I bowed my head and turned away from the edge of the Palace, from where I had been watching events unfold in the world below.  So much trouble had been caused in such a short amount of time - and I had been powerless to stop it.  What point was there in being a god if you couldn't save the lives of your closest friends?

My only friends.

I sighed bitterly as I walked away from my link to the world, crossing to the other side of the palace.  I had spent the past three weeks searching unsuccessfully for Trunks and Goten.  Now I had found them, twice over.  One set I could be quite happy with, but the second were like demons drawn from my worst nightmares.

How can one fight friends and family with the intent to kill?  Someone had obviously taught one pair of half-Saiyan boys how to do exactly that - and taught them regretfully well.  Son Goku's death at the hands of the boy who had once been Trunks had more than proven the point.  The Trunks and Goten born of this world no longer existed.  Only the cybernized shells of their bodies were left, leaving them as puppets; but who was pulling the strings?

"Mr. Popo," I called out as I wearily trudged up the steps.  "We will have guests shortly."

"Hai, Kami-sama," he acknowledged briefly, and bustled off.  He already knew there was trouble, we had all known from the moment Trunks and Goten had disappeared.  I just hadn't wanted to believe it.  Such a great god I made.  I felt that I had failed, although I knew I hadn't; not yet, at any rate.  Not while there was still hope for us all.

All except Goku and Ubuu.

I stood still for a moment as I mourned their loss.  Ubuu had been an innocent child, his only crime being born with the strength and will to fight.  Goku had been the world's saviour many times over, as well as being a truly good-hearted man.

The world would have to look for someone else to save it now.  I just hoped that it wouldn't have to look to me alone; but I wouldn't be alone for much longer.  The other Trunks and Goten were both on their way here, and both with wounded in their care.  That boded well for their intentions, but we would need their strength and skill as well.

The new cyborgs had easily overcome the most powerful warrior on our planet.  What kind of hope did that leave us with?  There were only two of them, but that would easily be enough to eliminate the remainder of the world's fighters.  The cyborg-Goten's  ‘fight' with Vejita came to my mind unbidden.  Nijuuichigou had played with the Saiyan warrior, then dropped him like a child would absently drop a toy.  There was precious little we could do to stop him from using the rest of the fighters in a similar manner.  All we really had now was hope.

Hope - and two new arrivals.  Perhaps with the new Goten and Trunks also fighting we would have a chance to overpower the cyborgs, perhaps even without killing them.  Perhaps.

I would soon find out.

The new Trunks was the first to reach the palace, with poor Bra cradled gently in his arms.  He was hesitant in his approach and I felt myself growing a little impatient for the injured girl, but I held my peace.  He was unsure of himself in this world, and I didn't want to risk losing yet another half-Saiyan.

"It's alright, Trunks," I told him calmly as he hovered not five feet from me.  "Let me heal her."

It was the right thing to say, I realized, as I held out one hand, palm facing upwards.  His tight expression relaxed marginally as he brought her close enough for me to touch - and to heal.  Her eyes fluttered open, their sky-blue innocence tainted with fright as she glanced from Trunks to myself nervously.

"It's alright, Bra," Trunks echoed my earlier words, his voice soft and gentle.

"But - "  She bit her lip, her eyes darting between us as she took several deep breaths.  Finally her gaze rested on the one who could have been her brother, questioning.  "You look like Niichan," she informed him, her words catching a little in her throat.

"Aa," he acknowledged, bowing his head.  "Not quite, though."

"No," she agreed solemnly.  "You have longer hair."

He blinked.

"And he hurt me.  Why did Niichan hurt me?"

I suppressed a sigh at her plaintive cry.  What could I tell her?

"He didn't know what he was doing, Bra-chan," Trunks told her forcefully, surprising me, his blue eyes meeting her own steadily.  "He's sick at the moment.  He didn't really want to hurt you."

"Oh."  She sounded both happy and sad.  "Will he get better soon?" she queried, trusting.

"We hope so, Bra-chan," I replied.  "Are you hungry?" I diverted her attention.  "Go find Mr. Popo - he'll have something good for you to eat."  Trunks and I watched her as she ran happily off in search of food.  Saiyan blood did have a tendency to show through.

"They were cyborgs," Trunks whispered after several moments of silence, looking past me rather than at me.

"Yes," I confirmed.  "It just happened.  They'd been missing for three weeks.  We didn't know until today."

He looked up sharply, and I smiled grimly.  "They killed Son Goku first, along with his student Ubuu.  They played around with Vejita, but let him live.  He's on his way here now, with Bulma, Piccolo and your Goten."

He exhaled slowly, his breathing carefully measured.  He started to ask me about his friend when I felt a chill run down my spine, a similar feeling to when Goku died.  I grabbed the railings, bending over them to peer down into the world that was under my care.  The railings crumpled beneath my hands.

"Juunanagou."

Trunks stiffened at my side as I named the cyborg, his fists clenching a little.  "Nani?"  he whispered hoarsely.

"Juunanagou is dead; destroyed by Nijuuichigou."

"By Goten," he exhaled shakily.

"No," I corrected him sadly.  "That's not Goten."  Not now, at least.  Not anymore.  He would never again be the boy Dr. Gero had stolen from us.  It might yet be possible to redeem them both, to restore their humanity just as Krillen managed to do for Juuhachigou, and Juuhachigou for her brother…

I shrugged off my hopes for the future, concentrating instead on the present.  Krillen would soon find his wife, and in very poor condition at that.  :Bring her here, Krillen,: I urged him mentally.  :Bring her here, and let me heal her.:  As I watched, he turned the aircar around, heading towards us.

I closed my eyes and contemplated my next move.  Gathering all my friends and letting them know what was going on was one thing, directly intervening - even if I could make a difference, which I was not at all certain about - was not something Gods were supposed to do under normal circumstances.  But this had gone beyond normal.  Goku was only the start. If we could not stop them, they would be our doom.

"Dende-sama!"  A bright young voice prompted me to open my eyes, smiling at Pan's boisterous greeting, a most welcome distraction from my thoughts.  Her parents were far more reserved, their anxiety visible in their eyes.

"Dende-sama," Gohan greeted me quietly.  "Piccolo-san - ?"

"He will be alright," I assured him.  Only fear for his wife and daughter's safety had made him heed my summons rather than continue on to Piccolo's aid.  I had been brusque in reminding him of this when I called him, but I had known that the fight would have escalated if Gohan had joined the brief melee between the two new cyborgs and Vejita.  Having eliminated Goku, I was sure that Gohan would be their next major target.  They allowed Vejita, Piccolo and Juuhachigou to escape.  They would not grant the same leniency to Son Gohan.

He sighed, slightly relieved - but his expression was still troubled, as well it should be.  I truly dreaded his next question, but knew that it was unavoidable.  I shooed Pan off to find Mr. Popo and Bra before he could ask it.

"I thought I felt my father fighting earlier - is he hurt?"

I bowed my head, not wanting to be the one to answer him, but that in itself was answer enough.

"How could Goku of all people have been hurt?" Videl cried out, alarmed, as Gohan stepped back in shock.

"We have a new enemy," I informed them grimly.

"What about Goten and Trunks?  Did this enemy do something to them? Do you know?" Gohan demanded urgently.

I winced at that, and turned to call my other guest over as a diversion - only to realize that he was nowhere in sight.

An uneasy feeling stole through my heart as I searched the earth below for his presence.  Piccolo and the others would be here very soon, I noted, but Trunks was not with them.  I turned my gaze out towards the direction Krillen would appear from, seeing that they, too, would arrive shortly.  Trunks, however, was hidden from my sight.  No, not hidden - I simply didn't know where to look.

"Dende-sama?"

I turned back to Gohan and Videl just as Goten lighted on the platform behind them.  I set to work healing Bulma and Vejita's injuries knowing that the time for explanations had almost come.  I counted the minutes as they slipped past, praying to my God that we would make it through this disastrous occurrence somehow, some way…

I awoke surrounded by warmth and looking into the eyes of God.  This wasn't necessarily a good thing, especially when my last memories were of a sadistic grin on a frighteningly familiar face, and an equally well-known voice calling out 'Sayonara'.  And the steering wheel; I couldn't forget the steering wheel, not after becoming so closely acquainted with it.

I brought my hand to my forehead automatically, rubbing at the spot where I should have been injured…

"You're all right, Bulma," Dende informed me softly with a sad little smile.  "I've healed you."

The warmth tightened comfortingly around me, and I turned my head to meet Vejita's eyes, moving my hand to rest on top of his, clamped around my waist as he supported me, half-sitting, on the steps of Heaven.  His dark eyes were serious, and filled with a peculiar mixture of emotions that I was unable to read.

"Vejita," I ordered quietly, "please tell me that Goten didn't just try to kill me."

"What?!"

I looked up to see Gohan and Videl standing a short distance away.  It was Gohan's exclamation I had heard, but his attention wasn't focused on me.  Instead, his eyes were fixed firmly on the boy whose shoulder he was grasping…  Goten.

My mind shrieked a warning that went against everything I had ever known about Son Goten - everything except what I had experienced today.  I clutched at Vejita, but he didn't react, prompting me to take a closer look at the familiar figure.  There were differences between this boy and the Goten that I knew - only slight, but noticeable nonetheless.  The question now had to be asked: which 'Goten' had attacked me?

"Not him," Dende answered for me swiftly, and for Gohan.  "Not this Goten."

This Goten?!   My thoughts were echoed aloud by Gohan and Videl; this time it was 'Goten' himself who answered us.

"I'm from another dimension," he told us.  "I just got here a couple of hours ago with my dimension's Trunks, and we seem to have walked right into the middle of things," he sighed, shrugging.  "Again," he added darkly under his breath, his mouth twisting unpleasantly.

"Then where's your Trunks?" Videl asked logically.  The blood drained from Goten's face as he stared at her.

"He was here just a short while ago," said Dende, which begged the question as to his present whereabouts, but the young god continued.  "He brought Bra here - "

"Bra?!"  I could hear Vejita's head snap up at the mention of our daughter's name.

"She's quite safe," Dende assured us both.  "She's with Pan and Mr. Popo at the moment.  Trunks rescued her from the cyborgs."

"Cyborgs?" I repeated, puzzled.  "What have Juunanagou and Juuhachigou got to do with this?  Why would she need to be rescued from them?"

"Not from them," Piccolo informed me grimly.  "The new cyborgs.  Nijuuichigou and Nijuunigou."

Twenty-one and Twenty-two?  Two new cyborgs?  Putting two and two together unfortunately gave me four…  Oh please, God, no…  God heard my prayers, I was sure, but his answer was not the one I wanted to hear.

"Goten and Trunks."

I stared at the young Namekkian who was our God, not wanting to believe him even though I had seen them with my own eyes…

"Who could have done this to them?" I demanded, gathering my anger to overcome my horror.  I had been sorely remiss as a parent, assuming that my son would be able to handle anything he came up against.  I had worried when they had both gone missing, but had simply assumed that they'd wanted a little time off.  After all, they had just finished their exams for the semester…  They had had a few weeks holiday free…

So many assumptions.  They had cost me my son and his best friend.

We should have searched harder for them; we should have stopped this from happening to them!  By the tenseness in Vejita's muscles I could tell he was having similarly guilty thoughts.  Dende spread his hands helplessly.  We had no-one else to blame.  At least, not yet.

I shrugged my way out of Vejita's arms and pushed myself to my feet.  "I have to go to Capsule Corp.," I declared.  "I should be able to work out just who could be capable of doing such a thing."  There couldn't be too many - in fact, Dr. Gero was the only one I knew of who had successfully carried out such a procedure, but he was long since dead.  And good riddance, too.

"Capsule Corp. is gone."

What?!  I looked askance at Piccolo.

"It's been completely destroyed," he elaborated.  "One of our new enemies' first targets."

Enemies.  Trunks and Goten were now our enemies.  I shuddered.  No.  I couldn't accept that!  I turned to Dende, intending to find out everything he knew about the… condition… my son and Goten were in now; but the arrival of an aircar delayed my interrogation of God.  Kurilin's aircar.  Somehow I just knew that he wouldn't be bringing good news.

Stuck as a babysitter.  Again.

I sighed, taking one last look at my mother, father, and Kami before heading over to where Pan and Bra were busy stuffing their faces.  Saiyajin, I mentally sighed, shaking my head disapprovingly as I approached.

"Hi, Marron-oneesan!" Trunks' sister beamed, "Are you okay?"  I raised an eyebrow at the strange question.

"Yes, I'm okay, but my mother... got hurt a bit," I said, barely recovering from my slip.  I hated myself for lying to the girls, but was unsure as to how they would take the truth.  I decided to take a seat at the table, shifting anxiously on my cushion and watching them nervously as they turned their full attention towards me.

"Do you two know anything about why we're all here?  I'm starting to get a little scared, to be honest."  Blurred memories of people dying all around me sprang to mind with my words, and I shuddered as I remembered the stories my parents had told of the terrible creature who had slain every man, woman, and child on the planet not thirteen years previous...

"Marron-oneesan?  You okay?"  Pan's voice brought me back to the present with a start, and I blinked at the girls.

"What?"

"I said that Oniisan hurt me really bad, but then another Oniisan saved me and brought me here.  He said Oniisan was sick, and that he didn't mean to hurt me."

Another oniisan? I wondered at that - before the impact of her first statement really hit me, wiping that piece of confusion from my mind in horror.  "Y-your oniisan...  You mean Trunks hurt you?" I cried in shock as Bra nodded and stared down at her plate.  "B-but why?"

"He was sick." Bra looked away, still playing with her food as tears began to roll down her face.  I quickly knelt by her side and joined Pan as we embraced the little purple-haired girl. God, what had he done to her?!

"I . . . I heard Touchan an' Kaachan talking before we came here," Pan said in a subdued voice, something that shocked me even more than Bra's confession.  "Touchan said his friend was getting hurt, and he almost yelled at Kaachan.  After that, we had to leave really quick.

"I started getting worried, but Kaachan said we were all going on a vacation to Heaven an' not to be scared...  Not that I was," the girl hastily added, a spark of her usual spitfire personality shining through for a moment.  "But we didn't bring any vacation stuff, and I'm still..." she looked into my eyes, suddenly realizing something.  "Kaachan lied, didn't she?  We - we're not here on vacation, are we?"  Pan's voice trembled slightly, making my heart ache as I slowly shook my head and confirmed her fears.

"No, Pan-chan, we're not."  Both girls looked at me in silence for a moment before Pan rose and whispered something into my ear.

"Marron-oneechan, please don't tell this to anyone, but I'm scared now."

The gravity of the situation suddenly hit with those three words.  God, why was this happening?  What did we do to deserve this?  What did we do wrong?

Kaasan had been terribly injured by some unknown force, Bra had been beaten by her own brother, the indomitable Pan-chan was afraid, and everyone was gathering here for safety!  Had the world gone mad?

I gathered the little girls in my arms and gently rocked the two back and forth in an attempt to comfort them, even as my mind raced with thoughts of anger and helplessness.

I realized that Kami was probably telling the 'adults' what was going on right at this moment, with no regard for us 'children'!  If our lives were in danger, why wouldn't they tell us?!  Did they think they could protect us by maintaining our ignorance?

Hugging Pan and Bra tighter for a moment before letting them go, I suddenly realized who else was missing out of our little 'Quintuplet of Naiveté'.  I glanced to the doorway, half-expecting Goten and Trunks to come waltzing in here at any moment, complaining about not being let in on the secret threat... then shook my head fiercely, realizing that those days were long past.  Those two were warriors now, just as Pan was training to be, and they were probably outside talking with everyone else about the news.

The jerks.

"Come on, girls," I said, making a swift decision.  "Let's find out what exactly is going on."  Bra looked a little doubtful, but Pan-chan practically bounced to her feet, the determination in her young face corresponding to the way I felt.  The others obviously weren't going to tell us, so it was up to us to gather our own information.

I pressed one finger to my lips, warning for silence, before cautiously poking my head around the corner.  No one was in sight.  Beckoning the younger girls to follow, I quietly crossed back to the edge of the open area where my father had landed our aircar not too long ago, being careful to stick to the shadows wherever possible.  I needn't have worried.  They were all too absorbed in whatever they were discussing to notice us.

I'd been right about Goten: he was standing there with all the other adults, although Trunks was missing for once.  I was the only one apart from the two girls at my side not included.  I wasn't a child!  My father was simply too protective - overly so.

My eyes automatically searched for my father, finding him holding my mother's limp form in his arms, Kami-sama just lifting his hands from her torso.

"She'll be fine after she rests a little," he assured my father, who murmured some words of gratitude in reply.

"I don't know who did this to her - "

"We have a pretty good idea already," Piccolo interrupted dryly, nodding his head at a scowling Vejita.  "Trunks and Goten."

"You're not serious!"  I was hard-pressed not to echo my father's outburst, my gaze flickering across to Goten.  He was unmoved by the accusation, his face expressionless.  "But -"

"Not this Goten," Gohan informed Tousan.  "This Goten's from another dimension.  There's another Trunks as well, apparently."  Tousan was starting to look as confused as I felt.

"So our Goten and Trunks - "

"Are now the cyborgs Nijuuichigou and Nijuunigou," Piccolo completed.

"Masaka...  Dr. Gero again?" My father's voice was tight with emotion, whether anger or fear I couldn't guess.

Who was Dr. Gero?  I'd heard the name before, I was sure...

"That's what I thought," Bulma spoke up.  "But the man is dead - has been dead for almost as long as Trunks has been alive!"

"Who else would number them like that?"  Vejita demanded.

"Perhaps he left behind an assistant or something?"  Tousan suggested.

"Unlikely," Bulma informed him.  "He wasn't the type to share his secrets with anyone.  Nor was he an entirely ordinary man at the end."

"Ah," Gohan nodded.  "He transformed himself into Jinzouningen Nijuugou.  His next cyborg would have been Nijuuichi..."  He trailed off, closing his eyes as he grimaced.

The numbers...  My uncle was Juunana, my mother Juuhachi...  Jinzouningen.  This Dr. Gero made them the way they are?  Turned them into cyborgs?

"Are you sure Dr. Gero died?" Bulma pressed.

"Juunanagou smashed his skull in.  It would take something of a miracle for him to pull his brains back together," Piccolo commented in a vindictive tone.  "And I doubt that Dende would have been so gracious."  God shook his head.

"Dr. Gero has not been resurrected; at least, not by the Dragonballs."

"But would he really have to be?"  My father's voice was haunted by demons I knew nothing of - but one word was sufficient to bring looks of alarm to the other's faces.  "Cell."

Vejita snarled, baring his teeth; Piccolo hissed in anger while Gohan's fists were so tightly clenched that I could see his knuckles whitening.  I knew of Cell, of course.  Every child in Satan City did.  However, it was becoming obvious that there were some things about the infamous monster that I did not know.  What did Cell have to do with Dr. Gero and his cyborgs?

"Dr Gero's computers continued the development of Cell after his death," Bulma answered my unspoken question, her face ashen.

"But we destroyed the lab!" Tousan protested.

"A lab."

There was a moment of silence as they all exchanged looks of the utmost seriousness.  I could feel the tautness in my own muscles at the tenseness of the situation.  By my side, Pan and Bra were wide-eyed in fear.  I wondered just how much of this they understood.  I was having trouble following the discussion - and I discovered a new appreciation for Tousan's protectiveness.  I was troubled by what I had overheard - and so far no one had offered a solution.

"So, what can we do?" Videl asked at last.

"We have to warn Goku," Father urged immediately.  "He'll be able to stop them without hurting them!"

"No, he couldn't."  All attention was focused on God at that abrupt statement.

"Wh- what do you mean?" Tousan stammered nervously.  "They can't be that strong - no one can defeat Goku!"  Kami-sama reached out with one hand to clasp my father's shoulder, his eyes sorrowful as he turned his gaze towards Gohan.

"Son Goku is dead."

I bit my lip, tasting blood, as I watched my father's spirit shatter.  At my side, Pan uttered a strangled whimper.  Her father made as though to spring into the air, but Piccolo's hand on his shoulder and Videl's arms around his waist halted him.  Bulma staggered back against Vejita in shock, disbelief written across her face, while her husband's scowl was fiercer than I had ever seen before.

"Son Goku is dead," God repeated quietly.  "Nijuunigou killed him a few hours ago."  Vejita's lips twisted in a parody of a smirk.  "Nijuuichigou killed Ubuu as well, just as he killed Juunanagou."

Juunana - my uncle was dead?!

"Marron-oneesan."  Small fingers were clutching at my arm, shaking it lightly.  I blinked dazedly down at Bra, and at Pan, curled on the floor against the wall and sobbing quietly.  Bra's bright blue eyes were far too serious for her age.

She'd seen too much.  We'd heard too much.

I scooped Pan-chan into my arms, whispering a few words of comfort into her ears, weak as they sounded from my numbed lips and mind.  I'd wanted to hear - I'd wanted to know - and now I'd paid the price for such knowledge.

I bowed my head as I cuddled the girls close, my own tears mingling with theirs in bitterness for innocence lost: theirs, mine, Goten's and Trunks'.

"Juunanagou . . ." I croaked, "Juunanagou's dead."  I didn't need to look at my husband's face to know the answer to my half-question, but I did anyway.

"Hai," he answered somberly.  "Dende told me what had happened on the island."  I reached up to brush the beginnings of tears from Krillin's eyes as he sat beside me on the sumptuous bed and cradled me like a newborn babe in his arms.

"I'm so glad you're all right," my little monk whispered as I rested a hand in his grey hair...

"I thought it was all over when Buu was defeated, Juu-chan...  Why now? Why, after we've had peace for so long, does it have to start over again?" I swept droplets of moisture from his face once more, but they were replaced with fresh tears as soon as I moved my hand away.  "Why did Gero have to come back and take our children?"

Our children. I shook my head mentally, marveling at my husband's seemingly infinite capacity for love.  He still thought of Goku's boys - and to a lesser extent, Vejita's two offspring - as his own, even after the
families had grown apart.

And speaking of Vejita, I could sense his ki, as well as many others either converging on our position or already present around us.  What was going on?  Why was everyone heading for the Palace?  Had Nijuuichigou and Nijuunigou struck again?  Or were Juunana and I not the first...?

"What happened?"  I asked, my voice growing stronger by the second.  But going by the expression on my dearest's face, he hadn't heard me.

"I'm too old."  There was a sudden tiredness in Krillin's voice that surprised me as he bowed his head and slumped against my shoulder.  "I... I can't fight anymore, Juuhachi.  Not against them.  I wouldn't make a difference."  His shoulders drooped and his low breath sounded like a death knell in my ears.  "I haven't made a difference in decades."

Oh no, not this again - not when I needed you most!  I stiffened in his arms, drawing his attention as I firmly raised his head to meet my eyes, focusing my thoughts at him through my gaze.  I was not going to let him give up on me!  I wouldn't let him!

"Krillin."  My own voice almost gave me the chills as I spoke, "You have made a difference.  You know that.  You've fought for me, you've fought with me all these years.  I will not let you keep lying to yourself, not when every time something difficult comes along you turn into... this.

"Marron and I need you if we're going to stop the new Jinzouningen.  The survivors..."  I paused, my brother's last words echoing in my ears before I continued, "the survivors will need you.  If not as a warrior, then as counsel for the battle to come."

I grabbed him by the collar and stared coldly into his eyes, half of myself hating what I had to do, and the other half reveling in it.  "You are not going to drift away from me on this one, Krillin.  I am not going to let you wallow in self-pity and dreams of better days like I have in the past.  You will help, dearest, or we will all die."  I pushed him away and raised myself from the bed, leaving my poor, bewildered husband to think about his predicament while I went in search of Dende.

I needed information, and the god of the Earth seemed the best place to start.

"Hi, Juunanagou -  you're dead too, huh?  Come over here and join Ubuu and me - we can watch what's going on back on Chikyuu.  Bye, Enma-sama!  See you later!"

I had to admit, Son Goku was not the person I wanted to see at that point, especially not where we were.  There was no denying that inanely optimistic grin of his, though, no matter my wishes.  The fact that he was here meant that the new cyborgs had killed the most powerful man on the planet.  My sister and her family didn't stand a chance.

I didn't want to be near the Saiyajin, but it was better than lingering by Enma Daiou's feet, waiting to see what he would decide to do with me.  I still didn't know whether to be pleased or not at Enma's statement that I had a soul.  A kind of a soul, at any rate.

Nothing to show what I was before, no connections to my past life, nothing that would have defined me as human.  Gero may have said that we were human based, but we might as well have been as artificial as Juurokugou for what it was worth.  I wouldn't have been surprised to find him here, come to think of it.

"Hey, don't look so gloomy!  Being dead isn't all that bad."

"You going to tell your family that too?" I snapped at him, beyond frustrated with my inability to protect my own.  "They'll be showing up soon enough - oh, I forgot - minus Goten, right?"

I knew it was harsh, but at least it wiped that stupid smile off his face.  Seeing the sober look that replaced it made me feel bitterly vindicated.

"They're not dead yet," he replied softly.  "They might not die at all."  I glared at him.

"They killed you, and you were the strongest person on the planet.  How do you expect them to survive when you didn't?!"

He shrugged it off, although his dark eyes revealed his concern.  "I may have been the strongest, but I wasn't the smartest," he said with a small, rueful smile.   "Don't underestimate them.  I believe they can win."

"By killing Goten and Trunks?" I prodded, wanting to see how far his conviction carried him.  He lowered his eyes without saying a word, but that was answer enough.  "You shouldn't worry about that," I told him.  "They're already deader than dead."  That caught his attention.  He gazed at me steadily, black eyes so focused that I felt as though he was staring straight through me.

"Don't underestimate them," he repeated.  "Come on, you'll see."

He led me over to where a dark skinned boy was looking intently into a globe filled with - images of people I knew?!  The boy turned to us with an anxious expression as we approached.

"Everyone's alright, sensei, but I think your friends are trying to come up with a plan."

"They do look kinda busy," Goku agreed, peering into the globe at Gohan having a soundlessly animated discussion with Bulma.  Before my eyes, the image switched to Juuhachigou who was speaking intently with that little ex-monk of hers.   I drank in the sight of her healthy and whole once more, a vast relief at the fact that she was safe permeating my entire being.

It was worth it, dying like that.

My first death had been a meaningless one in the end.  I hoped that it would be different this time.  I wanted to believe as Son Goku believed - but I didn't see how it could be possible.

The image of Juuhachi diminished as the perspective widened.  It seemed that almost everyone I would have expected was there at God's Palace, although some of the less powerful had skipped out.  Not that they'd make much of a difference anyway.  I snorted, covering a wince as I recalled the strength of Nijuuichi's blows.

Then I stared.

There had been something bothering me about the crowd gathered there, but it wasn't until I reflected on Nijuuichigou that I realized his face was right before me, at the edge of the image.  I nearly hauled Goku over to me by his collar to demand to know why the hell he hadn't warned them.  A quick check against my all too vivid memories made me alter my course of action slightly.  I still lugged him over by the collar, though.  The idiot could have prevented me from getting that nasty little shock.

"Who the hell is he?" I asked in as calm and rational a manner as I was capable of.  He blinked guilelessly.

"Oh, that's Goten from another dimension," he replied, blithely ignoring my annoyance.  "He showed up with another version of Trunks a bit after Ubuu and I died."

"Another Trunks as well?  So just where is he?"

Our heads turned as one as the image in the globe shifted in response to my query.  It was a moment before I recognized the remains of Kame House, but the long-haired version of Trunks next to it was a very familiar figure.  So was the torso he was leaning over.

"What the fuck is he doing to my body?!!"