Summary: A technicality gone wrong in a wish from the Z fighters leaves Android Seventeen in a coma, and with Dr Gero gone the only person who can save him is still a shaky ally. Without her twin, and with Android Sixteen gone Android Eighteen is left alone to put together the pieces of her past and the truth of her own being, with just one person left with faith in her.
Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z is owned by Akira Toriyama and TOEI Animation Ltd. No money is being made from this work.
Lovefools Chapter Four - Farewells & Reunions
*X*X*X*
Gohan, Yamcha, Puar, Bulma, Vegeta and Mr and Mrs Briefs were already out on the front lawn. Bulma was waving as they slowed to a stop and got out.
"Hey Krillin, glad you could make it!" She said happily. Krillin grinned back at her. The whole atmosphere was lighter, almost celebratory amongst his friends, all of whom had seen the recent terror through together. It was infectious.
"Wouldn't miss it Bulma!" He returned.
"Hey Krillin!" Gohan and Yamcha were also grinning and waving at him as they approached.
"Hey guys! Looks like you all got a good rest then." They both nodded. "Lookin' good in that suit Gohan."
"Yeah," Gohan grinned. "Mom made me wear it. I think she's going to be okay too. She's getting started on getting the house back to normal right now."
"That's Chi Chi for you." Krillin replied. He could just imagine Chi Chi grumbling to herself about men being so destructive while she went about keeping herself busy cleaning up the mess they'd made. Well, technically it had been Cell who had sent the earth shaking and half-uprooted her house, but Chi Chi had never cared much for technicalities.
A few moments later, Trunks emerged from the front door to Bulma's place, back in his casual clothes and hair cut to just past his ears again. He looked much better than he had the day before, but given that he'd been dead, this was not surprising. He made his way first over to Mr and Mrs Briefs, and though Krillin couldn't hear exactly what was being said, he could tell it was a warm goodbye. He watched as Trunks leaned over to get one last look at baby Trunks in Mrs Brief's arms. He reached a hand over to him, and it was a strange moment when the child reached back and grasped Trunk's finger in his tiny fist. The look in adult Trunk's eyes was unfathomable as he gazed down at his own infant self, but then baby Trunks let go of him and the moment passed as though it had never happened.
Trunks turned to face everyone who had come to wish him farewell, and smiled graciously. "Thanks a lot for coming out here today guys, it means a lot to me. I'm really gonna miss you all."
"Hey man, no problem." Said Yamcha. "We owe you big time for coming to help us through all this. We could never have done it without you coming to warn us. This is the least we can do."
"Yeah," Trunks nodded. "Now at least we know you all have a much better future to look forward to. It's changed so much even I couldn't tell you what's going to happen from here. Anything is possible. Good luck guys. It's been really great getting to know all of you." At this last comment, Trunks' eyes met his father's for a moment.
Bulma pulled him into a brief hug and then drew back, holding Trunks' hand in both of hers.
"I'm really proud of you son." She said with a mother's sincerity.
"Thanks mom."
"Be careful."
"Right." Trunks then took a few steps forward, and turned toward Vegeta.
"Dad." He acknowledged, and Vegeta held up his first two fingers on his left hand, a gesture which Trunks returned, but not a word was spoken. Then, facing everyone else he said, 'Well, goodbye guys." and got into his time machine. It powered up flawlessly and began to take off, rustling the grass on the lawn. "So long!' Trunks called from inside the glass dome, and waved down at everyone.
"Love you Trunks, goodbye!" Bulma called, waving back.
"Bye Trunks, you're the greatest!" cried Gohan.
"Bye Gohan!" Came Trunks' reply.
"Later dude!"
"Bye Trunks!" Called Yamcha and Krillin.
"See ya guys!" Trunks said at last, and then his time machine was too far away to hear anymore. Everyone watched it fade into the distance a little while longer, and whilst it was sad to see him go, it didn't feel like so much like an ending. It was like Gohan had said the day before as they'd parted ways - this was the beginning of the rest of their lives. Who knew what Trunks would grow up to be like in this time line, now they were all alive and well to see it?
When Krillin brought his gaze back down, Gohan seemed to be staring at something behind them. Though Krillin turned his gaze to the direction Gohan was looking, there was nothing there. Whatever it was, he couldn't see what his friend could see. At length, Gohan turned back to Krillin, smiling.
"Father." Was all he said, but Krillin understood.
*X*X*X*
It was a good start to the day - refreshing and peaceful, but Trunks' farewell seemed to be over far too quickly. The moment he was out of sight and his ki signal had disappeared, Vegeta stalked off into the building, scowling more prominently than usual. Everyone looked round at him as he passed, but no one dared to speak until he was safely inside.
"Where's he going?" Asked Gohan, looking a bit concerned. He turned to Bulma, who had dried the few tears on her face, and wore a soft smile as she watched Vegeta go.
"Probably back to the gravity room to start training again, don't worry about him." She said dismissively. Krillin was surprised at how little Vegeta's mood seemed to bother her, but then he supposed that if she'd lived with him long enough to have a child with him, she must have developed some kind of resistance to the raging black cloud that seemed to follow Vegeta wherever he went. Krillin unashamedly admired Bulma's emotional fortitude.
The only other person who seemed to be completely oblivious to Vegeta's black aura, Mrs Briefs, walked over to Bulma and sighed happily.
"Now finally, Little Trunks can have his mommy back!" She said, giving the infant back over to her daughter. Little Trunks made happy babbling noises at his mother, who proceeded to make funny faces back at him. "Hey honey, now that Big Trunks has gone home, why don't we let your little friends stay for lunch?" Mrs Briefs suggested. Bulma looked up from her crossed eyes and oddly contorted tongue.
"That's a good idea Mom." She turned to face the gathered Z fighters. "So how about it, guys? Want to stay for a bite? Seeing as you all came quite a long way and all."
"Sure, if you don't mind, Mrs Briefs." Said Yamcha, and the others nodded as well.
*X*X*X*
Half an hour later saw everyone in the courtyard, relaxing and feasting on sandwiches, sausages and rice balls. Whilst Mrs Briefs was a western woman through and through, she had always prided herself on her cooking and hospitality for all her guests. So when Bulma had started bringing home lots of friends from the eastern part of the continent, she had made a special effort to learn cuisine which would make them feel more at home, and had now made rice balls one of her specialties.
Vegeta made no appearance, but Bulma didn't seem worried. Early on she went to drop off some food for him outside the gravity room before re-joining the party. Yamcha was just talking up his own part in the fight against Cell to impress Mrs Briefs when the doors of the courtyard burst open, and Piccolo came crashing in.
The greater shock occurred a moment later, and Krillin's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when Piccolo was followed inside by none other than Android Eighteen. He did a double take and rubbed his eyes. He felt the whoosh of air as she strode right past him. Nope, not seeing things. A moment later his eyes traveled downward and he saw that Eighteen's twin brother lay limp in her arms. Eighteen herself had an angry, driven look on her face, but it was Piccolo who spoke first.
"Bulma! We need your help!" He practically roared. Bulma was at their side in a moment.
"What's going on Piccolo?" her eyes flickered onto the body Eighteen was holding and widened in shock. "Is that...?"
"This is Android Seventeen, and he needs your help." Eighteen cut across her sharply. "Save my brother." The way she glared at Bulma reminded Krillin a great deal of Vegeta, and his first thought was that she'd picked the wrong woman to try to bully. Ignoring Eighteen, Bulma glanced at Piccolo, who nodded wordlessly, and only then Bulma did comply.
"Dad!" She called, and gesturing for Eighteen and Piccolo to follow, ran out of the courtyard towards the labs.
"Right!" Called Dr Briefs, and he immediately followed his daughter behind the two androids and the alien. Krillin, Gohan, and the rest of the party-goers gaped open-mouthed at the door through which they had disappeared. They looked at each other, dumbfounded expressions mirrored on every face in the room, and a moment later rushed after Bulma as well.
Only Mrs Briefs remained in the courtyard. She put one hand to her cheek and pouted.
"I guess that means no one's going to want seconds of the potato salad?" She asked to no one.
*X*X*X*
Krillin's brain was going a million miles an hour. What was she doing here? What had happened to Android Seventeen? And why did Eighteen need Bulma's help? For that matter, how did Piccolo get involved? He was worried. He could tell something was badly wrong, and he pushed especially fast through the many corridors of Capsule Corp Headquarters to catch up. Shortly he found them again in the lab which, though Krillin didn't realise, was the same one in which Bulma had designed the controller to shut down the androids. Bulma and Mr Briefs had called in several assistants, both robotic and human, all of whom were racing about the place trying to put things in order. Bulma was in her element.
"Lay him down there." She said to Eighteen, gesturing at a stainless steel workbench. Eighteen did so, and Bulma felt for a pulse. Even before she realised there wasn't one, she was calling, "Maguro! Ika! Get the emergency equipment we used to treat Vegeta, right now!" to two of her assistants. "Katsuo, a surgical kit!" She directed to another. All went running off in different directions at top speed, as her robotic assistants began to sterilize the various tools that might be needed, and they still had no idea exactly what needed to be done.
"Please! Tell me if I can help!" Called Krillin, feeling useless in the back corner even as he did so. They all turned to look at him, only just realising in all the commotion that he was there.
"I need to find out what's wrong first Krillin, I'll let you know if you can do anything." Replied Bulma, not unkindly. She turned to Eighteen. "Now while we're preparing, tell me what happened." At that moment the rest of the Z fighters caught up and waited in the doorway, looking in. Bulma quickly shooed them all away, except for Krillin. "Wait in the conference room next door guys!"
As soon as they were gone, Eighteen, gazing down at her brother's body, started to speak.
"When I found Seventeen he was already biologically dead, he had been for hours. But he has emergency cybernetic neurons in his brain, if you -"
"Program them correctly they'll restart his biological systems!" Bulma finished for her, looking exhilarated at the prospect. Eighteen looked at her sharply.
"How can you know that?" She demanded, but Bulma's assistant had reappeared with a full operating table and the equipment necessary for surgery.
"We don't have time for that!" Bulma replied, washing her hands thoroughly and putting on surgical gloves. "You can ask Krillin later. I just need to know one more thing - how did he die?" Eighteen did not retort to Bulma's refusal to answer her, too much was at stake for her to argue.
"He drowned."
"Okay, thanks. You'll need to go now."
"What?"
Bulma looked at her very directly. "This isn't going to be pretty, and it isn't something I want an audience for."
"I'm not going anywhere, this is my twin brother!" Eighteen replied hotly.
"Gohan!" Bulma yelled. Moments later Gohan appeared, looking alarmed.
"What is it Bulma?" He asked nervously. Bulma was sterilising equipment and didn't lift her head.
"Get Android Eighteen out of here; I don't want her watching this." Gohan looked helplessly from Bulma to Eighteen, who didn't look at all like she was going to be moved. For a moment it looked like Gohan was going to have to fight to get Eighteen out, and no one was looking forward to it.
The next thing any of them knew Krillin had rushed forward and gently took Eighteen's hand. She looked down at him, and her panic reminded him very much of a cornered animal. He squeezed her hand a little in his.
"It's okay Eighteen. I know how worried you must be, but Bulma's a genius, and there's no one in the world who could help Seventeen more than she could. Please trust her. Everything will be alright, you just have to let her do what she needs to do." She just stared at him, and it was almost like seeing a light go out of her eyes. Her head turned slowly back towards her brother, and Krillin felt the resistance leave her body. She was totally unresponsive to the contact of Krillin's hand, but at least she was no longer fighting. Slowly, gently, and to everyone's astonishment, Krillin lead her by the hand out of the room.
*X*X*X*
A/N: A note on names. Bulma's assistants all keep in with the running DBZ theme of naming characters after foods. In this case, they are named after types of sushi. Maguro is raw tuna, Ika is squid, and Katsuo is bonito.
Also, that final dialogue with Future Trunks is taken directly from the last episode of the Cell Saga, so I don't take credit for that, I'm just keeping the story canon compliant.
Please review and tell me what you thought!