AN. Fair warning, this is a heavy chapter. It deals with a canonical character death. Those who have read my oneshot 'Sacrifices' will know where this is going. So, warning posted, be aware.

A huge thank you to CommanderAIK for reading this over again, making sure it hit the right notes. You're a champion. Best niche ever. Everyone should read his fic 'Three Years' it's super great!

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The sky was clear. The sun was shining brightly. It was pleasantly warm. It would have been a perfect day. But it all felt wrong. So, so wrong.

Chiaotzu huddled behind the pillar of white rock, peeking out at the wide-open clearing. A cool breeze blew through the standing rock-formations, making him shiver and shake in the heavy Crane surcoat. The grass bent and swayed, forming a rippling green lake around Roshi.

The Turtle Hermit looked as though he was sleeping. His face was relaxed and his eyes were closed. Beside him lay a rice-cooker, turned on its side, its lid open. Taped to the side of that was a protective charm, writ in hurried slashes. Roshi had used all of his life force in an attack that was meant to contain, not to harm like the Kikoho. The Mafuba was just as deadly, however, and the fact that he had failed to trap the demon had not made a difference.

So much death. For a boy who had seen death so clearly and so often the fate of Krillin and Master Roshi weighed heavily upon him. Maybe because it felt like just the beginning. This monster was just getting started, after all, and his minions had already murdered so many others.

Fear twisted through him, an agitated snake, lighting up his nerve-endings and sending his small frame into an uncontrollable shudder. He tried to see where Tien was. The triclops and Master Roshi had taken shelter under the same raised rock formation, but there was no sign of the young man now. When Roshi had stepped out he had done so alone.

Roshi must have done something to Tien. There was no way that he would allow the old man to face this monster alone. He must have been knocked out or tied up or…or something.

He reached out with his mind instinctively before reining it back, holding it trembling in the core of his body. What if the demon king could sense telepathy? What if he grabbed a hold of the delicate tendrils of Chiaotzu's mind and followed it back to its source? What if he found Chiaotzu cowering here in terror?

He was distracted from this horrifying train of thought by the demon retrieving their dragon balls, coughing his own up from (Oh Kami, he'd swallowed them!) his gullet and dropping them on the soft grass.

Of course he couldn't wait. Of course he wasn't going to take the dragon balls somewhere else to get his wish. He was too eager, too hungry for power, to wait any longer.

The monster called the dragon. Ominous clouds rolled in, turning the previously blue sky a solid black lit occasionally by bright flashes of lightning. It appeared as a pulsating rope of power, twisting and forming in the air until a bright green dragon with glowing red eyes was coiled in the sky. Its voice was deep, vibrating the rock beneath Chiaotzu's hands.

Chao…zu…can you…hear…me…?

"Tien…"

He felt as though he screamed the name, relief filling him, but his fear still dominated and his voice only came as a soft whispering breath. Tien's telepathic voice was weak and exhausted, the link between them tenuous. It was taking effort for him to transmit this message.

Master…Roshi…drugged me… I can't…move… You have to…say our wish first…

His hands bore down hard and he gaped out at the dragon and the demon. Say their wish? Go out there? Leave the safety of the rock formation and expose himself to the monster? The thought of it froze him in place like a statue.

He reached out with his mind, forgetting his fear that Piccolo Daimao could sense that, trying to connect with the dragon's, but the consciousness towering over him was so vast and powerful that his not inconsiderable mind couldn't even scratch the surface, let alone interact on a conversational level. Telepathy was out then. So he really would have to go out there, raise his voice and shout the wish to the dragon before the demon noticed him. Sure. He could do that.

Wish…for Piccolo Daimao…to be gone from…this world… Can you do…that?

Yes, Tien.

His lips set in a thin line. His muscles were trembling with fear, making it difficult to move, but he wasn't going to stay hidden here. He was going to make Tien proud. He was going to be as brave as the triclops had been.

He concentrated his ki and, with surprisingly difficulty, channelled it through his feet, lifting off and hovering an inch above the still rippling grass. Steeling his courage, locking his joints so they wouldn't collapse, he carefully moved from behind the pillar. He felt tiny, insignificant, dwarfed by the massive dragon and the open space and the seven-foot tall green demon cackling at the sky with four-fingered hands stretched upwards.

He was so scared.

He cupped his hands around his mouth as the dragon's red eyes seared into him. His voice was clear and high, strong despite the trembling of his body. The demon whirled towards him, but he shouted as loud as he could.

"Please make Piccolo Daimao disappear from th-"

The ki-blast that hit him was unrefined, a pure and desperate bolt of energy. It had no secondary component, not burning or zapping or slicing. It was a suffocating cone that enveloped him within a split second of the demon flinging out his hand.

Chiaotzu was completely overwhelmed.

Terror clamoured in his mind but he found his body wouldn't respond to him. The blast of energy pushed him backwards, his own ki-control faltering and flickering out. It crushed the air from his lungs in a scream, making it impossible to draw another breath in. His landing was gentle, the soft grass cushioning his fall, and he stared up at the dark clouds with wide, frightened eyes, his diaphragm working desperately to draw air into his lungs.

The realisation that he was going to die filled his mind, huge and loud, crushing all of his rational thought. He didn't want to die. He was too young to die. How was that fair? After all the evil he had done, he didn't deserve to die before making amends.

Though he had done good, hadn't he? He had crept from his hiding spot and raised his voice against the demon king, despite his fear. He had been brave. He had been good. He had tried…

His heart started to flutter irregularly. Hazy black started to creep at the edges of his vision, but he wasn't sure if his vision was getting dimmer or if the dark clouds were getting lower.

"T…Tien…" he breathed, his last desperate attempt to speak. He wanted to apologise. To say how sorry he was that he couldn't quite speak fast enough. But his lungs wouldn't draw in more air and his mind was becoming vague and distant.

His eyes slid shut against the dark cloud that was now dominating most of his vision. The pain was fading rapidly, no longer crushing his whole body. For a brief moment he wondered if he was going to be okay, if his battered lungs would draw in a breath, but they weren't listening to him anymore. His head rolled gently to the side and he was gone.

AN. Okay, so that was the heaviest chapter I've written I think. I'm sorry! The next chapter will make up for it and I hope you all stick around to enjoy it :) See you next week!