When his mother came to, she was in the arms of Gohan and surrounded by her family as they looked down upon her. A family that she was instantly reminded she was about to lose again. Her mouth wibbled, and the tears began to drip from her eyes.
"My baby!" She threw herself further into his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck holding him as tightly as she could. He could have theoretically removed himself from her grasp with ease, but doing that to his mother just didn't sit well with him. Instead, all he could do was share an awkward look to Petra, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but here.
"Gohan… what do you mean?" His mother may have been inconsolable to the point of not being able to speak, but his father could still manage it. Just barely by the looks of it though, as Gohan could see the darkness behind his eyes and the dread that seemed to be eating at him.
"When we return, and wish all those people back, there's going to be chaos. Someone needs to be there to help them."
"But you trained them!" His mother argued back, having found her voice beneath some wracked sobs. "The Eldians, they have Ki now right, that's what you told us? Why can't they do it!?"
She was sounding almost accusatory, and Gohan desperately diverted her growing focus on Petra back towards him. "It won't be enough. The Eldians are hated, especially by the ones coming back. I know they are stronger now, but they need more. Someone who can step in and protect people everywhere, someone that can force people to listen and act as the bridge between them. After saving the world from Cell… that's me."
"Can't… can't you just train them more? Make them stronger?"
Gohan shook his head sadly. "It's not just about strength, and knowledge. I spoke with Piccolo, he's going to help me learn magic. Maybe I can't create dragonballs, but Kami still knew a lot of magic and that will be important for saving people. Maybe Fortune-Teller Babba can help too? If I spend a day in the time chamber with Piccolo, I know that I'll have learned enough to start as their Guardian."
"But why? Why can't you just leave them be, it isn't your home, this is your home!"
He knew why his mother said what she did, but it still hurt to hear her suggest leaving people to fight and die for his own comfort. "Mom, you know I can't do that. I can't stand by and let innocent people suffer, when there's so much I could do to help. And… and I know this is my home, it always will be. But I lived in that world for seven years. I had people I could call friends, and family." He looked to Petra. "I fell in love. I can't abandon that world, not when it means so much to me."
"You only just came back." His fathers words were haunted and he couldn't look at Gohan as he spoke. "I only just got you back. I saved you, but too late. I should have found you sooner, I should have been there. I never should have sent you to fight Cell."
He dropped to the ground, clutching his head in anguish as he fought back tears. At the site of his crying father, Gohan likewise fought back the urge to sob, and pain stabbed at his heart. The resolve that beat within him remained strong however, even under such emotional torment. "No, dad, you had to. Cell was too strong then, I had to be the one to fight him. And you couldn't have found me any earlier with that magical barrier surrounding the planet. Dad, it's okay, you shouldn't blame yourself. This… this isn't just a choice because I feel like I have to do it. I want to do it. I want to be there for these people, to guide them into a brighter future." He turned to his mother in his arms. "Mom, I know you always wanted me to be something great. This is the best thing that I can do."
His mother was silent, and so too was his father. He didn't say anything, wanting to let them consider his words as he knew that they were. Despite the grief on their faces, he could see it beginning to dip a bit. The knowledge that this was all his choice, and that it would do great things to save and improve lives was something that at least helped them to feel better. With the silence dragging on, his little brother decided to speak up next.
"Does this mean we won't be able to play together?" Goten clearly meant more than that. In the days since Gohan's arrival, the two of them hadn't had many chances to be together with so much work being needed to be done, but what time they had been given had been spent forming that long lost chance for a brotherly bond.
Gohan smiled sadly at his little brother, reaching out a hand to pull him into the hug as he held his mother tightly. "Sorry Goten, not as much. The machine still works, so you guys can all come and visit. We can make plans, schedule things. I know it won't be the same as if I was here, but I won't be gone forever."
"He's right." Petra took her chance to speak up, smiling at him in nervous support. "He'll need regular breaks from being the guardian, and you guys can visit him lots. Just hop in the machine and travel, right?"
"Right." Goku said, the word reassuring him as he brightened and his hold over his head loosened. "Right. We can put some dates in the calendar and see you every week, or two weeks maybe if you need more time?"
"That's right dad. We can decide on a schedule and see each other regularly. We won't be able to communicate otherwise… but that'll make each visit more exciting! We'll have so much more to talk about."
Goku smiled and reached out a hand to ruffle Goten's hair as he smiled too. The only one who didn't respond was his mother, who sniffled in his arms. For quite some time, she didn't say a word, nor did she respond to any of his gentle probing's. When his father reached out and held her as well, she finally found her voice. "You better be free when we come mister. I don't want to visit and here you're too busy for your mother Gohan."
"Never." He promised, squeezing her gently. "I'd never be too busy for you."
The area around Capsule Corp was filled with trucks of all shapes and sizes, bringing in various goods and loading them into storage containers that were being stored into capsules. The massive pile of such capsules was beginning to make even the immense size of Capsule Corp filled to the brim.
But still, Bulma watched it all move like clockwork and with great care. She assigned many of her best people for the job, and they were earning their paychecks well. Supplies were coming in on schedule and being catalogued constantly. Tinned foods of meat, vegetables, grains, soups, and more were stacked next to even longer life items in frozen storage devices that were under power. Each of those freezers required some level of power, though most were of a more advanced model which included its own battery as well, and so huge banks of power suppliers were likewise being built up.
Stockpiles of equipment used for building solar panels, tidal energy collectors, wind farms, and more, there were even some critical pieces of equipment that would be required in building a nuclear reactor or five. Though for safety reasons, not all parts were being brought, and some would need to be sourced from the other world. Food and its associated requirements took up a bulk of the assigned supplies in quantity, having to feed potentially billions of people for long enough to establish new food productions took a lot of food. So much so that she had in fact underestimated what the impact would have on her own world.
Long term food storage wasn't a critical aspect of the worlds interests, at least not on the scale she had demanded without warning. There had been rushes to turn regular food production into overdrive and shift more products into long term storage, and Capsule Corp for all of its immense wealth was feeling the pinch. If she'd had spare wishes, she honestly would have just used a wish to have all the supplies they could possibly need, but the world needed them more for other things, and so she'd had to solve things the painful way.
What comprised her orders next to food was a little more reasonable and available. Water filters were naturally much longer lasting, and aside from initial availability issues on the small scale, had been easily sourced. Large pieces of machinery would be doing the majority of the heavy lifting to supply the world, and although those were much rarer, she didn't need as many and had been okay. Buildings had become something of an eclectic mix. She couldn't exactly whack a few skyscrapers into the world, there wasn't the foundation for them, but nor could she have limited herself to shorter buildings on account of the quantity required, and the size of the other world. Cities would become the size of continents if she'd been limited to such a degree, but she had been able to make it work.
Capsule Corp had long been looking into methods for using multiple capsules to combine buildings together, and so the solution had been rather simple to solve. Provide the structures but make them expandable when and where the situation presented itself.
If only other equipment had been so simple.
Vaccines, antibiotics, various other medicines and medical supplies, along with what was essentially the entire sum of human knowledge, then scaled up to be available for so many. As always, all the types of things she needed were available, but the sheer scale was maddening.
She took herself a break to rub her eyes and drink the coffee that had long since gone cold at her side. Nearby, she saw how Historia watched the process in a subdued awe. Clearly the practice of a queen, as Bulma had seen how many important figures controlled themselves when presented with the ludicrous, Historia didn't reveal as much as a normal person would, yet still she was clearly amazed.
"This sort of thing is going to be what your world is like soon." Bulma said with a smile, enjoying the way the young woman had snapped out of her daze at her words. There was some confusion though, and so Bulma pointed to the trucks and the commotion. "Vehicles moving everywhere, doing everything, a whole world full of electricity and technology."
Historia nodded in understanding. "We were given a brief look into that thanks to Gohan, the factories he set up and the knowledge he held. But still, seeing this it's…"
"Unbelievable?"
"Disturbing." Bulma frowned at Historia's words, and the woman quickly rushed to clarify. "Potentially a billion more people being added into my world, and each of them having access to such advanced technology. Everything is going to become so… loud. There won't be any peace left on the planet."
Bulma grimaced but nodded in agreement. The downside of performing such a miracle was that their world would never be the same again, for better and for worse. "It might seem that way for sure, but I've travelled this world countless times over. There's more peace to be found than you realise. Though make sure you actually take the time to enjoy some of that peace, and don't spend your entire life working."
"I'm a queen." Historia reminded her. "I'm the leader of my nation, and I will be until I die."
"Certainly true but take it from someone much older than you. The experiences you have and the memories you'll make will mean more to you than anything else. Meeting Goku, travelling the world for the dragonballs, saving the world a few times over, even going to other planets, and raising Trunks, all those memories mean more to me than the ones of me working away in the office until the dead of night. Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of myself and I did what I had to do, but all that time has just drifted away from me."
Historia hummed non-committedly. "I appreciate what you're saying, but being Queen isn't exactly the same as you. I have a duty to my people."
"A duty you'll fulfill wonderfully, I'm sure. All I'm saying is just, try and make some time for the other parts of life, and don't let the opportunities pass by. Opportunities like…" Bulma inclined her head towards the pamphlet that Historia was still gripping in her hand. The paper about the fertility clinic was something that had become an emotional support crutch for her, as Historia's growing anxiety about it was far from easing. "Are you getting nervous?"
Historia nodded jerkily. "We had the meetings, did some tests, even went through all the donor options, and chose someone. The only thing that's left is to… well, complete the treatment." That being the final step in having Historia be artificially inseminated. "This is all going very fast."
"You don't have a very long window of time before you have to go back. But if this is all too much, it's okay if you've changed your mind."
"No. No, I want to keep going. I want to be a mother and be a mother with my wife. It's just that… I went for years thinking that I was either never going to be a mother and risk a succession crisis in my nation when I die. Or would I eventually have to betray my wife, my vows to her, and spread my legs for someone I don't love until I'm pregnant, then look at my wife every day knowing that all she could see was a betrayal in the name of duty. She wouldn't hate me for it, she'd understand I know. But that would have just made me feel worse."
Bulma moved closer and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I can't say I know what things have been like for you, but I know that Gohan speaks highly of you. You should be proud. But don't wallow on the problems that could have been, think only of what's to come. If you still choose for it to be so."
Historia looked once again at the pamphlet in her hand before nodding. "I do."
The lookout was a breath of fresh air to see, and to breathe given the high altitude. As Gohan landed, he was flooded with memories of the last time he had been present, when they had been training and preparing to fight Cell. Now, he would be undergoing an entirely different kind of training.
"Wow, you weren't kidding about how high up we would be." Petra stood in awe, peering over the edge and looking down at the world below. The two of them had ridden Nimbus up together and had been able to enjoy the view the whole way, but there was something different about watching the world as it remained still instead of simply flying by underneath.
"When my dad was a child he had to climb the tower below, and then use his power pole to get the rest of the way up."
"To us, superhuman even as a child, yet now there's no comparison." Petra walked towards him, reflecting on just how different their two worlds were. "I couldn't imagine if our world had people like him more often. If you had never shown up, I don't know what it would have been like. Chaos."
He wanted to disagree, argue that there would have always been a happy ending one way or another, but he wasn't so foolish as to actually believe that. He knew his own world had become a blasted wasteland in Trunks' timeline, and the Eldians hadn't even known there was a world outside of the walls before that world had broken them down to try and kill them.
"I was there though, that's all that mattered."
"Yes, it is." She agreed, slipping her hand into his as they walked further across the lookout. "If your training goes well, you'll be able to solve any problem you come across."
"Almost any." As they rounded the corner, the pair of them came to see Dende and Mr Popo who had finished their final preparations on the chamber. "Hello again Dende, hello Mr Popo."
"Little Gohan, it is good to see you again." Mr Popo approached them both with a wide smile. "And all grown up too. When Dende told me of your return we were both so happy."
"It's good to be back. But, I know Piccolo must have told you about my plans?"
The attendant smiled back sadly. "He has informed us, and we have prepared the chamber as requested. He is on his way."
"Gohan, before you do this, are you sure? This will be your last chance to train in the time chamber."
Gohan nodded, having long considered what Dende was saying before he'd even made the decision to become a guardian. "I'm sure."
On cue, Piccolo arrived up onto the lookout, landing swiftly and without any fanfare as he approached the group. "Good to see you came on time. I thought for sure you were going to be delayed by your family."
"They've missed me for seven years, so letting go even slightly is hard, but they know what I need to do." Gohan turned to Petra. "Are you sure you're going to be okay without me?"
She laughed, patting his chest with affection. "Don't worry, it's one day, I'm sure I can survive for that long. Besides, Bulma gave me one of those phone thingy's and a map of the world. So much to explore and see, I'm going to fly around and try everything I can."
Gohan put his hands on his hips in mock offence. "Why if I didn't know any better, I would think you were happy to see me wrong."
"Well I mean after all, there's only so much of the world saviours presence I can handle."
"Ahem, that's two worlds I saved." Gohan smugly puffed out his chest, laughing as she playfully swatted at him.
"You know your father saved two worlds as well." Piccolo interjected the couple, breaking their blissful ignorance to the world. "Not to mention he's saved this world multiple times."
Gohan played along with Piccolo's mock betrayal. "Namek doesn't count as saved, it blew up!"
Dende coughed with a grin, deliberately bringing the focus to him. "Well as the longest resident of Namek, the new Namek is still our home being saved, so I say it counts."
"Outnumbered by the Namekians, I guess I have to forfeit." He said it all with a wistful smile as he looked at his friends, the group all sharing in a good-natured laugh. Even Petra was beginning to get used to their oddities and inside jokes. "Alright, no more delaying, it's time to do what my mother always wanted for me, and study."
"I don't think this would count." Piccolo laughed as the two stepped towards the open door of the time chamber.
Before the door could close, Gohan turned back to Petra with a smile on his face. "See you in a year." He said, already knowing just how much it would ache to be apart from her.
"See you tomorrow."
The door swing to a close, and the training began.
In the clinic, Historia lay back on the extended chair gripping the arms tightly. The awkward part may have just finished, but she wasn't feeling close to relaxing. Ymir gently soothed her hair as the doctors finished up their work.
"Are you okay? Was it that bad?"
To others, it always came as a surprise just how gentle Ymir could be when she and Historia had their own private moments. For Historia of course, this was just another part of her wife that she had known deeply. Much as she was a surprisingly vulnerable person, she was also capable of deep sympathy when she chose to be.
"It's fine. I'm just nervous is all."
Though her own gritted teeth failed to convince Ymir, she let it go and continued to caress her wife as one of the doctors took a seat by her side and began to fiddle with another computer monitor.
"It's okay to be nervous, this is all very new for you. But, it looks like everything has gone well, and if you would like to you can see the proof." She began to ready the screen at Ymir's instant nod and Historia's more hesitant 'yes'. With a few taps and clicks, she showed the display for them to see… something.
Though few went to such a clinic with an in depth understanding of human biology, Ymir and Historia were so utterly lacking in firsthand education about cells and sperm and eggs beyond the theoretical. Looking at them displayed on the screen was jarring to say the least.
"Here you can see the egg, and it's looking to have been safely fertilized." She flicked through a few displays to show a before and after, the difference mild but clearly noticeable to a professional. "We would normally continue to observe you for some time, and monitor your progress, but Mrs Briefs has informed us of your limitations. However, you can safely consider yourself pregnant. Congratulations Mrs Reiss."
If Historia cared at all that the woman hadn't quite been informed that she was a queen, she showed no care about it. Instead, she was simply awestruck at the sight of the fertilised egg. She made a gentle touch to her belly, knowing that there wasn't really anything there yet, but she still felt the certainty of it all. It had happened. She was now pregnant.
As long as everything went to plan, in nine months' time she would be delivering a child. Not just her child, but their child. She gripped Ymir's hand in hers, tears dripping from her cheeks as she looked her wife in the eyes.
"We're going to be mothers."