2 chapters in 3 days? I'm spoiling you guys X3 Well, the reason I was able to get this out so quickly was because I was on the road for 6 hours, so I had half of this typed up when I posted last chapter :D no internet so I was unable to post the previous chapter earlier :D
And OHMIGOD. OHMIGOD OHMIGOD OHMIGOD. Guys, WE HIT THE 200 REVIEW MARK! :D you guys have no idea how amazingly ecstatic I am at that fact, thank you all SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much! :D I LOVE YOU ALL! :D
And guys…it's my birthday today! I am officially 15 this day! :D YAY ME! And that's all I had to say about that. For a birthday present, would you guys mind dropping me some more of your absolutely lovely reviews? Cuz those put a huge smile on my face :D
Anyways, you guys, ever heard the song Doomsday from Doctor Who? It's absolutely lovely, seriously :) and it kinda in a way inspired this a bit. Just a bit. It's inspired a lot of random snippets here and there in the story also :D
Anyways, enough with my rambling. Hope you enjoy the chapter! XD
Disclaimer: I love chocolate and I love ice cream. But I don't love chocolate ice cream, for some reason. And I don't own DBZ.
Darkness surrounded him.
It was an unreal darkness, so thick, so cold…there was no end to the darkness, there was no light anywhere…
A voice was faintly calling out to him. Calling his name. So he wasn't alone in this eternal, chilling darkness? Someone else knew he was here, someone else was looking for him?
He ran towards the voice, the voice that grew slowly familiar as he got closer. How close was he? The darkness was limitless. He recognized the voice, and desperately ran towards its owner.
There was a moment that he managed to see light, and he ran towards it. It morphed into a place with blue grass and green skies, a place where red blood littered the ground, scattered in drops all over the area. An unmarked grave that had been freshly dug was there as well, and he felt two vaguely familiar powers. Even so, he wasn't focused on that fact, and didn't bother identifying the two extremely powerful kis, and continued to run towards the voice. He tripped over a few dead bodies that were green—Namekians?—and sprinted, undeterred.
Suddenly, brightness encased the scene, and he had run into an all-too-familiar place. An arena with white tiles and four pillars in a beautiful landscape, filled with trees and green grass. The Cell Games arena.
And standing there was none other than Cell himself, smirking. In his final, super perfect form. Holding something—no, someone—in his grasp, dangerously close to breaking her neck. The person who'd been calling his name before.
"Videl!" he called out, lurching forward on instinct.
"Ah, ah, ah, Gohan," Cell suddenly chided, smirking. "One more step, and I snap this girl's pretty little neck."
That made him stop in his tracks, and Gohan suddenly glared venomously at Cell, halting his movements. Every muscle in his body screamed for him to go to her, but he knew that Cell wasn't bluffing. She was gasping, held in a chokehold by Cell, unable to break free from his strong hold. Her blue eyes were wide as she sent him panicked look, but he couldn't move. The only thing that he could do was try and reassure her with a smile, but it didn't work, not reaching his features.
"Now, there's a good lad," Cell chuckled. "I'm glad that you've finally managed to learn some manners."
Gohan scowled fiercely at the hideous cockroach. "What do you want?" he hissed. "And…how are youalive? I…I killed you seven years ago!" he suddenly shouted, realizing what was so wrong about this whole situation. Cell was dead; Gohan had ended the bug's life by his own hands.
"Did you really think that I wouldn't be able to find a way to escape from hell?" Cell shot back instantly. "Honestly, Gohan, I'm hurt. Did you truly doubt my power that much?"
"I don't care how you managed to escape; just what do you want?" Gohan growled out through gritted teeth.
"I want you to apologize for what you did to me all those years ago," Cell replied, almost conversationally. "For killing me, for the utter humiliation…for everything you did to me, little boy."
"Fine," Gohan growled out. "I'm sorry. Now let her go."
"Oh, but Gohan, you have to mean it," Cell snickered. "And if you don't mean it…then, well, she dies."
His eyes snapped towards her in his fear for her safety. "I said tolet her go!" he snarled out viciously.
"And if I don't?" Cell challenged.
"I'll kill you," Gohan replied instantly.
"Hah! As if you have the guts."
"I do have the guts. I killed you once before, didn't I?"
Cell's slight burst of good humor had left his face, and was replaced with a furious glare. "Unless you want her to die, slowly and painfully in front of your very eyes, I suggest you watch your tongue, you insolent brat," he hissed.
"I'm just stating a fact," Gohan couldn't help but add with a shrug.
Cell, infuriated, tightened his hold around Videl's neck; the human girl gasped at that in shock, her eyes widening as she tried to get air into her lungs. Her small hands scrabbled at his forearm vainly, her boy trying to wriggle out of his grip, but she was unable to do anything against his power.
"Let me go!" she shrieked at the bug, blue eyes blazing with the fire that always resided within them, ignited whenever she was furious.
"Shut it, girl, or else you'll die," Cell told her bluntly, his voice pure venom in her ear. She glared at him in reply, spitting almost in his direction but not quite, but Cell seemed to get the message. He seemed to find this antic rather amusing, though, and betrayed a chuckle, before he returned his gaze to Gohan, whose fists were clenched in fury.
"You still haven't apologized sincerely," Cell told him. "I want a sincere apology from you. You have three tries, and you already used one. And I'll decide if it's sincere enough."
Gohan let out an aggravated growl once more, before muttering out with as much sincerity as he could in his tone, "I'm sorry."
"Not true enough," Cell answered back, wearing a smirk on his face. "Last chance, boy."
"I'm sorry for all that I did to you, Cell," Gohan apologized, making his voice as authentic as possible. However, Cell simply smirked again at Gohan, and shook his head.
"That wasn't enough either," he said. "Third strike, Gohan."
And, with that, he ruthlessly snapped Videl's neck.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, agonizingly slow and yet unrealistically fast as well. The pure fear that had covered her features the moment that Cell's last sentence had left his mouth, her shock as she felt his hands on either side of her head as it was grabbed by his lightly clawed fingers. Her blue eyes went wide, and her eyes met Gohan's for a moment, which was when her neck had been snapped.
With her last breath, she had mouthed his name. And then, she was falling, falling to the ground as he dropped her. Her blue eyes lost the fire in them, the spark of her life snuffed out forever within those beautiful sapphire orbs. Her limp form seemed to hit the ground slowly, so slowly, and he had only been able to stare at the scene in pure shock.
It wasn't true. She wasn't dead. She couldn't be.
But her energy was gone. Her blue eyes were glazed, lifeless, staring right at him. She was dead.
Something began to prick at the corners of his eyes, and his vision suddenly became slightly blurry. It was hard to see certain things, but he was able to see Videl's dead body with surprising clarity. Never again would he be able to run his fingers through her short black hair. Never again would he be able to see her prettily pale cheeks flushed with either a blush or from physical exertion. Never again would he be able to hold her body close to his, shielding her small form with his considerably larger one. Never again would he be able to kiss her beautifully soft lips, to feel her answer his touch as she reciprocated the kiss with eagerness. Never again would he be able to look into her wonderfully, beautifully deep blue sapphire eyes; never again would he see the life in those beautiful, almost measureless depths, see the fire, the spark of spirit within her eyes. Never again would he be able to see her smile, the smile that completely lit up her features, made her eyes sparkle. Never again would he hear her voice, whispering calm, soothing words in his ear in comfort, or yelling at him in frustration, or simply talking to him, or hear her laughter as he told a joke.
Never again.
And it was then that he snapped.
Gohan let out an inhuman scream of rage, the tears escaping his eyes now as he felt his power skyrocket. It continued upwards and upwards in a chaotic spiral, but he only noticed this in the back of his mind. His rage, his pain, was the dominant emotion. It was the only thing he was truly conscious of. He wasn't conscious of the fact that his hair had turned a shining golden color, or that his eyes had transformed into turquoise and that there was a golden aura surrounding him. He wasn't aware of the way that his hands were clenched into such tight fists that he drew blood from his palms. He didn't notice that the tears were streaming relentlessly down his face in torrents.
He was only aware of one thing—that Videl was dead.
His true love was dead.
More screams came from his throat. The sounds that were escaping from his mouth were formed from true agony, seeming to be unable to be formed by a human being, by any living creature, for that matter.
And after the grief, came the hatred.
Pure, venomous, undulating hatred for the creature who had done this. Who had killed Videl. Through his tears, his misty vision, Gohan glared fiercely at Cell, who was laughing at the teenager's reaction after the insect had killed his girlfriend.
With a furious, crazed, anguished roar, Gohan lunged. He didn't see Cell clearly—the only thing he could see was Videl's body. He punched and kicked and punched and kicked and screamed and cursed furiously at Cell. And the monster simply smirked through the whole ordeal.
Suddenly, though, Gohan felt something clasp around his neck, with such speed that he hadn't heard it coming. With a strangled gasp, he began to choke, struggling to breathe, his throat being crushed. He was suddenly able to see, and he realized that it wasn't Cell anymore—he was now fighting some faceless enemy, a faceless enemy with soulless red eyes that stared deep into his own. Gohan's own hatred was reflected within those terrifyingly blood-red depths.
"You filthy Saiyans don't deserve to live," the new foe hissed. Its voice was dark, sinister, booming, lethal…it gave Gohan a shudder, a chill up his spine. The voice was laced with fury, hate, revulsion. It was Hatred, given a voice.
Even so, Gohan's gaze flickered back to Videl's body. Her eyes were still open, glassy, empty, staring at him. This rekindled the fire that had slightly diminished in shock as he let out another furious roar and tried to hit the monster that was now holding him captive with its tail. However, he was just out of reach of this unknown enemy, and he couldn't breathe. Oh, god, he couldn't breathe, his throat was closing and his lungs so desperately wanted air, but he was unable to gulp in the much needed oxygen, his throat was too tight…
But he couldn't give up. He'd beat this phantom enemy, he had to.
"Oh, Gohan, don't you understand?" the voice continued sadistically. "Youcan'tkill me. Revenge can never be defeated."
Gohan let out more unintelligible snarls; however, they were slowly becoming weaker and weaker as he struggled to simply get a breath into his lungs. His lips were turning slightly blue, his eyes beginning to roll back into his head as his vision began to turn fuzzy, his head felt like it was about to explode, he was being choked to death…
"And you know the worst thing, Gohan?" the voice whispered, almost gently, bringing the boy close enough so that he could speak into his ear. "The worst thing is that, no matter what you do, you can't save those you love. Not your father, or your mother, or your little brother, or your friends…or the girl. You couldn't even save her. You're always too weak; you're never strong enough to actually protect those you love, those you care about."
Gohan struggled as the appendage got tighter around his throat; he was now gargling on his own saliva and blood, which had begun to come from his throat as he coughed and allowed his mouth to open in a silent cry of pain. His Super Saiyan aura slowly diminished, hair reverting back to black, eyes turning obsidian once more as he lost his grip on the legendary transformation. He was too weak; he couldn't possibly hold it any more. His lungs desperately begged for air, but he was unable to supply himself with oxygen, oh, Kami, help him, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe, he needed to breathe—
"You'll never be strong enough," the voice continued to hiss in his ear, and the dead body of Videl was suddenly in clear view within Gohan's mind once more. "No matter what, you can never save your friends or your family. Never. You can't even save the girl you love. Instead, do you know what you did?"
The demi-Saiyan's only reply was another strangled noise, unable to speak. Why wasn't he dead yet? He certainly felt like he was dying, he was going to die, there was no stopping it, and he'd failed them…
"You're the one who killed her," the lethal voice told him quietly. At the flash of denial that had come onto the boy's struggling features for a moment, the monstrous voice continued, sounding smug, and yet still deathly quiet. "Yes, Gohan, you killed the girl you loved. You were too weak to save her, and you had the inability to simply apologize. If you had apologized, she wouldn't be dead right now."
Another strangled noise from Gohan's throat. The voice snickered darkly, before speaking once more.
"How does it feel, Gohan, to know that, if you had done one little thing, that she'd be alive?" it asked, almost conversationally. "That you could have saved her life by doing one simple thing? That, by, not doing that one simple thing, that you caused her death? How guilty does that make you feel?"
He was dying, he knew it, he couldn't hold on any longer, and yet why was he still alive?
"You killed her, boy," the hateful voice whispered. "You killed her. You could've changed all that…but you didn't. And it's because of you that she's dead. It's all your fault, Gohan. You can never protect her, or anyone. Never. And there's nothing you can do to change that. You killed her. You killed the girl you loved."
Violently, Gohan woke with a start, eyes snapping open to the darkness of his room. His breathing was in labored pants, his torso covered with perspiration, and for a fraction of a second he believed that he was still there, that the invisible enemy was hiding in the shadows—
It took him a moment to register that he was in his room. He cast a glance towards his side, where Goten was sleeping like a baby, probably exhausted from all the fighting that he had done earlier that day, during the fight with Abo and Cado.
It was OK. It hadn't happened. It was just a twisted nightmare. It hadn't made sense, he reasoned with himself, so it hadn't been real.
But the look on her face as she had died, the shock and utter hopelessness and pleading in her blue eyes before the life was suddenly taken out of them…
Gohan shook his head to clear it, telling himself that she was all right. He could feel her energy safe and sound in her own house, calm and peaceful in her sleep. She was just fine, her ki thrumming gently and reassuringly, like a small beacon of light to the boy.
Still breathing a bit hard, Gohan turned towards the clock, where he saw that it was twenty before two in the morning. Yet again, he shook his head, knowing he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep.
He never had nightmares like this, though, and it unnerved him. The nightmares were always about what had truly happened to him. Seeing Cell kill Android Sixteen, seeing his father give up his life for all of them, watching Frieza kill Dende and then Vegeta and then Krillin…things like that. They were never twisted versions of his true fears.
It was unnerving, the intensity of that nightmare. It had a feel of foreboding to it, he believed…because that voice. Oh, Kami, that voice. It had been filled with such a pure hatred, pure loathing, that he had been momentarily shocked, hearing such a terrible and yet powerful emotion within the creature's voice.
And also, the fact that he'd seen Videl die caused him to grow tense as well. He yet again reminded himself that she was all right, feeling her reassuring energy in the distance…but his mind was being irrational at the moment, and refused to believe it.
Against his better judgment, Gohan began to slowly get out of bed. Finding some clothes, he changed into a pair of jeans and a tank top, throwing a light sweater over that for good measure. Then, after he put on his sneakers, he went over to the window of their room, turning back for one moment to look at Goten's sleeping face. Seeing that the boy was fine, perfectly safe inside of the house as he breathed in and out gently, Gohan nodded, before he turned around and flew into the early morning.
The cool air felt good on his slightly hot skin, making him glad that he wore a sweater. It was rather chilly this early in the morning, and there was a slight mistiness in the air. His hair slightly dampened with the slight fog in the air, the moisture accumulating on his face and clothes lightly.
He had no idea where he was going, feeling like he was flying aimlessly. Trying to hammer out the terrible nightmare that had occurred, trying to forget it, not wanting to remember what his mind had come up with. He didn't want to hear the sickening snap! of Videl's neck at Cell ended her life with one swift jerk. He didn't want to hear the voice, filled with unmatched loathing, sending chills up his spine. Didn't want to know that, because he was too damned weak, that he couldn't save anyone. No matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to.
He hadn't been able to save Goten yesterday from any pain. Aka had crushed him ruthlessly, and Gohan had simply stood as the little boy screamed in agony, as he had the life squeezed out of him. He hadn't been able to save his friends from Majin Buu, who had killed all of them with barely even any effort. He hadn't been able to save his father all those years ago during the Cell games (his anger at his father was still there, though, for not coming back, but it had slightly gone down in its venomous intensity). He hadn't been able to save those Namekians back on the old Namek as Frieza killed them all for their Dragon Ball. He hadn't been able to save Piccolo from being ruthlessly killed by Nappa. He had been the one to cause their deaths, too weak to protect them, or them protecting him because he'd been too scared.
And he hated being too weak to protect them. He despised how he was unable to do so.
Gohan hadn't even realized that he'd flown here, but when he finally came to his senses, he realized that he had flown over to the Satan mansion, having instinctually followed Videl's gently thrumming energy. He was suddenly gripped with the need to see her—he needed to make sure that she wasn't dead, that her body wasn't cold and lifeless…
He flew up to the second floor, in the area where he felt her energy was located. He peeked in through the window, looking into her room, and his dark eyes, which had been filled with turmoil before, were now softened the slightest bit. Even though her room was dark, his strong eyesight was clearly able to see through the window.
She was sleeping peacefully, her eyes closed as she breathed in and out deeply, a small smile on her pale features, which seemed illuminated by the small streams of moonlight coming in through the window and gently hitting her face. She slept on her back, one of her arms flung out behind her and the other resting with the palm upturned near her face, near her slightly parted lips. She had seemed to kick off the sheet that she had been using to cover herself, and, surprisingly, she was wearing a nightgown. The lavender nightgown that she wore was sleeveless, and ended just a little ways above her knees. One of her legs was bent the slightest bit at the knee, the other completely straight out in front of her on the bed. A smile on her features, she let out a sigh as she unconsciously snuggled into her pillow once more.
Gohan couldn't help but smile a bit at how peaceful she looked. Unconsciously, he edged the slightest bit closer, and, as such, one of his knuckles accidentally rapped the glass. Letting out an grunt at the fact that he'd made a sound, he continued to watch her, thinking that she hadn't been woken up.
However, Gohan didn't know that Videl was a very light sleeper, especially in the early hours of the morning, for some reason. She'd wake up at the smallest of sounds in her room, and tonight was no exception. When she heard that faint noise, her eyes slowly blinked open as she woke up. Letting out a small sound, she looked at her ceiling, wondering why the hell she'd woken up, and instinctively looked over at her window.
She nearly fell right out of her bed when she saw Gohan hovering right there in front of her window, seeming slightly sheepish. Surprisingly, however, she didn't show her pure shock. After her heart had regained a normal, healthy pace, and her blood pressure wasn't bursting through the roof, she gave him an odd look. She climbed out of bed, getting a light periwinkle shawl to wrap around her shoulders, before she went over to the window and opened it up.
"Hey, Gohan," she greeted, still a bit sleepy and thoroughly confused. Stealing a quick glance at her alarm clock, she then turned back to him once more. "What bring you here at this ungodly hour in the morning?"
Gohan let out a slightly sheepish chuckle, already put more at ease upon hearing her voice. "I'm sorry, Videl," he told her quietly. "I didn't mean to wake you."
Letting out a sigh at his look, she couldn't help but grin faintly at him; his face was one that a child gave when they were caught doing something bad, but that they truly were sorry for what they had done. It was so adorable that she couldn't be mad at him even if she had been before. "It's fine," she replied absentmindedly with a small shrug. "Just wondering what you're doing up so…late? Early? I don't even know what this would be classified as, honestly."
He laughed a bit more at her slightly off train of thought; her mind was probably still fuzzy from sleep. "Well…I just wanted to see you," he told her.
Videl raised her eyebrow at him. "At two in the freaking morning?"
At this, Gohan's own onyx gaze seemed to darken the moment that she spoke those words. He had originally forgotten about his nightmare for a few blissful seconds, but her statement brought him back to reality as he remembered the terrifyingly crystal clear nightmare that he'd had, of her death…
She watched his eyes cloud over in a look that she was beginning to recognize. She'd seen it a few times before, and she was almost positive that this was the same scenario.
She didn't make any comment as his hand gently reached out and touched her face of its own accord. His slightly calloused palm gently rested on her cheek, caressing her soft skin; his obsidian eyes looked deep into her sparkling blue ones, and he allowed this image of her to replace the one that was in his dream. She was alive, he was now certain of it.
"Hey, you wanna come inside?" she offered quietly. Gohan nodded, taking his hand from her face as she backed up, allowing him to fly into the dark room that was lightly bathed in moonbeams, and he silently lowered himself to the ground. When his feet touched the floor and he closed the window, Videl went over to her night table and turned on the small lamp that was on it, to allow them to see better.
"Hey, Gohan, you OK?" she asked gently, going up to her boyfriend after she had turned on the gentle light. She placed her small hand on his broad chest, concern for his wellbeing shining in her gaze.
He let out a sigh, shaking his head, his arm wrapping itself around her waist. Silently, he buried his nose in her hair, drinking in the amazingly intoxicating scent that was her. She didn't comment, knowing that whatever had happened must have been major for him to be so shaken up. She bided her time, waiting until he was ready to tell her anything.
"I…" He trailed off as he once again shook his head, clearing his mind of the horrible images that he'd seen. "It was another nightmare," he confessed softly, taking in a deep breath to steady himself. He continuously reassured himself that she was fine, that she was right here in his arms and that she was safe, but it was hard to forget what his mind had conjured.
"Abo and Cado coming probably had something to do with it," Videl commented quietly against his chest, her cheek against the tank top that rested over his skin, feeling the steady thumping of his heart, the warmth that emanated from it. "That was crazy, by the way. Do you think…do you think that their lord or whatever is really something to worry about?"
"I don't know," Gohan replied honestly. "It could, or they could just have been bluffing."
"That was crazy, though," she continued, still in shock at what had happened earlier that day. "I mean…Kami, Vegeta has a brother. Who would've thought?"
Gohan had to let out a chuckle at that. "I never would have guessed," he agreed. "But he never told anyone about Tarble because Vegeta thought that he had been killed on the planet that he'd been sent to. It wasn't as if Vegeta had a lot of time to go looking for Tarble, either. He was kind of shocked at the fact that Tarble managed to survive because he was so weak, according to Saiyan standards." Talking about this was so much easier than talking about the truth, he realized.
"I still can't believe that…that thing was his wife," Videl muttered, shaking her head lightly at that and looking up at Gohan. "How could you guys have taken that so…so calmly? I mean, Vegeta's brother is married to a…a…I don't even know what the hell she is!"
Gohan smirked down at her, shaking his head. "Trust me, Videl, we've seen really, really weird things in our lives. One of the many weird things that I've experiences is finding out that Vegeta and Bulma had somehow managed to have a kid together, and finding out that the boy who had come from the future to warn us about the Androids was the future version of their child. Another weird thing was finding out that a crazy stalker who had been following my dad had managed to get cells from him, along with Vegeta's and Frieza's and Piccolo's, and managed to create a creature with all the cells combined. That was the creation of Cell…"
Suddenly, his nightmare came back in vivid clarity, and he shook his head slightly to clear away the cobwebs of what was still clinging fiercely to his mind. Seeing that his mind was going back to the darkness, his eyes becoming troubled once more, Videl brought one of her hands up to gently caress his face.
"Wanna tell me what happened in the nightmare?" she asked softly.
He did, but at the same time, he didn't. He needed to get it off his chest…but he also feared that, if he said it, if he spoke it aloud, that it would come true. He knew that he needed to give her an answer, though, and decided that he'd tell her, and nodded silently in reply.
Seeing that she'd gotten an answer, Videl waited patiently for him to begin speaking, content with simply being in his arms as his other arm came around her waist as well, holding her gently. He took a few more deep breaths, before he began to speak.
"You were there," he began quietly, speaking so softly that she almost had to strain to hear his voice. "You were there…and…" He shook his head, the disturbing images coming back into his mind as he looked away. However, Videl reached up and gently touched his face so that he was now facing her, his ebony eyes troubled, turbulence within their seemingly endless depths.
"Just tell me, Gohan," she prompted softly, looking into his eyes with love and compassion shining within her own blue ones, which also still had worry for him. "Just tell me what happened, whatever you need and want to tell me. I'll listen."
He sighed once more, before he continued with his nightmare. He told her everything; how he'd been running through the blackness, how he'd come face-to-face with Cell, how he apparently hadn't apologized sincerely enough, how Videl had died, and everything else…
After he was done, his body was lightly shaking, not with sobs, but with the immense guilt that swept over him as he held her closer to him. She silently listened through the whole account, not interrupting unless it was absolutely necessary. She had brought her hand up to his hair, reassuringly running her fingers through the black strands.
"It was just a dream, Gohan," she reassured him quietly. However, this caused his dark eyes to flash to her once more, the eyes that had seen far too much staring right into her own. It was hard to believe that cheery, almost-always-happy Gohan truly had this much turmoil within him, had always put up with chilling nightmares and flashbacks of his past. It was a side of him that very few people actually saw, Videl being one of those few people.
"How can you say that, though?" Gohan replied, his voice slightly shaky as he spoke, struggling to keep it low as to not wake up anyone else in the house. "I…I can't help but feel that…that it might come true."
"Gohan, Cell's dead; you killed him, remember?" Videl explained patiently to him.
He shook his head fiercely. "I know he's dead, but…I can't help but feel that there's something else coming, something worse than Abo and Cado…their master, possibly. I…I can't lose you, Videl."
"You're not going to lose me anytime soon," she told him quietly, continuing to run her fingers soothingly through his hair. "I promise you."
"You can't make promises like that," he hissed out with frustration, looking away. "Too many times have people said that, that I won't lose them. Piccolo told me grudgingly that he would always be there to protect me, before Nappa went and killed him; Krillin promised my mother that he'd take care of me while we went to Namek, and there he was killed by Frieza; and my father promised me that everything would be all right before the Cell Games, where he died." Pain flashed within his gaze as he remembered everything that he'd seen.
"How can I know that I won't lose you?" he whispered honestly. "I can't lose anyone else…"
Videl honestly had no idea what to say to that, and for the moment, opted for simply continuing to run her fingers through his black strands of hair. "Gohan…it was just a nightmare, I promise you," she tried to explain. "And I know that you're unnerved by it, but it's not gonna happen. I know it won't."
"I…the nightmares have been coming back more frequently," Gohan mumbled, not even staying exactly on topic as he gazed at some fixed point above her head. "I have a feeling that…they somehow serve as premonitions or something. Telling me when a new evil is coming even before I'm consciously aware of a different, malicious power level. Videl…I don't want them anymore."
His voice was almost defeated, exhausted, the slightest bit frightened. "I know you don't," she agreed. "I know. It's not fair, you deserve better considering everything you've done for the Earth. I know it's not fair, I know you don't want the nightmares. I know."
Gohan sighed after a few moments of silence, looking up at her. "Sorry to unload all of that on you," he apologized. "I didn't mean to."
"No, it's fine," Videl reassured him with a small smile. "I want to help out in any way that I can, Gohan."
"It's just…I had to see you," he told her gently. "The nightmare freaked me out, and I couldn't get the image of you dead out of my head. I just…needed to see you alive. For my own peace of mind."
"I'm right here," she told him gently, the hand that she wasn't running through his hair gently touching his cheek. "I'm alive. It's OK, it was only a dream."
He nodded slowly, and that seemed to be the ending of the conversation that he didn't want to continue. "Well, I'll be off," he told her. "Sorry I had to wake you up so early. I'll let you go back to sleep."
"…You don't have to go, you know," she said softly. This statement caused Gohan to turn back around and look at her—he had been heading towards the window, getting ready to open it once more. He stopped in his tracks when she spoke, however, and looked at her with surprise.
"If you want to, you can stay," she offered with a small smile. "It's not like you're gonna do anything bad, and Dad doesn't have to know."
"You…you'd let me stay here with you?" he asked, honestly surprised.
"Why not?" she replied with a grin. "Come on." With that, she discarded her shawl, throwing it over the nearest chair, before beckoning for Gohan to come with her in the bed. Without waiting to see what he did, she went in the bed herself, lying on her right side with her back facing him.
A few moments later, she heard rustling sounds, like someone getting dressed. Then, she heard the light creaking of springs, and felt Gohan's warm body behind her, a strong arm gently wrapping around her waist and drawing her close into his muscular frame. She smiled, closing her eyes as she pulled the sheet over them both in an attempt to keep them warm in the chilly hours of the morning (October was a weird month. Pretty warm during the day, and then extremely chilly in the early hours of the morning and late night hours. Odd.)
"See?" she asked him, turning around in his arms for a moment so that his hand now rested over the small of her back. "Isn't this better?"
He actually managed a chuckle, shaking his head lightly into her pillow. His onyx eyes, thankfully, had just about lost their odd gleam, and were as warm and gentle as they always are. "Yes, it is," he agreed.
Videl grinned, and gestured for Gohan to turn off the lamp. He complied, taking his arm off his waist as he reached over to his left, where her night table was as he turned off the small light, before he returned to his position. She smiled once more, snuggling temporarily into his warm, muscular chest, and his arm tightened around her on instinct.
"You know, if you ever need to see me at these weird hours, you can just come," she told him, grinning. "And don't feel bad. I like seeing you—I mean, we are dating, after all."
"True," Gohan smirked lightly in reply, shaking his head once more at her antics.
"So, if you need me, just come," she went on. "I like snuggling with you, too." She punctuated this by cuddling into his warmth, realizing how very broad his frame was, how it nearly dwarfed her in size.
Gohan laughed at that. "All right, I'll remember that," he told her with a grin, gently reaching down and kissing her forehead.
She smiled at him, and reached up and gently gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. He replied softly, gently, conveying his thanks that she understood him and had allowed him to unload his problems on her. It was soft, innocent, and their eyes shone with love for each other as they pulled away, gentle smiles on both of their faces.
Videl then turned around slowly in his arms, so that her back was now facing his perfectly muscular chest; his strong arm's hold tightened the slightest bit on instinct, and she couldn't help but smile once more. "Let's get some shut-eye now, OK?" she suggested, closing her eyes.
"Good idea," Gohan agreed. With that last sentence from her boyfriend, Videl soon found it very easy to drift back off into sleep, her breathing regulating in a matter of a few minutes, perfectly calm in his arms. Gently, he brought his nose down to the crook of her neck, gently breathing in her wonderful, beautiful scent; his eyes soon closed, and he managed to fall asleep, too.
And he had no more nightmares the rest of the night.
"Gohan, can I talk to you for a minute?"
The half-Saiyan teenager turned from the little game of tag that he'd been playing with Trunks and Goten. The little lavender-haired prince had come over to their house that day, the day after their fight with Abo and Cado. While Bulma (and, grudgingly, Vegeta) showed Tarble and Gure about life on Earth, Bulma had decided that it would be best for Trunks not to come along. She already had to deal with a surly Saiyan prince; having a hyperactive little eight-year-old devil would only make things worse. She'd asked Chi-Chi if Trunks could come over, and of course, the black-haired woman had agreed that it was fine for him to come over.
After the boys had played some video games, one of them had suggested that they play tag outside. Of course, for tag to actually be fun, the game required, at minimum, three players; this was how Gohan got roped into playing with the boys, and he didn't mind one bit. He'd been having fun, only having been It twice; it was the third time that he was It that he'd been called over by the familiar voice belonging to his father.
Gohan looked at Goku for a moment, before he nodded. There was a slight stiffness to his movements as he quickly dismissed himself from the game of tag, and he went over to his father, who beckoned him to come a little father out.
They went a bit into the forest near their home, still able to hear the happy cries of Goten and Trunks as they played together, but far enough so that they couldn't hear exactly what they were saying or hear whenever they were talking with normal voices.
Goku stopped walking; Gohan followed suit, not saying a word. Goku then turned and looked at his son for a few moments, feeling lost, while Gohan deliberately looked somewhere else.
"Gohan…I'm sorry," Goku finally said.
"For what?" Gohan wanted to know. "What, exactly, do you have to be sorry for?"
Goku sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry that I didn't help Goten out sooner; I didn't think that he'd be thinking that way. I thought that he'd be fine on his own."
"And that's where you're wrong," Gohan snapped. "You don't know him, so stop pretending that you do. You aren't exactly the best judge of how a person is feeling all the time."
"I know, Gohan, and I'm sorry," Goku continued. "I'm sorry for not taking into consideration how he'd feel in the situation; I was thinking about how I would have felt in that situation."
"Yeah, well, Goten's a seven-year-old, and only half Saiyan," Gohan replied, a light tone of sarcasm in his tone. "So I'm pretty damn well sure that a seven-year-old half-Saiyan would have a different feeling of getting beaten up than a pure-blooded thirty-odd Saiyan."
"I wasn't thinking straight," Goku agreed. "I'm sure that if I spend more time around Goten, I'll learn more things about him."
Silence.
Then: "Why didn't you come back, Dad?"
Gohan's voice was quiet, hurt. He looked up at his father, sorrow in his eyes; Goku sighed and shook his head once more.
"Gohan, you know why I left," he replied. "I honestly thought that I was the magnet for trouble in the universe, and that I brought all the bad guys here. It sure seemed that way to me for a while; Raditz was after me, Vegeta and Nappa were after me, Gero was after me, the Androids were after me…it seemed that trouble followed me everywhere. I didn't want to leave, but I thought that you all would be safer without me."
"Did you consider the effects that it would have on all of us?" the teenager replied scathingly. "Did you see Mom's face when I was the one who told her that you were dead, that you weren't coming back? Did you hear her cries, did you see her tears? Did you know that she sometimes cried herself to sleep, missing you so terribly and wishing that you were there to help raise your second child? Did you see Mom's reaction when she found out that she was pregnant, not too long after you freaking died and decided not to come back? Did you have to hear Goten ask where Daddy was, and why wasn't he here? Did you have to tell him that yes, we could have brought Daddy back with the Dragon Balls, but that he didn't want to be wished back? Do you understand anything that you missed in our lives?"
Goku was stunned into silence at his son's reaction. "G…Gohan, I…" He trailed off once more, truly at a loss for words. "No, I did not see any of that, and I never knew that's what happened."
"Well, it did happen," Gohan hissed venomously. "And you weren't there when we needed you most. I was the man of the house; I was the one who took care of Mom when she was sick, did the chores when she was too tired taking care of Goten. I was the one who helped raise my little brother. Did you not want to experience any of that? Did you just not want to come back to us?"
"I did want to come back to you!" Goku said, his facial expression slightly hurt at the accusations that were thrown his way. "But I thought that my being there would only make things worse! I didn't…I didn't know that was how you all reacted."
Gohan took a shaky breath to control himself; his emotions were getting the better of him, and he knew that he had to control it, lest he call a false alarm for the other fighters (when one raised their energy to a certain extent, it meant that there was something troubling going on that they wanted to alert the others about). "We needed you then, Dad," he finally whispered, looking away. "We all missed you so much…"
"I…I'm so sorry, Gohan. I regret it," Goku said softly. "I've regretted it ever since I've come back. Your mother told me some things…and I know that what I did was stupid. I should've come back, for all of you."
Gohan looked up at his father, making eye-contact with him directly. "Are you…are you being sincere?" he asked hesitantly.
Goku nodded gravely. "I am so sorry for not coming back. I'm sorry for not being there for you and your mother, and for not staying so that I could know my second son. I…can you ever forgive me?"
Hearing those words from his father, Gohan knew that he couldn't not forgive him. How could one not accept such a soft-spoken, truthful confession. Gohan had listened in his father's voice; there was true regret in there, the true wish that he could do it all over again and rectify his mistake.
"Yes," Gohan whispered, his voice shaking the slightest bit, eyes stinging the tiniest bit with tears. "Yes, I can forgive you, Dad. I'll never stop loving you, Dad, I can't not love you; you're my father."
"And I'll never stop loving you, your mother, or Goten," Goku replied gently. "I promise. I will never leave you again."
Gohan nodded stiffly once more, struggling to maintain control of his emotions. But these sudden confessions from his father…they made everything so very different. Goku did really care about them, it was just that he was an idiot at times. The sincerity in his father's voice couldn't possibly be faked; Goku loved them all.
"C'mere, Gohan," Goku said quietly, opening his arms in an inviting gesture. Gohan took the three steps that it took to reach his father and returned his embrace tightly, hugging him, never wanting to let go. He blinked back his tears, feeling Goku patting his back slightly as the two embraced.
"It's OK, I'm not leaving anytime soon," Goku reassured him quietly. "I promise. I'm staying here."
They simply stood like that for a while: father and son, locked in a gentle, meaningful embrace. Soon, though, they parted, and Goku gave Gohan a bright smile.
"Say, why don't we go back and play some tag with the boys? I believe that I interrupted your game; mind if I join?" Goku asked, grinning.
Gohan laughed at that, a weight seeming to have been lifted off of his shoulders. "I don't have a problem with you joining us," he said, happy that his father now wanted to spend time with them.
"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Goku exclaimed. "Let's go inform the boys that they have a new player in the game!"
The young man laughed, and the two males then began to walk back to their home. As they got closer, they were able to hear Trunks and Goten's words once more, and able to hear Chi-Chi scolding them, telling them not to break the area around the house with their Super Saiyan power.
Gohan felt lighter than he had in years; he knew that his father loved him. Their relationship had seemed to begun anew, with a certain understanding of each other, better than it had been before. It was good, Gohan believed, that his family reunited, that they stood close. They would need it, with the new enemy on the possible horizon. Families would need to be strong to face off against this new threat, and Gohan's family was steadily getting stronger, repairing the frays and fractures that had been created in it.
And Gohan believed that families would need to stay strong and united against this new possible foe…and that his family had finally taken a step in the right direction.
This is a little shorter than most of my chapters, but, hey, what the hell! Nobody notices (I think X3) unless I tell you; I wanted to get this chapter out to you guys as soon as I could. And I think I have a problem with Saiyans and nightmares. I'm terrible X3 and I also wanted cute little Gohan/Goku bonding after I did what I did last chapter X3 I am a terrible person. I know X3
Anyways, I wanted it to end here. I'm gonna have so much fun with next chapter X3 time skip, guys, and we'll fast-forward to Christmas. YAY CHRISTMASSSSS! PRESENTS AND CHRISTMAS TREES AND COOKIES AND FOOD AND PRETTY LIGHTS AND MISTLETOE! :D I'm gonna have a lot of fun with it, and hey, it might come out Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, if I can. But then again, the next chapter is just in theory at the moment. You'll see what I'm gonna do soon X3
I wonder how many of you guys actually read these author's note/thingamajiggers that I put at the ends of the chapters and at the beginnings as well. I know Chosen To Die does (thanks for thinking my Disclaimers were funny. I tried X3 and thanks for finding these things entertaining as well) :D
Yet again, IT'S MAH BERFDAY TODAY! :D. And as a birthday gift, could you pretty please drop me a little review? Because that would make my birthday very, very, very, VERY great :D
So, thanks for reading, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed, and please review! :D