Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ And We Shall Be Victorious ❯ Chapter 3 - Goodbye Krillin ( Chapter 3 )

And We Shall Be Victorious

Author : Ceryce

Chapter Three

~Goodbye Krillin~

After watching Vegeta, Piccolo, and Gohan leave, he looked at the unconscious boy, his heart bleeding for him. Now that he was sprawled on the ground, Goku had a good look at him. Trunks was much thinner than when he remembered him. If someone didn't know better, they would think that he inherited his mother's build, but he knew better: Trunks was his father's son. It was just terrible; he had bruises all over his body and some of those looked really old. The various signs of beating told what he must have endured in the past weeks. For some reason, the memory of Bra's broken dolls lying on the floor came to his mind. He just sighed and took Trunks in his arms, putting his right finger to his brow to transport them to the ship. But just before he did, a small frown appeared on his face.

"What the …"

They were flying for a good hour and all this time, Gohan kept his eye on Vegeta. Vegeta was flying straight, without looking at his right or his left.There was so much tension in his body that Gohan was sure that he would snap. He had a suspicion that Vegeta was lost in thought by the way he was reacting. His supposition was confirmed when Vegeta went flying right through a mountain and he didn't even flinch. After a while, Gohan gathered enough courage to ask Vegeta what they were doing.

"Vegeta? What are we doing?" He kept his voice as quiet as possible.

After waiting for a few minutes and hearing no reply, Gohan was ready to ask again, when the answer came.

"We are trying to see the extent of the damage the enemy caused to the earth. By that, we should have a good idea of how strong he his." Vegeta's voice had regained his indifference. Piccolo and Gohan shared a glance.

"You surprise me, Vegeta. I never thought that you would have the patience to wait. I would think that you would be the first one to start a battle." What's on your mind, prince of all Saiyans? You are hiding something from us.

At that, Vegeta stopped, forcing the other two to nearly collide with him and stop abruptly to avoid him.

"Do you know why I suggested the idea of coming to the future?" The question was asked softly but without any feeling.

"You're the one who asked to come here?" asked Gohan, surprised. Even Piccolo had to raise his eyebrow at that. "I thought it was Bulma and my father who came up with the idea."

"No, I did. About five months ago, the woman sensed some disturbances. After analyzing it, she found that it was coming from Trunks's timeline."

"But I don't understand, Vegeta." Gohan was truly confused; what was Vegeta saying, anyway? They came here because it was Trunks's birthday in a few days, and Bulma thought that he would be lonely!

Vegeta didn't even pay attention to Gohan's interruption "After sensing this disturbance, the woman created a machine to sense power reading from this particular timeline. She was able to sense Trunks's ki perfectly well. So…"

"How strong was it?" Gohan interrupted Vegeta. He was astonished, to say the least; how could they sense it perfectly?

"Strong enough to have been felt through a different timeline, brat." Vegeta's voice had dropped many degrees. Gohan recoiled, blushing madly. He guessed he had asked for this one.

"What its power level compared to ours?" Piccolo now was nervous and worried. If Trunks's ki was strong enough to be felt from a different timeline five months ago and now they could barely sense it one mile from here, something must have happened aside from a very good beating. And even that thought was disturbing…

"He must have reached SSJ-3," Vegeta answered, coming to the conclusion that he was not going to be able to speak without interruption.

"What! Vegeta, that's impossible." Gohan looked at him, astounded.

"There is nothing impossible for one of royal blood," said Vegeta icily. He pushes me one more time…

I really should be careful or else this new enemy will be the least of my problems.

"I didn't mean that, Vegeta. I mean, if Trunks was SSJ-3, who could have beaten him that much and how did he became so powerful when he has nobody to fight against?" Gohan said in a shooting voice, not wanting to upset the already angered prince.

"Frankly, that's the least of our problems." Vegeta discarded Gohan's preoccupation with a wave of his hand. "The woman could also sense the first disturbance perfectly and it happens to be a new evil that came here. And his power level was high." There Vegeta stopped for a few seconds. "Higher than all of ours, she thought."

No one said a word for the rest of their flight.

~~~

"Where could Krillin be?" Goku was confused and worried. He didn't know where his friend could have gone. The ship's new location was very good: it was near some mountains, even if by the look of the various holes surrounding the area, the mountains would probably not be there in a few hours. But Krillin was nowhere to be seen, and he couldn't sense his ki. He would have liked to search for it, but he had a precious charge and he couldn't leave it there. So, saying a short prayer to Kami for Krillin, he brought Trunks inside the ship.

Since his room was the closest, he brought Trunks to it, put him on his bed, and went for some sensu beans. When he brought them back, he helped Trunks take them although he was unconscious. After a few seconds, the magic of the sensu beans worked, but the boy was still out cold. Goku attributed that to something else than what Vegeta did to him.

The poor thing must be exhausted. I better bring him to the bathroom and wash him. That said, he put him in the tub and disrobed Trunks even though he didn't have many clothes on to begin with. When Trunks was completely naked, Goku turned on the water, but he was so dirty and bloody that he decided just to put some water on him without attempting to use any soap. After the third time, he decided that he could use some soap.

Beginning from Trunks's feet and going up, Goku washed every bit of skin until he was clean. Although when he arrived at his midsection, he couldn't stop blushing. He got more than the height and the attitude from his father (the fact that he could even make this kind of comparison was quickly erased from his mind) and that was an understatement. He decided to finish quickly before an 'accident' occurred. When he finished his face, he decided to tackle his hair. Goku didn't realize how long Trunks's hair was until he started to wash it.

"Damn! That will only take, like, forever to wash! And let's not forget the entire bottle of shampoo. It looks as long as... as… as Raditz's when he came to earth!"

Well, his hair was not that long, and it certainly didn't take that long to wash, for after two full hours he was finished. After taking Trunks out of the bathroom, he took him to his room to dry him. Deciding that he would not go anywhere, he left Trunks on the bed and pulled a light sheet over him. Then, taking Krillin's brush, (neither he nor Vegeta needed a brush. Piccolo didn't have any hair, and as for Gohan, Videl forgot to pack him one) he began brushing his hair. He was so intent on the job that he nearly had a heart attack when he heard Trunks's soft voice.

"Thank you."

"Whoa! By Kami! You scared me!" What happened to you, Trunks?

"Sorry," chuckled Trunks quietly.

"Nah, it's nothing. Look, you better sleep a little bit, okay?" Goku was smiling gently.

"You are probably right. I can't remember the last time I slept. And thank you for everything. I really appreciate it."

"I already told you, don't worry about it, I'm really glad I…." but Goku stopped talking: Trunks was already sleeping. Goku kept looking at Trunks; with his pale skin, the young man that appeared to save them all had almost completely disappeared. Goku lost his smile and slowly ran his hand through Trunks's hair. Don't worry, Trunks, everything is going to be all right. I promised you this. I'm going to be there for you.

Taking the young Saiyan in his arms, Goku slowly fell asleep with two thoughts in his mind: who could have done this to Trunks, and where was Krillin?

~~~~

"We better get back to Kakarotto; he needs to see what's happened." Vegeta's voice held no emotion in it, but nobody was fooled.

Why do I have the feeling that it's just the beginning? Anyway, when the baka sees that, he's going to flip…

The others didn't comment.

~~

Goku woke up abruptly, but for the life of him, he couldn't say why.

"Papa!"

"Oh, Gohan." When he started getting up, something stopped him; looking down, he saw Trunks in his arms, still sleeping peacefully.

"Papa…" Gohan sounded strange, and when he lifted his head, he knew why. The young boy was crying.

"Gohan?"

Gohan, unable to speak, had only one word for him, a word that said it all.

"Krillin."

Silence came to the room.

"Where?"

"Where Satan City should have been, fifty miles from there." Gohan's voice was barely audible.

There was no expression on Goku's face. Slowly getting out from under Trunks to make sure he didn't wake him up, he made a sign to his older son to approach. "Stay with him. He shouldn't be alone right now," he said, and without another word, he left the room. Passing trough the hall, he saw Piccolo and Vegeta, but didn't say anything. Without a glance back, he left the ship.

Vegeta went inside Goku's room and took a small look on Trunks. He took in the pale skin and the long lavender hair, and noticed that the young boy probably hadn't eaten for at least one full week, which had made him very skinny. However, Vegeta made no comment, just a small, "I'm going with your father," to Gohan, whom he left with his son.

Leaving the room, he saw Piccolo.

"I'm going to look after them. Leave."

Vegeta just nodded and left the ship after Goku.

Now it was Piccolo's turn to look at Trunks, and although he and Vegeta didn't talk to each other about Trunks's condition, they both arrived at the same conclusion. "The sensu bean is probably the only thing he has eaten for a long time."

"He's very light, but I think it's worse than just not being able to eat." Gohan was really worried for him. Standing beside the bed, Trunks looked smaller than in his memory, and what he had seen in the graveyard really disturbed him. Something was not right with Trunks. Trunks and now Krillin…

"Who did this?" Gohan's voice sounded so small. Having only heard that voice after the battle with Frieza, Piccolo just looked at Gohan to be sure that he was going to hold on. I have to watch him carefully. This whole thing has touched him more deeply than what I expected. In fact, it has affected all of us much more than I expected. Guess after the little 'accident,' the effect should be more pronounced

"And this is only the beginning, I fear." But Piccolo's warning was unheard, his protégé too concerned about the fallen Saiyan to listen.

What Piccolo didn't know was that it might be the beginning of the problem, but for some people, and for the planet earth of the future, this was the end of the line.

~~~~~

If people were to ask him how he was feeling, he couldn't have told them. Anger, frustration, sadness… all of those emotions were battling inside him to surface. Many thoughts crossed his mind, but only one got through: Krillin was dead. His best friend was dead.

When he came to where his body lay, he seemed half buried from the waist down, as nothing below could be seen. However, when he came closer, he saw something that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Krillin's lower body was not buried in the ground. He didn't have any lower body. His legs, his chest, and his feet were gone.

"When we found him, he was still barely breathing." Vegeta's voice was toneless

"Oh, no …" Goku could just look at Vegeta, totally helpless, but the Saiyan prince continued regardless. He needed to hear that.

"It seems that when he was changing the ship's position, something attacked him. The power level was so strong that he didn't try to fight it. He used three eyes' technique and left the monster blind. He fled at full power, but the monster caught up with him and did this."

For a while, they did not speak again.

"Vegeta, please leave."

Vegeta said nothing, but didn't leave. He just moved away a little bit so that he would be there when Kakarotto lost control.

Damn, Kakarotto looks piseds off. Well, I suppose I, in a way, understand him. Seeing your friend like this could make anyone upset. Of course, I don't talk from experience, since I never had any friends, and when my entire race died, no bodies were found.

"Krillin…" Goku powered up.

Looking at the sky above, Vegeta prepared himself for a long time.

Shit, I don't feel right and I don't remember the last time I felt this way. I feel empty. Not the way I usually feel; no, it's as if I am a spectator of some plays that I wrote, but forgot. I feel as if I'm losing control. No, that's not right, I am loosing control, and I sure don't need those weaklings whispering to each other to know it! I was general of Frieza's army when none of them where even born. I have destroyed more planets by the age of ten than they have killed men in their entire lifetimes, and I wouldn't know if I was losing control!?! I swear, I am surrounded by simpletons. It is not because I refuse to acknowledge something that I do not know is there!

"You will pay for what you have done!" Goku transformed into SSJ.

Looking at the distance where the ship was situated, he sighted.

I know I'm not the only one who has changed after this episode - even if by Kami I don't know why the entire thing bothers me so much - we all did, but they're all trying to act as if nothing happened, as if by ignoring it, it will be gone. They are preparing themselves for one hell of a wake up call. I mean, I have been ignoring the baka for more than three years and the fool is still there; I swear I don't even know what's stopping me from just killing him. I'm not going to be magnanimous forever, though. Besides, they all think that I'm close to the breaking point, the fools; they have no idea that I have been on the breaking point since I was born.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Goku transformed into SSJ2.

But for all that I hate the fool because he is more powerful than I am, there is one thing good about it. If one day… when I'll lose control, he will be there to prevent me from destroying the entire universe. Hn… I remember the fits of rage that would take me when I was young. Damn, I was three months old and the servants were calling me demon spawn! The only reason they didn't kill me on the spot was because I was the prince and my power level was the highest ever! If I was not worried about what I might do when I lose it, I would almost be glad when I will. The looks on their faces when they will see me… Shit! I just don't feel all right. What do I usually do when I'm restless? Mmmmnnn…been too long…oh yeah… Damn! I can't do that anymore.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Goku transformed into SSJ3.

The day when I could just destroy some solar systems to pass time is over. That means that I have to find an outlet for that rage and anger I feel… And the old trick of pushing it all down inside like when I pushed all the humiliation, the hurt, the smart comments from the others down doesn't work anymore... Yeah! I don't believe I let all those thing pass without making them pay…well I suppose in the end I really wanted to make an effort, and live on earth, but now it's just not working anymore. Maybe it's not worth it? I don't think I will be able to keep my anger down, so I suppose the fact that the fool is stronger than I am has one advantage - no, two. The first is that I have a punching bag that will not break on the first punch, and second, it's when I blow off, he's going to be there to prevent me from doing something really awful. I mean, I didn't take all this shit and trouble to save the earth just to destroy it myself. Still, it's a real drag…

Then suddenly it came to him. He only felt like that once in his lifetime. It was when Vegeta-sei exploded.

I swear, this day cannot finish too soon. I have a bad feeling about it.

"I'm going to kill him!" Goku went SSJ4.

What in the name of Kami is the fool trying to do? Even if the monster is ki blind, he can't miss the mountain falling apart! The whole damn planet is shaking, And the stupid thing is already in pieces!

"You fool! What the hell are you trying to do!?! POWER! DOWN! NOW!"

Goku powered down to SSJ2.

"Vegeta! You don't understand! I should have been there…"

"Kakarotto, stop it! Power down right this instant! The last thing we need is for you to go on a guilt trip and blow up the entire earth! Leave that for later! If you survive, you will have all the time to feel sorry for yourself, and if you die, you're going to see him soon enough and you will have the chance to tell him sorry personally."

"Vegeta, he shouldn't have died, he just wanted to see…"

"People are dying every freaking day. But if you care just one bit for the living, get out of your depression, seek your enemy, and kill him. We are not going to save him, but you could prevent him from being too crowded in hell."

Nothing was said for a long while, but Goku finally powered down from SSJ2.

"I'm going to miss him".

"Just tell yourself he's gone for a small trip and that you will see him in two to twenty days."

"Twenty days? Two days?"

"That is how long you have to wait until you see him again. Depending on if this monster kills you in two days, or I kill you myself in twenty days. Because twenty days is as long I'm going to stand you if you behave like that."

"…"

"Your only son is waiting for you."

"?... I have two sons, Vegeta."

"And I'm sure the other one is going to miss as much as the first one."

"…"

"Think about the hyena… I mean your wife."

"…?"

"Look, I am sure Krillin is happy where he his, with the people who love him, such as is wife…well, maybe not her…he has his friends…..heh…yeah…anyway…he has his daughter with him! He's not alone. He is with people he clings to."

Slowly, Goku turned his head toward Vegeta. But the prince was not looking at him; he was looking toward the ship.

"Next time, leave the cheering up for someone else, will you?"

"…"

"But you're right, Vegeta, let go and see what we can do."

"Well, it worked."

Before they left, Goku turned toward where his friend's body was buried. Vegeta waited next to him.

"May one day I see you again… you… were my best friend."

"I'm sure he knew it, Kakarotto."

"You're probably right."

They stayed a little while before Vegeta left for the ship. Before following him, Goku turned one last time toward his friend's fallen body. He knew he would not have the chance after that.

"Goodbye, Krillin. Goodbye, my friend."