Silver stood in front of Gohan's house as he knocked on the door. A moment later a woman with long black hair and bright blue eyes answered the door.
"Yes?" Silver looked at the woman and recognized her immediately. So this is Videl, interesting. Not wearing a collar either.
"My name is Silver. Is Gohan here?" Videl stepped back from the door and led him in soon after. They walked into the Living Room where Videl had gestured him to sit.
"We've been expecting you. Please, wait a moment." She had left and a few minutes later Videl had returned with Gohan who extended his hand out to him.
"It's nice to meet you. My uncle gave me a heads up of what to expect. I hear that you came from another reality. I can also tell that you're not a normal human as I can't detect any Ki from you." Silver stood and shook his hand.
"Indeed. Regarding the first thing I guess you could call me something of a tourist. I'm learning what makes this reality different from the real one. I'm also checking to see if those changes affect the longevity of it. I've visited several realities but this one is quite remarkable, though I've noticed that it's kept one constant." Gohan sat then looked thoughtful.
"And what would that be?" Silver took a seat.
"That would be your relationship with Videl Satan. It's a bit rare to come across a reality where you two aren't together. There are some other constants. If Videl's hair is that long then that means that she's already had your daughter. Oh, and her name is Pan. Correct?" Videl's eyes widened in shock.
"How could you know that? Not even Chi-Chi or Raditz knows about her." Silver crossed his legs.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about her. After talking to your uncle earlier I learned what they do with new half breeds now. I doubt that you'd want to be separated from your daughter to raise a child you didn't help bring into this world. Though you could avoid all that nonsense if you ever decided to join Vegeta's-" Gohan waved the comment away cutting him off.
"I know. Trust me, I do. I hear it often. I have no plans on killing King Vegeta. Many people, even my uncle thinks that I intend to do just that and I won't. Several people think that if I kill him…somehow all the injustices stacked up against the humans here would suddenly be balanced. They are fools and don't know any better. I understand why the humans do what they do.
I don't condone it but what other choice are they left with? Stay meek, know your betters and you will be free to not follow your dreams but have them. Or you could be a slave for the rest of your life. One that could either be that of sexual servitude or one that is forced to endure whatever pain their master seems interested in subjecting them to.
I wished the options ended there but in many cases the slave ends up thinking that they love their master and in vice versa. When I first started falling for Videl I kept wondering if I was like the others. The ones who deluded themselves into thinking that they were experiencing true love. It honestly got to a point where I felt uncomfortable being here." Videl placed her hand atop Gohan's as she looked into his eyes.
"I felt the same way. I started to have these feelings for you but I felt as though I couldn't trust it. In my mind you were one of them. Like all the others that killed my mother and father. I held on to my hate of your people for so long. Throughout that entire time those feelings warred for dominance within me. I'd seen what Gohan had explained first hand.
Back when I was a killer there was a time when Erasa and I had broken into a house. There was a man who was trapped in a kennel who woke up and tried to warn his master. Erasa killed him. In fact there was many times in which we ended up killing humans just to get away. I remember this one time in particular where we followed the same routine.
Erasa and I broke into the house and the slaves were asleep. We snuck upstairs and killed a couple pure bloods. When we made it downstairs the slaves woke up and saw the blood that was on our clothes. They didn't scream. They cried at first but then they started chewing their tongues off. The sounds they made as they chewed and choked…I-I vomited and ran out of the house.
I don't think I'll ever get that image out of my head. The sound…the way they…twisted and writhed in pain. It will stick with me forever. It was on that night when I started to wonder if I was just as bad as the Saiyans Erasa and I had been killing. We got caught some time later and now I'm here." Silver looked around the house for a brief moment then paused.
"Speaking of Erasa, where is she?" Gohan looked dejected then as he gazed into Videl's eyes.
"Do you want to tell the story?" Videl nodded as she turned to face Silver.
"On the day Gohan brought Erasa and I here I wasn't quite sure how to feel, or what to expect. When I think back on that day I can still feel the collar that was on my neck then, now. For the first time in my life I had seen a Saiyan do something kind and selfless. Erasa believed that it was a part of some ploy to gain favor with some high ranking Saiyans. As I started to spend more time with him I realized that he wasn't an underling of the King.
During the first week it seemed as if he didn't know what to do with us. So during that time he treated us as guests. There was no kennel for us to be put in like animals. Gohan gave us rooms. He cooked and cleaned for us. Erasa refused the food at first but eventually gave in. Gohan denied us nothing. When Erasa asked for our freedom he opened the door and removed the collars. Erasa took ten steps then returned a moment later. There was a crowd of Saiyans and camera crews waiting for anything it seems.
Gohan walked into the Living Room and turned on the TV. There were three different channels covering the goings on within this house. On one channel Gohan was being branded a weak sympathizer. On another there was a morbid game going on. The kind where the people would guess how long it would take for Erasa and I to kill him. The last one actually reported on things as they actually were. Escape was impossible and Erasa and I were celebrities. Gohan ended up putting the collars in the trash. He apologized for not removing them earlier.
Collars weren't needed at that point because we were being monitored on a daily basis. Months passed and Erasa started to soften around Gohan gradually. She'd tell me how much she still hated Saiyans but Erasa had nothing to say in regards to Gohan. During that time I started falling for him. We'd spend time together talking and watching Jackie Chun movies. We talked about our fathers, hopes, dreams and ambitions. I was conflicted about these feelings of mine.
Were they the same feelings a slave starts to have toward their master? It made me sick. I never had those feelings before. All I knew was survival, freedom and death. What horrible irony it was that I would start to experience this foreign thing such as love for an enemy. I talked about it with Erasa. I expected her to yell at me but she didn't.
She only sighed and told me that all that was left was her anger. Erasa had told me that even that was slowly starting to ebb away. The foundation of her being was slowly disappearing. Tears ran down her face as she wondered what would be left. Would everything that lead us up to this point had been lie? Saiyans, pure or half were our enemies and yet we've been forced to accept that there are some good ones.
She wondered if it had been possible that we killed some of the good-natured ones. Could it be that we only helped solidify the stereotypes that kept us apart? That kept us from learning about each other. As well as the very actions that would keep us ignorant. For a while I had been thinking along those lines myself but I guess it started to wear on her.
It was nearly four in the morning when I heard Gohan's groan of pain. I jumped out of bed and ran down the hallway. I ran into his room and saw Erasa hovering over Gohan as she drew her hand back and stabbed him again. She brought her knife down once more and her knife broke as Gohan became a Super Saiyan. Gohan sat up as blood began pouring out of his wounds. I thought he'd only been stabbed twice but I was wrong. She stabbed him five times.
Gohan's golden aura started to wink out and I noticed that Erasa had another knife on her. She raised it again to stab him when I tackled her down onto the floor. I went mad as I punched, drove elbows into the side of her head then strangled her to death. I watched the life go out of her eyes. I stared at my bloody hands in horror then held Erasa in my arms and cried. Wondering what I'd done. I could read no expression on her face as I guided her body slowly to the floor.
I closed her eyes and looked over to Gohan who had fallen down onto the floor. Gohan was bleeding to death and yet he asked me politely to open his top left drawer and retrieve a small bag. He opened it and ate a small bean. His wounds were gone. I thought I could bring Erasa back to life with one. Gohan said nothing and gave me one. As you'd expect, it didn't work. That morning Gohan cut down a tree and made a coffin for her. Later that day he broke a piece off of a mountain for her gravestone. We buried Erasa in the back. I visit her every now and then." Silver looked to Gohan then back to Videl studying them for a moment.
"With all that had happened how did you two find your way into each others arms?" The couple shared a smile for a moment before Videl turned to face him.
"Some time had passed and things had gotten awkward between us. One night I decided to finally talk to him about it. I entered his room and realized that he was awake. Gohan had gotten out of bed and came over to me. He apologized for everything that had happened but he couldn't look me in the eye as he said it. I raised my hands and placed each one on the side of his face.
From there I slowly moved his head down to look at me. He resisted at first but finally looked at me. I could tell that he was looking through me but it was a start. There were tears in his eyes. It gave me goose bumps. He apologized again then asked me one thing. Do you remember what that was?" Gohan lifted her left hand and kissed the back of it.
"I remember." Gohan looked into Videl's eyes for a moment then went on. "In your eyes I can find compassion, strength and determination. Because of me you had to kill your friend. The one good thing you had in your life. If I were to truly look into your eyes…will I find hate? Will I see the hatred you've harbored for my kind almost all your life?" Videl smiled.
"My body went hot at that moment. I don't know what came over me but the best way to explain it was raw emotion. I pushed him onto his bed and from there it was primal. After it was over I noticed that Gohan's eye's had changed colors. He warned me that if we were to continue it would be dangerous for me. I had no idea what he was talking about, and now I do.
I couldn't move for a couple days and during it I thought I was going to die. In the end it was worth it. We found comfort in each others arms. When it was over he found something else besides compassion, strength and determination in my eyes. We finally admitted how we felt the morning after." Gohan placed a palm upon his face in an attempt to hide his blush.
"When I look back on that morning I remember thinking that it looked as though we tried to kill each other. We broke my bed, our clothes were in tatters because we ripped them off, oh and the bloodied sheets. We fell asleep in what looked like a crime scene. I felt as though I was some kind of animal that night. I was told what it was going to be like but I didn't believe it. When it was over I knew that at one point Videl would have my children if she wanted to." Silver started rubbing his chin.
"Yeah, there's something I wanted to ask regarding the woman you're about to marry. What if she's not physically compatible with you?" Gohan sighed.
"You're well informed it seems. These days that's no longer a problem. If you're being forced into a marriage and you're not compatible they'll assign a surrogate mother for you. I'm not thrilled at all about this marriage I'm being forced into. Vegeta pretty much has me in a rough spot since he gave the okay for this. The man who set this up thought he was doing me favor. Simply because he's one of the few Saiyans that is supposedly for better treatment of humans. Here's my situation. I can refuse his daughter's hand and whatever causes I have will more than likely dissipate without his backing.
The other situation is that I take it up with the King and demean him through sheer brute strength. Either way I lose. I know that my uncle would back me up on the second one but it wouldn't bode well for the Kingdom." This is absurdly simple. Silver grinned.
"You're over thinking it. You should get into politics. I heard from your uncle some of the reasons why you want no part of it. I understand you, but if it was me in this situation I wouldn't let other people dictate my personal life. I haven't been here long but if you truly believe that you're safe the way you are now then you'd be wrong. Your uncle is a God and he still worries.
It doesn't seem as though you can be neutral about this anymore. If you stay this way you'll more than likely end up being separated from Pan. Oh, and miserable when it all could've been avoided. If you become an active part of Vegeta's Kingdom you'll be able to do so much good. You would be able to use the support you've earned to its full potential for example. On top of that you'd be able to marry Videl and look after your child together." Gohan looked interested but weary at the same time as he looked to Videl.
"I've thought about all this before but I don't know if I can pursue this and leave the people I love vulnerable." Videl shook her head.
"Your uncle and Silver are right. I know you feel strongly about the way humans are treated but to do nothing is just as bad. You have the power to change things for the better. We've played make believe long enough Gohan. In any other reality or plane of existence we would've been married by now. So what if I end up being in danger? Isn't that my choice to make, or am I just a collarless slave?" Gohan sighed, and then looked at her.
"I guess I can't be selfish anymore, can I? You're not a slave. I'll be honest, all of this scares me but I can't dispute the facts here anymore. Tomorrow I will stand before Vegeta's Council and become a member of his Kingdom. When that happens I'll be free to marry you, then acknowledge our child's existence. My mother will threaten me with a frying pan for hiding our daughter from her but I think she'll understand." Silver nodded.
In nearly every reality I've come across I've noticed that Chi-Chi will forget any minor discretion with the news of grandchildren. "Well, it's about that time for me to go. Though before I go there's something that's been bothering me in regards to children. Why is it that Vegeta implemented a plan to separate half breed children from their parents if they're not a part of the Kingdom?" Gohan crossed his arms and looked disgusted.
"Simple, families are a distraction only the most loyal are allowed to have. The Kingdom must always come first. From what I could understand it was Mr. Briefs that gave Vegeta the idea. The idea was that the strongest incentive to join the Kingdom whether you were to be a part of the judicial, political or law branch would be the right to have a family. Those who aren't a part of those branches and science divisions are considered a waste to the system. They can reproduce and be with in a relationship with people but in the end it's a farce.
There are no more orphanages exactly. Each child is taken at birth and randomly given to single people. Those people don't want anything to do with those kids. So the majority of the time they are either abused or neglected, no one cares. It's one of the things I've tried to have brought up from the shadows but nothing has come of it. Here's a sad story. There was a Saiyan that just came back from a mission only to find out that his wife died during childbirth. He was crestfallen and was forced to take care of a newborn baby.
He wanted nothing to do with the child and the poor baby starved to death. I wished the story ended there but it gets crueler. He would later find out that his wife had connections to the Kingdom and had it arranged so they could keep and raise their child. Horrified over what he had done he killed himself. The story only managed to make a few parents better at their job out of the fear that they actually were raising their children. The mothers never get to hold their children after the delivery so even the simple knowledge of gender is kept from them.
The goal to all this is simple. Vegeta had begun fearing that the Saiyan race would grow weak. He understands the importance of a family, to be with the people you care most about and to use that as your strength when you fight. However, he also knows people can draw strength from negativity and only caring about yourself. So he helped usher in a society where he can have it both ways and still possibly get supposedly good soldiers later. We have half breeds fighting and killing other half breeds in the street. They aren't punished for it. They're rewarded for keeping the gene pool strong. I am going to fix not only that problem but many others." Silver stood.
I actually agree with Raditz. Gohan would be better off killing him. But of course this version of Gohan is too kind and considerate. He'll change the world the hard way. I've convinced your nephew to do the right thing Raditz. Now it's your turn. "I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. It was nice meeting you two." Silver and Gohan shook hands and parted ways. How many Gods do I need to help me accomplish the impossible? Silver stepped outside then walked over to the nearest tree where he sat. Could I revive my reality? Is it possible?
Author's Note - I had far more fun writing this one than I expected. At the current moment I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to by a twelve or fifteen episode cycle as a means of showcasing when a month has passed. As with the previous story an interlude will mean that an arc has ended and another has begun. This story will be longer than the previous one. Now, time for the reviews...
Guest - You say that it annoys you that I don't see the potential in Dabura...okay. To tell you the truth throughout all the list of references I used, use in this episode and plan to use later I'll fully admit that his name never crossed my mind. So as a challenge to myself I will at one point add him into this story. He won't be a POV character but he'll appear. I just don't know what purpose I would have him fulfill. I won't be using your suggestion as it would be too obvious. This is going to be somewhat difficult but because he's pretty much a blank slate I might have something for him in a minimum of four or five episodes at the least.
Guest - Thank you for the compliment but as I mentioned during last few episodes of Orange Star High to a user that went by Guest12 I go by views. People are still reading and the numbers are where I'd expected them to be considering that this is a sequel to a story in which many people didn't like what I had done with my story. Fair enough considering that even though drama was one of the tags I will admit I performed mood whiplash several times during that series. I wanted to create a story in which the characters had to earn their happy ending. I guess as the writer I interpreted the "affair" (Which really, if you think about it wasn't.) far differently many others did. The ones that are reading this now probably understood why I put Gohan through that trial.
Reviews are awesome things to have, but as I've mentioned before. I refuse to dumb down or change a story to cater to the people who would leave reviews...unless they're able to somewhat pique my interest like the first guest. I'll take suggestions but in the end the story is mine. I want to do something a bit original and heavily unexpected. I'm writing these stories as not only a show of how much I like Dragon Ball Z as whole but also as a challenge. It's been fun and I promise to stop writing this story the moment I start adding the "blood bond" traits I've seen in other fanfics. (It will never happen.) I have no problem with that trait but I've found it odd and interesting. I'd read them and think "Hmmm, looks like you got some True Blood into my DBZ." So yeah, I'm going to keep writing until this story is over. When it is I'll move on to writing actual novels...maybe...I doubt it...*Shrugs Shoulders*
Anankin12 - Not a bad idea. And there's no need to apologize for your English. The reality for this one I made up. I didn't feel like creating another account and writing a baseline for the reality where at one point there were cybernetic zombies running around. So I have an idea. It's up to you whether or not you wish to accept it as I will offer anyone the same opportunity. How would you like to have that reality named after you? I've been toying around with the idea of actually writing a baseline story for it eventually. If I were to do so I would send you my work and you could post it on your account. The choice is yours. Also, it's awesome to have one of the first people who followed my previous story back for this one. Nice to have you back and thanks for the review.
dcp1992 - Thanks for the review. You got what you wanted with this episode. There will be several alternate realities that will be visited. I'm going to try two things actually. One, I'm going to try and get the blessing of other author's to kind of continue the story they've finished as I've found several stories that would be awesome to bring into this stories fold while also creating my own as I go along. The time spent in that alternate reality is over...at least for now.
See you all next week and thanks for reading. Peace.