Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Sing No Songs ❯ A wall of glass ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 15

 

If it hadn't been for the wall of glass, the room might have resembled a cave. It was not too large or too bright. The light had just the right dimness for him to close his eyes. But the glass was a distraction. Because of the glass he didn't possess the whole room. He couldn't take in the ceiling, the floor, the confinement, and call it his own.

 

On the other side of the glass moved the shapes of intruders. They marked him with their eyes, and with their presence. Sometimes the shapes talked to him. “Do you remember,” they would say. “Do you remember us?” He didn't take the challenge. He didn't look at them, he didn't talk to them, and the voices would fall silent. They would give him their silence and their staring. Even when they were gone, he wasn't unmarked. There was a permanent red eye looking down at him from the ceiling. It watched him when he moved; it watched him when he took a drink of water.

 

He knew there was something in the water, something to mimic food. The nourishment felt impure, and it made him nauseous. But he did control the water.

 

He didn't count the days. Time was nothing without change, or movement. Here, the room was the time.

 

He sat. He played games. Played that the drug was taking away his balance. He wasn't sure he would be able to stand up anymore. He played that the drug was doing something to his eyes. Soon he wouldn't be able to see the place where one dark wall blended into another.

 

The shapes were gone for now, but the permanent eye glared down from the ceiling. He snarled at it. Inside of him, four clawed feet walked in a restless circle. Wide jaws opened and closed. The prisoner that he kept: it didn't count the days either. It waited, until the times when he saw it fit to set it free.

 

Vegeta removed the walls around the inside prisoner.

 

A surge went through his muscles. He found that he could stand up after all. The scent of water - of the nausea-inducing nourishment - almost made him gag. He struck the glass, hit it with fist, elbow and knee. Slam. Slam. Thud. His nails skidded on the slick surface. His scream filled the room.

 

Shatter!

 

He was grateful for the drug then, as he tried for the power again and again, only to find that it was outside his reach.

 

Bruised knuckles, bleeding nails. He staggered, and left black trails on the wall. His head spun, his heart pounded. He fell to the floor, to whichever way was down. Thud. Silence. His heart was tight and struggling. The veins writhed and pulled; cramped in protest. Vegeta stared at the shrouded ceiling. He played that his heart had stopped beating.

 

Pause.

 

Pause.

 

Pause.

 

A heave, as his chest expand, and his back rose up in a wave. Water flooded from his mouth. His fingers smeared droplets over the floor. Breathe. His heart beat extra fast as if to make up for the period of immobility.

 

Too fast. He closed his eyes and willed his body to slow down. It had been easy once. Drops on his throat, gathered and ran in little streams. The clothes pressed the water to his back, his skin keeping it warm, as the stone was cool and solid underneath him. Down. Grounded. His head was no longer spinning.

 

“Drop.” Said it as if it meant something.

 

There was a weight on his chest, a warmth laying on top of him. He lifted his hand and let it rest on a wide head. His fingers sank into ragged fur. The flesh lay loose and living over a hard skull. He felt a hot breath against his mouth.

 

If he opened his eyes, he would be back in the room that wasn't a cave. His hands would be touching nothing that could reflect the light. But he kept his eyes closed. His breath was slow and heavy from the weight on his chest.

 

---

 

”Here we go,” Bra said. She was clutching the window ledge, her fingers white. She moved to the side to make place for Levi, and they stood there, shoulders touching, staring at the approaching star.

 

“If anyone asks why we're there,” Bra said after awhile, “We have come to… look at Father.” The message had said that people were invited to do just that. To look at him. She thought about that dark little room where he was kept, and a chill went through her body.

 

“They're pretty afraid of him, aren't they?” Levi said.

 

“I suppose so.” Bra heard the doubt in her own voice. She felt like she wanted to add something. The part of the message that she had seen had been so matter-of-fact, so… mundane. It wasn't filled with hate; it did not seem like a message sent by people who acted out of fear. She didn't know what to think.

 

“Should we try to contact the other ship again?”

 

“Hm?” Bra shook her head to wake up from her musings. “No, they are still going too fast. We'll just have to count on them to show up in a day or two.”

 

Bra wasn't sure why the communications system didn't work while they were traveling at top speed, but that hadn't stopped her from trying to explain the phenomena to Levi. In the end though, all she could say was that it had “something to do with distortion of time”.

 

“But since we have slowed down,” Levi looked at her with his head tilted to the side, “shouldn't we talk to the ones back on Earth, just to let them know that we have arrived?”

 

“Of course.” Bra smiled, and gave him a playful shove. “Missed hearing your parents telling you to be careful, have you?”

 

“On second thought…”

 

Bra chuckled as she walked up to the control panel. The screen flickered for a moment, and then Trunks's face appeared. She waived her hand in greeting.

 

“Bra! Finally we hear from you. How's it going out there?”

 

“Fine, so far. But we don't know anything yet. Ask me how it's going an hour from now, and I might have a more interesting answer ready for you.” She couldn't keep the tension from entering her voice. She didn't try.

 

Trunks looked away, as if he were embarrassed. “I don't like this.” He met her eyes. “I should have come with you.”

 

Bra nodded, a simple dip of her chin. “At least Goten and Pan will be here soon.”

 

“Well, about that…”

 

“What?” Her voice sank an entire octave, become dark with foreboding.

 

Trunks paused. He drew a hand through his hair. “The other ship is going in the opposite direction.”

 

“The other ship is going in the opposite direction?” Two octaves up.

 

“Yes. While you were out of reach, we had to make a difficult decision. The signal that you found, the one where Father…”

 

A dark little room. She knew he could see it too.

 

“They were also able to pick up the signal,” Trunks said. “It was exactly the same as yours… except for the source of origin.” He fell silent.

 

Bra waited, adding her silence to his.

 

“We agreed that they had to check it out.” His voice sought her understanding. “We couldn't chance not to. It was the same signal.”

 

“But ours is the right one!”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“It… it has to be.”

 

“It's a fifty-fifty possibility.”

 

“A fifty-fifty possibility? Hey, Trunks, who taught you to count? I thought you were better at math then that. Space is… oh, I don't know… pretty big. If we can pick up one signal each, wouldn't you say chances are a little more slim then a fifty-fifty-possibility?”

 

It was like a bad dream. The kind of dream where you absolutely had to be somewhere, but you couldn't get there because you couldn't find your purse. You kept looking for it and looking for it, until you woke up shouting to yourself that you should just forget the bloody purse, because who cared about it anyway.

 

“Sorry, I misspoke.” Trunks gave her a doubtful look. “Think about it this way, if your place isn't the right one, you can always ask for the directions to Node City Dania.”

 

“Node City what?”

 

“That's where they are keeping him. Didn't you read the message?”

 

“Not all of it,” Bra muttered. She brought her hand up to her cheek. The tips of her fingers were icy cold. “Alright. So we have a name. But suppose, just suppose my place is the right one, then the other ship will be… late.”

 

Too late, it may be too late. She hadn't seen the whole message, but she knew that much.

 

“Don't worry about it. Just stay low until they get there.”

 

Bra opened he mouth, but she didn't say anything. She saw Trunks look at Levi, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

 

“Levi.”

 

“Yes, Dad?”

 

“You… be careful.”

 

“Yes, Dad.”

 

“I mean it. You have to be careful.”

 

“Yes, Dad.”

 

Levi tended to get monosyllabic when he spoke to his father. And Trunks tended to speak to his son in a voice that was strangely formal. It was false concern hiding the real concern. Bra didn't care for that voice.

 

“Alright,” Bra said. “We'll call you back as soon as something happens.” She sounded abrupt and irritable, she knew. “Goodbye, Trunks.” She waited for Trunks and Levi to say their goodbyes, before ending the conversation with the turn of a switch.

 

Bra exchanged a glance with Levi, acknowledging that they were alone again. “So…”

 

“So…” Levi reflected the word back at her, giving it a tint of expectation.

 

“So we'll see.” Abrupt and irritable.

 

She started to walk back and forth, barely registering how the boy hurried to get out of her way. ”I don't understand. Why would there be more than one signal?” That wasn't what she wanted to say. Right now, she didn't care if there were a thousand signals, ricocheting off the stars. Her heels thudded against the floor.

 

Why could nothing be simple? Why could nothing last forever? Why did there have to be disappointment in the universe?

 

“Um… Bra?”

 

“Yes?”

 

Bra stopped behind one of the chairs. She was considering kicking it. She had seen way too much of it over the last few days - besides, it was in her way. Lifting her leg, bent at the knee, she let the sole of her foot slam into the chair. A loud crash could be heard, as the backrest took a nosedive, skidded off the cushions, and landed on the floor. Hah. Served it right. Stupid chair.

 

“Wow.”

 

Bra turned around and found Levi staring at her. There was a smile on his face, and his eyes were large with appreciation.

 

“Cool. That chair is so dead.”

 

“I guess,” Bra said. She shook her head. “That will be my seat from now on.”

 

“I don't mind.”

 

“You don't mind what?” She smiled, grudgingly basking in his enthusiasm.

 

“If it's broken. Really. You can kick the other one as well.”

 

She laughed, a happy sound that ran out of her mouth on its own accord. “Let's save it for another-” She cut herself short, staring at a blinking light on the panel behind him. “Heeey…”

 

Levi glanced back over his shoulder. “Oh yes, I was going to tell you. That little light started blinking.”

 

“That little light…” She ran up to the panel. “Someone is trying to contact us. It's from the planet!” She grabbed Levi's arm and shook him, making him stagger. “They want to talk to us.”

 

“So answer it!”

 

She reached out and pressed a button. His fingers closed over her sleeve, and they stood together, connected by their clutching hands, as the screen came to life.

 

The face of… somebody joined them in the room. The person had bright eyes and round, chubby cheeks, that made Bra think of a chipmunk. He or she was dressed in red, with a tiny red cap on top of an unruly nest of hair. The person spoke, the translation only a second behind.

 

“Hello, and welcome to Node City Dania.”

 

Bra felt her heart take a leap in her chest.

 

“May I ask your reasons for coming to Dania?” the stranger continued. The voice held an apologetic edge. Excuse me for prying, it said. But…

 

“We came to…” It was harder to say then she thought it would be. “We came regarding the prisoner… Vegeta.”

 

“Huuum.” The person made a soft, singing noise. It sounded sad. “You are welcome, travelers. Lodgings and provisions will be provided for you if you do not have other arrangements. I'm Steward Linne. I will help you get installed. Would you please give me your names?”

 

“I'm Bra… Monique. I'm Bra Monique.” Bra blushed. Too late it had occurred to her that telling her own name might not be such a good idea. “And this…” She laid a hand in Levi's shoulder. “This is my son-”

 

“Mandrake,” Levi smoothly interjected.

 

“Yes. Mandrake. Such a good boy.” Bra patted him on the shoulder.

 

“I'm pleased to meet you both.” The chipmunk person smiled. “We'll send you the directions for a place where you can land. I apologize for the security personnel that will search you and your ship. It's only for precautionary reasons. As you know, it's forbidden to bring any weapon to one of the Node Cities.”

 

“Oh, of course not. By all means,” Bra said dazedly.

 

“I look forward to our meeting.”

 

“Yes, sure. Me to.”

 

The screen flickered, and they were alone again.

 

Bra put both hands over her eyes. “That was… surreal.”

 

Levi leaned back against the console. “So you're my mom now?”

 

“Mhm.” She took her hands from her face and shrugged. “I thought it would be better if they saw us as a single unit. A nephew would encourage more questions… I think. Tell you the truth, my brain short-circuited somewhere down the middle of the welcome speech. I'm not sure what happened.”

 

Levi glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. “I think you stumbled on the red carpet.”

 

“Hey, it wasn't that bad, was it?”

 

“Not at all.” A sly smile. “ `Hello, my name is Bra… no wait, that wasn't right. Give me a moment, it will come to me…' ”

 

“You be quiet, Mandrake.”

 

“Yes, Mom.”

 

---

 

Asdef sat up in the dark, disoriented, before he realized that he had fallen asleep, fully clothed on top of his bunk. An insistent buzzing filled the room. There was someone at the door.

 

He turned on the lights, and waited for his eyes to adjust. He tugged at the blanket, to make the bed look more presentable, but changed his mind and turned towards the door. The buzzing grew louder, possible encouraged by his attention.

 

“Captain!”

 

Asdef stepped out of the doorway, allowing the young soldier to come inside. He pushed the door shut, thinking that his room wasn't fit for two persons. It was a one person room.

 

“I have important news.”

 

“I assumed as much.” Asdef let some coldness enter his voice.

 

The young man didn't falter, as if completely unaware that he was inside the captain's private quarters. “There's a small ship heading for the Node City. We examined the markings on the ship, and… and we have no doubt. It comes from Earth. The same planet that the prisoner has been staying on.”

 

It shouldn't have been so unexpected, but it was. Asdef sat down, leaning his elbow on the desk. His first (insane) impulse was to do nothing. A ship from Earth had arrived. It seemed like such an unnecessary bother, and perhaps if he kept quiet about it no one would notice.

 

“Shall I notify the Readers?” There was a catch in the young man's voice, and his hands closed into tight fists.

 

Asdef wondered if the soldier felt any personal resentment towards the prisoner for giving him those scars, half-hidden under his collar. Had the same thing happened to himself, Asdef imagined that he would have found it unthinkable to feel that way, just as he found it unthinkable to give the prisoner any gratitude for letting them all live.

 

“Captain?”

 

Naturally the Readers had to be informed. A day ago he might have assumed they already knew, that something like the makings on a ship wouldn't escape the hands of the Galaxy. But that was before he had sat in the same room with them, and seen them with his own eyes.

 

“No,” Asdef said. “Don't contact the Readers. I'll do it myself.” He motioned in the direction of the door.

 

The young soldier hesitated, but then he gave a nod, almost a bow, and left the room.

 

Asdef found himself thinking about the white-faced Reader who had sat next to him in the chamber. He had said something, something that struck Asdef as oddly appropriate. What was it now? Something about strength. That strength doesn't always have to be a threat. Yes, that was it.

 

“Ridiculous.” What was ridiculous? He wasn't really sure, but he directed the word at himself, at whatever he was trying to do.

 

Before he had met them, it wouldn't have occurred to him that it might make a difference which Reader he spoke to. But that was before. He saw them as separate now.

 

Asdef leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs at the ankles. He wasn't trying to do anything. He was just going to talk to the white-faced Reader. He was going to call the people in the Node and ask for him specifically.

 

Just as soon as he could remember his name.