Title: Kaze no Kibou
Far beneath the earth, an egg lay buried. Caught in forced hibernation, it waited. A faintly pulsing glow surrounded it. On the surface above it, a fierce battle raged. Huge energy waves clashed, causing the glow to spike in accord. It's pulses came faster, and the energy above it peaked out and faded away to almost nothing. The egg returned to its dormant state, unchanged except for the slight increase in its ambient energy. Inside, something shifted.

Seven years later...

"Well? Aren't you going to give me a hug? Or are you all just going to stand there?" Goku cocked his head to the side, a goofy grin on his face, as most of the group rushed forward. Only Piccolo, Vegeta, and little Trunks stayed back, but the smile on Piccolo's face belied his stern demeanor.

Seven years had passed since Goku's death; his elder son had all but grown up, and he had left a younger child who had never met his father. The 25th Tenkaichi Budokai was scheduled for that very afternoon, and all the Z Senshi were going to compete. Catching sight of something oddly familiar, Goku looked closer at Chi-chi. More precisely, he looked behind her.

"Chi-chi, there's a little me hiding behind your leg!"

In the typical Son fashion, he defused the tension of meeting his second son for the first - and only - time. His older son watched, amused, at the two who looked and acted so alike. All too soon (in some cases not soon enough) came the time to leave the noncombatants behind and register for the fight.

"Great Saiyaman," Gohan repeated. And spelled it. Twice. The tournament official just shook his head and wrote it down.

"The what?" Goku's clueless look prompted a short explanation of Gohan's alter ego.

"Then... You're really going to wear that to fight?" Goku sounded more resigned than anything else.

"Of course!" Oblivious, the Great Saiyaman beamed the hereditary Son grin.

Trunks grumbled about the assignation to the junior division, while Goten took it with good grace. The group of fighters moved into the inner circle where they would pass a qualifying test. A familiar figure met them.

"Tien!" Goku called over the announcer's explanation of the method of qualifying.

"Goku!" The triclops threaded his way through the crowd. "You actually made it back! I thought the dragons wouldn't -" his gaze traveled up to the space over Goku's head. "What's that?"

"I'm still dead. Just back for the day."

"Oh." Tien looked momentarily downcast. "Well, it's great to have you back."

"I thought Yamcha said you wouldn't be here, Tien," Krillin interjected.

"Launch really wanted to be here." Tien blushed. "She wanted our first child to be able to hear her father fight, even if she can't see it yet."

"Launch?" Goku's eyes widened. "You and Launch -"

"Yeah. Pretty wild, huh?" Tien laughed. "The baby's due in four months."

"Congratulations!"

The punching machine was brought out in due time, and Mr. Satan scored a 137. Videl, having kidnapped Gohan, watched as the Z Senshi each bested that score by a substantial amount. And then was introduced to them. Vegeta, restraint not being his strong suit, demolished the machine without a second thought, leaving Gohan and Videl to wait for another machine to be assembled.

The Junior Division competition proceeded as everyone expected; the last match came down to Goten against Trunks. Trunks emerged the winner, after a nearly even fight, and Goten congratulated his friend.

The adult division began with no out of the ordinary events; Krillin fought a loudmouth going by the name of Pintar in the first round, winning easily. Piccolo faced off against Tien, also taking the victory. Videl fought in the third round against a hulking muscle-bound thug. The result was a foregone conclusion. Fourth round saw Gohan against a well-trained neko-jin. Fifth round was Mr. Satan versus Killa; the World Champion gave a good show. Sixth round was spectacular. Goku stood opposite Vegeta in the center of the ring.

"Kakkarot, there will be no turning into Super Saiyans. And no energy blasts. Got it?" The edge in Vegeta's voice was reminiscent of the man he'd been when they'd first met. Goku nodded wordlessly. The fight was the most intense anyone watching could remember, except perhaps the Z Senshi. It ended when both Goku and Vegeta hit the ground outside the ring at the same instant. They were both out cold, and the round was pronounced a draw.

The seventh fight took place between Juuhachigou and another neko-jin; the blonde android smiled coldly as her unfortunate opponent lost on a ring- out. Round eight saw Jewel fighting a masked contestant. More accurately, round eight would have seen the fight between Jewel and Mighty Mask if Gohan hadn't immediately discerned the respective ki of two misbehaving half-Saiyans and unceremoniously dumped them in the stands with their respective parents.

And so the tournament continued. Mr. Satan was called away on an emergency in Satan City, and so withdrew from the proceedings. As he was the world hero, his title wasn't exactly revoked after the tournament was over, but his popularity soared at the selfless act of leaving the championship to help those in need. Gohan grinned behind his hand, knowing the actual reason behind Mr. Satan's departure. Great Saiyaman took the title of "World Champion", pending a fight with Mr. Satan as defending champion which somehow never took place.

Goku woke up mere seconds prior to his son's declaration of triumph, and flashed the victory sign. He spent the night at home, getting to know his younger son and reaffirming his feelings towards his wife. The next day, he made the required trip back to the Otherworld, and the Earth stayed at peace. * * *

The next years passed as peacefully as could be expected, although the following tournament was cancelled due to several earthquakes scattered around the globe. The seismic activity was regarded with consternation by some, as many of the incidents occurred well away from any known fault lines. Despite the destructive nature of the incidents, though, they were forgotten as time went on and they were not repeated. * * *

"I do." Gohan smiled down at his wife.

The kiss lasted long enough for Goten to threaten the newly-weds with a bucket that had recently held ice for champagne. Trunks hauled him back, laughing.

"What?" Entirely unrepentant, Goten grinned, putting one hand behind his head. The hand with the ice bucket. A completely non-plussed expression spread over his features as he was subsequently drenched by barely melted ice water.

"Only you, chibi." Trunks clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"Oh, no, I did that once," Gohan interjected. "In high school." He ruffled his little brother's hair. "You gonna miss me?"

Goten made a face. "Ha! Besides, you guys aren't living that far away."

"True." Gohan hugged Videl closer. "And hopefully you'll have a niece or nephew before long."

"You wanna have a kid already?" Goten complained. "Don't you have to -"

"Brat. Your mother is looking for you."

By the time Goten turned around, Vegeta was already moving away. "Uh, thanks, Vegeta-san."

Chi-chi had the camera out as Goten approached. "Isn't this wonderful, Goten? First your brother gets a good job in nuclear physics R&D, and then he gets married to a nice girl. I only wish your father could see it."

"Oh, he can, Kaa-san." Goten assured her. "He can."

"How did you get your clothes wet?" Chi-Chi's gaze was almost hatchet- like.

"Uh, an accident with the ice bucket..." Goten blushed.

"Go change. You'll catch a cold."

Goten forbore from mentioning that it was nearly 80 degrees out, and in no way would he manage to catch a cold. Odd weather for the end of September, come to think of it. Of course, this was an opportunity to get out of the uncomfortable formal clothes. And he should have something to wear at Capsule Corps...

"Something" was an orange gi. Oh well, at least it was comfortable. Goten slipped out of the wet shirt and pants and into the gi. As he turned to put the worn clothes in the laundry, he brushed against someone. Someone with no ki. He tensed to fight...and then saw the intruder's face. "Trunks! What are you doing?"

Trunks brushed a stray droplet of water off Goten's cheek with the back of one hand. "Watching you," he said simply. "Come on, they're about to cut the cake."

Goten blinked. "Whatever you say, Trunks-kun." He didn't notice Trunks stiffen at the words. "Last one there -"

"Moot point! Cause I'm gonna get there first!" Trunks pounded down the stairs, ahead of Goten.

"As if you could!" The race had the intensity peculiar to fifteen and sixteen year old boys, and ended when Vegeta caught them both by the collar and unceremoniously dumped them on the ground in front of their respective mothers.

"Behave." That one word held as much of a threat as Goten had ever heard from Vegeta.

"Hai."

It was amazing how much Vegeta had changed since Goku's death. Gohan could remember when the Saiyan prince had first shown up on Earth, threatening death and worse. He remembered the abject terror Vegeta had inspired, and then the uncomfortable alliance with the enemy. Lesser of two evils, in a very real sense. The alliance had continued after Vegeta's death and resurrection, on the surface because Vegeta wanted to become a Super Saiyan, and later because the androids were a greater threat that needed to be dealt with. By the time the androids and Cell had been dealt with, Vegeta had begun to change. The darkness inside had been eroded away, slowly but surely. Even his rivalry with Goku lacked the bitter intensity it had once had, and when their fight had ended in a draw, Vegeta had been almost satisfied. He had devoted his life to protection, almost as if he were now determined to protect the Earth and do it better than Goku had. Not that there had been any threats to protect it from, but Vegeta maintained the philosophy that one should always be ready, even in times of peace. Especially in times of peace.

Gohan returned to the present to find Videl staring at him quizzically. "Something wrong, Gohan?"

"No, no, nothing." He smiled. "I'm just so happy today."

Her face softened. "Me too." She raised a bite of sugary confection to his lips. "Last public ritual."

"Oh?" He mirrored her actions, aware of the ki of every person present. His mother was in front with a camera. Goten and Trunks were together as usual, and ... Something was wrong. There was a cold, cold empty feeling. A terrible ki...no, that couldn't be someone's life energy. Between one breath and the next, it was gone.

"Gohan?" Videl asked again.

"Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Videl frowned. For a moment, she'd thought there might have been something, but it was gone now in any case.

"I -" Gohan looked around. No one else appeared to have felt anything out of the ordinary, not even Vegeta, who was almost smiling. "I guess it wasn't anything at all."

Three months later Videl looked up, brow furrowed. A sense of emptiness washed through the air, dwindling even as she felt it. She had felt Goten and Trunks sparring at a fairly high energy level, with Vegeta's ki overshadowing both of them, and then somehow nothing. Within seconds, however, she felt the Saiyans again. It was as if nothing had happened. Except - they'd stopped sparring. They seemed to be waiting, or listening. She was about to go find them to ask if they'd felt the same thing she had, but her wristband beeped. She swore at the timing. "Videl here."

"We need you, Videl." Police business. Dammit. "There was some kind of disturbance to the north. By the mines."

"Aren't they the ones that were temporarily closed off for violating safety protocol?"

"Right, those are the ones. Listen, there's been an explosion or something. We're dealing with three other crises at the moment, and we can't spare anyone here. Can you and Saiyaman check it out?"

"Roger." Videl clicked off the communicator. She considered calling Gohan for a moment, and rejected the idea. She was perfectly capable of handling anything originating from Earth, and he was working on a new project. She had no idea exactly what it was, since the technicalities were outside her realm of expertise, but he was so excited about it. There was apparently a test run to be done on it, and she really didn't want to bother him. Besides, there were three fighters within sensing distance whom she could easily signal by spiking her own ki. Vegeta drilled them every month as part of his focus on defense. Decision made, Videl flew towards the mines.

It wasn't until she arrived at the site of the "explosion" that she realized that this was the source of the empty not-ki she had sensed earlier. She almost signaled for help, but there wasn't anything there. She'd signal when and if she found something. She prowled closer to the area, on foot now. The entrance to the mines was gone, slagged beyond recognition in the center of a perfectly circular crater. A shallow crater, to be sure, but eerily similar to what she'd seen the ki of her husband do when he lost control of the overspill. Smoke still hung in the air, obscuring the edges of her vision. Had something moved? She extended her other sense to the best of her ability, and felt nothing.

In hindsight, that should have been her warning.

Something hit her from the side, knocking her off her feet and into a thicker patch of smoke. Videl coughed as it burned her lungs and tried to roll into clearer air. The weight on top of her forced her back down, pinning her arms above her head. She twisted and managed to break free, knocking her assailant sideways. It hissed as she shot to her feet, turning to face it directly.

The thing in front of her glared through malevolent red-on-black eyes, that gaze overshadowing - no, obliterating - the rest of the horribly emaciated face. Skin the color and texture of old parchment stretched over what might have been bone, and yet the creature moved fluidly. Hollowness surrounded it like an aura, pulling energy towards itself. As Videl watched it, fascinated, it opened it's mouth to reveal sharpened white teeth.

Fuck independence. Videl spiked her ki as high as she could. The creature leapt at her with inhuman speed. Videl also possessed inhuman speed, but she wasn't fast enough. It caught her bare arms and pulled her down to the ground. Energy flowed out of her, followed by the last ebbs of consciousness. The last thing she saw was Gohan approaching through the smoke.

One minute earlier "It works!" Gohan started to congratulate the team of workers helping on the space travel prototype. With any luck, a viable model had just been created. "Good -" A familiar spike of ki distracted him. Videl. That was the trouble signal! Gohan raced outside and took to the sky without heed for who witnessed his actions. The signal flickered once more and faded. North, Videl was north of Satan City.

If he knew his father's Instant Transmission technique, he'd be able to get there a lot faster. As it was, he was seconds too late. Videl lay unmoving on the ground, half-concealed by smoke from what was probably an explosion. Gohan caught the barest glimpse of something slinking away. In the next instant, it was gone. He could either chase it, or see to his wife. He landed beside her. "Videl!"

Too late. She was gone. Gohan screamed rage to the skies, and turned to search for whatever had killed his wife. After he found it, he would revive her with the Dragonballs. Something caught in his throat and he choked, bent double with coughing. Hands around his waist pulled him away, while another set of hands gently picked up Videl. Gohan struck out blindly against his adversary. Vegeta caught his wrist.

"The smoke is dangerous," Trunks explained. They hovered above the mine, now, in clear air and sunshine. "The gases can -"

"Let go of me!" Gohan struggled, ignoring the boy. "I have to find it!"

"There isn't anything to find, 'Nii-chan," Goten said warily.

"Bullshit. Something down there killed my wife and I want to find it."

"There's nothing down there." Vegeta clamped his arms more firmly around Gohan. "You can revive her with the Dragonballs, boy."

"After I kill whatever that was!"

"It's too dangerous," Trunks put in. "Even a Saiyan has to breathe. And... we got here right after you did. None of us saw anything."

Gohan glared mutinously at the three who seemed to be conspiring against him. "Fine. We'll go collect the Dragonballs, then."

The dragon radar beeped when Bulma handed it to them. "Here you go. What's the matter?"

"I, uh, I'll tell you later, okay Bulma-san?" Gohan left as quickly as was polite and switched the device on. Nothing showed up on the screen. "Impossible!" He shook the device and reduced magnification. Still nothing. It was showing the widest possible range and yet absolutely nothing registered. "Goten?"

"Yeah?" His brother looked worried.

"When was the last time the Dragonballs were used?"

"Um... Before I was born, I think. I know 'cause I have 'Tou-san's four- star one in my room, and it's been there as long as I can remember."

"Let me see it."

What should have been a translucent golden sphere, smooth and almost glowing from within, was nothing more than a perfectly spherical stone. Gohan picked it up. It was rough under his hands. "This doesn't make any sense! If someone collected them, this shouldn't still be here!"

Vegeta made a rude sound. "Then go to the source, boy. Ask the Kami where his Dragonballs have gotten to."

It was the next obvious course of action, but Gohan was afraid. The last time he'd seen the Dragonballs simply turn into stone had been on Namek, when Guru had died. The implications here were too blatant to ignore, but he didn't want to face them. If there was no Kami, then there were no Dragonballs, and Videl was gone for good. He didn't want to think about that. "I suppose you're right," someone said, and Gohan realized that it was his own voice.

Kami's palace was easy to see, once one got to the base of Kharin's tower. Gohan flew straight upwards, the wind making his eyes water. They passed Kharin standing by the railing. The strange white cat shouted something as they went by, but Gohan couldn't hear it. He saw the bowl- shaped structure supported improbably by nothing and landed on the edge.

It was black.

What the - Gohan looked around. Most of the surface had been leveled, and was covered in char. Gohan stepped forwards, and the heat-softened remnants of the once-white stone crumbled beneath his feet. "Dende-sama? Piccolo-san? Mr. Popo?"

A round-shouldered shape peeked out from behind one of the only pieces of structure left standing. "Mr. Popo is so glad to see you! A terrible thing has happened!"

Mr. Popo related the events of the past few minutes in a shaking voice. Piccolo was the cause of the destruction. During a routine meditation, something had seemed to go wrong, and a wave of ki equivalent to a flash fire had been driven over the entire place. Mr. Popo had survived by virtue of his presence underneath the surface, tending to some of the more esoteric plant life Dende had insisted they keep. Dende had not been so lucky. He had been in direct line-of-sight to Piccolo when the accident - for that's what Mr. Popo insisted it had been - had occurred.

"What about Piccolo?" The death of the Kami was bad enough. If Gohan had lost his first teacher and lifelong friend as well -

"Mr. Popo does not know."

Piccolo was now and had been unconscious since he had pulled the rogue energy back into himself before it got any more out of hand. He had lost control of it only a few minutes before Videl had met something that killed her. Gohan refused to believe that could be a coincidence.

"Goten, go get a senzu. Now."

Goten took one look at the expression on his brother's face and leapt to obey. Gohan looked like something he'd never, ever seen before. Trunks followed. Vegeta remained a silent presence, hovering just above the ruined stone.

The senzu did the work of reviving Piccolo, but he had no memory of the preceding events. Only a sense that something had gone wrong, and an image of fire. Gohan squeezed his eyes shut, chaos swirling around his thoughts. Earth no longer had a guardian. There was something out there that wouldn't hesitate to attack and kill a highly trained fighter, and now there were no more Dragonballs. Videl wasn't coming back.

He managed to keep himself calm with a near-Herculean effort. "I am going to find the thing that killed my wife. No one is going to stop me."

Vegeta landed audibly in front of him, an expression that might have been sympathy in his eyes. His fist connected with Gohan's jaw and sent him into deep, lonely blackness.

Gohan awoke in his brother's home, indistinct voices sounding from the next room. He almost understood them; it would require just a little bit of effort. The effort wasn't worth it, until he heard the name "Videl".

"I had the medical staff examine the body." It was Bulma speaking. "It looks like she died of asphyxiation. The mines were closed because they hit gas pockets; the release must have caused the crater. Videl landed too close to the entrance."

"There was no sign of violence?" That was Vegeta, sounding intent. Bulma must have made some sort of response, for Gohan heard Vegeta again. "Then there was nothing. I had almost started to believe the boy."

"There's something else." Bulma lowered her voice and Gohan had to strain to hear. "She was - pregnant."

A horrified exclamation from his mother.

Bulma shushed her. "I don't think we should tell Gohan."

A voice much closer spoke. "I know you can hear them." Piccolo laid a gentle hand on Gohan's shoulder. "It's not a sign of weakness to mourn for your wife, Gohan."

The funeral was held underneath clear sunny skies that seemed somehow obscene, as if the bright colors of fall were mocking the loss of a city's hero. Gohan stood silently over the grave as the last of the crowd dispersed. Finally only Goten remained. "Nii-san -"

"Go away."

"But I -"

"Leave me alone." Gohan dashed an angry hand across his eyes.

Goten backed away, and Gohan felt his ki diminish. He wept then, for the loss of his wife and their unborn daughter. The tears stilled on his cheeks, frozen by a cold, cold rage. If it took him the rest of his life, he was going to find this thing and kill it.

* * *

"This doesn't feel right," Trunks muttered, staring past Goten.

"What doesn't?"

"This." Trunks indicated the room with a wave of his hand. For the most part, the people present seemed normal enough. The exception was Gohan, who sat morosely in the corner.

Goten followed Trunks gaze. Gohan was bordering on obsessive in his search for what everyone else was increasingly sure was a phantom. To be honest, it had gone beyond "bordering" to "full-fledged", but no one really wanted to say that to Gohan's face. He already took their lack of participation somehow as a betrayal, a breach of trust. Every moment of the past month he had not spent sleeping or training had seen him moving in widening circles around the place of Videl's death, searching for some sign of her killer.

"He'll get better." Goten's assurance was half-hearted at best. He least of all wanted to see the brother he adored turn himself into such a wreck. "Come on, Trunks, the best thing we can do is to act normal again. And you will be eighteen tomorrow."

"I suppose." Trunks sighed, and started to walk towards Gohan. He was interrupted less than halfway there.

"Boy." Vegeta glared at his only son.

"Yes, Tou-san?" Trunks stiffened, standing almost at attention. It wasn't fair, Goten thought, that Vegeta paid the boy so little regard. And what little attention Trunks got was usually derogatory. By contrast, Bra was nearly spoiled by the Saiyan prince. Yet the boy was never bitter about the clear difference in the way his father treated both children. He simply tried harder. In that, at least, he was very much his father's child.

"There is a Saiyan tradition."

"You never make Bra do this," Trunks muttered as he tugged his shirt straight.

"That's..." Vegeta couldn't be spluttering. Saiyan princes didn't splutter. "That's the mother's duty. You, on the other hand..." He leaned in closer. "...Are my responsibility."

Trunks winced. "Yes, Tou-san." Resignedly, he followed his father out of the room.

Goten grimaced in sympathy and continued towards his brother. "Oi, Gohan, I wouldn't want to be in Trunks' shoes five minutes from now." Act normal, act normal.

"What?" Gohan asked blankly.

"Vegeta's idea of spending time with Trunks. He fights him, every year on his birthday, ever since he was twelve." Goten sighed.

"Well, sparring with Vegeta isn't the most -" Gohan started confusedly.

"It's not a spar!" Goten nearly shouted, and blushed slightly as several people turned to look at him. "It's a serious fight."

Gohan blinked. "He could really hurt Trunks." He started to stand.

Goten grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him back. As much as he liked having his brother pay attention to something other than his quest for vengeance. "Trunks will be fine. He'll be a little sore tomorrow, but that's all. Vegeta'll put him in a regen tank when they're finished." Goten remembered the one time he'd interfered; it had been that much harder on his friend. And Vegeta had yet to do any permanent damage. Besides, the awful look he'd gotten from Trunks when he'd stepped between him and his father wasn't anything he ever wanted to see again. "It's something about being stronger the next year; we all get stronger after a fight."

"Oh." Gohan took one last look at the door. Bulma was glaring out towards the training sphere. Apparently she didn't like Vegeta's "Saiyan ritual" any more than Goten did.

"It's okay, Nii-chan." Goten realized he was still holding Gohan's hand and dropped it. "I'm just glad Dad won't do anything like that to me."

"He wouldn't." Gohan made the statement with absolute conviction. "Even when he was training me for the androids, he couldn't bring himself to fight me full strength. He didn't want to hurt me."

"Nii-chan, tell me about our father again." It was kind of hard to miss what he'd never really had - that one day, nearly ten years ago during a tournament, didn't count - but when Gohan talked about his father, he looked happy. It was an innocent expression that he had worn so little of late, and so Goten listened once again to stories of the man he had met once, briefly, who had had such an effect on the Earth.

* * *

"Not bad, boy." Trunks heard the words through a daze of pain and blood. It took a moment for them to finally sink in, and when they did, he smiled despite the ravaged condition of his face. His father had praised his ability. He tried to stand, and got nearly halfway. Vegeta caught him before he fell again, saying something else. Trunks didn't quite understand the second statement, though, and the next clear impression he had was of his mother looking through the glass of the regen tank. If he was awake, then it was probably finished. As if on cue, the liquid drained out of the tank and the hatch opened.

Bulma handed him his clothes without comment.

"Arigato," he muttered. The regen tank always left him feeling hypersensitive for a few minutes afterwards, and he winced slightly at the scraping sound as the hatch closed.

"Trunks -" Bulma started, and then pressed her mouth shut. She smiled, although it seemed almost forced. "There's a human tradition about celebrations, too, you know."

"Uh -" Trunks was at a loss. As far as he knew, the human tradition was to all get together in one place. After that, events were mostly random. "There is?"

She nodded. "Sure! I'll show you tonight, and I'll bet it'll be much more enjoyable than those bruises were."

"Can Goten come?"

"Well -" She hesitated. "Not tonight."

"Okay, 'Kaa-san." Trunks followed her out the door, wondering just what it was that she had planned. Hopefully it was something that wouldn't get Vegeta too angry with him. It was difficult, walking the line between Vegeta and Bulma; for all the love between the couple, they could have some spectacular disagreements. Especially when it came to their children.

* * *

"Here you go, Marron-chan." Goten handed the younger girl one of his older gi's. "The shirt's there to go with it."

The blonde not-quite-Artificial-Human glared at him. Normally she was blonde, Goten amended. At the moment, she had her hair dyed perfectly black. "My Daddy's gi didn't have sleeves!"

"Well, yeah," Goten temporized. Marron wanted to dress up like her father during his fighting days against the Saiyans, the Androids, Cell... It was just that the orange gi he had worn was a little too short for his twelve-year-old daughter, and besides, the chest was open. Goten rubbed the back of his head as he tried to think of a way to say that. "Ano, you're a girl, and so..."

"Oh." Marron looked down at her chest. "I guess you're right." She was lucky that one of Goten's old gi's would almost fit. "I'll bring it back tonight, Goten!"

"Oh, you don't have to-"

"You're spending the night with Trunks, right?" Marron talked right over his words. The crush she had on the older boy was obvious to everyone, including Trunks. If Marron had been a boy, Goten might have been jealous. As it was...

"Ano, he's going out with his mother tonight. Gomen, Marron-chan." Goten smiled halfheartedly. Trunks was always very careful about how he treated Marron, not wanting to hurt her feelings. Not that Trunks himself was currently involved with someone, but Marron just wasn't his type.

"Oh." Marron's face fell briefly before she covered it with a smile. "I'll see you tonight, Goten!" She gave him a quick hug and darted off, gi in hand. Goten waved at her retreating back.

"Maybe I should have washed that or something before giving it to her. Oh well." Goten wandered into the kitchen to find a snack. He'd be training with Gohan later, which was always a treat. Especially now, since it meant that Gohan might be giving up his obsessive searching for something that didn't exist. Goten could only hope.

* * * "Not good enough, Goten!" The words were followed by a solid punch to the jaw that sent the younger demi-Saiyan reeling back a good twenty feet through the air. "Dammit, if you want to survive, you have to do better!"

"Survive?" Goten brushed the blood away from his mouth. "What the hell are you talking about, Gohan?"

"It won't stop with Videl." Gohan landed, releasing the state of Super Saiyan. "It'll come for the rest of us, and we have to be ready to stop it."

"Gohan, there was nothing there." Goten landed as well, but kept his energy level raised. "She died from -"

"Don't start that with me, little brother." Gohan's eyes flashed a warning. "I felt that thing's ki. If you can call what I felt life energy." He shuddered. "And I will find it again."

"We've all looked, Nii-chan." And they had. They had searched the entire globe. "We didn't find anything."

Gohan shook his head. "I have to do this, Goten. I have to. It was my fault she died. If I'd been there, maybe she would have survived. Maybe I would have been able to fight off whatever that was that killed her. I should have been there." He glanced away.

Goten kept his eyes on the ground, not quite sure what to say. "Nii- chan." He took a deep breath. "It wasn't your fault."

"Of course it was!" Gohan glared at his younger brother. "How can you say that? It was my duty to be there when she fought, to help her!"

"That wasn't something you can fight, Gohan." Goten crossed the distance between them and lowered his energy level. Dark hair flopped into his eyes and he brushed it aside. "Gohan, there wasn't anything you could have done."

"If I'd gotten her a senzu."

Goten grasped his brother's shoulders. "Gohan."

"And what about Piccolo?" Gohan straightened, pushing his brother aside. "Isn't it more than a coincidence that he lost control of his ki just before Videl ." He broke off. "Before she. died." His jaw knotted. "More than a coincidence that we don't have the Dragonballs? Videl felt what I felt, I know she did. Maybe Piccolo did, too."

"Maybe you're right," Goten acknowledged. Gohan brushing him off had hurt. "But nobody's attacked us since then, and no one ever said they felt something weird."

"We need to get everyone together. We have to find the monster." Gohan chewed on his thumbnail absentmindedly. "I know we've searched before, but we'll have to be more thorough this time."

"There's the Tenkaichi Budokai in three weeks," Goten offered. "We could all get together then."

"You want to wait three more weeks?"

"We can use the time up with a plan." A shy smile punctuated the words. "You're good at that, Nii-chan."

"Thanks, little brother." Gohan ruffled dark hair, reminiscent of when they'd both still been children.

Goten caught the intruding hand and pulled his unsuspecting brother into a hug. "I want you to be okay, 'Nii-chan. I want it more than anything."

"I -" Gohan stopped, surprised. He was even more surprised when Goten pressed unexpectedly experienced lips against his. This is wrong! But it felt so good. And he missed Videl so much. The image of his wife jarred him back into reality. "Goten, stop it."

"But -"

"Goten, we can't do this. It isn't right." He silenced Goten's next protest before it even began, pressing his fingers to the other boy's mouth. "You're my brother, and I love you, and I don't want you to do anything you would regret. We've got a tournament to get ready for, and a hunt to accomplish. Go home, and get some sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."

* * *

Several hours later, Son residence "Chi-Chi-san?" Marron poked her head around the door.

"Come in, Marron." The older woman smiled warmly. "You do look like your father."

"Oh! Thank you, Chi-Chi-san. I was wondering if Goten was here. I wanted to return this to him, but I forgot I was wearing it, and..." Marron blushed. "I mean -"

"I'll get you something, and you can just leave it here. Goten and Gohan were training earlier, and he's asleep now." Chi-chi disappeared into the next room, presumably to get Marron some clothes. "Would you like tea?"

"Uh, yes, thank you, Chi-Chi-san." Marron glanced at her watch. Nearly one am! Her father was going to kill her! ...the time taken to drink tea wasn't going to add too much to her punishment, and it would be rude to renege. She wandered over to the fireplace and stood looking into the flames.

The door swung open suddenly, and Marron jumped. Trunks stumbled into the room, movements jerky and awkward.

"Marron?" Chi-chi called.

"It's Trunks," she called back when Trunks was apparently disinclined to answer.

"Oh. I'll make more tea, then." The kitchen door swung shut again.

Trunks advanced towards Marron single-mindedly, seemingly having trouble walking a completely straight line.

"Trunks-san? Daijoubo ka?" Marron walked forward hesitantly.

He was thoroughly inebriated. She could tell.

"You should come over here, Trunks-san." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the couch. If she could get him to sit down, maybe he'd fall asleep and then he'd feel better in the morning.

Instead of following her, he pulled her roughly towards him and claimed her mouth in a bruising kiss. Marron stiffened, surprised, and then kissed him back, opening her mouth to his. Wasn't this what she wanted? After only a few seconds, though, Trunks drew away slightly, saying something indistinctly, then collapsed, taking her with him. They hit the floor with a bone-jarring thud. Trunks had her around the waist, face buried in her shoulder, out cold. Chi-chi came rushing in, followed closely by Goten.

"What's all that noise?" Goten was partly asleep, but his eyes widened when he saw Marron and Trunks on the floor.

"What does he think he's doing?" Chi-chi advanced on the couple.

"It's not what it looks like, Chi-Chi-san!" Marron tried to sit up, but the weight of a Saiyan on top of her made it rather difficult. "He's, um..." At least she wasn't wearing any makeup whatsoever, as called for by her costume. Smeared lipstick would have been rather difficult to explain away.

Goten laughed, his friend's situation distracting him from his own troubles. "Gonna have a headache in the morning, that's what. So that's what Bulma wanted." He bent down and carefully disentangled his friend, lifting him off the young girl easily. "He can sleep it off here, 'Kaa- san."

"Well, all right then." Chi-chi looked mollified. "Here are some clothes, Marron, and the tea's in the next room." She pulled the girl to her feet.

"Arigato gozaimasu!" Marron took the proffered bundle and followed Chi- chi, casting one last glance at the stairs. Trunks was hopeless, she knew that now. The word he'd muttered just before passing out had been "Goten".

Goten had intended to sleep on the floor, but when it came down to it, Trunks just wouldn't let go of him. Well, he wasn't going to let his friend deprive him of much-needed sleep through simple recalcitrance, and it wasn't like they hadn't spent the night in the same bed as before. He pulled the blanket over them both and managed to fall asleep. Despite Trunks' immediate cuddling into him like an oversized teddy bear.

Trunks woke much later that morning with a headache worse than he'd ever had. It only intensified when he cracked his eyes open and light flooded in. The previous night had been ... interesting. And not something he wanted to repeat any time soon, if this was what happened every morning after. It was at that moment that his fogged brain registered that he was not alone in his bed. In fact, he wasn't even in his bed at all, and this was Goten he was curled around. Another hazy memory surfaced.

He remembered a kiss, Goten's scent overwhelming his senses, and then nothing. Did we. He carefully pulled away from his best friend. The motion woke Goten.

"Morning, Trunks. Feeling better?"

The sound of a human voice was too much for Trunks, and he found that he was capable of moving very quickly indeed. Goten handed him a glass of water to rinse out his mouth after he finished, obviously trying not to laugh.

"Thanks," Trunks muttered.

"I've got some clothes you can wear." Goten headed back to his room, leaving Trunks in confusion. Hadn't they. Trunks shook his head and followed his friend.

* * *

Goten was aware of the warm little sideways glances Trunks kept throwing at him during breakfast. They made him. unsettled was the best way to describe it. As if there was something he should know that he didn't. Coming on top of the disastrous talk he'd had with Gohan the night before. The last straw was Trunks' hand brushing against his under the table, seeking contact. Goten pushed back his chair with an abrupt jerk. "What is going on with you?"

Trunks looked hurt, and bewildered, although he hid it well after his initial reaction. "What do you mean?"

"You, you've been acting weird ever since this morning!" Goten snatched his dishes off the table and deposited them roughly in the sink.

"But after last night, I thought." Trunks lost the courage to continue the sentence under Goten's utterly blank, closed-off expression.

"Nothing happened last night." Goten turned on the water.

"I - I'm sorry." Trunks stood. "I'll go, then."

He was out the door before a surprised and completely clueless Goten could protest.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Goten asked of no one in particular. Of all the weird things going on already, now Trunks had to go nutty too? And what if Gohan was right, and something was attacking them? "Okay, Goten, this is paranoid." And now he was talking to himself. First thing, find Trunks and find out what was wrong with him. Deal with everything one step at a time.

Once fully dressed, Goten searched for Trunks' ki. The older boy was somewhere west of Goten's home. "All right then," he muttered, and set off. Trunks hadn't actually gotten that far, and Goten decided to walk the relatively short distance. That way, he could keep his ki dampened. Sneak up on his friend, so to speak. Like a training exercise. Goten rubbed his hands together. This would be fun.

He'd gotten about half a kilometer into the trip when he decided that it was worth the risk to fly part of the way in order to shorten the time spent in transit. He raised his ki to the minimum needed and took off.

Started to take off. Something grabbed his ankle and pulled him downwards. Instinctively, Goten kicked out at whatever it was before even looking at it. It caught his other ankle and slammed his torso into the ground, snapping twigs and branches on the way down. Once he was down, it straddled his chest in a lightning fast movement. Goten got his first - but not last - good look at it. It was hideous, an emaciated sack of barely pinkish skin over a peculiar skeleton. The feeling emanating from it was the same aura that had, for a bare instant, surrounded Videl when they'd found her. He redoubled his efforts, and squirmed out from underneath the creature. Gohan had to know the truth, and so did everyone else. Goten prepared to take off again, and found himself abruptly looking at the sky. The creature hissed, its eyes glowing. It grinned, baring sharp teeth, as it bent farther down, wrapping its fingerless hands around Goten's throat. Goten tried to throw it off a second time, tearing at its hands with his own, but somehow he couldn't move. Spots danced around the edges of his vision and he realized that it was draining his ki. And then it was too late. Darkness swirled up to claim his consciousness and drained all pretense at thought away.

* * *

Trunks stared up at the sky. Shame burned in his cheeks. He was sure it hadn't been a dream. Then, Goten didn't want that kind of relationship. Stupid of him, really, to think that it would work. And speak of the devil, he could feel Goten's ki flare, approaching him. Trunks dashed a hand across his eyes and lifted off, keeping low to the ground. Once he was far enough away from his previous location, he landed and damped his ki. He didn't want to talk to Goten just yet.

By the time he got around to returning to Capsule Corps., it was nearly sunset. His mother practically pounced on him. "Thank Kami you're safe!"

"What's going on?" Trunks backed towards the door. A hand on his shoulder halted his progress.

"Kakkarot's second brat vanished this morning," Vegeta grated.

"He what?"

"No one can find Goten anywhere, not his ki signature, nothing. We thought you were gone, too." Relief and stark worry contrasted in Bulma's face. "Gohan's completely. Vegeta had to hit him again to keep him from running off."

"Dammit, that's my brother missing! I have to find him before it kills him!" Gohan burst through the door.

"Wait." Vegeta held up a hand. "He's probably already dead."

Gohan's mouth worked soundlessly.

"Tou-san!" Trunks stared at his father. To just say something like that was cruel beyond belief.

"If we cannot sense his ki, then he is either dead or hiding. In the first case, he is beyond help. In the other, we must regard him as an enemy." Vegeta emphasized the last point with a fist in his palm. "Our true focus is the creature that must have caught up with him. Where was he when -"

"I, ah, think I know," Trunks volunteered. He swallowed under the penetrating gazes of two men who had been warriors since long before he'd been born. "I felt his ki flare after I left this morning."

"And you didn't go after him?"

"It felt like he was powering up to fly, and I didn't want to talk!" Trunks wrapped his arms around himself, miserable. "I thought he was looking for me, so I went farther away. The next time I thought to feel for his ki on my trail, it wasn't there. I thought he had given up and gone somewhere else."

"That's not important now." Gohan ran right over Trunks' last statement. "Where? Where was he?"

"I'll show you."

By the time Trunks found where he thought Goten might have been when he'd sensed him the last time, it was full dark, and the moon had risen. A faint multicolored ring surrounded its clean white light. "Here, I think."

Even with the moonlight, it was difficult to see much. None of the other senses revealed anything of any importance either, with most of a day having already gone by. "Are you sure it was here, boy?" Vegeta asked after a few minutes of fruitless searching.

"Yes." The half-strangled voice that answered, so full of certainty, did not belong to Trunks. It belonged to Gohan, and he held up a strip of cloth Trunks immediately recognized as belonging to Goten's favorite shirt. No one else could wear that particular shade of chartreuse and get away with it. "It was caught on the edge, here." Gohan gestured to a ruined swath of vegetation. "He hit the ground," long fingers caressed a previously unseen faint indentation "and yet he didn't struggle. Why not? He didn't hit hard enough to incapacitate him, not without an impact crater the size of Metro North. And where did he go? I don't see anything that looks like he walked away on his own anywhere."

"Gohan -"

"What? Did you find something?" Gohan looked up, vaguely aware that it had somehow become much darker.

"No." Trunks' ki spiked nervously. "The moon. it's gone."

The darkness became absolute. Gohan was aware of where the other two Saiyans were only by virtue of their ki signatures. "We have to get out of here now."

"Kkh." Gohan could just picture Vegeta's contemptuous expression. "What for, brat?"

"You can't fight what you can't see and can't feel. We have to get out of here before it comes back. We have to warn the others."

"The prince of all Saiyans does not run from a fight," Vegeta stated arrogantly. "I will face it. You can run, if you want too. Run home, where it's safe."

For a brief moment, Gohan saw Vegeta as he had been after he had killed Android 19. Run home and drink milk, the Saiyan warrior had said. He hadn't run that time, and damned if he was going to run now. "If you're staying, then so am I."

"Right," came Trunks' voice. Gohan felt a flash of relief, even though he'd almost forgotten about Vegeta's son.

They spent the rest of that night waiting, ki suppressed, waiting for an attack that never came. Eventually, the air around them lightened somewhat. Enough to see vague shadows, formless shapes with blurred edges. The sky was an odd shade of grayish brown. The light intensified, giving everything a washed-out cast of surrealism.

By unspoken accord the three of them raced for Capsule Corps. with all of the speed at their collective disposal.

Bulma met them as they flew in, through gritty air. "Never do that to me again!" she shouted angrily. "I thought you'd all vanished too." The last was said almost in a whisper. Vegeta gave his wife a look, one that was almost affectionate.

"Kaa-san. what's going on?"

Bulma looked up, and shivered. It was colder than it should have been. "I don't know how, but right after you left last night it got really dark."

"We know that, woman," Vegeta interrupted. "What is the cause?"

"Impatient," Bulma muttered. After a short pause, she continued in normal tones. "There's a dust cloud covering the Earth. Almost no sunlight is getting through. I don't know how it happened. And it could take up to two years to dissipate."

"But that means -" Gohan shook his head.

"Exactly." Bulma crossed her arms. "Within a couple of weeks, most of the vegetation on this planet will be dead or dying. It shouldn't take that much longer for the wildlife. Unless we can find a way to clear the dust, or live without sunlight, everything on this planet is going to die."

"Couldn't we evacuate?"

"To where?" Bulma dismissed the suggestion. "I think we can generate artificial light with some of the equipment we've got here, but not enough to compensate. Not nearly enough. We'd need to make sure that the knowledge is widespread." She tapped a finger against her forearm. "Or clear the dust, and I can't think of a way to do that."

"Easy." Vegeta smirked. "I'll annihilate it." He raised a fist to the sky and released a bolt of ki. Fire burned along its path, opening up a hole through which light streamed. Before any of them could contemplate the apparent success of Vegeta's attack, the hole closed. No repeated attempts made as much as a dent in the dust.

"I think," Bulma ventured after a few moments, "it's rather safe to assume that this is not a natural phenomenon."

"I was right, then." Gohan slammed a fist into the ground. "I wish I wasn't."

"Then we'll kill whatever it was, and it can have a nice chat with Frieza and Cell." Vegeta wasn't exactly smiling at the prospect of a fight, but it was a damn close thing.

"I'll tell the others." Gohan made for the telephone located inside Bulma's kitchen.

"Why?" Vegeta stood, the very picture of arrogance.

"They at least deserve to know what's going on."

Trunks walked away from his parents' debate on the other fighters. He looked upwards. The sun was barely visible, a brighter spot of gray. It wasn't possible that Goten was dead. Not possible. There wasn't a body, was there? As long as they didn't find concrete evidence, there was hope.

"I think that we'll find him." Gohan's voice startled Trunks.

"You - what?"

"Goten. He's my brother. If he was dead, he'd have let us know."

"Dead people don't talk, Gohan-san."

Gohan merely smiled at that, memory clouding his eyes. "Yes, they do."

"Then we have to find him!" Trunks prepared to start searching, immediately.

"Hold on. Wherever he is is probably close to whatever this creature is." Gohan scrubbed his hands through his hair. "If we can find him, we can find it."

"Right." Trunks was about to say more, but a dull roar distracted him. "What's that sound?"

The people of Satan City were rioting.

The next few hours were unmitigated hell, and it only got worse after that. Somehow word about the nature of the dust blocking the sun had leaked out, and provoked global panic. Bulma made a statement to the public about the resources available and the capabilities of producing artificial light at Capsule Corps. This in turn helped quell some of the activity but gave rise to a new set of conflicts. The equipment needed to ensure the growth of plant life and subsequent sustenance of animal organisms was by no means entirely universal, and its implementation took time. Under the best of circumstances, it would not have been an easy task.

"Krillin, Juuhachigou. I'm glad to see you." Bulma wore a tired smile, and yet still preserved the formality of greeting a guest. With the chaos outside, every little bit of order that could be preserved was clung to with a near-obsessive tenacity.

"Any way we can help, Bulma, we will." Krillin tried to return the smile. Juuhachigou simply nodded. "Who else is here?"

Tien and Yamcha had already arrived. Bulma had made the move to gather Earth's Special Forces shortly after the first riot had broken out. The populace had been advised that gathering in smaller spaces would decrease the lack of efficiency in using resources, and Bulma wanted to have the fighters together. If there was some demon, or monster, responsible for this mess - as Gohan continually insisted - then they had the best chance of defeating it.

Unfortunately, the situation occurring in every major city precluded the need to find the demon. Humanity as a whole did not deal well with crises, and entropy reigned in the streets. The international peacekeeping forces were initially as fragmented as the rest of the population, and it was only with massive effort that the army was reinstated as a control measure. None of them had any experience with such an undertaking; Piccolo's observations from Kami's point of view proved to provide the most effective means of action.

"I don't see why we can't just leave the idiot humans to their own devices."

It was the end of a particularly long day. Fires had broken out in three major cities, and none of the traditional fire-fighting organizations . The ensuing panic had nearly undone all of the work that had been put into keeping the society functioning. A tenuous order had been reestablished, but it could crash under any type of stress.

"Vegeta-san, if we are to save the earth, we have to have something to save it for." Yamcha's tone was that type of polite that one can achieve only under huge amounts of stress. "It doesn't do us any good to find and kill the threat if the Earth is destroyed while we do it."

Vegeta snarled, but otherwise held his peace. None of them had the energy to fight among themselves; everything went toward keeping the humans from killing each other.

At least the kids running around Capsule Corps. were taking the situation relatively well; Tien's daughter Riisu, Bra, and Marron were relatively close in age and managed to treat the whole mess as a new type of game. Trunks wished occasionally that he had the freedom to do the same. The search for Goten took any shred of free time he managed to dredge up, though. A physical search would do no good; it was too dark to see anything. So he sat on the roof, and extended his sixth sense. It always came to nothing, and yet he couldn't stop trying.

Earth seemed to stabilize somewhat, in the following weeks. The populace was either sensibly reacting, or just inured. The tension that had characterized the initial reactions had vanished, or perhaps it just lurked below the surface. It was in this state of affairs that a new and disturbing trend began.

Certain citizens began to vanish.

At first, the disappearances went largely unnoticed in the general confusion. As the chaos eased, however, they began to become clear. Furthermore, the people vanishing were those who had participated in the Tenkaichi Budokai of the preceding years.

"Fighters," Krillin mused. His hair had gone to gray, but he still moved like a warrior. "Fighters are vanishing."

"You call those fighters?" Vegeta snorted. Arms crossed, he stood staring out the broken window. "Weaklings."

"They still have a higher power level than the average human, though," Yamcha pointed out.

"Then why are the strong vanishing, and the weak being left alone?" Bulma settled into a chair, fingers clasped around a mug of what might be coffee.

"Something is taking them." The owner of that voice was completely unexpected.

"Juunanagou?" Juuhachigou rushed forward and hugged her brother. Not given normally to such shows of affection, she pulled back almost immediately. "What are you doing here?"

"I got bored." He shrugged. "No light, cold, I thought it might be more interesting around you. Looks like I was right." His eyes gleamed in the near-dark. "I can tell you that rumor has it that there's a demon stealing souls."

"Baka ningen." Vegeta's commentary was once again short.

"It's that thing." Gohan smiled tightly. "If we advertise our ki level, it might attract it. We can kill it."

"Or scare it off," Tien interrupted. "We haven't exactly been hiding, and it hasn't come near any of us."

"Except Goten, and Videl. Both of them were alone. We always go out in pairs. Except for Vegeta-san." Gohan started pacing. "Where did these people vanish from? We have to monitor all the areas -"

A crash interrupted him. Bulma had dropped the coffee mug to the floor. "The city." She stared out the window, surprise blanketing her features.

Something out there was burning.

And another disturbance registered. A sense of ki, empty and hollow. And yet, there was a nagging sense of familiarity about it. "That's it!" Gohan was out the already broken window before any of the others could protest. The ki of the creature was growing weaker already.

"What the hell.?" Juuhachigou peered after Gohan's vanishing form. "What is going on?"

"I feel ." Trunks shivered.

"Follow him, idiots! That's the demon!" The backwash of Vegeta's ki pushed at the rest of them as he sped towards Gohan.

With varying degrees of speed, the other fighters followed. The ki faded even as they followed it, finally landing at where it had been in back of a burning - thankfully empty - building. A shape slipped through the smoke, moving not quite like a Saiyan, heading north.

"There." Gohan followed it, eyes watering through the smoke. It slipped like oily liquid past the shadows. Concentrating, Gohan extended his senses. He had it. Faint, but its ki registered just ahead. Gohan sped up, only dimly aware of the others following his lead. He leapt towards the source of energy. It vanished just as he got close enough to see the red-on-black eyes, the parchment-thin skin stretched over bone. He landed, collapsing to his knees. Somehow, that thing had felt like Goten. "What the hell is going on?"

"Where is it? Where'd it go?" Yamcha's voice cut through the smoke.

"It's gone." Gohan climbed to his feet. "We have to put out this fire." If he told them what he now believed to be the truth - that the monster had somehow subverted his brother - then they'd treat him like an enemy. If it was anyone's job to take down Goten, it was Gohan's. He'd find his brother, and if it was possible to save him, he would. If he had to kill him, he would do it.

* * *

Gohan stared at the pitch black of the sky. They had tried again to locate either Goten or whatever that creature was after the fire. None of the attempts had met with success. Juunanagou, grinning a not quite sane grin, insisted on calling the thing a demon, which Gohan supposed was as good a moniker as any. There had to be another way to track this thing than by its ki, which it seemed to be able to suppress at will. Problem was, in the past, all the enemies the Z Senshi had tried to fight had come out into the open. Earth's Special Forces had been in the position of the attacked, and had never had to search for an enemy. Except for Cell, but even that villain had eventually stood still and waited for a fight. Gohan smiled bitterly.

"I think it's gathering strength." Trunks' voice came from less than two feet away. "That's why it's taking the fighters."

"You're probably right. And we'll have to find it, and stop it." He couldn't disguise the weariness in his voice.

"Ano, Gohan-san, I felt the same thing you did. From the demon."

"What?"

"I felt Goten in it." Trunks sat down beside the older fighter. "But it wasn't Goten, not at the core. That thing out there is not your brother."

"How did you -"

Trunks might have been smiling. "I've known you my whole life, Gohan- san." He leaned into Gohan's shoulder. "I don't know why I felt Goten inside of that thing. I've never felt anything like it before."

"We'll find him, if he's alive." Gohan put an arm around Trunks. The younger boy was shivering. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just cold, that's all." Trunks scooted closer to Gohan. "I know it's warmer inside, but it's ."

"Here." Gohan rubbed his hands briskly over Trunks' shoulders. "Better?"

A low laugh sounded. "A little. But. I miss Goten."

"Me too, Trunks. Me too." Gohan wasn't sure how, but his clumsy attempt to share warmth turned into a kiss. Trunks sought entrance to his mouth desperately, as if it were necessary to life itself. For the second time in just over three weeks, Gohan found himself engaged in an activity he was certain was wrong. This time, though, the arguments against it seemed to carry much less weight. He gave in to Trunks' questing tongue and met it with his own.

Heat sparked and flared. Gohan pulled Trunks closer, reveling in the rough contact. Trunks responded eagerly, moaning slightly in his throat without breaking the kiss. The sound of his companion's arousal made Gohan achingly aware of his own. Coupled with that realization came a sense of responsibility, and reluctantly he pulled back.

"Trunks-"

"Goten -" Trunks' eyes widened. "I mean, Gohan-san. I'm sorry." Gohan was not Goten, no matter the similarities. And yet. he wanted so much to be with Goten. In light of the current crisis, it seemed as if it should be insignificant, but it wasn't. "I -" His shoulders shook with silent tears.

"No, it's all right." Gohan pulled the boy closer. "We'll find him soon. Don't worry."

* * *

Juunanagou frowned from behind the thick, insulating curtain. And he'd been so sure it would work, too. Perhaps he could lay a similar trap for some of the other unsuspecting residents of the building. There had to be something more interesting to do around here.

* * *

Pain washed over him like an old familiar friend. Giving life was a wonderful gift. To have it ripped away over and over, leaving him a drained husk, was hell itself. The first time, he'd thought it was the end. And he'd woken up expecting the Otherworld. He'd been bitterly disabused of that notion rather quickly. He hung in shackles, underground. If he'd been at normal strength, the metal wouldn't have been able to hold him more than an instant. As it was, he would've been impossible to escape even if he'd been unchained. Tears leaked over his cheeks, tracking clear lines in the dirt as the leech disengaged itself from him. And then blackness claimed him yet again.

* * *

The next morning wasn't half as fun. Juunanagou watched the humans shiver with a dual sense of pity and mild amusement. As an Artificial Human with an everlasting energy source, he never suffered from cold. It was therefore an almost endless source of distraction when the humans complained about the environmental conditions. Not that he was blind to the ramifications of Earth's present state. If this continued, everything except he and his sister would die. And that would be extremely boring.

The current agenda wasn't particularly interesting either, come to think of it. The Z Senshi were trying to follow up rumors of disappearances, and half-felt wisps of what might be the demon. Boring. And yet, he wasn't allowed to blow anything up. No fighting, no destruction. He was supposed to follow Trunks this time out, since he was incapable of sensing ki. His face twisted in a grimace.

Screw this.

Quietly, Juunanagou veered off the proscribed flight path. He might be incapable of sensing ki, but his energy couldn't be detected either. Finding cover, he waited until he was sure Trunks was out of visual range. Smirking, he stepped out of hiding. And turned around to face the Briefs boy.

"Juunanagou." he began.

"All right, all right. I was just trying to have some fun. Not that you'd know anything about that." The disgruntled Artificial Human fell into place again as they continued their flight. They'd barely gotten underway when Trunks folded inward and nearly fell. "What is it?" Not that he was concerned, of course. Just curious.

"The. the demon. I can feel it." Trunks straightened, glancing around. "This way."

He dropped out of the sky and damped his ki. Approach, then, was to be on foot. Trunks motioned something. Confused, Juunanagou shrugged. Trunks reached over and pressed the small device on the Artificial Human's jacket. It was a signal for the others; not possessing a definable ki, Juunanagou was unable to signal them himself.

They got the demon into their sights a few seconds later. Trunks flared into Super Saiyan and hit it from the side, knocking it away from its hapless victim. It tumbled to the ground and hissed. It looked almost healthy now, skin pink and stretched over its frame. The grin as it lifted itself up was a hideous sight. It pointed at Trunks. "Mine now." The voice was filled with a childish glee, the sound of pulling away insects' wings to watch them struggle.

"Not a chance." Trunks circled it. The others began to arrive, Vegeta first. The demon rushed Trunks, and the lilac-haired Saiyan knocked the blow aside. The fight began in earnest. The demon gave ground, taking hit after hit. Its form bore the crater-shaped proofs of impact, but its smile never wavered. Not even when Trunks hit it in the mouth. Gohan landed just as Trunks delivered a blow from above that sent the demon crashing into the earth, a widening circle of nothing radiating outwards.

"Trunks!" He could feel the demon's ki welling upwards, tainted with the feeling of his brother. "It's not -" Too late. The demon caught Trunks around the waist and slammed him down across its upraised thigh. The dry sound of bone shattering was nauseatingly audible. Trunks screamed hoarsely, the gold bleeding out of his hair. The demon dropped his twitching form almost contemptuously and turned to face the rest of them. The damage Trunks had done faded as they watched.

"Krillin, senzu." Gohan's voice was steady and cold. "Now." This had to stop. He stalked towards the demon.

"Boy, you-" Vegeta began.

Gohan never heard what it was that Vegeta was trying to say. He screamed in primal fury and attacked the demon. A sixth sense registered the presence of Vegeta now in the fight, and coordinated his technique to compliment that of the Saiyan prince. They had the upper hand now, wreaking havoc on the thing that had dared to invade the earth. And any time one of them faltered, the presence of one of the others made itself known. They were going to win. Gohan dropped below the creature's backhand and slammed his fist upwards. The demon caught it, jerking him downwards and into Vegeta. He saw stars, mind going fuzzy for the briefest moment. A shrieking noise dragged his attention back to the fight, and then absurdly bubblegum pink light overwhelmed his eyes.

Vision clearing, Gohan tried to find the demon. No trace remained. He cursed. Running away from a fight. He checked on the other fighters. They were picking themselves up from the aftermath of a release of energy that had left a crater nearly a half mile wide. He saw Tien, and Krillin, and Vegeta, and Yamcha was holding onto Trunks' limp form. Juuhachigou stood with her arms crossed at the edge of the drop-off. And Juunanagou. was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

There was fun, and then there were limits. Juunanagou followed the demon, praying to a god he had no faith in that it wouldn't see him, and contemplated the motive for his actions. He couldn't figure it out, and yet keeping sight of the demon as it fled was paramount. He almost lost sight of it as it slipped into a camouflaged entrance. Ashes littered the landscape, and Juunanagou caught the cold scent of burned bone. It was probably a safe bet that none of the vanished fighters would be returning. Juunanagou fixed the details of the demon's hideout in his memory and flew at his top speed back towards the others.

* * *

Back at Capsule Corps., Gohan watched Trunks sleep with concern. A senzu would normally restore all of a fighter's energy, and heal anything short of death itself. Even the magic seeds had their limits, though, and one that had been cracked in half and left that way tended to lose some of its regenerative ability. Even so, the injury had been healed. And it wouldn't take that long for a Saiyan to recover from the energy drain.

Gohan dropped a kiss on the boy's forehead and backed out of the room slowly. Not watching where he was going, he nearly ran over Vegeta. The Saiyajin no Ouji had gone white when the demon had nearly killed his son. Gohan supposed it was a flashback to the death of the other Trunks. Vegeta being Vegeta meant that no one got any explanation of anything. The man was checking in on his son, though, no matter what excuses he gave.

"Watch where you're going, boy."

"Gomen nasai, Vegeta-san." Gohan stepped aside. It was time for what had become a nightly ritual. Finding an out of the way corner - and one that was far distant from anywhere the Terror Trio, as Trunks had dubbed his younger sister and the other two girls, might be - and settled into a meditative pose. He relaxed his body and extended his senses. The whisper of ki was like butterfly wings against his skin, each signature unique. He went past the edges of Capsule Corps., spiraling outward. The farther away the person, the more difficult their ki to sense, and by the time he got past the outskirts of the city he could barely sense anything. And there was no trace of his little brother at all.

He opened his eyes to an increase in activity. Marron ran past, Riisu in tow. Gohan snagged the younger girl's arm. "Riisu, what's going on?"

She rolled blue eyes. "Marron's uncle came back!" Tugging her wrist free, she followed her friend down the stairs.

Gohan frowned. Juunanagou?

The Artificial Human had found the monster's hideout. After a prolonged bout of arguing, it was eventually decided that Juuhachigou, Juunanagou, Vegeta, and Gohan would go back to its lair and kill it if possible. If not, they would do the maximum amount of damage.

"Gohan, I'm not going to stay here." Piccolo stood with his arms crossed.

Gohan took him aside. "Piccolo, what if this is a trap? What if he let Juunanagou follow him? I need you here to make sure nothing happens to Trunks. He's helpless right now."

"I'm a warrior, not a babysitter, Gohan."

"Please, Piccolo? If something else happened that I could have stopped." Gohan bowed his head.

After a moment, he felt a gentle pressure on his shoulder. "Okay, kid. Just this once."

"Arigato gozaimasu, Piccolo-san."

* * *

Capsule Corps. became quiet after the departure, as those left behind waited. The statement made by Gohan - "What if this is a trap?" - rang in Piccolo's ears, and he took up a watchful position on the roof of the building. The others, either sensing his tension or coming to the same conclusions, stationed themselves at various points of entry to the building. None of it did any good. The fact that they could see the demon coming did them little good either. It barreled through the wall just below Tien, and annihilated the lower floors of the building with a single blast of force. Those inside died without a sound.

Yamcha attacked the demon from behind. Piccolo shook his head. He has to know he has no chance. Tien backed up the charge, sending hit after hit. The tri-beam technique was powerful, but not powerful enough. The demon reached through it and broke through Tien's ribcage just as it snapped Yamcha's neck. It was shaking the blood off its hands - so delicately - and it was abruptly severed in half. A disc-shaped flare of energy dissipated on the other side. Krillin smiled grimly at his initial success, although he was well aware that the demon was far from dead. A successive flurry of kienzans sliced through the demon, the pieces melted by Piccolo's Makankosappo. And yet - he could still feel its ki. Piccolo backed towards Trunks' still unconscious form. The boy was partly buried by fallen stonework, but alive. And he'd stay that way.

Piccolo heard Krillin's choked-off scream, and the rapid fire of a machine gun. Launch was still alive, then. The sound of twisting metal and the thud of a human body into an unyielding object reached Piccolo's ears. Then he was the only one left. The demon's ki floated upwards, and energy welled outwards. Piccolo threw himself over Trunks as the energy blast hit. If he could hold on for just a second longer.

* * *

The flight toward the demon's lair was conducted low to the ground, staying as close to out of sight as possible. Juunanagou's cocky figure was visible as a vague silhouette in front of them. He dropped to the ground suddenly, and the others followed suit.

"Are we getting close?" Gohan prepared to spike his ki in anticipation of a fight.

"Almost." Juunanagou looked over his shoulder.

Juuhachigou smiled. "We should go the rest of the way on foot, so that we don't alert him to our presence."

"Get on with it, then," Vegeta snarled.

Juunanagou smirked. It took them the better part of an hour to make the rest of the trip on foot, and the sky had darkened to near pitch black when they arrived. Juunanagou pointed at a nearly hidden gap in the earth. "Down there."

Instead of rushing in - which Gohan really wanted to do - they moved silently towards the demon's hiding place. Nothing challenged them. One by one, the fighters slipped inside, walked down a darkened corridor that had been hewn out of raw earth and left unfinished. Still, there was no opposition. Gohan discovered the end of the corridor by the simple means of walking into a wall. He felt around cautiously. "I don't see anything. It's a dead end."

Light flickered into being; a ball of ki around Vegeta's fist. The corridor continued, six feet above its previous level. There was still no response to their presence. Gohan frowned. No way could the demon miss Vegeta's ki signature. Something felt wrong. He would have turned back then, but a faint sound from up ahead registered.

Followed by the others, Gohan pulled himself up through the hole in the wall and landed on the other side in a dimly lit room. Nothing registered, except the figure chained to the far wall. It hung slack in its bonds, unconscious or uncaring. Gohan was at its side as quickly as humanly possible, breaking the absurdly light shackles. He caught the figure as it fell against him. "Goten!"

His brother looked up at him through pain-filled eyes. "Gohan-nii- chan."

Gohan scooped him up in a single movement. "We have to go back."

To his complete surprise, Vegeta agreed. Silently, and glaring at the younger Saiyan, but he agreed. It didn't take long to get back to Capsule Corps. now that they no longer had to hide their ki, but the sight that greeted them on their arrival was indescribable.

The entire complex had been razed to the ground. Smoking rubble creaked and groaned, as if mocking them with its presence. Broken glass shimmered in the visible aura of the ki surrounding the Saiyans, its beauty a cold counterpart to the destruction. Gohan searched desperately for some sign of survivors. It was cold, cold, nothing there, except. he thrust his brother at Juunanagou and dug frantically at one corner of the ruins. Someone was alive down there. He wasn't sure who it was, but it was the only survivor. No, there was another, closer to the center of the building. Gohan pulled Launch out of the wreckage, dazed but alive. She had been protected by a freak twist of the building's architecture. Her dark hair was full of dust and ash, and she stumbled over to where Juunanagou stood waiting.

Gohan looked up to see Vegeta and Juuhachigou thrusting rocks aside. Skin showed under the dust and stone, ridged green. His heart sped up.

"Piccolo-san!"

Piccolo was sprawled across Trunks, as if he were trying to protect the Saiyan boy. And he was dead. The ki signature Gohan had felt had been that of Vegeta's son. "Oh, no, no, no." Nor was the Namek the only casualty. None of the humans who had been left at Capsule Corps. that morning were still alive. Tien, Yamcha, Krillin, Bulma, Dr. Briefs, Mrs. Briefs, Bra, Riisu, Marron. all of them gone. And overlaying the entire place was the residue of the demon's ki. It hung in the air, a miasma of emptiness. Gohan screamed in rage to the uncaring sky.

* * *

No matter what the feelings were towards the dead, the survivors came first. Gohan broke the last senzu bean in half and gave part of it to his little brother, and the rest to Trunks. Goten's eyes fluttered open, and he flung himself onto his brother, sobbing hysterically. "Nii-chan!" Gohan hugged him back.

"Goten-chan, daijoubo."

Goten took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm okay, Nii-chan. I -"

"We have work to do, Goten." Gohan closed his eyes briefly. How could he explain the past month? The past hour?

A gentle pressure on Gohan's shoulder drew his attention. Trunks stood just behind him. "I can take care of him."

Gohan nodded, and prepared himself for the task of burying the dead.

* * *

Trunks led Goten out of sight of the remains of what had been his home. "Chibi. the thing that had you. it's been attacking us. It's been over a month since you disappeared." He had to stop, for a moment. Had it been just that long? It was so hard, to keep track of the days. And while he wasn't quite sure what had happened after the last fight with the demon, the wreckage of Capsule Corps. pretty much said it all. That the ones standing here were the only survivors.

"Trunks-kun." Goten's uncertain voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Chibi, we're the only ones left. No one else made it." There. He'd said it. It was real now, as real as Goten in front of him.

Goten nodded slowly. "I. I understand. The demon killed them all." A single tear tracked its slow way down his cheek. He had to force it to stop. It .

Trunks reached out, catching it on a dusty fingertip. "Don't cry, Goten- chan." He hesitated, and leaned forward. "Goten-chan, I don't want to have any more regrets. I wished that I'd said this to you before you disappeared, so I'm going to say it now. I love you." A brief kiss was all he dared, following those words.

Goten almost smiled. So this was what that morning so long ago had been about. "I." He looked helplessly at his lifelong friend, and did what he'd been doing since childhood. He followed Trunks' lead, and returned the kiss. There was something desperate about it, a need to reaffirm the living. And yet, he tasted like ashes. Trunks pulled Goten in closer, seeking not to dominate but to share, and Goten allowed the change. Then it was over, and Trunks pulled back.

"I don't ever want to lose you again, Goten-chan." He was holding Goten so tightly. The younger Saiyan leaned into the warmth, grateful that Trunks hadn't noticed his lack of words. Maybe later, he could say them. When he wasn't so cold.

* * *

Vegeta glanced at his son. The boy had survived, through luck and his level of indestructibility. His wife and daughter were weak. Hands trembling, he consigned them to the ground, along with the rest of the humans and the Namek. He had the Namek's selfless act to thank, in part, for the survival of his son. The only thing this meant to Vegeta was an indication of his son's weakness as well. Strength lay in the ability to survive and defeat one's enemy. It was a sentiment he'd lost sight of over the years, and he welcomed the coldness it brought with it now.

"Vegeta-san." Gohan stood an uncertain step behind him.

"Get out of my sight." Vegeta started to walk away.

"Daijoubo ka?" The words spilled out, tumbling over each other as if the boy had had to steel himself to speak them and wasn't sure how they'd be received.

Halt in motion, foot coming to rest on a patch of frozen gravel. Vegeta turned around and smiled. It was an expression he'd worn when he was still destroying and conquering planets and systems. "Never better."

"Vegeta-san -" The boy's voice was almost frozen.

"I have an enemy to fight, boy."

"Yes. You all have an enemy."

The new speaker stood on a rise in the ground, face in shadow.

"Who the hell are you?" Vegeta balled up his fists, gathering an aura of ki.

"I am Kaioshin."

Silence descended over the group. One word escaped several throats simultaneously.

"Who?"

* * *

Once inside one of the outlying buildings, Kaioshin began to pace. "You are, I assume, familiar with the guardian of Earth?"

"Well, that's Dende," Gohan said, puzzled. "But he, ah, he died not too long ago."

"He what?" Kaioshin's eyes widened.

"He died. It was an accident, sort of."

"This. this is. I was unaware of this. If I had been." Kaioshin stopped his pacing and looked at each of them in turn. "Above the guardian is the Kaio. There are four, one for each quadrant."

"Kakkarot told us about this already. Get on with it," Vegeta growled.

Kaioshin threw the Saiyan Prince a look that would have frozen most mortals in their tracks. It had little effect on Vegeta. "Above the Kaios, there is Dai Kaio. And above Dai Kaio is me."

"So you're a god." Goten nodded. "Okay." At this point, he wouldn't have been fazed if the ghosts of his father's past enemies had all risen and started a tap dancing line. Gohan directed a somewhat concerned glance in his brother's direction. The child had been captured, tortured, and rescued only to find that the world was in hell and most of the people he'd known were dead. That was a lot to deal with on any day.

"This doesn't tell us what you're doing here." Vegeta remained as impatient as ever.

"I will tell you." Kaioshin was not quite as imperturbable as he had at first appeared. "Several thousand years ago, there were not one but five Dai Kaios. The other four all perished in a terrible battle here, on Earth."

"Yeah? What were they fighting?"

"A creation called Maajin Buu. He was a monster made by a sorcerer named Bibidi. Maajin Buu was intended to for destruction. At first, Bibidi held him in check. Before long, however, he became too powerful for Bibidi to control. The sorcerer put him in an egg and transported him from planet to planet in this manner. They were stopped at terrible cost. Maajin Buu remained here, since it was determined that to disturb the egg might once again awaken him. That was to be avoided at all cost. Unfortunately, from what I have managed to decipher, the energy given off by several high caliber fights in the past thirty years have proven enough to bring him out of stasis." Kaioshin paused as the ramifications of his last statement sank in.

"This thing we've been fighting is your terrible Maajin Buu?" Vegeta regained his voice first, lacing his statement with contempt. "I could have beaten it with one hand tied behind my back."

"That's not all, Vegeta. Sit down." Kaioshin clasped his hands behind his back. "He was awakened with a power level of near zero, as he had been in hibernation for such a long period of time. He has been using the people of this planet, especially you -" he pointed at Goten "- to revive himself. He is nearing full power now. If he reaches it, the results will be too horrible to contemplate. He must be stopped."

"Then I will go stop him." Vegeta stood again. "I don't need your help."

"You can't fight him alone!" Kaioshin's expression was almost humorous. "In order to defeat it, you must completely eradicate all trace of its essence!"

Gohan shook his head. "We should seal it up again, not try to kill it."

"A Saiyan rejoices at the prospect of combat with a powerful opponent!" Vegeta stalked out of the room. If he still had a tail, it would no doubt have bristled and stood straight up in indignation.

Gohan shrugged. "I'm sorry, Kaioshin. He -" A crash sounded from outside. "What the hell." Another one, louder than the first.

Vegeta was fighting. He was fighting humans, and apparently losing. There were hundreds. Vegeta was in the midst of a group in the air, trying to deflect them away from the shelter without doing any permanent damage.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The humans turned as one to look at Gohan. He noticed something odd about them in the instant before they attacked him as well. Each and every one had a black "M" stamped on their forehead.

"I was afraid of this." Kaioshin looked worried, now. He floated outside the battle, surrounded by a bubble of iridescent green light.

Goten, distracted by the deity, looked up at him and was promptly overwhelmed. The humans dragged him downwards and slammed him into the ground. Trunks managed to rescue his friend before any serious damage was done, but the humans just kept on attacking. Launch was pressed against the wall, hair morphing into blonde just as Gohan caught her out of the corner of his eye. She screamed in rage and fired a machine gun into the advancing horde.

They paused at that, and then abruptly vanished. Launch sneezed again, and put away the machine gun with a somewhat sheepish expression. "What happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know. What the hell is going on?" Gohan landed, arms crossed.

"He has taken their mind. It was a trick of Bibidi's. He feeds on the evil in their souls." Kaioshin shivered. "I thought it had died with Bibidi. I was wrong."

"Then we have to seal it up again before they come back." Gohan turned to Kaioshin. "How do we do that?"

"I . do not know. The only one with the knowledge was Bibidi himself."

"Then one of his contemporaries -"

Kaioshin shook his head. "Bibidi's home planet was the first that Maajin Buu destroyed. There is no one left of that race. I do not think any of you can beat this thing."

"There has to be something, somewhere that could help!" Gohan was ready to scream in frustration. It was imperative to deal with this thing before any more innocents got hurt.

"Well -" Kaoishin's reluctance was plain to see. "His ship is still here, but I do not know how much of it is still intact. Perhaps there are records there that will help you."

"Great. Let's go."

"Gohan, you can't leave. We need all the fighters we can get," Goten pleaded. He stood in front of his brother, not quite barring his way.

"Fighting it isn't doing us any good, Goten-chan." Gohan reached out and ruffled his little brother's hair. "I'll stop this thing, don't worry."

Goten pulled away angrily. "Didn't you hear what he said? No one knows how to seal it up. We have to fight it, and we need-"

"Shut up, brat. If the coward wants to run, let him." The words, spoken in such a dismissive tone, nearly aroused his anger enough to declare intentions to stay and fight with the rest of them, but Gohan realized exactly what it was that Vegeta was trying to do.

"You're not going to distract me, Vegeta." He flung himself into the air. "Show me this ship, Kaioshin."

* * *

The ship, or what was left of it, was at the bottom of a crater. Rock and dirt lay scattered carelessly around the landscape, as if some giant hand had flung it there without thought. The odd thing was that there was some sign of vegetation left, as if before the dust had covered the sky, plants had overgrown the site. The disturbance was an old one. Gohan touched down, seeking some sign of the demon's - no, Maajin Buu's - ship. He found the remains of the entrance at the center of the depression. It had been broken open from the inside. Wrapping himself in a glow of ki, he slipped inside.

The ship had been huge. Gohan counted four levels during his initial survey. And there was the lowest level, which for some reason, he didn't want to touch. Unfortunately, the other levels held absolutely nothing. Each one was an empty room with a vaulted ceiling. And in each one, the entry to the next level was in the middle of the floor, torn and shredded. Gohan searched the walls of each room for some kind of computer interface. There was nothing. Throughout the entire search, Kaioshin followed him like a pale shadow.

Finally, only the lowest level was left. Gohan stood staring at the lip of the opening in the floor for a full three minutes before entering. The flickering light of his ki illuminated the worst damage he had yet to see. The walls and floor were slagged, twisted beyond recognition. In some places, the metal of the ship had been pierced, and earth had tumbled inwards. It looked almost liquid, as if it had melted in an intense heat. Gohan found the remains of a pedestal, on top of which was a cracked shell. Curious, he touched it. Emotions clamored in his mind, loneliness, emptiness, rage at being trapped without reason. He had to find a way out, kill them all, destroy, it was his purpose, it was his life, it was the very essence of him. How dare they keep him from it? It was who he was. He needed - Gohan's ears rang, and he stumbled backwards. Kaioshin stood in front of him, hand raised. "That was where Maajin Buu was held."

Gohan nodded. Underneath the remains of the egg lay a metal case. Careful not to touch it again, Gohan pulled the object towards him. It had apparently been protected by its close proximity to the egg, for it was mostly undamaged. Getting it open took a little work. Gohan finally resorted to pulling off the panel at the end of the box. A fine, powdery ash fell out, followed by a once-circular disk. "What." He turned it over. Its surface had bubbled, as if it had been exposed to extreme heat. Only a small part seemed to have escaped destruction. "A data disk?"

Reluctant to get closer to the egg again, Gohan searched the rest of the room. The only other definable object was a colorless sphere. In some bizarre twist of fate, it appeared to be undamaged. Kaioshin gasped when Gohan picked it up, causing the young Saiyan to nearly drop it.

"What? What is it?"

"That's. That's Bibidi's focus. He used it for his magic."

"Perfect." The sphere lay inert in his hand, reflecting the light. "This is what we need."

* * *

"Tou-san!" Trunks pleaded.

Vegeta glared at the only surviving member of his family. "Do not question me, boy." With Gohan gone, the Saiyan Prince was the closest thing to a leader that the tattered remnants of Earth's Special Forces had. The rest of the fighters were too used to working alone, or too inexperienced. The situation among the humans was growing worse by the day as the altered fighters rampaged through every major city on the globe, creating chaos. Had they been any normal invading force, it would have been a relatively simple matter to deal with them. However, it was impossible to effectively fight Maajin Buu's army for one very simple reason: these people were innocent. They were under coercion, or outright control, or something, and it wasn't appropriate to pick them off like so many insects. Or so Trunks maintained. Launch, in her fighter's form, was mainly indifferent, as was Juunanagou. So was Goten, which disturbed Trunks somewhat. Vegeta simply wanted to kill Maajin Buu. Maajin Buu was not accommodating the Saiyan prince, in that he had not shown himself since the destruction of Capsule Corps. Not being able to attack the source, Vegeta wanted to take out his anger on Maajin Buu's reluctant allies. His son standing in the way did not improve his disposition.

"I am going to fight in the way I see fit. There will be no questions." It was the most anybody had heard out of him since Bulma had died.

"But we can't bring any of them back! There aren't any Dragonballs!"

Vegeta turned a look on Trunks that froze the younger man in his tracks. "I am aware of that." He pulled on his once-white gloves. "I am going out to fight. If you follow me, I will kill you."

"Like hell." Launch grabbed her machine gun and stalked out after him. "You're not having all the fun."

Juunanagou shrugged, and vanished. "Boys," Juuhachigou muttered, taking off after her brother.

Trunks was left staring at Goten. The other half-Saiyan sat listlessly, eyes not quite focused on the floor. "Goten?"

"Hm?" He looked up, still not quite there.

"I'm worried about." Trunks stopped. He was worried about his father. He was worried about Goten. He was worried about Gohan. He settled for what was closest at hand. "Are you feeling all right, Goten?"

A shrug, a vague motion with his hands. "Yeah, why?"

"You just seem. Are you sure you're all right?" There wasn't any specific action, just a vague feeling that Goten wasn't quite right. Earlier, Trunks had tried to reassure Goten by being close to him, physically and emotionally. But while the other boy hadn't objected to anything Trunks had done, he hadn't initiated anything since that second kiss. It was as if he were just going through the motions of making love to accommodate his partner. Confused, Trunks had retreated, and Goten had continued to treat him in exactly the same manner. Which was no different than he treated anyone else.

Goten looked over at him, focusing for the first time. "Isn't there a fight going on? We should go help."

"I . Yeah, let's go make sure my father doesn't do any more damage." Trunks stood, searching for his father's ki. It was easy, really. There wasn't anything on this planet that could compare to it.

Vegeta was surrounded by golden energy, the only visible light. Everything else was cast into sharp relief. They could see the flickering glow over the horizon as soon as they took to the air, like summer lightning. Only, lightning was never this rapid, striking in the same place over and over again. Bodies littered the ground like fallen leaves, carelessly strewn about. Trunks stopped in shock, losing his grasp on the level of Super Saiyan. His father had gone insane.

"Wow." Goten paused to look at the carnage. "I think there's something wrong."

Trunks could only stare. And then he was staring up at nothing. A painful burning sensation told him he'd been hit with a ki bolt. Vegeta stepped into his field of view, smirking. "I told you not to follow me, brat." He drew back a fist, energy crackling around it. "I told you what would happen."

Trunks couldn't react. He could not move, as his father advanced towards him with the intent to kill. The world tilted crazily around the edges. Vegeta grinned widely, and the glow intensified. Trunks closed his eyes.

Nothing happened.

He cracked one eye open, and then both. Goten stood between Trunks and his father. "You're not going to get a fight out of him, Ouji-san."

"Kkh." He spat off to the side. "Fine. I won't touch your lover." He spun on one heel and reentered the fight. Goten turned around and crouched down.

"Trunks-kun, I think you should leave now." He extended a hand and pulled the other Saiyan to his feet. "It's not safe here."

Trunks shook his head. "Someone has to stop him. All of them."

Goten smiled. "It's all right. Look."

Trunks looked. The androids fought with lethal grace, but - "They're not killing them," he said, surprised. And the machine gun in use by Launch had yet to hit an actual target. Rather, she herded the altered fighters towards the android pair. In turn, they kept her in a circle free of distractions.

"See? It's really all right, Trunks-kun." The expression on Goten's face was truly eerie. The calm little half-smile he wore bordered on madness.

"Goten-chan."

"Go away!" Goten blazed into Super Saiyan. Anger masked his face and voice for the briefest of moments, and then the smile returned. "It really isn't safe here."

Trunks left. He wondered briefly if Gohan was having any success. He hoped fervently that the oldest half-Saiyan was faring better than he was.

* * *

The little plastic-metallic disk lay on the tabletop, mocking him. He'd managed to pull some of the information out of the intact shreds, but it was encoded. If there was a method of decoding it, it was on the unrecoverable portion of the disk. So far, he'd tried every decryption algorithm he could think of. Nothing worked. The disk was laughing, he just knew it.

"Kaioshin!"

"What is it now, Gohan?" The little deity had retained most of his equanimity through Gohan's botched attempts to decode Bibidi's information. He had spent most of the time tapping at the sphere they had found.

"I need to talk to Bibidi." Gohan crossed his arms, glaring.

"Oh, no. Bibidi is in hell. Mortals are never allowed past the check- in station unless they're dead." Kaioshin had quite a glare of his own.

"Then you talk to him." He had the most obstinate expression on his face. "I don't know what else to try, and this has to have the information we need on it. Why would Bibidi have hidden it otherwise?"

"Gohan, even if I could, he wouldn't have any of his memories. His soul is in the process of being purged. When it is ready, it will be released back into the cycle."

Gohan shook his head slowly. "I don't believe this." He turned back to the computer screen, and the unintelligible data displayed on it.

* * *

Trunks waited, back at the shelter. On the returning flight, he had seen the scars left by the predations of Maajin Buu. Buildings lay toppled, cities stood deserted. There was almost nothing living left growing on the planet's surface. Their own shelter was no better, the glass of the windows cracked and crazed, chunks of the infrastructure missing. Trunks touched down lightly and pushed open the door. The darkness inside was more complete than under the open sky, even though both held a total lack of light. Outside, he could at least feel the air.

More than an hour passed before the others came back. Launch, now pushing dark hair out of her eyes, staggered in first. She'd have a new scar in a week's time, assuming they lived that long. The flashlight she carried threw odd shadows over her face. "I think. I want to go upstairs now." She gave Trunks a tired smile. "I hope I've made Tien proud of me. Do you think he is?"

Trunks couldn't answer. He finally nodded, once. Launch dropped a kiss on his forehead. "I'd be proud of you, you know." He could hear her footsteps as she made her way to the upper level.

Juuhachigou and Goten came in together. Trunks wasn't sure they saw him, sitting quietly in the shadows. Juuhachigou sounded almost as if she were crying, and Goten had his arm around her shoulder. Trunks watched them curiously, not quite able to make himself ask what had happened. He wasn't really sure he wanted to know the answer.

Vegeta entered last, reeking of blood. He stalked past Goten and Juuhachigou, throwing his gloves on the floor. "That is the way to deal with an enemy, boy."

Trunks started. He had thought that he had remained unnoticed. "Vegeta- san." The man obviously wasn't stable, but Trunks couldn't do a damn thing about it. He frowned as he noticed something that hadn't been immediately apparent. Underlying the scent of human blood was the sharper smell of Saiyan. "You're hurt."

"Kkh." Vegeta brushed past his son.

Trunks planted himself in front of his father. "Let me see it."

The older Saiyan crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to answer. Trunks reached forward, intending to make his father listen to at least one piece of reason. A sharp staccato sound from upstairs halted his motions.

"Launch!" Trunks ran for the stairs, only to find Juuhachigou blocking his way.

"I'll take care of her, too." The blonde Artificial Human walked upwards without waiting for a reply. A nearly silent presence just behind him caught Trunks' attention. Goten stood watching.

"What was that?" Confusion was not a welcome feeling.

"Juunanagou was lost today. There were too many of Maajin Buu's fighters." Goten might have been simply saying that it was dark because the lights were out. "Launch doesn't want to fight any more."

"Are you telling me she just-" Trunks stared upwards, then back at his friend. "And you didn't try to stop her?"

"This war is hopeless, Trunks. If she's tired of fighting, I'm not going to judge her for that." Goten made his way past Trunks. "I'm going to sleep now. I'll see you in the morning."

Something registered in Trunks' mind as his friend walked away. He smelled of human blood. Nearly as much as Vegeta. "Goten." He stood alone in the darkened hallway.

* * *

"Music. You know, Kaioshin, it's been months since I've heard music." Since the computer disk had failed to divulge its secrets, Gohan had turned his attention to the sphere they'd brought out with them. He'd tried channeling ki into it, just as an experiment. It had swallowed the energy with no other outward sign of action. The problem was, he had absolutely no idea where to begin. He knew absolutely nothing about the magic that Bibidi had used. "This Bibidi, he never had children? Every single member of his race is dead?"

"He had a son. Once. He was killed in the fight between Maajin Buu and us. And I've told you before, Gohan, that there is no one of that race left alive."

"So the ability to use this, it's innate or is it learned?" Gohan frowned.

"I don't know." Kaioshin shook his head. "There's too much we just don't know! We thought that the egg would be safe on Earth. That with both Bibidi and his son dead, there was no chance of Maajin Buu ever being revived."

"Yeah, well, sometimes life throws you a curve ball." Gohan returned his attention to the sphere. By all appearances, it was a simple glass ball. And yet. "I wonder if this was just an aid to concentration. An object he used to focus his energy." If that was true, then the sphere was useless to them.

Kaioshin shook his head. "It's possible."

The encrypted data, at least, was more concrete than a glass ball. Gohan returned to the computer. The generator he'd pieced together was unsound at best, and the power it took to run the machine put a strain on an already unstable system. Still, it was all he had. The best he'd been able to do with the material at hand. It was sufficient.

* * *

Goten lay on his back. He couldn't see the ceiling, but its weight was there. He couldn't decide if it was comforting, or confining. At least it was warm. He thought it was, anyway. It was getting really hard to tell anymore. He had to remember to tell Gohan - but Gohan was gone. He couldn't remember, though, if Gohan was gone for good. Goten thought that his brother had gone to do something, but then again, it could be wishful thinking and his memory playing games. The fighting. He'd been in a fight earlier. With Vegeta - no, beside Vegeta. They had been fighting what seemed like an army. And the others. who were the others? The androids. There were two androids, and a woman. Tien's wife. But Tien was gone. Goten was fairly certain that only the ones who'd been fighting were still alive. And Trunks. Or had Trunks died, and that's why he hadn't fought? No, no, he'd told Trunks to leave. Vegeta wasn't quite himself, and if there was something Goten could do to make sure that his best friend remained untouched, he'd do it. Unless Vegeta really had killed Trunks, and he was making all of this up to help himself feel better. Maybe none of this was real at all, and he was still in that demon's cave. He'd been there for so long. He'd known that someone would find him, in his more coherent moments. That everything would be all right again. But it wasn't. Maybe he was the one who was dead, and this was hell. Goten threw an arm over his eyes. Nothing was stable, any more. All he was sure of was the dark, and the cold.

* * *

Trunks awoke the next morning to find Vegeta gone. Juuhachigou lay curled around Goten for warmth, and the other half-Saiyan looked like he was peacefully asleep. For a brief moment he wondered where Launch and Juunanagou had gotten to, and then memory kicked back in. Moving stiffly, he climbed to his feet. The light outside looked almost brighter than usual, as if the ash and dust were starting to clear. Trunks left a note for the other two scrawled in charcoal on the wall, and left to try and find his father.

Not finding Vegeta's ki by a simple extending of his senses, Trunks started to fly in a spiral pattern. Vegeta's very distinct energy signature would register if he were close enough, even if the Saiyan were trying to suppress it. It was lighter outside, Trunks was sure of it. He caught a flash of some kind of activity, and sped up. It could have been Vegeta; the problem was that it had been over too quickly for him to tell. Trunks narrowed his eyes against the wind. When he got to the area he'd thought he sensed ki from, there was nothing there. Cursing, he resumed the search pattern.

Energy spiked again, and this time he used all the considerable speed at his disposal to reach its source in time. Just as it came into view, a blindingly bright pink energy shot out over the sky. Trunks warded his eyes, barely catching a glimpse of the energy dispersing like mist. He still couldn't see. He was certain that the energy was gone, and yet he still couldn't see. He could still feel ki, though, and that was Vegeta's down there. Fighting the entity they'd come to know as Maajin Buu.

It took Trunks nearly a full minute of tracking their fight by sensing it for him to realize that he couldn't see because his eyes were closed. He opened them, and squeezed them shut again as a clamor of sensation rioted through his unprotected vision. Cautiously, he opened them again. The dust was gone, and he was nearly staring at the sun. He looked away from it, reveling in the blue of the sky. The Earth, though, the earth was brown and sere. And yet, in a few places, he could still see a hint of green. And the warmth! He could feel each and every particle of light hitting his skin. It was wonderful.

"Trunks!" Juuhachigou knocked him out of the sky just before he would have been hit by the crossfire of the fight between Vegeta and Maajin Buu.

"Th-thanks." He stood up, brushing the dust off. "Look, Juuhachigou!" He pointed at the sky, laughing.

She slapped him. "Your father is in danger of losing this battle. Are you going to help him or not?"

Trunks looked. Goten had joined in the fight, drawing fire away from Vegeta. The young half-Saiyan was fighting brilliantly, using the terrain to his advantage. He led Maajin Buu away from the apparently injured Vegeta. Even so, it was clear that he was by far the inferior fighter. Every time he took a hit, it took him longer to recover. Maajin Buu inexplicably waited each time for the Saiyan to get back on his feet, and Trunks could see its smile even as far away as he was. He started downwards with every intention of helping his friend, only to find Vegeta shoving him backwards.

"You will stay out of this battle. It is mine."

Trunks forbore pointing out that Vegeta had not protested Goten's involvement. He simply shook his father off and slammed into Maajin Buu from behind. It didn't have quite the desired effect. He knocked it away from Goten, but the impact shock threw him down with enough force to bleed little stars into his vision.

"Kkh. That was stupid, boy."

Trunks blinked and looked up. Vegeta crouched down, extending a hand. "I want you to get as far away from here as possible. Do you understand?"

"But I want to help!"

"Listen to me! I don't want any of you interfering!"

Trunks swallowed. His father wasn't going to scare him off this time.

* * *

Goten listened and caught his breath as Trunks stood up to his father. Well, perhaps the phrase "stood up" wasn't one to be taken quite literally; the lilac-haired Saiyan was flat on his back in the dirt. Positioning notwithstanding, he was holding his own. Climbing to his feet proved to hold all of his attention, and he missed part of the debate. He did catch sight of Juuhachigou floating above them, presumably watching the temporarily incapacitated Maajin Buu. It was approaching them, he could hear it. It was singing. Goten shook his head to clear it. He fully intended to fight Maajin Buu one on one. It was a suicidal gesture, and he knew it. Launch's decision to join her husband had reinforced this decision, prompted by Juunanagou's senseless death. The male Artificial Human had survived the battle, had laughed and joked with him afterwards. They'd been preparing to return to the shelter, and suddenly, Juunanagou wasn't standing next to him any more. He was lying facedown, and Goten had been barely able to see him in the dark. A brief rattle of machine gun fire sounded, and Launch had screamed. The first of the fighters that they had tried to incapacitate without injuring had woken up, and was in the process of trying to strangle Launch. She struggled ineffectually, dark hair swinging wildly. Goten wasn't sure what had happened after that. His faulty memory completely failed him there. The next thing he remembered was standing over Launch. She had been staring up at him in horror, and he had backed away. She had run then, and the urge to stalk and hunt her had been almost overwhelming. He thought that shortly after that he had helped Juuhachigou bury her brother. It was at that point that Goten had realized that the war was hopeless. No matter what they did, the enemy would always keep coming. There was nothing they could do to stop Maajin Buu. And that was when Goten decided to die.

Maajin Buu came into view over a rise, lean form threatening and ridiculous at the same time. Goten wasn't sure quite how he did that. Juuhachigou called out a warning, preparing to strike. He wasn't going to give her the chance. If he was going to die, then he was going to make the demon work for it. He was going to give it the most spectacular fight it had ever had.

Goten flung himself at Maajin Buu, using all of his considerable speed. It matched him blow for blow. He expected it, knew that it was quicker than he was. His aim was to make sure that there weren't any openings for the others to interfere. He winced as the demon landed a solid hit. He couldn't let it slow him down. He had to keep moving.

* * *

Vegeta was about to lose patience. Trunks could see it in his father's expression. It made no difference, had no effect on his determination. He wasn't going to fold, not this time. He climbed to his feet, glaring at his father, just in time to see Goten re-engage Maajin Buu. The younger boy was moving almost too fast for him to see. "What the hell does he think he's doing? He can't keep this up!"

"He. knows," Vegeta replied after an odd silence.

There weren't any openings in the exchange of fire between Goten and Maajin Buu. Nowhere he could slip in to help. Goten seemed determined to burn himself out. Trunks realized what his best friend was trying to do, and knew that he couldn't let him do it. He couldn't idly stand by and watch Goten commit passive suicide. He had failed to stop Launch, he hadn't protected Juunanagou, he had been useless when the other Z Senshi had been coldly killed. Not again. He didn't realize he was screaming, trying to stop Goten, stop Maajin Buu, anything. Anything but nothing.

Fate had something else in mind.

He felt a hit from behind - but Maajin Buu was in front of him! - and the ground came up too suddenly to avoid. This time the stars wouldn't go away, and they sang, interfering with his senses. It was so difficult to feel the fight between Goten and Buu, except that there was a huge energy buildup. Not quite like real energy though. Part of his mind that wasn't covered in fuzz recognized it as Maajin Buu, but for some reason it didn't seem important. That same part could feel how low Goten's ki was, and that he had no chance in hell of avoiding the blast. That almost got through to the rest of him, but then the stars got brighter. No, they weren't brighter. That was Vegeta. His father's energy was the highest he'd ever seen it, and it was overwhelming. The pinprick of almost-light that was Vegeta impacted Maajin Buu's distended form, pushing it away. No, not away. Upwards. The Saiyan Prince was trying to. The last thing Trunks felt was a bright wash of ki, and then absolutely nothing at all.

* * *

"That's it!" Gohan couldn't believe his eyes. After nearly eighteen hours of staring at the encrypted data, it was resolving itself into readable text, and diagrams. And the key to decryption had been the result of too much caffeine, frustration, and the urge to prove Kaioshin wrong. The deity had told him that there had to be something he hadn't tried yet, and Gohan had retaliated with the statement that he had tried every single algorithm in existence. Kaioshin had pointed out that he obviously hadn't, as the data was still encrypted. Gohan had snarled and gone back to work.

The key was astoundingly simple, really. It was just something Gohan would never ever have guessed. Bibidi had used some sort musical compilation to encode the data. The entire system was based on an octave scale. Ironically, now that he had the information he so desperately wanted, he could no longer focus his eyesight on it. He fumbled for the last mug of coffee that was somewhere in front of him. It was empty.

Kaioshin pushed a glass of something into his hands. "Try this."

Whatever it was, it worked. Gohan could feel the energy coursing through his body like a drug. "Thanks." He turned his attention to the computer, and began to read.

Half an hour later, it was disappointment that overwhelmed him. The information on the disk was nothing more than a record of where Bibidi had taken Maajin Buu centuries ago. It was useless. The others had been right. Gohan put his head in his hands and wept.

Kaioshin watched the Saiyan until his sobbing form relaxed into much- needed sleep. He had wanted success just as much as Gohan had, but unlike his companion, he had been aware of the odds against.

~I've been watching him~

The voice in his head startled Kaioshin. ~North Kaiosama?~ While it had his psionic signature, it didn't sound like the Kaio of the North Quadrant.

~My name is Goku. He's my son!~

Goku. That was the fighter that had caused so much stir in the lower circles by dying not once but twice and both times keeping his body intact. He was the first in nearly one hundred million years to reach the Kaio's planet. ~Yes?~ Kaioshin replied cautiously.

~Well, if he could come up here and train with the Z Sword -~

~Where did you hear about that?~ Kaioshin snapped. The Z Sword was a relic of power, a sacred object. To have a mortal touch it was sacrilege. And yet. Kaioshin looked over at the sleeping form of the Saiyan and saw the inherent purity. The boy was mortal and human, true. He had his faults and failings, but to be honest, so did the Kaios. The Z Sword was a powerful weapon, and to give it to this boy would mean a chance to defeat the evil that was Maajin Buu once and for all. Kaioshin nodded, listening to Goku's stammered explanation. ~All right, Goku~ he replied. He could almost see the grin on the man's face as his not-quite-vocal exultation flooded down the psionic link. Goku was as pure as his son. Kaioshin gathered up the half-Saiyan in his arms and prepared to transport to the location of the Z Sword.

* * *

Juuhachigou carried Trunks' unconscious form back towards the shelter. Goten was there already, threatened with confinement if he didn't stay put. Not that she expected much coherency out of the damaged fighter. He'd been dazed and silent during the first flight back, and if it weren't for the fact that she couldn't carry Trunks while making sure Goten went where he was supposed to, she wouldn't have left him alone at all. Trunks, at least, wasn't going anywhere under his own power.

When she got back to the shelter, Goten was in the same position she'd left him in. Slumped against the wall. She dropped Trunks in his lap, hoping for some sort of response. There was none. None from Goten, at least. Trunks, still out, sighed in what sounded like relief and curled around his friend.

"Goten." She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. Nothing. She slapped him. Still no response. "I know you can hear me. We need you to finish this fight. If you don't snap out of this ridiculous state, I'm going to make sure you spend the afterlife in hell." He might have looked at her. She wasn't sure. "Have it your way. Vegeta didn't manage to kill Maajin Buu, you know. He'll come back." Juuhachigou gave up. If he refused to function, she wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it. She sat back on her heels. If nothing else, she had been able to see sunlight once again. She didn't know what it was that had caused Maajin Buu to release his hold on the Earth's atmosphere, but she welcomed the change anyway. The light made everything clearer, more real, like the months spent under the desolate canopy had been nothing more than a dream. At the same time, it also sharpened the sense of loss she felt. The grief for her husband and child, dulled only slightly by time, and the much closer loss of her twin brother. The light made those feelings that much harder to push to the back of her heart until the fight was over, until she could take the time to grieve. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and brushed away the threat of tears. Clarity wasn't the only gift of the light, though. Its other gift was equally important.

Hope.

Hope, paired with determination to succeed against the odds. Juuhachigou watched the window and waited. The sun continued its journey across the western sky, slipping below the horizon in a brilliant display of color. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

* * *

Trunks woke once again to darkness. For a moment, he was sure that the last few crazy things he remembered were a dream. That moment passed, though, as soon as he saw the stars. They shone with an intensity far past anything he could recall, or perhaps he simply couldn't remember what it had been like before.

"Good. You're awake."

The voice startled him. It was Juuhachigou, sitting with her back to the wall opposite him. She looked as if she'd been to hell and back.

"Juuhachigou. what." he cleared his throat. It kept closing up for some reason, and he didn't know why. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure." She crossed her arms. "Goten there knows, but I couldn't follow most of it. They were moving too quickly."

"Goten?" He was lying on something warm. "Goten." His friend didn't react, just stared aimlessly ahead. "What's wrong?" His voice cracked. Something wasn't right, and he wasn't sure what. "Come on, Goten. What's going on?" He turned to Juuhachigou. "What's wrong with him? What did Maajin Buu do?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. After Vegeta hit you, he pushed Goten out of Buu's way. It wasn't happy about that, and went after him instead. He. he deflected the blast and forced Maajin Buu away. That was the last I saw of him." She hesitated. "He's not coming back, Trunks. But I think Maajin Buu is."

Those were the words he had been trying not to hear, the reality that he couldn't face. His father was dead. His father was the strongest fighter in the entire universe, and he was dead. And once again. he had watched it all happen.

Trunks was unaware of the tears running down his cheeks until the heat splashed onto his hands. He looked at them, surprised. He could feel the tears, feel the breath catch in his throat, but he wasn't feeling anything at all. Juuhachigou's compassionate hand on his shoulder was more than he could take, and he turned away, sobbing into the warmth of Goten's shirt. Juuhachigou withdrew; he didn't know or care where to. Nothing mattered except the numbness, and his body's physical reaction to the pain.

* * *

Gohan blinked, clearing cobwebs out of his vision. The last thing he remembered was the bitter disappointment of the decryption. All that effort had been for nothing. He looked around, finding his surroundings most definitely not familiar. In his experience, that was usually bad. He sat up cautiously, and swung his legs down to the floor. It was warm, but not . He crept silently over to the only visible door and began to turn the handle.

"Oi! Gohan! Don't you think you should put some clothes on first?" The voice almost preceded the painfully familiar rush of his father's ki signature.

"Daddy!" After all these years, he was still just an eleven-year-old child, wanting and needing his father's approval and affection. And he got it.

Goku folded his son into a hug. "It's good to see you, Gohan." He held the half-Saiyan out at arm's length. "You're not looking so good."

"Yeah." Gohan glanced down, trying to come up with words to describe the situation on Earth. He was promptly distracted by the fact that he was completely naked. "Where are my clothes?" Not that he had a problem with nudity, really, it was just mildly disconcerting to pass out fully clothed and reawaken without them.

"Over here." Goku held up what looked like his training gi. Only, it had the same not-quite-solidity as the rest of the room. Clothes were still clothes, however, and Gohan pulled them on without a second thought. A thought struck him.

"Dad, why are you back on Earth?"

"I'm not."

" is the Otherworld? Am I dead?" Please, no, I have to fight the demon. I have to defeat Maajin Buu.

"You're not dead. There's something for you here." The expression on his father's face made Gohan pause in pulling on his boots.

"What?"

"Well. Kaioshin can explain it much better than me." Goku put a hand behind his head and laughed. "It's supposed to help you."

Gohan took a deep breath. "Let's go, then."

Goku put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Hang on!"

Gohan felt the disorientation of Instant Transmission blank out his surroundings, and piece them back together again. He blinked, adjusting to the change. He was standing in front of Kaioshin; the small purple deity wore a grave expression. Behind him, Gohan could see the handle and part of the blade of a sword protruding out of the ground.

"Gohan, I want you to realize that this weapon was intended for use by the Kaios. And only the Kaios. However, it has been stuck here for a very long time. If you can remove it, we will train you in its use."

A strangled sound came from the much taller being standing at Kaioshin's side. He looked as if he'd swallowed something nasty, and was having trouble keeping it where it belonged. As Gohan stepped forward, the newcomer was unable to contain himself. "Kaioshin-sama, I must protest. To allow a mortal in this sacred -"

Kaioshin held up a hand, and the other broke off his flow of words instantly. "Kibito, I am aware of your feelings regarding this matter. But the fact remains that we have been unable to use the sword. If he can remove it, use it to defeat Maajin Buu, then that outweighs any other aspects of these actions." Kibito's expression, if anything, soured even further, but he held his peace. Kaioshin nodded to Gohan. "Proceed."

The handle of the sword felt cool to the touch, and Gohan gave it an experimental yank. It remained as firmly embedded as ever. He pulled again, using all of his physical strength. The sword seemed determined to resist his every effort, as his power level spiraled up to Super Saiyan, and then to Super Saiyan 2. Only when he reached the peak of his power did the sword grudgingly slide out of its imprisonment.

Kibito stared in astonishment. "You - you - you pulled it out!" he managed after a few moments.

"I told you he could." Goku's simple statement held a mix of pride and conviction.

Irritating a deity - or near-deity - is never a desirable action, even at the best of times, and the look Kibito gave Goku bordered on murderous. After seeing Goku's innocently happy expression, he seemed to realize that no ill intent was behind the words, and shook his head. "Let him train with it then, if he can manage it."

Kaioshin smiled almost fondly in Kibito's direction. "The training is most difficult, Son Gohan. Are you ready?"

Gohan nodded, dropping the heightened power of the state of Super Saiyan. "I'm ready, Kaioshin," he replied. Or tried to. The sword was suddenly too heavy for him to hold, and crashed to the ground, abrading his palms as he automatically let go. "Ow ow ow!"

Kibito made a disgusted noise, not unlike Vegeta at his worst. "I told you -"

Gohan amplified his ki until he had reached the level of Super Saiyan once again, and picked up the incredibly heavy sword. "I'm ready now, Kaioshin."

* * *

Juuhachigou withdrew from the distraught half-Saiyan. Comfort wasn't hers to give. She stationed herself by a window, extending what little she had in the way of sensing ki. As an android with an eternal power source in place of the peculiarity of the life force, she neither emanated a detectable power level nor possessed the ability to detect it in others. Juurokugou, poor ill-fated Juurokugou, had possessed sensors capable of sensing life force. She wondered, briefly, why it was that she and Juunanagou had not been similarly gifted, and rejected the question as invalid. There was no point in worrying about it now. Her mechanical augmentation gave her strength and speed, and shielded her from detection while blocking off that sixth sense other life forms possessed. So she had originally thought.

During her training with her husband, she had discovered that the sixth sense had not been completely nullified. With great effort, she could discern the ki of those around her. Even so, it was still not as precise as the senses of the Z Senshi. Juuhachigou was capable of feeling the presence of a familiar ki no matter what the level, but she could not quantify a location or even determine strength with any degree of accuracy. She set herself now to monitoring the area around them, watching for any trace of Maajin Buu. She could feel a trace of his energy, greatly reduced and somewhere far away. By the same token, Vegeta was completely gone. It only confirmed her earlier belief.

Her concentration shattered as the sounds behind her altered. Irrationally certain that she and the two boys were under attack, she readied herself for defense, prepared to fend off whatever assailant had slipped inside without triggering her senses. The tableau before her was enough to choke off any thoughts of combat.

Goten was awake. More than awake. He was aware and comforting his best friend. In fact, he had his mouth firmly pressed against Trunks' while holding the other in a firm embrace. Juuhachigou backed away slowly before either of them registered her presence. Trunks' hands were exploring Goten's exposed skin in a manner that suggested the urgent desire to expose . other things.

Juuhachigou was many things, but she was not a voyeur. She withdrew from the room completely, as silently as possible. Unfortunately, there was no way to block out the sounds. She gritted her teeth and waited. The noise carried through the very walls! She considered going outside, and rejected the idea almost immediately. The boys were mortal. There was only a limited amount of energy available, and once that was exhausted. At least they weren't trying to commit suicide. Now if she could just keep that in mind.

* * *

Gohan focused his ki more than he ever had before. All of his attention was drawn to that tiny dot in front of him. Any stimulus coming from outside him was blocked; his sole intention was to see that he purified his energy enough to channel it through the Z Sword. Nothing else mattered. The point in front of him expanded, rushing inwards. Gohan was ready. He swung the sword, slashing through the center of the brightness. It splintered around him, and he lowered the sword. His ki flooded back, its natural overspill surrounding him. Keeping his energy confined while in the heightened state of Super Saiyan was incredibly difficult, but he couldn't so much as lift the weapon unless he had the strength granted by the transformation.

"Not good enough. You have to control it, Gohan." The tiny deity was much more demanding of a taskmaster than Goku or even Piccolo had ever been. "Focus your energy, keep the flow directed. Letting it go like that is sloppy." Like an avenging Harpy, Kibito stood on Gohan's other side. Anything Kaioshin might miss, Kibito jumped all over. He had already told Gohan in no uncertain terms that he would not allow use of the sword in a fight until Gohan had perfect control. The half-Saiyan had absolutely no doubt that Kibito was dead serious.

Gohan scrubbed the sweat out of his eyes and raised the sword yet again.

From the shadows, Videl and Goku watched.

"He's going to do it, right, Goku-san?" The girl had gotten used to the Otherworld in the months since her death. She'd been angry at first, at Maajin Buu, at Gohan, at the relentless unfairness that had taken her life so early. Despite her many heroic actions on Earth, she had not merited the status of retaining her body after death. That was understandable. What was not was the refusal of the denizens of the underworld to listen to her requests to see one of the Kaios. She had been unable to try to warn any of her friends about the threat to the Earth until several of them were already dead. Since the Z Senshi, Piccolo especially, were in rather high standing in the afterlife, they had been able to warn the Kaios. Then she was allowed to see North Kaiosama. Of course, at that point it was too late. Their arrival in Otherworld had alerted the chain of deities to the situation on Earth. While the destruction of one planet was not enough to warrant intervention, the reawakening of Maajin Buu was. Still, there was a touch of lingering resentment that no one had listened to her at the outset.

"Of course he is." The amount of faith Goku had in his son was staggering.

"Are you sure I can't -"

Goku shook his head regretfully. "Even I'm not supposed to talk to him. We're dead, see, and he's not. I only got to because I fought Cell and Frieza and my brother a long time ago."

"Your brother?" Videl shook her head. "Never mind. They won't mind if I stay and watch him a little longer, will they?"

Goku shook his head. "I guess not." He returned his attention to his son's efforts.

* * *

Contrary to outward appearance, Gohan was aware of the conversation between his father and his wife, if only on a subconscious level. He remained focused on the weapon in his hands, the last thing that could save his world from destruction at the hands of a near-god. He shifted his grip and concentrated his ki once again.

* * *

Goten lay on his back, Trunks draped trustingly over his chest. The other half-Saiyan had finally calmed down enough to really sleep, and Goten wasn't about to do anything to wake him. The past few months had been hell on all of them, but Trunks had managed to retain his sanity. Goten was fairly certain of that much. His own memory was hazy at best, and he wasn't convinced of the veracity of many of the incidents he thought he remembered. He did remember the decision to die, and being saved by Vegeta. The Saiyan Prince had thrust him aside at the last second, and forced Maajin Buu upwards. The next thing Goten remembered clearly was Trunks, mourning and in desperate need of something to reassure him that this war was worth it, that the fight against Maajin Buu was not meaningless. Somehow, he'd been able to give Trunks that reassurance. He'd been able to comfort the older boy, reaffirm their connection to life, while not entirely certain that he was in the right. In the light of the afternoon, it had been almost possible to fool himself.

Now, though, the stars pulsed in the sky, and as he had then, he pushed his doubts to the back of his mind. Even if the fight was hopeless, he couldn't give up. It was never the time to simply surrender. If it took his life, then so be it. But before it did, he had to do everything possible to save this world. Goten smiled up at nothing in particular. That . A disturbance of energy caught his attention. It looked like he would be able to test his newfound resolve. Maajin Buu had resurfaced. His smile vanished. Time to fight. As he woke Trunks and alerted Juuhachigou, he wondered where Gohan was, and if he had been able to accomplish what he'd set out to do. It didn't seem likely. He hadn't felt his brother's ki since he'd left. Besides, if Gohan had found out how to reconfine Maajin Buu, the demon would be safely tucked away, not out roaming around. Acutely aware that he had not so much as thought of his brother in the past few weeks, Goten sent up a silent prayer to a deity who no longer existed for his brother's safety.

Maajin Buu stood waiting for them. It was as perfect as it had been before the fight with Vegeta. Radiating coldness, it stood in the center of a perfectly clear expanse of earth. Moonlight glinted off its smooth skin. Goten nodded to Trunks. The best chance of defeating the beast lay in coordinating their attacks, as they had not done since the last Tournament. It was stronger than either of them, but perhaps together they had a chance.

A snowball's chance in hell, but better than none at all.

Goten grinned the classic Son grin, and was delighted to see Trunks respond in kind. It felt so good to smile. The demon cocked its head to the side, confused, and they attacked.

It was easier than Goten expected, to fall back into the rhythm of fighting side by side with Trunks. Even the addition of Juuhachigou to the routine seemed natural. The three of them managed to score hit after hit on Maajin Buu. Only problem was, the hits didn't seem to be damaging it at all. It just smiled and kept coming. Goten stepped up his attacks, putting every ounce of force into each point of contact. He ducked under Maajin Buu's punch, catching its wrist and planting his heel in its ribs. Had he let go, it would have gone flying some yards. As it was, Trunks hit it across the face with both fists. Goten did let go then, and Juuhachigou sent it back towards the two Saiyans with a well-placed kick. It just smiled.

Trunks caught Goten's eyes and nodded. They fell back slightly. The demon looked at them quizzically.

"Kame Hame Ha!" The energy waves spiraled around each other and assaulted Maajin Buu from both sides. Its body melted under the combined attack, dissolving into wisps of cotton candy-colored smoke. Goten laughed excitedly. "Yatta! Trunks, we did it!"

Trunks grinned back, a shadow of his much younger self peeking through. "We did! We killed it!" He grabbed Goten and kissed him enthusiastically. Goten returned the gesture, running his hands through his lover's hair. A disgusted sound from Juuhachigou broke them apart.

"Can you do that later?"

Trunks suddenly went very still, and Goten poked him in the ribs. "Come on, she's not trying to -"

"Look up." Trunks voice held a note of deadly seriousness. Maajin Buu hung in the sky above them, smiling delightedly.

The bottom dropped out of Goten's world. "What do we have to do to kill it?"

"I have no idea." Trunks leapt towards the demon, Goten right behind him. The younger half-Saiyan scored an immediate touch on the demon's face, puckering its features inward. Trunks followed through with a devastating blow on the back of the demon's neck, and the battle was back on. They forced it downwards, shattering its anatomy, twisting its torso out of any recognizable shape. Barely visible in its ruined face, the demon's eyes flashed.

Then Maajin Buu started fighting back.

Within a manner of seconds, Goten found himself on the defensive. Trunks was just as hard-pressed as he was. How in the hell the demon was managing to hold three of them at bay at once was beyond Goten. Dammit, it only had two arms! Without warning, it twisted upwards and scored a high kick to his jaw. Plummeting backwards, he saw stars. Something caught him. He looked up to see Juuhachigou. She had stopped him from impacting on solid bedrock, but that left Trunks alone against Maajin Buu. He didn't stand a chance. As Goten looked back, he could see the lilac-haired Saiyan go limp under the demon's furious onslaught.

Goten rushed back into the fight, loosing a volley of ki blasts. The demon let its hold on Trunks go, turning to face the newer threat. Trunks dropped like a stone. Trusting Juuhachigou to catch his companion as well, Goten brought his hands forward and then back in one of the most familiar movements.

"Ka. Me. Ka. Me. HAAAAA!"

Maajin Buu met the energy wave with one of his own. They met and clashed, the overspill crawling over the ground, leaving gaps of nothingness in their wake. Goten reached for more energy. It had to be there. He was unaware of his scream of rage as he poured everything he had into his attack.

It wasn't enough. None of it was enough. Little by little, he was pushed back. He called on every reserve he possessed; most of them were already drained. I can't let it end here! The center of his being shrieked his defiance of the thing that had ravaged their world. The last thing he saw was the blinding shine of his own energy eclipsed and flung back at him. Gohan.

* * *

Gohan lost his concentration with a start. Goten? He reached with his sixth sense towards the Earth. He felt his brother's ki fading fast, swallowed up by Maajin Buu. No! White heat boiled upwards. Not his brother. He was responsible for Goten, had been since the boy had been born. His conscience reminded him that he had abandoned his brother. Not again. Kaioshin started to protest his lapse in concentration, unaware of the reason behind it.

"Take me to Earth." Gohan forced the words through gritted teeth. "Now."

"You aren't leaving until -" Kibito started.

"If you don't take me there now, I will destroy this weapon and then this planet." A part of Gohan was in shock that he would make this statement - to a deity! - but the rest was anticipating the fight.

"You can't do that!" Kibito sputtered. He looked over to Kaioshin for support.

"I can and I will." Golden energy swam around him, soaking into his hair and lighting his eyes. "Take me there. Now."

Kaioshin made a small resigned sound and lifted his hands.

His surroundings blurred and shifted. Gohan's mind registered the presence of Trunks and Juuhachigou off to one side; she was supporting him. Maajin Buu stood at the start of a chasm in the ground. Goten lay at the other end, unmoving. Smoke curled around his still form, and there was absolutely no sense of life to him at all. Gohan's vision went red. Raising the sword, he channeled all of his ki into it and swung it towards Maajin Buu.

Surprise registered on the demons face as it dodged. The sword hit stone, carving a path through it. Gohan dodged the assault he knew was coming, rolling downwards and pulling the sword out of the earth. Most of the ki he had directed inward still remained, and he drew on it now.

"Makankosappo!" No matter how much he had trained with the sword, it still wasn't part of his unconscious thought. His instinct was to turn to an energy attack.

* * *

"What does he think he's doing?" Kibito, eyes blazing, gestured toward the sword lying apparently forgotten on the ground.

"I'm not sure." Kaioshin was trying very hard to retain his faith in Gohan, but the young Super Saiyan was not making it easy at all.

"He can do it." Goku folded his arms over his chest and watched his son fight.

* * *

While Maajin Buu was busy dealing with the Makankosappo, Gohan caught up the sword with one hand and swung towards its neck. The demon slid downwards at the last second, and the protrusion on top of its skull fell to the ground. It glared at Gohan, not smiling now. A hand shot out, aimed not at Gohan but at the sword. Gohan twisted to the side, slamming his shoulder into Maajin Buu's wrist. It hurt like hell, but at least the sword was still in his hands. He finished the turn, coming full circle and sliding backwards. The sword flashed toward Maajin Buu's unprotected side.

The demon caught it. And crushed the blade, melting the shattered fragments with a blast of ki so intense it burned the skin off of Gohan's palms as he threw up his hands to ward it off. Maajin Buu laughed, his high-pitched voice ululating through the liquid fire. A hand shot out and grabbed Gohan around the throat. Reflex took over and he swung his fist up in an uppercut. Maajin Buu caught his hand, and squeezed. Gohan couldn't hear the bones crack over his own screaming.

* * *

"I have to help them!" Goku stood absolutely still, as if he would shatter if he moved.

"You're dead. You cannot go down there." Infinite sadness rolled through Kaioshin's voice. "All you could do would be to die again. And that time, it would be total."

"I don't care! My son is in danger!"

Strictly speaking, his son was dead. At least the younger one was. The older wasn't far from it. Kaioshin shook his head. "I'm sorry, Goku."

"But -" Goku closed his eyes in hopeless frustration. "Kaiosama."

The short blue deity looked up at him. "Yes, Goku?"

"Can I at least talk to him?"

The look Kaiosama gave him said clearly that there was no need to speak to the boy now, as he would be joining his father in Otherworld all too soon. However, if Goku wanted to his son before his death. Kaiosama presented his back to the Earth-born Saiyan.

Goku placed a hand between the deity's shoulder blades, and did the only thing he could. Gohan.

Pain flooded down the link, and Goku nearly lost his connection to his son. Steeling his resolve, he sent the memories of his considerable fighting techniques to his son. Instant Transmission, Kame Hame Ha, Kaioken, Genki Dama. Perhaps his memories could help Gohan win the fight, as Goku himself was denied permission to do so.

Back on Earth, Gohan's eyes snapped open as two things happened simultaneously. First, Juuhachigou cannoned into Maajin Buu with a double kick, knocking it off of Gohan. Second, he felt his father's unmistakable presence, followed by a flood of memories. Memories of fighting, the thought patterns of a warrior, the knowledge of techniques Gohan had never learned.

He knew what to do to defeat Maajin Buu.

Gohan turned to Juuhachigou. "Can you keep it away from me for a few minutes?"

She nodded slowly. "I think so."

"Do it." Gohan raised both hands in the air and concentrated. Energy from the abused planet flowed towards him, accumulating in the air above him. It wasn't enough. Frowning, he reached further. The not-yet-visible sun was a source of energy, as were the other planets in the solar system. He felt Trunks stumble towards him, placing a hand on his burned skin, and open a conduit between them. Gohan pulled energy from him as well, and fed it all into the glowing ball of heat. The Spirit Bomb. He could hear Juuhachigou's cries of pain as Maajin Buu got past her defenses, and redoubled his efforts. Energy. I need more energy. The stars in the sky had power as well, and the twice-destroyed moon. Gohan pulled on it, as well, and on the life force of the weary, beaten denizens of Earth. He knew the exact moment that Maajin Buu tossed Juuhachigou aside, beaten but alive. It had to be enough.

He threw the Genki Dama at Maajin Buu. The demon pushed it back with pure ki, resisting with all of its incredible strength. No! Gohan struggled to press the Genki Dama into the demon, but his own energy was too depleted. Too much had gone into the making of the weapon, and there was almost none left for its use. He pulled harder at the energy sources around him, at the energy within himself that allowed him to transform, determined to force the Spirit Bomb down Maajin Buu's throat if it took every last erg of energy he possessed.

Slowly, achingly slowly, the Genki Dama retreated backwards. Gohan threw his body forward, as if that could induce the Spirit Bomb to do the same. Maajin Buu's laugh continued, shrill in triumph and certain of the knowledge of its opponent's defeat. Anger reawakened at the grating sound - how dare it laugh at one of the Saiyans? They were the universe's elite fighters! - and gave Gohan a little more strength. But not enough. The Genki Dama halted its inexorable retreat toward him, but did not advance. Gohan screamed again in frustration.

Maajin Buu flinched back, concentration faltering, looking backwards. Juuhachigou stood, unsteadily, wavering, hands extended outwards in a gesture of defiance. Ki leaked from her palms, dissipating upwards, and she gathered it once again to hit Maajin Buu from behind. Gohan pressed his sudden advantage, draining the last of the energy he had gathered. The Genki Dama roared towards the demon and slammed into it with concussive force.

Gohan felt the impact, seeing the demon disintegrate under the pure white onslaught. A soundless explosion rippled the fabric of the earth itself, and threw Gohan backwards. The light faded to .

Suddenly weak, he collapsed to his knees. It was over. Finally and truly over. Maajin Buu had vanished without a trace. Gohan smiled, painfully, as Juuhachigou climbed stiffly to her feet. He grinned, and addressed his next words to Trunks. "We won." The other Saiyan didn't respond. Gohan turned to look. Trunks had collapsed completely, face turned away. Gohan crawled over and tapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, Trunks. We did it!" Nothing. Gohan shook him harder. "Trunks, wake up!" This wasn't fair. It was over. No one else was supposed to die! He brushed the hair back from Trunks' face. The half-Saiyan had a peaceful little smile on his lips. "Oh, no. Kami, please, no." He wasn't breathing, and his ki was completely gone. "I. I took too much. I'm so sorry." Gohan put his head in his hands and wept.

A shadow fell across his vision. Juuhachigou stood above him, extending her hand. He stared blankly up at her. She reached down and pulled him to his feet by his gi, supporting his weight against her own. "They won't be gone forever, you know."

"I." Gohan took a deep breath. "I know."

The sun rose over the dusty plain, bringing with it the promise of new beginnings.

~owari~