Dragon Ball Z
Lost Forever
"Shattered from the world of pretend, I stand gazing at this unfamiliar land of reality. Taking in the pain and harshness that is life, I am confronted with the knowledge that I have found myself Lost Forever..."
Chapter 2: Blind and Falling
Chi Chi looked around the waiting room nervously; it had been at least twenty minutes since Goku had left. Finally a nurse came into the room, "Mrs. Son? You can see your son now… Room 507, fifth floor…" She walked away as solemnly as she had walked in.
Everyone stood up in a group and walked over to the elevator, it opened and they all piled in to go up. As they stepped up they walked over to Gohan's room, "I would like to see him alone for a moment please…" Chi Chi was about to break down again.
"Sure," Bulma agreed taking Goten from her. Chi Chi walked over to the room and entered. She was shocked to see Goku already there. Gohan was sitting up in bed staring at his father.
"Why don't you lie down son?" Goku asked.
"I don't feel like it…" Gohan watched the woman who just came in and sat next to the other man by his bed.
She couldn't believe how bad he looked there, he was bandaged up all over, under his hair, and even his tail had a long splint and was wrapped with more bandages. Every now and then it would twitch and his face would contort in the pain that it caused.
"Have you given him a sensu bean yet?" Chi Chi asked her husband.
"he hasn't wanted it yet…" Goku sighed.
"Please Gohan, you need to take it so you can get better, then you can come home…" Chi Chi pleaded.
Gohan realized he didn't even know where home was, and would have asked the woman if he felt he could trust her, but she wasn't that far along yet.
The two kept talking to him, asking him questions he tried to ignore, they got the idea to be quiet, but they kept looking at him with those longing eyes. He saw the pity they felt toward him, and he hated it… "Why don't you just leave…" His parents looked at him in confusion, "I have a bad headache, and you're not helping…" Gohan said coldly. It didn't sound like their Gohan at all.
Gohan decided that as long as they didn't touch him, he could just ignore them, and finally lied back on the bed and slowly drifted back to sleep.
Goku shook his head, "I think we should tell the others how he's doing…"
Chi Chi got up with him and they left to the fifth floor waiting room.
Gohan's dreams haunted him. He saw himself in the dark room, with the three men over him, "AWWW! The little freak is so fucking tight! I could fuck him forever!" the others just laughed as he was paralyzed, unable to do anything about the man on top of him.
Gohan shot up in bed, completely startling the nurse taking his readings. Gohan's adrenalin was running on over drive as he saw everything around him as a threat, he pushed the male nurse away from him, sending him crashing into the wall with enough force to crack it some. The nurse tried to catch his breath when Gohan jumped from the bed and started attacking him.
Goku and Chi Chi sat in the waiting room with Krillin, Piccolo, and Trunks, Bulma and Vegeta had taken Goten with them to go spend time with little Trunks. They were talking idly when bloody screams came from down the hall.
All five of them got up and ran to Gohan's room, they found him strangling the nurse. "GOHAN! STOP THIS NOW!" Goku ran over to his son who dropped the nurse and took a swing at his own father. Goku, not expecting the blow took it right in the face. He fell back a couple steps and rubbed his cheek, it was a good thing Gohan wasn't at full strength, otherwise that would have really hurt.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME! ALL OF YOU!" Everyone backed off as Gohan's growls became louder. He was acting like a cornered animal bared fangs and all…
Piccolo pushed his way though the crowd, "Gohan!" The boy stopped growling immediately as the green man walked over to him. Gohan stared at the man with intrigue, but then completely doubled over. He held his hand to his mouth as he started coughing up blood. The movement had been too much too soon, Gohan's lungs couldn't take the amount of air needed to sustain that.
Blood was dripping from the boy's mouth to the floor. Piccolo grabbed the sensu beans from Goku and took them over to the boy, "Here Gohan, eat this," he handed Gohan one of the beans. Gohan eyed the bean cautiously, but something told him this green man wasn't going to hurt him, after all, they were both freaks. He took the offered bean and put it in his mouth, after slowly chewing it, he swallowed. Immediately his lungs stopped burning, and his wounds practically closed up, and he looked a lot better. Fortunately Piccolo had chosen a bean large enough to heal him, yet small enough to not restore all of his power just yet.
The splint broke off of Gohan's tail and Gohan studied it as it waved around painlessly again. He looked up at the man who had healed him and jumped into his chest. Piccolo wasn't expecting the boy to hug him like that, but the boy was sobbing into his shirt while embracing the man.
Piccolo gently picked the boy up and placed him back on the bed. "Rest now Gohan…" Gohan looked up at the man for another moment before nodding off to recover his remaining strength.
Everyone looked over at him, something was still wrong with the boy. Doctors were running in as the nurse ran out being helped by some of his coworkers. And the doctors stopped cold as they saw Gohan's physical wounds were all healed…
Goku and Chi Chi spent the night at the hospital right outside Gohan's room. In the early morning he was hauled off for some extra tests and a psychological evaluation. The tests had to be cut short as the doctors were unable to keep the boy still, no matter what kind of straps they used, the boy only broke free and ran away.
The psychiatrist came up to Goku and Chi Chi after his session with Gohan, "Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Son, I'm Dr. Bilton, the psychiatrist taking care of Gohan, I have to tell you, I've tried several tests on the boy and looked over the records his other physicians were able to make and…"
"Please doctor…" Goku interrupted, "Just tell me why he feels so insecure around us… to the point he would even attack us."
"Don't take it personal Mr. Son, your son has been attacking anyone who gets too close to him, he appears to be suffering from a severe amnesia induced paranoia, as far as I can tell this was caused by the mind altering effects the drug had on him along with the head trauma he experienced. His violent behavior stems from his instincts taking over for the lapse of memory along with whatever violence he was recently exposed to that is still very fresh in his mind… I'm afraid he wouldn't talk to me very much, not to say I didn't try, but he was able to take quite a considerable chunk of my clip board away…"
Goku's eyes widened, "I am so sorry Doctor…"
"With his teeth…" The doctor even showed the couple the clipboard with the large teeth marks showing where it had been bitten. "Don't worry about it, but we did have to put him under with some sedatives, other than that his doctors have informed me there is no longer a need to keep him in the hospital, that his wounds have all healed, but I can't recommend taking him home yet in the mental state that he's in."
"We understand…" Goku said upset as he held Chi Chi close to him.
Gohan had been put back in his room, he was feeling a little groggy as he was tied back to the bed again. He so did not like being tied down, but as he looked around the room he at least felt comfortable in being alone for once. He let his head down on the small pillow and closed his eyes, he wanted out, he needed out… It was only a matter of time before he thought of a way out.
When he woke up Goku and Chi Chi were already in his room, they looked at him as he slowly opened his eyes, saw them, then rolled over away from them, effortlessly ripping his arm out of the restraint.
"Gohan…" Gohan had figured out that was his name by now, or at least that's what they were going to call him. He had also figured out that this Goku and Chi Chi were claiming to be his parents, but that seemed absurd, he would recognize his own parents if he saw them wouldn't he?"
"Gohan, you have visitors…" Goku looked over his son, "Won't you see them?"
"Whatever…" Gohan wasn't really in the mood but would allow it, he had a feeling he knew who it was.
Gohan sat up in bed as Goku went over to open the door, letting in the briefs. Bulma and Vegeta walked in with Trunks behind them and Goten and little Trunks hanging off them.
Gohan eyed them as they approached, he would allow them to see him, but the last thing he wanted was for them to try and touch him. His sight was caught by the little tailed boy again.
Gohan hopped off the bed and walked over to the boy, "BUTTOR!" the boy called as he saw Gohan looked a lot better than the last time he had seen him, "U no sick no moe?" the boy asked ecstatically as his brother approached him. Goten lifted his arms in a gesture that he wanted to be picked up by his brother. Gohan took it in for a moment before realizing what the boy wanted, he picked him up and held him against his shoulder. "When u com home?" Goten asked him.
Gohan shook his head, he still didn't even know where his real home was. He walked with Goten in his arms until he could lean against the wall with the boy. He looked at him for another moment, "What's your name?"
Goten looked up at his brother confused, then looked over to his mommy who looked really sad, "Goten, dun u member?"
Gohan smiled at the boy and bounced him in his arms a little, making Goten giggle. Chi Chi got up and was about to take Goten back when Gohan growled at her again. Chi Chi fell back pale… that sound her son was making at her, there was no way she could ever get used to it. Vegeta on the other hand smirked, he found it incredible how the young ones instincts had kicked in to make up for his memory loss.
Goten looked up at his brother, "I wan go play with Trunk! You can put me down now."
Gohan looked at him, "Who?"
Goten pointed over at his little friend just a little bigger than he was, "Trunks!"
Gohan reluctantly put the boy down who went over to his friend, "I think we better go wait outside…" The big Trunks lead the two small children outside that way everyone could ask the questions they might not have wanted with the kids around. The others were grateful, but doubted Gohan would even answer.
As Trunks left the door open, two others came in, the short bald man, and the tall green man. Gohan didn't care for the bald man very much, he found most of his remarks idiotic, but the green man caught his fancy every time he saw him.
"Hey Gohan! How ya doin?" the short man asked.
"Swell…" Gohan replied not bothering to be polite.
Vegeta had to keep himself from laughing, he found the kid to be quite a hoot since the accident. Gohan though went straight for Piccolo, "Who are you?" he asked straight out.
"Piccolo…" the tall man answered.
Gohan looked over him more fully, "Why are you green?"
"I'm a Namek, all Nameks are green…" Piccolo looked at Gohan strangely as the boy studied his face.
"Do they all have pointy ears and fangs like you also?"
Chi Chi thought it was rude to ask such a question, but Piccolo answered, "Yes," he nodded his head as well.
"Wow," Gohan stared up at the man in awe.
Everyone was busy watching Gohan and Piccolo that no one even noticed Dr. Bilton in the room, "Mr. and Mrs. Son, could I speak with you for a moment please?"
The two looked at each other, then got up to follow the doctor out of the room, "What is it doctor?" Chi Chi asked.
"I'm sold I believe…"
Goku looked at the doctor funny, "What do you mean?"
"I will agree to dismiss Gohan from the hospital under one condition, he be allowed to stay with that green man instead of going home."
"WHAT?!" Chi Chi yelled. Why would a doctor even think of allowing her son to go home with that pointy eared thing instead of coming home to the people who loved him?
"He's still in a state of panic and shock Mrs. Son. He needs time to recover mentally, and he's not going to get that locked up here in the hospital, and from what I've seen he's not going to get it at home either…"
"We're not about to hurt our own son doctor!" Chi Chi let out.
"It's not that Mrs. Son, far from it, it's just your son is not comfortable around you, he has not accepted you as his parents, and forcing him to stay with you may only cause him more trauma, therefore I want him to be with someone he is comfortable with."
"You mean Piccolo…" Goku whispered.
"I do…" the doctor nodded, "would there be a problem getting Mr. Piccolo to accept looking after the boy for a while?"
"I don't think so, he's taken care of Gohan many times in the past…" Goku looked back into the room.
"Perhaps that is why then, somewhere he still has some kind of repressed memory of enjoying being around that man. So until any memory of you surfaces I'm afraid I'm going to have to limit the time you spend with him to visitation rights…"
"But doctor!" Chi Chi complained.
"I'm afraid anything else could cause permanent mental trauma to the boy, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that, he may grow to never open up to you, at least this way, you can get to him slowly rather than not at all…"
"We understand doctor…" the doctor nodded and went to go make out the necessary paperwork. As they turned around they saw all the guests in Gohan's room were leaving, as they walked by Goku stopped Piccolo, "Piccolo, could I speak with you for a moment?"
"Of course…" Piccolo turned and he and Goku walked back over to a corner while Chi Chi returned to Gohan.
"Piccolo, I've just been told by the doctor, he wants to release Gohan."
Piccolo nodded, "That's good, he needs to get out of here, the constant changing of faces isn't helping him."
"I know, but there's a problem…" Goku continued when Piccolo only raised an eye brow for his response, "the doctor won't release him to us, he wants to release him to you if you'd be willing to let him live with you for a while…"
Piccolo took everything in, "What?"
"Gohan hasn't warmed up to us as he has to you, and the doctor feels that it might harm him to be stuck in a place filled with people he doesn't feel he knows, and I have to agree if he's going to be protecting Goten and growling at us all the time, so would you consider letting him live with you for a while?" Goku wasn't pleading, but hoped…
Piccolo was quiet for a moment, "If it's what's best for Gohan, then I'll do it…"
Goku beamed, "Thank you Piccolo, we'll see how much longer it'll be before you can take him…"
Chi Chi was in Gohan's room talking to him, "Gohan, they're going to be releasing you soon from the hospital."
Gohan lit up, he was going to be allowed to leave this place finally? He didn't even really care if it meant going with the Son's for now, it'd be better than this place, and then he could get away later, "Really?" Chi Chi nodded, her eyes filled with tears. Gohan looked at her funny, "Well it doesn't seem like you want me if you're crying about it…" After how long she had been going on about wanting to take him home he thought she would have at least been happy about it.
"Oh hun… I wish you were coming home, but you're going to be staying with a friend…"
Gohan's eyes narrowed as he looked at his supposed mother, 'great, now what?' was going through his mind, "Who?" he asked her.
"Piccolo…" she sobbed.
Suddenly his eyes widened, that was good news, he would be with the one person he felt understood him. That was great news!
Goku came back into the room, "They've released him, we're to take him to Piccolo's now." Goku rubbed his wife's shoulders.
"And Piccolo?" she asked.
"He went on ahead to make room at his place for Gohan." Chi Chi nodded as Goku pulled out a bag from the dresser in the room, "here you go Gohan, go ahead and get changed, we'll be waiting outside, then we can leave…" He took Chi Chi out, and gave Gohan some privacy to change.
They waited for a minute before Gohan stepped out of the room dressed in denim pants, a black t-shirt, and white sneakers. "Ready," he said as he dragged his bag behind him. His parents nodded as they went to their car.
"Do you want me to cut that name band off your wrist hun?" Chi Chi offered.
Gohan looked at the band around his wrist, then effortlessly tore it off, "Here you go," he offered it to Chi Chi who took it and slowly placed it in her pocket like a keepsake. Goku opened the car and let Gohan climb in the back seat. Chi Chi wanted to sit back there with him, but Goku shook his head in disapproval. She knew he was right and went to sit with him in the front.
It wasn't a long drive, down the highway, then fifteen minutes down a dirt road. At the end of the road was a log cabin. At first Gohan was a little apprehensive about the cabin, but didn't want to let it show less the Son's decide to take him with them after all. They stepped up to the door and knocked.
Piccolo opened the door and stood in the doorway, he didn't look too thrilled, but then again Piccolo never showed a lot of emotion anyway. "It's not much, but it's enough room for just two…" he walked back in showing them to where Gohan would be sleeping. The inside was very tidy, a bed was pushed all the way against the wall on one side of the room, and a cot hung on the other side. There was also a table towards the center of the room close to where a wood burning stove was up against the wall. It wasn't as bad as Gohan thought it was going to be, as long as it stayed clean without shards of broken glass everywhere and other such things, he would be fine.
It took about an hour for Chi Chi to finish fussing over every little thing. She wanted to be sure Gohan was going to eat, that he was going to have adequate everything, and that she would be checking on them often… Piccolo sighed as he tried to make a mental note of everything Chi Chi was saying, but it came out gibberish most of the time. Finally Goku dragged her off and they went to go pick up their youngest son from the Brief's.
Piccolo looked over at his young friend as he sat on the bed still looking around. His tail seemed to be hugging his waste hard as it was being restrained by the denim. He found himself looking over the young curves the tight pants showed off then shook his head to get the image out.
"Is there anything to eat around here?" Gohan asked.
"No, I haven't gotten anything yet, I was just about to go, is there anything you want?"
"No, it's OK, I ate before leaving, but just thought I'd ask, doesn't look like you keep a lot around here," Gohan smiled looking from one wall to another, he loved the open space.
"Well in that case I'll just get a few things, I'll be back in a little while." Piccolo walked out the door and shut it firmly behind him.
Gohan took the opportunity to walk around the cabin some more. In the corner of the large room he found an open box, and inside were a bunch of books. He looked over them and saw a few things on meditation, inner strengths, and some strange things like that, but a book on historic war tactics caught his eye as he pulled it out and took it to the cot to read.
Piccolo had done just what he had said, flew over to the store to get some supplies, waited in line, which was not his favorite thing to do, and flew straight home. It took him about an hour with how busy the store was, and concern was growing that maybe he shouldn't have left Gohan alone for that long.
He opened the door to his cabin and walked in. To his relief he saw Gohan sound asleep on his cot with an open book resting on his chest. He smiled at the young saiyan but soon grew concern as he started thrashing about in his sleep.
Inside Gohan's dreams, he was still being haunted by that night. Three men above him while he was able to do nothing, "HOLY SHIT! He is so fucking tight!" the man slid his hands all over Gohan's body.
"I know, he was a good fuck wasn't he?" Gohan wanted to get away, somehow, but his body wouldn't move at all.
"Are you almost done, I want a turn too you know!" the other one wanted to push his comrade right off Gohan's body so he could get on himself.
"Do be quick, we still have a lot of things to do…" The boss reminded them.
Piccolo sat on the cot next to Gohan, shaking him lightly, trying to wake him from this nightmare. Tears streaked down Gohan's face as he jumped wildly on the cot. Suddenly Gohan's eyes shot open, and he saw Piccolo. Piccolo's face was filled with concern for the boy, and Gohan immediately started crying into the man. Piccolo held Gohan's head up to his chest and allowed him to sob. He stroked the boy's hair with his long fingers, shushing him, trying to calm him down.
"I'm sorry…" Gohan stopped crying and continued to rub his head against Piccolo's chest.
"For what?" Piccolo tried to reassure him he had nothing to be sorry for, but instead of replying, Gohan pulled Piccolo's head toward his own and kissed him full on the lips.
Gohan wasn't planning on kissing Piccolo, it just came out, and when the namek returned the kiss, he just kept going. Suddenly the namek broke the kiss and pushed him away. Gohan looked hurt, but of course, who would want him now after he'd already been tainted by others… "Sorry…" he whispered, barely audible…
Piccolo saw the boy tremble again, he wanted so bad to reach out and kiss the tears from his face, to love him and make everything better in his life again, but he knew it was wrong to take advantage of the boy, even if the boy started it, he was the adult here, he should never have allowed that kiss to happen. Regaining his emotionless composure, Piccolo pushed himself up off the cot and walked over to his groceries to start putting them away.
Gohan mentally cursed himself for being so stupid… But somehow, when Piccolo placed his arms around him, he just felt that it was OK, like Piccolo would accept him, how foolish… He hadn't meant to offend the man by offering himself to him, but now he felt he had. He walked back over to Piccolo and just wanted to start a conversation now, "How old am I?"
Piccolo looked at the boy, he wasn't quite sure about him anymore, how he could ask something like that while sounding so mature… "Thirteen almost fourteen," he answered.
Gohan nodded taking in the information.
Another couple hours went by before Piccolo had made some food that he was fairly confident wouldn't kill the boy. He walked back over to the table where Gohan sat and placed a bowl of soup in front of him. Gohan started stirring the soup, but only took a sip every couple minutes. For some reason Gohan just hadn't been acting his usual self, even his unusual self, since he woke up from that nightmare. Piccolo couldn't stand seeing Gohan so depressed. "So what was your dream about?" Piccolo asked watching him eat.
The spoon suddenly stopped in mid air, and Gohan's eyes slowly shifted from it to Piccolo. Piccolo could see he hit a very touchy spot, yet Chi Chi had told him to try and get him to talk about those sorts of things. "Nothing Important…" Gohan finally put the spoon in his mouth to suck the soup from it.
Gohan looked down into the broth of the soup, and he could see his reflection in it. He looked at himself for a good while before retuning his gaze to Piccolo, "Would you happen to have a pair of scissors here I could borrow?"
Piccolo raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"I just need them for something real quick." Piccolo decided he should try and trust the kid to not do anything stupid, he reached for a drawer in the kitchen area and pulled out a pair of scissors handing it to Gohan.
"Thanks, I'll be right back," Gohan took the scissors and his bag into the bathroom at the side of the cabin. Piccolo was at least relived the boy said I'll be right back…
Gohan looked into the full mirror inside the bathroom and was glad he did this. He dumped out all of the clothes that were in his bag and dug through them until he found something he could use. He pulled out a dark baggy pair of jeans to finally give his tail a rest, and a couple sweat shirts. He got the scissors and immediately started working on the sweat shirts. He cut off the sleeves and all the collars on the neck and waist.
He pulled off the clothes he was wearing and looked at himself in the mirror. There was one other major thing he wanted to take care of. His hair was shoulder length; he took the scissors and cropped it back to his head. He also cut some of the spikes his hair made naturally down to a size he wanted, leaving the one that no matter what he did would drape in front of his face.
He put his cut hair in a bag to be thrown away, and pulled on his newly selected clothes. As he pulled the pants up his legs, he could already tell his tail was going to like this so much better than the pull the other pants gave him. He buttoned the front, then wrapped his tail around it like a belt. He pulled what was left of his black sweat shirt over his head, making it seem more like a fuzzy vest. He was proud of how comfortable he'd made it. And to top it off he cut at the sleeves of the sweet shirt a little more to make some wrist straps, for some reason the skin on his wrists felt like it desired that.
Piccolo had been waiting by the door, listening for anything that sounded out of the ordinary. His keen sense of hearing had picked up the scissors use, but he couldn't figure out what they had been used on. Suddenly the door opened and Gohan stepped out. It took real will power not to gasp at the boy. His head looked smaller than a minute ago without the hair to frame his face, but for some reason that only added to his attractiveness, and that shirt he was wearing was showing off so much skin around his shoulders and neck.
Gohan calmly walked over to Piccolo, "Here are your scissors Piccolo." He pushed them into his hand, because it didn't look like his hand would have gripped them properly otherwise. Gohan really didn't pay any mind as he went back to the book he had left earlier.
Gohan stayed up for a while reading that book, it was very interesting, especially when it got to Alexander the Great, he wanted to read everything about this guy… Piccolo had long since fallen asleep. Gohan looked across the room to see Piccolo draped across the cot in his boxers.
Gohan really didn't want to go to sleep, he knew as soon as he did those dreams would come back for him… He closed his book after book marking the page he was on, and toed off his shoes and socks. He pulled his wrist straps from his arms and left them on his night stand. He shut off the small light he had been using to read and sat there for several minutes. He didn't want to sleep alone tonight.
Piccolo had woken up to sense Gohan walking towards his cot, but he decided he would pretend to be asleep. At least he pretended to be asleep until he felt a warm little body climb up into the cot next to him and snuggle into his side. "Gohan?"
"Hmm?" Gohan didn't move from his spot, just waited for Piccolo's reaction.
"What are you doing?" Piccolo wasn't sure what he wanted at this point, he should make him go sleep in his own bed…
"I couldn't sleep over there, I was afraid I'd dream again…"
Suddenly Piccolo didn't have the heart to tell the boy to go back to his own bed, he knew the boy must have some kind of demons haunting his dreams… But just to be sure, he tried to make eye contact with the fully clothed little saiyan at his side, "You can sleep on the cot if you want, do you want me to leave?"
Gohan looked up to him and shook his head, "No! You make me feel safe by being right there…" Gohan closed his eyes and snuggled into his friend, slowly falling asleep.
Piccolo looked down at the boy and gently rubbed his fingers through the boys freshly cut hair, "Alright Gohan, I'll be right here when you wake up…" he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep with the boy.
End Chapter 2
