Baby your time is up von Nevaeh ================================================================================ Kapitel 1: ----------- Summer had reached its peak, the few days when the air was so hot and still, it felt as if the whole world stopped turning. Bra slowly wiped a drop of sweat from her forehead, the movement almost too exhausting. She knew she should go back inside, where it was so much cooler, everyone else was slumped on some flat surface there, but the warmth of the sun made her feel… alive. And rarely anything did. It even made the inevitable sunburn worth it.   “You´re red as a lobster, Bra.”   She opened her eyes, just enough to squint through her lashes. Goten was looking sleepily at her, trudging past the bench she lay on towards the toilet.   “I`m in the shadow, idiot.”   “Or maybe it´s just the freckles.”   He shrugged and was out of sight a few seconds later. There had been a time when Bra had tried her best to hide every trace of them, hated them for the blemish they were, but now… she had better things to do than worry about something that insignificant. The heat would only last a few days more, if at all, and they would all go back to being busy again, so she wanted to enjoy it. The time dripping like honey, the soft buzzing of the insects… Goten walked past her again, slapping her knee on his way.   “You gonna take care of dinner?”   She tried to kick him, but she was too slow. Grumbling, she rolled off the bank, blinking rapidly against the bright sun. “Yeah asshole, I was just feeling cozy.” He hadn´t heard her. He was already back inside. Bra pressed her lips together and got up. Mount Paozu had a lot of giant wildlife, but it was too hot to hunt. So it would be fish. With a sigh, Bra grabbed her sunhat. She could fly the distance, but then again… flying was too exhausting anyway.   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   It always astounded her, how loud it was. For as long as she could remember she always heard of people claiming it was so calm and silent in nature, completely different from the city, and they were all wrong. Every step she took through the dense forest made a loud crunching sound, she heard myriads of insects and birds, an occasional roar in the distance… it was different, but not quiet. Not as quiet as she had learned it could be. Following a sudden urge, she started hopping, making sure the crunching was as loud as possible and giggled when a few deer ran away from her. When she arrived at the lake, she stripped off her damp clothes and jumped right into the lake, making sure the cold water didn´t get too much time to shock her. Something else she hadn´t thought she would ever do, skinny dipping in the mountains.   It didn´t take long for her to spot the first of the huge fish that were common in the lakes around Mount Paozu. She swam a bit faster, making sure he noticed her and when he opened his mouth to catch her she punched a hole into his skull. The hardest part was always getting a hold on the fish so she could haul him to the surface. She would need another one though… Would be enough for two days at least.   When she got up with the second fish, she immediately smelled someone approaching. She wasn´t good enough to identify the person, but it had to be someone from the house. No one else came up here.   “You forgot the knife.”   Videl handed her the huge knife Bra usually took with her when she went hunting. Grunting, Bra took it, still panting from the deep dive. She stuck it in the fish and powered up shortly to get dry. She wouldn´t have bothered, but with Videl watching her she felt… uncomfortable.   “Could´ve scaled them over at the house”, Bra said.   Videl shrugged, looking over the immense lake. The mountain tops on the far side started showing some white. It wasn´t long until summer would be over.  “Was bored and thought a little walk would be nice.” She looked back when Bra had pulled her T-shirt over her head, eyeing her thoughtfully. “We have to start preparing for winter.”   “I know.”   Videl smiled softly, turning her head away again. She sat down on one of the rocks surrounding the shore, obviously content in waiting for Bra. “I´m gonna fly back, y´know.”   “Have you thought this would be our life? Going back to the roots, I guess.” She shrugged again. Bra stayed silent, and when she was done scaling she quickly gutted the fish as well. “Hey Videl, I´m gonna fly over, grab a bag. That one had some eggs.” Videl nodded, still not looking at her. Bra waited for a reply but when none came she decided it was fine leaving her here. They all were gone too far sometimes.   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   The nights were the worst. The nights were the time all of them struggled to sleep, struggled to forget and vowed to work harder the next day to be too exhausted to think. Sometimes it worked. Often, Bra lay awake, listening to the insects outside, thinking about how carefree she had been, just a few years ago, when everything seemed possible and everyone was still alive. Sometimes she wanted to get up and punch Goten and ask him why his mum and sister-in-law were still alive when everyone Bra had held dear were dead. But it didn´t make them alive again. None of them. She turned around, staring at the dark room. They had so much work the next day. She should try to get some sleep.   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   Bra slumped down on the bench in front of the house, soaked and exhausted from hunting all day. It would be her third winter on Mount Paozu, she knew how much they needed to be prepared. It was still tedious work. Though… she smiled slightly when she thought about the tantrum she had thrown, back in that first year. She hadn´t had to work for anything in her life ever, and every time Chichi delegated some task to Bra she had started an argument over it. Mostly it had consisted of how all of them should take some fucking consideration to Bra´s delicate state after having lost her whole family. She could only snort over being such an awful hypocrite. She had deserved every slap she had gotten in that time. There had been a time she had thought Chichi was a little stern but a genuinely good person. Now, Bra knew better. Chichi was a survivor and without her, the last few of them would be dead also. Or… not-dead. Half-dead.   “You wanna spar?”   Bra opened her eyes a fraction to see Videl standing in front of her. She was wearing some sweatpants, a loose T-shirt and her hair was pulled back from her face in a tight bun. Practical. Necessary.   “Not really.”   “We should”, Videl said. She sounded so exhausted.   “What difference does it make? I´m capable of everything I need.”   Videl didn´t respond to that. She just walked off, maybe sparring with Goten, maybe drifting away again. She did it a lot lately. It was… mildly worrying. But Bra had so much on her own plate, she couldn´t think too much about Videl´s problems.   “Bra! I´m busting my butt off and you´re relaxing in the sun! Get up and help me.”   Bra sighed and followed Chichi behind the house. She should´ve gone sparring with Videl… For some time, Bra worked quietly next to Chichi, cutting up meat and handing it over, again and again. Most tasks didn´t require her to pay much attention anymore, which… wasn´t always welcome. She couldn´t get Videl out of her head, how she looked more hollow with every day. This wasn´t good.   “Chichi… Videl is behaving oddly.”   Chichi didn´t even bother to look up. “What about it?”   “Shouldn´t we do something?” Bra eyed Chichi from the corner of her eye. She had a hard look on her face, but then again she always had that more or less.   “Don´t think there´s much we can.”   And that was the end of that discussion. Sighing, Bra tried to get her head clear for a few minutes. It didn´t work particularly well. “Hey, I thought I´d fly over to Kami´s palace tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”   Chichi stopped, exhaling loudly. “Do you really think now´s the time? We´ve got better things to do!”   “I won´t take long. Half a day. I think you can all handle half a day.” Bra bit her tongue, finally getting that one word out she hated the most. “Please.” It was almost begging. And Chichi knew that. Her gaze softened a tiny fraction, and she nodded. Thank god she nodded.   “Fine. But don´t dawdle!” She hesitated for a moment, before she added: “And say hello to Piccolo from me.”   Bra smiled, a genuine one. “Of course I will.”   They worked quietly after that.     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   The nights were the worst. She hated it when her nerves were on edge for no reason and she listened to every damn creak the house made and just couldn´t relax enough to fall asleep. Sleeping was good, everything was gone for a few hours. But it was so hard to reach that state. With a sigh, she got up and walked upstairs, to Goten´s room. Chichi slept in her bedroom, Videl had occupied Gohan´s old room and Goten of course his own. That left Bra with the living room. But some nights… some nights she couldn´t stand being all alone. She wouldn´t bother Chichi and Videl was too distant, but Goten was her big brother in some way. It helped a little.   She opened the door carefully and tried to lay down her futon without making a sound.  But before she had everything settled, Goten shifted in his bed and she knew he was watching her.   “Can I hold you?” He whispered so softly she barely heard it. Nodding, she walked over to his bed where he immediately made room for her. It wasn´t a new request. She knew she was just a poor replacement for her brother, his best friend that was no longer here. But it didn´t matter. Goten was just a poor replacement for Trunks as well. She lay with her back against his chest and he immediately got his arms around her. It was too hot and sticky, but he was alive. It made it bearable.   “Goten…”   “Hm.”   He sounded sleepy. She shouldn´t disturb him. But…   “Sometimes, I wonder… you know, I asked dad once if Saiyans got older than humans. Since he always looked the same and mum didn´t. He didn´t know, if he could expect to live as long as a human while looking young or if it meant he was just aging slower.”   Goten didn´t respond for a while. She thought he had fallen asleep when he finally said softly: “So?”   “I´m afraid we´ll live on and on and one day, we´re the last two people on the planet.” Her voice broke a little at the end and she swallowed dryly. Goten´s arms pressed her closer for a moment. She felt his nose in her hair, his heart beat just a little faster than before.   “It will be fine.”   Yeah. She wished he was right.   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   The next day, Bra got up with the sunrise. Despite her best efforts she had only managed a light sleep for a few hours and woken up with a horrendous headache. There was no point in waiting and she was actually eager to get away for a little while. She had wanted to ask Goten to come with her, but she knew Chichi wouldn´t be happy if both of them left. She shrugged to herself. He hadn´t begged for it. He could go some other time.   It took some time to fly to the palace. Bra hadn´t learned ki control until… until it was necessary and she still didn´t feel too comfortable to fly for longer distances. They could´ve stayed at the palace, of course, but Chichi had been very adamant to stay at Mount Paozu. Goten of course had been with his mother and Videl hadn´t had much of an opinion. Sometimes she wondered why Piccolo hadn´t come down to stay with them. He said he had an obligation. Bra thought he simply wanted to torture himself. Well. Everyone was free to choose their own pain.   When she landed, out of breath and shivering from the high altitude, Piccolo was already sitting outside, waiting for her.   “Nice to see you.”   “Nice to see you, too,” she replied and smiled brightly.   “How are the others?” He stood up, waiting for her to catch her breath before they started walking to one of the benches.   “Good. I mean…”   “Considering the circumstances.” He grinned. It was better than the alternative. “So, what brings you here?”   Bra eyed him, which was hard considering that she had to look really far up. “Same as usual. Needed to see someone else and… an update.”   Piccolo patted her shoulder and they sat down. So nothing had changed.   “They won´t die. West City is still a hot zone. In most areas, they dispersed though. If you want to raid a shop or whatever.”   “I´m good.” The apocalypse had cured her of her nicotine addiction. Everything else was luxury. “So dad and Trunks…”   Piccolo only looked at her. She didn´t have to hear it. She didn´t want to hear it.   “There´s plenty alcohol in those shops.”   She stared at him incredulously. “If I start with that, I´m pretty sure I won´t stop. That´s no help to anyone.”   “Just saying.”   They sat quietly for a while before Piccolo started showing her what he had done with the greenery. He didn´t need to prepare for winter, but he had to get his mind off things. And if she was honest… it wasn´t the worst way to do so.   When it was time to leave, she hesitated for a moment. Piccolo noticed, of course, but he couldn´t know why.   “Videl is acting weird,” Bra said. “I mean… she´s drifting off. A lot.”   Piccolo eyed her for a while. “I saw some humans do that.”   “Are any left? At all?” Bra asked, not sure if she wanted an answer to that.   “No. Not anymore. What are you going to do about Videl?”   That was the big question, wasn´t it? She couldn´t let Videl get lost in her own mind. She couldn´t… they were the last five, weren´t they? They couldn´t lose another one.   “There´s still one thing left.”   There was no response. Bra knew that Piccolo didn´t think much of her plan. Hell, she didn´t think much of it. But… five is a tiny number.   “Bring Goten next time. We´ll figure it out.”   Without thinking, she hugged him and he let her. At least for three seconds. Then he shoved her away, but it was fine. She was feeling better already.   “I´ll try to make it soon.”   “Doesn´t matter, does it?”   She hopped of the edge and let herself fall for a bit before she powered up. It did matter. It mattered for Videl. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)