Disclaimer: Dragonball (Z/Kai) is owned by Akira Toriyama

Warning: OOC-ness, Crap quality, Alternate Universe, Time Travel cliche, Post-Cell Games Cliche

Nada: In honor of this story's 5 month anniversary, I present to you chapter eight.

Chapter Eight: In which I take liberties with how time travel works; in which all things must come to an end; in which I managed to cheat out of writing a fight scene because of REASONS.


Chapter Eight


Goku's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, his mouth agape and his body just as numb as Gohan's mind. He suddenly sank to his knees, his mind still processing exactly what had occurred, but Piccolo had already done so, and unlike Goku, the Namekian was seeing red. He suddenly launched into the sky, straight toward the demonic android with all the energy he could muster concentrated directly into his fist.

Cell smirked and easily dodged the attack. He punched the Namekian in the gut, his whole body arching around his fist then sent him flying back towards the Lookout mercilessly. Piccolo crashed into the trees, knocking them down and himself unconscious.

Vegeta was next into the air, more so out of his own choice than for vengeance. He sent a series of ki attacks toward the android until his figure was clouded by smoke again and then a final, larger blast to finish it off. Cell tore through the attack with perpetual ease. He landed a punch straight into the Saiyan's gut—like he did with Piccolo—then knocked him downward with both hands. Vegeta crashed into the ground beside the awestricken Goku, unmoving.

"Well now, I can't say that was too exhilarating." Cell smirked in amusement as he eyed the rest of the still standing heroes. "Who wants to go next?"

Yajirobe gulped in reply, his body frozen like all the others.

"No? Well then, I'll just take you all out."

Cell raised a hand into the air, summoning more energy from his body core when his senses suddenly flew into alert. His eyes widened in realization. He turned his gaze upward and growled.

Gohan's body trembled with untamable fury. He held his hands into fists, the half-moon crescents of his nails buried into his skin, making him bleed. Electricity surged around his aura in an erratic pace. The wind around them began to pick up, as though it were drawn to the boy's growing rage. How was it possible for the boy to have this much energy when only just a few moments ago he had warned it on that powerful attack? It was then a thought dawned Cell: he threw gas into the fire, now he had to suffer the explosion. How could he possibly forget the monster's fury again?

"No," he growled to himself, falling back into the skies and held his hands against his hips. "I won't let him defeat me. I won't let him have the honors of killing me!"

Gohan copied Cell's stance in the air. The two of them locked eyes with the other, their fury growing steadily to breaking point. Enormous amounts of energy pooled into their palms like water swirling down a drain. It pooled and pooled and pooled until it erupted into existence, both hot white and static blue—like fire on a stove.

"What are they doing?!" Krillin cried. He stood beside his silent best friend, still too lost within grief to truly pay attention to his surroundings. "They're too close to the Lookout! The intensity of a high powered kamehameha attack like that would send this place flying to bits!" Krillin turned to Goku for some sort of a sign, but found nothing. "Goku! I know your grieving, but think about it, if Future Gohan destroys Cell, we can resurrect your son with the dragonballs! He hasn't died before."

"Huh?" Goku blinked, his mind suddenly kick starting once more. He stared at his short best friend for a moment, his eyes blank of emotion until his words suddenly clicked in his head. "You're right Krillin."

"Yeah," the former Monk nodded, relieved to have his best friend back amongst the living. "But in order to do that, we have to get out of here, alive!"

"Right. Grab everyone you can!"

The two fighters set out for their fallen comrades. Mr Popo pulled out the flying carpet in time for Kami, Korin and Yajirobe to climb on while Krillin went to pick up Yamcha; Chiaotzu held Tien and Goku tossed both Piccolo and Vegeta on each of his shoulders. They hurried off the Lookout without a glance back to the duo in the air.

Gohan and Cell launched their attacks at the exact same time. They watched it collide head on, the impact of both attacks sent a powerful sonic wave through the air; it sent the Z-Fighters hurtling across the sky and toward the Earth. They crashed unceremoniously across the plain, the pressure of the blast forcing them down to the ground as the wind roared in their ears. The atmosphere suddenly lit white, blinding everyone within radius. Another powerful blast of air pressed against them, this time dragging them further across the ground until it all suddenly stopped.

Krillin didn't dare to move. He lay on the ground with his hands over his head and his face buried deep into soil. He strained his ears for any sound of movement, but all he heard was an uneasy silence. That is, until Vegeta suddenly groaned and cursed the green android for besting him without trying.

"Glad to see you're still with us, Vegeta," Goku said just as Piccolo and Tien finally came around.

"Shut up, Kakarot," the Saiyan Prince grumbled.

"Jeez," Yamcha mumbled. "What happened?"

"We got whooped, that's what." Tien replied.

Krillin climbed to his feet. He instantly stared at the sky, but could see nothing but billowing smoke from the ruins of the fallen tower.

"My tower!" Korin cried. "Do you have any idea how long that took to build?!"

"Don't worry Master Korin, once we gather the dragonballs, we'll be able to rebuild it."

"After we wish back my son," Goku added.

Tien and Yamcha grew grim. The look Piccolo had given them wisely kept their mouths shut.

"What about that other kid?" Yajirobe questioned. "Where'd he go?"

At the thought of the Time Traveler, Goku and Piccolo quickly shot into the sky. Krillin and the others, save for Kami, Mr. Popo, Yajirobe and Korin, followed after them.

-x-X-x-

They found him amongst the remains of what used to be Korin's Tower. His body was battered and bruised, cuts from flying debris and burns from the ki attacks, littered his adolescent body. His ki was nearly non-existent, most of it spent on his final kamehameha blast with Cell. He was back in his base form, his mane of hair jet black and his red gi torn practically to shreds. He was lucky Piccolo had given him a black body suit underneath, otherwise he'd be naked, but even that had barely managed to stay on.

"Let's get him somewhere safe," Goku said. He knelt down beside the child and scooped him up into his arms, marveling at his size. He was still so tiny within his arms like when he used to be baby. His heart panged with guilt. He had never been more grateful for the dragonballs until now.

-x-X-x-

With Korin's tower completely destroyed and Kami's Lookout damaged to an unrecognizable degree, the Z-Fighters came to a mutual agreement to take temporary residence at Capsule Corporation. When Bulma had seen their battle torn clothing and the unconscious child in Goku's arms, the blue haired woman invited them in without question and allowed Goku to begin his search for the dragonballs as soon as possible. Recovering the dragonballs from the ends of the Earth would still be a tedious task, even if Goku's Instant Transmission abilities cut the time by a very large amount.

With Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu eating a homemade meal with Dr. Briefs, thanks to Mrs. Briefs; Piccolo outside the building mediating—and secretly keeping an eye on Future Gohan's ki—and Vegeta licking his wounds in the Gravity Room, Bulma found herself sitting beside the battered boy tending to his wounds. Normally they had nurses for situations like this, but something told Bulma she had to be the one to mend the child while Goku was away. She couldn't explain it, or why she felt this was something Chichi shouldn't know, Bulma had the weirdest feeling that she knew who this mysterious boy was.

When she had asked the others about the boy's identity, none of them felt compelled to answer. Not even Vegeta, who grunted and stalked away from them, obviously pissed about something—which wasn't unusual.

"Hmm," She taped the last bandage over a clean wound and dropped the bloody cottons into a bowl. She laid the bowl against the nightstand and sank back into her chair, her azure colored eyes fixated on the boy's bruised face.

"You sure do look like someone I know," She muttered. "I wonder what kind of battle you were in to get all banged up like this. And at such a young age too. You can't be that much older than Gohan." At the mention of the boy, she gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully, wondering if the seven-year-old stayed with Chichi this time around.

She doubted it. Whenever there was a fight, Gohan was always right in the middle of it, even when he wasn't strong enough to handle it.

Bulma snapped out of her thoughts in time to hear the door open. She glanced over her shoulder, catching sight of Krillin still in his battle worn orange gi, enter the room with a few minor cuts and bruises from all the flying debris.

"How's he doing?"

"Well," she replied. She waited until Krillin sat on the chair located on the other side of the bed before she spoke again. "So who is he? I've never seen a kid so beaten up like this before… well, except Gohan of course."

Krillin's expression fell grim. "Yeah… Gohan."

"What's his name?"

"Um… we call him Bei."

Bulma arched a skeptical eyebrow at the bald man. Krillin raised his hands up defensively. "Hey, that's what he wanted us to call him! Who are we to argue with that?"

"So he's a runaway?"

"Uh, sort of. It's… kind of complicated."

"How'd he get so hurt?"

"He got into something we were all unready for." He said quietly, his eyes downcast.

Bulma watched him for a moment before turning her attention back to the sleeping child. She would ask him questions when he woke up, hopefully he wouldn't give so many vague answers.

-x-X-x-

Goku didn't return until later that night. When the sun had long set beyond the mountains and the beautiful stars-sadly dwarfed by the lights of the city-twinkled dimly in the dark sky, the Saiyan dropped seven majestic orbs onto the ground in front of its creator. Bulma gathered with the others, watching curiously as Kami summoned the mighty dragon from its slumber.

Unnatural light lit up the scene as the dragonballs glowed bright. It beat in rhythm, growing brighter and brighter until a beam of white light shot from the spheres and curled into the sky. Soon enough, the light took shape of a dragon, its bright, nearly blinding glow dimming, and in its place floated the enormous green serpent they knew as Shenron.

-x-X-x-

Gohan stirred from his slumber to a dark room. The curtains were drawn, blocking out the lights he thought were of the setting sun. His body screamed in pain, but felt too weak to complain. It was at a time like this he wished Dende were still the Guardian of the Earth, at least then he didn't have to wait long for a full recovery.

With nothing to distract from the pain that pulsed through his veins, he stared blankly through the small gaps in the curtain. He wondered where the others were and if they were using the dragonballs at this very moment. He wondered if Cell was still alive or if he, by some stroke of luck, managed to defeat the damn android once and for all. He thought back to the instance before his rage overwhelmed him and wondered what his younger self had thought before Cell had cruelly killed him. He could have made guesses, but felt the urge not to. What did it matter anymore? What was done was done.

Now came the bigger question that troubled him. How was he going to get back home without Trunks's Time Machine? He had no idea where Cell kept the damn contraption, let alone, knew if it survived the journey too. He was starting to really regret destroying the original Time Machine from this era. If he never found Trunks's Time Machine, he would be stuck in this time period indefinitely.

And Trunks would be stuck in mine. He thought, growing remorseful. What a mess he was in. First things first, I need to heal before I start searching for it. He sighed out loud.

He stared down at his hands and willed it to move. The muscles in his arms refused to obey him at first, his nerves still screaming from the excess trauma it went through, but little by little he found himself able to wiggle his fingers and—eventually—move his wrist and bend his arm. So they weren't broken for once, which surprised him. He repeated the process with his feet and found they weren't in as bad a shape as he originally thought. He smiled feebly in the darkness. It seemed making a full recovery wouldn't take that long after all.

His train of thought slowly melted away at the sound of an opening door. He eyed the doorway through the darkness and only barely recognized the orange coloration of someone's gi. Judging by the height, which was considerably short, he figured it was Krillin.

"Hi Krillin," he managed to greet, his voice tired and weak.

"So you're awake," the former monk replied, taking a seat to the boy's left. "Don't let Bulma know, she's got a lot of questions to ask you."

The eleven-year-old smiled in good humor, though, he didn't feel like answering anyone's questions at the moment.

"We resurrected, uh, you know…" the man hesitated. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "We're in the process of fixing Korin's Tower but at least Kami's Lookout is looking pretty good right about now."

The boy's smile grew more genuine, but still weak. He nodded his head slowly, keeping his eyes focused on the ceiling overhead, just for the sake of having something to stare at.

"He wanted to see you… but we thought it'd be best we leave it for tomorrow. Everyone has a question to ask," Krillin suddenly snorted. "Even Vegeta, but knowing that guy, it probably has something to do with that Super Saiyan transformation of yours."

"Tomorrow sounds good."

Krillin smiled. "Yeah, I figured you were going to say that. Korin will have a senzu bean ready for you by tomorrow but for now, get some rest. Tomorrow will be one heck of a day."

With that, the short man bid the boy farewell and left him alone to his thoughts for the night.

-x-X-x-

He wished tomorrow hadn't arrived so soon. His night of rest was less than peaceful-what with nightmares of Cell, the androids, and the damage done to both timelines haunting him throughout the night—he was still rather reluctant that following morning to answer any questions they might have had. He had a feeling the worse questions were those that involved Cell and what he had meant when Gohan "allowed him to kill his father." There was one question he still couldn't answer, like how he would get back to his time without the Time Machine. Maybe he'd get lucky and find it within the next twenty-four hours, but he doubted it. His luck wasn't that great.

When Krillin returned that morning with a senzu bean in hand, the pre-teen found himself reluctant to take it. He was still very much in pain, probably more so now than yesterday, but taking it meant he had no other choice but confront them and their questions. Avoiding it was hopeless, however, so with great hesitance, he chewed on the bean and swallowed.

He met up with the rest of them just outside Vegeta's gravity chamber. The day was beautiful, warm and three times more comfortable than sitting inside the house when Gohan knew he had a lot of things to spill, so he was grateful to have at least a little bit of comfort. He felt a lot better when his younger self greeted him with a bright smile. He stood beside Goku—Piccolo was not too far off—talking with Bulma and Yamcha. Tien and Chiaotzu lingered a little further from the crowd, but closer to the doorway Krillin and the pre-teen had just used. Vegeta was the first to approach him.

"I admit I was surprised that a boy your age could even reach Super Saiyan, but what I saw yesterday was not the same level of Super Saiyan I'm familiar with."

Krillin and the pre-teen couldn't resist sharing a mutual glance of amusement at Vegeta's reaction. It made the boy want to laugh, but he wisely restrained himself. Pissing off Vegeta so early in the day was definitely not something he wanted to do right now.

"How it is possible that a mere child such as yourself was able to attain such a powerful transformation?!" The haughty prince demanded.

Gohan blinked. "The same way a Saiyan would reach the first level of Super Saiyan, through extensive training and emotional turmoil. Cell pushed me past my limit, so he paid the price." He visibly sagged as though something were weighting him down. He suddenly felt tired again, but restrained himself from going back inside the round building. This conversation needed to be done and it didn't matter how long he prolonged it, they would find a way to get the answers they wanted right out of him.

Vegeta said nothing in reply to the boy's answer. Instead, he stepped aside, so that the rest of them could have their turn.

"So, wait a minute, Bei is a Super Saiyan too?" Bulma questioned.

"Uh, right, about that…" Krillin rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I wasn't exactly being completely honest yesterday. Bulma, this is Gohan from the future. Uh, three years into the future."

Bulma's blue eyes widened in surprise, though the original shock of it all had dissipated thanks to the memory of the lavender haired young man from months prior.

"Another one? First that kid with the purple hair, now you. Time Traveling must be popular in the future."

"Alright, I've got a question," Krillin began. "What did Cell mean about you allowing Goku to die?"

Bulma looked at Yamcha with an inquisitive gaze, her mouth forming the words Cell to the former thief. The man lent closer to her and whispered what he knew into her ear, her eyes widening once more at another bombshell.

Gohan tore his gaze away from the duo—he was careful to avoid his younger self and father—and brought his attention to Krillin.

"I'm sure he was just bluffing right? It's not like you would…really…" Krillin's voice trailed off at the solemn, yet uncomfortable, look on the boy's face.

"He was right, it's my fault Dad died in my time." The boy admitted. "Dad probably wouldn't really think so," –he resisted the urge to stare at his Past Father—"but if I had killed Cell when I had the chance, instead of letting him regenerate for the sake of making him suffer, none of this would have happened. So… um, I took care of it."

"Took care of it?" his younger half repeated, feeling as perplexed as the others felt.

The boy in question grew sheepish. He didn't want to say it. He had hoped he would be able to leave this timeline without ever having to mention it, but it seemed his good luck turned for the worse.

"Well, uh, it's… a long story." He sighed in defeat. "Cell came in my time to absorb androids Seventeen and Eighteen in order to reach perfection. When he did, he challenged us to a fight, but when Dad died, Cell stole the Time Machine and came to this era in order to kill a younger version of me. He thought that by doing so, it would alter the outcome of my timeline, but it didn't. Time doesn't work that way.

I followed him with a spare Time Machine, but it didn't survive the journey and crashed into the crater where Frieza's ship used to be. When I couldn't find Cell, I decided to…" He hesitated, feeling eyes burn into him like lasers, especially Vegeta's and Goku's. "I… I decided to take Bulma's advice. I destroyed Cell's larvae from when he originally traveled here… and with him I accidentally blew up the Time Machine too. So instead of there being three time machines, there's only one, which was Cell's… and, well, uh, after that… I kinda… went to Doctor Gero's Lab and destroyed everything that I could until Vegeta found me so I had to pretend the mountain blew up on its own." He hurried through the last parts of his explanation, a part of him hoping his words were too jumbled to be heard correctly.

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

The boy flinched. Of course, it didn't work.

"I had to do what had to be done," he muttered darkly.

Vegeta growled. "What you did was cowardly!"

"I did what any sane person would do if they had the chance!" he bit back, just as angrily as the prince. "You have no idea what those androids were capable of! Of what Cell was capable of! Doctor Gero was someone who needed to be stopped. He might be innocent in this time, but in mine, he's guilty. So I took care of it. I even cleaned up the mess I made because of it. Androids Thirteen, Fourteen and Fifteen didn't exist in my time period, but my interference must have activated them on accident. And you couldn't even handle them!"

"Why you little—"

The rest of Vegeta's threat was cut off by a strong gust of wind. Smoke and heat engulfed the area, blinding everyone within radius and urging them to scatter like blind insects. Gohan pulled back closer to the building, Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu still by his side. When the heat finally subsided, and the disturbed dust, dirt and smoke began to clear away, in the middle of where they had all been standing, stood rather large, ovular shaped machinery. Steam quickly erupted from the top, releasing white puffs into the atmosphere as the glass top automatically opened.

Gohan watched with anticipation, just like all the others. His heart rammed against his rib cage. He recognized the build of the machine despite its larger physique and different color design. It looked like a Time Machine, maybe not Trunks's old one, but definitely a Time Machine, he was sure of it.

When the hatch finally opened, a young man no older than a teenager poked his head out of the compartment, his long lavender bangs fell over his sky blue eyes.

A relieved smile suddenly ripped cross Gohan's face. "Trunks! You have a new Time Machine!"

Trunks glanced around his surroundings, only just realizing his machinery was surrounded by battle ready fighters. They all dropped their poses at the sound of Gohan's relieved tone of voice. When they approached closer to examine, they quickly recognized him as a slighter older version of the purple haired teen from only a month ago.

Before he said a word, the teenager climbed out of the machine and landed beside Gohan.

"I thought you promised to keep your identity a secret?" the lavender demi-saiyan whispered.

The eleven-year-old cringed slightly, but gave Trunks a sheepish smile. "Uh… things got a little complicated."

Trunks sighed. "As it always does when it comes to Time Travel. What about Cell?"

"Taken cared of."

"And my Time Machine?"

"Lost. Somewhere." The boy frowned. "I didn't get a chance to look for it yet. The one I borrowed didn't survive the crash landing and the one here originally… I accidentally blew it up."

Trunks raised a curious eyebrow. "Doing what?"

"I'll explain when we get back home. Um, speaking of home, where did you get that time machine from?" he pointed at the green colored time machine separating the time travelers from the Z Fighters (all of which were unable to hear their conversation, save for Piccolo, whose hearing was exceptional.)

Trunks eyed the machine for a moment. "I asked Shenron in a wish."

Gohan's eyes widened in surprise. "Sh-Shenron? But we used up all his wishes before I left!"

Trunks eyed the younger boy for a moment, a mixture of emotions flashing through his blue eyes. It looked as though he were having an internal conflict on whether or not he should tell the boy about the complications of Time Travel. After a few seconds of deliberation, Trunks released a tired sigh and said, "Gohan, you've been away for a year."

The boy's eyes widened. "Wh-what…?"

"I know, it's a little weird, but Time Travel is strange that way. It might feel like it's been a few days, but it's been a whole year since you left. We started to get worried that maybe something happened so, I made a wish for a new Time Machine." Trunks patted the leg of the machine for emphasis. "At first, I wasn't sure if it would work since the dragonballs disappeared a long time ago in my timeline, but it seems like it did and a lot better than Mom's version. It can seat two people and track signature residue from previous Time Machines."

"So, this is it then?"

Gohan and Trunks turned their attention to Goku, who stood beside the machine with a relieved smile on his face. It was then the two travelers noticed they were surrounded by the Z team of three years ago. How much they heard, the boys weren't sure, but neither one of them looked shocked about anything. Or maybe by now they were so used to bombshells it really didn't matter anymore.

"We can't leave without the Time Machine." Gohan said. "What if somebody gets their hands on it again?"

"Don't worry about that." Bulma suddenly smiled with her hands on her hips. "I'll enlist my people to search for it. If it's lost, we'll find it in no time!"

The boys nodded in agreement, having already forgotten that it was Bulma who originally found the Time Machine in the first place. If anyone were to find it, it would be the creator herself! And knowing it would always be in safe hands kept both boys feeling at peace.

"It might take a while, I'm guessing a few days at least, but that should be okay for you guys, right?"

Trunks nodded before Gohan could say a word. Bulma returned the gesture then returned into Capsule Corporation to begin her search.

With their curiosities sedated, Tien and Chiaotzu followed Bulma back into the building along with Yamcha and Krillin, both of whom grew hungry from all the excitement and decided to kick back for a bit. Vegeta lingered around for a little bit longer, if only to observe the purple haired teen.

He couldn't forget the disgrace he felt for knowing that not only was Kakarot a super Saiyan, but this purple haired teenager and now Kakarot's young son. To make things worse, it seemed that Gohan was apparently the stronger of the two at the moment. He growled in irritation and stalked off for the gravity chamber. He had a lot of work to do if he wanted to surpass even the brat.

Goku decided to follow Krillin's lead. So he and the seven-year-old bid their temporary farewells to the time travelers and went inside for a snack.

Trunks and Gohan hung back, deciding it was best to brief the other on what happened.

-x-X-x-

"You've got everything?" Bulma asked a few days later.

She, Krillin, Piccolo, Goku and Chibi Gohan stood outside Capsule Corporation once more. While Trunks sat inside the ship, preparing it for travel, the older Gohan stood with Bulma, reassuring her that they had everything they needed for the instantaneous travel.

"Thanks for finding the Time Machine, Bulma," the eleven-year-old smiled gratefully. "We would never have found it without your help."

"I'm always happy to help," she winked.

"Don't overwork yourself, kid," Piccolo said.

"Yeah, take care of yourself in your timeline! We wouldn't want Chichi coming after us here." Krillin added.

"Thanks. I will." The boy chuckled.

Gohan turned his attention to his past family, his happiness quickly transformed into guilt. He approached his younger self first, a part of him unable to get the image of his own demise out of his mind's eye. But his younger self stared up at him with bright eyes, a bright happy smile plastered on his face. The two of them said nothing, but their eyes told each other what they needed to know. The seven-year-old was grateful the threats of the androids were gone. He was grateful that his father got a chance to live despite the heart virus which may or may not strike him in three years' time (Gohan still wasn't sure how far long the heart virus would take to affect Goku this time thanks to his interference.)

The boy held no grudges for his death, and instead of accusing his future self for the careless demise, sympathetically smiled. It was no one's fault. There was no need to find blame in anyone.

The older boy turned to his past Father this time, a new wave of guilt washing over him once more. This time, the guilt had nothing to do with what happened to his timeline. This time, it had everything to do with killing Doctor Gero in this timeline.

"I'm sorry,"

Goku tilted his head slightly in confusion. "For what?"

"For killing Doctor Gero when you and Vegeta wanted the chance to fight him."

"Well, I can't say I'm not a little disappointed, but I understand why you did it." The man gave him a reassuring smile. "If I were in your situation, I'd probably do the same."

Gohan hugged the man as tightly as he could. He inhaled his familiar scent, trying his best to commit it all to memory, because once he returned to his time, the reality of his father's absence would become all too real. Another pang of guilt stabbed into his heart. Poor Chichi, she must have thought they were both dead!

Gohan pulled away from the hug and climbed into the machine. He bid his final farewell to all of them. He strapped himself into the seat as the glass dome fell over them. Trunks pressed the coordinates into the machine, pressed the final button and before either of them knew it, they were off.

He watched as the world beneath them grew smaller and smaller, until it all vanished beneath a vast array of colors. He sank back into his seat, his mind going over the events of what happened during his stay. He wasn't sure how things for that timeline would flow now that he had drastically altered it. Without the androids being a threat, he wondered if the planet could finally be at peace or if another villain twice as strong as Cell would appear out of nowhere looking for a challenge.

He wondered if his younger self would ever reach the second level of Super Saiyan without a cause for it—or the first level for that matter. He wondered if even Vegeta could.

He wondered if his father would change now after what he witnessed. His own son dying before his eyes, Gohan figured it might be shocking enough to give Goku the revelation he needed. He sighed heavily.

Whatever the case was, he would never know. They were going home to a peaceful world at last. Despite the fact that he had to do some damage control with his mother for disappearing for a year, he knew that life beyond this point would never be the same. His original thoughts were right—Cell's death was the end of an era. Now peace could finally begin.


Nada: During the duration of writing this story, a bunch of questions jumped out at me pertaining to both timelines and I decided to add on a post-story tidbit on how Gohan's time travel affected this timeline as well as his original timeline. Thus, I present the Post Story Fun Facts:

OT – Original Timeline; CRT – Cellular Rewind Timeline

(OT) Gohan's reaction to discovering he now has a little brother is highly humorous.

(OT) It takes nearly a whole year for Chichi to let Gohan leave the house after his return to the present timeline.

(OT) Because of Cell's self-destruction, Bojack was freed from his imprisonment inside of King Kai's planet, but without the final Kamehameha battle between Cell and Gohan, it takes him quite a while to reach Earth. His defeat is pathetically easy. [I am aware Bojack is not canon, but his inclusion into the timeline fit so perfectly I could not let the opportunity slip by]

(OT) Gohan will regret his decision in altering the timeline when the Buu saga begins, and makes plans to fix it afterwards.

(CRT) Gohan gains many happy Father-Son memories now that the urgency to train is no longer necessary

(CRT) Vegeta and Gohan do eventually reach Super Saiyan level

(CRT) Goten is born a lot sooner than originally planned, Trunk's birth remains unchanged.

Nada's Final Words: I'm really surprised with the reception this story received. I honestly didn't expect many people to like it since it was about Time Travel (which is already such a cliche in this fandom) and post-Cell Games (also a terrible cliche when it comes to Gohan) but you readers surprised me, and for that, I am truly grateful.

Thank you everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited and alerted this story and stuck through it to the very end!
And a very special thank you for everyone who posted their opinions, advice and flaws throughout the story, as well.

So now that the story is over, what did you think?
Any thoughts on the Post-Story Fun Facts?
Thoughts on the whole thing in general?
Review! Review! Review!