Damn internet is still down. It goes on and off, on and off. SO ANNOYING. So I post when I can and yeah. Don't expect regular updates until this somehow gets fixed. But on the bright side, yay a new chapter! Enjoy! Inspiration for the first part of this chapter was "Lonely Day" by System of a Down. GREAT song.
It's been two weeks, three days, five hours, and forty-five minutes since Gohan has passed. Two weeks, three days, five hours, and forty-five minutes that have felt like an eternity. Without thinking, I've been counting down every hour.
Every day.
Every week, until the kid can come back.
The first few days, I stayed near the Son home, keeping a watchful eye on his mother. I may not like her still, but we share a mutual loss, and it's what Gohan would have wanted me to do. She has spent the first few days locked in the house. In the morning she would wake and curse Goku, me, herself, and anything she could blame for her son's death. In the afternoon that changed to her calling upon God and asking why her little boy was taken away. At night she prayed, and then her sobs would echo throughout the woods behind her house.
It was a week ago that Gohan's grandfather finally arrived. Chi-Chi ran out of the house and was immediately engulfed in her father's embrace. They stood there for several minutes sobbing, never knowing I watched just out of sight. It eventually became too much and I had to walk away, the sound of their cries echoing in my ears.
Every night I return to the house and stand just out of sight as Chi-Chi and the Ox King come outside the house. And together, we look at the stars, waiting for our Gohan to come home.
Today is just like any other day. I sit under a tree and meditate, trying to keep my mind blank and open, but my mind always wanders back to the kid. I never appreciated having his mind joined with mine until it was gone. I don't like it gone. I feel incredibly empty. Images run through my head as I try to clear it, every single one of them about Gohan. It makes the already slow time seem to come to a halt.
Eventually I give up and perform the tri-form technique. I spar with myself until I am beaten and broken. I lay on the grass breathing heavily. It is finally night and I head towards the Son home. I arrive just as Chi-Chi steps out in a shawl. I stand behind my usual tree and wait for her father to step out. But he doesn't, and it is then that I realize I am a little early.
"I know you're there, Piccolo," Chi-Chi calls softly. "You can come out now." I step out from behind the tree, but do not advance towards her. "I may not be ki trained, but it doesn't take a warrior to realize there's a seven-foot green man in a white turban and cape standing in the yard."
I grunt at her use of sarcasm. I guess I wasn't as hidden as I thought. Grief has made me lazy in my training.
"I know you miss him too," she adds softly. "I know you love him every bit as much as Goku and I do, but you'll never admit it."
I look at her with a deadpan expression. Damn right I'll never admit it. The kid knows it, and that's all that matters to me. In fact, I'd rather no one else knows either. It's too personal, and it hurts too much right now to think about it.
With a flurry of noise, the Ox King exits the house. "Well that was great hon—" he stops dead when he sees me. His eyes flick from me to his daughter rapidly, trying to get a grasp of the situation: was I here as a friend or foe. I almost snort at the thought of friend.
Chi-Chi breaks the silence gracefully. "Dad, you remember Piccolo. Piccolo, this is my father, though I'm sure you already knew that."
"Hello, how are you?" he says, holding his hand out. I don't move, my arms firmly crossed over my chest. He drops his hand and clears his throat. "So, what brings you here, Piccolo? Business in these parts?"
Before I can even formulate an excuse, Chi-Chi breaks in. "Piccolo…was… Gohan's friend. He just came by to check in."
I snort at how soft she makes me seem. Check in. Right. I know she understands the real reason, somehow she must, but I don't want people thinking I've gone soft. Because I haven't.
A silent bidding seems to come over us and we all look up to the stars. Our nightly ritual has begun. As usual, the sky is empty of energy, though the stars shine brightly. I look for just a shimmer of gold, but there is none. No sign yet again of our Gohan. No sign that he has made it to King Kai's. No sign that he is safe and happy.
Gohan, I should have gone with you. I want to go with you.
"Mr. Piccolo?"
I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming again. That has to be it. I've heard his voice so many times during my meditations, I've become impervious to it. I try to clear my mind again.
"Mr. Piccolo, are you there? It's me, Gohan," the voice is persistent, anxious.
"Gohan?" I call experimentally, not truly expecting anything.
"Piccolo! I made it! King Kai is letting me talk to you through his back!" Gohan says excitedly. I can hear the smile in his voice.
"It brings a whole new meaning to back talk!" King Kai butts in, laughing hysterically. Kami, I do not miss that man.
Gohan laughs. Well at least King Kai found someone who finds his jokes funny. We sure as hell didn't. "Mr. Piccolo, it's so cool up here! There's a monkey and a talking cricket!"
"He didn't make you chase them, did he?" I ask sardonically.
"Well, he wanted to see how fast I was, so…"
"You should've seen it! He caught them both in less than a second!" King Kai butts in. "He didn't even have to transform!"
"Idiot, I caught your monkey walking."
"He didn't have to move! His hand just whipped out and BANG! Snatched Bubbles before he could even blink and Gregory blacked out before he even knew what hit him!"
I smirk. That's my Gohan, all right. "You really thought a monkey and a cricket was any match for a Super Saiyan?"
"Well of course not! But I had to at least see how fast he is so I can find an appropriate sparring partner."
"Yeah, there's no one up here!" Gohan says incredulously. "He says he might have to dig around in Hell for someone suitable!"
I cut to the chase. "Gohan, have you transformed there yet?"
"…not yet…" Gohan says.
"Jeez, Piccolo! He's only been here a week! And if he's anything as strong as he says he is, I have to bolt down my house first!" King Kai interjects.
"Wait, a week? Gohan, you made it there in a week?" I ask, dumbfounded. I ran that thing myself. It's not an easy stretch. It's long and almost unending. Even though the others had slowed me down, I wouldn't have made it in a week. I grunt begrudgingly. Damn kid has outclassed me in every way possible, now.
"Yeah. I would've gotten here sooner, but I got distracted. I found some clouds and made friends with them! And then there was this party the workers on Snake Way were having and I went there, and man did they have great cake!" Gohan explains happily.
"What have you been doing for the past week? Just sitting around? Gohan, that's not why you're—"
"That's enough, Piccolo," King Kai interrupts sternly. "Gohan, do me a favor and run into the house, would you? Make me a nice cup of tea?"
"Okay! I'll be right back, Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan says obliviously.
There is a pause for a few moments as King Kai waits for Gohan to be out of earshot. "He slept the whole week, Piccolo," he says quietly. "He got here, went to your tree, curled up, and fell asleep. He woke up only just an hour ago. I didn't even see him arrive."
"What? What happened?" I ask, trying not to sound urgent. That can't be good. The dead hardly need to sleep, let alone a whole week.
"I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn't budge. I thought maybe he was just tired from the run, but when he didn't wake up after a whole day, I had to call in some help."
"Well?" I ask impatiently. "Stop beating around the bush."
"Well, I contacted Kami and he said it's a rare—"
"Ki Poisoning," I interrupt. Again? He's dead. He was dead for a week before he felt it again. The dead shouldn't get sick…
"Well, yes. Oh, hold on second. Thank you, Gohan. Smells delicious. Would you pull the cookies out of the oven? Yes, there are cookies. No! Don't… just like his father. I don't think I'll get any of those…" he mutters, drifting off.
"Kai, get on with it," I growl.
"Yes, well, apparently in really powerful individuals, Ki Poisoning can follow them after death. See, when he powered up and killed himself, he poisoned himself again. However, he was fine for the first week because he was up and moving, still riding out the high from his overdose of power. But once he slowed down, and reached his destination, it finally hit him and he passed out."
"How long will this go on? Will he keep being poisoned when he powers up?"
"No. Kami says it should stop now, as long as I can train him to use his powers correctly. And I fully intend to do so, but I just don't know how…"
"Ginyu Force," I say simply. All of them at once should be good enough for a warm up to his Super Saiyan form.
"Hmm, I never thought of that one. That's a very good idea, Piccolo! Yes, they were quite good for the other three. He'll finish them off quickly, but it's a start. Oh, here he is. Did you eat all my cookies? WHAT? Just talk to Piccolo. Bubbles, go put some more in, please."
"Hi, Mr. Piccolo! Those cookies were really good!"
"You were sick again," I state bluntly.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry for something you can't control. But I want you to train hard so it doesn't happen when you come to Earth again. We can't lose you again, or we'll never get you back."
"I know. How's my mom? Have you seen her? Is she okay?"
"She's fine. I checked on her. Your grandfather is there with her," I say, omitting the fact that I'm there every night with them.
"Oh good. They're not too sad, are they?" he asks worriedly.
"They're grieving, but they'll be okay. They're handling it well."
"And everyone else?"
I grimace a little. The group had thrown an open wake in his remembrance that I didn't attend directly. Instead, Vegeta and I had sat with our backs to each other on the roof of Capsule Corp, refusing to communicate with anyone. How we had managed to not kill each other, I'll never know. I guess we both were subconsciously aware that then was not the time or place. Instead, we listened in silence as they threw flowers into a fire and said words of grief and hope that time would move quickly in our favor.
"They miss you," I say simply. "They've already begun locating the dragon balls. They're a lot harder to track because their magic is hardly showing up on the radar."
"Oh. Okay. I miss you, Mr. Piccolo. I know this is for the best but… I miss you and Mommy a lot. It's great up here, it really is. And I found your tree! I know it's the only tree here, but still, I mean, your energy is all around it. You're still a part of it, and I can feel it. It's my favorite place to be. I'm going to meditate under it just like you did!"
I smile slightly. He's so innocent still, even after everything. Good. "We miss you here too, kid. Although it is nice to not have your annoying little voice in my head all the time," I joke lightly. It's a complete and utter lie, but I have to make the kid believe I'm not as upset as I really am.
"Hey! That's not very nice, Piccolo!" Gohan says, laughter lacing his voice. "King Kai said that there might be a way for us to reconnect our bond up here! He said that when I was on Namek, you were able to tell when I was in trouble while you were up here. He says that we can somehow make it work freely as it did on Earth, but it'll take some time. Can we try? Please, please, please? I promise I won't be annoying. I miss you a lot! Can we please try this?"
"Settle down, brat. Yes, we can try. Talk it over with King Kai and try to figure it out. Talk to Kami or something. I'll be right here. Besides, I'd rather be able to just talk to you without the old bug man listening in."
"I heard that, Piccolo!" King Kai retorts.
"Just train, kid. And don't forget, I'm always right here when you need me."
And with that, our conversation disconnects.