Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 35 - Homeward Bound

Natalie awoke to the sound of muffled crying. Opening her eyes and blinking the fuzziness out of them, she sat up on her elbows and looked to the left of her. There was Ceres, her face in her hands, her legs dangling off the side of the bed. Natalie sat up as well, shifting positions. Ceres obviously noticed, and spoke with bitterness.

"Leave me alone, princess."

"Ceres what did I do?" Natalie asked, recoiling slightly once more, as if she were burned. "Please just tell me, I want to make it up."

"There is nothing you can do for me." She said. "You wouldn't know the feelings I endure."

"Why do you say that!" Natalie asked, somewhat annoyed at the comment.

"Tell me you've led a hard life, Carina." She said, and turned to Natalie, her face red and tear stained. "Tell me."

"Ceres it hasn't been the worst life, but it hasn't been the easiest either." Natalie said, her face deep with concern. "Just because I am who I am, does not mean, under any circumstances, that I have no worries."

"Oh stop pitying yourself, Carina, you don't know what a hard life is." Ceres retorted. Natalie felt the stab of pain in her chest, not only because her words had stung, but because seeing her friends hurting somehow caused her pain as well. It was a deep pain that was affected directly be her mental and emotional state.

"I am not pitying myself." Natalie said firmly. "I am pitying you. Look at yourself. You couldn't have been like this on Vela, so something -"

"Not on Vela, you say?" Ceres countered. "I used to cry like this every night! And it was all because of you!"

"Ceres..."

Ceres clenched her fists angrily and her ki jumped slightly.

"Tell me what has been eating at you for all these years!" Natalie demanded. "If it is so painful, why not tell me and I'll try to help you!"

"You can't help me." Ceres said. "I told you once, and I say it again."

"Ceres stop being stubborn. Talk about self-pity!" Natalie sharply retaliated.

Ceres looked at Natalie in such a disgusted, degrading fashion that the Saiya-jin girl actually drew back about half a foot.

"You know what you are, Carina?" Ceres began. "You are a slut, that's what you are."

Natalie's heart jumped and her jaw opened slightly as she inhaled shakily. That wasn't true.

"Of course it's true." Ceres said as if she had just read Natalie's thoughts. "Why do you think Orion was so attracted to you? Was it because of your personality? No, I think not."

"Ceres!" Natalie cried, angered for the first time so far. She had few sensitive areas, but when they were struck, she went mad.

"You know it is." Ceres continued. "You just don't want to admit it. You want to convince yourself that it didn't happen!"

"Stop!" Natalie shouted irrationally, her anger growing with every breath. Whatever force was keeping her from attacking the girl in front of her would have to remain, or else chaos would ensue.

"Look at how angry you are." Ceres mocked. "Why else would you be so defensive? Because you don't want anybody to know about it. And not only Orion. But him too." She said, and pointed to the sleeping Trunks.

"Trunks is my mate!" Natalie cried, her voice erratic and pitched. "I love him."

"But does he love you? Look at him. He's a Saiya-jin, and he has every female on this planet at his fingertips. Why do you think that you're the 'chosen one'? Maybe he's just using you?" Ceres said venomously. "I think that now he has gotten what he wants, he's going to move on."

"He does love me!" Natalie said. She looked down at her hand for her ring, but it wasn't there. She cried out in exasperation and pulled the covers back, searching for the glimmer of light. Not able to find anything, she overturned her pillows in a frenzy, nearly throwing the sleeping Reena off of the bed in the process.

"Sounds like an omen to me, you know." Ceres said. "Maybe it's trying to tell you something."

"I...I just had it." Natalie whispered, looking down at her hand in shock.

"Maybe he took it." Ceres continued to berate Natalie. "Maybe he's going to save it for the next one."

Natalie knew that Ceres had gone too far. This time, she wasn't going to take the insults. Ceres was wrong and she knew it. Trunks would never betray her.

"Yes he would." Ceres replied to her thoughts. "He already has."

Natalie's eyes widened and Ceres, her face twisting into an evil smile, spoke again.

"With me."

Natalie, unable to control her anger, drew her fist back and hurled her entire body toward Ceres, intending on knocking her to the ground, senseless. Instead, she flew right through the girl, landing on the floor with a thud. This caused Trunks to be jolted from his sleep, and he say up, groggily.

"What was that noise?" he asked, not noticing Natalie on the floor.

"Oh it was nothing, Trunks-kun. Go back to sleep." She said. Trunks smiled at the blonde-haired girl and turned over, falling asleep again.

Natalie forced herself up, supporting herself with her hands and knees. Just then, she saw it. The glimmer of light that came from her ring. Except, it was on Ceres' finger!

"I'll kill you!" Natalie screamed.

Ceres pounced on Natalie and wrapped her hands around her throat. Natalie choked and tried to breathe, but her airway was collapsing rapidly. Soon she drew in her last breath. Her lungs felt as if they were going to explode, and her face was red as she struggled with the girl.

"Goodbye, princess."

Natalie screamed and opened her eyes. She couldn't see anything. Everything was dark.

"Oh my god!" she cried. "I'm...I'm..."

Suddenly a light flickered and Natalie winced, readjusting her eyes, and looked around.

"Natalie what in hell are you doing?" Trunks asked. "Were you having a nightmare?"

The purple-haired Saiya-jin was also squinting, standing at the light switch with his hand still on the wall. Sirius had also awakened and stood up slowly.

"T-Trunks?" she whispered, making sure that it was real.

"What? Are you okay?" he said, walking toward her. "What just happened?"

Relief washed over her body and she allowed herself to relax, but only slightly. Her dreams usually hinted on things to come.

"I'm fine." She said, not sure of who she was trying to convince, Trunks, or herself.

"You don't look fine." Trunks said. "Your face is flushed and your ki is unsteady. Do you have a fever?"

"No." she said. Trunks, not believing her, walked across the room and placed a hand on her forehead. She drew back instantly. "Your hand is like ice."

"No, your forehead is burning up. Natalie you're sick." He said.

"I am not." She said. "I just need to relax, I had a terrible dream."

"Oh no, just what we need." Trunks said disappointingly. He also knew that Natalie's dreams usually had some significance regarding the future, the past, or even the present.

"Just go back to bed Trunks. You too Sirius." She said, looking up at her older brother. The black-haired hybrid, standing with his arms folded, shook his head at her.

"I think you should listen to him." He said, referring to Trunks.

Natalie frowned. Kami, these two were stubborn.

"Now that you have awakened the entire floor, maybe we should let you see kaasan." Trunks said. "She will be able to tell for sure."

"What time is it?" Natalie asked, looking around for a clock.

"It's 2:17." Trunks replied, glancing at the alarm clock on the table next to his bed.

"We can worry about that in the morning." She said. "Nobody, especially your parents, wants to bother in the middle of the night."

"Natalie..." Trunks began.

"Trunks just trust me on this one." She said firmly. "Both of you go back to sleep."

Trunks hesitated, but finally returned to his makeshift bed on the floor. Sirius sat down on the edge of the bed and started to lie down.

"I'm sorry I woke you guys up." She said. "I'm surprised the others slept through it."

"Yeah, well you know Goten. He's a heavy sleeper. And I just assume the same with Reena and Ceres." Trunks said. Sirius looked at the light switch and flipped it off telekinetically.

Natalie was lying on her back, staring into the darkness. She was trying to decipher her dream. She had allowed herself to attack one of her friends, with the intent of killing. And then she was killed instead. Did it really mean something or was her paranoia getting the best of her? And where did Orion come into this? Was Ceres...jealous?

The next morning, Natalie woke up suddenly. She immediately pinched her arm to make sure she was in reality. The painful sensation that followed assured her that she was indeed awake. Her next reaction was to turn to Trunks. He was awake, sitting on the ground next to her side of the bed, leaning against the table that was next to her head.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"Not really." She replied. "I tossed and turned."

"You're still flushed." He said. "So you're sick."

Natalie placed a hand on her forehead. It was hot, and covered with tiny beads of perspiration. Her brown hair was matted to her head. She knew that she wasn't well, but she didn't want to be a nuisance.

"I think once I eat I'll feel better." She said. Trunks shook his head.

"No way, Nat." he replied. "As soon as kaasan wakes up, I'm having her come in and look at you."

Natalie groaned and fell back onto the bed, frowning and looking at the ceiling. She couldn't be that bad. She had never had anything worse than the common cold! Then again, she didn't remember about 80 percent of her life. But Saiya-jins didn't catch Earth diseases. If they did it was extremely rare. So, Natalie concluded that it had to have happened when she was in possession of Hermes, or yesterday, from one of the other Sidra-jins.

"What are you thinking about?" Trunks asked, looking at her distant expression. Natalie snapped back to reality and shook her head a few times.

"Oh I'm sorry." She said. "I was just wondering where I could have caught the virus."

Just then, Sirius opened his eyes. He had been lying on his stomach, his head facing Natalie's bed. After blinking a few times, he sat up.

"Is everyone else asleep?" he asked. Natalie looked at the other three and nodded.

"Don't tell them about last night." She said to the two Saiya-jins. "I don't really want to explain it."

"Why not? Did it have to do with one of them?" Sirius inquired. Natalie swore that Sirius was reading her mind, but she knew that he couldn't even if he wanted to. Natalie's delayed reaction only confirmed his suspicions.

"I really don't want to talk about it." She said. "I don't even want to think about it."

"That's fine." Sirius said. He started thinking about which of the three it could be. Something told him that it was the blonde-haired girl who was sleeping on her side with her back facing them. He just got the feeling...that it was Ceres.

About an hour later, when everyone had woken up, Trunks had gotten his mother to come in and look at Natalie. Everyone had showered with the exception of Natalie herself, because Trunks insisted she stay in bed until Bulma made a diagnosis.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure what this is." Bulma said. "It has some symptoms of influenza, some of a respiratory tract infection, and some of mononucleosis."

"Ah kuso!" Natalie whined, slumping back into her bed. "I can't believe I get sick when we're on vacation."

"We were going to head home today anyway, Nat-chan." Bulma said. "I have already started packing. However, we have one problem."

"What's that?" she asked.

"Transportation." Bulma replied. "My tousan brought us here in the capsule jet, but he and kaasan are still gone because we had originally planned to stay for a week and I have no way of getting in touch with him."

"That's simple Bulma." Natalie said. "Just have Kakarotto teleport us."

"There are too many people." Trunks said. "And you're sick, so you're not going to try to teleport."

Natalie grumbled. "Well why not have him find Dr. Briefs' ki and teleport to him?"

"It's worth a shot." Bulma said, heading for the door. "Natalie you stay in bed. You can get up to take a shower, but that's all."

Natalie mumbled something under her breath as Bulma walked out. Everyone then directed his or her attention to the brown haired Sidra-jin.

"What are you all looking at?" she whined. "I'm perfectly fine. In fact, a shower sounds really good right now."

"Are you sure you know how to use it?" Reena teased. Natalie laughed half-heartedly with sarcasm apparent in her voice.

Trunks, Goten, and Sirius all looked at her.

"Oh, you guys...Reena didn't know how to use the shower yesterday." Natalie laughed.

"She used one on the capsule pod on the way to Vela." Trunks said. "They all did."

"Trunks our memories are foggy." Reena said. "I can't remember everything that happened...not even half."

Natalie just shrugged and reached for a towel. "You guys just have a nice discussion, and I'll be back in ten minutes." She said, walking into the bathroom and closing the door.

"I think..." Sirius said. "That she has a virus from Vela-sei."

"Really?" Trunks asked. "It isn't serious, is it? It can't be, she's still walking."

"Well I'm not sure which one it is." Sirius said. He looked over at Ceres. "What do you think?"

She just shrugged her shoulders. "It sounds like an average virus, nothing to be worried about."

"I hope so." Trunks replied. "But the problem is we don't have vaccines for it. Being from another planet and all, it's not exactly something we can just cure."

"We're not even sure. We can figure it out when we get back to...what was that place called again?"

"Capsule Corp." Goten answered. "And I think you three are going to be living there for a while."

"Oh no we can make our own place." Reena said. "We don't want to intrude."

"Reena, it isn't intruding." Trunks said. "We have plenty of spare rooms on the lower level, and an extra on the upper level. There's training areas, a lab, a semi-hospital, and a plethora of food."

The Sidra-jins all looked at the purple haired boy.

"Well if you're sure about it, and we have nowhere else to go." Reena began.

"Don't worry about it. Hell Goten you can stay too, I don't care. The place is big enough." Trunks said.

A few minutes later, Natalie emerged from the bathroom, this time fully clothed. Her wet hair fell messily past her shoulders and she had a few beads of water on the back of her neck.

"That water was hot!" she said. "I had to turn halfway it to the blue "C" before it finally cooled down."

"Or, maybe you were hot and the water felt even warmer. You're still sick, and Bulma said that you were to remain in bed." Sirius said.

Natalie tried not to roll her eyes. After all, she had only known her brother for a few days. He was just overprotective of her, like a father figure almost. She looked over at Ceres and recalled her nightmare. Ceres couldn't really feel that bitter toward her...it wasn't possible. Natalie shook the thought from her mind and brushed by Goten and Reena on her way to the closet, where she threw her towels in the basket in the corner. She swayed very slightly and placed her hand on the wall for support. She was tired. The nightmare had probably been the cause for her fatigue. But she hated to sleep during the day, because she always felt like she wasted her time when she woke up. She started to pack her things into her bag. She looked at the "Capsule Corporation" insignia on the side facing her, and smiled slightly. What a weird year. More specifically, a weird week. She sighed and looked at the wall of the closet, thinking back on things that had happened within the past two years she had been on Earth. It was funny, because before she had encountered Orion the first time, she had always felt that Earth was the place for her and there was no question of her heritage. But Natalie recalled that she didn't have any memories before the age of 14. The whole idea seemed to contradict itself. But now she knew better, because of her experiences. This really must be fate, she thought, because it wasn't just chance that running into Trunks changed her destiny forever. And the concept of worrying about Ceres seemed ridiculous, if she looked at it logically. But Natalie, as others also knew, was not always logical.

Later, Natalie, Trunks, and Goten had all but finished packing a few choice items into their bags. Reena, Ceres, and Sirius, having nothing at all, were just standing by, wearing borrowed clothes, and helping when it was needed.

Bulma had come in several times to check up on Natalie, and every time she lectured the girl about being up. Natalie got defensive and said that she wasn't too sick to pack her things, no matter what kind of bug she had. Bulma would eventually give up and leave to tend to her own business. Natalie commented, saying that she appreciated the concern from Trunks' mother, but she didn't want to be treated like a little kid. She subtly directed that comment in the direction of Sirius as well, hoping that he would take the hint.

Goku had successfully contacted Dr. Briefs, who was now on his way to the island to pick up the group of Saiya-jins, Sidra-jins, and humans. The only part Natalie wasn't looking forward to was explaining her Sidra-jin allies. She didn't want to refer to them as guardians, because there was no longer a monarchy, and she considered them her equals, and her friends.

"Nat I'll carry your bag." Trunks offered, seeing her struggle to keep the strap over her shoulder. They were all walking out to the capsule car to head toward the airport.

"No I have it Trunks." She replied. "Thanks anyway. Why don't you help your mom, or Videl? They both have more than one bag to carry."

Trunks shrugged and walked over, taking both of Videl's bags. She let out a sigh of relief and thanked him.

"It's a shame we didn't get to stay longer." Chi-Chi said. "I really enjoyed the tropical weather."

"We can come back maybe later this summer." Bulma said. Vegeta was also walking beside her, when he finally caught sight of something he hadn't noticed before.

"Come here boy." Vegeta said in a gruff, curt voice, obviously talking to his son. Trunks slowed down and walked over to his father, who was carrying a Capsule Corp. bag under his arm.

"Yeah?" Trunks asked. "What is it?"

"Turn around." He ordered. Trunks shrugged and turned around in a circle. He didn't know what his dad was up to, but it didn't seem to bother him, so he complied.

"When did you get this!" Vegeta demanded, grabbing Trunks' tail in his hand. Trunks yelped and jumped away, nearly dropping one of Videl's bags.

"Dad that hurts!" Trunks said, a bit irritated. "We all have them. All the Saiya-jins that is."

"Since when?" Vegeta asked.

"Since we fought that Hermes guy, dad." Trunks replied. He had forgotten about the tail this morning, and hadn't thought about explaining it to his parents prior to now.

"What, Goten do you have one too?" Gohan asked, looking over at his younger brother. Goten responded by waving it around a few times before letting it drop again.

"I see the girl still has hers." Vegeta commented.

"Why, Vegeta, are you jealous because you don't have one?" she mocked. Vegeta gritted his teeth and swore at her in his mind, which Sirius picked up on instantaneously, but didn't bother mentioning.

"Wait a minute." Gohan interrupted. Vegeta and Natalie turned their heads to look at him.

"What is it, Gohan?" she asked. She didn't know Gohan much at all, she was only acquainted, and she knew a few things about him.

"We will probably have to remove them anyway, because we don't want to risk...you know. The oozaru stage." Gohan answered. Goku and Vegeta looked at Gohan. They both had first hand experience, as did Gohan, with the oozaru stage, and the sheer destructive power it yielded.

"The kid has a point." Vegeta said.

"We can just have Bulma remove them." Goku said insightfully.

"Aww I like mine." Goten whined, bringing it up to his waist and wrapping it around once.

"What about Sirius?" Natalie asked. "He has one too."

Vegeta, not having aforementioned knowledge on Sirius, stopped in his tracks and looked at the hybrid. Sure enough, there was a brown, Saiya-jin tail sprouting from his backside.

"How did that brat get one??" Vegeta demanded, and looked at Natalie. "You know something about it, now tell."

"Chill out, Vegeta." Natalie said, and grabbed Sirius' arm, stopping him and pulling him over. "He's half Saiya-jin actually."

Sirius looked at the prince of Saiya-jin who stood about ten feet away from him. He had an angry, aggravated look on his face, obviously mad that nobody had told him about the new Saiya-jin.

"I thought he was Sidra-jin." Vegeta growled. "One of his parents must have been Saiya-jin then. Well who was it?"

"My father is the Saiya-jin." Natalie answered. "Sirius is my brother."

Vegeta's face twitched.

"Your brother, is he?" he asked, studying Sirius. "You look a lot like your father."

Sirius' gaze was steady and uninterrupted.

"Don't look at me like that." Vegeta snapped. "Your father is still a weakling compared to me. He was only an elite warrior, while I am one of the rare super elite Saiya-jins."

Natalie's face twisted into a scowl.

"If you're going to be insulting, then you can walk by yourself." She said, and hoisted her bag onto her hip before walking off, her tail thrashing wildly behind her. Sirius finally broke his stare and walked away as well, leaving Vegeta standing alone. The Saiya-jin let out a "hmph" and shrugged, acting indignant and unconcerned with the events.

They eventually reached the aircar and loaded their bags into the trunk, and then piled in. If they thought things were bad before, they were worse now. Now they had three more people to fit in. This meant that everyone resorted to doubling up. All of the women sat in the laps of their male counterparts, with Ceres sitting in an irritated Sirius' lap, and the two girls sat in the laps of Natalie and Reena in the backseat. It took ten minutes to reach the airport, where Dr. Briefs was already waiting with the jet.

Everyone squeezed out of the capsule car and grabbed their respective bags before boarding. Bulma was the last off, and encapsulated the aircar.

"Welcome aboard everyone." Dr. Briefs said, standing in the door of the airplane. They all walked onto the jet, one by one, and threw their bags into the overhead bin.

"You know, this is just a standard jet." Natalie explained to Reena. "Maybe a bit better than commercial jumbo jets. So it's still going to take about seven hours to get back to Japan."

"Seven hours!" Reena cried. "What are we going to do until then?"

"It was longer coming here because there was a storm. Usually, you do nothing. Try to get some sleep." Natalie said. "Or we can always go have a food fight again."

Reena decided not to ask about that one and sat down next to Natalie, next to the window. Natalie sat in the seat next to the aisle. This time, Goten and Trunks were sitting across the aisle from her. Pan and Bra sat near the back with their parents.

"Hey Trunks where's the cake?" Natalie whispered, smirking slightly. Trunks laughed and pointed toward the cabin, where they were sure Mrs. Briefs would emerge sometime soon. Natalie sat back in her seat, resting her head against the cushioned back. Sirius and Ceres were sitting in the row behind her, and she could hear them talking quietly, but she couldn't really make out the words. In fact, everything sounded distant to her. As she took in a deep breath, her stomach knotted slightly. She blamed it on her "mystery virus", figuring that it was probably something stupid like the Vela-sei flu. As her thoughts slowly drifted from her mind, Natalie fell into a deep sleep.