Separated From One Another

Chapter Twenty-one: Suffocation

The flight to the campsite was a short one, Goku also invited his friend, Baldie—Krillin along. He seemed really tense whenever you looked at him, you could not tell why. Though when you thought about it, his fears were not unjustified, the last time he had seen you was nearly three years ago. You were an enigma to him, your wandering mind was quickly brought back to the present and Goku spoke.

"So kiddo what have you been up to?"

You made a face at the nickname, you were not young enough to be a "kiddo," with a sigh you responded, "I've been helping Bulma and training a bit."

"Really?" Goku had an excited look on his face, "I wanna fight—er—spar with you."

You blinked, "I'm still getting used to my ki, it wouldn't be much of a fight..."

Goku pouted, but did not push the subject any further; your excuse was a weak one but your ki was still not back to normal. There was always something wrong with it, no matter how hard you trained it did not work properly. Not even the years you had with your crew, without using ki would not have caused such detrimental damage to your ki. Your hand found its way to the back of your neck, the device Bulma had seen with the scanner.

Brushing off the weird thought you stood up, "I'm gonna take a walk, I'll be back in a little bit."

"Okay, don't wander off too far," Goku said, with a wave.

Your feet carried you away till you were alone in the forest, but still somewhat near the campsite; you finally felt like you could breathe now. Laying down in the dirt, you stared up at the canopy of trees above you, the distant sound of bird song was the only noise penetrating the silence. Now that you thought about it, it felt odd finally being able to train again, although this time was because of a world-ending threat.

It was nice being able to relax without your mother's presence looming over your shoulder. You understood why she was acting the way she was, but that did not mean you were alright with it. You did not like how Goku and Gohan were giving strange looks sometimes, but at least they had apologized. You had not seen Chi-chi when you left that morning.

"What is this?"

Your whole body seized up and you got a mouthful of dirt when you hit the ground. The sound of footsteps entering the clearing, you tried with all your might to move your head to no avail. Something wound around your neck and yanked you up, so you could barely touch the ground.

"So this is the little Earthling that has everyone up in a twist," The voice sent a sharp shiver up your spine, "My, my, my, even little brother was enthralled with you; I wonder why?"

You struggled against his hold, trying to pry the appendage from your neck. You were spun around to face your assailant, Frieza. No. He looked a lot like Frieza but not the same, they shared the same piercing red eyes. But their coloring was different, this Frost Demon had a purple body with white accents.

"Now where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself, I am Cooler," He explained, "You are more familiar with my brother, Frieza."

Within your chest, your heart made a jittery pulse; Frieza's face unwittingly flickering through your mind. You were quickly distracted by Goku's power level jumping up, Cooler was not alone it seemed.

"Ah, it seems my Armored Squadron has started fighting, the monkey that killed Frieza," Cooler hummed, his tone even, "I suppose we should go and meet them."

You struggled trying to worm your way out of his grasp to no avail, if anything Cooler seemed amused by your attempts. Your ki thrashed within you, sending sharp jolts of pain throughout your body; it had never acted like this before.

Before you knew it, Cooler approached a river, walking down closer to where you felt Goku's presence. Goku was fighting, what you assumed to be Cooler's Armored Squadron, he was not doing bad against them.Goku froze, turning on his heel, his eyes widened, staring at Cooler, he glanced at you from her peripherals, clenching his fists.

"Dad!" Fear filled your chest, Gohan—Gohan was flying over here; he should not be anywhere near this mess.

Goku shouted up at the boy, "Gohan this isn't the best time, go back!"

Cooler raised his hand to shoot at Gohan, in a paniked haze you bit down as hard as you could of Cooler's tail. He made a startled grunt by the blast still shot up at your bother; Goku flew up to grab Gohan. You were thrown to the side, head bashing against a large stone by the river. Reaching a hand to the back of your head, your fingers came back coated in a layer of blood.

You barely noticed when Cooler disappeared, you head throbbing. Struggling to your feet you knew that survival was slim if you stayed put. Thankfully Cooler's Armored Squadron was distracted by their bosses displays. Locking your energy back into yoru chest you ran, you had to get back to Krillin who most likely did not know what was going on.

The sound of your feet slapping against the ground, rang through your ears; you were not sure where you were heading. It was not long before ki blasts began to rain down from above; they were going to make sure everyone was dead. Trees blew up around you, your breath was short as you ducked into a nearby cave to seek shelter. It would be better to wait it out here, rather than found in the open.

Curling up on the ground, you rested your forehead against your knees, blearily you touched the back of your head again. The hair around your nape was covered in congealed blood, pain shot through you. Your let out a soft curse, you were screwed if anyone found you like this.

Tearing off one of your gi's pant legs, you used it to gently dab at the back of your head. A soft whimper broke out of your throat; when you checked the fabric, you were startled to see it soaked with your blood. Pressing it back to the open wound you let out a soft hiss, at least the bleeding had mostly stopped, head wounds bled a lot more than any other kind.

The sun was gone now, the Armored Squadron was still patrolling the skies. Your back was sore from sitting, propped up against the side of the cave. They really should have been paying more attention to the landscape, rather than just glancing over the surface.

You tore off the other pant leg so they both match, using the fresh scrap to tie around your neck. So you would not have to keep a hand on it while you slept through the night. Sleep quickly over came you, drifting away and making the aching pains coursing through your body vanish.

Slowly you blinked your eyes open, a familiar room laid out before you. A while ago Frieza had moved into a more permanent residence, the Ginyu Force had apparently been building them for a while. Sitting up you were dizzy still, blood loss was not something you liked to deal with. Frieza was not in his bed room which you counted as a plus, you were not sure how much you wanted to see him after everything that was going on with his brother.

Glancing behind yourself, you grumbled, Frieza was not going to be happy that you got blood all over his comforter. Leaning back on your hands you looked around the room, it was the same as it always was. You could hear voices in the other room, you knew Dodoria and Zarbon lived in the same house as Frieza... for whatever reason.

Part of you wanted Frieza to be with you, the rest of you knew that would only stress you out more. Having to explain where you had gotten your wounds would not be pleasant. You were not sure how close Frieza was with his brother, you were not sure if you wanted to know. The door creaked open, your eyes shooting up, a tall green man—Zarbon—stood in the doorway.

"What the—"

Whatever he said next never reached your ears; you woke up to the same cave you had fallen asleep in.