A/N: There's going to be an OC Tournament on DeviantART and Kameko is entering! Go to my profile page for more details and a link. Make sure to cheer her on! XD

Chapter 34: Sacrifice, part II

Small, but strong hands placing a cool washcloth on his forehead. Warm brown eyes looking down at him with both worry and determination. A gentle voice telling him he would be alright, no matter what the cost. There are few things Cell remembered from between hazy fever dreams, but he would never forget… her.

Kameko Roshi dragged his body from the suffocating emptiness, cared for him when he could not do so himself, nursed him back to health at the expense of her own. Why… why?! Cell deeply longed to understand, perhaps even more than he had longed for his dear androids.

He stared at the object of his once mild interest, which had ever so stealthily grown into an all-consuming obsession. Kameko was breathing shallowly, her pale face covered in a sheen of sweat. Every now and then her clouded eyes would open and look at the android, her mind still trapped in feverish visions. Sometimes she talked to him, though her words rarely made sense.

"Hey… Hey, Cell… check out what dad taught me yesterday…"

Kameko weakly lifted her hands in what had to pass as a mock-Kamehameha stance and promptly sank back into an uneasy slumber. Part of her subconscious seemed to see in him the simulation she had befriended in the future, and her tired face would light up with joy every time he came near. Cell shook his head and replaced the wet washcloth on her head with a fresh one. If he didn't find a way to bring that fever down soon, the girl would perish and trap him in this Kami-forsaken emptiness forever!

A logical course of action would be to return the energy she donated and hope it would strengthen her immune system, but unfortunately Cell could not do that. The absorption system in his tail was a one-way street, which was no wonder; why would doctor Gero think he ever needed to heal rather than destroy?

Cell took a few pills from the medicine cabinet, attempting to pop one in the girl's mouth. She swatted his hand away, her hazy eyes looking at him insulted.

"Don't need Senzu…" she mumbled. "Just a bruised wrist, silly… can't waste beans on every scratch… you're always so overprotective."

Overprotective? The android couldn't help but snicker at that remark. It was hard to imagine even a simulated version of himself to care about anyone else if it wasn't in his own interest. Cell tried to recall what he had overheard at Kame House when still in his imperfect form. Kameko grew up training with a 'simulated Cell', which apparently was some sort of highly advanced hologram, capable of making physical contact. Ah, the ingenious Miss Briefs… all androids were created to kill Goku, but perhaps it is not the Saiyan who was the good doctor's true arch nemesis.

From what Cell understood, Kameko and his simulated counterpart had become quite friendly, but Bulma had not been able to work out all the glitches in the code. Every now and then, its personality would revert to its so-called 'default settings', making it more true his real self. A Jekyll and Hyde scenario, so to speak.

What else could he recall? Not much; only that some unknown event had made her stop running the program one year prior to her departure to this timeline, where she hoped to warn Trunks of his looming demise at the hands of his present embryonic self, who the Z-fighters had no doubt destroyed by now. And yes, Cell was willing to admit that making sense of the events from multiple timelines was a difficult feat, even for a perfect being such as himself.

The girl had calmed down for some reason, a faint smile on her face. The android suddenly realized he was sitting next to her and holding her hand. What the…?! What in Gero's name was he doing?!

Cell immediately jumped to his feet, recoiling as if bitten by a venomous snake. Startled by his own actions, he tried to back away, but Kameko suddenly reached out and grabbed the android's arm with surprising strength.

"Don't leave me…" she whispered hoarsely. Was the girl speaking to him or the simulated counterpart in her memories?

"Kameko, do you know who I…?"

"Please don't leave me…" she pleaded again, increasing her grip on his arm. "It was an accident… I'm okay, see? Aunt Bulma can fix you…!"

Cell was startled to see tears streaming down her face. Never, not even when he was about to claim her life, had he seen the girl so desperate.

"It's my fault you're gone…!" she said between choking sobs. "If only I had been stronger, then maybe I could have controlled you… bought aunt Bulma a little more time…"

Though her voice was emotional and her story incoherent, it slowly became clear to him what had transpired one year before she left for the past. After many foreboding incidents, the program had finally gone completely haywire with dire consequences. Kameko had been unable to control his true personality, the so-called default settings, and the simulation had been deactivated. Still, Cell had yet to discover just exactly what had happened. Was the program simply taken offline? Destroyed? Altered? How? Why? By whom!?

"What are you keeping to yourself?" the android heard himself ask. "What are the missing pieces of the puzzle?"

"You didn't kill Puar… it was the fire caused by the power surge… Don't you see, Cell? It wasn't your fault!" she continued, her eyes filling with panic and despair. "And the doctors say aunt Chi Chi is going to be okay! They can give her a new, artificial arm and she forgives you! She knows you couldn't help it! We'll find a way to work out the glitches and remove the default settings without damaging the rest of your program! You don't have to-!"

Before he knew it, Cell had knocked the girl unconscious. She was getting so worked up over her feverish nightmares, that the stress threatened to further jeopardize her already dangerously unstable condition. Kameko's health was deteriorating with every passing hour, and though the Turtle Hermit's daughter was stubborn as a mule, he feared she could not cling to life much longer.

"Damn you, girl," he narrowed his eyes. "Don't you dare succumb to some ordinary virus! You will die by my hand and my hand alone, do you understand?"

Of course there was no response. He found himself grasping her hand again, quickly letting go when he realized what he was doing. Cell loathed to admit it, but over the course of the past few months, he had grown somewhat fond of her company. Kameko deliberately tried to forget what would happen once their alliance ended, and more and more often, he now found himself doing the same. She confused his mind, clouded his judgment, introduced feelings to his system he never even knew existed. His perfection threatened to crumble at her slender hands, and it seemed there was only one way to stop it:

The girl had to die.

"Farewell, my dear," Cell said grimly as he formed a ki-blast in his palm, aiming it at her head. "This may not be a very dignified way to end it, but I fear I can tolerate your existence no longer. I wish I could have absorbed your memories, but I do not wish to risk re-infecting myself with the disease. I suppose I'll just have to live without knowing."

"Heh… hehehe… so you finally snapped, huh?"

His eyes widened as she looked back at him, her gaze no longer clouded. Apparently he had not hit her hard enough this time, or perhaps she was just getting used to it.

"I have not gone mad, if that is what you are implying," he glared. "I'm trying to prevent it."

"By locking yourself… in a completely empty world… for all eternity?" she asked, laughing weakly. "Yeah, that'll work…"

"I am confident that my superior mind will find a way to leave the chamber without you, and I've decided that my mental health is worth the gamble."

She stayed silent for a moment, her eyes meeting his.

"I guess this isn't a drill then, huh?" she asked tiredly. "Man… what a lame anticlimax… I must be really annoying if you don't even have the patience to carry me outside and kill me there."

"Nice try, my dear. You know as well as I do that the Supreme Kai would use his powers to restrain me while Dende and Pan heal you. Did you really believe I would fall for such a trick?"

"Well… actually… hehehe… I never even thought of that…" she laughed sheepishly, then erupted into a coughing fit. "But still… You'll risk trapping yourself in the chamber for the rest of your immortal life, just so you can be absolutely sure no one is going to interfere… You must really hate me then."

The girl sighed sadly and Cell felt an odd, uneasy emotion stirring inside him. It couldn't be… guilt? He quickly dismissed it, putting more energy into the ki-blast as if trying to convince both Kameko and himself that he would not have mercy. The girl coughed again and suddenly she looked even paler than she had before. As if she had simply given up her fight against the virus and no longer cared of she was going to live or die.

"The androids…" she whispered weakly, her eyes glazing over again. "Seventeen and Eighteen… you absorbed them whole, didn't you? Can't you just spit one of them out, if only for a minute? You'd have a partner to leave the chamber with."

Cell's eyes widened, his jaw dropping slightly. Her idea was so simple… so brilliant… why hadn't he thought of it?!

"Of course you didn't think of it, you dolt…" she said as if reading his thoughts. "Your sole goal has always been to become perfect… to become complete… this desire was the very core of your design! So why would your 'perfect' mind even consider endangering itself… by reverting to an obsolete state? I bet your subconscious knew all along… but the idea was simply filtered out… before it had a chance to surface."

"Why would you share this revelation with me?" he asked, staring at her in utter confusion. "I'm going to kill you, make no mistake. Don't you wish for revenge, a 'last laugh' so to speak? I'd say trapping me inside this hellhole would have done nicely."

Kameko just smiled at him, closing her eyes.

"I'm glad I got to see you again, Cell… even if it's like this… I just wish you could feel…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Kameko sank back into unconsciousness, too far gone to register two strong arms hesitantly picking her up and the sound of a heavy door that had not been opened for over nine months.

"I think her fever is finally coming down. Good work, Dende!"

"Thanks, but it was a close call… one, maybe two hours later and I don't think I could have-"

"Look, she's waking up!"

"Hey there, Kameko… how are you feeling?"

Kameko groggily opened her eyes, trying to focus on the blurry faces that hovered over her.

"Oh no…" she sweatdropped. "I'm dead, aren't I…?"

"Nope, Dende came through for us," Bulma grinned widely, hugging the confused girl. It slowly dawned on her that she was no longer fighting for her life in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but lying on the floor of Kami's Lookout, surrounded by her friends.

"What… what happened? How did I get here?" she blinked. "The last thing I remember is Cell getting ready to blast my head off… and then suddenly I was here. Did one of you guys bust me out?"

The others glanced uneasily at each other. Krillin looked at her nervously.

"We…ah… we didn't save you. Cell did. Goku had just returned from Namek when the door to the Chamber suddenly opened and Cell came out, carrying you in his arms. He dropped you on the ground, snapped at Dende that you had a virus, and then blasted off to Kami knows where. I would have stopped him, but…ah…you know… I kinda want to live…"

Kameko just stared at him, her brain trying to comprehend what the monk had just told her.

"Where's Goku now?" she asked with a trembling voice, trying to change the subject. She needed time to process this, figure out what it meant. Thankfully, Krillin seemed to get the hint.

"The wish worked!" he said. "Whishes, in fact. Not only has the chamber been reset, but he asked Porunga to expand its capacity too. It can now hold three people instead of just two, isn't that great? Goku and Gohan are inside now and they took Pan with them. It was Shin's idea, something about hoping she could learn from them how to make the most of her Saiyan heritage."

"And the third wish?"

"That one worked out perfectly," a familiar voice announced behind her.

"Vegeta! You're back!"

"Damn straight I am," the Prince said gruffly. "I just wish Babidi was still alive. Oh, I would love to get my hands on that little weasel."

"Babidi kicked the bucket?" Kameko asked and Piccolo nodded.

"Buu killed him," the Namek confirmed grimly. "But Vegeta may get his revenge yet. Babidi is a creature of magic and some of those are more dangerous dead than they are alive. We better stay on our toes and protect Shin, Pan and Chiaotzu at all cost. They are the only ones who's psychic abilities can shield us from the wizard's curse, should he rear his ugly head from beyond the grave."

"That still leaves his rebellious pet," Kameko balled her fist. "Cell thought nine months would be enough to close the power gap between them, but I'm not so optimistic, especially since he has barely recovered from the virus. I have to go and bring him back before he does something stupid!"

Kameko ran off and was about to jump from the Lookout, when Sixteen quickly grabbed her arms.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!"

"Before Cell left, he sort of said we were lucky to be alive and he would kill anyone who was dumb enough to follow him," Krillin explained nervously. "I don't know what happened in there, Kameko, but he sure seemed pissed about it."

"We'll deal with the android later," Vegeta snapped. "Right now, I want to know what that pink abomination is up to. Piccolo, Dende, you two are capable of spying on the Earth below, aren't you? How about keeping the rest of us in the loop?"

"As we feared, Buu has wiped out most of humanity," Piccolo said grimly. "I estimate about 80 percent of the population has been killed so far."

"WHAT?!" Videl shrieked, her face ashen. "Then what are we sitting around for?! Let's nuke that thing before there's no one left!"

"We're not strong enough!" Tien growled, balling his fist. "Kameko and Cell got stronger, but it wasn't enough. Even if Cell decides to come back and cooperate, he's no match for the monster. Our hope lies with Goku, Gohan and Pan. The rest of us can only buy them time."

"But my father…"

"Is still alive," Piccolo said, this time with a smirk on his face. "That crafty dog…"

"It seems we finally caught a break," Dende smiled widely. "Hercule somehow managed to befriend Buu and convinced him not to kill anymore."

"You're kidding…" Kameko gawked. "Is that… even possible?"

Dende closed his eyes and send them a telepathic vision. Hercule cooking Buu dinner, Buu playing with a puppy that he called 'Bee', the three of them laughing as they played fetch in the yard of the creature's house…

"I… I never knew… never even dared to hope… the monster was capable of friendship," Shin uttered, his hands shaking.

"You said he absorbed the grand Supreme Kai, didn't you? Maybe his pure heart affected Buu's personality," Videl said and the deity nodded.

"Yes, that has to be it…"

"You don't seem so sure," Krillin cocked an eyebrow.

"It just seems to good to be true," Shin frowned. "I can't explain it, but I have a bad feeling about this. Somehow I don't believe a few days of sharing baths and taking care of a lost puppy are enough to completely erase all the evil from his heart. The creature must be suppressing, rather than eliminating it."

"Which means it can still get out… like soda from a can that's been shaken one too many times," Yamcha said.

"Exactly. Let us hope that, if this happens, it will be after the Sons have finished their training…"

Hours passed and night fell on the Lookout. There was a serene quiet, only interrupted by the occasional hunger cries from baby Trunks, which Bulma was always quick to soothe. The adult Trunks slept like a log, along with most of the Z-fighters. Emphasis on most.

Kameko walked through the Palace, past the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. She placed her hand on the wooden door, letting out a deep sigh. So many questions…

She continued her stroll, exiting the palace and sitting down at the edge of the Lookout, her legs dangling over the side. Kameko closed her eyes, concentrating like she had never done before.

Open, she tried to will the telepathic link between herself and the android. Open, open, open…

It was no use. The connection opened and closed at random, and there was no way to force it. She stood up, but could not bring herself to walk back to her room. Kameko's feet shuffled closer to the edge, like a cliff diver about to jump into the vast ocean below. She looked over her shoulder, a pair of onyx eyes staring back at her from the shadows of the Palace.

("Going somewhere, daughter of the Turtle Hermit?")

("Don't try to stop me, Shin. I need to do this alone.")

("I know.")

The deity smiled and retreated back into the darkness, entering the Palace without saying another word. Kameko turned back to the edge of the platform, glancing at the ravaged world below. She closed her eyes, sighed deeply… and let herself fall.