Videl

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Chapter One

A lonely girl sat alone. She was in a daze after witnessing the most recent attack on her beloved city. With a sigh of pure desperation, she pulled her knees up to her chest and stared at the sky. Her crystal blue eyes were glazed over, and her small frame trembled. When would it stop? When could she finally have peace?!

She snapped out of her daze when she heard a yell and a large bang in the distance. Every instinct told her to run, and run as fast as she could. But she was intrigued; it sounded nothing like the hiss and boom that came from the monsters who destroyed her city. She stood and walked.

When she reached the city, she was shocked to see a young man floating in the air and picking up random pieces of rubble, as though he were looking for something. Poor fellow, she thought stupidly, he must've dropped his pocket watch. Not that anyone had pocket watches anymore. She rubbed her forehead; her horrible experiences had taught her to be wary of everything and everyone she saw, but this guy seemed different somehow. He had that look about him, like a superhero in disguise. She blinked, shocked that she had thought this; hadn't she been alone with no trust in humanity 20 minutes ago? Still, her gut told her that this guy was alright. She walked underneath him and waved her arms, trying to get his attention. It was too late, though; he was already flying away from the ruins, away from her. Discouraged, she sat in the rubble, putting her head in her hands. She only looked up when she heard a hiss, and a boom. Alarmed, she stood quickly and began to run. She had heard that sound too many times before.

Two human-looking creatures hovered in the air, but the girl was not fooled by their appearance. Their cool blue eyes told her everything she needed to know. "Eighteen!" shouted one, the male. "I think we found a straggler from that city we just destroyed." The girl pumped her arms, running faster and faster. The female humanoid, Eighteen, glared at the male. "Damn it, Seventeen, we've no time for games! Just kill it and get on with it!" Seventeen cracked his knuckles and chuckled. "We've got all the time in the world, sis," he said easily. "I never get to mess with my kills before I actually kill them, and it's not fair." Eighteen gave him a glare, but said, "Fine. Just meet me back here at sunrise, okay?" Seventeen nodded, and Eighteen took to the air.

"Alright!" shouted Seventeen, his expression turning to one of morbid glee, "Let's play." Tears slipped out of the girl's eyes, but still she ran. Seventeen came after her and grabbed her by the hair, lifting her up. She had to force herself not to scream; she refused to die helpless and screaming. But when the android charged a blast right in front of her face, she couldn't help it: she shrieked.

Not so far away, a young man was flying from a city that had just been destroyed by the vicious androids, humanoids who had a nasty knack for destroying everything in their path. He had been greatly saddened by the death of all of the people in the city, and searched desperately for survivors. Alas, there were none. He had flown away as soon as he could, not being able to stand the sight of the corpses. As he flew, he thought up strategies for defeating the androids, knowing in his heart that his efforts would be useless. He was interrupted mid-thought when he heard a panicked shriek coming from the ruined city, a sound that only came from those in danger of losing their lives. Immediately, he flew backwards as fast as he could. When he arrived, he saw the male android dangling a girl in the air by her hair, charging a ki-blast in one hand and kicking her in the stomach with his left foot. The girl was screaming, and tears ran down her face. He almost yelled at the horrible sight, but he restrained. "Keep it together, Gohan," he whispered to himself, "Facing Seventeen head-on will only result in her death."

Suddenly, Android Seventeen threw the girl high in the air and fired his ki-blast. Seeing no other option, Gohan flew at the girl, caught her, and dodged the ki-blast easily. He normally would have deflected it, but he wanted the Android to think that the girl had been disintegrated in the blast. Being careful to stay out of sight, he flew off, hidden by the clouds. Gohan glanced at the unconscious girl, and saw that she was about his age, and very pretty. He blushed and shook his head to clear it, then assessed her injuries. "Hm," he mumbled to no one in particular. "Nothin' Bulma can't treat." With that, he flew off to the west.

Gohan arrived in the conveniently named West City and landed in front of the Capsule Corporation building. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his free elbow and proceeded to kick on the door, seeing that he had no available hands. A young boy with purple hair opened the door. "Gohan!" the boy exclaimed, not noticing the girl in Gohan's arms at first. "Hey, Trunks," Gohan said quickly, "Where's your mom?" Trunks, finally noticing the injured girl, dragged Gohan inside. A woman sat at the table, drinking from a mug that smelled like very strong black coffee.

"Mom!" yelled young Trunks, running into the room. "Gohan's here, and he brought a dead girl!" The woman looked up, startled. Her hair was blue, and her eyes were tired and weary. "Dead girl?!" she exclaimed. Gohan walked in and placed the girl gently on a bench, saying, "Not dead, not yet. But close. Can you fix her, Bulma?" The woman - Bulma - stood and examined the girl's body. After a few tense moments, she nodded. Trunks ran to the side and brought back a first-aid kit, even though Bulma had said nothing. As she worked, Gohan stood to the side. He felt entirely useless, but he knew he had done his part by saving her. After about ten minutes (which felt like forever to Gohan), the girl stirred and began to wake up.

When she woke up, the girl felt like the whole world was spinning. The first thing she saw was a handsome male face in front of her. She blinked and mumbled, "I had no idea that the angels who collected the dead were so gorgeous." Immediately, the boy turned red as a young male voice burst out laughing in the distance. Another boy, this one younger with lilac-colored hair, popped in front of her. "You're not dead, smart one," he roared, and laughed again. The girl slowly realized that he was the one who had laughed before. Now it was her turn to turn red.

The boy she had called gorgeous looked over her, concerned. "Are you in pain?" he asked cautiously. Strangely, she felt nothing but a deep throbbing in her chest, and she told him so. He nodded. "Who are you?" he asked her curiously, and she sighed inwardly. She made a half-hearted effort to sit up, and failed miserably, all of the pain from the attack surfacing now. Seeing her plight, the kind (and gorgeous) boy helped her up and leaned her against the wall. "My name is Videl," she said, blinking back tears of pain. "Videl Satan." She noticed for the first time that a pretty blue-haired lady was in the room with them as well. The lilac-haired boy sat in front of Videl and said, "My name's Trunks, and this is Gohan" - he pointed at the other boy - "And that lady over there is my mom. Her name is Bulma, and she's a freaking genius." He looked over at his mom, giving her an admiring glance. "Anyway," he continued, "Gohan here rescued you from the evil android thing, and you almost died. But he got you here just in time, and Mom was able to fix you! Isn't that cool? Oh yeah, and you might experience nausea, vomiting, bad headaches, and a really really slow comprehension of things around you for a while. But don't worry, I'll keep you safe!" He said all of this very fast. Overwhelmed, Videl rubbed her head, and Gohan took this as a sign that she was tired. He scooped her up and took her to a bed in another room, not uttering a word of explanation to Trunks. "Sorry about that," he whispered. His breath smelled like mint. "Trunks is a little..."

"Energetic?" she whispered. Gohan smiled and tucked her in under the covers. "Exactly. Now, get some rest. You're gonna need it. Tomorrow you can tell me your story... Videl." It was the first time he had said her name, and he said it beautifully. He finally exited the room, closing the door behind him. Videl immediately fell asleep.

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Thanks for reading! Next time I'll be sure to add POV separation, so you know who's talking. :D

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