“Vegeta, I just….”  I said an hour later, nursing my sickening Latte (or whatever its called) at a local coffee shop and staring at the androgenic Prince who sat across from me.  “I just cant get it out of my head.”

“What’s that?”  he said carelessly, sipping his steaming drink and showing me the least amount of attention he could muster.  

“That………. feeling.”  I shivered at the thought, my mind gripped with the chilling dread that I would feel the tingling, horrific sensation once again at any given moment.  “It was like…….. like feeling a thousand souls all pitted against me.  All the life force of a numberless amount of beings raised up and hurling themselves at me.  I can’t even describe it.  And I certainly can’t understand it.”

He looked at me coldly, apparently returned to his former non-existent personality.

“I think you’re overreacting.”  He said simply, shrugging his shoulders.  “I think you’re spooked over nothing and you ought to leave it alone.   If you cant possibly understand it than maybe it’s best left that way.  Besides,”   he said with a mean smirk.  “It wouldn’t be the first thing you couldn’t comprehend now would it?” 

“That’s not what I mean.”  I answered, mildly hurt.  Of course, I expected nothing less from the Prince of Sarcasm and Uncouth Remarks, but the fact that he was taking this of all things so lightly, brought a great amount of dismay.  How could I reason that I wasn’t crazy for being so frightened by the encounter?  How could I explain to someone so pigheaded that my fear was not so unfounded as he presumed?  Damn him.

“Forget it Kakarot.”  He smiled with a wave of his hand.  “Perhaps speaking about it only adds to the problem.”

“Oh,”  I said rudely, lacing my hands together over the countertop.  “So you’d rather speak about something else.  Hm.  Than perhaps we should address something that’s NOT so easy to forget.  Like last night for instance.”

His face turned hard instantly and I felt the pierce of his eyes against my own even as I looked at him.

“What about it you fool?” 

I wasn’t inhibited by his tone nor his insult. 

“Where should I start?”  I snapped, calming myself instantly before giving way for any amount of temperament.  “I nearly lost my mind last night and find myself crawling out from behind a dumpster.  And you ask me “what about it”?  Are you insane!?”

He chuckled with little humor.

“Vegeta,” I said reasonably.  “you may find this hilarious but I don’t.  Remember, I have a family.  I have responsibilities.  You got me drunk, GOD knows what was in that horrible drink.  You LEFT me in that wretched place!  And……. And…….”

And I simply too embarrassed to bring up the part where he’d basically thrown me against a ceiling and ravaged my mouth.  A kiss.   A kiss?  Was there even a way to call it that?  It was terrible.  It was raunchy and forbidden and disgusting and…….. 

“And the kiss?”  He said with a smirk.  My insides froze and for the first time in a long time, I was utterly and pathetically speechless.  “You WERE going to bring that up now weren’t you?”

I said nothing, paled and appalled at his abrasive tone.  

“Ah, but you’re so easy to read, it’s like a child’s pop-up book.”  He laughed, lacing his hands behind his head nonchalantly. 

I swallowed, searching for some way to bring this all up.  Pardon the overly used analogy, but it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. 

“Nothing to say?”  he grinned.  “Well that’s a change from the norm.  You were just FULL of ideas last night.  Tell me Kakarot,”  he leaned over the table, raising a finely shaped eyebrow.  “have any dreams last night?” 

My jaw hardened and I suddenly hated my situation, wanting nothing more than to be home in my simple house, with my simple wife and my simple everything.  The complexity of my situation was causing a sort of claustrophobia that was mind boggling. 

“You,”  I calmed myself before spitting out foolish insults.  “Vegeta, you drugged me and you kissed me.  Condone your behavior all you like but do not condemn mine.”

He laughed heartily.

“So serious all of a sudden!”  he cracked.  “You’re right Sherlock.  I got you drunk, I slipped you a little something.  I kissed you.   But question me not until you can tell me from the very pits of your soul that last night wasn’t one of the greatest you’ve ever had.  Tell me that and I’ll never bring up your sick little fantasies again.”

I was torn.  Torn because I knew that to say what he wanted would be the ultimate lie.  Last night, I had felt a freedom I’d lost since childhood.  A carefree excitement that mature adults so seldomly experience, they feel as if they’re on the verge of complete insanity when they do.  Indeed, to say that I hadn’t loved damn near every moment of it, would have sent my soul to hell and back. 

“Speechless again I see.”  He exclaimed triumphantly. 

“That’s not the point.”  I growled.  “I don’t understand it all.  Why?  Why would you do that?”

“You’re asking me why I did the things I did and yet you already know the answer.   So very human of you Kakarot.”  He waved the air.  “To know the sort of happiness you experienced, to be free of all thought and all care and all fear.  All that dread and helplessness laid to nothing due to a drink and a pill?  Put a price on that.  Everyone knows and ponders the evil of drugs but give them a taste and ask them again for their mindless reasoning’s.  Put a price, Kakarot.  Tell me the price of freedom.”

Again there was the word freedom and in that moment, I shudder to admit now, I felt a fleeting amount of excitement.  Perhaps you can even say a desire to know the word once more.  To delve into the idea that freedom gives and to sin against all my conscience knew was right. 

“But why the……”  I swallowed, reluctant to finish my sentence.  “Why did you kiss me?”

I looked shamefully around the room, relieved that no one had paid even the slightest attention to our conversation and instead, were buzzing on about their own meaningless little lives.    Vegeta seemed to actually be deep in thought, his forehead crinkled by the strain. 

“Because I could.”  He said in a whisper.  “Because you wanted me to.”

My throat caught at the words.  I wanted him to?   Just how did he come to THAT abominable conclusion?  I didn’t WANT him to!  The very idea!   The very suggestion!  I was sickened. 

“Sour face.”  He shrugged again.   “And yet you know it’s true.   Haven’t you ever wanted to do something so outrageous, so unmistakably wrong that the very idea makes you wither to the core?   Haven’t you ever wanted to piss society’s rules and break them one by one?  Ah, but don’t tell me you haven’t.  I know your heart better than you do.  I know your very instincts more than you could ever hope to fathom.  Hide your true self away forever for all I care.  Shit, deny your true desires until this world burns to ashes.  But I know you Kakarot, and inside, deep deep inside, you are NO hero.”

He stood up, even as I was feeling the sting of his cruel words, tossing a few bills unto the table top and glaring down at me. 

“You’d do well to keep a companion in me, precious,”  he spat mockingly.  “I can be your closest friend or your worst enemy.  Believe me, you don’t want to flirt with the latter.”

I watched him walk several steps away, the fading light from the sun casting pink shades through the slightly tinted windows. 

“Oh and Kakarot,”  he added, stepping backwards and tossing a single white business card at me.  I caught it mid air, staring at the Italic writing and the odd symbols.   “About your little “experience” today.  If you’re so damn curious about it all, I suggest you visit that address.  Aries and Titus.  Don’t forget the names.”

I stared down again at the thick black writing catching the words “spirit practitioners” above the address. 

“Oh, and before I forget,”  he smirked.  “Bring a gift.  Something……… mmmm…… Mystical.  A dragon ball would suffice I imagine.”

I was stunned.  A dragon ball?   Over my dead body. 

“No?”  he said, smirk widening.  “I shouldn’t be surprised.  After all, you are ridiculously dependent on those things.  Hmph…  A lot of good they are to you now.”

With that, he left.

Qualm City. 

Closest city to the recently demolished and buzzing with chaotic humans bent on escaping the curse of Sin.  Didn’t they know the uselessness of escaping into the outskirts of town?  Oh, a small city is less likely to be a target hm?  From what I’d seen, from what every creature alive knew, Sin was impartial to size or quantity.   Any plan to avoid the unpredictable was a futile attempt in the end.  We were doomed.   And in all my incompetence, I was only on the verge of grasping such a wretched concept.

I looked upwards, standing on the sidewalk and squinting to see the numbers on buildings as the sunlight was fast escaping.  I grinned, recognizing the address as the one I was searching for, still unsure as to my plan. 

The door was covered in bells that clanged together as I entered, my eyes widening slightly at the scene they met, walls clad in jeweled crucifixes and amulets, sorcerers wands and books on spells and incantations.  The scent of incense lingered heavily in the musky air and my nose wrinkled at the thousand different smells that mingled together like dreadful perfumes an old woman mixes and bathes herself in. 

I turned a corner, swallowing at the sight of animal skulls and body parts that dangled from chains and necklaces, eyeballs and terrible, bloody things held in jars under glass.  Whispering came from my right and I turned to see two breathtaking men standing behind a golden counter, feminine beyond normalcy and beautiful beyond what I care to explain.  I would have guessed them for women to be perfectly honest, as their hair was emerald green, shiny and long, tied in fashionable French braids and their skin gleamed with a type of pixy dust sparkle.

Their eyes were catlike, adorned in heavy, Egyptian style makeup and their lips glistening with rogue.  They were brothers, no doubt about that.  Twins, as I couldn’t tell them apart had I known them for years.  Donned out in fashionable clothing, my hetero instincts went on high alert as they gazed shameless at me, looking from my head to my feet and back again.

“He’s here to buy something, is he not?”  one said to the other, apparently feeling no need to address me personally.  

“No,”  replied the other, staring at me coyly.  “Answers he seeks.”

“Yes, answers,”  smiled the other.   “Answers to many questions, I sense.”

“Aries and Titus is it?”  I asked courteously. 

“That is us.”  They answered in unison, heads falling to the side as they continued to stare at me.  “What is it that you seek warrior?”

I was shocked at their declaration, my throat catching me before I blurted out my thousand questions.  I felt a certain sophistication coming from them, their words tainted with the slightest amount of English accent and their eyes cold and imploring.  And for no reason at all, they struck me as familiar, Aries especially.

“Ahhhhh…….”  They chimed together. 

“Indeed, this one desires answers to the most trying questions.”

“And did the handsome fighter bring a gift?” Said one

“Our services come at a price you know.” Said the other.

“Oh, but what gift must he deliver with such a face like that?”  Spoke the one on the left, cocking his head to the side nearest his brother.  “Why, his beauty alone pays the price we ask does it not Titus?  Such a fine specimen.”

“Gorgeous indeed.”  Nodded Titus with a dark smile.  “Such a pretty thing would not come empty handed.  No, this one knows our worth to him.  Tell me warrior, what is it that you bring?”

They spoke as if they were but one mind and two bodies, droning over one another until their sentences drowned together into one paragraph.  I quickly dug into my pocket, revealing the tiny, brown clothed bag, tied with a small piece of leather. 

“Senzu beans.”  I said quickly, feeling naked before their eyes.  “Able to heal nearly any wound and restore any victim to perfect health almost instantaneously.”

“Useful.”  Aries smiled.

“Useful indeed.”  Agreed Titus, snatching the bag from me and hiding it beneath the counter.  “Tell us then, beautiful one, what answers do you seek?”

“We know everything.”  Aries said arrogantly.

“Everything about everything.”  Titus said, moving seductively.

The two were flamboyant, obviously gay and apparently proud of the fact.  The very way they spoke, their movements, their temperament, everything about them was sexual.  I felt the overpowering urge to conceal my body parts from their incessant gaze as they experienced no amount of shame by staring at me. 

“Ask and we will tell if we deem you worthy.”

“Yes, we reveal if the cause is pure.”

I swallowed, looking downwards.

“I-…”  I didn’t know where to begin.  “I felt something today.  Something…… unnatural.  Out of this world.”

“Unnatural you say?”  Spoke one.

“Who are you to judge the unnatural and out of this world?  Are you a God?”  implored Titus in a harsh tone.  I coward in shame.

“I don’t mean to be presumptuous,”  I apologized humbly.  “I mean only that I’ve never felt anything like this.  A horrible feeling gripped me and I felt the presence of people when there were none.  I felt hands and fingers on my body and yet my eyes registered nothing.  Surely you know something of the cause.” 

“This one is rather quick to assume, is he not Aries?”  snapped Titus, crossing his small, tender arms over his flat chest.  

“He speaks of spirits.”

“Of course he does.”

“It’s obvious.”

“You wear your fear upon you like a coat.”

“We can smell it even now.”

I felt suddenly very stupid.  I turned to leave.

“Does the warrior come with a gift and then abandoned his answers?”  Snarled Titus behind my back.  “Let him be on his way then!”

“No Titus,”  growled Aries, whom I was beginning to despise far less than his trite brother.  “Return handsome thing.  You’ve fulfilled your part of the deal.  Now we shall fulfill our own. Only, give us a kiss as payment for our patience in this regard.”

My jaw dropped at the very thought!  I felt my hand tighten around the cold metal of the doorknob.  There was simply NO way I was kissing either of them, especially the rash tyrannical Titus. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Do you not find us beautiful?”

“Are you appalled at our proposition?”

“Oh, but the things you could learn!”

“Not at that sort of price.”  I said, not daring to look into their eyes.  “My reasoning is pure and my obligations to a family is the only culprit.  Its….”  Oh, I shuddered.   Was I REALLY about to say this?  “It’s not you.  It’s me.”

The both chuckled heartily, laughing in that hard, snobby manner I was beginning to very quickly despise. 

“Very well.”  Laughed Titus.  

“Ask and ye shall receive.” 

I looked up, my body filled to the brim with relief.

“Was it ghosts I experienced?”  I asked.  “Does such a thing exist?  And why me?  I don’t understand.”

“A ghost?”  said Aries, putting his fingers to his chin.

“Its possible.”

“Of course its possible.”

“It’s probable, yes, definitely likely.”

“So,”  I cut in.  “Ghosts exist than.  In numbers so great that they can literally effect the living.”

“Of course,”  smirked Titus.   “Do you want to take this one Aries?”

“Oh indeed,”  Aries answered.   “Ghosts, ghouls, spirits, souls, doppelgangers.  They all exist.   Though the amount of which you speak seems rather bold.  The undead aren’t prone to lingering in groups as they seem rather sociopathic at times, wouldn’t you agree Titus?”

“Oh quite true,” nodded the other.  “They fear the living as we fear them.  Although, they’re often times quite curious, as many humans are.  When they believe that the living wont notice, they’ll create distractions to make themselves known in some way.”

“What do you mean?”  I asked, completely lost.

“In a creaky house.”

“By a windy windowsill.”

“They’ll cause shutters to shake, curtains to dance, wooden floors to creak.  When the human imagination is at its peak, they’ll create noises and apparitions to play with their guests.   But make no mistake, they care as little for us as we would them.”

“Yes, they avoid contact with us for the most part.”

“But why do they exist?”  I blurted.  “Are they simply souls of the dead that linger rather than return to the afterlife?”

“In some cases-..”

“Yes.”

“In others-.....”

“No.”

“Its hard to say really.”  Spoke Aries.   “They have their reasons.  Or perhaps the fabled idea that they don’t truly know their dead, lolly gangling around as if they were the living, totally in denial as regards their status.  Or perhaps they bore of the afterlife and return to run things amuck.  They don’t need a reason.  Only the idea.”

“Unless of course he speaks of them.”

“Indeed, them.”

“Them?”  I said at a loss.

“Them, yes.  Haunters or Mares.”

“Two completely different things.”

“Two completely different purposes.”

“What’s a haunter?”  I asked, trying to narrow down my options.

“Haunters,”  said Titus smugly, apparently bored with my choice.   “The creatures you read about in books, see on movies, fear in the darkness.   Spirits with no goal but to haunt and torment the living.  No real motive or reason behind it all.  Simply an unnatural obsession with causing fear.  They adore the sight of blood and celebrate the causing of it.  To move objects, to touch victims, to hurt and to harm.  Its all a game to them.  They’re violent and cruel beyond logic.  Serial killers and murderers in their former lives.”

“And Mares?”

“Mares,”  Nodded Aries.   “Different entirely I’d say.   Not among the dead nor among the living.   They come from the subconscious of the dreaming.  They are the souls of the living who have left their bodies unbeknownst to even themselves.  They travel outside of themselves.  They return and awaken and for all the person knows, it was all but a dream.”

I felt my insides turn to what felt like ash, my body weakening.  Every dream, every nightmare, every fantasy came back suddenly and I felt my heart contort at the very idea that they could TRULY know everything.   I closed my mind to the memories.

“So if I’m having a nightmare,” I began.  “You’re saying that there’s a possibility I could be traveling outside of my body and enacting it?”

“Very possible.”

“Quite practical to suggest.”

“But what if my subconscious comes in contact with the living?”   I wondered out loud, cursing myself for possibly relaying too much information. 

“Than pray you’re having a pleasant dream handsome creature.” 

“For in the end, those who come in contact, will pay the price.”

I hid my shivers, hid my fears, cast away my suspicions.  No, it wasn’t true.  The idea was ludicrous.  There was simply no way that I had anything to do with the murders that I witnessed. 

“Time is up warrior.”  They said in unison, turning at the same time away from me.  I was met with their dark, braided hair, the sun gone from the windows and the lights from the room casting shades of green and blue on their glossy locks. 

“Wait!”  I insisted, tempted to grab for them.

“What?”  hissed Titus.   “Have we not fulfilled our end of the bargain?  You wish more of us with empty palms?  Dare you?”

“Speak quickly,”  groaned Aries.   “Our patience runs thin.”

“What can I do to stop the nightmares?  What can I do to avoid escaping out of my body when I sleep?”

They both smiled wickedly, their painted eyes dark and low.

“Don’t dream.”  Smirked Aries.

“Don’t sleep.”  Grinned Titus.

“Your time is up Mr………”

“Goku,”  I said in defeat, more distraught at my visit than before hand.  I couldn’t even raise my eyes to their level until I realized that they were standing there still, staring at me with calculating eyes.

“Goku he says.”  Aries whispered to Titus. 

“He lies about his name to our very faces.  How bold.  Did we not inform you that we know everything?”  Hissed the brash Titus. 

I just stared at them. 

“But……”  I stuttered.   “But, my name IS Goku.”

“Ah,”  spat Titus with one final sneer, turning away and being accompanied by Aries.  “But don’t you mean, Kakarot?”

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