Gohan the Prince
Beaner-Bop
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A/N: Go me! This is actually one of the few of my stories that I'm still a fan of -,-;;
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Disclaimer: Ha.
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Chapter Twenty Three: My Family
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Lenora's hand settled in his, her bones touching his skin and she pulled him up towards her effortlessly.
"Oh Miles! I knew you'd say yes!" Lenora told him lovingly. Gohan refrained from rolling his eyes. Only because you annoyed the crap out of me, 'dear'.
She kept one hand in his and put her other one on the shoulder. Gohan shook his head and started swaying with her. He closed his eyes after a while, thinking it'd be easier to concentrate that way.
A large gust of wind started playing with his hair and the next time he opened them, right after the wind, they weren't inside anymore.
They were back in the castle.
And the girl in front of him was no longer bones, but rather the girl he got glimpses of back in the forest. He looked around the room and was surprised when he saw multiple couples dancing around him.
What's going on…?
He thought, looking more confused. What probably confused him the most was the music in the room.
Hey, I like this song!
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Videl was the first to reach the railing, practically falling over it when she got to the ballroom. In front of her was a scene that she'd seen many times before here.
People dancing, music, fancy clothing…except this time, one person wasn't transparent.
Gohan!
Videl was about to run down to him when Chichi grabbed her arm.
"Videl!" Chichi whispered harshly. "You can't just go down there! You could completely break everything!" Videl looked back at Chichi, confused as hell.
"What?" Chichi shook her head at the expected answer.
"Videl, look down there." Videl did, "When you saw this before, did anyone see you?" Videl shook her head, but then remembered.
"Lenora did!" she told the older woman. Chichi shook her head.
"Besides her?" Videl shook her head, and Chichi told her to look down there again as she explains.
"Videl, look at that. Gohan is there now. You see all of those dancers down there? They can all see him - but they still can't see you. Chances are though that he can see you, and you going down there and trying to get his attention will only make him look insane because it'll look like he's talking to the wall." Videl nodded at her explanation, as it made…some sort of sense and looked at just the couple which Gohan was a part of. She couldn't help the sigh that escaped. What she wasn't expecting was a kind hand on her back. She turned to see Chichi smiling down at her sadly.
"We'll get him out of this, just you wait." Videl looked at her and nodded before turning back to the couple, her gut feeling growing worse.
I didn't know that I shouldn't have been unsure about that…
Videl kept staring at the couple when her eyes widened as Lenora pushed herself from Gohan and pointed up at them…
She looked closer - no, she wasn't pointing at them, she was pointing at…Videl turned around and saw, much to her disbelief a solid Emily.
"Who are you?" She asked. Her voice somewhat gravelly, from sadness or anger, she wasn't sure. She wasn't pointing the question to Videl or Chichi, she was pointing it straight to Lenora.
"I'm invited." Lenora responded. Emily shook her head angrily.
"I didn't ask if you were invited, I asked who you were." Videl looked around and saw that Chichi was…nowhere to be found. She began to look around more frantically but the older woman still wasn't anywhere to be seen. Before she could get to worried about the woman though, Lenora answered Emily.
"Miles invited me." She said sharply. Emily looked at her angrily.
"And where is Miles?" Lenora looked at Emily as if she was insane. She pointed to Gohan.
"He's right there." Videl decided to pay more attention, this was getting pretty interesting…
Emily shook her head but looked more bemused than angry. "What in Kami's name are you talking about?" She was beginning to lose her patience, her calm demeanor beginning to break, "That is not Miles."
Everyone on the dance floor had stopped dancing now. They were looking at the two of them arguing and studying Gohan who was looking somewhat sick to his stomach. Videl shook her head at him sadly, she knew he felt terrible about things like that, and his confidence always seemed to get shot farther and farther down every time people looked at him. Poor guy.
Everyone was beginning to shove their faces into his, as though they were still wondering whether or not Gohan was this Miles character or not.
Videl was wondering if they were all high.
Kami! Can't they tell that's not Miles?! She thought.
One of the women turned to Emily.
"This certainly looks like Miles, Emily." She said, her eyes dull. Videl wondered why but didn't settle on it, looking behind her because she heard Chichi coming back…with a man who looked…well…kinda like Gohan she supposed. Chichi whispered harshly to Emily, making her look behind her to see the man.
She smiled.
"Miles!" She said happily, flinging her arms around his neck. The man, Miles, grabbed her and held her, looking somewhat confused as to what was going on.
"Emily, what is it? What's wrong?" Emily moved her face from his shoulder and pointed down at Lenora. Miles and Emily both saw two women and a man leaving but they ignored them, focusing their attention onto Lenora only.
"She said you invited her, can you clarify that?" Lenora pointed angrily at them.
"You're not the real Miles! Miles was here just a minu-" She looked around her, Gohan nowhere to be seen, "Miles! Miles! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
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They ran.
Videl, Chichi, and Gohan just ran.
They didn't stop until Chichi stopped them in a clearing in the forest like the one Lenora stopped them in before and motioned for them to sit down. Videl was the first one to speak up.
"What…the hell…was…THAT?" She practically screamed, pointing back in the direction of the castle. Chichi sighed.
"That was my family." She said simply. Videl and Gohan looked at her with open mouths, mostly from shock.
"Your-you, WHAT?!" Videl screamed again, looking angry. "I've been here for what feels like ages and you're telling me that, that…that was you family?!" Chichi nodded again.
"Yeah, pretty much." Videl and Gohan looked at each other for a moment before looking back to Chichi.
"Mom…can we ask some questions?" Chichi nodded.
"If you want."
"Mrs. Son, why did we come here?" Chichi snorted.
"Of course you start with that one, but then again…" she trailed off before beginning, "…I suppose you can call it a curse, but it's more of a spell gone wrong." Videl looked at her confused.
"This is all a curse? Who…who made it?"
"The curse?" Videl nodded. "Believe it or not, Lenora." Gohan looked at his mother strangely.
"Wait, she made this? Why?" Chichi sighed.
"As with all families, no family is perfect." She was quiet for a while. "Miles, my great grandfather if I'm right, was cheating on his fiancee, Emily, with Lenora. He promised Lenora that he would love and cherish her forever - than dropped her like a bug." Videl winced, pity beginning to grow again for Lenora.
"So, he just, left?" Chichi nodded at Gohan's question.
"Basically, and he tried to forget her, but, she wouldn't let him forget her. You see, Lenora really did, love him…in her own way. When it became clear to her that Miles was choosing someone over her, she couldn't…stand it. So she made this spell that she thought would, she hoped, she belonged in this family. That's where she made her mistake." Chichi looked at the two kids, wondering if they picked it up, then shook her head at their blank faces, "She said family, not what would've stopped this curse ages ago, which would've meant it just happened with Miles, but she didn't say Miles." The teenagers nodded.
"So…is the curse over now?" Gohan asked his mother. Chichi shook her head.
"No…it'll never end, until…" Her eyes got a distant look and Videl shook her lightly to get her out of it.
"When will it end Mrs. Son?" Chichi turned and smiled at her sadly.
"When Lenora finally gets her guy." After that Chichi stood up, rubbed her hands on her clothes then motioned for them to follow her.
"Come on, knowing Baba, she didn't give you guys a ride here, so we better get moving."
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A/N: Next chapter is EPILOGUE! YES!!!