A/N: Without further ado! I'm writing this at 2:30AM. Blahhh.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

Spectre

08

The torrential downpour still hadn't ended when I woke the next morning. I sourly watched rain patter against my window for a few minutes before climbing out of bed to go downstairs and confront my parents. They had avoided me all day yesterday so it was time for some answers. I'd been nothing but patient; nothing but the model child they wanted.

After a quick shower I checked my cell phone and was surprised to see a few unread messages waiting for me. Bulla sent me a few when she was drunk and Pan texted me once or twice asking about what I wanted to do after school, but the last one was from an unknown number. Curious, I opened it the scanned the short message with tired eyes. It was way too early in the morning for—

Hi, Marron. It's Goten. I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner later. Let me know.

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers. Oh no. Goten was the last person I wanted to deal with. I couldn't leave myself open to the temptation of answering him so I quickly deleted the message and went downstairs for breakfast. He'd give up if I kept blowing him off.

"Mom," I called as I trumped down the stairs, "can we get some Cheerios later? I'm already sick of Poptarts and I've only had them a few times this week."

When I stepped into the kitchen, I was in for another rude shock.

Goku was sitting at the table with his chin resting in his palm, gazing blankly at the floor. He didn't notice me for a few seconds but blinked out of his stupor and rose so fast he almost knocked his chair over. He smiled at me halfheartedly. I could practically see the sweat forming at his brow. I fell back on my heels and stared at his without speaking for a while, beginning to realize that something was wrong.

Where were my parents? Why did they leave Goku of all people to watch me? Sure he'd saved me the other day but he'd been partially responsible for what happened. From what Pan told me, he didn't have the greatest track record with babysitting. Gohan told her some stories from when he was a baby and a lot of them ended with him nearly dying.

There was a reason they had sent Goku here. Mom was trying to avoid me and dad… well; dad must've been at the heart of the issue. There was no other explanation.

I tentatively stepped into the kitchen and stood by the island, keeping distance between the Saiyan and I. He twiddled his thumbs nervously and rubbed the back of his head. Something terrible was about to come out of his mouth. It was gonna change everything. I just knew it.

"Marron," Goku said, "I have some bad news."

My heart turned to ice.

"Krillin has been sorta sick for a while and… he had to go to the hospital yesterday. So um… your mother doesn't want you to see him until the doctors figure everything out and—"

"Daddy's sick?" I whispered.

"Well uh, not in the conventional sense, no." Goku paused, trying to put everything lightly. "He's… he can't remember things very well anymore. He disappeared yesterday and the doctor doesn't think it's safe for him to come home. Sometimes when people start forgetting they do dumb things."

I slumped against the island. Daddy was forgetting? No, that couldn't happen to him. That sort of thing happened to really old people who had to take a million medications a day. Dad had been through so much and… no, he and mom were never gonna die. They would never age. We'd always have each other until the very end; until the universe itself collapsed.

Goku stepped toward me with pleading eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm bad at explaining things, but you can go see him tomorrow. I promise. He wanted to move here so you'd have more people around you for support when he was too sick to live at home. Your dad really loves you, Marron, more than anything, and your mother has been busy seeing to his treatment. You can see them soon."

Was the room shrinking? It felt like I couldn't breathe. The walls were closing in on me, crushing my lungs in a cold vice grip. I sank to the floor and held my face in my hands as the cold rain poured outside relentlessly, the only sound on the bleak spring morning. No. Goku was lying or just plain crazy.

Dad had been losing his memory for a while. That was why he insisted on us moving so quickly: he wanted to be around his old friends and have their support while his mind slowly wasted away. I hadn't even been able to say goodbye. Would he know who I was when I walked in the room, or would I get the same blank look I had seen when he saw me at Goku's after the snake bite?

Tears were leaking from my eyes before I realized I was crying. I had to see him. Mom wasn't going to keep us apart anymore and I wouldn't be trapped inside with Goku when daddy needed me. What did she know, anyway? She didn't seem to have the capacity to care about anyone beside him.

I wanted to stand but Goku was sitting next to me on the floor a moment later and I was once again sobbing uncontrollably into his shirt. He touched my hair gingerly; clearly comforting teenage girls was foreign territory for him. I tried to get to my feet but he gently pulled me into his lap and held on tightly to keep me from escaping. He already knew what I was planning.

Through the onslaught of tears, I saw his Adam's apple bob. "Marron, you can't see him yet."

"B-but he's my f-father! I d… don't care what mom says!"

"It isn't the right time yet. He isn't stable so seeing you might make it more difficult. Please bear with me. We can do whatever you want. Bulla and Pan can probably come over if you want more company."

My father wasn't stable.

Goku released me when I became incomprehensible again and braced his hands on either side of his body. He awkwardly sat there, probably extremely uncomfortable again having his friend's daughter draped across his lap. It was only okay when we were in the dark. In broad daylight, everything changed.

Distraught, I pushed away from him and swayed into the living room to collapse on the couch. Goku followed behind like a ghost, hanging at the corner of the room to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid. He was gripping his own biceps and shivering a little like he was cold. I buried my face in a pillow and screamed into it furiously like it might help me feel any better. I was helpless.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Goku said.

That didn't change anything. My parents were gone until the next day and I was stuck all alone with my horrified thoughts. What if daddy didn't remember me? He was just gonna get worse. He'd forget who I was in a few years and there was nothing I could do about it. Mom would get more and more stressed out by the day until she finally snapped and abandoned me in the house to be with him.

I knew my mother very well for what little she told me. She was attached to dad in a way I'd never understand. They had that deep kind of connection most people searched their entire lives for.

My crying stopped as a small thought wormed into my mind. It was one of the stupidest things I had ever considered, next to touching a shiny spider in unfamiliar woods. Hmmm. A deep connection. A strong bond that kept me standing when it felt like everything was falling apart.

When I turned over, my eyes zeroed in on Goku standing nervously by the doorframe. He smiled hopefully at me and I noticed the muscles in his arms twitch. He was still holding himself like he was trying to restrain his hands from moving on their own. I began to wonder and suddenly wished I hadn't. I wished I just went upstairs to feel bad for myself and ignored him.

But he was dad's best friend. He was the only other person… no one else understood it. We were the closest to him next to mom and she never wanted to talk about stuff like that. The painful desire to be comforted struck me hard in the chest and I ground on my words to keep them from getting out.

No. Bad idea.

My phone vibrated and I quickly took it out to see another text from Goten. God, even he was a better option than what I was thinking of. I apologized for not answering him and acted like I couldn't see Goku's curious eyes watching my fingers fly across the keyboard. I'd go out for dinner with Goten, maybe have a bit to drink, and pretend I never thought of actually doing something with Goku.

Easy enough. I'd already pretty much forgotten about Chi-Chi and… what was his name again? Either way, I was good at suppressing my feelings; better than your average human. Mom taught me a lot.

I wiped my eyes and got up from the couch. "I'm going out for dinner with Goten. Don't worry, he won't let me do anything you wouldn't. I need to get out of this house."

The full-blooded Saiyan cocked his head, following me back into the kitchen. He seemed ruffled. "Dinner with Goten probably isn't what you think. You're kind of young to be going out with him like that. Bulma let Bulla do it and… actually, Bulla's a bad example. You should stay home. Pan can come over."

"No," I said. "I'm going out. You might be my babysitter but you're not telling me what to do. If mom has an issue with it then she knows how to contact me."

"Marron, I'm trying to be nice but you don't have an option. Goten's my son and I know how he is." Goku paused, scrunching up his face in revulsion. "You're only fifteen so there's no way you're going out with him. He'll give you food and you'll go to one of those loud, smelly parties—"

I spun around and poked my index finger into Goku's rock solid chest. They were all built like tanks. He watched with mild amusement as I stumbled over my first few words, struggling to look intimidating. I had to set my foot down or he'd think he could order me around like my mother did.

"I'm going to get dinner with your son," I hissed, "then we're going to a loud, smelly party and I'm gonna do whatever he wants. I appreciate you helping my parents out but I'm used to taking care of myself. I don't need you telling me what to do because I already get enough of it. Now if you don't let me go, we're going to have some serious problems. So what'll it be?"

"This isn't up for debate. There's no way I'm letting you go."

"Keep telling yourself that. I'm gonna put something nice on so let me know when Goten gets here. He said he'd ring the bell."

Goku growled angrily when I pushed past him. Obviously he could physically stop me, but that had the potential to end poorly. I smiled to myself as I hurried upstairs to get ready. What a pushover.