Snowfall_______________________________________________________
People Key
Apolla=Goku Gaden=Vegeta Kelvin=Piccolo Leonzio=Yamcha Pablo=Dende Yajira=Bulma
_______________________________________________________________
~~ =Memories
The snow, it glittered like delicate diamonds against the night sky. The ocean, it roared like an ever persistent beast unable to rest, crashing in waves upon waves against the rock. And the sky, oh the sky. It was grey with its predominant clouds rolling and turning, ever in their turmoil. But yet, the snow, it continued to fall and it remained pure and fragile.

"Apolla."

The words were almost in the form of a growl, as if the person who had uttered the name was angry at the owner of alisema name. Upon the high cliff that sat at the ocean's edge stood a proud, strong figure. Their back was straight and their shoulders squared, as if nothing in the world could possibly burden them, consume them, break them.

Yet, in the darkened eyes of the Saiyajin prince, there lay a glint of something that very few could understand.

True heartbreak.

And it lay there, buried underneath the false facade of strength and confidence.

Ready to crumble.

~~"You know what, Gaden?"

"What?"

"I think we should dress up for Halloween, what do wewe think?"

"Dress up?"

"Yeah! I think it will be fun. A lot of people on Earth do it, it's a like a tradition!"

"What in the world could be fun about dressing up as disgusting, grotesque looking creatures?"

There was a slight roll of the eyes from the younger Saiyajin, followed kwa a quirk at the corner of her lips, inaonyesha her amusement towards the older Saiyajin.

"Come on! You've never even tried it, I'm sure you'd have a lot of fun if wewe did. Please, please, please?" Clasping her hands in front of her, Apolla gave the Saiyajin prince her best "puppy dog" look and stuck her bottom lip out in a classic pouting fashion.

Eyeing his lover, Gaden arched a brow and then brought his gaze back upon the tan, childish features of the smaller Saiyajin. Soon, there was a smirk upon his face and one would instantly think "Uh-oh" if they knew Gaden and knew what such a look could possibly mean.

"How about...instead of dressing up...we get UN-dressed," he alisema as he walked towards Apolla and wrapped his arms around the woman's waist, in a seemingly almost innocent embrace. However, those sneaky hands soon found their way down the younger saiyajins back until they were groping the perfectly round and firm globes of flesh that was Apolla's ass.

Apolla's eyes widened in simple surprise, her back muscles tensing a bit from the unexpected touch against her posterior. With a tilt of her head, she looked up at her lover in pure innocence.

"Gaaaddeenn, we can do that ANY siku of the year, but Halloween only comes ONCE a year, so we HAVE to do something! Come ooooon." A long, drawn out whine followed this statement and Gaden couldn't help but wince. He hated it when his mate whined, it grated at his nerves and cracked every ounce of his willpower until it crumbled into tiny, undefinable pieces of dust upon the floor.

"Alright, alright, just stop DOING that. You're a grown woman, not a twelve mwaka old girl," he grumbled as Apolla's face lit up with such glowing delight that even Gaden had to smile a bit.

Just a bit.

And with that, Gaden found himself joining the hundreds of other humans, walking the dark streets at late hours, dressed as a ghost made from simply cutting up one of Yajira's expensive linens. That alone made the entire night worth it.

And perhaps watching the way Apolla so deliciously sucked on a tootsie-pop helped a little.~~

The wind felt uchungu, chungu and cold as it carried the snow in an erratic dance around his form. His long,hazelnut hair whipped around his face a bit and his always narrowed eyes seemed to harden from an unseen force au thought that was torturing the Saiyajin prince's mind.

Inside of his chest, his moyo beat in rhythmic thumps against his ribcage. Each passing moment brought each pampu into a faster pace. And it was so hard to keep all of these emotions at bay. Not with the wind nipping at his cheeks, like knives cutting into his flesh, not with the snow falling onto him, touching upon his skin like icy cold kisses, only meant to tease and torment him; not with the way the ocean was roaring so loudly in his ears that he was sure he was actually going mad.

"God dammit," he muttered to himself, the sound of his gloves bending as his fingers clenched into his palms, taking on the form of fists at his sides. It wasn't supposed to be like this, he told himself in his mind.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

~~"Hey, Gaden. wewe know what?"

"What is it, Apolla?"

"I think we should get a tree. wewe know, for Christmas."

"A tree? What for?"

"To decorate! And put in our house. I think it'll look pretty."

"Pretty?" the prince repeated with something akin to disgust, blinking his eyes and giving his mate a very blank look. "And why would we put a mti in our house? Trees belong outside."

"Yeah, I knoooow but once a mwaka humans cut down a mti and put it in their house. Then they decorate it with lights and garland and ornaments! It's called a krisimasi Tree."

"Another Earth custom, I suppose?"

Gaden kept himself ignorant of the things humans did on this small little planet, not caring in the least bit what they did with their lives. But these things always seemed so important to his mate that it was getting harder and harder to ignore them.

He was still suffering abuse and mockery from the last little Earth custom he'd participated in on Apolla's insitance. He'd have to get those pictures back from Yajira, one way au another.

Damn woman.

"That's right!" Apolla alisema cheerfully, that signature grin upon her face, the one that anyone could melt to.

"And I have no choice in the matter, do I?"

"Not really!"

And just like that, Gaden found himself out in the blistering cold weather, walking through the snow and slush like some damn fool as his mate dragged him from mti to tree, looking for the 'perfect' one to cut down and take home.

But when they did find it...

What a perfect mti it was.~~

His fists clenched so tight that he eventually tore holes through his gloves from the sheer force of his fingernails digging into his palms.

His moyo was beating faster, and faster and soon he thought it would explode. It was burning so badly within his chest that it might've been on fire, and maybe it had something to do with the damn stinging in his eyes and the forceful, heavy feeling that lingered in his head as he so desperately tried to keep those unwanted tears at bay.

Fucking emotions, they were so messy and they turned everything Gaden ever knew and ever believed in right upside down, until they were hanging from a very thin branch on a withering old mti that could snap at any moment.

Teeth gritted together, so hard they might crack from the strength and noises tried to escape from his throat but he kept them back. He didn't want to break, because if he broke now, he'd never be able to fix himself, never be able to be put back together.

But he was breaking...

And it was becoming very hard to catch the pieces before they fell.

~~"It looks beautiful."

The lights that hung upon the mti twinkled in the dim glow of the moto in the fireplace. The shiny, glassy ornaments sparkled as they lay nestled in the bristle and branches of the evergreen. It was, indeed, a very beautiful sight.

But not nearly as beautiful as the sight that sat inayofuata to it.

Looking up at the tree, Apolla's big eyes seemed to glitter just as much, if not more, as the ornaments at which she was gazing so intently at. Her long, inky black,purple tinted hair shone as it fell around her tan, brounzed face.

She looked just like a kid waiting for krisimasi morning. Gaden figured that his mate would be there all night long if he'd let her.

Snow fell lightly outside the window, which was slightly fogged and frosted from the cold weather and the heat from inside. It was a dark, but calm night. The night before Christmas.

And Gaden couldn't help but think now why humans liked this holiday so much. There was definitely something very special about it.

au pehaps what was special was the feeling one got from spending it with someone they loved.

Gaden had been sitting upon the kitanda and he closed his eyes, crossing his arms as he rested his head against the back of the sofa. If his lover was going to stay up all night, then so would he.

But he must've fallen asleep at some point.

What felt like a few dakika was actually quite a few hours when Gaden felt a soft, warm air brush past the shell of his ear. Cracking open his eyes, he looked down and saw Apolla leaning over the back of the sofa, her lips right inayofuata to Gaden's ear.

"Apolla, what are wewe doing?" he asked.

There was just a soft smile upon Apolla's features as she lifted her arm and dangled something above Gaden's head. Looking up, he noticed that his mate was holding a piece of mistle toe.

And before he knew it, there was a soft, slightly chapped, pair of lips upon his own. A warmth seemed to spread from that spot of connection, through the rest of his body.

"Merry Christmas," Apolla whispered to him when their lips broke apart and the sun began to ascend on the horizon.~~

Soon, it came to such an overwhelming point that he could no longer hold back the tears that pushed at the back of his eyes, au the noises that bubbled up in his throat. Blood dripped from his palms as his fingers ripped into the flesh, tightening his fists even further. His body trembled from the effort and soon it felt like an explosion ripped through his entire being.

An explosion in his heart, his mind, body, his very soul. And he was screaming, screaming so loud that his throat became raw within just a few sekunde and a metallic taste overwhelmed his tastebuds.

A raw, passionate power seemed to consume the once mighty, once in-control prince, as it swirled around him fiercely, his clothing ripping as his muscles bulged and his eyes flashed green and his hair flickered bright gold.

Soon the ground was shaking beneath his feet, falling apart and cracking, cracking just like his control, his emotions, his heart. His god damn moyo that was breaking and breaking and continued to break. And in moments like these he truly wished he was the heartless monster so many people believed him to be.

Now he was on his knees, hunched over like some pathetic person who had no hope and no sanity left in them. His forearms rested against the ground and his head hung limply, his shoulders starting to wear and sag. Saliva dripped from his slightly parted lips as he sucked in harsh, haggard breaths, and with that, tears sprinkled from his eyes and landed on the snowy ground, freezing in an instant.

"I promised to protect you," he whispered, his voice hoarse.

But he hadn't protected her...

~~"Come on, Gaden, I can take this guy. How tough can he be?"

"I alisema no, Apolla! Let ME handle him!"

"Gaden! Let me get him!" Apolla said, her face very serious, her eyes glinting with that look that alisema there was no messing around this time. But before the two of them could further plan out their course of action, there was a loud explosion and the ground erupted in a kuoga of dirt and rock, trees and buildings falling down around them as if they had been made of nothing but clay.

Humans were running in every direction,screaming and trampling over each other in attempts to get to some form of safety. The only people that seemed to be standing their ground were Gaden and Apolla and what was left of the Z Warriors.

Earth was trembling, breaking apart underneath their very feet, the inayofuata planet to be destroyed on this sick monster's check list. Countless other planet's had already suffered destruction, including Namek.

Pablo, Earth's guardian, had been the first to be slaughtered on Earth. Even Kelvin and Leonzio had recieved the same fate, nothing left of their bodies to prove they had even existed.

As much as Gaden knew that Apolla was kwa far the strongest and most capable, he still felt a sense of duty to protect her. Something just did not feel right about this battle, their opponent, the new enemy, his powers were deceiving and far zaidi potentially dangerous than they were used to.

But before he could stop the strong-willed younger Saiyajin, Apolla had sped past him as nothing but an red and black blur. He reached out to grab her but he only grabbed onto air and as if in slow motion, his head turned to lock eyes on the scene before him.

"Apolla!" he screamed as Apolla sent a ki attack at the enemy. But it didn't seem to faze the beast one bit as he grabbed onto Apolla's neck and held her high in the air like some rag doll, some pest that needed only to be exterminated.

And Gaden was flying at them in an instant, moving faster than he ever thought he had in his life but even that was too slow. Too god damn slow.

Within seconds, he saw the hand go through Apolla's chest like a kisu going through butter, blood spurting everywhere, in thick, red gushes down the enemy's arm.

The look on Apolla's face was one Gaden would never be able to get out of his mind. It would be ingrained in his memory forever.

A look of sheer surprise and even fear. Large, once innocent and childish eyes, were widened and fading. After the shock had worn off, there was a cough from the younger Saiyajin and blood dribbled down her lips. Even Gaden was frozen in mid air, looking upon the scene as if he himself did not believe it was real.

In another instant, the arm yanked itself back out of Apolla's chest, and in the hand was gripped her heart. And soon it was crushed within the monster's grip.

Gaden's lover's body was thrown aside like trash and lay in a broken, bloody heap on the floor, eyes still wide open with fear. That alone sent Gaden off in a rage and a power he never knew he had, never knew even existed, one far stronger than anything he'd ever witnessed erupted from his battered and bruised body. It surrounded the area with a bright, violent light and anything within a few hundred miles was turned to dust.

Within moments, he'd ripped apart the bastard that dare harm his upendo until there was nothing left but the blood on his hands.

But the power had come with a great price and Gaden lay on the ground, in the desolate crater he had created from his own ki, eyes barely open and dulling with each passing second, his breathing becoming zaidi and zaidi shallow. He was sure he was going to die.

But, then again...

She was already dead.

Gaden stared down at his hands as he continued to lay hunched over, snow falling upon his back but he barely even felt it anymore, he was so numb to everything.

These hands...

They had once killed entire populations with one point of the finger.

They had once defended Earth from total annihilation.

They had once touched the soft, smooth skin of the only person he knew he'd truly love.

But now they were pale and scratched and bleeding. They were now merely the hands that had failed to protect his lover.

Tears welled up within his eyes and he squeezed them shut, gritting his teeth together as he tried to keep himself from totally falling apart, but it was a useless effort and he found himself sobbing, sobbing as he lay against the ground, cheek pressed against the cold, hard Earth.

The Earth that Apolla had loved so much.

"I wish Yajira would have just let me die," he alisema out loud. He'd been so close to death, so close to being with Apolla again. But the damn woman had saved what little life he had left.

He fucking hated that woman.

"Apolla," he alisema again, but this time his voice was softer as he ran his fingers over the ground, very lightly running them through the bent and swaying blades of nyasi that poked up through the thin layer of snow.

Again, the snow fell upon his cheek, getting stuck in the tears that ran down his red and numb face, uigizaji as those cold kisses once more. Bringing his hand up, he let his fingertips touch upon his cheek and he felt the tears and the cold and the snow.

It was so beautiful and pure, the snow.

Just like Apolla.

And he so wanted to believe that those kisses were kisses from his love.

Getting up on his knees, he took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the icy-cold air. And once he had let it out, he gathered the courage to stand up, and it was really all of the courage he possessed. But Apolla would not have wanted him to lay there forever, freezing to death out in the middle of no where.

What a death for the Prince of all Saiyajins.

So he turned his back and walked away, the ocean still roaring in his ears and the sky still rolling and turning with its ever approaching storm.

But the snow...

The snow he didn't mind so much anymore.

~~"You know what, Gaden?"

"What, Apolla?"

"I think this is going to be the best mwaka ever."

"Why's that?"

A simple smile was the response.

"Because I get to spend it with you."

A simple smile in return~~


*Sniff* THE VERY SAD END!!!!!