A.N: DB/Z is owned by Akira Toriyama only

-I Pray-

Waking up that morning reminded him how lucky he was. In his arms lay his slumbering Chichi, her arms wrapped around him in a comforting hug as she gently snoozed. Goku smiled tenderly as he softly stroked her cheek. He sure was lucky to have her. He grinned like a love struck teenager. Last night had been amazing! The feelings they had and shared, the emotions…it was all overwhelming. Though he did feel a little disrespectful for doing it right then and there where people could have seen them, he couldn't wait to do it again!

Hot water and stale bread was chucked into each of the crowded cells by a couple of soldiers. They were kind enough to feed them sometimes, even if the bread was rock solid and the water boiling hot, it was better than nothing at all.

Goku took the bread and began to break it up. It was a hard task but he managed to successfully break the bread up into small pieces for each of them. The gang took a small piece each, leaving one extra piece left in Goku's hands.

He just stared at the piece, his eyes deeply looking at it, his mind on one thing.

"Goku? You alright?" Yamcha questioned him. Goku only smiled weakly.

"This would have been Tien's piece" Goku replied quietly; his small smile slowly fading. No one said anything as Goku placed the piece of stale bread back on the wooden plate it came on. Nobody could eat that piece now.

The sun had reached the highest point in the sky. It was scorching hot, the prisoners were boiling, their mouths dry and etching for cool cold water. Little Hector sat with his mother against the back of their cell. His brow was hot and sweaty, His mother's comforting hands only making him warmer. He let out a small breath, his young lungs overwhelmed by the heat. How much more could he possibly take?

Goku was stood across the dungeons in his cell; his eyes watching the poor child. Sweat trickled down his brow and down his nose; his hand only wiping it away once again. He leant up against the cell bars; his eyes blurry for some unknown reason. He blinked rapidly, his hands rubbing his eyes, and then rubbing the sweat from his head. He was so hot; the sweat was pouring off all of his aching body. He let out a deep ragged breath. He felt all tingly and weird all over. Then he felt a pain in his back and before he could hear Yamcha's questioning…he hit the floor.

He wasn't sure how long he had been out for; but he knew that when he opened his aching eyes that his back was killing him and he felt quite sick. His vision was blurry at first, a black splodge in front of him; a person he believed.

"Sh! Lay still, its ok" a gentle voice said to him. It sounded like angels; he wondered if he was dead. But he wasn't…he knew as soon as his vision became clear and Chichi smiled down lightly at him. He groaned and moved slightly, wincing at the pain in his upper back.

"What happened?" he grumbled; holding his head tenderly, "feels like a mountain feel on me"

"You fell unconscious – hit the floor like a rock" Yamcha answered him with slight enthusiasm. Goku sat up, ignoring Chichi's protests and orders to lay still.

"Why did that happen?" Goku questioned in wonder. Yamcha, Bulma, Krillin…they all bit their lips from the nerves and the fear. For a couple of days now they had seen the change in Goku. They had seen how he had dramatically weakened and how pale and drawn his face was. Sure, they were all slowly suffering in there; some faster than others, but there was something wrong with the way in which Goku was suffering.

"Well? What's up?" Goku questioned once more. Bulma cleared her throat.

"Your not well, Goku" she simply told him. He seemed confused.

"How am I not well? I know I have pains and all and I feel strangely weak…but doesn't everyone feel like that?"

"No, no they don't" Krillin answered him. Goku became anxious. Why were they all staring at him like that? Did they know something he didn't?

He had lay back down an hour later; Yamcha's upper garments resting beneath his head for comfort. He lay in thought, the reason behind his 'weakness' and 'suffering' now known to him.

He was dying.

Not like them…no he wasn't dying from the hunger and the thirst. He wasn't dying from the faeces and anything else that was rotting…no, he was dying from an infection. Bulma was smart and she always had been. Her father had once been a doctor in the city but times changed and he was forced to leave. She knew a lot about her father's work and whenever you had an injury or you felt sick for no reason; she knew what to do, she knew what it was.

He grunted from the pain again. He was sweating; it was rolling off him like warn silk. Where he had fought those beasts those few days ago, he had been dramatically slashed across his back with their sharp tails. His friends had cleaned it up, hoping it would stay clean and they wrapped it up hoping then it would be free from infection and anything worse.

But it wasn't free…it wasn't safe.

The air was diseased, the cells were most likely diseased…it was just a pure miracle that anyone was alive now, but Goku…his deep wound had caught the diseases and now it was spewing out infection and gang green.

There was no way he was going to live. There was no way even with the aid of a doctor that he could be helped. Number one, a doctor couldn't be afforded and number two…they weren't going to get out of these cells.

Goku was calm about all this to his friends' surprise. He was worried, hell of course he would be worried, but he wasn't afraid, he wasn't alarmed in that way. He was just worried for his friends and Chichi. If he died he couldn't be there to protect them. He couldn't be there to watch over them and keep them safe and keep the faith that he still had in his heart. That was partly why he wasn't worried. He still had faith…

He still believed that they were going to get out of here. No matter how many times Bulma or Chichi told him, he refused to agree with the fact they were going to all die and rot here. He didn't know what gave him that faith, that belief. He didn't know what kept such a far off dream going. But it just did. It refused to die down and he knew that meant something.

He turned his thinking head towards his friends who were talking quietly among themselves; about nothing in particular. They all seemed down and miserable, along side the fact they were hungry and thirsty and weak.

His eyes turned to look at Chichi who sat alone in the corner, almost as though she was about to go to sleep. He shifted himself to get a better look at her and decided to approach her.

She was so miserable. To see her slumped up against the wall like that it made him hurt more than his injury did. As if by magic she sensed his approach and turned to look at him; dirty lines running down her face from the tears.

"You should be lying down" she told him with a croaky voice. He sat down with a small wince, up against the wall.

"Nah, I'll be alright. Don't worry about me" She wanted to yell at him for saying that! How could she not worry? He was going to die for Kami's sake! But, she kept her mouth closed and remained silent. Yelling about it wasn't going to prevent his death…nothing was.

He watched her thoughtful expression in curiosity.

"What is it?" he asked gently; his one hand stroking her shoulder tenderly. She remained quiet for a few long seconds before answering him.

"Did you ever think about the possibility that I could be pregnant?" she asked him quietly. It was his turn to go silent. No, he hadn't thought about that at all. Damn…

"No" he replied honestly, "I hadn't"

"Not that it matters now. Your going to die…then we will all die" H crawled round in front of her, his eyes intensively gazing into hers.

"Don't say that Chichi!"

"It's true though! You can't deny it! Its true and you know it!" she stated, her voice now rising. He touched her face with his somewhat cold hands.

"Chi…baby…I told you once, and I am telling you again, you are going to get out of here. I promise your going to get out of here. With…or without me…you are going to go home and live in peace and maybe have our beautiful baby" The tears threatened to fall from her eyes again as he then pulled her to him in a gentle embrace.

She stayed like that for several minutes; the pain gone from him all of a sudden and the fear gone from her. But there was something he wanted to say…something that had suddenly crossed his mind.

"Chi" he called softly, getting her attention, "I don't mean to bring this up, but…how would you know if…if it was…my child…or his?" she smiled weakly and let her eyes drop to the floor.

"I know it would be yours. I know because…he didn't…take me…that way" she told him awkwardly. But he fully understood what she meant and he pulled her head against his chest to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry Chichi" he whispered into her dark hair.

"It's ok" she replied softly, "You showed me there was so much more. You showed me it could be so much better" and that was all that was said for the rest of the day, just gentle touches and kisses were given; and a "I love you" from them both as the night came.

Faith…Something not many people had. It was something distant from them, something they either refused to grasp or couldn't. Bulma refused…Yamcha refused and so did so many others. But really…even though they refused to accept this faith…they knew deep inside that they were trying to get it but they didn't have the strength to do so.

Goku; though in a bad shape, he had grasped this belief that they were going to get out and he kept hold of it ever since they were taken. Some wished they could have grasped it…but having hope really wasn't going to change their fate…was it?

It was the next day, during noon that many people changed their thoughts about faith…

Everything was going as it normally did. Soldiers had come in like most mornings to check for the dead and remove them if they could be bothered and maybe feed those alive. It was mainly quiet; just the shuffling of the soldiers' feet being the loudest noise heard. That was until a huge explosion shook the cells abruptly causing many to fall to the ground, and a large panic to grow.

Women screamed and the remaining children cried. The soldiers ran about frantically, grabbing weapons as they did shouting and wondering what was going on! Goku ordered Yamcha to give him a lift to look out of a large crack in the wall. Yamcha held him up, a sudden silence upon the prisoners as they awaited an answer to their questions.

Goku's eyes watched in shock at what he saw. There were armies of men coming over the sand dune…armies and armies of them…a familiar logo and flag in his sight and he smiled.

"I knew it! We're getting out of here!" he shouted for them all to here!

Crap chapter I'm sorry (sweats) but its crap to lead up to a good chapter which I'm doing right now XD So I'll have the next chapter up hopefully tomorrow. Sorry it took so long, like I said in my profile update, I had no inspiration for a good while. Then bam! It came back Lol. If you ever wonder what's up or anything check out my profile. I will always update that if I've been quiet for a while. Please review! Nothing to harsh lol, I've had a bad day (sighs)

Thanks for reading this! I appreciate it as always.

Kami bless.