Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Until Death ❯ Disappointments ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer- I don't Dragonball Z. Credit belongs to Akira Toriyama.

Until Death

By VCelestialGoddess

Chapter 4 - Disappointments

Bulma sat cross-legged on her hospital bed, wondering what she would do with her life at this point. Dr. Lesto would arrive with her results in less than one hour and boredom was suddenly washing over her. With a sigh, she picked up the small red card with the soft, scarlet rose and opened it, staring puzzlingly at the message it contained. Bulma's eyes drifted over to the small signature located at the bottom. De ja vu swept over her when she finally recognized the signature— King Vegeta! The strange man had stared endlessly at her a few days back; but why would King waste his time over an ill girl? Well, at least she thought she was sick, due to her strong symptoms. Bulma took in the scent of the rose, admiring its sweet aroma. Having forgotten the meeting with him, she glanced at the clock, seeing there was still time to go meet this man. Bulma quickly brushed her locks, and tidied her self up before rushing out the door.

~*~

Vegeta stood under the shower, allowing the hot stream of water soothe his aching chest. Somehow, his coughs were starting to get to him. This morning he woke up with an awful coughing fit, and almost felt as though he were going to throw up! Now, it left him with a throbbing ache in his chest, and sore lungs. Finishing up, Vegeta turned the knob and stepped out, grabbing the nearest soft-cotton towel. He walked over to the cupboard, picking out a newly polished, gold-tinted armor. Attached was a velvety cape for his rendezvous with the azure beauty. Oh, his eyes would never stop capturing her beauty, her exquisiteness.

As Vegeta was getting dressed, his throat tickled and he began another series of coughs. He clapped his palm over his mouth in an effort to stifle his coughs, eyes widening in surprise as warm liquid soaked his hand. Pulling it back before his eyes, he could see the tiny flecks of blood. No. Nothing was going to stop him from meeting her. But hadn't he taken his pills before breakfast? Why were his symptoms suddenly flooding over him now? His coughing increased rapidly, sweeping a haze of unconsciousness in mind; water began to swell in his eyes with the amount of pressure. No. He…must…make it. He will not fail. The King of Vegeta-sei never fails. But before Vegeta could make it to the medicine cabinet, he collapsed on the floor, lying helplessly there; streams of crimson fluid dripped endlessly out of his pale lips.

~*~

Ugh. Where is he? She had already waited almost 30 minutes and he hadn't shown up yet. What kind of King leaves his guests waiting? Bulma was slightly confused at the moment. She didn't know whether she should go back upstairs to hear her results, which were more important to her, or should she wait for this tardy man? Bulma had kept her patience in tact long enough. With that she left the park; anger boiling in her mind as she stormed back up to her room. I'll ignore that man the next time I see him. Damn him for keeping me waiting this long!

Bulma's parents were in the room with Dr. Lesto, neither of them noticing her tardiness. “Sorry I was late. I decided I'd go for a walk after my lunch.” The other three simply nodded and waited for her to take a seat.

“It's alright. I waited so that I could share the information with all of you,” Dr Lesto said politely. “I believe we have a diagnosis.”

Bulma's mouth went dry and her heart began throb erratically in her chest. Her parents were on either side of her bed. They reminded her of guard dogs jealously surrounding their young. “May I have the envelope, please?” she said, trying hard to keep calm.

“Youare having a recurrence of your earlier problem,” Dr. Lesto told them matter-of-factly.

“But they told us it was gone,” Valira said fiercely.

“They told us it was a low-grade astrocytoma and that the chances were in our favor that it would not return,” Dr. Lesto corrected her. “But it's never been gone; it's only been dormant.”

Bulma's blood suddenly ran cold. She clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering.

“So what is it now?” Mateo growled impatiently.

“Now it's a high-grade astrocytoma.”

“Meaning…?”

“It's growing rapidly and consequently it will be harder to treat,” the doctor replied solemnly.

“This is ridiculous!” her father snapped angrily. “First it's there, and then it's gone; now it's back. Can't you doctors get it right? This is my daughter we're discussing!”

“I'm very sorry,” Dr. Lesto apologized. “I wish I had better news for you.”

Mateo stiffened. “What are our options?”

Bulma barely heard him. A rushing sound filled her ears and their voices seemed to be coming from far away. This couldn't be happening. It had to be some mistake.

Dr. Lesto attached X rays to a portable light board he'd brought into the room with him. A human skull was outlined perfectly. “This is your skull, Bulma. And here”- he pointed to a dark area at the base of her skull-“is the tumor. You can see it better on the MRI.” They peered at the contour of her brain on another piece of film. The tumor looked dense and sinister; as if daring to end her life once and for all. “The tumor is entrenched here, and it's growing.”

Bulma shuddered. How it was possible something was growing inside her body without her knowledge or permission. “Can't you cut it out, remove it?” she asked desperately.

“Maybe not.”

“Why not?”

“It's embedded itself in the cerebellum here, near the brain stem.” Dr. Lesto pointed to the area on the MRI. “This is the part of your brain that's responsible for involuntary reflexes, like breathing and coordination. That explains your dizzy spells. The tumor mass is pressing and intruding on these particular areas. If we do traditional surgery, you could be maimed for life. No scalpel can untangle it.”

“Are you saying there's nothing you can do?” Bulma's mother gasped, her eyes wide with fear. “No. Were going to try some things; First, a drug to reduce the brain swelling. There are some side effects, but I want to get the swelling down so that you won't be in so much pain.”

“What kind of side effects?” Bulma swallowed hard, feeling slightly detached, as if they were discussing someone else.

“Water retention, puffiness, and an incredible appetite.”

Bulma had always been tall and slim, and was able to eat whatever she wanted and she didn't like the idea of forced weight gain. “I'll look like a freak…” She lamented.

“What else?” her father asked the doctor.

“We'll start her on radiation treatments.”

Bulma remembered the radiation sessions from before. They had strapped her on a table, and left her alone in a room with a massive machine aimed at the back of her head. She had shrieked and screamed, not because it hurt, because it hadn't. But she couldn't move; she had been all alone. Now, she was much older and she knew that the technician had to leave the room to avoid the high doses of gamma rays emitted by the machine. Still, just the mere memory of it terrified her. “Will I lose my hair?” she asked. “Will I have to cut it off?”

“Just a little spot in the back. You can comb the rest of it over. No one will be able to tell. Radiation has come a long way. You'll have a radiation oncologist, a special doctor who does only these treatments. It's an exacting science and you'll be in good hands.”

“But she's already had radiation once,” Valira interjected.

“It's the best treatment for this kind of tumor,” the doctor insisted. “It must be done again.”

“And once it's shrunk?” her mother wanted to know.

“Then more MRIs and X rays to see if she's a candidate for gamma knife surgery.”

“I thought you said you couldn't cut the tumor.”

This was just useless babbling going on between the two parents and the helpless Lesto. Why did they even need his explanations? Didn't they all know that her life was already at an end? That it was useless to do all this testing? She wasn't some damn helpless animal to be tested on!

“Not with a regular scalpel, but with a gamma knife, a high concentration of gamma rays aimed at the tumor.”

“Why can't you just do that right away?” Bulma asked breathlessly. “Why do I have through all the other stuff first?”

“Because we can't use the gamma knife on anything larger than three centimeters.” He pulled a ruler from his pocket and placed his thumb on a mark. “Right now, your tumor is larger, about five centimeters.”

Bulma watched his thumb slide upward on the ruler and wondered how two centimeters could make such a difference. And yet it did. Surgery was out.

“What about chemotherapy?” her mother asked.

Dr. Lesto shook his head. “Chemo is ineffective on this kind of tumor.”

Bulma felt as if the doors of her options were being closed. “I don't have a lot of choices, do I?”

“Radiation is your best hope,” the doctor answered.

A wave of nausea swept over her stomach. “And if radiation doesn't work? Her voice trembled, but she had to ask this very question.

“We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said.

Bulma knew instinctively that the bridge was a narrow rope hanging over a precipice that led down to a dark abyss. She turned to face her mother's shoulder and hid like a frightened child, hanging on desperately her dear life.

She glanced out the window and was surprised to see a figure with dark, spiky hair, familiar black eyes. While Lesto and her parents talked, she wished it were possible to escape this scenario and fly into Yamcha's arms. He would soothe her aches, her pains, her confusions. But would Yamcha be able to soothe the growing lump in her life form? Unfortunately, she had to answer that one herself; which was disappointingly, the loathed answer came… “no”.

~*~*~*~*~*~

VCelestalGoddess - Reviews please.