Chapter Text
I had never planned to sacrifice myself in order to save another person. I had always been so fearful of dying. But dying for two of the most noble reasons in the world seemed to me like a good way to die. I wasn’t just dying in place of the man I love. I was also dying to save the Earth.
“Pepper, NO!” Gohan screamed just as the blue blast went through my stomach, like a meteor flying through the night sky. It didn’t feel like it had just pierced me. It had obliterated me, burning me from the inside out.
I was not sure where the blast went after that, but it certainly missed Gohan as he was able to scream my name.
Excellent, I had succeeded. I took the full blast. He’ll live…even if I won’t.
The next few seconds went exactly as I intended. The foe that had snuck up to Gohan and I had been immediately extinguished by Gohan, no longer posing a threat. But I hadn’t planned on sticking around to see this go down. I had expected my death to be instant.
The pain coursing through my body wasn’t what I expected. Instead of pain I knew well, like a deep cut, it was nothing but heat. Intense heat, that was growing every second. It wasn’t sharp, but it wasn’t dull. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.
It was then my legs gave out, but before I could crumple onto the ground I was caught by Gohan. I could see his knuckles turning bone-white from the force of his grip, but the pain from the hole in my stomach was so consuming, I couldn’t feel his touch.
“Little cliche, don’t you think?” I managed to weakly cough, blood escaping my mouth and splashing onto the dirt below.
“Why? Why did you do that?” Gohan asked, voice cracking. He wasn’t bothering to hide the tears now streaming down his face.
“I saw him, you didn’t. Your life is far more valuable than mine.” I choked out. I had wanted to add to my sentence but my ability to speak was quickly disappearing.
“No. No, no, no. Don’t say that!” Gohan begged, wrapping his arms around me tightly. Even with my fading senses, I could tell he knew just how serious my wounds were. He wasn’t trying to save me. He was just trying to hold on, for a few more seconds.
“S’ok. Everything…will be ok…” I said to comfort him, but these were the last words that would come from my lips as it was then I lost the ability to speak.
Then my vision also slipped away and the world became a shadow to me. I knew that I had just moments left within this realm.
“Pepper, I'll revive you with the dragon balls, okay? Just hold on for a little bit in the afterlife, you won't be there long.” Gohan said to me, and I could feel him gently stroking my hair.
I wanted to respond. I wanted to tell him that I loved him. That I had no regrets for what I did, and that he shouldn't have any either.
But I couldn’t. I couldn't even muster up a hand squeeze and it was apparent to me that I was now only seconds away from meeting my end.
The last thing I heard as I lay dying were the choked sobs Gohan was trying so hard to hide, as he whispered over and over again that he loved me. It was only after I was gone that Gohan let out a loud, guttural scream into the void.
Then unknown to me and to his absolute shock, my body vanished, leaving nothing in his arms but blood and air.
***
I blinked. Mere moments ago I lay dying in Gohan’s arms as heat consumed my body. But now I was standing on a bright green bridge that seemed to be made of polished jade, surrounded by yellow clouds as far as the eye could see. The air was also surprisingly warm, a balmy sort of pleasant feeling, like a perfect summer’s night.
I also found herself in a line with a bunch of smaller, translucent clouds. Were they…spirits? Some of them bobbed gently like balloons in the breeze, murmuring softly to one another. They all seemed to have the same voice with no individuality whatsoever.
I felt the same as I used to feel when I drank excessively in youth and would get blackout drunk. One moment I would remember doing something stupid, and the next I would be in a completely different situation with no memory of how I got there. This time it was different. I didn’t do something stupid, it was something brave.
But the disorientation felt the same. One second I was on earth with a huge hole in my stomach, and the next I was standing on this bridge completely whole. At least I assumed I was whole.
I gasped when I looked down and touched my stomach. My clothes were ripped, but my body was healed. I pressed my fingers to the spot where that gaping hole had ended my life. I felt only warm, unbroken skin under my fingertips.
I felt a little indecent with my skin showing under my ripped clothes, the warm air of the Other World hitting my exposed area.
“Here, let me get that for you.” I heard a kind voice say behind me and light surrounded me. Seconds later, my clothes had been mended.
I immediately turned around to see Dende, Guardian of the Earth standing with me.
“Did you bring me here?” I blurted out. I didn’t mean to sound rude, but my head was still foggy and I felt whiplash from how fast things had panned out.
Fortunately for me, Dende was not offended. He was able to sense my confusion, however even if he didn’t possess that quality one would assume I was confused right now.
“Yes. No. Well…kinda,” Dende said with a sheepish grin “I mean ultimately you’re here because you’re dead. But you have your body because of me.”
It was then that my green eyes wandered over the endless translucent clouds waiting on the bridge with me. So they are spirits after all.
“So you get to decide who keeps their body? That’s a pretty big power.” I smiled.
I was making conversation but deep down I felt a little awkward. I didn’t know Dende well, so even having to speak to him one on one at the best of times would have given me a little bit of social anxiety. But my head was still swirling with the events that had happened in such a short time frame. Less than an hour ago I was on a nice picnic with my beloved. Now I was dead, in a queue with a bunch of spirits waiting to get into somewhere unknown.
“Nope. That’s up to King Yemma, who we’re waiting to see. I’m here to plead your case for you to keep your body, just as Kami once did for Goku many years ago.” Dende explained.
I only nodded my head as I tried to wrap my head around everything. This paved the way for Dende to keep explaining.
“You see, people who do heroic acts in their lifetime are allowed to keep their bodies in the afterlife. You definitely fall under that category with how you died and all.”
“So it’s obvious what I did, right? I don’t want people to think I’m some sort of chump who died just for love. I just had no way of taking on whatever that alien was, but I knew Gohan could. If that beam got Gohan, the alien would have taken me out next anyway. Then it would have been free to roam and cause carnage before someone else got there. Okay, I didn’t save the earth, as someone else eventually would have come along and killed the alien. But I stopped a lot of people from getting hurt.” I explained, and then went bright red when I realised that I was rambling.
“Don’t worry, I understand. Considering Goku and Vegeta are currently off Earth, it could have taken quite a while for another one of the Z fighters to realise what was happening and then make their way over. Your brave sacrifice saved a lot of lives, and for this you should be entitled to keep your body.” Dende said.
A lot of questions clouded my mind, there were so many bursting to come out of my mouth that I didn’t know which one to vocalise.
How did Dende know exactly what happened so quickly? How could he travel to the other world? Did Gohan know that Dende was with me, and that I was most likely going to be just fine? Was Gohan okay? What about…Trunks. Did he already know about my demise or was he blissfully unaware?
Before I could ask anything, a blue man with two horns wearing a crisp white shirt approached Dende and I, clipboard in hand.
“Name?” He barked at us, looking very overwhelmed.
I eyed Dende, who only sent me a warm smile to indicate that I should be the one to respond.
“Pepper Ranchi.” I responded, trying to hide the nerves that were now rising.
“Right,” The horned man responded, removing a pen from his shirt pocket and scribbling something onto it “Bad day to die, lady. We’re slammed and King Yemma is being run off his feet. Okay not literally off his feet as he never leaves his desk, but, y’know.”
“So you’re saying there’s going to be a bit of a wait?” Dende asked the man.
“Yep, hope you bought a snack, because you might be in this queue for a while.” The man responded with a smirk, before he turned his back and started to converse with the spirit behind us.
“Sorry,” I sheepishly stated to Dende as I felt guilty “You can go, if you want. I might not even be seen before I’m revived by the Dragon Balls. I’m sure Gohan is already furiously looking for them.”
“I’ll stay. I’m sure we’ll find something to pass the time.” Dende smiled at me.
“Right, well, I could tell you my life story if you want? It’s deliciously messy. I’m caught in a love triangle…or square? I dunno, whatever a love triangle plus one is.” I asked Dende in a joking manner, but I was surprised to see Dende smile at me to show his interest.
“Okay then. Well, to explain my life story, I should probably tell you about my mum. You see, she becomes a different person every time she sneezes. It made for a difficult childhood.” I began.
Dende blinked in mild disbelief, but I only shrugged.
“Yeah, buckle up. It’s a weird story. I guess I’ll start with my very first boyfriend, Eugene. That’s where my romantic story begins.”