Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Gama's Blood Crystal ❯ Blizzard's Fall ( Chapter 14 )

Warning: No more warnings as it will be remaining this dark or worse. This is what I was talking about before…

Chapter 14: Blizzard's Fall

Saria sharply inhaled when she felt someone behind her and swiftly turned around. She paled at the sight before her. How…? Before her stood her father. And he looked really pissed off. He growled and suddenly grabbed her throat, dragging her towards him. She winced.

"What the fuck are you doing out of the house!" His grip tightened, causing her to instinctively grab his hand. This seemed to further enrage him and he threw her into the wall of a brick building near them. She gently touched her throat and looked at him. He stormed over to her, ready to hit her when there was a sudden commotion by the stakes. They both looked to see a bunch of people running around and screaming about some witch ambush or something.

Saria took a step forward to get a better look, when her dad suddenly grabbed her arm and drug her back. He snarled in her face, "You're not going anywhere witch."

He roughly pulled her along with him towards his nearby car. She was too scared to struggle. "Where are you taking me?"

He growled and backhanded her, causing her to fall to the ground this time, yelling "Don't you ever fucking backtalk to me! You're nothing but a worthless whore!"

She looked up at him as he advanced towards her, bracing herself for his next hit. All of a sudden there was a huge explosion to her left, causing the buildings around her to come crashing down on everyone below them. She gasped and rolled out of the way of a huge chunk of concrete and quickly climbed to her feet. She dodged another falling piece of building, only to be impaled from behind.

She breathed in heavily, reaching for her chest as blood began to show thru her clothing and pool around the protruding object. She stumbled forward, wincing in pain, and reached out to steady herself. But nothing was there to hold onto. She coughed up blood, looking up at the still falling buildings. A huge piece of building started to fall towards her, rapidly gaining speed. She looked at it, coughing again, and closed her eyes in pain as she fell forward towards the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vejita growled at whoever bumped into him, ready to throw them into a building. Instead, he was surprised to find his son. Who was just as surprised to see him.

"Otousan!" Trunks blinked and suddenly came to his senses. "Sorry, I didn't see you."

"Hmmph. Obviously. Where the hell have you been?"

"Um… Just - " He suddenly cuts himself off and looks to his right, apparently listening to something. He frowns and Vejita looks over in the same direction as him in time to see an older man backhanding a young, blond-haired girl who looked strangely familiar. Vejita hears his son growl at the hit; he himself was pissed at such a display. He draws in a sharp breath when he suddenly realizes who the girl is. And barely sees his son rushing forward to beat the hell out of the bastard.

Out of nowhere, a huge explosion knocks both men forward; both barely able to throw up a ki shield in time as the ground rocked below them. A forceful cracking sound from above causes them to look up. Seeing the quickly falling buildings, Trunks looks over to where Saria had been but is unable to see her thru the raining ruins. People run around him and his father in mass panic, upsetting his senses and losing whatever chance he had of finding Saria. He growls, not even able to just push thru everybody and run over to where he saw her last.

Another explosion knocks into them; tho unexpected, they're still prepared for it. They look around them and realize that most of the buildings are self-destructing, quickly toppling over onto all beneath them. Vejita and Trunks immediately jump out of the way as part of a roof comes crashing dangerously close to them. Trunks looks around again and even calls out her name. There's no response.

"Boy! She has a brain! I doubt she's anywhere near here by now!" Vejita yells at his son.

Trunks looks at him, realizing he's probably right, and takes a last look around the rapidly vacating war zone. There are only a few people left by now, most slowed down by their injuries. No Saria. He sighs and runs after his father towards where he'd been heading when he had first bumped into Vejita ~ Goku and Gohan; who were still on the podium and now protecting the `witches' from the successive blasts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She opened her eyes. She was in almost complete darkness and was lying on cold, hard floor. Even the air around her had a bitter chill to it. Thru a thin slit of light peeping underneath a nearby doorway, she could just make out being in a very small room with absolutely no furnishings whatsoever. Not even a floor; she was lying on packed dirt. And the wooden door itself only had one small window near its top: a sliding, metal grate.

She tried to lift her head to look further around the room and had to bite back a hiss of pain. She definitely hadn't dreamed being impaled. She glanced down at her chest and saw a dirty shirt had been wrapped around her. Most of which her blood had seeped thru. She had no idea who would do that much for her. And then throw her down in this dungeon. She braced herself and slowly rolled onto her stomach, keeping the weight off of her by leaning on her arms. Then she gently sat up, wincing in pain the whole time. Once up, she again looked around her tiny cell, but saw nothing new. She looked towards the door, and tried to stand up, but ended up almost crying out as she collapsed to the floor. She barely managed to land on her arms to prevent further injury right before darkness claimed her.

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It was freezing when she once more regained consciousness; she shivered incessantly against the cold. There was a crowd gathered around her; she could hear them talking. Or rather shouting. The wind almost never stopped blowing, which drowned out much of what was being said. She partially opened her eyes to see what was going on as an even stronger, bitter wind blew against her naked body, roaring as it passed. Naked...? She looked down. …Almost… She still had that dirty shirt wrapped around her chest, but the rest of her clothes had been ripped off, leaving only a jeans-loin-cloth around her waist. Like that covered anything, tho. At least now I can see all of my wounds. And so can everyone else in the whole fucking universe… She would've wrapped her arms around herself for warmth, but her arms were tied. Which was surprising, since she was also on a podium; a meaning that disturbed her.

Someone started shouting at the crowd to calm down so they could get things started. Her back was facing the gathering, making her unable to really see what was going on. Tho she didn't really have to wonder. …moving would be a very good idea right now… Her body was still sore from everything, and the hole in her chest definitely didn't help any.

"People! What we have here is a rarity in itself! A Gamanian Witch in the flesh!" Saria immediately scowled at that …Mother fucking, backstabbing, traitorous, cock sucking, bastard of a father… Now I know who sold me! Saria hissed at the asshole she had the misfortune to call father. The speaker continued on, heedless of her mental rantings. " - by one of our own concerned citizens; a man who has chosen to remain anonymous!" Of course you'd remain anonymous you assfucker… "Now, instead of the random burnings we have brought on many of her disgusting kind so far, we have seen fit to have her served as a warning to all the satanic pagans in this world by hanging her remains on the outskirts of this city! Let it be known that should we find any guilty of witchcraft or satanic practices, a burning shall be their fate!"

Saria could hear the crowd roaring with approval at those words as she was suddenly and roughly forced to her feet. She feigned unconsciousness, knowing that she was to weak to fight right then and could get away later. She was already starting to form a plan. If they were going to burn her, her bonds should come loose easily enough, and the black smoke should be able to cover her long enough to escape into someone's car or something.

Whoever had grabbed her, now dragged her over to the intersection of a large, wooden cross that was lying on the snow-covered ground and dropped her onto it. She managed to bite back any vision of having been hurt as her bonds were cut loose and both her arms brought outwards. Wait a second. Why are they - Alarm rippled thru her and she cracked her eyes open to see what was going on. She suddenly screamed as a nail was hammered thru her hand and then into the cross itself.

This seemed to make the crowd go berserk with excitement; her head was reeling from the sudden pain. Before she could react, someone else had taken her other hand and was pinning it against the other arm of the cross, while someone else grabbed her feet. She barely had time to brace herself before that nail was driven in as well, forcing a ragged breath out of her as a single tear rolled down her cheek. And then both her feet were placed one on top of the other, just as another nail went thru. Her body arced from the pain as she bit back another scream. She could no longer feel the cold thru the haze of pain.

She tried to slow down her breathing and relax; years of being beaten having taught her how best to lessen less than agreeable sensations, despite already having an extremely high tolerance level. More pain assaulted her senses as both her arms and legs were roughly tied to the cross, tensing her up again. The whole time, the crowd was cheering and throwing insults at her. Even the ones tying her up were the same. One was reciting a memorized passage from the bible about how her soul was in the hands of God now, another slipped his hand between her thighs while no one was looking… She growled at them and decided she might as well go with the flow.

"You do realize… that all of you souls will - will be mine when you all finally die and end up in hell." The cold was numbing her and causing her teeth to chatter, while the pain still forced her into heavy breathing.

Only a couple of her captors got unnerved by her remark. The other guy just sneered at her and leaned down, whispering "Actually, your soul will be the one in real trouble, sinner", before all 3 moved away; the others throwing insults and leering at her. None turned their backs until they were a safe distance away.

She leaned all her weight back, unable to think thru the mist in her mind. She couldn't figure out at the moment why they were leaving just now. All of a sudden, the cross she was on was lifted into the air, pulling on the nails in her hands and feet unbearably sharply. She breathed heavily against the onslaught and closed her eyes, again trying to relax her body and ignore the ensuing agony.

Her flesh suddenly started to tear and blood began flowing down her arms. She could feel her bones being pulled apart by her weight as the cross was stood completely vertically. She cried out, and almost started hyperventilating; the bones in her hands felt like they would break soon; the blood on her arms streamed downwards a little ways before falling in a slow, steady drip to the ground below. But the pain was worse on her feet. The nail had gone straight thru the bones and she knew she wouldn't be able to even walk on them now, let alone escape. Putting even the slightest weight on them brought on pain far worse than what her hands were forced to endure.

The crowd, now 10 or 15 feet below her, were starting to throw things at her, but she was too high in the air, so they didn't even reach her feet. She looked down at them, her hair hanging limply around her face; noticing that they looked kinda small from where she was. The wind roared into her, rocking the cross and causing her to gasp at the sudden pain any motion brought.

Something gently landed on her face and she jerked back. Looking up, she saw another snowflake flutter down softly onto her nose. She stared at the sky and knew that a blizzard was not just imminent. It was here. She looked up at the thick, black clouds, the slow flurry of snowflakes floating onto her face causing her to blink. She smiled gently. Her body was beginning to go numb from the intense pain and cold, a welcome relief in it of itself, but it was the blizzard that cheered her. If I were to die from anything, this is better than most…

She looked down again. They were piling wood and debris all around the bottom of the cross. She watched them for a second and suddenly laughed. Softly at first, but she was chuckling in seconds. They don't have enough to build a fire large enough to burn me from this height!The crowd was looking at her like she was crazy. She couldn't figure out whether she should ignore them or laugh louder. She knew she must have looked slightly evil just then when she looked at them thru her haze of pain and mane of hair.That, of course, only made her feel better.

She yelled down to the crowd "Not going to give me `a last chance to repent'?" And then smirked at them.

The speaker from before glared up at her, obviously unnerved by her manner. "Your crimes will not go unpunished heathen!"

Her smirked deepened and she went back to ignoring all below her, looking back up at the sky, and loving the feel of the now steady stream of snowflakes brushing against her face, knowing how much stronger the storm was going to get. Even if they did find enough wood, the storm would simply put it out long before it would reach me. For the second time that day she smiled, and then allowed sleep to overtake her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She really is a Witch! Kill her now!"

"Satanic Bitch! I won't allow you to seduce me away from what I know is right!"

"She is the true incarnation of evil! Will she really die if we even shoot her?"

"Shemust be burned! It's the only sure way!"

She forced her eyes open, wondering what the sudden commotion was. The snow was coming down so thick, she could barely see the people running away from her. Heh. Blizzards are quick…

Someone was shouting for everyone to calm down. "She's still up there! Let her freeze to death people! You get inside your own homes and protect yourselves from what will surely be a fierce storm! Don't worry about the witch! She is almost dead as it is!"

Saria just watched them as they all seemed to calm down marginally and begin to leave in a more calmly manner than before. She closed her eyes, feeling incredibly weak, in a slow blink. When she opened her eyes again, she was surprised to find that almost everyone had left. She suddenly realized that this was her chance and tried to wriggle loose from her bonds. A sharp pain shot thru her entire body, and she drew in just as sharp a breath, her eyes watering. She turned her neck, trying to peer thru her tangle of hair to see what she was up against. She bit her lip, braced herself, and tugged again, a little more gently this time.

Pain was all that greeted her. She stopped moving completely, trying to control her breathing, and looked despondently at her restraints. She looked again, studying the ropes. Then did a double take. Yes! The rope had loosened some. There was still hope! …hope… She mentally shook her head at the thought. …Now I know what to do! …And this will hurt like a bitch…

Saria took in a deep breath, braced herself, and started wriggling again. Pain danced thru her body as her vision began to turn red, and she was forced to stop. She drug in deep, ragged breaths, trying to relax herself again as she looked over at her bonds once more. The ropes had loosened a lot, but it would take a great amount of force in order to take them off completely. …The kind of force it would take to get the nail out of me…

She stared at the hand she had been working on, gritting her teeth at what she was about to do. She relaxed her body completely, then, as she was taking in a deep breath, she suddenly wrenched her hand forward as far as it would go. She cried out as her hand was suddenly stopped by the rope. But the cross was at least an inch away from the back of her hand. Considering it a victory, she instantly put all of her weight on that same hand, pulling with all of her might on it. She suddenly screamed in complete agony as not only did the hand come free, but all the force she'd been putting out suddenly was forced onto her other hand as well as her feet. Without another thought, she threw her freed arm over the jutting limb of the cross and put all of her weight onto that instead.

Relief, so intense it actually did hurt, overwhelmed her and she almost let go. She spent the next few minutes trying to recover, while not letting go. Her energy was practically gone now. She had no idea how she would be able to get her other hand free… The thought caused her to look over at said limb. She brightened weakly. It was almost out. Just one more tug and then it's my feet's turn.Taking in another breath ~ she seemed to be doing that a lot ~ she abruptly forced that hand loose and threw it over the other arm of the cross as quickly as she could.

She suddenly felt herself get very, very faint and fought against it. Looking down, trying to regain some of her energy, she noticed that she could see a small dot of blood on the snow below her. She looked up at her hands and stared as a river of blood flowed down off her arms and down the length of her body. …If the snow doesn't kill me, this loss of blood will…

She quickly snapped out of it and moved her arms into a better position. Before she lost her nerve, she pushed all of her weight on them and used the last of her strength to pull her feet free.

She went completely numb after that. Well, almost… She could feel her arms slipping off of the cross as she slowly fell to the snowy ground beneath her. She closed her eyes and let herself be pulled back into the dark abyss of unconsciousness where she finally couldn't feel anything anymore…

Before completely losing herself, she felt herself land almost dreamily on two small tree branches. …Trees…?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He looked at her as he cradled her carefullyin his arms. She had gone completely limp before he'd even managed to catch her; already he could feel her ki draining away. She would die trying to escape these crazed morons. And if he didn't do something immediately, she would.

Taking his cloak off, he wrapped her in it and held her next to his chest so she could share in his warmth. Then he looked towards the north where most of the others were grouped together and, cradling her in his arms, turned and walked in their direction.

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Translations/Explanations:

Thank you Crecy for your review! Still trying to figure out what you mean by me being serious, tho. (scratches head, then grins) But if you mean about me continuing my story, then rest assured that that won't happen since I already have the gist of the storyline down, I keep coming up with new twists, and I'm making a game on this fanfiction as well. :) And the other reviewers, (Ria and Jean), dancing to your reviews too, but I never did get back to you, so I'll thank you here. :)

Side note: long breaks ahead, so beware.

Otousan ~ Father (more of the proper way of saying it)