her disappear into the clouds.

"Oh, now wasn't that touching!" Vegeta mocked.

"Shuddup!" And then she laughed, "Unless you want me to tell everyone what Bulma calls you when you are alone."

"What! How do you-"

"Oh, poor princey, didn't you know? Women tell each other everything. And I mean everything." She winked at him.

He blushed a deep red and flew off in front of everyone. "Why? What does he call her?" Goku asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Marley replied.

"Yes," answered Piccolo.

Marley smirked and looked like she was going to say something when her eyes turned glassy and she started to freefall down to Earth. As she plunged down, visions came into her head, but not of the Future, of the Past.

To everyone's surprise, Vegeta was the one who caught the plummeting Saiyan. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Z-warriors, he had developed a soft spot for her, and a bit of respect.

"Whoa! Nice catch Vegeta! I didn't see that one coming." Goku said, impressed that Vegeta even cared.

"Well duh Kakkarot, you're stupid."

"You don't have to get irritated," Goku trailed off.

"A boy…" Marley started.

"Not more of her babble," Vegeta complained.

"Be quiet, it could be important!" Piccolo interrupted.

"A boy sits by a window, black space stretches out before him. Alone he waits for his father. Solitary always will this warrior be, for only one can aid him in finding his way, and she is far away. His way is twisted, to complicated for his age. The father comes, grim is he, for his race is doomed and his heart torn. Does his send his son as ransom to the beast, or fight? The boy asks, `Father, do you love me?'"

"Make her stop," Vegeta says weakly. He looked like he might cry.

"The father looks at his son. He does. `Boy, always. But my people need me to stay strong, remember that, for one day you will be king, always be strong for you people.' The king takes the boy, and in maybe the first, and certainly the last, display of affection, hugs him. Then he looks at his son. `You will survive. You will escape. You will defeat him.' The king then knocks his son unconscious and a tear falls down his cheek."

Then a single tear fell down Vegeta's face. He hands the still unconscious Marley to Goku and flies ahead the rest of the fighters. Goku looks from Dende to Piccolo, "What was that?"

They stare in the direction the mighty price came from, completely stumped. But Dende decided to throw out his theory. "Maybe," he started, "the Box doesn't only tell the Future, but the Past as well. And Marley has obtained this knowledge because of her connection with the Box. It may be that she can catch brief glimpses of people's Past by touching them."

"I'd say that is a fair guess," Piccolo said after considering this. "If it is correct, then she is the ultimate weapon. No wonder she made a great general, she could tell the Future.

"Should we continue, at this rate we'll never get them training."

"Yeah, good idea. I'll just carry her then, she isn't that heavy."