~ CHAPTER 1 - A Shattered World ~
The dark sky poured down sheets of wet gray and a bleached, withered look had strangled itself around the city. Rain fell in heavy determination and the constant drizzle soaked through the shadowed streets of Asa.
A hundred men cloaked in black stood outside the city's gates, with the bulge of guns in their arms. Their grave faces all looked the same, set in lines of unyielding resolve.
"We go forth, for the glory of Deus!" One soldier thrust his fist high into the air and a cry rose up from the mob. They raised their guns and ran forward, scaling over the top of the gates. They climbed like a disease and as soon as their feet touched the ground, the troops spread out and fanned themselves among dark houses and neighborhoods, a contagious epidemic.
Above the drone of rain, screams and fevered footsteps began to echo through the night. The black figures crashed into homes and the residents of Asa City cried out as the glint of automated weapons were pointed at their heads. The sound of gunfire mingled with anguished howls and crimson rivers began to wash out of doorways into Asa's drenched alleys.
Despite the torrential rains that plummeted ruthlessly down from the night sky, the storm was not enough to quench the invader's torches. They set light to dozens of homes and there was no warning as the torches crashed through windows and glass shattered on sleeping children. The fires grew together into a raging monster all around Asa and the entire city quickly became alight in flame.
One man stumbled from his burning home, trying frantically to escape the blaze with a child in his arms. The man's purple hair was matted with blood and he pushed wet lavender bangs from his face as he struggled to carry the limp body against his chest.
"Come on sis, we're gonna make it, just hold on." He hefted his sister's small body up higher and got to his feet. Ignoring the flash of pain in his left calf, he staggered away from the orange light surrounding his whole neighborhood.
The young man carried the girl only a few paces before his left leg gave out and he fell. His broken bone refused to support him any longer and he toppled over onto the child in his arms. He lay with his face to the cool pavement for a moment, and saw blood pooling under her body. He blinked in surprise and slowly raised his head.
The man noticed his sister's blue hair was stained with red and he looked down at the foreign color in alarm.
"Bra," he whispered softly into the 10-year-old's ear. "Bra, wake up, we have to get out of here." He leaned over her, gently shaking her frail shoulders. "Come on Bra, get up." His eyes passed over the bullet hole in her chest and denial clouded his vision. "Why are you doing this to me?" The man's face filled with hurt and he touched his sister's cool cheek tenderly. "Open your eyes Bra. Please sis, please wake up." Tears began to spill down his jaw and grabbing her shirt, he buried his face in her chest. Trunks' shoulders shook with sobs as the truth hit him full force that his baby sister lay dead in the street, surrounded by her own blood.
* * * * *
"Pan! Come here honey, quick!" Gohan gestured for his daughter in the dark, and the scared 9-year-old hurried to her father. Even at her age, she could tell something was wrong from the loud chaos crashing around outside. Videl came up behind Pan and slipped a jacket on over the girl's shoulders. The older woman turned her daughter around and began buttoning up the coat; casting worried glances at her husband as the commotion outside seemed to stop in front of their door.
"Mommy, what is it?" Pan felt her mother's fear and Videl took the girl's hand. She held on tightly to her daughter and moved towards Gohan, who began to make his way to the back of the house.
"We're going to take a little trip Panny. Don't worry, just follow us." Her father led their procession through the dark house and Pan felt her mother squeeze her hand reassuringly.
A sudden bang on the front door echoed through the halls and the heavy sound punched into the Son family's silence.
Her parents froze and Pan looked up at them in surprise.
"Who is it?" She asked timidly.
"Get moving!" Gohan pushed his wife and daughter in front of him and they all began to run.
Angry yells from outside ringed with lurid curses and Videl slowed her stride, covering Pan's ears. The girl shook, realizing people were trying to break into their house.
"Daddy, are they going to get inside?" Pan's lower lip trembled. Gohan stared down at his daughter, a look of sadness on his face. He forced a smile and pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.
"No sweetheart, Daddy will make sure they don't come near you." Gohan rested his hand on Pan's shoulder and Videl's mouth dropped open, realizing what her husband was thinking.
"You promise?" The child's face lit up with relief and adoration and her father nodded.
Videl started shaking her head and Gohan met his wife's eyes in brave determination.
Videl jumped as a ramming started up against the front door and the hinges began to bend in protest to the violent force.
"Go." Gohan whispered.
"No, we'll all make it out together." Videl shook her head again and the banging outside intensified.
"Please Videl, get her out of here." Gohan nodded towards Pan and gave his wife a pleading look. "I'll give you two all the extra time I can."
"No..." She wavered and looked down at their daughter, staring up at both of them with wide eyes and gripping her mother's hand in complete trust.
The front door fell open with a tremendous crash and four shadowed men stomped into the Son living room.
"You have to leave now Videl! Save Pan!" Gohan bunched his fists and faced the oncoming danger.
Videl didn't look back. She held her daughter's hand and ran. The woman heard gunfire a moment later and her heart leapt into her throat as she heard the heavy, unmistakable sound of a body slide to the floor. The world blurred with her tears and Videl slowed. Doubts crowded her mind and she stopped. Footsteps sounded behind them and she knew they wouldn't have enough time to escape, they needed another distraction.
"Pan," Videl whispered.
The little girl beside her stared up at her mother and a new terror came over her small body as she saw a resolute expression set the woman's features.
"Pan, I'm so sorry baby, but I won't be able to stay here with you. I'm going to go help your father take care of these bad men. I want you to run out the back kitchen door. Don't stop and don't look back." Videl bent down and shook her daughter's shoulders. "Do you understand? You have to go alone. And you have to go now." The woman shoved her daughter down the hall and turned back the way they had come.
"But Mommy..." Pan grabbed her mother's orange shirtsleeve as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Go Pan! Now!" Videl pushed Pan away and her sleeve ripped as the child refused to let go. Pan found herself holding onto only a piece of orange fabric and she reached her hand out to her mother's back.
"Mommy..."
Gunfire sounded again, closer this time and Pan's mouth dropped open.
Videl took a step forward. "Run," she whispered and her daughter turned and stumbled away.
Pan got to the kitchen and burst outside. The girl heard a woman's cry come from inside, just once. It was cut short by the muffled sound of bullets and then Pan was running.
She ran and ran, never turning to look, holding the torn sleeve to her chest. Her mother's last words echoed through her head as Pan's world blurred with her tears.
* * * * *
"Where are you woman!?" The older man turned in a circle, with his arm over his mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke. He searched the fiery inferno for his wife, looking for her familiar head of blue hair among the blazing interior of their house. He had watched his son carry Bra out and hoped his children were both safe. The man had stayed back to look for their mother and now whirled around, searching wildly for her.
"Bulma!! Bulma, where are you?!" He called out her name and this time, a female voice answered back, faintly reaching his ears through the roaring fire.
"Vegeta..."
The man rushed towards his fallen wife, who lay trapped in a corner. A cabinet beginning to burn had fallen across her chest.
"Vegeta, I'm stuck. I-I can't get out." Blood covered one side of her face and Bulma looked up at him weakly.
"Hold on, I'll get you out." Vegeta grabbed the underside of the furniture, ignoring its heat, and pulled with all his strength. Bulma lay her head down and he could see her hampered chest laboring to rise and fall. His face grew red from the exertion and the cabinet slowly began to rise in his straining arms.
At the other end of the house, the fire licked its way outside and found a propane tank beside a tool shed. All was quiet for a moment as the curious flames brushed against the cool white metal.
And then the tank exploded.
The resulting fireball shook the Brief house and its walls were blown open. Vegeta was thrown away from his wife a hundred feet into the air and he landed in the paved street, unconscious. Debris from the walls fell around him and burning hunks of plaster dropped down on other buildings, spreading the fire even further.
Trunks turned to watch in horror as his house erupted in a flash of light and he staggered forward in shock. He caught a glimpse of his father as the man's charred shadow sailed through the wet night sky and landed several yards away. Vegeta groaned on impact and the sound carried through the rain, a sign that he was still alive.
Trunks limped towards his father, tears still clinging to his eyes over Bra and new streaks for his mother who was now beyond rescue. He raced over and bending down, began to dig his father out of the wreckage. As Trunks lifted debris, the piercing pain in his leg was surpassed by an agony of loss ripping away at his heart.
All around him, Asa was ablaze and its residents lay in the streets, surrounded by their own blood.
And the rain continued to fall, washing away their red.
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