Dragonball Super Z
http://hometown.aol.com/juuhachigouda/dbszfic.html
By: Juuhachi-gou <juuhachigouda@aol.com> and MiraiBulma
Dragonball Z

Freshmen:
Part Three
"I Cannot Believe We'd Ever Die"


We've tried to wash our hands of all of this 
We never talk of our lack in relationships 
And how we're guilt-stricken, sobbing with our heads on the floor 
We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip

~*~

	The afternoon was getting old, the shadows slanting and 
lengthening around the golden Capsule Corporation dome. Inside, in the 
tidy kitchen, two families were gathered together with a group of 
strangers who were each achingly familiar.
	"My name is Marron," the young blonde girl said quietly. Both her 
hands were wrapped around a cup of tea, her knuckles as white as her 
face. Juuhachi-gou's face, almost, but not quite--the eyes were dark 
and round, completely unlike the Jinzouningen's pale, cat-slanted eyes. 
"You know Goten, and that--" she nodded to indicate the tiny girl who 
sat on Bulma's lap, clinging to her--"is Bra."
	"Bra...:" Bulma murmured, stroking the child's pale aqua hair. "I 
always thought that if I had a daughter, that's what I'd name her."
	The girl looked up into Bulma's eyes, her face a mirror of 
Bulma's past. She was almost twelve, too old to be cradled like this 
really, but no one seemed to take any notice at the moment. "Kaa-
san...?" she asked, uncertainly. "Only...you're not really, are you?"
	Bulma shook her head, not in denial but in confusion. "I'm not 
sure--Bra-chan. I don't understand any of this."
	Vegeta stood behind Bulma, studying the strange young girl with 
his intense eyes. Bra looked at him, meeting his gaze without 
flinching, and if anyone else had been watching the Saiyajin Prince at 
that moment, they might have detected a slight softening of his 
habitual stony scowl. But no one else was.
	"Maybe I can explain things." Marron set down her teacup and ran 
her hand through her bangs--a gesture so like Juuhachi-gou's it was 
almost frightening in its familiarity. "I can at least tell you what I 
know."
	Juuhachi-gou couldn't take her eyes off the girl who called 
herself Marron. "You...you're Kuririn's daughter," she said slowly. "I 
remember, from our trip to the past."
	Marron looked at her and nodded. "Yes. Kuririn was my father."
	"You have his eyes," Gokou said, with a soft sadness coloring his 
voice.
	She looked at Gokou and smiled. Then she returned her gaze to the 
Jinzouningen. "And you're my mother."
	"Yes, but..." Juuhachi-gou bit her lip. "I mean, I knew about 
you--from our visit to the past, but I didn't think...I mean, I 
thought..."
	"She thought you'd been adopted," Piccolo supplied gruffly from 
the doorway. His tone spoke his impatience without words. "She doesn't 
think she can have kids." Juu shot the Namek a look of pure venom which 
he summarily ignored.
	"Well, you--she--had me," Marron said firmly. "My parents were 
very happy together."
	*And in this world I killed the man that should have been your 
father...* Juuhachi-gou cringed, and Trunks was at her side in an 
instant, his arm around her shoulders. 
	"How did you all come to be here?" Trunks asked, directing his 
question at Marron, who seemed to know the most about the situation. 
"It's not as if you're not welcome," he added quickly, "but...what 
happened?"
	Trunks may not have seen the flicker of pain in Marron's eyes, 
but Juuhachi-gou did. She noticed that Marron wouldn't even look at 
Trunks, and wondered at that. *Maybe because she senses we're together, 
and she misses her father?* She dismissed the speculation as Marron 
began to speak again, looking fixedly at a spot somewhere near the door 
where Piccolo stood apart, listening.
	"I remember what it was like before things went terribly 
wrong...I never met Gokou-san, because Cell killed him before I was 
born, but Tou-san talked about him all the time."
	Gokou nodded. "Kuririn and I grew up together. He was my first 
real friend, 'sides Bulma, of course."
	Bulma reached out and patted Gokou's hand. "Go on, Marron-chan."
	It was obviously hard for Marron to talk about the past, but just 
as obviously she wanted to answer as many questions for them as she 
could with her story. "We were all very happy, until..." She swallowed 
hard. "Until Aisuzu came."
	"Aisuzu?" Vegeta echoed. "I don't know that name." His 
pronouncement indicated that he thought he should have recognized it.
	Marron looked at him directly, with no trace of shyness. "You 
remember Furiiza? And Kuura?"
	Vegeta's face hardened. He didn't grace her question with a 
reply.
	"So Aisuzu was one of Furiiza's people?" Gohan asked.
	"She was--is--Furiiza's sister."
	"I never heard of her," Vegeta muttered.
	"She obviously didn't associate much with her family. But when 
she learned that her father and brothers had been killed here on Earth, 
she came to get revenge. She came with her army, and the first thing 
she did was destroy the Tenka."
	"Dende..." Gohan whispered.
	Marron shook her head. "He was the first to die. He and Mr. Popo 
both."
	Piccolo straightened up, his hands clenching into taloned fists.
	"The same blast that destroyed the Tenka also demolished the 
tower below it. Karin and Yajirobe-san were killed as well. Of course, 
with Dende gone, the Dragon Balls were gone, too; and there were no 
more senzou beans to be had once Karin was dead." Marron drew her feet 
up onto the edge of the chair and wrapped her arms around her knees. 
"Then the fighting started...and went on. And on. People died, and 
there was no way to bring any of them back. We couldn't even heal the 
injuries of the survivors fast enough before the fighting would start 
again."
	"This 'Aisuzu'," Vegeta snarled. "Are you saying she killed 
everyone? Even me?"
	Marron looked at him without answering, without hesitation. 
	He smirked. "She must be powerful."
	"She is. And she has no compunctions. None."
	"Neither do I."
	"It didn't help you."
	He growled at her.
	"Go on, Marron," Bulma urged again. "Ignore Mr. Attitude over 
there."
	Marron took a deep breath. "My father wanted to join the fighting 
right away, but Kaa-san wouldn't let him. She knew he wouldn't stand a 
chance, but he couldn't just sit by and watch his friends die. When he 
left to confront Aisuzu, Kaa-san went with him. I followed." She looked 
at Juuhachi-gou, her eyes haunted. "I watched Aisuzu kill them." She 
fingered the collar of the tattered Red Ribbon Army vest she wore. 
"Aisuzu let me live. She took pleasure from the thought of my suffering 
and grief." Her face hardened. "I swore then I'd make her pay for their 
lives. For all the lives she destroyed."
	Her gaze swung to the doorway, and this time she looked at 
Piccolo straight on. "I sought you out in the wilderness, where you'd 
gone after Gohan was killed."
	Piccolo didn't outwardly flinch. He returned her gaze 
unblinkingly.
	"I demanded you teach me how to fight--my mother had never let me 
learn. She didn't want me to live the life she had."
	"I don't blame her," Juu said quietly.
	Marron ignored her, still looking at Piccolo. "You were already 
training Goten and Trunks, and you were hard on me, very hard, but I 
didn't care. It was what I wanted. You knew even then we were fated to 
lose, but like the rest of us, you refused to just give up."
	"I don't give up," Piccolo said flatly. "Ever."
	"I know. After Vegeta was killed--"
	"How?" Vegeta demanded.
	Marron glanced at him. "Aisuzu captured Bulma and used her as 
bait for you. You managed to save Bra's life, but..."
	Bra choked on a sob and buried her face against Bulma's shoulder. 
Bulma wrapped her arms around the girl protectively. "How terrible."
	"After you died, Vegeta didn't care about much of anything. He 
tried a suicide strike against Aisuzu. He hurt her--badly--but he 
didn't kill her. Still...he did buy us time. Piccolo took Bra in, too, 
and she began training as well."
	"Of course," Vegeta answered at once. "She's Saiyajin."
	Marron nodded. "For almost ten years we kept our presence hidden 
in the desert while Piccolo trained us and taught us how to fight, how 
to survive. We--I--began to think we really did stand a chance after 
all. Only--we didn't. Not really.
	"Aisuzu rallied what was left of her forces and came looking for 
us again. You--Piccolo, our Piccolo, was gone that night they finally 
found us. Trunks held her off while the rest of us escaped." She 
swallowed hard. "Goten and I went back and found him. He was...she'd 
killed him." Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. "We brought his 
body back to our new hiding place and buried him there. Bra kept his 
sword."
	It was Trunks' turn to shudder, and Juu took his hand and 
squeezed it. Her eyes were fixed on Marron. The girl's face told her 
everything she needed to know. *Trunks was your lover, wasn't he, 
Marron? That's the real reason it hurts you to see us together. Because 
your mother is your dead boyfriend's lover, and your father doesn't 
even exist because your mother killed him before you were born.* She 
wanted to reach out to this girl, comfort her, but she held back and 
let Marron finish her story. She wasn't even sure if she had any 
comfort to give that Marron would--or could--accept.
	Almost as if she sensed Juuhachi-gou's thoughts, Marron 
straightened in her chair and continued in a stronger voice. "That was 
a week ago. Piccolo finally realized that all we could do was die. He 
didn't mind it much, if we could take Aisuzu with us--but he knew there 
was only one way to be sure."
	"How?" ChiChi asked, genuinely curious.
	Silence for a moment, broken by a bellow of gruff laughter. All 
eyes went to Piccolo, who had thrown back his head, bellowing his 
mirth. "Nice to know I'm a monster over there, too!" he chortled. "I 
used the Black Stars, didn't I?"
	Marron smiled quietly.
	"Black Stars?" Bulma echoed. "What are those?"
	"The Black Star Dragon Balls," Marron answered. 
	"Where'd they come from?" Gokou asked. "The Dragon Balls got red 
stars, don't they? And Dende's are white..."
	"When I first landed on this dust speck," Piccolo said, "I 
created my first set of Dragon Balls--only they were flawed. Oh, they 
were powerful enough, more powerful even than the Namek ones, and just 
as big--beachball size, every one of 'em--but they were evil as I was. 
Still am," he grinned. "It was their creation that convinced me to 
split myself--and half of me became Kami, and created the Dragon Balls 
you guys spent your lives chasing after."
	"But you didn't destroy the first set?" Bulma asked. "Why not, if 
you couldn't use them?"
	"Once Dragon Balls are created, they can't be destroyed until the 
one who created them dies. I wasn't about to commit suicide, so I hid 
them where only I would be able to find them."
	"And so you did," Marron confirmed. "You didn't tell us what you 
were going to do until it was done, and it was too late to stop you."
	"Yeah, sounds like me, all right."
	"What happened?" Videl asked.
	"Piccolo summoned the Black Shenlon. He was massive, and even 
though I'd seen the Dragon before, he frightened me when I thought I 
was past feeling any fear. He radiated power, tainted with terrible 
evil. Only Piccolo stood before him without showing any fear. 
They...they understood each other, Piccolo and Shenlon. They were two 
parts of the same whole, it seemed, and for a moment I was afraid of 
Piccolo, too, the one who'd trained us and helped us learn to survive 
for most of our lives.
	"He spoke to the Dragon in Namek, and none of us understood what 
he was saying, but when he'd finished, Shenlon laughed. Laughed. It 
rolled like thunder, shaking the ground under our feet. Then the Dragon 
vanished--and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
	"The next moment, a vortex appeared above our heads--all black, 
spiraling clouds and white spears of lightning."
	Bulma nodded. "We saw it, too."
	"Goten and Bra began to rise up into the air. I wanted to know 
where they were going--I thought that they were leaving of their own 
volition--but before I could ask, Piccolo grabbed my head in his hands 
and...well, for lack of a better word he thought at me."
	"Mind speak?" Gokou said. "We can do that, sure."
	"It's called telepathy," Vegeta mumbled. "Baka Kakarott."
	Marron continued. "In the space of a heartbeat, Piccolo told me, 
without words, what he'd done, and why. I wanted to beg him to come 
with us, but he wouldn't, and he had his reasons why. Then he let me 
go, and I started rising up towards the vortex too.
	"Piccolo knew--I'm still not sure how--but he knew that other 
worlds like ours existed. Other dimensions, other timelines, other 
places. He knew specifically about this existence, one where most of 
the senshi had died, and somehow come back to life. He sensed that we 
had never existed here...and that it was as good a place as any to send 
us, to keep us safe."
	"If he used the Black Stars, I'm not surprised," Piccolo said. 
"Those things are powerful mothers. Even powerful enough to breach the 
dimensional barriers and look into other worlds--even travel to them."
	"Why haven't you told us about these Black Star Dragon Balls 
before?" Vegeta demanded. "If they're so all-powerful, we could have 
used them before Dende managed to get up off his narrow green butt and 
make up his own!"
	"Vegeta!" Bulma admonished.
	But Piccolo was chuckling. "Sure, we could have used them once I 
came back to life--if we all wanted to die."
	"What you mean?" Gokou asked. "The Dragon Balls are supposed to 
help people, aren't they?"
	"Not these, Gokou. Remember, I made them while I was still 
whole--and bad to the bone. That's why the stars were black, to reflect 
the evil in my heart. Oh, they can grant any wish at all--no 
limitations whatsoever, no strings attached--but the price is just too 
high."
	Vegeta confronted the Namek. "What price?" 
	"Oh, nothing much. Just the absolute destruction of Earth."
	"That's what my Piccolo showed me," Marron confirmed. "So that 
we'd never try to go back to our world. Because it's not there anymore. 
Once the Black Star Dragon Balls are used, they scatter to the four 
corners of the universe--and the planet on which they're used is 
completely destroyed, along with every living thing on it. No chance of 
survival."
	"So Piccolo..." Gohan trailed off, his eyes wandering to his 
mentor, who grunted confirmation..
	"He sacrificed himself, and the Earth, to destroy Aisuzu once and 
for all. There's no way we can ever go home again. We're the only 
survivors...Goten, Bra, and me, because Piccolo wished us here." Marron 
wrapped her arms around herself and dropped her head, visibly spent. 
"And that's everything," she sighed, closing her eyes.
	Juuhachi-gou stepped forward and put her arm tentatively around 
Marron's shoulders. "You're very brave," she said. "I know your mother 
would be as proud of you as I am."
	Marron looked up with a trembling smile. "But...you are my 
mother," she whispered. "Or maybe you should have been." She hugged Juu 
tight, and Juu returned the embrace with no hesitation.
	"Of course you're her mom! Just like you're mine," Goten said, 
grinning at ChiChi. "And Tou-san is Tou-san, ne? Deshou?"
	Gokou grinned and gave Goten a thumbs-up. "Sou na, Goten-kun." 
	"Welcome to the family, Goten," Gohan smiled, patting his 
newfound brother's shoulder, taking it in stride as he always did.
	Goten beamed. "You see, Marron-chan? This is our family. It 
doesn't make any difference what timeline or what dementia we're from."
	"Dimension, Goten," Trunks corrected.
	"Whatever. You know, this time you'd better not die on me, 
Trunks-kun! I'll kick your butt!!" Goten laughed and hugged Trunks, who 
was obviously unsure how to react.
	"Mama--um, ma'am?" Bulma looked down at the shy little stutter 
from the girl in her lap.
	"Yes, Bra-chan?"
	Bra bit her lip. Her eyes were dry, but Bulma could hear in the 
small, trembling voice the tears she was struggling to hold back. 
"Would...would you mind very much...if I lived here? I won't be any 
trouble, I promise."
	"Oh, sweetheart..." Bulma felt the sting of tears in her own 
eyes. "Of course you're going to stay! It's just as Goten said--
different timelines and dimensions don't matter. Somewhere, once upon a 
time, you were my little girl..." She smiled and brushed a stray lock 
of pale blue hair from Bra's hopeful face. "That makes you mine in 
every way that counts. I just hope you won't be too embarrassed by 
having a bast--a jerk for a father."
	Bra giggled. "I barely remember Papa," she confessed, "but 
Trunks-oniisan told me all about him."
	Bulma grunted. "Knowing Trunks, he only told you the good 
things--or rather, made them up, I should say."
	Vegeta snorted behind her, and Bra giggled again.
	"Well," ChiChi said, beaming, "this is wonderful! You know, we 
were in the middle of a picnic lunch out on the lawn when you three, 
um, dropped in--I don't suppose any of you are hungry? There's plenty 
of food left--"
	The backwash of air blew ChiChi's loose hair wild as Bra and 
Goten dashed outside. "Those are our children, all right!" Bulma 
grinned at ChiChi, and both women exchanged laughter.
	Marron gently disengaged herself from Juuhachi-gou and smiled at 
her again. "I'm glad those two are adjusting so quickly," she 
confessed. "I was worried about how they'd fit in. They've been through 
a lot."
	"So have you," Trunks pointed out.
	Marron looked in his direction, but her eyes skittered away from 
his face. "I'm tougher than they are. I've had to be."
	"Marron-chan," Juuhachi-gou ventured, "I'm sure Bulma would want 
you to stay, too. I mean, if you want. Bra would be glad to have you 
here...and so would we."
	"Of course she's staying here!" Bulma said at once. "Where else 
is a slip of a girl like her to go? She can't be more than sixteen--of 
course, when I was sixteen--"
	"The first time?" Vegeta broke in.
	She ignored him. "When I was sixteen, I was just starting out to 
see the world, but poor little Marron's been through a terrible shock, 
and she certainly shouldn't be trying to make her way in a new, strange 
world all by herself."
	"Thank you--all of you," Marron said, standing up. "If you don't 
mind, though...just right now, I'd like to be alone for a little 
while."
	"Of course, dear," Bulma said, rising from the table. "I'll show 
you around and you can pick out your room--we've got plenty around 
here--"
	"No," Marron said quickly, then added, "thank you, Bulma-san. I 
just want to go for a walk outside and sort things through in my head. 
I'll be back soon, I promise." She flashed a brave, brilliant, empty 
smile to the group of strangers wearing familiar, well-loved faces and 
then walked out as quickly as she could without actually seeming to be 
running away.
	"The poor girl," Videl murmured after Marron had gone. "She's 
still a child. They're all just children, really, and they've been 
through so much."
	"Well, they're safe now," ChiChi pointed out. "All we can do is 
make a place for them--I don't think that's going to be a problem for 
Goten. He's taking it all in stride--just like his father," she 
finished, giggling at her husband, who grinned in response.
	"And little Bra-chan is so sweet. Who knows how she could be your 
child," Bulma said with a look at Vegeta. "Then again, Trunks was such 
a good boy growing up...it must be my influence, it couldn't be 
anything else."
	Vegeta snorted.
	Juuhachi-gou started for the door, but Trunks held her back with 
a hand on her shoulder. "Leave it, Juu-chan."
	"But--"
	"Marron needs to be by herself right now," he said, wrapping his 
arms around his beloved from behind. "Give her some space--let her come 
to terms with what's happened. I know what it's like to lose 
everything, and then get it all back. She needs room to adjust. Let her 
come to you. She will, in time."
	
~*~
	
	Goten and Bra were sitting in the shade of a spreading oak tree 
on the back lawn, devouring the remains of the picnic lunch left by the 
others. They didn't glance in Marron's direction, but then she'd gotten 
very good over the years at not calling attention to herself.
	She walked around the dome out of sight of the picnic area, then 
leapt into the air. She saw the cluster of buildings in the distance--a 
city--and veered south, towards the wilderness that had been her home 
for the past ten years.
	*Only it's not the same wilderness*, she thought, letting the 
wind of her flight brush the cold tears from her eyes. *It's not the 
same world, these aren't the same people--oh, why can't I be like Goten 
and not know the difference? Or not care about it? Everyone's so 
different, alive and full of hope, and even Trunks--oh, Trunks, I miss 
you so much, and you're not the same person here. Even if you weren't 
with Kaa--with Juuhachi-gou, you're not the man I fell in love with, 
and I don't think you ever could be. If Goten senses the difference, 
he's obviously chosen to ignore it--but I can't, I can't...*
	She landed atop a tall mesa, well out of sight of the gleaming 
golden dome behind her. She sat on the edge of the precipice, looking 
down over the battle-scarred terrain. *There was a lot of fighting 
going on here*, she thought. *This world has survived its own troubles. 
I wonder what happened in this timeline? Not Aisuzu--they've never even 
heard of her. Something else, obviously. I guess I'll have to ask 
someone if I really want to know. Or maybe it's written down somewhere 
and I can read about it.*
	She wrapped her arms around her knees and put her head down, 
closing her eyes. More than anything else, she wanted not to think--not 
to miss her parents, not to miss Trunks, not to miss Piccolo-sensei, 
not to miss her shattered, ruined world. *Piccolo is the only one here 
who seems the same as I remember...maybe I should talk to him. No, why 
would he bother with someone like me? It's not like he's my Piccolo-
sensei. He's not the one who raised us, trained us, saved us and died 
for us. I'm nothing to him. *
	*Kaa-san, Tou-san, Piccolo-san, Trunks...I wish I'd died with 
you...*
	She tried to make her mind a blank, to stop the constant replay 
of images and events in her well-ordered mind, to staunch the flow of 
memories that she was incapable of forgetting, to stop the past from 
bleeding out into the present. She cried, but silently, tears running 
down her face and dampening the ground between her feet. At least there 
was no one to see.
	The sun slipped below the horizon, and the shadows around her 
coalesced into the soft dimness of twilight. *We'd be eating breakfast 
right now...getting ready to come out and train with Piccolo-sensei 
under cover of night. Train for what?! Piccolo always knew that it was 
hopeless. None of us stood a chance against Aisuzu--not even Trunks and 
Goten, when Piccolo taught them how to--*
	"Oi oi!"
	Marron leapt to her feet and spun around, taking a stance and 
ready to fight.
	Gokou cocked his head, his wild hair stirring in the evening 
breezes. "It's almost dinnertime," he said. "You gonna come back now?"
	"Go--Gokou-san." Marron forced herself to drop out of stance and 
relax. She pretended to relax, anyway. "I didn't even sense you 
coming," she confessed.
	Gokou laughed. "Old habits die hard. So what you doing all by 
yourself out here? Aren't you lonely?"
	*Yes, Gokou-san. So lonely my heart is breaking.* "I'm fine," she 
lied, trying to smile. "It's just...it's a lot to take in all at once."
	Gokou came forward till he was standing right over her, and 
Marron forced herself not to shrink away. There was something so 
comforting in the man's presence, something that was balm to her 
tortured soul.
	Gokou's large hand ruffled her pigtails. "You're Kuririn's 
daughter," he said softly. "Even if I hadn't seen you in the past time, 
I'd know because of your eyes. They're just like his. Kuririn was a 
good papa, ne?"
	Marron nodded without hesitation. "The best. I--I never met you, 
but Tou-san was always talking about you, like I said. He thought the 
world of you, and he missed you a lot."
	"I miss him, too." A flicker of sadness in the dark eyes. "He 
died here, too, you know--many years ago. Most of us did. Some of us 
came back...but he couldn't. I don't even know where his spirit is, or 
if he's been reborn. He was a monk, you know--I guess he gave that up 
when he married your mama, ne?" Gokou chuckled. "But before that, we 
were the monk and the monkey-boy!"
	Marron giggled, she couldn't help it. Gokou's smile was 
contagious. 
	Gokou dropped an arm around her shoulders. "I know that Kuririn 
would have wanted me to take care of you. I know you got your mama, 
Juuhachi-gou, but if you need a papa, you can pretend it's me...ne?"
	Her eyes stinging, Marron hugged this man she'd never known, this 
legend her father had writ large as life in her memory. Gokou patted 
her back and let her cry against his chest--not silently this time, but 
with great wracking sobs that shook her slight frame with the force of 
a hurricane.
	Gokou sat down and drew the girl into his lap and let her cry 
herself out. When she was finally spent, Gokou raised her face and 
gently dried her tears. "Your papa would want you to be happy," he said 
softly. "Will you try?"
	Marron nodded. "Yes...I--"
	She froze, her still-wet eyes snapping wide.
	Gokou felt her slender body tense, a coiled spring. "Nani?" he 
asked as she sprang from his lap to her feet. He stood up and watched 
her as she seemed to be listening--or sensing something just out of his 
perceptions.
	"What is it?" he asked again.
	Marron turned to look at him, her eyes wide, her face white in 
the gathering gloom.
	"She's coming."
	"She? Who's she? I--" Then he felt it, too--a blip at the very 
outer edge of his senses, something he wouldn't have sensed at all if 
he hadn't snapped alert the moment Marron had reacted to it. Far away, 
still, away out in space somewhere, but coming closer fast. Too fast.
	"Ano...is that..." his voice trailed off.
	Marron swallowed hard, and forced the name out between her lips, 
driven by a shaken voice that made Gokou's stomach chill with dread.
	"Aisuzu da."

End Chapter Nineteen