Cell

A hero. That's what they called me.

It took me a while to understand what a hero was but now I think I get it. Standing there made me realise that quite possibly, I could be a hero.

I only had a few moments left to think, to remember, to regret and to smile about. In a few moments it would all be over. No more killer android…no more pain and loss…no more me.

I know I was doing the right thing this time. I know that I wasn't making a mistake. I had made a lot of mistakes in my life and those mistakes were hitting me right now in my heart. I looked over at my son. Boy was I proud of what and who he had become. I wish things could have been different now. I wish I hadn't brought my son into this violence. He's 11 years old and already his innocence was lost. Maybe without me he would be able to get some of that innocence back. Maybe he would be able to enjoy what he had left of his childhood without worrying about the world being in danger.

I loved my son. He made me grow up into a man and a father. He turned my once childish world around. He didn't know how thankful I was for him. There couldn't have been a happier father than me.

I wish I could have seen Chichi at that moment. Just one last time before I left. I would have told her that I loved her, I would have held her close in my arms and told her that I loved her again. She gave me life and she gave me love. I was just an empty seat…I was nothing until she came into my life. It took me a long time to love her, I admit, but love was alien to me…I didn't understand it…I was so afraid. But she eased my fear…and thinking of her eased the small fear that I had in that moment.

I smiled to myself, my time was almost up. I spoke gently to my son for the last time to tell him how proud of him I was and to tell him I loved him and his mother very much. But I had to do this, and I know that beneath all those tears that he understood.

I turned to face Cell, the android I was about to take with me. I smiled again, and I closed my eyes. To die for them was an honour. To sacrifice myself for them was a pleasure. I was born for that moment; the one moment that would seal my family's very existence.

I opened my eyes for the last time. It was time Goku. It was time to do everyone proud. I put my fingers to my head and with all my might I focussed on what I wanted more than anything in the world. Then…in an instant…they had gone.

I had left them for the last time. I had saved them for the last time.

It was finally over.