Gohan placed the last Dragonball on the grass, where from among the others its two stars shone up at him like the eyes of the dragon. He along with the other fighters had only just returned as the sun was rising, and ,bleary-eyed but excited, the Son and Briefs families were gathered outside of Capsule Corp. Even after having had some time to allow it to sink in, Gohan could hardly believe that this bizarre situation could truly be happening. As an intelligent young student he could see that Trunks' actions had been logical, but Gohan had always been extremely soft-hearted, and could never have imagined doing such a thing himself. To kill an innocent was not in his nature, no matter how much sense it could make. Before the unbelievable events of the last two days, Gohan's family had already been cracking from the stress of Goten's illness. Now his death had shattered them all.
But now he was to return, and with him perhaps normality and happiness would soon follow. Perhaps. A hope Gohan had to hold onto.
As he turned away from the Dragonballs and moved further back, Gohan shot a nervous smile at his father, obviously trying to seem calm and collected. Goku smiled knowingly back. He could see his son's thoughts and emotions plainly on his face - Gohan never had been good at hiding his feelings. His excitement at getting his brother back, his sadness over losing him in the first place, his despair over the entire situation, all of these were so clear they might as well have been written on his forehead to anyone who knew the young man. His father smiled; it seemed to the older man that Gohan had completely misunderstood the situation. Rather than debating whether Trunks had done the right thing or not, the question people should be asking themselves, Goku thought, was why it was an eight-year-old boy who actually did something, and not them.
Despite his childish and carefree attitude, Goku had long ago outgrown the naïve belief that killing was always wrong. Since a young age he had often found himself fighting extremely evil beings who could not be allowed to live. He knew what it was to kill, and was in a way proud of Trunks for being able to make such a tough decision. But he also felt extremely guilty that the young boy had been forced to do so. Goku too had realised the one way to escape losing Goten forever, and he had no doubt that he and Trunks were not the only ones. Yet instead of a grown adult, it had been a child who had taken the matter into his own hands. Goku wasn't sure he could ever forgive himself for that.
The recent incident had left everyone involved with a lot to mull over - but there were things that had to be done. Bulma stepped in front of the small crowd and cried loudly:
"Eternal Dragon, by your name, I summon you forth: Shenron!"
AN: Oooh, we're nearly there! Guess this isn't the last chapter after all :P Apologies for the pathetic length, but the next will be following very soon!