Author's Note: Sorry, folks. There are tissues at the door. Warning: Child death


Goku's death had withered a great deal of the camaraderie in the group, and sapped Chi-Chi's vitality for a number of weeks. Ginyu stayed over to handle the kitchen work (surprisingly, Gohan said, his cooking had improved) for a few days as a way of "paying his respects to the widow," but once he'd gone, Kale saw very little of him. Afterwards she heard from Kuriza that he'd taken a position as the former's right hand man, and from then on it seemed as if he had cut contact with her, save for one letter in which he detailed that "he had grown tired of losing one friend after another. I thought a change of scenery would do some good."

Kale couldn't help but feel her own sense of loss in the matter-Goku had saved so many millions, no, billions, of people besides herself. Only a handful knew of what he'd done, of what he'd saved all the universe from. But she took her own place in the matter, and consoled Krillin for his loss as best she could.

And so life went on.

Borea was able to come back (with a slew of medication, of course) to Earth shortly before Bulma had Trunks, and much time was spent cooing over the baby. She was particularly interested in his tail, but as it was removed there was little that could be speculated about it.

Trunks was a year old when the news first came around about the androids, and Kale had a creeping sensation that something was going wrong when first Tien and Chaotzu, then Piccolo, failed to return after promising to "look into the matter."

Very wrong.


"C'mon, Videl. Stop hiding." The dark-haired man moved from one tree to the next in the park, looking up and squinting for any sight of his daughter. "We've got to get home, you know. You can't just skip dinner. Remember-"

From above, the girl giggled, and looked to the ivory-skinned one next to her, "He can't see me at all! Isn't that fun?"

"Of course," Borea laughed, though she was a bit cramped from being seated so awkwardly on the branch. "Though I think maybe you ought to get down there. He might think you've gone missing. Now here's what you do..."

A few seconds later, the man passed under the tree, and Videl leapt from the branch above and onto his shoulders, knocking him to the ground. "Ha ha! I got you, dad!"

"Videl, I was worried sick-!"

"She was okay." Borea leapt down from the tree to a spot just beside the man and stood to her full height, looking him straight in the eye once he got back to his feet. "I saw she was running around by herself, and I know how dangerous things are around here...I thought it'd be best to err on the side of caution."

"Thank you," he replied quickly.

"It's great to see a father love his daughter this much. I thought your heart would expire before you found her. Well...Videl, be careful from now on, alright? Your father loves you very much, try not to run too far from him from now on, alright?"

"...alright," Videl replied, "But it was funny, huh? Making the great Hercule all scared?"

"The tournament winner?" Borea glanced up, "Well, this is an honor. I've heard a lot about you, you know."

"Well-I try," he said, "'specially with things as bad as they are."

"That's good. People could use someone to look up to. Even if there is little to hope for at the time."

He laughed. "So, I don't suppose you have any of your own?"

"Oh, me?" Borea asked, "No, no, I'm too young for that. I'm only coming up on seventeen."

"Oh. Well...you look older."

"I get that a lot."

"Borea?"

The voice came from around the corner, and Kale rushed out a second later. "Oh, and-well, this is a surprise. If the circumstances were better-I'm sorry, Mr. Hercule, but I think you and your...daughter...should be going. The androids were sighted a street over."

Hercule picked up Videl. "Right. Right, I'll be getting her out of here, then."

"Can't you beat them up?" Videl asked.

"Not here in the park, there's too many people, sweetheart. We wouldn't want to accidentally hurt any innocent bystanders, would we?"

"Right."

He dashed off, but before he could get far there was a blinding light and then an explosion, both of which he turned to shield Videl from. Splinters of wood and variously-colored autumn leaves rained down around the group, and when they looked up-

"Oh, look, a cute little family." the dark-haired male spoke first.

"I think the white one ought to go first." the blonde woman said.

"Nah, nah, go for the big guy. He'll make a bigger mess."

Borea and Kale charged at the blonde woman as she began to move, but both of their punches were dodged. The blonde laughed and kicked them both back through the treeline, but they raced back, anger flaring-

There was the sound of a ki beam.

"VIDEL!"

"You told me I could have the kid, 17!" the blonde turned with anger towards her brother, who was positioned, hovering, over Hercule, who looked with empty eyes at the still-bleeding limp body of his daughter.

"Finders keepers, 18! You should've taken the chance when you had it."

"You ass!"

The two turned away to argue, and taking advantage of the distraction, Kale moved forward with Borea to pull Hercule away. It took both of them to do it as he refused to let go, even for a second, of Videl's body.

"My...my baby girl. Videl, honey...wake up...you know we've got to...to get started on your...training tomorrow, and..."


"I'm surprised you lived."

"Krillin, the sad part is, it's their fault. 18-"

"18? A number?"

"Yeah...what difference does her name being a number make, though?"

"I knew it. I knew it. I mean, I had my suspicions, but..."

"But what?" Kale asked.

"You never heard of Dr. Gero. You haven't been here that long," Krillin replied quickly, "He was this deranged scientist that Goku kind of...it's a long story but Gero had this serious axe to grind against him, and I guess..."

"Shouldn't we do something?"

"We've got to be careful. If they took out Tien and Piccolo that easily, we're...I think some training is in order."

"You don't have to tell me twice. Y'know I'd like to keep you and your famous little bald head around, right?"

Right."

"Oh, and Krillin..."

"Eh?" He glanced back.

"I love you. Just thought I'd say that."


*Three Weeks Later*

Kale knew there was trouble when Vegeta went missing.

There was a sense of urgency, particularly from Bulma, when this news started circulating. There was no need to speculate; who else but the androids could have done this? Vegeta wasn't weak, and if they'd managed to defeat him...she shook her head. There was no time to mourn, but still, a sense of finality hung in the air.

The prince was dead.

It was almost as bad as watching the planet be destroyed all those years ago.

"Mom?"

She shook her head and looked up from the gravity room's controls. "Yes?"

"I...I just thought I'd come and..."

"You're a little late, aren't you?"

"Well, I was just...Chi-Chi kind of kept me over, you know. People are dying left and right and she's still giving Gohan guff over his education. Ha, as if that matters anymore!"

"It's all she has left." It was a guess, but she knew it was an old habit of Chi-Chi's, and the normalcy of pushing the child to studies was probably the only scrap of it she could get.

"Where's Krillin?"

"He was going to see Master Roshi, or something like that. Said he'd be along later."

"I wish he wouldn't do this," Kale sighed, rubbing her forehead, "He can't just gallivant around like before. Isn't he worried for his own safety?"

"That's him, though. He's more worried about other people. Though, Roshi says-"

"Stay away from Roshi, Borea. Now, let's see. What number were we at before?"

"I think we were up to four times Earth's gravity. Pretty low."

"We've got to start somewhere. Alright, now. Come at me."

Borea charged at her mother, and Kale blocked her first few shots. The taller girl was having obviously trouble landing a blow due to her height, but kept at it. There was a certain thrill in the fight-a rush of adrenaline when she actually did get a punch in, a grin when she hit a second time, laughter at the third.

"Do not get cocky, young lady," Kale replied, moving behind Borea and unleashing a stunning kick to her daughter's back, "Remember what you've learned about pride."

"Too much and down you go?"

"Right. Now this time, try not to laugh. That just makes your opponents angrier."

The fight went on for a couple hours before they broke to get something to eat.

"Not overheating?"

"Nope. Strangest thing, the doctors told me that this issue can go on for a little less than a year or up to three years, like in one of my uncles' cases. After that we just need to be on those meds for a while, and avoid being in...I don't know, the arctic, or a desert, or whatever. And when it stops, it stops. I'm glad it did, though. It was getting a bit ridiculous, only ever being in those stupid hospital rooms. I was going nuts with boredom!"

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah...it was about as bad as the palace."

There was a pause, and both looked away. It was a subject that neither wished to go over-one, because of painful memory, and the other, who had become increasingly aware of adding to such.

They went back to the gravity room about an hour after finishing their lunch and broke again at nightfall to head back to Mt. Paozu. Or at least, Borea did.

Kale had been calling Krillin every half-hour or so, and with still no reply, made a quick check of the news to see where the androids had been that day. Absently, she thought he must have gotten busy helping some people escape them, or something. Maybe tried to stop the androids, buy people time to get away. That was Krillin anymore, he just-he just helped people. It was one of the sweetest things about him, that concern for others.

It was one of the things she loved.

To quote an Earth book she'd grown rather fond of, she'd realized that she was in the middle before she realized what was going on. It was a new feeling, but not unpleasant. He was...everything she'd hoped for in a man, and then some, height and lack of hair be damned. To be able to look Krillin in the eye, to see concern and rational, good thought, rather than the disdain and rage that she'd grown so used to with...him, was a blessing.

Finally, she found the location where they'd last been sighted-some small town a few hundred miles away, and headed in that direction. It wasn't too long before she picked up his power level-it was low, but she assumed he'd keep it that way to avoid detection. You could never be too careful...

"Krillin?"

Where the hell was he hiding?

"Krillin, where are you?!"

A groan from the side of the road. She looked into the ditch, where a few bodies appeared to have been carelessly tossed. Again, the groan, and she pulled several bodies out before-

Oh no. No.

Gods, no.

Please, this is the first good thing in so long...

"Krillin?" she gingerly picked him up, trying to be mindful of his abdomen, which had a nasty area where a chunk was gone and which was leaking blood profusely. "How long have you been-?"

He coughed. "Not too long. Listen...I have something to say."

"Do not talk like that," she stood, shaking, not caring one bit for the spreading blood. "We'll get you to Korin. You're going to be fine."

But he isn't, is he?

"Kale, just listen, you silly woman. I can see my own intestines. That's a pretty good sign I'm...oh boy..." He took a deep, shuddering breath, "Ha, amazing how sick blood loss can make you...look, do me a favor, alright? Make sure they pay for what they've done."

"You can't. You can't die, so don't talk like you're going to."

"...Gohan, you, Borea, the rest of the guys...you can figure something out, right? I know you guys can. Not everyone's as bad at planning strategy as I am."

"You can't. I...I won't allow it. You're...I love you Krillin. Please, you can't...you can't go, not now, there's still...we can't..."

"You can. Any girl fool enough to date me's got to be resilient, right? And you know what...I love you too."

He coughed red, and smiled, a peaceful smile it was, one that stung her to the core. She knew, knew what was happening, she'd known it when she pushed all those bodies off him, but still, she'd tried to persist, to believe it might really all work out...

"Hey, Goku...fancy meeting you here..."

And then he was gone.