Chapter 56: In Mourning

Returning to the status quo, to a sense of normality, didn't seem as easy as it had been in the past, nor did it feel like the right thing to do. However, it never truly felt right. The Earth, and this group specifically, had been through a lot of tumultuous times, and just because it was a regularity didn't mean it was ever easy. This time felt greater in scale, far more difficult to deal with. There were no Dragon Balls, on Earth or Namek, and there had been deaths.

A tough combination for the group to process.

Immediately following the events of the conflict, once the group had departed, the Secret Service had begun communicating with the West City government and started working towards getting repairs started in the areas that had been damaged. Nothing would be started on the weekend, but as soon as the working week started again, construction companies would get right to work on repairing those damaged areas.

During these communications with the West City government, Capsule Corp. were brought into the conversation and offered up their assistance. The board were always involved with whatever was happening in the city, and Bulma had always taken a direct interest. This time, the Secret Service wanted more than just the assistance of Capsule Corp.

Captain Cas Babka wanted to contact those involved with the conflict right away, and he knew exactly who to talk to, and who he wanted to talk to. At this stage, he was very much of the mind-set that arrests needed to be made. He wanted whoever fought during that conflict. However, he didn't have all the information. This was why he needed help from Bulma.

She didn't hesitate to get in contact with the Secret Service, they held high authority and it was the right thing to do, so she spoke with their captain and agreed to set-up a meeting where things could be discussed. However, she made the captain promise to hold off on any conversation until her friends had a chance to deal with everything that had happened. She wanted everyone to have the time they needed to mourn their losses.

The Secret Service were initially unaware of any casualties, as none had occurred in West City during the conflict, there had only been damage caused to buildings and streets. So, once the captain heard that a child, along with Mr. Buu, had been lost during the conflict, his compassion came through and he accepted that they would need time.

A meeting time had been set for June 5th, the next Monday, allowing more than a week of mourning time. Bulma only had to inform the people that would be a part of the meeting. With Piccolo and Surto heading off to a wasteland somewhere, Torai back to Tien, Uub going his own way, and the alien crew choosing to keep themselves hidden, Bulma only had a few people to choose from.

Gohan, because he was someone who could speak very well in that kind of situation; Noca, because of his previous encounters with the Secret Service, as well as being a very important factor in the conflict; Pan, because she was in direct communication with Agent Hannah Larson during the conflict; and finally, Bulma herself, of course.

In the interim, to allow for some private reflection, Gohan had decided to take his family to the Mount Paozu residence, to bring his whole family together at a time when they truly needed one another. Chi-Chi would absolutely want to be there for her family at this time, she would want to take care of her son and daughter-in-law.

Goten and Valese were there also, with their own young child, Shuri, although they had to do their best to explain to the child that it was a sad time. It felt like it was far too early to have to explain the concept of death to their child, but they needed her to understand that Rei wasn't coming back. Her cousin was gone. Chi-Chi helped Valese with the explanation, while Goten found it quite difficult to deal with, knowing that he had to learn at such a young age that his own father wasn't alive. It brought back strong memories and feelings.

Throughout the week though, even surrounded by family, Videl was still understandably emotional, and she was struggling to deal with and process everything. It was a risk, that was obvious once they knew Rei was on the ship, and she never stopped worrying, but that didn't mean she had ever prepared herself for it.

There were parts of the week where Videl would be sitting in silence, staring into the middle-distance, looking at nothing, deep in thought, without a single focus on her surroundings. But the deep thoughts often led to sudden outbursts of tears and crying. Gohan made sure to be beside his wife throughout every moment, making sure she was never alone, and it helped him too because he was feeling it just as much as she was. And Gohan wasn't afraid to show his sadness, often crying into his own mother's arms.

Mr. Satan joined his extended family, knowing that it would be far too hard to head back to his big mansion at that time, with all the reminders, not only of his precious grandson, but his best-friend, Majin Buu. The happy-go-lucky pink blob had touched Mr. Satan's soul all those years ago, and Mr. Satan nurtured the former villain, showing him the path to good. Mr. Satan was feeling it.

Pan, like her father, had also refused to leave her mother's side for very long, wanting to make sure that both her, and her father, were comforted plenty throughout the very difficult time. All of them were affected by the loss, all felt as if a huge part of their lives, their family, was gone. Although, Noca noticed that Pan was struggling to truly process everything that was going on, and she clearly wasn't displaying her hurt as much as her parents. She remained stoic and composed throughout it.

Noca knew exactly what was going on inside his girlfriend's head, at least in terms of emotions, but he wanted Pan to figure her way through it as she mourned with her family. Honestly, Noca still felt like it was wrong for him to be there. He spent most of his time outside, looking over the mountains and valleys, in deep thought the entire time. Noca would also fly back and forth to West City every morning and night, to check on the cat, Jessie, making sure she was fed, and her litterbox was cleared.

It was in those times, those flights, that Noca felt truly alone with his thoughts, and it wasn't always the best thing. Even though he had received assurances from Pan, Videl, and Gohan, he still felt like he was to blame for everything that happened, and how it all went down. He couldn't shake that feeling. And even if they did everything to make Noca feel like he was part of their family and deserved to be with them, he couldn't stop himself from thinking otherwise.

On his last trip to West City, Noca wouldn't be going back to the Mount Paozu residence. Instead, he would be meeting Pan, Gohan, and Videl back at the Moori forest residence. This was on the Thursday night, and it was because the family, and their closest friends, had decided that on the Friday a memorial would be held to honour the lives of those they lost. Preparation had been made, with the gracious help of Bulma, and a gathering would take place at the Moori forest residence, and the home of Gohan and Videl.

Their return spurred some more emotional turmoil, especially once the parents were surrounded by all the memories of their son. They walked into the room that used to be Noca's, the one that they had given to Rei, and Videl found herself sitting on the floor next to Rei's bed, holding one of his stuffed animals. Gohan joined her at one point, and neither of them left the room for the rest of the night, at least not until it was very early hours of the morning. Not that they could sleep anyway.

Pan felt weird going back to her childhood bedroom, but she was happy that Noca was there with her. They both tried their best to get sleep that night, but it was impossible for everyone to sleep. Pan lay awake staring out towards her bedroom window, while Noca lay staring up at the ceiling.

Friday 2nd June Age 798

It was a warm summer day. The weather was clearly on the side of the people all gathered in the large rear garden of the Moori forest residence. There were only a few clouds passing overhead in the sky, while a slight breeze brushed through the area. Despite the satisfying weather, it didn't do anything to change the sombre atmosphere of an emotionally charged day.

The friends and family of Gohan and Videl had been gathered for one reason: they all wanted to offer their condolences to the grieving couple. Gohan and Videl stood together the whole time, and the former had his arm around his wife's shoulders all night, holding her close. Videl still hadn't picked herself up in the week, which wasn't a surprise to anyone, and for most of the afternoon she had been vacant.

She would speak with anyone who approached her, but not for very long, until eventually Erasa came up to her long-time best-friend and the two of them broke down into tears together, with Videl needing to be taken inside to calm down.

To honour the passing of the young Saiyan child, a memorial stone had been set down at the far end of the garden, underneath a large tree, surrounded by a flowerbed. The stone read:

Son Rei

21st February Age 793 – 27th May Age 798

A Beautiful Son and Brother with a Wonderful Spirit

Taken Far Too Soon

Once Videl had been taken inside by Erasa, they went straight through to the living room and sat together, to talk, but Gohan remained outside. He turned to face the stone and walked up to the flowerbed, looking down at the stone, with his hands in his pockets. Goten walked up beside him and put a hand on his big brother's back, offering him whatever comfort he could. Gohan looked to his brother and managed to offer a weak smile, but as soon as he met eyes with his brother he sobbed slightly and let his emotions run again.

Pan was sitting with her friends, with Bra, Kiera, and Holline, and they were all offering comfort in any way they could to the young woman, but Pan was doing her best to remain strong and keep up that calm demeanour. Noca and Dom had been sat with the girls too but decided to head into the kitchen to get something to drink.

Dom went behind the bar that sat off from the side of the dining room and started to pour he and Noca some hard liquor. Whiskey, neat, for Noca. It was actually Dom's alcohol of choice, but he felt like Noca needed one. And usually, Dom added cola to his whiskey. He wasn't an alcohol on its own type of person, but this was one of few moments that called for at least one stiff drink.

Noca didn't say anything, just raised the glass as Dom handed it to him, as if to say thanks, as well as to toast to the memory of Rei. Dom returned the gesture. They both took a sip at the same time.

While it felt like Rei was the focus for this memorial, this was also a chance for people to honour the memory of another, a fallen hero of Earth. The former villain, Majin Buu. Mr. Satan was the saddest of everyone at the event to lose Majin Buu, but it wasn't a loss any of them had really expected. Mr. Satan was overwhelmed by his sadness but tried to keep himself strong for the crowd. He was so used to putting on a persona in front of people that he seemed to default to that persona, but it slowly dawned on him that everyone at the memorial knew the real Mr. Satan.

It was actually when Krillin came over to offer condolences that Mr. Satan broke down in tears, and it was the bald, former monk, along with his wife Android #18, that sat with the former world champ to comfort him.

Another person was being honoured at that memorial, another person not from Earth, someone who had never even had the chance to step foot on the planet. The de-facto leader of the crew of misfits that came from space, the former galactic-patrolman, Guida. His crew were there, albeit feeling out of place, but they were there out of respect. Although, they didn't really fit in with everyone, and it was Vegeta and Piccolo they seemed to gravitate towards.

The group seemed to be standing together awkwardly. Piccolo was standing with his arms folded, out of the way, with Surto beside him. Talia and Niku stood together, a little bit in front of Piccolo and Surto, looking over the rest of the people. Talia's injuries had healed efficiently, and she looked well, maybe it was just her spirit that was hurt. Niku was still very much saddened by the loss of Guida, and that played on his mind.

Vegeta was way behind them all, under the cover of a tree, but still within talking distance of the group.

"What's the plan for you next?" Vegeta asked.

Talia and Niku turned around.

"Well, we need a ship if we're to leave," Niku suggested, glancing down at Talia.

She looked at her ally out of the corner of her eye, almost like she could feel Niku trying to say something or suggest something.

"And we should probably have AIR-3N rebuilt too," Niku added.

"Is the technology on Earth even suitable enough?" Piccolo asked.

"There's some stuff that we can use and adapt, just something to get us back to the core worlds would suffice," Niku suggested.

"You're free to take the Capsule shuttle," Bulma said, walking over, pulling her husband out of the shadows as she took a hold of his arm. "If it's suitable?"

"It should be good enough to get us to where we need to go, it just might take time unless we can get a fully functioning booster built," Talia spoke up.

"It's not like we're in a rush this time," Surto said, "I still have much I can learn from Piccolo."

"But there are still things out there for us to do," Talia said.

Vegeta unfolded his arms.

"For you, maybe," Surto said. "My people are all gone. Piccolo and I are the only ones left."

Piccolo shifted slightly when Surto said that, almost as if he hadn't taken that part into consideration. Surto was right though.

"Well, you are more than welcome to stay with us as long as you need to, we just can't be drawing attention to you," Bulma said, "Earth isn't used to having too many aliens around, and I think… with all that's happened recently…"

"We understand," Talia said, smiling weakly, as she looked over to the grieving family. "I have some unfinished business anyway."

Niku smirked slightly to himself when he heard that from Talia, he knew exactly who she was talking about.

"Speaking of unfinished business," Vegeta said, "You said that Kuyato may have an army?" Vegeta asked Niku, walking up to him.

"Yes. It was part of his wish on Namek. He wanted to find his old armies, unite them again, so he can have an unstoppable force," Niku explained.

"Then we should surely be doing something about that," Vegeta stated.

Bulma scoffed and rolled her eyes as she walked away to go find her daughter.

"Vegeta…" Niku started, looking down at the Saiyan Prince. "You don't think we can actually do anything, do you?"

"You said Kuyato was badly injured," Vegeta said.

"Yeah," Niku said, thinking back on Noca's fierce attack on the Dark Lord.

"Then he's not uniting any armies anytime soon," Vegeta continued.

"Neither are we," Talia snapped, but making sure to keep her voice down. "Look at us, we don't have those kinds of allies."

"This Galactic Patrol can't help?" Vegeta questioned.

"That was Guida's people," Niku said, "without him, they only see us as criminals. I'm a former soldier for Freeza, after all. As were you."

"Something needs to be done," Vegeta said, looking away, towards the house, where he could see Noca and Dom sitting together through the window.

"One thing at a time, Vegeta," Niku said.

The Prince looked back to Niku. The former soldier looked over the garden, at all the people gathered there, grieving.

"As Niku said," Talia spoke up again, "we have time. We can at least discuss options, but for now, let's wait."

Vegeta took a deep breath, looked to Talia and then back to the house. He huffed and practically stormed across the garden.

The Prince entered the house again, into the dining area, and we walked towards the bar. Dom, still stood behind the bar, looked up from Noca to see the Prince coming their way. He looked down at Noca again and the young Saiyan looked around as Vegeta stopped walking.

"What next?" Vegeta asked.

Noca frowned.

"What? What do you mean?" Noca asked, turning in the chair to face Vegeta.

"What do we do next?" Vegeta asked, but he didn't really elaborate.

"I need some more than that, Vegeta," Noca said, "what happens after this memorial? I don't know, we go home and try to go back to normality?"

"I mean Kuyato," Vegeta said.

Noca scoffed.

"Really? Now?" Noca asked.

He set his drink on the counter and stood up, looking the Prince in the eye.

"It's not the right time," Noca stated.

"We need to get back out there," Vegeta replied.

"And do what? Train until we're bleeding out our ears?" Noca questioned.

"You want to stop him, don't you? You want to get revenge?" Vegeta demanded something more from Noca.

"I want a little bit of normality in my life," Noca replied, in a low voice, but harbouring some ferocity.

"You'll never have it. You know that," Vegeta said.

Noca's jaw tensed as the Prince said that.

"We need to get back out there looking for Sadala. We need to ensure we are strong enough to take on Kuyato and any army he brings our way, you know that."

Vegeta was raising his voice as he was speaking, and Dom was trying to find the right place to step in and say something to calm him down, but Vegeta wasn't the easiest to talk down.

"We can talk about it once we've all had some time to relax and move past this," Noca said, calmly, but he was keeping himself restrained.

Vegeta didn't care.

"No!" he snapped. It was loud enough to draw attention from everyone outside, as well as Videl and Erasa from the living room.

Noca inhaled sharply, as if ready to snap back, but he held himself.

"You saw how much we struggled out there on his ship, and how much our allies struggled down here on the planet, against one person," Vegeta said, continuing to yell. "Now, when he comes back here, looking for you again, how do you suppose we beat him with his full force. We weren't ready for him this time, we got lucky."

People were walking towards the house, trying to see what all the fuss was. Videl and Erasa had also come from the living room and walked up the hall.

"I could have killed him…" Noca said, quietly, while looking down, but he looked up into Vegeta's eyes. "If Rei wasn't there, I could have killed Kuyato."

"Then you were too weak. You won't get that chance next time," Vegeta said. He scoffed. "Sometimes sacrifices come in war."

That didn't sit well with Noca, he reacted immediately and shoved Vegeta back, knocking him to the ground. The Prince leapt back to his feet and flashed Super Saiyan, ready to fight back, Gohan quickly rushed in to get between them.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Gohan said.

"I will never sacrifice those that I love," Noca said, getting emotional as he looked at Vegeta.

Gohan was standing between them, with his arms out, one hand placed on the chest of each of them.

"Hey," Gohan said, looking into Noca's eyes, but Noca was focussed on Vegeta. "Hey!" Gohan repeated.

Noca looked at him. Gohan motioned his head towards Videl and Erasa in the hallway. Noca looked to them, breathing heavily, but he did his best to calm himself down as Pan walked in and stood beside her boyfriend.

"I'm good," Noca said, nodding.

Gohan nodded to Noca and then turned around to face Vegeta.

"Vegeta," Gohan started, "Sacrifices? Is that what you thought of my son?" Gohan questioned, clearly trying to stop himself from getting worked up. Vegeta huffed and looked away shaking his head. "I think you should go. Walk it off."

Vegeta scoffed and turned around, walking outside again, and then he took off, blasting away from the scene. Pan had her arm around Noca, gently rubbing his back to make sure he was ok. Noca smiled weakly. Videl walked up to Gohan and the two of them embraced in front of the young Saiyan couple.

The memorial came to an end very shortly after the altercation between Noca and Vegeta. The people who had all come by to pay their respects left to return to their respective homes and, exhausted from the nature of the day, Videl decided to head to bed early. She wasn't certain if she would even have a good night's sleep, but she needed to try.

Pan felt like she wanted to be back in her own bed after nearly a week of staying in what was her childhood/teenage bed. Noca would have been going back to the city again anyway, but he was very happy to hear that Pan wanted to go back too.

Videl was fine with her daughter going back home, as was Gohan. They said bye, lingering in a family embrace once it was just the three of them alone. Obviously, Noca was still there, but he opted to stay out of the family hug.

Gohan did offer a final word to Noca, telling him to look after and not to be so hard on himself. Noca appreciated Gohan looking out for him. Videl didn't want to let Noca go without giving him a hug too, Noca couldn't say no.

The flight home was slow and silent. They decided to fly a jet home because neither of them was really in the mood to utilise any energy to fly home. As it turns out, being emotionally drained, makes you feel physically drained too.

They returned to their home, getting deep into the evening as they ascended the staircase of the building. Noca was ahead of Pan, with the young woman following behind, at a leisurely pace, with her head down. Noca opened the door and stepped to the side, waiting for Pan to walk in first. She looked up to meet his eyes and smiled quickly, but headed right in. Noca smiled when she looked at him, but it vanished as soon as she passed, and he watched her with concern and a furrowed brow.

He walked in and followed Pan as she walked through the apartment, he stopped in the area between the open living room and the kitchen and placed his hands in his pockets, as Pan started to walk up the hallway towards their bedroom, but she stopped.

Noca took his hands out of his pockets, and before he could make another movement or say anything Pan dropped to her knees and began crying, hard. She gripped onto her hair and buried her head on the floor, basically all crouched up into a ball as she cried. Noca rushed to her, moved around so he was around her and pulled her into a tight and comforting embrace.

She took her hands away from her head and put then around Noca's back, but without much strength or effort, and she lifted her head, starting to cry into Noca's chest as he embraced her, gently rocking back and forth as Pan finally let out all her stifled emotions.

Noca sensed it inside of Pan the whole time, he knew what was going on, he knew what Pan was doing to herself, and as soon as she was back in the comfort of her own home, away from her parents, the façade of strength was dropped. Pan let her emotions out, she finally embraced her sadness at the entire situation, and Noca was happy that she found her moment.

Things had definitely changed, and they may never be the same again.

Hey, so, this was the last chapter of the main story. Leaving it sort of open ended as to what will come next, but I have laid the groundwork for what comes next throughout the entire story. But, I will say, there is an epilogue coming next week that will probably give a few more hints towards the future.

I'll probably have a longer note at the end of that chapter, but yeah... one more to go! This story has been a journey.