A/N: Hey ya'll! This is my first DBZ fan fic. I've read several other
fantastic fics here and I thought I'd give it a try myself. This is set
after Buu has been defeated and the gang has gotten back together on the
lookout. I've always been disappointed with how Gohan and Videl were
handled at the end of the actual series so I wanted to try and fix it.
Therefore, for the purpose of my fic, the last few episodes of DBZ and GT
never happened. I will try and stay as close to the original characters as
possible but this is a fan fiction so I apologize if the characters are a
little off. Please be kind and review to let me know what you think.
Constructive criticism is always appreciated!!!
Gohan looked around the lookout at all the happy and smiling faces. Even the corners of Vegeta's lips were curved upward in a smile as he celebrated the defeat of Majin Buu with his family. Videl was wrapped up in a giant bear hug by her father, who once again was the supposed 'savior of the world,' Krillin was jumping for joy with Marron in his arms while his wife, 18, looked on in amusement. Gohan was shocked to see a smile gracing 18's face. While he had, on extremely rare occasions, seen the stubborn Prince break out in an actual smile instead of his usual smirk, he had never once seen 18 smile.
"Show me the spirit bomb daddy!" Gohan vaguely registered his brother's voice as he flew around in his father's arms.
"Not now son." Goku answered, his voice ringing with laughter.
His mother and grandfather were all surrounding Goku, each with their own unique variation of the Son grin plastered upon their faces. Gohan however stood a few feet away from his celebrating family with an almost sad look on his face. Of course he was happy that Majin Buu was defeated and the universe was now free from danger for the time being. However, the whole incident with Buu had only revealed to Gohan how incredibly naïve he had been. He barely heard his father's speech about how he was given a life by the Old Kai that had unlocked his mystic powers, and how Goku was now going to come back and live with them in their small house. Gohan was too busy trying to sort through his troubling thoughts.
After Cell, there had been a brief period in which he was still the happy, naïve boy he had been before the whole incident with the androids. His father had chosen to stay in the Otherworld and therefore he was okay with Goku's decision. Unfortunately, his entire world began to tumble down the moment Chi-Chi had announced she was pregnant again. Immediately Gohan felt the guilt surge through his body again. He was going to have a younger sibling, one who would never get to know their father, all because he had been too arrogant and cocky to listen to his dad's and Piccolo's advice and finish off Cell when he had the chance. The backs of his eyes began to burn with unshed tears as he once again saw the bloated Cell in front of him with his father ready to whisk him away to save the earth at the expense of his own life.
'Hey, you put up a good fight Gohan. I'm proud of you.'
'What?! Daddy?!'
'Take care of your mother for me she needs you. Tell her I had to do this Gohan. Goodbye my son.'
Gohan remembered his father's face suddenly switch to the seriousness that was reserved only for when he was fighting as he used his instant transmission to take Cell away from the earth.
'My fault, it was all my fault. Why couldn't I have listened to you dad?' Gohan thought in anguish as he stared off into space.
"Gohan!!" Gohan shook his head and blinked his eyes as he was startled out of his flashback.
"Gohan, are you alright? You've been spacing out for a while now." His father's concerned face appeared in front of his son.
"Yeah sure, I'm fine." He said unconvincingly.
"Okay, if you say so." Goku said as he raised an eyebrow. "Look we're going to head on back home. You ready to go?"
"No, I'm not quite ready to go back home yet. You guys go ahead and I'll catch up with you."
"Alright, if that's what you want." Goku said to Gohan's back as he walked closer to the edge of the lookout.
When he reached the edge, Gohan looked back towards the happy faces remaining on the lookout. When his eyes met with Videl's, his shoulders slumped, his head fell and he sighed. He knew what he had to do. He quickly looked away as he saw Videl start walking towards him and he jumped off the lookout, powered up using his new mystic abilities and flew away at an incredible speed, even by Z Fighter standards.
Videl saw the look in Gohan's eyes that she had only caught fleeting glimpses of in the past. For those brief moments Gohan looked so tortured, so haunted by something in his past that Videl swore she could actually feel his pain flowing through her body. She broke into a slight run as she raced to the edge of the lookout to see where Gohan had gone. As she looked over the edge, she could see nothing, Gohan had already sped over the horizon. Quickly she turned around and confronted Goku.
"Where did he go?!" She asked, urgency dripping from her voice.
"I don't know. He just said he would meet us back home and then he took off. Is there something wrong?" Goku asked concerned.
"I have no idea. I just feel like Gohan is extremely upset over something and I don't want him to be alone. It's strange, I could have sworn I felt how he was feeling and it was sorta the same way I knew he was still alive."
"Ohhh. its starting." Goku nodded in understanding.
"Well." Videl stopped, leaving a question hanging in the air.
"Well, what?" Goku asked confused.
Videl sighed, trying to keep her temper under control. Getting mad at one of the strongest beings in the universe was probably not a good idea and besides, she needed an answer.
"You wouldn't happen to know how I knew that Gohan was still alive and how I could feel what he was feeling would you?" she asked very patiently.
"Yes I would." Goku answered factually and Videl felt her hopes rise. "However, its not my place to tell you. That job is Gohan's, if he decides its right."
Unfortunately, this left Videl with more questions than answers, but she knew that with each passing second Gohan flew further and further away, meaning it would take that much longer to find him.
"Can you sense where he is now?" Videl was still unable to sense a person's ki like the rest of the z-fighters, but from what she had learned from Bulma and Chi-Chi in the Otherworld, Goku could instantly transmit anywhere as long as he could sense a ki. She was hoping that Goku could find Gohan and take her to him. At least that was her brilliant plan at the moment.
Goku paused for a minute as he closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling out for Gohan's ki. The instant he did, Gohan masked his ki, obviously not wanting to be found. Goku sighed in disappointment.
"No I can't. He just masked it. I have an idea though. You can still sense him correct?" Videl nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, tell me when it feels like he's stopped moving and we'll see if I can take you there when I look with you."
"Alright thank you Goku." Videl murmured. She was too busy worrying about Gohan and following his movements to be concerned with much else. Goku noticed this and walked away to join what was left of his family on the lookout.
As Videl continued to stare over the edge of the lookout, she failed to notice her father cautiously approaching her.
"Videl?" Hercule's once booming voice sounded very small and timid as he addressed his daughter.
"Yes daddy?" Videl answered without turning around.
"I was just wondering, that boy you."
"He has a name daddy." Videl interrupted, slightly irritated. "Call him Gohan."
"Okay. Gohan, he, he was that little boy wasn't he?"
Videl knew exactly what her father was referring to and answered accordingly.
"Yes he was." Videl was in no mood to indulge her father and kept her answers to the bare minimum.
"So you know then? Everything?" If Videl had been facing her father, she might have burst out laughing. As it was, the Saiyans and Nameks blessed with superior hearing than humans, were having trouble controlling their laughter at the scene unfolding before them. Hercule was cowering behind his daughter, afraid of what she would say.
Yet another sigh escaped Videl's lips as she answered her father's question.
"Yes daddy, I know everything."
Hesitantly, Hercule asked the question he feared the most. He had several faults, being a shameless fake was tops on the list, but he did love his daughter with all his heart.
"Are, are you mad at me?" he asked as his lips quivered awaiting her response.
"I think disappointed would be a more appropriate word. Since Gohan and his friends seem to find the whole situation more humorous than anything else, I can't bring myself to be mad at you, but I still need a little time to sort everything out."
"I understand." Hercule replied and slowly slinked away, heading back towards Buu who was happily occupied playing with Bee.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Videl could finally sense that Gohan had stopped moving.
"Goku! He stopped moving!" She almost shouted, her excitement getting the best of her.
Quickly, Goku was at her side and she could feel his hand on her shoulder as he attempted to look with her and locate Gohan. He was surprised at how easy it was to find him when he looked with Videl. Their connection was already very strong.
"Okay, hang on." He said as he put two fingers to his forehead and both he and Videl disappeared.
**********
As Gohan flew away from the lookout, he felt a twinge of guilt for abandoning Videl, but he had tried to convince himself that it was for the best. Usually flying gave him a chance to escape his thoughts and just soar above the clouds, but today his thoughts refused to leave him alone and kept drifting back to after the Cell incident. He'd promised himself that he would train only enough to be useful in a battle if need be. His mother was constantly pressuring him to study. Gohan felt that he'd let his father down by being an insufficient fighter and didn't want to not meet his mother's expectations for him. And therefore his training was relegated to the backburner. Something that was done only when there was some extra time. However, between studying, taking care of his mother, and then taking care of Goten, there hardly ever was any free time.
Gohan allowed a small smile to cross his face as he remembered back to his mother's pregnancy with Goten. Often he'd come downstairs from studying just to find his mom making peanut butter, pickle and mustard sandwiches to eat. While they seemed to be a constant craving and he consistently found himself making them for her, they were not exactly his idea of an appetizing meal so he'd relied a lot on fish and berries during those 8 and a half months. A small chuckle escaped into the air as he wondered if the ringing in his ears caused by all of the hits on the head from his mom's frying pan would ever go away.
'I can probably still hear the ringing cause she still hits me with the dang thing!'
About then, Gohan could feel his dad trying to search for his ki. Instantly Gohan masked his ki, sending a small thanks to the Old Kai for having awakened his sleeping powers. Since he wasn't actually a super saiyan when he transformed into his Mystic state, it was rather easy to mask his high ki from the others.
Gohan's thoughts returned to his mother and he remembered being extremely nervous as she gave birth to Goten. The first time he'd held the small baby he promised Goten that he would never allow him to grow up always fearing for his life like he himself had had to do and he would never let Goten get involved in fighting with the z fighters.
'What a promise that was.' Gohan thought sarcastically. 'The first time they had to fight, I let them die.'
What was Majin Buu's response when Gohan said he was going to show Buu why Goten looked up to him?
'He doesn't. In fact he wonders why you let me take him.'
What Gohan had said before was true. He was trained better than that and had not allowed the statement to bother him during the fight. However, now that everything was finished, he allowed himself to dwell on what had been said. And it hurt.
'It never should have come to that anyways! Vegeta constantly warned you that a warrior should always be ready, even in times of peace, and yet you didn't listen! You let them all down again!'
Gohan could feel tears beginning to form at the corners of his eyes. Before they fell down his face, the aura that blazed around him evaporated them instantly. Finally, Gohan reached his destination and flew down to the ground. It was a small, uninhabited tropical island on the opposite side of the world from where his house was located, complete with white sand beaches, palm trees and an unobstructed view of the world around him. Very frequently he would come here after the Cell Games to be alone with his thoughts. None of the other Z Fighters knew of the place and he'd come to think of it as his own personal escape.
Slowly he lowered himself down to the ground and stared up at the sky. He had thought that after Cell, the Earth would have been safe. No one else would bother the Earth and therefore he wouldn't have to train again to save it. Majin Buu had shattered that belief. He now realized just how fast things could go from peaceful to completely out of control. And he had no intention of letting them get out of control again. He knew what he had to do.
Suddenly, he felt a high rise in the ki around him and then just as fast it vanished. He quickly snapped his head around to face the direction it came from and saw a large pair of blue eyes staring back at him. Videl had found him.
*Please be kind and review!*
Gohan looked around the lookout at all the happy and smiling faces. Even the corners of Vegeta's lips were curved upward in a smile as he celebrated the defeat of Majin Buu with his family. Videl was wrapped up in a giant bear hug by her father, who once again was the supposed 'savior of the world,' Krillin was jumping for joy with Marron in his arms while his wife, 18, looked on in amusement. Gohan was shocked to see a smile gracing 18's face. While he had, on extremely rare occasions, seen the stubborn Prince break out in an actual smile instead of his usual smirk, he had never once seen 18 smile.
"Show me the spirit bomb daddy!" Gohan vaguely registered his brother's voice as he flew around in his father's arms.
"Not now son." Goku answered, his voice ringing with laughter.
His mother and grandfather were all surrounding Goku, each with their own unique variation of the Son grin plastered upon their faces. Gohan however stood a few feet away from his celebrating family with an almost sad look on his face. Of course he was happy that Majin Buu was defeated and the universe was now free from danger for the time being. However, the whole incident with Buu had only revealed to Gohan how incredibly naïve he had been. He barely heard his father's speech about how he was given a life by the Old Kai that had unlocked his mystic powers, and how Goku was now going to come back and live with them in their small house. Gohan was too busy trying to sort through his troubling thoughts.
After Cell, there had been a brief period in which he was still the happy, naïve boy he had been before the whole incident with the androids. His father had chosen to stay in the Otherworld and therefore he was okay with Goku's decision. Unfortunately, his entire world began to tumble down the moment Chi-Chi had announced she was pregnant again. Immediately Gohan felt the guilt surge through his body again. He was going to have a younger sibling, one who would never get to know their father, all because he had been too arrogant and cocky to listen to his dad's and Piccolo's advice and finish off Cell when he had the chance. The backs of his eyes began to burn with unshed tears as he once again saw the bloated Cell in front of him with his father ready to whisk him away to save the earth at the expense of his own life.
'Hey, you put up a good fight Gohan. I'm proud of you.'
'What?! Daddy?!'
'Take care of your mother for me she needs you. Tell her I had to do this Gohan. Goodbye my son.'
Gohan remembered his father's face suddenly switch to the seriousness that was reserved only for when he was fighting as he used his instant transmission to take Cell away from the earth.
'My fault, it was all my fault. Why couldn't I have listened to you dad?' Gohan thought in anguish as he stared off into space.
"Gohan!!" Gohan shook his head and blinked his eyes as he was startled out of his flashback.
"Gohan, are you alright? You've been spacing out for a while now." His father's concerned face appeared in front of his son.
"Yeah sure, I'm fine." He said unconvincingly.
"Okay, if you say so." Goku said as he raised an eyebrow. "Look we're going to head on back home. You ready to go?"
"No, I'm not quite ready to go back home yet. You guys go ahead and I'll catch up with you."
"Alright, if that's what you want." Goku said to Gohan's back as he walked closer to the edge of the lookout.
When he reached the edge, Gohan looked back towards the happy faces remaining on the lookout. When his eyes met with Videl's, his shoulders slumped, his head fell and he sighed. He knew what he had to do. He quickly looked away as he saw Videl start walking towards him and he jumped off the lookout, powered up using his new mystic abilities and flew away at an incredible speed, even by Z Fighter standards.
Videl saw the look in Gohan's eyes that she had only caught fleeting glimpses of in the past. For those brief moments Gohan looked so tortured, so haunted by something in his past that Videl swore she could actually feel his pain flowing through her body. She broke into a slight run as she raced to the edge of the lookout to see where Gohan had gone. As she looked over the edge, she could see nothing, Gohan had already sped over the horizon. Quickly she turned around and confronted Goku.
"Where did he go?!" She asked, urgency dripping from her voice.
"I don't know. He just said he would meet us back home and then he took off. Is there something wrong?" Goku asked concerned.
"I have no idea. I just feel like Gohan is extremely upset over something and I don't want him to be alone. It's strange, I could have sworn I felt how he was feeling and it was sorta the same way I knew he was still alive."
"Ohhh. its starting." Goku nodded in understanding.
"Well." Videl stopped, leaving a question hanging in the air.
"Well, what?" Goku asked confused.
Videl sighed, trying to keep her temper under control. Getting mad at one of the strongest beings in the universe was probably not a good idea and besides, she needed an answer.
"You wouldn't happen to know how I knew that Gohan was still alive and how I could feel what he was feeling would you?" she asked very patiently.
"Yes I would." Goku answered factually and Videl felt her hopes rise. "However, its not my place to tell you. That job is Gohan's, if he decides its right."
Unfortunately, this left Videl with more questions than answers, but she knew that with each passing second Gohan flew further and further away, meaning it would take that much longer to find him.
"Can you sense where he is now?" Videl was still unable to sense a person's ki like the rest of the z-fighters, but from what she had learned from Bulma and Chi-Chi in the Otherworld, Goku could instantly transmit anywhere as long as he could sense a ki. She was hoping that Goku could find Gohan and take her to him. At least that was her brilliant plan at the moment.
Goku paused for a minute as he closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling out for Gohan's ki. The instant he did, Gohan masked his ki, obviously not wanting to be found. Goku sighed in disappointment.
"No I can't. He just masked it. I have an idea though. You can still sense him correct?" Videl nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, tell me when it feels like he's stopped moving and we'll see if I can take you there when I look with you."
"Alright thank you Goku." Videl murmured. She was too busy worrying about Gohan and following his movements to be concerned with much else. Goku noticed this and walked away to join what was left of his family on the lookout.
As Videl continued to stare over the edge of the lookout, she failed to notice her father cautiously approaching her.
"Videl?" Hercule's once booming voice sounded very small and timid as he addressed his daughter.
"Yes daddy?" Videl answered without turning around.
"I was just wondering, that boy you."
"He has a name daddy." Videl interrupted, slightly irritated. "Call him Gohan."
"Okay. Gohan, he, he was that little boy wasn't he?"
Videl knew exactly what her father was referring to and answered accordingly.
"Yes he was." Videl was in no mood to indulge her father and kept her answers to the bare minimum.
"So you know then? Everything?" If Videl had been facing her father, she might have burst out laughing. As it was, the Saiyans and Nameks blessed with superior hearing than humans, were having trouble controlling their laughter at the scene unfolding before them. Hercule was cowering behind his daughter, afraid of what she would say.
Yet another sigh escaped Videl's lips as she answered her father's question.
"Yes daddy, I know everything."
Hesitantly, Hercule asked the question he feared the most. He had several faults, being a shameless fake was tops on the list, but he did love his daughter with all his heart.
"Are, are you mad at me?" he asked as his lips quivered awaiting her response.
"I think disappointed would be a more appropriate word. Since Gohan and his friends seem to find the whole situation more humorous than anything else, I can't bring myself to be mad at you, but I still need a little time to sort everything out."
"I understand." Hercule replied and slowly slinked away, heading back towards Buu who was happily occupied playing with Bee.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Videl could finally sense that Gohan had stopped moving.
"Goku! He stopped moving!" She almost shouted, her excitement getting the best of her.
Quickly, Goku was at her side and she could feel his hand on her shoulder as he attempted to look with her and locate Gohan. He was surprised at how easy it was to find him when he looked with Videl. Their connection was already very strong.
"Okay, hang on." He said as he put two fingers to his forehead and both he and Videl disappeared.
**********
As Gohan flew away from the lookout, he felt a twinge of guilt for abandoning Videl, but he had tried to convince himself that it was for the best. Usually flying gave him a chance to escape his thoughts and just soar above the clouds, but today his thoughts refused to leave him alone and kept drifting back to after the Cell incident. He'd promised himself that he would train only enough to be useful in a battle if need be. His mother was constantly pressuring him to study. Gohan felt that he'd let his father down by being an insufficient fighter and didn't want to not meet his mother's expectations for him. And therefore his training was relegated to the backburner. Something that was done only when there was some extra time. However, between studying, taking care of his mother, and then taking care of Goten, there hardly ever was any free time.
Gohan allowed a small smile to cross his face as he remembered back to his mother's pregnancy with Goten. Often he'd come downstairs from studying just to find his mom making peanut butter, pickle and mustard sandwiches to eat. While they seemed to be a constant craving and he consistently found himself making them for her, they were not exactly his idea of an appetizing meal so he'd relied a lot on fish and berries during those 8 and a half months. A small chuckle escaped into the air as he wondered if the ringing in his ears caused by all of the hits on the head from his mom's frying pan would ever go away.
'I can probably still hear the ringing cause she still hits me with the dang thing!'
About then, Gohan could feel his dad trying to search for his ki. Instantly Gohan masked his ki, sending a small thanks to the Old Kai for having awakened his sleeping powers. Since he wasn't actually a super saiyan when he transformed into his Mystic state, it was rather easy to mask his high ki from the others.
Gohan's thoughts returned to his mother and he remembered being extremely nervous as she gave birth to Goten. The first time he'd held the small baby he promised Goten that he would never allow him to grow up always fearing for his life like he himself had had to do and he would never let Goten get involved in fighting with the z fighters.
'What a promise that was.' Gohan thought sarcastically. 'The first time they had to fight, I let them die.'
What was Majin Buu's response when Gohan said he was going to show Buu why Goten looked up to him?
'He doesn't. In fact he wonders why you let me take him.'
What Gohan had said before was true. He was trained better than that and had not allowed the statement to bother him during the fight. However, now that everything was finished, he allowed himself to dwell on what had been said. And it hurt.
'It never should have come to that anyways! Vegeta constantly warned you that a warrior should always be ready, even in times of peace, and yet you didn't listen! You let them all down again!'
Gohan could feel tears beginning to form at the corners of his eyes. Before they fell down his face, the aura that blazed around him evaporated them instantly. Finally, Gohan reached his destination and flew down to the ground. It was a small, uninhabited tropical island on the opposite side of the world from where his house was located, complete with white sand beaches, palm trees and an unobstructed view of the world around him. Very frequently he would come here after the Cell Games to be alone with his thoughts. None of the other Z Fighters knew of the place and he'd come to think of it as his own personal escape.
Slowly he lowered himself down to the ground and stared up at the sky. He had thought that after Cell, the Earth would have been safe. No one else would bother the Earth and therefore he wouldn't have to train again to save it. Majin Buu had shattered that belief. He now realized just how fast things could go from peaceful to completely out of control. And he had no intention of letting them get out of control again. He knew what he had to do.
Suddenly, he felt a high rise in the ki around him and then just as fast it vanished. He quickly snapped his head around to face the direction it came from and saw a large pair of blue eyes staring back at him. Videl had found him.
*Please be kind and review!*