Gohan stood staring out at the otherworldly abyss. A million questions ran through his mind, and a million questions he would ask. He turned to Eren, looking over his friend, one he hadn't seen die, yet he knew he had. He didn't look dead, though apparently that did track with what he had heard of being dead. Eren looked surprisingly ok, wearing the same uniform he had when he'd left for his mission, save for a sharp tear in his shirt. When Gohan checked himself, he found himself in the same clothes he had been wearing when he too had died.
"This is the afterlife?"
Eren tossed his head side to side, hesitating. "Not exactly the one you're thinking of, it's complicated." Eren began to pace around him, gesturing to the lines up in the sky. "This is the world of the paths. It's a realm beyond the reality we know of, a source of power that gives the Titans their abilities. What you see up there are the paths, alternate timelines of different outcomes, different choices. Other worlds and realities."
"Like Trunks…" Gohan muttered in understanding. "But wait, I don't understand. How do you know all of this?"
Eren sighed, hating how we would have to reveal the secrets he had kept from Gohan for two years. "After you defeated the king and the civil war was over, during the awards ceremony when I touched Historia's hand, I had a vision. It was part of my Titan powers activating. I saw what was going to happen, everything that did happen. The past, present, and future, it all melded together in my mind."
"You saw the future? You saw… you saw what was going to happen, didn't you? But then why walk towards it? Why didn't you warn me?"
"I could have done that." Eren admitted. He raised a hand, and one of the lights in the sky began to bend and twist, dropping down and racing towards them. "In another time, I did."
The light hit them both, and the world twisted. Blinding light gave way to the real world, and Gohan stood aside Eren from atop a cliff. He twisted around, looking in confusion at the world before him.
Was he back? Had he suddenly returned to the world of the living? No… no he knew that quickly. He felt no wind, felt no heat on his skin. This was nothing more than a vision. The world that lay before him as well was not like his, not at all. It was a barren, blasted wasteland. The land was scorched and cracked, the sky a blacked and stormy horror show.
"What… what is this?"
"It's our world. A few hundred years after you died." Eren's hands swept through the air, showing off the apocalypse surrounding them. "In this world, I warned you about Cell. You found him early, before he could go stronger, and killed him before he could become a danger to us. And then, you spent the rest of your life putting out fires. Everyone hated each other, hated the Eldians the most. You wouldn't let anyone hurt them, so you spent the rest of your life protecting them. Nobody was strong enough to stop you, nobody could hurt you, but time took its toll. Your Saiyan half gave you a longer lifespan than the rest of us, but eventually it took you too. After you died, things got worse. The Eldians knew Ki now, defended themselves for a while, but knowledge spread, and technology grew. Nuclear weapons, Ki trained warriors, a new type of warfare swept the planet until they all killed each other. This is a dead world; nothing lives here anymore." Eren turned to face him. "This is our world, if you had killed Cell."
Gohan's head was spinning. "I don't understand. Hundreds of years… was there nothing that could be done? No way of bringing them together? Of making some kind of lasting peace!?"
Eren shook his head sadly. "Memories were short, but grudges were long. Stories change in time. To the Eldians you were a liberator, but to the rest of the world you were a tyrant. You enforced your will upon them, subjugated them in their eyes, denied them the justice they were owed for all the Eldians had done. The stronger you squeezed your grip to keep the peace, the more the hatred built. The people were angry, and that anger had never gone away."
Eren's hand swept once more, and then the world shifted. Soon he wasn't just looking at one reality, but hundreds of them. "I saw that outcome, day after day. Every choice was the wrong one, every attempt a failure. It took me time. I worked with Mikasa, with Zeke and Dina, until I found a way to make things better."
Eren pointed a finger towards a place Gohan recognised, seeing a family huddled in white clothing in the crystal cavern. He knew the place well. It was Frieda, she and her family yet only younger.
"This was the day that Shiganshina fell. My dad-… my dad went to them, begged them to act against Marley. But they refused. He knew they had the power of the founding Titan, but with their royal bloodline they couldn't act even if they wanted to. When they did refuse, he considered transforming into a Titan himself, to take the power and use it if they wouldn't. I saw the decision in his mind. With just a few words I could convince him to do it, to take the power such that it would later be passed to me. But instead…"
Gohan watched the scene. It had been many years since he had seen the man, but he recognised Grisha Jaeger standing before the huddled and frightened Reiss family. His hand was raised, ready and willing to bite. Until he didn't. With a shaking and anxious hand, he let it drop. Turned around and left them.
"He didn't want to do it. He was a doctor, protecting people was what he did. Taking a life… for him it just felt too wrong, even if it was what he felt he must do. He walked away, came back to us, and then took me away to where I would see him in the flesh one last time."
Eren turned away from the memory. On instinct, he wiped away at his eye and was surprised when it came back wet. How long had it been since he'd thought of his father as the man he knew? Not as the tool in his planning, or as the man with a mysterious past. Years… so long, yet such a short amount of time to forget his own father. He steeled himself, continuing instead.
"I sent Dina to our house." He pointed a finger to the attack on Shiganshina, the day where Titans had entered through the walls once again. "I needed to separate you from us, you needed those years in Titan lands to learn and gain enough control over your Great Ape form." Eren's hand waved again, and a blur of events swam by. Memories of his own and things he'd never even seen before. Training, Trost, the expedition, it just kept going and going.
"Eren…" He didn't know what he wanted to say. To apologise for all that he'd been through? To ask him if there was truly no way he could have shared this with them? No, he knew what he needed to ask. "You did all this for a reason. What happens now?"
Eren's hand wavered, and with one final flick of the hand they saw Paradis Island. A swarm of Titans were attacking it, Eldians and Marleyans fighting side by side in opposition of a common enemy.
"Marley's great mistake, an evil of their own doing. Their once greatest enemies now acting as their saviours. If there was ever a way of making people forgive old grudges, to come together, this was it."
"What happened? Where did all these Titans come from!?" Gohan didn't understand. The highest concentration of Titans had been on Paradis Island before Gohan had killed them all. Even accounting for any others that might have been around the world, Gohan would have been able to sense them, especially this many of them. He saw the size of the horde, thousands upon thousands of them all scrambling over each other trying to get at the Eldians.
"Cell created them." Eren explained. "He absorbed me, read through my entire genetic code. With the other humans he absorbed, he could see the difference between Eldians and non-Eldians, those who could be transformed into Titans or not. He modified the DNA within himself, altering the Titan gene to work as he wanted. On everyone. After he killed you, he travelled around the world, visiting key cities and other dense population centres. He made a gas, released it, and transformed millions at a time into Titans. Then… they came for Paradis, where Marley and Eldian are fighting side by side to survive."
Gohan looked over the battle carefully, shaking his head in disbelief. "But they'll lose. This fight, even if they kill the Titans, Cell won't let them live. No matter what they do, Cell will kill them all."
Eren agreed, nodding his head sorrowfully. "You're right about that. I've seen those paths. Sometimes they survive against the Titans, others they don't. But even when they survive, Cell grows bored, he wipes them out without a second thought." Eren turned, jerking his head towards something behind Gohan. "But there are other times, other paths, where that changes. The paths where they survive."
Gohan's eyes followed where Eren was indicating, and he was shocked to see another figure approaching. It was a young girl carrying a pale. Gohan took a hesitant step forwards, studying the young girl. "Who is she?"
"She's the source of all of this." Eren raised a hand, beginning to pull on another path. "Her name is Ymir Fritz."
With a jerk, a stream of light pierced down from the sky and through Gohan. Within moments, he was bombarded with knowledge. He saw her entire life, from her birth into chains, to the gaining the power that freed her. Only, her chains never really went away. A lifetime of servitude to the King, bearing him children and being used as a weapon for Eldian expansion. The life she lived serving him, all coming to an end as she was killed in his place. Her children eating her flesh, her powers transferred to them.
Maria. Rose. Sina.
And then her eternity trapped in this void, watching over everything. All that happened on her planet, all the paths that could be, as her descendants grew and spread further out. All Eldians were her children, and all inherited her Titan powers.
The light faded, and Gohan returned once more to the realm of the paths, the Eldian afterlife. His eyes saw stars and he blinked them away, focusing back as he saw Ymir before him. She was waiting. With eyes closed, she waited before him for… something. Judgement? Perhaps. The source of the Titan powers was her, it was she and her children that had created the Eldian empire, that had subjugated millions of people through violence and blood. The suffering of those on Paradis Island, a hundred years of being devoured by Titans they fought against, all of it came from her powers.
Gohan stood, rising from his knees and moving towards Ymir. Without a second thought, he embraced her tightly. Hugging her with as much warmth and love as he could muster.
"I'm so… I'm so sorry, for everything you've endured." His hand stroked her hair gently, reassuringly. "You poor girl… I'm so sorry."
Ymir was silent, frozen as she was held in such a pure embrace. Since birth, since death, there had never been anyone to treat her as Gohan just had. To see her not as a monster, as a slave, as a weapon… but to see her as a person, one who had suffered tremendously, unjustly. Her body shook, wracking with cries that began to build. She was silent, unable to speak, and so instead her shaking hands began to rise. They grabbed at his shirt, pulling tightly as they tried to hold him closer against him. Her body shook as she cried silently, and he squeezed her tighter.
His hands stroked softly through her hair and down her back, caressing her with the love and care a parent would a child. Ymir was older than him, had grown into a woman and spent countless years in the void. But here she appeared a child, and Gohan saw her as such. Because deep down, Ymir had never truly been more than one. A life spent at the mercy of her masters, and her king, Ymir had never truly grown to be more than but a child. She was innocent, vulnerable, but in Gohan's arms he kept her safe. At last, she could truly feel once again.
His body was warm, his touch soft, and as her hand laid itself against his chest, his heart beat.
He gasped, jerking at the sudden sensation. Being dead, he hadn't even realised that his heart had stopped, and the sudden re-starting of his heart ached. It hurt in ways it shouldn't, a pain that felt so detached and yet so thunderous throughout his body. Ymir's hands touched his chest again and a sudden jerk spasmed through his body.
He fell back, clutching at his heart. "Wh-what… what's happening?"
Eren stepped forwards, smiling down at him. "As I said, this isn't the afterlife, it's complicated. You see, when Cell absorbed me, he took parts of my DNA for himself, parts of the Titan powers. Partially to create his own Titans, and partially to improve himself, but in the process, he did something more. He linked himself to this realm, to her." He gestured to Ymir, who looked down at Gohan with something that looked almost close to a smile, her hands softly touching her own arms in memory of the embrace he had given her. "Cell, Eldians, and you, are all now linked. You have a foot in both worlds now. I had to pick my words carefully to make it work, but Cell only absorbed half of you."
A wave of his hand and another pathway showed the world, this time far away from the battle. Gohan recognised it instantly, in spite of the barren lack of details. It was where he had died, where his body had been severed in place and his lower half remained. A Titan stalked towards the body, a bloated and misshapen creature, a distortion on the pregnant woman who had been transformed. He watched as it reached his limbs, ripped open its own belly, and stuffed his remaining corpse inside.
"That Titan, it's…"
"Hers." Eren finished Gohan's sentence with a nod of his head to Ymir. "As I said, the powers are all linked now. Cell is powerful, unfathomably so, but the Titan powers have long been Ymir's. Pushing back, taking control over one of them, even from under Cell's incredible power, it's possible."
Slowly, Gohan rose to his feet. His body felt strange. He could begin to, actually feel his legs once again. He felt a warmth on them, a tingling through his body that was spreading throughout.
"What's happening to me?"
"You're returning to the world of the living Gohan." His eyes widened and he looked to Eren in disbelief, but his friend merely looked back with a confident smile. "When Cell absorbed that half of you, you became linked too. Not just to him, but to Ymir, and the powers of the Titans. Powers like regeneration."
"My body its, rebuilding?" Gohan rubbed his fingertips together, feeling as little by little the tingle grew and spread through his entire body. It hit his bones first, the skeleton inside of him lighting up with that deeper connection. After that it was his muscles, tendons, and nerves, blooming back into life. He felt so light and free, as if he was beginning to float away from this realm. "What happens next Eren?"
"Next… next you go back." Gohan wanted to smile, to feel the relief, but he couldn't. He saw the look in Eren's eye, the hesitation.
"What's wrong? Eren, you saw all this didn't you. Saw these moments, saw me return. What's wrong?"
"I did. Next, you return, and you'll fight Cell. But whether or not you win… I can't do anymore from here Gohan. There's no more plans I can make, no things to push, from here it's with you. Either you'll win, or you'll lose." He looked hesitant, worried, before a big smile broke through on his face. "But I know which way I'll bet. I trust you Gohan, I believe in you."
He flashed Gohan a smile and a thumbs up. "You've got this Gohan."
"Eren…" He didn't know what to say. Eren had spent two years suffering in silence, trying to save them all, and had pulled off the impossible. All to give Gohan the chance to try and make things right. What could he say to that? "Thank you."
He looked away from Eren and back to Ymir, the young girl still smiling softly at him, thankful for his love and care in their brief moments of interaction. He shut his eyes, mentally preparing himself as he focused inwards on that tingling feeling. That feeling of reality pulling him back.
He honed it, let it pull him, and then he began to feed it. His power swelled, Ki coursing through him as an ocean. He poured it into that feeling, pushing it to overwhelm and race through him. Light around his body twisted, jerking in colour as a golden light began to appear around him. His aura shone brightly, smoothly at first before it became wild with the power that raced through him.
His dark hair billowed, whipping around as power flowed freely, before it began to rise and spike. Golden light pulsed through it, and he pushed harder and harder. He felt the breaking point approaching, reminding him oh so much of that limiter within his body that had kept him caged for years. He smashed through it without hesitation, feeling it shatter like glass as his power roared wild and free.
He screamed as he powered up, his Super Saiyan powers ripping apart the realm around him as he began to pass back to the real world.
Goku beat relentlessly into Roh, delivering a flurry of blows into his chest that had him gagging for air. His guards came after him next, Bergamo and Lavender leaping at him to strike. They were strong, well trained and well experienced. The two intercepted him simultaneously, striking with well-coordinated attacks against him. But Goku was far from an amateur. He was a Saiyan, a Saiyan who had been fighting his entire life, and who was fighting to save his son. He didn't give them an inch.
As Lavender came in for a kick, Goku dodged and retaliated with one of his own, the spin kick sending him flying right down into the dirt. Bergamo was better, attacking and blocking in equal order as the two traded back and forth.
"You are a talented fighter!" Bergamo complimented, catching Goku's wrists. "Give up now or I'll have to- ARGHH!"
Goku slammed his head into Bergamo's, stunning the humanoid before delivering a combo of punches. Chest, ribs, throat, head. He finished it with a hammer fist blow to the top of his skull. As Bergamo was sent flying however, he halted himself, regaining control and sending a Ki blast back to Goku.
Fingers to his forehead, his instant transmission put him right behind Bergamo and avoiding the attack. He chopped him again in the throat, before swiftly forming a Ki blast of his own and sending Bergamo flying away as it hit him. His Super Saiyan aura burned brightly, flaring with his endless anger towards the Supreme Kai. He would beat the god down until he got what his son back.
As he turned to re-focus on the Kai, a flash of feeling ran through his mind. He… sensed him. He sensed Gohan. He gasped, fingers to his forehead again as he tried to home in on that feeling, only for it to pass away. His mind was whirling, scrambling as he tried to feel out for his son once again.
It couldn't be…? How could his son have reappeared so suddenly again, and to disappear just as quickly?
A Ki blast exploded against his back, Goku letting out a cry of pain as his distraction had cost him focus. Roh stood as the culprit, angrily glaring with his palms held outwards.
"You arrogant little mortal Saiyan trash!" He snarled, showing only minor signs of tiredness from Goku's beating. "You may have gotten the best of me at first, but I don't know who you think you are. I'm a Supreme Kai! Maybe in your universe they slack off in their training, but in my universe that means something! Here, only the strongest survive! Only the mighty will live, and I do not intend to die! Not now, not ever!"
The Supreme Kai's aura flared, ripping up the ground around him. Goku had taken the advantage by striking quickly and not relenting for a second during their first engagement, but that had changed now. With his momentary distraction, Roh had taken the time to power up and regain his balance. Now, as Goku watched his two apprentices rejoin by his side, he knew the fight was only going to get tougher.
But even as he knew he should focus on them… he couldn't.
He reached out with his mind, sending a psychic message to the one person who could help him.
"King Kai, can you hear me?"
"Goku? What have you done Goku!? You can't be fighting a Supreme Kai, do you know how much trouble we're all going to be in!?"
"I don't care! Listen, I sensed Gohan again, just now. I can't sense him now, something happened that got through that barrier. I need you to try and look through it, communicate through it or something, anything. Please, I need you to find Gohan!"
There was silence for a moment, Goku knowing that King Kai's hesitation wasn't out of any possible unwillingness to help, but whether he felt he actually could.
"I'll try Goku, I'll see what I can do."
The father sighed in relief. "Thank you, King Kai." He turned his attention back to his three opponents. Each of them had powered up, preparing themselves as they launched an offensive towards him. Let them come, he would meet them all. It didn't matter what was in the way, he would see his son again. With a scream, he powered up further.
"RrrraaaaAAAAGHHHH!"
"RAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!"
The bright light of the paths was torn away, his body ripping itself free and returning to reality. From inside of the Titans belly his power exploded outwards, disintegrating it and the surrounding ruins. His aura bloomed as a spike, piercing up to the heavens and tearing through the clouds. It smashed against the barrier around the world, splashing against it like water on a dam.
The world focused in for Gohan, the dark etherealness of the other world now replaced by the familiar sights. Blue skies, white clouds, sandy earth. He felt the wind whipping around him, the sun on his face. He heard the billowing of his power as it roared freely.
He calmed, never letting the power dip for a moment but regaining control as he inspected himself. He was shirtless, having regrown from his remaining lower half. More than that, his body had been fully healed. No more was he limited by the damage taken during his fight with the first King, but he was fully recovered. He flexed his hands, feeling the strength coursing through him.
He formed a tight fist, relishing in the power, and digging his fingernails into his own skin. As he relaxed, he saw just as he had expected. Minor scratches left in his palm sparked with electricity, small soft whisps of steam flowing from them as they regenerated, flesh stitching itself back together.
His body was fixed. His Saiyan biology had given him a power boost from his somewhat death. And Ymir had given him her gifts as well.
He smiled, thankful for her support, and thankful for the second chance that Eren had given him. Then, he locked his senses on the island. On the Titans. On his friends. On Cell.
It was time for round 2.