Darkness. It was the first thing he could sense; a darkness swimming through his senses, completely blocking them from taking in his surroundings, as they should be doing. It was definitely unnerving. He mentally struggles against the blackness, almost reaching the point of panic before he noticed it had begun to recede. Slowly, so very slowly, but it was leaving.

The first sense to return was smell, and with it came a peculiar, yet familiar scent. He tried again and again to place it, but he couldn’t. It was as if his mind was somehow outside of his body, disconnected from what was happening, wrapped in a layer of cushioning nothing could fully penetrate. Other senses began to register to him, but none helped. The white walls; the strange echoes; the bed beneath him—all of these he saw, heard, and felt, but they made no impression on his clouded mind.

It was the smell—first to come with the longest to ponder—that finally broke through the barrier around his thoughts. There was only one place where the scent of disinfectant, latex, and linoleum combined to permeate an entire building.

“A hospital,” he croaked. He quickly determined his vocal chords had not seen use in a while and would require a little warming up before they would work properly again. He sat up, careful not to pull out the IV in his arm, and began to exercise his mind and voice together.

“My name is Son Gohan,” he said, only a little less frog-like than before. He coughed a little to clear his throat and tried again.

“My name is Son Gohan, son of Goku and Chichi. I am seventeen years old, and have one sibling, a little brother named Goten…”

“You got name, but you forgot rank and serial number,” an amused voice chuckled from the doorway. Gohan started and turned towards the sound. A woman in a nurse’s outfit was standing there with a clipboard, a small smile on her lips. Putting a hand behind his head in embarrassment, he chuckled.

“Sorry, just making sure I still knew who I was,” he said.

“Well, according to the records of this hospital, that makes one of you,” the nurse replied. “Luckily, I was paying attention to your little monologue and got it all down. We’ll need a little more information later, but right now the chief of police has a few questions she’d like to ask you, if you’re feeling up to it.” Gohan nodded mutely, a dumbstruck expression plastered to his face. They didn’t know who he was? The chief of police wanted to talk to him? What was going on? The nurse, who was particularly good at her job, sympathized with the boy.

“Here,” she said, coming over to him with a warm smile. “Let’s get that IV out so you can walk around a bit and clear your head, and I’ll make sure to go reeeeeallllly slow while fetching the Chief. All right? Gohan nodded again, this time too grateful for words. After the nurse left, he took her advice and got up. His legs were a little wobbly at first, but he soon got used to movement again, and eventually made his way to the adjoining bathroom to splash some water on his face. Drying himself off with a conveniently placed towel, he stared hard at his reflection in the small mirror.

“No cuts,” he mused. “No bruises, no broken bones. It’s the same face that I’ve seen in the mirror the past seventeen years. No change. How did I get here? Why am I here in the first place? I can’t really remember.” He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, but the effort just made him dizzy. By the time the nurse returned, a 40-ish looking lady in tow whose walk, look, and mere presence clearly marked her the Chief of Police, Gohan was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor.

“Gohan?” the Chief asked, a slight catch in her voice.

“Mm?” the young half Saiya-jin answered, looking up at the new arrival. He blinked when he saw the Chief’s face. She looked familiar, somehow. He wasn’t quite sure how, but she definitely reminded him of someone.

A tear escaped the Chief’s eye, looking completely out of character on her stern face. This single tear was quickly followed by several more as the woman rushed across the room and embraced him tightly. The nurse, who was not only particularly good at her job, but also at knowing when to make herself scarce, quickly decided the janitor in the hall was the absolute epitome of fascination and went to go observe him, discreetly closing the door behind her. The police chief continued to sob into Gohan’s shoulder. Gohan didn’t know what else to do except awkwardly pat her back.

“I… I couldn’t believe it,” she managed to choke out after a minute or two. “When my men found you… It looked like you, it looked so much like you, but it couldn’t be, it wasn’t possible, so I told them I didn’t know. No clue who you were because it couldn’t be you. I couldn’t let myself believe it was really you. But the nurse… the nurse said you called yourself Son Gohan, and I knew. I didn’t know how, but it really was you. Oh, Gohan, you don’t know how much we’ve all missed you.”

The woman’s crying had settled down while she was talking, and now she was looking at him with bright, expectant eyes. Too confused and dazed by the sudden outburst, Gohan spoke the first thought that came into his mind, however insensitive it might have been.

“Do… Do I know you?” he asked. The woman’s eyes looked hurt for a moment, but they cleared rapidly.

“Gohan, it’s me. Can’t you tell? Look hard.” Taking a deep breath, Gohan looked at her, trying to think of any middle-aged woman he might know with short-cropped hair and blue eyes, looking at him with the same look that… he stopped in mid-thought and blinked. He looked at the woman again, focusing on her face, concentrating on her features. There was no doubt. Take away the minor wrinkles and lower the age a decade or two, and...

“Videl?” he asked quietly. She nodded, smiling sadly. “But… *how?*” Videl sighed and sat down on the bed next to him.

“I don’t know what happened to you,” she said. “I don’t know why you look exactly the same, but…” she stopped, looking almost afraid to continue.

“What is it, Videl? What aren’t you telling me?” Videl breathed deeply and straightened her back as if steeling herself for something.

“Gohan,” she said, looking him in the eyes, “you’ve been missing for over twenty years.”


To be continued...