Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Borrowed Redemption ❯ VIII ( Chapter 8 )

Borrowed Redemption ::

Chapter 8

 

 

 

Goku snarled, and Vegeta shrunk back. Slowly, the prince stepped forward, carefully reading every change in Goku's expression. There was not much change; the expression remained raging, wrathful. “K…Kakarrot,” he finally spoke. Goku did not respond, did not even seem to register that Vegeta had spoken. Vegeta took several more steps forward, until he was certain he was within earshot. “I want to…that is, what I did, wasn't right. I apologize. I'm sorry.” He took in a deep breath, straightening up and looking Goku in the eye to demonstrate his honesty. As Vegeta drew in another breath, he felt his chest shaking from both nervousness and genuine sorrow. He couldn't say he didn't know what he was doing at the time.

 

He'd known full well what he was doing.

 

“Vegeta,” Goku finally breathed. His rage gave way to anguish for a moment as a few tears choked out, and Goku hung his head. Soon, though, the anger had returned, dissolved into a devastating silence, an eye in the storm. “I do not accept your apology.” He raised his head again, meeting Vegeta's eyes.

 

Vegeta knew that look: disgust.

 

“Leave me alone.”

 

He didn't need to ask twice. Quietly, Vegeta retreated, turning his back to Goku so that he wouldn't have to see that face again. He glanced back once, but Goku had already vanished.

 

 

***

 

 

Well, sighed Vegeta, as he drifted down to the edge of a forest, suppressing his ki. I guess…that's the end of that. The last thing he wanted at this moment was for anyone to find him. How could he face his son? Bulma?

 

That's…the end of that. How many years had it been? How long since he had become content in Goku's company? How much time had he spent moving his life this way or that because of the other Saiyajin? Even as he grew happy with his family, as he embraced the experience of raising his son, yet how many times did he jump at the ring of the doorbell at the first blind hope that it was Goku?

 

His family…his son.

 

It was Trunks' fault in the first place. If only, when Trunks had come from the future, he could have clarified his parentage to Goku. But that was a different time, and a different Trunks. He was proud that, unlike in the future Trunks' timeline, he had been there to raise his son. Still, it was just that one slip-up…perhaps it was not meant to be. Vegeta sighed. The idea of the last two Saiyajin… It had started to feel so natural to him.

 

But somehow, remembering that it all started from misunderstood words, and Goku insisting on coming along with his training…the virus… All the haphazard events, scattered by chance as they were, did not devalue the significance he felt in the relationship.

 

Yet, at the beginning, he had set out to train, to become stronger than his rival. Even his ascension to Super Saiyajin had been a direct result of Goku's coming along. Vegeta had been doing standard training exercises daily even since Cell's defeat, true…yet he had not achieved a breakthrough, had, perhaps, even forgotten about how he had ached for one before. Had his desire for power truly been moved to the backburner so easily, without his even noticing? I've spent these years hardly even lusting after battle and bloodshed…perhaps I've forgotten what it's like to push myself over the edge, to nearly die trying, to be reborn, triumphant…

 

Taking to the air once more, Vegeta made his way for Capsule Corp. It was time to face the music, tell Bulma what he had done, and to take to the skies, the stars, the home he'd never known he had, to push himself harder, to push the past behind…

 

To be reborn, triumphant.

 

 

***

 

 

There he goes, thought Goku. Into space. Good riddance. He wavered, hardly remembering where he was. All the day's events had been too unbelievable, too terrible; he could hardly bring himself to recall them, and the Saiyajin found himself forgetting things even from minutes before in his struggle to simply forget.

 

I know I was me…but…I wasn't me. And Vegeta knew I wasn't me… He clenched his eyes shut in pain as the memory drifted back. How could he do that? He knew… The thought stung, that he could be so betrayed. How many times can he make my life miserable? I guess…after this…I'll be glad to go home…to Gohan, and Goten, and Chi-Chi.

 

But what do I tell them?

 

He frowned. How did Babidi get to me in the first place? It all felt so evil…I thought I could fight evil…

 

More memories surfaced. His anger with Vegeta, his lashing out even as the prince tried simply to help him seek out and fight the one who had harmed Gohan so suddenly. Goku exhaled deeply. I was a more appealing target to that wizard than Vegeta. Vegeta, with so much evil in his past…

 

Goku looked homeward, and decided to leave these thoughts behind, for now, and return to his house. He could think about it later; this mysterious foe foiled, the monster in his shell meticulously destroyed by Piccolo under Kaioshin's instruction…Vegeta, gone, no longer on Earth to haunt him…Goku had all the time in the world. He put his fingers to his forehead and teleported home.

 

 

***

 

 

“Dad…!” Gohan exclaimed. “I'm so glad you're okay! I heard you guys destroyed the wizard while I was recovering.”

 

“Yeah,” Goku nodded, solemnity overcoming his features.

 

“What's wrong? Father?”

 

“Gohan…who hurt you, in the first place?”

 

“My memory's a bit foggy…it happened so suddenly,” he admitted.

 

Goku hesitated, not expecting he would have to inform Gohan himself. “Gohan, I think it was…Videl.”

 

“What? She would never…”

 

“Babidi possessed her. He took hold of all the violence in her, and turned it against you…he must have known that you two would be fighting crime alongside each other, and that you trusted her.”

 

Gohan's brows knitted as he processed the information, clearly both surprised and disturbed. “If you weren't the one telling me, Dad, I wouldn't believe it.” He sighed. “Well, you killed the guy, right? Piccolo stopped by to tell me what happened. So she's better now…right? Father?”

 

Goku stared at the wall, dazed for a moment. “Piccolo told you what happened?”

 

“Most of it.”

 

“I…I see. But…not everything?”

 

“Well, no. He didn't tell me anything about how you and Vegeta helped out, but I know you guys were there. And he didn't tell me what happened to Videl,” he added, pressing his father to answer his previous question.

 

Goku sighed, relieved. He would have time to decide what to tell his son about what had happened to him… “Videl…she died. Babidi killed her as soon as she brought him your energy. I…I think she was giving him a hard time, fighting at the spell.”

 

Gohan paused for several moments. “W-well…good for her…”

 

“Gohan? Are you all right?”

 

“She's really…dead?” he hung his head. “And I couldn't even be there to help. Some superhero I am.” He clenched back tears.

 

“Don't worry Gohan,” Goku smiled. The smile seemed to crack his face, unnatural after such a day. “We can go find the dragon balls, and wish her back.”

 

“Of course,” Gohan smiled in return. “Let's do that tomorrow…I'm sure Videl will understand. I'm too tired to even think about it tonight.”

 

“Me too, son.” Goku nodded. But he wished Gohan would have jumped to start right away, for now he would have to face the night, the dark, alone with his thoughts, and decide if it would be better to lie awake, unable to forget, or to risk falling asleep, to once again let the unseen parts of his mind take control.

 

 

***

 

 

“Mom?” Trunks peeked into his mother's bedroom. He had expected to find her in the lab; it was hours past the time she normally woke up, even on a Saturday. Surely enough, she was awake, staring at an empty spot on her bed. “It's okay, Dad said he would come back.”

 

“I know, and he will…I know him,” Bulma smiled a little. At least, mostly.

 

“Did he tell you that he and Goten's dad…”

 

“He told me all about it, honey. I didn't know you knew.”

 

“Goten and I saw them. I don't really get it…”

 

“I don't either.”

 

“But he still loves us, right?”

 

Bulma laughed a bit, reaching out to take Trunks into her arms. “Of course he does, in his own way. Probably more than ever…”

 

“But I still don't understand why…”

“I think you should talk about it with your father when he comes back,” Bulma rubbed her son's hair. “He seemed so far away when I talked to him…I don't think I understand any more than you do, kiddo.”

 

“Hey, Mom?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Um, well, I don't think you're gonna like this, but Goten and I decided we're gonna go on an adventure…”

 

“What?” Bulma blinked, then narrowed her eyes. “Oh, I get it. So you just want to leave me all alone, huh?” She jabbed him playfully. “Where were you thinking of going?”

 

“Um, well, this is the part you aren't going to like…”

“Go on…”

 

“But it's just that, Goten was telling me how his dad told him how he died this once and he got trained by this one guy and got really strong and he said he thought there are lots of other guys there who know cool stuff…”

 

Bulma crossed her arms. “I don't like where this is going, Trunks.”

 

“And um, so, we're-going-to-see-if-Goten's-dad-will-get-E nma-to-let-us-into-Heaven-for-a-while!” And with that, the young boy rocketed off into the sky, heading for the Son household.

 

Momentarily baffled, Bulma blinked a few times before fury registered on her face. She frantically scurried to the window, leaning out. “TRUNKS! There is NO way—GET BACK HERE!”

 

But he was too far away, shooting through the air at supersonic speed.

 

 

***

 

 

“Are you ready to head out, Dad?” Gohan questioned, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

 

“Almost!” The man was donning a tank top. “Why the backpack? You don't have school on Saturdays, right?”

 

“It's for carrying the dragon balls, of course! I hope Videl doesn't mind that we waited until today instead of doing it right away…”

“Of course she won't,” Goku guessed. “I mean, time feels kind of different up there. She might not have even noticed!” Pulling on his boots, the Saiyajin grabbed one last apple from the kitchen table, and nearly ate it whole. “Well, I'm ready!” The father and son strode out the door, only to be nearly knocked over by Trunks as he bolted into the house and up the stairs.

 

“Huh,” Gohan blinked. “Pretty early for him to be here.”

 

“Must be doing something with Goten,” Goku shrugged, and the two took to the air, heading toward Capsule Corp. to retrieve the radar.

 

 

***

 

 

“Hey, Bulma!” Goten waved as soon as the woman opened her door. “Slept in, huh?” He noted her state: loose T-shirt and baggy sweatpants, unkempt hair, and in her hand a steaming cup of coffee.

 

Goku peered around Gohan's shoulder, simultaneously dreading the possibility of being reminded of Vegeta, yet glad to visit a friend. He wondered how much Vegeta had told her before he left… As if she was reading her thoughts, Bulma smiled grimly, knowingly, and patted Goku on the shoulder. “What brings you guys here?”

 

“We were wondering if we could borrow the radar,” Gohan explained, “to collect the dragon balls. That wizard killed Videl…and probably some other people as well.” He decided to keep it short, and bit his lip. While it was good to know that Videl would probably be back in a matter of hours, he still couldn't get over the fact that he was unable to save her. He replayed what he could piece together of the scene in his mind; she was carrying that weird meter, but before he could ask, that oddly powerful robber was coming at him…then he'd felt all the energy draining from him, through something that had been stabbed into his back. Babidi must have had some pretty dark power, Gohan decided, to get Videl to do something that terrible.

 

“Oh! Of course,” Bulma smiled. “I think it's down in my lab somewhere. Come on, let's go look for it.” She motioned to Gohan.

“Would it be all right if I grabbed some stuff to eat from your kitchen?” Goku inquired, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he spoke. “I mean, I ate breakfast at home, but…I'm still hungry…”

 

“You Saiyajin,” Bulma sighed. “Of course; help yourself. Let's head downstairs, Gohan.”

 

Left alone, Goku paced to a nearby hallway, peering around the corner cautiously as if checking for anyone else who might be there. He turned down the hallway and glanced over each door before pausing at one. Turning on his heel, he swiftly and quietly opened the door, stepped into the room, and closed the door behind him. With the lights off, the contents of the room were anyone's guess. But Goku knew exactly where he was; smelled sweat and blood that could not be scrubbed away. The gravity room…a larger one than in the ship of the old days, built onto the house at Vegeta's request years ago.

 

He recalled the prince's convictions of old, to surpass him in strength; the confusing reel of emotions in Vegeta's eyes as Freeza ended his life and rendered Goku the only remaining full-blooded Saiyajin. Vegeta hadn't known until only days, maybe even hours before that the planet he had been destined to rule had been destroyed by none other than the one he had been serving nearly his entire life. He remembered that Vegeta had mentioned no Freeza when they first met, that he had come across as a man with his own goals and desires, to be bent by no one's whim. And that was, indeed, who Vegeta was.

 

But somehow, Goku could not pin Vegeta's action down as the sort of goal or desire the prince would have in mind. Even in his moments of hatred toward Vegeta, he had always credited the man with more honor and pride than that. I'd been ignoring him for a long time…then we started sparring again…but…he knew how angry I was with him for asking that question!

 

Goku leaned against the wall of the gravity room. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could make out the controls in the center. Dents marked where the console might have been punched in fury; perhaps they could not be quite repaired, so these small indentations remained. Vegeta had been on a quest to ascend to Super Saiyajin himself when he was preparing to leave the Earth after Trunks' warning about the androids. And he'd achieved it, hadn't he?

 

As he began to wander through the room, trying to understand the ferocity with which Vegeta had trained in those days, Goku rubbed his forehead. He was drawn to feelings of his own ferocity with Vegeta for the feelings the prince incited in him, the kind of ferocity that he remembered feeling when Babidi drew them to the surface, unhindered by the few remaining reservations Goku had had at the time. Those were feelings that I already had, he recalled. I felt so violent toward Vegeta…for upsetting that balance I was trying to find… He moved back toward the door. I guess we both messed up each other's destinies, in a way, the man pondered.

 

Still…if those were feelings I had toward Vegeta, all that rage… For the first time since Babidi's death, Goku attempted to remember what had happened, what he had been experiencing. Certainly he was himself…he had all the memories. Before, the first time he had recalled them after coming to, they were facts, things that had happened. This time, Goku tried to recall the feelings that accompanied those actions. Small twinges of bloodthirstiness, of hunger for power over Vegeta filtered to him…a touch of ecstatic joy, even. Goku shook his head. That's just not me. I'm not like that. He turned the doorknob and exited the gravity room as quietly as he'd entered. Maybe it even took Vegeta by surprise.

 

 

***

 

 

“Father,” Gohan placed a hand on his father's shoulder as they closed in on the third dragon ball. As they alit, Gohan continued speaking, as if his action had not been to point out the dragon ball but rather to gain his father's attention for something else. “Bulma…asked me if I knew what happened between you and Vegeta yesterday. She didn't want to tell me too much; said she didn't understand it all herself…so I thought…maybe I should ask you.”

 

Goku licked his lips nervously. He'd known he would have to explain it to someone eventually. “Babidi…took control of my mind…at least a bit,” he started.

 

“Wow…you and Videl,” Gohan nodded, amazed. “But why?”

 

“He knew that I was angry with Vegeta, I guess…and that I would fight him. And he figured that our fight would give him the rest of the energy he'd need to revive that djinn guy.”

 

Gohan nodded. “Well, I guess that it didn't…why not? How did it feel, when he possessed you?”

 

“It was…well…like all the evil thoughts and feelings I'd been having came to the surface, and I kind of…I don't know, it's like I could hardly tell the difference between good and evil anymore. It made me feel really powerful, and…I really wanted to fight…” His son nodded. “So Vegeta and I went to battle…and…I don't remember everything,” he admitted, flushing a little bit, “But somehow, it…I don't know…Vegeta and I, we ended up…”

 

Gohan waited patiently for his father to gather his words.

 

“We…he…I was trying to forget I really felt that way about him, Gohan!”

 

“I understand, Dad. So you two,” he coughed nervously, “um, made love? Am I guessing correctly?”

 

Goku nodded, the red tinge on his ears and cheeks darkening. “Only…I don't know…I was so crazy and…bloodthirsty…it wasn't really like…love…”

 

“It's okay, Dad. I hope you can sort things out.”

 

“Right, but—I don't know what to tell Chi-Chi,” he admitted.

 

“I guess if I were you, I'd find out how I really feel first,” Gohan smiled cautiously.

 

“I feel like Vegeta broke my trust!” Goku blurted, “And…well, I know that's not what you were talking about, sorry.”

 

“Of course you feel like that,” the young man reassured his father. “I mean, I guess you probably weren't really yourself, just like Videl. And you weren't really in control…you know…”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“Did Vegeta know that?”

“I…don't know. I thought he did. It, I mean, I kind of remembering him being unsure of what was going on for the first part of the battle.”

 

Gohan smiled. “You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want, Dad. I think you can think about it yourself. And maybe you should talk to Vegeta when he comes back…even if you don't really want to…” he suggested. He hated to see his father hurt, but part of him wished to see the two Saiyajin on good terms again. More than that, though, he wanted to see Videl. Shoving the dragon ball into his bag, he glanced at the radar and took to the sky once more, with his father close behind him.