Darkness. Everything was black. There were no sounds. No sensations. The senses were gone. A void. Floating in a void. Then there was cold, like a winter's breeze on the skin. Hair raised and goose pimples rippled over skin as something moved in the darkness. It was unseen and yet familiar.

"Hello monkey," a sweet, familiar voice said, the words dripping with candied venom.

That's when he saw him step out of the darkness, his pale white skin glowing, the glistening purple dome on his head glinting in some nonexistent light, those piercing red eyes narrowed, gazing directly into his soul. It was Freeza.

Though it made no sense, he was afraid. He knew he could beat Freeza, and yet he was frozen, too terrified to move as the tyrant walked casually closer in the black void.

"Scared? Good. You should be. I'm going to kill your loved ones, your friends, your planet. Then I'm going to kill you, but only after I've made you suffer."

It wasn't an empty threat, even he knew that. But this made no sense. Freeza was dead. That kid had killed him… Uh, what was his name again? Trunks? Yeah, Trunks. Trunks had killed him. So why was he here?

Freeza's body elongated, his body morphing into something skeletal, those red eyes narrowing, glowing, his dark purple lips curling back impossibly, rows of sharp teeth showing as his mouth opened. Then, from out of that widening maw was Chi-Chi's face, blood trickling from where Freeza's sharpened teeth grazed against it.

"Goku!" Chi-Chi roared, only her voice had an echo that was Freeza's voice.

Panicked, Goku sat up in bed, the room around him lit in a dim yellow light as his body was engulfed in yellow energy. His hair was jagged, raised up and colored bright yellow. He'd transformed into a super Saiyan in his sleep. That dream had really spooked him.

When he reverted to normal, he could feel his body drenched in sweat and noticed the room was dark. It was still night time. He glanced over at the digital clock on his nightstand and saw it was 5:45 in the morning. He figured it was time to get up.

The past two years had been a blur. He'd found out he was an alien from a race of warriors, had died fighting his brother, trained in the afterlife, come back to fight his brother's friends, nearly died, gone to a different planet, fought a bunch of aliens, found a new level of power, met a kid from the future and was getting a divorce while preparing for an Android threat three years out. Goku hadn't really had time to let it all sink in, but now that he had three years of training and down time, thinking about it all was making him sick.

He didn't really have an appetite, which was bizarre, but he assumed it had to do with his mood as of late. Of course having a nightmare where his ex-wife's head sprouted from Freeza's mouth whilst screaming at him didn't really help his appetite any. Goku decided to skip breakfast and go straight into training. Some early morning shadowboxing out in the cool air would probably do him some good, he figured.

He pulled on his orange and blue gi and went to open the door, only to find Bulma standing there, arm raised to knock. She seemed startled.

"Oh, hey Bulma," Goku said, a brow raised curiously. What was she doing up so early?

"I heard you scream and the walls rattled," Bulma said, "Are you okay?"

Goku blinked once, both brows rising. Had he really put out that much power when he transformed? He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, "I, uh, had a bad dream about Freeza and Chi-Chi. When I woke up, I was a super saiyan."

Bulma stepped up to him and placed her hands on his cheeks. They were so soft and warm. Why was she doing this? He let her lift his gaze a tad so that their eyes met.

"You poor thing," she said, "it must've been really intense…"

"It was," he said, but continued to gaze at her curiously while her thumbs caressed his cheeks. He noticed something off about her mouth, at first assuming it was just the lighting, but he swore her lips looked a bit swollen, and her cheek was welted, and there was bruising all around her mouth. "Bulma… What happened to your mouth?"

Bulma's hands left his cheeks hesitantly and she placed a one over her mouth, looking away from him. "Uh… Nothing," she said, "I just busted my mouth on some equipment in the lab."

"Do you need a senzu bean?" He asked, "I could use instant transmission to pop over to Korin's real quick and grab on."

Bulma shook her head, grinning a tad, "No, no, it's not that bad. Don't waste a senzu on me."

"If you're sure," Goku said and inspected her face a little more. It looked pretty bad by his estimate. Whatever had hit her in the mouth must've been coming at her pretty hard.

"Will you stop staring at it?" Bulma asked and turned away with a typical huff, "You're gonna make me self conscious."

"Sorry!" Goku laughed, "I'm just concerned. I'm not used to seeing you hurt like this."

"I'm fine, just go get breakfast or whatever you were about to do," Bulma said with a gentle laugh before heading back to her room without looking back at him.

Something told him he wasn't getting the whole truth from her, but he wasn't about to question her further. He made sure his belt was tied securely around his waist before heading out to train in the cool morning air.

DBZ

An hour after Goku went outside to train, Vegeta came out to join him, albeit reluctantly. Goku had to convince Vegeta to spar with him, saying he'd go all out as a super saiyan if he would. He couldn't predict that Vegeta would keep pace with him as much as he did, but, of course, Goku outmatched him, which only succeeded in pissing Vegeta off.

Around noon, the two decided to cease their sparring, only after Vegeta made the decision for both of them, saying he'd do better training on his own. Goku knew that was a lie, Vegeta was just frustrated. He figured it was time for a break anyway, having finally gained an appetite.

He started for Capsule Corp., brushing dirt and grass from his gi pants, but he stopped in his tracks when he felt a familiar energy source behind him. He turned and looked to the sky.

"Dad!" Gohan yelled as he flew in from the sky, landing in the grass with a small thud. He wore the purple training gi he'd made in respect for Piccolo. He rushed Goku and tackled him in a hug.

Goku was knocked back and he held his son. Tears came to his eyes. He'd missed him. "Hey Gohan, it's good to see you. I missed you."

"I missed you too, dad. Mom wouldn't let me come see you."

Goku frowned, standing up as he held his son. As much as he missed Gohan, he didn't want him to get in trouble with Chi-Chi. He knew how strict he was. "She wouldn't like that you're here, though."

Gohan shook his head, "No. But I wanted to come train with you and Piccolo."

Gohan wanted to train? Since when? It put a big smile on his face to know his son wanted to continue to get stronger. He tousled his son's hair and set him back on the ground. When he stood straight, he saw Piccolo standing a few yards away.

"Oh, you're here too, then? I was about to head inside for lunch if you guys wanna join me. We can start training after."

"Sure!" Gohan said with a smile, quickly scrambling from his father's arms and heading toward the building.

As Goku turned to follow him, Piccolo moved to walk at his side.

"He was adamant about coming here," he said, "he really wants to train with you."

It did his heart good to know that his son actually wanted to be trained. Chi-Chi never let him train Gohan, but now that he was already sufficiently strong, he didn't have to bother with basics and could get right into it. "Thanks for bringing him over here. He has a lot of respect for you."

Piccolo nodded, but said nothing about the sentiment. Goku supposed he understood, considering Piccolo had been the biggest threat they'd ever faced before the saiyans and Freeza, being respected by a child and caring for said child wasn't something he'd acknowledge or even admit to.

Inside, in the cafeteria, Goku got busy eating whatever the Capsule Corp. chefs had prepared. He stuffed his face full of curry rice and pork, pork buns and sushi, and Gohan was right beside him, chomping on food with his dad. Piccolo merely sat off to the side, having no need for food, his arms crossed as he meditated.

Goku's appetite had returned, his mood brightening now that his son was there by his side. The two of them piled up the dishes, eating their fill. Eventually they slowed down and began to eat a bit more casually as they caught up over what happened that past week.

"Mom's been making me study different kinds of plant life," Gohan said, "she wants me to learn which plants are dangerous so that when I'm out in the woods I know what to avoid. But she also thinks I'm gonna be a biologist or something."

Goku didn't know what a biologist was, but it sounded smart. He knew Gohan would be good at it, whatever it was. "Well you're pretty smart. If you wanna grow up to be a biologist or whatever, you can."

Gohan smiled, but didn't really commit to the idea. Goku got the feeling that Gohan didn't know what he wanted and he wouldn't push him like Chi-Chi did. He was not the person to know what was best for his son, his knowledge of how the world outside of martial arts was limited, practically non-existent. But, no matter what, he'd support his son.

He looked over and saw Bulma walk into the cafeteria. Her jaw was still noticeably bruised, and one of her cheeks was still welted, despite makeup having been applied to try and cover it. He watched her look over, smile but then watched that smile fade when she noticed Piccolo and Gohan. In fact, before Goku could even greet her, she turned and walked out. What had that been about?

"Oh… Mom really did hit her…" Gohan said.

It took a moment for Goku to register that. His gaze snapped to Gohan. "Chi-Chi hit her?"

"Yeah… Bulma came over the other night and wanted to talk to mom about you."

Bulma had done that? She'd really done that for him? He knew she said she was going to try, but he didn't expect her to go that far out of the way. But Chi-Chi hit her?

"I was inside, but I heard mom getting mad at Bulma, and Bulma was trying to get mom to understand you, and mom said something like: 'you weren't married to him' and Bulma said something like: 'Maybe I would have been if you hadn't shown up'. And then mom hit her. I didn't see it, but I heard it. I think they got into a fight, but it didn't last long." Gohan frowned.

As much as Goku hated hearing that Chi-Chi and Bulma fought, he was stuck on something. Bulma said maybe she would have been married to him? What did that mean? The thought made him feel funny. "Bulma said she might have been married to me if your mom hadn't shown up?"

"Something like that, yeah," Gohan said, "Were you and Bulma a couple before you and mom got married?"

Goku shook his head, "No. No we weren't. Bulma and Yamcha were, but not us."

Goku and Gohan both had a look of confusion on their faces. Neither of them knew what that meant, or… At least Goku didn't. Gohan was smart. He might know. But at his age, what did he know about stuff like this? He glanced over at Piccolo, but the namekian was still deep in meditation. He wouldn't be much help.

He decided he should go talk to Bulma, first about the fight and then about what Gohan had heard her say. He excused himself from the table and left the cafeteria.

He found her in the atrium, sitting on one of the benches as she held a notebook in her lap and was jotting something down. When she looked up and noticed him, she set her pen down and frowned lightly as he approached.

"Gohan said that you and Chi-Chi got into a fight," he said and moved to plop down beside her, watching her face.

She refused to make eye contact, but replied: "…I… Yeah. Yeah, we did."

"Is that the real reason your face is all bruised?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yep…"

"What happened?"

Bulma let out a rough sigh and leaned back against the bench. "I went over there to talk to her about you. She would barely let me speak, was really aggressive about not wanting you back. I tried to explain to her how you were and that… You are who you are and that she should have accepted that.

"She made some nasty comment about me not being married to you and not knowing what it was like and it just happened."

"She hit you after you said you might've been married to me?" Goku asked, watching her carefully.

Bulma's eyes widened and she finally looked his way. She became noticeably paler.