Day Two: Early Morning

[Paragus]

Para’s stay on the island had been a peaceful one. Until Kirano that is. Para was feeling good when he encountered the blonde haired warrior, too good. When he pulled that pistol from his side pocket fear crept up Para’s neck. That was the first time throughout the game that the saiyan warrior was afraid. The barrel of the gun stared back into the one-eyed elite. His voice still echoed in the elders mind. The image was as clear as a picture in his head.

He was one bad move away from being the next name on Karl Jaks list. The lead casing of death exploded from the hand held weapon. Death would surely follow, but he happened to get lucky.

The jungle around the saiyan became a blurry image. Para’s eye was trying to close against his will. He clenched his hand over his bloody abdomen. His gloves were quickly stained by the crimson river that dripped from the two small holes in his stomach. It had been a long time since the saiyan was shot and the intense pain brought the memories right back. Kirano was Para’s first real encounter with someone who could fight back. The two pieces of ammunition imbedded within his insides was his first real injury of the game.

“This is nothing. You should have been on Planet Vegeta during the Changeling war. Now that was something.” Para laughed, trying not to sound too much like an old man.

Talys was doing his best to patch the elderly saiyan up. After applying a path of gauze over the wound Talys walked away and began playing his game boy once more. The young warrior managed to avoid being injured during the scuffle despite being held hostage. The pain was beginning to subside, but that was actually the least of Para’s interests. From the corner of his eye Para could see Uno gripped his shotgun tighter than he ever did. He dropped to his knees on the ground. A blank stare covered his normally emotion filled face.

“Don’t worry man. You should be back to normal In no time.” Talys reassured the saiyan while playing his video game.

“Yeah...right thanks.” the saiyan was a tad bit distracted at the moment.

Uno was visibly shaken by the ordeal that just took place in the forest clearing. Para pushed himself up only for the pain in his abs to come right back. He plopped back down on his uncomfortable rock. He wiped a glob of sweat from his forehead.

He knew that Uno would get over it, anyway he could.

[Android-18]

She stretched her arms, and then her legs. The morning was taking its first breaths, which was in the form of a chilly breeze. The dark night had put a cold touch on the island. The temperature, mixed with the uneasiness of an ominous doom in their immediate future, created a death-like hold on her skin. She felt bumps run along her flesh and she had to hug herself. She didn’t like the feeling, and she didn’t like the thought of dying out here. It was bound to happen, she knew it, Raditzu knew it, and the viewers knew it.

The android grew weary of the idea that cameras may even be in the small cave. What if they saw her undress? She quickly took flight toward the twilight outside. Although it was morning, it was still dark and sleepy in the wild. She could smell the world around her, it was intoxicating. She could stand there for ages, however, that might mean getting a shot to the head from somewhere in the distance. The android ducked behind a rocky obstruction and hopped over a bush that threatened to cause her a nasty tumble.

“Enjoying the view?” her voice broke the silence. Her partner stood with the sniper riffle in one hand, and a foot raised and set on a boulder. He looked so…masculine. He had his armor off, and the moonlight took delight in playing against his well toned body. His long raven hair moved as if made of feathers, drifting beautifully in long locks, she actually found herself frozen in her gaze. He turned his head ever so slightly to look at her, his deep eyes so full of emotion, but never giving away his intents. He was an anomaly, though he scarcely knew it. Eighteen was getting to know Raditzu all over again, and she wished she wasn’t. It hurt for her to wonder if his eyes were always so…strange.

“The view, yes, and scouting for anyone in the dark. It’s all in a good day’s work…or night. Whatever.” He shrugged and turned his eyes to the land once more. The girl trudged up the small slope to him and took in his form once more, now seeing the moonlight trickle through his silken hair and against his rough features. She could make out all the scars that riddled his battle-worn body; she was close enough to see the faintest of smile lines around his mouth. He was a happy person, wasn’t he? She smiled and looked away, letting the world around her consume her gaze for a moment.

“I’m…afraid to die. You know, it’s not easy to admit. We fought together for the first time not long ago,” she paused. “Well, since I lost my memory, anyway. I was scared. I don’t know what will happen. Have I…?” she drifted off.

“Yes, you have. We both have,” he stopped to look at her, leaving off as if there was more. His face looked different, somehow, and his eyes had softness to them.

“What? Tell me.” She gripped his arm lightly as they both stood bathed in the light of the moon.

“It was a few years ago, I’m bad with time. You and I were in a tournament very much like this, but it was an entire planet,” he gestured as he talked, the gun still in his left hand. The android had let go of him, now biting at her nails nervously as he narrated a precious memory that had been stolen from her…

“Run. Now.” He said, those were the last words she would hear. She stared at him wide eyed; she saw the golden power fluctuating around his body. Kami struggled; he did not understand what was happening. The android watched, sudden horror filled her face as her mouth opened wide and as she suddenly realized what the crazy Saiya-Jin was doing, and she was too late. The explosion sent her flying backwards with a force so strong that the wind was knocked out of her. But even as she hit the ground she was back up. The light had been blinding, and dust now filled the area. 18 ran though, she ran toward the newly made crater. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she cried out, though she could not even hear her own voice. She stopped at the crater, and she tried to find him, she hoped to find him. The dust settled, and she fell down on the charred earth. Her fist shot down into the hard soil, cracks latticed from the impact and tears stained the dry earth. She hit it again and again until her fist began to hurt and bleed. Tears covered her cheeks and her glossy eyes shut tightly.

“Eighteen? Eighteen?!” she felt herself being shaken, and her name being called from so very far away. The world reformed around her, and with it came a pounding sensation in her cranium. She was within his arms, staring up at him like a confused child. “Are you ok? You…froze.” He couldn’t think of any other explanation for it. “You stood there for a long time, it didn’t even look like you were breathing.” He stared into her eyes, worry etched his face. The gun had been discarded beside them as he held her in concern

“I…remembered.” She shook her head. “No, not everything.” She answered before he could speak. “I remembered you dying; it was as if I was there again.” He clung to him, and they fell to the dusty ground upon their knees. “I don’t want you to die again, you can’t die again! I won’t let you!” she looked at him fiercely, hot tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Hun, we’re all going to die. Sometimes we come back, and sometimes we don’t. You’d be naive to think that you can stop me from dying, or that I could stop you…the fact is, we’re not immortal. I like to think I am, but I’m not quite there yet.” He jokingly consoled her and stared up at the sky as the android sniffled and nuzzled his bare chest. “This is good, though,” his grip tightened in a loving manner. “You’re starting to remember.”

“I want to remember the good times, too.” She wiped her eyes with a hand, barely moving from the safety of his warm embrace. “There were good times, weren’t there?” she asked, looking upward, and then following his gaze to the morning sky. Night was fleeing, but the stars still blinked at them stubbornly.

“Yes, and in time you’ll remember them. Meanwhile, we’ll make some new good memories.” He and the android fell over and she found herself being rolled about until the world righted itself above her. She found herself giggling in delight. He was so good at turning things around. Then the most astounding thing occurred.

His lips pressed against hers, delicately, yet passionately. The warmth of them was so brilliantly pleasant that she felt herself melting into the ground, although she was as solid as ever. She felt as if every one of her senses was going haywire. The feeling of him close to her was the most amazing feeling ever, his beautiful lips amongst hers, his hands cupping her face, and his legs at each side of her body. Her widened eyes softened, contented, and closed before she finally returned the luscious kiss and let her soft delicate hands rest upon his firm biceps. His deft tongue played upon her lips, and then he kissed her deeply, never missing a beat.

He pulled away, and the girl stared up at him breathlessly. “That was the first time…you kissed me.” She said in barely a whisper.

“I guess in your case, yeah, it was.” He said after a moments thought, it would take some time to remember she had no memory of their past endeavors. “You don’t like?” he pulled further away.

“No, me likey, me likey a lot.” She grabbed him by his hair and forced him downward for a brave kiss against his lips. She pushed him a fraction away, letting her warm breath mingle with his. “I wish we weren’t here, but…”

“But we are,” Raditzu finished for her and rolled onto his back beside her. “That’s all we need, someone to come along and kill us in the throes of…otherwise private matters.” He coughed and then grabbed her hand. “Let’s settle on a sunset, babe.”

Eighteen smiled and let the sky consume her. She wasn’t as afraid of dying; now, he had certainly helped her with that.

[Uno]

“Looks like you need some help, old friend.”

There was no use denying whose voice that was. It was the cruel, sadistic psychopath that was the worse half of Uno’s personality. He was only known as Dos.

“No, I don’t need your help!” the white-haired man yelled. “You…I can manage this myself!”

“Hey now,” the sly voice retorted. “You and I both know that you just can’t handle situations like this. At least, not by yourself. Besides, I haven’t had a chance to stretch my legs in a while. What do you say?”

“Never.” he answered, walking over to a nearby bench. Uno sat down; his right hand continued to hold the shotgun while his left clutched his injured side. “You need to stay where you belong, in my mind.”

“Ha! That’s a laugh! You know damn well why I was made. You couldn’t take the stress, so you just created another you that could. How pitiful.”

“I didn’t ‘create’ you. You came to me.”

“Bullshit!” Dos roared. “You can’t handle the truth! You can’t handle anything that you do alone!”

“That’s not true!”

“Of course it is. You just try to hide the facts. But you can’t hide forever.”

“I’m not hiding.”

“You spout nothing but bullshit! If you aren’t hiding, why don’t you just face your brother like a man?” Uno didn’t answer. “That’s right, because you can’t. You can’t because you’re weak. You’re pathetic.

“Shut up…”

“You’re cowardly.”

“Shut up…”

“You’re even worse than your brother.”

“Shut up!” Uno yelled, snatching his glasses from his face and threw them into a building. The dark shades shattered on impact, crumbling to the ground. The white-haired schizophrenic hunched over, falling to his knees. He covered his face with his free hand, while the other still clutched the weapon. Off the tip of his nose came a single teardrop. “You win…”

Over in the distance, Talys had turned off his game and approached Uno. “Listen Uno,” he began, “after what happened back there, I think you should give me that.” motioning at the shotgun. He bent down to grab it from the frozen man.

Suddenly, he pointed the weapon at Talys. He slowly picked himself back up, slowly forming a sick smile on his face. Talys looked at him with shock, but couldn’t tell if he was the same person. Then the man raised his head to show blood-red eyes. “I’m sorry. Uno? I’m Dos.”