Val turned her head, looking away from Tien towards the door. "I sense him, too," Tien said in confusion. "But what is he doing here?" He separated himself from her, leaving the library. She followed him out, snagging up the staff where she had left it near the desk in a rush. "Chiaotzu, what are you doing here?" he asked when he got outside.
"Tien, what are you doing here?" Chiaotzu asked, floating at eye level, looking just as surprised to him as he was to see him. He looked a bit thinner and paler than the last time she had seen him. He saw Val behind him. "Val, there you are," he floated closer. "I thought I sensed you up here." He saw the staff in her hand. "Where's Kami?"
She stared at him for a few seconds, recalling he had no idea what happened the last few days since the androids showed up. "He's dead. I'm the new guardian of the Earth, for now. Piccolo should be down there looking for a better person to take over permanently," she explained.
Chiaotzu gaped at her in surprise. "Did the androids kill him? But if he's dead, how is Piccolo still alive?"
Val swallowed, explaining, "he sacrificed himself to make Piccolo stronger. The two of them became one, fusing the strength of both Namekian clans into one once more."
Chiaotzu blinked, seeming confused to not have the full picture. "A lot has happened the past few days," Tien commented with a sigh. "So much."
"What brings you here?" she asked. "Why are you looking for me?"
Chiaotzu sucked down a deep breath, face suddenly showing he suddenly remembered something important. "It's our village. The heart virus is up there, not long after Tien left the first person showed symptoms."
"What?" Val and Tien both said together.
Chiaotzu continued, "I had a mild infection and recovered quickly, but others have died. Others are really sick." He threw Tien an uncertain look before continuing. "The medicine we have in the village is almost out. I sensed you up here, and came to ask you to get some from Capsule Corps."
"Because some of the village leaders destroyed what I gave you," Val added in. "Because I made it and touched it." Tien shifted uncomfortably next to her.
Chiaotzu looked wounded at that. "It was wrong of them to do that, to treat you like that. But we need your help. More people are going to die if I don't get your antiviral medicine back there in time."
She stared at him, mind reeling. "I want to help you, but I can't go back to Capsule Corps right now. I can't even leave the Lookout. Not until I'm replaced as guardian." She frowned, trying to figure out a solution to this puzzle.
Chiaotzu looked forlorn. "But... I went there myself, looking for you, hours ago. I couldn't find Bulma either. I found a doctor there who said he knew you, but he wouldn't give me anything unless he had proof I knew you, too. I think he was worried I was from a rival company trying to steal your medicine and copy it or something."
Val looked at him agape. "What was the doctor's name?" she asked.
"Daiki," Chiaotzu answered. "I couldn't find Bulma."
Val swore, "Daiki." She gritted her teeth, thinking fast about how to get him the medicine without leaving the Lookout...
"That's because Bulma was up here with us," Tien explained. "Chiaotzu, who all is sick?" he asked thickly.
"A lot of people," Chiaotzu answered vaguely.
Val asked his unasked and unanswered question. "Is Aiko sick?"
Chiaotzu nodded hesitantly. "She is, pretty badly. She was barely conscience when she told to come find you and beg you for more medicine to help us."
Val was running without another thought towards the building. "Val, wait!" she heard Tien calling after her.
She kept going, aiming to make it to the library. He caught her by the arm. She stopped abruptly, shaking him off. "What?" she asked impatiently.
He looked worried. "Where are you going?" he half pleaded.
"To the library to get some paper," she answered. "I can't leave the Lookout, so I will write a note for Chiaotzu to bring to Daiki so he can get the medicine." She resumed her rush to the library. She groaned, wishing she had her phone instead so to just text him.
Once she reached the desk, she fumbled with the drawers, finding a pen and paper suitable enough to scribble a note to Daiki. Tien and Chiaotzu both came into the library with her. She felt Tien hovering over her, reading over her shoulder. "Why would call your friend 'a stubborn bitch' in your letter?"
She paused in her writing long enough to explain without looking up, "he'll know for certain it's from me." She paused, reading over the letter. Chiaotzu hovered closer, holding his hand out for the letter. She placed her hand over it, thinking... "Shoot," she swore, gripping the table.
"What? What's wrong? Val, please, they need your medicine," Tien said, one hand on the back of her chair, the other placed on the desk near the letter. He was so close that she could felt heat coming from him. That and desperation. She tried to remind herself she would prefer he chose Aiko. That would mean this destined to be together in the other time line would be just nonsense.
"If Chiaotzu gets the medicine, from Daiki, then what?" she asked. "The tablets, the sachets, the boxes they come in have 'Capsule Corps' written all over them. People in the village will know it's from me. What if they're destroyed just like the last set? What if people refuse to take them?"
Tien shook his head, hand reaching for the letter under hers. "But we have to try," he insisted.
She shook her head, staring down at the letter beneath her hand. "If they know outright it's from me, fewer will be saved. Aiko will be, of course, she's not that proudly foolish." She took the letter in her hand, half crumpling it up as she did around the pen she had used. She shoved the chair back hard and slipped away from Tien.
She got up, going to the kitchen with the two of them following after her. Mr. Popo was in there as well. Tien kept pestering her with questions. She held fast to the letter he kept asking her to give him. She kept it in one hand, rummaging through the cupboards with the other. "Miss Val, what are you looking for?" Mr. Popo asked her.
She turned to him, asking, "Mr. Popo, where is the loose leaf hydrangea tea Kami used to drink?"
Mr. Popo stepped over to her, going to another cupboard and grabbing down a large bag of it. "Here you are, guardian," he said, offering it to her.
She took it, holding it in her hand to get the measure of the weight of it. The bag was large and mostly full. Several doses of the medicine could be mixed in with all of it. She sat it down on the table before her. She sat in the chair as well, putting the letter down to write more at the bottom of the page, ignoring Tien as he kept asking what she was doing. She ran out of space, writing more on the back. When she finished, she stood up abruptly, stepping over to Chiaotzu with the letter and bag in hand. She explained, "you take this letter and tea to Daiki. I explain to him he must crush up mix as many doses of the antivirals as he can and mix it with the tea to take to the village. Nothing that is taken to the village must have any label of Capsule Corps on it. You do not tell them the medicine is from me nor from Capsule Corps."
Chiaotzu nodded. "I can do that," he promised, taking the tea and letter in hand.
"Val," Tien interjected. Val looked over at him now, finally giving him her attention. "If he just shows up with some tea, saying it's medicine, then they are less likely to take it. Less likely to take it than if knew where it was coming from, knew it was coming from Capsule Corps."
Val nodded at him and then looked over to Chiaotzu. "Say it's from the guardian of the Earth. That you went to them for help and they gave you this tea," she advised. She looked over at Tien, adding, "that will leave them all the most likely to take it the medicine that can save them."
Tien gave her a conflicted look. "If he says that, it will mislead some of them."
"It will save most of them. And technically it isn't dishonest per se," she repeated. She hummed, turning back to Chiaotzu. "Take the letter and tea to Daiki. The two of you can decide what to do with the medicine and what to say to tell anyone."
Chiaotzu nodded, floating back out of the building. Val followed after him, explaining more detail about the medicine and dosage to him just in case. She noticed Tien followed along with them as well, close to her. He should chose her, he should choose her, she reminded herself. The thought started to stick in her throat.
When they reached the edge of the Lookout, the three of them paused. Tien stepped around her and next to Chiaotzu. "Are you going with him?" she asked Tien, feeling a sudden and unexpected yank at her heart at the thought. He said he wanted to stay up here with her.
Tien looked back at her. "I must," he answered softly.
"But you could get sick as well," she reached for a reason to stop him that would not lead her to pleading.
He stepped back up over to her, toe to toe. "If that happens, I trust you. I'll take your medicine."
She looked up at him, biting back the pleading for him for him to stay that unexpectedly stuck in her throat. He looked down at her and leaned down over her. She closed her eyes, reminding herself one last time to let him make the choice.
She held her breath, waiting for what he intended to do, hoping unexpectedly for one sign from him of what he was choosing when she felt him pull her into closely for a tight embrace. One hand came to her upper back and the other to her hair. "Thank you," he said sincerely in her ear.
He then pulled away from her in what was only a platonic hug, nothing more. She refused to look at either of them. "Go. Hurry," she permitted blankly.
He nodded and the two of them left the Lookout. She turned away, not watching them go. She made it a few steps before sinking to her knees, pounding temperamentally on the ground beneath her hand. She felt her throat shake and eyes sting. She felt eyes on her, seeing Mr. Popo watching her from a distance in the midst of a second and unexpected rejection, wounding her pride even more. A rejection she thought she wanted. A rejection that would prove they were not destined to be together after all.
Mr. Popo approached her, the staff in his hands. "He's not..." she called out, wanting to salvage how she felt. She stood up, stepping over to him and gingerly taking the staff from him. "He's not who I would have chosen anyway," she choked out, finding the rejection being witnessed the most painful part. "When Piccolo returns, I will train with him to be guardian. I'll do better at it, starting tomorrow. For however long I hold this role," she resigned herself.
She turned away at that, heading for her rooms, head pounding and heart aching at what just happened. Trying to remind herself it was what she had wanted to happen.