Hey everybody. Thought I'd get this next chapter in early, on account of I'm leaving really early tomorrow for Florida… No, not family vacation… marching band competition! Wish us luck, and be sure to watch the Gator Bowl! See if you can find us… we'll be wearing our bright yellow show shirts, probably. And if you live in Jacksonville by chance, be sure to watch the half-time show, where we (along with like 20 other bands) will be performing a bunch of music. We're the Lafayette Lancer Regiment! Regiment… makes us sound like an army or something…

Heh, anyways… on with the chapter, I guess.

Chapter 38: Final Vision and Reunion

"The rat stops gnawing in the wood, the dungeon walls withdraw, the weight is lifted your pulse steadies and the sun has found your heart, the day was not bad, the season has not been bad, there is sense and even promise in going on." –Bernard De Voto

Pan trudged tiredly on, her little brother still sleeping on her shoulder. She could feel the rays of the morning sun peeking over the mountains behind her and warming her backside. She would have made haste in returning home before anyone noticed she was gone, but she was just too tired.

"All-nighters… not a good idea…" She smiled to herself. As the top of the beautiful, white castle came into view, Pan began formulating a plan to get in and up to her room unnoticed, as well as dropping Goku off in his room along the way. But just as the last details of her scheme were being worked out, all thoughts were suddenly wiped from her mind as a blinding sensation swept through her. Her vision faded, and she was left standing alone in the darkness. All of a sudden, a bright light shone behind her, and she whirled around just in time to catch its full glare. As her eyes adjusted, her ears started picking up a mass of sound coming from the direction of the light. For some reason, Pan felt as if she had heard something similar before. It sounded like men… hundreds, thousands of them, screaming their battle cries down at her. Before she had time to think of what to make of this, the light faded just as quickly as it had come, and she found herself once again in that dark, cold place she had once called home so long ago.

"NO! I HAVE TO KILL HIM!" A voice echoed all around her. It took Pan a moment to recognize the voice as her own. "TRUNKS! TRUNKS!!!" Of course… she had had this vision before! But this time, there was no one to wake her from this nightmare… no one around to tell her to snap out of it. Once again, the image of Vegeta standing menacingly over Trunks' limp body overtook her senses. As Pan rushed to help him, she vaguely noticed that Goku was no longer on her back. She began squinting through the darkness to try and find him.

"Looking for me?" A cold, yet familiar voice sounded over her shoulder. Pan whirled around to see her brother staring up at her, his expression different from it's usual, eager innocence. Now as she looked back into his steely-blue eyes, they looked cold and ruthless.

"Goku… there you are! We have to get Trunks out of here! C'mon and help me!"

"Uh-uh. I'm not going anywhere." The young boy said monotonously without any change of expression.

"What are you talking about, Goku?" Pan raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not Goku, you fool!" He said in a voice that was almost not his own. "My name…" He powered up suddenly, causing his hair to stand straight up, displaying his abnormally large widow's peak, making him look vaguely like… "…is Prince Nappa!"

"Wha…?" Pan stumbled backwards, staring in fear and disbelief at the boy. "No, you're not! You're my brother, Goku!" She shook her head violently in defiance.

"Wake up, baka! You're not my sister, and you know it! You lied to me all these years, and acted like I was one of you! Well now I know the truth, and you're going to pay for what you've done!"

Pan now had backed up so much that she had tripped over Trunks' motionless body, and now sat trembling on the ground, tears forming in her eyes.

"Wake up… Wake up…" His voice echoed in her ears. Her salty tears made it impossible to see him clearly anymore, so Pan resolved to shutting them as tightly as possible, desperately trying to tune out that voice. "Wake up… Wake up…" But now it sounded different. The tone in those echoes had changed from menacing to worry.

"Wake up! Onee-san, please wake up!! You're scaring me!!"

Pan's eyes shot open to reveal the teary-eyed face of young Goku. He stood over her with his little hands on her shoulders, trying his best not to break down.

"Goku… is it… really you?" Pan whispered hoarsely, trying to fight off her shakiness.

The boy just stared at her, his cheeks reddening. "Of course it's me… Onee-sa-" Before he let himself finish, Goku wrapped his little arms around her waist and cried into her shirt. "Don't you ever, ever do that again, Onee-san!!" He scolded between sobs.

"Goku… I…" Pan started, but couldn't find the right words to say. Instead, she ran a hand through his thick hair, caressing it softly. "I'm sorry."

Goku pulled himself away, rubbing his eyes with one arm. "What happened to you?" He asked anxiously, looking up at her with concerned eyes. "You just dropped me all of a sudden, and then your eyes rolled back into your head, and you started screaming, and…"

"I know, Goku. You have to understand. This has happened to me many times before, but only once while I was conscious." She saw his confused expression, and added, "I was having a vision."

"What's a vision?" He asked.

"It's kinda like a dream, only…" Pan's eyes fell. "…only it comes true."

"Wow! So visions tell you the future?" The young boy said. "That's so cool!! I wish I could have visions!"

"No, Goku. If I had the choice, I would choose never to have visions again." She stared back into his gaze with a look of complete seriousness. "You see, I only have visions when bad things are about to happen. No matter what I see, it always comes true sooner or later."

"Well, if you can see the future, then you could do something about it, couldn't you?" Goku asked.

Pan opened her mouth to answer, but found he was right. She got to her feet, and held out her hand to him. "C'mon, we'd better get back before Okaa-san realizes we're gone."

"Okay." Goku answered, taking her hand so she could help him up.

They turned to head back to the castle, but something stopped Pan. Her sixth sense prickled, causing her to whirl around in the direction of the eastern mountains. Two familiar ki signals were speeding towards them.

"Is that…" Pan started.

"What?" Young Goku looked around curiously.

"Don't you sense that?" Pan turned to him. "Concentrate, Goku. There are two approaching kis in that direction." She pointed.

Goku stared hard in the direction she was pointing. "I don't feel anything. Sorry."

"That's okay. You still need to work on that. But…" She turned back to the east. "…I think I might know who that is."

The sudden beeping of his alarm made Trunks nearly jump through the ceiling of his room in the castle. Once he had landed back on his bed, he punched the annoying mechanism into submission, and proceeded to stretch out his arms and legs.

"Oh man…" He muttered, the sight of the busted alarm clock coming into focus. "Why did Son-san have to schedule this meeting so early?"

Exactly half an hour later, he was once again sitting in the board room with the others, trying his best not to fall asleep over his coffee mug. Goten clamped him on the shoulder and gave him a good shake.

"Hey man, you okay?" He whispered.

"Yeah, just a little tired. That's all." Trunks answered.

"I know what you mean." Goten replied. "Paris and I were up practically all night last night. Emi kept having nightmares, and then coming into our room. We couldn't get her to go back to sleep."

Trunks grinned. He couldn't imagine what having kids would be like. Still, he couldn't help feeling sorry for his friend.

"What is it, Goku?"

The new voice grabbed Trunks' attention, and he looked up at the speaker, Piccolo, and then turned to look at Goku. He had suddenly stopped talking, and seemed oblivious to everything around him. Snapping back into reality, Goku looked around at his audience with the utmost seriousness.

"Be right back." He said quickly, and placed two fingers to his forehead. In an instant, he was gone, leaving the others speechless.

"What was that all about?" Goten asked, looking at Trunks with a bit of confusion. Gohan suddenly got to his feet, having just caught on to what had distracted his father.

"Don't you guys sense that?" He asked. "There's an unfamiliar ki… no, two of them! And they're coming towards us from the east!"

Everyone froze, concentrating their ki senses on the direction Gohan gazed. Sure enough, they all sensed it too.

Zamuri was seriously wearing down now, breathing hard and sweating profusely.

"Hey Zamuri, are you all right?' Keiko asked worriedly. "We really don't need to go this fast, you know! There's nobody following us!"

"I know… I just… have to… warn them!" Zamuri panted. He could now see the beautiful, gleaming castle beaming in the morning sun. (Wow, what a place!) He thought to himself. (Otou-san sure outdid himself with this one!) He sped up, growing anxious. He was finally home. He was going to see his family again! His mother, his father, his sister…

BAM

Something… or rather, someone… had just materialized out of nowhere, and Zamuri had collided with it head on. Both caught off guard, Keiko had gone flying from Zamuri's shoulders, and plunged down toward the ground.

"Ouch… KEIKO!!!" Zamuri cried, readying himself to speed down after her. But before he could react, whatever he had just run into disappeared once again, only to reappear right below the falling girl, gently catching her in his arms. "Hey!!" Zamuri yelled, soaring down to meet the mysterious figure. "You put her down, you…" He stopped short, coming close enough to recognize the man. "Ôjii-chan!!" He cried.

Keiko looked from Zamuri's excited expression to the smiling figure that held her. "Son-san!" She exclaimed, her eyes widening in astonishment.

"Hi, guys!" Goku smiled cheerfully as ever.

"Ôjii-chan… I can't believe it's really you!" Zamuri exclaimed.

Goku grinned broadly. "Well, it's nice to see you too, Zamuri! Wow, look how big you've gotten! I'll bet you're almost as tall as me now!" He looked down at the stunned young woman in his arms. "And Keiko! It's been too long!"

Keiko couldn't help but beam.

"Well, grab on, Zam!" Goku motioned. "I'll take you back to the castle."

"Right!" Zamuri nodded, placing a hand on his grandfather's shoulder. In an instant, the vast, green landscape had disappeared, and they were standing in a dim room surrounded by familiar faces. Everyone who had been waiting in the room for Goku's return immediately stood up in surprise.

Gohan had instantly recognized those shining, black eyes buried under the thick, untamed bangs that could only belong to his son.

"Zamuri!" He exclaimed, rushing over to his son to embrace him.

"Hey, Dad." Zamuri said quietly, returning his father's hug. After pulling away, he gazed around at the smiling faces of his friends and family. "Hey, everybody. It's good to be back."

Pan had clearly sensed all that had just happened. Those two familiar ki signals had been intercepted by her grandfather, and then had all been transported back to the castle. She scooped little Goku up onto her back once again, and resorted to flying as fast as she could toward home, disregarding all means of concealing herself.

And why should she? Her brother was home.