This probably goes against the guidelines of the cite as this update is not a new chapter, but rather an announcement. The last update for this story had been a goodbye to all the readers who followed this story to the bitter end. I also mentioned that there was a possibility that one day I would return to the fandom and start anew with the same setting and characters, but this time with a clear goal and a plan as to where I'm taking the story so that I can actually complete the story this time around.

Well, I'm happy to announce that today is that day.

I've created what is at the moment a one shot that could potentially lead into a story drawing upon the future Trunks timeline. If there are still those of you who want to see a story based on Android eighteen, Future Gohan, Trunks written by yours truly, please check out the story. It's currently up at the same time that this update is under the title 'Talking With a Monster' (the name is a work in progress. If the story does get enough attention, I'll likely change it to something more appropriate.)

The story is a spiritual successor to 'The Legacy of Marai gohan' in a sense, but do not worry, it won't follow the same exact plot of the first rendition. There are all new ideas here, and some of them are a direct sequel to what would have happened next in this story had I chosen to continue it. I promise that if you liked this story, 'Talking With a Monster' will peak your interest just the same.

To those of you who's interest in my writing died with this story, I apologize to you, and wish you a good day.

And for those of you ready to start this new adventure…

Welcome back friends, let's see where this goes.

The following is the start of the story.

This is a one shot idea I had that I couldn't let go. It was too fascinating a concept for me to pass up. If this gets a lot of attention, there's a likelihood I'll have it develop into a proper story as I've been longing to revisit this universe and all that it has in store. If after reading this, you find that you would like to see more of this story, please consider dropping a review. The number of reviews I get on this story will likely be the deciding factor in regards to if I do or don't decide to continue.

Anyways, onto the story! (Do I really have to say that I don't own Dragonball? Will anyone think that I own dragonball?)

South City.

It was a simple place, relatively large with an urban city environment. It's shopping district was a decent size with a large variety to choose from. The mall overall was generic, but there were a handful of shopping centers that Eighteen found actually had good taste. It'd been a surprise, but one that the girl was all too willing to take advantage of.

The blond raised a black top she thought might be cute on her with the appropriate bottom. She paid no attention to the flood of people racing out of the store, their eyes filled with terror as they ran.

"It's the monster! Run!" she heard one of them shout. Eighteen frowned as she pulled her gaze away from the V-neck to examine the individual who'd just called her a 'monster'. A 'monster' to her implied a creature of a hideous nature, a disgusting, vile creature who's very appearance would force those with weak stomachs to belch. She hardly considered herself hideous by any means. Sure, she and her brother were responsible for mass genocide, but that didn't make her hideous now did it?

In fact, she figured that she was quite pretty by many standards, especially after she tried on this new top. She doubted a man alive could consider her a 'monster' once they saw her in it.

Ofcourse, that didn't mean that they didn't deserve to die for insulting her.

Raising a single finger, she aimed it at the fleeing man, a young pale creature with blonde hair, clearly in his twenties. She prepared to fire when she froze, her eyes wide.

The man was running through a section of shoes she was hoping to explore once she was done trying on tops. If she executed him there, she risked splattering the section with his entrails.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief at her close call, waiting until he was in front of the exit before she fired a single beam that tore through his midsection, splitting him in two. She watched with a smile as his face contracted into one of pure agony in his last moments as his blood spilled from his body. A few seconds of feeble crawling later the man collapsed, his face permanently contorted to reflect the pain of his last instances of life.

Phew, that was a close one.

The woman made a mental note to be more aware of her surroundings the next time she went shopping. She always hated when her brother would ruin a clothing store before she was done shopping, she would never live it down if he found out she'd done the same.

Eighteen smiled as she draped the shirt over her arm and began to walk patiently towards the dressing rooms, ignoring the sound of explosions off in the distance.

Looks like Seventeen has already started.

She mentally chimed to herself as she entered the dressing room.

She'd been right, the top did look good on her.

She could hear the rumblings of buildings collapsing nearby, the sounds of screams and people running frantically for their lives as Seventeen continued to play.

She paid little mind the noise as she studied herself in the mirror. It was a strapless form fitting black top that showed off a little bit of her midriff. She had to admit that it punctuated her cleavage excelently.

She frowned.

She also had to admit that the top made her look a little slutty too. It was just a bit too revealing for her taste.

She sighed, preparing to remove it before pausing and looking at herself in the mirror a second time.

Smiling, she said to herself, "Oh what the hell, it's not like I can't kill anyone who looks at me the wrong way." she swifty threw on the signature jean jacket she so often wore and looked at herself again.

She looked good.

The girl strutted out of the shop feeling confident as she began to work her way towards the shoe section she'd spared earlier. She needed some matching heels for this outfit.

"Hey! Eighteen! Come look at this!"

She heard Seventeen's voice echo out towards her from the entrance where the man she'd savaged lay.

Eighteen sighed as she turned to look towards her brother, wishing it had taken him a little bit longer for him to find her. Undoubtedly he would want to play some type of game with her, and she really wanted to check out what the footwear section had in her size.

"It's a dummy!" Seventeen laughed as he'd picked up the torso of the man she'd previously killed and pushed his arm up his chest into his throat. Blood coated her brother as he moved the jaw with his hand.

"Whoa mama am I in a pickle!" Seventeen began in a mocking, southern accent, "I was trying to get ready for work when I realized that I had the right top to head out, but I couldn't find the right set of bottoms!"

Seventeen laughed as he tossed the top half of the man on top of where his legs lay.

Eighteen raised a hand to cover her mouth, stifling a laugh.

The teen casually began to strut in, blood dripping from his arm as he walked towards the selection.

"So sis, what do we got here-"

"Not another step!" Eighteen shouted pointing a dangerous finger in his direction.

The boy shot her a sideways look, "Huh?"

Eighteen fumed, "You are absolutely covered in blood, and the last thing I want is you touching all over the clothes I plan to get."

Seventeen sighed as he crossed his arms, covering his other forearm in blood, "Whatever sis, c'mon it's not like we can't go find another store for you to get all girly in."

Eighteen frowned, she hated it when Seventeen would call her a girl for caring about how she looked when they went out to rampage. It wasn't her fault she had taste.

Rolling her eyes, she responded, "Yeah but this place actually has a good selection. Something a bunch of those other shops we visited didn't have."

Seventeen groaned, his arms drooping at his sides as his head lulled back, "Ugggghhh, please tell me you aren't going to spend the whole day in here like last time!"

Eighteen snarled, "I didn't spend the whole day shopping last time!"

"It was like, two whole hours last time! All the people were practically dead by the time you got out!"

"Not my fault you like to race through the humans like they're not gonna run out at some point! If you'd actually be patient for once and spent your time killing them, rather than just blowing them all up with massive explosions, then you might get more out of it."

Seventeen brought the bloodied hand to his chin, considering his sister's words as he adopted a puzzled expression.

"You know what?" he responded quietly, a bright smile pulling at his face, "You're absolutely right!" he let out a laugh, "Man! I've been killing so long, I forgot how to have fun with it! Matter of fact! Why don't you and I play a game?"

Eighteen frowned as she pulled off a pair of pumps that looked particularly cute to her, "Can't you see I'm busy? Why don't you go and play with yourself for awhile?" she smirked to herself at her own joke.

Rolling his eyes Seventeen responded, "Nah sis, it's waaaay less fun if you're playing by yourself! C'mon! If you play with me just this one little game, I promise that I'll leave you alone to shop for the whole rest of the day."

Eighteen's gaze pulled away from a set of sneakers she thought might look good for a workout attire and met Seventeen's gaze, studying him to see if he was being honest. The teen crossed his heart before pushing out his bottom lip in a pouting motion, bringing his hands together as he mockingly begged to her. She had to admit, spending a day away from his incessant whining about her shopping was an enticing proposal.

"...How long's the game?" she finally said, setting the sneakers back on the rack and crossing her arms.

"How about this!" the boy eagerly exclaimed, forming a pistol with thumb and index finger, "We pretend we're cops hunting down the criminal scum of the mall! We have to go store to store searching out each nook and cranny making sure we get each and every one of em!"

Eighteen sighed as she approached her brother, forming a finger gun of her own," Alright, any rules?"

"Yup! First rule! You can't use anything except your finger gun. If your form a normal blast with your hand, or hit someone, oh, and no flying, if you do any of these things, you lose automatically!"

I swear, he can be so childish sometimes, how is it that we're the same age?

She thought to herself as he continued, "Also! You have to keep track of your score, and you better be trying! Because when we've finished off the mall, If you're score isn't close to mine, then our deal is off."

Eighteen growled at this new rule but complied, "Fine. When do we start?"

"We start riiiiight," the boy paused, a mischievous grin on his face, "Now!" he shouted as he turned heel and began to dash down the walkway towards the other shops, all the while holding his finger pistol like how a cop would a real gun.

Eighteen shook her head as she turned the opposite direction and started to jog towards a pizza place where she'd seen a teenage girl peak her head out from behind the counter.

Let's get this over with.

I'm really beginning to regret my advice.

Eighteen thought to herself as she finally found the young boy who'd been hiding in a storage closet in the back of a bookstore. She'd seen the little bastard run into here but it'd taken her ten whole minutes to figure out where he'd run off to once inside.

She smiled as she watched the quivering, crying boy collapse to the ground, a golf ball sized hole in his chest. She listened to his choked sobbing for several seconds, a satisfied smile on her face as he choked on his own blood.

A moment later the boy's last desperate cries for help were silenced as she aimed a finger and forced another beam straight through the boy's head.

Serves him right for taking so long to find.

She thought to herself as she left the shop and walked over to a store selling what appeared to be workout gear.

57…

She internally calculated as she stepped into the establishment. She smiled as she heard the quiet squeak of a terror filled sales associate hiding just behind the counter.

"You know," she began casually as she made the slow walk towards the counter, the clicking of her heels echoing against the walls of the store, "I probably wouldn't have found you if you weren't such a coward and squealed like a dumb pig."

Eighteen's smile turned sinister as she heard the muffled sound of crying from behind the counter, the sound of someone who knew they were already dead.

The blonde stepped up to the counter, the tip of her index finger began to glow as she aimed down at where she could hear the person behind trembling below, before something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Looking up, she could see a man in his mid to late 50's sitting calmly in a chair, one leg lifted to rest on his knee, a paperback book in his hand. As far as she could tell, he hadn't noticed her as he calmly turned the page and continued reading.

The girl stared at him for a long time, her expression shocked that someone had failed to notice her.

"...Ahem," she projected as she watched the man, waiting for him to respond to her presence.

Rather than look up and cower in fear as she'd expected, the man raised a finger instead, saying 1 sec.

Did this asshole just tell me to hold on!?

Eighteen stared in disbelief at this older man as he licked his finger and turned the page a second time. Did he now know what was going on? That was impossible! There was no way he hadn't heard the screaming and running. The screams that the androids were here. There was even this idiot under the table trembling and probably pissing themselves in terror, there was no way this guy didn't know what was going on.

So why isn't he scared?

Eighteen raised an eyebrow as she slowly rounded the counter before positioning herself directly in front of the man. She pushed the glowing finger inches from his head as she awaited a response.

"Are you too stupid or senile to understand that I'm about to kill you right now?" Eighteen asked as the man continued to read.

A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth as his eyes scanned the words.

A moment later, the man closed the paperback with one hand and tossed it to the floor beside him, mumbling to himself, "What a shame to end of a cliff hanger…"

"Hey dumbass I'm talking to you!" Eighteen roared growing increasingly annoyed that someone was ignoring her. She was used to people recognizing her, trembling in fear at the sight of her and them knowing exactly what was about to happen to them upon that recognition. She considered herself something of a celebrity; arguably the most important celebrity in the world besides her brother. She'd built up a reputation over these past decade and half of destruction and torment. And she wouldn't accept this level of dismissal.

"I'm sorry about that." the man said shifting his gaze to meet hers, "I wanted to finish the chapter I was on before I died. And also no I'm not senile, and I'm actually not all that old I think. Only 54 years old, although I guess to someone so young that's probably considered old isn't it?"

Eighteen blinked, this had not been what she expected, "Do you know who I am?"

The man smiled, "But of course, how couldn't I? You and your brother are the most known faces on the planet. I know exactly who you are."

Good,

She thought to herself, before frowning.

But why isn't he scared? What's going on here?

"What are you-"

"Is there something that you love?"

Eighteen blinked a second time, first recognizing that this man had just interrupted her, and then what he'd just asked her. She continued to hold her finger gun pointed directly at the man's face.

She wanted to snap and blast this fool away, to kill him for being so ignorant and rude. But the situation, the question, this man was so out of the ordinary, so bizarre that she found her words caught in her throat.

"I-...what?" Was all she could stammer out in response. She mentally cursed herself for sounding so dumb in that moment. She wanted the man to fear her, to see her as the mistress of death that she was. Right now she sounded like a child who'd spaced out after being asked what they wanted to order at the front of the line.

"Is there something you love?" the man repeated in the same, calm, peaceful tone.

Eighteen stared down at the older man with furrowed brows studying him curiously. He had a bald head that gleamed from the luminescent lights overhead. A five Oclock shadow and tired, baggy eyes. He seemed like he would be tall if he stood up, his body large and reminiscent of someone who used to be very muscular, but hadn't touched a weight in years. His stomach was large and bulged out unattractively, overall, he felt like a grandpa.

The blonde smiled as she began to understand what was going on. She'd seen this before. It was rare, but from time to time she and her brother would find people wandering around the desolate wasteland that so often came after one of their 'play sessions'. They'd appear unresponsive, in a daze that sometimes even left them walking towards the androids as she and Seventeen would laugh. The two of them had quickly come to the conclusion that sometimes the death and destruction that would come in their wake was too much for some people, and so their minds would break. They would find these people simply wandering around, absent to the world going on around them, unable to understand what was happening anymore.

It was a special treat whenever the twins would find these people as they'd developed a game to see if they could bring them out of their daze before killing them. It involved torturing the individual until they finally came back to reality, like slapping a panicked friend to get them back to their senses.

This is going to be fun…

She thought to herself as she aimed the finger gun downward and immediately fired a shot into the man's leg. It tore through the leg like it was nothing, forming a hole in his thigh a little larger than a golf club.

Her smile widened as she watched the look of pain develop across his features. His teeth clenched as his hands curled into fists, tightening as he struggled to come to terms with the pain.

Eighteen patiently waited to see if he'd finally come to his senses and would start bawling on the ground, begging for his life like so many had done before.

Instead, much to her amazement, he began to chuckle.

"Well…" he said hunched over in a gruff voice clearly trying to mask the pain, "That was certainly unpleasant." leaning back in his chair, the man took a deep breath before smiling and meeting the android's gaze again, "But unfortunately, it doesn't answer my question. Unless you're meaning to say that 'you love hurting people'-" he shrugged, "Which makes sense."

Eighteen's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

What the hell is happening right now?

"I-...?" the murderer found herself at a loss for words at that moment. This wasn't the dazed, mind-broken type she'd initially thought. This was...this was...this was something the girl had never encountered before.

"Maybe that's too hard a question." the man shook his head, "That's my fault. Let me try something a little different: do you have any hobbies?"

Eighteen felt her mouth dry up as she stared down at the man, "What's going on here?"

"Hm?" he responded looking up innocently at her. She could see the man's blood beginning to pool at her feet. The wound in his leg was bad.

"Why aren't you scared. You're bleeding out right now, don't you realize that?" she asked pointing a finger at the injury.

The man briefly looked down at the thigh injury before smiling and looking back up, "Oh yes, I'm very aware haha. It'd be hard not to be with how painful it is. But I figure, if I'm going to die, might as well spend my last moments smiling rather than crying scared for my life."

Eighteen's lips pulled into a frown.

I...I guess that makes sense…

"So," he asked casually,putting a hand over the top of the wound and applying pressure, "Any hobbies?"

"..."

Eighteen stared at the man. She didn't know what to make of him. She'd just attacked him, he was literally dying as they spoke, and he was asking about her hobbies? She couldn't decide if she wanted to blast a shot through his head and get on with her day seeing as Seventeen was undoubtedly pulling ahead of her in this moment, or entertain the dying man and see where this went.

Something possessed her to choose the latter.

Slowly, she responded, "Why do you care?" she responded coldly, her finger gun still pointed at his face.

"Oh, I just think it's a question that no one has ever asked you. I'm sure that you get plenty of people asking 'why' or 'will you spare me' but I doubt there's too many who've asked you what your hobbies are."

"...I like to pick out outfits…" she slowly admitted staring at him with narrowed eyes.

The man's face lit up like a person who'd just received a gift, "Ah! That's excellent! And I can tell that you're probably really good at it too! I mean, not to be crude but that top really does look good on you."

Eighteen pulled away, her hands moving to close her jean jacket around her exposed cleavage.

"Oh no need to blush! I'm just paying you a compliment, besides, I'm going to be dead soon anyway right?"

Eighteen frowned as she realized that she was blushing.

HOW DARE HE MAKE ME BLUSH! I AM A GOD OF DEATH AMONG THESE PEOPLE, THEY ARE MERE PLAYTHINGS TO ME! HE HAS NO RIGHT TO MAKE ME BLUSH!

Snarling, the girl formed a finger gun again and drove a second beam directly into the man's bicep. Blood ruptured from the wound immediately, spilling even more of the crimson liquid onto the floor.

The room started to collect with the familiar scent of copper.

Eighteen watched with satisfaction as the man grunted in pain, throwing his head back as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. His one good leg stomped against the tile as his face tightened into one of a deep grimace.

There, now he should be getting the picture-

"I'm...sorry about that...didn't mean to offend…" releasing the pressure on his leg, he motioned with a hand for the blonde to step back, "Careful...don't step in it. Those look expensive…"

Eighteen looked down and realized that the blood was getting dangerously close to her boots. The girl adhered the warning and took a step back.

What the hell is happening?

"You're confusing old man." she said crossing her arms, "I shoot you twice and you tell me to watch my boots?"

The man's voice had grown quieter, clearly an attempt to suppress the pain that slipped through every now and again, "You told me that you like to pick out outfits as a hobby... I'm sure you don't like your clothes getting messed up…"

She couldn't say that he was wrong, but she also couldn't understand this man. All she wanted was for him to cry out in terror, to feebling attempt to crawl away as she slowly and effortly tracked him down and killed him in the most painful way possible. It was a game to her, but is wasn't fun if he didn't want to play.

"So…" he began, his voice raspy, his head lulled to the side, it was clear to her that the blood loss was beginning to take effect, "This question may sound strange but...were you ever a little girl?"

What type of question was that? Of course she'd been a little girl when she was younger.

"Of course I was. The blood loss is getting to your head." she said with a frown.

He chuckled in response, "Yeah, probably...so, when you were a little girl...what did you want to do when you grew up?"

Eighteen's eyes flashed wide at this question. What did she want to be when she was a little girl? The android found herself staring down at him questioningly.

"Just...humor me." he said with his best attempt at a smile under the immense amounts of pain.

"I…" she paused, realizing that she couldn't remember. She found herself exploring the deepest recesses of her mind as she tried to remember what she'd wanted to be as a little girl. Finally, she remembered.

A brief smile pulled at her lips as she recalled, "I wanted to be a clothes designer."

The man smiled in turn, "That's a...nice dream. Did you...ever pursue it?"

She frowned, did it look like there was a line of merchandise with her brand on it? What a stupid question.

"What do you think old man? Look at what's going on around you, take a good long look and really think about it."

The dying man let go a soft, weak laugh as he shook his head, "I guess…that's fair."

Eighteen frowned as she watched the man continue to bleed out. Her arms were crossed, her back leaning against the counter as she awaited the next question, assuming that there would be another.

"So…" he began slowly, his hands hopelessly pushing at the wounds in his leg and arm, "Why didn't you?"

She paused, eyeing him for a moment. Why didn't she? Because that BASTARD Gero stole her and her brother away from the life they'd had, experimented on her and turned them into the things they were today.

"I didn't really have a choice in the matter." she said with a dismissing sneer.

"Oh…" he frowned, his head was lower now, Eighteen predicted he only had a matter of minutes before he'd pass out, "Could you...try...now?"

She snarled at him, "Yeah! Let's just see how that goes! Let's see how many people will buy a product made by someone responsible for literally millions of deaths over the last couple decades. Seriously do you even know what you're saying at this point? Do you know who you're talking to?"

He smiled at her, a warm, fatherly smile, "I'm talking to...a beautiful… young woman… who's telling me… about what she dreamed of being… as a child…"

Eighteen's frown slowly shifted into a thin line, "...so?" she said turning her head away from him.

"So...you'll never know...until you try...You could always...create an alias… or something…"

Why was this man trying to help her? In a matter of minutes she was going to literally be the one responsible for his death. This made zero sense to her.

"Why are you trying to help me? Is it so that I won't have enough time to kill anymore? Because that won't work!" she snapped.

He slowly shook his head, "I don't...really care what...happens anymore...I haven't cared...for a long… long… time…"

"...so what is it then?"

"I…" the man began before beginning to teeter off his chair and collapsing onto the floor, laying sideways. She could see that his eyes were closed having clearly passed out. She snarled at the pool of blood on the floor.

He's dying.

She frowned as she examined the man. His chest was still rising and falling, but that would change in a matter of minutes if the wounds she'd inflicted were not treated soon.

For a moment the girl stood still, simply accepting that he was about to die. She considered perhaps raising her finger and blasting away his remains to see what type of design he'd create upon splattering against the wall. Lifting her finger pistol so that it was aiming down the man's face, his mouth labored as he struggled to take in each and every breath, she prepared to fire.

But hesitated.

...he wasn't afraid...even when I attacked him…

Eighteens finger continued to point at the man, something in her unwilling to fire as her mind played out their interactions.

He was reading a book when I entered...he barely raised his head when I walked up to him. He wasn't even scared. It wasn't like blondie either, he wasn't bravely facing us down despite the odds, he's like all the other magots who know that they are nothing to us but toys for us to play with and break at our will…and then he started talking to me...as if he had any right to speak to me being the lowly little bug that he is.

Eighteen snarled as she stared at his breaths becoming raspier and more strained. She began to reason to herself that the man was insane, shell shocked as she'd seen so many others before. For a moment that was enough for her, and she prepared to let loose a blast of energy she'd been preparing for what felt like ages now. But once again, that conclusion was defeated by their simple interaction. He hadn't been shellshocked, he couldn't have been because he hadn't even been remotely scared of her. He'd been coherent and sensible, nothing about his demeanor had been anything remotely crazy.

The truth was, he hadn't been scared, he hadn't been powerful, and he hadn't been like anyone she'd ever met before, and most importantly-

He didn't answer my damn question.

Turning to look over her shoulder at the still trembling girl beneath the counter, she shouted, "Hey you! Go in the back and grab some towels or something to stop the bleeding, got that!?"

She watched the girl meet her eyes with a wide, terrified gaze remaining motionless like a deer in headlights.

"Move. Now." She said with a danger to her tone as she aimed the finger pistol at the girl, her index glowing with dangerous yellow energy.

Immediately, the cashier leapt to her feet before racing out from behind the cupboard and into the back.

Eighteen eyed the man before her. She didn't want to save his life of course, but she did want to finish this conversation, wherever it was going.

In a matter of moments, the young cashier cam sprinting back with a handful of thick white towels and a large bottle of water. For a moment Eighteen questioned where she got these items before remembering that she was in a shop with a bunch of workout goods.

The girl stood trembling beside Eighteen, offering out the items to the android.

"What? Do you think I'm going to do it? Wrap him up already god damn it!" Eighteen snapped as the young employee.

The girl jumped at the android's voice as she quickly set to work, pushing the heavy man back onto his seat before tightening the towels around the two wounds the best she could and setting the water bottle in the man's lap. Eighteen watched as the blood loss began to slow as the white towels turned red. Judging based on the man's larger size, she figured that he hadn't lost enough blood for it to be fatal, but it had been enough for him to be properly dazed.

Taking a step back, the girl stood there nervously shifting her gaze from Eighteen, to the man, and then back again.

Eighteen caught her gaze with her own, "Well? Go back to cowering!" she ordered.

The cashier was quick to comply as she retreated back into the cubby she'd been hiding in before.

Returning her attention back to the man she shouted, "Hey! Old man! Wake up!"

There was no response.

"Old man!"

Nothing.

Growling in frustration Eighteen raised the finger pistol, pointing it at the man's forehead before firing. The blast was weak, barely visible infact as it contained only enough force to knock the man's head back.

The man groaned as he slowly raised a hand to his forehead, "...what the…?"

"We weren't done talking." Eighteen said in a dangerous tone.

The man paused as he noticed the towels around his wounds and the water bottle sitting in his lap.

"Did...did you do this?" His voice asked as his hands shakily took the water bottle from his lap and began to unscrew the top.

Snorting, she responded, "Hardly," motioning with her head, she said, "The girl did."

There was a moment where the only sound between the two of them was the old man drinking down the bottle in one long gulp.

"Well," he said once he'd dropped the empty piece of plastic on the floor next to him, "I am certainly grateful to both you and Melody." he said nodding his head towards the girl still cowering beneath the counter.

"Don't be," she snapped, her arms falling into a position beneath her chest, "I still plan to kill you, nothing will change that fact."

She studied his face as she said this, looking for the slightest inclination that he was even a tiny bit afraid. She found nothing.

"But," she added with a sneer, clearly annoyed that she was doing this in the first place, "Only once we're done with our conversation."

The old man chuckled softly, only serving to annoy Eighteen further for having spared him for even a few minutes longer.

"Well then," his voice began slowly, the color returning to his face, "What is it that you wanted to talk about again? Forgive me, my memory isn't what it used to be."

"Why aren't you scared of me?" she said as the harshness in her eyes eased, replaced by hints of curiosity, "Why are you doing this? Talking to me, acting like I didn't just attempt to kill you a minute ago."

For the first time during their talk, Eighteen watched as the smile slipped from the man's features. His eyes reflecting a deep sadness as his lips pulled into a subtle frown.

"...I used to be famous, did you know that?" the man said slowly, his words coming out aged and strained, "I used to be a name that almost everyone knew. I was 'the strongest man in the world' women would swoon at my sight, hundreds of people would ask for my autograph just on the street, I was rich beyond comprehension...it was a pretty sweet gig."

Eighteen rolled her eyes, did he honestly believe that this is what she was asking about in her question? The girl prepared to raise a finger to blast away the man when he said something that caused her to stop.

"The fame was nice...engrossing even. It was fun, being this star for the world. But it didn't take long for me to realize that I was losing those I truly loved from it."

Eighteen raised an eyebrow as her mind immediately returned to the first question he'd asked her.

Is there something that you love?

"My fame was pushing away the people that I truly cared for. My wife, she left me after she grew tired of my flirtatious advances towards the women who would literally throw themselves at me at times. A short time later, the attacks began, and I lost her...well, at that time I'd already lost her, but I guess I could say that my daughter had lost her."

A slow sigh escaped his lips. Eighteen's fingers taped against her bicep as she patiently awaited for the story to draw back towards her question.

So me and my brother killed his wife, ex-wife, baby mama. So what?

She sneered at the loss. It was interesting to hear about the struggles of such weak creatures from the inside. She only ever got to see their misery from the outside.

"She blamed me for her death. I never really got the time to talk to her about it. I was too busy burying my namesake into the dirt. All the celebrities and famous people were being found and killed, I knew immediately that it was only a matter of time before 'the strongest man alive' was drawn out and killed for the sport of it. The majority of my funds bled away once the world realized that I had no intention of fighting you two. I mean, no amount of push ups would lead me to leveling entire cities. No point in trying. I chopped off my hair, shaved off my mustache, and spent the last of my riches moving me and my daughter away, changing our names in the process. The world forgot about us, and we were about the safest we could be."

"You know, I realize that this is real sad and all, but I'm getting seriously bored and the idea of blasting you through the torso is starting to look nicer and nicer by the second." Eighteen added rudely.

The man paused, looking up to meet her gaze, his eyes studying her with a level of understanding that made the girl uncomfortable.

Snarling she spat, "Stop looking at me like that! Finish or die!"

The man averted his gaze, staring at the ground as his lips parted, "I'll wrap this up quick then. Long story short, I couldn't live with myself, I started to drink, I would do anything I could to forget the life I had before all of this, forget about all that I lost to make my daughter safe."

Eighteen rolled her eyes with a sigh. She was bored now, she'd thought the man interesting at first due to the way he looked back at her with no fear in her eyes, but she was beginning to sense that maybe she'd over assumed about his character. The girl quietly began to list off the many possible ways she might go about torturing him for consuming so much of her time.

"It was fun, for the most part." he continued, seemingly unaware of Eighteen's malicious gaze, "While I was drunk, I felt invincible. Me and my friends would enter a bar, get completely shit faced, and then start picking fights throughout the bar." his face fell as he said this, "I hurt a lot of people during these drunken stupors. It made me feel confident when I'd lost everything, it made me feel in control in a world where a city could be obliterated in a day, and most of all it made me feel powerful in a world where I had never been less significant. It was like during those times I couldn't be stopped by anyone. Even when the bouncers would jump in and try to stop my rampage, they barely took a second of my time to lay out flat, their noses bloody from where I struck them."

The man sighed, his voice small despite his large size, "I did this nearly every day. Getting into bar fights, drinking until I'd black out. It felt good. It made me feel like I could do anything because no one could stop me when I decided to start fighting."

Eighteen's sneer slowly softened as she stared down at the man, her lips pulling into a thin frown. The thoughts of torture slowly being pushed to the back of her mind as she watched the man struggle to move forward with his story, his voice growing shaky as she could detect sadness beginning to seep into his words.

...because no one could stop me…

The words repeated in her mind as she heard them. It was something she'd her brother say a number of times over the years. Hell, even she'd said them countless times whenever she heard the screams of 'why are you doing this?' in between the plees for her to stop or the screams of anguish that surrounded her wake.

"Why? Why not? It's not like anyone can stop us!"

It was their reasoning, it was the philosophy that they lived by because it was true. Who could stop them? Sure, there was blondie, and every now and then he'd swing by to challenge them, but even then, it was clear that nothing he could do would ever put one of them down for good as long as they stuck together. The world was whatever they decided to do with it. If they decided that they wanted to destroy it, then they had every right to because there was no consequence to doing so. The Earth was theirs to do with as they please, and that fact was one that Eighteen was all to comfortable with.

To hear another person reflect this mentality, even on a much smaller scale was...unsettling. She and her brother always drew a divide between themselves and the people they killed, tortured, and otherwise terrorized. How could they not? The humans were weak, pathetic creatures who as far as she was concerned only existed for their amusement. They were nothing like herself or her brother, or at least, she'd thought so.

To realize that she could relate to this man, even on the smallest of scales...it hadn't been something she would have ever predicted happening. It was jarring, the very existence of someone else who felt the same way she and her brother did challenged the very notion that humans were nothing like herself or Seventeen. Because clearly, this human had at least one thing that she could relate to.

Eighteen frowned as she immediately dismissed the thought. So what if this one man could relate to her? That didn't mean anything in the long run. It was just one guy, it didn't mean that everyone was like this, even if this one man was the same as them on one level. That didn't mean that the rest of the world wasn't pathetic, weak willed, nobodies that deserved any more than the way she and her brother treated them.

They are scum, disgusting cockroaches at the bottom of our feet.

Eighteen told herself, reminding herself that nothing this man could say would shake her resolve to kill, and destroy. That's exactly what he wanted, that's what they all wanted, and there wasn't a chance in hell she would give it to them.

Looking down at the man, she sneered.

You and I are nothing alike you weakling.

But something inside her wasn't so sure.

"It didn't take long for the consequences of this life style to catch up with me." he continued, his hands cupped around each other, the memory clearly paining him to say.

"Consequences?" Eighteen repeated confused.

You already said that no one could stop you, what consequences could there be?

Her eyes flashed wide as she started to assume. A knowing grin pulled at the side of her mouth.

You found someone that could stop you didn't you old man?

She snickered.

Of course you did. You're nothing more than a lowly little maggot. Even if you pretend to be like us, you don't have the power to back it up. That's the difference. When you say that no one can stop you, that's only because you feel like that's the truth. Where as with us, it's reality.

The man nodded slowly, "No one could stop me. I broke bones, and I gave black eyes. It was what I was good at. It was easy, and it was fun. Soon it wasn't enough to just attack the bar but I started to turn on my friends too. I broke their arms and bruised their bodies and it wasn't long after that that I stopped hearing from them. I kept returning to the bars, the bouncers couldn't hope to keep me out, but soon my pockets ran dry. I couldn't afford the booze, and I couldn't afford my fun. I was forced to stay home and drink, and when I did, the urge to hurt, the urge to feel powerful again crept up in me and I turned on the only one left in my life."

She could see tears beginning to form in his eyes as he recounted this part of the story.

"I turned on my daughter. I beat her, into submission, I broke her wrist, and bruised her all about her body. She tried to fight back, she'd studied under me as a martial artist. She was my greatest student, even back when I still had my dojo…" Eighteen could see the tears pouring down his cheeks now, sniffing, the man continued, "I wish she'd been strong enough to beat me then." he snarled, disgust at his own actions written on his features, "I wish she'd flipped over her shoulder like I taught her, and snapped my arm right there and then. I wish she'd gotten on top of me and started to drive punch after punch into my face, giving me black eyes, and sinking my teeth into the back of my throat."

Eighteen stared at the man with wide eyes. He wanted to be beaten? This idea, this concept made zero sense to her. Why would anyone ever want to be the lesser? Why would anyone ever wish to be weak?

"But that's not what happened." he grimaced.

"...what happened?" Eighteen suddenly said. The words had shocked even herself, she had no idea why she'd said them, obviously she didn't actually care...right?

The man paused, seemingly just as shocked as she was as he looked up into her eyes.

Eighteen snarled, looking away as she said "Nevermind, I don't give two shits either way about what happened to your daughter-"

"What happened was, I beat her until she was unconscious, and then I stumbled to my bed and passed out. In the morning, she was gone." he sniffed, "I never saw her again. I cried and shouted, cursing the world for doing this to me when I knew damn well it was my own actions that did this to me."

He sighed before continuing "I fully expected police to bust through my door and arrest me for child abuse, but they never did. It occured to me that with all the attacks frequenting the area, the police likely didn't have time to deal with each and every crime going on in the city. Or maybe she never went to the police, to this day, I've never known the answer to that question."

Eighteen was quiet now, her arms crossed in a dismissing manner, but her facial expression had softened. She wanted to know where this story was going.

"I'd done it." he finally said after a long pause, "Even after all the fame and riches had left me, I continued to prove to the world that I was still in fact the strongest man, that no one could stop me. And at the end of all of it, all I had to show for my monstrous ways was the broken ruins of what had once been a good life. I had no friends, no money, no family...at the end of it all, I was left all alone with my strength...and nothing else."

Eighteen fell quiet at this.

"...what happened next?"

The man raised an eyebrow her direction, but she didn't react this time. She didn't care if he knew that she wanted to know the end of the story any more.

"What happened next was I searched for my daughter, I picked up a new job here," he motioned towards the structure all around them, "and dedicated the rest of my time to finding my daughter, to finding her and figuring out a way to apologize, and hopefully make things right. I stopped drinking, I took up reading, and dedicated everything, to finding the last thing in my life that I still cared about, that I still loved."

Is there something that you love…

The words repeated in Eighteen's mind as she continued to listen.

"I'd later come to find out that she'd pursued the powers that you and the golden warrior have. She learned how to fly, and she learned how to shoot those beam things out of her hands. She sought to help the people she could after each of your attacks. She became a small time hero, flying around, carrying people to safety and doing everything she could to help those who could not help themselves." Eighteen watched as the old man's eyes adopted a look of pride mixed with sadness, his lips curled into a smile but his eyes formed large tears that rolled down his cheeks.

"I couldn't have asked for a better daughter." he said with pride surging into his chest, "Of Course...I only learned of this after the fact…her body had been found and brought to me, the people she'd saved described her as a hero, obviously unaware of the events that had driven her away in the first place. If they'd known, I doubt they would have brought her to me."

"...what happened to her?" Eighteen's voice was quieter than usual, nothing like the snarker cynical tone she took with the majority of people she talked to. She'd asked the question, but she had the feeling that she knew the answer.

The older man looked straight into her eyes, a deep, and subtle anger to his words as he said, "You know what happened to her."

Eighteen's gaze fell away as she found she couldn't maintain the eye contact. She frowned a second later. So what she and her brother were responsible for the loss of this man's daughter? They'd killed literally millions of people at this point, why should one more matter?

...but it does matter…

A voice in the back of her mind quietly said. It was barely a whisper, but she knew that at least a small part of her felt like this particular loss of life, was significant.

Whatever, she thought to herself as she righted herself, pulling her chin up proudly as she began to look down on the man again, Even if I do feel something right now it's just like a sad movie, I'll get over it once I'm done here.

...right?

"She was what I loved. She was my everything. You asked why I wasn't afraid of you? Well the reason is that you've already taken away everything that ever mattered to me. I have nothing to fear anymore." he said flatly, the emotion drained from his voice. Eighteen could see a tiredness to his eyes that she hadn't noticed before. It was the look of a man who needed a nap, the look of a man who wanted to sleep for a long, long time.

"Which is why I asked you." he said looking into Eighteen's eyes, "Is there something, or maybe someone that you love?"

Eighteen didn't answer the question. She could understand what he was saying without saying it. He was suggesting that somehow, someway, her story would end the same way his had. She couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it. There was no way that she could ever wind up like this fool.

right?

"What was your daughter's name?" Eighteen finally asked. She didn't know why it mattered if she knew the girl's name, it wasn't like she'd miraculously recall that specific girl's face of the person she'd killed if she knew the name. But something inside her yearned to know more, to know more about this girl she'd never properly met.

"Well, when we got out names changed, her name was Luna," the man said shaking his head, "But, her real name, the one my wife and I picked out together, was Videl, Videl Satan."

"And yours?"

"Mark nowadays, but at one point, it had been Hercule, Hercule Satan." slowly, his body still weak due to the blood loss from earlier, he stretched out a hand towards the girl, "Nice to meet you."

Eighteen stared down at the hand for several seconds, considering whether or not she should take it. Slowly, the girl unclasped her crossed arms and began to reach out towards the man's hand.

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If you want to check out the rest of the chapter, please go to my page and check out the rest if Talking to a Monster. Thanks!