New story! Few things to note for those of you curious: Gohan and Vegeta are the focus, each with their own arcs though Gohan is more predominant. Goku will not appear. Updates will be slowww because I'm very busy, I just find it easier to continue a story rather than having to start at the beginning at a later date, the story will be finished when it's finished which will probably be awhile.
Chi-Chi fans can also look forward to her as she's an actual character here and not just an annoyance. Gohan is also 9, canonically, according to Kai and the manga, he is 16 during Buu which would make him 9, technically 10 due to the time chamber, during Cell. I aim to differentiate this story from all the other Gohan angsts about Goku's death, will it be addressed? Of course, but the point of this story is to show that Goku was not Gohan's entire world, just a part of it. Vegeta is also coming to terms with Goku's death, mainly because I don't see many stories that address his whole "I will never fight again" speech.
Basically, story is after Cell, may or may not be AU, enjoy!
Tomorrow was a whole new day.
It just wasn't the day Son Gohan had been hoping for.
His flight towards the Capsule Corporation had been quiet on the morning of that new day, far quieter than any journey Gohan had undertaken at any point during the past three years of his short young life.
He could feel the wind rustle his short black hair and droplets of water splash against his dark suit as he instinctively shot through the air atop the sea, causing it to part ways under the reach of his blue aura. The sky shone a light blue as the early morning sun rose against the horizon. Gohan couldn't help but squint as he took in the sight, the light of the sun and his residual feelings of tiredness forcing him to draw a hand across his face in an attempt to wipe the uncomfortable feeling away.
He did not get much sleep the night before, the events of the day prior lingering heavily on his mind, as well as their consequences.
But today was a whole new day.
A whole new day which Gohan needed to face.
Nobody said anything beyond simple greetings once he arrived within the lush green gardens of the Corporation, nor did Gohan decide to say anything to anyone in return. There was little he could think to say anyway. The time machine sat alone within the yard, the scratched surface of its outlandish yellow metal hull seeming quite out of place compared to the trees and flowers that littered the ground and the angler buildings looming in the background.
Gohan and his friends lined the grass once the last of them had arrived, all staring out with smiles on their faces as Trunks held his past mother's hands and gave a glance in his father's direction, who was leaning against a tree with an unreadable look and scowl upon his face. Krillin had strategically positioned himself next to the son of his best friend almost from the moment he had arrived. Gohan didn't decide to ask why, knowing Krillin had his reasons for doing so.
The mood was sombre for more reasons than one. All of them felt the fatigue of the previous day lingering upon their minds. Gohan noticed the brief looks they all shot him, the raising of their brows, the sympathetic frowns they held as if they were looking at a wounded animal. He could feel their pity glowing within their ki. Gohan was thankful they at least understood not to touch upon the subject, even though it was obviously the only thing upon everyone's mind after the fact Trunks was about to depart for good.
Cell.
Goku.
It was enough to cause them all to take a longer glance at each other once they all realised just how close they had all come to utter annihilation.
And to think, they owe'd their lives to a nine-year-old boy.
A boy that had yet to realise that the rest of his life now laid before him.
Gohan and the others yelled their goodbyes as the craft lifted into the air, surrounding itself in an artificial aura of its own before it blinked out of existence not but a moment later.
That was it. Trunks was gone. The androids were dealt with. The world had been saved and the future was apparently a bright one. But the cost had been high, maybe even too high.
But Gohan only had one thought on his mind then.
Now what?
Gohan knew he was smart, yet he still didn't have an answer.
It plagued him the whole way home, his experiences of everything that had occurred over the past few days seeming like nothing more than a distant memory.
It was the first time in a long time that Gohan knew peace.
And peace was unfamiliar territory, shrouded in uncertainty.
He thought to ask his mother what she thought to do now, but despite his assurance that she would have the answers he sought, Gohan instead decided to simply return to the routine he had adopted since he had returned home from Namek so many years back. He studied, he played, he studied, he ate, day after day after day. For the past three, technically four years, Gohan trained more than he had relaxed as was expected of him by his father and mentor. It had been so long though, so many years and so many trials.
The day after the first day of the rest of his life, Gohan realised he didn't know how to be a kid. He didn't know what to do after everything that had happened.
Instead he realised that with the death of his father and the awakening of his dormant inner power, the weight of the world now rested upon his shoulders.
And that thought scared Gohan.
When he was scared, Gohan would go to his dad. His dad always understood Gohan's anxieties and his hesitations, saying that he was young and inexperienced so it was only natural of him to feel that way. As time went on Gohan had hid those feelings as much as he could, burrowing them deep within himself to make it known to all the others that he would stand beside them as an equal and not as a liability.
Not like he was against Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta.
He pushed those feelings of fear away as far as he could.
But those fears had made themselves know to the world the moment his dad called his name to fight against Cell.
It was in that moment that Gohan questioned his father.
But then everything had transpired according to his father's design. Gohan had defeated Cell, ended his reign of terror, and ascended past the boundaries of Super Saiyan to surpass his father in power.
Yet his dad was still dead and this time he wasn't coming back. Not for the rest of Gohan's life.
A week had passed since the end of the Cell Games, and every day the glance Gohan directed towards the empty space at the dinner table was just that much longer.
And the week after that Gohan found that he couldn't fall asleep again. It was as if everything became clear for the first time in his life, the veil upon his mind had been lifted.
His dad was dead.
He was always going to be dead.
Gohan was the man of the house now. But he was still a child.
He was a child who wanted the comfort of his parents. To tell him that it was going to be okay, that the future was far brighter than it looked at that moment.
He wanted the ending he'd always wished for.
Gohan crawled out of bed and shuffled towards the door, his shoulders slacking as he discreetly made his way down the hall in the direction of the living room, the crackle of the lit fireplace within resonating throughout the entirety of the small house.
It wasn't that late really; the sun had only just begun to lower and the sky shone a deep orange. The light shined through the windows and cast Gohan in a golden light. He could hear the turning of the pages of a book, right in front of him where his mother's energy emitted itself; strong and unwavering despite all that had occurred. This was not the first-time Chi-Chi had lost her husband and she was not just the strongest woman on the planet in strength alone; she was resilient, tempered when out of her depth but stoic when the time called.
And she knew that as much as it hurt to lose her husband, her son took precedence.
So when Gohan walked into the living room looking the way he did, she dropped the book she held in an instant and hugged him dearly, his grip against her far too strong for a child his age. She whispered soothingly and stroked his hair, bringing him into her arms so she could sit herself back upon the couch.
"I miss him," he mumbled against her, the warrior disposition he had adopted after years of honing fading under his mother's warm gaze.
"I know, Gohan," she whispered back. "I miss him too."
How was Gohan supposed to do this? How was he supposed to be the one to protect the earth now? He didn't know how. There was so much about the world he still didn't know.
He wasn't even sure if he wanted to be the one to protect the earth. That was his dads job.
But dad's not here Gohan reminded himself as he leaned his head against Chi-Chi's shoulder. Dad's dead, and he's not coming back.
The weight of the world now rested upon Gohan's shoulders, his father had left the responsibility of earths protection to him. It was peacetime now, that was a certainty, but how long would it last? How long until the next Cell arrived? Who, if not Gohan, would be the one to stop it?
The power he now held had one purpose, the purpose entrusted to him by his father.
As Gohan sat there in his mother's arms, he came to know one thing for certain; his dad was gone, and he was all his mother and the earth had left now.
And he would not make the same mistakes he made with Cell ever again.
For tomorrow was a whole new day and Gohan intended to seize it, however difficult it may be.