Summary: In a medieval-like fantasy world, Son Gohan meets a young woman, Videl, who comes to West City in search of medicinal herbs to develop a cure for a mysterious illness which is killing people in Orange Star, her home. Will she achieve her goal before it's too late? Who will help (or delay) her? Gohan/Videl
Disclaimer: Do I own DBZ? HA! I wish… (sigh) A story partly-inspired by Game of Thrones, which I do not own either.
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Previously…
"Your highness," Oolong spoke with a husky voice and stern eyes. "I just want to make sure you will actually bail me out."
King Hercule smirked at him, but he understood that he would have to make some sort of concession in order to make the pig speak.
"Granted, as long as you don't dare to show your face in Capital City." The king spoke calmly for the first time in that conversation. "Do we have a deal?"
"Deal." Oolong replied with a naughty smile.
"I really hope your second issue is as interesting as the first one." The king actually knew it would be, that was why he sounded so confident.
"Oh, you know me, don't you, your highness?" Oolong said knowing he was a master at the game. He loved reading and telling stories. And fucking women.
"What is it about then?" The king asked with genuine curiosity.
"About the sexy spy who loved you." Oolong said lengthening the last 'u' sound as if he relished in the agony of the air as it was used to say such blasphemous words.
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Chapter 11: Everyone has got a price
"About her?" King Hercule whispered frowning at Oolong, but curious to know nonetheless. "What do you know about her?"
King Hercule's eyes were darkly fixed upon the pig's, trying to decipher their dearest secrets, but the pig's mind was far deeper and intricate than his. Oolong was a chess-minded kind of man as regards scheming, and a puppet master when it came to women, while the king had always established his own worth in terms of bravery and war. They were radically different. The only common ground that they might have ever shared was their passion for threesomes probably.
"I know enough, your highness." Oolong went on a lot more seriously than before. "You have to be extremely careful with Android 18. She's beyond dangerous. Proof of it is what she's orchestrated for tonight. That must've taken years of deep thinking, naught and vengeful forethought."
"I can see that." The king replied dryly.
"Anyway," Oolong went on like the master story-teller that he was. "what I must reveal to you about her is that everyone has got a price. I know the experience from first hand: you can buy absolutely anyone in the kingdom. And she's no exception."
"Are you suggesting" The king asked him mocking him. "that I should offer her money, properties or titles? For what reason?! She's already harmed me and my honour! I shouldn't give her a prize for it, for the Gods' sake!"
"True." Oolong went on with a naughty smile on his face. "Usually one uses power and money to assure one's own stability by silencing that sort of threats before they take place, but now that you've been hurt and that everybody knows about it, it seems obviously futile – but let me assure you, your highness, that I have a very good reason to suggest you that you repay her dearly. And I'm not speaking of vengeance."
"And why is that? Why should I reward such a treacherous bitch instead of punishing her?" The king didn't really get it. He wasn't a smart kind of man, and he was bothered by that mere idea in front of such a small man.
"Because, your highness," Oolong went on calmly but with severity. "Videl's claim on the throne might not be strong enough. Your brothers will not like this idea of yours of welcoming a bastard girl whom you've never met as your legitimate heir. They will riot and turn against you… or her, the very second you die."
"You're right." The king admitted frowning. He knew his brothers, Pilaf and Tao Pai Pai, were ambitious bastards. "Continue. I assume you have further suggestions."
"Exactly. It doesn't matter to whom you marry her – she'll still be a bastard daughter to you, which means that you have to make her a legitimate daughter before you make her marry." Oolong pointed out feeling amused.
"But you forget that I already have made her my legitimate daughter." The king insisted. "A few minutes ago. You were present."
"Those words you've uttered won't mean a thing to your brothers, your highness. They will rebel all the same. You need something more… radical, let's say." Oolong said with a naughty smile of his face. "Something which they can't doubt about and which you can make them witness themselves, with their very own eyes."
"What are you suggesting? And what has this got to do with Android 18?" The king raised an eyebrow at him. That pig was genuinely interesting: he knew how to spark anyone's interest by playing his movements ahead of everybody.
"What I'm saying is that you should find your beloved, whorish spy and propose to her instead of punishing her." Oolong said with joy.
The king broke into a fit of laughter. He couldn't help it. The pig was trying to be too funny.
"Me?! Marry the bitch?!" The king exclaimed, laughing at him.
"Sign a document of ennoblement for her," Oolong insisted. "marry her in a bountiful celebration – don't forget to invite your brothers, of course – and that will automatically make Videl your lawful heir and, therefore, a legitimate queen in the future. Next, you will be free to marry her to a young noble lad of your choice, of course, who will become our future king without any fear that he'll be attacked or defied by any of your relatives, your highness. The stability of the kingdom is at stake. Otherwise, it means war. Use Android 18 to your advantage before it might be too late."
"True, quite true…" The king seemed to seriously ponder on the pig's words. They made perfect sense.
"Should you dislike your then current spouse for any reason, or if she chooses to keep on acting naughtily as she has up until now, you can always get rid of her. You know what I mean… Once you've got what you wanted, your highness, of course. Android 18 is quite clever, and she might see through you that you're using her as a tool again, but she might be tempted to lead a life of luxury as a queen of this country, which is what she had always wanted, remember? Temp her into believing that she's not only won the battle, but also your heart. That should satisfy her greatly. Lie to her, and lie well. She doesn't buy it? Well, bribe her if it is necessary. Everyone has a price, your highness. Everyone. And, as I've just said, should you abhor her later, you can always dispose of her. You can either murder her or pay her a large sum of money to disappear. Either option will suit you perfectly, your highness. What do you think of this plan, King Hercule? Is it worth saving my ass?"
The king seemed to be convinced by the way he thought about it, and then he nodded as if he approved of it. Lord Son Goku, who had been present from the very start, had kept a low profile the whole time. He didn't like that mafia-like scenario one bit. King Hercule then hummed a bit and stared at the pig's eyes, as if he was enjoying the silence before delivering the sentence that would set the pig free. Oolong smiled because he knew he had nailed it, and he really had. Not long after that, the king actually set him free. He gave him a document which granted his freedom and then Oolong said he had decided to flee to Orange Star, where he could die happy amongst whores and wine. And the king didn't complain about his choice, and therefore he let him go once and for all.
But there was still work to do: Gohan was still present there, in the king's chambers, and the king was obviously far from pleased with him. Although he hadn't actually done anything to Videl (apart from kissing her and proposing to her), King Hercule was still furious.
"Son Gohan," The king said with a high degree of formality and seriousness, standing high and mighty in front of Gohan's kneeling frame. "I have decided your fate. You're obviously not getting knighted today… or ever. You will go to the Demon Realm Doors immediately, as it was originally planned for you. You shall never mention my daughter's name in your entire lifetime. I don't want people to think that you have had any interaction with her. Guards," He called their attention. "you may set him free from these ropes. And you, Son Gohan," He stared straight at him again as he spoke. "this is the price you get for your deeds. And if you try to sneak out and flee to Orange Star to chase her, I'm gonna make sure you regret it. If the guards see you outside the city walls on your own, you'll be shot and killed on the spot. Is that clear?! You've been warned. Your final destination is the Demon Realm Doors and Lord Son Goku will see to it himself. He will accompany you there later today. Pack your things. Now."
Gohan was set free and the guards let him go out of the king's chambers unharmed and unfollowed (they just went past him and made the other guards know about the king's orders to shoot the bastard if he tried to sneak out of West City). There was no need to follow him or spy on him. He was a worthless little bit of shit staining the flawless profile of a noble family of this country, again.
'Back into the good old mess.' Gohan thought with unbearable sadness.
He was obviously in pain, but he knew it would end up like that. It was either that or getting beheaded. Standing alone in the corridor, he softly caressed the marks that the ropes had left on the skin of his wrists as he thought about it all. In fact, he had envisioned the king beheading him at dawn simply for proposing to Videl. Gohan sighed as if he longed to be dead already, just to stop feeling all that shit.
Somehow and for some strange reason, Oolong had omitted the part in which Gohan had tried to reap her innocence – and the king would've certainly killed him for that. It was obvious that Oolong had witnessed the whole thing. That little pig was a smart guy, and Gohan wondered whether silencing that bit of information might be handy in the future from Oolong's perspective. It was obvious that it was far from over. Gohan felt as if he owed Oolong, or as if Oolong owned him, as if he had successfully and silently put a price tag on Gohan's head. Would Oolong come to him asking for something in return in the future (even though neither of them was meant to come back in their whole lifetime)?
Gohan went back to his chamber to pack his things, as the king had commanded, dragging his feet as if he was a dark, sad shadow of the young man he used to be.
As he closed the door behind him, he began to wonder how come fate chose to be so evil towards him. He couldn't take it anymore and released a frustrated whining sound from his mouth. His chest was heaving due to the tension, he was gritting his teeth, and finally his fists found a way to release all the accumulating frustration by clenching his fists and punching a thick wooden column which was standing on the wall by his bed. The huge, round hole he left there would be a reminder how much anger he had been forced to hold captive in his chest, but he didn't care. He had to leave to the Demon Realm Doors, he would never sleep there anymore, so it didn't matter.
In the end, instead of packing his things, he sat on his bed and buried his face in his two hands. He tried to breathe evenly, slowly, successfully getting his beloved self-control back a few minutes later. Once he had chilled out a bit, he could only think of Videl and how much he was missing her already.
He just sighed a deep sigh and started packing his stuff.
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A bit later, in the king's chambers…
Hours had gone by and no messages had arrived. No doves had come back with an answer. It was still night-time. King Hercule began to worry truly. Were all the noblemen in castles scattered across the country still sleeping? In addition, Trunks' nervousness increased as the minutes flew by and Lord Son Goku couldn't help but noticing his son's unsettling facial expression. The three men shared a silent growing and hungry impatience. Over the last few days, Lord Son Goku had noticed that Trunks liked Videl very much, especially after saving his life during the Red Ribbon soldiers' attack that awful, rainy day.
In the meantime, Lord Son Goku wanted to try to make the king reconsider about Gohan's fate.
"I won't reconsider, Son Goku!" The king yelled with ire eventually, punching a large wooden table. "He's bastard! Are you suggesting that I should allow him to marry my daughter nonetheless?! Are you insane?!"
"No, of course not. But he's innocent, your highness. He didn't know Videl was a princess." Lord Son Goku tried to calm the king down with a soft tone of voice. "That's what I'm trying to say."
"I don't care! I've had enough of people trying to ruin my reputation!" The king was so fucking angry… "I shan't tolerate this anymore. And by the way, Son Goku, I'm surprised that you didn't send the lad off to the Demon Realm Doors before. He's of age and he's still roaming free around here. You should've sealed his fate long ago! What were you thinking? Trying to find a cushy option for him to spare him from his obvious fate?!"
Lord Son Goku didn't dare to reply bearing in mind that the king had had to endure a rough night full of unexpected news. He knew that the king was a fearful thing to behold when problems kept piling up instead of being solved immediately. Complaining any further about Gohan's fate would only anger him more, and he didn't want that. It had never proved beneficial to anyone in the past.
But suddenly, King Hercule stared at the young man in their company, Trunks, as he himself was staring out the window, at the night's sky, checking for any coming doves with messages with a look of worry on his young features.
"No doves are coming back. Our men aren't either." King Hercule said with worry and dread. "I don't like this one bit. It'll be dawn in a couple of hours maybe… And no one has found her yet… Trunks should set sail to Orange Star immediately, if she's managed to find a ship that is, and find Videl." At that, Trunks snapped out. That came as a surprise. "She might've been successful at convincing some sailors to take her there. You said she's quite resourceful."
"It's the most probable outcome." Lord Son Goku concluded sadly.
"Trunks should convince her that she'll not be murdered, return with her to Capital City, and marry her as soon as possible." The king said with determination. "I'll pack my things and come back to the capital soon, too. I need to plan two weddings and make all the arrangements."
'Videl shall be mine?!' Trunks thought with unrivalled eagerness. 'The most adorable creature in this world will be mine by right?! Dear Gods! She saved me and now I have a chance to save her!' His pupils trembled in anticipation, almost wondering whether that conversation was merely a dream. He stared at his father as if he was begging him to accept the king's proposal at once.
"I'm flattered that you consider my son Trunks as Princess Videl's groom and future king, your highness." Lord Son Goku formally replied. "Are you absolutely sure about it?"
"I'm serious, Son Goku." The king went on with pride. "Since my heir is female, I need a future king for her. And young Trunks here seems more than just a valid option to me. He'll make a great king. I'll be honoured to have such a loyal, worthy son-in-law."
"Thank you, your highness. You do our family a great honour." Lord Son Goku said seriously and formally.
"May I speak, your highness?" Trunks suddenly asked with bright eyes.
"You may, young man." The king gave him permission.
"I'd like to express my gratitude myself." Trunks went on with badly contained joy. Both King Hercule and Lord Son Goku smiled at him. "But I'd hate to lose any other second here when I should be packing my things and go find her. Therefore, I thank you a lot, but I express it briefly due to the current state of affairs. Shall I be excused then?"
"Go… Just go, young man!" The king roared, smiling with pride at him. "Find her and take her back to the capital. I'll send a dove with a letter to tell my guards and servants there that they shall expect your arrival soon!"
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Trunks left the king's chambers at once, rushing through the corridors as if he was a careless child. He slammed the door of his chamber open and started packing a few things in a rush, but with such a degree of happiness he had never experienced before.
Princess Videl was to be his, and only his. As he had secretly hoped, Gohan would never marry her. Her wonderful face was what he would see every day when he would wake up every morning and the last thing he would see when he would go to bed every night. They would get married, and she would deliver his offspring to the world, which meant they would have to lie in bed together.
Trunks suddenly found himself frozen, standing before the feet of his bed and staring at the wall in front of him, as he pictured how she would taste like: her rosy lips, her delicate neck, her ample breasts, her nice waist and flat stomach, her…
Was it really sinful to think of his future wife in those terms before wedlock? He chuckled at the thought, and then he chanced to stare back at the empty bed before him. The empty bed.
At the beginning, he could only see his luggage half-way done on it; but in the end he started to mentally draw her naked outline on it: her long, dark hair undulating down her exposed shoulders, her slender legs coyly spread on the mattress as if he owned her already. Then, he leaned down on the feet of his bed and sank both his fists on either side, staring ahead of him like a predatory, hungry wolf. Next, instead of his pillow, he could only see her face, her eyes glowing with the anticipation of soon experimenting something that only a man could provide her… that he would provide her. He blushed revealingly at the flat mattress before him and couldn't help getting a hard-on.
And she wasn't even there.
How powerfully could she cast a spell on him?
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"In the meantime, we shall look for Android 18 and make a deal with her to do as Oolong has planned for us." King Hercule went on as he talked to Lord Son Goku alone in his chambers. He had finished writing a letter for his palace servants in the capital and had already sent the dove flying away. "I'll convince her, I swear. I remember her well, and I know what she likes most. She's got a very fine taste, I must admit. But she likes expensive, very expensive stuff. She'll be easily bribed. She would've made a fine wife if I had married her instead of Miguel, that whore."
"Miguel's been a fool." Lord Son Goku said darkly.
"The bitch never let me touch her." The king added in the same dark tone of voice. "Her fine legs, her delicate and soft skin, her lush breasts… Good Gods, she was so fucking hot and yet she had the worst personality in the kingdom! She raged over absolutely anything. Even when I softly caressed her locks… She was so displeased with me touching her, even though I adored her like a goddess. But she had always hated me, you know. You might think that the only few times I could fuck her she was trying to use it as an excuse because she was already with child. Her brother's child." He was not exactly angry, but his eyes seemed lost in the remembrance of something he disliked too much.
"That might be true." Lord Son Goku replied mechanically, not thrilled to know any intimate details about their relationship.
"The look of disgust on her face when I came in her was priceless, though." He laughed at her expense darkly. He looked like a sad clown getting his revenge after too long, his laugh on the edge of a hysterical whimper which made Lord Son Goku uneasy. "I wonder what face she will make to me when I behead her!"
"She won't look pleased either, I suppose." Lord Son Goku was clueless about what to say and which tone to use.
"Anyway," The king sighed in the end, but he went on speaking as darkly as before. "I have some beheadings to carry out at dawn, and later two weddings to plan. Right after the executions, tell Lady Chi-Chi I'll need to leave for the capital soon." Then he went on more joyfully. "Tell her about the two future weddings. She'll be elated! I want to impress my brothers. These two weddings must be the best they've ever attended to!" He exclaimed eventually, feeling a bit happier about the future.
"Very well, your highness."
"But don't tell your wife about our plan to murder or bribe my future wife." The king went on rather joyfully, as if he could joke over such dark matters. "You should omit that part. It would only upset her. Women can't handle this stuff. But you can keep a good secret, can't you, Son Goku?"
After that, King Hercule laughed wholeheartedly and patted his dear old friend's back. He was referring to his affairs with whores, but Lord Son Goku was thinking of something else. He tried to smile but those last sentences had blown up his heart and had torn it into a thousand little pieces: he disliked both the king's backward perspective on women and his forced secrecy on him… because Lord Son Goku didn't like secrets at all.
Such hard-core, despicable, high-priced, life-threatening secrets Lord Son Goku seemed to know too well. He clenched his fists and his teeth in an attempt to conceal his inner fight. Luckily, King Hercule didn't notice.
"Come, let's go." The king commanded seriously. "It'll be time soon. And later, make sure whether Son Gohan is ready to depart. I want him gone for good."
And then, as if Providence had willed it so, Lord Son Goku had a brilliant idea which made him smile warmly, like he had done so many times before. The spark of life came back to him, and he found the courage to speak boldly to his king like this:
"Your highness, I've just had a great idea!" He said with confidence and warmth. "I think I've got the perfect plan to make Videl come back."
"Dear Gods! Has Oolong's spunk gotten into you, Son Goku? What is it, pray?" King Hercule replied suddenly amazed and amused.
"Gohan should actually go to Orange Star to look for her alongside Trunks. She'll trust him more than anyone else because he's always protected her. In addition, he's got nothing to gain or lose. There could be no harm in it, because his fate is already sealed, isn't it?"
"Of course. I'm not changing my opinion." The king replied with no hesitation at all. "But, Son Goku, you're a pain in the ass sometimes. You don't know how bothersome you actually get when you insist on something!"
"I'm sure he'd accept it just to appease you, to make amends, let's say." Lord Son Goku insisted with care. "Give the lad a chance to serve you well, even to impress you. He'd do anything."
"'Everybody has got a price', huh?" The king reminded Lord Son Goku of Oolong's words with a naughty smile on his face. "Maybe Son Gohan's price is simply doing me a favour to calm my ire, right?"
"Let him go. He'll do a great job. Do it for me, Hercule. Please." Lord Son Goku knew he was pushing it, but he was more than willing to risk his friendship with the king over Gohan's welfare. He even called the king by his name just to appeal to his kindness, to do it for him and their sacred long-lasting friendship.
"Fair enough! OK… I consent!" King Hercule eventually gave in. "But under no circumstances must he ever know that Trunks is getting married to her. I don't want his jealousy playing a part in her rescue."
"Thank you very much, your highness." Lord Son Goku immediately replied gratefully, and then he bowed.
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In the meantime, far, far away from West City, word had reached old Lord Bardock that his children's fate had been roughly sealed by King Hercule. The reason was that his daughter Miguel had been unfaithful to the king with her own brother Raditz. Yamcha, the prince and his grandson, was therefore an inbred bastard. They would be beheaded soon, all of them, and there was nothing that their dear old father could do to save them. On top of that, his youngest son, Oolong, had made a deal with the king and he had fled to Orange Star, neglecting his duties towards the family and abandoning his siblings and his nephew to die. He was a little pig-faced traitor.
Lord Bardock tore the letter he had just received with the dreadful news and clenched his teeth. Then, as he stared out of the window of his private chambers in his castle, far away from West City, he swore he'd seek revenge on the blood of King Hercule Satan at all costs. His greying hair and his wrinkled frown told a tale of how little time he might still have left to carry out such a plan, but he didn't care.
Money could work just as well as time, and money, he had plenty.
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Once Gohan had finished packing the few things he needed, he went out of his room to tell Lord Son Goku that he was ready, and he soon realised that almost everyone had gone to witness the execution of the traitors but for some guards up the city walls, who every now and then were eyeing suspiciously at him, lest Gohan decided to take a chance and flee. The executions would soon take place, but he was in no mood to witness them.
He began to pace aimlessly around the courtyard, but he got bored. He had seen some executions in the past, his father wielding the sword, and he loathed every single second of those experiences. That was why he went strolling to the Bamboo Forest, where the sacred red-leaved tree stood. That tree had brought peace to his mind in the past, and he thought it might do him good to try it once more.
'The last time I was here…' Gohan thought with sadness as he softly brushed the surface of the tree's bark with his dark-gloved hand. The sad carved face of the sacred tree felt like a bad omen to him, but ironically the tree might've thought the same of Gohan's face, so sad and cold once more. '… I remember feeling grateful for having met Videl. My prospects were radically different. I would've been knighted. I would've married her. And now what? Could things actually worsen? What will become of me?'
Rhetorical as the questions were, he felt as though he needed an answer in the same way that he needed air to breathe – and that was when a vague sense of weirdness began to settle in his head. Physically, he felt a burning sensation on the palm of the hand which was gently touching the bark of the tree, and he felt it spread to the rest of his body until his eyes went suddenly dark, and his mind went blank. He couldn't help freezing on the spot, and he had no choice but to let that strange something take over him. And suddenly he seemed mentally to be there no longer.
"Gohan…" Videl's voice called out to him in a soft whisper, but she seemed worried. At the beginning, there was only darkness, but a dim light slowly crept into the scene until Gohan could spot Videl's gentle features, outlined by the orangey light of some distant candles. Her face was quite close to his when she added whispering: "Gohan, you did it."
"Do what?" He softly whispered back quite innocently as he stared at her lips.
He realised he was sitting on some sort of cold, big chair, and that she was sitting on his lap. She was dressed in a light pink summer dress with short sleeves, and she looked stunning in it. The weak light of the candles was cast on the scene, a large room with huge cream-coloured marble pillars. The floor was also made of cream-coloured marble, and in very good condition. The place was too quiet for some strange reason, and for a second he noticed he didn't know where he was exactly. That wasn't West City. In fact, it felt radically different from West City: it was a much larger, more opulent place, and the temperatures were milder, gentler, not so wintry-like.
But then Videl leaned on his face and gently kissed his lips. He couldn't care less about the place they were anymore. That was when he set the wolf in him free and took hold of her body with one hand and her nape with the other, deepening the kiss. It felt like the time Pan had been spying on them in the study room, pride-spurring and easy, escalating from soft and nice to hard and demanding. And the more she led him on, the rougher he was. She just held onto his broad shoulders and well-built chest, chiselled thanks to his training in sword fighting and sparring through his teen years. The more she nibbled his lower lip, the more he was losing his mind.
The scene was getting heated up bit by bit, until Videl broke the kiss to chain her open legs to either side of his hips. They were not naked yet, but she softly began that good old rocking motion that ruled the biological world. At that moment, Gohan would've died the happiest man that ever lived – until she decided to bring the next level on. With an unrivalled swiftness, somehow she got rid of her dress. The sleeves shamelessly fell down from her shoulders and gently slid down her arms, making the rest of the clothing fall apart – like Gohan's self-control. Her exposed breasts were right in front of his face. She sighed her worries away then and, when the air expelled from her lungs reached his skin, he felt suddenly released from any moral chains that could've held him down. In the blink of an eye, he lunged onto her breasts and held her tightly to him with one arm. She moaned softly as a reply. In the meantime, his free arm was busy unfastening his trousers. He knew, somehow, that she was wet and ready for him. She smiled and gently hugged his head and began to play with his unruly spiky hair.
"I'm not sorry, Videl." Gohan whispered at her breasts. He meant to say the opposite, but he changed his mind as he had begun to speak.
"What for?" She whispered back.
"For this."
And he ruthlessly pushed his manhood into her. She cried one lonely cry, but she got still right afterwards. She briefly trembled and let her head fall down on his hair as a thin trail of blood emerged from her and fell down on the chair in tiny little drops…
…Like the trail of blood that was slowly creeping into the dim daylight on the marble floor towards them.
Blood.
Gohan saw it.
A slowly-advancing pool of blood.
On the cream-coloured marble floor.
First it was just a small trail. Gohan somehow noticed there must have been something far behind Videl, a bleeding something a few feet away from them on the floor, veiled by the darkness, and he decided to look straight at it, at the slowly-flowing blood, ignoring Videl's breasts for some precious seconds.
In the meantime, Videl had recovered and began to rock her hips on his again. Sex felt like heaven to him, but he still felt the dread of something unknown. Between her gasps and moans, Gohan saw how the small trail of blood slowly advanced towards them more and more, growing thicker and thicker, staining the lovely cream-coloured marble floor more and more. And the more he enjoyed fucking her, the more horrible the bloodstain on the floor became.
And then he saw it.
In the shadows lay a dead body, with Gohan's sword vertically sinking on the corpse's flesh, right onto a dead, middle-aged man's chest. The smell of his flowing, thick blood was suddenly sickening, but Videl didn't seem to care: she was enjoying sex with wild abandonment.
"Gohan, you did it…" Videl repeated her previous words, whispering freely between moans. "And you'll soon be free forever."
Out of nowhere, she took one of her good old daggers (he didn't know where she had taken it from), put it in his right hand, clasping her two hands around his, and next she aimed the tip at her delicate, porcelain-like neck, still holding his hand and the dagger – and then, when a drop of her own blood ran down the blade, she whispered:
"But you have to kill me."
Gohan gasped of horror. That drop of her blood reached down to stain his thumb and then…
He snapped out of it.
Gohan was still frozen, standing with one of his hands on the bark of the sad-faced sacred tree in the Bamboo Forest in West City. Some seconds flew by, but he couldn't understand one bit of what had actually happened to him.
'What the fuck was that?' He thought as he took a few steps backwards and grew paler and paler. 'Was it a dream? But I wasn't even sleeping! It can't be! Was it… Was it a vision? Of my future?'
Suddenly afraid of the red-leaved sacred tree, he stared at his already shivering hand and walked away in a rush, not daring to look or come back ever again.
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Not long after the decapitation of the traitors, Lord and Lady Chi-Chi entered the king's chambers and helped the king pack his things to come back to Capital City right after devising a plan to find the Android 18 to deliver her a powerful, heartfelt message and a huge bag of coins in gold as proof of the king's good faith to restore her love for him. A group of his personal guards would take care of managing to get to her and deliver the letter and the gold.
In the meantime, Gohan had been told about the change of plans, that he'd have a chance to appease the king's anger by helping bring Videl to Capital City, but he didn't let hope settle in his heart for long. Yes, he would see her again, and yes, he'd be able to prove to the king that he was worth something, but his final destination would be the Demon Realm Doors nonetheless, as it had been originally planned for him. He made no mistake in believing he would eventually get a reprieve. That trip to Orange Star was an exception, maybe a test of some sort, but most probably he was convinced that it was the price he had to pay to be somehow pardoned by the king. Maybe he'd reconsider his harsh decision on his fate later on. Maybe.
Later on, Gohan eyed suspiciously at Trunks as they rode on horseback through the country, but none said a single word. He noticed something was the matter with him. Both Trunks and Gohan had already set out to the nearest harbour to board on a ship which would take them to Orange Star. If they were lucky, they'd find Videl before she could have managed to sail away. If they weren't, they would have to cross the sea. In that case, they hoped the tide would carry them fast enough to land on its shores by the afternoon.
Gohan was obviously worried for Videl, but all the time he rode on and on through the countryside he could only feel the cold breath of a ghost creeping into his soul. That vision, or whatever that had been, had caused a long-lasting dreadful effect on him. If what he had seen were to become true someday…
Maybe spending the rest of his days defending the Demon Realm Doors amongst other godforsaken men wouldn't be that bad…
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Dear readers,
This is it! I'm done with this chapter… ;)
So, a lot of stuff happened. And now what? Will Videl end up with Trunks? Will she eventually manage to escape to Orage Star and stay there? Will she like the fate of becoming King Hercule's heir to the throne when she knows? Will Gohan be eventually reprieved? Will that horrid vision ever take place? And will King Hercule marry Android 18 for real? Will she accept being a bribed bride? Who knows?!
Well, at least I do. ;)
Read on, fellas!
Love,
Denim Jean
PS: Until now I've been able to keep a strict publishing schedule of one chapter a week, but I'm not sure I can do this much longer. It's burning me. But I'm happy 'cos I had never been able to be so stable and regular at it. :) I'll keep you posted on my progress, probably on the profile page. I've got the next chapters already sketched, let's say, but I need to take some time to breathe.
But now I want to share with you my version of Taylor Swift's Blank Space:
" 'Cause we're young and we're readers
I'll push the story too far
I'll leave you breathless
Or hooked on Gohan's fate
Got a long list of ex-readers
They'll tell you I'm insane
But I've got a blank box, baby
And you'll write a review!"
(Doesn't rhyme, but hell I don't fucking care! :P It was fun to write!)