His head was pounding, leaving his thoughts scrambled and blurred. The nausea he had felt was still with him. He had felt it even while he slept. It invaded his dreams, and permeated his senses. He didn't know if he'd been sick during his sleep, and he didn't really want to know... but he just couldn't "rest" any longer.
His mother was petting his hair. He could barely sense any thing, but he knew it was her strictly because of the light touch. He normally would have loved the soft feeling... his mother had the perfect touch. It tickled and and soothed all at once. But now... it irritated his skin and it almost felt painful.
He wanted to cry. Such a baby...
"M-mom?" his voice was rough... there was a dry stab in his throat. Though his senses were clouded, he felt everyone around him in that instant, and a cool, wetness touched his lips. Water... it had never tasted so delicious! He half opened his eyes, looking around the room.
They really had brought him to the Lookout. Krillen, Dende, Mr. Popo, Yamcha, Tien... Everyone was around him. They were huddled around him. Gohan felt shame bubble up in his chest. Bad enough Vegeta and Piccolo saw him like this...
"Gohan sweetie..." he could hear her tears in her voice, though he couldn't make them out with his blurred vision. Their presence cut into him worse though... He hated it when his mother cried... "Oh baby... I'm so sorry..." That sentence was all he needed. Cold realization as he realized, Dende couldn't help him. He was stuck like this.
"S... sok mom..." he forced the disgusting feeling back. He didn't want it to take control of him again! But it was hard... hard to fight it back. And his head... "L-love you..." he said it with such a small voice he wasn't sure if he'd been heard. But he had. The others heard his statement loud and clear. It was aimed at them all. And despite the "mushy" stuff, none of the gruffer warriors disputed the boy's words.
Instead, Bulma took the eleven year old's hand, sky blue eyes, stained red from tears he still couldn't detect, staring directly into charcoal brown ones. "Gohan, we all love you very much. You shouldn't be suffering like this. We'll get you through this, but you have to stay strong, ok?" her voice was gentle and serious, and determination seemed her driving force. As it always was.
Everyone in the small room seemed exhausted. He still couldn't sense them completely... but he could feel the despair and weariness weighing over them all. Even the non-human spectators. But... like Bulma, each of his friends seemed ready for whatever was to come. "K..." he whispered, slightly nodding his head.
He felt so weak, it was hard to fathom much of anything... was he being strong right now? He honestly couldn't tell.
"Oh Gohan..." his "aunt"'s tone deepened. It took all of his efforts to focus on her. Dread filled him in that one, tiny moment. Bulma hadn't sounded that forlorn since... well... his dad was in danger of the heart virus. None of them had been prepared, despite Trunks' warning from the future. And though they had the cure, it was still fairly touch and go and they had all been worried...
"This is a long shot, but... we don't have any other options. It's impossible to reach where it is..." Vegeta placed a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, and the inventor flashed him a grateful smile. "Gohan..." she took a shaky breath, and she glanced toward Chichi.
The woman had backed away and was now sobbing uncontrollably into Yamcha's shoulder. Yamcha, for his part, seemed rather stoic, but Bulma knew the man better than anyone. Yamcha was staring at the floor, and his hands were clenching and unclenching in absence of anything to do, and he didn't know how to calm the distraught woman down. "Cell is the reason you're like this," Bulma stated weakly. She felt as if she had delivered a killing blow with that one sentence.
Gohan furrowed his eyes in confusion. Cell? How? The monster had been killed... he had killed him personally... He knew that much. Did the monster do something to him before he died?
Piccolo caught his thoughts. "He's in your head kid." Vegeta growled in the background, and the others saw the prince avert his eyes. Gohan merely blinked, not having expected that bout of news...
Krillen stepped forward at that point, glancing at everyone to make sure he wasn't over stepping bounds (one never knew with Chichi) or anything before he picked up the slack. "You have cancer Gohan," he said it as gently as he could, but it sounded harsher than anything Frieza or any one else they'd fought against had said combined. "Well... I guess it's technically a tumor... but it's... Cell."
"And it's growing much faster than it should," Bulma exclaimed, clearly frustrated. She stood up in one fluid motion and turned away. Her eyes were full of tears once more and she mentally cursed herself. She hadn't been able to keep them dry since she'd laid eyes on the poor boy days before. "Cell has sped up this whole process!"
"Have you been sick at all since Cell's defeat?" Gohan didn't know who asked this time. They others all seemed to mesh into one being with all of the news he just received... He tried to think back. Did he feel sick at all? That felt like a life time ago...
"Nothing... l-like this... Head... headaches, but... they were s-small..." it was as honest as he could manage. He had had a few migraines recently... most of them were small, but as time had progressed over those few months, he realized they had gotten worse... as had his sense of balance, and light had seemed even brighter than it should have...
"Does he normally get headaches Chichi?" he knew this question was from Yamcha. The man was the only one around his mother, and he knew she had backed off to the far wall... which was where the voice had come from.
"Sometimes... They're rare though! Normally only if he's been studying or sparring with Goku!" she cried, taking shaky breaths. She was still leaning into the human fighter's shoulder, too afraid to look at the others in the state she was in. "Stress... I thought they were being brought on by stress the last few months..."
The entire room knew in that moment. Cell, some how devised this wicked plan. Instead of returning as he had before during his own twisted tournament, the monster had attacked Gohan in a way none of them could have forseen. It was cowardly... and genius. Just as Vegeta had said before.
Gohan groaned suddenly, reaching his arm out in a now sickeningly familiar motion. He grabbed for the bucket that should have been just at his finger tips... only to find it not there. Shocked, he glanced down at his hand, still swiping at the area it should have been. It was too late to force the feeling down! He didn't want to soil the Lookout!
Another feeling hit him then. Hunger. His stomach growled, despite the pressure, and he groaned again, hunching slightly. But the thought of food made him want to squirm. It was an odd sensation.
"Here kid," hearing the Namek he looked up too, Gohan caught sight of a tiny bucket dangling from a green hand, and he reached out to grab it urgently. He surprised himself when his fingers knocked the item away instead. Piccolo's eyes narrowed slightly, but the alien snatched the bucket back up before placing it within Gohan's reach, just in time.
Everyone shared a collective wince.
Chichi tore herself away from the confused Yamcha before any of the others could blink, and she began rubbing her son's back. Her light brown eyes were soft, and tear stained... but she wore a motherly smile.
Krillen turned away, "He's not even throwing anything up... He's got nothing in his stomach."
"He's been unconscious for three days," Tien replied, all three eyes staring at the young child. "We were lucky he was keeping water down. He might need an IV though... if he can't eat anything..." The humans all cringed at the mental image for that idea.
"Easy Gohan..." Chichi whispered before looking at Bulma. "What do we do? You have a plan, right? How can we save my son?"
Bulma blinked a moment before nodding slightly. "Chemo Radiation Therapy. It's an old method that's died out with modern day surgical advances... and with most cancer causing materials being disposed of. But CRT should be able to get to Cell and kill the mass off. But... it'll be painful Chi..."
Chichi didn't even look back at her... focusing on her only son. "Save him..." she whispered, voice haunted. Bulma glanced at little Gohan. He was stretched out over the small couch, and his eyes were tightly shut. Gohan would be in pain either way. At least this way they had a chance.
"Alright. We'll have to move to Capsul Corp, and I'll need to make some chemical adjustments to accomodate all the factors in this. I'll also keep trying to find a way to remove the tumor... but... We'll save him. We will."
"Cell will be in pain too, right?" never had any of them heard Chichi's voice so cold. So void of emotion. Her eyes darted up and locked on Bulma. "If my son's going to be in more pain... Cell's going to feel it all, right?"
It took a moment for Bulma's mind to react to the question. "If he's conscious in this form, yes. He will feel like he is burning to death. He'll be in pain."
"Good. For hurting my son... It'll have to be enough..."
A/N : Ok, this is my longest so far. What'd you think?
I don't see much problem with this, but I feel I should go into it. Subject is on Yamcha. I don't know why he and Bulma split. I hear he "cheated" and the went their separate ways. In the Cell Games Saga, he also seems like a bit of an over confident pig. I like Yamcha personally... so, I have tried to give him a bigger roll in this story, as I probably will in the next. He lacks confidence (much like Gohan in my opinion) and he seems like the guy the girls would cry too. So, if you don't like my portrayal on him, I apologize.
From here, I can go one of two ways. Go into detail, or wrap this up. Going into detail about the treatment honestly scares me, cause... I have no idea how it works. I have only ever known one person with cancer, and I was six. I don't think he even went through radiation therapy... He died from it pretty quick to my memory... So, if you want me to go into detail, I need your help. But I think for now, I'll wrap it up nice a quick like I did in my rough draft.
As for Cell... That jerk will get what's coming. He will loath the day he decided to do this to poor innocent Gohan! ^.^ promise.