Revelation
by Pan no Ojousan
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Pan paced impatiently by the phone. She just knew he’d call, she could feel it. And, just as she’d predicted, the phone rang mere seconds after she got home. "Trunks?" she gasped. "No, it’s Bra," he friend laughed. "I’m calling for my brother, though. He has a message for you. Your dad’s on the way to your house, and he’s gonna ask what Trunks said about Goten. He told him that Goten said something damaging to your reputation and you got really mad. You’d rather not discuss it." "Thanks, Bra," Pan breathed. "I guess Trunks told you what happened, huh?" "Only a little of it. He wanted to use the phone, but I wouldn’t let him unless he told me something." She laughed a little on the other end. "Rude of me, huh? I could have allowed you both to get pummeled by Gohan." "Speaking of which," Pan muttered, seeing her father land outside. "I gotta go. He’ll want to talk to me, no doubt, and I don’t want him angrier than he already is. Bye." "HEY WAIT!" Bra yelled. "I just wanted to let you know, we’re all going over Goten’s later. So maybe, if you don’t end up grounded until you’re 21, you could join us." Pan grinned. "Need you even ask!? Would I pass up an opportunity like this? To get out of my house when the only parent that’s home plans to bombard me with questions about Trunks and probably more things I’d rather not discuss with him? Of course! I’ll be there as soon as he’s done yelling at me." "Okay," Bra stifled a giggle. "See ya." "Bye." Pan hung up the phone just as her father walked into the room. Gohan seethed, making Pan a little nervous. "I want you to explain to me exactly what happened back there. And don’t give me some lame excuse about Goten ruining your social life." "Okay," Pan breathed, "I guess that’s more than fair.. Yesterday, after I trained a little with you, I actually did get Gotenks to train me. They did—er, I mean, he did really well and everything. I still haven’t gone Super Saiyan.." Her face fell, remembering her original goal. She’d forgotten up until now. "Anyway.." She looked up, surprised. "Oh yeah! Anyway, when they un-fused, Goten was really mad and I asked him why but he wouldn’t tell me. But I was so…so…persistant, I guess, and irritating him. He started screaming at me.." She looked away, getting angry again. "I didn’t know! I didn’t know why the hell he was so mad! I felt like it was my fault because I made them fuse.. I still think it is. But he didn’t have to scream at me like that!" Gohan stared in surprise. "Are you okay? That must have been why you weren’t home last night.." Pan nodded. "I went to Dende’s to talk to Piccolo, but you know him. He’s not the best advice-giver in the world, but he let me stay there because it was almost four when I finished talking to him. So when I got up this morning, I talked to Mom and she said to go talk to Trunks. I mean, he was half of the fusion and everything, and he knew what happened. So that’s what I did. I didn’t.. realize, I guess, some of the things that Goten said to him about me. After I left for Kami’s lookout, I mean. And I got angry when Trunks told me. But he said calm down, those things were just said in anger, and Goten was sorry about it now." "My poor little girl," Gohan said, hugging his daughter. "I’m so sorry, I had no idea." "I know, Daddy. I didn’t tell you, and I should have. It was stupid on my part." She mentally congratulated herself for sticking to the story while adding a lot of the truth. "I was wondering if maybe I could go over to Goten’s. I mean, as much as I trust Trunks, there’s still always that shadow of doubt when you’re dealing with him, you know?" "Oh, yeah. I definitely know, all right.." Pan congratulated herself again. Now there was no way he could doubt her. "I wanted to go confront Goten about it. Bra called and I asked if she could be there, too, so that I don’t feel so weird talking to him." "Of course, Pan-chan. I’m so sorry for being so defensive. Go on and make up with your uncle." "Thank you, Daddy," she breathed again. "I’ll call you before I leave, okay? Bye." With that, she quickly left the house. Gohan watched her fly until he could barely see her anymore. "I hope this is the right thing," he thought aloud, turning away to make a phone call. (_-¯-_-¯-_-¯-_-¯-_-¯-_-¯-_-¯-_-¯-_-¯) Goten smiled faintly when he opened the door. "Hey, Pan. Nice to see you." "You, too," she said, smiling just as faintly. "Bra’s coming in a little bit," he told her. "I guess it takes her longer to get here with one of those jet things.." "Yeah." Pan stared at him, shifting uncomfortably. "Uh.. do ya think maybe I could come in?" "Oh, sure. Sorry." She stepped through the door, glancing around the room. "Where’s Grandma ChiChi?" "Um, not home," he said. There was a short and awkward silence. "Listen, Pan.. I, uh, heard about what happened. I’m really sorry about the way Gohan handled that." "I don’t blame you or anything," she told him, smiling wryly. "But if you feel the need to apologize, then it’s okay." "Thanks." There was another pause. "Um, you must be feeling kind of weird," Pan said after a while. "I wanted to tell you, I’m sorry for making you fuse yesterday." "Don’t bring it up," Goten mumbled. "It was weird, and yes, it is right now, too." He smiled, ruffling her hair a bit. "Congratulations, by the way. When’s the wedding?" "Good Lord! There is no wedding! What has Bra told you!?" Pan cried, exasperated. "All I said was that I loved him!" "And believe me, he loves you, too.." Pan blinked. "Um, I don’t think I want to know." "No, you don’t." She nodded, choosing to leave the subject alone. "How long until Bra gets here?" "I don’t know. I just have a question for you, while we’re waiting." He looked her in the eyes, almost glaring to keep her from lying. "What did you tell my brother about yesterday?" "Oh.. I.. I just had to modify the truth a little bit, that’s all," she stuttered. "Not too major of a change, I just skipped the part about Trunks, that’s all." Goten narrowed his eyes. "The whole story was about me then?" "Heheh.. yeah." He sighed, being as the guilty look on her face kept him from getting angry. She’d always had a way of getting out of trouble with him by using her eyes. They got so big and apologetic-looking that he just couldn’t get mad. "Fine. You want to go eat something or something?" "Of course. When would a Son ever turn down food?" she grinned, remembering their many adventures with Goku at a buffet table. "With the exception of my mother, never. Speaking of which, she’s not home right now. But I can cook if you want!" Goten announced cheerfully, leading the way through the halls and to his kitchen. Pan quietly followed, her face losing its color. After a few seconds of startled silence, she started to laugh and put her hand on her head, but she caught herself in the act. Man, I told myself I’d never do that! I’d better watch it; I did inherit Goku Ojiichan’s genes, after all! Goten carefully eyed the kitchen, a blank look on his face. He turned to Pan, the same guilty gleam in his eyes. "Truth is, I have no idea how to cook. Maybe this was a bad idea." "Thank Dende," she breathed. "I was afraid I’d have to humor you." "Yeah, well.. I can tell when I’m not wanted." "No, you’re wanted. It’s your cooking skills that aren’t." She smiled sweetly at his offended glare. "What say we just go wait for Bra?" "Sure." The two then left the kitchen and went outside. Bra’s Capsule Corp. jet was instantly recognizable in the distance. Not too long now, she smiled. Maybe I should call my dad... "HI GUYS!" Bra shouted when she got close enough. "Hi Bra!" Pan and Goten shouted back. The jet dropped from the sky and promptly exploded, returning to its capsule case. Bra fell the remaining few feet to the ground. "Well," she said, smiling brightly, "I thought you’d probably need me to help you pick out a dress." "For what?" Pan asked, completely blank. Bra smacked herself on the forehead in exasperation. "You are just way too dense. Generally, when people get married, they wear a wedding dress." "Trunks won’t," Goten smirked, receiving a smack from Bra. "For the last time, I’m NOT GETTING MARRIED!!" Pan yelled angrily. "Right, hon," Bra said dismissively. "Now, Goten, I figured you and I would be the special ones in the wedding.. y’know, the people who get to stand right up at the altar, but not the bride and groom? Of course, I can catch the bouquet, and we can get married two weeks after them—" "Bra!" Goten protested. "What? I thought, as long as we’re on the subject, we might as well make our plans—" "That’s enough," he said, hushing her. "Look, your brother’s on his way and I don’t think he’d appreciate you talking that way, okay? And about me, especially." Bra thought for a moment. "You’re probably right. He’d take it better if this whole thing with Pan wasn’t going on. Pan, you won’t tell him anything, right?" Pan just gaped. She tried to speak but her mouth wouldn’t function right. Trunks was on the approaching fast, so she figured she’d just let the others laugh at her until he got there. "We were joking, you know," Bra giggled as her brother landed nearby. "That really makes it better," Pan snorted sarcastically. Bra doubled over laughing again. Trunks gave her a weird look, which just made her laugh even harder. "Hey guys, I made up a card game!" she announced when she recovered. "Wanna play it?" Nobody objected, so she lad the way into the house and searched for a card deck. "I don’t think we have any cards," Goten told her as she rummaged through the house. "What are you talking about? Everybody has a deck of cards somewhere in their house!" Goten shrugged and let her continue her search. "A-HAH!" she cried triumphantly, holding up a tattered box that looked as if it would fall apart any moment. She dumped its contents in the floor in front of her. "Looks like the deck is good! Let’s play!" Everyone waited for her to assemble the cards, but she didn’t move. Then it dawned on her that she forgot to explain the rules. "It’s simple, really. First, you dump the whole deck on the table or floor, this case being the floor. Everybody sit down." She waited patiently while the others followed her instruction. "The object of the game is to collect all four of the aces. You just keep drawing cards from the pile here until you get them all. But if you draw a joker, you have to put all your cards back." "Sounds easy enough," Trunks commented. "It is. Now, everyone has to put their hands on the ground like this," she said, demonstrating. She waited till everyone followed her example. "Okay. Ready…GO!" All four of them grabbed the pile, each getting a stack of cards they had to sift through. Goten was the first to produce an ace, followed quickly by Pan. Unfortunately, she soon drew a joker and had to throw it back. Bra got two aces, but she and Goten both drew jokers. This type of play continued for several minutes until finally Goten won. "See? That was fun, wasn’t it?" Bra asked. Goten nodded, grinning the Son Grin™ (A/N: Hey, I hear it’s a trademark. **shrug**). "I failed to see the fun in that, but oh well," Trunks muttered. "Oh, come on," Pan laughed, gently nudging his arm. "At least it was nice to see little Goten so happy!" Goten pouted. "I’m not little! I’m bigger than you! Besides, I won and you didn’t so there." "Ooh, and we’re all soo jealous," his friend said sarcastically. Pan snickered and Goten looked slightly hurt. "Whatever," Bra said, not taking sides. She grinned at her brother and best friend. "Anyway, when’s the w–" "Bra, shut up!" Pan cried, turning slightly scarlet. Trunks’ eyes were wide. "Wedding? Who said anything about a wedding?" "Nobody." Pan couldn’t help looking hurt, and Trunks quickly noticed that. "Um, not that I’m totally against it," he said, laughing nervously. "It’s just so...I mean, forever’s a long time..!" "Yeah," she said half-heartedly. Bra patted her friend’s shoulder comfortingly. She shot her brother a glare. Trunks threw up his hands in exasperation. "She’s seventeen years old! Isn’t that illegal or something!?" Bra turned to Goten, who shrugged. She also shrugged. At which point, the door was knocked down, revealing a very angry Gohan. Pan’s eyes narrowed angrily and everyone else backed away in fear. "Daddy! You followed me!" she accused. "And it’s a good thing I did!" he snapped. "I heard the words ‘she,’ ‘seventeen,’ and ‘illegal’ in the same sentence!" Pan’s ki flared, as she was obviously becoming angry. "Nothing is going on! I can’t believe you don’t trust me!" "Pan-chan," Gohan said, as sweetly as he could manage, "I talked to Piccolo." Her face fell. "He told me that you didn’t speak a word about Goten. All you talked to him about was Trunks." He let this sink in before he went on. "Luckily for you, he’s grown too attached to you to tell me the details. I guess he wanted you alive for a while. I can’t believe you lied to me!" "Well, what was I supposed to do!?" she demanded. "Be like, ‘Yeah, Daddy, I’m in love with Trunks even though he’s like a billion years older than me and I knew it’d piss you off. And he was trying to keep me calm not because of something Goten said, but because he didn’t want you to spoil our moment—’ which you did! Is that what you wanted to hear!?" "If it was the truth!" Gohan shouted. "Yeah right! I could never tell you that in a billion years, unless I had a death wish! I told Mom to tell you for me because I was afraid of what you’d do to me.." Trunks took her hand, trying to calm her once again. He knew it probably wasn’t the smartest thing in the world he could have done, but Pan would never calm down by talking to her father. "It’s okay, Pan," he said as comfortingly as he could. "He has a right to be upset. Just breathe a little, okay? Everything will be fine." "Who are YOU to be giving advice to MY daughter!?" Gohan exploded. "You weren’t making her feel much better, huh?" Trunks pointed out. Pan smiled slightly at the sight of him actually defending her. "Besides, I wasn’t giving her advice. I was trying to make her feel better." Gohan’s rage finally caused him to go Super Saiyan. "WHY? She doesn’t need you!" Trunks pulled Pan a little closer, trying to shield himself with her. Gohan was starting to scare him. "Um.. uh, because.. I, um.." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hoping that maybe it would cause Gohan not to hear him. "Because I love her, Gohan-sama!" Pan’s eyes lit up. She turned from her bewildered her father to face Trunks. She started to say something, but changed her mind and decided to just kiss him. And, to her complete joy, he kissed her back. It was the best moment of her life—until then. "Pan!" Gohan screeched. "What the hell are you doing!?" He fired a ki-blast at her, knocking them both to the ground and several meters apart. It took all of two seconds until he was standing over her, looking very, very angry. "Umm, Daddy.. before you get angry," she started nervously. "Angry? Angry!? I think ‘angry’ might be an understatement, Pan-chan," he growled. "You completely destroyed my trust in you! How could you do something like that!?" "Me? You shot me!" she shouted. "I had good reason!" "No you didn’t!" "Pan…" Trunks practically pleaded, starting to crawl nearer. He mentally kicked himself for not saving her. But Bra was already putting into words the pain that burned him. "You’re just lying there like nothing’s going on!" she was screaming at her brother, trying to make him get up. "If you really did love her, Trunks, you’d see past your stupid, insignificant life and notice that with her, you’d actually be worth something! Now is the time, Trunks! Now is when you have to play hero!" Bra shouted in frustration, audible over Pan’s and Gohan’s enraged voices. He made an attempt to move, but something was holding him back. Be it fear or unwillingness to jump into the father-daughter quarrel, Bra wasn’t going to let it go. "Trunks! Listen to me!" "No!" he yelled, surprising Bra. She thought he was just feeling low, but apparently he was feeling a bit guilty for not rescuing Pan. He turned away again, Gohan’s yelling prevailing over his. "There is nothing I can do. Gohan’s a lot stronger than he looks, and I’m no match for him." "Then fuse, damn it!" Bra started yelling again. Trunks wished she hadn’t inherited her mother’s ‘screaming’ voice. "You and Goten together could defeat him, right?" Goten’s eyes shot over to the siblings, looking panicked. "No way! He’ll deceive my brain and force me to see Pan the way he does! I don’t want…" A smile suddenly spread across Goten’s face. "Yeah, okay. We fuse." Their attention was drawn back to Gohan and Pan by a huge explosion. ChiChi would definitely not appreciate the remodeling the group was doing. Gohan, in all his Super Saiyan glory, was getting pummeled by his still-normal daughter. It would have been funny if he didn’t instantly turn and blast her through a few walls. Trunks turned back to Goten. "Fuse?" he asked again, just to make sure. "Yeah," Goten said, grinning evilly. "Something tells me I’m gonna regret this," Trunks muttered, preparing himself, "but if it saves Pan then I guess it’s worth it." "That’s the way to think, buddy," his friend smirked. "Fusion! HAA!" There was another brilliant flash of light, and the pair of Super Saiyans was once again replaced by Gotenks. "That was wonderful," Bra applauded. "Now please, go save my friend so that we can get on with the wedding plans." "Wedding plans!?" Gohan screeched. Out of everything that had been said in the past ten minutes, that was all he got out of it. "Pan, you’re unbelievable!" "I didn’t say ANYTHING about a wedding!" she shrieked, shooting a death glare at Bra, who just smiled guiltily. "She made it up, I swear! She’s just eager to plan out her own wedding with—" Her sentence to her father was cut off when he was violently blasted out of the way. He flew out the side wall of the house (but it wasn’t too big a deal, since half the house was already destroyed anyway) and into the surrounding field, Gotenks on his trail. Pan heaved a sigh of relief when she realized that her father wouldn’t be bothering her anymore. Then her eyes grew wide in alarm. "GOTENKS!" she shouted, blasting off into the field. "I don’t want my father killed!!" It wasn’t clear whether or not Gotenks intended to kill Gohan, but he sure was beating him up pretty good. Gohan couldn’t land as much as a punch before he was knocked to another point of the field. He was suddenly brought back to reality, and it was quite a rude awakening, considering he was getting the tar beat out of him. Gotenks was obviously enjoying the fight. He lived on battles, much like Vegeta. He gloated and was a total egomaniac, but for the most part he could live up to his threats. When he had been fighting Pan, he was distracted; not only by his mental war, but also because he knew he wasn’t supposed to hurt her. Now, though, Gohan was clearly the enemy. The general point of the fusion was to destroy him. No. Not destroy, he reminded himself. Pan wouldn’t like that. I just have to…silence him for a while. "Gotenks–OW!" Gohan yelled, trying to get the brat to regain his sanity. "What the hell are you doing? Pan doesn’t—AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" "She doesn’t exactly want you conscious, though, does she?" Gotenks smirked, knocking Gohan into the air. Pan shot out of the remains of ChiChi’s house, Bra making her way around the rubble. She watched in horror as Gotenks fazed out of sight, reappearing above her father. "Wait! Gotenks, don’t kill him!" she shouted. "I’m not!" he shouted back, catching the bloody and battered half-Saiyan when he’d risen enough. He was barely conscious and beaten pretty badly. Gotenks descended from the sky and lay Gohan at his daughter’s feet. "See? He’s fine. Just a little…um, bloody." He mentally scowled. I wanted to hit him, too… "Wow, Gotenks!" Bra said, rushing over to stand with her friend. "That was really great! Why don’t you fight Vegeta or something? I’m sure you could win!" Gotenks laughed and blushed slightly. Bra gave him a bright smile. It all clicked in Pan’s brain. "That was really cruel, Goten," she said to him. "It’s Gotenks," he corrected, still staring and smiling at Bra. "I know, but Goten’s in there. I just want him to know that it was a cruel, cruel thing to do. Bra, I think it’d be best if we left—right now." Bra shrugged, not noticing Gotenks’ obsession with her. "Sure. Get your dad and carry him to my capsule plane, okay?" "Yeah," Pan said, still struggling not to laugh. Poor Trunks is never going to forgive him! She lifted her father from the ground and carried him over to the site of a small explosion, which had produced the Capsule Corp. jet. "Here, take him back, okay? I have something to say to Gotenks." "Sure," Bra said again. She soon had taken off to deliver Gohan to Videl and explain what had happened. Pan turned to Gotenks immediately after Bra was out of sight. He was seemingly waging another mental war with himself. Let me guess what it’s about, Pan thought with a grin. She cleared her throat to get his attention. "Gotenks, I am really, honestly, sincerely sorry for giving you a hard time the other day," she told him. "I know," he said, looking somewhat annoyed. "It’s not your fault, any…" he stopped himself, realizing what he’d just said. Pan was amazed. "You…you just admitted blame!" "Did not!" he shouted, ki flaring. "Yes you did! I heard you!" Pan cackled. He was about to blast her off into another dimension, but she held up her hands in an offering of peace. "In any case, I’m sorry." Gotenks growled under his breath. "I forgive you. You were really annoying me." "Like I am now?" she asked, smiling brightly. He almost laughed. "Exactly like you are now. How much more time do I have?" Pan checked her watch. "Umm, you have about twenty three minutes. And I have a plan for every one of them." "You do, huh?" he smirked. He grabbed her arm and yanked her toward him, causing her to fall into his arms. "So do I." He leaned down and kissed her, which took her by surprise at first. She then pushed all her doubts and guilt out of her mind and kissed back, pouring herself into it. She knew full well that Goten would remember every bit of it, but she was sure it was Trunks’ revenge for making him check out his sister. Plus, Gotenks wasn’t all that bad of a kisser, so she figured she’d go along with it. He finally pulled back, launching several feet into the air. Disgust and alarm registered all over his face. "HAH HAH HAH!!!" Pan cackled triumphantly. "Just remember that I love both halves of you very, very much. And that it wasn’t my idea." She giggled for a while more, him just staring at her with a sickened look. "You can spend your remaining…" She paused, glancing at her watch again. "…twenty one minutes repairing Grandma ChiChi’s house. She’ll kill you if it’s not all better by the time she gets home." With that, she left, still laughing madly. Gotenks settled back to the ground and muttered curses to himself as he started rebuilding the Son living room. |