Chapter Forty-Four

The Mafuba

Blue and red.

Blue and red and green.

A blue and red blur suddenly clotheslined Pan clean off her feet, just as the Mafuba gathered Perses in its long chaotic arms, stretching out his form into a ghastly disfigured shape as he was whisked up into the thunderous clouds.

Gohan felt streams of warm blood spurt forth, drenching his chest, as the Z-Sword dropped away from his throat and hit the muddy ground with a sickening squelch.

He panicked, limbs floundering as someone wrapped a hand around his neck and firmly applied pressure. Strong arms caught him before he face-planted the murky pool of water he was kneeling in. He hissed, as the pressure increased.

"S-Stay with me, G-Gohan," his father told him, his breath was short and ragged. "J-Just hold on. I've g-gotcha, kiddo."

Relief flooded him, even though he could still hear the shrill cry of rage circling above them. He tried to open his eyes, but green and black strobed rapidly, creating horrific flashes of Perses' murderous shadow across the skies.

"D-Dad," he gasped over the blundering winds, blood dribbling from the corners of his mouth,"T-That's - Mafu-ba -."

"D-Don't talk,' he ordered, his voice strained, "P-Piccolo's g-got this, 'kay?"

"B-But, t-the s-sword -."

The rest of his sentence was stifled by the sound of something tearing, and then a wad of fabric was forced in between his teeth.

"B-Bite down on this. I-It's gonna hurt - but it'll b-be over soon, I p-promise."

It tasted grimly of ash and blood, but Gohan tried to ignore it. His head was already swimming from the blood loss. He closed his eyes again, which his father must have took as a sign that he could continue.

The smell of burning flesh tickled the air as a terrible, stinging heat surged from his palm. He was glad that his strangled cries were muffled by the tattered orange fabric as Goku cauterised the gaping wound in his neck.

Just as promised, it was over quickly. His throat was lacerated with a raw tightness that sent painful jolts of fire over the skin, but he was thankful that he was no longer bleeding out.

He yanked the cloth from his mouth as he was helped to sit up, breathing heavily as he looked up at the haze of green. Perses' cries had finally died out, succumbing to the rampaging vortex that now eclipsed every inch of the sky.

Goku looked dishevelled, bleeding from a horrific wound in his chest that ran all the way through to his back. Blood and dirt escaped his right ear and there was a nasty burn that bubbled at his shoulder. Like Gohan, he was covered in a thin layer of crimson muck. His muscles were taught with agony, tense with the burning haze of Ki as though it was almost attacking him in some way. An odd red and blue aura fizzled haphazardly around his frame before dissipating completely, though his hair remained that crisp upright blue.

It left Gohan wondering just what the hell he had done to himself as he grasped his equally bloody outstretched hand, and allowed his father to heave him fully to his feet. Goku's electric eyes scanned him, soaking in every injury with a pained expression.

He opened his mouth to say something just as Gohan made to offer a hurried, shaky thanks, but they were both interrupted by the mesmerising glow of the Mafuba.

Without warning, it took a nosedive. Momentarily blinded from the brilliant flash of garish light, Gohan recovered just in time to watch the pillar of green hurtle back towards the ground at breakneck speed - retreating into a precariously placed beer bottle several feet away.

"GOKU!" Piccolo's bellow came screaming towards them.

His father gasped, kicking off from the ground with Gohan in hot pursuit. They skidded to a halt just as Goku snatched the stopper Piccolo had flung in their direction out of the air.

"The s-seal!" Piccolo snarled, his body contorting with the pain of his own injuries as he dashed out from the sidelines, "We need to get it on - quickly!"

They dove, throwing themselves to the ground in desperation. They skidded on their bellies and kicked up a shower of sludge, making it just in time. Goku stuffed the stopper on the bottle just as Piccolo slapped the Ofuda over the base.

The light flickered and died out, leaving an eerie sort of silence as all three of them stared disbelievingly at the still and silent bottle.

The only sound was that of their ragged breathing as the skies slowly began to return back to their usual shade of orange and red, yet murky green clouds lingered over the earth in a thick unfurling smog.

His father panted, gulping at the humid air as he clutched at the his bleeding side, getting back to his feet. Deep red seeped through his torn orange gi, his adrenaline slowly fading, "W-We did it…"

"I-It's not over yet," said Piccolo, already fishing the drawstring bag of out of his gi as he rose. He looked exhausted, just as battle-torn as the both of them, his energy wavering from the expenditure of using the Mafuba. His calculated stare swept the battlefield before settling on Gohan, "You okay, kid?"

He shook his head stiffly. No.

Emotionally he was wrecked, and physically, he felt more than a little dizzy. His ribs were shattered, lungs - both of them most certainly perforated now from how much he was trying to keep his breathing steady and he had lost so much blood that dark spots were starting to dance in the periphery of his vision.

Piccolo was right. It wasn't over. And just now he had been moments from a certain second death by the hands of his own fucking daughter.

He shuddered unexpectedly, sickness overcame him without warning and he promptly vomited.

"E-Easy, Gohan," his father uttered. He was at his side all too readily, rubbing his back in soothing circles. "Easy."

He roughly wiped his mouth when he finished, averting his gaze from the foul concoction of blood, mucus and whatever the hell he had eaten back on Tartarus that sank into the muddy ground. A cold sweat lingered on his brow and heat prickled at his skin.

Gods, they were a mess.

He wasn't certain just how long the seal would hold Perses' containment, if at all. They needed to end this quickly.

Ignoring his father and Piccolo's concerned stares, he stretched out his senses, trying to make sense of the current situation. He could feel the weak yet stable energies of Makhai, Kratos and Vegeta - knocked out cold - but his relief was short-lived as he found that he couldn't sense Eris at all.

Nor Black for that matter. Had his father actually - ?

"Here," Piccolo pushed a senzu bean into his palm, "Eat it. That future Pan is still around, not to mention Zamasu."

Gohan felt a horrible pang in his chest that had nothing to do with his injuries. He clutched the bean tight, almost disintegrating it.

"It's not her," he said again, drawing his gaze back up to his, "It's not our - your Pan, Gohan. She's on Earth, safe with her mother. You got that?"

"Piccolo," his father croaked, he looked just as sickened as he felt, "I-I don't think -."

Piccolo bared his teeth, "We can't afford to get sentimental, Goku. We need to focus - !"

ZAAAAAP!

Gohan jolted as he made to shove Piccolo out of the way as soon as he felt the ruinous spark of energy ignite the air. But his movements were slow and sluggish. The vibrant beam of death sung from shadows and vaporised the bag of senzu beans in an instant, taking both he and Piccolo down with it.

Gohan was strong enough to withstand the blast, despite his wounds. But Piccolo… Piccolo was not.

He knew he was dead before the smell of charcoaled flesh wafted into his nostrils. The harsh glare of rampaging light dissipated as the fibres of Gohan's skin screamed from the fresh affliction of burning agony. He had taken the majority of the impact as he had rushed ahead of the blast. It roared in his ears, accompanied by his father's desperate cries of horror.

He had landed on top of him in an effort to save him, his torso now smothered with purple blood and bits of green flesh. He peeled himself away from Piccolo's smouldering form, now nothing but a mess of cooked and bloodied remains.

No! No no no no. Piccolo!

His stomach twisted, his breath coming up short. His throat constricted. Grief, rage, vomit. It was all going to come up again.

It was hopeless. And neither he nor his father had eaten a senzu bean in time before they had been blown to bits.

They shouldn't have come.

He should have made them stay on Earth where they would have been safe. Away from all of this madness.

It wasn't their fight. None of it. And now Piccolo had been -

"GOHAN MOVE!"

He snapped out of it as his father's cry penetrated the air. He ducked, this time evading another jet of diabolical Ki that imploded somewhere along the horizon.

Knots of dread coiled within him, as the all too familiar form of his future daughter emerged from the smog.

"Y-You -," he choked, pain, guilt manifested in a wave of hot tears that sprung into his eyes, "You killed him! Y-You killed Piccolo!"

The Z-Sword dragged behind her, the blade buried deeply into the sodden earth. Her filthy clothes tattered and burnt from Goku's onslaught. She was injured, bloodied. Yet still gave them a wicked grin through her affliction.

"And I'd d-do it again, j-just to watch y-you suffer," Pan jeered, as now, a purple orb of Destruction gathered in her palm.

His father looked ill, his gaze darting between her and Piccolo's mangled body. "No… No! How could you?!"

"H-How c-could I?" She mused breathlessly,"D-Don't you see? Y-Your time has r-run out. Y-Your actions on t-this d-day of r-reckoning have only sealed y-your f-fate."

Gohan's mind felt thick and weighted, much like the sludge that suctioned to his boots as Pan fired off the Hakai. He had cut it close, but thankfully was able to pull himself together just enough to knock his father out of harms way.

The sword. He needed to get the sword.

He lunged, a searing hot anger rising within him as his knuckles collided with her cheek. She fell back with a snarl, sinking into the mud. The terrain was treacherous, his feet slipping and sliding as each desperate blow landed.

Battling for dominance, they grappled in the slurry. The rain continued to pour in waves of drizzle, as he tried again to wrench the relic free of her grasp. His father was shouting, calling out for him, but he had already pinned her down, his legs straddling her torso.

Pan rasped out a dark, unsettling noise which was half way between a laugh and a snarl.

"I-Is this how y-you t-took my m-mother?"

Disgusted, Gohan tried to force the feeling down, finally prising her fingers away from the hilt. Pain exploded between his eyes as she slammed her forehead against his, the relic dropping to the ground. He felt a warm trickle escape the bridge of his nose, but slugged her across the jaw just as quickly.

She coughed, spitting out several teeth into the thick, humid air. Another wet thud clattered across the skies, as he hit her again, snuffing out another orb of Destruction that she attempted to blast in his father's direction.

"S-STOP!" He bellowed, "No more!"

"D-Did she beg y-you to s-stop t-too, Gohan?"

"I said ENOUGH!" Gohan roared, he grabbed her by the scruff of her soaked, tattered robes and pulled her up so that their identical chaotic eyes met in tandem.

He still had her pinned by his weight, she couldn't move.

"Y-You're done, do you hear me?!" He glowered, the taste of blood and something even more foul lingered on his tongue. "A-As long as I'm still breathing, y-you won't kill or Destroy anyone else!"

"It is not wise to make promises you can't keep, Destroyer."

An icy chill ran down his spine, as a wicked familiar snarl floated towards them. He let go of Pan just as a pocket of smog cleared and the looming figure made his presence known.

"Zamasu…," his father's voice was low and dangerous as the Kai in question stepped into the crimson light.

He was a gruesome sight to behold, his immortal body so injured that it was struggling to regenerate. He dragged himself towards them as though he was crawling out of his own grave.

One side of his face was completely burned off, exposing his skull right down to the bone. His right eyeball had fallen free of the socket and dangled around his exposed jaw. His ceremonial garb was in ruins, a stomach-turning array of burns decorated his flesh, bubbling blisters oozing over exposed muscle and sinew.

Gohan let Pan fall, scrambling away from her and ignoring the bolts of pain that shot through his every nerve. He stood as tall as he could muster, ready to protect his father.

"You are as stupid as you are brave," Zamasu chuckled, observing him as his face split open even more so. It was chilling. "Do you really think that little parlour trick will be able to hold an ancient being like Perses for long?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Goku mustered defiantly.

Zamasu's remaining eye was full of unbridled fury as he looked towards Pan, who remained a pathetic heap in the sludge.

"Make yourself useful - Destroy them!"

Gohan thrust out his right arm as soon as the blast released from her fingers. The Z-Sword dutifully obeyed, and surged with the swell of darkness he released. He timed it just right, the blade colliding with the incoming Hakai and exploding the orb on impact.

A dazzling plume of pressure and purple particles followed, before the weapon returned to its true master's side.

Pan let out a howl of frustration, as Zamasu scoffed in annoyance.

"The relic may have empowered you but it does not change what you are," he said menacingly, eyeing the blade in his grasp, "A poor, lost little lamb, soon to be all alone - which reminds me - you should take better care of the ones you claim to protect."

Dark ropes manifested in a wisp of eerie shadows before Gohan could even move. He was waning, his reactions too slow. They shot out from Zamasu's very being, they unfurled like deadly wings before snatching him out of the way and snaked quickly around his father.

"DAD!" He yelled in horror, struggling back up to his feet as the air was squeezed from Goku's lungs and threatened to crush his bones to dust.

Goku cried out, crimson forced from his throat as the ropes cut deeply into his flesh. It was some sort of Majin magic, he deciphered, as the unmistakable dark power continued to manifest into another spiral of tangled webs in between him and Zamasu - cutting off his path.

"L-Let him go!" He demanded hotly, making to charge forwards when Zamasu stopped him.

"Ah ah ah, Destroyer," he cooed, "Any sudden moves of yours might force my concentration to slip. You wouldn't want to be responsible for any more gruesome deaths, now would you? Especially not your father's. I know how much letting him die tore at your soul."

"G-Gohan, d-don't listen to - !" His father started, but his weak gasps were promptly stifled by the mass of webs wrapping around his mouth and jaw.

"Let him go, Zamasu!" Gohan snarled, spit flying, "I won't ask you again!"

"How about we bargain?" Zamasu quirked maliciously, "If you relinquish the Z-Sword to the girl, then I promise that no harm will come to your sire. He will live to see another day, albeit fleeting."

Goku's frantic eyes pleaded with him over the dark arms that held him. And Gohan hesitated.

"No? Still not enough leverage?" He mocked, "I see."

"W-Wait -!"

Again, it was too late, as the deadly ropes wrapped around a startled Pan. They forced her to hang above him in the air, the razor sharp tethers slicing into her skin and sending fresh crimson blood cascading to the ground at his feet.

She screamed, unable to stop the violent shrieks that escaped her, eyes wide in fear and panic, "Z-Zamasu - ?! W-What - ?!"

"Do not worry dear girl," he cooed, "Your father is as weak as he is capable. I am certain he will crumble before you are crushed into mulch. Isn't that right, Gohan?"

"Z-Zamasu," Pan whimpered, catching Gohan off guard, her pleas rattled harshly against his eardrums. Her dark eyes welled with tears as she gazed longingly at the Kai, "Z-Zamasu, you p-promised - please -."

"Silence! You miserable whelp!" He snapped, as the ropes forced more blood from her throat, "Do not beg. I told you that you will serve your purpose, and only THEN will I cleanse you!"

"STOP! STOP THIS!" Gohan roared, as Pan's rasping cries of pain intensified.

"Oh? So protective all of a sudden?" Zamasu laughed, as the web moved to allow him to graze bloody fingertips across Pan's cheek where she continued to scream in agony. "And even after she slaughtered your beloved Piccolo?"

Fury ravaged him like an insatiable hunger, flooding through his veins, "I won't tell you again - !"

"Sad, pathetic creature," Zamasu sighed, as she was silenced in much the same way as his father. Their cries were still audible, however, albeit muffled by their deadly restraints, "She may be lucky after all. She has never known a father's love, her own never came back for her even after she destroyed her own mother during her birth. You should be thanking me for taking her in, Gohan."

His power erupted in a surge of gold in response. Waves of golden light lapped over the deadly mesh of webs, but Zamasu only appeared to relish in it.

"You are running out of power, Destroyer," he observed, as electricity surged around Gohan's aura, "And I am running out of patience."

He was right, as much as he hated to admit it. He was too wounded, and his power had depleted enormously. He could just about manage this transformation and Destroy him but he couldn't count on any one else not getting caught in the crossfire. The snake-like arms were all joined together, reaching out from Zamasu's own dark aura. It would be too risky.

Stifled cries of agony reached in his ears once more, as the ropes of deadly Ki tightened.

"Come now, are you really going to stand there and watch them die?!" Zamasu bellowed, as the screams grew more wild. "Your father? Your own daughter?! Are you going to deny her one last show of compassion from her sire?! They will both DIE if you do not hand over the sword!"

He felt the conflict within his heart begin to tear it apart.

When there is no cost, duty comes easy to us then.

He couldn't hand over the Z-Sword. Not a chance. If he did, and they managed to make their wish on the Dragonballs, then it really would mean the end of everything. Yet one by one, his friends were dying all around him. Bia, Deimos, Eris and now Piccolo. And it was only a matter of time before death claimed the rest of his loved ones too.

There was a sudden crack that broke through the screams, and a faint glow of greenish light escaped the beer bottle that lay a few feet away.

No. He couldn't. He wouldn't let them down - not again!

"T-The sword," Lord Beerus had pleaded through dying gasps, "W-Whatever it takes, h-he can't get his hands on it…"

"So what will it be Lord Gohan, God of Destruction?!" Zamasu spouted to the heavens far above them, "Will you save them - her or the universe that you claim to serve?!"

He closed his eyes, their screams dying out as the breath was forced out of them.

But sooner or later, whether in this life or the next, there comes a time when it is not easy.

A time when a person must choose.

I'm so sorry.

To Zamasu's surprise, and utter horror, Gohan tossed the Z-Sword high into the air in one swift motion. It span wildly, before a concentrated blast - the most deadly and potent he could muster - of unholy purple energy connected with the blade. It wasn't enough to completely Destroy the Divine artefact, but it was enough to shatter it.

"NO!" Zamasu screeched.

A ear-splitting scream echoed around them as it burst into pieces, raining down in sharp shards of steel. What was left of the hilt fell to the ground, splintered and twisted as though struck by lightening. Zamasu's anguished screams of rage erupted as Gohan kicked off from the ground and blasted the lethal webs that held his father apart.

He fell into a muddy heap as Gohan turned, just as one of the lecherous arms pierced straight through Pan's torso and burst out the other side.

In his rage. In his spite. Zamasu had cut her down. Just as Gohan had predicted he might.

He didn't expect it to be so horrifying.

She dropped to the earth as her entire chest cavity was blown apart, the arms unwrapping, snaking away from her and retreating back into the shadows from whence they came. Everything slowed to a momentary stop. His ears were ringing. His father cried out, wet and hoarsely, coming to just as her body splattered against the ground.

Zamasu was still screaming, clawing at his mangled skull in despair. Green mist began to build rapidly around them, but Gohan's gaze was fixed firmly on the broken girl in front of him.

She had been butchered.

Chest caved in, leaving nothing but a gaping hole where her organs should have been. Blood and guts pooled around her, intermingling with the rainwater as everything continued to haemorrhage from her thin and feeble form.

He had done what was expected of him.

She had sent Deimos to meet the end of oblivion. She had murdered Piccolo in cold blood. Nearly beheaded him and almost Destroyed his own father.

And she had payed for it with her life.

He had chosen the Z-Sword over her. Had chosen to save his father. He had chosen this - what he knew was right.

So why did it feel so… so…

"Z-Zamasu…" was all she managed over the burning winds. Her pale skin quickly surrendered to grey, her final breaths expelled by a gurgling cough that spewed clotted blood into his face.

He was kneeling down. Since when had he knelt down?

Her eyes burned into his, although they were dull and unseeing. The glassy orbs shone with tears, his own harrowing expression reflected within them. He could barely breathe, his hands shook, unconsciously reaching out for her cold dead fingers that were rapidly turning blue against the crimson dirt.

His fingertips had barely brushed hers before her energy disappeared from existence.

She was dead.

For a brief moment, the world seemed to fall away. The dark decimated planes of Hell stretched and peeled outwards so that his vision became distorted. Yet Gohan couldn't tear his gaze away from those lifeless eyes. Her blood was still warm against his hands. The sticky residue slick between his fingers.

He couldn't breathe, his chest was so tight that it - Gods it hurt.

His father was at his side, speaking to him in frantic, urgent tones. Pleading with him to get up, or so he thought. But he couldn't quite make out the words, as the ringing in his ears grew louder and louder.

And then, Zamasu broke through, the distant thrum of his energy exploding battered against him.

"YOU WRETCH!" He snarled, what was left of his lips curled upwards in anger, "HOW DARE YOU! YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

His father leapt towards him before his next attack could connect. Goku charged wildly, vibrant blue stuttered before Zamasu blasted him away with a surge of his aura, the ensuing shockwave blowing back the damp hair from his face.

Goku hit the ground beside him, skidding across the earth. But Gohan was still frozen.

Zamasu landed, and sneered at the scene before him.

"It appears that I underestimated you," his tone was sinister as he spoke, vicious and sharp, "You are not as soft as you appear."

He couldn't speak, the muggy air as thick as the blood that continued to ooze out of her.

"It is a shame," Zamasu said again, his gaze drifting over her remains, "Her existence amounted to nothing in the end. After all, it is pointless to keep her alive without the relic. Poetic, isn't it? To think that she was brought into existence by your reckless actions, only to be taken out by them."

His spiteful words cut through him like a knife. They reached into every scar in his soul and reopened them, dark places that he had tried to lock away inside of himself time and time again.

"Why is it that you destroy everything you touch? Hn, it appears that you have risen to your so called 'title' of Lord Gohan the Destroyer."

The words crawled underneath his skin like poison, infecting every cell and vessel. The ringing grew into a blood-curdling screech that wailed like a frantic alarm in his mind. Piccolo, Krillin, Dad, Bia, Deimos, Eris, Piccolo again, Z - their deathly faces, their final moments crashed into his mind, one after the other in a series of loud gut-wrenching explosions.

It was his fault.

Those eyes, near black but not quite were cold and dead and haunted. Staring back at him endlessly. They no longer belonged to the young woman at his feet but instead to the baby girl wrapped in the soft swaddle of blankets.

She was pale, her nose and mouth tinged with flecks of blue. Her tiny body lay still and silent, lost to an eternal sleep.

Dead.

And then, Gohan felt something inside shift, forced to make way for the vicious beast that came forth in his place.

His Ki rose and scorched every atom around him. It smouldered, festered and burned around his form. He screamed, his vocal cords tearing from the sheer force of his cry. He was numb to the power that flooded forth and then poured outwards, as though it could no longer be contained by his own body.

There was a flush of gold which swiftly grew into wild amber flames, and then emerged destructive violet and fuchsia. It ripped the ground apart in a colossal maelstrom of Ki. Lightening clattered overhead, drawn in by his aura and intermingled with the devastating storm he had created.

His eyes were milky white, no longer a striking emerald, red, grey or even black. His iris' were lost to oblivion as he continued to roar until his voice was hoarse and all that came out was silence.

Crackles of purple electricity sizzled around his frame as he disappeared before Zamasu could detect, reappearing so close to his disfigured face that their noses were almost touching.

A sickening crunch of bone upon bone echoed over the decimated planes. Gohan's fist curled into his skull, shattering his temple and exposing his brain. Blood splattered, as he held him in place, tearing his dangling eyeball right from the socket.

Zamasu emitted a horrific wail, that was soon stifled by the dark fluid that rose rapidly in his throat. Gohan didn't let up, tearing into every inch of his flesh that he could get his hands on. Deep welts carved into his already mutilated skin as Gohan continued in his furious onslaught.

He was blown back momentarily by a sudden surge of Zamasu's evil aura. Gohan breathed hard, his injuries numbed by the sheer amount of rage coursing through his veins. Although, as his iris' came back into fruition, he realised that his opponents wounds were no longer healing themselves.

And judging by the panic in his eyes, Zamasu knew it too.

"W-What's this?" He spluttered, attempting to keep his composure, "A second wind or a final attempt at retribution?!"

Gohan said nothing as Zamasu fell back, relishing in the fear that crossed his features.

"W-Whatever power you have won't be enough!" He yelled desperately, his brain matter exposed to the hot air, "I am IMMORTAL!"

The realm of Hell let out a baneful rumble, as Gohan's sonorous tone echoed over the destruction, "When I'm through with you, you're going to wish that you could die, Zamasu!"

Wild, ballistic rage encircled him and spewed outwards. The rip-roaring shockwave sending Zamasu flying back several feet.

What came next silenced the wicked Kai completely, as Gohan's attack drove all the way through his torso. Gohan felt his spine shatter under his rampant fist before it burst out the other side. He faintly heard Zamasu emit a wet gurgle of agony, but he didn't stop.

His torso was blown wide, exposing his ribs that were promptly cleaved in two. Gohan wasn't entirely sure when Zamasu stopped screaming, crying, or even breathing. What he did know was that he was going to make sure that this bastard never got back up again.

Someone was calling out to him, prodding him with their Ki in an effort to calm him.

There was nothing left of his face, as Gohan smashed his knee into the centre, the ensuing shockwave finally ridding the upper sky of the rain-filled clouds. The rest of his skull exploded. Neck broken. Whatever was left of his head flopped around as Gohan continued to pummel his corpse. But he still couldn't bring himself to stop.

"Gohan - !"

He found himself in a crater, ash and dust and blood encircled him. The embers of his aura wilted, but he crashed his fists into whatever bit of green stuck out of the sludge.

"GOHAN - ! STOP!"

His father hissed as he attempted to put a hand on his shoulder, fighting his way through the scorching heat.

"She's ok!" Goku spouted hotly, trying to pull him back when he all but shrugged him off.

"She's on Earth," he said again, more softly, his lingering hand prompting Gohan to slow in his movements, "She's okay. Pan's safe. Your Pan - she's safe."

His throat constricted and all that came out was a choked sob. He raised his fist and drove it into the mangled corpse again.

"You're better than this, son."

"D-Don't you dare say that," he managed to say, torn between grief and fury, "Don't you dare take this away from me!"

"Gohan -."

"Get off me!"

"He's dead! He's gone!"

Goku, finally pulled him off. "He's gone."

With that, he was pulled roughly into his father's embrace. This time, he didn't fight it, as strong arms bundled him into his chest. His rough breathing was the only sound that penetrated the air, as Gohan slowly spiralled back down from the edge. The furious power within him wilted, short -lived and exhausted. Tears coursed down his feverish cheeks, as he tried to curb another sob that crept up from his chest.

His gaze lingered over each body that surrounded them as his father continued to hold him. Finally, he settled on the disfigured form of Zamasu, that now resembled nothing but a lump of charred flesh and exposed bone.

"I-I have to finish it," he mustered, peeling away, "I have to. This - This is the right thing to do."

Goku hesitated. Even though it was unlikely that Zamasu would recover from this, he knew just as much as he did that they couldn't take any changes.

Following Gohan's eyes, he finally nodded. "Okay."

It was done a moment later. What was left of the Kai shortly erupted into a shower of purple particles, curtesy of Gohan's outstretched palm. Father and son watched the violet haze disappear into nothingness, an eerie silence encompassing the desecrated battlefield.

And then, something haunting suddenly shifted in the air. Disbelief, fear and horror gripped him all at once, shortly before a sharp jarring sound penetrated the air.

CRRRAAACKKK

Gohan turned just as his father did. Without a doubt, Perses' prison began to rattle in place. A spider-web of deep cracks crawled across the brown glass, sending a plume of green mist belching outwards.

Gohan managed to find his voice before his father did, "You need to go."

"W-What?!" Goku spluttered, tearing his wide eyes away from the rapidly building smoke. "But -!"

"Whoever's left, get them out of here," he cut across him, his throat was dry and hoarse, "Get somewhere safe, I don't care where. Use your instant transmission -."

"No!" He argued, "I can't leave you here!"

"You can't help, you're too injured."

"So are you -!"

"Dad," Gohan held his gaze firm, although he failed to hide his desperation, "Dad, please. Go, I'll be right behind you."

Goku choked, "W-We both know that's not true!"

"If I can hold Perses off long enough for you to get the others to safety, then that'll be enough," he said, no longer meeting his stare, "W-We're out of time."

"G-Gohan, I -," he paused, his eyes darting between him and the bottle that continued to tremble with a crippling surge of negative energy.

"I'm coming back for you."

There was a beat of torturous silence, before Gohan nodded, the swell of power and smoke growing more suffocating by the second. He watched as his father's features hardened, giving him one last agonising look before he pressed two fingers to his forehead and disappeared from sight.

No sooner had his father left with the weak feeble lifeforms of what was left of their friends, did he feel the barrier close around Hell, sealing him in and resigning him to his fate.

The small sense of relief he had felt promptly dissipated as the glass bottle finally shattered, and the thick green smoke twisted into the harrowing depiction of Perses in all his fury.

Gohan held his breath, trying to stand tall and ignore how much his soul screamed at him as cruel grey eyes surveyed each body before they settled upon the charred and broken hilt of the Z-Sword that lay abandoned in between them.

Perses eyes flashed, as his features grew darker, more sinister than ever before.

"It appears that I missed a great deal during my brief and unwelcome departure," He spoke lowly, yet the harshness of his words seemed to echo across the empty planes of the Underworld. "My, my, Gohan - what have you done?"

AN:

This was a shorter chapter than I intended... but it was needed.

There was too much happening all at once, some huge moments that each deserved some time to shine. And for me to mourn over... SOB.

I never intended on killing Piccolo, but it felt right at the time. I said before that not everyone is going to come out of this unscathed.

Pan... yeah she was always gonna kick the bucket. Either directly or indirectly by Gohan's hand. I like to think it worked well here. The Gohan at the beginning of this story wouldn't have done what he just did. So ouch. GROWTH. We're going for it!

Gohan needed to take matters into his own hands by breaking the Z-Sword, his character is slowly growing and changing as he puts duty before heart. Zamasu is gruesomely obliterated and FINALLY dead. Gohan NEEDED to kill him, the logistics of getting there nearly killed ME off if I'm honest... But once again Bonsim has been a huge help in sorting through my thoughts and the needs and journey of each character.

Perses is a doozy... I'm looking forward to showing him off more in the next chapter. And we will be seeing more of Goku - I wonder where he's ended up... any guesses? ;) ;)

Gohan... is gonna get complex from here on out. I know it's taking longer than I want to get these chapters out at the mo. Work is insane and I'm balls deep in assignments and just life. I am slowly chipping away at this story, I have a lot to be grateful and thankful for right now.

Thanks as always for sticking with me! You are all amazing.