I apologize for the late update from the last chapter. I hope you didn't think that we were going to end there- we still have a way to go! A person known only as 'Person' seemed to believe that that was the end of the story. I thank them for their review (and everyone else who is reviewing. you guys are AWESOME!) but we're not done yet! I guess if you wanted to, you could leave off there, but you're missing nearly two-thirds of the story-!

Let's go on now then. Here it is: the long awaited...

Chapter Ten

Gohan felt the comfort of his father's presence for only a moment when he returned to the world of the living- a gentle, sunray like warmth that still lingered on his hands but sadly faded from existence after a few short moments.

Gohan thought that he would be lying outside, in the middle of the orchard where he drew his last breath. However, when he awoke, he found himself lying on his back, facing a large slab of rock. He saw the stone blocks encasing his entire body, cut to form an elaborately engraved box. When he saw the small fissures of light through cracks at the seams and corners of the box, he suddenly realised that it wasn't a box at all; it was a sarcophagus. The thought shocked him, for he had many times heard dreadful tales about people being buried alive and dieing in a premature grave. Lucky for him, the stone tablets were no problem for him to move, and he carefully opened the lid by sliding it, making sure not to let it fall and shatter. He sat up, hopped out of the coffin- which was resting on a pedestal, and made him morbidly think of his dead body on display- and partially closed the cover behind him.

When he looked at the room, he was astonished at the sight of it. The room itself wasn't very large- no more than fifteen feet along each side- but the room was comprised entirely of precisely cut blocks of stone. The only visible exits were a stairway that lead downwards and square holes on the wall for windows. He walked up to one such widow, looked down, and saw that he was over 300 feet off the ground.

He was not afraid of heights- in fact, he loved being so high off the ground when he was flying because of the liberating feeling it gave him- but still the height of the building, which was now clearly a tower, still amazed him. He knew that a tower of this size could be visible from miles away- such as Kami's Lookout did- but he had never seen it before. When he looked at where the tower was, he immediately recognised it as the site of where the Cell Games arena, inaccurately named "Hercule Memorial", and pitiful cemetery once stood. However, the wheat stalks that once stood there were gone, and replaced by fields and fields of chrysanthemums, rhododendrons, lilies, and gladiolus of every colour imaginable- but mainly white gladiolus, which were his favourite type of flower. Only two people knew that though- Piccolo, and his father. He would have flown out the window to get a better look at the sight, but his curiosity of what the rest of the tower held was too great to ignore.

He returned and descended down the stairs, which were also made of stone. The first story below the one that he was in contained all of his training equipment. It had his sparring outfits- not only the Piccolo-styled one, but also the one similar to his father's, and the Saiyan armour he wore in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, which was falling apart at the seams but nevertheless folded into a neat pile, as the rest were. There were his capes, his pants, his shirts, his wristbands… everything that he had ever worn or was going to be worn by him for training or fighting purposes was here, folded neatly on display-like tables. There were three entire outfits hung on the wall so that it showed how it looked when worn. Gohan looked around for a while, and eventually even found his Chinese-style yellow shirt he wore when he first met Piccolo, folded in a remote corner and, upon further inspection, stained by a small teardrop.

He descended to the second floor below, and saw a similar layout as the previous one, only instead of being Gohan's outfits, there were numerous things that Gohan had made- pictures he drew when he was small, math equations, letters, stories, notes, ideas… anything that Gohan had made, or accomplished was here, in a collage that encompassed the entire room. He felt slightly uncomfortable with this- personal thoughts, notes, and such were available for all to see.

He continued down the flight of stairs, and saw that every room was dedicated to something related even remotely to him at all. There were rooms of pictures of him, a room of his favourite foods, a room of his favourite places, a room of his favourite books, a room of his favourite music, a room laid out like his own bedroom, and a room of his favourite animals- including a scale no doubt from Icarus. There was a room filled with his normal clothes; a room of his favourite plants; a room of his favourite activities, with photos of him doing them; a room of his possessions too- in which he saw a few things that he pitifully hoped weren't noticed. There was a room of things he liked the smell of; a room of things he liked to look at; a room of things he liked the feel of a room of all of the technology he owned; and a room that contained all of the money he was saving, which was quite a sum, due to his mother's pressing demand for university.

There were also several very odd rooms, such as one dark room that contained everything he didn't like- and by counting the number of windows he was from the ground, he amusingly found that it was on the thirteenth floor. He never was very superstitious, but many of his friends were. There was one room that simply contained an air-locked pedestal, which held a lock of silky, ebony hair- and Gohan felt to his head to find a blunt cut at the back, but not an extremely noticeable one. Even odder was just a room that was empty- the very confused and embarrassed Gohan thought humorously to himself that this room was filled with the air that he liked.

There were some very intimate rooms, though, that he took very seriously. One room contained descriptions of every person he ever fought- Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, The Ginyu Force, Frieza, The Spice Boys, Garlic Junior, and even a long account of the battle with Cell where all of his friends and allies contributed.

There was another room which inscribed across the walls was a heartfelt piece of writing that described how wonderful of a person Gohan was, and each was by one of his best friends. Gohan could only read partially through Piccolo's, because it caused so much guilt for him as it was obviously written with the thought that Gohan was dead.

On the level below that, there was a room that showed all of the friends Gohan had ever met. Not only were the lifelong friends shown, though, there were lots of faces that he had only met once, like the Orphan Children, Lime and her grandfather, even the bakers that he had met just recently. He had numerous memories- both happy and sad- come flooding back to him, so he left for the next room.

That room did not help much, though, for it was only of his family members- his father, himself, and his mother. One picture in particular caught his attention- a tear-stricken Chi-chi was crying on the shoulder of Bulma. Even though that made Gohan feel enough guilt as it was, his eyes fell to the stomach of his mother- it was rounded and obtruding from its usual spot, clearly stating that she was pregnant. Gohanstood in shock as he realized it, though he did not know how he missed this until now- how far did I isolate myself from the world so that I would miss my own mother's pregnancy? He tossed that thought aside quickly, it being replaced with another thought: he was going to be an older brother. Not only that, but there was going to be another child of Goku. The child wouldn't ever get to meet their father, Gohan realised with much guilt and shame, But I… I will tell them all about him and his accomplishments.

I hope you will find out about this somehow, Father.

On another level, there was a room that was dedicated entirely to the Saiyan side of Gohan- mainly the Super Saiyan side. It had two accounts of him in such a state- one elaborate, and obviously done by Piccolo, and the other crude, short, and somewhat criticising. There was even a meticulously and marvellously hand-drawn portrait of him- by one of his friends, but he was not sure who possessed such artistic talent. In the drawing, he was standing tall in the Piccolo-esque outfit with an outstretched arm, surrounded by the cascading blue sparks and golden aura, and teal eyes glaring sideways out of a half-turned head. The look that he gave himself sent a cold shockwave down his back, and he immediately turned away.

After all of the rooms, both bizarre and respectful, he arrived on the floor above the ground floor. It was what appeared to be a place of worship- that much was obvious by the candles, scrupulously arranged objects and mats for kneeling. However, it was like no cathedral Gohan had ever seen- it was like it was from another planet. An odd feeling of recognition bothered him, and it took a few moments to realise that this was very similar to the style of buildings on Namek, which he visited so long ago. This sanctuary was made by Piccolo, and so Gohan did not dwell there long, out of respect for Piccolo's religion and privacy.

The ground floor level was the only thing that was not truly related to Gohan- it was the pitiful cemetery that used to monument the Cell Games tragedy. The names of the fallen were still clearly written on the stone tablets, still lacking any mention of Goku.

Gohan sighed sadly, and walked outside, glad to be out of the bizarre tower. As he stepped outside, he saw once again the endless fields of flowers- and in the middle of one he saw a gigantic statue- though not as ridiculously large as Hercule's was. The sight of the likeness made his heart soar with pride and satisfaction- the statue depicted Goku standing by the side of his son, tousling his hair as he often did. They were side by side, therefore equals, but still obviously father and son. The stone figures perfectly portrayed the pair- Goku as the kind, fun-loving and carefree person, and Gohan as the thoughtful, unselfish, attentive, and gentle soul who enjoyed every waking moment he had in life. The monument was so exactly detailed- even more than the sketch of Gohan inside the tower- that you could see the frozen breeze that rippled their outfits during the moment that this represented, and their eyes seemed to shine with life. Below it, written in striking calligraphy, was the following:

"Quidvis Recte Factum Quamvis Humile Praeclarum. Qualis Pater Talis Filius. Dum Spiro, Spero. Fama Semper Vita. Requiescat In Pace."

The little Latin that Gohan knew translated the phrases into:

"Whatever is rightly done- however humble- is noble. As is the father, so is the son. As long as there is breath, there is hope. May their fame last forever. Rest in peace."

After a few minutes of appreciation of the monument- as well as enjoying the fresh air and breeze that he so enjoyed being in- Gohan took off for the skies, scanning every inch of the Earth for some power level that he recognised. After finally finding most of them gathered at one place- his own house- he flew swiftly and quietly, knowing that the matter at hand was a delicate one.

Hmmm... so, kind of a random chapter, no? I am a little bit uncertain about this one as well, especially since it comes after that last one, but I still love the thought about what would happen if our courageous were presented with this horrific event of their youngest member's death.

I took a little bit of artistic liberty on two parts here- I gave Gohan some favourite flowers, because I thought there needed to be a symbol for his tranquility, and love of peace. If that was a little too... weird or something, tell me in a review. By the way, does anyone know the proper plural of gladiolus? I tried 'gladioluses', but it was deemed incorrect...

The other thing is that I slightly altered the gestation period for Chi-chi. I can back this up though, by saying that Saiyans could be pregnant for longer than humans, and that this is reflected in a hybrid's birth. Are you guys alright with this, or a little upset? Comment and tell me.

Next chapter is a longer one, so be sure to stick around for it! We haven't solved all of our problems yet and, in the words of MK08, I'm about to throw another curve ball or two. I'll keep you waiting with that fact...

Until next time, Warriors!!!!