Post by Kay-El on Feb 23, 2016 14:00:50 GMT
A world of blues watched their departure. Trees of green looked on like eyes, dotting the surface here and there. But Shikk was mostly wonderful, beautiful ocean. Would Namek even have an ocean? Every world had a water source, right? Kay-El Coliflo had never traveled off world before. Lush islands off the coast filled with soft white sand; fauna, flora and wildlife of all kinds abundant everywhere. Smaller towns inland with rivers and lakes and dense forests… these places she had been, but still no further than a few week’s ride.
Having cried herself out, the five year old yawned and cuddled into Nana’s warmth. With an odd, sputtering sound, the heater chugged to life briefly before dying once more. It was a long flight to Namek.
The night before was a late one, and the morning too early for Kay, sleep pulled at her like high tide, edging her further into its depths. Dark, midnight blue eyes blinked rapidly and she rubbed at them with small hands. Shikk, the planet she had called home for all her five and a half years, grew smaller and smaller until it was barely the size of a coin - and then she could no longer distinguish it from the stars around it. With a jolt she bolted upright, hitting her head on the ceiling of the pod. They’d passed the yellow stars and she hadn’t even noticed. The same yellow stars that housed the dead of Shikk.
Her father was memorialized in one of those space stations and all she’d wanted was a glimpse of one, to know what form they took. The child slumped back in her chair, lower lip tucked between her teeth.
Nana mistook her mood for homesickness. “It’s not too late to turn around, Birdie.”
“I don’t want to go home again,” she snapped, “I can miss the past without having to wallow in it.”
Nana sighed and fell back into silence, one hand coming up to smooth some errant dark blue curly strands behind Kay-El’s slightly pointed ears. “Everything will okay. You’ll see.”
Kay-El relaxed at the familiar, calming touch. “I’m sorry I snapped at you…” she said simply. She’d reacted impulsively out of anger and fear - she did want to go back. But to go back was to give in and give up on every dream she’d ever had. Besides, going back...there was nothing left for her on Shikk, nothing she was ready for, anyway. Staring at her lap, she played with the webbing between her left forefinger and thumb with the same fingers of her right hand, a nervous habit. Kay always found it soothing.
“Shhh, it’s alright, Birdie. But I’d give a Zeni for your thoughts right now if I had one.”
She smiled and stopped fidgeting. Looking into Nana’s warm, brown eyes with its crow’s feet of lines somehow reassured her that it really would be alright. “I wanted to see Daddy’s Memorial or, well, at least see what one of those...grave stations looked like. To feel...closer to him. I know it’s silly-”
Nana cut her off with a smile to go with her kind voice. “It’s not silly, Kay-El. The need for closure has driven many and more, both older and wiser than you, to crazier heights. Wanting to see your father’s burial sight it perfectly normal…” She tugged at the end of Kay-El’s braid affectionately, a well-meaning habit formed through the years they’d spent at each other’s sides. “People do crazy things for the ones they love, and loving your father is no crime. He loved you very much.”
If she hadn’t spent all her tears, she might have cried again but instead she just smiled and hugged the one figure in her life that had always been dependable. Perhaps she’d been wrong to think she had no mother just because her biological one had made a deal to give her away and left her without a second thought and her adopted one had even less interest in the Saiyan-Demon ‘filthy half-breed’ than her actual mother. No, the woman who raised her was the one currently holding her and telling everything would be ok just like a mother ‘ought to.
Kay stifled another yawn. “Get some rest, Birdie.”
“M’not sleepy,” she lied, snuggling deeper into the older Saiyan’s embrace. Half a Saiyan Kay-El might be, but Nana Ban never looked at her with anything other than love and acceptance on her face. Within minutes her breathing evened and she slept soundly for the first half hour of their trip; and then the nightmares came.
Flames of blue filled with the faces of the dead. The eerie, flickering fire moved more like its correctly hued opposite: water. At its core it was the color of waves as they reached the white sands of Shikk’s shores, clear and bright and pure. Spreading outward, the gradient gently radiated outward turning to through the shades of blue until at its tips it were the deepest, darkest blue of depths largely left undisturbed - a color to match her eyes and the night sky.
Mary screamed soundlessly, her arms outstretched as if begging the girl to help her. Normally white hair looked sapphire blue, swaying ‘round her face like appendages of some deep sea monster. But her eyes spoke gallons where her voice could utter none. Filled with a pain readable even in this glazed over blue state, it tore at Kay’s heart. Other forms surrounded Mary like a sea of tired limbs and scared eyes, all reaching and beseeching Kay-El for help. But every step the youngster took towards them seemed to take her further and further away from her goal.
Suddenly out of the flames emerged a familiar shape as Pea Coliflo, Kay’s adopted mother, stepped forward and raised her mighty sword to point at the hybrid’s heard. “I’ll get you, yet, and your old Nanny, too.”
SLAM. Kay woke with a start, sore all over, face pressed against the window. An alarm blared loudly over the speaker and it took her a few seconds to remember where she was. Heart racing, she got her bearings and realized that, no, blue flames only existed in her head. Short-lived relief blossomed within her, flooding her with a feeling of ease and then it hit her. ‘Why are the alarms going off?’
BOOM! The whole pod rocked again and Nana screamed “Get down! This Asteroid Field wasn’t here last time I passed through this area…” For a brief moment, Kay had time to wonder when Nana had traveled and then her arm stretched down and she let Nana pull her to the floor as another small piece of an Asteroid hit them and knocked them in a different direction. Their course had been set for Namek, but if they couldn’t figure out how to put this thing on manual, who knew where they’d end up?
Having cried herself out, the five year old yawned and cuddled into Nana’s warmth. With an odd, sputtering sound, the heater chugged to life briefly before dying once more. It was a long flight to Namek.
The night before was a late one, and the morning too early for Kay, sleep pulled at her like high tide, edging her further into its depths. Dark, midnight blue eyes blinked rapidly and she rubbed at them with small hands. Shikk, the planet she had called home for all her five and a half years, grew smaller and smaller until it was barely the size of a coin - and then she could no longer distinguish it from the stars around it. With a jolt she bolted upright, hitting her head on the ceiling of the pod. They’d passed the yellow stars and she hadn’t even noticed. The same yellow stars that housed the dead of Shikk.
Her father was memorialized in one of those space stations and all she’d wanted was a glimpse of one, to know what form they took. The child slumped back in her chair, lower lip tucked between her teeth.
Nana mistook her mood for homesickness. “It’s not too late to turn around, Birdie.”
“I don’t want to go home again,” she snapped, “I can miss the past without having to wallow in it.”
Nana sighed and fell back into silence, one hand coming up to smooth some errant dark blue curly strands behind Kay-El’s slightly pointed ears. “Everything will okay. You’ll see.”
Kay-El relaxed at the familiar, calming touch. “I’m sorry I snapped at you…” she said simply. She’d reacted impulsively out of anger and fear - she did want to go back. But to go back was to give in and give up on every dream she’d ever had. Besides, going back...there was nothing left for her on Shikk, nothing she was ready for, anyway. Staring at her lap, she played with the webbing between her left forefinger and thumb with the same fingers of her right hand, a nervous habit. Kay always found it soothing.
“Shhh, it’s alright, Birdie. But I’d give a Zeni for your thoughts right now if I had one.”
She smiled and stopped fidgeting. Looking into Nana’s warm, brown eyes with its crow’s feet of lines somehow reassured her that it really would be alright. “I wanted to see Daddy’s Memorial or, well, at least see what one of those...grave stations looked like. To feel...closer to him. I know it’s silly-”
Nana cut her off with a smile to go with her kind voice. “It’s not silly, Kay-El. The need for closure has driven many and more, both older and wiser than you, to crazier heights. Wanting to see your father’s burial sight it perfectly normal…” She tugged at the end of Kay-El’s braid affectionately, a well-meaning habit formed through the years they’d spent at each other’s sides. “People do crazy things for the ones they love, and loving your father is no crime. He loved you very much.”
If she hadn’t spent all her tears, she might have cried again but instead she just smiled and hugged the one figure in her life that had always been dependable. Perhaps she’d been wrong to think she had no mother just because her biological one had made a deal to give her away and left her without a second thought and her adopted one had even less interest in the Saiyan-Demon ‘filthy half-breed’ than her actual mother. No, the woman who raised her was the one currently holding her and telling everything would be ok just like a mother ‘ought to.
Kay stifled another yawn. “Get some rest, Birdie.”
“M’not sleepy,” she lied, snuggling deeper into the older Saiyan’s embrace. Half a Saiyan Kay-El might be, but Nana Ban never looked at her with anything other than love and acceptance on her face. Within minutes her breathing evened and she slept soundly for the first half hour of their trip; and then the nightmares came.
Flames of blue filled with the faces of the dead. The eerie, flickering fire moved more like its correctly hued opposite: water. At its core it was the color of waves as they reached the white sands of Shikk’s shores, clear and bright and pure. Spreading outward, the gradient gently radiated outward turning to through the shades of blue until at its tips it were the deepest, darkest blue of depths largely left undisturbed - a color to match her eyes and the night sky.
Mary screamed soundlessly, her arms outstretched as if begging the girl to help her. Normally white hair looked sapphire blue, swaying ‘round her face like appendages of some deep sea monster. But her eyes spoke gallons where her voice could utter none. Filled with a pain readable even in this glazed over blue state, it tore at Kay’s heart. Other forms surrounded Mary like a sea of tired limbs and scared eyes, all reaching and beseeching Kay-El for help. But every step the youngster took towards them seemed to take her further and further away from her goal.
Suddenly out of the flames emerged a familiar shape as Pea Coliflo, Kay’s adopted mother, stepped forward and raised her mighty sword to point at the hybrid’s heard. “I’ll get you, yet, and your old Nanny, too.”
SLAM. Kay woke with a start, sore all over, face pressed against the window. An alarm blared loudly over the speaker and it took her a few seconds to remember where she was. Heart racing, she got her bearings and realized that, no, blue flames only existed in her head. Short-lived relief blossomed within her, flooding her with a feeling of ease and then it hit her. ‘Why are the alarms going off?’
BOOM! The whole pod rocked again and Nana screamed “Get down! This Asteroid Field wasn’t here last time I passed through this area…” For a brief moment, Kay had time to wonder when Nana had traveled and then her arm stretched down and she let Nana pull her to the floor as another small piece of an Asteroid hit them and knocked them in a different direction. Their course had been set for Namek, but if they couldn’t figure out how to put this thing on manual, who knew where they’d end up?
