Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ As The World Falls Down ❯ mini-one-shot ( Chapter 1 )

I'm scared.

I've never really felt scared before.

My dad used to say 'to have fear welcomes death', but I don't want to die. I want to go home and forget that this is all up to me now. To us. That there's nobody left who can fight him, and being a kid isn't a good enough excuse anymore to just be able to run away.

Goten's crying somewhere. I can hear him. All that talk about being ready tomorrow and not being afraid always seems to crumble apart at night, or whatever time it is outside. He's got nobody left. Even if we win, there's still nobody left to take him home. I still have my mom, but if we don't fight tomorrow, I'll lose her, too.

"Goten? Are you out here?" I can hear him trying to quiet his sobbing, all though I know he doesn't want to be alone. I just know these things about him, even if he doesn't say it. "Goten?"

And I find him -- Curled up in a little ball near the base of our constant reminder that we only have a few hours left. His eyes are swollen and red, looking like a normal seven year old boy who wants to just go home. No longer the strong half-Saiyan who came in here bent on revenge.

It's times like this - when we should be sleeping and resting our minds - that it's been the hardest.

I sit down next to him, rubbing his back like my mom used to do to me when I was really little, feeling him fight back the tears that spill down his young face.

A sharp gasp hiccups through his body, too scared to tell me that he doesn't think were strong enough. That we won't be able to beat him. That he's afraid to die. I know this without having to ask. I know everything about him.

I don't say anything. I just hold him. Remembering better times. Never having imagined that we'd be here -- crying together the night before our world is planned to come crashing apart. His feelings become my own, but I have to be strong. For us.

"We're going to beat him, Goten. I know it." I pretend. "We're going to save everyone and we're going to go home... And you can come live with me. We'll be like brothers. I'll take care of you." I say quietly, holding on tighter as if I expect to find the strength buried deep between us.

... And I do. The strength to fight for each other. To prove who we are. To become what we were born to be. To make my dad proud again, even if he isn't here to see it.

And we stay with each other until the time comes. Ready to fight for everyone who can't. To fight for everyone we've lost. I want to make them proud. I want to save the world.

But I'm still eight years old. And I'm still scared.

Here we go...