Author's Note: It's over! It's finally over, over, over! Oh! I am so happy yet, so sad at the same time. Sigh... Well, here you go! Enjoy and remember to review please!
Disclaimer: Even at the end of my story, I've yet to receive the copyrights. But, I'm more than thankful that I was able to play with the toys Akira Toriyama let me play with, just for a year. Thank you.
Chapter Twenty: Death
When one experiences death, they are either struck with a great deal of pain or nothing at all. Their whole life gone in an instant and there is no way to bring them back, no matter how many tears you shed nor how many pleas you give to your God and that by some miracle they will come back, even for just a moment to tell you that they love you or just some closure on why they never loved you the way you needed it. But, when you're there and you experience death and watch as it takes someone, you can't help but to think that you're playing God and nothing can hurt you like what happened to that person lying before you, hanging on their last breath. They begin to softly moan, gasping for air as they feel their lungs collapsing and as they reach up with their hand, they're not trying to stretch for their lost loved ones in the Great Beyond but, they're pushing Death away and they're trying to scream out for you, not tell you they love you.
"Why aren't you helping me?" They beg you as you rush to their side and stroke their coarse and unkempt hair.
"It's okay, I'm right here."
You watch as they struggle, as they claw at themselves to give their heart to Death and try to stay living with you, the one they love. They watched you struggle and you've watched them struggle ever since you had known them and at some point, you take into consideration that no, this is the time they need to go, that they need that everlasting peace and content. Not one point in their life did they ever have it and though they beg you in their hushed tones and their silent cries in their eyes, you turn away and feel the hot liquid seep down your cheeks, realizing you're not strong enough to save them and that they need peace more than they need you. You cannot be their rock anymore. You cannot hold them up anymore. You cannot supply their venom that had eaten up their body for so many years and now, you realize it while they lie there, helpless and only you can save them.
What if you jumped in front of them to save them? Would you? Would you place yourself in front of Death and say, 'come and get me' and as your fear began to fall away, you find your true colours and the reason why you stood in front of the person you loved to save them. You don't care if they live helpless forever, you only want them for yourself and you would rather die than see them be taken away from you. How selfish can you be? How ungrateful you are for all the living things around you that you want this dying thing to be yours and only yours.
But, that wasn't the case today and that wasn't the case the day before or the day before that. It wasn't the case ten years ago and it hadn't been the case for fifty-seven. I had already been brought back to life once, I didn't need to see the sun again even though it felt good against the cold skin I had and the mechanics working inside of me to keep me alive.
It hadn't been more than a few seconds and I was already feeling myself slipping and I didn't know what to do other than be grateful I was in the arms of someone I loved. And the person that held me back? It was undoubtedly my own son and I was sure he would never find out what I was to him or what he was to me. The most important person in my life and here I was, dying in his arms as he shook me, as he begged God to keep me alive, as he promised Death himself instead of me and as he tried to put himself all around me, to hold me away from Death's grip who was at his shoulder, breathing on his neck.
I wasn't reaching out for that special someone in my life anymore, I wasn't begging Bardock anymore to come and save me, I wasn't trying to escape from Death and for once, I felt good and I felt like I was at peace, content. Keep your arms around me son, I'm right here, I'm still hanging on. I can feel something hitting my face, it's a liquid, it's hot. It's tears. He's screaming, he's crying out for me and yet, I can't hear him. I can only feel his arms hold onto me and his forehead against my limp shoulder. I'm being cradled in his arms, he's holding me like I'm his long lost love and I'm dying right here and right now before he ever got to tell me how much he loved me and how he was sorry it wasn't him instead of me that was losing their battle with death.
It's okay, son. I'm right here, I'm still hanging on.
I'm hanging on only for you, only for you to smile at me when I open my eyes again. Whether that is in the Other World or that is here and by some miracle, Death and God made a deal so that I can look up into your eyes. Those soft and damaged blue eyes that have been through Hell and back. I know, son. I know how you're feeling. Cry into me, I'm here, I'll catch all of your tears. Please don't let me go, hang onto me.
I've come to a conclusion about my life that maybe I wasn't supposed to live, that maybe I was supposed to just be there and that I was merely supposed to birth this young man holding me. I can feel myself slipping further, I don't have much time left to life and I think he knows. He knows I'm not supposed to survive but, he's doing all he can to keep me here just a little bit longer. I realize that all I did under Lord Frieza was a mistake but, it was my mistake I let get out of control. To the children screams that were the only thing keeping you going on a two month purge of a solar system to a few drinks in a lowly bar where the participants weren't the kindest of their species. I have made so many mistakes but, I can't help but to look back and just smile, just smile at the laughter shared between comrades, between friends and all the fights between rivals and the friends you once knew as you watched them succeed into what they were destined to become and where was I? Still hanging on to the little scrap of hope that maybe I would come out of this alive and not end up like the ones that were killed then had their bodies incinerated and then sent out of the vacuum into space where it mixed with the space dust and created some of the most beautiful nebula I had ever seen in my life time.
I watched many friends walk into a bar, walk out and then never return. I remember holding my drink in my hand, my arm leaning against the heavy wood of the bar and watching the entrance through the darkness to see the familiar hair or see the familiar pair of eyes look back at you and smile. Eyes smiled back then, before it was time to die. They seemed so happy, like nothing could take down their high and yet, they'd never return to me. I'd still be sitting there, drink in my hand and my eyes focusing in the darkness to try and find that one someone, to find their smiling eyes like the previous day when they had come in only to find them missing. But, if they never showed, you knew where they were.
They went to Hell and I know Hell. I know the heat and the sweat and the judgment passed onto you like a child who broke a vase and couldn't pin it on someone else because there was no one else. Just you, just you standing there with your eyes cast to the ground, tears filling the brim and your fists clenched and your jaw tightened. You aren't afraid of the judgment but, of the way they'll look at you again once they read over all the things that you'd done.
"How could you do that?" They would ask and all you could do was look away, not look into the horrified faces and see them judge you and that was all they did: judge. How could you live your life under an alien who killed for fun, for delight? How could you regain any sense of humility when all you were was humiliated? How could you grow into a respectful person when all there was around you was constant chaos? Was there no peace? Was there only violence and bloodshed to get by on so that you didn't end up like the one under your hand, crying and begging you to stop? There was no damnation when Lord Frieza came into play. He was automatically the trump card that sent you to Hell, even if you didn't do anything or if you couldn't kill anything but, were the whores that lay huddled with each other that cried at night in the damp and dark cell they were sent back to.
Why am I being shaken? What is going on? Why am I hearing soft rumbles, soft vibrations in my ears as if I'm coming alive again?
I'm coming alive. I'm coming alive...
"I'm coming alive..." My lips moved, I could feel them move. My teeth biting onto my bottom lip to make sure that yes, I'm alive, I'm here. I'm coming back, son and I promise, I'll never leave you again.
"Ali..." It was so soft but, I heard my name and I heard it from him.
'Trunks...' I mouth, and I feel that tug of muscles I hadn't felt in a long time. I'm smiling. Not in a sarcastic or an apologetic kind of way, not in the way that I knew I was going to kill this person and that one moment of fear sends a shiver down your spine but, this was happiness and I knew it.
This is what pure peace and pure happiness felt like. I wasn't leaving anyone behind, certainly not my son.
Is my hand rising? Am I doing that? Open your eyes, Ali, open your eyes and look at your son! Your brilliant, loving, strong son who is holding onto you, who has no clue and no idea that he is your child! Look at those blue, damaged eyes and let him know you're going to be okay! Open them, Ali. Open them!
…
I sucked in a breath and my eyes fluttered open. What felt like a hundred knives were being pushed into my stomach and into the hole I had. I looked up at him with blurry vision but, he looked so perfect. I'm leaving you behind, kid. You're gonna do alright, I know it. You're going to rebuild your time and you're going to hold Bulma and call her mom but, I know who your real mother is and I'll be watching either from up above or down below smiling, watching as you grow into a hardened man and into a caring man because, I never had that, I never felt the love I should have gotten but, I'm over that and I'm staring only at you.
Your tears are mixing in with the sand flying around us. Your hair is being tousled just like mine and I know how long my hair is and it must be hitting you in the face. I'm sorry about that but, with your hair as long as it is now, we look so much alike, you and I. I am so proud I made a beautiful, healthy and strong baby boy.
My hand was coming up, I see it out of the corner of my eye. It's coming towards you, I can see it. I'm smiling, I can feel all those muscles pulling into a soft smile and now, as my hand touches your cheek, cry into it. Tell my hand how much you'll miss me and how you love me, that you and I are so much closer than what you are to Vegeta and Bulma. Your mother and your father you say but, here's the truth: I am your mother and Yamcha is your father.
Your eyes widen and you look deep into my eyes, holding my gaze. Your tears stopped but, the tears are still running down my face and into my ears. Is that me? Am I the one crying because I know that you would never accept me, that you would turn me away but, I'd die for you, son and here I am, in your arms as you watch me travel on to the Great Beyond and as I watch your face fade away into the tunnel that I'm being pulled backwards into, I can't feel your face anymore. I can't feel that warm heat of your cheek in my hand. Where did you go? Where did I go? Is this death again?
…
"Ah! Princess Ali, you're back again! How nice of you to grace us with your presence." A booming voice echoed and as I pushed against a soft yet, uncomfortable carpet.
I pressed my hand against my throbbing head and shake it, trying to see if I was going to rid of the headache by tossing it out. I snapped open my eyes and looked at the carpet. Red. I looked left and right. Tiles and little puffs of smoke floating about.
"Holy shit!" I screamed, turning around and looking up at the big man in the purple suit sitting at a huge mahogany desk.
"Watch your language when you're in my presence!" He boomed again, this time he was filled with anger.
My mouth hung open, my eyes widen at the memory of him twenty years ago. "You? You're still here?" I shout at him, watching as he was taken aback and he looked to an assistant next to him in confusion.
"Am I missing something here?" He asked the short (compared to him) assistant and the young blue man with twin horns just shook his head with a shoulder shrug.
"You sent me to Hell and said if I had a problem that I should take it up with your boss, who you then pointed to a huge red guy who looked just like him!" I screamed back, pointing to a guard standing at a doorway.
The large man sitting in front of me was silent and I swear everyone else was watching in anticipation to see what was going to happen next. "So, did you take care of it?" He asked finally.
"I killed him after I told him he needed to replace you." I closed my eyes a tad, hardening them as I held a hard glare at the large man in a purple suit.
"Well, too bad. I am the boss and there ain't nothing your puny little butt can do about it." He laughed out loud and the quiet guards and assistants looked at each other before joining in, sure now that it was okay to laugh.
I lept up onto his desk and grabbed both sides of his uneven beard that went left and right but not in the middle. I pulled his face down hard and watched as his black eyes lowered to my level. "I have a son back there on Earth with Goku and all these other fighters and a monster named Cell is going to kill them all unless I do something about it. Send me back there now, or I'll make you send me back."
The large man blinked a few times before nodding, or tried nodding. I let him go and watched as he pulled back, stroking his two beards that went separate ways. "I apologize, Princess Ali but, I have no way of sending you back there. Only the dragon balls of Earth or New Namek can send you back."
"Why you-"
"I'm sorry, I can't do anything about it! Don't pull my beard again!" He pulled back, his hands holding onto his beard. I sighed and nodded, turning around and sitting other the large files on his desk.
"You wouldn't mind if I sit here for a while, do you? I'd like to see someone come in soon." I turned my head a the line that was built up behind me that was composed of little puffs of smoke, giggling and talking.
…
Only four warriors stood on the white marble tiles of the Lookout and those four had no idea what was going to happen. They had lost three of their most powerful warriors, one took off and the other was passed out. Blood covered the tiles and it spread around the group as Dende and Mr. Popo came running out towards them.
Everyone was quiet, no one dared to speak a word as Dende dropped to his small knees and place his hands over Gohan, healing the boy of all of his injuries. Tears streaked down the face of the little Namekian and after his cries stopped, Gohan's eyes fluttered open and squinted in the bright sun above them.
His black eyes searched the sky, his hands opening and closing and his lungs holding onto a large breath. He began to push himself up and Dende wasn't far behind to help sit him up. Gohan pressed one of his hands against his head, feeling the new headache that was laying waste to the already sore head he had.
"Piccolo?" He asked, watching as the tall Namekian walked over to him and held a hand out for the boy to grab. Gohan nodded and was pulled up by the strong man and staggered a bit before nodding and looking at the carnage that was next to him.
"Hey kid," Piccolo held onto the shoulders of the boy and watched as Gohan went silent and began to shake.
Gohan didn't shake from anger, from fear but, from the tears that were coming from his eyes. They were breaking the boy down and they were tearing him up from the inside.
"I wasn't able to save them, Piccolo." Gohan cried out, grabbing at his hair as he dropped to his knees and cried all his pain out.
"We still have the dragon balls..." Tien spoke up, watching as everyone looked to him. He nodded and looked to Mr. Popo who ran what he could inside the building and quickly walked back out with a red box in his hands.
"I have the dragon balls here. Let us call upon the dragon, Dende."
Dende looked to Mr. Popo and nodded, taking the box and placing it down on the marble tiles.
Yamcha looked down at the two bodies laying side by side, their blood mixing with each other as they were left there while the others summoned the dragon. Yamcha's eyes were on the one on the right; her long pink hair and her crushed and broken body laying still as the large hole in the stomach still spewed a little bit more blood. Most of the blood around her face and in her hair had dried already and crusted over, leaving her a wreck in his eyes but, she'll always be the most beautiful to him.
The sky went dark on Yamcha but, he still didn't look away from that woman's dead body and the young man's that lay next to her. His shoulder length lavender hair was filled with blood and sand that had dried into an unnatural mud. A hole filled the space where his heart should have been and his face faced the older woman who was dead right next to him.
"Your wish has been granted." A booming and deep voice sounded through-out the air and Yamcha knew it was the dragon's.
Yamcha looked over at the group who stood around the dragon and they all looked back to Yamcha who was now kneeling at the dead bodies. As Yamcha looked back, a stirring from Trunks made him jump up and grab the boy as he rolled over and pushed himself up.
"Hey man, give yourself some time to breathe, literally. Don't move too much." Yamcha said as he held Trunks who only nodded in response, his hand immediately traveling up to his chest and relieved to feel no hole there whatsoever.
As Trunks and Yamcha looked up at each other and their eyes met, they both looked to Ali who still lay there.
"Ali? Ali?" Trunks turned over to her, his hands grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her heavy and limp body.
"Ali, wake up! Wake up, Ali!" Trunks shouted, a burning sensation blurring his eyes and he shook his eyes and the new tears that fell down his cheeks.
The group now stood around Trunks, Yamcha and the dead body of Ali. Trunks' screams were deafening and his head pressed against her bloody chest as he sank in defeat as she lay dead under him.
"Ali, please, please wake up." Trunks cried out, his arm pulling her into him as he continued to cry out.
"Why are you calling my name?" A voice broke the group from watching Trunks and they all spun around, seeing Ali standing before them with her arms over her chest.
Trunks' eyes widened and looked down at the dead body in his arms then back at the woman standing on the other side of the Lookout.
"Who the hell are you?" Piccolo shouted, his brows falling over his eyes as he watched the woman walk towards them.
"I'm Princess Ali of Planet Vegeta and I was told to come here by my father, King Vegeta." She said as she continued walking towards them.
"Wait, don't tell me, to find your brother?" Piccolo sneered, his eyes lit with rage as the group continued watching her.
"No, to come find something interesting. And how do you know about my brother?" The woman asked, her eyebrow rising as she looked at the group.
"It's a long story." Piccolo said back as the woman neared him. He was blown away by how young she looked. Ali's wrinkles were very fine but, this woman standing before them had none whatsoever and her scars weren't visible at all.
"I see you're in mourning. I'll let you take care of that." The young woman said and as she began to turn away, her eyebrow shot up.
"I am waiting. Make your final and last wish." The dragon spoke out, breaking everyone out of their stupor.
Everyone except for the young woman turned and walked back to the dragon. Trunks held the dead body of Ali in his arms and watched as the young woman pulled back away in shock.
"Why wasn't Ali brought back to life?" Krillan asked, his hands shaking as he looked back at Trunks and the two women.
"She is alive. I cannot bring a dead woman back to life who is already alive."
"But, the dead Ali is our Ali, we have no idea who this other woman is!" Yamcha shouted, his hand pointing to the three people standing away.
"That Ali has already been brought back to life. This Ali is alive."
Everyone looked between each other and Piccolo looked up at the dragon, his heart tightening. "I know what my wish is."
"Piccolo, what are you doing?" Krillan asked, his hand grabbing onto the Namekians arm.
"What is your wish?"
Piccolo looked back at the young Ali and her eyes locked onto his. They didn't know him, they didn't recognize him. They showed fear and Piccolo never knew that woman to show one single ounce of fear. She'd rather die that show fear and that was what she did, she died to save Gohan and to save the world. Piccolo looked down at the floor and sighed, nodding and looked back up at the dragon.
He felt his heart tighten even more and he felt his eyes burn. He loved her, he truly did and it was that kind of love that wasn't made for physical contact but, for the emotional contact he needed so much. He clenched his teeth together and opened his mouth. "I wish the Ali in this time had all the memories of the Ali that is now dead!"
Everyone around him gasped and as he looked back at the young woman, the dragon gave a low growl.
"Your wish has been granted. I am leaving now."
A golden light exploded around all of them and the dragon balls flew into the air, separating into seven different directions and those seven would end up somewhere on the Earth far away from each other.
Everyone turned to the young Ali as she looked back at them. A large wind suddenly began to surge around her, taking her in it's violent blasts with no remorse for her well-being. She brought her hands up to her face to shield herself from the terrible winds until a light flashed around her, bring her down to her knees where she fell face first into the cold marble tile.
And just as quickly as it came, it left all the same.
The young Ali pressed herself up off of the marble tiles, feeling the way the smooth and polished rock felt under her hands. Her eyes widened and she looked to the group to her left, staring at them with anger and fear as they approached her, their fear just as apparent as hers.
She shook her head and stood up, turning to her right where Trunks now stood up, the dead body of the Ali he loved gently laying next to his feet as he looked into the younger woman's eyes.
"My son." She whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she ran to him, taking his shoulders and looking up into his face.
A loud, yet silent, gasp was sent through-out the group behind her as she held onto Trunks and he held her back, pulling her body in close to his as he cried into her silky pink hair.
"Mom," he whispered as the tears spilled from his eyes. His fingers tightened on her green armor and spandex and he began to fall to his knees.
They fell together, their cries silent but, their bodies shaking with the mute sobs of mother and son.
"Who's the father?" Krillan asked, looking around as his eyes landed on Yamcha and it seemed that at that point, everyone's eyes landed on Yamcha.
Yamcha watched as Ali and Trunks cried together and with every bit of dignity he had left, he looked to Krillan and smiled. "You think I would've hit that? You're crazy! Vegeta and Bulma are the parents, they're just going crazy!" He laughed them off but, he turned away and walked to the edge and with a sigh of despair, jumped off the edge and felt the rush of the wind swirl around him. He knew what he said was wrong and he knew walking away wouldn't put it away on the shelf for all time but, he wanted it gone and when the time was right, he would tell them but, for now, it was over and done with.
Piccolo felt his stomach sink as he watched Ali and Trunks continue to cry into each other. He shook his head, shocked and as he turned away, Gohan went with him. Krillan sighed as he looked with sad eyes at the two. He knew there was a special bond between them, a connection of some sort that you just couldn't put your finger on until you heard it with your own ears.
"Mother and son, huh? Who would've guessed?" He chuckled with sadness and as he turned away, everyone else followed suit, letting them be.
…
"Well, well, well, look what we have here," Ali chuckled, the evil in her voice radiating through-out the bright room of judgment.
Cell's body tensed and he watched Ali lean against the leg of the heavy wooden desk in front of King Yemma. "N-No, I killed you. I watched you die!"
"You did kill me and here I am, Cell. Dead, just like you." Ali smirked as she watched Cell's face fill with anger. Ali walked forward towards him and slowly began to circle around him as he shook with rage. "I see Gohan killed you after all. How sad is that? Beaten by an eleven year old child."
"Why you-"
"Hey, Ali!" A happy voice shouted and as Ali and Cell turned to look behind them, a large smile overtook her sight.
"Hello, Goku." Ali backed up just a tad from how close he was and then looked to Cell. With her eyes still set on Cell, she called out. "Hey, King Yemma. Take my friend here and send him to the place where there is no return. If I have to be in the same place with him, I at least want to be able to walk around without a bully." Ali chuckled as Cell began to growl.
"A bully, you say? Well, I have no time for bullies here! It's Hell for you, Cell!" King Yemma's voice boomed through-out the large judgment room. "Take him to the Cleanser and then it's straight to the dark place!"
Ali and Goku watched as Cell's folder was stamped with a red inked stamp and his folder tossed in a grouping of others. Ali sighed and looked up at Goku who was looking into her pink eyes.
"Hey, Ali?"
Ali smiled up at him, his face remembered her so much of Bardock but, he was gone now. "Yes, Goku?"
"You don't have to go down there if you don't want to, you know." Goku quietly said as he rubbed the back of his head and looked away from Ali and down at the floor. His eyes were darting back and forth from the long red carpet to Ali's face and when she smiled at him with that genuine smile he had never seen before, he stopped moving and watched as her eyes smiled, something he only thought Chi Chi could do.
As Ali finished chuckling, she looked away from the tall Saiyan and stared at the exit Cell was taken through. "Goku, as much as I would love to, and believe me, I would love to, I know all the bad things that I have done and all the wrongs that need to be set right. I-"
"Princess Ali." King Yemma interrupted. His head in his hand as he watched the two with a bored expression on his face.
"Yes, sir?" Ali said as she spun around, her eyes hardened for the King's judgment.
"It seems as if you've been a good person from the last time you were here. Guess that means only one thing," King Yemma smiled as he pulled at the stamp to his left. "Welcome to Heaven."
"Wait, King Yemma!" Goku shouted, running over to the large man's desk and jumping on top of it.
"What is it, Goku? I'm trying to do my job." The King furrowed his brow as he watched the little Saiyan run over to him, calling him down so that he could whisper into his ear. A few seconds had gone by and the King nodded and hummed, his eyebrows wavering as he looked from the ceiling back down to Ali who stood there with her arms folded across her chest.
"I see," King Yemma said, his hand across his mouth as he pondered the proposal Goku had given him. With another hard look at Ali and the folder all ready for final marking, he nodded and closed the file, taking another stamp he had on his drawer and slamming it hard on the folder.
"Thank you, King Yemma!" Goku shouted as he jumped off the desk and jogged over to Ali, a huge smile plastered on his face.
"What did you say? What did he do?" Ali asked, questions trying to find there way out but, none of them making it.
"You're coming with me and King Kai! We're headed up to a tournament here in the Other World and I thought you might want to join me and have a bit of fun! How about it?"
"And if you say 'no', I'm taking that back." King Yemma boomed, pointing to the top of Ali's head.
With a questionable look, Ali looked up but saw nothing there. She kept trying to look up, around backwards but, nothing was there. "What the he-, I mean, heck, are you talking about?" Ali shouted back at him.
"This!" Goku grabbed her shoulder and then pointed to the glowing ring atop his head.
"Wow. I'm really dead, aren't I?"
"Yep. Now, come on! We have to train for a tournament!" Goku smiled down at her.
As Ali nodded and looked up at the Saiyan, she smiled again; that beautiful and healthy smile she never knew she had. She took Goku's hand and as she slowly watched him place two fingers on his forehead, she closed her eyes, thankful for the life she'll have thanks to a certain tall Saiyan standing next to her.
The End.