Chapter Text
---
Chi-Chi stood in her kitchen.
Not the real one. The one inside her head. The stove was lit. The medicine bottle sat where it always sat. The calendar hung on the wall with red circles on dates that came and went without Goku showing up.
She was barefoot. Her feet on her floor. Her hands at her sides. Her body. Her space.
Suki was on the floor near the stove. Chained to the heels. Red light wrapped around her wrists and ankles. She was shaking. Her eyes kept darting toward the door.
Mei was scattered. Fragments of her lay across the kitchen floor. A hand here. A shoulder there. Part of a face. The staff lay in three pieces near the doorframe. Without it she had no shape. Just shards drifting apart.
Chi-Chi looked at both of them.
She took a breath.
"OKAY. You." She pointed at Suki. "You crawled into my body without asking. You grew roots in my legs. You walked around in my kitchen humming songs I don't know. You made my son worry sick. You made my husband sit on the floor like a dog waiting for a bone. You think you're the first person who moved into my house without permission? Goku does that every time he comes home from fighting and expects dinner ready."
Suki opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
"And those heels." Chi-Chi looked at the shoes. Her eyes lingered. "Those are really nice heels. I've never owned heels like that. I can't afford heels like that because nobody in this house has a JOB. But you turned them into a cage. You were so scared of your master that you chained yourself to shoes and called it hiding. That's not hiding. That's just picking a different prison."
Suki flinched. The chains pulsed red.
Chi-Chi turned to the fragments on the floor.
"AND YOU."
The fragments shifted. A piece of Mei's face surfaced near the broken staff. Eyes. A mouth. Looking up at Chi-Chi with something between confusion and disbelief.
Mei had been talked to by the master. Cold. Functional. Orders and checks and corrections.
She had been talked to by Suki. Scared. Desperate. Clinging.
Nobody had ever talked to her like THIS.
Like a mother catching a kid who broke a window.
"...What's your deal?" The voice came from three fragments at once. Fractured. But genuinely confused. "Why are you yelling at me? I'm broken. I'm scattered on your floor. I can barely hold a thought together and you're standing there like I'm a student who forgot homework."
Chi-Chi crossed her arms.
"I don't know your situation. I don't know what your deal is. I don't know why you're broken or what that staff does or why you're in pieces on my floor. So you're going to tell me. Right now. What happened to you and why you're here."
Mei's fragments stared.
"You're... commanding me."
"Yeah I am."
"I'm a weapon. I was built by a master in the Demon Realm. I've walked three days without sleep. I've—"
"I don't care. Tell me what happened or stay on my floor in pieces. Your choice."
The fragments pulled slightly closer. Not by choice. Because Mei needed structure to speak and telling the story gave her one.
"I was sent to find Suki. My sister. She ran from the master. The deal was... I bring Suki back and I get to stay free. One weapon in the field. One in the shop. That was the deal."
Chi-Chi's arms stayed crossed. Her face didn't move.
"Three days walking. No sleep. The staff keeps me together. Without it I fall apart. Literally. When I got here Suki was already inside you. Rooted in. She'd been hiding for weeks. I tried to pull her out and she fought back and the staff broke and now I'm... this."
Mei's voice came from different fragments at different times. Like a conversation between pieces of the same person.
"The master wants her back. He wants her back because she's his weapon. That's all. That's the whole thing. I was the leash. She was the target. You were just... the hiding spot."
Chi-Chi uncrossed her arms.
"So let me get this straight. You walked three days to drag your sister back to the guy who owns you. You called that a deal. A deal with someone who already owns you."
Mei's fragments went quiet.
"That's not a deal. That's doing what he told you to do and putting a bow on it. He said bring her back. You said okay but called it a deal. Same thing."
"It wasn't—"
"AND. He didn't even want Suki. He wanted ME. Suki was the finder. You were the leash. Both of you did exactly what he built you to do. And neither of you noticed because you were too busy being weapons to think."
The kitchen went quiet.
Chi-Chi stepped forward. One bare foot on the tile. Hard.
"You had each other. You're SISTERS. You both know what it's like to be used. To have someone check your hands instead of your face. To be kept in the dark until someone needs you. And instead of sticking together you let him turn you against each other. One ran. One chased. And the master got what he wanted."
She stopped.
She stood in the middle of her kitchen. The one she cleaned every morning. The one she cooked in every night. The one she sat in alone for eight years waiting for a husband who kept choosing fights over family.
She looked at Suki in the chains.
She looked at Mei in pieces.
Her shoulders dropped.
"Look. I get it."
Suki stopped shaking.
The fragments stopped moving.
"I know what it's like to hold everything alone. To feel like nobody sees you. I've been doing it for eight years. My husband flies off every time there's a fight and I stay here and I cook and I clean and I raise our son and I circle dates on a calendar that nobody comes home for. So yeah. I know what it's like to want to grab onto something that feels safe."
Her voice was flat. Direct.
"But you don't grab onto someone else's body. That's not yours to take. And you don't drag your sister back to the person who broke her. That's not love. That's just being a weapon with an excuse."
Chi-Chi knelt down. Between them. On the tile. Barefoot.
"Here's the deal. MY deal. Not his. You can stay. Both of you. In my body. On my terms. Suki you let go of the roots. The chains. All of it. Mei you put yourself back together. You stay as guests. Not weapons. Not prisoners. Guests."
She looked at Suki.
"Those heels are staying though. Those are mine now. You're staying too but those heels are MINE. I've been wearing the same two pairs of shoes for five years because Goku eats more than this family earns and those are the nicest things that have ever been in this house."
Suki blinked. Then something happened that hadn't happened in weeks. A real smile. Small. Tired. But real.
"Okay."
"Okay what?"
"Okay you can keep the heels. And... okay I'll stay. On your terms."
Her fingers uncurled. Slowly. One by one. The roots retracted. Faint lines of red pulling back into the heels. The chains flickered. Went dim. Went dark.
Suki sat on the kitchen floor. Free. Looking at her own hands like they belonged to someone she'd never met.
Chi-Chi looked at the heels. Actually looked at them. A real smile crossed her face too. Quick. Gone fast. But real.
"Those really are nice. Gohan's going to lose his mind when he sees them."
Then she turned back to Mei's fragments. Back to business.
"Mei. Pick yourself up."
"I can't... the staff. Without it I'm just pieces."
"Where is the staff?"
"Broken. Three pieces. Near the door."
"Where is your BODY?"
Mei's fragments went quiet. Then:
"...Outside. On the floor. Near your chair. The staff is still in my hands. My real hands. I'm here but my body is there."
Chi-Chi looked at the broken staff in the inner world. Then she thought about the real one. In Mei's real hands. Outside.
She couldn't fix it. She was a housewife. She didn't have magic. She didn't have powers. She cooked and cleaned and yelled and held things together with her bare hands.
But she knew someone who did.
Chi-Chi closed her eyes inside her own mind. Reached outward. Past the kitchen. Past the inner world.
Goku.
She didn't have telepathy. She didn't have powers. But she had eight years of yelling at a man who never listened. Eight years of projecting her voice through empty rooms and open windows hoping he'd hear her from wherever he was.
That kind of voice carries.
It found him.
---
Goku was sitting cross-legged in front of Chi-Chi's chair. Gohan was next to him holding her wrist. Piccolo was standing in the corner with his arms crossed watching everything.
Mei's body was on the floor a few feet from Chi-Chi's chair. Collapsed. Eyes closed. Hands still wrapped around the staff. The staff was in three pieces but her fingers hadn't let go. Even broken her body held on.
Then Chi-Chi's voice came from everywhere and nowhere. Her lips weren't moving.
"Goku."
Goku jumped. He looked around. Then at Chi-Chi. Then at Gohan. Then back at Chi-Chi.
"Chi-Chi? Is that you? In my head?"
"The broken one. On the floor. Her staff. Fix it."
Goku stared blankly. He looked at Mei's body on the floor. Then at the broken staff in her hands. Then at Piccolo. Piccolo looked back at him.
"I... what staff? Who is she? Chi-Chi what are you talking about?"
Gohan tugged Goku's sleeve.
"Dad. Piccolo can fix things. He does that magic stuff. Remember? Go Piccolo!"
Goku looked at Piccolo again. Then back at Chi-Chi. Then back at Piccolo. His face was completely blank.
"Yeah! Piccolo! Fix the staff! ...What staff?"
Piccolo already understood. He'd been watching. He'd been quiet the whole time because Piccolo doesn't waste words. But he heard Chi-Chi's voice and he saw the body on the floor and he knew what she was asking. Not because she explained it well. Because Piccolo understands what it's like to be broken pieces trying to be one person again.
He walked over to Mei's body. Looked down at her. At the staff in three pieces in her hands.
He put his hand over the staff. Not touching. Close enough.
His cape settled. His eyes closed.
That green energy. The same magic he used in canon. Quiet. Competent. The thing he always did that nobody paid attention to.
He held the three pieces. Pushed them together. Not forcing them. Holding them. Giving them a frame. A structure. Waiting for the pieces to accept each other.
The staff glowed faint green at the seams. Then the seams closed. One piece. Two pieces. Whole.
Piccolo opened his eyes. Stepped back.
The staff was intact. Still in Mei's hands.
---
Mei's fragments stopped drifting.
They felt it. Something from outside. The staff. Whole again. Holding its shape like a skeleton waiting for a body.
The fragments had a structure to move toward now. Not because Chi-Chi forced them. Not because Piccolo commanded them. Because he gave them a frame and Mei chose to fill it.
Piece by piece. The hand moved toward the shoulder. The shoulder connected to the neck. The neck to the face. The fragments pulled together around the shape of the staff. Reforming. Reassembling. Not being fixed. Choosing to come back.
When it was done Mei was standing there. Whole. Staff in hand. Looking at her own hands. Feeling the weight of a staff that worked again.
She looked at Suki. Suki looked at Mei. Both of them whole enough to see each other for the first time since this started.
Mei looked at Chi-Chi.
"...You yelled at a weapon."
"I yell at everyone. Ask my husband."
"He doesn't seem like he listens."
"He doesn't. That's not the point. The point is I said it."
Mei looked down at the staff in her hands. Then at the door. The way out.
"I need to go back. To my body. It's still out there."
"I know. Go."
Mei hesitated. She looked at Suki.
Suki looked back. Something passed between them. Not words. Just recognition. Two weapons who finally saw each other as something else.
"I'll come visit," Mei said.
Suki nodded. "Okay."
Mei looked at Chi-Chi one more time.
"Thank you. For yelling at me."
"Nobody else was going to do it. Now get out of my kitchen."
Mei smiled. Small. Almost invisible. Then she walked toward the door. The inner door. The way back to her own body.
---
Mei's body was on the floor. Eyes closed. Hands around the staff.
The staff glowed. Mei's eyes opened.
She sat up. Slowly. Stiff. Like waking up from a sleep that lasted too long. Her fingers tightened around the staff. Whole. Intact. Hers.
She looked at her hands. Turned them over. Made a fist. Opened it.
She was back.
Piccolo was standing a few feet away. Arms crossed. Watching her.
Mei looked at him. He looked at her.
Neither said anything.
---
Chi-Chi opened her eyes.
The real kitchen. The stove. The medicine bottle. The calendar. Gohan's hand on her wrist. Goku cross-legged on the floor looking confused. Piccolo standing near Mei's body which was now sitting up.
She was back.
Her body felt different. Lighter. The roots were gone. But something remained. A presence. Quiet. Settled. Not fighting.
Suki.
Still there. In the heels. In the space behind Chi-Chi's eyes. But not as a squatter. As a guest.
Chi-Chi looked down at her feet. The heels were there. On her feet. Real. Physical. Beautiful.
She stood up. Slowly. Gohan's hand tightened on her wrist.
"Mom?"
"I'm here. I'm fine. I'm back."
Gohan launched at her. Arms around her waist. Face in her stomach. She put her hand on his head. Didn't say anything. Just held it there.
Goku was still on the floor. Looking up at her with that dumb expression he gets when he doesn't understand something but knows it's important.
She leaned down and kissed him. Quick. On the forehead. The way she always does when he comes home late.
"Welcome back. You're an idiot. Dinner's at seven. Don't be late."
Goku grinned. That big stupid grin. "Okay Chi-Chi!"
Then she turned to Piccolo. He was in the corner. Arms crossed. Face set. Looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.
"Piccolo."
"What."
"Thank you. You fixed the staff. You put her back together."
Piccolo shifted. His eyes moved slightly. Then back.
"Sure."
One word. Arms still crossed. Still looking annoyed about everything.
But he stayed. Didn't leave. Just stood there in the corner like he always did. Watching. Present. Not going anywhere until he was sure it was okay.
---
Mei was sitting on the floor. Staff in hand. Whole. Looking around the kitchen like she was seeing it for the first time from the outside instead of from the inside.
She looked at Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi looked at her.
"...So."
"So."
"I'm... here. In my body. In your kitchen."
"Yeah you are. You planning on staying on my floor?"
Mei stood up. Slowly. Legs stiff. Three days of walking and then being broken into pieces and then being put back together will do that.
"No. I should go."
"Where?"
Mei opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"I don't know."
She looked at the staff in her hands. Then at the door. Then at nothing.
"The master is still out there. The stone that controlled me is gone but he's still there. I could go back. Hunt him. Finish it."
Chi-Chi looked at her.
"That's what you want to do?"
"I don't know what I want. I never got to choose before."
The kitchen was quiet. Gohan was watching. Goku was looking at the fridge. Piccolo was watching Mei.
Piccolo uncrossed his arms.
"You don't have anywhere to go."
Mei looked at him. He was looking at her. Not through her. At her.
"No."
"The master is still out there."
"Yes."
"And you want to go after him."
"...I don't know. Maybe. I don't know what I want. I just said that."
Piccolo was quiet for a moment. The room was still.
"I lived on a mountain for years watching a kid grow up before I figured out what I was." His voice was low. Even. "You don't have to know right now."
"So what do I do."
"You come with me. You figure it out while you're figuring it out."
Mei stared at him.
She had been built by a master. Sent on a mission. Broken. Reassembled by a stranger's magic. Lectured by a housewife. And now a green man in a cape was offering her a place to exist while she figured out what existing meant.
"...Why?"
Piccolo didn't answer immediately. He looked at the wall. Then at Gohan. Then back at Mei.
"Because nobody did it for me. And I turned out okay."
Gohan looked up at Piccolo. "You did turn out okay Mr. Piccolo!"
"Gohan."
"Sorry."
Mei looked at Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi looked at Mei.
"Go. He's weird but he's reliable. Better than sitting on my floor."
Mei almost smiled. Almost.
She looked at Suki. Or at the space where Suki was. Inside Chi-Chi. Behind her eyes.
"I'll come visit."
Chi-Chi nodded. "Door's open. Dinner's at seven. Don't be late either."
Mei turned to Piccolo. He was already walking toward the door. Didn't look back. Didn't check if she was following. Just walked.
Mei followed. Staff in hand. Body stiff. Whole.
---
Goku watched them go. He tilted his head.
"Huh. Piccolo made a friend."
Gohan looked up from Chi-Chi's waist.
"Dad that's not how you describe it."
"That's what it looks like to me."
"Mr. Piccolo helped save mom and now he's helping the lady with the staff. That's not making a friend that's just being a good person."
"Same thing."
Gohan thought about it. "Yeah. Same thing."
Chi-Chi watched Piccolo and Mei walk out the door. She nodded once. To herself. To Mei. To the whole thing.
Then she looked down at her feet.
The heels.
She turned her ankle slightly. Left. Right. Looking at them from different angles.
"Mom are those new shoes?"
"Gohan yes they are."
"They're really pretty."
"I know they are. I have good taste."
Goku leaned over looking at them. "Those do look cool Chi-Chi! Can you fight in those?"
"Goku if you ask me that again you're sleeping outside."
"That's where I usually sleep."
"Then you're sleeping FURTHER outside."
Chi-Chi walked to the stove. Barefoot except for the heels. The medicine bottle was still there. The calendar was still there. The kitchen was still hers.
But it wasn't empty anymore.
Suki hummed something. Quiet. From somewhere behind Chi-Chi's eyes. Not a performance. Not a hiding song. Just a sound. Something a person makes when they're comfortable.
Chi-Chi didn't tell her to stop.
She just turned on the stove and started making dinner.
---
Outside. Far enough from the house that the lights were just a glow.
Piccolo was walking. Mei was beside him. Staff in hand. Quiet.
They walked for a while before Mei spoke.
"She yelled at me."
"I heard."
"She yelled at a weapon. Like I was a kid who broke something."
"Sounds like her."
"Is she always like that?"
"Every time I've seen her."
Mei looked at the staff in her hands. Whole. Intact. Hers.
"What do I do now?"
"What I said. Figure it out."
"While walking with you."
"While walking with me."
Mei was quiet for a while. Then:
"Where are we going?"
"Nowhere specific."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
Mei almost laughed. Almost. It came out as a breath. Like a sound she didn't know she could make.
Piccolo kept walking. Mei kept following.
---