Hey, guys. :)
First of all, I apologize for the late update. Life has a way to get in the way without warning, unfortunately. That being said, I'll reiterate this one more time for those who still don't believe me: I will not leave this story hanging. This story will be finished and won't be one of those that takes a year for the next update. If I feel like I don't have the time to nurture it anymore, I'll just end it sooner. Okay? Don't you worry your beautiful little heads over it. :D
I've already explained this to StanMathers, but the fact that Gohan can go super while he has the ki suppressor is because the thing was surgically implanted under his skin. He can turn it on or off at anytime now. For future reference, be advised that I might not specify that he turned it on or off, but he still did/does it anyway, okay?
One of the Guest reviewers asked if Buu will be appearing and some others have asked me this before. I never say no to ideas but as of right now, no he won't. That being said, we will be changing gears on this story sometime soon and someone will in fact appear. :D
Enjoy!
With a strong tug, the shower curtain was pushed aside, unveiling the dense white mist that filled up the small bathroom. Chi-Chi automatically reached for the green towel - the one she preferred to dry her hair with - while taking a deep energizing breath over the numbness of her flushed skin. She stepped out, feeling the fluffy carpet between her toes, and immediately bent over the tub, maneuvering the terry so it was wrapped tightly around her head before standing up again. She loved her new herb garden to pieces, but maybe a raised flowerbed was a little too bold of a project - not to mention a pain to set up. Woodworking was never her thing and those beams turned out to be way too heavy for her to handle alone. Talk about a jab to the pride... She should've just waited for Gohan to arrive and help her like he'd asked her to. Serves her right for being stubborn.
Sluggishly, she reached for the white fluffy towel now, using it to dab the water off her skin and heat-torpid muscles in front of the sink. The night was unusually cold for the season, contrasting with the scorching hot Summer day that had set just a few hours ago before dinner. It proved enough to have her unearth her favorite robe back from the hall closet where it was supposed to have stayed for at least a few more months. It was warm and soft - and beautiful; cherry blossoms over yellow silk - but practically non-absorbent, so this step was due first. She dabbed her left arm now, but interrupted the action to wipe the mirror clean. Black eyes stared into themselves for a moment before starting to roam around and down to the rest of her. The towel got discarded to the side.
Her breasts had seen better days and so had the remainders of her tightly knit abs, but at least the fat under her arms was still pretty much contained and not all gross and flabby like the old maid back at Papa's. She leaned over the sink and took in every red blemish of her once alabaster skin, as few and tiny as they were. Slowly, her fingers touched her right temple and pulled slightly. Those lines didn't bother her; at least not as she envisioned they would when she was younger. The kids didn't care if she was pretty or not, and Bulma was her sister more than anything else, so she could take her bickering if the woman ever dared to share beauty and age concerns with her.
Once upon a time she'd cared, surely… once upon a time when jealousy came really close to friendship, and certainly miles away from any kind of love towards the blue-haired. Both came a long way ever since. Girls turned wives, then mothers, and then broken women - ones more broken than others... It was behind her, now. There was no one to feel jealous about anymore, anyway.
Her fingers traced her jaw line and the skin of her neck, satisfying her somewhat from feeling soft and put together rather than saggy. As long as she didn't end up like Baba… Oh, God, please. Not that ugly! And then she forced herself to look at it. It didn't sting her gut, it didn't bring the tears; it actually felt kind of peaceful. The one thing that would be sticking with her when the kids were all grown up and gone from her life. What was it… a marking? A brand? She couldn't remember what Vegeta had called it that night, but the corner of her lip tilted when some actual words came to her: "You pitiful humans and your stupid mating procedures. Overestimated at best. Saiyans bond for life, not for paper."
For life, not for paper… How about for death, then?
Her hand strolled to her shoulder and grazed across the glossy line, experiencing the touch only on her fingertips in that weird way that numb scar tissue usually felt. It wasn't little - although much smaller than Bulma's - but sometimes it seemed that way; or maybe she just wished it was a little bigger, since it would mean it was a little more of him. Their children were his legacy, but sooner rather than later they would be belonging to the world and not to her anymore. At least she'd have a thread of dead skin to remember him by...
Suddenly, she heard a scream that didn't scare her since it was one of those childish laughter ones. Goten's probably. It made her smile. She put on the robe and unbundled her hair, combing it quickly with some conditioner product and bringing it up into a casual bun with a single chopstick. The house was still warm enough to ditch the blow dryer.
It did wonders, that shower, and the way her flip-flops were lazily brushing against the hardwood floor was enough proof of her relaxation. The kids had been watching TV on the couch when she'd left, but they'd apparently took to the kitchen since then. Probably to make some kind of a mess that she wouldn't be the one cleaning - that's for sure - so it simply spiked her curiosity rather than her annoyance. With another step she reached the door and smiled wholeheartedly.
"Hi, Mommy!" Goten yelled happily from the countertop where he sat, next to a big bowl of chocolate-colored gooeyness that Mia was stirring. All under the watchful eye of her eldest, of course. They were making a cake, and by the looks of that licked-clean wooden spoon in the little boy's hand, it was coming along tasty enough.
Gohan and Mia looked back at her, smiling as well, but hinting just a tiny bit of uneasiness that she knew came from wonder of her reaction. She'd care, once upon a time. She'd make a big deal out of the mess, or the late hour. Not anymore.
With the flick of a switch, Goten's expression sunk and he jumped off to the floor. "I-I'm sorry, Mommy," he said. "I forgot."
Chi-Chi snickered softly. True that she'd told him a million times not to sit there, but it didn't really matter. It was a lost battle from the beginning since his father was just the same. "It's okay, Baby." She stepped closer and reached for him, hoisting him up with a lot more effort than expected and placing him back where he'd sat. God, he was getting big! "What are you guys doing?"
Mia beamed to her side, popped eyes and grin, and an extra spark into her mixing. "It's chocolate cake!"
"I can see that," their mother chuckled, thumbing clean a deep brown smudge from Goten's chubby cheek and bringing it up to her mouth. "Hmm, and it's yummy, too."
The kids laughed and proceeded to explain the baking procedure so far, as according to the filthy recipe book in front of them. They actually did it right, she mused as she took in the instructions. Maybe it would come out nice and fluffy after all. Gohan caught her attention for keeping quiet and she looked at him now. He was smiling with those peaceful eyes she'd adore a little bit more if they weren't exactly like Goku's. Well… not exactly like them. These ones were heavy in a way that her husband's would never have been. It just wasn't in his nature. His hand reached over and touched her forearm from behind Mia, sliding down to her own hand where it remained in a tight grip, massaging it with his thumb.
He's not your husband,Bulma sung in her head, but sadly, he kind of was, in a way - his partner in their family. The words chastised her for the mere thought of that whole conversation, almost a year ago. How could she have even considered the mines…
Not long after, the batter was rising in the hot oven and the kids were sent to wash any vestige of their battle against it. Gohan was putting away the flour and other ingredients while she went ahead and started washing the bowls and utensils.
"So, whose idea was it?" Chi-Chi asked with a soft smile.
Gohan chuckled. "Goten wanted cake, but it was Mia's idea to bake it."
Her head shook from the unsurprising response. "That brother of yours… he'd eat this whole house if it was made of chocolate." Or anything much less delicious, she thought to herself. "You guys are just like your father. He was really bulky ever since I met him, but it was all muscle. Damn saiyan genes." She giggled. "Anyway, you had your first growing spurt at around his age so I'm not too worried about him gaining any extra weight, but maybe we should be more careful with Mia. I don't know how it's gonna be for her, female saiyans can be different than males. Do you think Bulma would know anything about the women back at their planet? Maybe Vegeta told her something."
Silence.
"Gohan?" She glanced over her shoulder and frowned instantly, matching his own expression. She knew that look all too well. "What's wrong?"
His lips moved without a sound at first, but his head shaking from side to side answered for him long before his voice did. "I… don't know..." He was looking around at nowhere, but choosing different directions to do so. Surely, trying to sense his surroundings.
She gave him a minute. They were at peace for so long... could it be another threat? An enemy? Please, God, no… she couldn't bear it. Not without Goku here to make her believe everything would turn out okay. And even more so since this was exactly the reason why he'd stayed dead in the first place. So he wouldn't be a beacon for trouble. At least that was what Dende had learned from King Kai after she and Gohan - but mostly her - had pleaded for a contact, for an answer. Why did he refuse to live again? She understood the reason - after a few months of mourning, anyway.
It didn't seem like it this time, though. With the Androids they weren't able to sense anything whatsoever, and all the others were easily distinguishable, since their evil could be sensed in their kis.
Gohan had that face he'd usually put on when he couldn't overcome one of his math problems - when he was little; that didn't really happen anymore. It was all basic to him now, but not this, apparently, whatever it was. His face spelt confusion, plain and simple. She placed a hand on his arm and he looked over. "Go," she said, calmly.
He only blinked in response.
"Your father always knew when something was wrong," Chi-Chi explained. It was the truth, he always did. "Go check it out."
Gohan just stared at her, but ultimately smiled. Slowly. Gradually. He leaned in and hugged her, nice and tight. It was so incredibly hard seeing him as a man, but that's exactly what he was. A strong, handsome, amazing young man, matured long before your average one ever would. She'd never stop worrying, but at least the respect was due. And he deserved every single bit of it. "Just promise me you'll be careful," she added.
He nodded on her shoulder. "I love you, Mom." They parted.
"I love you too, Honey." He ran out and she sighed, looking back to the kitchen counter and all the assorted mess. "I guess I'll be the one doing the cleaning after all…"
Gohan almost collapsed to the ground below when realization came; when he understood what was making his muscles contract on their own and his blood boil and freeze at the same time. Instead he just flew faster, bolting up for the stratosphere to reduce air resistance, but it still felt too incredibly slow. He kept telling himself that everything was okay, that there must've been a perfectly reasonable explanation, but he knew that there wasn't.
Why couldn't he feel her?
Her phone was off. Why was her phone off? She said she'd be at campus all weekend, moping around and third-wheeling Erasa and Sharp's meals back at their place. He should call them, ask where she was, but at this very moment it wouldn't matter even if they knew. He couldn't feel her… anywhere! He had to see her.
The library building came up on the horizon - the tallest one on university grounds - and all else blurred from sight. Closer. Closer. He spotted the girl's home and his gut clenched tighter. She wasn't there… or so he hoped. If she was and he still couldn't sense her ki, as close as he was…
Quickly and carelessly, he touched down a whole less deeper into his favorite alley, cracking the cement slab beneath him. He couldn't care, running at top speed out of it only to screech into a halt. Sharpner turned around to look at him.
"G? What are you doing here?"
Not a word came to mind to answer his best friend, his brain rapidly assessing the situation in front of him. Sharp and Erasa, by the car, in front of the apartment complex, grocery bags in hand. Their faces were neutral, slightly surprised but that must've been due to his presence since he was only due back tomorrow night.
"What's wrong?" Erasa asked, warily, stepping over. It was expected: how could they not have noticed he was freaking out… Breathing loudly, hot and flushed, probably disheveled from the flight. It didn't matter.
"Where's Videl?" Gohan croaked, pleading with his eyes that they knew. Wishing for everything dear that she'd gotten on a plane to the other side of the world. Please…
The guys frowned and looked at each other, and just like that Gohan knew that they were as oblivious as he was. "Sh- She was supposed to be home," Erasa whispered, letting her plastic bags drop to the ground and dashing to the cast iron gate. Her keys were in her hand the next second and in the next few, the three of them were up the stairs and by the door. A moment too long and he'd be tearing the thing from its hinges.
"Vi?" Erasa shouted as they walked in, but that was the last thing he heard. That smell was too familiar. He pinpointed its origin in one overpowering and heavy heartbeat: a smudge on the coffee table and a small puddle on the carpet.
Blood.
Deep red. Glossy. Shiny. Fresh. Dark rather than bright. Venous blood from peripheral blood vessels. Low on oxygen. Rich on deoxyhemoglobin. Iron-bound metalloprotein of red blood cells-
"G!" Sharpner's voice... to his side. "You're hyperventilating." He stepped over and gripped at his shoulders, forcing him to sit down on the couch. "You have to calm down. Erasa's calling the police."
It all came back in a rush. The smell, Erasa yelling in the background, the taste of bile and the pitchiness of his breaths. The way his eyesight blurred with every rushed beat of his heart.
Where… was… she…?
The blood was overwhelming and he looked back at it. He touched the edge of the coffee table, shaking violently as he did, and stared at his bloody fingertips.
Where…? Why…?
Near the wall directly in front of him, something else caught his eye: broken to pieces, the remainders of Videl's cellphone. Electricity shot through him. The blood might have been confusing - if not only terrifying - but that spelt violence all the way. Something had happened… Something had happened...
Sharpner fell back as he trampled him in a jump, running outside, away from that place. In a second he lifted up to the sky again, in bursts of energy that he couldn't control, only to stop abruptly when he realized there was nowhere to go. Where would he go? Where?
He spun around himself endlessly, checking out every direction and growing more and more desperate when none of them seemed different than the other. This feeling… it was the one that haunted his nightmares ever since he started having them, and clashing with the memories of the most hurtful moments of his life. Hopelessness. Panic. Genuine, unadulterated fear. A spark cracked right in front of his eyes, and then another.
"Gohan."
He focused, taking in the person in front of him. "P-Piccolo?"
When had he…? The namekian's nails were starting to pinch on his shoulders. How long had he been gripping them? He looked so serious… Well, his sensei always did however he seemed different, somehow. He kept staring deep into Gohan's eyes, calm voice and a lighter frown than normally, but intense all the same. Yeah, he recognized it. The same expression as when Porunga's thunderous words rattled his every bone. Sab Goku 'oH pong yIn naDev. ... No one wanted to translate it for him, even after he'd begged. Piccolo was the only one.
The one called Goku refuses to be brought back. … All in all, he must've been as confused as he was right now.
"You have to calm down," Piccolo said, so very slowly.
He was calm. Well… he wasn't but… Videl's blood! On the floor! In a puddle! It was so fresh it had to have happened when he felt that strange energy flow through him back at home. That particular numbness like when you've slept an entire night on your arm and don't feel it when you wake up in the morning. The cold burning sensation of your veins and muscles regaining their inherent heat, all the way to the severe prickling, afterwards. It was exactly the same... except on your entire body.
If only he'd been faster… Every minute was too long. He didn't want to think what could've happened in ten…
"Calm. Down," Piccolo repeated.
"I… I am."
"You're super."
Super? Did he mean… Gohan looked down at his hands and focused harder on his surroundings. The crackling thunder had come from him, his energy was flowing freely around his body in flames of gold. He'd turned Super Saiyan. "I-I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Just turn it off," his sensei ordered.
Turn it off. Okay… he just needed to slow his breathing and calm down. It was easy enough. He'd done it a million times before. … It wasn't working. Where was she? Please…
"Gohan." He looked up at the namekian. "What would your father do? What would he say?"
Close your eyes, Son.
That's what he'd say. This lack of self-control wasn't all that recurring, but Goku had always understood what kind of havoc and destruction it could bring, just as he did once he got older. Power without responsibility was just plain negligence. It was one of his first lessons. He closed his eyes.
Gohan allowed remembrance of those images, long forgotten in the dark recesses of his mind where he'd kept them for eight straight years. Their training for the Androids, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. His father had even came up with a gesture they'd do whenever he'd get overwhelmed, connecting their hands and applying pressure only through their fingertips. It worked wonders to bring him back down to Earth. Pity his dad was the only one who could do it properly...
Close your eyes, Son. Hear your heart. Feel the air flow through your nose and into your lungs. You've got this. You've got this.
"You've got this," Gohan whispered to himself. Eventually, he managed to power down, extinguishing the protective aura of heat that had surrounded his body. The wind blew harsher and it felt pretty amazing against the sweat beads on his forehead. A small smile actually came over him as he opened his eyes. Piccolo had already left, but no matter. He felt like himself again, panic-free, calm and collected. Rational. Logical. Think it through.
His father popped up into awareness again, bathing under the bright starlight on one of their camping trips, telling his stories... one in particular made the wheels turn in Gohan's head. Krillin had won, officially, but Goku was the one who found Master Roshi's rock. The one he had branded with his symbol and that would win them their supper. He'd smelled it. His father had hounded a rock through its scent.
He smelled it…
Calmly, without a second thought, he looked at his left hand, cringing minutely when he saw the blood. Her blood. He brought it up to his nose and took a whiff of it. The path wasn't marked in front of him, lights didn't shine for his attention, but they may as well just have. It was so clear it hurt how he hadn't seen it earlier. She wasn't close nor was she far either, but her ki… He shot up in her direction, concentrating on the end of the track for any hint of energy. It was there - thank the heavens - but so weak… Please, Vi. Please hang on…
It was the longest minute of his life, but he finally saw her from afar. In a ditch. On the side of some unmarked secondary road, hidden from the world in its pitch black oblivion. His vision blurred once more, instinct alone guiding his movement, his landing, his knees skidding against the pavement. For a second he hesitated to roll her around to her back - so much blood… - but he did, taking her in his arms.
"Vi," he said in a whisper as weak as he was feeling; as weak as he was feeling her. Blue lips, pale skin masked with streaks of red that came from the bloodied mess that was her hair. Her once crisp white shirt was unbuttoned halfway, showing her cleavage, her bra… showing too much. How? Why? Who? It was the last thing he remembered.
"Mr. Son?"
He blinked, finally able to peel his eyes from the stretcher as the medical staff urged to roll Videl away into the ER. There was a kind-looking old woman in front of him. A nurse. "Huh?"
"What happened?" she asked with a slight frown of concern. Maybe for him since he couldn't stop shaking. The burst of adrenaline was fading into coldness, his breathing was erratic and forced again. It didn't matter. It didn't matter a single bit.
"Please," he begged. "Is she… Will she…?"
"Unfortunately, it's too soon to tell, Mr. Son," the nurse explained. "But it would help the doctors to know all the details. What happened to her?"
What…? Why…? His hand shook all the way up to his head, but he noticed how it was drenched in blood. He brought it back down. "I… I don't…" was all he managed to respond.
The nurse kept speaking, but he didn't make out further words. He just wanted to cry. Roll down into a tiny little ball and tuck himself into a corner where he'd never leave again. Oh, God… how did a heart attack felt like? No, it was a panic attack since he couldn't breathe, either.
"Is that okay, Mr. Son?" he heard the woman say, mainly because she'd touched his arm.
"W-What?"
"I'm gonna get someone to take a look at your knees, okay? We have to clean them up. You stay here. I'll be right back." She left and he followed her with his eyes. His… his knees?
Slowly, he looked down. Jeans torn and ruined, scraped skin, blood, bits of asphalt - from when he'd landed next to her surely. How was this important? He was going to lose her! Hands shot up and pulled at his hair. Two steps back and he hit a wall, sliding against it until he sat on the ground.
He was going to lose her…
His cell phone rang and buzzed in his pocket. He meant to just let it ring, but the music he once loved as a ringtone was making him want to throw the damn thing to the wall. Through the water in his eyes, he checked the caller ID. Sharpner. Slide to answer.
"Hospital." He hung up and let the thing fall to the ground, returning to the cradle of his bent, bloodied knees.
"All set, Mr. Son. You can return to the waiting room, okay?" the young nurse said.
Gohan didn't answer, staring at the same blank spot with the same bloodshot eyes he sported from the very moment she'd started on his scraped knees. How could he blame him? Ever since Sharpner had arrived, about an hour ago, the guy hadn't managed to say a single word to him - or at least none that he was able understand. What he knew of the situation he learnt from Erasa who had been harassing every single nurse and doctor for news about Videl as soon as they spotted G, sitting on a some corner in the lounge area. It took a really long time for someone to help him out given the extra flood of people - the nurses blamed the full moon - but they'd eventually brought him to this sterile, cold room, sat him on a bed and there he remained. There was no way he'd let him by himself. Not when he wasn't himself to begin with.
"No problem, Ms. I'll take care of him," the blond man responded for his friend, and from the look on the nurse's face, she was relieved to hear those words. She nodded and left.
Sharpner stepped over to Gohan, standing in front of him so he'd break eye contact with whatever he was looking at. "Ready to go, G?" he asked softly.
There was a minute nod, inconsolable as it might have been, so at least he was still with them. No one could tell him and Erasa exactly what had happened, but the amount of blood on his roommate's shirt was enough to make him thank the gods he wasn't the one finding Videl. His imagination was already creating all sorts of gruesome scenarios, he could only imagine the trauma if he'd actually seen her, touched her and felt her blood on his hands. Not that he'd have to imagine it; it was right in front of him in the image of his best friend.
Gohan slid down the bed and onto his feet. His chin started to tremble and he looked away, covering his face with his hand. The very next second, Sharpner was rushing to bring him closer into a hug. He didn't fight it and started sobbing quietly against his chest. "It'll be okay, G," the blond soothed, pressing his own eyes shut to get rid of the hotness that overcame them.
A few minutes passed in this manner until Gohan spoke again, mumbling against his palms. "I can't lose her, Sharp. I… can't."
"You won't." He leaned back and forced the other's hands away from his face. "Come on. She's stronger than that." Gohan just avoided his gaze, shaking his head in disbelief and despondence. "And stubborn. No way she'd let you off the hook like that. Maybe one day when you guys finally get married."
It made him snicker out of impulse, but it felt like a full-out laughter. Small victories could only help in times like these.
"Hey, guys! Come on!" Erasa's voice called urgently from the doorway. "Vi's doctor is over there." And with that she ran out of sight. Luckily, his girlfriend wasn't one to sit still without taking action. She'd most likely been drilling some poor nurse's head like a bad headache until she'd been told who was the ER doctor in charge of their friend. It surely helped that she knew more about Videl's life than anybody else, all the details and important data, even more so than Mr. Satan himself. Well… come to think of it, even Gohan and himself probably knew more about the young woman's life than her father did.
Both of them dashed out of the room and took to the left after his girlfriend, spotting her just at the end of the corridor. The guy she was talking to was wearing plain blue scrubs and had a stethoscope hanging from his neck. Did that mean that he was a doctor instead of a male nurse? Probably not, but as they stepped closer he spotted a name tag. Dr. William Hartnell, M.D. He looked rather young from afar, with his dark, full head of hair but the expression lines on his face gave away a few more years. Erasa had just asked him a question.
"I'm thinking some kind of sexual abuse, since-"
"Sexual abuse?" Sharpner screeched, instinctively looking over to his roommate, former numbness shocked right out of him. Concern, nausea, anger; all of them skin-deep now, cocked and ready to fire.
"Was... Was she..." Erasa hesitated. "... raped?"
"Fortunately, there are no signs of penetration, forced or otherwise, and her clothes were still intact from the waist down. But-"
"Her shirt was open," Gohan interrupted, unexpectedly and quietly from behind Sharpner.
"Her shirt?" both blondes inquired.
"Exactly," the doctor continued. "The buttons had been ripped off, so there was some kind of force involved. She also had defensive markings all across her arms and hands, and some scratches on her chest area and neck, so... Not wanting to speculate, that would be my strongest bet."
"But... bottom line is she's gonna be okay," Sharpner stated in the form of a question. He'd seen with his own eyes what an enraged Gohan could transform into, so this kind of spoken-out-loud reassurance could only help. The guy had amazing self-control and discipline to boot, but all of them knew how Videl was a sensitive matter. He had always been incredibly protective of their friend, but then again, he himself was extremely protective Erasa, too.
"Yes, she is."
"Are you sure?" Gohan pleaded quietly from behind him again. "Are you absolutely positive?"
"I am, sir," the doctor assured, giving in to a delicate smile over the seriousness of his expression. "You saved her life."
G brought a hand to grip at his hair and walked a few steps away from them. He didn't respond with words, but the soft shake of his head confirmed what Sharpner was sure was going on inside his head. The hero crown would be going to someone else, it was only guilt for him. As if he could've prevented this in any way...
"Can we go see her? Please?" Erasa asked.
"Not right now. She's still in the ICU. But soon. Maybe in an hour or so."
She sighed. "Okay. Thank you, Doctor."
"Be sure to let Mr. Satan know we did our best for his daughter," the doctor said while walking away, throwing in a wink at the end - an inappropriate one, given his position and title, and the fact that he was winking at his hot, gorgeous, blonde girlfriend. The fucker was hinting amusement, but Sharpener knew Videl long enough to expect things like these; people who would catch a break into her life and milked it dry for some kind of recognition. He was certainly not joking...
Erasa nodded at the dickhead, but her smile was also fake. She was thinking the same. Slowly, she stepped over and hugged him tightly, furrowing her head into his chest while letting out a deep, concerned breath. His arms encircled her like second nature while she kissed his shirt and then tiptoed to kiss his lips. He indulged on it, but not as deeply as he'd like and not nearly as long, even more so given the explicit flirting that had just went on. In the end, Gohan was still there, and like it or not, being aware of it or not, it was his roommate's girlfriend that was hurt, in an hospital, out of sight. No need to be rubbing affectionate gestures in his face.
They both knew it, certainly, since Erasa leaned away right after with an understanding tug at her beautiful lips. But all peacefulness and relief disappeared when they looked back at their friend. Despair, gone. Sadness, gone. That hard frown... That disgust on his upper lip... "G?"
"I have to go," he said, striding away towards the exit.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Erasa urged. "Aren't you gonna wait for Videl? What if she wakes up while you're not here?" It wouldn't really matter, Sharpener thought. As long as he came over, Videl wouldn't care if he was already here or not when she regained consciousness. Maybe it was the overly romantic in his girlfriend, recalling cheesy chick-flicks. Or maybe she saw the exact same thing as he did. With that expression on Gohan's face, anything he'd go do would not be done but rather enforced. He was all charged up.
"He said an hour. I'll be back in an hour," he dead-panned; didn't stop, didn't look back.
"G!" Sharpner called and it made him halt, looking down to his feet. After a moment he turned around. What could he say to him? Don't go, don't do it? Whatever it was, although some options had lighted up in his head. What the hell could he say other than, "Don't do anything you'll regret."
Gohan kept staring, unreadable. He proceeded on his way. "I'm not the one who's going to be regretting things."
It made him sigh. "That's what I'm afraid of..." the blond whispered to himself.
Crackling. Like raindrops tapping lightly against the window or the faint sound of fresh popcorn at the movies, but the smell was anything as delicious, nor familiar. Dry gritty dirt and… nature smells. Disgusting.
He slitted his eyes, but shut them right back when the amber light made him flinch and groan, realizing how massive of a splitting headache was making his brain throb against his skull. Was that fire?
Moving was hard, but he tried to do it if only to bring over an arm to shade his vision. The ground rustled from under him with each manoeuvre and shift, scratching his cheek and poking him all across. Where the hell…?
"You're finally up."
His heart let out a stronger beat from the startle. Who was there? And where was there, exactly? The light came from a big fireplace directly in front of him, but any hint of warmth from it got instantly refused, giving way to shivering coldness by the image of… him. Sitting on a log just a few feet away, gazing into the flames as if hypnotized by them, but surely he wasn't. His stomach twisted and turned on itself; he knew why that guy was here. Realization came with insurmountable fear. The ghost…
"G-Gohan…"
"Don't say my name," he ordered, pinning him with that stony dark stare that took him as its target now. How could something so cold burn so much…? Over the quaking of his muscles, he had to struggle for stillness, but was mostly sure that his body wouldn't respond even if he'd dare to make a run for it. And to where? Nothing but fucking trees and night around them.
Panic struck like nothing he'd ever felt before. It spat out words for him. "W-What the fuck? Where… What happened? I was home! I was in my room! Did you fucking kidnap me? From my fucking home? What the hell?"
Gohan didn't respond. Instead he got up. It made him let out a whimper and slide an inch back on the ground in the opposite direction. Luckily, the guy didn't move closer, just standing there in silence, arms crossed and towering him down.
"Y-You knocked me down!" he continued, in spite of himself. "I didn't even… How the hell did you get past security at the gate? We have twenty-four hour vigilance! We have a dozen fucking guards! We-"
"You talk too much," the other spoke again. "And you ask too many questions." The sound of his voice was the creepiest thing he'd ever heard; calm and serene, but dead, no sentiment. Just like those damn eyes... "I'll answer three," he added. "Choose wisely."
A gulp ached down his throat. Was the shithead finding this amusing? Because he, on the other hand, was the distance of one of his footsteps away from crapping his pants. "W-Where are we?"
"We're in the woods." Obviously. Not what he asked, but best leave that one at that. What good would a more specific location bring anyway?
"Why did you bring me here?"
No hesitation on the answer. "Because no one can hear you scream."
The silence was deafening. W-What…?S-Scream…? All else disappeared over those words as they echoed in his head, noosing at his neck and pulling tighter and tighter. That and the image of a man that looked less and less like one. Soon the thumping of his heart and scratching of his breaths were all that he could hear, unassuring reminders that he was still alive. For how long…?
One more question. He gathered what was left of his strenght. "W-What... are you going to do to me?"
Gohan smirked, very slightly. "Me? Nothing." A pause. Nothing? And what did he mean "me"? His head turned a little away before speaking again. "Ha' SoH." Ha-what…?
From the shadows, something rustled, moving towards the light. Something white, then purple, then… green. His eyes grew wider but all he wanted was to close them, to unsee what he was seeing. A man… a massive, huge beast. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. Everything in him was shivering feverishly at the sight of that… that thing. It had to be a costume. It had to. It stepped closer to the fire and stopped.
It wasn't a costume.
Freakishly tall, pointy leprechaun ears, and green… fucking… skin. It cracked a devilish smile that showed its fangs. Was this some kind of animal? A damn dragon or a lizard? With the shape of a man? How was that even possible?
"P'Tok. GhoS jach?" the green thing asked. Or at least it seemed like a question.
"HISla'." Now it was Gohan. What the hell were they saying?
"Nuq DaH?"
"Hagh mach. Baktag bo vaj ghaH."
The thing laughed at the other's words. It laughed! Slowly, deep for the bottom of its throat in sadistic humor of some sort. It drummed and reverberated through the entirety of his muscles as they contracted on their own. "W-What the hell… i-is that t-thing?"
"Again with the questions," Gohan responded. "It's my turn to ask them." He paused, letting the faint smirk of superiority vanish with the seriousness of his frown. The intensity charging the air increased ten-fold. "Did you ever love her? At all? Did she mean anything to you other than sex or her last name?"
Another gulp. He should've just thrown her in the ocean, like Jared had suggested. At least that way nobody would've found her. "W-Who?"
The other's eyes slitted menacingly, saying "you know damn well who" and all sorts of other threats and dares.
"It was an accident! I swear!"
"I don't consider the swears of rats," Gohan stated. "What were you going to do to her?"
Fuck her, probably… Don't think about it! For all you know he reads minds or some shit. "W-what?"
"Don't make me repeat myself."
"N-nothing. Nothing, it was just an accident."
"Why was her cellphone crushed on the floor at her place then? Why were you packing a suitcase back at yours? Where were you going?" Gohan stepped closer and he reacted with a whimper. He was lifted from the ground by the collar of his shirt and closed his eyes when his face was brought inches from the other's. "Why was her shirt ripped open?"
"P-please…" Tears started tickling his cheeks.
A few seconds passed where he concentrated on nothing but shutting his eyes and pinching his lips together to keep silent, lest his sobs annoy the other somehow. Gohan let him fall to the ground, hard on his knees, and stepped back. "Pitiful."
His lungs were too heavy, his heart too fast. His body twitching from cold sweats that were corroding at his flushed skin. He cowered down on his elbows, covering his head between his forearms. "Please…" he whispered to the dirt, "Please, just… let me go."
Not long after, he felt pressure on his left shoulder that forced him to kneel back up. It was Gohan's boot, pushing him with an unexpectedly soft touch. No… he didn't want to keep looking back at that piercing stare, and he definitely didn't want to see the green thing anymore.
"Did she beg?" he asked. "For you to let her go? Because I'm sure she didn't. She has more fight in her than you'd ever deem imaginable." His head was shaking from side to side. "You had the most amazing human being and all you ever did was hurt her. What makes you think you deserve anything, let alone mercy?"
"It was all Jared's idea!" he blurted out without thinking. Fuck his so-called friend. He wasn't here, living this nightmare, shitting his pants with terror. "It was just to scare her a bit. It… it got out of hand. I didn't mean to-"
"What?" the other calmly interrupted. "You didn't mean to leave her to die?"
"I'm… I'm sorry."
"I couldn't care less if you're sorry!" Gohan yelled, raising his voice for the first time since he woke up in this particular corner of hell. Everything went quieter and colder around them. The guy took a deep controlled breath that clearly didn't relax him; his jaw clenched, his knuckles turned white.
"Since you won't tell me what happened, I'll just have to guess." Those words were infused with serenity again, but his body was not at peace at all; it was stiff just as his own, but from rage instead of the fear it was instilling. He could see that punch forming, his jaw shattering against it. No… please… "You knocked on her door with promises of truce and lunged in the minute she cracked it open. She managed to get to her cellphone, but you smacked it down and stepped on it. She fought you back - you and those nitwit friends of yours, I'm sure - but you pushed her and she fell onto the coffee table. You picked her up half-unconscious and drove away." He paused. His frown thickened. His fists shook. "You were going to have your way with her. To show her you were still 'in charge'," he air-quoted the words. "But she kept fighting back, and the blood was just too much, so you stopped somewhere and threw her out. Like trash. You went home and packed a suitcase, so I ask you again. Where were you going?"
Just imagining the pain if the guy ever found out he forced himself to second base when she grew too weak to fight back… Should he fight back? He was trained by Mr. Satan himself, one of his best disciples. But these guys… they didn't cover the fucking supernatural back at the Satan Dojo! His best bet was to play along, but… a betting man's luck was due to run out sometime. He felt his draining down through his knees. "We... We have a private island."
"Of course you do," he mocked, shaking his head in disdain. Those eyes measured him down for the longest time and two dry swallows for comfort. It was too much. Too intense of a stare and nothing to let him know of his fate - good or bad. His vision blurred with more tears; he tasted snot on his lips. "You told me I was beneath her," Gohan finally said. "Do you remember what I told you?"
I will find you. He remembered.
"I told you I would find you. If you ever touched her again... I would find you. And then what happened? You touched her again. At the beach. Remember the beach?"
Black eyes turning greenish blue right in front of his. Jared and Mike saw them as well, but were too freaked out to speak of it ever again. This guy… he had to be a ghost, or a demon or something. Yeah, a demon. Like the green thing. Dead inside, both of them.
"Some people just will not listen to reason," the other concluded.
"Mup wej." The green thing's voice made him jerk in its direction.
"W-What does that mean?"
There was silence for a moment until Gohan responded. "Strike three." He turned around to leave.
"W-What? NO! D-don't leave! Please! Please!" he urged desperately, crawling to clutch his jeans. Slowly, Gohan's head turned to stare him down again and it proved too much. Too heartless, too inhumane. His hand grew too weak and shook out of grip.
"Goodbye, Rick," he said. The green thing was smiling.
The warmness between his legs was the last thing he remembered...
He felt nothing.
The smell was as awful as before, antiseptic and BO that entrenched every corner of the waiting room area. It wasn't his stop, so he made nothing of it. The nurse at the front desk had already informed him of the suite number on the sixth floor - the VIP level. Videl hadn't woken up yet, but she was okay. Or she would be. It didn't matter either way. Until he saw her, until he heard her voice… he felt nothing. Nothing but emptiness.
The maggot didn't even count. He wouldn't have crossed his mind again if it wasn't for the grown man crying in the hallway as he passed. He could feel pity for this one. Just not right now.
Up the elevator and out, through a door and then another one, he spotted the room right at the end of the corridor. There were two guys chatting in whispers right next to it, black suits and undershirts, inconspicuous bulges on their right pants legs and below their left armpits. Unnoticeable, he'd say, but he was taught to pay extra attention to what's kept hidden long ago. It was private security; not surprising on an exclusive VIP wing.
They jerked up when he made their awareness just a few steps away. One of them put up an arm to stop him, connecting at his chest. He halted his motion. "Can I help you?" the guy asked.
"I'm here to see my friend," he deadpanned just before grabbing the man's arm and gently pushing it away. The other guy stepped up in his path as he tried to continue to the door, making his jaw clench automatically; he was really not in the mood for this.
"Sir, I'm gonna need you to step away," the tallest one asked, raising his voice.
Gohan stared the man down, fisting his hands inside his jacket's pockets for an added sense of control. He was just about his height, but only because he was arching his back to make himself look bigger. The other one didn't even make the cut, small and round, and clearly out of shape. It didn't matter. He was better than the guy who started fights, specially at a damn hospital. Even if he was feeling off, after all that's happened.
"Johnny, I thought I told you to keep it down," a booming voice overcame the area, much louder than any other sound before. It came from the now openinig door of Videl's room and he kinda froze a bit when he saw him.
"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Satan," Johnny said. "This guy wanted go inside, so…"
Mr. Satan stared back at Gohan as he got closer, eyeing him up and down. Measuring him. The young saiyan tried to put everything aside, all that stuff that was normally associated with that ridiculous afro and that annoying grin. He tried. But then the man spoke again. "What's your name, Son?"
It came out of him on its own accord. There was nothing he could do to contain the disdain apart from downsizing it into a whisper. "I'm not your son."
The big guy frowned in confusion. Maybe he didn't hear him.
"G!" he heard Sharpner say, just as he exited the room himself, followed closely by Erasa. "Thank God you're back." He came over and bear-hugged him tightly, catching the young man by surprise. Gohan managed to hug him back, but it was short and quick, since his friend spun around to Hercule right after. "It's okay, Mr. S. This is my roommate, Gohan."
"Yeah," Erasa added. "He's the one who found Videl. He saved her."
"He did?" Hercule seeked for confirmation. Apparently, he didn't seem worthy of saving his precious daughter. The older man kept staring, replacing arched eyebrows of surprise with an analyzing frown. His eyelids twitched and it translated into a crunch at Gohan's gut. Did the buffoon actually recognized him? His name, his face? He was a kid back then, but... his dad. He didn't need the constant reminder since he grew painfully aware of it, but people gave it anyway. He turned out to look too much like his father. Could he be recognizing his father... in him?
Change the subject. "Please, Sir. I just want to see her and I'll be on my way."
Sharpner gazed back at him. "What? No, you should stay. The doctor said she should regain consciousness in another hour or two."
"No."
All of them looked back at Hercule, stunned by his one single word. "M-Mr. S?"
"I don't want him near my daughter."
Erasa stepped right between himself and Mr. Satan. "He saved Videl. He's one of our closest friends. Of her closest friends."
"I've known ya since you were a little girl, Erasa, and I took my sweet time to check up on your blond friend here when you girls first introduced him to me, but I know nothing about this one. How can I trust him to not leak photos to the press for instance?"
"Because I trust him," Erasa insisted. "But most important of all because Videl trusts him. She'd tell you herself!"
"But she can't, can she?" Hercule stared him down again. "He was the one who found her. How can I know he wasn't the one who hurt her in the first place?"
"I'd never hurt Videl! She's-" Gohan started in outrage, but stopped himself. What was he to say? The light at the end? The moon and the stars? Everything? All of the above, but this man wasn't ready to know of his devotion. Maybe not ever.
It didn't matter. None of them did. The one that would save him from the nightmares tonight, those that already started queuing up in the back of his mind, was right through that door. The one who first eradicated them in the first place. He just needed to see her. Resting peacefully instead of... that other image he had of her from earlier that evening.
"Do I need to have you escorted out, Son?" Hercule asked, arms crossed in front if his chest like he was daring him to force exactly that to happen. Son... Gohan coerced himself to let it go, as hard as it was.
Erasa was dumbstruck, open mouth, and that mix of surprise and confusion embedded into her soft frown. Sharpner's scowl wasn't nearly as covert. Neither was his disappointment. Gohan placed a hand on his shoulder before turning around the way he came. "Just text me when she wakes up, okay?"
Their eyes connected and he told him everything was fine through them also. There was no point in starting fights and making noise. This wasn't the time and definitely not the place. Maybe sleep would come later than usual, or maybe not at all, but as with everything else it didn't matter a single bit.
"Now, Son, don't go bad-mouthin' me around those internets and whatnot, ya hear?" the booming entrepreneur resurfaced from within "the saviour". "You must understand, this is family only. And I am my sweetpea's only family so I have to do a proper and thorough investigation before I let ya in there."
He didn't dignify that with a response, or a look for that matter. Safety was one thing, but where was that "proper and thorough investigation" when her shitty ex-boyfriend was around? Sharpener was thinking the same, he was certain. He patted the blond's shoulder and was about to go on his way when his friend spoke again. At him but not to him. "Blood makes us related, Mr. S. Loyalty makes us family." He glanced quickly at his girlfriend before turning his back on the group, placing a hand over the young saiyan's back to have him follow. "Beer or whiskey?" he asked after a couple of steps.
Gohan couldn't help but smile at that, turning it into a grin and then a tired laugh. It was what people did, right? Drown their sorrows... He sighed. Forget his mother, if only Dad could see him now. Drinking to forget. At least he wasn't around to witness what he'd became.
"Whiskey it is, then," his roommate chuckled back.
"Yeah, probably better..."
The awesome ShadowMajin beta'd this chapter. Thank you, dear Master. :D If you guys like Batman, he has a pretty neat new story called "The Ninth Circle". Go check it out! And, of course, lots of DBZ amazingness to boot. :D
I'm not sure if it became clear (given the new pieces of information on this chapter) so here's what happened after Cell: Goku couldn't be revived since he'd already died before, so their wishes were the same: revive everyone killed by Cell and remove the bombs from the Androids' chests. They went over to Namek to wish for Goku and Vegeta back but Goku refused (and hence, so did Vegeta who wanted to stay and train with him/become better than him). Goku didn't speak to the others directly (telepathically) through King Kai. It was Porunga who informed them simply that he didn't want to be wished back. After a while and back on Earth, Chi-Chi wanted to know why not and went to talk to Dende, since she knew that, as the guardian of Earth, he had a more direct link to the Kai. Dende contacted King Kai and he told him why Goku didn't want to come back: not to bring along more trouble, etc. Bottom line, in my story, King Kai's telepathic connection is not so readily available and used for everything and anything, like they sometimes do in canon. Goku never talks directly to his friends and family after he dies. Makes sense?
And yes, geeks and geekettes, that is in fact Klingon masked as Namekian. xD Don't shoot me if it's not "grammatically correct" because I'm pretty sure it's not. :D If anyone wants to know what they said… you have to leave a review! MWAHAHAHAHA! I'll PM you with a response if you're interested. (I'm not being too mean, am I? :D)
As I said on the A/Ns at the top, we will be changing gears pretty soon, and this chappy here marks the end of stage one. (I just made that up. I don't have "stages" xD) But the next chapters will definitely start the uprising for something new to come.
Have I planted the seed of curiosity deep enough? xD