Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Butterflies & Hurricanes ❯ Prologue

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Just my Husband, laptop, my 3 dogs and a very overactive imagination… Dragon Ball Z and any songs mentioned in this fic DO NOT belong to me. I'm just borrowing them for my own twisted amusement.

Hey guys!! Happy New year!! Sorry for the long wait!!! Laptop crashed, then it had a virus and was with the computer guy for like 2 weeks fixing it..

In any case, thanks for all the reviews and encouragement! I appreciate them all immensely! Yes, I am working on moving the story along quicker... I promise!! After this, we will be making a huge time gap. Also HUGE THANK YOU for whoever voted for Endlessly and Butterflies & Hurricanes for the Google Plus Prince and the Heiress Community Annual awards!! I placed second in both my nominated categories!! So THANK YOU!!! That means a LOT to me and I was beyond thrilled!!! Especially since I was up against some stiff competition and placed second to Piccolo is Green and Nitryde. Wow!!

Chapter 35

“Uh huh,” Bulma sighed. “Yea, that’s right…” she purred in mock arousal in reply to Jeyice, barely following the conversation as she was on the floor, laying on her back, tightening the bolts on the time machine. She had ignored his calls on the scouter for the last two weeks, knowing it would take him at least that long to get back to his ship where the boys might be.

Today she’d answered only because she hoped he may have news for her. He didn’t. Apparently he would be going to them in two days. He’d been angry at her for not taking his calls but she innocently insisted that the scouter had been on silent this whole time and she hadn’t heard him calling and claimed she had no clue how to take it off silent.

He seemed to have bought her excuse and she shook her head. If he knew anything about her, he should have known she was a technological genius. If she’d wanted to turn her scouter off silent, she could figure it out in a matter of seconds. She didn’t bother pointing it out to him, preferring to play dumb.

However now she was stuck talking dirty to him because she had answered. Good thing she was good at multi-tasking. So she humored him as she worked on her project. In all fairness she had told him she’d talk dirty to him if he got her a scouter so she couldn’t complain too much.

“Are you touching yourself now?” he asked.

“Oh am I ever!” she moaned in response, hoping she sounded excited and not sarcastic. “I can barely contain myself.”

She grunted and moaned affirmatively a few times at seemingly appropriate times in response to him, even though she was only half listening to him; it wasn’t that difficult seeing as the was exerting herself physically while working on her project but her main focus was mainly on what she was doing and thankfully he seemed more than happy to lead the entire conversation so her participation was fairly minimal.

He hissed and grunted and she knew he’d finished himself off.

“Hmmm, that’s good,” she said alluringly, relieved that it meant she could possibly hang up soon and turn her full attention back to her work.

Jeyice was quiet a moment as he recovered and presumably cleaned up. “You’d like that?” he asked.

“Sure,” she sighed wishing he’d let her go now. He usually wasn’t much for a conversation after their activities in person. Why would he chatty now?

“You are full of surprises, aren’t you?”

“I try,”

“Well I could arrange it,” he said suggestively. “And we could try it when I get back if you want,”

“Arrange what?” she asked, suddenly stopping what she was doing. Shit!

“You know,” he replied cryptically. “What I just described.”

Honestly, she hadn’t been paying any attention to the specifics and she felt an unpleasant sensation make its way down her spine and settle deep in her gut. What had she just agreed on and how did she talk her way out of whatever it was? “Oh, I don’t know, Jeyice. It sounds like… fun... but some things are better off left as fantasy rather than living them, you know?”

“Hmmm,” he replied. “I’ll let you think about it, but I’d like to try it with you,”

“Right,” she replied curtly. God fucking dammit! She cursed herself. She’d have to make sure she was actually paying attention next time. Who knew what she’d just accidentally agreed to! “Well I’m exhausted, Jeyice,” she sighed, faking an over exaggerated yawn. “Time for me to go to bed,”

“You’re going to go finish yourself off, aren’t you?” he asked in a mischievous tone.

“No, I am pretty tired,” she said, plainly, no longer interested in pretending to play along just in case he wanted to instigate another round of dirty talk with her. “It was a long day in the lab.”

“Riiight,” he chuckled disbelievingly. “Whatever you say, love. Enjoy yourself.”

“Oh, I plan to,” she said sarcastically. “Good night.” She didn’t even wait for him to reply before cutting off the line. “Idiot,” she grumbled, taking the scouter off her eye and setting it aside.

Bulma had had to go back to building the machine rather than working on the physics of it like she’d hoped. She still wasn’t sure how to travel back in time. The scouter Jeyice had given her wasn’t much help.

It needed to be programmed. The only thing it could do was contact him. There was a GPS function on it and while she did find Vegeta-sei on it, she could not lock it onto its exact location.

At first, she had thought in despair it was because Vegeta-sei didn’t exist anymore, but when Dende looked at it, he told her it was because most of the data and more advanced options had been wiped from it. She needed a second scouter with the information already in it to be able to use to copy and transfer the information onto her scouter to be able to use it properly.

That meant that she needed to find a way to get a hold of Jeyice’s scouter when he returned and she had a pretty good idea of how she would get it from him the next time she saw him.

-0-0-0-

Trunks and Tarble hadn’t found much more information about how much Geralt would be able to help them or Jeyice out. He was very vague and tight-lipped about anything pertaining to their rebellion.

“Maybe he knows that Jeyice destroyed his planet,” Trunks sighed, worried that Jeyice would be angry with them for not learning more in the additional two weeks they’d had.

“I don’t think so,” Tarble shook his head as he let his feet dangle into a pond they frequented nearly every day. “He probably thinks because we are kids, that we can’t really help with anything.”

“Maybe,” Trunks shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out later when Jeyice gets here.”

“Did he say when?”

“No, just that it would be today some time and to keep the scouter on so he can find us.”

They stayed by the pond, lazing about for a few hours goofing around amongst themselves until an accented voice suddenly startled them. “Is this all you two little wank stains have been doing this entire time?” Jeyice snipped at them, walking out from the brush and in front of them.

“Well,” Trunks shrugged, startled by Jeyice’s sudden and unexpected appearance. Unsure of what to say, he stood up; barefooted, his pants rolled up to his knees.

“We also went fishing, hunting and mountain climbing,” Tarble said in a helpful tone, pulling his socks on, trying to look somewhat presentable.

“Splendid,” he said sarcastically. “Nice to see you both took a vacation on King Cold’s dime while your parents are toiling and wasting away back home.”

“We did what you asked us, and they won’t tell us anything more because I don’t think they can even help us, Jeyice,” Trunks said, straightening himself out and pulling on his shoes.

“Right,” Jeyice snorted, clicking buttons on his scouter, scanning the area. There wasn’t much to be found. From what he could tell, this was a very weak planet and he assumed that this mission would be a complete waste of his time. “Take me back to whatever back water place you’ve been residing in.”

The boys nodded. That was probably a good idea. Jeyice could talk to Fenton and then he would introduce him to Geralt and then maybe they could start working out a plan. They made it back to the house and walked into the living room where he was, reading a book on his own.

“Fenton, we need to talk to you,”

“What is it, boys?” he asked cheerfully. Truth be told, he hadn’t minded their stay with him and his wife these past few weeks.

“Well, Jeyice is our mentor. He found us today and wants to help us all with our plan to get our parents free from Cold.” Trunks said. “So we brought him here to talk to you and Geralt.”

Fenton frowned, putting down his book immediately. He didn’t know Jeyice personally, but he recognized the armor he was wearing as being a part of King Cold’s army. He knew the boys had escaped King Cold’s custody, but it had not occurred to him that they would be found here by one of his soldiers.

“Delighted to meet you,” Jeyice said. “Much thanks are in order for looking after the boys. I was quite worried about them. They said you and a few others here are going to help them with freeing their parents?”

Fenton looked at the boys who were looking hopefully at him. He was not sure if this soldier was to be trusted or not. The boys looked to be comfortable and not fearful of him.

“You can trust Jeyice,” Trunks said to him, picking up on his hesitation.

“Ya, Jeyice pretty much raised us.” Tarble added. “He only wants to help.”

“Very well,” he replied, though his gut was telling him that something was very wrong with this picture despite the boys’ reassurance. “I will bring Geralt here to discuss things. Darby, would you prepare a few refreshments; it would seem that we will be having some company this afternoon.”

“Sure thing,” she nodded, heading into the kitchen.

“You boys did not tell me that Geralt was here,” he hissed at them quietly as soon as they were alone.

“We didn’t think it mattered,” Trunks shrugged.

“It matters a lot,” he sighed, pacing about the room. “Though I did suspect he was here anyway.” Jeyice’s scouter chimed on his face just then. He could not help but smile. Right on schedule, he thought to himself. Soon, things would be wrapped up here and he could make his way back up to his favorite blue companion.

“This is Burter. I’m in position.”

“Recoome here, in position.”

“Excellent. Stand by and await my command.”

A few minutes later, Fenton returned with Geralt and a handful of other supposed resistance members.

“Geralt!” Jeyice exclaimed in mock friendliness as though they were great friends who had not seen each other in ages. “Imagine running into you here! I have been trying to get a hold of you for weeks now!”

Geralt glared at him. “What did you do to my planet?”

“It is not really a matter of what I did to your planet, but what you did to your planet,” Jeyice shrugged.

Oh, no, Trunks thought to himself in dread. He’s going to tell him. He knew Tarble was thinking the exact same thing as they looked at each other discreetly.

“What are you talking about?” Geralt asked. “I know it was you who destroyed my planet. Either you or someone else from King Cold’s PTO army.”

“Well, if you had paid Cold, like you were supposed to, or had kept in touch, maybe it would not have happened. You don’t call, or write. What’s a king to think? You left your poor wife alone to deal with matters. Poor, lonely, pretty thing,” he taunted him. “And yes, it was me who destroyed it.”

Geralt snarled at him I anger, even though he’d already suspected as much.

“Now I hear that you are leader of a rebellion, hiding out on this dump. Doesn’t look good, mate,” Jeyice said in a condescending tone as though he were reprimanding a young child. “Does not look good at all.”

“Just leave,” Geralt said to him. “You have taken everything from me, my home and family are forever gone. There is no rebellion here.”

“That’s not what I hear,” Jeyice said, looking at the boys. “According to these two, you were planning to over throw King Cold and aid in the escape of Prince Vegeta and his wife.”

Geralt looked at the boys with regret. He’d had a gut feeling that taking them in had been a bad idea. However they were just two young boys who had appeared to want nothing more than to escape capture and free their parents from captivity. Looking at them, however, he could tell they hadn’t intentionally betrayed them. They had been used by Jeyice as a way in. They had been pawns and nothing more and he felt sorry for not being able to help them.

“Nothing to say?” Jeyice smirked at him. “That’s treason you just committed, you know.”

Geralt held up his hand at Jeyice to try and calm the situation down. He knew he was in a lot of trouble and was thankful he had brought back up with him. As soon as Fenton had said that a member of King Cold’s army had shown up for the boys, he had ordered others to accompany him. If there was just one of him and several of them, that had to count for something, right?

Mistaking his hand gesture for an attempt at firing a ki attack at him, Jeyice shot at him with his own ball of ki so quickly, the boys hadn’t seen it and Geralt hadn’t had the time to react to deflect or counter it. Fenton and one of the other rebel leaders he had been with looked in shock at their fallen leader and retreated back out into the next room.

A blue light shot out of the doorway that the last rebel had gone through. Jeyice deflected it with a simple swipe of his hand. It was pathetically weak, just as he expected. He could hardly believe these rebels were worth the trouble, but orders were orders. The deflected ki ended up hitting Fenton’s wife, Darby, who had come scurrying in to see what all the noise was. She dropped dead immediately on the floor.

Both Trunks and Tarble gasped in shock. What was going on? Why had Jeyice fired at Geralt?

“Commence attack on all targets,” Jeyice ordered in his scouter as he shot his own red beam back.

“Roger that,” Burter chimed in.

“Will do,” Recoome acknowledged.

Jeyice could hear a groan from the shadows as his attack hit home. He heard a satisfying thud as the body hit the ground. One down, a few thousand to go, he thought. His scouter beeped again as several power levels were converging on his position.

“Boys,” he snapped.

Trunks and Tarble snapped to attention with confused looks on their faces, looking from Darby to Geralt. They were unsure how things had gone so badly so quickly. Why were they fighting each other? They should not be fighting, they should be working together with the people here.

“You two change into your armor and go rendezvous with Recoome and assist him,” Jeyice ordered them.

“What is Recoome doing?” Tarble asked; they had been under the impression that Jeyice had come alone.

“Find him on your scouter and you’ll see when you get there,” Jeyice assured them.

“I don’t understand,” Trunks admitted.

“Are you soldiers or little boys?” Jeyice rhetorically asked them, having drilled the answer into them.

“Soldiers, Sir,” both the boys replied in unison.

“You have your orders, soldiers. This now a combat mission,” Jeyice informed them. “They weren’t really going to help your parents and it is a good thing I got here when I did.”

“Yes, Sir,” they both called out with pride even though they were still terribly confused.

“Carry on soldiers. Go accomplish your mission,” Jeyice commanded with his hands clasped behind his back.

Trunks and Tarble saluted their commander and flew off to join Recoome on his mission as soon as they changed from their casual clothes and back into their armor. Jeyice grinned at his two little soldiers. While he hated the assignment, they sure were becoming good soldiers. Perhaps King Cold wasn’t completely crazy. Training young soldiers was panning out.

He had initially worried their time on this little mud ball would soften them. However, all it took was calling on their training and identity as soldiers. The little ones knew nothing else and it had been ingrained into them since the time they learned to walk and talk. Apparently, their conditioning has paid off. They would always be soldiers now after this.

“There he is! Get him!” a cloaked rebel yelled behind him.

Six cloaked rebels now appeared behind him as he turned around. Seriously, the dark cloaked look? Could these morons be any more cliché? Jeyice wondered. He quickly checked his scouter and let out a chuckle. More of the same, just cannon fodder, these people were no match for him. He let out an exasperated sigh. He’d rather be wrapped up in a carnal embrace with his favorite blue female distraction. Oh well, if he killed them all quickly he could get back to enjoying her nightly for a little while before Cold sent him on another mission.

“Let’s get this over with,” Jeyice declared in a bored tone, as he lifted his hands and emitted a red aura.

-0-0-0-

The boys located Recoome fairly easily and landed where he was waiting for them. It appeared to be an empty park overlooking the spaceport. The giant was busy scanning the area with his scouter before he acknowledged the boys. They both grinned. They loved working with Recoome he always made things fun, even in training.

“Squad members, Trunks and Tarble reporting for duty,” Trunks announced formally as he saluted Recoome. He still wasn’t sure what was going on or what had gone wrong with everything, but felt better about working with Recoome.

Recoome returned their salute and answered, “Good job, soldiers. You ready to have some fun?” he asked with a toothy grin, wagging his eyebrows.

“Yes, Sir,” they both proclaimed with smiles on their faces, feeling instantly better.

“All right soldiers, in this exercise we are going to practice your ki beams on moving targets,” Recoome told them.

“That sounds like fun,” Tarble commented.

“What kind of targets will they be?” Trunks queried.

“Spaceships, any minute now there should be ships leaving the port. Our task is to destroy them before they get into the atmosphere. The one who destroys the most ships is the winner,” Recoome informed them.

“Anything else?” Tarble asked.

“Yeah, you have to do it with style. That means making up your own signature move along with your own poses,” Recoome said with a goofy grin as a ship rocketed into the sky.

Recoome did one of his signature poses, “Recoome Doom!”

His signature beam erupted from his mouth and blasted the ship from the sky. Both the boys squealed with laughter. They knew it was going to be a fun game with real, moving targets. They never got to play with real stuff before.

“Just like that soldiers,” Recoome declared, “That’s one point Recoome.”

Trunks poked his brother in the arm and bragged, “I’m going to beat you.”

“No way Trunks, I’m gonna win this time,” Tarble retorted.

A ship flew up into the sky. Both the boys were excited. They could not wait to light up the sky. It looked so cool when Recoome did it.

Trunks copied Recoome’s dance moves before calling out, “Trunks Beam!”

His blue white blast flew towards his targets engulfing it in flames before it exploded. Trunks and Tarble cried out excitedly and laughed together. Trunks began his own version of the dance of victory.

Recoome cracked a smile at the young ones; Captain Ginyu would have been so proud!

“Not bad, I especially like your moves, but the name needs work,” Recoome critiqued.

“Yea… Trunks Beam sounds lame,” Tarble teased.

“You’re lame,” Trunks countered shoving Tarble.

“Boys! Focus!” Recoome ordered them in a serious tone.

“Sorry Recoome,” they both said together.

Recoome flashed a toothy grin, “No problem, just remember we still have a job to do, even if this is a training exercise.”

“Yes, Sir!” they both answered excitedly as another silver ship left the port raising itself slowly in the horizon.

“Looks like you are up Tarble. Let’s see what you got,” Recoome informed the boy.

Tarble did a quick spin move and focused his ki in his hands. He was not going to lose to his brother. Not this time.He did a quick summersault and landed on the balls of his feat.

“Tarble Ray!” he called and released his blast into the heavens.

He leaped in the air with joy as the beam hit its target.It blew up into pieces and looked awesome as the burning wreckage streaked through the sky. Tarble decided to do his own dance of victory and even balanced on his tail for good measure just to show off a bit.

“Not bad, I especially liked the bit with the tail,” Recoome declared with a thumbs up and a smile.

“Eh, the name was lacking,” Trunks commented snidely.

“And Trunks Beam was any better?” Tarble teased him.

“Shut up!” Trunks shouted at his brother.

“You shut up!” Tarble retorted.

Recoome simply laughed at their antics. I guess boys will be boys, he thought. His scouter chimed in again as three more ships took off. This really was a fun assignment, even if he had been ordered by Jeyice to tell the boys it was nothing more than a training exercise. Blowing things up was his specialty after all.

“Look alive soldiers, there is one for each of us,” Recoome said with a malicious grin. “And go!”

The night sky was filled with ki blasts that night of various colors and sizes. Many ships took off from the spaceport but none escaped. Streaks of hot metal lit the sky and created both a deadly and beautiful sight. If there were any visitors to the park that night, they would have seen the peculiar sight of three dancing figures at the center of it all.

-0-0-0-

A small group of a few women and several children were making their way hastily towards the emergency evacuation point in the spaceport. Each one was wondering how things could have gone so wrong. One minute they were enjoying a peaceful night just like they always had and the next the alarms were going off and explosions could be seen and heard throughout the complex.

Of course they were mixed up with rebels and dissidents from all over the empire, but there was also a substantial number of orphans and refugees here as well; this was supposed to be a planet of refuge from all of the galactic wars. The Imperial forces had never found them before, however. None of them had any idea what had changed for them. Though from the corpses they had rushed past on their way to the evacuation point, it was obvious something seriously had happened. Something had gone wrong.

As the group rounded a corner, they were brought to a halt as a chilling scream could be heard nearby along with a bright flash of light. Someone was close. A young mousy haired woman turned around and shushed the children along with everyone else. Maybe just maybe if they were quiet they could sneak by.

The group began to walk carefully, as quietly as they could so as not to attract attention. The young brunette could see flashing lights of the spaceport in the distance. They were so close. Just a few more minutes and they would be safe; home free and off this planet. They could figure out where to go after.

Then they heard something that chilled them to the bone. A scraping sound could be heard. Something sharp was being ground against the walls and coming closer to them. The brunette wanted to run. She wanted to just lead them all into a sprint, but she was torn. Sprinting mean she could lose some of the children and there were not enough adults to pick up every child.

“There is no escape,” a creepy reptilian voice called from the darkness. “I’m going to find you.”

“We must hurry,” the girl whispered to her companions at a barely audible level, not wanting to give their exact position away. If they were cautious and quiet, maybe they could outsmart who or whatever was tracking them.

The rest of the group merely nodded. She could tell some of the children were on the brink of tears. They were so frightened. To encourage them, the woman swallowed the lump in her own throat and gave them and encouraging smile, quite a feat considering if she were alone she would be shaking from head to toe.

She put her hand on a little boys shoulder and encouraged him, “It will be all right we are almost there. See? That’s the spaceport.”

The little boy nodded softly fighting back tears. The woman turned around and motion for the group to follow her. She was comforted by the fact that with each step they took, it meant they were further away from the scraping sound. Matter of fact, she could barely here it in the darkness.

She stopped before one last corner and signaled for the group to stop. They were close now, really close. She could hear the sounds of starships being powered up and loaded nearby. She peeked around the corner and breathed out a sigh of relief. There was nothing there. Across the abandoned street there were the gates of the spaceport.

“Is it clear?” a woman asked in a hushed tone.

The brunette smiled back at her, “It’s clear; nothing between us and the spaceport. We made it.”

The children let of a cry of joy. Despite wanting to join in themselves in rejoicing, the adults silenced the little ones; things were not over yet. They had to make it just a little further. They could celebrate all they wanted once they had made it inside of a ship and were in the atmosphere.

The young woman signaled for them all to follow her. She had done it. She nearly collapsed with effort as they made their way to edge of the street. Despite all the alarms and confusion at least their little group had made it out.

Just as she had heaved a heavy sigh of relief, she heard a sound that made her heart clutch in her breast, the chilling scraping sound again. This time it was much closer and accompanied by someone humming a song to himself. The group turned around to see a large blue skinned reptile in imperial armor running his claws along the buildings of the alley. They could just barely make him out in the darkness of the alley with the help of the streetlamps ahead.

“Well that was a fun little game of hide and seek,” Burter told them with a menacing tone.

“Please, you don’t have to do this,” the brunette pleaded with him.

“You know this is always the assignment that is the least fun,” he informed her in a knowing tone. “But you know how it is; orders are orders.”

The children began crying all around her. This creature invoked feelings of terror and dread. The young woman could empathize with them. They were practically finished.

“At least let the little ones go,” she tried to reason bravely with him.

“Sorry, they are part of the package,” Burter announced. “If it makes you feel any better I’ll make it quick.”

-0-0-0-

It had not taken them long to make quick work of the planet. Recoome and the boys had taken out anything that had attempted to leave and Jeyice and Burter had destroyed anyone whom they had come across.

Jeyice had ordered Recoome to take the boys back to the ship once he was confident any and all ships were disabled. Recoome had taken the boys to the launch dock to disable anything that had not been deployed yet, rendering escape impossible. There was another emergency escape dock, but Burter confirmed that he had taken care of it. With nothing else to do and with Jeyice’s strict orders that the boys not be involved with any personal combat, he took them back to their ship and was preparing them a dessert as a reward for their efforts. It was one of his own personal rituals he had adopted over the years, except he usually drowned his ice cream with liquor.

“So whoever won, can they get an extra scoop?” Trunks asked anxiously as they watched Recoome impatiently dish out the frozen delicacy.

“Hmmm,” Recoome hummed in deliberation. Truthfully, he had not really been keeping track of who had destroyed more. He had only played on their competitive nature to keep them focused on the task at hand and not ask questions as to why they were destroying moving ships. To be a child again, he mused to himself, feeling almost bad that it wouldn’t be long before their innocence would be shattered and they would be faced with the cold, harsh fact that any mission for King Cold was a killing mission, not a training exercise. “Well, I think you both did good. You did it a lot quicker than what Jeyice thought you could.”

“Really?” Trunks asked, pleased that they had apparently exceeded Jeyice’s expectations. “But who got more?”

“I’m not sure, so I’ll tell you what, you both will get an extra scoop and I’ll share a bit of my magic syrup with ya, how’s that?”

“Fine by me!” Tarble shrugged. They’d had ice cream from Recoome many times, but never had he shared his syrup with them.

Recoome laughed at them as they scrunched their noses when they smelled it on their desserts. “It’s great stuff you guys, don’t be wasting it!”

“But it smells weird,” Trunks objected, eyeing it strangely.

“It’s good for ya…” Recoome insisted, taking a drink from the bottle. “It’ll put hair on your chest and make you stronger.”

Both boys looked at each other and shrugged before digging in. Who were they to dispute that?

“That’s not bad,” Tarble nodded. “It’s sweet but bitter kind of,”

“It makes my throat and chest warm,” Trunks added, happily eating his ice cream.

Recoome nodded, smiling at them. “Want some more?” he asked, picking up the bottle and wagging it at them temptingly.

“Sure!” they both nodded happily, pushing their bowls towards him.

It was about another half hour before Jeyice and Burter returned, both covered in blood and carnage. Burter launched their ship immediately, wanting to get off this rock. They had effectively levelled it to nothing in short order. Not knowing whether or not King Cold wanted to keep it, restore it and then turn around to sell it, they agreed to leave it intact and let him decide.

Once in the air, Jeyice went to find the boys and get the full report from Recoome as to how they had done. He was confident they had finished everything without a hiccup. He found the three of them in the kitchen; Trunks and Tarble trying to balance a pose, but having difficulty and Recoome laughing at them.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” he asked in annoyance, the smell of alcohol smacking his senses. “Recoome, are they bloody drunk?”

“Uhh… Maybe?” Recoome chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “A little? I’m not sure.”

“Are you fucking drunk as well!”

“Heeyy,” Trunks drawled at him. “We are not drunk,”

“I think we’re alright… but can’t feel my nose,” Tarble said with a frown, closing one eye and then the other, trying to look at his nose. “Hey, what happened to you?” he asked, only noticing his soiled and blood stained armor.

“For fuck sakes,” Jeyice cursed. “Go to your room. I’ll talk to you lot in the morning!”

“Why are you mad?” Trunks asked in confusion. “Everything is great!”

“Yea! I think you should have some of Recoome’s magic sauce or whatever. It goes great on-”

“Boys, just go an’ get some shut eye, it’s been a long day,” Recoome interrupted him.

“Okay,” they nodded.

“Come to think of it, I am pretty tired,” Trunks yawned, getting up to leave.

“Drink plenty of water before going to bed!” Jeyice hollered after them as they bumbled happily down the hall giggling over something or other. “Are you out of your fucking mind Recoom!?”

“Awe take it easy, boss,” Recoome brushed him off, sliding a glass down the table towards him and then the bottle. “They did very well. Besides, they’ll be asleep the second they lie down,”

“They’re boys!” Jeyice snarled, snatching the bottle and pouring himself a drink.

“Not for long,” Recoome said. “They handled themselves well, though they still thought it was a game and nothing more than training purposes. But Cold is going to want them out and completing missions for real soon, you know that. Let them have some enjoyment.”

“Wonderful and they’ll be puking all over the place in the morning,” he snorted. “Just lovely.”

“You’re over reacting,” Recoome insisted. “Don’t tell me you didn’t get rip, snortin’ drunk with your captain after your first mission when you were that age,”

Jeyice snorted. “What does it matter?”

“Just let them me and have some fun and be boys for a little,” Recoome sad easily. “Within the next three months or so, they’ll be made to do the real dirty work.”

“Right,” he agreed. He finished his drink quickly and made his way back to his quarters to shower and change into clean clothes before calling King Cold to make his report.

The next day the boys got up at their regular time to have some breakfast and begin training for the day. They were a bit tired, but were fine, considering the alcohol consumption from the previous day.

“You boys are up bright an’ early,” Jeyice commented.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Tarble asked with a frown.

“You guys were pissed last night after the mission,” he snorted. “You’re not all sick and woozy?”

“They didn’t have that much, Jeyice,” Recoome sighed. “Just enough to give them a bit of a buzz and take the edge off.”

“No, we’re fine,” Trunks shrugged.

“Good,” Jeyice said. “Once you’ve eaten, it’s back to drills as usual.”

“Yes, sir,” they both replied.

“Recoome said you both did very well,” he told them. “But that does not mean that we quit training after one successful mission.”

“Successful?” Trunks snorted. He had had a very difficult time sleeping last night once his buzz had worn off; he could not stop thinking about how things had gone from good to bad in mere minutes of Jeyice showing up. They had talked about it between them in their room before dozing off and Tarble felt the same way. How were they supposed to help their parents out now when the only people who had wanted to help were now dead?

“Yes, successful,” Jeyice answered. “King Cold is very pleased with all of us-”

“But I thought he wasn’t supposed to know about us being there or that these people were going to help?” Tarble cut in.

 Jeyice and Recoome looked at each other.

“What?” both boys asked. “Did King Cold find out we were there and that’s why things went terrible?”

“Not exactly,” Jeyice shrugged, debating for a moment on whether or not he should tell them. “Look, those people have been trying to undermine King Cold for a long time now. They were going to help you getting your parents out, were they not?”

“Yea,” Trunks nodded. “Well, they were. You told us to find out about it and we did and then all that happened.”

“They said they knew our dad,” Tarble volunteered. “So why did you do just come in and kill them?”

“You did your full share of killing as well, boys,” he countered, not liking that they were ganging up on him. “You’re not exactly innocent in all of this either.”
“We didn’t kill anyone,” Tarble replied with a frown and looking at Trunks.

“We did target practice with Recoome.”

“Right, and what exactly do you think you were shooting at?” he asked, leading them down the path of realization.

“Ships?” Trunks asked. “I don’t know, Recoome said we were to practice ki blasts on moving targets so we did.”

“Alright and what do you think was in those ships?” he asked. “Better yet, why do you think they were taking off?”

Both boys went white at the realization that they had more than likely just killed a bunch of innocents. Just like Jeyice. “There were people in there?” Tarble asked.

“Uh-huh,” Jeyice nodded. “Probably several people in each ship or pod. Whole families too, probably.

“Jeyice,” Recoome reprimanded him. “Go easy on them, hey?”

“You knew?” Trunks asked him accusingly. “You said it was a game.”

“Well, it was,” he shrugged, trying to look on the positive side of things, but not liking that Jeyice was choosing to tell them this now. “I mean, maybe some of them were empty, we don’t really know now, do we?”

“Shut up, Recoome,” Jeyice snorted. “Boys, your part of the mission was to prevent anyone from leaving that planet once the battle had started. You should be proud of yourselves. You did a great job. There is no one left planning a coup against King Cold now. Those people were not to be trusted. You did a good thing; can’t have scum like that mucking around the universe.”

“But they were nice,” Tarble objected. “They were good people who just wanted to help us with our parents. I thought you wanted to help and that was the whole point. You told us to tell them about our father.”

“Yes, I needed to confirm that they were indeed the people we were looking for,” Jeyice nodded.

“So you just used us and we killed a whole bunch of people.” Trunks said blandly.

“I suppose you could put it that way,” Jeyice shrugged. “However it was executed brilliantly, so don’t take it too hard. You both fell into line perfectly, like good soldiers are supposed to.”

“But what about our parents?”

“What about them?” Jeyice shrugged. “They’re prisoners of King Cold. Your father is never getting out, ever. He’s fortunate that King Cold has even kept him alive for whatever reason. He should have been executed. Your mother, is a different story. She must remain because of you two.”

They were quiet, unsure of what to say. So Jeyice had had no intention of helping their parents.

“The point isn’t that I lied to you, the point is would you have befriended those people if you would have known that we were going to take them out anyway and would you have shot at all those ships if you had known that they were occupied?”

“No,” Tarble replied.

“Exactly,” Jeyice replied sarcastically, clapping. “It does not matter how you get the end result, but that the game is the same so really, the ends justifies the means.”

“It does?” Trunks snorted. “I knew it yesterday that something was wrong after we went to bed.”

“Nothing is wrong!” Jeyice exclaimed. “In fact it is far from wrong, it is right! More than right. You boys did well and should be proud of yourselves, now either eat something or go train. There is nothing left to be said on the issue. Everyone is gone, Cold is happy and he even gets an extra planet to sell on the side if he so wishes, it’s a win for us all.”

“It sure doesn’t feel that way,” Trunks sighed, getting up. He suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore.

“Get used to it, boys, next time you may be required to be involved in physical combat.” he advised them as they left the room.

“Why would you tell them that?” Recoome asked in a tone that denoted his disapproval once they were gone.

“They need to grow up some time,” he snorted. “Might as well be now. What do you give a shit about it? You’re just pissed because they know that you mislead them as well.”

“They do need to grow up some time, but I think there is still plenty of time for that,” Recoome advised. “I’d have let them go on thinking that this was a rescue mission for their parents gone wrong rather than telling them that they were deceived and helped destroy a bunch of people they stayed with for a few weeks. They are still soft. I don’t think they were ready for that.”

“Which is why I felt it exactly necessary to inform them,” he replied. “King Cold is going to tell them anyway when they go in for debriefing. Do you think he’ll give a shit about their feelings? They need to toughen up.”

“I suppose,” Recoome agreed.

“Whatever, I’d better call their mother an’ let her know that we are on our way back before she has a conniption,” he sighed. “Whiney bitch that she is.”

“That will make them feel better,” Recoome agreed.  

-0-0-0-

Bulma looked at the blinking scouter, debating on answering it or not… She didn’t particularly feel like talking to Jeyice, but it had been three days since she’d spoken to him last and it was possible that he would have the boys with him finally.

Curiosity to find out and know how they were doing won out and so she answered it finally. “Hello?”

“About bloody time, love!” came Jeyice’s exasperated voice on the other end. “Did you not figure out how to take that thing off silent?”

“Nope, can’t figure it out,” she sighed.

“I thought you were supposed to be a bloody genius or something?”

“I am!” she snipped at him. “On my planet with my technology, not alien technology.”

“Ohh, right,” he replied after considering that a moment. “Anyway, I have the boys. We successfully purged not one, but two planets. I’m impressed with them.”

Bulma swallowed down a lump in her throat that her boys would have been involved with killing and whatever all else was involved with a purge. She didn’t know what else she should have been expecting. They had been raised to be soldiers practically from infancy; what else would they be doing out there? Hearing it confirmed that they had been a part of something like that, however was different and she felt so sorry that they were a part of that now.

“Can I speak with them?” she asked hesitantly.

“I suppose,” he replied. “Hang on,”

About a minute later she heard Trunks on the other line. “Mom?”

“Hi sweetie! How are you?” she asked, feeling emotional at just hearing his voice after all this time. “How’s Tarble?”

“We’re okay,” he replied, though his tone said otherwise. “We are on our way back.”

“You sure you’re okay?” she asked in concern. “Jeyice gave me my own scouter. Maybe you can ask him for the info and call me later if you want to talk on your own when he’s not around.”

“Okay,” he replied, sounding a little happier with that thought but still sounding down. “Do you want to talk to Tarble?”

“Sure!”

Trunks handed the scouter to Tarble. “Mom wants to talk to you.”

“Hi,” Tarble said into it.

“Hey, sweetie! How are you guys doing?” she asked happily.

“We’re good,” he replied. “We are on our way back. We have lots to tell you!”

“I’ll look forward to hearing all of it!” she smiled. “I told Trunks that I have a scouter of my own now too so ask Jeyice for the contact info and you both can call me any time to talk.”

“Ok. We’ll call you before we are back,” Tarble agreed. That was good!

“See you soon and look after each other, alright?”

“We will,” Tarble said, handing the scouter back to Jeyice.

“Make sure they are able to call me on my scouter, please.” she said to Jeyice.

“Right,” he sighed.

She hung up on him before he could say anything else to her. She felt more than content that she had just been able to talk the boys, even if it had only been for a couple of minutes. Just hearing their voices and knowing that they were alright was enough for her at the moment. She was worried about what had gone on and she picked up from Trunks tone that he was upset about something, however she did not expect him to discuss it in front of Jeyice.  

Bulma hoped that they would call her while on their way back.

She smiled and decided to go out into the lab and see if there was anything else to do. It had been slow as of late, so she assumed not, but she wanted to tell Vegeta she had spoken to the boys and that they were alright and on their way back. She still wasn’t sure if he heard her or not, but she still felt better about talking to him every day and telling him about the boys or what she was doing. She’d told him lots about her time machine project. He never responded or gave her any indication that he comprehended anything she told him, but it never stopped her from talking to him anyway. Some days she felt it helped her from going insane and other days she felt it was a sign that she was slowly losing her marbles.

-0-0-0-

It had taken Jeyice and the boys a full month to return to Cold’s base. They had taken advantage of Bulma having a scouter of her own and called her nearly every day; though they had not told her anything specific about their mission or trip or anything.

She hadn’t been sure if that had been a good thing or not.

“Hello, love,” Jeyice greeted her in the lab.

“Where are the boys?” she asked, not bothering to greet him.

“They’re doing a debriefing with King Cold about the mission and then they will come see you, relax,” he replied snarkily.

“Oh, good,” she replied. “Thank you,”

“All part of the agreement,” he said. “Look, I want you to come have dinner with me tonight at my place. I cleared it with Cold, you are allowed.”

“Oh, Jeyice, thank you but I’d really rather-”

“You’re coming,” he said firmly. “And wear something nice if you can manage it. I’ll be making sure dinner is spectacular.”

“Why?” she asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him.

“Because I said so, that’s why,” he sighed in annoyance. “Do you have anything nice to wear and actually do yourself up a bit?”

“I do,” she nodded. She still had all of her things packed from when she had been prepared to leave Vegeta-sei. “I’ll see what I can scrounge up.”

“Good,” he nodded. “I’ll come for you in a few hours. See you then,”

Bulma rolled her eyes as he left, however this may be her perfect opportunity to test out her tranquilizer drug she’d been working on and get a hold of his scouter and transfer the information from it onto hers. If he was at his own place, he’d be more relaxed and she would be able to get everything she needed done hopefully while he was passed out.

She left the lab and went to shower, hoping to get done before the boys came to see her. They hadn’t arrived yet when she was finished showering, so she took the opportunity to go through her clothing and makeup and find something decent to wear. She wanted Jeyice to be completely off guard and trusting of her.

However, she hadn’t realized it, but she had lost quite a bit of weight since she had been here. Some of her very form fitting dresses that used to accentuate her curves, just hung on her now and she had a very difficult time finding anything that looked flattering on her.

She finally settled for a black and royal blue striped body con dress that had been one size fits all. The diagonal design of the blue and black stripes gave the illusion that she was still curvy and was quite flattering to her small frame.  Next, she found a matching black lace pair of very sexy underwear that its only function had been to cover the essentials. It wasn’t meant for support or anything practical.

Bulma frowned as she looked at it. It fit and was still very flattering on her, but Vegeta had gotten it for her. She didn’t want to wear it for Jeyice. It was easily one of the most feminine lingerie garments she owned and he had gone out and bought it for her while she had been designing her plasma device on some planet that had been more advanced than any other planet she had seen. Unfortunately, she’d never gotten the opportunity to wear it for him. She had been saving it for a special occasion and things had spiraled so far out of control, she hadn’t had the chance.

She put it on under her casual pants, and top she usually lounged around in, despite wishing she had something else to wear, and began styling her hair and doing her makeup while she waited for the boys to come see her. It had taken her a lot longer to get ready than she thought; it had been so long since she had actually done her makeup she felt like she barely remembered how to do it properly.

They came just as she was nearly ready.

“I’m so excited to see you guys!” she cried, rushing over to them and hugging them both.

“Don’t cry, mom,” Trunks said awkwardly.

“I’m sorry, I just really missed you,”

“You look really pretty,” Tarble commented.

“Thank you,” she replied, indicating for them to sit down. “So, tell me about your trip.”

Trunks shrugged, but sat down next to Tarble. “It was alright,”

“Just alright?” she pressed. “I know you guys were technically working, so I’m sure it wasn’t all fun, but you must have seen some cool things and had some fun at some point.”

“Well, Jeyice did let us go shopping at one planet for clothes and stuff. They had the best food ever there. We’d have liked to bring you back some, but I don’t think it would have kept.” Trunks said.

“That’s okay, you thought of it, that’s the only thing that counts.” she said lightly.

“We also got to stay on a planet for a few weeks and we got to camp and fish and hike,” Tarble said. “It was fun. We slept in until late too,”

“Yea, it was alright,” Trunks shrugged.

“I thought you loved it there,” Tarble said.

“I did, but what does it matter now?” he asked, still sounding downtrodden.

“What’s wrong?” Bulma asked, desperately wanting to know. She assumed they had been forced to do things that they either did not want to do or weren’t ready to do.

“Nothing,” he sighed irritably. “Just going on missions isn’t as fun as we thought it would be is all.”

“Yea,” Tarble agreed.

“Well do you want to talk about it?” she asked, sitting between them.

“Jeyice says we aren’t supposed to.” Tarble said, which was true, but they were both also afraid that their mother would be angry with them for not only what happened on the planet they had been occupying but the other planet as well.

“Alright,” she nodded. “Well I won’t tell him if you want to talk about it so if you change your minds, let me know.”

They didn’t say anything for a little while and it became an awkward silence.

“The one planet that we stayed on, we thought they were going to help us get you and dad out,” Tarble finally said. “That’s what they said and then Jeyice showed up to make plans and everything went wrong.”

Bulma nodded but didn’t say anything, feeling it was better to just let him talk.

“They were very nice people,” Trunks said. “We stayed with them and thought that it would even be a nice place for you and dad to come live if we could get you guys out. The one guy in charge said he knew dad.”

“Oh?” she commented with interest.

“He didn’t know you, but he said dad was a good person and they wanted to work with him before he ended up here and help us get him out. Everyone thinks he’s dead, mom,” Trunks told her.

“Ya but they wanted to help get you guys out.” Tarble said. “Then Jeyice came and we don’t really know what happened, but everything went bad. They all started fighting and now they’re all dead.”

She felt her stomach drop. As she suspected, no one knew they were here or alive even and now the only other people who had known were gone. Not only that, what had the boys done? Had they participated in this? Probably. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to ask or not.

“So Jeyice killed Geralt, the guy whose planet he blew up on the first mission because he wasn’t there and then he sent us to this other planet,” Trunks began to explain quickly. “Then we went to where Recoome was and we thought we were doing a training exercise but…”

“It’s okay,” Bulma said soothingly, placing a hand on his back.

“No it isn’t!” he cried, standing up and walking away from her.

“We shot down ships with people inside trying to escape.” Tarble said quietly, looking at the floor, hoping that their mother wouldn’t be angry with them. “We didn’t even think. We just did as we were told and Recoome made it sound like it was a game.”

“So not only did we do it, we had fun doing it!”

Bulma felt an unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to say something to make them feel better, but had no idea what to say. She’d never found herself in any such predicament and she couldn’t imagine how she would feel in their shoes. She didn’t really understand the whole story but from what she could glean, it sounded as though they had been used and tricked into following Jeyice’s orders.

She wished now more than anything that she could have at least been able to contact Vegeta mentally if for no other reason that he could tell her what to say and how to react. He was the only one who would have any indication of what they were feeling over this and would be able to talk them through it. Anything she would have to say wouldn’t be of any help.

“You’re mad at us, aren’t you?” Trunks asked accusingly as the awkward silence dragged on and on as she tried to think of something comforting to say to them.

“Oh no, sweetie. I’m not mad at you at all!” she shook her head. “I’m just…”

“You’re upset,”

“Yes, I am, but not with you boys,” she insisted. “Actually I was just wishing how badly you could talk to your father. He would know what to say because I’m sure he’s been through exactly what you just did. I never have and so I cannot even pretend to understand. If I’m upset and angry at anyone, it’s Jeyice and King Cold for putting you in this position. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But we killed people,” Tarble said, still looking at the floor in shame.

“Not on purpose,” she reasoned. “Did you know you were killing people?”

“No,” he answered. “But we feel stupid because we should have known, so that makes it even worse.”

“Okay, but if Recoome would have told you that you were killing people off, would you have still shot at those ships?” she asked, trying to reason it out that way.

“I don’t think so, no,” he said.

“Who knows, we would have gotten in trouble if we hadn’t though,” Trunks pointed out bitterly. “So we’d have still probably done it anyway!”

“It’s okay,” she said calmly, torn between going to him and staying seated. She knew when Vegeta was upset the best thing was to give him his space and not coddle him. However that was all she wanted to do; hold him and tell him this would all be over soon, just as soon as she figured a way out of here.

“It’s not okay!” he insisted.

“Well, you might not have been able to prevent these things from happening, but are you glad it happened?”

“No,”

“If you could change it, would you?”

“Yes,”

“Then so long as you aren’t proud of yourselves and craving to do it again, then that’s a good thing in all of this,” she said awkwardly, trying to find a silver lining in all this. “If you feel bad for it, then that’s a good thing.”

“Yea, but Recoome and Jeyice said next time we might have to actually kill people,” Tarble said. “Then what?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, feeling completely out of her element. This was not a discussion she ever thought she would be having with one of her children and again, she wished Vegeta was there. He would know what to say. He was raised a child soldier. He would have hopefully gone through the same moral anguish when he’d started doing these things with his father; though he would have been younger than the boys currently were. She didn’t know, she just didn’t know!

“We’ll get a beating if we don’t!” Trunks said. “There’s no way around it; so then what?”

“I don’t know, sweetie, I truly don’t,” she answered. “I just wish your father was here to guide you through this because I have no idea, I’m sorry.”

“As usual,” Trunks snorted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked with knitted eyebrows.

“What it means!” he huffed.

“Which is what?” she demanded.

“That’s all we ever hear!” he said bitterly. “Oh, your father this and oh, your father that! But I don’t even know the guy! He lives in a regeneration tank! And we tell you the bad stuff that happened and all you can say is I wish your father was here?”

Bulma swallowed back an emotional rock threatening to take over her throat. She had no idea how to respond to that because he was right. He didn’t know his father. “I’m sorry, Trunks and you too, Tarble. I’m not trying to be insensitive. I don’t know what to say about it. Truly, my heart hearts for you both so much right now. This isn’t the life I wanted for either of you and if I could change all this, I would, in a heartbeat and so would your father.

“But I’ve never been faced with the type of situation you just went through and may very soon be faced with. I’ve never killed anyone or thought about it or anything remotely close to what just happened. So I don’t know what to say. Your father was raised in a very similar environment. When I say I wish he was here, I mean that in every literal sense of the word. I need to defer to him on this because I don’t know!”

“It’s okay, mom,” Tarble said to her as she began to get emotional. He shot Trunks a dirty look.

“No, I’m sorry,” she sniffed, trying to hold back an emotional floodgate. “Have you talked to Jeyice about all of this? Surely he must understand how you both feel.” Though she knew them talking with Jeyice about the situation would probably be about as helpful as speaking to a wall. However, he was their age once. He had to remember his first mission and how traumatized he may have felt over ending lives.

“Yea, he says we should be proud of ourselves.” Trunks said. “He says that as long as the end justifies the means, and King Cold is happy, that’s all that matters.”

“He also said we are too soft.” Tarble added quietly.

“You’re kids!” she exclaimed. “You’re supposed to be soft! Where I came from, kids your age should be outside playing at the park and riding their bikes with their friends. At your age, the only thing I worried about was making sure I was home before it got dark. You are two perfectly normal boys being pushed into something that no child should have to do in their lifetime ever! Don’t let them make you feel like there is something wrong with you for having a conscience. As long as you have that, you’re still good boys. Got it?”

“I think so,” Trunks nodded, feeling a little bit better knowing that his mother wasn’t angry with them.

“What’s a bike?” Tarble asked with a frown.

“Just a primitive method of transportation that kids used to tool around on,” she answered vaguely. “And some adults too. I’ll show you one day when we get out of here. Now did you boys at least get to do anything fun while you were gone without Jeyice?”

The boys lit up somewhat at the topic. They told her about how they went fishing and rock climbing. They told her about the planet and the humid, jungle like atmosphere and scenery and even told her a little bit about Fenton and his wife, Darby with whom they had stayed with.

“They sound like very nice people who didn’t deserve that,” she said as they began to get upset at the thought of everything and everyone being wiped out.

“They didn’t,” Tarble said. “I don’t remember what happened, but in the house, someone shot at Jeyice and he just deflected it and she had come into the room because she probably heard Jeyice kill Geralt. When he deflected it, it hit her and killed her right then.”

“He didn’t even know she was there, so it was an accident,” Trunks added. “But she fell like five feet in front of us, just a mess; and we froze. We didn’t know what to do and then he told us to go meet up with Recoome and so we did, just like that. We didn’t even check to see if she was alright, even though we knew she wasn’t.”

“She was such a nice lady,” Tarble nodded. “You would have liked her.”

“I’m sure I would have,” she agreed solemnly as she listened to them talk. “Don’t feel bad. There wasn’t anything you boys could have done, from the sound of it and as for blindly following Jeyice and Recoome’s orders without question, you were both probably in shock at seeing something so terrible. It’s only natural for you to have wanted to get out of that house as quickly as possible. You also trusted Recoome. I have never met him, but I know you boys really like him. He told you guys it was a game and you believed him.”

They both nodded.

“We should go,” Trunks said suddenly, feeling uncomfortable talking about this. He just wanted to forget any of it ever happened.

“Alright,” she sighed, standing up. She needed to finish getting ready anyway. “Thank you for coming to see me. I really missed you both.”

“We missed you too,” Tarble said as they both hugged her.

“Come see me tomorrow?”

“We will,” Trunks nodded. “By the way, why do you look and smell so…”

“What?”

“I don’t know,” he paused awkwardly, gesturing his hands outward, unable to express himself.

“Oh, Jeyice wants me to come have dinner with him,” she said, looking away from him. She didn’t want to talk about that with them. “He asked me to make sure I looked nice.”

“You do look really nice,” Tarble said brightly.

“Thank you,” she smiled. She knew she would have to touch up her makeup quickly before she left because she had been crying off and on during their visit.

“He’s nice to you, right?” Trunks asked.

“Sure he is,” she replied with a frown. “Why would you ask such a thing?”

“Just wondering,” he shrugged, walking towards the door. “Like he… never mind,”

Bulma felt alarm course and dread through her. They didn’t know, did they? She hoped to god they didn’t know the specifics regarding her and Jeyice’s arrangement. “What?”

“Nothing,” he sighed. “We’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“I’ll look forward to it,” she nodded, brushing off his odd, sudden enquiry. Eventually they would find out, she supposed. She just hoped it was much later rather than sooner. “Good night, boys.”

“Good night, mom.”

Bulma shut the door and immediately felt mentally and emotionally drained. I can’t do this, she told herself. She just wished she could crawl into bed and cry until she fell asleep. Her two little boys were going through hell and she had no idea how to be of any comfort to them. How pathetic was that?

She reminded herself of her plan to sabotage Jeyice this evening and gain more information from his scouter to hopefully help her with the time machine. With that in mind, she took a moment to collect herself before heading back into her bedroom to change and fix her make up. The boys had mentioned that Jeyice had not wanted them to talk to her about their mission and she wasn’t going to betray their confidence by letting him know they had told her everything; but she was going to find a roundabout way of telling him to be a little more understanding to them.

She groaned out loud in disgust at the realization that they were essentially co-parenting the boys, but decided to approach him with that thought in mind. Hopefully, since he had raised them mostly, he had some sensitivity and affection for them buried beneath his jackass exterior. She wasn’t going to count on it, but she was going to try and work that angle.

Mama bear was angry.

-0-0-0-