Breaking Chaos
Chapter Three: Darkness
Disclaimer: Nada
Cold. It was so cold. He walked through the area, which was devoid of all life. There weren't even signs that life had ever existed here. He crossed his arms and wrapped his hands around his arms in an attempt to warm himself. He couldn't seem to access his ki to get warm here, so he resorted to walking around and shivering like crazy. The wind shifted again, sending a chill through his entire body. The steady stream of snow falling from the sky swirled for a second before assaulting his body once again. The sky, now that he looked at it, was very unusual. It was like the aurora borealis lighting up the black and deep purple sky. The whole rainbow of colors was a sharp contrast to the barren land. He shivered once more.
How did he get here?
Why was he here?
Where was everyone else?
He was alone. All alone again. He had tried to ignore it and just be a normal boy, but he couldn't. He could cover it up on the outside. He had nearly everyone convinced that he was fine. Everything was fine. But it wasn't. It was all his fault!
No it wasn't! It… how could he have known?
Prevention. That one word stuck in his head. Prevention. He should have known better.
Nothing could be done now. The past was the past. The future could not be clouded by the past, or he would be stuck in the past instead of his present.
He should be happy, and most of the time he was, with his sometimes-crazy mother, and his giggly little brother, and Bulma to help him out and cheer him up whenever he felt down. Heck, Trunks was a bundle of fun, and even Vegeta didn't seem to be as harsh as he used to be, although he liked to pretend he was.
He shivered again as the wind picked up. He came to a vast ravine so deep, that it might as well be a bottomless pit. He couldn't go anywhere, seeing as he couldn't fly. He was stuck. Stuck, stuck, stuck. Why couldn't he get past this! He sat down and allowed his feet to dangle over the side of the ravine. As far as he went, and as hard as he tried, this was one thing that he just could not seem to get over. He needed help. But no one was there to help him of course.
He looked down into the darkness, knowing what he would see. He saw the same thing every time. The black air shimmered, and the cheery face of his father appeared.
'Father!
Oh, father! Why?
Why couldn't you have stayed! It's my fault!
It's mine.
I'm sorry. I never got to tell you that.'
'Son, listen to me'. The image said, all signs of happiness gone. The face showed that he was as serious as possible. ' Son, it's not your fault. You know that. Deep down, you know. You know.'
'I…don't father! I…why am I trapped here?'
'Son, you've trapped yourself. Let go. Just let it go! Now!'
'But I-'
The ground began to shake, and the ravine began to widen.
'Son! Now! You have to let it go! The longer you hold on to this, the harder it will be for you to get over it!'
'I can't!'
The ravine widened once more. The image began to fade, and the bright smile was once again on the face of the image.
'No! Father don't go! You can't leave me!'
'Son, I am gone already. It's for the best. For everyone. I did this for you too you know. Don't worry; we'll see each other soon. I promise, time will fly by once you let go of your burden. Just let it go and be free. Don't be afraid to live your life. I know how you put up that façade for everyone. I know you son. Those around you know you well enough to tell when you are truly happy, and when you are not as well. They are worried about you Gohan. I know you feel bad when you forget about me in those brief moments and are truly happy and are yourself.'
'Father…I-I just can't…Father? Father!'
It was of no use. He was gone. Again.
'It's my fault. It has to be! Who's fault could it be, if not mine?'
A nagging voice made it self known in his head. It was Cell, laughing in his hideous mocking android laugh.
'This is too good! I'm long gone, and still I torment you. You can never beat me. I may be gone physically, but your memories keep me alive, and I can torture you to the end of eternity. If only you could listen to your father. But he's gone, isn't he? And it's all your fault.'
'No! It can't be! My father said it wasn't!'
'Oh, but you said it yourself. You did it.'
'No I didn't! It-it was you!'
The laugh continued, echoing until it faded.
'It was you…wasn't it? Right?'
The ravine began to shake apart again, this time more intense than ever. He lost his balance and tumbled into the darkness.
NOOOOOOOO! Nooo no noooooo!
He finally saw the bottom. He shut his eyes, preparing for impact, when-
"Gohan! Are you up yet? Breakfast's ready!"
Gohan shot up from his bed, drenched from a cold sweat. It was just a dream, and it always had been. It was the same dream he had at least once a week since Cell. Gohan tried not to mope around, but this one day, just this one day, he figured it would be ok. Just this one day of all others, he could devote to mourning.
This day was the anniversary of the death of his father. Gohan couldn't believe it had already been two years. He was now thirteen years old, officially a teenager, and his little brother was closing in on being a year and a half old.
Goten, heh, now that's something that could bring a smile to his face anywhere, and anytime, even today.
Gohan finally shifted and threw his feet over the side of the bed and began to get ready for the day. He took a quick shower, and then changed into a gi, like he did everyday, except he wore one of his older ones today. He knew he'd end up locking himself in the GR to train like there was no tomorrow. That's what he'd done last year, and that's the only thing he could think of to do on this horrible day, when memories came flooding into his mind. It's the only thing he could think of that would distract him. Gohan looked in the mirror, and observed his hair. It was still crazy and spiky, even more so than when he was younger, but these last two years, he had noticed that it started to grow slightly more upwards, rather than out all over the place. At least it didn't look as messy.
Gohan closed his eyes and walked downstairs, not needing to see to figure out where to go. He made his way to the kitchen, and then opened his eyes to see his mother and Goten.
Chichi looked up with sadness in evidenced in her eyes, and she locked eyes with Gohan. Gohan then looked over at Goten and couldn't help but burst out laughing. Silly little Goten had cereal pieces spread out all over the table part of his high chair, and was trying to eat them without using his hands. It was a very amusing sight actually, because it reminded Gohan of a bird bending down to peck at some food. Goten was trying to grab all of the pieces with his lips, and when he wasn't successful, he would grab the offending piece in one of his chubby little hands and chuck it across the room.
"Glad to see you smiling honey." Chichi said as she placed the massive amount of food in front of her eldest son.
As usual, the food seemed to vanish before her eyes into the walking black hole, otherwise known as a Saiyan.
"Thanks again mom. That was great, as always."
"Thanks Gohan."
"I'm…going to head out now mom. I'll be back late."
Chichi sighed, remembering what happened last year. "Ok, just be careful Gohan. I do not want to see you dragging yourself in here again looking like you did last year."
"…I'll try mom." Gohan headed out and ran across the open fields, and then zigzagged through the dense forest. He finally came to the clearing and keyed in the password to the GR that had been recently installed to prevent Goten from trudging in there by accident.
Gohan gasped for breath, and wiped the sweat out of his eyes. He only succeeded in clouding his vision worse because his fingers had been covered in his own blood. Gohan panted for a few more seconds before flying up a few feet to hover there. He'd been at it for hours, in the highest gravity he could stand. He faltered, almost dropping to the ground out of pure exhaustion, bus somehow managed to stay up in the air. He gathered as much energy as he could into the space between the palms of his hands and fired it at a specific point on the wall. The blast of energy curved up towards the ceiling, before sharply coming back down at him. Gohan prepared to block the blast and stave it off as long as possible, but he had just put too much energy into the attack. He dropped out of the Super Saiyan level he had been desperately trying to sustain, and back to normal. He knew that there was no way he could possibly block the attack now, but he was too tired to move fast enough to dodge it. He crossed his arms, and felt the sharp burning pain as the energy came in contact with his skin. Gohan was still in the air, but was gradually coming down. He could feel the attack trying to take over him, and Gohan knew he wouldn't last much longer in this battle of endurance. He was just too tired, and try as he may, he couldn't control the energy blast he had created. It was right on top of him, so now, even if he could gather up enough energy in his desperation, there was no way he could move fast enough get out from under it now.
This would be a good time for you to work! I've been trying to figure you out for a while, and I've almost got you! Now come on! Gohan thought, even though it was kind of a strange thing to be talking to a technique. He put two fingers to his head, and concentrated on Chichi. The ball of energy was even harder to hold off, now that he was only using one arm. Come on, come on!
"AHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEIIII! Gohan! Wha? H-how did you get here!"
Gohan opened his eyes and was staring straight up at Chichi.
"Ow." He picked himself up off the floor and steadied himself on the kitchen table. Gohan glanced around him, before breaking into a smile. "I did it!"
"What! What are you talking about! You did what?"
"Instant transssmiiishhh-" Gohan's eyes slowly closed again, and he promptly passed out on the kitchen floor.
Chichi looked at the clock to see that it was ten o' clock at night. He'd been pushing himself to his limits for nearly thirteen hours straight, without eating anything other than the breakfast he'd had early that morning before he left to go train.
"Oh, not again!" Chichi bent down and lifted her son with much trouble, and sort of carried/dragged him over to the couch in the living room. She quickly left the room and came back with a soft blanket and covered Gohan. She wrote a note for him, explaining that he had passed out, and if he wanted to eat if he got up sometime during the night, then there was plenty in the refrigerator, and placed the note on the lamp table next to where he was laying. Chichi finally left the room and turned off the lights to go up to her own. "Gohan, I really wish you wouldn't do that."
"Maaaa! Go deh!" Goten wailed. "Go go dehh!" The following morning, Goten sat on the floor by the couch that Gohan was located on. Gohan's arm was hanging off the edge, and Goten was yanking the arm, but to no avail.
"What? Oh! No sweetie! Gohan's not dead! He's just…sleeping!"
"Go go no deh?"
"Nope. Now why don't you leave your big brother alone and go play with your toys over there."
Goten looked over at the other side of the room where Chichi was pointing, and then looked back at her blankly.
"Over there Goten."
Goten repeated the looking process before he finally crawled over to some toys.
"Ow! How many semi's ran over me?"
"Oh! You're finally awake! Good, I was starting to get worried!"
"Go go liiiv!"
"Yeah, I'm alive Goten." He said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, which wasn't much. "I think." He muttered to himself.
"Well, there's an absolute ton of food saved for you in the fridge, and in the freezer, so you can help yourself whenever you feel up to it."
"Ok." Gohan tried to get off of the sofa, but instead ended up flopping off of it. "OW!" He rested there for a good minute, before he was finally awake enough. Gohan stretched for a while, and then he felt almost as good as new. It was times like these where he was very appreciative of the quicker than normal healing abilities of Saiyans. He walked into the kitchen and started piling food onto various plates and in pans, and then heated stuff up in the microwave, the oven, and the stovetop all at the same time.
As he was eating, Chichi came up to him and sat on the opposite side of the table from him. "Gohan?"
"Yeah mom?"
"You're studying today."
"Ok, I always do."
"Yes, and then you go out and train. Today I want you to have a strictly studying day. I'd rather you not train at all, and only studied, but I've been letting you train anyways."
"Mom! That's not fai-"
"Don't cut me off! Now, I know you are always responsible about your studies, and are incredibly bright for your age, but I've always dreamed of you becoming a scholar."
"Mom! What abou-"
"Hey!"
"Sorry"
"Anyways, you know that there may not be another 'great evil' in your lifetime, and fighting is not always a reliable source of income. I really want you to become a scholar as a backup plan, ok?"
"Yes! I know mom! You have to have some brains for fighting too, if you want to think up good strategies and stuff, and I know that I may not need to fight for the protection of Earth or anything, but I just want to be the best I can possibly be if something does come our way again."
"Yes, but you're still spending the day studying. No training whatsoever!"
"Mom!"
"After what happened yesterday, I am absolutely not going to let you train today! And don't you dare use that instant transmission thing to escape, or else!"
"Instant transmission? Whaa- oh! I did it yesterday! Yes!"
Gohan put his fingers on his head again and disappeared.
"GOHAN!" Chichi screeched.
"Yes mother?" Gohan said sweetly.
Chichi whipped around to see Gohan standing right there, balancing Piccolo's weighted turban on his head.
"Ack! Sometimes young man, you are intolerable!"
Gohan did the famous Son grin that was passed down to him from his father.
"Room. Now."
"Yeah, ok. I just have to give this back." He said, pointing to the turban perched on his head. "I hope Piccolo isn't too mad. He he."
Gohan placed his index and middle finger on his forehead again, and went back to the lookout to return the object. He was back within two minutes, and immediately, Chichi shoved a list of pages for him to read and questions in the books for him to answer. Gohan mock saluted Chichi, and then marched up to his room to study for the whole boring day. He supposed he could make up for lost training time another day, and did admit to himself that he wasn't concentrating on his studies as much as he usually did. And yeah, he did go a bit overboard yesterday, so he supposed that in a way, he had already made up for it. Sometimes, when his mother got these ideas, there was just no way of dissuading her.
/9 months later/
Gohan watched bemusedly as Goten stumbled around the room. Today had been the appointed day, the day that he and his mother had agreed on. It was Goten's second birthday, which was the day they had decided to get Goten's tail removed. Chichi of course, wanted it off as soon as he was born, but Gohan wanted her to wait. After all, he had his tail until he was four or five, and he wasn't really sure how a Saiyan, even if they were only half, would be affected by having it removed so early. He had learned to walk earlier and steadier with the help of his tail, and he didn't know how having the tail cut off before learning to walk would affect Goten. Trunks had had his tail cut off too, but he had also been two when that happened. Since Gohan opted for when Goten was four, and Chichi for immediately, they had eventually compromised and agreed on a time period right in the middle. Two years. Piccolo had come over earlier that morning, and removed it as quickly and painlessly as possible, something Piccolo definitely wasn't really used to. Now Goten was struggling to walk again, since he didn't have his tail to balance himself anymore. Gohan was confident that he'd be fine and walking all over the place in another hour or so.
Right now though, they were enjoying Goten's mini birthday party. It was just them, Piccolo, and the Briefs, so it wasn't a big affair or anything. Trunks had met Goten, and the two seemed to hit it off right away. Trunks was now three, but he still called Gohan 'Guan' for reasons unknown to Gohan, and Goten always called Gohan 'Go' or 'Go go', usually the latter.
Trunks was giggling mercilessly, as Goten fell over and over, when he was merely trying to walk over to where Gohan was situated, sitting on the other side of the room. Goten fell on his face one final time, before pushing himself up again, putting a look of determination on his face, and striding confidently over to Gohan. Trunks saw where he was going, and his face brightened up immediately. The two small boys called Gohan's name in their own special way, and at the same time, it sounded like they were saying Guagon. It was odd to say the least.
"Hey squirts! What's up?"
Trunks crossed his arms across his chest in a very Vegeta-like manner. "I'm not a squirt. You are!"
"I'm a squirt? Well then how come I'm taller than you?"
"Cuz dad says you're a…third class…something about carrots!"
"Ok squirt."
Trunks gave an exasperated sigh and threw up his hands. It was very funny to see a three-year-old acting like he was the boss of the universe.
"Yeah, I'm not a squirty either!" Goten chimed in. "You be the squirter thing!"
"Aww, Goten. You think I'm a squirt too?" Gohan said, pretending to pout. "Ok then. I guess you guys don't want to play with me then…"
"No! We wanna play! We wanna play!" The two little boys chanted at the same time.
"Ok squirts!"
"See!" Bulma pointed out to Chichi. They were out of the line of sight of the boys, and were observing them from their position. "I told you! Gohan's awesome with little kids!"
"Wow, you're right." Suddenly stars glowed in her eyes. "I can't wait for grandchildren! They'll be so cute, and they'll be perfect!"
"Chi! You have a two-year-old son, and you already want a grandchild! Gohan's only thirteen for crying out loud!"
"Yeah, but I won't have to raise grandchildren! Gohan will, and they will love me anyways!"
"Whatever you say Chi."
Their conversation however, was halted by the enthusiastic giggling of two small boys as they pounced on Gohan, yelling about who was and wasn't a squirt.
Ah ha! I have once again surpassed myself in length of a chapter! Woot woot for me! Man! I'm really coming out with these chapters huh? Well, what can I say? When I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll! Please review!
Now I would like to give some general review responses!
-Videl will be introduced in this story, but not until around the age of high school years (which will probably come up soon, because, as of now, after the next chapter, I am out of ideas for the years between). At this point, I'm not sure if it will be Gohan/Videl, but if it is, I'll try my best to make sure it won't suck.
-Don't worry! Gohan will NOT be a nerd! He will be smart, but not a nerd. He will be strong, and not a slacker in his training. Brains AND brawn! Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout yo!
-I'm glad that Goten is born too! I love those little brotherly moments too! He he. I hope you like the little bit I put in! I'm sure there'll be plenty more!
-Yeah! Stupid egotistical Hercule! No credit for you!
-This a fast enough update for y'all? Inspiration rocks my socks! …And the box!
Again, please please please REVIEW! And feel free to ask any questions! Especially if you are confused on the little symbolism thingie in the dream, k? Toodlez and Noodlez!