Vegeta:

Vegeta had said goodbye to his son from the future with Bulma. When the flickering of the time capsule had disappeared and Trunks and Mai had started their lives in a different timeline, Bulma had leant against him and sobbed quietly.

He understood her. The Trunks who had just said goodbye to them had not grown up with them and yet it felt like a part of his family was leaving forever.

Vegeta looked at his son, who had been smiling and waving after the time capsule, and swore to himself that he would do everything he could to make sure this child could grow up safely.

"Is it all right if I fly to Kera?"

Bulma wiped a tear from her cheek and nodded.

"I can stay if..." Yes, what actually? He wasn't good at consoling and yet he didn't feel comfortable leaving his mate so sad. A feeling of inner turmoil spread through him. His mate, who was sad, and his twin sister, who seemed to be unwell. They both needed him.

Bulma gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Go ahead and fly to her. Just let me know if you need to stay longer."

Gratefully, he gave her a kiss and flew off.

Vegeta took the quickest route to Kera and Piccolo's house. He knocked quietly on the door, as he didn't see anyone outside and, strangely enough, didn't recognise any aura. Piccolo opened it and looked at him in surprise.

"Where is everyone?" Vegeta asked after a second of hesitation.

"Hello to you, too."

Vegeta rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting.

"The children are with Dende."

"And Kera?"

"She wants to be alone right now."

"What happened?" Alarmed, Vegeta looked up at Piccolo, who was standing in the doorway like an insurmountable wall. "Where is she?"

"I don't know if she wants to see anyone." Piccolo looked sadly to the ground, as if he was faced with a situation that had thrown him off course too.

Vegeta floated up to Piccolo so that he could look him in the eye. "Piccolo, please. If I can help her, you have to tell me where she is."

The request had been difficult to say. He had never had to ask for anything before, but had always taken everything for himself. But since living on Earth and having a family, he had learnt to approach some situations differently.

Piccolo raised an eyebrow sketpically, thought for a moment and then nodded. "She's in the mountains." He pointed in the direction of the waterfall, obviously referring to the mountain range that adjoined the plain. "She's suppressed her aura, but she's meditating on the highest peak."

Vegeta turned and flew up. "Thank you," he called to Piccolo and then focussed fully on the path in front of him. He quickly recognised the highest peak and shot towards it.

On the way there, all kinds of thoughts ran through Vegeta's head as to why Kera wanted to be alone on the mountain peak. Had she and Piccolo quarrelled? That seemed unlikely to Vegeta, as Piccolo hadn't left her side the night before. Was she angry that she hadn't been able to finish off Black? Possibly.

No matter how Vegeta looked at it, he couldn't find a satisfactory solution. Finally, he reached the top and quickly recognised the purple trousers on the rocky ground.

Immobile and with her eyes closed, Kera hovered two hand-widths above the ground. Now, so close to her, Vegeta felt her aura, although she suppressed it, and wondered once again if this was only possible because they were twins.

Slowly, he approached and flashed his aura for her to notice him. Kera opened her eyes a crack and then nodded. Vegeta took this as a sign of approval and came closer.

Vegeta sat down cross-legged like Kera and hovered at her height. Their knees touched and he simply waited. He knew himself that he wasn't the most patient, but he was willing to put up with a lot for Kera.

Her gaze remained downwards for a long time until he saw tears running down her cheeks. Instinctively, he reached for her hands, which were resting on her knees, and squeezed them tightly.

"The baby..." she whispered at one point.

Vegeta nodded. He had understood.

Kera:

Kera wiped the last tears from her cheeks and tried a tentative smile. It had felt liberating to tell Vegeta everything. He hadn't said much, but had listened to her attentively.

"What are Trunks and Mai going to do now?"

"We talked about it after you left last night. They've decided to live in a different timeline, even though there will already be a Trunks and a Mai there."

"When do they want to leave?"

Vegeta faltered and lowered his eyes. "They already left this morning."

Instantly, tears welled up in Kera's eyes again. She had missed them. She would have loved to say goodbye.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm a terrible aunt." She sniffled and would have loved to scream out loud. She would have loved to tell her nephew from the future how proud she was of him and wished him all the best. He more than deserved to be happy now.

"No. You had other things on your mind and I'm sure he would have understood that. Bulma, Trunks and I saw him off. Even Gohan showed up at the last moment."

"Really?" Kera smiled. "That's good. I hope this has sparked something in Gohan and he's training more again. Who knows what's in store for us." She stared into the distance with a gloomy expression.

"Actually, a little rest would be good now, wouldn't it? We have to train anyway."

Kera nodded. "Black made us realise that we can train so much and still not be strong enough."

Vegeta leant forwards. "What are you trying to say?"

"Each of us wasn't strong enough against Black and even your fusion didn't manage to defeat him. Maybe we need to try other ways?"

"And which ones?"

"Trunks was able to heal you."

Vegeta looked at his sister in confusion. "Yeah, so?"

"I'll ask the Supreme Kai to take me on as his disciple."

Vegeta's jaw dropped. He closed his mouth, wanted to say something, shook his head and waited a few seconds before trying again.

"Why?" he finally croaked out.

"We train and train and train. We neglect our families and only think about getting stronger. Stronger than who? Stronger than what? And if a threat does come to Earth, we can only just defeat it, if at all."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating?"

Kera shook her head vigorously. "Think about Cell. Kakarrot even sacrificed himself and it didn't help and Gohan only barely defeated him. Buu almost got us all killed. And now Black."

"And what's the point of you becoming a disciple of the Supreme Kai?"

Kera grinned. "I can heal you during the fight."

Vegeta crossed his arms in front of his chest. "That's not in keeping with our warrior honour."

Annoyed, Kera puffed out her cheeks and let the air escape. "You're so stubborn," she snapped at her brother.

"Fine, then you could heal. But you wouldn't be fighting anymore. Do you really think we'd have more of that? And is that even allowed? I thought Supreme Kais weren't allowed to interfere."

Kera faltered. Shit, she hadn't thought of that. She threw her arms in the air in frustration. "Oh gods, I just want to change something!"

Vegeta stood up and patted her on the shoulder. "I understand that, believe me. Maybe you'll sleep on it one more night, okay? I have to go home now. It's getting dark."

The setting sun had bathed the mountains in an orange light and cast a long shadow across the plain.

"All right. Say hi to Bulma for me, will you?"

"Of course."

With a hiss, Vegeta was gone. Kera rose from the cross-legged position she had been crouching in all this time and stretched. She couldn't forget the thought of becoming the Supreme Kai's disciple.

With the last rays of the sun, she jumped up and flew to Kakarrot. She would ask him to teleport her to King Kai.