Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Diary of A Prince ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own DragonBall Z or any of its characters

Author's Notes: Anyone who thinks this story sounds familiar may have read the original version I had posted on FFN, 3 years ago under the same pen name. I hope fans of the original will enjoy the rewritten version.

Diary of A Prince

By: Nova Starlight

Chapter 1: Death of A Prince

There he stood in the midst of a situation he had never expected and never could have imagined. He was standing beside his son's grave watching as they lowered him into the ground. "I should have protected you Trunks," he whispered quietly to himself. He closed his eyes and turned his head away to keep his emotions in check. Just as he did, he felt the memory of what happened wash over him like a tidal wave.

The entire Briefs family sat around the table eating dinner when Trunks suddenly dropped his fork in surprise. Before he had been able to question him on it, he had done the exact same thing. He was surprised because he sensed a large power level heading towards Earth. "How powerful is it?" Trunks had asked quietly. If he had thought about it at the time he would have realized that it was more a rhetorical question than one directed at him.

"It is nothing that I can't handle," replied Vegeta. "It should land sometime tomorrow so you and I will go to meet it." Trunks did not respond, just resumed eating in silence. Bulma and Bra looked at each other and chose to remain silent as well.

The next day Vegeta remembered waking Trunks up to go with him. "Get your ass out of bed boy!" he shouted. Trunks had quickly gotten dressed and been ready to leave in a minute's time. They flew off tracing the power level of whatever it was. Vegeta stopped suddenly in the air and said, "This is where it is going to land. It looks like we only beat it by a few minutes."

As they stood waiting for whatever it was to arrive Trunks asked, "Are you sure you should be handling this alone?"

"It is a little too late to chicken out now, brat," he replied. Then a large spacecraft came down from the sky and landed right next to them. "If you want to go running off with your tail between your legs, you better do it now," he taunted. He did not look at Trunks's face but he knew that he had definitely succeeded in pissing his son off. He turned to the spaceship and felt a tiny bit of uneasiness creep into the pit of his stomach. He was the saiyan prince and there was no way he was going to chicken out. Then he shouted, "Whatever you are get the hell out here!" He saw Trunks watch the door intently while he focused on remaining aloof.

Then they saw the door open and a large scaly creature appeared. "I would never have figured you would approach me Vegeta? I thought I would have to hunt you down to get my revenge, but I guess I should have realized that with your ego you would think you could take me on." Then he rushed forward and attacked Vegeta.

He flew backward with the impact of the hit, but he rebounded quickly and went super saiyan. He saw Trunks power up out of the corner of his eye. "Stay out of this," he shouted and waved him off. Then he charged back out at the creature. Trunks stood back and watched as his every blow was blocked. Vegeta was getting the beating of his life.

The fighting continued on and on for at least an hour. With a powerful blast Trunks saw his dad go crashing into the Earth. Vegeta laid there unmoving and waited for a final blast to end his life, but it never came. He opened his eyes and saw Trunks, his only son, had blocked the blast. He screamed out, but it was already too late. He stared in shock at the hole in his son's chest. He watched him fall to the ground as if in slow motion. Seeing the wound he reacted by powering up to a level stronger than he had ever known. He blasted his creature and saw it become decimated in air.

After the creature was gone, he held his son's body in his arms His emotions finally came forth and he screamed with a mixture of sadness and rage. It took him nearly an hour to calm himself and fly Trunks's remains home.

Bulma had been hysterical; she tore apart her room for the dragon radar and flew off in her ship to Namek to collect them. However, nothing is that simple. They had tried to wish him back but the dragon had refused. Piccolo had surmised it must be due to Trunks's sacrificing himself for Vegeta. Bulma was inconsolable and he had never felt guiltier.

Now as he stood overlooking his son's grave he was unsure of what to do or say. He finally looked up and saw everyone in attendance. It was strange to see people who would mourn his son's passing but not his. That would mainly include Kakkarot's friends and family. They were people who had seen him at his most reprehensible and would never forgive him for it. He had changed since then but he was amazed at himself that he had not really changed that much. He offhandedly noticed that his son's best friend and Kakkarot's brat was not there. That seemed strange but maybe the two had some kind of falling out or something, how would he know? He turned his head away and found his vision fixated on Trunks's tombstone. He could not seem to take his eyes off it. Time passed by and he was barely aware of it.

When he looked up and saw that everyone had left and he was there alone. Then his attention was broken by a strike of lightning and thunder. The rain that followed was just a fitting ending to the worst day of his life. He really wanted to say something, but he still had no idea what he should. He barely knew his son beyond basic knowledge. He finally decided to head home and search his room. There had to be some clues there that would allow him to learn more about his son.

Entering Trunks's room was quite an experience for Vegeta. He could not remember the last time he had been in it. The room was orderly and decorated manly with framed pictures instead of posters of idols. He picked up one of the frames from the bedside table and saw it was a picture of Goten. The picture seemed strange somehow, but it was just Goten sunbathing on a beach with a bright smile on his face. He put it down gently and observed the other pictures in the room. They were all of Trunks and Bulma, Bra or Goten. His face did not appear in one single picture, not even in the background. He guessed that was more than enough testimony to how much time he spent with his sons. Then he walked over to his son's desk and saw what looked like a leather-bound book. He reached out and inspected it to find out it was a journal. Then the idea came to him, read the journal. This was the best way he could think of to learn more about his son. He sat on the bed and began to read.

To Be Continued. . .