Lights

Chapter 5: Lost

Gohan flew over the forest, eyes narrowed as he scanned the area as best he could. Wind rushed through his wild black hair, his bangs brushing harshly across his forehead. He'd need a haircut soon. A part of him wished he could have his father's hair, like Goten, and not have to worry about such things but oh well. As long as his hair didn't get in the way, he didn't mind, but it's length sure was starting to bug him now. His bangs kept scratching his eyes, making it hard to focus on his search.

Right. His search. Goten was out in that forest somewhere. Goten and Trunks both. Or at least he assumed as much. Trunks had been dropped off for the day as he so often was, and the son of Vegeta had quickly joined Goten in a handful of childish games. Gohan had been studying, of course, not even bothering to eavesdrop on the children.

At least until his mother called him down with worried eyes and a shaking voice. The boys were missing, she said. They must have sneaked out of the house at the first opportunity. With how much attention his mother could unintentionally put into her cooking, Gohan wasn't surprised. Add that on top of Trunks being a mischievous little rascal… well… there was no telling where those two had disappeared off to.

Especially considering he couldn't locate them by their ki at all. It was too low to focus on. Both of them. Gohan sighed and glanced around the forest tree tops with a groan. Kids…

He wanted to blame Trunks for the trouble. It was so easy to blame Trunks. After all, the kid wasn't exactly raised the same. Bulma may have practically been a single mother, too, but… well… Gohan really had no idea what Vegeta did with the kid, if he did anything. Vegeta never had seemed the type to show an interest in his child or a wife. Were those two even married? He had no idea. Just like he'd been surprised when Trunks had been born at all, rudely awakened to the fact that a couple didn't have to be married to have a kid. Born under such circumstances, there was really no telling what sort of life Trunks had at home. How similar it was to Goten's, or how different.

Regardless of whose fault it was or whose idea it was, or whose influence could be blamed, Goten and Trunks had both left the confines of the house and disappeared. Thankfully, it was very unlikely that they'd been kidnapped. Imagining such a scenario only made Gohan feel sorry for any would-be kidnappers. Even for a four-year-old and an almost six-year-old, those two could cause some major damage if they wanted.

Which made him hopeful that nothing could exist in the forest to be worth worrying over. Goten and Trunks were probably both perfectly capable of handling themselves. But they could just as easily be lost, too.

Gohan groaned, stopping in his flight to take a moment to focus. He was roaming aimlessly at this point. He needed some clue, something to point him in the direction of his brother. Too bad he couldn't pick up their ki at all. He felt like his dad would have been able to, but here he was hovering in the sky about to resort to calling for the kids because he was out of any other options.

He took a deep breath...and almost choked on it.

A large power suddenly slammed into existence. A ki brighter than anything he'd seen in a while flashed high and warm. His head turned to the point where he could feel that glow, eyes widening then narrowing slowly as he frowned. Whatever it was, the power alone felt similar in strength to a Super Saiyan. If Goten and Trunks were anywhere close to such a power, they could be in a lot more trouble than he'd originally thought.

Letting his own ki gather around his body, Gohan pushed it to his feet, leaned over and rushed his way through the sky to head to that point of power as fast as he could. His heart hammered in his chest. His teeth grinding against each other, his jaw clenched tight in fear and worry. What could it be? What was invading the forest? This kind of… why did it almost feel like two different sparks of ki energy colliding together?

Gohan shook his head. Now wasn't the time to wonder. All that mattered was finding the owner of the ki and making sure Goten and Trunks weren't involved. He had the sinking suspicion that his brother and Trunks were both very much so involved, though. Geh. Why did those kids have to sneak out of the house? Couldn't they realize the outside world was dangerous? After all, when Gohan was Goten's age, he'd almost lost his life in this very same forest. A wild ride of an adventure being lost and looking for his dad and somehow surviving a fall from a waterfall in time for his dad to find him and rescue him.

Heh. Well, he couldn't really yell at his brother if he'd been the same wandering spirit at that age. But still… Dad wasn't here to rescue Goten. All he had was Gohan, and although Gohan tried his best, it just wasn't the same. He was a big brother, not a father.

The sense of bright energy faded away on the wind when Gohan was mere moments from catching it, too. He groaned and stopped his flight, hovering in the air to scan the treetops yet again. Maybe this time he'd be close enough to notice something. All he needed was to see something out of the ordinary. A flash of color. An abrupt noise. Anything. Kinda like -

His thoughts came to a sudden stop when his eyes finally caught something beyond the trees. Well, it was more of the fact that a small section of the forest trees seemed to be torn down. That and the sound of a dinosaur roar and then children screaming.

Narrowing his eyes, Gohan moved immediately. Heart skipping in his chest, he tore through the brush and landed on the ground in front of a T-rex. He could sense the boys behind him – finally – though all he saw was a pile of rubble, mostly fallen trees. They must be buried underneath all that. Great.

The dinosaur roared again and Gohan wasted no time lifting up and kicking the animal. He winced slightly at the way it flew back through the air at the slightest touch. Too hard. He'd hit it too hard. He hoped he hadn't accidentally killed it… his dad would have done better, he was sure.

"Goten," Trunks' voice said behind him. "Your brother's here."

Followed quickly by an excited, "Gohan!"

Right. He'd stepped in to save the boys. That's why he'd used too much strength against the dinosaur. Because he'd been worked up. Well, good excuse or not, he still should have controlled his power better. Guess he hadn't learned must of anything in his fight with Cell after all.

With a sigh, Gohan rubbed the back of his head and turned around to walk his way over to the mess of fallen trees and broken rocks. These kids… Apparently, they'd fallen into a hole in the ground and been trapped by the fallen trees. Gohan tried not to smile at the absurdity of it all even as he crouched down in front of the eyes that were peeking from the darkness.

"What did you two do?" He asked, "Why are you way out here?"

"Dino-hunting!" Goten chirped. "Trunks' idea. We made a good trap."

Gohan let a small smile sneak on his face as he nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. So good you caught yourselves, huh?"

"Whatever," Trunks grumbled. "Can you get us out, Gohan? We used up too much energy doing...something else."

Gohan hummed, wanting to know what this something else was, but deciding it might be best to let the kids have their secrets. Besides, he needed to check to make sure they were all right. Just because they were talking normally didn't necessarily mean they were free from injury.

So, taking a breath, Gohan grabbed the fallen trees, stood up, and tossed everything to the side one by one like it was no big deal. "There. You guys can climb out on your own now, right?"

Two little heads bobbed up and down, followed by the two kids grabbing hold of the edge of the hole and pulling themselves up. Gohan couldn't help but smile. He'd learned how to fly around their age. It was a little funny to see neither one had learned how yet. But it was just a testament to the peaceful times, he supposed. They didn't need to fly, because they weren't needed to fly in an all-important save-the-world battle. Hopefully, they never would be needed for such a thing. Hopefully, this peace could stay indefinitely.

Still. That didn't mean they should be excused for their reckless behavior. Narrowing his eyes, hands on his waist, Gohan put on his best big-brother-in-charge glare that he could manage. Both kids noticed the change and snapped into an almost attention. Heh. Maybe he was taking too many points from Piccolo.

"You know, you guys should know better," he said, trying to keep his voice as stern as possible. "What do you think would happen if I had to come home and tell Mom you were dead, Goten? Or how do you think your parents would feel if you never showed up again, Trunks?"

Trunks glanced off to the side and mumbled something under his breath, but Gohan was a little more focused on his brother. Goten's gaze shook and then found the ground. The hair drooping slightly as his shoulders slumped.

"Sorry, Gohan," Goten mumbled. "We didn't mean to -"

"That's the thing, Goten," he said, kneeling down and setting his hands on his brother's shoulders. "No one ever means for bad things to happen. That's why we have to take precautions like this to be safe. Rules exist for a reason."

Though Trunks scoffed, Goten nodded and mumbled. "Always listen to Mom, right?"

"Yeah," Gohan nodded back. "Always listen to Mom."

"Did you listen to Dad, too, Gohan?"

Feeling his breath catch in his throat, Gohan squeezed his brother's shoulders, meeting the curious eyes as Goten lifted his face. "Y-yeah. Mostly. Well. I – uh -"

I should have listened to Dad in that fight. Should have killed Cell when I had the chance. Shouldn't have toyed with him. Shouldn't have felt like I was right to want him to suffer longer. Why didn't I just listen to Dad?

"Gohan?"

Even if his dad had stayed dead because it felt it best to keep everyone safe anyway, the option wouldn't have even been there if Gohan had just done as he was told. If he had just listened. How many times had he replayed that fight? How many times had he wondered what he could have done differently? How many times…

His arms moved, wrapping around his little brother who had never met their dad. Holding tight, clinging to the little image of his father, he whispered. "I'm sorry, Goten. I'm so, so sorry."