Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Slayer Mine ❯ Shadows ( Chapter 9 )

She'd been able to hold them off so far by claiming illness and her period and whatever else she could come up with to make herself less…appealing. But, Bulma knew her time was running out. She knew it like she knew the sun and moon rose and set outside these walls even if she could not see them.

The girl, Cerise, whom she'd fondly nicknamed `Red', came to see her at least once a day and they would talk for hours…or at least until she grew fearful of discovery and slipped soundlessly back out Bulma's cell door. They kept her well-fed and showed her a shower where she could wash up and shampoo her hair in private, without being harassed. But, not wanting to call attention to herself, Bulma had showered as less as possible, hoping her stink would make them pass her by.

Something the girl, Cerise, had said on one their talks struck a chord in her, Bulma recalls, and fed the fire of her slight hope which was more bravado for the girl's sake than anything else at the time. She leaned against the wall, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms around them as she thought of the conversation held only a few days past….

"You have asked me, Bulma, many times now," She said, her voice barely a whisper above the silence of the thick-walled room, "If there had ever been a girl who escaped…"

Hardly daring to breath, Bulma leaned closer and placed her hand over the girl's smaller, slightly trembling one; "Go on…"

"It...happened…a few years ago." She said, "One of the older women, Hannah, she had a daughter…the girl was…odd…there was something about her. Even I could feel it and she was near my own age, if a bit older…"

Bulma waited, not daring to hope yet…

"One day…she just…just disapeared." Cerise said, "No one could explain it. No one knew how she did it. Hannah fell apart after that...They took her away one night and she never came back either…"

Bulma didn't hear the girl's last, shaky words, all she heard was that someone had gotten away and that meant that it wasn't impossible! If that girl had done it, than surely she could as well! If only she could figure a way! She needed to think! Dammit, Bulma, She yelled at herself, Where's that brilliant mind of your's anyway?

Yet something nudged at the back of her mind…somethng about the girl Cerise was talking about. "Red, The girl…was she…she….?"

Cerise shook her head. "None of the fertilizers could get near her. I don't know how she did it, but she kept them away from her and her frail mother for as long she was here…She was born here and I think they meant to use her…and her mother both…as more breeding stock…"

"But she showed them, didn't she?!" Bulma said, "Now I know we will get out of here, Red! If that girl could do it, than it's sure that we can!"

Cerise nodded, Even if it was only a fantasy, the new woman's optimism and determination elevated her own discouraging spirit and made her lips do something they had not felt compelled to do in too long a time to count; smile.

"You're getting better." He said, as she blocked his recent attack, she grinned and took on the advantage, backing him up with a series of kicks and punches that were almost too fast for the naked eye to see. "Much better!"

Before she could reply, though, he counter-attacked as swiftly as she, catching her off-balance and nearly causing her to stumble and fall. She caught herself in time, though and reacted with gust, parrying his blows and returning the favor. After a bit, they stopped and she smiled through her sweat-soaked hair hanging over her eyes. "Thanks for the compliment, Sensei, but I know I have to do better than that! Much better!"

Piccolo nodded, proud of her newfound determination and drive. She was ready in less time than ever and they began again.

Goten watched them from a little ways away, admiring Giselle's form and…other things about her best left unsaid in mixed company. Then he saw Vegeta flying back and could see the scowl that darkened his face like a heavy stormcloud and his own smile faded. Poor Vegeta…he couldn't believe he was even thinking such a thing! But he did feel bad for the uppity Saiyan Prince, and he missed Bulma like crazy himself. She was almost like second mother to him…had been…ever since he could remember.

His mother was constantly on the phone with someone or other, trying, in her fashion to locate her lost friend and the wear was beginning to tell around her eyes and the way she struck out in anger at any little thing, making Goten walk on eggshells around her. To make matters worse, ever since he'd kissed her, Giselle had been avoiding him. She seemed…he didn't know how to put it…haunted…by something and she wasn't about to stand still long enough to allow him to unravel what it was and perhaps help her.

It was one of the things that irritated him about her. Her changing moods. She could be so open and honest in one moment, dark and withdrawn the next. He did not know, really, what to expect of her moment by moment. Every time he talked with her, or tried to at least, it felt like he was a blind man traveling a length of road he'd never been on before with unfamilair objects being tossed randomly in his path, it was a tiresome chore to find his way through and actually reach her.

"Vegeta?" He heard Giselle call out, "Any luck?"

She did seem honestly concerned for Bulma, someone she'd never laid eyes on before, Goten noticed, that worked in her favor, he thought. Piccolo and she had stopped in their training when Vegeta approached, wearing twin expressions of worry and expectation.

"No." He said as he landed next to Piccolo, whose wide cape fluttered out in the breeze and made him look more regal than the one who stood beside him who actually boasted of royal blood, "I did hear something though…that may be a clue…I overheard some workers conversation about a…factory of sorts…far underground…with some sort of electronic barrier around it…for blocking mental attacks or whatever, one of the said…"

Giselle heard his words and the sweat dripping down her back grew cold with a sudden, unnamed dread. Her hands shook and she clasped them tightly together in front of her, willing them to be still. She wished she could command her heart to do the same, but it's willful jumping in her chest made her almost certain that it would fly right out of her breast and beat wildly upon the ground for all to see.

Something about Vegeta's words…A sudden unvoiced sound, a word with only two syllables slipped into the forefront of her mind and sang like a caged bird against the bars of her memory…

Hannah.

Mother.

No! She cried in her mind, her eyes a mirror to the horror she felt within. She had to tell them! She had to tell them now! The woman…Bulma…Vegeta's wife…was in danger…would still be in danger if she did not! Yet the words caught in her throat. The horror of that place was still to painful for her to recount…yet…yet…if she did not…

Goten noticed Giselle's shaking hands and terror-filled dark eyes. He noticed and reached out to her. "Giselle...what is it? What's wrong?"

She did not back away as she normally would have done. She knew she had to speak now. She knew she had to….but she couldn't! She couldn't!

"Giselle?" She heard her Watcher speak and turned to look into his deep, serene black eyes, Piccolo spoke; "What is it? You can tell us. Giselle?"