A/N: Grave of the Fireflies is an incredibly sad movie, because there is no happy ending, but I loved it. This is my homage to it. It takes place on the saiyan home world – I've named it Vegesai – and instead of the Americans attacking Japan, it's Frieza's army attacking Vegesai. Characters will often be OOC, and it is going to be Gohan's POV.
Also, about dating... I'm using the normal January-December, because I don't feel like making one up. I'm also using the same years, just a thousand years in the future. So it starts 4004. I'll put more information about the war later, but for now, picture something along the lines of WWII.
Italics are directly Gohan's POV, first person and present tense. The rest is Gohan's POV, third person and past tense. I don't want to confuse anyone.
Prologue - The Beginning
I watch the boy in the station, sitting on the ground, leaning against one of many supports. The boy's messy, spiked hair limply falls over his blank, staring black eyes. His clothing is torn and dirty, his feet bare, his skin bloody and bruised. A fly buzzes in the air around him, but he takes no notice. As I watch him, his chest stops moving at all.
I feel so sad, watching that pathetic wreak. It makes me realize how fortunate I am, that I have escaped this mess. But... I miss it, too. I know that without my family, it wasn't worth it, but still. They say the flesh is addictive, and it is.
The station closes, and I watch two janitors coming to clean. They sigh and make comments to each other over the bodies of the young and old they find. One of them finally reaches the boy I've been watching. He bends down. "Hey, Ryu, this one's a gonner."
"So what? Just dump the damn thing, Joruku." Ryu sounds annoyed. "Take what you want and shove the rest on the cart."
Joruku shrugs and went back to the boy. His hands roam over him, looking in the pockets of the beat up pants. He pulls out a worn out hard candy tin. Shaking it, he realizes there's nothing left in it, so with a disappointed sigh he tosses it over his shoulder through the open window, and it lands in the grass outside.
I go outside, in the direction of the abandoned tin. Before I get to it, a little boy appears from nothing and picks it up. As he does, it becomes new and full again, as it had when he'd known it. He looks sadly at the body of the dead boy, still visible through the window. I smile and lay a hand on his tiny shoulder. He looks up at me. His onyx orbs light up with joy, and he jumps into my arms.
"Ni-chan!" he cries. I grin and put him down, giving him my hand.
"Yes, it's me, Goten. I won't let you go again."
He nods happily and grabs my open hand. I lead him away from the station, from the dead body, from the past which still haunts us both. But I can't run away. Neither of us can.
I'm Son Gohan. This is September 7, 4004. This is the day I died. The body I've been watching had been my own. Goten died before I did, died of a disease I couldn't save him from. My parents were both killed before that, too.
It remains that I'm dead. Goten and I are ghosts, because we both have unfinished business left behind us. Goten would not leave for the world of the dead without me – he adores me too much for that, even after all that's happened – and I can't leave yet, either. Not until someone knows about my life, and my death.
Listen to my story. And then, maybe I can rest in peace. And maybe, just maybe, you can too.
A/N: That's just the prologue. The real chapters will be much longer, I promise. Please review!!
