Jima sat up and blinked groggily. The alarm clock digits read “0:02”. Just after midnight. She slid out of bed, Vegeta grunted and rolled over, but stayed asleep. She pulled on her dressing gown and went down stairs. She needed a cup of tea. As she filled the kettle her mind wandered back to the dream she’d had. It had been odd, but then all her dreams the past week had been odd. She’d even taken a pregnancy test, just to make sure. She wasn’t pregnant, so another explanation was needed.
She had been walking along a street, carrying some flowers. The buildings around her had looked very new, although a few had been demolished by something. Men had been throwing bricks into a skip. She had carried on until she turned a corner and gone through some large black gates. The grass was littered with headstones, a graveyard. She had walked along a small gravel path before stopping at one of the headstones, which read “Vegeta, loving husband, loving father, who died in the Android Wars fighting for his loved ones. His spirit is sorely missed.” As she had bent down to put the flowers on the grave she had woken up.
Her other dreams had been just as odd, in one she had been living in a small cottage, and had only three children. Kakarot had some odd name and dressed differently, as had Vegeta. She had the sneaky suspicion that they were living on Earth, but she had no idea why. She jumped slightly when she heard the door creak open. It was Kaell, his sightless eyes in her direction, but slightly off-centre as always.
“Mother? Why are you up?” He asked.
“Had a weird dream, you?”
“Same here, are you making tea?”
“Yes, want a cup?”
“Please.” He sat down at the table while Jima made an extra up and placed it infront of him. “Thanks. So what was your dream about?” She explained, and told him about the other dreams as well. He nodded.
“In my dream I had sight, I could see everyone perfectly clearly.”
“It must be disconcerting, waking up from sight to find…darkness.”
“Not really, when I was younger I dreamt about being able to see. I grew out of it. I don’t have any reason to start again.”
“Mum? Kaell?” Reva poked her head round the door.
“Reev, what are you doing out of bed at this time?” Jima asked as her daughter went over to her for a hug.
“I had a bad dream.” Reva explained, Jima frowned.
“This is too much of a coincidence mother.” Kaell said.
“I know, and I’m going to find out what’s going on.”

Jima walked down the corridors towards the laboratories. She knew of only one person who could explain these dreams to her. She got to the labs and followed the corridor to the scientist’s individual offices. She got the one she wanted and knocked on the door. A voice called.
“Come in.” She entered. Bulma was sitting at her desk, typing rapidly on her computer, she turned, saw Jima, stood up and bowed before sitting back down.
“Your majesty.”
“Bulma I’ve told you a dozen times, cut that out.” Jima grinned as she closed the door. Bulma grinned back.
“You know what it’s like living with officials, half the scientists here with kneel in your presence.”
“I know, everyone forgets I wasn’t born a princess.” Jima sat down in a spare chair.
“So what can I do for you today?”
“Me, Kaell and Reev have been having some very odd dreams lately.”
“What do you mean by odd?”
“Well, I’ve dreamt about living on earth several times, Kaell’s dreamt about being able to see and all Reev could tell me was that ‘My Daddy wasn’t really my Daddy. He was a different man.’.” Bulma frowned.
“And you’ve all been having these dreams together?”
“Yes, in the past week.”
“Well, it could be because of your psychic ability, Reev inherited more than the rest of her siblings, but at different they’ve all showed signs of different mental capabilities. It could be that because you’re close to your children what goes on in your mind affects them through the mental link you have.”
“I thought that, but then Sako is more mentally capable than Kaell and she hasn’t had any dreams as of yet, or at least she hasn’t told me.”
“Sako hides a lot of things. So does Trunks.” Bulma said, a small smile playing on her lips.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean she doesn’t always sleep in her room anymore, I found her asleep in Trunks’ bed the other day.”
“She never told me! Oh, god have she and Trunks…?”
“I asked her, she said no, they just liked being close together, and night was the only time because Trunks is always training during the day.” Jima rubbed her forehead in thought.
“I have too many kids, can’t keep track of them all.” She muttered. Bulma laughed.
“Well either way, that’s the only explanation I can think of.” Jima stood up.
“Thanks anyway Bulma. I’d better speak to Sako at some point as well.”
“Yep, see you later.”

Sako was sitting in the nursery with Kappa, Bitana and Geno when her mother swept in. One look and Sako knew she knew about her nightly excursions.
“Yeah you’d better look ashamed missy. If you want to stay with Trunks then just ask don’t sneak out. Do you know what would have happened if we’d found you missing from your bed your father would go ape!”
“Yes mum, sorry mum.” Jima sighed and sat down on the floor next to Kappa.
“You look tired Jima.” Her friend said as Geno clambered over her in an attempt to get to his mother.
“I’ve been having odd dreams lately.”
“Ah, me too, it always happens when dimensional walls get weak.”
“Excuse me?” Jima looked slightly alarmed.
“How do they get weak? I thought they were sealed when Kaell came from the future.”
“That wall was, but meeting that Kaell should have alerted you to how many different universes there are.” Kappa leant back. “Okay, it’s like this. For every choice you come across you have at least two options, right?”
“Right.”
“So the option you chose now leads you down one path, but in another dimension you chose the other option, which completely changed that dimension.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Okay, so in order for you marry Vegeta you had to kill an earthling, my friend Yamcha?”
“Yes.”
“Well in this dimension you did it, you killed him and married Vegeta. In other dimension you were faced with the same thing, but you failed. So you didn’t marry Vegeta. Yamcha killed you. So you don’t exist in that universe.”
“Kaell said he dreamt he could see.”
“Exactly, in that dimension you were never kidnapped by Vegeta’s insane half brother and so Kaell was born with perfect sight.”
“What do you dream about?” Kappa looked slightly ashamed.
“A few times I’ve dreamt that the invasion of earth never happened, so I still lived with Piccolo. Or that you never came to ask me to look after the Princes, so I was rotting in a cell under the palace.”
“That’s awful!”
“Hey, for all we know that could be another universe where you’re dead, that psychopath who kidnapped you killed you like he intended, or you died having one of the kids. You can never tell.”
“Is there anyway to get through to these dimensions?”
“Nope.”
“I can’t tell them about my life here?”
“Nope, although the chance that half of those alive have your abilities and have probably had the same dream.”

That night Jima lay awake in bed, Vegeta sleeping next to her. In a thousand universes Jima lay awake. The problem drove a few to insanity, a few felt that the other lives would have been better and left Vegeta in the early hours, never to return. In a thousand dimensions Jima had died a long time ago and a thousand Vegeta’s grieved sorely for her. A thousand Jima’s had no idea and were sleeping happily. A thousand Jima’s live on earth with three kids and a variety of pets, they weren’t princesses, just Mum’s and wives. A thousand Jima’s had been unable to have children and lived a lonely life with a husband who rarely came home anymore. A thousand Jima’s grieved for husbands and children that had been killed by Frieza, or the Androids, or by Cell. A thousand Jima’s lived in a cave with a small human resistance force against demons from another dimension. A thousand Jima’s never married Vegeta, some married other soldiers, some married humans, some sold themselves on the street and prayed every night for death. Some Jima’s were happy, some weren’t, some were insane, some weren’t, some had a loving family, some didn’t.
Our Jima simply thanked whatever Gods that existed for the blessing that was her family and wriggled close to Vegeta, who slid an arm around her, pulled her close and went back to sleep with her in his arms, happy.

The End