Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Downward Spiral ❯ Chapter Fifteen ( Chapter 15 )

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

Chapter Fifteen

His hand played with the cold metal, rolling it over and over in his palm as the sharp edge gave him the relief he desperately sought. Just knowing it was there it made all the difference . . . He needed something, anything, his heart was beating a tribal beat of fear and dread, and the bitter taste of sorrow and regret was consuming him more than any feeling ever could. Kami! He had to get all his worries out of his head, he had a life inside him that had to come first, and all this worrying wouldn't be doing it any good!

He looked to the clock and screamed inside. How many times had he told that damned onna to keep this place tidy? The whole wall was covered with stacks of paperwork and heavy machinery, and all she could say to him when he screamed aloud was he wasn't supposed to be in here to begin with. It was only hours ago after he'd thrown the flowers to the wind in remembrance, the thoughts of Raditz and the poor child still haunting his mind . . . Even when they went to Gohan at the hospital and took him home he still felt that stab of depression in his soul, and it was only made worse when Chi-Chi demanded a private word with Goku after finding out about Vegeta's pregnancy. He hadn't wanted to leave him alone with that witch, but Goku insisted on it, even Gohan was reluctant as they both left for CC. He growled loudly and punched the nearest wall. Goku should be back by now!

“Hey Vegeta, you should calm down! It's probably nothing!”

He threw a glare at Bulma who was sitting across the room with Gohan, trying to distract the brat with blueprints for her latest idea. “Excuse me? Probably nothing?” The venom in his voice spat poison, threatening to burn whomever the words touched. “Remember the little incident at the hospital where she attacked Kakarott? Was that nothing?”

He watched as Gohan flinched. As if by instinct he had lifted his wrist to his eyes examining the long scar down him arm, Vegeta's words brought it all back, the fear of what she'd do next to Goku, how long the screams would go on for, the pain it all caused him . . . It wasn't as though that was the only reason but -. He shook his head and stroked the scar with his spare hand. “Vegeta?”

“What?”

“You self-harm right? The - the scar, will it ever disappear? Will it ever go?”

Vegeta drew back as he saw the boys pleading, hopeful look. He shook his head and shrugged trying to avoid eye contact; he felt bad enough as it was without the guilt of upsetting the boy on his conscience. “No, but don't think of it as a bad thing, think of it as a reminder that the past is real, that what happened in your mind happened in reality. It'll inspire you to achieve more and not to sink to that despair again.”

“Yeah . . .” Sighing he leant back on the desk and looked up at the ceiling with regret. “Say Bulma, where is dad anyway? He really should be back by now.”

Vegeta jumped to his feet and pointed accusingly. “Ha! I told you something was odd! Even the brat thinks it's not normal!”

Bulma shook her head. “Vegeta! Gohan! Will you two relax? Kami, in a minute you're going to explode. Chill!”

“It's hard to relax Bulma,” Gohan confessed, “I mean, I know Videl's there waiting for me to come back, and I'm guessing Piccolo's lurking around too, but I still don't trust them two together. You have any idea how many times I've heard the screams, saw the violence, prayed to Kami it'd just stop and she'd leave him alone? If she didn't care I was there why would she care that Videl and Piccolo are?”

Laying down the blueprints onto the table Bulma began to make the adjustments she needed with pencil, she wasn't ignoring him but Kami she needed some distraction right now, these two were driving her insane! Sure they loved Goku, she did too, but to keep asking about him every second was getting to be a joke. “Hey Gohan, if you keep that up Vegeta will end up going crazy and going over there, and you'll just worry yourself to death. Try to relax please, remember that you just got of hospital! Goku will be fine!”

“Will he?”

“Sure thing.”

“So where is he now then? How come he hasn't come back? He hasn't even phoned or -.”

“Gohan, he just had to bring you back from hospital and take Goten home, and then he had to explain that Vegeta's carrying his baby, it's not going to be an easy conversation and they'll need to talk quite a lot I'd guess. He'll be back soon.” Time to change the conversation, anymore talk about Goku and she'd see him in her sleep! “Anyway, Vegeta, I heard you were putting flowers in the sea earlier, how come?”

“None of your business!”

“Gee, it was just a polite question.”

He grunted. “Polite question my ass.”

“Hey Vegeta, that's not nice now is it?” He spun around as a familiar voice echoed across the lab. Standing in the doorframe was Goku, he was standing in his blue gi with his usual look of glee, and his face had turned into a smile as he winked at Gohan and Vegeta. The only thing that wasn't right was the cut on his lip, a recent addition to his collection of bruises. Gohan's eyes fell dead on the cut, which was still trickling blood and Vegeta moved to examine it. “Hey guys it's nothing! It wasn't Chi honestly!”

“Yeah? Are you sure dad?”

“Course I'm sure! Goten got upset with me and tried to fight with me that's all, I wasn't going to fight back with him now, was I?”

A soft laugh escaped Gohan. “Goten did that? Boy dad, you must be getting weak in your old age.”

“Hey! Anyway it's cool, he's still upset but he's a lot calmer, he says he wants to talk to Trunks but I couldn't let him because no ones told Trunks yet, so he's even more angry with me than before.” Goku shrugged. “He's too young to understand.”

Goku's eyes fell onto Vegeta's whose face was masked with relief and warmth, a total opposite to what it had been before. He barely had time to move as he felt Vegeta's arms around him, holding him tightly, he sighed and held tight back, resting his head on Vegeta's shoulder.

“Miss me then?”

“What do you think?”

“Honestly? I think we need to get Gohan back, Chi's really desperate to see him.” Goku gave a bright smile and nodded to the door.

“Kakarott you just got back, we've been worrying none stop since you've left!”

“Come on `Geta, you know as much as I do Gohan needs his rest and he also needs time with Piccolo, Chi, Videl and the rest. Why don't you two go ahead and I'll catch up, I need a word with Bulma.”

Vegeta shook his head and smiled. “Well hurry up, we won't wait all day for you!”

“No problem `Geta.”

He watched Vegeta left the room quickly; Gohan gave him a sudden hug before he left, as soon as they both had gone he collapsed onto the floor with complete exhaustion. His whole body felt like it was on fire, the burning in his veins made his skin feel aflame, and his head pounded continuously like a sledgehammer hit it! Every bone in his body felt broken. He held back the tears as he rubbed his shoulder carefully, trying to get back some feeling. Sighing Bulma came close to him and rested her hand on his. The look in her eyes was one of total sadness.

“Goku? Are you okay?”

He nodded.

“Chi did that didn't she? Not Goten.” She watched as he gave another weak nod.

He coughed loudly as he moved his legs into a more comfortable position; resting his head on her chest he held back his pain. “She wasn't too happy and me and `Geta . . . as you can tell. She said a lot of things, most of what she said was with her fists though.”

“Oh Goku . . .” Giving him a hug tightly she kept close to him. “Goku what about Goten and Gohan? You can't leave the boys with her . . . if she can do this to you what will she do to them? It's even worse than that, she sounds furious and what will she let her anger out on? It's too dangerous. We have to do something, what are you going to do?”

Goku shook his head the pain was overwhelming.

“I don't know,” He said. “I really don't know.”