Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Light in the Darkness ❯ The Truth about Trunks ( Chapter 85 )

A Light in the Darkness - Part 85: The Truth about Trunks
by Mia Skywalker & Wataruo

 

PAIRING: Vegeta/Bulma, Yamcha/Hakusai, Tenshinhan/Lunch
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: none
C&C: Please! ^_^
DISCLAIMER: Neither of us owns any of the DBZ characters or anything about DBZ, but we both wish we owned the Saiyans. All of them. At least all of the ones with hair. And yes, we're including Yamcha, Ranma, and Ryouga in that, now you know. Dragonball Z and the associated characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation. Ranma 1/2 and the characters of Ranma Saotome and Ryouga Hibiki are owned by Viz, Rumiko Takahashi, and some Japanese studio I don't know the name of. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball or Ranma 1/2 themselves. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic. We just have fun writing it. Oh, I guess we do own Hakusai and Serori. But I doubt anyone cares. ^_~
SUMMARY: Everyone gets a revelation about the mysterious boy who helped them.
NOTES: The rest of this story is completely unbeta'd, as I can't seem to find a beta who will be as brutal or thorough as I like, and will get me chapters back in what I feel is a timely manner. I have, however, had training as an editor, and I've edited the remainder of this pretty thoroughly. I would simply like people to be aware that no one else has gone through it to catch any errors or inconsistencies, so it may be more flawed than I realize.

 

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Suddenly Trunks felt a faint quiver under his hand, and he opened his eyes in surprise. His father's ki, which had been negligible a moment ago, gave a little start, then a tremor, and Trunks could feel life beginning to stir again. He gave a gasp of joy and stared down at the smaller man, as he realized that Vegeta wasn't dead after all.

 

Goku's brow furrowed in thought. Vegeta is his father? The tall Saiyan didn't understand. The teenager was too old to be Vegeta's son, wasn't he? Goku did not know how old Vegeta really was, but the more he studied the boy, the more he saw the resemblance between him and the Saiyan Prince.

 

“Vegeta is all right.” Goku spoke softly to the young man. “Thanks to you the only one who died was Bojack, and no one will mourn his loss. But I don't understand. You know all of us, but we don't know you. Who are you? Where do you come from?”

 

A faint blush stained the boy's cheeks. “I guess it's all right to tell you,” he said softly. “But maybe I should tell all of you at once. I think there may be too many questions.”

 

He glanced down at the Saiyan Prince in his arms. “We should take him home. Mother will want to make sure he's all right.” He looked back up at Goku. “You said that the only one who died was Bojack? Then the others are still alive, too?” Ryouga was startled by that question, and he looked over at Goku expectantly as well, hope etched on his face.

 

Goku smiled reassuringly at Ryouga. “Yamcha's ki may be low but his injuries are minor. I think Vegeta's might be a bit more serious. Ryouga, can you go and get your brother? We should really go to Bulma's.” Then something the boy had said caught his attention. “Mother? What do you mean? Are you saying that Bulma is your mother?”

 

The blush on the boy's cheeks deepened slightly. “Yes.” Then he shook his head slightly to forestall further questions. “I think that we should wait until we're back home. You'll have too many questions, and... it'll be easier just to explain this once.”

 

Ryouga frowned in confusion at their words, but quietly walked over to Yamcha and picked him up. Fortunately he wasn't out of the line of sight of the others, and he gave a sigh of relief when he managed to get back to them without ending up somewhere on another continent again.

 

Trunks stood up with Vegeta in his arms, and looked gravely at Goku. “We should get going. Mother will be worried about him.” He didn't wait for a reply, but instead took off and headed straight for Capsule Corp.

 

The other two were about to follow when a tentative voice interrupted them. “Goku, did he mean what he said? Vegeta is his father and Bulma is his mother? I thought they just got together a few days ago or something!”

 

Krillin was looking at his best friend in confusion. During the chaos of the fight he had managed to keep out of it, knowing that there wasn't a whole lot he could do to help. With a sinking heart he had realized that all he would have done would have been to get in the way; the power levels of the others were just too far above him. Especially now that Goku wasn't the only one who could go Super Saiyan anymore.

 

“I don't know,” Goku replied. “But I will find out what is going on. You could come with us, if you like.”

 

Krillin looked around at the rubble around them. “I guess there's nothing left of the Budokai, anyway,” he said sadly. “Not that I had a chance, not with you and Vegeta in the tournament.” He sighed. “I guess I might as well go with you.” Then he blinked. “No, I better stay here and make sure Marron is all right. And maybe make sure everyone else is all right as well. I guess....” He looked at his best friend, concern obvious on his open features. “I'll go find you later. Then you can tell me everything.”

 

“All right.” Goku placed his hand on his childhood friend's shoulder. “I will. Take care.”

 

He turned and took to the air, Ryouga following right behind him, and they reached Capsule Corporation only a few minutes after the mysterious youth arrived.

 

“Did you see Bulma anywhere?” Goku asked Trunks after they landed. “Is she in the lab?”

 

The lavender-haired youth nodded. “She is. I sensed her there.”

 

He glanced down at Vegeta lying prone in his arms and his face softened slightly, and he headed towards the lab. When they entered it they found Bulma sitting in a chair and crying hysterically, Hakusai standing behind her, her arms wrapped consolingly around Bulma's shoulders. She didn't seem to react to their entrance; she was too fixed upon her own internal grief.

 

“Bulma? What's the matter?” Goku asked, rushing to his friend. “What happened?”

 

“It's Vegeta!” Bulma wailed, her voice filled with grief and pain. “I felt him die! Oh Goku! I don't want him to be dead!”

 

The lavender-haired boy stepped forward, shocked by his mother's pain. “But fa... Vegeta isn't dead. He's still alive. He needs your help.”

 

Mother, he added to himself, not able to say the word yet. He wanted to blurt it out, to tell her everything, but he knew it wasn't right just yet. He would tell them, but later, when they were ready.

 

Bulma's eyes opened in shock, taking in her husband's prone form. She rushed forward and touched his cheek, and was jolted with a shock of recognition. He was alive! Vegeta was alive! He wasn't dead after all!

 

“Put him on the table!” she ordered instantly, pointing to the examination table in the infirmary.

 

The unnamed young man complied immediately and then stepped back, watching Bulma study the Saiyan Prince with various instruments. After several agonizingly long minutes she stepped back and gave a sob of relief as she leaned her cheek against his.

 

“He's hurt,” she whispered. “But he's Vegeta. He'll be all right.” She glanced at the tank in worry. “He'll need the tank, but he won't die before we can get him in.” She stood up, and touched his cheek gently. “Vegeta, you have to get better!”

 

Hakusai sighed in relief. At first the Saiyan woman had been sure that Vegeta had been killed by the way Bulma had reacted. She must have felt his pain. She remembered that feeling all too well, even after all these years.

 

“He'll be fine.” Hakusai made her way over to Ryouga and Yamcha. She looked down at her mate and rested her forehead against his. “You just love scaring the hell out of me don't you?” she asked him, knowing she wasn't going to get a response.

 

Bulma looked up startled when she heard a mumbled, “Stop harassing me, woman.” Vegeta opened his eyes for a moment, then closed them again. “Bojack?” he asked.

 

“He had an unfortunate accident,” Goku said, rubbing his shoulder.

 

Vegeta tried to smile, and winced instead. “At least you did that right.”

 

Bulma gave a choked sob as she threw her arms around her husband. She held him gently, careful not to press too hard on any of his bruises or to touch his broken ribcage.

 

“Oh, Vegeta! How dare you scare me that way! Don't you ever, ever die on me like that!” Tears flowed from her eyes as she lay her cheek against his, wishing she could hold onto him and protect him forever.

 

Goku was looking curiously at the lavender-haired boy again. “You still haven't told us who you are and how you know all of us. Is it time yet?” He looked for all the world like an expectant little puppy.

 

The boy in question glanced down at the ground, that faint blush tinting his cheeks again. “All right. I guess it's okay now.” He glanced over at Yamcha's unconscious form, and then at Vegeta's barely conscious one. “You see, I come from the future,” he said quietly. “I came here to warn you about something that will happen very soon. In a little under three years from now, two androids that will be created by Dr. Gero will come and attack a small island southwest of south city. But they aren't the real threat. When they attack, they kill several of you, and then later another android named Cell comes along. He absorbs those two androids and becomes so powerful that none of you stands a chance against him. At least not alone.”

 

His eyes dropped to the floor. “But by that time, the only two left are Gohan and Goku. Cell kills both of them, and then... and then he destroys everything. I was only a baby, so I could do nothing to stop it. My mother let Kamesennin train me as best as he could, but by myself I was never strong enough to defeat him.” His hands clenched at his sides in frustration and fury. “I watched when he finally caught up to us and killed Kamesennin. My mother and I managed to escape... and then she built the time machine that sent me back in time.”

 

Everyone stared at him in surprise. It was Goku who managed to speak first. “But... what happened to the others? Did the androids defeat all of them? All of us together couldn't beat them?”

 

The boy shook his head. “I don't know. You never had a chance to find out. You see, in my time, Bojack killed so many of you that there just weren't very many of you left to go up against the androids. In my time, Vegeta - my father - was killed by Bojack in his surprise attack. My aunt Hakusai and her unborn child were killed as well, driving Yamcha almost to suicide. He completely stopped training after that. I don't think he ever got over her death. I never got to know Tenshinhan or Krillin, because they were killed, too.”

 

Everyone in the room was staring at the boy in shock. His voice got softer as he continued. “Mother would have killed herself when my father died, but she stayed alive because of me. But I almost never saw her smile. I think his death really hurt her, more than she would admit. So when she had the chance to send me back and change things, she took it. So you see, because my father and so many of you died, they weren't there to save the world from the androids and Cell. When the androids came, Yamcha went after them in a kamikaze attack. But he'd stopped training so... he never stood a chance. They killed him almost effortlessly.

 

“Then Gohan and Goku were the only ones left, and they couldn't do it alone. Then Cell came and.... Cell absorbed the two androids. At first those of us that were left were glad because they were gone. But we didn't know what Cell was or what he would do. He was strong. Stronger than anyone you'd ever faced before, except possibly Bojack. But... he might even be stronger than that, I don't know for sure. And then Goku and Gohan were killed, and I was the only one left....”

 

Like the others, Bulma had been listening raptly to the boy's entire speech. Then something he said penetrated her thoughts, and she looked at him curiously. “Wait a minute. You're from the future, and you're Vegeta's and my son?”

 

The boy nodded, his gaze resting on her.

 

“Well, how do we know you're telling the truth?” she demanded. “You could be lying, or making this up for some reason. How do we know that what you're saying is real?”

 

He gave her a faintly quizzical frown. “I don't know. You didn't give me anything to prove to anyone who I am. But I am your son. Yours and Vegeta's. You're already carrying me now. You... conceived me just about two weeks ago.” He blushed again and his gazed dropped to the floor in embarrassment. “You told me that yourself several times.”

 

Bulma blinked at him in surprise. Not too many people knew she was pregnant yet. Her close friends did, but no one else. “Well, if you're my son, then what's your name? I know what I'm going to name my first son.”

 

Vegeta shot her a look. “He'll be named Vegeta, of course!” he snapped at his mate. “All the Princes of Vegeta-sei are named Vegeta!”

 

“Hush, Vegeta!” she snapped back. “I'm not naming a son of mine `Vegeta'. I know what I'm going to name my son. I decided on the name when I was six years old. So what's your name?”

 

The boy looked at her in surprise. He hadn't known that his name had been picked out so long ago. “It's Trunks. My name is Trunks.”

 

Bulma gave a gasp, and stared at him in shock. “Trunks?” she managed to whimper out. “Your name is Trunks?”

 

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she approached him cautiously. She touched his face gently and stared into it. Yes, she could see Vegeta in him; in the shape of his face, the cut of his nose, the tilt of his chin. The color of his hair and eyes were hers, but the shape of his eyes were Vegeta's.

 

“You're my son,” she whispered softly. “I can't... I can't believe it. I invented a time machine? And sent you back here?”

 

He nodded, looking into her eyes wistfully. “I did it for you, Mother. You were never happy again, not after Father died. You told me once that you'd never had enough time with him, that it had taken you too long to know your own feelings. And then he was taken away from you so soon.... I came back here to fix that. I didn't want you to be so sad anymore.”

 

Bulma burst into tears and buried her face in his shoulder, unable to say anything else.

 

“You expect us to believe that?” Vegeta closed his eyes once again. “You didn't really think we are stupid enough to believe such a wild story, did you?”

 

Hakusai was frowning. “Time machine? You came back from the future in a time machine? Bulma hasn't invented a time machine.” Her frown deepened as she watched Bulma sobbing on Trunks. “At least I don't think she has.”

 

“She hasn't,” Vegeta snapped, and winced as pain streaked through his side. “But we have no reason to trust him.”

 

“He did save our lives,” Goku said quietly. “That should count for something.”

 

Trunks looked lost, apparently unable to think of anything to say, but Bulma didn't have that problem. “No reason?!?” Bulma turned towards Vegeta with a look of rage on her face. “I've never told anyone what I wanted to name my first son! ANYONE! There's no way he could have known that unless....” She blinked. “There is one way to know if he's telling the truth, you know.”

 

“Which is?” Vegeta inquired. “And just how would you prove it, woman?”

 

Bulma reached into her pocket and pulled out the DNA analyzer they had used to find Ranma. “Simple. What do you think I invented these for?” She smirked at him in triumph. “Don't tell me you think they only have one application! All I need to do is get a sample of his DNA and compare it to ours. It would be simple enough to determine if his DNA is a mixture of ours. If there's any part of his DNA that doesn't match either of ours, then....” She shrugged, not finishing her thought.

 

Vegeta chuckled, and then winced as the slight movement caused more pain than he would ever admit to. “So, boy, are you willing to take that test? Or do you have something to hide?”

 

In reply, Trunks held out his arm towards Bulma, looking at her expectantly. She hesitated a moment, looking into his eyes, and was startled by the absolute trust in his gaze. She carefully took his arm, noting almost absently how similar in build and musculature he was to Vegeta, and touched the tip of the analyzer to his arm. It gave a click as it pricked him slightly. He made no move; the pinprick probably hadn't hurt him in the slightest.

 

Bulma pressed several buttons on the analyzer and it began to click and whirr as it analyzed the data. Her eyes, however, never left the lavender-haired boy, as she studied him curiously, almost wistfully. When the analyzer beeped she looked down at it and sighed.

 

“Well?” Vegeta prompted. “Is the kid telling the truth or not?'

 

Bulma looked down at the analyzer, then blinked as she looked at Vegeta. “I don't know yet,” she snapped peevishly. “I haven't taken samples of our DNA to compare it to!”

 

“Hurry up then, woman!” he snapped back. “I haven't got all day!”

 

“Why? Do you have plans that I don't know about?” Bulma snapped back irritably.

 

While the others were occupied with Trunks, Hakusai had started to tend to Yamcha's wounds. “He does look like you, Vegeta. Except he is a hell of a lot nicer. Must get his manners from Bulma.”

 

Bulma shot Vegeta a disgusted look, and plugged the analyzer into her computer. After she had downloaded the data, she walked up to Vegeta and took his hand. “You don't mind?” she asked him, suddenly gentle. “I don't want to hurt you anymore....”

 

Vegeta snorted. “I doubt that pinprick is going to bother me any more than my ribs do. Get on with it.”

 

“Fine, then!” she snarled at him. “See if I care!” She held the device to his forearm and pressed the button. With a click it took a drop of his blood, and with another pressed button it began analyzing. She studied it intently as the numbers flowed across the screen, and when it was finished she downloaded the data to her computer. She then took a sample of her own blood and downloaded that as well.

 

Once she was finished, she sat at the computer, and began typing away at something. The others saw numbers flowing across the computer screen, meaning nothing to anyone else. After a while the numbers stopped and showed three lines of data.

 

Bulma studied those numbers carefully. Every so often she would touch a line of numbers in one area, then another line of numbers in another area. After a while she sighed and stood up, then stared at Trunks as though seeing him for the first time. She was silent for several seconds, and when she spoke again, her question wasn't what everyone was expecting.

 

“When I built the time machine, did I expect you to be able to go back again?”

 

Vegeta's eyes snapped open. “You mean he is our son?”

 

Bulma nodded, her eyes not leaving Trunks. “Yes. He is. He can't possibly be anyone else's.” Tears were in her eyes as she approached the boy again and repeated her question. “Did I expect you to be able to go back again?”

 

Trunks hesitated, then shook his head. “I don't think so,” he said quietly. “You programmed it in that it could make a return trip if I wanted it to, but you said it might not be possible. You said that if I changed things, that... that our reality might no longer exist.” [1]

 

He swallowed and looked deeply into her eyes. “But there's nothing left there for me to return to. Right before I got into the time machine, you were... you were killed.” He reached over to her, and brushed away the tears that were starting to brim over her eyes. “Everyone else on that world is dead, too. Even if I went back... I'd be all alone now.”

 

Vegeta closed his eyes again. The pain of his mother's loss still affected the young man; Vegeta could hear it in his voice. “Then stay here,” Vegeta said, getting their attention.

 

Bulma blinked in shock, astounded by Vegeta's invitation. She looked back at the boy, and was surprised at the way he was looking down at the ground again, apparently embarrassed. She was about to say something, but Trunks pulled away from her to walk over to where his father lay on the bed in the infirmary.

 

“Thank you, Father,” he said, the respect he had for his father showing unhidden in his face.

 

Bulma was surprised at how much the boy seemed to hero-worship Vegeta. Was it because of things she had told him about Vegeta in his time? Then her eyes welled up with tears again, as she realized that in this Trunks' world she'd had less than two weeks with Vegeta before he had been taken from her.

 

Vegeta snorted. “Whatever, brat.” He waved him away. “Go and find something useful to do.” The Saiyan Prince was not about to admit that he did not want to send Trunks back. He could sense the pain and loneliness that the boy felt, and it was so like what Vegeta himself had experienced that it was uncanny.

 

Hakusai and Goku smiled at each other. “It's going to get really crowded around here,” Goku said, smiling. “With Trunks moving in, and then in a few months when Bulma gives birth to him...”

 

“Bulma?” Hakusai looked over at her sister-in-law. “Two Trunks' running around here is going to be confusing.”

 

Bulma blinked, realizing that the Saiyan woman was right. She looked at Trunks, who returned her gaze questioningly. She smiled suddenly.

 

“Well, I'm not going to name him anything else! That would mean that he wasn't born, if I did that!” Her eyes twinkled, and then she smiled sadly. “No matter what, you are my son,” she told him. “I'm not sure how we'll deal with having two people named Trunks, but... I'm sure we'll think of something.”

 

Trunks blushed slightly. It was odd the way his mother was treating him as an equal, not with the casual familiarity with which he was used to being treated by her. It was also odd, the fact that she wasn't all that much older than he was, certainly not old enough to be his mother. And his father... he couldn't help feeling a little intimidated by his presence. He had heard so much about Vegeta from his mother, and here he was... he couldn't help feeling slightly overwhelmed. Although his mother rarely had expressed exactly how she had felt towards Vegeta, he had always been able to sense the pain and loneliness in her voice, and the incredible love and devotion she must have felt for the Saiyan Prince.

 

He inclined his head, nodding almost imperceptibly, as he gave them all a small smile. “I'll do anything you need me to do,” he told them, his voice filled with his sincerity and gratitude.

 

Vegeta studied the young man out of the corner of his eye, pretending not to be at all interested in him, when in reality he was very pleased with the fact that his son was so strong. Vegeta also knew that Bulma, now that she knew who he was, wouldn't let Trunks go. Not that Trunks had anywhere to go.

 

“Then make yourself useful,” he muttered. “And help her get the other brat out of the tank. He should be healed by now.”

 

To be continued.....

 

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And in the next exciting episode of DragonBall Z: A Light in the Darkness... Ranma wakes up, and more revelations

 

[1]Author's notes: Toriyama chose to make it one way, but this is AU, and we're choosing to make it another. Various theories within quantum physics could make either idea be possible. Ironically, current quantum physics theories would indicate that Toriyama might be more correct in his ideas, but it just doesn't work for what we have planned.

 

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Reviewer Responses:

 

Dutchfangirl: Now THAT is a dedicated fan. :-) I agree with you about evolving characters; all my favorite characters in stories are the ones that evolve. That's why Vegeta is one of my favorites in DBZ, Sesshoumaru is one of my favorites in Inu Yasha (although Rin is my absolute favorite, for many reasons), and Sakura is one of my favorites in Naruto. There are many others, but you get my point. A character that can't evolve is boring... and isn't realistic. People change, they grow, they evolve. If a person can't change (an old friend of mine from high school told me recently that he refuses to change anymore, which made me lose a lot of respect I had for him), then that person might as well be dead. The “jealous boyfriend” Yamcha from many fics is not only OOC (he has NEVER shown jealousy in the anime or manga) but it cheapens what Bulma and Vegeta have. To indicate that Bulma chose Vegeta only because her boyfriend cheated on her makes her out to be a wilting wallflower (OOC), and Vegeta out to be some knight in shining armor who rescues her (OOC), and makes it seem like their relationship would never have developed had Yamcha been a better person, which I think is false. I think Bulma chose Vegeta because Yamcha bored her; his rakish bandit mystique wore off when she realized what an innocent he really was, and Bulma just loves those bad boys. Please, do not assume I'm projecting my own desires onto her. I do not like bad boys; I've always gone for the intelligent geeks who can make me laugh. ^_^

 

Rebeccarue: I'm glad I've given you something to look forward to. :-) I have a few fanfics as well that I've felt the same way about, notably all of Dragoness Eclectic's works, as well as a Bardock story whose author's name escapes me at the moment. I have every fic of DE's printed out and in a notebook, tabbed and sorted by story chronological order. Every now and then I reread all of them from start to finish. :-) So yeah, I understand your dedication. ^_^ I don't personally think this story is all that great, but others do, so I suppose I have to trust your judgment.