Dragon Ball © Akira Toriyama, Shuheisha, Inc.

Chapter 17: Her Other Half

It had been months since their visit to the past. To make another trip, they had to wait until they gathered enough energy for the time machine. Bulma had been thinking of the technology to fill the energy faster than before and remembered that her father once used to do researches about it. That was the reason they ended up in the storage house filled with dusts and spider webs.

While helping them sorting the boxes, Tenten broke the silence in that morning when a spider crawling on her hand, which was why Trunks ended up having to clean the webs, making sure it was spider-free before she could help him searching for the documents his mother was looking for.

However…

"There must be some left!" screamed Bulma as she clenched her fists then put two boxes in front of her aside to access the one behind them.

"But… didn't you say that Jii-san's notes were all gone when the androids destroy our lab?" asked Trunks as he helped his mother moved the box.

Bulma sighed as she covered her face with her palm. "You're right, Son…" she slowly shook her head, "but there must be something I've saved a long time before that."Trunks slightly frowned, knowing that with the brain his mother got, she didn't need to look at the old notes his grandfather made.

All she wanted to see was his handwriting, the prove that they were once doing researches together. Trunks understood that there were times when his strong mother had her weak moment when she missed her family.

"I'll keep looking for it, Kaa-san. Why don't you rest and eat the cake Tenten made for you?"

Bulma bit her bottom lip as she put her palm over her son's. "I'll do that." She the left without saying anything. Trunks sighed as he continued his search.

"Tenten, how's it looking?" Trunks shouted to the upper level.

"Still no luck. Most of the things here are your things when you were kid." She moved a box aside in the deeper part and lifted her brows when she saw a box with a very bad 'Treasure Chest' handwriting on top of it. She opened the box without hesitation, knowing that the handwriting belonged to none other than Trunks when he was a kid because his handwriting was as terrible as scribbles back widened her eyes when she saw the precious doll she once treasured as a kid was there…

The Dalmatian doll she got from Bulma on her birthday.

She threw the doll away when she saw many spiders on it, inspecting it to see the scribbles added to the Dalmatian spots to make it looked like spiders' legs. She took the doll, tightening her lips as the memory of that day flooding into her mind and recalling that it was all his doing with Goten as his accomplice.

Her eyes, however, softened upon the memory of them all three together.

How much she wished Goten to be able to see their father alive as she did. He always been a big fan of their father's story even until his final breath.

How she wished she would still be a whole with Goten.

Because half of her soul was gone with Goten when he left him forever…

That day five years ago…

Chichi had been complaining about the mountain pile of laundries that week, which was why both Goten and Tenten had to do the laundry on that perfectly sunny day. Tenten threatened Goten that she'd release his stag beetle if he wasn't helping her to do the laundry and so he did.

One would never guess how such a perfect day could turn upside down when a big explosion occurred in Mount Paozu. Both Goten and Tenten quickly abandoned their laundry and flew to help the residents, ignoring Chichi's calling for their names. Both of the kids were fully aware that they stand no chance against the powerful androids, which was why they didn't do anything more than evacuating people and guided them to safety.

Unfortunately, #17 spotted Tenten when she carried an old woman and tailing her. When Tenten realised the danger that was looming over her, it was too late. #17 shot several energy balls towards her, in which she set her barrier to deflect them. Tenten then sped up to bait the android away from the villagers, relying only on her speed to dodge the attacks.

However, she was failed to see #18 who had aimed her from afar for her 'shooting game'. She had mustered a giant energy ball and shot it the moment Tenten spotted her. Tenten quickly set her barrier up to confined the attack, but it did nothing to the powerful attack and it was a hair away from hitting her. Squeezing her eyes shut, Tenten could only wait until the attack devoured her whole.

It was the moment when Goten jumped and shielded her with his body.

The attack caused a huge explosion and formed a large crater with the twins sprawled in the middle. The androids were smiling wickedly when they deemed the twins were goners, leaving the place to seek excitement in another places.

Her eyes were fluttered open as she resurfaced to her consciousness, sharply gasped upon seeing Goten on top of her. Tenten gently pushed him, raising her palm and had her pupils dilated upon seeing blood. He was still breathing but the way his pulse was beating and Ki getting smaller indicated the worst.

He was dying…

Terror had overtaken her.

The thought of losing her twin brother made her body trembling with fear.

She placed her palms over his injury, forming a white glow and focused on healing him.

"G-Goten, please open your eyes! Please stay with me, Goten! Please!" she pleaded. However, no matter how hard she tried to close the wound, it only stopped the bleeding and didn't heal it. "No, please close up, will you?! Please let it work!"

Her visions were blurred upon the realisation that it was the limit of her ability. Tears had been cascading on her face but she didn't stop healing him.

"Goten! Don't you dare leaving me, you hear me?! Stay with me, Goten! Please stay with me!" she screamed.

Goten used all the strength he had to cracked one of his eyes open, gently wiping the tears that were streaming on her face, startling her in the process.

"T-Tenten, I am so… glad that you're o-okay…" He smiled. "Don't c-cry… you look ugly with those t-tears…" Tenten wiped her tears clean with her sleeves and forced a smile.

"There, I'm not crying anymore. I won't as long as you're okay, Goten! I promise you this! So you better keep your eyes open! I'll bring you to the hospital!" She was about to rose to bring him but Goten pulled her sleeve to stop her. "G-Goten?"

"Tenten… I'm s-so glad to be born as y-your twin… I'm s-so sorry for all the bad things I've d-done to you… T-the one who drew spiders on y-your Dalmatian doll was… Trunks and I h-helped him. I was t-the one who put blue food colouring on your pink dress because p-pink is a stupid colour…"

She faintly smiled at his confessions. "Don't make stupid confessions at a time like this, Goten. We have to bring you to the hospital so I can continue watching your stupid deeds."

Goten smiled at her before slightly moved his head, looking at something behind her as if he was looking at someone he had been missing all his life.

"T-Tou-san… Is that you?"

Gasping, Tenten swivelled her head to see past her shoulder.

But no one in sight.

"G-Goten?" She held his hand with her trembling hands. "D-don't leave me, Goten… Don't you dare leaving me!"

"Tenten…" Tears started to flow freely on Goten's face. "I love you… and I'll always be with you…" he weakly pointed his index finger to her chest, "…here. Nothing could break the bond w-we have…"

The moment when he shut his eyes was like a slow motion to her.

And he would never open that vibrant eyes ever again.

Not to the world.

Not to her.

A strong breeze was flowing past her. She turned around to see Goten smiling so gently at her as he waved his hand before walking away and shattered into particles of light.

She felt something within her disappeared along with it.

Goten's grip on her hand had loosened and gradually losing its warmth. At that moment she realised something.

She was no longer twins.

Because half of her was gone.

"No… NO! GOTEN, PLEASE COME BACK!" she screamed, though her voice was slightly muffled by the ball in her throat. She shook Goten's body, hoping that he was only pretending to be dead. "GOTEN! DON'T JOKE ON ME! PLEASE OPEN YOUR EYES!"

As if nature had its way to expressed its grieve upon the passing soul, the sky turned into its darker shade. A drop of rain, followed by millions other furiously drenched the earth. She could no longer feel her tears as its mixed with the droplets of rain that fell upon her.

"GOTEN!" she screamed as she held hid body.

The moment when Gohan and Trunks arrived, they stood mortified in the mid air. Even after they topped their speeds, they were too late. They slowly descended to the ground and approached Tenten.

When he realised that his brother was no more, Gohan lost the strength to stand up and fell to his his duty to comfort his little sister, he approached Tenten and let her cried on his chest, then shed the silent tears that no longer visible due to the rain.

Trunks could only widen his eyes at Goten's lifeless body. He crouched beside Goten's body while clenching his fists.

"He's no more… Goten was gone! Why did he have to leave me?! WHY?! We were born together so why don't we die together?! He died because of m-me! And I couldn't heal him! I couldn't do anything to save him!" Tenten hysterically screamed.

"Ssh… Tenten, don't make this even harder for Goten," said Gohan as he rubbed her back.

Trunks felt his eyes started to burn, but he didn't want to make the situation even worse especially since Tenten was still hysterical. He swallowed his tears back and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry…." was the only thing he could mutter.

"Tenten?" A call from Trunks snapped her from her train of memory. "Did you find anything?"

"Umm…" She looked down to the Dalmatian doll and suddenly had the urge to go to 'that' place. "I'm sorry, can I take a break for a moment? I need to go somewhere."

"Sure you—" Tenten already jumped out from the window and flew away, "—can? You never need my permission in the first place, do you?" Trunks scratched his head while gazing at the window she jumped from.

Landing nearby her house, Tenten approached the Dragon's Tear Lake and dipped her hand into the cold water, closing her eyes as the memory of the place rushing into her lake was said to be the thing that protected the village from drought, its purity kept the bad spirits from harming the village. It was the symbol of pride of their village, also the place where they spread the ashes of their loved in the lake was her whole family, but that fact never changed the love she held towards the place.

A smile grazed her lips the moment her eyes landed on the tree where her mother told three of them—Goten, Trunks, and her—about the legend that was told from generation to generation. The legend about how the lake was formed in the first place; the legend her mother often told her before she slept.

Shutting her eyes, she let the wind blew past her hair as her mind drifted to the last time her mother told her the tales right before she died…

The tales of the Dragon's Pearl…

AN: For old readers you might notice that the lower part of this chapter is a brand new scene. The next chapter will be a bit of 'Tales of the Dragon's Pearl', the theme I added to this fic.

So, I've read my review and decided to respond it here in case some of you wondering the same thing. Why all OCs have healing ability? Well, I bet all authors have their own reasoning as I do. I don't want to reveal the reason here because Tenten's healing ability is her mystery and revealing it here will spoil the fun. XD

Also, about Gohan's death—I think his sacrifice is the same with the soldiers who fight for their countries. For the one who are left behind, of course this might seem like a stupid thing to do. I think this selfless sacrifice comes from the heart of heroes and I want to keep this running in my fic because Gohan's death is very important for Trunks and Tenten's character's development.

I've mentioned about this fic will be longer than the previous version because I really want to emphasise the struggles they face as the only warriors left in their time, that plus the loss and trauma they're having for losing so many people so you can see their development in the future chapters. Because if I just insert my OC into the plot, what makes this fic different than the other Goku's daughter OC fic, right? XD

Anyway, I hope you're all doing alright during this crazy time! Stay safe and take care of your hygiene, guys!

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