Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z, I am just borrowing its characters
for my fanfic- so don't sue. I am poor with nothing you would like.
A/N: Sorry I have not updated in so long. I have, to be honest, had writers block and could not think of what to write. But now I am back, so enjoy! We are on one of the last chapters! It ends soon! (applause in back ground) I skipped Videl journeying to the mountain in my fanfic, because in general it is of no importance and boring. So here's the good part! (which is what you guys are only interested in I am sure!) Enjoy & Review!
Chapter 8- Burned Inside of Me
(A/N: This chapter follows a paragraph I wrote in the previous chapter- chapter seven. I have it marked apart by stars when it is mentioned for the sake of my sanity and yours as well.)
*-------------------------------- The guilt began to bury me as I fell to the ground and dropped my head from the light. How can I climb from here if I can't even stand? I began thinking of Cell and Piccolo, how it felt so good to see them bleed... like I am bleeding inside of me. I am too connected to them to slip away, I am just as stained as they are- I held up my bloody palms to stare at them. I let it burn itself into my mind- a reminder of what I am now. Father,... I am sorry... look at your son now! LOOK at your fucking son RIGHT NOW. *---------------------------------
Videl walked silently across the mountain. The sun had descended long ago, and shadows shielded the usual into ghostly figures. She shivered has a breeze whipped by her, tugging at her clothes.
"Gohan? GOHAN!" Videl called. She shivered again as the only response was a whisper of the wind.
Then a shadow moved in the bushes. Videl blinked, squinted leaning forward.
"Gohan. is that you?"
The shadow moved forward, and slowly the moon crawled over the figure revealing the shadow. "No." the shadow whispered in a sly voice ".but soon you will be meeting him."
Videl leaned backward, shrieking in fear. She stumbled over a rock and fell onto her back. The air escaped quickly from her lungs and her vision blurred. In seconds, the silhouette of Cell appeared over her, the full moon in the background.
Videl's eyes widened as they stared into the blackness of Cell's shape. She opened her mouth, but no sound followed. Her mouth just opened and closed like a fishes.
"Are you ready? To meet Gohan. and your Maker?" His smile widened. "Such a lovely night to die, it would be a shame to miss such an opportunity."
Cell reached down for her, and with that motion Videl regained her voice in a single shriek. "GOOOOHAAAAAN!!!!"
My head popped up from the pit I was sitting in. I recognized the voice instantly. It was Videl's. and Cell must have her. ...but who cares? Not like I can save her. I couldn't even save my mother, or Bulma, or Piccolo, or.. my father..
A voice interrupted my thoughts. "So you are just going to end it. Like this?" It was Gloria's.
"Why would you care." I said bluntly.
"Because she is a living person. Because you can save her."
"Like Bulma." I said laughing slightly in a sarcastic manner.
"Mistakes are to be learned from."
I laughed louder now. "Oh, my apologies. You must mean like Piccolo."
Gloria's voice still remained calm and firm. "Mistakes are to be learned from, not repeated."
I turned now and faced her. "I killed him. Just like Cell would have." I screamed gesticulating with my hands. "I FUCKING KILLED HIM!"
"And what makes you any different? Mistakes are to be learned from." She paused. "Life is a journey, and mistakes are evident. How you react to them is what matters. It is honorable to face them head on. So you are going to end it, just like this?"
I smirked, and waved her off with my hands while turning my back to her. I spat bitterly. "So you want me to watch her die, like my father."
Gloria whispered back silently. "Your father would never watch someone die."
I spun around quickly in shock to protest, but she was gone. I blinked, trying to make her reappear, but I was alone again in the dark pit. with Piccolo's corpse not far from me. The darkness of Hell surrounded me, and I looked to my hands again. The blood stained them carefully, marking each crevice delicately, carefully,. considerately.
*The guilt began to bury me as I fell to the ground and dropped my head from the light. How can I climb from here if I can't even stand?*
But I have to stand. Because Videl is all I have left, and I must protect her with my life. I pulled out the poison from my pocket which Bulma made before she died. All I have to do is get this into Cell's bloodstream and it will break Cell down completely. I clenched it in my fist and looked upward. I must save Videl, I just hope I am not too late.
I lept into the air and flew at top speed, as fast as I could. The wind whipped past my face making my hair lash against my skin- I could feel blood drops form where my hair hit. But I didn't care. This is the future, the future is now, and I am not going to let me pass me by like the wind.
Videl gasped for air as she fell to the ground next to the ledge of the cliff. Cell laughed cruelly at the game. He stepped forward cornering her on the ledge. Yes, Videl had been entertaining, and now her bloody eleven- year-old body laid at his feet. Videl wept as the cheek he had hit began to swell along with the rest of her body parts.
"Get up." Cell whispered cruelly. She didn't move. "I said get the fuck up!" Videl crawled to her feet.
"Leave her alone."
Cell turned to the source of intrusion to see me. He smirked. "So you're still alive, Gohan."
I didn't smile. With one leap I flew into battle and slammed my fist into his face. Cell growled and returned the blow. I ducked and stepped forward with a reverse punch. Soon we were haloed by a flury of punches and kicks. Cell growled fiercely with intensity, but I refused to remove my eyes from his. I wanted to see the anger flicker in his, I wanted it to be my strength. I drank from it, indulged myself in it, until my anger boiled past his.
My blocks began easily knocking his arms out of the way. With little effort, I caught his round house kick and slammed my arm down onto his leg breaking it. Cell howled in rage as I dug my fist deep into his stomach making him fall down onto his knees.
"Give it up Cell. You can't win anymore. You're weak." Cell stared up at me spitefully, I stared back into his eyes. "You can't win. Face it Cell, you're losing. And soon you'll be reaping what you've sown."
I stopped. It was then that I noticed, but it was too late. He hadn't been staring at me spitefully, he had been staring behind me. Cell leaped up at me as if to attack, but he jumped clear over my head. I spun around, just in time to see him shove Videl over the edge of the cliff.
Cell turned around. "So are you going to finish the battle, or are you going to rescue her and let me escape?"
I cursed silently already knowing the answer as I ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped over it as well. The cliff was steep, with dangerously pointed spikes at the end, and Videl was plunging fast. But I knew I was fast enough to capture her, besides, I am a-
Then it dawned on me, I wasn't catching up to her quickly enough. What's going on? I am in Super Saiyan form! It was then that I realized that I wasn't. I was sweating, gasping for air. Then the true horror dawned on me. I had wasted all of my energy by flying so quickly out of the pit!
Videl was falling farther and farther away. I sped towards her though, I had to rescue her. Videl's body thrashed in the wind as she shrieked, but just a little closer. The finely pointed rocks were jumping up in the back ground, leaping towards her body like arms reaching up to grab, but just a little bit closer- I am so close! I reached out my hand and grabbed her leg jerking her forward to where she was even with me, then I grabbed my arms around her and held her close. It was then that I saw what would happen. We would both die- I was moving too fast to stop in time above the jagged rocks, and we were too close to maneuver away from them. So is this it? Is this how I am going to let it end?
*I began thinking of Cell and Piccolo, how it felt so good to see them bleed... like I am bleeding inside of me.*
I can't let her die like Piccolo. I never want to see another innocent blood drop be spilled at the cause of my hands again. I twisted my body to where she was on top of me. Videl shrieked as she burrowed her head into my chest. The jagged rock ripped easily into my back, I bit my tongue. I wasn't going to scream, I wasn't going to scream. The rock dug in deeper like a claw grabbing hold of me. It inched into my spine until I feared it would crack, but it didn't. And I laid there, impaled on the rock. The pain washed over me in waves as I gasped for air. A small halo formed in my vision as my world shadowed, and my body grew cold. I could feel my blood rushing to my back, and this time the sharp coppery scent was my own.
Then my thoughts trailed to another- if I wasted all of my energy, then Cell should've been able to easily beat me. He was letting me win, letting me think I was superior, but why? What is he planning? His voice cut in answering my thoughts.
"Just like a fucking pig, stuck on a stake where you belong." Cell laughed as if he just cracked the best joke. "NOW!! Time for the grand finale."
He reached down and snatched Videl from my chest. She screamed kicking him, but Cell just stood there unharmed by her tactics. He floated from the jagged rocks and landed next to them safely on the ground.
I grunted with effort, but couldn't move. I twisted my head trying to see them, but failed. Then I heard Videl scream again. Suddenly, strength renewed my body. I jerked myself upward freeing my body from the rock. I gasped as the claws were forced free from my spine, how my spine bended with the rock and then was released unharmed. My back throbbed violently pulsating with my heart, but I had no time for it. I floated with what little energy I had, almost collapsed, but regained stability. Painstakingly, I floated over the rocks and landed some feet from Cell.
Cell held Videl in front of him like a trophy by the neck as she screamed. Horror etched her face like the blood on my palms, along with the veins over her skin from a lack of oxygen. She shrieked a choked, forced sob that almost sounded like a gasp, and the anger began to course through me with each one.
"Put her down." Cell laughed at my order. I took a deep breath, and spoke again. "What are you going to do to her." I said as if an order.
Cell's smile grew to a demented smirk. "I am going to eat her, until her bones glisten in the sun. I am going to drink every last drop of her until I can taste her in my spit and smell her in my sweat." He laughed psychoticly.
Videl was now gasping, her eyes bulging out of her head. He raised her to him until she was just inches from her kneck. I knew this was it. I couldn't beat him, he was going to have to get what he wanted.
*I am too connected to them to slip away, I am just as stained as they are- I held up my bloody palms to stare at them.*
She isn't like us. She has no penance to die for. He was going to have to get what he wanted- and I am going to give it to him. I took the poison from my pocket. I with a deep breath I popped the top off and indulged myself in it.
"Taste this Cell!" I screamed as I lept at him clumsily and slammed my fist into his teeth.
I fell into a heap at his feet and pulled myself to my knees before him. I gasped for air and slowly looked upwards to see Cell staring down at me unharmed. He released Videl and she fell in a heap next to me. I heard a whistle as air rushed into her lungs and the veins vanished from her skin.
"Fucking insane." Cell said venomously.
My head throbbed. I could feel it now- inside of me. It pulsed hard.
"What's wrong Cell." I spat back.
It beat through me like a drum. My heart race, I fought to keep it from my voice, but it was tightening my throat. It threatened to steal my air- and I knew it soon would.
"Don't like food that fights back?"
It beat through me, faster, faster,
"Scared of a challenge?"
faster, faster,
"Want it easy, without a fight, a silver platter"
Faster, Faster, Faster
"You want it as fucking weak as you are you mother F-"
FASTER!
I let out a scream as my head spun with it now. I didn't realize what I screamed, nor did I care. The pain was even now with my arm, my arm? I looked down to see I had no arm. Then I looked up. Cell had ripped it off and was indulging himself in it- he had ripped it off when I screamed 'FUCKER'. I was breathing heavily, and it spun.
Cell ripped his teeth into my flesh lick the blood greedily from my arm. He dug into it letting the blood spill over his chin as he swallowed chunks of my flesh whole. Soon there was no flesh left and he began crunching into my bone, drinking the sweet nectar of the marrow from the middle. I waited, aniticipating.
Cell looked down at me. "What are you fucking staring at?"
I smirked, and said bitterly. "I hope you choke on it."
Cell began laughing hysterically. Then he gasped, and began choking. Blood regurgitated from his mouth. He ripped at his throat as blue veins protruded from his skin. His eyes bulged out and the blood popped in them letting his eyes spill over red. Slowly, dust began falling from his skin, like ashes. Until his skin clung to the frame of his body, shriveled like a raisin. He screamed in agony and raised his arms in horror, staring at his bony frame. His face was now a hollowed skeleton with skin clingy to it like dirt caught in its crevices. Cell moved his jaw forming his words, "What have you done to me? You fuckin"- but then his jaw broke of and fell to the floor, breaking into a thousand pieces.
As I watched his body shed to ashes, as Cell stood accusingly in horror, I began speaking his eulogy. "My friend Bulma made a poison. It is specially designed to fit to the DNA you possess- which is that of a Human, Namek, and Saiyan. She took into consideration the quality of each race, and made a poison that would tear apart your DNA until you have nothing left. I took the poison knowing you'd eat a piece of me. It will not harm me, but it's deadly to you. Now, you will die because of your lust for blood."
Cell had fallen to the floor and began twisting his skeleton-like body in convulsions. Junks of his body fell off and crushed into dust. Cell wrenched his head up towards me. Slowly, he began sliding over the dirt of the earth, his body kicking up dust, but the dust was his own flesh. From the waist down disintegrated from him into ashes and rose up in a cloud of smoky dust. Cell stared up at me with hollow sockets etched in the skull which held his blood red eyes. His jawless mouth made a strange hissing noise like a snake as he leaned up to me from his belly on the ground. He reached up and clung onto the bottom of my gi with one hand, but his hand was too fragile and fell into dust the second it touched my gi.
"My death will speed after yours Cell, but the difference between us is your death holds"-
Cell hissed venomously as the crumbling of his arm had a domino effect. Quickly, his shadowy skeleton fell into dust until he was just a heap of ashes. Smoke rose lightly, as I stared down at the ashes, how it formed a shadow on the ground where he once lied. It was then that I whispered the remainder of his eulogy to his shadow.
-"no honor."
I looked from the shadow to Videl. She laid there, and I knew soon I would too, except her chest rose peacefully in a rhythm. I knew what I had to do. I couldn't leave her here all alone. I scooped her up into my arms and rose into the air. Shakily and with little skill, I flew all the way back into the city.
I knew exactly where to bring her body. I walked into the ruins of the building I found her in and towards the middle. I saw shadows of people scatter and heard whispers rose, but I knew they wouldn't hurt her.
"It's Videl"
"That stranger has her."
"Do you think he hurt her?"
"She's alive! I knew it."
The whispers echoed in unison. I laid her down in the middle and admired her for a moment. She seemed so fragile, and she was beaten badly by Cell. But she would survive, I knew she would.
I turned, and forced myself to walk from the ruins and exited into the streets. I forced myself to leave her to her friends, and probably the only family she knew. I stared up into the sky and thought about it. I thought back on Cell. and my thoughts wondered to the other deaths.
*I let it burn itself into my mind- a reminder of what I am now. Father,... I am sorry... look at your son now! LOOK at your fucking son RIGHT NOW.*
Then I thought of Videl, and my knees buckled. I swayed and my world fell into blackness as I crashed into the dirt of my grave. I gasped for air, my lungs burned on fire along with the pain which coursed through my back up my spine. A deep coldness swept over me, a sharp icy numbness which originated from my back and arm. My head throbbed and I began to choke, blood coming from my mouth. I licked my lips, the taste and scent of my own blood new to me. I could feel it slipping away, far from me until the buzz in my ear was just a whisper in the distance, until all was gone. In this place, I realized, as I thought back on Videl, and my father was new to me.
I realized the love of one willing to die for another. I did not kill him, and Cell did not kill him, and it was not suicide. Just like Videl didn't kill me. My father's death was of honor, and I hope when he looks at me he can see how I have tried so hard to be like him. But I can never be as much of a saint as him, and I am sorry. But I love him. I hope he can see that I still wish it was me that died that day. Because I love him. Because I want to be the son I wasn't that day. But I understand him now, and I now know why. I realize the love of one willing to die for another, and thank you father for all you have done. And I promise I will never forget, and I swear that I will honor your death. I am sorry father, I wish I was born again. I wish I was your son again. With that my last breath left my body.
Then I gasped and bolted straight up in a sweat. I blinked hard in the sunlight and looked around confused. I was sitting under the tree I had fallen asleep under in the first place beside the lake. I looked down at my body. I was no longer a young adult, but an eleven-year-old boy again. What is going on?
A voice answered me. "You are born again."
I looked up to see Gloria. I stood quickly and demanded. "What happened! Where am I? I thought I was dead!"
She held up a hand. "One question at a time." She then continued. "You never fell asleep under a tree. You wished you was never born, so God granted it. He took your life away and you were never born. The world you have been living in was what the world would've been like if you was never born."
"Why?"
She smiled. "Because you needed this. You need to realize the importance of life itself, before you ended up like Cell. That's why I pulled the Cell from your world and let you kill him again, remember?"
I shivered. He remembered Cell materializing from nowhere and then brutally killing him in a fit of rage.
She continued. "You needed to be reminded of why you so looked up to your dad. With great power comes great responsibility."
I looked up to her from my standing position. "Why was I a young adult then?"
"Because all the battles you have been in and all the events of your life caused you to grow up quickly, so your 'other world' body showed the age of your soul instead of your physical body. Even though you wasn't born, you still had a body. God wished for you to experience the full impact of not being born, so a body was essential; therefore, you were given one."
I whispered the next question. "Why did I come back? I don't understand. I died, so. shouldn't I be with my dad."
Gloria laughed lightly. "Yes, you died twice. In this world when your wish was granted, and in the world you was never born in when you died for Videl. But the whole purpose of this was to teach you a lesson, and you learned it. So now all has been undone. It is has if none of it happened. You lost no time, and you are back to the second all of this began. All that is left are the memories. Therefore, you are still alive. You proved to learn your lesson when you wished to be born again and fully understood your father. And now that you have, I must go. By the way, Gokuh is proud of you, he said so himself."
I stared in shock at first and couldn't respond, then I found my voice. "Wait! What about?" But it was too late, Gloria had vanished. My dad? What- How is he? And what about Videl? There were still so many unanswered questions.
I stared at the ground, then I smiled. I raced down the forest trail and up to my house. I knew she was there, I could smell supper outside. I busted down the door and into the kitchen, and the first thing I did was jump onto mother knocking her to the floor with a delighted squeal.
"Gohan! What has gotten into you son!"
I gave her a kiss as she lifted me off of her and placed me onto the floor. She called me son! She knows me! I didn't even shrink back when she gave me a stern look. I never realized what it was to have her, even though she gives so much school work.
"I'm just glad to see you that's all." I said as I began wiping the dirt off of my face.
She looked worried then. "Gohan, are you alright? You're cleaning."
I smiled. "I am great. I have a family, and I am alive."
A/N: Gesticulate- to make hand motions while speaking I used that word and never defined it in my story. Sorry! Anyways, I am considering an epilogue to show what happens when Gohan meets Videl in the city. So I need your help. When you review, could you say whether I should end it with this chapter, or make an epilogue. And if I do, should it be a happy ending or sad ending. Thankyou! (By the way, if no one responds to this message, I most likely won't have an epilogue, and just in case I don't have an epilogue, here it is:..)
The End (bet you guys thought you'd never see that, eh?)
A/N: Sorry I have not updated in so long. I have, to be honest, had writers block and could not think of what to write. But now I am back, so enjoy! We are on one of the last chapters! It ends soon! (applause in back ground) I skipped Videl journeying to the mountain in my fanfic, because in general it is of no importance and boring. So here's the good part! (which is what you guys are only interested in I am sure!) Enjoy & Review!
Chapter 8- Burned Inside of Me
(A/N: This chapter follows a paragraph I wrote in the previous chapter- chapter seven. I have it marked apart by stars when it is mentioned for the sake of my sanity and yours as well.)
*-------------------------------- The guilt began to bury me as I fell to the ground and dropped my head from the light. How can I climb from here if I can't even stand? I began thinking of Cell and Piccolo, how it felt so good to see them bleed... like I am bleeding inside of me. I am too connected to them to slip away, I am just as stained as they are- I held up my bloody palms to stare at them. I let it burn itself into my mind- a reminder of what I am now. Father,... I am sorry... look at your son now! LOOK at your fucking son RIGHT NOW. *---------------------------------
Videl walked silently across the mountain. The sun had descended long ago, and shadows shielded the usual into ghostly figures. She shivered has a breeze whipped by her, tugging at her clothes.
"Gohan? GOHAN!" Videl called. She shivered again as the only response was a whisper of the wind.
Then a shadow moved in the bushes. Videl blinked, squinted leaning forward.
"Gohan. is that you?"
The shadow moved forward, and slowly the moon crawled over the figure revealing the shadow. "No." the shadow whispered in a sly voice ".but soon you will be meeting him."
Videl leaned backward, shrieking in fear. She stumbled over a rock and fell onto her back. The air escaped quickly from her lungs and her vision blurred. In seconds, the silhouette of Cell appeared over her, the full moon in the background.
Videl's eyes widened as they stared into the blackness of Cell's shape. She opened her mouth, but no sound followed. Her mouth just opened and closed like a fishes.
"Are you ready? To meet Gohan. and your Maker?" His smile widened. "Such a lovely night to die, it would be a shame to miss such an opportunity."
Cell reached down for her, and with that motion Videl regained her voice in a single shriek. "GOOOOHAAAAAN!!!!"
My head popped up from the pit I was sitting in. I recognized the voice instantly. It was Videl's. and Cell must have her. ...but who cares? Not like I can save her. I couldn't even save my mother, or Bulma, or Piccolo, or.. my father..
A voice interrupted my thoughts. "So you are just going to end it. Like this?" It was Gloria's.
"Why would you care." I said bluntly.
"Because she is a living person. Because you can save her."
"Like Bulma." I said laughing slightly in a sarcastic manner.
"Mistakes are to be learned from."
I laughed louder now. "Oh, my apologies. You must mean like Piccolo."
Gloria's voice still remained calm and firm. "Mistakes are to be learned from, not repeated."
I turned now and faced her. "I killed him. Just like Cell would have." I screamed gesticulating with my hands. "I FUCKING KILLED HIM!"
"And what makes you any different? Mistakes are to be learned from." She paused. "Life is a journey, and mistakes are evident. How you react to them is what matters. It is honorable to face them head on. So you are going to end it, just like this?"
I smirked, and waved her off with my hands while turning my back to her. I spat bitterly. "So you want me to watch her die, like my father."
Gloria whispered back silently. "Your father would never watch someone die."
I spun around quickly in shock to protest, but she was gone. I blinked, trying to make her reappear, but I was alone again in the dark pit. with Piccolo's corpse not far from me. The darkness of Hell surrounded me, and I looked to my hands again. The blood stained them carefully, marking each crevice delicately, carefully,. considerately.
*The guilt began to bury me as I fell to the ground and dropped my head from the light. How can I climb from here if I can't even stand?*
But I have to stand. Because Videl is all I have left, and I must protect her with my life. I pulled out the poison from my pocket which Bulma made before she died. All I have to do is get this into Cell's bloodstream and it will break Cell down completely. I clenched it in my fist and looked upward. I must save Videl, I just hope I am not too late.
I lept into the air and flew at top speed, as fast as I could. The wind whipped past my face making my hair lash against my skin- I could feel blood drops form where my hair hit. But I didn't care. This is the future, the future is now, and I am not going to let me pass me by like the wind.
Videl gasped for air as she fell to the ground next to the ledge of the cliff. Cell laughed cruelly at the game. He stepped forward cornering her on the ledge. Yes, Videl had been entertaining, and now her bloody eleven- year-old body laid at his feet. Videl wept as the cheek he had hit began to swell along with the rest of her body parts.
"Get up." Cell whispered cruelly. She didn't move. "I said get the fuck up!" Videl crawled to her feet.
"Leave her alone."
Cell turned to the source of intrusion to see me. He smirked. "So you're still alive, Gohan."
I didn't smile. With one leap I flew into battle and slammed my fist into his face. Cell growled and returned the blow. I ducked and stepped forward with a reverse punch. Soon we were haloed by a flury of punches and kicks. Cell growled fiercely with intensity, but I refused to remove my eyes from his. I wanted to see the anger flicker in his, I wanted it to be my strength. I drank from it, indulged myself in it, until my anger boiled past his.
My blocks began easily knocking his arms out of the way. With little effort, I caught his round house kick and slammed my arm down onto his leg breaking it. Cell howled in rage as I dug my fist deep into his stomach making him fall down onto his knees.
"Give it up Cell. You can't win anymore. You're weak." Cell stared up at me spitefully, I stared back into his eyes. "You can't win. Face it Cell, you're losing. And soon you'll be reaping what you've sown."
I stopped. It was then that I noticed, but it was too late. He hadn't been staring at me spitefully, he had been staring behind me. Cell leaped up at me as if to attack, but he jumped clear over my head. I spun around, just in time to see him shove Videl over the edge of the cliff.
Cell turned around. "So are you going to finish the battle, or are you going to rescue her and let me escape?"
I cursed silently already knowing the answer as I ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped over it as well. The cliff was steep, with dangerously pointed spikes at the end, and Videl was plunging fast. But I knew I was fast enough to capture her, besides, I am a-
Then it dawned on me, I wasn't catching up to her quickly enough. What's going on? I am in Super Saiyan form! It was then that I realized that I wasn't. I was sweating, gasping for air. Then the true horror dawned on me. I had wasted all of my energy by flying so quickly out of the pit!
Videl was falling farther and farther away. I sped towards her though, I had to rescue her. Videl's body thrashed in the wind as she shrieked, but just a little closer. The finely pointed rocks were jumping up in the back ground, leaping towards her body like arms reaching up to grab, but just a little bit closer- I am so close! I reached out my hand and grabbed her leg jerking her forward to where she was even with me, then I grabbed my arms around her and held her close. It was then that I saw what would happen. We would both die- I was moving too fast to stop in time above the jagged rocks, and we were too close to maneuver away from them. So is this it? Is this how I am going to let it end?
*I began thinking of Cell and Piccolo, how it felt so good to see them bleed... like I am bleeding inside of me.*
I can't let her die like Piccolo. I never want to see another innocent blood drop be spilled at the cause of my hands again. I twisted my body to where she was on top of me. Videl shrieked as she burrowed her head into my chest. The jagged rock ripped easily into my back, I bit my tongue. I wasn't going to scream, I wasn't going to scream. The rock dug in deeper like a claw grabbing hold of me. It inched into my spine until I feared it would crack, but it didn't. And I laid there, impaled on the rock. The pain washed over me in waves as I gasped for air. A small halo formed in my vision as my world shadowed, and my body grew cold. I could feel my blood rushing to my back, and this time the sharp coppery scent was my own.
Then my thoughts trailed to another- if I wasted all of my energy, then Cell should've been able to easily beat me. He was letting me win, letting me think I was superior, but why? What is he planning? His voice cut in answering my thoughts.
"Just like a fucking pig, stuck on a stake where you belong." Cell laughed as if he just cracked the best joke. "NOW!! Time for the grand finale."
He reached down and snatched Videl from my chest. She screamed kicking him, but Cell just stood there unharmed by her tactics. He floated from the jagged rocks and landed next to them safely on the ground.
I grunted with effort, but couldn't move. I twisted my head trying to see them, but failed. Then I heard Videl scream again. Suddenly, strength renewed my body. I jerked myself upward freeing my body from the rock. I gasped as the claws were forced free from my spine, how my spine bended with the rock and then was released unharmed. My back throbbed violently pulsating with my heart, but I had no time for it. I floated with what little energy I had, almost collapsed, but regained stability. Painstakingly, I floated over the rocks and landed some feet from Cell.
Cell held Videl in front of him like a trophy by the neck as she screamed. Horror etched her face like the blood on my palms, along with the veins over her skin from a lack of oxygen. She shrieked a choked, forced sob that almost sounded like a gasp, and the anger began to course through me with each one.
"Put her down." Cell laughed at my order. I took a deep breath, and spoke again. "What are you going to do to her." I said as if an order.
Cell's smile grew to a demented smirk. "I am going to eat her, until her bones glisten in the sun. I am going to drink every last drop of her until I can taste her in my spit and smell her in my sweat." He laughed psychoticly.
Videl was now gasping, her eyes bulging out of her head. He raised her to him until she was just inches from her kneck. I knew this was it. I couldn't beat him, he was going to have to get what he wanted.
*I am too connected to them to slip away, I am just as stained as they are- I held up my bloody palms to stare at them.*
She isn't like us. She has no penance to die for. He was going to have to get what he wanted- and I am going to give it to him. I took the poison from my pocket. I with a deep breath I popped the top off and indulged myself in it.
"Taste this Cell!" I screamed as I lept at him clumsily and slammed my fist into his teeth.
I fell into a heap at his feet and pulled myself to my knees before him. I gasped for air and slowly looked upwards to see Cell staring down at me unharmed. He released Videl and she fell in a heap next to me. I heard a whistle as air rushed into her lungs and the veins vanished from her skin.
"Fucking insane." Cell said venomously.
My head throbbed. I could feel it now- inside of me. It pulsed hard.
"What's wrong Cell." I spat back.
It beat through me like a drum. My heart race, I fought to keep it from my voice, but it was tightening my throat. It threatened to steal my air- and I knew it soon would.
"Don't like food that fights back?"
It beat through me, faster, faster,
"Scared of a challenge?"
faster, faster,
"Want it easy, without a fight, a silver platter"
Faster, Faster, Faster
"You want it as fucking weak as you are you mother F-"
FASTER!
I let out a scream as my head spun with it now. I didn't realize what I screamed, nor did I care. The pain was even now with my arm, my arm? I looked down to see I had no arm. Then I looked up. Cell had ripped it off and was indulging himself in it- he had ripped it off when I screamed 'FUCKER'. I was breathing heavily, and it spun.
Cell ripped his teeth into my flesh lick the blood greedily from my arm. He dug into it letting the blood spill over his chin as he swallowed chunks of my flesh whole. Soon there was no flesh left and he began crunching into my bone, drinking the sweet nectar of the marrow from the middle. I waited, aniticipating.
Cell looked down at me. "What are you fucking staring at?"
I smirked, and said bitterly. "I hope you choke on it."
Cell began laughing hysterically. Then he gasped, and began choking. Blood regurgitated from his mouth. He ripped at his throat as blue veins protruded from his skin. His eyes bulged out and the blood popped in them letting his eyes spill over red. Slowly, dust began falling from his skin, like ashes. Until his skin clung to the frame of his body, shriveled like a raisin. He screamed in agony and raised his arms in horror, staring at his bony frame. His face was now a hollowed skeleton with skin clingy to it like dirt caught in its crevices. Cell moved his jaw forming his words, "What have you done to me? You fuckin"- but then his jaw broke of and fell to the floor, breaking into a thousand pieces.
As I watched his body shed to ashes, as Cell stood accusingly in horror, I began speaking his eulogy. "My friend Bulma made a poison. It is specially designed to fit to the DNA you possess- which is that of a Human, Namek, and Saiyan. She took into consideration the quality of each race, and made a poison that would tear apart your DNA until you have nothing left. I took the poison knowing you'd eat a piece of me. It will not harm me, but it's deadly to you. Now, you will die because of your lust for blood."
Cell had fallen to the floor and began twisting his skeleton-like body in convulsions. Junks of his body fell off and crushed into dust. Cell wrenched his head up towards me. Slowly, he began sliding over the dirt of the earth, his body kicking up dust, but the dust was his own flesh. From the waist down disintegrated from him into ashes and rose up in a cloud of smoky dust. Cell stared up at me with hollow sockets etched in the skull which held his blood red eyes. His jawless mouth made a strange hissing noise like a snake as he leaned up to me from his belly on the ground. He reached up and clung onto the bottom of my gi with one hand, but his hand was too fragile and fell into dust the second it touched my gi.
"My death will speed after yours Cell, but the difference between us is your death holds"-
Cell hissed venomously as the crumbling of his arm had a domino effect. Quickly, his shadowy skeleton fell into dust until he was just a heap of ashes. Smoke rose lightly, as I stared down at the ashes, how it formed a shadow on the ground where he once lied. It was then that I whispered the remainder of his eulogy to his shadow.
-"no honor."
I looked from the shadow to Videl. She laid there, and I knew soon I would too, except her chest rose peacefully in a rhythm. I knew what I had to do. I couldn't leave her here all alone. I scooped her up into my arms and rose into the air. Shakily and with little skill, I flew all the way back into the city.
I knew exactly where to bring her body. I walked into the ruins of the building I found her in and towards the middle. I saw shadows of people scatter and heard whispers rose, but I knew they wouldn't hurt her.
"It's Videl"
"That stranger has her."
"Do you think he hurt her?"
"She's alive! I knew it."
The whispers echoed in unison. I laid her down in the middle and admired her for a moment. She seemed so fragile, and she was beaten badly by Cell. But she would survive, I knew she would.
I turned, and forced myself to walk from the ruins and exited into the streets. I forced myself to leave her to her friends, and probably the only family she knew. I stared up into the sky and thought about it. I thought back on Cell. and my thoughts wondered to the other deaths.
*I let it burn itself into my mind- a reminder of what I am now. Father,... I am sorry... look at your son now! LOOK at your fucking son RIGHT NOW.*
Then I thought of Videl, and my knees buckled. I swayed and my world fell into blackness as I crashed into the dirt of my grave. I gasped for air, my lungs burned on fire along with the pain which coursed through my back up my spine. A deep coldness swept over me, a sharp icy numbness which originated from my back and arm. My head throbbed and I began to choke, blood coming from my mouth. I licked my lips, the taste and scent of my own blood new to me. I could feel it slipping away, far from me until the buzz in my ear was just a whisper in the distance, until all was gone. In this place, I realized, as I thought back on Videl, and my father was new to me.
I realized the love of one willing to die for another. I did not kill him, and Cell did not kill him, and it was not suicide. Just like Videl didn't kill me. My father's death was of honor, and I hope when he looks at me he can see how I have tried so hard to be like him. But I can never be as much of a saint as him, and I am sorry. But I love him. I hope he can see that I still wish it was me that died that day. Because I love him. Because I want to be the son I wasn't that day. But I understand him now, and I now know why. I realize the love of one willing to die for another, and thank you father for all you have done. And I promise I will never forget, and I swear that I will honor your death. I am sorry father, I wish I was born again. I wish I was your son again. With that my last breath left my body.
Then I gasped and bolted straight up in a sweat. I blinked hard in the sunlight and looked around confused. I was sitting under the tree I had fallen asleep under in the first place beside the lake. I looked down at my body. I was no longer a young adult, but an eleven-year-old boy again. What is going on?
A voice answered me. "You are born again."
I looked up to see Gloria. I stood quickly and demanded. "What happened! Where am I? I thought I was dead!"
She held up a hand. "One question at a time." She then continued. "You never fell asleep under a tree. You wished you was never born, so God granted it. He took your life away and you were never born. The world you have been living in was what the world would've been like if you was never born."
"Why?"
She smiled. "Because you needed this. You need to realize the importance of life itself, before you ended up like Cell. That's why I pulled the Cell from your world and let you kill him again, remember?"
I shivered. He remembered Cell materializing from nowhere and then brutally killing him in a fit of rage.
She continued. "You needed to be reminded of why you so looked up to your dad. With great power comes great responsibility."
I looked up to her from my standing position. "Why was I a young adult then?"
"Because all the battles you have been in and all the events of your life caused you to grow up quickly, so your 'other world' body showed the age of your soul instead of your physical body. Even though you wasn't born, you still had a body. God wished for you to experience the full impact of not being born, so a body was essential; therefore, you were given one."
I whispered the next question. "Why did I come back? I don't understand. I died, so. shouldn't I be with my dad."
Gloria laughed lightly. "Yes, you died twice. In this world when your wish was granted, and in the world you was never born in when you died for Videl. But the whole purpose of this was to teach you a lesson, and you learned it. So now all has been undone. It is has if none of it happened. You lost no time, and you are back to the second all of this began. All that is left are the memories. Therefore, you are still alive. You proved to learn your lesson when you wished to be born again and fully understood your father. And now that you have, I must go. By the way, Gokuh is proud of you, he said so himself."
I stared in shock at first and couldn't respond, then I found my voice. "Wait! What about?" But it was too late, Gloria had vanished. My dad? What- How is he? And what about Videl? There were still so many unanswered questions.
I stared at the ground, then I smiled. I raced down the forest trail and up to my house. I knew she was there, I could smell supper outside. I busted down the door and into the kitchen, and the first thing I did was jump onto mother knocking her to the floor with a delighted squeal.
"Gohan! What has gotten into you son!"
I gave her a kiss as she lifted me off of her and placed me onto the floor. She called me son! She knows me! I didn't even shrink back when she gave me a stern look. I never realized what it was to have her, even though she gives so much school work.
"I'm just glad to see you that's all." I said as I began wiping the dirt off of my face.
She looked worried then. "Gohan, are you alright? You're cleaning."
I smiled. "I am great. I have a family, and I am alive."
A/N: Gesticulate- to make hand motions while speaking I used that word and never defined it in my story. Sorry! Anyways, I am considering an epilogue to show what happens when Gohan meets Videl in the city. So I need your help. When you review, could you say whether I should end it with this chapter, or make an epilogue. And if I do, should it be a happy ending or sad ending. Thankyou! (By the way, if no one responds to this message, I most likely won't have an epilogue, and just in case I don't have an epilogue, here it is:..)
The End (bet you guys thought you'd never see that, eh?)