The Day Dreams Died

Disclaimers: I do not own Dbz cause then if I did then the world would not be safe…

I know it's been ages and I always have the same excuse. It was homework, it was school, it was college, it was friends- heck it was life.

It was GT too but that's a different story entirely- and I'd rather not have that fan base breathing down my neck so I'll keep my impassioned opinions to myself.

I have been, recently, losing interest in this fandom but I will still attempt to complete my favorite stories- more or less. I can't make any promises or announcements about discontinued stories so just keep in mind- if I lose interest then I lose interest. Stop sending me emails begging me to continue. It just either ticks me off or makes me feel bad. It never makes me want to write more.

And so- enough of my excuses and onward with story!

-LAST TIME ON TRIPLE D-

"I hate you, sayians."

"Nobody's perfect."

Dizzy... Tired...

"If you all haven't forgotten, Gohan is one of them."

"That you're a sayian, baka."

"Noooo! Sayians are monsters!"

"Gohan knows he's going to die. Which makes him a greater warrior than most."

We are monsters...

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Chapter 11:

Something Ugly This Way Goes

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"What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt?"

-Kahlil Gibran

—

The eyes watched. They watched as those murderers greetedanother. Another of them. The other. They watched as the other murdered the murderers. They watched as the otherproclaimed justice. They watched as the other turned. They watched the other watch them.

"Hey."

The other reached out hands- bloody hands. It, eyes, screamed and hid.

"You're a sayian. No. Go away!" cried it.

The other stood- quietly in the frame of the dying sun. The other's eyes were leaking not much unlike it's own.

"Yes. That is what I am, isn't it?"

The other left. The eyes knew this but did not move. It waited a long while and then finally came out. Then from the doorway, the eyes spotted the other's work.

Graves lined the village all given freshly picked flowers to call their own. The eyes widened and then welled with tears.

"S-sayian," It wept, and went back inside to hide again.

---

He had become the monster of his nightmares. Gohan didn't need to have a Namek-jin child run in fear from him to know that. To know that he was ugly.

He brushed the dead soil off onto his worn uniform. His hands still were dirty- and he still killed some of Frezia's own men. It was in no way self defense. He wanted to kill them. For following orders. For being as stupid as he was.

Gohan paused- looking into the clear waters this wonderful planet provided. The planet they were destroying. Why hadn't I'd seen it before?

Trying to avoid the calculating expression his reflection gave him, Gohan dipped his arms in until the water had gone to his elbows. He rested in this awkward position, watching the remarkable blue water ripple only momentarily at his intrusion. It accepted the burden he was, making the water change it's course around him, as just another portion of their creek. Gohan knew that once he removed himself the lake would be upset, rippled, for just a moment and then become still again.

The demi sayian then wondered if, in life, he had made such an entrance and if he'd make such an exit, in death. His reflection lined with ripples.

He pondered on death, careful not to shift his hands beneath the waves. Would he be missed? Would he be mourned? Gohan had seen far too many unmourned deaths to know, exactly, what happens when one is mourned.

The reflection rippled again. It wasn't until then, that he looked himself full in the face, he realized he had been crying.

Gohan removed himself from the lake, deeming himself far to great a encumbrance.

Bent at the knees, he charged himself into the sky. He hovered momentarily and shot off towards death once again. Gohan wiped away a single trail from his cheek and let the other dry with the wind.

It felt good- to finally be able to cry.

---

"We have to go after him."

Vegeta looked up dully at his temporary companion as Goku proclaimed the same statement that he had just shot down not even ten minutes ago. The sayian huffed and responded the same response.

"He doesn't want to be saved."

Goku sat back down again. The former prince had to wonder how the man could stand to continuously rise and lower himself so much. Earthlings were such indecisive creatures.

"Besides, by now I'd say he's dead."

Goku cast him a wistful glance and then lowered his gaze back the ground. "You think Frezia would kill a traitor that fast?"

"Fast, isn't the right word," Vegeta muttered, eyeing the darkening skies. "Frezia never kills anyone fast."

Goku bit his tongue, not exactly wanting reiteration of the argument. Leaning forward in his perch, Goku closed his eyes. In his eyelids, he could see the image of his son running at him- the dragon being backdrop to his rebirth. Then Gohan would fling his little arms about his father's knees, and cry that he missed his 'Otousan'.

When Goku opened his eyes again, he knew that wish could never come true. He suddenly felt this whole trip- was for naught.

"Goku?"

Goku looked up into Bulma's soft young face. Her short hair drawn back behind a crimson headband still found ways to leak across her face. Goku couldn't help but want to cry and be consulted by his childhood companion. He wanted to- but he couldn't. It wouldn't be fair to Bulma, who had no idea of the loss that occurred.

"It's nothing."

He stood, at last, and gave Vegeta one more look before declaring, "I'm going after him."

Bulma asked,"Who?" inevitably ignored.

"You don't even know where to start," Krillen piped up from the opposite corner of the room.

"That doesn't matter. I'll find him. I will."

Goku made for the exit. Vegeta watched him go indifferently.

"Kakarot."

Goku turned, eyeing Vegeta with a look that said just-try-to-stop-me. Vegeta stared back undaunted.

"Don't die."

The sayian smiled back at his would-be prince, and nodded.

Vegeta reminisced, as Goku flew way out of sight, that that was probably the first and only order his underling would ever try to obey.

---

Yanked down a path he had yanked thousands of others down not so long ago, Gohan refused to lose his composure. He was given no chance the moment he landed. But he did not try to defend himself either.

They roughly cuffed him and beat him into a submission he was already in. But through the bruises and scratches he remained dignified. His eyes only blinked when the blood from his wounds trailed past them. He only cried on the inside when they called him traitor.

They neared their destination and dread began to rise like bile in his throat. He knew that through those distant doors a void of darkness awaited him. There'd be no turning back. He'd be redeeming a thousand deaths by condemning his own.

And in this fleeting moment of fear, Gohan couldn't get that earthling's face out of his head. Grinning idiotically, that stranger was, as if they had known each other their whole lives.

So Mister Goku, what now? Will this satisfy you?

Why would it satisfy me? The face seemed to say.

I'm one of the villains you were trying to destroy. One less one to worry about, right?

Gohan.

His eyes changed. Gohan found himself out of breath.

Gohan.

There was something about the eyes- an eerie familiarity that he just couldn't place. As if he had stared into them long ago. As if he known them for forever.

"Daddy."

Gohan was amazed at how easy the word fit to the face. And the face responded with a soft smile.

"Daddy. Daddy," Gohan gasped, tears starting to fall. "Daddy. Daddy. My daddy."

He startled his captors by suddenly dropping to his knees. In the distance of his mind, Gohan saw the face fade away from him.

"Daddy!" Gohan lamented to the heavens, allowing his words go unpunished on his dying echo. "Daddy!!"

---

Chichi woke with a start, surrounded on all sides by a soft darkness. Her dreams had ended abruptly by a scream- but now the night had settled all otherwise unsettling things. She held her batted breath for some sign of unrest, but the night continued to roll onwards- undisturbed.

Convinced that the scream was just a unnerving addition to her quiet dreamland, Chichi nestled back down into the comfort of her bed.

No sooner had her eyes begun to shut, did a timid voice come from her doorway.

"Mommy?"

Chichi looked up to see her son leaning restlessly on the door frame, as if afraid to join her. His blanket draped over his shoulders and pillow clamped firmly into his hug, Goten looked almost like a shelled turtle. But Chichi would never say that to him.

"Did you have a bad dream, Goten? Come here," She pat the bed in beckoning way, and Goten almost immediatly padded over.

His climb up was a slight struggle, but he made it nonetheless. Plopping merrily beside her, Goten cast his mother the biggest grin he could muster. The effort itself was just enough to make her laugh.

"I feel much better with you, Kaasan."

"Did you have a bad dream, Goten?" Chichi asked in concern.

"Nope," came Goten's chipper reply. "I just felt like I needed to be here. Was kind of lonely in my room."

Chichi smiled and leaned lazily against her elbow just enough so she could still see her boy's face above the pillow.

"Goten, how do you do it?"

"Do what, Kaasan?"

She laughed and tickled the silly boy beside her. Goten's giggles joined her own- a nice chorus to the still of night.

Goten curled up next to his mother's chest, breathing in her soft scent. In condolence, his mother draped her own arm about him- pulling him closer.

"Did I make your nightmare go away, Kaasan?"

Chichi smiled softly, and nodded, "Yes, Goten. You're very good at that."

Goten merely smiled in response, already fast asleep.

---

Gohan crumbled to the ground- submitting to the harsh torture of his once allies. His sentence was proclaimed even before Frezia spoke a word. It was in each and every blow- each and every drop of spilled blood.

"Get off him. Get off him, I said."

The crowd scattered like roaches to light. Gohan stood lone in the light- in a pool of his own blood for once. He bent low to his knees at the voice- careful not to tip too far left or right.

The pain was near unbearable. And these were just the physical wounds.

"To who do you pledge allegiance to?"

Gohan watched his blood fall around him. It was almost breathtaking- the beauty of it's pure color.

"Y-you. M-aster F-frezia."

He shook uncontrollably when he spoke. With each uncontrolled movement- more pain shot through him. Shorter words next time.

"Liar. Who do you pledge allegiance to?"

"Y-you."

"Who?"

"You. You, m-master," Gohan sobbed. "I pledge m-my body and sp-spirit to my master."

"Who do you love?"

Gohan's lips pursed. The convulsions began to shake his still form. They worsened with each passing second.

And Frezia rewarded silence with pain.

"Who do you love?"

Gohan felt the blows but was unable to respond in momentary pain. Everything had dulled down so that the only thing left function was the brain that could only think of a stranger's face.

Fingers wound about Gohan's chin and lifted him upwards to a face he couldn't see. Even with eyes opened halfway, Gohan still couldn't see his assailant. His body was far to injured to give function away to his eyes.

The blur before him asked again- the question he refused to answer.

Gohan managed a weak smile, "I love you both."

Pain seared from his face- from the fingertips of his master. Defacing him, but making him no less ugly. Gohan blacked out long before he hit the ground.

---

Goku's heart jumped into his throat as he felt the chi he had been chasing depart. Trembling slightly, Goku looked in the direction he had been heading. The wind blew gently against his airborne body- but the man barely felt it.

"Gohan," He smiled softly. "I'm so proud of you."

To Be Continued...

Please R R!

I'm not overly excited with this chapter- but I think it has it's ups as well downs. I will say it was nothing like what I planned it to be.

I hope you all enjoy the continuation. I have no idea when the next one will be.