“Gohan, that’s a red light!!!”
“Mom…” Gohan was almost exasperated. “I know how to drive!” You drive even more dangerously than me, he wanted to add.
Videl, his wife, sat at the back to make room for Chi-Chi who sat in the passenger seat. She put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Calm down, Chi-Chi. We will get there.”
But Chi-Chi would not be calmed down, even by Videl. She badly wanted to see the Bulma’s family before ‘it was too late’.
Videl leaned back in her seat. Good thing the radio was on, she noticed, or else the car would’ve been too quiet. Dismal even.
Beside her, her daughter Pan sat, arms crossed. Usually Pan would’ve been noisier, always telling a story of what happened at school. But Videl found her rather subdued today.
Of course. The Son and Briefs family, with their friends, have been very close, almost like blood relatives. They lived together, died together, and even saved the world together. This she thought, remembering all that happened in the past 20 years. It’s no wonder.
She decided to break the silence. “So…Pan-chan, what have you been doing in school?”
Pan didn’t look at her mother, until after a long pause. “Oh. Nothing.”
“Really?” Videl pushed on. “Don’t you have a project or anything?”
“It’s finished Mom.” The girl sighed and stared at her feet. “We’re going to have a week of vacation.”
“Oh yes.”
“It’s too bad Mom.” Videl saw her daughter’s face crumple for a moment. “Bra and I could have spent it at the beach or at the mall.”
Videl kept quiet after she had noticed something sparkle in Pan’s eyes.

Even more surprising was her brother-in-law, Goten.
By this time Goten should be on his cellphone. She shook her head. But not today.
He was staring out the window, silent as a rock.
Because - his best friend is leaving.
Videl knew how close Goten and Trunks were. 20 years ago, when she met Gohan and convinced him to teach her how to fly, he introduced her to his cute little brother Goten. After that, she always saw the boy with a purple-haired one who had quite an attitude - Trunks. The two were inseparable.
But they will have to separate ways now. She felt deep sadness herself, as she found out that leaving can be so hard on the best of friends.

Nobody needed to be a genius to feel that gloom was in the air. Gohan, as his hands were on the wheel, tried to be cheerful, but this was definitely getting to him. Bulma told them the news a month ago; he thought they would be able to cope with the departure by this time. It seemed that the bond was too strong to break.
But who could blame them? Since he was a child, the major parts of even his life involved the Briefs family.
When the Saiyans arrived with Vegeta and he had to fight.
When he, Kuririn, and Bulma journeyed to Namek in search of the dragonballs.
When Trunks from the future warned them of the Androids.
When little Goten and Trunks learned to fuse together to become Gotenks.
He could never forget those.
And it hit Gohan: there was one man, a man that was so special to him, who brought them all together.
“But he’s gone now.” Gohan softly remarked. He’s not even in Heaven. He’s with the dragonballs. Six months had passed, yet the thought of his father’s sacrifice still left a hole in his soul.
Now he was aware why gloom was in the air.
“Yes Gohan?” Chi-Chi heard his son whisper something.
“Nothing, mother.” Gohan knew that if he just reminded his mother again, she would only break down and cry.
At last, his foot stepped on the brakes.
“We’re here."

Bulma noticed the car that was being parked in the driveway. Her eyes sparkled with delight.
“Chi-Chi! You’re here!”
Bra leaped downstairs and shrieked, “PAN!!!” Vegeta had to cover his ears.
“Goten.” Trunks greeted quietly as his bestfriend walked in. Damn, he felt so sentimental…

***

“So…are you guys ready?”
Videl looked around at the group of people gathered at the den. Most of them, especially the young ones, had their heads down. Bulma and Chi-Chi had smiles pasted on their faces, but their eyes…they were dark and unhappy.
Chi-Chi held her breath as she waited for an answer to her question. “Well…?”
“Ahh!” exclaimed Bulma after just realizing the Chi-Chi had asked something. “We-we’ve just finished…” She found herself holding her breath too, “PACKING. All we need to do is organize them, put them in capsules, then we’re off!” she finished with another smile.
Somehow that didn’t sound very happy.
“Oh.” Was all that Chi-Chi replied.
Vegeta stared at the empty space beside the short-haired woman. As he continued his piercing gaze, a vision slowly materialized. He recognized the dopey grin and the blue and yellow gi at once.
“Kakarot.” He whispered to himself. Vegeta clenched his fists. “You fool, Kakarot.”
“You had the nerve to leave your wife and your family…”
The vision continued to grin.
“But that doesn’t matter,” taunted Vegeta, “now that I’m the only pure Saiyajin around.”
The vision appeared to nod, and mouthed what Vegeta could have sworn to be “I’m sorry” before it disappeared.

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Ai-chan: *sniff*.....I was crying while typing up the codes in this story....so sentimental...