On the floor of the Son House living room, Goten lay sprawled out with one hand on his stomach, a delighted smile on his face. After practically starving all day long, it had felt wonderful to walk into his house and find dinner already served. As if she were completely psychic, his mother had prepared all of his favorite dishes as well, and had made plenty of it. He had left the table completely full and satisfied, though he imagined he would go back into the kitchen soon for some leftovers --- if his father didn’t get to them first, that is. He honestly didn’t think it would matter, though. His mother was sort of magical when she cooked: they never ran out of food. It just kept coming and coming until they were so stuffed that they could barely even take another bite. That was made her such a great cook. No matter how much they ate, she just kept making them more and more.

“I was so hungry earlier today….” Goten said in a contented voice. “I thought I actually might die of starvation. I’m so glad I decided to come home.”

“I’m glad too, Goten-chan.” His mother said with a wink. She was passing through the living room, picking up any messes and straightening things before she went to sleep. She bent down and ruffled his hair, picking up a discarded magazine and placing it back in the rack. “Otherwise all of that food might have gone to waste. Now, I don’t want you two staying up too late.”

Marron shook her head immediately, and the pale blond pigtails swung back and forth as she moved. She brought her blanket close up to her chin. “We won’t, ChiChi-san.”

Kuririn and Marron had decided to stay over, accepting his mother’s insistent invitation. She didn’t want the two of them to have to be alone during at time like this, and thought it would be best if they stayed. Kuririn had been given the guest bedroom, and Marron opted to sleep out on the couch, not wanting to be a bother to anyone. And, because he didn’t want her to have to be lonely, Goten had brought his futon out and set it up beside the couch. The idea of it was childish, but fun. They hadn’t had a sleepover like this since they were very little. Often when their parents had parties, the two of them and Trunks would stay up all night and play games together, then fall asleep curled up in sleeping bags on the floor. They were far too old for that kind of thing now, but he thought it might be a little comforting for her.

And she definitely needed some comfort. Normally Marron was always smiling and cheerful, but she rarely smiled anymore, and she was far too quiet. Marron had never been a very loud, outgoing girl --- most of the time she just gave polite responses to questions and nodded her head, but she always managed to keep up just a bit of conversation around him. It made Goten sad to see her so depressed and withdrawn. He definitely understood that needed some time to heal that she couldn’t possibly be happy about the situation, but it still upset him to see her that way. Kuririn, too. He was used to both of them smiling and in good spirits. It was just odd to see them both so down.

After his mother had left the room and turned off the light, Marron turned around and fluffed her pillow, frowning as she tried to make it softer for her head. Then she settled into it and drew her blanket in close around her, even though it was a warm night and she probably wouldn’t need it. He supposed it was probably more of a comfort thing that something that she really needed.

Goten rolled over from the floor and onto his futon, stretching out and opening his mouth to yawn. “It’s been a long time since we had a sleepover, eh? Do you remember the time when we stuck Trunks’s hand in warm water and waited to take a picture when he ‘relieved himself’ in his sleep? I told him that I threw it away, but I still have it in desk drawer. I’m planning to use it as blackmail if I ever want something from him. That is definitely the embarrassing kind of thing that you can use against your friends.”

Though it was dark, he could still see the faint blush that swept across her cheeks. “I don’t recall being a direct player in the warm water incident. I just stood by and watched. Those pranks were always just between the two of you; I was never really a part of it.”

“Well, it wouldn’t have been right to pick on you --- you’re a girl. Maybe when Bra and Pan get older, you guys can play pranks on each other.” He grinned up at the ceiling, envisioning older versions of Bra and Pan, and the mischief that he just knew was going to happen in the future. “Bra would probably be every bit as good at it as Trunks. You can already see the trouble in her eyes. It’s too bad that you didn’t get a chance to see her at Capsule Corp. today; she was looking for someone to play dolls with earlier, and she likes you a lot.”

Marron didn’t say anything, but she a small smile appeared on her face and she nodded. The sadness never left her eyes, though. They still remained sad and almost ghostly, peering back at him through the darkness. He thought about what a tough day she had gone through, and how much stress she was probably carrying on her shoulders. It had even gotten worse once they left Capsule Corporation and went home. The weight she was carrying had been so obvious that he could almost see it literally being applied to her shoulders as she slumped over in the car seat. He didn’t know exactly what had happened in the laboratory, but it must have shaken her up quite a bit.

“Was it hard to see your mother?” Goten asked her gently.

It took her a moment to answer, but she did. “She didn’t even look like herself. Her eyes were so far away….so mean.” She paused, and looked as though she were trying to rid herself of the memory of those ice blue eyes. “It was difficult to even try to see my mother in there. She didn’t even look human. I really think that Mirai Bulma can help her though, Juunana-gou too. She is going to fix them both by taking out everything that Dr. Gero had ever put inside of them.”

“You mean like, surgery?” Goten wondered aloud. “That could be really dangerous.”

“I know. I just feel so helpless.” She admitted, turning up to face the ceiling. He could see her hands suddenly clench hard at her sides, as if she were willing herself to stay calm and keep the tears away. Still, her voice wavered when she spoke. “There is nothing I can do here. I can’t do anything to help my mother --- I just have to stand by and watch. I can’t even touch her. It was so frustrating and scary to see her on the examination table, strapped down like that. It didn’t even feel real at first; it was more like I was watching a movie. Then she looked at me, and her eyes were just so different. They were so cold and so….evil, just like she had been possessed. She must have been possessed to be able to kill all of those people. An entire city….”

Goten shook his head slowly, and sat up, trying to meet her eyes. She didn’t seem to want to look at him, but he could see the trails of tears on her cheeks, shimmering in the darkness. He placed a hand behind his head and stared at her in thought. “I don’t think it was really your mother, Marron. When Trunks and I were trying to get her under control, she talked to us. I didn’t really understand then, but it seems as though she is kind of trapped inside. Dr. Gero’s programming must have just taken over and pushed her out of the way for awhile. But she’s still there. And I’m sure that when Mirai Bulma operates and takes out all of those bad things, she’ll go back to normal. Better than normal, actually, because she’ll be completely human.”

“That still doesn’t take away everything that happened.” She argued. “All of those people are still dead, and she’s still the one that killed them.”

Goten twitched his mouth to the side, and at squinted hard, trying to pull a familiar memory from the back of his mind. “You were probably too young, but do you remember when Vejiita went crazy and killed all of those people in the stadium at the tenchi budokai? Bulma was really upset by what had happened, but she knew that it wasn’t really Vejiita that had done it. So instead of being upset about what had happened and letting it bring her down, she just went after the dragonballs and wished all of those people back. I guess it was kind of her way for making up for his mistake.”

She sat up slightly and stared down at him from the couch, her face no longer adorned with that sad frown. It made his heart soar to hear the hope in her voice when she spoke to him. “Are you saying that I should the people killed in Satan City back to life?”

“It might help.” He told her. “I know that it won’t take away your memory of it, or erase any of the pain and guilt, but it might make it just a little bit better. You could wish all of those people back to life before your mother even got better --- that way when she wakes up, she won’t have any kind of guilt to hold her down. All of those people that were killed will still be alive and living, and she won’t have to deal with that kind of stress.”

Marron was silent for a moment, then she bit her lip and gave him a worried look. “I don’t know if I could find all of the dragonballs on my own.”

He shrugged casually. “I’ll help you. We’ll all help you. There isn’t really anything else for us to do around here. I actually think that we have one of them hanging around the house. Otousan likes to keep the four star dragonball close to him.”

“Do you really think that it will work?”

Goten smiled, thinking back to all the wishes that had been made in their lifetime. It seemed as thought they used the dragonballs every time they were in a bind, every time a new enemy showed up on Earth. And they had never failed. The dragon was always waiting and ready to grant their wishes, and everything was always made right. “Have the dragonballs ever let us down before? We’ll talk to Otousan about it in the morning and see what we can do. I’m sure he’d love to go on an adventure, and we could probably manage to round up a lot of the others as well. Maybe Trunks will want to come. Now that Vejiita’s back, he doesn’t really have to take care of Bra anymore.”

A smile began to creep on her face, an expression that was a mixture between excitement and hope. “How are we going to find them all?”

“Simple: we just grab the dragon radar from Capsule Corporation. From there, we could just split up and find the dragonballs in no time.”

It sounded like a great plan to him. He already knew that they couldn’t use the dragonballs to wish Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou back to normal --- they had already tried that once in the past. But wishing back all of the people that were killed was a feasible wish, a good wish. It was the right thing to do, and he was surprised that no one had thought of it sooner. It actually made him feel rather special that he was the one that had come up with the plan. He wasn’t particularly well known for his intelligence, but he had his moments. Hopefully when all of this was said and done, he would be known as the one who had come up with the idea.

“Goten?” Marron said timidly. Surprised, he shook his head and turned towards her. She looked at him with watery eyes, then smiled at him and nodded her head. “Thank you.”

It was thanks enough just to see her smile again, just to see the hope in her eyes. For someone like Marron, who was so kind and so sweet, it really wasn’t that big of a chore to do nice things. It made him feel better to know that she would be able to do this. He knew that it would make her happy, and more than that --- it would take her mind off of the sadness. While Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou were going through that operation and becoming whole again, she wouldn’t have to stand by and watch with tearful eyes. She would be out on an adventure, trying to bring things back to normal and save the thousands of lives that had been lost in the city. He knew that this was going to help her, and he was just glad that he was going to be a part of it.

As Goten slept beside her on the futon, gently snoring, Marron smiled. She glanced down at him, taking a moment to study the way that he slept. His arms and legs were spread out in every direction, occasionally twitching and his mouth was hanging wide open. He was sleeping in shorts and a tee shirt, but he looked as though he were extremely warm, and had kicked every single inch of his blanket away from his body. She smiled again. Even when he was asleep with his mouth hanging open, Goten was ridiculously handsome. The lines of his face were strong and well cut, his muscles were strong and defined, and his tousled hair and sleepy expression were just childish enough to be charming.

He was a good person, a good friend. She knew that he had inherited that wonderful, kind heart from Gokuu --- along with several other attributes, like a humongous appetite and a permanently cheerful outlook on life. It was these things, plus the single traits that were just….Goten, that made her have such a crush on him. How could she not like someone who was so kind to her? Someone who was so down to earth and sweet? Someone who looked so amazingly good, even when he was just sleeping? She had liked him ever since they were children. Getting married to him had been her dream from the first moment that she laid eyes on him. And that crush had stuck with her for nearly sixteen years now, never even fading. If anything, it had only grown.

She knew that it was probably wrong to be thinking about things like that when there so many other important things to think about. But she allowed herself just a few moments to sink into her crush and be the girl that she used to be. After all, there was no point in just agonizing over the problem. That would only make her more depressed and more frustrated, because there was really nothing that she could do about it.

She thought about what it was going to be like to go on an adventure with him. Even though her father and Gokuu and others would probably be there as well, it would still be fun. What girl wouldn’t want to spend time with Goten? And the best part about it was that she would be helping out her mother at the same time. She wouldn’t just be going off on an adventure with Goten to have fun and live some excitement. They were going to hunt for the dragonballs, and make a wish that would save a lot of lives and help out her mother.

Marron didn’t think she could really ask for anything better than that.

Alone in the guestroom of the Son House, Kuririn tossed and turned in bed, trying to fight off the horrible thoughts that kept running through his mind. He had tried to put on a cheerful face in front of everyone else, but now that he had no audience, he didn’t have to pretend anymore. He didn’t have to act as if nothing were wrong and he had complete confidence in Mirai Bulma. He didn’t have to plaster a fake smile on his face and pretend that he was completely fine when he really just felt like crying.

It had been hard to see her --- unbelievably hard. He had kept himself strong then, for her, for Marron, for his own sanity. But it had still been hard. He might have kept himself tall and strong on the outside, but on the inside his heart had been crumbling. It was her eyes that had killed him; those glaring ice blue eyes narrowed into the most evil look imaginable. It was so strangely foreign on Juuhachi-gou’s face that it almost didn’t seem real. That was the first time so far that the horror of the situation had actually sunk in. Juuhachi-gou was actually gone; this demon, this monster had replaced her. The real Juuhachi-gou was probably cowered in a corner somewhere, trying to fight off the evil, but unable to do anything but watch.

It made him ache for her, made him want to be able to reach out and hold her. But there was no possible way that he could do that, not now. He just hoped that what Mirai Bulma had planned would work.