Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Fallen Ones ❯ The Fallen Ones ( Chapter 1 )

The Fallen Ones

The leaves whispered amongst themselves as the Saiyan walked beneath them. A light breeze had just sprung up and it made a few strands of gray hair blow into his eyes. He angrily flicked them away with a calloused, scarred hand. The path was familiar to him, all too familiar he thought. The grass was new and green underneath his booted feet as he came to the end of the overgrown dirt path. He stopped and laid an age-speckled hand on the trunk of a nearby tree. His feet grew heavy and his heart sank, as it always did when he came here. The gently rolling hills in front of him were green, frosted with the blue and yellow of wildflowers. The mountains, miles and miles off in the distance, were a deep purple capped with white, as they seemed to reach right up to the warm spring sun. Several old, gnarled trees topped the hills, providing a cool shade as they seemed to whisper the sad tales of all those here. Goku's heart wrenched at the site. How could a place so full of sorrow, grief, and tears be so beautiful?

As he trod among the stones it was as if a two-ton weight was being dropped on his once broad, but now stooped, shoulders. He held his head as high as he could, trying to muster some of his old Saiyan pride. But when he reached the far side of one of the hills, any remnant of that pride left him. One of the old trees made the worn stones before him dappled with sunlight and speckled with shadows. Goku took two steps forward, using iron control to try and keep back an ocean of tears. He stepped forward some more and fell to his knees before the first stone, his control shattering as a flood of tears burst from his obsidian eyes. He bent forward, over his knees and cried as he hadn't let himself cry for years. It was as if a dam had burst, the tears from many years worth of pain and heartache falling through his fingers to soak the ground just inches from his face. The stone stood before him, as silent as ever, seeming to loom over him.

He raised his head, tears still streaming down his careworn face. He gently brushed aside a vine of white flowers that draped the stone and covered the telltale words. He gingerly traced them, and read them, even though he knew them each by heart- 'Chi-Chi: Beloved wife, mother, and friend. May she live on in the other world and watch over us all.' Goku balled his hand into a fist and yanked it away, letting the flowering vines fall back into their original places. He shut his eyes and sent a silent prayer out to whoever watched him from above to keep his wife safe and happy until he could join her. He knelt there in the new grass for a few minutes, then moved over a few feet to the next stone. Once again he had to brush a creeping vine aside. This stone bore a similar verse on it: simple, yet heartfelt. As his red-rimmed eyes skimmed this stone they once again filled up with tears. He blinked and swiped a hand across his watering eyes, yet they still spilled over. He sniffed and bowed his head in prayer for his beloved first born son. As he moved to the next grave, he looked down the row. "They're all there, Goku. All of them. Vegeta, Trunks, Bulma, Piccolo, Krillin, every last one of your friends and allies. Even Dende. And it's all you fault!" Goku put his hands over his ears and squeezed hard, as if trying to crush the awful voice. But it kept on rising, inside his head, chanting, "Your fault! Your fault! It's all your fault!" He glanced at the tomb before him and the words Goten and son stood out among all the others. More tears coursed down his lined face as the voice crescendo in his mind. He stood up, taking his hands from his head. All the events of today and the past few years were overwhelming. His emotions swirled inside him like a tornado of feeling. Anger, grief, guilt, all exploded in him. It was too much. He clenched his fists and screamed, his power-level rising as it had not done for years.

Goku had continued to fight after the deaths of his friends and family, often increasing his power-level and going Super Saiyan or beyond. But after a heart attack that nearly claimed his life his doctor had forbidden him from anymore fighting or raising his power-level. His already shattered heart ached even more after he was told this. Fighting had become an escape, a way to forget what he had done. When he was fighting only one thing mattered: the fight itself. When you were fighting all other thoughts were driven from your mind. The sweating, tiredness, bruises, and gashes were nothing to Goku. As long as he could escape from his torment for a few minutes.

His scream seemed to fill the air, shattering the peaceful resting place of the fallen ones. The sound reverberated within the hills, until they seemed to be screaming back at him. His voice was filled with anguish as he went from normal to Super Saiyan 4 in the blink of an eye. Clouds of dirt and grass and his own pure energy swirled around him. His fists were clenched at his sides, and they dripped shimmering drops of blood from where is nails had cut deep into his palms. The crimson blood dripped to the ground and soaked into the moist soil that was piled on top of the ones he loved. The swirling cloud around him was now all pure Saiyan energy and it crackled and hissed in the warm spring air. His voice kept rising, getting higher pitched now. At this point his feet were floating a foot off the ground and he was slowly revolving. His voice rose in volume and pitch. Then, without warning, he clutched at his chest, right over his aching heart. Only this time it was a physical pain. He stopped screaming and gasped as the pain in his chest intensified, knifing through him like never before. All of a sudden there was one final burst of pain and he shrieked, falling back to the ground on his side. He was where he belonged now, with his loved ones.

As he struggled with remaining concious, the words to a popular song ran through his clouding mind:
Think of us and we'll be there,
In your heart forever.
Sometimes when you're unsure,
Sometimes when you're afraid,
At times it's hard to live,
With the choices you have made.
Turn around and we'll be there,
Always by your side.
When it's time to stand the test,
I know you'll stand above the rest.
When you try and find your way,...
WE'LL BE THERE!
Goku closed his eyes and embraced the blackness which was trying to enclose him, as he settled into the soft grass. He never got up again.

~~~~~~~

When his body was found later that day, cold and stiff, his eyes were closed and his face was relaxed in a contented smile. Almost like a parent looking tenderly upon one of their children. In a few days time he was buried next to his wife, at the head of the row of his friends and family. Not long after, rumors circulated and that hill became known as 'The Hill of the Fallen Ones'. Little did the people know, that Goku watched down from the Otherworld above, and smiled. He turned as Gohan laid a hand on his shoulder and grinned at him. Goku grinned back, that trademark Son grin, and turned his back on Earth. He never saw it again.