This is a very short chapter, but another will be up in the next couple of days.
UK English. I don't own the characters!
He was a mere arm's length away when everything erupted. The blast blew outwards, stopping his forward momentum and tossing him across the arena.
The moment he landed, he scrambled to his feet, his gaze searching for her in the debris. But he already knew.
A human couldn't have survived that.
He was too late.
Drawing in a painful breath, he sank to his knees and placed his trembling hands on the cracked earth in a futile attempt to ground himself.
Vaguely he heard Trunks screaming, the words garbled by the ringing in his ears. Piccolo's baritone indicated he was holding the boy back, preventing him from being the next to die.
But all he could see was her face.
Her face, blue eyes wide and pleading. Her hair, swirling in the wind. Lips, contorted in pain as she screamed for him to save her.
And then… nothing. Nothing but dust.
And unlike Cell, she wasn't going to magically reform.
Not this…
Anything but this…
Dampness trickled down his face - sweat or tears he didn't know. Every pore on his skin was itchy and on fire.
He couldn't... stop… shaking. His very atoms vibrated. His muscles ached as they contracted and expanded, pulling at the tendons attaching them to his bones. His heart beat a rapid staccato, pounding on his chest as if it was desperate to escape. He was going to explode. Or implode.
He didn't care if he took the planet with him.
With a gasp, he dug his fingers into the dirt, clawing so hard he felt them crack and bleed.
The ringing in his ears grew louder, and he knew that somehow, despite his broken, weak body, he was Super Saiyan once more. But he still could not move.
Not her…
Anyone but her…
The ringing in his ears turned to a roar. Someone screamed a wild howl of grief, the pure, hollow loss in it haunting. With a jolt, he realised the sound was coming from him.
Power undulated through his veins, tingling down his spine, crackling and snapping around him. It was more than he's ever felt before. His body didn't belong to him anymore. It belonged to this. This grief. All the pain he'd ever felt in his lifetime unleashed in this one moment.
He locked eyes with Cell.
And let go.