Disclaimer:It's sad that I have to say this, but I own nothing.
Note: This takes place right after Goku is done telling the group on the lookout that he doesn't want to be wished back. Hopefully everything is stated clearly enough. When there is a different language than english being said, it will be in bold with something saying which language it is.
Gohan was devastated. His father chose not to come back to life. He chose to protect the earth by abandoning it. Gohan did not necessarily blame his father for his choice, having just saved the world himself. Being a true hero means that no matter what there will always have to be sacrifices made to keep peace.
The whole group minus ChiChi were at the lookout. They all heard what Goku had said. Like a true hero, he put the safety of his loved ones before his own happiness. Everyone was silent. Even Gohan would not make a noise. Though almost everyone had silent tears running down their cheeks. Their most trusted friend, and most powerful ally had finally perished.
Gohan was the one to break the silence. "Hey guys, I have to go tell my mom. I guess I'll see you all around." Gohan said in a sad monotone voice. Everyone heard and understood. Gohan needed to be alone for a while and he would take the responsibility to tell Goku's beloved wife the news of his passing. One by one, everyone let the lookout, leaving just Dende and Mr. Popo to go about their duties.
Gohan needed to tell ChiChi right away. The longer he put this off, the more she would worry about both of her boys. Flying away from the lookout, his eyes were still blurry from his silent tears for his father's act. When he made it back to his home in the mountains, he quickly and quietly made his way through the house to find his mother.
When Gohan found his mother she jumped up from the couch where she was waiting and ran to her son giving him a hug. Gohan quietly told his mother that during the battle Goku had given his life to save the planet from certain destruction. He had also explained to his mother Goku's choice to remain dead to protect the Earth. As Gohan expected, ChiChi had fainted because the news was just too much. Gohan gently picked his mother up and moved her to her bedroom so that she could lay comfortably.
Gohan's stomach made itself known, so instead of watching his mother sleep he made his way to the kitchen and made himself a light snack to tide him over until his mother woke up. Done with eating, Gohan went back to his mother to see if she had woken up from her fainting spell. As the minutes dragged into hours, Gohan started to get worried. As a safety precaution, the demi-saiyan called Bulma and asked her to come over to check on his mother. The head of Capsule Corp. quickly agreed and made her way to the Son residence.
Having heard the situation from her best friend's son, Bulma was worried. This was not normal, even by their standards. Bulma made her way to ChiChi as fast as she could. She had never seen her friend like this before, even after Goku died the first time and Gohan was kidnapped. The blue haired genius could tell that there was something seriously wrong with her best friend. With Gohan's help ChiChi was in the Capsule Corp. jet alongside her. Their destination was the one and only Capsule Corp headquarters.
Gohan was flying alongside the jet containing both Bulma and his mother. He was worried. He had never seen Bulma act like this. 'Could this be a Saiyan thing? As Vegeta always said, a Saiyan has nothing more important than his mate.' He resolved to ask Vegeta when they landed.
Finally the landed and Gohan was again assigned the task of carefully moving his mother into one of the many medical facilities in the one and only Capsule Corp. Once his mother was set up in the medical room, with Bulma already doing all sorts of tests, Gohan quietly left the room in search of some answers.
He found Vegeta in the hallway, on his way to the Gravity Room. Gohan stopped his prince there and started on his list of questions. "Vegeta, what happens when a Saiyan loses his mate?" Vegeta gave the younger half saiyan a knowing look and responded, "When a bonded Saiyan pair is forcibly separated from one another without the chance of reuniting, generally they lose interest in everything. In extreme circumstances they lose the will to live and find a way to die as soon as possible."
Gohan was shocked. "Does this mean that my mother will try to kill herself? Is there anything we can do to fix this?" Vegeta uncrossed his arms and told they younger saiyan to follow him. They made their way to the GR for some privacy. Vegeta continued with one hand on Gohan's shoulder. "Listen Kakabrat, if the banshee woman were to get past losing her mate, she would be a shell of her former self. She wouldn't care about anything. She would slowly deteriorate into nothing. The woman you knew will never come back. If she were saiyan, I could say for certain that she would not try to kill herself, simply because that is a cowardly act and no saiyan is a coward. The woman is better off if she died now, to save herself and those around her suffering. This is the reason Saiyan's protect their mates at all costs. You should remember that."
After his little speech, Vegeta turned and made his way to the computer in the center of the room yelling, "Now, GET OUT of my gravity room!" Gohan quickly followed the thinly veiled threat behind the Prince of all Saiyan's words. As he was making his way back to the room where his mother was kept he almost ran into Bulma. "Hey Bulma, how is my mother doing? Is there anything you can do for her?" All the while thinking 'Please don't let Vegeta be right' Bulma's answer crushed all hope the little demi-saiyan had. "Kid, I don't know what is wrong with her. Physically she is as healthy as she has always been. She just won't wake up." Upon seeing Gohan's resigned expression on his face, she became curious. "What's up with you, you seemed to almost expect this?" Gohan hesitantly looked up into Bulma's eyes and said, "I talked with Vegeta, and what I got out of it was that this can happen when a Saiyan loses his mate. They lose the will to live and just erode away."
Bulma saw her godson's pained expression and wrapped him up in a hug. "Don't worry kid, if that happens, and I'm saying if, I'll make sure that you are adopted by me so you don't have to worry about anything."
"Either way, Bulma could you please make a space ship like my dad's old one for me." Gohan pleaded. "I need to get away from everything, and this is the only way I can do that." Bulma however was already shaking her head and just as she was going to open her mouth, Vegeta came around the corner lightly sweating from his short time in the gravity room. "Woman, let Kakabrat go. He needs this. He will not do anything stupid. He is one of the last Saiyan warriors left in this universe and he will leave this puny planet to train." With that statement he crossed his arms and dared his mate to go against him.
Bulma seeing this as one of the few times that she would not be able to sway her mate, caved. She simply nodded and left to find her father to get started on her new project. Gohan turned to Vegeta and gave a small smile. This first since before the Cell Games. "Brat, follow me. There are things you need to learn quickly before you leave." With that statement he simply turned and went back into his gravity room.
The demi-saiyan simply shrugged to nobody in particular and followed. That was the first two weeks of intense learning sessions for Gohan. Partially thanks to his mother he was a very quick study in the languages that Vegeta wanted to teach him. Gohan already spoke quite a few of Earth's languages and learning what Vegeta said was the Universal Language was no harder. Along with that Vegeta taught him saiya-go which was the near dead language of the long gone Saiyans.
Gohan was grateful that Vegeta decided to teach him these things, for he didn't know if he would have been able to do what he wanted without learning them. Gohan's plan was to first go to the planet Yardrat so that he could meet the people his father spent some time with while recovering from his fight with Frieza on Namek. Also Gohan wanted to go there so that he could learn his father's Instant Transmission technique, since he was never taught. The demi-saiyan thought that it would further his connection with his father if he learned some of the techniques that his father used throughout the years. Yardrat seemed like a good place to start.
Though Vegeta never showed it, he was proud to know Gohan. While it still infuriated him that a mere child could surpass him in strength, he respected the demi-saiyan. The only other person he came close to respecting was his mate, possibly the namek also. Vegeta was also surprised at the brat's intelligence. He picked up two new languages very quickly, and while he was not as proficient as some of those he knew, including himself. It was still a great feat to accomplish.
Two weeks had passed since Goku had chosen not to return to the realm of the living. Two weeks since ChiChi had been reduced to a coma-like state. Two weeks since Vegeta had decided to teach Gohan languages to better his journey.
Now the space ship was ready. Gohan was ready. Bulma grabbed both of the Saiyans from her mate's precious gravity room and lead them to her godson's new space ship. As the group made it to the ship Bulma started speaking. "Now kid, you're sure you want to do this alone. I am sure that others would be more than willing to go with you." She paused waiting for Gohan to change his mind. She wasn't that lucky.
"Your new ship is much faster than your father's old one. Also the gravity machine in there just happens to be better than the one in Vegeta's precious gravity room." She shot a glare at her husband. "With this new model you can go up to 5,000x Earth's gravity, if you need it. Any ki blasts that you fire will be absorbed by the walls to further power the ship and make more food." She glanced at Gohan before continuing. "That was the only way I could make sure that you would not run out of food with your bottomless pit of a stomach." Gohan grinned sheepishly with a hand rubbing the back of his head. "Bedroom is fairly simple, along with the kitchen, but here in the room directly next to the training room, I installed this new rejuvenation tank. With this you can go all out without too much worry about recovery time." She paused again to catch her breath and wait for any questions. Seeing that there were none she continued.
"Controlling the ship is mostly automated. You punch in the coordinates for the planet or the name and the ship will do all of the work for you. Landing, taking off, steering out of danger is all done by the computer, which is voice activated. This computer is also tied into your gravity machine so you just tell that you want to train with and it will set it up for you." She gave a Vegeta-like smirk and continued. "I heard about your little issue cooking in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber so the computer will also make your meals for you. Just tell it what you want and it will make Saiyan sized portions." At this Gohan gave a nervous laugh and started to drool at the thought of all the food he would get.
Bulma continued with a little laugh knowing exactly what Gohan was thinking, "You should be all set. Everything is ready and you are good to go as soon as you would like." She looked at Gohan with a sad expression on her face, thinking of all the time spent without seeing her godson. Gohan gave her an understanding look, moved to hug her, while ignoring Vegeta and said, "Thank you for this Bulma, I really needed it. I'll be sure to contact you often so you can see how I'm doing."
With that both Bulma and Vegeta left the ship understanding that Gohan wanted to get going right away. Once they were cleared he told the computer to ready for launch and get a course for planet Yardrat. "Here we go." He said to nobody in particular.
Note: Let me know how this is. I truly want feedback of any kind. You could say that I need to clean out my head with bleach to get rid of this crap if you want, it's your opinion that I want. Should I continue or should my story die a long and painful death?