At World's End
Chapter 1: Say It Ain't So
Hey everyone! For all of you who actually read these little author notes I put at the top of some of my chapters, and you've read this part of the story before, you'll notice that this has changed. I've gone through my story again, from the beginning, and I've edited it. And I've also changed thoughts from brackets to little '', because they seem more natural. For those of you who have read the beginning of my story before I put it in the freezer, I thank you so much for returning. I realize just how long it's been, but I'm going to be updating this again and I hope to finish it soon. I'll add a new chapter at least once a week. Read on and thanks to all my reviewers!
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Videl screamed as an icy blue, darkest surrounded her body. She kicked and punched her invisible enemy. Trying to breathe was just too hard for her. The blue jelly like substance felt freezing against her plain, pale skin, and for the first time Videl noticed that she was naked. She was swimming, naked, in a vast emptiness, choking without oxygen.
A bright light flashed in front of her eyes and Videl felt herself being sucked down into a whirlpool of the jelly substance. Swimming against the current sucking her down was just too hard for Videl. She needed to breathe and so she tried. Instead of air, the gel filled her mouth and lungs and Videl automatically felt her life give way. 'Crap,' she thought, 'I'm dead and I'm dieing again. Life just isn't fair at all.'
Once Videl had enough strength to open her eyes, she realized that the gel was gone and the common images of Earth's surface filled her mind. As soon as she felt her butt hit the ground, she knew she wasn't dead anymore. She was far from it. 'I have no idea what the hell just happened, but I know that it's good to be back home again. Thanks to whoever saved me.'
Dieing had been worse than Hell. She almost wished that she had been sent to Hell instead, but thought better of it because she didn't want to get too much of a tan. She might have ended up with skin cancer and nobody, not a one, wanted that.
The sounds of noisy people filled her ears and as she looked around, she saw the whole Earth's population, all dropped into a small town which Videl knew wasn't Satan City. After glancing around several times, Videl's whole face lit up when her eyes landed on the person she wanted to see the most - Gohan.
At that same moment, Gohan turned and faced her way. Their eyes locked for a few brief seconds. 'Boy it's good to be home,' Gohan thought as he stood up straight while Videl hurried his way. Before he knew it, Videl had jumped into his arms and squealed with delight. "The earth is saved! Isn't it great?" she asked him.
Gohan stared down at the petite figure that had her arms encircled around his waist. "Yeah, it's great," he agreed.
Videl let go of him and stared up at him in shock. 'What the hell is the matter with him?' she thought. "Buu is dead and all of Earth's population has been brought back to life and you're not happy?"
Gohan moved away from Videl. "Not all of Earth's population is back." Gohan powered up into a Super Saiyan and the eyes of all the Earthlings turned to him as his eyes turned a bright aqua and his hair a yellow blond. Without thinking anymore of it, he took off in the general direction where he felt Bulma's, Chi-Chi's, Goten's and Trunks's ki from. As he flew off over the surface of the planet, he realized that not only had the people been restored, but all of the towns had as well and people were making their way back to their homes as if nothing had happened. 'But something has happened and you fools don't even know it. My father and Vegeta sacrificed their lives for you again and you don't even know. You just go live your lives without care and let Hercule take all the claim again. You're not hurting anyone but yourselves.' But he was wrong. They were hurting him. Gohan held back tears as he sped away faster to reach his mother and try to comfort her when she found out. He also needed to be there for his brother, Trunks, and his dear friend, Bulma.
"Gohan!" he heard his brother's cheery voice ring out as he came to a halt in the front yard of Capsule Corp. As soon as Gohan had touched down and transformed back into a plain Saiyan, Goten leaped into his arms. "We're alive and Buu is not. We're alive and Buu is not. Ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha!" the little Saiyan laughed as he sang his song. Trunks sang with him and the two took to the air, chasing each other around in circles and singing their celebration song.
Chi-Chi ran up and clutched her son in a death grip. Tears stained her face and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. "I was so worried about you." She froze for a second. "Wait a minute. Where is your father?" she asked in a hushed voice so Goten wouldn't hear. Bulma walked over to greet Gohan and Gohan grew extremely nervous. "I'm afraid that Father and Vegeta weren't brought back to life with the rest of us because they were already dead during their fight with Buu so when the Dragonballs were used, they weren't strong enough to bring Father and Vegeta back from two deaths."
Chi-Chi gasped and Bulma fell to the floor, crying. "Vegeta," she whispered, "you stupid bastard." She put her arms around herself and rocked back and forth. From the way Vegeta always treated Bulma, Gohan was likely to have thought that it wouldn't have affected her in such a way as to curse his name, but Gohan knew just how special the relationship between Vegeta and Bulma really was.
Seeing his mother crying the way she was, Trunks touched ground and ran over to her. "Mom, what's the matter?" Bulma didn't answer. Instead, she just wrapped her arms around her son and pulled him closer to her. "He sacrificed himself twice just to try to beat one horrible monster," she cried.
Goten had also run over to his mother, and Chi-Chi held him close to her chest. "It's going to be okay," she told her youngest son. "Everything is going to be alright, you'll see," she said. But Gohan knew better. Every time something like this happened, nothing got better. Matters always just got worse. Seeing the way the families were acting, Gohan couldn't take it. He took off again but this time, he didn't know where he was flying to. The wind was going to take him where he needed to be. The only thing that mattered was that he was alone. If his father was alive, Gohan would have killed him himself for the pain Goku was putting his mother through again. The pain he was putting his whole family through. The pain that Goku was never alive to know.
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Videl pulled her bathrobe around her skin tighter as she walked in her fuzzy slippers down the huge stairs of her mansion. Worry for her father was minimal compared for the worry she was stressing herself about in concern for Gohan. 'Why did he just take off like that? He didn't say anything or even hint to something. He just said 'Not all of the people are back'. Did he mean my father or Dende or his mother and brother or Trunks? Who did he mean? I hate it when his so mysterious. It makes him so hard to be around.' Videl shuffled her way into the kitchen and took out the carton of milk, which she opened and drank right out of.
'Being dead really makes you hungry,' she reflected as she made herself a large ham and cheese sandwich with Mayo, mustard, pickles, relish, and lettuce. She managed to eat the whole sandwich within four bites. She threw away the paper plate and sat back down at the table. Videl couldn't remember a time in her life that she had felt so lonely. 'Mother's dead, Gohan left, and no one knows where Father is.' Videl sighed and leaned against the table. 'Why is Gohan taking up so much of my thoughts now? I know I might care for him as a friend, but I can't have enough feelings to miss him this much, can I?' Videl sighed. 'It's not possible that I think about Gohan as more than a friend. His the kind of brother figure to me - the person I turn to when I need help saving the world. Not the person I want to have feelings for. All of this is far too confusing.'
The kitchen lights turned on and Videl jumped out of her chair and spun around. The maid, Melissa, was standing in the doorway with a sad expression on her face. "Is everything alright, Miss Videl? Not to intrude, but I heard you come down here and I was a little worried about you. I figured you had a lot on your mind and I just wanted you to know that if you need anything, I'm here to get it for you."
Videl took in a deep breath and then sighed. "Thank you very much for your concern and your offer, it is very kind of you to being watching out for me. But I am truly fine. I was a little thirsty and had a craving for a nice, tall sandwich and I didn't want to bother the chef, so I decided there was no harm in fixing myself a light snack."
Melissa bent her head down slightly. "Mistress Videl, you do not need to care about bothering the chef or anyone else who works here at your father's mansion. It is work for us to serve you. We do not earn our keeping if we cannot serve you. Please let us know about any problems you have in the future and we will fix them for you."
Videl felt pity for poor Melissa. Melissa was only one year older than Videl, yet she had worked in the mansion for almost five years. Hercule never treated any of his staff fairly - he instead treated them like slaves. Videl felt pity for Melissa and all the others that had to put up with her father's constant needs and wants, it just wasn't fair. "How about this. My father isn't home right now. I don't know where exactly he is, but he is away. While he is away, I expect you to keep the mansion in order, but you do not need to worry about me. I will make my own bed, cook my own meals, and get off my butt when I want something. I want you and the chef to relax a little and have a little rest while my father is away."
Melissa nodded and tilted her head down again. "This is a very kind offer from you Miss Videl and I am sure that the entire staff will be pleased. We cannot thank you enough."
"You don't have to thank me. Your happiness is enough for me," Videl answered softly before leaving the kitchen and going back upstairs. She thought about going back to her room, but she felt a little nervous about going back, so she decided instead to take a short visit to her father's room. Hercule's room was on the other wing of the mansion where no other rooms where. Hercule liked his privacy while he trained and did well, other things that Videl didn't really want to think about.
The bedroom door was unlocked and Videl softly pushed the door in, trying to make as little noise as possible. Even the maids knew that Videl wasn't supposed to enter her father's room, and Videl congratulated herself on giving them some time off. With free time, she doubted that the maids would bother with Hercule's room. Videl couldn't even remember the last time she had been in her father's room. Once she started to think about it, Videl realized that she hadn't ever been in her father's room. She had never seen his living quarters in the new mansion. She had only seen the bedroom he had shared with her mother when they lived in their old house. Videl mourned for her mother and pain was brought back as she saw many pictures of her mother and father on the dresser and nightstand. 'Why did you have to leave us, Mother? Father wasn't ready for you to go and neither was I. He has been drowning in pity and sorrow ever since and it has turned him into an egotistical man who does nothing more than train. I wish you were still here to help me.'
Videl spotted a special picture that caught her eye. She reached for the picture frame and softly picked it up. A still image of Videl, Hercule, and her mother was captured on the last vacation they had had as a family. Tears filled Videl's eyes as she remembered that it was on that vacation that Videl had gotten her first crush on a boy. 'Things are different now,' she told herself. 'Without you here, Mother, I have no one to talk to about my feelings towards guys and fighting. Without you, I'm always getting stuck in situations with Father that I don't have a clue about.' By now, tears were falling a mile a minute. Videl set that picture frame back down and held up a more recent picture of just her father and a group of his fans. 'If you were still here, Father would have never lied about beating Cell. He wouldn't be a celebrity and things would be normal again.' Anger filled Videl and before she could stop herself, she had thrown the picture frame into the wall where it broke and shattered into a thousand pieces. 'My life now is like the broken picture frame,' Videl thought sadly as she turned off the light and closed the door, making her way back to her bedroom.
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Gohan closed his eyes and let the wind play with his hair. The cool breeze felt nice - nicer than any kind of air in the Other World. Father... Gohan ran his hands through his hair and pulled on the roots. He was tired and frustrated with the way things were going. On his first day back alive, he discovered that his dad and Vegeta had both been killed and they hadn't been brought back to life by the Dragonballs. The promise his father had made to him kept running like a tape through his mind. 'I'll be home to take care of you, Goten, and Chi-Chi, I promise.' It played over and over again, tormenting him. 'I'll be home to take care of you, Goten, and Chi-Chi, I promise.' Gohan groaned. "Why did you have to leave me like this?" he questioned into the sky. "You promised to take care of Goten and Mother and you aren't even here!"
Gohan lifted his knees up to his chest and breathed in a deep breath. "And so now I'm stuck here, trying to take care of Mother, Goten, and go to school. Plus, all these mixed feelings and thoughts about Videl. Bulma is going to be extremely depressed because not only is her husband dead, but so is one of her best friends. And Vegeta has been alive for all of Trunks's life so Trunks is going to be very upset. I don't know how to deal with this."
"Gohan?" a voice whispered. He cocked his head to the side and saw Videl just standing on the other side of the ledge. Her white dress was swaying in the wind and her hair was flowing through the air like water.
"Videl, what are you doing here?" He stood up and turned to face her, dusting off his outfit. Videl smiled sweetly at him and walked up to him. She touched her clammy fingers to his cheek. "A little stressed out?" she asked.
Absentmindedly, Gohan pushed a few loose strands of Videl's hair behind her ear. "Maybe just a little."
She smiled again and moved her fingers down his cheek and rested them on his chin. "Well then maybe you just need something to relax you a little," she whispered.
Gohan's heart was beating a mile a minute and any second, he knew he was going to break out in a sweat. "What did you have in mind?" he asked. 'And how did you find me all the way out here?' Videl didn't say anything. Instead, she just pulled his chin down closer - much closer - to her lips. His lips were only an inch away and he was feeling very uncomfortable when Videl's hand started to fade away. As Gohan watched, so did the rest of her body until there was nothing left of her except a faint smell of raspberries.
'What the heck just happened?' Gohan asked himself as he sat back down at the end of the ledge, trying to remember every feature of the ghost Videl.
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Videl shot up straight in bed. She gasped for air, her heart pounding frantically. 'What was that?' she questioned herself about her dream. 'I did not just try to kiss Gohan. I couldn't have. The dream was far to different from real life. Why would Gohan be out in the sandy domes on a cliff? That dream was eerie and far too life like. I need to try to go back to sleep.'
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Birds chirped and fluttered around on the lawn. Videl wanted nothing more that to just kill them all. Don't judge her wrong - Videl loved animals - but she was tired. She couldn't go back to sleep after her odd dream about Gohan. She didn't know what to think of it. 'Does it mean I have feelings for him? Or does it mean that he's upset and stressed out over something?' Videl didn't know, but she had a hunch that she would be able to ask him at school.
After dragging her butt out of bed, Videl decided to do something she had never had the courage to do before. She pulled her bathrobe on over her silk nightgown and made her way back to her father's room. She opened the door and found that the picture frame was still laying, broken, on the carpet. But that wasn't what Videl had come to get. She flung open the walk-in closet door and rummaged in the clothing until, under it, she found her mother's old trunk. Using what strength she had recovered, she pulled the heavy trunk out.
Taking in a deep breath, Videl flipped open the top to discover a treasure load of her mother's old clothes. Clothes that her mother had worn when she was Videl's age. Trying not to think about it, Videl looked through all of the clothes until she found an outfit that suited her. The top was a black, low v-neck halter top. The pants were a fluorescent-blue leopard skin design made of leather. 'I'm wearing this for you, Mother. Not for anyone else.' Videl caught herself blushing. 'Well, maybe one other person.'
Videl closed the trunk and pushed it back into the back of the closet. She carried the top and pants back to her bedroom, where she changed into her mother's old attire. She wore her black sandals with the outfit and tied her hair in two braids, one on either side of her head, just above her ears. 'Please be proud.'
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Videl could already hear the guys whistling at her as she walked into the courtyard at Orange Star High School. Videl tried to ignore them, but she wanted nothing less than to ram her elbow into their stomachs and her knee in their crouches. She smiled at the thought and held her text book closer to her chest to keep prying eyes away. The idea didn't contribute much help, but at least it made Videl feel a little better about her outfit.
The first bell rang and Videl raced into her homeroom, which happened to be math. Videl was the last one to enter the class before the tardy bell rang. Erasa leaned forward. "Where's Gohan?" she asked Videl.
Videl shrugged. "How should I know?" she asked back.
Erasa shrugged this time. "I don't know. It just seems like you and Gohan are close, that's all."
"We are close. We're close friends. And nothing more," Videl hissed as she lowered her voice while the teacher started his lecture.
Erasa tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Fine, no need to bite my head off for asking a simple question. And what's up with the new wardrobe? I like it!"
Videl sighed and leaned on her arm. 'It's going to be a long day.'
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Since Gohan didn't turn up at school at all that day, Videl decided to pay a little visit to his house. She took off at the school grounds after school and flew straight to his house without stopping. Videl landed in his front yard about thirty minutes later, tired from the long haul. She stepped up to the front door. As soon as her knuckle had touched the door to knock, the door flew open and Gohan almost ran into her before he noticed her standing in front of him.
Gohan stared at Videl. 'What on Earth is she doing here? And at a time like this? She really needs to plan her timing a little better.' Chi-Chi came storming after Gohan with a frying pan. "You get back here young man right now! You don't talk about your father like that in this house!" she yelled.
Gohan sighed. "Then why do you think I'm going outside?" he questioned.
Chi-Chi gasped. "Don't you get smart with me, Mister, or I swear to God I will-" for the first time, Chi-Chi saw Videl standing in the doorway. Chi-Chi dropped the frying pan at once and pulled Videl into the house. "Such a nice surprise to see you Videl! How are you? And your father, how's he doing?"
Gohan glanced at Videl and then exited the house through the front door. Videl stood up to leave, but Chi-Chi tried to stop her from leaving. "Stay a little longer, Videl. Gohan will be back soon enough. He's really upset about his father that he's being a tad bit antisocial."
Videl raised an eyebrow. "What happened to his father?" she questioned.
Chi-Chi looked down at her fingers. "Oh, you know. This and that happened and well, he made a decision to do something and it ended up that he couldn't, well," Chi-Chi choked on her words and a tear ran down her cheek. She stood up abruptly, and she wiped away her fallen tears. "Maybe you should hear it from Gohan. If you go now, I'm sure you will be able to catch up with him."
Videl stood up and nodded. 'One minute, the woman's clinging to me and telling me to stay. Then poof, she's trying to shove me out of the house. It's no wonder Gohan turned out the way he did. Of course, why Chi-Chi wanted me to stay in the first place is beyond me. The lady hates my guts.' Videl closed the front door behind herself. It made a soft clicking noise as it locked. 'Now if I were Gohan, where would I go?' she asked herself. She glanced up to the sky and noted that the clouds were getting heavy and gray, threatening to release a down pour of rain. If she was going to talk to Gohan, she'd better find him fast.
Videl walked quickly through the vast land in front of Gohan's house. Getting slightly annoyed, Videl took to the air and shot straight up, searching to find Gohan. She saw him sitting on a rock at a nearby lake. Videl flew diagonally downwards and landed behind a few bushes. She walked over to Gohan and sat down on the large rock next to him. "Hey," she said softly. "Hi," he answered, not bothering to face her. He threw a pebble into the water and it left ripples along the water surface. Videl tucked her hair behind her ears. "Why didn't you come to school today? Everyone was asking where you were."
Gohan shrugged. "I needed to think about some things. School wasn't the place to think about them, so I stayed home. Plus, my mother needed some help around the house, so I stayed to help her with that."
Videl sighed and felt a few, small raindrops hit her shoulders and face. "I heard that something happened to your father, but Chi-Chi didn't explain anything to me. She just simply told me to come out here and have you tell me."
For the first time, Gohan turned to face Videl. "There's not that much to say." As soon as Gohan said that, the clouds burst open and rain started pouring down on the two teenagers. Videl got up and started running toward the house, but Gohan grabbed her wrist and held her back. Videl turned to face him. "My father died and he couldn't be brought back by the Dragonballs, which means that he won't be able to come back from the dead like everyone else. The same deal for Vegeta."
Chapter 1: Say It Ain't So
Hey everyone! For all of you who actually read these little author notes I put at the top of some of my chapters, and you've read this part of the story before, you'll notice that this has changed. I've gone through my story again, from the beginning, and I've edited it. And I've also changed thoughts from brackets to little '', because they seem more natural. For those of you who have read the beginning of my story before I put it in the freezer, I thank you so much for returning. I realize just how long it's been, but I'm going to be updating this again and I hope to finish it soon. I'll add a new chapter at least once a week. Read on and thanks to all my reviewers!
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Videl screamed as an icy blue, darkest surrounded her body. She kicked and punched her invisible enemy. Trying to breathe was just too hard for her. The blue jelly like substance felt freezing against her plain, pale skin, and for the first time Videl noticed that she was naked. She was swimming, naked, in a vast emptiness, choking without oxygen.
A bright light flashed in front of her eyes and Videl felt herself being sucked down into a whirlpool of the jelly substance. Swimming against the current sucking her down was just too hard for Videl. She needed to breathe and so she tried. Instead of air, the gel filled her mouth and lungs and Videl automatically felt her life give way. 'Crap,' she thought, 'I'm dead and I'm dieing again. Life just isn't fair at all.'
Once Videl had enough strength to open her eyes, she realized that the gel was gone and the common images of Earth's surface filled her mind. As soon as she felt her butt hit the ground, she knew she wasn't dead anymore. She was far from it. 'I have no idea what the hell just happened, but I know that it's good to be back home again. Thanks to whoever saved me.'
Dieing had been worse than Hell. She almost wished that she had been sent to Hell instead, but thought better of it because she didn't want to get too much of a tan. She might have ended up with skin cancer and nobody, not a one, wanted that.
The sounds of noisy people filled her ears and as she looked around, she saw the whole Earth's population, all dropped into a small town which Videl knew wasn't Satan City. After glancing around several times, Videl's whole face lit up when her eyes landed on the person she wanted to see the most - Gohan.
At that same moment, Gohan turned and faced her way. Their eyes locked for a few brief seconds. 'Boy it's good to be home,' Gohan thought as he stood up straight while Videl hurried his way. Before he knew it, Videl had jumped into his arms and squealed with delight. "The earth is saved! Isn't it great?" she asked him.
Gohan stared down at the petite figure that had her arms encircled around his waist. "Yeah, it's great," he agreed.
Videl let go of him and stared up at him in shock. 'What the hell is the matter with him?' she thought. "Buu is dead and all of Earth's population has been brought back to life and you're not happy?"
Gohan moved away from Videl. "Not all of Earth's population is back." Gohan powered up into a Super Saiyan and the eyes of all the Earthlings turned to him as his eyes turned a bright aqua and his hair a yellow blond. Without thinking anymore of it, he took off in the general direction where he felt Bulma's, Chi-Chi's, Goten's and Trunks's ki from. As he flew off over the surface of the planet, he realized that not only had the people been restored, but all of the towns had as well and people were making their way back to their homes as if nothing had happened. 'But something has happened and you fools don't even know it. My father and Vegeta sacrificed their lives for you again and you don't even know. You just go live your lives without care and let Hercule take all the claim again. You're not hurting anyone but yourselves.' But he was wrong. They were hurting him. Gohan held back tears as he sped away faster to reach his mother and try to comfort her when she found out. He also needed to be there for his brother, Trunks, and his dear friend, Bulma.
"Gohan!" he heard his brother's cheery voice ring out as he came to a halt in the front yard of Capsule Corp. As soon as Gohan had touched down and transformed back into a plain Saiyan, Goten leaped into his arms. "We're alive and Buu is not. We're alive and Buu is not. Ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha!" the little Saiyan laughed as he sang his song. Trunks sang with him and the two took to the air, chasing each other around in circles and singing their celebration song.
Chi-Chi ran up and clutched her son in a death grip. Tears stained her face and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. "I was so worried about you." She froze for a second. "Wait a minute. Where is your father?" she asked in a hushed voice so Goten wouldn't hear. Bulma walked over to greet Gohan and Gohan grew extremely nervous. "I'm afraid that Father and Vegeta weren't brought back to life with the rest of us because they were already dead during their fight with Buu so when the Dragonballs were used, they weren't strong enough to bring Father and Vegeta back from two deaths."
Chi-Chi gasped and Bulma fell to the floor, crying. "Vegeta," she whispered, "you stupid bastard." She put her arms around herself and rocked back and forth. From the way Vegeta always treated Bulma, Gohan was likely to have thought that it wouldn't have affected her in such a way as to curse his name, but Gohan knew just how special the relationship between Vegeta and Bulma really was.
Seeing his mother crying the way she was, Trunks touched ground and ran over to her. "Mom, what's the matter?" Bulma didn't answer. Instead, she just wrapped her arms around her son and pulled him closer to her. "He sacrificed himself twice just to try to beat one horrible monster," she cried.
Goten had also run over to his mother, and Chi-Chi held him close to her chest. "It's going to be okay," she told her youngest son. "Everything is going to be alright, you'll see," she said. But Gohan knew better. Every time something like this happened, nothing got better. Matters always just got worse. Seeing the way the families were acting, Gohan couldn't take it. He took off again but this time, he didn't know where he was flying to. The wind was going to take him where he needed to be. The only thing that mattered was that he was alone. If his father was alive, Gohan would have killed him himself for the pain Goku was putting his mother through again. The pain he was putting his whole family through. The pain that Goku was never alive to know.
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Videl pulled her bathrobe around her skin tighter as she walked in her fuzzy slippers down the huge stairs of her mansion. Worry for her father was minimal compared for the worry she was stressing herself about in concern for Gohan. 'Why did he just take off like that? He didn't say anything or even hint to something. He just said 'Not all of the people are back'. Did he mean my father or Dende or his mother and brother or Trunks? Who did he mean? I hate it when his so mysterious. It makes him so hard to be around.' Videl shuffled her way into the kitchen and took out the carton of milk, which she opened and drank right out of.
'Being dead really makes you hungry,' she reflected as she made herself a large ham and cheese sandwich with Mayo, mustard, pickles, relish, and lettuce. She managed to eat the whole sandwich within four bites. She threw away the paper plate and sat back down at the table. Videl couldn't remember a time in her life that she had felt so lonely. 'Mother's dead, Gohan left, and no one knows where Father is.' Videl sighed and leaned against the table. 'Why is Gohan taking up so much of my thoughts now? I know I might care for him as a friend, but I can't have enough feelings to miss him this much, can I?' Videl sighed. 'It's not possible that I think about Gohan as more than a friend. His the kind of brother figure to me - the person I turn to when I need help saving the world. Not the person I want to have feelings for. All of this is far too confusing.'
The kitchen lights turned on and Videl jumped out of her chair and spun around. The maid, Melissa, was standing in the doorway with a sad expression on her face. "Is everything alright, Miss Videl? Not to intrude, but I heard you come down here and I was a little worried about you. I figured you had a lot on your mind and I just wanted you to know that if you need anything, I'm here to get it for you."
Videl took in a deep breath and then sighed. "Thank you very much for your concern and your offer, it is very kind of you to being watching out for me. But I am truly fine. I was a little thirsty and had a craving for a nice, tall sandwich and I didn't want to bother the chef, so I decided there was no harm in fixing myself a light snack."
Melissa bent her head down slightly. "Mistress Videl, you do not need to care about bothering the chef or anyone else who works here at your father's mansion. It is work for us to serve you. We do not earn our keeping if we cannot serve you. Please let us know about any problems you have in the future and we will fix them for you."
Videl felt pity for poor Melissa. Melissa was only one year older than Videl, yet she had worked in the mansion for almost five years. Hercule never treated any of his staff fairly - he instead treated them like slaves. Videl felt pity for Melissa and all the others that had to put up with her father's constant needs and wants, it just wasn't fair. "How about this. My father isn't home right now. I don't know where exactly he is, but he is away. While he is away, I expect you to keep the mansion in order, but you do not need to worry about me. I will make my own bed, cook my own meals, and get off my butt when I want something. I want you and the chef to relax a little and have a little rest while my father is away."
Melissa nodded and tilted her head down again. "This is a very kind offer from you Miss Videl and I am sure that the entire staff will be pleased. We cannot thank you enough."
"You don't have to thank me. Your happiness is enough for me," Videl answered softly before leaving the kitchen and going back upstairs. She thought about going back to her room, but she felt a little nervous about going back, so she decided instead to take a short visit to her father's room. Hercule's room was on the other wing of the mansion where no other rooms where. Hercule liked his privacy while he trained and did well, other things that Videl didn't really want to think about.
The bedroom door was unlocked and Videl softly pushed the door in, trying to make as little noise as possible. Even the maids knew that Videl wasn't supposed to enter her father's room, and Videl congratulated herself on giving them some time off. With free time, she doubted that the maids would bother with Hercule's room. Videl couldn't even remember the last time she had been in her father's room. Once she started to think about it, Videl realized that she hadn't ever been in her father's room. She had never seen his living quarters in the new mansion. She had only seen the bedroom he had shared with her mother when they lived in their old house. Videl mourned for her mother and pain was brought back as she saw many pictures of her mother and father on the dresser and nightstand. 'Why did you have to leave us, Mother? Father wasn't ready for you to go and neither was I. He has been drowning in pity and sorrow ever since and it has turned him into an egotistical man who does nothing more than train. I wish you were still here to help me.'
Videl spotted a special picture that caught her eye. She reached for the picture frame and softly picked it up. A still image of Videl, Hercule, and her mother was captured on the last vacation they had had as a family. Tears filled Videl's eyes as she remembered that it was on that vacation that Videl had gotten her first crush on a boy. 'Things are different now,' she told herself. 'Without you here, Mother, I have no one to talk to about my feelings towards guys and fighting. Without you, I'm always getting stuck in situations with Father that I don't have a clue about.' By now, tears were falling a mile a minute. Videl set that picture frame back down and held up a more recent picture of just her father and a group of his fans. 'If you were still here, Father would have never lied about beating Cell. He wouldn't be a celebrity and things would be normal again.' Anger filled Videl and before she could stop herself, she had thrown the picture frame into the wall where it broke and shattered into a thousand pieces. 'My life now is like the broken picture frame,' Videl thought sadly as she turned off the light and closed the door, making her way back to her bedroom.
++++++++++
Gohan closed his eyes and let the wind play with his hair. The cool breeze felt nice - nicer than any kind of air in the Other World. Father... Gohan ran his hands through his hair and pulled on the roots. He was tired and frustrated with the way things were going. On his first day back alive, he discovered that his dad and Vegeta had both been killed and they hadn't been brought back to life by the Dragonballs. The promise his father had made to him kept running like a tape through his mind. 'I'll be home to take care of you, Goten, and Chi-Chi, I promise.' It played over and over again, tormenting him. 'I'll be home to take care of you, Goten, and Chi-Chi, I promise.' Gohan groaned. "Why did you have to leave me like this?" he questioned into the sky. "You promised to take care of Goten and Mother and you aren't even here!"
Gohan lifted his knees up to his chest and breathed in a deep breath. "And so now I'm stuck here, trying to take care of Mother, Goten, and go to school. Plus, all these mixed feelings and thoughts about Videl. Bulma is going to be extremely depressed because not only is her husband dead, but so is one of her best friends. And Vegeta has been alive for all of Trunks's life so Trunks is going to be very upset. I don't know how to deal with this."
"Gohan?" a voice whispered. He cocked his head to the side and saw Videl just standing on the other side of the ledge. Her white dress was swaying in the wind and her hair was flowing through the air like water.
"Videl, what are you doing here?" He stood up and turned to face her, dusting off his outfit. Videl smiled sweetly at him and walked up to him. She touched her clammy fingers to his cheek. "A little stressed out?" she asked.
Absentmindedly, Gohan pushed a few loose strands of Videl's hair behind her ear. "Maybe just a little."
She smiled again and moved her fingers down his cheek and rested them on his chin. "Well then maybe you just need something to relax you a little," she whispered.
Gohan's heart was beating a mile a minute and any second, he knew he was going to break out in a sweat. "What did you have in mind?" he asked. 'And how did you find me all the way out here?' Videl didn't say anything. Instead, she just pulled his chin down closer - much closer - to her lips. His lips were only an inch away and he was feeling very uncomfortable when Videl's hand started to fade away. As Gohan watched, so did the rest of her body until there was nothing left of her except a faint smell of raspberries.
'What the heck just happened?' Gohan asked himself as he sat back down at the end of the ledge, trying to remember every feature of the ghost Videl.
++++++++++
Videl shot up straight in bed. She gasped for air, her heart pounding frantically. 'What was that?' she questioned herself about her dream. 'I did not just try to kiss Gohan. I couldn't have. The dream was far to different from real life. Why would Gohan be out in the sandy domes on a cliff? That dream was eerie and far too life like. I need to try to go back to sleep.'
++++++++++
Birds chirped and fluttered around on the lawn. Videl wanted nothing more that to just kill them all. Don't judge her wrong - Videl loved animals - but she was tired. She couldn't go back to sleep after her odd dream about Gohan. She didn't know what to think of it. 'Does it mean I have feelings for him? Or does it mean that he's upset and stressed out over something?' Videl didn't know, but she had a hunch that she would be able to ask him at school.
After dragging her butt out of bed, Videl decided to do something she had never had the courage to do before. She pulled her bathrobe on over her silk nightgown and made her way back to her father's room. She opened the door and found that the picture frame was still laying, broken, on the carpet. But that wasn't what Videl had come to get. She flung open the walk-in closet door and rummaged in the clothing until, under it, she found her mother's old trunk. Using what strength she had recovered, she pulled the heavy trunk out.
Taking in a deep breath, Videl flipped open the top to discover a treasure load of her mother's old clothes. Clothes that her mother had worn when she was Videl's age. Trying not to think about it, Videl looked through all of the clothes until she found an outfit that suited her. The top was a black, low v-neck halter top. The pants were a fluorescent-blue leopard skin design made of leather. 'I'm wearing this for you, Mother. Not for anyone else.' Videl caught herself blushing. 'Well, maybe one other person.'
Videl closed the trunk and pushed it back into the back of the closet. She carried the top and pants back to her bedroom, where she changed into her mother's old attire. She wore her black sandals with the outfit and tied her hair in two braids, one on either side of her head, just above her ears. 'Please be proud.'
++++++++++
Videl could already hear the guys whistling at her as she walked into the courtyard at Orange Star High School. Videl tried to ignore them, but she wanted nothing less than to ram her elbow into their stomachs and her knee in their crouches. She smiled at the thought and held her text book closer to her chest to keep prying eyes away. The idea didn't contribute much help, but at least it made Videl feel a little better about her outfit.
The first bell rang and Videl raced into her homeroom, which happened to be math. Videl was the last one to enter the class before the tardy bell rang. Erasa leaned forward. "Where's Gohan?" she asked Videl.
Videl shrugged. "How should I know?" she asked back.
Erasa shrugged this time. "I don't know. It just seems like you and Gohan are close, that's all."
"We are close. We're close friends. And nothing more," Videl hissed as she lowered her voice while the teacher started his lecture.
Erasa tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Fine, no need to bite my head off for asking a simple question. And what's up with the new wardrobe? I like it!"
Videl sighed and leaned on her arm. 'It's going to be a long day.'
++++++++++
Since Gohan didn't turn up at school at all that day, Videl decided to pay a little visit to his house. She took off at the school grounds after school and flew straight to his house without stopping. Videl landed in his front yard about thirty minutes later, tired from the long haul. She stepped up to the front door. As soon as her knuckle had touched the door to knock, the door flew open and Gohan almost ran into her before he noticed her standing in front of him.
Gohan stared at Videl. 'What on Earth is she doing here? And at a time like this? She really needs to plan her timing a little better.' Chi-Chi came storming after Gohan with a frying pan. "You get back here young man right now! You don't talk about your father like that in this house!" she yelled.
Gohan sighed. "Then why do you think I'm going outside?" he questioned.
Chi-Chi gasped. "Don't you get smart with me, Mister, or I swear to God I will-" for the first time, Chi-Chi saw Videl standing in the doorway. Chi-Chi dropped the frying pan at once and pulled Videl into the house. "Such a nice surprise to see you Videl! How are you? And your father, how's he doing?"
Gohan glanced at Videl and then exited the house through the front door. Videl stood up to leave, but Chi-Chi tried to stop her from leaving. "Stay a little longer, Videl. Gohan will be back soon enough. He's really upset about his father that he's being a tad bit antisocial."
Videl raised an eyebrow. "What happened to his father?" she questioned.
Chi-Chi looked down at her fingers. "Oh, you know. This and that happened and well, he made a decision to do something and it ended up that he couldn't, well," Chi-Chi choked on her words and a tear ran down her cheek. She stood up abruptly, and she wiped away her fallen tears. "Maybe you should hear it from Gohan. If you go now, I'm sure you will be able to catch up with him."
Videl stood up and nodded. 'One minute, the woman's clinging to me and telling me to stay. Then poof, she's trying to shove me out of the house. It's no wonder Gohan turned out the way he did. Of course, why Chi-Chi wanted me to stay in the first place is beyond me. The lady hates my guts.' Videl closed the front door behind herself. It made a soft clicking noise as it locked. 'Now if I were Gohan, where would I go?' she asked herself. She glanced up to the sky and noted that the clouds were getting heavy and gray, threatening to release a down pour of rain. If she was going to talk to Gohan, she'd better find him fast.
Videl walked quickly through the vast land in front of Gohan's house. Getting slightly annoyed, Videl took to the air and shot straight up, searching to find Gohan. She saw him sitting on a rock at a nearby lake. Videl flew diagonally downwards and landed behind a few bushes. She walked over to Gohan and sat down on the large rock next to him. "Hey," she said softly. "Hi," he answered, not bothering to face her. He threw a pebble into the water and it left ripples along the water surface. Videl tucked her hair behind her ears. "Why didn't you come to school today? Everyone was asking where you were."
Gohan shrugged. "I needed to think about some things. School wasn't the place to think about them, so I stayed home. Plus, my mother needed some help around the house, so I stayed to help her with that."
Videl sighed and felt a few, small raindrops hit her shoulders and face. "I heard that something happened to your father, but Chi-Chi didn't explain anything to me. She just simply told me to come out here and have you tell me."
For the first time, Gohan turned to face Videl. "There's not that much to say." As soon as Gohan said that, the clouds burst open and rain started pouring down on the two teenagers. Videl got up and started running toward the house, but Gohan grabbed her wrist and held her back. Videl turned to face him. "My father died and he couldn't be brought back by the Dragonballs, which means that he won't be able to come back from the dead like everyone else. The same deal for Vegeta."
