Chapter 7: To Risk It All

I teleported to Old Kai's Ki signature and he was still sitting on the plateau, waiting on me again.

"Katie, please, have a seat. You'll want one when I give you the news."

I did sit, right across from him.

"Katie, I know this is a hard time for you, but I want you to think with your head on this. Don't just rush in."

"With my streak of bad rush-ins, why would I try it?" I replied.

"Because your son is the reason to rush in. But if you rush in this time, you might not be able to live with your choice."

"I understand, Old Kai."

He paused, trying to think of the best way to explain the situation to me.

Why doesn't he just spit it out?

"You could kill him yourself." He finally said. I fell over, shocked.

"What? I couldn't-"

"Let me finish. Like I was saying, you could kill Codie, then use New Namek's Dragonballs to bring him back."

Of course! But wait, no, I can't…

"I can't do that, Old Kai."

"Hm? Why not?" he replied, one eye on me. He already knew why not.

"First, I couldn't kill my son. Not ever."

"Yes…?"

"Second, I don't want another incident with the Shadow Dragons to happen again. You said it yourself, we've misused the Dragonballs, and now they're gone. I already wished Gohan back to life, Mirai's arm restored, and to close the barrier. We have to come up with solutions on our own. Third, I don't think it would work. Codie and Cell are one in the same, even the evil half now. It wouldn't make him well. He'd still be sick."

"Now if only Vegeta thought more like you-"

"He wouldn't be my hero if he did." I said aloud.

"So, what will you do?" Old Kai asked.

"Keep looking, it's all I can do." I got up and got ready to teleport, "Thanks anyway, though. And please, keep looking."

"I will. That boy of yours is something special."

"Always." Then I teleported home.

After checking in with Codie again, I went back to confront Mirai.

"Mirai?" I looked in our room, and he was waiting, as he said.

"Did you find out anything?" Mirai asked, standing.

"No, no solution. Mirai, how can I tell him? How can I tell Codie he's dying?"

"You don't know-"

"He's getting worse everyday. You may not see it, but I do. And there isn't a way to cure him."

"I could tell-"

"No. I know Cell better than anyone, and I know what's wrong with him better than anyone. We're close, like this-" I crossed my fingers, "- so I should tell him."

"…You're right. You go tell him he's not going to reach his prime, and make sure he knows whose fault it is!"

"Mirai! This isn't so easy for me, you know! This is killing me inside!"

"Tell the truth, Katie! It's because he's Cell that you care so much! Admit it!"

"That's not true!"

"You're obsessed with the android, and your heart has always been with him!"

"No!"

"You could have escaped from him during the Cell games! You could have left him in HFIL alone! But you stayed with him, and kept seeing him! Kais know what you did with him!"

"Mirai!"

"You already admitted that you loved him!"

I lost it, I slapped him, hard, leaving a handprint.

"Mirai, I… I…" I swallowed my emotion and began. He had to understand, "Yes, I loved Cell, but I love you more. I always have. Cell will always be a part of me."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Mirai! You will listen to me! I had the Angel Power, and I could have had any man I wanted. I chose you, and I have never once thought of leaving you. Not one time. Remember Katrin, my counterpart? She was with Cell, and we are opposite."

"Not so opposite." Mirai growled.

"Do you know when I fell in love with you? When I saw you fighting Cyborg Frieza on earth, and you were so nervous afterwards when you met with us. I accepted a drink from you to help you break the ice. I tried to fight my emotions then, but I couldn't because my love for you was stronger. The first thing I asked Cell when I woke up at Gero's lab was, what happened to Trunks?"

"You still stayed with him." Mirai growled.

"Yes, I did stay with him, but it wasn't for love. I knew that if I tried to escape he would catch me without any effort. I knew he could kill me or absorb me. I stayed and tried to find his weakness. He didn't have one. I sparred with him, but still found no weakness. I had respect for him as a living being, but I thought of you constantly. You are my Inner Light. My love for you gave me the strength I needed to fight all those years. Without you, I wouldn't have become the Angel."

Mirai didn't say anything. He just stood there, looking to one side.

"You stayed with Cell in the other dimension…"

"Do you still need convincing? Fine…" I went to the bookshelf and picked out my New Destiny 2: Unseen Future, and flipped through the pages.

"Listen to this, I saw him, the boy I had seen in my dreams all those years. He was only a boy, and I was only a girl. I realized once I saw him that we would be safe, Iceman wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. This boy, the boy with the lavender hair, was known as the mysterious youth. I felt my heart race once I saw him, but I reminded myself that I would one day return home, and one day he would return to the future. We could never be, so I would be cold like his father, my hero, Vejita, and stay distant from him. Love would only get in the way of my destiny. And there's this, we were in the Room of Space and Time, training together, and my heart rapidly beat again. But it wasn't due to the high kick I had just dodged or the energy blast that I threw at him, it was due to him and him alone. Once again I tried to tell myself we could never be. And there's this, I loved him, and my heart split in two when I saw the blast go through his chest. I knew the blast was supposed to hit him, but love makes you think nothing bad could ever happen. I thought it would miss, or be blocked, but it wasn't. The perfect killing machine had just killed my mate, my lover. I had respect for the creature standing in the battlefield, but with that blast I realized he was cold, and we could never be anything more than what we were, distant friends at most. He laughed, and looked at my tear-streaked face. 'It was only supposed to be a warning shot.' He laughed."

I closed the book, tears forming as I read from my book. Mirai's expression hadn't changed.

"That boy was you, Mirai. All about you. You are the father of my kids, my soul mate, and my best friend. I know you love me, so know that I mean it when I say I love you. If there were a stronger word for love, I'd use it. You are my only love. The only one who understands me. Please, can't you even look at me?" Mirai turned to face me, and I saw he was forming tears now as well.

"See? If I didn't love you, would I hurt this much? Would you?"

"Katie, my envy for that- for Cell- was clouding my mind."

"I realize you hate him. I realized that a long time ago, and I'm okay with that, but just because I don't hate him doesn't mean I ever cheated on you with him." I said. Right then I remembered the three kisses, "And to prove that, I have another story, something I added to my books. Maybe you've read it already, I don't know. Cell kissed me once, in the illusion. It was before we went to battle. Then I kissed that Cell from the other dimension. But even then I could feel that it wasn't right. I will always love you."

"…So how was he?"

"What?"

"His kiss. How was it?"

"Nothing compared to yours, my love. Truly, deeply, yours are more meaningful than even that one from him."

"That's all I needed to hear." Mirai said.

"Oh Mirai!" I kissed him, and man it was intense. It seemed to last forever, and it could have. I forgot all my worries with that kiss. "I told you."

We went to bed then, but sleep wasn't on our minds. That had to wait for later, right now we had some making up to do.