Silvereyedfreak: Thanks for the review!

MissieMidget1204: Thanks for the review! And yeah, I like Marie's character a lot. She is very complex, but more about her will be revealed in later chapters.

Chapter 9: A Big Mistake

Everything felt cold, darkness surrounded him. Gohan had no idea where he was, but where ever it was he didn't like it. His body felt numb, all except for the constant pain in his side that was starting to fade with time.

He tried to get up from the dark place where he was at, but he felt too weak to do anything. Something was coming to claim him; that he was sure of. The weariness and darkness that were coming over him was proof of that. His strength continued to ebb away at an alarming rate, making the place darker and colder than before.

Just as he was about to close his eyes, he heard a voice.

"Gohan, can you hear me?" the voice asked in a soft and worried tone. He was sure that he had heard the voice before – it sounded familiar – but he couldn't remember who it belonged to.

"Who are you?" he asked, hoping for a chance to find out who was most likely coming to retrieve him and bring him to the Other World.

"Gohan, don't you remember me? I'm Marie," the voice said, sounding almost as if it were heartbroken.

Marie, he repeated the voice in his head numerous times, but he couldn't quite remember who she was.

"I'm tired," he said, "can't you let me sleep?"

"No!" the voice sounded frantic, "don't slip away! Wake up!"

Gohan then felt feeling return to his numb body, making him inhale a sharp breath at the amount of pain he felt. He opened his eyes and saw blurred images of people, but even though he couldn't make them out yet, he remembered them.

"Leyla? Marie?" he asked uncertainly. His vision was slowly starting to return, but his body felt like it had been asleep for a long time.

"Gohan?" came a chocked reply from above him; he then started to see blue and crimson eyes staring at him. He assumed that Leyla had been the one that had answered him.

"What happened?" he asked, not quite remembering and blaming it on the fogginess in his head.

"You fell when the ground collapsed," Leyla said, "we thought you were…"

"He was dead," Marie stated simply as she got up and walked a few feet away, back turned and her arms wrapped around her.

"Marie, I heard you…" Gohan started to say, but Leyla interrupted him.

"What do you mean by he was dead? He's alive and breathing now!" Leyla was now screaming at Marie, making Gohan confused of what was going on.

"You wouldn't understand…" Marie stated in a soft tone while she stared at the ground. Gohan, on the other hand, was feeling completely confused about everything that was happening.

"What do you mean that I wouldn't understand!" Leyla shouted, "I'm his best friend!"

Gohan groaned for two reasons: the first being he was trying to sit up but his body really wasn't cooperating, and the other being that his two friends were fighting; he really hoped that his friends would think his displeasure was from the first reason.

He turned his attention back to his two friends and did not like what he saw. Leyla looked about ready to murder someone, while Marie looked like someone had just slapped her; Gohan guessed that Leyla might have just done that.

"Why are you guys fighting?" he asked them, "I'm okay now."

Leyla and Marie both looked over at him, making him guess that they were just remembering that he was still there.

"We should get you home," Leyla said as both her and Marie came back over to stand beside him, helping him stand up and walk. When they got to the edge of the crevice, they flew upwards.

"I think I'm ok now. I can fly," Gohan said while feeling a bit better that he didn't have to rely on walking back to the house.

They continued to fly, trying to sense out where the others were. Gohan had a strange feeling that he was forgetting something, but he really couldn't remember what.

"Hey Marie?" he asked, trying to remember what had exactly happened.

"Yes?" she answered, looking a little bit confused. He felt like something else was wrong; she looked really pale and worn out.

"What did you see?" Gohan asked, remembering that Marie had seemed deathly pale before he had fallen, "I mean, before I fell."

Marie seemed to pale a bit again, but she started to smile; Gohan could tell that she was faking it.

"Oh nothing really, nothing to worry about," Marie said as she smiled sweetly, obviously trying to cover something up. Gohan decided to just let it go for the moment; she probably wasn't comfortable voicing what she had seen just yet. Silence then followed.

They continued to fly, Gohan scanning the surface below them, looking for any familiar landmarks. So far, he hadn't been able to sense his father or friends' Ki, so he was worried. Two ideas came into his head: the Tako could have gotten them or they were hiding their power levels.

Is this some kind of payback? Gohan thought when he tried to search again, but found nothing. He didn't know the answer, but he wasn't quite sure for what payback it would be for.

When they still couldn't find the building, Gohan decided that they all needed some rest.

"I think we should stop looking for now," he said and both Leyla and Marie, who by now were exhausted, just nodded their heads. They all three touched down to the ground and Gohan realized that they were at another abandoned village.

"Another one?" Leyla asked, voicing Gohan's thought. Gohan looked at her and nodded.

"I guess we should find some place to stay," he stated as he took the lead, walking through the ruined village with Leyla and Marie following him.

After an hour or so, they still couldn't find any place to rest, but what Gohan thought was most strange was that the village seems to go on for miles, ruined or not.

Is there even an end? Gohan thought as he continued to look around. He looked over at Marie and Leyla.

"Is anyone else finding this a bit strange?" Leyla asked after a while. Marie looked over at her and nodded.

"There's no end," Marie said in a sullen voice. Gohan was about to ask her what she meant, but he stopped when he heard another voice.

"Well of course there's no end, I made it that way," he shuddered when he recognized the owner of the voice, turning around and knowing that what he thought was true.

He turned around and saw the figure, her red eyes glowing eerily. But what concerned him the most was that the Tako was right behind her.

Get behind me, he ordered Marie and Leyla, both of them being too frightened to disobey him.

"What do you mean?" Gohan asked the figure. She laughed, making it seem as if she were mocking them.

"I made it this way. No one can get in my way now. There is no escape…" the figure said as she smiled, her crimson eyes glowing brighter,

"And now, I have you."

Sorry, I figured that was a good way to end this chapter. I'm also sorry that this is a bit delayed, but I've been really busy with summer classes and my other fanfictions. I would like to know what you think would happen next. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9