Once Upon a Dream (Closed)

Taking in the details before her, the demoness was at a loss for what was about. Obviously, who ever lived here was quite a messy person. Eyes catching notice of a slew of papers on the table, she’d walk over to observe what was on their surface. With a soft gasp, she was greeted with a jumble of illegible letters, numbers and signs. What happened to this person? What language was this, even? Blinking at the mystery of it, she’d turn back around to look at the rest of the room.

She jumped suddenly as a sound permeated the room and locked eyes on a sudden figure in the bed. How did I invade a home?! Usually, she was aware of doing such things. As a hand came out to turn off the alarm clock (which also made no sense by the symbols), rummaging to turn it off before giving up, the saiyaness would walk around the bed and reach for it. Grasping it tightly, she’d meant to crush it. Like all things in the room, however, logic seemed to evade physics and she could only glare at the invulnerable piece of crap.

The real illogical realization… rose from the bed like a zombie. “N-Nicolas?” She whispered and he seemed to see and acknowledge her at the same time. Staring at him, even sprawled out, she felt like a cold chill ran down her spine. Flashes of memory when he was on Kanassa fused with memories of their memorable date and it left her unable to truly analyze her emotions. At his questions, she grinned at him and opened her mouth… before a dark cloud hung over her and her surprise dispelled away to sorrow.

I can’t believe I almost forgot I was dead.

Staring at him, hands in his own, she could only take in the silence for a moment or two before she looked down and smiled briefly to herself. “Damn, this… wasn’t how I wanted to see you again. And it feels like a dream, too…” She shook her head at whatever confusion she might have incited at her wishful thinking and looked up at him. “It’s been a while, yeah, but I’m,” She cleared her throat from the tightening ball the threatened to silence her, “-You’ll be waiting a while longer, Nic.” She spoke quickly, trying her best to sound firm in her words.

Moving her hands away from him, Zerori looked up in his face just before she formed his own hands into fists and held them. It hurt, telling him something that she herself would never want to hear. And hearing it from her how the hell would he accept it? “I…” She paused, hesitating. In battle, she would be dead now. But this wasn’t a battle – it was a war. Wars took time, lives, money, and even the love and affection from caring people.

In the corresponding events that made a catalyst of distrust between them… She needed to tell the truth.

Closing her eyes briefly, she ducked back into cover. Letting go of his hands, she laughed and reached up to flick his nose with a sad smile, “Dumbass… I’m sorry I’ve made you worry. You shouldn’t have to wait long, yeah?” Her voice was tinged with an uncharacteristic sweetness and it felt wrong. Whatever happened to her ability to lie?

By the Gods, it killed her to lie to him. Days, months and years of training were all she had to cling to at this moment as he brought her into an embrace. Is this all I’m good for…? Zerori thought to herself as she slowly brought her arms up to return the embrace. In the passing a blink, she would look up and see the murky visages of the planet. The planet she’d forsaken for power.

The bitter taste of the fruit tingled against her tongue once more she felt the urge to throw up.

In taking a breath, Zerori bit her lip while her face was still safe from his eyes. It was only a glimmer but if he saw… if anyone did, it would be hard to explain away the tear. “God, please just shut up,” She whispered, instantly hating her self for how broken her voice sounded. It only took a glance at the expression on her face – from his own memory – to see just how terrified he was and… terrifying she must have seemed.

By the gods, have I always been truly so selfish?

You are. You always have been, my Daughter… Came the sound of a woman’s voice, familiar to the saiyaness but strange to the heroic Captain. Holding Nicolas tightly, Zerori didn’t hesitate to speak to him.

“Don’t be afraid,” She chided gently, swallow her weakness away to keep him strong. “It’s a memory… and I fear my lies have caught up to me.” Dreams have always had a way to show you, to your face, the weaknesses, the mistakes and the truth. And now it seemed that she was doomed to share them with Nicolas. Unable to stop their passing, very brief images would begin to fade in an out of his view.

In a picturesque fashion, like a TV screen was produced just for him, he would see the form of a woman dressed in royal saiyan regalia with hair kept cleanly and her arms crossed. The perspective must of a young child, given how tall she was and her frown… was so cold and uncaring. Then, corrupting slowly was that woman’s face turning into something much more demonic, melting away to show the silhouette of a dark figure with shiny ruby eyes…

Then, finally, another vision of Planet this time… of a man – oh so familiar to Nicolas that stepped from a broken wall. Bing Gan, ingloriously mechanized as he stared down Zerori.

Flashes of color, violent and insensible. Cries of pain and suffering, followed by the maddening laughter of Zerori herself (voice audibly corrupted) before silence and darkness… and then the darkness faded away to reveal the very mechanized man with his arm through her.

Unable to see what he saw, Zerori could only hold him close as he shared in her memories as she experienced them before she swallowed and tried to speak. “You’ve never… made a mistake,” She cleared her throat before continuing, the façade of strength her only ballast, “Okay, maybe a few but damn you have bad taste in women.” Pulling him back, it would be revealed that she couldn’t help the tears in the end. Staring at him, her mouth twitch upwards a bit in a smile before she closed her eyes and gradually… slowly…

A halo would appear above her head.

Nicolas Mclendon

Through the haze of her own self-belittlement, Zerori kept her gaze trained away from Nicolas’. Shamed and unable to maintain contact for fear of whatever else might spill from her. It was obvious she had nothing good to give to him, dead and possibly untrustworthy in his eyes…

But he continued to speak. Of memories she held deep within her heart, locked away in equal parts humiliation and pride. It was where she found her first taste of power, quickly followed by a sour defeat in the face of an overwhelming force.

And, belated feelings of regret for the man that she couldn’t save. That stood in her way, as much as tried to ignore the effect he had on her. Oh, how she tried! Even still, choked by her failures, Nicolas regaled his feelings of her when they first met and glancing just behind him as the imagery faded gently from her nightmares… a warm realization filled her chest. Reaching for her breast, she swallowed at the strange sensation. And it wasn’t anger, shame or the familiar lust for battle.

It’s nice, She thought briefly, feeling the warm colors spell out a story.

As the voiced cried out to be saved, Zerori felt her breath come in quick gasps. Ari’s face came to mind and she clenched his shirt tightly in her fists. In a flash, as it crumbled away, she would only gape at the silence and stillness before her gaze lingered down and slowly let her forehead ease against his shoulder. Breathing against him, even in a world with only perceived sensation, she could swear she caught his familiar scent.

“It’s cruel,” She muttered against him, the allusion to how she treated him and how unfair this dream was. “-and I’m sorry,” She whispered, shaking her head against him. “What I want - that is, what you want me to do…” She trailed off, uncertain what she was even trying to say! Clenching her eyes shut, she pulled away and stared up at him with stained cheeks but a fire in her eyes. “I don’t know how I can make you strong again! But, you… what you do to me-!” She pulled away, placing a hand over her chest as if to punctuate the meaning behind her words. “You’ve given me something I’ve never hoped, or even dreamed of deserving, and yet I just keep taking away these things from you.”

Looking away as she thought of every terrible moment she’d been the direct cause of, “Your life, Nicolas! The very meaning of this… this life you had a hero. And now I’m just… just making it worse by taking away your DREAMS!” Barking out the last word, she took another step back and waved her hand wildly in a flourish around them.

Seeming to catch her breath, Zerori stayed silent as she just watched Nicolas and swallowed visibly in front of him. Weakness was to be hated and feared but he… she knew he’d never take advantage of this vulnerability. She shook her head, “Nicolas, why can’t you see that everything that’s happened to me - I deserved?” Her question was so brutally honest, it almost sounded offended.

Looking into his eyes, eyebrows crooked upwards in confusion at his declaration. “M-Mistakes?” She parroted softly, disbelief tinged in her voice. She could feel hand holding her tightly, glancing down at it and back up at him. Colors drained some of her focus from him briefly before she forced her gaze to remain upon his.

The words made her want to feel angry. She SHOULD feel angry – it was default retaliation but he was trying to make her understand. Gasping at his sickening ‘I gave you my heart’ line, she looked away and shook her head, a scoff bubbling into a chuckle. “You… Gods, you damn fool,” Taking a slow step into him, bare arms hesitantly wrapped around his shoulders. That was it, damn him. What could she said to that? What anger she had left within her to direct at him was dissipated now and she… hated it.

But she loved him. This human has actually infected her with his honeyed words and compassion.

Pressing her face into the junction of his heck and shoulder, she murmured low enough the cracks in her throat couldn’t be heard, “You got me, I’ll-” Swallowing, she held him tighter, comforted by the ballast of his broad shoulders. “Y’better wait for me. This ‘heart’ of yours is gonna be here,” Bringing one of her arms from around his shoulder to touch her own chest. She couldn’t face him yet, no – the tears running down her face made her sure she preferred to keep it against his shoulders, drying away in his clothes. “So, don’t… don’t you forget, either. If I – WHEN I come back,” Nodding against him, she continued with a sigh, “I’m gonna need you there. Zucceta, Bing… Etoru. I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I see them again.”

Finally pulling away, she sniffed and brought a hand up to her face to wipe it with her palm, “No pressure,” She croaked, weakly grinning at him while rubbing her eye.

After a passing moment, allowing them to bask in the lasting presence of their dream, a faint crack could be heard around them. Then another, louder and much more pronounced. Stepping away from Nicolas, her hand meaning to hold onto his shoulder tightly just in case, Zerori looked around them with cautious fear. Another rang out, this time appearing to run up a wall to their left from the floor of the world all the way to the perceived ceiling. Her gaze stared at it for a moment before she blurted out the first thing that came to mind, looking back at Nicolas.

“We’re waking up…”

Oh, how she would miss this. Melting into an embrace she’d never felt so warm within, sharing a kiss that was far too good for her. Like a puzzle falling apart in the hands of a child, cracks splintered and spread leaving the background and various foreground around them to crumble. And still, they embraced and the Saiyan refused to let go, even against the inevitable. And yet, even though she could swear she was still holding his shirt in a vice-like grip, the sensation was fading.

She would lose him again and Zerori’s fingers tried to tighten around his form. Like a chain-reaction, all corporeal form to her senses faded. His back, the scent of his cologne that she can still remember catching that fateful day in that restaurant. Until finally, his lips faded nothing more than tickle and she found herself gasping out a broken sob when she was left alone.

Alone, bitter, and dead. She didn’t dare open her eyes in fear that she’d see nothing and know it had never happened. Another gasp tore through her lungs and her eyes snapped open, back in the dreadful afterlife of Hell and with shamefully tear-stained cheeks.

The only evidence of her experience, believing that it wasn’t just a figment of her imagination, being the whisper of those words she’d always hoped and dreaded to hear. She grasped at her chest but felt no heartbeat. And yet, it was there; her heart. “I…” With a final gasp, Zerori swallowed her fear away to admit it to herself, to him… to the world someday, maybe. “-Love you, too.” The words tasted weird; like honey mixed with blood and she realized a moment later why.

She had no idea… how… when… if… she would ever return to life. But she was going to try, no matter how bitter the taste.

((I am so sorry this took so long! Ending the thread so we can get the reward! Shoki, please!))