Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z.

Births and Deaths

I felt very strange, lost, and yet not afraid, despite the fact that I was surrounded by blackness. I seemed to be floating, stranded in the air, and felt the distinct motion of twirling, as if I were back on a playground swing as a child, spinning round and round until I became dizzy.

Slowly, a shaft of light opened up in the distant, and I was drawn by an instinctive urge to move towards it, despite my brain telling me that it was probably not a good idea.

"Find me," Trunks had said, "in the next world." Was this the door to the end? If I went through, would I find him?

"No," came his voice, somewhere in my head. No?

"Hurry!" his sweet voice urged, sounding panicked. Hurry? To where? Should I go through the door of light?

I went to move towards it- it seemed the natural thing to do- but at once I felt myself surrounded by warmth, as if I were back in Trunks' embrace.

"Live," his voice instructed me, "You have to live, Pan."

The dark world of nothingness suddenly filled with light, and I gasped, feeling very much like I was being reborn.

***

My eyes squinted automatically in reaction to the light, and I groaned, rolling a little.

"Stay still," a smooth voice instructed, "you will be better in a moment." I looked up to see green hands suspended above my face, and frowned. Who would those belong to?

The warmth continued to surround me, coursing through my veins, and with it, understanding came. I had been close, that time, close to dying. But I had survived, because Dende was healing my now, giving back to me the ki that I had lost.

"There," he said, moving so that I could see his face. "You're all better now. How do you feel?"

"Weird," I replied, gaining a smile from him. It quickly turned to a frown though, as he glanced over my shoulder.

"I have more patients to tend to," he said quickly, "excuse me."

I stood up, to find myself wrapped quickly in Trunks arms. "Too close," he was whispering in my ear, between planting kisses on my neck, "that was far too close… you were almost…"

"Shh," I whispered back, stroking his hair, "You saved me, I could hear your voice. We both have other things to worry about though, so let's just be happy that we're alive, for the moment."

Trunks pulled back at that, gripping my shoulders hard, staring into my face. "I'm going to marry you when all of this is over," he said, his voice calm as if he were stating a plain fact. Just as sudden as the statement, he lent down and kissed me passionately, crushing me against him. Then he let go, turned away, and went to see to his father, who was being healed by Kibito.

I blinked after him, placing a hand to my lips, which were left tingling from Trunks' abrupt kiss. I didn't quite know what to think, and felt as if I were observing the whole drama from a distance. Did he really just propose to me? Or was it some crazy statement, brought on from the near-death experience?

Although the giggling school-girl in me would have liked to think he was actually serious, the logical part of my brain was telling me that he was simply as shocked by the recent events as I was, and as such, happened to be saying things he perhaps didn't mean. Besides, we had only been dating for less than a year… were we even ready for such a commitment? And considering the fact that Trunks usually went to extreme lengths to be romantic, asking me to marry him- well telling me he would marry me- in the middle of a battlefield surrounded by wounded/dying/dead people seemed slightly off.

"Pan!" Piccolo called, and I jumped, startled out of thoughts. The large Namek strode towards me, his frown deepening. "This isn't the time to 'zone out' as you humans call it," he chided, crossing his arms, "You need to stay on guard. Besides, Mr Popo wants to talk to you."

"Mr Popo?" I asked confused. As if summoned by magic, the genie appeared at my side, a concerned frown set upon his face.

"Kami suggested that everyone should regroup at the lookout," he said, taking my elbow. "I think you should come now, child. It is getting very dangerous."

"No!" I replied, suddenly afraid that Popo would whisk me away. Trunks had told me he had a flying carpet that doubled as a teleporter, and I didn't want to risk being removed from Trunks' side during this ordeal.

"But Pan…" Popo began, trying to reason with me.

"She wants to stay, and we may need her help," Piccolo cut in, "tell the old geezer he's being stupid if he wants to remove fighters from the battlefield."

Mr Popo frowned up at Piccolo. "You shouldn't speak about Kami that way," he said, "it is extremely rude."

"I don't give a shit. Pass on the message," Piccolo replied, before turning away. "Follow me, Pan," he said, looking at me over his shoulder, "we all need to discuss what we'll do next."

"But…" Mr Popo began.

"Can you take my mum to the lookout?" I asked the genie suddenly. "And my Nana Chi Chi, Grandpa Ox King, Bulma, Gure and Mr and Mrs Briefs? Oh, and Master Roshi and the others on his island too? Could you do that, please?"

"Well, it is a great privilege to enter Kami's lookout, I don't know if Kami would approve…"

"Please!" I begged desperately, "If something happens to any of them, you can bet that half of the Earth's fighters will be too distracted to do any good. Please save my family and friends!"

"Well, all right," the genie conceded, "but if Kami doesn't like it, this is all your fault."

"That's fine by me!" I yelled back to him, already making my way to the group that had gathered. Looking around, I was pleased to see everyone had been healed by Dende and Kibito's efforts.

"We need to attack," Piccolo was saying, "the situation has become far too dangerous. He absorbed all of our ki, so Buu is probably ready to be revived now anyway. I say we try and destroy the ball, the benefits outweigh the risks."

"I second that," Tien said crossing his arms, "I almost died there, I don't want that to happen again."

"We have to be careful not to release Buu," Trunks cut in, we don't want to have to deal with a monster… the androids were bad enough, but this…"

""But it may already be too late," Piccolo replied, his scowl deepening, "This is not the time for indecisiveness."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Vegeta added, "I agree with the Namek. The only option available to us now, is to attack. If we just stand here, he'll send out more of those ki-drainers."

"I agree," I piped up, causing everyone to stare at me in surprise. "W… well…" I stuttered, blushing, "it's just, there were heaps of those white things before, but now they're all gone…"

"They flew off," Dende explained, "I saw it from the lookout."

"They flew off," I continued, echoing Dende, "that means they've done their job, right? I think if Babidi's a wizard, he probably knows we're still here, right? If we don't have more of those ki-drainers attacking us, they must have already completed the task. He must have collected enough ki."

"Kami," Shin muttered, causing everyone to look at him. "What?" he asked, "Earth's habits are catching, all right?"

"I think Pan is correct," Kibito said, "We must attack now." Everyone nodded, and we took to the sky. Trunks grabbed my hand, and we flew together, ready to face our destiny head on.

"Are you ready?" he asked quietly, looking at me with his bright blue eyes.

I sighed, even covered in dried blood, and wearing torn clothes, he was the most handsome man I had ever seen. "No," I told him honestly, "but I'll try anyway. What other choice do I have?"

Trunks didn't reply, but squeezed my hand tighter. I felt suddenly as if we were holding each other together- that if one of us were to leave, the other would go crazy with fear. More now than ever, I needed him.

***

The ugly pink ball sat outside the ship- it was the first thing I noticed as we flew over the cliff. The sick feeling in my stomach grew as we flew close enough to watch it pulsate, beating like the heart of some disgusting creature.

"You're too late Kai!" Babidi called, coming out from behind the giant ball, two minions following on his heels. "Buu will be born any second now!" He threw his wrinkled head back, cackling like an old witch, making the hairs on my arms rise with the noise.

"NO!" Trunks suddenly yelled, wrenching his arm free of my grip. Transforming up to his full power, he aimed a massive blast directly at the ball.

This action seemed to get everyone else moving. Suddenly, all three Super Saiyans were firing blasts, as was Piccolo and Krillin. After a moment of hesitation, I fired my own Kamehame ha off as well.

The impact of all the blasts propelled the ball into the air, sending it flying before it crashed back down, and finally rolled to a stop. With a hiss, it split down the middle, and I held my breath, waiting for the monster to emerge. The dust cleared, and I leaned forward, watching for any sign of movement.

The ball was empty.

"It's empty," Krillin said softly, his voice etched with confusion, echoing my own feelings. "It's empty!" he exclaimed louder, a grin spreading across his face.

"No! No, no, no!" Babidi cried, falling to his knees. "Where is Buu? Where is my child? You killed him!" he snarled, glaring directly at me.

"No," Vegeta said quietly, and I looked to him, my eyes widening in surprise. "Look up," he said gravely, motioning with his head. "Can't you fools sense that power?"

I looked up to see a strange cloud swirling above us, billows of pink fluff joining together and taking shape. At the same time, I sensed the power Vegeta was talking about; a ki so strong, and so innately evil, that I felt paralyzed with the fear of what was to come. Continuing to stare at the pink cloud, I watched as it appeared to grow arms and legs, and then with a strange 'pop' the process was complete, and the ugly monster was born.

"Buuuuu!" it called, its hands curled into fists, its arms outstretched. Immediately it fell to the ground, landing with a thump on its backside. Unfazed, it jumped quickly to its feet, and began to skip around, all the time making high pitched squeaks of "Buu!" and "Free!"

There was no doubt about its potential power, but I frowned at the way Buu acted like an infant. As he began to play a game of hide and seek with one of Babidi's minions, I looked to the Supreme Kai. "He doesn't seem… dangerous," I said, "even though his power feels that way."

"No, it's just a trick," Shin replied, keeping his eyes fixated on Buu. "He may look harmless, but believe me, he's a monster. I was once one of five Supreme Kais. He killed the other four. We are doomed."

"What should we do?" Chiaotzu asked, clinging to Tien's leg in fear.

"I… I don't know," Shin replied, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "I've failed everyone."

"Oh, come on!" Vegeta said angrily, crossing his arms. "You haven't even tried anything yet! I'll destroy this ugly pink freak with ease; I haven't reached my full power yet."

I looked back down at Buu, shaking my head slowly. The strange creature was just too strong; to me the chance of defeating him seemed minimal, at best. At worst, we would all perish.

"I wish I could have had more time to love you," I whispered sadly, clutching onto Trunks' arm, "there's still so much more I have to give."

Trunks wrapped one arm around me, and the heat of his transformed body suddenly made me feel so much warmer. "You've made me happy, Pan," he murmured into my hair, "and you always will. Don't give up on us yet, we can still make it through."

"And if we don't?"

"I was serious, when I said you have to find me. If we die…" he trailed off, swallowing so that his adam's apple bobbed, "if we die, I think we'll keep our bodies. And then I'll love you, just the same."

"For eternity?"

"Yes. For forever."

Suddenly a scream filled the air, making me jump. Below us, Buu was firing blasts at the other minions, laughing as they hit their targets. Abruptly he stopped, turning to face Babidi.

"What does Buu do now, Master?" he asked, bowing to the ugly wizard.

"Kill them!" Babidi ordered, pointing to us. "Kill them all!"

"Run!" my father cried, speeding off. Trunks grabbed on to me tightly, flying as fast as he could. I didn't know if we could make it away or not, nor where we could possibly hide, but there was no time to think.

Blasts began to fly around us, but Trunks dodged them with ease. "Krillin!" someone called, and I looked back to see the small man fall to the ground, already dead. The terror spread within me even more, so that I could do nothing more that keep a strong hold on Trunks, and hope he would save us.

"Grab on!" Kibito suddenly yelled, appearing beside me. When I didn't move, he stretched his arm out to me, placing it on my back, and I realised suddenly that everyone else was holding onto some part of him. In a flash, the scenery around us changed, and we were floating calmly in the air, the evil ki far away from us.

I looked down and blinked in confusion; it was only after a few moments that I could comprehend what had happened. Kibito had used his powers of instant transmission to take us to the lookout, which now stood below us. We had survived.

"Where's Chiaotzu?" Tien asked, spinning around in panic. Where is he?" he said again, his voice rising.

"He must have let go. It will be too late now," Kibito answered.

"How can you say that?" Tien yelled, tuning on the pink Kai. "Go back and get him! Go back and get Chiaotzu NOW!"

"It's too late," Shin said softly, placing a hand gently on Tien's arm. "I'm sorry. He's already left this world."

As Tien's cries filled the air, the tears that had been threatening to escape burst forth, and I shuddered, giving way to the grief that consumed me. Within such a short time, three of my friends had gone; theirs bodies no longer anything but empty shells.

I had a feeling more would end up that way, before the day was out.

A/N: Finally! I'm sorry about the delay, I started back at university and I haven't had as much time as I thought I would, so it's been a pain trying to get this chapter done.

I think I may have accidentally given people the impression that they all died at the end of the last chapter, when what I meant to convey was that they were passing out. Thanks to Dende (he did tell Pan he thought he'd be needed on Earth lol) everyone got healed in this chapter.

I hope this chapter doesn't seem too disjointed; I normally like to write all in one go, but this one was done in about six sittings, which is shocking for me. Now that they're out of harms way (for now) I'm going to bring in the next part of the plot that I've been looking forward to, so the next chapter should be good. :)

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