Demands:

Chapter Three:

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.

A/N: I'm not really in the mood to update, but I will anyway because of the recent reviews. Very sorry for the delay, I've been really busy. Huge thanks to people still reading (particularly reviewers) and the people who added this to C2s. Thanks a lot. :D

Sorry for the shortness, hopefully I'll get the next chapter up sooner but it kind of depends on reviews, I guess (don't ask; they just seem to inspire me…)

Somewhere up on snake way, a certain blue catfish type thing woke up, looking around.

"Er, Goku…?"

There was no sign of him; he seemed to have run off, probably looking for food. He really hoped that Goku hadn't gone and fallen in HFIL but knew that was highly unlikely.

Sighing, he turned back the way he was headed. Oh, when he saw Goku, he really was going to have to tell him off about being left alone. He spoke his thoughts out loud, and Bubbles and Gregory nodded their agreement as they retraced their steps back up snake way towards where his planet had been destroyed.

"…WHAAAAAAAAT!"

The Son household seemed to leap up off the ground, as did the trees in the surrounding area. As it fell back down, it was apparent why.

A puzzled looking Goku was holding a very angry Chichi back. Chichi was thrashing about crazily and seemed to be trying to wring Bulma's neck. Mirai Trunks was standing in front of her protectively while Chichi yelled. "MY BABY IS DEAD? That's not possible! Goku, I told you he would die! I TOLD YOU," she screamed, now turning target on her husband who looked at her sheepishly.

"But… he beat Cell, so he didn't die," muttered Goku as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Chichi considered his words for a moment, then turned around like a spitfire to face Bulma.

"Goku's right! How did he die when he was ALIVE and had beaten Cell when I last saw him?"

The others exchanged glances and they all seemed to bundle together for safety in numbers. Vegeta stayed leaning against the wall, still mad about what had happened but secretly waiting to see the woman's reaction when it was explained how her son had died.

"Bulma," Yamcha hissed, "we could have told them better than that! Now they have to find out that we let him die!"

Bulma's face turned red as she slowly turned to face Yamcha and Krillin paled, hissing, "We didn't let him do it! Okay, let's decide who tells her…"

"Yes, Yamcha," came the acidic voice of a certain blue-haired woman who was still seething with anger. "As I'm so bad at it, why don't you tell them why their son is now dead?"

His face quickly drained of all colour. "No, no, that's okay, Bulma, I'm sure you can-"

"YAMCHA, YOU CAN DO IT AND YOU CAN DO IT NOW!"

Yamcha sweatdropped. Now he'd done it, he thought nervously, staring around and clearing his throat to begin the rather stupid-seeming explanation.

Meanwhile, Gohan was still staring at the view from the end of snake way, his eyes smarting from tears although they had stopped by then. He was alone and terrified, he was scared of himself and the power he had shown… he knew that Cell had deserved it, but what about the innocent people who'd died from the result of so much raw power?

Teetering over the edge, Gohan stared down, wondering what would happen if he jumped into space. He couldn't die considering he was already dead…

Yeah, Gohan thought to himself, me and perhaps millions of others thanks to me. The perfect hero, huh?

Thinking of himself as a hero was too much: he started laughing uncontrollably though he couldn't figure out quite why.

He stayed laughing until the pain of it got to him and he sunk to the ground and bawled.

The room was silent except for Vegeta's quiet chuckling. Everybody else seemed to frozen, except for Chichi, who was glaring warningly at all of the unwelcome visitors.

"Um, well, we went up to wish Goku back," Yamcha begun, swallowing and backing up while he spoke, certain Chichi would go insane – they were all scared of her and for good reason, too. "But the dragon had some new… rules…" His voice had now been reduced to nothing but a squeak and he was all too aware of that fact.

"And, um, he told us the new rules and Gohan accepted…"

"And what," said a deathly silent voice that seemed very loud indeed to the others, "were these new rules?"

"Uh… GohanhadtodiesothatwecouldbringGokubacktolifewetoldhimnottobuthedidn'tlisten," Yamcha said in one breath while Chichi just stared, figuring out what he said… and then she promptly collapsed on the floor. He let out a sigh of relief.

Goku, however, was staring at him. "Gohan's dead because of me?"

"Cheer up, Goku," said Mirai Trunks. "I'm sure you can wish him back next year…"

Goku nodded numbly. "I'm going to lie down… after getting something to eat," he muttered, promptly going to raid the cupboards. Everyone sweatdropped apart from Vegeta, who went and helped Goku in finding food.

"Vegeta!" hissed Bulma, mortified.

He looked at her arrogantly. "What, woman? It's free food!"

Mirai Trunks and Krillin helped put Chichi on a sofa while Bulma began to yell at Vegeta.

"Let them grieve in peace!" she shouted irately at him while Vegeta looked at her scornfully and shook his head, causing Bulma to get even angrier. "Fine then! But we're leaving!" she said, dragging out the other three to her helicopter, hitting Mirai Trunks on the head when he seemed to be having second thoughts and staring at the food.

Standing up again, Gohan was tired. He stood up and almost fell forwards out into the nothingness before him…

"NO!" shouted a voice, and a hand grabbed his clothes before he fell, dragging him backwards and muttering about something. The person who'd grabbed him stopped dragging after a few paces and spun around, looking irate in quite a comical way.

Gohan, still red-eyed, stared back silently.

"…Goku?"

A/N: Well, there you go! Sorry again for the obscene length of time this took, I'll hopefully update sooner and it'd be really great if you reviewed. ;)