Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.
The Long Road
Chapter 3: The Forgotten Home
Was this Planet Cooler 002? It had to be.
"Gohan." The smooth voice pronounced as the fifteen year old looked up to his master. Taking a knee and saluting his arm, he bowed his head.
"Lord Cooler." He nodded, before looking up at him.
"I don't think anyone save my brother Frieza, or my father King Cold, has achieved such power. I must say I am impressed, especially for a saiyan." The Arcosian remarked. "Normally I would even say you are quickly becoming a threat."
Gohan's eyes widened as his master spoke, before looking up at him. This was worse than a beating for a failure, this would mean his death.
He wouldn't. I've been nothing but loyal!
"I am not a fool however, as my brother was. As a saiyan it is unlikely you will ever command respect from the stars, your reputation precedes you in almost every world you go to. I would like to believe instead, that you will continue to be a valuable asset to my Corporation."
Relief washed over the young saiyan, before rising from his one knee.
"I am therefore, naming you my Chief Operations Officer, you will not only be given operations, but will assign them to candidates you feel are best suited for their jobs. Salza will continue to, however, be my direct Operations Manager. You two are to work together."
Bowing his head, Gohan felt a surge of pride and relief. He was being promoted, his value was being earned. After years of being at the bottom of the boots of his betters, Paragus, Turles, Naiz, Doore, Salza, he was now high enough on the chain of command he directly benefited from Lord Cooler, the most powerful warrior in the Universe.
"You honour me my Lord."
"Doore," Cooler then ordered, a smirk crossing his features. "Take Gohan to section 38, find him something to amuse himself and celebrate."
Section 38? That was the entertainment area. Well, most people called it that anyway, you really only went there if you wanted to find a piece of ass, at least as far as he'd been told-
His eyes widened in surprise as Doore started to laugh, walking over and grabbing his shoulder. "Come on boy, let's see what we can find you." Came the bellow from the huge green alien.
Gohan knew his face must have looked absolutely ridiculous.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Where am I?
The sun had come through the window, it was almost blinding once he'd opened his eye. Something was wrapped around his other eye, though he still felt the swelling of flesh underneath. The first thing he did was try to sit up, only to find pain exploding through torn and worn muscle, and broken ribs. His teeth grit together and he hissed at the attempt.
Right, not trying that one again.
It was time to take a good stock of his situation. He was bandaged, he could tell because he just needed to look down and he could see it. He was very, very badly wounded, so much so he couldn't even sit up, and he was... well he didn't know where he was.
Glancing around the room, Gohan's eye slowly took in the imagery. There was a desk, bookshelf, the walls were wooden and simple, a light fixture in the ceiling... A woman sleeping, holding his left arm-
Okay, that was weird. But then again this whole thing was weird.
I'm alive.
A pained smirk appeared across his face, letting his head fall back on the pillow that had supported him while he was unconscious. Someone must have found his body in the shattered landscape. But why hadn't he been finished off properly by that other saiyan?
All I need to do is get through healing, and then I can find that fool and show him my new power.
Driven to the brink of death, Gohan had little doubt his power would increase dramatically once healed.
It was ironic that Goku was sitting to his right, where his damaged eye was. With a yawn slowly the saiyan warrior began to wake up. His eyes glanced over to Chi-Chi and Gohan, before realizing that Gohan was awake.
The younger saiyan was staring at Chi-Chi with his one good eye. The way her hand held his was firm, even in her sleep. The ageing woman looked tormented, but relieved somehow in her sleep. There was something oddly familiar about her, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Hell, there was something oddly familiar about the room, like he'd dreamt of it once.
"Who are you?" Gohan idly wondered aloud to the sleeping woman.
"Someone who helped save you last night."
That voice.
Turning his head, his bones protesting as he did, his eye set on Goku. Obviously he'd spared him and brought him to... where ever this place was. However, despite having been spared, there was a sense of fear in that moment. This had been the fighter who'd completely overwhelmed him. His transformation into the golden fighter was yet more madness for him to deal with. Just what kind of saiyan was he?
The thought of having to contend with this fighter again so soon was horrifying now. He remembered how helpless he was as his Cataclysm Cannon was deflected like a beach ball.
However, once Goku walked in front of him, he could see the man looking at him strangely, much different than he had yesterday.
"Until we've got everything sorted out, there are rules for you being here. Don't break them." Goku bluntly remarked.
"I'm not much in a condition to break any rules right now if you hadn't noticed." Was the only response Gohan could come up with.
"Firstly, this is my home, we work very hard to keep it. Don't ruin our house. Second, this is my wife Chi-Chi, you will show her respect at all times, one of the only reasons you are alive is because she helped piece you back together. Thirdly, I have a son named Goten, you are not to harm him either. Finally, if for whatever reason you are not in this house and on the Earth, you'll pay for harming any innocent people for any reason. Am I understood?"
"Loud and clear."
Who the hell does this guy think he is? I'll kill whoever I want.
Idly Gohan wondered if this was where Goku started preaching about reforming his ways, and second chances, but those words didn't come. Instead the man just continued to stare at him.
"I know I look just ravishing right now, but do you mind keeping your eyes to yourself?" Gohan snapped, his face twisting to show exactly how he felt, angry and humiliated.
It's already bad enough that I'm stuck here, with these pitiful restrictions, but now he stares at me longingly? Why is he acting even weirder than before?
"You will thank my wife when she wakes up for taking care of you." Goku then added.
"Thank her? For being as foolish as you?" Gohan asked, slowly pulling his hand from Chi-Chi's grip. "You've broken half the bones in my body, and now you expect thanks when you save me from the fate you forced on me? You've got a lot of nerve."
Thank them? These people must be mad!
"If you hadn't tried to kill the people in Satan City, I think you'd find yourself in a lot less pain. You're lucky to be alive."
He's right, I am lucky to be alive. But I still don't understand why I'm alive.
"And exactly why am I alive, Goku? You seemed pretty intent on finishing me off back there, did you change your mind? Did you decide to generously offer me mercy after you broke a few more of my ribs?"
The words left Gohan's lips spitefully. Upset by his physical frailty, he was more than willing to lash out at his prior opponent. But, something was different, different about how Goku held himself up, even after his verbal attack, the man seemed to be holding back some level of distress, it was well hidden of course, but what the hell was going on here?
I don't understand what's happening around here.
"Gohan." Goku started, his voice sounding strained. "I-"
"Gohan?" Chi-Chi's eyes slowly opened, looking up in a dazed way towards her now awake son. "Gohan is that you?"
Is that me? She's talking as if she... she knows me?
Confusion was written across the saiyan's face, he felt his heart skip several beats, but his one eye latched onto Chi-Chi, gluing itself to her. For the second time in one day, he felt afraid. This was definitely fear, a panic much as he'd experienced before when he'd been crushed in less than five moves.
Hiding his fear, his one eye looked at the woman in some level of bewilderment. He did the only thing he could think of, he did as Goku asked him.
"Thank you for helping mend my wounds, Chi-Chi." Gohan said, his tone almost flat.
It sounded like an automated response, even to Gohan's ears. Rarely was he expected to show gratitude in his entire life. The main emotions that were respected or shown were pride, anger, hatred, and perhaps mild amusement. You weren't just grateful to someone in the Planet Trade, it wasn't how it worked. He'd only been openly grateful two, perhaps three times in his life.
However, the look she gave him was one of utter despair. It was if he said, or had done something to her just by thanking her. Gohan couldn't help but feel bad for her in that moment. The odd familiarity she'd had made his heart sink when she was clearly trying to stop herself from crying. There was no need to cry, this was nothing to get choked up over it.
I gave a shitty thank you lady, that's really no reason to get this torn up.
"Chi-Chi, I think maybe you should check on Goten." Goku tried to offer. "I'll speak with Gohan. I think we have some things to talk about."
Goku, Goten... Gohan?
There was suddenly something itching in the back of his mind. His eye moved between Goku and Chi-Chi rapidly, several times, trying to process the data he was coming to.
Without betraying his own emotions, Gohan's eyes scanned the two of them. He'd known his whole life Gohan was hardly a saiyan name... and neither was Goku or Goten. In fact, those names were suspiciously similar to his own, and Goku was most certainly a saiyan.
Behind Chi-Chi, he saw a picture on the side table, framed. Inside it was the saiyan he'd fought, Goku, and Chi-Chi. In Goku's arms was a small boy with a fuzzy brown tail, wearing a green and yellow little suit with a red cap and an orange globe on it. They all looked so happy in that picture it was disgusting.
"Kakarot was so weak he didn't even go by a saiyan name." Raditz mocked.
Finally, Gohan narrowed his eye on Goku.
"Kakarot." The word slipped from his lips with a suspicious glare following it.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
"Kakarot."
Goku could see Chi-Chi's head raise at the name Gohan addressed him by, as if brimming with hope. However, Goku had a feeling the use of his birth-name was hardly going to be the start of a gratifying conversation, he could see it in the way Gohan was looking at him.
The eye then sharply turned to Chi-Chi. There was a lump in his throat as he continued to work out who was who. There was no smile to be found on Gohan's face, but there was a nervous look slowly overcoming him. It was as if he was trying to work out everything so it made sense to him.
"We've been waiting a long time to see you Gohan," Chi-Chi finally said, anyone could hear her throat tightening, slowly taking their son's hand again and looking directly at him. "We've... I've... I-"
A frown slowly appeared across the teenager's face, his eye becoming increasingly saddened by the attempt by his mother to try and make meaningful contact with him. It was painful for Goku to watch, this was why he hadn't wanted Chi-Chi involved yet, she'd push too hard and too quickly when he needed to talk to Gohan for a while just to see where he was.
"Kakarot and I need to talk," Gohan finally said quietly, though he did give the gesture of taking her hand with his as she'd held it.
The smaller, more fragile hand was covered by a worn, calloused hand. The hand which had ended the lives of more people than Chi-Chi could ever fully understand. However this was likely the first act of kindness he'd attempted in his running memory, at least that was a real.
There was no addressing her as his mother however.
With the two sitting there, Goku almost wanted to leave the room and let Chi-Chi handle this, but he knew that would be a disaster. She wanted so much for things to be as they were, but right now that wasn't possible, it never would be.
"Chi-Chi." Goku finally spoke, nodding to his wife.
I'll handle this, it'll be fine.
She looked over o him, before looking defeated. With one last smile to Gohan, she squeezed his hand briefly.
"I'll be back." She promised, slowly rising and walking past Goku.
When the door shut behind her, the two saiyan males stared at one another.
The secret was out, or rather Gohan had figured it out.
"So you are the mighty warrior who sired me, and I am to take it Chi-Chi is my biological mother?" Gohan asked, his voice sounded very professional, as if this was some kind of formal meeting on the facts of what was happening.
Goku knew that inside he was in turmoil, he could almost feel it.
If I'm this strong, you are probably wandering how any of this all happened, aren't you?
Goku could almost see it even, seeing the wheels turning inside Gohan's head.
"I appear to have been misinformed, I was told my father was a useless third class saiyan who was so weak that he couldn't even defend me, and had forfeited me to my uncle." Gohan started. "Clearly that cannot be the case however, because you are vastly superior in strength to anyone I've ever seen, even before that transformation of yours."
Was that what this was all about? Power? Of course it was, having been with beasts and villains like Frieza's family, or other saiyans, Gohan would have been raised to believe might made right. What was just was right, keeping people safe was right.
"I didn't forfeit you Gohan, you were stolen from us. I thought we could just find you and bring you home. It. It just never worked out."
Gohan seemed to listen intently to the answer, before looking up quietly.
"So what is to be my fate, Kakarot?" the question came with an edge to his words. "I am sure you wish to see me punished for my many, many crimes in your eyes. I know your type." What was left unsaid, but both knew it perfectly well, was that he'd killed many of Goku's "kind" and he wasn't referring to saiyans.
"... I believe in second chances, Gohan. Whatever you may believe, it doesn't need to be this way. You're welcome to stay with us for as long as you need to. I want a chance to get to know you." Goku added, smiling sincerely. "After all we've got a lot to catch up on."
It was true, no matter Gohan had done, he was still his son. Hate, anger, pain, these were all present in his son, if anything they were his primary traits. However what most scratched and ripped at his emotions was the look he was being given.
It was a cold, almost unforgiving look.
"You don't want to get to know me." Came the response. "You want to get to know a child, a child who died a long time ago, and I will not be his substitute. If you wanted to get to know him, you should probably have been a better defender than you were."
The words were pointed, an attack, but they weren't the kind of anger Goku had expected.
I can't tell if he's angry that I failed to protect him, or just angry that I want to get to know him.
"I want to get to know the young, strong warrior who my son grew into."
Gohan's eye flinched at the remark, begrudgingly sitting back on the bed, putting his one 'good' arm behind his head.
"I hate talking. I will not participate with you further until later." Was what he decided, clearly not wishing to talk further.
"I'll be by later to check on you." Goku promised, slowly turning and exiting the room. The door shutting behind him.
As soon as he was out of the room, Goku sighed. This was going to be a very, very difficult road to travel.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
The door shut behind Goku. He walked out of the room and Gohan sighed with relief, that'd been too intense.
These were his parents.
These were his parents.
His mind hadn't grasped that entirely while they'd been here, staring at him as if he was some lost dog, come home to find its master. He needed time to think, to sort his thoughts out. What did this change if anything? Worse yet, they weren't exactly what he'd been expecting.
But then again what could he expect? He'd expected something... familiar. This was absolutely foreign to him, it was a small, simple cabin, with simple, happy people inside of it. There was no lust for conquest or bloodshed, there was nothing saiyan about it. Paragus and Turles had taught him well, but this was completely unexpected, even unwanted.
There was too much emotion, too much longing heartache, even he could see it in their faces. Why hadn't Kakarot or "Goku" crushed Cooler by now and anyone else in his path? He clearly could, and as a saiyan he should want that. Instead, he lived in a sheltered, backwards planet, in a cabin in the middle of what he could tell was nowhere, with his wife and some kid named Goten. What was the point in living a life like this? It must have been absolutely simple, pointless even.
Worse yet, he'd showed pity on him, mercy, forgiving his enemies and believing in 'second chances'? What was that? Saiyans didn't give out second chances!
There had been thousands of weaker creatures Gohan had killed, thousands, that were 'forgiving' and believed in 'peace', and their corpses rotted in the mountains he left behind, none of them were powerful. Now, what would happen? Was it meant to be some cruel irony that his father was one of these pathetic creatures?
The only problem was, he wasn't pathetic. His strength was unapproachable, it'd been like nothing he'd ever seen in his life, for moments he could swear he even felt that power in his blood when he saw him in action.
Even worse again, he was still afraid of him. He was smart enough to know he wouldn't kill him now, but he had every right to fear. He was so adamant about protecting the weak, that he'd never be able to understand exactly how many weaklings he'd purged from the face of the universe.
The final point, much to his own personal disgust, was even after all this time, he didn't want to disappoint them somehow. What would happen as they dug deeper? They'd judge him, any good memories they'd shared about him would have been washed away by the bloodshed he'd brought about.
They were supposed to be saiyans, or at the very least warriors. They were supposed to be proud when they found him, he was one of the most powerful beings in the universe, he'd crushed countless civilizations, he'd purged whole sectors and killed legends of the stars.
Instead, his parents would see him for what he knew they'd see him as. A tyrant, or the lackey of a tyrant, more than happy to satiate his bloodlust and slaughter anyone who was unfortunate enough to get in his way.
He didn't have remorse for his actions, everything he'd done was to not only survive, but to be a warrior, a saiyan. It was more that the last 13 years, where he felt he could take pride in knowing his parents would be proud of him, was replaced by embarrassment that he'd ever felt that way, and embarrassment for his parents being so weak of character that they'd never understand him.
As soon as I'm healed, I've got to get off this planet.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
A/N: Hm, where to begin? I'll answer reviewers first.
Delais Starlight: I think the chapter answered this question. A vague feeling of familiarity, but no, he doesn't remember her.
KaosMoshpit: Gohan and Goku's relationship is never going to be perfect. They are too opposite of one another, and Gohan constantly feels judged around Goku's very nature.
Supervegeta778: Complicated answer. Vegeta was born in a warrior culture, most of his pain comes from humiliation at the hands of Frieza, not over his acts of wanton destruction. Gohan's trauma is centred around his many injuries, his many pains. Its centred around the loss of innocence, something Vegeta never had. I'd say Vegeta's life was harder, but Gohan's was more traumatizing. Unlike Vegeta, I'd say Gohan has repressed PTSD.
DBZMaster1242: I try dude. Updates for this story are likely to be weekly, and occasionally twice weekly. I'm focusing a lot of attention on my other story, every week I need to produce around 3 chapters to keep up with my current obligations. If this story gets more popular, then it may get updates faster.
Ky111: Thanks for the feedback and reviews. :)
Also, from now on, I'll be posting this story once a week, every Sunday at 0:00am-1:00am my time (West Coast Pacific Standard Time)