Acia returned to Capsule Corp. feeling dazed. The Lookout, Dende, Mr. Popo, all that stuff they'd said about mind control – it was a lot to happen in just a few hours.

Particularly since Acia knew in her gut it was true. She'd denied it for reasons she herself couldn't explain, but with the promise she'd made there was no point in lying to herself anymore. Everything Dende and Piccolo had said was true and she knew it.

She knew it from the start, from the very first time she'd done it and gone to Quaorin about it, perhaps hoping, deep inside, that he would forbid her from doing it again. She knew it when she used it on a child for the first time, standing in the marketplace of some planet she could hardly remember now, waiting bored for her mother to finish her business when she'd caught sight of a small child out of the corner of her eye and had that urge, that need, to take over its mind. She knew it as she watched the little thing dance around on her command, wondering why she was doing this but unable to stop herself. And she knew it afterwards, when she let the child go and felt that rush she normally felt after a battle, what her father called 'the thrill of the kill.'

There was an anger building inside her as she made her way to her room, anger at those meddling Namekians, at Vegeta, at Trunks, at this whole stupid planet, at her parents for leaving her here…

"What's wrong with you?" Acia started. Vegeta was standing in front of her, arms crossed and looking at his niece with…was that concern on his face?

Before she could respond, Bulla came running up from behind her father. "Acia! Where were you all day?" the little girl demanded. "You're supposed to train me, remember! I've been waiting forever! Come on!" she said, grabbing the teen's hand.

Acia looked at her uncle. "I want to go to my room."

"You have to train me!" Bulla whined.

Vegeta put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Not now Bulla." The girl began to protest again, but Acia was already walking away.

Vegeta frowned as he watched her retreating form. Damn Namekian, he thought. He was supposed to make things better for the girl, but it seemed he'd only manage to make things worse.

Acia curled up on her bed, eyes shut tight, fighting the heat in her nose and throat and the tightness in her chest.

Did Bain know?

The thought came from nowhere, and Acia's eyes flew open. No, no he couldn't possibly. He would have said something.

But maybe…

He could have had suspicions, she thought. There'd been an incident, not long after the squirrels, when they were staying on Quelda in an actual building instead of the ship. She'd been playing with a bird, making it fly in circles over her head as she lay on her bed. Bain had burst into the room suddenly, and in her shock she let go of the bird, which fell onto the bed, dazed.

"What are you doing?" he'd demanded.

"N-nothing."

He glared at her. "Come with me."

She'd followed him into his own room. "What is it?"

"You shouldn't be wasting time like that. I'm going to teach you something useful," he said as he sat cross-legged on the floor. "Have you ever done any meditation?"

"No."

The Namekian snorted derisively. "I didn't think so. Sit down.

"Your fighting skills are adequate given your age, but much of your potential remains untapped. This is because your mind and body are not in tune with one another. Meditation can help you achieve synchronicity between mind and body, thus increasing your strength and sharpening your skills. I will teach you to do this."

After that, Bain had dragged Acia off to meditate every time he found her with nothing to do. She'd thought it was just an idiosyncrasy of the mysterious new recruit, some strange Namekian obsession, but now…

Maybe he knew, or suspected, and was trying to keep me occupied so I wouldn't try it again.

Damn him! Why hadn't he just talked to her like a normal person? If she ever saw him again he was going to have some serious explaining to do.

No, not if, she thought. When. When she saw him again, and she would, soon, Bain and her parents and everyone else, because she would be home, on her ship, in her bed, with her family, far away from here.

Acia woke up a few hours later, in the same bed, the same house, the same planet. The sun had been setting when she returned to Capsule Corp. and now it was completely dark. Her stomach was rumbling as she stretched her legs – she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast.

The Saiyan teen lowered her ki and made her way quietly to the kitchen. The last thing she wanted was one of the Briefs, or worse, her uncle, asking about her day. When she arrived, there was a plate filled with food and covered in plastic wrap, with a little label marked Acia. She gratefully grabbed it and was about to make her way back to her room again when she noticed that although the television in the family room was playing cartoons, the giggling that usually accompanied it was absent.

Against her better judgement, Acia quietly crept into the family room to see what was going on. In the dim light, she found Trunks and Bulla asleep on the couch – Trunks splayed out, arms dangling from the couch, while Bulla was curled up neatly against the armrest. The teen found herself pulled towards the sleeping form of Trunks. She stared down at him, his eyes closed and his breathing steady and deep. He seemed so innocent, so helpless and vulnerable.

He's just a child…

She felt a pang of something, some unfamiliar emotion – pity maybe? It was similar, but it made her feel bad…

Guilt, she realized with a jolt. She felt guilty.

Acia swallowed. It was just one time, she thought. He's not hurt, he's fine. Even the Guardian said it would take more than that to hurt him.

I'll be nice to him from now on…

Suddenly she became aware of someone else's presence. Turning, she found her uncle leaning over his daughter's sleeping form, picking her up in one hand. Meeting her gaze he said, "You should be in bed," before moving past her to his son.

Acia clutched her plate and fled.

Goku had, in fact, felt something during Acia's fight with Trunks. He wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it was strange and afterwards Trunks had seemed to just give up, which wasn't like the little half-Saiyan at all. And now, as he meditated at the river near his house, Piccolo was taking Acia up to the Lookout.

It was probably nothing, he thought. But maybe he should look into it. The girl was his niece, after all.