EDITED: 07/24/23
22- The Crystal
Dende paced across the Lookout nervously. He felt so ashamed. He was the Earth's guardian, but he hadn't even realized the Horosha were close until they had entered the atmosphere. Even now, he couldn't tell where they were exactly. Their ki's and presence were perfectly hidden. And the worst - Pan was gone, and Dende couldn't feel her either!
Dende had been lucky enough to somehow manage to contact the Horosha and ask them to meet the Saiyans on a deserted island. Their response had been short and simple, but it left Dende shivering. There was something about them that was ancient.
"Dende," Mr. Popo's voice broke him from his pacing. He turned to see Mr. Popo holding one of Baba's crystal balls. "The Saiyans will be arriving on the island in a few seconds."
Dende walked over to Mr. Popo and peered down into the crystal ball. The sun had been set for hours and the sky was dark and full of stars. The half-moon provided little light, but Dende adjusted his eyes just as the male Saiyans arrived. All of them looked tense and ready for battle.
Goten glanced around and frowned, "They're not here yet?"
"Doesn't look that way," Gohan muttered.
"They have Panna," Trunks said, his fist clenching.
"We don't know that," Goku began.
"She's disappeared!" Trunks spat, "None of us can even sense her. How else do you explain that?"
The Saiyans froze as something in the distance appeared. Dende could feel the tension in the air all the way from the Lookout and his pulse quickened. It made him sick.
The Saiyans glanced up, expecting to see a spaceship, but there was nothing but the stars glancing back at him.
A wind blew past the Saiyans, and Dende blinked as slim figures appeared out of thin air. They were seven feet tall or more. Their long, skinny arms almost reached their knees. They seemed so nimble and fragile, that if the wind blew strong enough, it would knock them down. The strangest thing about them was that their body was transparent silver, and although they had head-like shapes on the tops of their bodies, they had no faces. No eyes, noses, or mouths.
The Horosha moved in union. They stepped and moved all at the same time, and with grace that left Dende a little in shock. They stopped five yards away from the group, and Dende could feel the bumps along his skin as he waited for someone to make the first move.
"Where is she?" Trunks demanded. "Where's Pan?!"
There was no answer from the Horosha. Their body's moved like trees in the wind, but they did not tip over.
Goku stepped forward, his shoulders tense. "My name is Goku," he began. "Many decades ago, I found your crystal."
"We are well aware of who you are, Son Goku." The Horoshas' voices were hundreds of whispers into one. Dende was beginning to realize that they were in fact, all connected. They walked, talked, and moved like one giant organism.
"I'm sorry," Goku's voice was tense. "I'm so sorry. All of this is my fault. If you have my daughter, please release her."
"We do not have her," the Horosha answered.
Trunks let out a growl. "Where the hell is she then?"
"We all know why you're here," Vegeta spoke up. "For the crystal Kakarot took years ago. And we know that you know that it's inside Pan."
"Yes," the Horosha answered simply. "But we do not have her."
"Where is she then?!" Trunks howled.
"We know you came for the crystal," Goku's voice was growing high with anxiety. "But please understand, the crystal saved Pan's life twice. If we remove it from her, she could -"he choked, his shoulders shaking. "She could die. If you can promise us that taking the crystal out of her won't kill her, then we will gladly move out of your way and let you have it."
The Horosha were once again silent.
"Please!" Goku yelled as he fell to his knees. "Let her live! She still has the rest of her life! I know you have other crystals, so please, can't you wait? If you must take a life, then take mine! I'm the one who disturbed the crystal - I'm the one who put it inside Pan both times! Don't punish her for my doings!" He screamed.
"There has been a misunderstanding," the Horosha's gentle voices rushed through the air. "We did not come here on our own accord. We were woken from our hibernation by a distress call."
"Distress call?" Goku asked in shock.
"We were summoned here," the Horosha said.
"By who?!" Vegeta demanded.
"By the crystal," they answered simply. They held out their right arms, pointing behind the group.
The air shifted again, just like he had when the Horosha arrived. Dende could see the cold sweat against the back of the Saiyans' necks as they and watched with eyes full of surprise and terror as a familiar figure appeared. It was Pan - at least, it was Pan's body, but her eyes were staring off into the distance like she was in a trance. She was wearing dark black training shorts and a large black shirt that Dende guessed was Trunks'. There was a glow to her as she walked forward, like something inside of her was bursting to come out.
Trunks ran to her first, his hands clamping on her shoulders ad Goten and Gohan surrounded him. "Where did you go?" He demanded, but Pan didn't respond. She was staring at him blankly and he let out a low cry. "What's wrong with you?" He snapped his head back to the Horosha, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" He hissed.
"Trunks," the voice that came from Pan was a gentle whisper like the Horoshas'. "It wasn't them. It was me."
Trunks turned his head to look at her slowly. He blinked, "you?"
"I am not Pan at the moment," the voice said, "I am simply using her body for the time being. Please, listen to my story.
"Eons ago, I lived in a galaxy far away with the Horosha and the other crystals like me. The Horosha tended to us for many centuries, and over time my siblings and I embedded their powers into ourselves and grew souls. In many ways, the Horosha are like my parents, and although I was very well taken care of, I craved more.
"While my family was asleep in hibernation, I ran away," the crystal admitted. "I landed on Yardrat, and I stayed there for so long, I lost count of the years that passed. The escape I made cost me much of my energy, and without being taken care of, I would remain too weak to call the Horosha for help. I thought I would never be found, and would eventually die. That is until Goku found me."
The crystal turned Pan's head to look at Goku, who was now standing up and looking at them in anxious worry.
"He found me, and kept me," the crystal continued. "He did not tend me as the Horosha did, but he did take care of me. I stayed with him for many years and watched many things. The Androids and Cell. Two more children were born to him and his wife. I enjoyed watching their family." The crystal blinked slowly and looked at Gohan and Goten, both of who had been quiet. It smiled at them before it looked back at Goku. "When Pan became sick, I saw an opportunity to experience the life you all lived. I could heal her, so I split my soul in half, and put half of it inside of her."
Trunks' hands fell from Pan's shoulders. "Are you saying it's been you the whole time?" His voice shook.
"No, of course not," the crystal looked up at him. "The Pan you all know and love is Pan. I have just been a mere backseat passenger experiencing and seeing everything she has. I saw many more terrible things; Buu, Baby, Villains from Hell, and the Shadow Dragons.
"I tried my best to keep Pan and I safe. The Horosha gave me life with pure energy. And the terrible evil Pan had experienced was corrupting both our souls."
"Her nightmares," Trunks whispered.
The Crystal nodded Pan's head. "That was one of the side effects, yes. It grew worse after the Shadow Dragon had absorbed her. The evil that came from him -" it shuddered. "It nearly killed both of us that day. If Goku hadn't had the other half of my soul, we would not be standing here. Even though I was made whole that day, I was weak and full of dark energy that would slowly begin to destroy Pan and me. I sent the signal to the Horosha that day, but I knew by the time they received my message and reached Earth, Pan and I would both already be dead."
"But you two are still here," Goku said, his voice shaking. "The Horosha are here, and so are you and Pan."
The crystal twitched Pan's lips into a small, sad smile. "I only grew a soul because the Horosha tended to me. They took care of me, just as you did, Goku," it said. "And although you loved Pan and took care of her, just as her entire family did -" it looked between Gohan and Goten - "It was a different kind of love that kept Pan and me alive for the last year." Slowly, it looked back at Trunks, who was watching it with burning blue eyes and a tight throat.
"A mating bond between two Saiyans," the crystal whispered. "It's something truly amazing," it sighed. "I never thought I would experience something so wonderful and intense at the same time. It was your bond with Pan; it didn't just take care of us, it nurtured us, it made us grow and thrive."
Trunks swallowed hard, "but it wasn't enough," his voice came out tight.
The crystal reached out and held his hands tightly. "It is enough for Pan," it said. "It's me, it's my fault it's come to this," the crystal said. "I'm the one killing her. The dark energies from everything horrible Pan has experienced are still running rampant in me. It's bled out from my soul and into hers because I bonded with her, and now that dark energy is killing her as well. If Pan had lived a normal life, then maybe, I could have lived a long, happy life with her. But, what a boring life that would have been," the crystal smiled sadly.
"The longer she and I are connected, the weaker she'll become until eventually, one of these days, she won't wake up at all," the crystal continued. "I sensed how near the Horosha were, and I granted myself one last day to see this beautiful world through Pan's eyes, and experience the wonderful thing called love. Thank you," it reached one of Pan's hands up and cupped Trunks' cheek. "And don't be scared. Pan granted me a chance to truly experience life, and I will return the favor."
The crystal released Trunks' cheek and made a move to remove Pan's hand from his grasp. Trunks clutched it tightly, not wanting to let go.
The crystal smiled. "She will come back to you, Trunks. I promise." It pulled Pan's hand free from Trunks' grasp and walked forward. It stopped in front of Goku and smiled again. "Thank you for finding me on Yardrat, and for letting me bond with Pan."
Goku opened and closed his mouth as if he was unsure of what to say. Before he could find his voice, the Crystal turned and walked closer to the Horosha. It stopped just a few feet in front of them. The Saiyans watched with tense muscles as one of the Horosha stepped forward.
"Is this what you wish?" The Horoshas' voices asked, even though only one of them stepped forward.
"Yes, it is," the crystal nodded.
"Very well," the Horosha said.
The Horosha in the front hovered his right palm over Pan's head. The crystal looked up, and Pan's dark eyes widened as the Horosha's palm began to glow brightly.
"Panna!" Trunks yelled as the light became blinding. He made a move to run to her, but couldn't make it past where Goku was standing. In fact, it looked like none of them could move, and Dende wondered if the Horosha were stopping them.
Dende could not look away as the crystal was plucked from Pan as if it was fruit for harvesting. The crystal shinned like a miniature star, dancing in the air between the Horosha's hand and Pan's upturned face. It blinked and twinkled before the strangest thing happened - it took shape. It was hard to make out what exactly. If Dende had to guess, it was a shape between a Horosha, with no facial features, and a human, with its build being similar to Pan's. The crystal wrapped its arms around Pan's neck in a blinding embrace.
"Thank you," the crystal's bell-like voice whispered over the field. And then, it vanished, like a light switch being turned off, it was gone.
Pan gasped loudly as she fell to the ground on her knees. She was gasping, her hands coming up to her chest and patting it frantically as if she would be able to feel the crystal.
"It is gone," the Horoshas' voices made her head snap up. "They wanted to save you, one last time by using their remaining life force to purify your soul."
"And you let them do that for me?"
"It is what they wanted," the Horosha said. The Horosha in front kneeled down and held out its hand to Pan. Slowly, she took it. "There will be no more nightmares for you. May you have a long and peaceful life."
In the blink of an eye, the Horosha were gone. Pan's hand was still held out in front of her from where she was holding Horosha's hand. She pulled it back slowly and stood up. The freeze that had been placed over the Saiyans had come undone, and Trunks stepped forward a few paces.
"Panna?" He called to her, his blue eyes full of worry.
She turned around, her dark eyes shining with stars. She ran forward, and Trunks met her halfway, his arms coming around her tightly. Goku and the other Saiyans were right behind Trunks, all of them smiling with relieved expressions on their faces.
Dende let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd be holding. His knees felt weak and Mr. Popo chuckled. He tucked the crystal ball under one of his arms and supported Dende with another.
"There, there," he said, patting the Namekian on the back.
"Was that it?" Dende asked in disbelief. "Is it really over? The Saiyans have been training for months and there wasn't even a fight."
"A lot of the time conflicts do not need to be resolved out of fighting but rather talking, anyway," Mr. Popo said. "Everything turned out just like I thought it would."
"Really?" Dende looked at him in surprise.
"Maybe not everything," Mr. Popo shrugged, "but close enough."
Dende wasn't sure if wanted to know what Mr. Popo had imagined, and since everything had turned out in a way where all the Saiyans he knew and cared for were okay and the earth wasn't damaged, he didn't want to know. He let out a small, tired sigh, "Let's go to bed, Mr. Popo." There would be no more watching the skies for him for a while.