Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Time's Folly; A Bittersweet Symphony ❯ Disquieted Revelation ( Chapter 25 )

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Chap 25*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

- Five days later; evening -

 

Bulma frowned as she watched Autumn and Asia staggering through the doorway.

 

The two weary girls didn't notice her at all as they made their way past her and into the kitchen. Bulma turned and strode angrily from the room to the outside. As soon as she caught sight of Gohan, who was still on the grounds, she called out:

 

“Gohan!”

 

“Huh?” He quickly turned around, startled by her harsh tone. “Yes, Bulma?” he asked dutifully as he came over to see what she was so riled up about.

 

“Look, I know it's very important for these girls to be training…but really! This is getting to be too much! Can't you all see that these girls are absolutely exhausted? They aren't Saiya-jin like you guys! They can't continue to endure such a grueling training schedule like this!”

 

He tilted his head a bit to one side and paused to consider her words. Remembering his earlier talk with Dende and Piccolo and the warning they issued, he smiled and nodded at her. “You're quite right, Bulma. That is a good idea. A full day's break is just what is needed about now anyway.”

 

Taken slightly back by the ease of his accord, Bulma nodded justly and said, “Good of you to agree.”

 

Gohan just grinned affably at her.

 

Bulma walked back into the kitchen to find the two visibly tired girls sitting next to each other, both slumping over the table. “Listen up, you two,” she instructed, her voice sounding a lot like a drill sergeant. “Tonight, I want you call up Videl because tomorrow you both are going into the city for the entire day.”

 

Autumn lifted up her head and looked up at Bulma as if she hadn't heard her.

 

Bulma continued: “There will be no arguing, either! Gohan has agreed that you both need the break. There will be no training for either of you tomorrow, got it? You two are going to rest!” she commanded.

 

Too tired to voice their responses, the two girls' heads bobbed a couple of times to indicate their understanding and consent.

 

<><>~flashback~<><>

 

The sky was a strange mix of contrasts, as if it was at war with the light of noontime brightness and the dimness that came with the evening.

 

A wisp of wind flew by but it didn't affect the long, wild, golden locks of the demi-Saiya-jin, who was suspended in the air over a group of fifteen Augin-jin copies, his body enveloped in the pulsing electric blue flames of Saiya-jin energy.

 

A series of complicated arm movements ended as he poised his now-ready - and strongest - attack. Ki erupted from his hands, each of which emanated from the positioned fingers and the thumbs, towards the group below. After the large explosion, nothing remained. Trunks landed and looked into the faces of three surprised and injured Aujin-jin looking up at him - the real ones.

 

Trunks watched as one of the Augin-jin, dressed in blue, looked over at one of his fellows who assumingly voiced a question. When the Augin-jin dressed in violet glanced angrily at Trunks, he boosted his power in silent response.

 

“NO,” the one dressed in sea-green announced to the others as she began walking in Trunks' direction. “I want to be the one to take this thing out.”

 

She leapt in to the air, so Trunks copied his opponent's movement as she sped towards him. The two then collided in mid-air and fell into a volley of furious punching and kicking.

 

The last two Augin-jin warriors, both of whom were severely injured, soon re-emerged and positioned themselves behind the other two. He glanced down briefly as the four exchanged words, mumbling something to each other in their native tongue that he couldn't make out.

 

The violet-wearing Augin-jin and the one dressed in blue shot up into the sky just as Trunks connected with a punch that sent the one he was fighting a distance away from him. Blue and Violet then made their moves, attacking him from both sides.

 

After a few moments of intense fighting, Trunks kicked both of them off. Turning around, he sent a strong blast down to the remaining pair of grounded Augin-jin, who were just barely saved by Violet and Blue, who also didn't come out of the blast wholly unharmed.

 

He spun back around to face the Augin-jin in sea-green whom he had been fighting earlier. She had flown back up and hovered there, waiting, smiling at him. He suddenly felt himself restricted from all movement, unable to see what or why he wasn't able to move.

 

Then he saw her outstretch her arms towards him, hands parallel to the ground, fingers squeezing together. Twin maroon-tinted translucent beams erupted from her hand and fingers toward his immobilized body. They sharply pierced through the middle of Trunks' arms, the burning pain making him cry out. With the beams still in his arms, both radiating sharp pulses in small and short continuous intervals, he clenched his fists and raised his arms enough to send a ki counter-blast along the beams' paths. It was powerful enough to stop the beams' flow and knock back his attacker. But his small victory was to be short-lived.

 

From below, Blue and Violet quickly followed with the same attack that the Augin-jin in sea-green had done. Their beams stabbed through his legs and shoulders, the end of each anchoring itself at the other end of their puncture point, keeping him static in mid-air. Crimson blood dripped steadily down from where the beams' points had broken through.

 

The Augin-jin in sea-green, his main attacker, moved back within his sights, hovering in between the two higher beams that were currently through his shoulders. This time, instead of ki, a trail of mist began to radiate from the attacker's hands, which she then gestured to join with the beams. Once they touched, the mist coiled itself around the two beams, using them to slide up and into his two arms. The new pain was so excruciating that Trunks threw back his head and let out a great and painful yell.

 

While he attempted to call upon some of his power to drive back this latest attack, the mist reformed itself into small streams and slowly crept up his neck, finally winding its way into thin rivulets all over his face and head.

 

“No!” Trunks yelled violently, twisting his neck and head from side-to-side to throw off the cloying mist. “You are not going to win over me!”

 

Worried looks crossed the faces of the Augin-jin as his re-energized power-up briefly weakened the mist that was slowly creeping over his body, repelling it.

 

Holding steady, Sea-Green fed a new burst of energy along the beams, clashing briefly with a wave of energy that Trunks was generating from his own body, but the struggle soon ended when he felt six additional points stabbing into his lower back. The Augin-jin in blue had released one of his anchoring beams just long enough to strike Trunks with the tip of his spiked tail before restoring his beam to immobilize Trunks' leg.

 

Unfortunately for Trunks, one of the tail spikes dug directly into where his own tail used to be; the most sensitive and vulnerable spot on his body, made all the worse by his current condition. In response, his body weakened and began to gradually drain his once-heated resistance. Sea-Green's next push of energy ensnared Trunks further and the mist resumed its invading actions over his body. In great pain, he slowly slid out of Super Saiya-jin as his ki slowly dissipated, increasingly incased by the translucent purple mist.

 

An agonized scream was torn from his throat as he felt a ripping sensation slowly spreading, hotly tearing at his body from the inside out. Then a huge ki ball exploded outward from his middle…

 

<><>~end flashback~<><>

 

Trunks let out a soundless scream as jagged pain racked his body. He tumbled out of bed and involuntarily flared into his first level of Super Saiya-jin. Fighting against himself to contain the pain and trying to stay quiet, he curled up into the fetal position on the floor. He curled his lips back and bit deeply into his left upper arm, hoping to redirect and control the torment. This seemed to alleviate a great deal of the internal agony, so he did it repeatedly a few more times until the intensity started to subside.

 

As the pain continued to ebb, he began to breathe normally again and slowly fell out of Super Saiya-jin. Once the pain was completely gone, he gently licked lightly at the bite mark he'd inflicted on himself, not moving from the fetal position. Sheer exhaustion eventually overtook him. With great effort, he climbed slowly back into his bed and collapsed into thankfully dreamless sleep.

 

<><>~flashback~<><>

 

A naked Suika, her pose resembling a feral animal about to attack its prey, smirked wildly. Her eyes were filled with pure Saiya-jin lust as she stared hungrily at an equally lustful and naked Vegita, who was standing across the room. Light trails of blood ran down Vegita's arms from the slight raking Suika's teeth had just made on them. Breathing heavily, the two continued their stare-downs, each waiting for the other to charge.

 

Suika was first to lose her patience. She lunged at him, but he only smirked and jumped up and out of the way. There ensued a brief, light scuffle before Vegita won out, knocking Suika to the floor. He smirked as he stood over her, his legs straddling her body in a posture of dominance. She frowned up at him.

 

“What do you want? Tell me,” Vegita declared in a low voice as she reached out to teasingly stroke his already hardened flesh.

 

“Tsh,” she clucked. Without warning, she shot ki at him, the sudden blast sending him off and away from her. He landed on one knee but was quickly shoved onto his back by the older Saiya-jin female. She had poised herself above him with the intention of sliding down onto him when he suddenly flipped up to a standing position.

 

Capturing each of her nipples between thumbs and forefingers, he squeezed a little harder than he should have. The pain made a look of anger cross her face. Before she could retaliate, Vegita shoved her to the floor. She landed butt-first, but since Vegeta wanted her on her back, he kicked her further down then pressed his foot onto her chest.

 

“You will bow to me,” Vegita said in a husky voice as he removed his foot. He quickly moved onto his knees before lifting and spreading Suika's legs. He grabbed and supported her waist from both sides then moved the tip of his cock so that rested at her opening. When he didn't immediately enter her, she began to pound her wrists on the floor in irritation. It pleased him to hear her moaning in anticipation, tantalized by the feel of his moistened tip brushing against her lower lips.

 

“Vegita!”

 

She growled loudly and deeply. Vegita responded by ramming his fullness into her. A new moan that was a half-yell came from Suika's lips at the sudden feeling of all of him inside her. He paused for a few seconds, before slowly sliding out again, almost completely then thrust himself fully inside her once again. His movements were having the desired effect on her for Suika made another satisfying guttural moan as he paused for the second time. He repeated this series of painfully slow movements of near-completed withdrawals followed by forceful re-entries several times, gradually picking up the pace.

 

Suika's pleasured moaning/yelling soon gave way to a more guttural purring as she rose to match her own thrusts against Vegita's. The sounds they each made were intoxicatingly erotic to their ears as their pungent scents meshed together to further fuel their desires.

 

An inflamed Suika reached up with one arm, grabbing hold of Vegita's forearm to pull him to the side. Still joined, the two tumbled briefly, ending with a smirking Suika lying on top of Vegita. He growled deeply, but this time around she was determined to have the upper hand. Repositioning herself, she renewed her thrusting.

 

“What the hell did I tell you - you… will… bow… to… me!” he hissed through lustful lips. Determined to regain his dominance, he pulled her to the side, but since she was fighting with him to stay on top, they ended up rolling over twice, until she was on her back once again. Now Vegita was on top and taking final charge.

 

Vegita leaned forward and placed his right hand under the small of her back, lifting her slightly at the same time. He took two of his fingers and began to delicately trace the outline of the base of her tail spot, which stimulated Suika and caused her to moan in a very alien way. In between her moaning breaths, a string of words came out that were more like incoherent sounds and could not be translated into any other language.

 

Her vocal utterances and physical responses to him made his nostrils flare and his eyes roll back and upward into his head. With his fingers, he encircled her appendage, running them back and forth through the soft fur, then grasping and squeezing the tail delicately. She gasped and purred even louder as her inner walls started to convulse around Vegita's thickness, sparingly at first, then more often as they went along. As she climaxed, Suika's fevered moans mixed into the silky erotic dialogue of their native tongue, which Vegita soon answered with his own heated bucking release into her body.

 

As he came down from his powerful, orgasmic high, Suika licked at her sharp canines, feeling Vegita's hot breaths hitting her skin. His forearms were still braced on the ground above her shoulders, holding his barely arched body just above hers. The two of them gazed at each other, their mouths twisted into twin smirks of pure satisfaction as they took in recovering breaths. She raised her face slightly to lick at the sweaty underside of his chin, before letting her tongue trailing down along his lower jaw and down the side of his neck. Her mouth moved to the shoulder where she had bit him earlier, so that her lips could suck lightly at the freshly made marks. Vegita emitted a soft, sedated purr as her mouth closed over his skin.

 

Just as he felt her teeth began to re-pierce that tender spot located between his shoulder and neck, Vegita heard distant footsteps heading their way. He quickly raised his ki and used it to snap him into an upright position while gathering additional ki in his hands. Also sensing danger, Suika reacted in kind a second later.

 

The four of Frieza's lower servants didn't have a prayer. As soon as they came within view of the two naked Saiya-jin, they were blasted into nothingness.

 

<><>~end flashback~<><>

 

Vegita bolted up in his bed and inhaled a ragged but calming breath, which was immediately followed by a low growl. This is insane, he thought angrily, sucking at his teeth. I don't have time for this fuckin' nonsense! Quickly becoming restless, he threw on some training clothes and left his room, fully intending to go to his gravity chamber where he could work off this frustration.

 

Upon entering the hallway, he sighted Bulma's room a few feet ahead. He noticed that the door was slightly open and no discernable light emanated from the inside. Creasing his eyebrows together, he walked towards the darkened room. By quickly glancing inside, it was obvious that she had yet to retire from the day. Vegita continued to make his way down the hall, pausing momentarily outside of his older son's room before he headed for Bulma's lab.

 

Vegita stood in the doorway, watching as she tinkered about with the mechanical mess that was Trunks' time machine. He lingered where he was for a few moments longer, listening to the sound of his wife humming contentedly as she concentrated on her work.

 

“Hmn,” Vegita said under his breath. With that, he turned about and walked away from the open lab doorway, heading straight for the gravity chamber.

 

So engrossed was she in the work at hand, Bulma never noticed his presence.

 

<><><><><><>

 

- Next day; evening -

 

Asia hummed under her breath, twirling lazily in the sky as she leisurely followed behind Autumn, trailing her slightly. Unlike her friend, Autumn was in deep thought and not in such a happy-go-lucky mood.

 

“Today was a good day, don't you think?” Asia finally said aloud. “It was nice to have an entire day ourselves; to do nothing but relax and do a little more sightseeing of the surrounding cities.”

 

Autumn didn't answer but spotted a good place to land. The terrain she'd chosen was sandy, populated by lots of rocks and boulders.

 

Letting her friend take the lead, Asia didn't take a closer note of their surroundings until after they landed.

 

“This is…an interesting place,” she said, looking around curiously.

 

A couple of minutes passed when several rocks that were scattered about a few feet away from them began to rise off the ground. Asia cocked an eyebrow as she looked at a non-responsive Autumn, the cause of the action.

 

“What's wrong?” Asia asked, frowning as she waited for an answer. When she got none, she raised her hand and made a pushing motion. The transfer of energy flowed through the air in between them and gently nudged Autumn in the back.

 

“What?” Autumn asked with a hot sigh.

 

“What are you pissed off about?”

 

Autumn balled her upraised hands into fists and the air-borne rocks abruptly crumbled into tiny bits before falling back onto the ground. She then set her sights on two nearby boulders. Like she did with the rocks, she too lifted them high in the air, this time making them move around in separate elliptical patterns, crossing each other's paths just shy of colliding.

 

“I'm not pissed about anything.”

 

Asia rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Oh yes, you are. You're mad that we took today off, aren't you?”

 

“No,” Autumn asserted, her attention still focused on the boulders' maneuvers. Asia wasn't buying her denial.

 

Asia gave a quick sigh-puff and looked behind her at a mid-sized boulder. A small chopping motion with one hand easily sliced off the top. She then made a beckoning gesture and the boulder slid towards her and came to a stop right beside her.

 

“For me, the rest was helpful,” she declared as she sat down on her “chair”. “I feel better than I have in the past couple of weeks. Missing one day isn't exactly the end of the world.”

 

“No, that's not it,” Autumn admitted with a sigh, sounding less stressed than before. She added another boulder to her aerial juggling act, now barely brushing them against one another as they crossed each other's paths in the sky.

 

Asia watched in puzzlement as Autumn suddenly decided to crash all three boulders together, creating a large, gritty cloud filled with dust and pieces of rock, which spread into the sky and the surrounding area.

 

“I just…” Autumn began to say then hesitated. “Something is trying to tell me that something not so good is going to happen very soon,” she said, looking directly at Asia. “I don't know what it is or who it's going to affect, but it's been bugging me for a while and it's a feeling I can't shake off. I also can't be certain if it's true. What I can say is that it's strange and more than a little irritating.”

 

“You mentioned that before. Maybe you're just reading too much into it?” Asia offered hopefully.

 

“Maybe,” Autumn answered, but she didn't really believe it.

 

She raised her hands again, this time levitating some the smaller pieces that were once part of the three larger boulders. She then hurled them high into the sky. With about five strong ki blasts she disintegrated a good third of the debris before stopping what was left before it could hit the ground. Using alternating upwards motions with her hands, she raised the rest of the debris off the ground to toss them about. This time before she shot ki, Asia jumped in and added her own blast of ki. What followed was a huge blast, eliminating the rest of the airborne debris.

 

Autumn lowered her hands and looked at her friend curiously.

 

“That wasn't my doing,” Asia said as she slowly stood up and looked around warily. “It was someone else's.”

 

“But I saw you shoot it.”

 

“No,” she said firmly. “I shot at someone else's. Someone is here.”

 

The girls tensed up as they continued to scan cautiously around the area.

 

“Damn, I really hate not being able to sense ki!” Asia muttered as the two walked forwards a few steps.

 

Her patience wearing thin, Autumn suddenly yelled out, “Oh, enough already! Come out!” As soon as she turned around, she gasped, startled by an unexpected sight.

 

Asia spun around a fraction of a second later only to be equally startled. “Jeeze! You really do tend to appear out of nowhere!”

 

The towering Namek stood with arms folded, standing on the boulder that Asia had made into a seat, his white cape fluttering behind him in the breeze. “I prefer to not to make an ostentatious statement when I arrive at any given place,” Piccolo stated calmly.

 

“Rrriight,” Asia murmured in reply.

 

“How long have you been here?” Autumn asked, frowning suspiciously.

 

“Long enough,” Piccolo said, gracefully levitating off the boulder onto the ground in front of them. “You two cannot sense anyone's ki signature because your power relies on the presence of actual energy itself,” he said, getting straight to the point. “This significant reliance of yours cancels out the ability to focus on the aspect of ki energy that is unique to the person who is producing it.”

 

Asia raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.

 

Realizing what Piccolo just revealed, Autumn asked, “You've been watching us for a while, haven't you? Is that how you knew we were here tonight?”

 

“That is correct. I have been keeping an eye on you both,” he confirmed.

 

“Then why didn't you say anything to us about knowing any of this?”

 

“It was apparent to me that you wanted to test this power out without any interference from any of us,” he said simply.

 

“And why would you let us do that?” Autumn asked curiously.

 

“You were determined make a go of it alone,” Piccolo answered with a slight shrug. “So I let it go.”

 

“If you already know then I suppose Gohan also knows.”

 

Piccolo gave a nod.

 

“So why tell us now?”

 

“I recognize the power. This magical energy you have acquired is similar in make-up to other beings I've encountered before.”

 

“Like?” Autumn pressed.

 

“Majin Buu.”

 

Piccolo looked at them to see if they grasped the seriousness of such a comparison. Their alarmed looks told him that they did.

 

“You've done a fairly good job on your own; however, if you're going to have power like this you need to know what you can and cannot do with it. This means going beyond what you have discovered on your own, and really getting a handle on what you have.” And among other reasons, we can't afford you not knowing your own abilities; it could prove to be a serious liability for the rest of us, he added mentally.

 

As Autumn listened carefully to his words, she nodded in solid agreement. When she glanced over at her friend, Asia was doing the same. Piccolo watched in satisfaction as he saw their expressions become very determined.

 

<><><><><><>

 

- Sometime later that evening -

 

Vegita stood in the middle of the gravity chamber in his customary arms-crossed-over-chest stance. He turned his head slightly in the direction of the door as it opened and closed behind the expected entrance of Azure, whose face held an unreadable expression.

 

“Well, the survivalist returns yet again,” he said with a dismissive snort.

 

She responded with a slight bow of her head. “I do as you tell me to do, my master,” she said, ending her statement with a hint of sarcasm.

 

Vegita eyed her curiously; something about her seemed off, but he couldn't place it. I don't sense anything but…that strange glint in her eyes… and there was something else he just couldn't place…

 

Ki then built up within the palms of her hands as they hung at her sides.

 

Vegita perked an eyebrow then smirked. “What are you going to do with that; light a candle perhaps?” he asked before scowling at her impertinence. “How dare you come at me in such a manner!”

 

She stared at him briefly before looking slightly away. “A royal of your stature demands much more respect, of course.”

 

Her words made Vegita's scowl grow deeper. He faded out and reappeared right in front of her, grabbing her neck with one gloved hand and hoisting her off the ground.

 

“Don't you dare mock me! I will kill you,” he said in a low, chilling voice, right before he threw her backwards into the wall.

 

She fell forward, landing somewhat awkwardly on all fours. It was a few moments before she shifted into a sitting position, her back leaning against the wall, propping on arm on top of a raised knee. Vegita did not move from his spot, nor did he notice that the eerie glint in her eyes had grown sharper.

 

“Trunks, that older version, has a tortured past,” she paused before adding, “Like father, like son, isn't it?” Vegita expression showed no reaction whatsoever, but he did notice that her voice had a strange tonality to it.

 

Azure slowly got to her feet, her back sliding up the wall as she did so in a sort of half-possessed sort of way.

 

“Dodoria… Zarbon…Radditz…Frieza…Su - ika,” she recited slowly, the sound of her soft, rough voice now changing into another one he knew very well as she uttered each of those familiar names…

 

“Veh - gee - tah…” she teased out the syllables of his name lowly, in almost a whisper.

 

Something stirred within him as he heard those names repeated in that strange voice of hers. And when she said his name in that manner and in that strangely familiar tone, something snapped; a painful feeling invaded his senses. Vegita's initial reaction was instinctual; he lashed out. His movements were a blur, and with a single punch to the gut, he rendered her unconscious.

 

The sense of immediate peril had taken him by surprise, forcing a great burst of energy through his body, nearly sending him directly into his second Super Saiya-jin transformation. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her body, now pinned flat against the walls of the chamber by the sheer power of his ki aura. Cracks of every size materialized throughout the room, in some places even raining light debris, caused by the constant flow of his Super Saiya-jin energy. But it can't! It's not!

 

Then he was struck by another thought. While pondering this latest development, the grip on his sanity returned and he immediately powered back down to his normal state. The lessening of his ki aura caused Azure's unsupported body to fall forward onto the floor.

 

Vegita took a deep breath then walked over to the unconscious body. Bending down, he ripped off the fabric that covered both forearms. One exposed forearm had nothing more than a very light outline of what seemed to be a remnant of a deep scar on the underside. On the other, which was the same forearm that contained the crescent, now had two, smaller scars on it, one appeared the lower half while the other took the upper half of her forearm.

 

It was clear that these scars were “revealing” themselves since some parts were obviously darker than others and had not been there before.

 

Vegita paused almost dramatically. He thought back to a week ago when Azure had returned from the original survival test he had sent her on and recklessly attacked him. That unrecognizable, disturbing feeling that had come over him at that time rushed his senses again.

 

A foreboding chill suddenly passed through him as he remembered seeing those scars. Almost not wanting to, he grasped one arm and flipped Azure onto her stomach. With one hand, he grabbed the waistband of her pants and pulled it down, exposing her lower back just above her buttocks. He froze, staring, not wanting to believe what he was seeing.

 

There was a circular spot on her lower back, just slightly darker than the surrounding skin. Light, crescent scars also decorated the outer edges of the spot, looking suspiciously similar to ones that might have been left behind by sharpened fingernails.

 

<><>Flashback<><>

 

With a smirk on his face, Frieza sliced the remainder of the tail in half in one swift motion, finishing with his nails imbedded into the point where her tail connected with her back. A breathless scream was followed by an unconscious Suika slumping on the floor.

 

“Damn, I do think she's lost consciousness,” Frieza stated casually, knowing well enough that she would be. He turned to address Vegita, his nails still pressed into Suika's back.

 

“Well, Vegita,” Frieza inquired, “should I rip it out?”

 

<><>End flashback<><>

 

With a gloved finger, Vegita reached down and lightly touched the lowest portion of the exposed dark circle. Although Azure was fully unconscious, her body involuntarily twitched in response.

 

“It's fucking impossible!!” he hissed aloud in disbelief, staring at the body below him. “It's got to be some kind of freakish trick!”

 

He kept staring while he straightened his posture, his brows creased in frustration. What the fuck is going on? This can't be the connection… the reason behind… not in this way, especially not in this way! He shook his head from side-to-side, refusing to accept what he was seeing before him. But his confusion and that irritatingly nagging and unsettling feeling that had been hounding him for the past couple of months would no longer be denied.

 

“You've got to be fucking kidding me!”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*