| I won�t die just yet. *** *** �Mom, can I have some more?� �Sure, Trunks.� Bulma placed more bacon on her son�s empty plate. Vegeta, eternal smirk and glare plastered on his face and one cheek bulging with pancakes, opened his mouth. �You eat more than I do, Boy.� �I got my stomach from you.� Vegeta swallowed his breakfast and lept to his feet simultaneously. He was half bent over the table and his eyes were wild. �Is that a disrespectful tone?� Bulma dropped more pancakes on Vegeta�s plate and poked the man�s rippled stomach muscles with her spatula. The man turned to glare at her, giving her a moment to speak first. Bulma surprised both Trunks and his father by placing a kiss on Vegeta�s lower lip. �He doesn�t have your stomach yet Vegeta.� Her eyes glittered with amusement, �At least you know Trunks is yours and not the milkman�s.� �What milkman?� Vegeta demanded as Bulma returned to the stove. Vegeta. Gokou whispered into the man�s mind. Trunks is coming. The fighter�s head turned to regard his son, fork in hand and poking at his bacon. Abruptly, he blinked as his ki doubled, he stood slowly. �I think I�m gonna be sick�� �Vegeta..?� Bulma asked her mate, staring at their son. �Something�s happened.� Vegeta�s eyes seemed unfocused as Gokou spoke to him. He normally hated the other man�s input but he knew this was important. �Vegeta, I can�t read ki-- Gokou! What�s happening?� Her eyes widened as the dead warrior informed her. �Vegeta, Trunks is reacting to himself. Something�s happened to Mirai!� �Swallow it, Boy,� Vegeta commanded, picking him up by the back of his gi. Bulma wrapped her arms around the man�s neck and he cast a glance back at her. �He�s my son too, Vegeta.� For once, he didn�t complain, he knew his mate could see the fear in his eyes. It was the same look that he had had on his face when he witnessed Cell kill his son. It was happening again. *** Vegeta landed bone-breaking hard, jarring Bulma and Trunks. They didn�t object to his hurry. Even the wide eyed Trunks could sense his father�s panic. Slowly, Vegeta walked to the time capsule. Everyone moved out of his way until he stopped ten feet from the machine. The glass dome to the cockpit hissed and groaned as it rose upward and slid back along itself. Mirai Trunks stood shakily, then tumbled from Hope. He lay still for a breath before rising to his knees. Vegeta was frozen in shock when he saw the state his son was in; battered, broken and dying. Slowly and painfully, with the raspy grind of broken bones clearly audible, Mirai reached into the left breast pocket of his jacket and withdrew a small golden heart-shaped locket. He held it as though in offering to his father. Vegeta�s face twisted in anguish and he fell to his knees, arms encircling his son. The saiya- jin Prince sighed sadly, for tears were unknown to him. Trunks� body shook with sobs he had held back until now. His father, one of the last people he would have ever thought he might cry on held him tighter. Bulma�s hand rose to the base of her neck were the locket Vegeta had just given her for her past birthday rested warmly. Eventually, Trunks quieted, than silenced. Vegeta roughly shoved him away so he could see the man�s face. With a sorrowed gasp, Vegeta pulled Mirai to his chest again, ki rising to SSJ in expression of his tangled emotions. After observing a few moments of ki flaring, Gohan stepped forward and placed a hand on Vegeta�s shoulder. �He�s dead, Vegeta.� �No!� He snarled, raising his ki again. Everyone watched him with regretful dismay. �No,� Vegeta repeated, ki falling to normal again. �Not just yet, Boy.� �Vegeta-� Gohan, let him be for a moment. �The saiya-jin race is known for its great battles,� Vegeta whispered. �But we did not always leave a battle unscathed. We developed the most advanced on-the-battlefield medicine. The saiya- jin were not successful because we fought, but because we survived.� Vegeta paused to catch his breath, ki flaring having exhausted him. Gohan gasped as the realization struck him. �A heartbeat,� Piccolo thought aloud. Vegeta�s. Gokou finished, watching the other�s pulsing ki field. After a few moments and urging, Vegeta�s heartbeat was thrown off as Trunks� registered in his awareness. Gohan spoke again, he seemed to be the only one of the Earth�s Special Forces that still had his voice. �The ki field has an electric current and it�s just as strong as a heart�s current. Trunks�s alive!� He cheered. *** Trunks stared at the ocean�s great expanse, absently plucking at his wrist brace. He�d had to heal normally, for no one had any senzu beans at the time. As a breeze ruffled his hair he heaved a great sigh, wincing against his protesting ribs. It had been three weeks since he�d come, bloody and broken but alive. He was told that Vegeta had saved his life-- just one more thorn against the man in his side. He unfolded his long legs and stretched, absently watching the muscles most humans only dreamed of developing ripple cleanly through them. It had taken him twenty-two years to acquire all his strength and size. Even as tall as Gokou was, maybe more now, he thought, rising to stare over the ocean cliff. He closed his eyes and tensed at the presence behind him. �Go on boy, jump. This time Piccolo won�t spy you and pull you out of the water.� �What do you want, Vegeta? Why are you here?� Trunks demanded, still facing the sea. �Contemplating life, seeking power,� Trunks� eye caught the unmistakable energy grooves and burns in the surrounding stone. �What does it matter?� Trunks was silent for some time, he knew Vegeta wouldn�t speak again, not until he assumed that his son had stopped thinking. �Long ago, Mom told me of a place she went were she could think, I am in that place.� Vegeta snorted, �I had no idea the woman knew about this place.� �Woman!� Trunks snarled, spinning with at least twenty years of accumulated fury to face his father. �Why Don�t you ever use her name?!� �I can�t.� �Why not, Vegeta? Your pride? That damning pride that got you killed again and again? She deserves your respect!� �I respect her wishes by not calling her Bulma,� Vegeta said in a soft tone, however dangerously. �What?� Vegeta eyed his son, �When I discovered she was with a child, I was prepared to stay with her-� �You lying bastard. You never loved my mother, you never even cared that she would be left alone after you died!� |