Piccolo:

Piccolo looked thoughtfully at Menka, Gine and Reyak. They were playing by the water and splashing around happily. He liked to watch how carefree they could be. Sometimes he also wished he could put all the worries aside and just live in the moment. He succeeded far too rarely.

He was worried about Kera. Had he interpreted the signs earlier correctly or just completely misunderstood them? Surely she would have told him something by now. They had spent a lot of time together since the tournament with the Sixth Universe. Time as a family, but also time as a couple and they had enjoyed it. She had still trained with Vegeta and Goku, but had stayed on Earth and not disappeared to Beerus' planets for weeks at a time again.

And then there was Gine. How had she managed to put out the fire on the time machine? Physically, she had to be a pure-blooded Saiyan. Apparently some of Malaha's magical abilities had passed to her after all. This was the first time she had shown those abilities, though.

No. There had been something else. When Beerus had almost destroyed the earth at Bulma's party, Gine had run up to him. Something had happened at that moment, because it had changed Beerus' mind and he had left without killing anyone or destroying anything. And she had wiped out the threat when Tarble had come to Earth.

They had dismissed the idea of binding Gine's powers for now. But what if these inexplicable events were now occurring more frequently?

He had to keep a closer eye on Gine now. If she showed further signs of magic, he would have to teach her so that she did not have this gift unchecked. Dende would certainly help him with that.

"Hey, Piccolo!"

Piccolo looked up. Trunks, the one from the future, flew towards him and landed in front of him.

"Hey, Trunks. Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Yeah, I should. But I can't."

Piccolo tapped the ground beside him and Trunks followed the prompting. He lowered himself to the grass beside Piccolo and now watched the children play as well.

"When did this Black show up?" asked Piccolo after a while.

"He was just there. He started killing most of the population. At some point, a resistance group formed. Mai started it."

"Mai?", Piccolo interrupted him. "The little girl who lives with Bulma?"

Trunks smiled. "Yes, that's the one. In my future, of course, she's an adult. And really ..." He blushed and looked to the ground, embarrassed.

"I see."

Trunks cleared his throat. "I joined them. The group kept trying to kill Black, but we didn't stand a chance. Mai always said that I was the last remaining hope for humanity, but I don't believe that. I couldn't even save my mother, Mai and Aunt Kera," he concluded sadly.

Encouragingly, Piccolo patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure Goku and Vegeta will find a way to defeat Black."

"Isn't Kera coming?"

Piccolo shook his head. "We don't know if our bond will hold." At Trunks' questioning look, he told him about Kera's and his connection.

"Where is Gohan anyway?" asked Trunks after a while of silence.

"He lives with Videl in a big house in Satan City. He's an academic."

"So he doesn't train anymore?"

Piccolo smiled. "No, not really. Maybe he'll start again now that he realises there's another threat now."

"I'll go and see him."

"Good idea. I'm sure he'll be pleased."

Trunks said goodbye and flew off.

Piccolo glared after him. He hoped Trunks would not be disappointed in Gohan. In his future, Gohan had been a teacher to Trunks. In this timeline, he didn't even train anymore. He sighed and looked back to the children.

Gine had her hands stretched out in front of her and seemed to be holding little blobs of water in the air. Menka was talking encouragingly to her. Piccolo's jaw dropped. His daughter had just taught her half-sister to control her magic.

Vegeta:

Enraged, he thundered a fist into the floor of the gravity room. A hole was left behind. He swallowed hard. Bulma would grumble again. She hated it when he wantonly destroyed the room and then liked to hold the bill against him. It wasn't about the money, it was about him destroying something that was actually meant to move him forward.

Vegeta sighed. He had barely slept last night. He wasn't even sure he had slept at all. He had kept looking at Bulma's sleeping face. The idea of losing her almost choked his breath. He would put this Black in his place no matter what the cost.

Kera was training with Kakarrot today. That annoyed him even more. He knew he had no right to claim her for himself, but training with her, he felt he was getting a bit further each time. In the past, he had preferred to train alone, but by now he had got used to fighting against her. It was as if she knew exactly where she had to go to get the last reserves out of him.

A knock jolted him out of his thoughts. Kera was standing in front of the door, waving cheerfully at him.

He turned off the gravity and let her enter.

"I thought you were training with Kakarrot today," he said without greeting.

"We were, but then King Zeno called in and wanted to talk to Kakarrot."

"What does the King of Everything want with Kakarrot?"

Kera shrugged. "I don't know. I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid. I wouldn't put it past him to promise him some crap and we'll be wiped out afterwards." She laughed once. Vegeta nodded slightly. Yes, that wouldn't be out of the question. Kakarrot wasn't particularly adept diplomatically.

"That's why I thought I'd come to you and we'd train. However, I met Bulma earlier and she told me that the time capsule is ready to go and the fuel has been completed as well. So you can get ready."

"Good. Finally. Then we can eat something. Hopefully it won't take Kakarrot that long to get back here."

They started towards the door. Suddenly Kera groaned, swaying slightly and holding onto the doorframe. Concerned, Vegeta put a hand on her shoulder.

"What is it?"

Kera shook her head as if she was having trouble seeing clearly. She inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times. "I'm all right now. I was dizzy for a minute. I'm starving, though." She tried to smile, but it looked very tense.

Vegeta wasn't sure if what she said was true. He hoped it wasn't something worse. And if it was, she would tell him, wouldn't she?

Together they went out onto the terrace, where a table lavishly laden with food had been set up. Trunks and Bulma were already seated and waiting. Vegeta sat down next to his companion. On impulse, he stroked her thigh.

She looked at him in irritation for a moment, then smiled. Then she looked at Kera.

"Is Goku still coming?"

"I don't know. I'm guessing he'll check to see how far you've gotten with the repair, but I don't know when that will be ..."

She couldn't finish the sentence because at that moment Kakarrot appeared beside her. Grinning, he raised a hand in greeting.

"Well, I've come at just the right time," he stated with a beaming smile, sat down at the table and immediately began to load his plate.

Kera sat down beside him. "What did the King of Everything want?"

"He wanted to play with me," Kakarrot replied, smacking his lips.

Vegeta nearly dropped his fork from his hand. "Excuse me?" Kera just stared at him too.

"Yes. I don't really know why either. I meant that I don't have time now lei-der, but I'll be looking for a friend for him."

"Who are you going to take?"

Kakarrot shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

Kera and Vegeta sighed at the same time. Hopefully this wouldn't be their undoing.

"He gave me such a cool button. I can use it to teleport to him or call him to me at any time." Kakarrot took out a nondescript red button from the folds of his cloak.

"Just make sure you don't press it accidentally," Vegeta said, turning his attention back to his food.

"You're ready to fly, by the way. The time capsule is ready to go," Bulma now changed the subject.

"Great. I'm getting all jittery."

"Take care of yourselves, please. No stupid actions," Kera said, looking urgently at both Vegeta and Kakarrot. Vegeta exhaled indignantly, Kakarrot looked at them confused, as if he never did any dumb actions.

"By the way, I was in the Tenth Universe with Beerus and Whis earlier," Kakarrot now changed the subject again.

"What were you doing there?" asked Vegeta in wonder.

"Whis found out that the ki that emanated from Black belonged to a kaioshin from the Tenth universe. Zamasu is a Kai of the Tenth universe and is in training to become a Supreme Kai. He was introduced as the strongest warrior of the Tent universe."

"Please don't tell me you challenged him." Kera looked at him incredulously.

"Of course I did."

Vegeta and Kera banged their heads on the table. Sometimes Vegeta wished he wasn't related to that jerk. It was just embarrassing.

"He's really very strong, but I was better." Kakarrot grinned.

"You fought him? Against a Supreme Kai disciple?" Vegeta's voice wavered between appreciation and lecture.

Kakarrot nodded eagerly. Vegeta shook his head in disbelief.

"Did you find out anything else?" asked Kera, annoyed.

"Yes, we did. Beerus and Whis checked to see if all the Supreme Kai's time rings were still there. They were. So maybe it was a false lead after all. Beerus and Whis, however, are certain that Black and Zamasu are one and the same."

"So a Zamasu from the future is Black?" Kera didn't look convinced.

Kakarrot tapped his lower lip. "If I understand correctly, yes."

Kera sighed.

"Well, it doesn't matter for now, does it?" Bulma rose to her feet. "I would fill the time capsule with the fuel now. Is that all right?"

"I'd like to do another short training session with Trunks." Promptly, he looked at his son from the future.

He looked surprised at first, but then nodded and stood up. Together they walked into the spacious garden. Vegeta transformed into a Super Saiyan Blue. Trunks was surprised.

"This energy! You will defeat Black with ease. I don't even need any more ..."

"Stop it! You're a proud Saiyan and my son! You never give up."