Chapter 23: Been A Son

A/N: Sorry for the delay this took a lot longer to write than I expected. But here's the next chapter.

Chi-Chi arrived as hastily as she could manage, her etiquette wasn't even close to being on display as the doors to Capsule Corp opened. The celebrity found herself guided by the matriarch of the family Bunny Briefs to where Bulma was. Though it wasn't Bulma she was here to primarily see, the concern she had received from the other mother about her son's behavior gave rise to more concern. While she would love to berate her son for disobeying her, it was no doubt that hussy of a blonde girlfriend that had been ruining her perfect little boy and destroying one great young man that she'd spent years helping to mold.

Still, she made her quickly towards Bulma's location all the while remembering the short conversation they had shared on her way here.

'Chi-Chi I don't know what's going on with Gohan but he's not acting right. Now don't start getting overly motherly with me, I have a half saiyan of my own but the machines that are hooked up to him are scaring me. His heart rate is elevated and he's sweating badly.' The obvious concern for her best friend's oldest showing. 'I'm not trying to scare you here but there's something serious happening with him as I've put some heavy sedatives to help him calm down but it's only caused him to amp up further.'

'What are you saying Bulma? What's wrong with my baby?' A hundred questions were quickly flooding through her mind. Worrying about the possibility of some type of brain issues that might be going on with her son.

'I don't know but i'm doing a small MRI scan of his head just to see if there's something malignant. Now don't panic it could be something else but his heart rate and pulse are still well over two hundred and those sedatives can work on Vegeta when he trains too hard sometimes.'

'I'll be there shortly and if you can make some calls, Gohan might need some of that healing from Dende or perhaps a senzu bean.'

'Already done, I told Krillin and sent Yamcha as well. I know I could send Vegeta but I want him here for other reasons right now.'

Chi-Chi wanted to pry further but there had to be a good reason, or she hoped that there was one at least.

So as she still continued to make a fast pace she rounded the corner to the infirmary wing and saw the Capsule Corp. heiress. A lightly burning cigarette in her mouth as she stood in front of a glass window looking in. The mother's heart jumped up from her chest almost into her throat as fear gripped her. "Bulma!" Her hands grabbing the side's of her friend's arms in a solid grip. Wanting to shake the answers out of her but barely managed to restrain herself from doing so.

Jolting from the quickness and intensity of the other mother Bulma almost lost her cigarette. "Chi-Chi-! Gods, you scared me."

"What's wrong with my Gohan? How serious is it?" Of course she didn't even need to ask that question. The moment her head turned slightly in the direction that Bulma's had been momentarily she viewed Gohan laying down on a hospital bed, his face contorted in pain as his body twisted and bent in different directions.

His eyes opened and closed, the glossy haze showing that his mind was suffering. But just off to the side of the bed sat the prince, still mildly nursing the bruise to his jaw. However, pain wasn't anything new for a saiyan. It was that Vegeta remained in his ascended state. His gaze was intense as the younger man struggled just feet from him.

If it was worrying for someone who'd seen his fair share of wartime horror and caused suffering to show any measure of concern it should've been alarm bells, flags, and signals aplenty for Chi-Chi.

She made a move towards the door but Bulma stopped her as the mother realized rather quickly that it was locked from the inside. "We don't know what's wrong with him. But there's nothing you can do right now and with how he's acting it wouldn't be safe for anyone to save Vegeta or even Goku to be in there right now with him."

"I still want to see my son."

Bulma put an arm around the mother who pulled at the handle that didn't budge. She wasn't trying hard as her mind was struggling to process this, a part of her wanted to be ripping into that room damned of the consequences or not and another was just cold to it. That it was happening and nothing could be done. The conflict was striking deep within her own morals with the mother she had been before.

Looking from the small pane of lightly tempered glass she could see Gohan's body jerk his hand rising up but only so far as thick straps kept him from thrashing about too hard.

"I know Chi-Chi, but Vegeta hasn't let me near him since he started getting worse and if it has him worried… Let's just go down the hall. Come on if something happens you won't be far."

I should be in there!? Dammit why do I feel this way?' Her fingers gripped the handle tightler but any desire to go inside failed, her willpower shifting to almost melancholy as Bulma seemingly drew her away from her child. The pull was there but, something else grasped her mind and turned her eyes away from the sight before her. Taking her slowly step by step away from her first born.

Her ears listened to the story of Gohan's sudden arrival, the shock that it had been to her, though of course the conclusion of his arrival had been even more telling. The surprise attack, and then the subsequent riposte and while Chi-Chi wanted to scream Vegeta's head off for hitting her son. There was just something in her that felt numb to this story and for the first time in almost several years Chi-Chi felt that everything she had worked so hard to build up for herself was falling apart.

But what was her image to that of her son's subsequent meltdown? As she stood in the relative quiet of a waiting area down the hall Chi-Chi decided to just fall a little further. "Bulma. Do you have something nice to drink, because I need something hard right now."

[***]

"What's the matter Gohan? You had so much vigor all those years ago and now look at you. No wonder your father sacrificed himself, seeing you become like this must truly disappoint him now." The twisted mockery of Perfect Cell stood almost towering over him. One foot squarely on his chest, as Gohan felt so heavy, his limbs weren't responding.

"Perhaps I haven't motivated you hard enough. I recall murdering Sixteen got that spark out of you. Maybe I need to do the same to your loved ones, maybe then I'll get a real fight out of you."

Gohan tried to protest, his head rose up only for him to stare wide eyed as Vegeta's body hung in front of him. Cell's tail had regrown and now coiled around his neck like a python. "I'm waiting Gohan… you don't have much time."

He tried searching for the lost trigger, that spark inside of him that had made him ascend and tap into a latent power that had been inside of him all of his life. But it didn't respond. "Pity." Only to watch Vegeta's chest explode, a clean yellow beam ripping outwards along with a torrent of blood from the saiyan prince's lips.

"N-No…" Gohan managed to whimper as Cell then tossed the corpse from him.

The petulant laughter that followed as the body disappeared from view followed. "Like father, like son." The barbs digging deeper as Vegeta had died as Mirai had… and knowing that he would die just as in vain as his own dad had done. "Yes Gohan, yes, if only daddy was here," Breaking out into more laughter Gohan was hauled up by Cell's white fingers.

Then as if from nowhere Gohan looked upon more terror. There were so many people, all of them crucified up on poles. Some were groaning and crying out, others were unmoving. The torrents and pain inflicted upon their bodies becoming more grotesque by the minute. A few kids from school had their lower jaws removed, a teacher was without arms or legs.

"Oh but there's more." His head rotated as his once hated foe forced him to view even further depravity. Krillin was impaled through several large spikes all of them stretching his innards out onto the wooden poles.

Tien had been burned alive, the flesh burned down to the bone in most places. Then Yamcha had all of his skin flayed off hanging in loose clumps all over his body still attached in some locations as blood dripped from the wounds.

"But we haven't gotten to the sweetest part yet." Cell then dragged Gohan to the image of- of-!

"NOOO-!" Gohan snapped upwards, his palms sweaty and entire body leveling dry heaves in and out. Unsure of the nightmare he had just woken from Gohan brought his hands to his face struggling to get a grip with himself as tears boiled up in his eyes.

This nightmare was just as terrible as so many before, he felt he should be numbed to it. But still here he was shaking like a-

"A child, at what point are you going to deal with your own problems Gohan?" The crass voice of Vegeta slowly causes the wayward teen's head to turn and look at the saiyan prince sitting down beside him. His face wasn't even looking directly at him, the bored expression of the only thing he had close to a father now was staring at the wall looking like he'd rather be anywhere else than where he was right now.

It was another solid punch to the gut as Gohan just hung his head in shame. "I'm-"

"Stop talking, everyday it's another problem with you. When are you going to figure out your own fucking shit because this is it, you attack me in my own home. You seek to take up more of my time that could spent doing Kami only knows what, perhaps being more of a saiyan to my own offspring, but here I am spent wasting my time with a snively ball of flesh that can't even handle his own problems on a world as soft and as timid as this one… truly you are beyond pathetic."

If Vegeta was trying to tear him down, then he was doing a helluva job because Gohan just sank lower and lower.

"Your father died, boo fucking hoo, my dad died as well then I was enslaved. Then broken, beaten, killed, and resurrected only to be stuck here right now playing pretend father to a child that isn't even my own." His words continued to spew like poison melting and stripping all of what Gohan had come seeking down to the ground without remorse. "I hate your father with so much fervor that you couldn't even grasp and yet you come here seeking my help? MY HELP!? I am not your fucking father and to be honest I know why you're father stayed dead because fuck if you are not a constant source of disappointment. You can't kill Cell when you should've, you spend your time running to me instead of being your own man, and when you don't get my help you punch me in the side of my royal face! My own face and you expect me to coddle you!? I should just beat your ass further for this insult!"

"Vegeta… please-"

"Please what!? What should I listen to your sob story!?" Vegeta still refused to even look at him. "Oh woe is me, my female fuck friend said I did a bad thing? Go on and kill the bitch I don't give a damn, maybe that'll teach her to be quiet, or wait I'm sorry it's oh please prince Vegeta dare to spare me some of your precious wisdom from a childhood and adolescence you never fucking had and help me. I have father issues, my mommy doesn't understand me, I'm all alone! Well guess what, join the god damn parade cause I'm the only saiyan left and yet here I am making the most of it! Now just sit there and shut up-"

The voice speaking followed the lips of a yellow skinned wizard who held the subconscious of Ghhan in his palm.

"Your resistance is tenacious, but it will soon falter. Like so many others." It was such a delight to see so much hard work paying off, that and watching someone who would otherwise be such a thorn in his side suffer. Oh the perks of being such a magnificent wizard.

Yet as he continued to string along the phantom Vegeta in Gohan's mind a question that passed through one of his servant's minds could not helped but asked.

"Master, would it not be possible to force him to submit. Surely his resolve to fight your immense power would be nothing now." The fortitude had been admirable but there seemed to be little point in continuing it.

Babadi cast several more harsh torrents into the teen's mind as he stole directly from his memories, the cold harshness of the man whom he respected and once feared more than almost any other back at him. "Forced submission is not true submission. When one willingly gives themselves over to me, much like yourself," He cast an irritate glance at his servant's way. "There's always the speck of doubt as to whether or not the inevitable is the correct choice. But when you surrender your heart, mind, and soul to me. The pact is sealed and nigh unbreakable. This new champion must accept me, he must want me, crave the freedom that only I can offer so that he sees me as the one true lord. No family, no friends, no lovers, nothing but Babadi. Nothing but becoming my Majin Gohan, I can picture just how much energy he will be able to gather me once fully turned."

"If I may ask lord, how do you plan on breaking him even further than he already is? What else can you put him through?" To him it seemed like he'd beaten the boy over with everything, the kitchen sink and the plumbing that came with it.

The wizard just smiled a twisted expression across his lips. "He still values but one more person and I plan and have his mind force to battle a will that he has struggled to overcome for so long."

Waving his hands around he snapped Gohan from one dream and straight into another, waking up in the exact same place, manner, feelings, experiences. It was easier once he had been forced into unconsciousness and then… drugged. His mental barriers were even more opened up to mental manipulation. Humans really are quiet stupid creatures. It's as if they have no understanding of magic at all. But when you come from furry creatures that still fling their own excrement even after thousands of years what should I be expecting, intelligence? No, because this job has been easy and simple.

Primitive savages, thinking more about reproduction and getting their disgusting kinks satisfied rather than creating a truly liveable world. They don't even have a true ruling class, just wealthy… Oh human's truly are worthless. His servants exemplified that even further.

Dragging his hand across the image Babadi would give Gohan every single person he once cared about a chance to berate him in his drug induced state. No chance to escape his prison as he would strip any hope of finding peace in waking up. No… that wouldn't be fun now would it?

Dancing the faces of his close friends, two bald headed men. A man with scars on his face, a blonde haired woman with an emotionless gaze. The two infuriating planetary guardians who kept butting into his business. Taking all of those people who had been in his heart for awhile.

Each one tearing him apart.

A shorter bald man giving the teen a look of disappointment. "You're dad was something else, he at least tried to make things better. Yet look at what you've done, you had a far better upbringing and you act like this is some sort of competition. I mean Gohan you still can't control your own temper, you made a mess of things on Namek, and you just keep doing it back on Earth? Have you seriously not grown up yet?"

The other bald man led in on a similar angle. "You act like you're the only one. Did you forget when we were desperately fighting Nappa, I gave up my life. Your friends died and what did you do? Throw in the towel and hide. Just like no, it doesn't seem to change."

As the other mental projections took their turns, their roots came from Gohan's hidden subconscious. His past regrets he'd buried or moved past now resurfaced and given no mental check or chance to reflect and think about. No he had to hear his every shortcoming, from those people would've understood him best.

The places where all of your darkest thoughts and hardest pushed down regrets that molded the teen into he was were being destroyed. His tenure as a warrior broke apart, the boy berated and ridiculed, the friend pushed down and not given a chance to rise back up.

Life's greatest regrets, were a way to push yourself forwards, or bring your entire world crashing down around you.

But most importantly the final pin keeping the lid on his saiyan was about to come undone as Babadi conjured up the image of Chi-Chi with one hand, before sticking his fingers back into the carefully held threads he had in her.

"Time to have a nice… heart to heart." He cackled maliciously before snapping his fingers.

[***]

Gohan snapped awake, truly awake for the first time. But he couldn't tell how many times had he 'woken' up just like this. In the same bed, sweating the same, heart racing, his head and mind spinning around and around. It had been so many times Gohan began to crack, he began to laugh and not in any pleasing manner. It was a deranged cackle, the kind a mental patient might have while suffering a breakdown.

The only reason he began to lose his mind as he was alone.

Vegeta had left after several hours, his own desire to recuperate and blow off some steam had left the demi saiyan alone as his condition had been a constant. As he laughed deep and heavily before falling off the bed, wearing just a pair of old training pants, his old dress khakis were ruined after the day and had been swapped out.

A broken smile formed on Gohan's face as he now found himself on the floor, his eyes blurred with tears as he continued to release laughs before slowly his twisted humor broke into sobbing.

Uncontrollable, my life is over sobbing, it was ugly, and bereft of anything but his self loathing and pain. Dreams or no, subconscious or reality. The teen had endured an untold amount of degradation by those who were closest to him.

Perhaps Gohan's uncontrollable sobbing began when he connected with the only person who had any say or impact in his life still. Lost in his own misery Gohan didn't hear anything, it was far too late as hands touched him, but he didn't try to stop the person touching him.

Still sucking in deep bawling sobs. Gohan just kept his head buried into the floor. His tears made numerous droplets all over the floor. He was broken, unable to resist the touch of his face. Strong fingers, though without the rough handling of a prince.

Gohan felt the comfort, it was his dearest mother. She was kneeling in front of him or was she? How could he be sure, this was just another cruel dream, another boisterous mirage sent to coddle him before breaking him back down?

"Please, no more! No more!" Gohan begged, his head burying itself in the chest of his mother, his hands grasping at her shoulders as he continued to bawl. "I know I failed everyone! I know i'm completely insecure and I don't know how to handle anything! Please just stop berating me, I can't listen to another second."

Chi-Chi was quiet, her hands just moving to hold his head, only able to offer him a warm embrace.

For the desperate teen this was the closest thing to affection, genuine, without condition. He continued to suck in further gulps of air. Taking just a few short moments before he confessed his sins to her. Not caring if it were real or not, he didn't care. He would say it himself and not be forced to be a pin cushion for every single slight or wrong direction he had taken any action in his short past.

So he opened up to the person who had truly mattered more, if not the most in his life. The one person who stroked his head when he was a boy, cleaned him up when he was sick, cradled him when he had been scared. She had been his "I needed you. Mom I so needed you and you… you just were never there. Maybe you thought I'd become a better man, or I thought I'd be better raising myself like I had tried before."

Had it been a desire to prove his mother and others wrong? That he could be better than everyone would've imagined. Since a child he'd been given such high expectations. But- but did anyone ask or think that they were reasonable.

"Every just assumes that my being Goku's son, his blood flowed through me. That I should just be able to handle everything. That no matter the obstacle I would just overcome it... Plus considering you're my mom, and you were one of if not the most powerful women at the time of my conception, surely just spelled out greatness for me. But I never understood what I wanted to be, I never got to be anything. I was tossed between you and dad in my younger years. Dropped in the arms of Piccolo for an entire year and forced to survive, then fight for my life time and time again."

His finger's loosened on his mother's shoulders. "I never even asked what I wanted to be… what I could be? Mom… I know you thought me a genius and perhaps I am, and maybe dad thought I could just take over for him and be the world's protector. But I don't even know if I should be that… just look at me now. I was accused of raping my girlfriend… Then everyone at the school turned against me, I wanted to tell you that I was confused, that I couldn't find it within myself to tell her no. I just missed you so much, I missed being your baby boy, I can't even know the last time you told me that you loved me. That I was your most important child, even if I know you had Goten, I just wanted to know that someone cared for me. That I still mattered to you."

Rising up Gohan buried his face in the nape of his mother's neck. Holding onto her tightly. Feeling the gentle stroke of her fingers through his hair as he continued to give her everything. "I wanted to be something… to someone, I didn't want to be alone anymore. I know, I know I screwed up so bad, but I didn't want to sleep with her, but I just.. Just wanted to feel some love. I didn't care about the consequences, I didn't think about responsibility, because for a few sweet minutes I didn't have to be me. I wasn't Gohan the student, the saiyan, the son, I just got to be boy fucking a girl and yet you raised me better. You know it, I know that I never should've but I just didn't care, it was a drug to me, she smelled good, looked good, begged and pleaded with me. How could I just look away and say no when everything around me was screaming yes, yes yes!" He let out a few more light sobs, his chest and body still shaking as he clutched at his mother.

A gentle pat came along his back, still no words. Allowing Gohan to finally let everything out. "It's my fault… all my fault. I killed dad, I killed him because I was just so stupid, so unbelievably stupid and I screwed up all over again with Erasa. If I hadn't been so arrogant and vain then Dad wouldn't have died, we wouldn't have had to move, you wouldn't need this big job. I would've never met Erasa and not have destroyed our family."

He let his eyes open slightly, his tears no longer able to fall from his eyes. He wasn't sure just how long he'd been letting the waterworks flow but there was almost nothing left in the tank. "I just wanted you back mom, I wanted to know you understood me. That you loved me still, I-I," He said through sniffling, "Please forgive me. I know I screwed up, I know! I can't change anything I did, please just tell me it'll be okay. I'm just so tired. I suffer never ending nightmares where all I do is scream, I watch everyone die and it's been tearing me apart inside."

That small comfort, he felt the warm embrace that was holding him then broke as the hands on his back then grasped him tightly. "Nightmares? Oh my sweet Gohan. It wasn't any comforting voice of his mother. "Gohan, your nightmare… has just begun." Gohan felt his entire body lock up as he was ripped off the floor, his eyes staring into the horrible malformed face of his mother. Much like the grotesque abomination that he had been attacked by before in his dreams was now just inches from his face. "Come, let Mommy HeLp YOu!" She reared back ready to bite him-!

Chi-Chi was sitting just outside the room a small tea drink in her hand which she had been sipping in order to just keep her thoughts occupied. But as her mind was being dragged back to work and her schedule she was pulled right back into wondering what was going on when all of a sudden Gohan threw himself off of the bed.

Releasing a gut wrenching scream of terror that broke through the sound dampening glass that made Chi-Chi jump up, throwing her cup almost into the ceiling. "Gohan!" She screamed running over to the door which had been unlocked as it appeared that he had begun to calm down, for the past twenty minutes it seemed like Gohan was beginning to stabilize until he broke out in a violent outburst.

She opened up the door as Gohan scrambled along the floor, his hands covering his face as his nearly naked form squeaked and dragged across the hospital tiling. "No-! NO NO! NO NO NO NO!" Was all he could say, squeezing his face. Everything from his neck up was beat red as he sounded like he was going to hyperventilate. Taking more and more haggard breath until he collided with a wall.

Continuing to almost scramble like a wild animal, Gohan's feet pushed and dragged across the floor. Pushing himself right back into a corner as he finally stopped moving as he just tried to wedge himself between a cabinet and a corner in the wall.

Chi-Chi remained silent, her brain frozen as the unmistakable signs of terror were showing on Gohan's features, unknowing what could've afflicted her son but she waited half a minute as Gohan's panic stricken breathing slowly broke down into whimpering and crying. His head now pushed into his knees. Gohan began to slowly shake and shiver into the corner.

Calming herself, Chi-Chi knew her son was deeply disturbed at the moment, but she had a chance to try and help him with whatever was… afflicting him.

Cautiously she took a breath. Exhaling slowly, the mother calmed herself before crouching herself down slightly, not drawing herself closer to her son in order to not frighten him further. "Sweetie?" Trying her best not to bleed any other emotions into the situation. A calm and steady hand- 'Are you sure? He's a grown boy… why not-'

Ignoring those thoughts Chi-Chi tried again. "Honey? Are you okay?"

Her son made no effort to move-aside from his feeble rocking- the corner seemed like a refuge as he continued to whimper and mumble incoherent babble. "I know… please stop… I didn't mean… don't hurt me… I can't, I just can't!" His voice barely a whisper to his mother but she was able to understand just how serious this was.

'I had no idea this was so bad.' 'Just like his father! Needing someone to pick up after him!' 'Is this because of the Cell games? Or were these accusations what set this off?' 'It's because we let him grow up this way, becoming a punker, not studying, all that fighting!'

She shut her eyes for a moment, trying to tell her subconscious to shut up for two seconds and let her deal with this problem.

"Gohan?"

The mentioning of his name made his rocking stop. But his fingers gripped his legs tighter, his broken nails breaking several sections of his skin with the pressure. Slowly his head looked up, red eyes filled with fear or perhaps despair? Sullen and withdrawn with sleep deprived rings formed along their edges. But he didn't speak, his mouth remained agape looking at her, but his vision was staring at the beyond.

The quiet remained for several moments when she rose up, his eyes following her every movement, not blinking, remaining cold and glossied vision.

It might be the first time, Chi-Chi felt something so basic from her son. It wasn't quite fear, but in between that and worry. For both herself and him, and never in her life could she imagine having such thoughts regarding her baby boy.

Yet she was still his mother, and though she trusted her son to do the right thing-despite his previous actions- she had her responsibility to him. "Gohan it's okay." She told him again, taking a step forward.

"You're alright. You're here in Capsule Corp. Just take it easy okay."

Taking another step forward, she was an arms reach away. She knelt down again, her son's eyes unchanged, not flinching in the slightest. But as he continued to remain silent, unmoving, and abnormal, Chi-Chi made a mistake.

Reaching out to touch him, Gohan dove away from her. "NO! Don't do this to me again! Don't! Don't! I told you everything! What else do you want from me!?" He dragged himself along the floor escaping her touch. "Everyone hates me, everyone keeps breaking me down… and even you. I trusted you, you're supposed to be my mother and yet you hate me most of all! I'm sorry I'm not fucking perfect, I fucked my girlfriend, I killed my father, I can't handle my own insecurities cause I don't know what the hell I'm doing!"

Gohan curled himself into the fetal position and began crying. "Just stop the nightmares… just please stop them! I can't take it anymore!"

She came over again, Gohan didn't retreat perhaps too lost in his own misery or mental state to care. "Gohan, this isn't a dream. You're fine."

"I'M NOT FINE!" He screamed back at her! "You're not even my fucking mother!" Gohan didn't see his mother, he saw another visage. Another twisted dream, his mind making this into his own personal hell.

"Where did you even come from, is it because I want to see you everyday despite being a teen?! Or is because you're always so god damn far away that no matter what I do you never have time for me! That i'm just a back burner to your career! Tell which part of my own insanity you're coming from! Or is it because I just want to please you! That everything I did as a child and now is to make you happy and love me but ever since we moved you've wanted nothing to do with me, is that what this is!"

Stunned by her son's outburst, she wasn't able to properly speak. Her son was belching either nonsense or his heart to her. If it was the latter it tore a hole in her.

"So many nights I just wanted you to come home, but you never did. Everytime I called you it was just another voicemail, ignored and forgotten so yes I reached out and fucked Erasa because she was the only one offering me any comfort when all I wanted was you! I just wanted to see you, spend time with you…" He closed his eyes and grit his teeth. I spent years without you and then spent even more where you were so close but never there. This is the only place where I can have any time with you is in my own personal hell and I'm tired of it!"

Now it was starting to make sense… These were cries for attention, 'I can' imagine when this started.' Her own failings as a mother were taking hold of her, something she had always tried to avoid. Putting up the theatrical shield that as long as she provided everything for them, then it would be alright. That her children would be okay.

That fallacy broke apart like glass as her oldest son continued to rant deliriously. He didn't even believe she was in front of him right now, that she was not even real. Why had she ever tried to justify this! No amount of money was worth her babies… 'I'm so sorry Gohan. I've been terrible to you.' All of those gut feelings had been ignored. Pushed aside because she thought she knew better! Fortunately she had wanted to surprise her son, but now it would be more of making amends.

"I'm so sorry, I failed you Gohan." Chi-Chi said bowing her head, "I should've seen it sooner but I didn't." She was going to make things right, she wasn't going to ruin her children's lives anymore she-!

"Hah! Now I know this is a dream! My 'mom'-" He said sarcastically."-would never say that to me! She knows everything, I'm just being a teenager!" Jumping up to his feet Gohan began to laugh. "This must be the next level, another circle of hell, well guess fucking what! I'm done!" Gohan shouted up into the air, not looking at the fake mother, the mental image of something that didn't exist. Not in that shape anyway. "Just fucking take me, right here and now! I'm all yours. Smite me, kill me! I just want it to stop!"

"Oh absolutely!"

Both of them heard it but Gohan didn't even flinch.

Vegeta tore through the door as it happened. Gohan ascended, tapping into that latent power in a flash as he powered up, the sparks of ki rippling right off of him.

The prince sensed it too late, Gohan's erratic behavior making it more than difficult to predict his levels of consciousness, that and the boy had been out for three hours muttering and jabbering nonsense. Yet as Gohan flared fully to life, his eyes were fully opened as the spell twisted into his mind by Babadi released itself momentarily. Gohan's fists balled up at his sides as his blue ki sparked and flashed to red. 'Welcome my new champion. Embrace this gift! Embrace it and you shall be freed like never before!'

Without any friends to help, no family to turn to, betrayed and hurt by so many. Scorned and mocked by those who he had thought understood him. Gohan did not fight back and he was 'blessed' the red rings rose up and around his arms, driving into his skin but there was no pain, firing through his core and illuminating him a brilliant dark glow.

"Gohan! GOHAN!" Chi-Chi screamed watching as the red continued to spiral around each of his arms rising up like a pair of living entities then without warning plunged themselves straight into his eyes.

Screaming as he was blinded by both pain and blinding light, Gohan still did not fight back, the dark energy coursing through his body as his spikey blonde hair rose up above his head. The entire compound began to shake, chairs began to fall about, tables bouncing and anything not secured was tossed and thrown about.

"Time to come to your true home."

Back in his ship Babadi shouted his magic outwards as the binding neared its completion and within a snap of his fingers. Gohan's presence and aura in the compound vanished.

He was there one moment and gone the next, but when the teen fell to the ground and onto his knees his head now bore a large symbol of his new master. An ornate carved M now emblazoned on his forehead like a badge of honor as Babadi grinning ear to ear walked forward to have a good look at his prize.

R&R