Krillin lay crumpled horribly in Goku's arms. Before Bulma could stop herself, she healed him. She'd been planning on waiting until she heard a heartbeat, or a saw his breathe- but she couldn't help it. She couldn't force herself not to heal him.
"Krillin?!" She shouted, and pushed out of Nappa's arms when they were close enough, but she didn't run to him. "GOKU DROP HIM!" She shouted. Goku frowned, and set Krillin's limp frame down on the ground gently, and slowly. He cradled Krillin's head, and tried to lay him out as comfortably as possible.
Bulma ran to him, and practically tackled him away from Krillin.
"W- bulma what are you doing?!"
"I don't know if he was alive or not! I just- I couldn't help it I healed him!"
"But that's… good?" Goku easily lifted her and put her down to his side, and tried to step closer to the unmoving form.
Unus drew her sword, and pointed it at Krillin, just as Vegeta caught up. The three northern men looked horrified and baffled at Unus. Bulma however stood in front of Goku protectively.
"Princess what are you-" Nappa took a step towards Krillin, the adrenaline still race through his veins.
"Freeze." Unus commanded, in such a voice that everyone stopped, and looked at her, even Vegeta. "Wait. She healed him. If he was alive, he'll be fine. If he wasn't…" She turned her gaze back to Krillin. "He'll be a monster."
"Oh yeah, Bulma did tell us about that!" Goku stopped trying to move Bulma out of the way. Bulma kept looking from Krillin's unmoving body, to Nappa, and Vegeta, watching to see if either of them tried moving into the danger zone. Unus was the only one of them who'd ever handled a monster like this.
It twitched, and bones began cracking back into place with sickening snaps and clicks until Krillin looked healthy again.
"OH HEY LOOK!" Goku said excitedly. "It worked he's-"
"Stop! We don't know that yet!" Bulma elbowed Goku in the stomach when he tried to slip past her, making him double over a little and rub his surprisingly hard stomach in pain.
"What will happen? If he is a monster now? How can we tell?" Nappa asked.
"I'll explain later, just- just let me handle it." Unus snapped. Nappa nodded, and took a big step back, out of respect, holding one long protective arm out to keep Vegeta away too.
The thing that may or may not be Krillin rolled to his side, and pushed against the ground to sit up.
"'S me. Not dead. Not gonna eat you- god that still hur-AH!" Krillin shouted in pain as another bone snapped back into place, and fell flat on the floor.
Unus lowered her blade, and sagged in relief. Bulma lept to the floor by krillin and placed a hand flat on his back.
"Oh thank god! Just hold still! Don't move! Wait for it to finish."
"Yeah, not a lot of choice there but thanks anywOWOWOW!" He hit the floor and swore as his hip snapped back into his socket. Bulma couldn't believe how badly he was hurt. She had a million questions, but she needed to know he was done healing first. Eventually, the snapping and popping stopped and he sagged against the floor in relief.
"Oh god, Krillin." Bulma pulled him half into her lap and hugged him around the neck so tightly it hurt.
"I'm okay now." He groaned, his voice muffled against her chest. "That will change if you break my neck though."
Embarrassed, Bulma let him go. She climbed to her feet and held out her hand to help him up. In her periphery Bulma could see Vegeta scowling at Krillin, but as soon as the man was on his feet, Vegeta smirked.
Krillin was not a tall man. He looked around at the royals surrounding him, eyes lingering on Goku.
"You must be Prince Goku?" He asked, and bowed in the proper fashion for a general to a king, at least in the south. Bulma realized that here, it was a little too relaxed, but Goku never having been one for formality smiled openly and shook Krillin's hand.
"Yup!"
"Uh- good. Look, I erm- I have something for you, and it's not good…."
"Krillin what?" Bulma stepped forward, a little spike of anger running through her. If Krillin thought that Goku was in charge now just because he was the man, and he and Bulma were engaged than he had another thing coming.
"Princess, I'm sorry- I know we have a lot to discuss, but this is urgent. The Berserkers were driven out. King cold's son Prince Frieza was with the group of assassins that killed your father. They were no match for an army, but before Prince Frieza escaped he…. Left us something, and said to give it to you when we went to see Princess Bulma in the north…"
He pulled a pouch off his belt, and handed it to Goku.
Eyes wide with curiosity, Goku took the pouch and looked inside.
His face fell into a furious scowl, as he reached into the bag and pulled out a knot of… hair? It was a bun of pitch black hair. A cloth band held the bun together, while a lovely gemstone pin adorned its side, but the tendrils of loose hair on the other side of the band were bloody, some pieces still had what looked like a little skin on it.
When goku frowned like this, Bulma could see the resemblance to Vegeta, and his adopted Father the king. She had no idea what was going on, or why that bun of hair made everyone go deathly quiet.
"Frieza had said… to tell you… not to worry, that she still looks cute with short hair."
Bulma gasphed and covered her mouth with her hands. Was it- chichi? Clearly Goku knew right away who the hair belonged to.
"I suppose we ought to be glad it was just hair, than." King Vegeta spoke up, startling all of them as he'd approached without anyone noticing. "We march for the south at once. Holding a member of the royal family hostage like this will not stand. Alert the Ox-King that his daughter is still alive." The king ordered a stuart, and looked around a the group of them.
"Finally. Some news. Come on, we have much planning to do and very little time in which to do-"
"No one tells Gohan." Goku said firmly. "No one." He locked eyes with his father, and for a moment Bulma thought he was going to punch him or something. Was it normal for anyone to command the king? Even one of his sons?"
"Of course not. The boys too stupid and rash, he'd run into battle and get killed, much like you're planning on doing now." King Vegeta crossed his arms and glared at Goku.
"Which will do her no good." Prince Vegeta added. He put a hand on Goku's shoulder. "I'll support you completely in saving her, Goku. I'll fight alongside you. I'll do everything I can. So trust us, and don't try to run off on your own."
A small, determined smile played at Goku's lips as he looked at his older brother. "Thanks, Vegeta."
"Goku…." Bulma spoke up, drawing everyone's gaze to her for a moment. "I- I'll do all I can too. I know this means we can't be married, but I've grown to care about you a lot over these last few days, and I want you to be happy. You have the south's full support."
"Thanks, Bulma." He said, and looked to his brother before and slapped his shoulder a little roughly.
They gathered in the war room to plan. Servants brought food, and Krillin dug in happily.
"How did you get here, how were you hurt so badly?" Bulma asked Krillin, hovering over him like a mother would a child, despite him being fine. She couldn't unsee his mangled body.
"Well, funny story… I sort of…. Captured and rode a giant owl." He gulped loudly.
"WHAT?!" Bulma shouted.
"Well, Frezia tossed me Queen Chi-chi's hair and I just- Oh wait was she still Princess?" Krillin asked, and looked to Goku who nodded. "Right. Princess Chi-Chi. I knew you'd have come to the north, and that you'd be planning a battle, but i didn't want you to make any orders that would leave the south defenceless, without all the information. I wanted to get the message to you as quickly as possible. I was hoping Piccolo would come back on Ember, but when I didn't see him for a day, I decided to take a gamble. I noticed the owls flying north, which I thought was very odd, but-"
"It's for the decennium pestis!" Tarble said. Bulma blinked at him in surprise since he so rarely spoke to her.
"Oh! Prince Tarble! Thank you- but What?"
"The decennium pestis! They're these horrible loud bugs, huge bugs that come out every ten years or so and swarm the far north for about a month! The eggs hatch, they breed, lay more eggs and die all in that time, than the eggs take about ten years to hatch. They're horrible! The owls love it though, it's like an all you can eat buffet! And the giant owls are some of the only birds that can live comfortably in the cold up there so there isn't a lot of competition. It's been about ten years since the last swarm, so they Owls must be headed up to feast! I bet they can remember since they live so long."
Bulma's face split into a wide smile.
"Wow! That's really fascinating! I've never heard of eggs taking so long to hatch! How is it they survive for so long?"
"The decennium pestis lay the eggs inside trees, and deep underground, where it's hard for other things to get too!"
"Wow, they must be horrific to burrow through wood!"
"Yeah their pincers are huge! Hurts to get bit a lot."He said eagerly. Bulma loved it when smart children got excited about sharing their knowledge. Though, Tarble was hardly a child, maybe a very young teenager.
"They don't usually make it this far south, but last time a small swarm did cause a bit of a nuisance." Vegeta mused, and looked fondly at his youngest brother. "You were too young to remember, I think."
"No, I remember." Tarble said, suddenly serious. "I remember we were outside training. They came out of no-where and you put your cloak over me to protect me from them, since one cloak wasn't thick enough. I still remember you grabbing me and wrapping that cloak around me, covering my face completely, and carrying me home." Tarble smiled thankfully up at Vegeta, who looked genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, that's how you got all those scars, right Vegeta? You wrapped your head in your shirt to keep them off your eyes and stuff and it left your chest exposed?" Goku thought back.
Vegeta didn't look amused at having this memory brought up, but it made a wave of affection for him wash over Bulma. Could he really be working against her? The man who almost died to protect his little brother? She wondered. He'd lied too, saying it was training. He could have bragged about it, but he didn't.
"While this bug talk is FASCINATING." Krillin said, drawing their attention back to him. "It explains the owls going north. So, I managed to capture one by lureing it with a bucket of dead mice. While it was eating, I crawled onto its back, and held on. It hardly noticed me, honestly."
Bulma thought that a normal sized man wouldn't be able to ride a giant owl. Even if they were called giant, they were the size of about a pony.
"When it got north, I tried steering it to the castle. It sort of worked, in that I got it to fly over the castle, but I realized too late i had no way to land- so since i knew you were here Princess, I took a risk and just… jumped off."
"You could've have crushed your skull, and than you'd be dead. I can't head dead things." Bulma snapped. She was so furious at Krillin.
"Yeah, I know! Okay, I know! But- It was important. He might be touring the princess for all we know."
Bulma looked to Goku, nervously. He'd stopped eating and now leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.
"Uh- sorry." Krillin said sheepishly. "I just- it's King Cold. He's not known for… being nice to prisoners."
"Chi-chi is strong. She'll make it until we can get there." Goku said firmly.
And no one argued.
"So. The south is secure?" King Vegeta asked
"As secure as it can be." Krillin said. "Maybe even more. Everyone is on high alert. Now that we're looking, i don't think he'll be able to slip through again."
"He's probably going to try and grab me while I'm in transit." Bulma realized. "They didn't think I would escapee because they didn't know about Ember, but they do now. They'll be looking for a way to take to skys…"
"Or working on weapons that would be able to hit Ember in the air. How high can he fly?" Vegeta mused, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"We can fly as high as I can breathe. Ember doesn't need air like we do." Bulma explained. "But we'd have to land, and if they have harpoons, or some other weapons… we'd be vulnerable." She stood up and went to stand by the fire, hoping the warmth would clear the pain of the cold and make it easier for her to think.
"We need to go south, regardless. They'll attack there first." Vegeta got up to join her. She wondered why he was so sure of that. How would putting her south ruin the war? If he wanted it, than it must be some sort of sabotage. They would go wherever she was. She wanted to leave so she'd be putting fewer people at risk, and to lead her people. She worried about what would happen without her there. They'd feel abandoned, for sure.
If she revealed her power to them, they'd fight. They'd fight with the sort of bravery and strength only faith in something impossible could instill.
"Yes. I agree."
"How do we get you south though?" Krillin took another bit of the meat pie he'd been given.
"We can't fly. They know we'll try something else since they all saw Ember, but they'll have eyes on the sky all the same…"
"Than how do you intend on getting there?" The King asked.
"I can't tell you. The only people who can know, are the ones travelling south with me. The fewer people who find out, the less chance of being intercepted. If word gets out…" She shook her head.
"Hmm. How will we know if you make back safely?" The queen asked, speaking up for the first time since the meeting started.
"I'll send word once I'm there. It'll be no secret that I've arrived. We just need to keep how and when, quiet."
"Alright. Goku, obviously you're going South."
"So am I." Vegeta said and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"What? No." The king scoffed and shook his head. "Which reminds me. Princess, with Chichi alive, that means you're engaged to Tarble. So, Tarble you should go with her." Tarble's jaw dropped.
"I'll be marrying her." Vegeta declared. Everyone went quiet, and looked at him.
"Are you telling me you're abdicating?" King Vegeta stood up from his seat at the head of the table, shaking with barely controlled rage.
"Absolutely not." Prince Vegeta scoffed at the idea. "No, instead I suggest we do something radical once the war is over. A merger. Our people move south, and out of this frozen hell, and we thrive in the heat. We merge the countries, and Princess Bulma and I become equal rulers. Our child becomes the next ruler, and so on."
The world stopped for a moment. So this was his plan? To merge the Isle and Vegeta? To make them one country? He was right, if he did this he'd be the best king… probably. At the very least there wouldn't be as many sick people in the Isle of Life….
"A merger?" King vegeta almost yelled. "You mean the north would be absolved into The Isle Of life! We don't have enough people to match their population! Our blood would run thin until our culture was a memory!" The king punched the table making Bulma jump and stand closer to the fire.
"We aren't northerners. Our people started off in humid, warm jungles and we don't belong here. Our population has shrank more and more with each passing year because of the cold. We're not living, or thriving, we're surviving. They deserve to live, comfortably. They deserve health. To go outside without the very air trying to kill them."
"No. Out of the question!" King vegeta stormed towards his eldest son.
"When I'm king, I'll make it happen. Without your help, or with it. Which happens in less than a week, if you forgot."
That stopped the king dead in his tracks. He glared at his son.
"You'll be slowly erasing our people."
"No." Bulma spoke up. "That's not how it works. Not really. A lot of namekians migrated to the Isle, and they still practice their culture. They haven't forgotten it. You're people look so different from mine that it'll be impossible to no know where they came from. It'll… There will be problems, but I think Vegeta is right. It's a good idea. It's what's best for your people, and mine. Our merger will create a new country altogether. It won't be Vegeta, or the Isle of Life. It'll be something new. Something that takes the best of both."
"You say that, but you can't control the people."
"No, but we can set an example. I think we should do it." Bulma would have taken Vegeta's hand, but his arms were crossed. So she just put her hand on his shoulder to show her support. "Vegetabilis blood will still run in the veins of every King or Queen from here on out. And they'll rule a country larger, and greater than either of us were alone. Lavish, and comfortable, but strong."
"Well, as my son pointed out… I'll have no say." The king seemed to be deflating a little as he realized everyone agreed with his son.
"Honey…" Queen Gine pushed out of her chair and wrapped her arms around her husbands arm. "I wouldn't have gotten sick if we were south. I think it's the best place for us, for everyone. It's far too cold up here."
"We've been here for thousands of years." He scoffed.
"Hardly one thousand, bad years where we only barely made it. Look at how much more the Isle has accomplished? That could be us."
"As I've said. I apparently have no say."
"Oh you have say." Vegeta corrected. "I will always value your opinion." Those words made his father stop at the doorway. For a minute, Bulma thought he was going to turn around, but he didn't.
"So. How ARE we getting there?" Unus asked when the six of them were alone.
Bulma looked around at Krillin, Goku, Unus, Vegeta, and Nappa. "Secretly. But Vegeta… we should wait until the war is over before your coronation. If you die while we're fighting…"
"Than Fasha is Queen."
"Just like that?"
"Yes. Now what's your plan?"
"How did I end up the plan person?" Bulma half hugged herself and took a step towards the fire.
"You've got a plan though, right?"
"I do. I just- Fine. We wait for Ember and Piccolo, and than we have him take Nappa and Unus straight to the castle. Unus will wear this white cloak, and a long dress. They wouldn't dare shoot down ember because they need me alive. They'd believe it's me because they'd expect the biggest meanest looking guard to be assigned to me. No offence-"
"Thanks." Nappa said proudly. Unus smiled at him.
"Right. Okay. Good. So than Krillin and Goku take a small caravan south, along the kings road."
"No. I need to get there faster." Goku said.
"They'll be expecting you to act rashly. By taking the slow route they'll assume that means you know something they don't, and back off. Meanwhile, Vegeta and I will travel in disguise, to the coast and take a ship down. There's a port we can use, my ships frequent there for trade so we'll be able to hide away on one of those pretty easily."
"You think you'll blend in? You don't blend in, Princess." Krillin said with a deep frown.
"I'll be disguised as a peasant ill with plague, and Vegeta will be the plague doctor. He'll have a built in reason to wear a mask, and I'll have a reason to cover my face. No one will want to get close enough to either of us to see that we're royal. Besides, once we're far enough away from the Castle, most people won't recognize us on sight." She said surly.
"That, could work." Vegeta rubbed his chin in the way Bulma had come to realize meant he was thinking very deeply.
"Krillin, you should go get some rest now. It's been a long day and you've been flying non-stop all night." Bulma said, turning away from Vegeta to smile at her old friend. "I think you'll enjoy the pink room. It's very warm and comfortable."
"Yeah? Yeah. I'm exhausted. Thanks Bulma." Krillin half bowed to Bulma, and stepped outside, and looked around blankly.
Vegeta took pity on him and went into the hallway to summon a handmaid to ready the pink room and take him there. Goku started to leave too when Bulma took his elbow.
"Hey. We'll save her. I know it feels like we're not trying, but we are. Once we get south we'll be able to make sure it's properly fortified, and then we'll be able to mount a proper rescue mission. I don't think he's got any plan to kill her. He probably wants to use her as a bargaining chip, and if she's dead he can't do that."
Goku's shoulders raised a little, as if he had less weight on him.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks, Bulma. Honestly I'm just… excited to see her again. I miss her."
"I can only imagine. It's easy to see how much she means to you. You're an excellent, loyal husband, Goku. She's lucky to have you, and from the sounds of it, you're lucky to have her."
"I am. I really am. Good Night, Bulma."
"Good night, Goku."
The door closed behind him, and Bulma realized that she wasn't going to see him for a very long time. She wouldn't see Unus again either, maybe not ever. She turned to look at her long time lover and friend.
"When you get to the Isle, inform them of what's going on, and then you're free to do as you like." She said, her chest heavy.
"Thank you, Princess."
For once, Bulma didn't cry. She just nodded, and turned away to face Vegeta, and take his offered arm.
-
Loud, half drunken laughter echoed down the cold hallway. The noise bouncing off the stone until it was painful to the ear. She didn't even blink. She'd been here so long already, that she'd gotten more than used to it.
Pain filled her every joint and muscle, but it didn't stop Chi-Chi from reaching into her cloth belt and pulling out a thick black key. She looked the thing over her in hand. Such a small thing meant so much to her. A promise that she'd not be here forever. She just needed to wait a little while longer.
Notes: Thanks for reading!
This Chapter is very WORDY! I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think in the comments! It means the world to me! Also, Here's a quick sketch of Chi-Chi i did for the fic!