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Too nervous to do anything else but comply, Hercule followed Gohan out of the shop. “What’s your name anyway?” Hercule asked. “I mean, if you don’t mind me asking…” Something about the odd glow around the guy seemed to be brimming with power, and it scared Hercule a lot. ‘If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he could blast me dead where I stand. But he’s a ghost, he can’t REALLY hurt me…right? What am I thinking? This can’t be a GHOST for Kami’s sake! It’s a trick – it has to be a trick…’

“Gohan,” The strange glowing man answered. “My name is Gohan.”

“Right. Last name?”

“Does it really matter?”

“Well, you know for, umm…reference purposes…”

“Trying to find out whether or not I am actually a real person or just a figment of your imagination, are you?” Gohan smiled a little when he said that. “I’m dead alright. I can take you to my grave if you want.”

“Uh…no need to do that.” ‘Graves – why on earth would he take me to graves? I don’t LIKE graveyards.’

He seemed to sense Hercule’s hesitation. “Have a thing about graveyards?”

“Not really fond of them, but nothing against them I suppose.” Hercule mumbled back.

“Oh. You are a physic or something, aren’t you? Don’t you like that sort of thing?”

“Look, being a…I am a fraud, okay? There, I said it and quiet down. People are coming and I am going to look silly talking to myself – if you aren’t really there.”

Gohan shrugged as if he was about to say something, but didn’t. “Son,” he then said. “My last name is Son.”

That stopped Hercule from whatever he was going to do; stopped him dead in his tracks. “You’re that guy! The one that according to the rumours was trying to hold off the androids single handedly.”

“Didn’t really have a choice there.”

He then looked and noticed that the man had only one arm. “Oh sorry, figure of speech.”

“I meant I was the only one that was capable of doing it at the time. Had a student though – maybe he can finish what I couldn’t.”

“Think he has a chance?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Really believe in him, huh?”

“I know him almost as well as I know myself. He’ll do it, eventually.”

“So, is he the reason you uh…didn’t continue on?”

“What?”

“You know…find your way to Snake Way and all that.”

“Oh right. I suppose, people still need me here. I think. Besides, there’s…someone I care about and I just…can’t leave them. Not without knowing they are going to be okay.”

“You never told them how you felt, huh?”

“Never seemed to be an appropriate time. Besides, it was…complicated.”

“Already seeing someone?”

“Is this really any of your business?”

“You said you needed my help.”

“Weren’t you going to verify that I was a real ghost first?”

“Oh yeah, right.”

‘This guy may be easy to confuse and manipulate. I say we keep him around.’

‘FRED!! We can’t force him to help us. It…wouldn’t be right.’
‘Who cares about…You. Right, I forgot.’

***

Anyway, for the next couple of hours Hercule tried to confirm Gohan’s identity as a ghost. However, once he did he totally freaked out and ran for the hills. Gohan, still worried about Trunks and Bulma, went to check on them first. He could always check up on *cough* the old fake *cough* ‘Hercule the Mystic’ later. So he headed over to Bulma’s house.

***

“Hey mom, I’m home.” Trunks called out as he walked in the door.

“Trunks! It’s good to see you! You still have a pulse, I see.” Said Bulma, as she hugged her son in greeting.

“Worrying about me again?”

“I probably won’t ever stop. I am your mom, you know – it’s my job. One of them anyway. You must be hungry – I have dinner ready.”

“Still fussing over me, huh?”

“Again, I am your mother – it’s a privilege and I intend to abuse it.” Bulma told him as they walked into the kitchen.

Trunks sighed. There were days he felt he would never understand his mother. ‘What am I thinking? I think I’ll never understand her all the time!’ Another thing he found himself thinking about were the androids and revenge – not just for the countless victims and the Z fighters, but also his friend, his master and his brother, Gohan. ‘Kami Gohan, if only you knew how much I miss you. Why did you go alone, darn it? We could have faced them together. Why did you leave me?’ There, he had admitted it to himself. He felt like Gohan had personally abandoned him. The thought of it felt like a hot knife twisting in his gut. Gohan, his master, his friend, his brother…maybe even more? Where did THAT come from? They couldn’t be more than that, could they? Trunks felt a closer connection to Gohan than anyone else he had ever known. However, if he felt anything more for the older demi sayian, he didn’t know what it was and frankly it was useless anyway. Gohan was dead. Dead. The thought of that felt like a wound that would never really heal. He SO wanted Gohan back, to wake up from this nightmare and Gohan would still be there – watching out for him like he used to, maybe letting Trunks watch out for him for a change.

“Trunks?” Trunks looked down at his plate. He was simply toying with his food, barely eating it or tasting it, and now he looked at his fork and saw that he had come close to eating the wax droppings from the candle in the centre of the table. “Are you okay?” His mother asked.

Trunks got up and got another fork, and moved the rest of his food as far away from the candle and the puddle of wax on his plate as he could. “Yeah mom, I’m fine.”

The look on his mother’s face said quite blatantly that she didn’t believe him in the slightest, but she just shook her head. “If you say so, hon.”

***

Gohan looked in on mother and son, wishing that there was something he could do – something he could say to help the situation in the room – but they couldn’t see him. That was obvious when he tried to get Bulma’s attention when she was cooking dinner. He all but threw croutons at her head and she paid him no mind at all. He tried getting Trunks’ attention too, but there was no luck. Neither Trunks or Bulma could see him, or hear him. He had tried similar acts on the street on his way to the house. It would seem that the only person that could see or hear him was Hercule. So he was going to have to depend on Hercule to communicate with Trunks and Bulma.

‘Took you long enough to figure that out.’ Muttered Fred. ‘So we going to find the fraud or what?’

‘We know where he is.’ Gohan replied. ‘Besides, I want to stick around here a little longer.’

‘What for? They are fine! What use is there in sticking around?’

Gohan didn’t have an answer for Fred, and watched Bulma and Trunks clean up then sit down and listen to music. They were working on a puzzle together – some sort of mother and son activity. Then a song began to play. It was one that Bulma would play sometimes – she said it made her think of Vegeta. As he listened, Gohan couldn’t help but feel a familiar tug of…something.

***

Trunks sighed and looked over at the radio. This was too much, however, he was certain that if he touched the radio, his mom would kill him. However, he couldn’t help but feel a little angry. He felt like the radio was mocking him, and he had to resist the urge to blast the darn thing to smithereens. Fortunately, his mother seemed to have no clue on how he felt. He had nothing against the song but the words today – they seemed to have a different meaning…

(a/n: The song is Unchained Melody, from the movie Ghost)

Oh my love
My darling
I’ve hungered for your touch
A long lonely time
As time goes by so slowly
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love
To me
Lonely rivers flow
To the sea
To the sea
To the open arms
Of the sea
Lonely rivers sigh
“Wait for me, wait for me”
I’ll be coming home
Wait for me.

Oh my love
My darling
I’ve hungered for your touch
A long lonely time
As time goes by so slowly
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love
To me
To …
Ooooooooooh.

‘I miss you Gohan.’ Trunks thought miserably. ‘I miss you SO much! Why wasn’t I stronger? Why couldn’t I keep you from leaving me and going off to die?’

***

Gohan sensed pain coming from his friend and wished more than anything he could comfort him. ‘There is nothing I can do though…is there?’

‘Have you tried getting him to sense you?’ Fred suggested. ‘Using your feelings or your ki? Some crap like that?’

Fred meant to be sarcastic, but Gohan was desperate enough to try anything right then. He concentrated his ki and emotions the best he could, and then reached out his hand to touch Trunks’ hand, to try and hold it just for a moment. ‘I miss you, Trunks. I would do anything to be here with you right now. You know that, right?’

‘He can’t hear you.’

‘I know that, you asshole – now shut up! I am trying to have a moment here!’

The feeling that was Fred went dormant. Gohan hugged Trunks – he probably couldn’t feel the gesture but Gohan did his best. Then he got up and left the room, leaving mother and son alone.

‘You done with acts of futility now?’ Fred grumbled.

‘Yeah.’

‘Shall we go see the fraud now?’
‘You know, maybe we shouldn’t call him that. He can see me, so maybe he isn’t a complete fraud after all.’ Gohan thought for a moment. ‘Okay, you’re right – in a way he is still a fraud. However, we could at least give him the decency of calling him his name.’

‘What is it?’

‘Hercule.’
‘I like the fraud better, but suit yourself.’ They went to Hercule’s apartment, which was just over the shop.

***

“Okay Hercule, you can handle this. This is just your imagination – there is no such things as ghosts. Your grandfather was a loony and your mother drank too much. This has never happened before – you don’t have some weird gift. You never saw some dead guy. You are in control, you are in control. Breathe in, breathe out…you have the eyes of the lion.” He then continued to break into the song that always cheered him up…(a/n: I got this from LOG2 – the song is supposedly his theme song or something)

“Feel the danger around you!
The Black darkness surrounds you!
What are you going to do?
The eyes of the lion!

Fear is the only thing holding you back!
Green pastures are ahead of you!
Move on and attack!
Don’t forget the eyes of the lion!

You have an awesome power!
It’s been within you all along
Don’t feel blue, you got the eyes of the Lion!”

***

Gohan arrived at the apartment to hear a strange noise from within.

‘What the…oh, don’t tell me…Not that stupid song again!’ Fred lamented. ‘That song should be banned, I swear. Who would listen to that trash?’

‘Someone who doesn’t know good music?’ Gohan agreed with Fred on this one though. So for the sanity of others – if not his own – Gohan found a way to destroy the evil device that was making that horrible music. ‘There, that should do it.’

“Hercule, we need to talk.”

“You are not here! You are a figment of my imagination!”

“No, I am not and we both know it. I need you to talk to some friends of mine for me. Their names are Bulma and Trunks. They are…probably in danger.”

“I am not listening…I am not listening.”

“I am not going away, Hercule.”

***

(Four hours later)

Hercule tossed and turned trying to ignore Gohan, who was on the floor singing.

“I’m Henry the Eighth, I am / Henry the Eighth I am, I am / I’m gettin’ married to the widow next door/ She’s been married seven times before / And every one was an Henry / Wouldn’t take a Willie or a Sam / I’m her eighth old man, I’m Henry / Henry the Eighth I am, I am / Henry the Eighth, I am / Second verse same as the first / I’m Henry the Eighth I am…”

(5:45 A.M)

“Ninety-nine bottles of sake on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of sake, you take one down and give it to Roshi…Ninety-eight bottles of sake on the wall. Ninety-eight bottles of sake on the wall, ninety-eight bottles of sake, you take three down and give them to Yamacha…you have one passed out Yamacha on your floor. Ninety-five bottles of sake on the wall, ninety-five bottles of sake…you take three down and give them to Krillin…he topples over and comes up for more. Ninety-two bottles of sake on the wall, ninety-two bottles of sake…you take one down and hand it to Piccolo – he won’t take it because Nameks only drink water. And hands it over to Roshi. So…”

(7:45 A.M.)

“It’s the battle for Earth that never ends…Yes, it goes on and on my friend,
Some villains started to attack the planet a little over twenty years ago.
And the heroes just keep defending it forever just to show.
It’s the battle for Earth that never ends, the bad guys just attack it over again
The first time it happened it was quite a shock,
but now it’s happened so many times, maybe we should start buying construction company stock
The fight is beginning yee ha,
and ends with another KAME HAME HA!!!
The battle is over both friends and enemies fall,
and we send Bulma to gather the Dragon Balls
Cause it’s the battle for Earth that never ends…”

“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, I GIVE UP!! I’LL BE YOUR BLOODY MESSENGER BOY – JUST STOP SINGING!!!!!!”

Gohan smiled – he knew he would win. “Glad we were able to come to an agreement, Hercule. Why don’t we both get some sleep and then we will discuss talking to my friends.”

“Right.” ‘Yeesh, I don’t know who this Bulma and Trunks are, but obviously they are important to him. Do they have anything to do with what he was talking about earlier?’ With this thought, Hercule fell asleep and Gohan soon after fell asleep as well, sitting up on the floor.