Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Through A Mirror Darkly ❯ Back Through The Glass ( Chapter 8 )

"I can't just leave them." Mara said, as she stood next to Piccolo watching the survivors of Legendaldan's destruction gather themselves together and drag their dead loved ones into a pile near the center of the villa near the prettiest of the fountains that was not damaged. She wrapped her arms about herself and shivered, "They're my people, no matter that I no longer rememble them…"

Piccolo nodded and narrowed his eyes. "If only we could have done something sooner…then all this…this death would not have been…"

"It's not your fault, Piccolo!" Toshi said as she wiped the ashed from the fire on her pants and helped a little girl find her mother, who was, thankfully, still alive, "No one could have prevented the losses…our people just don't know how to fight! Not that they could have ever beaten a monster like Legendaldan!"

"She's right," Vegeta said, as he bent down to wipe the face of another little one and place some salve on his right arm that Elena had given him, which had been burnt pretty badly in the fire. The kid sniffled but did not cry as Vegeta bandaged up his hurt arm. "If it hadn't been for the four of us…nothing of this villa would even remain!"

"I'm just thankful that there are survivors!" Toshi said, standing with her arms akimbo, fists on her slender hips. Her white gravity-defying hair had flecks of ash and dirt in it and her face was smudged with scraps and bits of blood, some her own, most belonging to those she had been helping, "I know that I go on to the otherworld, through the mirror, now, and know that my grandmothers and Kyoko and Mariko are safe!"

"Yes, where are we going to do that, by the way?" Vegeta asked, unaware that he was standing exactly the same way as Toshi, who had her head thrown back regally, "And how?"

"We will do it the same way we did to bring you here…" Mara said, as she shoved her dark green hair from her face, her green-hued complexion looked paler since she had still recovering a bit from being injured…in contrast, her friend had recovered quite nicely thanks to the aide of their cousins and looked not in the least hurt.

Mara assumed her newly aquired namekian healing would kick in the rest of the way and she would feel better later. Perhaps just mending the burned flesh and recreating new skin had been as much as it could do for now.

It did not matter. She was alive and her twin was with her. She smiled over at him. That was all that mattered. She would ignore the lingering pain and concentrate on the matter at hand. "Instead of a summoning," She said, "We'll change the direction of the course to allow us all to enter the mirror and be in your world…"

"We'll have to teach them how to breathe…" Toshi said, recalling the breathing training she and the other villa children are put through almost from the moment they begin to talk and walk. They'd had to breath with each other in the correct ways in order to use the chants correctly and call forth Vegeta and Piccolo.

"We know how to breathe!" Vegeta snorted, looking at Toshi with digust, "How can we not know…we'd suffocate and die!"

"I don't think that is what she means." Piccolo said, still connected to Mara, "She is talking about the special breathing that we use when we fight…you know…"

"Oooh!" Vegeta's eyes became wider as realization hit. He folded his arms across his chest and looked away, hautily, "I already know how to do that as well!"

"Not the way we do it, I'm sure." Mara said, "Toshi, are still connected to Vegeta?"

Toshi shook her head, looking at the Saiyan prince, who was watching her side-long, "No, he keeps breaking off our connection…"

"Well, stop it!" Mara said, her dark green eyes narrowed, "We need to stay mentally bonded with them if we are going to get through the mirror or one of us may be left behind…"

"Or end up scattered…" Toshi shivered, and touched Vegeta's arm, instantly they're minds were linked as one, once more as in the fight with Legendaldan. Vegeta found it unnerving to have somone else's thoughts and emotions in his head. But Toshi was so much like him that he got used it in a matter of moments. He looked over at her to see her smirking at him as if she could read his thoughts. Which, of course, she could.

~*~*~

Later that night, Toshi's grandmother and her sister-self bid their granddaughter a tearful goodbye while Kyoko and Mariko in their full human forms sat on their sofa with Vegeta and Piccolo standing behind the sofa and Mara perched near the kitsune twins watching Toshi hug the frail looking elderly women.

"Oh, Toshi!" Elena cried, stroking the girl's light hair, "I know we will always be with you, but…"

"I'll come and visit, Grandmother!" Toshi said, hugging her tightly, "I have so much to learn of the world outside out demision…there is just so much I have not seen yet!"

"I know, dear one." Helena said, nodding, tears streaming down her wrinkled face, "You are young and eager and your heart believes that nothing ill shall come of you."

"I know you fear that I may meet the same fate as my parents," Toshi said, blinking back her own tears, "But they weren't as strong as me. I know things that they could never have known! But, regardless, my parents choose their fate…just as I must choose mine. Come what may."

"Yes." Helena sighed, letting her go and standing back to look at her, "It is time to let you go…"

"Past time." Elena agreed, she gestured towards the double mirrors that had been brought back to their house after the girls had summoned Piccolo and Vegeta to them, "It's nearly time. Quickly now, take the mirrors and be gone…we shall always love you, Toshi…"

"Grandmothers!" Toshi cried, embracing them and crying all over again, "I shall miss you both so much!"

"Knock it off!" Vegeta snarled, but he felt her pain at the departure, peircing like a barb in his chest, "We have no time for this foolishness!"

Instead of replying, Toshi turned to her cousin and her twin and embraced them as well, stroking her hands down the silvery-dark hair which the girls had decided to wear in adorable matching sets of pigtails this evening. They were still wearing their school uniforms and looked the picture of twin innocence.

"You promise to come back through the glass now and then to visit, Toshi?" Kyoko asked, "You promise?"

"I promise, Kyoko!" She said, "You just do good in school and mind our Grandmothers!"

Kyoko nodded, "We won't have anyone to gossip with after you are gone…"

"No one in school likes us very much," Mariko said softly, eyes downcast, "You are more than just our cousin, Toshi, you are our friend as well…"

"Our best friend!" Kyoko said, "How will be get along without you?"

"Listen, you two…" Toshi said, "I won't be without you, not really, anytime you get lonely…just look into a mirror and call me. I will answer…if I can. And I will be keeping an eye on you as well…"

"That's right!" Kyoko cried, clapping her hands together, her tears turning instantly to smiles, "We can still communicate through the mirrors! With our minds…! How could I have forgotten…that is how Mariko and I talked to each other before I was old enough to call her to me…"

Mariko's face flushed, but she smiled and nodded. She reached out and took her twin's hand.

"Are your parents okay with you leaving them, Mara?" Piccolo asked as they walked behind Toshi and Vegeta back to the place in the forest where the girls had first summoned them, seeming years ago but really only less than a day had passed…perhaps a bit more…it was hard to tell in thisworld, "You didn't seem to be as emotional in your farewells as Toshi was with her's."

"They will be all right." Mara said, "In a way, They have been prepared for this day long before now. We've said our goodbyes to each other a while ago."

"Are you as eager as your friend to see new things?" He asked her, "Experience new things?"

Mara was silent for a moment, when she answered she spoke softly, her namekian ears could hardly hear her own voice; "Not really," She said, looking at him, "But I knew I had no life, once I saw you, apart from you. I wish to go where you go, Piccolo, no matter where that is."

"Okay, you two!" Toshi tossed back behind her shoulder, "Stop making google-eyes at each other and pay attention! We can only do this once and it had better work!"

Mara chuckled and looked away while Piccolo's cheeks burned at Toshi's words. They had reached the clearing at last and Piccolo and Vegeta helped them set up the mirrors at the correct angles. Vegeta and Toshi stood together, facing one mirror while Piccolo and Mara faced the other.

Taking Vegeta's strong hand in her own, Toshi motioned for Mara and Piccolo to hold hands as well. "Now, our minds are all ready linked, so you know how to breathe…"

"Start with rabbit breathing first," Mara said, falling easily into the pattern, waiting until Toshi and the others caught up, "Now, switch to fox breathing…Toshi…begin…"

"Through the glass you have come…" Toshi started the chant, the echo of it bouncing within the minds of their twins, "Through the glass we shall come…me to thee and thee to me…"

"Forever shall we always be," Mara spoke loud and clear, her one hand facing the glass as Toshi's faced her's, her other hands holding onto Piccolo's hand, "Part the mist and let us through, through the glass to someplace new…part the the glass and let us through…"

Thee to me and me to thee…Piccolo and Vegeta heard in their minds and they watched the glass grow ever more fogged. Part the mist and let us pass…Part the mist and let us pass…

"Look!" Piccolo cried, "The glass! It's shifting…"

"It's opening!" Toshi cried, yanking on Vegeta's hand, "Look! There's your friend, Goku…"

"Yes! We were sparring when you jerked me into your plane…" Vegeta sounded miffed but Toshi knew they didn't have time to worry about it. She pulled his hand towards the glass, her own body nearly halfway through, "Come on, Vegeta! We haven't time! The portal will close soon!"

"You heard her!" Mara said, tugging Piccolo the same way, though the tall powerful namekian warrior had to duck and squeeze a bit to get though the mirror, he could see his meditation spot shimmering through the glass, "Piccolo…" She said just before they'd passed through the glass together, "Tuck and roll!"

Taken by surprise at the sudden drop, Piccolo did just that and landed on his feet, forgetting for a moment his ability to fly and turned to see Mara as she rolled a few feet away, leapt gracefully to her feet and brushed herself off. She looked around and smiled.

"It's so peaceful here…" She said, "I wonder where…"

"Vegeta was sparring with Goku when Toshi called him," Piccolo said, "I was meditating…"

"I know!" Mara said, crossing her arms under her breasts, "It took forever to get you to let down your barriers and aknowlege me!"

"I did aknowlege you," Piccolo reminded her, "I rejected you, remember?"

Mara chewed her bottom lip for a moment; "Yeah, why?"

Piccolo shrugged, "I didn't understand who you were…you might have been an enemy."

I'm hardly that! She said in his mind, her antannae twitching as she moved closer to him.

I know…now.

~*~*~

"Vegeta!" Kakkorat's annoying voice pounded into his head as they came through the glass into his world, "You're not all faded out anymore…but who is that?!"

"Nice to finally meet you, Kakkorat…" Toshi grinned, reaching out a hand to the startled Saiyan warrior, "Or would you prefer I call you Goku?"

Goku looked at the girl, who seemed a female version of Vegeta, hair and all…well, save for the tail…which he just noticed was wrapped protectively about her slender waist, and blinked stupidly, "You can call me whatever you want as long you tell me who you are and where you came from!"

"My name is Toshi," Toshi tossed her head back, smirking like Vegeta, "And there will be plenty of time to tell you where I came from later…right now I am hungry and want to eat…"

"Food?" Goku asked, "Oh, yeah! That sounds good! I think it's almost lunch time anyway. We were gonna stop for lunch, right Vegeta?"

"Of course," Vegeta snorted, "No one can keep up with your appitite!"

"And I gotta find Mara!" Toshi said.

"Mara?"

"It's a long story, Kakkarot…" Vegeta replied as they flew downward towards Goku and Chi Chi's, Toshi's stomach growled loudly and Goku chuckled, right before his own complained even louder.