Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z/Gt and I am not profiting from this work of fiction.
Dear Miss Son
We regret to inform you that, after much deliberation, it is the finding of this board of enquiry that your husband is to be declared deceased. After reviewing the evidence, we believe his death was the result of an animal attack and therefore a result of accidental and natural causes.
In respect of his many great services to our community, an annual fee of 30,000 Zeni a year will be issued to you at the start of each calendar year. We hope it will assist you through this difficult time. Once again, we offer you our deepest sympathies for this tragedy.
Yours sincerely
J. Buckley
Secretary of the Mount Paozu region Council
Rereading the handwritten letter, Chichi couldn't resist letting out a snort of derision as she took a long sip from her still smoking mug of coffee while wondering if she had ever seen such pretty words used so loosely. Her husband's so called demise had been anything but tragic.
It had been little more than a month since that incident with Super Android 17 and the Shadow Dragons, and already the world had returned to its grey shade of twisted normality. The crops had been sowed, homes and cities rebuilt, and the citizens of earth were once again enjoying their lives; once more blissfully ignorant of the dangers that plague their galaxy. Only the Z fighters, earth's greatest warriors, knew what that peace had cost the world.
A great light had vanished from the universe. Goku, her husband and once dearest love, was gone; taken by the immortal dragon Shenron to train in other dimensions. He had left them again and this time, Chichi knew in her heart he would never return.
And yet she was not sad. The world seemed darker, but her heart was not burdened by the loss. On the contrary, she felt almost liberated; as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She had loved Goku, but she knew know that she had not been in love with him for many years. She had loved Goku the way she had loved a lifelong friend, cared for him like he were a brother but their relationship had never been the same as it was. Not since those years long ago, when he and Gohan had been preparing for the androids. Despite the imminent danger, there had been a simple joy in those dark days when they had been a family that she had never felt since. Her romantic love for Goku had died with him in Cell's game, and later on Kami's lockout when he had announced he had decided not to return. No, her heart was in pain, and longing, for another...
Setting her coffee mug on the kitchen table, she looked over the letter once more. An annual fee of 30,000 Zeni, she more than suspected the hand of Hurcule in that. An utter buffoon he might, but never could it be said that the world champ didn't care for his family; even his in-laws.
As was so often the way with Goku; the relatively simple matter of reporting his death had been anything but simple. Telling people the truth had of course been out of the question. Trying to explain her husband's constant disappearances and trips between life and death would have been reason enough to have her committed; she shouldered to think what they might do when she confessed that he was an alien and had recently been turned into a child. No, that wouldn't do at all. So she had done what she always did in times of a crisis and after a long conversation with the girls, she believed she'd found the answer.
In retrospect, missionary work might not have been his prime vocation or the most promising carrier path for a man who his ideal day consisted of just fighting, eating and fishing, but it suited her purpose quite nicely and didn't invite a lot of questions. And it had worked, for the most part. Unfortunately, while it might have solved the issue of explaining his disappearances, it made proving his demise difficult without proper documentation or a body and the board of enquiry had refused to declare her husband dead until they had adequate proof he had been missing for seven years. So Videl had gone to her father and three days later, she received the letter, accompanied by a death certificate.
It wasn't really a lie, by her count it had been about seven years since the adult Goku vanished during the middle of the world's martial arts tournament and although he wasn't exactly dead, he would never return. Declaring him dead was just the logical thing to do, otherwise a part of her would always be longing for his return.
She had spent over half her life waiting for him to return to her, it was time she moved on with her life and buried the past.
*********************
Trunks tried to remain calm as he sipped his wine. It was the house's best, a fine Italian vintage, well-aged and blossoming with flavour and he wanted nothing more than to lose himself in its dark depths. He wanted it so much that he drained the goblet to the dregs with one sip. Setting the empty crystal down beside his almost finished plate of Fillet Steak, he quickly silenced an overripe belch before turning his gaze up to look at his companion. Only part of the way through her roasted duck, she was totally focused on eating her meal and seemed not to have noticed his slip.
Her name was Madison Winter. She worked as an accountant at Capsule Corp in a department not otherwise incorporated with his own. At just twenty-four, she had risen fast along the corporate ladder and now had an office on the top floor with a splendid view of the city. Trunks had heard of her only twice before their meeting, and both had painted the image of a nerdish bookworm with her hair in pigtails wearing a pair of oversized round-rim glasses. There were few words then that could describe his surprise when a goddess with flowing locks of auburn hair and perfect olive skin appeared in his office-doorway, carrying a stack of folders and claiming that she needed to speak with him about his expense account.
