~0~0~
Wind beat at her face, wobbled her cheeks and sliced the tips of her ears. Chichi bit back a curse. Damn Piccolo to hell! Honestly. It would be easier to crush a rock with a feather than to reason with the green numskull. Why was he being so damn stubborn?
Shielding her eyes from the biting slash of the wind, Chichi twisted in Piccolo's arms. Once more, she pitched her voice higher than the roar of the wind and shouted into his ear: "You have to take me to Goku!"
"No." The irritation in Piccolo's voice carried over the roar of the wind. "I promised Gohan I'd get you to safety and that's what I'm going to do."
"No!" Chichi shouted; impatiently brushing away strands of wayward hair from her eyes. She wished she could bury her face against him, the force of the wind was actually quiet painful. It crashed against her pale cheeks like a series of super saiyan slaps. But there was no time to think about discomfort, she had to reason with him. "Listen damn you! I have to go to him. I have to— "
"You'll only be in the way." Piccolo cut her off. He twisted his body and soared them higher and faster into the sky. Oh Kami, she held on for dear life with cloud-white knuckles. Her ears ringing, her teeth chattering.
Below, everything was a mesh of unidentifiable greens and browns. She couldn't tell what was what. She couldn't see any people or animals. The world looked nothing like she was used to. The air smelled of wet rock and soil from the overturned earth, and the lingering stench of wood-smoke from the charred forest dirtied the air.
Every inch of her throbbed from her earlier fall into the deep earth. She could barely keep her one good eye open; the wind was too feral. Honestly, it was all she could do, just to hold on to her sanity.
But, Goku was in trouble ... the discomforts of her body and everything else be damned. "You're not listening Piccolo!" She shrilled, twisting her arm and jabbing him as hard as she could on his side. She was so frustrated she was seriously contemplating biting him.
"No." He stopped, mid-air. "You are not listening." His face an inscrutable mask. "As he is now, you wouldn't even come close. You'd be blown away by his Ki alone from miles away. There is no place for you on that battlefield."
It was all she could do not to raise her knee and nail him in the nuts— if he even had such things. Kais give her strength to deal with stubborn men!
"I keep telling you." She grit her teeth. "There is no battle. There is no enemy. It was just the two of us out there when he suddenly lost the plot!"
"Just because you couldn't sense it— "
"Damnit Piccolo!" Chichi pushed back more hair from her face. "There is no one. Nothing. Please just ... just listen to me!"
Of course he did not. He just narrowed his eyes, shook his head, held her tighter, and shot off into the air once again. This time he flew them so fast, it felt like all her skin and muscle was peeling away from her bones. Damn him!
With no other choice, Chichi beat on his chest. Thrashed in his arms. Anything to gain his attention. It was no good. She could very well have been a pebble attempting to hold in a torrent.
"Kami!" She began "Kami!" Surely the former guardian buried somewhere deep within him would be more reasonable. She pulled on his large ear and shouted as loud as she could. "Kami!" She pleaded. "If you're in there somewhere inside this obstinate, insufferable— "
"Enough!" Piccolo roared, screeching to a halt. The action was so sudden, she nearly emptied her stomach on him. "I am taking you to the Lookout Chichi, and that's that!"
Her temper flared. How dare he? How dare ... No. No. She took a calming breath and forced her temper down. The way the world below was roiling ... No. There was no time to lose her temper. No time to blister his big ears with her rage.
"Piccolo," she opted for pleading. "Please listen." She had to convince him. Had to. Had to. "Goku is in trouble," she swallowed. "I feel it." Her heart was a hopeless child, pounding incessantly inside her chest, begging noisily for attention. "He's not himself Piccolo. I have to see him. I have to explain that I— "
"Piccolo!" A crackling shout split the air from beneath the clouds below them. "Oi! Piccolo!" Thunderous. It reverberated in the air like a gunshot.
They both turned.
Tien came floating through the clouds; white cape flapping in the wind. "Piccolo. Chichi." He greeted gravely. "I came as soon as I felt it."
Chichi could not help but notice that his face looked heavily marred with worry. "What's going on?" He inquired.
Yes! This was her chance! She had to enlist him. If Piccolo would not listen then ... Tien may be her only chance. "Tien I— "
"Tien. You came." Piccolo cut her off.
"Of course."
"Good timing," said Piccolo. "It's past time I was out there." His green face was grave as he nodded towards the distance.
Was that a tremble in his voice? It seemed to her that for the first time since swooping her up, something other than immense impatience and boredom stole into his voice. And Chichi was suddenly ashamed.
As blaise as he carried himself — half of him was earth's former guardian and the other half was Gohan's greatest supporter. She knew just how much this planet and its inhabitants— especially Gohan —meant to him. Of course Piccolo was worried.
"Take her." He maneuvered his body to hand her over to Tien.
"Get her to safety."
"No!" Her reaction was instinctive. She clung to him.
"Chichi." His jaw tightened. "You have to— " he attempted to pry her off of him.
She would have none of it. She wrapped her legs around his waist and dug into his flesh with her fingers. Her nails.
"We don't have time for this!" Piccolo practically roared.
No matter. She would never let go. Not until he agreed to take her to Goku. "I keep telling you," she shrilled. "I have to get to Goku! You're the one wasting time you overgrown— "
She chomped down a scream.
Pain burned a path down her collar and arm like a hot poker was in the place of her bones. He was digging into her injured shoulder. Digging with cold calculated brutality.
"Gohan is in trouble." His eyes were cold. "This is just a warning."
Chichi could barely breathe from the pain while Piccolo's face remained utterly stoic. "Chichi. Let go. Or I'll really make you."
Her stomach sank like a stone as her breath caught in her throat and strangled her with absolute terror. Gohan? ... Her Gohan ... in ... trouble? "Piccolo. I have to come with— "
She wasn't prepared to be flung from him. No matter what he'd said. She wasn't prepared.
She went flying backward through the air and slammed shoulder first into Tien. "Ow! Damnit!" How much bumping and banging would she endure in one day?
Tien wrapped an arm around her waist; belting her into him.
"Take her to the Lookout." Was Piccolo's final word before he zoomed out of view.
For a moment, all she could do was stare at the spot he'd just disappeared from. He'd left her. The bastard was really gone.
Panic gripped her. Engulfed her like a chorus of a thousand screams. Gohan was in trouble. It smothered the very air like a sulphurous fog, poisoning her ability to take in good clean breaths.
If Gohan had attempted to intercept Goku ... she had no way of knowing for sure but from that horrible howling from earlier, she suspected that he'd somehow lapsed into that mindless Super Ozaru form. And if he had ... Gods!
Every cell in her body cried out with urgency. She had to see him. Had to talk to him. With an agonized moan, she forced herself to turn over in Tien's arms. She had to reason with him.
"Tien. You have to listen— " she began rapidly. But at the first unobstructed view of her ... Tien sucked in a breath.
"My God! Chichi! What happened to you?"
She supposed she looked a fright. Blood and dirt crusted her face. Her eye had most probably gone from swollen purple to a burgeoning black. And those were just the visible things.
She pushed some hair to her face and shrugged. More important than what had happened to her was what would happen to all of them if she didn't get to Goku in time.
"There's-no-time-to-explain," her breath whooshed out in a run along word. "I know Piccolo thinks it's best to leave me at the Lookout, but he's wrong. Goku's gone Ozaru and— "
Tien blanched. "But ... it's not even a full moon!"
"I know," she swallowed. "I know."
"So how? I thought his tail— "
"Tien. Focus. We must hurry. You have to take me to him."
"If he's really in that state then Piccolo has the right of it."
"No. No." Chichi shook her head. Damn it! How to make him understand? If only desperation were married to eloquence, life would be so much easier. "Tien," she paused. "Piccolo is wrong."
He was shaking his head. Already disagreeing before she could explain. "No Chichi. I agree with Piccolo. I'll take you to the
Look— "
"Piccolo is not human!" She burst. "He does not understand! He is just an asexual being!"
Tien raised an eyebrow at this outburst.
"Look," she licked her dry lips. "He thinks there's an enemy. He thinks Goku is reacting to some threat. Some enemy he cannot sense. So he's blind to the truth." She swallowed. "He's not listening. Goku is reacting to us. So I'm counting on you to listen. You are his friend. "
Tien took a moment to asses her, which gave her hope. At least he looked like he'd stop and listen. Really listen. Unlike Piccolo who'd dismissed her entirely.
"Explain." All 3 eyes bored down on her.
She bit down hard on her bottom lip. "He's not wholly mindless. Not in the usual way. I think." She added quickly. Honestly, she was just guessing.
"What are you saying?
"He's lucid. Talking. Screaming really ... but ... words ... sentences. He's looking for me, I think. He— "
Tien narrowed his eyes. He did not have to say a word. All 3 eyes were doing the talking. And their glare said: Woman. You had better tell me the whole story if you want me to take you seriously.
Chichi sighed. There was nothing to it but to start at the beginning.
"We were all at Gohan's house with the baby," she began reluctantly. "After we put her to sleep, Goku and I went out for a walk. Just the two of us." A pang. Goku had been magnificent with Pan. He'd really come through for them with the name. "It was such a happy occasion." Her voice trembled. "We talked. We laughed." A bittersweet smile. "It was ... it was just like old times." How the memory burned. If she'd only known how things would end ... she never would have ... Kami! If only she'd just let him take her to Dende! If only she'd not chastised him, then maybe ... maybe things would not have ...
"Chichi ... I'm waiting." Tien injected rather impatiently.
"I asked him not to touch me so freely," she swallowed. Her eyes choosing to focus on the white clouds below them. "We'd been having such a good time. But we're not married anymore so I ... I just wanted to keep to the boundaries."
Huh. It almost burned her tongue to say that. Boundaries ... yeah right. More like his touch had made her burn. Had made her long and want. Feverishly like he always had. Always would most probably. But Tien need never know that.
Chichi did not have to look at Tien to know that he was judging her. She could just feel the condemnation in his 3 eyed gaze.
"Anyway," she rolled her shoulders. "After I told him not to touch me ... his demeanor changed. And then he asked about ... about Sekei." She paused. There was no getting around it. She had to tell Tien who Sekei was. "Sekei is ... he's— "
"The astronaut. Your boyfriend. I know. Everyone knows." Tien said distastefully. "Spare me the lurid details."
Chichi stiffened.
Well then. It seemed that everyone knew her business. Why they all took it so personally was beyond her. She was almost 5 years divorced for crying out loud! There was nothing lurid about having a boyfriend. So Tien could take his condemnation and—
"Well?" His voice was harsh. Irritable. "Then what?"
"Then it all went downhill," she injected rather harshly herself.
"He thinks I'm going to marry him. Or something. He— "
"Are you?"
She sucked in a breath. Tien's eyes had gone cold. So cold.
"I— ," she caught her lower lip with her teeth and bit down. "It's not as if he's proposed!"
Tien just made a disgusted grunt. "Is that what you told Goku?"
"I didn't get the chance to tell him anything!" Her stomach clenched painfully. "You should have seen his face Tien. It was— " she shuddered. "I was frightened. He just— ", she took a deep breath. "He just lost it," her eyes shuttered. "Like ... something was eating him up from the inside. And he just ... not deliberately but he was so out of control that his power just blew me away." "
Just thinking back to those last moments with Goku ... God.
She trembled. Her hands. Her body. She shook so badly in Tien's arms that he had to adjust his hold to keep her steady.
He didn't speak. Didn't react. He just floated, holding her. Staring— hard. It felt like he was sweeping her eyes aside and staring right into her brain. Searching. Sorting. Judging.
She'd never felt so small. So culpable. She was thousands of feet in the air, at his mercy while he judged her. Judged her and most probably found her guilty. If she could fly ...
"Vegeta suspected something like this." Tien broke the silence. "But this is Goku we're talking about so ... we could hardly credit it."
Shock stilled the air in her lungs. Of all the things she'd expected Tien to say ... this was ... She could hardly believe her own ears. "What?"
"Vegeta tried to warn us but— "
"Vegeta spoke to you?"
"No," he shook his head. "Not to me personally. Obviously." A self deprecating smile. "He spoke to Bulma. She spoke to Krilin and Yamcha. They called all of us together to discuss it. It was a long time ago. 2 to 3 years back." He frowned as if chasing an elusive memory. "But we all agreed that Vegeta was mistaken."
Her pulse pounded uncontrollably. "Just what—" She could barely recognize her own voice. It had shrunk. Shrivelled. Barely there at all. "—did Vegeta say?"
"That Goku would snap without you. That it was a saiyan thing."
Her body tensed. Clicked. Locked itself up true and tight. "Preposterous!" She blurted.
Tien shrugged. "We too dismissed it as preposterous. It seemed rather ... far fetched," he said almost apologetically.
She barely heard him. Her rang. Her head buzzed. "Impossible," she added weakly. Utterly ridiculous. Goku had spent years without her. First 7. Then 10. Then 35. He'd gotten along just fine. Brilliantly actually. He'd thrived.
She'd been the one to snap. To lose it. To go mental. She'd been the one in the clutches of shrinks and drugs. Years of therapy. Antidepressants. Antipsychotics. She shuddered just thinking about that old Chichi.
So she knew. She knew like a baby was born knowing how to suckle that whatever saiyan thing Vegeta had been on about did not apply to Goku. She had 55 years of proof.
You saw —a voice in the recesses of her mind whispered like a demon's breath. You were there. You saw his face— the voice insisted.
And she had. She had. But, she refused to believe it. She knew better. She might have upset him but ... there had to be more to this. There had to be more. Another reason. Another variable to this madness.
"We better hurry then." Tien pronounced, his thoughts presumably reconciled. "I'll take you to Goku. Let's see for ourselves what the fuss is all about."
Oh, relief was a big-winged bird on her shoulder. It picked off the spine-clenching tension off her back and flew it away with a whoosh of its big wings. She slackened into Tien's hold. One arm looped around her waist, holding her in place, Tien dove down into the windswept clouds.
~0~0~
As Piccolo descended, he couldn't help but notice that the world below was pink.
What looked like parts of Buu were everywhere. Fat. Slimy. Gelatinous blobs. They slithered the charred terrain. Inching together; mending and kneading like dough on a possessed mission.
What the hell was going on? Where was this enemy?
Fury hummed in the air. Dark. Twisted. Ready to devour. It radiated from the red Thing on the ground. The Thing swishing its tail like a cobra.
Though he wanted to deny it with his every breath ... there was no mistaking it. That red Thing swishing and bristling its crimson tail was Goku. Despite the dramatic transformation, Piccolo knew. Would recognize him anywhere. The only thing was that his Ki ... well, never mind his Ki.
More importantly — Vegeta was down. More than just down. The Prince was broken and twisted in ways he found impossible to comprehend. What manner of enemy had done this? And done it so quickly?
Whipping around, he honest to God couldn't sense it. Was it hiding? Was it invisible? Or one of those beings that emitted no discernible Ki? One thing was for sure— it had to be stupidly strong to force Goku into whatever transformation this was.
More importantly: Gohan and Gotenks were in sorry shape. They were beaten and bloody; with barely enough Ki to hold themselves up. Even more alarming than their sorry shape was the way they were both staring at Goku. They stared with a frustration and anger. And that ... Piccolo could not wrap his mind around what he was seeing. Did not want to wrap his mind around what he was beginning to suspect because either he was dreaming or ... the kids were staring at their father as if he were the enemy. Which ... which was utter lunacy.
He was just about to touch down and make his presence known when— Gotenks screamed, charging at Goku with incredible speed.
His heart thumped. Charging at Goku?
Gohan screamed, "Gotenks! No!" as he too came barreling in like a tornado, hammering full body against Goku's chest.
Piccolo sucked in a breath. What. The. Fuck?
Goku batted Gohan away with such force that Piccolo found himself stunted. No.
"Gotenks!" Gohan went flying as he bellowed. He hit the dirt with a sickening thud. A crater rippled and spread the earth in a cup shaped hole from the impact.
Wha—
Heart in his throat, Piccolo whipped his neck back to Gotenks' direction in time to catch the sound of cracking bones.
No.
Goku or whatever Thing he'd turned into had just ... stomped his boot down on the teen's chest.
No. No. No. This was all wrong. All wrong. There was no way this was happening! There was no time to stand around contemplating the situation because—
"Goku!" the scream flew out his mouth— "Don't!" —before he even had time to think it.
An awful, woeful gagging tore from Gotenks and Piccolo's body was already propelling forward before he'd even made a conscious decision to move. To careen forth and snatch the teen from beneath the deadly boot screaming, "No!" even though he knew with a sickening certainty that the Goku-Thing meant to finish the fused teen off. That it meant to stomp and obliterate the last remnants of his life.
It's gaze was flat. Lifeless. Opaque as mud. It raised its boot once more.
"Light Grenade!" Piccolo's movement was preceded by the blinding yellow light of his attack. But even as that fizzled away harmlessly against the monstrous Thing, Piccolo knew, knew deep down in his Namekian bones that he was much too slow. He would not reach Gotenks in time to save him.
"Don't!" He heard Gohan's desperate howl from where he'd been flung, ecchoing his own panic. His own helpless, sickened despair.
Mid-hurtle, Piccolo stopped a breath away in shock.
The Thing's boot had stopped. It hovered a mere inch away from the crumpled figure of what used to be Gotenks' face. The individual boys within the fused teen had separated, and for some reason, the phenomenon seemed to have made the Thing take pause.
Its eyes burned into the two de-fused teens. Its black pupils swallowed in a roiling swell of yellow irises.
Piccolo couldn't be sure since its eyes were unmoving but, if he had to guess, he'd say that It seemed puzzled. Fascinated.
A quick glance to his left confirmed that yes, Gohan was okay. The Kid looked worse for wear but he was already scrabling to his feet. That knowledge ... that was enough to calm his racing pulse for the moment.
Cautiously, while It remained momentarily stunted by the de-fusion, Piccolo took his chance. He reached out with his senses to examine, to analyse and learn more of what they were dealing with.
Gods! He nearly doubled over. The water he'd replenished himself with curdled in his gut, tried to claw its way up. How could—
It turned its head. Fixed him with a fiery eye as if It somehow knew he was probing It.
Piccolo retracted his mental talons instantly. By Guru! How had this come to be? Was this really Goku? This monstrous, icy Thing pulsing beneath the gentle saiyan's skin? There was such a huge and twisted appetite for destruction in it that it could not be Goku. Its eyes were dark and bottomless. Flighty, shadowy wings of things left undescribed.
Suddenly he felt sick to his stomach.
"Ah. Piccolo," It spoke. Its voice — Its voice was ice. Hearing it sent prickles down his skin.
Unfortunately, hearing It speak so eloquently killed off any mindless Ozaru theory he'd been toying with. Shit. That theory was the only thing his mind could come up with, could cope with, with regards to this situation.
Gohan chose that moment to touch down beside him, clutching at his shoulder, breathing hard. His Ki was dismal but otherwise the Kid was not seriously harmed. No doubt he was also debating the wisdom of attempting to snatch the two fallen boys lying unconscious by Goku's feet.
"You're with them?" It spoke again. Its eyes — they bored into him like one of those human drills. Piccolo had the sense that there were nightmares of horrors untold written in those eyes.
"Them?" Piccolo frowned. "Them who?" He was so confused! What the hell had happened? Why was Goku fighting his children?!
When the Goku-Thing didn't respond, Piccolo turned towards Gohan. Them? He mouthed. Them who? But the Kid just shook his head. He had the look of someone who'd long since despaired of chasing the elusive.
"You stand with these Saiyans?" It spat the word saiyan like it was poison in Its mouth. And again those eyes. He just couldn't get over seeing the gentle saiyan with eyes like this: blades, millions of sharp edges that could spill blood in the blink of an eye. "You'll soon pay for that."
Piccolo bristled. What the bloody fuck?! What was going on here? What nonsense had infected this Goku-Thing? Because there was enough anger in Its quiet statement to crack worlds in half. To obliterate entire universes.
"You better bring me up to speed real quick Kid," he said. But Gohan didn't say a word. Jaw tight, the Kid didn't utter a single word.
"Tell me Piccolo." Its voice was filled with curious contempt. "What trick is this?" It gouged Its eyes on the two de-fused boys. It stared at them with odd steadiness. Its gaze passing over their hair. Their Faces. Their bodies ... leaving nothing unexplored.
"What are they?" Its eyes glittered a dull gold. "Where has Vegeta been hiding them?"
Piccolo would have torn out his hair if he had any. What the flying fuck was Goku on about?
The Goku-Thing cocked Its head and stared blankly at Goten. "It has my face. Why?"
Piccolo had had enough. He didn't feel like answering stupid questions. He'd taken in as much of this absurd situation as he could stomach.
Right then. Time to think.
Vegeta would be no help to them. Unless Buu recovered quickly enough to do something about him ... he'd be dead within minutes. Hi Ki was that negligible. His body lay a ways away in a crater, broken beyond any real hope.
Goten and Trunks were in bad shape and lay motionless at Its feet. Hopefully they would remain unconscious long enough for him to figure things out.
Buu was gathering his obliterated parts thank goodness. He'd be a great help once he was whole again. They needed Vegeta for this. With Dende at the Lookout, Buu was the only hope the saiyan prince had.
Piccolo ignored the Goku-Thing altogether and turned to his left. "Gohan," he began to say, "I have an id—"
"Don't you dare say his name!" A bloodcurdling howl shattered the still air as the Thing sledgehammered a fist across his face. Wha—
The force was so strong it would have torn a normal man's head clean from his shoulders. Even with his massive strength, Piccolo's head snapped back. He literally saw stars. Shockingly the rest of him was knocked to the ground.
"Piccolo no!" He thought he heard Gohan scream. But his ears rang, and a barrage of fists were pummeling into his ribs with what felt like the speed of light times a thousand.
He might have made a strangled sound somewhere in the back of his throat. He couldn't be certain. He could barely think. He was being pounded too fast to react. To defend. To do anything but fold in. Blood pooled in his mouth. Breathing became a chore. He was nothing but a slab of meat under a mallet. Pounded. Tenderized. The pain was too acute to do anything but numb him.
He tried to raise his arms to block but he couldn't move. He—
Everything shook. Fierce bouts of lightning scourged, kicking up a vicious storm of sand and rock-needles. The world—
"He looked up to you!" the Thing's nostrils flared. "You had the power to save him! You had the power to save them all but you— "
"I am right here!" somehow Gohan shoved himself between them. Taking on the blows.
Piccolo tried to blink, but his one eye— it wouldn't respond. He tried to stand but he couldn't summon enough Ki to allow it. Cursing, he wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his wrist, heaved and tried once again to stand.
It was inconceivable that he was this damaged already. He had to get up. Now.
He staggered to his feet and swayed, falling back down in an instant. God damn it! Gohan was not even attempting to fight back! He was just standing between them. Taking-on the wrath of the Thing's fists. Fists meant for him.
"I am not dead!" The Kid screamed. "I am not dead!"
God damn it! He had to get up. Had to get Gohan out of the way. The Kid may be hoping to reason with the Thing but clearly whatever had come over Son was impenetrable right now.
"Please Dad! Snap out it." Exhaustion. Desperation. Horror. The Kid's pleas were crammed full of them. "Please!" he begged "Dad, please— "
A loud roar. A strangled hiss. Piccolo felt it. Something blacker than black was heightening — cramming the pores of existence with something terrible.
Gohan's pleas seemed to have enraged It beyond endurance. It's tail struck, coiled tightly around his neck, and the next thing Piccolo knew, Gohan was dangling in the air.
"Gohan! No!" The Goku-Thing shook him like a rag doll. Gohan's teeth clacked. His bones rattled—
No. No. No! "Stop," Piccolo croaked. God's it hurt to talk. He was pretty sure his ribs were shattered. His lungs pierced. Hovering at the brink of collapse. It hurt. It hurt. But Gohan—
It's tail coiled even tighter around his neck. Squeezing. Crushing. Choking the life from him.
No. Not Gohan. Anyone but Gohan. Bile rose in Piccolo's throat. "Stop it!"
Gohan's face: bleak and exhausted; bloody and pale; eyes rolling to the back of his head — Piccolo's exhaustion depleted in an instant.
He shot up.
A barrage of blasts burst from his hands. Wild, frenzied.
No. Not Gohan. Not while there was breath in him. He had to save him. But all his blasts were useless. They barely singed the rotten bastard's thick coat of red fur. Motherfucker! As suddenly as he'd shot up — Piccolo was dangling too. Choking. His vision a hazy blur. He wheezed, air trapped between his brutalized ribs. Not reaching his deprived lungs.
The Thing had him by the throat too. Damn it! It's thick fingers squeezing. The pressure in his throat mounting.
"You should have saved him!" It ranted in his face. Spikes of thick dark hair hissing like daggers around Its corded neck.
Black spots filled his head. Saved who? He wanted to say. Just who the hell was he supposed to have saved? He could barely think. Let alone speak.
"Now," Its voice was eerily quiet. Those eyes again — they were truly unhinged. "Tell me where he's hiding my wife and I'll let you die quickly."
Wha— His wife? What the bloody— Ah. So this was it. Piccolo understood completely now. Goku had literally lost his damn mind. This unholy transformation, this hideous form, had come at a great cost. Goku may have increased his strength by unfathomable magnitudes, but his mind ... his mind was gone. Overrun by madness. He sensed the gist of it in his distorted Ki. Tasted the strength of it in the blood pooling in his mouth. Goku's insanity was sharp and jagged; filling the whole earth with edges.
"Where. Is. She?" A hurricane raged around Its skyrocketing Ki. Particles of dust whirled thickly; Piccolo could no longer see an arm's length ahead of him. He squinted, thrashed, to no avail.
"Where. Is. She?!" The pressure around his neck was so tight he was beginning to worry that his head would explode long before he suffocated to death.
He raised both arms, dug into Goku's arm. Fuck. The hairy limb had him in a vice grip. Unconsciousness knocked. Peered at him with each squeeze of the Thing's fingers. Threatened to drag him into the darkness if he didn't get a grip.
He refused to surrender. He had no idea what Son was on about but, he had to save Gohan. He would not let him die. Not like this. Not on the day his daughter was born.
"Where is Vegeta hiding her?" The Thing ranted, Its face contorting in choppy grooves like the rapid katas of mad men.
Piccolo blinked. Vegeta?
"I know he's hiding her!" It's stomp was a meteor that split the earth wide.
Vegeta? Had the transformation turned Son into an even bigger idiot than normal? What kind of lame theatrics was he trying to pull? "If you want your wife so damn bad Goku," he hissed between ragged breaths. By Guru it hurt to talk. "Why not just sense her Ki and get her already!" He bit out.
The Thing blinked. Rapidly. Shook Its head and closed Its eyes. Was it scanning for her?
It's face twitched and pinched with tension. Scrunching in thick bundles.
Huh? Piccolo didn't understand. Couldn't It sense her? He could. Easily and clearly. In fact ... shit! It felt as if she were on her way here. Damn that Tien!
"I can't," the Thing slumped. And Piccolo had to believe it was true because It's face was mauled by lacerations of frustration. As if It needed to justify the failings of Its Ki sense, it screamed: "Vegeta has her in the Shadows!"
Shadows. Right. Where else would Vegeta supposedly have her? Never mind the fact that Vegeta was lying in a crater no doubt of Goku's making, barely hanging on to his life. Honestly, he would have rolled his eyes if the situation was not so desperate.
"I can't sense her. I can't sense her anywhere!" It looked wildly about—
Piccolo could absolutely not believe this shit! But ... if it was really Chichi the mad son-of-a-bitch wanted then—
"Let the Kid go," he wheezed, nodding towards Gohan. His chest felt hot. Tight. Crushed beneath a massive weight. "A-And I'll t-tell you where she is."
"Oof!" Grunting in pain, he fell to the side, kicking up dust as It tore Its fingers from around his throat.
Heh. He supposed he should have listened to Chichi. Maybe then he would have avoided being tossed around like a worthless piece of garbage.
It dropped Gohan too. Piccolo saw him fall to the ground through the thick fog of dust swirling around them. Looks like he'd bought them a few seconds of reprieve. Thank goodness.
Dizzily, he rubbed at his neck. He had to think! There was no telling how much of this madness they'd all survive. He clamored to his feet, stumbled and ground his teeth against the persistent wave of dizziness.
"Where. Is. She?"
Right. The mad beast Thing wanted his ex. How dare the likes of him take a moment to breathe. He coughed, holding in his ribs. It was time to end this farce. "I gave her to Tien."
A sharp intake of breath. "You— " the Thing visibly recoiled, then shuddered.
Piccolo watched in fascination as the Thing raked Its fingers through the thick spikes of Its edged hair. He thought for sure It was about to tear Its own scalp out.
"Y-You gave her— " It breathed in strange little gasps. Then It clenched its teeth to keep at bay what Piccolo could only assume to be a sob rising in Its veined throat. "Even Tien," It rasped, Its chest expanding in rapid breaths. "Even Tien would— "
Piccolo couldn't breathe for the despair and horror wrung in Its face. This was the face of the real Goku. Though he looked kind of broken. Maimed inside. A man suffering the helpless misery of not knowing what to do.
Just what the bloody hell did he suppose Tien would do with that shrieking ex wife of his?! Eat her?
Ah. Shit. Here we go. He felt it the instant the mad Saiyan's despair turned. Morphed and transformed into something else. And he knew with a cold prophetic chill that the else would be a hellish thing. A bursting, shattering thing that could pierce the very crust of the planet with its violence. And when the last shards of that momentary despair fizzled away, Piccolo knew that he had been right.
He knew it the second the mad Thing turned those eyes on him.
They were dark. More than Dark. They were the utter, absolute absence of light. Of life. They were the tales of things undescribed that the Kais whispered to lesser Gods about ancient Demons and evils that swallowed up all light. Consumed all life.
And they were cold. Brimming with unspent rage.
"Die." It said, deadly soft.
Piccolo sagged, watched in morbid fascination as the dark Thing pulled out Its bloodied hand from somewhere deep inside him.
"Piccolo — No!" Piccolo barely heard Gohan's scream careen across the emptiness. There was a hole where Its fist had been. An empty, gaping, cauterized hole.
"Goku — No!" A new voice. A shrill voice rang from above. It shrieked so loud, it practically shattered what was left of the battle torn earth and the eardrums of anyone in its wake. And yet to Piccolo, it was the sweetest, most blessed sound he'd had ever heard.
"Heh," blood gurgled in his chest. So, Tien and Chichi had come after all.
Hearing it too, the Thing swiveled it's massive neck, eyes snapping up into the sky.
"Chi," It croaked. And when Its eyes caught sight of the pale woman in Tien's arms, all the madness that had infused It before seemed to just drain away.
It shot into the air.
Heh ... Piccolo hit the ground with his knees. If he'd had more energy he would have laughed. As it was — instant darkness blotted out his world like a blob of black, viscous asphalt.
~0~0~
"Goku — No!" Chichi's heart slammed like an unsecured shutter in a windstorm.
Tien lowered them through the clouds. Fast. Even so, they were too late. Too late.
There was a hole. A hole in Piccolo's abdomen. Goku had just ...
Bile bubbled at the back of her throat.
Piccolo was ...
It was impossible. Impossible that it had come to this. The day had started with so much promise: The future traitor — Rheucus, booted out of the council. Pan, born beautiful and healthy. She and Goku ... they'd gotten on well, schemed together for Pan's rightful name.
Everything had started out so well.
Now ... she was ... they were all knee deep in a nightmare.
Those were her children down there. Her babies and they were—
Oh Gods! What had he done? What had Goku done? "Tien," she gripped him. "Quickly! Fly me down. The children, we have to help them!"
Instead of doing her bidding, Tien stiffened. Shoved her behind him. His broad frame casting her in shadow.
"Tien what are— " she gasped, heart lodging in her throat. Oh god.
Tail bristling. Jaw tight. Goku was before them.
His eyes ... Gods, his eyes! They choked off what little breath remained inflated in her lungs.
"G-Goku?" Tien choked. Probably unbelieving of what he was seeing.
Chichi didn't blame him. She knew this form. Yet, not quite like this. Not with those eyes. Not after seeing what he'd just done to Piccolo. A formless black terror rammed in her chest, had her gasping for air for a moment before she imposed control over her breathing again.
Goku's eyes narrowed. When he spoke, his voice filled her blood with ice. "Tien."
One word.
Just that one word and her stomach roiled. There was enough anger there to reduce the earth to ash. She couldn't help it, she burrowed into Tien's hold ... suddenly not at all sure that she wanted to be anywhere near Goku. Why had she insisted on coming here again?
She'd been so sure that she could help. Now ... Now she was not sure. Now she was worried. Her mind had turned traitor because she had seen what he had just done. And Goku, her Goku would never, ever—
Below, Buu kneeled over Piccolo. Thank God. Thank God. She could see Gohan clutching at his shoulder, at his neck...
Trunks and Goten were not not moving. But, Piccolo was. Buu had saved him, thank god. Thank those selfish, egotistical Gods.
Buu raced to ... who was that? Oh no! Vegeta! He was ... horror built in her chest, it mounted and mounted and threatened to burst through tissue and bone and flesh.
What had he done? What had he done to their children! To Vegeta? Wha—
"What have you been doing to my wife?"
Her eyes snapped back. The sound of that voice? That voice that was Goku but not Goku at all? She didn't just burrow into Tien, she tried to go inside him.
"Nothing," said Tien, swallowing.
Chichi had to hand it to him. In the face of Goku's obvious malevolence, most people would have buckled. He was her husband — well ex-husband, but, even she was scared. Terrified. Horrified.
Not Tien apparently. He held himself perfectly still.
"Nothing?" Goku reiterated softly. "She did that to herself?" His his eyes raked her from top to toe. His mouth ticking up in a snarl. "She bloodied her own face? Beat her own eye closed?"
"She was already like this when I found her. Goku, I swear— "
"Did she tear off her clothes too Tien?" Goku's fists were trembling. "Cut and bruise her own body?" His voice too soft. Too soft. "You think I'm too stupid to know what that big stomach means?" He pointed to her midsection with a long beefy finger. "You think I don't know what you all did to put that baby in there?"
Chichi blinked. Wha — What? She glanced down at her stomach. Her perfectly flat stomach. Hollow even, given how hungry she was. She gaped at him. What baby?!
Goku wasn't looking at her. His eyes blazed, lips peeled back in a snarl. "How. Could. You?"
Tien turned fully around. Held her out and stared at her stomach in horror. Like he too was seeing something there. "I never!" He denied in a gasp, whirling back around. "I would never."
A snarl. "Liar."
"He is not lying!" Chichi found her voice. Just what kind of nonsense was going on in that head of his? "Goku," she said tentatively. "Tien is not lying." Was Goku mad? Mad? "He didn't— " She began to defend him, but shook her head as anger once more found a ladder in her. What nonsense had gotten into him? "I am not—"
She didn't even get to finish.
Goku had moved. A sudden dark wind and she was no longer in Tien's arms.
She tried to breathe and couldn't. She was pressed to him. Against him. Like he wanted to press her all the way inside him. He touched her. Kissed her. His lips everywhere. On her face, on her—
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he half choked, half sobbed. "I shouldn't'a trusted him." His eyes were wild, tormented. Eyes of a soul so wounded his very existence was unbearable to him. And she didn't understand. She didn't understand. He was all over her, "ChiChi I —"
Something yanked him. Pulled him clean off of her.
Wha —, large purple lips crashed against his mouth.
Blood roared in her ears. It took time for her brain to process it all. Three people had just appeared out of nowhere. One of them was Baba, the other Kibito Kai.
The third was no Kai, despite the purple hair. It was some kind of female entity, aglow with a silver light. It was this impudent entity that had snatched Goku right out of her arms. Kissing him.
The roar of pain from her bruised body dulled. Her eye thinned into a slit and zeroed in on them. It was too late. Goku dropped from the purple-headed beings clutches. He dropped and fell from the sky like a heavy stone.
"Goku!" Her heart lurched, body instinctively reaching out for him, but Tien's hold on her was firm.
None of the others moved to catch him, though they were all fast enough to do so. They were all still undoubtedly caught in the sharp edged coils of the barbed wire that was their shock.
His body hit the earth with a dust raising thud.
One.
Two.
Three seconds ... and the air itself didn't dare breathe.
Four.
Five.
Six seconds ... and he still didn't stir.
A small wind swept up more dust around him as the charred earth exhaled.
Nine.
Ten seconds and finally, finally there was a blur of movement.
"Buu!" Gohan was the first to recover. "Quickly! Heal Trunks and Goten!" He commanded. "Piccolo! Check Dad!"
Chichi heard these commands and others over the strangled cry coming from a distraught Trunks as he came to. Buu's light still glowing around him.
"Father!" She faintly heard the teen's cry as he wrestled himself out of Buu's healing touch.
Someone else was groaning as if in pain. "C-Can I... get her back to Otherworld now?" A pant. "My magic can't… c-can't hold her. Something's wrong."
There were other voices too – maybe Goten, maybe Piccolo but she wasn't paying close enough attention. Her eyes were riveted to the illuminated figure hovering in the spot that used to be Goku's. The purple headed creature had her eyes cast down at her fallen ex, her face twisted in some kind of smug, satisfied look. Then she turned that long neck and faced the white-faced Kai.
"There," Chichi heard her say, voice a little too torrid for her liking as she pushed the strands of her abominably long hair out of her face. "Long ... sweet ... slumber." She enunciated perfectly, stressing her consonants and elongating her vowels without swallowing any of her letters.
"Thank you," the quiet voice of the pointy eared Kai breathed with heavy relief. Then Chichi followed his eyes away from the purple head as they settled on the pudgy tomato floating next to him on a crystal ball. "You look terrible Baba, what's happening?"
Chichi had to admit that she too had never seen the rude prune looking quite like this. The round clairvoyant was drenched in sweat, her green face stuck in a grimace as if she'd just been lifting a hundred times her body weight.
"I think she's ... she's— " Baba panted, more sweat breaking from that wrinkled old skin. Her crystal ball seemed to sway groggily, her hat pointing in various directions. "She's sucking me dry. I... I should return her 'fore I run out of magic."
Chichi snapped her neck and turned back to the illuminated woman as she cackled out in rich unapologetic tones, tossing her locks back dramatically like a shampoo girl. "Oops," she framed those lips in a sultry fish kiss. "I suppose I did help myself to a little."
Chichi felt more than saw Kibito Kai stiffen.
But then her eyes reverted back to Ms Silver-Light. The female being wrinkled her nose and grimaced as if in disgust, dry washing her hands. "Ghastly stuff though her inferior breed of magic. Flaccid, anemic junk. But ..." she shook off a shiver and threaded her fingers at the base of her head. "Extremely useful this ability to move through the realms at will," a wry smile.
"Otherworld can be so boring."
"Young Lady," the Kai bristled. "Fortune Teller Baba is doing us a great favor by— " the Kai began ...
Chichi's mind shut out his voice. She was too busy leaping, trying to make sense out of the recent developments. Magic … Otherworld … Kisses … it all came back to her in a slow reluctant gush. And when it finally filled, something cold settled in her core. She narrowed her eyes as understanding dawned like a damp, fungus infested tunnel.
This ... this arrogant, bitchy weed who'd just slithered onto the scene uninvited like wild-thyme was clearly responsible for Goku's condition. It was her, all her with her harlot tresses and medieval robes. She was the one who'd kissed Goku and brought back his memories five years ago. She was the one. She was the one who'd done something to his mind to cause this breakdown. She was sure of it.
She thought of her Goku, the gentle one who'd helped secure Pan's name. Then other Goku, then one who'd tossed her in the shower after kissing the witch all those years ago. And then she thought about the Goku of today, the one who'd obliterated everything he loved.
An edgy twitch flooded her limbs when she thought of all the damage … all the hurt … all the pain Goku would feel when he woke to realize what he'd done. When he saw the destruction he'd caused.
Her gut clenched in hot fury; a high-pitched squeal tearing from her throat like some kind of damaged vocal circuit. She wrenched herself out of Tiens's hold and used every last spec of Ki she had left to spring onto the witch like an insane cat.
With a thud, her weight crashed onto the witch; together they dropped out of the sky.
Chichi landed straddled on top of her, screaming: "You did this to him!" she bared her teeth from dry, chapped lips, "You did this to my Goku you dead, rotten witch!"
The silver glow around the witch's robes singed her arms as she grabbed her by the hair and pounded her head repeatedly on the ground; puffs of dust staining the air as they hopped and rose in cloudy bouts. "You did this!"
"Mom!" The stern voice of her oldest chastised. And then she was thrashing and writhing fruitlessly against the air as Gohan circled and held her around the waist tighter than Tien had. "You cannot just attack people!" Gohan was clearly aghast.
The witch rose to her feet, dusting the red earth off her robes. A trickle of purple blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. "My, such regal etiquette your highness." She wiped her mouth and flashed a cold smile. "I'll be sure to remember your friendly greeting while I decide your fate Princess of the Ox."
Snarling, Chichi threw herself forward, only to have Gohan's hold snap her back like elastic. "Come say that to my face you withering purple weed!" Her eyes flashed.
The witch tskd.
Oh. Chichi launched herself at her again, channeling all her Ki into it.
"Mom stop!" said Gohan. The seat-belt effect of his grip not giving an inch. Ugh!
"We apologize Kibito Kai," Piccolo spoke up. "Some of these mortals do not know how to show proper respect." He gave her a pointed look.
She snarled.
Kibito Kai exhaled, grim lines deepening across his face. He phased before Baba. Oh god! The raisin skinned woman's eyes were rolling to the back of her head. Kibito Kai caught her before she plummeted, thank Kami.
He held Baba over his arm like a child's blanket, rubbing circles against his temple with his free hand. "This was part of your plan as well I suppose," he addressed the purple headed witch. "To steal Baba's unique power so you can cross into the realm of the living as you please."
Chichi froze. That horrid purple thing should not be allowed anywhere near mortals.
"I do what I can," the witch tossed her hair back. Oh god! She hadn't denied it.
"Shinganga," the usually kind faced Kai narrowed his eyes. "What you did to Goku is bad enough ... the danger you brought to the planet, the— "
"Don't exaggerate Oh Kibito one," she pursed. "It's unbecoming."
"Exege ..." Kibito Kai sucked in a breath before he next spoke. "He fought his own children!" His god-eyes were ice. "And he very nearly killed Vegeta!"
"Pity the pink buffoon interfered," the witch's voice lost all pretense of amusement. "The prince of Saiyans should have been dead and in hell by now," she spat, spittle shooting from her mouth. "Let there be no misunderstanding," she fixed cold eyes at the deity. "Enma is not the only maggot I have to settle with.
"Settle with?" Kibito Kai's shoulders rose. "Settle what?" He eyed her wearily. "You were confined hundreds of years before Vegeta was even born! What grievance could you possibly have with a man you've never even met?!"
"By whose hand do you suppose that my race, that my entire planet was forced into extinction?" she spat. "Or did you think I hadn't uncovered that little bit of detail during my time in Hell?"
"What do you care about their extinction?" Kibito Kai shook his head. "You had them enslaved for years while you still lived!"
"So what?" Her eyes flashed. "The maggot prince and his disgusting liege Frieza had no right to them!" Her fingers curled. "Our priceless scrolls, centuries worth of precious spells, all destroyed in their barbaric purge!" She heaved, the silver glow around her swirling. "If that Ogre had not betrayed me, if those filthy Kais had not stripped me of my craft and sealed me away, I would have been alive and there to protect the planet when the Saiyan maggots came."
Kibito Kai closed his eyes, Chichi was sure he'd even groaned.
"He deserves to die," said the witch, "by the hand of the only being he considers a friend."
Well, Chichi pressed her lips together. Someone had a grudge.
"So," Piccolo filled the ensuing silence. "Chichi's accusations are true. You did all this," he encompassed Goku's form. "To Goku."
Chichi almost smiled at his impassive tone. Clearly Piccolo wasn't moved an inch by the witch's impassioned tirade. "The question is— "
"You ... you ... lying witch!" Trunks hissed between clenched teeth.
Wha ... Chichi blinked to discover that his hands were circled around the witch's throat.
She honestly didn't know when Trunks had moved from his father's side. His eyes as his fingers squeezed, spelled some kind of madness. "Just ... die!"
It all happened too fast. Just too damn fast. The flick of the witch's wrist, her purple lips mouthing off something with an F. The Kibito Kai snatching Trunks away from her neck, but not quickly enough. Her sultry lips just grew ... out ... enlarged, fattened, as if injected with mutated botox.
Oh no! They smacked a balloon sized kiss against Trunks' enraged mouth.
No.
There was a second of stunned silence, then the witch heaved, clutched her neck, and staggered back.
Trunks clutched his head, a wounded cry tearing from his throat.
Chichi's heart stopped. No ... Not Trunks! Not Trunks!
The witch croaked, "that's your penance you abominable spawn of Saiyan— "
A blast pierced through her chest. It burned through her so fast blood didn't even spill.
Chichi stared, wide eyed.
"Vegeta!" Kibito Kai gasped. "What have you done?" His voice was a crack of despair.
Vegeta didn't look at him. He only stared dispassionately at the unmoving carcass of the witch. His face inscrutable, he scooped up Trunks. "What has that purple thing done to my son?"
Chichi hadn't even realized that Trunks had passed out from the altercation.
"It's okay! Buu heal Evil-Lady!" Buu skipped forward.
Gohan clamped a free hand on his gummy shoulder and shook his head. "It's too late for that Buu. She's dead."
Chichi sagged. Her abused limbs finally lost all their spirit, all their fight. Adrenalin drained out of them like black tea under hot water, leaving her useless and flaccid like a well used tea-bag. If the witch was dead then... what about Goku's condition?
"Mom?" Gohan adjusted his hold on her, she could feel herself slipping. "Mom! Don't you pass out. Buu! Can you heal her please?"
The pink glow of healing magic worked wonders. It was such a relief. She was so, so tired. It filled her slowly, fusing with her skin, her bones, her very cells. Pain frizzled away, until she noticed the bone-white face of her youngest.
"Wha ... what just happened? What did she do to Trunks?" Goten swallowed. His face breaking out in small little tics.
It was then that Chichi noticed that he'd flung the hairy bulk that was his father off the ground and over his shoulder. "What about Trunks?" Goten repeated more strongly.
"What has she done to my son?" Vegeta reiterated Goten's question.
They all looked to Kibito Kai for answers. Chichi prayed it wasn't what she thought it was.
"I... I don't know," Kibito Kai said weakly. "I don't know what she's done to him. Please take care of Baba. I will take Shinganga back to Otherworld. She is twice dead. And out of Otherworld so ... it is complicated." He sighed, rubbing at his temples. "I will do my best so we might gain some answers about these two."
"You mean," Gohan swallowed. "That Dad might not be back to normal when he comes to?"
The fused Kai slumped his shoulders as he picked up the dead witch. "I don't know what to tell you Gohan." He put two fingers to his forehead. "Only Shinganga knows the answer to that question."
And then he was gone.
~0~0~
They moved him to a 'secure room' in some secret section of Capsule. Corp. And though it appeared to be just a normal guest-room with a large puffy bed, a few couches, paintings on the walls etc, it was not.
There was nothing ordinary about the room at all.
The walls were reinforced by some substance Sekei and Gohan had come across in space. And the doors were made out of Kaching. Gohan had forged them himself since no mechanical device on planet was strong enough to do the job.
There was talk of surrounding the area with some lazer technology and some artificial Ki technology that they'd been experimenting on. Buu would stand guard as the first line of defense while the others did something or other, bla la bla…
It was all a waste of time.
Chichi knew better. Nothing in this universe could slow him down, let alone hold him long enough to engage whatever plan B it was they were whispering about. It was all futile. But, looking at the grim faces of everyone gathered in the room: Goten, Gohan, Tien, Piccolo and Vegeta, she didn't feel much like voicing out any of her grim thoughts.
In fact, she didn't feel like doing anything other than curling into a ball and wishing the bulk of this day away. And she'd so been looking forward to Pan's rebirth.
"Gohan," she rubbed her temples. "You should go be with your family. Videl and Pan need you."
"I know Mom," he said gruffly.
Her heart went out to him. Her poor little boy. He was so worn out. She so desperately wanted to comfort him. She watched him rub his eyes tiredly.
"But Dad— " Gohan's eyes flittered nervously across the room to where Goku was laid on the bed.
"— is sleeping," she said. Though she had no idea how long they could count on that little detail. "Everyone should just …. go." She swept up all the hair falling into her face and made a quick inelegant knot with it on the top of her head. "I'll… I'll stay here with your father."
"And what can you do woman?" Vegeta scorned. "What will you do if Kakarot awakens and he is still not himself?"
Chichi swallowed. "I'll do my best to calm him down."
Vegeta snorted, while Gohan and Goten shook their heads. "Too risky Mom," said Gohan. Goten nodding along in agreement.
Poor little thing looked so drawn and tired that she just wanted to pull him into her lap and stroke his hair till he was asleep.
"Goten and I," Gohan went on to say, "will take turns and— "
"No." She shook her head. "No. You saw him earlier— " and just the thought of what they had seen in his eyes… " — it was as if— " she didn't want to say it out loud and remind everyone that he'd been prepared to kill his own children. She didn't want to think about that, let alone remind everyone of what they'd faced. "— he didn't even recogn— " her throat closed. It had never been more painful to talk. "He didn't even recognize you two." She would not cry, she would not cry. She thought of his tirade about Tien and her being pregnant and— "Whatever that witch did to him," she exhaled. "Has left him utterly delusional."
"But Mom— "
"No Gohan," she put up her hand. She didn't want her precious children anywhere near Goku till they figured out what was what. Not her babies. "I understand a little of what this is. I saw parts of it in Yardrat when I opened that book, remember? I won't have you and your brother subjected to it a second time. Go. I will stay with him."
"Mom— " Gohan began to protest.
"Listen Kid," Piccolo spoke up for the first time. "Your mother may have a point. Whatever delusion your father is suffering," he paused. "You have to admit that he did calm down when he saw her," he frowned. "It was the only thing that slowed him down."
"But— "
"Gohan," she prayed for patience. "Videl's been through a lot. She just had a baby and is probably worried sick about her husband. Please, go to her."
"Mom's right Gohan." Goten turned those dull, lifeless eyes on his brother. "You're a daddy now and stuff. You should go. I'll stay here in one of the other rooms and keep an eye on things. Go."
A muscle leapt on Gohan's jaw; he was clearly torn about leaving his father while things were so uncertain but there was nothing more any of them could do. Not … not until they knew more. And right now, the witch was dead and there was still no word from Kibito Kai.
"Vegeta, you should go too." She turned to him. "If Goku wakes," she shuddered. If this was really a chapter from his Litoro then Vegeta was the last person Goku should see when he woke up. "Perhaps you should be elsewhere."
"I will not hide from Kakarot."
"You have other concerns," she placated. "Bulma will be worried sick about Trunks. She needs you now." And though she was addressing the prince, she didn't miss how Goten's face drew down even further at the mention of his best-friend's name.
Trunks was another unknown variable. He hadn't regained consciousness since passing out after his little altercation with Shinganga either. Just what were in those kisses of hers? Goku and Trunks hadn't so much as stirred since she'd kissed them.
"Everybody," she steeled her nerves. "You have people who need to see you alive and well. Go to them," she urged. "I'll be here until he wakes up. And then ... and then we'll see."
"What about you Mom?" Gohan pierced her with one of his unforgiving stares. "Isn't Dr. Doi waiting for you?"
"Gohan please," her throat constricted. "This is not the time." As his research partner, Gohan knew very well that Sekei was not due back from space in a little under a week. Had Videl not been as close as she'd been to her due date, Gohan would have gone on that trip with him. The two of them had been working closely together since that first trip to space five years ago.
It took a little more convincing on her and Piccolo's part, but eventually they all left, leaving her alone in the room with only the soft sounds of her sleeping ex to keep her company.
She moved in slow heavy steps towards the bed with a heart full of holes. How could something like this happen? How? The witch had been dead and far, far away in Otherworld so how? How could she have done it? How had she gotten close enough to Goku to do whatever it is she'd done in order to trap him in that old nightmare? For there was no question that Goku had somehow fallen into the nightmare that she'd experienced in Yardrat.
The mattress barely dipped as she sat on the bed next to where he lay.
Even now, she could not look at him without a tightening in her chest, a painful stutter of her heart. She swallowed, tracing the lines of his face, her pulse thumping in her neck.
A red border ringed the underside of his eyes like some kind of tribal tattoo and his brows stretched a few inches thicker and darker.
Even more pronounced though, was the increased mass of his neck and chest. The broader bulk of muscle coupled with his increased height made him look so indomitable, even with his features so calm and soft with sleep.
"Oh Goku," she pushed back the dark spikes of thick hair framing his face. "Still so beautiful," she murmured, tracing a finger along the edge of his jaw, the curve of his neck, and down to the smooth part of his chest.
She could have been running her hand over a heated gel pack fresh from the microwave. His skin was burning to the touch, so hot that a thermometer would have instantly gone beyond its limit and proclaimed him feverish and in dire distress.
Good thing she knew that it was all perfectly normal in this state.
And then the fur… soft like a new born kitten's. She had never minded petting it when this had been the only way he could come to her as an adult in those long forgotten days before his final disappearance.
No, she hadn't minded the soft silk and warmth of snuggling next him like this.
But now … she dropped her hands from his arm.
It wasn't so soft. It was dirty and crusted with splatters of blood. Vegeta's blood. Piccolo's blood. Gotenks ... Gohan... she shut her eyes. She would not cry.
His clothing was so tattered that she was able to examine him thoroughly without stripping off the ragged remnants. Some of his garments were severely charred at the edges.
He was barely bruised with just a few cuts and scrapes. There were also areas of blistered and scorched flesh, which fit with the charred clothing. It would have been useful to have asked Dende or Buu to heal him, but these minor injuries would heal on their own in no time at all.
Pushing up her sleeves, she circled the bed. One by one, she tugged at his boots and let them drop to the floor. Then she worked on the blue sash around his waist, pulling and tugging down at his yellow Gi's until they were all the way down his ankles and finally out his feet.
She slipped into the bathroom and ran one of the small hand-towels in warm water. Then she returned to the bed and methodically cleaned him.
Gently she began with his face. She bathed away dirt and blood and cleaned him tenderly. And when he was clean, sitting on the bed by his side, her head dropped into her hands like a storm-broken flower.
And then she sobbed.
~0~0~
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Kindly leave your thoughts ~ Gue22