Finding Hope

Chapter 89: Advice & Wisdom

Tsubaki's pov

"Videl is putting Pan down now, she should sleep through the night well thanks to you." Gohan sighed in relief and took a seat beside me, taking his glasses off. The two of us were sitting outside together, Trunks had decided to help Videl put Pan to sleep which I thought was adorable. Mr. Satan had retired to bed right after dinner, which left Gohan and Videl to entertain us. I watched the sun as it was setting, the view that Gohan had from his house was beautiful. "This view is amazing you know," I said, breaking the silence as the breeze blew by. "I know.." Gohan agreed, silence passed over the two of us again as I just watched the sunset. It was honestly the prettiest thing, I had seen in a while. Back in our timeline, the skies were always cloudy and dark. There were countless storms and horrible weather, it wasn't too often that we actually got the chance to have a sunny day. Especially after the arrival of Goku Black. The gloomy atmosphere seemed to work to his advantage, but he never managed to break Trunks and I's fighting spirit. In some way, my mother would compare me to Dad because of my love for fighting but I was different because that was all I knew how to do from a young age. Whereas Dad was able to live in peace and had some peaceful times, though, he did have times where he had to fight to save those he cared about. "Tsu..." Gohan started, trailing off. He wanted to say something but I could tell he was hesitant because he didn't know how I would react to what he had to say.  "Hm?" I hummed, my eyes never leaving the scenery in front of us. "Trunks told me that you blame yourself for Future Bulma's death." Gohan started, "That's because it is my fault. I should have grabbed her right when he showed up, but I didn't. I was selfish and grabbed Mom." I said, "And how is that being selfish? I'm sure Trunks would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed." He asked, "I.. I don't know Gohan. I.. I should have grabbed her. I should have done more to save her but I couldn't. He's far too strong for Trunks and I to stop him. I just.." Tears started to form as I curled my hand into fists, Gohan placed a hand over mine making me look up at him. A stray tear fell as he made eye contact with me, "Tsu, you have got to stop blaming yourself for her death. And for Mai's and Asher's. They made their choices to help get you three here alive. I know this is hard, I can't even begin to understand how hard this has been on you. Tsu, I can see that you are bottling up your emotions and it won't do you any good." He shook his head, I looked down at my hands and shifted my gaze back out onto the view.

"I can't keep crying. I have to be strong."

"Be strong for who?"

"For Trunks. He.. He needs someone stable to be his rock. I'm his fiance, I have to be his shoulder to cry on. He's been mine for so long. It's my turn to be his rock."

"Being someone's rock doesn't mean that you are not allowed to have feelings. You don't need to bury yours in order to be someone else's rock. Healing takes time, it doesn't happen over night. In time, things will get easier and it will be easier to smile. It'll be okay. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not even for a while. But eventually, it will be okay. Things will get easier. You don't have to be okay to be someone's rock. For your sake, don't hide your feelings just to make him feel better. He wouldn't want you to do that. Neither would Future Bulma." I looked  up at Gohan, his gaze softened as he looked at me. "Did Future Bulma ask you to do anything before she died?" I nodded, "What was it?"

"She made me promise her to take care of Trunks.. And not just him. But myself as well." A tear rolled down my cheek, "She's right. You have to take care of yourself too. Not just Trunks. And not just your timeline's version of Mom." Gohan spoke softly, the sun had officially gone down now. "I know that it may seem impossible right now but please take care of yourself, Tsu. And if you need someone to vent to, you've got me. You can always call me." Gohan wiped my tears away, pulling me into a hug. "It's okay to cry, to scream, get angry and lash out. But it's not okay to shut everyone out and bottle up your feelings. If you need to cry, then cry. Nobody is going to see you but me." It seemed as soon as he said that, the floodgates opened and I started sobbing. All of the pain I had been bottling up finally surfaced and I was glad that I had my big brother to comfort me, because if we had still been in my timeline, I wouldn't have him. Seeing this Gohan made me miss my timeline's Gohan, even though he had become such a strict teacher and fighter, he was still my big brother. He never shied away from comforting me when I needed it and it seemed that this Gohan was no different in that sense. "It's okay.." Gohan wrapped his arms around me tighter, rubbing circles on my back with his hand. I needed to get all the crying out of my system, that way, I can be strong for Trunks and not hide my feelings.

After five minutes, Tsubaki finally calmed down and felt exhaustion wearing on her from the crying. She closed her eyes, letting her body rest against Gohan who didn't seem to mind. When he realized she was asleep, he carried her inside the house, running into Trunks who looked just as tired. "Hey," Trunks greeted, he was confused to see Tsubaki curled up in her brother's arms. "Ah, I know you're confused. Don't worry, we just had a little heart to heart and she fell asleep because she was exhausted." Gohan explained, "I'll take her." Trunks took Tsubaki from Gohan, her head resting against Trunks' chest as he carried her to the door. "Listen, I wanted to thank you for having us over for dinner.. And for introducing us to your family. And for the advice." Trunks said, "It was no problem. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. And it was my pleasure. It was really nice seeing you and my sister again." Gohan smiled, looking at Tsubaki. With that, Trunks said his goodbyes and flew off with Tsubaki still sleeping in his arms. Gohan watched as he flew off, Videl joining him.

"You think they'll be okay?" She asked, leaning on her husband.

"I hope so." Gohan sighed, "Come on, let's go to bed."