Piccolo:

He watched as Menka strained to keep the green vortex under control. He wanted to scream at her to finally lock Malaha's soul in the vessel, but she took her time. She did not want to and could not make a mistake now. He would only tear her out of her concentration.

Kera had indeed managed to expel Malaha from her body. Kera lay on the ground, only a few steps away from them. In the green swirl, Piccolo kept seeing a woman's face appear in a blur, her mouth agape in a silent scream. Since she bore no features of Kera, it had to be Malaha.

Being imprisoned by means of the Evil Containment Wave was not a great feeling. It was painful and carried a final note even as it was happening. That one knew that this was now the end. That there would be no escape.

Briefly, doubts came over Piccolo as to whether this was the right solution, but there was no other. Malaha and Aitor would have enslaved the entire population of Earth and then perhaps even emigrated to other planets and carried on there. Who knows whether they would have been alive at all then. Had Kera not fought Malaha herself from within ... Piccolo shook his head. They wouldn't have stood a chance against Vegeta and Kera together.

Menka let out a triumphant cry and jerked her arms upwards. The green vortex followed the movement, rising. Then Menka let her arms fly downwards and the vortex followed this movement too. It shrank, became narrower and seemed to flow like a viscous mass into the widened vessel.

Piccolo thought he heard a scream. No sooner had the last green tip disappeared than he leapt forward, corked the bulbous bottle and stuck the paper seal over the cork.

Relieved, he let himself fall backwards and took two deep breaths. He tried to suppress the trembling that ran through his whole body. The Evil Containment Wave was not without risk for the user. With little energy or used incorrectly, it inevitably led to the death of the one who used it. And since he had already given Kera much of his energy, using it had been more than risky, but he had been able to lock up Aitor after Vegeta's body had been so weak that he was on the verge of death. He had had to leave the Evil Containment Wave for Malaha to Menka.

Now he turned to his daughter, who was lying on the ground. Panic seized him. She had closed her eyes. Reyak was already with her and had pulled her upper body onto his lap.

Piccolo got on all fours and crawled to his daughter. "Is she ...?" Helplessly, he looked at his son.

"She's fine. She's just very weak."

Relieved, Piccolo breathed a sigh of relief.

A whirring sounded and they all looked to where the air was shimmering. Popo had appeared with his flying carpet. Dende was with him. He immediately jumped onto the roof of the skyscraper and ran to Menka. Carefully, he stroked her forehead and let out the same sigh that Piccolo had let out only seconds before him.

Dende's hand glowed and he gave Menka some of her energy back. She drew her eyebrows together and finally opened her eyes. Beaming, she smiled at Dende.

"How was it?" the young Namekian asked.

"I think it all worked out," she replied, looking past him to Piccolo. The latter nodded.

Only now was he gradually aware of the others. Were all the fighters there? He began to count through. Krillin was badly injured and was supported by 18. The others were still able to stand on their own, but they bore clear signs of the fight. Vegeta - Aitor - had not made it easy for them. Gohan nodded cheerfully at him. Piccolo was grateful to him for fighting, even if he had neglected training a lot in the last few years and they had only been able to catch up a little in the last few days.

Where was Yamcha? Piccolo looked around searchingly. Had he not made it?

"Hey, you down there!"

Yamcha came flying up. He was carrying Bulma on his back. Bulma had wanted to be there when they fought Vegeta, but Piccolo hadn't thought it was a good idea. It was far too dangerous. They had agreed that she would wait nearby. Yamcha had now brought her in.

Bulma's feet had barely touched the ground when she ran up to Vegeta and knelt beside him.

"Is he ...? Did you ...?" she asked, stuttering.

Dende turned away from Menka and was now examining Vegeta. He let his glowing hands wander over Vegeta's body. Small tears closed instantly, larger wounds seemed to grow closed as if in a time lapse.

"He's doing fine. He should be waking up soon," Dende finished his examination. "I no longer sense a dark presence in him."

Piccolo, meanwhile, had dragged himself over to Kera and was trying to feel her pulse. Were his senses playing tricks on him? He felt nothing. But there was still the connection. He would have to be dead too, wouldn't he? His breathing quickened. It couldn't all be for nothing now.

"May I heal her?" Dende had put a hand on Piccolo's shoulder.

"I can't feel her pulse," Piccolo said quietly, trying to suppress the panic in his voice.

"It's all right. She's alive."

Piccolo closed his eyes and let Dende do his work. As Dende healed Kera, he too felt his exhaustion fade a little.

"There, that's all I can do right now. The rest will take care of itself," Dende said after a while.

"Is she ... is everything ... ?"

Dende nodded. "I don't feel the dark presence in Kera anymore either."

Popo was beside him, helping the young Namekian to stand up.

"Thank you, Dende." Piccolo bowed his head in thanks.

"I thank you for averting this threat from Earth," Dende spoke in a loud firm voice, looking at everyone present on the roof in turn. "I will take the two jars with the dark souls and lock them in a safe place."

Popo accepted the two bottles from Reyak and walked to the waiting carpet.

"Papa, can I go with Dende?" asked Menka.

"Sure. Please come home later."

Menka ran to him, pressed a kiss to his forehead and Kera's, then ran to Dende.

Kera moaned softly and screwed up her face. Slowly she opened her eyes, blinked and then focused on Piccolo. A smile flitted across her lips before she contorted her face again in pain.

"Hey, you're back." Piccolo helped her to sit up. Immediately, Kera's upper body slumped forward and she propped her head up with her hands.

"Ouch, my head is throbbing." Then she lifted her head to look at Piccolo again. "I'm so sorry," she said softly.

Piccolo shook his head. "It wasn't your fault. All the bad things are Malaha's fault."

"Mama!"

She looked around Piccolo, who had blocked her view of the others. Reyak ran towards her and leapt into her arms. Swept along by the force of the swing, she fell backwards. Immediately Reyak jumped up and stood beside her.

"I'm sorry. I was just so ..."

"It's all right." She held out her hand for him to help her up. When she was sitting up again, she hugged her son. "Did you fight with them?"

"A little. At the end, when the others had taken Vegeta - Aitor, that is - to the roof. Before that, I was making sure nothing happened to Papa and Menka when they were in the spirit plane."

"Where's Menka?" asked Kera, irritated.

"She flew to the palace with Dende. They will hide the two vessels with the dark souls well," Piccolo replied.

"So it's really over?" asked Kera. She looked as if she couldn't believe it yet.

Piccolo put a hand under her chin as she looked him in the eye. "It's over. Dende can no longer sense a dark presence in you or Vegeta."

Again Kera's eyes snapped open. "Where is Vegeta?"

Piccolo moved a little to the side so Kera's view of Vegeta was clear. He helped her stand up. Slowly, resting an arm against Piccolo, she walked over to Vegeta and dropped to her knees beside him and Bulma.

She looked at Bulma. "I'm so sorry."

The latter shook her head. "I know it wasn't your fault or his. It's hard to comprehend, but you didn't do it."

Gratefully, Kera smiled at the blue-haired woman. Vegeta groaned at that moment and now opened his eyes as well.

He looked first at his mate and stroked her cheek briefly in a surprisingly gentle gesture, then looked to Kera.

"How are you?"

"Pretty banged up. But I'm all right now." She took his hand and squeezed it.

"Are you really back to your old self?" asked Tienshinhan, taking a step forward.

"My connection with Kera is back to the way it used to be. No restrictions and Dende says he doesn't feel the dark presence in her anymore."

"What about Vegeta?" asked Yamcha.

"According to Dende, the darkness is gone from him too," replied Piccolo.

Kera:

She looked deep into Vegeta's eyes. She tried to see to the very core of his soul. She had no connection with her brother like Piccolo had with her, yet there was more that connected them. After a while, she nodded.

"I'm sure there's no second soul left in Vegeta either."

"Shall we go home then?" Piccolo helped her stand up again.

"I'd love to. I ..." She faltered. Something had occurred to her. In the last few seconds before Malaha's soul had left her body, Malaha had made a wish. A wish Kera had not been able to deny her, even though Malaha had made her suffer for months.

"We will take the baby with us."

Everyone present dropped their jaws. "What?"

Without another word, Kera walked to the steel door on the roof that led to the stairwell. Going down the steps was exhausting, but she made it to the penthouse and headed unerringly for the room where Malaha and Aitor had put the baby down to sleep.

The girl lay peacefully sleeping in the cradle as if she had been oblivious to all the chaos and struggle around her. Carefully she lifted her in her arms. She looked so peaceful.

"We have to kill the child. According to the prophecy, it will bring chaos to the whole universe."

Startled, Kera turned to the door. Standing there was Piccolo. He had followed her. Vegeta appeared right behind him and pushed past Piccolo into the room. Bulma now appeared in the doorway as well.

"Where are the others?", Kera wanted to know.

"Flown home to lick their wounds. Don't distract. We have to kill the child."

Kera hugged the girl to her. "This child has done nothing!" she protested.

Was she just under the impression or had Vegeta actually placed himself lightly in front of her? Did he want the child to live on, too?

"But it's dangerous. We were only able to defeat Aitor and Malaha with great difficulty. What if this child is even stronger? Would we still have a chance then?" Piccolo seemed completely irritated by Kera's reaction.

"We will be stronger," Vegeta said firmly.

Reyak, whom Kera was only now noticing, tugged at Piccolo's cape. "Papa, I will also continue to train and Dende and Menka will surely continue to research and find other solutions."

"She is a pure-blood Saiyan, after all," Vegeta interjected. "She is blood of my blood."

"Don't you think that's ... kind of weird? I mean, you're brother and sister," Bulma now interjected.

"I know it's a shitty situation for all of us. I can't kill a child. And I wasn't even consciously pregnant. My body might have been, but not my soul. If we're careful, maybe she won't do anything." It sounded a little dull to her ears. Besides, Malaha's plea was still in her ear: protect my baby. As a mother, she knew how she felt. She just couldn't bring herself to do it. She would live with that thought all her life.

She looked to Vegeta, who gazed at her for a long moment. She wished at that moment that she could read his mind.

"I cannot kill this child," he formed with his lips.

She nodded. She wondered if Aitor had asked him, too, in his last seconds, to protect the child. She looked back to Piccolo and Bulma.

"Please, let's find a solution."

Bulma looked at Piccolo. It was as if they were having a silent conversation. Finally, they too nodded, albeit hesitantly and with reluctance.

Kera smiled. "Thank you."

She wrapped the still sleeping baby in a blanket and left with her mate, her son, her twin brother and his mate this penthouse where so many terrible things had happened. Where her soul had been tortured until it had almost disintegrated and where there had been a good end for her and her family.

They said goodbye to Vegeta and Bulma as they boarded the plane. Kera did not protest as Piccolo took her in his arms and flew her home, where Menka was already waiting for her. Beaming with joy, she also embraced her daughter.