"I see you. And I will not let you torment yourself any longer."

Trunks held Tora's face, putting his forehead against hers, and forced her to look at him, to value the choices that had been made by those they both admired. She had to fold, having faith in the maturity and peace her older self had managed to obtain, and after getting out of their hideout, drying and putting back on her jacket and sword, the duo came back.

With a private, whispered apology, the older Gohan easily put his hand on Tora's shoulder in acceptance.

As the time between mentor and student was short, the pairs separated. The older Gohan gave his ok to the young Gohan to do what they had discussed, and they went on their way. The native pair had someplace to be, and the intruding one stayed in the wastelands to ground each other and silently find solace.

Tora needed to calm down and while she believed solitude was necessary to achieve that, loneliness was a creep and alone, her mind wandered towards despair. Gohan stayed by her side, holding hands and giving comfort, until the plan he had discussed with his older self could be enacted.

'We'll fight together.'

Trunks and Gohan flew towards Central City. On the way, Trunks admitted he, too, had wanted to punch Gohan when he saw him, but Tora was faster, and seeing his past self lash out had been enough to accept everything that happened, by proxy. He and Tora had discussed their loneliness at length, their unresolved feelings, and how they were trying to make peace with it all, by ensuring their futures were brighter.

".. You held back, didn't you?" Trunks had to ask. Gohan's answer was to chuckle, his former pupil saw right through him and the smile only confirmed the theory.

As Gohan had guessed, Trunks confirmed Tora's mental barriers had been weakened for months. Vegeta's betrayal, finding the Time Machine, being 'unseen'... Tora had broken down after giving everything, and hadn't taken anything, there was only so much one's psyche could handle despite intellectually knowing what to do. The heart was dumb after all. 'All Trunkses are selfless like that,' Gohan sighed.

Trunks explained how he had accepted his death when Cell killed him, he'd sensed the monster and promptly sent his mother away. His only regret was Bulma going to bury the last person she ever loved. As long as his world was finally at peace, he was fine with it, even if in the end he didn't go to Otherworld.

But Tora wouldn't, couldn't rest until she had given her own world the same peace. And as much as Trunks wanted to be there and hold his younger self, 'see her' forever, he knew he had to let her go. And let Gohan go, again, and that pulling that band-aid was not something he looked forward to.

Central City was far from the grandiose capital it once was, but its inhabitants were resilient and stubborn, and reconstruction efforts had been led by 'Devil'. It had buildings and a sprout of infrastructure, it would blossom back, as much as humanity would. Everyone knew everyone, so Gohan found it best to let Trunks handle everything and meet outside of the city, far from prying eyes. 'Devil' had been asking for years for the Golden Warrior, the one who was spotted fighting the Cyborgs time and time again until eventually the two monsters were destroyed by said man with golden flames. Either she didn't know there had been two (or three, if one counted Vegeta's initial fight against them, twenty years ago), or she tried fishing for someone who knew something.

"I've come to speak to Devil. I have information about the Golden Warrior," Trunks asserted when met with the militia, and was more or less laughed at. Of course plenty would come and use that as an excuse either to get closer to Devil, or extort the community. Snake oil vendors.

It took some convincing and eventually stating his name to get to meet the woman who had held on hope for so long. He preferred she'd give up, forget about the Golden Warrior(s), move on, but it had been years, and now Gohan was here and wanted to meet her, give her closure. Thankfully, a young woman with black long hair, piercing black eyes and as much fire within as Devil herself recognized him and took it upon herself to take Trunks to meet her 'boss'. Trunks thanked her with the lingering feeling that he had met this woman but couldn't quite place how she knew her. And judging from her glances, she, too, knew him, but said nothing.

Videl Satan was a busy woman, but when 'Mr Brief from West City' was brought to her by her trusted right hand, she was intrigued. Especially when he said he had information about the Golden Warrior. When the young adult entered her office, she recognized the teenager who ran errands between communities- what, five years ago? The teenager whose name she knew, as she had made sure he had his own dog tags. That he still wore, despite them not being needed anymore.

"Oh Kami, Trunks!" she exclaimed, jumping off her desk to go to him. "You've grown so much. It's been a while!" 'Brief'.. that kid was Capsule Corp Bulma's son!

Trunks smiled and happily accepted a friendly but brief embrace. Her hair pulled back in a tight braid, her white shirt and black pants, her stern blue eyes; only her hair had grown since he last saw her.

"Thanks Mai, you can go, I'll handle it."

The right-hand did as asked, and Trunks did a double take as said Mai closed the door behind her.

"That was MAI?" He finally remembered; they used to cross paths often on their respective scouting missions and when Trunks delivered supplies to the different bunkers.

"It's been a few years after all!" Videl laughed at Trunks' surprise, and gave him a pat on the arm. Trunks knew he had to ask her to come with him, he'd have to come back and talk to Mai again, and apologize for not having recognized her, but time was of the essence.

"I.. the Golden Warrior, he's asked me to fetch you, to meet him." He wasn't that at ease, he wasn't even sure he wanted to play middle man for his mentor like that, but Gohan.. he couldn't keep Gohan just to himself, despite their limited time together. It was part of letting go, moving on, moving forward, as he had told his alternate self.

Videl was suspicious, but the kid had always been reliable, helpful, and no-nonsense. The shy attitude was worth investigating.

"Alright, give me a minute to sort out a couple of things. Where?"

"I'll drive you."

It took a few minutes for Videl to arm up (a habit that hadn't died down, yet), pass responsibilities to Mai and meet Trunks outside, where he had decapsulated his car. The leader of Central City knew the car and praised its good state before hopping in.

Not too long after, Trunks had driven Videl outside of the city, and his quick glances around made sure Gohan had picked up on his direction and was following. When he parked in a prairie near a newly reinvigorated forest, Videl found herself questioning him. Her worries rose, and as much as she liked the kid, she realized she didn't know much about him.

"Is this a joke?"

Trunks shook his head no, stepped out of the car and walked further into the open grass.

"You know, hearing your voice asking for him over and over again hurt me more than I'd like to admit. But now, now I understand." He chased away some memories, being reminded of the hero he lost all those years ago had been hard. He turned around to face the woman with a restrained smile and indicated behind her, where Gohan had landed just prior.

Videl turned around, and was met with the orange gi, short hair, and an open body language that welcomed her with warmth and a bright smile.

"Videl-san."

"Gohan!" Videl shouted, ran towards him and took his hand in between both of hers, then.. noticed there were two hands. And the scar over his eye was fainter. And he looked so well, despite his clothes having been worn down by the fight he had with Tora a couple of hours prior.

The barrage of questions, 'why did you leave for so long', 'where were you', 'your arm!' and more were too fast to be answered by the poor overwhelmed Gohan, until eventually the feisty Satan calmed down and he managed to say something.

"I died, Videl-san," he admitted, apologetic.

"You-what? You were brought back last month with all those people, then?"

"No, I am still dead," he said and pointed at his halo. "I died a little over seven years ago. The Cyborgs." he had made peace with it.

"But then- the Golden Warrior?"

Gohan pointed at Trunks when she asked. Nothing made sense, Videl didn't believe him, but she also had to, and her eyes full of questions went back to the flustered Trunks who firmly stayed away, hands in his pockets.

"After I died, Trunks took my place. He was the one who destroyed them and brought peace to Earth, not me. Trunks, show her."

And a good pupil he was, Trunks summoned the strength and flames characteristic of super Saiyan, long enough for Videl to recognize the form. So there were two.

Trunks was about to go and leave the two alone but Gohan sternly refused. Whatever talk he wanted to have with Videl, he wanted his former pupil to be present.

And so Gohan gave her closure- and most importantly, answers. She already knew he wasn't fully human, with the whole flying and flames thing. Yet another attack on Central City was how they met. He had successfully protected Videl and other earthlings long enough so they could find shelter. Videl had always been a quick thinker, and when the Cyborgs focused on their 'challenge' and he fell down unconscious, she had to save him. They were about to end him when she threw a smoke bomb and raised enough of a cover for her to retrieve Gohan's unconscious body and hide him until he regained consciousness. The Cyborgs left after they bickered about potentially killing their last living source of entertainment.

So the three talked- explained about Saiyans, missed opportunities and moving forward. Videl had thought they were the same person, but no, Gohan hadn't ghosted her, he had died . Trunks apologized for not coming clean about not being the Golden Warrior, but he had to think of his mother and his own privacy. He and Gohan had both come to the same conclusion: it was a necessity. Videl had to fold and promise not to tell anyone, even if the Golden Warrior she once knew was dead and would be gone for good soon.

Trunks couldn't help but express lighthearted jealousy, Gohan hadn't told him anything about a relationship with a girl, but he admitted he was still just a child and just let it go as not being entitled for his mentor's full attention over the years they shared together. The two older adults insisted he could live, date and more, now peace was a reality and the future of the planet was bright, but Trunk wasn't so certain and just shrugged. He was in no hurry to do any of those things, he was perfectly content with his life with his mother before his own death, but he kept that information to himself.

Once Tora was calmer and serene, she managed to properly apologize to the child-version of Gohan too. She had mostly ignored him when he tried to keep her attention away from the older Gohan, her nerves and unresolved grief having taken the best out of her. It would be hard to claw her way out of it, but she needed to be patient and accept she wasn't that good of a person anyway.

"You are a good person, stop saying such things. Even if other people disagree, even if the universe disagrees, they're wrong." Gohan was assertive and temperamental too when necessary.

Tora just looked away, she wasn't going to fight a ten year-old about her perception of herself and what she knew deep down, especially with that unsettling feeling since her death and how something went absolutely wrong for her, and for Trunks, when they both died. But Gohan was stubborn, she felt him pull on her hand and force her to look at him.

"Gohan-san, Trunks already told me all of that."

"I can prove it, too. Older-me agrees," he insisted, stood and tugged Tora up as well. "NIMBUS!" Gohan called out loud, making sure his voice echoed as far as possible and waited. It had to be there, somewhere.

Tora watched in awe as a small golden cloud arrived upon them a few seconds after being called. He and the older Gohan had tested their theory prior to the Trunkses returning, and despite his own doubts, his guilt, his own fears, Gohan could climb on it. So Tora, who was arguably a more noble soul…

"Mother and Gohan-san told me stories about this…" Tora watched in awe; the semi-sentient being was a marvel. In her stories of how she met Goku and their first adventure together, Bulma used to dismiss the cloud, since it had refused to let her sit on it for being 'impure of heart, whatever that means!' .

Gohan jumped on the cloud to demonstrate, moved to make room for Tora. If the cloud had refused Bulma, Tora frowned at the idea of being humiliated for her deceptions. And with Vegeta as a father.. Whatever 'pure of heart' meant, it wasn't her.

"Trust me, Tora-san," Gohan invited and extended his hands forward.

And yet she trusted the boy and before she could protest, her hands were already in his and he pulled her on. As rose on it on her knees, the cloud accepted her, and she held on firmly to Gohan's hands, uncertain about the sensation.

"See, the Flying Nimbus agrees." Gohan insisted and squeezed the hands before letting them go so Tora could touch it and properly sit.

A minute later they were flying together on the cloud, Gohan sitting on her crossed legs and 'driving' the cloud towards Capsule corp, with a few detours to enjoy the scenery, pass through clouds and loop.

'I may not be your Gohan, and you're not my Trunks, but I believe in you. You'll succeed,' the older Gohan had told her with confidence when accepting her apology, and Tora accepted those words as facts. She'd make this Gohan proud. She'd make her Gohan proud. She'd make the child proud. And most importantly, she was going to make herself and her mother proud and happy at last.

There was nothing more precious than the shallow fun and living the instant, and Tora finally smiled. Whatever she did, whatever happened, it was the right decision after all. Her heart was soothed and her whispered gratitude to Gohan was met with profound understanding.

After bringing Videl back home, and Trunks promising he'd come back to teach her how to fly on her own, the boys took the long route back towards Capsule corp. It was barely mid afternoon and despite his silence, Gohan knew his former pupil wanted to spend time with him alone, he wasn't about to deny him that privilege. He had grown into a mature and reliable selfless man, his temper more in check, his heart more at peace.

"You've been sharing me a lot today, Trunks," Gohan had to tease but also question. "Young-you tries to beat the hell out of me, you take me to my teenage flirt, you let me bond with kid-me.."

"I'm not entitled to your attention, it's only fair your presence gets to help those you touched, albeit in a different context, considering Trunks' situation." Trunks tried his best to ignore the 'teenage flirt', the reality that Gohan wouldn't experience a fulfilling life with perhaps a wife and children was confusing.

"That younger-Trunks went out of his way to come here to let us experience all of that.." Gohan was thankful. Without Krillin, Gohan and younger-Trunks, none of this would've been possible. "A little aloof, like you were when you were younger."

Trunks groaned at the memories. He was a pest, he knew it.

"I guess it's a Saiyan-thing to express oneself through violence. Or perhaps a Vegeta-thing. Trunks sort-of had the same reaction with me than she had with you, she punched me straight up with no warning when I was brought back."

"..She?"

Shit.

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Oh oh oh oh you know where I'm going with this don't you?
Also Mai, yes, but not DB-made-younger Mai. DB-Mai has BLUE eyes, this isn't her, yes I'm fixing that too :^p

Please don't hesitate to comment!