Chapter 1

Gohan's eyes slowly opened, he let out a low grunt from the extreme pain that was coursing through his body. The hybrid slowly got up into a sitting position, ignoring the pain that emerged as he began to move, small and big chunks of concrete fell of him as he began to stand. His body protested for him to stop and recover from yet another beating the androids had dished out, but he knew he had to find Vegeta and bring him back to Capsule Corp where they could recover.

Although the half-saiyan didn't have much energy remaining to use he took off into the air, exiting the crater his body had created when the androids blasted him into the ground. Gohan began to search for the only full blooded saiyan that remained on the planet, but the young warrior's concentration was of and he was not able to focus. 'Guess I'll have to do it the old fashion way.' Gohan thought as he levitated slowly, getting higher into the air, taking in a bird's eye view of the battle area that was once a city.

Though now the only way to tell that a city once stood on this ground was to search through the rubble to find scorched metal of car, half broken shop signs or they corpuses of the dead. If this had been a few years ago the hybrid would most likely have been mortified at the sight of destruction and stench of death, but after witnessing it for so long he was no longer fazed by sights like these, only angered.

As the son of Goku got higher and higher, he eventually got a full view of the completely demolished city. The first thing that caught his attention was a massive crater that was centred near the outskirts of the city; he began to fly towards that area, thinking that his comrade had fallen unconscious from an attack by the androids.

Over the years the two sadistic androids murdered the Z-fighters, first was Piccolo, the death of his first mentor had caused Gohan to ascend to the legend know as the super saiyan. Next was the human Z-fighters, the where not all killed at once, but at several different locations, it had only been him and Vegeta who had been fighting the androids for the last year and a half. They were getting close to defeating the murderous androids know as 17 and 18, in fact the where close to beating them in their battle just there, until the separated the two of them.

They had blasted Vegeta a good distance away and then began to double team on him, it was too much for the young half saiyan to handle by himself and he was quickly beaten to a bloody pulp. Gohan was thankful of his saiyan healing abilities, if it weren't for it he would have most likely died from the injuries he had sustained from other battles long ago.

As he descended he caught a glimpse of Vegeta's hair and parts of his blue spandex suit which poked out of rubble that covered a good portion of the arrogant saiyan prince. Gohan's blue boots, which resembled his fathers, softly landed next to the rubble covered Vegeta. The half-saiyan collapsed to his knees not strong enough to stay on his own two feet, he removed the rubble that lay upon Vegeta.

Gohan began to worry as he noticed Vegeta was not breathing, focusing on senescing ki as hard as he could, the hybrid checked for any sign of life the prince could be hanging onto, but there was nothing to find.

"No." Gohan whispered to himself, the half-saiyan clenched his fists in anger. Rubble began to rise into the air as Gohan's power began to increase dramatically, fuelled purely by his rage. The young warrior's hair began to flicker between its normal jet black and pure gold, hurricane like wind began to pick up along with the outrageous power growth the teen saiyan was displaying. A golden aura sprang to life around the rage blinded half-saiyan, his hair no longer switching between jet black and gold; it now stayed the same colour as his flowing aura. His hair colour wasn't the only physical change in his appearance as his once cold black eyes turned to a light teal in colour and his muscle mass increased very slightly.

His power continued to rise at a phenomenal rate as lighting began to crash down from the heavens, creating a range of small and large craters as the hit the ground. The hybrid's power began to go beyond its previous limits, racing towards a level the young warrior never thought he could acquire.

Gohan let out a scream of pure rage, his power accelerating even faster than before, causing the whole planet to tremble before his limitless power. Blue electricity began to dance around the rage fuelled hybrid as his Golden hair began to stick up to no end, just one long bang of hair decided to dangle in front of the angered adolescent's face, his teal pupils became a shade darker as his muscle mass yet again increased by a little fraction.

He had ascended to the next level of Super saiyan, but the half saiyan didn't notice, blinded by rage, he continued to scream as his power still increased rapidly. The power Gohan was emanating began to become too much for his already damaged body, causing half healed wounds to begin expanding, but the teen paid no mind to the pain his body was going through and continued to scream, letting out all his anger.

His energy was slowly tearing apart the very planet he had been protecting for most of his life, his power was going beyond anything the universe had ever seen and because of this a tear in reality began to open a few meters below him, getting bigger and bigger as Gohan's power increased.

This went on for a few more minutes before Gohan lost consciousness from the amount a blood he lost from his reopened injuries. His hair dropped back to his normal, gravity defying, jet black hair. His eyes now back to as black as charcoal.

By this stage the tear had become quite large and began to suck in the closest objects to it, Rocks, small pieces of metal and the now unconscious Gohan was dragged through the tear, which was slowly closing behind him, Gohan was no longer in his own world.

-A Second Chance-

Gohan looked to his surroundings, a white void was what he was greeted too, the only thing visible was a giant gate, and his injuries had disappeared. He looked around before coming upon something that definitely wasn't human, the only reason he spotted this thing was from a black darkness that surrounded this creature, as it was pure white. It was the same height as him and looked to be an outline of himself, apart from the hair. "Who or what are you?"

"Who am I? One name you might have for me is the world, or you might call me the universe, or perhaps God, or perhaps the Truth. I am All, and I am One. So, of course, this also means I am you." A mouth appeared on this so called God as he spoke. Gohan wasn't sure what to think, was he dead, definitely a possibility, he wouldn't be surprised if he was. Though he had no halo above his head, he remembered his father saying that once you're dead you have a halo above your head. So he was still alive, so did this God want him for something, "What do you want?" The being before Gohan seemed to smile. "To give you a second chance, and see what you can do. After all what do you have left to fight for in your universe?"

'your universe' so he was a different universe, that didn't explain much, but suddenly Gohan felt sad as he herd those words 'what do you have left to fight for' he was telling the truth, the population on Earth barely existed and Vegeta was the only one left from anyone he knew and with him gone he had little to no chance against the androids, even with the power he obtained, he wasn't sure he could access it again. Maybe with this second chance this deity mentioned he might be able to do more.

"I want a second chance." The God Smile grew wider. "That's what I was hoping to hear, everything will become clear when you see the truth." After that sentence came from the Gods mouth the Gate opened, countless pitch black hands shot forward and clung to Gohan pulling him into the gate, before the gate closed behind him he heard one last word from the deity he was speaking to. "Enjoy."

Once the gate shut images of his life flashed before his eyes of the thirteen years he lived on his planet, but following them was images of another world entirely, one filled with war and where Alchemy was possible, and how it was done, knowledge of this world flowed into him like a sponge absorbing water. It was a very painful experience, but just as soon as it began it stopped, and yet again he stood in the white void once again.

"Well what did you think?" The young demi-saiyan looked over to the deity, that smile still plastered on his face for some reason. Gohan clutched his head as he turned to look at God, he cursed his photographic memory as every bit of information he received while in the gate still bounced around inside his head, he felt like his head was going to explode from all this information.

"I don't suppose you have any aspirin on you?" The god chuckled at the mortal's statement. "You have paid the toll; I look forward to seeing you again Gohan." Even though his head was in pain, his mind still went into overdrive 'Toll' what toll was this God talking about, before he could ask the young warrior's world went black.

-A Second Chance-

The teen's eyes slowly opened and the first thing he registered was pain, a lot of pain, though he's felt worse, much worse. His other senses began to kick in, he sensed quite a few people around him, and most of their ki's very low. The sound of people shouting and rushing about the room they were in could probably be heard from outside, the room itself wasn't very big, it was a mess too and it was filled with injured people.

Once he got a look at the people being treated he immediately knew where he was from the images he had seen from the gate, or Truth as the God had called it. Dark skin, red eyes, he was in Ishbal, every Ishvalan near him looked at him as well as the Amestrian wounded soldiers as the demi-saiyan sat up in the bed.

Gohan looked over himself, his injuries had been taken care of and he was bandaged up, though the bandages where covered in his own blood, his injures must not have fully recovered, he would have to thank who ever patched him up, he owed them that much. Then Gohan paled as he realised something, his ki, it was nearly all gone, sure he had more than enough to take on any human easily, but in a warzone, he might not be so lucky.

'Toll'

He understood now, this God had gone with this worlds rule of alchemy, in order to see the truth and get a second chance; he had to give up an enormous amount of his ki, equivalent exchange. This was going to be difficult.

"The Xingese child is awake!" shouted one of the Ishvalans, getting the attention of two Amestrians; they came forward to check on him, the male of the two was first to come up to him, a gentile smile on his face, most likely trying to not scare him, if only he knew how much he's actually been through. "Hello, I am Doctor Rockbell; I am here to help you."

His speech was slow and well pronounced, as he spoke he gestured with his hand; he looked at the teen looking for any recognition on his face. Gohan immediately understood the situation, this man Rockbell wasn't sure if he spoke English. He wouldn't blame him, he was thankful the languages where the same in this world and was thank his mother for his studies in English.

"I speak English." The two before him looked greatly relieved upon hearing this As the teen spoke his voice came out rough and hoarse, he was parched, he needed something to drink, luckily the woman of the two handed him a glass of water. The glass itself was carked and was close to breaking point, the water itself wasn't particularly clean but none the less he gulped it down greedily, giving a small thank you to the woman.

Yuriy Rockbell was intrigued by this boy, he was heavily injured, yet he didn't seem to be in any pain, it was bazaar. Also was his wounds, an explosion could explain why he was heavily injured, but bruises covered his body, as if he had been beaten, that thought disturbed him, would soldiers really beat up a child and then leave it for dead. Another thing was that he was Xingese, not commonly seen around Amestris.

The good doctor last thoughts is what frightened him, 'who was he with?' they found him by himself, bleeding to death where a few explosions had occurred, it's possible whoever he was with where dead, he did not want to tell a child something like that.

"Is something wrong Doctor Rockbell?" The tired Doctor was snapped out of his thoughts from the teen's question, and as he locked eyes with the child he saw something that was not befitting of a child so young. They say the eyes are the window into the soul, Rockbell agreed with this statement, but what he saw where the eyes of a warrior, he should know he's seen many but he could see pain within those eyes too, perhaps he already knew what happened before they found him and was keeping it bottled up inside.

His wife Sarah Rockbell, also a doctor, began to answer the teen's question, telling him how they were concerned about his condition as she checked the boy's wounds and changed his bloodied bandages with clean ones, they didn't have enough time to sew all his injures shut, just the lethal ones, surprisingly his wounds where healing rapidly but his left arm was still a mess, just by pushing himself up into a sitting position some of his wounds opened up, yet the child didn't realise it, they hadn't given him any sedatives yet as they were running low on them.

Once Sarah had finished with the re-bandaging the half-breed, he got up from the makeshift bed and bowed politely to them, he had some difficulty with the simply task. "Thank you, I owe you a great deal." He wobbled slightly on his feet before sitting back down where he had been just moments ago.

Gohan knew he have to rest up while his saiyan biology would quicken his healing process, his injuries would keep him of his feet for a few days and he didn't like that idea. He had spread out his ki search and what he felt not only horrified him but also angered him, hundreds of innocent lives being snuffed out, it was sickening and he couldn't do anything to stop it, this mindless murder.

The doctors bid farewell for the time being, having to check up on the other fatally wounded. He clenched his fist in frustration and angry, he was useless, absolutely pathetic. He had been giving a second chance to live, yet all those who were being slaughtered outside only had one. He could sense their emotions pouring out, despair, hopelessness, fear, confusion, sorrow, angry and hate. But one emotion stood out among the others, Hope.

From what he gathered from seeing the truth, the Ishvalans were very religious people. Hopefully there god treated them well once they passed on, they deserved it after what they had to go through in this war. He joined in prayer with the other Ishvalans, surprising them by knowing their payers but looked grateful that an outsider would pray for the lost souls.

He communicated with them for awhile; learning how the barley survived military attacks before the found themselves here where the where treated, or in other cases when they were found near dead and someone brought them here. After that he began to go through the vast amount of knowledge that now was in his head, a great deal of this universes information on this Earth was stuck within the tiny confines of his mind, sorting through it would take some time.

Getting into meditative stance, even with the protest of pain from his body telling him to find a more comfy position to rest, he began to relax, calming himself, too many emotions where running through him at the moment, ranging from sadness to rage, he needed to be calm; then he could decide upon his next course of action rationally.

Sarah looked at the child, she was surprised and glad he made it after his injuries, when he was brought in she thought it was a lost cause, yet she hoped he would, he had a long life ahead of him, after all he only looked a year or two older than her own daughter. Yet from her observations of the boy she began to wonder what happened to the young child that was in a lotus position, it was clear that when they were cleaning his wounds he had many more scars, some which were old and some that looked relatively new apart from the wounds he has received.

Her husband had the same thought as her, was their anyone with him when he stepped into this warzone, yet she would have to ask the child later, she couldn't live with herself if she sent a child out with no one else with him, even if he looked like he could take care of himself, she was surprised to see how much muscle the child had, it looked unnatural on someone so young.

She looked back down upon the Ishvalan she was treating at the moment, he was in a bad way, his right arm which was tattooed was the only uninjured part of his body and looked slightly out of place on the unconscious Ishbal warrior. After this she could take a well needed rest, being a doctor for constant patients on either side of a civil war was a tiring job, at the moment her husband was asleep, he'd wake soon and she would get her rest.

-A Second Chance-

Gohan's eyes slowly began to open as he woke from his meditation; it was now night as darkness had descended upon Ishbal, taking a quick glance between two planks of wood on one of the boarded up widows he could see the silhouettes of the damaged building and faint trace of smoke of in the distance.

Things had quieten down now, the faint sounds of explosions he heard from this morning had disappeared, the hustle and bustle from within this building the doctors had been working in also was near soundless, apart from the few snores from those asleep and barley audible whispers from those who were still awake.

The young warrior's stomach let out a small whimper, signalling that it wanted food. This is where Gohan was glad of his saiyan genes. Saiyan's were able to adapt to any living conditions in order to survive, meaning his insane appetite had become closer to that of an average male. He decided to wait before asking for food, the doctors where already working hard and around this time was most likely when the slept or rested.

He hadn't even got their names, apart from their family name 'Rockbell', hell he didn't even give them his name. He'd have to start working on his manners again, after all the only company he had before this was Vegeta.

He wondered what the Z fighters would think of him if they knew he give up on their planet and went on to try and protect another one. Would they be ashamed of him for giving up, or would they be proud that he went to a new universe planning on trying to protect this one. He wasn't sure which one they'd lean towards and he won't dwell on it, if he did he know it would bring him down, he had to do the best he could with what he has, he'd have to work on building up his strength, and from his new found knowledge it wasn't going to be easy.

He knew that the concept of ki was in this world, but from what he the God showed him, humans in this world had a hard time bringing it out, the use of ki for this universes planet put much more strain on the body, which would be difficult to overcome but he was sure he would find a way around that obstacle in due time.

As he ran over these thoughts, it changed from night to morning in no time what so ever from the demi-saiyan's perspective. He was brought back to reality by the blond haired blue eyed female doctor Rockbell, she was giving him a gentle smile, dark bags resided under her eyes and her face was pale showing her lack of sleep.

"There's food downstairs, you should hurry before it's all taken." She sounded tired too; Gohan admired what these doctors where doing, saving life's on either side of a war, it showed their compassion for human life and that the cared for anyone they saw. "Thank you for telling me. I forgot to introduce myself yesterday, I'm Gohan Son." He extended his hand towards the Amestrian doctor. She took his hand giving it a shake, "Sarah Rockbell." Thinking the greeting was over the demi-saiyan began to make his way to the stairs to reach the lower level of the building, but was stopped by the doctor from Resembool.

"Gohan." He turned back to face her as he was called, he could seen the questioning gaze in her eyes, he had a good feeling on what he was about to be asked. "Was their anyone else with you out there?"

How to answer this, he couldn't tell her the truth, she'd think he was mentally insane if he said he was from another universe, but he also didn't want to lie to her, looking at her reminded him of his mother before she died, always that caring look. While his mother was strict she always cared for him and his friends.

"All my friends and family died, I'm the only one that made it." Well it was the truth, everyone he knew died by the hands of the androids, he could feel the sadness creeping in again; it probably showed on his face, Vegeta would scold him if he saw this weakness. He quickly began to regain his composure and looked back at the woman that most likely stopped him from bleeding to death.

What he wasn't expecting was to be enveloped in warm arms, when was the last time someone held him like this, he couldn't even remember, he couldn't take it anymore. Everything finally came crashing down, after years of fighting and holding in his emotion as one by one his friends were massacred, the fact that he was alone and the fact that he failed, he couldn't save anyone, tears cascaded down the teens face as he began to sob into Sarah who was comforting him in his emotional state.

Sarah held on tightly to the boy, whispering soothing words to try and reassure and calm the child down. She had expected something like this when the boy had woke up, she was surprised how calm he was for someone so young in his position, but now all she saw was a broken child, which was painful to see, all other children here had relatives with them, yet this boy was all alone.

After several minutes Gohan pulled away, his eyes slightly puffy from the crying, he had no idea what to say, he wasn't good in these type of situations , so he bowed and excused himself to go get some food, he needed to feed himself, he was famished.

Heading downstairs he saw some of the less wounded giving out food, he graciously accepted the food, before finding a nice little block of rubble to sit on, he consumed at a fast pace, filling his gut in no time while he could eat more he didn't want to take food from those who needed it more. He sat there, not having much else to do; after all he had to wait till his body healed before he could start doing anything to physical.

Anger, fear and hatred, several emotions he felt from above along with a strong erratic ki, someone who most likely wasn't in the right mind set, that's when he heard the scream from upstairs, he quickly made his way up the staircase. His eyes landed on the massive hulk of a Ishvalan man covered in bandages. He had long sharp medical knife grasped in his hand a look of pure hatred focused solely on the Rockbell doctors.

He rushed towards the two doctors who had their backs turned gathering medical equipment, the other patients screamed at them, trying to warn them but it would do them no good. 'I can't let them die!' Gohan had rushed forward as that thought had entered his head, ignoring his body's protest to rest.

He was able to take the anger blinded Ishvalan warrior by surprise, as the dark skinned man trusted the blade forward, Gohan had been able to intercept between the two, and focusing ki into his hand he grabbed the blade in his left hand stopping it. The young demi-saiyan wasn't sure what was worse the pain in his hand from the cut of the blade or the strain from the small amount of ki he just used, though he ignored that for now. Using his free hand he twisted the larger mans right wrist painfully, receiving a grunt from the heavily injured man who backed away as he let go of the weapon he had been holding.

Gohan threw it to the ground, the man before him was unstable, he had to knock him out or get him out of here fast, and he wasn't sure how long he could hold up. Using speed the Ishvalan did not expect the demi-saiyan rammed his elbow into the broken man before him, blood sprang from the man's mouth his injuries causing him to feel much more pain from the hit, the crimson eyed man was propelled back into one of the boarded up windows. The wooden planks that were used to block the windows bent from the force of the impact.

Gohan quickly capitalized on this, swinging his left hand forward blood from his wound reached his targets eyes distracting him as he was blinded for a moment and that was all the Son needed to end this fight, lunging forward with all his strength he could muster up he slammed his foot into the warrior before him, causing him to go through the blocked up window all fall to the ground outside.

Gohan stumbled to the window and looked down, on the ground he saw the foe slowly get up before walking away. The teen let out a sigh of relief, he was glad that he hadn't done too much damage to the towering man and that he decided to walk away, he wouldn't have been able to do anything if he had come back up, he was spent, he could feel himself slipping into darkness that was unconsciousness.

Within those last few seconds he could hear people rushing towards him before blacking out.

A/N: This is an idea that's been in my head for quite some time and I finally thought I would write it out and see what people think, if people are interested in this story I will continue it. If you see any mistakes in this chapter please let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you for reading.