AN. So here we have the next chapter. Things get a little...heavy from here for a little while. This is the first big dramatic sort of scene in the series and so hopefully I've portrayed it respectfully.
Massive shout out to CommanderAIK for reading this over and giving me tips where I could make it clearer to fandomblind readers! You should definitely read his Tien&Chiaotzu gen fic "Three Years", it's wonderful! If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask, I'm always happy to clarify :) Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Krillin was dead.
Silence filled the small airship. Tien was driving, his grip so tight on the wheel that his knuckles were white, his eyes resolutely forward. The Turtle Hermit was in the back seat with Chiaotzu, looking out the other side, his grief hidden beneath a layer of nonchalance. Chiaotzu was sure that if their minds had not previously met that the deep sadness and regret the old man felt at the death of his pupil would have been completely obscured. And completely private.
Chiaotzu looked down at the dragon radar in his hands. The odd device Bulma had given him. It would find the dragon balls, before the evil King Piccolo could, and with them they could wish Krillin back to life.
His eyes flitted up briefly, examining Tien's profile. The triclops had been mostly silent during this trip to find the dragon balls. He had been obsessing over the Mafuba, the legendary attack Master Roshi had told them about, the attack that had previously sealed away the Demon King. For three hundred long years Piccolo Daimao had been locked away in a rice-cooker, hidden in the deepest trench of the ocean. But now he was free.
And Krillin was dead.
His body had been so small. The slight bump beneath the white sheet had seemed so insignificant. Chiaotzu had looked down at it, detached and shocked. He had only half listened to the explanation of the dragon balls, of the war Piccolo Daimao had waged all those years ago, and of his minions who even now were going around murdering other participants of the Tenkaichi Budokai. He had managed to mumble the words "Who could be so cruel?" and then flinched back into himself, remembering that he had been on many occasions. He had wondered why he had never covered the bodies of his victims. Why he had never organised their limbs or closed their eyes. Why he had never made them respectable for their loved ones to find.
Chiaotzu shook his head slightly and looked out the window again. The scenery they were passing now was flattening out; the gentle rolling hills being replaced with sandy dunes. The radar in his small white hands let out soft, high-pitched beeps, growing steadily more frequent as they grew closer.
Tien twitched his head to the side, the movement caught in the periphery of Chiaotzu's vision, and the telepath felt the gentle touch of the triclops' mind.
Are we going the right way?
Chiaotzu looked back down to the radar. They already had three dragon balls, the small orange dots arranged in an upside down triangle. In the upper left corner another dot flashed, the grid increasing in size as they drew closer. He had to hesitate as he figured out which direction to advise. Left and right confused him and he didn't want to get it wrong.
Towards me a bit.
Tien nodded and the airship's path diverted slightly. Each of the occupants retreated to their own little zones of silence and reflection. Chiaotzu kept his eyes on the dragon radar, waiting until they were close enough before he warned Tien telepathically that they needed to start descending. A curt nod and the airship slowly circled down, landing on the outskirts of a small town.
The air was hot and dry, a brisk wind blowing stinging sheets of sand against the three of them as they wandered through the seemingly abandoned town. The dragon ball seemed to be in a small house on the other side of the town, a dilapidated two-storey shack with cross-nailed patches of wood sealing the gaps. The curtains were drawn and the house was silent.
"I'll get this one," Tien said, squaring his shoulders and straightening his spine. A flash of concern sparked high in Chiaotzu's mind and spiralled lazily down to niggle at the base of his spine, making him frown and adjust his position, trying to get comfortable.
Tien didn't notice; he was already striding towards the door. His confidence had waned visibly as he raised one fist to knock, and vanished completely shortly after the door opened. He went inside, the door closed, and there was silence again.
Roshi sat down on a low wall with a sigh, rubbing his bald head and looking up at the sky. Chiaotzu couldn't sit down. He couldn't stand still. He was perpetually uncomfortable it seemed. His eyes tried to burn holes through the flimsy wooden door that separated Tien from the two of them.
"You're worried about Tienshinhan, huh?"
Roshi's voice couldn't quite break through the anxious barrier he was creating around himself. His mind flitted constantly, between worry and curiosity for Tien, to dampening down his features so they were flat, to trying to control his emotions before the crackling blue aura appeared. All he could manage was a low hum in the back of his throat, an involuntary reaction to being asked a question.
"He'll be alright. He's a good man, you know."
Chiaotzu's gaze swung back to Roshi, his lips a tight line and his eyebrows slanting in a helpless expression. The old man smiled widely and patted the log beside him.
"Come and sit down, he'll be fine."
Chiaotzu shook his head, a brief muscle spasm, and looked back at the door again. The thick mental barriers around Tien's mind had been weakening, thinning, becoming more permeable to his thoughts and his emotions. Now they were almost completely gone and Chiaotzu could feel easily the shock and the horror and the grief that was filling his brother.
"Tien," he murmured under his breath. And then there were sirens and trucks and men with guns swarming up to the house. Chiaotzu's fear froze him to the spot, but Roshi simply sighed and stood up, brushing the fine sand from his dark trousers.
"I'll handle this," he said, and walked up to the door unhurriedly, reaching it after the team of police had breached it to rush into the house.
Chiaotzu found himself moving forward on legs that were numb, his face still carefully blank. He stood in the doorway, watching, as Tien ducked into his fighting position. There wasn't anger on his face, though. There was fear and sadness and desperation, but no anger. It was a relief, in a way, seeing how the absence of that emotion made his features softer, more like the child he had been so long ago.
The man leaning in the back of the room looked vaguely familiar, a face from long ago, and the memory that recurred made Chiaotzu shudder slightly. One of the many underground tournaments, one of the many broken fighters. The cane resting against one of the man's legs indicated that the injury Tien had inflicted had not healed well.
Roshi had already set about defusing the situation, reassuring the police that Tien was not, in fact, the one going around murdering martial artists. Chiaotzu could see the tension in the triclops' shoulders as Roshi insisted that he was no murderer, but neither of them spoke up to correct him.
Tien approached the man leaning at the back. The injured former fighter was glaring daggers at the triclops, his mouth a thin white line and his arms crossed tightly. When Tien extended one hand and asked for the Dragon Ball again the man flinched ever so slightly.
"Why don't you tear the place up to find it yourself? Isn't that more your style?"
Chiaotzu's hand tightened on the doorframe, his mouth turned down and sorrow in his eyes. This man had experienced the coldness and vicious streak in Tien, had been left broken and helpless. His own bitterness was not unwarranted. The telepath was afraid that Tien would react with the rage and arrogance that Shen had instilled in him.
He was just as surprised as the former fighter when Tien fell to his hands and knees, his head bowed.
"Please. I beg of you. We need that dragon ball. If you want revenge…break an arm or two? Just please, give us the ball."
Tears burned in Chiaotzu's eyes as he watched his best friend bow until the tip of his nose brushed the uneven wooden planks. Tension and anticipation of pain lined every part of his body, tightening his features and twisting his mouth into a grimace.
The man stared down at the triclops on the floor, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. His voice was dazed and vague, as though the words were escaping without him being aware of them.
"I've seen your face in my worst dreams and woken up in a cold sweat. My wife has had to suffer my screams and my pain and the years of physical therapy and the failed operations. I yearned for revenge against you, the man who destroyed my life and never looked back."
The telepath tensed, preparing to intervene. He didn't care how badly this man had been hurt, or how fitting the punishment, he wouldn't allow his brother to come to harm.
No. Don't. I deserve this. Chiaotzu's eyebrows drew together at Tien's soft but firm voice, and he relaxed his hands, leaning back ever so slightly. He could see the slightest twitch of Tien's lips, the smile that was hidden from the rest of the room. Thank you, little brother.
The man's grip visibly tightened on his cane, the tension in the air making it thick and hard to breath, before he sighed and slumped back against the wall. "I forgive you, get up."
The relief that filled the room was disarming. The man offered his hand and Tien took it, getting back up to his feet. The baby in the next room was cradling the dragon ball, sleeping deeply, and they were promised when he woke they would be able to take it.
Despite their hurry they agreed to stay for a quick bite to eat, their first proper meal since Krillin had died. Chiaotzu had used his powers to remove a couple of long nasty splinters that had embedded themselves into Tien's hands. For a while everything was okay. But then the baby woke, the dragon ball was in their hands, and they left. They had four dragon balls now. Piccolo Daimao had two. That left one. A lone dragon ball. They had to get it before the demon king.
AN. Okay so a little bit more free-form, a little big more vague in places. I hope it came across well! I've got a few more chapters up my sleeve so will be updating regularly :D Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!