Chapter 1

Vegeta stood on the Capsule Corp roof, looking into the sky at the unfamiliar craft hovering over West City. Around him were what little accounted for the Earth's protectors. The Z Warriors, as they called themselves, were a pathetic last line of defense, especially now that his rival was no longer among them. Even Gohan had let the last five years of peace time make him soft. The boy wasn't even a shadow of the fighter that defeated Cell. He supposed he was now the strongest of them. That thought gave him much less satisfaction than it once would have. It also vexed him that he now considering himself a part of their pack.

He turned his attention back overhead and concentrated on the energy contained in the ship. It seemed paltry. None of the thousands of ki signatures above even came close to challenging him. But collectively, they gave him pause.

"Who are they?" Gohan asked distantly, never moving his eyes from the sky.

"I don't know," the green man standing behind him responded, "but I'm not getting the sense that they're here to chat."

"This is absurd." Vegeta growled. "They're hardly a challenge. Just blow them out of the sky and be done with it. I have more important things to do today than deal with this bullshit."

"We can't." Krillin stammered. "The debris from the ship would take out half the city. Plus, we don't even know what their intentions are yet. Maybe they aren't here to do any harm."

The blond android next to him shook her head, one hand on her husband's shoulder. "Why else would they be here? Do we really want to risk them destroying the whole city before we do anything?"

"Maybe they're friendly?" Yamcha offered.

"Friends don't drop in unannounced over major cities and cause mass hysteria." Tien Shinhan responded. The tiny doll prince clung to his much larger body guard, looking concerned. "I'm scared Tien."

Vegeta was not going to give his opinion. He was not ready to share what he thought was in the sky. This was no invitation to an interplanetary summit, no friendly introduction. He knew better than anyone what this was. They needed to take action before…

A loud sonic boom ricocheted out from the ship and across the city, followed by a wave they couldn't see but knocked them off their feet all the same. Vegeta tried to get to get up but, before he could, another boom and another shock wave hit him squarely in the chest, forcing him to his knees again. He gathered his ki, igniting the spark to his Super Saiyan form but the familiar warm golden glow never came. Before he could register his shock, he was again forced to the ground by another powerful wave. As he looked around him, he saw all of the warriors similarly affected, except for the android. She was lifting Krillin off of the floor, attempting to revive him. Another wave hit and she seemed to be unaffected.

"EIGHTEEN" he shouted her name through the deafening noise. "GET BULMA." There was no longer any doubt what this was. This ship and the beings on it had not come in peace. He and the rest of the Earth's defenses were quickly being incapacitated. They had to get out of there.

"Vegeta, I'm a little busy at the moment. Your family isn't the only one that matters." She grunted at him as she lifted her husband onto her shoulders.

"God damn it listen to me you fucking toaster! We have to get out of this city! They're coming!"

As if on que, a horde of smaller crafts came pouring out of the larger one, swarming over the city, firing indiscriminately. The sound of explosions, toppling skyscrapers, and the screams of the people below filtered through the din of the invisible detonations. Eighteen's eyes widened at the sheer number of them as the destruction creeping closer. She looked back over to Vegeta who was struggling to maintain consciousness. The rest of the men around her had all succumb to the bizarre sounds that were coming from the ship. She shifted Krillin over her shoulder and kicked in the door leading from the roof to the Capsule Corp headquarters below. Not bothering with the maze of stairs, she launched directly down to the second floor of the Brief's family home and ran to the kitchen. Bulma, Chichi, and Mr. and Mrs. Briefs all stood before her, looks of panic and confusion on their faces. Trunks and Goten were passed out in their mother's arms, their small bodies shaking with every boom.

"What's going on out there?" Bulma gasped. "Trunks and Goten couldn't even stand after that sound started."

"We need to get out of here," she stated calmly, much more calmly than she felt. "The aliens, or whatever they are, are attacking the city. That sound has incapacitated everyone except us. We need a vehicle on the roof and we need to leave now."

"Oh god! Gohan!" Chichi exclaimed, running towards the stairs with Goten still grasped tightly in her arms. Bulma wasted no time digging through one of the kitchen drawers, grabbing a handful of capsules, and following after her. The group filed up the stairs as quickly as their human legs would carry them and busted out onto the roof just in time to see one of the smaller alien crafts zoom overhead, firing its strange weapon at the building just to the east of them, engulfing it in flames.

Bulma tossed a capsule over to the hover pad, revealing a large armored hover vehicle. As the smoke cleared, she took in the devastation all around her. Bodies were scattered at her feet. The only reason she knew they were alive was the shudder that passed through them with each wave of sound that emanated from the enormous craft before them, much like her son in her arms. The city was ablaze. The familiar West City skyline was all but leveled. She could hear screams and cries for help from the people trapped in the building next to them. She knew these sights and smells. She had seen it before. First when Vegeta had come to them, then on Namek, then Cell. It had always fallen on her to undo the destruction when it was all over and it likely would again.

Eighteen was unceremoniously hauling the much larger bodies of her friends and allies onto the vehicle Bulma had uncapsulated, stacking them on top of each other to make them fit. She was just dragging Vegeta to his feet when she saw Bulma dart past her and back towards the stairs.

"Bulma! Where the hell are you going?" Eighteen yelled as she dropped Vegeta into the armored car.

"I have to get something! I'll be right back!" Bulma screamed through the chaos.

She flew back through the building, Trunks still clutched to her chest. Down the stairs she descended, two at a time, until she reached her lab on the basement level. She roughly pulled drawers from her desk, emptying them out on the floor, searching for the dragon radar. She finally found it in the second to last drawer fishing it out from among the junk and stuffing it in her back pocket. She quickly rounded back to the stairs, but before she could make it up the first flight, an explosion rocked the building above her. She fell and rolled over Trunks, protecting him from the sparks that flew from the lights above as they dropped from their casements in the ceiling.

As she rose to her feet, she felt an arm snake around her neck, trapping her against a hard body behind her. She kicked bit and clawed at the blue, inhuman looking arm but the more she fought the quicker she felt herself fading. Helplessly, she felt Trunks fall to the floor as black stars formed in her eyes and unconsciousness followed.

Back on the roof, Eighteen was impatiently waiting for Bulma to return and trying to convince Chichi and the Briefs to get on the hovercraft without her.

"We won't leave until she comes back but you need to get in the car." Eighteen spoke deliberately, as if to a child.

"I'm sure she'll be back in just a moment, dear." Mrs. Briefs spoke softly and unnaturally cheerfully. "Maybe I should go back downstairs and get Trunk's car seat."

"No! We don't have time for this! You need to…" Eighteen was cut off by the sudden look of panic in all three human's faces.

"OH GOD," Chichi screamed.

She turned around just in time to see one of the alien crafts pull up and take aim. Eighteen crouched and dove as the white hot beam of light grazed her side. The roof below their feet shook and cracked. Mr. and Mrs. Briefs were blown off the roof to the ground below. Chichi's scorched body lay prone, only a few feet away, still clutching Goten.

Eighteen struggled to her knees and pain radiated through her right arm and leg. The small ship landed on the roof and two clearly inhuman things dropped from the doors and they opened with a hydraulic hiss. One was a monstrously huge creature with bulging eyes and orange scales. The other, a hunched squalid looking blue humanoid man. They both wore what looked like battle armor.

"How thoughtful of them to stay together for us. We might finish this job before sunset." The giant orange one said jovially. "I'm picking up a reading from inside the building. Go check it out. I'll deal with this," he said as he gestured towards the other occupants on the roof. The blue man just nodded as he scurried towards the door and down the stairs.

Eighteen again attempted to regain her footing but the scaly man was already coming towards her.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked as he shoved her back to her knees. A large orange hand dropped down next to her, roughly turning over Chichi's body and lifting up the boy underneath her by one arm. He sniffed the boy and chuckled. "Oh good. He's still alive."

"What do you want from us?" Eighteen growled out, feeling bile rising in the back of her throat.

"I don't ask questions, lady," he responded nonchalantly as he pulled a baton from a holster at his hip, "I just follow orders." He pressed the wand to Eighteen's neck and a painful electric shock flowed from the point of contact to every extremity, knocking her out cold.

"Vegeta... Vegeta... Come on, wake up!"

He was still dreaming. He vaguely heard someone calling his name but it didn't bother him. He just needed a few more minutes of sleep. He must have trained too late into the night again. He reached down to pull the sheets over himself but he couldn't find them. He padded the space next to him for his mate but she wasn't there. Awareness began to seep back into his clouded brain as he realized he was not in his bed. When he opened his eyes he immediately felt the throbbing pain of a concussion, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.

As his vision cleared he saw Krillin standing over him tapping the side of his face. "Come on man. You gotta wake up. We need to get the hell out of here."

"Touch me again and I break your face."

"Oh good. Violent threats," Eighteen looked down on him over the smaller man's shoulder. "We thought you might have suffered permanent brain damage."

Tien stood tall in the opposite corner, Chiaotzu still clinging to his shoulder, looking close to tears. Yamcha was next to him, looking equally panicked.

Vegeta hauled himself into a sitting position, ignoring the pounding ache in his head and willing his eyes to remain open. He was sitting in a small white room, too brightly lit. Florescent lights beat down overhead, nearly blinding him. The stark white tiles of the floor extended up the walls, onto the ceiling, and down a long corridor in front of him. Empty rooms lined the walls all the way down the hallway, ending with a giant steel door.

"None of you can break through a door without my help? You're all more useless than I thought," He picked himself up off the floor and took a running start at the door but, instead of melting through steel as he expected, he hit an impenetrable wall of electric current. He willed his limbs to pass through the barrier to no avail. He pounded his fists against it, causing a cascade of blue sparks at the point of impact.

"Yeah, we've already tried that," said Yamcha. Vegeta sneered at him, clearly unappreciative of his sarcastic tone.

If he couldn't break the door down with his fists, he would blast it down with his ki. He drew energy into the palms of his hands, preparing to loose it at the barrier.

But nothing came. There was no light, no warmth, no magnetic energy between his splayed hands. He suddenly remembered what he had been doing right before waking up in this place. He had been trying to power up, trying to transform into his Super Saiyan form. Trying and failing. He could feel his power source in his core where it had always been but, no matter how hard he reached for it, it was just out of his grasp. He knew this feeling. He had felt it many years before. His fingers clutched at his throat, unsurprised by the metal he felt encircling it. Icy dread swept through him. The memory of helplessness crawled into his chest. Sweat broke over his brow. He could feel the ghost of chains around his wrist and ankles. He could feel the echo of hopelessness and torture he couldn't escape.

"I feel it too," Krillin said behind him. "We can't use our ki." Vegeta looked around him and noticed for the first time the metal bands clasped around the other's necks.

The grating sound of metal against metal drew his attention as the heavy bolt across the steel door shifted to the side and the door swung open. Three bodies glided through the entrance, seemingly held aloft by the bands around their necks. Piccolo, Gohan and Goten all floated down the long corridor followed by a large fishlike creature. The overgrown goldfish was wearing familiar looking battle armor over a tight black uniform. The white and gold chest plate was topped by pointed pauldrons over the shoulders. A belt hung protecting the lower extremities. There was no mistaking it for anything other than the uniform of an Imperial Army soldier.

The bodies and the soldier stopped outside the electric barrier. The fish man dug into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out what looked like a television remote control, pressing buttons as he pointed it at them. Vegeta felt the collar around his neck pull tightly around his throat pushing him backward. It dug into his skin as he struggled against it, but he could feel his feet sliding against the smooth white floor towards the wall of the cell. The collar stuck to the wall like a magnet to metal. He tried to pull himself free but the collar wouldn't budge. The other men around him were similarly stuck, clawing at their throats. The guard opened an electrical panel outside of the cell and pressed a single button. The invisible wall took on a pale purple glow and the three slack bodies were roughly shoved through by the soldier before the wall disappeared again and they all fell back to the floor.

"Enjoy your stay." The orange man sung as he walked back down the corridor and through the steel door, bolting it behind him.

The room remained quiet for some time as the warriors took stock of their predicament.

"Where the hell are we?" Piccolo spoke first.

"Likely on the main ship or en route to it." Vegeta responded.

"Gohan what's happening? Where's mommy? That man was scary."

"It's okay Goten. We're leaving soon. I'm sure mom is fine. We'll find her." Gohan put his younger brother in his lap to quiet his tears.

Vegeta scoffed at Gohan's tuttering over the brat. He would never have tolerated such sniveling from his own son.

His son. The reminder brought a sick feeling like a lead weight on his chest.

"Where are Trunks and Bulma? Were they with you?"

"No," Eighteen replied, "Bulma took Trunks back into the building before we were attacked. She said she needed to get something. I don't know what happened to her."

Vegeta didn't know whether to feel relieved or not. Part of him wanted his mate and son here with him, to see with his own eyes that they were safe. The more rational part of him knew that anywhere was safer than the room he was in right now. Bulma was capable and calm in a crisis. She would know what to do to keep herself and Trunks safe. If she had put the facts together that he had so far, she would already be in her space capsule with Trunks, orbiting the earth and figuring out her next move. At least that's what he hoped.

"What are these things around our necks?" Eighteen brought her hand to the circlet around her throat.

"It's a ki dampener," Vegeta answered.

"I don't use ki," she responded.

"Can you use your power?" Krillin asked his wife hopefully. Eighteen seemed to be unaffected by the strange sound wave that knocked the rest of them out. Maybe she would be similarly unaffected now. Eighteen strained to concentrate, he brows knit together as she raised her hand in front of her face.

"No," she said and let out a dejected sigh.

"Well I guess it also dampens whatever toasters run on."

Eighteen glared at Vegeta menacingly. "You seem to know an awful lot about what's going on here. Is there something you would like to share with the rest of us?"

"Yeah," Yamcha chimed in. "That alien that dumped us in here was dressed just like you when you first came to Earth. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, we're best friends. We went to sleep away camp together." Vegeta spit sarcastically. He resented the implication that he was involved in what was going on. If he was going to waste his time killing the weaklings in this cell with him, he would have done it years ago and it wouldn't require some elaborate ruse, as they seemed to be suggesting.

"I think you have some explaining to do." Piccolo stood before him, crossing his arms.

"I've never seen that thing before in my life, but the uniform tells me he's in the Imperial Amy, likely low rank enlisted."

"What is the Imperial Army?" Tien asked.

"The military wing of the Planet Trade Organization, the PTO. Frieza's army."

"But Frieza is dead." Gohan's voice shook. Though they had faced stronger enemy's since Namek, Frieza still held a special place in the boy's nightmares.

"I'm aware he's dead. And I personally destroyed every last loyalist left in the galaxy."

"So, who are they working for if not Frieza." Piccolo questioned.

"I don't know. I haven't exactly been keeping up with the interplanetary news cycle. My only guess is that some war lord took advantage of the power vacuum made by the death of the Colds and installed himself as the new Emperor. I strongly considered doing the same myself not long ago."

"Why did they come to Earth?" Krillin wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"To purge," Vegeta stated mater-of-factly. "They'll kill everyone and everything that isn't of use to them, strip the planet of its choicest natural resources, and auction what's left to the highest bidder."

The room went silent around him. No one could speak or move. Then panic started to set in.

"We've got to get out of here." Yamcha began to pant, his hands planted on his knees to keep himself upright. "I need to get out of here."

"What are we doing?" Tien exclaimed, "Are we just going to sit here and wait while they 'purge' our home?" He gripped the metal band around his neck and pulled. "How the hell do you get this thing off?"

"DON'T FUCKING MOVE!" Vegeta shouted, silencing everyone else around him. "Don't. Move. If you damage that thing, it will blow your head off and the rest of us with it."

Tien slowly unhooked his finger from around the collar and brought his hands back down to his sides. "So how do we get them off?"

"We don't," Vegeta replied.

"So, we're just giving up?" Gohan tried to keep his voice down. Goten had cried himself to sleep and, mercifully, hadn't heard anything Vegeta explained to them.

"We wait for an opening." Vegeta looked around conspiratorially. He knew they were being watched and likely listened to. He scanned the ceiling and saw a small globe like devise hanging in one corner. The black eye in the center leisurely rotated left to right, sweeping the room.

"We need noise." His eyes landed on the orange bundle in Gohan's arms. He took the boy by the back of his small gi and yanked him from his brother, shaking him awake.

"Wake up kid!" Goten's heavy lids fluttered open and a yawn spread across his face. Before he could rouse himself fully, Vegeta grabbed the boy's arm and twisted it behind his back, just hard enough to get the brat screaming.

"What are you doing?" Piccolo lunged for Goten but Vegeta tossed the boy to Eighteen who tried unsuccessfully to comfort him. Gohan furiously advanced on Vegeta drawing back a fist and swinging towards his face. Vegeta caught it before it could make contact with his jaw.

"We need a diversion." Vegeta said over Goten's pitiful wails, still gripping Gohan's shaking fist. "They are surveilling us and we can't talk unless something louder is downing us out." Gohan stopped struggling at that and Vegeta released him.

"You didn't have to hurt him" Gohan said, cradling his bruised fist.

Piccolo, Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin were now huddled around glaring at him.

"You're a Grade A piece of shit." Piccolo stated.

"You can kiss the boy's boo boo later. Right now, we need to focus on getting the hell out of here." Vegeta stepped closer to the group and lowered his voice. "The control panel for the shield is on the other side of that wall." He motioned to the half wall containing the shield barrier. "There is only one surveillance bot and it's blind to that corner for a few seconds per minute. I'll break into the panel from this side and temporarily disable the shield. It can only be a few seconds. If it is down for too long they'll know and knock us out again. We lower the shield just long enough for me to slip out. There are empty cells along the corridor. I'll hide in one of them and when the guard comes back in I can take him out while his back is turned. He'll have the control to the ki dampeners on him. We remove the collars, take out the rest of the crew, find an escape pod, and get back to Earth. Clear?"

They all nodded but Piccolo looks skeptical. "Are you sure you know what you're doing with the control panel?"

"I've watched Bulma fiddle around with her electronics. I can figure it out." He wasn't lying but he may have slightly overstated his proficiency. He had learned a thing or two watching Bulma fix the various training aids he destroyed on a regular basis, but he was by no means the technical genius his mate was. He would just have to hope the mechanisms weren't overly complex. If all else failed, he would just rip all the wires from the wall. That ought to do the trick.

By this time, Goten's wails had petered out to hiccupping whines. Gohan took the boy back from Eighteen, wiping the stale tears from his red and puffy face. Krillin leaned in close to her ear, sharing their plan for escape.

Vegeta casually meandered over to the wall containing the electrical panel. The shield was contained within a squared off arch, a partial wall on each side and a beam above. The wall was tiled and he would need to remove one of them to reveal the electronic components behind. Even without the use of his ki, he could shatter the tile with his fist but that would draw too much attention. They would be incapacitated before he could disable the shield. He noticed that the grouting around the tiles looked like some kind of acrylic latex caulking. He could cut through it if he had something sharp and thin enough.

He looked around the room for a tool he could use. The guards would have searched them while they were unconscious for any obvious materials that could be used to aid an escape. The other warriors starred back at him, fidgeting, waiting for the next move. Eighteen curled her mused hair behind her ear, tucking a lose strand in with the longer strands pinned to the back of her head.

There is was. If the bald man's bathroom looked anything like his, it was scattered with the small wire pins women used to keep their hair in place. He positioned himself in front of Eighteen, looking at each side of her head before he turned her around to examine the back.

"Can I help you?" Eighteen exclaimed stepping away from him to restore her personal space.

"Shut up and stand still." He spotted the dark metal in the mass of blonde and pulled it out with ease. He bent it straight and bit off the rounded plastic covering the end.

Vegeta returned his attention back to the surveillance bot. It swiveled away from the corner he was standing in and he estimated the time he had to work. He needed a spotter.

"Green man" Piccolo glared at him, not wanting to acknowledge the degrading nickname Vegeta had bestowed on him. Vegeta covered his mouth with his hand and whispered under his breath knowing Piccolo could hear him.

"I need you to keep an eye on that camera in the left corner of the room. When the lens lands on the metal door, cough or knock on something to signal me." Piccolo nodded his understanding and positioned himself facing the camera.

Vegeta waited until the bot reached the designated spot and then went to work. He slipped the hair pin between the tiles, quickly cutting through the grouting until he heard the Namekian clear his through, returning to an inconspicuous pose. He resumed again when he heard a knock against the wall, removing the tile to look behind it. He found the control box and tore through the thin metal backing, silently chastising himself at how difficult it was without his ki. He looked at the wires that lay behind the bent metal and blanched. This was not the easy one wire pull he thought it might be. Inside the box lay tangled ropes of fiber optic cables meshed with thin conductive wires, seemingly leading nowhere. He replaced the tile and leaned against the wall taking a deep breath. He had literally no idea what he was doing.

"Shit"

All eyes again landed on him. That couldn't be a good sign.

"Time for Plan B." He would have to destroy the box and hope it brought down the shield.

He heard the harsh screech of the bolt lifting on the steel door at the end of the corridor. This was bad. The guard was back. He must not have been as discreet as he thought. They were caught.

The door opened and the only thing he saw was blue and lavender before thick coils of terror and rage twisted around his gut and squeezed.

"No."

The pleasant fiction that his mate and son were safe in space, waiting for him, popped like a soap bubble. He could have done this. He could have gotten out of here by sheer force of will and brute strength if he had to. He was used to fighting with reckless disregard for his own life, but he couldn't be so careless with theirs.

"Turn around."

He had been clinging to the last vestiges of his self-control with white knuckles since he felt the metal of the collar around his neck. Now it was slipping through his clenched fingers like sand as his mate and son were led towards the cell.

"Turn around, put them back where you found them!"

He threw himself at the shield, pounding his fists against it, causing a ripple of sparks but, as they came to stand on the other side of the barrier, Vegeta regained his temporarily lapsed composure and went deadly still.

"Bring them back right now and maybe, just maybe, I will consider allowing you to live after I've torn your limbs off." He saw the momentary fear flash across the guard's face at his whispered threat before it was replaced by a sneer.

"Tough talk but you'll never get the chance," the man taunted as he pulled a devise from his pocket.

"I will get out of here, and when I do, believe me when I say…" Vegeta again felt the collar tightening around his neck as he was roughly pulled backward and stuck to the wall. He and the rest of the warriors struggled impotently as the shield was lowered and the two new occupants were shoved into the now crowded cell. They again slid down the wall to the floor, once the shield was back in place.

"If it were up to me, I would have killed the woman. She's too weak to even warrant putting a collar on. A waste of time keeping her alive. Luckily for you, I don't get paid to make decisions." The guard chuckled to himself as he walked back down the corridor, bolting the door behind him.

Vegeta ignored the guard and instead quickly scanned Bulma and Trunks for injuries. Bulma had the beginnings of a bruise around her neck and a thin trickle of blood coming from gash on her forehead. Trunks seemed to be unharmed but had a ki dampener secured around his small neck.

"Dad!" the boy exclaimed, struggling out of his Mother's grasp and flinging himself around Vegeta's legs. Bulma wasn't far behind, draping herself around his neck as her legs gave out from under her.

"I thought you were dead!" she cried into his shoulder. "I thought we were alone!"

Vegeta was supremely uncomfortable with this display but privately savored the contact, allowing himself a few moments of relief that they were alive and breathing before pushing them away.

"There's no need for the waterworks, woman. I'm fine. Everyone is fine."

Bulma looked around her, finally able to catch her breath, seeing that her friends were safe. The last time she saw them they were writhing and unconscious on the Capsule Corp. roof. The last thing she remembered was fighting for air and trying to get back to them before she woke up on a cold metal floor. Trunks was shaking her, begging for her to open her eyes. He had a collar around his neck. It didn't take Bulma long to form a theory once she got her bearings.

Vegeta hardly ever talked about his past but, when he did, she paid rapt attention. The attack began in a major city. The planets strongest defense was neutralized before the offensive began. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to believe that the worst atrocities of the universe had finally found them on their quiet, peaceful planet, but she knew they would eventually. Vegeta had warned her that they wouldn't be safe forever.

That's when she remembered what she had risked separating from the group for, what would turn this whole thing around. She reached into her back pocket, pulling out the dragon radar. She couldn't believe they hadn't taken it from her. Maybe they hadn't seen it. Maybe they didn't know what it was. She knew she had to hide it before they realized their mistake. She dug around in her pockets again, finding an empty capsule, and enclosing it within. No sooner had she buried the capsule in her bra were they collected from the room by that hideous fish faced man who brought them here.

Bulma scanned the room again, mentally checking off all of the familiar faces. "Where are my parents?" They weren't in the cell. The feeling of safety and relief at seeing Vegeta and the rest of the gang began to seep out of her again. "And Chichi. What about Chichi?"

"Yeah where's mommy?" Goten added. "I want mommy Gohan. She was with us before we came here. Did you see her Aunt Bulma?"

"No sweetheart. She wasn't with me." Goten and Gohan's faces fell.

She looked to Eighteen. She was the last one to see them. She would know where they were but Eighteen just looked down at their feet, refusing to make eye contact with any of them.

"Your parents and Chichi…" she trailed off, "they didn't make it."

"No!" Gohan cried, dropping Goten to the floor and grabbing Eighteen by the shoulders. "Why didn't you say anything! Why didn't you tell me before?!"

"I didn't know what to say. We were all distracted." Eighteen looked guilty, still refusing to look Gohan in the eye.

Bulma felt tears sting at the corners of her eyes. Her parents and her best friend's wife were gone and likely hadn't been granted a painless end. She tried not to conjure images of how they had been killed or whether they had suffered.

"Where is mommy Gohan? I want to go get her right now!" Goten was yelling at his brother, pulling on his pant leg, trying to get his attention. Gohan was silently shaking, tears pouring down his cheeks as he still clung to Eighteen's shoulders.

"We can't get mom Goten. She's not here anymore. She's with dad." Gohan choked and sobbed again as he spoke of his father.

"But where is dad? How do we get to him?" Goten began leaking tears himself, as partial understanding came to him. Piccolo picked the boy up and put his hand on Gohan's shoulder.

"Remember what I told you kid?" Piccolo said as softly as his gravelly voice would allow. "Your dad lives with King Kai in Otherworld. That's where we go when we don't have a body anymore."

"Mommy doesn't have a body anymore?" Piccolo shook his head.

"But how will she make us lunch and read us stories if she doesn't have a body anymore?" Goten began to cry in earnest now, finally grasping that his mother no longer existed in the same way that his father did not exist.

Bulma's heart clenched as she watched the bright little spark of innocence, the one that reminded her so much of his father, dim and flicker in the boy's eyes. His tender understanding of death was so pure and so sad. His parents were gone. She couldn't let him suffer like this. She didn't want to see the light in him go out any more than she wanted it extinguished in her own son.

"Your mommy is visiting your daddy for a little while." Bulma said as she wiped away her tears, taking the boy into her own arms away from Piccolo. "And when she's done visiting, we'll ask Shenron to give her body back to her."

"You mean with the dragon balls?"

"Yup. And then she can tell you all about the adventures she had with your dad while she was gone."

"Ok. How long is she visiting with dad?" Goten whimpered, slowly drying his eyes.

"I don't know. She hasn't seen him in a long time. Can you be a good boy while she's away?"

"Yes. I'll be good." Bulma set the boy down on his feet as he seemed to have recovered from his trauma.

The rest of the group also seemed to perk up at the mention of the dragon balls. Gohan was smiling at her, his hope restored. Piccolo, however, was staring daggers at her. She didn't understand that man sometimes.

"First things first. We need to get out of here. It's a good thing I showed up. This is my area…" she was cut off by Vegeta tugging on her arm. He had that look on his face that meant he knew something she didn't. He tilted his head over to the corner of the room. At first, she didn't see anything unusual but then she caught the small white orb on the ceiling. They were being watched.

A/N: So that was the first chapter of my very first fic in over ten years! I've been sitting on this for a while and I am so excited to finally share it. I'm a little rusty and I don't have a beta (yet) so please bear with me until I get into the swing of things. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please, please please leave a comment, even if you hated everything about it. I would love to hear whatever criticism you have so I can improve on future chapters. I already have a few written so I expect my update schedule to be fairly regular.

If you would like to volunteer to serve as a second set of eyes on future chapters before they go up, please message me.