AN: I revised chapter 4, but you don't have to read it again if you don't want to. I originally had Katie die and go with Goku to king Kai's place, but I decided that Katie wasn't a tag-along character. And in a way, taking that blast from Raditz shows how strong she is.
This story is finally heating up! As always, read and review. If you have questions, ask! I'll answer unless it gives away the plot.
Anyway, here we go!
Chapter 61: Coming to Terms
The others got up, and Goku gently lifted my arm so I'd get up. I didn't care anymore as he led me down the hall behind that same elf from before.
Goku led me to the bed in the room, a nice room by any standards that had two more rooms branch off from it, and I sat as the others talked. I stared out the window; it was dark, nighttime, and the stars were bright. Tears were rolling down my face freely.
"Katie? Are you okay?" it was Mirai.
"He destroyed my home. My family, my country, everything I knew is gone."
"And he'll pay for it." Vegeta said. I turned, looking up at him.
"It won't bring my parents back. My entire universe is gone. Not even the Dragonballs could fix that."
"Katie, you still have us." Mirai said.
"I know this isn't your world, Katie, but you still have to fight." Goku said.
"Why? My home is gone! The only reason I have fought for so long is gone!"
"What about us? Don't you care about us?" Vegeta asked.
"Yes-"
"Then there is your reason to fight. Fight for us, fight for our future." Mirai said, holding my hands.
"It's all gone." I whispered.
"She's not listening." They started talking again, but I didn't care. I rolled over away from them. No one could understand my pain right now.
"Katie, can you hear me?" it was King Kai, talking in my head.
"I hear you. What do you want?"
"I heard what Roxx said. I'm so sorry."
"Sorry won't bring back my family."
"Yes, but that's not the only reason I'm contacting you. I have a message for you."
"From who? Who could possibly have a message for me from Otherworld who couldn't contact me on their own?"
"Cell."
"… Okay, let him speak."
"Katie, its me. Can you hear me alright?"
"Yes. What do you want?"
"I heard the news about your home. I want you to know that everyone down here is rooting for you. That includes me and Frieza."
"Why should I care anymore, Cell? The only reason I've fought this long was the hope of returning home."
"You told me once this was your destiny, and nothing I did could change that. You have to fight, for all of us. If you don't try, you can't find out what the future holds. You won't get to see it to the end. I believe in you, Katie."
Cell made sense. I had a family here, too. Like it or not, that included Cell in a way. This was my new home, and I wouldn't let Roxx destroy it as well.
"Yes, I'll fight. If not for myself, then for you guys and this universe and all the ones remaining." I said, to my friends and Cell.
"Give him a new hole in the head for all of us in HFIL. Remember, everyone down here is rooting for you."
"King Kai, let the others know we're still okay. I'm sure they're all worried by now, but tell them to stay away, and that we're handling it." I said.
"Sure thing, over and out."
"There's our fearless leader." Mirai said.
"Lets get some sleep now. We'll need it." Goku said as he and Vegeta went into their separate rooms.
I finally broke down, and Mirai was there for me. He let me cry and he held me as I did so.
"My home is gone, Mirai. I can't go back."
"Now we have something else in common." He said lightheartedly.
"Mirai, I understand now. I know how you must have felt."
"It would have been harder without you."
"Mirai, I love you, I love you so much it hurts to think of losing you. Did I ever tell you what happened after you died?"
"No, you never did."
"I knew you would die, it happened in the show and the comics. But I hoped something would change, like it had been changing at other times. But then I saw Cell shoot at you. I couldn't stop it. Then you died. I felt a pain, here where we Bonded. That's when Vegeta found out about our Bond. Vegeta went to attack Cell, but Cell hit him and Vegeta fell. Cell went to shoot Vegeta, and I got in front of Vegeta to protect him. Cell shot a warning blast at me. He tried to get me to leave; he wanted me so he could absorb me. Then he fired for real. Gohan blocked that and lost the use of his arm. Gohan did a one-handed Kamehameha and beat Cell. The pain from losing you was so great I didn't want to go on." Fresh tears wet my cheeks, but Mirai wiped them off.
"When I left to go back to the future, I had every intent on coming back for you, but I had to make preparations. It was almost easier to come back since I had no one to leave in the future. So now, maybe it will be easier for you to stay here with us."
"I miss my parents."
"I know. When I got to meet dad I was surprised to see who he really was. Mom, Gohan, and you, always told me stories, but I thought they had to be exaggerated. But they weren't." he said with a small laugh.
"Mirai, I'm going to beat him. I'm going to get revenge for my universe, and I'm going to protect this one."
"Lets get some sleep." I rolled over onto my side as he climbed into the bed beside me.
"Mirai, would you just… hold me? Please?"
"Sure, Angel."
The bright sunlight filled the room as I lay awake. I didn't sleep so well, with the nightmares of home. I decided to forget trying to sleep a few hours ago, so I just watched Mirai sleep.
My home is gone. He has killed so many people over the centuries. How could I possibly stop him? He makes me sick. I'll do whatever it takes to stop him. For you, my beloved Mirai No Trunks, I would rip out my own heart. But I'll rip out Roxx's heart instead.
I got up and went to the window, staring out into the endless sky. Looking around the room I spotted my sword and Mirai's sword, and all of our clothes.
What are our clothes doing in here? Roxx must want us to change back into our clothes now. It would be easier to fight if I weren't in this dress.
So I quickly changed into my old clothes, which didn't smell like hydra guts anymore.
I would avenge my family and my universe, and I would come out of this alive, and I prayed that Vegeta, Mirai, and Goku would as well. If it weren't for me they wouldn't be here.
But if I wasn't here, this dimension would have been destroyed on the spot.
Vegeta, Goku, and Mirai were up now. They left me alone as I stared out the window and they got dressed back into their clothes as well.
"How are you holding up?" Goku asked as he stood next to me.
"I feel as though my heart has been ripped out and replaced with ice."
"It'll be okay. You still have your life here with us." Goku said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"You know Goku, I can clearly remember thinking one time that I would be fine if I was stuck here. I didn't realize that the price for remaining here would be so high."
"Katie, thinking something bad doesn't make other bad things happen."
"When I first came to this dimension, I felt lucky. How many kids get to meet their heroes?" I turned to face everyone, "But then I realized it was all too real. I wasn't going to give up, but I wanted to go home. When I became Katherine the Slaughterer, I was free. It didn't matter if I was home, because I could do whatever I wanted. Now I feel sick just thinking about her. I still wake up screaming from nightmares about... about being her again."
By this point Mirai and Vegeta were next to me as well.
"When I was her, I was so ready to kill all of you. I remember seeing Piccolo, Krillen, Goten, and Trunks up on the hill, and I thought it better for them to die now then later. But when Vegeta sacrificed himself to save me, something snapped. He cared enough that it didn't matter if I was willing to kill him or not, he'd try to save me."
"I had to. I knew it wasn't your fault, and I knew you'd do the same for me." Vegeta said.
"I have something I want to tell you guys, a secret I have been holding onto for over ten years. And I don't want you to interrupt me." I turned to face them.
"During the Cell fights?" Mirai clarified.
"Yes. When Cell abducted me, he did so to save me. I had become infected with the Heart Virus, and he had an antidote. I woke up three days after he took me. My first thought was the safety of all of you. Cell said I was nothing more than insurance for the Cell games. He treated me well, despite what he said. He escorted me to the near-by, abandoned city so I could get food and other supplies Gero's hidden lab didn't have. He told me it was so I wouldn't try to escape, but I didn't believe him about that, either. After a few days he got bored and we had a spar. He won, of course. Then a few days later, when he left to feed, I hacked into Gero's computer to try to find something about Cell, any sort of weakness. I knew I had a two-hour window to work, that's why I waited so long before I attempted anything, I wanted to know his routine, and I wanted him to trust me. To tell you the truth, I sort of began to like him. He had always been my favorite bad-guy from the series, but when I got to know him I realized we were a lot a like. But I was doing what I knew I had to do. I found his file and started to read it. Gero encrypted it, so it took me a while to decipher it, but while I had been reading Cell returned.
"Cell was mad, obviously. He smashed the computer and threw me into a wall, knocking me out. When I woke up I was in a Ki-suppressing chamber, and that's when I found out why Cell really wanted me. His programming was to absorb me as well, though he had fought it some. He wanted me to join him. I refused and was therefore locked in the chamber for the remaining days before the Cell games. On the day of the tournament he let me out to eat, and that was the first thing I had to eat since he locked me up. He continued to try to get me on his side. He even did this weird thing with his tail, giving me a choice to join and be a part of him without being absorbed, or to go back to my life. I chose my life, and he was going to absorb me once he won the Cell games. When he killed you, Mirai No Trunks, he looked right at me and laughed. He was punishing me as well as you. Cell did care for me, in a sick, obsessive way. And last night King Kai transferred a message from Cell. He said everyone in HFIL was rooting for me."
No one said anything for a few minutes as they let it sink in.
"Did you hold back against him?" Vegeta asked.
"Vegeta, how could you ask her something like that?" Goku snapped.
"Its okay, Goku. No, I fought hard against Cell. But I did try to get him to stop and join us instead. The only time I have ever held back was when I was fighting you, I was in Oozaru form and you weren't. I knew you would be needed, though it almost got me killed."
"So you never told anyone about this?" Mirai asked.
"No. But I decided to tell now, just in case…"
"We'll all make it out of here. You are the Angel Sayjin; I don't care what Roxx says. You have to be." Vegeta said. Goku agreed.
"Thanks. But it won't matter what I can do as long as we have these collars on."
