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 71: Roost

Son Goku:

It was still hard to believe that they'd surpassed the trio of time and dimension hoppers. It'd been even more surprising when Junia had turned to help them. He'd decided to take the friendly approach when he met her, and the main thing he thought was that she was a heck of a lot like Vegeta. He could remember the look on Vegeta's face after he woke up after the battle. Still, it was really strange meeting these warriors from another world who seemed dead set on killing them. The only good thing to come of it was that he got to see Gohan for a while, until he was killed too. Well, that and he got to see a bunch of super strong people.

Yea, I super didin't mention that part to Chi-Chi. That'd be crazy.

Sitting in her on his lap, Keiko was looking at him with her big brown eyes. Those Beerus and Whis guys were really strong. He couldn't even sense their energy really, but he could almost feel a heat coming off of them, and he knew that they outclassed everyone who'd been at the big fight. That included Taro and Gohan even. And now they'd just totally vanished. How did they track them? Especially since their power was so weird he could barely sense it. It was almost a kind of heat. It was strange to explain. Right now, he hoped he could just learn to detect them so he could instant transmission to where ever they were and talk to them about sparring.

That would be a dream come true.

I know Vegeta will want to train to try and reach that level too. I know he saw them as well. Gosh, I wonder how strong Gohan's going to be when he gets back to. Maybe he can go for it as well. I mean, why wouldn't he? Who knows what all that power could have done to him, even while he was dead. Oh man, so much exciting stuff going on right now-

An angry howl escaped Keiko as she started to wail in front of him. Apparently ignoring his daughter for more than a few seconds was probably a bad idea. She banged on his chest with her tiny arms before he gave her a big goofy smile, seemingly calming her for the moment before he stuck his tongue out.

You know, Capsule Corporation isn't such a bad place to live. No wonder Bulma and Vegeta live here.

The fact his home had been utterly annihilated in the battle which had just taken place was something still on his mind. It was going to be at least a bit over a year before they could restore all the damage the Earth had sustained from Garlic Junior and The Trio. The first and most important wishes were to wish back everyone who'd been killed as a result of the battles. It still wasn't easy though. They'd lost a lot of things. Things were always able to be replaced, kind of, but Chi-Chi seemed to be really hit hard by it. Their home was completely destroyed, and a lot of things that held important memories for her were gone. He'd lived most of his life in a shack in the wilderness before he met Chi-Chi anyway, so really it was bugging her more than it was him.

And we need to find the last Namekian Dragon Ball, or there is no chance for Krillin to come back.

He'd already gotten more than an earful from Android 18. She was really, really mad. And to be fair he was really hurt by it all as well. When they finally got Krillin back he was going to be in the dog house forever.

A happy noise escaped the little girl before Goku just smiled back at her, exchanging looks between their two big black eyes.

"You don't mind. I guess you think this place is probably a lot bigger than our house, don't you?" Goku asked the little girl aloud, who seemed to just smile and coo back at him.

I can't wait to have everything back together. There's so much to do going forward, it's crazy! I wonder if those two guys who watched the fight are going to show back up? That'd be really neat.

In an ideal world, if Goku was being honest with himself, he wanted those two to come back so he could learn from them. Their power would have been out of control. He wanted Gohan to be there for it too, and Goten. Vegeta would undoubtedly join in, and maybe Piccolo. What a chance? A chance to really get everything back on track. The whole of everything could get back on track. In the his, he could see how it all unfolded. Him training with these new people and getting stronger, along with everyone else. New challenges could emerge and he could push himself even further than he was right now. Meeting his other self had opened his eyes to the prospect that he could continue to move forward. There was every opportunity around him, the world seemed open even after all its misfortune.

Well, outside of his head being in the clouds, Goku just stood up, carrying Keiko with him as he walked towards the window of his temporary residence. Maybe he should see if Vegeta wanted to train? That meant he needed to find a way to get Keiko monitored by someone else. The best candidate was Chi-Chi, or Goten. But Chi-Chi was definitely the better candidate. She'd said something to him a couple minutes ago though and was struggling to remember it. It involved something with Bulma.

"Goku, Bulma and I- Blah blah blah. I need you to watch Keiko and Blah blab blah. Blah blah blab blah. Blah! Are you listening to me Goku? We need to get ready for Gohan to get back and Blah blah blah. So, I trust you to take care of Keiko for a few hours. Okay?"

Sighing, Goku placed his hand on one half of his face as he looked up towards the ceiling, feeling his brows knit with frustration.

"Damn, I really should have listened more. What was she talking to Bulma about again? And where did they go? Maybe if I just sense for her energy I could-"

"Dad!" Goten's voice echoed out of another room. "Dad I'm hungry! Where are we getting lunch from?"

Well, this just kinda scrapped training for the day, didn't it? Staring out the window for a brief second, he saw Vegeta standing outside of his space craft, not entering it. Even though it'd been a while since they'd all discovered just how bad it was… Vegeta really had lost the most. Trunks, and another Trunks, and a lot of other Trunks, were all dead. Then there was that girl who seemed to really dislike them, the Junia girl, her dying seemed to have an impact on Vegeta too. That was something Goku didn't fully get, but he understood it enough.

Anything that seemed to stop Vegeta from training until he collapsed every day, must have been pretty bad.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Chi-Chi:

"Why didn't he tell anyone?" Chi-Chi asked, looking at Bulma seriously. "I have a grand daughter I've never met, and who my son hasn't even told me about. And he lives alone. I know he lives alone. So-"

"I think its complicated. When Vegeta and I ran into him with her the first time, I thought Vegeta was cheating on me," Bulma half laughed. "Gohan didn't even seem to react to her. But we ran into him again later when he was taking her out for food, and it was so obvious that he was watching over her. We talked to him about it and-"

"And?" Chi-Chi asked quickly. "Did you get the address to where she was staying? Or find out who her mother is?"

The bright sun above was warm, which was a bit uncharacteristic as of late due to massive shifts in the climate which had been taking place. Apparently Piccolo and a few others had been circling the planet trying to scatter different elements to change that, but Chi-Chi didn't fully understand it. Still, it was nice that it was so warm out, and it was a nice day to be out in West City.

Two plates of sushi landed in front of them as Chi-Chi nodded to their server before pulling up her chopsticks and began picking at her food. It was so strange for her not to do the cooking for once. She'd not been cooking as much in general since they'd been forced to relocate. But she'd been trying to talk to Bulma about this for a while. And it's not to say that things hadn't been very… difficult, for Bulma as well, what with what happened to Trunks. Goten had taken it better than she'd thought. But the day Gohan got back, was the same day Trunks was getting back, so there were reasons for them all to celebrate. The Dragon Balls would reactivate any day now.

Any day now and I'm going to see my son. What do I say to him? I know he was killed by that monster Garlic. And I know he came back to save everyone. But why wouldn't he tell me about something like this? I'm his mother. I've done everything I can for him. I waited for him all those years to come home. I remember holding his head when Goku finally brought him back to us. And he never bothered to tell me. Didn't he trust me? What did I do wrong? I did everything right. I tried to.

"There wasn't really enough time," Bulma admitted, pulling up a roll, dipping it in sauce before devouring it in one bite. "I know apparently the mom isn't Gohan's biggest fan. Gohan didn't want to get you or Goku involved because he was having a hard time with it."

There was something else she wasn't saying, but Chi-Chi was too focused on what was being said. The mother didn't like Gohan at all. It was disappointing to hear, as she'd been hoping she had a daughter-in-law, or someone who she could meet and talk to. Was it surprising? If Chi-Chi was honest with herself, she understood it. Her son wasn't from here and had grown up under trying conditions. It was probable that their encounter had been some kind of one-night stand, which made her cringe at the thought. She'd grown up very traditionally. She was a princess after all. She'd waited her whole life for Goku, and she loved her husband. Clearly, the same kind of traditional family engagement wasn't taking place for her eldest son, and it was very sad.

It was impossible to hide her disappointment as she picked around at the plate in front of her.

"I'd give Gohan some breathing room once he gets back, Chi," Bulma further added. "Not to be that girl, but he's going to have been through a lot, and I think he's going to need to get his life back in order-"

"And I'm here to help with that," Chi-Chi said bluntly, dropping her utensils and crossing her arms stubbornly. "I'm his mother. I'll help him get his apartment in order and finances in order, and then I'll help him get his family in order. Unmarried? No, we can't have that at all. Raising a child separated? My Son? He's a Prince from my father's Kingdom and family, I can't believe he'd do this."

The awkward half smile that immediately adorned Bulma's face was enough for her to almost have shouted her opposition.

"And he also wasn't raised here, by you or Goku," Bulma reminded. "He doesn't even remember his childhood, remember? He only barely recognized anything about you. You're expecting a lot from his Chi-Chi, and I think you might be disappointed-"

"Of course, I'm disappointed! I thought we'd fixed all this," Chi-Chi almost shouted, standing up at the outdoor table at the sushi restaurant. A couple people cast glances in their direction as Chi-Chi raised her voice aggressively. "He got better. He started earning money. He had an apartment. He wasn't killing people-"

"Listen to yourself Chi-Chi! Gohan's not a bad guy, right now. But he definitely was a bad guy. He's clearly prone to making mistakes,you have to at least admit that!" Bulma fired back. "I like Gohan! Even Vegeta's softened on him. But he's not exactly perfect, and I don't think you'll find that Gohan is going to be living out the fairy-tale ending of coming back and just ending up normal. He's not going to be an Ox-Prince, he's probably not going to follow in Goku's Footsteps. He's not exactly going to end up like Vegeta either. He's going to be his own person. And that's fine. But that means he's probably not going to be living by the standards you're expecting."

"This is ridiculous. I know he's his own person. I just don't want my son to end up being a total wreck because I didn't do anything, Bulma," Chi Chi announced angrily. "And I'm mad because he hasn't told me what's been happening in his life."

And she should have been mad. She'd given Gohan everything she could. Even when she found out what had happened to him and what he'd been up to, she still accepted him without reservation because he was her son. The little boy who'd been ripped from her arms by that monster Raditz. It took her a long time to forgive Vegeta even, just because she thought he was involved somehow. When the Dragon couldn't find him, and when Goku couldn't find him among the stars, it felt all the worse. When he came home being the wreck that he was, all she could see was her little boy, despite everything. Well he wasn't a boy, he was a man, and she was beginning to question exactly what he was doing not telling her about these kinds of things.

When Goku was gone, she'd relied on Gohan to protect her, Goten, and Keiko, and he had. He'd died saving his father even. Goku had even told her how he'd been killed again when he'd come back to life for a day. She'd wanted so badly to see him from that point and found out his death in that form had prevented him from ever coming back with the Fortune Teller. She felt like there was something else missing from everything she'd been told though, about everything.

"Chi-Chi, I'm your friend. Please just take my advice, when Gohan gets out of Hell, he's going to need some time to adjust. Vegeta told me how much of a nightmare it is down there, and he was there less than a day. You're going to have to be there for him, but I wouldn't start poking and prodding at him at first. It's not going to end well if you just swoop in and start…"

Chi-Chi could hear her heart beating heavily as she stared at Bulma. The words washed over her as she tried to keep her composure. It wasn't the fact she was just told to back off that hit her. Her son was in Hell? Her baby boy was in Hell and no one told her at all. He'd been in there for a year, suffering unimaginable torment and being there was the worst monsters in the history of the world. What had her son done to deserve that? A hand raised to her mouth as she stared back at Bulma, trying to hold onto her own shock as her grief expanded.

Gohan's death had been tragic. But people she cared about had died before, and then they came back. They took some time in heaven or at the very worst the waystation, or King Kai's planet, or anywhere, and then moved on back to life. One day they'd all die of natural causes and be prevented from returning. But Hell? Her boy was in Hell. The worst possible place in the afterlife. Even if only half the stories were true it was a nightmare. And that nightmare was made far worse by the fact her son was there.

And no one told her.

The look Bulma was now giving her was one realizing that she'd let something slip out that they'd apparently all agreed not to tell her. Her friends, and even Goku, had decided for her that she didn't need to know. Her best friend was trying to persuade her to not help her own son. It was all too much for her in that moment, and rapidly grief was being replaced by anger.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Goku:

Alright! I got Goten to take care of Keiko. That's a big win, because it's training time! I haven't trained in… hours, yea, I'm pretty sure hours? Yea, definitely hours.

Hopping almost towards the training ship Vegeta had been using, Goku had a huge grin plastered across his face. The other Saiyan was staring at him coldly, but it'd just take a bit of prodding to get Vegeta to start sparring with him again. If anything, it would be good to get his mind off Trunks and everything else by getting him back into the training space. It also was going to be great for him, because taking care of kids was fine and stuff, but he really, really needed to keep up his training regiment. It was weird that Vegeta insisted on abusing his body so much with the gravity room, but he could handle it and keep up just fine.

"Hey Vegeta!" Goku announced with a broad smile. "Funny I should meet you here."

"This is my home," Vegeta deadpanned in response. "Funny you should impose yourself on my house for several months and then pretend like you're surprised to see me."

An awkward silence filled the air for several seconds before Goku reached up behind the back of his head, scratching it as he smiled and closed his eyes.

"Hey, c'mon now, you know I can't help that!" he laughed. "But I thought… well, since your already here. And I'm already here. And because we've been training every so often. Maybe you wanna… I dunno… train some more?"

The other Saiyan just kept his arms crossed before breathing in and out patiently.

"Fine," Vegeta's response wasn't what he expected. He was really genuinely bummed out. It was something Goku really hadn't ever expected to see honestly.

"You know, you've had a big chip on your shoulder for weeks," Goku admitted as they took several steps towards the ramp leading up to the ship. "Is everything okay? I don't wanna sound stupid or anything, but you're definitely not acting normal right now, and-"

"You really are a buffoon, you know that?" Vegeta dryly commented in return. "It's like trying to have a conversation with a potato Kakarot I swear."

A frown emerged on Goku's features when Vegeta described him as a potato. Crossing his arms, he merely thought how he was going to show Vegeta how much of a potato he was by beating him in the training session they were about to have. A grin replaced his frown within seconds as he realized he was about to start fighting. It was really exciting. Admittedly he'd sparred with Vegeta tons, but the Saiyan Prince always managed to put up a good fight.

"Goku!" a voice shouted from behind him.

Chi-Chi?

When he paused and turned, the sight of a furious, and heart broken Chi-Chi was approaching him. Her steps on the grass were more horrifying to see than the steps that Cell had made towards him when he'd first tried to start his Cell Games. A thick ball of saliva moved down his throat before he turned to look at Vegeta for support. All he saw was the training room's doors shut.

Uh oh.

There was a real sense of dread that he felt in all of this. Not because she could physically harm him, that would be unlikely. It was the look in her eyes. The look that revealed she'd found him guilty of a great crime. The sad truth was, was that he'd kept things from her in the past. The number of things which could have been divulged was many. And the sad truth was that he'd become the kind of person who actively thought to give half truths. When he'd been a boy, he was always so out front on everything. There was no reason to conceal any information, or to not say every word of the truth. In a way, he kind of hated what that meant. It meant to try and keep other people safe, sometimes he needed them to not know the truth.

I miss who I used to be.

The thought emerged in the back of his mind, finding its way to the front before he looked plainly at the door Vegeta had left behind, his eyes following after the prince in his mind. He wished he could be flying around with his sons before they'd grown up. Even the draw of every stronger opponents dulled for that moment of being trapped in his mind's eye. The tragedy of others, the tragedy of his eldest son Gohan, bled into other aspects of his life. What if Gohan had never been taken? Where would his life be right now? Would he still be feeling guilty, feeling regret gnawing at the pit of his stomach as his wife approached him? Would he even have a reason to be?

There was a pause before he turned back to Chi-Chi, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't something he'd done.

The look in her eyes told him otherwise the second they met.

"He's stuck down there?" she shot at him immediately. "You didn't even go and try to help him! You didn't even put in a good word! No, you just left my son, our son in HELL!"

Yes, he had. That was true and it couldn't exactly change. He told King Kai about it and there wasn't a lot that could be done. It was hard to try and convey to Chi-Chi that Gohan had made a lot of mistakes in his past. She knew that already, but she couldn't conceptualize it. Worse yet, if she could, he doubted she'd love him the way she did. These were all things he was bad at. These were all things he never wanted to see or confront. They were all things he couldn't fix, and that bothered him. There was no point in not trying, but at some point, you needed to admit the truth of a situation.

"Maybe you should calm down a bit?" Goku asked almost pleading, feeling his shoulders slump. "It's complicated-"

"It's complicated?! How is my baby being stuck in the worst hole in the afterlife complicated! Trapped there with murderers and killers! Or even worse!" she shouted furiously. "After all he's been through, you left him down there?! For a whole year?!"

"I did everything I could-"

"You didn't even tell me!"

"Because of this!" Goku finally shouted. "I didn't tell you because of what's happening right now. You have to know I did everything I could. I talked to King Kai-"

"Well you get him here right now," she demanded. "My son does not deserve to be down there Goku! You know he doesn't. He's our son and he was taken away from me. And then he got taken away again by that demon monster and-"

The hysterics caused Goku to feel a nerve in his heart tighten. Taking several steps forward, he put his arms around Chi-Chi, pulling her towards him. It all seemed to stop as soon as he did. There was a lot to say, but he was always bad with words. Chi-Chi herself had become complete silent as Goku continued to keep her in his embrace.

"I don't want him to be stuck down there," Chi-Chi's voice broke, her breathing picking up. "I want him home. I want him safe. I don't ever want him to go back to that terrible place."

So do I.

"He's coming home," Goku promised. "Any day now he's coming home."

There was something he couldn't promise in all of that. He couldn't promise Gohan could get out of the predicament he was in. He'd seen Hell before, he knew what it was. Monsters like Frieza, Turles, Cell, Raditz, and countless others were there. Garlic, the very monster who killed his son, was there.

"No one tells me anything," Chi-Chi's voice continued to crack. "Everyone just keeps me in the dark. You. Bulma. Gohan. None of you tell me anything."

It was impossible not to hold on more tightly as she said it, for fear that she'd step back and look him in the eyes with her big brown eyes. But confronting your fears was an important part of life. And if he couldn't confront this one, how could he climb over the others that may come his way. Loosing his grip, he stepped back, holding Chi-Chi's shoulders and staring into her eyes.

They'd been through so much together. And they'd go through more. The texture around his eyes felt like they were moistening as he felt his heart tighten again as his throat contracted, trying to prevent him from saying the words that would set him free.

"Gohan was sent to Hell because he's hurt a lot of people. Billions of people. He hurt people even while they begged him not to. When he was lost, he made a lot of choices which we don't normally have to make. And those choices have consequences," Goku said the words he hadn't wanted to say since the moment he teleported Garlic to his son's new home. "We've given Gohan a new chance to better himself. We've given him a chance to come home, and he's going to come home again. But those choices don't go away, just because Gohan doesn't need to make them anymore."

The same soft brown eyes he'd fallen in love with all those years ago stared back at him as he saw the fire bleed away from them. Her fury had been there to mask her pain, and now all that was left over was the pain. He'd been the one to plunge this knife into her, even if she'd demanded it. It was almost like plunging it into his own heart as he was left standing there with her as the world became silent around them, outside of just their breathing. As her eyes fell towards the ground, defeat settled in before she slowly pulled her shoulders from his grasp.

"I want to see him," she confessed, blinking hard as she did while tears fell down her cheeks. "I… he's…. my son can't have hurt so many people like that. You've seen him. You know he has a good heart."

The blow Gohan delivered to the back of his head when they were confronting Turles immediately came to mind. The time Gohan had hurt Chi-Chi herself came to mind. Gohan's betrayal of Vegeta was another. His murdering of the two warriors at the World's Martial Art's tournament despite the Supreme Kai ordering otherwise. There was plenty to be proud of too. But having a good heart didn't change things. And did Gohan really have a good heart?

He had to. He knew it. The moment he stopped Turles, or when he confronted Broly, confirmed it to him. His connection with Turles, the man who'd kept him alive even if… damned, proved it. It just hadn't been enough.

"I know," Goku answered smiling back at her before brushing his eyes. "Do you need me to help? I… I was uhh… about to start training with Vegeta."

A half sad smile was the response first before Chi-Chi shook her head.

"Go ahead, it's fine… I'm sorry, Goku. I didn't mean to intrude."

Nodding in turn, Goku turned towards the doors above him. His demeanor almost immediately changed as he felt his shoulders almost click into place. Originally, he'd wanted to help Vegeta get his mind off things. Now it was going to be him trying to distract himself.

"Gohan has a daughter."

Stopping in front of the door, he felt his head perk up.

Huh?

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay. I'm using Microsoft Office now and the spacing bugs me, but it's a better program so I'm just suffering through it. I had a glut of appropriate music to write this chapter to as well. I'm genuinely really excited for the next two Sagas, but I'm really worried I'll fuck them up and what I'm trying to convey in them. There was some foreshadowing in all of this for events to come as well.

Beyond that. I got lazy and played through Far Cry 5. I regret it. I wished I'd written for 20 hours instead. Lol. Still not as good as Far Cry 3. That should be Ubisoft's slogan. "Far Cry X, it's not as good as Far Cry 3!"

Beyond my bitter ramblings of having wasted cash of a game with kind of a failed narrative, I've had a lot of time to develop the next 2 Saga's in terms of how I really want them to be laid out. As I said though, I'm more fearful of screwing it up. The next 2 Saga's really are going to need some work put into them to make sure they end up being what I want them to be. Unlike Ubisoft, I care about the narrative. :P

Next Chapter is also going to be really hard to write. As I don't want it to go on too long, but it's also a really, really important chapter to the narrative going forward. There is a LOT that needs to be crammed into it. It's also a big part for Brass and Taro. Let's just hope it doesn't end up consuming too much time

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Review Responses:

Rin Bloodedge the reaper: I think there is one DBGT character I'm using? And even then, not for the next two sagas.

Megacharizat: Normally, Gohan doesn't deserve to suffer. Can we really say that about TLR Gohan? 😉

Super Mystic Gohan: Yea, poor Piccolo. He's in a terrible situation. He's almost a good guy mirror of Taro in a way. He had to absorb himself from another world to be relevant. If things continued, that could have easily spiralled lol.

Blades of Fury: Nope. I wasn't really satisfied with 17's first outing, mainly his dialogue. It was readjusted. Ranger 17, trying to keep the forests safe.

Pyromania101: There are plans in the work right now that horrify me. I'm really excited for some of them. But worry not, it won't be as horrifying as that 😉

Guest1: I'm not quite sure what we're meaning by stretching, but still, thanks for reading! Best of luck on finding something which is more akin to your interests. 😊

Tearhart: 1: Definitely not. Lol. 2: Same here. 3: I concur.

TaitanoRules555: Why to patrol the woods and keep the wild life safe of course!

Storybook Thumb: Shortened this a bit. I really didn't think I needed to do a big Vegeta perspective piece, even though I wrote one. I just didn't think it fit.

Thomas-The-TMC: That howl is a sign that I did my job correctly. Pan's story is tragic. But she's an amazing character, I really look forward to more of her.

Guest2: Ah, calling me narrow minded, and asking me to give you a more detailed answer, which I've done multiple times to multiple people so far. I am sorry that you don't agree with my perspective on power levels. I am also sorry that this is a big issue for you. It's not changing however. :\

Hoopoe: I'm glad you caught all that. It's that way by design for the moment. It's meant to be tragic. 😊

ASDF: I don't see Gine making it. She was too nice to get sent to Hell and too evil to get to Heaven, and thus, was reincarnated.

Perfect Carnage: I think there is going to definitely be more development for Piccolo and Goku.

Luke: No Dragon yet. Figured I'd cut that part out and just write it as Gohan came back. It'll be a good scene.

Brelic: Thanks!

Guest3: Piccolo's become a better character with his merger. I think Gohan's a very passionate person when it comes to protecting his daughter. How much Philosophy that'll be there… dunno. I'm really trying to get time moving forward. I don't want to get stuck for too long in one place until the fights. But a few aftermath chapters are needed to wind things down and prepare others. 😊

G: I tried!

SupeRfralando: You touch on that correctly. But is that his fate?... Maybe there might be a way around it…

Maximussj: Good! It was meant to! 😉

The Unsung Anti-Hero: Only third?! How dare you? Lol. Thank you. 😊

Team Soda: I'm drowning in work, writing, models, RPG's, and friends. Life's too cluttered for me at the moment. But I try. lol