Chapter Three: It's Not Your Fault
"M... My d-dad?" he mumbled, visibly in shock. Videl smirked to herself; now that was the reaction she'd been looking forward to. His eyes were wide open in astonishment, his whole demeanor betrayed just how dumbfounded he was by what she said.
Well, she couldn't blame him. Of all things she could've told him, Gohan certainly wouldn't expect her to mention his dad.
"Wh... What do you mean... You met... How could you meet my d—"
He abruptly stopped in mid-sentence, his eyes getting wider with realization this time. He stared at her, gaping, looking even more flabbergasted as he seemed to have understood how it could be possible, indeed, that she'd met his deceased father.
"You... You..."
He didn't seem to be able to utter a complete sentence in his current state of shock, and Videl cracked a smile; she'd forgotten how Gohan looked so completely adorable when he was put on the spot. It wasn't really nice of her but it always made her want to grin like an idiot and tease him some more.
"How about we land down there and talk?" she suggested, motioning to the beach below them. Gohan nodded wordlessly, his dumbstruck expression now replaced with a thoughtful frown, blemishing his usually warm features. They flew together in silence towards the ground, soon touching down by an imposing boulder. Videl leaned back against it, while the taller boy sat on it, bringing his knee close to his chest in a more comfortable position and patiently waiting for her explanation.
Her brow furrowed slightly when she took notice that Gohan was still significantly taller than her even when sitting down on that rock; was she really that short? The boulder wasn't even that high, either, only reaching up to her hips.
Sighing dejectedly at her pitiful vertical shortcoming, Videl forced herself to focus back on the matter at hand. She had a lot of explaining to do.
"You've figured it out, right?" she said softly, a small smile forming on her lips.
Gohan gulped, like he was still having trouble believing his own conclusions. He scratched the back of his head in a nervous habit, and Videl couldn't help her grin as she now knew just where the boy had picked it up. Rather, whom he took it from.
"You met him... there? I mean... in the other world?"
His words were slow and cautious, looking at her with some doubt still, as well as worry and maybe a little of... hope? The recently revived girl nodded her head to confirm his suppositions. The guy was smart, she had to give him that.
"Does that mean..." he paused, his brow furrowing, deep in thoughts. "You were allowed to keep your body then, right? Did you meet my dad in the Kais' planet? So, you were able to train there, right?"
Videl blinked. OK, the guy was just too cunning for his own good... She didn't even have much left to explain now with all his on-the-spot deductions! Was he going to let her talk or just figure it all out by himself?
"I guess it does make sense," he went on, his mind still racing it seemed. "You've saved a lot of lives even though you're still young. Even in that fire you saved many people before you..."
He trailed off, a pained expression taking over his face. He looked away and placed his large hand over his eyes, as if trying to hide them from her. Like he was ashamed.
"Gohan...?"
She touched his knee tentatively and felt him tense ever so slightly, though he didn't make a move to push her hand away. Bending over slightly to try and catch a glimpse of his eyes, she couldn't help the worry and dread taking over her as her normally cheerful friend kept them well hidden, stubbornly refusing to look at her, and obviously very much upset about something.
"Gohan, what's—"
"You died," he suddenly blurted, cutting her off. "You died, Videl, and I wasn't even there. I could've saved you, I should've saved you!"
Guilt, sorrow, anger even... His emotions were making his voice tremble. He shot up at her unexpectedly, and Videl could feel a knot forming in her guts at the painful look in his dark eyes. It hurt her, seeing him like this. She didn't like the way his onyx orbs shone with distress.
"I should've been there," he whispered hoarsely, taking her hand from his knee and holding it firmly. "I should've been there to save you. You shouldn't have died, Videl, it never should've happened at all. I... Ilet you die. I let you die, Videl... Like I let him die. He shouldn't have died that day, and neither did you... I should've—I could've saved you, both of you. I should've—"
"Stop it!"
He pursed his lips and let go of her hand. He placed his forehead against his bending knee and wrapped an arm around his leg, hugging it to his chest. Videl clenched her fists to her sides, feeling a deep frustration welling inside her and making her blood boil. Taking a step closer, she planted herself right in front of him and grabbed his head with both hands to force him to look at her, a determined frown meeting sorrowful eyes.
"Is this what you've been doing all this time—blaming yourself over my death? As if it were even your fault."
"But if I'd been there I could've—"
"So what?" she cut him off harshly, pissed off with his idiocy. "Are you telling me that every single death on this damned planet is your fault? That since you could save me, since you have the power to protect anyone, that if you're not there to save every fucking life, it's your fault that people die? Are you stupid? People die, Gohan, every day, all the time; you can't save everybody, no matter how powerful you are. No one can."
She let go of him and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation, while Gohan stared at her with his mouth slightly open, obviously stunned by her words.
"I can't believe it, ugh," she said with a frustrated sigh. "To think you wasted all those months blaming yourself over my death." She turned back to him, looking at him sadly. "I should've seen it coming, actually. It's so characteristic of you. Even Goku figured that you were most likely blaming yourself for his death—yes, I do know how it happened and why you'd feel responsible for it, and no, your dad isn't blaming you at all. He chose to stay dead by himself, and you were just a kid back then, so stop it Gohan. Stop bearing all the problems in the world on your shoulders—you're only sixteen, superpowers or not. You're way too young to be thinking like that."
He allowed a small smile to tug at his lips and reached over slowly, taking her small, soft hand into his own, much bigger one. Videl let out a small sigh—partly in relief to see him with a more relaxed expression, partly in fatigue after her long monologue—but smiled back at him nonetheless, rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb.
"Thank you, Videl, I... needed to hear that, I think," he said quietly, unconsciously moving closer to her.
"You're welcome."
"I'm seventeen, by the way," he added as an afterthought, his smile turning playful. "My birthday was in May."
"What? You mean I was still alive when you turned seventeen and you didn't even say a word back then? You bastard!" She hit him jokingly on the shoulder with her other hand for emphasis. Not that it could hurt him.
"Ouch," he said without much conviction, a grin plastered on his face. She felt something warm envelop her heart as she gazed upon him, glad that the negative emotions were gone from his black orbs.
"You look better when you smile," she blurted without thinking. Watching the bright blush spread across his face made it all the more worth it—Gohan looked just too cute when he was embarrassed.
He let go of her hand to scratch at the hair on the back of his head and looked away, staring off to the horizon. His cheeks were still a deep shade of red, and Videl giggled at his expense. Oh, she'd certainly missed those moments with him.
"So, do you want to hear about how I met your dad?"
The change of topic immediately caught the boy's interest. "Of course!" he said, smiling at her again.
Making herself comfortable, Videl sat on the boulder beside Gohan and looked up into the stars, accessing her memories. With a deep breath and a fond smile, she started on with her story.
Afterlife was so strange. First, there had been that long waiting line of cloud-shaped souls. Next, when her turn came along, some pinkish-skinned giant with horns, sitting behind an equally giant desk, told her that her good deeds while alive allowed her to keep her body, and then out of the blue she was in flesh and blood again, and was asked whether she would rather train in a planet full of dead, selfless warriors, or simply go to heaven.
Well, she didn't dwell much to make her choice, especially seeing as she could still visit heaven whenever she wanted if there was anyone she wanted to see again. She asked if she could start by visiting heaven, but apparently she needed to be introduced to the Kais first. Disappointed, Videl figured that she had all of eternity to go visit her mom, so she obediently followed a blue-skinned, glasses-wearing, single-horned demon to a plane that was to bring her to the planet of Kais.
Yes, a plane. With an engine and all. In afterlife. Huh.
It took no time to arrive on the aforementioned planet. On the way, she was told about the four Kais who were in charge of the four parts of the universe: North, South, East and West. The blue demon accompanying her explained that since she was from Earth, the North Kai would be the one in charge of training her. She wasn't able to know much more about the matter, for the plane landed and she had to get off of it.
Death, if anything, was certainly not like anything she would have expected. The girl was still having trouble coming to terms with the fact that she was, indeed, dead, not to mention getting used to that halo hovering over her head. But this place, that purple sky, the yellow clouds, and all those weird looking people—it was a lot to take in all at once.
She was soon introduced to North Kai, some short, blue-skinned, stubby, catfish-like man who demanded that she tell him a joke. No, not just a joke—a pun.
"Uh..."
She was at a loss for words. After everything that had happened since she died, her brain was pretty much out. Hey, wait a minute...
"I can't think of anything... My brain must be dead."
She waited anxiously, the blue man seemingly frozen by her words. Was it a good sign or not? Will they kick her out of there if she failed to make him laugh? It was so stupid, she had really looked forward to training with the other warriors, too. Why hadn't she been warned that she would need to prepare a joke to tell the Kai before her arrival? If she'd had more time then maybe she could've come up with something better...
"Pfftthehehe... HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
His laughter made her sigh of relief. That was close! And there she was already preparing herself mentally to leave this place so soon.
"HAHAHAHA! Your brain...! HAHAHA! DEAD! BWAHAHAHAHA! Oh, that's a good one, I'll be sure to use it again, hehehehehe..."
The short man let out some more giggles, and then finally heaved a content sigh, clasping his hands behind his back again, like when he had greeted her.
"You're not just anybody, huh?" he said, eyeing her. "So, what's your name again? Where do you come from, exactly?"
She blinked, not quite sure what to make of this strange creature. Nonetheless, she straightened herself and proceeded to answer.
"My name is Videl, Videl Satan. I'm from Earth."
"Oooohhhh... How interesting!" King Kai exclaimed, looking very pleased with the information. "We don't get a lot of people from Earth, lest such a young girl. Even when someone could come and train here, they usually choose to chill out in heaven. You sure are a special one... You must have done some incredible things in your life, huh? To think you look so young! How old are you?"
"I'm sixteen," she replied, blushing slightly from his words.
"Ah, so young indeed. Such a shame to die this young—so, tell me, what happened to you?"
It seemed like the common question up there, so Videl forced herself to think back of her painful death to answer. She would probably have to tell the story a lot around there, it would be best to get used to it starting now.
"There was a fire in an apartment building, so I was called in to help the fire department rescue the people still stuck inside," seeing his surprised and somewhat confused expression, she added, "I'm usually called by the police force to help fight crime, but sometimes I just help however I'm needed."
"I see," the Kai commented, cutting in. "You must have saved many lives in that case. So that's how even at such a young age, you can be one of the privileged souls and allowed to keep your body."
"I guess so..." she shrugged uneasily. "In any case, even though I managed to get all the people out of the building, the moment I was about to go out too, there was an explosion, and well, you know the rest."
The short man nodded gravely. "You definitely deserve your place on here. You're truly one of a kind; such selflessness is a rare gift, you know."
"Um, yeah, I suppose so..." she said a bit awkwardly. Being who she was, she was used to compliments, but not really of that kind...
"There's someone here that grew up on Earth, actually. He's in fact the number one in the whole universe, and my most praised pupil," he said proudly, puffing out his chest; Videl had the feeling that this was something the Kai loved to boast about. "Though he wasn't born on Earth, he always protected the planet all throughout his life, and even died sacrificing his life to save it from complete destruction."
Videl raised her eyebrows. Was there really someone like that who grew up on Earth? And what did King Kai mean by "he wasn't born on Earth"? She now understood that her planet was far from being alone in the universe, but were there really aliens living among humans? Could it be that she'd met one without realizing it?
"Of course," the Kai continued, his tone turning bitter, "he just had to bring that Cell monster on my planet, of all places! Can't believe I died, I'm a god for heaven's sake!"
"Uh, I see," she said hesitantly. Afterlife definitely had some weird people.
Wait a minute...
"Did you say Cell? As in, the monster that terrorized the Earth seven years ago? That one?"
"Hm? So it's been seven years now, huh," he commented distractedly. "Well, yes, who else?"
Videl frowned. This didn't sound right. The way things looked, the man that King Kai was talking about died seven years ago, while saving the Earth from Cell. But that couldn't be it, her dad was the one who saved the world. She must have mistaken the facts somehow...
"Can you tell me more about how that man died?"
"Oh, that's right!" King Kai said suddenly, slamming his fist in his open palm like he just remembered something. "That Mr. Satan guy had everyone believe he killed Cell, right?"
At her disbelieved look, he looked a bit embarrassed to have just blurted it out like that, and coughed into his fist in an attempt to hide his awkwardness.
"Yeah, sorry to say it so bluntly, but that guy was nowhere near Cell's level, let alone the strongest man on Earth—he's actually pretty weak, you know," he continued, shrugging his shoulders. "But it's not your business now, that's the world of the living, and we're in the other world. You shouldn't worry about it now."
She scowled at the shorter man, inwardly glad that she was actually the taller one for once. How dare he brush off such an information, just like that? Like hell she was just going to forget about this—pun intended! It was her father that he was bad mouthing! Whether he had lied or not, she will not stand there and let that weirdo insult the man who raised her!
"Well excuse me, but this is my damn business, dead or not," she retorted harshly, surprising the Kai with her sudden anger. "Hercule Satan is my father, you moron!"
Now the man looked really embarrassed, fidgeting nervously. He cleared his throat.
"Well, I didn't know. It's not like it was written on your halo or something," he sniggered at his own lame joke.
"I told you my last name, you klutz!"
"Well it's not like you're the only person on Earth with that last name! It could've been a coincidence!"
"It's not! It's not even a real name, just a stage name that stuck to the family—I mean, Satan? Who else than a professional wrestler would choose a name like that? Are you stupid?"
"Don't call me stupid, you're stupid! You should've said so earlier!"
"Now that's a witty retort, you are soooo smart."
King Kai growled at her, but Videl held her ground and scowled right back at him, using her towering presence as an advantage. Oh, it felt good to be the taller one. She will not let that midget get away with it!
There was a strange buzzing sound, and all of sudden something orange appeared before her eyes, hiding the short Kai behind it. A cheerful voice rang out from the orange... body? Slowly, the girl's eyes traveled upwards, recognizing the figure of a man's broad, muscular back, stopping at the untamed locks of spikes covering the newcomer's head.
"Hey King Kai! What's up? Can you get me something to eat maybe? I'm STARVING!"
His loud, hearty laugh resounded around the deserted beach, and Videl grinned as she watched Gohan hold his sides and almost fall to the ground while he laughed—wait, now he actually fell from the boulder. Regardless, Gohan still kept laughing, now rolling in the sand and holding his stomach.
"Oh gosh, that's just priceless!" he managed to utter out in between bouts of laughter. "So like Dad—oh, my stomach hurts! Hahahahaha!"
She helped him up, his contagious laugh making her giggle along with him. He tried to calm his hilarity a few times, taking a few deep breaths, but then the image of that scene came back in his mind and he was bursting out laughing all over again and holding the boulder for support. It took some time, but Gohan eventually managed to calm down. His grin stayed glued on his face however, and Videl wouldn't have it any other way.
"Can I keep going now?" she said mocking annoyance, while still unable to wipe off her own grin that was hurting her cheeks.
"'Course! Sorry about the interruption—do keep going," he replied, his eyes gleaming in mirth.
They sat down on the sand this time, leaning back against the same boulder. Settled side by side, sleeved arms touching, they looked at each other with silly smiles stretching across their lips. The stars were still shining beautifully up in the night sky, but the pair didn't see it anymore, for their sole focus was the other's pair of eyes.
As Videl resumed her story, Gohan moved unconsciously closer to her, breathing in her unmistakable, intoxicating scent. How he loved this girl. What would he have done without her, if she hadn't been brought back? He didn't even want to think about it.
She was there now, right beside him. So beautiful, in every way possible. And he was happy, sitting there with her. He really couldn't be happier.
This should clear up some stuff about the story. :P
Thanks for reading, reviews are always nice. Until next time—
Beta'd by gue22
January 31, 2014-
