Vegeta:
The thoughts in Vegeta's head were racing. He was unable to concentrate on anything. It was as if his thoughts were slippery, not wanting to be grasped, because whenever he tried to pursue one strand of thought, it was gone again and replaced by another.
"What's going on in your head?" Kera turned slightly in the air towards him without slowing her pace. Her braid whipped from left to right as towns and villages whizzed along below them.
"Dende could build the Hyperbolic Time Chamber closer to my house."
Kera grinned, but her smile quickly faded. She moved closer. "You're angry."
"Of course I am. That Black guy has done us in. Yet we've already trained so much. We're so much stronger and yet it's not enough."
"And Black looking like Kakarrot makes you extra furious, doesn't it?" She nudged him lightly with her shoulder and the corner of his mouth lifted for a moment.
"You know me too well."
"And I feel the same, you know that." She sought his hand and squeezed it briefly. "I'm already angry because I couldn't even fly with you. At least you could fight and you discovered new limits on your body again." She sounded almost a little wistful at that. As if she would also have liked to fight to be defeated, to be even more motivated for training as a result.
Dende's platform moved into her field of vision and they landed. Far and wide there was no one to be seen. Determined, Kera walked past Vegeta and made her way to the entrance of the palace.
"Wait a minute." He held Kera by the arm. With the sight of Dende's palace, he had remembered something. "Did I understand you correctly before Kakarrot and I flew into the future with Trunks that you were pregnant again?"
A myriad of expressions flitted across Kera's face. Horror, then remembrance, and finally guilt.
"You ... forgot?" He looked at his sister in disbelief.
Vehemently, she shook her head. "It's still fresh. After all, I only knew yesterday, and I told Piccolo earlier when you were in the future. I just ... blocked it out." Again she shook her head. "That sounds wrong. It's not that I'm not excited. It's just that I would love to fight with you guys."
Kera's feelings were like an open book to Vegeta at that moment. He knew exactly how hard it was to choose between family and a fight. Fighting had always come first for him, first because he had to, later because he had something to protect. What if Bulma asked him to stay with her? Ask him not to fight? He actually didn't know what he would decide.
Vegeta clasped his sister's shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. "Don't worry about it. Your baby is the most important thing right now. You don't have to fight Black again." He faltered and his fingers curled into her shoulders. "Wait a minute. Black hit you. Did he hurt you?"
"No. At least I don't feel anything."
"Let Dende check you out. Better safe than sorry."
She sighed. "Okay. Will you wait for me? Then we can train."
"Kera, please stay here. I can't lock you in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for a year. We have no medical care there and even if nothing happened, your mate wouldn't get to see the child grow for a year. Piccolo would scalp me."
Kera's lips lifted briefly and then he seemed to be able to literally read her face as she searched for reasonable arguments for him to take her after all. She found none and resignedly relented.
"All right. I'll just walk you to the room."
She hooked up with him and together they entered the palace. Dende came to meet them after the first turn in the corridor.
"What are you doing here?"
"Long story. The short version is that Vegeta will be training for 24 hours in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."
"And what about you? You can ..."
"I know I can't," she interrupted Dende. "I'll just walk him to the door and then I'll ask you to examine me again. I was fighting today and I got hit and this scaredy-cat thinks straight that something bad happened."
Vegeta flippantly disregarded the little sideswipe and just shrugged his shoulders. Sometimes you had to trust your feelings. It was something Kera and Bulma had taught him, and something he had only learned slowly.
"All right. Come to the examination room right away, then." Dende stopped while Vegeta and Kera continued to follow the hallway until they reached the door of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
Kera rested her forehead against Vegeta's. "You will come back much stronger."
"Take care of yourself, Kaya."
He broke away from her, grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open with a jerk.
"You know, you could still fuse with Kakarrot."
"I swore to myself that I would never ..."
"Yes, yes, I know. But I believe that this is a special situation and these now call for special measures. You could ask the Supreme Kai to lend you the potara earrings."
"But the fusion is permanent. At least that's what they said."
"It wasn't permanent with us either, so I don't think it would be permanent with you." She put a hand on his, still resting on the door handle. "Just think about it, okay?"
Vegeta hesitated, then nodded slightly and disappeared into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
As always, it took him a moment to adjust to the blinding brightness in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Nothing had changed. The beds were in the same place, the clock that helped him plan his daily routine hovered above him, and opposite him the passage opened up to the infinite expanse of space.
Vegeta took a deep breath. He would make good use of this time here. He would get stronger, faster. He had anger driving him. Anger that Black had killed his mate in the future. Anger because Black had hurt Kera. Anger because the future in which his son lived was so bleak and dangerous.
Determined, he ran into the white infinity of space. Enjoying the tug that the increased gravity exerted on his body, he transformed into Super Saiyan Blue in the blink of an eye.
365 days were long when you were alone. Especially alone in the infinity of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. There were days he wished he hadn't been so sensible and taken Kera with him. There were even days when he wished Kakarrot was here with him and then he had to laugh about it himself. He had actually gotten used to this idiot.
Vegeta looked at the clock above the door that led back into the palace. He still had time for a nap. Then he would be rested to take on Black again.
Promptly after a year, Vegeta positioned himself in front of the exit. He tensed his muscles, bent his knees slightly and concentrated his strength. He let the energy travel to every corner of his body and screamed out. He enjoyed the feeling of power that flowed through him. Kera and Kakarrot would make eyes when they saw that he had perfected the Super Saiyan God. It was the perfect combination between speed and power. In moments of attack, he could switch into Super Saiyan Blue and back again in a flash, keeping the amount of power he used to a minimum.
A pulse of energy escaped his body, spread out, hit the walls of the doorway and sought a way out. The stone on the door frame cracked.
A second energy blast erupted from Vegeta's body. The already battered pillars began to crumble. Dust trickled out of them. They could no longer withstand the third pulse. One by one the pillars collapsed and with them the passageway fell. Vegeta created a shield around himself and waited out the collapse of the building soulfully. Then he stepped over the rubble.
"Hey, Vegeta, did you have to do that?" Dende came running towards him, but he ignored the little Namekian and flew as fast as he could to his mansion.
Kakarrot was already waiting with Bulma, Whis and Beerus next to the time capsule.
"The pod is fueled. You're good to go," informed his mate.
"Any news?" At this, Vegeta looked at Whis, whom he trusted most to summarise relevant information sensibly.
"We have sought out Gowasu, the Supreme Kai of the 10th Universe, whose disciple Zamasu is. We watched Zamasu kill his master in order to acquire the time rings."
"You just watched?" Open-mouthed, Vegeta looked from Beerus to Whis and back again.
"Of course we didn't. Whis turned back time and I destroyed Zamasu. He no longer exists now. Not on any timeline. That's why your time travel is unnecessary."
"And you're sure about that?" Vegeta raised an eyebrow sceptically.
"Of course!" Beerus crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked in another direction, offended.
"Master Roshi taught me the Evil Containment Wave. So we can go," Kakarrot shouted and jumped into the time capsule.
"Where's Kera?" asked Vegeta of his mate, who shrugged.
"I don't know. I haven't seen her since you left with her for the palace."
Vegeta thought about it. Kera had no longer been at Dende's palace. Otherwise he would have felt her aura. However, she was not at the mansion either. He concentrated and tracked her down to her hut. Perhaps she had been tired and slept through the time of her departure. Or had something happened in the last 24 hours? It was not like Kera not to at least send him a message.
"Are you coming Vegeta?" Kakarrot called impatiently out of the time capsule.
"Already here," he growled, pressing a quick kiss to Bulma's cheek. Then he jumped into the time capsule with Kakarrot. Instantly, the glass dome closed over them.
"What's wrong?" Even Kakarott had caught on that he was nervous.
"Kera wasn't here to see us off."
Kakarrot straightened up. "You think something happened."
Vegeta opened his mouth to snap at him that it was none of his business, but then he reconsidered. Kakarrot was also Kera's brother. He was family.
"Kera is pregnant. She didn't seem that fit and I asked her to let Dende examine her. That's why I was alone in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."
"She wasn't training with you? I wonder if that's why she's offended."
Vegeta shrugged. "Possibly. But I'm afraid something happened in the last twenty-four hours. Something that rattled her," he concluded quietly. "Black hit her pretty hard. What if ..." He wouldn't finish the sentence."
Kakarrot's eyes widened in shock. "You mean ..."
"I don't know," Vegeta snapped back.
Kakarrot patted Vegeta's shoulder encouragingly, which Vegeta only allowed, unable to dodge in the confines of the pod. "We'll finish off this Black as quickly as possible now, and then we'll come back. Kera is not alone. Piccolo, Chi-Chi and Bulma are still there too."
Vegeta closed his eyes and nodded briefly. He had to concentrate on Black now.
The time capsule lifted off, taking them to an uncertain future.