It had been but a few short days since Trunks had died. No, an eternity since that monster murdered him, thought Marron bitterly. She shifted slightly in her cramped lookout, trying to stay awake. The last time she and her friends had been careless, it had cost them a life, and a very dear one at that.

To top off a miserable half-week, Piccolo had vanished. Bra had wept openly, her head in Marron’s lap.

"What if he doesn’t come back, Marron? What if he abandoned us? What if he’s…he’s…" the girl broke into a new fit of sobs, and Marron stroked the dishevelled bluish hair.

"He wouldn’t do that. Don’t be silly. He must be…I don’t know, doing something important. He’ll come back soon, I promise."

Bra stopped sniffling and looked up at her with red-rimmed eyes. Poor kid, Marron thought. Everyone’s leaving you, and you’ve done nothing to deserve it.

"You promise?"

"Of course," the older girl lied through her teeth. "Now get some sleep, or he’ll be mad at you when he comes back."

"M’kay," Bra hiccupped a bit, and eventually dozed off huddled into Marron’s side, her small body unconsciously convulsing with the racking sobs that had consumed her a while ago.

Marron was just starting to drift away as well when a slight scraping sound snapped her to her senses. Cursing her own inattentiveness, Marron loosed her senses with ferocity, and struck a familiar ki pattern just as Goten’s head appeared over the windowsill of the demolished building they’d camped in since Aisuzu had found them. She sighed with relief, and shushed him before he could speak, gesturing to Bra’s sleeping form.

Goten dredged up the merest bit of power and floated in the window silently instead of scrambling noisily. As his feet touched the ground, Bra stirred a little, mumbled something incoherent and fell back into her deep sleep.

He cocked his head in apparent deep thought, picked his words carefully, and addressed the blonde girl cradling the young one.

"Nothing?" he mouthed soundlessly.

Marron swallowed hard, and the look on her pretty but drawn face gave him his answer.

With a yelp, Bra sat bolt upright.

"Piccolo!" she cried softly. Her two companions turned in the direction she’d indicated, and sure enough, a white-caped form was making straight for their rough shelter at an incredible pace, keeping low to the ground.

Bra’s face brightened for the first time since the death of her brother, and her delighted greeting died on her lips as she saw her teacher’s pale and worried face.

"Piccolo! Where were you? We –" Marron started, and was cut off by the deadly serious look her mentor shot her.

"That’s neither your problem nor your business," he said brusquely. "We’ve only got two more days until that white-skinned she-devil comes back for the rest of us, and we have to plan what we’re going to do avoid her for as long as possible."

"Avoid her? But there’s four of us and only one of her! Surely we could take her out by weight of numbers," Goten protested.

"I knew someone else who thought he could take her," Piccolo grated, turning ominously in the direction of Trunks’ gravesite. "Like it or not, we’re no match for Aisuzu."

Goten’s shoulders, which had been stiff and straight, ready for decisive action, slumped and he slid defeatedly to the floor, his arms hugging his knees. Anxious as ever to keep her small group of friends together, Bra sat down next to him and put one small arm around his broad shoulders as the tears began to run down his face again.

If anyone had been looking at Piccolo’s face in that instant, they would have ran to comfort him much the way Bra was doing with Goten. But of course, Piccolo, the Demon King, would rather die than admit such feeling. Instead, to make up for his harshness, Piccolo said almost gently,

"You should get some rest. I’ll watch."

Marron smiled at him sadly, retrieved a blanket from a pile of items in a corner, and draped it across herself and her two companions. Huddled together for warmth and consolation, the three young people drifted uneasily to sleep.

Perched unobtrusively on the roof, Piccolo contemplated the fateful decision he’d made. Hidden in the next building were the seven Black Star Dragonballs he’d collected from their previous resting places. If I do this, I save three lives and destroy the world and myself, he thought seriously. But the price, even if it takes out that winged hellcat as it should…

Scrambling to a standing position, Piccolo felt out what little life he could find for traces of Aisuzu, and found her on her ship. Safe…well, as safe as we get around here, anyway. It’s time I got the opinion of the one being that matters.

He dropped with his usual grace to the ground, and slunk into the building covering the Black Star Dragonballs. With mixed feeling, he caressed one glowing orb, feeling the power it emanated, and the evilness of it. Turning away, he focussed his thoughts.

Not so much feeling as anticipating the presence of another being in the dark room, Piccolo turned around and looked with satisfaction into the pale eyes of a beautiful young woman. But on closer inspection, what he’d suspected for a long time was apparent. The spirit of Chikyuu was sick.

[I know what you want, Demon King, and for once I must side with you. Your purpose is noble, and…] Her voice was the merest whisper in his thoughts, not the powerful song it had once been. [I am dying.]

[I thought as much,] Piccolo answered with the mental equivalent of a grunt.

She reached up with a hand lighter than a breath of air, and brushed his jaw.

[Do as you must. I will stand at your side when the time comes, and the young ones will know nothing of this until they are gone. Farewell until then.] The Spirit of Chikyuu gave him a sad half-smile, and faded away with a sigh to the place she’d come from.

Taking a deep breath, Piccolo folded his arms decisively. Now there’s no turning back.

Marron awoke with a start, a feeling of terrible premonition wringing her stomach into knots. Then she remembered. Today is probably the last day we’ll live to see. She glanced down unhappily at her dozing companions. With a flicker of irritation that the only friends she had left were squandering their few remaining hours in sleep, she coughed delicately to rouse them.

"Huh?" Goten rubbed his eyes sleepily and struggled to focus in the dim light.

In the days since Trunks’ death, the small group of survivors had grown accustomed to the luxury of sleep at night, and the murky pre-dawn was no longer workable to them.

"Nothing," Marron smiled, squeezing his hand.

Bra stirred and finally woke, accepted a hug from her friends and made her way outside to find Piccolo.

She found him hovering above a small ruin in meditation, and sneezed to announce her presence.

"What?" he asked without opening his eyes, grumpier than usual. Bra was taken aback.

"Um, good morning?"

He only grunted in acknowledgment. The two of them maintained their positions for a long time, and the sun had risen high in the sky before either of them moved. Bra sighed and moved to go back inside to Goten and Marron, who were usually much better company anyway, she thought with a sniff.

"Wait," Piccolo called quietly after her. She turned uncertainly back towards the hovering green figure. "I want you to go inside and get Marron and Goten. It’s very important."

Bra nodded and stumbled off towards the wretched remains of the building, calling out softly as she went.

When she looked back, Piccolo had disappeared from view, but she sensed his presence in one of the other crumbling ruins.

"Marron! Goten! Come quick! It’s Piccolo!" The two heads jolted up in surprise and wariness.

"Bra, what the –"

"Just hurry up," she pleaded with them. "He said it was very important."

Dashing outside, the young warriors were confronted with an ominously dark sky, and their mentor stood a good distance off, chanting at seven glowing balls from which a giant serpent had begun to appear.

"Oh my…but that’s…" Marron’s voice trailed off.

"Shenron?" Goten supplied.

[Not exactly, child,] came a sweet voice in their minds. Turning in perfect sync, the three were faced with the Spirit of Chikyuu. For some unknown reason, even Bra knew who she was. [the creature you see before you is not Shenron. He is the embodiment of everything that Shenron was not. In all essence, he is an eternal dragon, but his spirit is flawed. Fear not, you will not see the consequences of the call the Demon King has made to the beast. Come with me,] she led the speechless youngsters fearlessly towards the impossibly large manifestation, bade them stay a short distance off, and joined Piccolo.

"You realise the consequences of summoning me?" the dragon boomed in a deep and sinister voice.

"I do." Piccolo snapped at him.

"Very well then, make your wish and bid farewell to this planet," the dragon hissed back at Piccolo.

"I will. Send those three children over there to the time where they do not exist. Send them to the time that Trunks once visited us from."

"Your wish is granted." The dragon’s eyes flashed, and a vortex appeared in front of Bra, who was sucked in immediately before she could protest. Goten disappeared after her, but Marron lunged for her teacher’s arm, and called out to him over the deafening racket.

"Why?" she breathed, dazed and confused.

Piccolo grasped her outstretched arm, and told her. Then he smiled, let go of her arm, and let the screaming girl be sucked into the vortex.

On unsteady footing, Piccolo and the Spirit glanced skywards, and found the terrified form of Aisuzu.

"It’s payback time, you stinking spawn of Enma," Piccolo growled at her. The beastly being was blown inelegantly to pieces by the vanishing dragon, and he smiled with satisfaction before turning to the dying Spirit.

"They might even let me into Heaven for this one," he mused.

The Spirit cocked her head in amusement. [Let you into heaven? You just destroyed the planet!] she teased him, some of her old fire returning to the faded eyes.

The sky filled with deadly radiance and a sound like the tearing of a million souls rang in Piccolo’s ears as the planet began to heave.

[Farewell,] Piccolo thought to her.

Agony. Silence.