A/N: I have this fascination with the heart virus. There is so much mystery surrounding it and nobody can survive it. This story focuses on Goku's desperation and attempts to save his son's life when Goten gets fatally sick. There can never be too many Goku/Goten stories! Expect a sad one...

Fragment

Chapter 1: The End

Four months. That was all the time he got to know his son before disaster struck again. Goku sat on the makeshift bed cradling his youngest son in his arms. He wanted to cry but did not have the strength to form tears. He wanted to scream out loud but did not have the will to break the lump in his throat. In his strong arms Goten slept silently, pale-faced and frowning. If not for the occasional gasp of ragged breath one would think the child was dead.

Goku knew it was not his fault but no matter how he looked at it, it was his fault Goten's condition had deteriorated so rapidly. It was four months since he had hugged his second son for the first time, who died hours later at the hands of Majin Buu along with the planet he had sworn to protect. The little boy had grown on him the moment Goku saw the son who looked like a carbon copy of his former self. With his life back and Majin Buu gone, Goku did not hesitate to take the child around the mountains he grew up in and show him everything. Dinosaurs and birds and fish, waterfalls and caves to explore, it was all exciting to the two of them. Of course, Saiyan father-son bonding would not be complete without training.

And that was where it all went wrong. It was just another typical day. The two had gone out to train after lunch – Goten complained that he felt funny after breakfast and Chi-Chi made him stay inside the entire morning. The two sparred on the massive lawn outside their home. Goten went Super Saiyan to keep up with his much more experienced father. And then he dropped from the sky.

Goku did not want to recall that awful day. He remembered calmly catching his son and walking into the house, summing it up to overexertion. But when Goten did not stir minutes later Goku began to worry. He called out to his wife and that's when Goten woke up with the most awful piercing scream and dissolved into a fit of tears. When Goku saw Goten's little fingers clutching his shirt at the chest in a futile attempt to claw at his defective heart, he knew.

The hospital visit only confirmed what Goku already knew, that Goten had contracted the heart virus somehow. Children were especially susceptible and succumb to the disease quickly, but only a few hours between the first symptoms and the first full blown attack was considered unusually quick. Goku sat numbly on the squeaky plastic chair, his hands drawn into fists so tightly that his fingernails dug into his palms and drew blood. He knew the sparring and Super Saiyan transformation had instigated the first attack. He berated himself for speeding up his son's death.

Death. Goten was going to die. In this time a cure has not been created for the virus yet. The virus mutates too quickly for any cure to be effective for a reasonable length of time. Following the patterns of other children of his age, Goten has less than a week to live. He was prescribed powerful painkillers and sent home to wait for his death. Goku wondered why nobody had thought to ask Future Trunks when the medication was successfully created.

That was two days ago. Since then, Goten has been medicated the entire time. Although it puts him into quiet slumber almost immediately, it mostly spared the child from the excruciating trials dealt by the virus and his last days would be peaceful.

Goku, Chi-Chi, and Gohan have not slept since, keeping a rigorous watch by Goten's bedside and only dozing off when exhaustion infiltrated their minds and bodies. They had called to let their friends know of the dire situation and everyone had tried to brainstorm any way of saving the child, to no avail. The dragonballs had been summoned four months prior and would not be active again for another eight months. They cannot bring Goten back to life after he dies from a natural cause. It is impossible to build a time machine in time. Trunks dropped by with his parents and clung to his best friend's sleeping form, bawling until he too fell asleep from the emotional drain. Vegeta held his tongue and did not disparage his son for his unwarrior-like behaviour.

A ray of hope came in the form of Dende's telepathic voice. He informed them that exactly 130 days would have passed by the following morning and the Namek dragonballs should be active once again. So they sat by Goten throughout the night, whispering words of encouragement to hold on, counting down the hours to when he will be well again.

And finally the first rays of dawn broke through the open blinds. And with it Goten's ki depleted rapidly.

They are in the lush forests nearby their house. Goku had grabbed Goten at the first sign of morning and ran outside, searching for a quiet spot where he can calm his frantic mind and seek out the Namekian's life energy galaxies away.

He was running out of time. What little remained of Goten's ki dropped sharply. Soon there will be nothing left. Even if he leaves for Namek right away it will take time to explain the situation to the Namekians and gather all the dragonballs. He did not have the time. Goten did not have the time.

Goku could not let his youngest son die without a means to be brought back though. If his son was out of time he would make time.

He grabbed the back of Goten's neck and snapped it with one swift flick of his wrist. Goten's head hung at an odd angle, his ki gone.

To be continued...

A/N: Bet you did not expect that! I am truly evil...poor Goten! Years ago I have written a story on Goku dying in the future timeline from the heart virus. Years after, when I read it now, I cringe at the cheese and the predictable speech and whatnot. It drives me crazy when characters on tv get a fatal wound, makes a dying speech, then die immediately following the speech. So there are multiple elements in that story that I can't stand.

It's been a decade since I wrote that and I want to revisit the topic of the heart virus, with a twist. Especially, I have grown up a lot in ten years and am very intrigued by the grey areas between right and wrong. People can react in extreme ways when desperate, so that's the driving force of Goku's very unexpected reaction.

Please take a minute and leave a review. I really, really want to read your thoughts so far!

-A