But its a long, long way to go/keep moving way up high/you see the light/it shines forever/send you through the crimson skies/the purest light/the light'll set you free
"Listen, green bean," Cabbage snarled as he shoved his face in close to Dende's, "I don't know when anyone is going to get here, but they're coming, alright?"
Dende would have balked, several years ago; since then, he'd met and fought along side Vegeta, and dealt with the surly Sayajin on a few occasions. Cabbage was nearly twice Vegeta's size, and for all his brute strength, Dende took enormous comfort in the lack of imaginative cruelty that Vegeta occasionally let slip out. As it was, he shoved his own face in closer to the Sayajin, and snarled back.
"How about you try and get it through your thick vegetable head that if they're all dead, then we will be, too!" Dende lowered his voice and glared even harder, "Kooler's army is literally hovering above this planet, as we speak, and there is absolutely no one here to help us!"
"The trap will work," Laittue chewed a nail thoughtfully, leaning against a tree just a few yards away. "Either way, though, death is just another journey."
"It'll draw them in and hold them for about an hour," Dende turned to snarl at the younger brother, "And then we're sitting ducks. They'll pick us off like fish in a barrel."
"Kid," Laittue sighed, turning tiredly toward Dende, "We've led hundreds of attacks with minimal casualties. Vegeta sent us because we're the best tacticians to come out of any of the academies on Vegetasie. Besides, two Oozaru can do quite a bit of damage in just an hour. We've already bought as much time as we can, and we can only buy one more hour; if no one is here to save us, then we were meant to die."
Dende snorted in disgust, threw his arms up, and walked away; they'd had the same argument several times, in different ways, and Dende still felt he'd been unable to impress the importance of the genocide of his people on the two aliens. He was partially right; Laittue and Cabbage cared about the survival of the Nameks because their deaths would mean a failure to King Vegeta, not because they valued them as a people or an ally. Dende also failed to understand that Laitue and Cabbage had come prepared to die, but Dende failed to understand this about all Sayajin, and was therefore angry at his own ignorance as well.
Cabbage tapped his beeping scouter, merely answering with a simple, irritated, "What?"
"Is this Cabbage?" the voice crackled a little over the connection.
"Yeah," Cabbage grunted, quirking an eyebrow at the sudden scuffle and loud swearing on the other end of the connection, before an all-too familiar voice rang in his ear.
"We're landing, you pompous fuck, so get ready for the battle royale." Raditz laughed at the chocking sound Cabbage made, then cut the connection.
"That bastard!" Cabbage fumed. "I threw his body on the pyre myself, and watched him burn! What the hell!?"
"What are you babbling about now?" Laittue asked, not noticing Dende's ears twitching in his direction.
"Raditz! That fucker just called me up on my scouter, and told me they were about to land!"
"Who is 'they,' and where are they landing?" Laittue asked, straightening. "Those cannons are going to fire at anything coming into the atmosphere. Dead or not, he's gonna be useless in a fight when he gets on the ground, if he's going to get himself blown up first,"
"Too late," Dende called over his shoulder as the cannons on the horizon started firing into the sky.
"That's where we're expecting Kooler's army, though," Cabbage came and stood next to the small Namek, narrowing his eyes as the blue plasma balls were hurtled into space.
"No time, just haul ass," Laittue shot past them, ki flaring as he took to the air, careful to keep low and avoid attracting the attention of the cannons. Cabbage was on his heels; Dende followed as fast as he could, and cursed himself for being a healer and not a warrior.
Cabbage and Laittue paused on the low rise as near the cannons as was safe to be, and watched the huge white ship come crashing into the ground a little over half a mile away.
"Kooler's," Cabbage grinned, as he watched another two ships crashing simultaneously. He gathered ki in his hand, and threw the special attack into the air; he and his brother stared up at the pale orb, and began to change. Dende caught sight of them just as he was catching up, and immediately reversed direction, not willing to suffer from friendly fire.
He turned once, to look over his shoulder, and tripped headlong in shock; he'd seen Sayajin collapsing out of Oozaru, but never just after the transformation, before they'd had a few hours to run amuck. Cabbage and Laittue were blasting craters into the ground where ships used to be, nearly fifty yards wide. The ships barely had time to crash into the ground before they were either trampled and ripped apart or blasted into smoking nothingness, if they weren't picked clean out of the sky. Dende trembled; for as strong as two Oozaru were, they'd only stay that way for another few hours, and even then, Kooler's army was strong enough to crush them before then.
"Nice of you to wait for us," Dende turned at the sound of the voice, and hurled himself at Piccolo.
"Thank kami!" Dende sagged with relief, remembered himself, and pulled away. "You don't have much time," Dende pointed to the raging Oozaru behind him, and grinned weakly. "I'm not sure how much longer they'll be able to hold out."
"They're Sayajin," Bardock came walking up behind Piccolo, retying his red bandanna. "They'll have fun before they die, at the very least. Pricks. You ready, green bean?" Bardock grinned at Piccolo, who returned the feral display of teeth.
"After you, I insist," Piccolo bowed shallowly at Bardock, gesturing him on to the battle with a polite wave of his arm.
"Don't mind if I do," Bardock took a running leap into the air, and flew into the fray.
Piccolo was on his heels, and Dende craned his neck as Kakarrot and Raditz shot over his head, followed by the androids and Yaumcha. The Sailor Senshi nearly bowled him over as they ran past, Endymion in the lead, sword already drawn. Dende watched the battle carefully, and saw the strategy emerge as they started to fight together; Cabbage and Laittue steered the crash course of the ships, stomped on the ones that managed to be piloted well, and let the rest run around on the ground, killing the survivors that crawled out of the smoldering husks of metal. Dende swallowed hard as he watched them, remembering the triumph he'd felt after the battle against Freeza, and ran into the fray; healers were one of the few things that gave them the final, sharpest edge, and he'd be damned if he didn't use it to their advantage.
He reached Jupiter first, clutching a gaping wound in her side as Piccolo stood over her, blasting holes in Kooler's soldiers as they either ran past or attacked. Dende skidded to a halt next to the brunette woman, put his hands on her and pushed his ki into her, then took off again before she'd even staggered back to her feet. He nearly bowled straight into Vegeta a few minutes later, as the Sayajin king touched down.
"Sorry I'm late," Vegeta grinned, gripped Dende by the shoulder, and headed after a group of fleeing soldiers, deeper into the charred dirt and smoking ruins. Nappa clapped him on the shoulder as well, following his king without thought.
Dende shook his head, and started running again, dodging around fights, putting his hands on those who needed it, and once, absorbing one of his fellow healers as the Namek boy lay dying. Still dizzy from the absorption, he ran around a not quite demolished ship, only partially flattened by an Oozaru, and skidded to a halt. Freeza's men had fought hard at the very end, when they'd known they couldn't win, and Dende still had nightmares about their desperate cries as they died. He'd have nightmares about this duo for the rest of his life; the golden warrior throwing ki with his sword and slicing through dozens of men and ships at a time, and the spinning pink-haired girl killing the men around her with hearts and rainbows.
Dende ran on, putting his ki into Sayajin, Senshi and Namek alike, until all that remained was smoke, empty husks of metal, blood and bodies everywhere, and the stench of charred flesh. Dende made his way to the center of the battlefield, where the others had gathered, bloody and singed and tired. He collapsed near the edge of the circle, and watched couples leaning on each other, or comrades and brothers gripping shoulders, all of them thankful to be alive as they mourned the ones who weren't.
Dende looked up at the partially obscured sky, thinking that he'd never seen anything so beautiful in his life, when he caught the golden flash of energy. He sat up, staring hard at the air about a dozen feet above everyone's heads, and caught the larger flicker.
"Look!" He shouted, pointing, as a rip tore in the sky, energy flickering around the dark hole. It stretched and grew bigger as they looked up, clearing out from underneath it. A Sailor in a simple white and purple uniform, fairly young with short dark hair, leapt through; she flailed as she noticed the ground was lower than she'd expected, and screeched before Trunks darted out and caught her.
"Saturn?" He asked, setting her on her feet.
"Trunks!" She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him quickly before she pulled back and asked, "Where's Rini?"
"I'm right here!" Rini ran forward, arms outstretched; both girls screamed, hugged, and jumped around in circles as they continued to shriek in the way of young, easily excitable women.
"How did you get here?" Trunks interjected, folding his arms over his chest.
"Auntie Pluto sent me through to get you; you have to come quick, we don't have much time!" Saturn danced from foot to foot, biting her lip prettily. "Galaxia is about to lead her final attack against Earth, and we cant do it without you!"
Both teenagers looked startled, exchanging a disbelieving glance. Trunks shrugged, and Rini ran into her fathers arms, flinging her arms around his neck. "I love you Daddy, and I promise I'll see you soon! Tell Mom I love her, too." Rini backed up, and went and stood by Trunks again, who wrapped one arm and his tail around her, and the other arm around Sailor Saturn. He nodded to his father, who smirked back and tilted his head to one side; actions were worth more than words, and was enough for both of them. Trunks flared his ki, transforming into Super Sayajin as he shot through the portal Saturn had fallen through. It closed behind them, leaving just the smoke-darkened sky.
"What the hell was that?" Dende asked, taking Piccolo's proffered hand and hauling himself to his feet.
"Its complicated," Piccolo shrugged, and turned to Jupiter, rubbing at a smudge on her face with his thumb. She smiled tiredly at him, and Dende decided he was too tired to figure out what anything meant.
Vegeta crossed the still open circle to Endymion, Nappa still at his heels. "What is there to rebuild?" he asked, looking around at the scorched ruins.
"Depends if they want a monument or not," Endymion shrugged, sheathing his sword.
"Green bean!" Vegeta called to Piccolo. "You want a monument?"
"Hell no," Piccolo growled. "We make this place look like nothing ever touched it. My people don't need a reminder of war."
Vegeta shrugged, and turned to Nappa. "Call the fleets. Let them know we're done here. And find those idiot sons of yours, they're wandering around here somewhere."
"We're going home," Bardock announced, turning away from the group with his sons and Mars flanking him. No one watched them go for long, or asked where home was going to be. They would be there, the next time they were called to battle, and that was all that needed to be understood.
"Food first, then sleep," Endymion looked at Vegeta as he said it, not quite asking. Vegeta merely nodded, and they turned away from each other to go back to their respective ships, wives, and children; niether looked back.
Piccolo caught Jupiter's arm as she made to follow Endymion, and pulled her close. "If Dende hadn't healed you," he started, stopped, and looked away, as if he didn't know how to say the words.
"I know," Jupiter smiled, and leaned into him.
"About offspring," Piccolo started again, and Jupiter pulled back to look at him to see if he were serious. She smiled brilliantly at the scowl on his face, and Piccolo blushed. "One from me, and one from you. It fuckin' hurts to pop an egg out."
"That's the joy of it," Jupiter kissed his cheek, still smiling brilliantly.
Neptune walked close to Uranus as they trailed behind Endymion, and held her hand out to her lover. "She looked like a good kid," she said, watching the ground to keep from tripping.
"Saturn? Yeah. She'll be born in another few weeks." Uranus also watched the ground, the thought churning inside her. "She'll need a proper upbringing, though."
"We should leave in a few days, then," Neptune smiled, and they looked at each other for a long moment, until Neptune nearly tripped.
"Careful!" Uranus caught the smaller woman against her, clutching her tightly. "What kind of mother are you going to be if you're tripping over stuff and getting hurt all the time?"
Neptune laughed, and let Uranus guide her through the rubble.
Pluto crested the rise of the hill, just behind Endymion, and watched Bardock's broad shoulders as he strode across the blue grass. She felt just the tiniest pang of regret as she watched him go; she smiled, though, because she'd been alone for so long that even the brief companionship had been merely a distraction. She wouldn't be alone for much longer, anyway, she thought as she touched her stomach for a moment.
Yaumcha caught Venus' hand as they walked, and smiled at her when she turned surprised blue eyes to him. "So where to now?" he asked, and returned the slow, shy smile that spread across her face.
Ahead of all of them, Raditz caught his brother's eyes and jerked his chin at thier father as the older man walked ahead of them. "Hey, Dad," Kakarrot nudged his father hopefully, "You wouldn't mind babysitting for a few hours, would you?"
Bardock just laughed, and walked into this bright, shinning future that he never could have believed in; he didn't catch the grins his sons and daughter in law exchanged.
A/N; Sorry to leave it so open, but I believe that just because the writer stops, the characters and story don't still go on. I think I'm gonna camp on this for a while, though, and then I might go back and carry this out all the way. Probably a couple of months, but I'll be putting out other stories in the mean time. I'm thinking the next one will be set in the Mirai timeline, about Bulma and Vegeta. Trunks will be there of course; he's only my favorite.