Chapter One Hundred
Farewell to a Friend. Goodbye, Son Goku.
Krillin's suggestion to wait a few days before holding the service had proven to be rather prudent. It gave those who would attend time to gather their thoughts and write down whatever it was that they planned to say or, in certain cases, make travel arrangements. Suno's mother, Yuki, was insistent on coming down with Eighter from Jingle Village to attend. Suno had been hesitant to the idea. As much as she wanted to see her mother, she also worried what the sudden shift in climate might do to her mother's health. However, Yuki was adamant that she be there for her daughter and grandson in their time of need. For all her talk of Suno's stubbornness coming from her father, it was clear that Yuki had more than her own share of spirit. Sparing no expense, Bulma had one of her own personal aircraft sent out to deliver Yuki and Eighter to Suno and Gohan's village.
The delay was also helpful for a very particular reason. The very day after Cell's defeat, Launch went into labor. Whether she had simply misjudged how far along she was before deciding to join the fighting or if the physical activity that day had exacerbated the process wasn't entirely clear yet, in the end, it hardly mattered. Kani was born a serious-faced little babe with wisps of her mother's green hair and her father's eyes. All of them.
The day before the service was to be held, Suno and Gohan received a gift in the mail. It was a marble slab about as tall as Gohan had been when he was four or five years old. On the top of it was a marble replica of the Four Star Ball and, according to the note that had come with it, Baba and Piccolo had worked together to insure that the slab would never be tarnished or break. It also had an inscription written across it. "In Memory of Son Goku", it said. "A warrior without equal. A friend beyond compare. A fierce spirit and a gentle soul." Suno put it out beside Goku's garden as a centerpiece for the service to be focused around.
When the day arrived, Gohan and Suno set out chairs in a semi-circle around the headstone. They weren't sure who all would be arriving so they settled on a rough estimate of "enough". The townsfolk were respectful enough to stay at a distance from the proceedings as people arrived. Suno also poured several glasses of lemonade to hand out to everyone. Goku had never really been a fan of alcohol and there were going to be four small children so it only seemed appropriate.
Yuki had arrived with Eighter the day before and sat at the front of the group alongside Suno and Gohan. Krillin arrived with Bulma, both Trunks, Bulma's parents, and the twins. While part of Trunks wanted to leave for his timeline to face his Cell, he knew that it would be disrespectful not to stay. Piccolo came with Dende and Korin while Yamcha brought his family. Tenshinhan, Launch, Kani, and Chaozu arrived after them. In an unexpected development, Hercule arrived as well, bringing his wife Miguel and their young daughter Videl, who was around Gohan's age. Neither wife nor daughter were entirely sure why they were there but Hercule had insisted to them that he felt that he needed to attend.
The last to arrive, surprisingly, was Master Roshi, who brought Baba and, in an even greater surprise, he had brought Shen with him. Shen sat as far away from his former students and the newborn as possible. Noticeable by his absence was Vegeta but nobody was really surprised. He hardly seemed the grieving type. Everyone was dressed in black, even Piccolo and Dende. Each group laid flowers at the headstone, even though it wasn't a marker of Goku's actual resting place. There was a bit of confusion from those not in their "world" at some of those who had come to pay their respects, such as the cat, the witch, and the two aliens. There was a slightly awkward pause that followed as no one was sure who should speak first. Finally, Bulma handed the infant Trunks off to Panchy and stood up. She walked to the front of the group and stood by Goku's memorial, took a few swallows and a steadying breath, and spoke.
"Goku… was my first real friend," she began. "And I know that sounds weird because how many friends do you make hitting them with your car and then shooting them in the head?" That drew a chuckle from those who knew Goku, although Yuki, Chi-Chi, and Ox King gave surprised looks. "Before I met Goku, the friends I had in West City… they all knew me as the Capsule Corp heiress. That I was rich and could give them free stuff. Goku was the first person who was just nice to me because she was nice." Bulma smiled and padded at tears in her eyes with the handkerchief in her breast pocket of her suit. "Goku saved my life dozens of times… and that was only when we were looking for the Dragon Balls the first time." This drew another laugh and Bulma grinned. "For all our adventures and all of our brushes with death, I'm a better person today than I was eighteen years ago. I'm pretty sure I owe a lot of that to meeting Goku." She held her glass up and turned her eyes toward the sky with a smile. "So here's to you, Goku. Keep kickin' ass in the afterlife. Show 'em what a real fighter looks like." This drew a cheer and everyone took a sip of lemonade as Bulma moved and sat back down. Krillin and Yamcha gave each other a look, each one just starting to stand up, before Krillin nodded and sat back down, letting Yamcha take the floor.
"The worst thing Goku ever did to me," Yamcha began surprisingly, "Was ruin my perfect smile." He put two fingers into his mouth and pulled out his false tooth, showing his gap-toothed smile to laughter from his friends and giggles from his children before putting it back in and continuing. "The second worst thing she ever did was beat me at the 22nd Budoukai. But the worst thing Goku did was also the best 'cause the day she knocked my tooth out was the day she took me out of the desert. Before I met Goku, I was just some bandit. It was just me and Puar. Now? I've helped save the world twice. I help people now and I'm married to the most wonderful woman in the world." Chi-Chi blushed as Yamcha grinned at her. "I may have never been a world champion but I owe every good thing in my life to Goku." Yamcha raised his glass to Goku and moved to sit down as Krillin stood and walked up to stand beside Goku's memorial.
"When Goku and I first met on Master Roshi's island, I asked her what she was doing there. I told her that a girl couldn't learn martial arts." He chuckled and shook his head. "Guess I was wrong, huh?" Launch and Suno gave a cheer and Krillin laughed aloud. "Yeah. I mean, most of us have been martial artists our entire lives and I've… I've never seen anyone like Goku. Everything she did was so effortless and yet the effort she clearly put into it was inspiring. There was something about it that inspired me to keep pushing forward and testing myself, even though I knew that there was no way for me to feasibly catch up to her. But Goku was more than an amazing martial artist. She was a great friend and she…" Krillin paused as he felt his throat tighten and he clenched his free hand. "She was…" Krillin's voice was hoarse and he coughed to clear it before looking down at his feet. "She was very important to me. And I'll miss her, every single day. And every single day, I'll keep training. 'Cause she's gonna owe me a rematch someday." He sniffed and wiped his eyes before sitting down.
After Krillin sat down, Roshi stood up. Holding his cane in one hand and leaning forward, Roshi made his way slowly to Goku's memorial with his head bowed low. Despite living for more than three hundred years, Roshi had barely been to any funerals. He had held a ceremony for Mutaito and the rest of those who had died in the battle against Piccolo Daimaou with the remainder of Mutaito's students and had mourned his fellow students when they passed but those had been centuries ago. He had never attended the funerals of his students who'd had them, though he had mourned their passings in private, and his sister and last remaining fellow student were practically immortal like him. So he had struggled to think of something appropriate to say. Something witty, something from his heart that would encapsulate all the things he felt for Goku. The fatherly love, the immeasurable pride, and the depth of his sorrow. So he spoke briefly, truthfully, and from the heart. He took off his sunglasses and tucked them into his breast pocket before leaning on his staff with both hands.
"You came into this world a candle that grew ever brighter. Yet in your passing, the world is not darker. You passed your light on to every person you touched. You are not gone. You have risen even higher to become the sun." Roshi bowed his head solemnly when he was finished and the group sat in silence as he made the slow walk back to his seat. With everyone already somewhat emotional from Roshi's speech, Launch handed the baby Kani to Tenshinhan and stood up to take her turn.
"Goku saved my life," Launch said earnestly. "I was a mess when she and Krillin found me. A dangerous split-personality mess who committed crimes and was essentially two people living in one body. I don't know where or who I would be if she and Krillin had found someone else. Taking care of things at the Kame House while they trained with Master Roshi led to my own training, giving me the strength and the courage to fight my demons and try to get control of my life." She smiled softly as a faint blush crept on her cheeks. "It also led me to Tenshinhan. So I just… I'll never be able to thank Goku enough for all that she did for me." Launch bowed her head and wiped her eyes as the air was filled with the audible sniffling of those in attendance. Launch walked back to her seat and Tenshinhan hugged her close. It was becoming an emotional affair, as everyone knew that it no doubt would. So when solemn Tenshinhan rose to speak his piece, no one knew quite what to expect.
"I stand here today with the rare distinction," Tenshinhan began, "Of being one of only two people here to have beaten Son Goku in a fight." He added, with a slight smile, "Not even a certain King can say that." There was a slight pause and an air of disbelief hung over the assemblage. Those that knew Ten exchanged astonished glances as they realized that Tenshinhan, of all people, had just told a joke. Launch chuckled first and her laughter spread to Chaozu, who was trying his best to hide it behind a fist. Then Yamcha and Bulma joined in, then Krillin, Roshi, Suno, Gohan, and even Piccolo added their voices to the mirth. Whether what Tenshinhan had said was genuinely that funny, the fact that it was Tenshinhan had said it, or that it was simply a release valve to the emotions that had been building in everyone for three days, everyone was reduced to peals of helpless laughter. Even those who were from outside the circle, such as Shen, the twins, or those from Jingle Village, were at least caught by infectious smiles. When the laughter finally subsided, Ten was able to continue. "I once thought Goku was my greatest enemy. I believed that she had robbed me of something and stood in my way of becoming the world's greatest assassin." He sighed and shook his head ruefully. "It's so strange to think about sometimes. When I think of all that I have done and seen with my life, it's hard to imagine that my life's ambition had once been just to be a killer. But, like many of you, my life became something very different from the first time Goku punched me in the face. I've learned things about myself and have discovered inner peace. I have a wife. I… I have a daughter. These things wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't met Goku. So for that, I will always be eternally grateful. And much like Krillin, I'm going to keep training. After all, she and I are tied right now. I aim to fix that." He smiled and raised his glass before heading back to his seat.
Then, everyone realized it was Suno's turn. She walked slowly to stand in front of everyone, her hands shaking slightly. It was only when she looked out at everyone, who was looking back at her, that the full gravity and weight of what today was finally sank in on her. She clenched her fists and turned her eyes to the sky for a moment to keep from crying. It was up to her to be strong now. For herself and for Gohan.
"I just…" she began in a wavering voice before clearing her throat and starting again. "I want to thank you all for being here today. It really means a lot. I know that if Goku could see this right now, she'd be happy that she'd brought all her friends together. I… I can still remember how excited she was to see all of her friends again, that day that she… the first time she…" Suno let her words trail off and shook her head. "I know we've all talked about how Goku changed our lives but she really did that for me. I was never one of you. I didn't know how to shoot ki from my hands, I didn't carry hundred-pound turtle shells or travel the world. I didn't know about magic or demons or any of these things. When Goku dropped out of the sky she really just… brought her whole world with her. She saved my village from the Red Ribbon Army and took me out into the world to see all it had to offer. I could stand here and list all of the places I've been and the battles I've fought since I met Goku but none of those really matter. Not compared to the way Goku made me feel. She made me feel like I mattered. She made me feel alive. She was a beautiful woman and I loved her with all my heart. She just had such a wonderful, beautiful spirit that saw the adventure in everything. There'll never be anyone like my Goku. I…" Suno blinked tears from her eyes and breathed in hard to keep herself from completely falling apart. "I'll miss her every day." She dropped her head and sat down between her son and her mother as everyone was right back to the state of near-tears they had been before Ten's speech. Gohan and Yuki hugged Suno and there was a brief silence before Gohan finally stood up. He'd actually taken the time to write something down and the paper was audibly shaking in his trembling hand as he reached into his suit pocket and opened it up to read it.
"When people say," Gohan began slowly, "that someone…" he stopped and chewed on his lip and in that silence, a voice in his head whispered to him. 'My fault,' it said. 'It was my fault.' "That someone casts a big shadow over them, they usually say it in a way that disparages themselves or it's meant in anger against the person that the shadow represents. But my mom…" 'Is gone because of me. Everyone is here today because of me.' The tears were already dripping down onto Gohan's paper but he did his best to soldier on. "That shadow made me feel safe. It was a comfort. I knew that no matter what happened, the shade of that great tree would always be there. Today, I woke up and that… and that shadow was gone." Tears were running down Gohan's face as he stood with the paper shaking in his hands and everyone looked at him in concern. "And I…" 'I did that. It's all my fault. Everyone is suffering because of me. Mother is alone because of me. It's my fault. It's my fault!' Suno, Krillin, and Piccolo were already moving toward Gohan as he raised two fingertips to his forehead and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry…" he whispered. "I can't do this." He was gone as Suno was putting her arms around him. Gohan had focused on Mr. Popo's ki and stood on the top of the world as he wailed in despair and guilt.
"I should go after him…" Suno muttered as she stared up at the sky, grateful that she was still able to sense Gohan's ki. Piccolo put a hand on Suno's shoulder and shook his head.
"I've got someone on it," he assured her as he gestured to Dende, who was already flying, and Trunks who was following after him. Suno nodded and everyone moved their chairs into a circle to make things more informal and talk comfortably. Hercule offered Suno his condolences and assured her that he would he willing to help her family in any way he could, and that she would just need to call, before he and his family left. Roshi, Shen, Baba, Ox King, and Korin swapped stories of the battles and the adventures of their youth while the Trunks of this timeline, Shouronpo, and Ocha sat in the grass and played. Lapis bounced Kani on his knee while Lazuli played with Trunks' tiny toes. The non-ancient grown-ups talked about their experiences with Goku and told stories of personal reflection.
"So I tricked Goku," Krillin admitted. "I made her run after a fake rock while I ran back to Master Roshi with the real one."
"Wait," Bulma interjected, "Wait, wait, wait. You were a cheater? Mr. Hard Work, Bald Tiger the Role model? I don't believe it."
"I was a shitty little kid," Krillin said with a shrug. "But it bit me anyway. Launch made puffer fish for dinner, of all things! So Goku lucked out on that one."
"Hey, don't blame me!" Launch insisted defensively with a grin. "Why did Roshi have it in his fridge in the first place?"
"So we walk into a maze," Suno said as she explained the events of the assault on Muscle Tower, "And I'm trying to come up with all of these ideas of how we can navigate our way through and how not to get lost and this and that… and Goku just literally barrels straight through!" She threw her head back and laughed, shaking her head.
"I just want to point out," Tenshinhan said later on, "That I was the first one to know Goku was an alien."
"Bullshit!" Bulma insisted vehemently. "I pulled her friggin' spaceship out of the mountains. How did you know?"
"When I hit her with the sixty-four strikes," Tenshinhan explained. "I hit her on every pressure point in the human body. There should have been no way for her to keep fighting. I could have kicked her out of the ring like a ball but she got up. Which, again, should have been impossible. That was when I knew she wasn't human." Bulma huffed and crossed her arms, which made Suno laugh. However, as they were chatting, Suno looked over Yamcha's shoulder and saw a very serious-looking man walking toward the house. He was wearing a white gi with a red belt, a red headband, and red gloves with a bag slung over one shoulder. Suno got up from the group and walked to meet him, looking at him curiously.
"Oh, hey!" Suno exclaimed with understanding as a smile spread on her lips. "I know you! You're that guy Goku mentioned sparring with a few times those years when she was training for the 22nd and 23rd Budoukai. What're you doing here?"
"I have come to pay my respects," the man explained in a voice that sounded vaguely familiar to her for some reason. Suno looked at him in surprise.
"Wait…" she asked, "How… how did you know?"
"A warrior always knows," the man explained simply as he walked past her. He walked to Goku's memorial and set his bag down, putting one fist into the other palm and bowing low towards it. Then he picked his bag up and prepared to leave before he stopped and took an envelope out of his bag to hand to Suno. "In respect to a warrior," he told her, "And to help those that she cared for." Then he walked right out of the village, leaving Suno very confused as she looked at the envelope.
"Hey, Bulma," she asked as she walked back toward the others while opening the envelope. "You're rich. The heck is the Masters Foundation?"
"Dunno," Bulma said with a shrug as Suno took out the contents of the envelope and went white as a sheet. "Why?"
"Wh-whoever they are," Suno stammered out, "They c-can afford to g-give me a check for a h-h-h-hundred million zeni?!" Suno nearly fainted on the spot before Krillin and Launch caught her and settled her down into a chair.
"Oh!" Bulma exclaimed as she reached into her pocket and produced a capsule with the royal seal painted on it. "That reminds me. Most of the world thinks Hercule beat Cell, even a lot of the higher-ups in government. But, 'cause it's kinda my job, I had to tell Giran the truth. So this," she said as she handed Suno the capsule, "Has a full royal pardon. For whatever reason you might need one. It also has the platinum sun, which is the highest honor Giran can give a civilian citizen." Suno took the capsule gratefully, although she was still stunned by the check in her other hand. She'd barely recovered from that when a large rectangle of glowing light suddenly appeared in the middle of the circle of chairs.
"Guess word gets around fast," Krillin muttered as Flash Parsec walked out of the rectangle. Suno and Piccolo were moderately surprised but at least he was somewhat familiar to them. The others were very confused by a green-skinned horned man covered in black tattoos and wearing a purple uniform standing in front of them.
"Oh, hey, Flash," Suno said amicably as she stood up out of her chair to give him a handshake. "What's up?"
"I'm here on official business," Parsec explained as he took Suno's hand and shook it. With his other hand, he reached into a pocket on his suit and held out something that looked like a flower made of golden shimmering crystal petals on a glowing green stem. "To honor the immeasurable good that Goku did in defeating Freeza and the Ginyu Force, crippling the artillery of the Arcosian Empire, the Galactic Federation presents you with the Heart of Barnisia. It's the rarest flower in the known universe with only fifteen in existence, given only to those whose acts of good go overwhelmingly beyond the call of duty." He handed the flower carefully to Suno, who stared at it reverently. Then, he turned his attention to Bulma. "You're Bulma, right? The one who built the time machine?"
"Well, uh, I mean…" a rare, flustered Bulma cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck. "Not technically me? A me from a different future?" Flash held up a hand and shook his head.
"I really don't have the clearance to be hearing this. In fact, the more you tell me about your understanding of time travel, the more I'll have to inform my superiors and they're more likely to shoot you than I am. But that's not why I'm here. Right now," Flash explained. "The Galactic Federation is looking into having Earth join the confederacy. If that were to happen, would you be willing to accept the role of Earth's representative?" Bulma stared at him in shock and Flash smirked. "Basically, every 400 days, you're summoned to meet on the Federation's capital planet and meet with all the representatives. It kinda means you're the smartest, most important person on the planet. That work for you?"
"Oh, yeah!" Bulma assured him as she puffed out her chest. "That's definitely me!" Krillin, Launch, and Yamcha rolled their eyes as Flash nodded.
"Super," he said dryly. "Well, I'll keep in touch."
"Hey," Suno said as the rectangle of light reappeared. "You mentioned the Arcosian Empire. It's been three years since you told us the Patrolmen were going to war with Freeza's people. What happened with that Cooler guy?"
"Our intel says that Cooler's taken ill," Flash said with a grin. "So he's returning to Cooler Planet One. Without Cooler's tactical mind to lead them, the army's back to where it was when Kuriza was leading them, which was a mess. There's no guarantees but hopefully this war'll be over in a few years." Then he fell backwards into the teleporter with a genial wave.
OoOoOoO
Gohan was sitting on the edge of the Lookout when Dende and Trunks arrived. The pair sat on either side of Gohan and put their arms around him as he sobbed and wept until he was silent.
"Gohan," Trunks said once he and Dende took their arms off of Gohan. "I was hoping you could do something for me. Something I think might help you, too." Gohan looked at Trunks curiously as he rubbed the remaining rawness from his red eyes. "I still don't think I'm strong enough to defeat my Cell. I was hoping that, tomorrow, we could enter the Time Chamber and train together. Maybe you could help me unlock that power you used to defeat this Cell."
Gohan nodded and gave Trunks a weak smile. "Yeah," he told Trunks, "That would actually be nice. I think I just… I need some time to get a hold of all this, you know? Maybe a year will be enough." Trunks smiled and patted Gohan on the back gently.
OoOoOoO
As the afternoon rolled on, Shen suddenly stood up from his group and walked over to Tenshinhan and the others. Ten stiffened up and put himself between Shen and Kani. There might be nothing Shen could do to him anymore but the old master wasn't so weak that he couldn't kill a baby. Then, Shen did something truly remarkable. He took off his crane helmet, which Ten and Chaozu had never seen him do before, and handed it to Ten. As Ten took it slowly in his hands and looked down at it, Shen bowed respectfully to Tenshinhan and flew away without a word.
"I… wait… did he…?" Ten stammered out in confusement as he looked back and forth between the hat and the shrinking dot in the sky that was his former master.
"Hey!" Launch pointed out with a grin. "You've got a job now!" She laughed and slapped Ten on the back as he struggled to process everything.
As the day wore on, more and more of the group left in their assembled chunks, each offering their condolences to Suno as they left, until only Yuki and Eighter remained. After everyone was gone, Gohan returned and helped Suno put the chairs away.
"Are you okay?" Suno asked Gohan in a whisper as she pulled him into a hug when they were back inside.
"Yeah," Gohan promised as he hugged her back. "Trunks wanted to train together in the Time Chamber tomorrow." Suno smiled and ruffled her son's red hair.
"Just like your mom," she told him affectionately, "Always training." Gohan smiled up at her as his eyes watered and Suno hugged him. "It's okay, honey. It's not your fault. You know that, right?" Gohan didn't say anything.
OoOoOoO
Something woke Suno up in the middle of the night and she sat up out of bed. Putting on her nightgown and using a ball of ki so that she didn't fumble blindly in the dark, Suno wandered to the kitchen window and stared out as, of all people, Vegeta came floating out of the sky and sat down in front of Goku's memorial. He was carrying some kind of jug in his hand and was bobbing slightly through the air. Was he… drunk?
"Damn you, Kakarot!" Vegeta spat out furiously as he glared hatefully at the marble. "You think you can just hide from me?! You think death is an excuse?! I know why you are not here! You fear me! You know I shall surpass you! Well I'm not going anywhere, do you hear me?! Not until you come back and fight me!" A fury was on Suno and she was about to storm out of her house and strangle Vegeta. Of all things to say and of all days! She didn't care how much stronger he was than her, she was going to kill him! "What am I supposed to do now?" Vegeta demanded from Goku's phantom. There was something in Vegeta's voice that Suno had never heard before that made her stop. Some desperate, raw agony inside him. "Who am I supposed to fight?" he asked in a softer, pained voice. He took a long swallow of whatever was in that jug before he continued. "I was going to surpass you. I know I was. Then you would surpass me in turn. We had what every true Saiyan dreams of having. An ultimate rival, pushing one another to our limits and beyond. Each of us inspiring the other to greater glory. We could have accomplished wonders together. We could have stood on the shoulders of the gods." Vegeta's voice was trembling as he spoke and Suno heard him sniff and let out shaky breaths. Vegeta… was crying. "What do I do now? The last of my people. The last true warrior in the universe. ...What am I supposed to do?" Vegeta gave a soft, sad chuckle. "You never had to question yourself, did you? You just knew you wanted to be stronger. You didn't even know what a Saiyan was until your worthless brother dropped out of the sky. How did you do it? How did you grow stronger simply because you wanted to?" He took another long pull and sighed. "I wish I had asked you that when you could have told me. I wish…" he sighed and shook his head. "This damn planet's making me soft," he muttered before flying away. Suno was left stunned as she watched him go.
"Who would've guessed?" she muttered before wandering back to her empty bed. When Suno awoke late the next morning, Gohan had already left to meet up with Trunks on the Lookout and train. The truly remarkable thing, however, was what awaited Suno outside. All around Goku's headstone were flowers. Not the ones people had brought the day before, she had put all of those in vases throughout the house. These had been planted by the other people in town during the night and surrounded the memorial in bright and beautiful colors. A note attached to the memorial told Suno that they were all perennials and would bloom every year. It was such a beautiful gesture from her neighbors that it drove Suno to tears.
OoOoOoO
Gohan met Trunks at the Lookout and the pair nodded before entering the Hyperbolic Time Chamber together. Trunks produced a capsule with two suits of blue Saiyan armor and tossed one of the suits to Gohan. The pair changed and did some stretches to get comfortable and then, without another word, began sparring. They fought for nearly twenty four hours straight, channeling all of their emotions into the battle, each one refusing when the other asked if they needed a break and fighting even more fiercely than before. They fought to exhaustion, to the point where both fighters simply passed out mid-blow. When Gohan awoke several hours later, he started to call out to his mom and ask if she was ready to start training again. Then he remembered that he was in here with Trunks, not Goku, and nearly collapsed again.
"Are you okay?" Trunks asked Gohan as he sat beside his fellow half-saiyan. "Do you need a minute?" Gohan shook his head and got to his feet.
"I'm fine," he assured Trunks as the other hybrid stood up. They walked into the chamber and grabbed some things to eat for breakfast. "So, you want to know how to become a Super Saiyan 2, right?"
"Is that what we're calling it?" Trunks asked as he made some toast with his ki. "Sounds a little… anticlimactic." Gohan gave a shrug.
"It sounds good enough to me," Gohan said offhandedly. "Besides, I feel like there's something above even that. I could feel it at the tail end of my fight with Cell. Who knows how many levels there are to Super Saiyan? I feel like we'd run out of adjectives before we ran out of numbers."
"I guess that's true," Trunks admitted with a chuckle while Gohan peeled an orange. "So, Super Saiyan 2. How'd you do it?"
"Honestly?" Gohan admitted with a bit of a smile as he popped an orange wedge into his mouth. "I just got really angry." Trunks stared at him flatly and Gohan shrugged. "I thought about everyone Cell had killed and everyone she was going to kill, all the death and destruction she'd caused and how she was going to kill all of you. Then something just snapped inside me. I've always kind of had… issues, I guess, with that. Rage has been easy for me."
"Well my father's Vegeta," Trunks pointed out, "So how hard could it possibly be for me to get angry?" They finished breakfast and walked back out into the endless void. Trunks powered up to Super Saiyan and closed his eyes, focusing on everything Cell had taken from him. His father. His world. His Gohan. The millions of dead, all of the destruction and devastation that he'd seen. He thought about what Cell would do if he couldn't stop her. His mother dead. Ocha and Shouronpo as well. He thought of it all and it filled him with such a bright fury that it burned him from the inside and his breath came out in short, stuttering gasps.
"Let it out," Gohan told him, "You've got to go all out!" Trunks threw his head back and screamed out his rage, his eyes opening wide as lightning coursed across his body. He could feel his ki rising. He was getting stronger! He was ascending! Then as soon as the feeling came it was gone.
"Damn it!" Trunks swore as he kicked the infinite white abyss under his feet. "I could feel it! I had the power right there in my hands!"
"Don't get mad at yourself," Gohan told him. "That's not the rage we're looking for. You've gotta keep pushing. We'll keep training and sparring to get you stronger. In the meantime, stay in Super Saiyan for as long as you can so your body can adjust to the state. That'll make it easier for you." Trunks nodded and they went back to sparring.
OoOoOoO
"So wait," Trunks said as he and Gohan were sitting down to eat lunch on the steps of the Chamber. "After I died…" which was something he still had trouble saying out loud.
"Yeah," Gohan replied, continuing from the story he'd been telling Trunks. "Vegeta just went ballistic. He went right past me and everyone else to take the first shot at Cell. I'd never seen anything like it."
"And he did that… because of me?" Trunks asked in disbelief. Gohan nodded and Trunks blinked in surprise. "Huh," he muttered. "My father. That's… pretty cool."
As the months went on, training with Gohan made Trunks strangely nostalgic for his childhood, when he'd been training with an older Gohan to reach the first level of Super Saiyan. Yet the taste of that nostalgia was a bitter draft as spending so much time with no one but Gohan to talk to reminded Trunks of just why he was the only one left who could save his world. Gohan, being the perceptive young man that he was, could tell that something was eating away at Trunks and holding him back.
"Trunks," Gohan said one day when they were getting ready to spar, "I know you're hiding something from me." Trunks flinched instinctively and his eyes widened slightly. "Something that happened in your past, my future, whatever. You won't be able to progress and all of this training will be for nothing if you won't tell me what it is."
"I-it's nothing," Trunks assured him with his eyes downcast, lying horribly. "You really don't need to worry about it."
"If you hold it inside, it'll hold you back," Gohan told Trunks firmly. Then he powered up to Super Saiyan 2 and folded his arms. "If you can stop me from hitting you, you don't have to tell me." Trunks powered up and got into his guard, preparing for any a– he was flat on his back and staring up at the sky, feeling a pain in his cheek. Gohan stood over him with a bit of a smirk on his face and his hands on his hips.
"Jeez," Trunks muttered as he rubbed the area where Gohan had struck him. "Guess I still have a lot of catching up to do, huh?"
"Don't worry about it," Gohan assured him as he sat down beside Trunks. "This training's making me stronger, too. Now are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" Trunks sighed and dropped his head in defeat.
"I know you must have guessed it by now," Trunks began, "But in my timeline, you're… dead. What you don't know is that it's my fault. I was… I don't want to say I was a kid, because I was older than you. But I was. I was a stupid kid. I thought that because I was a Super Saiyan and because I had a sword, because I had vengeance in my heart and all this righteous… junk that I could kill Cell. I thought it was a story, you know? Half of the heroes in your manga were kids so how was I supposed to know any different? So I rushed off in the middle of the night while you were asleep to take her on by myself. As you can imagine, I was hopelessly out of my league. I should be dead right now but you… you sensed Cell powering up and you saved me. I made you fight Cell before you were ready. If I'd just been a little more patient and let you carry out our training, you could have probably killed Cell in my timeline as well. But you didn't. And it's because of me." His shoulders sagged and he started to sob. "It's… it's all because of me!"
"Trunks," Gohan whispered softly as he started putting a hand on Trunks' shoulder. "Trunks, it's oka–"
"No!" Trunks snapped hotly as he shoved Gohan away and got to his feet. "It's not okay, Gohan! Don't you get it?! Everything is my fault! If I hadn't gotten you killed, my mother wouldn't have needed to build a time machine! Without a time machine, Cell couldn't have caused all of this destruction!" Trunks' rage was so hot that it was boiling his tears as they ran down his cheeks and welled in his eyes and causing them to turn into steam. "Billions are dead because of me, Gohan! Everything is my fault!" He let out a wordless scream of self-loathing and despondent rage. Through that pain, he finally broke through the barrier and transformed, his hair spiking even higher and lighting shooting out across his body. Gohan transformed to Super Saiyan 2 and threw his arms around Trunks, holding him tightly as he let Trunks scream out his hatred and his grief. When his fury finally ebbed, Trunks looked down at Gohan glumly. "You must hate me…" Trunks muttered as he looked away.
"No," Gohan replied earnestly as he looked up at Trunks. "Trunks, how could you even say that? If you hadn't come back to my timeline, everything that had happened to your world would have happened to mine. Without you, mom would have died of the heart virus. All of my friends would probably be dead by now. I would never have had this power. Trunks, you saved the world!" Trunks looked at Gohan in surprise as the younger man let go of him.
"Huh," Trunks muttered softly. "Guess I never thought of it like that." Then he looked at the lightning arcing up and down his body and smiled. "Guess you were right about it holding me back, huh?"
"Yeah," Gohan told him as he got into his guard. "But we can't stop yet. We need to make sure you have control over this form. Now come on! Show me what you can do!" Trunks grinned as he charged at Gohan, his spirit feeling even lighter than he had when Cell had been destroyed. It was like an enormous, crushing weight had been lifted off of his soul.
After ten months in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gohan and Trunks knew that Trunks would be more than powerful enough to defeat the Cell in Trunks' timeline. They bathed and changed back into their regular clothes before exiting, breathing in the early morning air and staring at the purple pre-dawn sky, with stars still twinkling inside it.
"So…" Trunks said slowly as they walked to the edge of the Lookout, "I guess this is goodbye? I'll probably be leaving tomorrow." Gohan nodded and Trunks stood on the edge of the Lookout, looking on in amazement. "It's going to be tough, going back to the 'real' world after three years of… all of this. It's so beautiful."
"Hey," Gohan told him with a smile, "Now you know what the world's supposed to look like. It'll give you something to work towards." Trunks nodded and tucked his hands into his pockets.
"I still can't believe it," he muttered. "After all this time, basically my whole life… it's finally going to be over." He chuckled softly and shrugged. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now."
"Whatever you want," Gohan reminded him. Trunks laughed and shook his head.
"Even when you're a decade younger than me, you're still the one with all the answers," Trunks sighed as looked down at Gohan proudly. He held his arms out and Gohan hugged him eagerly. "Take care of yourself," he told the younger man. "And… take care of everyone. It's your responsibility now."
"Same to you," Gohan told him with a grin as he patted Trunks' back. "You finally get to be the hero now." Trunks reflected on that and grinned as they parted. They both hopped off the edge of the Lookout and Trunks flew off as Gohan closed his eyes and focused on ki. He didn't want to appear in his mother's bedroom, so he focused on his grandmother's much smaller ki and appeared in the living room, where she was sleeping on the foldout couch. Gohan tiptoed softly into his room since he didn't want to wake anyone and shut the door behind him. Despite the early morning hours, sleep was the last thing on Gohan's mind and he started to clean up his room. He'd really left it a mess in his despondency. The sun was creeping over the horizon as Gohan finished putting everything away… until he came across his mom's power pole. His power pole now. He stared at it and held it in his hands as the words his mom had said came flooding back to him.
'As long as you have this, I'll be here, too.' He'd thought a year had been enough time but as soon as he was back…
Suno was shocked awake as she heard Gohan's cry of anguish and the sudden spike of his ki practically jolted her out of bed. She sprang to her feet and rushed out of her bedroom, practically kicking in Gohan's door in her haste to get to him. She found Gohan curled up in a ball on the floor, clutching the power pole to his chest as the uproar from his power tore through the room like a hurricane.
"She said she'd always be there for me!" Gohan cried out as Suno looked down at him. "But she's not! And it's because of me!" Late at night over the last two days, when her bed was empty and alone, some black part of Suno's soul had hated Gohan. Yet in that moment, seeing Gohan's guilt and grief so raw in front of her, seeing his pain manifested in power, that ugliness was driven out of her forever and Suno dropped to her knees beside her son, flinging her arms around him. "It's my fault…" Gohan whimpered softly as he dropped out of Super Saiyan and his hair turned red again. "It's my fault…"
"No," Suno whispered softly as she held Gohan closed and her tears dripped onto his back. "No, sweety. It's not your fault. Okay? I love you. You know I love you. I'll never blame you for anything. We'll get through this together. I promise. We're going to get through this together." Gohan whimpered again and went unconscious in his mother's arms. Suno lifted Gohan carefully up in her arms and laid him down in bed, brushing his hair out of his eyes and tucking him in like she had when he was a baby. "My boy," Suno whispered proudly before kissed Gohan's forehead with a smile and went back to bed.
Yuki and Eighter left in the early afternoon of that day. After waving them off, Suno went to water the flowers around Goku's memorial. To her surprise, she heard the back door sliding open and turned to see Gohan stumbling half-awake outside with his red hair messed up from bedhead. Which, honestly, wasn't that different from his regular head.
"Hey," Suno greeted him softly with a smile. Gohan smiled back and gave her a small wave. "You're going to be okay, right?" Gohan nodded and rubbed at his eyes.
"Yeah," he told her as he hugged her close. "I'm going to be okay. We're going to be okay." Mother and son looked out at the bright blue midday sky and toward the future.
A/N: Hey everyone! Just a quick heads up: You'll want to check my profile at 3 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. UTC) for a special side story, The Light's Willpower. It's our version of what went down in Future Trunks' timeline and I hope you look forward to it! See you then!