Chapter 27: Heart Shaped Box
A/N: Now i'm as suprised as most of you, though some read purely for the hate reading to which I don't understand. But some people reached out and expressed their earnest and pure love for this story and well I have been stuck in a dull rut and figured what the hell.
Goku stood holding his limp wife in his arms, she wasn't unconscious but obviously completely drained after looking death in the face. But the saiyan held her carefully as he looked just where his eldest son had been before. The anguish, pain, and torture that he had witnessed had been on full display with the visible stamp right on his forehead signalling the approval of his new master.
A confrontation, father and son that had been impossible up until that very day. Arriving on Earth and in a matter of moments appeared at the critical moment to protect the love of his life.
No doubt intending to kill her, but the sluggish and haphazard manner in which his son was acting showed the father that there was still something inside of him…
Then just like that he was gone, vanished in a flash of light, his ki no longer traceable. A drawled silence followed, no sounds of nature could be heard as he stood there his wife gently resting in his arms. Lifting up his love Goku brought her tightly into his chest, arms wrapped around her completely as he buried his head into her shoulder. The mortal reminders he had not experienced in years coupled with the onset of guilt. For she and his son were in this situation and fell solely at his feet. "I'm sorry." He told her.
She couldn't believe it, surely this was it? "Am… Am I dead?" She asked in response. Knowing this man, his touch, smell, and presence were ingrained in her. Chi-Chi could only see the orange gi and weighted training vest which meant she had-
The tight grip of his fingers and the rush of exhaustion that should not be for someone who was dead pulled her out of that belief quickly. Only to be assured of that by her husband's comforting voice. "No, no you're not." Goku's hands held her to him, the emotions he had been without a body to feel with for years were almost a brand new experience. " This is just another failure I've made and left expecting everything to work out."
Feeling fresh blood once again, the contours of his wife, the guilt of believing that everyone would be better off without him. His death had been peaceful and expected the world he left behind to be capable of carrying the burden. Otherworld had left him with time and then he had begun to hear the cries and pain of his family.
It had hurt while dead, but back alive in a flesh and blood body. The core of his very being was in agony, so many desperate pleas for help and like a fool he thought his son would be able to overcome and then he had spent days watching from another world over his family. Unable to intervene, act and all but helpless as his son suffered. Put in another impossible position by his father, he didn't have the knowledge that flowed through his son, the upbringing of an entirely different life, and the struggles of being his own person.
He was more than just Goku's son, more than just a product. He was a boy that needed his father; his mother couldn't provide everything. Gohan wanted guidance, that reassuring strong hand of the man who stood up to the saiyans, Ginyu, Frieza, Androids, and Cell without breaking under that pressure. But where was he?
Nowhere, making Gohan feel abandoned, unwanted, and isolated. It was just not in Goku's mind that it would ever affect someone, what was loneliness to a battle with a galactic tyrant?
Making assumptions had created this, but it was time for this father to be there for his son. This was his sin, and he would correct it. But, he pressed his lips into his wife's head. "I didn't mean for this to happen, but let me take care of you first."
"Goku… I've missed you so much." She was ready to begin sobbing as she felt a chaste kiss over her lips. One of her arms managed to wrap around his neck as they just held one another as she began to break down.
Choking sobs sharing her pain and grief as a mother with her child's father, it was their baby boy and he had been twisted, tormented, and broken into something unimaginable. Goku did not break, he took her pain, wanting to carry this burden for her. "Why?" She asked for there was no answer, what had their family done to ever deserve such cruelty, was this just a cosmic wrong forever to be impacted upon them. Goku's deaths and separation were not punishments, the sacrifices made to safeguard world's and bring down evil, was the pain their family endured not without end at this point?
That was a question for the kai's and gods who oversaw their lives. Goku truly did not know.
Remaining as they were, Goku's hands rolled through his wife's hair until his senses told him of a new arrival. Not anyone he knew, but they weren't wholly weak enough to be completely ignored.
Lifting his head slightly Goku caught sight of her, a young woman, black hair flying in the air. An unusual sight for a normal human to be partaking in but Goku could see that she had followed the destruction left by his son.
It took her one glance to spot the two of them, his bright blonde hair stood out in the darkness like a glowing beacon. But her attention did not remain on him instead he saw her eyes dip ever slightly and to the woman in his arms. She shouted his wife's name and picked up her speed flying towards them.
"Oh, Kami! Kami is she okay!?" The young girl asked frantically, she didn't know or recognize Goku, unsurprisingly.
The saiyan had caught glimpses of this girl from the otherworld but was unsure as to how much she was involved.
Chi-Chi asked for space to which Goku gave her enough to turn and face their new guest, Taking a moment to wipe away the tears although she was certain to be crying much longer. "Are you alright Videl?"
"Yeah, a little shaken up, Erasa is too, but what about you? What happened with Gohan?" There was a new sense of relief that Chi-Chi was alright, but her concern for Gohan showed as she looked around wondering if he was still around. Whether he was still the violent threat or if he had been miraculously quelled. Given everything she once thought she knew about him had drastically changed in a short period of time.
The mother averted her gaze, she didn't really know what had happened, but Goku decided to answer. "He's not here anymore, he got away after I rescued my wife."
"Oh, But where did Gohan… Wait, wait did you-" The teenage girl looked at the blonde haired man holding Chi-Chi in quite an intimate manner. There was quite the striking resemblance with his father's evident features except the blonde hair.
"Sorry it's a little too complicated to explain but I am Gohan's father and I'm here to fix things. I've seen you with my son before and it seems that you care an awful amount about him but this is something as his father that I must take care of myself. If I hadn't been selfish none of this would've happened."
"B-But I-I What, well I mean aren't you supposed to be dead?" More than once she had heard and recalled that Gohan's father was in fact dead.
Goku gave her a reassuring smile, "I was dead not too long ago, but I had my reasons for coming back."
"But how did-!"
"Videl…" Chi-Chi said calmly, the older woman looking at her, "This is my husband Goku and maybe later we can explain what has transpired but I want my Gohan back, I want to end this nightmare in my family and have my son back again."
Her mouth dropped open, she needed an explanation, she wanted to understand to know what was happening. But the words, they just couldn't find their way out.
"We will talk again, please just stay out of this for now." Chi-Chi said. Her head turned looking back at her husband. Trying her best to put back on the strong front but faltering rapidly as she stared into her love's face. "Goku…" Her voice breaking, "Please just get our baby back." A soft but desperate plea to him as Chi-Chi felt the tears begin to form at the corners of her eyes as she loosely grasped the man she loved once more. The world shifted in a blink as Goku transported them to the lookout. The panicked worry of Videl fading as the entire world shifted in the blink of an eye.
The faces of the supreme Kai, his aid, Piccolo, and Dende were in attendance for Earth's champion's unexpected return.
"Goku!" Piccolo shouted as the saiyan appeared still holding his wife, the flicker of his golden hue fading into nothing and back to nothing as his hair fell back to its normal position. "You're supposed to be dead, what is going on?"
The Kai raised his eyes in response to the new arrival as well.
"I was dead, but I had to come back to fix what I broke." Goku said, "Selfishness, and my own vanity at the time shielded me from the void I had created in the world that I thought I was protecting… but I hurt those that mattered most to me."
Goku didn't look up from his wife, "Piccolo see if we can get a senzu for my Chi-Chi and then I'm going to go get my son."
A voice interjected, "I would ask that you not get involved just yet. The plans that have been set in motion by the wizard Babadi and the goal of resurrecting his father's champion Majin Buu are not to be jeopardized unless I allow it." The supreme Kai had an idea as to who this was. He had heard from the grand Kai about a recent soul that had exceeded expectations and had taken training in the afterlife to the extreme. A true and noble soul from the very planet he was on presently… 'You must be him.'
"This Babadi tore apart my family, corrupted my son into something unrecognizable and threatens this very world and you ask me to stay my hand?" The saiyans head slowly lifted up to look with a staunch and determined gaze. "There will be no staying, no passivity, I am going to gather Vegeta, and tear this bastard apart." Goku's hair began to flicker once again as the rush of emotions came back, "For the first time in my life I wish to do harm to another being, I want to see this Babadi torn apart, I want him to be dead and gone for everything that he's subjected my family too!" His hair was rising up more and more, "Can you imagine as a father seeing your firstborn son scream in pain while thinking you had done the right thing, watching him scream and cry, his curses against me and painful pleading for the other person who should be there for him!?"
His hair spiked upwards completely, "I saw my son transformed into a being that hates, hurts, and nearly kills. His peaceful life was stolen from him by some mad wizard!? You think I brought myself back from the dead to sit idly by!?" The air began to electrify, the ground shaking as his wife's hair began to rise up as well into the air as a golden light engulfed him. "No he's going to answer for what he's done to Goten, Chi-Chi, and Gohan and I am going to be the one who makes him pay!" His scream echoed outwards as the lookout was covered in a brilliant golden flash. Still he wasn't done, this father had no outlet in the otherworld but he did look at the face of the guest inhabiting the lookout. "Everything that has happened has been a direct result of my choices and decisions and it's time I take responsibility for the harm that has come to so many people!"
"You are not acting rational, you must be calm as we can ill afford to let Babadi's schemes bear fruit. As the supreme Kai of the universe I am giving you an order to stay your hand until we are certain of success."
"My lord-!" His assistant interjected, trying to refrain from explaining the perilous situation they were still in.
"Be Silent Kibitio," The Kai ordered the taller red man bowing his head as the Kai addressed him. "I am well aware of what is progressing and this does not change our plans of drawing Babadi fully out."
"I don't give a crap about any sort of plans!" Goku shouted, his hair becoming even sharper and more defined in the golden light as his piercing teal eyes stared squarely at the kai in front of him. "My son is coming home!"
"You must not otherwise all of this will have been for nothing, your son's pain, and the fate of every single person will be jeopardized!" The Kai shouted, fiercely defiant even in the scope of the man in front of him who was showing power and strength even he was not prepared for.
Too many scenes were burned into his mind, how he saw and heard everything, the aching in his soul was now nothing compared to the pain burning in his heart. "No," He said, gritting his teeth as he could still see the desperation from his son not so long ago. "Right now my son needs me, he's alone, afraid, in pain, and I will not let him suffer anymore because of me!"
His aura grew even brighter and on the lookout it felt as if there was a brand new sun emanating from there.
Chi-Chi didn't feel anything but his warmth, even lost as they all felt the man refused to let her come to harm while near him. But as she held him once more she felt the cold dampness of fresh tears touch her cheek… but they were not her own.
[***]
Everyone except for those with the ability to sense power levels were shocked when a dead friend appeared in their living room. Bulma who was taking a requisite smoke break to just take the edge off for a while given the stress of the past week.
Vegeta's eyes widen for a moment, his pride momentarily clashing with the undeniable need for a bit of payback. Their eyes meet, a silent understanding passing between them. A subtle sign of begrudging respect.
Goku's gaze looks to him carrying a deep thanks for his rival, acknowledging Vegeta's strength and unwavering resolve. Vegeta's expression does not shift, but a slight tip of the chin appreciating the unspoken recognition from Goku.
The short moment is interrupted by a short squawk by Bulma. "GOKU!?" Completely unprepared for that. Her old friend greeted her with an affirming nod. "Wh-What!?"
"Sorry Bulma, unexpected visit but I need to talk with Vegeta about my son." The two saiyans shared a knowing glance and got ready to walk out for a moment to discuss in private but the ear yank from Bulma briefs caught the world's strongest man off guard.
"Hold on right there!" She pinched with enough force to rip a human ear clean off. Years of practicing on her son and saiyan husband had given her the proper technique which sent him into a pained yelp.
"Ouch, ouch, okay I give Bulma"! Goku pleaded, grabbing at his ear wondering if it was still attached after such an attack. Checking with his fingers and it was still there and when she got so strong?
"First, how, second when, third, what?" It was best to be direct with Goku and not try and overcomplicate things, the old adage keep it simple stupid.
"One Namek Dragon Balls, two today, three I need to know what's been going on with Vegeta and Gohan because I am going to get him back and he's the only one who has the best grasp as to what has happened." It was an explanation enough, 'wasn't it?'
"You didn't even call, I mean what about-"
"Chi-Chi is resting at the lookout," Goku said, cutting her off. "Gohan attacked her but my son still is holding onto what shreds of the pure boy that exists in him that still loves his mother and no matter her faults doesn't truly wish to harm her." Goku told her directly before addressing Vegeta, "Now can we talk?"
"Hmph, well at least you can carry a conversation better clown. I suppose being dead did fix some things with you."
Goku raised an eyebrow, "that's a new one, but whatever, I don't have time to care." Goku said not caring for the pointless insults. "
The two saiyans walked outside to where Goku and Vegeta had a very deep discussion, but as Goku turned back to his old rival he barely managed to dodge a blow aimed squarely at his head. He managed to just get himself to the side and put a few feet between them.
"What the hell Vegeta!?" He shouted wondering what was with all of the aggression.
"Hmph, just making sure it was you, your reflexes are yours, just like how I watched you fight." He said pulling back his hand, having studied the other saiyan he had a solid grasp that this was the genuine article in front of him. "My senses as a warrior haven't dulled and assuring myself that you are who you say you are with a few simple maneuvers was more than appropriate given what I've had to put up with. Given that this entire mess is your fault Kakarot you have no leg with which to pass judgment or do you perhaps have a problem with how I am handling things?"
The tension slightly left Goku's shoulders as he looked at the prince, taking the chance to calm himself down before going further with his talks. He was trying to act the calm and practiced father and protector of earth but internally was a different story. "I do owe you Vegeta, you can ask to collect on that later but for now I need to save my son." Man to man, father to father both of the last remaining saiyans looked at the other. "What can you tell me?"
Taking a moment to enjoy the moment of Kakarot needing his help the prince took in a breath through his nose before speaking. "The whole details is a sordid affair clown, but your spawn has been accelerating in power growth in between our fights." Bringing his arms up to cross them over his chest, "He was weak, broken and looking for some kind of guidance. No doubt that harpy of a wife just pushed the problem down the road until my own wench heard about his problems and dumped it at my feet. So we had a long spar and fortunately his saiyan blood was not wholly gone. He revealed in it and I could see that deep down that he found some measure of comfort in fighting, this world has a habit of tarnishing proper warriors. I told him to grab himself and pick himself back up, but this planet has a habit of turning minor things into full blown issues. I even saw a spec of myself beginning to pop out of that weak little boy." That first true fight in a long time, the way they exchanged blows and saw the pained expression of a warrior without purpose. "At first it was about how he had no one, forced into a role that he had no desire to be in. I'm certain that I wouldn't enjoy being stuck in a situation if I had his emotions and felt obligations to uphold. He didn't want to be Goten's father, he didn't want to be alone. He just wanted a simple life." The Prince lifted his head up to look at the sky and enjoy the blanket of stars shining through. Back when he had nothing but them to watch over him in his darker days.
The small silence carried until Vegeta started again, "He only became more isolated, angry, bitter, and learned to do something you still have yet to do Kakarot." His eyes shifted to the side to look at him from the side. Guarded but also watching for a reaction.
Goku said nothing, the silence of his words speaking for him.
He could not help but smirk, "That boy learned to hate," Sure there was anger and rage within Kakarot's blood, but hate? No, he had been tainted with the pure foolish notion of innocence. Believing there was good in all people, that someone like even Frieza deserved a chance? It was truly beyond a level of stupidity that he could not even hope to comprehend. "It was the only way he was going to manage to cope with everything. He began feeding his hatred and not in a small manner. No Gohan took it to the extreme and initially pushed the blame of all his woes solely on your weak shoulders." The twinge in pained guilt, remorse, and the second guessing of one's choices. It was almost too sweet to see on the other saiyans face. "Sure he might've just said it to get it out of his system, the way humans say one thing but not truly believe it simply because they lack the ability to grasp the true meaning of hate outside of their pitiful lives. But that boy had everything stripped away from him, in essence he had an express lane to my own open humiliation, of course it was tame by comparison. Postured to be hated by the world due to his mother's successes, every human probably was nipping at the chance to tear down someone who seemed high and mighty to them. He lost everything, the girl he had relations with, his status, position, and place in the pecking order of humans." Vegeta drew a hand to his chin, 'to Think I would be the one who gave such a painful blow to Kakarot the moment he returned? Is there a justice to this world's gods for it to be me?'
"Then the boy was haunted, although I believe this has been going on for more than a few weeks, perhaps months, maybe longer, but the boy was poisoned in the mind and then with nothing left he snapped. I saw him thrash and scream within his one mind, no doubt the one who broke him was torturing his mind in the cruelest fashion. Cowardly but effective against a gentle soul… But before I could seize him the boy vanished and now bears a stamp of his new master on his forehead. Of course I nearly killed your son but whoever controls him spirited him away before I could deliver the blow… I suspect that it will happen again if put in such a position… and that's the story clown."
He had two full sized heart's ripped from his soul if not having his own heart broken as well. Seeing the pain and suffering but he could not truly grasp it. Scream or cry? He didn't know what to do as he just let the pit inside of his stomach grow.
'This is all my fault, I could've prevented all of this…' Even if he did not fully believe that in his mind, his heart truly did. The sins of the father had passed on to the son only to be returned, with interest.
Still Goku kept his composure for the moment, "I appreciate the… honesty." Clenching one of his fists the heartbroken father turned away. "May I ask that you help me save him?"
A snort escaped the prince's nose. "Help you? Kakarot this is your own mess and I've been dealing with it for months. You broke your son, you either fixed him or put him down. I will not bear that sin for you no matter how much you beg but I will hear it all the same." Yet he was met with an even more pathetic look from his rival.
"Please, Vegeta, I must save my son."
"It is your family Kakarot," He said turning his back towards him, "I have my own to look after once you start your battle it will be your decision on how to handle it."
"Vegeta, I need-"
The prince held up his hand, "This is a personal matter, you must solve it, I will keep my own… life safe and the integrity of this desolate mud ball but you must make the choice. You came back, so do what needs to be done. I will not do this for you."
Before he could offer a retort, 'Goku! You are needed elsewhere, that damn wizard has started loose chaos all across the planet!'
[***]
"This wasn't in the cards at all!? Where did this one come from, was he not supposed to be dead?" Babadi ranted inside of his own personal space down in the depths of his ship. Currently alone as he scratched at his head of the few remaining hairs that were still on his head. "Damn that foolish kai! Damn him!"
The wizard had been caught out by this little development but he wasn't without his plans, and schemes for those plans, and designs for his schemes. "I've already sealed away my champion in a parallel dimension so that he might spend a year or two becoming a true monster.. But I will need to shift my plans if they attack, I can only delay for so long and given him enough time to overcome his…"
"Yes!" "Yes that is it!" Babadi laughed as he realized the simple answer right in front of him. He saw how his warrior had faltered when approached by his own flailing mother, he was still sick and pained in that pathetic little organ he called a heart. Fighting within his own nature to strike down something he cared for and something he had grown to loathe. One couldn't simply wipe away memories… well he could but that often was left for those who were necessary for dumb labor. A hardened fighter and servant of the great Babadi needed to be able to think.
It was why he had worked to curtail his prize's mind and slowly bend it to his will. Months of work in exchange for years of knowledge and experience. Understanding that the talented man in his possession had a breath of skill and abilities beyond that of almost all others on the planet it would be foolhardy to discard such an advantage.
Babadi didn't have the time- or desire- to cultivate a fighter from birth into a proper weapon, no why do that when he could find the limitless ones that existed all throughout the galaxy.
Taking the opportunity to stare into his crystal ball he viewed the compacted dimension where he had stuffed Gohan, the time in this place distorted so that one could have days, weeks, months, or years isolated from this reality where everything progressed as normal.
He could not view everything in the present time, but flashes and still images flickered through his spell as he reached out to the saiyan who was locked in a battle. Manifesting the darkest demons that lived in every soul and sending them as physical forms after Gohan.
The more powerful the emotion, the grander and more powerful the demon that was born and an emotionally unstable weapon of war that had a world's problems coursing through his mind was fueling this place like gasoline to a fire.
Watching with some interest as Gohan broke apart a bloodied demon, his hand crushing through its chest as it resembled all of his 'friends' faces of his classmates, those who mocked and humiliated him.
Each one of their haunting laughs and faces brought back the complete humiliation he had felt the day he had been wrongly accused.
"Do you all think this is funny!?" Gohan shouted, grabbing the head of another squealing demon in his hands, his fingers digging hard into the eye sockets as he just wanted to feel it pop. But even as the creatures of the other dimension suffered they delighted in giving back that suffering. 'Rapist' 'Abuser' 'Freak' 'Momma's boy' 'spoiled' 'weak' 'pathetic' all of them were a chorus, even as the head was crushed into a fine red mist their echoing laughs didn't stop.
Still this broken soul stood resolute, their eyes burning with a fierce determination.
The deafening screams of demons echoed through the vast expanse as legions of twisted creatures materialized from the ethereal haze. Their grotesque forms, brimming with malevolence, advanced relentlessly towards the nameless one, hungering for the emotions that poured off of the man standing before them. Their existence fueled and given purpose by his pain and suffering.
Drawing back his arm Gohan didn't falter, he only leapt into action. They moved with an otherworldly grace, their strikes swift and precise, breaking through the hordes of demons that assailed them. With each swing or kick of their legs, demonic bodies crumbled and dissolved into nothingness, only to be replaced by new foes.
But still he fought on, undeterred. His movements were a dance of death, weaving through the sea of monstrosities, cutting them down one by one. A symphony of clashes and screams filled the air as the saiyan simply carved a path through the oncoming horde, their determination unyielding.
As the battle raged on, the warrior's strength only flared more and more, the lust for battle amplified by the butcher's nails in his mind and the blood in his veins. Wounds marred his body, and weariness settled into their bones, but still, he fought.
Yet, for every demon he slew, two more took its place. The onslaught seemed endless but that was only the thrill. Being led closer and pushed to the brink of death, his body's aches and pains were nothing, the suffering of his 'human' side was nothing compared to the pure beloved pain of battle.
In a moment of respite, amidst the maelstrom of combat, Gohan glanced upward, their gaze piercing through the chaotic energies of the twisted reality. Above, amidst the swirling vortex of colors and emotions, they glimpsed a faint glimmer, a beacon from where the demons poured freely. Holding back his hands he felt his ki gather at the tips of his fingers. "You all want a piece of me!? Fine! I'll give you everything you can handle!" He rose up into the air, the tips becoming golden orbs that flickered growing together into twin orbs. "MASENKO- HA-!" A golden beam tore forwards aiming straight for the vortex, incinerating the legions in line and those pouring out from it until it made impact and exploded.
The demons screeched, their bodies flickering before erupting into plumes of ash and smoke as the portal letting them flow freely was completely severed.
Gohan collapsed, although there was no idea of up, down, or ground as the place stretched he found a place where he could just lay for the moment. His fingers tickling as the cuts and bruises from his body slowly reminded him of the lingering effects of a long fight.
His eyes became cloudy and just stared u p at the infinite above him. The place moved and shifted in an unsettling manner but this teen didn't know.
But as he stayed there his eyes watched as the shifting lights and images above him twisted and bent, the red haze that had been there before turning into a pale foggy blue.
Moving like a cloud the fog rose upwards and Gohan felt his knuckles turn white as he clenched his fists and rose upwards from the ground. It took the shape of the person responsible for all of this and although it wasn't completely physical, he watched the cocky grin appear on the apparition's face. It was all that Gohan could stomach.
Sorry for the long wait.
