Author`s Note: *Currently in a bodycast.* So yeah... Piccolo managed to pry Gohan off of me. I think all the blood lossage made me use a Madonna song, but anyway... If you`re wondering, I tend to rank the Sailor Senshi/Scouts as the equal opposites of the Z Senshi/Fighters. While the Z cast tend to be a good millions of times more powerful physically(which includes Ki Attacks and such), the Moon cast tend to be a good load stronger in magics, to the extent that they could probably smack a guy like Babidee down in a few minutes and not give it any other thought. Just how I do things though, in case anyone was wondering...
*Cue Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings.* Hope you enjoy the last part, it was a blast writing it, that`s for sure!
Disclaimer: I don`t own it. Whee...
Frozen
One of the key lessons these hardships provded to him was a simple fact that virtually anyone with a brain could understand. Grief sucks. It`s that simple, and right now, Son Gohan had a lot of grief. He had enough grief to fuel the world`s pity parties for decades and then save some for his own personal use. He had apathy to others` grief right now, and there was surely a lot to go around.
Tokyo city lay in ruins. A virtual cataclysm had happened during the battle against Grand Enforcer, it made any Godzilla movie look like a toddler in kindergarden. Fires raged through what remained, thousands were dead, thousands more dying and thousands of others left to pick up the pieces. Battered beyond belief, Tokyo practically didn`t exist anymore. Army vehicles rolled in as rescue efforts began, the nation of Japan`s shock having been too great to respond during the actual battle itself. Even if they had, they wouldn`t have done much.
Gohan didn`t even register their existence. The remaining sailor senshi were all probably mourning the loss of one of their own, assuming they even knew she was dead. It was likely they knew Rei and Yuuichirou were gone though, possibly dead as well. Hotaru`s demise still stung at him at the moment. The fact he could`ve ended the battle without any effort was bringing back painful memories of Cell. At least this time the damnable monstrosity wouldn`t come back though, Gohan had made doubly sure of that.
People ran around and an explosion sounded off beside him as he blankly walked ahead. He looked like the survivor of some warzone or another. Hell, given the condition of the city it was almost a given that he would look the way he did. Blood ran down from a good many wounds, all of them minor, bruises had formed on him as well. These too were minor.
He could have ended it at the start and he didn`t. Hotaru was dead because of it. She was dead. Because he just had to go and keep his trump card a secret until it was too late.
Sometimes it sucked to be him.
You only see what your eyes want to see
How can life be what you want it to be
You're frozen
When your heart's not open
Pieces of debris littered the streets. Gohan paid no attention to them. People ran by trying to help survivors, trying to clear through debris he himself would move with a thought. He didn`t even notice they existed. A man died in front of him, running from a burning building as it was wracked by another explosion. Debris ran him through and he was impaled there, soon ripped in half beneath the collar.
Gohan didn`t even realize the man was there to begin with. An unnatural calm with an unnatural numbness had settled over him as the now dead-faced, battle shocked youth stepped over the debris and the body and continued. Tears wouldn`t even fall by now, the sobering fact that the person he now realized - even if he was too young to know it during their short time together - that he should`ve spent the rest of his life with was gone. And it was his fault.
All because he wouldn`t use that damned trumpcard. First it had killed his father, then it killed Hotaru and now it was slowly killing what remained of his humanity. Never before in his life had Son Gohan been so utterly numbed to the suffering of others. He had spent time and effort burying the Nameks, essentially on his own, as a child. He had saved the world almost on his own twice before he was even ten years old. He had even saved a pair of villages from mass paranoia and quasi-enslavement mere days prior to the Cell Games.
But now? Amid the trials of pain and death that had once been known as Tokyo City, he found nothing. The people needed him the most now, they got no help from him. Apathy had taken over, grief shocked apathy. It was the kind that, no matter the age, one got when a soulmate dies. The apathy to the agony around oneself, the apathy to one`s own physical pain. Right now Gohan felt like crawling into a little hole in the middle of no where and blowing himself up somehow. Just ending it all. Getting rid of himself and the problem in one fell swoop.
Maybe that way he`d see her again...
You're so consumed with how much you get
You waste your time with hate and regret
You're broken
When your heart's not open
It was then that he finally noted the figure who had somewhere along the way ended up walking with him. She was tall, tan, green haired and easily recognizable. Gohan and Setsuna said nothing to one another, only mutual bitterness and mutual resentment over what had happened. They also shared something stronger, a mutual grief that numbed one and made the other revert to habits long since abandoned in favor of other things. For one, there was the stately walk Setsuna had assumed. It was something she hadn`t done since her brief period as the Moon Queen, in a Time of this Time, but not. She had also reverted to chewing on the right side of her tongue lightly, another habit created from stress.
Between them, the air was thick enough to be tangible, thick enough to be cut with a knife.
Neither said a thing, but the walk continued, even as Gohan closed his eyes and just wandered along, tracing his path via Setsuna`s ever varying energy signature. Setsuna used the oppurtunity to wipe the excess moisture from her eyes. One tear was enough. One tear, one daughter, one death, one destiny.
Setsuna knew it was only an intermediate thing at the worst.
But it still hurt like hell.
If I could melt your heart
We'd never be apart
Give yourself to me
You hold the key
Clutching her staff lightly towards her chest, Setsuna wandered on, even as a pair of visitors trailed them from above. The devestation was mighty indeed, but it was scarce compared to the outright bloodletting of a Majin prince who`s own grandparents hadn`t even been born yet. Goten and Bra knew enough not to interfere though, they did as they knew and they knew what they did. Bra, now faded from Super Saiyan, had managed to hold off on any sour comments about not getting congratulated properly by everyone but Goten, who had broken into outright celebration with her. She knew enough not to anger anyone who could kill an entity her adopted brother could only chancingly defeat at best.
Goten however, had lost his apathy for once. He was showing a similar concern to what had been shown for him when the two first met.
He was also eying Setsuna like a hawk.
The city remained as a raging inferno, even as a soothing mist, deeply blue and deeply comforting, drifted through the streets, driven by a blue haired young girl who was doing her best to give the rescue crews a bleeding chance in hell to actually save anyone. The fog was quick moving, almost as quick as the quartet that had, by now, arrived at their destination.
Others were waiting for them. Usagi and Mamoru, the latter holding a slightly beaten up Chibi Usa, stood in their path. They were all in normal form now, even though it left them exposed.
"What happened to Rei? And what about Hotaru?" Usagi demanded angrily, glaring at the apathetic Gohan. Setsuna said nothing as the funeral procession continued, and neither did Gohan, even as Bra and Goten touched down. Bra was quicker, darting by Usagi to check on Chibi Usa while Goten limped over to the group, shaking his head. "Hotaru is dead. I don`t know about that Rei girl but she seems to be missing, same with her boyfriend," he stated quietly. "I`m sorry," he admitted finally while stepping around the odango haired blonde and continuing on the walk. Bra gave the now standing Chibi Usa a bearhug and the pair chattered briefly before the aqua green haired youth, sword still sheathed on her back, moved off after Goten.
The Chiba family remained behind. Both of the girls bearing the name Usagi had broken down, hugging one another, and Mamoru was hugging both of them in as soothing a way as the man could.
Love is a bird, she needs to fly
Let all the hurt inside of you die
You're frozen
When your heart's not open
"What now?" Gohan finally asked. His voice rang out with a stillness that shocked the heart cold.
"You all head home," Setsuna replied just as coldly.
Goten and Bra moved to the side of the group, and for several more minutes, there was nothing but walking. Silent walking. And then they arrived at a cratered zone in the middle of what had been Tokyo Tower. Setsuna halted and looked down, muttering something beneath her breath repeatedly.
Gohan stepped off to the side and hugged Bra good-bye. It was the first gesture he had made that signalled his sanity was vaguely intact. "Bye," Bra said a bit hesitantly while stepping away. Gohan said nothing, just gave a wave before staring down.
And that was when the brotherly avoidance finally broke. In a gesture that shocked even the one who carried it out, and a gesture that he hadn`t performed once in over a decade, Son Goten did the one thing he had always wondered if he would ever do again.
He walked up to Gohan, reached out, and drew his older-but-younger brother into a hug. Not a word was said, but for once it was actually not needed. Goten set Gohan back down and gave a nod, walking off after Bra. "You`ll be sent straight to your own timeline," Setsuna informed them for no other reason than to remove apprehension.
Gohan spoke again. "Goten? Bra?" He called out. Both glanced over at him curiously.
"Keep training. You aren`t far off from surpassing the limits you`ve got. And when you do..." He paused. "Give Vegeta a piece of mind for me," he ordered. Both smiled faintly and vanished into the portal.
Silence again as he stepped forward, cracking his neck.
Silence ended as he found the way blocked by a key-shaped staff. "I said I would explain things, didn`t I?" She asked. "Why are you so sad about Hotaru?" He asked without even bothering to warm up. Setsuna replied quickly. "She was my daughter," she replied. "Why was it that Yuuichirou seemed so familiar? Is he really Yamcha or something?"
Setsuna finally let out a low chuckle. "No, but you`ll know him by a different name the next time you see him, he`ll also be about the same age as your father," she replied with a cryptic tone. "Will I ever see Hotaru again?" He asked.
That was the harder question. Setsuna shut her eyes. "As she was, no. But in truth, you already do know her by now, Son Gohan. Her energy changes, but the soul remains the same," she stated. "Her name, as you know it..." Setsuna paused.
Gohan waited.
Setsuna gave the answer. For some reason, he wasn`t surprised.
If I could melt your heart
We'd never be apart
Give yourself to me
You hold the key
Gohan nodded, reaching back up to his shirt and finding his grief gone. The crystalline shard remained though, until he plucked it from the kanji of his father`s name and glanced to Setsuna again. "And this?" He asked. "In all lives, a senshi has hidden power. Hotaru`s power lied only within the soul, and as she was here, that power was unlocked at a fraction of it`s potential. The girl has it too, but it doesn`t rely solely on the part of her soul she can freely access."
Gohan eyed the gem contemplatively. "This is a key then?"
"Something like that," Setsuna answered. Gohan gave a nod and turned towards the portal. Shard in hand, he took a deep breath and bent his knees to jump in.
"See you again, Firefly," he thought. It would be nice to be home again...
June 6th, 757 AD, 25th Century(standard)
Yuuichirou was nervous. What new father wouldn`t be? He and Rei had new lives now, new names to go with them, they`d become themselves. No fighting for the world, no splitting apart. Even if his job kept them far apart they were close where, and when it counted. And his boss was understanding, so he was free to be here for the birth of their first child. A baby girl too. Yuuichirou had wanted a son, but something about having a daughter appealed to him. Maybe it meant he would be free to be the lighthearted goof he had become at heart, or maybe it just meant he didn`t have to work as hard as most fathers should to give their sons some sort of male role model. Rei would make the perfect mother, right?
Regardless, the doctor led him through the hallway and eventually came to a single window that peeked into a room filled with newborn girls. His daughter`s crib was marked with #18[*], and beneath it was what he could swear to be the prettiest child he had ever set his eyes on. His own. His daughter. He and Rei`s offspring.
Yuuichirou wanted to jump through the glass and smother the infant with affection, but he restrained himself. "Do you and your wife have a name for her, yet, sir?" The nurse asked, having been taking information on the fly as of late. A baby boom following a power outage nine months earlier had meant the hospitla was rather busy this past month. Yuuichirou took a moment to think. There had been several names that appealed to him. Helen, Christine, and othes. But none seemed to equal the name that came to mind as he turned away to the nurse.
Nobody caught the fact she had a fairly odd birthmark on her forehead, that glew briefly and faded just as quickly.
"Do you have a name for her?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"Videl Satan."
Hope you enjoyed my second outing into SM/DBZ crossovers! Leave a review, see ya next time! *Somehow gimps his way back over to the DBZ story section, despite his body cast.*
Gohan: *Snort. Blasts Sh33p again.*
OW!!!
Piccolo: ... Sh33p *Winces as Sh33p gets blasted again.* Out...