Pel pulled her long purple hair back into its messy ponytail, and adjusted her lime green body suit, the standard uniform for healers on board this ship. She took a deep breath, then began to focus her energy. Beneath her, a purple man in a red body suit squirmed, hissing in pain. Pel was completely focused, though... her energy extended from her palms to the purple and black skin of her patient's burn. Slowly, the burn began to heal, the cells knitting themselves together the way they were always meant to. Soon all that was left of the wound was the burned clothing around it.

"I feel great, thanks, Healer Pel," the man said, sitting up and smiling.

Pel smiled back. "No problem, Engineer Cal. Just, not so close to the plasma conduits next time, huh?" she instructed, causing the Engineer to laugh.

"Will do, thanks again!" he said, and left the medical bay.

Pel sighed, leaning against the bulkhead. She was going to need to pace herself, she thought, as she updated Engineer Cal's record in the computer.

"Master Nail always said you'd get the hang of healing," a voice said, and Pel's eyes snapped up to see a young man standing there, wearing a light blue shirt and pants, with a dark blue coat, and a purple sash around his waist. He wore two yellow earrings, and a pair of dark blue boots. His hair was messy, like it had never seen a comb, and was black with a streak of white in the front. His eyes, though… they were big, and cheerful, and impossibly deep, and she would recognize them anywhere.

"G-goten?" she asked, feeling her knees go weak. In the next second, he was next to her, holding her up, and guiding her to a chair. His hand felt cool as he pressed it to her forehead, and suddenly she started to feel much, much better.

"You're low on energy. Pel, you've been doing too much, I keep telling you…" he said, then looked down at her sheepishly. "But I guess you couldn't really hear me all the way from Otherworld," he said.

Pel smiled up at him. "But I did hear you. You… you were the one who gave me those coordinates, weren't you?" she said, more than asked.

Goten smiled. "Yeah. Still don't know how all that gibberish helped you, though. I wanted to go get you myself, but Supreme Kai wouldn't let me, he said I'd just get you killed…" he said sadly.

Pel laughed at him. "Of course you would have!" she said, pushing him lightly on the shoulder. "All I can see is you, when you're around, silly!" she said, her eyes bright.

Goten was gazing into her eyes. "All I can see is you, too," he said softly.

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Explaining Goten's presence to Captain Bonona was tricky, as they were in space, in transit, travelling far too fast for anyone to dock. Goten had warned Pel not to tell anyone he was training to be a Kai. In the end, they had convinced the Captain that Pel had stowed him away in the med bay on their last stop, because there was a bounty on his head among Frieza's men. The Captain had scolded her for not telling him sooner, but he was no friend to Frieza, and allowed Goten to stay, provided he pull his weight. Goten didn't have a lot of skills that were useful on a space ship, however, so the Captain had him doing the ship's laundry, which was actually pretty easy once someone showed him how to use the controls on the machines.

Goten and Pel spent a lot of time talking, about Namek, about their adventures, about training. And then, there were those times they weren't talking. The two had grown up since Namek, and what had once been almost a sibling relationship had become something much more intimate. Goten began to understand some of the things the sword had been telling him. There were times, with Pel, that his Saiyan blood just took over, and during those times, the two just did what came naturally to them. They didn't worry about what anyone else thought, or if they were doing it right. They just enjoyed being together.

And then, Goten had told Pel that he wouldn't be able to come back after destroying the great evil.

She had been furious, and for days, Goten had felt as though he must truly be the dumbest guy in the galaxy. True, he had felt bad about hiding it from her, and that was why he told her, but why did he have to tell her? Had he ruined a good thing? The worst part was, he had hurt Pel. He had sworn to Bulma that he would always protect her, and here he was causing her harm! After the fourth day of her not speaking to him, he hid himself away in the laundry alcove, hot tears streaming down his face, as he closed his eyes and opened his mind. 'Supreme Kai… she… she's mad at me. I messed everything up. I should go back to my training,' he prayed to his master.

Suddenly he felt a wave of calm, and he could hear the Supreme Kai's gentle voice. 'Kai Goten, you're not giving up are you?'

This startled Goten. 'Master… she doesn't…'

'Because I've never known Kai Goten to give up on anything,' the Supreme Kai said. 'Especially not if it was something important.'

Pel was important to him. 'But, this isn't the same, Master. She doesn't love me anymore…'

The Supreme Kai was silent for a long moment, before he spoke. 'I've never been in love, as you experience it, Goten. That's a thing reserved only for mortals. But you aren't just mortal anymore, Goten. If your mortality can't solve the problem, perhaps you should use your training, instead?'

The Supreme Kai was right. He had been so stupid. Sending a wave of gratitude to his master, he opened his eyes, wiped the tears from his face, and took a deep breath. Then, he went to the med bay.

A patient was just leaving, and Pel was there, cleaning up. When she saw him, she turned away, but Goten stepped forward, determined. He took her hands in his, causing her to look up at him, and looked deep into her eyes.

Her mind was a jumble of raw emotions, but they all had one shining source. He smiled. "You still love me," he said softly.

Pel tore her eyes away from him. "No! I can't love you, how can I love someone who's just going to leave me again? Forever, this time?!" she said.

"Because that's what mortals do," he said, his voice small, and Pel shot him a glance. He was looking down at her hands in his. "Mortals are only alive for a little bit, and then, we leave. We die, we go somewhere else. Sometimes we go together, sometimes we don't. Then it all starts over again. But…" he swallowed hard. "I don't get to start over again. This is my last chance to be mortal. And I… I just wanted to spend what little time I have, with you," he said.

Tears ran down Pel's already puffy cheeks, and she sighed. "Goten… I've been waiting for you all my life. Can't you see, if you leave, that it will break me?" she sobbed.

Goten turned his gaze up to hers. "It's gonna break me, too. But we don't have to break right now, do we? Can't we just be okay, right now?"

"And be broken later?" Pel asked sardonically, but stepped closer to him. "Okay," she said, with a shaky breath, and smiled. "Let's be happy while we have the chance," she said.

For one, shining moment, the weight of the universe was lifted off Goten's shoulders.

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