Explosions. Blood. Screams. Surges of flames. It is hell.
A little girl stares blankly out the window of her room. The screams of agonizing pain echo through her bare mind and the blood trickling from bodies does not faze her. Then, a figure dawned in a cloak crashes through the door. The girl turns her head in the direction. She bears no desire to fight and sits unresponsively in place, seeing through the person hefting her into their arms and dashing out. The person jostles for what seems like miles, keeping the girl's head buried in their shoulder the entire time so as not to expose her to the scenes of murder.
Finally, after somehow having appeared invisible to the chaos around, the two arrive at a familiar structure. It is the boarding station for space pods. Briefly glancing over their shoulder, the individual assumes they are not being followed and lets out a breath of relief, then takes the young girl by her hand and leads her into the building. As they go deeper and deeper into the heart of the station, the girl starts to discern something. She feels fear. Refusing to let her feelings get a hold of her, she pushes the dreadful sensation away. Her grip tightens on the stranger's hand. They firmly squeeze her hand back.
The girl steadies her focus down at her feet, her free arm straining not to clutch the hem of her ragged dress. She takes in a short, sharp inhale and forces her eyes to look up into a dark hallway. It looks as if it has no end. The girl gulps before letting this person pull her further into the building. Her heart hammered in her chest, the thought pounding in her head, 'This is where...' She shakes it free of her head.
It comes into view: an emergency pod. The impending fate suddenly hits her like a cold blast of air. On instinct, she fully comes to her senses and yanks her hand out of the mysterious figure's. She then starts to pick up a feeling of familiarity about this person. She manages a single question; "Who are you?"
Letting out a deep sigh, the figure tosses back the hood of their cloak. It's Gine. Her daughter catches her jaw as it's about to drop open. Speechless, she digs deep into her mother's eyes, taking in everything she sees in them. Guilt, shame, remorse. She wants to find what she is looking for in those dark eyes. But all that she can shift through is depression.
Gine tears her eyes away from Tote, not wanting to start crying in front of her child. Her sorrow is built up inside her like solid rock, threatening to break any moment. She bites down on her lip and squeezes her eyes shut as hard as she can. Tote's emotions come in waves. First confusion, then affection. And then, rage. She feels herself growing increasingly infuriated with her mother for having the guts to come and rescue her after everything else she let happen to her before. She disgustedly whips her head away from her mother as well. The two don't dare look at one another; one out of misery, the other out of boiling anger.
A chilling presence courses through the dim, immense hall. And they both feel it. All but fear drains from their beings. In sync, Gine and Tote's attention snap toward the direction they came in, that ungodly power gradually drawing closer and closer.
"Well, what have we here?" a pitiless voice mocks. A faint shadow pours in across the floor and onto the daughter and mother's feet from what light is there in the gloomy atmosphere of the pod station. "Oh, how adorable!" it goes on, taunting. "A mommy monkey and her little baby." The threatening figure steps into full view. Extending from his body are two horns and a tail. He wears a nasty sneer. One that reads disaster. "How...heartwarming."
Gine raises her guard and defensively sticks herself between Frieza and Tote. She relieves herself of the rest of her cloak, bearing her teeth. "Keep...away...from my...daughter." she growls through her gritted teeth. She spreads her legs and raises her fists, her entire body tense. Tote's eyes widen. Her mother stuck herself in the way of danger's harm.
Frieza starts to chuckle, then breaks into full hysteria. Catching his breath, he giggles, "Oh, and you, a filthy monkey, are going to stop me?"
The Saiyan warrior breaks a sweat, cringing at the fact that she knows she doesn't stand a chance against this monster in front of her. She shifts her eyes back towards Tote, her face a combination of confusion and concern. She flicks her attention back to Frieza, arms folded and expression patient, waiting for Gine to fail. His unpleasant smile widened.
Growling one final time, she bursts into full speed, seizing her daughter and reaching the door of the pod. It clicks open, too slow as the bloodthirsty fiend behind them begins to close in. She frantically tries to shove Tote through the entrance, but stops dead cold as soon as she realizes she's clinging onto her as tightly as she can. Frustrated, she hisses at her, "Tote. Let go. NOW." She struggles to brush away her grip on her arms, but proves futile. She starts trying to pull out from her grasp. She feels a sting growing stronger in stronger in the corner of her eyes as she now begs, "Tote, PLEASE." She can feel Frieza's breath on the back of her neck.
"NO!" Tote shouts, her voice anguished. She clambers past her mother's arms and reaches her torso, burying her face into her chest. She stares straight into Gine's eyes once more, revealing her tear-stricken face and furrowed brows. She takes in a sharp gasp and shouts at her face, "You're not leaving me again, not like this! YOU'RE NOT!" She tugs ferociously at the straps of her armor, shaking her with all her might.
Gine feels that solid dam of emotion break. The hot, stinging tears spill out of her eyes. She stares down longingly at Tote, holding her head against her chest a second time. She gently strokes her long, spiky hair that she had gotten from her father. She whispers her name, "Tote..." Her tears dribble down her face and fall into those black, unruly strands. "I have to." They're both now almost completely oblivious to the evil presence lurking directly behind them. Frieza cackles, "Oh, well isn't that sweet? Well then, I might as well give you the opportunity to say good-bye. You have exactly two minutes before I exterminate this planet." He takes a single step back and begins to charge his attack. The mother and daughter completely ignore him.
"Why?" Tote whimpers. "Not just now, but every other time. Why'd you do it?"
Gine smiles sadly. "Because I wanted to keep you safe, Tote."
Tote doesn't understand. Why does she always have to do this? She at least has the right to decide for herself whether she gets to die with her mother on her home planet. And that betrayal. Her family had nearly cut all ties with her when they let them take her away. She had pleaded them not to leave her, they had dropped her in a heartbeat. That terrible feeling stabbed at her. The feel of that cold cellar she had been thrown in, and that hollow, dead parasite gnawing away at her insides as her being had withered away. It bloomed throughout her body again. She went stiff and blocked her eyes off from her mother.
Tote allows her weeping mother to lift her more tenderly into the space pod. And then, as the door closes, she hears Gine's voice one, final time, "Please forgive us, for everything. I'm sorry." At these words, Tote lunges at the chance to catch a glance at her mother one final time. And then, she sees it, what she had wanted to earlier. Love. Way too late. The energy in Tote rises like a swell as she realizes it. And then, Gine presses her hand against the window of the pod, mouthing, "I love you." Blinding, white light that seems like it suddenly appeared out of nowhere encases a sorrowful Gine. At last second, Tote slams her hand against the window, over the vanishing silhouette of Gine's.
The pod rockets into the sky, into space. Tote's eyes flood with fat, streaming droplets as the impact from take-off in her pod threatens to crush her.
But just as soon the force disappears. Tote jams her face against the glass and looks back as planet Vegeta is slowly enveloped by the light. As it closes off on the other side, it explodes. Tote shrieks, then recoils back from the window like she was struck by the explosion. She buries her face into her hands and curls up into a pathetic, little ball in her space pod. Forgive them. She never would.
