Chapter 1 Strange New Worlds

"Release it Gohan, release everything. Remember all the people he's killed, all the pain he's caused. Make that your power!" His father's words echoed through Gohans mind, the cacophony of the beam struggle between him and Cell doing nothing to halt his guidance.

"Say goodbye!" Cell's face adorned with a smug expression, his only threat about to be destroyed before him in a glorious display of the monsters power. The beams began to draw closer and closer to Gohan, blue death almost upon him.

From the skies above the two of them, a yellow blast of Ki descended and struck Cell directly in the back, the blow bending Cell's knee's and throwing off his stance. Up in the air, Vegeta hovered, panting with the exertion of his last remaining power.

"Vegeta!" Cell was beyond livid, his mind filled with the thoughts of what he would do to the arrogant Saiyan prince in revenge.

"Now's your chance!" Goku was right, Cell was distracted. With an ear splitting scream, Gohan expended every last drop of energy towards his target. The beams were no longer struggling with each other as Gohans final attack dominated Cells, the two blasts of energy then joining to rip through Cell's defence and beginning to strip away the beings body.

The pain was immeasurable, as each fibre of his being began to be torn from his body and disintegrate until not even atoms remained. His being so advanced that it felt every moment of his destruction. It was a nightmare, his mind computing so fast that he saw his end coming in slow motion, no way to stop it, no way to overcome the power of the attack. He had put everything into his attack, and thanks to Vegeta, it wasn't enough.

"No!" He snarled in defiance. "I refuse!"

Despite the explosion going off around him, Cell could still be heard. A small piece of him, almost inconsequential in size, dropped from his body and buried itself deep in the rock below, digging straight down to avoid the beam that shredded all that it consumed.

"If I'm going to die, I'm taking you with me!" Cells final words and promise were drowned out as he was finally erased from his existence, the blast pulling him from his feet and tearing his body into pieces, each and every fragment of him being wiped from reality. The Kamehameha which held so much power, now flying off into space, and dissipating harmlessly into nothing.

With a final pant of exhaustion, Gohan dropped out of Super Saiyan, and fell towards the ground.

"He…he did it." Krillins words were filled with disbelief. "He…he's dead. Cells finally dead!" A cheer ran among the Z warriors as they celebrated their victory. It was not a day without loss, but it was a day they had won. A day, that Gohan had won. A future for humanity.

Gohan laid exhausted on the ground, a small smile adorned his face as he worked some breath back into his body in celebration. It was over. It was finally over.

Hidden from view, a small organism in the ground however begged to differ. The small speck and multiplied and grown, not enough to become Cell, it had no energy for that. It had one purpose, to activate its failsafe method. The Illusion method, to hide from view and prepare for its final strike back. The small sludge, for that was what had been formed, crept through the ground towards its target. It could sense the Z warriors approaching, not quickly, but it still had to hurry.

It was almost there, but so were the Z warriors, if it could surprise them it may have just enough of a chance to enact its plan. With its sudden rise in energy, the Z warriors stopped, disbelief and fear frozen on their faces as they turned to see the small remains of Cell that had survived. With a single leap, the being forced its way out of the ground and towards its target.

"Gohan!" Gohans eyes opened at the sound of his teacher's voice. Why was Piccolo shouting him? It was over wasn't it? Wait! He could sense it. It was…not quite Cell, but it was similar, and it was close! He saw it rise in front of his eyes, heading straight for him.

With extraordinary effort, Gohan began to raise his arm, a small ki ball appearing in his hand. He let the ball fly towards the sludge, which to his horror morphed around the ball, letting it sail harmlessly by as it continued straight towards him.

No! Gohan's final thoughts were cut off as the sludge landed on his stomach and began to rapidly spread around him. He jerked away with what little energy remained in his body, the amorphous slime stretching as he pulled and ran faster and faster around his form. It wrapped around his arms, slithered up his face and into his mouth and nostrils, choking him as he gasped for air. When the sludge stretched over his head it joined with the pieces that had wrapped around his back, and his whole body was covered. Gohan was blind to the world, and heard nothing but muffled shouts from the outside as he struggled to move, his eyes were blinded by a bright light as the being began to glow bright gold.

"Gohan!" Piccolos scream ran throughout the wasteland as the light grew brighter and more intense, before disappearing beneath a blinding explosion of yellow light.

Gohan had never died before. He had been close, memories from his beating at the hands of Vegeta when he first arrived, or having his neck snapped by Recoome on Namek flooded his mind, but he had never died. From what his dad had told him, it was very different to where he was now.

He stared up at the impossibly tall trees. Where were the clouds? Or the other souls? A forest was never mentioned during his father's trip to King Kai's. With a grunt of effort, he attempted to sit up, only to immediately collapse in pain. Everywhere hurt, particularly his arm. It was still broken by Cells attack. Wait that made no sense. He was dead. He should have been healed. Unless…he wasn't dead? Had his friends must moved him somewhere?

"Hello?" He called out to them, his voice weak and his throat dry. "A little help please?" Nothing. Strange, that wasn't like them. Particularly Mr Piccolo. He would have never left his side unless it was an emergency. He stretched out his senses only to find… nothing.

Where were they? His senses were incredibly weak right now, his body still in searing pain, so they must have been just out of range.

Once more he tried to sit up, not even making it halfway before collapsing back down with exhaustion and having to simply roll onto his side. Laying on his side he felt another surge of pain, and used that as a good enough reason to take stock of his situation. His arm was definitely broken, and his clothes were torn almost everywhere, with scorch marks littering both his clothes and his flesh where he'd been hit by Ki blasts. His coccyx also throbbed unusually painfully, he must have hurt himself quite badly when he fell from the sky with no power.

Slowly, he reached out a hand and gripped the ground. With what little strength remained in his body, he began to drag himself forwards. He let out a yelp of pain as he pulled his ragged body across the earth, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been able to be hurt by the same uncomfortableness of small rocks and rough ground he'd once felt as a child. The path pulled himself along was rather tame for an earthen floor, and yet every small prick of the ground sent spikes of pain through his body, a testament to how much damage his body had gone through.

As he pulled himself along, he looked around as best he could and wasn't surprised when he didn't recognise his surroundings. Unlike his father, he hadn't travelled the world as a child, and though he'd explored his fair share of it, so much more of it was flying over. He wasn't near his home, the flora wasn't right, but it was much closer than the desert he'd last been in when fighting Cell. Still, he'd never in his life seen trees as big as these.

He called out to his friends once more. Where were they? They had to be around here somewhere. He wasn't dead and they wouldn't have left him if he was alive, but he couldn't hear them. All he could hear were the tweeting of the birds, the galloping of two horses in the distance, and the rumble of the carriage they pulled.

Wait, carriage? Someone was coming! His initial thoughts was that it must have been his friends coming to help him. Except, why would they be using a horse and carriage? The Z warriors could fly and Bulma never went anywhere without an aircar capsule on her. Not to mention, he knew those in the outer lands were a little more separated from technology, but even then a carriage seemed like it would be very unlikely.

He continued to drag himself along, moving through the small bits of foliage around him. Approaching the base of a tree, he reached out with his hand and gripped onto a thick root that protruded from the ground. Wanting to get as close to the sound as possible, he took a deep breath and pulled himself with all his strength. He let out a yelp of pain as he moved, high pitched and agonised as he continued his momentum past the rise of the root, and fell past as the earth suddenly dipped down. He rolled down the hill, each bump sending shockwaves of pain through his body as his broken arm twisted and bent painfully until he hit the ground in a heap, finding himself on an old dirt road that had been laid through the woods.

He finally saw the carriage when it came rumbling around the corner of the trees and straight towards him. It certainly wasn't his friends, instead it was just a man he'd never seen before. One with rimmed glasses, a pencil thin moustache, and a ponytail. While Gohan hadn't been expecting to see this strange man, he was very clearly not expecting to see Gohan as he gasped with shock at the sudden sight of the boy. With a sharp pull on the reins, he brought the horses to a full stop and quickly dismounted when the carriage finally stopped sliding to a halt.

He ran over, eyes in shock as he took in the bloodied form of Gohan laid helplessly on the ground. Gohan looked up to the man uncertainly, wondering what it was that his mother had always said? Never talk to strangers, but if you have to, always be polite. Admittedly, stranger danger didn't seem so relevant after he became extraordinarily powerful.

"Uh…hello sir? Can you help me? I don't know where I am."

The stranger snapped himself out of his stupor and immediately bent down to begin inspecting Gohan. "You're inside Wall Maria, near Shiganshina. Don't worry young man, I'm a doctor and I'm here to help you."

Shiganshina? Wall Maria? Gohan had never heard of any of those places, and he'd studied his geography well. He decided it must have been a very small and local place, not one that appeared on most maps. The man inspected Gohan carefully, moving him very gently to look more closely at some of his open wounds, though each slight movement did have Gohan hissing from the pain. The mans eyes were focused in such a way that Gohan could tell he was seeing a lot more than just cuts and bruises, he was looking over any chances of internal damage, risks of infection, and possible breaks. Aside from his broken arm of course.

"I don't have my full kit with me, I'll have to get you into my carriage and then back to Shiganshina. The rest of my supplies are at my house there. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was in a fight…" He was going to add more but was cut off by the ragged nature of his lungs forcing him into a coughing fit. "Cell… he was going to kill everyone."

The man carefully moved around Gohan and seemed to ready himself to lift him before hesitating. "Why were you in a fight like this? Where are your parents?"

Gohan breathing caught, and he felt his heart break. "Dad… he's dead. Cell killed him…" The doctor went silent at that, halting his plan to move Gohan and instead placing a reassuring hand on the boy. "It was my fault."

"Enough of that." The doctor was quick to put a stop to his guilty spiral. "You can tell me more about it when we get you treated, but I'm sure it wasn't your fault. Where is this Cell person, why are you out here by yourself?"

"Cell…" He struggled through the fogginess of his mind to get his words in order. "I thought… I thought he was dead, but he wasn't. He survived and did… something. I don't know what happened, I woke up here."

The doctor clearly didn't like what he was telling him, and frowned as he heard the words. It seemed initially that he was simply saddened by whatever had happened meaning that Cell had survived, except the more Gohan looked, the more it seemed like a personal pain.

"Why do children so young have to lose so much innocence?" He muttered the words to himself, perhaps not expecting Gohan to have heard him. Out of politeness, Gohan chose not to comment as the doctor adjusted himself and began to lift up the half-Saiyan. The hisses and grunts of pain that escaped Gohan's lips were hushed over by soothing words from the doctor, small reassurances as he moved him over towards the carriage.

"My name is Doctor Grisha Jaeger my boy, can you tell me your name?"

It was clearly done in an effort to try and distract Gohan from the pain he was feeling, and the boy was all to happy to try and be distracted.

"It's Gohan sir."

"Gohan?" The man looked slightly puzzled for a moment. "I don't think I've ever heard a name like yours before, it's quite unusual."

He was glad that the stretcher he kept left in the back hadn't shifted, and he lifted the boys legs and placed them in the carriage feet first. He let them slide comfortably in before moving the rest of him onto the device. It had been useless to him for getting the boy in, needing two people after all, but it would at least make getting him out of it easier. The stretcher was hardly comfortable, so Grisha did his best to move what soft materials he had in there to act as some cushioning for the boy. It was some rather strange attire he noted the boy was wearing, like some kind of fighting outfit. And also, he spotted, some kind of furry brown belt. He didn't waste time fully tidying the boy up, and instead bundled him up so he wouldn't rock around too much.

"Are you comfortable Gohan? Nothing pressing on your injuries?" He watched as Gohan nodded along that he was fine, exhaustion creeping in enough that speaking was getting more and more tiring. "Okay then. I'm going up front to drive the carriage back to my home. We still have a bit of a ways to go I'm afraid, so if you can I want you to try and get some rest."

"Okay…" The boys' words were soft and weak, so much so that Grisha couldn't help but place a hand on his face gently, seeking to reassure him in the ways so many parents did. With his eyes closed, Grisha could see the boys breathing begin to slow. He would be truly asleep in not too much longer, and despite his paternal instinct to stay with the boy and watch him, he had to do his doctors duty and get him back to his home for treatment. He climbed up in the front of the carriage and snapped the reigns, picking up his route once again only this time with more haste.

"Eren, did you clean your room?" Carla Jaegers stern voice stopped her son dead in his tracks. He had just barely began to creek open the door when she had seemingly appeared from nowhere, wooden spoon in hand and frown on her face, as if waiting for an answer she already knew.

"Uh…yes?" He lied, his voice was nervous and his ears were red. He was so obviously lying that Carla didn't even need her mother's intuition to tell. She knew some children were in fact very good liars, but her son was certainly not one of them.

"Eren, go clean your room." She ordered, hand up and pointing back to his bedroom.

As was typical, Eren immediately sagged and began to moan. "Aw mom! I was gonna go see Armin! Can't I clean it when I get home?"

"No because every time you say you're going to clean it you don't, then I have to do it for you. Go clean it and then you can go play." Eren may have been in the habit of running off before she could tell him not to, but he dare never defy her when she was ordering him directly with her finest motherly scowl.

Still, the young boy let out a groan before eventually trudging off to his room. All the while, Mikasa sat awkwardly at the table watching him go before standing up herself. "I'll go help him Mrs Jaeger."

"No Mikasa, he has to learn to do it himself, and not just stand around the corner waiting to sneak out the door." A small 'darn it' could be heard before being followed by rapid retreating footsteps. A smile crossed Carla's face as she turned back to Mikasa. "Besides, I thought you were drawing a picture for Grisha, he'll be back soon and I'm sure he'd love it." She was such a good girl. Despite the quiet and reserved nature she held up so often, Carla could still see the happy and innocent girl she was before the day she lost her parents.

Mikasa's cheeks reddened in embarrassment as she moved her arms over the papers in front of her. "I'm not even that good."

"Nonsense dear, let me see." She held out a hand expectantly, but not demanding.

Mikasa hesitated before showing her drawing. It was of a small village inside the wall, sat near a beautiful lake, with roaming hills and grassland broken up only by the occasional tree. Its natural beauty was only slightly diminished by Mikasa's actual drawing skill. She was in fact quite a talented artist to be sure for her age, however she was still only a child. She also hadn't improved much since she came to live with them, as it had taken her a long time to become comfortable enough in their home, and she barely drew pictures anymore. From what she remembered, she apparently used to draw lots with her parents and the village was somewhere she had visited when she was very young, likely a distant memory of a happier time.

"See Mikasa, it looks great. I'm sure Grisha will love it." She watched the small girl blush and mumble a thank you as she took it back, picking up her pencil again to continue adding small details. Carla watched her for a moment, smiling happily as she watched Mikasa actually being able to enjoy her childhood again for a brief moment, her thoughts only broken by the sound of a horse and carriage pulling up just outside. "Oh would you look at that. Here he is now."

It was rather unusual for Grisha to have stopped directly outside instead of taking the horses straight to the stables, but Grisha did in fact walk through the door but a moment later. He didn't look excited to see his family like normal however, instead he looked tense and concerned.

"Carla, clear the table." He told her, voice steady but quick before he shouted up to his son. "Eren come here, now!"

Carla was immediately sprung into action despite her concern, he only asked for the table to be cleared when he had a patient to take care of. Working quickly she cleared the table of the plates for what was soon to have been their dinner, while Mikasa tidied away her pencils and paper, stuffing them in a nearby cupboard. If she remembered, Carla would have to remind Grisha to look at the drawing later.

"Dad I'm already cleaning my room like mom said." Eren appeared in the living room once more, already looking annoyed as he expected to be told off again.

"Eren, I need you to help me carry someone, Mikasa you can help too."

Eren's eyes widened in surprise before he and Mikasa followed Grisha outside. In the back of his carriage sat a boy, only slightly older than Eren, but visibly beaten heavily. Blood and gashes adorned the boy's body, and his arm looked like it was broken. The boy was still asleep, not having woken up despite the noise that had come from their arrival into the district, nor from the movement when they had stopped, and Grisha was beginning to get concerned.

"Mikasa, Eren, grab the other end." Grisha began to pull the stretcher out from the back, pausing only to allow Eren and Mikasa to grab the other end, before carrying the boy into the house.

When he was inside the dining room he lifted the boy, with Eren and Mikasa's help, from the stretcher and onto the table, it having already been prepared with a clean sheet and a pillow. Carla was by his side moments later with one of his emergency medical supplies kits, before motioning to Eren and Mikasa to get the rest from his carriage. It was clear that the emergency kit was what he needed, but he may have also required some of what he'd brought with him as well.

Grisha took them with a small thank you and immediately set to work cleaning the boy's wounds, starting on any that looked the most severe. It was fortunate the boy didn't have any cuts that were continuing to bleed, and it seemed had clotted well as none had opened up during the ride back.

"H-h-how?" Carla's voice trembled at the sight of the boy, almost the same age as her children- child, she mentally corrected. She didn't want to be getting too presumptuous of Mikasa without her being comfortable.

"I'm not sure. He said his name is Gohan, and he described a fight of some kind to me briefly before he passed out. Someone who he thought was dead attacked him and he woke up in the woods, possibly left for dead by someone named 'Cell'. Maybe one of the new crime gangs that have sprang up, a fake name to do with a jail cell perhaps. Carla, I need you to go and get Hannes for me. I need to stay here for the boy, but this will be a matter for the Garrison."

She gave a shaky nod before leaving. Giving a mental prayer for the boy's wellbeing as she headed off to where she knew she'd likely find Hannes. At this time of day, hopefully the man wasn't too drunk.

It was many hours before Carla finally returned with Hannes. The man had been surprisingly difficult to find. It turned out he had been sobering up in the back of a barn near the wall, and not at one of the drinking hangouts she'd suspected. At first he had been unwilling to move, complaining of a bad hangover, but when she had mentioned about the boy though, he had quickly sobered up. Somewhat. It had been enough though to hotly follow Carla back to her home.

Despite what he had been told by her, he still wasn't ready for the sight that greeted him when he opened the door. The boy, so clearly still but a child, lay motionless on their dining room table. His arm was set in a splint and his body was wrapped in bandages.

"Holy-" Hannes's words were sharply cut off by a stern look from Grisha, who indicated to the children waiting in the room, both still waiting in attendance with various medical supplies waiting on hand. He had wanted to dismiss them earlier, thinking it better that they not see him work, Mikasa in particular, but Eren had been too curious, and Mikasa too concerned, to leave. Instead he made them wait quietly in the corner while he worked, on occasion passing him supplies as needed.

It hadn't been the first time they'd helped him with a patient, Eren especially, but it was the first to be injured in such a way as well as being so young. Grisha nodded in thanks to his wife before stepping outside to speak with Hannes.

"Wow. Where did you find him?" Hannes was still struggling for words, both due to the gruesome sight and the heavy pounding in his head. Had he been thinking clearly, he might have reworded his question to be more tactful.

"I saw him when I was heading back from the Krolva district. He was lying on the ground in the road leading through the forest of giant trees, alone."

The blonde man squinted, not fully understanding. "Alone? What was he doing out there?"

"He wasn't awake for long, but I managed to find out somethings about him. His name is Gohan, and apparently the person who did this was someone named Cell."

"Cell?" That was such a strange name that Hannes almost could have laughed were his mood not so dour.

"A strange name I know. I figured it could have been someone from a gang, they tend to change their names to those more weird than scary." Shiganshina was a relatively crime free area compared to most, and especially compared to the underground cities. But Grisha had travelled to his fair share of locations inside the walls and had heard many types of tails. Not to mention, as a lone traveller with a wagon he was always at risk of potentially being robbed during his trips. Something which would work out very poorly for any would be thief. "It could be something to do with jail cell, a mocking name perhaps."

"He'll come to regret that." Hannes growled, before forcing himself to let it go and try to act professional. "Yeah, I'll have someone look into it, see if anything comes up. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but who knows, maybe we'll get lucky. Did you catch anything else?"

"Nothing good I'm afraid. By the sounds of it, he wasn't alone when this Cell character attacked him. His father may have been there at least, however… the boy says he's dead."

"Shit."

A murder was a whole other level of terrible, and also one that meant he'd have to be deferring things over to the Military Police potentially, and they'd most likely sit on the case until it was forgotten about. Things weren't hopeless though, the Garrison still had plenty of authority, especially when the further out from the capital one got. He'd let the boy rest, then help him file a report and see if he could do anything, or if he it would be taken away from them. The Garrison may well have been filled with its share of lazy people, Hannes himself being one of them, but a child badly beaten and left for dead with his father murdered might shake enough hearts into action.

"Did you see the body?"

Grisha shook his head. "The boy didn't know how he ended up in the woods, and I wanted to get him back as soon as I could so I didn't investigate."

"Damn. I'll have some people take a look if I can, but if there's no one else out there, alive or dead, then he probably was dumped there and left to die."

He knew the news was coming, but still the doctor looked miserable. Being a man in his profession Grisha was no stranger to death, but the thought of someone so similar in age to his children being hurt like that. It sickened him.

Hannes was surprisingly quick to notice the doctor's sullen mood. "We have the kids last name at least, and it's not one I've heard before so it should hopefully be something easy to find."

"He has something else that makes him stand out even more." Hannes didn't understand until Grisha stepped over to the window and motioned for him to look inside. When he peered through the glass, Hannes didn't understand what he was meant to be seeing at first. It took him a good moment to spot a rather strange feature of the boy.

"Wait… what is that? Is that a-…"

"It is."

"Seriously?" He looked at the man in shock. He wasn't exactly one to call Grisha a liar, but what he was saying was just too outlandish to be true. Except, he had proof in front of him that he wasn't lying.

"I didn't believe it at first, but I did inspect him after all. It's real."

"Wow…" It was so strange to see. He'd heard of some people born with abnormalities, but they were typically more subtle. He had most certainly never heard of a person being born with a tail.

"You're a doctor, you ever seen something like this?"

"Never." Grisha had certainly seen his fair share of unusual people, and even delivered a fair number of babies. But a tail was something entirely new. When he'd actually realised what it was, he'd done a analysis on whether it seemed to have any actual connection to his body beyond the physical, and sure enough it had nerve endings and muscles as it twitched at his touch.

Eren had notably reacted rather poorly upon seeing it, immediately calling the child a freak. It hadn't been out of maliciousness, but rather the thoughtless reaction of a child. He'd been sure to correct him regardless, and was at least appreciative that Mikasa had reacted better. Far more curious than Eren, and simply wanting to touch it gently. He'd kept them both back however, he didn't want either to accidentally hurt the boy.

Hannes let out a sigh before rubbing his temple. "Well thanks anyway doc. I'll see what I can do and get back to you. Let me know if his condition changes, we can get an incident report begun in proper then, but I'll get the word out now."

"Will do. When we spoke by the way, he was very polite and called me sir a lot. It's possible he may have been from a more influential family."

Manners weren't exactly rare amongst the more common folk, but to continue being so fastidious when injured would suggest something more than a parent simply teaching their child to be polite.

Hannes frowned and rubbed his chin in thought. "Damn. If he is from some richer family, it might actually be harder to find any word about him. Someone like him born so differently, if it was known then it would be widespread. If not… they may have hidden him away from the public. Gonna be a lot harder to find anything."

Grisha nodded in agreement. "Hopefully he can tell us more about where he's from when he wakes. He's hurt badly, but I wouldn't consider any of it life threatening. Still, I'll be monitoring him through the night."

Hannes nodded in understanding. "All right, let me know. But maybe get Carla to move the carriage for you, the horses are crapping where people walk."

"Will do." With his final goodbye. Hannes turned and began walking towards headquarters. Tonight was going to be a busy night for the garrison soldier indeed, and sadly not likely to be a productive one.

For the poor doctor though, tonight was going to be the first of many sleepless nights as he worried himself senseless about his patient.

"Don't worry Gohan." He reassured both himself and the boy. "We'll take care of you."