Note: I really am sorry this took so long to write… For a long time, I was stuck in a rut about writing for DBZ, so I took a break to work on several stories for SAMURAI 7 instead. But I think I've finally got my groove back, so for those of you who waited patiently (and for some of you, not so patiently) for Chapter Nine of TWISTED TIMELINES to hit the site, here it is.
I never expected the hue and cry I got for Gohan's sacrifice in the last chapter… but you have to admit, it was certainly different. Everyone else in the show dies at least once (even Gohan, at the end of the MAJIN BUU series), so why not here? But hopefully, this chapter makes up for it.
Twisted Timelines
Chapter Nine
Piccolo flew toward West City, his mind searching for any trace of Gohan's life force. Although he wanted desperately to believe that the boy had escaped, had somehow survived, he sensed deep in his heart that this was not the case. He knew that if the Androids intended to stick to their bargain at all, Gohan would have been killed long before now.
But then the faintest flicker came, that energy signature that was distinctly Gohan's, and his heart leapt within him. Hold on, Gohan, I'm coming!
Landing amongst the wreckage of Capsule Corporation, Piccolo searched for his former student, until at last he came upon him, lying trapped beneath fallen rubble.
"Gohan! Gohan, hold on!" Piccolo gasped, throwing the rubble aside and carefully pulling the boy free. But his hopes sank as he saw the blood that soaked Gohan's body, saw the injuries inflicted by the Androids when Gohan had bought Keiki's life with his own.
To his astonishment, Gohan's eyes slowly opened, and turned to look at him. "P… Picc… olo?"
"I'm here, Gohan, you're safe," Piccolo replied, moving aside the last of the rubble and looking down at the boy. But when he did, he almost wished that he hadn't, for the full extent of his injuries became obvious. He should be dead… I'm amazed that he isn't right now. "Where are the Androids now?"
"They said… they… were going… to Sazebo. They… wanted… to see… for themselves… that you… and the others… had killed… the other Androids." Gohan's primary concerns, however, were not for himself. "What about… Kurenai… and the… baby?"
"They're fine, as far as I know, I left them behind to come back for you. Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Vegeta are with Kurenai right now."
"That's… good," Gohan breathed weakly. "I… only… wish… I could… see… the baby… I'm sure… she'll… be beautiful… just like… her… mother…" His eyes slipped closed, and his breath sighed out of him.
"Gohan!" Piccolo shouted. "Don't give up!" He lifted the half-Saiyan into his arms, and took off into the sky for East City as fast as he could possibly fly.
At the East City hospital, the remaining Z Warriors crowded around Kurenai and the baby, staring in astonishment at the black tail that the baby had curled instinctively around her mother's wrist.
"Whoa…" Krillin whispered. "It's a good thing Piccolo destroyed the moon. Can you imagine what would happen if she transformed and went on a rampage?"
"You can say that again," Tien replied. "Once was enough for me." He leaned down and gently touched the baby's soft crown of black fuzz. "Her features are a bit more like Kurenai's, but the tail is certainly from Vegeta's side of the family."
"I wonder what color eyes she'll have," Yamcha mused.
As though aware of all the attention, the baby stretched her arms wide and began to wail, but a soft word from Kurenai quieted her, and she began to nurse.
"Not going to bottle-feed her, hmm?" Krillin teased.
Kurenai shook her head. "No. Besides, science shows that a mother can pass resistances from herself to her baby through nursing. And in my case, who knows what else she'll get this way?"
One of the doctors came back into the room holding a sheet of paper. "Now, ma'am, we'll need you and your husband to fill out the birth certificate." He sat down, pulled out a pen, and placed the paper on the table. "First, we'll need the baby's name."
Kurenai looked over at her husband, and Vegeta nodded. "Keiki," he said softly. "Her name is Keiki."
"Surname?"
"Vegeta."
That got a strange look from the doctor, but he kept writing. "And the parents' names?"
"Mother's name is Suishoku Kurenai."
"Father's name?"
"Prince Vegeta." This time there was no mistaking the look of disbelief on the doctor's face.
"Prince?"
Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Kurenai fought to hide their smiles as the prince turned on the doctor. "Yes, prince. As in, 'son of king.' No last name, but make sure you put that title down, my daughter deserves to know she's descended from royalty."
"Yes, sir." The doctor hastily began scribbling again, jotting down the time of birth, the hospital she was born in, and the doctor who delivered her. "Now I'll just need your signatures, sir, ma'am."
Vegeta took the pen and added his name, and then Kurenai did the same. She noted the time on the birth certificate and smiled. "The hour of the Monkey, how appropriate," she laughed.
"Oh, boy," Yamcha chuckled, "Yep, I guess it was destiny that she be born at this time. Only makes sense because her father's a Saiyan."
The doctor wisely ignored this conversation, understanding none of it, and took the paper from Kurenai. "Now, I'll file this with the Records Department, and provide you a copy before you leave." He bowed politely and departed, leaving the others standing around Kurenai and Keiki.
"So, how long will you have to stay here, Kurenai?" Tien asked.
"The doctors said just a day or so, until I get my strength back," she replied. "They're not quite sure how I managed a first birth that easily, but as long as I seem okay, they're all right with me leaving."
"Where will you go?" Krillin asked Vegeta. "I mean, if Capsule Corporation is no longer standing, where will you two… correction, three live?"
Vegeta and Kurenai shared a glance. "We'll find some place," Vegeta said quietly.
Suddenly they all gasped and turned as one toward the window.
"Piccolo," Yamcha whispered. "He's coming."
"Is… is Gohan with him?" Kurenai asked, closing her eyes to try and sense the boy.
"I can't feel him," Vegeta replied, and Kurenai let her head fall back, tears slowly streaming down her face. A tear landed on Keiki's forehead, and she squirmed in Kurenai's arms.
"Sorry, little one," she whispered, opening her eyes again and gently wiping the tear away. Vegeta sat on the bed beside his wife and stroked her hair back, looking down at the baby.
Piccolo soared up to the window, holding Gohan in his arms, and Tien and Yamcha ran to open it. "Piccolo! Is Gohan-?" Tien asked softly.
The Namek shook his head, looking down at the boy he held. "No… he died in my arms on the way here. I did everything I could, but…"
"So it's true," Kurenai whispered. "Gohan is… dead."
"He did it for you, and for Keiki," Vegeta reminded her, and she glared at him through her tears.
"Do you honestly think that makes things any easier for me to bear?" she cried. Keiki stirred in her arms and began to cry.
"Why didn't you just come in through the front door, Piccolo?" Krillin asked.
"I'd have had a lot of explaining to do walking in like this," the Namek said grimly.
"We'll have even more explaining to do when we have to tell ChiChi," Yamcha groaned. "How are we going to tell her about this?"
For a long moment, all of them were quiet, all except Keiki who was still squalling in her mother's arms.
"Shh, sweetheart, shh," Kurenai murmured, her own voice breaking. "Don't cry, love… everything will be fine… somehow."
As though she could understand Kurenai's words, Keiki looked up at her mother and opened her eyes.
"Grey," Vegeta whispered, staring in wonder at his daughter's eyes. "Dark grey, with streaks of blue."
"Not quite you, and not quite Kurenai," Tien said. Then he started as Keiki turned her head and began reaching for Gohan, her tiny hands waving in the air.
"What is she doing?" Vegeta asked his wife, who shook her head, mystified.
"I have no idea."
Keiki's reaching became more insistent, and she screwed her face up in concentration trying to reach the boy.
"Piccolo, lay Gohan down on my bed," Kurenai said.
"There'll be blood everywhere," the Namek protested, but twin glares from Kurenai and Vegeta had him placing Gohan down beside Kurenai. She carefully let the baby go, who wiggled her way over to the boy and tried to climb up on his chest.
"Here you go, little one," Vegeta whispered, gently lifting his daughter up and placing her on Gohan's chest. "Though I don't know what you're trying to do."
Keiki curled up in a ball and rested her cheek over Gohan's heart, her small black tail twitching and waving. She gurgled softly to herself and closed her eyes again.
And a sudden gust of wind blew through the room.
A faint glow sprang up around Gohan and Keiki, who was still softly babbling to herself as the light danced around the two of them.
"What the-?" Kurenai cried out. Vegeta immediately wrapped his arms around his wife protectively, while Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Piccolo backed away.
"What's going on?" Yamcha shouted.
Kurenai suddenly let out a cry of pain, clutching at her chest. Alarmed, Vegeta pulled the folds of the hospital robe aside and saw the tattoo over her heart pulsing with light in time to the glow around the baby and Gohan.
"She's drawing on Kurenai's power!" he exclaimed in disbelief.
"But she's only a baby!" Piccolo protested. "What in hell can she possibly do?"
Then, all at once, the wind stopped and the glow faded away. Keiki gurgled happily to herself and crawled up to pat Gohan on the cheek with her little fingers, and the boy's eyes slowly opened.
"GOHAN!" Kurenai screamed, nearly falling out of the hospital bed in shock.
"You… you're alive!" Tien whispered, backing away until he stood with his back to the wall of the room. "But how?"
"I… I don't know," Gohan said, his voice raspy. He looked down in absolute astonishment at the baby sitting on his chest clapping her little hands together in delight. "Hey," he said, his expression brightening, "You must be Keiki! You were the one who brought me back to life!"
"But… how can this be?" Vegeta said, feeling more than a little lost about all of this. "She's just a baby! Even if she is my daughter and Kurenai's, this is impossible!"
"The Dragon's power," Kurenai said softly, her hand over her heart. "The Dragons have the power to resurrect the dead."
"But there were no Dragonballs involved, and neither Shenron nor Porunga appeared!" Krillin exclaimed. "So who wished Gohan back to life?"
Kurenai shook her head. "You don't understand. Another Dragon exists, but its power lives within me, not within a set of Dragonballs. Keiki drew on that power to bring Gohan back to life."
"So, you're saying that you could bring my father back, too?" Gohan asked, sitting up and cradling the baby in his arms as she cooed happily at him, her tail curling around his wrist, but Kurenai shook her head again.
"No… my power alone is not enough to summon him. But my power… combined with Vegeta's within Keiki… that was apparently another story."
Her dark blue-violet eyes were somber. "Either way, when the Androids find out Gohan is still alive, they're almost certainly going to come after us."
"But Gohan died! We all saw it!" Krillin objected. "How can they say we didn't agree to their bargain when they were the ones that killed him in the first place?"
"Do you honestly expect them to adhere to that stupid agreement?" Vegeta said in exasperation. "It's clear that they have absolutely no sense of honor, so the only thing we can do now is train ourselves to defeat them."
"Easier said than done," Yamcha said gloomily. "You saw how they fought, and they never wear out. It's going to take a hell of a lot of work to surpass them, even if we all do fight together."
"But I'll be with you," Kurenai reminded them, sitting up straighter. "Now that the baby is born, I won't have that same handicap I did the first time I fought Android 17."
Piccolo shook his head. "You still need to take care of Keiki. None of us know the first thing about raising a child, you know."
"Is Capsule Corporation still there?" Vegeta wanted to know. "Or my capsule?"
"Capsule Corp is in ruins, and as for your capsule, I honestly don't know. I wasn't actually looking for it at the time," Piccolo admitted. "You'll need to go to ground someplace else."
Bring them here.
All of them started and looked up at the ceiling. "What was that?" Tien whispered.
"It's Kami," Piccolo said derisively. "Showing off his omnipotent powers again."
You may bring Kurenai and the others here, Piccolo, came Kami's voice. It is the only place left in this world that is safe from the Androids. Although I fear that if their rampage remains unchecked, even this sanctuary will not be safe for long.
"Okay then, that's where we'll go," Gohan said, climbing off the bed and handing Keiki back to Kurenai. "I'll go tell my mom where I'm heading, and then meet you guys at the Lookout."
"Be careful, Gohan," Kurenai said softly. "You only just came back to life, I don't know if I could stand the idea of losing you again so quickly."
"Don't you worry," he replied cheerfully. "I'll be fine. And thanks again, Keiki!" He leaned down and kissed the baby girl on the top of her head, and she wiggled happily in her mother's arms. He then moved to the open window, glanced around, then soared away.
"Take care, Gohan!" Krillin called after him.
Vegeta helped his wife and baby out of bed, and it was clear that Kurenai was still weak after giving birth. "You can't stay here, that's for certain," he told her. "Not if the Androids are still running around."
"The doctors won't like me leaving like this," she reminded him.
"Like I care."
She smiled ruefully. "Point taken."
He carefully lifted her into his arms, with Kurenai cradling the baby. "All right, Piccolo, lead the way."
To be continued...