It took the whole night, but he had finally reached it: North City. It had been years since Gohan had visited there; it wasn't a place he liked to go, mostly because the people there weren't as friendly as those in South, West, or even East city. He peered over the cloud to look at the streets below him. They were practically empty with only a few orange-coated civil workers out to salt the roads. He hesitated for a moment but eventually decided against making a day trip to the city, it was bound to be unpleasant.

He directed the cloud further north, against the icy wind that would threaten to freeze anyone not wearing proper clothing. Luckily, as long as he was super saiyan, his ki kept him warm. Soon the city was behind him and mountains towered in every direction. He knew Gero's lab was somewhere near there, he just needed to remember where to look. He scanned the area looking for a flat-topped plateau, slightly elevated above the normal terrain and only discernable from its brethren by the large hole that served as the entrance to an even larger cave.

Despite the increasing severity of snow, he eventually found the entrance and guided the nimbus towards it. He stepped off the cloud and walked into the cave, wary of what he would find.

The first thing he saw, besides the icy stalagmites that decorated the cave, was a set of two large steel doors. There wasn't a visible keypad for a password so Gohan figured it was most likely voice-activated, regardless of that fact, he could easily get through the doors, it just depended on how destructive he wanted to be.

After jamming his fist through the right metal door he used the hole he made to push it to the side. He stared into the utter darkness that existed beyond the door, surprised and concerned, he assumed that the power would at least be on.

It's okay Gohan, just be brave. You're the only one here.

He stepped onto the cold metal floor, the light from his super saiyan energy illuminated it revealing that it was incredibly icy. Gohan looked to the ceiling, wondering what could have made the floor so wet. Once he squinted, he could faintly make out the reflection of a long icicle hanging precariously from the ceiling.

Just a leak, it was just a leak. And it looks like the ice is only here near the entrance which means no one's tracked water through the lab. Hopefully, that also means no one's been here for at least a couple of hours.

Gohan stepped over the bits of the floor with the most ice and walked blindly around the room. He could only see about a foot in front of him, but thankfully, that was enough for him to figure out that Gero's entrance led straight into the main laboratory. He decided that rather than try to dig around the room looking for clues in absolute darkness, he would hold onto a wall and follow it until he either came across another doorway or came back to his starting point.

He walked while trailing his fingers across the cold metal wall until he felt what definitely was a doorway. He walked to the center of it but didn't move any further. He could faintly see the walls and ceiling past it and he concluded that this was a corridor rather than another room. He took another step forward and began following the narrow corridor feeling for, hopefully, another doorway. His fingers slipped along the wall until he felt a sudden change in texture, the material had gone from steel to a grainy wood. No doubt another door. After lowering his hands to his waist he found and turned the knob, the hinges produced a squeak as he opened it.

The floor of this room was undeniably carpet, he could tell simply by the significant increase in traction he had when he walked across it. With a quick glance about the dark room he didn't see much, but he could tell there was no generator or breaker box in there. Before he exited the room he felt something slip past his leg, he crouched down hoping to see what it was, but the darkness hid it well.

Whether by accident or by some convenient luck, he tripped and fell to the ground. When he pushed his upper body off the floor he could see the end of the corridor and the beginning of a staircase. He searched the wall for the hand railing and began walking down the steps.

Perfect, this has gotta be where the generators are.

As he stepped off the last stair, he walked into something. He couldn't tell exactly what it was but it felt large, square, and lifeless. He ignored it and pressed on, bumping against a few larger instances of this anomaly along the way. He kept following the wall until he finally found a breaker box. He opened it and flipped the main breaker triggering the hum of distant, unseeable generators to begin.

White fluorescent lights flickered on and he could finally see what he'd been bumping into. He looked around the room to see a few empty crates stacked on top of one another. A few were labeled but it appeared that most of what was stored was just building materials like steel and aluminum.

He walked back up the staircase to the corridor, it looked shorter than he expected it to. He reopened the wooden door and flipped on the light switch. The carpet he felt earlier was dark green in color and the plaster walls surrounding it were some type of off-white. There was a desk and three filing cabinets in the room, all of which looked like they had been rummaged through in a hurry. He slid a slightly ajar drawer of the filing cabinet out, opening it further. There were a couple dozen files left inside, they looked like just a bunch of random red ribbon faces with their names paperclipped onto the files. Perhaps they were potential subjects for future experiments or maybe they were templates for new sets of androids.

Gohan closed the drawer and didn't bother with the other cabinets, that was until he saw something sticking out from behind one of them. He easily lifted the metal container and looked down at a few small sticks of half-eaten celery, all frozen solid at this point. He was confused by its presence in the room but left it be, he still needed to figure out where Gero was heading and that took precedence over this.

He exited the room and closed the door behind him, hearing another loud creak from its hinges. On the opposite side of the corridor he saw another room, he entered it only to be greeted by four monitors aligned in a square, all offline and their computers missing. It became more clear to him that Gero and his past self had left in a hurry, they had forgotten plenty of HDMI and power cables.

What are you planning Gero? You promised you would leave dad alone, but even if your word's worth nothing, you still have all that stuff from this base with you; you'd need a break to put it somewhere.

He stepped quickly out of the room, walking back towards the main laboratory. Once he entered the main lab it looked surprisingly stripped clean, aside from some papers scattered across the research desks. Near the back of the circular room, he could see a faint blue glow and as he got closer he realized the glow was coming from six glass vats no larger than his forearm. They were each frosted over, but as he placed his palm on one of them, the frost melted and revealed a hand. After observing the exposed metal bones sticking out from the half-formed fingers he stepped back, utterly disgusted by whatever sick science experiment this was.

He made his way over to the desks and picked up whatever papers were on them, creating a stack on one central table. He pulled up a chair, sat down, and sifted through each paper hoping to find something legible. Eventually, he found something promising, and although half the sheet was covered in math and chemical bond diagrams, the bits and pieces that he could make out were extremely helpful.

In his writings Gero talked about Saiyan biology being more complex than he anticipated, he elaborated on that by saying that even with the temperature-controlled lab, further construction of androids would need to be done somewhere warm and humid. The flesh just refused to take to the metal endoskeleton in the cold and high altitude in the mountains.

So, he went south, probably to some type of jungle.

He flipped through more papers looking for a set destination.

Agh, he doesn't say where he's going. There's no way I'll find him.

Gohan, slightly disheartened, set the papers down gently.

Not unless he wants me to.

He stood up and pushed his chair in. Confident that he had found everything there was to discover, he walked back towards the laboratory entrance. He nearly walked outside into the cave but stopped in his tracks when he saw a metal door slightly hidden off to the left of the entrance. He approached it and slid the large handlebar, opening the door. Inside was a small hallway that split into two and at each end, there was one entryway. He was slightly disappointed when both led to bedrooms.

Gohan walked up to and entered the room on the right. It seemed more lived-in than the left, so he assumed it was the past Gero's. He searched the room finding nothing of value until he saw an old answering machine. The red light that blinked indicated that there was a message that apparently nobody got to hear. He hit the play button that sat on the lower-left corner of the device.

"Hey, uh Gero" The man paused, his raspy and cracking voice was fraught with exhaustion. "Listen there's no easy way to say this...I'm sure you've already heard about the attack on the base, but that's not really why I'm calling. Gero...it's your son, Gebo, he's dead. During the attack on the castle, he got hit by some stray friendly fire, some rookie was trying to get a shot off on those two kids and wasn't looking at where he was aiming. He killed six men in all and before anybody could catch him he fled with the rest of the retreating troops and disappeared."

The man shifted his arm to rub his neck, Gohan could even hear the faint, anxious tapping of his foot on the floor. "I didn't know him but I knew his work. He always did his job with precision and efficiency. I suppose he got that from his old man." A few voices interrupted the man, informing him of something. "Okay, I gotta go. Actually, before I do, I should tell you something: A couple of the higher-ups are scrambling for the bits of power and tech that are left in the base and not all of them are looking to work together. If I were you, I'd start thinking about some new employment. The Red Ribbon Army's finished."

The message ended leaving Gohan some silence to ponder over what he had just heard. Almost subconsciously he wandered out of the bedroom and back to the carpeted office. He searched through the drawers, frustrated by the fact that they weren't organized alphabetically. He flipped through file after file until he finally spotted Gebo's. He took out the yellow folder and flipped it open and inside was a photo of Gebo who looked nearly identical to Android 16.

I-I can't believe it! You modeled Android 16 after your own son because you missed him that much? Was that why you were in such a hurry? To make sure your past self didn't hear the news and have to grieve like you? Was all of that stuff about wanting respect and reverence just a lie to cover up your real reason for hating my dad and me?

Gohan opened his satchel and placed the file in carefully.

But it wasn't our fault your son died. I hope that maybe one day you can accept that.

Feeling slightly melancholy, Gohan closed the filing cabinet and walked out of the room, too consumed by his thoughts to remember to shut the door. He walked through the corridor and back into the main laboratory, to the entry with its two massive metal doors. He slipped easily past them and could hear the howling wind outside of the cave, he shivered despite being kept warm by his ki. That wind still frightened him, and this time he was alone to deal with it.

He covered his ears at the edge of the cave and called for the nimbus which appeared quickly and lifted him up into the clouds. As he was flying away from the lab he recognized a relieving tightness in his chest, most likely just the subconscious stress of investigating wearing off. He felt like he had just gone into the lion's den and came out without a scratch, he hoped that his father could be proud of him for that.

Over the next three days, Gohan would wait in solitude. Taking shelter in a nearby abandoned mountaineer cabin, he watched over the area around North City and Gero's laboratory for any potential sign of the scientist's return. He hoped that they forgot something important and one of them would need to retrieve it but sadly, no one came.

On the fourth day, he decided to stay in the cabin. He hadn't eaten much over the past few days, his skills in both foraging and hunting had diminished significantly since he trained for the Saiyan's arrival, and he felt rather weak because of it. Gohan spent the day dreaming of his reunion with his father; all the fun walks; the fishing trips, where hopefully he could rehone his skills; the entire year they would get to spend together before he would, reluctantly, have to go back home.

Gohan hoped that during that year Gero would just throw everything he could at him, exhaust his resources until, eventually, he'd have to face Gohan himself. Then maybe in that fight, he could settle things between himself and the old scientist. If this fiasco was good for one thing, it was changing Gohan's opinion of Gero. He hated him but he couldn't help but feel more sorry for him than he already did. He never had a father and he lost his only son, who wouldn't be cold after that?

He waited until roughly six in the evening, when the streets of North City were filled with cars and people, to leave. He hopped on the flying nimbus and set course for Pouzu. He encouraged the cloud to hurry and it did so with pleasure.

He knew he was close when he saw the large snowcapped mountain, the countless trees, and felt the fresh cool air. He smiled as his great grandfather's small hut became visible in the distance. He missed home feeling this wonderful, and couldn't wait to get on the ground and greet his father.

He landed the nimbus just outside of the hut, he could see Goku walking towards it carrying three large fish on his back.

"Goku!" he called excitedly.

Goku spotted him, waving from the hut. In a moment of forgetfulness he smiled, but then he quickly remembered that Gohan's presence wasn't a good thing. It meant that his family had rejected him. He hurriedly ran the fish over to the smoldering campfire and dropped them before turning to talk to Gohan.

"Jack, what did they say? Did they really not miss you at all?"

Gohan heard the worry in his father's voice, he hadn't expected him to sound this concerned. It actually made him feel a little guilty for causing him so much stress.

"They...they didn't, Goku. It was like they never noticed I'd left."

"I'm sorry," Goku said before embracing Gohan. "I promise I'll make something nice for dinner. I have fish just over by the campfire, is that all right? Would you like something else?"

"It's okay Goku, I'm not that upset. And fish sounds great, that's what you promised anyhow."

Goku gently pulled himself away from Gohan. "Okay then, I'll get to cooking them right now! You can leave your stuff inside if you'd like."

Gohan nodded, and as his father gathered up wood to rebuild the campfire, he walked inside of the hut to place his satchel down. Inside everything looked tidy and proper. The dresser's drawers were closed tightly, the desk had its little stool neatly pushed in, and there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere in the room. He actually didn't know where he could place his satchel without feeling like he was breaking up the cohesion of it all. He opened the bottom drawer of the dresser and was pleased to find that it was both empty and capable of storing his satchel. He then deposited it inside and exited the hut, closing the double wooden doors behind him.

"It might take a while, Jack, these fish are pretty big." Goku said.

Gohan looked at the mighty fire Goku had constructed and the aroma of the cooking fish was tantalizing, to say the least.

"That's all right Goku, if it's as good as last time I can wait, " Gohan said as he took a seat next to the roaring fire. "Have things been good for the past couple days?"

"Yeah, Bulma stopped by to say hello, she said that Yamcha isn't taking Master Roshi's training too well. She said that he was complaining that, by the time they're actually done training, he doesn't have any time to himself."

"Well, I guess that's the price you pay for strength huh?" Gohan quipped.

Goku laughed, "Yeah, but he'll get used to it. After a while, Krillin and I started treating it like a game: Whoever could do the work fastest wins. But, umm...you didn't really get anything for winning."

Gohan would have laughed in return to his father's small story had his stomach not rumbled. A light pain followed afterward, an unhappy reminder that he hadn't eaten in days. He put his hands to his stomach, which quieted after that.

"Hungry?" Goku asked. "I'll check if they're about ready."

Gohan waited patiently as his father stood and took one of the spitted fish off and opened a small cut through the flesh to see if it was cooked through.

"Yep, all done!" he said, grabbing the two others that were still over the fire. He handed Gohan the largest of the three and stuck the third into the ground, they would decide how to split it after they each got through their first.

Gohan tore into the fish, it was just as perfect as it always was. Tender and salty with some sort of tang from a spice he didn't recognize. Before he knew it, he had eaten the whole thing, taking the spit it was on and breaking it in half to add it to the fire. After Goku finished his, they agreed to split the third fish in half which was, thankfully, enough to appease their appetites.

Gohan, now full of food and weary from the long day, slid off the log he was sitting on and used it as a headrest. The sun had begun to set and he felt his eyelids droop as if in sync with it. But just before he could fall asleep he felt a nudge on his arm. He opened his eyes to Goku crouching near him.

"Hey, Jack do you want dessert? Grampa knew about this one tree nearby and it has the best apples in the whole world!"

Gohan smiled, he wondered whether or not Goku could be talking about their spring. As far as he knew his father had never told him that the spring was a place for him and his grandfather, but he hoped it was. It made the place feel more special to Gohan, he felt that if his father shared a place so close to his heart with him it proved how close they were. He was then suddenly hit by the depressing realization that the keyword was 'were', but he pushed those feelings deep down. As long as he was in the past now, he didn't want to deal with his pain in the future, here he could pretend everything was okay.

"S-sure Goku, where is it?" Gohan asked.

Goku helped Gohan to his feet before motioning him to follow. "It's just a little walk from here. Grampa made a trail there a long time ago so I keep it looking nice when I can."

Goku confidently led Gohan away from the hut to a path nearly hidden by all the bamboo trees growing close to it. After the first few feet, the bamboo thinned and the path became lined with stones. At this point, Gohan was sure their spring was what he was talking about and after a few more minutes of walking the trees began to thin and the tall grass of the meadow began. The path extended to the tree but Gohan didn't want to step any further, he remembered that he hadn't really been here since before the Cell Games.

He remembered that final day before those awful games. The anxiety and breathlessness he felt as he laid in the meadows soft grass. He remembered his father's attempts at comforting him, and of course, he pretended that they worked, but deep down he was terrified of the day to come. He pushed those memories deep down, just like those terrible feelings, and hid them from himself. All he wanted to do was play pretend.

"Something wrong?" Goku asked.

"No I'm fine." Gohan replied distantly.

Gohan walked to the tree, it was still the same smooth and tall apple tree as he remembered. At every limb there was always an apple and choosing was always easy because never, in all his years of going there, did he choose a sour apple. He jumped up and chose one at random, by the time he landed his father had already gathered over a dozen, but Gohan was content with just one. He bit into it and it was crisp and sweet, just like every other apple he had ever eaten from that tree.

Yeah, one full year of pretend. I deserve that much...

I think.