Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 41 - Disclosure of the Sidra-jin

Trunks opened his eyes lazily and looked at the fuzzy world around him. Immediately, he sensed warmth coming from the left side of his body, and instinctively looked down. There she was, huddled into a little heap, leaning against him. Her face was stained with dried tears and her cheeks remained slightly flushed. Her chest rose and fell at a slow, steady rate, and it was confirmed that she was indeed sleeping. Her tail was wrapped around her waist one and a half times, falling onto the floor where the tip lay still next to her.

At his angle, he couldn't see the digital clock on her nightstand, but he assumed that it was sometime around six in the evening. His body was out of sync with the time of day after going across the globe, and then traveling back in time. It would only take a few days to get back in line. Natalie sighed in her sleep and the end of her tail twitched slightly as she stirred.

He slowly stood, picking up the sleeping body of Natalie and holding her in his arms as he watched her. She didn't wake. As he listened to the steady rhythm of her breathing, he realized that even if the child was not his, Natalie was still his mate, and he could not give up on her.

Just then, the door opened slowly and Sirius stepped in, followed by Ceres.

"Is she okay?" Sirius asked, studying his sister as she slept.

"I'm assuming you know already." Trunks said, looking at Sirius with a hardened expression cut into his face. Sirius' lack of response was the confirmation, that yes, he did know. Ceres looked up at him and then at Trunks, and then Sirius again, obviously confused and unaware of the situation. "Well," Trunks said, "she needs to rest, she's exhausted."

"Are you staying or going?" Sirius asked, almost in a challenging tone.

"I'm staying." Trunks answered, knowing that it was the answer Sirius didn't expect. He looked at the hybrid and knew, even without telepathic abilities of his own, that Sirius was on the watch, waiting for the first slip up on his part. Trunks knew that he would not let it happen. Sirius' gaze lingered for a few more seconds before he departed, followed by Ceres, who stole a last glance before walking out.

"Alright, Sirius," Ceres began, "what's going on?"

Sirius sighed and walked to the stairs, stopping before he stepped down on the first one. "Carina...she-"

"Is she pregnant?" Ceres asked. Sirius looked at her consentingly and nodded quickly. Ceres paused and looked back at the door to Natalie's room. "It's Orion, isn't it..."

"Yes." Sirius replied. He knew all about Ceres' affection towards Orion, but didn't dare mention it. Though he could not read her mind directly, he still had the uncanny ability to pick up on subtle hints and piece them together to form strong evidence, which ultimately lead to conclusions on his part.

"I thought so." Ceres muttered. "How far along?"

"I didn't pick up on it." He said. "And I'm not in range to read the thoughts of the human woman."

"She probably has a few months to go." She commented.

"Perhaps, we'll find out in due course." Sirius said. Yet another characteristic of the Sidra-jin race was unearthed. The shorter term of pregnancies. Most lasted between 4 and 5 months, but there was always the possibility of a premature birth, however, not one to be desired.

There was a long pause, an awkward silence, between them, and finally they both spoke at the same time.

"Do you-"

"I think I'm-"

The both realized what they did, and again, tried to correct themselves by speaking at the same time.

"I'm sorry." They both spoke simultaneously. Ceres held up her hand as she spoke, signaling Sirius to remain silent.

"I'm going to the lab, to talk to the human." She said.

"Alright." Sirius said. "And I'm going downstairs to my room, probably to get a shower."

There was another pause, and Ceres broke the silence.

"Well, I'll see you later." She said rather hurriedly, and walked downstairs.

"Yeah." Sirius added, though he knew that she was out of earshot.

Ceres took quiet steps down the main corridor of the medical wing in search of the blue haired woman called Bulma. On her way, she bumped into the little girl known as "Bra" to the others.

"Hiya." Bra said cutely, walking up to Ceres and standing, her chin raised to meet the gaze of the Sidra-jin girl. They studied each other curiously. "What's your name?"

"Ceres." She replied. She didn't return the question, because she already knew the answer. However, Bra took the initiative anyway and offered it.

"Well, I'm Bra." The little girl commented. "Are you looking for my kaasan?"

"Oh...yes. Your mother, she is Bulma, isn't she?"

"Yup. That's my kaasan." Bra replied. She cocked her head slightly. "Didja know that Nat-san is gonna be a kaasan too?"

"Yes..." Ceres replied.

"And that means Trunks is gonna be a tousan." Bra observed, placing her finger on her bottom lip as she made connections. "And I get to see the baby."

"Bra, that baby does not belong to Trunks." Ceres said.

"What do you mean?" Bra asked quizzically.

"I mean, Trunks is not the father. Somebody else is."

"B...but..." Bra stammered. "I thought..."

"Trunks...he will raise the baby as his own, but it is not truly his."

"Then...who's is it?" Bra questioned.

Ceres paused. "Do you happen to know who...Orion is?"

Bra made a face to show her disapproval. "Yeah...he's that mean guy that tousan and niisan fought."

"Well, that's who the baby belongs to."

Bra produced a horrified look on her face. "What? But why would Natalie have a baby that belongs to a mean guy??"

"You can ask her that." Ceres said. "I need to find your mother."

Bra pointed her index finger down the hallway. "She's at the end."

"Thanks." Ceres said, and then walked away. Bra, still shocked by the recent news, walked back to the living quarters silently.

Inside one of the labs, Bulma was studiously working with a microscope and a tray of samples, Ceres guessed, of organic nature. Her entrance was muffled and quiet, and she was not surprised when Bulma's eye held fast over the lens of the specimen.

"Good evening Ceres." Bulma said, not looking away from her work. Somewhat taken by surprise, Ceres replied.

"H-hi." She muttered nervously.

"What bring you here?" Bulma asked, standing up and pushing loose strands of hair out of her face as she smiled. The lines around her tired eyes became apparent, and her true age shone through.

"Nothing better to do." Ceres replied. "And places like this feel the most comfortable."

"I couldn't agree more." Bulma replied, pulling her lab coat off and tossing it aside. "Are you good with machinery?"

"Foreign and domestic." Ceres answered coolly. "Why?"

"If you have time...one of the helper droids needs repairing." Bulma explained. "I just don't have the energy to do it tonight. I'm about to keel over from fatigue."

"Then you should rest." Ceres said. "I can figure it out."

Bulma smiled warmly. "Alright, the spare parts, should you need them, are in the far cabinet, the tools are over there, and -"

"Don't worry." Ceres interrupted. "I'll be fine."

Bulma nodded and walked out of the room, pulling out her ponytail and running her hands through her hair briskly.

Hours passed, and, more or less, the entire house was sleeping after the long day. Ceres remained in the lab, diligently working, with no background noise except the clanking of tools, the buzz of electricity every so often, and her own breathing. She had grown accustomed to the feeling. She closed the main panel on the torso of the droid and flipped a switch, causing it to hum to life. She smiled slightly and rubbed her hand over the surface of it. However, just as she placed her hand back on the table, there was a slightly spark and it went dead. Frowning, Ceres opened the main panel. One of the wires was lose, and there had been a short.

She turned back to the counter and opened several drawers, looking feverishly for the correct tools. She swung open the third drawer, not seeing the tool she desired, and began to shut it again when something caught her eye. Pausing, she opened the drawer again. In the back was a small piece of plastic and metal. Curiously, she reached inside and pulled it out. As soon as she recognized it, she gasped.

"What...the..." she whispered, running her fingers over the object. It was the same symbol that she had worn on her own Sidra-jin armor. However, it was slightly different, and contained some kind of encoding. She knew who it belonged to, and held it in her shaky hands, staring.

"Ceres?"

The blonde-haired girl shrieked and almost jumped out of her skin when a voice pierced the silence. When she regained her shocked composure, she turned to see Sirius standing in the doorway with one eyebrow raised. She didn't know if it was from concern or disdain.

"What..." she replied flatly, somewhat irritated at being disturbed.

"It's late..." he explained.

"I know that."

"You're working by yourself..."

"I know that."

"You look tired."

"I know that."

Sirius had, by now, given up on coming across as being concerned, and covered himself.

"Well, the light is keeping me awake." He lied. "And I want to get some rest."

"So close the door." She shot back.

"Your ki doesn't help." He added.

"Sirius, it's never bothered you before." She said. "Why did you really come here?"

Sirius cursed himself. So she wasn't as gullible as he had hoped.

"Uh...well because I was bored." He answered. It was only a partial lie. "And I couldn't sleep. So, I knew that you were awake, and decided to talk."

"About what?" she asked accusingly.

"Nothing, really." He replied casually. He sensed her iciness and decided it was time to back down. "If you want to be left alone, just say it, and I'll leave."

Ceres regretted her apprehension and spoke. "No. What I mean is...I wasn't trying to be snappy. I was distracted, and you're right, I am tired."

"That's fine." Sirius said, and walked to the door again.

"No, don't." she said, gesturing with her hand for him to stop. "I hate working in here alone. I just get used to it after a while."

"What were you doing?" Sirius inquired.

"I was trying to fix this droid. The technology is outdated for our standards, which makes it more of a hassle to deal with." She explained, hiding the small object in the palm of her hand. "But it keeps shorting. I need a welder."

"Why not just use your ki?" he asked. Ceres paused and cracked a smile.

"That might work." She admitted, asking herself why she hadn't thought of something so simple beforehand.

"What do you have?" he asked.

"N-nani? What do you mean?" he asked, regrettably realizing that he had probably seen what she had been attempting to hide.

"In your hand. What is it?" he asked. Ceres looked down and held out her palm which contained the small medallion. The very medallion that had been fasted to the breastplate of the armor of Orion himself.

"It's this." She whispered. Sirius studied it and recognized it immediately.

"Where did you get that?" he asked. Ceres pointed to the drawer with the look of a submissive child on her face.

"I wonder why they have it here." He asked rhetorically.

"I don't know." She replied softly. "I found it seconds before you walked in. I want to keep it."

"Ceres..." Sirius sighed.

"I know you think it's stupid." She said. "But...it's just something to remind me of home..."

"Why don't you just use your own armor?" he asked.

"We can't. It disappeared along with us when we were killed. We came back, but it didn't." she replied.

"Heneshin...?"

"Won't work." She explained. "This is all we have left."

"The fact that it belongs to Orion isn't the motive, Ceres?" he asked condemningly.

"No." she replied quickly...too quickly.

"He's dead, Ceres." Sirius said. "You can't-"

"I know he's dead." Ceres retorted. "Everyone thinks that if they drill that into my brain, it will magically cure me."

"I didn't say-"

"But it doesn't." she continued. "In fact, it makes me angrier. Especially coming from her."

"Carina."

"Who else would it be?" Ceres asked. "She doesn't know what it feels like to watch while the one you love is in love with someone else."

"You're not in love, Ceres. Maybe lust, but not love."

"Oh what do you know?" she hissed. "You've never cared for anyone! The only person you have a soft spot for is your sister...yet another example of-"

"I do care for someone." He interjected.

"Oh really?" she asked spitefully, her eyes hinting at tears. "Who is it, your MOM this time?"

"No, Ceres." he answered, looking into her eyes with all the sincerity in the world. "It's you."