AUTHOR READ ME:

Everyone has read stories about Trunks and his adventures in the future. Sometimes they're about androids, sometimes they're about reflections on events that he has witnessed, and sometimes they're about his desperate struggle to simply survive in the crazed timeline he calls his own. Quite frequently, though, up pops a story that involves Future Trunks on a visit back to the past and the unaltered timeline. Usually said story involves a humorous situation with various established characters of his wishful past. But to be very funny, Trunks sometimes finds himself bringing along a character that might or might not actually exist in his time to make things especially interesting for a certain teenaged half-saiyan in the past. Pan. Actual humor content aside, these stories bring up an interesting point. In a world where chaos reigns and misery is a part of everyday life, is it possible that Gohan could find the time or reason to love or even start a family? Though slim, the possibility is there, and written out here, in my version of the timeline that should have never been. Whether or not it is a belief you would like to explore is a decision made between the back button and the scroll bar. So move on or read on, dear reader, for there are worse places to spend your time.

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Beyond The Cloudy Dawn

By Phoenix Cubed

Chapter 1

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Damn the androids, damn them to Hell.

Gohan sat silently on the cracked spire, elbows on his knees and legs dangling over the round sides of the fallen building top that was suspended two hundred feet in the air. The ceramisteel needle had once pierced the sky for hundreds of feet, crowning the Global Peace Tower to help it set a world record of building height of over half a mile. After that, international regulators had decreed buildings could not exceed heights not half its size, to make it easier for incoming and outgoing airplanes. And, as Krillin once joked, for low flying warriors not watching their flight path.

Not that any of that mattered now. When the androids had come, the building had immediately caught their attention—as target practice. The biomechanical twins had taken such delight in watching the slender structure fall from its once elated position and onto the panicking throng of people below. It had been only by the grace of Kami that Gohan had been able to deflect it in time onto the tops of a pair of squat, sturdy buildings of equal height. The spire had crashed down and shaken the foundations of the two buildings, but then settled solidly across them like a sturdy tabletop. After that, the androids had then become more interested in trying to kill Gohan, and so the spire was forgotten in favor of better games to play.

But Gohan still remembered. The Tower was once a place of thriving activity and industry, not to mention the residence of one of the best dining places in Japan. Dinner at the Laughing Dragon was one of the last activities that the Sons had done as a family, before the virus…

Headwinds picked up and whipped about the broken corners of the abandoned buildings that decorated the decimated city. Whistling through their cracks, the wind echoed in the half-Sayain's tired ears, sounding like the ghostly screams of those who had breathed their last on the now quiet streets far below. Gohan sat up straight and stretched his hands to the sky, letting out an expansive yawn that cracked his jaw. Taking note of the setting sun, he realized that he'd been sitting atop the spire for most of the day, and idly he wondered where the day had gone. Mother would worry if he didn't get back soon. The man quirked a half-smile and allowed himself to slide down the spire's smooth surface until he felt himself free falling rapidly towards the ground. He somersaulted to right himself and let his energy build. Then, a mere foot from receiving a very nasty impact bruise, he blasted into the air and towards the direction of home.

He did as he always did, flying high over city and country alike, both barren and wasted in the aftermath of battles and massacres. Here and there he could feel the faint flicker of energies, normal humans who had survived the many years of torment and misery under the androids. He had learned over the years to be sensitive to even the slightest amount of life energy, a trait necessary to save as many humans as possible from the attacking androids. The poor wretches had no idea why the beasts had come out of nowhere, bent on the destruction of everyone and everything. They did not know who was to blame for their plight, or why there even was one. It was the extent of Dr. Gero's villainy that he should set about the destruction of the world for revenge against one single man. How ironic it was that Goku died before the androids were even completed; and that, upon completion, their first act of cruelty had been to end Gero's. Justice, it seemed, was not without a sense of humor.

The sun was below the horizon by the time Gohan began his decent into Son Chi Chi's yard, and only the refracted light of the life-giving star gave any illumination in the darkening sky. Gohan's boots made no noise as he shuffled slowly across his yard, his dark eyes drifting about the lawn as he let the familiar surroundings break down his defenses that he built for a day of fighting androids and saving frightened humans. For a moment, the man simply stood quietly in the yard, letting the memories of good times long gone flit across his eyes and take him far away from the harsh reality he wished he could wake up from. Dimly he was aware of shuffling from inside the house, and it reminded him of why he stayed in the bleak existence someone had thought to deem life.

The door opened, and the silhouette of a short, slender woman appeared. "Gohan!" Chi Chi called out, "come inside! Dinner's ready."

"Coming, mom." Gohan shook the demons from his mind and followed his mother through the doorway, letting the here and now chase away the shadows that lurked in the corners of his eyes.

Dinner was, as usual, spectacular. Chi Chi was as wonderful a cook as she was a mother, and Gohan would have words with anyone who ever questioned the greatness of his upbringing. It must have been hard, if not downright impossible at times, to raise the son of a Saiyan in a world that was constantly out to kill them. And especially hard without the love and support of the father, of the man who had been and said that he would always be there. But of course, that had been before anyone had known of the heart virus and how it would become a grievous foreshadowing of things to come. Yet through it all, Chi Chi had remained the faithful wife and strong mother that Gohan knew her to be. Always there with a kind word or encouraging smile, she hid the grief she felt for Goku deep within her. But Gohan knew that it was beginning come out. Heard in the more frequent questioning of Gohan's crusade and seen in tired expression she seemed to wear when she thought no one was looking, there was little argument against the fact that Chi Chi was slowly losing the battle against age and grief.

"Gohan? Gohan! Are you listening to me?" Chi Chi's strong voice cut through her son's thoughts. He looked up to see a worried expression on his mother's face as her weathering hand came to press against his forehead. She clucked a bit, "it's not hot, but are you feeling ill, Gohan? You haven't eaten much tonight."

Gohan gave her a weary smile, "I'm fine, mom, just not that hungry, that's all."

"Not hungry!" There was a touch of worry underlining the outrage in Chi Chi's voice. "Since when is a Saiyan 'not hungry'? Especially when you didn't eat breakfast this morning, either."

"I'm sorry, mom," Gohan replied, beginning to push back his chair—only to have it abruptly stopped by Chi Chi's foot on one of the back legs.

"Listen, buster," Chi Chi bristled, "you weren't home to eat yesterday and you didn't have any breakfast this morning, so you are not leaving this table until you've eaten at least three chickens. Is that clear?"

Gohan slid deep into his seat, trying to squirm out of the dark glare his mother was shooting him. "Yes ma'am," he replied meekly, his eyes dropping to the chicken that had found its way onto his plate. He stared at it a moment, trying hard to hide the feeling of nausea that was beginning to broil in his stomach. Chi Chi watched him expectantly, her fingers drumming against her arm in a gesture that spoke volumes. Gohan picked up a drumstick and sunk his teeth into it, causing his mother to beam happily at him. It was then that Gohan decided the satisfaction Chi Chi received from ensuring her son's health worth the nightmares that would spring from the meal later that night. Gohan then began the laborious process of dinner and the act of pretending that he could still taste the savory goodness of the food and enjoy it, just the way he once had. He even managed to choke down a pot of rice in front of his mother's smiling face. At last the meal was over and Gohan kissed his mother on the cheek, complimenting everything on the menu before saying goodnight.

"Oh, Gohan!" His mother's voice called after him.

He paused on his route up the stairs to turn and give her a curious look, "yes?"

"Bulma called earlier. She said that the androids were spotted today a few miles north of the Eastern Mountains. There's a small community located somewhere in that area and she wants you to head over there and evaluate it for her. Bulma would go, but Trunks has come down with something and she doesn't want to leave him until he's well."

Gohan blinked in surprise. Mother was telling him to go into possible danger? What was wrong with this picture? Oh. Gohan flashed his mother a grin, "they're not still there, are they." It was a statement, not a question.

"Of course they're not." Chi Chi gave her son a scowl, "do you think I would have told you if there was a chance they would be? Honestly, Gohan."

The half-breed laughed, "all right, mom. I'll go first thing in the morning." He turned to head to bed. "Goodnight, mom."

Chi Chi replied warmly to her son, quietly watching the brave way he ascended the stairs and entered his room, committing himself to another night of unshakable night terrors and mares. Turning back to the warm kitchen, Chi Chi gave a tired sigh. Not feeling quite up to the task of dishes, the aging woman laboriously made her way into the doorway leading to the outside.

"Goku," she whispered to the carrying wind, "we could use a little hope right now."

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Well? More chapters to follow soon! Review! Review!