Author's note: All misspellings in this piece are intentional. It is my personal assumption that Piccolo may not have the best spelling skills in the world. You know, with all the fighting and stuff he did, it wasn't like he had time to sit down and learn.
This story takes place right after the ending of Live, but Piccolo wrote the note sometime after he dreams of the red star and before Vegeta visits him for the last time. I'm just telling you this to give you an idea of the time-frame he's writing in.
Now, if you're not as confused as I am, we can begin. LOL
Message to Infinity
Pictures held in place by thin pieces of fragile plastic stretched across the pages of a book held lovingly in the grasp two slender green hands. Each image told different stories about a tall green figure with an angular face and piercing eyes. Most of the snapshots showed the man to be strong and untouchable. But the last ones spoke differently, holding images of an emaciated figure stricken with illness.
Doramu sat cross-legged on the floor in the living room with the photo album in his lap. Gohan's story about his father's life and death was still ringing clear through his mind. He turned the page to reveal more images of the man he finally got to know, and studied the images.
In one of them, Piccolo was presented from the side with the forest and sunrise in the background. He was pressing his lips to the forehead of a newborn held protectively in his large hands. The baby was still slimy and wrinkled with pieces of eggshell stuck to its skin, and it was so small its father's hand covered the back of its tiny head completely.
Doramu could hardly believe that had been him. He felt tears well in his eyes because he'd done the same thing when Mandorin was born. The picture could have easily been him and his own son rather than his father and him. He flipped to the last page to discover an image that created more tears.
Gohan was sitting on the edge of a bed with his lips pressed gently to the pale brow of a large, sickly figure held protectively in his arms. The larger figure's back was supported by a strong arm and his turban-clad head was cradled by the opposite hand. Piccolo's eyes were open a crack and his lips hung half-open, allowing his fangs to catch the light. A very faint filmy glow surrounded his body like a ghostly halo. The way it blurred gave the impression of outward movement, like a shockwave or ripples in a pond.
Nobody, not even Gohan, knew who had captured that image of Piccolo's last breath and departing consciousness, nor did it matter. The only important thing was that the most precious moment Gohan had ever known had been captured forever.
Doramu was pretty sure Piccolo had unconsciously waited until he everyone was asleep so he could share his last moments alone with the one person he trusted and looked to the most. The expression on Gohan's face as he had spoken of those precious moments was filled with a sad awe, a clear testament to Doramu's suspicions.
"If I'd spoken up just a few hours earlier...you would have heard my first word." Doramu slammed the album shut and dropped it on the bouncy sofa cushions. A piece of paper slipped free of its prison between the parchment and the actual back cover of the large book. It slid to the floor with a soft swish and unfolded to expose words written in sloppy handwriting.
"What's this?" The Namek reached down to pick up the paper, settled into the lotus position, and began to read.
I was once told that every life is like a burning candle. Once the flame goes out, there will never be another quite like it again. Even if the candle is re-lit later, the wick is changed and therefore the flame will be slightly diffrent.
If that is the case, then I am a candle that is dangerusly close to going out.
My imminent death reminds me how important life is. I've learned the small moments really do mean something. You know, those stupid little things like the touch of a hand or the beauty of a sunset, or even the song of a bird...those are all going to fade from my reality forever. There will be a sunrise and I'll no longer be there to see it. My son will say his first word and I won't be there to hear it. ChiChi will lean down to kiss me goodbye and I won't feel it. A rose will bloom and I won't be able to smell it. The rain will fall and I won't be able to taste it.
I guess I lied when I told Gohan I wasn't afraid of actual death. Sure, I've been there once, but it wasn't really a death. I was transported to the check-in station. This is diffrent...I won't be coming back. So, what will remain once my heart stops beating? Will I know it when I'm dying? Will I see that light people talk about when they come back from the jaws of death? Will I still exist? Will I know I've died afterwards? Will someone be there to hold my hand until I slip away? How will I be remembered? Will people still speak my name years after I've departed? Who will tell my son about me when he's old enough to understand?
Don't know...guess I never will. If my memories stay with me after I die...I know what I'll remember.
I'll remember Gohan, that determined and innosint boy who changed my heart. I was just a child myself when I stole him from the life he knew. Even through the tortures, the pain and the horror, he remained that same innosint child. Gohan is the closest thing I have to the innosince I was never born with. The more I was around him, the more I wanted to stay by his side. I had no friends, yet I could tell him anything. And on that battlefield so long ago, when I saw him trembling before Nappa, I knew. I just knew what I had to do. I couldn't let that innosince die the way mine had.
I'll remember Vegeta, the smartassed and determined warrior that he is. I hate to admit it, but there are times when I really admired his guts. He locked horns with Frieza and held him off long enough for Goku to arrive. Yeah, I know he was only trying to avenge his world and I know he thought he could win. I know what he was trying to ackomplish. But to face something that powerful took a lot of guts. When I helped Gohan fight Cell, I was following Vegeta's seemingly forgotten leed.
I'll remember ChiChi, the wonderful woman who pretends to be a superbitch. I'll never forget that day in the kitchen where she reached over and took my hand, or that time where she kissed me on my birthday. She's become my friend, my companion... As I became weaker and less able to care for myself, she started to step in and help me. Wether it be to hold my hand for awhile or bathe me. I don't mind being mothered anymore, if you can believe it. Perhaps, someday soon, I'll get the courage to thank her for being there, and that I love her.
I'll remember Doramu, my precious little son. In his first breath I saw my last. Somehow I know I'll be as helpless in my final moments as he was in his first. Ah, little Doramu...he is a determined little critter, I'll say that much. His cries demand my love and attention. I want to smile whenever I see him stare into my eyes with such innosint and mindless trust. The sound of his laffter warms my heart like the most amazing music. I hope...truly...that he will grow up to be a better person than I was. He may look just like me, but will he have his own soul and life?
Other things I'll carry with me are the sounds of the rain and the wind in the trees. I'll remember the sky on a clear night with the stars all shimmering. I'll remember the feel of ChiChi's lips against mine and the softness of her silken hair trailing through my fingers. I'll remember the smell of moist earth and pine that blow through the window every morning. I'll even remember the flavorless taste of the water I drink every day.
I'll remember love, that warm, powerful and unrivaled emotion that can survive even the harshest blows. I never thought I'd understand its true meaning. Then, in that moment when Doramu was born and his eyes opened to meet mine, my life changed. I realized I would do anything to keep those tiny lungs breathing. I would do anything to keep that tiny heart beating. Suddenly I wasn't the most important person in my life anymore. With the newborn love of Doramu came the birth of my love for ChiChi and the deepening of my friendship with Gohan.
But my memories may still fade, and I have to face that. But there is one thing I'm sure of: Even if I cease to exist and everything that was 'me' disappears, my dream will still be there. I still have a future with a long journey ahead.
So, yeah, I may die. I may cease to exist. My memories might disappear. I could fizzle out, never to be again. Yesterday is already gone and I may not have a tomorrow.
But I still have today.
And if today is last day I'll ever see, then I'd better make the most of it.
-P-
Black eyes glittering with tears gradually lifted from the paper and fixed themselves on the black photo album lying on the sofa. Doramu could hear Piccolo's voice laced around every word written on the page. Even in death, Piccolo had taught the universe another lesson on living.
"I hope...I really hope...that you made it to wherever you had to go, Dad." Doramu spoke softly to himself as he climbed out of the lotus position and headed into his and Gohan's bedroom. He stole a push-pin off Gohan's desk, smiled lightly and carefully stuck the note to the wall below a painting depicting a white cliff overlooking a silver sea with the entire universe stretching across the horizon.
Star and galaxies shone like jewels of incomparable worth amid the surrounding blackness. The line between sea and sky glowed a brilliant crimson as a luminous red sun pushed itself inexorably above the horizon to bathe the world in its gentle light.
A figure stood on a white cliff above a silver sea, his unruly green hair and baggy purple clothes ruffling in the cool breeze as he watched dawn for the first time on this new world. The sunrise here seemed so much prettier than the ones on Earth.
Earth...he was born there, but it didn't really feel like the place he belonged. The universe always called to his soul, telling him he was meant to rise above the ordinary world and live among the stars. In order to do it, he had to say goodbye to everything he knew and loved forever and entrust himself to the unknown.
But it was worth it in the end. He knew it was worth it the moment he saw planet Eitai's crimson sun glowing like a beacon against the universe.
Kiporro turned away from the horizon when the last bit of red disappeared from the invisible line separating sea from sky. He ran a hand through his messy hair and smiled to himself.
"Home at last..."