Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Ball VE: The Keeper Saga ❯ Chapter 6

Dragon Ball Vegeta's Era: The Keeper Saga

 

Chapter Six

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ. I do, however, own the plot of DBVE and all of the original characters that might appear.

 

Co-written by: Mia Skywalker

 

…

 

Trunks stood in his sister's room, looking at all of her things. He picked up one of her favorite stuffed animals and sat on her bed. The toy was a fluffy white tiger that their father had given her for her last birthday. He gently caressed its fake fur, thinking of his baby sister.

 

The adult version of her was gone, along with the other four from the future, leaving a plethora of worries and unanswered questions in their wake. He gazed at the stuffed toy in his hands, wondering how different the toy's owner would be when she finally returned.

 

He glanced up when he heard a noise, smiling slightly in greeting at the person in the doorway. “Hi, Mom.”

 

Bulma stared at her teenage son, blinking back tears. When she had heard sounds from Bra's bedroom, her heart had almost stopped. She had run up the stairs three at a time, hoping against hope…

 

…only to see her son there, looking at his sister's toys.

 

“Oh, Trunks,” she cried out, rushing over to hold him. She had known that he was as lonely as she for their missing loved ones, but it hadn't really penetrated her own grief before now. “I miss her so much.” She gently pushed him back slightly, brushing a strand of hair from his cheek. “It hurts so much, doesn't it? Oh, Kami, I miss them!”

 

“Yeah,” Trunks said softly, his voice thick with unshed tears. “I wish we could go after them…. I wish I knew if it was the aliens or the Shades that did all of that to Dad….”

 

He trailed off, shuddering slightly. He had seen the scars leading down from his father's eye. Something powerful had ripped it out. And he had never wished it back.

 

Bulma looked sad as well, tears starting to flow from her eyes. “He was so hurt,” she said softly. “I wonder… I wonder what did that to him.” She shuddered. “Those aliens - surely they didn't want to torture him, did they? They said that wanted to… to breed him.”

 

Her eyes closed and her teeth clenched at the thought. She had no idea how they were going to try to force the issue, but a tiny part of her wondered if they would have to. They had said they had a Saiyan female, after all. Maybe he preferred that to her? No! she thought adamantly to herself. He wouldn't betray me. I know he wouldn't.

 

“He wouldn't breed with what they created willingly,” Trunks murmured. Then a stricken look crossed his face, his hands unconsciously convulsing around his sister's stuffed toy. “What if… What if they threaten to hurt Bra? He loves you, Mama, but he'd do it if they were going to hurt or kill Bra.”

 

Bulma's eyes widened and her face paled for a moment before she regained her composure, her expression and even her emotions growing calm. “Then he would do what he has to in order to protect her. He wouldn't let her be hurt - you know how protective he is of her. Gohan will protect her as well. They will do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

 

She brushed her hand against his cheek again, giving him a small, sad smile. “We know all three of them will return in a year. Your father is badly hurt, but at least we know he's alive. I just wish…” A tear trickled down her cheek. “I just wish we could spare him the pain.”

 

“And we know he still loves you, Mama. I saw him kiss you. He wouldn't have kissed you like that if he didn't love you,” he said softly. “All we can really do when he gets home is to be here for him. He won't talk about what he went through - he just isn't like that - but it might comfort him just to be home with us.”

 

“Yes….” She threw her arms around his neck, weeping openly. “I want him back, Trunks! I don't want him to suffer any more than he already has. He's been hurt so much his whole life. I would do anything to spare him more pain.”

 

Tears sprang to Trunks' eyes as well as he shuddered slightly. “I heard some of it,” he said, his voice harsh with sorrow. “I didn't mean to, but I overheard just a little bit of it when you finally got Dad to tell you about his past…. I don't like him much, but I'm glad it was a version of me who killed that sick bastard.”

 

Bulma didn't move away from Trunks, and other than heavy sobs, was silent for several minutes. “Vegeta hated Frieza,” she finally said, her voice muffled against her son's shoulder. “I remember the horror on his face when he saw Frieza alive and on Earth. He was…. Oh, Trunks, he would never admit it, but he was terrified! I think…. I think that other version of you must have known a bit of it too. He… he toyed with Frieza before he killed him. Vegeta doesn't deserve any more pain in his life. We have to… We have to help him, when he gets back.”

 

…

 

Goten stared at the huge stack of pancakes in front of him while his mother stirred up batter for more. He wondered desperately if he could get away with feeding them to the dragon that had lurked around their house since Gohan was little.

 

He glanced over at his father and the equally huge stack of pancakes in front of him. They had both humored Chi-Chi's odd cooking obsession for the past month, but he didn't think he could take any more. Though his father seemed to be relishing the massive amounts of food.

 

“Hey, these are really good, Chi!” Goku exclaimed. It wasn't as though everything she cooked wasn't great to him, but he always strived to compliment her about it anyway. “Hey, Goten, if you're not going to eat yours, can I have them?” Despite the huge amount on his own plate, Goku couldn't help eyeing Goten's hungrily, especially since his son didn't seem as enthusiastic about the fourth helping as he was.

 

Goten wordlessly passed his plate over, his eyes wide. As always, he was impressed with the full-blooded Saiyan's ability to eat. He shuddered slightly, thinking of what could happen to someone unfortunate enough to end up between a hungry Goku and food. His mind conjured up the bizarre mental image of the legs of some poor soul sticking out of Goku's mouth, kicking in a vain attempt to free themselves and their owner.

 

Despite Goku's enjoyment of the meal, he was getting a bit full, and he was smart enough to realize that Goten wasn't anxious to eat more. Inhaling the pancakes faster than Chi-Chi could whip up the next batch, he patted his stomach and burped loudly.

 

“Wow, that was great!” he declared in satisfaction. Then he stood up quickly, looking over at his son. “Come on, Goten. I want to show you this great fishing spot I found. We'll be back this afternoon, Chi.” In the past, he wouldn't have bothered to give her even a vague time to expect them back, but he was working on being more considerate and reliable.

 

Chi-Chi had just begun to turn around when the two Saiyans bolted out the door, using their super speed. She put her hands on her hips, looking disgruntled. “Well, he could have at least offered to help me clean up!” she complained irritably, though she was pleased he had remembered to let her know about when to expect them back. “And they didn't take a lunch with them. They'll go hungry. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make sure there's plenty for them to eat at dinner.”

 

…

 

“Thanks, Dad,” Goten said, his gratitude evident in his voice. “I guess someone with human blood just can't eat as much as a full Saiyan. I know cooking is Mom's way of coping with Gohan being missing, but couldn't she just take up knitting or something to keep her mind off of it?”

 

Or maybe not, he thought, his overactive imagination forming images of the house overrun with knitted shirts and scarves while he and his father waddled around, swaddled in several layers of knitted clothing.

 

Goku smiled as he gazed into the river. He really did want to do some fishing, although his haste had been only to rescue his son. He wouldn't have minded eating a bit more, but he knew Goten had been starting to feel sick from it.

 

“That's just the way she is, son. You can't really change someone's nature, not short of a wish, like Vegeta did to me. Even that would be limited. All he did was return something that I should have had naturally, not add something that shouldn't be there.”

 

He looked at his son with sympathetic understanding. “We all have our ways of coping. Chi-Chi cooks, Trunks trains, and Bulma works in her lab. You and me… well, we don't necessarily need to cope the same way. We're both used to danger, to fighting, but they're not. At least, Bulma and Chi-Chi aren't. They fight, but not the same way.”

 

He sat down on a large rock, the tip of his tail dipping lazily into the water. “What you have to understand, Goten, is that when we go out and fight, they have to stay home and wait for us. They are both very brave and very strong in their own way, but when the fighting starts, they're forced to sit back and wait. It isn't really in their natures - they both want to be in the middle of the action - but it's too dangerous to them and they know it. It's especially hard for your mother. She is a fighter, she's just not in our league, so although she may want to join us and fight as well, she can't. Instead, she has to watch while her husband and children go off and fight, knowing that there's always a chance that one of us won't come back.”

 

“There's something I've always wondered about. Why did Mom try so hard to keep Gohan from becoming a fighter, and then train me?” It was something that had always puzzled Goten, but he'd never felt comfortable asking. He still wasn't used to his newly intelligent father, but sometimes he felt closer to him the way he was now.

 

“Well….” Goku was thoughtful for a moment before he continued. “I think she thought she was doing Gohan a favor when she refused to let him train. I get the feeling that even though she's a fighter, she never really chose it. That path was chosen for her, and she never cared for it. She probably thought the same was true for me, and she didn't want it to be true for Gohan. So instead of letting me train him - and forcing him into a life she thought he would hate - she made him study to be a scholar, something she had once dreamed of being.”

 

He looked curiously at Goten. “Did you ever feel that she didn't care about you as much because she wasn't as overprotective of you? Because I don't think that's the case at all. She's given you more freedom because it was only when Gohan was older that she finally realized how much it was hurting him when she held him back. He wants to fight, as do I, and it was only right before you were born that she finally realized it. It's our choice to fight. It's what we do best, because we love it, not because we have to do it.”

 

“I can understand that, I think,” Goten said, looking thoughtful. Some things been hard for him when he was growing up. He had never understood why his mother had seemed so much more protective of his older brother, and he had missed having a father. Gohan had been great, but he hadn't been a father figure, not really.

 

He had ended up hero-worshipping Vegeta, just like Trunks, and had spent many hours in the gravity room with the two of them, watching Vegeta train. The Saiyan prince had never directly taught them, but Goten had noticed that he would often repeat a move at a slower pace if either of them copied it wrong.

 

He was my surrogate father for a long time, he thought to himself. I'm as upset about him being missing as I am about Gohan and Bra, but Trunks is the only one I can really tell about that. Bulma doesn't need to hear someone whining about missing her husband, I'm not sure what Mom would think of it, and I don't want to hurt Dad's feelings.

 

“I want them home,” he murmured.

 

“So do I, Goten. So do I,” Goku said softly, putting an arm around the young man's shoulder. “There's nothing we can do but wait, which is one of the hardest things to do.” He smiled slightly. “And while we wait, at least for today, let's catch some fish, then clean it, and take it back to Chi-Chi to make for supper. Wouldn't some nice fine fish be just the thing to have tonight?”

 

Goten laughed, glad that even with his new intelligence, his father was still the same in so many ways. Then the two of them dove into the water, determined to tickle up some nice, big fish for their dinner.